homophobia

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.

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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.

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500 attend Rally, House Democrats Hide from Constitutents

Rally Attendees
About 500 people attended the Rally in the Indiana Statehouse, organized by Indiana Equality to address SJR-7, the amendment to ban same-sex marriage, and to support the hate crimes bill, which will include sexual orientation and gender identity. There were several speakers, including Candace Gingrich, lgbt civil rights activist and sister of Newt Gingrich.
Great Sign
See all 52 of my photos of the Rally on Flickr…
Unfortunately, House Democrats were "in caucus" today, and were "unable" to meet with their constituents to talk about SJR-7, so a group of people, including Indiana Action Network members, IYG Youth and IU Students went to protest outside House Speaker Bauer’s office — chanting "Pat, Pat, come out and talk."
Protesting the Democrats being in Caucus
What happened next? Indiana Equality Lobbyist Mark St. John got angry at the attention being paid to House Speaker Bauer – gee, I wonder why? Maybe you can find the answer in this post on Advance Indiana – and forcefully grabbed Bil Browning of Indiana Action Network – with the cameras rolling.
I’m processing the video of WRTV’s coverage and uploading it to YouTube…
I happened to be standing right there (you can see me in the video), so I heard what St. John said — he fired Bil from his job at Lambda Consulting because Bil “betrayed his trust” in not getting permission for the impromptu protest at Bauer’s office. A while later, after he calmed down, he said that wasn’t going to happen, but I’m not sure what the repercussions will be in the future.
Incidentally, I also saw St. John grab and physically drag by the arm another protester – one of the IYG youth, I believe – away from the protest to have a heated debated about why the Democrats were in caucus – St. John was claiming that it had nothing to do with the Rally or SJR-7. I’m not sure I believe St. John’s claims about why the “caucus” happened. I do know that Representative Orentlicher, who was at the rally and at the impromptu protest after, was actively trying to get Bauer to come out and speak to the protesters.
In all, I hope the day was an effective event, but the fact that people were unable to lobby their Representatives was a pretty striking blow to the cause. The likelihood that all of the people signed up will be able to have face-to-face meetings with elected officials at other times in the future is pretty slim – many people were from out of town, or happened to have this day off work due to the President’s Day holiday. Face-to-face meetings are far more effective than phone calls and emails.

Continue Reading500 attend Rally, House Democrats Hide from Constitutents

Rally Reminder

Please don’t forget there’s a rally tomorrow against SJR-7 at the statehouse — indoors, 1 – 2:30 p.m. in the North Atrium of the Indiana State House, 200 W. Washington St. (enter North Entrance, off Ohio Street). Candace Gingrich will speak at 1:40 PM.
Many of you have President’s Day off tomorrow – please attend the rally. You would not only be doing it for my sake, but for your own; the Indiana Constitution belongs to you, too, and shouldn’t be amended to discriminate against anyone. You’d be striking a blow on behalf of your own rights as well.

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Leviticus in My Spam Filter

I was going through a site migration checklist of things to remember when you move your site from one host to another, and one of the items was to remember to look at your comment spam filter keywords, to make sure that additions you’ve made stayed in the list. Which made me remember a conversation I had yesterday with a friend. I mentioned that I regularly get anti-gay hate comments posted to my site; usually it’s three or four a week, but depending on whether something I’ve written winds up in the target of a group of people, it can be a lot.
To combat this, I have several terms in my comment spam filter that most people wouldn’t; words like “leviticus” “sinner” “dyke” and “faggot” are a few of them. Usually that means I catch the comment before it gets posted to my site, but not always. Occasionally stuff will slip through.
But I wonder if other people have this sort of specialized problem, and what words they block…

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Angry Mob Attacks 3 Gay Men in Jamaica

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According to the Jamaica Observer:

THREE men branded as homosexuals were yesterday rescued by the police from an angry mob outside a pharmacy in Tropical Plaza, where they had been holed up for almost an hour.

But even after the police managed to take the young men from the Monarch Pharmacy, one of the three was hit with a stone, forcing officers to fire tear gas on the crowd which included men, women, teenagers and small children.

The approximately 2,000 people gathered outside the Kingston pharmacy hurled insults at the three men, with some calling for them to be killed.

The crowd grew larger as the minutes ticked by and the three men and staff inside the pharmacy were visibly terrified as the mob demanded that they be sent out so they could administer their brand of justice. “Send them out!” shouted one man.

The men, who all had bleached-out faces, and dressed in tight jeans pants and skimpy shirts, were saved due to quick action by police from the St Andrew Central Division.

When the officers arrived and attempted to push the crowd back from the front door of the business place they were greeted with some resistance and when they attempted to escort the men to a police service vehicle, which was parked near to the entrance of the pharmacy, one of the alleged homosexuals was hit on the back of the head with a stone as he flashed a wry smile before attempting to hustle inside the police car.

The cops were forced to disperse the large mob by dispensing tear gas canisters and whisking the men away as the crowd scampered in all directions in an effort to escape the irritating fumes.

One man in the crowd was determined to get a chance to beat them and hurled insults at the police when they drove out of the premises.

“Unu can come save them nasty boy yah? Them boy yah fi go down,” the man bellowed.

One woman expressed surprise at the brazenness of the men who were clearly displaying effeminate behaviour.

“Jamaica has lost its way if men think they can openly flaunt being gay without any consequences. We don’t want that kind of open gay life in this country,” the woman said.

Homosexuality is frowned upon in Jamaica and gay rights groups have constantly branded the island as anti-gay.

Under Jamaican law a male can be slapped with a sentence of up to nine years if caught in a compromising position with another man.

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Exclusion For Religious Schools Struck From Iowa Gay Bully Bill

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Do they not realize, when they say these things, how bad it sounds? Like it’s your religion to beat up gay people?

(Des Moines, Iowa) The Iowa Senate has passed legislation aimed at curbing bullying of LGBT students and other minority groups in schools.
Language in the House version that passed lack week but which excluded religious schools was removed in the Senate. The bill now returns to the House. Democrats control both houses in the legislature and House leadership has agreed to pass the Senate version.
The issue of excluding religious schools prompted heated debate in the Senate with Republicans pressing to have the House version passed without amendment.
“There is the potential for a chilling effect on the teaching of religious doctrine through the filing of lawsuits, because of the way the bill is worded,” warned Sen. Jeff Angelo (R).
“You people have consistently raised these arguments that just don’t hold up,” shot back Sen. Mike Connolly (D) adding that in the 29 states that have passed similar anti-bullying legislation there have been few lawsuits.
Connolly reminded Republicans that the state and federal constitutions already grant private schools the right to teach religious doctrine and that the bully law would not interfere with statements of faith.

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‘I hate gay people,’ former Heat star Tim Hardaway declares

From the Sun-Sentinel:

A week after retired center John Amaechi became the first active or former NBA player to publicly acknowledge he was gay, one of the most popular players in Heat franchise history offered a blunt view on homosexuality Wednesday during a radio interview.
Former Heat guard Tim Hardaway, who had been making public appearances for the NBA, said on Miami-based 790 The Ticket he would not have tolerated a gay player on his team and would have asked to have been traded in such a situation or would have asked to have the gay teammate be traded.
“Well, you know, I hate gay people,” Hardaway said near the close of an interview that mostly focused on his tenure with the Heat and the team’s current state. “I let it be known, I don’t like gay people. I don’t like to be around gay people.
“Yeah, I’m homophobic. I don’t like it. It shouldn’t be in the world for that or in the United States for that. So, yeah, I don’t like it.”
After the NBA learned of Hardaway’s comments, a league spokesman said Hardaway had been removed from further league-related appearances.

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SJR-7 Passes Indiana Senate

The controversial, discriminatory Senate Joint Resolution 7 – to amend the Indiana Constitution to bar equal marriage rights – had a second reading in the Senate today, and was passed by the Senate, much to the State’s disgrace.

Apparently an amendment to remove the highly ambigous second paragraph of the bill was voted down, even though a similar paragraph in Michigan’s law recently caused domestic partner benefits to be struck down in that state.

The bill will now go to a House committee to be heard.

You can contact your legislators to tell them not to pass this law. Visit Stoptheamendment.org and enter your zip code. Their handy form will allow you to send a message quickly and easily.

Continue ReadingSJR-7 Passes Indiana Senate