Bligbi » Marriage Equality

Culture warriors take aim at Warren

Karen — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:04:57 +0000

America’s culture warriors are not happy with Rick Warren lying about his support of Prop 8, his homophobic remarks and general bigotry against gay people.

Bryan Fischer of Idaho Value Alliance had this to say:

The minimum the Christian church should expect from its spiritual leaders is clear and unapologetic adherence to this biblical standard, especially from pastors who tell us that the Bible is the “rule of faith and practice.”

So if you want to understand why we are losing the culture war, you probably don’t need to look any further than Rick Warren, he of the famously seeker-friendly model of tepid Christianity.

One News Now also wrote about Warren’s lying where Fischer is quoted as saying:

“For Pastor Warren to say that shoring up marriage is not something that’s on his agenda is just something that’s hard to believe for somebody who believes the Bible is our rule for faith and practice,”

Another culture warrior, Bishop Harry Jackson Jr., is quoted as saying that Warren’s lying is “aiding and abetting a deception” and that his public disownment of his own words has done serious damage to their theocratic movement.

Personally, I think Jackson is being a bit dramatic, but I’m enjoying the show all the same.

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Vermont overrides Governor’s veto

Karen — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:45:33 +0000

Vermont has officially become the fourth state to grant equal rights to gay people .

The Legislature voted Tuesday to override Gov. Jim Douglas’ veto of a bill allowing gays and lesbians to marry. The vote was 23-5 to override in the state Senate and 100-49 to override in the House. Under Vermont law, two-thirds of each chamber had to vote for override.

What makes this extra special is it was decided by the legislature which is a first on the issue of gay equality and the first time the Vermont legislature has overridden a veto in 20 years.

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Warren lies about Prop 8 support

Karen — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:27:58 +0000

Rick Warren must still be smarting from the outrage Obama provoked when he chose the despicable jackass to speak at his inauguration as he is still lying about his support for prop 8.

Warren on CNN last night:

WARREN: Larry, there was a story within a story that never got told. In the first place, I am not an anti-gay or anti-gay marriage activist. I never have been, never will be.

During the whole Proposition 8 thing, I never once went to a meeting, never once issued a statement, never — never once even gave an endorsement in the two years Prop 8 was going.

Rick Warren’s video of himself endorsing Prop 8:

In the video Warren is shown talking about how four guys overthrew the will of the people thus forcing the need for proposition 8. Warren then makes it a point to say this:

“Now let me just say this really clearly. We support proposition 8. And if you believe what the bible says about marriage, you need to support proposition 8.”

If it looks like an endorsement and sounds like an endorsement, shouldn’t we call it an endorsement?

Warren was not finished though. He went on to say that he was also lied about when some of us brought up his comparison of marriage equality for gay people to paedophilia and incest.

Warren stated:

There were some things said that — you know, everybody should have 10 percent grace when they say public statements. And I was asked a question that made it sound like I equated gay marriage with pedophilia or incest, which I absolutely do not believe. And I actually announced that.

Here is Warren in another interview conducted by Steven Waldman of BeliefNet:

Rick Warren: But the issue to me is, I’m not opposed to that as much as I’m opposed to the redefinition of a 5,000-year definition of marriage. I’m opposed to having a brother and sister be together and call that marriage. I’m opposed to an older guy marrying a child and calling that a marriage. I’m opposed to one guy having multiple wives and calling that marriage.

Steven Waldman: Do you think, though, that they are equivalent to having gays getting married?

Rick Warren: Oh I do. …

And you know what the sad and horrible thing is? It’s quite possible that Warren doesn’t actually believe the shit that’s come out of his mouth. He could just be in it for the money, the attention or whatever it is he’s chasing after.

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When Mormons attack: Illinois & Civil Unions

Karen — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:40:43 +0000

The Mormon Church has decided that a bill in Illinois that will be considered tomorrow morning has to be defeated. Why? Because if it is voted out of committee and passes Illinois will join the ranks of the very few states that try to recognize the rights of their gay, lesbian and transgendered citizens.

And since they really don’t have a valid reason to oppose equality for all Americans, they’ve went with the same tactics they used while working to get prop 8 passed in California – fear and lies.

Here’s the email sent by the Church:

From: Kristy Combs
Date: March 3, 2009 12:27:59 PM CST
Subject: Civil Union bill scheduled for a hearing Thursday – calls needed

This message has been authorized for sending by Bishop Church. The Civil Union Bill (HB 2234) has been scheduled for a hearing in the Youth and Family Committee this week on Thursday, March 5, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. in Springfield. If the bill is voted out of committee, it becomes eligible for a vote before the full Illinois House of Representatives.

This bill will legalize civil unions in the state of Illinois, and will treat such civil unions with the same legal obligations, responsibilities, protections and benefits as are afforded within marriage. In other words, civil unions will be different in name only from marriage. As has already been seen in Massachusetts, this will empower the public schools to begin teaching this lifestyle to our young children regardless of parental requests otherwise.

It will also create grounds for rewriting all social mores; the current push in Massachusetts is to recognize and legalize all transgender rights (An individual in Massachusetts can now change their drivers license to the gender they believe themselves to be, regardless of actual gender, which means that confused men and women are now legally entering one another’s bathrooms and locker rooms. What kind of a safety issue is this for our children?).

Furthermore, while the bill legalizes civil unions, it will be used in the courts to show discrimination and will ultimately lead to court mandated same-sex marriages.

To help defeat this bill, please call your state representative and state senator and ask that they support traditional marriage and vote against the civil unions bill. If you are unsure who your legislators are, please see the link at the end of this email.

Also, please take a moment and call the following members of the Youth and Family Committee to encourage them to vote no on this bill. We need 4 votes to keep it from passing out of the committee. And – as always, please pass this on to all who believe in protecting our families and our children.

If you are interested in attending the hearing, it will be held on Thursday, March 5th at 9:00 a.m. in Springfield in Room 122B of the Capitol Building (I can give you directions to the Capitol Building if needed).

Members of the Youth and Family Committee:
Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago) (Greg Harris is also the sponsor of this bill, but he needs to hear your opposition to this bill)
Chairperson
217-782-3835

Rep. LaShawn K. Ford (D-Chicago)
Vice-Chairperson
217-782-5962

Rep. Mike Fortner (R-West Chicago)
Republican Spokesperson
217-782-1653

Rep. William D. Burns (D-Chicago)
217-782-2023

Rep. Michael P. McAuliffe (R-Chicago)
217-782-8182

Rep. Al Riley (D-Matteson)
217-558-1007

Rep. Dave Winters (R-Rockford)
217-782-0455

Directions for identifying your legislators:
You can use the following link to identify your state legislators and their contact information: http://www.elections.il.gov/... (and enter your 9 digit zip code). If this link doesn’t work, you can use the general link www.ilga.gov and then click on ” legislator lookup” near the bottom of the page, then click on “by zip+4″. Type in your zip code, and you’ll see a list of your legislators. You want your state senator and state representative as they will be the ones voting on the bill.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Sister Combs

Once again, the fucknuts have shown their true colours. They do not support equality – at all. They are bigots. Full stop.

ETA: This is not a joke. Mormons aren’t like other Christians and do not allow individual members to speak as sect representatives unless given permission to do so. This email was authorized by Bishop Church. You can read more about this at Box Turtle Bulletin.

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Mormon Church: 190K spent on Prop 8

Karen — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:22:18 +0000

Now that it’s facing an investigation into it’s behaviour prior to the passage of Prop 8, it looks like the Mormon church has decided to fess up:

The Mormon church has revealed in a campaign filing that the church spent nearly $190,000 to help pass Proposition 8, the November ballot measure that banned gay marriage in California.

The disclosure comes amid an investigation by the state’s campaign watchdog agency into whether the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints violated state laws by not fully disclosing its involvement during the campaign.

While many church members had donated directly to the Yes on 8 campaign – some estimates of Mormon giving range as high as $20 million – the church itself had previously reported little direct campaign activity.

But in the filing made Friday, the Mormon church reported thousands in travel expenses, such as airline tickets, hotel rooms and car rentals for the campaign. The church also reported $96,849.31 worth of “compensated staff time” – hours that church employees spent working to pass the same-sex marriage ban.

This filing is, of course, in direct opposition to Scott Trotter, a spokesman for the sect, who stated that the allegations made against the church were false. The allegations?

That the church was lying about it’s involvement and that it had used it’s money as well as it employees to support the drive to pass Prop 8 into law.

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Did you see this one coming?

Karen — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 13:43:05 +0000

Newsweek recently ran an article about the religious case for marriage equality. The professional Christian set is, shall we say, not happy?

Leading social conservatives blasted Newsweek for its current cover story, “The Religious Case for Gay Marriage,” which they said misinterprets both biblical scripture and their own political movement.

“It doesn’t surprise me. Newsweek has been so far in the tank on the homosexual issue, for so long, they need scuba gear and breathing apparatus,” said Richard Land, who heads the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. “I don’t think it’s going to change the minds of anyone who takes biblical teachings seriously.”

Tony Perkins, president of the socially conservative Family Research Council, agreed, calling Newsweek’s cover story “yet another attack on orthodox Christianity.”

What Newsweek ought to have done is print an article about the religious case for executing “anyone who takes biblical teachings seriously” yet continues to eat shellfish.

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Is it right to call gay the new black?

Karen — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 19:51:45 +0000

Just thought I’d share this discussion about members of the gay community adopting the slogan “Gay is the new Black”.

Personally, I think the slogan goes a bit too far and “disappears” black members of the LBGT community.

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Anti-Mormon? Religious Hate Crime? My Ass!

Karen — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:39:44 +0000

Not long after the passage of Prop 8 I wrote this post about boycotting pro Prop 8 businesses. Since then I’ve been accused of being anti-Mormon and told that my support for such boycotts is, in effect, a hate crime.

Bullshit.

Mormon owned businesses that supported Prop 8 are not being boycotted because they believe that Joseph Smith was visited by angels, God and Jesus who told him every other religion was corrupt and that if he translated the writing on golden plates he’d restore Christianity to it’s original form.

To put it more bluntly, Mormon owned businesses who gave money to the pro Prop 8 groups are not being boycotted because of their Mormon beliefs.

Mormon owned businesses are being boycotted because they contributed money to the passage of a bigoted law that stripped gay Californians of their civil right to have their unions recognized in the same manner that non-gay people have their unions recognized by the state of California.

It is not “anti-Mormon” nor a hate crime to support a boycott of such businesses. Just as [conservative] Christians and other theists have a right to boycott businesses that have policies they disagree with and/or contribute to causes they disagree with, so to do the rest of us.

No business is entitled to the $$$ of any one for any reason and if a company decides to participate in something that can come back and bite them on the ass? Well, they should act like big boys and girls and not whine when they do, in fact, get bit on the ass.

Because that’s exactly what’s happening. These companies are getting bit on the ass because they openly supported discrimination against a minority group. There are consequences to such behaviour and for these companies that consequence is less $$$ and more bad public relations.

Maybe they can get Washington to bail their asses out, eh?

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Prop 8 – The Musical

Karen — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 21:49:49 +0000

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

As someone who’s several years into a second marriage, I utterly loved that divorce was brought up sans the personal attack on those of us who found the escape hatch and have no regrets about it.

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Olbermann on the passage of Prop 8

Karen — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:22:09 +0000

While I do not like Keith Olbermann, his recent special comment on the passage of prop 8 in California is excellent, to the point and, dare I say it, a throwback to before the primaries when Olbermann actually seemed to give a damn about something beyond his own reflection.