In Brief

Staff Reports

Bryan Fischer Calls for “Underground Railroad” to Save Children of Same-Sex Families

TUPELO, MS -- The American Family Association's Bryan Fischer is spewing more anti-gay rhetoric. This time he took to Twitter to advocate for an Underground Railroad to “deliver innocent children from same-sex households.”

In the tweet, Fischer points to Robert Oscar Lopez’s essay blaming his mother and her partner for his social issues as proof to “why we need an Underground Railroad to deliver innocent children from same-sex households.”

Lopez wrote;

[...] "Quite simply, growing up with gay parents was very difficult, and not because of prejudice from neighbors. People in our community didn’t really know what was going on in the house. To most outside observers, I was a well-raised, high-achieving child, finishing high school with straight A’s. 

Inside, however, I was confused. When your home life is so drastically different from everyone around you, in a fundamental way striking at basic physical relations, you grow up weird. I have no mental health disorders or biological conditions. I just grew up in a house so unusual that I was destined to exist as a social outcast."

LGBT families are not a new phenomenon. There are over 650,000 same-sex couples raising nearly 250,000 childen, according to the 2010 U.S. Census data.

"Fischer’s call for kidnapping children from same-sex partners is not only offensive," says Maureen McCarty, a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, "but a harmful mischaracterization of families that struggle daily to provide loving and safe home environments despite significant legal, financial and dignitary inequality," she adds.

MD Governor Martin O'Malley, (D)

Maryland Gaming Measure Could Have Negative Impact On Same-Sex Marriage Ballot Referendum

ANNAPOLIS, MD -- Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley's reconvening the state's legislature in a special session Thursday to consider adding a voter initiative on approving gaming in the state on the November general election ballot could possibly defeat same-sex marriage approval according to political analysts.

Pollster Stefan Hankin, the founder and president of the Washington D. C. based Lincoln Park Strategies, told LGBTQNation Wednesday, just having Gaming on the ballot could help opponents defeat same sex marriage as Gaming will likely overshadow the other measures. Hankin also noted that since the focus of political adverts and campaigning will be on the anti-gaming side, whom traditionally are socially conservative voters, they are likely to vote against gaming and are the most likely to oppose same-sex marriage.

"There could be a swing anywhere from two to four points based on the casino's being on the ballot. Any time you are dealing with a 50/50 proposition, a point or two can make the difference between passing and not passing," Hankin said.

It's a political Catch-22 for O’Malley, who is pushing for the gaming initiative and has signed the same-sex marriage law.

LGBTQ Bloggers and others in LGBT media are expressing concern and criticizing Governor O’Malley with Kevin Naff, the Editor-In-Chief of the Washington Blade writing:

[...]But O’Malley’s insistence on a special legislative session to approve the sixth site could carry unintended and grave consequences for the state’s gay and lesbian residents. He’s literally gambling with our rights. 

If the legislature approves the National Harbor site, the large corporations that are already operating or preparing to operate in the state will spring into action and dump tens of millions of dollars into a campaign to defeat it at the ballot. They will target those who object to gambling on religious grounds — namely conservative black voters in P.G. County and conservative whites in the western part of the state. 

Those are the same voters most likely to oppose the marriage equality law, which is already approved for the November ballot.