The Christian Civic League of Maine's Mike Hein calls Pam's House Blend: "a leading source of radical homosexual propaganda, anti-Christian bigotry, and radical transgender advocacy."
He is "praying that Pam Spaulding will "turn away from her wicked and sinful promotion of homosexual behavior."
(CCLM's web site, 10/15/07)
Ex-gay "Christian" activist James Hartline on Pam:
"I have been mocked over and over again by ungodly and unprincipled anti-christian lesbians."
(from "Six Years In Sodom: From The Journal Of James Hartline," 9/4/2006, written from the "homosexual stronghold" of Hillcrest in San Diego).
"Pam is a 'twisted lesbian sister' and an 'embittered lesbian' of the 'self-imposed gutteral experiences of the gay ghetto.'" -- 9/5/2008
Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth Against Homosexuality heartily endorses the Blend, calling Pam:
A "vicious anti-Christian lesbian activist." (Concerned Women for America's radio show [9:15], 1/25/07)
"A nutty lesbian blogger." (MassResistance radio show [16:25], 2/3/07)
Pam's House Blend always seems to find these sick f*cks. The area of the country she is in? The home state of her wife? I know, they are everywhere. Pam just does such a great job of bringing them out into the light.
--Impeach Bush
who monitors yours Bevis ?? Just thought I would drop you a line,so the rest of your life is not wasted.
Two more blocks were added this week to the civil rights quilt, although both with threads still dangling. On June 25th, both houses of the Delaware legislature passed "Senate Bill 121, [which] adds sexual orientation to the list of protections under Delaware's anti-discrimination law. That law covers housing, employment, public works contracting, public accommodations and insurance." It's taken 10 years of trying to get this bill passed. Governor Markell apparently has spoken in favor of similar bills previously, so is expected to sign this one.
In Kalamazoo, MI on June 29th, the city council passed a fully-inclusive non-discrimination ordinance! This is incredibly exciting, because the ordinance had passed once before then was rescinded for strategic reasons. And now it's back, stronger than before. Get the inside scoop here from Mattkazoo.
The threads still dangling on these great developments? The Delaware bill protects us based on sexual orientation but not gender identity or expression, and the Kalamazoo city ordinance will have to weather a referendum challenge. As always, more work remains to be done. But we're used to that, and I'm not going to let that perennial reality get in the way of celebrating two victories for civil rights in one week. As Dan Savage is fond of saying, we're winning!
A partial equality win at the state level -- Delaware's Senate Bill 121cleared its General Assembly and it will be signed by the governor into law. It adds sexual orientation (but not gender identity) to the list of protections under the state's anti-discrimination law.
Gays and lesbians in Delaware will have legal protection from discrimination under a bill that passed the General Assembly late Wednesday night, more than a decade after supporters started fighting for it.
The House chamber erupted in applause, cheers and hugs when representatives passed the measure shortly after 8:30 p.m. An hour earlier, the Senate -- where previous versions of the legislation always were killed -- passed the same bill after a three-hour debate.
The bill now goes to Gov. Jack Markell for his signature. Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf, who helped push the bill through the House, said Markell has expressed support for it.
"We made a big step forward tonight," said Drewry Fennell, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Delaware, which supported the bill.
"It protects the most basic activities of human life -- moving about the world, earning a living, keeping a roof over your head," Fennell said. "Now the state has said you can't be discriminated against because of sexual orientation."
Now the issue is when will advocacy for the law to be expanded for trans-inclusion begin -- it's unfortunate that the effort here went on for so long for it to not be an inclusive victory. The language of the bill:
145th General Assembly
Senate Bill # 121
AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 6, 9, 18, 19, 25, AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT, PUBLIC WORKS CONTRACTING, HOUSING, EQUAL ACCOMMODATIONS AND THE INSURANCE BUSINESS
This Act adds the term "sexual orientation" to the already-existing list of prohibited practices of discrimination. As such, this Act would forbid discrimination against a person on the basis of sexual orientation in housing, employment, public works contracting, public accommodations, and insurance. In addition, this Act would establish that the Superior Court, in the first instance, would hear and adjudicate alleged criminal violations under the Act of equal accommodations, fair housing and employment discrimination.
The good news -- Delaware's legislature is considering legislation that would bar discrimination based on sexual orientation in housing, public accommodations, insurance and employment. It's also a state that has not seen any traction in terms of any bill that would amend its Constitution to define marriage as only between and man and a woman.
The bad news -- the anti-discrimination bill has been killed several times and there are a heck of a lot of homophobes willing to go on the record with outlandish comments defending their bigotry.
Rep. Gerald W. Hocker, R-Ocean View, expressed opposition to the bill before winning his 38th District seat in 2002. He stands by his opinion that the bill is special legislation and, as such, is not needed. He says he sees no signs of discrimination against gay people.
"We all have equal rights and we don't need any special-rights bill," he said. "To be honest with you, I'm a great believer that all people are treated equally now. I just don't see the need for it."
On its Web site, the Delaware Family Foundation, a nonprofit organization that pushes traditional family values and has been active in the fight against the nondiscrimination bills, links such legislation to the AIDS epidemic.
"The bill is not about discrimination," the organization says. "It is about gay activists wanting to force approval of a behavior that kills its participants."
Overall, activists are more optimistic about the bill this time around, but aren't sure that the Senate will move it just yet.
One of the bill's supporters, Mitch Crane of Milford, vice president for political action with The Delaware Stonewall Democratic Club, said his organization had requested a meeting with the Senate's Adams, but had received no reply. The club is an affiliate of a national organization pressing for equal rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals.
"All we ask is that [the Senate] have a right to vote it up or down," Crane said.
"We think it should be embarrassing to Democrats that the Republican-controlled House will consider and act on such legislation and the Democrat-controlled Senate won't consider it and bring it to the floor," Crane said. "We hope that will change."
