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.
Now this is interesting...when the church gets wind of this, there will probably be an eruption.
For Immediate Release Wednesday, November 17, 2009 Contact:Phil Attey Phone: 202.445.4794 Email: churchoutings@gmail.com
ChurchOuting.org Launched to Expose Hypocrisy in the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington
WASHINGTON, DC -- A new local Internet and social media campaign was launched today in response to increasing anti-gay attacks by Archbishop Donald Wuerl of the Archdiocese of Washington and to a 57 page Pastoral Letter, which was passed today by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) affirming the national church leadership’s opposition to recognition of civil marriage between same sex couples.
ChurchOuting.org is a clearinghouse for reports of priests who are openly gay men in social settings yet professionally closeted in their parishes.The campaign will also accept reports of heterosexual priests who are involved in romantic or sexual relationships, yet support the Archbishop's efforts to harm lesbian and gay families.
“Their silence is criminal,” said Phil Attey, founder of ChurchOuting.org. “The increasing anti-gay attacks by the Archbishop and the USCCB not only harm gay and lesbian families seeking civil marriage recognition, but perpetuate the cycle of spiritual and emotional abuse that has harmed countless LGBT Catholic youth for generations.“
ChurchOuting.org provides an easy to use form to privately report priests in the Archdiocese who engage in romantic or sexual relationships, including detailed stories if available.Reports, once verified, will be used to pressure reported priests to vocally oppose the leadership’s anti-gay efforts, and ultimately to pressure the Archbishop to stop his anti-gay efforts here in Washington.
The ChurchOuting.org campaign was greatly inspired by the work of the Survivors Network of those Sexually Abused by Priests (SNAP), which emerged to stop the cycle of sexual abuse in Catholic parishes across the country.ChurchOuting.org plans to use similar strategies, while taking full advantage of new social media tools like Facebook and Twitter.
“I expect community response to this campaign to be overwhelming,” says Attey, who hopes once successful in Washington, DC, ChurchOuting.org will inspire similar campaigns in every archdiocese across the country.“The Church hierarchy has crossed the line in diverting the mission of the church from helping the poor and caring for the sick to waging political campaigns to strip LGBT citizens of civil rights protections.We can no longer remain silent while this happens.Nor can our parish priests.”
In a piece by the WaPo's Darryl Fears, A Sanctuary From Hate, you get a good look at the specific struggle that black LGBTs face in the religious black community and by the white gay sphere. The article profiles Bishop Rainey Cheeks of Inner Light Ministries in the Washington D.C.'s H Street area.
For 16 years, it has served as a sanctuary for a small community of black gays and lesbians who say they feel shunned from all directions -- by black men and women who give them cutting looks of disapproval, by mainstream black ministers who condemn homosexuality, and by white gays who make them feel unwelcome in subtle ways, such as switching from hip-hop to country music in a club when too many black men hit the dance floor.
At Inner Light, members say they can be themselves. In the pews on a recent Sunday, a woman adoringly placed an arm around the shoulders of her girlfriend. A man with a linebacker's strong build sat near the front wearing mascara. And condoms sat in a basket near the door in case any worshipers wanted to grab some on their way out.
About two thirds of the people in Inner Light's pews are gay or lesbian, and some, but not all, are in the closet when they return to their homes. Rev. Cheeks preaches safe sex and by speaking frankly and providing those condoms, it underscores the tragic explosion of HIV/AIDS in the black community in DC.
Nearly 60 percent of men in the city who contracted HIV through sex with men are black, according to a D.C. government survey released in March. Every minister and deacon at Inner Light Ministries has had a close encounter with the disease. Four of them are HIV-positive, including deacon Ronnie Walker, 54, who said that 20 years ago he had unprotected sex with a partner who never mentioned that he was sick and dying.
Cheeks, 57, contracted HIV in the early '80s, when few people knew much about the strange new infection that was sending so many gay men to their graves. Much to the bishop's chagrin, HIV continues to ravage his city almost three decades later.
The article speaks frankly to the attitude of denial, damnation and self-loathing that leads to unsafe-sex and the epidemic in the community. The story of Ronnie Walker, who is HIV-positive, and cheated repeatedly on his wife over the course of seven years of marriage, beginning on the night of his honeymoonwhen he slipped out to have sex with his best man.
For the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change.
~ Audre Lourde
The other reason I finally felt the need to speak about the collision between marriage equality and the homophobia of some African-Americans is more personal.
The gay men in Bishop Alfred Owens' congregation who felt they "had no choice" but to participate in the degradation and denial of their own humanity are not alone. It's a performance that takes place in some form or fashion every Sunday, in black churches (and beauty shops or barber shops, for that matter) across the country, which Michael Eric Dyson captured in his essay "The Black Church and Sexuality."
One of the most painful scenarios of black church life is repeated Sunday after Sunday with little notice or collective outrage. A black minister will preach a sermon railing against sexual ills, especially homosexuality. At the close of the sermon, a soloist, who everybody knows is gay, will rise to perform a moving number, as the preacher extends an invitation to visitors to join the church. The soloist is,in effect, being asked to sign his theological death sentence. His presence at the end of such a sermon symbolizes a silent endorsement of the preacher's message. Ironically, the presence of his gay christian body at the highest moment of worship also negates the preacher's attempt to censure his presence, to erase his body, to deny his legitimacy as a child of God.
... the black church, an institution that has been at the heart of black emancipation, refuses to unlock the oppressive closet for gays and lesbians. ...Black Christians, who have been despised and oppressed for much of our existence, should be wary of extending that oppression to our lesbian sisters and our gay brothers.
That performance is the price some of us pay to remain in or part of the communities we started out calling home.
Yes, they couldn't leave well enough alone -- the House homophobes want to monkey around in the matters of the District again. (Wash Blade):
Federal lawmakers introduced Thursday a bill that would define marriage in D.C. as between one man and one woman and nullify a recently passed measure that allows the district to recognize same-sex marriages solemnized in other jurisdictions.
The legislation, dubbed the D.C. Defense of Marriage Act, is co-sponsored by U.S. Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Dan Boren (D-Okla). In statement Thursday, Jordan said "the family is truly the foundational institution of our nation, and marriage is its cornerstone."
"I look forward to working with the D.C. community, a majority of who - like a majority of Americans - support traditional marriage," he said. "This is a fight we cannot shy away from, and it is a fight we have to win."
The succinct bill says, "That in the District of Columbia, for all legal purposes, 'marriage' means the union of one man and one woman."
Will these bigots just hang it up already? Even if it passed, it's not like the President would sign this.
***
One notable related follow up: former DC Mayor and current councilman Marion "The bitch set me up" Barry is obviously not in touch with the members of his Ward (8). When he showed up at the homobigot sideshow in DC with Bishop Harry Jackson, he stated that people in his Ward "are opposed to anything dealing with this issue. The ministers think it is a sin, and I have to be sensitive to that." Those residents just endorsed marriage equality last Saturday. Read a snippet below the fold.
Lane Hudson of DC for Marriage has shared a primer on what to expect as the DC Council meets today and is scheduled to give final reading and pass legislation to allow the District to recognize valid marriages from other jurisdictions between same-sex couples. I wonder how many fundies and members of the professional "Christian" set will show up to protest?
Q: Does this set up a show down with Congress over the freedom to marry? A: No, the DC Council is affirming that it will honor valid contracts between two people in another jurisdiction. This is in keeping with Constitutional principle and over 100 years of tradition of the District recognizing such legal contracts.
While Congress has legislative review power over DC Council's actions, overturning a DC law requires proactive legislation passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the President. Today's vote does NOT trigger an automatic vote by Congress on marriage.
Q: Has Congress ever overturned a law passed by DC Council?
A: Not since the current legislative review process was instituted by the Supreme Court has Congress overturned DC law by an Act of Congress. However, Congress has used the budgetary process to prevent implementation of acts by DC Council. One example of this is Domestic Partnerships in DC. Congress attached a rider to DC Appropriations for several years forbidding money from being spent to implement the Domestic Partnership law.
Recognizing civil marriage contracts from other jurisdictions, however, does not cost the District money. The passage of the law, for all intents and purposes, is an indication that the District of Columbia will recognize a valid civil marriage between a couple of the same gender at such time that the law demands a determination of marital status.
This Saturday, for the nationwide protest, DC Blenders are encouraged to join me at 1:30 PM at the Capitol Reflecting Pool in front of the US Capitol Building. Rain or Shine! We will be marching towards the White House.
There is expected to be a 30% chance of showers on Saturday, better in the afternoon/evening so dress appropriately.
I encourage everyone to take the Subway or Mass Transit so plan your routes accordingly to avoid any traffic problems. I also encourage you to walk to the location if possible as a group with pride flags and banners displaying "Marriage Equality" "Equal Rights, Not Special Rights" and sticking to the equality theme. Clever signs are encouraged as well.
I will do my best to hold a sign but will probably be busy taking pictures if I can for The Blend, maybe someone could hold my sign for me?
Show your Blend pride too! I look forward to seeing everyone there. If you're not in DC try to attend the one nearest you.
Just dropping this bit of hateful business in before I get started on the forum liveblogging. The House passed bigot Virgil Goode's (R-VA) amendment to the DC appropriations bill (224 - 200), ensuring that Bush will sign it since he threatened a veto if the domestic partner registry funding remained in the bill.
Heath Shuler, a NC Democrat elected in a district that includes very gay Asheville, and a beneficiary of a lot of Blue dollars to win his seat, sided with the bigots. He also voted against hate crimes legislation. That will be remembered.
Before the "serious" posts go up today, I just thought I'd share some pictures from Parker's first Pride parade.
Rainbow Families DC had a great pre-parade event where parents and kids got together and decorated strollers, tricycles, wagons, bicycles, scooters and skateboards before the parade. Then we actually kicked off the parade. (Kudos to the organizers for putting the people with kids near the front of the parade. Not only did we not have to wait long to get started, but we finished early enough to get home for bedtime.)
It was great. The crowd cheered pretty loud when they saw us. Parker was a little nervous at first, but by the time we finished he actually didn't want the parade to be over. ;-)
There was one other thing that came to mind as I read the Express on the way to work today, and came across this quote from Capitol Hill Blue.
Is there really much that distinguishes gays from the rest of America anymore -- other, of course, than what we do in bed. (Although even on that front there is a growing convergence of behaviors and even choice of partners when it comes to recreational sex especially) In other words, do we need ?Gay Pride? anymore?
In a piece by the WaPo's Darryl Fears, 
