Graphic available here

Traditional Values Coalition Enters Video Age to Spew Lies and Intolerance.

July 3rd, 2009

The Traditional Values Coalition (certified hate group) truly despises LGBT people and can’t stand the idea of us being afforded the same hate-crimes protections they enjoy. They’ve used disingenuous lies and crude comics. They even made a ridiculous faux “wanted” poster implying Jesus himself would be arrested should the hate-crimes bill pass.



 
That wasn’t enough for them so they decided to spread their hatred, intolerance and defamation of LGBT people via video. Here are the results.



 
Now please excuse me while I search for some anti-emetic.

 

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More Anti-LGBT Violence.

July 2nd, 2009

Still more violent attacks against LGBT individuals across the US:

Gay-Bashed on Pride Weekend on the Upper East Side

Our colleague Michael Feingold told us some very bad news today: a former Voice sales rep, Joe Holladay, in town on business, was jumped and beaten Saturday morning by a group of men who called him a faggot.

Holladay tells us that he walked out of John Jerome’s apartment on East 85th Street between York and East End Avenues, where he’d been staying, at about 4 a.m. to smoke a cigarette on the sidewalk, and five or six young men swarmed him.

“It’s very blurry,” he says, “But yeah, they said ‘faggot.’ And the next thing I know I’m in the hospital.”

Jerome, an acting coach, heard the fracas and came downstairs to find his friend “in a pool of blood. I thought he was dead. He wasn’t moving.”
…..
Holladay says his doctor told him his injuries suggest he was hit with a blunt object. “The mark on my forehead looks like it was made by the base of a gun,” he says.
…..

 
Congressman says gay sailor’s death is a possible hate crime

Rep. Bob Filner (D-Chula Vista) said today that he has asked the Department of Defense and the Marine Corps to investigate whether the killing of a sailor, who was gay, at Camp Pendleton was a hate crime.

Filner, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said he wanted a complete investigation of circumstances surrounding the death of Seaman August Provost, 29, of Houston. Provost’s body was found about 3:30 a.m. Tuesday in a guard shack on the western edge of the sprawling base.
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Filner said initial indications are that Provost was shot and his body burned. He said his committee also will investigate the case.

[Updated 7:20 p.m.: In a late afternoon news conference, Navy officials today promised a thorough investigation into the killing. They said, however, that there was no evidence it was a hate crime. A sailor who is considered to be a person of interest remains in the brig. Another sailor, who was initially considered a person of interest, has been released.]
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Transgender Woman Brutally Beaten in Queens Bias Attack - TLDEF Demands Full Investigation Into Hate Crime

We’re sad to bring you the news of another brutal attack on a transgender woman, this one coming during the height of LGBT Pride month. On June 19, 2009, at approximately 2:30 am, Leslie Mora was walking home from a nightclub on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens when she was accosted by two men who brutally beat her with a belt. They stopped only when a passing motorist threatened to call the police.

Throughout the attack, Leslie’s assailants called her a “faggot” in Spanish. The attack left Leslie with multiple injuries, including bruises all over her body, and stitches in her scalp. Police called to the scene found Leslie nearly naked and bleeding on the sidewalk. They also recovered a belt buckle from the assailants that was covered in blood.
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Her assailants, Trinidad Tapia, 19, and Gilberto Ortiz, 32, fled the scene but were arrested by police soon after the attack. Both were charged with assault with intent to cause physical injury with a weapon, a felony, and released on their own recognizance. The Queens County District Attorney has declined to investigate the attack as a hate crime.

Transgender people face tremendous violence in their daily lives. A transgender person is murdered every month in the United States, on average. New York State Senators must immediately return to work and pass the transgender hate crimes legislation pending in the Senate. The Gender Expression Non- Discrimination Act (S.2406), which has passed the State Assembly and is awaiting Senate action, would make it a hate crime for an individual to attack another because of the victim’s gender identity or expression. Current state law already protects New Yorkers from hate-motivated violence based upon race, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation and other factors. It is unconscionable that transgender New Yorkers are being attacked on the streets where they live while our state’s Senators shirk their responsibility to take action to end the violence.
…..

 
But of course LGBT people don’t deserve the same hate crimes protections others enjoy. That might inhibit the “right” of others to bash us to a bloody pulp in the name of “religious freedom”.

 

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The Things You Find on YouTube.

July 2nd, 2009

Not recommended for children. Not safe for work. Not for anybody with a heart condition or defective sense of humor. These videos take you straight into the twisted minds of the people who think they have the right to dictate what the rest of us do in our private lives.



 

I can’t wait for the next episode!

 

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Sally Kern and Larry Langford Would Make a Great Pair. In an Asylum.

July 2nd, 2009

Most people are familiar with Sally Kern’s anti-gay rants and her fervent desire to imprison us and force “ex-gay” torture upon us. Fewer know about Birmingham mayor Larry Langford and his claim that all Amurka needs to turn itself around is some Bibles and sackcloths, for if we were to all do more prayin’ and Bible readin’ everything would right itself. Langford even ordered several thousand Bibles and sackcloths for his city to prove how effective prayer and the Word of God were. Of course Mr. Righteous himself was arrested by the FBI not long after for money laundering and bribery. I guess he just didn’t do enough praying and Bible reading. But then again it seems so many of the Bible reading and praying types are also the criminal types, so perhaps the answer isn’t, as they so fervently insist, religion. But I digress.

While Larry Langford is pretty much out of the spotlight, Sally Kern keeps thrusting herself back in, partly because the folks in Oklahoma keep voting for her. What’s she up to now? Grab a bowl of popcorn and read on.


[W]hat caused the economic problems that caused the stimulus package that aroused Gov. Sanford? Oklahoma Rep. Sally Kern has finally answered that question: our sins. Kern has drafted a resolution that puts the current economic crisis squarely on the backs of libertines and godless people who have produced a moral crisis. This includes Obama’s refusal to “uphold the long held tradition of past presidents in recognition of our National Day of Prayer.”
…..

Sanford had an affair because of the stimulus package? That’s a new one, and certainly more creative than blaming Gay Marriage. Sin caused the economic crisis? Let’s see all of the megachurch clergy, RRRW politicians like Kern and others who scream about “sin” give up their money, their mansions and all of their other possessions for the good of the economy. Let them tend to the sick, the poor and the needy and preach directly to them instead of doing so from afar. That’s what Jesus recommended, after all. Or is it only from their gold-saddled high horses that they feel comfortable dictating the lives of others?

OKLAHOMA CITIZEN’S PROCLAMATION FOR MORALITY
…..
WHEREAS, “It is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand” (John Adams); and

WHEREAS, “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with
human passions unbridled by Religion and Morality” (John Adams); and

WHEREAS, “Our Constitution was made only for a Moral and Religious people” (John Adams); and
….

“The government of the United States is not in any sense founded upon the Christian religion”
Treaty of Tripoli, Article 11, Passed unanimously by the Senate, and signed by President John Adams, 1797

“This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it”
John Adams

“Thirteen governments [of the original states] thus founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without a pretence of miracle or mystery, and which are destined to spread over the northern part of that whole quarter of the globe, are a great point gained in favor of the rights of mankind.”
John Adams

WHEREAS, “Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God (Benjamin Franklin); and

“I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life I absented myself from Christian assemblies.”
Benjamin Franklin

“If we look back into history for the character of the present sects in Christianity, we shall find few that have not in their turns been persecutors, and complainers of persecution. The primitive Christians thought persecution extremely wrong in the pagans, but practiced it on one another. The first Protestants of the Church of England blamed persecution in the Romish Church, but practiced it upon the Puritans. These found it wrong in the bishops, but fell into the same practice themselves both here and in New England.”
Benjamin Franklin

“Indeed, when religious people quarrel about religion, or hungry people quarrel about victuals, it looks as if they had not much of either among them.”
Benjamin Franklin

WHEREAS, “God who gave us life gave us liberty and can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God” (Thomas Jefferson); and
….

“Because religious belief, or non-belief, is such an important part of every person’s life, freedom of religion affects every individual. Religious institutions that use government power in support of themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths, or of no faith, undermine all our civil rights. Moreover, state support of an established religion tends to make the clergy unresponsive to their own people, and leads to corruption within religion itself. Erecting the “wall of separation between church and state,” therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society.”
Thomas Jefferson


“Christianity neither is, nor ever was, a part of the common law.”

Thomas Jefferson

…..
WHEREAS, this nation has become a world leader in promoting abortion, pornography, same sex marriage, sex trafficking, divorce, illegitimate births, child abuse, and many other forms of debauchery; and
…..

Funny. In 2005, when that fine Christian GWB was in office, Oklahoma ranked 13th on the list for violent crimes–that meaning they had the 13th highest rate in the nation per 100,000 people in their state. Meanwhile naughty blue states that promote “sinful” things rank far lower. For example MA was number 40, CT was #41, ME was #47 and VT was #48. Oklahoma also has one of the highest divorce rates in the nation–6.0 divorces per 1,000 people compared to 3.0/1,000 in those debauched New England states. Why again are people from Oklahoma preaching to others about “sin”?

WHEREAS, grieved that the Office of the president of these United States has refused to uphold the long held tradition of past presidents in giving recognition to our National Day of Prayer; and

The National Day of Prayer has only been a “tradition” since 1952, and was implemented at the insistence Billy Graham who, like many of his ilk, lied to achieve his agenda. Since then it’s been co-opted by the RRRW as a means of shoving radical evangelical Christian theology into the government and onto Americans. Obama recognized the Day of Prayer, which is plenty. But as usual Kern and her ilk want more. They want the government to not only recognize but to elevate their religion above all others and to actively promote it.

WHEREAS, deeply disturbed that the Office of the president of these United States disregards the biblical admonitions to live clean and pure lives by proclaiming an entire month to an immoral behavior;

Pride Month has been around for decades and has nothing to do with Obama. Obama recognized Pride month the same way he did the Day of Prayer; with a proclamation. Funny how those proclamations are far too little when they’re for the RRRW, and a sure sign of the apocalypse when they’re for us.

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that we the undersigned elected officials of the people of Oklahoma, religious leaders and citizens of the State of Oklahoma, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world, solemnly declare that the HOPE of the great State of Oklahoma and of these United States, rests upon the Principles of Religion and Morality as put forth in the HOLY BIBLE; and

BE IT RESOLVED that we, the undersigned, believers in the One True God and His only Son, call upon all to join with us in recognizing that “Blessed is the Nation whose God is the Lord,” and humbly implore all who love Truth and Virtue to live above reproach in the sight of God and man with a firm reliance on the leadership and protection of Almighty God; and

BE IT RESOLVED that we, the undersigned, humbly call upon Holy God, our Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer, to have mercy on this nation, to stay His hand of judgment, and grant a national awakening of righteousness and Christian renewal as we repent of our great sin.
…..

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
First Amendment, US Constitution, Ratified 12/15/1791.

Here’s an idea for Sally Kern. When Oklahoma gets the moat out of it’s own eye it can come and preach to the rest of the country about how all the “sinful” states (with their lower divorce rates, crime rates, teen pregnancy rates, etc.) should be running their lives. But I won’t be holding my breath. Kern and her ilk like to micromanage the lives of others and shove their religion on everyone else by any means necessary. They never manage to actually live according to the twaddle they spend so much time screaming about. Such is the way of the religious hypocrite.

Better yet, if Kern and pals like the idea of living in a theocracy so much they could always move to Iran…

 

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Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Interracial Mormon Marriages

July 2nd, 2009

From Chino Blanco:

…..

That said, it wasn’t the film’s treatment of historical injustice that provoked me to write this post, but rather what the clip below reveals about an ongoing and very present cause for concern.

First, a quick synopsis to set up the clip:

00:00:00 - Faithful young Mormon couple, parents of nine

00:00:55 - Their encounter with racism inside the Salt Lake Temple

…..

00:01:25 - This worthy Mormon family is apparently not appropriate for LDS church media? Good enough to tithe, to attend the Mormon Temple, but not good enough for Mormon magazine covers? What is it with NOM the Mormon church and its addiction to artifice and actors?

And here it is, a short excerpt from Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons …

More, including embedded links….

 

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A Hate Crime Every Hour in USA; Hate Crimes Against Hispanics, LGBT People Dramatically Increased.

July 1st, 2009

The prevalence of hate-crimes should not be news to any of my readers. I blog about it routinely. There is a new report out, however, that indicates a hate crime occurs every hour in the US–more than 7,500 such crimes per year.

…..
“In the nearly twenty years since the 1990 enactment of the Hate Crime Statistics Act (HCSA), the number of hate crimes reported has consistently ranged around 7,500 or more annually — that’s nearly one every hour of every day,” says a new study by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund (LCCREF), the research arm of the oldest and largest civil rights coalition in the United States. “Violence committed against individuals because of their race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation remains a serious problem.”

The report expresses particular concern for the rising number of hate crimes committed against Hispanics and those perceived to be immigrants, which LCCREF says is closely correlated to the increasingly intense debate over U.S. immigration reform and “anti-immigrant vitriol on radio, television, and the Internet.” According to LCCREF, inflammatory rhetoric by high-profile national media personalities and groups opposing immigration reform “veers dangerously close to — and too often crosses the line beyond — civil discourse over contentious immigration policy issues.”

Findings also indicate that the increasing demonization of immigrants, combined with the economic downturn and the election of the United States’ first Africa-American president, have fueled a significant surge in white supremacist groups. Extremists have relied largely on the Internet to grow their ranks and organize attacks.

Moreover, hate crimes committed against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals have risen to their highest level in five years, notes the report, Confronting the New Faces of Hate: Hate Crimes in America 2009.

“All Americans have a stake in reducing hate crimes,” writes LCCREF, emphasizing the urgent need for a comprehensive nationwide effort to halt bias-motivated violence. “These crimes are intended to intimidate not only the individual victim, but all members of the victim’s community, and even members of other communities historically victimized by hate. By making these victims and communities fearful, angry, and suspicious of other groups — and of the authorities who are charged with protecting them — these incidents fragment and isolate our communities, tearing apart the interwoven fabric of American society.”
…..
The marked increase in hate violence against Hispanics correlates closely with the increasingly heated debate over Comprehensive Immigration Reform and an escalation in the level of anti-immigrant vitriol on radio, television, and the Internet. Warned an April 2009 assessment from the Office of Intelligence and Analysis at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), “in some cases, anti-immigration or strident pro-enforcement fervor has been directed against specific groups and has the potential to turn violent.” As inflammatory rhetoric targets immigrants at the same time that the number of hate crimes against Hispanics and others perceived to be immigrants steadily increases, a heightened sense of fear has gripped Hispanic and other minority communities around the country.

In one of the most disturbing developments of recent years, some groups opposing immigration reform, such as the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), and NumbersUSA, have inflamed the immigration debate by invoking the dehumanizing, racist stereotypes and bigotry of hate groups. While these seemingly “legitimate” advocates against illegal immigration are frequently quoted in the mainstream media, have been called to testify before Congress, and often hold meetings with lawmakers and other public figures, their virulently anti-immigrant rhetoric veers dangerously close to - and too often crosses the line beyond - civil discourse over contentious immigration policy issues.
…..

Fear and vilification of immigrants has combined with the worst economic downturn in decades and the election of the first African-American president to cause a surge in the activity of white supremacist groups. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the number of hate groups operating in the United States increased more than four percent in 2008 and has grown by 54 percent since 2000. “Barack Obama’s election has inflamed racist extremists who see it as another sign that their country is under siege by non-whites,” said Mark Potok, editor of the Intelligence Report published by the SPLC. “The idea of a black man in the White House, combined with the deepening economic crisis and continuing high levels of Latino immigration, has given white supremacists a real platform on which to recruit.”
…..
Eliminating the prejudice that underlies hate crimes requires that Americans develop respect for cultural differences and establish dialogue across racial, ethnic, cultural, and religious boundaries. Education, awareness, and acceptance of group differences are the cornerstones of a long-term solution to prejudice, discrimination, and bigotry. Hate crime laws and effective responses to hate violence by public officials and law enforcement authorities can play an essential role in deterring and preventing these crimes, creating a healthier and stronger society for all Americans.

All Americans have a stake in reducing hate crimes. These crimes are intended to intimidate not only the individual victim, but all members of the victim’s community, and even members of other communities historically victimized by hate. By making these victims and communities fearful, angry, and suspicious of other groups - and of the authorities who are charged with protecting them - these incidents fragment and isolate our communities, tearing apart the interwoven fabric of American society. Thus, the damage done by hate crimes cannot be measured solely in terms of physical injury or dollars and cents. For these reasons and more, hate crimes demand a priority response from governmental authorities.
…..

Anti-LGBT violence has increased significantly in NY (as it did here recently in CA). I imagine this trend will continue across the nation.

Following a gay pride weekend marked by hate-motivated violence, advocates in New York City planned a press conference on Wednesday morning to discuss a new report showing increased severity of crimes against LGBT people in 2008, despite a 12% fall in the overall number of crimes in the city.

According to the New York City Anti-Violence Project, the 2008 anti-LGBT hate violence report documents that 17% of the nation’s 29 anti-LGBT murders last year — or five homicides — occurred in the city. Sexual assault against LGBT individuals in New York City rose by 171%, and the use of weapons in the commission of hate crimes also rose.
…..

The “moral values” crowd has all but dropped the “we love everyone” facade and is once again showing its true colors, and it isn’t pretty. In fact it’s downright terrifying. People shouldn’t have to suffer and die over the chosen personal bigotries of others.

 
Related posts:
RRRW Actively Supports Bullying of LGBT Students.

The Hate Crimes Bill, Critical and Long Overdue.

‘They kill people like us,’ says gay Iraqi

Anti-Gay Legislation = Anti-Gay Violence. Marriage Equality Activist Allegedly Beaten in San Diego County.

Anti-LGBT Hate Crimes Highest Since 1999.

 

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Gay People Harassed by Homophobic Mob.

July 1st, 2009

Look what happens when homophobic parents raise homophobic offspring. Remind yourself the bigots claim they’re being persecuted by us. How many full-bore hate crimes will these children go on to commit because they’ve been taught that gay people are acceptable targets for hatred, harassment and worse?



 

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Pink Triangle, Monument to Gay Holocaust Victims, Burned by Arsonists.

June 30th, 2009

There’s not much to say about this other than I’m not at all surprised, particularly in the wake of Proposition 8, though I’m thoroughly disgusted. This is a Holocaust memorial. Is there nothing actually sacred to these bigots? (Purely rhetorical question.)


San Francisco fire officials said Monday that the weekend burning of a large fabric triangle, spread on the Twin Peaks hillside during the city’s gay pride celebration each year, was arson.

“Officially it is an intentionally set fire,” said fire department spokeswoman Lt. Mindy Talmadge.

“There is an active criminal investigation,” she added, but said no arrests had been made as of Monday evening.

…..

The early Sunday morning fire was reported around 5 a.m. near Christmas Tree Point Road.

It burned about 25 to 30 feet of the massive Pink Triangle before being extinguished about a half-hour later.

The triangle, which has been displayed during the Pride Parade in San Francisco each year since 1995, pays tribute to the gay victims of the Holocaust and others who have suffered discrimination.

 

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News Briefs

June 30th, 2009

Various headlines from everywhere.

 
Gay bar patrons not targeted by officers, chief says
All the usual tripe. “We went there because they were a bunch of drunks. They made gay passes at us. He just walked into my night stick, I swear.”

Obama urges lesbian, gay patience overturning ‘unjust laws’
Obama makes pretty words and tells us to keep on waiting, as usual.

Court throws out ban on exposing children to gays
Georgia Supreme Court is living in 21st century unlike lower court. Gay parents and friends won’t actually give children Teh Gay.


Neo-Nazis are in the Army now

Sharing the baracks, trenches or showers with a law-abiding, highly qualiified gay/lesbian soldier? EEEEW! Sharing them with Neo-Nazis and ex-felons? No problem.

Atheists as Unusually Moral?
Yeah, we’ve been saying this all along but let a Pagan tell you now.

Don’t leave clergy alone with children: report
Finally someone figured it out. All that screaming they do about gay people molesting children–it’s projection.

Could Proposition 8 happen in Canada?
These days I wouldn’t be surprised by anything. They have Alberta, after all, which is chock full of Mormons.

It’s Baaackkk: ENDA!
“Traditional Values” Coalition displays their Christian love by calling a transgender man a “she-male”.


Judge Upholds Start Date of D.C. Gay Marriage Law

D.C. to uphold law. Bigots apoplectic.

American Atheists to lower membership fees
In light of the struggling economy and in an effort to boost membership American Atheists has reduced membership fees. Individual memberships are now $20 (formerly $40) and family memberships are $35 (formerly $60).

 

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Faces of Hate / Jesus Loves Me

June 29th, 2009

More RRRW Christianist “love” for LGBT people caught on tape at Sacramento Pride (June 20, 2009) .



 

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