Box Turtle Bulletin

Hutcherson’s Wacky Priorities

Every pastor knows that there are certain Sundays in which attendance will be high. Christmas and Easter, for example, will draw those who identify as Christian but generally find other things a higher priority at church time on Sunday mornings.

Another day in which visitors are expected is Mother’s Day, when dutiful children make Mom happy by going to church with her before brunch.

Some churches have a liturgical calendar that establishes themes for each Sunday across the denomination. But non-liturgical pastors tend to strategize their sermons on ‘Visitor Sundays’ so that they appeal to irregular attendees and so that they fit with the theme of the day.

For example, on Christmas a pastor might talk about Christ coming to the world and the change that Jesus made on history. Or he might discuss the sacrifice of His parents, the humbleness of His birth, or even the persistence of the Magi. So too would a pastor generally find Mother’s Day a time to celebrate the special recognition of mothers in the Bible.

But whatever the theme, on Sundays that are likely to draw visitors, a thoughtful pastor will avoid esoteric doctrines or the minutia of theological denominational differences. And while some fire-and-brimstone preachers will take the opportunity to call down God’s judgment on the sinner in the pew, most will avoid a sermon that is likely to frighten away or alienate a non-believer.

This Sunday is Mother’s Day. And in honor of that event, Rev. Ken Hutcherson has selected a non-traditional theme. From his church’s website:

Friday, 09 May 2008

Please keep praying for a great turnout for this Sunday’s services for two reasons:

1.) It’s Mother’s Day! We want to honor all of our mothers.
2.) This Sunday will be the first of a two part series on why homosexuality is still a sin.

Pray that many lives will be changed.

Pastor Hutch

What mother is going to want to bring her kids to church on her special day to hear a sermon about gay sex? I can’t imagine who – other than Pastor Hutch – would think this topic is appropriate for Mother’s Day.

Which makes me wonder: is Hutcherson completely obsessed with homosexuality, or is it the only subject that makes him a topic of discussion on blog sites and feeds his ego?

(hat tip GoodAsYou)

District Attorney on King Case Dismisses Quest’s “Blame the Victim” Defense

Karen Ocamb, writing for the Advocate, interviewed Senior Deputy District Attorney Maeve Fox about the murder of Lawrence King, a 15 boy shot by a classmate because he was gay. Although William Quest, the defense attorney for King’s killer, Brandon McInerney, has been telling the press that the blame should lie with King or with the school district, Fox isn’t buying it.

Fox declined to say if she thought Quest would mount a “gay panic defense” – saying that McInerney murdered King because the gay boy came on to him. However, Fox scoffed at any “blame the victim” defense as an “absolute failure to acknowledge personal responsibility.” Any “heat of passion” defense,” Fox said, requires an immediate, unforeseen reaction to an objectively overwhelming provocation and the absence of malice of forethought – the exact opposite of premeditation, which is what McInerney is charged with.

Fox further explained her thinking and why the DA wants to charge McInerney as an adult with premeditated murder with a special allegation of a hate crime.

“When you kill someone, to me you need to be incarcerated away from the public for a long time. Because to me, you’ve demonstrated that you’re dangerous. That’s why we have such lengthy sentences for murderers because you don’t want to just say, ‘Now don’t ever do that again!’ They’re dangerous people in most cases – unless it’s some extreme case where the person was under duress – in those cases we generally work out some kind of plea or arrangement. What I’m thinking of is battered women, people who kill under extreme circumstances.

“But if it’s a situation where it’s unprovoked and premeditated,” Fox continued, “then I would say in pretty much all of those cases, that public safety is a tremendous concern for me. And punishment is very high on my list of priorities. I’m very big on personal responsibility. And unless you can show me that you had a really, really, really good reason for doing what you did, I think you should stand up and be accountable for it. And you should be punished because otherwise we would live in pure chaos. These are the rules we’ve set up for each other and to me, it’s a very important part of this job.”

Moldova Begins Its First Public Gay Pride

For the past seven years running, authorities in the former Soviet republic of Moldova’s capital city of Chisinau had banned public Gay Pride celebrations. But a new law on public gatherings appears to have cleared the way for the this year’s “Rainbow over the Dniester” celebration to go forward.

Barring any unforeseen roadblocks, organizers expect to hold this year’s Pride parade on May 11. The parade, organized by GenderDoc-M, will go from the National Library and end at Chisinau’s central square. The theme for the parade is “All Different — All Equal.”

Moldova’s Pride celebrations kicked off yesterday with the laying of flowers to the monument to the victims of repressions, and a symbolic marriage ceremony later that evening. Other events include a concert of Moldovan pop stars, art shows and plays, a commemoration of GenderDoc-M’s tenth anniversary, and a tour of Moldovan historical sites. Celebrations will conclude on May 11 with a “Miss Flawless Queen 2008” contest.

Moldova became independent from the former Soviet Union in 1991.

WND Picks up on David Duke / Ted Pike / Peter LaBarbera’s Justification of Homophobic Violence

World Net Daily has now joined the alliance of racist David Duke, anti-Semite Ted Pike, and homophobe Peter LaBarbera in defending a “strapping, clean-cut, All-American looking young man” who first verbally insulted and then reportedly physically assaulted a young gay man.

Amidst WND’s usual ranting and froth, there was an interesting paragraph in which Rona Lee VanAsdlen, the mother of the assailant, was quoted.

“This would never have even been an event if this was another heterosexual male and he had a conflict with, and that’s just unfair,” she said. “I am a conservative Christian, and my son is. All we are doing is asking for prayers and support from people that may be opposed to this sort of thing happening.

Mrs. VanAsdlen is correct; if this was another heterosexual male there never would have been an event. Because her precious son would not have initiated the situation by directing homophobic comments towards another heterosexual male. VanAsdlen, Duke, Pike, LaBarbera, and WND all portray the victim, Stephen Valasquez as “the real aggressor”, conveniently ignoring that Brett VanAsdlen started the confrontation in the first place.

I’m amazed at the blatant sense of entitlement that directs this story. There’s such indignation that VanAsdlen, a white Christian heterosexual baseball star, should be called to answer for an assault on an insignificant godless homosexual with brown skin.

And all of VanAsdlen’s supporters agree that hate crimes laws unfairly stop people like him from doing what a “typical [white Christian heterosexual] 18 or 19-year-old kid” just does naturally. You know, assault those unlike himself.

Perhaps I shouldn’t be so surprised at how anti-gays alligned so quickly with racists and anti-Semites on this common cause. Hate is hate. Scratch a homophobe, find a bigot.

Times Are Changing, Even In Red States

Pam Spaulding is passing on some very good news this morning. She learned that the Alabama House of Representatives passed the Hate Crimes Bill by a vote of 46 to 44, mostly along party lines. Similar legislation was defeated last year. Also passed unanimously was an anti-bullying measure.

The ultimate fate of these two bills remains uncertain as they now go to the Senate. But as Pam notes, this is huge progress.

Lawyer Blames School for King’s Shooting

Deputy Public Defender William Quest is something else. Quest is the lawyer for 14-year-old Brandon McInerney, the teen accused of shooting Lawrence King point blank in the head at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard, California February 12. Last April, Quest blamed King’s death on King himself. Today, he’s decided that it’s the school system’s fault:

Educators should have moved aggressively to quell rising tensions between the two boys, which began when King openly flirted with McInerney, said Deputy Public Defender William Quest. Instead, administrators were so intent on nurturing King as he explored his sexuality, allowing him to come to school wearing feminine makeup and accessories, that they downplayed the turmoil that his behavior was causing on campus, Quest said.

Pot, Meet Kettle

Those so-called “professional journalists” at Focus On the Family’s CitizenLink are repeating that tired old theme again — that the “homosexual lobby” is so incredibly well-funded that its a miracle that anti-gay activists can get a word in edgewise. If only it were true.

This time, they’re upset over the Human Rights Campaign’s “Year to Win” initiative, specifically HRC’s plan to train 1,500 advocates in thirteen cities to participate in the upcoming elections.

Wow. Thirteen cities. Imagine that.

CitizenLink then enlisted Matt Barber to complain:

“Their main purpose for existence is to influence public policy and politics, and to get people elected to office who are going to push their militant homosexual agenda,” said Matt Barber, policy director for cultural issues at Concerned Women for America.

Of course, nobody at Focus and none of the Concerned Women are at all interested in public policy, politics or getting people elected.

Oh, wait a minute. Wasn’t it just a few months ago that the world held its collective breath wondering who Dobson would endorse for the GOP primaries?

And isn’t Focus On the Family in its third year of flogging its own so-called “Truth Project”, a series of regional and local training sessions they’ve been putting on across the country? And what about Dobson’s radio program and Focus’ own “Family News In Focus” program, both going out daily to hundreds of radio stations across the country — all of it to push their militant anti-gay agenda?

But then, HRC does have a weekly radio program on XM Satellite, or so I hear. I don’t get satellite radio.

But that’s not the only thing that CitizenLink is worried about. They’re terribly upset over HRC’s massive bankroll:

Brad Miller, director of the Family Policy Council department at Focus on the Family Action, said family advocates could face an uphill battle. HRC has an annual budget of more than $50 million.

True, when you add up the revenues of the Human Rights Campaign, Inc and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, you end up with a figure of about $50 million.

But go to GuideStar and look up the financial statements from Focus On the Family and Focus On the Family Action. Add those figures together and you’ll end up with revenues in 2006 of some $157 million.

That’s more than three times the size of HRC’s combined budget.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, maybe two will help.

I think Focus On the Family should spend some of their money on math lessons.

Internet Radio Appearance Tonight

I will be a guest this evening on Peter Godbold’s “Strictly Confidential,” an LGBT internet radio talk show on the Head-On Radio Network. Sorry, I can’t help but be reminded of that “Head-On” pain relief commercial. Hopefully this will be much more entertaining. I expect to be on the air (or whatever the internet streaming equivalent is) at about 9:30 EDT / 6:30 PDT. See you there.

Michigan Court Rules Against Health Care Benefits

We’ve heard this over and over again: opponents to same-sex marriage don’t want to go after our domestic partnership benefits. We heard it most recently here in Arizona just a few weeks ago when opponents to same-sex marriage accuse LGBT advocates of “dragging in other issues” when they warn about the potential dangers of these anti-marriage amendments.

Michigan now provides a perfect object lesson:

An amendment to the state constitution approved by voters in 2004 to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman also prohibits public employers from providing health care and other benefits to the same sex partners of employees, a divided Michigan Supreme Court ruled today.

When anti-marriage activists tell you that their proposals have nothing to do with domestic partnerships, don’t believe it. They said that in Michigan also.

Defending Homophobic Violence

On April 12, University of Illinois student Steven Velasquez became the recipient of some hater’s violence. While there are two sides to every story, some facts are not in dispute:

Velasquez was walking with friends at 1:00 am. Another young man, Brett Vanasdlen, saw him and made a bigoted remark.

According to Velasquez, he responded, “How ignorant was that?” and kept walking. According to Vanasdlen, Velasquez grabbed him and started screaming, “What did you say” in his face.

In both stories, Vanasdlen threw Velasquez to the ground where he was knocked out, suffered head trauma, and was taken to the hospital. He was released the next day and is fine.

Vanasdlen was arrested and charged with a hate crime. He’s been released until his trial.

It is likely that this will be a very straightforward case. There were witnesses who can make their argument and a judge or jury will either convict or acquit Vanasdlen of assault.

But the story does not stop there.

David Duke, onetime Louisiana legislator and Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, has a website where like-minded individuals proclaim their beliefs. They rant about the corrupting influence of Jews, how civil rights laws lead to black men raping white women, how European countries need to keep their ethnic identity free from the dilution of immigration, and radical hispanics want to return the Southwest to Mexico. Rev. Ted Pike is a regular writer who specializes in anti-Semitic screeds (he loves Jews in the same way that LaBarbara love gays).

On Duke’s website, Rev. Ted Pike tells a version of the story provided by Vanasdlen’s mother. He claims that Vanasdlen is only being tried because “The police department of Champaign, Illinois is reported to be under pressure from higher authorities to increase its quota of hate crimes convictions.”

Pike encourages his readers to protest Vanasdlen’s arraignment before the facts are presented at trial. And it appears that one of his peers is taking up the cause.

Peter LaBarbera, an anti-gay activist better known for his extensive collection of gay porn and his video-taping of leather and other fetish events, is now meeting the challenge on Duke’s website. In case some of his readers are not also readers of Duke’s racist website, LaBarbera invites them to join the campaigners (LaBarbera downplays the racist and anti-Semitic connection, calling Pike a “pro-family advocate”).

TAKE ACTION: 1) Urge Champaign County, Illinois State’s Attorney Julia Rietz (phone: (217) 384-3733) to drop the government’s one-sided felony “hate crimes” prosecution against 18-year-old student-athlete Brett VanAsdlen — based on the inconsistent and likely exaggerated claims of Steven Velasquez, a homosexual University of Illinois (U of I) student who may have initiated physical contact with VanAsdlen. Already, Brett is being smeared as violent “gay-basher” by Velasquez and pro-homosexual activists in the media. Pray for Brett and his family.

Now it may be that the truth is different than what Velasquez has reported. In fact, a trial might find that he was the instigater and at fault. That’s what the jurisprudence system is set up to do.

But I do know that some – David Duke, Ted Pike, Peter LaBarbera, and those who share their views – have decided that Vanasdlen should not have to account for his actions that night. They believe that good Christian “strapping, clean-cut, All-American looking young man” should be able to send a gay kid with a name like Valasquez to the hospital without question.

I think that attitude is evil.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Doesn’t Defend DADT

One of the defenses made in support of continuing the military’s anti-gay Don’t Ask – Don’t Tell policy is that senior military strategists oppose gay soldiers from serving openly. Well, it doesn’t get more senior than the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Speaking at West Point this weekend, Admiral Michael Mullen was asked his opinion about the impact if the incoming administration were to be supportive of gay servicemembers. According to PinkNews,

Speaking to graduating cadets at West Point military academy on Sunday, Admiral Mike Mullen said that the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy enacted by Congress in 1993 is a law that the Armed Forces follow.

“Should the law change, the military will carry that out too,” he said.

This is the second time that Mullen has appeared unfazed by the notion of openly gay soldiers. During his confirmation he told the Senate,

“I really think it is for the American people to come forward, really through this body, to both debate that policy and make changes, if that’s appropriate.

“I’d love to have Congress make its own decisions with respect to considering repeal.”

Without the public support of military leaders or prominant politicians, it is surely only a short time before this misguided policy is scrapped for good.

Cayman Kissing Story Gets Significant Attention

The Caymanian Compass is getting a great deal of attention from their reporting of the police response to Aaron Chandler kissing his partner.

Cayman Free Press Web Development Manager Bronwyn Robbins said statistics showed 662,991 hits Monday.

“However, our engineers note that this is a huge under–estimate of the amount of traffic due to server overload and eventual outage due to the inability to cope with so much traffic,” she said. “The engineer’s estimation of unrecorded traffic due to the server meltdown was well over 1 million hits, possibly two.”

Most of this traffic is driven by American bloggers that find the behavior of the authorities to be objectionable and offensive. Reports are placing the islands in a very negative light.

However, the tourism officials are in an difficult position. While potential visitors are wary of traveling to a tourism destination that may arrest them for kissing, Caymanians are supportive of this threatening response.

“The web traffic today is substantially greater than normal,” said Ms Robbins. “The [DoT apologises to gay kisser] story has received over 500 views already and it’s only 10.20am,” she said.

While the majority of letters to the editor were in support of the RCIP officer and against the DoT’s apology to Mr. Chandler, the blog and forums had more balanced debate.

This necessity of appealing to two vastly different audience may be what is driving the multiple and conflicting messages from the tourism board. On the one hand, those responsible for keeping money flowing in want to appear welcoming to potential guests, but they also have to appease those elements in their society who embrace hostility.

Which brings me to my question: While I know that Jamaica is a place I cannot visit, will I be protected in the Cayman Islands?

Cayman Islands Apology Called Into Question

That apology issued by the Cayman Islands tourism director to a gay American tourist who was detained by police after kissing his partner at a dance club has been called into question by the island’s Minister of Tourism.

Minister Charles Clifford was asked about the incident in which 22-year-old Aaron Chandler was detained by the Royal Cayman Islands Police for kissing his partner several times on a dance floor. Clifford responded:

“All of us in this room and most people in Cayman would agree that what happened in that incident at Royal Palms was offensive to most people in Cayman,” Mr. Clifford told an audience of about 25 people at the Webster United Church Hall in Bodden Town.

This appears to contradict an apology made by the Department of Tourism director Pilar Bush, whose apology to Chandler read, “What happened to you was an isolated incident and is not representative of Cayman.” Whether it is representative of Cayman or not may be questionable, but it appears to be representative of the very person in charge of Cayman’s tourist industry.

The RCIP has an internal investigation into the incident underway, and is seeking independent witnesses to the events at the Royal Palms night club. But since so far it appears that no local laws were broken, it’s unclear what information these witnesses could add to the investigation. This leaves the impression that this investigation is aimed more at digging up dirt on Chandler and his partner rather than the inappropriate actions of a police officer who had no grounds to detain Chandler.

[Hat tip: Stefano]

Cayman Island Director of Tourism Apologizes

The American tourist who was detained by Royal Cayman Islands Police for kissing his partner on a dancefloor received a sent a letter of apology from Director of Tourism Pilar Bush. Bush responded on Friday to a letter of complaint written by 23-year-old Massachusetts resident Aaron Chandler on Thursday, the day after the incident took place at the Royal Palms:

“On behalf of the entire Department of Tourism, I apologise for your upsetting experience and want to assure you that the Cayman Islands is a welcoming jurisdiction to all people,” Ms. Bush wrote to Mr. Chandler. “What happened to you was an isolated incident, and is not representative of Cayman. We know that thousands of gay and lesbian visitors travel to the Cayman Islands every year and enjoy their vacation.”

Chandler told a Cayman Islands newspaper that he appreciated the response:

“I should say that, yes, her prompt decision did ease the anger for me a bit,” Mr. Chandler said in an email written from back home in the United States.

“In addition, it’s just good business sense for Ms Bush to have apologised to me. The [Department] of Tourism surely doesn’t want to have someone leave the Cayman Islands not wanting to come back.”

Chandler also said that he hasn’t received any response from a complaint lodged against the RCIP.

“Day Of Silence” Events Staged In Russia

From UK Gay News comes word of the first Day of Silence held last weekend in three cities across Russia. Day of Silence events were held on Saturday in St. Petersburg, Novokuznetsk and Yaroslavl. Two participants in St. Petersburg were assaulted following a rally and skinheads attacked participants in Novokuznetsk. Nevertheless, organizers counted the events a rousing success.

St. Petersburg officials had initially given permission for a public Day of Silence demonstration, but this permission was rescinded a few days before the event. In response, the organizers scaled back their plans and staged individual protests in St. Petersburg’s Chrenyshevskiy Park since individual demonstrations don’t require approval by authorities. For two hours, the participants stood silently with a banner that read, “I am silent to be heard.” Their mouths were taped shut as they handed out flyers to passersby.

According to one report, the Day of Silence participants were guarded by ten policemen during the demonstration. The rally in the park went off without incident, but two of the participants were attacked afterwards by three assailants as they made their way to a nearby café. Igor Petrov, one of the Day of Silence organizers, and Ignat Fialkovskiy, the press secretary of the International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival Side by Side, suffered kicks and bruises requiring medical treatment. Formal complaints have been filed with the police.

In Novokuznetsk in central Russia, twenty volunteers responded to a “flash mob” appeal sent through social networks. Despite the bad weather, organizers were pleased with the response. However a group of skinheads attacked several participants, injuring one young man.

The organizer of the group from Yaroslavl, 160 miles northeast of Moscow reported that nine people took part in their “flash mob.” No problems were reported there.

Despite the problems encountered in Novokuznetsk and St. Petersburg, Russian Day of Silence organizers consider the actions a rousing success:

We were able to achieve the most important thing — the word about the problem of emotional harassment and violence, discrimination and intolerance based on sexual orientation and gender identity reached many people, while the attacks on the participants of the event in St. Petersburg and Novokuznetsk confirmed the relevance of the problem.

Hat tip: UK Gay News