Box Turtle Bulletin

Reconstructionist Jews Sad About Proposition 8

Per JTA:

In a statement adopted in conjunction with its rabbinical association and rabbinical college, the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation voted at its convention in Boston to condemn the passage of Proposition 8, a state ballot initiative that restricted the definition of marriage to a union between a man and a woman. The measure narrowly passed Nov. 4.

“We are saddened and deeply disturbed by the denial of fundamental human rights—to marry, to adopt and care for foster children—to thousands of gay and lesbian citizens across the United States,” the statement said. “We are particularly dismayed by the passage of initiatives that have reversed previously recognized equality for same-sex unions.”

Nepal to Offer Same-Sex Marriage?

The Hindustan Times is reporting that the Supreme Court of Nepal is pushing the government towards recognition of same-sex couples:

The Supreme Court on Monday delivered full judgement regarding a ground-breaking verdict it had announced last year, recognising sexual minorities, who were among the most oppressed in conservative, patriarchal Nepali society, as being born such and entitled to all the rights and remedies all other Nepali citizens enjoyed.

Now, following up on the judgement, the top court has asked the Maoist government to form a seven-member committee to study same sex partnership/marriage acts in other countries and recommend a similar act to the Nepal government.

What Margie’s Friends Think of You

Sometimes you never know what someone believes about you until you hear it from someone else. Margie Christoffersen, the grande dame of El Coyote was always there with a smile for gay folk, but that isn’t how her Mormon friends saw it.

A fellow ward member has posted her views about Margie and El Coyote. And if they reflect Margie’s, I’m ill to think I ever spent a cent there. She opens:

I was going to write about the persecution of my friend, Marjorie (Margie) Christofferson, who has been targeted by the gay community for giving 100 bucks to the Yes on Prop 8 campaign. But instead of talking about their hatred which we have seen displayed so clearly I want to talk about Margie.

After some glowing praise about what a good Mormon Margie was, she gets in her digs.

To know such a woman is truly an honor. You don’t meet many great people in your life, they are a rarity. I have pledged to do whatever I can to help her get through this. If Margie is willing to sacrifice so much for what she believes, the least I can do is support her and stand by her. The people who are vilifying her don’t even begin to know what kind of wonderful person they are hurting. They will never have the moral fortitude to looks such heated opposition in the eye and not blink. They will never be as good, forgiving or loving as my good friend Margie Christofferson. May God watch over her now. May all those who supported Prop. 8 support her now. She given so much for us, it is time to pay her back.

What a coincidence. Her gay customers also thought it was time to pay her back.

UPDATE:

I happened to notice, as I drove by on my way home last night, that El Coyote had significantly fewer customers than is usual for a Monday night.

See also:

El Coyote Boycott – My Observations
The El Coyote Boycott
El Coyote: An Uncompromising Faith
El Coyote Update
Should I Give Up my Favorite Mexican Restaurant?

Determining God’s Wrath

There is a long tradition amongst religious zealots to read disaster as an evidence of God’s wrath. So it is not too surprising that ex-gay gadfly James Hartline had declared that the fires burning across Southern California are caused by God’s vengeance against evil homosexuals.

I tend to take James with a combination of amusement and annoyance, but mostly with pity. Though intelligent, Hartline’s mental state tends to result in hallucinations, bouts of paranoia, and wild eyed pronouncements all underlined by delusions about his role in the universe. Sadly, too many anti-gays or the more extreme variety encourage James and his wactivist efforts. It really isn’t kind of them.

But supposing that we could determine something from the fires raging, what could we determine that God was saying?

The areas hardest hit are in Santa Barbara County, Orange County, San Bernardino County, and Riverside County.

Orange County voted 57.8% in favor of Proposition 8. Those cities most effected voted even more in opposition to equality: Yorba Linda 65.9%, Anaheim 62.5%, Brea 62.6%. In contrast, the city of Irvine which voted 50.8% against the proposition seems to have been spared.

As for Riverside County and San Bernardino county, they voted for Prop 8 by 64.3% and 66.9%, respectively. I don’t have the city breakdown, but those areas threatened are among the more conservative.

On the other hand, Santa Barbara County is the only Southern California county to reject the amendment. And if their voting patterns matched other counties, Montecito, a wealthy enclave, is likely to have been strongly in opposition.

So it’s really hard to tell if God is punishing those who voted for Prop 8 or those who voted against it. And if these fires are to warn the gay community against protesting, none of the areas affected are much more or much less involved in protest than those not hit by fire.

Which tells me that those who look for God’s hand in natural disasters can read just about anything they like into such events. I prefer not to see such things as a revelation of God’s will or to call my neighbors into judgment over a fire, earthquake or flood. Perhaps I take more seriously the commandment not to take God’s name in vain.

Marriage in Massachusetts, Five Years Later

The Boston Globe reports on how things have changed since marriage has become open to same-sex couples:

Massachusetts has yet to become, as former governor Mitt Romney predicted, the “Las Vegas of same-sex marriage.” Gay marriage rates leveled off at about 1,500 a year – about 4 percent of all state marriages – in 2006 and 2007. The divorce rate in Massachusetts has remained the same – and the lowest in the country.

SCARY!!

More Retired Generals and Admirals Oppose DADT

AP:

More than 100 retired generals and admirals called Monday for repeal of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays so they can serve openly, according to a statement obtained by The Associated Press.

“As is the case with Great Britain, Israel, and other nations that allow gays and lesbians to serve openly, our service members are professionals who are able to work together effectively despite differences in race, gender, religion, and sexuality,” the officers wrote.

I don’t know how many retired generals there are, but Wikipedia indicates that the number of generals at any given time is restricted so this may well amount to a sizeable percentage. In any case, it is a significant increase in support from prior years.

The list of 104 former officers who signed the statement appears to signal growing support for resolving the status of gays in the military. Last year, 28 former generals and admirals signed a similar statement.

President-elect Obama has promised to lift the ban. However, this is unlikely to occur early in his administration. In latest news reports he indicated that this is not a high priority item for and that he will only act after there is concensus within military leadership.

Civil Disobedience in San Francisco

One of the notable attributes of the protests in response to Proposition 8 is that they have for the most part been peaceful. In all reports I have seen, the police worked with the community to minimize conflict and keep peace and the gay and gay-friendly protesters have not rioted or destroyed property.

There have been reports of some vandalism in Utah caused by a BB gun and someone sent some white powder to a couple Temples (harmless, it turned out); these incidents may be related to the Proposition 8 and the gay community. And a few folks have stepped over the line (sometimes literally) and been arrested. But otherwise, the nationwide protest has been peaceful.

Gay folk have, for the most part, stayed on the approved protest route, stayed off private property, and did what we were told. But during the protest on Saturday in San Francisco, one group decided to engage in an act of civil disobedience. A group of 15 protesters were arrested for closing a freeway offramp. (from CBS5)

The offramp from U.S. Highway 101 to Octavia Street in San Francisco was temporarily closed today and traffic in the area remained heavy at around 1 p.m. due to an anti-Proposition 8 march traveling down Market Street, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The Octavia Street offramp from Highway 101 closed and a Sig-alert was issued at about 12:30 p.m., CHP Officer Peter Van Eckhardt said.

“They’re kind of locking things up there for a little bit,” Van Eckhardt said.

Van Eckhardt said the intersection at the offramp was cleared, but traffic in the area remains heavy and drivers should avoid Market Street while the march continues. He added that police have arrested several protestors.

One of the participants who was arrested, Ryan, is a reader here at Box Turtle Bulletin. He explained that he is not your usual activist and has a fairly conservative job. But he felt strongly that the population at large was not recognizing how hurtful it was to have a fundamental right stripped from you and he was willing to make a sacrifice to raise visibility.

Some readers will no doubt feel that such acts of civil disobedience only give fuel to those who like to describe gay people as unlawful and a threat to society. Others will call for more disruption and higher visibility; as I heard recently, “If you can take away my fundamental rights, I can at least inconvenience your drive home”.

Ryan has poetically expressed his emotions and his reasons for taking part:

On Saturday, on a sunny day in San Francisco, 15 beautiful people were arrested for you, your neighbors, your friends, your family and the people you love. We did it for people you may not even know, we did it for people you may fear and we did it for people you may not understand. Most importantly, we did it for civil rights.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the nation on Saturday November 15th in a heartfelt cry for equality. We came from different backgrounds but all with heavy hearts. On November 4, 2008, Californians voted by a simple majority to amend the California Constitution to remove the fundamental right of gay and lesbian couples to marry.

This led me, on Saturday, to walk into a room full of over 20 people from all races, creeds, socioeconomic backgrounds and beliefs. We came unified. We came with courage and conviction. We came with one goal — to orchestrate and support a direct act of civil disobedience in the name of civil rights.

I didn’t recognize all of our faces; some of us had never met. Others of us met tirelessly throughout the week to share our feelings, set our goals and plan our action. We found ourselves unified around human rights and we vowed that we would not be silent.

At first, I was there to support our action. I would not risk arrest. I was afraid and I’d never been arrested before. Yet, on that Saturday a spirit of tearful hope called me to overcome my paralyzing fear, uncertainty and grief. After pacing the room for what felt like an eternity, I tore my shirt off to don one with the message “Repeal Prop 8.” With that symbolic gesture I joined the “arrestables.” We were clergy, activists, lawyers, heterosexuals, queers and most importantly humans who love, live, feel and want a world where all persons are treated equally as they were created. We are you.

Together, with our wonderful supporters, we walked down a sidewalk toward a large group of police officers with batons standing in directly in our path. Together and afraid we walked proudly in front of those officers, linked arms and sat blocking the off ramp of a major highway in San Francisco, as cheering marchers passed us by. Despite our fears, with officers surrounding us and hundreds of cars bearing down upon our backs we sat in solidarity. For you.

We were warned to move. We were warned we would be arrested. Still we sat and then stood, with a banner in our hands that read “Human Rights Now — Repeal Prop 8.” We chanted for justice and for equality over the menacing message coming over the megaphone. One by one we were handcuffed and led into police vans. We sang songs of joy and hope on our way to the police station.

We hope that, if our action teaches anything, it is that we cannot and will not point fingers or target individual races, religions or persons. This movement is about all of us.

We were arrested for you on Saturday. Feel our hope, feel our unity, feel our love for each other and feel our love for you. Embrace our love, for we are you.

A video compilation of protest pictures can be seen here.

LaBarbera Award: Newt Gingrich

More than three hundred cities were host to remarkably peaceful protests Saturday as people demonstrated against the passage of California’s Prop 8. Protesters were polite, calm, law-abiding. That’s quite an accomplishment.

Not one that Newt Gingrich is willing to acknowledge. He seems to think that ambling down the boulevard, holding signs in front of a Temple or gathering in front of city hall constitutes a violent act. The sight of homosexuals on the streets, parading openly in their, you know, street clothes was just too much for him. American citizens exercising their First Amendment right to free speech and lawful assembly, well that’s just downright fascist! —

Look, I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence, to use harassment. I think it is prepared to use the government if it can get control of it. I think that it is a very dangerous threat to anybody who believes in traditional religion. And I think if you believe in historic Christianity, you have to confront the fact. And, frank — for that matter, if you believe in the historic version of Islam or the historic version of Judaism, you have to confront the reality that these secular extremists are determined to impose on you acceptance of a series of values that are antithetical, they’re the opposite, of what you’re taught in Sunday school.

Well at least he acknowledged that we brought “historic versions” of Christians, Muslims and Jews together. Maybe there’s hope for peace in the Middle East after all.

Prince: God Said “Enough”

Prince used to be the Prince of hedonism. In fact, it was his song “Darling Nikki” which led to CD’s bearing the warning label “Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics”.

But all that changed when he became a Jehovah’s Witness. And that’s not all. The man who used to perform in bikini underwear and high heals ain’t down with the gays:

So here’s how it is: you’ve got the Republicans, and basically they want to live according to this.” He pointed to a Bible. “But there’s the problem of interpretation, and you’ve got some churches, some people, basically doing things and saying it comes from here, but it doesn’t. And then on the opposite end of the spectrum you’ve got blue, you’ve got the Democrats, and they’re, like, ‘You can do whatever you want.’ Gay marriage, whatever. But neither of them is right.”

When asked about his perspective on social issues—gay marriage, abortion—Prince tapped his Bible and said, “God came to earth and saw people sticking it wherever and doing it with whatever, and he just cleared it all out. He was, like, ‘Enough.’ “

Layoffs at Focus On the Family

Focus On the Family today announced the elimination of 202 jobs at its Colorado Springs headquarters — 149 through layoffs and another 53 through attrition. This is in addition to another 46 job cuts announced last month to take place in the start of 2009. Altogether, this represents a 20% reduction Focus On the Family’s workforce, bringing the total number of employees down to 950. At its peak, Focus had more than 1,500 employees.

This action comes after Focus On the Family spent nearly $600,000 in cash and non-monetary support to pass Prop 8. Focus was also a major contributor to Arizona’s Prop 102 and Florida’s Amendment 2. Focus board member Elsa Prince contributed an additional $450,000 to prop 8.

Well gee, I guess same-sex marriage really is a threat to some families.

The Vatican vs. The APA

The Vatican has issued a statementcalling on Catholic seminaries to test applicants for psychological traits including “deep-seated homosexual tendencies.” The document doesn’t require psychological testing, but it does suggest that psychological evaluations could be useful to detect a “sexuality identity that is confused or not yet well defined.” The Vatican had previously released guidelines barring gay men from entering the seminary unless they had been chaste for at least three years.

But as the Los Angeles Times points out, enlisting psychologists to root out gay men from the seminary could be a problem, especially considering the American Psychological Association’s guidelines:

“Psychologists are aware of and respect cultural, individual and role differences, including those based on age, gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity, culture, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, language and socioeconomic status, and consider these factors when working with members of such groups. Psychologists try to eliminate the effect on their work of biases based on those factors, and they do not knowingly participate in or condone activities of others based upon such prejudices.”

So here’s the thing. The problem the Vatican is trying to solve in the aftermath of its clergy sexual abuse scandals is pedophilia, not homosexuality. Pope Benedict XVI himself recognized that distinction last April when he addressed the scandals, saying “I would not speak at this moment about homosexuality, but pedophilia which is another thing. And we would absolutely exclude pedophiles from the sacred ministry.”

So if the problem is not homosexuality, then what is this except an activity “based upon such prejudices”?

Any psychologist who cooperates with this witch hunt will find himself or herself in violation of the APA’s guidelines.

People Keep Asking About Prop 102 Doners

There has not been a single day go by that someone hasn’t emailed me asking where they can find a list of donors who supported Arizona’s Prop 102. Well, you’re in luck. All donations are a matter of public record, with the complete lists avalaible at the Arizona Secretary of State’s web site.

Melee In the Castro

San Francisco police had to escort a group of preachers out of the Castro. Those so-called “Christians” are now using this as an excuse to post the most extraordinary claims and garnering vast amounts of publicity and sympathy for themselves on right-wing blogs.

Update: The YouTube was raw footage from KTVU television. The full report is here.

I know there’s a lot of anger out there. I’m angry myself that for the first time in history, voters went to the ballot box to strip a minority of their rights — rights which they already were granted and were exercising. This has never happened before. I can’t tell you how angry I am.

And I’m not too proud of myself when I say that if I had been there, I might have also followed that whistle-blowing crowd.

But this is not the way to go. Just as we are exercising our First Amendment rights to peaceful assembly all across this nation, we must remember that those rights are the very same rights to peaceful assembly that they enjoy. And we are exercizing those rights so that we may regain the very same rights to marriage that they enjoy.

[Hat tip: Pam Spaulding, Joe.My.God]

Update: Okay, I think I understand why some of you are upset with my post. It seems to at least partly center around this:

And I’m not too proud of myself when I say that if I had been there, I might have also followed that whistle-blowing crowd.

To the extent that my criticism was leveled against whistle-blowing, well, that was extremely clumsy of me. I should have thought better before writing that line. Everyone there had a right to counterprotest, scream, blow whistles, hurl insults — all the things I’ve seen happen at counterprotests to events I’ve attended — to try to get them to leave. Everything’s fair game short of violence, threats and physical contact.

I guess my reaction is to this:  never mind what the so-called “Christians” here claim — because I don’t trust their word on anything — but what on earth led more than a dozen San Francisco police officers to arrive, form a moving cordon down 18th street (if I have my bearings correct), and escort them safely to their vehicles? Is there a reason why they couldn’t just leave?

And whatever that reason was that they couldn’t just leave — well that’s the part that I might not be proud of myself if I had been there. I am angry enough myself to have gotten caught up in whatever might have happened. I do think things can go so far. I do think that I could go too far — I’m mad as hell myself. And that’s why I think we need to be careful.

Hartline: God Rains Down Fire Against Gays

Uh-oh. San Diego’s Christianist gadfly James Hartline is hearing God’s voice again:

Each time homosexual activists attempt to force their agenda on California, there have been raging, massive, incinerating fires sweeping across the California landscape.

Today, people are running for their lives as 800 California homes have burned down and the firestorm is spreading like a nuclear holocaust. Yet, the radical homosexual anarchists rampage upon the streets of this state demanding the destruction of marriage and family, and the establishment of their socialistic dark vision for society.

Wildfires, tsunamis, economic collapse, disease — yeah, they’re impressive, but where’s the pestilence, rivers turned to blood or death of the firstborn? If you ask me, we’re settling for second best. I guess it’s true; maybe we’re too apathetic. I personally blame the HRC.

Conversations At A Temple Protest

Police estimate that about 300 demonstrators gathered in front of the Newport Beach, CA Temple of the LDS church this morning to protest the church’s dominant role in passing California’s Proposition 8, stripping gays and lesbians of their rights. The protest began at about 10:00 a.m. an lasted until about 1:00 p.m.

The OC Register’s article contains the usual narrative — descriptions of people protesting, the usual quotes from both sides, an argument broke out between protesters and a passer-by. You have to dig into the Register’s online slideshow (which, I suspect isn’t available in the print edition) to get to the more interesting stories:

Cindy Massaro, center, and Jennifer Ras, left, offered cold water and snacks to protesters. Massaro apologized as a Christian to protesters, “Our sin has contributed to division in the world,” she said.

A passer-by reacts to protesters in front of the Mormon temple in Newport Beach on Sunday.

“I figured I’d speak a little louder if I wore this,” said John Remy of Irvine who came in support of a protest against the passage of Proposition 8 on Sunday. Remy is a former Mormon elder and wore clothing from when he was a missionary. He and his wife were members of the Mormon church and attended the Newport California Mormon Temple in the past. “Having been a member of the church, I felt duty-bound to atone and duty-bound to be a critic of the choice it is making,” he said.