GLAA Forum

Karen Handel resigns from #Komen for the Cure

Karen Handel, the right-wing former gubernatorial candidate behind the disastrous decision by Susan G. Komen for the Cure to end funding for Planned Parenthood, has announced her resignation from the organization. She'll speak to reporters this afternoon in Atlanta, and it looks like she'll go down fighting.

This does not settle the matter — more heads need to roll, as our colleague Craig Howell says, and more answers are needed regarding Komen's grantmaking process — but it is a good first step and gives hope that Komen will get back on track and avoid going under as a result of Handel's contribution to the recent epidemic of right-wing overreach. Women's health is more important than political gamesmanship. Unfortunately, women's health generally, and the right of women to control their own reproductive status in particular, has been made political by those whose religion inspires them not to reform themselves but to try to control others. It is part of the battle for America. This week, the pro-freedom side is winning.

(Hat tip: Joe Jervis)

Gay Men's Chorus of Washington does Madonna

 

(via Washington Blade)

BTW... Madonna's new single comes out this Friday, February 3rd... and make sure to watch her at this Sunday's Superbowl.

Lady ga... who?

ANC2F: Occupy D.C., Let Us Have Our Park Back

(Photo by Jonathan Wilson / WAMU)

Jonathan Wilson at WAMU reports that the National Park Service has ordered Occupy DC protesters to vacate McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza by Monday. He quotes one protester as refusing to leave. Those who refuse to remove their camping and cooking materials from the parks face arrest.

Nick Barron of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2F, which includes McPherson Square, politely asks the protesters to comply with the NPS order. As he observes, they have delivered their message, their neighbors have been either supportive or quietly tolerant of the months-long occupation, and it is time to move on to the next phase of their effort, one that does not involve monopolizing a public park. Indeed Mayor Gray and other D.C. officials have been supportive of the Occupiers. But the public's patience runs out eventually. Barron notes that McPherson Square had been refurbished in the fall before the occupation began, and the then-new grass has been destroyed by the encampment.

It is clear that many of the Occupy DC folks have nothing else in their game plan other than staying in these public parks. That's all they've got. That is embarrassing to the cause of reform. Someone needs to explain to them the concept of political organizing. I understand that the Occupy movement has garnered a lot of attention for the problem of income inequality in this country, including policies that result in the upward redistribution of wealth. But that point has been made. They can forget about any serious reform happening if the Republican champions of the wealthiest few win the election in November.

Many of the occupiers scorn the electoral process; all that means is that they have decided to replace the actually existing political process with magical thinking: if they occupy these public spaces long enough, somehow vulture capitalism will be defeated. They need to get real. And who do they think will be helped by a mass arrest? But such arrests are liberating, at least in the minds of some. Fine. Liberate them, and liberate the parks. Those people who are politically serious recognize what is at stake in the coming election, and will become involved accordingly. Do those who just want to continue the Occupation indefinitely prefer battles with the police? That worked so well for progressives in 1968.

(Hat tip: Joel Lawson)

Trans Mafia: Savage Glitterbombed Again

Bil Browning writes at Bilerico:

Dan Savage was glitterbombed again by trans activists. If you think that Dan Savage is the worst enemy of the trans community, you're sadly mistaken. If you think that throwing heavy objects at someone's head will make them a closer friend, you're an idiot. And if you think that you're garnering support for your cause by attacking someone over things said years ago when most of us have had to make adjustments to our thinking as we've come along the transgender road to acceptance, you didn't study the LGB history lessons at all.

Yes. It's bad enough to do it to our enemies, like Santorum. Doing it to Dan Savage is just amazingly stupid and counterproductive. The people doing it need an intervention where they are sternly told to grow up and get a clue. What they do not need is to be pandered to by soft-headed people saying how "empowering" their dumbass stunts are.

(Photo of Dan Savage)

Please sign petition opposing Prostitution Free Zones

Friends,

As you may know, the D.C. Council's Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing tomorrow (Tuesday, Jan. 24) on Yvette Alexander's Bill 19-567 to allow the police chief to make so-called Prostitution Free Zones permanent. As I will testify on behalf of GLAA, those zones violate the U.S. Constitution and in any case do not solve problems associated with street prostitution, because such police tactics merely chase the activity to other streetcorners. And giving criminal records to people who are engaged in commercial sex in order to survive only makes it harder for them to escape the streets.

Our discussion of this issue in GLAA's "Agenda: 2012" is here. We will post our testimony for the Jan. 24 hearing on GLAA's website on that morning.

Our friends Darby Hickey and Sonya Mendoza have placed a petition on change.org and tumblr.com about PFZs. Please use one of these links to add your voice to ours.

http://nopfzs.tumblr.com/

https://www.change.org/petitions/council-member-vote-against-making-dcs-prostitution-free-zones-permanent

Thanks,

Rick Rosendall
Vice President for Political Affairs
Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance

Rep. Giffords hugs Daniel Hernandez, the former intern who saved her life

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (@GabbyGiffords) tweeted a link to this photo of her hugging Daniel Hernandez, the openly gay former intern who saved her life after the shooting in Tucson a year ago. Hernandez recently won election to a Tucson-area school board.

Stop the Glitter-bombing

If I really have to assure you of my lack of sympathy for Rick Santorum at this point, then you're an ignoramus so go ahead and believe what you like. But really, that is not the point here. Glitter-bombing homophobic politicians or ministers, or hitting them with cream pies or what have you, is NOT helpful to our cause. It is a self-indulgence. It makes us look like children or thugs. Even if you are not (and would never dream of) mixing something harmful or corrosive in with the glitter or cream, what you are doing is still an assault. It has no place in our political discourse.

Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann and Maggie Gallagher are extreme. They are hateful — even when, as with Maggie, she is overtly polite in her delivery of her poisonous words. Of course we have to fight back. But we must not do so physically. When protesters resort to throwing things at those who defame and demonize us, we play into their hands. They love to pose as victims; why on earth would we want to help them get away with it?

Stop the goddamn glittering. It is juvenile and harmful to our cause. I am well aware that there is approximately zero chance that the fools in question will heed my words, which they're unlikely to read anyway. But we need to be clear that people who engage in such boorish tactics are not our allies, any more than the person who threw a Communion wafer on the floor in New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral a couple of decades ago during an ACT UP protest. They are not our allies when they do such things, and they do not speak for us.

Neither should we let our opponents get away with portraying our movement as a bunch of thugs based upon a handful of kids acting up. The reality is grotesquely asymmetric, with our opponents not merely tossing glitter at us but relentlessly seeking to exclude us from the protections of the Constitution and leave our families with no legal recourse. We are far more sinned against than sinning, as King Lear would say. But the "queers" who persist in this idiotic behavior deserve our loud rebuke.

When in a safari park

...Remember that you are encountering wild animals. Don't tease them with food, and don't turn your back on them. Seriously, this is a good Stupid Tourist cautionary video.

Bravery at sea

(Photo courtesy John Sweeney Jr.)

Which is more offensive?

(Hat tip: George Bakan. Photo by Joe Leder)

Never too busy to wish Betty White a happy 90th

The President asks for a copy of Betty White's long-form birth certificate.

First LGBT awareness license plate to go on sale in Indiana

Christopher Fitzgerald shares this news from Indiana.

Hold on, brother

Our friend playwright Alan Sharpe shares this lovely photo, via J.T. Greenwood.

Mayor's Office of GLBT Affairs Annual Report

The Mayor's Office of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs has released its 2011 Annual Report (pdf).  Under the direction of Jeffrey Richardson (shown) the office relays community concerns to government agencies and represents the Mayor's views to the public.

The Mayor’s Office of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs (GLBT) is a permanent, cabinet-level office within the Executive Office of the Mayor, established by statute in 2006 to address the important concerns of the District's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender residents.

The Office of GLBT Affairs works in collaboration with an Advisory Committee, appointed by the Mayor, to define issues of concern to the GLBT community and find innovative ways of utilizing government resources to help address these issues. The Office’s core duty is to advice the Mayor, District Government, and the Council of the District of Columbia on issues affecting LGBT residents of Washington, DC.

The Office offers four primary services: Capacity Building, Community Outreach, Public Education and Public Policy Development and Advocacy. From March of FY11 to the end of the fiscal year, the Office of GLBT Affairs has focused its work in five primary issue areas to support the advancement of the Mayor’s four priorities, public safety, LGBTQ youth, government operations and policies, community engagement, and issues affecting Transgender residents.

In March of 2011 a new Director was appointed to oversee the operations of the Office. Under his leadership the Office of GLBT affairs has re-energized the LGBT community’s engagement with District Government and the Executive Office of the Mayor.  Highlights of the Office of GLBT Affairs accomplishments in fiscal year 2011 are outlined in this report.

New's Year's 2012 in Sydney

Fireworks welcomed the new year in Sydney harbor as the world turns toward 2012. Happy New Year, everyone.

Offensive calendar pulled by on-line retailers

The Advocate reports that Amazon has stopped selling the calendar "I'm Not Gay, I'm Just a Sissy: 12 Months of Sexual Confusion" by 'Christian' cartoonist Joe King.  This follows an earlier decison by Barnes and Noble to pull the item.  The fight started when popular blogger Andy Towle publicized the item on his blog following which over 800 people condemned the item in reviews with many threatening a boycott until Amazon removed it.  The reviews are no longer available on-line.  Joe King taunted his critics on Facebook, in a posting which is also no longer available.

The LGBT community is certainly not unified in this regard.  Many comments on Towleroad said that threatening boycotts on publishers is censorship.  Others point out that he has constitutional right to publish this type of material and that people who object have a constitutional right to make their objections known.   No one is obligated to buy from Amazon if they choose not to do so.  And Amazon has the right to make business decisions it finds in its best interest.  Having only seen the front and back cover of the calendar it is difficult to make out what they say.  Never-the-less, it seems likely that the illustrations are tasteless, unfunny, offensive and have a meanness of spirit.

In his Facebook comment Joe King wrote "Ironic who the real bullies are isn’t it? Let’s see if I get a call from Oprah’s people or even Anderson Cooper."  He would like to equate being called a bigot with being bullied.  To not be called abigot he only needs to stop saying that gay people deserve fewer rights and protections that enable them to live their lives without discriminationi.  The fact that he cannot see this is the log in his eye.  No doubt if he beseeched God this could be removed. This is called "Pray the bigot away".

Baby Pepper

George Takei shares this along with the comment, "Getting misty eyed over 2011."

2011 in 100 seconds

 

Holiday cheer in the bubble

(Photo by Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/MCT)

My year-end column, which appears only in Boston's Bay Windows, was written two weeks ago as the holiday parties were at their peak:

I put on a red tie decorated with penguins and left for the White House holiday party on Dec. 15, happy to escape reality for a few hours.

After you pass two security checkpoints, you enter a White House adorned with pine garlands and 37 Christmas trees, with a theme of "Shine, Give, Share" to honor military servicemembers and their families. I suppose the President would be called weak on defense if he had chosen the traditional "Peace on earth." That, though, seems appropriate with the Iraq war ending, even as most Republican presidential candidates are competing to see who can sound the most hawkish on the Middle East.

The party-hardened White House staff efficiently restocked the food and drinks in the East Room and State Dining Room. I had roast beef and potato latkes, spiked eggnog, and a Christmas cookie shaped like the First Dog, Bo. Military officers were on hand to explain the decorations and furnishings.

I happily greeted a lesbian servicemember in full dress uniform and her wife. Then I found Mara Keisling of the National Center for Transgender Equality sitting in a red chair using her iPhone, on which she had a photo of her cute little dog Puffington. We talked about the problem of gay and trans immigrants being sexually assaulted in detention.

You can’t avoid shop talk at a White House reception. The struggles outside the fence intrude even if you leave your electronic devices at home. The military staff, for all their smiles and smart dress, remind us of the thousands who remain far from home during a season that calls us to gather scattered family members together.

While we waited for the First Couple to arrive....

Read the whole thing here.

Here's wishing everyone a happy and productive 2012.

(Photo by Eddie Gehman Kohan/Obama Foodorama)

Nov 17 and 20 - Transgender Day of Action / Day of Remembrance

GLAA, along with several other local LGBT organizations and concerned residents, recently mobilized to shine a brighter spotlight on a matter that is uniquely devastating to the District’s transgender community: anti-transgender hatred or prejudice at the hands of law enforcement.

The coalition, called TLGB Police Watch (TLGB), was formed to support the current efforts of our leaders and allies, who – though working to bring about necessary change – have witnessed one of the most violent periods for the trans community in the District’s history. We acknowledge steps recently taken by our city officials to address these problems, and pledge continued efforts to advance our individual legislative and policy reform goals. As TLGB, we protest because there are urgent (life or death) matters that call for urgent action. At the Day of Action, TLGB shall deliver to DC officials its list of urgent demands. The trans community can't afford to wait.

Transgender Day of Action

WHEN: Thursday, November 17, 2011, 1 PM

WHERE: Metropolitan Police Department Headquarters, (300 Indiana Avenue, NW), to the US Attorney’s Office (555 4th Street NW) and the John A. Wilson building (1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW).

[1PM MEET at the corner of 4^th and Indiana, 1 block south of Judiciary Square Metro.]

WHAT: To promote the “fair and impartial administration of justice,” please join our march from MPD HQ, to the US Attorney’s office, ending at the John A. Wilson Building, home of the city government. Bring protest signs. Wear comfy shoes and warm clothes.

Transgender Day of Remembrance

WHEN: Sunday, November 20, 2011, 5 PM

WHERE: Metropolitan Community Church of Washington, DC, 474 Ridge Street, NW

MORE INFO: Here.

 

Volunteer to participate at http://TLGBpolicewatch.tumblr.com.

 

TLGB POLICE WATCH COALITION

GetEQUAL DC

DC Trans Coalition (DCTC)

Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive (HIPS)

Transgender Health Empowerment

Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance (GLAA)

International Socialist Organization (ISO)

Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance

Cedar Lane UU Church LGBT Task Force

Rainbow Response

Gender Rights Maryland

VenusPlusX

 

illustration: Tyler Grigsby

protest poster

Kramer vs. Everyone

My column this week looks at gay prophet of doom Larry Kramer, who was interviewed in last week's Metro Weekly by Chris Geidner. Here's a sample of my response to that interview:

Kramer laments the shortage of activists, and asserts that little has been accomplished. But if half a century of struggle has really amounted to so little, why should anyone bother? Of the gains he does acknowledge, he claims "we didn't do much to get there. More of us are here, more of us are out, because that's the nature of life today…."

What planet is Kramer on? When [Frank] Kameny [who took a more optimistic view] started, legal, psychiatric and religious authorities marginalized gay people as criminal, pathological and sinful. It was thanks not to "the nature of life" but to efforts by many brave and persistent people that the sodomy laws were overturned, homosexuality was removed as a mental disorder, and many religious denominations affirmed their gay and lesbian congregants. We have won the right to serve openly in the military, while several states and the District of Columbia have won civil marriage equality.

These are crumbs, according to Kramer, who thinks that until we have total equality, we have nothing. So he notes dismissively that relatively few of us are in the military, and claims that the lack of federal recognition reduces our marriages to a "feel-good … cowardly evasion." On the contrary, same-sex married couples enjoy hundreds of protections at the state and local level. As to our gains in the military being irrelevant, let him say that to the gay servicemembers who bore Kameny's casket last week.

Read the whole thing here.

(Photo of Larry Kramer by David Shankbone)

Helping LGBT seniors (& Metro Weekly stories on Frank Kameny)

The current issue of Metro Weekly includes an excellent piece by Will O'Bryan that uses the problems Frank Kameny encountered in his final years — and the help various people and organizations provided him — as an illustration of the challenges faced by all our seniors, and the efforts local groups are making to serve them. Thanks to Will for writing about such an important subject.

Also in this week's Metro Weekly, Randy Shulman has a remembrance of Frank, including his stint as the "World's Oldest Living White House Intern" from a very funny April Fool's issue some years back. Also, John Riley reports on Frank's local legacy. And Chris Geidner looks at Frank's Good Trouble.

OWS finds its spokesperson

This was amusing.

Herman Cain's Tax Plan

A popular definition of insanity is "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results".  Republican economic policies always remind me of that saying.  For the last decade it has been "times are bad, let's cut taxes" followed by "times are good, let's cut taxes".  Wash, rinse, repeat.  An infinite cycle.  It has resulted in huge gains for America's corporations and wealthiest individuals who are sitting on $2 triilion in cash.  But they won't invest it in creating jobs because they know no one has the money to buy and goods and services that would be created by these jobs.  Herman Cain wants to simpliby tax policy with a simple formula - eliminate the current individual income tax, corporate income tax, payroll tax, and estate and gift tax and substitute three taxes imposed at a 9 percent rate: 1) a 9 percent “national sales tax” 2) a 9 percent “business flat tax”, and 3) a 9 percent “individual flat tax.”  The Tax Policy Center has been kind enough to analyze the effects of this plan.

What will probably surprise no one is that the wealthiest individuals will make out best under his plan. Those making more than $200,000 a year will benefit while everyone else will pay more.

(via JoeMyGod)

'Occupy DC' protesters rally and march against Wall Street

A few thousand protesters held an "Occupy DC" rally Thursday afternoon at Freedom Plaza, and later marched to the National Chamber of Commerce. Reports by Annie Gowen, Petula Dvorak, Maggie Fazeli Fard, and AP.

I went down to the rally to check it out. The event itself was well organized, with a stage, sound system, chairs, a media tent, and a large "We the People" [correction: as you can see above, that's "We the Corporations"] backdrop that was later carried in the march. The anti-Wall-Street speeches included some blue language, and there were several protest songs. The signs people carried were all over the map, some professionally printed and some hand-written. Here is a sampling of what I saw: "Reform the Monetary System," "The People vs. the Profit System," "Eat the Rich," and "Stop Cheating Moviegoers". There was an old lady dressed in black with a long black veil. Someone carried a flag for Veterans for Peace.

Someone quoted Cornell West from the Occupy Wall Street protests in NYC: "We are the 99 percent!" One speaker said that Obama's health insurance mandate was no good because it puts money into corporate hands; in other words (as I interpret it), anything that can actually pass is unacceptable. Someone said, "We need to stop waging war and start waging peace." A man named Vance 'Head-Roc' Levy from Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts performed a rap number. Dick Gregory said that Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed because he was the first African American in a position to change public policy.

I ran into civil rights veteran and longtime Washington activist Lawrence Guyot, who told me about his recent Constitution Day address to students in Norfolk on "Youth Empowerment and the 1965 Voting Rights Act," as well as his participation in a History Makers in Schools program at the University of Florida. My friend Mark Thompson of Sirius/XM Radio came down from NYC to cover the rally, and he interviewed me (I said we need to go beyond rallies and be just as engaged in the nuts-and-bolts of the political process as people like multi-millionaire Art Pope who has worked assiduously to take over the North Carolina legislature for the purpose of helping the GOP in the congressional redistricting). After the rally, Mark and I went for drinks with Dick Gregory, Sirius/XM host Joe "Black Eagle" Madison, and fundraiser Art Rocker; but the Marriott hotel (whose bar I had suggested) was in full lockdown (God knows what they were afraid of), so we walked up 14th Street to Ceiba. Much dirt was dished over those drinks (Joe and I had mojitos), but you had to be there. I will only say that the Black Eagle looks very good in his beard.

As to what will come of these burgeoning protests, time will tell. President Obama rightly expressed sympathy yesterday for the protesters, while Herman Cain accused the White House of orchestrating the protests. My reaction to that charge is that the Obama campaign was better organized.

SPLC: whose values are represented at Values Voter Summit?

The Southern Poverty Law Center takes on the hatred and lies represented by the roster of speakers at the Values Voter Summit being held October 7-9 in Washington.

The problem with Slutwalks and other feel-good demos

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Keli Goff offered this commentary on the Dylan Ratigan Show on Monday on why the recent feminist "Slutwalk" protests in various cities are unlikely to accomplish anything but give the media some racy images. I completely agree with her, and offered similar criticisms to organizers of the Slutwalk in D.C. this past summer. My comments were not welcome. These demonstrations are about emotional catharsis and acting out, not about actually changing a goddamn thing.

I have similar concerns about the Occupy Wall Street protests, which so far have been unfocused and undisciplined. The main image from those protests in the past few days has been of people dressed up as zombies, apparently making a generalized countercultural protest against capitalism. That will accomplish nothing. Harold Meyerson in today's WaPo expresses the hope that the infusion of more mainstream activists — from trade unions, for example — will help bring a more productive focus to this developing movement. I agree with such goals as foreclosure reform and putting back into place the 1932 Glass-Steagall Act's firewall between ordinary banking and investment firms; but street spectacles highlighted by anarchist exhibitionism will be all too easy for the Wall Street oligarchs to dismiss.

Update: This anonymous threat to "erase NYSE from the Internet" is certainly not helpful.

Colby King on ethics in Washington

Our friend Colby King's column in WaPo on Saturday slammed a raft of D.C. officials for their ethical problems. I spent several hours Saturday on the Anacostia Coordinating Council's annual river cruise, and Colby's column was the subject of many conversations.

Also on board the ACC cruise were Mayor Gray, Congresswoman Norton (who is recovering well from a pinched nerve), Chairman Brown, Councilmembers Michael Brown, Phil Mendelson, and Marion Barry, and assorted candidates including Ron Moten and Jauhar Abraham of Peaceoholics. Have you ever noticed that some politicians who are eager to win you over behave much the same as if they're trying to pick you up? Of course, I'm already spoken for....

The whole affair Saturday was headed up by our friends Arrington Dixon and Philip Pannell, who had a charming young lady do the emcee chores. I sat between Ron Simmons of Us Helping Us and Jeff Richardson of the Office of GLBT Affairs, dishing and overeating. Ron noted that the one problem with going on the cruise was that you couldn't get off halfway through if an unpleasant situation arose; fortunately, it was all sweetness and light. I had a good chat on the upper deck with our wonderful Congresswoman, who was as sharp and tough as ever.

Getting back to Colby's column, it has been an amazingly embarrassing year with all the ethics problems stinking up City Hall. On the cruise Saturday, I didn't hear a lot of people disagreeing with Colby's harsh assessment. He points to the next election, and at GLAA we are getting ready to gear up for our earlier-than-usual primary. It will be on April 3, but the deadline for candidates to file their ballot signatures is January 4. That means GLAA and other groups who send out candidate questionnaires will be having to pull our stuff together this fall. In October we'll start drafting our policy brief, "Agenda: 2012." Ugh, so soon? But civic duty calls.

The WTC Swastika

The Onion spoofs the nonsense over the "WTC Cross":

Despite the surprising coincidence of finding a perfectly formed swastika amidst the broken girders of the Twin Towers, 9/11 memorial curators have opted not to display the symbol, choosing instead to leave it in the storage facility where it has been located for the past 10 years. "On the one hand, it's pretty miraculous that there was a precisely shaped 80-by-80-foot swastika found in the rubble of the fallen World Trade Center, but in the end, we decided not to include it in our plans for the museum," said memorial spokesman Stanley Morgenstern, adding that it would probably be seen as inappropriate. "Although you've got to admit that it is pretty incredible. Mathematically, what are the odds? It's amazing but, perhaps, not right for what we are trying to achieve with the museum." Upon hearing the news, neo-Nazi groups have complained about the exclusion, arguing that the giant swastika is "a sign from heaven" and that "9/11 affected all Americans, including those who believe in the inherent genetic superiority of the Aryan race."

(Hat tip: Joe Jervis)

Saying it is not a napkin doesn't make it so

Rick Santorum is upset that Piers Morgan asked if his views about gay rights bordered on bigotry. Here is part of his response

Uh, no. I think just because we disagree on public policy, which is what the debate has been about, which is marriage, doesn’t mean that is bigotry just because you follow a moral code that teaches there’s something wrong

And no doubt those who opposed the racial integration of our public schools were just having an educational policy difference.  The bottom line is that Santorum does not consider gay families equal to the families of straight people.  He doesn't beleive they deserve the same rights and priviledges (and responsibiliies) that are afforded to opposite sex marriags.  And that makes him a bigot.  To put this in terms that Rick Santorum can understand "This is a napkin.  Just because you say it isn't a napkin doesn't change it from being a napkin.  And if it doesn't believe in equality, whether for LGBT people or African Americans, it is a bigoted napkin."  You can watch the interview after the jump.

Bigotry in Charlotte

Right Wing Watch shares an amazingly vicious piece on Charlotte Pride from an anti-gay activist named Michael Brown (no relation to the LGBT-friendly D.C. Council member), published by the American Family Association. I don't care to quote from it, but follow the link if you want to see how many bigoted bells Brown manages to ring. He even manages to treat an HIV testing truck as disreputable. Brown himself (and I know this will come as a shock) looks gay.

Shoes of the Fisherman

Pope Benedict said the economy should not be driven by the search for massive profits, but by the common good of mankind. Then he got into his private jet and flew back to his golden palace filled with priceless artworks.

- Ester Goldberg, on Facebook

Obama: "Give me my little 10 percent"

Hmm. As MoDo says, "Maybe Michelle should be the one negotiating with the Republicans."

Campaign for Medal of Freedom for Kameny continues

The Blade reports. Organizer Michael Petrelis posts an update.

Contrasting MLK's faith with that of religious bullies

Andrew Sullivan responds to those who suggest that Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Christianist comparable to the right-wing religious bullies currently roiling American politics:

King's Christianism was crucially leavened by his manifest Christianity. I'd argue that it was his and his movement's moral example of Christian non-violence that truly changed America's heart and broke the politicized Christianist deadlock between the two camps. He didn't just preach his faith as politics, but he practised it in a way very close to Christ's, seeking punishment, enduring imprisonment, and risking death, to bear witness to a deep moral truth about the dignity of every person. This submission to violence, rather than its gun-totin' celebration, is what distinguishes King's Christianism from so much of today's. It embraced its powerlessness, as a paradoxical way to change the world. And that, truly, is Christianity more than Christianism. It is an indirect approach to power.

The way I have put it is that King's religion motivated him to liberate people, whereas the intolerant Christianists of today use their faith as a pretext to oppress those who disagree with them. The contrast is pretty hard for an honest person to miss. The problem is not with the presence of faith in the public square, but with the notion that there is one and only one faith and that its dictates must be imposed on the entire population.

The Christian right routinely claims that things like marriage equality are being imposed on them and that they are thus being victimized. But what that essentially says is that they have a monopoly on religious freedom — that their freedom entitles them to deny equal protection of the law to people they don't like. The fact is that no one is trying to force right-wing Christians to enter into gay marriages or approve of them or bless them in their places of worship. What gives them a veto over the choices and actions of their fellow citizens?

What the Christianists are really unhappy about is that their own views are not allowed to trump everyone else's rights and beliefs. They just cannot accept the reality of a pluralistic society. But there is a reason why the very first amendment to the United States Constitution begins with the words, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." If you don't understand that, you don't understand America.

Sullivan follows up here.

Medal of Freedom campaign for Frank Kameny gathers support

Michael Petrelis continues his campaign to persuade President Obama to award gay rights pioneer Frank Kameny the Medal of Freedom. Petrelis has gathered statements of support from a wide range of voices in the gay community. No one is more deserving of the honor than Frank, and if it is going to happen it needs to happen soon.

So, Christina Romer, how f*cked are we?

After Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit rating of the United States from AAA to AA+, Bill Maher asked Christina Romer, former chair of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, "How fucked are we?" She gave an honest answer.

Sindy Clock loves Jesus so much...

Someone compiled some violent comments by Fox News readers in response to the lawsuit by American Atheists, Inc. against the WTC Christian cross monument (a couple of beams in the shape of a cross that were found in the rubble, and despite being quite common were treated as a sign from God). One reader named Sindy Clock allegedly posted this:

I love Jesus, and the cross and if you don't, I hope someone rapes you!

I say allegedly because I don't have verification that the comments in question were really posted on the Fox News site, and it would hardly be surprising if it were a hoax. But if this is for real, someone should call an exorcist to drive the sin out of Sindy. Pardon me.

(Hat tip: Joe Jervis)

The gathering storm over words from Arabic

Alex Pareeene writes at Salon:

A few years back, Arizona got sick of the fact that Texas and Mississippi and Alabama were always the butts of the rest of the nation's jokes about halfwit xenophobic gun-toting pissed-off old white folk, and so The Grand Canyon State decided to really kick it up a notch, in terms of bad craziness and hatred. The tireless work of Governor Jan Brewer, State Senator Russell Pearce and Sheriff Joe Arpaio paid off! Thanks to those three, Arizona is no longer defined by its amazing geography, rich history, and rugged, independent residents. No, when you think of Arizona in 2011, you think of a bunch of armed racist morons.

Yet another example of the hysterical, small-minded stupidity of the people of the great state of Arizona made it to today's New York Times. With massive, dangerous dust storms sweeping through central Arizona, the populace is obviously very worried -- about MUSLIM WORDS.

Adam Serwer at American Prospect gets into the act.

Next thing you know, we will be told we must stop watching Lawrence of Arabia lest we succumb to homoerotic desert fantasies. Never, I say. Never!

Quote of the day

Before you speak to me about your religion, first show it to me in how you treat other people; before you tell me how much you love your God, show me how much you love all His children; before you preach to me of your passion for your faith,teach me about it through your compassion for your neighbors. I'm not as interested in what you have to tell or sell as in how you choose to live and give.

- Newark Mayor Cory Booker

(Hat tip: Alan Sharpe)