Marriage equality will destroy humanity

Batten down the hatches and alert NOM! Jimmy Kimmel explains how marriage equality will destroy humanity:

'NOM's candidate turns his back on the organization' and other Wednesday midday news briefs

D.C. Council candidate no longer opposes gay marriage law - How sweet. A candidate the National Organization for Marriage supported turns his back on them.

Republicans, Local Governments Endorse Marriage Equality Effort In Washington State - Meanwhile momentum is building for marriage equality in Washington State.

FRC slams NH politician for pragmatically reading NH polls - But I thought the Family Research Council liked Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH)

DADT Would Return To Oklahoma National Guard Under Mike Reynolds' Proposed Bill - Try as he might, he won't make it happen.

Porno Pete declaring war on Archie Comics?

Archie Comics is a long-running comic book that has added two new twists. It has included a gay character, Kevin , who has just been married to his physical therapist:

Naturally it has been seen as groundbreaking by some. And of course infuriating by others, including our resident homophobe, Porno Pete LaBarbera. He sees the entire thing as an insidious plot to indoctrinate children:

It’s really manipulative. Of course they are going to have a solider having a homosexual so-called marriage with a black, so it’s interracial, they want to work that in there, which is fine, interracial marriage is good but not between two men, and he was the physical therapist for this soldier so they’re really manipulating these kids. Here you are taking something that parents take for granted is wholesome, Archie Comics, and now even that is being turned into a promoter of the radical homosexual agenda.

. . . Obviously the left and the homosexual activist movement is dead-set on promoting homosexuality to impressionable children. This is a comic book that is supposed to represent mid-American values and they are corrupting those values. Homosexuality is for one, often linked to very severe health problems, especially male homosexuality, it’s considered immoral, since time immoral, all of Judeo-Christian history. Yet now, in the name of diversity—and it’s interesting Jim that the left’s diversity framework never seems to include former homosexuals, will we ever see a healthy, happy former homosexual in the movies or in the media in the name of diversity? It is only what the left wants diversity to be is what we see promoted.

I personally take umbrage with that comment he made earlier - "Of course they are going to have a solider having a homosexual so-called marriage with a black."

Was it so hard for Peter to say "a black man?" Through his terminology, he makes the black man sound something negative and foreign.

But then would that be as petty as Peter himself whining about a comic book?

Basically though, this ridiculous display by Peter just demonstrates how obsessed he is with the lgbtq community.

Lighten up, Peter! It's just a comic book. I guess if we followed your train of thought, Batman is indoctrinating children into dressing like creatures of the night and swinging on rooftops.

Maggie Gallagher now contradicting NOM on same-sex parenting

A while back when former National Organization for Marriage head Maggie Gallagher made a comment actually praising gay parents, I knew it would come back to haunt NOM.

Gallagher made the comment to save NOM from embarrassment because the constant negative comments it and its affiliate - the Ruth Institute - has continued to make about same-sex parenting and most specifically citing the discredited work of junk scientist Paul Cameron.

But if that was her intention, it failed miserably because the Ruth Institute keeps attacking same-sex parenting and now the lgbtq community has Gallagher on record giving a contradictory message.

The latest attack came today. From Equality Matters:

As Equality Matters has noted, the National Organization for Marriage’s (NOM) anti-gay politics go far beyond the issue of same-sex marriage. The group has been a strong proponent of restricting the rights of gays and lesbians to raise their own children -- arguing against adoption and non-discrimination efforts while promoting damaging myths about same-sex parents.

Last Friday, Jennifer Morse -- president of NOM’s Ruth Institute -- continued this trend in a blog post titled “Two Moms: the triumph of the Will over Nature.” 

In her post, Morse lamented the stories of two lesbian couples who gave birth to their children with the help of sperm donors, writing:

According to data from around the world, lesbian couples are the least stable type of couple. What happens when the partnership breaks down? [...]

One of the women donated the egg. The other had it implanted in her womb, and carried it to term. So, they are both mothers and both have custody rights. The child’s father was an anonymous sperm donor. He is completely out of the picture. No one cares about him. No one cares that this poor little girl will never know her father. [...]

The courts are trying to do the impossible: create justice out of an intrinsically unjust situation. [emphasis added]

Morse’s assertion that lesbian relationships are unstable- which she supports by citing 2006 studies from Sweden and California -- has been debunked by several recent reports. 

However, most specifically, this idea was debunked by Maggie Gallagher herself. Remember her statement:

I would like to say personally that nothing in any argument I've ever made on gay marriage, rests on the idea that same-sex couples harm their own children at any higher rates than any other family form. (If there is data that shows this, I've never seen it.)

Maybe Jennifer and Maggie need to have a discussion.

'Did Mitt Romney nearly march in gay pride parade?' and other Tuesday midday news briefs

Mitt Romney Almost Marched In The 2002 Boston Gay Pride Parade - For someone who seems to be anti-gay, Romney was definitely in our corner once upon a time.

Gingrich Argues Adoption Services Should Be Allowed To Take Taxpayer Money While Discriminating Against Gays - Oh sure. Take our tax dollars while spitting in our faces.

Troy Mayor Said 'Disturbing Things' in Meeting, Gay-Straight Alliance Leader Says - Her again? I'm beginning to think that she doesn't like us lgbtqs.

UPDATE: NC elections official resigns rather than facilitate the marriage discrimination amendment - Good for her!

NOM EXPOSED: Earmarks for historical pockmarks: Brown commits $500k to NJ - Where oh where is NOM getting their money?

Minnesota anti-gay group pushing contradictory messages

In a way to put a sort of a nice face on its efforts to disenfranchise same-sex families, Minnesota for Marriage - the group in that state trying to pass a law outlawing marriage equality - has launched phony newscasts called Minnesota for Marriage Minute:



It looks real nice and very artificial from its stock photos - of people not from Minnesota at the beginning - to the woman giving the news, former Minneapolis news anchor Kalley King Yanta.

But looks can be deceiving. Don't be fooled by this nice and light image. Particularly when one remembers that Minnesota for Marriage includes the group the Minnesota Family Council, the group which at one time accused gays of bestiality, pedophilia, and the consuming of body wastes.

And even Yanta is perpetrating, i.e. hiding her true feelings. In the above video, she is all sweetness and light. But according to the Advocate magazine, she reveals her true paranoia when it comes to marriage equality:

In an interview last week on the conservative Christian radio show Word of Truth,Yanta said she was moved to participate in the campaign because she believes heterosexual couples are best suited to raise children and because she fears that if same-sex marriage becomes widely accepted, those who oppose it could face serious consequences, including arrest.

“There are studies that are being conducted right now about how children are being raised and how that affects somebody in their psyche and in their self-esteem and in the various ways that that can affect a person being raised by either a man and a man or a woman and a woman,” she told host Brad Brandon. “It’s not natural.”

But that statement is in direct contradiction to a statement former National Organization for Marriage Maggie Gallagher said a while back:

I would like to say personally that nothing in any argument I've ever made on gay marriage, rests on the idea that same-sex couples harm their own children at any higher rates than any other family form. (If there is data that shows this, I've never seen it.)

The National Organization for Marriage is yet another organization which makes up Minnesota for Marriage. And I guess the organization doesn't mind contradictory messages as long as same-sex families are disenfranchised.

Liberty Counsel accusing Macy's of covering up sexual assaults

In its continuing war against Macy's Department store for firing an employee who harassed a transgender customer - which was in violation of company policy - the right-wing Liberty Counsel has chosen to stoop low.

I mean really low. The organization is now accusing Macy's of covering up rapes. Liberty Counsel head Mat Staver said the following today on the Faith & Freedom radio show:

We also have another individual that contacted us, Matt, who said that he was sort of a trouble shooter, I forgot the exact title that he was working in in Macy’s, and he brought to Macy’s the issue of these men going into the women’s fitting rooms. . . . Loss prevention or something of that nature. He brought to their attention articles from around the country where people had gone into Macy’s, and some other stores but specifically Macy’s, women had gone in and they had been sexually assaulted in these fitting rooms by men that have been coming into those fitting rooms, and even rapes. He brought this to the attention of Macy’s to address this policy and he said rather than address it he was terminated.

How convenient that this tipster is anonymous, just like the last tipster Staver referred to last year who claimed to be an employee of Macy's allegedly fighting to keep "men out of the women's dressing rooms.

I said it back then and I will say it again. I smell a rat. Or more specifically, until Staver produces this anonymous tipster, I think he is lying.

And this time, it's serious.

Staver is accusing Macy's of covering up the heinous crime of rape. This isn't something that needs to be merely talked about on a radio show. It needs to be investigated. And if Staver is lying, he and the Liberty Council need to face the full consequences.

Related posts:

LGBTQ youth caught in the crossfire of phony 'religious liberty'

Woman files lawsuit because she can't harass transgender customers

Macy's stands up for the lgbtq community

'Mitt Romney running away from pro-gay past' and other Monday midday news briefs

Romney Campaign Disavows 2002 Gay Pride Flyers - Somebody is REALLLLY desperate to be president. The flyer in question:

Same-Sex Marriage Follows Rick Santorum Around New Hampshire - He gets what he deserves.

Advocates of N.J. legalization of gay marriage hope for better outcome with new bill - Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Gathering of Eagles Prays for Ex-Gays to 'Blitz' the Media and Defeat the 'Homosexual Agenda' - Okay I haven't included a wildly homophobic brief in a while.

Republican candidates don't care for same-sex couples, families

Just a reminder from Think Progress detailing - via the recent New Hampshire debate - what the Republican candidates think of our families. Please remember this on election day:

Focus on the Family distorts ANOTHER study to denigrate same-sex families

Glenn T. Stanton can't stop lying about same-sex families

I wish more attention was focused on how religious right groups and talking heads distort science to denigrate the lgbtq community.

There is a Pulitzer just waiting for the intrepid reporter who can break down this decades old story. At any rate, until that happens, it's up to us bloggers to make these facts known.

And Think Progress just did:

Focus on the Family’s duplicity is not always obvious, but execution of their anti-gay rhetoric is becoming more transparent. In a post yesterday, FOTF’s director of Global Family Formation Studies Glenn T. Stanton boasted that a new study from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business proves that boys benefit behaviorally from having “a home with a mom and a dad”:

STANTON: This supports over three decades of consistent research showing that kids who grow up in a home with their married parents tend to do better in all measures of educational attainment than their peers being raised in single, divorced and cohabiting-parent homes. This is true from everything from grade-point average, behavioral issues, high school graduation and going on to graduate from college. Moms and dads both matter here, as well as the type of relationship between them.

But though FOTF is clearly trying to use this as evidence against same-sex marriage, the study did not prove anything “against” same-sex parents.  The study in question (PDF here) did not, in fact, address same-sex parenting whatsoever, but instead compared children raised by married heterosexual parents to children raised by a single mother. It is one of many “fatherless” studies that conservative groups use to conflate not having a father/having one mother with having two mothers. Recall when Sen. Al Franken eviscerated FOTF’s Tom Minnery at a July Senate hearing for attempting to do the very same thing.

If anything, the Booth study supports arguments in favor of marriage equality, because it found that it was neither family structure nor biology that were the direct cause of differences in boys’ behavior, but environmental factors determined by levels of parental input. Stanton’s conclusions reflect nothing found in the actual research data — merely his discriminating ideology.

It should be known that scientific distortions is old hat for Stanton. In March 2008,  he claimed that there’s a “clear consensus” among anthropologists that “A family is a unit that draws from the two types of humanity, male and female.”

However, those with expertise in such matters vehemently disagreed with this claim.

Know Your LGBT History - All in the Family and Beverly LaSalle

Folks have been asking for this episode, so now I am going to bring it.

As stated many times before, All in the Family was a groundbreaking situation comedy which dealt with modern issues, including gender roles, sexual harassment, rape, and racism.

But where it really broke ground was how it deal with the lgbtq community. I've already posted two episodes of All in the Family which dealt with the lgbtq community. But today's is probably the most popular - Archie The Hero.

In it, Archie Bunker, the main protagonist of the show - saves who he thinks is a woman. However, the woman turns out to be a female impersonator, Beverly LaSalle (portrayed excellently by the late Lori Shannon). The hijinks are hilarious:







Beverly LaSalle was a popular character who returned for two more episodes. In Beverly Rides Again, Archie elicits her help in pulling a prank. However, her last episode, Edith's Crisis of Faith, is the one many fans of All in the Family remember the most.

You see, Beverly is brutally murdered due to gay bashing and her death devastates Edith (Archie's wife who has become rather fond of her) so much that the woman loses her faith in God.

It was a truly sad episode and even though Edith regains her faith at the end, one still felt a serious loss at Beverly's death.

Past Know Your LGBT History posts:

'Santorum's homophobia gets him booed' and other Friday midday news briefs

Santorum Booed Again For Saying Gays Aren’t Entitled To Marriage Or Military Service - I swear what happened to the "good old days" when such blatant homophobia garnered one a standing ovation.

'HIV doesn't cause AIDS', says dangerous mythmaker who recently spoke alongside GOP presidential candidates - At this point, are we really surprised at the filth coming out of Bryan Fischer's mouth?

Chris Matthews And Robert Traynham, Gay Former Santorum Aide, Have Heated Clash - That an openly gay man would work for Santorum in the first place just boggles the mind.

NOM: Marriage Equality Will Create A “Moral Wasteland,” Normalize Pedophilia - NOM loves to stoke the pedophilia card.

Minnesota anti-gay group caught 'faking it'

An anti-marriage equality group in Minnesota has been using stock images instead of real Minnesotans to push the case against marriage equality.

From Think Progress:

Minnesotans United for All Families — a coalition opposing the state’s proposed anti-gay constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman — has discovered that proponents of inequality are having a hard time finding Minnesotans who oppose same-sex marriage. Yesterday, the anti-gay group released its first video of 2012, but rather than interviewing actual residents of the state, the commercial is “full of stock images“:

We tracked down the phony stock images of families that they used in their video, and we think you deserve to see the proof. Check them out:
1. Children Having Fun in Playground Together
2. Loving and Playful Family
3. Happy Bride and Groom Smiling Together
4. Happy, Smiling Family
5. A house, also found on a securities website
6. And last but not least, this couple, who are also prominently featured on a website for a hospital in India!

Check out the video:



Minnesotans for Marriage is no doubt following the lead of the organization it's teaming with to stop marriage equality in the state - the National Organization for Marriage.

In October of last year, Jeremy Hooper from the site Goodasyou.org caught the organization stealing photos from past Obama rallies and using them to boost the number of its followers.

NOM tries to embarrass Congresswoman, gets knocked down by her calm rhetoric

If there ever was a incident which demonstrates the National Organization for Marriage's absolute cluelessness, it would have to be the video above. In it, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, while in Iowa, was asked to respond to the fact that Rick Santorum supports a Federal Marriage Amendment.

NOM featured the video under the title Democrat Party Head: Marriage Amendment Would be "Un-American and Un-Democratic"

I guess the organization was attempting to portray Wasserman-Schultz as "intolerant," but what ended up happening is that NOM gave her a perfect plateau to state her points in a clear and concise manner.

If the attempt was to embarrass Wasserman-Schultz and gain sympathy for their side of the argument, NOM failed miserably.

'Project demonstrates ally love for the lgbtq community' and other Thursday midday news briefs

aNoteToMyKid.com: Heartwarming Messages of Love from Parents, Family and Friends of LGBT People - This sort of thing is awesome. It's a way for families, parents, and friends to express unconditional love for the LGBTQ people in their lives.

Must See Video: Harry Jackson shows Maryland Marriage Alliance's true underpinnings - Something NOM won't show you about one of its "moneyed black ministers."

Nancy Pelosi Intervenes To Stop Deportation, Keep Gay Couple Together - Way to go, Congresswoman Pelosi!

Labor leaders in Md. promoting same-sex marriage bill - NOM is going to take time way from its Rick Santorum fawning to go through the roof.

Sermon reveals problem between gays and the black church

The sermon from two years ago by Roosevelt Wright Jr. at the Tabernacle Baptist Church is kinda conflicted. On one hand, the minister spreads all sorts of inaccuracies about gay men (i.e. imply pedophilia), but on the other hand, his words reveal the duplicity going on in the black church.

Twelfth researcher complains about religious right distortion of her work

Rick Fitzgibbons is accused of distorting research

Another researcher has come out complaining about how a religious right "expert" distorted her work to stigmatize the lgbtq community.

According to Box Turtle Bulletin, Rick Fitzgibbons of  the NARTH (the National Association of Research and Therapy of Homosexuality) wrote a piece about same-sex adoption. In the piece, Fitzgibbons cited the work of Seton Hall professor Dr. Theodora Sirota to make the case that children in same sex households are not raised better than children "in stable homes with a mother and a father."

However, according to Sirota, Fitzgibbons misused her work. You can read the letter here, but Box Turtle Bulletin breaks the distortion down nicely:

To support his denunciation of same-sex adoption, Fitzgibbons offers this summary of Sirota’s research:

Researchers interviewed 68 women with gay or bisexual fathers and 68 women with heterosexual fathers. The women (average age 29 in both groups) with gay or bisexual fathers had difficulty with adult attachment issues in three areas: they were less comfortable with closeness and intimacy; they were less able to trust and depend on others; and they experienced more anxiety in relationships compared to the women raised by heterosexual fathers.

The problem is not with what Fitzgibbons said; it’s what he left out: The gay and bisexual fathers in Sirota’s study were married to the mothers.

Dr. Sirota’s article is about the impact of a homosexual father raising a girl in a heterosexual marriage. It has nothing to do with same-sex couples, nothing to do with same-sex adoption at all.

Or as Dr. Sirota says in her letter:

  . . .  no conclusions about gay or lesbian fitness to adopt children or quality of active gay parenting can be drawn from the findings of my research. No conclusions about the well-being of children who are or were actively raised by gay or lesbian parents can be drawn from the findings of my research.”

While NARTH is looked upon as experts on the lgbtq community in religious right circles,  the mainstream scientific community pretty much ignores the groups's research and with good reason.

The website Truth Wins Out calls NARTH  a discredited “ex-gay” fringe organization that peddles fraudulent “cures” for homosexuality.

According to Truth Wins Out, several NARTH members have been embroiled in controversies including:

Gerald Schoenwolf, PhD, a member of NARTH’ “Scientific Advisory Committee,” who wrote a piece on the group’s website that seemed to justify slavery

NARTH psychiatrist Joseph Berger, MD, another member of its “Scientific Advisory Committee,” who wrote a paper encouraging students to “ridicule” gender variant children.

Also, according to Truth Wins Out:

NARTH’ co-founder, Joesph Nicolosi encourages male clients to become more masculine by drinking Gatorade and referring to friends as “dude”. NARTH therapists have been known to practice rubber band therapy, where a gay client is made to wear a rubber band and snap it on his wrist when sexually stimulated. It is a mild form of aversion therapy meant to “snap” the client out of the moment of attraction. NARTH members have also been known to practice “touch therapy”, where a client sits in the therapist’ lap for up to an hour, while the therapist caresses him.

In 2010, another member of NARTH, George Rekers, resigned from the organization after caught coming from a vacation overseas with a "rentboy."

Unfortunately the distortion of legitimate scientific work by religious right experts is not done solely by NARTH. Other groups have gotten into trouble over this sadly overlooked aspect of the so-called culture wars. Over the years, there have been 11 other complaints from researchers about how their work was being distorted by religious right and so-called "pro-family" groups, including:

National Institute of Health director Francis Collins, who rebuked the right-wing American College of Pediatricians for falsely claiming that he stated sexual orientation is not hardwired by DNA.

Six researchers of a 1997 Canadian study (Robert S. Hogg, Stefan A. Strathdee, Kevin J.P. Craib, Michael V. Shaughnessy, Julio Montaner, and Martin T. Schehter), who complained in 2001 that religious right groups were distorting their work to claim that gay men have a short life span.

The authors of the book Unequal Opportunity: Health Disparities Affecting Gay and Bisexual Men in the United States (Professors Richard J. Wolitski, Ron Stall, and Ronald O. Valdiserri), who complained that their work was being distorted by Focus on the Family.

University College London professor Michael King, who complained that the American Family Association was distorting his work on depression and suicide in LGBT individuals

University of Utah professor Lisa Diamond, who complained that NARTH (the National Association of Research and Therapy of Homosexuality), a group which also share board members with the American College of Pediatricians, distorted her research on sexual orientation.

Dr. Carol Gilligan, Professor of Education and Law at New York University, who complained that former Focus on the Family head James Dobson misrepresented her research to attack LGBT families.

Dr. Kyle Pruett, Ph.D., a professor of child psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, who has also complained that Focus on the Family distorted his work.

Dr. Robert Spitzer, Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University, who has consistently complained that religious right groups distorted his study to claim that the LGBT orientation is easily changeable.

 Judith Stacey, Professor of Sociology at New York University, who has had to, on more than one occasion, cry foul over how religious right groups distorted her work on LGBT families.

Greg Remafedi, Professor  at the University of Minnesota, who has complained several times about how religious right groups such as the American College of Pediatricians and PFOX have distorted his work, all to no avail. The American College of Pediatricians refused his request to remove his work from their site.

In 2010, John Horgan, a science journalist and Director of the Center for Science Writings at the Stevens Institute of Technology, became the 11th researcher to complain.

Last year, Tom Minnery, a spokesman from Focus on the Family, was dressed down by Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) during a Congressional hearing for deliberately misrepresenting a study. Minnery initially used the study to claim, as Fitzgibbons did in his misrepresentation, that same-sex households are inferior to two parent mother/father households.

'Good riddance, Michele Bachmann' and other Wednesday midday news briefs

After Bruising Loss In Iowa, Bachmann Bows Out - I personally never really shared the amusement of Bachmann that my fellow bloggers did. To me, she proved that demagogues come in both sexes. A hateful woman who didn't care if what she said wasn't true and when told of the fact, she doubled down on the lie. Now if only she would leave Congress.

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire To Endorse Marriage Equality - Not bad at all.

They've tossed more stones than Bedrock's head contractor. Our agenda: Surviving that. - You know for all of the talk coming from the religious right about how "gays have plotted to take over America," I have yet to see any concrete proof from them and I have YET to get any orders from "national gay headquarters."

Florida Appeals Court Rules That Both Lesbian Moms Have Parental Rights - A victory which should not be overlooked.

Proposed Bill Would Permit Christian Students to Bully Gays in Tennessee: VIDEO - Ugh!

Alabama Crimson Tide Site's 'Hey Homeauxs' T-Shirt For Louisiana State University BCS Game Sparks Controversy - This t-shirt is a hot mess and a half.

NOM anoints Santorum as 'Catholic hero'

Regardless of who won the primary last night - Romney actually won by eight votes but Santorum got the momentum, the National Organization for Marriage is patting itself on the back for supposedly contributing to Ron Paul's third place victory.

NOM ran several ads against Paul because he would not sign its silly marriage pledge. Today, the organization is crowing hard:

NOM congratulates Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney for their photo-finish in Iowa. Both these candidates, along with Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann are champions for traditional marriage. It’s especially satisfying to see Senator Santorum, a longtime friend and champion for the family, come from behind to mount such a successful campaign. The strong showing by both Santorum and Romney shows that supporting marriage is not only the right thing to do, it is the politically smart thing to do. This is a lesson that Ron Paul may be learning the hard way. Paul suffered a big loss by finishing third in Iowa, a state he was expecting to win. NOM aired television and online ads that were highly critical of Paul’s unacceptable stance on marriage, including his belief that civil marriage should be abolished altogether. No doubt our ads, along with tens of thousands of telephone calls and grassroots work with our thousands of supporters in Iowa were a factor in Ron Paul’s poor showing. We will continue to point out Paul’s unacceptable views on marriage to voters in upcoming states.”

Actually the idea that Paul was supposed to win isn't necessarily true. Romney was ahead in the polls.

But we know that ignoring the truth is a NOM specialty.

Now aside from the self-back slapping, NOM is also taking time out to declare Santorum as the next big thing. Try not to get nauseated as you read the following from former NOM head Maggie Gallagher calling Santorum a Catholic hero:

Rick Santorum gave a magnificent speech tonight. It was an expression, a flowering in a way I do not think America has seen in my lifetime of Catholic culture. He made his economic message more than a question of self-interest -- he made it a moral cause. He connected the dignity of every human life, with the dignity not only of work, but every human being who is made in the image of his Creator to be a creator -- a worker, and not just a consumer.

God bless him, God bless him. This is a serious fight.

Not to be outdone, another NOM employee - Thomas Peters (who wrote that ill-timed column claiming that the marriage equality push failed in NY days before it actually passed) said the following:

For many voters, tonight was the first time they got a chance to see Rick Santorum as a real contender, after he has spent the past months quietly canvassing every county in Iowa. Tonight viewers of his speech were reminded that hard work and aspiration pay off. Santorum said tonight he learned these essential lessons from the example of his grandfather and father.

He was inspiring, effective, while sounding fully like himself. He contrasted his positions with both the Democrat and Republican establishment, arguing that "cutting taxes is not enough." He offered more: for America to reach its full potential, he said, it must embrace the values that made it into the great country it is. American values, Santorum said, which are not shared by those who currently occupy the White House.

What tripe. Of course Peters - and Gallagher for that matter - don't have to worry about paying taxes or the economy because they are the beneficiaries of an obscenely huge amount of money funneled into their pockets by anonymous sources for being self-proclaimed "moral defenders" of the family.

However, the rest of us normal, ordinary folks - particularly the lgbtqs whom Santorum has waged war with over the years - aren't impressed.

You can't get the vast majority of us to vote for Santorum on a bet. That's not to say that he doesn't have his uses, however.

He certainly wiped the "I'm inevitable" smile off of Romney's face.

New Hampshire newspaper - 'Don't mess with marriage'

The National Organization for Marriage loves to push the mantra "don't mess with marriage" as a way of falsely claiming that gays want to disrupt the institution.

However, according to Think Progress, the mantra has been turned not only on NOM but others who would supports its efforts:

The GOP presidential race will shift to New Hampshire after today’s Iowa caucuses, where Republicans in the legislature and Catholic leaders have pledged to repeal the state’s 2009 marriage equality law — despite overwhelming public support for the measure. This morning, the state’s leading newspaper, the Concord Monitor, debunks the arguments against same-sex marriage and calls on lawmakers to “leave the law alone“:

• Marriage is between one man and one woman. This is more of a declaration than an actual argument. In fact, it’s a declaration of bigotry. After all, who gets to define marriage? Those already married? Without a compelling reason to deny marriage to gay people, a statement like this is hard to take seriously.

• But marriage has been restricted to heterosexuals for thousands of years. Many traditions outlive their usefulness. Slavery was an ancient practice too, after all. So was barring women from participation in politics. Once upon a time, people with disabilities were routinely locked away in institutions. Mercifully, times change.

• Marriage is for procreation. In many cases, yes. But infertile, straight couples marry all the time. So do those uninterested in having kids. Those past their child-bearing years aren’t forced to divorce. Having children isn’t the only thing that brings couples together.

• Same-sex couples don’t do as good a job raising children. There are all sorts of good parents and, alas, a wide variety of bad ones, too. Sexual orientation has nothing to do with it. Nor is there a legislative push to ban other sorts of truly bad parents – child molesters, bank robbers – from marrying. No doubt each of New Hampshire’s 424 legislators has among his or her constituents gay couples raising children just fine. Examples that disprove this worry are easy to find.

You really should read the rest of the editorial. It is a definite take down of all of the phony arguments against marriage equality