Sunday, October 28, 2012

Lazy Sunday Links

It's Sunday which means Football, and Football are on and I don't really feel like writing anything.  So here's some stuff by other people to read.

Foster Kids Do Equally Well When Adopted by Gay or Lesbian Parents
Psychologists from UCLA studied 60 foster kids placed with heterosexual parents and 22 placed with gay (15) and lesbian (7) parents.  The sample sizes are a little small, but the results are encouraging.  (Credit to Alvin McEwen for the find.)

Mitt Romney - Gays having children - "not right on paper, not right in fact."
Not that I want to reference certain over-simile-d German leaders, but the marking of the birth certificates of the children of LGBT parents is...creepy.

The Totally Not a Hate Group Family Research Council Wants Pastors to Link Homosexuality to Pedophilia
I have nothing to say other than that this is par for the course for the FRC.

Debunking the Religious Right's Four Most Common Anti-Gay Lies Regarding Marriage Equality
The article wants to call them horror stories, I'll call them what they are, outright lies.  The worst one is that gay marriage shut down adoption agencies.  First of all, the laws that these religious run adoption agencies had a problem with were anti-discrimination laws, not gay marriage laws.  Secondly, those agencies ceased operations on their own.  They were given the following options:

  1. Help ALL children by obeying anti-discrimination laws and continuing to recieve public funding
  2. Help SOME children by refusing to obey anti-discrimination laws and operating privately
  3. Help NO children by shutting down.

They chose option 3.



Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Spineless Andy Parrish is Afraid to Debate LGBT Ally Chris Kluwe

I'll try to get through the background on this as fast as possible.

Andy Parrish is a former Michele Bachmann aide who got into trouble several months ago for posting via the Minnesota for Marriage Facebook account that gays should be put to death because...well...it's in the bible folks.

Chris Kluwe is a Punter for the NFL's Minnesota Vikings who has been a staunch supporter of LGBT rights.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Sixteen NHL Teams Participate in Spirit Day

In case you're unaware, Spirit Day is a 2010 concoction by GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation to be observed on October 19th.  Participants wear purple to speak out against bullying and to show their support for LGBT youth.  Unsurprisingly, given the popularity of Patrick Burke's You Can Play Project, many NHL teams rushed to participate either by flashing some purple or by making a statement in support of the day and the project.  They were:

Buffalo Sabres
Carolina Hurricanes
Chicago Blackhawks
Columbus Blue Jackets
Dallas Stars
Detroit Red Wings (which is ironic given they're partnered with anti-LGBT Amway)
Edmonton Oilers
Montreal Canadiens
New Jersey Devils
New York Islanders
New York Rangers
Ottawa Senators
Philadelphia Flyers
San Jose Sharks
Toronto Maple Leafs
Vancouver Canucks

As LGBT (recreational) athletes ourselves, we would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to those NHL teams and all of those who have been involved with the You Can Play Project.


Editor's Note: Thanks to @BurkieYCP for some great publicity and be sure to let us know if anyone was left off.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Off Topic - The Many Colors of Washington State

There were a lot of hopes I had for Washington state before moving here.  That it would be better economically and financially (true), that it would be better for the dogs (true), that it would be better for LGBT couples (true), and many others.  One thing I didn't really think about was diversity.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

I Have Severely Pissed Off Preserve Marriage Washington

So I've been keeping tabs on both Washington United for Marriage (pro-LGBT) and Preserve Marriage Washington (anti-LGBT) which included getting on mailing lists for both organizations.  Sure they both have nice websites, but organizations such as these (read: PMW, based on my experience with the NYFRF) also disseminate materials to their supporters that can't be found online.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Matt Birk is a Victim of His Own Hypocrisy

I don't know if Matt Birk is a plagiarist or not, or if Minnesota for Marriage is simply passing out templates for people to modify as they see fit.  Whatever the case, Baltimore Ravens' center Matt Birk's "editorial" to the Star Tribune, the same paper that published Riley Balling's "editorial" a few days ago reads as oddly similar.  It's entirely possible that some National Organization for Marriage money went Birk's way to be one of the "non-cognitive elites" that they so enjoy.  Stereotypically speaking, it is tough to get more non-cognitive than a football player.