Wednesday, December 09, 2015

That time when a Family Research Council spokesman wanted to 'export' gays . . .

I noticed that the Family Research Council, that lovely "Christian" group, has been conveniently silent during this madness with Donald Trump and Muslims. It's probably because a few years back, a spokesman with the group, Peter Sprigg, made the following comment about "exporting" gays:



The mindsets that prejudiced fanatics share are certainly fascinating, aren't they?

'The victims of 'religious liberty'' & other Wednesday midday news briefs


 We Were Turned Away on What Should Have Been Our Happiest Day Because We're a Same-sex Couple - This wonderful post underscores what we need to do when it comes to the bogus religious liberty argument. The religious right bogarts time focusing on those who discriminate, painting them as the victims when they are not. We need more lgbt couples telling THEIR stories of how they were discriminated against and how this discrimination is an attack on their rights and dignity. 

FRC: 'Sexual Radicals' Are Coming After 'Your Family' - Lovely! Tis the season to fundraise by demonizing lgbts. For the Family Research Council's information, we are not after families. We just want Judy Garland's birthday to be declared an international holiday . . . 

 911 Audio: Hotel Manager Reports Guest For Being Transgender - Hot mess and a half!!

 LGBT and Allied Community Dominates Screen Actors Guild Awards Nominations - In the nominations which are the precursors to the Oscars, lgbt-themed movies did well. Of course I'm not satisfied, but it's a start.

 Law Created To 'Protect' Magistrates From Marrying Same-Sex Couples Now Target Of Federal Lawsuit - Things just got interesting in North Carolina!

 This Man Is Challenging Jamaica’s Ban On Homosexuality - Kudos to this brave man.

Muslims and Gays - GOP targets for the 2016 election

Thanks to Donald Trump, the 2016 presidential election is turning into a sort of open season on Muslims. However, the lgbt community shouldn't feel left out. We're not exactly left behind on the pecking scale of scapegoating. Think Progress has come out with an excellent article showing that while Trump has made attacks on Muslims into a main issue, other GOP candidates have extreme anti-gay positions. Allow me to give a few examples:

Rubio
Marco Rubio:

In an interview this weekend with David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network, Marco Rubio outlined outlined extensive plans for enabling discrimination against LGBT people in the name of religious liberty. As president, Rubio said he would do the following:
  • Rescind President Obama’s executive order protecting the LGBT employees of federal contractors.
  • Only appoint Supreme Court Justices committed to undoing marriage equality and a woman’s right to an abortion.
  • Protect religious organizations that wish to refuse service to same-sex couples.
Rubio seemed to imply that employing and serving LGBT people were themselves sinful actions. “There are many government contractors and small companies who provide services to the government who are faith-based people, and they are being compelled to sin by government in their business conduct,” he said. “That is not something we should be supporting.”


Cruz
 Ted Cruz:

Ted Cruz recently sat down with National Organization for Marriage founder Robert George for an interview on EWTN, a Catholic television network. In one segment, Cruz agreed with George that the Supreme Court’s marriage equality decision was “profoundly wrong,” “fundamentally illegitimate,” “lawless,” and “not based on the Constitution.”

Cruz then referenced Justice Anthony Kennedy’s recent comments that a public official that can not follow the decision, like Kim Davis, should resign. During his remarks, Kennedy alluded to the fact that very few judges resigned from the Nazi German government. Thus, Cruz claimed, he was comparing the Supreme Court to Nazis. “This isn’t me calling them the Nazis,” Cruz explained, “this is Justice Kennedy calling the court on which he serves, calling the opinion that he wrote — analogizing that to the Nazi decrees that we must obey. That is an arrogance, it is an elitism, it is being out of touch with our nation.

In another segment, Cruz fielded a question about accommodations for transgender students in public schools. He condemned such policies as “ridiculous” decisions made by “zealots.” “I don’t want my daughters taking showers with little boys; I don’t want them when they’re in junior high or high school. And it’s absurd. No parents do.”
 
And those two are seen as the front-runners behind Trump. The others - Huckabee and Carson - aren't exactly "prom nights" for the lgbt community.

In light of what we have gained this year - i.e. marriage equality - it would be cultural suicide for the lgbt community to sit this election out or not pay attention to the Islamophobic rhetoric coming out of the mouths of the GOP.