Box Turtle Bulletin

Anderson Cooper Fires Back At Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi

On Tuesday, Anderson Cooper held Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi accountable for her years of opposition to marriage equality, and he took particular issue with her argument that allowing gays to marry in Florida would “impose significant public harm”. Bondi’s prominent media presence in the aftermath of the Pulse gay night club massacre presenting herself as a valiant defender of the LGBT community, has raised eyebrows in the LGBT community that remembers her previously strenuous efforts to block same-sex message. Since then, Bondi has been more or less pretending she was never involved in that fight.

Yesterday, Bondi was on WOR’s “Len Berman and Todd Schnitt in the Morning”  complaining that she was blindsided by Cooper’s grilling on her same-sex marriage stance and that “completely flipped and got into a constitutional issue of course.” She also said that Cooper’s questions were out of line and that she was asked to speak with him on the air under false pretences. “The interview was supposed to be about helping people’s families, not creating more anger and havoc and hatred yesterday. Yesterday was about unity, about bringing people together, about helping people.”

Yesterday, Cooper responded to Bondi’s allegations:

…She’s either mistaken or she’s not telling the truth. Let’s be real here. Miss Bondi’s big complaint seems to be that I asked in the first place, in the wake of a massacre that targeted gay and lesbian citizens about her new statements about the gay community and about her old ones.

…For the record, my interview was not filled with any anger. I was respectful before the interview, I was respectful during the interview and I was respectful after the interview. I don’t know Pam Bondi personally, she seems like a nice person actually. I don’t think she has hate in her heart.

But what I think doesn’t matter. Its my job to hold people accountable. If on Sunday a politician was talking love and embracing quote “our LGBT community,” I don’t think it’s unfair to look at their record and see if they have actually ever spoken that way publicly before which I never heard her say.

The fact is, Attorney General Bondi signed off on a 2014 federal court brief that claimed married gay people would pose ‘significant public harm’. Harm. She spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money. Gay and straight taxpayers money, trying to keep gays and lesbians from getting the right to marry. Now look, good people can and do disagree on that issue. everyone has a right to their own opinion thank goodness. But Ms. Bondi is championing right now her efforts to help survivors but the very right which allows gay spouses to bury their dead loved ones – that’s a right that would not exist if Ms Bondi had had her way. I think it’s fair to ask her about that. There is an irony in that.

Here is that brief Cooper mentioned (PDF: 131KB/34 pages):

Governor Rick Scott, Attorney General Pamela Jo Bondi, State Surgeon General John H. Armstrong, and Secretary Craig J. Nichols (the “State Officials”), pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b), move to dismiss the amended complaints in these consolidated cases. This Court lacks jurisdiction to consider the claims against all but the DMS Secretary, and all claims fail on the merits. The Court should also deny the preliminary injunction motions because there is no likelihood of success on the merits, there is no immediacy requiring a preliminary injunction, and disrupting Florida’s existing marriage laws would impose significant public harm.

…This Court also must balance the alleged harm to the parties against the public interest. An injunction would irreparably harm the State of Florida. Plaintiffs seek to enjoin a duly enacted constitutional amendment and statutory law. Enjoining democratically enacted legislation harms state officials by restraining them from implementing the will of the people that they represent. [Emphasis mine]

And by the way, I still can’t find Bondi’s “rainbow hands” here, here, or here.

Anderson Cooper Confronts Florida Attorney General Over Anti-Gay Past

Anderson has really been tearing it up today on CNN.

Update: Politico reporter Marc Caputo can’t find Bondi’s “Rainbow Hands” graphic. Can you?

Pam Bondi says her website has 'rainbow-hands people' in re: Orlando shooting. But it doesnt https://t.co/vztc0SARW5 pic.twitter.com/VtPICco03I

— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) June 14, 2016

I also can’t find it on her Facebook page either. Or on this Facebook page. Or on this Facebook page. If she did post it on Facebook, then its privacy settings are such that only friends can see it.

Anderson Cooper Gets Emotional While Paying Tribute To Orlando Victims

"They are more than a list of names. They are people who loved and who were loved." – @andersoncooper #Orlando https://t.co/DkxxPC1XtW

— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) June 14, 2016

“The Fact Is, I’m Gay”

That’s what CNN’s Anderson Cooper wrote in a lengthy email to Andrew Sullivan this morning. It’s a good email and I encourage you to read it.

He explains why he hadn’t talked about his private life before. A good part of his career involves going to other parts of the world where being gay could place not just himself but his crew in danger. That is a legitimate concern, as reinforced by the recent news that a gay AP Intern in Mexico City was found dead at the bottom of an elevator shaft. Also, regular discussions of a journalist’s private life could serve as a distraction depending on the topics he or she covers.

That’s why each journalist, needs to assess his situation individually. And many do keep their private lives intensely private. Quick, without googling, how many marriages has Sam Donaldson had? How about Ted Koppel? What do you know of Edward R. Murrow’s private life?  I’ve long felt that it was okay to give journalists a lot more slack in deciding how to handle their private lives, in contrast to other kinds of celebrities who exploit their private lives for the sake of publicity.

As for Cooper’s private life, he hasn’t exactly shielded his from public view. And that makes it hard to say that he was every really closeted. And so I don’t think anyone is surprised by today’s announcement. But I think many of us are appreciative for many of the same reasons Cooper gives for deciding to come forward. Usually whenver someone famous comes out, we like to title our posts with some variant of “Welcome Out.” But in Cooper’s case, I think I’ll just go with his acknowledgement of fact, a matter of fact that I think we all knew without him saying it. But the fact is, it’s nice to hear him say it.

Thank You, Elaine Donnelly

CNN’s Anderson Cooper hosted a debate between Dan Choi, West Point graduate and Iraq vet and an Arabic language specialist, and Elaine Donnelly, a woman who has never served a day in her life yet who argues on behalf of her “Center for Military Readiness” against gay people (and women in general) serving in the military.

Elaine’s performance was consistent with previous efforts at warning of the great scary, ooky, spooky, gay folks being in “forced intimacy” with good ol’ homophobes. Which makes me say, “Please God, please. All I want for Christmas is for Elaine Donnelly to stay the voice and face of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Ex-Gay Programs Highlighted on CNN

I’ll bet if you were to poll ordinary Americans on the street today, you would find the whole concept of “ex-gay” to be largely unknown. While we talk about ex-gay programs on this website, Exodus and other ex-gay ministries have for the most part escaped the limelight among the general public. Focus in the Family’s Mike Haley once told a Love Won Out audience that Exodus was “one of the church’s best kept secrets.” CNN Producer Jim Spellman says that until he talked with Melissa Fryrear, also from Focus on the Family, he had never met or talked to anyone who considered themselves ex-gay. But with Ted Haggard’s recent miraculous transformation from fallen boy-toy customer to “completely heterosexual” in only three weeks, people are starting to ask questions.

Last night’s edition of “Anderson Cooper 360” on CNN explored the claims of the ex-gay movement. Melissa Fryrear, a “former lesbian” who claimed to no longer have any homosexual feelings, threw cold water on the idea that change can happen as rapidly as three weeks. She told reporter Joe Johns:

“It’s not quantifiable in the sense of years. It’s… For me it was gradual change that was recognizable one year to the next year to the next year. But again, the issues were so complicated contributing to my struggle that it took a significant amount of time to work through those.”

(Note: These transcripts are my own from the DVR. CNN’s rush transcript is here.)

Salon.com’s Mark Benjamin provided what is probably the most startling quote. He talked to dozens of people who underwent ex-gay therapy and said:

“I was unable to find one single person who is not on the payroll of one of these organizations that does this therapy who said, ‘yes, after going through the therapy, in fact, I’m cured of homosexuality.'”

After Joe Johns’ report aired, Alan Chambers, President of Exodus International then appeared with Mark Shields of the Human Rights Campaign to talk with Anderson Cooper. Mark Shields said that Ted Haggard’s claim did not pass the “laugh test.” Alan Chambers, in probably the world’s first instance of an official of Exodus agreeing with a spokesman from the HRC, replied, “I don’t know Ted Haggard’s journey over the last three weeks, but like Mark, I would say that it’s something that… it doesn’t seem like something that is really the case.”

But what’s even more interesting, I think, is that when Anderson Cooper tried to press Alan Chambers on whether he himself was heterosexual and no longer experienced same-sex attractions, Alan ducked and weaved:

Anderson Cooper: So you entered counseling. Do you still have attraction to men, you know, you’re just choosing not to act on it?

Alan Chambers: My attraction greatly dimminished over the course of many years. Sixteen years into it my life isn’t even remotely the same as it once was. But I often say that I will never be as though I never was. And the truth is I’m a human being and for me to say that I could never be attracted to men again or that I couldn’t be tempted would mean that I’m not human and that’s just not the case.”

And a little later:

Anderson Cooper: Even now, you are essentially saying you are trying to control your thoughts, you try to alter your fundamental attraction.

Alan Chambers: No, I wouldn’t say that’s the case at all. No, what I have found over the course of sixteen years is that feelings aren’t everything about you and I live beyond those feelings. Today, ….

Anderson Cooper: What does that mean…

Alan Chambers: … my feelings are, my feelings are much, much different. And the truth is I didn’t leave homosexuality because it was so bad. I left it because I found something better. And today, my life is far better than it was as a gay man. And for those of us, and there are thousands of people just like me who choose to live beyond their feelings, who choose to move beyond the issue of homosexuality, we live wonderful lives, and that’s something we think should be available for everyone who wants it.

Anderson Cooper: And is that based on a belief that you cannot be Christian and gay? I mean is the wonderful life you’re talking about a religious life that you feel is not accessible to you as a openly [sic], proud, happy gay man?

Alan Chambers: Not at all. I think there are plenty of gay people out there who are Christians as well, but for me homosexuality wasn’t compatible with my faith and my faith was much more important than that.

This was a very interesting segment and there is so much to chew on here. Here are a few of my observations:

• Alan Chambers refused to confirm a change from homosexuality to heterosexuality in his own case when speaking to a national audience. This has been a slowly evolving shift in his message for quite some time. But in his book God’s Grace and the Homosexual Next Door which is targeted mainly to evangelicals, his message is a little more straightforward. On page 216, he talks about some of his gender-nonconforming traits this way: “I have always liked decorating. I love to shop. I like clothes… I can tell you what designer made what suits just by looking at them. Do these things make me gay? Apparently not because I still like those things, and I am completely heterosexual.”
• He repeated the claim that there are “thousands of people” just like him, which is an unsubstantiated statistic we’ve heard before. This time however, he now places that statistic in a category of those who “live beyond their feelings”, not as people who no longer experience same-sex attractions.
• He said he didn’t leave homosexuality, but found something better. Anderson Cooper tried to follow up on it, asking if that “something better” was a religious message, but Alan Chambers demurred. But on page 84 of his book he is much less reticent: “I didn’t leave homosexuality because it was awful. I left homosexuality because I found something better: the body of Christ. Only in the light of God’s best, though, can I truly look back and see how far off the mark homosexuality and the gay community were from the real thing.” [Emphasis his]
• Alan Chambers told Anderson Cooper, “I think there are plenty of gay people out there who are Christians as well.” But in his book, contributing author Randy Thomas talks about three degrees of homosexuality: “the militant, moderate, and repentant.” Under this classification, only the “repentant” homosexuals who have either “left homosexuality” or are in the process of leaving are truly Christians. And according to Alan Chambers, the only Christian goal for gay people is repentance and heterosexuality. Alan says on pages 217-218: “… repentance for the homosexual person and anyone else for that matter is repenting of who they are — behavior, identity, and all. This is why I believe that it is so important to clarify that just living a celibate gay life is just as sinful as living a sexually promiscuous one. The sin is in identifying with anything that is contrary to Christ, which homosexuality clearly is.”
• And returning to Ted Haggard’s claims which prompted all this, it looks like nobody believes that change to “complete heterosexuality” can happen in only three weeks. Even those who make a living as active proponents of change therapy and those who claimed to have changed themselves will not back up Haggard’s story. And this includes those who are on the payroll of Focus on the Family and those who are strongly backed by Focus.

I think the HRC’s Mark Shields summed it all up best:

You know, I wonder if Ted Haggard had been told as a child that it was OK to be gay and that he could have a rich, full life, if his life story wouldn’t have been less painful and contorted.