Monday, November 9, 2009

From JMG

HomoQuotable - Dan Savage

"Twenty-five years ago, at the height of the AIDS crisis, there were hundreds—thousands—of gay men walking around with two or three T cells and six-months-or-less to live. The religious right was doing what it always does: it's worst, demonizing gay people, kicking us when we were down, attacking us on the airwaves and in Congress, and neglecting us to death at the White House. Those were dark days. And yet no gay man—none of those gay men with just a few months to live and nothing left to lose—picked up a gun and took at shot at Jesse Helms or Jerry Falwell. The only political assassination attempt during the Reagan years was on Reagan, of course, and it was made by a deranged straight boy who wanted to impress a girl.

"If gay people didn't shoot our political enemies during the AIDS crisis, Peter, it seems highly unlikely that a gay assassin is coming to kill you, despite the loose talk of one anonymous commenter. No need to make a federal case out of it.

"And we all know it's not a cap you want popped in your ass, Peter." - Dan Savage, reacting to Peter LaBarbera and Matt Barber calling the FBI about JMG commenters.

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courtesy of JMG

Sign this Petition

Don't Ask, Don't Give

Joe and I are launching today a donor boycott of the DNC. The boycott is cosponsored by Daily Kos, Dan Savage, Michelangelo Signorile, Paul Sousa (Founder of Equal Rep in Boston), Pam Spaulding, Robin Tyler (ED of the Equality Campaign, Inc.), Bil Browning for the Bilerico Project, Jane Hamsher and soon others.

It's really more of a "pause," than a boycott. Boycotts sounds so final, and angry. Whereas this campaign is temporary, and is only meant to help some friends - President Obama and the Democratic party - who have lost their way. We are hopeful that via this campaign, our friends will keep their promises.

So please sign the Petition and take a Pledge to no longer donate to the DNC, Organizing for America, or the Obama campaign until the President and the Democratic party keep their promises to the gay community, our families, and our friends.

jump to the full post here


Portugal To Approve Marriage Equality

Sources in the administration of Portuguese Prime Minister José Sócrates say that one of the first plans for his new government will be to approve marriage equality. Via Bay Windows:
"The measure is part of the official program of the party and according to government sources, the move will be done as soon as [formation of] the government is complete," writes correspondent João Paulo from PortugalGay.pt. Sócrates’ Socialist Party captured 97 of Parliament’s 230 seats. With 31 additional votes from members of the Left Bloc and the Communist Party, both of which support gay marriage, Sócrates should be able to pass the bill easily.
Since 2001 Portugal has had a civil unions law for gay and straight couples that have lived together for at least two years.

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great news lifted from JMG

Important post from JMG: Please read Joe's advice when posting

Peter LaBarbera: The Liberty Counsel Has Called The FBI Over JMG Commenters

According to arch homophobe Peter LaBarbera, the Christianist legal firm Liberty Counsel has called the FBI to report "terrorist threats" made by JMG commenters.

Dear Readers,

Homosexual activist blogger Joe Jervis of “Joe.My.God” website contains a post attacking AFTAH founder Peter LaBarbera followed by a reader comment suggesting that “domestic terrorism” against pro-family leaders who oppose the homosexual agenda is justifiable.

In the post, titled “Haters vs. Haters: Peter LaBarbera Attacks Maine’s Stand for Marriage” — which has been live online since last Wed., Nov. 4 — a reader named “Fritz” writes:

“What I fear is that once gay and lesbian people give up hope of achieving equality through nonviolent means, there will be radicals who will begin to hunt down haters like LaBarbera and [National Organization for Marriage founder Maggie] Gallagher.

“All [it] will take is a small group of radical zealots who are willing to kill for their cause….”

Responding to Fritz’s suggestive “warning,” “Tex” writes:

“Fritz … you say this like it’s a bad thing?

“Maybe a bit of well-organized terrorism is just what we need, er, I mean ‘civil disobedience.’”

More coming …. We will reproduce all the offensive comments on our website. The pro-family Christian defense organization Liberty Counsel has contacted the FBI regarding the threatening post.
The two comments excerpted by LaBarbera don't pass the laugh test as a "terrorist threat." The first, by Fritz, expressed concern that any violence against anti-gay activists would HURT our cause. Which it would. The second, by Tex, is clearly a joke. Nevertheless, I've taken that post down for the time being.

But please let this obvious attempt to intimidate me and my readers serve as a warning to you all. The Christianist right monitors this blog and what we all say very closely. They read every post and every comment, clearly. Please don't post anything, even in jest, that you wouldn't mind saying in a signed letter to your local newspaper. Nothing is truly anonymous on the internet, ever.

Courts have held that bloggers, newspapers, and other online forums are not responsible (PDF) for libelous or threatening comments made on their sites. But cases have been brought, although rarely successfully, against commenters whose identities can be determined. Especially, you must never post the home addresses or personal phone numbers of any public or private persons. Calls to action that include links, addresses, and phone numbers for government agencies, advocacy groups, and businesses are perfectly legal.

According to figures provided by JS-Kit, the commenting service provider for this blog, the volume of commenting here is in the hundreds of thousands per year. Obviously, I cannot monitor them all, so I ask that if you see a comment posted here on JMG that you feel incites to violence, violates someone's personal privacy, or otherwise puts its author in legal jeopardy, please email me at JoeMyGod@gmail.com and I'll investigate.

UPDATE: Raw Story has posted an email from Liberty Counsel's Matt Barber, in which he compares the Fort Hood massacre to "terrorist threats" from JMG commenters.
A prominent social-conservative activist group is using comments made by readers on a gay-rights Web site as "evidence" that the LGBT movement is mulling using "organized terrorism" against Christians. The Liberty Counsel released a statement on Monday linking Nidal Malik Hasan, the alleged shooter in last week's Fort Hood massacre, to the gay-rights movement.

"In the wake of the horrific act of Islamic domestic terrorism at Fort Hood Texas, it has been learned that militant homosexual activists recently made similar online postings to those of Nidal Malik Hasan, threatening additional acts of terrorism against Christians," stated an email from Matt Barber, Liberty Counsel's director of cultural affairs, as well as an associate dean at Liberty University Law School. Barber's email continued:
In response to Maine’s natural marriage victory last Tuesday, “gay” activists have directly threatened to retaliate with “terrorism” and the “killing” of Christians on the popular homosexual activist JoeMyGod weblog. Liberty Counsel notified the FBI which is investigating the matter. As of this morning, the offending blog entry had been removed. Matt Barber commented: “All potential threats of terrorism and murder are very serious business. As we learned just last week, there are ideologically driven terrorists who walk among us. After passage of Proposition 8 in California we saw that many homosexual activists are capable of threats, vandalism and even violence. Those who either threaten or attempt to incite terrorism must be immediately brought to justice. Churches and Christian leaders around the country need to be on high alert. These threats of homosexual activist terrorism must be taken very seriously."
I guess Barber is really upset about his book reviews. So like any dissed author, he called the FBI.

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a heads up from JMG