The Gaytheist Agenda

A few weeks back I brought you the story of Thomas Beatie, a transgender man who is pregnant and carrying the child that his wife cannot. I’d been scoping RW sources expecting to see some sort of murmuring about the situation and was rather perplexed that I’d not found anything significant. I was particularly surprised that the usual suspects, the RRRW sources who make it their duty to fret over anything LGBTs do that is remotely connected with children or family building, were dead silent on the matter. But since Beatie was on Oprah yesterday there has been a secondary surge of chatter about him on the WWW, and finally some of the more antagonistic RW sites are talking about his story. One of the more repugnant sites, NewsBusters, chimed in and here is some of what they had to say:

 

On Friday’s “Good Morning America,” for the second day in a row, and the third time in a little over a week, the ABC program promoted the story of a transgendered man who is having a baby via artificial insemination. At no time did GMA feature any guest to challenge or question the psychological ramifications for a child who was born from a pregnant “father.”

During the April 4 segment on the subject, GMA guest news anchor David Muir described Thomas Beatie’s decision as “very controversial.” One would assume that a controversial decision would have two sides to it. But over the course of three segments, totaling ten minutes and 16 seconds, the closest the network program got was on April 3, when psychologist Jeffrey Gardere mildly advised, “It really is incumbent upon this individual, his wife, to try to give this as much dignity as possible, to not make it a joke, to not make it that something that’s cheap [sic].”

 
I was unaware that programs like Good Morning America were obligated to provide two sides to every story. Fox “News”, which claims to be Fair and Balanced, for example, only presents the Right Wing version of what they report. Interesting how the RW only cares about “balance” when they feel they’re not getting heard. If the opposite side is left out in the cold it’s just too bad.

 

On Friday’s program, reporter Andrea Canning played a clip from Beatie’s appearance on Oprah Winfrey’s daytime program and then approvingly described him as “the man the world has been waiting to meet.” While discussing the issue on March 26, co-host Chris Cuomo tentatively asked an obstetrician, who approved of the pregnancy, if there were any psychological implications for the child. After being told that only love was necessary, Cuomo quickly concurred and added, “It’s a good point to make, doctor. Oddity aside, biology aside, it is all about love of this child and as long as that’s present, everything else is really going to be normal.”

Finally, as the Culture and Media Institute’s Kristen Fyfe pointed out in an April 3 posting on the subject, GMA and other shows insist on referring to Beatie as a pregnant man. Of course, this ignores the fact that men simply do not give birth.

The child is going to have a father and a mother. Isn’t that what the RW hand-wringers keep insisting she simply must have to be psychologically healthy? I don’t see what all the fuss is about. And men can give birth if they are transgender men who have kept their female reproductive organs. Thomas Beatie is hard evidence of this.

Now let’s move on to some of the comments posted to the article, which are even more crude than the article itself. Brace yourself.

 

Sheesh!

This guy/gal is a freak! Why isn’t he/she portrayed as a freak!

This isn’t normal no matter how loving ABC wants to pretend it is.

…..

This whole sordid situation is clearly about one thing, $$$$$$$$$.

This strange (really STRANGE) couple doesn’t seem to care about the mental trauma they are inflicting on this child. Chances are good this kid will grow up with so many mental problems that could easily lead to suicide or mass murder, etc. Their supposed human desire to bear children is so much BS. Follow this case for the next 20 years and I’m sure you’ll see nothing but despair for this child.

Meanwhile these two losers will be reaping the ignobility they deserve, but hey, they’ll have lots of bucks to cover their shame.

Interesting how certain people, typically RW Christians, consider themselves the arbiters of “normal”, and worry about the trauma inflicted on the children of LGBT parents. What’s sadly ironic is how many of them have graced the pages of Conservative Babylon for heinous crimes against children and other things that would not be considered “normal” by any stretch of the imagination.

If this person still has a uertus …in my book that consitutes a …….FEMALE.

What is the deal …..it changed it’s name….is now legaly a man, so it’s gets pregnent and now is legealy a pregnent man.

it still has female parts that make it possible to have a baby…..so it still is a female even if it is SO menta;ly challanged that is thinks is a man.

I was a professional twice over - an analyst and a therapist. The world’s first analrapist

…..

First of all, This person is a Female. That’s how it works MSM. And you can say “Man is Pregnant” all day long, and twice on Sunday, but a Virgin Birth by a Man it is not.

It’s a Pregnant Woman - - Woman by Birth — and she may shave and had her Breast removed, but Woman by Birth cannot be Reported as “Man is Pregnant”.

The Public isn’t that Stupid. Evidently the MSM thinks we’re dumber than dirt.

…..

This is NOT a pregnant man!

This, is a pregnant WOMAN who thinks she is a man.

Holy crap! Give us all a break from these freeks.

…..

In other words, there is no such thing as a Christian. You guys are all just Atheists who think you’re Christians. After all, you were born Atheists, and if you were born that way no matter how much you think you’re Christians and proclaim yourself Christians, that doesn’t make you Christians. Dunking yourself in some water, wearing a cross around your neck and reading a book doesn’t change the basic fact that you were born an Atheist and will die an Atheist.

 

I feel for Thomas Beatie, I really do. He, his wife and his child will have an uphill battle all the way–not because of anything they’ve done but because of the hateful bigotries of others. There are far too many people who believe they have the right to decide what is right and wrong for everybody, and to make life a living hell for those who don’t comply with their narrow schema. That is very sad indeed.

For everyone who says there’s no harm presented by those who hold religious beliefs I present this story.

WAUSAU, Wis. (AP) — The frantic 911 call to the Marathon County Sheriff’s Department from the home of an 11-year-old Weston girl who died from untreated diabetes was made by friends of the girl’s parents, authorities said Thursday.

…..

Randall and Althea Wormgoor each spoke to a dispatcher as chaos and cries could be heard in the background at Dale and Leilani Neumann’s home in rural Weston on Sunday afternoon, said Capt. Scott Sleeter of the Everest Metro Police Department in Weston.

Madeline Neumann died Sunday from an undiagnosed but treatable form of diabetes as her parents prayed for her to get better. Her mother, Leilani Neumann, said she never expected her daughter, whom she called Kara, to die.

The family believes in the Bible, which says healing comes from God, Leilani Neumann said.

The sheriff’s department released tape recordings Thursday of two calls related to the girl’s medical condition.

One was from an aunt in California on the department’s non-emergency line, Lt. Jason Plaza said. She reported the girl was in a coma and needed medical help because the family “believes in faith instead of doctors.”

…..

In other words, the parents simply sat around doing nothing but making wishes to a spirit they have no proof exists while their daughter got sicker and sicker, then died of a treatable disorder. That’s depraved neglect if I ever heard it, at the very least. But wait–it gets worse.

Janine Geske, a Marquette University law professor who was a state Supreme Court justice from 1993-98, said a possible criminal charge in the case could be second-degree reckless homicide, which requires proof of “recklessly causing the death of another human being.” It carries up to 25 years in prison.

But Wisconsin has laws on the books that say a parent cannot be accused of abuse or neglect of a child if in good faith they selected prayer as a basis of treatment for a disease, Geske said.

So apparently the parents are going to get off scott-free for their behavior. How perfectly vile.

Addendum. A comment has arrived. OJ said:

This is the article that enraged and upset me enough to start my own atheist blog. I seriously could not believe my eyes when I read about it. And then, two days later, it happened again to a 15-month old girl with a bacterial infection. Two deaths in one week as a direct result of people who were too stupid to take their daughter to someone who knew anything at all about human health. Disgusting.

 
Indeed. Of course we’re not supposed to say anything (and they can’t be prosecuted) because it’s their right to let their child die in the name of their “deeply held religious beliefs”. People like them are also allowed to keep people like us from having equal rights because of their “deeply held religious beliefs”. Am I the only one who thinks things are really messed up here?

WASHINGTON (AFP) - President George W. Bush said Monday the US is increasing funds for “ethical” stem cell research that does not involve destroying human embryos.
In his annual State of the Union address before Congress, Bush hailed the discovery announced last November of methods to re-program adult skin cells to act like embryonic stem cells.

Such developments show “the potential to move us beyond the divisive debates of the past by extending the frontiers of medicine without the destruction of human life,” Bush said, referring to the creation of stem cell lines for research that involves destroying human embryos.

GWB, who sees nothing wrong with his war of choice that has resulted in well over 1 million deaths (American and Iraqis combined). GWB who sees every embryo and fetus as sacred, but cuts funding to every social program that would help children live happier, healthier lives. This is the man who is trying to claim the ethical high road?

 

“On matters of science and life, we must trust in the innovative spirit of medical researchers and empower them to discover new treatments while respecting moral boundaries,” he said.

…..

Bush has sought several times during his administration to ban cloning and to restrict research on human embryos that involves their destruction.

GWB has proven he has no moral boundaries repeatedly with the Iraq war, his incessant lies to America and the world, his use of 9/11 to turn the nation into a virtual police state and countless other atrocities. Furthermore the claim that he’s opposed to anything that results in the destruction of human embryos is false. In-vitro fertilization by its very nature results in embryos being disposed of and/or destroyed, typically via incineration. However neither GWB nor any of the other RRRW leaders who preach against embryonic stem-cell research also preach against IVF. Such hypocrisy, but they can’t risk angering the (typically) rich IVF users who may very well fall into the RRRW camp. Better to anger the “lefties” who want to help the disabled. Babies before cripples, so to speak. It’s disgusting, but then so is the RRRW.

Comic courtesy of Cetic,

Anti-vaccine woos will likely not be convinced by yet another piece of evidence via Science Daily that mercury does not cause autism. This one comes from The Golden State:

Autism cases continued to increase in California after the mercury-containing preservative thimerosal was eliminated from most childhood vaccines, according to a new report.This suggests that exposure to thimerosal is not a primary cause of autism.

…..

“Young children receive immunizations in the period preceding the typical manifestations or diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders,” the authors write. “Increased exposure to thimerosal, a preservative that contains 49.6 percent ethylmercury by weight, has been postulated to have contributed to the upswing in reported cases of autism spectrum disorders.” Thimerosal was eliminated from most vaccines by 2001. A 2004 report by the Institute of Medicine cited the lack of data supporting thimerosal as a cause of autism, but recommended that trends in autism diagnoses be observed as exposure to thimerosal decreased.

…..

“The estimated prevalence of autism for children at each year of age from 3 to 12 years increased throughout the study period,” the authors write. Per 1,000 children born in 1993, 0.3 had autism at age 3, compared with 1.3 per 1,000 births in 2003. The highest estimated prevalence–4.5 cases per 1,000 births–was reached in 2006 for children born in 2000. “Although insufficient time has passed to calculate the prevalence of autism for children 6 years and older born after 2000, the prevalence at ages 3 to 5 years has increased monotonically for each birth year since 1999, during which period exposure to thimerosal has been reduced,” they continue.

…..

“Parents of autistic children should be reassured that autism in their child did not occur through immunizations,” Dr. Fombonne concludes. “Their autistic children, and their siblings, should be normally vaccinated, and as there is no evidence of mercury poisoning in autism, they should avoid ineffective and dangerous ‘treatments’ such as chelation therapy for their children.”

The question is, will the antivax crowd continue to ignore the facts or will they search for a new scapegoat? If they’re anything like the RRRW it could be either–or both.