Politics

Tony Dungy against same-sex marriage

According to the Indianapolis Star:

Colts coach Tony Dungy said he knows some people would prefer him to steer clear of the gay marriage debate, but he used a speech Tuesday night to clearly stake out his position.

Dungy told more than 700 people at the Indiana Family Institute’s banquet that he agrees with that organization’s position supporting a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between one man and one woman.

“I appreciate the stance they’re taking, and I embrace that stance,” Dungy said.

Dungy’s comments came in the final three minutes of a wide-ranging, 20-minute speech that recounted stories from the Colts’ Super Bowl run, related his interest in prison ministry and described how he wondered whether his firing in Tampa was God’s signal for him to leave football and enter ministry. He also talked about his efforts to make the Colts more family-friendly by encouraging players to bring their kids to practice.

Local and national gay-rights organizations had criticized Dungy for accepting the invitation to appear at the banquet. The institute, affiliated with Focus on the Family, has been one of the leading supporters of the marriage amendment.

“IFI is saying what the Lord says,” Dungy said. “You can take that and make your decision on which way you want to be. I’m on the Lord’s side.”

The coach said his comments shouldn’t be taken as gay bashing, but rather his views on the matter as he sees them from a perspective of faith.

“We’re not anti- anything else. We’re not trying to downgrade anyone else. But we’re trying to promote the family — family values the Lord’s way,” Dungy said.

Previous IFI banquets had drawn at most 440 guests, according to organizers. But the appearance of the Super Bowl-winning coach to receive the institute’s “Friend of the Family” award set a record.

Sorry, Tony – this is gay bashing. Basically the textbook definition of it. And even if you’re are claiming to only be concerned with the marriage issue – Indiana Family Institute is not just concerned with that. They say they are, but they have written and supported legislation in the past that went far beyond concerns about marriage. IFI was responsible for a draft of state legislation proposing to quarantine gay men and lesbians in camps to ‘protect against HIV and AIDS’ in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Note, they weren’t talking about rounding up just people who had AIDS (although that legislation DID get passed) – they wanted to pull in all groups they considered ‘at risk’ and they felt all gay men and lesbians fit that category. Yeah… logic escaped them. This draft of the bill was quickly suppressed, but not before a copy of it made its way to the gay community by alarmed folks who read it.

This is the group that Tony Dungy is raising money for.

No Colts
Continue ReadingTony Dungy against same-sex marriage

Why do straights hate gays?

By Larry Kramer
March 20, 2007
DEAR STRAIGHT PEOPLE,
Why do you hate gay people so much?
Gays are hated. Prove me wrong. Your top general just called us immoral. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, is in charge of an estimated 65,000 gay and lesbian troops, some fighting for our country in Iraq. A right-wing political commentator, Ann Coulter, gets away with calling a straight presidential candidate a faggot. Even Garrison Keillor, of all people, is making really tacky jokes about gay parents in his column. This, I guess, does not qualify as hate except that it is so distasteful and dumb, often a first step on the way to hate. Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama tried to duck the questions that Pace’s bigotry raised, confirming what gay people know: that there is not one candidate running for public office anywhere who dares to come right out, unequivocally, and say decent, supportive things about us.

Continue ReadingWhy do straights hate gays?

SJR-7 Assigned to Committee

House Joint Resolution 15 (HJR-15), the legislation formerly known as SJR-7 and the marriage discrimination amendment, has been assigned to committee in the house. It’s been placed in the House Rule and Legislative Procedures Committee.

Please contact the members of this committee (information below) to oppose this legislation – for Democrats, remind them that putting this on the ballot in 2008 will kill the Democratic lead in the statehouse, among other things, and that the second line of the amendment will affect all unmarried Hoosiers. Ask them to change the ambiguous and broad wording.

Chair: Representative Scott Pelath (D)
http://www.in.gov/legislative/house_democrats/repsites/r09/contact.html

Vice Chair: Representative Russ Stilwell (D)
http://www.in.gov/legislative/house_democrats/repsites/r74/contact.html

Rep. Terri J. Austin (D)
http://www.in.gov/legislative/house_democrats/repsites/r36/contact.html

Rep. Earl Harris (D)
http://www.in.gov/legislative/house_democrats/repsites/r2/contact.html

Rep. Bob Kuzman (D)
http://www.in.gov/legislative/house_democrats/repsites/r19/contact.html

Rep. Dennie Oxley (D)
http://www.in.gov/legislative/house_democrats/repsites/r73/contact.html

Re. Matt Whetstone (R)
http://www.in.gov/legislative/house_republicans/homepages/r40/

Rep. Randy Borror (R)
http://www.in.gov/legislative/homepages/R84/

Ralph Foley (R)
http://www.in.gov/legislative/house_republicans/homepages/r47/

Rep. P. Eric Turner (R)
http://www.in.gov/legislative/house_republicans/homepages/r32/

Continue ReadingSJR-7 Assigned to Committee

Schoolyard Taunts

Ann Coulter on Fox News:

“The word I used has nothing to do with sexual preference. It is a schoolyard taunt… It isn’t offensive to gays. It has nothing to do with gays.”

As I’ve said before, there are souls out there in the universe for whom the word faggot was the last word they heard as they were beaten to death.

One of my former roommates was brutally beaten in the alley outside Greg’s Place – and the men who beat him called him a faggot repeatedly while they beat him, before they tried to run over him with their car as they speed away from the scene of the crime.

I was called a dyke and a queer over and over again when I was raped.

These are not simply schoolyard taunts. They are offensive to gay people. That should go without saying, but apparently it doesn’t. They are words of hate, and they have no place in our public discourse. And if CPAC isn’t interested in denouncing Ann Coulter, then they get to take ownership the words of hate she spewed on their stage.

Continue ReadingSchoolyard Taunts

Ann Coulter Calls Candidate John Edwards a Faggot

Reported in numerous places (see video), yesterday at the Conservative Political Action Conference (in front of a crowd that included 2008 Republican Presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Tom Tancredo (R-CO), Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), former Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) as well as Vice President Dick Cheney), right-wing pundit Ann Coulter had this to say:

“I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word ‘faggot,’ so I — so kind of an impasse, can’t really talk about Edwards.”

One of these days, Ann. One of these fucking days.
Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese:

“To interject this word into American political discourse is a vile and disgusting way to sink the debate to a new, all-time low,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “Make no doubt about it, these remarks go directly against what our Founding Fathers intended and have no place on the schoolyard, much less our country’s political arena.”
“It is clear that some in the Republican Party plan to run in 2008 the same way they did in 2004, by using discrimination to divide the country and rally their base,” said Solmonese. “But, 2008 is not 2004, and this time the politics of fear and smear will not work. The American people are tired of those who would rather divide than unite.”
“We demand that every single Presidential candidate in attendance at this conference, along with Vice President Cheney stand up and publicly condemn this type of gutter-style politics,” continued Solmonese. “If not, then their silence will be deafening to the vast majority of Americans who believe this type of language belongs no where near the discussions about the future of our country.”

To say the least. This has been mentioned on dozens of sites I read every day, but I have yet to hear any reaction in the mainstream news about it. I can’t imagine how the New York Times could report on the conference and on Coulter’s speech specifically without mentioning the most imflammatory thing she said in it.
The fact that someone as vile and outside the mainstream as Ann Coulter could be introduced at an event like this in the first place is an outrage. And for her to say this and not have anyone immediately stand up after her commentary and distance the event from it says everything that needs to be said about the Republican Party – it needs to cease to exist.
UPDATE: at least it finally hits Andrew Sullivan. About fucking time, idiot. Jesus I’m sick of reading shit like this from right-wing apologists like Sully on everything – the war, the Republican party. As if they were carefully measuring their beliefs and weighing the issues and only now it’s right to come to the conclusion that the war was wrong, that the Republican party is toxic, etc. Some people knew this years ago, wanker. It’s not like people weren’t telling you and offering you proof back then. You were just busy being a contrarian because it got you attention.

Continue ReadingAnn Coulter Calls Candidate John Edwards a Faggot

Nigerian Advisor: Same-sex relationships make you retarded

From Tide Online:

About four percent of Nigerians are involved in same sex relationship, Special Adviser to the President, Prof Friday Okonofua, has said.
Okonofa disclosed this at a public hearing on a bill to prohibit same sex marriage and relationship, organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Women Affairs, in Abuja.
He said the number cut across all sexes and ages.
Such relationship, he said, had exposed those engaged in it to high risk of contacting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), HIV/AIDS and cancer.
The same sex relationships, he said, caused mental retardation, depression and high tendency to commit suicide.
In his remarks, Deputy Speaker Austin Opara assured that in passing the bills, the House would be guided by the respect for the nation’s religious and cultural values.
“We have values which really frown at the same sex marriage or union and we will certainly consider those values in our deliberations on the bill,” Opara said.
In her address, the chairman of the House Committee on Women Affairs, Rep Saudatu Sani, said such relationship was non-existent in most cultures across the world, and Nigeria would therefore not be in the minority nations practicing it.
The bill, Sani said, sought to provide a legal basis against same sex marriage and the proscription of adoption of children by same sex couples.
She said prohibition of same sex marriage was not only justifiable, but also a necessary step to protect public morality.

Um, I think there’s some retardation involved, but I think it’s more on the Nigerian Government’s end, rather than gay people’s.

Continue ReadingNigerian Advisor: Same-sex relationships make you retarded

Apparently, I’m Chopped Liver

Hmmmm – I guess my 20,000 visitors a day don’t rate a mention on Indiana Equality’s thank you letter for the Rally organizing…

Many, many other businesses, organizations and bloggers contributed greatly to Monday’s success by promoting participation in the rally. A big thanks to Advance Indiana; American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 62; American Values Alliance; bilerico.com; bloomingOUT; Blue Indiana; First Republicans Forum; Gay/Straight Alliance Indiana; GayIndy.Org; GLBT Resource Center of Michiana; Indiana Black Pride; Indiana Planned Parenthood Advocates; Indiana Progressives PAC; Jewish Community Relations Council; Masson’s Blog; Muncie PFLAG; OUT: Indiana University’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Peoples’ Student Union; Outword Bound Bookstore; Purdue Queer Student Union; Reality Magazine; Spectrum (Ball State University); stAllio!s way; The Word; and Taking Down Words.

Why doesn’t that surprise me?
UPDATE: I got a very nice note from Jon Keep about this:

Hi Steph,
I wanted to offer my apologies, on behalf of IE, for not including A Commonplace Book in the Post Rally email. It has been my experience that when anyone makes a list, you run the risk of omitting someone. That was the case here. Our aim was to recognize those organizations that helped make the rally a success. We very much appreciate the support and the publicity that you gave and in no way meant to exclude you.
Please know that your support, and on going support, is greatly appreciated. I look forward to working with you in the future.
Jon Keep
President
Indiana Equality

Clearly, I need to be stop being a baby about these sorts of things and not take stuff so personally.

Continue ReadingApparently, I’m Chopped Liver

Contacting Your Legislators about SJR-7

I’ve mentioned this several times, but it bears repeating. If you haven’t contacted your legislators about SJR-7 (or even if you already have!), you can do so in a number of ways.
Two sites have easy contact forms you can use, that look up your legislators for you based on the information you provide. You can use either or both of them to send a message to your legislator, and they both allow you to customize your message.
Stoptheamendment.org is one of the sites – go there and enter your zip code in the left-column under “Contact your Legislators” and it will take you to the form.
Indiana Equality also has a form on their Action Center that works similarly.
Also, if you want to look up your legislators and contact them directly by calling their office or sending a direct email, you can look up their contact information at Project Vote Smart. They also have a look-up by zipcode form in the left column of their home page.

Continue ReadingContacting Your Legislators about SJR-7

Bias Crimes Legislation Pending Before Indiana House

Bias Crimes Legislation Pending Before Indiana House. Make Your Voice Heard! Tell Your State Representative why Bias Crimes legislation is good for Indiana.

House Bill 1459 (Bias Crimes) authored by State Representative Greg Porter (D-Indianapolis) will be considered by the full House of Representatives during the week of February 19th. HB 1459 amends Indiana’s sentencing law to add the following as aggravating circumstances for persons who commit “bias crimes,” specifically the person who committed the offense knowingly or intentionally:

(A) selected the individual who was injured by the offense; or (B) damaged or otherwise affected property by the offense; because of the color, creed, disability, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or sex of the injured individual or of the owner or occupant of the property.

The proposal also creates a civil action which a victim of a bias crime can institute against a bias crime offender.

In an ugly display of bigotry against Indiana’s minority communities, out-of-state groups have unleashed a hateful and false attack on the bias crimes bill. Opponents of the freedom to live free of persecution are flooding the State House with calls to reject HB 1459.

Please counteract their call in campaign by contacting your legislator. You can contact your Legislators through Indiana Equality here.

Continue ReadingBias Crimes Legislation Pending Before Indiana House