An Easy Answer to the Incest Question Regarding Marriage Equality

If you're like me and frequent read the worst in conservative trash, you've seen this hypothetical question thrown out there by opponents of Marriage Equality: If Gays Can Marry, Why Not Brothers and Sisters? The point is for conservatives to get Marriage Equality proponents to admit that marriage isn't just about love thus lending credence to their rhetoric about the biological creation of children, among other things.  Lately I've seen this repurposed as If it's about benefits, won't mothers marry their sons for those benefits?

Both of these questions are stupid.  Why?  Because slippery slope arguments only work if there is an actual slope, i.e. a connection between two points.  The notion that Marriage Equality is going to open the floodgates for any sort of cultural apocalypse is preposterous.  There is no connection between homosexuality and pedophilia, or bestiality, or incest, and to suggest that there is, is to rub your balls on the face of science, not to mention common sense.

If you're going to advocate banning something because it might lead to something else, you should probably have tangible evidence that it actually leads to that other thing.

Corkins, the FRC, and Other Things

Yesterday, Holy Bullies founder Alvin McEwen wrote a controversial post entitled Family Research Council is to Blame for Near Massacre at its Headquarters where he compared the FRC, not to a victim, but to a bully that finally got their ass beat by one of the kids they picked on.  And make no mistake, the FRC has done its fair share of anti-gay bullying, bullying that includes financial support for the Ugandan Kill the Gays Bill.

Department of Defense at War with Eur-gay-sia

Where do you even begin with the creepy, Big Brother-esque tactics of the Department of Defense and the internet filtering company they use called Blue Coat?  Yesterday a number of liberal bloggers (many of whom are LGBT) found that their sites were blocked on government computers at the Pentagon when similar right-wing sites like Red State, and Breitbart that rely mostly or exclusively on blog contributors went unfiltered.

The story deepened when the aforementioned bloggers also found that Blue Coat has an entire category devoted to LGBT.  And it's not that they're mistakenly being flagged as pornography, they actually have an entire category called "LGBT" devoted exclusively to blocking sites with LGBT content.  It turns out that they leave no gay stone left unblocked either:

"Websites that provide reference materials, news, legal information, anti-bullying and suicide-prevention information, and other resources for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (“LGBT”) people or that relate to LGBT civil rights. The websites included in this category were selected because they do not contain sexually explicit content and are generally suitable for viewing by all age groups."

Really Department of Defense?  Really Blue Coat?  Anti-bullying and suicide-prevention materials are blocked even though (and this comes from Blue Coat's own website) "they do not contain sexually explicit content and are generally suitable for viewing by all age groups."  In fact, Blue Coat's URL Categories sheet is even more vague:

"Sites that provide information regarding, support, promote, or cater to one's sexual orientation or gender identity including, but not limited to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender sites."

By that definition they should be blocking sites that refer to couples in any way.  They are not, however, because as we can see in the first link, the National Organization for Marriage's website remains unblocked.  Blue Coat seems to have an agenda because when you browse their Violence/Hate/Racism category, you see that they make every possible effort to avoid condemning violence against LGBT:

"...sites that depict hostility or aggression toward, or denigrate an individual or group on the basis of race, religion, gender, nationality, ethnic origin, or other involuntary characteristics..."

Who knows what the asshat that originally authored these things was actually trying to convey, but it looks to me like they're trying to excuse hate and violence directed at LGBT by implying that these are not involuntary characteristics.

Of course, Blue Coat has been caught doing some sketchy things before...

Editor's Note: The DoD has released one of the most factually inaccurate and generally mystifying statements in recent memory.  When did Miss South Carolina get a job as their PR spokesperson?

Hating the Westboro Baptist Church is Counter-Productive

Who gives a flying fuck about the Westboro Baptist Church?  These people are universally recognized as assholes and lunatics.  Their tactics are reprehensible to an extreme which is exactly why they don't fucking matter.  Getting angry about them, and signing petitions are nice feel-good acts, but ultimately a waste of time.  At the end of the day their message isn't going to land with anyone, and they're going to crawl back to Topeka like the pathetic masses of human scum they are.  These people are mosquitoes in a room full of tigers.

Why not get angry about the Catholic Church, the National Organization for Marriage, the Family Research Council, or Focus on the Family?  Organizations that have deluded people into thinking that they're any more legitimate.  James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family and the FRC blamed the Sandy Hook tragedy on gays and godlessness.  This is an organization with the support of millions whose leaders are routinely paraded around on CNN, Fox, and NBC as experts on theology and family structures.

The Pope decided that Christmas was a good time to bash the gays.  Catholic priests have molested countless children.  Almost a quarter of adults in the United States are Catholic, and many of them willingly give money to these people.  Why don't people do something about that instead of spouting off empty disdain for a couple hundred nuts from Kansas?

MacLeod Cartoons

A Slavery-Apologist Argument Against Marriage Equality

I encountered the following in the politics subsection of an unrelated message board.  I was going to post the quote in its entirety and respond after (because I think it raises several good talking points), but I think it is simply too large for me to be able to do that effectively.  I have chopped the entire post down to the relevant portions and fixed the punctuation for readability's sake.

Election Night, An LGBT Recap

"Delusional Conservatives that predicted a Romney victory are now learning that they were full of shit, and that math is a real thing that exists." - Me, last night.

I'll skip over Obama's landmark victory (because you can find volumes on it everywhere) and delve into some of the important House and Senate races and ballot measures.

The Top 25 Star Trek Episodes of All Time

I thought about making this an off topic entry, but Star Trek has been a trailblazer in terms of support for minorities.  Think back to the The Original Series...where else in the 1960s could you find a TV show that featured an African American in Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), an Asian (ancestry-wise) American in George Takei (Hikaru Sulu), a Russian (ancestry-wise) American in Walter Koenig (Pavel Chekov), and a Canadian playing a Scot in James Doohan (Montgomery Scott)?  So too has Star Trek been a boon for the LGBT community, so we are on topic punching in a cruising speed of warp 9.975.

Hurricane Sandy Impacting Homeless LGBT Youth

This past week, Hurricane Sandy battered the east coast and New York City and New Jersey in particular, leaving many without power, and many more without homes.  While their loss cannot be understated, and any assistance that people can offer to anyone is a positive step, I want to focus on a very specific group that Sandy has affected.

Christian Blogger Accidentally Makes a Good Point, Still Manages to Be a Complete Idiot

We're going Inception style here, as I do a commentary on an article that is, in part, a commentary on a third article.  The article's author Nick Rynerson thinks that Dan Savage, an outspoken LGBT activist and gay father, makes a pro-family (code for anti-LGBT) statement by being married and raising children with his partner.  Rynerson argues that in doing so, Savage shows that God has stamped an innate desire in everyone to trend towards a "covenantal" family structure.

Amazing.  I don't even know where to begin.  Seriously.

I guess the first part that jumps out at me is how Rynerson seems completely unaware that Savage is an outspoken proponent of polyamory, which throws his entire argument out the window.  Savage's heart isn't innately stamped to try and emulate anything.  And hell, if Savage really were trying to get as close to the lofty institution of heterosexual marriage as he could, he and his partner would probably be divorced and fighting a bitter custody battle over the kids by now.

I also particularly enjoyed how the author condescendingly paints LGBT individuals as a bunch of sinners cutely trying to imitate their superior heterosexual counterparts.  (Because, despite his family, Savage is still an awful human being that no one should listen to.  That point is made repeatedly.)

But Rynerson accidentally makes a good point overall, one I felt necessary to highlight in the comments.  Given his revelation that many LGBT individuals are raising children with their partner in stable homes, one wonders how religious people like him can continue to comdemn marriage equality.  After all, one would think they'd want those children to be afforded all the financial benefits of their heterosexually-parented counterparts, right?

(Answer: Wrong.  Being "pro-family" isn't about doing what's best for children.  It's about hating gays.)
 

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.

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.

'Why Same Sex Marriage Affects My Marriage' - Riley Balling Tries to Sound Smart, Fails

Early this morning the Star Tribune out of Minneapolis Minnesota, posted a commentary by Riley Balling about how Marriage Equality would affect his marriage.  Balling tries desperately to sound like he's coming from a position of intellectualism and science.  He is not, and thus fails quite handily.

Peter Sprigg is a Lying Sack of Shit

But you probably already knew that.  And to be fair, I don't know how much of a hand the FRC's Senior Fellow for Policy Studies had in writing their latest release, but he was the one to tweet it and so my ire will focus on him.

The Oddest Conversation I Think I've Ever Had

Earlier today at the dog park I frequent daily in Washington State, I happened across a man in his 50s or 60s.  I'd run into him once before and made it a point to avoid him.  He seemed like the awkwardly chatty type that introverts like me tend to loathe so I kept my distance.  It's a 40 acre park, there are plenty of other places to go.  Little did I know I'd underestimated him.

The CDC, HIV, and LGBT: A New Response To An Old Argument

Earlier tonight I had a conversation with someone who tweeted an infographic at me out of the blue about the horrors of STDs (HIV particularly) among youth.  Also mentioned in the tweet was Chris Kluwe, the relatively widely known pro-LGBT punter for the Minnesota Vikings.  Yes, the tweeter's motivations were anti-LGBT.  You can read my feed yourselves and see how I proved that the tweeter: is anti-LGBT, did not read any of the referenced infographic's cited sources and thus could not verify their accuracy, does not think that footnotes matter on infographics, does not care about heterosexuals with HIV, does not know or is willfully ignorant that the CDC specifically mentions factors other than risk when researching STDs, and is the kind of religious that makes its money hating gays.

The Chick-fil-A Reversal

Chick-fil-A decided to change its tune.  In a letter to Joe Moreno, Alderman of Chicago's First Ward, the company vowed not only to cease giving money to anti-LGBT organizations, but also to uphold a company policy of non-discrimination.  (Whether this will be useless like the Salvation Army's officially policy of non-discrimination remains to be seen.)

The Other Washington's Transgender Respect Ad Campaign

Washington DC's Office of Human Rights has recently unveiled a series of ads promoting respect for transgender individuals (which, it's kind of sad that such things are even necessary, but I digress).  The spot is set to feature several transgender members of the DC community with statements like "Some think I should dress more like a man," and pleas to show respect for transgender community members.

Lazy Sunday Links

Always remember the Sabbath is for sharing gay links, not working.  It's in the bible, I promise.  Here are a few:

Washington Newspapers Show Support for Referendum 74
Referendum 74 or R74 is the ballot initiative that would bring the right to marry to LGBT couples of Washington State.  The Spokesman-Review, The Columbian, and The Seattle Times have all published editorials supporting the measure.  Credit: Pam Spaulding.

NOM's Bid To Oust The Republican Senators That Voted In Favor Of Marriage Equality Last Year Is A Flop
What does two million hate dollars buy you these days?  Not much apparently as Mark Grisanti held on to win handily and Stephen Saland and Roy McDonald are awaiting the counting of absentee ballots in their respective races (Saland is barely up, McDonald is barely down).  Credit: Jeremy Hooper.

Tony Perkins Acts Like Tony Perkins
Family Research Council head Tony Perkins encouraged parents of children that come out as gay to 'express disapproval.'  As author Alvin McEwen notes, Perkins has no educational background to justify making such a statement, and as Dan Savage further notes, LGBT youth are four times as likely to commit suicide as non-LGBT youth, and eight times as likely if their home environment is hostile.

Gayyy - The Power of Words

As a writer, and to some extent, as an athlete, I have an odd relationship with words.  On one hand, I recognize the power they have, the things that even just a few of them can do.  On the other, it is the recipient or the reader that gives them their power.  Words directed at us have exactly the impact we choose to allow them to.  It's why Twilight is the most meaningful thing in the world to some, and to the rest of us it's hot garbage.

Chris Kluwe Might Be My New Favorite NFL Player

Granted Kluwe is a punter and no one generally gives a fuck about them...but come on.  In case you missed it, Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo has been very vocal in his support of marriage equality.  This didn't sit well with Emmett C. Burns, he of the old west villain name.  Burns wrote a letter to the owner of the Baltimore Ravens complaining that Ayanbadejo should shut the fuck up and play football.

Look, there is no way I'm going to touch Kluwe's Hindenburg level torching of Burns so I won't even try.  I will point out something Kluwe missed though.

Click for full size

What an embarrassment.