Box Turtle Bulletin

Religious Conservatives Ignore One Of The Judiciary’s Primary Purposes

Predictably from James Dobson:

Once again, we see an activist judge handing liberal activists what they have not been able to achieve legislatively or at the ballot box…

Dobson again conveniently ignores an extensive body of political philosphy on which our government is based from Plato to Thomas Jefferson stating one of the judiciary’s primary purposes is to protect the rights of unpopular minorities from a tyranny of the majority.   

Log Cabin Republicans Call for Criag’s Resignation; No Mention of Vitter

Yesterday, I jumped the gun a little bit by saying that Log Cabin Republicans were calling for Idaho Sen. Larry Craig’s resignation as I was discussing the GOP’s double standard between Sens. Craig and Vitter. At that time they hadn’t explicitly called for his resignation, although I think their statement made the conclusion inescapable. Today, LCR has this on the front page of their web site:

Update! Log Cabin, which has been featured in national media coverage of the situation involving Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID), has called for the Senator’s resignation.

Still no mention of Vitter. Amazing. Gay Republicans are being poorly served by this “stance.”

Update: As BTB contributing author Timothy Kincaid points out, Patrick Sammon, president of the Log Cabin Republicans is, well, mentioning Sen. Vitter in media appearances. I’m glad he’s bringing this up, but so far Sammon’s only calling on one Senator to resign and not two. I hope this changes.

How Sir Norman Fry Handles His “Dark Cloud”

From the BBC and BBC America’s Little Britain:

Senator Craig, the Audio

Now there is audio of the arrest of Senator Larry Craig (R-ID).  What’s next, a musical?

Iowa Judge Finds Gay Marriage Ban Unconstitutional

AP is reporting that Iowa is the next state to find that marriage cannot be restricted based on the sex of the participants. 

Judge Robert Hanson has ruled that Iowa’s prohibition on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. He ordered the Polk County recorder’s office to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.

This advances the issue to the Iowa Supreme Court.

“Value Voters” Presidential Debate

Mark your calenders. Here’s a presidential debate you won’t want to miss:

A Values Voter Presidential debate will be held at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts on Monday, September 17th at 7:30 p.m. The majority of the Republican candidates have confirmed their attendance at the event.

The venue is in Ft. Lauderdale, home of mayor Jim “Robo-Toilet” Naugle. The press release doesn’t say which candidates will attend, but the Value Voter Debate web site tells us who’ll be asking the questions:

Questions will come from 40 of our nation’s leaders including: Paul Weyrich, founder and President of the Free Congress Foundation, Phyllis Schlafly, founder and President of Eagle Forum, Don Wildmon, founder and Chairman of the American Family Association, Judge Roy Moore, with the Foundation for Moral Law, Rick Scarborough, Vision America, and Mat Staver of Liberty Council

Sounds like a perfectly lovely evening.

The GOP’s Double Standard

Idaho Sen. Larry Craig’s arrest and subsequent guilty plea for soliciting sex in a Minneapolis airport public restroom continues to dominate the airwaves and the blogosphere. As the discussions and reactions continue to unfold, I’ve noticed a very significant double standard taking shape.

Now I know that a few in the gay community want to try to paint Sen. Craig as a victim of police entrapment in an operation presumably designed to single out gay men while somehow excluding straight people. But complaining about this being a double standard ignore the obvious: straight people generally don’t use public restrooms, at least not for that purpose. They may use airplanes (mile high club, anyone?), parks, beaches, roadsides, and drive-in theaters, and they sometimes get busted when police receive complaints about it. But straight couples generally don’t use gender-segregated restrooms, for obvious practical reasons.

And while I’m well aware of the history of overly-aggressive police campaigns that have targeted gay people in more private settings or for more innocuous behavior, let’s not forget another key point. This was a public men’s room at a public airport visited by members of the public. There’s nothing private about it.

When I go to a public restroom, the last thing I want is some dirty old man’s blue eyes looking into my stall trying to decide whether I’m tap-worthy. And the second-to-the-last thing I want to encounter in a public restroom is someone who has found someone else tap-worthy. Please people, when you find someone you want to get down and dirty with, do what any other normal self-respecting person would: get a room, for crying out loud!

So I’m all for ensuring that our public restrooms are used for their intended purposes. And I’m grateful that, in my experience at least, this problem appears to be an extremely rare phenomenon. Either that or nobody has ever found me tap-worthy. I’m actually okay with it either way.

No, there’s no double standard there as far as I’m concerned. The double standard we really need to be concerned about is the reaction among others in the GOP to the revelation that Sen. Larry Craig pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct — a misdemeanor.

Yesterday, GOP party leaders reacted to this misdemeanor by stripping Sen. Craig of his committee leadership posts, and Senators John McCain (R-Az) and Norm Coleman (R-Mn) have called for Sen. Craig’s resignation.

Sen. Craig may be a hypocrite, but that doesn’t automatically disqualify him from the Senate. If it did, they’d never have a quorum. And copping to a misdemeanor shouldn’t disqualify anyone either, unless it disqualifies everyone who cops to a misdemeanor. But as it stands now, it doesn’t.

Just last month, Sen. David Vitter (R-La) admitted to using the services of the so-called “D.C. Madam.” And while Vitter fully admitted his guilt publicly, he never had to do it in the justice system. And he probably won’t since the statute of limitations has passed for solicitation — another misdemeanor.

In stark contrast to the fallout for Sen. Craig’s misdemeanor, I don’t remember any GOP calls for Sen. Vitter’s resignation, nor have there been any sanctions by the GOP leadership levied against the man. In fact, when Vitter spoke before his Senate colleagues about the situation, he was greeted with a round of applause. Where were the calls for Vitter’s ethics investigation?

Can anyone honestly look at this situation and not see it as anything but a double standard?

Apparently the Log Cabin Republicans can’t. They stopped just short of calling for Craig’s resignation without a single mention of Vitter. (Update: In an email alert, LCR makes their call for Craig’s resignation explicit) I find that especially egregious. Surprisingly, it’s the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force who has accurately denounced the unequal treatment between Vitter and Craig.

Believe me, the last person in the world I want to defend is a dirty old man found lurking in public restrooms. Larry Craig may be a “nasty, naughty boy,” but if you take a hard honest look at the situation, either Sen. Craig is getting a really raw deal or Sen. Vitter has gotten away scott-free with “conduct unbecoming a senator.”

As long as Vitter remains in the Senate, Craig should be allowed to serve out his term (which expires in 2008), and the decision on future terms should be left to the good people of Idaho. But if the GOP insists on driving Craig out of town on a rail, then they had better hitch Vitter to the same cart.

Update (Aug 30): This post was updated to reflect the fact that the Log Cabin Republicans did not explicitly call for Craig’s resignation.

Update (Aug 31): Log Cabin Republicans clarify their call for Craig’s resignation:

Log Cabin has been providing a strong voice in the midst of the scandal involving Senator Larry Craig (R-ID). His behavior has been inappropriate and illegal. His explanation is not credible. He should take responsibility for his poor judgment and illegal behavior by resigning.

Again, no mention of Vitter.

Update (Sept 1): As BTB contributing author Timothy Kincaid points out, Patrick Sammon, president of the Log Cabin Republicans is, well, mentioning Sen. Vitter in media appearances. I’m glad he’s bringing this up, but so far Sammon’s only calling on one Senator to resign and not two. I hope this changes.

Haggard’s Overseers Find Fundraising Appeal “Unacceptable”

We previously reported on “completely heterosexual” Ted Haggard’s recent fundraising appeal, in which he encourages his followers to commit tax fraud while sending checks to a defunct Colorado charity run by a convicted sex offender. That had Haggard’s four-member “restoration team” boarding a flight to Phoenix to confront Haggard personally:

“After their fact-finding was complete, they (overseers) informed Mr. Haggard that his plan and his communications about it were unacceptable. Mr. Haggard’s solicitation for personal support was inappropriate. It was never the intention of the Dream Center that Mr. Haggard would provide any counsel or other ministry. Mr. Haggard will not be moving in or working with the Dream Center. He will not be doing any ministry. He will be seeking secular employment to support himself and his family.”

The Rocky Mountain News puts an especially fine point on it with their headline: “Overseers tell Haggard: Stop asking for money and get a job.”

Ex-Straight Agnostic — Audio From Jay Bakker’s Revolution Church

Hat tip to Barry James Moore for bringing this to my attention:

[Jef Evans, a] 36-years old gay man, who was raised in a strict fear-based Baptist tradition and who “played the part” but is now agnostic because of the church, gave this 37-minute talk given at Jay Bakker’s Revolution Church in Brooklyn, New York. In the talk Jef also mentions his struggle with the conflict between his faith and sexuality and the idea that “God hates fags”, and the ups and downs of spirituality trying to be pleasing to God. Jef also talks briefly about his time as a student at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University, and a book, by Sy Rogers from Exodus, given to him by another student.

Listen to the audio:
[audio:http://www.revolutionnyc.com/audio/20070826.mp3]

(Jef’s first minute is a bit quiet but the mic problem is quickly fixed)

PFOX Reports Assault By ‘Angry Homosexual Activists’ At Arlington County Fair

From PFOX’s press release:

As happens every year, gay activists disrupted our booth activities. They screamed obscenities, threw our materials from the exhibit table to the ground, insisted we recognize their same-sex “spouses,” demanded that PFOX leave, and hit a PFOX volunteer because he is ex-gay.

LifeSite.net has a shortened account but as of this blogging no reputable news sources have reported on the incident.

Update: Ex-Gay Watch did some investigating and found local authorties have no knowledge of such an event ever taking place.  See more recent post here.  

PFLAG Group In Maryland To Host Ex-Ex-Gay Night

On September 11, 2007 at 7:30 PFLAG Columbia-Howard County is hosting their monthly meeting on the topic of the ex-gay movement. Featured speaker Chris Camp “was part of the ex-gay movement for a number of years” and now works as a mental health professional for the state of Maryland and is involved with Truth Wins Out.

Event details here

Tucker Carlson’s “Gay Bashing” Story

Amidst discussion about Sen. Craig’s bathroom antics, MSNBC’s conservative commentator Tucker Carlson shared a story from his youth:

CARLSON: … Having sex in a public men’s room is outrageous. It’s also really common. I’ve been bothered in men’s rooms. I think people who do –

SCARBOROUGH: Really?

CARLSON: Yeah, I have. You know what, Let me just say.

SCARBOROUGH: Wait, hold on a second. Dan, hold on a second. I don’t mean to take over, but have you been bothered in public restrooms, Dan? Because I know I haven’t.

CARLSON: I have. I’ve been bothered in Georgetown Park. When I was in high school.

ABRAMS: Really?

CARLSON: Yes.

SCARBOROUGH: Wow.

CARLSON: And let me just say, I think —

SCARBOROUGH: That’s something.

CARLSON: — people should knock that off. I’m not anti-gay in the slightest, but that’s really common, and the gay rights groups ought to disavow that kind of crap because, you know, that actually does bother people who didn’t ask for being bothered. So yeah, I think it’s outrageous that he did that. And also, this specter of him getting up there and blaming other people is so Clintonian. You know, if he just said, “I’m not going to talk about it,” that’d be one thing.

[omitted]

ABRAMS: Tucker, what did you do, by the way? What did you do when he did that? We got to know.

CARLSON: I went back with someone I knew and grabbed the guy by the — you know, and grabbed him, and — and —

ABRAMS: And did what?

CARLSON: Hit him against the stall with his head, actually!

Although the talking heads thought this was hysterically funny, some in the blogosphere were shocked at what appeared to be a televised admission of gay bashing.

Carlson responded later in the day with a different version of the story:

Let me be clear about an incident I referred to on MSNBC last night: In the mid-1980s, while I was a high school student, a man physically grabbed me in a men’s room in Washington, DC. I yelled, pulled away from him and ran out of the room. Twenty-five minutes later, a friend of mine and I returned to the men’s room. The man was still there, presumably waiting to do to someone else what he had done to me. My friend and I seized the man and held him until a security guard arrived.

Several bloggers have characterized this is a sort of gay bashing. That’s absurd, and an insult to anybody who has fought back against an unsolicited sexual attack. I wasn’t angry with the man because he was gay. I was angry because he assaulted me.

Personally, I don’t think Carlson improved his image much with the “clarification”. I’m not convinced that gay panic is all that much better of an excuse for violence than premeditated gay bashing. And I can’t help but notice that being “bothered” became “physically grabbed” while “hit him against the stall with his head” magically turned into “held him until a security guard came”.

I wasn’t in the stall and of course have no way of knowing which version of the story is true. And I don’t want to portray the creep in the bathroom in a sympathetic light.

But I do know that when Tucker Carlson told the story, he, Rick Scarborough and Dan Abrams all thought being “bothered” justified physical assault and that bashing the guy’s head against the stall wall was both fitting and funny.

Where the Boys Are Still Wants the Boys

Ft. Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle still seems to think that the creepy man lurking in the bathroom lives a “homosexual lifestyle“.  But the Broward County commissioners are tired of hearing about it. 

Broward County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday night to remove Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle from the Tourist Development Council.

They seem to think his obsession is bad for business.

They said Naugle’s comments over the past two months have damaged the reputation they carefully created in the two decades since the area’s role as college Spring Break capital ended. They not only cited international news coverage and the deluge of calls and e-mails from concerned tourists, but said one gay-oriented convention has been put on hold.

Somehow I think this will only make Naugle a martyr to those who think fighting “the Gay Agenda” is more important than advancing the economy… or getting anti-gay politicians from scaring the kiddies in the men’s room.

Greg Quinland Takes Message To NJ Church As Promised

Last November Timothy Kincaid reported at Ex-Gay Watch that Greg Quinlan planned on taking his ex-gay and anti-gay political message to the churches of New Jersey.

PressOfAtlanticCity.com reports Quinlan will take his message to Cumberland County Community Church this weekend.

Since the Ex-Gay Survivor’s Movement has begun there has been a sea-change in how ex-gay issues have been phrased and debated. Cumberland’s paster, Sal Roggio, seems to have picked up on the new and admittedly weak party being used by people pushing ex-gay therapy saying:

“When you lie to someone, you take away their hope,” he said. “I want folks to come in and know there’s hope.”

This “deny people hope” line appears to have been first employed by Randy Thomas and (speaking from personal experince) was met with laughter by ex-gay survivors.

Really guys, come up with a better angle than that.

(via Good As You)

Romney’s Harsh Response

Generally we find that when a public figure is caught in a scandal, political and religious leaders tend express their disappointment but also find a way to display compassion and sorrow (especially with those of the same party).  Phrases like “sympathy for the family”, “hope for recovery”, or “this time of difficulty” tend to abound.

Not so with presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and his comments on Kudlow & Company about his former co-chair Senator Larry Craig:

Yeah, I think it reminds us of Mark Foley and Bill Clinton. I think it reminds us of the fact that people who are elected to public office continue to disappoint, and they somehow think that if they vote the right way on issues of significance or they can speak a good game, that we’ll just forgive and forget. And the truth of the matter is, the most important thing we expect from elected–an elected official is a level of dignity and character that we can point to for our kids and our grandkids, and say, `Hey, someday I hope you grow up and you’re someone like that person.’ And we’ve seen disappointment in the White House, we’ve seen it in the Senate, we’ve seen it in Congress. And frankly, it’s disgusting.

This sort of response is surprising (to me) from a man who until yesterday was a close ally and I think it says several things about the way in which Romney views the world – and the way in which he would preside over the administration of the nation. I’m curious as to what others read into this reaction.