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Wayne Besen
PO Box 25491
Brooklyn, NY 11202
Despite the vigorous efforts of "ex-gay" activist Greg Quinlan, legislation to toughen the state's hate crime and bullying laws advanced Thursday in the New Jersey State Assembly. The proposed legislation also targets bullying in schools.
"It is the height of hypocrisy for 'ex-gay' activists to claim they 'love' homosexuals and then fight against laws designed to thwart bullying in schools and stop hate crimes," said TruthWinsOut.org Executive Director Wayne Besen. "The 'ex-gay' strategy is to make life miserable for gay people so they will desire entering expensive 'ex-gay' programs. Perpetuating discrimination and fear is the only way these groups can survive."
Quinlan recently moved to New Jersey from Ohio, where he lobbied extensively against equality. He is well known as an individual who exaggerates the alleged plight of ex-gays, going as far as claiming harassment, when none has occurred.
For nearly an hour, Quinlan led the fundamentalists in a failed attempt to have the Assembly amend the bill to include people who identify themselves as "ex-gay." According to the Associated Press, Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, D-Mercer, at one point lost patience with the persistent conservatives and a brief shouting match ensued.
"Wherever Quinlan appears, civility seems to evaporate," said Besen. "He is a magnet for madness and belligerent towards those who simply disagree with his viewpoint."
This is the latest example where "ex-gays" are using the political process to deny healthy and well-adjusted GLBT people equal rights.
"The 'ex-gay' activists just can't handle seeing happy and complete GLBT Americans," said Besen. "The existence of well-adjusted homosexuals living rich and fulfilling lives is a direct threat to their business model."
Research has revealed that both women and gays perform poorly in tasks involving navigation and spatial awareness when compared to heterosexual men.
Psychologists at Queen Mary, University of London, who conducted the study, believe the findings mean driving in a strange environment would be more difficult for gay men and women than for straight male motorists.
Both tend to rely on local landmarks to get around, and are also slower to take in spatial information. The computer-based tests were carried out on 140 volunteers, and demonstrated that gay men, straight women and lesbians navigated in a similar way, sharing the same weaknesses.
Of course, we all know that the University of London got it wrong. The reason for the poor scores of gay men is that we keep getting distracted by hot men in tank tops driving jeeps. Hello, how do they expect us to keep our eyes on the road under such circumstances?
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As I predicted, Huckabee won - but I thought that snake, Mitt Romney would do better after spending $10 million in Iowa. I have been to Iowa 5 times - how does one even spend $10-million in that cornfield? Huckabee's speech was also very strong, as he did not come off as a fanatic. Will the media call him out this week on his ties to dangerous religious extremists?
Obama pulled off a big victory and gave a phenomenal speech. Clinton also gave a strong magnanimous speech - but officially lost her air of inevitability. She can recover, but tonight hurt. Let's see if she can follow in the footsteps of her husband to be the "Comeback Kid" in New Hampshire.
Edwards kept his campaign alive and performed well. But, clearly, this was Obama's night and I congratulate him. May "Full of Mitt's" campaign crash and burn in New Hampshire...onto the Granite State.
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On the day voters head to the Iowa caucuses, I endorse John Edwards for president. I want to make it clear that this is not an endorsement from TruthWinsOut.org - as the group does not take positions on candidates.
Why Edwards?
I was going to go into a long and elaborate defense of his record, but decided against it. The bottom line is that he is the only one who is speaking to the middle class (i.e. me). I am fed up with corporate CEO's who are driving their companies into the dirt and still getting huge pay raises, while the average worker struggles. Conservatives would argue this is the free market, but this is not true. In a free market, people are rewarded for success - not failure. What we have now is a sick system that needs radical change. America is a declining empire that is falling behind the rest of the world. Edwards is the best candidate to reverse this slide.
Let's face it, our children perform poorly on tests. The dollar is falling as fast as the price of gas is rising. We have failed the entire world in dealing with climate change. And, our sadistic health care system is a national disgrace.
Edwards is the only candidate speaking about the plight of many Americans who are fighting to get by. He is the candidate who genuinely wants to make our lives better and is saying the things that I want to hear. This is why I will vote for John Edwards.
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In 1998, Mike Huckabee co-wrote the book, "Kids Who Kill" with Reconstructionist author George Grant. Grant is an ideologue with extreme, even dangerous religious views. The question is, does the former Arkansas governor share Grant's view of the role of Christianity in government?
This passage is from Grant's 1987 book The Changing of the Guard (Ft. Worth, TX: Dominion Press, 1987), pp. 50-51.
"Christians have an obligation, a mandate, a commission, a holy responsibility to reclaim the land for Jesus Christ - to have dominion in the civil structures, just as in every other aspect of life and godliness. But it is dominion that we are after. Not just a voice. It is dominion we are afier. Not just influence. It is dominion we are after. Not just equal time. It is dominion we are after. World conquest. That's what Christ has commissioned us to accomplish. We must win the world with the power of the Gospel. And we must never settle for anything less.
"If Jesus Christ is indeed Lord, as the Bible says, and if our commission is to bring the land into subjection to His Lordship, as the Bible says, then all our activities, all our witnessing, all our preaching, all our craftsmanship, all our stewardship, and all our political action will aim at nothing short of that sacred purpose. Thus, Christian politics has as its primary intent the conquest of the land - of men, families, institutions, bureaucracies, courts, and governments for the Kingdom of Christ.
"It is to reinstitute the authority of God's Word as supreme over all judgments, over all legislation, over all declarations, constitutions, and confederations. True Christian political action seeks to rein the passions of men and curb the pattern of digression under God's rule."
My friends, is this your vision of America? To me, it sounds more like a twisted American version of fundamentalist Iran. While I doubt these are Huckabee's views, it is still extremely troubling that America's most delusional fundamentalists - who promote violent ideas such as capital punishment for homosexuals - keep showing up in Huckabee's Rolodex, resume and campaign.
George Grant is a former vice president of Coral Ridge Ministries. In his book "Legislating Immorality," Grant expresses sadness that in the modern world there are no longer legal codes proscribing the death penalty for homosexuals.
NEW YORK - TruthWinsOut.org today called Mike Huckabee's statements on Meet the Press about gay people backwards and also raised serious questions about his close association to the Christian Reconstructionist movement - which believes the Bible justifies stoning adulterers and homosexuals.
On Meet The Press, host Tim Russert asked Huckabee, "When you say aberrant or unnatural, do you believe you're born gay or you choose to be gay?" The candidate replied, "I don't know whether people are born that way. People who are gay say that they're born that way. But one thing I know, that the behavior one practices is a choice. We may have certain tendencies, but how we behave and how we carry out our behavior..."
"It is alarming that a man with such backward views is a serious contender for the GOP nomination," said TruthWinsOut.org's Executive Director Wayne Besen. "In the real world, people either act on their sexuality in healthy ways or act like Ted Haggard and Sen. Larry Craig - a tragic lesson that seems lost on Mike Huckabee."
Russert also pointed out that in Huckabee's 1998 book, "Kids Who Kill," the former governor wrote, "It is now difficult to keep track of the vast array of publicly endorsed and institutionally supported aberrations--from homosexuality and pedophilia to sadomasochism and necrophilia."
Kids Who Kill was co-written by George Grant, a known Reconstructionist, who has also written fanatical books such as, "The Changing of the Guard: Biblical Principles for Political Action." The Cato Institute also reported that Huckabee held a fundraiser at the Houston home of Dr. Steven Hotze, another leader of the radical and dangerous Reconstructionist movement.
"Huckabee should explain why he is freely associating with known extremists and how this squares with his professed sunny and optimistic vision for America," said Besen. "Furthermore, the comparison of homosexuality to pedophilia and necrophilia is as ignorant as it is offensive. As the primaries approach, Mike Huckabee is beginning to show his true colors - and they are quite dark and intolerant."
TruthWinsOut.org is a non-profit organization that counters right wing propaganda, exposes the "ex-gay" myth and educates America about gay life.
- Go get them gosh darn varmints Mitt - (left) (Weekly Column)
The presidential marathon has now become a sprint. With the coming of the New Year Americans are now sizing up the candidates. The Democrats are generally excited about their choices, however, the uncertainly of having no clear frontrunner has caused a great deal of unease.
Meanwhile, the Republican crop of candidates is downright depressing. It is so bad, it could even drive someone like the ever-happy Rhonda Byrne, author of The Secret, to the nearest high ledge with a bottle of prescription drugs. The GOP race is so screwed up, that Rev. Pat Robertson endorsed the guy (Giuliani) who is pro-choice and pro-gay. Well, pro-gay for a Republican, which is entirely different than actually being affirming and supportive.
Watching the debates, it almost seemed as if the Republicans and Democrats come from two different worlds. The Democrats talked about healthcare, thought the war in Iraq wasn't going so well and generally were accepting of gay and lesbian equality. Even if they were on the wrong side of marriage, which is no small deal, at least they understood the issue.
The immigration and religion obsessed Republicans were just plain pathetic - particularly on gay rights. Giuliani and Romney, formerly moderate on GLBT issues, couldn't backpedal fast enough. The former mayor of New York generally tried to avoid the issue with the message - I'm a wee bit gay positive, but, please realize I'm ashamed of my record, but too stubborn to say I was actually wrong about "those people".
The protean former governor of Massachusetts simply morphed into an unrecognizable creature. This new creation was an anti-gay, varmint blasting, anti-choice moralist that sounded as if he were from northern Alabama, instead of the most liberal state in the nation.
Really, has there ever been a phonier, flip-flopping panderer in the history of politics than "Full of Mitt" Romney? He is so plastic that I bet he has "Mattel" tattooed on his behind. If Romney became president, it would be like watching a four-year video loop of the movie I-Robot, minus the action scenes. How anyone could actually pull the lever for someone so utterly devoid of character, conscience and consistency is a mystery.
Of course, there is Mike "Huckster-Bible," who presents himself as a fresh, new face, while basing his policies on the Old Testament. It seems that each week, he regresses a century. In fact, when he shouted Happy New Year, he was ringing in 1408. Our only hope is that his time warp is irreversible and he becomes so backwards that he enters a B.C. mindset and thus must give up Christianity and adopt the ancient God Ba'al.
If Huckster-Bible actually gets the nomination, I suspect the entire GOP establishment will blow up - with mass defections of Wall Street Republicans. While, the former Arkansas governor is a rare talent on the campaign trail - I can't imagine the GOP business elite funding a man who might just start calling the Iraqis "Babylonians" at any moment. Seriously, would anyone be shocked if expediting the Rapture became a foreign policy goal under a Huckster-Bible administration?
Sure, the Democrats may sometimes fail to deliver - but the national Republican Party never fails to deliver anti-gay policies and fear driven politics that divide America and set back GLBT equality. The only road to redemption for the GOP is to start from scratch and form a new party where bigots and religious fanatics are not considered a core constituency.
As for the Democrats, the main question is whether the candidate chosen in the primaries will reach his or her leadership potential?
Would Obama be a revolutionary president that heals divisions and restores credibility to America? Or, he would be a rhetorically gifted Jimmy Carter - inexperienced in foreign policy and too weak to reach his full potential?
Would Hillary Clinton return to her idealistic youth and create real and lasting change? Or, was she so mentally scarred by her healthcare defeat and her husband's gays in the military debacle - that she is now cautious to the point of irrelevance?
Would John Edwards really take on fat cat CEO's and fight for the little guy - or simply take their votes for granted on the way to the White House?
The good news is that I think a Democrat is likely to win. The bad news is that if we get a Republican, the dollar has become so weak under Bush that few of us can afford to leave. If being trapped in Huckster-Bible Land is not an incentive to get off the couch and vote - I'm not sure what is.
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