Monday, June 16, 2014

Psssst! Here is the new lie the anti-gay right will spin about marriage equality

Matt Barber lies about gays (again.)
Arch-homophobe and wannabe mogul of an online "Christian publication" (BarbWire, which can be best described as an extension of his vile psyche) Matt Barber has a column out predicting that churches in America will soon be forced to marry gay couples.

Never mind reading the entire thing because its his usual psycho wannabe John The Baptist babble. However, the first sentence caught my attention and should catch yours:

Churches in Denmark are now compelled, by law, to host same-sex "weddings."

Even on a technical basis, Barber is wrong. I recognized that sentence from an earlier article I posted in my news briefs. At the time, it was Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association spinning this lie:

According to the London Telegraph, a new law passed by the Danish parliament "make(s) it mandatory for all churches to conduct gay marriages." No options, no exceptions, no choice. Homosexuals are to be married wherever they want, regardless of whose conscience is trampled and whose sanctuary is defiled in the process. 

Sarah Jones for Americans United for the Separation of Church and State refuted Fischer:

 While it is certainly true that in Denmark, same-sex couples have a legal right to be married in a church in some cases, Fischer neglects to mention the reason why that is so: Denmark has a state church. The law applies quite specifically to that state church.

“With the legalization of gay marriage, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark [which is the state church], is required to allow same-sex couples to marry in churches,” the Pew Research Center notes in a 2013 explainer on same-sex marriage laws around the world.It’s hardly a blanket rule: Pew goes on to state that other religious groups are exempt from the law.

Catholic churches, for example, aren’t required to host same-sex marriage ceremonies, a fact the Vatican noted just this week. “For the moment we [the Catholic Church] are not worried,” Niels Messerschmidt, a representative of the Catholic Diocese of Copenhagen, told Vatican Radio.

Fischer omitted this crucial fact in his fear mongering, as did Matt Barber.

And how much do you want to bet that if any speaker at the National Organization for Marriage's silly march later this week brings up this law (because they probably will), the truth behind the meme they will spin about "churches are being forced to marry gay couples in Denmark will magically elude them?

The sad part about the entire lie is that in the comments section of One News Now where Barber's mess is published, the true story is pointed out. However it still doesn't dissuade the notion from some folks that gays are plotting to force churches to marry them.

On that note, the entire blame for this lie can't be shouldered by Fischer or Barber.

When you have people so willing to scared in spite of being told that their fears are groundless,  who can blame Barber, Fischer, or any anti-gay spokesperson for taking advantage of their stupidity?

'Obama to sign executive order protecting lgbt employees of federal contractors' & other Monday midday news briefs

President Obama To Sign Executive Order Protecting LGBT Employees Of Federal Contractors - This came in! About time.

 CNBC Anchor Confronts Rick Perry About Remark Comparing Gays To Alcoholics - Proving yet again that those who make anti-gay statements just can't handle it when questioned on their comments. 

Ingraham: I Don't Know How Courts Could Possibly Allow Gay Marriage Without Allowing Polyamorous Marriage - Someone should ask her does she feel that way about her gay brother's relationship?

  'Old school prude' AFA president calls Michael Sam kiss 'gross,' 'immoral, unhealthy and unnatural' - Good grief, is the American Family Association's Tim Wildmon still mad at the Michael Sam kiss? One wonders if he is just upset that no one ever kissed him like that.

 Regnerus Study Backer Acknowledges That Marriage Equality Creates Family Stability - I love my lgbt brothers and sisters but I hate it when we let gold plate items like this pass without comment.  

Federal Employees’ Insurance Will No Longer Be Required To Exclude Transgender Coverage - Nice! 

 Transgender Activist Joanna Blackhart Recalls The Challenges Of Coming Out In College - An excellent article.

Anti-gay group's 'March 4 Confusing the Issue' is this Thursday

I am so looking forward to the National Organization for Marriage's upcoming March for Marriage this Thursday.

And I say that with tongue placed firmly in cheek and with a huge amount of sarcasm.

NOM has been decimated with a string of embarrassing public losses lately with regards to anti-marriage equality amendments being struck down in a number of states as well as losing lawsuits against the IRS and being made to paid for breaking Maine's nondisclosure law.

The organization is hoping that the march will give it some momentum. From the American Family Association's phony news source, One News Now:

The National Organization for Marriage's second annual March for Marriage is set for Thursday, June 19, in D.C. Given the climate in the country over the past months, spokesman Chris Plante tells OneNewsNow this year's march is all the more important. “It will be a huge statement to the U.S. Supreme Court, to the Congress and to the mainstream media that Americans still stand for marriage as one man and one woman and that every child deserves both a mother and a father,” he says. Thousands of marriage supporters from throughout the country will take to the streets after a rally where they will hear from noted speakers such as Senator Santorum, Governor Huckabee and many others. “It will be a day in which America actually takes a stand and tries to turn the clock back on marriage and turn back the tide of judicial activism that has been occurring where individual justices are imposing their own individual wills on entire states in redefining marriage,” he explains. For those who can't attend, National Organization for Marriage is conducting a virtual march on the event’s website. People can hold local marriage rallies or at state capitals to make it clear that they also stand for traditional marriage. 

 Virtual marches? Does that mean if I log onto the event's webpage even if I don't support their efforts, NOM will count me as one of its supporters?

Seriously though, I have a few predictions.

1. The march will be spun as a huge success. 

2. It will gain a good degree of media attention, particularly because - and this is my personal opinion - NOM will officially call for and begin working towards a constitutional amendment outlawing marriage equality.

3. But in the long run, it won't change a thing with regards to NOM's losses or the momentum swing towards marriage equality. That reason is simple. We are in the court phase of marriage equality. By attempting to push a constitutional amendment, NOM no doubt hopes to push this argument back to the phase where people will be voting after being influenced by horror stories of gays recruiting children, etc. It ain't going to happen. NOM obviously did not prepare for the court phase of the marriage equality fight, where coherent arguments always take the place over horror stories, unproven anecdotes, and mindbogglingly stupid arguments about marriage "uniting the two halfs of mankind."

It reminds me of a story I heard about when Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier teamed up to make the movie Marathon Man.  Apparently, Hoffman had stayed up all night because he was supposed to be do a scene in which his character looked tired and worn out. When Olivier heard about it, he simply told Hoffman, "you should try acting, dear boy. It's much easier."

Of course the story isn't true, but it speaks to the heart of NOM's folly with regards to this march. If the organization had any coherent arguments it could supply in the courtroom, this upcoming public ceremony of mass flagellation wouldn't have been necessary in the first place.