Tag: Gay Politics

Justice Scalia Said WHAT?

Trish
Justice Antonin Scalia

Count Justice Antonin Scalia among those who consider homosexuality to be a lifestyle choice, like whether to drive an SUV or a hybrid; whether to vote Democratic or Republican; whether to have lunch at Taco Bell or McDonald’s.

But for those of us who know we couldn’t just wake up one day and “choose” to be attracted to one gender or the other (i.e., anyone who’s honest with him or herself and who is not bisexual) think Scalia’s recent comments, even though he’s trying to sell a book, are outrageous.

Scalia: If we legalize homosexuality, we’ll have to legalize masturbation and sex between consenting, unmarried adults too

“Many Americans do not want persons who openly engage in homosexual conduct as partners in their business, as scoutmasters for their children, as teachers in their children’s schools, or as boarders in their home,” Scalia wrote. “They view this as protecting themselves and their families from a lifestyle that they believe to be immoral and destructive.”

[…]

Rick ‘America’s Pastor’ Warren Compares Being Gay to Punching Someone in the Nose, Adultery and Arsenic

Jon Ponder

Warren
Pres. Obama’s favorite bigot, megachurch hatemonger Rick Warren, who once boasted about his ties to Martin Ssempa, a leader in the “kill the gays” movement in Uganda, has stepped in it again:

RICK WARREN: Here’s what we know about life. I have all kinds of natural feelings in my life and it doesn’t necessarily mean that I should act on every feeling. Sometimes I get angry and I feel like punching a guy in the nose. It doesn’t mean I act on it. Sometimes I feel attracted to women who are not my wife. I don’t act on it. Just because I have a feeling doesn’t make it right. Not everything natural is good for me. Arsenic is natural.

You know what else is “natural,” Pastor Rick? Stupidity. Some people are just born that way.

After Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008, he stunned his gay supporters by giving Warren a prominent speaking role at his inauguration. Just weeks before the event, Warren betrayed+ his true colors in an interview when he compared gay marriage to incest and pedophilia. In December 2009, after his relationship with Ssempa and Uganda’s kill-the-gays were exposed, Warren denied they had ever existed.

Senate Adds Record Number of Women

Jon Ponder

Voters responded to the Republicans’ War on Women by sending more troops into the field. Women elected to the U.S. Senate yesterday include senators-elect Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc.; Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii; Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D.; and Deb Fischer, R-Nebraska.

Sen.-elect Baldwin will be the first openly gay U.S. senator, and Sen.-elect Hirono will be the first Japanese native to serve in the upper body.

If we’ve got the count right, that means there will be 20 women in the Senate in 113th Congress. Technically, that still leaves a deficit of at least 31 women members in the world’s most exclusive club, but it is progress nonetheless.

Gay Civil Rights Pass Ballot Test for the First Time – Marriage Equality Passes in Maine and Maryland

Jon Ponder

Leaving aside the propriety of Americans voting on whether to protect the civil rights of other Americans, here is some good news on marriage equality:

In a historic turnaround, the ballot box is showing America’s shifting attitudes about same-sex marriage. After gay marriage rights died at the polls dozens of times in the past, on Tuesday they passed in at least two states.

Rarely do popular votes reflect such dramatic social changes…

But the win was hard fought and the margin of victory was small.

“We’ve lost at the ballot box 32 times,” said Paul Guequierre of Human Rights Campaign. “History was made tonight” …

“It’s hard to overstate the national significance of this vote,” Marc Solomon, campaign director at Freedom to Marry, said of the Maine referendum.

In Maryland, where just 51.9% of voters approved gay marriage rights, “It was a little bit pins and needles,” said Human Rights Campaign’s Kevin Nix. “It was going to be a close call all along.”

How Much Does Obama Want to Hug Charlie Crist?

Trish

I can admit it now – I can hug him all I want.

— Pres. Obama, coming out of the closet about his affection for former Gov. Charlie Crist at a fundraiser in Tampa, site of the recent 2012 GOP convention. Crist went down in flames in his race for U.S. Senate against Marco Rubio as he switched from Republican to no party affiliation, married a New York socialite amid rumors that he is gay, and was dogged by a photograph of a clearly platonic shoulder hug with the president shortly after Obama was elected. Crist is said to be contemplating running for his old office of governor in 2014, but this time as a Democrat.

Mormons are Killing the Boy Scouts

Trish

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Percentage of Boy Scouts who are Mormon, compared to 2 percent of the American population. Mormons, who also largely bankrolled the reversal of same-sex marriage in California, are taking over the Boy Scouts even as the group’s numbers have shrunk in the face of anti-gay activism by the group. In the 1970s, the Boy Scouts had 4.8 million members; today the figure is 2.7 million.

Trish

Fast Food Restaurants Used as Proxy for Ludicrous Culture Wars in America News Now…It’s time for all of America’s fast food chains just to come out and reveal their positions on the most important political issues affecting America right now. Would Taco Bell let the Bush tax cuts expire, Andy? Does KFC think it’s time to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba? What is the Cheesecake Factory’s position on abortion? These are important questions, Andy. What is Dairy Queen’s attitude toward a pre-emptive strike on Iran? America needs to know. I can’t enjoy a Strawberry Cheesequake, Andy, wondering whether Dairy Queen would allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon. And hold that burrito, Chipotle! Why don’t you let me know your view on the ethics of stem cell research first?

John Oliver, on the podcast he shares with fellow comedian Andy Zaltzman, The Bugle. Oliver was marveling at how American opinion is shaped.