The Gaytheist Agenda

Part of the 2010 Blog Against Theocracy

 
I’m not a native Californian. I was born and raised on the East coast and might have spent my entire life there if it weren’t for love. I ended up in California because of love.

Moving cross-country wasn’t a decision I made on a whim. This was going to be a lifelong commitment. When the California Supreme Court made it’s historic decision we were ecstatic. Marriage equality was a reality in California. We could make it legal.

We’d barely begun to celebrate when Proposition 8 reared its ugly head. While we’d be legally allowed to marry come June 16, we could easily lose that right on November 5. We tied the knot on August 9th.

Our joy was tainted by the onslaught of propaganda from clergy, churches, religious organizations and “pro-family” groups such as the Knights of Columbus, United Families International, California Catholic Conference, Focus on the Family, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Rick Warren, Traditional Values Coalition, Capitol Resource Institute, National Organization for Marriage, Miles McPherson, William Tam, and countless others.

Same-sex marriage is a violation of religious freedom! Oddly those pushing Proposition 8 cared not for the religious freedoms of those clergy, churches, religious traditions and faithful individuals who support marriage equality. Needless to say the rights and opinions of those without faith were of no consequence to them.

Then came the fearmongering and outright lies about what would happen if Proposition 8 didn’t pass. Children would be taught gay marriage, churches would be forced to marry gay couples, “traditional marriage” would be in peril, clergy would be imprisoned for preaching the Bible, etc. None of these claims were based on facts, and all of them could be easily debunked by legitimate scientific studies or news reports. That didn’t stop those who wielded the “deeply held religious beliefs” card as if it trumped everything. They smiled gleefully as they waved signs demanding our rights be eradicated.

Ultimately Proposition 8 won in California. It didn’t stop there, sadly. Some weren’t satisfied with having same-sex marriage banned from election day on. They wanted to nullify the 18,000 marriages that had taken place between June and November.

The anxiety my wife and I experienced while we waited to see if our marriage would still be legally valid was indescribable. To hear the “marriage defenders” calling for 32,00 newlyweds to be forcibly divorced was utterly surreal. It was six months of torture.

 
Thankfully though the CA Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8, they left the existing marriages intact. We were safe, though now part of a strange marriage island that exists only in California.

Blue laws, same-sex marriage bans, “conscience clauses”, restrictions on stem-cell research, ever tightening abortion regulations, “abstinence-only” sex education, religious slogans on our money and government buildings. These are just some examples of how religion and state have mingled. The impact has included curtailing of individual liberties, government sanctioning of theism/religion, increases in hate-crimes, increases in teenage pregnancy and STDs, stifling of scientific progress, psychological trauma, and more.

 
Faith and religion are deeply personal matters. They can become part of one’s very identity. What is sacred to one person might be sacrilege to another. Faith and religion are, necessarily, matters that should be left to each individual to decide for herself or himself. Religion can be a perfectly acceptable lifestyle choice.

Religious freedom is guaranteed by the US Constitution. People are free to believe, or not, as they wish. Churches and religious organizations have the right to impose whatever restrictions they want on those who choose to be members.

When Church and State are mixed, however, free will is denied. Citizens are compelled to adhere to particular religious doctrines whether or not they believe in them. The chosen beliefs of some are imposed on all. This is not Freedom of Religion but its very antithesis, and it puts everyone at risk.

 

I’m quite fortunate in this respect. As a married lesbian the chances that I’ll ever experience an unintended pregnancy are zero, barring non-consensual acts. Nonetheless I am adamantly pro-choice because I believe women should have control over their own bodies and health care. I detest the Madonna/whore dichotomy people have regarding women and our sexuality, and they way they viciously lash out at any woman who dares take her reproductive health into her own hands.

There was a time when women did not have the legal right to access safe abortion. Many are fighting tooth and nail to return us to such a time, and inch-by-inch they are winning. These videos provide a reminder of why we cannot let them win.

 
May we never go back to those dark times.

 

Rock for Equality is a national event to demand equal Social Security benefits for all LGBT Americans. This year we will rally on April 11th in Los Angeles to demand equal benefits for our LGBT seniors. Please join us in raising awareness about one of the most under recognized and harshly consequential issues in the LGBT movement! Join us at Rock for Equality.

(A shorter version of video is also available.)

 

Apparently bigotry trumps family for some allegedly “pro-family” types. Catholic Charities in D.C., the same folks who ended their foster care program over the pending law that legalizes same-sex marriage, will now cease providing health care benefits to employee’s spouses lest they be required to give them to one with Teh Gay.

The Archdiocese of Washington has been battling the D.C. government for the right to discriminate against gays and lesbians since D.C.’s same-sex marriage legislation got rolling last year.

One major point of contention: Once gays and lesbians are allowed to marry, the Archdiocese—which employs plenty of locals through Catholic Charities—will be required to provide health benefits to same-sex spouses, an act which it says would fly in the face of the Catholic church’s teachings on homosexuality.

The solution? No spousal benefits for anybody.
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I wonder why Catholic Charities isn’t whining about the fact that they’re already providing health care benefits to gay people. It’s obvious they know they have gay and lesbian employees by the fact that they’re instituting this ridiculous and hateful policy. Why aren’t they demanding their right to refuse to provide benefits to these employees? It would be a natural extension of their “religious freedoms” after all. Then again, I probably shouldn’t give them any ideas….

Here’s the memo:

I am writing to you to inform you of an important change to our group health care benefit plan that will take effect on March 2, 2010 due to a change in the law of the District of Columbia. It is important to note that the existing health coverage of current employees will not be affected by the change. New employees and current employees requesting revisions in benefit coverage will be affected by this change.

Catholic Charities will continue to honor the health plan coverage that current employees have as of March 1, 2010. As of March 2, a new plan will be in effect that will cover new employees and requests for benefit changes by current employees. …..

We sincerely regret that we have to make this change, but it is necessary to allow Catholic Charities to continue to provide essential services to the clients we serve in partnership with the District of Columbia while remaining consistent with the tenets of our religious faith.

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Actually if Catholic Charities were truly remaining consistent with the tenets of their religious faith they would be denying benefits to the divorced and anybody who’d had premarital sex, among others. But they choose to target gay people and pretend they’re just upholding their religious tenets while they ignore all of the other “sinners” in their employ.

Ultimately Catholic Charities will screw hundreds, even thousands, of straight people in their quest to stick it to the gays. Once again they prove they aren’t about charity but instead about pushing their personal flavor of religion on everyone. This is yet another reason I detest such organizations receiving any taxpayer money. If they’re going to push their arbitrary religious dogma on employees and/or service recipients they don’t deserve a penny of support from the very people they are harming in the process.

 

White House officials met with secularist and atheist groups for the first time in history. Of course since religious groups have lost their exclusive access to the WH they must have tantrums over the event.

 

 
The supporters of Proposition 8 realize how poorly their side argued their case in Perry vs. Schwarzenegger. So now, like monkeys, they are pulling yet more poo out of their backsides and flinging it in hopes that something will stick to the wall.

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The potential harms they cited included giving bisexuals a legal basis for pursuing group marriages and unmarried fathers an incentive to abandon their children.
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Bisexual means a person can be romantically and sexually attracted to either gender. It doesn’t mean they’re inclined to fall in love with both at the same time. Of course the bigots like to push the notion that it’s the latter because then they can also pimp their slippery slope fallacy. OMG, if we allow same-sex marriage it might lead to POLYGAMY!!! Yeah, and people might start squeezing the Charmin too. Please people, protect the toilet paper and vote NO on Gay.

As to the claim that same-sex marriage would give unmarried fathers an incentive to abandon their children…that’s pure horsecrap. There are already millions of “deadbeat dads” out there and it has absolutely nothing to do with same-sex marriage. It’s high time that heterosexual people stop blaming gay people and gay unions for the failings of heterosexual relationships.

 

 
A student in a Maryland middle school refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Her teacher mocked her and called her names on the first day, and had the school police escort her to the office on the second day. It’s a good thing the girl wasn’t doodling on her desk….

 

 
Yet another Christian is crying “persecution” and filing a lawsuit because he thinks they shouldn’t have to share public space with others, or be pestered with the opinions of those who think differently. Perhaps a secured commune would be a better place for him.

 

 
Finally, this “Christian” charity will stop providing aid to Haiti if they won’t turn from their evil Voodoo ways and convert to Christianity. This is exactly why I despise most “faith based” charities–they don’t truly want to help but only to push their religion on others. The aid they provide is only a vehicle to gain more bodies for their god. There is nothing moral about what they do.

 

Of course they’re already being held up as martyrs, as were their MA counterparts before them. But the plain fact is that Catholic Charities chose to end its foster care program in DC, just as CC in MA chose to cease adoption services in MA, because they didn’t want to obey laws every other agency is subject to. Nobody “forced” them to do anything.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington has ended its 80-year-old foster-care program in the District rather than license same-sex couples, the first fallout from a bitter debate over the city’s move to legalize same-sex marriage.

Catholic Charities, which runs more than 20 social service programs for the District, transferred its entire foster-care program — 43 children, 35 families and seven staff members — to another provider, the National Center for Children and Families. Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), the D.C. Council member who chairs the Committee on Human Services, said he didn’t know of any problems with the transfer, which happened Feb. 1.
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So that’s that. Despite former threats that children would be left wandering the streets and DC would implode because of Teh Gays, the entire caseload is already being served by another agency. Granted it’s another “faith based” provider, but I suppose I can’t expect perfection. At the very least they show no overt signs of being as bigoted as their CC counterparts.

Edward Orzechowski, president and chief executive of Catholic Charities, the archdiocese’s social service arm, said the group is optimistic that it will find a way to structure its benefits packages in other social service programs so that it can remain in partnership with the city without recognizing same-sex marriage.

Asked if that meant looking at ways to avoid paying benefits to same-sex partners or ways to write benefits plans so as not to characterize same-sex couples as “married,” Orzechowski said “both, and.”
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Translation: Catholic Charities wants to flaunt the law and still keep taking taxpayer dollars–including those of the people whose rights they’re directly violating. So much for the “moral values” instilled by religion.

 

Various pieces from around the Internutz.

 
How the most religious states fare.

Classically Liberal dissects multiple reports and studies to show what I’ve long known, and have reported more than once–that God and religion simply aren’t the answer to society’s woes.

 
While Judge Considers Same-Sex Marriage Case, House Church Leader says the Verdict Doesn’t Matter

A church leader declares many Christians have lost their way, and turned Christianity into a crusade against others rather than an effort to bring others to Christ and seek God’s Kingdom. It’s nice to see one of them speak up since our voices go largely ignored when we say it.

 
Gay harassment, bias crimes often go unreported

This isn’t anything most of us don’t already know, but it bears repeating because it’s urgent, and because the RRRW tries fervently to ignore/deny it.

 
How the Game is Played

You probably saw the NYT article that claimed 50% of gay married men are in “open marriages”. What you didn’t see is how they distorted the study, and outright lied, to once again smear gay couples. Read the facts at Truth Wins Out.

 
Anita Bryant and Me

One person’s encounter with the original “OMG won’t somebody please think of the children?!?!” anti-gay Liar for the Lord.

 

Loving, committed same-sex couples cannot get married in most US states. Opposite-sex couples who are complete strangers, on the other hand, can do so with no problem whatsoever. This is the “sanctity of traditional marriage” we’re always hearing about? Gay people’s rights are being sacrificed to “protect” this?

 
(Hat tip, ZackFord Blogs)

 

This is good news indeed.

SALT LAKE CITY—A film distribution company has bought the rights to a documentary about the Mormon church’s role in a California ballot initiative to ban gay marriage.

Filmmaker Reed Cowan says “8: The Mormon Proposition” will hit theaters this spring and a DVD will follow. Cowan says he sold the film’s North American distribution rights to the newly formed Red Flag Releasing.
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It’s rare that we feel a movie important enough that we’ll shell out the exorbitant fees theaters are now charging for tickets–it’s been more than a year since we’ve gone–but we will be there when this movie is in our area. Of course we’ll also get the DVD when it comes out.

“I think it’s a very important issue to us, not only gay marriage, but the issue of separation of church and state,” said Federbush. “We saw it at Sundance and felt it connected with the audience.”
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“I’m pretty excited,” said Cowan, a former Mormon who is gay. “Now the film does truly go on to be seen all over the United States and people can decide for themselves.”

I’m excited too. This is a movie that needs as much exposure as possible.

 

Keep in mind that every reputable professional organization states that homosexuality is not a disorder, but is a normal orientation like heterosexuality. They also firmly denounce so-called “reparative therapy” as ineffective and potentially harmful, given that sexual orientation is not changeable. None of that matters to people like Brian Fischer, who rely not on facts but the opinions of ancient sheepherders. These opinions have been deemed “holy”, and are therefore something people like Fischer can use to add a sheen of respectability and authority to their own personal bigotry.

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It might be worth noting that what I actually suggested is that we impose the same sanctions on those who engage in homosexual behavior as we do on those who engage in intravenous drug abuse, since both pose the same kind of risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. I’d be curious to know what you think should be done with IV drug abusers, because whatever it is, I think the same response should be made to those who engage in homosexual behavior.
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Riiiiight. Because HIV/AIDS can’t be contracted through heterosexual “behavior”. According to the CDC, the fastest growing group of new HIV/AIDS diagnoses is among heterosexual women of color. It’s time, for the good of all, to bury the myth that AIDS is a “gay disease”.

If you believe that what drug abusers need is to go into an effective detox program, then we should likewise put active homosexuals through an effective reparative therapy program.

Homosexuality is not a mental illness or an addiction. It does not need “therapy”, particularly not from charlatans pushing pseudo-science and demeaning lies designed not to help but to manipulate and even torture.

Secondly, I’m afraid you’re simply wrong about the Bible’s perspective on the law and homosexuality.
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I don’t give a fig about the Bible’s perspective on homosexuality or the Koran’s perspective or any other “holy” book’s perspective. We do not live in a theocracy and our laws should not be based on anybody’s interpretation of “holy” books or religious doctrine. If they were, well, just look to modern day theocracies to see how life would be.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been told “Christians don’t hate gay people. Christians don’t bear any ill will toward gay people. No Christians in America want to see harm come to gay people.” Blah blah blah. Sorry, I didn’t buy it before and I’m not buying it now. There are far too may people like Brian Fischer proving just how much Christians do hate gay people and want to see them harmed.*

 

* Please don’t attempt the “Not a True Christian” line. He’s one of you. If you don’t like what he’s doing in the name of your religion speak out against him or stew silently, but don’t try to disown him to make yourself look better.