Anti-Gay

The Three Faces Of Andrea Lafferty

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 4/20/2010 11:55 am

You have to marvel at the noticeable difference in content and tone that Andrea Lafferty of the Traditional Values Coalition adopts depending upon her audience.

Take, for instance, this op-ed she has in Roll Call opposing ENDA: 

Among other things, ENDA will make “gender identity” a protected minority, and states, local governments and businesses with more than 15 employees will be forced to recognize it as such.

Most importantly, every public school in America will not be able to discriminate in hiring transgender teachers, and it will be illegal to reassign them from the classroom.

Written by Chai Feldblum, an Obama recess appointee to the body that will enforce ENDA, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the law will allow for all kinds of unwanted, though perhaps not unintended, consequences. Under ENDA, state and local governments will be forced to recognize gender identity as a protected minority status. Section 3 of the bill defines the status as “the gender-related identity, appearance, or mannerisms or other gender-related characteristics or an individual, with or without regard to the individual’s designated sex at birth.” Cross-dressers and those who have had surgical operations to alter their gender would then share the same protections as minorities. Expanding the scope of traditionally protected minorities to these groups will engender all sorts of problems.

By TVC's standards, this language is downright reasonable - I mean, there is not even one mention of "she-males" or even any sort of attack on transgendered women as a "surgically mutilated man who is pretending to be a woman and pushing a political agenda."

Now, compare that to this letter [PDF] TVC sent opposing Marisa Demeo's nomination to the DC Superior Court:

Marisa Demeo is far out of the mainstream in her beliefs, statements and activism. Her role as an activist with the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund is troublesome to say the least.

...

As an open, radical lesbian, Demeo has openly condemned the effort to amend our Constitution to protect marriage as a one-man, one-woman union. Demeo supports gay marriage, claiming it is a constitutional right. She also claims that LGBT individuals are equal to racial minorities and can claim protection as minorities under our civil rights laws ... Demeo's views are out of step with the beliefs of most Americans on the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman.

As a DC Superior Court Judge, Demeo would be in a key position to undermine our national
security and destroy traditional marriage through her edicts ... Demeo's radical lesbianism, anti-marriage, anti-national security views are dangerous to our nation.

In this case, the letter was sent to Senators so Lafferty didn't have to worry too much about appearing to be offensively hostile to gays to a general audience, so the tone was more in line with what one would expect from her regarding fearmongering about how Demeo's "radical lesbianism" is a threat to our national security.

Finally, compare all of that to what Lafferty is like when she's speaking to a right-wing audience and doesn't have to worry about presenting herself as reasonable:

What are those "isms" and "philias"? You can be aroused by stumps of amputees. And we brought that up during the hate crimes thing because what if you have an employee working at the VA and someone has just come back from Iraq and they have this orientation. You can't fire them. What about the family that's upset that they've been aroused by their family member? It's disgusting. And it's tragic for the victim.

Um, men that want to rub their bodies up and down women. That's on the list, that might become a protected class.

Fecal matter. Their involvement with fecal matter. Or urine. Transvestism. The list goes on, I'm not naming all of them. Children. Animals. And so we really need to draw a line in the sand.

This is the real Lafferty and the root of her real opposition to ENDA ... and for some reason, Roll Call thought it made sense to give her op-ed space to try and present it in a more reasonable-sounding manner.

Right Wing Round-Up

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Monday, 4/19/2010 5:46 pm
  • Texas Freedom Network: David Barton’s Contempt for Teachers.

  • Think Progress: Limbaugh: Volcanic eruption in Iceland is God’s reaction to health care’s passage.

  • David Weigel: Tancredo: Send Obama 'back' to Kenya.

  • Towleroad: President of Duke College Republicans Forced Out After Fellow Students Discover He's Gay.

  • Steve Benen: Leave The 19th Amendment Alone.

  • Greg Sargent: Palin: Founding Fathers Wouldn’t Agree With Separation Of Church And State.

  • Box Turtlle Bulletin: National Institutes of Health Director condemns anti-gay pediatrician group.

  • Finally, Good As You: Focus on the Family's ME outpost: Gay tolerance will destroy America, just like it did the World Trade Center.

Social Conservatives Shut Out of Tea Party "Contract From America"

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 4/15/2010 4:40 pm

Despite the Religious Right's best efforts, they just cannot get Tea Party activists to adopt their social agenda as part of the Tea Party movement.

Just last week, the Family Research Council signed on to the National Tea Party Federation despite that fact that it consisted primarily of libertarian-leaning groups who openly refuse to consider FRC's anti-gay, anti-abortion missions are part of the agenda. 

Today, a collection of Tea Party groups released their "Contract From America" and there is not one issue among the ten listed that speaks to the central concerns of the social conservative movement:

1. Protect the Constitution
Require each bill to identify the specific provision of the Constitution that gives Congress the power to do what the bill does.

2. Reject Cap & Trade
Stop costly new regulations that would increase unemployment, raise consumer prices, and weaken the nation’s global competitiveness with virtually no impact on global temperatures.

3. Demand a Balanced Budget
Begin the Constitutional amendment process to require a balanced budget with a two-thirds majority needed for any tax hike.

4. Enact Fundamental Tax Reform
Adopt a simple and fair single-rate tax system by scrapping the internal revenue code and replacing it with one that is no longer than 4,543 words—the length of the original Constitution.

5. Restore Fiscal Responsibility & Constitutionally Limited Government in Washington
Create a Blue Ribbon taskforce that engages in a complete audit of federal agencies and programs, assessing their Constitutionality, and identifying duplication, waste, ineffectiveness, and agencies and programs better left for the states or local authorities, or ripe for wholesale reform or elimination due to our efforts to restore limited government consistent with the US Constitution’s meaning.

6. End Runaway Government Spending
Impose a statutory cap limiting the annual growth in total federal spending to the sum of the inflation rate plus the percentage of population growth.

7. Defund, Repeal, & Replace Government-run Health Care
Defund, repeal and replace the recently passed government-run health care with a system that actually makes health care and insurance more affordable by enabling a competitive, open, and transparent free-market health care and health insurance system that isn’t restricted by state boundaries.

8. Pass an ‘All-of-the-Above” Energy Policy
Authorize the exploration of proven energy reserves to reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources from unstable countries and reduce regulatory barriers to all other forms of energy creation, lowering prices and creating competition and jobs.

9. Stop the Pork
Place a moratorium on all earmarks until the budget is balanced, and then require a 2/3 majority to pass any earmark.

10. Stop the Tax Hikes
Permanently repeal all tax hikes, including those to the income, capital gains, and death taxes, currently scheduled to begin in 2011.

To be sure, most social conservative groups would support all of these issues, as would pretty much all conservatives.  But these are not the social issues on which Religious Right groups have traditionally focused.

Dozens of Tea Party groups sponsored and endorsed this "Contract From America" which not only had zero issues of concern to social conservatives, but did not even include any such issues among the list of ideas from which to choose.

Which is making it even harder to understand a) why a group like FRC would join up with the Tea Party activists, and B) why its president, Tony Perkins, keeps trying to insist that these groups that don't care about social issues are not representative of the "true tea parties."

Way To Go, Focus: You've Made LaBarbera Proud

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 4/15/2010 2:09 pm

Last month, the Southern Poverty Law Center placed Peter LaBarbera's Americans for Truth About Homosexuality on its list of anti-gay hate sites.

Yesterday, Focus on the Family's Tom Minnery personally assured AFT's LaBarbera that Focus would absolutely oppose any gay Supreme Court nominee, an abrupt about-face after Focus said last year that a nominee's orientation was "not even pertinent."

And for that, Focus on the Family is now being praised by LaBarbera for siding with all those good Christians who know that gays are "driven to justify their errant lifestyle" and therefore "have a mark against their character that absolutely should be considered as a potential source of bias, and even anti-religious animus":

Peter LaBarbera, President of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH), issued the following statement in response to Focus on the Family’s clarification that it would not support a homosexual nominee to the Supreme Court:

Focus on the Family has wisely corrected statements by two of its staffers who stated last year that the “sexual orientation” of judicial nominees – i.e., their homosexuality – would not disqualify them to sit on the nation’s highest court.

...

Americans For Truth, like other pro-family groups that honor the authority of Scripture, believes that homosexuality is best understood not as an “identity” but as a behavior – one that is wrong, destructive, and unnatural. Thankfully, homosexual conduct also is changeable (2 Corinthians 5:17), as evinced by the lives of countless former homosexual men and ex-lesbians living happy lives.

Supposed “gay” identity is a modern construct that undermines moral truth and people’s responsibility for their own conduct. Men and women (proudly) practicing homosexuality often are driven to justify their errant lifestyle. Even those practicing homosexuality in secret often work to promote its acceptance.

This is why people practicing homosexuality often make bad judges: even if they don’t admit it, due to their sexual self-interest, they will have a hard time fairly adjudicating cases involving homosexuality. If a judge personally views opponents of homosexuality as bigots, haters, or “homophobes” – the former terms falsely equate the outworking of faith with prejudice and malice; the latter cynically equates morality with irrational fear – will he or she be able to deal with them justly? Will homosexual judges be diligent in protecting Americans’ constitutional religious liberties – i.e., to disagree with homosexuality? Or will they – like lesbian law professor and newly-appointed EEOC Commissioner Chai Feldblum – decide that, in most cases, “gay rights” considerations should supersede the freedom of people to act based on their moral opposition to homosexuality?

Homosexuality is not special and it should be treated like any other sexual sin. Homosexuality (like gender confusion) does not deserve “civil rights” status. Judicial nominees who practice it – or worse, practice it proudly – have a mark against their character that absolutely should be considered as a potential source of bias, and even anti-religious animus, in their future rulings.

So congratulations to Focus on receiving the accolades from a SPLC-designated hate site. 

Remember not too long ago how we were being told that Focus under new president Jim Daly was going to have a different, more conciliatory tone? When is that supposed to start?

SCOTUS Round-Up: Right Ready To Spend Millions Fighting Gay Nominee Women Don't Like

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 4/14/2010 1:38 pm

Remember last time around when various Religious Right groups were saying that they would not oppose a Supreme Court nominee just because said nominee was gay? 

In fact, Focus on the Family's Bruce Hausknecht went on record saying "the issue is not their sexual orientation. It’s whether they are a good judge or not":

“Our concern at the Supreme Court is judicial philosophy,” FOF spokesperson Hausknecht continued. “Sexual orientation only becomes an issue if it effects their judging.” For example, he said, “If someone says, `I don’t care what the law says, on the next case involving sexual orientation, I’m going to decide the case in favor of the openly gay party,’ that would be a breach of judicial duty.”

Well, Focus received a lot of flack for that from professional anti-gay activists like Gary Glenn and Peter LaBarbera and now Focus' Tom Minnery has "clarified" their position to LaBarbera, stating that the organization would oppose a gay nominee because said nominee would be, by definition, sinful and immoral: 

“It has been reported that we would not oppose any U.S. Supreme Court nominee over their ’sexual orientation.’ Our Judicial Analyst [Bruce Hausknecht] made a statement to this effect in an interview with The Plum Line. To be honest, this is one of those conversations we’d like to ‘do over.’ We can assure you that we recognize that homosexual behavior is a sin and does not reflect God’s created intent and desire for humanity. Further, we at Focus do affirm that character and moral rectitude should be key considerations in appointing members of the judiciary, especially in the case of the highest court in the land. Sexual behavior–be it heterosexual or homosexual–certainly lies at the heart of personal morality.”

In other news, right-wing groups are planning on raising and spending millions of dollars to fight Obama's nominee, without even knowing who it is:

Even without a nominee, some conservative organizations are bracing for a fight based on the ideological leanings of previous Obama judicial nominees.

Carrie Severino, the general counsel for the conservative Judicial Crisis Network, formerly called the Judicial Confirmation Network, said her group was prepared to launch a media campaign costing in the seven figures, similar to the one it waged against Sotomayor.

“I think we have funding in place. We are prepared to really fight,” she said.

Curt Levey, executive director of the Committee for Justice, another conservative group, said that a judicial fight can boost fundraising and energize the base to get out and vote in the midterm elections.

Finally, Penny Young Nance, CEO of Concerned Women for America, has an op-ed on FoxNews.com explaining just "What Women Want In a Supreme Court Nominee" - remarkably, what all women want seems to be exactly the same as what CWA wants:

Just because Justice Stevens was a liberal on the Court, it does not mean that President Obama must nominate another liberal to replace him. Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards is already salivating at the possibility of a justice who will “stand equally strong for” abortion on demand.

Obama sailed into office as a man expected to heal the nation, unite the political parties, and bring warm fuzzies to a country divided. On the contrary, since entering the White House our president and his policies have driven the country into an unfathomable divide, even lending to the uprising of the Tea Party movement, which brought out everyone from retirees to soccer moms -- and professionals who never cared about politics -- because Obama introduced policies that would destroy the lives they had built.

Women want a Justice who will uphold the Constitution, the right to life, and will preserve the family as a foundational cornerstone of our society. They don’t want someone who will legislate from the bench and uphold abhorrent legislation like the health care bill.

Mike Heath Files To Run for Governor

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 4/14/2010 10:04 am

It was just a few weeks ago that we were noting that Mike Heath, formerly of the Maine Family Policy Council, had suddenly reappeared on the scene as the head of the American Family Association's affiliate in Maine.

During the fight over marriage in Maine, Heath had repeatedly embarrassed the right-wing effort by claiming that gay marriage leads to things like graffiti, vandalism, and crop failure and eventually found himself cast aside by the movement entirely.  As a result, he resigned his position as the head of the Maine Family Policy Council, announcing that it was time for him to do something else with his life and declaring that he was going to get involved in the manufacture and distribution of solar cookers in Africa.

Then he disappeared for several month, only to reemerge in March, leading the state's AFA affiliate.

And now, via Pam's House Blend, we see that Heath has even bigger plans: 

Michael Heath, former executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine, has registered with the state ethics commission as a gubernatorial candidate.

Heath, a resident of China, is listed as an unenrolled candidate, which means he has until June 1 to get at least 4,000 signatures to qualify for the November ballot.

Heath recently announced the formation of a group called the American Family Association of Maine. At the time, he said he was "re-entering public life to continue the fight against the gay-rights lobby."

Heath spent 15 years working for the Christian Civic League, and became its executive director in 1994. He twice led people's veto efforts to overturn gay-rights laws.

Heath was not a visible part of last year's fight over same-sex marriage, which ended with voters repealing a state law legalizing it. He announced his resignation in September from the civic league, which is now called the Maine Family Policy Council.

There are now 24 people running for governor. Of those, 12 are Democrats or Republicans who will compete in the June 8 primary for the right to represent their parties on the November ballot. For the other 12, June 1 is the deadline to determine who among them will qualify to compete in November.

Right Wing Round-Up

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Monday, 4/12/2010 5:42 pm
  • Think Progress: Huckabee Compares Gays To Drug Users, Says They’re Unfit To Adopt Kids Because ‘Children Are Not Puppies’.

  • Alvin McEwen: The Friends of Mike Huckabee.

  • Sarah Posner: The Endurance Of Christian Reconstructionism.

  • Crooks and Liars: Rick Santorum Explains Right Wing Anger: Obama Wants to Change Us From Being a Judeo-Christian Nation.

  • Zachary Roth: Tea Party NY Gov Candidate's E-Mails Exposed: Racism, Porn, Bestiality.

  • Jim Burroway: Joyce Meyers: Uganda’s Anti-Gay Bill “Profoundly Offensive, Dangerous, and Disturbing Attack”.

  • Media Matters: Why is Fox News calling tea partiers Nazis?

  • TPM: Virginia AG Cuccinelli: 'A Tea Partier Before There Was A Tea Party'.

  • Finally, John McCain goes after J.d Hayworth with a new ad: 

Ultra Right-Wing Texas Activist Promises Green Will Fight "Obama on the Path to Socialism"

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 4/7/2010 4:29 pm

A few weeks ago, we noted how Texas Supreme Court hopeful Rick Green was touting the support of local ultra-right-wing activist Steve Hotze, the man who was behind the anti-gay mailings targeting Houston mayoral candidate Annise Parker last year and believes, among other things, that "medical problems are frequently caused by personal sin."

Now, as the date of the run-off election approaches, Hotze has sent out an email touting his support of Green:

Now Steven Hotze, a Houston Christian arch-conservative, is sending out endorsements for Green. Hotze made news late last year for sponsoring mailers urging Houston voters to reject now-Mayor Anise Parker because she was endorsed by a gay and lesbian caucus.

As President of the Conservative Republicans of Texas, Hotze said he likes Green's clear-cut conservative stands. "Unlike most judicial candidates, we do not have to guess about Rick's philosophy or convictions," Hotze wrote.

The email that Hotze is sending calls Green "the true conservative choice" in the election and promises that he'll be a "vote against a liberal judiciary who will march lock step with Obama on the path to socialism":

Early Voting is already underway in the Republican Primary Runoff across Texas, and our outstanding conservative candidate for the Texas Supreme Court, Place 3, Rick Green needs your support and VOTE during this crucial week. Please make time to go out and vote as soon as possible, as the early voting will only last through this Friday, April 9th.

Rick Green emerged from the March primary as the top vote getter, because he represents the true conservative choice in this election. He has the right experience, at the right time for the Texas Supreme Court. Rick is a proven, conservative leader with a constitutional understanding of our founding principles. We need that type of leader in every branch of government, especially the judiciary, as we fight to put an end to the march of socialism across our country.

As a State Representative, Rick Green had a clear, consistent, conservative record. He earned pro-life and pro-family awards, Second Amendment and property rights awards, and the Fighter for Free Enterprise award. Unlike most judicial candidates, we do not have to guess about Rick's philosophy or convictions.

Like many other justices who started on the Supreme Court with no prior judicial experience (including our current Chief Justice), Rick Green brings a wide variety of experiences that will be valuable to the court and serve us well. Rick has been a businessman, attorney, mediator, arbitrator, state representative, speaker, teacher, and author. Recently-retired Supreme Court Justice Scott Brister says, "We need judges who will not wilt under pressure, or change their opinions to please the newspapers. Rick Green will be that kind of judge. His service in the Texas Legislature gives him a perspective on Texas law that no other member of the Supreme Court has. I urge Texas Republicans to support him in the April 13th runoff."

His strength of character, is among the many reasons why Rick is endorsed by most of the grassroots conservative leaders in Texas, including Richard Ford, David Barton, Tim Lambert, Kelly Shackelford, Carol Everett, Chuck Norris, Judge Paul Pressler, Peggy Venable, Michael Quinn Sullivan, and many more (see www.RickGreen2010.com for a full list).

And it is my pleasure to endorse him as well, as President of Conservative Republicans of Texas.

Early voting continues this week only, from today through Friday, April 9th. Runoff Election Day is Tuesday, April 13th. I urge you to stand with me in support of Rick Green , to ensure that our Texas Supreme Court will be served by a man with the RIGHT kind of experience that we need in our judiciary.

Every single vote counts, and every vote for Rick Green brings is a vote against a liberal judiciary who will march lock step with Obama on the path to socialism. Rick needs your vote and your support. Please visit his website at www.RickGreen2010.com and sign up to participate in his campaign and learn more information.

With much appreciation, I remain, as always,

Sincerely yours,

Steven F. Hotze, M.D.
President, Conservative Republicans of Texas
http://www.conservativerepublicansoftexas.com

Matt Barber: I Know You Are But What Am I?

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 4/6/2010 2:51 pm

Matt Barber's latest column is quite a work of art. 

Still upset about the fact that the Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled his good friend Peter Labarbera's Americans for Truth a hate site, Barber begins by attacking "progressives" for their use of ad hominem attacks ... by likening them to pig farmers: 

“Progressives” are like pig farmers. In an effort to bury opposing viewpoints they sling pejorative slop, labeling as “bigot,” “hater,” “wingnut” or “racist” those with whom they disagree. It’s the height of intellectual sloth.

The ad hominem approach – chief among logical fallacies – undergirds an effort to both marginalize conservative viewpoints and avoid arguing on the merits the controversies of the day. For liberals, to set sail in fair debate is to navigate treacherous waters.

Apparently unaware of the irony of decrying ad hominem attacks by launching ad hominem attacks, Barber then moves on to making a point that is actually semi-reasonable, at least by his standards, in which he agrees with the SPLC's designation of Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church as a hate group:

Cult leader Fred Phelps and his Westboro brood of “God hates F-gs” fame are infused to the marrow with pure, unadulterated hate.

Phelps hates homosexuals. He hates the military. He hates America. He apparently hates everyone. But he also hurts people. Intentionally, I believe.

The point Barber is trying to make is that it is people like Phelps who are the "real haters" and it is unfair to lump people like LaBarbera or Barber in with these sorts of bigots ... and then Barber proceed to proclaim that it is really "leftists" who are the Phelps-like bigots: 

So, Fred Phelps aside, every time you hear some lefty like Anderson Cooper or Keith Olbermann despicably refer to Bible-believing Christians as “homophobes,” or who call grandma a “teabagger” (slang for a vile homosexual act), consider who the real haters are.

Whenever Mark Potok, Rachel Maddow or some liberal politico in Congress attempts to equate conservative Joe to a “right wing extremists” or a “domestic terrorist,” contemplate who the true bigots are.

The palpable irony is that leftists – with their slanderous name-calling, harsh judgments and ad hominem attacks – are, in truth, more like Phelps than those they falsely accuse.

So, to recap:  Liberals engage in ad hominem attacks when they equate anti-gay activists like LaBarbera or Barber to bigots like Fred Phelps, and that is unfair ... because it is liberals who are bigots just like Fred Phelps.

The ENDA Is Near!

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 4/6/2010 12:10 pm

One of the points we made repeatedly in the posts we wrote on the Religious Right's militant opposition to expanding hate crimes legislation to include "sexual orientation" was that the Right never once complained during the decade when "religion" and "race" received federal protections.  It wasn't until protections for sexual orientation were added that they started screaming about supposed "special rights" and claiming that the legislation amounted to an unconstitutional threat to their religious liberty that would lead to pastors being tossed into jail. 

Of course, it has now been more than five months since this legislation was signed into a law and not a single pastor or religious leader has seen their religious freedom impacted in any way. 

Everything the Right said about expanding hate crimes protections was false and designed to scare people into opposing it ... and now groups like the Family Research Council are putting the same strategy to work in generating opposition to the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and raise money:

Do you think it's right for liberals running the government to ... 

  • Force a Christian bookstore to hire a man . . . who dresses in women's clothing?
  • Force your child's religious school to hire homosexual instructors?
  • Force your employer to fire or censure you for what they call "anti-gay harassment" . . . for simply keeping a Bible on your desk?

That's the nightmare you could face if the Obama/Pelosi/Reid Congress passes the so-called Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).

And that's why it must be exposed.  

... 

You are standing in the way of the Left's immoral vision for America. And laws like ENDA are intended for one thing-to silence your "obsolete" Christian morality and tear down all boundaries to unhealthy sexual behavior.

By sustaining your prayers and generous support of FRC, you're not only investing in the long-term health of faith, family, and freedom in America . . .

You're also strengthening the leading social conservative organization in Washington, D.C. Our respected team has decades of experience developing and blocking legislation, voicing the truth in and through the media, and mobilizing Americans.

Please join with other loyal FRC supporters in our campaign to expose ENDA by sending a generous, tax-deductible donation. 

 Of course, just as with hate crimes, the Right's claims are totally false:

What ENDA Does

  • Extends federal employment discrimination protections currently provided based on race, religion, sex, national origin, age and disability to sexual orientation and gender identity
  • Prohibits public and private employers, employment agencies and labor unions from using an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity as the basis for employment decisions, such as hiring, firing, promotion or compensation
  • Provides for the same procedures, and similar, but somewhat more limited, remedies as are permitted under Title VII and the Americans with Disabilities Act
  • Applies to Congress and the federal government, as well as employees of state and local governments

What ENDA Does Not Do

  • Cover businesses with fewer than 15 employees
  • Apply to religious organizations
  • Apply to the uniformed members of the armed forces (the bill doesn't affect the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy)
  • Allow for quotas or preferential treatment based on sexual orientation or gender identity
  • Allow a "disparate impact" claim similar to the one available under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Therefore, an employer is not required to justify a neutral practice that may have a statistically disparate impact on individuals because of their sexual orientation or gender identity
  • Allow the imposition of affirmative action for a violation of ENDA
  • Allow the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to collect statistics on sexual orientation or gender identity or compel employers to collect such statistics.
  • Apply retroactively

ENDA does not "force" anyone to hire or fire anyone, it simply extends anti-discrimination protections in the workplace to cover sexual orientation and gender identity. 

Just as with hate crimes, anti-discrimination protections for things like religion have existed for decades and the Religious Right never once complained about the fact that Christians were receiving "special rights" ... but now that there are efforts to ensure that sexual orientation receives similar protections, it is proof that liberals are out to silence Christians.

Right Wing Round-Up

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 4/1/2010 5:52 pm

Baptist Church to Be Cut Off Over Female Pastor

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 3/31/2010 12:15 pm

Back during the last presidential election, questions were raised about the Southern Baptist Convention's position that women are subservient to men, especially as it related to Mike Huckabee and his support for the belief that "a wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ."

The issue came up again when John McCain named Sarah Palin as his running mate, with people like Tony Perkins and Richard Land saying it was perfectly acceptable for Palin to possible be VP, but not okay for a woman to serve in a leadership position within the church.

Well, the issue is coming up once more, as the Georgia Baptist Convention is considering cutting ties with a local church where a husaband and wife team have been serving as co-pastors:

A more than 95-year-old church in Atlanta may be ousted from the Southern Baptist Convention over a woman pastor.

The Rev. Mimi Walker has been serving as co-pastor at Druid Hills Baptist Church with her husband, the Rev. Graham Walker, since 2003. But earlier this month, leaders of the Georgia Baptist Convention recommended cutting ties with the local congregation.

...

Dr. Richard Land, president of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said the Baptist Faith and Message does not state that "women are to be subservient to men." They are of equal worth before God, he stated earlier.

And though women are gifted for service in the church, Land says the New Testament teaches that "a woman is not to usurp authority over the man" and thus women are not to serve as pastors.

It was just last year that Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, warned that the SBC risked dying out if it did not find a way to stop losing members. 

Of course, that was said just weeks after the SBC had kicked out a church due to the fact that it was insufficiently hostile to gays.

It should also be noted that this would be the second time in a year that the Georgia Baptist Convention has severed ties with a local church over a female pastor.

Maine's Mike Heath Returns As Head of a New AFA Affiliate

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Monday, 3/29/2010 10:28 am

Last year, during the battle over marriage equality in Maine, Mike Heath of the Maine Family Policy Council was busy embarrassing the right-wing effort by claiming that gay marriage leads to things like graffiti, vandalism, and crop failure.

Heath soon found himself cast aside by the movement and, seeing the writing on the wall, resigned his position as the head of the Maine Family Policy Council, announcing that it was time for him to do something else with his life and that he was going to get involved in the manufacture and distribution of solar cookers in Africa.

When, just two months later, Heath showed up on Peter LaBarbera's "Americans for Truth" website to declare that "Homosexuality is a sickness. It’s a sin. We need to stop putting up with it," it was pretty clear that Heath had no real intention of moving on from his professional anti-gay activism ... which is why Jeremy Hooper's discovery that Heath has now launched an American Family Association affiliate in Maine comes as no surprise:

In February of 2010, Mike Heath received approval from the American Family Association in Tupelo, Mississippi to create their affiliate here in Maine. Heath is no stranger to the people of Maine. As Maine's most well-known advocate for family values, Heath unapologetically defends Christianity and Western Civilization. He is deeply concerned with the corrosive effects of the sexual revolution on Maine culture. His signature issue is, and will be for some time, so-called "gay rights." The people of Maine are renowned for choosing common sense over political correctness. They can easily understand why AFA of Maine advocates removing the phrase "sexual orientation" from Maine's laws and regulations. "Sexual orientation" is a term which may have limited value in personal therapy, but the phrase only causes confusion when applied to law and politics. Heath is adamant that sex outside of marriage is immoral and shameful. Society upholds the institution of marriage to protect men, women, and children. Sexual activity is only one small part of marriage; and homosexuality does violence to that institution. AFA of Maine welcomes support from everyone who wants to take a stand for decency, morality, marriage, and the family. Individuals and organizations interested in working with us should email msheath04358@gmail.com. 

Since it is impossible for anyone to ever be too extreme for the AFA, adding Heath to their roster seems like a perfect match.

Rick Green Touts Support of Right Wing Doctor Who Believes All Disease Is Caused By Sin

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Friday, 3/26/2010 10:33 am

We've already written several posts about Rick Green, the Chuck-Norris-approved-Alan-Keyes-supported-WallBuilders'-employed-pseudo-historian-TEA-Party-Religious-Right-activist who has made it into a run-off election for a seat on the Texas Supreme Court despite the fact that he has exactly zero judicial experience. 

And we've noted already that he's been endorsed by a who's who of local and national right-wingers, including David Barton, Mat Staver, Kelly Shackelford, and even Steve Hotze:

Now Hotze may not be a household name, but even by the standards of your average Texas right-winger, he is something special. 

He was behind the anti-gay mailings targeting Houston mayoral candidate Annise Parker last year and he has a long history of weilding his influence in right-wing Texas politics: 

Thin and long-faced, 46-year-old Steven Forrest Hotze has carved out a niche in local politics over the past decade as an unyielding and occasionally strident opponent of abortion and public acceptance of homosexuality. He may not be a household name outside Republican circles, but within the party he is admired by a devout coterie of followers, catered to by secular conservatives and feared by moderates, who find themselves in a position of needing his approval to win nominations in GOP primaries. Those summoned to kiss his ring encounter a tough, uncompromising zealot who is used to getting his own way.

...

It's a considerable amount of clout for someone whose stated beliefs place him to the right of the religious right. "If we are to survive as a free nation, and if justice and liberty are to be restored in our land, then biblical Christianity, with its absolutes, must once again be embraced by our citizens," he wrote several years back in a Chronicle op-ed piece. "Only then can we expect to see Christianity's influence once again to be reflected in the laws of our civil government."

As the Houston Press reported a few years back, Hotze's medical credentials and views are also rather suspect:

Hotze was able to better articulate his views in 1986, when he was one of dozens of ministers, professionals and laypersons who signed the Coalition on Revival's Manifesto for the Christian Church. The coalition claims on its Web site to be a national network of religious leaders aligned in a mission "to help the Church rebuild civilization on the principles of the Bible so God's will may be done on earth as it is in heaven." They want all aspects of life -- government, science and education -- to adhere to fundamental biblical beliefs. These beliefs include the following:

• A wife may work outside the home only with her husband's consent

• "Biblical spanking" that results in "temporary or superficial bruises or welts" should not be considered a crime

• No doctor shall provide medical service on the Sabbath

• All disease and disability is caused by the sin of Adam and Eve

• Medical problems are frequently caused by personal sin

• "Increased longevity generally results from obedience to specific Biblical commands"

• Treatment of the "physical body" is not a doctor's highest priority

• Doctors have a priestly calling

• People receiving medical treatment are not immune from divine intervention or demonic forces

• Physicians should preach to their patients because salvation is the key to their health

• "Christians need better health to have more energy, tolerate more stress, get depressed less often, and be more creative than our non-Christian counterparts for the advancement of God's Kingdom."

Last week, Rick Green made a campaign stop at Hotze's Wellness Center:

Wonderful visit with Dr. Steve Hotze at his Wellness Center on Friday. What a Blessing he is to SOOO many people!!!

Right Wing Round-Up

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 3/25/2010 5:54 pm
  • Both the Senate and House are expected to vote on resolutions condemning Uganda’s "kill the gays" bill.

  • Anti-abortion extremist Neal Horsley is now running an anti-gay website.

  • Sen. Bob Bennett's effort to stop Washington DC's marriage equality law failed.

  • Why am I not surprise by the Peter LaBarbera would have someone on his radio program who writes things like "Have I mentioned lately how utterly *disgusting* Obama is? And, yes, it’s because he’s black. God, help us all"?

  • Finally, "listen up, Buckwheat."

Worst. Boycott. Ever.

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 3/25/2010 4:32 pm

Shortly after voters in Maine repealed a law that granting marriage equality rights to gays and lesbians, Larry Grard, a reporter from The Morning Sentinel in Waterville, Maine fired off an email to the Human Rights Campaign declaring "you hateful people have been spreading nothing but vitriol since this campaign began. Good riddance!"

Shortly thereafter Grard lost his job with the paper and he became, for a short while, a right-wing cause célèbre, at least until everyone moved on to other issues.  Everyone, that is, except Gary Cass of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission who has continued to flog the issue for months, recently culminating in a demand that Grard be reinstated in his job and that local businesses stop advertising in any outlet owned by the paper's parent company, MaineToday Media, until some sort of acceptable settlement was reached.

Not surprisingly, everyone in Maine pretty much ignore Cass's threat and so now he has kicked it up a notch and announced a wholesale boycott against a long list of local companies which continue to advertise with the "anti-marriage and anti-Christian" MaineToday Media: 

In our letter to their advertisers we specifically asked that they stop advertising in any MaineToday Media publication until this matter with Larry is equitably resolved. We informed them that our plan was to communicate with people across the state of Maine who supported the “Yes on 1” campaign and urge them not to patronize businesses that advertise in MaineToday Media publications.

In addition, we followed up the letter with a phone call to the advertisers to give them another opportunity to be taken off of the boycott list by pledging not to advertise. As of now, CADC is calling for a boycott of thirty-three businesses who have decided to continue to advertise with MaineToday. More may be added.

With your active support of this boycott we are hoping that soon MaineToday Media would feel the error of their way and immediately make it right with Larry. We are determined to get justice for Larry who stood with the majority of the citizens of Maine to defend marriage. We can’t sit back and allow a Christian to be fired simply for standing up for biblical values.

Please, help us fight for justice for Larry. It might be your job next!

The CADC is a tiny, fringe right-wing group headquartered in Vista, CA which has almost no money and even less influence or reach. 

But apparently Cass thinks that he's got enough clout to get residents on the other side of the country in Maine to boycott dozens of local establishments like Rebecca's Place in Augusta and Fred's Coffee in Oakland and Damon's Quick Stop in Skowhegan and Andre’s Barrels & Buckets in Starks.

Best of luck with that.

Taking a Bold Stand for the Sanctity of Our Public Bathrooms

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 3/25/2010 11:08 am

I don't know what the Right's obsession is with protecting the sanctity of our public bathrooms, but they have recently been making it a centerpiece of their local efforts to fight proposed anti-discrimination ordinances. 

They did it Colorado and now they are doing it in Montana to justify their bigotry:

An organization called NotMyBathroom.com announced this week its opposition to a city ordinance that would protect people from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity ...So far, the only other group willing to identify itself as affiliated with NotMyBathroom.com is Concerned Women For America, said [Dallas] Erickson. CWA representatives already have come out against the proposed ordinance.

... 

The group fears the law would create "a government assigned sex," cost businesses money "to provide toilet facilities," and possibly "force ministers to perform homosexual marriages."

But NotMyBathroom.com chairman Tei Nash said the chief concern is the safety of women and children in public restrooms. He said the ordinance would give a man who "is female affirmed" the freedom to use women's restrooms.

"When he walks into the bathroom, you can't stop them," Nash said. "Is that going to surprise you and the kids? It probably is. Most women will be frightened to no end. Kids, too. They won't understand."

The argument seems to rest in part on the notion some predatory men are waiting for such an ordinance so they can attack women in bathrooms. Nash, though, said culprits will use the law as a cover and business owners won't be able to stop them.

"I don't mind saying this. It's not so much trans people. It's sexual offenders," Nash said. "This has already happened in Portland, and it's happened in Florida."

Laws protect people against sexual crimes, but Erickson also said he fears for people in the Bitterroot who come to Missoula and have to use bathrooms. Society should maintain the standard that people are born a man or a woman, he said.

"If you've got a peeping Tom that likes to see how the other side lives, all they have to do is say they're a woman today," Erickson said.

If there was ever a moment when the anti-gay Right jumped the shark, I'd have to say that NotMyBathroom.com just might be it.

The Cuccinelli Admiration Society

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 3/25/2010 10:29 am

This New York Times profile of Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli mentions his anti-gay views, his flirtations with Birtherism, and even his Social Security paranoia and notes that Cuccinelli's magnetism for controversy is not sitting well with fellow Republican Governor Bob McDonnell.

But I think that was best demonstrates Cuccinelli's radical views is the people who are coming to his defense:

“Ken is in tune with typical family people, people who work in this state,” said Robert G. Marshall, a Republican delegate from Prince William County. Mr. Cuccinelli’s popularity, he said, derives from his sharp legal mind and steadfastness to his principles regardless of what others think.

“When others make him seem controversial, it just raises his name recognition,” Mr. Marshall said.

That would be Bob Marshall, the Delegate who made news last month when he declared that disabled children were God's punishment for abortion:

You know someone is radically right wing when Bob Marshall declares that they are doing a great job.

Matt Barber Tells The SPLC To Stop Picking on Peter LaBarbera

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 3/24/2010 9:59 am

Earlier this week it was reported that Peter LaBarbera's Americans for Truth About Homosexuality was included on the Southern Poverty Law Center's list of anti-gay web sites.

So far, LaBarbera hasn't had anything to say about it, but now Liberty Counsel's Matt Barber has come rushing to AFT's defense, accusing the SPLC of picking on poor little Peter:

Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel tells OneNewsNow the SPLC had done a fair job during the civil rights thrust in America in identifying and labeling neo-Nazi hate groups, ones that truly fall within the definition of hate.

"They have instead turned into what amounts to a leftist, extremist, partisan, Democrat organization, and they use the credibility that they've built up over the years as a weapon against people who have an opposing worldview, particularly to oppose biblical Christianity," Barber explains.

One question is why SPLC would pick on a small ministry like AFTAH.

"They started with them and have not yet gone after groups like Focus on the Family for instance, or the Family Research Council, the American Family Association, Liberty Counsel -- other groups that adhere to biblical Christianity in terms of sexual morality," the attorney notes. "They haven't started targeting them yet because that's what bullies do. They pick on people that they perceive as smaller and weaker."

Of course, while its entirely understandable that Barber would come to LaBarbera's defense given their close ties, it's a little ironic considering that Barber's own rabidly anti-gay views will probably get his Liberty Counsel eventually added to the SPLC's list as well. 

UPDATE: It turns out that this OneNewsNow article was based on a press release issued by Barber:

Right Wing Round-Up

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Monday, 3/22/2010 5:49 pm
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Anti-Gay Posts Archive

Liberty Counsel Attorney Calls Homosexuality a 'Suicidal Undertaking'
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Thursday 05/31/2012, 12:20pm
After the American Family Association closed its Center for Law and Policy, right-wing attorney Steve Crampton joined up with another fervently anti-gay group, Liberty Counsel, where he now serves as the organization’s Vice President of Legal Affairs. Yesterday, he appeared on VCY America’s Crosstalk with host Jim Schneider to discuss Liberty Counsel’s claim that the Department of Justice compelled a public university in Arkansas to allow a transgender woman, Jennifer Braly, to access the women’s restroom. However, the DOJ says that it simply sent a letter to the... MORE
Tony Perkins Lashes Out at US Tourism Ad for Featuring Gay Couple
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Thursday 05/31/2012, 11:15am
The ad promoting tourism to the US seemed innocuous enough, but Family Research Council president Tony Perkins warns that the advertising campaign is being used to “highlight same-sex attractions.” The Discover America ad highlights diversity in the US, including a song by Rosanne Cash and images of an interracial couple, two Muslim women in a city and people celebrating the Hindu festival Holi. But Perkins is peeved by its attempt “to celebrate homosexuality” by featuring a man with his arm around his partner on a bus for almost two seconds. Perkins claimed that the... MORE
Richard Land Blames the Devil for the 'Homosexual Lifestyle'
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Tuesday 05/29/2012, 1:15pm
National Organization for Marriage’s Jennifer Roback Morse stopped by Richard Land Live this weekend, where the embattled head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission claimed that homosexuality has demonic origins. Land chatted with a caller who thanked him and Morse for fighting the “demon of homosexuality,” and Land agreed with her that “the Devil takes pleasure in anything that causes destruction in human society and the homosexual lifestyle does cause destruction.” He went on to claim that homosexuality was at least... MORE
Peter LaBarbera Pledges to Forever Fight the 'Hydra-Headed Monster of the Homosexual/Transsexual Lobby'
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Friday 05/25/2012, 1:10pm
Americans For Truth About Homosexuality president Peter LaBarbera is chairing a panel at the World Congress of Families in Madrid, Spain, where he is warning members that the United States has become a “force for immorality, abortion and perversion” and is empowering the “hydra-headed monster of the Homosexual/Transsexual Lobby” through television shows like Glee. He even retold a story of a man who “said good-bye to the homosexual ‘deathstyle’” and became “miraculously free of AIDS” but lamented that others will be swept up by the... MORE
Brian Camenker Compares Homosexuality to Racism Gay Rights Efforts to Jim Crow Laws
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Thursday 05/24/2012, 12:45pm
While taking to Americans For Truth About Homosexuality president Peter LaBarbera, Brian Camenker of MassResistance said that like racism, “homosexuality is unnatural,” and now “just like you had to have the Jim Crow laws to keep the races apart, you have to have these laws and diversity trainings and constant propaganda to keep it going.” Camenker explained that gay rights advocates are passing laws and disseminating “propaganda” with the aim of ending the freedom of speech, which he says they need to do since homosexuality “is generally repulsive to... MORE
Ironically-Named 'Military Religious Freedom Protection Act' Opens the Door for Conservative Scare-Tactics
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Thursday 05/24/2012, 10:50am
After the American Center for Law and Justice hosted Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) to promote his bill that he claims would help stop Obama from “using the military as a guinea pig” for the “radical homosexual agenda,” Jay Sekulow of the ACLJ sent an email alert to members claiming that if Huelskamp’s Military Religious Freedom Protection Act fails to pass Congress, then “military chaplains could be required to perform same-sex marriages”: Soon military chaplains could be required to perform same-sex marriages. To continue ministering to the men and... MORE
FRC Mobilizes Against DOMA Repeal, Warns of 'Grave Threat' to the 'Well-being of the Family'
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Wednesday 05/23/2012, 2:30pm
In advance of a court case on the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and amid calls to repeal the discriminatory law, the Family Research Council today sent an appeal to members urging them to tell Congress that a repeal of DOMA would present a “grave threat” to the family and religious liberty. In an email to members, FRC president Tony Perkins lamented that the Obama administration has already “forced open homosexuality upon the military” and provided “taxpayer-funded marriage benefits to same-sex couples.” Few were shocked by the... MORE