Earlier this year, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) proposed lifting its ban on gay Scouts and leaders, but a swift backlash — particularly from Mormon-funded chapters in Utah — delayed action. On Friday, the BSA announced a proposal that would lift the ban on gay Scouts, but maintain the ban on gay leaders. This proposal would have to receive approval from the roughly 1,400 voting members of the Scouts’ National Council when it meets the week of May 20.

The Scouts conducted surveys of its members in order to determine the best way forward on the controversial anti-gay policies and based its proposal on these results. An internal survey from last year found that an overwhelming number of people felt the measure “negatively impacted their loyalty.”

Though allowing gay Scouts is an important step forward, continuing to ban gay adult leaders is particularly problematic. It is an acquiescence to conservatives’ claims that gay leaders are a threat to children’s safety, an assumption that reinforces false stereotypes that gay people are more likely to be pedophiles.

During a floor speech on Wednesday, Iowa state Sen. Dennis Guth (R) made a wide range of inflammatory and offensive remarks about LGBT Americans. Among other things, Guth claimed that homosexuality breeds mental health problems like depression, shortens people’s life spans, presents public health risks to straight Americans — including Guth’s family — and even contributes to the downfall of civilizations.

Radio Iowa chronicled Guth’s diatribe:

Guth said there are “numerous” health and mental problems associated with homosexuality that “ultimately” shorten the lives of gays and lesbians.

“There are health risks that my family incurs because of the increase of sexually transmitted infections that this lifestyle invites. For example, there are more and more medical tests required before giving blood or giving birth,” Guth said.

Guth said “many civilizations have fallen” because the traditional family was not protected and he argued the homosexual lifestyle “is a lie.”

“If I saw someone going the wrong way on a one-way street, I would make every effort to stop and redirect them,” Guth said. “Simply put, it saves lives to have honest communication not only about the sexually transmitted diseases that shorten lifespans, but also about the deep loneliness that accompanies a life based on youth, beauty and sex.”

You can listen to Guth’s entire speech here.

As Guth’s fellow Sen. Matt McCoy (D) pointed out after the speech, Guth’s accusations are ignorant and based on talking points from hard-right Christian and social conservative groups, not science. In fact, increasing acceptance of LGBT communities decreases societal stigma surrounding homosexuality and consequently improves LGBT Americans’ mental health; Guth’s family would be equally at risk for sexually transmitted infections from straight people if they don’t use safe sex practices; and both the medical community and lawmakers from both parties agree that barriers to LGBT Americans donating blood and organs is an outdated relic not supported by any actual public health risks.

This week, South Africa and Norway cohosted the International Conference on Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Oslo, which was designed to follow through on the United Nations’ resolution to support LGBT human rights. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon submitted a video message to the conference, pointing out that culture, tradition, and religion cannot justify the denial of human rights:

BAN: We must institutionalize our efforts to address discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. We need public education to change popular attitudes.

Some will oppose change. They may invoke culture, tradition or religion to defend the status quo. Such arguments have been used to try to justify slavery, child marriage, rape in marriage and female genital mutilation.

I respect culture, tradition and religion – but they can never justify the denial of basic rights.

Watch it:

Ban has previously decried anti-LGBT violence as a “monumental tragedy,” calling on African leaders in particular to end the criminalization of homosexuality and the ongoing persecution of LGBT people.

Michigan-based Republican National Committeeman Dave Agema is offering no apologies for his Facebook posts claiming that homosexuality is rife with health consequences and “usually leads to early death.” Instead, he doubled down on them in a conversation with the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins during his radio show Wednesday. In addition to reiterating that homosexuality is a chosen “lifestyle” comparable to alcoholism, Agema went on to claim that schools are actually going to turn kids gay:

AGEMA: First of all, what will happen to your school kids when they are in school. It’s already being taught in a lot of places that it is an accepted lifestyle. Then the next thing that will occur is your kids will come home and say, “I think this is a good thing and I think I want to be one,” and if you as a parent stand up and say, “You know what, this is against my moral beliefs and my biblical beliefs,” then the next thing you’re going to get into is hate crimes because you’re speaking against something that’s been sanctioned by the state. If you look at Denmark and others then the state also tells the churches you have to marry homosexuals and if you don’t what may happen in the United States is you might lose your tax exempt status.

So this all blew up and so I made a web page here listing several other studies that show the harmful effects of the homosexual lifestyle. Just imagine this, if our kids are in school instead of being told that this is an acceptable and OK lifestyle we are actually briefed and taught the ramifications of this lifestyle, that you’re going to live twenty years less than the average person, you are going to die younger and here’s all the diseases you’re going to contract, there’d be a totally different philosophy here instead of basically telling the kids that this is good. So I think we got to go into this with our eyes wide open and what the 2 or 3 percent of homosexuals what they are doing in the United States today is trying to get the courts to do what they can’t get the individual states to do, and that’s dictate that all states will accept homosexual marriage.

Listen to it (via RightWingWatch):

Perkins agreed with all of Agema’s points — notably because the Family Research Council promotes the same ideas — calling them “documented facts” that a person should be able to share without being “a bigot or a hater.”

As Harvey Milk joked when he was fighting the Briggs Initiative in 1978, “If teachers are going to affect you as role models, there’d be a lot of nuns running around the streets today”:

University LGBT resource centers in Texas may be safe for now. Thursday night, state Rep. Bill Zedler (R) withdrew his amendment to the appropriations bill that would have cut funding for any public universities that provided support service for LGBT students. Zedler did not explain his decision to withdraw, but his actions mirror those of Rep. Wayne Christian (R) who proposed then withdrew a similar measure in 2011.

Zedler’s bill not-so-subtly suggested that homosexuality directly causes disease:

An institution of higher education may not use money appropriated to the institution under this Act, or any property or facility of the institution funded by appropriations under this Act, to support, promote, or encourage any behavior that would lead to high risk behavior for AIDS, HIV, Hepatitis B, or any sexually transmitted disease.

Though Zedler’s amendment is not advancing, efforts are still underway to undermine the support for LGBT students, particularly at Texas A&M University, where students are attempting to opt-out of funding the campus’s center on religious grounds.

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) has endorsed marriage equality, making him the second Republican in the Senate to do so. With Vice President Joe Biden the tie-breaker, this marks the first time that a majority in the U.S. Senate has endorsed same-sex marriage.

Kirk posted on his blog Tuesday: “When I climbed the Capitol steps in January, I promised myself that I would return to the Senate with an open mind and greater respect for others. Same-sex couples should have the right to civil marriage. Our time on this Earth is limited, I know that better than most. Life comes down to who you love and who loves you back– government has no place in the middle.”

Though Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts claimed that week that “political leaders are falling all over themselves” to support marriage equality, Kirk and Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) are the only sitting Senate Republicans to date who have done so. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said last week she is “evolving” on the issue.

With Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE)’s endorsement earlier Tuesday, 48 members of Senate Democratic caucus have announced their support for marriage equality.

Meet the 50 Senators who support marriage equality:

With over a quarter of a million people in the U.S. who are both LGBT and undocumented, immigration reform that offers a path to earned citizenship to the undocumented would be a monumental achievement in the fight for LGBT equality. Citizenship would mean better wages, greater employment security, and increased access to social services for a population that exists at intersection of two already marginalized populations—the LGBT population and the undocumented population.

A recent analysis by the Williams Institute found that there were at least 267,000 LGBT undocumented people in the United States today.  Today, the Center for American Progress released a video highlighting the human stories behind the 267,000 people in the United States that are both LGBT and undocumented:

Progress is being made on Capitol Hill toward advancing a bipartisan bill that would lift 11.1 million undocumented immigrants out of the shadows. Right now, we need LGBT voices to come out in support for immigration reform to build on this momentum. In advance of next week’s march for immigration reform in Washington, DC on April 10th, LGBT advocates and allies are hoping to gather at least 267,000 supporters — one for every undocumented LGBT adult living in the U.S. A new petition pledge is providing the opportunity for allies to demonstrate their solidarity.

To sign a pledge and come #out4citizenship, visit www.out4citizenship.org and show support for immigration reform that offers citizenship to the undocumented, whether they are LGBT or not.

 

Our guest bloggers are Crosby Burns and Ann Garcia, policy analysts at the Center for American Progress.

During an appearance on NBC’s Meet The Press Sunday morning, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) admitted that a Republican presidential candidate who supports marriage equality is “inevitable” and that such a candidate would receive widespread support from across the political spectrum.

While Flake’s statement is reflective of rapidly shifting U.S. attitudes towards support for LGBT Americans — and come at the end of watershed week when the Supreme Court took up cases regarding the constitutionality of anti-gay laws Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act — it appears that cultural tide hasn’t quite swept up Flake with it yet, as the senator stood by his narrow interpretation of “traditional marriage” between one man and one woman:

CHUCK TODD (HOST): Let me ask you on gay marriage. Could you support a Republican presidential candidate some day who supported same-sex marriage?

FLAKE: Oh, I think that’s inevitable. There will be one and he will receive bipartisan support — or she will. So I think that yes, the answer is yes.

TODD: And where are you on this issue, you say it’s inevitable. Are you — Lisa Murkowski, a Republican colleague of yours called it evolving on the issue. Are you evolving to use her words on this issue?

FLAKE: I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman I still hold to the traditional definition of marriage.

TODD: Is there something that you — are you thinking about it? Can you imagine changing your position before you left the U.S. Senate?

FLAKE: I can’t. I tell you, in the past I’ve supported repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. I’ve supported the [The Employment] Nondiscrimination Act as well, but I hold to the traditional definition of marriage.

Flake and other politicians opposing marriage equality find themselves on the wrong side of history and, increasingly, the opinion of the American public. Support for marriage equality has skyrocketed in recent years, and the latest election cycle saw the election of the first openly-gay U.S. senator, as well as the first openly bisexual U.S. congresswoman.

Still, a Republican nominee who supports marriage equality would face significant hurdles from members of their own party, as social conservatives have threatened to revolt if the GOP abandons its hardline views on LGBT rights and marriage equality. In fact, during a separate appearance on Fox News Sunday, former RNC chair Ed Gillespie hinted that the growing support for marriage equality could force Republicans to drop their call for a federal amendment against marriage equality from their platform.

Dave Agema is a member of the Republican National Committee, but 21 Michigan Republicans are calling on him to step down after he posted some virulently anti-gay remarks on Facebook. His original post Wednesday was an excerpt from an anti-gay screed by Frank Joseph, M.D. that claims students are being “indoctrinated that homosexuality is just another normal alternative lifestyle.” After being called out, Agema stood firm, defending his posting of Joseph’s remarks in an email:

His findings and others confirm its an unhealthy lifestyle. The gay activists portray themselves as innocent victims ; however, we who believe in traditional, time tested values are being bullied. Because I disagree with their views, I have had threats to me and my family- thats hate! This is not about hate but a lifestyle that is against 230 years of American history and filled with medical, psychological, legal and costs reasons to oppose it. If you truly loved someone, you would want them to know their lifestyle usually leads to early death. It’s about common sense. It’s about maintaining the family and its importance to the well being of the children and this nation.

Agema added that, though he has deleted the original post, he has no intention of stepping down or backing down:

I will not back down. I will dig in and fight even harder to defend our conservative values from these attacks by liberals in the media, and even in our own party.

In 2011, Agema sponsored a bill to prohibit public employers from providing domestic partner benefits to the same-sex partners of employees. Faculty at the University of Michigan threatened to take their expertise to another state if it passed, but when Gov. Rick Snyder (R) signed it into law, he promised that it would not impact higher education institutions.

Many of the Republicans who have rebuked Agema have maintained that the party opposes same-sex marriage, but they oppose his brand of condemnation of gay people. This is particularly ill-timed as the GOP is attempting to sugarcoat the public’s perception of its opposition to LGBT equality.