Tennessee lawmaker booted from local restaurant over anti-gay remarks

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee State Sen. Stacey Campfield -- the Knoxville lawmaker behind the controversial "Don't Say Gay" bill making its way in the Tennessee state legislature -- was ejected from a Knoxville bistro on Sunday because of his anti-gay views.

Martha Boggs, owner of the Bistro at the Bijou, said she ordered Campfield out of her restaurant in disgust over his recent remarks about the origin of AIDS.

Campfield, appearing on the Michelangelo Signorile Show on Sirius XM radio last week, claimed that HIV originated in the gay community by an airline pilot who had sex with monkey, and that it was “virtually impossible” to contract the disease through heterosexual sex.

Dallas Mayor Explains Refusal To Sign Pledge Supporting Gay Marriage

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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – After refusing to sign a pledge in support of a Constitutional law allowing same-sex marriage, Mayor Mike Rawlings met with 25 leaders in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community Saturday to explain why.

“I’m a bit pledge-phobic,” Rawlings told reporters after the closed door meeting at the Dallas Resource Center. “I think America has got too many pledges out there and I think it’s simplistic and not substantive.”

The national advocacy group Freedom to Marry asked mayors across the country to sign a pledge supporting gay marriage. More than 100 mayors have signed the pledge, six of whom reside over Texas cities.

The pledge sports the signatures of the mayors of Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Galveston, Castle Hills and Shavano Park.

But no mayor from North Texas has added his or her name to the list.

Rawlings’s refusal to sign the pledge prompted a demonstration in front of Dallas City Hall Friday night.

The mayor said he supports the rights of all Dallas residents as well as those in the LGBT community, but he maintained his stance Saturday afternoon.

TN lawmaker claims it’s ‘virtually impossible to contract AIDS through heterosexual sex’

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A Tennessee state lawmaker on Thursday claimed that HIV originated in the gay community by an airline pilot who had sex with monkey, and that it was “virtually impossible” to contract the disease through heterosexual sex.

Appearing on the Michelangelo Signorile Show on Sirius XM radio, State Senator Stacey Campfield (R-Knoxville) — author of Tennessee’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill that would prohibit teachers from mentioning homosexuality in kindergarten through 8th grade classrooms — also asserted that the lifespan for gays and lesbians is “very short,” telling listeners to “Google it yourself.”

“Most people realize that AIDS came from the homosexual community — it was one guy screwing a monkey, if I recall correctly, and then having sex with men. It was an airline pilot, if I recall.”

“My understanding is that it is virtually — not completely, but virtually — impossible to contract AIDS through heterosexual sex…

A Mountain I'm Willing To Die On

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By Glennon Melton
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I've been watching America's response to recent bullying-related suicides closely. People seem quite shocked by the cruelty that's happening in our schools. I'm confused by their shock. I'm also concerned about what's not being addressed in the proposed solutions to this devastating problem.

The usual response seems to be that we need to better educate students and teachers about what bullying is and how to react appropriately to it. You can't argue with that. But on its own, it seems a little like bailing water frantically without looking for the hole in the boat.

Each time one of these stories is reported we tend to say some version of "Kids these days -- they can be so cruel." But I think this is just a phrase we toss around to excuse ourselves from facing the truth. I don't think kids are any crueler than adults. I just think kids aren't quite as adept at disguising their cruelty.

Yesterday I heard a radio report that the students most likely to be bullied are gay kids, overweight kids and Muslim kids.

Hmmmmm.

I would venture a guess that gay adults, overweight adults and Muslim adults feel the most bullied as well.
Children are not cruel. Children are mirrors. They want to be "grown-up." So they act how grown-ups act when we think they're not paying attention. They believe what we believe. They say what we say. And we have taught them that gay people are not okay. That overweight people are not okay. That Muslim people are not okay. Through our words and actions we send the message that these people aren't equal and they should be feared. We know that people hurt the things they fear. What kids are doing in the schools, is what adults do in the media. The only difference is that children bully in the hallways and the cafeterias while we bully from behind pulpits and legislative benches and in one-liners on sitcoms.

Did The Boy Scouts Just Give a Nod to Gays?

Full Story » The Advocate

While the Boy Scouts of America has stood by its policy of barring openly gay scout leaders, one blogger for the national organization says the scout leaders should embrace a tolerance-boosting initiative spearheaded by a gay student organization.

In a blog post on Monday for Scouting magazine, Eagle Scout Bryan Wendell wrote in support of No Name Calling Week, coordinated by the Gay Lesbian & Straight Education Network. He encouraged leaders to stop name-calling among their scouts.

Eliza Byard, executive director of GLSEN praised the blog post and the BSA on the Huffington Post on Tuesday, for supporting No Name-Calling Week.

"However," she said in a statement to the news site, "the lessons of this week are not enough to counteract the overwhelmingly negative message sent to scouts by the Boy Scouts of America’s continuing anti-LGBT policies. The Boy Scouts of America must recognize that gay people can be—and are—positive contributors to its vision of building respectful and service-oriented leaders of tomorrow."

Newt Gingrich Secretly Funneled $350,000 To Anti-Gay Hate Groups Last Year

Full Story » ThinkProgress.org
By Josh Dorner

Last year, former Speaker Newt Gingrich offered his vocal support for the ultimately successful campaign to oust three of the nine Iowa Supreme Court justices who had unanimously ruled in favor of marriage equality. As Gingrich courts social conservatives while exploring a possible presidential bid, new disclosures from his camp indicate that he and his associates bankrolled more than one-third of the $850,000 campaign to remove the Iowa justices.

ThinkProgress previously reported on $200,000 that Gingrich funneled from an anonymous donor to the anti-marriage equality group Iowa for Freedom, which was also being funded by AFA Action, the political arm of the virulently anti-gay American Family Association. The Associated Press revealed yesterday that one of the cogs in Gingrich’s vast network of business enterprises and front groups, ReAL Action, provided $125,000 to AFA Action. The Des Moines Register reported this morning that ReAL Action also contributed $25,000 to yet another Iowa anti-LGBT group, the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition.

AFA is not only of the nation’s most prominent anti-LGBT groups, it has been officially labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. As ThinkProgress has reported, the AFA is known for making incendiary comments about gays, including blaming gays for crop failure and various other biblical plagues, claiming that Hitler was gay, saying lesbians can’t be justices, equating gay sex with domestic terrorism, and equating gay sex to heroin, just to cite a few examples.

Washington Lawmakers to Consider Marriage Bills Monday

Ready, Set, GO...
Full Story » The Advocate
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By Andrew Harmon

Large crowds are expected Monday in Olympia as lawmakers begin considering whether to make Washington the seventh state in the nation where marriage equality is legal.

Passage of the legislation, which has the support of Gov. Chris Gregoire, is by no means certain. Though the house bill has enough votes, an identical senate measure is currently one vote shy of support, with five lawmakers still undecided (The Stranger profiles the remaining undecideds and lists all relevant office contact information as well).

Per its usual playbook, the National Organization for Marriage is threatening to support the ousting of any Republican senator who votes in favor of the bill. On Wednesday, NOM president Brian Brown said in a statement that the group would spend $250,000 to fund primary challenges against pro-equality GOP legislators.

“If the legislature forces through same-sex marriage, they need to know that marriage will be on the ballot in November and the people of Washington will hold them accountable," Brown said.
A coalition of marriage equality supporters includes heavy-hitting corporations headquartered in the state such as Nike and Microsoft. "To be successful, it’s critical that we have a workforce that is as diverse as our customers," Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith wrote Thursday. "Inclusiveness is therefore a fundamental part of our values."

The Seattle Times reports that anti-gay marriage forces are planning a noontime rally Monday at the state capitol.

Both bills could see a floor vote in the state legislature by next month.


More on this...

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Packed hearings likely Monday on gay-marriage bills
By Andrew Garber and Lornet Turnbull
Seattle Times staff reporters
Hearings on gay marriage legislation are scheduled Monday in Olympia, and supporters and opponents are working to persuade lawmakers.


OLYMPIA — With gay-marriage legislation only one vote short of approval in the state Senate, pressure is building on five uncommitted senators who will likely decide the issue.

A coalition of religious conservatives is lobbying lawmakers in Olympia to oppose same-sex marriage, while the National Organization for Marriage announced last week it would spend $250,000 in Washington state to help defeat any Republican who supports the bill.

Mayors for the Freedom to Marry

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Welcome Message from the Chairs

In affirmation of the critical role that cities and their mayors have played in advancing civil rights and equal treatment for all Americans, we are proud to be chairs of Mayors for the Freedom to Marry. Mayors for the Freedom to Marry is a broad-based and nonpartisan group of mayors who believe that all people should be able to share in the love and commitment of marriage.

As mayors of five of America’s great cities, we understand that the strength and health of our cities are enhanced when all families are protected and supported. We know many people in loving and committed same-sex relationships who are active participants in improving our communities and we’ve seen how important marriage has been for them and their families.

We are honored to lead this bipartisan group of mayors who support ending marriage discrimination at all levels of government. While we will each have different strategies for pursuing that end, we all agree on the goal: securing the freedom to marry and upholding equal rights for all citizens.
We are a diverse group of mayors—from small cities in Indiana and Maine, to the four largest cities in America. Our cities are culturally, racially and geographically diverse, but we share one important value: a common commitment to fairness.

We invite our colleagues to join us in signing this statement as we advocate for the freedom to marry and build a nation where all loving couples who want to make the life-long commitment can share in the joy and respect of marriage.

Marriage Equality in Washington State Would Be Good for Business

Full Story » Technet: Microsoft Blog

Today, Microsoft is joining other Northwest employers Concur, Group Health, Nike, RealNetworks and Vulcan Inc. in support of Washington State legislation recognizing marriage equality for same-sex couples. We believe that passing this bill would be good for our business and good for the state’s economy. I wanted to take a few moments to explain why.

At Microsoft, we pride ourselves on our products and services, our brand, and our global reach. But unquestionably, our employees are our greatest asset.

To be successful, it’s critical that we have a workforce that is as diverse as our customers. Every day, the national and global economies are becoming more diverse. The lifeblood of a business is its ability to understand and connect with its customers. We’re no exception. Now more than ever, the most effective workforce is a diverse workforce.

While some of our employees literally grew up around the corner, others have come from every state and almost 150 countries around the world. They reflect virtually every background in the country and on the planet. They bring their creativity to work, and they put it to good use in developing new products and serving our customers. There simply is no substitute for their diverse backgrounds, perspectives, skills and experiences.

Inclusiveness is therefore a fundamental part of our values, and is integral to the company’s business success.

This means it’s important to go beyond simply forbidding discrimination; we strive to actively promote diversity, equality and inclusion in our workplace. In 1993, Microsoft became the first Fortune 500 company to provide same-sex domestic partnership benefits. For almost two decades, we’ve benefited from this support and the resulting contributions of our LGBT employees.

In addition to corporate policies supporting diversity and equality, we strive to engage in a thoughtful manner in public discussions on issues that have a significant impact on our employees and our business. For example, Microsoft supported legislation in Washington State prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, as well as legislation expanding domestic partnership rights.

Our support today for Senate Bill 6239 and HB 2516, Washington’s marriage equality legislation, builds upon our previous work in this area.

As other states recognize marriage equality, Washington’s employers are at a disadvantage if we cannot offer a similar, inclusive environment to our talented employees, our top recruits and their families. Employers in the technology sector face an unprecedented national and global competition for top talent. Despite progress made in recent years with domestic partnership rights, same-sex couples in Washington still hold a different status from their neighbors. Marriage equality in Washington would put employers here on an equal footing with employers in the six other states that already recognize the committed relationships of same-sex couples – Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont. This in turn will help us continue to compete for talent.

While Microsoft’s support for marriage equality is motivated by respect for our employees, we also respect the views of those who may not agree with our position. For example, we have many highly valued and highly successful employees who hold a wide range of views on this and many other issues. We’re not asking anyone to change their views to conform to the company’s position.

Why Gay Parents May Be the Best Parents

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By Stephanie Pappas | LiveScience.com

Gay marriage, and especially gay parenting, has been in the cross hairs in recent days.

On Jan. 6, Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum told a New Hampshire audience that children are better off with a father in prison than being raised in a home with lesbian parents and no father at all. And last Monday (Jan. 9), Pope Benedict called gay marriage a threat "to the future of humanity itself," citing the need for children to have heterosexual homes.

But research on families headed by gays and lesbians doesn't back up these dire assertions. In fact, in some ways, gay parents may bring talents to the table that straight parents don't.

Gay parents "tend to be more motivated, more committed than heterosexual parents on average, because they chose to be parents," said Abbie Goldberg, a psychologist at Clark University in Massachusetts who researches gay and lesbian parenting. Gays and lesbians rarely become parents by accident, compared with an almost 50 percent accidental pregnancy rate among heterosexuals, Goldberg said. "That translates to greater commitment on average and more involvement."

And while research indicates that kids of gay parents show few differences in achievement, mental health, social functioning and other measures, these kids may have the advantage of open-mindedness, tolerance and role models for equitable relationships, according to some research. Not only that, but gays and lesbians are likely to provide homes for difficult-to-place children in the foster system, studies show. (Of course, this isn't to say that heterosexual parents can't bring these same qualities to the parenting table.) [5 Myths About Gay People Debunked]

Adopting the neediest

Gay adoption recently caused controversy in Illinois, where Catholic Charities adoption services decided in November to cease offering services because the state refused funding unless the groups agreed not to discriminate against gays and lesbians. Rather than comply, Catholic Charities closed up shop.

Catholic opposition aside, research suggests that gay and lesbian parents are actually a powerful resource for kids in need of adoption. According to a 2007 report by the Williams Institute and the Urban Institute, 65,000 kids were living with adoptive gay parents between 2000 and 2002, with another 14,000 in foster homes headed by gays and lesbians. (There are currently more than 100,000 kids in foster care in the U.S.)

An October 2011 report by Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute found that, of gay and lesbian adoptions at more than 300 agencies, 10 percent of the kids placed were older than 6 — typically a very difficult age to adopt out. About 25 percent were older than 3. Sixty percent of gay and lesbian couples adopted across races, which is important given that minority children in the foster system tend to linger. More than half of the kids adopted by gays and lesbians had special needs.

The report didn't compare the adoption preferences of gay couples directly with those of heterosexual couples, said author David Brodzinsky, research director at the Institute and co-editor of "Adoption By Lesbians and Gay Men: A New Dimension of Family Diversity" (Oxford University Press, 2011). But research suggests that gays and lesbians are more likely than heterosexuals to adopt older, special-needs and minority children, he said. Part of that could be their own preferences, and part could be because of discrimination by adoption agencies that puts more difficult children with what caseworkers see as "less desirable" parents.

No matter how you slice it, Brodzinsky told LiveScience, gays and lesbians are highly interested in adoption as a group. The 2007 report by the Urban Institute also found that more than half of gay men and 41 percent of lesbians in the U.S. would like to adopt. That adds up to an estimated 2 million gay people who are interested in adoption. It's a huge reservoir of potential parents who could get kids out of the instability of the foster system, Brodzinsky said.

"When you think about the 114,000 children who are freed for adoption who continue to live in foster care and who are not being readily adopted, the goal is to increase the pool of available, interested and well-trained individuals to parent these children," Brodzinsky said.

In addition, Brodzinsky said, there's evidence to suggest that gays and lesbians are especially accepting of open adoptions, where the child retains some contact with his or her birth parents. And the statistics bear out that birth parents often have no problem with their kids being raised by same-sex couples, he added.

"Interestingly, we find that a small percentage, but enough to be noteworthy, [of birth mothers] make a conscious decision to place with gay men, so they can be the only mother in their child's life," Brodzinsky said...

Read the Full Story » Yahoo News

Former ‘ex-gay’ leader comes out, says he ‘can no longer condemn gays’

Full Story » LGBTQ Nation
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GERMANTOWN, Tenn. — John Smid, the former Executive Director of Exodus International’s oldest ministry “Love in Action,” has publicly admitted that he is gay, and now says that being LGBTQ is an intrinsic part of a person’s being, not a “behavior” that one can repent from.

Writing on the website of his new ministry, Grace Rivers, Smid said, “One cannot repent of something that is unchangeable.”


Smid, who resigned as Executive Director of Love in Action in 2008 — an ex-gay Christian ministry that purports to “restore those trapped” in homosexuality — is now disavowing the message he preached for years that promised gays they could change.

In acknowledging that he is gay, Smid wrote:
“I also want to reiterate here that the transformation for the vast majority of homosexuals will not include a change of sexual orientation. Actually I’ve never met a man who experienced a change from homosexual to heterosexual.”

“I used to define homosexuality or heterosexuality in terms describing one’s behavior. I thought it made sense and through the years often wrote articles and talked from that perspective.

“Today, I understand why the gay community had such an issue with my writings. My perspective denied so many facets of the homosexual experience. I minimized a person’s life to just their sexuality but homosexuality is much more than sex.”

Smid also writes that, “I am homosexual, my wife is heterosexual,” and that this creates a “unique marriage experience that many do not understand.”

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Huntsman bows out of presidential race, endorses Romney

 

GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, Jr., announced on Monday he was bringing to an end his bid for the White House, marking an end to the candidacy of one of the most pro-gay contenders in the Republican field.

In an address to supporters at Myrtle Beach, S.C., the former Utah governor announced he was exiting the race and throwing his support behind frontrunner Mitt Romney.

Anti-gay, evangelical leaders endorse Santorum

Full Story » Washington Blade
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The anti-gay Family Research Council and evangelical leaders have endorsed Republican candidate Rick Santorum for president amid observations that the social conservatives are unhappy with the idea of frontrunner Mitt Romney’s nomination.

On Saturday, Tony Perkins, FRC’s president, announced Santorum had won the backing of the nearly 170 conservative leaders who gathered in Brenham, Texas, to discuss the GOP primary race and top policy goals for a Republican administration.

“There is clearly a united group here that is committed to see … a true conservative elected to the White House,” Perkins said after the decision was made, according to Reuters.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has dubbed the Family Research Council a “hate group” in part because of its opposition to LGBT rights. Other anti-gay leaders who were present at the meeting — and backing Santorum — were Gary Bauer and Focus on the Family founder James Dobson.

The former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania won the endorsement on the third round of balloting, Politico reports. Of the 114 votes cast, Santorum won 85. Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich took the remainder.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry didn’t even make it past the first round of balloting — even though the meeting was held in his home state and he’s heavily courted evangelicals since the beginning of his campaign.

Santorum is line with the views of evangelicals on social issue because he’s taken a hard line on them — especially opposition to same-sex marriage — over the course of his presidential campaign.

While campaigning before the New Hampshire primary, Santorum said the legalization of same-sex marriage could lead to polygamy and said children would be better of having parents in prison rather than parents of the same gender. Santorum has also said he’s restore “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” if elected president.

Meanwhile, Romney has said he supports “full rights” for gay people, although he opposes same-sex marriage. The former Massachusetts governor has said he’d leave open service for gays in the military as it is.

But both Santorum and Romney have signed a pledge from the National Organization for Marriage committing themselves to back a Federal Marriage Amendment, defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court and establish a presidential commission on “religious liberty.”