Little Bobby Marshall’s temper tantrum

Posted on May 17, 2012 by David

My initial reaction to hearing about Bob Marshall’s highly unusual actions to cause the rejection of Tracy Thorne-Begland’s nomination to the General District Court was “petulant temper tantrum.” The latest admission from Marshall shows just how accurate that first impression was:

“He holds himself out as being married,” said Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-Prince William), who is running for U.S. Senate. He said Thorne-Begland’s “life is a contradiction to the requirement of submission to the constitution.”

It’s not good enough, you see, that Thorne-Begland’s marriage is not recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Nor is it good enough that he and his husband can’t even obtain recognition of a civil union, domestic partnership, or any other “legal status that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance, or effects of marriage” or obtain a status to which are assigned “the rights, benefits, obligations, qualities, or effects of marriage.”

No, that’s not enough. Like Haman, little Bobby Marshall wants Tracy Thorne-Begland to bow down. Because Bobby Marshall was able to insert his tiny god of fear into the Virginia Constitution, he now believes he is entitled to demand “submission” to it. Those who fail to bow down to his little god must be punished. That is just how stark this is.

Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, News | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

What they really mean when they say they’re “not anti-gay”

Posted on May 16, 2012 by David

The memorial service for the late Chuck Colson was held today. May God have mercy on his soul. Of those contending to replace him as the leading voice of “Christian” victimism, and as the architect of anti-gay propaganda at Prison Fellowship Ministries, John Stonestreet is probably the most sophisticated.

One of the favorite techniques of Colson and his acolytes is to stand reality on its head by casting themselves, although they are the ones working to deny religious freedom and civil rights to others, as the oppressed and persecuted. Hence Stonestreet, in a recent column, claims for himself and his audience the role of Esther. You all know the story, right? Haman, the Jew-hating dictator, is a prime minister whose king has unwittingly taken the Hebrew Esther as his wife. When Haman is angered by Mordecai and is about to respond in a genocidal rage, Esther outs herself to save her people.

Stonestreet equates the situation of the Hebrews, in exile under the rule of Haman, to the circumstances of “Christians” today when they are restrained in any way by the civil rights of others. My husband gently pointed out to him the irony of his words: That the behavior Stonestreet is encouraging is very much like Haman’s inclination to dehumanize the Hebrews and see them as something other than just people, perhaps objectifying them as the “lobbyists” or “homosexual activists” of their day.

Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, News | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Delusional, or immoral?

Posted on May 15, 2012 by David

You might have seen a video that went viral over the weekend – five minutes of some of the most bizarre claptrap about gay people you are ever likely to hear, delivered by a speaker at a city council public meeting. I say “some of” because much of it could easily have come from certain public figures, or from one or two speakers addressing local public boards here in Loudoun.

Well, it turns out that the speaker in the video is a “protected person,” a resident of an assisted living facility and diagnosed with schizophrenia. She is a regular at these public meetings; the council members are familiar with her and listen to her politely. Her brother Patrick acts as her conservator:

He said he’s disappointed the video garnered such attention and jokes without the whole story.

“To me, it shows how little society really cares about people with mental health issues,” Patrick Svoboda said. “She does have a very tender heart … but anything she says is certifiably schizophrenic … she’s not some crazy conservative.”

He said her family has tried to get her help multiple times, but unless she harms herself or others, there’s not much more they can do.

Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, News | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Virginia Republicans didn’t get the memo

Posted on May 15, 2012 by David

Updated below the fold with some bleating by Bob Marshall to the media.

See the post below this one. Did they read the memo? Did they understand it? No. Virginia Republicans just rejected the election of Tracy Thorn-Begland to the General District Court because he’s gay, and for no other reason. They just don’t get it.

I would so like to have been proven wrong for once. Alas, Virginia is poised to be a national laughingstock, again. There’s sure to be plenty of embarrassing video footage.

Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, News | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

The most significant event for equality in recent memory – and it wasn’t the president’s endorsement of marriage

Posted on May 14, 2012 by David

Before somebody starts yelling at me, let me just say that I’m not diminishing the significance of President Obama’s historic endorsement. It matters. A lot. Go read Andrew Sullivan’s cover essay in this week’s Newsweek for a good summary. “To have the president of the United States affirm my humanity —and the humanity of all gay Americans — was, unexpectedly, a watershed. He shifted the mainstream in one interview.”

But, as a measure of how far the mainstream has actually shifted, nothing beats this much less reported, but must-read document. As Sullivan points out, this is the GOP establishment addressing, bluntly, the GOP establishment. The warning from “highly respected Republican pollster” Jan van Lohuizen really couldn’t be more factual and dispassionate about the situation they are now facing:

In view of this week’s news on the same sex marriage issue, here is a summary of recent survey findings on same sex marriage:

1. Support for same sex marriage has been growing and in the last few years support has grown at an accelerated rate with no sign of slowing down. A review of public polling shows that up to 2009 support for gay marriage increased at a rate of 1% a year. Starting in 2010 the change in the level of support accelerated to 5% a year. The most recent public polling shows supporters of gay marriage outnumber opponents by a margin of roughly 10% (for instance: NBC / WSJ poll in February / March: support 49%, oppose 40%).

And this is what that looks like graphically:

Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, News | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Virginia defies its reputation, embraces reality

Posted on April 30, 2012 by David

This is nothing short of a stunning accomplishment. We owe our thanks to the community members who did the hard, unglamorous, patient work of education. They are heroes. Education is really the only thing that can bring about a significant change in policy like this.

Virginia has adopted a simple, straightforward mechanism for correcting one’s gender marker on a driver’s license, one that comports with the reality of legal gender transition:

As of April 25, 2012, the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) implemented a new, and much simpler, policy for changing one’s gender marker on a VA driver’s license. Individuals can now use the Gender Change Request form, known as DL-17, which requires only a signature from a licensed provider, including a doctor, psychiatrist, nurse practitioner, social worker, or counselor attesting to the fact that the applicant is a patient of the provider and that the applicant’s “gender identity” is either female or male and “can reasonably be expected to continue as such for the foreseeable future.”

Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, News | Tagged , | 3 Comments

These Ten Things I wish the Church Knew About Homosexuality are all valuable for helping people shed their religious misunderstandings, but this one in particular applies always and everywhere:

You cannot call it “special rights” when someone asks for the same rights you have.

Posted on April 29, 2012 by David | Leave a comment

Go figure – these 1999 remarks by Pat Robertson, of all people, demonstrate a more advanced understanding of gender science than that of some Democratic leaders in 2012:

Letter Writer:
I’m 40 years old and have had a sex change. I’ve been watching your program and was wondering if God forgave me. Should I live as I am now or go back to my birth gender?

Pat Robertson:
This is a very serious question and I appreciate it. There are people who are born with various types of hormonal activity in their bodies and they feel more male than female, and more female than male. I know a plastic surgeon here, in this area who indeed does that sort of thing and, ah, to accommodate what is going on in peoples lives.

Terry Meeuwsen:
This is a very legitimate hormonal thing happening.

Continue reading →

Posted on April 26, 2012 by David | Leave a comment

Mark Sell: Not really the best spokesman

Posted on March 27, 2012 by David

Submitted without further comment:

These types of attacks only take focus away from the issues Loudoun County residents are concerned about, such as education, transportation and taxes. – Loudoun County Republican Committee Chair Mark Sell, in response to a petition calling for hate group director Eugene Delgaudio’s resignation from public office.

Mark Sell, second from right, participating in a Delgaudio hate group stunt.

Posted in News | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Pat Nolan’s anti-gay disdain

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Jonathan

Pat Nolan, Vice President of Loudoun-based Prison Fellowship Ministries explains why he opposes a prison LGBT liaison. Here is the news brief reported by the web site Crosswalk, emphasis mine.

Government Launches Prison LGBT Affirmative Action Plan

The Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Prisons announced this month a new plan to begin recruiting employees who will serve as lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender (LGBT) representatives for each prison facility, CBN News reports. The LGBT representatives will serve as members of each prison’s affirmative action committee, and will devote 20 percent of their workday to “coordinat[ing] activities and programs designed to cultivate LGBT cultural awareness both within and outside the institution.” Pat Nolan of Prison Fellowship Ministries said: “No sex is allowed in prison, so why on earth would the central office require that there be a person in every prison to promote the sexuality of one part of the population? It’s truly bizarre and it makes no sense at all from a management-of-the-prison perspective. It seems to us this is just a political move; it has nothing to do with running better prisons.”

Nolan isn’t that dumb. He knows that there should be zero-tolerance for prison rape and he knows that sexual minorities are preyed upon. But his job, or a major part of it, apparently, is to continue to spread anti-gay propaganda, at the expense of the GLBT prison population, which is why PFM does not qualify to receive a Loudoun tax exemption.

Posted in News | Tagged , , | 1 Comment