Bachmann Staffer: Marriage Equality Will Lead To Object Marriage |
Michele Bachmann’s new Iowa Campaign Co-Chair Tamara Scott has an extensive history of spreading anti-gay propaganda as head of Iowa’s Concerned Women for America chapter. She has previously spread the fear that marriage inequality will prevent people from entering Heaven. In a conversation with the FAMiLY LEADER’s Bob Vander Plaats this past June, she even suggested that at the end of the fallacial slippery slope is “object marriage,” which is when people marry inanimate objects like the Eiffel Tower. Watch it:
‘Family’ Leader Gives Gingrich’s Divorces A Pass |
The Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins has joined Bob Vander Plaats and other social conservatives in downplaying the consequences of Newt Gingrich’s multiple divorces while regularly trumpeting that marriage equality undermines the family. In an appearance yesterday on Fox News’ Geraldo at Large, Perkins told Geraldo that Gingrich’s three divorces could be “problematic,” but they’re “known” and clearly not holding him back in the polls. Rather than addressing the integrity of Gingrich’s values, Perkins attacked Mitt Romney multiple times as being untrustworthy. Watch it:
During an appearance with Chris Matthews this afternoon, Perkins — who is very generously described as an “honest conservative” — seemed to walk back his statements, suggesting that some conservatives will object to Gingrich’s affairs:
NEWS FLASH
Report: Bullying By Text Message Now More Prevalent |
Researchers reported today that a growing number of school children are being bullied via text message. Out of 1,100 middle school and high school students surveyed in 2008, 24 percent said they have been “harassed” — through vicious rumors, rude or mean comments, or threats — by texting, which is up from 14 percent in a survey of the same children in 2007. Internet Solutions for Kids, Inc. researchers “suggest that attention needs to be paid to kids’ text-messaging world” but that parents need not “become distressed or take kids cellphones away.”
In her new book Core of Conviction, Michele Bachmann writes that President George W. Bush offered her fashion advise during a campaign trip to Minnesota in 2006. During a campaign event with the president, Bachmann — then a state senator — had, on the advise of her mother, worn an entirely pink outfit, complete with a pink bag, shoes, and gloves, but in the car ride, Bush “thoughtfully” disagreed with her style choices:
“My mother insisted if I was going to meet the president, I’d have to have pink gloves as well — no exceptions!” she explained. But as she rode in the car with then-Gov. Tim Pawlenty, then Sen. Norm Coleman and Bush’s top aide Karl Rove, she could see the president that she described as “a good listener” who responded “thoughtfully” disagreed with her mother’s advice. “Speaking of thoughtful, he looked down at my pink-gloved hand and asked with a crinkly smile: ‘Why are you wearing those gloves?’ ” she wrote. “I explained and he said gently, ‘Lose the gloves.’ I could see Rove agreed.”
The car then stopped at a custard stand where Bush and Rove had planned a photo op with Bachmann.The images of her and the president munching on ice cream generated good press, she explained.
“And although I was still all dressed up, at least I wasn’t wearing — thanks to the president’s good counsel — those over-the-top gloves,” Bachmann writes.
Incidentally, Bachmann is no stranger to accepting fashion tips from men. Her husband Marcus has served as her fashion consultant, picking out “a sleek, simple hourglass dress with a yoke collar in winter white” before a visit from Vice President Dick Cheney.
Update
A reminder of Bachmann’s strong affinity for President Bush:
Last month, emerging GOP presidential frontrunner Newt Gingrich gave one of the most authoritarian speeches in recent American history. In it, Gingrich promised to openly defy Supreme Court decisions that he disagrees with, and to wage a campaign of intimidation against judges who decide cases in ways Gingrich does not like.
At a forum sponsored by three leading anti-gay groups this weekend, former GOP presidential frontrunner Herman Cain leaped onto this bandwagon, promising to defy a future Supreme Court decision striking down the unconstitutional Defense of Marriage Act:
QUESTION: If the Perry case or a DOMA case gets to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court were to overturn DOMA or to find a quote-unquote U.S. constitutional right to same-sex marriage, if you were president, what would you do?
CAIN: I would lead the charge to overturn the Supreme Court if they overturned DOMA, whether that was new legislation coming out of the Congress like Rep. Bachmann said — the United States Congress is supposed to pass a law, so if they did overturn DOMA, that charge I would lead to reverse that.
Watch it:
The sole reason why the Supreme Court would strike down DOMA is because the anti-gay law is unconstitutional. The Constitution guarantees that no person will be denied “the equal protection of the laws,” and the last time we checked, gay people are people. More importantly, the Supreme Court has long held that groups which share an unchangeable trait and are “subjected to such a history of purposeful unequal treatment, or relegated to such a position of political powerlessness as to command extraordinary protection from the majoritarian political process” are entitled to heightened constitutional protection under the Constitution. Gay men and lesbians unquestionably qualify.
So when Herman Cain promises to push legislation reinstating DOMA, he is pledging to openly defy the Constitution. Congress has no power to ignore the Constitution itself, and it is as bound by the Supreme Court’s constitutional decisions as is any other institution in the United States.
Not to be outdone, Gingrich followed up Cain’s radical statement by doubling down on his own authoritarianism. Immediately after Cain promised to defy a Supreme Court decision striking down DOMA, Gingrich said he would probably “educate the judiciary” by unconstitutionally removing any judges or justices who voted that the Constitution’s guarantee of equality actually applies to gay and lesbian Americans.
Charlotte May Soon Offer Domestic Partner Benefits |
Though a proposed marriage inequality amendment looms on the May ballot, the city of Charlotte, North Carolina may soon begin offering benefits to employees’ same-sex partners. City councilmember Patsy Kinsey told Qnotes that the votes to pass the benefits plan are there, and nondiscrimination protections could be viable in the near future. The fast-tracked version of the amendment did not include protections for domestic partner benefits and could have the effect of banning them outright across the state.
NEWS FLASH
Occupy Wall Street Activists Wed In Zuccotti Park |
Two Occupy Wall Street protesters married in an “unofficial ceremony” in Zuccotti Park on Saturday, the Advocate’s Julie Bolcer reports. Jonathan Lopez, 19, and Ivan Cabrera, 18 took part in the first same-sex wedding to occur in the park after New York legalized marriage equality over the summer.
Rick Perry has joined fellow Republican presidential contenders Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum in signing a controversial marriage pledge from Iowa’s FAMiLY LEADER. The social conservative organization is headed by failed gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats and has positioned itself as a gateway to Iowa’s Republican caucus goers. The pledge likens homosexuality to polygamy, adultery, or polyandry and asks candidates to vow that being gay is a choice that poses serious health risks like “shorter life expectancy.” An earlier draft also claimed that children were better off under slavery than they are under Obama.
Some Iowa Republicans have complained that the document is a distraction that has destroyed Vander Plaats’ credibility, and Mitt Romney has even characterized it as “undignified and inappropriate.” But Perry — who is polling in the single digits in the state — is now embracing the group and its controversial leader.
The Texas governor has previously compared homosexuality to alcoholism and condemned “the agenda of radical gay rights groups that want to throw their sexual activity into the face of society.” In 2010, Perry ran for re-election on a GOP platform explicitly supporting the criminalization of gay sex.
Update
Progress Iowa responds: “This is just another desperate move from another desperate Republican candidate. Rick Perry, who already has a spotty record on equal rights, has now signed a document that has come to symbolize the extremist, out-of-touch views of Bob Vander Plaats and the Family Leader. The pledge originally stated that children of slavery are better off than children born today. And, it requires presidential candidates to swear their fidelity not to God – as they already did when they got married – but rather to Bob Vander Plaats. This pledge would surely be an albatross around his neck should he become the party’s nominee. However, because he signed this, I don’t think Americans have to worry about that.”
“I favor gay rights,” Mitt Romney told the Nashua Telegraph this morning, in response to a question about the Obama administration’s claims that the former Massachusetts govenrors has changed his position on LGBT equality issues:
ROMNEY: The story on same-sex marriage is that I have the same position on that, that I had from the very beginning. I’m in favor of traditional marriage, I oppose same-sex marriage. At the same time, I don’t believe in discriminating in employment or opportunity for gay individuals. So I favor gay rights, I do not favor same-sex marriage. That has been my position all along.
Watch it:
While Romney has opposed same-sex marriage as governor and took steps toward blocking town clerks from issuing licenses to out-of-state gay couples, Romney has walked a more moderate line on LGBT equality before announcing his candidacy for the GOP presidential nomination. For instance, during his failed 1994 campaign for the Senate, Romney told the Log Cabin Republicans, “We must make equality for gays and lesbians a mainstream concern,” promised to co-sponsor the Federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and even claimed that he would do more for the gay community than the late Sen. Ted Kennedy.
In his 2002 campaign for governor, Romney struck a similar note, saying that “all citizens deserve equal rights, regardless of their sexual orientation” and argued that “domestic partnership status should be recognized in a way that includes the potential for health benefits and rights of survivorship.” His campaign even sent out a “Happy Pride” flier to the gay community.
Since then, Romney has backed away from a federal employment nondiscrimination law and has even signed-on to the National Organization for Marriage (NOM’s) anti-gay campaign pledge.
Starting today, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority will prohibit Pakistanis from texting more than 1,600 words it considers offensive or obscene, including “gay,” “lesbian,” “virgin,” “homosexual,” “condom,” “intercourse,” “breast,” and “Jesus Christ”:
The move has been greeted with ridicule and derision, particularly by Pakistan’s vociferous users of internet forums and micro-blogging sites like Twitter.
Since the PTA’s lists of offensive English and Urdu words and terms – containing 1,106 and 586 items respectively – became public a few days ago, it has become the butt of jokes on the web.
While the English list has 148 items containing a four-letter swear word, it has had many scratching their heads by including words and terms like athlete’s foot, deposit, black out, drunk, flatulence, glazed donut, harem, Jesus Christ, hostage, murder, penthouse, Satan and “flogging the dolphin”.
Homosexuality is “punishable by whipping, imprisonment or death” and the country does not provide any discrimination protections on the basis of sexual identity or orientation or recognize same-sex civil unions or marriages. In July, conservative Islamic political and religious officials condemned a gay rights meeting being held at the U.S. Embassy as “cultural terrorism” against the country. “Such people are the curse of society and social garbage,” the Islamic officials said. “They don’t deserve to be Muslim or Pakistani, and the support and protection announced by the U.S. administration for them is the worst social and cultural terrorism against Pakistan.”
Transgender Police Officer Faces Discrimination And Harassment |
A woman’s experience on the Hartford, Connecticut police force demonstrates the way transgender people can be harassed and discriminated against in the workplace. Dana Peterson has filed suit for being repeatedly denied the opportunity to complete the certification course to become a K-9 handler, after paying for the training at her own expense. Meanwhile, coworkers have left her obscene drawings in public spaces, referred to her as “it,” and ostracized her from the force. Connecticut offers employment non-discrimination protections based on gender identity, which will hopefully allow Peterson to achieve her career goals when her case is heard later this month.
NEWS FLASH
North Carolina Baptist Church: No Marriage Until Equal Marriage |
The Pullen Memorial Baptist Church congregation in Raleigh, North Carolina has voted unanimously to prohibit its pastor from legally marrying any couple until she can legally marry same-sex couples. Protesting the proposed constitutional amendment that would ban recognition of all same-sex unions, the church members said, “As people of faith, affirming the Christian teaching that before God all people are equal, we will no longer participate in this discrimination.” Pullen will still host spiritual commitment ceremonies, but pastor Nancy Petty will not sign state marriage certificates.
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) is attempting to derail the confirmation of Mari Carmen Aponte — who President Obama recess appointed as his ambassador to El Salvador in August 2010 — out of concerns that she is “promoting the homosexual lifestyle” in the Latin American nation, Andrés Duque of Blabbeando reports. During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing earlier this month, DeMint read from an op-ed Aponte wrote commemorating Salvadorean President Mauricio Funes’ Decree 56, “which prohibits all forms of discrimination by the government of El Salvador on the basis of sexual orientation or identity,” and insinuated that the piece insulted “pro-family” groups in El Salvador and the United States:
DEMINT: In her OpEd, Ms. Aponte, presuming to represent the view of all Americans, in strongly promoting the homosexual lifestyle, wrote that “everyone has the responsibility to inform our neighbors and friends about what it means to be lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.” The OpEd upset a large number of community and pro-family groups in El Salvador who were insulted by Ms. Aponte’s attempt to impose a pro-gay agenda in their country.
I would also like to ask unanimous consent to submit, for the record, a response to the OpEd from a coalition of more than three dozen groups and a letter from Salvadorean groups to the United States Senate asking the Senate to oppose Ms. Aponte’s confirmation and I quote “We respectfully request that Ms. Aponte be removed from her post as soon as possible so that El Salvador may enjoy the benefits of having a person as a government representative of your noble country.”
I would like to apologize to the Salvadorean people on behalf of the United States and reassure them that most Americans share their values. Ms. Aponte’s personal, professional and political contact over many years raises numerous questions of judgement. I will vote ‘no on Ms. Aponte’s confirmation and strongly recommend my colleagues do the same.
Watch it:
But as Aponte explained, “The OpEd reflects the policies of the Obama administration, the Salvadorean government and sixty-three other countries,” she said to La Prensa, “It was not drafted as an insult to anyone.”
DeMint is “urging the U.S. Senate not to appoint Aponte as U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador based on an OpEd in which she saluted the government of El Salvador for their own initiatives to protect their LGBT populations” — a move that shouldn’t surprise anyone familiar with DeMint’s record on LGBT equality. In October of 2010, the senator “said if someone is openly homosexual, they shouldn’t be teaching in the classroom and he holds the same position on an unmarried woman who’s sleeping with her boyfriend — she shouldn’t be in the classroom.”
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 as well. Follow us all day on Twitter at @TPEquality.
- If you missed this Saturday’s presidential “Thanksgiving Family Forum” hosted by The FAMiLY LEADER, here are some highlights:
In her new book Core of Conviction, Michele Bachmann writes that President George W. Bush offered her fashion advise during a campaign trip to Minnesota in 2006. During a campaign event with the president, Bachmann — then a state senator — had, on the advise of her mother, worn an entirely pink outfit, complete with a pink bag, shoes, and gloves, but in the car ride, Bush “thoughtfully” disagreed with her style choices: 
Last month, emerging GOP presidential frontrunner Newt Gingrich gave one of the most authoritarian speeches in recent American history. In it, Gingrich promised to 
Rick Perry has joined fellow Republican presidential contenders Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum in 
Starting today, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority will 
