If anyone is hard at work on the homosexual agenda, it is Pam Spaulding. Founder of Pam's House Blend, Spaulding works tirelessly to explore the true life of the contemporary LGBT community. Her blog has received national recognition and attracts thousands of visitors each day.
Spaulding is also a contributing editor at other blogs, including Pandagon. She recently posted about Pennsylvania's homegrown bigot, Diane Gramley of the American Family Association of PA. Gramley has her knickers in a knot because State College recently expanded their proctected classes to include sexual orientation.
Why do these people lie continuously ? it?s like breathing to them. So where in any of these anti-discrimination measures does it require anyone to hire someone who is LGBT? The whole point is that these attributes are no hindrance to one?s ability to perform a job and that they must be considered equally or not singled out based on those attributes. And I don?t see Gramley calling for removal of protections based on religion from the list of protected classes, hmmm?
Good question. The religious wingnuts spin spin spin these laws to serve their own fear based agenda ...think Santorum's slippery slope from gay marriage to man on dog relationships.
Anyway, Gramley strikes back in a deliciously hypocritical way ... condeming Pam for allowing the address of a national anti-gay leader to remain on her blog for three weeks (Pam apologized) while publicizing Pam's employer in another paragraph. She works for Duke University. Could Ms. Gramley be encouraging her merry minions to protest to Duke? I'm sure it has been done.
This recent post about the AFA of PA and others further confirm that homosexual activists who are calling for tolerance of their lifestyle are many times the least tolerant of those who disagree with them.
Please continue praying for the AFA of PA and others who oppose homosexual activists attempt to redefine America and her families.
This comes from an email press release that is not currently on the AFA of PA website. I've uploaded the text of her email.
I caught an article in the Post-Gazette about the impending relocation of a local non-traditional faith community -- the Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community. It seems someone sold the Goodwill Building so the Hot Metal folks are in search of a worship space.
The Hot Metal Community is more street than avenue. Founded by two kind of irreverant preachers, the group ministers to the poor and attracts individuals who don't fit in with mainstream visions of Christianity.
I had heard of this community and thought it was kind of cool to take a Christian message to the streets and use non-traditional means to help people access God. I mistakenly assumed the church had a bit of a progressive bent. Until I read this passage in the article:
Hot Metal is theologically conservative but encourages open discussion of difficult issues. At Bible Fight Club, held in the basement of a tattoo parlor, participants must argue for their own interpretation of a divisive biblical issue.
"We try to foster dialogue. We work at how we can hold opposing views on things like homosexuality but still love each other and claim Jesus as Lord," Rev. Eddings said.
THINGS like homosexuality? Huh. Well, I guess if they get a chance to talk it out in Bible Fight Club then a little thing like oppressing an entire group of human beings based on an inherent part of their identity isn't anything to be worried about. After all, they feed the hungry. I wonder if there is a Christian equivalent to a carbon footprint -- 15 meals offsets one gut punch to a homosexual?
You know what I think? The Hot Metal Faith Community is a tricked out version of Bishop Duncan's Episcopal Church --- give Peter Akinola some tattoos and a few piercings and he'd be right at home. Actually, a better analogy might be the satire "Saved" which punctured the whole Christian teen-culture scene.
I guess you can't judge a gay-ally by their tattoos.
I really believe that this song inspired me to become a social worker. Yes, I know that it is hokey and Eurocentric, but it is still my favorite holiday song and I get a little lump in my throat every time Bono urges me to thank god its them instead of me.
Now I just found out there is an updated version. I only recognize a few of the participants, but good for them for updating and shame on us for needing the update.
Pittsburgh wants to host the world's largest wedding vow renewal ceremony and the homos are invited! On February 10, 2008, 700 couples will participate in the world record setting event. Including gay couples. According to event organizers, the Guiness folks will accept any US or International marriage certificate.
It costs $30 per couple to participate. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the ceremony is at 7:30 p.m. The secular ceremony will be performed by Mayor Luke Ravenstahl.
The Guinness world record for a group vow renewal is 272, set Sept. 16 in Sydney, Australia. To qualify, each couple must present a copy of their valid wedding certificate, which will be kept by Guinness officials.
Participating couples will receive a champagne and cake reception, gift bags and the chance to win prizes.
Yes, you read that right. Mayor Ravenstahl is going to remarry upwards of 700 people. Including gay couples. Only a few months after he went on the record as opposing both gay marriage and gay civil unions in a televised WQED debate..
How the heck do you go from opposing any legalization of gay relationships to welcoming us to the MacDaddy of wedding ceremonies?
You might recall there was a big secret meeting between Luke and LGBTQ leaders on election eve. Do you think they were picking out china patterns? Maybe deciding on a floral arrangement? I can't tell you because the silence from our "leadership" has been deafening.
Do you think they'll be going to the chapel? More importantly, do I have to buy them a gift or has Luke taken care of that?
Interesting to note that the ceremony has been secularized. Do you think there was a flap about including individuals who are in marital relationships without the benefit of a legal wedding certificate? Gay or non-gay alike.
Does one homophobic Mayor trump a whole flock of homophobic religious chaps?
Apparently, Giant Eagle hates Christmas and has taken active steps to stomp it into oblivion. This according to the Liberty Counsel's latest "Friend or Foe" list of retailers who adopt a secular holiday advertising approach. Liberty Counsel bills itself as a public interest First Amendment law firm. Founder Mat Staver claims that retailers like Giant Eagle are profiting from Christmas while "pretending that it doesn't exist."
Giant Eagle's sin? Using the phrases"holiday cards" and "holiday season" with no mention of the word Christmas.
Other retailers on the Naughty List include Bloomingdale's which has the audacity to mention a Hannukah card, but not Christmas cards on their website. And there you have a clear example of the hideous, Jesus-flavored intolerance these wingnuts use to bash down anyone who gets in the way of their theocratic wetdream. This isn't about religious freedom at all. God forbid a retailer acknowledge a Jewish holiday without the caveat that the "real" reason for the season is to cram a red and green bedecked whitified baby Jesus down our throats with a side of tinsel wrapped salvation.
Excuse me while I choke on the hypocrisy of the hyped up Christo-obsession with holiday advertising, while sincere believers of all faiths go about the business of feeding the hungry, visiting the imprisoned, clothing the naked and comforting the afflicted. Christmas or not.
I'm heading for Giant Eagle to pour my meager pittance into the coffers of a corporate monolith that hasn't (yet) capitulated to the tyrrany of Christofascism. As soon as I finish my coffee.
Please note that the author of this blog identifies as a Catholic-flavored Christian (for now) and believes that the number of sincere believers far outweighs the opportunistic, publicity hounds who would willingly abuse any faith system at hand to further their own power-hungry agenda. She deplores, however, how many of the sincere believers suppress their humanism to satisfy their inner-craving for something to believe in and she wishes more said believers would seek something to think about.
I'm sure by now you've made the rounds of the usual suspects ... Comet, Burgher, Junkies, McIntire, Smoke Ball ... I could go on and on .... frankly, I didn't have the gumption to drag my ass out of bed any earlier than usual to Wednesday morning quarterback the election -- with a gay twist. I was too damn tired from working a 12 hour day that ended after 10 PM to twist any gays. I heard DeSantis say "doggone" on the radio and called it a day.
However, fortified with samosas (not mimosas, John) and an energizing day at work, I'm now ready to pontificate on all things gay.
First, please note that there has been no official followup from the Secret Gay Meeting held this past Monday by some unknown gay folks and the Mayor. Sources have identified a few of the leader who attended, but I cannot get any confirmation. The only person who has publicly stated their plan to attend is our faithful reader and commenter, steelcitydyke, and she hasn't shared with us. Thus, we remain firm in our belief that Luke Ravenstahl is opposed to civil unions and gay marriage. This does not bode well for the expansion of gay civil rights or gay visibility in the City.
Second, a big hooray b/c Debra Todd has become the first female Democrat elected to Pennsylvania's Supreme Court. Todd had the endorsement of the Steel City Stonewall Democrats. You can read how gay friendly she is here.
The Employment Non Discrimination Act (ENDA) passed the House 235-185 minus protections for our trans sisters and brothers. And, hey don't worry, your Human Rights Campaign folks have also made sure to get religious exemptions tied into the legislation. Sigh.
Michigan elected its first openly gay mayor in Ferndale.
Iraqui gays express feelings of abandonement and frustration. This is an article that puts electing a twerp as our Mayor in perspective, doesn't it?
Give it up for Diane Gramley, prez and proponent of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania. She works hard to get her message of hate and intolerance out into the Pennsylvania heartland , be it letter to the editor or press release. She's everywhere the homos should be.
Are you?
Gramley sent out this snarky little press release about H.B. 1400 which would extend protected class status to include sexual orientation, gender identity and gender presentation. It is a significant piece of legislation that would give us statewide protections at our workplaces and in our housing situations. So you couldn't be fired because you are a lesbian or because you are a lesbian who dresses in a masculine manner. Here's how Gramley spins it:
H.B. 1400 will force all PA businesses with four or more employees to hire homosexuals, bisexuals and transgenders i.e. men who think they are women and demand to use the women's restroom. Upon closer examination you will see that there is no exemption for churches, Christian schools or daycares.
This is a clear example of why the local lesbian community needs to get a real grip on our internalized transphobia and turn our collective attention to the many thousands of Pennsylvanias who lap up this anti-gay rhetoric. People buy into this completely distorted interpretation of the legislation and get on the phone with their legislators, terrified that they'll have skirt wearing men in their restrooms and lascivious lesbians in the daycares.
You, dear reader whomever you are, should do the same. You should call your State Rep and let her/him know how you'v experienced discrimination. Don't wait. Do it now.
Diane is hard at work tearing us down across the Commonwealth.
Here's some good news from the Post-Gazette's wonderful L.A. Johnson < is L.A.a man or woman? does it matter other than for my pronoun selection?>
A majority of U.S. citizens support equal treatment for gay people, a recent Harris Interactive poll reports.
About 56 percent of straight Americans 18 and older believe people should be more supportive of gay equality, a number that rises to 60 percent for those polled between the ages of 18 and 44, the survey said.
Hurrah! The survey also brings to light the value of heterosexual allies, especially those who speak out against incidents of discrimination and homophobia.
"People's minds are changed more ... by the person who isn't the minority," says Betty Hill, executive director of Persad Center (www.persadcenter.org), which offers counseling, education and advocacy for the Pittsburgh-area gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. "When a family member speaks up, it seems to be better listened to than when a regular old gay person like myself speaks up."
Now see that's exactly why Betty Hill is a lesbian who rocks -- "regular old gay person" indeed.
Anyway, her point is very true. And it is a point I made oh so eloquently at The Society with regard to my good friend John McIntire, one of the staunchest allies the LGBT community is lucky to have.
Heteros like John and that guy down the street and the lady at church and my friend Amy make all the difference b/c they normalize homosexuality.
That being said, I was pleased to have a chance to hang out with my friend Maria when she sat in for Lynn Cullen this morning. It ties into this little theme very nicely b/c Maria asked me to talk about my *other* blogging gig -- the Pittsburgh Women's Blogging Society. Sure, the lesbian flavor came up a time or two, but it was an opportunity to talk about other issues that matter to me. I'm a multi-dimensional homo!
One thing that was frustrating was our limited ability to talk about some big news -- WDUQ- FM will not allow Planned Parenthood to underwrite news segments. Why? Because Duquesne University pulled the puppet strings of so-called public radio. Check out Maria's well crafted post on the topic and decide for yourselves -- should NPR's flagship station in Pittsburgh have a modicum of free speech or should it be all fetus, all the time?
Geez oh man. Anyway, because it was about a rival station and we are supposed to have the courtesy of not talking about other stations, we had to low key it because saying "another local station" without the whole MacDaddy Catholic Church thing was pointless. I hope we were successful and Maria gets to go back.
I wrote some emails to Scott Hanley and the big kahuna Dr. Doughertry at Duquesne. I even filed a complaint with the NPR ombudsman. Do they seriously not realize how much of their local listening audience are liberal do-gooder yuppies who support organizations that promote women's health and try to keep kids from contracting the clap? Seriously?
Here's something amusing -- take a look at the list of local companies that accept the membership Q-card. Disclaimer or not, the station is willing to promote these folks in exchange for a little love to the members. Let's see who can identity the most companies that have some business practice which violates Catholic principles. You go first ...all I'm gonna do is remind you of the entire Rolling Stones exhibit at the Andy Warhol Museum and call it a day. :-)
All fetus, all the time. I just like the sound of that.
The vote to mark up the ENDA has been postponed due to mounting pressure from LGBTQ groups to reinstate protections based on gender identity.
"The step taken today by the committee to delay action on the substitute bill is a clear demonstration of the strength of grassroots organizing as exemplified by our members and thousands of advocates across the country," said Jon Hoadley, the Executive Director of National Stonewall Democrats.
"Our work isn't over until Congress passes, and the President signs, an Employment Non-Discrimination Act that protects all working Americans from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity," said Hoadley.
On Monday Stonewall Democrats launched NoSubstitutes.org, an online organizing effort to mobilize people to save the the original version of ENDA.
Republican heavyweights are skipping candidate forums' sponsored by people who don't look like them. Bad choice according to the Post-Gazette editorial board.
[T]he absence of the frontrunners suggested their commitment to black and Hispanic concerns was only partial, too.
"[The missing candidates] told every black request and every brown request, there's a scheduling issue here," PBS moderator Tavis Smiley told an interviewer. "Is it really scheduling or is it a pattern?"
It looks like a pattern when debates and forums sponsored by the National Urban League, Logo (the gay cable network), Univision (a Spanish-language network) and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials are factored in. Coincidence or contempt for vast voter constituencies?
The Supreme Court has refused to hear a church-state case in which religious social service organizations are required by New York State Law to pay for workers birth control health insurance benefits. The law, like that in 23 other states, exempts religious institutions that hire and serve primarily those of the same faith. The New York Court of Appeals ruled that since groups like Catholic Charities hire and serve people of different faith, they are essentially social service agencies and thus must follow the law.
Let's say that again ... Catholic Charities must follow the law. Ah, how sweet! (h/t 365gay.com)
I have to admit I'm not at my best so this will be very short (I have bronchitis).
There's a new Lutheran Bishop in town.. And he is neither friend nor foe to the homosexual community, so he says.
Bishop-elect Kurt Kusserow of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America plans to honor a request from the denomination's national assembly to refrain from removing gay ministers who have partners, at least until the church issues a new policy on sexual ethics in 2009.
"I think that already reflects the hearts of most of our bishops," said Bishop-elect Kusserow, who attended part of last week's assembly in Chicago.
"There are pastors and members of our churches who are involved across the board in all sorts of things that are questionable in terms of church practice. What it means to be a pastor is to work with people in their difficulties. ... It is not a wise pastor who goes looking for other people's faults to weed them out."
Essentially, they are in a holding pattern until 2009 which does allow the church to continue to dialogue without current pastors living under the fear of being evicted.
Well, it is nice to see a religious leader acknowledge that there are worse things a Lutheran could do, than go with a boy or two, even if the parish-hood, thinks their trashy and no good ... but there are worse things they could do!
