The Progressive Puppy

It's True. Governor Jan Brewer IS The Wicked Witch Of The West.

It's not easy living under the regime of a spitting, hissing, anti-gay bigot.  Every four years, LGBT persons in the Lone Star State are reminded of how little our fellow Texans value us when Rick Perry is reelected.  But of course Texas isn't the only state where Republican leaders use public animus against gay citizens to their political advantage.  Take Arizona governor Jan Brewer.  Please.  Take her far away.  Mollie Reilly reports for the Huffington Post:

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) has requested that the Supreme Court overturn a ruling that allows state employees to keep their same-sex partners on their benefits, including health insurance.  Brewer filed a petition for a writ of certiorari on July 2, requesting that the high court overturn the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit's September 2011 ruling in Diaz vs. Brewer. The pushback comes three months after the Ninth Circuit denied a request by Arizona state lawyers to re-hear the case with an 11-judge panel.  Last September, the Ninth Circuit's ruling prevented Arizona from implementing a law that would have barred state employees' same-sex partners from remaining on their health plans. The ruling affirmed a lower court's decision to place a preliminary injunction on the law.

What a noxious bag of right-wing effluvia.  Ms. Brewer is not only making life miserable for Latinos and shitting on women's reproductive choices, she's now trying to prevent the state's few gay-friendly towns (like Tucson) from offering basic benefits to committed same-sex couples.  This crone is truly evil.  Anybody have a bucket of water?

Holy Hooligans Lou Engle and Bryan Fischer

The homo-hate from the right never ends.

Brian Tashman walks the dog for Right Wing Watch:  Lou Engle is redoubling his efforts at building a prayer movement to stop the “homosexual tornado” before it destroys America, and told members of The Ramp, an anti-gay youth ministry, that he had dreams of 100,000 gays and lesbians becoming part of a “first wave” of ex-gay preachers who will bring about “radical salvations and healings of AIDS.”

For anybody who wants to waste one hundred minutes of their life, here's the video ...

Engle has in the past supported a Ugandan law which would impose the death penalty on gays.

Moving right-wing along ...  Bryan Fischer of the hate group American Family Association suggests that the government should force everybody to attend Christian churches, presumably because people who have an "active, vibrant spiritual life are healthier."  Bryan's spiel is of course a not-so-subtle jab at health care reform, which Obama haters loathe from the bottom of their selfish little souls. 

Kyle Mantyla, also with RW Watch, reels in this flounder:

Fischer, who yearns for an American theocracy, frequently compares gays to Nazis.

Lesbian Demon Begone! ... and "Whites-Only" Christians

"We were able to command the devil to depart from her!"  - Evangelical Pastor Gordon Klingerschmitt 

Former Navy chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt explains to David Packman how he performed an exorcism on a lesbian and afterward "she began dating members of the opposite sex."  (The smug and self-righteous Klingenschmitt commonly uses imprecatory prayers that beseech the Almighty to kill people he doesn't like.)  Wayne Besen of Truth Wins Out, who also appears on Packman's program, provides the voice of reason,   (Painting, right, by Albert-Joseph Penot circa 1890.)

Non-White Christians Not Allowed at Christian Gathering - in Alabama, of course.

WECT reports:  The flier was discovered at Norris Music in downtown Winfield Monday advertising for a conference titled: 'Annual Pastors Conference All White Christians Invited.'  "It was put up throughout the town in the middle of the night. When everyone was asleep without the permission of the business owner." Norris Music manager Tyler Cantrell said.  According to the flier, the three-day conference ends with a "Sacred Christian Cross Lighting Ceremony." The conference is to be held in neighboring Lamar County...  The organizer of the event, Rev. William C. Collier says that his Church of God's Chosen (Christian Identity Ministries) is not a hate group but adds that he believes "the white race is God's chosen people."  Collier defends why only white Christians are invited.  "We don't have the facilities to accommodate other people. We haven't got any invitations to black, Muslim events... we are not invited to Jewish events and stuff," Collier said.

Annie-Rose Strasser writes on Think Progress:  Collier does not specify what sort of special “facilities” people of color may need, but the line harkens back to old southern segregation, when water fountains and bathrooms had “whites only” signs similar to Collier’s flier.  The church hosting the conference is named Christian Identity Ministries. This is the third annual conference — and the Ku Klux Klan is among the attendees this year. The founder of the church, Rev. Mel Lewis, complained that this year’s uproar shows a disrespect for religious liberty.  (Pictured:  Event organizers and flier.)

"Religious liberty" has become the catchphrase for ultraconservatives' bigotry against blacks, Latinos, Jews, and gays.

Anderson Cooper Leaves The Closet, With Class

It's Official - The Silver Fox Plays For Our Team

Anderson Cooper, CNN's most interesting and dynamic journalist, has announced what practically everyone in the LGBT community already suspected: that he is a proud gay man. In the past, his sexual orientation was only shared with family, coworkers, and friends.  Cooper's official revelation arrived in the form of an email sent to pal Andrew Sullivan, a popular political pundit for the Daily Beast.  Cooper has generously allowed Sullivan to share this news with the public. 

After explaining that previous attempts to keep his private life separate from his professional career was guided by concern for the safety of his staff overseas, Cooper reflects:

I’ve also been reminded recently that while as a society we are moving toward greater inclusion and equality for all people, the tide of history only advances when people make themselves fully visible. There continue to be far too many incidences of bullying of young people, as well as discrimination and violence against people of all ages, based on their sexual orientation, and I believe there is value in making clear where I stand.  The fact is, I'm gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn’t be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud.  I have always been very open and honest about this part of my life with my friends, my family, and my colleagues ... 

Being a journalist, traveling to remote places, trying to understand people from all walks of life, telling their stories, has been the greatest joy of my professional career, and I hope to continue doing it for a long time to come. But while I feel very blessed to have had so many opportunities as a journalist, I am also blessed far beyond having a great career.  I love, and I am loved.   (Read the entire piece here.)

In recent years, a surprising number of celebrities have left the closet - at different points in their lives, and for different reasons.  To my mind, Mr. Cooper's observations are more refreshing and candid than most. 

John Mitchell on MTV:  Cooper had long been in what many call the "glass closet" — a phrase used for a person who is known to be gay but is not out publicly — and is the latest to step out, after "Big Bang Theory" star Jim Parsons, "Magic Mike" actor Matt Bomer and "Star Trek" actor Zachary Quinto all threw open the closet door in quick succession and with little fanfare ...  It seems likely that Cooper was holding on to his open secret until he'd felt he'd proven something, until he was in a place where his work spoke so loudly for itself that his command as a newsman could not be questioned.

Anderson Cooper's gal pal Kathy Griffin writes about her friend:  He’s covered the military coup and eventual unseating of the democratically elected (albeit bat-shit crazy) Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He’s covered the small wars in Africa that use children as slave soldiers ... He’s covered the seemingly endless large wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And by “covered,” I mean he’s really gone and covered them—with a security detail and without; embedded with troops and unilaterally—not from the relative safety of the Green Zone in Baghdad or the international zone in Kabul. He’s sat down with despots in countries like Somalia, covered the atrocities in the Balkans and Burma. And he also happens to be gay ...  Many of my young gays don’t know about Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” initiative, which was developed with the help of some extremist American evangelicals. Many don’t know about Stonewall or, more recently, the importance of Lawrence v. Texas. They don’t know (that) Iran has sentenced gay teenagers to death by hanging. They don’t know that in large portions of Baghdad, honest LGBT folks are hunted and summarily executed by roving bands of so-called morality police, who kill with impunity both the “out” and those simply perceived to be gay. What many young people do know is what they read in short bursts on celebrity Twitter posts or on TMZ ... I love my friend Anderson and remain immensely proud of him. And I’m honored, truly, that he considers me a friend. I just want him to be careful.

Rural America, particularly in Southern states, can be almost as dangerous for LGBT folks as theocratic Islamic nations.  In both places, fundamentalist clerics stand behind their pulpits and call for the extermination of homosexuals. 

2012 Texas GOP Platform Reflects Tea Party Extremism

Lone Star State politicians consume extremist dogma like possums lapping up shit.  Just consider the current Republican Party platform in which GOP strategists have renewed their self-aggrandizing clarion call to God, Guns, and Gays, with an ugly undertone of Confederate separatism.  As reported by the Texas Freedom Network:  Writing the Texas Republican Party platform has essentially been a biennial exercise in extremism since religious-right activists took control of the party machinery in the mid-1990s. This story was no different in writing the 2012 state GOP platform. The new party platform would turn back the clock on protections for religious freedom as well as public education, women's health, civil rights, environmental protections and open, sensible government.  (Below are a few salient proposals from this rank document:)

• America's withdrawal from the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organization
  
• The total abolishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and repeal of the Endangered Species Act
• Overturning Minimun Wage laws and the Federal Reserve Act of 1913
• The creation of a so-called "Constitutional State Militia" for Texas
• Allowing college students to carry firearms on campus
• Replacing income and capital gains taxes with a regressive national sales tax
• Privatizing Social Security and phasing out the Social Security tax (thus effectively ending the program)
• Supporting "birthers" who claim Obama is ineligible to serve in the White House

The Texas GOP is churlish and mean-spirited in its condemnation of the state's hundreds of thousands of gay and lesbian citizens.  According to Republican pols (and the fundamentalist pastors who promote the party's "traditional values"), committed same-sex relationships "tear at the fabric of society."  Intimacy between consenting gay and lesbian adults is cavalierly dismissed as "homosexual behavior" and should be illegal, they insist.  Right-wing zealots define our lives, our loves, our dreams and hopes, our entire existence, as "deviant" sexual acts.  A snippet from the document:  Homosexual behavior is contrary to the fundamental, unchanging truths that have been ordained by God, recognized by our country’s founders, and shared by the majority of Texans. Homosexuality must not be presented as an acceptable “alternative” lifestyle, in public policy, nor should “family” be redefined to include homosexual “couples.”  (The 2010 platform actually made it a felony offence for any public official to preside over same-sex nuptials.)

Voters who wonder why LGBT Americans are being beaten or murdered in bias-fueled hate crimes, or why gay youngsters are killing themselves from sheer despair, need look no further than the GOP platform of Texas.  They might also weigh the messages of hate emanating from too many evangelical churches.

Retribution from the Right over Marriage Equality in New York

Apparently that turning-the-other-cheek thing is an alien concept to groups that claim to promote "Christian values." 

Miranda Leitsinger reports for MSNBC:  One year after New York lawmakers voted to make same-sex marriage legal in the state, opponents of gay marriage are pledging to unseat the Republicans whose support was key to the law's passage, saying they want to send a message to other legislators that there are “consequences” to their votes.  The National Organization for Marriage, which opposes gay marriage, says it is funneling $2 million into the state to oust three state senators who voted to support the legislation.  All three, Sens. Roy McDonald, Stephen Saland and Mark Grisanti, are facing primary challenges. A fourth GOP senator, Jim Alesi, already has said he won’t seek a ninth term due to local opposition over his pro-gay marriage stance...  Brian Brown, executive director of NOM, doesn't shy away from the fact his group is hoping to intimidate wavering lawmakers into opposing gay marriage.  “The message is clear, that supporting same-sex marriage is a losing issue, not a winning issue,” Brown told msnbc.com. “You could lose your career over supporting same-sex marriage.”  ("Revenge is ours!" sayeth the homophobes.)  NOM has spent $400,000 on issue ads, billboards, automated calls and direct mail as well as made direct donations through its New York PAC. It is planning to spend another $1.6 million to try to unseat McDonald, Saland and Grisanti as a result of their gay marriage votes.

It's astonishing that NOM can think of no better way to squander its members' cash donations than on what is essentially a strategy of political vengeance.  Of course, what else should we expect from religious cons who believe loving same-sex couples are unworthy of the same rights and protections enjoyed by their heterosexual counterparts.

When Marriage Equality became a reality in the Empire State last summer, Tara Siegel Bernard reported on the New York Times:  While New York had already recognized same-sex marriages performed elsewhere, that recognition didn’t extend to state income taxes. Now, couples who marry and live in New York will be able to file their state tax returns jointly. Wealthier couples may end up paying more in taxes, but families with lower incomes may owe less.  Couples who decide to marry will also be first in line to inherit their spouses’ assets, even in the absence of a will. They’ll gain an array of smaller benefits as well, down to the ability to transfer a lobstering license.  “There are hundreds of different protections and benefits under New York law,” said Susan Sommer, director of constitutional litigation at Lambda Legal, a legal advocacy organization for the gay community.  Of course, there’s still a long list of federal benefits that will remain out of reach. Since the federal Defense of Marriage Act — which defines marriage as between a man and a woman — is still being enforced, gay couples in New York will still need to file separate federal tax returns. They will not be eligible for Social Security spousal or survivor benefits. And they will continue to owe extra income taxes on their spouse’s health insurance benefits — a cost that opposite-sex married couples don’t have to pay.

One wonders if the bigots at NOM, the Family Research Council, American Family Association, NARTH, et al. ever stop hating gays and lesbians long enough to, say, volunteer at a soup kitchen?  No, I suppose two million dollars worth of petty revenge is time and money better spent.  Isn't this what Jesus would do?