Thursday, January 5, 2012
Professor Says Antigay Activist Misused Her Research
Theodora Sirota, an associate professor of nursing at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, says an adviser to the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality — which claims homosexuality is a disorder that can be “cured” — has mischaracterized her findings in a parenting study, using them to oppose adoption by gay people, Box Turtle Bulletin reports.
Rick Fitzgibbons (pictured), a psychiatrist and member of NARTH’s scientific advisory committee, wrote an article published online in November citing Sirota’s research, saying women with gay or bisexual fathers experienced more difficulties in adult relationships than did women with heterosexual fathers. Fitzgibbons used the research to support his claim that “children raised by same sex couples fare less well than children raised in stable homes with a mother and a father.”
Fitzgibbons, however, left out some key information about Sirota’s findings: “The gay and bisexual fathers in Sirota’s study were married to the mothers,” Box Turtle Bulletin reports.
Sirota contacted the blog this week for help in rebutting Fitzgibbons’s assertions, and she has contacted Fitzgibbons as well, but he has not altered the article. In a statement about his misrepresentation of her research, she writes:
“My study was only about women raised in the context of heterosexually-organized marriages where fathers were identified as gay or bisexual. My research was not about and did not measure anything in women raised by gay parent couples or by single gay fathers. The women I studied were not raised in the context of gay or lesbian partnerships or by single gay fathers actively rearing their children. Therefore, no conclusions about gay or lesbian fitness to adopt children or quality of active gay parenting can be drawn from the findings of my research. No conclusions about the well-being of children who are or were actively raised by gay or lesbian parents can be drawn from the findings of my research.”
According to Pam’s House Blend, at least a dozen individuals or groups involved in scholarly research have complained in recent years about antigay organizations misusing their data.
Rick Santorum: Gay People Should Remain Celibate
During an interview with CNN's John King, Santorum said his faith teaches that the act of gay sex – not necessarily being gay – is morally wrong.
When King brought up Santorum's 2003 remarks linking gay sex to “man on dog,” Santorum, who placed second in Iowa behind Mitt Romney, asserted that he had not made the comparison of homosexuality to bestiality.
“Hold on one second, John, read the quote. I said it's not. It is not. I didn't say it is. I says it's not,” Santorum said.
“I'm trying to understand what you're trying to make the point. I said it's not those things. I didn't connect them. I specifically excluded them.”
Santorum later added: “You know my Catholic faith teaches that it's actions that are the problems, not necessarily someone's feelings. And I was reflecting Catholic teaching on the subject. … That one can have desires to do things which we believe are wrong but it's when you act out those things that is a problem.”
In a unanimous vote by all gay people, it has been decided that Rick Santorum should remain celibate.
No one this stupid should be allowed to breed.
I mean seriously, we require people to get a license too drive, why don't we require them to pass a test too replicate.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
How Can This Be?
What the hell happened Bob, did God forsake you in your hour of need or didn't he/she get your memo?
I think it's more likely your a nutcase with delusions of grandeur and you just got poned by God him/her self.
A Moment Of Irony
Santa Barbara police investigate possible ‘hate crime’ attack; suspects believed victims were gay, authorities said.
Santa Barbara Police Chief Cam Sanchez vowed to find and arrest three men suspected of severely beating one man and injuring another, in what authorities are calling a “hate crime.”
The attack occurred at 1:42 a.m. on Sunday, after a night of New Year’s Eve revelry. The suspects believed the victims were gay, which authorities believe was the motivation for the attack.
The assault was also captured on video.
“Hate crimes like these will not be tolerated and those responsible will be held accountable,” Sanchez said.
The two victims were leaving a downtown nightclub, authorities said, and were headed toward their car, parked near Ortega and Chapala streets.
As they were walking, one of the suspects, authorities said, yelled a derogatory comment at one of the men. The suspects then attacked the victims.
One of the men suffered a broken jaw. He also needed staples in his head to stop the bleeding, authorities said. The other man suffered minor injuries.
Authorities described one of the suspects as a white male adult, in his 20s, 5 feet 4 inches, about 160 lbs with a shaved head. He was wearing a white and black plaid long sleeve shirt.
Police believe the second male suspect is also in his 20s, about 6 feet, 1 inch, with a shaved head, and wearing dark clothing.
The third suspect is described as another white male in his 20s, with a shaved head and wearing dark clothing.
The Santa Barbara Police Department is actively investigating this assault as a potential hate crime and requests help from the public in identifying the suspects. Information related to this case can be provided anonymously.
Santa Barbara Police Chief Cam Sanchez vowed to find and arrest three men suspected of severely beating one man and injuring another, in what authorities are calling a “hate crime.”
The attack occurred at 1:42 a.m. on Sunday, after a night of New Year’s Eve revelry. The suspects believed the victims were gay, which authorities believe was the motivation for the attack.
The assault was also captured on video.
“Hate crimes like these will not be tolerated and those responsible will be held accountable,” Sanchez said.
The two victims were leaving a downtown nightclub, authorities said, and were headed toward their car, parked near Ortega and Chapala streets.
As they were walking, one of the suspects, authorities said, yelled a derogatory comment at one of the men. The suspects then attacked the victims.
One of the men suffered a broken jaw. He also needed staples in his head to stop the bleeding, authorities said. The other man suffered minor injuries.
Authorities described one of the suspects as a white male adult, in his 20s, 5 feet 4 inches, about 160 lbs with a shaved head. He was wearing a white and black plaid long sleeve shirt.
Police believe the second male suspect is also in his 20s, about 6 feet, 1 inch, with a shaved head, and wearing dark clothing.
The third suspect is described as another white male in his 20s, with a shaved head and wearing dark clothing.
The Santa Barbara Police Department is actively investigating this assault as a potential hate crime and requests help from the public in identifying the suspects. Information related to this case can be provided anonymously.
Assault Believed to be Hate Motivated from Messenger/DailySound on Vimeo.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Happy Birthday Kristofer Weston
HUNGARY: Gay Marriage Ban In Effect
Hungary's new national constitution and its ban on same-sex marriage is now in effect.
The document specifically restricts marriage to straight couples and appears to ban abortion by saying that foetuses will be protected from conception onwards. It does not protect citizens from discrimination on the grounds of age or sexual orientation, and Amnesty International said last year it would not satisfy international human rights laws. Viktor Orban, leader of the ruling Fidesz party, which came to power with two-thirds majority in the parliament last year, has been dubbed “Viktator” for his leadership style by the crowds who are now protesting the constitution in Budapest. Tens of thousands have taken to the streets of the capital to voice their opposition to the new state framework.
Hungary also bans gay couples from adopting, but does allow open service in the military. As noted in the clip below, Sec. Hillary Clinton has written a letter to the Hungarian government objecting to the "anti-democracy" aspects of the new constitution.
After Gay Teen's Suicide, Christian Right Backs 'License to Bully'
In correspondence with the Tennessee Equality Project, the state's main gay rights group, state Rep. John Ragan, R-Oak Ridge, claimed gay people commit suicide at a higher rate than others and suggested Jacob's sexuality itself drove him to kill himself. Ragan asked whether the suicide could have had "more to do with his own proclivities and behavior than anything to do with schoolmate bullies ..."
Blaming the victim is necessary to prevent Jacob's death from damaging chances for passage of F.A.C.T.'s 2012 state legislative priority—a bill to make it easier for young bigots to bully gay schoolkids. This legislation brought by conservative Christians who oppose special protections for gay people actually gives special protections to homophobic bullies.
"If made into law, FACT would give students a 'license to bully' that allows them to hide their irrational biases behind an extreme religious belief," the Equality Project's Chris Sanders says.
Yet another fine example of Christian charity, love and forgiveness.
What ever happened too: "The meek shall inherit the Earth?"
Monday, January 2, 2012
Lesbian and gay protestors rejected, ejected, censored and even attacked at Pro-Democracy rallies in Russia
LGBT political activists in Russia are reporting abuse and attacks at Pro-Democracy rallies across the country.
On Christmas Eve tens of thousands of protesters braved the sub zero temperatures across Russia to protest against the alleged election fraud, corruption and to demand more freedom and democracy.
Organizers claimed that over 120,000 people took part in the Moscow protest alone and even more across the cities of Russia. These protests are the biggest since the collapse of the Soviet Union 20 years ago. However it seems that the organizers of these demonstrations do not welcome the participation of LGBT people as part of their protests.
In St Petersburg Igor Kochetkov, chairperson of the Vyhod LGBT Organization and the Russian LGBT-Network, was prevented by the opposition movement from speaking at the demonstration panel, according to reports by both Kochetkov via his Twitter account, confirmed by Nikolai Alekseev, chairman and founder of GayRussia and Moscow Pride.
Kochetkov was part of the St Petersburg’s organizing committee of the demonstration and was due to give a speech when he was told minutes before attempting to go on stage that the opposition 'is not supporting your movement and you won’t be allowed to speak.'
LGBT-Network says in Novosibirsk, Russia’s fourth largest city, a man holding a rainbow flag was attacked by Russian Nationalists participants who tore the flag from his hand.
He was then taken away by the police out of the demonstration and told he will not be allowed to use the rainbow flag in the protest any further.
Alekseev reports that in the city of Lipetsk a group of LGBT activists attempting to participate with a banner reading 'gays and lesbians for fair elections' were intercepted by the police and told that their slogan is not 'in accordance' with the aim of this event and prohibited from using it further. The police officer mockingly added: 'Keep it for your gay parade later.'
Nikolai Alekseev further attests that he asked for and was denied permission from speaking publicly in the initial demonstration of the opposition movement held on 10 December in Moscow.
Furthermore, on this specific demonstration a lesbian speaker named Nadezhda Tolokno was jeered off the panel by Nationalists participants who attempted to attack her physically.
In a conversation, recently leaked to the press, between Boris Nemtsov, leader of the Russian opposition movement and other high ranking organizers, he referred to her 'Nazis were whistled off and the same with lesbians', adding: 'a lesbian, from LGBT, was talking there and she was told to fuck off.'
Another opposition activist Bozhena Rynska asked in the conversation 'why the fuck did I see placards of gays and lesbians at the demonstration?' In the conversation Nemtsov further used extremely homophobic remarks comparing the Putin Youth Movement to 'prison faggots' and calling Leonid Parfyonov (a famous TV presenter in Russia) a 'pederast' which is a highly derogatory word often used in Russia to mean merely 'gay'. While Tolokno was met with jeers: 'Russia and Moscow without pederasts', according to Nemtsov the 'crowd at the event behaved normally.'
Speaking with Dan Littauer, reporting for GSN, Nikolai Alekseev said that he found this homophobic language totally unacceptable: 'I find it completely outrageous that the incidents happened during the opposition rallies and then not a single high ranking organizer of these events denounced these attacks and harassment of LGBT people.'
Alekseev stressed the organizers should be happy with the participation of the Russian LGBT communities; 'they should help and create a secure participation and atmosphere for LGBT people in such demonstrations.'
He added: 'I agree that the elections were not fair and new elections should be held. At the same time Gay Russia, the Organizing Committee of Moscow Pride and myself have decided that we are not going to officially endorse such demonstrations because the people who are organizing them are not any better than the current Russian government with regards to LGBT tights.'
Commenting on these events, Peter Tatchell, director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation, who is a long-time supporter of the Russian democracy movement and who was badly beaten by Russian nationalists at the attempted 2007 Moscow Gay Pride Parade said: 'The censorship and ejection of LGBT campaigners from the democracy demonstrations is shameful.
'It shows that many of the so-called democracy leaders are not committed to universal human rights. They are Putin-lite. They want to moderate the Kremlin regime, rather than change it. If they came to power, LGBT Russians would gain little.'
Reading the report of Gay Star News, Louis-Georges Tin, president of the IDAHO Committee remarked: 'Gay and lesbians are excluded by the pro-democracy movement, as they used to be by the pro-Putin movements. These pro-democracy protesters want to replace Putin... and act just like him. They want rights for themselves, for not for the others. Their attitude sheds a new light on their movement, and this is very shocking.'
WWII Codebreaker Alan Turing Finally Gets The Stamp Of Approval
It’s a bittersweet honor for Turing, who was sentenced to chemical castration because of “gross indecency” in 1952 and committed suicide in 1954. Online petitions call for his conviction to be posthumously pardoned.
To mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Turing, who is also considered the father of the modern computer, the Turing Centenary Advisory Committee is coordinating The Alan Turing Year, a year-long program of events around the world honoring his life and achievements.
Rick "The Dickless One" Santorum Linked To Organization Running LGBT Substance-Abuse Center
Ironically, given Santorum’s strong comments on “homosexual acts,” according to the PRIDE Institute, its exclusive focus on the gay community is necessary because “the society in which we live marginalizes the LGBT community” with “negative covert and overt messages about the gay and lesbian lifestyle.”
In fact, the PRIDE Institute brands the kind of language Santorum used “heterorsexism.”
We shouldn’t however, hold it against Santorum. Often when principle and paycheck come in conflict, paycheck wins. Principle does not always feed a family. A whole lot of people have the same thing happen.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
It's Sunday...Time To Kneel And Pray Bitches
Love the Homosexual, Hate Homosexuality
That was the title of this morning's sermon, on one of the Christian radio networks the guys play in the Robison Service shop. We've got a dozen guys here at work. As they restore our Land Rovers and Mercedes, they listen to a wide range of programming, from talk radio to heavy metal. Even with all the stuff I hear, walking through the shop, those words stopped me and got my attention.
Why would a preacher say that, in this day and age? I suppose it's a variation on a more common phrase, love the sinner, hate the sin. Yet even that phrase begs the question, why hate the sin, when the sin is perceived in another? If you perceive a sin in yourself, and you hate it, you are certainly free to change and feel better about yourself. However, hating a part of yourself is certainly nothing to brag about on the radio. Beyond that, you are powerless to change another, so why beat yourself up hating their behavior or their way of being?
Homosexuality is generally recognized (by the American Psychological Association, the AMA, and others) as a way of being; a part of who we are that's not subject to change.
That being the case, it is in that sense like autism. It's how we are born, and there's no way to change it. We can change ourselves to fit into society better, and society can change to be more accommodating, but that's it. There is no getting rid of autism, and there is no getting rid of homosexuality.
But we should not want to get rid of either. Both autistic and gay people have made huge contributions to society; we would not be where we are today without them (us). Thanks to an aggressive gay rights movement, society has changed to be more accommodating for homosexuals. I hope society changes to better accommodate autistic people, too. The autistic rights movement is still in its infancy but folks like Ari Nee'man are driving it forward relentlessly.
I've already expressed the belief that autistic people will find their best success by learning how to fit in. On the face of it, I'd think the same would be true for gay people. When I suggested that to some friends they criticized me for suggesting gay people stay in the closet, and autistic people pretend to be someone they are not. That isn't what I mean at all. I never suggested hiding or concealing one's nature. I simply advocated learning how to act in expected ways, for the situations in which we want to succeed.
Provided we are functional and capable of doing a job, our autistic-ness or gay-ness should not be relevant. I understand there is prejudice in the world, so to the extent it exists, I would say nothing and go about my business because I want to succeed more than I want to change the world.
Yet there are others whose desire to change the world is much stronger, and they take issue with my point of view. That's ok with me, because I am not trying to change other people, and I am not terribly troubled by those who chart a different course.
Most of the bloodshed in human history came about because one group tried to force its ideas or likes and dislikes upon another. Why not let gay, autistic, and other people be? Why care who or how they are? What business is it of yours?
Some say, it's my business because it's my son. But does that make you right? As an autistic person, I understand why some parents say they hate their child's autism. I know their remarks are well intentioned, and what they are really saying is that they wish their child could have what they consider a "more normal" life. If I had a child with a serious disability, I'd want that too.
However, I also understand how those remarks have a corrosive effect on the child, and indeed on all autistic people. A parent saying they hate how we are . . . that's a strong critique of of our being, no matter how the hater may twist and turn his words.
I can see no possible benefit to a parent or other non-autistic person saying they hate autism. No constructive purpose is served, and I believe I have demonstrated the destructive effect of the phrase. Knowing that, why should hating homosexuality be any different? I suggest it's not; therefore, expressing hatred of it in others is damaging to some and helpful to none.
What about hating autism or homosexuality in yourself? Is it right to hate homosexuality, if you're the homosexual? Maybe, for yourself, but it's surely a self-destructive line of thinking. I suppose hating something about you might produce impetus to change, but change to what? My sense is, hating autism or homosexuality in oneself is really symptomatic of a much larger problem with self-esteem and success in life.
Finally, I have heard the fundamentalists cite the bible, saying "God will smite them." And yes, I've heard it for both groups . . . God's gunning for the gays and the geeks both. Fine, I say. Let God smite us, if indeed he exists, and if he cares. I've heard tell of many people and places God should smite, but I have yet to see it actually happen. In any case, if you believe in God, it's His business, not ours. If you don't believe in God, it's irrelevant.
What do you say?
Rick Santorum Would 'Invalidate' Gay Marriages
In an interview with NBC's Chuck Todd at his campaign headquarters in Iowa, Santorum said there needs to be one marriage law for all 50 states. When asked if he would make same-sex couples get divorced, he responded, "Well their marriage would be invalid. If the constitution says 'marriage is this,' then people whose marriages are not consistent with the constitution ... (shrug.) I'd love to think that there was another way of doing it."
Santorum said he has hesitations about the Supreme Court taking the decision about marriage away from the people. "32 times marriage has been voted on, in 32 different states from Maine to California, and 32 times marriage has won," he said. But later in the interview Santorum acknowledged that "just because public opinion says something, doesn't mean something's right if it's not right."
Santorum's comments are the latest in his long fight against gay marriage, which he thinks would have dire consequences for American society. Santorum said Saturday that though friendship and familial love are important, "It's not as important for the health of society as men and women coming together, joining together in marriage, having children and raising those children for the future of society."
Last month Santorum blamed same-sex marriage for plummeting rates of marriage across the nation. In November, at an event sponsored by the Christian group the Family Leader in Des Moines, Santorum said gay marriage could doom the U.S. "Unless we protect it with the institution of marriage, our country will fail," he said.
Santorum has recently surged to a third place spot in Iowa, just days before the Iowa caucuses.
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