Maine Governor Paul LePage (R) vetoed a bill on Tuesday that would have provided “additional pay to public school teachers who receive special national certification” and specifically pointed to the teachers’ union recent endorsement of a referendum to repeal the state’s ban against same-sex marriage as a reason for his opposition.

In his veto message, LePage claimed that improving the quality of teachers required “a larger more coordinated statewide solution,” before lashing out at the teacher’s union, which would partially fund the certification program. The governor said the union requires teachers to pay dues “which are squandered on a host of activities not even remotely related to professional development” and singled out its position on marriage equality:

“The MEA announced its endorsement recently of the same-sex marriage proposal on the November ballot,” LePage said in a press release Tuesday. “This announcement is an example of what the union is choosing to focus on rather than expanding and enhancing opportunities for teacher development.”

LePage had lashed out at the teacher’s union after members unanimously voted in favor of marriage equality on Sunday. “Too often, however, union bosses worry about a wide variety of efforts — political campaigns, lobbying, protecting bad teachers, insurances sales, and providing golf and skiing discounts — which are not related to furthering the education of our children,” he claimed, dismissing science which has shown that legal and social inequalities undermine LGBT families and their children. Research has also shown that schools that discuss gay and lesbian people are safer for LGBT youth than schools that don’t.

Unfortunately, the governor has a long history of opposing equal rights. In 2010, he claimed that “there is no place for transgendered students in the state’s primary schools” and that the Maine Human Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination because of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental disability, needed to be reformed.

JC Penney's new Fathers' Day ad

JCPenney has just launched a Fathers’ Day advertisement featuring a gay couple with their children, noting that the ad portrays “real-life dads Todd Koch and Cooper Smith with their children, Claire and Mason.”

The copy reads:

First Pals: What makes Dad so cool? He’s the swim coach, tent maker, best friend, bike fixer and hug giver — all rolled into one. Or two.

The ad builds on the department store’s recent decisions to stand with the LGBT community. In February, when JCPenney came under fire from the anti-gay group One Million Moms for bringing on the openly-gay comedian Ellen DeGeneres as a spokesperson, the store stood behind its partnership with Ellen. JCPenney’s CEO said that “Ellen represents the values of our company” — and with this kind of pro-equality advertising, JCPenney is continuing to reinforce its progressive values.

In churches across the country, bigoted pastors with political missions are preaching hate speech every Sunday.

Despite the Bible’s message of love, compassion, and respect, there are an unknown number of conservative congregation heads using their pulpits to push animosity and hate — aimed mostly at the political hot topics of the day.

In the fallout from President Obama’s endorsement of marriage equality, video and audio has cropped up of several right-wing pastors in different states advocating physical violence toward gay people and generally disparaging the LGBT community. Here are some of the worst religious messages being shared at church:

–North Carolina Pastor argues for a gay concentration camp. Charles Worley told his congregation, “Have that fence electrified so [the homosexuals] can’t get out. Feed ‘em, and– And you know what? In a few years they’ll die out. You know why? They can’t reproduce.”

– Kansas Pastor says gays should be put to death. Curtis Knapp tells his church, “Oh, so you’re saying we should go out and start killing them? No, I’m saying the government should. They won’t, but they should.” Listen:

– Indiana Pastor says gay marriage leads to abuse of children. “A decision to allow same-sex marriages today lays the foundation for the definition of marriage to become Silly Putty tomorrow capable of endless reshaping in the future,” says Pastor Paul Brewster. “That, in turn, is a recipe for children to be made victims of all sorts of abuse and the welfare of our society to receive a fatal blow.”

– Maryland Pastor says his ‘flesh’ likes the idea of killing gays. Dennis Leatherman shouts, “Kill them all. Right? I will be very honest with you. My flesh kind of likes that idea. But it grieves the Holy Spirit. It violates Scripture.” Listen:

– Pastor advocates child abuse on gay children. Sean Harris says if a son shows what is perceived as effeminate behavior, a parent should “squash that like a cockroach,” and if they see their son “dropping the limp wrist, you walk over there and crack that wrist. Man up. Give him a good punch.”

– At church, a child sings “ain’t no homo gonna make it to heaven” — in the same town where a fifteen year old killed himself after being bullied for being perceived of as gay by his classmates. Pastor Jeff Sangl of the Apostolic Truth Tabernacle cheers on.Watch it:

These incidents were caught on video or audio, but there are likely many, many more sermons where hate speech goes unrecorded and unrecognized. These pastors, of course, do not represent Christians broadly, but where this hatefulness goes unchecked, it discredits religious institutions as a whole and harms every neighborhood that it infiltrates.

Last month, Dr. Robert Spitzer, the psychologist who helped declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder, disavowed a study he published just a decade ago suggesting that ex-gay therapy could be effective. Acknowledging the many flaws in his research, he apologized “to any gay person who wasted time and energy undergoing some form of reparative therapy.” He even published these remarks in a letter to the editor of the Archives of Sexual Behavior, essentially retracting the study to the fullest extent he can.

Nevertheless, ex-gay organizations have continued to use his study and previous remarks defending the study against his wishes. The Mormon ex-gay group Evergreen International insisted it will still use the study, calling it “good science,” regardless of Spitzer’s admissions to the contrary. Another ex-gay organization, PFOX, is still using video of Spitzer defending the study, as well as the study itself. In a new interview with Truth Wins Out, Spitzer specifically addressed the PFOX video, but admitted it’s unlikely ex-gay groups will ever subside in their “hateful” efforts:

SPITZER: I ask that PFOX stop showing this video. This is quite misleading. I had no way, really, of knowing when I examined any particular subject whether they really had changed or whether they were deceiving themselves or even outright lying when they claimed that they had changed. So, please don’t show this [video] to anyone. [...]

The people who are pushing the ‘ex-gay’ idea are so full of hatred for homosexuality, really, that I don’t think they can respond in an ethical way.

If people can recognize that being a homosexual is something that cannot be changed and that efforts to change are going to be disappointing and can be harmful, if that can be more widely known that would be very good. If somebody is troubled that they are homosexual, what they ought to do is face up to that and so something so they are more comfortable living with the way they are, because any attempt to change is misguided.

Watch the full interview:

Spitzer’s study may have been faulty, but the 80-year-old researcher seems to be doing everything he can to make amends for it. Any organization that claims his prior work as valid proof that sexual orientation can be changed is lying with malicious — and harmful— intent.

Tony Perkins isn’t the only anti-gay conservative coming to dinner — so is the National Organization for Marriage’s Brian Brown. Brown has accepted Dan Savage’s invitation to join his family for dinner and have a recorded debate moderated by Mark Oppenheimer from the New York Times. His only stipulation was that he wanted to bring his own camera crew, just to ensure that neither side distorts the debate. Savage replied that he’s going to have to scrub his home of all symbols of his Catholic heritage, lest Brown take offense:

It looks like I’m gonna have to clear all the Catholic kitch out of our living room and dining room — my 5′ plaster Jesus, our 3′ plaster Mary, all my other plaster saints, the dozens of rosaries hanging around their plaster necks, the stack of disintegrating hymnals on the mantle, etc. Wouldn’t want Brian to think there’s something disrespectful about our collection. Our Catholic kitch is all family heirlooms. My late grandfather’s rosaries, most of them prayed to pieces, were headed to the dump when I picked them out of the trash. But will knowing that my 5′ plaster Jesus has been evacuated to our bedroom be more of a torment for Brian?

The recorded meeting of these two dining and debating will be a serious milestone to watch — twice, to see what both camera crews capture and edit. Perkins’ dinner with the Family Equality Council’s Jennifer Chrisler will not be similarly documented, but the fallout will still be noteworthy. Perhaps Brown and Perkins believe this an important opportunity to stand on their principles, but perhaps these invitations have simply painted them into a corner. By accepting the invitations, they seem willing to at least dignify the humanity of these families, which is encouraging. If, however, they meet these children and then still persist in denying them the security of being legally connected to both of their parents, it will be that much harder — and uglier — for them to justify their anti-equality positions.

Last week, Dharun Ravi was sentenced to 30 days in jail and three years of probation for using his webcam to spy on his Rutgers University roommate Tyler Clementi, who shortly thereafter committed suicide. This was far short of the 10 years maximum and deportation Ravi could have received. During the sentencing the judge noted Ravi’s reluctance to apologize for his misdeeds, as well as the calculated way he tried to cover them up. Now, as Ravi heads to jail for a month, he has finally issued an apology, describing his actions as “thoughtless” and “childish”:

RAVI: Last Monday, I was sentenced to 3 years probation, 300 hours of community service, a fine of more than $10,000.00, and 30 days in jail. Since the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office appealed that sentence, the sentence does not have to start until the appeal is decided. Nevertheless, I decided to accept and hopefully complete the sentence as soon as possible. It’s the only way I can go on with my life.

I accept responsibility for and regret my thoughtless, insensitive, immature, stupid and childish choices that I made on September 19, 2010 and September 21, 2010. My behavior and actions, which at no time were motivated by hate, bigotry, prejudice or desire to hurt, humiliate or embarrass anyone, were nonetheless the wrong choices and decisions. I apologize to everyone affected by those choices. I am surrendering myself to the Middlesex County Correctional Facility on Thursday, May 31, 2012, to start my 30-day period of imprisonment.

Intentionally rallying friends to invade a roommate’s privacy while he’s being intimate with another man seems very much about humiliation and embarrassment, which suggests Ravi still doesn’t fully take responsibility for his actions. Nevertheless, he seems to have taken ownership of his fate and has finally admitted that he has done wrong, which will hopefully allow everybody affected by the loss of Tyler to move forward.