Our girl and mistress of family-values flavored hate, Diane Gramley has mounted her high horse again and that's never a good thing.
Seems Big Mama D has figured out that three Pennsylvania Congressman have signed the non-discrimination pledge sponsored by Gender PAC. She believes this opens the door to all sorts of hell ...
Three PA Congressmen Allow Men Dressed as Women to Come to Work . . . .
At least that's what their signature on the Gender PAC/Human Rights Campaign Diversity Statement will allow!
It has come to our attention that Congressman Robert Brady (D - 1st), Congressman Mike Doyle (D - 14th) and Congressman Jim Gerlach (R - 6th) have signed onto a Diversity Statement from Gender PAC and the Human Rights Campaign.
These groups are two radical homosexual rights groups.
You'll recall that this is the very same document our very own Rick Santorum signed and then unsigned, blaming the original signature on the work of someone in his office. I'm sure he can count on Diane's vote.
Here's the source of Diane's concerns:
You may want to remind them that there was a situation in Carbon County, PA where a male prison guard decided he was transgender and began coming to work dressed as a woman. He was fired, but because of the prison union being from Allentown (which had added 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity' to their Human Relations Ordinance in 2002), the guard sued and was reinstated. Our news release brought up the questions of strip searches, locker room and restroom usage!
Diane must be hanging out in the same circles of some of my more saucy friends b/c those are frequent topics among them as well ...
This one is very amusing. The Atlanta Braves combine baseball with the gospel in their second "Faith Day" event this year. The event features a post-game speaker and performance by a Christian group, with sponsoring organizations setting up tables and all the usual special event stuff. FotF participated in the July event along with Tocca Bible College and the Gospel Music Channel.
But, at the Braves request, they ain't coming back for the August event. No official word on why the Braves uninvited Jimmy and gang. But speculation is that the Braves are troubled by the organization's comparison of homosexuality to alcoholism or drug addiction:
But the Braves may have been troubled that Focus on the Family was promoting its Web site http://www.troubledwith.com, in which the group gives its suggestions for dealing with myriad problems.
Under the heading "Love & Sex," homosexuality is listed along with items such as dating, miscarriage and post-abortion syndrome. The group debunks the belief that homosexuality is caused by genetics, saying that males are often influenced by incest, molestation, exposure to pornography and negative body image.
"No solid scientific evidence exists today that people are born homosexual," the Web site says. "Interestingly enough, genetic predeterminants have also been theorized for alcoholism or depression. Neither alcoholism nor depression is embraced as healthy. Rather, we try to help people who suffer from these tendencies to find relief and recovery."
In other FotF news, founder and chief-bigot James Dobson has stepped up to defend the architect of the Holy Grail of wingnut movies, Mel Gibson.
Dobson said in a statement that "we certainly do not condone that racially insensitive outburst," but added "Mel has apologized profusely for the incident and there the matter should rest."
"Mel has also indicated his willingness to seek help to overcome his alcoholism, and has asked the Jewish community for forgiveness," Dobson said. "What more can he do?"
Well, he can admit he is an anti-Semit rather than just a drunken lout. AND he can admit he's a sexist asshole for using the phrase "Sugar Tits." But, apparently, that little offensive slur gets all lost b/c no one cares about offending some uptight frigid feminist bitches, right? Would Gibson call the Blessed Mother "Sugar Tits" or would he reserve that for Mary Magdalene?
Dobson is just posturing to defend his Christian porn flick from any nay-sayers.
You know, I find it interesting that so many people who rant on and on in support of Gibson have no problem with his movies being made in foreign languages (Mayan?), but resent a guy who orders a cheesesteak in Spanglish.
Ledcat caught the ad in the morning Post-Gazette ... nearly a quarter page image of one of the Grand-Poobahs of Christian bigotry - James Dobson. Dobson's organization, Focus on the Family, alternates between churning out right-wingnut hate-laced propaganda and browbeating people into injecting more Christian extremism into their lives (and their parenting).
But he's coming to Pittsburgh with his merry band of bigots ...are you excited?
Dobson's trail of evil slime has left its disgusting stench throughout the United States courtesy of his "Stand for the Family" tour. Along with his own personal gay bashing message, he brings along a few other stellar examples of Christian perversion ...
Tony Perkins, founder of the Family Research Council. Just this past spring, he equated Brokeback Mountain with the Matthew Shepard story because they are both "works of fiction."
Dr. Ken Hutcherson aka Dr. Blackman (I'm not making that up). He's angry that gays are claiming the civil rights mantle. He's not too fond of uppity women either.
Gary Bauer, President of American Values. They protect life. And marriage. And family. And faith. And freedom. Bauer believes that gay marriage will make us just like hedonistic Europeans who have destroyed their families.
Snarkery aside, these guys have power and a hell of a lot of money. Pam's House Blend did a great post on the vast amounts of resources these organizations command in their unrelenting war on all of us progressives. According to Pam, in 2005 these guys spent a half a billion dollars on anti-gay efforts.
So they are rolling into Pittsburgh on Wednesday, September 20, 6:30 PM at the Mellon Arena. You can get a ticket for $7.00. The first 500 people get free books so they can revisit all the hate-rhetoric later.
I'm sure Santorum is frothing at the mouth to have the Mac-Daddy of Intolerance himself come to town and preach the Gospel of Rick. Make no bones about it -- Jimmy D. and his minions want to do anything necessary to keep their boy in the Senate. They will play all the cards AND spend millions of dollars if that's what it takes.
This really sucks. Its bad enough when Tim McGraw or some other Froggy favorite takes over the stadium area with all his yinzer would be redneck manly men and the slack jawed women who love them. Now we are going to have swarms of smarmy self-righteous men and the brainwashed helmet-haired women who love them running amok in Uptown. Nothing says rush hour nightmare like yinzer suburbanites in minivans.
Is a protest worthwhile? If I have to walk past the feti images to get into the Dixie Chicks concert, why not stage our own stand for ALL families outside of Mellon Arena? Who's with me?
I just knew it would come to this. The insistence of state (and federal) government on restricting free speech and assembly has inevitably led to the ACLU hooking up with the Phelpsians. (h/t PageOneQ)
Missouri, like other states and the federal government, has passed a law restricting protests and pickets at funerals in response to community outrage over the Phelpsians presence at military funerals. Fred and co. believe that God is killing soldiers because America has embraced homosexuality. So he totes his "God Hates Fags" signs to military funerals. Shock and awe ensue. Never mind that he's been doing this for years to at the funerals of homosexuals and those who have died from AIDS. No one was upset enough to pass a law curtailing civil rights then. I guess faggots brought it on themselves.
The ACLU argues that the law restricts speech on content and is seeking an injunction so the protests can resume while the court considers the constitutionality issue.
Here's Phelpsian whackjob and daughter Shirley ...
"I told the nation, as each state went after these laws, that if the day came that they got in our way, that we would sue them," said Phelps's daughter Shirley L. Phelps-Roper, a spokeswoman for the church in Topeka, Kan. "At this hour, the wrath of God is pouring out on this country."
You aren't suing them, Shirley honey. The ACLU is suing them on your behalf. Because the ACLU respects your civil liberties. The wrath of God sure does pick some interesting vehicles ....
I, too, think the law is unconstitutional. Don't get me wrong -- its abhorrent that anyone would intrude on the grief of a family at the funeral of their loved one. But as the Correspondents have said before, these laws are unconstitutional and passed in a grandstanding furor by legislators responsible for the deaths of these soldiers. Rather than make the funeral a civil liberty free zone, how about reducing the number of funerals? You know, ending the war. Or improving health care access. Investing in AIDS research. Mitigating poverty. That sort of thing.
10 - You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of yours.
9 - You feel insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists say that people evolved from other life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.
8 - You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Triune God.
7 - Your face turns purple when you hear of the "atrocities" attributed to Allah, but you don't even flinch when hearing about how God/Jehovah slaughtered all the babies of Egypt in "Exodus" and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in "Joshua" including women, children, and trees!
6 - You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and Greek claims about gods sleeping with women, but you have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then ascended into the sky.
5 - You are willing to spend your life looking for little loopholes in the scientifically established age of Earth (few billion years), but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by Bronze Age tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing that Earth is a few generations old.
4 - You believe that the entire population of this planet with the exception of those who share your beliefs -- though excluding those in all rival sects - will spend Eternity in an infinite Hell of Suffering. And yet consider your religion the most "tolerant" and "loving."
3 - While modern science, history, geology, biology, and physics have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot rolling around on the floor speaking in "tongues" may be all the evidence you need to "prove" Christianity.
2 - You define 0.01% as a "high success rate" when it comes to answered prayers. You consider that to be evidence that prayer works. And you think that the remaining 99.99% FAILURE was simply the will of God.
1 - You actually know a lot less than many atheists and agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history - but still call yourself a Christian.
It has been awhile since we've run across some gay-themed letters to the editor in either the PG or the Trib. Today, Amesh Adalja of Butler comes to our rescue with a little missive in the City Paper. Adalja bemoans the hijacking of the Republican Party by the "cancerous growth" of the religious right.
The Republicans, increasingly suffused with the gospel of the Religious Right, have completely shattered any semblance of respect for individual rights to which they may stake claim.
Shout out to the non-hating Republicans in Butler County! Kudos for acknowledging that not all Republicans are, well, Rethuglicans. Take back your party damnit! Take back your churches, too!
While we are on the topic of the City Paper, I must sadly note the demise of the "Rant" feature. Editor Chris Potter discussed this decision on a recent appearance on the John McIntire show on KDKA (see McIntire blog www.macyapper.com). Apparently, they got sick of rants about Pittsburgh drivers and the like.
The CP archives indicate that there have been 287 rants. Number 284 featured my personal anti-PennDOT ramblings. And while we are on the topic, I must tell you that I am completely disillusioned with the political/citizens activist thing. NO ONE was willing or able to stand up to PennDOT and the fact that I kept being pushy and obnoxious about wanting them to maintain their property made me person non gratis. It was only when the All-Star game drew near that Mayor O'Connor's office helped. But at least they helped not only get it cut, but a commitment to keep it cut.
Back to the Rant. I enjoyed it, but it certainly did seem a bit repetitive at times. Now it would be GREAT if the City Paper would fill that space with the voice of a columnist who is not a white, heterosexual, middle-class man. God Bless Marty, John and Chris and their progressive, nay liberal ideals. But Pittsburgh's alternative culture is filled with a multitude of people of color, females, gays, working class, disabled, etc. We have ideas, too! Good ones. Ideas with multisyllabic words. Ideas festooned with purpose, meaning and a liberal dash of snarkery.
For crying out loud ... you can't shake a stick in Pittsburgh without knocking over a white, middle-class, heterosexual writer/columnist or writer/columnist wanna be. You want a fresh rant -- give voice to the rest of us.
Frankly, this issue is so utterly complicated that I often avoid posting about it. The American Episcopal church seems to be falling apart over the ordination of gays and women. And there's all this gray in the middle sort of language that is meant to appease, but only succeeds in angering everyone. I'm confused. Read what the PG and the AP have to say about it.
The Episcopal Church elected a female bishop as their head honcho. The larger Anglican Communion is not pleased. The conservative wing of the Episcopal Church was already angry about both female ordination and the ordination of an openly gay bishop. The Episcopal Church expressed formal regret that the ordination caused turmoil, but not over the decision to ordain this man.
So now the conservatives in the Episcopal Church led by Pittsburgh's very own Bishop Duncan want to break away and form their own diocese who does not answer to the duly elected female head bishop. They want a floating non-geographic diocese led by someone specially appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Meanwhile progressive Episcopalians here in Pittsburgh are not sure how they fit into this whole schema.
I mean no disrespect because obviously this is a very painful issue for the entire Anglican Communion and the American Episcopal Church in particular. Especially for Episcopalians here in Pittsburgh.
But is it just me or does it seem pretty apparent that there is no real way to keep the church in union? How does a diocese that refuses to ordain woman reconcile itself with a female bishop? If the Episcopal/Anglican strain of homophobia is so rampant that Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria would openly support legislation making homosexuals illegal (not just homosexuality), how do you expect them to accept a gay bishop?
It just seems that this band-aid is being pulled off very slowly and hurting a lot of people who grow ever more divided over these issues. Kind of like the looming divorce which sometimes is much better for everyone, especially the kids.
A gay affirming congregation, they proudly displayed a rainbow flag in front of their church building as a sign that everyone is welcome.
Earlier this week, some pathetic homo-bigot decided to steal the flag, an action the church's pastor attributes to the dischord caused by the marriage amendment debate. (Wanna bet it was a self-styled Christian who stole it?)
But the real story here is how the Church has responded to this prank, mischief, theft, whatever.
The Rev. Ginny Miles has one message for whoever stole a Rainbow flag from in front of Penns Park United Methodist Church in Wrightstown: Put it back or I'll put two more flags in its place.
And Miles says that each time a flag is stolen two more will go up until there is no more room on the church lawn.
It has been awhile since we've run across some gay-themed letters to the editor in either the PG or the Trib. Today, Amesh Adalja of Butler comes to our rescue with a little missive in the 
