Box Turtle Bulletin

Ohio Boy Cheerleader’s Arm Broken; Still Getting Threats, Still Cheerleading

Eleven-year-old Tyler Wilson of Findlay, Ohio, loves gymnastics and tumbling, which is why he decided to join a youth football cheerleading squad over the summer. He’s been catching hell over it since then. It started with teasing, but it quickly escalated:

According to the mother and the police report filed on the incident, Tyler was walking home from school when two of his alleged tormentors approached him and punched him. As Tyler continued his walk home from school, the two boys continued to follow him, the police report said. Several small skirmishes broke out between Tyler and the two boys, according to the police report, and eventually one of the boys allegedly picked Tyler up and slammed him on the ground, breaking his arm.

Kristy Wilson filed a police report and went to Glenwood Middle School. That’s when she was shocked to learn that school officials already knew about the harassment but hadn’t called her to discuss it:

When I went to the school, about two days after it happened to discuss Tyler’s story, the principal said there was an incident Monday and the Friday before, that the boy who started the fight had jumped on Tyler’s back and tried to start a fight,” she said.

Kristy Wilson said if she had known that Tyler was being physically targeted said she would have certainly stepped in to stop the situation, going as far as removing him from the school.

“I really wish the school would have let me know a lot sooner, so I could have dealt with it sooner,” she said.

Meanwhile, Findlay police have arrested the two attackers and have charged them in youth court. The lead attacker was charged with felonious assault, and the other was charged with simple assault. Their names are being withheld because they are juveniles.

Meanwhile, Tyler continues to receive threats:

It’s been bumpy,” Ohio 11-year-old Tyler Wilson said of his return to school in a morning television exclusive interview with “Good Morning America.” “People are threatening me to break my other arm because I told on them.”

…But neither the injury nor the threats is stopping Tyler from pursuing his passion for cheering, the boy said.

“It feels horrible that they can’t accept me for who I am,” Tyler told ABC News’ Ohio affiliate WTVG. “It’s my choice. If I want to be a cheerleader, I’m going to be a cheerleader.”

NOM’s “Valores” tour has a sweet start today

Today the National Organization for Marriage’s tour to whip up Latino support for Carly Fiorina got off to a sweet start. At the Jelly Belly jellybean factory. Where they were told not to pass out materials or approach other customers.

Day 3, Stop 1: Fairfield

But they did get to go on a tour of the factory and get free samples, so that’s something.

This is it for now, but check this commentary later as Courage Campaign updates the third day in the “Vota Tus Valores” tour. Who knows, at some point they may actually find a Latino voter who supports Fiorina and you wouldn’t want to miss that.

Follow up on how NOM’s “Valores” tour went yesterday

When I last reported on the National Organization for Marriage’s “Vota Tus Valores” tour, they had one stop with four supporters (and nine protesters), one stop where they didn’t get out of the bus, missed one stop, and were late for the next one.

Courage Campaign brings us up to date.

Day 2, Stop 4: Colusa

NOM’s bus did finally make it to a Burger King parking lot in Colusa where they were successful in finding some Latinos, six in fact. Unfortunately, they were fifth graders, not voters.

Day 2, Stop 5: Willows

In Willows, the Vota Tus Valores bus stopped just long enough to grab a beer and a bag of pork rinds (I’m not making this stuff up).

I don’t think the pork rinds are registered to vote and, if so, may well not be Carly Fiorina supporters.

Day 2, Stop 6: Davis

Around dusk, the bus finally made it to the UC-Davis campus.

I truly am having difficulty understanding what this is all about. As a traveling billboard, the message is not adequately presented; Carly Fiorina’s name is not prominent. As a rallying tour, it is an absolute failure. I cannot fathom the people who are riding on that bus day after day and never having any audience to talk to or any events to talk about. I hope they brought books.

Rutgers Student Commits Suicide Following Anti-Gay Harrassment

It’s not just high school kids being bullied and humiliated to their deaths:

A Rutgers University freshman killed himself after two classmates used a hidden dorm room camera to splash his sex life across the internet, sources told the Daily News.

A distraught Tyler Clementi, 18, left his wallet on the George Washington Bridge before plunging to his death in the Hudson River last Wednesday, sources said.

A Twitter post from one of the students accused of streaming the sexual encounter live on the internet indicated Clementi, a renowned high school violinist, was with another man.

“Roommate asked for the room till midnight,” read the post from Dharun Ravi, 18. “I went into Molly’s room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay.”

The Twitter post went up Sept. 19 – three days before Clementi’s suicide.

Ravi and another accomplice, Molly Wei, also 18, were charged with two counts each of invasion of privacy for the Sept. 19 livesreaming broadcast. Ravi was charged with two more counts for trying to arrange a second livestreamign session. New Jersey’s privacy laws make it a crime to transmit or view images of nudity or sexual contact with an individual without that person’s consent. Ravi and Wei both face up to five years’ imprisonment for each count.

Bakersfield-Area Teen Dies After Suicide Attempt; No Charges Will Be Filed

Another day, another gay teen is dead:

Seth Walsh, the Tehachapi 13-year-old who hanged himself from a tree in his back yard after years of being bullied, died Tuesday afternoon after nine days on life support.

Tehachapi police investigators interviewed some of the young people who taunted Seth the day he hanged himself and determined despite the tragic outcome of their ridicule, their actions do not constitute a crime.

“Several of the kids that we talked to broke down into tears,” Jeff Kermode, Tehachapi Police Chief, said. “They had never expected an outcome such as this.”

Seth had been picked on for years because he was gay, but fellow classmates said that the staff at Jacobsen Middle School offered Seth no help or protection. People run red lights without expecting anyone to die in a horrific traffic accident, but they are charged with manslaughter or negligent homicide. Red lights were flashing at Tehachapi just as brightly and a child is dead because of the direct actions of his peers and the negligence of school officials. But they get a pass because, well heck, nobody meant nuttin’ by it. It was all just harmless fun. It just goes to show how seriously too many school administrators take the lives of gay students in 2010.

If you thought NOM’s tour yesterday was bad…

The National Organization for Marriage seems to be running into a little problem getting people to show up for their “Vota Tus Valores” tour. Yesterday was kinda discouraging with a total of 17 folks at five stops (15 were all from one stop) but today was the kind of day that makes California’s anti-gay Latino Republicans sad at heart.

Day 2, Stop 1: Sacramento

Our state’s capital didn’t exactly swarm out to greet NOM. (Courage Campaign)

Already progressive supporters are beginning to out-organize the tour. The count in Sacramento was 9 to 4.

Day 2, Stop 2: Placerville

The following picture includes all of the ralliers at this stop:

NOM didn’t even get off the bus.

Day 2, Stop 3: Yuba City

The tour website said they would be at the Gauche Aquatic Center at 1:15 pm. But they didn’t show up.

Courage Campaign asked the Aquatic Center and it turns out NOM never followed through with a request to use the parking lot. Fortunately CC was ran into NOM & crew where they had stopped for lunch and now are stuck following the bus.

Day 2, Stop 4: Colusa

The bus was to be there at 2:30, but as of 2:40 they hadn’t left Yuba City (CC will update tonight) so perhaps Colusa is another no-show. Why not? It’s not like anyone is there waiting for them.

Ever Wonder How Journalists Write Scientific Articles?

Martin Robbins shows us how its done.

Catholics “do the work of Jesus” with anti-gay DVD

If you are Catholic and living in the area of St. Paul, Minnesota, then you probably received a DVD in the mail from your Archbishop. Some “anonymous donor” paid to take the moral authority of the church and turn it into political shilling in opposition to the rights of their neighbors and a all-too-transparent attempt to push votes in the gubernatorial election. (StarTribune)

More than 400,000 DVDs are being mailed to the homes of Minnesota Catholics on Wednesday, courtesy of Catholic bishops in the state who want to stop the campaign to legalize same-sex marriage in its tracks.

The 18-minute DVD includes an appearance from St. Paul and Minneapolis Archbishop John Nienstedt in which he says it is time for Minnesotans — not the “ruling elite” of legislators and judges — to vote on a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

But as the Catholics hierarchy ratchets up its efforts to impose Catholic doctrine on society by force of the ballot box, the Catholic laity seems to be increasing in its rebellion against the rigid demands of the Church. Not only can this been seen on a global scale with one Catholic country after another flouting the threats of the Church and choosing civil equality, so too can this disconnect be seen on the local level.

So it is not surprising that some lay Catholics in Minnesota see no Christ in the Church’s latest political maneuvering. But seeking to be good Christians, they have found a way to turn the Archbishop’s priorities on their ear.

Return The DVD, a group that describes itself as “Catholics who are concerned about the priorities of the leaders in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis” have called on their fellow faithful to send them the Archbishop’s DVD.

We are collecting as many DVDs as possible and will return them to Archbishop John Nienstedt with a letter asking him to make the needs of the poor and love of neighbor his highest priority.

They are also taking the opportunity to focus Catholics’ minds away from worldly political fiefdoms and towards what Jesus instructed.

2.) Make a donation to an organization doing the work of Jesus.

Make a donation directly to an organization helping to fight poverty and end homelessness in Minnesota.

If the hierarchy of the Church is still capable of feeling shame, now would be a good time.

NOM sues to keep the donors behind their political campaigns a secret

The National Organization for Marriage really really doesn’t want anyone knowing what handful of mega-bucks donors are behind their political advertising. So, as is their usual methodology, they are suing the State of Rhode Island claiming that the handful of individuals and groups they are fronting for have the right to unaccountable and secret “free speech.” (NECN)

A group that opposes same-sex marriage sued the Rhode Island Board of Elections, saying it wants to run ads in the governor’s race and other contests but doesn’t want to have to comply with state campaign finance laws.

The National Organization for Marriage said in a federal lawsuit that it should not be forced to report its expenditures or comply with spending limits or bans that are required for political action committees. The group said it shouldn’t be considered a PAC because it’s not controlled by a political candidate and does not spend the majority of its money on Rhode Island’s political races. It says the rules for PACs are burdensome and interfere with free speech.

They consistently lose these cases, but they refuse to report until they appeal, a process that drags on through election season after election season. Eventually some judge is going to get so annoyed that he holds Brian Brown in contempt. And then, I suppose, we will find out who really is the source of NOM’s funds.

NOM’s all new Tour of, well, nobody

Carly Fiorina must be loco. Muy loco.

Why else would she agree to let the National Organization for Marriage organize a bus tour to support her campaign for US Senator from California. In Spanish.

Over the summer, NOM spent 19 days traveling about various states to promote their agenda of excluding gay people from civil marriage rights. And although they only made 21 stops, they were so abysmally disorganized that in some events the organizers outnumbered the attendees. They seemed to have the strange approach to bus tours of “if you park it, they will come.”

Now consider, if you will, the same organizers (along with the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, American Principles in Action and the Susan B. Anthony List). Except this time the tour will have several stops per day, will target Latinos to support of a Republican Senate candidate, and will be in Spanish.

Yesterday, the “Vota Tus Valores” campaign (“Vote your Values”) rolled is off to a start. And it is laughably predictable. (Courage Campaign)

Stop 1: Bakersfield

Only one “values-voter” stopped by, but she was not Latina.

“I was shopping at Target when I saw the bus across the street and wanted to see what it was all about,” she told me.

We initially counted 8 in attendance, but 7 were organizers that got back on the bus at the end of the stop.

Stop 2: Visalia

The Vota Tus Valores bus tour kept up its attendance average in Visalia — 1 person showed up.

“I vote according to God’s will,” said one Latina woman who happened to be in the park when the bus pulled up but refused to go on-camera.

Stop 3: Hanford

No one at all. Zilch. Nada.

Maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that on the hottest day of the year (Los Angeles set a new record: the hottest day ever recorded in the city) you aren’t going to find too many people hanging out in a nice bright sunny park. But surely you could have tried to organize someone.

Stop 4: Madera

Success. At last an audience. Not of likely voters, exactly, but at least living breathing bodies.

In Madera, the advance team was able to wrangle up a few additional attendees: fifteen men from a local Christian men’s shelter were present to “show support,” including one man wearing an Obama shirt and a reformed neo-Nazi who was heavily tatotted with swastikas.

Stop 5: Roseville

Here the bus pulled up for dinner. At a chain “mexican” restaurant. Even the waiter wasn’t Latino.

And that, my friends, is what you get when NOM organizes your bus tour. Thank God.

Ugandan Tabloid Grossly Distorts An American Paper’s Interview With Gay Asylum Seeker

The Sept 24, 2010 edition of Uganda's notorious tabloid Red Pepper featuring asylum seeker Moses Mworeko on the front cover (Click to enlarge)

Uganda’s notorious tabloid Red Pepper has engaged in some of the most deplorable gay-baiting and gay-bashing “journalism” to be found anywhere in the world, but nothing can prepare one for the latest outrage. Last Friday, the tabloid published a front-page article alleging that Kushaba Moses Mworeko, a 31-year-old Ugandan who has requested asylum in the United States, had “raped boys in school.” The paper also republished an interview with Mworeko that first appeared in Washington, D.C.’s Metro Weekly last July while grossly distorting that same interview in its write-up.

An anonymous reader forwarded these scans from the pages of Red Pepper to BTB on Friday.

Mworeko first became known to Americans when he appeared at the American Prayer Hour last February. The American Prayer Hour was organized by Truth Wins Out as a counter presence to the National Prayer Breakfast, organized by the secretive Evangelical group known as The Fellowship or The Family. The point of the American Prayer Hour was to protest the ties that exist between members of The Family and supporters of the draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill that had been introduced into Uganda’s Parliament the previous October. Mworeko spoke at a news conference identified only as Moses, his middle name. He also appeared with a bag over his head to conceal his identity because he was in fear for his life.

Five months later, Moses revealed his full identity when he spoke with Metro Weekly’s Will O’Bryan to talk about his asylum request. In that interview, Moses explained that he was in the United States to attend an HIV/AIDS conference at the same time that the Anti-Homosexuality Bill was being introduced in Parliament. Moses had already considered moving to the U.S., but given the deteriorating situation in Uganda, he decided to overstay his visa in November and seek political asylum. His original application for asylum was denied, and his case is now on appeal.

In the wide-ranging Metro Weekly interview in July, Moses described the precarious situation LGBT Ugandans face on a daily basis, which includes official intimidation by police and the constant fear of being discovered. He describes his early childhood, the death of both of his parents from AIDS, and his early experiences in school which included dealing with his own emerging understanding of his sexuality. From the Metro Weekly interview:

Moses' interview appeared in the July 28 edition of Washington, D.C.'s Metro Weekly

MW: Was this also the time you began to think you might be gay?

MWOREKO: Actually, even before my parents died, they knew I was gay. It was known at my elementary school.

At first, people could tell because of my behavior. Then, at school, with the boys I used to live with in the dormitory, there was a guy. We came from the same village, we went to the same school, we were studying in the same class and sitting at the same table. There was attraction between us. We started having sex, and that spread in the boys’ dormitory.

MW: News that you were having sex spread?

MWOREKO: No, the kids started having sex. We were young. It was experimental. Of course, I definitely had those feelings. All that spread through the dormitory of like 40 people.

What happened, I think, is that one of the boys did not like it and was forced to do it. There was a conflict between him and the one who was imposing it on him. They fought, and that’s when the news came out and the teachers found out. They said, ”Okay, who has done it?” We were all rounded together and beaten, punished. Because it started with me and my friend, it all came to us. They had to send for our parents and it was nasty.

My dad was furious. Of course, he had to punch me before the teachers. Then when I went home for the holidays, they had to beat me. I mean, the firstborn – ”You are shaming us. This can’t happen to us, to our family.”

After my parents passed, during high school, I was free. Although, in my high school I was being helped by my guardian, an Anglican priest, who decided to help me with my education. I remained in the closet because of that.

Red Pepper's version of Moses' interview with Metro Weekly (Click to enlarge)

Red Peeper, however, twisted that narrative beyond all recognition. Next to the headline “This gay monster raped boys in school but failed to bonk his wife,” Red Pepper included a wholly invented quote next to Moses’ photo which reads, “I sodomized this one boy and soon all boys in school were having sex.” And this is how the Red Pepper further “interpreted” the interview in its writeup:

Today we expose Moses Kushaba Mworeko a gay monster who has confessed to viciously raping kids in primary school and setting off a sex craze that swept throughout the school like wildfire. … He made his disgusting confession in The Metro Weekly a Newspaper in the US.

In his sordid interview Mworeko, 31, brags how he started bonking his primary school boyfriend and how his act of bonking a fellow boy was copied by all the boys in his dormitory.

Moses told Metro Weekly of an incident surrounding one boy who “did not like it and was forced to do it,” in reference to a coerced sexual encounter with another boy. Red Pepper however deliberately distorted the incident in its writeup to say that Moses “narrates the story as a badge of honour.” The unnamed Red Pepper writer continues, “He seems unmindful that many reading his interview will feel disgusted at his early perversion.”

In the Metro Weekly interview, Moses talked about his continual efforts at keeping himself hidden from those around him, including his time as a student and then as a teacher at Uganda Christian University in Mukono, about fifteen miles east of Kampala. It was there that Moses’ secret was found out. Shortly after, he decided to get married. Here is Red Pepper’s version of Moses’ interview:

In the interview, a groveling appeal designed by Mworeko to influence the decision of immigrations officers who had rejected his application for asylum, he reveals how he continued his gay ways until he was caught watching gay porn by the secretary of his guardian at UCU and forced to get married as part of his rehabilitation.

But the Metro Weekly interview is very different. It says nothing about porn. And while Moses revealed that his wedding was a sham wedding that he entered into because of the need to remain hidden, it was not “as part of his rehabilitation.” Here is the actual Metro Weekly interview:

MW: It was an e-mail with one of those friends that put you in jeopardy?

MWOREKO: Yes. That was when I was already working. After I graduated, I was given a job at that very university. I was teaching. And my guardian’s office was in that university. He was the director of a church program: Theological Education by Extension.

That’s the time I had the freedom to do whatever I wanted. I lived in my own house. I was free. I felt like I could do whatever I wanted to do.

MW: Did you have any reason to think your guardian might have suspected you of being gay?

MWOREKO: No. People would comment on my behavior, my lifestyle, and it would just stop at that.

But this one day, I was in his office accessing the Internet. I was communicating with my boyfriend. My guardian called for me abruptly while I was in his secretary’s office. I knew I was coming right back, but as soon as I went to his office, the secretary came in. She read my mail. When I came back, she said, ”Moses, were you the one on my computer?” I said yes.

”What’s this?” she asked.

”What?”

”What’s this?”

”Well, what do you think it is? And what’s the problem?”

A portion of the Metro Weekly interview as published in Red Pepper. Notice that the photo was swiped from the Metro Weekly and published in mirror image. (Click to enlarge)

And about the marriage:

MW: Were you hoping that the marriage would make all your problems disappear?

MWOREKO: No. I absolutely did not have that in mind. Actually, my boyfriend told me, ”Moses, you cannot get married.”

I said, ”Well, I am going to get married because of these reasons: I want my job, I want to continue studying, this pressure from my family, my students no longer respect me. I can’t keep on like this. I don’t want to die now. I need to have a stable mind. I need to do this.” So I went ahead and got married.

Red Pepper then went on to republish about half of the Metro Weekly interview verbatim, but Red Pepper’s version of it ends right at the point in which Moses discusses the draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill, including critical background information which serves as the basis for understanding how the bill came into being. It also cuts off Moses’ discussion of the asylum process, his own strongly held religious faith, and the generous support he is receiving from Bishop Rainey Cheeks. (Bishop Cheeks, who runs Inner Light Ministries, is  very fascinating LGBT advocate in his own right.) None of that important contextual information is available to Red Pepper readers.

Truth Wins Out’s Wayne Besen responded to the Red Pepper cover yesterday:

In all my years of activism, this has got to be the most disgusting, immoral, vile, smear campaign that I have ever witnessed. The Red Pepper should be immediately shut down for its libelous reporting and slimy journalism. This hit piece shows that we must redouble our efforts to stop the hate campaign that has infected Uganda and other nations in Africa. We must ensure that U.S. evangelicals stop spreading their special brand of murderous love on this continent

Clearly, Moses’ life is in grave danger. The United States government should put Moses on the fast-track to citizenship to keep him from being slaughtered.

Red Pepper has a long history of character assassinations, gay-bating, and forcible outing of private LGBT citizens. In April 2009, Red Pepper published the names, places of employment, residences and other identifying information of more than fifty private Ugandan citizens and accused them of homosexuality, which is a criminal offense that can carry a sentence of up to life in prison. That was just a month after Red Pepper, feeding on the frenzy following the anti-gay conference put on by three American evangelical activists, published a sensational “confession” by a reputed “ex-gay” individual who claimed to have been paid by foreigners to recruit schoolchildren. In December, Red Pepper published another full page spread purporting to out “City tycoons who bankroll Ugandan Homos.”

Just another dead gay kid, age 13

On another website I’ve been having a conversation with some folk who “do not perceive homosexuality to be a normal or healthy human variation or way of living.” And they support Focus on the Family in their opposition to targeted anti-bullying programs because such programs are all just a cover to “pass off pro-gay political fluff as curriculum in the guise of bullying prevention.”

And because they support the cultivation and continuance of a culture of disapproval towards homosexuality, they oppose anything that might suggest to kids that it’s ok to be gay. They even fear that telling kids not to pick on others due to sexual orientation might make some vulnerable questioning kid identify with being gay and send him on a path to sin and misery.

I could understand such fears if we were talking in the abstract. I could consider the fear and ignorance behind their concerns and try and find a way to assure them that just because a school accepts gay kids does not mean that it rejects those who believe that sexuality outside of the confines of a bronze age morality code is sinful.

But then I read stories like this one. (Houston Chronicle)

Asher Brown’s worn-out tennis shoes still sit in the living room of his Cypress-area home while his student progress report — filled with straight A’s — rests on the coffee table.

The eighth-grader killed himself last week. He shot himself in the head after enduring what his mother and stepfather say was constant harassment from four other students at Hamilton Middle School in the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District.

Brown, his family said, was “bullied to death” — picked on for his small size, his religion and because he did not wear designer clothes and shoes. Kids also accused him of being gay, some of them performing mock gay acts on him in his physical education class, his mother and stepfather said.

I am so f*cking sick of this. This little boy, 13 years old, was trying to come to terms with his sexuality (he had just come out to his family). His parents were trying their hardest to help. But they could not get his school to support them.

School district spokeswoman Kelli Durham said no students, school employees or the boy’s parents ever reported that he was being bullied.

That statement infuriated the Truongs, who accused the school district of protecting the bullies and their parents.

“That’s absolutely inaccurate — it’s completely false,” Amy Truong said. “I did not hallucinate phone calls to counselors and assistant principals. We have no reason to make this up. … It’s like they’re calling us liars.”

And this just makes me insane.

On the last week of his life he was kicked down a flight of stairs. When he tried to retrieve his book bag, other students kicked his books away. The school “turned up no witnesses.”

But is isn’t just the administrators that are morally responsible for Asher’s death. It is also all of those “good Christian people” who support Focus on the Family and their campaign to prevent schools from protecting gay kids.

I can understand how someone might not want a program that “promotes homosexuality.” But I cannot for the life of me understand their priorities. Is it really all that important to them that no one at Asher Brown’s school tell him that he’s okay and stop other students from tormenting him?

Because what we are seeing is the alternative. And I cannot fathom how you could possibly decide that it’s better for small gay children to die than support them.

UPDATE: reader tobyk reminds us that this is the same school district whose administrators refused to help Jayron Martin, a gay kid who was left with a concussion after being beaten with a metal pole.

More amicus, more animus

Those who oppose civil equality simply can’t restrain themselves from supporting the Proponents of Proposition 8. Although history is going to be rather unkind to them (and we will both document and remember), there is almost a sense of desperation to the compulsion to go on record as favoring inequality, supporting supremacist attitudes and expressing dismay that their views may be held up to inspection.

Today I have a whole long list of amicus briefs to add to those who previously have come down on the side of institutionalized discrimination. You can check them all out here.

Robert P. George, Sherif Girgis, and Ryan T. Anderson – You may recall that Robert George was one of the founders of the National Organization for Marriage. His argument is that the state does indeed have interest in enforcing private moral or religious beliefs. Further, “a belief that a relationship between a man and woman is inherently better than a relationship between two men or two women” and “moral disapproval of homosexuality” are both legitimate bases for legislation. And because any position has some moral values assigned, then therefor the value of heterosexual supremacy is a perfectly fine one on which to base law. Oh, and Lawrence v. Texas only applies to criminal law.

NARTH (yes, NARTH!!) – Typical NARTHian science to argue that homosexuality is not immutable and therefore gay people should not have rights. Example “the study also found that those who report themselves as homosexuals showed variety in their sexual experiences when measured on a continuum: 65 percent of homosexual men and 84 percent of homosexual women reported having had heterosexual intercourse.” Lots of discussion of studies from decades gone by in which psychotherapy resulted in “functioning as heterosexual” and a lot of misrepresentation of the work of others (Spitzer and Jones and Yarhouse, for example.)

Pacific Justice Institute – The Greeks and the Romans didn’t allow gay marriage so neither should we. They started with “the Greeks and Romans were clearly not homophobic” but just couldn’t resist the impulse to put in every example of Greek or Roman condemnation that could be found and concluded “Hence, defining marriage as a union of a man and a woman reflects not only the collected wisdom of the citizens, but of the ages as well.”

The States of Indiana, Virginia, Louisiana, Michigan, Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Idaho, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah and Wyoming. – More specifically, the attorneys general of these states. The argument: Walker exceeded his judicial authority; the Federal Courts have no jurisdiction over marriage. Loving was justified “to uphold the core guarantees of the Fourteenth Amendment” but Perry would “recast the basic parameters of marriage.” The rest was a rerun of the Proponents’ failing arguments in court.

American College of Pediatricians – Remember this totally bogus group from the lie-ridden letter crafted by NARTH but sent under their name? They are back with the predictable “Think of the Children!! Children need a mommy and a daddy. Ignore what the real professional groups say” message.

Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence (John Eastman) – Eastman was NOM’s special pick for CA Attorney General – he lost badly in the Republican primary, 16 points below Steve Cooley, who had opposed Proposition 8. Reading this political rant (it really can’t be called a legal argument), I am relieved that this guy has no chance of representing my state in court… or at least not this year. His argument: ” The Initiative Proponents have standing to defend Proposition 8, both as Agents of the State and in their own right”.

Becket Fund for Religious Liberty – Gay equality is incompatible with religious liberty. If gay people are treated as full citizens and granted equal access to civil marriage, then those religious individuals and groups that oppose civil equality and support heterosexual supremacy might be sued for discrimination. Those people who operate “job training programs, child care, gyms and day camps” would not be able to discriminate, and if they did, they might not get taxpayer dollars with which to deny gay people access. And that’s why the voters approved Proposition 8: to support “religious liberty” to discriminate against gays. (They got $500 K from the Knights of Columbus last year)

National Legal Foundation – These folk call themselves “a Christian public interest law firm” but are best known as the legal team who defended Cincinnati’s Issue 3, which would have amended the city charter to ban any city laws and policies that would prohibit discrimination against gay Cincinnati residents in employment, housing, and other areas. They disagree with Walker’s finding of fact and argue that the Ninth Circuit should revisit and reverse them. In the Cincinnati case, the Sixth Circuit reversed a number of the lower court’s findings and NLF gloatingly says that this court should do the same. They fail to mention that the US Supreme Court reversed the decision and found that Cincinnati violated the US Constitution.

Eagle Forum (Phyllis Schlafly) – The Proponents and Imperial county have standing. And if they don’t have standing, then there’s no case and the whole thing should be thrown out entirely, including Judge Walker’s ruling.

Concerned Women of America – Gays are politically powerful, have powerful allies, significant funding, and the public is growing in support. So discrimination against gay people should not be subjected to heightened scrutiny. “As of June 1, 2009, thirty-one states and the District of Columbia had state laws regarding “hate crimes” based on sexual orientation.” (I wonder what else 31 states had?)

National Organization for Marriage (NOM – Brian Brown and Maggie Gallagher) – Ah, NOM, we knew you’d participate. NOM has a number of interesting arguments. Yes, there are “children need a mommy and daddy” and “marriage is about procreation” and “you’re redefining marriage”, but they also have these fascinating (and oh-so-classy) things to share:

Men will no longer be willing to support their children: “When society simply weakens its support for the ideal that children should be cared for by both the man and the woman who made them, children end up disproportionately in the care of solo mothers. What will happen when the law and society rejects that view altogether as irrational bigotry? If the district court has its way, we will find out.”

Same-sex marriage will lead to polygamy and incest: “If, as the district court suggests, marriage were to become an essentially private, intimate, emotional relationship created by two people to enhance their own personal well-being, it is wrong, discriminatory, and counterproductive for the state to favor certain kinds of intimate relations over others. Sisters can cohabit and commit, and so can best friends in non-romantic relationships. Three people can cohabit and commit, too. Why can’t these people claim marriage as well? Once a key feature of marriage has been deconstructed, other historic features of marriage will become much harder to explain and defend, both in law and culture.”

And my very favorite: Look at Massachusetts; If you allow gay marriage then – oh noes – people will support it. “Data from Massachusetts likewise does little to alleviate concerns that same- sex marriage could lead to negative consequences. To the contrary, the data relied upon by the district court actually suggests a weakening in the marriage culture in the years immediately following the same-sex marriage ruling in Massachusetts. … In 2009, amicus curiae National Organization for Marriage commissioned a survey in Massachusetts of attitudes about marriage five years into that state’s experiment with same-sex marriage. The survey found that ―in the five years since gay marriage became a reality in Massachusetts, support for the idea that the ideal is a married mother and father dropped from 84 percent to 76 percent.”

Paul McHugh – McHugh is perhaps best known for his anti-transgender activism. But he’s joining in amicus to declare that you can’t define “homosexual” and it’s not fixed or immutable (presumably unlike race which is always and ever immediately discernible). Because while many people fit all three definitions (attractions, behavior, identity) there are exceptions. So therefore someone who is same-sex attracted, in a relationship with another person of the same sex, and who identifies as being gay should not be considered to be homosexual because, after all, there are people in the closet.

And because you can’t define “homosexual” then a woman in love with her same-sex partner ought not be able to marry her. Further, because there is no gay gene (unlike the African-American gene). It may be caused by education (I love this one): Because “It may very well be the case that on average lesbians and gay men in the United States have a higher educational level than comparable heterosexual men and women”, there therefore, “Education and socioeconomic levels have also been suggested as contributing factors to homosexuality.” Really? By whom? That has to be the worst example of correlation = causation that I’ve seen in a while.

But to understand the depth of McHugh’s basic dishonesty and lack of any sense of moral character, you have to consider ” Identical twin studies confirm that homosexual orientation is not genetically determined.”
Actually, twin studies have found that genetics contribute 35-39% for men and 18-19% for women. In other words, while it’s not fully genetically determined, McHugh is implying the opposite of what the studies have found.

Eugene Dong – No idea who this guy is but his argument is this: It’s expensive to have children so the state benefits by subsidizing and benefiting heterosexuality so as to perpetuate the human race.

American Civil Rights Union (sort of an anti-ACLU) – fundamental rights are limited to those that are deep-rooted in American history and tradition.

Catholics for the Common Good – God’s definition of marriage pre-exists any state recognition. They make the usual arguments (including quoting the Pope as an authority), but their real objection is found in their request to file the amicus: “…because the district court’s opinion enshrined a re-definition of marriage in California law that may expose this and similar organizations and persons of good will to claims of discrimination…” It’s the Maggie complaint, “If you treat gay people equally under the law, then those of us who want to treat them as inferior will be called bigots.”

And one woman, Tamara L. Cravit, wrote in to say that the Proponents do not have standing. So far she’s the only pro-plaintiff amicus brief.

Another “radical activist” (Republican) judge

In what is becoming a strong ironic trend, yet another judge who has found that gay people are, well, citizens like everyone else and constitutionally protected from discrimination turns out to be a Republican. As we noted last week, U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton ordered the Air Force to reinstate Major Margaret Witt, saying

The application of “Dont’s Ask Don’t Tell” to Major Margaret Witt does not significantly further the government’s interest in promoting military readiness, unit morale and cohesion. Her discharge from the Air Force Reserves violated her substantive due process rights under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. She should be restored to her position as a Flight Nurse with the 446th AES as soon as is practicable, subject to meeting applicable regulations touching upon qualifications necessary for continued service.

Now the Seattle Times tells us a bit more about Judge Leighton:

Leighton, 59, was appointed to the federal bench by President George W. Bush in January 2002 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in November of that year.

An active Republican and longtime Tacoma trial attorney, Leighton twice served on fundraising committees for former Sen. Slade Gorton.

Gorton, the state’s last Republican senator, championed Leighton twice as a federal judicial nominee. The first nomination came from George H.W. Bush in 1992, but the Senate failed to act on the nomination before Bush Sr. left office.

I noticed that this time the usual suspects didn’t even trot out the “liberal activist judge” accusations. They must really be disheartened by now.

Watchmen On the Walls to Gather in Sacramento and Washington State

A Sacramento-area reader tipped us to this flier advertising a Watchmen On the Walls conference that is scheduled for Oct 1-3 at the New Hope Christian fellowship near Sacramento. The conference will feature Latvian pastor Alexey Ledyaev, who cofounded the Watchmen with Seattle-based pastor Ken Hutcherson, Holocaust revisionist Scott Lively, and Sacramento resident and Russian language media owner Vlad Kusakin. The Watchmen On the Walls has been identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as one of only about a dozen anti-gay hate groups.

Also appearing on the bill are Craig Carre of Gate Keepers and Alex Rykhlyuk of the Sacramento-based church Ecclesia, which mainly caters to the substantial Russian Evangelical immigrant community in Sacramento. The Russian Evangelical immigrant community has been among the most virulent anti-gay communities in California, and, along with Russian immigrants in the Seattle area, has provided leaders who have been an integral part of Watchmen On the Walls.

Alexeyev’s Riga-based megachurch, New Generation, was implicated of a violent confrontation during a Riga Pride event in 2006 when a churchmember was convicted of throwing feces at participants. Alexeyev and twenty other churchmembers were in the courtroom in support of the church member when he was convicted.

The conference is mentioned in the Watchmen’s official web site, but only in the Russian language version. That brief article mentions the Sacramento conference along with another one for Washington State in “early October.” No further details are given.