PODCAST: Same Sex Sunday

Same Sex Sunday is a weekly LGBT news podcast hosted by activists Phil Reese and Joe Mirabella. This week's guest panelists::

Field Director at the Courage Campaign, Arisha Hatch; Programs Director for Log Cabin Republicans, Casey Pick; Managing Partner Renna Communication—an LGBT-focused Communications Firm, Cathy Renna; Co-Director of active duty servicemembers network, OutServe, JD Smith; Executive Director of Equality Florida, Nadine Smith; Founding partner in 3PG Consulting, Andy Szekeres.

Topics covered below include:

The DADT roller coaster; the end of the Floria ban on gay adoption; the President's "It Gets Better: video; NOM'S legal troubles; the coming election, Ken Buck thinks being gay is like being an alcoholic; a European court struck down the Moscow Pride ban; majority of Americans blame churches for gay suicides.

GOProud Endorsee Sean Bielat: There Is No Right To Serve In The Military

"There’s no absolute right to serve. Men under the height of 5 feet, 2 inches can’t serve — I don’t see anybody protesting. Where are the people standing in front of the White House, the short guys standing in front of the White House? You don’t see it. We understand that there’s no absolute right to serve in all these other areas." - Barney Frank's GOP opponent Sean Bielat, who has been endorsed by GOProud.

Towleroad's Steve Pep notes the response of the Boston Herald: "Hmm. ... On the other hand, vertically challenged people are not forced to pretend they’re tall, then drummed out once it’s discovered they’re short in spite of their service record."

ILLINOIS: GOP Gov. Bill Brady Gets Glee Treatment In Pat Quinn Ad

(Tipped by JMG reader Ray)

Will Angry Gays Cost The Dems?

Today the Associated Press wonders if gay voters disillusioned with the Obama administration will cost the Democrats seats in tightly contested races.

Across the country, activists say gay voters are angry — at the lack of progress on issues from eliminating employment discrimination to uncertainty over serving in the military to the economy — and some are choosing to sit out this election or look for other candidates. President Barack Obama's hometown of Chicago, with its large, politically and socially active gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, offers a snapshot of what some are calling the "enthusiasm gap" between voters who came out strong for Obama and other Democrats in 2008 and re-energized Republican base voters, including tea party enthusiasts who say they are primed to storm the polls. [snip]

In places like Cook County, Ill., where the gay population represents about 7 percent of voters, that could mean the difference between victory and defeat in some races, said Rick Garcia, director of public policy for Equality Illinois. One of those races is a much-watched and close battle for Obama's old Senate seat between Democrat Alexi Giannoulias and Republican Mark Kirk. "If (candidates) can mobilize the gay community and get them out to vote, it could make all the difference in the world in some of these key races," said Garcia. But volunteers who've been calling the 18,000 or so members of Equality Illinois to urge them to vote have been getting an earful. Many members say they won't vote or will vote against incumbents, regardless of their party affiliation or stance on gay issues.

Folks, you must vote. And yes, you should vote Democrat, even as disappointed as you may feel, if for no other reason than this is the year that we vote in the candidates that will control post-census redistricting. Are you so angry about DADT that you'd put the fucking teabaggers in charge of redrawing the boundaries of your district?

Christine O'Donnell Confesses To Using Campaign Money For Personal Expenses

Teabagger loon, "ex-gay" advocate, and not-a-witch Christine O'Donnell has admitted that she's been illegally using campaign donations to pay her rent.

[O'Donnell] acknowledges using campaign money to pay part of the rent on her current town house. Her attorney maintains someone with the Federal Election Commission approved the arrangement, although the commission's rules say candidates can't use campaign money for their mortgage or rent "even if part of the residence is being used by the campaign."

The watchdog group Citizens For Ethics in Washington responds: "Ms. O'Donnell has spent years embezzling money from her campaign to cover her personal expenses. Republicans and Democrats don't agree on much these days, but both sides should agree on one point: thieves belong in jail not the United States Senate."

Paid For By Meg Whitman Who Invented Everything Good In California

Afternoon View - Dan Savage

Somehow Dan and I had never met in person until lunch today.

TEXAS: Gold's Gym Owner Robert Rowling Donates Millions To Anti-Gay Group

Gold's Gym CEO Robert Rowling is one of the four billionaires providing 97% of the funding to Karl Rove's "grassroots" political action group, American Crossroads, which in turn is funding the campaigns of anti-gay candidates like Roy Blunt and Sharron Angle. Change.org reports:

Rowling, head of TRT Holdings, which is the owner of Gold's Gym, is spending quite a bit of money this election cycle. Upwards of $2 million to be exact, through both his corporate and personal bank accounts. Where is he sending that money, which he no doubt earns on the backs of many an LGBT customer? Karl Rove. That's right, the former Bush strategist, who co-founded a new political organization, American Crossroads, which is working to elect some of the most virulently anti-gay politicians in the country. Turns out that Rowling is one of a handful of big money men working to get Rove's organization off the ground, helping to turn it into a power player among the political elite.

Who would have thought that giving money to Gold's Gym could have such ugly consequences for the LGBT community? Among the candidates that the owner of Gold's Gym is working to elect include Nevada GOP senate candidate Sharron Angle, who is challenging Sen. Harry Reid. Angle, you might recall, has previously said that women who are raped should turn their lemons into lemonade, and that LGBT people should be barred from adopting children. And that's only the tip of iceberg. In years past, Sharron Angle put her blessing behind an insert that went out to voters that said homosexuality would lead to the destruction of the United States, and called gay people "sodomites" and "perverts." She even endorsed a statement that said there was no evidence to suggest homosexuality was biological, and that scientists who argue otherwise are flawed.

Some Gold's Gyms are corporate owned, others are very LGBT-supportive locally-owned franchises. Check with your Gold's before you make any moves based on this report.

Dan Savage & Jim McGreevey Talk Christianist Bigotry With Joy Behar

Quote Of The Day - Ron Prentice

"Our opponents have taken hold of the recent attacks against homosexuals – terrible acts that the Protect Marriage executive committee thoroughly condemns on every level – and connected them to Prop 8 supporters! We believe that every person is created in the image of God and that all human life is to be respected and valued. There is never cause for provoking humiliation or assault on a person, and every person is entitled to safety and freedom from fear of harm.

"The passage of Proposition 8 did one thing: it placed the traditional definition of marriage into the California Constitution. The work to pass Proposition 8, and now to defend it in the Courts, has not and will never be targeted at the homosexual population. We may never convince all homosexuals of our sincere concern for their wellbeing, but we cannot remain silent in the face of heinous attacks upon them. Please join us in denouncing such persecution, pray for its end, and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'" - Protect Marriage chairman Ron Prentice, in a fundraising letter.

BREAKING: Woofy Bearded Pitcher Makes Baseball Slightly Less Boring

Also: San Francisco won the pennant. Just For Men should totally hire Brian Wilson as their spokesbear.

Miss February

Today BuzzFeed expands on my post about the 2011 Great Conservative Women calendar and provides an appropriate quote for each month. "Ex-gay" advocate Star Parker is Miss February. Check out the rest at the link.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi - It Gets Better

Ari Up Dies At Age 48

Ari Up, lead vocalist of the late 70s/early 80s British girl punk group The Slits, has died of cancer at the age of 48. Here's the Slits' classic 1979 Marvin Gaye cover. It's Saturday, you're at home, play it loud. I bought this single the same day I bought the first B-52s album and playing them both nonstop for the next month, I thought I'd left disco behind me forever.

Iowa Gubernatorial Candidates Debate Same-Sex Marriage

I Just Got Fired By AOL News

In their "11 Famous Politically Correct Firings" story, AOL News names me as the person canned from Sen. Saxby Chambliss' staff for writing anti-gay hate speech on some homo blog. Oh well, there are worse things about me on the internet.

UPDATED: AOL News has updated the story with a correction (misspelling my name, which they got right when I writing hate speech).

(Tipped by JMG reader TryGuy)

Jersey Shore's Vinny - It Gets Better

The cast of Jersey Shore is taking part in MTV's own campaign against bullying. And Dan Savage's brainchild continues to expand far beyond what he probably imagined.

JMG Thanks Reader Dave Evans!

As a very active week on JMG comes to a close (almost 200 posts!), I'd like to take a moment to thank reader Dave Evans of Cleveland, who via his video news clipping work provides us with many breaking items of LGBT interest. Dave scours the cable outlets and chat shows for relevant items and often has them posted to his YouTube channel many hours (or days) before the networks themselves.

Best of all (for us) he can often track down clips upon my special request, even if it means the kid stays up half the night waiting on a news show rerun. And as some of you have noted, some proprietary video players (CNN, Vevo, Logo) can cause browsers to crash, but Dave is always there to repost the clip to the relatively browser-friendly YouTube. So snaps to gay news junkie Dave Evans from us all for helping keep JMG as up-to-the-minute as possible.

Dan Savage: The President's Message Is Welcome, But Doesn't Match His Actions

Florida AG Bill McCollum: I Won't Be Appealing Overturn Of Adoption Ban

He let the clock run down to the wire, but Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum announced today that he won't be appealing the recent overturn on gay adoption. McCollum had until 5pm today to file his appeal and still gets manages to get in an anti-gay shot with his statement.

"The constitutionality of the Florida law banning adoption by homosexuals is a divisive matter of great public interest. As such, the final determination should rest with the Florida Supreme Court, not a lower appellate court. But after reviewing the merits of independently seeking Supreme Court review, following the decision of our client the Department of Children and Families not to appeal the decision of the Third District Court of Appeal, it is clear that this is not the right case to take to the Supreme Court for its determination. No doubt someday a more suitable case will give the Supreme Court the opportunity to uphold the constitutionality of this law."

RELATED: McCollum's candidacy for governor of Florida was severely damaged by the revelation that he'd paid male prostitute patron Dr. George Rekers over $130,000 to testify in the above-cited case. Teabagger and Medicare fraudster Rick Scott ended up winning the GOP nomination.

New From Crazy Eyes

This is (by my count) the ninth consecutive ad from Rep. Michele "Crazy Eyes" Bachmann in which her own name is not mentioned, other than in the opening disclaimer.

HRC's 2010 Congressional Scorecard

Shown above are the ratings for my three reps in Congress, according to how the HRC judges their support for LGBT issues. Another benefit of living in this moonbat commie/socialist paradise. The HRC notes via press release:

In the House, 145 members scored 90 percent or above, compared to 128 members last congress. In the Senate, those scoring 90 percent and above rose from 32 to 36. But disturbingly, the number of Senators with a zero percent score doubled from 16 to 32 this Congress. In addition, the number of House Members that consistently oppose LGBT equality has remained essentially constant increasing from 143 to 144. “As more and more Americans support equality for LGBT people, some members of Congress are showing real leadership while others are digging in their heels to cater to an anti-LGBT fringe constituency,” added HRC Legislative Director Allison Herwitt.

Check out the just-released 2010 edition of the HRC's Congressional Scorecard and report back here on your own reps' ratings.

Harry Jackson: Christians Need Tax Cuts So They Can Give More To Their Church

Or in other words, so they can give more to HIM.

Tweet Of The Day II - Barack Obama

Tweet Of The Day - Lt. Dan Choi

Turtle Creek Chorale - It Gets Better

Clip description:

On October 18, 2010, members of Dallas' Turtle Creek Chorale joined singers from over 30 area religious institutions and students from Southern Methodist University in a performance titled, A Night For Peace. WIth just three rehearsals to prepare, the 300+ "Partners In Harmony" massed chorus offered a full-length concert, which concluded with Bach's DONA NOBIS PACEM (Grant Us Peace) from his Mass in B Minor. All stories are real. Featured speakers are current members of the Turtle Creek Chorale.

And This We Pray: Please, Jeebus, Put Christians In Charge Of America

Janet Porter prays that America "recognizes the lie of separation of church and state, which exists only in the Soviet Union." (Soviet Union?) Janet also prays that Jeebus knock some sense into those 19 states without anti-gay marriage laws! Glory! Prai$e Hi$ Name! The donation plate is now being passed!

Museums Of The Future

(Source)

Tired Old Queen At The Movies #53

1946's The Dark Corner starring Lucille Ball.

Conservative Women Of 2011 Calendar

The Great American Conservative Women Of 2011 calendar is out! I know you've been anxious. Representing "Celebrate Family Values" for June is human clown car Michelle Duggar. Wingnut blogger Michelle Malkin, Miss August, promotes the calendar by linking to the Dogs Of The Democratic Party calendar. Because she's a delicate lady.
(Tipped by JMG reader NYC Girl)

FLORIDA: Democrat Alex Sink Improves To Tie With Teabagger Rick Scott

Some good news out of Florida, where the latest polls show Alex Sink improving to a toss-up with teabagger Rick Scott, whose hospital chain paid the largest federal fine in history for medicare fraud. Unsurprisingly, Scott is also the founder of an astroturf group lobbying for removing regulations on the hospital industry. If elected, Scott vows to block health care reform in Florida.

HRC's Bullying Bracelet

Andrew Sullivan calls this $3 item from the HRC "a new low." Can't say I disagree, but I've never missed an opportunity to mock those Lance Armstrong bracelets either.

New From Sean Bielat

Sean Bielat is trailing miles behind Rep. Barney Frank (10 to 25 points, depending on whose poll you believe), so today he takes a disco potshot at Frank via a woman in a fat suit.

New York City Bedbug Terror!

The bedbug scare gets the Taiwanese news animation treatment.

(Via - Gothamist)

AUSTRALIA: New Poll Shows Majority Support Gay Marriage

A just-released poll reveals that 62% of Australians now support marriage equality.

Australian Marriage Equality spokesperson Alex Greenwich and PFLAG national spokesperson Shelley Argent OAM called on both major parties to listen to the Australian people and allow a conscience vote on the issue. "Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott cannot ignore the majority of Australians who believe same-sex couples should be able to marry and the even greater majority who want a conscience vote on the issue", Greenwich said. PFLAG national spokesperson, Shelley Argent, said "if Catholic counties like Spain, Argentina and Portugal can right this wrong then why can't Australia?" The Galaxy poll also showed that 80 per cent of Australians aged between 18 and 24 support same-sex marriage and 72 per cent of households with children aged under 18 were also in favour. 74 per cent of Labor voters and 48per cent of Coalition voters support equality. Support for a conscience vote is uniformly high with 80per cent of Labor voters and 75 per cent of Coalition voters supporting it.

Full polling results here (PDF).

Texas Teabagger: Violent Overthrow Of Government May Be Necessary

Majority Of Americans Agree: Churches Contribute To LGBT Suicides

A large majority of Americans, two-thirds in fact, believe that the way that churches treat gay people contributes to LGBT suicides. (This is probably self-apparent, to you.)

Two out of three Americans believe gay people commit suicide at least partly because of messages coming out of churches and other places of worship, a survey released Thursday found. More than four out of 10 Americans say the message coming out of churches about gay people is negative, and about the same number say those messages contribute "a lot" to negative perceptions of gay and lesbian people. Catholics were the most critical of their own churches' messages on homosexuality, while white evangelical Christians gave their churches the highest grades, the survey found. The Public Religion Research Institute asked 1,017 Americans their views on religion and homosexuality between October 14 and 17, in the wake of a highly publicized rash of suicides by gay people. Gay rights campaigner Dan Savage said the idea that churches send out an anti-gay message "totally jibes with my experience and that of millions of other gay and lesbian people."

Tony Perkins? Slaggie? Reaction?

Literature Death Watch

(Source)