If You Think It's Tough for the U. S. GLBT Community.....

Check out these two stories:

From 365Gay.com:

Poland's LGBT community is fleeing the country as government sponsored persecution mounts an LGBT civil rights activist said on Wednesday.

Robert Biedron, head of the Polish Foundation Against Homophobia, said thousands of gays have packed up and left - many to Germany and the UK.

"It is incredible. The Polish gay community has just moved away because of the climate of fear and persecution," Biedron told The Daily Mail.

"Most of the people I know are now in England because of the current political situation. Not for economic reasons, but because of the persecution of homosexuals going on here.

From Reuters:

Israeli police detained an Orthodox Jewish man carrying a small homemade bomb in Jerusalem on Thursday, as thousands of Israelis marched in support of gay rights in defiance of religious protesters.

"Police stopped a 32-year-old religious Jew who was carrying a homemade explosive device," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said of the arrest before the annual Gay Pride march began.

About 7,000 police officers had deployed inside and around Jerusalem to protect the marchers -- about 2,000 of them by police estimates -- after threats from religious Jews, who take exception to the event being held in a city they hold sacred.

At a separate event some streets away, blocked behind police barriers, religious Jewish men in traditional black and white garb held a separate rally, intoning prayers against the march.
One man evaded police to approach marchers yelling: "Filth! Get out of Jerusalem!." He was escorted away by police.

In 2005, an Orthodox Jew stabbed and wounded three marchers and fears of violence caused a march to be cancelled last year.

Did you catch those numbers, 7,000 police to protect 2,000 marchers? They were braced for a full-scale riot, weren't they? Kudos to the government in Jerusalem for protecting this peaceful gathering.

The Polish government, however, has taken the opposite approach and appears to be accomplishing its goal of driving GLBT people out of the country. I am confident the inhumane treatment the government condoned will come back and bite them at some point.

In the meantime, while there are important issues regarding GLBT equality to deal with here in the United States, I think it helps to place them in a global perspective every now and the.

"Ex-Gay" Throwdown

I just hate it when they fight, but there's a battle brewing withing the "ex-gay" industry.

As reported by the Christian Post, Stephen Bennett, who runs his own "ex-gay" ministry, has taken great exception to Alan Chambers' recent remarks that he had never met an ex-gay and that homosexuality was not completely "cureable." This carried a lot of weight since Chambers is the president of Exodus International, the most widely known "ex-gay" organization.

"Frankly, I am shocked that the president of the largest information and referral ministry in the world on homosexual issues, would ever make such irresponsible and false public statements," said Bennett in a statement Tuesday. "If Mr. Chambers, a married man and father who once engaged in homosexuality himself, says he's never met 'a former ex-gay' or one who has 'changed completely,' he's personally invited to our home in Connecticut to meet one. I'd also be happy to introduce him to numerous other individuals – all former homosexual men and women."

After 11 years of engaging in homosexuality with over 100 men, Bennett testifies that he was confronted with the gospel of Jesus Christ and has "completely changed," no longer struggling "whatsoever" with homosexual temptation.

But there are those who tried leaving the homosexual lifestyle, and failed after numerous attempts. Peter Toscano of Beyond Ex-Gay – a community for those who have "survived" ex-gay experiences – spent 17 years and over $30,000 on three continents attempting to address his same-sex desires. He tried filling himself with Jesus and enrolled in professional ex-gay programs but realized the process was slowly driving him insane. He now embraces himself as a gay man.

And then there are those who left the homosexual lifestyle, but still struggle with temptation, such as Chambers. He, however, chose to "live differently" and says his feelings have changed too.

"Today, I am a far different person. Not that I don't struggle, but my life has changed," he said, according to The Orange County Register. "I certainly don't have the desire to be involved in homosexuality. It has no power over me."

There's a lot of anti-gay propaganda in the article, not surprising given the source, but it does show a rift in what is already a very small community. Ultimately, anything that prevents them from putting forth a united front and weakening their message is good news for gay and lesbian people.

"Rachel Maddow: Out on Air America"

Conceived and started in 2004 as a counter to the preponderance of right-wing rhetoric on talk radio, Air America has struggled to find success in the ratings or at the bottom line. That doesn't mean there the network doesn't offer quality programming, however. One example of that is "The Rachel Maddow Show."


PageOneQ profiles this host who happens to be a lesbian. She is out, but her show is not consumed with LGBT issues.


And while Maddow's sexual orientation is no secret to her regular listeners, she said she tends to discuss queer issues far less than her straight progressive counterparts "not by design, but just because of what I am interested in."

"I am really interested in war and foreign policy and electoral issues... I absolutely do tremendously care about HIV issues, and prison issues and gay issues -- but what I have found is that when I am really personally invested in a political issue, I do my least effective radio about those topics," she explained. "I talk about AIDS issues less than I should, given the importance of AIDS issues right now, and that's largely because I find myself ineffective at them, because I don't have good perspective about how to make it newsworthy for someone else. I know too much information about it, and so my perspective is not at all like that of an average Joe. And I therefore find it very hard to talk about it in a way that will draw other people in...when we get down to stuff that I am really, actively engaged in -- and that if I left radio I would go back to do full time activism on -- I am at my least effective."


Maddow added that while she has done some "gay specific-programming" through fill-in work at Sirius Satellite Network's LGBT station OutQ, she was "not very good at it.""I mean, yes, I am a gay person, but gay niche radio? They are straight hosts out there who are a lot better at that than me. I am good at explaining why the immigration bills never got passed, or doing cocktail recipes or talking about horse racing," she said with a laugh. "I may not be very good at it, but I am totally out. And that to me is even more radical. To say, 'Hey, I'm a big lesbian, and you can get your news from me instead of from NPR,' is to some extent a more radical statement... by the virtue of the fact that I am gay, every time I open up my mouth, what they hear me talking about is something gay."


Maddow is an excellent example of a person not being defined by his or her sexual orientation. Just as I don't focus my thoughts on how to express my heterosexuality, Maddow doesn't make her program all about being a lesbian.


Life is a lot more complex than that.

GLBT Rights Struggle Part of Progressive Tradition

I ran across a wonderful column in the Baltimore Sun that places the current battle for GLBT equality in some historic, and positive, perspective.



The movement for sexual orientation-based equality is part of a proud, progressive tradition that includes abolition, women's suffrage, the ending of child labor, racial integration of the armed forces, the civil rights movement and anti-miscegenation reforms.


Three patterns hallmark this long tradition: a defiant insistence by conservative doom-and-gloomers that the proposed reforms will undermine the fabric of American life; the inevitable rally by progressive and altruistic-minded Americans to the cause of expanding to others the protections they already enjoy; and, finally, widespread agreement a generation or so thereafter that conservative hysteria was not only misplaced, but America was stronger for having ignored their pinched, wrongheaded warnings.


Sure enough, conservatives who bemoan the "radical homosexual agenda" again find themselves losing the debate - not because the homosexual share of the population is growing but because straight Americans are rallying to their defense in the same way whites pushed for abolition and men marched with suffragettes.



Of course, the reason right-wingers want "the voice of the people" heard by giving them the chance to vote on GLBT rights is the simple fact that, since the overwhelming majority of voters are straight, most of them would be inclined to vote against. Like many views from that side of the fence, it is simplistic and short-sighted. As the columnist points out, it has failed before and will fail again because, eventually, people will move beyond their perceived self-interest to support the right thing.



GLBT equality is the right thing. I support it, and more people like me are reaching that point any day. The religious right always wants to turn things back, but their attempts to discriminate against GLBT people are doomed to fail. Let's work to make that happen sooner rather than later.

"Evangelical Christians" Make Noise at Sacramento Pride Parade

From the Sacramento Bee:


Conversation about religion dominated much of Saturday's gay pride celebration. But the big question of the day seemed to be: Whose point of view was the right one?


And whose God?


That of the 150 or so evangelical Christians who marched along the Pride Parade route to protest what they claim is a sinful lifestyle?


That of the participants in the 20th annual Pride Parade?

Or that of the various religious groups that showed up in counter-protest of the evangelicals' outcry, proposing tolerance instead?


In a repeat of last year's event, the evangelicals were raucous. They blew noisemakers and carried signs that left no doubt as to what they believe is the nature of sin.


An equally vocal but more liberal and diverse group of the region's religious communities came to challenge the evangelicals' message with words of love and acceptance.


Members of A Church for All talked to passers-by about their congregation's inclusiveness -- acceptance of all regardless of race, class or sexual orientation -- and worship services.

"We believe God is a diverse God. He can meet all of us," said congregation member Christine Campbell of North Highlands. "When Jesus said, 'Whosoever believes in me shall have eternal life,' he wasn't making any distinctions."


Daniel Velici, 35, wore a T-shirt that quoted Scripture. It implied that those celebrating their day in the park would not inherit the kingdom of God.

"The movement ... of the community is now destroying this country, the family, moral values -- everything," Velici said.


That last statement is one of the stupidest I've read in the two years I've been writing this blog, and I've seen a LOT of people saying some very stupid things.


What's destroying the country? How about a war in Iraq that is draining billions upon billions of dollars from our economy, a war the military won't even let open gays fight in.


What's destroying the family? How about a divorce rate still hovering around 50% and parents who don't take time to even know their kids much less raise them, yet loving same-sex couples are often denied the chance to adopt and love children who need a home.


What's destroying moral values? How about hatred and bigotry spewed in God's name that drives seekers away from the church and is a boon to athiesm and other alternatives to religion, a hatred that focuses on the GLBT community and is more obsessed with gay people than gay people are themselves.


What's the answer? A relationship with God, not filtered through some right-wing bigot, but one that is born from reading the Bible and seeking Him for yourself, then finding a place where that love and understanding can be nurtured.


With our ministry initiative (still in its early days) the Affirming Christian Network, we're working to present an alternative to the hate and condemnation heaped on GLBT people from pulpits across the country. We're building a community with resources to help people understand that God loves GLBT people, why he does, and how that love can be experienced at a personal level. Check us out if you're seeking, or just need to be fed spiritually.

The African-American Face of the Hate Crime Bills Opposition

Henry Jackson, an African-American preacher with a Harvard MBA who leads a church only a few miles away from me in College Park, Maryland, has emerged as the face of the religiouis opposition to the Matthew Shepard Law that would include sexual orientation as a protected minority.

I wrote about his campaign a few days ago when I linked to a USA Today article that mentioned him. There is much more about him in this article from The American Prospect.

But Jackson wasn't elevated just because of his preaching style, his popularity, or his voter registration. Because Jackson is black, his claim that granting rights to gay people amounts to discrimination against Christians is more emotionally charged -- and, in a sense, more credible -- than if it came from someone white.

Only in the rhetoric of the Christian Right can an effort to protect the civil rights of one's fellow Americans be turned into a war against Christianity. And that's exactly how Jackson and his allies have deceitfully framed the issue. The Matthew Shepard bill, they claim, will "criminalize" speech and thought, and in particular, make preaching the gospel a crime. Never mind that the bill deals only with crimes involving "bodily injury" and specifically exempts from prosecution "expressive conduct protected from legal prohibition by, or any activities protected by the free speech or free exercise clauses of, the First Amendment to the Constitution."

Jackson nonetheless maintains that the legislation could be amended in the future to "widen" the definition of a hate crime to include his preaching on "one man, one wife, for life," which he says is "appropriate biblical morality." And while he insisted to me that painting him as anti-gay is "terribly offensive" and "bigotry in reverse," to his audience in Virginia Beach, Jackson promised that "God is going to lift up a standard against this abomination that wants to take the freedom away from our nation."

The church has been "diminished," he claimed, and "the authority of the evil one in the nation has continued to ascend and get stronger and bolder. 'Til now we're dealing with the fact that if God doesn't move and you don't act, they're about to shut us down with a Hate Speech [sic] legislation." Somebody, he added, "needs to reverse the curse," and everyone in the audience could start by signing the petition in the church lobby.

The man obviously enjoys being a media attraction, and the religious right loves using African-Americans to do their bidding, a trend they've had a lot of success with in fighting LGBT rights.

Of course, it is preachers like Jackson who are actually diminishing the church by diminishing Jesus. People like him place restrictions on Him that are clearly filtered through their own prejudice. Trying to defend their right to preach hate and what they claim is God's word by misrepsenting the facts and playing to the lowest common denominator in people (fear) goes completely against the message of Jesus, who is the way, the TRUTH, and the light.

It does get Jackson and his ilk a lot of face time and air time, though, doesn't it?

Baptist Seminary Training Women for 1950's TV Shows

One of the the fundamental truths I've learned about the religious right is their focus on looking back, taking the church and society back to "a simpler time" when issues were viewed in black and white without all that, you know, thinking.


Speaking of black and white, the Southern Baptist Convention (pause to allow for cringing) wants to train the next June Cleaver. If you don't know who that is, you don't watch nearly enough TV reruns. This isn't a reality show, however. Much worse, it's part of the cirriculum being introduced at the Southwestern Baptist Seminary.


As reported by Ethics Today:


Paige Patterson (the seminary's president) announced at the SBC meeting in San Antonio that his school was offering an academic program to train women how to make a Christian home.


The chairman of the convention's Council on Family Life even wrote in a denominational magazine, "The wife should not be burdened with the necessity of working outside the home."

"We are moving against the tide in order to establish family and gender roles as described in God's word for the home and the family," Patterson told messengers in San Antonio. "If we do not do something to salvage the future of the home, both our denomination and our nation will be destroyed."

The so-called cultural crisis apparently necessitated the seminary's program which will require 23 hours of course work, including seven hours of "design and apparel" with a lab for clothing construction. Another seven hours of course study covers meal preparation and nutrition.


If anyone reading this is holding their breath waiting for the SBC to open their arms to GLBT people, you need to exhale and start breathing normally right away.


They've got to learn about color TV first.

Is There Middle Ground For "Ex-Gay" Therapy?

Surprisingly enough, there is movement toward common ground by people representing both sides of the "ex-gay" issue.

As reported in this article in the Los Angeles Times, two key players in this debate are involved in finding some common ground regarding how to approach homosexuals seeking therapy regarding their sexual desires.

Alan Chambers, the director of Exodus International, the organization best known for saying "change is possible" regarding a person's homosexual inclination, is moderating that approach.

.....he's come to resent the term "ex-gay": It's too neat, implying a clean break with the past, when he still struggles at times with homosexual temptation. "By no means would we ever say change can be sudden or complete," Chambers said.

At this point that is a personal opinion, not one publicly stated by the Exodus organization.

On the other side is Michael Bussee.

"Something's happening. And I think it's very positive," agreed Michael Bussee, who founded Exodus in 1976, only to fall in love with another man — a fellow ex-gay counselor.

Now a licensed family therapist in Riverside, Bussee regularly speaks out against ex-gay therapies and is scheduled to address the Ex-Gay Survivor's Conference at UC Irvine at the end of the month.

But Bussee put aside his protest agenda recently to endorse new guidelines to sexual identity therapy, co-written by two professors at conservative Christian colleges.

He and other gay activists — along with major mental-health associations — still reject therapy aimed at "liberating" or "curing" gays. But Bussee is willing to acknowledge potential in therapy that does not promise change but instead offers patients help in managing their desires and modifying their behavior to match their religious values — even if that means a life of celibacy.

"It's about helping clients accept that they have these same-sex attractions and then allowing them the space, free from bias, to choose how they want to act," said Lee Beckstead, a gay psychologist in Salt Lake City who uses this approach.

I have mixed feelings about this approach, which is still being ironed out and has not been officially adopted by anyone. On the plus side, it's better than people being misled that they can lose their same-sex desires and driven to suicide when that does not happen, feeling that they have failed. It seems, however, that people are being counseled to deny themselves what most of think is a very important part of their lives.

It's hard for me to put myself in that position since I've never been told that my natrual desires were sinful. I'd be interested in getting feedback from someone who has.

Featured Organization: Americans United for Separation of Chruch and State

A new feature I'm starting here is featuring organizations, buth national and local, who are working hard for the same goals I write about here; GLBT equality in politics and the church. I wish I could belong to and financially support all of the groups I'll write about here, but since that is not economically feasable, at least I can give them a little free PR here.

Today, I'm focusing on Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

This organization, led by Rev. Barry Lynn, is engaged in fighting off the right-wing agenda of moving the United States toward a theocracy. I have seen Rev. Lynn debate Tony Perkins, the head of the Family Research Council, effectively demonstrating how one can be a devout Christian without trying to take over the government and rewrite the laws of the nation to reflect their denominaton's religious views.

They publish a monthly magazine titled Church and State, which is also posted online. It is an excellent summary of news items from across the nation that impact church and state issues and reports on specific events Americans United is directly involved in.

One of the primary focuses of Americans United is acting as a watchdog regarding churches crossing the line and becoming too directly involved in partisan politics. This is a violation of IRS rules governing non-profit organizations, and Americans United has investigated numerous cases that appear to be violations and reported them to the IRS.

Another major program of American united is called "First Freedom First." They describe it on the website:

Established in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, religious liberty -- the right of individuals to worship or not -- was and is a defining American value. Often referred to as the "first freedom," this constitutionally guaranteed right is the foundation for the separation of church and state. This separation protects us from undue religious influence in government and undue government intervention in religion and private decision-making. We recognize that the wall separating government and religion is being eroded, and so is our right to make personal decisions.

We invite you to join us! Be a part of First Freedom First. Protect our religious liberty and separation of church and state. Sign the petition and encourage others to join you. Together we can send a powerful, resounding message -- safeguard the first freedom!

There is also a blog tied in with that project which features a variety of voices. One of their supporters is Walter Cronkite, who is quoted on the Americans United website:

"This is a very important movement that has to get across to the American people. It is important to understand religious liberty and separation of church and state, and our right and duty to defend it."

If Uncle Walter thinks it's the right thing to do, I'm in!

Transgenders: Less Jerry Springer, More Mainstream Media

That's one of the conclusions in this piece from the Hartford (CT) Courant.

The article mentions transgender characters in popular television shows like "Ugly Betty" and "All My Children," the recent cover story in Newsweek (which I linked to on this blog), a new documentary that recently debuted at the Tribecca Film Festival, and the recent high profile stories of the Largo, Florida city manager who was fired and the Los Angeles Times sports writer who announce his transition to a her.

Mara Keisling, executive director of National Center for Transgender Equality, partially credits the Internet and medical advancements with allowing people to express themselves physically. That outlet, she says, has created a domino effect.

"There's so many trans people out that more and more people do have trans people in their lives, and that's going to cause more trans people in the media," she says . "... When the entertainment media stories happen, they really have a dramatic impact. When they're done sympathetically, they make people feel safe and more willing to come out.

Ryan Murphy, the creator of FX's "Nip/Tuck," is developing a new series for that cable network that will follow a male sportscaster and father's transition into a woman. The story is unrelated to Daniels' story. Fox and ABC also are developing shows that feature transgender characters, Romine says."

There will never be acceptance of an issue without visibility, and it's these kinds of representations of the transgender community that will ultimately make the unfamiliar familiar," he says.

I believe that's the key point of this article. People have a tendancy to, at best freak out, and at worst hate and discriminate toward people who are different in a way they don't understand. Bringing some attention to the humanity still alive and well in transgender people before, during, and after they transition can only help bring, if not understanding, at least acceptance.

Let's face it, there are probably a LOT of people in our lives we just don't get, but that doesn't mean we should stop loving them. The same concept applies to transgender people.

We need to remember that the fact they are changing physical gender doesn't make them stop being people, and Jesus commanded us to love one another, not just people who are like us or that we understand.

Thanks to PageOneQ for the tip.

Pastors Continue to Lobby for the Right to Preach Hate

There was a report in Friday's USA Today about another organized attempt by church pastors to block passage of the Matthew Shepard Bill (the hate crime legislation already passed by the House of Representative) by the U. S. Senate, claiming that their rights to preach against homosexuality would be jeopardized.

Today, (Minister Harry)Jackson, pastor of the Hope Christian Church in Lanham, Md., leads a movement against what gay activists say is their civil rights act: the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007.

Jackson and more than 30 ministers say the law could prevent clergy from doing what their civil rights forebears did: preach against immoral acts. "We believe there is an anti-Christian muzzle-the-pastor kind of feeling behind this kind of law," Jackson says. "I need to be able to preach that adultery, fornication, straying from the way of the Lord is wrong."

Proponents of the bill, which would increase penalties for attacks on gays motivated by the person's sexual orientation, say Jackson's position is nonsense.

"They cannot be more protected than they are … to do that because (the bill) reiterates their right to say what they want to say," says Harry Knox, director of the religion and faith program at the Human Rights Campaign, a gay advocacy group in Washington that is pushing for the law. Jackson's argument "is a lie, and it should not be told in the name of the Gospel," he said.

Jackson says the number of incidents involving gays "don't rise to the level of murder and lynchings that happened to black people."

"I'm outraged by the fact that they get to ride on and hijack the civil rights movement," Jackson says. "I believe that much of the gay movement is a matter of choice vs. what my father went through. He couldn't change the color of his skin."

(Mark) Potok (of the Southern Poverty Law Center) says the issue is not an "either/or" choice between blacks and gays.

"Homosexuals in this country have been badly treated for hundreds of years," he says. "Nothing about that fact takes anything away from African-Americans in this country."

Jackson's comments reek of ignorance and, in my opinion, jealousy. He represents a feeling I've heard from other African-Americans that GLBT activists are drawing paralells to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's, upset that "their turf" is being stepped on, as if they were the only minority that could mount a campaign for equal rights. This is defended by the supposed difference that African-Americans were born with dark skin while homosexuals made a "lifestyle choice." Que the ignorance.

It continues to grieve me as a Christian that men of the cloth are aggressively campaigning against legislation that would put GLBT people under the same umbrella that helps protect their churches and, for the African-Americans, doubly because of their skin color. I abhor violent acts committed against people or groups because of their religion (isn't that a choice?) or their skin color, or their sexual orientation.

I also abhor misinformation being preached in God's name and receiving national media attention, which if course the whole idea. Jesus never misrepresented Himself or anything about His Father while on Earth, so I can't imagine He finds this and other initiatives that push hate and bigotry in His name very pleasing.

"Why We Have Pride"

As I spoke to a few of my heterosexual friends about my participation in the recent Capital Pride festival, those who weren't fixated on the parade (the images of exhibitionists they usually see on television) would ask me something like, "Why do they have to have a special day just because their gay?" They were not mean spirited questions, just ones showing a lack of understanding.

This essay by Dan Furmansky, Executive Director of Equality Maryland, explains it in detail with facts, different perspectives, and most of all passion.

.....speaking to religious groups the past few weeks and contemplating why we hold Pride festivities has reminded me what a deeply meaningful, deeply spiritual event in our lives Pride can be.

Pride is a day for LGBT people and those who care about social justice to recall where we've been as a people. Many of us know of the origins of Pride at Stonewall in NYC in the late 1960s, when drag queens and gay men fought back against police harassment and brutality and said, resoundingly, E-N-O-U-G-H. With this rebellion as its backdrop, Pride has emerged as a holiday of liberation, redemption, salvation, starvation, pain, celebration, progress and resolve. It's a holiday where we as a people celebrate where we have been and where we hope to go.

This is why we have Pride

LGBT people being labeled insane by the psychiatric community until the 1970s. Gay men and lesbians could be institutionalized and subjected to "therapies." These ranged from the comparatively less invasive – such as psychotherapy and hypnosis – to the more severe, such as aversion therapy, castration, hysterectomies, lobotomies, electroshock treatment, and the administration of untested drugs.

Just take a moment to digest this information: They cut our brains.

This is why we have Pride.

There is plenty more in Furmansky's piece. If you really want to know what Pride is about, read his entire essay.

Challenge to Same-Sex Marriage in Mass. Defeated

From the Boston Globe:

A proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage was defeated today by a joint session of the Legislature by a vote of 45 to 151, eliminating any chance of getting it on the ballot in November 2008. The measure needed at least 50 votes to advance.

The Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, the group that spearheaded the court case that led to the Supreme Judicial Court's 2003 decision to legalize same-sex marriage, issued a statement praising the vote.

"We’re proud of our state today, and we applaud the legislature for showing that Massachusetts is strongly behind fairness," said Lee Swislow, executive director Advocates & Defenders. "The vote today was the triumph of time, experience, and understanding over fear and prejudice."

Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute that backed the amendment, pledged to continue fighting, but wouldn't commit to presenting another proposed amendment.

"I don't believe it's dead because the people have not had the opportunity to have their vote," Mineau told the Associated Press. "This will not go away until the citizens have their opportunity to decide what the definition of marriage is."

Here's an excerpt of an editorial from the Globe:

Legislators deserve to be proud of their votes, and residents can be proud of Massachusetts.
After three years of experience with gay marriage that has harmed exactly no one, the state's gay and lesbian couples can now get back to their ordinary lives, enduring the mundane tasks and rituals of daily life alongside their neighbors and co-workers. But now they do so secure in the knowledge that they are full citizens in a Commonwealth of inclusion.

Here is a link to some reactions gathered by the Globe:

Senator Edward Kennedy: "The nation’s eyes were on Massachusetts today, and they saw a triumph for civil rights and fundamental fairness. Today's historic vote will have a national impact on civil rights for years to come. Massachusetts has led the nation in education, in health care and in biotechnology, and today Massachusetts renewed its commitment as a proud leader in civil rights."

Former Mass. Governor Mitt Romney: "Today's vote by the State Legislature is a regrettable setback in our efforts to defend traditional marriage. Unfortunately, our elected representatives decided that the voice of the people did not need to be heard in this debate. It is now even more important that we pass a Constitutional amendment protecting traditional marriage. Marriage is an institution that goes to the heart of our society, and our leaders can no longer abdicate their responsibility."

Of course, I disagree with every single thing Romney said, but none more so than that last statement. Marc Solomon, campaign director for MassEquality, said, "This is about individual courage and leadership."

I completely agree with Solomon. The results in Massachusetts were all about courage and leadership. Legislators were willing to take a stand for what they felt was right, an increasingly rare occurrence in America's political system on both sides of the isle.

Politicians like Romney fall back on "the voice of the people" line because they think the voice of the people will support their agenda. That is abdicating leadership, not demonstrating it.

The right-wing likes to talk about "our founding fathers" a lot, so let me share something I learned about them in school that I believe a lot of people, including many current office holders, have forgotten (or choose to ignore).

The United States was not established as a direct democracy, where people voted on everything. It is a representative democracy, where the people elect representatives to govern for them. These representative are not supposed to serve the best interests of their constituents as determined by the latest poll. Their responsibility is to serve the greater good of society, even if it goes against the will of the majority. Simply put, it is to do what is right, not what is popular. Unfortunately, many legislators are much more concerned with losing financial support and votes in the next election than serving the greater good.

Just imagine if the abolition of slavery was left up to "the will of of the people" in the South. How long would it have taken public opinion to swing against slavery? At least a couple of generations, perhaps?

How many people would ever vote in favor of a tax increase? Probably just the same ones who reminded the teacher in school that she forgot to assign some homework. What if people voted in favor of a tax decrease that left the nation unable to properly equip its armed forces?

So please don't bore me with this "will of the people" crap. Is the civil right of marriage under the United States Constitution (not the beliefs of any particular religion) limited to one male and one female, or is it applicable to two men or two women? That's the core issue and the only truly important one that courts and legislative bodies need to consider.

The vast majority of legislators in Massachusetts voted today that marriage is a civil right open to any two adults regardless of gender. Their opponents will not go away, but at least on this day the political leaders of the Bay State stood strong for equality.

Congratulations.

Montgomery County, MD Adds Teaching About Homosexuality to School Cirriculum

From the Washington Post and Washington Times:

The Montgomery County school board yesterday approved new lessons on sexual orientation for use in every middle and high school, introducing homosexuality and gender identity in health classes where they have not been discussed except in response to a question from a student.

Two lessons, totaling 90 minutes, will be added to health courses in grades 8 and 10 in the fall, along with a 10th-grade lesson and instructional DVD on the correct use of a condom. The curriculum revisions, while short, place Montgomery in the forefront of a movement toward more candor in teaching about homosexuality in public schools.

"I know that these issues are not without emotion," said Superintendent Jerry D. Weast, speaking yesterday in a televised meeting. "But I do think this is the right thing to do. And I also think it needs to be done in the right way."

An advisory committee of parents and educators recommended in a memo to Mr. Weast Thursday that five statements be added to the lessons: that fleeting, same-sex attraction does not determine sexual orientation; that homosexuality is neither a disease nor a mental illness; that homosexuality is not a choice; that homosexuals can live "happy, successful lives"; and that children raised by same-sex couples "do just as well" as those raised by heterosexuals.

Mr. Weast said he deferred to staff recommendations after March test runs in six schools and declined to implement the advisory committee's requests. He denied that outside pressure forced the change.

Board member Patricia O'Neill, who voted for the curriculum, acknowledged that there are strong feelings on both sides of the issue and described tactics by some opponents as "incredibly hostile" and "bigoted."

Congratulations to the Montgomery County School Board and the organization Teach The Facts,
which worked very hard to educate people and rally support for this progressive cirriculum.

Ultimately, the real winners here are the students that will receive an education beyond the hatred and bigotry of some fundamentalist churches. This will only help boys and girls gain an early understanding of the sexuality and help those who are truly gay or lesbian come out earlier and learn to build a life as they really are instead of going through adolesence as a straight person, then relearning social skills when they later understand who they are.

Placing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" In Historic Perspective

From the Chicago Tribune:

At a time when our military is desperate to recruit qualified men and women, when more than 80 percent of Americans oppose discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and when our national security depends on our credibility as a nation dedicated to the values of religious liberty, individual dignity and equal justice, it is deplorable that candidates for the White House still embrace and defend a policy that excludes tens of thousands of qualified Americans from military service and denies patriotic gays and lesbians the right to serve their nation unless they deny who they are, lie about their identity and return to the closet.

That sorrowful moment in the debate called to mind an earlier generation of American "leaders": the generation of Orval Faubus, Ross Barnett and Strom Thurmond. Exactly half a century ago, Gov. Faubus expressed his concept of "American values" by calling out the Arkansas National Guard to prevent nine African-American children from entering Little Rock's Central High School.

Several years later, Gov. Barnett rose to power in Mississippi by proclaiming that "the Negro is different because God made him different to punish him." A fierce defender of American values, Barnett ferociously opposed James Meredith's 1962 admission to the University of Mississippi, promising that Mississippi would never "surrender to the evil ... forces of tyranny."

While I would not place the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" discrimination at the level of the Little Rock situation, the similarity of excluding people based solely on how God made them is striking.

A Nice Writeup on Capital Pride

The Washington Post, although they buried the story in page 8 of the Metro section, had a nice writeup about Sunday's Capital Pride. I hope a few of the folks I met there and introduced to this blog enjoyed themselves and, if you're reading this, thanks for dropping by and checking it out.

Anyway, an interesting perspective presented in the Post article was from a number of people who had driven hours to get there just to have the opportunity to hold their partner's hand in public and fellowship with other GLBT people. Folks like me who live in an urban metro area take for granted the fact that there is an active GLBT community. Just to have one day among others like them was enough motivation for people to come hundreds of miles out of their way.

When people ask why have Pride festivals, there's one good reason.

Click here to read the Post article.

"Outing the Out of Touch"

Maureen Dowd laid it out very clearly in an op/ed piece in the New York Times on Sunday:


Be honest. Who would you rather share a foxhole with: a gay soldier or Mitt Romney?


A gay soldier, of course. In a dicey situation like that, you need someone steadfast who knows who he is and what he believes, even if he’s not allowed to say it out loud.

Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue, as the gloriously gay Oscar Wilde said. And gays are the sacrifice that hypocritical Republican candidates offer to placate “values” voters — even though some candidates are not so finicky about morals regarding their own affairs and divorces.


They may coo over the photo of Dick Cheney, whose re-election campaign demonized gays, proudly smiling with his new grandson, the first baby of his lesbian daughter, Mary.


But they’ll hold the line, by jiminy, against gay Americans who are willing to die or be horribly disfigured in the cursed Bush/Cheney war in Iraq.


Hypocrisy is not something unique to the Republican Party, they've just taken it to levels previously unseen in our nation.


Click here to read the rest of Dowd's piece, although Republicans will probably just brush it off as another attack by the so-called "liberal media," which is what they call any media outlet that doesn't bless right-wing policy.

Announcing the Affirming Christian Network

At today's Capital Pride Festival, Pastor Brenda and I rolled out a new ministry effort we are developing under the sponsorship of our home church, Believers Covenant Fellowship.


Titled the Affirming Christian Network, we are seeking to gather teachings, sermons, special music, and other types of ministry from GLBT affirming churches and other sources. We want to have a wide range of different voices to speak to the GLBT faith community and others who have been pushed away by "the church."


We are not seeking to be an organization ourselves. Instead, we hope to be more of a clearing house for other affirming ministries, pooling resources together to become an effective and helpful Christian resource for the GLBT community. We will be providing information and, for those seeking a home church, we are working on developing the most comprehensive list available of accepting and affirming churches.


So far we have three other churches who have signed on as affiliates, meaning they will be contributing matierial to the site. If your church would be interested in doing so, please contact us at affirmingchristiannetwork@gmail.com.


Here's the kind of information we will be providing:


About Us – Who we are and what we are doing.
Affirming Ministries – Ministries and individuals who are GLBT supportive but are not contributing content to ACN.
Praise & Worship – Audio and video of affiliate worship services and special music.
Teachings – Sermons, workshops and seminars on a wide range of topics.
Insightful discussion – Group, panel, radio discussions on relevant topics of interest.
Interviews – Ministers and leaders in the Christian GLBT community share their views on topics of interest.
Affiliates – Ministries and individuals that contribute content to ACN.
Links – Other GLBT affirming organizations not necessarily of a religious nature.
Resources – Books, Music, Manuscripts, Lists, etc. available for use.


There's not much material up yet, but there will be. You can take an early peek now and I hope you will check it out regularly in the future. Again, that's www.affirmingchristiannetwork.org


I'll be contributing some essays to the site myself and occassionally will link there here.

Baptist Pastors Disagree on the "Literal, Infalible" Word of God

I've posted on this before, but I believe my points bear repeating since more information has come to light.


From EthicsDaily.com:


Half of Southern Baptist pastors believe God gifts some people with a "private prayer language," according to poll results released Friday by LifeWay Christian Resources, fueling a minor controversy ongoing on Baptist blogs for a year and a half.

The Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board approved a policy in November 2005 to no longer appoint missionaries who make a practice of privately praying in unintelligible tongues. The act is usually associated with neo-Pentecostal, charismatic or "Third Wave" Christians, but some Baptists, including IMB President Jerry Rankin, acknowledge having a private prayer language.


"Southern Baptists, at least half of them, have become more open to a practice that was not mainstream a hundred years ago," prior to the modern Pentecostal/charismatic movement...


Could some Baptists be gaining a further revelation of God's word? Does that mean that there are still points made or inferred in the Bible that have been beyond their understanding that has gradually come to light? Is the Bible, in truth, not just infailble but not quite so easily broken down into black-and-white as the SBC has worked so hard to do over the last generation?


If as many as half of their leadership, the pastors, are wrong about speaking in tounges (some have to be right, which makes the others wrong by my math), how can they take such a hard-line stance on what they perceive as the evils on homosexuality, especially in light of how little is written about it in the Bible? If they can't get on the same page about speaking in tounges, how can they be so absolutely certain about their stance toward GLBT people?


Enough questions. My answer is, of course, THEY CAN'T and that the leadership is pursuing an agenda based more on tradition and their own prejudices than anything written in the word of God.


One ranking member of the SBC even tried to discredit the study, which was conducted by Lifeway Research, a department of the SBC publishing house Lifeway. They're trying to discredit their own study because they didn't like the results.


One SBC theologian, Malcolm Yarnell of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, questioned both the methodology of the study and its timing, just before the SBC annual meeting later this month, where the issue of private prayer languages is expected to surface.


In my opinion, this issue of speaking in tounges in clearly not a heaven-or-hell matter. Personally, I'm convinced that I was going to heaven before I received that gift from the Holy Spirit, and I still am after receiving it.


My point is that there is a LOT more that God wants to teach us beyond the written word of the Bible. He will never teach us anything to contradict it, but there is much to learn beyond the events and lessons taught over 2,000 years ago.


There is much he wants to teach us. We simply have to open our hearts and minds and listen to what the Holy Spirit has to say.

Domestic Violence Among Gay Couples Is a "Hidden Menace"

That was the conclusion arrived at during a conference in Manchester, England on Friday. This from the (London) Times:


Violent domestic abuse is as common and as severe among gay and lesbian couples as among heterosexuals, a conference in Manchester was told yesterday.

Same-sex abuse has largely been a hidden menace because many homosexual men and women are fearful of reporting incidents to police or mainstream support organisations.


But research suggests that a greater percentage of gays and lesbians are living in fear of an abusive and dominant partner than previously thought.


Greater Manchester Police urged those suffering abuse in same-sex relationships to report their abusers to the authorities and made a public pledge to deal seriously and swiftly with complaints.


The conference, organised by the Greater Manchester Police Lesbian and Gay Staff Affiliation, and staged a stone’s throw from the city’s famous canal-side gay village, was opened by Michael Todd, the force’s Chief Constable.


There is no reason I can think of to conclude that the problem is any less serious on our side of the pond, but there are many parts of the United States where a victim of same-sex domestic abuse would only invite more trouble by seeking legal assistance.


As equal rights for the GLBT community becomes the standard instead of the exception, hopefully that will change for the better.


Thanks to PageOneQ for the tip.