Horror in Orlando

Your Head Trucker slept late this afternoon and is just now taking in the grievous news of what is the deadliest shooting in American history, according to President Obama:



Full text of the President's remarks here.

The President has also ordered U. S. flags to be flown at half-staff for the next three days.

I have no words, only thoughts of sympathy and condolence for the wounded and the families of the dead.


New York Times account of the massacre.

Washington Post account.

Los Angeles Times account.

Orlando Sentinel account.


Queen Elizabeth II issued a statement of sympathy:

Prince Philip and I have been shocked by the events in Orlando. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who have been affected.

Pope Francis condemned the massacre:

The terrible massacre that has taken place in Orlando, with its dreadfully high number of innocent victims, has caused in Pope Francis, and in all of us, the deepest feelings of horror and condemnation, of pain and turmoil before this new manifestation of homicidal folly and senseless hatred. Pope Francis joins the families of the victims and all of the injured in prayer and in compassion. Sharing in their indescribable suffering he entrusts them to the Lord so they may find comfort. We all hope that ways may be found, as soon as possible, to effectively identify and contrast the causes of such terrible and absurd violence which so deeply upsets the desire for peace of the American people and of the whole of humanity.

Time magazine reports reactions from other world leaders and notables here.


From Reuters:

Via Reluctant Rebel:

President Obama on the Charleston Shooting

I’ve had to make statements like this too many times. Communities like this have had to endure tragedies like this too many times. . . . this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries. It doesn’t happen in other places with this kind of frequency. And it is in our power to do something about it.

Transcript here.

"Nine" by Barry Blitt for the New Yorker.

You Can Help

It could have been any one of us.

Jimmy Lee Dean was beaten nearly to death five years ago by two men looking for a gay man to rob, leaving him with a smashed face and many physical problems.  Failed surgeries and the indifference of the medical profession have left him with a ruined life.  The Dallas Voice ran an article on the fifth anniversary of tbe brutal attack, but here's the story in Jimmy's own words:

On July 17, 2008 I was the victim of a hate crime in Dallas, Texas. Through the kind act of everyday people like you, I did not die that night. The criminals were stopped, prosecuted and the good people of Texas provided $50,000.00 from their crime victims fund to repair my physical damages and any phycological help that might be needed.

Problems started when I left Parkland County Hospital intensive care unit. Up to that point everything seemed to be going ok. Then After some 16 visits to the Oral Surgery Clinic, 2 surgeries and one attempted surgery that never took place and 27 visits to Parkland crisis center I am in the same phycical situation as at the crime scene.

Work done in the second surgery at Parkland Hospital has all come undone. My jaw and cheek bone are no longer attached. Teeth have never been dealt with. No one has followed up on my broken back. I have headaces every other day. My eyes are having problems. I walk with a causious gate. I get light headed all the time. I don't reallly go anywere because of the facial disfigurments and the way I look when I eat.

I never asked for what happend. It could have been anyone of us at that spot at that time.

My dreams and identity are gone along with my alillity to smell, but maybe there are medical procedures that might restore me to a point where I can have some kind of a normal life.

Nobody should have to go without needed medical treatment in this country, but you guys know the score as well as I do: if you have no money, the doctors won't even look at you. But we can make a real difference in Jimmy's life by contributing at his Indiegogo page. Please do.

It could have been you.





 Honk to Unfinished Lives.

Same-Sex Marriage Bill in the House of Lords

The noble lords are now at the report stage of the bill, and conservatives are making a last-ditch effort to derail or change the bill.  Click here to watch the entire day's debate from the start.

Or read a much-abbreviated live blog of today's debate here.

For the record, your Head Trucker agrees with a couple of points the conservatives have raised:

1. It makes no sense, and is manifestly unfair and unequal not to allow adultery or non-consummation as a reason for divorce with same-sex couples, as they are for opposite-sex couples.

2. I would allow a grandfather exemption for current marriage registrars who do not wish to perform same-sex marriages on grounds of religious conviction; though of course any future registrars hired after the act comes into force should be told that it is a condition of employment in the job. There is nearly always more than one marriage registrar in local offices, or one from another area can be brought in to do the job. Your Head Trucker does not like to see anyone lose their livelihood on account of personal conviction of any kind.

But the noble lords on the Government benches keep airily and blithely waving away all such objections, and the vast majority keep voting them down, so there you go. Charmingly, all the noble lords of whatever persuasion are unfailingly polite and respectful of one another, even when they bitterly disagree, which is so astonishing to see in this modern world - very refreshing.

Your Head Trucker also emphatically agrees with this conservative British columnist that calling someone "gay" - or, I will go further to say, even calling someone "queer" or "faggot" - is not and should not be considered a hate crime.  If you start making every insult a crime, then there is no end and no limit to all that; and you will only embitter the speakers and breed in them a vengeful fury.  There must be no thoughtcrimes or Thought Police in our land of the free. 

In the flush of victory and social change, if we are to deserve all we have won, we must all resist the cruel, Stalinist urge to rub people's noses into the dirt and force them to bend to our every last demand of political and personal correctness.  If you are sincere in believing that liberty is a great American principle, you must concede that freedom of dissent and disagreement, even the expression of disapproval, are essential to our democratic values.  Otherwise, how are we morally different from the bigots who tyrannically demand silence, singularity of opinion, and extreme conformity to their point of view?

As I have said many times before here on the Blue Truck, it is but one small tiny baby step from being oppressed to being an oppressor - you have only to read the daily headlines from all around the world, not to mention any history book.  Victims can, and have, and do switch with great glee to being full-throttle victimizers in a heartbeat.

And yes, I am talking to you, Miss I'm-So-Liberal-It-Hurts-My-Fake-Tits.  That's not liberalism - it's self-righteousness, and very, very ugly.

So behave yourselves, guys, and have some humility, and some humanity.  It's the right thing to do - and much sexier, too. 

Texas Lesbian Beaten by Homophobe on School Playground

Sondra Scarber

The incident occurred in Mesquite, a less-affluent suburb on the east side of Dallas. Although the victim, Sondra Scarber, received a broken jaw in the attack, Mesquite police are not treating it as a hate crime. WFAA reports:

The couple had taken Causey’s son, Jaxon, to the playground at Mesquite’s Seabourn Elementary on Feb. 17. Shortly after arriving at 2:30 p.m., though, the couple said some older children began pushing Jaxon around.

“Sondra said, ‘Can you please keep your hands off of him, he’s only four,’” Causey said.

The father became enraged, she said, when he realized Scarber, who wears baggy clothes and has short hair, is a woman, and that the two are lesbians. Friends since the third grade, Scarber and Causey have been girlfriends for three years. They’re raising Causey’s young son together.

“When he walked up thinking it was father and mom with the kid, he wasn’t as angry,” said Causey, 26, “but then when he figured out it was a female, he got like super pissed, and I don’t know why.”

She said the man punched and kicked Scarber repeatedly, hurling homophobic slurs at her while she lay on the ground, unconscious.

“He was like, ‘well if you think you’re a man… I’m going to treat you like a man,’” Causey said. “All she kept saying was, ‘I’m a female. I’m a female…' She never even had time to take her hands out of pockets to try and block herself.”

Mesquite police haven’t caught the suspect. Officers aren’t convinced the attack meets the true qualifications of a hate crime, since the scuffle among children was the initial trigger.

“At this point, we have no indication the assault occurred because of her sexual orientation,” said Lt. Bill Hedgpeth with the Mesquite police. “Regardless of motive, we want to catch them.”

Scarber's mother has set up a donation page for her (your Head Trucker has not verified it himself, though) and gives further details of the beating:

My 27 year old daughter was at the park with her girlfriend and her son, playing on February 17, 2013 at 2:30 p.m., when a bigger boy around 12 began bullying their 4 year old son, Jaxon. My daughter asked the older boy to please stop. The boy went to his car to his parents at their car and upon returning the boy said “That's him!”. My daughter replied, “I am a female. I am a girl.” Without warning, the B/M punched my daughter while calling her a white dyke bit** and knocked her out with the first blow. He continued kicking, punching, and slapping my daughter, breaking her nose, and shattering her jaw. He stole her earrings, teal Mainers hat, I-Phone 4, which he dropped as he ran from the scene. He choked Sondra with her cross necklace which did not break, and even tried to take her Nike shoes. All of this, in front of a B/F he was with and his 4 children. Sondra suffered two concussions on both sides of her head.

About fourteen men playing basketball and their girlfriends were in the area, but no one tried to help my daughter or her girlfriend, Hillary. They were driving an older silver Chevy Impala with paper tags. This occurred in Mesquite, Texas at Seaborn Elementary on a Sunday. We need help with some kind of reward to help find this creep, and funds as she can not work for at least 6-24 months. Thank you for reading this and any donations.

Hating the Gays in Small-town Texas

Well boys, wherever you are and however much you love it or hate it, be glad that you are not stuck in a small town in Texas, as some of us are.

A couple up in Clarendon, which is about halfway between Childress and Amarillo, if that means anything to you, awoke on Monday morning to find "LEAVE OR DIE FAGS" painted in red letters on their front porch. Pronews 7 in Amarillo has the story, along with raw footage of the couple and the Church of Christ pastor who published a warning article about the horrendous "gay agenda" in the local paper a couple of weeks ago:








What I Say: Your Head Trucker's heart goes out to those guys. I have been that scared one time myself, many years ago, following a physical assault. It's a terrible feeling that you aren't safe in your own home, and all you can think to do is get as far away as possible.

Now at this late age, I know enough of how the world operates to believe that the probability is that this was done by some bored teenager who is having a big laugh with his friends now over "scaring the fags," and nothing more will come of it. Still - you never know.

You come for me, be prepared. But it's a mighty lonesome feeling to be gay in a small town far from modern civilization, and surrounded by people who hate your guts and think you are the devil's own spawn. I hope the guys find a new home in a better place real soon. Like my Mama always said - "Texas is a good place to be from." She was right, of course, as usual.

BTW - that Church of Christ in Clarendon is not to be confused with the very gay-friendly United Church of Christ, which has been conducting same-sex weddings for some years now. This Church of Christ is, I believe, the one that doesn't allow any musical instruments to be played in church, and thinks they are the only ones going to Heaven - like so many other half-baked, self-righteous fundamentalists who blacken the name of the one they claim to follow with their smug hatred and deep ignorance.

Dharun Ravi Sentenced in Clementi Case

The gay blogosphere is full of arguments today over the 30-day sentence, plus community service.  Your Head Trucker expected something more like 90 days at least; but it's a hard thing to judge, and that's what we elect judges to do on our behalf, with all the facts laid out before them, and after hearing both sides of the story in depth.

One might argue that 30 days is too light in the balances against a young man's life.  But on the other hand, Ravi had no way of knowing that Clementi would kill himself.  He did not say, for example, "Why don't you go jump off a bridge, faggot."  Which would be a very different case.

As the judge said, Ravi was indeed guilty of "colossal insensitity," to say the least.  Nobody, but nobody would want their private love life - behind closed doors - broadcast to all and sundry in the dorm.  Eighteen is pretty goddamn stupid as a rule - but even at 18, we all know that's totally crossing the line.

Well, whatever people may think of the verdict, and the judge's recommendation that Ravi not be deported back to India, it is certain that he is paying a tremendous penalty above and beyond what the law has imposed:  I find it hard to imagine that he will ever be able to complete college, much less get some high-paying job, in this country.  Maybe back in India, or somewhere else in the world, but not here.  So even if you think he should do more jail time, just remember that he will be paying for his callous cruelty the rest of his life, in notoriety and lost opportunities.  Bad karma, for sure.

Nevertheless, fellas - it's important to retain a sense of balance, and to remember that there are degrees of sin.  If you want to see an indisputable hate crime in process, look at this horrific photo of thugs jumping on the spine of the leader of Kiev Pride, who is already on the ground and helpless after being blinded by pepper spray to his eyes - and this happened just seconds after he called off a planned Pride march, in full view of the press and the police:

And too, for an example of perhaps more sheer willful ignorance than sin, consider this clip, described at Towleroad this way:

In a sermon blasting President Obama for his same-sex marriage support, Pastor Charles L. Worley of Providence Road Baptist Church in Maiden, North Carolina, offered a novel — and horrific — solution to the so-called gay scourge: build an electric fence . . .

Which is so horrendously backwoods ignorant, it almost seems like a parody - I can't help chuckling, thinking what Leslie Jordan could do with this role, you know?

Notice that what would have come out as "nigger lover" fifty years ago has been updated to "homosexual lover." But even fifty years ago, and I was there, no preacher would have ever said the former in church, at the pulpit. Nor "I'm gonna preach the hell out of it." Uhn-uh. Would have been totally unacceptable in the House of God - which shows you how far manners and mores have sunk, even among the "saved" in this day and age.

It does remind me, though, of an incident back in the mid-90's, and I may have blogged about this before - I used to have a standing lunch date with a lesbian friend once a week at a Shoney's convenient to our places of work. One day while we were eating, a great crowd of sheriffs in coats and ties, dress boots and 20X felt Stetsons came in and filled the joint - there was a statewide sheriffs' convention in town - and while they were waiting to be served, one of them near us loudly observed to his tablemates: "They say homosexshuls are born that way. I reckon if we lined 'em all up against a wall and shot 'em, we'd find out in another twunny years or so if that was true." Which clever remark was followed by a great burst of laughter and nodding of heads and "that's right!"

My friend and I just looked at each other. What can you say that would make any difference to an asshole like that?


Update:   Another Baptist minister rebukes Worley on Anderson Cooper's show:



But Worley's parishoners stand behind him, saying he speaks nothing but the truth, and is just trying to save your sorry, puke-inducing gay soul from Hell:

Hate Speech IS Free Speech

I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

--Voltaire

I have sworn upon the altar of Almighty God eternal hostility towards every form of tyranny over the mind of man.

--Jefferson

Attention, please:  the class will now come to order.  Take your seats and spit out that damn bubble gum. 

Time for a very elementary civics lesson, boys and girls:  freedom of speech means you are free to say what you think.  Whatever you think.

You are equally free, then, to say out loud and in public that you approve of something, and equally free to say that you disapprove of something. 

If your approval extends all the way to love of something, it's okay, you can say that.  And if your disapproval extends all the way to hatred of something, that's okay too, you can say that as well.

It does not matter whether anyone else agrees with your approval/love or with your disapproval/hate.  It does not matter whether your stated opinion is fashionable or unfashionable with any particular group.  It does not even matter whether you are right or wrong.

Freedom of speech means you are free to say whatever you think.  Even if what you think offends someone else's idea of what is right or wrong.

Because freedom of speech - which of course includes not merely oral utterances but also any form of written utterance as well, and even silent demonstrations of opinion - is another facet of an even larger, more important concept that we call freedom of belief, aka freedom of conscience.

A free man, or woman, - unlike a slave - has the inalienable right to think whatever he pleases, believe whatever he pleases, and express whatever he pleases.  Is that point very clear?  Free people can think and say whatever they want.  Slaves and prisoners and children cannot.

Which is why totalitarian regimes always clamp down first on freedom of expression; once that is taken away, the process of converting people to slaves of the State is halfway done.

Continued after the jump . . .

Newsbites

At this holiday time, when the Christian world is - theoretically - piously commemorating the birth of Christ, a little good cheer from Mexico . . . and a lot of fake-Christian crap from elsewhere.

A bill to legalize same-sex marriage, including adoption rights, passes  Mexico City's legislative assembly by 39-20.  The city enacted civil unions in 2007, and will be the first jurisdiction in all of Latin America to have equal marriage.  Population, 2009:  8.8 million, and 21 million in the metro area.

City lawmaker Victor Romo, a member of the mayor's leftist party, called it a historic day.  "For centuries unjust laws banned marriage between blacks and whites or Indians and Europeans," he said. "Today all barriers have disappeared."

But in New Mexico, whose statutes do not specify that married couples have to be male and female, a state legislator has filed a bill to close that theoretical loophole by constitutional amendment.  (New Mexico has never recognized or performed same-sex marriages.)  A domestic partnership bill was defeated there earlier this year, but Governor Bill Richardson says he hopes to get such a bill passed next year.

Up in Canada, where equal marriage became the law of the land in 2005, the gay-haters are foaming at the mouth over this wicked, disgusting, totally obscene Christmas card sent out by Member of Parliament Scott Brison to 5,000 friends and constituents:

Nova Scotian Brison, on the left, married his husband, Maxime St. Pierre, in 2007, the first federal MP to marry a same-sex partner while in office.  The wedding was attended by the cream of Canadian politicians, including two former prime ministers.  And still, even in liberal, gay-friendly Canada - the haters just can't stand even the merest suggestion that two men can love each other.  Especially at Christmas time!

Back in the U.S., Prominent right-wing homophobes Peter LaBarbera and Matt Barber are slugging it out over who should take the rap for this repulsive description of gay relationships:  "one man violently cramming his penis into another man’s lower intestine and calling it ‘love.’”  Joe Jervis, as usual, is on the case, with glee. 

Notice, guys - this is a scared-shitless straight boy's nightmare concept of what it's like.  Not at all the reality as we experience it.  Not the truth.  A lie - but a Big Lie that straight boys for centuries have built up and spread in the name of their self-reflecting Heterosexual God - and have used, and are still using, to absolutely crush the life out of gay people wherever they can.

Joe is also keeping track of the freeper-creepers whose maniacal calls for Civil War II are growing more strident:

A violent overthrow of the socialist bastard traitors BEFORE this hellish health care debacle gets enacted is the only way we will ever be able to stop our plunge into socialist-fascist tyranny. I only hope that we have enough patriotic military officers & soldiers who will fight with us & for us.

 Uh-huh.  Socialist-fascist tyranny.  Can you say oxymoron, you morons?

Over in the United Kingdom, where civil partnerships have been in place for four years now, they have their extremists too:  Stephen Green, leader of Christian Voice, says Jesus approves killing the gays - and adulteresses too: 

The Bible calls for the ultimate penalty for sodomy (Lev 20:13) and for rape (Deut 22:25), and our Lord upheld the death penalty when He called for the accusers of the woman caught in adultery to cast the first stone (John 8:7) – if, that is, they were not implicated in adultery themselves. The contrast between our politicians and those of Uganda could not be more stark. A Parliamentarian in Uganda is trying to protect his nation's children. The House of Commons of the United Kingdom is trying to corrupt ours.

Hmm, so just Who Would Jesus Kill? - and would that include all the family-loving, Bible-believing, adulterous Republican politicians in this country?

Also, in Northern England, an Anglican priest in York, the Rev. Tim Jones, has delivered a sermon advising his congregation to shoplift from big retailers - not small ones, mind you - because "God's love for the poor is more important than the property rights of the rich."  Help me out here guys - I just can't find this verse in the Sermon on the Mount, can you?  And just What Would Jesus Steal, anyway?

Down in Puerto Rico, though, a voice of sanity:  out bisexual closeted I-never-said-I-was-gay singing star and single dad Ricky Martin has a timely message of peace and goodwill to men posted on his website:

The murders of James Byrd, Matthew Shepard, Jorge Steven Lopez [Mercado], Marcelo Lucero, Luis Ramirez and countless others who were victims of violent 'hate crimes' should be completely unacceptable to every human being; because we're all human beings. . . .  Accepting diversity is the first and most important step we can take towards eliminating hate crimes and uniting humanity. If we ACCEPT, humanity unites. If humanity unites, equal human rights will become a reality. And if equal human rights become a reality, peace will be within our reach.

And finally, on an archaeological note, the remains of a small, modest house dating from the time of Jesus have been found in Nazareth, illustrating the typical living accommodations of that time and place.  Nothing fancy, just little bitty houses in a little hick town way out in the boonies:  you'd never think anything worth mentioning would come from a place like that, would you?

Matthew Shepard Video Surfaces

A blog called Joshalot has posted a short video of Matthew Shepard and then-boyfriend Lewis Krider, filmed at Catawba College in North Carolina sometime in the mid-90's.  Though brief, it preserves for posterity the voice of an ordinary, friendly college kid - whose fate was to end up beaten to death and crucified on a wooden fence one dark, freezing Wyoming night.  The vid can't be embedded, but you can see this moving clip here.

More about Matthew and his parents' noble struggle for understanding, compassion, and acceptance on behalf of all LGBT people can be found at the Matthew Shepard Foundation.

Don't Say the G Word!

But why the hell not, Mr. Fierce Advocate?

Andrew Sullivan:

"It's worth examining the precise wording he used in front of military leaders this afternoon [when signing the hate crimes act/defense appropriation bill into law]:

After more than a decade of opposition and delay, we've passed inclusive hate crimes legislation to help protect our citizens from violence based on what they look like, who they love, how they pray, or who they are.

"This simply doesn't make sense. Hate crime laws for most categories, including federal measures, have been around for a long time. The only new thing here - the only thing that has fostered "a decade of opposition and delay" - is the addition of sexual orientation. So the president had a chance to defend gays from being excluded from the usual roster of victims, in front of military leaders, and he had to walk backwards into this strange circumlocution.

"Obama's is the support that dare not speak our name."

What I Say:  There's something wrong with this picture, boys.  I admire Obama for a number of reasons, and he is infinitely better as President than the last guy - who, be it remembered, routinely torpedoed any hopes for this bill when it came up in Congress before; but Obama is simply not living up to all his promises made to us.  Very deliberately not, it would seem.  And that's very, very troubling.

Send Granny to Jail?

According to the Daily Telegraph, 67-year-old Pauline Howe may be facing hate crime charges for writing a single letter to her city council, protesting against the city's first gay pride march:

"I've never been in any kind of trouble before so I was stunned to have two police officers knocking at my door," she said. "Their presence in my home made me feel threatened. It was a very unpleasant experience."

Christian campaigners condemned the police action as "alarming" and warned that freedom of expression was under threat, while the homosexual equality group Stonewall said the officers' visit had been "disproportionate".

The pensioner had written to Norwich [England] council complaining about its decision to allow the march in the city centre in July, at which she claims she was verbally abused. In the letter, she wrote: "It is shameful that this small, but vociferous lobby should be allowed such a display unwarranted by the minimal number of homosexuals." Mrs Howe referred to homosexuals as "sodomites" and blamed "their perverted sexual practice" for sexually transmitting diseases as well as the "downfall of every Empire".

She argues that she is not homophobic, but was expressing her deeply held religious beliefs. However, Bridget Buttinger, deputy chief executive at the council, replied to Mrs Howe in September, warning that she could face being charged with a criminal offence for expressing such views. "As a local authority we have a duty along with other public bodies to eliminate discrimination of all kinds," she wrote.

"A hate incident is any incident that is perceived by the victim or any other person as being motivated by prejudice or hatred. A hate crime is any hate incident that constitutes a criminal offence. The content of your letter has been assessed as potentially being hate related because of the views you expressed towards people of a certain sexual orientation." She added: "Your details and details of the content of your letter have been recorded as such and passed to the Police."

What I say: This is bullshit, it makes me want to throw up. Grandma getting it off her chest in a letter - probably written in a pretty, cursive hand with pen and ink - is not a fucking hate crime.

Remember guys, it's just one short step from being oppressed to being an oppressor. While we fight for our rights and freedoms, we must also tolerate other people's right to speak their minds, even if we totally disagree with what they say: that's the American way.

As long as the other guy is free to say what he thinks, you are too. That's very, very important.  Because nobody is above criticism - man, woman, black, white, straight, or gay. 

I'm with Grandma on this one, guys, bless her little tea-sipping heart - how about you?

Update:  In case anyone is still confused, this is a hate crime: 

A gay man is fighting for his life today following a vicious gang beating in Liverpool city centre.

The 22-year–old, who the ECHO understands is a trainee constable with Merseyside police and has been named as James Parkes, was attacked by up to 13 people at 10pm last night when out with three friends on Stanley Street.

He is currently in hospital with multiple skull fractures, a fractured eye socket and a fractured cheek bone.

One Down, Three to Go

Yesterday, Congress passed the hate crimes act with a final vote in the Senate, and the President has repeatedly pledged to sign it into law.  According to the Human Rights Campaign,

The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act gives the Justice Department the power to investigate and prosecute bias-motivated violence where the perpetrator has selected the victim because of the person's actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

It provides the Justice Department with the ability to aid state and local jurisdictions either by lending assistance or, where local authorities are unwilling or unable, by taking the lead in investigations and prosecutions of violent crime resulting in death or serious bodily injury that were motivated by bias. It also makes grants available to state and local communities to combat violent crimes committed by juveniles, train law enforcement officers, or to assist in state and local investigations and prosecutions of bias motivated crimes.

This legislation was first introduced in the 105th Congress. Today’s vote was the 14th and final time there has been a floor vote on this historic legislation.

This is a historic moment; the first of the four big hurdles has been crossed.  Now on to ENDA, DADT, and DOMA.

Take a minute to check out these videos from HRC's new site, Love Conquers Hate.  They're pretty moving; share 'em around, might touch a few people's hearts that haven't been reached before.

Have We Gone Completely Mad?

Longtime gay hater James Dobson, who seems to be losing it big time over all the recent queer victories, asks that very question in this video message to his followers. How would you answer, guys?

Maddow Talks with Judy Shepard

Visit the Matthew Shepard Foundation - which deserves your support.

My truckbuddies know that I've several times wondered out loud in this blog, how exactly does a hate-crime law protect anyone? Andrew Sullivan quotes a reader over at his place on this subject:

I believe the left has abandoned its principles here in same way that the right abandoned it's principles on torture. Outside of the issue of hate crimes, you will find progressive thinkers opposed to slapping on more jail time as a solution to everything. This is why, they say, you will find overcrowded prisons costing the state in terms of upkeep and lost economic potential. Moreover, they say, long prison sentences automatically imposed (by such laws as the three strikes rule) take justice out of context and only contribute to the problem.

Why, then, do these same people suddenly want to throw away the key for those who inflict pain on others from prejudice? Is it because they think the prison system works for bigots where it fails everyone else? This is a profound contradiction that at least requires explanation.

Sullivan responds:

There is a real debate about the 20/20 story and, for the sake of balance, you can read the critiques of it here and here. I should be clear: I do not for a minute believe that the bigotry behind the Matthew Shepard murder was a hoax. I think it was murkier and more complicated - i.e. more human - than some want it to be. Of course, if you believe that his murderers deserved the maximum sentence because they brutally murdered someone, and not because they were meth-fueled bigots, it doesn't matter. I want the same laws against the same acts enforced equally on everyone. If police don't enforce the law equally, get on their case. But leave the laws alone.

Which of course raises the question that Sullivan conveniently leaves to the reader's imagination: how exactly do you "get on their case" and who exactly would do that?

Maddow in her introduction suggests that the federal hate-crimes law gives the feds - presumably through the Justice Department, it's lawyers, investigators, and marshals - the power to "get on the case" where civil rights are ignored by local police and prosecutors. Does it really work that way? I'll have to do some more reading and thinking on that.

Barney Rips Republicans a New One

The inimitable Congressman from Massachusetts, speaking yesterday on the hate crimes bill. You go, man:

Gotta tell you, fellas, it's just breathtaking to see an openly gay Congressman speaking up for our rights in front of God and everybody, to someone like me - who remembers quite vividly a world in which nobody spoke up for us, and the only gay person on the face of the earth was one scared, lonely kid in a small Southern town - or so it seemed.

Today in Gay Rights: Backwards and Forwards

In Congress, the House today passed the hate crimes bill (formerly known as the Matthew Shepard Act) by 249-175; Ted Kennedy has introduced the companion bill in the Senate, and the President has said he will sign it when it reaches his desk.

To be honest, fellas, I'm still not certain exactly and precisely how a hate crimes bill protects anyone from being beaten or murdered; but I am certain that the right-wing bigots are furiously against the measure. As witness Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) calling Matthew Shepard's murder a "hoax," claiming he was merely a robbery victim, not targeted because of being gay, which is utterly false, by his killers' own admission. Later in the day, Foxx put out an oily apology for using the word "hoax," but kept up her opposition.

--Meanwhile, in New Hampshire today, the state Senate unexpectedly passed an equal marriage bill already approved by the state House; now the bill goes to committee to iron out minor differences between the two versions.

--In Virginia, a major precedent was set for transgender people: U.S. District Judge James Robinson ruled Tuesday that Diana Schroer (formerly David) was entitled to nearly half a million dollars in damages because of sex discrimination, after she was turned down for a position with the Library of Congress. The judge said that's sex discrimination under the civil rights statutes, and threw the book at the government.

--But in Iowa, where same-sex marriage became a reality this week, a Des Moines couple published an editorial and this video about the terrible, terrible dangers of being caught up in the "homosexual cult" - yup, cult - on behalf of the Iowa Family Policy Council. Up till about the 5-minute mark, you think it's going to be a sweet, heartwarming memorial about their late son; but listen to the ending. You need to watch this so you're prepared when righteous Aunt Betty brings it up at the next family gathering:

And also notice how many times the subject of money comes up, and how important that is to them; oh yeah, I know the type of toxic parents who speak that kind of language - the type who are usually very controlling and very rejecting. My parents weren't that way, thank God, but I've known of several who were that way among my friends' families.

And I can picture the scenario: after many years in the closet, he finally got the nerve to come out; but then he got sick and very scared; oh no, God's judgment on me; and back home, dying, under the reproachful eyes of Mom and Dad, like a good prisoner he recanted his queer misdeeds and told his tormentors exactly what they wanted to hear, so he could die in peace. Maybe he even worked himself into believing that the nonsense he was saying was true; anything to get right with God and the parents before it's too late, and the fiery pit looms.

And notice how, even in death - their son still isn't good enough for them. He still doesn't measure up. He still hasn't earned their love - and never will.

They're ashamed of their own son, who defied them for a short time and lived his own life, disobeying the rules. They still haven't forgiven him, or accepted him.

They even look like the couple in Grant Wood's American Gothic. And just as cold. They didn't love their son, they owned him. How fucking pathetic.

--On a positive note, here's a brilliant refutation of Christianist lies about same-sex marriage by a guy named Rob Tisinai. Never heard of him before, but hope to hear a lot more from him. He's good.

Hate Is Alive and Well

On Sunday night, three punks burst in to Robert's Lafitte, a gay bar in Galveston, and started stoning patrons, causing some serious injuries. The bar has both gay and straight patrons, and as I blogged about last fall, was a gathering point for survivors of the hurricane that devastated the island. Kudos to the police, who quickly arrested the perps.

Joe.My.God also has this horrible story of a double murder in a redneck corner of Spain, and the perp's acquital on a "gay panic" defense.

And still, we are the ones who are so awful, so sinful, so immoral? I don't think so.

Goodwill to Men? Not Yet

As Mike Signorile puts it, some things never change:

One thing you can always depend on each Christmas: 1) The Pope will attack gays and gay marriage (and this year transexuality) for all the violence in the world -- during his message about peace, joy and unity; 2) some crazed heterosexual will perpetrate a Christmas Eve massacre during the supposed season of comfort and joy, usually inspired by the stresses of his heterosexual marriage and the holiday season itself.

I already posted on the first point. Mike's second point is about the beyond-horrible mass murder of at least 10 people at a family Christmas dinner in Covina, California. The perp, a recently divorced in-law and a faithful usher at his Catholic church, arrived at the house dressed as Santa Claus and rang the doorbell. When an 8-year-old girl ran to open the door, he shot her in the face, then proceeded to kill everyone else he could, then set the house ablaze. After escaping the scene, he drove to his brother's house where he shot himself.

The 8-year-old and one other child are hospitalized in intensive care. Several others of the 27 people at the Christmas dinner were injured as well.

Jeezus, what kind of fucking monster can do such a thing? No matter how badly he got hurt, no matter how bad he got burned in the divorce. Especially one who attends Mass every week? What the hell goes on here? I just don't get it, not at all.

But I don't get a lot of things like that. For instance, all the increasing hate crimes against LGBT people, as the San Jose Mercury News reports. My heart goes out to the young gay woman who was brutally gang-raped and left naked on the street by four creeps in Richmond, California, this week. Police are still looking for the perps, two of whom go by the names "Blue" and "Pato," and a reward is offered for information on them.

Likewise, my sympathies to the families of 15-year-old Larry King; Jose Sucuzhanay, Duanna Johnson, and many others who had an empty chair at the Christmas table this week. All of those deaths caused by straight male homophobia and utter contempt for human life.

And ultimately, all of that is promoted and condoned by the arrogant, filthy lies put out by people like this asshat of a Pope and his Protestant counterparts like Rick Warren. Oh if you asked them, they would deplore the beatings and the killings, yes, very sad, such a pity.

But THEY are the ones who tell their flocks, and by extension the larger society, that we queers are sick, evil, perverted, doomed to eternal damnation and not fit to live; less than full and equal humans, way less, deserving nothing.

Oh and we're also destroying the family, society, the nation, the military, the economy, in fact the whole freaking planet. Why not shoot, stab, or beat us to death? Wouldn't that be doing the world a favor? Oh please. The Church/churches love to talk about Love and Peace on Earth, goodwill to men, yada yada, they love to play the sweet, holy act. Especially at Christmas. But what are they really all about? Now I grew up Christian here in the Deep South, and I'm not yet willing to let go of every part of that. My faith sustained me through some terribly dark nights of the soul, and I do believe there is a God/Higher Power/Whatever, bigger than any box we try to put Him/Her/It in.

But in recent years my eyes have been opened wide to all the hypocrisy and dishonesty and self-righteous, self-serving patriarchy that's made my life, and millions of others, a living hell for so long.

I've had it with the whole straight-white-male Christian church as it has been rocking along all these centuries. Many good people have belonged, and done good things; but the Church in its various branches and manifestations has also condoned for ages (until forced to change) scientific ignorance, slavery, the denial of women's rights and birth control, segregation, interracial marriage, and of course, homophobia. (One day soon I'm going to post here a summary of how the church has persecuted gays down through history; it's not anything new.)

But now I think I see a crack beginning in that last one; the Church (or churches) has changed its attitude on all the others, and it's time to get a new attitude on this one too. Real soon.

If there's anything of God in it. Because God is Love.

For more religious asshattery, here's Signorile's interview with Bill Donohue of the Catholic League about the supposed "campaign of violence" we queers are waging across the country now:

Today's Quote: "I'm a regular American"

In the wake of Prop 8 and the other anti-gay amendments that were passed on Nov. 4, lots of people are knocking the big gay rights outfits, and HRC in particular. Here's what Ann Rostow has to say in the San Francisco Bay Times, the Bay Area's gay paper (she lives in Austin, Texas):

The tipping point is not simply about a new era of activism, if indeed such an era is beginning. It is about the discouraging state of formal GLBT leadership, specifically the leadership of the Human Rights Campaign. If our community is indeed rising up, let us rise up not only for marriage rights, but for courage and competence at the helm of our largest civil rights organizations, and eloquence from our main voice in national politics.

For God’s sake, if we can bring courage, competence and eloquence to the Oval Office, we can find a way to bring it to the executive offices of a lobbying group. . . .

Hate crimes are despicable. But legislation won’t end them. Hate crime penalties are rarely enforced or charged where applicable. And when they are, it’s often in a case that is so violent, the charge itself carries massive punishment to begin with. A federal hate crime law is also the least controversial of any gay rights proposal now pending before Congress and it is HRC’s top priority for the sole reason of feasibility. A hate crime law will be the easiest, and one of the least useful, pieces of federal legislation that we can pass. HRC has never passed a gay rights bill through Congress and they are dying to do so now. . . .

You know what? A federal hate crime law is not our top priority as a community. And I am not appointing myself Director of the Gay Agenda, I am stating a fact. Yet HRC continues to plod away on yesterday’s bills, hate crimes and the watered down trans-less Employment Nondiscrimination Act, without the slightest sense of where the rest of us want to be led. And the problem is that we only have so much political capital. We cannot afford to spend it on hate crimes or the wreck of an ENDA bill that we’ve been hawking for a couple decades. . . .

What are we arguing for now? “Oh! Please Mister. Don’t let them kill me because I’m gay!” “Oh! Please Ma’am. Don’t let them fire me because I’m a lesbian!” “Oh Please Voter. Don’t discriminate against poor little me!” Aren’t we tired of being victims on our knees? Isn’t it time to stand up and say, “Look, I’m not scary. I’m not a pervert. I’m a regular American like you, and I’d like to serve my country, raise my children, and weave my relationship into the social fabric of this country just like you.”

And isn’t this the time to start changing our carefully nuanced message and start saying what we believe, which ironically is exactly what America is waiting hear from us. Because if we can’t bring ourselves to ask our fellow citizens to treat us as equals, why the hell should they? We’re not acting like equals!

I'm still waiting for someone to explain to me precisely how a hate-crimes law will benefit anyone in the gay community. What exactly is the good that it will do for us?