Kill the Gays: A Comment from a Fundamentalist Priest

A few posts ago, we discussed the culpability of clergy and so-called Christian bloggers in relation to gay bashings, and that the blood of all victims of gay bashing was on their hands. We received a comment to this post from an individual who is not only one of these clergy, but a blogger himself, and his comments were as inflammatory and gay-hating as you can get. I thought I'd go ahead and post it here, while at the same time answering some of the faulty logic inherent in this clergy’s misuse of the Bible.

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That first comment, that “Terry Mark Mangum was right,” refers to a few weeks ago when Terry Mark Mangum murdered Ken Cummings, a gay man, and said God told him to kill a homosexual. So, by agreeing with the gay-killer, we're already we’re dealing with a sick clergy person:

"Terry Mark Mangum was right."
Okay, "Reverend," starting things of with this comment shows you for what you really are, a sick, warped person, who doesn't deserve to wear a collar, but a leash.


"The Bible is clear that homosexuals are sexual deviants and enemies of the LORD God. Your support of these sodomites is disgusting."
Actually, the Bible is NOT clear on homosexuals being deviants, and we'll get to that below. To call us enemies of God is laughable, as the majority of gays and lesbians I know are regular church/temple attendees, and support and volunteer time at their houses of worship. We are not "sodomites," but you are, and I suggest you read our piece on Sodom and Gomorrah to show you that you are the sodomite, not us. If the support of my people disgusts you, then I must be doing a good job, thanks!


"Whatever you think, you will not be able to change God's Word and will one day have to pay the price for not believing what God has written."
Firstly, I'm really hoping you don't believe that a few thousand years ago God whipped out his MAC, and actually wrote the bible him/herself while listening to illegally downloaded Madonna tunes. Honey, people have been changing "God's Word" since it was spoken through the human mouth. Sadly, the human mouth is not perfect, and brings with it filters of human experience that can misconstrue, distort, and misrepresent God's initial meaning.

Reverend Don, you and people like you DO NOT represent the Bible, nor Christianity, and the majority of people do not believe the Bible is static, but believe in a "Living Word," one that breaths, and grows, and changes with its ever-changing environment and time frame. As an alleged man of the cloth, you should well know that the Bible was heavily edited during the Council of Nicea, with some Gospels actually tossed out entirely, so don't feed us crap about changing God's word, when people like yourself have been doing it for millennium to continue the subjugation of people who are "not like you."

Leviticus 18:22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
Leviticus 20:13 If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
Ah, yes, start with Leviticus. Really, Don, put things in their contexts. Leviticus was written by the early Pharisees to separate the new nation of Israel from the philistines and other gentiles. The items delineated in Leviticus are not "sin," but are merely ritualistic Judaic "law." Because many of the gentile religions allowed male and female prostitution, which included male-male prostitution, the early Jewish elders wanted to set themselves apart from this, and that's why this "law" was enacted.

And you're just sick if you believe that the Leviticus laws hold today, and that gays should be executed. Unless you're Jewish, Reverend Don, why would you care about Judaic ritualistic law? Some of these ritualistic laws in Leviticus are downright stupid in today's world, like not touching anything of the pig (unclean), cursing your parents (punishable by death), or eating shellfish (same as being gay, an abomination). So, unless you've never played pigskin football or eaten bacon, never got mad at your parents, or never ate at a Red Lobster, then you have no right to make reference to Leviticus.

Romans 1:22-27
V22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, V23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
Reverend, this sounds more like you than we!

V24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves.
This reference, again, is to prostitution, not being gay.

V25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, Who is blessed for ever. Amen.
Sounds to me like you're worshiping the Bible more than God, reverend.

V26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature. (V27) And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
Hmmm, should that have been spelled "meat?" Either way, most academics read the passage as a condemnation merely of well-known pagan cults, which included homosexual acts in their worship practices, and not of gays in general. What is behind this passage is that God doesn't like when people, gay or straight, run around having tons of sex because they're in love with sex, which is lust, but that the God given gift of sexual contact between two people who love each other, gay or straight, is a wonderful thing.

I'll leave this, Reverend, by saying that we'll pray for you, that you will turn from this path of hatred, which goes so against the tenets of a loving God. We are initiating a fundamentalist reparative therapy group, and we can give you contacts of people who have turned away from the path you're on, and who have successfully become ex-fundamentalist.

For those of you who’d like to send Reverend Don an email, his email address is Glory2Jesus@ArmyofGod.com (wow, go figure!).

Americans for Truth: Stretching it a Bit

Those idiots at the right-wing, religious, gay-hating Americans for Truth demonstrate once again that their name is a complete misnomer. From their website on August 2nd:

"We welcome homosexual (and liberal) activists who are not afraid of freedom and the battle of ideas to denounce the growing pro-”gay” trend of silencing opposing speech — whether it’s GLAAD threatening to sue a news producer to squelch a report on lesbian bullying; Britain trotting out the “anti-homophobia” police to crush that grave threat to democracy of a Christian passing out tracts at a “gay” event; or pro-homosexual militants claiming that decent religious people who agree with God about sexual sin are causing the murders of homosexuals like Matthew Shepard."

Okay, guys, when we remove the smoke and mirrors used by this group, we can "really" get down to the truth. The reference to GLAAD is from a story a couple of months ago that was done on the O'Reilly Factor. It seems Fox News (you know, that "conservative" channel) Crime Analyst Rod Wheeler detailed what he called a “national network” of so-called “lesbian gangs” that prey on young girls. Using exaggerated, sensational language, Wheeler claimed there are more than 150 such gangs in the Washington, D.C., area alone. Well, GLAAD debunked the story by calling the D.C. Metro Police Department’s Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit, who said that they have 150 to 175 total gangs in the D.C. area, and that out of those only nine where the predominance of members are female, and that one simply can't make the jump that they are lesbians. So much for a "national network" of lesbian gangs.

The second mis-truth comes from a story in South Wales, U.K., where during a gay Marde Gras event, some Christian fundamentalist entered the throng of gay revelers and started passing out anti-gay leaflets quoting the Bible. Now forgive me if you disagree, but I would hope that police would arrest a Ku Klux Klansman if he were passing out rascist pamphlets at a NAACP rally. Again, this underscores the double-standard these right-wing bigots apply when it comes to the debate between hate language and free speech, because you know very well they probably nodded in agreement when phag-hater Phred Phelps carried "God Hates Fags" placards outside Mathew Shepard's funeral.

As to "pro-homosexual militants claiming that decent religious people who agree with God about sexual sin are causing the murders of homosexuals," well, we covered that recently in a previous post, read it by Clicking Here!

Overpopulation + World Degradation = Don't Blame the Gays

Okay, I’m watching NBC’s Today Show this morning, and a straight couple with seventeen biological children are being highlighted. Of course the treatment of the story is cute and smarmy, containing humorous little platitudes, but as a gay man who is constantly hearing arguments against gay marriage, or even the very logic behind same-sex relationships because we cannot “bare children,” the idea of a straight family with seventeen kids really irks me.

As a parent of four (two mine, two my partner’s), I want to leave this earth as I found it—though, even then it was on the decline. Therefore, I believe we shouldn't over-burden a planet that’s already stressed to the max by overly contributing to a population explosion. According to The Population Institute, an international, educational nonprofit organization that seeks to reduce rapid population growth:

“Climate change is perhaps the most crucial environmental challenge of this century. Eleven of the world’s 12 highest annual global temperatures on record have occurred since 1995, leading many of the world’s top scientists and environmentalists to conclude that global warming has begun in earnest.

While a great deal of attention has been paid to reducing emissions responsible for global warming, there has been far less focus on the role of population growth in climate change.

Population pressures are not the sole cause of global warming, but exacerbate ecological degradation. Providing effective voluntary family planning to the tens of millions of women worldwide who lack access to affordable reproductive health services would be a significant step towards reducing human impact on areas left vulnerable by climate change.”

The parents of these seventeen kids say they’re very religious, and that their children are all gifts from God. I believe this is a crappy diversion of their culpability in contributing to an over-populated world, and the environmental degradation of the planet. Naturally, if these kids had been adopted, this post might have lauded this couple, but that is not the case.

So, the next time you hear a gay-hater using the argument that being gay is wrong because gay relationships can’t produce children, tell them they’re full of crap, and that the overpopulation of the world is one of the prime reasons this planet is ailing. Also, dig a little deeper, and add that because a lot of gay couples who want children adopt, we not only don’t add to an ever-expanding population, but contribute to a reduction of the surplus population caused by gay-hating straights like themselves.

Italian Kiss-In

Thank you fellow gays of Italy! A few weeks ago two guys were arrested for kissing each other on Via San Giovani in front of the Colosseum in Rome. Gay Italians came in the hundreds the other day for a mass kiss-in at Rome's famed Colosseum Thursday to protest the arrest.

If convicted the pair could be sentenced up to two years in prison. The couple had just left one of the number of gay clubs near the Colosseum last Saturday when they exchanged a kiss on Via San Giovani in front of the ruins. They were observed by a police officer and arrested.

The poopie heads of the police department, despite mounting pressure, said today that they were not going to drop "lewd conduct" charges against the two men.

Killing in the Name of God

The blood of all gays who have been beaten or murdered cover the hands of conservative Christians. They are as guilty as those who attack and kill gays. This seems harsh, but these clergy, bloggers, and others can't get it through their thick heads that when they tell their congregations or readers that being gay is bad, or sinful, and that gays are going to hell, it spurs those whose characters border on psychotic to go out and hurt gays. Do these priests and bloggers condone gay bashing, of course not (well, they probably do, but won't admit it), but they are nevertheless just as culpable as the perpetrators who attack gays.

Terry Mark Mangum of Cypress, Texas, murdered Kenneth Cummings back in June because he was gay, and last week told the press from his jail cell he did it for God, and that God asked him to carry out a code of retribution by killing a gay man, because "sexual perversion is the worst sin." Of course we have to question Mangum's sanity, but then again, aren't those who attack people usually two feathers short of a boa, anyway?

Like a host letting a drunk drive home after the party, these people deserve to be held accountable for the actions of others they spur on.

Remembering Paul Broussard: Murdered for being Gay

Since the time of Cain killing Abel, depicted in the painting above, humans have found many reasons for murder, none so callous as because the victim was "different."

Seven years before the brutal death of Matthew Shepard, a young man named Paul Broussard was horrifically murdered by 10 teenagers. Broussard had been an Eagle Scout and played the clarinet in the school band and the church choir. He graduated with honors; 15th in a class of 469. He paid his own way through college by working two jobs, and graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in finance.

It was two o'clock in the morning on July 4th, when Broussard and two of his friends left Heaven, one of Houston's gay bars in the Montrose neighborhood. Only blocks away from home, their attackers, who had been drinking and doing drugs, pulled their cars up and asked the three for directions to the bar they had just left. When Broussard and his friends told them where it was, the teens got out of their cars and attacked the gay men with fists, steel-toed boots, nail-studded two-by-fours, and a knife wielded by Jon Buice. Broussard's friends escaped down a busy street, but he unfortunately headed down a dead end street, where he was surrounded by the attackers.

The ten young men were cheering and yelling as they attacked Broussard, who suffered abrasions, puncture wounds, a broken rib, bruised testicles, and three stab woulds. As he lay on the ground, almost unconscious, two of his attackers rifled through his pockets and took a comb as a souvenir. The ten young men then drove off, still cheering and yelling.

Broussard was treated by EMS at the scene, and then airlifted to St. Joseph's Hospital in Houston, where he died eight-and-a-half hours later. Broussard would have most likely survived the beating, but what killed him was the stabbing by attacker Jon Buice.

The ten teens were eventually caught, tried, and convicted, and served various terms. However, Buice received a sentence of 45 years behind bars due to his stabbing of Broussard, and is up for parole in October, having already been denied in 2003 and 2005.

Broussard's mother, Nancy Rodriguez, currently lives in Georgia. She has attended more than 20 parole hearings in her efforts to keep her son's assailants in prison. Says Rodriguez, "we have to start somewhere teaching our children to value people and life. That it is not acceptable to use language like fag, queer, fairy. If Paul’s story has touched the life of even one young person and made them stop and think about their actions, then maybe his death will not have been in vain."

Public Bathrooms, Fort Lauderdale, and Gay Hating

You know, there's nothing worse than being deeply offended by someone, and then having them say, "oh, okay, let me apologize," only to have them offend you some more. That's what happened earlier this week with the idiot mayor of Fort Lauderdale, Jim Naugle.

Okay, it all started a couple of weeks ago, when Naugle got the idea that gays were having way too much sex in public bathrooms near ultra-gay Sebastian Beach, and made an announcement he wanted to spend $250,000 of taxpayers money to buy public toilets whose doors open automatically after a set amount of time, though not enough for a quickie (we suspect the mayor doesn't get enough sex of his own to know about quickies). Naugle, a Democrat, is not new to the gay-hating scene, having once said that homosexuality is "something so nasty and disgusting that it makes God want to vomit." Hopefully, God wouldn't have to hurl for for an extended amount of time, because God knows the bathroom door might automatically open.

Okay, if that weren't bad enough, earlier this week Naugle was going to make a public announcement, apparently to apologize for his gay hating. The gays and press gathered, and here's what the schmuck said, "I want to apologize to the children and parents of our community for not being aware of the problem,'' and then called on residents to inform police if they see gays engaging in sex in public restrooms.

As a regular to Fort Lauderdale, where gays bring in tens of millions of pink dollars each year, I'm not sure if I want to go there now. Well, of course I do, because the mayor isn't a complete reflection of the people of Fort Lauderdale (though one does wonder how this mega-idiot got elected), and the gays who own many of the hotels and other businesses in Fort Lauderdale are what make it such a special gay destination. Nevertheless, tourism to Fort Lauderdale has certainly taken a hit.

Gay Bankers: Dow Jones to Go Homophobic

You gay bankers and financial sector guys might want to pay close attention to Rupert Murdoch's present attempt to purchase Dow Jones, which publishes The Wall Street Journal. You see, Murdoch already owns the uber-conservative Fox network, as well as the gay-hating New York Post (see July 21st posting below), and a slew of papers and networks nationwide. Fears are, even amongst many WSJ reporters, that Murdoch would inject his own straight, conservative agenda within the publication. Murdoch, on gay marriage, says "I believe it is wrong."

The Bancroft family owns a majority of voting shares of Dow Jones, and they remain split on whether to accept the offer, as they, too, have some degree of fear that the company could be editorially compromised were Murdoch to own the WSJ.

The Dow Jones board has already approved a deal to sell the firm but it is unclear if the Bancrofts, who are the controlling shareholders, will follow suit given that several members have been actively courting alternative bidders.

More to follow, though if Murdoch buys the Dow Jones, we wouldn't rely on it for the details.

Dear Anita

Dear Anita -

Hey, girlfriend! Just wanted to drop you a note, letting you know that we gays have made a lot of headway in gaining our rights. True, you were successful back in the late 70s in fooling people in Florida that your "Save the Children" campaign was based on what Wikipedia quotes you as saying was "Christian beliefs regarding the sinfulness of homosexuality and the perceived threat of homosexual recruitment of children and child molestation."

We've come a long way, and it took a lot of effort on our part to prove how wrong you were. Many Christian denominations now fully accept being gay as just another part of God's schematic layout, and that "homosexuality" is also apparent in the animal kingdom.

As to recruitment, we've been able to convince many of your former supporters using the argument that how can people be recruited to be gay, when we gays grew up within straight families, living in straight neighborhoods, and had no contact with anyone gay. Nobody converted us, Anita, but it would have been helpful having a few mentors to show us as young people that we were not destine to be the decrepit demons you said we would be.

As to child molestation, honey, please! It's been shown that gays, based on percentages, are no less likely than straights to be child molesters, and therefore, as we are a minority within the general public, more straights are child molesters than gays.

Why you would ruin your career by getting involved in such a ploy as "Save the Children" is beyond most of us. However, the gay-hating you seeded and nurtured in our country, the deep-seated fear you caused innocent straight people, the damage you caused us that took a generation to overcome, and the lives you attempted to ruin, gives us great satisfaction in recalling the final undoing of your own. Well, that's about all for now.

Best, David

P.S. The Florida Orange Growers' Association sends their regards!

Gay-Hating Gay Hypocrites: History Repeats Itself

The Republican Party has quite a few closeted queens. They might consider themselves straight, they're married with children, but at the same time they seem to like dick, and I don't mean Cheney. Now, whether they're gay or bisexual doesn't matter, what does matter is that while they'll back home telling their constituents they're against gay marriage, they're pro-family, and that they're all for any anti-gay legislation, they're out at nights in the Capital looking for a quick sexual encounter with another guy.

You remember Republican Congressmen Mark Foley of Florida, when last year his provocative, evocative, instant messages to a young male page were disclosed, and found to contain very sexual language. Naturally, these homoerotic IMs caused his downfall.

Just last week, Republican State Representative Bob Allen, a foe of LGBT rights in Florida, was charged with offering a cop $20 for oral sex in a washroom at Veteran's Memorial Park in Titusville. The fact that he's a co-chair of John McCain's presidential campaign in Florida is a salient piece of information. Again, another gay-hating gay down for the count.

"Out" of the Beltway, and on a local level, who can forget Jim West, the Republican Mayor of Spokane (Washington), who was caught IMing and trying to pick up a 17 year-old guy online. Again, even though he was very anti-gay in his dealings as mayor, like proposing a ban on gays from working in Washington's schools, he was caught.

The fact is Foley, Allen, and West are gay-haters who, themselves, are "somehow" gay. They've contributed to making laws that are anti-gay, but think nothing of going out in search of a little hook-up with some guy. Further, they give fodder to those gay-haters who think all gay men are out for is nothing more than picking up some young hottie and having sex with them.

These gay-hating gays are not the first to get caught, there will be more, as there has been in the past, going back to when men first started making laws against homosexuality.

Take for instance John Atherton (1598-1640). Atherton came from a wealthy family in England, went to Oxford, and then became a priest in the Anglican church. Rumor has it he'd been fooling around with other guys since his school days. Atherton left England to move to Ireland, where he became Lord Bishop of Waterford and Lismore in 1636. In his role as Lord Bishop, he successfully campaigned for the passage of an act that instituted the death penalty for the vice of buggery, you know, anal sex. Well, within four years, Atherton became one of the first men accused under this statute, and was subsequently hanged for the very gay-hating law he himself had enacted.

Let this be a lesson to those closeted Uncle Toms of the gays who work to undermine gay equal rights; you will be found, caught, and your lives ruined. Either come out of the closet, or stop your anti-gay politics; being versatile doesn't always mean having it both ways.

Rita Booke: Sodom, Gomorrah, and the Gays

Resident drag queen and answerer-of-all-questions Rita Booke is asked:

Hi, Rita -
I've heard that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is not really about homosexuality, but something to do with hospitality. I'd love to use this in an argument with some of my homophobic family members who refer to it, but need elaboration. Can you help?

Honey, this story in the Bible has been used against us time and again. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed not because the inhabitants were gay, but because they were inhospitable to Lot's visitors at a time when it was usual practice to help out travelers and strangers. In the time of Lot, if you had a long journey, people in other towns or cities would easily take you into their house, feed you, even let you sleep the night if need be. This goes back to, "do onto others as you would have others do unto you." It was considered the right thing to do. Not being welcoming to Lot's guests, who were actually angels in disguise, and being downright inhospitable to them, was what did Sodom and Gomorrah in.

Secondly, babycakes, many people make the mistake of believing that whenever the bible says "to know" someone that it means to have sex. Our Puritanical history is such that although many ultra-conservative religious folk have this disgust towards this wonderful thing God has given us, at the same time they have this unnatural fascination with it, especially gay sex. Therefore, any time they see in the Bible sentences like, "and they wanted to know them," they think it means "and they wanted to have sex with them."

Most Biblical authorities believe this is not the case, and that in most instances, when you see the bible saying, "to know," it means just that. So, when the men of Sodom asked Lot to bring out his friends so that they can know them, they were really just wanting to get acquainted with them, and to make sure they weren't spies from some other city-state in the area. However, this doesn't excuse them, and they were still a mob that was being mobbish, inhospitable, and acting very aggressively towards Lot and his guests.

At some point, the mob becomes so unruly, that Lot actually offers his daughter as a sex-toy to them, to save his guests from harm (women were considered property and sex-toys anyway). So, here's your best argument: if Lot had lived in this city for so long, one would think he would have known they were all gay, so why the hell would he offer his daughter to them? Remind your relatives this was the same daughter who he later had sex with...ahem!

Of course, your evil family members will come up with arguments like gays can convert, so it's possible to have sex with a women, but tell them that argument is not good enough, and demand again, if Lot knew he was in a city full of homosexuals, why would he offer them his own daughter? My stars, even Jesus knew it was a story of inhospitality, cited in the Bible when he told his disciples, "If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town." Also remember that not once in the Bible did Jesus ever mention anything about homosexuality.

Remember, though, that people like this are never convinced, but at least you may have gotten them to think. As each of us has our own personal religious beliefs, tell them to believe what they want, but that you believe the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is about people who are inhospitable, unwelcoming, and not accepting of others to the table of God, and then ask these relatives which neighborhood in Sodom they're originally from.

Good luck, sweetie, you're going to need it!

Rita

Reparative Therapy: Psycho, Psicko, Psychiatrists

You know how they say what comes around goes around? Well, in an interesting development, the American Psychological Association next week will discuss "Reparative Therapy," you know, the therapy that allegedly makes gay people straight (read "back in the closet"). What's ironically beautiful here is that there was a time when any attempt to turn gays straight was accepted by the APA. That changed, though, in 1973, when the APA finally agreed that being gay was merely another aspect of human sexuality--basically saying, "if you're gay, you're not a psycho."

In 2000, the APA Assembly and Board approved a statement saying they were concerned about the use of reparative therapy on gays and lesbians. However, the statement being discussed next week would directly confirm that reparative therapy is misleading, damages young gays and lesbians, aggravates internalized homophobia, and depresses those in therapy, pushing them deeper into states of self-loathing. So, now we come full circle, in that the APA will be discussing the idea that so-called psychiatrists who apply reparative therapy are, themselves, the psychos, and not the gays they're attempting to "cure."

Of course, the gay-hating religious organizations like Focus on the Family are declaring this as an anti-Christian ploy by the pro-homosexual lobby, and that Christianity is being unfairly targeted. Again, what comes around goes around, and it's delightfully delicious to have these right-wing, Bible-thumping, gay-haters on the defensive. There is a God.

Gays, San Diego Padres, and the Lord

Religious groups in San Diego have their panties in a bunch, as the Padres hosted an LGBT day at PETCO Park. It was also a day that free hats were being given to children under 14 years of age. Some of their outright stupid, idiotic remarks include the following, as always, with comments from My Small Gay World:

According to the California Catholic Daily, Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center commented, “In my opinion, this confluence of events is not a mistake. The Padres are playing the part of the Pied Pieper leading unsuspecting children into accepting the homosexual lifestyle as normal. Children should not be subjected to the ‘in-your-face’ antics of these radical groups. The Thomas More Law Center wants unsuspecting parents that hope to get their children a free hat and maybe allow their children to run the bases at PETCO to know that they are also walking into a modern day scene of Sodom and Gomorrah.”
What a gay-hating schmuck. Again, right-wing, conservative religious folk erroneously connect gays to "converting" children to being gay. Further, Sodom and Gomorrah was a story in the Bible not about homosexuality, but intolerance and inhospitality, a biblical message Richard Thomson needs to learn.

Thomas More's director of communications, Brian Rooney, stated, “These so-called ‘gay pride’ events are often debauched affairs of gross and inappropriate displays of public affection.
Right, Brian, baby, it's okay for two straights to walk hand-in-hand in public, but God forbid two loving, partnered gays should do the same. Maybe you need to join the 21st, century, and realize times and attitudes change, or, as Thomas More himself once said, "To be educated, a person doesn't have to know much or be informed, but he or she does have to have been exposed vulnerably to the transformative events of an engaged human life."

J.D. Loveland, development director of Set Free Ministries, an El Cajon-based Christian organization had this to say, as reported by signonsandiego.com, "Homosexuality is a sin, and promoting it with a Pride Night when thousands of kids are also going to be (at the ballpark) is wrong. So we took a moral stand. We're not anti-gay. We're anti-anti-Christian.” What a twit! As we've warned readers before, the minute you hear "we're not anti-gay," you can bet your pink, bottom dollar that they are. What bothers us the most is that she first says homosexuality is a sin, and then suggests that our very existence is anti-Christian (why else would she feel the need to qualify herself as "anti-anti-Christian?). Right, she's not a gay-hater at all!

Although these religious nuts tried to have a boycott, even standing at the gates warning people as they went in about the "evils" that lurked inside, official attendance for the game was 41,026, just short of a capacity crowd for the 42,685-seat ballpark.

(Of course, that hottie you see above is none other than gay former San Diego Padres player Billy Bean. Click Here for more on Bean's wonderful story.)

Homophobic Shibboleths

Recently we had the pleasure of giving kudos to a straight blogger and his blog (Steve Likes to Curse) for a wonderful piece he wrote in support of gay marriage--his words were most supportive, and he used words indicative of someone gay-friendly.

However, nothing bothers me more than individuals who "claim" to be okay with gays, but in fact show that they are not by certain shibboleths they use. For instance, there is one key word that is very indicative of someone who is deeply homophobic, despite what they might say to the contrary, and that word is "homosexual." You see, those straight folk who are really on our side usually only use this word when placed next to heterosexual, quoting someone else, or tongue-in-cheek. Hiding-homophobes almost never use the word "gay."

Another phrase you'll see pop up with homophobes who pretend to be okay with the gays is, "I don't care what people do in the privacy of their own bedroom...," and is one of the deepest digs they can give. You see, being gay to homophobes is purely sexual, that's all it is. Being gay to them only means gay sex, and ignores the bonded relationships, love, camaraderie, parenthood, and human emotion that are just as strong as any sexual urges.

Another shibboleth to look out for is the word "lifestyle," because true straight allies know to use the word orientation, understanding that many gays live a lifestyle very much akin to their straight neighbors, and that it's only their sexual orientation that differs.

So, the next time you're listening to someone claiming to be comfortable and okay with gays, pay close attention to the words they use, because if you listen closely, you'll find that they just might secretly be gay-hating homophobes.

American Gays Should Be Nervous

In light of the recent US Supreme Court's ruling that basically rescinded the Brown v. the Board of Education ruling that desegregated the nation's schools, gays in the U.S. have a lot to fear.

As the current, highly conservative court shows it has no respect for stare decisis, a term meaning subsequent supreme courts will respect the decisions made by previous high courts, it is only a matter of time before some bible-thumping state sues to reinstate its sodomy laws, making it once again illegal to be gay in said right-wing, idiotic states--you know, the type that rhyme with shmoklahoma.

As the court has brought us right back to the 1950s on issues of civil rights for blacks, remember what it was like for gays back in the '50s, with the likes of Joseph McCarthy's witch hunts, and which included routing gays from their closets.

Yes, the current supreme court reflects a backward trend in this country, one that was set several years ago when George Bush became president. For those American readers of My Small Gay World who are ex-pats living abroad...stay put, it still ain't safe to come home!

Gay World News Roundup

A lot has happened this week on the world-wide political scene, and for those who've missed them, here's what happened, with critique and comment by My Small Gay World:

U.K. - Tony Blair Resigns
Announced a few months ago that after ten years as Prime Minister, Tony Blair officially stepped down this week. What's really queer is that despite being best buds with gay-hating president Bush, Tony-baby has been very supportive of gays in England, and in March he became the first British Prime Minister to address an LGBT civil rights group, telling Stonewall that the partnership law gave him "real joy". He said when the first set of ceremonies took place he did "a little skip" in celebration." Skip on, Tony, we'll miss you!

Russia - Gay Hating Mayor Yuri Luzhkov Re-Elected
Luzhkov-the-Terrible was re-elected to his fifth term as mayor of Moscow, just as police dispersed a small group of LGBT activists protesting against Luzhkov in front of the European Union office in Moscow. About two dozen gays were demanding that the EU impose a visa ban on the mayor over his opposition to LGBT rights. Luzhkov's re-election does not bode well for our gay brothers and sisters in Moscow. Hang in their you guys of All of Russia, we're rooting for you!

USA - Bush Plans to Veto Washington DC Budget Due to DP Registry
President Bush says he'll veto budget appropriations for the District of Columbia unless the measure contains language barring the district from using any of the money for its domestic partner registry. For those who may not be aware, the USA's Capital is listed as a "state," but as the seat of the Federal Government, is really a "Federal District," and lacks many of the autonomies and privileges that the States have, and many of its laws and budgets are at the discretion of Congress and the President.

Well, because of this, Bush can use his veto power over the Democratically passed D.C. budget, which included monies for Washington's Domestic Partner Registry, citing that "under Federal law, legal marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Federal tax dollars are not used to extend employment benefits to domestic partners of Federal employees, and D.C. should not enjoy an exception to this rule." Domestic Partnerships are not marriage, but it would take a president with an actual IQ to be able to figure that out. Gosh, 2008 can't come soon enough!

Canadian Anglicans Back-Track on Blessing Same Sex Marriages/Unions
We were all holding our breaths, but The Anglican Church of Canada let us down, and delegates voting Sunday at the General Synod rejected the idea of letting individual dioceses decide whether their priests could perform blessing ceremonies for same sex couples who were married in civil ceremonies.

However, the General Synod did agree that same sex blessings do not conflict with its core doctrine, a decision that paves the way for the practice. Two steps forward, one step back.

Gay Haters are Angry

Oh, the gay-haters at Americans for Truth are really pissed off, and a tad afraid, because gays have enough power to prevent a gay-hating Surgeon General from being appointed! Here are some quotes from Americans for Truth's gay-hating president, Peter LaBarbera:

"Folks, anti-Christian homosexual activists and their liberal allies are out again in force to take down another good man — Dr. James Holsinger, Jr., President Bush's nominee for U.S. Surgeon General — who happens to agree with the ancient Judeo-Christian moral understanding of homosexual practice as unnatural, unhealthy and wrong."

When mentioning that gay-hating Surgeon General nominee Holsinger also believes homosexuality can be "cured," LaBarbera, ever the "expert" on things gay, says...

"The fact is, thousands of men's and women's lives have been changed through ex-"gay" ministries and church outreaches to bringing healing to people with unwanted homosexual attractions. So the Left is now calling for “investigations” into Christian nominees’ churches?"

You'll also note that LaBarbera always uses quotes around the word "gay," because it's the "gay-haters" way.

So, guys, if you're reading this in the good ole USA, and want to further piss off the likes of LaBarbera, then send an easy pre-written email to your senators, courtesy of the Human Rights Campaign, telling them you think gay-hating Dr. James Holsinger shouldn't be the next Surgeon General:

Click Here to piss off the "Christian" fanatics!

Thank you for your activism!

When You Care Enough to Send the Very Offensive

You're in a Hallmark store, browsing for a Father's Day card. You find one that features a photo of an idyllic, upscale picnic spread: plaid blanket, wicker basket, a bottle of wine and two glasses, a round of bread, a fruit plate. Above the photo, the card read, "Dad, how about a Father's Day picnic?" The punch line inside: "Too queer? Yeah, I thought so too."

Well, it happened to one person, who then reported the card to The Advocate, who called Hallmark on the offensive card. According to Hallmark’s media liaison, Deidre Parkes, the company would pull the cards from shelves immediately. Parkes told the Advocate, “[Hallmark’s business unit] reviewed it today and did all agree that it was in poor judgment to include the card in the line,” Parkes said in an e-mail Thursday. “We are stopping the shipping of the card, and we will not produce it again. Hallmark's intent is never to offend, and we're truly sorry if that is the case here.”

That's all well and good, but the question remains, how in hell did a card like this get past editors, reviewers, and "business units" to even be on store shelves in the first place?

From Russia, With Hate

There is a wonderful Russian expression that says, "You may forget with whom you've laughed, but you will never forget with whom you've cried." It is with the gays of Russia with whom we now cry, and who we should keep in our thoughts.

The 100 peaceful gay protesters were merely trying to deliver a letter to the mayor of Moscow this past Sunday, signed by some 40 European lawmakers, appealing the city's ban on a march that would have taken place that same day, and which would have marked the 14th anniversary of Russia's decriminalization of being gay. What they met, instead, was an attack by a crowed of religious zealots, Moskovite skinheads, and according to many observers, the police themselves, who were supposedly there to protect the gay rights activists.

Instead of protecting them, the police arrested a dozen or so of the gay rights activists, which included Russian gay rights movement leader Nikolai Alexeyev, Marco Cappato, a European Parliament deputy from Italy, and German parliament member Volker Beck. Cappato claims he was arrested merely because he started shouting for police to intercede when the violent gay opponents started attacking another EU Parliament member, so of course instead of coming to the aid of the other MP, they arrested Cappato.

Although Moscow police took into custody a dozen or so peaceful gay rights activists, all but one of their violent opponents were arrested. Sadly, although it's been 14 years since the law decriminalizing homosexuality went into effect, it would seem that on the socio-religious sense, Russia hasn't budged on its acceptance of gays.

So, today we cry for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters in Russia, and keep them in our thoughts.

God Hates Jerry Farwell

Ya gotta almost feel sorry for Jerry Farwell (okay, I do sometimes have a heart, even for homo-haters like Farwell). Only about 8,000 mourners attended the guy's funeral yesterday, which is small compared to the state-like funeral he would have received 15 years ago. More important, and indicating that Farwell had long been losing clout, was that none of the GOP presidential candidates attended, and the Bush White House, which wouldn't exist were it not for the help of Farwell, only sent a mid-level aide.

What is interesting, and humorously ironic, is that Fred Phelps and members of his gay-hating Westobo Baptist Church demonstrated outside the funeral. They carried placards accusing Falwell of being in league with gays and of cozying up to Israel. The church, which operates the GodHatesFags website, called Falwell a "corpulent false prophet" and said he "spent his entire life prophesying lies and false doctrines like 'God loves everyone.'" So, according to Fred Phelps and his gang, God probably didn't love Farwell.