Culinary Foundation Rescinds Acceptance Of Boy Scouts Award |
The James Beard Foundation, a prestigious non-profit that promotes the culinary arts, recently accepted an award from the Boy Scouts of America for supporting culinary education through scholarship funding. Yesterday, Michelangelo Signorile of HuffPost Gay Voices challenged the Beard Foundation not to accept the award because the of the Scouts’ anti-gay policies, noting that Beard himself was an openly gay man who was expelled from Reed College in 1922 for his identity. The group’s president, Susan Ungaro, reacted quickly and positively, indicating that she does not support BSA’s discriminatory practices, adding, “I have informed the Boy Scouts of America that I am rescinding my acceptance of the award.”
A new study from GLAAD and the University of Missoui Center on Religion & the Professions finds that pro-LGBT people of faith are the “Missing Voices” — severely underrepresented in mainstream media. In fact, three out of four religious messages about LGBT issues over the past three years have come from people who identify with anti-gay faith traditions. Evangelical Christians and Roman Catholics were by far the most represented in the media, with mostly negative messages to share, while those from Mainline Protestant and Black Church affiliations often shared positive messages but were invited to do so significantly less often.
The study also notes that the proportion of these messages does not reflect the U.S. population. Evangelicals appear more often (34 percent) than their presence in the population should warrant (26 percent), and the frequency of anti-LGBT Catholic messages (over 50 percent) conflicts with the strong LGBT support among American Catholics (over 71 percent). In contrast, about 16 percent of the population identifies as Humanist, atheist, or agnostic, but that group only constituted 1 percent of religious discussions on LGBT issues.
Perhaps the most troubling result of the study was the discovery that the media constructs a conflict between religion and the LGBT community. Those hostile to LGBT people were often identified with their religious identity, while those who were supportive or neutral were not.
ThinkProgress similarly documented that progressive voices of faith were completely absent from the Sunday morning political shows’ conversations about religion. This clip serves as a perfect example for how one-sided the media has become on matters of spirituality:
Presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s new foreign policy spokesperson Richard Grenell has an oddpenchant for targeting the wives of male politicians and women in general on Twitter.
Grenell, who served as George W. Bush’s spokesperson at the UN and was announced as the Romney campaign’s new representative yesterday, has gone after Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Callista Gingrich, Sandra Fluke and others. He also asserted that President Obama’s children should be fair game for political debate. A selection of his thoughts on women:
In another comment, that has since been removed, Grennell discussed the first lady “sweating on the East Room carpet.”
This afternoon, Grennell offered an apology, of sorts, for his attacks, writing, “my tweets were written to be tongue-in-cheek and humorous but I can now see how they can also be hurtful. I didn’t mean them that way and will remove them from twitter. I apologize for any hurt they caused.”
Obama Endorses Two Anti-Bullying Bills |
The White House today endorsed two anti-bullying bills pending in Congress, the Student Non-Discrimination Act (SNDA) and the Safe Schools Improvement Act (SSIA). The timing of the endorsements coincides with both the Day of Silence and a White House screening of the new documentary Bully.
It was never going to take very much to convince me to see Magic Mike, Steven Soderbergh’s movie loosely based on Channing Tatum’s early stripping days:
But what’s interesting to me about this trailer other than the obvious enjoyment of a movie that offers up beautiful men’s bodies for consumption in the same way women are so often presented for male pleasure is the other ways in which gender stereotypes are swapped here. It’s almost unprecedented to have a story about a man who trades on his looks in precisely the same women do, from a position of supplication and as a consumption object rather than as a tool to be deployed. It’s also somewhat rare to have a male character with a career dream that a female character encourages him to pursue rather than the other way around—it’s women who are supposed to discount their own abilities. And while seducers snared in the parson’s mousetrap are an ancient story subject, the narrative normally has the rake change because he realizes he wants something else, not because he realizes his life has been bad for him, or that he’s deluding himself about the joys of libidinousness. Soderbergh hinted at some interesting themes of male bodily anxiety in The Girlfriend Experience, and I can’t wait to see what he does with the male body as consumer product here. And to do some consuming of my own.
The introduction of a trans teen on this week’s episode of Glee has the Fox News gang in a tizzy again, concerned that LGBT identities are “wild” and not part of “nice family” programming because they might encourage young viewers to experiment with these “alternative lifestyles.” In a discussion Bill O’Reilly hosted, Gretchen Carlson complained she might have to explain diversity to her 8-year-old:
CARLSON: Here we go again, pandering to .3% of the American population that considers themselves transgender. Now I get to explain this to my 8-year-old, if i want her to see a nice family show with some nice music.
O’Reilly then added that by including unique characters and controversies in the show, it encourages teens to “experiment” with “alternative lifestyles”:
O’REILLY: If children hear it, unsupervised children who don’t have parents watching, they might go out and experiment with this stuff… When I was a teenager and I saw James Dean smoking, it made me want to smoke…
CARLSON: I don’t think that watching Glee is going to suddenly make kids transgender, but experimentation… I wholeheartedly believe in today’s society that kids are experimenting with homosexuality. [...]
O’REILLY: A lot of these dopey kids are confused about who they are. They’re confused.
To her credit, Jeanine Pirro defended LGBT teens, saying “you can’t parent sexuality.” Watch it:
By trying to “protect” young people from understanding gender and sexual orientation, the Fox News crew is ensuring that those topics remain taboo and that people who identify as LGBT continue to be stigmatized. As Pirro pointed out, students who identify with Glee characters are empowered by that visibility, a positive message Carlson shouldn’t have to explain to her daughter.
Nuns Group ‘Stunned’ By Anti-Gay Vatican Condemnation |
The Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which represents 80 percent of the 57,000 Catholic nuns in the U.S., said that it was “stunned” that the Vatican was targeting it for not taking strong enough stances against same-sex marriage, abortion, and women’s ordination. In a statement posted on the group’s webpage, its presidency explained that “because the leadership of LCWR has the custom of meeting annually with the staff of [the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith] in Rome and because the conference follows canonically-approved statutes, we were taken by surprise.”
Earlier this month, in a Good Friday sermon, Spain’s Bishop Juan Antonio Reig Pla of Alcala de Henares “said that homosexuals encounter ‘pure hell’ when they ‘corrupt and prostitute themselves or go to gay night clubs.’” The sentiment caused a mass of criticism from equality advocates, but now a group of Catholic doctors are coming to Reig”s defense.
The International Federation of Catholic Doctors Associations has issued a statement criticizing the government for failing to curtail sex-trafficking and sex-education, noting that the Bishop was merely offering “a prudent caution against unhealthy practices“:
“Catholic doctors profoundly lament the failure of modern states and of public international institution to combat ‘sexual tourism,’ involving adults or children,” the association said in its statement.
They also joined the bishop in denouncing “the contents of some textbooks,” especially those used in Spain’s recently axed Education for the Citizenry course, which encouraged children “to ‘explore’ all areas of sexuality.” “We are right in every way to consider these lessons perverse,” the doctors said, “And Bishop Reig is right in every way to condemn these and other abuses of the human being.”
Spain is highly progressive when it comes to LGBT rights, allowing same-sex couples to marry and adopt children. Gays people are allowed to serve openly in the military and are protected from discrimination in employment, the provision of goods and services, and other areas.
UK Lawmaker: Marriage Equality Will Lead To Bigamy, Child Marriage |
A British lawmaker claimed that legalizing same-sex marriage would open the door to bigamy and pedophilia, according to HuffingtonPost.uk. In a letter to a constituent who urged him to support marriage equality, Conservative MP Karl McCartney wrote that while advocates were not explicitly advocating for bigamy or child marriages, “if one takes your ‘arguments’ to any conclusion that is where we could end up.” McCartney also wrote that he approved of past efforts by the LGBT community to gain rights, but that “the cause of equal rights” has been “exhausted.” Prime Minister David Cameron, also a Conservative, has pushed for same-sex marriage to be legalized in the United Kingdom, claiming, “I don’t support gay marriage despite being a Conservative, I support gay marriage because I am a Conservative.”
Moscow To Consider Anti-Gay Propaganda Bill |
Moscow, Russia may follow St. Petersburg’s lead and pass a law prohibiting so-called “gay propaganda.” Yesterday, the Moscow City Legislature announced it will hold a “roundtable” discussion about enacting a similar ban with representatives “from the legislatures of the Kostroma and Archangelsk regions, as well as the city of St. Petersburg” — areas that already have anti-homosexual laws in effect. A similar measure was introduced into Russia’s lower house of Parliament last month.
State and federal lawmakers have responded to the wave of school anti-gay bullying and the suicides that they contribute to by introducing legislation prohibiting schools from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Conservative Republicans oppose such efforts and have characterized anti-bullying legislation as an infringement of religious freedoms and free speech.
During an April 12th debate, Heather Wilson, a Republican running for U.S. Senate in New Mexico, joined the so-called pro-bullying chorus when she staked out her opposition to SB 555, the Student Non-Discrimination Act. The measure, introduced by Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), would provide LGBT students with similar civil rights protections against bullying “as those that currently apply to students based on race and gender.” Wilson argued that the bill would violate students’ free speech rights and criminalize “teasing”:
WILSON: I mean if somebody gets bullied for having, gosh a low voice — that’s never happened to me. … But I think one of the things why I don’t support the act is because I think it’s misplaced. They are things I’m willing to tolerate that I’m not willing to approve.
With respect to this particular agenda we have to recognize as parents that children tease each other because you’re short or you’re tall or you’re a redhead or because you’re ugly or because you’re smart or because you’re dumb or all kinds of differences and as parents we have to deal with that and strengthen our children to be comfortable with themselves and also to show empathy and acceptance towards others, but that particular act is so broad it would actually punish children and say that it’s prohibited to express an opinion with respect to homosexuality in the schools. I just think that’s wrong and it’s a violation of the First Amendment.
Watch it:
Franken’s measure — which is modeled on existing civil rights laws — would establish a new law explicitly protecting children from harassment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
The bill doesn’t criminalize speech; it targets harassment of LGBT students, requires schools to institute a policy of nondiscrimination and take immediate action to investigate and address it. Section 9(b) of the bill specifically addresses Wilson’s concern: “Nothing in this Act shall be construed to alter legal standards regarding, or affect the rights available to individuals or groups under, other Federal laws that establish protections for freedom of speech and expression, such as legal standards and rights available to religious and other student groups under the First Amendment and the Equal Access Act .”
The bill, which was introduced in March of last year, has 37 co-sponsors in the Senate and a companion legislation introduced in the House has 157 supporters.
NEWS FLASH
Israeli Conservative Movement Approves Ordination Of Gay Rabbis |
Israel’s Masorti (Conservative) Movement voted on Thursday to approve the ordination of gay rabbis, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports. “In doing so the Israeli Conservative Movement is joining the American branch of the movement, whose rabbinical seminaries have been admitting gay students for some years.”
NEWS FLASH
Romney Hires An Openly Gay National Security Spokesman |
Mitt Romney has hired an openly-gay man — Richard Grenell, a former George W. Bush administration official — to serve as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s “national security and foreign policy spokesman,” Metro Weekly’s Chris Geidner notes. In 2008, Grenell told the Advocate that he hopes to marry his partner in New York, once the state legalizes marriage equality. “It is not an option for us in New York, but hopefully someday soon it will be,” he told Kerry Eleveld. “In my mind, and in Matt’s mind, this is it. We’re married.” Romney would not recognize their relationship, however. He supports a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman.
Update
In 2012, Grenell penned an op-ed in the Washington Blade criticizing LGBT equality organizations for failing to hold President Obama accountable for his reluctance to embrace marriage equality.
Just two days after Tennessee advanced its infamous ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, the state of Missouri referred to committee a measure that would eliminate discussions of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in public schools, prohibit teachers from addressing bullying based on sexual orientation, and likely ban gay-straight alliances. HB 2051 states:
170.370. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, no instruction, material, or extracurricular activity sponsored by a public school that discusses sexual orientation other than in scientific instruction concerning human reproduction shall be provided in any public school.
The bill is sponsored by Rep. Stanley Cookson (R) and has attracted 19 GOP co-sponsors, “including the two most powerful leaders in the House, Speaker Steve Tilley and Majority Leader Tim Jones (yes, the same Tim Jones who is a plaintiff in Orly Taitz’ birther lawsuits).”
PROMO, Missouri’s LGBT equality organization, describes its advancement as “a desperate tactic by frightened, bigoted, cynical individuals who are terrified at the advancement the LGBT community has made in breaking down the barriers to full and equal treatment under the law.”
Welcome to The Morning Pride, ThinkProgress LGBT’s daily round-up of the latest in LGBT policy, politics, and some culture too! Here’s what we’re reading this morning, but please let us know what stories you’re following as well. Follow us all day on Twitter at @TPEquality.
- Today is the Day of Silence, when young people silently protest the mistreatment and stigmatization of LGBT youth in schools across the country.
- Is Invisible Children trying to usurp the Day of Silence with its own t-shirt campaign today, complete with pink upside-down triangles that are normally an LGBT symbol?
- The Tennessee Senate approved the “Religious Viewpoints Anti-Discrimination Act,” which (further) opens school doors to prayer and provides an extra sphere of protection for religious speech — presumably including anti-gay rhetoric. The House has yet to vote on it.
- WFMY News, a North Carolina CBS affiliate, dedicated a detailed segment to explaining the potential impact of the discriminatory Amendment One.
- Josh Hutcherson of The Hunger Games and The Kids Are All Right has said that he is more proud of his efforts to support gay rights than any of his acting roles.
- Two anti-bullying videos for the Day of Silence: Duke University students staff and faculty have made an “It Gets Better” video in advance of North Carolina’s Amendment One, while Illinois students have sent a message out to their 40-year-old selves about the challenges of being LGBT in school:
Presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s new foreign policy spokesperson Richard Grenell has an 
The introduction of a 
Just two days after Tennessee 
