Students at numerous universities are petitioning their administrations to end their contracts with Chick-fil-A because the company uses its profits to support anti-gay hate groups and ex-gay ministries. In many cases, this would involves evicting the fast food chain from its current place as an on-campus vendor, a significant endeavor. At Davidson College in North Carolina, however, it was a question of whether the college’s Union Board would continue to patronize Chick-fil-A and serve its food at its monthly “After Midnight” events on campus. In response to petition signatures from almost 500 students (over 25 percent of the entire student body),  the Union Board said that it will find alternatives to Chick-fil-A until the full board can convene and make a permanent decision:

In response to the Chick-Fil-A petition we have been presented with,

We reached out to the Union Board members to begin initial conversations but because the board operates on consensus decision-making, a final decision is being put off until we can have face to face conversations and gather more student input. Until a final decision is made, alternative options will be served at After Midnight and other Union Board events. The Davidson College Union Board is firmly committed to building an inclusive community that serves each member of our student body.

Davidson is a private college that maintains a loose affiliation with the Presbyterian Church USA, which began ordaining gay and lesbian clergy last year. The campus maintains a nondiscrimination policy requiring that non-college groups that operate on campus not discriminate based on sexual orientation, protections not included in Chick-fil-A’s own corporate policies.

A PFOX flier calling on people to "please respect our choice" to be ex-gay.

As SB 1172, a California bill to protect children from the harms of ex-gay therapy, continues to advance, those who defend the junk science are responding more and more desperately. PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays) is a fringe group that claims to advocate for the rights of avowed ex-gays, asserting that those who have repressed their sexual orientation are victimized by LGBT activists — they are victims, but for a very different reason. The group wrote to Sen. Ted Lieu (D) last week, attacking him for sponsoring a bill that “smacks of fascism and ex-gay bashing” and harms children:

Sponsoring legislation endorsed by the gay lobby to ensure that children only receive gay-affirming therapy is an act of childhood endangerment and an unconstitutional attempt to deny parental rights everywhere, but especially for parents in California and those in your Torrance district.  Your bill will turn California into a nanny state by usurping the civil rights of parents who support their child’s right to receive therapy for unwanted same-sex attractions, especially when that child has been sexually molested. This smacks of fascism and ex-gay bashing. [...]

You endanger youth by denying their right to receive therapeutic help, promoting homosexual behavior to sexually confused youth, and conveniently ignoring the facts about the psychological and physical health risks of sodomy. By your comments, it appears you lack credible knowledge about changeable sexual preference and that you have obtained biased information without consulting the ex-gay community.

PFOX goes on to cite a CDC study about the high rates of HIV transmission among men who have sex with men, asking Lieu, “Why do you want to prevent youth from receiving counseling for unwanted same-sex attractions when those attractions can kill them?”

No doubt, the greatest danger to children is when their identities — their very lives — are not only stigmatized by their families, but forcibly rejected through these outlandish “therapies” that have no basis in psychological research. Family rejection has significant consequences for LGBT youth, including poor academic performance,  depression and substance abuse, and homelessness. In fact, LGBT youth who struggle to come out at school or home are more likely to contract HIV. PFOX may object to affirmation of gay, lesbian, and bisexual identities, but the American Academy of Pediatricians has called for such affirmation for decades, because it is in the best interest of children’s mental health. Parents have no “civil right” to subject their children to the abuse of ex-gay therapy.

A Change.org petition is rallying support for Gov. Jerry Brown (D) to sign the bill should it pass the Assembly and Senate, which it seems poised to do by the end of this month. The first of its kind, this anti-ex-gay therapy bill would revolutionize the dignity LGBT people have in society by protecting young people from harmful stigma.

The Log Cabin Republicans were quick to defend Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) on Saturday upon the announcement he would be Mitt Romney’s running mate in the presidential election. Despite Ryan’s odious record on LGBT issues, LCR executive director R. Clarke Cooper chose to highlight Ryan’s only pro-LGBT vote, describing him as a “fair-minded policymaker”:

COOPER: Congressman Paul Ryan is a strong choice for vice president, and his addition to the GOP ticket will help Republican candidates up and down the ballot. As chairman of the House Budget Committee and author of the Republican “path to prosperity” that provided the blueprint for serious spending cuts in this Congress, nobody is more qualified to articulate a conservative economic vision to restore the American economy and stimulate job creation.

At the same time, Congressman Ryan’s 2007 vote in favor of the Employment Nondiscrimination Act and his consistent willingness to engage with Log Cabin on a range of issues speaks to his record as a fair-minded policymaker. Overall, while Log Cabin Republicans have not completed the endorsement process for the 2012 presidential election, this is a choice that all Republicans can be excited about, and which sends a good message about the kind of campaign Governor Romney wants to run, and the kind of president Governor Romney wants to be.

Lauding Ryan’s budget plan shows how little investment the Log Cabin Republicans have for the gays and lesbians they claim to serve, because it would cut essential social services that same-sex families depend upon. One half-hearted vote for ENDA — which only came after he tried to kill the bill — in no way excuses the many votes Ryan has taken to inhibit full equality for the LGBT community.

Jerame Davis, executive director of National Stonewall Democrats, offered a more pragmatic perspective on the Ryan pick in terms of LGBT equality:

DAVIS: Mitt Romney’s choice of Tea Party darling Paul Ryan as his running mate is as crass as it is cunning. Romney knows the Tea Party base of the GOP still doesn’t trust him or believe in his conservative credentials; his choice of Ryan is nothing more than a craven attempt to shore up his base. Though Ryan brings relative youth and excites the base, he has little experience aside from being a Washington politician beholden to corporations and the wealthy. [...]

Ryan’s opposition to civil rights for LGBT people certainly matches Mitt Romney’s, but unlike Romney’s gutless pandering to the religious right, Ryan is a true believer. For LGBT voters there’s nothing in this pick but more disappointment and disregard.

Mitt Romney’s selection of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) as his vice presidential running mate cements the Republican ticket’s overwhelming opposition to LGBT equality. In fact, Ryan has a voting record to reflect every anti-LGBT position that Romney has taken. Here’s a recap:

• Banning state-level same-sex marriage. Just as Romney opposed same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, Ryan supported the 2006 ban on same-sex marriage in Wisconsin.
• Supporting a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Romney has promised to campaign on a federal marriage amendment, but Ryan has already voted for one — twice, in 2004 and in 2006.
• Defending discrimination against same-sex couples. President Obama announced last year he would no longer defend the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act, a decision Romney has characterized as an “assault on religion.” Ryan voted to limit funding to the Justice Department that might be used to oppose DOMA by the Obama administration.
• Opposing federal non-discrimination protections. Romney believes that states should get to decide whether LGBT people are protected from employment discrimination, and similarly, Ryan voted to kill the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in 2007, though he ultimately voted for it. His refusal to include sexual orientation and gender identity in his Congressional office’s nondiscrimination policy demonstrates where he stands.
• Opposing repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Though Romney has said he would not reinstate the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military, he did oppose repealing it until “conflict was over” (i.e. the never-ending “War on Terror“).  In 2010, Ryan voted against the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
• Opposing hate crimes protections. Just as Romney vetoed a bill funding hate crimes prevention in Massachusetts in 2003, Ryan voted against expanding the federal hate crimes law to protect the LGBT community.

Ryan is perhaps best known for his budget, and that too would devastate LGBT families by eliminating many of the public services they depend upon because of the economic inequities they face. By selecting Ryan as his running mate, Romney is guaranteeing his commitment to rolling back much of the progress the LGBT community has achieved over the past two decades.