Friday Gay Blogging

The evidence mounts: Civil unions are not the answer. See this report by Pam Spaulding. From AP:

The 11-member panel, chaired by the former legislator Thomas Little, who chaired the House Judiciary Committee when it wrote the 2000 law, said it decided not to make a final recommendation, because to do so "would undercut the purpose and usefulness of its work and this report."

"It is the role of Vermont's policy-makers and elected officials to read and reflect on this report and in their best judgment determine what steps to take in their role as public servants of the people of Vermont," it said.

But in its findings the commission said "such a change in the law would give access (to same-sex couples) to less tangible incidents of marriage, including its terminology (e.g. marriage, wedding, married, celebration, divorce), and its social cultural and historical significance."

It added that full same-sex marriage "would likely enhance the portability of the underlying legal consequences of the status. ... The tangible same-sex marriage benefits ... raise serious questions about the operation of the civil union law and warrant additional research and serious attention."

And it said, "There is credible social science research supporting the conclusion that raising children in a gay or lesbian coupled family, per se, has no negative impacts on the well-being of children," but added that the topic needs further study.

What seems to happen when people actually investigate the question is that the rabids' position gets blown out of the water -- they have no arguments left.

That, however, doesn't seem to stop them:

Two leaders of the opposition to civil unions in 2000, Rev. Craig Bensen of Cambridge and president of the group Take It To The People, and Stephen Cable of Rutland and the Vermont Marriage Advisory Council, said they were not surprised by the commission's report.

Bensen questioned whether producing a report that contained no definitive recommendation pro or con for gay marriage was a good use of time and resources. "I wonder what the purpose of this report was." Then he added that some of the legwork would be done when a bill is introduced in the Legislature, as is expected to happen next year. "They did the research for this."

Bensen said the proper course is the same as the one he called for in 2000: a statewide referendum on the question.

Cable said his group would soon issue its own report on same-sex marriage. "It will contain some information the commission didn't have in theirs," he said.

Of course, if the report had made a recommendation for the legalization of same-sex marriage, Bensen would have been screaming his head off about using taxpayers' money to finance the "hommaseksual agenda."

And I'd love to see the Vermont Marriage Advisory Council's report, the one that includes what the official report didn't tell us. That should be choice. (Prediction: watch for "research" from Paul Cameron.)

Golden Rule Day:

A note from Timothy Kincaid at Box Turtle Bulletin on a rebellion, of sorts, in the ranks of anti-gay "Christians":

“Shouldn’t Christians be the first to oppose violence and cruelty?”, they ask.

Well that message is finally finding a home. A joint effort by Warren Throckmorton, psychology professor at Grove City College, and Michael Frey, a director with Campus Crusade, seeks to support the message of non-violence.

Throckmorton and Frey are encouraging conservative Christian students to join the silent protest, but to also let their classmates know that it is because of their Scriptural belief in the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

One thing Kincaid notes that I think deserves more weight than he gives it:

Further, I hope that we are all careful that efforts are not made to dis-identify those individuals who are currently being targeted for bullying and violence, thus diminishing the message that these specific people - gay kids - are worthy of decency and love.

Perhaps it's just that I am so distrustful of the good will of any espousing the kind of vocal and usually hateful "Christianity" we so often hear from the Dobson Gang and its hangers-on that I'm inclined to see just exactly what Kincaid is warning about here. Perhaps my cynicism is misplaced, but I think
I need to see how something like "Golden Rule Day" actually plays out.

But assuming that everyone is on the up-and-up, I welcome this, and I do think there's reason for hope -- there seems to be a movement within evangelical circles to leave behind the "hate the fags" message of the Dobson wing of the movement in favor of something that at least pays lip service to Jesus.

Jim Burroway also had some comments on the "Golden Rule Day," more in line with my thinking:

Believe me, I’ve been looking for it because I’d love nothing better than to be able to write a post and say, See? They really are concerned. But none of them could be bothered to put down their instruments of cultural warfare to say, “This was a terrible incident and should never happen again.”

But we do we hear from those who profess to follow the Golden Rule that we are part of an evil agenda, that there is a war between us and them, and that protecting LGBT youth is “worse than the holocaust.” We even hear preachers make light of anti-LGBT violence from their pulpits and threaten teachers who provide a safe place for gay kids to meet.

Oh yes, these people we hear loud and clear. No silence from them at all. And you can bet that each one of them thinks they’re following the Golden Rule.

So forgive me if I see this whole Golden Rule Day in a cynical light. A whole trainload of well-designed cards with yet another scripture quote won’t paper over the problem of anti-LGBT harassment and violence. And using Christianity’s highest ideal as a salve for Golden Rulers’ consciences won’t cut it either. Based on my past experiences with others passing out similar messages, if someone handed me a card like this today I would just throw it in the trash and roll my eyes. I’ve seen too many wonderful statements like this that have turned out to be empty platitudes, and I now find myself suffering from yet another case of déjà vu.

There's a good overview of the Christianist anti-gay hate groups at Break the Terror. Longish post, but worth reading.

The bottom line is that the "Christians" condone violence against gays. Period.

In a related post, Daniel Gonzales has produced a video about the Alliance Defense Fund's "Day of Truth."



It seems barely credible that organizations involved with the ex-gay movement can come out with this sort of propaganda without being laughed off the stage, but Americans seems to have an overwhelming fondness for ignorance. (I doubt that it's a particularly American thing -- it's much more likely just the human tendency not to want to confront difficult question, particularly if the answers are not
likely to fit received wisdom.)

There may be more gay blogging tomorrow -- seems there's a lot of news this week, and this post has reached formiddable proportions already. In closing, I just want to add one thing: Larry King did a PSA that deserves to be aired a lot:



That strikes me as some real truth.