Clamour Underbridge

The Letter April 2010

The Letter April 2010

Dan Mongiardo has got to be kidding

I usually don't bother with campaigns.  I'm an issues person but this really gets my goat.  Barefoot and Progressive has some new information on the Kentucky Democratic primary for Senate.  Dan Mongiardo is running to be the Democratic candidate.  Jim Bunning is retiring (which is a blessing).  Dr. Mongiardo was the Democratic candidate in 2004 and he lost.  It was close.  My theory is he shot himself in the foot because he helped create a Republican surge at the polls by packing in the homophobes and the bigots.  Remember?  That was the year Kentuckians turned out in record numbers to vote on the "God's Plan:  one-man, one-woman marriage amendment."  Kentuckians have NEVER failed to use the law to coerce the practice of various forms of Christianity and to mandate by law the practice of extreme Evangelical Protestant Fundamentalism.  (Remember Stone v. Graham and the law that REQUIRED the 10 Commandments be posted in ALL Kentucky Schools?)  Mongiardo was the co-sponsor of the odious Section 233A of the Kentucky constitution that reads "Only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Kentucky. A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized." So Mongiardo engineered a law to outlaw gay marriage and civil unions and anything "substantially similar" including domestic partnerships, registered partnerships, and common law marriages.  It was also the year Bush was re-elected.  Why would conservatives in Kentucky vote for a DINO right-wing-Republican-wanna-be when they can vote for an actual right wing wacky Republican like Bunning?  Anyway, in a desperate (?) attempt to appeal to people outside of Christian & Trigg counties, Mongiardo is advertising on Daily Kos, a liberal blog run by Markos Moulitsas Zuniga (Kos).  Daily Kos is all about liberal politics in the Democratic party.  Mongiardo is being ridiculous.  If he is in the Chandler mode of Blue Dog, I-should-be-a-Republican, lets-continue-to-wreck-the-Democratic-party frame of mind then let him be a Republican and run against Paul and Grayson for a shot as the Republican candidate.  Kentucky Democrats loose elections because they're Republican lite and, believe it or not, most Kentuckians will vote for the real thing as opposed to a vapid imitation.           

The Letter February 2010

The Letter February 2010

The Archbishop of Louisville lies to deny his bigotry. The Courier Journal points out the obvious

On December 19th the Courier Journal in Louisville published an editorial in opposition to the actions of the Archbishop of Louisville, the Most Reverend Jospeh E. Kurtz.  Archbishop Kurtz has contributed personal funds and has used funds from the Archdiocese of Louisville to oppose marriage equality in California and Maine.  Here's the Archbishop on youtube talking about his opposition.  Here is the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops statement in opposition to our relationships.  The video and the statement are full of the usual lies told by bigots in opposition to our rights.

On December 28th, Chris Hartman, Director of Louisville's Fairness Campaign, provided a feature editorial to the CJ detailing some of the other problematic actions of Archbishop Kurtz.  In particular Chris mentioned the new strategy of prelates threatening to use the charitable work done by the Catholic church as a goad to coerce secular cooperation.  The Catholic Church in Washington DC pulled the same stunt in its unsuccessful attempt to thwart marriage equality there.    

On December 29th the Archbishop protests and declares his innocence.  It's more of the usual.  Does the Archbishop of Louisville support civil unions and domestic partnerships? That's what his letter implies. I just can't wait to see him lobby for that in Frankfort and Washington.

He also seems to not know the definition of bigotry and somehow think that just because other people are doing something he is justified in doing the same thing. Wow. That's certainly a theologically sophisticated position. So let's clear up the label. A bigot is "a person who is rigidly devoted to his own group, religion, race, or politics and is intolerant of those who differ." The key terms are "rigid" and "intolerant." He is also a liar. "As a good citizen, I do not seek to impose assent to religious truths..." His entire argument for heterosexual legal marriage is rooted in revealed religious truth.

There are just as many "time-honored, classical" norms for relationships that don't involve monogamous, heterosexual marriage as there are for it. Besides, most of his "time-honored, classical" norms treat the female partner as an object and a possession and certainly not as an equal partner or even as a human being. Are not slavery and infanticide also "time-honored, classical" norms? Does he propose we bring those back as well?

The argument for the common good fails as well. He does not have a secular purpose for opposing marriage. Did you notice that only those relationships that are chaste make the Archbishop's list of just deserts for "same-sex" attracted people? Exactly what secular reason does he have for caring or even mentioning who has sex with whom?

"To refer to such genuine efforts as bigotry" captures exactly the nature of the Archbishops efforts. He is determined to impose his religious reasoning and rules of conduct on everyone inside and outside his denomination and will undermine any efforts by those who do not wish to live by his church's teachings. He completely ignores the fact that many Christians and other religious groups have reached an entirely different conclusion regarding same sex marriage. Let's see the Archbishop out there campaigning to overturn "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and the AIDS immigration and travel ban if he's so interested in the "suffering that unjust discrimination causes" for "individuals with same-sex attraction." More blather from the chancery seeking to justify the secular political machinations of a Vatican insider seeking higher office is specious, tiresome, and inefficacious.

So, I think the label "bigot" is valid and clears up into obscurantism in the Archbishop's efforts.  There is no reason whatso ever to make nice with the people that hate us and hope for some kind of eventual heartfelt change. Is the catholic church a hate group on the level of The Traditional Values Coalition or Westboro Baptist Church? Of course not. Does the catholic church and its leaders need to be held accountable for the damage they do and their underhanded attempts to co-opt all of us into their fold? Absolutely.  

 

The Letter August 2009

The Letter August 2009

Reflections on California's Proposition 8

I've been reading about Prop 8 and I'm not sure what I think. 

How does this effect Kentucky?  Not at all.  Kentucky has one of the most bigoted and regressive marriage laws in the nation.  In 2004 Kentucky voters decided to reserve marriage and any other "legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage" to heterosexual couples.  California still has domestic partnerships that are substantially equivalent to marriage.

Can the California Supreme Court's decision be appealed?  Yes and no.  It cannot be appealed under the constitution of the state of California.  It can be appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States.

What about the same-sex couples that are already married in California?  They're still married.  The California Supreme Court ruled that the ban approved by voters was not retroactive and marriages performed before the proposition was approved by voters are valid. 

Are same sex couples that got married in California or get married in Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, Iowa or Vermont still married if they move to Kentucky?  No.  They are not.  Even though the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution of the United States clearly states "acts, records and judicial proceedings or copies thereof, so authenticated, shall have the same full faith and credit in every court within the US" the US Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 to specifically exempt states from their responsibility to recognize marriages performed in other states if the persons getting married are of the same sex.  States are still required to accept marriages of opposite sex couples of different races or religions even though many states have laws that specifically make those types of marriages illegal.  DOMA is unconstitutional on its face but has never been appealed to the Supreme Court.  President Obama has also decided to renege on his campaign promise to ask Congress to repeal DOMA.

Does this mean that all civil rights are subject to popular vote?  No.  Other unpopular minorities in the United States are protected by the due process clause of the United States Constitution.  Due Process has, however, been attacked by Justices Scalia and Thomas.  The possibility exists that as public opinion waxes and wanes on the acceptability and unacceptability of identifiable groups that they could also lose their civil rights in a popular vote without recourse to the courts.  One wonders how, for example, separate but equal and other odious ways of enacting racial segregation would have been overturned without due process protection since segregation was a popular practice and received overwhelming majority votes in its time.

NOM just can't take the heat and it scares them

My sainted mother always said, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."  And then she'd throw something at me because, well, you have to do things to get my attention and my mom was a woman accustomed to being heeded.  Meanwhile, back at my point if groups like the Camp Meeting Association (Ocean Grove, New Jersey) and the North Coast Women's Care Medical Group (San Diego, California) want to offer a public service and take public payment then they are required to abide by the non-discrimination laws and everyone's right to access a public accommodation. 

But then that wouldn't be news worthy and juicy, would it?  So now you have you to go see the "Gathering Storm" commercial from the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) to really get a flavor of the issue.  Browse to your favorite search engine and check it out.  I'll wait.  OK.  Isn't it creepy?  Yeah, I thought so too.  It's also a pack of lies but, hey, NOM must protect, uh, something, doctors and children and churches or something.  Wait, oh yeah, straight-people-only marriage. 

The things that scares NOM is that gay Americans (and lesbians and bisexuals and transgender folk and queer Americans and all those other Americans) get to be citizens of the US even though NOM really, really doesn't approve.  See how we're right back to the kitchen thing.  NOM  has deluded itself into thinking it owns the kitchen.  NOM only wants the right people to have rights. And by "right" people they mean Christians and not just any Christian but just those with the right kinds of beliefs and practices.  Usually that included "practicing" on other people.  Fortunately, it just doesn't work that way.  We're all in the kitchen together and if NOM can't stand the heat then they need to go back to their churches (or whatever) and hate freely and without hindrance.  Westboro Baptist does it all the time.  There's a role model for you.  We'll all free to believe as we please but out in the harsh glare of the public domain all Americans get to be citizens whether NOM likes it or not. 

Here's how it works.  If you're a non-profit organization and you rent out your pavilion on the Jersey shore for dog shows, concerts and graduation parties then you have to rent it out to lesbians that want to have a commitment ceremony too.  Did you notice a church being punished?  No, neither did I.  NOM is lying to you.  Then there's the "punished" doctor.  If you're the Women's Care Medical Group and you treat women, left, right and center then you don't get to say, "oops, sorry, we don't treat lesbians."  It doesn't work that way and we're all pretty happy about that.  And then we have that Massachusetts parent that fears her son will learn that gay marriage is OK.  Well, guess what?  Gay marriage is OK in Massachusetts as is interfaith marriage, interracial marriage and civil marriage.  Civil marriage is a civil issue and your faith doesn't get to dictate which civil rights other people get.  

Don't say gay--on Amazon.com

Michelle at http://michelelee.net/blog/ brought this to my attention.  You should check out her coverage as well. 

Following in the footsteps of Representative Stacey Campfield of Knoxville, Tennessee, the powers-that-be at Amazon.com have decided that gay people are dirty and need to be stricken from the record.  "Don't say gay"  was a bad bill for the Tennessee state house and it's a bad policy for Amazon.com.  Towleroad and Pam's House Blend are following the story closely.  They are much better at tracking hot news item than your humble clamour.

That's not to say I don't have an opinion. 

There is no caste system (officially) in the US.  Yet there are repeated attempts by religiously motivated bigots and other groups that would prefer gay people (and lesbian, trans, bi, queer and questioning folk and probably their allies) disappear off the face of the earth to turn GLBT people into low caste  Untouchables (I think the word is Dalit but I need to verify that) in the US legal and social system.  Campfield's "Don't say Gay"  bill, NOM's scary (but funny) ad that uses HS film class special effects and tries to implant the meme that rights for some are threatened by rights for all and lumping anything with gay characters, gay content or gay focus in with "the porn."  Because, you know, if you're gay it's all about sex and nothing else. 

This has got to stop.  Gay marriage is OK (and legal) in many entire countries and some US states.  I think we'd be better off with federal civil unions and leaving marriage to churches (my church performs gay marriages) but that's a different article.  A gay character in a story does not automoatically mean the story is porn or even erotica.  The drive to marginalize the GLBT community by bigots that use religion as their cover story is having an unintended effect.  It's marginalizing them and creating a climate where religion is once again being equated with superstition and rigidity at a time when a faith perspective is crucial to maintaining balance and connection in a complex and overwhelming world.  The misuse of religion by people like The Most Rev. Peter Akinola (Anglican bishop of Nigeria) and Scott Lively (blame the Holocaust on homosexuality) while other believers stand idly by and let them get away with it is damaging religion in general and Christianity in particular.   

Equal Opportunity Haters: The Short List

“God Hates Fags”gets all the press but Westboro Baptist Church and Fred Phelps are not the only anti-gay hate groups out there.  The Southern Poverty Law Center (http://www.splcenter.org/index.jsp) has compiled a list of eleven groups, including Westboro, who excel at slander, fabrication and hysterical homophobia.  Here’s the list.      

Traditional Values Coalition  http://www.traditionalvalues.org/

Abiding Truth Ministries http://www.abidingtruth.com/

Chalcedon Foundation http://www.chalcedon.edu/

Family Research Institute http://www.familyresearchinst.org/

American Vision http://www.americanvision.org/

Illinois Family Institute http://www.illinoisfamily.org/

Heterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environment http://www.home60515.com/

Westboro Baptist Church http://www.godhatesfags.com/

The School of Christian Activism http://ngteam.org/index.htm (in Russian)

Mass Resistance http://www.massresistance.org/

Watchmen on the Walls http://www.watchmenonthewalls.com/

Why should you care?  It’s not like venom, spleen and rumblings from bigots is new news.  I’ll tell you.  You should care because other groups, groups that don’t make the hate groups list, use publications and information from the Hateful 11.  

Right here in Kentucky we have C.R.A.V.E. (Christians Reviving America's Values http://www.christians4america.com/index.htm) and their Pastor Don Swarthout in Lexington.  They work with Abiding Truth Ministries.  And then there’s my personal favorite, Answers in Genesis (http://www.answersingenesis.org/), the creationism museum in Boone County.  Evidently staff trades between Answers in Genesis and American Vision are routine.

You should also care because groups like the American Family Association of Kentucky, that’s the notorious Frank Simon MD’s group (http://www.afaky.com/ ) and the Family Foundation of Kentucky (Kent Ostrander, Martin Cothran, David Edmunds, et al. http://www.kentuckyfamily.org/ ) routinely spout the lies and distortions of the Hateful 11, often without attribution, in order to sell their bill of goods.  It’s all snake oil mixed with a little bait and switch. 

What can you do? 

First, when you hear these groups cited point out that they’re extremist hate groups.  No one considers the KKK “just another opinion” when issues of race, ethnicity or religion are being discussed.  Yet lobbyists for anti-gay legislation such as the amendment to the Kentucky consitution defining marriage and the recently defeated No Gay Foster Parents bill will use Scott Lively (Watchmen on the Walls and the Center for Christian Activism) and his truly excrebable tome Seven Steps to Recruit-Proof Your Child: A Parent's Guide to Protecting Children from Homosexuality and the "Gay" Movement as well as Paul Cameron’s (Family Research Institute) discredited and mostly fabricated “research” to give lobbyists and legislators cover when they spout hair-raising bigotry.    

Second, don’t get trapped into trying to rebutt arguments rooted in hate.  You can’t discuss creationism rationally with the Answers in Genesis or the Flat Earth Society (http://www.theflatearthsociety.org/).  NARTH (National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality,  http://www.narth.com/index.html) doesn’t care that “gender disorientation pathology” is a fiction that has never appeared in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association.  It’s useful when there’s gay bashing to be done.    

Third, if NAMBLA is mentioned it’s already to late.  There is nothing that can be done or said that will derail a bigot once they land in pedophilia territory.  The fact that the vast majority of abusers are heterosexual makes no difference.  Smile stiffly and walk away.

The Letter April 2009

The Letter April 2009

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