Video of Donnie McClurkin verbally attacking gays

As I remarked early Sunday morning, the shuck-and-jive by Donnie McClurkin and his supporters has already started.

 McClurkin, you will remember, was uninvited Saturday night from the 50th anniversary concert of the 1963 March on Washington.

Now I have said why I felt McClurkin should not have been invited in the first place. I also said that in the controversy, which was sure to follow, both McClurkin and his supporters will spin as if McClurkin is a victim of discrimination and intolerance because he considers himself as "delivered from homosexuality through Jesus."

The American Family Association's One News Now is  claiming that McClurkin may have grounds to sue via an anti-discrimination ordinance.  Of course this is nonsense. McClurkin himself, in a recent video, is claiming that he was "threatened and bullied."

Rod McCollum in his blog, Rod2.0, said:

McClurkin never fully explained the controversy behind his Washington D.C. booking and only provides an oblique, cursory reference. "This is all about a stand that I took," said the gospel legend and Pentecostal minister. "But I was never was derogatory against any lifestyle." 

Donnie McClurkin is a liar.  His stance has been extremely derogatory.  The video above is him at a the 2009 COGIC Youth Conference. McClurkin is having what he seems to think is a religiously infused train of thought about the problems in the black community

But check out 6:17 when he begins harping on "feminine men." Then he says the following:

"No, no no. Don't applaud like it's a bash. It's because we failed. We failed! We didn't father our children."

Then later in the video, starting at at 8:38, McClurkin talks about how he was molested when he was eight-years-old. It's an awful story which he proceeds to make worse by linking pedophilia to homosexuality. It's a vulgar, disgusting ramble which McClurkin seems to be saying that existence of gay men is due to a lack of good parents and an abundance of evil predators.

I don't care how much screaming or talking in tongues he does, I don't care how "anointed" he is supposed to be,  McClurkin doesn't know what he is talking about. My heart goes out to him. It was an awful thing what happened to him as a child but gay men are not the products of pedophilia or rape. It's an ugly thing to imply and for him to now claim that he has not been derogatory towards gays when we have the evidence on tape is sad.

As I said before, I had already given my opinion about McClurkin being uninvited. The 1963 March on Washington was coordinated and successfully engineered by an openly gay black man, Bayard Rustin, who had to stay in the background of the African-American Civil Rights Movement because of ignorance and homophobia.

In light of this, what in the hell was anyone thinking inviting someone like McClurkin to this celebration? It's an insult to not only Rustin's memory, but in light of hearing McClurkin's comments, the spirit of the 1963 March itself.  The march was about freedom from ignorance and bigotry - two qualities which McClurkin demonstrated that he had so much of that they could have been oozing out of his pores along with the sweat.

But no matter how you feel about this controversy, count to yourself just how many times will McClurkin and his supporters address the ugly comments he made in the above video instead of playing the victim.

Count how many times McClurkin and his supporters will just happen to evade specific details regarding his rhetoric. 

If you are truly a man of God, Mr. McClurkin, you shouldn't be afraid to address what you have said. You shouldn't run away from your words.

I, and so many others, await hearing from you, especially those "feminine men" you talked about.

Many of them happen to be very good friends of mine.

Religious right spokesman thinks Americans supports Russia's anti-gay laws

To some folks, the lgbt community seems to be a cash cow. We have too many people earning a living attempting to defame us or deny us equality. We collect them unfortunately.

For example, here is yet another one, Austin Ruse of the C-FAM (Catholic and Human Rights Institute.)  Now earlier, he actually defended Russia for its draconian anti-gay laws. Today, while substituting for another religious right radio show host, he not only continues to defend the law but actually claims that most people in America would actually defend the law. Of course, watch how he defines this law as an attempt to keep gays from "recruiting" children:

Somehow, I have a hard time believing this. Perhaps its because of the source. You see, there is something else you should know about Ruse which is solely my opinion of him.

The man's an idiot, a 24-carat moron whose mind is a blank slate just ready to pop in whatever religious right propaganda against gays that exists.

And I say this because I have had contact with Ruse in the past. In 2009, we butted heads on my blog in regards to a pro-lgbt resolution at the United Nations. We went back and forth in the comments section of this post.

 I found one part of his nonsensical rambling so amusing that I simply had to make a blog post out of it. Apparently Austin thinks that there are 20 gender identities. However, watch how he tap dances around the subject when asked to name them.

Hat tip to Right Wing Watch.
 

News brief special: Fox News becoming headquarters of funneled anti-gay propaganda

A while back, I told the lgbt community to watch out how for Fox News because the network will soon become a news entity where anti-gay propaganda would be able to be pushed to millions without the courtesy of a pushback or correction. From Equality Matters comes several examples of how this is slowly but steadily happening:

Fox's Gutfeld Mocks "Confused" Students Who Would Benefit From California Transgender Rights Bill

Fox's Todd Starnes Suggests Obama Is Secretly Gay For Supporting LGBT Athletes  

Fox’s Starnes Mocks Obama For Supporting Gay Olympians 

 Daily Caller Launches Weekly Column From Todd Starnes, Fox's Resident Mouthpiece For Anti-Gay Hate Groups 

 Fox News Gins Up “Bathroom Bill” Fears To Dismiss Protections For Transgender Students  

Fox's Erickson Dismisses Transgender People: "A Person Is Born Male or Female And That's Their Gender"  

Fox News Relies On Anti-LGBT Hate Groups To Condemn Protections For Transgender Students

 The only thing I can do thus far is report that this is happening. But it will take a large lgbt organization to start educating and raising hell about this. Hello, GLAAD!

Members of the religious right seem to be obsessed with 'gay sex'

Some members of the religious right, such as this guy - former chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt, think about gay sex too much to be complaining about it.

Get over yourself, Donnie McClurkin. You reap what you sow

Bayard Rustin

“I ask you, does it make sense to honor the 50th anniversary of a march whose coordinator was shoved in the background due to homophobia by inviting someone as a headliner who is committing the same offense against gays in the present? Absolutely not.”

There is going to be a controversy regarding Saturday night's concert in Washington, DC regarding the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. From the blog of B.Scott:

Gospel singer Donnie McClurkin, who back in 2002 declared God delivered him from “the curse homosexuality,” did not appear in a Saturday evening concert celebrating the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, after several gay activists objected to his participation in the event.

McClurkin was scheduled to perform at the D.C. government-sponsored concert with other singers at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial during the “Reflections on Peace From Ghandi to King” event. But at the request of Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D), who fielded concerns from the activists Friday, the Grammy-winning singer decided not to perform.

“The commission on human rights and Donnie McClurkin’s management decided that it would be best for him to withdraw because the purpose of the event is to bring people together,” said Gray’s spokeswoman, Doxie McCoy. “Mayor Gray said the purpose of the event is to promote peace and harmony. That is what King was all about.”

However, in a statement released on video, McClurkin took issue with how the situation was portrayed. He said the mayor “uninvited me from a concert that I was supposed to headline.” He said “I was asked not to attend.”

The video is here if you want to watch it. Of course McClurkin makes out like he was the victim in this situation. In a comment on his video, McClurkin says the following:

CIVIL RIGHTS ARE FOR EVERYONE...gay, straight, religious, secular, male, female, all cultures and colors. Let's not mistake that everyone who lives here in america...everyone should have equal rights..whether we believe them to be right or wrong. They're just BASIC rights for ALL~! My spiritual stance is right...but cannot infringe on anyone's choice to do as they choose as long as it a basic right. everyone will not follow our christian principles..so what do we do with those who don't...don't give them the right to live civilly? This isn't a theocracy...so even if I, you or we don't agree...everyone has to be able to live a full life.

But Mr. McClurkin, what about those children you maligned in 2009 at the COGIC youth conference?  In 2009, McClurkin said the following about lgbt children at the conference:

 I see feminine men, feminine boys, everywhere I go ... No, don't applaud 'cuz it ain't funny. It's because we failed. I see them everywhere."

In that same post I linked to (from Rod McCollum - Rod2.0 Beta), McClurkin said the following about lesbians:

"These young girls are just as bad as the boys in homosexuality, you don't see it. They can hide ... but there are some evil young hard butch girls."

In 2008 while in Barbados, he compared gays to drug dealers and prostitutes:

"The lifestyle began to grow. The girls did not want a broken man . . . . In homosexuality, there's always someone to abuse you. My lust for man and lust for God was pulling me one way and tearing me apart." .. "He said Donnie, go and talk to others. I don't condemn it, so don't condemn them. God does not hate the homosexual, he hates the sin," said McClurkin, adding he is now a sincere, compassionate man, who keeps his masculinity, is ready for a wife and who is "transformed by the blood of Jesus". 

But here is the thing. Nowhere in the video did McClurkin address those comments he made; comments which most likely had a lot to do with him being disinvited from the concert. And don't expect him or anyone defending him to mention those comments. My guess is that they are going to turn the situation around to make him seem like a so-called victim of the alleged homosexual agenda.

And that, my friends, is my problem with this incident - the dishonesty which i am guessing will come from McClurkin and many of his defenders.

My personal opinion is that McClurkin is not the type of person I would have invited in the first place to sing at a concert honoring a march on civil rights, particularly not THIS march.

You see, the 1963 March on Washington was coordinated and successfully accomplished by Bayard Rustin, an openly gay African-American who was an integral part of the African-American civil rights movement.  Rustin also mentored Dr. King on nonviolent resistance.

Rustin had to serve in the background because of the homophobia of the times not only from the white community, but also the African-American community.  Several prominent civil rights leaders did not want him involved and one, Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, was going to start a rumor that he and Dr. King were lovers.

So Rustin never got his due for what he did in the Civil Rights Movement. Now I ask you, does it make sense to honor the 50th anniversary of a march whose coordinator was shoved in the background due to homophobia by inviting someone as a headliner who is committing the same offense against gays in the present?

Absolutely not.

The irony of it all would most likely escape McClurkin. Instead of trying to create an aura of victimhood for himself, perhaps he should think about those whom his rhetoric victimized.

Had today's technology been around back then, I doubt Rustin would have exploited it to address the attacks on his sexual orientation. I somehow don't see Rustin posting videos of himself complaining about how he was treated. Rustin didn't care about such things. He only cared about the cause of social justice.

Maybe McClurkin should take the hint.

Religious right spokesman is tired of being 'sodomized'

According to Dave Daubenmire, this post is exactly what he talks about "being sodomized by the Left." But I just can't help myself. He is easy pickings. And he has such a "purty lil' mouth."

Know Your LGBT History - A tribute to Bayard Rustin

I have featured my personal hero, Bayard Rustin, before in a segment of Know Your LGBT History but with this week's news that President Obama will be posthumously awarding him the Presidential Medal of Freedom - the highest award given to a civilian in this country - I thought I would make today's post a special tribute featuring the documentary on Rustin's life, Brother Outsider.

I especially like the name of the documentary because there are so many times in which I feel like an outsider to both the lgbt and black community. The black community doesn't seem to want us as lgbts and the gay community sometimes ignores us, tries to whittle down our cultural specificity, or confines us in ideological or intellectual cages:

 

 




Past Know Your LGBT History Posts:

'NOM absolutely furious about upcoming investigation' and other Friday midday news briefs

NOM: Campaign Finance Disclosure Investigation Is A ‘Witch Hunt’ That Violates Civil Rights - NOM should stop whining and follow the law. Just what is this organization hiding? 

US: Californian doctor diagnoses gay patient with ‘chronic homosexual disease’ - This is soooo wrong and it was not meant to be a joke.  

Happy Friday! Here's the AFA's top surrogate calling for my criminalization - Oh look. Bryan Fischer is expressing a wish to jail gays again. Well I wish I had a harem comprised of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jackie Earle Haley, Nate Torrence, Stephen Geoffreys, Lance Kerwin, Rob Kardashian and a clone of the late Michael Jeter but that doesn't mean I'm going to get my wish either, bub. 

 Rios Will 'Not Affirm' That Obama's A Muslim, Only That His Priorities Are 'Islam First and Homosexuality Probably Second' - How come we're not first! The bum! Never trust a man!

Obama is a gay Muslim who ran guns through Benghazi . . . OMG too much crazy!!

This video left me speechless. How many right-wing lies can you spot? It's going to be a long time before I vote for an African-American for president. Some white people just can't handle it!

Hat tip to Jeremy Hooper.

NOM to be investigated in Iowa for refusing to disclose donors

The National Organization for Marriage continues to have a bad year. According to Freedom to Marry, the organization will be investigated in Iowa:

The Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board voted today to investigate the National Organization for Marriage, the virulently anti-gay group, for refusing to disclose the names of donors who funded its efforts to oust Iowa Supreme Court justices during the 2010 and 2012 elections. Marc Solomon, national campaign director of Freedom to Marry, released the following statement:

“For years, NOM has taken huge contributions from a few anti-gay donors in exchange for shielding their names from campaign finance authorities, whether or not that required flouting the law. Those days are quickly coming to an end. NOM’s desperate appeals to the US Supreme Court have been rejected, and soon the public will see who bankrolls NOM’s anti-gay campaigns,  which — according to NOM internal documents — include a goal ‘to drive a wedge between gays and blacks.' "

This investigation was spurred by a complaint by Fred Karger’s Rights Equal Rights in June arguing that NOM’s filings never revealed the donors behind its contributions of more than $600,000 in 2010 and its in-kind donations to help oust justices in 2012. In Maine, where Karger filed a similar complaint against NOM in 2009, the state’s highest court ruled in May that it must reveal the names of donors to its 2009 efforts to block the freedom to marry in Maine. Twice in 2012, the US Supreme Court rejected NOM’s requests to hear challenges to the Maine public disclosure law.

'Focus on the Family doesn't want children to know about same-sex families' and other Thursday midday news briefs

Focus On The Family: It’s ‘Orwellian’ To Teach Kids That LGBT People Exist - You know when they say junk like this, I publicize it. Don't ignore it. You ignore it and people won't know what we have to put up with.

Russian Officials Commit Human Rights Violations While Denying Human Rights Are Being Violated - There is nothing snarky I can add to this article.

Gay Military Spouses May Get Benefits Under Proposal - Yes! I am all for this.

Fox Guest Bill Cunningham: "In The Good Ol' Days ... Gay Meant You Were Happy And Ayds Was An Appetite Suppressant" - I personally yearn for the days when they didn't let every "Tom, Dick, and Dumbass" on television.

Guinness: 'Cultures Where You Have A High View Of Homosexuality Have A Very Low View Of Women' - See comments from news brief number one.

Lindsey Graham challenger retweets gay slur about him

Lindsey Graham

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham has been the subject of long-time rumors that he's gay. No matter how many times he denies it, the rumors don't stop.

And now it seems that they are making their way into upcoming 2014 Senate race where he faces three primary challengers from the Tea Party. According to Politico:

Sen. Lindsey Graham’s primary challenger retweeted a tweet that calls him “Nancy boy,” according to the Sunlight Foundation’s Politwoops, which monitors politicians’ deleted tweets.

Nancy Mace on Tuesday tweeted: “RT @PaulSteel4: @nancymace we support you here in Florida. Nancy Mace vs Nancy boy graham.”

 “Nancy boy” is an early 20th century term, often considered derogatory, for an effeminate or homosexual man. Mace, who announced on Saturday she will be challenging Graham in the primary, deleted the tweet after 10 minutes, Politwoops said. Mace’s account is not a verified account. The Mace campaign did not return calls for a comment.

If there is one place in which a vicious whispering campaign would be effective, it is in South Carolina. Remember in 2000,  John McCain's  presidential campaign was derailed by several rumors, including the claim that his wife was a drug addict and their adopted daughter was the product of an affair

Family Research Council is NOT happy with increase of lgbt-friendly businesses

Good news, my friends!

According to Baptist Press, lgbt-friendly businesses are continuing to grow:
 

The latest annual report from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) shows nearly 300 of the country's Fortune 500 businesses offer workplaces with insurance, employment and retirement policies friendly to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) workers.

When HRC released its first Corporate Equality Index a decade ago, only 13 companies made the list.

"The numbers are irrefutable: The more successful a business is in the United States, the more likely it is to embrace equality," HRC President Chad Griffin wrote in a letter accompanying the report.

Did I say "good news?" Well that's not totally true for everyone. For the Family Research Council, it's not necessarily good news. In fact, it's downright depressing:

 But Rob Schwarzwalder, executive vice president of the Family Research Council, believes LGBT-friendly companies miss a bigger picture in light of current profit.

"Companies that actively and openly affirm homosexuality as a valid choice of life and behavior are failing to recognize the toll that homosexual unions will take on society if they become fully legitimated," he said. "They are, in my view, looking for social acceptance and quick profit ahead of principle."

What the hell does that even mean anyway? No offense to Schwarzwalder and FRC, but his statement makes no sense whatsoever. Of course Baptist Press made no effort to dig into these numbers because its article was mostly looking at the rise of lgbt-friendly businesses as a social issue. I personally think it has a lot to do with economics rather than social issues.

As more of us are coming out, getting married, and creating families,  we are getting noticed as not only excellent employees but a community which will spend its hard-earned cash on companies who support us as human beings.

It's that simple.  When all else fails, the desire for money prevails.

God bless America!

'Bryan Fischer talks about sodomy (again)' and other Wednesday midday news briefs

Desegregation, women's suffrage, and—the right to condemn gay people?! - Comparing stopping lgbt equality (i.e. or "sodomy" as Bryan Fischer calls it) to women's suffrage and desegregation? You know, following Bryan Fischer around with a microphone is akin to feeding a laxative to an elephant and following it around with a pooper-scooper. 
 

Obama: Russia’s Anti-Gay Laws ‘Are Violating The Basic Morality’ Every Country Should Uphold - Thank you, President Obama.

 Phyllis Schlafly Was 'Extremely Offended' and 'Personally Insulted' By DOMA Decision -  She should have been happy for her gay son.

  Liberty Counsel's Barber: America Is Inviting God's Wrath By Embracing "Abominable" LGBT Equality - Because apparently God makes His will known to a hypocrite who bears false witness against gays by smearing them as pedophiles.

Gays deserve discrimination because . . .?

According to former chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt, gays should be discriminated against. I ask you, does his logic even make sense in Bizarroland?

Right-wing news group makes pathetic attempt to 'call out' SPLC's Morris Dees

A right-wing "news organization," CNS News, recently attempted to confront Morris Dees, head of the Southern Poverty Law Center, in an attempt to yet again exploit the awful shooting which happened last year at the headquarters of the Family Research Council.
Last August, 28-year-old Floyd Corkins attempted a mass shooting at FRC headquarters. Corkins was armed with handgun, a box of ammunition and 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches. He was stopped by a security guard who suffered minor injuries.

Since the time of the shooting, FRC has blamed the Southern Poverty Law Center for Corkins' actions. SPLC had labeled FRC and several religious right organizations as hate groups due to the inaccurate things they have said about the lgbt community, including the claim gay men molest children at a high level.

FRC president Tony Perkins said the Southern Poverty Law Center had given Corkins a "license to kill" by classifying his organization as a hate group. The SPLC stood by that designation, saying the FRC also had spread false propaganda about gays.

Other conservative and right religious right groups and spokespeople also got into the act of attacking SPLC with embarrassing results. On a youtube video, Janet Porter of  Faith2Action falsely claimed that SPLC also named Concerned Women for America as a hate group, published the address of CWA's president, and encouraged people to "pay her a visit."

In regards to its confrontation with Dees, CNS News attempted to make it seem that Dees was flustered, however it appears to me that Dees did well for himself when the new group asked about SPLC's "hate map":

CNSNews.com questioned Dees about the Hate Map when he was in Washington, D.C., last week, asking whether his group has ever considered removing the FRC since the revelation from Corkins.

“Well, first of all, having a group on our Hate Map doesn’t cause anybody to attack them anymore than they attacked us for one thing or another,” Dees said. “This group that says gay people—statements attributed to their people said that gay people caused the Holocaust.

Demonstrably false things they say about gay people. “It’s not on our Hate Map because they’re against gay people—and many, the Catholic Church is against people who are gay, so as others—it’s because of the demonstrably false things they say about people that are just total lies that demean gay people, they cause people to attack gay people,” he said.

Part of the claim against SPLC lies with a video posted by FRC months after the shooting which showed Corkins talking to the police afterwards. SPLC had earlier addressed this video:

The centerpiece  . . . is a video published by the Family Research Council (FRC) last week that shows a man who wounded a security guard at its headquarters telling investigators that he got the FRC’s name from the SPLC list of hate groups as it appears on our website. That is apparently true, although it is false, as some on the religious right have claimed, that the shooter, Floyd Lee Corkins, found the street address of FRC on our website before carrying out the Aug. 15, 2012, attack. In fact, we never publish addresses of the groups we criticize.

As you can tell, we are fast coming on the anniversary of the FRC shooting, which means we can expect FRC and other conservative and religious right groups to raise as much fuss about it as possible. However, what FRC will most likely NOT do - just like CNS News didn't do in its article - is to address the claims made by SPLC regarding the negative propaganda said about lgbts by the Family Research Council and other religious right groups.

Corkins' attempt to carry out an attack on FRC headquarters was justifiably condemned by those on the left and right of the political spectrum. But let's be clear about something. No matter how many times FRC blames SPLC for the near tragedy at its headquarters, It is a lie.

And it is a lie which FRC will continue to exploit in order to NOT address the false claims it makes about the lgbt community.

Related: How They See Us: Unmasking the Religious Right War on Gay America

'Two-year-old gets picked on for wearing pink headband' and other Tuesday midday news briefs

A Two-Year-Old Boy Got Assaulted At Wal-Mart For Wearing A Pink Headband - Oh come on! Who cares if the baby was wearing a pink headband. If it were MY mother, the story would have been "homophobic jerk got thrown around, body-slammed, and legdropped at Wal-Mart for assaulting a very handsome and intelligent two-year-old."  - UPDATE  - All might not be true.

House Republicans withdraw from all remaining DOMA cases - And none of us will be getting any refund for this waste. 

 Harry Jackson thinks he's found Hollywood's big secret: Fake gays - Is he for real?

 Rep. Ted Yoho Rails Against Gay Marriage, Food Stamps and Terrorist Immigrants - Why just attack marriage equality when you can throw something in your rant about food stamps and immigrants?

Dear Prop 8 supporters, you lost. Stop now or continue to make fools of yourselves

Those who support Prop 8, the law that once, but no longer, outlawed marriage equality in California, can't seem to get the idea in their heads that they lost:

Alliance Defending Freedom is asking the California Supreme Court to require the state's county clerks to continue enforcing Proposition 8. ADF asserts that the recent ruling on Prop. 8 by the U.S. Supreme Court did not address the measure's constitutionality, which means a judge’s 2010 injunction does not apply statewide. (ADF)

"Public officials should enforce the marriage amendment because they are not bound by the district court's injunction,” says ADF senior counsel Austin Nimocks.

The group responded to the state's attorney general and officials who say Proposition 8 should not be enforced. California's governor and attorney general have mandated all county clerks in the state to issue marriage licenses to homosexual couples.

“The U.S. Supreme Court did not rule on the constitutionality of Proposition 8 and the district court's injunction does not apply statewide,” Nimocks tells OneNewsNow. “Therefore, county clerks in California should abide by the state constitution and Proposition 8." 

Nimocks is correct in one respect. The Supreme Court did not rule on the constitutionality of Prop 8. The court ruled that the proponents had no standing to challenge the ruling of U.S. District Chief Justice Vaughn Walker, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and a three-judge panel on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals who all ruled that Prop 8 was unconstitutional.

All in all, it comes down to the same thing - those who support Prop 8 lost in the courts. The law is no longer valid and they really need to stop all of these hijinks because they are making complete fools of themselves.

Although, I am totally enjoying the show.

SC teacher compares gay-inclusive curriculum to witchcraft, pedophilia

South Carolina teacher Ira Thomas is a main reason why South Carolina has such a nasty reputation for being a backwards state.

Quite recently, he has been on religious right radio programs denouncing the National Education Association's gay-inclusive curriculum. Apparently he claims to have made a show out of objecting to it at the NEA's recent convention in Atlanta and is now going "on tour" talking about how he stood up against the so-called gay agenda.

Last week on one radio show, he compared gay-inclusive school curriculum to teaching children how to smoke crack. Over the weekend, he attempted to outdo this awful slander on another religious right radio show, hosted by Linda Harvey.

Harvey, who once advised parents to not allow their children to be seen by gay or lesbian physicians, gave Thomas carte blanche to just say some of the most awful things about NEA's gay-inclusive curriculum:

Transcript:

Thomas: There was another item about showing a video and I can’t remember what video but it was something dealing with the gay and lesbian [sic], but after sitting through several of those I decided it was time to let the voice be heard instead of sitting by and saying nothing.

 Harvey: So what did you eventually say?

Thomas: In short I told them as a person I do not have a right to discriminate, but by the same token they do not have a right to disseminate what I consider to be harmful material to children. I do not have a right to tell them what to choose but they also do not have a right to choose a curriculum for me that I feel is biblically wrong. It’s like with prayer, it’s not right for me to put my Christian beliefs on anybody, it is right for me to share the Gospel, but even Christ gave us the choice. If we’re going to go there then the next thing we know we’re going to have everybody forcing things on us in school that we don’t believe in from witchcraft to even the molestation from children. …

Thomas: I don’t want to take this analogy too far but the best one I can think of is the incident that happened at Penn State. So many people knew what was going wrong but no one spoke out for whatever reason. Even with this, we can believe it in our heart but if we don’t ever speak out we are allowing things to go and to keep going on and on. 

While Thomas has a right to his personal beliefs and I certainly don't want this situation to end up with him playing the martyr, I have to call him out on his self-righteous, sanctimonious tone.  Never have I heard such blatant ignorance wrapped up in false piety.

What's even worse is that he makes the decision that this curriculum is dangerous to children based upon his own personal religious beliefs. Thomas doesn't have that right.  And based upon his words, he certainly doesn't have that knowledge.

Lgbt-inclusive curriculum is not harmful to children. That's a common sense fact, just like the fact that Thomas and others in the teaching profession will be, if they have not already, encountering lgbt students whose very lives may depend upon that curriculum, which lets them know that they are perfectly normal being who they are.

What's dangerous in situations like this are teachers like Thomas who are willing to potentially sacrifice the lives of our lgbt children based on their own personal ignorance and ego.

Huge hat tip to Right Wing Watch for providing the material for this post.

'Hate crime vandalism caught on video' and other Monday midday news briefs

Hate Crime Against New Orleans Gay Activists Caught on Surveillance Video: WATCH - Committing an act of homophobic vandalism and you get caught on tape doing it. Well that was just . . . stupid. 
 

How to protect gay workers - The Washington Post calls out President Obama for not signing an executive order protecting LGBT employees of federal contractors from discrimination.  

Young conservative leader should condemn FRC's reckless rhetoric; this is me telling him as much - Members of the religious right attempt to match words with Jeremy Hooper at their own peril.

'Skyfall' Actor Ben Whishaw Officially Comes Out As Gay, Reveals He Is Married - FINALLY, my gay ray hits someone good. Now I have to work on that "I'm gay but hopelessly attracted to Alvin McEwen" ray.