After a blogosphere outrage last night and today(here, here, here and here, Ira Glass made the decision to tell OPB that he want to change the venue of his Portland visit. Why you ask? the venue OPB chose was New Hope Community Church in Clakamas. What's wrong with a church you ask? Well nothing, but this one? Something.

According to C&E documents, New Hope Community Church gave 7k to the anti-gay Measure 36 in 2004 and their pastor also gave an additional 1k.

Not enough? During the 2007 legislative session New Hope actively lobbied against Oregon's Domestic Partnership and Anti-Discrimination laws.

Not enough? New Hope is currently collecting signatures to overturn these two laws.

OPB is also paying them a reported $1500 for rental of the space. That my friends is enough. After Ira requested that the venue change, OPB declares that it will stand by its decision to have the event at New Hope - despite more than 8 other locations being offered to them.

CALL. EMAIL. Info below:

John Bell, who booked the venue: jbell@opb.org
Booking agent: steven@barclayagency.com
Also, you can reach the whole OPB board at board@opb.org

Oregon Public Broadcasting:
503.244.9900

Take action now.

Labels: basic rights oregon, entertainment, evangelical

Just a quick note about Republican Sen. Larry Craig. The media keeps reporting that he has 3 children and 9 grandchildren. I think it is important to make it clear that they aren't actually his biological children, but children by marriage.

That's all for now 'kids'.

Labels: evangelical, idaho, republican, scandal

They're mad and that is A-OK with me, I'm just not sure if I actually believe why they are mad.

Trying to filter through the lies and rhetoric of Oregon's extreme Christian right can be a bit difficult sometimes. As much as one would like to believe that they don't fill their newsletters with lies and deception in a blatant attempt to mislead their followers can be anything but easy.

This morning I got an email from "Restore America", this is one of the three main groups heading up the attempt to overturn Oregon's brand new Domestic Partnership law and the new statewide Anti-Discrimination law. They seem to be all up in arms about Oregon evangelical church leaders who are refusing to participate in helping them to gather signatures for these anti-family, anti-equality drives.

Here is an excerpt from their newsletter:

For two months now it has become increasingly clear that many, if not most, of the leading Evangelical Churches in Oregon have given up the battle to protect and preserve traditional marriage.

Only three years ago these same churches, at the urging of Dr. James Dobson, mounted a furious and successful effort that Amended the Oregon Constitution to read that marriage was "between a man and a woman only."

With their retreat, which has been glaring, and contradictory to earlier statements, comes the obvious conclusion that the new form of marriage called 'domestic partnerships' created by the legislature, and in violation of the Constitution, is 'okay' with them.

They go on to cite an email from one of their supporters in which they tell the story of their church leaders not wanting to participate.

I'm trying to draw some conclusions here. In no particular order here they are.

They are making shit up to get their based revved up about going out and doubling their efforts when gathering signatures, but sadly once you read the email you are left deflated and without much hope for this attempt.

They are serious about church leaders not wanting to be involved in this. As we saw during the legislative session, there was a bold letter from over 170 churches in Oregon who stood in solidarity with both the statewide Anti-Discrimination legislation and the Domestic Partnership bill. No objections from them, just full support and their stamp of approval.

In addition, they belong to a very small minority of Oregonians who see this as an equivalent to marriage. I sincerely believe that it is no secret that Domestic Partnerships seriously lack weight in comparison to marriage and in being a Christian, being able to protect your family in times of crisis is a strong Christian value. Family is a fundamental Christian value and Oregon's church leaders see this need.

Over 75 percent of Oregonians believe that a person should NOT be fired from their job SIMPLY because they are gay or lesbian. Included in that over 75% are evangelical church leaders.

So what now?

After reading their email I walked away with a sense of, well not really a sense of much. I know that with such a low threshold of signatures needed (55,179) that both of these could easily be out on the ballot, so is this simply an attempt to liven up their base or is this a move of desperation?

My assumption is that it is somewhere in the middle of both of those. In no way, shape or form should we ever underestimate the power of our opposition and never should we give up our vigilance, but is there hope? Is it possible that we won't see Domestic Partnerships or Anti-Discrimination referendums on the 2008 ballot?

In any case, as I said, we need to never lose that vigilance. This comes from Basic Rights Oregon late last week:

SPOTTING PETITION FRAUD
Folks, you are the eyes and the ears across Oregon and we need your help in spotting petition fraud by our opposition.

If you spot a referendum petition gatherer you should:

1.) Check to see if they're carrying Referendum Petitions #303 and #304.
2.) CALL US immediately and tell us where, what time/date, and whether the petitioner was carrying the full text of the bills or not. (It is against the law for them to not be carrying both bills on their person.)

If you see someone attempting to gather signatures for these anti-equality petitions, call Thomas at 503.222.6151 or email him at Thomas@basicrights.org.

That's all for now. There are 45 days left until these anti-equality, anti-family and frankly anti-Oregon groups have until they are required to turn in signatures. That is a month-and-a-half, plenty of time for them to collect more than enough sigs.

Labels: 2008 elections, ballot measure, basic rights oregon, evangelical, house bill 2007, oregon, senate bill 2

To no surprise, Representative Richardson continues to sling disparaging remarks about the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. In a recent press release he sent out regarding Basic Rights Oregon calling him out on his comparison between the massacre at Virginia Tech and the passage of Senate Bill 2 and House Bill 2007. He said, "It is regrettable that Basic Rights Oregon continues it's policy of providing misinformation to the public."

Ech hem.

A 'policy of misinformation' seems to be the standard protocol for Richardson's office. Whether comparing the GLBT community to smokers and drug addicts, or stating on the floor of the Oregon House that 'gays were more likely to commit crimes against children', it is painfully clear that his erroneous rhetoric is nothing but bigotry and completely uninformed.

For a man who claims to stand for pro-family values, he sure has no problem tossing thousands of Oregon families to the wolves--left to fend for themselves in times of extreme crisis.

As Oregon's Domestic Partnerships bill (HB 2007) heads to the Senate floor, I hope that all Senators are able to see through the fabrications of propaganda of which Rep. Richardson's blurred belief system in regards to gay and lesbians and their families.

As Basic Rights Oregon said in a recent their statement condemning Rep. Richardson's remarks, "While our nation mourns the unprecedented loss of life at Virginia Tech, and tries to recover from the enormity of this loss, Rep. Richardson makes a vulgar comparison insulting to not only Oregonians, but to those most deeply impacted by the massacre. For Richardson to say that protecting Oregon families in times of crisis is equivalent to the mass murder of some of the best and brightest America has to offer is beyond extremely distasteful--it is outright abhorrent."

BRO also said, "Oregonians know the value of being able to protect your family--and this bill directly reflects that long-held belief. Basic Rights Oregon is very optimistic that Oregon's Senators vote will in favor of basic fairness for all Oregon families, a value very much in step with the majority of Oregonians."

Enough said.

Labels: anti gay, basic rights oregon, discrimination, evangelical, gay rights, HB 2007, legislature, oregon

Male escort, Mike Jones, who was responsible for bringing down Ted Haggard, recently put up the massage table he "used with Ted Haggard"--up on eBay. No seriously... Mike Jones described the purple massage table as, "where it all happened".

A day before bidding was to end, eBay took down the auction claiming the sale violated eBay's fundraising policy. All money was going to be donated to Project Angel Heart, an organization that delivers meals to people living with HIV/AIDS.

Personally, I think it is a bunch of bullshit for eBay to take the auction down. Supposedly an "ex-gay" organization had it's "members" write a bunch of emails and complain to eBay.

The price for the table prior to them taking it down was $1275.00--it started at $400.

-GS

Labels: evangelical

Ann Coulter begins to see the backlash of her anti-gay slurs that she made last week at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Three large companies have pulled ads from her website... more expected. Republicans and Democrats alike have released statements condemning Coulter for calling John Edwards a "faggot".

At least three major companies want their ads pulled from Ann Coulter's Web site, following customer complaints about the right-wing commentator referring to Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards as a "faggot."

Verizon, Sallie Mae and Georgia-based NetBank each said they didn't know their ads were on AnnCoulter.com until they received the complaints.

A diarist at the liberal blog DailyKos.com posted contact information for dozens of companies with ads on Coulter's site after the commentator made her remarks about Edwards at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington on Friday.

"One of the best ways to communicate one's distaste for Coulter's repeated incidents of hate speech is to respectfully but firmly let her advertisers know you are deeply troubled by their indirect support of bigotry through their advertising on Coulter's Web site," the blogger VolvoDrivingLiberal wrote on DailyKos.com on Sunday.

Verizon, Sallie Mae and NetBank said the ads were put on a variety of sites by a third party company. In many cases, advertisers do not know which sites feature their ads.

"Per our policy, the networked Web site ad purchases are supposed to be stripped of certain kinds of Web sites," said a Verizon spokesperson. "This one could be considered an extreme political Web site, should be off the list, and now it is off the list."

A Sallie Mae spokesperson said the company was only testing an online advertising agency, and that their ads were not meant to show up on Coulter's site. The company said they planned to pull ads from other political and religious Web sites as well.

A spokesperson for NetBank said Coulter's page "is not the kind of site we want to be on."

via CNN

Labels: ann coulter, anti gay, evangelical, republican

In a follow up to yesterday's story, here is the video...



So disgusting.

Labels: anti gay, evangelical, mitt romney, republican

Minister Jay Bakker, son of Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker, shares his views on gay rights and the Ted Haggard scandal.

And just for fun, after watching this clip, I'd recommend reading a recent post... The Far-Right's Distortion of Research

Labels: evangelical, marriage

Researchers who have had their studies used by the far-right wing in a distorteed manner are speaking out (video below). With the help of Truth Wins Out, researchers are coming forward to condemn Focus on the Family's James Dobson for distorting their research to make false claims about same-sex parenting.

In an article by Paul D. Thacker from Inside Higher Ed :

When academics feel that their work has been distorted in the press, they frequently have to settle for griping to colleagues or writing a letter to the editor. But for Carol Gilligan, a prominent psychologist and author of In a Different Voice, a mere letter did not suffice. When she was alerted that James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, referenced her work in a Time magazine column, she denounced his interpretation of her research - posting her views Monday in a video on YouTube.

In his magazine piece, Dobson criticized Mary Cheney’s decision to become pregnant. "The majority of more than 30 years of social-science indicates that children do best on every measure of well-being when raised by their married mother and father," he wrote last week. Dobson backed up his claims by citing Gilligan's work. Gilligan is a renowned expert on gender and human development and is a professor of education and law at New York University.

"I was stunned to hear that James Dobson quoted me in Time magazine," Gilligan says in the video (see video below). "I had no idea. I was mortified." She says that there is nothing in her research that would lead anyone to agree with Dobson's claim that same-gender families are unhealthy for children.

In a statement released by Focus on the Family, the organization said, "In his Time essay, Dr. Dobson does not represent Professor Gilligan as supporting or opposing same-sex parenting, but only that her work shows that men and women stress different elements in moral teaching."

The video was commissioned last Friday and quickly edited over the weekend by Wayne Besen, the executive director of Truth Wins Out, an advocacy group for gay rights. Besen said that he has grown weary of Dobson mangling science to advance a political agenda against gay families. Last summer, he started contacting researchers to alert them whenever Dobson cited them in his writing.

"None of them know this is going on," Besen said of the academics. "That's how [Dobson] gets away with it." This certainly holds true for Gilligan. In the video, she states that she learned of Dobson's article after Besen notified her. While Gilligan does not appear to dispute any specifics in Dobson's article, she says that Dobson distorts the meaning of her work which does not support his conclusions.

Another professor highlighted in the video and in Dobson's article is Kyle Pruett, a professor of child psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine and author of Fatherneed: Why Father Care Is as Essential as Mother Care for Your Child. Citing Pruett, Dobson wrote, "The fact remains that gender matters - perhaps nowhere more than in regard to child rearing."

After he was contacted last week by Besen, Pruett sent a letter to Dobson asking him to stop citing his research. The letter is posted on Besen's Web site.

"I pointed out that gay or lesbian relationships do not at all compromise childhood," Pruett said in an interview. He added that Dobson's analysis of his research on fathers was "destructive and highly prejudicial," and cherry-picked information. When people start spinning science, Pruett said, you have to respond.

"Journalism used to handle this, but not anymore," he said. "So it's bounced back to become the responsibility of the people doing the research."

In response, Focus on the Family stated, "While Pruett has tried to distance himself politically from the use of his scientific conclusions, those conclusions still remain."

Besen said that he has contacted other professors who Dobson has cited, and he plans to release more videos with academics countering Dobson's claims. "They're getting defined by Dobson who has the President on speed dial," he said. "They're reluctant to get involved. But in the name of academic credibility, they step forward."

The recent incident with Dobson is not the first time that academics have grumbled that Focus on the Family perverts science. Last summer, Elizabeth Saewyc, an associate professor with the school of nursing at the University of British Columbia, accused the group of "hijacking" her study on suicide rates among bisexual youth.

She said that she would not have learned that Focus on the Family was distorting her research unless Besen had contacted her. Her study found a link between homosexuality and risk for suicide, but she said that Focus on the Family blamed the high suicide rate on pro-gay activists. Saewyc said in an email interview that her study found only a correlation and was not designed to find causation.

"What was more surprising were the conclusions they drew from the information," she said of Focus on the Family.

SEE VIDEO BELOW:

Labels: evangelical, focus on the family, james dobson, mary cheney

Paul Branes, the senior pastor of an Evangenical Colorado megachurch has resigned following a phone call to the church outing him.

The Rev. Paul Barnes of Grace Chapel in South Denver announced in a video taped message to his congregation Sunday that he was stepping down.

"1 have struggled with homosexuality since I was a 5-year-old boy," Barnes said in the video according to the Denver Post which was allowed to view the tape.

"...I can't tell you the number of nights I have cried myself to sleep, begging God to take this away."

In the video Barnes is seen sitting with his wife.

The church's associate pastor, Dave Palmer, told the Post that the church got an anonymous call last week from a person who said he had overheard a conversation in which someone mentioned "blowing the whistle" on evangelical preachers engaged in homosexuality, including Barnes.

Barnes founded Grace Chapel in his basement 28 years ago and saw it grow to be one of the biggest churches in the state.

His resignation comes a month after Colorado Springs pastor Ted Haggard was outed by a former male prostitute.

Barnes preached that homosexuality is a sin, but unlike Haggard neither he nor his church took a stand on a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage that was approved by voters last month.

In the video Barnes said he became a Christian at age 17 and felt it would help him give up homosexuality, but the feelings never went away, he said.

Still, he said he cannot accept that a person is "born that way," adding that he believes sexuality is influenced by childhood experiences.

Barnes said in the video that he has been in counseling three times but never found anyone he could talk to.

His wife also appeared in the half-hour video the Post reported, saying that she didn't know about her husband's struggles until he confided in her last week. The couple has two daughters in their 20s.

via 365gay

Labels: evangelical

The Christian Coalition has lost sight of Christianity? Right, for many of us this is not news, though some high up in the ranks of the organization agree as well. The new leader-elect of the Christian Coalition was scheduled to begin on January 1, 2007. The Rev. Joel Hunter said he will not assume the role because of differences in philosophy.

What do you mean philosophy? Isn't the very basis of Christianity rooted in the teachings of love and humanity? Not in the eyes of the extreme right-wing Evangelicals. For them, it's only about 'the gays' and abortion--beyond that there is nothing else to be focused on.

Rev. Hunter rightly believes that the scope of Christianity is not those two issues. He wanted to broaden the current agenda of the Christian Coalition into issues such as poverty and the environment. "These are issues that Jesus would want us to care about," Hunter said. "To tell you the truth, I feel like there are literally millions of evangelical Christians that don't have a home right now."

Oh snap, Pat Robertson.

Hunter resigned on Tuesday during an organization board meeting. Hunter said he was not asked to leave. "They pretty much said, 'These issues are fine, but they're not our issues; that's not our base,' " Hunter said.

A statement issued by the coalition said Hunter resigned because of "differences in philosophy and vision." The board accepted his decision unanimously, it states.

What this means is the true core issues of Christianity won't bring in the big bucks from the Christian Coalition's base of members. That is very sad.

Labels: christian coalition, evangelical

Another one bites the dust. (don't miss the video below of him denoucing homosexuality... and joking about "If you give me $1000 I won't tell your wife", he tells the camera man. Shall we start taking bets on when he "checks himself into rehab"?

From the Denver Post:
Ted Haggard, one of the most prominent evangelical pastors in the nation, resigned today as president of the National Association of Evangelicals amid allegations that he carried on a three-year sexual relationship with a male prostitute.

Haggard, founder of the 14,000-member New Life Church, has denied the accusations but said in a statement released by the church today that he could "not continue to minister under the cloud created by accusations made on Denver talk radio this morning."

He has placed himself on administrative leave pending investigation, spiritual counsel and a decision by the church's board of overseers, the church's legal counsel said.

"I am voluntarialy stepping aside from leadership so that the overseer process can be allowed to proceed with integrity. I hope to be able to discuss this matter in more detail at a later date," Haggard's statement said.

The former prostitute, Mike Jones, 49, of Denver, went public with the accusations on Tuesday, saying he felt compelled to do so because he believes Haggard, a strong opponent of same-sex unions, has been hypocritical.

"I made myself cry and I made myself sick," Jones said about his decision to come forward. "I felt I owed this to the community. What he is saying is we are not worthy, but he is."

Jones says he was contacted three years ago by Haggard for sex - he thinks through a gay newspaper advertisement or an online ad he posted on rentboy.com.

Today, Jones showed the Denver Post an envelope addressed to him from "Art," a name Jones says Haggard used - sent from an address in Colorado Springs. Jones said the envelope came to him with two $100 bills inside.

Jones also played a recording of a voicemail left for Jones from "Art." Jones refused to reveal what the topic of the voicemail was about because there could be legal problems and he wants to consult with an attorney.

"They want to protect the sanctity of marriage and I am trying to figure out what that means because they are not doing a good job," Jones said of anti-gay marriage proponents. "To have someone in such a high profile position preaching against them and doing opposite behind other people's backs is hypocritical."

Jones said he would take a lie detector test to validate his claims.

The church's lawyer, Martin Nussbaum, said Haggard's resignation is in no way an admission of guilt. He's already denied Jones' accusations, but feels that when an allegation like this is made, he needs to take this step, Nussbaum said.

Nussbaum, paraphrased: The bylaws state that when an allegation of immorality is made, this process is triggered, where he puts himself on leave. The outside board makes the final decision.

In the interim, the church's associate senior pastor, the Rev. Ross Parsley, will serve as acting senior pastor of the church.


Don't miss this clip of him denouncing the gays...

Labels: evangelical, republican