Wednesday, September 29, 2010

via belirico: This is what persecution looks like

There's been quite a bit of chatter over this video today. Many sites are proclaiming that the villain is a closet case and that's why he's so obsessed with a younger gay man. While he certainly sets off the ole gaydar, I sure as hell wouldn't want to claim him. He can agitate about the "radical homosexual agenda" all he wants, but the truly radical and definitely detrimental person here is looking him in the mirror.

For the record, while Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell claims that college student Chris Armstrong was elected student council president with the help of the Victory Fund, the group doesn't make endorsements or give contributions to student government campaigns. Armstrong interned at Victory Fund; that's it.

The Gay Test

Thanks JMG: Just feeling a little surreal (Possibly NSFW)



and

Via JMG: Quote Of The Day - Wayne Besen


"We blame the anti-gay industry for fighting measures to end bullying in schools, and school officials who turn a blind eye to brutality. We are fed up with what amounts to anti-gay schoolyard muggings that are foolishly dismissed as ‘boys being boys’. In reality, it is ‘boys beating boys’, and these bullies receive tacit approval for their violent, homophobic behavior by teachers and certain vocal segments of society.

"The goal of Exodus International and Focus on the Family is to purge LGBT people from society, although they disingenuously frame the issue as eliminating homosexuality, which is not possible. When you target homosexuality, the result is persecution and punishment of LGBT people, and in many cases it leads to gay bashing or suicides. The anti-gay industry should dismantle these despicable programs and work towards creating solutions instead of suicides." - Truth Wins Out executive director Wayne Besen, responding the rash of suicides among the nation's LGBT youth.


reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Christianists Discover "It Gets Better"


Calling it "inevitable," Dan Savage points out that the Christianists are beginning to find the It Gets Better Project on YouTube and posting their own vile responses. The below douchenozzle has gone as far as launching a website called The Lot Project. Here's a partial transcript from his clip, in which he says that recent teen suicide victim Billy Lucas is in hell for being gay.
"Billy Lucas, who hanged himself, obviously because he was gay, and unable to endure the guilt that the words of others prompted in him. This was indeed a tragedy, but not anywhere near the tragedy that Billy will discover in eternity when he faces the wrath of God upon rebellious and unrepentant sinners. Then, he will realize that his sin could not be atoned for by his own death, and he will realize that people like Dan Savage who encourage sin are deceivers. He will see them for what they are, the blind leading the blind. And he will realize that he has fallen into that ditch that the blind leading the blind inevitably fall into: that's eternal destruction and misery. Sadly, it's too late for Billy. For those who are viewing this video, however, their remains the opportunity of turning from sin to the obedience of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ."
Can you feel the righteous love of God's Gentle People? Do you feel Blessed In The Holy Spirit™? Take it away, Dan: "Fuck you and the bible verses you rode in on, you monstrously hateful pile of shit."



reposted from Joe

AC360 - Mich. Asst. Attorney General Andrew Shirvell Targets Gay Student Chris Armstrong

Via JMG: From SFGMC, It Gets Better

Via JMG: HomoQuotable - Charles Robbins


"I think that the fact that so many young people are so tormented—so ostracized by their family, peers, school, and society in general–that rather than engage and participate in life, they choose to end their life, says a lot about the Christian values that everywhere inform our culture. I think each and every one of us needs to look inside of ourselves, and examine those values for both the good and the harm they’re doing. What I would also very much like Christians to know is that being gay isn’t a choice that anyone makes. It’s not a switch you can turn off and on.

"Gay people were born into creation just like anyone else, and to devalue who they are by insisting God didn’t really make them as they are is to deny them the right to a rich and loving relationship with God–and that’s a terrible, terrible thing to deny anybody. No one should ever use scripture to justify removing another person from the spiritual process. If you’re a Christian—as I am—you should look to Christ for how to live and act toward others. And what does the Great Commandment of Jesus say, but that we’re all supposed to love our neighbors as we love ourselves? I wish more Christians would remember what Jesus himself told them to do." - Trevor Project executive director Charles Robbins, in an interview on the Christian issues site John Shore.

Read the entire interview and the readers' responses. It's encouraging and sadly rare.


reposted from Joe

Via JMG: MINNESOTA: Lay Catholics Organize "Return The Anti-Gay DVD" Project


Saying that the Catholic Church should be feeding and clothing the homeless rather than mailing out hundreds of thousands of anti-gay DVDs, a group of lay Catholics in Minnesota has launched a campaign to send those DVDs back to their bishops.
We are a group of Catholics who are concerned about the priorities of the leaders in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Their action, distributing 400,000 DVDs on the single subject of same-sex marriage shortly before the upcoming election, reflects misguided priorities and strays from the essential teachings of Christ. Our call to action is to create some good out of this unfortunate situation. We are collecting as many DVDs as possible and will return them to Archbishop John Nienstedt with a letter asking him to make the needs of the poor and love of neighbor his highest priority. We will personally make a financial donation for every DVD we collect to St. Stephens Human Services and Episcopal Community Services, non-profits working to help fight poverty and end homelessness in Minnesota.
The group stresses that they are not soliciting or accepting donations. They invite their supporters to instead send money to groups doing the real "work of Jesus."


reposted fromJoe

Via JMG: CALIFORNIA: Bullied Gay Teen Seth Walsh Dies Nine Days After Hanging Himself


After nine days on life support, 13 year-old Seth Walsh has died. Seth hung himself from a tree in his back yard after enduring years of anti-gay bullying from his classmates.
Tehachapi police investigators interviewed some of the young people who taunted Seth the day he hanged himself and determined despite the tragic outcome of their ridicule, their actions do not constitute a crime. "Several of the kids that we talked to broke down into tears," Jeff Kermode, Tehachapi Police Chief, said. "They had never expected an outcome such as this." He said the students told investigators they wish they had put a stop to the bullying and not participated in it. Friends said Seth was picked on for years because he was gay. School administrators said they have an anti-bullying program in place, but schoolmates said staff at Jacobsen Middle School in Tehachapi offered Seth no protection or guidance. A YouTube video by a family member sends a message about Seth: "He was bullied and teased, now in the hospital, this face right here is suffering because of bullying, never say a mean thing again."
A family member created the below video while Seth was first hospitalized.

 


reposted from Joe