Tag: anti-gay

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Federal Appeals Court overturns key provision of DOMA

In what will without a doubt be a landmark decision, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston today ruled that key pieces of the Defense of Marriage Act, that 90s-era law prohibiting the federal government from extending marriage benefits to same-sex couples, violates the Constitution.

The case, Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, hinges on whether the government has a rational reason for discriminating against gay couples. The court clearly thinks not, because “moral disapproval” should not be the basis of laws.

The appeals court agreed with a lower court judge who ruled in 2010 that the law is unconstitutional because it interferes with the right of a state to define marriage and denies married gay couples federal benefits given to heterosexual married couples, including the ability to file joint tax returns. The court didn’t rule on the law’s other provision, which said states without same-sex marriage cannot be forced to recognize gay unions performed in other states.

Metro Weekly provides a portion of the ruling:

[M]any Americans believe that marriage is the union of a man and a woman, and most Americans live in states where that is the law today. One virtue of federalism is that it permits this diversity of governance based on local choice, but this applies as well to the states that have chosen to legalize same-sex marriage. Under current Supreme Court authority, Congress’ denial of federal benefits to same-sex couples lawfully married in Massachusetts has not been adequately supported by any permissible federal interest.

Here is a PDF of the decision.
(source)

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Dharun Ravi issues apology to all “affected” by his choices

Dharun Ravi, convicted of  has issued an apology to “everyone affected by” his choices and has elected to start his 30-day jail sentence despite the readying of his appeal by his legal team.

“I accept responsibility for and regret my thoughtless, insensitive, immature, stupid and childish choices that I made on Sept. 19, 2010, and Sept. 21, 2010. My behavior and actions, which at no time were motivated by hate, bigotry, prejudice or desire to hurt, humiliate or embarrass anyone, were nonetheless the wrong choices and decisions. I apologize to everyone affected by those choices.”

In March, a jury convicted Ravi of all 15 criminal counts with which he was charged, including invasion of privacy and bias intimidation. On two of the intimidation counts, he faced up to 10 years in state prison.

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Follower of Pastor “Put homosexuals behind a fence” Worley defends position

OMG! You have to watch this interview with Anderson Cooper and Stacey Pritchard of North Carolina Pastor Worley’s congregation.

She somewhat incoherently defends Pastor Worley’s desire to put homosexuals behind an electrified fence.

She starts out saying “of course he would never want that to happen” then diverts to “being taken out of context” to “this is 2012 – that doesn’t happen.” Even with Anderson Cooper saying “this IS happening in Iraq and Iran.”

Fascinating. Seriously. This is what “hate” looks like in America.

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CNN’s Brooke Baldwin asks Tony Perkins: “Why do homosexuals bother you so much?”

Brooke Baldwin asked Tony Perkins, of the certified hate group Family Research Council, to clarify what about same-sex couples deserved to be “less valued” by society. Perkins noted that he did not discount that there were loving same-sex couples raising children, just as there were loving single mothers doing the same. “If it were just two caregivers, three would be better!” he noted, but instead it was about a “fundamental role” a man and a woman had in a family.

Baldwin asked him whether his experience had corroborated that belief: “Have you ever been to the home of a same-sex couple?” Perkins answered in the negative, and refused to argue what he would tell that hypothetical couple to convince them their lifestyle was hurting society. “We don’t make public policy based on what is good for me… not anecdotes or what one couple likes.” As a society, Perkins asserted, “we have incurred a great harm.”

“I know you don’t want to answer the question,” Baldwin asked, patience wearing visibly thin, “but I’m going to try again: why do homosexuals bother you so much?” “They don’t bother me!” Perkins replied, asserting again that he was “not going to be silent while they try to redefine marriage in this country.”

You’ll note how many times Perkins says the phrase “social science has shown us” that kids do better with two, opposite sex parents. The fact is quite the opposite: children raised by lesbian parents fare as well as they would in heterosexual households, new research suggests.
(source)

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Anti-gay Family Research Council attacks Target for pride t-shirts

From Queerty: Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council has released a statement attacking Target’s inclusive gesture of selling gay pride t-shirts through the Target online website:

“Target’s slogan is “expect more.” And when it comes to their politics, Americans do… One of America’s biggest companies isn’t just named Target–it’s becoming one. Starting May 20, the mega-chain’s introducing a new line of same-sex “marriage” merchandise that says, “Love is love.” Target promises to donate 100% of the profits to a national homosexual group – but they don’t specify which one.

Retail analyst Britt Beemer says that Target’s strategy isn’t “very smart,” especially in conservative states, where it does the biggest business. “Anytime a retailer gets away from doing what they should be doing by being involved in a social cause, [they] lose.” The company said it wanted to “resonate beyond fashion.” But if they’re looking to resonate with Americans, they ought to try defending marriage. According to voters, the country’s still very opposed to redefining it. Let Target know that its agenda isn’t your style. Log on to target.com, scroll down, and click “Contact Us.”

Not sure if Perkins is being disingenuous or just illiterate —Target has clearly stated proceeds from the shirts will benefit the Family Equality Council, which supports LGBT families (a favorite target of FRC).

Also, the shirts — which are only available online—don’t say anything about gay marriage or even LGBT rights: The innocuous slogans, like “Love is Love,” “Harmony” and ‘Pride,” could mean almost anything. Which I’m certain that’s how Target planned it.

If you feel so inclined – check out the t-shirts on Target’s website by clicking here.

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Members stand behind pastor’s anti-gay sermon

Parishioners of Pastor Charles L. Worley of Providence Road Baptist Church support his view that gays deserve to be killed.

Quoting the Bible, Worley’s flock tell reporters they fully support him and that gays should be killed. Worley twice this month called for the mass murder of the world’s homosexuals by airlifting and dropping all “lesbians” and all “queers and homosexuals” into an electrified fenced-in area so they can die out.

“So he had every right to say what he said, about putting them in a pen, feeding them. The Bible says they’re worthy of death. He only preaches the word,” says Geneva Sims of the Pastor’s plan to kill gay people. Sims is a parishioner of Pastor Worley and fully supports him.

Another supporter, Stacey Pritchard says, “Sometimes you gotta be scared straight.”

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Anderson Cooper: Guests denounce anti-gay rant by NC Pastor Charles Worley


Rev. Welton Gaddy, President of Interfaith Alliance joined Anderson Cooper to discuss Pastor Charles L. Worley, whose sermon, which we posted yesterday, suggested gays and lesbians be rounded up, put in electrified pens, and let them die.

Said Gaddy of Worley:

“In one fell swoop this angry minister managed to discredit from his pulpit both the Constitution of the United States and the compassion that we find in the bible, and additionally he did a very dangerous thing by planting seeds of hatred in sick minds that in the right circumstances can act on them and do the kind of violence that has no place in our world.”

In additional news, Catawba Valley Citizens Against Hate are nto happy about the Pastor’s message, and have organized a protest on Sunday at 10 am:

We are organizing a PEACEFUL protest against Pastor Worley’s bigoted and hate filled rhetoric. Regardless if you are gay or straight, Christian or not… this rhetoric is dangerous and harmful. Taking a peaceful stand for our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is paramount.

More details about the protest will be posted to this page soon. Please, only RSVP if you plan to come. If you are out of town, and support our cause but will not be coming to the event, please do not RSVP. In lieu of participating in this event, you can email Pastor Worley at pastor@prbcnc.com, to let him know what you think of his rhetoric. Remember, making threats against Pastor Worley will not help our cause and may result in criminal charges against you. Keep your message clean, clear and peaceful.

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Nine year old takes on Westboro Baptist bigots

Click pic to view larger

When nine-year-old Josef Miles spotted members of Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church doing their hate-mongering thing on the Washburn University campus in Topeka, he asked his mother, Patty Akrouche, if he could stage a small counter-protest to their message of intolerance.

With just a pencil and small notebook in hand, Josef took on the bigots with a succinct yet poignant proclamation: “God Hates No One.”

Let’s hear it for the boy!  Winner winner winner!
(source)

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Boxer Manny Pacquiao: Gays “must be put to death”

From LA Weekly: Manny Pacquiao, who lives and trains in Los Angeles, is probably in deep shit in this liberal city of brotherly love.  That’s because the boxing champion said that gay men “must be put to death.”

Really.  In a recent interview with the National Conservative Examiner the fighter quoted the Bible in relaying his feelings about President Obama’s support for same-sex marriage:

If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

Pacquiao also said:

God only expects man and woman to be together and to be legally married, only if they so are in love with each other. It should not be of the same sex so as to adulterate the altar of matrimony, like in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah of Old.

Word is that the very married Pacquiao hasn’t exactly been by-the-book when it comes to his own union — allegedly. He has been linked in reports to a Filipina actress named Krista Ranillo.

Now you know, the Bible has some advice about adulterers too.  Leviticus 20:10 says “If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.” So, IF Mr. Pacquiao is actually stepping out with Ms. Ranillo, I wonder if he sees the same punishment as appropriate?