October 30, 2007
Answering questions from New Hampshire voters Monday, grumpy bulldog and mediocre actor Fred Thompson called the fight for marriage equality across statelines a “judge-made controversy.”
Whatever. This is where it gets good:
Edward Paul, an employee of the Delta Dental Plans Association, asked the question Monday, but had trouble being understood.
“I’m proud to say that in January 2008 New Hampshire has passed a law facilitating civil unions here. … What is your belief for federal civil unions to be passed?” Paul asked.
“Soviet Union?” Thompson responded.
“No, civil unions,” Paul said.
“Oh. No, I would not be in support of that,” Thompson said.
Paul said he wasn’t surprised, or impressed.
“Soviet Union”? Gee, maybe that’s why Fred’s against it — he thinks same-sex marriage is a Communist plot!
Posted by: Sapphocrat
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So much for gay-murder advocate Buju Banton “coming out against anti-gay lyrics“:
Buju sings controversial tune at music festival
It had all the ingredients of a good show - quality performances, massive support and mostly clean music - but the highly anticipated Guyana Music Festival clearly lacked the core item of local talent, which was in very short supply.
But even that was insufficient to put a damper on things and when the curtains came down at around 3 am yesterday morning, the $3000 that the majority of persons parted with, was exhausted mainly due to one man and a band with a music career much older than three quarters of the huge crowd.
‘Gargamel’ Buju Banton and Third World rocked the show so hard the vibrations probably shifted a few seats in the Guyana National Stadium. Combined the two powerhouses belted out sounds so sweet and conscious it was difficult to determine the best reggae performance of the night. But the night certainly belonged to the dreadlocked, still very much homophobic Jamaican dancehall star, who had no apologies for his discriminatory lyrics lashing the gay community.
“Buju nah like no batty boy and dem batty boy attack Buju”, the singer said to an adulating audience who seemed to have been waiting for that exact moment. And perhaps feeling the vibes of the embracing crowd and the urge to sing his controversial song, “Boom boom bye”, the singer belted out a few of the lyrics nearing the close of his performance.
But Buju was not the only performer to have walked that line. Kiprich, another Jamaican star who appeared much earlier in the night also sang out against the gay community and the audience largely enjoyed it.
It doesn’t make us happy to say we told you so. But we told you so.
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October 29, 2007
Jesus wept.
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Well, that seals it.
Believe it or not, some of us most appalled by Barack Obama’s refusal to dump Donnie McClurkin (not to mention all the other homophobes) from his “gospel concert tour” really did not expect McClurkin to sink below our lowest expectations during last night’s performance in South Carolina.
Some of us thought that somebody in Obama’s campaign (er, maybe Obama, who’s supposed to be calling the shots?) would have, at the very least, taken the little self-loathing homophobe aside and said, “No, we’re not dumping you, but listen — if you start spouting that ‘I’ve been saved from the curse of homosexuality by the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ!’ you’re gonna do Brother Obama more harm than good. So just can the ‘ex-gay’ sermon, sing your songs, and get your ass offstage.”
But did that happen? Nope. Pastor Donnie was given free rein, and free rein he took. He used half an hour of stage time to do the one thing this writer never thought he would do: After whining about being “maligned” for his virulently anti-gay views, he began to preach from St. Donnie’s Gospel of Homophobia.
Donnie McClurkin…
…served as master of ceremonies of a gospel concert promoting [Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama] Sunday night.
Master of ceremonies.
So much for the many arguments from Obama supporters that McClurkin was just going to sing a little and get offstage.
He approached the subject gingerly at first. Then, just when the concert had seemed to reach its pitch and about to end….
Rev. Donnie McClurkin, who headlined the final installment of the Obama campaign’s “Embrace the Change” Gospel concert series, did not comment on the controversy until the just before the concert’s finish, when he told the crowd of about 2,500 African-Americans: “I’m going to say something that’s going to get me in trouble.”
“They accuse me of being anti-gay and a bigot,” McClurkin said. “We don’t believe in discrimination. We don’t believe in hatred, and if you do you are in the wrong place at the wrong time. That’s the whole premise of God. That’s the whole premise of Christ is love, love, love. But there is a side of Christ that deals in judgment, and all sin is against God.”
McClurkin has said that homosexuality is a choice and that he overcame homosexual desires through prayer, comments that drew fire from gay and lesbian activists and caught the Obama campaign, which has been using faith to reach out to African-American voters, off guard.
The Grammy-winning singer said Sunday his words had been “twisted.”
In between sermonizing, singing, and raving about Obama, McClurkin repeatedly defended himself.
“I just said yes,” he said of his invitation by the Obama campaign. “I didn’t know so much was going to happen. I didn’t know my yes was going to mean I was misunderstood and vilified. .. . Sometimes people can take your words and do this with them,” he said, making a twisting motion with his hands as the crowd shouted Amens and cheered for him.
After another song, he specially addressed the issue of homosexuality, saying he had been “touched by the same feelings.”
“Don’t call me a bigot or anti-gay, when I have been touched by the same feelings,” McClurkin went on. “When I have suffered with the same feelings. Don’t call me a homophobe, when I love everybody … Don’t tell me that I stand up and I say vile words against the gay community because I don’t. I don’t speak against the homosexual. I tell you that God delivered me from homosexuality.”
So much for the argument that Obama wasn’t going to be giving McClurkin “a platform for his views, or that he wouldn’t be “supporting the campaign as a spokesperson on these issues.”
McClurkin’s words drew raucous applause from the crowd, who had lined up around the block to get into the Township Auditorium in Columbia.
So much for the argument that McClurkin’s participation would “attract a large number of Democratic voters who are attracted to his voice, not necessarily his viewpoints (which presumably he won’t be given the opportunity to voice at the concert).”
Nearly all of the African-American concert-goers interviewed by CNN expressed support for McClurkin. Some referenced the First Amendment, saying McClurkin had the right to say what he pleased. Others agreed with McClurkin and said that homosexuality is a choice. Several more invoked the Bible and said homosexuality is simply wrong.
So much for building a bridge between homophobic Southern black churchgoers and the LGBT community.
Obama, while not present, appeared on a videotaped message to the crowd, saying, “The artists you’re going to hear from are some of the best in the world, and favorites of Michelle and myself.”
So much for Obama distancing himself from McClurkin and his hateful rhetoric.
Rick Wade, an Obama adviser who focuses on black outreach, gave what amounted to a sermon on Obama’s electability at the start of the concert.
“There are believers and there are non-believers,” Wade said. “Non-believers would say he’s the most qualified…but they won’t vote for him. He won’t win. Believers would say he will win. Non-believers would say ‘what can we do?’ Believers would say ‘we can do all things,’” he said, and paused before the crowd loudly responded “through Christ Jesus.”
He continued, “Non-believers would say America is not ready, believers would say we are ready.”
So much for the argument that Obama doesn’t inject religion into the political arena.
Obama’s campaign is making religious appeals a huge part of their South Carolina strategy. The concerts were the last part of a “40 Days of Faith and Family” that emphasized Obama’s faith as he seeks to win black voters, who could comprise up to half of the electorate in the Democratic primary. The concert was full of black women, who have become a key contested group between Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton.
Obama’s campaign has also held “faith forums” in the state where people hear from campaign aides about how the candidate’s faith plays a role in his life and then discuss how faith informs their own lives and their politics.
So much for Obama’s commitment to separation of church and state.
Aides gave reporters a three-page memo detailing McClurkin’s and Obama’s views on gay rights that noted in capital letters “MCCLURKIN DOES NOT WANT TO CHANGE GAYS AND LESBIANS WHO ARE HAPPY WITH THEIR LIVES AND HAS CRITICIZED CHURCH LEADERS WHO DEMONIZE HOMOSEXUALS,” with quotes detailing those statements from the singer.
The next paragraph then stated “OBAMA DOES NOT AGREE WITH MCCLURKIN’S VIEWS ON GAYS.”
So, if McClurkin doesn’t want to change happy gays, and Obama doesn’t agree with him, does that mean Obama does want to change happy gays? Into what, happy straights? Or unhappy gays? 
That Obama’s campaign is so bollixed up, they didn’t even catch the irony in the juxtaposition of those two paragraphs is indicative of the hamfisted manner in which they’ve mishandled every step (or rather, misstep) of this whole ugly fiasco.
And what of Rev. Andy Sidden…
…the white, gay pastor added to the concert bill as a last minute compromise by the Obama campaign. Sidden’s appearance was notably brief and anti-climactic: He said a short prayer to the auditorium at the very beginning of the program, when the arena was only about half full, and then he left.
And this comes on the heels of the news that Barack Rejected Black Gay Ministers:
Rumor has it the presidential candidate’s incompetent staffers rejected at least two popular black gay ministers in favor of their current cracker, Andy Sidden. Via Rod 2.0:
Several sources inside and outside the campaign confirm the names of TWO openly gay black pastors suggested by the National Black Justice Coalition and the Human Rights Campaign were rejected in favor of Rev. Sidden. Those names are: Bishop Yvette Flunder, an outstanding pastor and orator from San Francisco and Bishop Tonyia Rawls of Unity Fellowship in North Carolina.
In addition, Bishop Carlton Pearson of Oklahoma, whose inclusive ministry welcomes the LGBT community, was also rejected.
As Sapphocrat wrote on DU today, Pearson:
• was dumped by the Church of God in Christ, and is now a bishop in the United Church of Christ — Obama’s own church!
• recorded with Beverly Crawford, one of the performers at this concert. I may not know much about gospel music, but it sure sounds to me like Pearson is hardly unknown to the gospel community.
Pearson pisses off a lot of people with his “Gospel of Inclusion” (he says queers are going to heaven, too! Oh, the horror! ) — but he would have been THE perfect preacher to offset at least some of the taint of the Bigot Tour. (And he’s not even gay.)
Plus:
A campaign source says Rev. Michael Eric Dyson, the so-called hip-hop intellectual, reportedly volunteered and was also rejected. Dyson is a prominent Obama supporter and very popular in hip-hop and with youth.
And:
On a somewhat related note, Obama disinvited his personal pastor from his presidential announcement. Why? Because his campaign feared pissing off white people and Jews.
This is so not over, folks. This is so not over.
Tip o’ the hat to ruggerson for coining “homobamaphobia”!
See also:
What’s The Matter With Obama. (This Is Not A Question.) Part 1.
Donnie McClurkin and the Unmasking of Black Hypocrisy
Mr. sniffa Goes to Boston
Barack Obama Attempts Damage Control, Comes Up Short. Way Short.
What Were We Saying Again About the Company Obama Keeps?
Memo to Obama: You’re Only Making It Worse
Obama On Imus Back In April: No Racists On My Staff
Obama Gospel Tour: Homophobes: 5, Undecided: 2, Draw: 1
Obama: Gays, Democrats “Hermetically Sealed” From “Faith Community”
Guess It Didn’t “Fly Under The National Radar” After All
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swimboy penned this flawless “Short Editorial answering to charges of oversensitivity, etc“:
Conventional Wisdom:
Sticks and stones may break my bones
But words will never hurt me.
My response:
Those hurtful names are just to say
The sticks and stones are on the way.
That’s why we care about the name-calling. And because there can be no law against name-calling we work hard to activate the societal tool of shame against the name-callers. Certain derogatory terms that used to be commonplace are no longer used in polite society due to the shame attached to their use, not because their use is illegal. We’d like to retire derogatory terms for GLBT persons, send them to the same societal dustbin. But we will never be able to do that as long as they are in use by our allies.
So call me over-sensitive if you must, but don’t call me or my siblings those other names. Language gives form to thought and thought gives rise to action. So please, watch your language.
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October 28, 2007
Saudi king’s state visit to Britain faces protests, boycotts
Britain’s most sensitive and controversial relationship in the Middle East faces protests and boycotts during a state visit by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, just weeks after a lucrative new defence contract made clear that it was business as usual between the two countries.
The Saudi monarch and his most senior ministers will be the guests of the Queen at Buckingham Palace during a visit that will include a ceremonial welcome on Horse Guards Parade, two banquets and meetings with Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Prince Charles.
But Vince Cable, the acting Liberal Democrat leader, announced yesterday that he would boycott the rare visit because of the Saudi record on human rights, including its maltreatment of British citizens. “It is quite wrong for the British government to have proposed a state visit at this time,” Mr Cable said. Other groups plan protests over weapons sales, the kingdom’s human rights abuses and its homophobic laws.
King Abdullah, 82, came to the throne two years ago. Known as “the Custodian of the Two Holy Places” (of Mecca and Medina) he has reformist instincts, but progress in the kingdom has been halting.
Saudi Arabia is Britain’s biggest trading partner in the Middle East and the UK is its second biggest foreign investor.
The four-day visit, which begins today, was announced months after the Serious Fraud Office was forced by Tony Blair’s government to drop - on alleged national security grounds - an investigation into alleged corruption tied to BAE arms sales to Saudi Arabia, part of the massive al-Yamamah deal. …
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JK Rowling under fire from US Bible belt after outing Dumbledore as gay
JK Rowling may be a saint to millions of children and their parents, but today she is a sinner to a large slice of middle America.
The 42-year-old Harry Potter author has become a hate figure to Christian evangelicals in the US since she outed Albus Dumbledore as gay.
The mother-of three, who is worth £545 million, told a New York audience that the much loved head of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizadry was homosexual.
Talk shows in the Bible Belt have condemned her, web-sites have reviled her, and newspaper letter columns have been filled with complaints.
And there are fears it may affect profits at Warner Bros who have a further two films to make and a dvd on sale this Christmas.
Roberta Combs, president of the two million strong Christian Coalition of America, said: “It’s very disappointing that the author would have to make one of the characters gay.
“It’s not a good example for our children, who really like the books and the movies. I think it encourages homosexuality.”
She called for a ban on the books, saying: “I would never allow my own children or grandchildren to read the books or watch the movies, and other parents should do so too.”
Honestly, we never had a lot of interest in Harry Potter (we’re too busy fighting the bigots who try to censor Harry Potter) — but this makes us want to run right out and buy every Harry Potter book, DVD, and action figure on the market.
Brava, Ms. Rowling!
See also:
Whole New Reason for the Fundies to Pile On the Eeeeeeeevil Harry Potter
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Gay rights don’t trump faith
Deborah Douglas ddouglas@suntimes.com
Gay activists made a big hairy deal this week when Sen. Barack Obama hired formerly gay gospel singer Donnie McClurkin to lead some fund-raising concerts in South Carolina this weekend.
So what.
McClurkin doesn’t have to stay gay if he doesn’t want to.
For gays who insist they are born that way and that’s the end of it, suggesting that someone could choose not to be homosexual is a slap in the face. The science on this isn’t clear. The search for the gay gene is ongoing, and while doubt remains, individuals continue to make up their own minds about the nature of being gay.
. . .
…McClurkin told Ebony magazine he battled homosexuality for 20 years after several episodes of sexual abuse. Anyone should be able to understand how a child who was abused that way could grow to be confused about the role of sex and sexual identity.
. . .
I thought about my gay friends and was torn. Then I got over it. Gay people must not stop fighting for their right to equal access and treatment. Nobody has a right to deny a gay person a job or a home, or kick him in the head because they don’t like the way he lives and loves. But society’s rules stop at the church-house doors, folks.
We cannot let our passion for civil rights negate the right for people to hold their heartfelt religious beliefs. Despite what gay activists insist, believing the Bible’s admonitions against homosexuality does not make Christians homophobic. It is not an either/or proposition. If it were, guess who would lose? Christianity has a better PR machine, considering it has a best-selling book attached to it. Ultimately, those who denigrated McClurkin and Obama (who says he does not hold the singer’s views) were really condemning people of faith. …
. . .
Gays smarting over McClurkin’s transformation should know the rest of us sinners get talked about, too. For most Bible believers, sin is sin. Whether it’s lying (even white ones), heavy drinking (free drinks!), stealing (pilfering office supplies) or fornication (the heterosexual and gay kind), it is not acceptable.
Besides, anybody who has been to a black church with good gospel music knows gay guys are always singing in the choir.
Sapphocrat writes:
“So what?”
I can’t believe a generally decent paper like the Chicago Sun-Times would print this garbage — and worse: “Deborah Douglas is a Sun-Times editorial board writer.”
Somebody’s getting a LTTE from me today. Ther only problem is that there are so many things wrong here, I don’t know where to begin — with the “there are more of us than there are of you, so like or lump it” attitude, with the molestation-turns-you-gay myth, with the gays-can-change lie (the only “ex-gays” are in denial — or dead), with the equation of homosexuality with drinking, stealing, “fornication,” and other “sins” (what, no comparison to murderers and prostitutes?), with the mindboggling denial inherent in the notion that condemning homosexuality doesn’t make one homophobic (!)… or with the nasty swipe at gay men (why didn’t she just come out and say “fags”?) in the very last line.
But I think my LTTE will go something like this:
- - -
Ms. Douglas’s disingenuousness is breathtaking: “Ultimately, those who denigrated McClurkin and Obama (who says he does not hold the singer’s views) were really condemning people of faith.” Observe how Ms. Douglas manages to twist this story into yet another tired claim of “Christian persecution.” Yes, those nasty old gays — all 4% to 10% of the population — are piling on the poor, persecuted Christians who make up some 80% of the population.
And where does that leave gay, lesbian, and bisexual Christians (yes, they do exist) who “denigrated” McClurkin and Obama? Are they condemning themselves?
Ayn Rand — no more a friend to gay people than Ms. Douglas — once wrote: “Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority; the political function of rights is precisely to protect minorities from oppression by majorities (and the smallest minority on earth is the individual).” Our greatest leaders, from Thomas Jefferson to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by word and action, have agreed; it is this simple idea — and not some narrow, elitist corruption of Christianity — on which our nation was founded, and only by which it can progress.
Ms. Douglas’s double standard is equally astounding: “We cannot let our passion for civil rights negate the right for people to hold their heartfelt religious beliefs.” Hold whatever “heartfelt religious beliefs” you like — but religion does not confer the right to stand on the heads of those who do not believe as you do, just so that you can retain your precious — and tenuous — position at the top of the heap.
Sorry, but civil rights do trump faith — and Ms. Douglas had better hope they do; by some twist of fate, I may one day be a member of the majority that decides to strip her of the rights (or rather, privileges) she so blithely takes for granted.
Society’s rules may stop at the church-house doors, Ms. Douglas, but the church’s rules must stop at the sidewalk.
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