The Gaytheist Agenda

Now this is something I can appreciate. Launched yesterday, Nonviolence 4 Equality advocates national, nonviolent direct action to achieve social change. Currently part of N4E are Cleve Jones, Soulforce, Join the Impact and The Ruckus Society. While I’ve heard of the first three, the last is new to me. However I can’t help but appreciate a name like The Ruckus Society, and I love what they do.

Nonviolence 4 Equality has issued a Call to Action, which they are asking people to sign:

TIME TO TAKE IT TO THE STREETS

An urgent national call for nonviolent direct action to achieve full equality.

March 30, 2009

Today, we issue a national call for social change through the ongoing use of nonviolent direct action ‐ including civil disobedience when necessary – until the federal government extends equal protection in all fifty states on matters governed by civil law.

Efforts to achieve full civil equality – such as the right to marry the person we love, the right to care for our families, the right to nondiscrimination in the workplace, and the right to serve openly in the military ‐ have awakened a sleeping giant within the soul of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) community. We are tired of agonizing political setbacks, token change, defending ourselves against charges of moral inferiority, and being told to “wait” in the land we love while liberation occurs in other countries. Martin Luther King, Jr. acknowledged that real change takes time; yet he also warned against the “tranquilizing drug of gradualism” and instructed the oppressed to demand equality now – not on the convenient time schedule of those doing the oppressing. Legislative efforts toward equality, while essential, have proven woefully inadequate under current circumstances.

Today, we affirm that nonviolent strategies such as marches, vigils, demonstrations, public protests, and civil disobedience, seek to create what Dr. King called “healthy tension”. This constructive tension forces those who perpetuate injustice, and society as a whole, to pause, reflect, and consider the ugliness of their prejudices and the indecency embodied in their discrimination. In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. King wrote: “Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored.”

In addition to Dr. King’s legacy, we remember that those of Mahatma Gandhi, Bayard Rustin, Oscar Romero, Cesar Chavez, the Velvet Revolution, and countless others are deeply rooted in United States and world history. Nonviolent resistance continues to play a vital role in undermining the power of repressive political regimes.

We call on community organizers, activists, movement leaders, and all LGBTQ people across the nation to begin training the masses in nonviolent direct action. We have prepared a new online resource – www.nonviolence4equality.org – to assist in this vital task. As we resist injustice, we must avoid violence of the fist, tongue, and heart and remember that in truth we are challenging unjust systems, not people. In due course, we seek to be in community with those from whom we currently find ourselves divided.

We, the undersigned, call on LGBTQ and allied people everywhere to act with strength and integrity. Today, we reclaim nonviolent direct action as part of that process. Let’s understand that the vision of equality belongs to all of us and we are each responsible for taking action in pursuit of that dream. We all have the faculty to be powerful, influential, and prevailing. Let’s reinvest in our movement for social change and believe in our own capacity to effect that change. Let’s allow the boldness and hunger for justice to grow and contagiously spread to others.

Let’s take it to the streets.

* Jeff Lutes, Soulforce
* Cleve Jones, UNITE HERE
* Willow Witte, Join the Impact
* Sara Beth Brooks, San Diego Equality Campaign
* David Comfort, Equality Network
* Kip Williams, Radical Designs
* Jeff Sheng, Fearless Campus Tour
* David Valk, UCLA Student
* Laura Kanter, Orange County Equality Coalition
* Christopher Hubble, Soulforce in Colorado

 
Please sign, and let’s take it to the streets!

 

Really, they have. They actually kowtowed to religious extremists and passed the outrageous resolution declaring “defamation of religion” a human rights violation.

A United Nations forum on Thursday passed a resolution condemning “defamation of religion” as a human rights violation, despite wide concerns that it could be used to justify curbs on free speech in Muslim countries.

The U.N. Human Rights Council adopted the non-binding text, proposed by Pakistan on behalf of Islamic states, with a vote of 23 states in favour and 11 against, with 13 abstentions.
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Pakistan, speaking for the 56-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), said a “delicate balance” had to be struck between freedom of expression and respect for religions.
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WTF? Religion is not a human, so how does “defaming” it constitute a violation of human rights? How does it harm or violate the rights of another human if I say, for example, “Your religion is a pile of festering horse poo”? Does it violate my human rights if someone tells me that vegetarianism is weird, or that Liberals are whacked?

Why do people presume religions automatically deserve respect? Particularly when those religions advocate violence toward people who don’t believe in them or have the temerity to go against their directives?

“Defamation of religious is a serious affront to human dignity leading to a restriction on the freedom of their adherents and incitement to religious violence,” the adopted text read, adding that “Islam is frequently and wrongly associated with human rights violations and terrorism.”

Some religious beliefs are a serious affront to human dignity, lead to restrictions on the freedoms of their adherents (as well as non-adherents) and incitement to religious violence. Also, if people don’t like their religion being associated with human rights violations maybe they shouldn’t react to people “defaming” their religion by rioting and threatening to kill people. They might think twice before they issue death threats to somebody who “stole” a cracker from their church rather than just eating it right there like everyone else. They might want to stop those “honor killings” and other forms of punishment against “wayward women”. There’s nothing honorable about beating/killing a woman, or telling her she must kill herself, just because she did something in opposition to religious dogma. But that’s just my opinion. (Mind you, that’s just a small sampling of the insanities and atrocities committed in the name of religion–in recent times no less.)

It called on states to ensure that religious places, sites, shrines and symbols are protected, to reinforce laws “to deny impunity” for those exhibiting intolerance of ethnic and religious minorities, and “to take all possible measures to promote tolerance and respect for all religions and beliefs”.

Some religious tenets and religious believers actively promote hatred and intolerance toward others. They ensure that people are spiritually, psychologically, and physically harmed–even killed. Now people want the UN to provide special protections for beliefs? This is sick beyond belief. It also shows just how pathetically fragile such religious people are.

People should be respected. Beliefs should be held to the harsh light of day and open to criticism. We must get away from the notion that religion should be untouchable, and “different” from other beliefs/ideas. Knock it off its pedestal; don’t give it more special rights than it already has.

This is episode 2 in the Fine Brothers Proposition 8 series. If you haven’t seen the first episode, Religion, you can see it here.

The answer is; quite a bit, actually. Ironically it’s the bigots accusing us of McCarthyism who are the ones engaging in just that. But then they’re masters of projection, as I’ve said more than once. From TruthandLove at Pam’s House Blend:

If you glance at the tactics of the Anti Gay Movement, from Anita Bryant, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and all the way to last years passing of Proposition 8, with the Mormons, and other fundamentalists, they look less like the tactics used by the racist’s during the Civil Rights movement, than they look like what Joe McCarthy did during the Red Scare. I think if we take a look at his tactics, we can see how to over come it. Just as McCarthy self destructed, so will they.

Transcripts of the Senate hearings, which became available in 2003, confirm what the American public eventually realized about McCarthy and his tactics. He often had little or no solid evidence on which to base his claims. The names of many witnesses and suspects were released publicly, resulting in defamation of character and guilt by association. Careers and reputations were irreversibly damaged. And when all was said and done, there were no convictions for subversion, because he used inuendo and outright lies, he twisted the facts and figures frequently, and when called out on these, he would switch to new “proof” and evidence. Going from 205 known communists, to 108, to 75 and in the end settling on 57.
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The American Heritage Dictionary defines McCarthyism as “the political practice of publicizing accusations of disloyalty or subversion with insufficient regard to evidence.”

The act of subversion is defined as — the “systematic attempt to overthrow or undermine a government or political system by persons working from within”

While we are not being accused out right of trying to overthrow the government, aren’t we being accused of an agenda that includes attaining government positions to undermine “Christian” traditions? Aren’t we being accused of subverting the “traditional family” and seeking access to their children through the public schools?
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Statements made by theAnti-Gay Industry that are innuendo, twisted facts and outright lies:

Here are some of what the Anti-Gay industry says:

* “They want special rights”
* “They need to recruit in order to increase their number”
* “They want to influence children and other people to become homosexual”
* “They are against the family, against family values”
* “The family is the fundamental building block of society”
* “They are responsible for AIDS”
* “None of them really has a faithful relationship.”
* “They want to shove their sex lives in our faces.”
* And probably the single most hurtful lie: “They are child molesters.”

In my next diary….taking apart the quotes and tactics of the Anti-Gay Industry

I very much look forward to that next diary.

 

While I’ve had this idea in the back of my head, the petition isn’t mine. It’s from the Universal Free Church.

Mormons have every right to hate the idea of gay marriage. They’re welcome to find it detestable, abominable, a sin, whatever. That’s religious freedom.

Mormons also have every right to preach and speak out against gay marriage. That’s religious free speech.

But Mormons don’t have the right to force their religious beliefs on everyone else by engineering and paying 20 million dollars for a secular voter initiative that stole the already existing right of gays to marry in California. That’s religious fascism.

Any time you use the tax-exempt wealth and political power of America’s religious majority to create any secular law that forces any religious belief on everyone else, that’s religious fascism. It’s evil, and it violates the “establishment clause” of the First Amendment.

For the millions and millions of decent Americans, straight and gay, who believe in religious freedom and religious free speech for everyone, but detest religious fascism, here’s a way to shame Mormons for their evil and un-American religious fascism. Let’s start a national petition drive to allow gay marriage and ban Mormon marriage.

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It also has a delicious irony in legitimately pointing out that the real threat to America’s children is Mormon marriage, not gay marriage.

Below is the language of a petition available for download at UniversalFreeChurch.org. It states good reasons to ban Mormon marriage in order to “protect the children.” You also can volunteer to help organize the petition drive in your community by clicking here.

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Whereas Mormons illegally spent tens of millions of their tax-exempt dollars to ensure passage of Proposition 8 in California. Thereby stealing the existing right of gays and lesbians to marry and forcing the Mormon’s religious definition of marriage on everyone else.

Whereas, despite Mormon lies, gay and lesbian marriage is not a threat to children.

Whereas Mormon marriage is a threat to children because Mormons have bizarre and delusional beliefs such as magic underwear, and that the biblical Garden of Eden actually existed somewhere in Missouri! If not stopped from marriage, Mormons will continue to have children and indoctrinate them with such bizarre and delusional beliefs.

Whereas Mormon marriage is also a threat to children because Mormons believe in illegally using tens of millions of their tax-exempt dollars and the secular political process to force their religious beliefs on everyone else. Thereby violating tax laws and the “establishment clause” of the First Amendment. If not stopped from marriage, Mormons will continue to have children and indoctrinate them with their subversive and un-American beliefs in tax fraud and religious fascism.

Now therefore I sign this petition calling for a constitutional amendment to be passed in every state to allow gay marriage and ban Mormon marriage, in order to protect the children.

You can download a copy of the petition from the UFC’s site.

 

Hooray for New Hampshire, and for New England in general .

After two days of debating, the New Hampshire House voted for gay marriage 186 to 179 after first voting against it, 183 to 182.

The first vote against equal marriage was so close that a representative asked for it to be reconsidered. After a few minutes of intense personal lobbying on the floor, it passed.
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The debate was ferocious, with one representative telling the anti-marriage contingent that it was against his religion to NOT solemnize gay marriage. “The state of New Hampshire should not have the right to impose your [anti-gay] religious beliefs on my family and my church,” he said.
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Indeed. The bigots are always whining about how their “religious freedoms” will be trampled if they can’t prevent others from enjoying life and having the same rights they do. Funny how they never consider the religious freedoms of others. They don’t give a darn that they are denying others their freedom of religion by imposing anti-gay legislation on everyone.

Anti-gay representatives made the argument, unsupported by research, that gay people are pedophiles and gay parents are harmful to children and that gay marriage would open the door to polygamy….
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They forgot to argue that gay marriage will cause the end of the world within 10 years. That surely is more important than all of those other things.

The bill next advances to the state Senate. Gov. John Lynch, a Democrat, is opposed to gay marriage, though he has not indicated whether he would veto the bill.
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Hopefully he won’t pull a Schwarzenegger like Vermont’s Governor Douglas seems likely to.

 

People really make me sick.

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Abiazzizi I. Idris has been charged with second-degree attempted robbery and malicious harassment, the state’s hate crime statute, in the March 10 attack.

In court documents, police claim Idris was riding on a Metro coach near the 9000 block of Rainier Avenue South when he slapped the man in the back of the head. He then allegedly asked, using a slur, if he was homosexual.

What a great guy. Walking up unprovoked and slapping someone in the back of the head just because you think they’re gay.

The man disembarked the bus moments later, followed by Idris and an associate. Police say Idris again approached him, telling the man that homosexuality violates his religion.

Interesting how the homosexuality of a complete stranger violates Idris’ religion, but verbally and physically abusing the person doesn’t.

Confronted by Idris, the man again said he was not gay. Idris then, police assert, “grabbed the victim around his neck and said ‘Give me $10 and your cell phone and I’ll let you go.’”

Oh, so it seems Idris’ religion would be less offended by the alleged homosexual if Idris were given offering$$$. But that’s so typical. Gods and their intercessors have a long history of demanding offerings to be appeased.

 
Radical fundamentalist religion is a persistent threat to civilized society. It poisons people’s minds and causes them to commit depraved acts toward people for no legitimate reason whatsoever. Women and LGBT citizens are at particular risk when people rely on the ignorant ramblings of misogynistic Bronze-Age sheep herders for their “moral” guidance. It’s high time we kick it off its pedestal and knock it back where it belongs–the Dark Ages.

 

Deborah is 13, one of 11 children, and has been raised essentially in a vacuum. She has been heavily indoctrinated into Christianity and taught that she is an evil, sinful person in need of redemption. She’s even been turned into a miniature evangelist. Her parents have home-schooled her and her 10 brothers and sisters. They have “protected” her from the outside world and influences that might make her stray from what she’s been taught. But how prepared will she be to live in that outside world when she’s forced to enter it?

 
While I hesitate to use terms like “child abuse” it fits in this situation. This child’s mind has been warped, and is being warped more every day. She is not being given what she needs to effectively cope in the world, nor is she being afforded the opportunity to make choices for herself. She is being presented one choice and being made to think it is the only legitimate choice. That is what makes it abuse and a travesty. Sadly she is far from the only victim in her family, or the world.

 

There are places where religion rules. And even where it doesn’t, some want to change things.

Of course our own home-grown Theocrats think that their brand of religious fascism would be so much better than Sharia Law (simply because it’s Christianity and not Islam). But it wouldn’t.

There is a reason America was founded as a secular nation. There is a reason for the Separation of Church and State, which protects everyone religious and non-religious alike. It is because the mingling of religion and politics is dangerous, if not deadly. It’s just too bad the RRRW can’t understand that.

This 17-year-old Vermonter is amazing. Please vote up the video at YouTube if you enjoyed it as much as I did.