I've made it to the initial round for favorite progressive blogger in the Air America Cruise Contest. I have to stay in the Top 5 before the second voting round begins, so your vote is appreciated! First voting round:
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.
Oh my -- the Peter is so miffed at Louise calling his flaccid press conference in Maine the other day a "rally" that he decided to give her a shout out:
The NGLTF boasts HERE how they helped mobilize grassroots activists to pass homosexual “marriage” in the Maine legislature, and then how they stepped up their grassroots and monetary assistance in an attempt to defeat Question 1, a ballot measure to be decided tomorrow (Nov. 4th). If Question 1 passes — i.e., a YES vote — it would repudiate the “gay marriage” legislation signed into law by Gov. John Baldacci (D).
You want to see some more raw homosexual hatred? Go to this snippet from the press conference posted on YouTube, and read the comments under the video. Nobody — and I mean nobody — hates like the nasties on homosexual side. [Clarification: by this I mean not all homosexuals, of course, but the activists among them who traffic in vilification and mean-spirited verbal assaults against their opponents, and even blatantly anti-religious attacks.] This movement more than any other hates people of faith, or I should say those who act on their heartfelt belief that homosexuality is wrong. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org
How lucky they are, to get these special emails or faxes, direct from the Almighty! Apparently when Maine is "smooted" by the Monty Python foot or whatever, it will be entirely MY FAULT.
Just so you all know who to blame...
God's Final Warning to Maine.
In the final days of the campaign for same sex marriage, both sides are speaking from the heart, with little restraint.
Press Conference Sheds Light on Same Sex Marriage Debate
Three well-known pro-family activists appeared at a press conference in Augusta on Wednesday to expose the hidden agenda of the same sex marriage movement.
The press conference was heavily attended by reporters, who in addition to hearing the unvarnished truth about the homosexual rights movement, got a much-needed lecture on journalistic ethics.
After the three pro-family leaders huddled for prayer, Paul Madore, director of the Maine Grassroots Coalition opened the press conference by saying that the campaign for homosexual marriage was like a Hollywood production, "a 'Rocky' movie in which the referee is on the fight."
I wasn't gonna SAY anything about that, but...
Throughout the press conference, Madore faulted the media for their blatantly obvious double standard in the battle over homosexual marriage.
Madore then introduced Peter LaBarbera, founder of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality. LaBarbera pointed out that the media have failed to explore the connection between national homosexual "rights" groups such as the Human Rights Campaign, the National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce, and the No on 1 campaign.
LaBarbera brought up the connection between the National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce and the Woodhull Freedom Foundation, an organization which promotes an extremely liberal view of human sexuality. LaBarbera claimed that this aspect of the homosexual "rights" movement is as offensive as Fred Phelps, but is entirely ignored by the press.
LaBarbera also claimed that the wholesome images shown in the No on 1 TV ads hide the true nature of homosexuality and the homosexual subculture. LaBarbera shared his own horror at the exhibits he saw at Chicago's "Leather Museum".
Is THAT what he was doing??? Looks like a working vacation to me...
Towards the end of the press conference, Paul Madore stated that there will be voter fraud on November 3rd by activists trying to win by any means possible.
Peter LaBarbera summed up the press conference by saying that the vote on same sex marriage is really about the acceptance and normalization of homosexuality.
It should be noted that many of the reporters took an adversarial tone, and many of the questions were intended to score points for the homosexual "rights" movement.
But the closing scene in which fawning reporters swarmed around a beaming Jesse Connolly (shown below), says it all. Jesse Connolly is of course, the leader of the No on 1 campaign, and finds a willing echo chamber in a biased and compliant press.
As the reporters and the public filed out of the Hall of Flags, Madore, Camenker, and LaBarbera all seemed exceptionally pleased with the result of the press conference, confident that the truth about the homosexual "rights" movement was being told at last.
One wonders if the press was as incredibly shocked, horrified and embarrassed by this "event" , or as disgusted by the open homophobic frothing rants of this trio as I was?
Plus, it's never a good idea to announce an "OMG!!!" event to the Maine media for a specific time before the noon broadcast, then have almost a half-hour delay that you explain away as "waiting for some staff members who are running late"... let alone start out by spending a half-hour criticizing the Maine media and stating they aren't doing their job, as PornoPete did!
No wonder all 3 had difficulty looking up, once the cameras were FINALLY rolling!
And now some explanation about a few of the reporters asking the questions.
Here is a shot of WCSH-6's Don Carrigan who asked,
"Is there a radical gay agenda associated with this?"
I answered on my previous post, when this was brought up:
Nope, nope, nope
The reporter who asked that question, Don Carrigan, works for WCSH-6 and is someone I have watched and respected greatly for decades- Don is a helluva nice and fair guy, as well as a constant figure at the State House with a long history of great reporting.
Think Maine's version of Walter Cronkite for gravitas- I trust him completely.
What he was doing was asking the question based on the phrasing that LaBarbera, Camenker and Madore used, time and again, until I lost count myself!
Don was there for over an hour, as was Jim Keithly from WMTW etc... yet NO ONE DID A "B roll/ package/ stand alone" clip that aired with their report.
Paul Madore is very well known as incredibly rabid/ frothing homophobic up here, and has been for years- he makes Mike Heath look timid and reasonable! So that the clip focused on HIM and not the other speakers says alot.
More below the fold, including MPBN- Maine Public Broadcasting Network's take... and it's rather bad for PornoPete- as well as Susan Cover's Kennebec Journal write-up.
After this mess, I would honestly be surprised if Maine media ever covers another event for the trio, SFMM or anyone even vaguely associated with them, other than minimally.
Below the fold, some sh*t video clips that are gonna be damned hard for the Portland Diocese and SFMM's Marc Mutty (who was strangely absent/replaced in tonight's televised live debate against Mary Bonauto, with no explanation given!) to "scrape off the bottom of their shoes..."
Note from Louise: I will have my own posts later about what I just witnessed at the State House; omigawd I am just shaking my head over this one!
--------------------------------------------
Just in to the Blend comes the following release:
NO on 1 Campaign Slams Anti-Gay, Anti-Marriage Equality Attacks
Radical Hate Groups Come to Maine State House
Portland, Maine (October 28, 2009)---
Jesse Connolly, the NO on 1 campaign manager, today released the following statement regarding the press event by the Maine Grassroots Coalition and Stand for Marriage Maine at the State House. In addition to featuring Paul Madore of the Maine Grassroots Coalition, who is responsible for some viscous, anti-gay print advertisements (see attached), the event also featured Brian Camenker of MassResistance and Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth, two well-known anti-gay organizations.
"This is not the new face of the Yes campaign, it's been there all along. They can swap out their TV ads from attacks that have been called baseless by the Maine Attorney General and Maine newspapers across the state, to a gentler, softer approach, but the result is the same. They don't believe in treating all Maine families equally and these national and local spokespeople represent some of the most vitriolic, anti-gay voices in the country.
"They can't have it both ways -- to pretend to back civil rights, yet stand behind a group like Mass Resistance which is one of only 11 designated anti-gay hate groups listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center. And they can't stand behind Peter LaBarbera who has attacked Ben & Jerry's, supported rescinding women's right to vote and believes we should return to the Old Testament where gay people were stoned. And they can't stand behind Paul Madore and the Maine Grassroots Coalition which is behind some of the most anti-gay hate speech over the last 20 years.
"It won't wash. It doesn't fly. And we call on the Yes campaign to stop the attacks and get back to talking about what's really at stake in this election -- and that's whether or not we will treat all loving, committed Maine couples and their families equally under the law.
"And I'd like to hear what the leadership and the big funders of the Stand for Marriage campaign have to say about the hate-filled speech we heard today in our State House. Are they in line with these people and these organizations or will they disavow what was said?"
From the "new and improved", Maine Family Policy Council now led by "Two Fisted Man of God" Mike Hein- the very same folks who gave Mikey Heath the boot, er, sent him to hock crock pots in Tanzania, comes the following missive:
The Maine Grassroots Coalition will hold a press conference in the Hall of Flags at the State House in Augusta at 11:00 on Wednesday October 28th, to alert the public to the dangers of the radical homosexual agenda.
The press conference will feature three well-known pro-family speakers, Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality, Brian Camenker of Mass Resistance, and Maine's own Paul Madore, from the Maine Grassroots Coalition.
Paul Madore warns that clever advertising by pro-homosexual groups is trying to portray the Yes on 1 campaign as dominated by out-of-state money, when in fact, the pro-homosexual marriage campaign has raised three times more money than our side.
Madore also warns that pro-homosexual marriage groups are recruiting same-sex marriage activists from around the country - including San Francisco - to take "Maine Volunteer Vacations" and campaign against our Peoples Veto.
Who sez Christmas is in December???
Here are some of the best of:
This first post shows LaBarbera's obsession with attending and covering fetish events. His reports have made mainstream fundie orgs distance themselves from Peter's bizarre rants - it completely discredits him:
Sometimes I wonder if Peter LaBarbera likes to purposely publish items on his Americans for Truth for Homosexuality site that make the professional anti-gay, womb-controlling set seem so absurd and untethered from reality to throw us off track.
Take this piece Peter features, Scott Lively's "Masculine Christianity," that is bust-a-gut hilarious. And it starts with LaBarbera's quite revealing intro.
I'm to the point where I change the radio station out of principle (and aggravation) whenever I hear a wispy male Christian song that sounds like a femmy, religious version of the Bee Gees. Certainly, Christian men should be more jazzed about fighting for Truth in the Culture War than they are about succeeding in business and watching sports.
In other words, Peter wants to bond with a Real Christian Man, who knows how to thrust his manhood around in the name of Christ. Well Scott Lively gets quite specific about what kind of masculinity is honored in the twinkle of God's eye.
Unfortunately, the modern American church, along with the majority of its leaders, has rejected masculinity in favor of an effeminate Christianity. Too many (though by no means all) of today's pastors, priests, deacons and elders shrink timidly from the challenge of the world, more interested in decorating the interior of their church buildings than in doing cultural and political battle with the enemies of God. Ravening lions rage unchecked throughout the land, while church leaders hold potlucks and retreats.
Where is the masculine Jesus of the Bible in the life of today's church? The Jesus who threw down the tables of the moneychangers and drove them out of the temple with a whip? The Jesus who faced down and tamed the Gerasene demoniac? The Jesus who, to their faces, excoriated the cultural and political leaders of the day as a "brood of vipers " and "whitewashed sepulchers full of dead men ' s bones?" This masculine Jesus has been ejected from the American church. In His place is a false and emasculated Christ, as submissive and fearful of controversy as the men who now lead His flock.
Instead, this is vigorous rebuke to both women and men within the church who reject the masculine side of Christianity and have thus abandoned those outside our "church families," leaving them to fend for themselves against the forces of evil in the world. This is a rebuke to male church leaders, who channel their masculine competitiveness into sports contests in church gymnasiums instead of contending for influence over the community outside the church walls. This is a rebuke to those pastors' wives who keep their shepherd husbands safely close to the flock when they should be sometimes out hunting the bears and wolves.
Apparently God likes Bears. Or is Scott projecting? Is Alan Chambers, for instance, Exhibit A of the kind of butch "Christian" masculinity Lively and The Peter seek? Just asking.
The defining characteristic of each of these examples is the conquest of evil by God's people - mostly men. Masculinity is by no means the exclusive domain of men, but it naturally has greater appeal to men in the same way that feminine ministries of the church appeal more to women. Indeed, this explains why the majority of church members today are women or married couples in which the husband attends church at the request of the wife. Where are the men of this generation? Though some are in church, they are significantly outnumbered by women, and they tend to be the least active members of the congregation. Is it any wonder in the light of the de-emphasis of masculinity by the church?
You already know that you need to cover your keyboards... The General wrote to Peter LaBarbera to help him out regarding his tiff with Joe Jervis over at Joe.My.God. He noticed that Peter's fondness for "undercover" research into all things purportedly gay (he shows little interest in lesbians other than to call me a "vicious anti-Christian lesbian activist"), and he questions The Peter in a way that doesn't convince me that the anti-gay activist will take him up on the suggestions. You decide.
You admit it in your posted response to Joe Jervis, a man whose commitment to heterosexuality is highly suspect:
I have a comb-over hair style...
I'm really a gay-porn-obsessed homosexual...
I have a small penis...
I am one of the biggest homosexual "closet cases" on the Internet...
I think I understand what's happening. You're wondering if women are turned off by your lack of hair, and you've probably been humiliated by women who laughed when they saw your penis. These thoughts have left you vulnerable to homosexuality's lusty advances.
...OK, now the penis. You need to stretch it. I use half-a-dozen alligator clips and a little bailing wire to suspend a Colt Python .357 magnum revolver from mine. It hurts like Hell, but it's a good kind of hurt, and it makes me feel as potent as a Pirates of the Caribbean double feature.
You have to surf over to see what the General offers up as a cure for LaBarbera's obsession with homosexuality and his comb-over woes (let's just say "over-lubed runaway butt plug" comes up).
This is a piece I originally posted at the Ex-Gay Watch on February 11, 2007. Given the recent media attention on Caster Semenya, I thought reposting this piece here at Pam's House Blend would create some space for good discussion.
The
Intersex Society of North America (ISNA) has disbanded since I originally wrote this piece, so I updated the links to archives of their previous pages. Same with a few other articles that now are not longer at the URLs I originally used for this piece -- just wanted to make sure the current links to the original information were active, and the original information found in the original links was still available for view.
And too, because I wrote this piece for the
Ex-Gay Watch as a response to conservative "Christian" commentary, this piece speaks a lot to intersex and trans issues in terms of Christian faith.
Some of the information in this piece below may not be as up to date as it would be if I write this piece from scratch now (again, I originally wrote this piece in February of 2007), but if anything there is more fresh data to support the conclusions -- the conclusion that there is a scientific problem with the concept of a rigid sex and gender dichotomy.
Perhaps an update to this piece is a diary for another day.
~~Autumn~~
P.S. My views on sex and gender constructs has changed, somewhat. I now believe in a rainbow of sex and gender experience, just as there is a rainbow sexual orientation and sexuality experience. Believing in genderqueer and other sex and gender contructs doesn't tear down any male or female contructs, but I've instead embraced the diversity concept that all of these are just part of a sex and gender rainbow of human experience.
...I can see how in a different circumstance (different city, family, influences) I might have gone down the road of transgenderism. A lot of people have backgrounds similar to mine, but didn't end up struggling with same-sex attractions like I have. We're all different and broken in different ways--but we can still understand one another.
Furthermore, transgenderism represents to me one of the biggest loopholes in the new sexual ethic of our society. We're told gays can't and/or shouldn't change because people are supposedly born gay, but then the T segment of the LGBT community is encouraged to do everything--therapy, drugs, surgery--to change the way they truly were born.
Anywho; I could get into the whole why-I-believe-in-male-and-female thing, but that's a whole new post.
The piece as a whole is an outpouring of how he believes he could of ended up transgender -- it reads as anotherArgument from Spurious Similarity. But beyond that, he seems to indicate a belief in sex dichotomy determined by biological forces.
Dalton makes a statement in her short commentary that appears to verify what appears to be her conservative Christian model -- there is only one way to be female and one way to be male:
"Real women" have two X chromosomes, and they do not have a male sex organ.
My personal goals don't include tearing down male and female social constructs. Being a transsexual, I put faith in the differences of gender -- I buy into the female construct because I identify as female.
However, I can believe -- and should believe based on the evidence -- that there more ways to be biologically sexed than XY - male and XX - female. Eric Vilain, (Ph.D., chief of medical genetics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA) seems to agree in a piece he wrote for the Los Angeles Times:
Sex should be easily definable, but it's not. Our gender identity our profound sense of being male or female is independent from our anatomy.
Right Wing Watch alerts us to this important breaking news (around the 4:00 mark)...
On a related note, LaBarbera appeared on Alan Colmes' radio program last night to discuss his anti-gay activism and, specifically, his attack against Ben and Jerry's. Among the revelations was LaBarbera's declaration that "we don't support anal sex for anybody":
Poor Peter and his "Americans for Truth Against Homosexuality" website are having a few difficulties. When you go to it now, all you get is a nearly blank screen with the following message:
"americansfortruth.com has been suspended"
"You are seeing this web page because the hosting account that owns this domain has been suspended. A suspension occurs when a user violates the terms of service."
"If you are the owner of the account that hosts this web site, please check your email, or log into your control panel to examine the reason for the suspension. You can correct billing issues immediately from that page or contact support for additional assistance."
To add insult to injury, his former pals over at the Illinois Family Institute (where he worked until being booted out a few years ago) no longer have any links to his now-suspended site.
Back in 2007, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality was planning to hold one of its pitiful fundraising banquets at the Holiday Inn Select in LaBarbera's town of Naperville. He told staff there that there that he expected the homophobia-laden event would draw protestors. Six weeks before the event, the hotel canceled on him, citing "potential negative publicity."
LaBarbera did not have a written contract, and no money was exchanged, but he said organizers verbally worked out details of the 100-person event, including the menu, during two meetings.
..."It's always easy to come up with excuses," said LaBarbera, AFTAH's executive director, "but the real truth is they didn't like our message. If you allow this sort of hecklers' veto, you're sanctioning discrimination."
OMG, what flaming crap that is -- "heckler's veto." How many times has the right wing protested LGBT and progressive events? If bible beating attempts at a "heckler's veto" fail to garner the desired results (cancellation, bad publicity), perhaps it's because the message is so ridiculous and offensive that no one gives a flip. When you sue a hotel for religious discrimination that you didn't even sign a contract with, that smacks of either stupidity or raw headline hunting, not a noble effort to protect religious liberty.
And when The Peter opened his trap and announced there was a potential for demonstrations outside the venue, he basically handed Holiday Inn an out -- they aren't obligated to sign a contract with any organization if the hotelier doesn't want bad publicity, potential for violence or to need extra security (after all, who knows what kind of overblown expectations The Peter relayed).
More below the fold, including reaction to the article.
Note from Pam: I may not be riding a tractor or joy-riding on lobster boats (as a nice lesbian should), as noted in the following tribute to me by the Maine Family Policy Council, but I have been told that I am wicked because of my "sinful promotion of homosexual behavior" and "a leading source of radical homosexual propaganda, anti-Christian bigotry, and radical transgender advocacy" by the Christian Civic League of Maine. Yowzah!
LaBarbera's upcoming visit has caused one of the most influential homosexual rights bloggers, Pam Spaulding, to sound a warning. On her website, Pam's House Blend, Spaulding writes that because of LaBarbera's visit, the debate on same sex marriage "will not be taking place in a vacuum."
It is highly significant that Pam Spaulding thinks of the current debate as taking place in a vacuum. Spaulding clearly sees both sides as praising the virtues of marriage, but ignoring the issue of sexual perversion. In other words, both sides are simply echoing each other's message, and both sides use the same wholesome imagery.
But "Americans for Truth," LaBarbera's website, does not show 'gay' couples sitting on tractors or joy-riding on lobster boats. LaBarbera uses photos from 'gay pride' events to show the horrifying truth about the radical homosexual agenda; and he backs up his claims with solid evidence from the fields of medicine, sociology and psychology.
The image of normalcy - the approach favored by gay radicals - is easily refuted by a single horrifying photo from their own 'gay pride' events. It seems that not all aspects of the homosexual lifestyle are as wholesome as an episode from "Father Knows Best."And since a single picture is worth a thousand words, the approach used by "Americans for Truth" will ultimately win the day, if given a chance.
You've got to give them credit. At least they are being somewhat honest, however wrong they are. The vacuum that Pam speaks of is not that of discussing "sexual perversion" but that actual LGBT people who aren't on the fringes of the community are being ignored. The voices of non-activists are not heard.
The honesty is about the imagery used. Yes we all use "wholesome" imagery, whatever that is, to portray ourselves as normal, because that's what we are. The pictures that The Peter likes to use are that of the fringes of people in the LGBT spectrum (actually the human spectrum because the same people exist in the heterosexual world).
The writer is wrong however that Peter's imagery will win the day. The broad brush strategy will ultimately fail as more and more people discover they have LGBT family, friends, neighbors and co-workers.
Below the fold, find out who MFPC thinks is part of the Homosexual Agenda [TM].
Want some irony to go with this news? Check out what Stand For Marriage Maine posted on Facebook awhile ago (with a broken link; they aren't very good at this stuff apparently!):
Stand For Marriage Maine: It seems a boulder has been run right through our opposition's glass house today.
One of California's largest gay activist groups, Equality CA,announced today, after recognizing they have an uphill battle in their own state, that they would send troops and money to Maine to help keep gay marriage legal across the country. This announcement coming after we were accused of using out of state help..
.
www.standformarriagemaine.com%20
Source: www.standformarriagemaine.com
Here's how Porno Pete announced his travel plans today: by first posting an old photo (2005) of some long ago minor vandalism in Augusta.
With "666" (the sign of SATAN!)- it couldn't POSSIBLY be anything other than a vicious attack by lurking packs of gay activists who KNEW 4 years later in 2009 that they would be defending a newly minted marriage law in a referendum!
Wonder what all of the graffiti on railroad cars and highway overpasses around the nation represent to Porno Pete and his cronies?
I will be visiting Maine next month to speak at the Christian Civic League, and plan to discuss how the current push for oxymoronic "gay marriage" is precisely an outgrowth of the homosexualist agenda - which will continue to threaten religious and moral freedoms even after Mainers pass the People's Veto and sweep "same-sex marriage" off the law books in November. As usual, AFTAH will keep you abreast of the ongoing, anti-democratic tactics of homosexual activists in Maine, California and across the nation.
Never MIND the fact that the graffiti occurred back in 2005; clearly this, along with the rainy weather in Maine, are signs that "Teh Homosexshul Agenda (TM) is all bad, M'kay"? and has to be fought, eradicated from every corner of the country.
Heath (Board Chairman of AFTAH) is participating in but not leading the current drive to overturn Maine's "gay marriage" law. He rejects the politically correct "spin" of fellow marriage defenders who argue that this battle (against homosexual "marriage") is not about homosexuality itself. Sure it is, which is why we can expect more intolerance and thuggery in the weeks and months leading up to the November vote.
Many homosexual activists, imbued with their own propaganda equating a sexual sin movement with "civil rights," have adopted an arrogant, ends-justifies-the-means attitude in the service of their misguided cause.
Like AFTAH, Mike Heath and friends are compared to bigots, anti-Semites and Nazis because ... well, doggonit, that's how judgmental "queer" activists and their liberal allies see it! (Don't expect logical reasoning from the pro-"gay" side on this - the modern liberal takes it almost as a matter of faith. Besides, it's much easier to simply claim the mantle of civil rights and keep repeating it with the media's help, even though this fiction has been has been roundly rejected by the vast majority of African Americans.)
THIS SETS THE TONE OF WHAT WE ARE UP AGAINST. Anyone who thinks that the referendums in Maine and Washington State this year are in a vacuum is deluding themselves- Teh Peter, Heath and all those of their ilk want desperately hard to- well, I'm gonna let "Leatherman Pete" say it for himself!
Homosexual activists will lose the marriage referendum - of that we are quite confident, due mainly to the groundbreaking work that Mike Heath (executive director of the League), Catholic pro-family stalwart Paul Madore, and Paul Volle of the Christian Coalition of Maine did in fighting against homosexual special rights in Maine over the last two decades.
These valiant culture warriors never received the credit they were due from the larger, national pro-family movement because, well, Christian pro-family groups were so petrified of being labeled "anti-gay" that they rarely gave enthusiastic support to efforts to resist "gay rights" laws the way they should have.
That defensiveness, or perhaps we should say cowardice, now translates into a pro-family movement that still defends traditional marriage (sometimes in name only), but is woefully under-funded and inadequate when it comes to stopping the rest of the pro-homosexual agenda.
(Americans For Truthsupports a full repeal of all "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" laws, which began undermining religious freedoms long before the onset of "same-sex marriage.")
It doesn't get any clearer than that, folks. This is out-and-out war.
Seriously folk, how the heck did I personally become a face of this "sex change operation" distraction regarding healthcare reform?
Mr. Fischer begins his piece by saying...umm...well, you take a take a look at what he says...
Autumn Sandeen (who is biologically a male in every cell of his body despite adopting a female name) writes at Pam's House Blend that it's all hokum that sex reconstructive surgery could wind up being mandated by ObamaCare, all in an effort to contradict Matt Barber's assertion that it almost certainly will.
Hokum? Who the heck says "hokum" anymore? Jiminy Crickets, I'm being derided in the language of homespun colloquialisms!
Later in the piece, Mr. Fischer states:
Sandeen goes on unwittingly to defeat his argument in two ways by calculating the cost per American to have gender reconstructive surgery included in ObamaCare. Okay, if there's no chance it's going to be in there, why is he working so hard to convince us how cheap it will be? Sounds like he's drumming up an argument to me.
He calculates that the cost, spread out over the entire population of the U.S., would only be about $1.73 per person per year. This is a self-defeating line of reasoning. If that's all it costs, why there should be plenty of compassionate, gay-friendly Americans who would happily pony up contributions to a charitable organization created to dispense vouchers to psychologically confused Americans who want to surgically mutilate themselves.
Best for last -- the conclusion:
If any tax dollars are to be spent on transgenderism at all, they should be spent on reparative therapy, helping these tortured individuals reconcile their psychological identity with their biological identity. True compassion, after all, liberates. It does not enable.
I thought reparative therapy is supposed to change sexual orientation, and I've already been celibate since 1992. Exactly what type of therapy is recommended for changing my gender identity, and in light of Matthew 19:12's comment that one can change the shape of one's genitalia for the "sake of the kingdom of heaven"? What would be the reason Christ demand I go to reparative therapy, or for taxpayers to pay for that kind of therapy?
And, by the way, I already went to reparative therapy in the late 1970's, and it didn't cure me of having a female gender identity. My 20-years in the U.S. Navy (1980-2000) didn't cure me of having a female gender identity either. Sending me to reparative therapy at this point would be fraud, waste, and abuse related to taxpayer spending.
On a very personal level, I'm a disabled veteran who's healthcare is provided through the Department of Veteran Affairs due to service connected medical conditions. Seriously, dear blenders, how many of you believe that the healthcare reform bill that passes through Congress and is signed by President Obama is going to result in the Department of Veteran Affairs doctors performing genital reconstruction surgery on me? Does anyone actually believe that is going to happen?
I don't believe it for a minute.
Despite what the Liberty Council, Matt Barber, Peter LaBarbera, Roger Hedgecock and Bryan Fischer might say -- and may even actually believe, although I doubt that -- I personally cannot imagine a scenario where healthcare reform results in genital reconstruction surgery for anyone in the near future.
Apparently, conservative "Christians" believe this red herring -- this exercise in needling -- will derail healthcare reform. I guess combined with the arguments about how ObamaCare is going to fund abortions and kill old people, they think it'll work. I hope these conservative "Christians" -- those who to me appear to be doing grunt work for the Republican Party and the insurance industry -- are wrong about these distractive arguments derailing healthcare reform, but I see their arguments based on fear as gaining traction.
Too bad. The 47-million Americans who don't currently don't have healthcare insurance deserve better than this kind of issue misdirection. Those Americans who are losing their healthcare because of preexisting conditions deserve better than this. Hey, I can't help but believe we all deserve a better level of discourse on healthcare reform than these kinds of spurious arguments at the margins.
This all really would be funnier to me if healthcare reform weren't so serious an issue.
Recently, I thought I addressed pretty directly how Peter LaBarbera of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality was being used as a tool of the insurance industry when he engaged in wrote about how "sex change operations" were allegedly going to be a big portion of the "Obama Tranny-Care" plan for healthcare reform. Mr. LaBarbera continued his attacks on the "Obama Tranny-Care" plan on Thursday -- still based on the drummed up worry that the healthcare reform will include some form of allowance for "sex change operations." This time, instead of going after me directly, or explaining the Peter LaBarbera plan for insuring 47-million uninsured Americans, he goes after the larger target of Rachel Maddow in his piece Maddow Stumbles on Obama-Care and Transsexual 'Sex-Change' Surgeries: Barber (this time we saved Mr. LaBarbera's red, white, and blue formatting):
Folks, we hope that Rachel Maddow (left) -- the lesbian MSNBC talker who is as "out" in her homosexuality promotion as in her left-wing activism -- takes up the offer of my good friend Matt Barber and lets him appear as a guest on her show. That seems only fair after Maddow lied about Barber's statement on Obama-care and "sex-change" operations.
We understand that liberals don't want to talk (rationally, anyway) about Obama-care covering abortions and grotesque transsexual "sex-change" procedures as "health care." That is why we must discuss these awful possibilities. (By the way, even before Barber's column, below, the conservative Heritage Foundation's blog noted that President Obama's favorite think tank, the liberal-left Center for American Progress, was beating the drums for adding "sex change operations to the list of medical procedures that all health insurance policies in the nation must cover.") -- Peter LaBarbera, www.americansfortruth.com
Mr. LaBarbera continues on to include a piece by his friend Matt Barber, but not before including a call to attend his Americans For Truth About Homosexuality fundraiser that's right in the middle of his piece on sex change operations. It's the "First let's hear a word from your sponsor moment...
BANQUET REMINDER: Culture warrior and former professional boxer Matt Barber (right) is coming to Chicago on Saturday, Oct. 24 to keynote the AFTAH fundraising banquet. The dinner is being held at the Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights, IL, and tickets are $50 per person. You can prepay online (just note "AFTAH banquet" in the Paypal or Credit Card form) or mail your check (designate it "AFTAH Banquet") to: Americans For Truth, PO Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522. Please spread the word and make plans to come! E-mail aftahangela@gmail.com or americansfortruth@comcast.net for more information.
Good gravy boat, so to speak. In all that commentary, no apology from Mr. LaBarbera for his previous use of defamatory language? And hey -- What does this dinner have to do with health care reform or "sex change operations"?
Certainly, I appreciate that Peter LaBarbera references an article here at Pam's House Blend when he states "liberals" are not wanting to "rationally" (see his link related to his article's rationally, anyway phrase) discuss "Obama-care covering abortions and grotesque transsexual 'sex-change' procedures as 'health care.'" Really. And when we're discussing 47-million Americans without healthcare, compared to the perhaps 1,000 to 1,500 transsexuals who annually obtain genital reconstruction surgery -- or should I more correctly say 1,170 transsexuals a year -- we're talking serious money, correct?
The Liberty Council, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality, and the general public should be interested in regarding the prevalence and cost of genital reconstruction surgery (also referred to as sex reassignment surgery, gender reassignment surgery, and "sex change operations"). I've linked here to two research papers by Mary Ann Horton, PhD, that goes to the prevalence and cost of genital reconstruction surgery (GRS) entitled The Incidence and Prevalence of SRS among US Residents, and The Cost of Transgender Health Benefits. A summary of the prevalence and cost of genital reconstruction surgery from the website tgender.net:
The research study was undertaken from 2001 through 2008 by Mary Ann Horton, Ph.D. The goal was to measure the frequency and cost of sex reassignment surgeries [SRS], and to use this information to project the total cost of Transgender Health Benefits for the employees of large companies. This data could be used to help employers estimate what it would cost if they chose to include coverage of THBs [Transgender Health Benefits] in their employee health benefit plans...
Check this out (from their website)- emphasis mine:
Stand for Marriage Maine Campaign Pledge
August 06, 2009
Mr. Jesse Connolly, Campaign Manager
No on One, Protect Maine Equality
Dear Jesse:
We are aware from media reports today that you have sent a "pledge" to conduct an ethical campaign consistent with Maine practice and statutes for Frank Schubert of Schubert/Flint to sign. We are pleased that your campaign has finally responded to our long-standing call for both sides of this issue to conduct an honest, civil and respectful campaign. We are pleased you have accepted our challenge.
Stand for Marriage Maine will be signing the campaign conduct pledge form you provided.
We were delighted to see your commitment to "uphold the right of every qualified voter to free and equal participation in the election process." This is quite a change of direction given the extraordinary efforts made by Equality Maine and your allies to prevent Maine voters from having any say on this issue whatsoever during the Legislative session.
In addition to conducting an honest and forthright campaign, we hope that you will agree with us on the following principles.
Agree to at least one public debate with the media invited to cover it live. The voters deserve to hear from both sides of this important issue in a forum that allows for a full discussion of the ramifications of LD 1020.
Agree that no contributor, volunteer or staff member will be harassed due to their participation in the campaign. Regretfully, supporters of marriage in California and other states were repeatedly harassed by gay marriage activists including posting their personal information on the Web, having their employers called, and subjecting them to various forms of intimidation.
Agree that property will not be destroyed, as has happened elsewhere. This includes destroying or defacing campaign signs, damaging vehicles containing bumper stickers and defacing churches that are active in the campaign.
Agree that churches on both sides of the issue will be dealt with respectfully and no attempt will be made to interfere with their lawful expression of beliefs or discussion with their members and the public.
We hope you can join us in making this pledge Jesse for the well being and safety of all and for the opportunity to have a fact-filled and honest debate over this important issue.
In the future we urge you to address your concerns to those that are charged with the decision making responsibility for our campaign. As I think you already know, Schubert/Flint are under contract with our campaign but it is the Executive Committee, Bob Emrich, Brian Brown, and myself as chair, that make the final call.
Sincerely,
Marc R Mutty, Chair, Executive Committee
Bob Emrich, Executive Committee
Okay, let's parse out this mess... just love the scolding and finger-pointing, don't you?
It's not as if it was rescheduled from its original location at Cony High to the Augusta Civic Center, a much larger place, and certainly it's not as if the entire public hearing, as well as the debates in the Statehouse and votes weren't available live online.
Or covered by both print and television media- locally, nationally and even internationally.
It's not as if the public were invited to testify for an entire day, and even extended an additional hour, as there were so many still waiting in line to speak.
Trying to play the "gay panic card" is repulsive. Trying to use it to damage fellow Mainers and their families is unforgiveable.
----------------------------------
As for "who the spokepeople are", let's examine that; I'm a bit confused.
We had Bishop Malone speaking at the public hearing and to the press, speaking on behalf of all Catholics in Maine- whether or not THEY agree with HIM.
Then Marc Mutty and Bob Emrich, whispering together at the Judicial Committee hearing (a comment from one to the other when the hearing was interrupted by a distraught Christian grandmother, who ended up being escorted out by security, included laughing and agreeing that their official position was going to be "NO COMMENT!" if the press asked them about her).
Nice way to treat one of your own, gentlemen. Class, real class.
Then we had Mike Heath, a constant figure in the Statehouse, who also later said that his pal Pete LaBarbara was going to join in, kicking off his "Truth Tour 2009" in 3 secret locations with NO MEDIA ALLOWED. Funny how that was quietly shut down with STILL no explanation.
Why IS that? What happened to the "Truth Tour"?
But I've got a bigger question: if you've hired Schubert/Flint, why are YOU being THEIR spokespersons?
I took a whiff of my right arm underarm this morning, and had no idea that I was smelling what ObamaCare smells like. Or should I say, the armpit of my right "chicken wing" smells an awful much like what Taxpayer-Funded Tranny-Care would smell like, and this stinkiness is at the heart of the ObamaCare healthcare reform plan.
And on top of stinking like my armpit this morning, ObamaCare"Obama's Tranny-Care" looks an awful lot like me too...except, umm, circa 2004. Who knew? (Hey -- couldn't President Obama use a more current picture of me? I'm thinner and cuter now, thanks to Bush's "Tranny-Care" healthcare plan!)
And yet apparently, President Obama has been working diligently behind the scenes to fund genital reconstruction surgery -- apparently this was all part of his evil plan from the get-go. From Peter LaBarbera's Americans For Truth About Homosexuality comes an article entitled Taxpayer-Funded Tranny-Care? ObamaCare Could Mandate Free 'Sex-Change' Surgeries
Transsexual activists like Autumn Sandeen (...that's his "female" name -- adopted after leaving his traditional role as husband and father) are caught up in gender confusion. For some, this culminates in body-disfiguring operations to "change" into the opposite sex. No American should be forced to pay for these nature-rejecting procedures with his or her tax dollars. Homosexual groups like Human Rights Campaign boast of their support for taxpayer-funded "sex-change" operations in cities like San Francisco.
Folks, you don't have to be very politically sophisticated to predict that GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) activists and their liberal allies are going to demand "Tranny-Care" under a federal health insurance system, in the name of "fairness" and "inclusion" - even if it's not passed initially as a "benefit." And yes, the idea of subsidizing body-disfiguring "operations" surely would be considered "queer" by the average tax-paying American. Already, trans activists are strategizing on the best ways to get taxpayers to pay for their gender-confused mutilations "sex change" procedures -- and Human Rights Campaign and other homosexual lobby groups boast of their support for same in cities like San Francisco.
-- Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.com
Mr. LaBarbera then goes off on to highlight the Liberty Counsel's take on HR 3200 where the "sex change operations" are brought up as a red herring, and then he follows up with the Liberty Council piece by his friend Matt Barber (that Pam wrote about yesterday).
Seriously. Personal attacks related to when I divorced my ex-spouse seem a bit much from someone whose Republican and Christian peers include Former Speaker Newt Gingrich, Senator John Ensign, and ex-Senator Larry "Wide Stance" Craig. And indirectly referring to me and my trans peers by the term "tranny" when he no doubt knows the term is often used as a defamatory term? -- including in how Mr. LaBarbera has used this term as a defamatory term in this very article?
And frankly, what does any of that have to do with healthcare reform?
Let's be frank here. This discussion of my ex-spouse, my children, and sex change operations in regards to healthcare reform are red herrings. These discussion points of abortions going to be federally funded by healthcare reform (these won't be), that America's over-65 year old folk are going to have government employees at their homes demanding they make living wills (they won't), and now "sex change operations" are diversionary tactics, which are related to being obstructive with regards to healthcare reform. These opponents to healthcare reform are also being intentionally obtuse on the real issues related to the current unsustainable cost growth tied to American healthcare, insurance reform, and how 47-million Americans currently have no health insurance.
And frankly too, Mr. LaBarbera is trying to engage in the fallacious argument of needling by directing personal attacks at me and using defamatory language regarding all trans people.
What Mr. LaBarbera doesn't seem to be aware of is that I'm already on the President Bush "Tranny-Care" system. In 2002, I was declared to be a service-connected, disabled veteran. I spent years serving America in the United States Navy, and am officially listed as a Persian Gulf War veteran (although I never was involved in combat operations); I retired from the military with 20-years of service to my country in 2000. Currently, my Veterans Administration (VA) disability rating is 100%.
When I had my Gastric Bypass in February of 2008, American taxpayers paid for it. The point I'm trying to make with that is that healthcare for most trans people -- including me -- does include medical treatments related to being trans, but more importantly we have health issues of the types that the broad swath of Americans have. The shape of my peers' and my genitalia shouldn't place treatment for our basic healthcare needs out of many Americans' reach, my trans peers' reach, and my reach.
Let's keep in mind what those who are bringing up "sex change operations" don't really care that much about whether or not I personally get genital reconstruction surgery paid for by the government; what these folk really want to do is derail all healthcare reform -- and if badmouthing trans people like me is how they believe they can derail it, then they're going to badmouth trans people like me.
Yippee Skippee, my first honest-ta-goodness really-real Pam's House Blend ENDORSEMENT!
Here is a shot of WCSH-6's Don Carrigan who asked,
From the "new and improved", 
Instead, this is vigorous rebuke to both women and men within the church who reject the masculine side of Christianity and have thus abandoned those outside our "church families," leaving them to fend for themselves against the forces of evil in the world. This is a rebuke to male church leaders, who channel their masculine competitiveness into sports contests in church gymnasiums instead of contending for influence over the community outside the church walls. This is a rebuke to those pastors' wives who keep their shepherd husbands safely close to the flock when they should be sometimes out hunting the bears and wolves.
You admit it in your 
Back in 2007, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality was planning to hold one of its pitiful fundraising banquets at the Holiday Inn Select in LaBarbera's town of Naperville. He told staff there that there that he expected the homophobia-laden event would draw protestors. Six weeks before the event, the hotel canceled on him, citing "potential negative publicity."
Note from Pam: I may not be riding a tractor or joy-riding on lobster boats (as a nice lesbian should), as noted in the following tribute to me by the Maine Family Policy Council, but I have been told that I am wicked because of my "sinful promotion of homosexual behavior" and "a leading source of radical homosexual propaganda, anti-Christian bigotry, and radical transgender advocacy" by the Christian 
sex change operations. It's the "First let's hear a word from your sponsor moment...
