Box Turtle Bulletin

Church Member Defends Pastor Worley’s Electric Fence

You see, part of the problem is that when Pastor Charles Worley said that “I figured a way out  to get rid of all the lesbians and queers” by putting them behind an electric fence, it was all taken out of context.

Researcher Predicts Rising Unemployment Among Ex-Gay Therapists

Dr Brian Mustanksi is the director of the IMPACT LGBT Health and Development Program. He has also published several research papers on sexual development and mental health issues of LGBT populations. Today, Dr. Mustanski published a blog post at Psychology Today which gives a run-down on recent events — Dr. Robert Spitzer’s apology, the Pan American Health Organization resolution, the California proposal to regulate ex-gay therapy among licensed therapists — and concludes that “job prospects are not looking good” if you’re an ex-gay therapist. While times may be getting tough for licensed ex-gay therapists, Dr. Mustanski says that California’s so-called “ban” will not eliminate the ex-gay programs altogether:

While I mentioned in a previous blog that a bill was introduced in the California legislature to outlaw so called “conversion therapy,” I suspect in the U.S. that public policies will have a hard time eliminating the practice in places where it is entrenched. That’s because anyone in the U.S. can call themself a “psychotherapist,” “therapist,” or “counselor” because these are not legally regulated terms (however, calling yourself a psychologist or psychiatrist would be illegal if you don’t have the proper credentials and license). Unfortunately, consumers don’t always know the credentials of their therapist, and I suspect most of the “conversion therapy” practitioners are not licensed psychologists, psychiatrists, or other licensed mental health professionals. If you don’t have a license, you can’t have it taken away.

This goes along with what I noted earlier concerning the limitations of the proposed legislation. A significant chunk of ex-gay counseling is provided by religious ministries rather than professional licensed therapists.

Email of the Day

If it weren't for my emails asking for money, who knows what would have happened.

“Sodomy is not a civil right.”

I’m proud to say these words were spoken by Virginia Delegate Bob Marshall on national media following a critical victory for the Family and Public Advocate.

You see, last week pro-Family activists derailed a plot to set up a radical homosexual as judge in Virginia.  Speaker Bill Howell and other members of the Republican controlled House tried to appease the Homosexual Lobby by allowing this nomination to go forward unopposed. Thankfully Bob Marshall alerted my office in time for me to rally Public Advocate’s Virginia supporters.

And then we buried Richmond in phone calls.

We sent a message that Virginians will not tolerate the appointment of a judge who openly supports the imposition of homosexual marriage by any means necessary.

The story of our fight has now gone nation-wide.

The Homosexual Lobby is furious that you and I blocked the appointment of a key judge for their agenda. And they are venting their wrath at Bob Marshall for leading the charge.

And by the way…

P.S. Please prayerfully consider chipping in with a donation of $10 or more to help Public Advocate fight for traditional values.

Also, by the way, according to his 2009 tax returns, spent zero — yes zero! — dollars on lobbying, but a hell of a lot on emails and fundraising — and on “management fees” to Eugene Delgaudio & Associates, Inc.

The Daily Agenda for Friday, May 25

TODAY’S AGENDA (Ours):
Pride Celebrations This Weekend: Alkmaar, Netherlands; Bradford, UK; Cambridge/Kitchener/Waterloo ON; Dresden, Germany; Durban, South Africa; Düsseldorf, Germany; Eskilstuna, Sweden; Hanover, Germany; Ljubljana, Slovenia; Melbourne, FL; Moscow, Russia; Pensacola, FL; Salerno, Italy; and Washington, DC (Black Pride).

Other Events This Weekend: Bearpawcalypse, Chicago, IL; International Mr. Leather, Chicago, IL; Great Plains Rodeo, Oklahoma City, OK and Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival, Toronto, ON.

TODAY’S AGENDA (Theirs):
Family “Research” Council’s National Pastor’s Briefing: Washington, D.C. The FRC’s Watchmen On the Wall project winds up its National Pastor’s Briefing today at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill. Today’s speakers include Lt. General Jerry Boykin (retired), Bishop Harry Jackson, and FRC president Tony Perkins. The meeting breaks up at 2:30, leaving plenty of time for everyone to get their disco-naps in before hitting the town for the weekend.

World Congress of Families: Madrid, Spain. The Rockford, Illinois-based Howard Center will kick off its sixth World Congress of Families today in Madrid. Among today’s speakers are the Howard Center’s Allan C. Carlson, Don Feder (who once described himself as making Atilla the Hunn look like a “a limousine liberal”), the Family “Research” Council’s Patrick Fagan, and the National Civic Council’s Peter Westmore (Australia). Tomorrow, American ex-gay therapist Richard Cohen will present a discussion on “solutions to homosexual behavior.”

TODAY IN HISTORY:
Oscar Wilde Convicted: 1895. In 1891, author, poet and playwright Oscar Wilde was the toast of London. He made his mark in literature in The Picture of Dorian Gray (a new annotated edition with some of the more homoerotic themes restored has just been released) and in other essays made him a man of letters, while his popular plays (Salome, A Woman of No Importance, and especially The Importance of Being Earnest) burnished his reputation for sophisticated wit. But the wild success of Earnest which premiered in February 1895, was quickly eclipsed by Wilde’s conviction and sentencing for homosexuality.

In 1891, Wilde was denounced as a homosexual by the Marquess of Queensbury. Wilde, who was involved with the marquess’ son, Alfred Douglass, sued the Marquess for libel but lost the case when evidence supported the marquess’ allegations. Because homosexuality was still considered a crime in England, that evidence led to Wilde’s arrest. His first trial resulted in a hung jury, but a second jury in 1895 sentenced him, along with another friend by the name of Alfred Taylor, to two years of hard labor. Justice Alfred Wills pronounced the sentence in the harshest of terms. From the court record:

Justice Wills: Oscar Wilde and Alfred Taylor, the crime of which you have been convicted is so bad that one has to put stern restraint upon one’s self to prevent one’s self from describing, in language which I would rather not use, the sentiments which must rise in the breast of every man pf honor who has heard the details of these two horrible trials.  That the jury has arrived at a correct verdict in this case I cannot persuade myself to entertain a shadow of a doubt; and I hope, at all events, that those who sometimes imagine that a judge is half-hearted in the cause of decency and morality because he takes care no prejudice shall enter into the case, may see that it is consistent at least with the utmost sense of indignation at the horrible charges brought home to both of you.

It is no use for me to address you.  People who can do these things must be dead to all sense of shame, and one cannot hope to produce any effect upon them.  It is the worst case I have ever tried.  that you, Taylor, kept a kind of male brothel it is impossible to doubt.  And that you, Wilde, have been the center of a circle of extensive corruption of the most hideous kind among young men, it is equally impossible to doubt.

I shall, under the circumstances, be expected to pass the severest sentence that the law allows.  In my judgment it it totally inadequate for a case such as this.  The sentence of the Court is that each of you be imprisoned and kept to hard labor for two years.

[Cries of “Oh! Oh!” and “Shame!”]

Wilde–And I?  May I say nothing, my Lord?

The court adjourned.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:
Ian McKellen: 1939. His roots are in theater, mainly Shakespeare, where he continues to perform in a number of state productions in Britain. But beginning in 1969, he branched out in film and television, covering a wide range of genres from drama (And the Band Played On, Gods and Monsters), to mystery (Six Degrees of Separation, The Da Vinci Code), to action and fantasy (X-Men, The Lord of the Rings trilogy).

McKellen was among the earliest actors to come out publicly as gay. He came out in 1988 during a BBC interview while discussing the controversial  Local Government Bill (section 28), which stated that local governments “shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality” or “promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship.” According to a 2003 interview, McKellen said he visited Environment Secretary Michael Howard (who was responsible for local governments) to lobby against the bill. Howard reaffirmed his approval of Section 28, and in a defining moment of chutzpah, asked McKellen to leave an autograph for Howard’s children. He did. It read, “Fuck off, I’m gay.” McKellen remained politically active and co-founded the British gay-rights group Stonewall in 1989. In  2007, he became a patron of The Albert Kennedy Trust, an organisation that provides support to homeless and troubled LGBT youth.

McKellen is properly called Sir Ian McKellen. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1979, was knighted in 1991 for services to the performing arts. He was also named a Companion of Honour for services to drama and to LGBT equality in 2008. He is currently reprising his role as Gandolf for The Hobbit, which is currently in production as a two part series.  An Unexpected Journey is scheduled for release this December, and There and Back Again is slated for December, 2013.

Anne Heche: 1969. She got her start on the NBC soap opera Another World, where she won a Daytime Emmy in 1991. Appropriate, given that so much of her life reads like a soap opera. She was the daughter of a Baptist choir director who disclosed his homosexuality to his family just before dying of AIDS in 1983. That same year, her brother died in a car accident. Four years later, Heche launched her acting career with Another World as soon as she got out of high school. From there she took a series of roles in television and film, including If These Walls Could Talk (1996), Walking and Talking (1996), Wag the Dog (1997), and I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997).

It was at about that time that Heche began dating comedian Ellen DeGeneres. They had said they would get a civil union if it became legal in Vermont, but they broke up in August, 2000. Just hours after news broke of their relationship ending, she appeared that the rear door of a house in Fresno County wearing nothing by shorts and a bra, asking if she could take a shower. She had curled up on the couch for a nap when sheriff deputies arrived. She told officers that she was “God, and was going to take everyone back to heaven in a spaceship.” She was taken by ambulance to a hospital, but was released a few hours later.

That episode became the stuff of tabloid headlines and served as a turning point in her 2001 memoir Call Me Crazy (which she wrote in only six weeks), where she described the her sexual abuse by her father, and her subsequent emotional problems and drug abuse. Meanwhile, her mother, Nancy Heche capitalized on her daughter’s fame and became an important speaker at ex-gay conferences where she claimed that her prayers “cured” Anne’s lesbianism. Anne, who is bisexual, says that her mother’s campaign is “a way to keep the pain of the truth out.” As of 2009, the two women remained estranged.

If you know of something that belongs on the agenda, please send it here. Don’t forget to include the basics: who, what, when, where, and URL (if available).

And feel free to consider this your open thread for the day. What’s happening in your world?

The miracle worker

Anti-Obama activists like to sneeringly refer to the President as “the liberals’ messiah”. But maybe they are really on to something; maybe Barack Obama really can work miracles.

From Public Policy Polling (pdf):

-57% of Maryland voters say they’re likely to vote for the new marriage law this fall, compared to only 37% who are opposed. That 20 point margin of passage represents a 12 point shift from an identical PPP survey in early March, which found it ahead by a closer 52/44 margin.

-The movement over the last two months can be explained almost entirely by a major shift in opinion about same-sex marriage among black voters. Previously 56% said they would vote against the new law with only 39% planning to uphold it. Those numbers have now almost completely flipped, with 55% of African Americans planning to vote for the law and only 36% now opposed.

-The big shift in attitudes toward same-sex marriage among black voters in Maryland is reflective of what’s happening nationally right now. A new ABC/Washington Post poll finds 59% of African Americans across the country supportive of same-sex marriage. A PPP poll in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania last weekend found a shift of 19 points in favor of same-sex marriage among black voters.

What happened in between? The President evolved. And then NAACP board endorsed equality. And now it appears that there were a large number of black voters who have also completed their evolution process.

To be honest, I did not expect this in the slightest. And (like the polls last year that suddenly and unexpectedly showed a majority of Americans support marriage) it seems too good to be true. And I’m still going to wait for additional polling confirmation (and perhaps even the Maryland vote) before I am fully convinced.

But these are huge and very significant changes and if they are real then I’m delighted to give credit where due. I think that discovering that the National Organization for Marriage was condescendingly playing up racism played a part, but it was the President’s announcement that I think really cued the change. (And I can’t wait for NOM’s response… I’m grinning already)

If Black Americans are supporting equality, then I’m ready to party. You bring Obama and I’ll bring the wine… no, scratch that… I’ll bring the water. Miracles are happening.

SBC Leader denounces death camp pastor

From the website of Dr. Warren Throckmorton:

I asked Bob Stith, National Strategist for Gender Issues at the Southern Baptist Convention, for his reaction and he said Worley’s words were “a vile outburst” and said,

I think it is important to say in the strongest terms how disgusting and unchristian his comments are.

He added that the church is not in the Southern Baptist Convention.

I want to commend Stith on his response. I wish it were heard more broadly.

Colin Powell Supports Marriage Equality

In 1993, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Colin Powell was among those who supported the proposal enshrine the military’s ban on gays in the military under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” It wouldn’t be until 2007 when he would begin to say that he thought the ban should be revisited, and he waited until 2010 as DADT’s repeal was working its way through Congress before finally calling for the ban to be lifted. Yesterday, Powell added his voice to those who support marriage equality:

I have no problem with it. And, it was the Congress that imposed ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ though it was certainly my position and my recommendation to get us out of an even worse outcome that could have occurred, as you’ll recall. But as I’ve thought about gay marriage, I know a lot of friends who are individually gay but are in partnerships with loved ones, and they are as stable a family as my family is, and they raise children. And so I don’t see any reason not to say that they should be able to get married.”

It’s Still 1967 at Biola University

I think the opening paragraph in this report says it all:

Officials at a private Christian university in Southern California held a “family discussion” on Friday after revelations of a community of homosexual students rocked the 100-year-old campus. [Emphasis added]

I had to check the dateline to make sure it was 2012. Biola University is an evangelical campus of 6,000-plus students south of Los Angeles, and they are shocked — actually, “rocked” — to find that a few of them are gay. A group of Biola University students made themselves known a few weeks ago by creating a web site, asking “to be treated with equality and respected as another facet of Biola’s diversity.” That web site drew a lengthy response (PDF: 172KB/4 pages), reminding everyone that “all members of the University community are expected to following the teachings of scripture” before reiterating Biola’s position regarding “any act of sexual intimacy between two persons of the same sex, as illegitimate moral options for the confessing Christian.”

MSNBC has followed up on the group which “has shaken this 104-year-old Christian college”:

Chris Grace, vice president for student development at Biola, said the school would like to engage in conversation with the underground group but has been stymied by the members’ anonymity. “We really are at a disadvantage here because we don’t know who these people are,” Grace said, adding that the university would “love and welcome a conversation with them and that’s what we are hoping for.”

But members of BQU, who would only comment for this story anonymously, fear that by “coming out” they would be punished and possibly expelled. They said they consider themselves Christians “first and foremost” and love Biola, and are not looking to create “a war” on campus, but they are looking to have an open discussion about what it means to be Christian and gay.

Eventually, Members of the group would like to “come out” and be open about their sexuality. “It’s important to our integrity to not have parts of us be hidden even among the Christian community,” a member said.

In 1967, Time reported on what was believed to be the first gay students group in the nation forming on the campus of Columbia University. Like these Biola University students, they too feared identifying themselves. Biola University is only 26 miles from West Hollywood, but 45 years away from the first stirrings of dignity on its own campus. That’s a lot of catching up to do.

Alveda King Denounces NAACP’s Endorsement of Marriage Equality

Alveda King, the niece of Martin Luther King, Jr. (and she will tell you that she’s “uncle M.L.’s” niece at every opportunity), lashed out at the NAACP’s resolution supporting marriage equality for LGBT citizens. King not only dragged her uncle into her outrage, but decided to go after the memories of Coretta Scott King and Bayard Rustin as well:

The 21st century homosexual lobby likes to point to the professional relationship between my uncle Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bayard Rustin, his openly homosexual staffer who left the movement at the height of the campaign. Rustin attempted to convince Uncle M. L. that homosexual rights were equal with civil rights. Uncle M. L. did not agree, and would not attach the homosexual agenda to the 20th century civil rights struggles. So Mr. Rustin resigned. He was a brilliant strategist and was hired by Uncle M. L. not because he was gay, but because he was a capable strategist. He also was not fired, he chose to resign. My uncle was not a bigot, and he didn’t judge people for the color of their skin nor their sexual orientation. Neither do I. As compassionate Christians who won’t be forced to sit on the back of the bus as far as our spiritual commitments are concerned, we can be compassionate without endorsing sin.

As to the relationship between Mrs. Coretta Scott King and the homosexual lobby, Mrs. King was a very compassionate woman. She and I shared conversations regarding misplaced compassion. When her daughter, my cousin Elder Bernice King marched in favor of traditional marriage a few years ago, the homosexual lobby demanded that Mrs. King publicly rebuke her daughter for her stance. Mrs. King did not rebuke her daughter. The issue here is compassion, and how to show compassion in the face of controversy.

Mrs. Coretta Scott King may not have publicly rebuked her own daughter, but she did support LGBT equality, including marriage equality. As early as 1998, Mrs. King drew a direct line between the homophobia experienced by the gay community and racism (as well as anti-Semitism):

Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood”, she stated. “This sets the stage for further repression and violence that spread all too easily to victimize the next minority group.”

In 2000, at a National Gay and Lesbian Task Force conference, Mrs. King linked the struggle for LGBT rights to the civil rights movement:

I say “common struggle” because I believe very strongly that all forms of bigotry and discrimination are equally wrong and should be opposed by right-thinking Americans everywhere. Freedom from discrimination based on sexual orientation is surely a fundamental human right in any great democracy, as much as freedom from racial, religious, gender, or ethnic discrimination.

My husband, Martin Luther King Jr., once said, “We are all tied together in a single garment of destiny… an inescapable network of mutuality,… I can never be what I ought to be until you are allowed to be what you ought to be.” Therefore, I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream to make room at the table of brotherhood and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people.

And in 2004, she added her voice to those supporting marriage equality:

“Gay and lesbian people have families, and their families should have legal protection, whether by marriage or civil union,” she said. “A constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages is a form of gay bashing and it would do nothing at all to protect traditional marriages.”

As for Bayard Rustin’s leaving the civil rights movement, Alvin McEwen corrects the record:

According to several sources, most specifically the excellent book Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin by John D’Emilio, Rustin resigned because prominent black leaders, specifically the late Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, had gotten jealous of King’s influence and were going to accuse him and the openly gay Rustin of being lovers.

It was some of these same leaders who did not want Rustin to have anything to do with the 1963 March on Washington, but labor leader A. Philip Randolph insisted that Rustin be involved. And as you SHOULD know, this was a good move because Rustin was the architect of that successful march.

Furthermore Rustin began speaking about gay issues in the 1980s at the behest of his partner, Walter Naegle. This was over two decades after MLK’s death.

Ms. King, you like to talk about the so-called sin of homosexuality, but let me remind you that the Bible also says something against bearing false witness.

The Daily Agenda for Thursday, May 24

TODAY’S AGENDA (Ours):
Pride Celebrations This Weekend:Alkmaar, Netherlands; Bradford, UK; Cambridge/Kitchener/Waterloo ON; Dresden, Germany; Durban, South Africa; Düsseldorf, Germany; Eskilstuna, Sweden; Hanover, Germany; Ljubljana, Slovenia; Melbourne, FL; Moscow, Russia; Pensacola, FL; Salerno, Italy; and Washington, DC (Black Pride).

Other Events This Weekend: Bearpawcalypse, Chicago, IL; International Mr. Leather, Chicago, IL; Great Plains Rodeo, Oklahoma City, OK and Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival, Toronto, ON.

TODAY’S AGENDA (Theirs):
Family “Research” Council’s National Pastor’s Briefing:Washington, D.C. The FRC’s Watchmen On the Wall project convened its National Pastor’s Briefing yesterday, and it will continue through Friday at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill. Today’s speakers include Sen. Mark Rubio (R-FL), Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA), New York City Councilman Fernando Cabrera (D-The Bronx), FRC president Tony Perkins, vice president Tom McClusky, and senior fellow Ken Blackwell. The conference will break in the afternoon so that participants can board busses to Capitol Hill for Congressional meetings anda prayer walk.

TODAY IN HISTORY:
Pat Buchanan Declares AIDS “Awful Retribution”: 1983. “The sexual revolution has begun to devour its children,” proclaimed Pat Buchanan in a New York Post op-ed that was relayed in newspapers across America. “And among the revolutionary vanguard, the Gay Rights activists, the mortality rate is higher and climbing.” By 1983, the known AIDS epidemic was about to reach its two year mark. A general panic was spreading in the gay community, and a general backlash was brewing everywhere else. Buchanan fueled that backlash with this op-ed, warning that no homosexual should be permitted to handle food. He also warned that the Democratic party’s decision to hold their 1984 convention in San Francisco would leave their delegates wives and children at the mercy of “homosexuals who belong to a community that is a common carrier of dangerous, communicable and sometimes fatal diseases.” And he attributed all of it to divine retribution with his now-infamous money-quote: “The poor homosexuals… they have declared war upon nature, and now nature is exacting an awful retribution.”

Buchanan had a flare for the dramatic turn of the phrase, having served as an opposition researcher and speechwriter for President Richard Nixon. He would go on to serve as communications director for the Reagan White House from 1985 to 1987. His speech before the Republican National Convention in 1992 would bring the term “culture war” to a nationwide audience.

If you know of something that belongs on the agenda, please send it here. Don’t forget to include the basics: who, what, when, where, and URL (if available).

And feel free to consider this your open thread for the day. What’s happening in your world?

Pro-Gay Lobbyist Named Ohio GOP Director

Sometimes you learn the coolest things on Twitter. The Ohio Republican Party has named Matt Borges their new executive director. Borges had served as the executive director for Gov. John Kasich’s inauguration committee. In 2004, he was convicted of a misdemeanor for soliciting illicit campaign contributions and questions surfaced again over his fundraising for Kasich’s inauguration, which means that his GOP creds are totally solid. He’s also a registered lobbyist at the statehouse. His many clients include Equality Ohio, for whom he is trying to shepherd a non-discrimination bill through a House committee. Borges, being a lobbyist, is simply a hired gun. I have no idea whether he is gay or even pro-gay. Nevertheless, Columbus resident Linda Harvey is “outraged,” and Ohio’s tea party factions aren’t too thrilled either:

“It’s why we’re so detached from regular operations of the Republican party,” said Tom Zawistowski, president of the Ohio Liberty Coalition of tea party groups. “We have some shared goals and work on some of those shared goals, but we certainly don’t have shared values.”

Happy belated Harvey Milk Day

Somehow I went all day yesterday without realizing that it was Harvey Milk Day. Of course, I didn’t care in the slightest. I have no idea what emotion Harvey Milk Day is supposed to stir in me, how I’m supposed to observe it, or what possible benefit it has on anyone.

Last evening I was out at Eleven, a gay club in West Hollywood that has a trivia night on Tuesdays which I sometimes enjoy. There was no Harvey Milk Day signage – in the club or anywhere on the strip. No one mentioned Harvey Milk Day. No rallies. No banners. Even the stores I passed had no “get your Harvey Milk Day T-Shirts here” posters. I dare say that virtually no one knew or cared that it was Harvey Milk Day.

But I do know why it exists.

It’s because Assemblyman Mark Leno and Equality California needed some pointless stupid bill to support to prove that they were desperately ‘fighting for our community’ (please send money). And it gave anti-gay Republicans a chance to continue their fight against ‘the homosexual agenda that is taking over our schools’ (please send money).

My favorite over-the-top absurdity was

Anti-LGBT activists are also going after the Harvey Milk Day bill and have made stopping it a major priority. They want to erase LGBT people from history and from California.

But, whew, we fought them back and now we have Harvey Milk Day!!! Don’t you just feel less erased? If so, don’t worry, you still have time to send money.

‘Target funds the radical homosexual “marriage” agenda.’ Woo-Hoo!! Time for a Target run.

Today the American Family Association informed me that “Target donating its sales in support of gay marriage laws”.

Now usually when the AFA tells me that some company is endorsing ‘homosexual “marriage”‘, what they really mean is that the company allows it’s gay employees to march in a group in some gay pride event. Or that they contribute to some gay professional organization. Because as all gay people are in favor of being treated equally, anything other than “hatin’ the siiiin” is the same thing as endorsing marriage equality.

But this time they are right. Target is sending money from the sale of gay themed T-shirts to an actual organization that really and truly does put effort into relationship recognition: Family Equality Council.

Love ya, Target.

Now, lets see, I really do need to pick up face wash, coffee, and vitamins. Thanks, AFA, for the reminder.

Another ABC Poll, yet more good marriage news

23. On another subject, do you think it should be legal or illegal for gay and lesbian couples to get married? Do you feel that way strongly or somewhat?

39% – strongly legal
14% – somewhat legal
7% – somewhat illegal
32% – strongly illegal
8% – “Oh, gee, I don’t know. Do you like my hair?”

Analysis of the full polling demographics (pdf) suggests to me that those who believe that God has ordained them to dictate to you the details of your life are not shifting on this issue. But they are rapidly losing influence over everyone else.

Republicans in the House ban Mainline Christian sacraments

In the midst of fighting it can be easy to confuse a battle with a war and struggle over a battlefield can be so predominant that it appears to be the goal. And so it is in the Great American Culture War. With so much emphasis in fighting over issues involving homosexuality, it can seem as though denying gay people equality is the primary goal of many conservatives. But I believe that the battle over marriage, adoption, and even simple social equality for gay people is not driven so much by objection to homosexuality. Rather, a larger issue is at stake: who will be the voice of The Church in America.

It is no small prize. Tremendous influence is wielded by those who are considered the arbiters of morality and the defenders of faith and godly society. And while the United States has no official sanctioned or supported church, public perceptions about what The Church believes holds tremendous sway not only over the faithful but over voters in general.

For most of our existence, The Church has been Protestant Christianity with denominational differences relating primarily to economic or social status or ethnic tradition (with all falling under the mantle of “Mainline Christianity”). Usually (with some significant historical exceptions) broad leeway was granted to Catholics and others, but as far as “what Americans believe”, it was driven by Protestant ideology. Mormons, Pentecostals, and other fringe groups mostly kept to themselves.

Today’s culture war is a battle for the right to dominance and to have a different ideology shape the culture. Catholics, Pentecostals, and Mormons have formed an alliance to replace the Mainline Christians with their own brand of Christian thought, and the difference is significant.

Mainline Christianity’s underlying principles could be expressed as “work hard, be a good neighbor, live responsibly, and care for the less fortunate”. While individual morality is important, and social pressure is used to encourage moral behavior, it is generally considered to be in bad taste to publicly shame those who do not live according to a list of rules and coercive morality-based laws are not a primary focus.

The coalition of other faiths that seek to replace this message all place a great deal more importance on conformity, doctrinal purity, and a society that reflects and adheres to the teachings of The Church. Caring for the physical needs of your neighbor falls a far far distant second to caring for your neighbor’s spiritual needs, and there is an underlying presumption that The Church – not the neighbor – can best determine what such needs may be.

I would like to be generous and say that this is purely ideological, but it is to a large part a power-grab.

The Catholic Church always has, and will continue for the foreseeable future, to hold itself out to be the highest authority on all matters, be they religious or civic. They would love nothing more than for the United States to become “a Catholic nation”.

The Mormon Church, also a top-down hierarchal institution, is every bit as autocratic in their realm of influence as is the Catholic Church and a natural ally. Their desperation for social acceptance as a “real” Christian church seems to be achievable through such an alliance.

What the Pentecostals, non-denominational churches, and other conservatives think that they are getting out of this is beyond me – perhaps they are really are driven by doctrinal ideology. And exactly where and how the Southern Baptist Convention eventually stands will to a large extent determine the success or failure of the effort.

Because I view the Culture War from this perspective, I see the battles a bit differently from many bloggers. For example, I see the latest attack from Republicans in the House of Representatives as not being, necessarily, an effort to hurt gay Americans (which it might seem on the surface) but as an effort to hurt Mainline Christianity. It is the boldest and most brazen attack on specific denominations that I’ve ever seen.

Specifically, the House Republicans included the following measure into the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013:

SEC. 537. USE OF MILITARY INSTALLATIONS AS SITES FOR MARRIAGE CEREMONIES OR MARRIAGE-LIKE CEREMONIES.

A military installation or other property owned or rented by, or otherwise under the jurisdiction or control of, the Department of Defense may not be used to officiate, solemnize, or perform a marriage or marriage-like ceremony involving anything other than the union of one man with one woman.

Initially, this looks like an attack on gay soldiers. And it is. Indeed, it is specifically the marriage of gay soldiers which will be disallowed on military bases or other military property.

Yet I think that the greater targets of this provision are the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ, the Friends (Quakers) – all of whom allow their chaplains to offer same-sex marriage sacraments – and the United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America – who are either considering or allow for some measure of marriage-like ceremony.

If we look at the language, we see that this is not about governmental recognition of legal structures. It doesn’t say that the Military will not recognize same-sex couples structurally or legally. Rather, this is SOLELY about the practice of religion.

For the first time in my lifetime, a house of government has dictated what is acceptable theology and has banned sacraments from its properties that do not meet the religious beliefs of legislators.

I think that this is so obviously a violation of the First Amendment that it cannot withstand legal challenge. Telling a chaplain that he need not conduct sacraments that violate his faith (another provision added) is a protection of religious freedom. Telling a chaplain that he cannot conduct sacraments that are provisions of his faith is a blatant attack on his religious freedom.

Conservatives are giddy at the idea of dictating to the military (and the culture) what sacraments are accepted, believing that finally they speak for People of Faith.

They are fools.

I was a teenager when the Christian Coalition really got going. And while my Dad wasn’t a big supporter, the idea of Christians having a stronger voice was tempting.

But I asked my holy-roller, divine healing, fasting and praying, speaking in tongues, Jericho marching, anti-makeup, anti-television, women in long skirts, men keeping their shirt on, ‘Baptists are too liberal’, Pentecostal pastor of a father, “Dad, when the government decides what religion should be the right one, do you really think it’s going to be yours?”

He looked at me funny and said, “No, son. No, I don’t.”

And that was the end of mixing religion with politics for him.

I would ask the same of people of faith today. Do you really believe that selecting which sacraments may be conducted on Military owned property will lead to greater freedom for your church down the road?