Thursday, April 26, 2012

NOM - Same-sex households and their children don't matter

Whether it meant to or not, the National Organization for Marriage just demonstrated how ugly they are when it comes to children living in same-sex households:



This what NOM's blog says about the matter:

Kalley Yanta of the Minnesota Marriage Minute explains why marriage should not be redefined because some same-sex couples are raising children:
"Very few same-sex couples are raising children. According to the Williams Institute, only 22% of same-sex couples are raising children. Many if not most of those couples involve children from a previous heterosexual relationship. The census bureau shows only 0.55% of all U.S. households are households of same-sex couples. Only 0.12% of U.S. households are same-sex couples raising children."
Yanta sums up the coldness of NOM's anti-marriage equality campaign beginning at 1:14 with this statement:

"Why should the definition of marriage that has served us so well be redefined for the 99.88 percent of households in order to accommodate the desires of the 0.12 percent?"

First let's get that question out of the way. Protecting same-sex families in no way redefines the marriages of heterosexual families. Nor does protecting same-sex families cause harm to heterosexual families.

I'm just struck by the basic callousness of Yanta's statement. I refuse to argue whether or not her points are accurate because it is irrelevant. It doesn't matter how many percentages of same-sex families raising children exist in America. Shouldn't these families be treated equally as heterosexual families?

Not according to Yanta and definitely not according to NOM. To hear them, since same-sex families are not as numerous as large as heterosexual families, they don't deserve protection under the law.

To Yanta and NOM, these families and their children don't matter. It's a contradiction of the statements  made by former NOM head Maggie Gallagher during a Congressional hearing last year. Remember when she said that "there are some gay people who are wonderful parents."

So Gallagher thinks that gays make wonderful parents, but according to her organization, they don't deserve protections for their partners and especially their children.

Is this the new Christian ethic in which we value families not by the love and support they give, but by the number of them exist?

It's an ugly thing to ponder, especially when one remembers the Biblical story of the lost sheep. According to the Gospels of Matthew (18:12–14) and Luke (15:3–7), Jesus told a story of a shepherd who left his flock to find one lost sheep because he cared about that one lost sheep as much as he cared about those 99 others.

The shepherd did not say "forget that sheep. It's just one and I have 99 others." No, the shepherd looked for that sheep until he found it.

The point is that we all have value, not by the number of us who may exist, but because we exist, period.

And that's a value which needs to be upheld. It doesn't matter how many same-sex families raising children exists in this country. They count just as much as heterosexual families raising children. And they should be treated with the same amount of fairness because it is the right thing to do.

A truly ethical and Christian organization would know this. But what does NOM know about true Christianity and true ethics?

No matter how much NOM tries to deceive us, the organization's mask seem to always fall off, showing its true ugly face.


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'Romney catching hell for flip flops on gay issues' and other Thursday midday news briefs

Ebony finds gay religious Atlantan Darian Aaron - Don't let the National Organization for Marriage and their band of liars fool you. Many African-Americans support lgbtq equality and there are many African-American oriented magazines focusing on our issues. Ebony magazine is one of many.

FRC Slams Romney On Homocon Hire - Uh oh, Romney is in trouble part 1.

Tony Perkins, Gary Bauer Side with Bryan Fischer on Romney's Openly Gay Staffer - Uh oh. Romney is in trouble part 2.

GLAAD notes Romney's support for inclusive scouting (fittingly tying social conservatives' tummies in knots) - And part 3 - Romney once believed that the Boy Scouts should admit gays. That's what you get for being such a blatant flip flopper. But I still ain't a Romney supporter. Remember he did sign that ugly NOM pledge.

Fox’s Starnes Misinforms About Kansas Non-Discrimination Ordinance - Equality Matters catches a Fox pundit in a HUGE lie about a non-discrimination ordinance. And in other news, water is wet.



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Attacks on Jay Bakker's family is not a Christian virtue

Jay Bakker
For anyone dumb enough to think that the American Family Association's One News Now is a Christian publication, today's articles should erase that notion.

The fake news publication is on a tear about the gay community. Let's look at two items.

In the article, EEOC's 'gross distortion' of Civil Rights Act, One News Now quotes the Liberty Counsel and Truth4Time member Matt Barber to make gross distortions regarding a recent case in which a transgender woman won a landmark case against discrimination. First the actual story courtesy of ABC news:

A Bay Area woman has won a landmark discrimination case in favor of transgender rights.

Mia Macy applied for a job at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms while she still identified herself as a man.

During the hiring process, Macy revealed that she was transitioning to life as a woman. Days later, the ATF said it eliminated the position. Macy later learned someone else was hired for that job.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled the former police officer had been discriminated because of her gender identity.

"It's important because every person from this point forward falls under that federal protection and that was something that maybe I had a part in," said Macy.

This is what Barber said the case would lead to:

"This ruling basically says that a Bible bookstore owner, for instance, could not turn away a homosexual, cross-dressing man, a man who likes to wear a miniskirt and lipstick -- this would protect that man from being denied a job at a Bible bookstore that holds sincerely held religious beliefs that are opposed to that individual's lifestyle," Barber explains.

That, according to the attorney, is another example of the Obama administration stomping on religious rights and "using the EEOC as his henchman to get the job done."

Barber isn't interested in discussing the case on its merits. He is only interested in inflaming fear by appealing to stereotypes about our transgender brothers and sisters.

But believe it or not, that article is merely a prelude to an attack which I found to be ugly, even for One News Now.

Jay Bakker, son of former televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, is himself an evangelist and, as far as I am concerned, a breath of fresh air from the preachers collecting gobs of money while simultaneously whining about being persecuted.

He is also a supporter of the gay community. He was in North Carolina recently holding a rally against that awful Amendment One. In an article, One News Now quoted Mark Creech, a supporter of Amendment One, to make a low attack on Bakker:

Rev. Mark Creech of the Christian Action League of North Carolina is not surprised by Bakker's "feel-good" stance that requires "no real holiness."

"It's unfortunate that, as a child, he was injured … by a lot of hypocrisy that he witnessed in the church, and I think he was also the innocent victim of forms of unjust religious condemnation that seriously, negatively impacted him and made him vulnerable to acceptance of a false message.

Creech is referring to the PTL scandal which took place over 20 years ago which led Bakker's father to serve time in jail for fraud.

I don't know what's worse - the fact that Creech felt the need to throw that mess up in Bakker's face (he was only a child when it all took place) or the fact that he tries to make his comments seem that of a concerned Christian.

Why was it necessary for Creech to make such a nasty dig at Bakker's family? At his father and his deceased mother (Tammy Faye Messner died of cancer in 2007)?

Bakker's father served his time and has returned to the ministry. His mother became a gay icon after spreading a message of love and self-acceptance. And I might point out that she had more Christian love and charity in one mascaraed eyelash than Creech has in his entire Bible thumping body.

Creech and One News Now epitomizes the phoniness of some American Christians and give adequate reasons why so many folks are abandoning the religion.

Who wants to be associated with such nasty hypocrites?



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