Yesterday, the Baltimore Sun editorial board condemned the Maryland Marriage Alliance for its “spurious arguments” that marriage equality will somehow impact school curricula or the rights of business owners. The editorial correctly points out that the Maryland General Assembly’s marriage equality law did nothing to impose on school curriculum, which is maintained by superintendents and school boards. Similarly, public accommodations are already protected under state law, and thus business owners are no more entitled to refuse to serve same-sex couples now than they would be if those couples’ relationships are recognized. The Baltimore Sun concludes with a bold endorsement of Question 6:

The opponents are resorting to spurious arguments to convince voters that the law will somehow be unfair to those with objections to gay marriages because they don’t want to face the real question of fairness at stake. Should the law treat people differently because of their sexual orientation? Or should everyone be treated equally? Maryland’s gay marriage ordinance doesn’t require anyone to violate their religious beliefs or personal conscience. As much as we hope the debate over this issue will persuade everyone in the state of the value of acceptance and tolerance, the law doesn’t force anyone to change the way they think. All it does is to remove a major vestige of discrimination from state law, and that is something all Marylanders should be able to support.

Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA)

After winning a special election in 2010 to fill the remainder of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy’s (D-MA) Senate term, Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) is seeking a full term this November. Unlike his challenger, pro-LGBT Democrat Elizabeth Warren, Brown has opposed the LGBT community on several major issues.

Over his time in the Massachusetts state legislature and a Senator:

1. Brown actively worked to repeal marriage equality in Massachusetts and in the District of Columbia. Announcing “I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman,” Brown ran for the Massachusetts state senate in 2004 promising to back a state constitutional amendment to take away the civil marriage rights for same-sex couples that had been granted by the state’s Supreme Judicial Court. He refused to explain his opposition to marriage equality, saying only “It’s just a personal belief, based on my religious upbringing. It’s just my feeling.” In the state senate, he repeatedly voted for anti-LGBT marriage constitutional amendments. In the U.S. Senate, Brown voted to suspend same-sex marriages in DC pending a city-wide referendum. As recently as last year, Brown’s campaign site reaffirmed his belief that “marriage is between a man and a woman.”

2. Brown has opposed efforts to allow legally married same-sex couples in his own state to be recognized federally. Though he now claims that same-sex marriage in Massachusetts is “settled law” and says this issue should be decided on a state-by-state basis, he has opposed efforts to extend federal recognition to his own constituents’ legal unions. When the Obama administration announced it would no longer defend the unconstitutional Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in court, Brown complained, “We can’t have presidents deciding what laws are constitutional and what laws are not.” In 2011, a Brown aide told Bloomberg that the Senator still supports the DOMA, though a 2012 letter from Brown to a constituent carefully avoids expressing any position on the law.

3. Brown stood with Mitt Romney to preserve an anti-miscegenation law used to discriminate against LGBT couples. He was one of just three Senators to oppose repeal of a 1913 anti-interracial marriage law that then-Gov. Mitt Romney used to prevent out-of-state same-sex couples from marrying in Massachusetts.

4. Brown does not support a federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act.In the 111th and 112th Congresses, Brown refused to sign onto a bill to protect LGBT Americans from employment discrimination. Pam’s House Blend reported last September that Brown told a voter he opposed a federal non-discrimination law, saying “the states should take care of it, I believe in states’ rights.”

5. Brown obstructed Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal — which he supported — to ensure tax cuts for the rich. After initially opposing a repeal of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy, Brown announced in December 2010 that he would support allowing gay and lesbian servicemembers to serve openly. But, he announced he would not support even an up-or-down vote on the measure in the Senate until after Congress agreed to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. Even after he got his way on tax cuts, Brown joined a filibuster of the first attempt at repeal before ultimately backing the final version.

6. Brown attacked same-sex parents as “not normal.” In 2001, he told the Boston Globe it was “not normal” for two women to have children. His comments — focused at then-State Sen. Cheryl Jacques and her domestic partner Jennifer Chrisler — also belittled Jacques’ “alleged family responsibilities.” While he later backed off of what he called a “wrong choice of a word that is probably going to crucify me,” Brown has to this day never directly apologized to Jacques and Chrisler.

7. Brown refused to be in the Massachusetts delegation’s “It Gets Better” anti-suicide video. Every member of the 12-person Massachusetts Congressional delegation joined in the effort except Brown. A member of his staff explained that Brown declined to send a message of support to LGBT youth because “His main focus right now is on creating jobs and getting our economy back on track.” Though the staffer claimed Brown has a “strong record” of opposing bullying, he has not co-sponsored any of the anti-bullying bills pending in the Senate.

8. Brown was the lone State Senator to stand with Mitt Romney in opposition to funding for gay and lesbian youth services. In 2006, then-Gov. Romney vetoed an increase in funding for the Governor’s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth. When the Massachusetts Senate overrode Romney’s veto by a 36 to 1 margin, Brown was the lone vote opposing the funding for at-risk LGBT youth.

9. Brown co-sponsored a bill to allow parental notification and opt-opt from any school discussion of “alternative sexual behavior.” He backed a proposed “Parents Rights” Bill to require parental consent for schools to mention “alternative sexual behavior” in the classroom.

Watch the “It Gets Better” video in which Brown refused to appear:

In an April op/ed in the Bay Windows, a New England LGBT newspaper, Brown mocked Warren’s support for pro-equality legislation, saying “I don’t come before you with a checklist of items promising that I will be an advocate for you on each and every one of them. My opponent has already started down that road, promising to support everyone’s pet project. That’s not the way I have ever operated.” Indeed, it is not.

Brown’s re-election to the U.S. Senate would be a huge threat to LGBT people and families.

Recently, the Republican National Convention accidentally leaked a draft of the party’s foreign policy platform. The subsection on foreign aid contained a rather peculiar criticism of President Obama’s policy in the area:

The effectiveness of our foreign aid has been limited by the cultural agenda of the current Administration, attempting to impose on foreign countries, especially the peoples of Africa, legalized abortion and the homosexual rights agenda. At the same time, faith-based groups — the sector that has had the best track record in promoting lasting development — have been excluded from grants because they will not conform to the administration’s social agenda. We will reverse this tragic course, encourage more involvement by the most effective aid organizations, and trust developing peoples to build their future from the ground up.

The phrase “homosexual agenda” is, historically speaking, a term used by anti-gay crusaders to imply that people asking for equal rights have some kind of sinister plan for society. And while it’s true that the Obama campaign has worked to protect gay rights internationally, foreign aid dollars aren’t going to marriage equality campaigns — U.S. money is being used to finance legal and journalistic efforts to protect LGBT Africans from being murdered or jailed for their sexual orientation, a point the President made clear in an official memo on the topic:

I am deeply concerned by the violence and discrimination targeting LGBT persons around the world — whether it is passing laws that criminalize LGBT status, beating citizens simply for joining peaceful LGBT pride celebrations, or killing men, women, and children for their perceived sexual orientation…Agencies engaged abroad are directed to strengthen existing efforts to effectively combat the criminalization by foreign governments of LGBT status or conduct and to expand efforts to combat discrimination, homophobia, and intolerance on the basis of LGBT status or conduct.

Indeed, U.S. pressure on this front caused Malawi, which had recently sentenced a gay couple to 14 years in prison for having sex, to rethink its radically anti-gay laws. Both Liberia and Uganda have proposed executing gay citizens as part of a continent-wide wave of anti-gay legislation aided and abetted by the American Christian Right. Further, anti-gay stigma and legislation contribute significantly to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, suggesting that confronting these problems is critical to addressing the health issues foreign aid is supposed to address.

The criticism of the Administration for imposing “legalized abortion” on African populations is also off-base, as foreign aid has not been used to pressure any country into legalizing abortion. In reality, President Obama’s decision to reverse the Bush-era “global gag rule” that forced foreign aid groups to pledge to have nothing to do with abortion services has significantly improved USAID’s ability to provide effective health care to women in need. The type of faith-based, abstinence-only aid preferred by the GOP, by contrast, has failed to curtail the spread of HIV/AIDS in at least one of the countries where it was heavily used — Uganda.

Vice Presidential Candidate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)’s 2012 budget calls for heavy cuts to foreign aid programs.

Trevor MacDonald (Right) and breastfeeding expert Dr. Jack Newman.

La Leche League is an international nonprofit dedicated to supporting women who breastfeed, and recently it opened its doors to Trevor MacDonald, a Canadian transgender man who had retained his female reproductive organs and wanted to nurse his child. Despite the challenge of having little breast tissue, he successfully breastfed his son, thanks in part to the support he got from La Leche League.

However, when MacDonald said he wanted to give back and support the organization as a leader, LLL was suddenly not so welcoming, telling him that only women could hold leadership positions. But thanks to those who have advocated on MacDonald’s behalf, the organization has said it will revisit the policy:

Our organization is addressing and carefully considering a unique matter raised when a transgender individual, who has self-identified as a father, approached La Leche League Canada with a request to be considered for accreditation as a La Leche League Leader. A La Leche League Leader is a volunteer with specialized knowledge and training in providing mother-to-mother breastfeeding support.

To our knowledge, this topic has never arisen in the 56-year history of our organization. It is important that La Leche League International and its community thoughtfully consider the issues that are being raised and carefully examine its policies applicable to this matter. We are committed to considering all points of view. To that end, the La Leche League International Board of Directors will carefully review all facts and implications of this unprecedented subject. Our top priority  - today and always  - is to create policies and take actions that support our community of volunteers, members and supporters. We look forward to sharing the details about our review process and its outcome in due course.

The subject may be “unprecedented” — and stories like Trevor MacDonald’s may be few — but how society treats transgender parents is an important question to address. Unfortunately, the laws in many states require that people who are transgender undergo complete sexual reassignment surgery if they wish to have their gender recognized under law, for which they pay the price of fertility. Many people who are trans find the identity coherence they need without completing such surgeries, but that makes their gender no less authentic. The idea of a pregnant or breastfeeding man may still be a cultural oddity, but in many ways it represents a celebration of gender identity without the consequence of sterility. All trans people deserve the same right to raise a family, and should be supported, encouraged, and included in the role of parenting as any other parent would be.

NOM's Brian Brown

The National Organization for Marriage was the first organization to exploit the tragic shooting at the Family Research Council, even using it to fuel their fundraising efforts. In a new fundraising email sent out Friday, Brian Brown repeatedly implied that LGBT people are violent and antagonistic, employing the same kind of “incendiary” rhetoric NOM and others have accused the Southern Poverty Law Center of for its “hate group” designations. Here are several examples of what NOM is “fighting back” against:

ACTION NEEDED: Chick-fil-A Under Attack!

Let’s be clear about something: the homosexual lobby and their puppet politicians’ assault on Chick-fil-A is just the beginning.

You see, wealthy homosexual activists, such as the so-called Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, are not merely threatening, bullying, and attempting to destroy a great American business—they are declaring war on anyone who disagrees with their radical agenda.

And why? To bully and intimidate the media and enough politicians and activist judges to force homosexual marriage as the law of the land—thereby destroying the time-tested, God ordained, traditional institution of marriage.

This is unacceptable. It’s time to send a crystal-clear message to the gay activist bullies who want to silence Christians and people of faith who stand up for marriage in America.

While others have backed down to gay “marriage” thugs and bullies, NOM isn’t afraid of a fight. But we can’t sustain this battle unless our supporters step up their urgently needed contributions right now.

Remember: the only way to stop a bully is to fight back and fight harder. And if you make an immediate contribution, NOM will continue to expose and defeat the gay activist bullies who want to silence Christians and impose homosexual “marriage” on all of us.

PS — The homosexual lobby’s assault on Chick-fil-A is a full-frontal assault on all of us who believe in the historic definition of marriage as one man and one woman. And the only way to stop a bully is to fight back and fight harder.

Under attack. Threatening. Bullying. Assault. Attempting to destroy. Declaring war on. Bully and intimidate. Thugs and bullies. Battle. Full-frontal assault. This is how opponents of equality are characterizing the LGBT community.

Brown mentioned several times it’s important to “fight back and fight harder” against people who just want legal security for their loved ones and children. The most telling point he makes is what it will take to “sustain this battle.” Not only is he the one maintaining the effort to diminish same-sex families, but he can’t even bring himself to recognize their existence.

The tragic suicide of Rutgers student Tyler Clementi motivated an important conversation about bullying through the trial of his roommate, Dharun Ravi, who spied on his intimate moments with a webcam. But after nearly two years, Clementi’s mother, Jane Clementi, is opening up about some of her own guilt, because when Tyler came out to her, she still shared her evangelical church’s beliefs that homosexuality was a sin:

JANE CLEMENTI: People talk about coming out of the closet — it’s parents coming out of the closet, too. I wasn’t really ready for that… It did not change the fact that I loved my son. I did need to think about how that would fit into my thoughts on homosexuality.

In the wake of Tyler’s death, she has been troubled by the thought that he may have felt rejected, and she has since left her church:

JANE CLEMENTI: I think some people think that sexual orientation can be changed or prayed over, but I know sexual orientation is not up for negotiation. I don’t think my children need to be changed. I think that what needed changing is attitudes, or myself, or maybe some other people I know… At this point I think Jesus is more about reconciliation and love. He spoke more about divorce than homosexuality, but you can be divorced and join a church more than you can be gay and join churches.

Many other parents have reached out the Clementis to talk about their own gay children, revealing how many families struggle with the shame imposed by their churches. Stigma and condemnation continue to prevent families from developing the understanding and appreciation they need to make sense of a child’s coming out, and in some cases, the results can be quite tragic.