…John S Adams has an excellent article about it in the Great Falls Tribune. I loved how he brought attention to the Republican Platform Plank:
Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg, who challenging Democratic Sen. Jon Tester in one of the nation’s most closely watch U.S. Senate races, reiterated his opposition to same-sex marriage.
“Montana’s state constitution says ‘Only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state,’ and I agree,” Rehberg said in a statement.
Rehberg’s position is in keeping with a plank in the Montana Republican Party’s official platform which states that Montana Republicans “support the clear will of the people of Montana expressed by legislation to keep homosexual acts illegal.”
The Montana GOP adopted that language after the Montana Supreme Court in 1997 struck down a state law making so-called “deviant sexual conduct” a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine up to $50,000.
Legislative Republicans have repeatedly blocked attempts to remove that language from the Montana Code.
The 2011 session marked the first time an effort to repeal the unenforceable language from state law passed a legislative chamber, passing in the Senate but then dying in the House Judiciary Committee.
Read the full article (starring my pal, Jamee Greer) here.
“There are, you’ll probably not be surprised to learn, three times as many states with no direct prohibitions against the sexual assault of an animal (according to the Animal Legal Defense Fund) as there are states that allow gay marriage.”
Hmmm. Some legislatures are much more concerned with oppressing a particular class of people than in enforcing this biblical mandate (and before some of you write with weird humorless critique, I’m being sarcastic). Click map for story.
The second video in the Montana social marketing campaign for HIV Awareness:
This HIV prevention animation targeting the MSM population is a playful look at a young bull elk that is looking for a relationship in Montana. As the party music plays he searches the herd for another bull who has been “Checked” (tested) for HIV. This is a creative project that was created by Laura Dybdal and Amber Bushnell as a part of Montana’s HIV Prevention Social Marketing Campaign. It also directs viewers to getcheckedmt.org, a resource to find the nearest HIV testing location in Montana.
Last week, I posted about my disappointment with Steve Bullock’s position on marriage equality- and there were several comments here, on other blogs and on Twitter debating whether we (progressives) could afford to not get behind the presumed Democratic nominee.
I simply want to say here, as I have in some responses on other platforms, that I am responding in the spirit of creative dissent. I am not going to lean back, say “Oh well, maybe someday he’ll get it,” act like nothing happened and proceed with business as usual. I’ve come too far- we’ve come too far- to do that.
When I moved back to Montana I made myself a promise- that I would never lie about or be ashamed of my thoughts, feelings or beliefs- even when they were unpopular or provocative. I also promised that, as a middle-aged gay man, I would do everything I could to ensure the continued, progressively advancing sense of dignity for all LGBT persons in the state of Montana. I’ve dealt with too many suicidal kids, too many disowned sons and daughters, too many shame-filled, damaged people to trust that politicians will, on their own, work to protect us.
They have to be convinced. And in order to do that, we first have to get their attention.
Looks like we did. Now, until something further is done, I’m voting for the candidate who most represents my views, just as everyone should. I’m against the death penalty, want women to make their own choices about their health, support legal recognition of same-sex relationship recognition/protection, and am a fan of higher education and preserving a clean planet. I want healthcare and insurance companies to be reasonable and efficient- and treat people with mental illness and substance issues with dignity and respect. I want the justice system to be fair to all citizens. I want church and state to be separate. I want the poor and disadvantaged to be given every chance to succeed.
I’m also a big fan of dialog, not diatribe. And dialog is about the expression of opinion, listening and responding accordingly. That’s all I hoped to accomplish. I am not out to derail the Democratic Party- and I will absolutely vote for the Democrat for Governor in the fall. The alternatives are too creepy to think about. I just wanted to be heard on behalf of the thousands of LGBT Montanans in this state- many of whom hold my views.
…from The CDC’s Annual Report from the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention (DHAP), Accelerating Progress, Investing for Impact. This report provides an overview of some of the HIV prevention activities conducted and supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during late 2010 to the end of 2011.
Too few Americans with HIV are getting the testing, treatment, and care they need to stay healthy and prevent transmission to others.
Surprisingly, only 28% of all HIV-infected persons are considered to have HIV under control ( viral load less than 200/ml). That’s not enough.
Percentage of HIV-infected Individuals Engaged in Selected Stages of the Continuum of HIV Care, 2010-11
One of two new Montana public service message targeting men who have sex with men- check back tomorrow for the second:
This short point of view video targeting Montana’s MSM population looks at the Classified Personal ads and points out some HIV facts that should not be classified and offers some excellent reasons to get tested (checked) for HIV. It also directs viewers to getcheckedmt.org , a resource to find the nearest HIV testing location in Montana.
This creative project was created by Laura Dybdal and Jason Gutzmer as part of Montana’s HIV Social Marketing Campaign.
Vice President Joe Biden’s statement in support of marriage rights for lesbian and gay couples on NBC’s “Meet the Press” yesterday offered one of the simplest and most practical criteria for defining who a person should be allowed to marry: “Who do you love?”
Not surprising that such support comes from the first Catholic Vice President, since it so precisely reflects the views of at least 74% of American Catholics (according to a PRRI poll) who are in favor of marriage rights for same-gender couples.
A good news summary of Biden’s statements can be read by clicking here, or you can watch a video clip of the interview with Biden:
New Ways Ministry is delighted with Vice President Biden’s remarks. He reflects the thoughts of millions of American Catholics on marriage equality, and it is great to have such a prominent Catholic lay person be the spokesperson of the laity’s views on this matter, which differ significantly from those of the Catholic hierarchy, whose voice is usually the only Catholic one heard. Biden’s comments may not be the fullest statement of support one could have hoped for from the Obama administration, but they certainly move the discussion one giant leap forward.
The vice president’s wife, Dr. Jill Biden, has long been an advocate for LGBT equality, and we are delighted that these two Catholics are helping to spread the message of equality and justice which comes from our faith experience which promotes the dignity of all human beings.
Interestingly, Biden’s question, “Who do you love?” echoes the title of an article written three decades ago by New Ways Ministry’s co-founder, Sister Jeannine Gramick: “With Whom Have I Fallen In Love?” The article, published in a Catholic periodical, focused on how people can determine their sexual orientation.
How does the Catholic veep’s views reflect the the views of President Obama? Opinion is divided.
Political analyst Josh Marshall, editor of TalkingPointsMemo.com, thinks it might be a foretaste of what is to come:
“. . . I’m curious whether today’s remarks by Joe Biden on marriage equality are another example of Biden’s off-the-cuff indiscipline or something more like the White House trying to moon walk the President’s position on the issue, i.e., nudge and ease the president’s position forward while seeming to walk it back, so we’ll wake up one day and it will simply be different without ever being able to point to a day when it changed.
“Needless to say, we all know at this point that President Obama supports gay marriage but thinks the political tides aren’t quite safe enough to come out and say so. Lots of presidents telegraph this kind of equivocation but I have seen few cases where it’s been done so out there in the open.”
Pam Spaulding, writer/editor of Pam’sHouseBlend.com, did not think the remarks were significant because she felt that he was only endorsing support for civil unions, not marriage:
“I guess you could see this as yet another attempt to placate the LGBT community (i.e. open the gAyTM), or a hint that the President is about to tip-toe out of the closet, perhaps after the election. I don’t hold my breath for such things. . . .
“Biden’s comments are interesting in that they represent the President’s exact view – that gay and lesbian couples deserve the same civil rights, save the whole bit about the word ‘marriage.’ Talk about threading the political needle.”
Joan Walsh, editor at large for Salon.com, asked some interesting questions of the situation:
“It seemed an important step for an administration that can’t seem to get the president all the way there. President Obama is going to have to come out for gay marriage one of these days – can anyone honestly believe he’s against it? — but having the Catholic Biden endorse it helps, too. The group Catholic Democrats immediately Tweeted the little known fact that Catholics are the most pro-gay marriage of all Christian groups. Yet the backwards politics of the U.S. Bishops means most people don’t know that, and thus view gay marriage as a no-fly zone during an election season when the Catholic swing vote is particularly important. So Biden’s comment mattered.
“Then the Vice President’s office issued a clarification:
‘The Vice President was saying what the President has said previously – that committed and loving same-sex couples deserve the same rights and protections enjoyed by all Americans, and that we oppose any effort to rollback those rights. That’s why we stopped defending the constitutionality of section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act in legal challenges and support legislation to repeal it. Beyond that, the Vice President was expressing that he too is evolving on the issue, after meeting so many committed couples and families in this country.’
” ‘He too is evolving.’ Actually, it seemed as if Biden had finished evolving, and actually supported ‘men marrying men, and women marrying women.’ For a moment, I actually thought having Biden step out ahead of Obama was a deliberate, maybe even slightly cynical campaign move. But apparently the campaign isn’t ready to take that chance. Why would it be a problem to have the grandfatherly Irish Catholic VP a step ahead of the president on this one, anyway? I don’t know, but backtracking seems like a lose-lose to me.”
Let’s hope that the next steps will continue to be steps forward, as Biden’s original statement certainly was.
Faith in America is calling upon Bryant Wright, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, to apologize for incendiary speech that compared affirmation of gay and lesbian people to Nazi propaganda during World War II.
“It is really inconceivable that a person of such prominence within one of America’s largest Christian denominations could utter such a comparison,” said Brent Childers, executive director of Faith in America. “It is beyond shameful and it makes a mockery of the faith he professes.”
In a Sunday, Feb. 5, 2012 sermon entitled “When Homosexual Behavior is a Big Issue”, Wright stated that anyone who believes same-sex sexual orientation is God-given or that sexual orientation can’t be changed is believing a “lie of the devil” that has been repeated so much that now a majority of the public believes it – saying that was a lesson learned from Nazi Germany.
In his sermon, Wright said it makes him “really shudder” at the thought of faith leaders who affirm the dignity of gay and lesbian people, saying they are teaching “what God says is evil is really good.” In addition, he makes the following statements:
“When man all of a sudden decides what God says is sin or evil is really good, that is blasphemous behavior. That is calling God a liar.”
“When man says that homosexual desires are God-given and that a person can no more be changed than you could change the color of their skin, this is one of those common lies of the devil that is repeated so much over and over again that now the majority of American public believe it is true. We learned from the Nazis in World War II in how they approached propaganda. They believed wholeheartedly that if you repeat an outrageous lie over and over again it becomes more and more believable to where the public as a whole finally will embrace it. We saw that in World War II.”
Yesterday, CNN and a number of other media outlets reported on a pastor of a Baptist church in North Carolina who had apologized for his comment in a sermon that said boys who appear effeminate should have their wrists broken.
Childers said he understands how a pastor might say something in a sermon that they may not want communicated on the media airwaves but that the posting of Wright’s sermon on his web site demonstrates that Wright apparently has no problem with espousing such rhetoric to the public. He said Wright, as a national religious figure, must be held accountable for publicly espousing and promoting that kind of hostility toward gay and lesbian people, especially the rejection and hostility faced by LGBT youth and families.
“Wright’s association of those who affirm lesbian and gay people with Nazis is intentional, even if perhaps unconscious,” Childers said. “He obviously wants to paint those who affirm gay and lesbian people to be about as bad as possible, as bad as Nazis.”
“But think for a moment what the parent of a gay or lesbian child hears. They hear that treating their child as a natural, wonderfully created child is somehow of the devil and that to embrace their child’s sexual orientation is as evil as Hitler. And that if they believe otherwise, they are calling God a liar.
“So parents hear that they must reject their children. Kids hear that it is OK to bully their evil gay or lesbian peers? And young gay kids hear that suicide would be better than a life of rejection and condemnation. This is the kind of physical, emotional and spiritual violence that Wright is inciting within our society.
“Bringing such violence to bear on our neighbors makes a mockery of a faith that emphasizes love and compassion above all else. If Wright feels like shuddering, he should think about the consequences of bringing such violence against children and families.”
Last year at the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Phoenix, Ariz., Southern Baptist leader Albert Mohler stated before convention delegates that he did not believe sexual orientation was a matter of mere choice and that “we as Christian churches have not done well on this issue.”
“I wonder if Wright considers his colleague Albert Mohler someone who is spreading “outrageous” lies as the Nazis did?” Childers asked. “And I wonder if Mohler would consider Wright’s words a job well done?”
Faith in America is a nonprofit organization that works nationally to educate the public about the harm caused to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, especially LGBT youth and families, when religious teaching is misused to justify stigma and hostility. Brent Childers, who serves as executive director, is a former Southern Baptist and former Religious Right adherent.
From Eternity To Here 