Box Turtle Bulletin

Ex-Gay Leader Says Wayne Besen Wants to Kill Him

PFOX, which they say stands for Parents and Friends of Gays and Ex-Gays, is actually an increasingly unstable and irrelevant organization composed mostly of Greg Quinlan (an ex-gay whose ex-lesbian wife divorced him in 2007) and a motley crew of embittered parents of apparently happy gays who have no interest whatsoever in entertaining the futile fiction of changing their sexual orientation. The group, which was originally founded by Richard Cohen, has become increasingly detached from reality, even by some of the more extremist anti-gay standards. Quinlan’s latest shtick is going round claiming to be abused, mistreated, and discriminated against because he’s ex-gay. Those claims took an absurd turn when, in a bid to add another jewel to his queen of persecution crown, Quinlan appeared on a local Washington, D.C. television talk show, where he said this:

(at 10:38) Truth Wins Out if you look further, including Wayne Besen. He’s asked for people, you know, somebody needs to run Greg over. He needs to be hit with a bus. Somebody should inject him with AIDS. Those are the things that Wayne Besen and Truth Wins Out says about me. That’s pretty hateful rhetoric.

Accusations of felonious behavior demands proof, and Besen rightly demands that Quinlan produces it. Besen also adds that he is exploring his legal options.

While that libel was the most egregious lie Quinlan told in the interview, it wasn’t the only one. He also accused noted researcher Dean Hamer of lying about his research which found that the Xq28 marker on the X chromosome may play a role in male sexual orientation. (Hamer’s research was replicated by two other studies, but a third one failed to replicate, leading researchers to conclude that the gene may play a role but probably isn’t’ the cause of men becoming gay.) Hamer has also spoken out against Quinlan:

“As a scientist at the National institutes of Health, the largest and best known biomedical research institution in the world, my research has been extensively peer-reviewed, replicated, and published  in respected journals. It’s ironic to be labelled a “liar” by an ideologue who consistently distorts and misreports scientific findings. While I am sympathetic with Mr. Quinlan’s discomfort and struggle with his own sexuality, that is no excuse for misleading people about how science has informed our understanding of  sexual orientation as a natural and fundamental aspect of human development.”

The Daily Agenda for Thanksgiving Day

At least that’s what we call this day in the United States. I do recall though that in 2003 when my partner and I took a vacation to Britain, we discovered that they just call this day “Thursday.” Our Thanksgiving dinner was Thai food in Ely. This year we are celebrating Thanksgiving in Abilene, Texas, where my partner and I will be doing the cooking at my in-laws’ home. Wherever you are and with whomever you are spending the holiday, we hope you have a very pleasant one. Happy Thanksgiving, and pass the mac ‘n’ cheese and pad thai.

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).

As always, please consider this your open thread for the day.

Pat Robertson seemingly baffled by someone else’s Thanksgiving food tradition

Given Right Wing Watch‘s scare quotes around “black thing” in the video title I think I’m supposed to be offended by Pat’s confusion regarding a tradition of mac and cheese served at Thanksgiving celebrations in many black families.

My dad’s family is from Las Cruces, NM and every Thanksgiving we serve New Mexico red chile and corn tortillas with our dinner.

It’s totally a “New Mexico thing” and I’m proud of that.  Would I expect it to befuddle a person with an incredibly narrowly focused cultural and world-view like Pat Robertson?  Duh.  He’s probably still confused by women who wear pants.

Feel free to start a discussion in the comments about your own family’s cultural food traditions at Thanksgiving.

Red chile photo via the food blog Girl With Spoon

St. Petersburg Anti-Gay Bill Delayed One Week

The proposal in St. Petersburg, Russia, to ban all advocacy for LGBT rights was expected to sail through its second reading and become law today, but The Moscow News now reports that the bill has been delayed a week “to clarify all legal definitions connected to this law.”

Fire Kills 15 Transgender Indians in Delhi

A fire killed fifteen members of the hijra community in Delhi on Sunday during a gathering to observe the Transgender Day of Remembrance. According to The Hindu:

The fire blazed through a makeshift tent where a large number of hijras had gathered to honour deceased friends.

The incident created panic among community members who had gathered for the ceremony. Several others who tried to escape were also injured.

“We stand together with more than 50 seriously injured hijras, families of deceased hijras and with the hijra community as a whole in this moment of deep sorrow. From media reports it is very clear that fire safety measures and emergency evacuation facilities were not adequate in the Delhi Municipal Corporation’s community hall, where more than 1,000 members of the transgender community had gathered as part of its community congregation,” said a joint statement issued by executive director of Sangama Manohar Elavarthi and State coordinator of the forum Mahesh Patil.

India TV News has more details:

“Most of those who died were prominent gurus. When parents shut their doors to a hijra child born in the family, it is these gurus who adopt them. They are like our parents. Many in my community have been orphaned,” Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, a transgender who recently participated in the fifth season of TV reality show ‘Big Boss’, said.

She said she will soon be visiting the injured admitted in the Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital here. The transgender-activist had said the purpose of her participation in the reality show was to highlight the cause of her community.

Nigeria Moves Closer To Criminalizing LGBT Relationships

The Associated Press reports that Nigeria’s proposal to criminalize what they define as “marriages between persons of the same gender” has moved one step closer to becoming law. (We have the full text of the proposed bill as it was first introduced here.) The AP reports:

The anti-gay marriage legislation, which is being considered for the third time since 2006, already has sailed through two readings in Senate. A public hearing meant to gauge public opinion on the bill saw gay rights activists booed and provided with police escorts to leave the hall after presenting their arguments against the proposed measure.

“I am so confident because Nigeria is a society that is very, very godly,” said Sen. Domingo Obende, who sponsored the bill.

The bill would define same-sex marriage as follows:

“Same Gender Marriage” means the coming together of persons of the same sex with the purpose of leaving together as husband and wife or for other purposes of same sexual relationship.

The “other purposes” clause could effectively criminalize any sexual relationship of any duration, from a casual fifteen minute tryst to a lifetime commitment. The penalty would be three years imprisonment. The penalties are harsher for those who would solemnize a relationship. Anyone who “witnesses, abet and aids the solemnization of a same gender marriage contract” would be liable for up to five years imprisonment.

Homosexuality is already criminalized in Nigeria, with a penalty of fourteen years’ imprisonment upon conviction. In areas where Sharia Law are in effect, the penalty is death.

Russian Cities Weigh Laws Banning LGBT Advocacy

Two Russian regions have already passed laws prohibiting all forms of LGBT advocacy, and now the city governments of St. Petersburg and Moscow are considering similar measures.

Earlier this year, Ryazan and Arkhangelsk oblasts passed laws banning what they call “gay propaganda,” which include public speech and advocacy on behalf of gay and transgender people. The St. Petersburg proposal includes a fine of up to $1,600 for organizations engaging in “public actions aimed at propaganda of pederasty, lesbianism, bisexuality, and transgenderism among minors.” The fine for individuals would be about $100.The bill doesn’t define what constitutes “public actions,” leaving LGBT advocates concerned that the law would be yet another tool for police to use to crack down on gay pride events. The bill has a separate but identical provision banning advocacy for pedophilia, thus equating it with homosexuality in the public debate. The bill, which is backed by the ruling United Russia party, passed the first of three required readings last week with a 27-1 vote, with one abstention.

Shortly after the bill passed its first reading in St. Petersburg, a Moscow-based newspaper reports that a similar bill is in the works in the Moscow Duma. There is also talk that Russian state legislators may take up similar measures. One delegate says the proposal however would not go far enough:

If this [law against gay propaganda] is meant for our state’s security, this is all good. Only the people who break that law should not be fined;instead, they need to receive punishment under the criminal code”, said deputy Ekaterina Lahova.

Russia decriminalized homosexuality in 1993 under President Boris Yeltsin.

The Daily Agenda for Wednesday, November 23

THE AGENDA:
Pride Celebrations This Weekend: New Orleans, LA (Black Pride); Cologne, Germany (International Bear Pride).

Also This Weekend: Hong Kong Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, Hong Kong, China; Miami White Party, Miami, FL.

TODAY IN HISTORY:
Georgia Supreme Court Strikes Down State Sodomy Law: 1998. It was on this date when the Georgia Supreme Court did what the U.S. Supreme Court refused to do. In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Georgia’s sodomy law as constitutional in Bowers v. Hardwick, a ruling that deeply disappointed the gay community and set back the quest to get rid of the nation’s sodomy laws by nearly two decades. But in 1998, the Georgia Supreme Court struck down the state’s law as a violation to the right to privacy. Unlike the 1986 case which involved a gay man who was in a consensual sexual relationship with another man, this case a heterosexual man who was accused of performing non-consensual oral sex on a niece. The jury acquitted him of the non-consensual portion of the charge, but convicted him of consensual sodomy since Georgia, like many states, defined sodomy to include oral sex. And unlike many states, Georgia made it a crime regardless of whether it was heterosexual or homosexual. On appeal, the defense held that the statute was unconstitutional, but the state was confident. After all, the law had already been validated by the U.S. Supreme Court.

But the Georgia Supreme Court saw it differently. “While many believe that acts of sodomy, even those involving consenting adults, are morally reprehensible, this repugnance alone does not create a compelling justification for state regulation of the activity,” the court ruled in its 6-1 decision. Citing a 1905 state ruling, the state Supreme Court found that the defendant had “the right to be let alone,” a right that was more expansive than the right to privacy protected by the U.S. Constitution. “We cannot think of any other activity that reasonable persons would rank as more private and more deserving of protection from governmental interference than consensual, private, adult sexual activity,” Chief Justice Robert Benham wrote in the decision.

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).

As always, please consider this your open thread for the day.

A Message from a Moderator at Ruthblog

As a follow-up to my post NOM’s Special Right, I got this comment from Betsy, a moderator at Ruthblog. As thoroughly as I disagree with her on most everything we’ve talked about, I’ve never viewed her in the same light as I do many NOM folk, so in response to her request, I’m highlighting this message.

Hi, Rob. Long time no “see.” About this Ari business, this was entirely my fault. NOM has nothing to do with the Ruth blog, and they had no idea about Ari. I’ve never met or even spoken to anyone at NOM. I’m just a stay-at-home mom whom Dr. Morse hired to manage her blog. As she gives me almost entirely free reign there, she’s not to blame for the Ari thing either. Therefore, Ruth Institute isn’t to blame either. Dr. Morse didn’t know anything about the Ari post until today.

Months ago she and I had reprimanded Ari for going over the line in his comments. We suppressed him for a while, but then let him try again months later. He sometimes writes good stuff, but now it’s clear he has his own agenda and is using the Ruth blog to get readers for his own site. What he posted on the Ruth blog seemed safe enough, I thought, so I allowed it, but it was my fault for not following it back to his blog to see where else he would go. If he had written that ridiculous stuff on the Ruth blog I would never have allowed it. I only saw it today. I get the impression that he is being purposely inflammatory in order to sell his book.

I’ve never met the guy. He wasn’t employed by Ruth. Dr. Morse let him start posting things years ago because she thought he was witty, but he has clearly changed.

Rob, I remember you asking me to print a retraction on the Ruth blog, and I complied. I would expect you to extend the same courtesy now. If you want to blame someone for the Ari debacle, it should be me, as manager of the Ruth blog. Pinning this on NOM is completely unfair.

Thanks, Rob.

Betsy

I would like to point out that my problem wasn’t with Ari’s post. He’s a fringer, and that’s what I expect from fringers. My issue, rather, is that when schools and companies want to dissociate themselves from people with extreme anti-gay views that affect their work, NOM accuses them of repressing freedom, even though NOM is doing the same thing with Ari. Frankly, I believe NOM — or Ruthblog, as you prefer — did the right thing in cutting off their association with Ari. I do, however, wish they extended the same courtesy to Bank of America’s (temporary) decision to dissociate themselves from the hateful distortions of a man like Frank Turek.

NOM’s Special Right

NOM has decided to ban a contributor to one of its blogs.  Not a commenter, mind you (that would be nothing new), but a contributor, an official NOM blogger:

We at the Ruth blog have decided to no longer allow Ari to have posting privileges over here.  His sarcasm has gone over the line and we don’t care to be associated with it.  Those who are interested in hearing what Ari has to say can find him at his own blog.  We will stick to reporting on all aspects of the marriage issue in a civil way.

This Ari has recently called gay activists “the most loathsome people in the world.” In the same post, he declared that folks who want discrimination laws enforced “should not be able to go out in the streets for fear of being spat upon by decent people.” The post was removed, but not before NOM took some heat for it.

The irony is so delicious I want to smear it on toast and eat it for lunch.

NOM’s been on a crusade (and fundraising mission) lately about people who are persecuted for their anti-gay views.

• Gerald Buell, a teacher who called committed same-sex relationships a “cesspool” that make him “almost throw up,” vowing (and this is important) to teach “God’s truth” in his public school classes.
• Viki Knox, a teacher who says homosexuality is “a perverted spirit that has existed from the beginning of creation” that “breeds like cancer,” declaring (and this important), “THAT’S WHAT I TEACH AND PREACH!” (her caps, not mine).
• Frank Turek, a private consultant who publishes material characterizing gays as immoral, depraved, America-hating people comparable to murderers and rapists, who reduce their children to trophies and cannot love their partners. And then he presumes (and this is important) to teach workshops on leadership — and team-building — to companies that employ gays and lesbians.

NOM has championed these poor victims, all of whom play ball in the same park as Ari, all of whom have made their public statements relevant to their jobs. NOM has denounced alleged attempts by the evil gay mafia to “silence” them. NOM has declared it to be persecution, a violation of liberty, for an organization to decide someone’s rhetoric “has gone over the line and we don’t care to be associated with it.”

Unless of course the organization is NOM. In that case, apparently, it’s a special right they reserve for themselves.

Larry King’s Killer Pleads Guilty In Exchange for 21 Year Prison Term

Brandon McInerney (left), Lawrence King (right)

Brandon McInerney, who was a fourteen-year-old Oxnard Middle School student when he shot Larry King in school at point blank range in 2008, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter and the use of a fire arm in a plea deal which will result in a 21 year prison term in addition to time served. Under the terms of his plea deal, McInerney, who is now 17, will be released shortly before his 39th birthday. McInerney will be formally sentenced on December 19.

McInerney’s plea deal comes after a mistrial was declared in his first trial after jurors were unable to reach a verdict. They had deadlocked at 7 to 5 in favor of finding McInerney guilty of voluntary manslaughter, with the five holding out for either second or first degree murder.

The Gay and Lesbian Education Network’s Executive Director Eliza Byard applauded the plea deal:

“The plea deal announced today ends a tragic chapter in Ventura County. Holding Brandon McInerney accountable for his actions is necessary and right, but putting him behind bars does not solve the problems that led a boy to become a bully, and then a murderer. Homophobia and transphobia, compounded by the lack of counseling and other supports for struggling young people, resulted in Larry King’s death and the effective end of Brandon McInerney’s life. As adults and as a society, we must find the resolve to fix the broken systems that lost two young lives to hate and fear.

I echo Byard’s sentiments. I’ve always felt very uncomfortable with sending a fourteen-year-old to prison for the rest of his life. This, I think, strikes the right balance.

The Daily Agenda for Tuesday, November 22

Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears

TODAY’S BIRTHDAY:
Benjamin Britten. 1913. Fame came early to the English composer with his a cappella choral work, A Boy Was Born when he was just 21, and his 1945 opera Peter Grimes sealed his international reputation. His compositions were both prodigious and varied: working in orchestral, chamber, instrumental, choral and solo vocal. Much of his vocal work was written for tenor Peter Pears, who he met in 1937 and who became his musical inspiration and life partner. In 1939, Britten and Pears went to America, where his friendship with Aaron Copland inspired the development of Britten’s own work, notably his operetta Paul Bunyan.

Britten’s sexuality wasn’t the only thing controversial about him: he was was also a pacifist during World War II. On returning to Britain in 1942, he fought a long battle to wing the status of conscientious objector. That greatly hindered his ability to have his works performed in London both during and after the war. It also shaped his work; many of his operas throughout the 1950s and 1960s featured an “outside” character on the fringes of society. But as the decades wore on, Britten found that he was no longer an outsider, but an acclaimed 20th century composer. On July 2, 1976, he was awarded a life peerage as Baron Britten, just a few months before he died. Pears died ten years later, and was buried next to Britten at a churchyard in Aldeburgh.

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).

As always, please consider this your open thread for the day.

Single Father Laughing removes the asterisk

One of my great frustration is with Christian people who read Scripture and establish values and build character with an asterisk and footnotes. They truly believe that they are to love everyone* and that they are to abhor discrimination and bigotry towards anyone* and to work for a more just world for all*. Because, after all the Bible says to love your neighbor* as yourself.

* – except gay people

But if you’re gay then there are all sorts of “sanctioning immorality” and “putting a seal of approval on sin” and “not standing up for righteousness” issues that really must be considered, you know. So, well, it’s different.

Dan Pierce, who blogs as Single Father Laughing, isn’t buying it. And I’ll let his commentary I’m Christian, unless you’re gay speak for itself.

Read it.

And then he followed up with the responses he received in Powerful Responses to ‘I’m Christian, unless you’re gay.’

Dammit, Dan, I told myself I wouldn’t cry.

Pullen Baptist bans marriages

The little old men and women of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh, NC, have taken a position on same-sex marriage. By unanimous vote, they prohibited their pastor from conducting weddings.

All weddings, gay or straight. Or, at least until the state changes its laws. (newsobserver)

The congregants said in a formal statement that current North Carolina law – and the language proposed for a vote next year on an amendment to the state Constitution – discriminates against same-sex couples “by denying them the rights and privileges enjoyed by heterosexual married couples.”

“As people of faith, affirming the Christian teaching that before God all people are equal, we will no longer participate in this discrimination,” the church’s statement says.

They will continue to observe holy unions – mixed or same-sex – at this traditionally progressive church. But if you want the government’s stamp of approval on your marriage, you’ll have to get it elsewhere. Because Pullen Memorial isn’t in the discrimination business.

Booed Soldier Shares His Reaction

Capt. Stephen Hill (left) and his partner, Joshua Snyder, at home in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)

It was unprecedented in the annals of presidential politics: on September 23, an active-duty American soldier stationed on the front lines was loudly booed by audience members with nary an admonishment from any of the GOP presidential candidates on stage, and none of the Commander-In-Chief wannabees offer a word of thanks for his service. Now nearly two months later, Army Capt. Stephen Hill described to the Associated Press his reaction to that shocking display of disrespect:

“When the actual booing occurred, my gut dropped out, because my first inclination was, did I just do something wrong?” he said. “The answer, obviously, wasn’t very supportive of gay people, and there was a lot of fear of how the Army would take the question.”

He did not have to wait long to find out. At breakfast later that morning, the segment was playing on the chow hall television. Hill immediately tracked down his commander, who told him she had no problem with what he’d done but that she would need to run it up the chain of command. She later relayed the response.

“She said, ‘What the military’s most concerned with is that you are OK, because it’s a lot of pressure on you and we want to make sure if there is anything we can do to help,'” he recalled.

Hill also remembered that Santurum’s answer was solely about sex. Hill, who is married, found Santorum’s answer as adding to the insults.

“This is not about sex,” Hill said. “A special privilege is not hiding pictures in my house or God forbid, taking mortar fire again and not knowing if Josh will be recognized. I’m fighting every day to protect everyone’s rights as human beings, and it seems counterintuitive for me to be fighting for those rights and not have them.”

Capt. Hill and his husband, Joshua Snyder, have joined other same-sex military couples in suing the federal government for the same benefits as straight military couples.