Live, Love, and Learn

Facts to Consider About Newt Gingrich

2012-01-23T19:36:00.000-05:00

Racism: Still Alive and Healthy

2011-12-12T22:49:00.001-05:00

Today I passed along a picture on Facebook I received depicting starving children reaching out their hands on one side with a contrasting picture of women busily stuffing as many toys under arms and into their carriages as they can, with a caption the reads: "Define Necessity".

Apparently my spouse's friend Danielle Cole finds this picture offensive because she's black. To her, white men like myself don't see the plight of these children as disturbing as she does because we don't share the same skin color. Here is what was said to one another:

Danielle Cole · Friends with Raymond Grinnell

People need to stop making these things. Mostly, they don't care about those poor African children. SOME people in America spend way to much and it's a problem (largely middle and upper class people) however, using some sad picture of starving kids who we help to keep starving by how we benefit from their resources in America isn't going to change that. It's a rude way to make a point, by using African children to make you feel guilty while not really doing anything for either super consumerism or for those children. Just saying, they make me cringe and it's kinda offensive.

John Hosty-Grinnell

Art doesn't always portray beauty, it's supposed to make you cringe. Clearly it got you to think about what it wanted, so the effect intended was created, making this art. Your opinions about why people make "these things" I find interesting. Do you know more about the artist than I? Because what I see is someone who cared enough to remind us all that we could spend a little less on ourselves and a little more on those in need. I shared it hoping to encourage others to give a little more this year, and to remind myself to do the same.

Danielle Cole · Friends with Raymond Grinnell

I see what's called poverty porn using the images of black Africans that next to nobody does anything to care about. The use of these people to make others feel bad does work but it still doesn't create social change and still ignores the ties between what they are showing is a problem and how that problem directly causes this type of experience for people around the globe. But it doesn't say that. It just says a simple message while using that image. I really think racially this is a fucked up thing to do and I can bet money the artist was white and not thinking about what images like these mean to actual Africans. This is not art. This is something to make one group of people feel better about their consumption habits and another to feel guilty, without examining how the U.S. and many of its residents benefit directly from the starvation of these children. I just find it disgusting.

John Hosty-Grinnell You seem to see color in both the children and the image of the artist your mind has brewed up. I see children in need, and it inspires me to help.

Danielle Cole · Friends with Raymond Grinnell

LOL. Well if you're self proclaimed "colorblind" and telling a black woman not to see "color" then we have nothing to discuss because you just won't get it. It's funny how that works but not surprising and this is exactly why I don't like these photos. Cause you "can't" see the color of these children and that completely obscures reality. Plain and simple. Furthermore, you won't be doing anything for those children. Most charities don't do anything to create sustainable economies for their home countries and take large chunks of money donated. This image doesn't inspire change, action or anything. It makes people pat themselves on the back and call it "art" which it really isn't. It's called photoshop which anyone can do, slap two pictures together and paste some words on top of it. But alas...

At this point I've had my fill and the gloves are off:

John Hosty-Grinnell OK, I think you've hit your bitchy quota for the evening, so run along with that racism bullshit and try selling it to someone else.

Danielle Cole · Friends with Raymond Grinnell

Ok. Thanks. White man telling me to run along with that racist bullshit. If you want to cling to your white privilege by patting yourself on the back thinking you've done something nice by posting this shitty, offensive picture, it's cool. But just know who it offends and who doesn't think it's cute. But you won't. You will stick with your Cape Cod circle of other white men doing the same thing and ignoring the reality of millions because it doesn't affect you. I wasn't being bitchy I was simply telling you why this IS OFFENSIVE. You are too good to learn or understand perspectives other than your own I guess.

Just before blocking me as a Facebook friend she had these final words she didn't post publicly:

Danielle ColeHonestly. FUCK YOU for saying I can't see past race because I'm black. You do see the irony in that right? Of course I can't. My whole life I've been reminded of that very fact. That I'm black. Even if I wanted to forget, white people like yourself have never allowed me to forget. Nor will my job prospects, the police, when I go to get an apartment or house or want a job loan. That's not cynical. It's called fucking reality. I see Raymond's brilliance has not rubbed off on you. Quite frankly, as someone who is also queer and understands a lot about that struggle, I find it quite disheartening when gay white men can't see my plight. But you wouldn't because the world sucks your cock for being white. And again, that's not cynical, it's the truth. Live in a bubble in your cape cod comfort for as long as you want but I am no longer associating with you.

Danielle, I feel bad for you. I feel bad for anyone who has poisoned themselves with their own hate to the point where strangers fit into stereotypes and are no longer individuals. Isn't that how racism starts? We predispose ourselves to the idea that we know what to expect from someone based on some immutable trait, like their skin color? Shame on you. Shame because someone who has lived with the stigma of being different like yourself should know you have no right to judge others in a way you do not appreciate. You are a hypocrite, and unfortunately there are all too many people like you who go spouting racist garbage and are left unchallenged. Until you know me better you have no understanding of my motivations, and all the cynical speculations you've thrown about show your character, not mine.

Talking With: Zach Wahls

2011-12-12T11:33:00.000-05:00

Explanation for Prop 8 Court Status YouTube Video

2011-12-12T11:26:00.000-05:00

Tell Me, Christian, That You Hear This Boy

2011-12-05T15:07:00.000-05:00

From John Shore at LGBTQNation.com:

Evangelical, fundamentalist Christians — by which I mean, specifically, Christians who believe that being gay is a moral abomination, an appalling affront to God — talk to me, please, about this kid.

Tell me that your belief system didn’t help but the hot tears on this kid’s cheeks. Tell me that the bullies who torment this kid aren’t in any way encouraged or empowered by your tacit approval of their actions. Tell me that the shame this kid feels about himself has nothing to do with the shame that you believe all gay people should feel for themselves.

Tell me that you can’t comprehend the connection between your conviction that God finds homosexuals repulsive, and the fact that this kid finds himself so repulsive that he habitually cuts his own flesh.

Tell me, please, how you love this kid. Tell me how you understand his pain. Tell me how when he cries, you cry.

Tell me how you want to do everything in your power to make sure that no one, ever again, feels free to in any way victimize a young gay person.

A Christian myself, I am pleading with you to be honest with me about this.

Tell me, please, how none of this kid’s anguish has anything to do with you.

I’m listening. I really am.

We all are.

8 Year Old Activist Tells Bachmann "Mommy's Gay But She Doesn't Need Fixing"

2011-12-05T10:22:00.000-05:00

Zach Wahls Speaks Out About His Same Sex Parents

2011-12-02T11:46:00.000-05:00

TruthWinsOut Accused of Murderous Rhetoric by Ex-Gay Leader Greg Quinlan

2011-11-30T12:55:00.000-05:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Wayne Besen, Executive Director
Phone: 917-691-5118
E-Mail: wbesen@truthwinsout.org

Greg Quinlan’s Defamatory Claims Are a Complete Fabrication and a Brazen Attempt to Smear LGBT Organization, Says TWO

Burlington, Vt. – Truth Wins Out reacted with outrage and disgust today to a television interview with Greg Quinlan, President of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX), who falsely claimed that TWO Executive Director, Wayne Besen, put a hit out on his life. Quinlan is also a lobbyist for the New Jersey Family Policy Council.
On October 7, 2011 Quinlan was interviewed on News-Plus with Mark Segraves (WDCW-TV). The comments, first noticed by Ex-Gay Watch, came to TWO’s attention on Tuesday.
Throughout the show, Quinlan distorts reality and flat out dissembles on several subjects. However, at the 10:38 mark he fabricates an alleged hit on his life. According to Quinlan:

“Truth Wins Out if you look further, including Wayne Besen. He’s asked for people, you know, somebody needs to run Greg over. He needs to be hit with a bus. Somebody should inject him with AIDS. Those are the things that Wayne Besen and Truth Wins Out says about me. That’s pretty hateful rhetoric.”
“The bizarre and defamatory scenario portrayed by Quinlan exists only in his own mind,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. “What he said is entirely fabricated and a dishonest and brazen attempt to smear me personally, destroy my reputation, and discredit the good work of Truth Wins Out.”

The integrity of PFOX has long been questioned. Its former president, Richard Cohen, was expelled for life from the American Counseling Association for multiple ethics violations. A key member of the organization’s Speaker’s Bureau, Arthur Abba Goldberg, is a convicted felon sent to prison for financial fraud. In 2010, Quinlan attended a conference organized by Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, a group that is listed as a certified Southern Poverty Law Center hate group. During his speech at the meeting, Quinlan disparaged LGBT people and said that when he used to live as an openly gay man he wasn’t a “flaming faggot.”

“I wasn’t your flaming faggot, you know,” Quinlan told the chuckling crowd. “I can say that because I’ve been there and done that. You know, the one’s whose wrists are so limp that when the wind blows they slap themselves in the face. I wasn’t one of them.”
“It speaks to Quinlan’s character that he lies so easily and simply makes things up,” said TWO’s Besen. “I’d be willing to take a lie detector test to prove my innocence and to show that I’ve never said such vile words. Will Quinlan also take these tests to prove the ‘veracity’ of his calumny? Truth Wins Out is also exploring legal options at this time.”

Truth Wins Out is a nonprofit organization that fights anti-LGBT extremism. TWO specializes in turning information into action by organizing, advocating and fighting for LGBT equality.

YouTube Star Introduces "Tab for a Cause"

2011-11-20T23:27:00.001-05:00

Going by the handle "Kayjen" this young man made a remarkable video mocking the "rationale" against homosexuality that went viral and has now received over 1.7 million hits. He obviously has a genuine love for humanity, hence his new project that I wish to share with those who care enough to listen. Thank you for your valuable time.

Kayjen, in standing up when so many would not, and in showing your concern for those who suffer you've shown the world what a modern man can and should be. Your continued actions show the courage to dismiss ridicule you find unwarranted, while showing compassion to people in need. The world needs more examples like yours. You are a Good Samaritan whose example Viewers can follow by acting on "Tab for a Cause" themselves.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." ~Gandhi

N.H. panel votes to recommend gay marriage repeal | SeacoastOnline.com

2011-10-26T13:13:00.000-04:00

By Norma Love

Associated Press

October 25, 2011 4:44 PM

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire committee is asking the House to repeal the state's 15-month-old same-sex marriage law and replace it with civil unions for any unmarried adults including relatives.

The Judiciary Committee voted 11-6 Tuesday to recommend repealing the gay marriage law and establishing civil unions for any unmarried adults competent to enter into a contract.

Anti-Violence Project: Boston Police Lacked Probable Cause for Unlawful Assembly Arrests

2011-10-14T00:57:00.000-04:00

From the Anti-Violence Project of Massachusetts

In ordering protestors to leave the Rose Kennedy Greenway early Tuesday morning, the Boston Police Dept. invoked G.L. c. 269, § 1 which empowers the Mayor or police of a city or town to "[command] ten or more persons, ... unlawfully, riotously or tumultuously assembled [to] immediately and peaceably to disperse [in the name of the Commonwealth] ...." In so doing, the Boston police blatantly disregarded the elements of the offense of "unlawful assembly" under Massachusetts law. As the Massachusetts Appeals Court has held, the crime of "unlawful assembly" requires that the persons so gathered "have formed a common intent to 'engage[] in a common cause . . . to be accomplished with violence and in a tumultuous manner... or 'through force and violence' ...." Commonwealth v. Abramms, 66 Mass. App. Ct. 576, 585-86 (2006)(Cites omitted.) "Thus, an 'essential element' of ... 'unlawful assembly' is 'the intent to commit an act of violence.'"Id. (Emphasis added." Only violent assemblies may be dispersed by order of the police under Massachusetts law. "[P]eaceful assemblies, [but] not violent gatherings, are protected by the First Amendment [and the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights art. 19]." Id. at 587.

The Occupy Boston demonstrators on the Rose Kennedy Greenway were assembled peaceably. The only force employed on the morning of October 11, 2011 was that of Boston police officers dispersing a non-violent protest without a legal basis for declaring an "unlawful assembly." In invoking the "unlawful assembly" statute without probable cause and using force against citizens exercising constitutional rights, the Boston Police themselves violated "clearly established" federal and state constitutional rights, as embodied in the Abramms decision. See Glik v. Cunniffe, No. 10-764, slip op. (1st Cir. 8/26/2011.) In so doing, each and every police officer who participated in the forcible break-up of the assembly on the Rose Kennedy Greenway may have exposed him or herself to personal liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/don-gorton/anti-violence-project-boston-police-lacked-probable-cause-for-unlawful-assembly-/10150350617283808

Police Use Violence Against Peaceful "Occupy Boston"

2011-10-11T09:14:00.002-04:00

Taken from occupyboston.com:

Boston Police Brutally Assault Occupy Boston

At 1:30 this morning hundreds of police in full riot gear brutally attacked Occupy Boston, which had peacefully gathered on the Rose Kennedy Greenway. The Boston Police Department made no distinction between protesters, medics, or legal observers, arresting legal observer Ursula Levelt, who serves on the steering committee for the National Lawyers Guild, as well as four medics attempting to care for the injured.

Earlier in the day, an estimated ten thousand union members, students, veterans, families, men, and women of all ages marched from the Boston Common to Dewey Square, and then to the North Washington Bridge to demand economic reform on Wall Street and the end of special interest influence in Washington.

Following this massive outpouring of public support, dozens of police vans descended on the Greenway, with batons drawn, assaulting protesters and arresting more than one-hundred people. Members of Veterans for Peace carrying American flags were pushed to the ground and their flags trampled as the police hauled them away.

Following the raid, Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis made no mention of veterans, organized labor, students, or families, nor did he issue an apology for his department’s aggressive tactics. Since the beginning of its occupation, Occupy Boston has worked tirelessly and successfully to maintain a positive working relationship with city officials. Today’s reprehensible attack by the Boston Police Department against a movement that enjoys the broad support of the American people represents a sad and disturbing shift away from dialogue and towards violent repression.

Despite the city’s attempt to silence us, Occupy Boston remains, and bears no ill-will towards the men and women of the Boston Police Department who were simply following orders. We hope that someday the peaceful pursuit of economic justice will not provoke the beating of elderly veterans and the arrest of medics and legal observers. We encourage everyone who continues to feel as strongly as we do about limiting the influence of Wall Street on our democracy to join us tomorrow, and in the future, down in Dewey Square.

“We will occupy. We are the 99 percent and we are no longer silent.”

###

Occupy Boston is the beginning of an ongoing discussion about reforming Wall Street and removing special interests from government. The continuing occupation of Dewey Square (outside South Station) is just one of more than 120 separate Occupy encampments in cities across the nation and a symbol for “Occupiers” everywhere who support real and lasting change. Video: http://youtu.be/ZpttXetMX78.

Pictures of the night’s events.

http://www.necn.com/10/11/11/Mayor-Menino-on-Occupy-Boston-arrests/landing_newengland.html?blockID=575486&feedID=8498

FactCheck.org Catches Bachmann Spinning More "Truth"

2011-10-10T12:37:00.000-04:00

From FactCheck.org:

Michele Bachmann is wrong to say allowing illegal immigrants in Texas to pay in-state tuition is “an abuse of an executive power.” Gov. Rick Perry did not impose the policy by executive fiat. The Legislature overwhelmingly passed the bill in 2001, and Perry signed it.

Minnesota Rep. Bachmann — who has criticized Perry’s executive order on HPV vaccines as an inappropriate use of power — made her statement in a Web video posted Sept. 29.

Bachmann, Sept. 29: We can’t settle for a president who would encourage more illegal immigration through magnet policies, like tuition breaks for illegal aliens or their children. That’s an abuse of an executive power.

That’s just not true. The change in tuition policy followed the usual legislative process.

The bill passed by votes of 142-1 in the House and 27-3 in the Senate. The Houston Chronicle wrote: “The surprise at such potentially polarizing issues passing the House and Senate is surpassed only by wonder at the ease with which they have been approved.”

Of course, Perry could have chosen not to sign the bill. But he signed it on June 16, 2001 — four months after it was introduced. “We want bright, new Texans to stay here, and contribute great things to our future,” he said in a speech six days after signing the bill.

– Eugene Kiely

POSTED BY EUGENE KIELY ON FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2011 AT 5:27 PM FILED UNDER THE FACTCHECK WIRE. TAGGED WITH ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, MICHELE BACHMANN, RICK PERRY.

Son Beaten by Homophobic Father on Regular Basis for Being Gay

2011-10-07T11:16:00.000-04:00

Weekly Presidential Address, October 1, 2011

2011-10-03T20:16:00.000-04:00

Hello, everyone. It’s been almost three weeks since I sent the American Jobs Act to Congress – three weeks since I sent them a bill that would put people back to work and put money in people’s pockets. This jobs bill is fully paid for. This jobs bill contains the kinds of proposals that Democrats and Republicans have supported in the past. And now I want it back. It is time for Congress to get its act together and pass this jobs bill so I can sign it into law.

Some Republicans in Congress have said that they agree with certain parts of this jobs bill. If so, it’s time for them to tell me what those proposals are. And if they’re opposed to this jobs bill, I’d like to know what exactly they’re against. Are they against putting teachers and police officers and firefighters back on the job? Are they against hiring construction workers to rebuild our roads and bridges and schools? Are they against giving tax cuts to virtually every worker and small business in America?

Economists from across the political spectrum have said that this jobs bill would boost the economy and spur hiring. Why would you be against that? Especially at a time when so many Americans are struggling and out of work.

This isn’t just about what I think is right. It’s not just about what a group of economists think is right. This is about what the American people want. Everywhere I go, they tell me they want action on jobs. Every day, I get letters from Americans who expect Washington to do something about the problems we face.

Destiny Wheeler is a sixteen year old from Georgia who wants to go to college. She wrote to me saying, “Now-a-days it is hard to see myself pushing forward and putting my family in a better position, especially since the economy is rough and my starting situation is so poor. Yet, the American Jobs act gives me hope that I might start to receive a better education, that one day job opportunities will be open for me to grasp, and that one day my personal American Dream will be reached.” Destiny needs us to pass this jobs bill.

Alice Johnson is an Oregon native who, along with her husband, has been looking for a job for about two years. She writes, “I have faithfully applied for work every week…Of the hundreds of applications I have put in, I received interview requests for about 10…I too, am sick of all the fighting in Washington DC. Please tell the Republicans that people are hurting and are hungry and need help, pass the jobs bill.” Alice Johnson needs our help.

Cathleen Dixon sent me pictures of the aging bridge she drives under when she takes her kids to school in Chicago every day. She worries about their safety, and writes, “I am angry that in this country of vast resources we claim that we cannot maintain basic infrastructure. How can we ever hope to preserve or regain our stature in this world, if we cannot find the will to protect our people and take care of our basic needs?”

I also heard from Kim Faber, who told me about the small carpet business her husband owns in New Jersey. “We hang on by a shoe String,” she writes, “my husband worries every day about if checks might bounce, he uses our home loan to put money in the business so they will be covered. Please pass this jobs bill! This is the job creating we need right now! It breaks my husband’s heart when he has to let people go! Pass the bill!”

Kim said it best: Pass the bill. I know one Republican was quoted as saying that their party shouldn’t pass this jobs bill because it would give me a win. Well this isn’t about giving me a win, and it’s not about them. This is about Destiny Wheeler and Alice Johnson. It’s about Cathleen Dixon’s children, and the Fabers’ family business. These are the people who need a win, and I will be fighting for this jobs bill every day on their behalf. If anyone watching feels the same way, don’t be shy about letting your Congressman know. It is time for the politics to end. Let’s pass this jobs bill.

Tea Party Not About Racism? Think Again...

2011-09-29T14:44:00.000-04:00

This comment was taken from Facebook, and serves as an example of just how out of control the racism and hatred has gotten in our country towards our President:

Sheila Ingram-Schroeder

It's past time for the arrogant president of the USA to be IMPEACHED!!! He continues to do what he wants, when he wants, and it makes no difference if he is breaking the law or not. He is the worst presient this country has ever had! We ...need to get his black A.. out of office and his aunt and uncles blacks a.... out of this country...he can go along with them. Send them back to Africa where they belong, they cerainly do not belong here. the president MAY be legal, which I doubt, but he does not deserve to even be in this country much less the president! If he prefers Oreo, like the black woman said the other day, or a malato...which ever. He is not black or white, but a mixture of both. So call him what he is, not what he isn't. His arrogance is unbelievable, and that he gets away with breaing the law like this...it sure would not happen for any of US born citizens. IMPEACHMENT IS THE ONLY ANSWER TO THIS VERY MUCH UNQUALIFIED PRESIDENT THAT IS IN OFFICE!!! WHY WAIT UNTIL 2012...GET HIM OUT NOW! HE SEEMS TO LOVE CALING OTHER PEOPLE NAMES, KNOCKING THEM DOWN WITH HIS SPITEFUL WORDS, HOW DOES HE LIKE HAVING IT DONE TO HIM??? I'M EMBARASSED TO EVEN CALL HIM THE PRESIDENT OF THIS GREAT NATION THAT HE IS SO TRYING TO DESTROY.........

FactCheck.org Keeps Catching GOP Lies

2011-09-29T12:41:00.000-04:00

Taken from FactCheck.org:

Nine Republican ~~ring wraiths~~ presidential candidates debated for two hours in Orlando, Fla., and they served up more exaggerations and falsehoods — about Obama, each other and even Thomas Jefferson.

Perry claimed Romney supports Obama’s Race to the Top education initiative. In fact, while Romney has praised some of the program’s goals, he said those kinds of issues ought to be handled at the state level, not federal.
Romney falsely accused Obama of saying “nothing about the Palestinians launching rockets into Israel” during a 2009 speech to the United Nations. In fact, Obama said those who suffer include “the Israeli girl in Sderot who closes her eyes in fear that a rocket will take her life in the middle of the night.”
Perry falsely claimed Romney had once written that “Romneycare” is “exactly what the American people needed.” Romney never wrote that. On the contrary, he said after he signed the bill that “certain aspects” of the state’s law might work “better in some states than others.”
Bachmann quoted Thomas Jefferson in defense of her previous assertion that separation of church and state is a “myth.” But the 1802 letter she cited is the very one in which Jefferson said the First Amendment erects “a wall of separation between Church & State.”
Perry said the U.S.-Mexico border needs more “boots on the ground” to stop illegal immigration, and claimed that “the federal government has not engaged in this at all.” In fact, the number of border security agents has more than doubled over the last decade.
Cain said the EPA has “gone wild” and will regulate “dust” as of Jan. 1. But there’s no new dust regulation set to go into effect on that day, and EPA says it has no plans for one.
And we found other factual problems as well. Former New Mexico Gov. Johnson claimed the government is borrowing 43 cents of every dollar spent. It’s really 37 cents. Bachmann denied suggesting the HPV vaccine can cause mental retardation or is “potentially dangerous.” And Cain even resurrected the old “death panel” falsehood about the new health care law, claiming he would be “dead under Obamacare” because “bureaucrats” would somehow have delayed diagnosis and treatment of the cancer he fought in 2006.

Use the link provided to read the article in full, and be sure to visit back any time you want to ensure you know the truth about something you've heard. Double checking facts is not a waste of time, it is a patriotic responsibility. We need less uninformed voters now more than ever since people have started to count on the fact that the general public can be easily fooled.

Wall Street Protesters Maced By Police

2011-09-27T23:27:00.000-04:00

You make the call, but to me it looks like the women who got the worst part of the mace were complying with the police by staying on their side of the barrier.

DADT Destroys Air Force YouTube Video

2011-09-26T19:31:00.001-04:00

If you can't laugh with them on this then you need to get that stick out of your but! Enjoy!

Tufts University Medical School Representative Proclaims Chaz Bono a Dangerous Example to Children

2011-09-21T13:55:00.000-04:00

Taken from the Tufts Daily:

...Keith Ablow, an assistant clinical professor at the Tufts School of Medicine, wrote for Fox News stating that children should not be allowed to watch a television show that cast a transgender individual.

Ablow published a Sept. 2 editorial in FoxNews.com's "Opinion" section titled "Don't Let Your Kids Watch Chaz Bono On ‘Dancing With the Stars,'" in which he states that parents should not let their children watch the ABC show "Dancing With the Stars," which premiered last night, because Chaz Bono, the transgendered son of Cher and Sonny Bono, appeared on the program.
Ablow's editorial warns that children — particularly those in the stages of puberty of who are questioning their sexualities — might be encouraged by Bono's appearance on "Stars" to change their own gender through gender reassignment surgery.
"It is a toxic and unnecessary byproduct of the tragic celebration of transgender surgery that millions of young people who do watch ‘Dancing with the Stars' will have to ponder this question: Maybe my problems really stem from the fact that I'm a girl inside a boy's body (or a boy inside a girl's body)," Ablow said.

To clarify, this professor of Medicine and representative of the Tufts School of Medicine went on national television and used his position to qualify his opinions that Transgender people like Chaz Bono and a danger to the public, not because of their law abiding actions, but simply by example, and that we should shield children from being exposed to that example rather than educate them properly in diversity.

This is the same argument made against GLBT rights across the country. It is not our actions, which are lawful, but simply our example people fear will harm children. What happened to free will? What happened to freedom of self expression? Has all of America invested so deeply into the fear industry that they can't even question the fears presented them anymore, like our Constitution and justice system demands?

Here is another fine example of why I fight for the full equality of all freedoms of expression and equal rights for all citizens.

Protesting Exodus "International" in New Hampshire 09.17.2011

2011-09-19T23:42:00.000-04:00

September 17, 2011 brought us a crisp but sunny morning, and those of us who live in New Hampshire came dressed to greet the cold temperatures. We also came prepared with a message for Exodus "International"; hate won't be sold to us.

Protesters started gathering prior to 8:00 AM even though the conference wasn't starting until 9:00 AM. As I pulled up to our location I started to smile realizing that our numbers already were healthy, and this protest has succeeded. Each person came with a hand made sign that lovingly invited Exodus conference members to remember that God loves them just the way He made them.

We later gathered at the corner of the half empty parking lot and listened to some speakers give their testimony while Exodus members peered at us from a distance. Two representatives came over and made clear that we were welcome to come in and join them, to which we declined. Here are some of the testimonials heard:

Judging by the head count we did as people rode in there could not have been more than forty or so participants, church regulars included, at this "North Atlantic Regional Conference". Wayne Besen explains why:

We also had a little run in with a church volunteer that stopped to tell us that we were on private property, which we knew to be untrue, and was later confirmed by the police captain who stopped by to let us know everything was OK. Here's a video of the exchange with that volunteer, who would not give his name:

Many thanks to all those who came out, pun intended. Peace and love to one and all!

This is What Homophobia Sounds Like

2011-09-14T17:28:00.001-04:00

I'll let this guy speak for himself... wow! During the video this man claims he has four years of college biology education, so I expected him to start explaining what he knew. Instead he turns to a website and reads from it, and has trouble with the bigger words.

Thanks to Jeremy Hooper of Good As You for finding this one and sharing it with us. I've rebutted with this:

Now let's see if there is a response, or if he will simply crawl back under the rock from which he climbed out from. Here's a public service announcement that maybe is still taken for real:

Incident in Salem NH Sparks Hate Crime Outcry

2011-08-24T16:13:00.000-04:00

The Anti-Violence Project of Massachusetts
138 Chandler Street, Number Four
Boston, Massachusetts 02116

Prosecutors Urged to Treat Attack on LGBT Ally Scott Herman as a Hate Crime
For Immediate Release: Wednesday, August 24, 2011

The Boston-based Anti-Violence Project called on state and police attorneys in Salem and Rockingham County, New Hampshire to prosecute the July 29, 2011 attack on fitness expert and LGBT ally Scott Herman as a hate crime. In a letter-brief filed on August 23, 2011, the Anti-Violence Project cited New Hampshire’s anti-hate crime statute to argue that alleged offenders Dean Bidgood and James Leavitt of Atkinson, NH should be met with the enhanced penalties prescribed for bias crimes, after perpetrating the hate-laced “road rage” incident.

According to the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune, http://www.eagletribune.com/latestnews/x1406722102/Salem-road-rage-victim-speaks-out Herman was flagged down—stopped at a red light—by Bidgood and Leavitt in the early morning hours of Friday 29 July. He pulled over because he thought he knew them. They charged his car (which advertises his fitness studio), threw open the doors, and goaded him to get out and fight, taunting him as a “faggot.” Bidgood kicked at Herman from the passenger side of the car, but Herman kept his cool and called 911. Bidgood, who has a prior criminal record, has a probable cause hearing in the Salem, New Hampshire District Court scheduled Wednesday, September 7.

Anti-Violence Project Chairperson Don Gorton stressed the bias indicator evidence which is the signature of a hate crime. As they accosted Herman, the alleged perpetrators yelled, “You want to get fucked up tonight you faggot!” Herman is a visible ally to the LGBT community on issues including bullying prevention and marriage equality—and allies of targeted groups are themselves exposed to hate crimes. Herman believes that he was identified and singled out. Moreover, Bidgood and Leavitt made no attempt to rob Herman. According to Gorton, “the only plausible motive for what happened to Scott was anti-gay hostility. Bashers don’t have reliable ‘gaydar.’”
Gorton continued: “The LGBT community must stand with our straight allies as they too can become targets of homophobia. The attack on Scott was an attack on all of us.” Gorton praised Herman for remaining calm in the circumstances and not responding with violence himself. “Scott is demanding justice under law, which is the civilized way to deal with outrageous behavior like that exhibited July 29th.”
The Anti-Violence Project will be monitoring the prosecutions as they go forward, and raising community awareness of Scott’s cause.

For more information: Don Gorton 617-285-8965 or dgorton@verizon.net

My Fellow American

2011-08-11T14:46:00.000-04:00

Political Cartoon Crucifies GLBT

2011-07-17T20:44:00.002-04:00

Ninth Circuit Court Rules Against Enforcing DADT

2011-07-06T18:58:00.001-04:00

Appellee/cross-appellant’s motion to lift this court’s November 1, 2010,
order granting a stay of the district court’s judgment pending appeal is granted.
See Hilton v. Braunskill, 481 U.S. 770, 776 (1987) (stating standard); Alliance for the Wild Rockies v. Cottrell, 632 F.3d 1127, 1135 (9th Cir. 2011) (same). In their briefs, appellants/cross-appellees do not contend that 10 U.S.C. § 654 is constitutional. In addition, in the context of the Defense of Marriage Act, 1 U.S.C. § 7, the United States has recently taken the position that classifications based on sexual orientation should be subjected to heightened scrutiny.

Click on the link to see a scanned copy of the ruling.

New York's House Vote on Same Sex Marriage (June 15, 2011)

2011-06-21T17:10:00.000-04:00

A vote YES is a vote for equality in this instance:

BILL: A08354 DATE: 06/15/2011 MOTION: YEA/NAY: 080/063

Abbate NO Castell NO Galef Y Katz NO McKevit NO Rabbitt NO Stevens NO
Abinant Y Castro Y Gantt NO Kavanag Y McLaugh NO Raia NO Sweeney Y
Amedore NO Ceretto NO Gibson AB Kellner Y Meng Y Ramos Y Tedisco NO
Arroyo Y Clark NO Giglio NO Kirwan NO Mill D NO Reilich NO Tenney NO
Aubry Y Colton NO Glick Y Kolb NO Mill JM Y Reilly Y Thiele Y
Barclay NO Conte NO Goodell NO Lancman Y Mill MG NO Rive J Y Titone Y
Barron NO Cook Y Gottfri Y Latimer Y Millman Y Rive N Y Titus Y
Benedet Y Corwin NO Graf NO Lavine Y Molinar NO Rive PM Y Tobacco NO
Bing Y Crespo NO Gunther Y Lentol Y Montesa NO Roberts Y Weinste Y
Blanken NO Crouch NO Hanna NO Lifton Y Morelle Y Robinso NO Weisenb Y
Boyland Y Curran NO Hawley NO Linares Y Moya Y Rodrigu Y Weprin Y
Boyle NO Cusick Y Hayes NO Lope PD NO Murray NO Rosenth Y Wright Y
Braunst Y Cymbrow NO Heastie Y Lope VJ Y Nolan Y Russell Y Zebrows Y
Brennan Y DenDekk Y Hevesi Y Losquad NO Oaks NO Saladin NO Mr Spkr Y
Bronson Y Dinowit Y Hikind NO Lupardo Y O'Donne Y Sayward Y
Brook-K Y Duprey Y Hooper NO Magee NO Ortiz Y Scarbor AB
Burling NO Englebr Y Hoyt Y Magnare Y Palmesa NO Schimel Y
Butler NO Farrell Y Jacobs Y Maisel Y Paulin Y Schimmi NO
Cahill Y Finch NO Jaffee Y Malliot NO Peoples Y Schroed Y
Calhoun NO Fitzpat NO Jeffrie Y Markey AB Perry Y Simotas Y
Camara Y Friend NO Johns NO McDonou NO Pretlow Y Smardz NO
Canestr Y Gabrysz NO Jordan NO McEneny Y Ra NO Spano Y

What is Bigotry?

2011-06-17T12:59:00.000-04:00

Here is the explanation given by the Southern Poverty Law Center regarding bigotry against GLBT people:

Opposition to equal rights for gays and lesbians has been a central theme of Christian Right organizing and fundraising for the past three decades – a period that parallels the fundamentalist movement's rise to political power.

For Christian Right leaders, the gay rights movement and its so-called "homosexual agenda" are the prime culprits in the destruction of American society and culture. In the words of Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, the battle against gay rights is essentially a "second civil war" to put control of the U.S. government in the right hands, meaning those who reject gay rights.

The religious right in America has employed a variety of strategies in its efforts to beat back the increasingly confident gay rights movement. One of those has been defamation. Many of its leaders have engaged in the crudest type of name-calling, describing LGBT people as "perverts" with "filthy habits" who seek to snatch the children of straight parents and "convert" them to gay sex. They have disseminated disparaging "facts" about gays that are simply untrue — assertions that are remarkably reminiscent of the way white intellectuals and scientists once wrote about the "bestial" black man and his supposedly threatening sexuality.

Prop 8 Judge Walker's Rulings Stand; Motion to Vacate is Denied

2011-06-14T17:21:00.000-04:00

Here from the actual text of the decision we find some points that clarify what is at hand:

Plaintiffs in this case are same-sex couples who claim that a California constitutional provision that redefined marriage in California solely to encompass a union between one man and one woman violated their rights under the federal Constitution.

Judge Walker entered judgment for Plaintiffs and enjoined enforcement of the state constitution against them.

Defendant-Intervenors brought this Motion before the District Court to vacate the Judgment on the ground that Judge Walker was disqualified from presiding over the case because his same-sex relationship was, or reasonably appeared to be, a nonpecuniary interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the case.

After considering the Oppositions to the Motion and the governing law, as discussed below, the Court finds that neither recusal nor disqualification was required based on the asserted grounds. The sole fact that a federal judge shares the same circumstances or personal characteristics with other members of the general public, and that the judge could be affected by the outcome of a proceeding in the same way that other members of the general public would be affected, is not a basis for either recusal or disqualification under Section 455(b)(4). Further, under Section 455(a), it is not reasonable to presume that a judge is incapable of making an impartial decision about the constitutionality of a law, solely because, as a citizen, the judge could be affected by the proceedings. Accordingly, the Motion to Vacate Judgment on the sole ground of Judge Walker’s same-sex relationship is DENIED.

You can click on the Title above for the link to the full 21 page opinion.

Action Alert: Calling For Equality in New York

2011-06-14T16:02:00.000-04:00

Brian Brown of National Organization for Marriage has sent out an email alert to his minions asking them to call specific legislators, even giving them the phone numbers for ease of reference. We who support marriage equality should be rallying to do the same, so let me share those numbers here and ask anyone reading this to send this information to all on their contact list:

Stephen Saland (845) 463-0840
Roy McDonald (518) 274-4616
Andrew Lanza (718) 984-4073
Greg Ball (845) 279-3773
Kemp Hannon (516) 739-1700
Charles Fuschillo (516) 882-0630
Betty Little (518) 743-0968
Dean Skelos (518) 455-3171

We can and have made a difference in the past, we only need to do our individual part. Thank you!

Springfield Tornadoes June 6, 2011 YouTube Videos

2011-06-02T14:38:00.004-04:00

We knew something was different about June 1, 2011 when we saw hail at 8:00 AM:

The following is a collection of the YouTube videos that show actual footage as well as damage:

http://youtu.be/FnbQdnQuWSw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS4sEXCjTsw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTFehR8yPP8&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTLdgbs5EXc&feature=relmfu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=636M8gOEtao&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDecvP23u8o&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXsMQGw4cS4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBbLGA4A7BY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4oilWFohUc

Please use discretion when posting; people lost their lives, loved ones, and their homes in this disaster.

Joplin Tornado Survivor Video From Within the Storm

2011-05-26T18:10:00.000-04:00

To better understand how bad this storm was you need to see the aftermath video where survivor Isaac Duncan explains where he and others hid in the mini-mart gas station walk in cooler. Undoubtedly the cooler is what saved their lives.

Where’s the Bathroom?

2011-05-24T20:47:00.001-04:00

In my opinion, the opposition to H1728 is nothing more than a particularly distasteful red herring as proven in opponents calling it the “Bathroom Bill”. I say it is a red herring because it leads people away from the original issues of Transgender rights without ever addressing those concerns; they seem dismissed as unimportant. I believe it is extremely distasteful to compare the equality of our citizens to fears that are both trivial and unproven. In fact, I believe the insult is obvious and intentional.

I am at a loss to understand how this bill opens an opportunity for criminals that was not previously there, nor do I see how denying Transgender rights affords society a magic lock on public bathrooms that keeps villains out. The juxtaposition of crime with Transgender rights seems meant to remind us of a time when homosexual activity was illegal; a time that many of the opponents of this bill think longingly of.

There are hate groups out there still churning up imaginary issues for us to buy into and using our fears against us. Women’s suffrage and the Civil Rights Movement have taught us that hate will never fade completely away; it is an unpleasant reality of social dynamics we must learn to live with. We have a responsibility to be good neighbors to one another and to examine the facts carefully when we are asked to give our opinions or pass judgment. We should be as careful and fair with other people’s issues as we would have them be with ours.

What concerns me the most about what I see happening in reference to H1728 is how good people will listen to hate mongers and follow them so readily, accepting their unfounded untruths as fact. We need to be ever vigilant not to shirk our responsibility as Americans to defend the liberty others died to give us, or we dishonor that sacrifice. In saying that H1728 will open the bathroom door to predators of women and children the opponents of Transgender rights are attempting to play the moderate middle for fools, hoping that people won’t care enough to examine the facts for themselves, since they’ve seen this method work so well in the recent past with other issues.

I pray that we will learn from our mistakes and in the future have the courage to look where we should and remember our duty to one another as a unified people. I hold hope that this future will come soon.

“Some people ask why, I ask why not?” ~Robert Kennedy

New Hampshire Toll Booth Crash Claims life

2011-05-22T17:31:00.002-04:00

While coming back from my cousin's wedding we saw two police cruisers fly past us at over 90 miles an hour with their lights on; clearly there was an emergency. We arrived at the toll booth only minutes after a terrible tragedy claimed the life of the driver, who had crashed into the tolls at approximately 80 miles an hour. The car disintegrated into unrecognizable pieces and burst into flames; our camera caught what happened right after the flames went out and before we knew the fate of the driver. Our prayers and thoughts are with the victim of the crash and his family.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/05/22/car-crashes-into-toll-booth-on-i-93-in-hooksett-nh-1-killed/

GOP: bash gays, forget economy | New, Next, Now! | IrishCentral

2011-05-14T18:26:00.000-04:00

GOP: bash gays, forget economy | New, Next, Now! | IrishCentral

Brennan's Brigade

2011-04-12T22:16:00.000-04:00

We all have things we can complain about, but sometimes it takes the innocence of youth to be able to reach our jaded hearts and bring us back to center; Brennan is such a child. I understand how scary it is to have cancer only as an adult, I have no point of reference as to how it would be as a boy only ten years old, but I can tell you it scares the Hell out of you. Even still, Brennan is found smiling in photo after photo living in the moment and inspiring people all around the world, let alone the country.

Take one moment to watch this video and forget whatever you have going on in your life, then when you are done watching see if you still have the same perspective. Thank you God for the little ones and the love they bring us; this is the single thing that makes life itself worth all the trouble it can be.

Paul McMahon Passes, Leaving 55+ years of SSM Legacy ~Bay Windows

2011-04-08T12:38:00.002-04:00

Photo by John Hosty

Bay Windows Reports:

Paul McMahon was taken by leukemia on Thursday, March 31. He was 78.
He was known as the other half of Ralph Hodgdon and for their long term relationship of 55 years. A film documentary by Vincent Apruzzese was made on them called 50 Years, which premiered in Provincetown, of course.
Paul and Ralph met in Central Park in New York in 1955. A week later they exchanged gold rings and moved into a studio apartment on the East Side, a block from Bloomingdales where Ralph worked. The rent was $14.00 a week, which they split...

Click here for more

Thousands Protest Budget On Statehouse Lawn - Video - WMUR Manchester

2011-04-07T11:31:00.000-04:00

Thousands Protest Budget On Statehouse Lawn - Video - WMUR Manchester

Pam's House Blend:: Is The New Hampshire GOP Gearing Up to Inject Same Sex Marriage into the 2012 Elections?

2011-03-28T10:44:00.000-04:00

Pam's House Blend:: Is The New Hampshire GOP Gearing Up to Inject Same Sex Marriage into the 2012 Elections?

Did The Democratic Party Found The KKK?

2011-03-21T21:52:00.000-04:00

One of my friends posted a comment on my page with a link to a YouTube video that suggests Democrats founded the KKK, blocked civil rights, created Jim Crow laws, and in doing so are not to be trusted. He states (which I believe) that you will always get the truth from him and some Republicans. I will qualify that this is a "former" marine, (once a marine always a marine) and someone I respect.

At the end of watching the video I went and fact checked. At the surface the allegations are true; Democrats did in fact found the KKK. The twist is that they were Southern Democrats, which split from Northern Democrats in their basic principals during the civil war, and that division has maintained largely even today. The major difference between the two arms of the same body is in the recognition of equality for black Americans and this rejection of minority rights visits us today in the same sex marriage debate.

However, the Republican Party has taken on some of the characteristics my friend accuses the Democratic Party of having. My point is summed up in actions; if the GOP, who has been in charge for so long in New Hampshire is so racially conscientious, why were we the last state in the union to adopt Martin Luther King Day?

"History, in general, only informs us of what bad government is." ~Thomas Jefferson

It seems that times change and so do the politics in our country. When I vote I look for the best ideas and abandon the notion that I need to be loyal to my party. The Republican Party in New Hampshire has written the discrimination of GLBT citizens into its platform, calling for an end to same sex marriages. There is no explanation why they think this will make a better society, it simply calls for an end to our liberty in this matter.

When laws are made they should be addressing a need, and in the instance of same sex marriage there seems no compelling interest served in their denial, hence the recognition in the first place. My marriage to Raymond neither picks my neighbors pocket nor breaks his leg, paraphrasing a quote of Thomas Jefferson on the principles of liberty. Why then would a political party assign the GLBT community as a public enemy? The truth has yet to surface, but perhaps my friend can shed some light on the matter by offering some inside understandings as to how the Republican Party has arrived here. There are allegations that the NH GOP is simply using this issue as a tool, much the way Governor Wallace in Alabama once did. If you read his memoirs you'll not he recanted his racial division ideals prior to his death.

Some New Hampshire representatives openly admit they are acting on their own moral beliefs in the matter of same sex marriage. While standing up for your beliefs works as a private citizen I wonder aloud how a representative can take this point of view when they represent a diverse society under the motto "Live Free or Die!" Is it appropriate to simply shrug your shoulders at a constituent who asks why their lives and their rights should be up for popular vote, saying to them, "Sorry, I don't have to justify the denial of your rights because it fits in line with my religious beliefs"? I think not, but I wouldn't know since my Representative, David Bates, will not respond to my contact requests.

The freedom to live our lives by our own beliefs and to answer to our creator for our actions should be unilateral and not just for the majority. It is enough in my eyes that we do not impede our neighbor's rights, we do not need to intrude upon our neighbors and demand they comply with what we believe. It does not matter what your skin color is, what you believe, or your station in life. What matters most is that you commit yourself to be law abiding and defend this great nation with your life if you are called to.

I believe Voltaire said it best:

"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it!"

A New Hampshirite paraphrased this in saying:

"Good Walls make good neighbors." ~Robert Frost

To each his own. Let people be as they will and let those who would take a path least taken do so. America is great because of its ability to embrace differences as its own and learn, it is not great in spite of these differences. Anyone who questions this should remember the "Wind Talkers" whose native language of Navajo could not be broken during WWII. Incidentally, it is well known that Native Americans were subject to widespread discrimination that resulted in their being pushed to the brink of extinction.

Our great nation has been plagued by division and fear mongering for too long. It has cost us greatly and has nearly been proven to be orchestrated by the rich for their gain at the expense of the majority. United we Stand is not just a motto, it is America's way of life; we need to get back to seeing our neighbors as part of our extended family and treat each other with respect instead of suspicion.

We can all benefit by checking facts for ourselves and making sure we do so before we disseminate propaganda that damages our unity and our country. There are real enemies in our midst, and they are using our fear against us to ensure we stay divided and weak enough to take advantage of. My hope is that we inform ourselves against these tactics and end discrimination of all kinds once and for all, for the benefit of ourselves today, and for the children of tomorrow.

"We will either rise up together as brothers or perish together as fools." ~Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Jennifer Rubin: Romney falls short on Romneycare - Thursday, Mar. 10, 2011

2011-03-21T02:55:00.000-04:00

Jennifer Rubin: Romney falls short on Romneycare - Thursday, Mar. 10, 2011

Japanese Tsunami Video 03.11.2011

2011-03-11T12:29:00.000-05:00

National Geographic explains the biology of homosexuality

2011-03-02T20:57:00.000-05:00

Good As You Ties Cornerstone NH to Known Hate Group

2011-02-28T20:20:00.000-05:00

Southern Poverty Law Center Debunks 10 Most Common Myths Against GLBT

2011-02-28T15:24:00.000-05:00

By Evelyn Schlatter and Robert Steinback

Ever since born-again singer and orange juice pitchwoman Anita Bryant helped kick off the contemporary anti-gay movement more than 30 years ago, hard-line elements of the religious right have been searching for ways to demonize homosexuals — or, at a minimum, to find arguments that will prevent their normalization in society. For the former Florida beauty queen and her Save Our Children group, it was the alleged plans of gays and lesbians to “recruit” in schools that provided the fodder for their crusade.

But in addition to hawking that myth, the legions of anti-gay activists who followed have added a panoply of others, ranging from the extremely doubtful claim that homosexuality is a choice, to unalloyed lies like the claims that gays molest children far more than heterosexuals or that hate crime laws will lead to the legalization of bestiality and necrophilia. These fairy tales are important to the anti-gay right because they form the basis of its claim that homosexuality is a social evil that must be suppressed — an opinion rejected by virtually all relevant medical and scientific authorities. They also almost certainly contribute to hate crime violence directed at homosexuals, who are more targeted for such attacks than any other minority in America. What follows are 10 key myths propagated by the anti-gay movement, along with the truth behind the propaganda.

MYTH # 1
Homosexuals molest children at far higher rates than heterosexuals.

THE ARGUMENT
Depicting gay men as a threat to children may be the single most potent weapon for stoking public fears about homosexuality — and for winning elections and referenda, as Anita Bryant found out during her successful 1977 campaign to overturn a Dade County, Fla., ordinance barring discrimination against gay people. Discredited psychologist Paul Cameron, the most ubiquitous purveyor of anti-gay junk science, has been a major promoter of this myth. Despite having been debunked repeatedly and very publicly, Cameron’s work is still widely relied upon by anti-gay organizations, although many no longer quote him by name. Others have cited a group called the American College of Pediatricians to claim, as Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council did in November 2010, that “the research is overwhelming that homosexuality poses a [molestation] danger to children.”

THE FACTS
According to the American Psychological Association, “homosexual men are not more likely to sexually abuse children than heterosexual men are.” Gregory Herek, a professor at the University of California, Davis, who is one of the nation’s leading researchers on prejudice against sexual minorities, reviewed a series of studies and found no evidence that gay men molest children at higher rates than heterosexual men.

Anti-gay activists who make that claim allege that all men who molest male children should be seen as homosexual. But research by A. Nicholas Groth, a pioneer in the field of sexual abuse of children, shows that is not so. Groth found that there are two types of child molesters: fixated and regressive. The fixated child molester — the stereotypical pedophile — cannot be considered homosexual or heterosexual because “he often finds adults of either sex repulsive” and often molests children of both sexes. Regressive child molesters are generally attracted to other adults, but may “regress” to focusing on children when confronted with stressful situations. Groth found that the majority of regressed offenders were heterosexual in their adult relationships.

The Child Molestation Research and Prevention Institute notes that 90% of child molesters target children in their network of family and friends. Most child molesters, therefore, are not gay people lingering outside schools waiting to snatch children from the playground, as much religious-right rhetoric suggests.

Some anti-gay ideologues cite the American College of Pediatricians’ opposition to same-sex parenting as if the organization were a legitimate professional body. In fact, the so-called college is atiny breakaway faction of the similarly named, 60,000-member American Academy of Pediatrics that requires, as a condition of membership, that joiners “hold true to the group’s core beliefs … [including] that the traditional family unit, headed by an opposite-sex couple, poses far fewer risk factors in the adoption and raising of children.” The group’s 2010 publication Facts About Youth was described by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association as non-factual. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, was one of several legitimate researchers who said Facts misrepresented their findings. “It is disturbing to me to see special interest groups distort my scientific observations to make a point against homosexuality,” he wrote. “The information they present is misleading and incorrect.”

MYTH # 2
Same-sex parents harm children.

THE ARGUMENT
Most hard-line anti-gay organizations are heavily invested, from both a religious and a political standpoint, in promoting the traditional nuclear family as the sole framework for the healthy upbringing of children. They maintain a reflexive belief that same-sex parenting must be harmful to children — although the exact nature of that supposed harm varies widely.

THE FACTS
No legitimate research has demonstrated that same-sex couples are any more or any less harmful to children than heterosexual couples.

The American Academy of Pediatrics in a 2002 policy statement declared: “A growing body of scientific literature demonstrates that children who grow up with one or two gay and/or lesbian parents fare as well in emotional, cognitive, social, and sexual functioning as do children whose parents are heterosexual.” That policy statement was reaffirmed in 2009.

The American Psychological Association found that “same-sex couples are remarkably similar to heterosexual couples, and that parenting effectiveness and the adjustment, development and psychological well-being of children is unrelated to parental sexual orientation.”

Similarly, the Child Welfare League of America’s official position with regard to same-sex parents is that “lesbian, gay, and bisexual parents are as well-suited to raise children as their heterosexual counterparts.”

MYTH # 3
People become homosexual because they were sexually abused as children or there was a deficiency in sex-role modeling by their parents.

THE ARGUMENT
Many anti-gay rights proponents claim that homosexuality is a mental disorder caused by some psychological trauma or aberration in childhood. This argument is used to counter the common observation that no one, gay or straight, consciously chooses his or her sexual orientation. Joseph Nicolosi, a founder of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, said in 2009 that “if you traumatize a child in a particular way, you will create a homosexual condition.” He also has repeatedly said, “Fathers, if you don’t hug your sons, some other man will.” A side effect of this argument is the demonization of parents of homosexuals, who are led to wonder if they failed to protect a child against sexual abuse or failed as role models in some important way. In October 2010, Kansas State University family studies professor Walter Schumm said he was about to release a related study arguing that homosexual couples are more likely than heterosexuals to raise gay or lesbian children.

THE FACTS
No scientifically sound study has linked sexual orientation or identity with parental role-modeling or childhood sexual abuse.

The American Psychiatric Association noted in a 2000 fact sheet on gay, lesbian and bisexual issues that “no specific psychosocial or family dynamic cause for homosexuality has been identified, including histories of childhood sexual abuse.” The fact sheet goes on to say that sexual abuse does not appear to be any more prevalent among children who grow up and identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual than in children who grow up and identify as heterosexual.

Similarly, the National Organization on Male Sexual Victimization notes on its website that “experts in the human sexuality field do not believe that premature sexual experiences play a significant role in late adolescent or adult sexual orientation” and added that it’s unlikely that someone can make another person a homosexual or heterosexual.

With regard to Schumm’s study, critics have already said that he appears to have merely aggregated anecdotal data, a biased sample that invalidates his findings.

MYTH # 4
Homosexuals don’t live nearly as long as heterosexuals.

THE ARGUMENT
Anti-gay organizations want to promote heterosexuality as the healthier “choice.” Furthermore, the purportedly shorter life spans and poorer physical and mental health of homosexuals are often offered as reasons why gays and lesbians shouldn’t be allowed to adopt or foster children.

THE FACTS
This falsehood can be traced directly to the discredited research of Paul Cameron and his Family Research Institute, specifically a 1994 paper he co-wrote entitled, “The Lifespan of Homosexuals.” Using obituaries collected from gay newspapers, he and his two co-authors concluded that gay men died, on average, at 43, compared to an average life expectancy at the time of around 73 for all U.S. men. On the basis of the same obituaries, Cameron also claimed that gay men are 18 times more likely to die in car accidents than heterosexuals, 22 times more likely to die of heart attacks than whites, and 11 times more likely than blacks to die of the same cause. He also concluded that lesbians are 487 times more likely to die of murder, suicide, or accidents than straight women.

Remarkably, these claims have become staples of the anti-gay right and have frequently made their way into far more mainstream venues. For example, William Bennett, education secretary under President Reagan, used Cameron’s statistics in a 1997 interview he gave to ABC News’ “This Week.”

However, like virtually all of his “research,” Cameron’s methodology is egregiously flawed — most obviously because the sample he selected (the data from the obits) was not remotely statistically representative of the homosexual population as a whole. Even Nicholas Eberstadt, a demographer at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, has called Cameron’s methods “just ridiculous.”

MYTH # 5
Homosexuals controlled the Nazi Party and helped to orchestrate the Holocaust.

THE ARGUMENT
This claim comes directly from a 1995 book titled The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party, by Scott Lively and Kevin Abrams. Lively is the virulently anti-gay founder of Abiding Truth Ministries and Abrams is an organizer of a group called the International Committee for Holocaust Truth, which came together in 1994 and included Lively as a member.

The primary argument Lively and Abrams make is that gay people were not victimized by the Holocaust. Rather, Hitler deliberately sought gay men for his inner circle because their “unusual brutality” would help him run the party and mastermind the Holocaust. In fact, “the Nazi party was entirely controlled by militaristic male homosexuals throughout its short history,” the book claims. “While we cannot say that homosexuals caused the Holocaust, we must not ignore their central role in Nazism,” Lively and Abrams add. “To the myth of the ‘pink triangle’ — the notion that all homosexuals in Nazi Germany were persecuted — we must respond with the reality of the ‘pink swastika.’”

These claims have been picked up by a number of anti-gay groups and individuals, including Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association, as proof that homosexuals are violent and sick. The book has also attracted an audience among anti-gay church leaders in Eastern Europe and among Russian-speaking anti-gay activists in America.

THE FACTS
The Pink Swastika has been roundly discredited by legitimate historians and other scholars. Christine Mueller, professor of history at Reed College, did a line-by-line refutation of an earlier (1994) Abrams article on the topic and of the broader claim that the Nazi Party was “entirely controlled” by gay men. Historian Jon David Wynecken at Grove City College also refuted the book, pointing out that Lively and Abrams did no primary research of their own, instead using out-of-context citations of some legitimate sources while ignoring information from those same sources that ran counter to their thesis.

The myth that the Nazis condoned homosexuality sprang up in the 1930s, started by socialist opponents of the Nazis as a slander against Nazi leaders. Credible historians believe that only one of the half-dozen leaders in Hitler’s inner circle, Ernst Röhm, was gay. (Röhm was murdered on Hitler’s orders in 1934.) The Nazis considered homosexuality one aspect of the “degeneracy” they were trying to eradicate.

When the National Socialist Party came to power in 1933, it quickly strengthened Germany’s existing penalties against homosexuality. Heinrich Himmler, Hitler’s security chief, announced that homosexuality was to be “eliminated” in Germany, along with miscegenation among the races. Historians estimate that between 50,000 and 100,000 men were arrested for homosexuality (or suspicion of it) under the Nazi regime. These men were routinely sent to concentration camps and many thousands died there.

In 1942, the Nazis instituted the death penalty for homosexuals. Offenders in the German military were routinely shot. Himmler put it like this: “We must exterminate these people root and branch. … We can’t permit such danger to the country; the homosexual must be completely eliminated.”

MYTH # 6
Hate crime laws will lead to the jailing of pastors who criticize homosexuality and the legalization of practices like bestiality and necrophilia.

THE ARGUMENT
Anti-gay activists, who have long opposed adding LGBT people to those protected by hate crime legislation, have repeatedly claimed that such laws would lead to the jailing of religious figures who preach against homosexuality — part of a bid to gain the backing of the broader religious community for their position. Janet Porter of Faith2Action was one of many who asserted that the federal Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act — signed into law by President Obama in October 2009 — would “jail pastors” because it “criminalizes speech against the homosexual agenda.”

In a related assertion, anti-gay activists claimed the law would lead to the legalization of psychosexual disorders (paraphilias) like bestiality and pedophilia. Bob Unruh, a conservative Christian journalist who left The Associated Press in 2006 for the right-wing, conspiracist news site WorldNetDaily, said shortly before the federal law was passed that it would legalize “all 547 forms of sexual deviancy or ‘paraphilias’ listed by the American Psychiatric Association.” This claim was repeated by many anti-gay organizations, including the Illinois Family Institute.

THE FACTS
The claim that hate crime laws could result in the imprisonment of those who “oppose the homosexual lifestyle” is false. The Constitution provides robust protections of free speech, and case law makes it clear that even a preacher who suggested that homosexuals should be killed would be protected.

Neither do hate crime laws — which provide for enhanced penalties when persons are victimized because of their “sexual orientation” (among other factors) — “protect pedophiles,” as Janet Porter and many others have claimed. According to the American Psychological Association, sexual orientation refers to heterosexuality, homosexuality and bisexuality — not paraphilias such as pedophilia. Paraphilias, as defined by the American Psychiatric Assocation, are disorders characterized by sexual urges or behaviors directed at nonhuman objects or non-consenting persons like children, or that involve the suffering or humiliation of one’s partner.

Even if pedophiles, for example, were protected under a hate crime law — and such a law has not been suggested or contemplated anywhere — that would not legalize or “protect” pedophilia. Pedophilia is illegal sexual activity, and a law that more severely punished people who attacked pedophiles would not change that.

MYTH # 7
Allowing homosexuals to serve openly would damage the armed forces.

THE ARGUMENT
Anti-gay groups are adamantly opposed to allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the armed forces, not only because of their purported fear that combat readiness will be undermined, but because the military has long been considered the purest meritocracy in America (the armed forces were successfully racially integrated long before American civilian society, for example). If gays can serve honorably and effectively in this meritocracy, that would suggest that there is no rational basis for discriminating against them in any way.

THE FACTS
Homosexuals now serve in the U.S. armed forces, though under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy instituted in 1993, they cannot serve openly. At the same time, gays and lesbians serve openly in the armed forces of 25 countries, including Britain, Israel, South Africa, Canada and Australia, according to a report released by the Palm Center, a policy think tank at the University of California at Santa Barbara. The Palm Center report concluded that lifting bans against openly gay service personnel in these countries “ha[s] had no negative impact on morale, recruitment, retention, readiness or overall combat effectiveness.” Successful transitions to new policies were attributed to clear signals of leadership support and a focus on a uniform code of behavior without regard to sexual orientation.

A 2008 Military Times poll of active-duty military personnel, often cited by anti-gay activists, found that 10% of respondents said they would not re-enlist if the DADT policy were repealed. That would mean some 228,000 people might leave the military in that instance. But a 2009 review of that poll by the Palm Center suggested a wide disparity between what soldiers said they would do and their actual actions. It noted, for example, that far more than 10% of West Point officers in the 1970s said they would leave the service if women were admitted to the academy. “But when the integration became a reality,” the report said, “there was no mass exodus; the opinions turned out to be just opinions.” Similarly, a 1985 survey of 6,500 male Canadian service members and a 1996 survey of 13,500 British service members each revealed that nearly two-thirds expressed strong reservations about serving with gays. Yet when those countries lifted bans on gays serving openly, virtually no one left the service for that reason. “None of the dire predictions of doom came true,” the Palm Center report said.

MYTH # 8
Homosexuals are more prone to be mentally ill and to abuse drugs and alcohol.

THE ARGUMENT
Anti-gay groups want not only to depict sexual orientation as something that can be changed but also to show that heterosexuality is the most desirable “choice” — even if religious arguments are set aside. The most frequently used secular argument made by anti-gay groups in that regard is that homosexuality is inherently unhealthy, both mentally and physically. As a result, most anti-gay rights groups reject the 1973 decision by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) to remove homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses. Some of these groups, including the particularly hard-line Traditional Values Coalition, claim that “homosexual activists” managed to infiltrate the APA in order to sway its decision.

THE FACTS
All major professional mental health organizations are on record as stating that homosexuality is not a mental disorder.

It is true that LGBT people suffer higher rates of anxiety, depression, and depression-related illnesses and behaviors like alcohol and drug abuse than the general population. But studies done during the past 15 years have determined that it is the stress of being a member of a minority group in an often-hostile society — and not LGBT identity itself — that accounts for the higher levels of mental illness and drug use.

Richard J. Wolitski, an expert on minority status and public health issues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, put it like this in 2008: “Economic disadvantage, stigma, and discrimination … increase stress and diminish the ability of individuals [in minority groups] to cope with stress, which in turn contribute to poor physical and mental health.”

MYTH # 9
No one is born a homosexual.

THE ARGUMENT
Anti-gay activists keenly oppose the granting of “special” civil rights protections to homosexuals similar to those afforded black Americans and other minorities. But if people are born gay — in the same way people have no choice as to whether they are black or white — discrimination against homosexuals would be vastly more difficult to justify. Thus, anti-gay forces insist that sexual orientation is a behavior that can be changed, not an immutable characteristic.

THE FACTS
Modern science cannot state conclusively what causes sexual orientation, but a great many studies suggest that it is the result of biological and environmental forces, not a personal “choice.” One of the more recent is a 2008 Swedish study of twins (the world’s largest twin study) that appeared in The Archives of Sexual Behavior and concluded that “[h]omosexual behaviour is largely shaped by genetics and random environmental factors.” Dr. Qazi Rahman, study co-author and a leading scientist on human sexual orientation, said: “This study puts cold water on any concerns that we are looking for a single ‘gay gene’ or a single environmental variable which could be used to ‘select out’ homosexuality — the factors which influence sexual orientation are complex. And we are not simply talking about homosexuality here — heterosexual behaviour is also influenced by a mixture of genetic and environmental factors.”

The American Psychological Association (APA) acknowledges that despite much research into the possible genetic, hormonal, social and cultural influences on sexual orientation, no evidence has emerged that would allow scientists to pinpoint the precise causes of sexual orientation. Still, the APA concludes that “most people experience little or no sense of choice about their sexual orientation.”

In October 2010, Kansas State University family studies professor Walter Schumm said he was about to release a study showing that gay parents produced far more gay children than heterosexual parents. He told a reporter that he was “trying to prove [homosexuality is] not 100% genetic.” But critics suggested that his data did not prove that, and, in any event, virtually no scientists have suggested that homosexuality is caused only by genes.

MYTH # 10
Gay people can choose to leave homosexuality.

THE ARGUMENT
If people are not born gay, as anti-gay activists claim, then it should be possible for individuals to abandon homosexuality. This view is buttressed among religiously motivated anti-gay activists by the idea that homosexual practice is a sin and humans have the free will needed to reject sinful urges.

A number of “ex-gay” religious ministries have sprung up in recent years with the aim of teaching homosexuals to become heterosexuals, and these have become prime purveyors of the claim that gays and lesbians, with the aid of mental therapy and Christian teachings, can “come out of homosexuality.” Exodus International, the largest of these ministries, plainly states, “You don’t have to be gay!” Another, the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, describes itself as “a professional, scientific organization that offers hope to those who struggle with unwanted homosexuality.”

THE FACTS
“Reparative” or sexual reorientation therapy — the pseudo-scientific foundation of the ex-gay movement — has been rejected by all the established and reputable American medical, psychological, psychiatric, and professional counseling organizations. In 2009, for instance, the American Psychological Association adopted a resolution, accompanied by a 138-page report, that repudiated ex-gay therapy. The report concluded that compelling evidence suggested that cases of individuals going from gay to straight were “rare” and that “many individuals continued to experience same-sex sexual attractions” after reparative therapy. The APA resolution added that “there is insufficient evidence to support the use of psychological interventions to change sexual orientation” and asked “mental health professionals to avoid misrepresenting the efficacy of sexual orientation change efforts by promoting or promising change in sexual orientation.” The resolution also affirmed that same-sex sexual and romantic feelings are normal.

Some of the most striking, if anecdotal, evidence of the ineffectiveness of sexual reorientation therapy has been the numerous failures of some of its most ardent advocates. For example, the founder of Exodus International, Michael Bussee, left the organization in 1979 with a fellow male ex-gay counselor because the two had fallen in love. Alan Chambers, current president of Exodus, said in 2007 that with years of therapy, he’s mostly conquered his attraction to men, but then admitted, “By no means would we ever say that change can be sudden or complete."

Senator Diane Savino for Same Sex Marriage

2011-02-26T17:26:00.000-05:00

A Letter to the New Hampshire GOP

2011-02-22T18:28:00.002-05:00

Greetings Esteemed leaders of the New Hampshire GOP,

Upon reading the local papers I was made aware of HB 0437 proposed by Rep. David Bates of whom I am a constituent of. I have attempted to reach David regarding this matter and I have been unsuccessful, leaving me to wonder why he thinks same sex marriage should be repealed. When listening to his testimony in person a was struck by the understanding that he and this bill are part of an organized effort of the NH GOP, and I also heard someone mention that this stance is in the NH GOP Platform. When I checked these statements for myself I found them to be true. In fact, this issue is the first listed, and presumably the most important issue regarding family (VIII. THE FAMILY):

Recognizing marriage as the legal union between one man and one woman

Opposing recognition by the State of New Hampshire of all other forms of civil unions, regardless of where such unions were formed (other states, U.S. territories, and foreign countries)

Silence, especially from an elected official when confronted by a constituent, is a horrible response to honest and respectful dialog. It is my hope that someone explain what the NH GOP has found so compelling as to make same sex marriage a top priority written into the party platform itself. Further, I'd like to know how to obtain the minutes of the meeting in which this issue was debated and decided upon.

It is my contention that we are all responsible for our individual actions, and that no citizen of New Hampshire should be subject to such a sweeping change unless it is truly warranted. That warrant needs to bare the brunt of scrutiny. As a member in good standing with my community and part of a committed relationship of more than 16 years, I have a deep respect for law and my neighbor. If in my actions I offend the rights of another I ask simply to be told how so I can change my ways for the better. In the absence of my personal violation I would ask how I as an individual can prove my worth and maintain my rights as they are so as not to be considered part of a faceless menacing mob that needs to be curtailed.

My understanding of law and ethics brings me to conclude that the majority should never endorse a "might makes right" attitude towards minorities, gays and lesbians included. We do not have the right to legislate our beliefs or any aspect of them upon people who differ in their own beliefs; this is the spirit of freedom itself and is protected by our Constitution. Perhaps the guidance we need has been with us for over 200 years, given from President Thomas Jefferson:

"The will of the majority is in all instances to prevail, but for that will to be rightful it must be reasonable. The minorities have their equal rights, and to deny them would be oppression."

The Driving Equality Project Preview

2011-02-02T11:59:00.000-05:00

For more information, or to be part of this project by giving a donation please visit drivingequality.com.

A Letter to New Hampshire Legislators

2011-02-01T17:55:00.000-05:00

Greetings Esteemed Legislator,

I am writing you today with the hope that you’ll agree that marriage equality should be defended and maintained in New Hampshire. From the beginning of written law the same principles have applied:

“To bring about a rule of righteousness in the land so that the strong will not harm the weak.” ~Preamble to the Code of Hammurabi circa 1750 B.C.

The Corpus Juris Civilis from Roman law is the basis of modern civil law today:

“Juris praecepta sunt haec: honeste vivere, alterum non laedere, suum cuique tribuere.”
(The following are the precepts of the law; to live honestly, not to injure another, and to give each one that which belongs to him.)

1. Marriage is a legally binding contract between two people agreed to share each other’s resources in betterment of themselves and by proxy their community, establishing a compelling state interest to support marriages whenever and wherever the state can.

2. The state interest in promoting marriage is not diminished whether said marriage has children or not, or whether it is between two people of the same sex or not.

3. Same sex marriages in no way interfere with or diminish people’s rights who are opposed to same sex marriages.

4. Reasonable proof to legitimize claims against same sex marriage has not been shown.

5. Same sex marriages do not harm children by example or function.

Some say let the people vote. But when the will of the majority is not righteous, that is when we need leadership most. If HB0437 passes it will eliminate a means for some to pursue happiness and diminish liberty itself, all without the dignity of due process. I leave you with this final thought:

“The will of the majority is in all instances to prevail, but for that will to be rightful it must be reasonable. The minorities have their equal rights, and to deny them would be oppression.” ~Thomas Jefferson in his inaugural address as President of the United States 1810

May God Himself aid your wisdom and guide your decision; thank you for your valuable time.

White House Announces "Start Up" Initiative for Would Small Businesses

2011-01-31T12:01:00.000-05:00

White House to Launch “Startup America” Initiative

Administration and Private Sector Campaigns will promote entrepreneurship and innovation

In his State of the Union Address, President Obama laid out a plan for winning the future by out-innovating, out-educating, and out-building the rest of the world. This week, the White House will hold a number of events to focus on innovation, and how we can create the jobs and industries of the future by investing in the creativity and imagination of the American people.

Today, the White House will launch “Startup America,” a national campaign to help America achieve these goals by promoting high-growth entrepreneurship across the country with new initiatives to help encourage private sector investment in job-creating startups and small firms, accelerate research, and address barriers to success for entrepreneurs and small businesses.

President Obama said, “Entrepreneurs embody the promise of America: the belief that if you have a good idea and are willing to work hard and see it through, you can succeed in this country. And in fulfilling this promise, entrepreneurs also play a critical role in expanding our economy and creating jobs. That’s why we're launching Startup America, a national campaign to help win the future by knocking down barriers in the path of men and women in every corner of this country hoping to take a chance, follow a dream, and start a business.”

At an event at 11:00 am ET on Monday at the White House, Gary Locke, Secretary of the Department of Commerce; Dr. Steven Chu, Secretary of the Department of Energy; Karen Mills, Administrator of the Small Business Administration; Gene Sperling, Director of the National Economic Council; Austan Goolsbee, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, and a number of America’s top entrepreneurs and business leaders will hold an event to launch the program.

President Obama continued, “Startup America also represents a historic partnership with business leaders, investors, universities, foundations, and non-profits, and we're urging others to join them in this effort. For entrepreneurs speak to what's best about America, and in their drive and innovative spirit -- in their willingness to take a risk on a bold idea -- we can see the future. We can see how America will compete and win in the 21st century global economy.”

Answering the President’s call to action to invest in job-creating startups, leaders in the private sector will launch the “Startup America Partnership,” an independent and private-sector led campaign to mobilize private sector commitments. Steve Case, co-founder of AOL and Chairman of the Case Foundation, will chair the Partnership, and Carl Schramm, President and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation will be a founding board member. Case and Schramm, along with entrepreneurs from across the country, will join administration officials at the event.

As a part of the White House’s “Startup America” initiative, the administration will announce new initiatives and incentives to encourage the private sector to invest in new startups:

The President’s new budget will propose making permanent the elimination of capital gains taxes on key investments in small businesses, which was passed as a temporary provision in 2010 as part of the Small Business Jobs Act the President signed in September. The budget will also propose expanding the New Markets Tax Credit to encourage private sector investment in startups and small businesses operating in lower-income communities.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) will direct $2 billion in existing guarantee authority over the next 5 years to match private sector investment funding for startups and small firms in underserved communities, as well as seed and early-stage investing in firms with high growth potential, through its Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program.

Together SBA and the Department of Energy will boost high-quality mentorship for cleantech startups, while the Veterans Administration is launching new training programs for Veterans who want to start new businesses.

The Department of Commerce will expand the i6 Challenge to help foster the commercialization of clean technologies, and are finalizing a plan to allow entrepreneurs to request faster review of their patents, an initiative that should lower patent pendency times overall and speed the deployment of new ideas to the marketplace.

Some examples of the private sector and philanthropic commitments that will be announced alongside the launch of the “Startup America Partnership,” the private sector initiative, are below:

Expand startup accelerators that provide seed funding and intensive mentorship, allowing the Astia network to serve twice as many women entrepreneurs, the MassChallenge competition to extend its national reach from Boston’s Innovation District, and the new TechStars Network to boost the success rate of 6,000 entrepreneurs in 15 regions, including Miami, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Cincinnati, Salt Lake City, Nashville, and New Orleans.

Scale up programs that prepare K-12 and college students to start their own companies, such as the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, Blackstone LaunchPad, Junior Achievement, National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance, the Virtual Incubation Network for America’s Community Colleges, and the Artists & Instigators Practicum.

Increase corporate investment and support for startups from companies such as Intel, HP, IBM, Facebook, and others.

Foster innovation and entrepreneurship in states and regions such as Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, and New Orleans, building on the success of models such as JumpStart America and the Deshpande Foundation’s innovation centers.

A full fact sheet is available HERE.

Sarah "Pinocchio" Palin Tries More Dishonest Damage Control

2011-01-15T22:54:00.000-05:00

Sarah Palin made a decision a long time ago to strongly ally herself with gun owning middle America, and has included comments in her speeches, press release pictures, and even her website that involve guns. She has exhibited a pattern of behavior that closely associates her with guns, as exampled in this picture:

It was Sarah Palin who said after the passing of the Health Care Reform Act:

"It's not a time to retreat, it's time to reload."

She caught flack for this inflammatory comment, defending her statement by saying she was misunderstood:

"Palin urged the media not to read any incitement into that other than re-dedication to the upset of the D.C. political establishment that's still celebrating the healthcare bill's first signing." ~LATimes.com

It was Sarah Palin's website that had this map on it:

Now that one of the people on this list has suffered an assassination attempt after vocally complaining about being a marked target, Team Palin has announced that these are not cross-hairs on the map, they are "surveyor's symbols". Through my experience this latest spin of the facts seems nothing less than the elaboration of a bad liar. I am hardly alone in that thought.

I have two questions:

1. If these were "surveyor's marks" on Palin's map, why wasn't that made clear prior to the shooting when Congresswoman Giffords complained about this map on national television?

2. Would surveyor's marks change the fact that these people were targeted?

It does not seem that this gunman in the Tucson Shootings was motivated by Palin's rhetoric. I'm confident there are others out there that Palin's message could motivate into violence. I am glad to see Palin has conceded the point enough to have pulled the offensive map from her website.

Maybe someone told Palin that she shouldn't show weakness now at a time when she is being attacked from all sides over her rhetoric, and that she needs to continue defending her talking points. To me it seems all her recent actions have done is make her look both insensitive and dishonest. Insensitive, because she could have spent her time talking about the victims, their families, or the pain America is in over this tragedy, but instead she used the majority of her time to talk about herself and how she felt attacked. Regardless of whether she was being unfairly attacked she should have known this is a time true leaders would show concern and compassion unconcerned for themselves.

Palin seems dishonest because not even her most ardent supporters are willing to defend her map as innocuous. I say dishonest because even she on her twitter account had this to say about the map in question:

"Remember months ago 'bullseye' icon used 2 target the 20 Obamacare-lovin' incumbent seats?..."

Sarah Palin Commits Political Suicide

2011-01-13T15:35:00.006-05:00

Sarah Palin is famous for some of the one line zingers written for her by others, like "How's that Hopey, Changey thing workin' out for ya?" spoken by her while at the first ever National Tea Party Convention. Her response to criticism always seems unapologetic and smarmy, as if meant to diminish points made that question her. Often in the past this seems successful enough to cloud whatever issue is brought up against her.

I don't believe this method of argument will work to fend off accusations that her "call to arms" could incite tragedies like the Tucson Shooting.

In questioning whether Palin's rhetoric incites violence people need to review the facts, beginning with her first call to arms. I, like many, was deeply distressed when I heard her comment after the Health Care Reform Bill passed:

"It's not a time to retreat. It's a time to reload."

The suggestion of violence by calling her supporters to arms against her political opponents seems self evident to most, including Palin it seems, who issued this clarification:

"Palin urged the media not to read any incitement into that other than re-dedication to the upset of the D.C. political establishment that's still celebrating the healthcare bill's first signing." ~LATimes.com

Almost prophetically, Gabrielle Giffords, the Congresswoman who now struggles for her life after falling victim to a crazed gunman had this to say (link is to YouTube video) about Palin's call to reload:

“Sarah Palin has the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district and when people do that, they’ve gotta realize there are consequences to that action.”

Further evidence of just how intimidating Palin's rhetoric can be shows in this map from Palin's website:

Team Palin must have seen the error of posting this map. Although Palin remains unapologetic, this map is no longer part of her website.

In her address of the Tucson Shooting, Palin used the term "Blood Libel", which is a reference to the false accusations made for centuries against Jews, often to malign them as child killers who coveted the blood of Christian children. It is unclear if she was not aware of the historical reference, or if she meant to use it to signify her complaint that she somehow is a victim too. How chilling.

I believe Palin's stick to your guns approach to criticism is going to amount to political suicide now that people have heard what both her and President Obama have had to say in the same matter. People can see for themselves what true leadership looks like in Obama, whose voice at times quaked with emotional intensity. While Palin shamelessly used her time to try and vilify her critics, our president used his speech to bring us together, rallying us around the heroism done by both survivors and fallen alike, calling us to be active participants in the change we wish to see by finding the hero within us all.

We are, after all, the sum of our actions and intentions. If we remain silent about things that matter then we are paving the road to Hell as our path for the future. I am nobody special, but I will speak my mind and defend what I believe. Through my love for God, my country, and my fellow human beings I start each day with an effort to do my small part, hoping that others will do the same.

Sarah Palin, there are times when one should not conduct business as usual; now is such a time. The fact that you did not already know this when responding to the Tucson Shootings proves to me you do not have the wisdom to lead. Please don't divide our great nation further with any more similar mistakes.

UPDATE: Interestingly, the pictures of the Narnia Ice Queen and Sarah Palin's Hit list both vanished from this article without explanation. If this is a matter of censorship from the shadows they will have a tough time keeping them down now that I have noticed! ;)

Live, Love, and Learn: President Obama Addresses the Tucson Shooting Memorial Service

2011-01-12T21:46:00.000-05:00

Live, Love, and Learn: President Obama Addresses the Tucson Shooting Memorial Service

President Obama Addresses the Tucson Shooting Memorial Service

2011-01-12T21:19:00.000-05:00

Remarks of President Barack Obama – As Prepared for Delivery

At a Memorial Service for the Victims of the Shooting in Tucson, Arizona

University of Arizona, McKale Memorial Center

Tucson, Arizona

January 12, 2011

As Prepared for Delivery—

To the families of those we’ve lost; to all who called them friends; to the students of this university, the public servants gathered tonight, and the people of Tucson and Arizona: I have come here tonight as an American who, like all Americans, kneels to pray with you today, and will stand by you tomorrow.

There is nothing I can say that will fill the sudden hole torn in your hearts. But know this: the hopes of a nation are here tonight. We mourn with you for the fallen. We join you in your grief. And we add our faith to yours that Representative Gabrielle Giffords and the other living victims of this tragedy pull through.

As Scripture tells us:

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

the holy place where the Most High dwells.

God is within her, she will not fall;

God will help her at break of day.

On Saturday morning, Gabby, her staff, and many of her constituents gathered outside a supermarket to exercise their right to peaceful assembly and free speech. They were fulfilling a central tenet of the democracy envisioned by our founders – representatives of the people answering to their constituents, so as to carry their concerns to our nation’s capital. Gabby called it “Congress on Your Corner” – just an updated version of government of and by and for the people.

That is the quintessentially American scene that was shattered by a gunman’s bullets. And the six people who lost their lives on Saturday – they too represented what is best in America.

Judge John Roll served our legal system for nearly 40 years. A graduate of this university and its law school, Judge Roll was recommended for the federal bench by John McCain twenty years ago, appointed by President George H.W. Bush, and rose to become Arizona’s chief federal judge. His colleagues described him as the hardest-working judge within the Ninth Circuit. He was on his way back from attending Mass, as he did every day, when he decided to stop by and say hi to his Representative. John is survived by his loving wife, Maureen, his three sons, and his five grandchildren.

George and Dorothy Morris – “Dot” to her friends – were high school sweethearts who got married and had two daughters. They did everything together, traveling the open road in their RV, enjoying what their friends called a 50-year honeymoon. Saturday morning, they went by the Safeway to hear what their Congresswoman had to say. When gunfire rang out, George, a former Marine, instinctively tried to shield his wife. Both were shot. Dot passed away.

A New Jersey native, Phyllis Schneck retired to Tucson to beat the snow. But in the summer, she would return East, where her world revolved around her 3 children, 7 grandchildren, and 2 year-old great-granddaughter. A gifted quilter, she’d often work under her favorite tree, or sometimes sew aprons with the logos of the Jets and the Giants to give out at the church where she volunteered. A Republican, she took a liking to Gabby, and wanted to get to know her better.

Dorwan and Mavy Stoddard grew up in Tucson together – about seventy years ago. They moved apart and started their own respective families, but after both were widowed they found their way back here, to, as one of Mavy’s daughters put it, “be boyfriend and girlfriend again.” When they weren’t out on the road in their motor home, you could find them just up the road, helping folks in need at the Mountain Avenue Church of Christ. A retired construction worker, Dorwan spent his spare time fixing up the church along with their dog, Tux. His final act of selflessness was to dive on top of his wife, sacrificing his life for hers.

Everything Gabe Zimmerman did, he did with passion – but his true passion was people. As Gabby’s outreach director, he made the cares of thousands of her constituents his own, seeing to it that seniors got the Medicare benefits they had earned, that veterans got the medals and care they deserved, that government was working for ordinary folks. He died doing what he loved – talking with people and seeing how he could help. Gabe is survived by his parents, Ross and Emily, his brother, Ben, and his fiancée, Kelly, who he planned to marry next year.

And then there is nine year-old Christina Taylor Green. Christina was an A student, a dancer, a gymnast, and a swimmer. She often proclaimed that she wanted to be the first woman to play in the major leagues, and as the only girl on her Little League team, no one put it past her. She showed an appreciation for life uncommon for a girl her age, and would remind her mother, “We are so blessed. We have the best life.” And she’d pay those blessings back by participating in a charity that helped children who were less fortunate.

Our hearts are broken by their sudden passing. Our hearts are broken – and yet, our hearts also have reason for fullness.

Our hearts are full of hope and thanks for the 13 Americans who survived the shooting, including the congresswoman many of them went to see on Saturday. I have just come from the University Medical Center, just a mile from here, where our friend Gabby courageously fights to recover even as we speak. And I can tell you this – she knows we’re here and she knows we love her and she knows that we will be rooting for her throughout what will be a difficult journey.

And our hearts are full of gratitude for those who saved others. We are grateful for Daniel Hernandez, a volunteer in Gabby’s office who ran through the chaos to minister to his boss, tending to her wounds to keep her alive. We are grateful for the men who tackled the gunman as he stopped to reload. We are grateful for a petite 61 year-old, Patricia Maisch, who wrestled away the killer’s ammunition, undoubtedly saving some lives. And we are grateful for the doctors and nurses and emergency medics who worked wonders to heal those who’d been hurt.

These men and women remind us that heroism is found not only on the fields of battle. They remind us that heroism does not require special training or physical strength. Heroism is here, all around us, in the hearts of so many of our fellow citizens, just waiting to be summoned – as it was on Saturday morning.

Their actions, their selflessness, also pose a challenge to each of us. It raises the question of what, beyond the prayers and expressions of concern, is required of us going forward. How can we honor the fallen? How can we be true to their memory?

You see, when a tragedy like this strikes, it is part of our nature to demand explanations – to try to impose some order on the chaos, and make sense out of that which seems senseless. Already we’ve seen a national conversation commence, not only about the motivations behind these killings, but about everything from the merits of gun safety laws to the adequacy of our mental health systems. Much of this process, of debating what might be done to prevent such tragedies in the future, is an essential ingredient in our exercise of self-government.

But at a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized – at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do – it’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds.

Scripture tells us that there is evil in the world, and that terrible things happen for reasons that defy human understanding. In the words of Job, “when I looked for light, then came darkness.” Bad things happen, and we must guard against simple explanations in the aftermath.

For the truth is that none of us can know exactly what triggered this vicious attack. None of us can know with any certainty what might have stopped those shots from being fired, or what thoughts lurked in the inner recesses of a violent man’s mind.

So yes, we must examine all the facts behind this tragedy. We cannot and will not be passive in the face of such violence. We should be willing to challenge old assumptions in order to lessen the prospects of violence in the future.

But what we can’t do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on one another. As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility. Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together.

After all, that’s what most of us do when we lose someone in our family – especially if the loss is unexpected. We’re shaken from our routines, and forced to look inward. We reflect on the past. Did we spend enough time with an aging parent, we wonder. Did we express our gratitude for all the sacrifices they made for us? Did we tell a spouse just how desperately we loved them, not just once in awhile but every single day?

So sudden loss causes us to look backward – but it also forces us to look forward, to reflect on the present and the future, on the manner in which we live our lives and nurture our relationships with those who are still with us. We may ask ourselves if we’ve shown enough kindness and generosity and compassion to the people in our lives. Perhaps we question whether we are doing right by our children, or our community, and whether our priorities are in order. We recognize our own mortality, and are reminded that in the fleeting time we have on this earth, what matters is not wealth, or status, or power, or fame – but rather, how well we have loved, and what small part we have played in bettering the lives of others.

That process of reflection, of making sure we align our values with our actions – that, I believe, is what a tragedy like this requires. For those who were harmed, those who were killed – they are part of our family, an American family 300 million strong. We may not have known them personally, but we surely see ourselves in them. In George and Dot, in Dorwan and Mavy, we sense the abiding love we have for our own husbands, our own wives, our own life partners. Phyllis – she’s our mom or grandma; Gabe our brother or son. In Judge Roll, we recognize not only a man who prized his family and doing his job well, but also a man who embodied America’s fidelity to the law. In Gabby, we see a reflection of our public spiritedness, that desire to participate in that sometimes frustrating, sometimes contentious, but always necessary and never-ending process to form a more perfect union.

And in Christina…in Christina we see all of our children. So curious, so trusting, so energetic and full of magic.

So deserving of our love.

And so deserving of our good example. If this tragedy prompts reflection and debate, as it should, let’s make sure it’s worthy of those we have lost. Let’s make sure it’s not on the usual plane of politics and point scoring and pettiness that drifts away with the next news cycle.

The loss of these wonderful people should make every one of us strive to be better in our private lives – to be better friends and neighbors, co-workers and parents. And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their deaths help usher in more civility in our public discourse, let’s remember that it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy, but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation, in a way that would make them proud. It should be because we want to live up to the example of public servants like John Roll and Gabby Giffords, who knew first and foremost that we are all Americans, and that we can question each other’s ideas without questioning each other’s love of country, and that our task, working together, is to constantly widen the circle of our concern so that we bequeath the American dream to future generations.

I believe we can be better. Those who died here, those who saved lives here – they help me believe. We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat one another is entirely up to us. I believe that for all our imperfections, we are full of decency and goodness, and that the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us.

That’s what I believe, in part because that’s what a child like Christina Taylor Green believed. Imagine: here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just starting to glimpse the fact that someday she too might play a part in shaping her nation’s future. She had been elected to her student council; she saw public service as something exciting, something hopeful. She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model. She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted.

I want us to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it. All of us – we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children’s expectations.

Christina was given to us on September 11^th, 2001, one of 50 babies born that day to be pictured in a book called “Faces of Hope.” On either side of her photo in that book were simple wishes for a child’s life. “I hope you help those in need,” read one. “I hope you know all of the words to the National Anthem and sing it with your hand over your heart. I hope you jump in rain puddles.”

If there are rain puddles in heaven, Christina is jumping in them today. And here on Earth, we place our hands over our hearts, and commit ourselves as Americans to forging a country that is forever worthy of her gentle, happy spirit.

May God bless and keep those we’ve lost in restful and eternal peace. May He love and watch over the survivors. And may He bless the United States of America.

Fox News Goofing on Anti-Gay Groups

2011-01-05T14:51:00.000-05:00

Maggy Gallagher from NOM meets St. Peter

2011-01-05T10:59:00.000-05:00

President Obama on Bullying Deaths from Suicide

2010-12-08T11:26:00.000-05:00

Ghost of the Liberal Lion Visits Senator Scott Brown

2010-12-03T14:38:00.005-05:00

One can imagine our beloved departed Ted Kennedy in the form of the Ghost of Christmas Future from Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol" must have visited Massachusetts Republican Senator Scott Brown and shown him what it is like for GLBT people to live under the tyranny of state sanctioned discrimination. Brown has stated that he will vote to repeal the military policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", a move that is bound to incur the wrath of local anti-gay group leader Kris Mineau from Massachusetts Family Institute as well as from other hate groups across our country.

UPDATED: As expected Kris Mineau has asked his fellow haters to bombard Sen. Brown with phone calls to try and intimidate Brown into changing his mind:

"Last Friday, we received some disturbing news from the office of U.S. Senator Scott Brown. Despite pledging to uphold the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy during his campaign last winter...Senator Brown announced on Friday that he had changed his mind and had decided to support the repeal that would allow open homosexuality in the military."

CLICK HERE to email Senator Brown

Feel free to use the link here, it has been changed to go directly to Brown's official government website. We should add our voices to their prattle to make sure reason triumphs over cowardice and fear mongering

I am sure Kris Mineau will try to deflect accusations of intimidation, so here is proof; one of his past efforts to intimidate during his failed attempt to end marriage equality in Massachusetts:

Here is the link to Kris Mineau's group that shows this shamefully overt act of intimidation still proudly displayed on one of the website's he is affiliated with.

From Boston.com:

Brown had previously not announced a position on the repeal, saying in May that he wanted to wait on a Pentagon study of how such a repeal would be implemented. That study came out this week, and found that ending the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy would not harm long-term military effectiveness.

In Brown's own words:

“I have been in the military for 31 years and counting, and have served as a subordinate and as an officer. As a legislator, I have spent a significant amount of time on military issues. During my time of service, I have visited our injured troops at Walter Reed and have attended funerals of our fallen heroes. When a soldier answers the call to serve, and risks life or limb, it has never mattered to me whether they are gay or straight."

Special thanks go to our friends at JoinTheImpactMA.com and their Tweet Alert of this breaking news.

Announcing Transgender Awareness Week 2010: Nov 13 – 20th

2010-10-19T19:08:00.001-04:00

Be sure to keep a lookout for new articles relating to Transgender Awareness Week:

Announcing Transgender Awareness Week 2010: Nov 13 – 20th

Exodus, Focus on the Family Defend Violent Status-Quo in Schools

2010-10-07T16:25:00.000-04:00

From Truth Wins Out:

Eight religious-right organizations — three of them, identified as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center — are escalating a war of words against antibullying programs in U.S. schools.
Exodus International, Focus on the Family, Americans for Truth, Liberty Counsel, Mission: America, MassResistance, Illinois Family Institute, and Abiding Truth Ministries are leading three campaigns to smear the Day of Silence, which is an April 17 event planned at 8,000 U.S. schools to “just say no” to verbal, sexual, and physical assault.
All eight organizations oppose antibullying programs unless they exclude gay youths. Instead, these organizations want same-sex-attracted youths to be compelled by abusive peers and school faculty to be admitted — or worse, involuntarily detained — in amateur-operated and unsuccessful ex-gay boot camps.
Because of these organizations’ callous indifference to violence, youths are dying and parents are suing school districts for negligence, reckless endangerment, and complicity in violence committed by the children of antigay parents.
Exodus this year has assumed responsibility for a Day of (Un)Truth which encourages antigay students to ignorantly and mistakenly assert that anyone can change their sexual orientation and therefore — Exodus reasons — no antiviolence programs are necessary in schools. Exodus defines organized opposition to antigay violence as a sinister promotion of the “homosexual agenda.” Exodus claims that its event, scheduled for April 20, aims to promote conversation in schools. But in fact Exodus refuses to engage in discussion of antigay violence either in North America or in Uganda, where Exodus continues to be complicit in a campaign to promote vigilantism, involuntary ex-gay detention, and imprisonment against gay Ugandans.
Focus on the Family, meanwhile, is collaborating with Exodus to espouse one-way tolerance of antigay students in a “True Tolerance” campaign which redefines tolerance to permit 1) privileges for antigay evangelical bullies to relentlessly insult and threaten classmates during school hours on school property, combined with 2) character assassination and official efforts to silence those who oppose antigay violence and who, therefore, are accused of promoting a supposed “homosexual agenda.”
Six other far-right organizations are, if nothing else, honest about opposing conversation in schools: They support a “walkout” — a pseudo-Christian excuse for antigay students and misinformed or negligent parents to play hooky on the day when their peers are taking positive steps to stop on-campus violence. Scott Lively’s “Abiding Truth Ministries” headlines the recent Uganda ex-gay conference which launched a campaign of antigay vigilantism in that nation. Americans for Truth is a nameplate for antigay activist Peter LaBarbera, whose sexually graphic website produces offensive homoerotic pornography for consumption by antigay donors and antigay private-school assemblies.
Box Turtle Bulletin offers a detailed analysis of each campaign by self-styled Christians to defend antigay violence and oppose positive steps to restore safe learning in schools.

Posted April 15th, 2009 by Michael Airhart

Ayaan Hirsi Ali on YouTube.com

2010-08-28T12:46:00.004-04:00

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is the former Dutch politician who made her own way from Somalia, escaping outrageous circumstances as well as her arranged marriage to a cousin and is the author of Infidel, a book I've just finished and strongly recommend to others as worthwhile reading to better understand some of the pitfalls in the Muslim religion. She is also the co-creator of the film short Submission Part 1 that caused so much controversy and resulted in the murder of Dutch director Theo van Gogh. The similarities I find in our lives, as well as the conclusions we both reach fascinate me; I hope you find this informative and inspiring.

AC360 Takes on Maggie Gallagher

2010-08-05T16:15:00.000-04:00

DA Early, Is THIS The Office You Run?!

2010-06-11T20:30:00.001-04:00

Some people will argue that Ben LaGuer is guilty as convicted, but I doubt anyone would argue that the errors made from the time of the investigation right up through this year begs the question: what's going on at the Worcester DA's office?

During LaGuer's last parole board hearing ADA Sandra Hautanen claimed LaGuer was lying about having been offered a plea bargain in 1983, yet the evidence proves LaGuer was telling the truth.

We can add this newest error to a long list of errors already known in just this case:

Why did a knife found at the scene of the crime that a police lieutenant mentioned in his police report and which he testified to on direct and cross examination at trial disappear from the evidence?

Why did a Pepsi can with a fingerprint disappear from the evidence?

Why are there no records that the victim’s pocketbook, which was found several blocks away a month after the crime, was tested for fingerprint evidence?

Why did the late Leominster detectives Ronald Carrignan and Keith LaPrade lie about the way in which they executed a search warrant for Ben’s apartment attesting that they took "nothing" when in fact 8 socks and a pair of underwear turned up in subsequent inventories?

Why did police surreptitiously and illegally take socks and underwear from LaGuer’s apartment?

Why were witnesses to the way in which the bedside photo ID was conducted never called to testify at trial?

Why did Detective Carrignan grossly misrepresent the victim's statements and key elements of the crime during his grand jury testimony?

Why did then prosecutor Hon. James Lemire misrepresent the victim’s history of mental illness to the judge at trial?

Why was the jury kept from knowing about victim’s history of severe mental illness?

How might the jury have responded had they known the extent of the victim’s mental illness and that she exhibited symptoms at the time of the crime, both before she was attacked and in period leading up to the trial?

Why was no physical evidence whatsoever introduced at LaGuer’s trial leaving the jury to convict him exclusively on the power of the victim’s courtroom identification of him?

Why didn’t police investigate a likelier suspect by the name of Jose Gomez whose mother had lived in the building, who had a documented history of sexual misconduct, who was acquainted with the victim and who resembled LaGuer?

If the evidence against LaGuer was so strong then why did the commonwealth offer him a plea bargain under which he would have been free in 1985?

Why did police and prosecutors hide a fingerprint report generated the day LaGuer was arrested showing that four prints found on the base of the telephone, the cord of which was used to bind the victim’s wrist, were not his?

Why did the images of a set of four latent fingerprints retrieved from the crime scene disappear from the evidence?

Why was a key piece of evidence, underwear marked as belonging to the suspect, removed from the evidence just before a 1989 hearing on a motion for a new trial?

Why did State Police chemist Mark Grant misidentify a Type O blood stain as being Type B (the same as LaGuer’s) on his forensic report?

Why did Mark Grant report that he was unable to identify the type of all the other stains retrieved from the crime scene?

Why was Mark Grant (according to his bench notes) inspecting the “interior crotch” of white underwear marked as belonging to the “suspect” at the same time as he was handling crime scene evidence?

Why did the late Judge Robert Mulkern deny a motion for a new trial in spite of a sworn affidavit that members of the all-white male jury had repeatedly uttered prejudicial and ethnically derogatory remarks before the trial began and extending into the deliberations?

Why did someone write “also Benjie’s underwear” on a copy of the State Police forensic report that was faxed from the Worcester District Attorney’s office to the Leominster Police on July 8, 1998?

Why was then assistant district attorney Sandra Wysocki inquiring about the whereabouts of biological evidence related to the victim in a letter dated July 8, 1998?

Why, in an April 2001 press release, did then District Attorney John Conte make a demonstrably false claim in an attempt to explain Wysocki’s seemingly illegal foray into the evidence?

Why didn’t authorities look into possible links between Jose Gomez and this crime after Gomez was charged with a similar rape involving a different victim in 1998?

Why was a seal Judge Mulkern had placed on the box in 1989 found to be broken when a private investigator discovered the evidence on October 2, 1999?

Why, if the case allegedly involved a prolonged attack involving multiple episodes of vaginal and anal rape, did a 2002 DNA test reveal only a trace reading of male DNA which experts have since determined is of a level significantly more consistent with contamination than with the description of the crime?

Why have recent rulings against LaGuer included references to blood type evidence in the 1983 forensic report that has been proven to be incorrect?

Why has nobody been called to account for the litany of lies, irregularities, and misrepresentations associated with this case since the day LaGuer was arrested?

I have one question for District Attorney Joseph Early; is this the sort of justice the citizens of Worcester can expect from you?

Gallup Poll Shows Majority of Americans Approve of Gay/Lesbian Relations

2010-06-07T12:06:00.000-04:00

From Care2.com:

Results of Gallup's annual Values and Beliefs survey have been released and the data shows a milestone has been reached in the acceptance of gay and lesbian people in America. For the first time in the poll's ten year history, "the moral acceptability of gay and lesbian relations" has crossed the 50 percent threshold with 52 percent of respondents finding gay relationships morally acceptable while only 43 percent took issue, a new low. Perhaps even more noteworthy, the Gallup poll suggests that the largest change in attitudes over the last four years has come from men, and in particular younger men.

Conducted each May, the survey has also documented a slight decrease in opposition to gay marriage this year, though a 53 percent majority are still opposed, while support for the legality of gay consensual relations has again gone up this year but still hovers at a slightly depressing 58 percent.

UPDATE: George Rekers Resigns From NARTH

2010-05-17T17:37:00.000-04:00

"I am immediately resigning my membership in NARTH to allow myself the time necessary to fight the false media reports that have been made against me. With the assistance of a defamation attorney, I will fight these false reports because I have not engaged in any homosexual behavior whatsoever. I am not gay and never have been." --George A. Rekers, Ph.D.

NARTH responds:

NARTH has accepted Dr. Rekers' resignation and would hope that the legal process will sufficiently clarify the questions that have arisen in this unfortunate situation. We express our sincere sympathy to all individuals, regardless of their perspective, who have been injured by these events. We also wish to reiterate our traditional position that these personal controversies do not change the scientific data, nor do they detract from the important work of NARTH. NARTH continues to support scientific research, and to value client autonomy, client self-determination and client diversity.

This all coming on the heels of the still breaking story that this anti-gay activist who is co-founder of the Family Research Council hired a 20 year old male escort to accompany him to Europe. The escort in question has since been outed and is talking to the media:

The new revelations were reported by the Miami New Times in a May 6 article. The escort, dubbed "Lucien" by the Miami New Times, reportedly told the press that Rekers favored a technique called the "long stroke," which the young man said involved contact "across his penis, thigh... and his anus over the butt cheeks." Added Lucien, "Rekers liked to be rubbed down there."

Senator Tisei: A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing?

2010-05-10T12:27:00.004-04:00

In the Boston Herald:

State Sen. Richard Tisei says the gay community can thank Republicans for gay marriage. “The margin of victory was provided by Republicans,” Tisei told Boston Spirit Magazine, a gay publication.

The comment was in reference to four GOP state senators who voted to keep same-sex from going to a public vote.

Let me be among the first to throw up the red flag and scream "Foul!" This is about as true as saying Mitt Romney is pro-abortion. Let no one forget that it was the Democratic Party that overwhelmingly supported marriage equality, and it was the Republican Party's public policy that GLBT people are undeserving of that equality. No Senator Tisei, we don't thank the Republicans for "gay marriage" as you call it. We thank those strong few individuals who had the courage and fortitude to stand against bigotry and vote against their party's policy for the betterment of our society and the future of our children. From the 2008 National Republican Platform we find the following:

"Because our children’s future is best preserved within the traditional understanding of marriage, we call for a constitutional amendment that fully protects marriage as a union of a man and a woman, so that judges cannot make other arrangements equivalent to it."

From page 13 of the 2010 Massachusetts Republican Platform we find the following:

"We consider discrimination based on sex, race, age, religion, creed, disability, veteran status, or national origin to be immoral, and we reject hatred, racism, anti-Semitism, ethnic prejudice, and religious intolerance."

Notice how sexual orientation is missing from the list of things the Republican platform considers discrimination even though it is state law? From the Boston Spirit Magazine we find more ugly truths:

"But during the recent GOP state convention, after social conservatives circulated a transgender-baiting flier—smearing a pending civil-rights and hate-crimes bill by labeling it “bathroom bill”—it’s going to be a tough sell. Apparently, the Baker committee approved the tactic.

The flier read: “Charlie Baker opposes the ‘bathroom bill.’ And if it came to his desk, he would veto it.—Paid for by the Baker committee.”

Tisei is running alongside Charlie Baker as his Lt. Governor against the incumbent Governor Deval Patrick with the campaign platform that they can do a better job. Senator Tisei, you can start with telling the truth about your position on GLBT rights and how you differ from all the self-hating republican legislators out there who do harm to the GLBT community with their votes. Tisei may be openly gay now, however he is unmarried even after 16 years with the same "partner", and he still runs with a "pac" that is actively anti-GLBT, and at this moment I find these facts irreconcilable, for what it's worth.

Leading Ex-Gay Activist Caught On Vacation With ‘Rent Boy’

2010-05-05T19:11:00.000-04:00

A major anti-gay figure that used to work at University of South Carolina, Rekers is a founder of the Family Research Council, a board member of the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality, and testified as an expert witness in favor of gay adoption bans in both Arkansas and Florida. He has also published several anti-gay books.

Behind the Scenes, George Rekers Is A Major Anti-Gay Figure Who Has Caused A Great Deal of Harm, Says TWO

NEW YORK – Truth Wins Out called on anti-gay activist Dr. George A. Rekers to resign from the board of a leading “ex-gay” therapy group and apologize to the LGBT community after the Miami New Times discovered that he took a male prostitute that he met on Rentboy.com to Europe. According to the sex worker, Rekers “likes younger guys to hang out with.”

“This is a bombshell that completely discredits the ex-gay industry and proves that the movement is a fraud,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. “While Rekers keeps a low public profile, his fingerprints are on almost every anti-gay effort to demean and dehumanize LGBT people. Lobby groups that work to deny equality to LGBT Americans ubiquitously cite his work. Rekers has caused a great deal of harm to gay and lesbian individuals.”

Both the sex worker and Rekers deny having sex on the trip, and emails exchanged between the two prior to their escapade are carefully worded. Reached by New Times reporters Penn Bullock and Brandon K. Thorp, who broke the story, before a trip to Bermuda, Rekers said he learned that the man in question was a prostitute only midway through their vacation. “I had surgery,” Rekers said, “and I can’t lift luggage. That’s why I hired him.” (Though medical problems didn’t stop him from pushing the large baggage cart through Miami International Airport, according to the New Times.)

“It is clear that Rekers has baggage and certainly needs help,” said Besen. “At least he did not say he was walking the Appalachian Trail. Given the sordid and tawdry facts, he should immediately step down from NARTH’s Board and apologize to the LGBT community for his extreme hypocrisy and self-loathing. As of today, his entire body of work on LGBT issues is rendered meaningless.”

This is the second NARTH board member to be exposed as a fraud in the past three months. In February, Arthur Abba Goldberg was unmasked as a con artist who had served prison time for bond fraud. Goldberg was also the co-fonder of Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality (JONAH). Goldberg resigned from NARTH’s board in shame.

Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that defends the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community against anti-gay misinformation, counters the so-called “ex-gay” industry and educates America about the lives of LGBT people. Our goal is to fight for a world where LGBT individuals can live openly, honestly, free of discrimination and be true to themselves.

Ben LaGuer Seeks Parole After 26 Years

2010-04-16T16:34:00.003-04:00

Ben LaGuer's story reads like a sequel of Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird". He begins his early adulthood as a typical well liked "good kid" who was never in any sort of trouble. LaGuer was a member of the drama club who quit school and joined the Army. After being honorably discharged he comes home to Leominster, MA from Germany shortly after his 20th birthday, and in the midst of making plans to attend college he finds himself the suspect of an horrific attack on his neighbor, Lennice Plante, age 59.What happens next is a series of events so strange that they defy belief.

It now seems evident that because LaGuer matched a physical description of the attacker given by the victim he was pulled in and the case was built around him. Detective Ronald N. Carignan must have been sure this was a slam dunk case, at least until the fingerprints came back as not a match. It would have been nice to have a better look at those prints, but they were lost and there existence was never actually shared with the defense council. Other items have "gone missing" or been mislabeled, like the shirt LaGuer is wearing in his mug shot and how it is now listed as evidence found at the scene. What is even more disturbing is pondering the motive Det. Carignan could have had to give false details on a warrant to search LaGuer's apartment and how items where taken that where not documented. Carignan also gave false details at the grand jury indictment hearing, some of which the victim herself contradicted.

Somewhere along the line someone in law enforcement must have realized what was going on here and decided it would be best to keep the public feeling safe by sticking to the idea that police had caught the culprit rather than allow fear to spread and have panic ensue. An all white all male jury was presented no physical evidence and only the sole testimony of a frail old victim who we now know was insane at the time she was on the witness stand; her medical records sealed prior to trial. One of the jurors reported that he heard another juror say "Look at the Spic, he's guilty just sitting there. Why should we even bother having a trial? LaGuer was convicted anyway, and instead of taking the plea bargain he was offered for two years if he confessed he got a life sentence.

After 15 years served LaGuer was denied parole because he refuses to admit to a crime he claims he did not commit. The same has happened after 20 years in spite of the fact that he has earned a degree from Boston University Magna Cum Laude as well as a PEN award. Now LaGuer has served 26 years on a very questionable conviction and has proven himself rehabilitated if one wanted to assume his guilt. Does it really serve our public good to continue to deny him freedom solely because he refuses to admit guilt to a crime he adamantly denies being guilty of?

Cartoon from Bay State Banner

I have a bit more insight since I have personally known Ben LaGuer since 2006 when I wrote an article questioning Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey's usage of LaGuer's case to besmirch Gov. Deval Patrick. He contacted me to thank me for writing about him and our interactions became common. The more time I invested into knowing who LaGuer was and the details of this case the more I came to my opinion that he is innocent. No guilty man keeps himself in jail when all he would have to do to be free is tell the truth. Only an innocent person would refuse to admit guilt even at the cost of their own freedom. We have examples of this right here in Massachusetts that are irrefutable; the Salem Witch Trials. Let's hope that both common sense and justice prevail on April 22, only days before his May 1st birthday. He has spent more than half his life in prison, 24 years longer than if he had plead out.

If you wish to share your opinions with the board the phone number is (508) 650-4500.

UPDATED: From the BenLaGuer.com website it has been made public that LaGuer may be seriously ill.

In other news Dr. Benjamin Smith of Lemuel Shattuck hospital
reported that an area of my liver has a lesion "highly worrisome
for hepatocellular carcinoma given the size of the lesion and in
light of the patient's history of elevated alpha-fetoprotein."
(2/3/10) I am concerned that if I am released from prison
needing treatments, I'll no longer enjoy the healthcare that the
prison currently affords me.

Also, here is a link to the information on the other more likely culprit as mentioned on this blog by a commentator.

The Catholic Church's Troubles Continue

2010-04-12T06:26:00.001-04:00

Written by Wayne Besen, director or TruthWinsOut.org:

In my column this week I wrote:

Whether it’s groping by priests or greed on Wall Street – institutions that don’t change in the face of crisis and public indignation will eventually become irrelevant. If history has shown one truism, it is that nothing is too big to fail.

It seems the disintegration of the church is happening faster than I had imagined. Consider the following stories in the past two days:

The Associated Press

A German man who says a priest sexually abused him as an altar boy is demanding an apology from Pope Benedict XVI and compensation “even if the church goes bankrupt.”
Wilfried Fesselmann said then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is ultimately to blame for allowing the priest to continue in his pastoral duties.
“It is an insolence that the Catholic Church was only busy with covering-up and moving the priest around for years instead of dismissing him,” Fesselmann said in an interview this week with The Associated Press.
Fesselmann claims a chaplain, the Rev. Peter Hullermann, forced him to sleep with him and practice oral sex when he was an 11-year-old boy in the western city of Essen.

The New York Times

The priest, convicted of tying up and abusing two young boys in a California church rectory, wanted to leave the ministry. But in 1985, four years after the priest and his bishop first asked that he be defrocked, the future Pope Benedict XVI, then a top Vatican official, signed a letter saying that the case needed more time and that “the good of the Universal Church” had to be considered in the final decision, according to church documents released through lawsuits.

What is important to consider is that these are not isolated incidents. The unrelenting faucet of facts keeps dripping and shows no signs of slowing. The more people speak out – the more other victims are emboldened to do so.

The Papacy of Benedict XVI is essentially over. He has lost his moral authority and the trust of Catholics and others worldwide. Each day he remains, the Pope strains the credibility of the Catholic Church and exacerbates the public relations nightmare. If Pope Benedict XVI loves his church, he will step down.
This is the type of disaster that can happen when hard-headed social conservatives run a church. They are so unwilling to compromise, change their ways or accept reality – that they continue to repeat the same devastating mistakes – even as they go through contortions to play the victim or blame others for their own personal failures.

Not even finger pointing at innocent gay people will work this time. The Pope is left swimming on his own in the middle of the ocean without a life-vest. As the sordid and tawdry headlines continue unabated, this most uninspiring pontiff is headed towards inglorious infamy. ~End

For more reading on this subject here are some of the many pertinent links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_sex_abuse_cases#cite_note-6
http://www.thecatholiccoverup.com/article.php/20100317133031771
New York Times Coverage of Roman Catholic Sex Abuse
http://www.catholicsexabuse.com/

It's Time We Address the "Tea Klux Klan" -TransGroit

2010-03-24T15:32:00.000-04:00

Enough is enough! Where did the courage Americans are famous for go? When was it replaced by goose stepping conspiratorialists Hell bent on dividing our populace who seem all too hungry to accept those lies unchallenged? For a nation that claims to be Judeo-Christian based is seems ironic how often the primary principles of these religions can be forgone, like the Ten Commandments for example, where we swear not to bear false witness against one another. How can such blatant lies against our own President go unchallenged? Because America has gotten soft and cowardly and no longer has the courage it had once to stand up against what's wrong and accept what it costs us. Our forefathers did it for us, their descendants, are our prosperities less deserving of the same?! Perhaps all we need is a good kick in the pants and a dose of reality. Please read this letter from our friends at TransGriot and take action:

Dear friends,

It's time to hold the Republican Party accountable. You've probably heard about Tea Party members shouting "Nigger!" at Black Congressmen during a protest in Washington, D.C. last weekend. One of the protesters spat on Congressman Emmanuel Cleaver, while another called openly gay Representative Barney Frank a "faggot" as the laughing crowd imitated his lisp.^[1]

But Saturday was just the most recent example of the intolerance and hate coming from right-wing extremists this past year. At times it's been instigated by Republican leaders. When not, it's usually condoned and seen as part of a strategy to score politically. Either way, it's completely unacceptable and has to stop.

It's time to confront Republican leadership and force them to take responsibility for the atmosphere they've helped create. Please join me in signing ColorOfChange's petition confronting Republican leaders about hate and fear-mongering in their party, and ask your friends and family to do the same:

http://www.colorofchange.org/hate/?id=2499-1194138

We're calling on RNC Chair Michael Steele, House Minority Leader John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to publicly do two simple things:

- Unequivocally condemn bigotry and hate among their supporters, and make clear that those who embrace it have no place in their party.

- Make clear that they will not tolerate fear-mongering and coded appeals to racism from officials in the Republican party, at any level.

Republican leaders publicly denounced Saturday's ugly scene, but they failed to acknowledge that this is only the latest incident in a pattern of violent rhetoric, racially charged imagery, and paranoid conspiracy theories at Tea Party rallies.^[2] Many Tea Partiers aren't simply about dissent -- they use fear and hatred to assault the very legitimacy of our elected leaders. It's the worst America has to offer. Despite this, Republican leaders court the Tea Party movement while methodically supporting, exacerbating and exploiting their fear and anger for cynical political ends.^[3] This is nothing less than a betrayal of American values, and it's up to us to force the Republicans to stop aiding and abetting this enterprise:

http://www.colorofchange.org/hate/?id=2499-1194138

The Tea Party movement has been marked by racially inflammatory and violent outbursts since its inception a year ago. GOP leaders are trying to pass off this weekend's assaults on Congressmen Lewis, Cleaver, Clyburn and Frank as isolated incidents. But when so-called "isolated incidents" crop up again and again, a pattern starts to emerge. The examples are numerous.

At rallies held to protest tax day last year, Tea Partiers carried signs that announced "Obama's Plan: White Slavery," "The American Taxpayers are the Jews for Obama's Oven," and "Guns Tomorrow!"^[4] The Republican National Committee had endorsed the rallies, and RNC Chairman Michael Steele encouraged Tea Partiers to send a "virtual tea bag" to President Obama and Democratic Congressional leadership.^[5] After reports of the fear-mongering signs surfaced, Steele did nothing to distance his party from the lunatic fringe. He has even gone so far as to say that if he didn't have his current position, he'd be "out there with the tea partiers."^[6]

The Tea Party's venomous rhetoric picked up steam over the summer, when angry mobs flooded town hall meetings legislators had organized as sites for rational, civil debate on health care reform. After one meeting in Atlanta, a swastika was painted on the office of Congressman David Scott (D-GA), who had also received a flier addressed to "nigga David Scott."^[7] Some protesters showed up at town hall meetings carrying guns, including at least one man who was armed at an event where the President was speaking.^[8] Again, Republicans responded to these tactics with silence, doing nothing to denounce them.

Our country deserves better than this. No matter what party one supports, we should all take strong action to support civil, honest, and respectful public debate. Please join me in calling on Republican leaders to denounce racist rhetoric and fear-mongering, and reject it from their party. And when you do, please ask your family and friends to do the same:

http://www.colorofchange.org/hate/?id=2499-1194138

Thanks,
Monica Roberts
TransGriot

References
1. http://huff.to/atRmru
2. http://huff.to/9Sgf3S
3. http://huff.to/c4ZOH4
4. See Reference 2
5. http://huff.to/3nzZE
6. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31177.html
7. http://bit.ly/8YInIb
8. http://bit.ly/LV1wb

Wayne Besen's Take on Teabaggers in Washington Protesting Health Care Reform

2010-03-22T19:38:00.000-04:00

From Wayne Besen's excellent blog we find the following, which is shared with his permission:

Teabaggers Storm Washington, Hurl Anti-Gay and Racist Epithets

Posted March 20th, 2010 by Evan Hurst

Yeah, these people have grievances, but they don’t have a damn thing to do with the healthcare reform bill they claim to oppose. Most of them don’t even know what’s in the bill in the first place.

Via John Aravosis, first we have the anti-gay bigotry:

Things are getting pretty heated in the Capitol with crowds of anti-Reform/Tea Party activists going through the halls shouting slogans and epithets at Democratic members of Congress.

As our Brian Beutler reports, a few moments ago in the Longworth office building, a group swarmed a very calm looking Henry Waxman, as he got on the elevator, with shouts of “Kill the bill!” “You liar! You crook!”

Not long before, Rep. Barney Frank got an uglier version of the treatment. Just after Frank rounded a corner to leave the building, an older protestor yelled “Barney, you faggot.” The surrounding crowd of protestors then erupted in laughter.

And then the outright racism:

Rep. Andre Carson (D-Ind.) claimed Saturday that healthcare protesters at the Capitol directed racial epithets at Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) as he walked outside.

Carson, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus along with Lewis, told The Hill that protesters called Lewis the N-word.

Tea Party protesters held a rally outside the Capitol on Saturday, which included speeches by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and actor Jon Voight, and then proceeded into the halls to lobby members at the 11th hour.

Teabaggers always whine when people suggest that their movement is, at its core, a racist movement. I’d go further. They’re not just garden variety racists, they’re straight up white supremacists. This sycophantic white trash doesn’t deserve a place in our national discourse.

In case you missed it the other day, watch this video. Look at these stupid people who can’t even answer elementary questions about why they hate the health bill so much. They can’t answer them because they don’t know. They haven’t read the bill. They couldn’t read it if they wanted to. All they know is that they’ve been activated by their corporate overlords like the useful, racist, hateful morons they are.

A Letter From President Obama About Our Health Care Victory

2010-03-22T18:16:00.000-04:00

John --

For the first time in our nation's history, Congress has passed comprehensive health care reform. America waited a hundred years and fought for decades to reach this moment. Tonight, thanks to you, we are finally here.

Consider the staggering scope of what you have just accomplished:

Because of you, every American will finally be guaranteed high quality, affordable health care coverage.

Every American will be covered under the toughest patient protections in history. Arbitrary premium hikes, insurance cancellations, and discrimination against pre-existing conditions will now be gone forever.

And we'll finally start reducing the cost of care -- creating millions of jobs, preventing families and businesses from plunging into bankruptcy, and removing over a trillion dollars of debt from the backs of our children.

But the victory that matters most tonight goes beyond the laws and far past the numbers.

It is the peace of mind enjoyed by every American, no longer one injury or illness away from catastrophe.

It is the workers and entrepreneurs who are now freed to pursue their slice of the American dream without fear of losing coverage or facing a crippling bill.

And it is the immeasurable joy of families in every part of this great nation, living happier, healthier lives together because they can finally receive the vital care they need.

This is what change looks like.

My gratitude tonight is profound. I am thankful for those in past generations whose heroic efforts brought this great goal within reach for our times. I am thankful for the members of Congress whose months of effort and brave votes made it possible to take this final step. But most of all, I am thankful for you.

This day is not the end of this journey. Much hard work remains, and we have a solemn responsibility to do it right. But we can face that work together with the confidence of those who have moved mountains.

Our journey began three years ago, driven by a shared belief that fundamental change is indeed still possible. We have worked hard together every day since to deliver on that belief.

We have shared moments of tremendous hope, and we've faced setbacks and doubt. We have all been forced to ask if our politics had simply become too polarized and too short-sighted to meet the pressing challenges of our time. This struggle became a test of whether the American people could still rally together when the cause was right -- and actually create the change we believe in.

Tonight, thanks to your mighty efforts, the answer is indisputable: Yes we can.

Thank you,

President Barack Obama

Yes We Can!

2010-03-19T21:56:00.000-04:00

I am inspired by the latest rash of GLBT activism and wanted to share this video:

New Hampshire, The "Live Free or Die! (Unless You're Gay)" State

2010-02-16T17:43:00.000-05:00

Earlier in 2009 I went to the state house in Concord New Hampshire and filmed some of the most vitriolic testimony I've ever witnessed against the equal rights of GLBT people. Some statements were so backwards that in one instance a man told the legislative panel consisting of several women legislators that we should go back to a time when women wore dresses instead of pants. Chillingly, this elicited applause rather than the disapproval it should have, making me wonder what the hell happened to the "Live Free or Die!" state.

As most people know New Hampshire legislators voted to extend marriage equality to same sex couples, that change taking place January 1, 2010 only weeks ago. This came after several very heated public meetings in which it became very clear that religious beliefs are being openly used to justify the majority's call to deny equality to those lifestyles they don't approve of regardless of the fact that they have not proven any benefit to doing so.

Associated Press - February 15, 2010 8:15 AM ET
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - New Hampshire's House votes Wednesday whether to repeal the state's six-week-old law legalizing gay marriage. The House also will vote on a proposed constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between one man and one woman. The Judiciary Committee is recommending that the House kill both measures. Gay marriage supporters said gay couples have gotten married without any detrimental impact on society. They also said it would be wrong to enshrine discrimination in the Constitution. Opponents said the consummation of gay unions can't be spoken of in polite society. They also said voters should decide, not lawmakers if the marriages should be allowed.

This leaves me wanting to ask the public; do we have a right to restrict our neighbors liberties simply because we disagree with their choices? My instinct is to say no since one of the inalienable rights listed in the Bill of Rights is the pursuit of happiness. My second point is one based on religious freedom. I'm well versed in Catholicism and once had the notion I'd be a Catholic priest, and it is my opinion that the Church's official stance against GLBT equality is not Christ's will, but rather the will of those who know how turn hate and fear into a money making business. If we truly had religious freedom in our country and in the state of New Hampshire how is it that I cannot live by the terms I believe in? I am again looking at the threat that my government is going to side with another religion against me without a stitch of proof of harm needed. So much for the seperation of church and state.

Another thing that really gets under my skin are all the bald faced lies said to scare conservative bigots into believing their children are at risk someone because GLBT people now have marriage equality. Here's a fine example of this attempt from N.H. state Rep. Nancy Elliot of Merrimack:

During a judiciary committee hearing last week in Concord for a bill that would repeal same-sex marriage, Elliott, R-Merrimack, said a parent called her and told her that fifth-grade students in Nashua were being shown naked pictures of men and taught how to engage in anal sex. Elliott did not name the parent but blamed the state’s passage of same-sex marriage for the graphic subject matter being introduced to elementary schoolchildren.

“Because we have made a marriage of same sex, they are now teaching it in public school. They are showing our fifth-graders how they can actually perform this kind of sex,” Elliott said.

Since this outrageous statement was made some of the moderate middle have come forward to finally question this claim and hold Rep. Elliot accountable for her allegations:

“Either turn in the name of the ‘mother’ whose child was subjected to this alleged display of pornography to the Nashua Police Department, as required by law to protect the children, or recant and apologize publicly,” Ward 3 Alderman Diane Sheehan wrote in an e-mail she sent to Elliott on Sunday afternoon.

“If neither of those two actions take place in the next 48 hours, I will begin exploring action to prosecute for false statement, and your removal from office,” Sheehan wrote.

Tomorrow marks the next time American equality will be up for a vote; Lurleen, over on Pam's House Blend has more to this story as well as links to those who wish to contact N.H. legislators prior to their vote. A big thank you should be sent to Alderman Sheehan for her courageous stand for truthfulness in this and all matters. America needs more people interested in standing up for what's right regardless of what they personally believe in the matter.

"I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." -Evelyn Beatrice Hall

Hall's quote is often cited to describe the principle of free speech; the essence of liberty. New Hampshire had it's own version of such a liberal; General John Stark who coined the term:

"Live Free or Die!" which was shortened from "Live Free or Die! There are worse things than death!"

He was talking about oppression of both freedom and religion.

Why All Homosexuals Are Loosely Moraled Pediphiles Who Don't Deserve Equality

2010-02-07T13:58:00.003-05:00

I draw your attention to the picture I have chosen for this article, one of the character Dr. Smith in the 1960's series "Lost in Space" who was portrayed as a cowardly villain overtly, and subliminally as a homosexual. The two independent ideas seemed to be intermingled by society and fueled by both religion and media. This character and image is part of a misconception that needs to be addressed, and one that even in our time today is hard to shake off.

Last week's post here on Live, Love, and Learn elicited an anonymous responder who left no comment of their own other than two hyperlinks for us to visit and draw our own conclusions from. Clearly the person leaving these links thinks along the lines that bring us the character of Dr. Smith.

The first link belongs to an article by Scott James in the New York Times titled "Many Successful Gay Marriages Share an Open Secret". The article goes on to give the argument that new research shows same sex couples have open relationships, and this seems one ground by which people should disapprove of same sex marriage. The underlying message becomes more clear with this portion of the article:

"As the trial phase of the constitutional battle to overturn the Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage concludes in federal court, gay nuptials are portrayed by opponents as an effort to rewrite the traditional rules of matrimony. Quietly, outside of the news media and courtroom spotlight, many gay couples are doing just that, according to groundbreaking new research."

The flaw in this statement is that heterosexual couples pioneered open marriages, not gay couples, coining the term "swingers" to refer to it. Gay couples obviously cannot be responsible for a condition that existed before their marriages were legal, so couples who decide to open their marriages are far from rewriting what has already been rewritten.

Those who wish to have open relationships, married or not, face the ire society has for them as their penalty, but it is not grounds for dismissing their freedom to marry. In no way does the decision of swingers effect an outside party's beliefs, or lessen the ability of people who disapprove to enjoy their own marriages.

James' article when read fully does attempt to deliver evenness (while still incorrectly assigning swinging as a new creation from gay couples) to the the argument quoting benefits to swinging:

"And while that may sound counter-intuitive, some experts say boundary-challenging gay relationships represent an evolution in marriage — one that might point the way for the survival of the institution."

The second link that was shared anonymously with us was to an article written by Mary Ann Bragg of the Cape Cod Times titled "Cape Activists Support Child Pornographer". The article is about John Perry Ryan, 62, of Braintree, Vt. who was once a gay rights activist in Cape Cod and who is now convicted of disseminating child pornography.

While the facts against Ryan are compelling you need look no further than the title of Bragg's article to see an anti-gay inflammatory statement that encourages the stereotyping of GLBT Americans. I'm on the Cape and I'm also a gay rights activist. I most certainly don't approve of child pornography, and I resent being impugned by Bragg's blanket statement "cape activists support child pornographer" which might as well say "Gays are Pedophiles" since that seems the subliminal value of the title when read at a glance. All the people I know, gay or otherwise, openly and loudly denounce any form of child abuse including child pornography.

Interestingly, and for reasons unclear Bragg publishes the names of seven of the more prominent people who came to Ryan's defense by writing letters on his behalf asking for leniency based on his former accomplishments as an activist. Bragg does this not once, but two days in a row while reporting on Ryan. While these letters may be part of a publicly heard case and therefore public information it begs the question; doesn't posting their names encourage intimidation and therefore wrong? Isn't this akin to the same argument that has kept KnowThyNeighbor.org from publishing the names of petition signers in Washington state who signed an unsuccessful anti-equality effort? Is it different when the shoe is on the other foot?

Ms. Bragg's article is irresponsible and beneath her ability as well as Cape Cod Times' standards of fair and ethical unbiased journalism because of the article's title. As in the first article cited by our anonymous contributor the title seemingly baits the reader into thinking along bigoted stereotypical lines.

A fundamental ethical principle we can all live by is that we should be viewed as individuals afforded the dignity our own actions and intents deserve. This is an ethic America, in all its diversity needs in order to grow in healthy unity. We as a nation need courage, wisdom, and determination to look carefully at each situation and be sure that we are not hastily judging others and unnecessarily restricting someone rights based on their differences from ourselves. Might does not make right, not in America, not anywhere. The recent voting away of GLBT equality in several states only serves as an example of our discriminatory past and how we will eventually look back at these mistakes with the appropriate shame we do our other hard learned lessons.

My question for the moderate middle is such; When is it ethical to suspend the fairness of equality and view a group of people with only one common bond as a stereotyped threat based on unsubstantiated fears? The answer is never, and more by the day stand with me United.

"History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people." Martin Luther King, Jr.

Ethics, Law and Equality

2010-01-31T18:37:00.000-05:00

Note to readers:

Please forgive me if this article seems a bit of a rant. I've made a commitment to start writing again and to be honest I'm still a little bit overwhelmed by our recent failures. Thanks for hanging in there with me!

From the first laws in the Code of Hammurabi we find the reasoning for their existance:

"To bring about righteousness in the land so that the strong will not harm the weak."

Indeed fairness seems to be a priority when making laws, and even 4,000 years ago there was special consideration for minorities, aka "the weak". In the formation of our country we see similar thinking by some of our founding fathers, like Thomas Jefferson:

All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.

Another great leader and founding father Benjamin Franklin had these words of wisdom for us:

Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do.

There is no measure that proves GLBT equality harms society, otherwise the argument would be over and conscientious people like myself would sacrifice their needs for the betterment of society . If we are to believe there is harm then it must come from the example of their freedoms alone. How can the example of two men or two women living together in peaceful harmony with their community be so overpowering that it could dislodge the beliefs of opponents? Is this harm so powerful that we must step in and interfere via government restriction? Is the harm so prevalent that all people in this minority class should be stripped of their inherent right to Due Process regardless of the obvious discrimination that action creates?

Several errors seem to perpetuate the discrimination of GLBT citizens. First and foremost the bulk of the blame seems to rest directly with the GLBT community. It is not the responsibility of the wealthy few to wage our battles for us, we all need to be directly involved in fighting for our equality. If you are the type of person that complains about the current state of affairs and isn't involved in the solution then you might want to look in the mirror so you can get a better look at the problem.

Those who wish to have an opinion in matters should make sure it is an informed one, but in my years as an activist I've come to conclude the reverse is true. The moderate middle fails in its responsibility to dole fairness in government because they allow themselves to be easily fooled by untruths swaddled in fear. Time and time again, in state after state we see the same old tired lies work like miracles, and now we may see this happen in New Hampshire as well, all because people don't bother to question what they hear. We get the government we deserve via our participation, and in this instance we fail ourselves.

Most of those who bare false witness against their neighbors do so out of innocent ignorance and simple bigotry. I reserve my full ire for those few who use fear as a political tool to energize their base stating that the old ways are best, and I'd like to ask them how far back should we look in our history to find their comfort. Here's a final quote from the Code of Hammurabi for your consideration of how people in the good old days would treat those who bear false witness:

If anyone brings an accusation of any crime before the elders, and does not prove what he has charged, he shall, if a capital offense is charged, be put to death.

Perhaps in the world of "an eye for an eye" we'd see bigots rights taken away instead? The irony would be amusing.

I still have no doubt that justice and equality will eventually prevail in matters of GLBT equality, it just seems that we should know better and do better than what I see today.

Happy Holidays to All!

2009-12-13T13:38:00.000-05:00

This is a time of year that we need to remember what we all know to be right; to love thy neighbor. It's a time when all of us look at our fellow man with kinder gentler eyes and we realize that no matter how different we may seem we are in fact very similar in our hearts. All people want safety for themselves and for their loved ones. All people crave joy and hope. All people have fears, dreams, and inner struggles that manifest themselves in our behaviors.

No matter who you are, kindness is never a waste of time because it speaks of you and your character. Whether the kindness you give is received gracefully or not it always changes both you and the recipient for the better. Perhaps if we all try a little harder in this season to be a little better to each other we can help to dispel some small portion of the fears we have throughout the year that keep hate alive. Perhaps through love we can in fact conquer all. Isn't this what Christ spoke of? Isn't peace and good will a primary aspect of all modern religions and what we know to be true?

The tiny candle in the window I leave for you the reader is symbolic of the candle one would leave to let weary travelers know they are welcome in days long ago. Let it symbolize for us the love we have not only for those familiar, but also for those friends we have not yet met, and also symbolize the hope we carry that tomorrow will be better than today by sharing love through our actions.

Let our love transform the world one person, one action at a time.

Norway UFO on YouTube

2009-12-09T19:03:00.001-05:00

A very interesting thing seen on the news tonight, this phenomena was recorded over Norway. I'd love to hear from viewers what they think of it.

The New GLBT Pope Problem

2009-11-23T17:44:00.000-05:00

It is time to admit that the gay community has a gigantic Pope problem. Under the leadership of Benedict XVI, the Vatican has become an implacable foe of liberalism, modernity and basic rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Rome has eagerly jumped with both feet into America's culture wars and is working on a global scale to punish or purge ideological dissenters within the church. This aggressive activism presents a formidable new front in the fight for parity - one with considerable political clout and financial resources.

Last week, a coalition of totalitarian religious activists and radical clerics joined forces to unveil the "Manhattan Declaration" at Washington's National Press Club. This rambling manifesto, written by former Watergate felon Chuck Colson, called for "Christians" to disobey laws they didn't fancy and to ignore civil rights laws that protected GLBT people from discrimination. It was a dishonest document filled with historical revisionism that promoted theocracy, encouraged anarchy and supported the dissolution of the rule of law. It falsely portrayed right wing Christians as victims, even as they pledged to work tirelessly to deny equality to those who would not adhere to their sectarian church rules.

An extreme manifesto of such breathtaking cynicism and insincerity is no surprise coming from what passes for "leaders" in today's evangelical circles. It was striking, however, that more than 15 key American Catholic leaders signed on to the "Manhattan Declaration". Signatories included heavyweights such as Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York and Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, DC. This was clearly a call to arms and a powerful signal that the Roman Catholic Church is taking the gloves off to fight political battles in America.

This hands-on involvement from Rome has passed the "trend" stage and appears to be official policy. Consider the significant involvement the Catholic Church had in stripping marriage rights away from GLBT couples in a Maine referendum held earlier this month.

In the same manner, on June 11, the Washington, DC Archdiocese threatened to abandon the homeless and quit charity work in the District if it had to comply with anti-discrimination laws. Catholic Charities had the audacity to believe it was entitled to collect $8.2 million in tax dollars meant to serve all DC residents, and then still get to handpick whom it deems worthy of assistance.

Catholic involvement with arch-conservative politics is growing by the day. In May, Catholic groups tried to stop President Barack Obama from speaking at a Notre Dame commencement ceremony because of his pro-choice position.
Earlier this month, Providence Bishop Thomas Tobin put the clamp on Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), banning the lawmaker from communion because he is pro-choice. This was reminiscent of The St. Louis Archbishop refusing to give communion to Senator John Kerry during his presidential campaign.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has suddenly begun to steer GLBT Catholics to 12-step programs that promise to "cure" homosexuality or support them in a lifelong celibacy. The Catholic Diocese in Sioux Falls, South Dakota urged its 128-thousand members to oppose an attempt to bring legalizing embryonic stem cell research to a public referendum. (I guess the sacrosanct "people's right to vote" on controversial social issues only applies to same-sex marriage)

In fighting back, we must remember that the Vatican is launching these attacks from a position of weakness. It has yet to recover its moral authority from public exposure of rampant child sexual abuse scandals that cost the Church billions of dollars in legal settlements.

The Vatican appears to be acutely aware it is losing its worldwide market share. It is basically defunct in the Middle East, where the religion began, and on life-support in Western Europe, where it once prospered. In Africa, Rome competes with Islam and Anglicanism for a shrinking slice of the pie. (Who can forget that while in Africa the Pope said condoms could make the AIDS crisis worse.) South America, one of its few remaining strongholds, is losing Roman Catholics to evangelical faiths by the millions.

Instead of competing against the conservative evangelical brand, Pope Benedict has decided to embrace it, shaping a conspicuously political Catholicism that embraces extremism and drives out dissenters. The Vatican has become so doctrinaire that it recently launched an invasive probe into the lives of America's 60,000 nuns to enforce anachronistic rules. In January, Benedict welcomed back excommunicated Bishop Richard Williamson who denied that millions of Jews died in Nazi death camps.

Fortunately, Benedict is a cold, unsympathetic figure and the majority of American Catholics often ignore his edicts. The strategy for the GLBT community should be to stand up to Rome and help mobilize mainstream Catholics to fight back against an authoritarian Pontiff who is hell-bent on making the Catholic Church as unpopular and unappealing as His Holiness.

Re-posted with permission from Wayne Besen of truthwinsout.org. (Nosferatu picture added for effect... that's the one on the left?)

Boston Pride Voting on 40th Anniversary Theme

2009-11-18T18:05:00.000-05:00

Action comes in many forms. Sometimes it comes from a rabble rousing Rowdy Citizen like Mark Snyder who is angry enough and courageous enough to stand up and let his voice be heard. It seems agreed by many that equality for all walks of humanity should be expected here in America, yet sadly our laws are currently interpreted to allow fundamental rights to be denied because of your sexuality or sexual identity and even voted away by ballot. One thing most groups and private citizens alike can agree is that the peaceful teachings and leadership of Gandhi and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were effective and widely accepted as the right way to bring about change. Now enters the next generation and the new Civil Rights Struggle: GLBT Equality. What methods are best to break through to others and help bring about the change we wish to see in the world?

The Pride Parade started back in 1970 as a response to the Stonewall Riots. Over time our anger at the unfair and unethical treatment of the GLBT community has lessened as our inclusion has increased, but we should never forget our past for as we have seen recently that inclusion can be taken away. The 40th anniversary of the Boston Pride Parade gives us an opportunity to remember the sacrifices of yesterday, remember both the triumphs and trials of today, while keeping alive Harvey Milk's message of hope for the future. In light of our recent struggles in CA and ME I believe the theme should be a well thought response that brings light to all these things while maintaining its positivity.

"Ohana" is a Hawaiian word that means "Family", but also inclusion; no one left behind. This is the theme I have submitted to the BostonPride.org committee, and here are some of the many reasons:

-Family is often the strongest of relationships, and many people agree that you cannot turn your back on family; we all must somehow learn to live together in at least tolerance of our differences.

-Our opposition has been successful using children as a divisive tool to scare the uninformed public and strip our rights from us. "Ohana" also reminds people that GLBT families have children of their own.

-Hawaii was the first of states that tried to bring marriage as a civil right to same sex couples, and using "Ohana" references their pioneering struggle in 1993 where same sex marriage was legal for all of one day.

-Obama was born in Hawaii, he knows the meaning of the word "Ohana", and the message will not go unnoticed, bringing his eye back to our struggles where we need it.

-On December 7, 1942 the treachery of our enemies was known throughout the world, yet their act of hate unified America. That unity made us unbeatable. December 7 is shared with the GLBT community where in 2005 Massachusetts certified the petition attempt to remove same sex marriage rights, clearing the way for citizens to vote away the equal rights of other fellow citizens all across America.

-Using "Ohana" as the Pride Parade Theme can be a powerfully positive peaceful way to lead by example and include those in the moderate middle who are not against us. By putting out our hand in a gesture of friendship and inclusion in spite of our losses at the polls we may effectively dispel negative stereotypes against us while forming new friendships that lead to stronger alliances with straight allies. They say love can conquer all. Our fight is about love, so why not use our love for our neighbors as a way of dispelling the hate used against us? We have seen how it can change the world, why not now?

Please take a moment to consider what you think of this theme and if you support it please let the Pride Committee know:

parade@bostonpride.org

DC Diocese Turns on Homeless

2009-11-13T21:16:00.001-05:00

From the New York Times:

WASHINGTON — The fight over a proposed same-sex marriage law here heated up this week as the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said that if the law passed, the church would cut its social service programs that help residents with adoption, homelessness and health care.
Under the bill, which has the mayor’s support and is expected to pass next month, religious organizations would not be required to perform same-sex weddings or make space available for them.
But officials from the archdiocese said they feared the law might require them to extend employee benefits to same-sex married couples. As a result, they said, the archdiocese would have to abandon its contracts with the city if the law passed.
The church’s social services arm, known as Catholic Charities, serves 68,000 local residents, including about a third of the city’s homeless people, who go to city-owned shelters managed by the church, city officials said.
The threat is not the first time a religion-based provider of social services has said it would stop providing services in response to a same-sex marriage law, gay rights advocates say.
In 2006, Boston’s archbishop, Sean P. O’Malley, said that Catholic Charities there would stop its adoption-related work rather than comply with a state law requiring that gay men and lesbians be allowed to adopt children.

The Washington Archdiocese released this statement:

“Religious organizations and individuals are at risk of legal action for refusing to promote and support same-sex marriages in a host of settings where it would compromise their religious beliefs,” said Susan Gibbs, spokeswoman for the archdiocese, “This includes employee benefits, adoption services and even the use of a church hall for non-wedding events for same-sex married couples.”

When the Boston Arch-diocese ended it's adoption services they claimed it was because they did not want to be forced into a position where they would have to compromise their religious beliefs by being forced to procure adoptions for qualified same sex couples and individuals. What they try to keep quiet is the fact that prior to this decision they had in fact provided services to GLBT parents several times in the past. From the Boston Globe we find their inconvenient truth:

Over the last decades, the Globe reported, approximately 13 children had been placed by Catholic Charities in gay households...

Agency officials said they had been permitting gay adoptions to comply with the state's anti-discrimination laws. But after the story was published, the state's four bishops announced they would appoint a panel to examine whether the practice should continue. In December, the Catholic Charities board, which is dominated by lay people, voted unanimously to continue gay adoptions.

But, on Feb. 28, the four bishops announced a plan to seek an exemption from the anti-discrimination laws. Eight of the 42 board members quit in protest, saying the agency should welcome gays as adoptive parents.

It seemed the Catholic Church was trying to punish the community for allowing marriage equality to extend to GLBT people while not having the belly to admit the level of their bigotry. With that lesson behind us we can see clearly that the decision in Washington has little to do with the homeless and a lot to do with the same punitive thinking that was here in Boston had suspected all along. This is about the Catholic Church wanting to inflict their will upon society, nothing less. It is a shameful act that harms innocent people that have nothing to do with the policies the Church is at odds with. Let the world take notice of this ugliness and decide for themselves the motivations behind these changes.

I doubt this act will endear the Church to the society of tomorrow, but rather it serves to underscore just how out of touch and disingenuous it has become. Being a former Catholic I can only shake my head in amazement at this last unbelievable act with and console myself that perhaps the public will recognize they've gone too far this time and stop monetarily supporting the Vatican's hateful agenda.

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