Thursday, November 21, 2013

Michele Bachmann deliberately excluding same-sex families from adoption resolution

Bachmann
Someone should ask Rep. Michele Bachman does the exclusion of lgbt families in the adoption resolution she is working on a part of her "religious liberty?"

From Buzzfeed:

New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney — the out gay father of three — said in an email to supporters Thursday that Rep. Michele Bachmann is “intentionally excluding families like [his]” from an adoption resolution she introduced.

In a message sent to supporters Thursday, Maloney says Bachman is excluding families with gay or lesbian parents by declining to include LGBT-inclusive language in the resolution.

When he found out that Bachmann and Rep. Karen Bass would be introducing a resolution for National Adoption Month and Day, he asked the pair to include language supportive of LGBT parenting in the resolution . . .

. . . .Bass, a Democrat from California, said she was receptive to the language. Writing of the children he is raising with his partner, Randy, Maloney sent a letter to Bachmann, asking her “to recognize the contributions of LGBT families with adoptive children” in the resolution by including the language. Bachmann’s office said the congresswoman would not support the language’s addition, according to Maloney’s office.
Bachmann’s office did not immediately respond to a question Thursday about her views on LGBT parenting or adoption, or about the resolution itself.

Update: Rep. Michele Bachmann spokesman Dan Kotman told BuzzFeed, “The resolution honoring National Adoption Month is a bipartisan effort sponsored by both Democrats and Republicans. The focus of the resolution is on helping vulnerable children, as has always been the case when we have introduced it in previous years.”

Okay, this is bull. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to make the argument that when lgbts adopt children, we are doing what we can to help the vulnerable. The question I have is why do we even have to make that point?

And if this controversy blows up - which it needs to do - and some fool even attempts to make the semantic argument that lgbts are being "intolerant" because we aren't "respecting" Bachmann's beliefs that lgbt families should be excluded in this resolution, THIS QUEEN RIGHT HERE is going to go into orbit!!!!!

'Report: Conservative media helping to further transphobic violence' and other Thursday midday news briefs

The Conservative Media’s Responsibility For Transphobic Violence - Yet another report which should get mainstream attention. Equality Matters nails how the conservative media has contributed to a transphobic atmosphere. Just like the post I published this morning, the lgbt community and our media should demand focus on important issues and Alec Baldwin throwing out a slur to a reporter is NOT as important as this issue or the issue of anti-gay scientific misconduct.
 
When research is really "research": A look at the Michigan Four - So Michigan will defend its anti-marriage equality law by having four discredited researchers testify in court, including Mark Regnerus. How much popcorn will I need for this one?  

8 Highlights From The Illinois Marriage Equality Exorcism - Aw man, I missed the exorcism!

 Equal Marriage Passes Crucial Vote In Scotland - Two more votes to go.

The anti-gay right needs to be exposed for their scientific misconduct

Today is "Throwback Thursday," but rather than focus on a kooky, fun fact, I want to focus on something which I find to be sad and disturbing.

Over the years, I have pointed out at least 12 times in which physicians and researchers have pointed out how the religious right have distorted their work to fuel anti-gay propaganda. Allow me to recap:

Last year, Seton Hall professor Dr. Theodora Sirota complained that Rick Fitzgibbons of  the NARTH (the National Association of Research and Therapy of Homosexuality) misused her work to make the case that children in same sex households are not raised better than children "in stable homes with a mother and a father."

National Institute of Health director Francis Collins, who rebuked the right-wing American College of Pediatricians for falsely claiming that he stated sexual orientation is not hardwired by DNA.

Six researchers of a 1997 Canadian study (Robert S. Hogg, Stefan A. Strathdee, Kevin J.P. Craib, Michael V. Shaughnessy, Julio Montaner, and Martin T. Schehter), who complained in 2001 that religious right groups were distorting their work to claim that gay men have a short life span.

The authors of the book Unequal Opportunity: Health Disparities Affecting Gay and Bisexual Men in the United States (Professors Richard J. Wolitski, Ron Stall, and Ronald O. Valdiserri), who complained that their work was being distorted by Focus on the Family.

University College London professor Michael King, who complained that the American Family Association was distorting his work on depression and suicide in LGBT individuals

University of Utah professor Lisa Diamond, who complained that NARTH (the National Association of Research and Therapy of Homosexuality), a group which also share board members with the American College of Pediatricians, distorted her research on sexual orientation.