Box Turtle Bulletin

All the lovers – two interpretations

I think we could all use a smile today.

Australian gay icon, Kylie Minogue, has released her new song All the Lovers with a dance beat and a provocative video. (Preview embedded, full video here)

In proof that there’s always another way of looking at things, gay glamrock band The Scissor Sisters has reinterpreted the song as country. Somehow it works.

Lou Engle Supports Criminalization of Homosexuality

Lou Engle on stage with other supporters of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill at a TheCall rally in Kampala (Michael Wilkerson / Religion Dispatches)

Lou Engle, the Dominionist evangelical preacher behind TheCall, has confirmed more or less what Uganda MP David Bahati told author Jeff Sharlet: That Engle supports Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill — at least some form that is similar to the one that is currently under consideration.

Sarah Posner, author of God’s Profits: Faith, Fraud, and the Republican Crusade for Values Voters, posted an interview she conducted with Engle for the Religion Dispatches web site. In this exchange, Engle denied knowing MP David Bahati (the bill’s sponsor) or Julius Oyet, who appears to be a major behind-the-scenes player in promoting the draconian bill in Uganda, and he denied supporting the bill when meeting with Uganda’s Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo. But he also said that “we appreciated the two guys [Bahati and Oyet] whose hearts were to bring forth a principled bill.”

Posner asked a series of questions specific to the bill. Engle denied supporting the death penalty provision, although he believed that there was a biblical basis for having one under certain circumstances. She also asked what other provisions in the bill he didn’t support:

I pressed him about which penalties in the bill he didn’t support — and he did say that although he could see someone supporting the death penalty, he did not, and he did not support “hard labor” as punishment or the requirement that churches report LGBT people to the authorities. But when I asked him if he would support a bill with less harsh penalties, he added: 

My main thing is to keep — is to not allow it to be legalized, so to speak, so then it just spreads through the legal system of the nation. So I’m not — I’m not making a statement as to what I think the penalties should be. It’s not my job to do that. I do think, I do think that these leaders are trying to make at least some kind of statement that you’re not just going to spread the agenda without some kind of restraint, a legal restraint and punishment. And I don’t know what the line is on those, but I can’t go that far as I understand that bill already said. [emphasis mine]

Engle admitted that his praise for the bill’s supporters’ “principled stand” might have led them to believe that he supported the bill. Although he insisted he did not support the bill as written, “I did support the principle of a nation saying, restraining it from coming into their nation.” He then went on to maintain that because homosexuality hasn’t been “restrained” in the United States, “I don’t think it’s going to be good for the nation, it sweeps into the education system, and the church is going to end up losing its privilege to have its own voice. Gender rights, will trump religious rights. I think it’s wrong, it’s not good for society. Those are the statements I came with, so frankly I was quite surprised to be thrown into this huge controversy.”

According to this interview, it appears that Lou Engle’s position on Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill is virtually identical to that of Holocaust revisionist Scott Lively. Lively, too, says that he doesn’t support the death penalty, but he finds the rest of the bill acceptable. Lively has called the bill “a step in the right direction” several times. More recently, he told Current TV’s Marianna van Zeller that passage of the bill would be “the lesser of two evils.” When asked whether that endorsement includes the death penalty, Lively had to struggle with that option for quite a long time before finally deciding that he still doesn’t support it, even as the “lesser of two evils.”

Engle now appears to hold the exact same position as Lively.

Birds of a feather ain’t flocking

Adam Hood, the ex-gay scarfboi whose “prophetic utterances” and history with both extensive drug abuse and mental illness have left me convinced that he had precarious mental health, has made quite a splash on the blogosphere lately. In fact, he’s even caught the attention of anti-gay activist James Hartline, another ex-gay whose “prophetic utterances” and history with both extensive drug abuse and mental illness have led me to the same conclusion.

You’d think they’d find common ground in, if nothing else, their shared hostility towards the gay community that took them in and sheltered them when no one else would.

You’d be wrong.

Within the past few minutes, Hartline has tweeted his opinions about Hood:

# I was informed a year ago by ministries in San Francisco regarding a man named Adam Hood who put curses on Christians he couldn’t control. 6 minutes ago

# Incompetent homosexual activists are being “hood” winked by emergent church media behind Adam Hood to help promote Hood’s hidden agenda. 11 minutes ago

What Hartline means by all this is beyond me.

Study: gay men recognize faces similarly to women

There is another study which looks at the interplay between brain use, sexuality, and handedness. (Science Blog)

The study, published in the journal, Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition, examined the influence of gender, sexual orientation and whether we’re right-or-left-handed on our ability to recognize faces. It found that when memorizing and discriminating between faces, homosexual men show patterns of bilaterality — the usage of both sides of the brain — similar to heterosexual women. Heterosexual men tend to favour the right hemisphere for such tasks.

But, perhaps not surprisingly, handedness made a difference

Steeves and her colleagues also investigated the influence of hand dominance on such tasks. They found that left-handed heterosexual participants had better face recognition abilities than left-handed homosexuals, and also outperformed right-handed heterosexuals.

Hand dominance is thought to be linked with both hemispheric functioning and sexual orientation; previous studies have shown that homosexual individuals are 39 per cent more likely to be left-handed.

This can be added to the growing pile of studies that identify specific biological differences between heterosexual and gay men (and, to a lesser extent, heterosexual and gay women).

This past weekend I was at a conference where a very well-intentioned man droned on about the causes of sexual attraction. After far too long listening to him read his slides about Freud and Foucault and infant parental relationships (along with Engels’ perspectives thrown in to add credibility), I was ready to scream.

Yes, the way in which we respond to our sexual attractions, the way we think about ourselves as either individuals or members of a group, the limitations we put on ourselves, and the way we talk about our attractions are all impacted to some extent by our culture, its expectations, and our own self-identity. Of course our upbringing assigns roles and expectations that carry with us through our lives.

But you simply cannot overlook the increasing evidence that biology is also at play. All of the Freudian theories or NARTHian models just can’t get around the twin studies, brain measurements, spacial navigation, click response, pheromones, handedness, hair whorls, x-chromosome deactivation, and all the other peculiarities that appear when we decide to stop theorizing and begin measuring.

The “Not Gay” Scarfboi’s Ties to Lou Engle

Adam Hood’s two videos have gone viral throughout the web. In this video, Hood provides a bit more background to his life story. It turns out that Hood is associated with Morningstar House in the Portola district of San Francisco. He also works with the so-called “Justice House of Prayer,” the evangelical group which is often seen “witnessing” in the Castro near the Bank of America or on Harvey Milk Plaza. Engle says he sent his son to establish JHOP just a block off the Castro “where the homosexuals boast the dominion of darkness.”

A Texas GOP platform that sounds too familiar

The Texas Republican Party has a long proud history of blatant homophobia. In 1998, Log Cabin, the gay Republican group, was denied booth space at the state convention. At the 2000 Republican National Convention when gay congressman Jim Kolbe took to the podium to speak about foreign policy, the delegates from Texas, in a deliberate show of disrespect, began “praying” instead of listening. Even though Texas GOP’s favorite son George W. Bush built his 2004 campaign partly on homophobia, he looks downright tolerant when compared to his fellow Republicans back home.

But now the Texas Republicans have topped themselves. In this season of ‘who can be the looniest’, the GOP has come up with a state party platform that sounds as though it was written in Kampala. Here’s what the Texas Republicans have to say about you:

• Gay people are a threat to straights.
• Gay people are trying to impose their values through “well-funded, vigorous political and judicial attempts.”
• Homosexuality “tears at the fabric of society, contributes to the breakdown of the family unit, and leads to the spread of dangerous, communicable diseases.”
• Denying civil rights and equality to gay people “promotes health”
• Schools should not be allowed to present a non-negative message about homosexuality.
• Gay people should be denied marriage.
• States which have chosen to allow gay people to marry should be forced to revoke such marriages.
• No rights or benefits should be allowed or granted to domestic partners.
• Tax laws should give preference to married heterosexuals.
• Gay people should have their children taken from them.
• Gay people should be denied health insurance.
• Sodomy laws should be reinstated.
• Those who attack gay people should not face criminal or civil penalties.
• It should be a felony to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple and for any civil official to perform a marriage ceremony for such.

I do not wish to downplay the situation in Uganda or to suggest that the level of hatred and fear in Texas comes anywhere near the extent to which our friends in Uganda are threatened. But all of this rhetoric sound far too familiar to me.

The Republicans in Texas who wrote this platform truly to fear you and hold deep animus towards you.

The section on “STRENGTHENING FAMILIES, PROTECTING LIFE AND PROMOTING HEALTH” is included after the break

Read the rest of this entry »

Stanley Cup coming to Chicago Pride

If you make it to the Gay Pride parade in Chicago on June 27, keep your eye out for the Chicago Gay Hockey Association; they’ll be the guys on roller blades “skating” down the street. And with them will be Brent Sopel, defenseman with the reigning Chicago Blackhawk, who will be marching with his family and with the Stanley Cup, the international ice hockey trophy entrusted into the keeping of the winning team each year. (Sun Times)

“I am honored to do it,” said Sopel, who will be accompanied by wife, Kelly, and his four kids, Jacob, 12, Lyla, 8, Jayla, 6, and Paul, 20, whom they adopted three years ago after Paul’s parents died within six months of each other.

“The power of the Cup is incomprehensible, and we recognize the importance of doing this,” said McDonough, who has arranged for the Stanley Cup to be flown back from the National Hockey League draft in Los Angeles 15 hours early. “It’s important for the city and important for the franchise.”

Sopel was motivated to participate by the story of Brandon Burke, a young hockey player and legacy who came out in a way that inspired acceptance within the hockey world and who died this year in a driving accident.

But the Stanley Cup will not be the only sports icon at Chicago Pride. Living legend Ernie Banks (“Mr. Cub”), a Baseball Hall of Famer who was the first black player for the Chicago Cubs in 1953 and who went on to play 18 years for the franchise, will be there to represent the club. The Chicago Cubs, will be, to the best of my knowledge, the first professional sports team to sponsor their own float in a gay pride parade.

Las Vegas Church Which Supports Ugandan “Kill-The-Gays” Pastor Wants To Test You for HIV

Top: Canyon Ridge Community Church in Las Vegas wants to test you for HIV. Bottom: Canyon Ridge's "dearly beloved family and friend" wants to kill you for being HIV-positive.

A Las Vegas church wants to test you for HIV. That church’s strategic partner and “dearly beloved friend and family” wants to put you to death if you are HIV-positive.

Canyon Ridge Christian Church, which lists Uganda pastor Martin “Eat Da Poo Poo” Ssempa as an international “strategic partner,” will host for National HIV Testing Day on June 27, 2010. According to a notice on the church’s web site:

Because of Canyon Ridge Christian Church’s commitment to “be a show of compassion” to our community and an instrumental force in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS, we will be offering FREE HIV testing from 10 AM – 4 PM provided by the Southern Nevada Health District (fingerprick test with results in 15 minutes).

That compassion to the community also apparently extends to providing continued support for on of Africa’s most virulently homophobic pastors. Canyon Ridge has defended their partnership with Ssempa despite his avid support for Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which adds the death sentence for LGBT people under certain circumstances. Ironically, one of those circumstances which call for the death penalty is simply being HIV-positive. Here is the bill’s text for that section:

3. Aggravated homosexuality.
(1) A person commits the offense of aggravated homosexuality where the

…(b) offender is a person living with HIV; …

(2) A person who commits the offence of aggravated homosexuality shall be liable on conviction to suffer death.

It doesn’t end there. The bill also mandates that those who are accused of homosexuality be tested for HIV, presumably to determine their eligibility for the death penalty:

(3) Where a person is charged with the offence under this section, that person shall undergo a medical examination to ascertain his or her HIV status.

The bill would also criminalize employers, family members and medical professionals who fail to report LBBT people to the police within 24 hours. The bill would further jeopardize HIV/AIDS prevention efforts by imposing criminal penalties on anyone who “aids and abets” homosexuality or provides accurate information on safe sex practices for the prevention if HIV infection.

That Canyon Ridge — or indeed any American Church — would continue to defend its association with Ssempa is, frankly unimaginable. But that is precisely the case here. In a post to Grove City College professor Warren Throckmorton, Canyon Ridge pastor Mitch Harrison not only refused to disassociate from Ssempa, he said that Ssempa was among his “dearly beloved friends and family.”

This dearly beloved friend has been the public face for the “Kill-The-Gays” movement in Uganda. He eagerly embraced the Anti-Homosexuality Bill since its inception. Ssempa has been the instigator behind several forced outing campaigns, and he has hurled accusations of homosexuality toward rival pastors in an attempt to improve his own standing. Since the draconian bill’s introduction in Parliament last fall, Ssempa responded to international criticism by blatantly lying about the bill’s contents on several occasions. Those same distortions have been picked up by several leading American backers of the bill as well. More recently, Ssempa has resorted to showing hard-core graphic pornography in churches and press conferences in order to stir up hatred and revulsion toward gay people.

And Canyon Ridge is providing material support for all of this activity, while simultaneously generating positive press in Las Vegas for their “outreach” to the gay community. It’s time for the LGBT community in Las Vegas to make their presence known.

[Hat tip: Warren Throckmorton]

Update: Change.org has a petition urging the Southern Nevada Health District to demand that Canyon Ridge condemn Ssempa’s work in Uganda. The form automatically sends an email directly to the Southern Nevada Health District. You can sign the petition using the widget below:

Hawaii civil unions on potential veto list

As expected, Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle has put the civil unions bill on the potential veto list. (KHON)

At a press conference where she announced the items on her veto list, Governor Lingle said the civil unions matter would possibly be the most difficult decision of her career.

If Lingle does not veto the bill by July 6, the bill will go into law without her signature. Let’s hope that in the meantime, Lingle finds herself in a hospital near a lesbian that is desperately begging to see her partner or stuck on a plane next to a gay man who has just figured out how much more he pays in taxes than his straight coworker.

Or perhaps that she finds a moment to consider the responsibility that every governor is given to do what is right and best for all of her constituents without consideration to the lobbying efforts of those who seek preference, privilege, and advantage over others.

Not Gay

That’s what he says, anyway. Fair enough, but it’s still clear that this ‘mo is a queer as a three dollar bill.

At the 1:50 mark:

“Homosexuality is an abomination. It’s a sin that God will damn. If they stay in that sin, they will be damned to hell and rightly so. Because they need to be quarantined because they’ll continue in their rebellion and they’ll try to bring that gangrene into heaven, and God’s not having it.”

Hood tells his life story in another video here.

Update: The Recycle Your Faith web site, which appears to have produced this video, doesn’t seem to be a particularly anti-gay web site per se, but a site trying to foster dialogue. Here are two videos posted just last week which take a gay affirming view. And speaking of “not gay”, these videos feature someone else who is really not gay. Kathy Baldock, an Evangelical Christian, studied the clobber verses and decided that most of Evangelical Christianity — including Adam Hood — has it completely wrong about homosexuality. Her “rewind” video is particularly moving.

At the 3:00 mark:

The nastiest words I get are from Evangelical Christians… I am told that I’m going to hell, I’m told that I’ve got the blood of thousands of people on my hands, that I’m a tool of Satan, I’m called a really inappropriate word…”

Kathy has a blog here.

Heterosexual menace: the Smileys

In April 2008, John Smiley was enjoying a trip to San Francisco. He had spent the day at the zoo with his wife and two kids and then, he wrote, “this wonderful afternoon was followed by a great dinner and an announcement that the grandparents would watch the kids so Cindy and I could have a long overdue night out together.” But John’s night out with his wife ended in tragedy, a gun shot in the back.

When coworkers of Smiley, a prison guard, heard that he had been shot by an angry parolee, they rallied to help him. They donated their vacation time, provided emotional support, donated $30,000, and organized the annual annual John Smiley Golf Tournament to raise more funds.

And, of course, there was Smiley’s workers’ compensation claim, saying that because he was shot by a parolee that it was a job related injury worthy of $2.5 million.

But sadly there was a bit more to the story. Fraud investigators discovered a little detail that Smiley reported incorrectly. Smiley wasn’t actually shot by a parolee. (Sacramento Bee)

Court records say Smiley was shot in the predawn hours of April 27, 2008, after going to a swingers club with his 36-year-old wife, where they engaged in sex with strangers. A dispute arose after Smiley’s condom broke while he was having sex with a woman he had just met, and her companion later confronted Smiley outside and shot him, court records indicate.

So the Smileys now face prison for felony fraud charges.

Who can deny the notorious promiscuity that is rampant in the heterosexual subculture – and which often continues even after two heterosexual adults have children. The heterosexual community’s normative acceptance of casual sex, anonymous sex and nonmonogamy in couple relationships represents a dramatic departure from accepted norms and values.

If adult men and women chooses to embrace heterosexuality, that’s one thing. But a man and woman imposing their heterosexual lifestyle on innocent, impressionable children is something quite different.

We need to protect children from heterosexuals and their deviant lifestyle. It is wrong to force children into a situation where they have a man and women modeling immoral behavior — condemned by God and all major religions — as the most important role models in their lives.

Clearly heterosexuals cannot be trusted to raise children and for the sake of our future we must remove our precious young ones from their predatory grasp.

Today’s venture into the absurd, including most of the language, was inspired by Peter LaBarbera.

GOP Gubernatorial candidate marches in Boston gay pride

We are accustomed to Democratic candidates – often for high office – showing support and seeking voters among their gay constituents. But last weekend an event occurred that is telling about the future of our community. Charlie Baker, the Republican candidate for Governor, joined the Democratic candidate Deval Patrick, by marching in Boston’s gay pride parade.

Well, yes, it is Massachusetts. And Baker’s running mate is openly gay. But still, this is the GOP candidate.

And perhaps the most interesting aspect is that no one even seem to think that this is in any way interesting. No national party members are ranting. Local GOP officials are happy. Senators from Alabama and Oklahoma are not calling for his head. Rush isn’t frothing and Newt isn’t out looking for a write-in to support.

No one cares.

Oh, the MassResistance crowd is angry (especially because he marched with the guys who set up KnowThyNeighbor.org). But they can’t get anyone to return their calls these days.

And that is an encouraging sign.

The threat to DADT repeal may come from Obama rather than McCain

Two news reports offer an odd turn of events.

From the anti-gay uber-conservative Washington Times

No filibuster on gays

There will be no filibuster of the pending defense budget bill that contains a repeal of the military’s gay ban — at least not from Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who is leading the fight to preserve the ban.

Contrary to a smattering of press reports, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee is not trying to find the votes to block the bill, which may reach the floor next week. A filibuster takes 60 votes to override.

“Sen. McCain is not filibustering the bill,” his spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan told special correspondent Rowan Scarborough.

However that does not mean that the repeal will go through. From the AP

Defense Secretary Robert Gates says President Barack Obama could end up vetoing legislation that would lift the ban on gays serving openly in the military.
…
But Gates tells “Fox News Sunday” that Obama probably still would veto an upcoming spending bill that includes the repeal — if the bill also contains money for defense projects he says are wasteful.

If the bill is vetoed, the legislature will either override the veto or begin the process of revising the bill. It seems unlikely that there are adequate votes or political will to override the President. So political horse trading will resume.

Some legislators want to keep the spending in the bill so as to protect interests in their community. And DADT may become a bargaining chip because, let’s face it, very few legislators give our interests much priority.

Hawaii civil unions bill may be on the ‘possible veto’ list

Time magazine is reporting

On Monday, Hawaii Republican Gov. Linda Lingle is expected to include the civil unions bill on her list of bills she may veto. She has until July 6 to indicate her intentions. Otherwise, on that date, the measure will become law without her signature.

This is not a veto. This is, however, a way for the governor to buy another three weeks before she has to announce her decision.

In the meanwhile several businesses with a large presence in Hawaii have announced their support for the civil unions bill.

A week after issuing that statement, however, seven large businesses came out in support of the bill, the latest being the state’s largest health insurer, Hawaii Medical Service Association, which joined Time Warner Cable Inc., Marriott International Inc., Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. , Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. and Aon Corp .

Heterosexual menace: pastor – son love triangle and murder

Things are not going well for the good people of First New Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Houston. First their church building mysteriously burnt down and then there were some rather peculiar allegations against their pastor (Houston Chronicle)

The son of a Houston minister told Harris County sheriff’s detectives he was paid to kill his father’s wife last month, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Pastor Tracy Bernard “T.B.” Burleson, 44, and his son, William Darnnell Fuller, 20 — both jailed without bail on charges of murder — also were having romantic relationships with the same woman, who is accused of trying to burn the murder weapon, according to detectives and court documents.

Both men are charged in the May 18 shooting death of Pauletta Ross Burleson, 56, at the family’s home in north central Harris County. The men’s romantic interest, Tyonne Marie Palmer-Pollard, 31, is charged with tampering with evidence.

Can you imagine the glee with which The Peter would leap on this story if any of the participants were gay?