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Jeb Bush: GOP Should Only Try To Sound More 'Inclusive'

Christian College Demands Expelled Lesbian Student Pay Back Financial Aid

ICYMI: Social Security Will Recognize Transgender Identities

NEWS FLASH

Ghana’s Human Rights Commissioner: We’re Not Ready To Give LGBT People Rights | Homophobia has been escalating in the African country of Ghana, with calls to arrest all gays and provide them “rehabilitation.” Today, newly appointed Commissioner on Human Rights and Administrative Justice Lauretta Lamptey discounted reports that she previously supported the decriminalization of homosexuality, saying she was “misquoted and therefore misrepresented“:

I did not advocate that homosexuality should be decriminalized. My view is that, it currently isn’t clear whether it is even criminal and that if the view of the society is that it should be then, there should be a debate about that. [...]

In my view I don’t think as a society we are ready to give homosexuals, lesbians the whole category of people any of those kind of rights.

Alyssa

‘Daily Show’ Creator Lizz Winstead On Supporting Planned Parenthood, And Why Progressives Are Funnier Than Conservatives

By Alyssa Rosenberg posted from ThinkProgress Alyssa on Aug 9, 2011 at 5:18 pm

On July 9, Daily Show creator, former Air America host, and comedian Lizz Winstead hit the road for a stand-up tour benefitting Planned Parenthood. She took a break from the show and finishing work on her forthcoming memoir to talk to me about what she’s learned about support for reproductive rights from her audiences; why conservative comedians aren’t very funny; how we can back up Planned Parenthood workers; and her dream television show in the post-Bridesmaids boom for women in comedy. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

How’s the tour gone so far? Are there things you’ve learned from your audiences along the way?

Really great! We did this sort of first leg, and I’m taking almost all of August off except for the 19th of August because I have to finish my book. It’s no longer a joke and nobody thinks it’s cute it’s not finished…[I've learned that] it’s still taboo to tell your story. I don’t know if taboo is the right word. There’s still fear…People have come up to me, at least 20 after every show, and said ‘I feel like I can tell my story.’ It’s sort of the Harvey Milk story…Once someone puts a face on a subject it makes it that much harder to demonize it. It changes the conversation a lot. I’m glad that it gives people some pause to think about what they’re doing with their own story and their relationship to Planned Parenthood.

The other thing that’s equally awesome and equally heartbreaking is how generally overwhelmed with thanks that the staff is. Because it makes me feel like more people need to be stepping up and helping them fight the fight. Those people are in their doing their basic job every day. That should be their job, not to be tortured every single day by these terrible people who protest in front of their clinics and terrify them.

In terms of telling more stories about abortion, what do you think accounts for our pop culture squeamishness about abortion and reproductive health more generally?

I think it comes down to advertising dollars. It’s still such a taboo subject. The extremists will boycott and they’ll rally and they’ll do that kind of stuff. When you go to a local market, [it's a struggle] for the local press to write about the show. We’ve had to rely heavily on people like you, people like the progressive blogosphere. You have a wider reach, and you don’t care if they attack you. It’s really interesting how people shy away from it. You’re marked. You have to make a decision. I turned 50 on Friday, and I’ve had a really nice, fun half of my career, and what am I going to do? If I can’t use the voice I have to get people to pay attention to the news, than what am I doing? That’s kind of given me a clear path to other things that I want to do in the second half of my career.

It seemed to me as someone who had been watching the progression of anti-women and anti-women’s health care legislation, watching the complete escalation of it with this new Congress made me feel like I can’t sit there and let this happen. I have a voice, and I have a show that people like, they pay money to come see it. To be able to share this personal story, that it encourages other people to say so. It seems that humor, here’s a a completely obvious statement, has become a real driving force for conversations about the issues in the world.
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NEWS FLASH

Santorum: Marriage Is Like Water, Not Beer | Rick Santorum turned more than a few eyebrows on Monday when he explained his opposition to same-sex marriage by holding up a napkin and observing that it was not a paper towel. On Friday, during a meeting with the Des Moines Register, Santorum relied on a similar metaphor to prove why society can’t “redefine” marriage: water is not beer. “It’s like saying this glass of water is a glass of beer. Well, you can call it a glass of beer, but it’s not a glass of beer. It’s a glass of water. And water is what water is. Marriage is what marriage is,” he said. Watch it:

Study: Homophobia, Intolerance Behind AIDS Increases In Muslim Nations

By Igor Volsky on Aug 9, 2011 at 2:31 pm

A new study shows that the rising rate of AIDS infections in some Muslim nations is being “driven by men having sex with other men in secret because of homophobia, religious intolerance and fear of being jailed or executed.” Homosexuality is almost universally condemned in Muslim countries and punished brutally in most parts of the Middle East. The report, published in the journal PLoS Medicine, found:

About 2 to 3 percent of men in the region have sex with other men, consistent with global averages, the study found. But condom use is low, gay and bisexual prostitution is common, and many married men hide their bisexuality and risk infecting their wives. In some countries, even male prostitutes often marry for appearances’ sake.

Truck drivers, prisoners and street children often have high rates of H.I.V. infection; in Pakistan, infection rates are rising rapidly among transgender prostitutes known as hijra.

The lowest rates of condom use were reported in populous countries like Egypt and Pakistan, while they were highest in Sudan (above), Oman and Lebanon.

Research has found a similar trend in the African American community, where gay men also suffer from disproportionately high HIV/AIDS rates. One study found that “when compared to white adults, a higher number of African Americans believe that homosexuality is ‘always wrong‘” and “twice as many black MSM than white MSM share the sentiment.” That kind of prejudice can result in isolation, harassment and lead gay men to engage in risky or underground sexual behaviors.

In some nations, men don’t even know how the virus can be transmitted. According to one activist in Africa — where homophobia is contributing to higher infection rates — men understand “that you can get HIV/AIDS from having sex with a woman, but not from a man.”

NEWS FLASH

HHS Rewards $28.8 Million To 67 Community Health Programs, Including One Targeted Toward LGBT Community | HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that the federal government would be awarding $28.8 million to 67 community health center programs across the country. One of the clinics — Housing Works, Inc (NY, NY) — has specific competence in serving the health needs of the LGBT community. According to its website, the organization is focused on ending the “dual crises of homelessness and AIDS through relentless advocacy, the provision of lifesaving services, and entrepreneurial businesses that sustain our efforts.”

Politics

Bachmann’s ‘Must-Read’ List Included A Book That Claims Blacks Were ‘Better Off In Nearly Every Way’ Under Slavery

By Travis Waldron posted from ThinkProgress Politics on Aug 9, 2011 at 12:33 pm

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann (R) has already made one slavery-related gaffe during her presidential campaign, signing a pledge produced by the Iowa FAMiLY LEADER that included language suggesting black children were better off under slavery than they are now. Bachmann offered half-hearted apology at the time, saying she had only signed the “candidate vow,” not the part that included slavery, and compared it to “economic enslavement” brought on by taxes.

But in his profile of Bachmann released yesterday, The New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza revealed that Bachmann’s “worldview” on slavery goes much deeper. In 2002, then-state Sen. Bachmann’s campaign posted a “must-read” list of books on her web site. Included in the list were the Declaration of Independence, The Federalist Papers, and a book titled, “Call of Duty: The Sterling Nobility of Robert E. Lee,” authored by J. Steven Wilkins. The Lee biography includes this apologetic passage:

Northerners were often shocked and offended by the familiarity that existed as a matter of course between the whites and blacks of the old South. This was one of the surprising and unintended consequences of slavery. Slavery, as it operated in the pervasively Christian society which was the old South, was not an adversarial relationship founded on racial animosity. In fact, it bred on the whole, not contempt, but, over time, mutual respect. This produced a mutual esteem of the sort that always results when men give themselves to a common cause.

The credit for this startling reality must go to the Christian faith.

Wilkins goes on to claim that slavery existed on a “relationship of trust and esteem,” that positive race relations may have progressed further if the pro-slavery South had won the war, and that Lee, despite being a slave-owner himself, “never held any animosity for blacks.”

After explaining the “cruelty and barbarism” of “pagan” Africa, he goes on:

The fact was (and is) easily demonstrable that, taken as a whole, there is no question that blacks in this country, slavery notwithstanding, were “immeasurably better off” in nearly every way [than they were in Africa].

In Lee’s view, however, emancipation could only be accomplished successfully if it was gradual. Time was needed for the sanctifying effects of Christianity to work on the black race and fit its people for freedom. [...]

Abolitionism was not the best answer.

The idea that the relationships between white slave owners and black slaves were not founded on racial animosity has no basis in history. Whites viewed themselves as inherently superior to blacks, who were bought and sold as property and, for population counts, were worth only three-fifths of a white person. The idea that sanctifying blacks through Christianity made them “immeasurably better off” than they would have been in Africa, meanwhile, ignores the utter loss of humanity caused by enslavement. It ignores the untold number of blacks who died on slave ships, the sale of blacks at auctions as if they were livestock, the families split up at an owner’s whim, and the loss of all basic human rights, not least of which was their own free will.

Bachmann has a history of using slavery analogies, and she has made multiple mistakes regarding American history already in her campaign. None, however, is nearly as disturbing as her love for a book that attempts to explain away the horrors of slavery by rewriting history to make it seem like it was a minor price to pay for the sanctifying favors whites did blacks by bringing them to America as slaves.

NEWS FLASH

Minnesota AFL-CIO Comes Out Against State’s Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment | The Minnesota AFL-CIO became the first labor group to come out against the state’s proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, following a unanimous vote yesterday to oppose the measure. “The labor movement is, and has always been about protecting and advancing the rights of all people,” Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson said in a statement on Monday. “We will not stand by and allow discrimination to become part of Minnesota’s constitution.”

NEWS FLASH

Pawlenty Stands With Author Of Pro-Slavery, Anti-Gay Pledge He Refused to Sign | The Family Research Council, National Organization for Marriage, and Susan B. Anthony List are kicking off the “Values Bus 2011 Iowa Tour” this morning with Tim Pawlenty and Rick Santorum. And as the candidates are touting their opposition to abortion and LGBT equality, they’re also rubbing shoulders with some pretty questionable characters. Here is a picture (via @daveweigel) of Palwenty standing in front of FAMiLY LEADER’s Bob Vander Plaats, author of the controversial pro-slavery, anti-gay, anti-porn, anti-Muslim pledge who finds faggot jokes really funny. Pawlenty refused to sign Vander Plaats’ pledge.

Hate Groups Target GLSEN For Pamphlet GLSEN Didn’t Publish

By Zack Ford on Aug 9, 2011 at 10:33 am

The Family Research Council and MassResistance — both anti-gay hate groups — target GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian Straight Education Network) in a new scare-video. GLSEN is an organization that advocates for LGBT youth in schools, defending the formation of gay-straight alliances (GSAs) and advocating for anti-bullying policies. But FRC and MR are attacking GLSEN for a publication called the “Little Black Book,” describing it as “the most vile assault on teenagers ever concocted by homosexual activists”:

There are a number of problems with this attack. First, GLSEN had nothing to do with the publication or distribution of the book. MassResistance makes the entire booklet available online and nowhere on it does “GLSEN” appear. Second, the book is geared toward men who are 18 or older. Third, this isn’t something new; blogger Alvin McEwen debunked this story nearly two years ago.

Beyond all that, the publication is designed to be a frank resource for how to be safe and healthy when engaging in same-sex behaviors. When MassResistance president Brian Camenker says it helps men find places to meet other men? He’s distorting the fact that it merely lists community resources, health clinics, and gay bars. (Surely a booklet listing bars is not designed for “5th through 9th graders.”) And when he says it tells “kids” how to safely perform sex acts, he’s misrepresenting that it actually tells its target audience how to be safe when performing various sex acts (as opposed to how to perform the acts).

This clip is part of a larger propaganda film FRC has produced called “The Problem with Same-sex Marriage” that also largely highlights the work of NARTH (National Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality), a group which promotes and practices harmful ex-gay therapy in open opposition to recommended psychological research and consensus.

The “Little Black Book” is not a pamphlet for everyone, and it’s not a pamphlet for kids. It’s still a resource designed to improve health and teach safe sex to gay men. That these two hate groups would use this to attack an organization that had nothing to do with it shows how insidious their efforts are to demonize and disparage the LGBT community.

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NEWS FLASH

Santorum Goes After Perry On Marriage Equality | Looking to shore up Christian conservative support before Rick Perry enters the GOP presidential field, Rick Santorum took a shot at the Texas governor yesterday, suggesting that he’s too accepting of marriage equality. “I wonder which version of marriage he’ll be ‘fine’ with in South Carolina — obviously, not the same version he was ‘fine’ with in New York,” Santorum told reporters, referring to Perry saying initially that he was “fine” with New York’s decision to allow gay marriage on states’ rights ground. Perry later recanted, saying, “gay marriage is not fine with me.”

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Aug 9, 2011 at 9:42 am

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NEWS FLASH

Santorum Claims He Doesn’t Hate Gay People, Then Compares Gay Relationships To Incest | “You can be what a group of people believe, but not be against the people effected by those beliefs,” Santorum explained during a stop in Iowa yesterday, before comparing same-sex marriages to “marriage between mothers and daughters” and polygamy. He added that opposite gender people come together “for the purpose of the benefit of each of them because they’re made in nature to fit together, to live together, one on one, as we see in nature.” Watch it:

The Morning Pride: August 9, 2011

By Zack Ford on Aug 9, 2011 at 8:50 am

Welcome to The Morning Pride, ThinkProgress LGBT’s 8:45 AM round-up of the latest in LGBT policy, politics, and some culture too! Here’s what we’re reading this morning, but let us know what you’re checking out too.

- Equality Matters’ Carlos Maza reports that despite the 2003 Lawrence v. Texas ruling declaring sodomy laws unconstitutional, 18 states still criminalize consensual same-sex relationships, and many of those laws are still enforced.

- Equality Matters also points out that Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council — a hate group — continues to be welcomed onto cable news programs. In addition to MSNBC and Fox News appearances over the weekend, he was also on CNN just this morning to discuss the influence of the religious right.

- Blogger Alvin McEwen has set up a Change.org petition calling upon Congress to scrutinize fraudulent anti-gay testimony, like that from Focus on the Family’s Tom Minnery and the National Organization for Marriage’s Maggie Gallagher.

- The White House was not prepared on Monday to say whether or not federally-funded HIV/AIDS initiatives might be at risk for cuts under the debt agreement.

- Apparently, Maryland’s Catholic Archbishop, Edwin F. O’Brien, tried to talk Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) out of supporting marriage equality, as it would “deeply conflict” with the governor’s own Catholic faith.

- Contrary to anti-gay talking points, states with marriage equality tend to be those with the lowest divorce rates while states in the Bible belt tend to have some of the highest divorce rates.

- As anti-gay sentiments snowball in Ghana, the Presbyterian Church of Ghana is planning to establish therapy centers to “counsel and rehabilitate” homosexuals as a preventative measure, because homosexuality is “spreading fast.”

- Taiwan is preparing for its biggest same-sex mass wedding — about 60 lesbian couples will tie the knot later this month, even though the country does not recognize those marriages.

- Australian finance minister Penny Wong and her partner Sophie Allouache are expecting a child, which could have implications for the country’s upcoming debate on marriage equality.

- Comedian Tim Allen is already playing defense about his new ABC sitcom because of a joke that a certain preschool might cause his character’s grandson to end up “dancing on a parade float.”

- Marquette University, a Jesuit-run school, is under fire from conservatives for putting its InterVarsity Christian Fellowship chapter on probation after it dismissed one of its officers for coming out and admitting he had a boyfriend. The school was enforcing its nondiscrimination policy, which includes sexual orientation.

- The National Organization for Marriage’s candidate pledge — which has been signed by Bachmann, Santorum, Romney, and Pawlenty — requires signatories to investigate harassment against opponents of LGBT equality, as portrayed in this cartoon:

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