Last week, National Organization for Marriage chairman John Eastman referred to adoption as the “second-best” solution for children, including the adopted children of Supreme Court Justices John Roberts and Clarence Thomas. Eastman has since claimed the AP story  misquoted him, but NOM has a long history of claiming biological relationships are superior to adoptive ones, regardless of the sex of the parents.

The comments caught the attention of Jay and Bryan Leffew, a same-sex couple from California that make YouTube videos about their family. They responded in a touching post outlining some of the various forms of stigma they have experienced as adoptive parents, even from other same-sex parents who used surrogacy instead. Their son Daniel, who is now 12-years-old and has lived with them for seven years, wanted to offer a response of his own, so he penned a letter to Chief Justice Roberts about his experience being adopted by his two dads, which he also read aloud for all of YouTube to see:

MARTINEZ-LEFFEW: When I was in foster care, I was told that I was considered unadoptable because of my Goldenhar Syndrome. That is a genetic disorder that affects the whole left side of my body. I lost my little brother Emilio because some people wanted to adopt him, but they weren’t willing to adopt me because of my medical conditions. Lucky for me, that’s when my two dads came along.

I recently found out that you yourself adopted two kids, a boy and a girl, kind of like me and my sister. Family means a lot of different things to different people, but some people believe you have to have the same blood to be a family. You and I both know family goes deeper than blood. I was lucky to be adopted by two guys I can both call dad. [...]

I know you have a tough decision to make with the gay marriage issue, but my family is just as valuable and worthwhile as any other. It’s especially tough for you because I know you don’t necessarily believe in gay marriage religiously; lucky for us, though, you also don’t believe in taking away a right, even from people like us.

Watch it:

Evangelical megapastor, author, and television writer Rob Bell publicly expressed support for marriage equality Sunday, mincing few words as he offered a scathing critique of American evangelicalism.

Speaking before an assembled crowd at Grace Cathedral, an Episcopal church in San Francisco, Bell, an avowed evangelical who has been called the “heir to Billy Graham,” responded to a question about his personal views on same-sex marriage with a firm endorsement of the right to marry.

BELL: I am for marriage. I am for fidelity. I am for love, whether it’s a man and woman, a woman and a woman, a man and a man. I think the ship has sailed and I think the church needs — I think this is the world we are living in and we need to affirm people wherever they are.

Bell, who was promoting his new book What We Talk About When We Talk About God, also expressed frustration with conservative strains of American evangelicalism, saying their theologies “don’t actually shape people into more loving, compassionate people”:

BELL: I think we are witnessing the death of a particular subculture that doesn’t work. I think there is a very narrow, politically intertwined, culturally ghettoized, Evangelical subculture that was told ‘we’re gonna change the thing’ and they haven’t. And they actually have turned away lots of people… We have supported policies and ways of viewing the world that are actually destructive. And we’ve done it in the name of God and we need to repent.”

Listen to the full interview here (his comments on marriage equality come at 42:30):

This is the first time Bell has offered public endorsement for the right to marry, a significant shift that will likely make waves given his prominence among evangelicals. Listed as one of Time Magazine’s top 100 most influential people in the world in 2011, the church Bell founded, Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan, boasts a Sunday attendance of more than 10,000 members.  But his influence extends far beyond the sanctuary walls: his books Love Wins and Velvet Elvis are New York Times bestsellers, and his NOOMA video series is a staple of church youth groups and young adult ministries all over the country. What’s more, Bell left his church in September 2011 to work on a new television series with “Lost” producer Carlton Cuse, setting himself up to have a nationally televised platform through which to express his popular — and increasingly progressive — theological views.

Our guest blogger is Jack Jenkins, Writer and Researcher for the Center for American Progress Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative.

A remarkable new national poll from ABC News and the Washington Post has found that 58 percent of Americans now support marriage equality for same-sex couples, while only 36 remain opposed. This a 45-point shift toward equality since 2004, when opponents significantly outnumbered supporters 66-32. Support continues to be highest among young people (81 percent of adults under 30), Democrats (72 percent), and non-evangelical Christians (70 percent of non-evangelical white Protestants and 59 percent of Catholics). Still, support has risen among all groups. Notably support among people of color (61 percent) was higher than among whites (57 percent), again disproving conservatives’ attempts to drive a racial wedge on the issue of same-sex marriage.

Unsurprisingly, voters’ understanding of homosexuality has improved at a very similar rate to their support for marriage equality. Only 24 percent still believe that being gay is “something that people choose,” but that includes 45 percent of white evangelical Protestants. In contrast, 62 percent believe it’s “just the way they are,” and 73 percent of that group support marriage equality.

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Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) has made quite the splash during his first few months back in office, including calling for President Obama’s impeachment, inviting Ted Nugent to the State of the Union, and taking bets on what his female colleagues might wear. Now, he has expressed his opposition to the Violence Against Women Act, specifically because of its protections for the LGBT community:

STOCKMAN: This is a truly bad bill. This is helping the liberals, this is horrible. Unbelievable. What really bothers — it’s called a women’s act, but then they have men dressed up as women, they count that. Change-gender, or whatever. How is that — how is that a woman?

If Stockman is interested in learning about people whose gender was incorrectly assigned at birth, he could start by learning that the proper word for this community is “transgender,” not “change-gender.” Perhaps then he could meet some trans people, listen to their stories, and learn how transwomen experiences every moment of their lives as women — not “men dressed up as women” — regardless of what conclusions he might draw if he invaded their privacy to inspect their anatomy. Then, he could study the extreme rates of discrimination that transgender people experience, including extreme poverty and rejection from domestic violence shelters. Maybe then he would not be so bothered by the language in the bill.

All people deserve to be protected from violence, particularly the communities that are particularly vulnerable to unfair treatment. Rather than mock people whose identities he doesn’t understand, Stockman might consider actually taking the time to investigate why his fellow lawmakers thought the protections important enough to include.

The New Jersey Senate Health, Human Services, and Senior Citizens Committee just voted 7-1 with 2 abstentions to advance a bill (A3371) that would prohibit licensed therapists from offering ex-gay therapy to minors. Several hours of heated testimony preceded the vote, with proponents telling sharing stories of how ex-gay therapy harmed them and opponents testifying that ex-gay therapy works. The American Psychological Association has determined that efforts to manipulate a person’s sexual orientation are not effective — no study has ever found that such efforts achieve their intended outcomes — and that it may be harmful as well.

California passed a similar bill last year, but a court injunction has prevented it from taking effect. Lawsuits were filed by several ex-gay therapists to block the bill, including the organization NARTH, which claims to be a professional network for ex-gay therapists. The case is awaiting a hearing scheduled for April 17.

At Saturday night’s GLAAD Media Awards, Anderson Cooper accepted the Vito Russo Award, named for the author of The Celluloid Closet, which challenged the inaccurate portrayals of LGBT people in the media. In what is essentially his first public address on LGBT issues since coming out, Cooper paid tribute to Russo and the many other activists who paved the way so that he could do the work he now does:

COOPER: As a gay person, it’s important for me to remember that all of us come from a community whose stories have for too long been forgotten and ignored, a community whose lives have for too long been ridiculed or misrepresented, a community that in spite of all of that has found ways to love and to laugh and to care about one another, a community that has found ways to stand tall and stand up and make ourselves visible.

I know that I’m only able to be on this stage because of generations of gay people who have come before and some of their names are known, but so many more have lived and died in silence, their successes and their sacrifices never recognized in the journals of the day or the history of our times, their lives never even acknowledged, their love hidden in the shadows, hands furtively held in the darkness.

I’ve had many blessings in my life and being gay is certainly one of the greatest blessings. It has allowed me to love and be loved; it’s helped open my head and open my heart in ways that I never could have predicted. The ability to love one another — the ability to love another person is one of God’s greatest gifts and I thank God every day for enabling me to give and share love with people in my life, with my family, my friends, and my partner Benjamin.

Watch it:

Last week, gospel band The Lee Boys announced they were pulling out of the National Organization for Marriage’s anti-equality march next week because “music is about love.” Interestingly, the original blog post on NOM’s site promoting the bands has been taken down. The other band NOM had booked was a group called “Ultramontane,” which supposedly played music with roots in the Celtic folk tradition. The only problem with Ultramontane is that it didn’t exist before last week — it’s a subgroup of a band known as Scythian. This was discovered when some oddly-cropped photos were matched up.

Here was the “Ultramontane” photo NOM posted:

Here’s what Scythian’s webpage looked like until just a few days ago:

The recurring picture is no longer in use on either website. Apparently, “Ultramontane” is three members of Scythian (Alexander Fedoryka, Danylo Fedoryka, and Ben-David Warner) who are willing to support NOM’s anti-gay efforts, whereas the other two members (Andrew Toy and Josef Crosby) did not want to be associated with the march. In fact, drummer Andrew Toy has publicly posted, “I have always been and will always be an LGBT ally and supporter of marriage equality.” The group is performing together both before and after the march, but are temporarily breaking up over the issue of same-sex marriage.

Skyline Music LLC released the following statement on behalf of the band:

Like this country, the members of Scythian are divided on the definition of marriage, but, remaining great friends, they have the utmost respect for each other’s’ freedoms of speech and assembly.

The statement originally appeared on Scythian’s Facebook page, but that is also currently hidden from public display.

Incidentally, “Ultramontane” refers to Catholic philosophy that places strong emphasis on the powers of the Pope and his hierarchical authority — an unsurprising choice given NOM’s tight affiliation with the Catholic Church and the bishops’ opposition to marriage equality. In contrast, “Scythian” refers to an Iranian nomadic people who are believed to be ancestors of the Celts.

As Jamie McGonnigal noted when reporting on the band’s temporary separation, “apparently NOM isn’t happy just breaking up gay and lesbian families.”

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (D) has come out for marriage equality:

CLINTON: LGBT Americans are our colleagues, our teachers, our soldiers, our friends, our loved ones, and they are full and equal citizens and deserve the rights of citizenship. That includes marriage. That’s why I support marriage for lesbian and gay couples. I support it personally and as a matter of policy and law, embedded in a broader effort to advance equality and opportunity for LGBT Americans and all Americans.

Watch Clinton’s full remarks in a video released by the Human Rights Campaign:

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Clinton was  outspoken supporter of LGBT equality, but like President Obama at the time, had not yet come out for marriage equality. During her tenure as Secretary, she largely stayed silent on political issues, but did provide clues that her position had changed. In June 2011, Clinton offered her approval of New York’s passage of marriage equality, calling the legislature’s vote “historic.” In December 2011, she delivered a monumental speech to the United Nations, declaring that “gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights” and that to support LGBT equality is to be “on the right side of history.”

The Republican National Committee’s investigation into its 2012 electoral defeat, dubbed their “Growth & Opportunity Project,” makes clear that it the party wants to expand its outreach to minority groups including Hispanics, Asian and Pacific Islander Americans, African Americans, Women, and Youth. But rather than reaching out to LGBT people, the report suggests, the party need only reach out to the straight young voters who believe in LGBT equality.

In a section called “Demographic Partners,” the report — commissioned by RNC Chairman Reince Priebus — notes that the party’s presidential nominee lost among voters under age 30 by 5 million votes in 2012. But, with a “youthful” 41-year old RNC Chairman and likely 2016 hopefuls who are younger than Vice President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, it suggests that GOP can change its current image as “old and detached from pop culture.”

Since young voters generally disagree with the GOP platform on gay rights and see this and other social issues as the “civil rights issues of our time,” the report recommends that the GOP be “welcoming and inclusive.” But rather than welcoming LGBT people, it endorses inclusion of young conservative people who disagree with the party’s anti-LGBT beliefs but might have conservative views on other issues:

For the GOP to appeal to younger voters, we do not have to agree on every issue, but we do need to make sure young people do not see the Party as totally intolerant of alternative points of view. Already, there is a generational difference within the conservative movement about issues involving the treatment and the rights of gays — and for many younger voters, these issues are a gateway into whether the Party is a place they want to be.

If our Party is not welcoming and inclusive, young people and increasingly other voters will continue to tune us out. The Party should be proud of its conservative principles, but just because someone disagrees with us on 20 percent of the issues, that does not mean we cannot come together on the rest of the issues where we do agree.

It goes on to say: “On messaging, we must change our tone — especially on certain social issues that are turning off young voters.” In other words, the party will continue to oppose equal rights but will do so with a less strident approach.

Rather than work to appeal to the five percent of American voters who identify as LGBT — and preferred the Democratic nominee by a more than three-to-one margin — the GOP new plan is to stand by its exclusion, but try to sound inclusive when doing so.

At Saturday night’s GLAAD Awards, Madonna arrived dressed as a Boy Scout, telling the cheering audience that she always wanted to join the organization but they wouldn’t let her. After making it clear she believes the Boy Scouts of America should “change their stupid policy,” she went on to defend standing up against anti-LGBT views, even while in Russia, because people will become more comfortable with the LGBT community if they become more familiar with it:

MADONNA: Things like bigotry, homophobia, hate crimes, bullying, and any form of discrimination always seems to be a manifestation of fear of the unknown. Most people are not comfortable with things or people that they perceive as different from themselves. And I would wager that if we just took the time to get to know one another, did our own investigation, looked beneath the surface of things… that we would find that we’re not so different after all.

We are also under the illusion that with the wonder of technologies at our fingertips that the world is coming closer together, that people are becoming more familiar with one another, that the distance between one human and another is being diminished. Now, on one that is true, but on the other hand, it is not true. I believe the opposite is taking place, because a picture doesn’t tell a thousand stories — a picture tells a version of a thousand stories, and this supposed intimacy that we think we are gaining is false. It is unearned, it is a trick.

Watch it:

She went on to explain that all religions teach, “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” and so religion should not be used to justify hate or discrimination. Madonna is currently fighting a lawsuit from Russian officials for speaking out for LGBT equality at her concert there.

After speaking, Madonna presented an award to Anderson Cooper.