The Gaytheist Agenda

And I’m there! Be sure to check it out. And don’t miss Greta Christina’s excellent contribution, All I Really Need To Know I Learned From Porn–Or Not.

Article VI, section 3 of the United States Constitution states that no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States. Presumably this means that no federal employee, be they elected or appointed, can be required to adhere to any belief, doctrine or religion.

While that may be the true in the letter of the law, it’s often not the case in practice–particularly with the presidential elections.
Every four years we have a non-stop parade of candidates who try to out Christian one another. Who can be seen attending the most churches and speaking from the pulpits? Who has the strongest relationship with their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ? Who can infuse their speeches with the greatest number of Christian references?

There is, of course, the more disturbing element to this. LGBT citizens are denigrated and candidates promise to restrict their rights or eradicate them completely. Those of faiths other than Christianity and the non-religious are made to feel like second (or even third) class citizens. More and more promises are made to the faithful while others are left in the dust lest the faithful be “offended”.

Not all of the candidates go unscathed. While some gladly throw people under the political bus for votes, others do it less willingly. They must jump through all the right hoops to please the voting public, much of which is Christian, and a minority of which is comprised of the vocal and demanding RRRW. It is a deep-rooted prejudice among many such individuals that non-Christians, and non-believers in particular, are untrustworthy. Accordingly the potential for any such candidate to win an election is next to impossible. Indeed, if you are not a Christian, and preferably the right type of Christian, you’d best not even consider running for the office of president. Just look at what Mitt Romney has gone through because he is a Mormon, for example.

It is a vicious circle. Certain voters force the candidates to behave as they do, and the candidates act in a way that is harmful to other voters. Cycle after cycle the dance goes on, and it only seems to be getting worse.

Take, for example, this page on Barack Obama’s Website.

Obama Has Never Been A Muslim, And Is a Committed Christian

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Obama Spokesman Robert Gibbs Issued A Statement Explaining That “Senator Obama Has Never Been A Muslim, Was Not Raised As A Muslim, And Is A Committed Christian.” “Obama’s campaign aides have emphasized his strong Christian beliefs and downplayed any Islamic connection. The Illinois senator was raised ‘in a secular household in Indonesia by his stepfather and mother,’ his chief spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said in a statement in January after false reports began circulating that Obama had attended a radical madrasa, or Koranic school, as a child. ‘To be clear, Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ in Chicago,’ Gibbs’ Jan. 24 statement said.”

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Obama “Beckoning” Felt At Trinity United Church Of Christ, “Submitted Myself To His Will, And Dedicated Myself To Discovering His Truth And Carrying Out His Works.” Obama said, “So one Sunday, I put on one of the few clean jackets I had, and went over to Trinity United Church of Christ on 95th Street on the South Side of Chicago. And I heard Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright deliver a sermon called “The Audacity of Hope.” And during the course of that sermon, he introduced me to someone named Jesus Christ. I learned that my sins could be redeemed. I learned that those things I was too weak to accomplish myself, He would accomplish with me if I placed my trust in Him. And in time, I came to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death, but rather as an active, palpable agent in the world and in my own life. It was because of these newfound understandings that I was finally able to walk down the aisle of Trinity one day and affirm my Christian faith. It came about as a choice, and not an epiphany. I didn’t fall out in church, as folks sometimes do. The questions I had didn’t magically disappear. The skeptical bent of my mind didn’t suddenly vanish. But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side, I felt I heard God’s spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth and carrying out His works.”

Barack Obama Is Not and Has Never Been a Muslim. Obama never prayed in a mosque. He has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ.

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OBAMA IS A PRACTICING CHRISTIAN

Obama Has Been A Member Of Trinity United Church Of Christ For Twenty Years. Monroe Anderson stands up for Reverend Wright’s ministry, “For the past two decades, Barack Obama has been a faithful member of the congregation at Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ.”

Obama Was Baptized And Attends Church Once a Week When He is Able. In the Audacity of Hope, Obama wrote, “I was finally able to walk down the aisle of Trinity United Church of Christ one day and be baptized.” In 2004, he “attend[ed] the 11 a.m. Sunday service at Trinity in the Brainerd neighborhood every week — or at least as many weeks as he is able. His pastor, Wright, has become a close confidant.” When asked about his decision to be baptized, Obama said “Kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side of Chicago, I felt I heard God’s spirit beckoning me,” he said of his walk down the aisle of the Trinity United Church of Christ. “I submitted myself to his will and dedicated myself to discovering his truth.”

Obama Reads The Bible, Finds Time to Pray On Campaign Trail. The Chicago Sun-Times wrote, “Obama says he reads the Bible, though not as regularly as he’d like, now that he’s on the campaign trail. But he does find time to pray. ‘It’s not formal, me getting on my knees,’ he says. ‘I think I have an ongoing conversation with God… I’m constantly asking myself questions about what I’m doing, why I am doing it.’”

How strong the denials that Obama is or ever has been a Muslim. They even go so far as to deny Obama has ever prayed in a mosque. It’s as if being a Muslim is something dirty, depraved and shameful. Now I’m a mere atheist, but I can only imagine how offensive that page might be to Muslims who might come across it.

Then, of course, we learn how very devout a Christian Obama is. Because in order to prove that he’s not a Muslim he must proclaim his Christian street cred in every manner possible. Hence the myriad sources documenting in minute detail his conversion to Christianity, his weekly church attendance, his swearing into office with his personal Bible, his campaign trail prayers, etc, etc.

Mitt Romney, as I noted before, came under fire because he is a Mormon rather than a Christian. His website makes no reference to his religion that I could find. Better not to mention it, of course, because anything but Christianity is a no-no. In fact competitor Mike Huckabee attacked him with the Jesus and Satan are brothers according to Mormon theology claim not so long ago. Romney found very early that the less he said about his faith the better, and went to great lengths to assure voters that he would not impose “any one faith” on people should he become president. (Funny how Christian candidates never make any such promise, nor do they feel compelled to.) He then turned around and proclaimed that freedom requires religion, just as religion requires freedom. Translation: I won’t impose my faith on people, but I will impose faith on them.

Constitutionally there is no religious test for public office, and that should be enforced both officially and unofficially. Religion should not be part of a candidates race for office in any way, shape or form. Only when candidates are judged solely on their platforms will the races be truly equitable.

There are openly gay and lesbian politicians in America, currently there are no transgender candidates. Last year, Largo FL officials voted to dismiss City Manager Steve Stanton following his disclosure that he would be having sex-change surger and becoming a woman named Susan. A transgender woman served a term on the City Council in GA, but was defeated upon bid for re-election last year.

Chrissy Nakonsky, who until five years ago was Jeff Nakonsky, hopes to change that. She is running for the Minnesota Legislature. What is surprising is that she’s running as a Republican.

Nakonsky said the 2006 reelection of the state’s only openly gay Republican legislator, Sen. Paul Koering of nearby Fort Ripley, gives her hope that Brainerd-area voters won’t deny her a legislative seat because of her gender change.

“If people vote for or against me, it should be because of my values,” Nakonsky said.

Good luck with that. Sadly to many Republicans being LGB or T is in and of itself a “value”, and a bad one at that. They won’t look past it to see what your other qualities are, nor do they care to.

“I’ve voted Republican all my life,” Nakonsky said. “Republicans swear by not raising taxes, and raising taxes would hurt families in poverty, like mine.”

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Nakonsky, who grew up in Washington state and moved to Brainerd 10 years ago because her brother lived there, said she knew from the time she was young that she was female at heart. She and her wife, Jennifer, were married seven years ago, when Nakonsky still was “pretending,” she said, to be a man.

Jennifer Nakonsky said, “It’s been a learning experience, but I knew she was the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, either as a man or a woman. Our marriage is strong.”

Together they’ve had four children, all girls, now ages 6, 5, 3 and 10 months. While the oldest has had some trouble accepting her dad’s gender change, the rest see it as normal, the couple said.

Today, she identifies and dresses as a woman and gets female hormone therapy, but said she has yet to undergo a sex-change operation because it’s expensive.

The family lives on government public assistance in a cramped mobile home. Jennifer Nakonsky is a stay-at-home mom, and Chrissy Nakonsky hasn’t worked, she said, since quitting as a store cashier and stocker because managers required her to observe the dress code for men. She said she’s filed a complaint with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights.

While she may be at odds with many in the party on issues such as gay marriage, she said she would focus mainly on issues of education and poverty.

I honestly don’t see how Nakonsky thinks she’s going to accomplish anything with the Republican party–assuming she gets elected in the first place. Education, poverty, LGBT rights. None of those issues are strong suits for the Republicans. They cater to the rich and deplore “entitlements”. They favor private education and homeschooling over public education which leaves public schools the short end of the stick when it comes to legislation (and dare I mention NCLB?). And LGBT rights? It’s going to be a long, uphill battle to get those even from Democrats. Republicans certainly aren’t ready to fork them over.

But she’s willing to try, so more power to her. I wish her well in her endeavor, misguided as I think it is.

I really have to wonder what they were thinking–or if they were thinking–when they designed this particular piece of Jesus Kitsch.

There are countless captions that could come of this, but I’ll leave those to your imagination….

Being a staunch animal lover a had a profound reaction to this story.

When Antoine Draper sent his two year old pit bull, MiMi, to live with his brother for a while, he said it was like parting with one of his kids.

“From a puppy I fed her with a bottle. From the time she was born,” Draper said.

But just days before Christmas, he got a call that made him sick to his stomach.

“I was working, I got a phone call said somebody set my dog on fire. When I came down here my dog was on fire,” Draper said.

Mimi was set on fire while she was giving birth to puppies. The dog was still burning when Draper got there and he said he knows who did it.

“I found out later on it was my brother’s girlfriend who was mad and high. She sent her friend to get gasoline to kill my dog to hurt my brother. She thought it was my brother’s dog. But it was actually my dog,” Draper said.

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But to make matters worse, nobody has been charged with the crime.

Draper filed a police report. He said he even brought witnesses down to the station with him. But a month later, his brother’s ex-girlfriend still hasn’t been arrested.

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Draper says justice won’t bring MiMi back. But her killer should be punished.

While I’m not a pacifist I avoid violence to the fullest extent possible. I understand the impulse for revenge not only from being human but from my Psychology studies. But I just can’t fathom engaging in such behavior–particularly taking it to such levels of wanton cruelty.

Sadly there are many in the world who can, and do.

Being a gaytheist I’m well acquainted with the (often arbitrary) religion-based bigotry of the RRRW. There are, however, times they have no idea what they’re talking about when they try to justify their biases. Case in point:

Stephanie Conover, an actor, singer, dancer, and current Miss Canada Plus 2007, was asked about three weeks ago if she would be interested in judging the 2008 Miss Toronto Tourism contest on February 2. She accepted, and sent along a brief bio detailing some of her interests, including knitting, reading, yoga, reiki, and tarot card reading. Last Tuesday she got a letter from pageant organizers revoking her invitation because the latter two practices constitute “the occult’ and “witchcraft.” Reiki is a Japanese art that seeks to heal the body with energy, while Tarot cards are an ancient way of seeking spiritual guidance or entertaining friends when the cable goes out.

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The rest of the letter was similarly absurd, in that fundamentalist religious way that’s both comic and terrifying at the same time. It notes that reiki and Tarot are not only unacceptable to “Jews, Muslims, or Christians,” but to God Himself, who is no doubt even now cursing his bad luck that he doesn’t get to call down hellfire on the pageant, thanks to organizers who had the wit to dump their Jonah overboard before the Big Guy took matters into His Own Hands.

The letter goes on to quote Leviticus 20:6, where God states: “I will set my face against the person who turns to mediums or spiritists to prostitute himself by following them, and I will cut them off from his people,” although fortunately for Stephanie, she’s apparently been exempted from the requirements of Leviticus 20:27, which mandates that “A man or a woman who is a medium…shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones.”

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The letter also hopes that “Stephanie Conover will turn from these belief systems and will repent from her practice of them.” However, in her conversation with Torontoist, Stephanie expressed no interest in repenting.

Ironically, one of the virtues that Miss Toronto Tourism trumpets on their website is their commitment to multiculturalism. Presumably they’re thinking of a limited kind of diversity, inclusive only of those who don’t engage in God-pissing-off practices like being gay, eating bacon, or believing in evolution. But hey, you can’t spell multi-culturalism without “cult.”

As I noted over on the Lavender Newswire, hypocritical fundie wingnuts aren’t just a United States phenomenon any longer. They’ve invaded Canada. They’ve got religion and by God they’re going to make you live by it! And it doesn’t matter whether or not they have a clue what they’re talking about.

Now Reiki has absolutely nothing to do with the occult or “witchcraft”. Reiki is a Japanese practice that is used by some to promote relaxation and healing. It is popular among people who utilize “alternative healing” therapies. It’s no surprise there’s an entire Webpage for those who must deal with Christians who jump to conclusions about Reiki without any knowledge about it.

As to Tarot card reading, while some people associate it with the occult and “mystics” it’s really nothing more than an entertaining parlor game for most people. If anybody truly thinks one can tell the future or contact “spirits” with a deck of cards then rationality is not their strong suit.

I have to wonder, by the way, why a group of fundaloons would want to be associated with a beauty pageant in the first place. I seem to remember Paul saying something about vanity somewhere in the Bible. Oh yes, that’s it:

1 Peter 3:3 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes.

But then half the women in the average megachurch would be in violation of that one, wouldn’t they?

Normally the “Ex-Gay” industry is no laughing matter. But this is one of those exceptions.

I’ve been featured in the current Carnival of Struggling and Bumbling Newbies, which is up at SuccessPart2.com.

I invite you to stop by and check it out.

TruthWinsOut.org today announced its ambitious plans for 2008 – which include several protests, a three-region tour and a significant presence at several Gay Pride events. TWO is also placing a national call for volunteers to help us in the cities and regions we are visiting. We are also asking that local universities, community groups, advocacy organizations, business groups, social clubs and religious institutions inquire about having TWO Executive Director Wayne Besen give a presentation on the so-called “ex-gay” myth while he is in town.

“We are urging volunteers to get involved now to help us at these events and to further our important message,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director, TruthWinsOut.org. “We look forward to educating people across America on the ex-gay industry and right wing extremism.”

TWO plans to have regional tours in the following areas:

California, April 1-13
Florida, June 2-10
Pacific Northwest, June 16-30

TWO plans to work with local organizations to hold protest rallies at the following venues in 2008:

Love Won Out, April 12, San Jose
Exodus Global Alliance, May 8-10, Toronto
Love Won Out, June 7, Orlando
Exodus National Conference, July 15, Ashville
Love Won Out, Sept. 13, Anchorage
NARTH Conference, Nov. 7-9, Denver

TWO plans to work with local organizations to have a presence at the following events:

Exodus West Coast Regional Conference, April 3-5, Fresno
Exodus Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference, April 4-6, Williamsburg, VA
Exodus Asia Pacific Conference, Aug. 2-3, Malaysia
Exodus North Central Conference, Oct. 24-26, Green Lake, WI

TWO plans to have booths at the following Pride Events:

Fort Lauderdale
Long Beach
DC Black Pride
DC
Los Angeles
Portland (OR)
New York City
San Diego
Atlanta
Minneapolis
Chicago
San Francisco
Seattle
St. Louis
Dallas

“We urge our supporters to mark their calendars and help us carry out our mission,” said Besen. “If we will be in your area, consider booking us for an entertaining educational forum on the ex-gay myth.”

All dates are tentative and subject to change as the itinerary continues developing. This is TWO’s first national tour of America. TruthWinsOut.org is a non-profit organization that counters right wing propaganda, exposes the “ex-gay” myth and educates America about gay life. For more information, visit www.TruthWinsOut.org.

I highly recommend anybody who can offer assistance do so. Truth Wins Out is one of the premier organizations fighting against the psycho-spiritual terrorists who call themselves the “ex-gay” movement.

Catchy and educational, it’s Smak Dem Christians Down by Jay Spears.

Who says you can’t enjoy debating with the RRRW?