Dear Representative Trent Franks(R-AZ)

I never, ever thought I'd be writing you, even though I am an Arizona resident and native of this state at that. But lo and behold, here I am, not only writing you, but searching for just the right words to thank you for condemning the anti-gay Uganda legislation that if passed would mandate a death sentences for active homosexuals living with HIV, impose life imprisonment for anyone convicted of a homosexual act, and imprison for 3 years or more anyone who does not turn in to authorities someone they know to be gay within 24 hours (and that would include family, friends, and clergy).

There are no words strong enough to convey the depth of my gratitude. It is so refreshing to finally see men of faith actually walk the walk, and you sir have done just that by writing this letter to to urge President Yoweri Museveni to stop this heinous bill from becoming law.

Thank you so very much for restoring this seething mom's faith that there are still people out there who will do the right thing regardless of the political ramifications you may face from your own party.

Sincerely,
Seething Mom

Mexico City lawmakers approve gay marriage

This should be making those who hate in the name of God squirm:



And as expected, this news clip ends by assuring us that the Catholic Church is not happy about this development. Big surprise there.

A picture is worth a thousand words...AZ Republic's Benson does it again

Ending my estrangement with one of my brothers and grappling with the next major conundrum

I have 4 brothers and my relationships with 3 out of those 4 brothers range from "pretty good" to "fantastic". Now at one time a few years ago I also had a fairly decent relationship with this 4th brother, but that came to an abrupt and very ugly halt when he became enraged with me and cut me completely out of his life (although I continued to maintain my relationships with his wife and 2 beautiful little girls).

As is usually the case with complex sibling relationships, the reasons for our years-long estrangement cannot be explained in a mere sentence or two and airing them on this venue would not be appropriate or something I would feel good about doing. And it would certainly end any progress my brother and I have just begun to make on our very fragile relationship should he ever read this blog (which is highly doubtful).

Just recently, under very sad circumstances -- the funeral of a mutual life-long friend -- my estranged brother and I were presented an opportunity to talk. And it was at this time that I decided to try and forge ahead with the beginnings of some kind of reconciliation, even though, for reasons I shall explain in a minute, I was not sure I really wanted to.

During the years that my brother and I did not see or speak to each other, a lot of things changed in both our lives. To say our journeys took different paths would be an understatement. My brother and his wife turned to their evangelical mega-church for answers to the problems they were having and became extremely religious, born-again Christians. And during those very same years, my husband and I found ourselves taking the exact opposite journey, putting as much distance as we could between ourselves and the Catholic Church -- for it was during those years that we found out one of our beloved sons was gay. And it was also during those years that we realized that the Church was not the answer to the most agonizing worries we had, but the cause. It was also at this point in time that we had to come to grips with the cold hard reality that so many organized religions, including the evangelical church to which my brother and his wife belong and the Catholic Church to which we used to belong, were directly responsible for the hatred, homophobia, and the increased dangers our son would face for the rest of his life simply for being gay. And realizing that it was there in the pews of these churches that those who look for cover to hate, dehumanize, and discriminate against gays get not only biblical cover to do so, but blessed by the bullies in the pulpit for doing so.

I knew my brother had become a hard-core, in-your-face evangelical, which made my journey in the opposite direction all the more pronounced and ironic. It also made any thoughts I may have had about reconciliation all the more unfathonable and undesirable. Many a night I'd lay awake playing different scenes out in my head and I could never quite imagine an outcome in which we would heal our wounds and I'd tell him that one of his nephews was gay and we would then go on to live a happily-ever-after ending -- which is why as more and more time passed I found estrangement from him a bigger and bigger relief. And it was also why I was in no hurry to bridge the ever growing gulf between us.

Since stepping out of the closet ourselves, my husband and I have enjoyed years of openess and honesty with most of our friends and family. We kissed goodbye the worry of "someone finding out" long ago and have no intentions of ever entertaining such silly worries again. Our attitude today is if someone has a problem with our son being gay, it is their problem, not ours -- no relationship has the power to trump our love for our son. And up until now, we have experienced nothing but complete acceptance and love from the family and friends we have told about our son. Our lives are no longer burdened with secrets and guarded conversations. Talk of our son and his boyfriend is every bit as normal as talk about our other son and his girlfriend. Our life is not burdened with religious guilt, fear, or sadness. We are completely at peace with who our son is and we absolutely believe that to deny or try and change his God-given sexual orientation is to accuse God of giving us a broken gift. And now more than ever we bask in the joy of three absolutely fantastic kids and their amazing accomplishments. Going backwards to appease the religious bigotry of anyone or any institution is simply not an option. It has been a long and hard-fought journey to get to where we are today.

So why do I agonize over the conundrum this reconciliation has created? My kids all believe this brother will have no problems with the fact that our son is gay. They love their uncle very much and would like to see this rift repaired. They believe his love will be stronger than his religious certainties. I am not so sure. My mother has out and out asked me not to say anything. She is not so sure either. I have seen his transformation up close and personal. The estrangement didn't allow me the luxury of watching it happen gradually. And getting back together and talking with him just recently has been a shocking experience. He is not the person I knew years ago. All humility is gone. He does not exude God's love, in fact just the opposite. I now see a judgmental arrogant man so filled with absolute certainty about his beliefs that his world is a stark contrast of black and white. Can he accept our gay son without judgment or condemnation? I truly do not know. I'd love to believe he can, but telling him and finding out my worst fears were correct would mean walking away and never looking back. But I cannot go back to guarded conversations and worries about exposing secrets either.

Last evening my husband, my daughter, and I had dinner with my mother, my used-to-be estranged brother, his wife, and their two beautiful daughters. When we sat down to dinner my brother immediately announced that we would hold hands and say prayers, then scolded us (but he was looking at me) for not having said prayers before the Thanksgiving meal a few weeks earlier when we had an even huger group of family members and friends gathered and a whole lot more chaos. Then he led the prayer. Later that evening my daughter asked me if I had caught the little zinger he slipped into the prayer that evening asking God to help certain members of the family (again looking at me) to find God the way he and his family had. I told my daughter I had indeed caught that, but I refrained from telling her how close I came to telling him that I didn't need to find God, I already knew where he was. And holding hands and making a very public show of saying prayers around the dinner table isn't necessary to get in touch with him. All I need to do when I want to confirm God's presence is look into the
eyes and hearts of my three amazing children and I can see God's grace and beauty just fine.

Meet Houston's first openly gay mayor

Rachel Maddow-Rick Warren forced out of silence on Uganda

Again I must say, I am happy that Rick Warren has come out and strongly denounced the Kill the Gays legislation being proposed in Uganda. But, I still believe that Mr. Warren's very belated decision to come out and finally speak up against this heinous bill had more to do with political calculations than doing the right thing. After all, pushing homophobia and hatred has always been quite profitable for these Evangelical mega-pastors. And regardless of this better-late-than-never denouncement of this law, I will always believe these sanctimonious frauds who call themselves Christians, and that includes Rick Warren, have blood on their hands when it comes to our gay and lesbian children. Let us not forget who is always at the forefront of the battle to keep our gay and lesbian elementary school children from being included in school anti-bullying programs.

Rick Warren finally speaks out against proposed Ugandan Kill-the-Gays law

I am so very conflicted here. Yes(!!), I am very pleased that Rick Warren has finally stepped forward and in no uncertain terms and with very strong language spoken out against this heinous proposed law in Uganda. But(!!!!), I feel I must stop short of praising him for what he should have done when he first got wind of this horrific legislation. It certainly took a lot of fire under his feet before he did the right thing. And I certainly have to ask myself, once again, if this had been straight Christian Ugandans who were being targeted with execution if he'd have taken so long to speak out. And, not to look a gift horse in the mouth or anything, but shouldn't we be asking ourselves whether this whole mess would have occurred if American Christian Evangelicals and American Conservative politicians had not gone over to Uganda and stirred up all this anti-gay hate in the first place?



And one more thing...
I still can't shake the horrible feeling that so many of these American Evangelicals and conservative politicians who have made careers of whipping up hate against the lgbt community for political gain will be deeply disappointed in this latest turn of events in Uganda. And this is what haunts me most.

Dear Pastor Rick Warren,

I am writing you today because I desperately need some answers about your role (directly or indirectly) in the proposed anti-gay legislation likely to pass
in Uganda. I know that some of the Ugandan politicians and religious people most involved in writing and trying to pass this horrific piece of legislation are very involved with the American Evangelical movement and extremely close to you and your wife.

I'd also like to know WHY when asked about this kill the gays legislation by Newsweek reporter Lisa Miller, you chose to give a pretty evasive answer that ended up being nothing more than a milquetoast version of I don't want to get involved in another country's political affairs. Where the hell is your moral outrage? Couldn't you have at least faked it with a little fiery, spittle-inducing indignation? Isn't that what mega-men-of-God are supposed to do? And when have you ever refrained from sticking your self-righteous nose in affairs that are none of your business? I'm sorry but I find it pretty hard to believe that a man like you, who seldom, if ever, straddles a fence on any issue, could be so neutral on an issue that will cost people their lives merely because they are gay. Aren't Ugandan gays God's children too? I would think that a man of your stature would never, ever want to be linked in any way to such a heinous law like this one being considered in Uganda. Or is it me? Am I missing something here? Could it be you do not see this situation as one that warrants your outrage? Could it be you don't believe the people whose lives are threatened with death by hanging are worthy of anything but extermination and you don't care that there will be many (including me) who will blame you when this law is passed? But I guess the bigger question is this: Would you be taking such a cowardly and neutral stance if those being threatened with execution in Uganda were straight Christians? We certainly know from past experience that there is
never any lack of righteous outrage and moral grandstanding when Christians are even perceived to be the victims. So tell me Pastor, is your pitiful and spineless answer to Newsweek an affirmation of what many of us already suspect, that you are actually ok with this law, but you cannot come right out and say it?

You must be wondering Pastor why I am so invested in this horrific legislation and the extent of your involvement in it. After all, it isn't going to directly affect me or anyone I know personally. Well the answer sir is that I've been following this horrific legislation because I am a mom. And my husband and I have 3 wonderful children whom we love more than words can convey. And one of those 3 children, our middle son, is gay. And all I can think about when I think of this horrible piece of hateful anti-gay legislation are the Ugandan moms, dads, sisters, and brothers who will be faced with lengthy prison terms if they do not turn in their gay loved ones within 24 hours. And I am consumed with the same terror they must be feeling as they realize that they may be turning them in only to see them hung until every breath of life is choked out of them. And I'm finding it agonizing to even try to imagine what it must be like to be born gay and face a grisly execution for the crime of simply being who you are. But even more painful and frightening to me than all of that is the profound shame, anger, and hate I have for the sanctimonious, hateful frauds here in America who will have blood on their hands when this law is passed. And that includes you Mr. Warren. Your cowardly behavior and refusal to take a stand on behalf of those poor people in Uganda tells me all I need to know about you. You are a coward and a hateful bigot. But then, silly me, I'm a fool to think you'd actually care what I think about you or your actions.

I know that I am quite naive to think that you would answer any of my questions. Hell, you couldn't even muster the courage to give a real answer to the Newsweek reporter. I suppose that a busy man like you, living life as a mega-pastor and mega-author, preaching some twisted version of the Word of God and enjoying the fruits of mega-prosperity, power, and fame leaves very little time for puny little mothers like me. And I suspect that those fruits of mega-prosperity, power, and fame would definitely shrivel up and blow away if a mega-pastor like you were to actually stand up and take a stand on something like this hateful law about to be enacted in Uganda. Because, as you have already proven with your own mega-fame and wealth, hate and homophobia can be a mighty lucrative business - huh Pastor Rick? Gay marriage, anti-bullying rules in schools, non-descrimination housing and employment laws that include gays, extending hate-crime laws to include protecting gays, ending DOMA, ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell? -- all opportunities to line your pockets - huh Pastor Rick? And taking a stand on this heinous law to kill gays in Uganda? Why -- you can't do that! That would kill the goose that has been laying your golden eggs all these years - huh Pastor Rick?

I guess in America, evangelicals hate the sin, but not the sinner simply because American laws stand in the way of doing anything more to the sinner, but in Uganda, they hate the sin, and American Evangelicals like Rick Warren are making damn sure they don't stand in the way of any laws making it ok to kill the sinner there.

A picture is worth a thousand words...

Evangelist causes a stir:

Jesse Morrell — a 25-year-old evangelist preacher from Cheshire, Conn., who said he did three stints at the juvenile detention center on Whalley Avenue for selling drugs — says he knows where most Yale students are headed: hell.
(click picture to embiggen - you won't be sorry)

Good grief, someone needs to tell the Catholic Church to windex their own glass house

Hard to see anything but supreme ignorance and irony in this quote. I am stupefied at the cajones these sanctimonious frauds have. I can hardly believe they think they can tell us what qualifies as an action "against nature and the dignity of the human body" or what would qualify as "an insult to God".

What drivel:

"Transsexuals and homosexuals will never enter the kingdom of heaven and it is not me who says this, but Saint Paul. People are not born homosexual, they become homosexual, for different reasons: education issues or because they did not develop their own identity during adolescence. It may not be their fault, but acting against nature and the dignity of the human body is an insult to God. Homosexuality is therefore a sin, but this does not justify any form of discrimination. God alone has the right to judge. We on earth cannot condemn, and as human beings we all have the same rights."

- Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, in comments quoted by an Italian news agency. Lozano is one of the top Vatican officials.

Hat tip: JMG

Really in a bad mood tonight

So I will let Dan tell you what my problem is:

The silence is deafening but oh so telling

I have not written about the horrific "Execute the Gays" law being proposed in Uganda. I am still numb with disbelief. Not so much that this could be happening in a place like Uganda, which has never been a haven for gays and lesbians, but because one can literally hear a pin drop in the American Evangelical world and for that matter, in the Catholic Church world as well. The silence from these religious homophobes is deafening. And now I am finding out exactly why these sanctimonious blowhard frauds are choosing to be so quiet on this issue when so many others have risen up in horror and revulsion and publicly opposed this heinous law. The American Religous Right (including the Catholic Church) not only approve of what is going on in Uganda, some of them played a role in getting this law written:

The man pushing a law in Uganda—which is likely to pass—that would result in the execution of Ugandan gays and lesbians is deeply involved with the American evangelical movement, American social conservatives, and just so happens to be one of Saddleback pastor Rick Warren's BFFs.

And for those who may not yet be familiar with this proposed law, here is a snippet that explains it better than I can:

The Ugandan penal code already criminalizes sexual relations "against the order of nature," a characterization that is frequently used to prosecute gays. Under the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009, homosexual relations are specifically targeted. Anyone in a position of authority who is aware of a gay or lesbian individual has 24 hours to inform police or face jail time. Individuals found to engage in efforts to sexually stimulate another for the purpose of homosexual relations, or found touching another for that purpose, will face life in prison. Those who engage in "aggravated homosexuality" -- defined as repeated homosexual relations or sexual contact with others who are HIV/AIDS infected -- will face the death penalty.

For this mother of a gay son, this is beyond my comprehension. I am filled with so much fear and loathing, I am ready to burst. The deafening silence of so many of these so-called men of God has told me all I need to know. Dehumanizing, demonizing, and legislating our gay and lesbian children into a permanent state of second-class citizenship is simply not enough for these putrid people. Their deafening silence tells me that what will soon be happening to gays and lesbians in Uganda should this law pass is exactly what they'd like to see happen to gay and lesbians everywhere. Why else would they not be joining the loud protestations from around the world?

And if one needs any more proof that the American religious right is happy about this law, one need look no farther than Rick Warren ---- yes, that Rick Warren ---- the one invited to give the invocation at President Obama's inauguration. He was recently asked about the proposed Ugandan antihomosexual laws and surprisingly he couldn't really muster much of anything but a watered down mishmash response claiming to be neutral on the subject. Now that's a real feat for an opinionated, sanctimonious blowhard like him:

Warren won't go so far as to condemn the legislation itself. A request for a broader reaction to the proposed Ugandan anti-homosexual laws generated this response: "The fundamental dignity of every person, our right to be free, and the freedom to make moral choices are gifts endowed by God, our creator. However, it is not my personal calling as a pastor in America to comment or interfere in the political process of other nations." On Meet the Press this morning, he reiterated this neutral stance in a different context: "As a pastor, my job is to encourage, to support. I never take sides."

Andrew Sullivan weighs in with a post titled "Rick Warren, Silent Enabler Of Hatred":

Just as he publicly inveighed in favor of stripping gay couples of civil equality in California, and then pretended he didn't, now he distances himself from Ssempe (ed note: the man pushing the law in Uganda), while refusing to condemn this law reminiscent of early attempts to wipe out minorities in Serbia, Nazi Germany, and Rwanda. This is classic avoidance in an atmosphere of extreme danger. It is the same as the Catholic church's disgraceful neutrality in Rwanda and Nazi Germany, as they saw a chance to enable others to wipe out a minority they wished could be wiped off the face of the earth.

[...]

He lies. He has taken sides, whenever possible, to stigmatize, demonize and now physically threaten the lives of gay people in his own country and abroad. And his silence on this issue means the deaths of others. Warren needs to come out and condemn this law as evil, which it is. And to stop hiding his own enmeshment with the most virulent forms of fundamentalist hatred under the veil of media-savvy benevolence.

Someone forgot to inform National Geographic that sexual orientation is a lifestyle choice

Hat tip: BTB

Tell me again why the Catholic Church thinks it has the moral high ground to condemn anybody much less my gay son

So once again we get smacked in the face with the reality of the "intrinsic moral evil" (Benedict's description of my gay son) of the Catholic Church's actions:

[A] report in May sought to document the scale of abuse as well as the reasons why church and state authorities didn't stop it, whereas Thursday's 720-page report focused on why church leaders in the Dublin Archdiocese – home to a quarter of Ireland's 4 million Catholics – did not tell police about a single abuse complaint against a priest until 1995. By then, the investigators found, successive archbishops and their senior deputies – among them qualified lawyers – already had compiled confidential files on more than 100 parish priests who had sexually abused children since 1940. Those files had remained locked in the Dublin archbishop's private vault.

This Church needs to step aside from judging anyone else until it get its own damn house in order. And while they are at it, they need to stop using the Sacrament of Communion as a weapon to get our country's lawmakers to vote a certain way.

Andrew is spot on about this:

If the Catholic church were a secular institution in Ireland and had been found guilty of child abuse to the massive extent the Church has, it would be forced to close. Its top officials would not be issuing statements of apology and regret, but serving sentences in jail. The name of John Paul II would not be a revered mantra; it would be synonymous with the head of an international organization that had to be dragged kicking and screaming to acknowledge its own long-running, institutional brutalization of generations of defenseless children.

In the name of Jesus.

The cold hard truth about the Catholic Church

For those who did not already catch this over at Pam's -I present to you a speech that outlines the ugly and destructive side of the Catholic Church so brutally and honestly that it made me squirm with both discomfort and relief. Stephen Fry nails it in a way that only someone who has felt the full force of this institution's hate and backward policies could. And I must confess that I may have enjoyed this clip a bit too much.

Watch it. (the good part starts at about a minute and 25 seconds).

What I had hoped to see when Obama became President

A girl can dream, can't she?



Sadly, I now realize that my dreams are the only place I am going to see this. Ahhhh the power of the "ignorant tight-ass club"...

10 year old boy from Arkansas stands up for his many gay friends

What a Kid!! Watch it. And I'll wager a bet you can't keep a big ole grin from spreading across your face before the video clip is done.

Nice interview with John Cole (of Balloon Juice fame) over at League of Ordinary Gentlemen

As many of you know, finding out we had a gay son back in 2003 was a profound and life-changing experience for both my husband and me. And it was the catalist we needed to open our eyes to what was really going on all around us. And once we actually started paying attention, we realized how lazy we'd been about letting others form our
personally held beliefs, both in religious and political terms.

In the beginning, the process of paying attention was difficult and painful because it forced us to realize how much of an echo chamber we'd put ourselves in and how little we did to challenge our beliefs. It also made us feel ungrounded and alone. The Republican Party, our party!, was campaigning for votes on a constitutional amendment that would forever enshrine our gay son's second-class citizenship into the Constitution. The Catholic Church, our church!, was loudly proclaiming that our son was "intrinsically evil" and "objectively disordered". And we'd been blindly pledging allegiance and support to both institutions!

We felt abandoned, betrayed, and duped. So it was a tremendous relief to find out we were not alone. There were many people who were feeling disillusioned and angry, people like Andrew Sullivan and John Cole, both of whom were also experiencing major cracks in their own most basic and life-long political (and in Andrew's case) religious beliefs.

Neither one of them will know how much of a saving grace they were to me, but I am
profoundly grateful to both of them. By allowing me to ride along with them (via their blogs) while they grappled with their own transitions, I was able to slowly regain my own footing while learning to think critically for myself. And having their digital company made it a much less lonely journey.

So it was really fun to learn this morning of this interview with John Cole. It is worth clicking over to read the whole interview, but one passage in particular resonated with me, the question about John's tipping point when it came to how he felt about the Republican Party and the Conservatives after being one of their biggest and loudest supporters:

For me, the final straw was the Schiavo affair, on top of Abu Gharib, torture, the Presciption Drug plan, the bankruptcy bill, the treatment of homosexuals and calling anyone who disagreed a traitor, etc. In 2005, I started to look around at the GOP and the conservatives and all I saw was a freak show that has just gotten worse the last few years. But Schiavo was really the final straw. I couldn’t believe they inserted themselves into that marriage that way. I couldn’t believe they passed legislation. I couldn’t believe Congress locked arms with Randall Terry and the rest of that insane crew, hounding a man who had been going through hell for two decades. They trashed that Judge Greer in Florida, a man who had been a Republican his entire life, calling him an activist judge because he had the nerve to actually follow the law and piss off the godbotherers. He even had to leave his church. It was just sheer insanity.

And putting aside personal political beliefs, I simply don’t understand how anyone can look back at the two Bush administrations and say, with a straight face, that Gore or Kerry would have been worse. I just don’t. Every single aspect of the last eight years was a complete and total disaster. How could Gore possibly have been worse? Anyone who is still a Republican after eight years of Bush and Cheney is simply a Republican for the rest of their life. Nothing is going to change them.

Go read the rest, it is a nice read.

So the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix had a spare $50,000 to put towards stripping rights from gays in Maine

Wow, just wow. I simply can't help but wonder if spending $50,000 in another state's political battle to strip gays and lesbians of rights that everyone else enjoys was the best way to spend such a large sum of money in these desperate economic times. I guess if you are the very homophobic bishop of the Phoenix Diocese it is definitely money well spent.

At the very least, the Most Reverend Thomas J. Olmsted, bishop of the Phoenix diocese, should have considered giving some of that money to the many victims of Pedophile Priests that preyed on Phoenix families for decades.

Dan Savage pokes big holes in the Religious Rights' "Re-defining marriage" argument

Hat tip: BTB

100's of thousands of dollars later(the poor be damned), the Catholic Church claims huge victory-no equality for Maine gays and lesbians

I stayed up to the wee hours of the night last night watching the voting tallies come in from Maine and Washington state. And when the trend in Maine started going the wrong way for marriage equality, I couldn't help but feel a complete sense of devastation and loss (and I can only imagine how those whose dignity and rights were stripped from them felt).

But today? Different story. I am enraged. I am horrified. And I am filled with an intense revulsion for what the Catholic Church did when it declared an all-out war on an already demonized and oppressed minority. And every ounce of my rage is pointed at the Catholic Church even though there were others involved in this campaign of hate as well. For me, the "others" in this war were acting true to form, but watching the Catholic Church's involvement was the final realization that it is every bit as cruel and homophobic as the other religious frauds preaching hatred and bigotry in the name of God.

I wish I could say that I will get over it, but I will not. This wound is deep and unhealable. This is the only church I have ever known and the betrayal is just too enormous. There is absolutely no forgiveness in my heart, there is only an intense feeling of revulsion for what this Church has done. The fact that they could use their pulpit, their collection baskets, and t.v. ads to declare my son a threat to other people's children while conveniently forgetting the decades they spent hiding and protecting those within their ranks who truly did destroy so many children's lives is simply pure evil.

My heart is too broken for any more words. But here are some other reactions. From Andrew:

After Maine, where the Catholic church actually organized a second collection to raise money to prevent gay people from having civil rights, the situation shifts again. Using a tax-exempt church to raise money to defeat the civil rights of fellow citizens is not too shocking in the age of Benedict. It is shocking if one believes in a separation of politics and religion, and if one believes that the church of Jesus should stand in solidarity with the marginalized, rather than seeking to marginalize and demonize them still further.

It is time to acknowledge that the Catholic church hierarchy can no longer pretend that it isn't the active enemy of gay people and our families. That this church hierarchy - especially in its more conservative wing - is disproportionately gay itself and waging war against their fellow gays through the cowardly veil of the closet, is not new. But it is, as we flinch with the sting of defeat, harder to take than ever.

It is time to demand that gay priests who are actively fighting against the dignity of gay people own their enmeshment in injustice, stigmatization and cruelty. It is time to reveal them in this respect as the enemies of the Gospels, not the champions.

And a letter sent by a Gay Catholic to his Parish Priest (via Andrew):

Dear Father Andrew:

We have shared the celebration of Mass of universal inclusion for 18 years. Homeless, doctors, addicts, plumbers, prostitutes, trash collectors, gang members, elderly, boomers, young adults, teens, babies of all colors, races, genders gathered in common purpose -- to give thanks for blessings and rejoice in the goodness that can come from humanity. You provided a unique sanctuary for us all -- rich or poor, educated or not, gay or straight. No one had any fear; none were rejected.

It is with the deepest sorrow that I must write you that I no longer can join you at Mass. After 59 years, I am no longer a Catholic.

You will be distressed at my decision, but not surprised. We have spoken about this possibility for some time now. In fact, I suspect you would join me if you did not have such a valuable mission in this vibrant community. I will still volunteer for the children's programs, and remain involved in activism, but I can no longer participate in the one rite that binds me to the Catholic Church. I cannot swallow the bile another day. I cannot look up at the altar when you read the gospel, give a homily that is so beautiful, it makes me weep, raise the chalice we believe is to be shared by everyone. I cannot bear the thought of you being driven from your ministry when the bishop discovers you are gay.

Hatred fueled by the resources of hundreds of thousands of parishes will be the central reason why the Church will eventually wither and die. I can no longer bear the stench of the rotting body and hierarchical ignorance. I can no longer embrace what has become a menace and money machine to support evil. We are all tainted by what happened in Maine. We are all lesser citizens because our brothers and sisters are lesser citizens.

We remain joined in friendship and common cause, my dear friend. I will need your counsel in this dark time because I feel hatred bubbling in my thoughts. I do not want to be them. Bless you, dear Andrew.

With great affection,

M.

Testimony from a final witness at a DC Council hearing on Gay Marriage Bill

The hate disguised as biblical righteousness spewing from this woman's mouth truly encapsulates the ugliness surrounding the gay marriage debate. But in spite of the ugliness, I encourage you to watch the clip to its conclusion. This woman is so bad, they literally had to turn her microphone off because they couldn't shut her up once she got rolling. And I couldn't help it, but I ended up getting a side ache from lauging so hard. This kind of ignorance and hatred is incomprehensible. But this woman is the face of the modern day Religious Right in all its glory:

Face of a Maine homosexual activist

This clip has gone viral, as of this posting there have been 437,828 views of this You Tube video. And the story has now been picked up by the main stream media in Maine.

Horrific quote of the day

"Islamic fundamentalists clearly understand the damage that homosexual behavior inflicts on a culture. This is why they repress such behavior by death...It may be brutal at times, but any culture that is able to produce wave after wave of suicide bombers...is a culture that at least knows how to value self sacrifice." From a letter sent out this week by the office of the Archbishop on Guam.

I am reeling. I am speechless. I am horrified. And I am repulsed.

Religion-based hatred and bigotry

I cannot wait to see this documentary. It is time to expose all these Churches that have galvanized their forces and poured so much money into enshrining their bigotry and hate into our laws. This film appears to focus strictly on the Mormon Church and its role in the passage of Prop 8. This is great, and I hope it makes those old Mormon sanctimonious farts squirm, but this momma would like to see a few of the Catholic Church's hateful old farts squirm too. After all their involvement in stripping Maine gays and lesbians of rights, protections, and dignity needs to be exposed in all its hateful glory as well:

I now understand why Bill Donohue is the face and voice of the Catholic Church

I used to wonder why the Catholic Church would want someone like the homophobic, bombastic Bill Donohue of the Catholic League For Religious and Civil Rights to be such a vocal voice for them. Long before walking away from the Church myself, I found him an embarassment and hated the fact that he and I belonged to the same Church. But now I've got to say I understand why he has been the face of the Catholic Church for so long. It was me who was out of sync with the church, not him.

And watching the video clip below of him spewing his toxic lies really brought it all home for me. What better way for the Church to kill 2 birds with one stone than to use this blowhard to blame gays for the decades of molestation that took place within the ranks of the Church? He spews his hateful lies and presto, it is a done deal: Catholic Church is exonerated from all blame for destroying so many innocent lives and all gays are now to blame for the sins committed by pedophile priests and those who enabled them.

Evil. Just pure evil.

Oh my God, has the Catholic Church lost its way:

Thank you Bangor Daily News for speaking truth to power

Wow. An editorial that calls the Catholic Church out for its dishonesty and zeal in trying to impose its will on the entire state of Maine by stripping gays and lesbians of the right to marry whomever they choose to marry:

The repeal effort has been led by the Roman Catholic Diocese. Bishop Richard Malone called same-sex marriage “a dangerous sociological experiment.” The fact that gay couples have existed for generations — many of them raising children — counters this argument. Worse, however, is the church’s attempt to force its views on all Maine’s residents, whether they are Catholic or not.

I really do think the most abhorrent part of this nasty campaign in Maine and the Prop 8 battle in California is the fact that these powerful churches are butting in with mega bucks and resources in an attempt to enshrine into our laws their misguided "religious" beliefs. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

And this practice is passing under the radar of most people because it doesn't directly affect them. But wait. Just wait. With each nasty hateful victory for these churches (yes, I'm talking to you Catholic Church and Mormon Church), they become more emboldened. And they will not rest until they are legislating everyone's morals. And by that time, it will be too late.

Publishing this editorial took courage. And according to Joe over at AMERICAblog, this paper leans conservative, which just goes to show you that there are still some principled conservatives left in this country.

Dear Religious Left

I know you are busy feeding the poor, providing shelter for the homeless, and basically tending to the least of us with the same mercy and compassion that Jesus did, but I was wondering if you could take time out of your extremely busy schedule to do more of this:



Otherwise people are going to think that statements like this one from Religious Right leader Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, reflect the sentiments of all Religious leaders:

"What they are attempting to do in healthcare, particularly in treating the elderly, is not something like what the Nazis did. It is precisely what the Nazis did."

This accusation is shocking enough, but Land doesn't stop there. He goes on to single out President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, the Democratic Party, and "the government," accusing them of supporting euthanasia-like policies and practicing a "biological bigotry that is feeding a euthanasia mentality."

This despicable statement shines a small light on just how cruel and dishonest the Religious Right has become (and when it comes to God's lgbt children - they've gone completely off the edge with hate). It's mind boggling that they pass this drivel off as the work of God. But far more frightening is that they are filling mega-churches full with people who believe it.

The party of "Family Values" was revealed as the largest walk-in closet in the America

Max Blumenthal: "The modern radical right, the most homophobic political movement in American history, has become a sanctuary for repressed gay men.":



Hat tip: JMG

Is there any hope for the Republican Party?

I'm not so sure...