In Spain: Catholic Church Linked to Baby Trafficking

BBC News reported on a recently discovered scandal in Spain. Starting in the 1930’s and continuing on into the 1990’s, babies were often stolen at birth by nuns and priests working in hospitals and sold to wealthier, “more desirable” families.

Apparently, “The practice of removing children from parents deemed ‘undesirable’ and placing them with ‘approved’ families, began in the 1930s under the dictator General Francisco Franco. At that time, the motivation may have been ideological. But years later, it seemed to change – babies began to be taken from parents considered morally – or economically – deficient. It became a money-spinner, too…Nuns and priests compiled waiting lists of would-be adoptive parents, while doctors were said to have lied to mothers about the fate of their children.”

Soooooo, gay marriage is a threat to the family the Catholic Church has been spouting about, huh?

I haven’t heard about the Human Rights Campaign or the Metropolitan Community Church stealing babies from the families who created them! I guess the Catholic Church can’t say the same thing.

Not only were the priests and nuns in Spain stealing babies, but they also kept “a dead baby… in a freezer at the San Ramon clinic, supposedly to show mothers that their child had died.” I guess once a baby dies, some church leaders have little trouble desecrating the body of an innocent for their own selfish means. To make matters even worse, now that the scandal has been exposed, hundreds of exhumed graves reveal “empty coffins” or coffins filled with “adult remains.”

When you consider that the number of babies stolen surpasses 300,000, it makes you wonder exactly how fitting Catholic Church leaders are to decide who is moral or immoral.

Still, even with all this information, I know in my heart that the Catholic Church is not inherently bad. Misguided? Maybe. Bad? No. Those church leaders linked to these awful crimes are in no way a representation of the Catholic Church as a whole. We can’t declare the Catholic Church as a threat to the family based on the actions of a few individuals. To make such an argument would be ridiculous, illogical, and prejudiced.

No one group can be a threat to the family–not the Catholics and not even the homosexuals.

Santorum: I’m Like Abraham Lincoln

As mentioned on Unicorn Booty, Rick Santorum, Republican Presidential hopeful, equated his fight against gay marriage to Abraham Lincoln’s stance against slavery.

Apparently incensed by fellow candidate Herman Cain’s refusal to support a national ban on gay marriage, Santorum issued the following response:

I have been a long-time advocate for states’ rights. However, I believe as Abraham Lincoln did – that states don’t have the rights to legalize moral wrongs…Mr. Cain, Congresswoman (Michele) Bachmann and Governor (Rick) Perry all believe 50 different definitions of marriage is fine, I strongly disagree and will continue fighting for traditional marriage between one man and woman.

It appears Santorum has a skewed perception of reality and himself!

Abraham Lincoln refused to let the nation be torn apart by prejudice and hate. Yes, the south wanted to continue slavery, and the slave states fought to keep the right to own human beings as property. Lincoln knew better. Owning another person was just plain wrong. He wouldn’t allow the atrocity to continue, and he wasn’t about to let his country be torn apart by those who thought they knew better.

Santorum is no Abraham Lincoln. His fight against gay marriage doesn’t side him with Lincoln (whose statue would rise from the Lincoln Memorial to squash him like a bug if it could). If Santorum wants to make comparisons to the issues that helped bring about Civil War in America, then his stance would align him with the slave states, not with Lincoln!

Like the slave states of Lincoln’s time, Santorum (and others like him) wish to continue to deprive a segment of the American population of their civil rights. Like the slave states, Santorum sanctions the creation of second class citizens. Like the slave states viewed Africans brought to this country against their will, Santorum views homosexuals as unclean and immoral.

And, since history has a way of repeating itself, like the slave states, Santorum will fall!

In Texas: Male Cheerleader Kicked Off Squad for Kissing A Boy

By now, some of you most likely heard about the 17-year-old high school student in Alice, Texas, who was kicked off the cheerleading squad for kissing a boy. Apparently, peeping Tom security guards caught the kiss on surveillance cameras and notified school administration about the elicit lip lock.

In response, the student was suspended and removed from the squad–permanently.

On Friday, Alice High School principal Lucy Munoz made the following claim in a letter about the incident: “the district does not suspend students for kissing other students at school, regardless of the gender of the student.” What was missing from her comment was any verifiable reason other than the kiss that prompted the student’s suspension from school and removal from the cheerleading squad.

Principal Munoz, however, did state that the “Cheer Program Handbook requires students to adhere to a higher standard of conduct than that which applies to the general student population.”

Yeah, right.

I was in high school too. And I seem to remember cheerleaders making out in the hallways or parking lots. Some even (gasp!) had sex. I doubt that has changed since I graduated in 1990.

To claim that this student was kicked off the squad and suspended solely based on a public display of affection is ridiculous, especially when you consider how much kissing goes on at high school campuses! Does she really think people are that stupid?

Luckily, we are not. Students and parents aren’t buying it either. There has been an uproar in Alice over what the principal has done to this student.

While I hate what this poor young man is having to endure, I applaud the students and parents for coming to the boy’s defense. That’s what I call school spirit!

The school district is investigating, and it’s my hope that not only is the boy quickly re-instated back into the school and the squad but that Lucy Munoz finds herself out of a job.

Kick her out, kick her out! Waaaaay out!

Catholic Group To Pray Against Abortion, Gay Marriage, and Promiscuity

The ultra uber conservative Catholic group, Tradition, Family, and Property, plans to hold a “public rosary rally” as reported on Joe.My.God.

The rosary is scheduled for Saturday, October 15th at noon. At that time, Catholics across the nation will pray for “the ills that afflict our nation,” as posted on the TFP website.

They pray against those “who seek to remove God and His holy law from our society. . . . Abortion murders innocent unborn babies; the institution of the family is weakened by impure customs and threatened by the legalization of homosexual ‘marriage;’ the sexual revolution pervades popular culture especially in television, media, movies and the Internet.”

I must preface my response with this fact: I’m a Roman Catholic, born and raised. I was baptized and confirmed into Roman Catholicism and even attended a Catholic university, where I received my undergraduate and graduate degrees.

Therefore, I’m responding as a Catholic, not just a gay man.

I find this rosary rally a ridiculous waste of time and further reason why the Catholic Church is falling out of touch with those they claim to represent.

First of all, abortion is an awful concept. One that I hope many never consider. But pro-life proponents incorrectly believe that those who are pro-choice are also pro-abortion. That is not the case. I, and many other pro-choice advocates, believe that a woman has the right to control what happens to her body. This right for women, to control their own destinies, was a long and hard-fought struggle. Women were considered property and thought of as little more than that. It even says so in the Bible!

Women are not property, and their decisions are not up for public opinion any more than a man’s.

Think about it: if all life is sacred, then that means semen (which is the fluid of life) is also sacred. Therefore, every time a man masturbates to completion, then he is killing his unborn children. There are no rosary rallies that I know of currently established against masturbation, and from what I know about men, masturbation happens more frequently than abortion! Seeing as how the Catholic Church is run by celibate men, I doubt they’ll be banning self-pleasure any time soon.

In regards to the FTP’s second reason for their rally, homosexuality doesn’t weaken or threaten marriage. I’m gay and married. My husband and I are more like our straight friends than our single gay friends. We ferry children to and fro, we fret over their well being and their grades, we argue, we do household chores, and all the other millions of things heterosexual couples do.

Homosexual marriage actually strengthens marriage, and if the Catholic Church could see that and change their hate mongering, then they would see their congregations grow in size. If the gay lifestyle is so offensive, Catholic Church leaders (and the FTP) should be clamoring for homosexuals to get married. Then the parades, clubs, and sexual perversion they abhor would quickly disappear.

Think about it: how many straight heterosexual couples have time for those things. They’re too busy and too tired to be having that kind of fun!

As for their last reason for rallying, the growing sexual revolution, the FTP fails to consider history. Sex has been a part of humanity, since, well, humanity started. The only reason it’s more prevalent now is because the methods of communication have increased and improved.

Think about it: nude or graphic pictures didn’t just originate with the Internet or television. People have been drawing or snapping naughty pictures since they’ve learned how to sketch or photograph. You think the first individual who learned to draw didn’t test out his talent by drawing a naked picture of someone he thought was hot? Of course he did! The current media isn’t to blame for an aspect of human nature. Humans are sexual creatures, and sex is, well, fun!

So instead of holding a “rosary rally” against abortion, gay marriage, or sexual promiscuity, I vote we pray for the end of hate and a return of true love for all humanity. If we can accomplish that miracle, world peace wouldn’t be far behind.

That seems like something more worthy of our time and prayer because it would be something we would all benefit from and would exclude no one.

Now that sounds like something Jesus would support!

Rick Perry Doesn’t Know What Century the American Revolution Took Place

In a shining moment for the state of Texas, Governor Rick Perry (and Republican Presidential hopeful–God help us), apparently doesn’t know his American history. But his ignorance is even worse than simply not knowing that the American Revolution started officially in 1776, but he apparently also missed the date by a mere two hundred years!

As reported by ThinkProgress, Rick Perry made the following comment to an ABC affiliate about state’s rights:

Our Founding Fathers never meant for Washington, D.C. to be the fount of all wisdom. As a matter of fact they were very much afraid of that because they’d just had this experience with this far-away government that had centralized thought process and planning and what have you, and then it was actually the reason that we fought the revolution in the 16th century was to get away from that kind of onerous crown if you will.”

Let’s (for now) overlook the fact that his answer makes absolutely no sense. Let’s focus instead on the fact that Perry obviously doesn’t realize the 1700’s were part of the 18th century. The 16th century took place in the 1500’s. It’s a difficult concept I know. My daughter has some issues with it, but then again she is 11. I would assume a man who runs a state and who also wants to run the nation would be able to figure this out.

But I may be expecting too much from Perry, especially when you consider his answer as a whole!

The incoherence of his response troubles me as well. I can’t make heads or tails of it. The majority of my college students are able to respond far more eloquently than our governor. Is this the man we want representing our nation to foreign countries? Someone who not only has no grasp of basic facts but someone who couldn’t form an intelligent answer to save his life.

Because, as President, forming an intelligent response is crucial. Words have been known to start wars. But, hey, what do I know? Well, except that the American Revolution took place in the 18th century, that it actually began in 1775 but was not officially declared until 1776, and that the war ended when the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783.

But those are just facts. Who needs those?

Sally Kern Fears PO’d Gays Might Kill Her

Apparently, not only does Sally Kern think gays are a bigger threat than terrorists (as I posted about awhile back), but she (and her husband) are afraid that the gays are coming to get her!

In an interview on a conservative news radio program, as reported by The Advocate, Kern stated that “’fear gripped my whole body’ when she realized she was receiving angry emails from gay people after a video of her remarks about gays and terrorists was posted online in March 2008.”

This woman needs to be checked out by a good psychiatrist for paranoid schizophrenia.

Homosexuals aren’t the ones committing the hate crimes. If she reads or watches the news, she should know that gays are the ones who are killed by people like her. How many times have you heard of a gay man or woman attacking someone and killing them for being straight or spouting hate? Now, count how many times you’ve heard of a straight person killing a homosexual for simply being homosexual.

So, Kern needs to not worry. No one is plotting her doom, not even the Gay Mafia. While they aren’t amused about her speaking ill of homosexuals, they are more displeased by her hairdo. I mean, really? Who thinks various shades of grey that descend into poo-brown highlights is en vogue? Even though she screams for an extreme (and I do mean extreme) makeover, the Gay Mafia hasn’t ordered the hit. Yet.

Ex-Gay Minister Admits He’s Gay!

ThinkProgress reports that John Smid, founder and former director of Love in Action (LIA), one of the oldest ex-gay conversion ministries, has come out of the closet.

Since Smid’s resignation from LIA in 2008, he apparently has had a change of heart about his own sexuality (he’s gay and married to a woman) and his beliefs on homosexuality in general. (I would guess so, now that he “realizes” he’s one of us!) Click here to read his latest blog post.

Smid’s revelations have led him to understand how narrow minded his previous views on homosexuality were. He even admitted the following:

“I was completely unwilling to hear anything that didn’t fit my paradigm. I blocked out anyone’s life story or biblical teaching that didn’t match up with what I believed… Now that I am not submerged into one sided perspectives, I am open to studying and reading the scriptures for myself, I am finding so many rich truths that I wasn’t ever made aware of before.

To me, this admission proves that proponents of conversion therapy know logically that ex-gay conversion doesn’t work, but since the facts contradict prejudice-based ignorance, they choose to ignore it like presidential hopefuls Rick Santorum and Herman Cain. The science is there, but people like Santorum and Cain (and at one time Smid) refuse to look at the data because it doesn’t support the hate they spout.

Now that Smid is free from such hateful clutter, he sees the word of God in a new light. He understands that the Bible is about love and acceptance, not about fostering hate and fear.

He even now realizes that “One cannot repent of something that is unchangeable…. the transformation for the vast majority of homosexuals will not include a change of sexual orientation. Actually I’ve never met a man who experienced a change from homosexual to heterosexual.”

It’s nice to hear an ex-gay minister say those words. The mere idea is preposterous. If homosexuals could change to being heterosexual, then that means heterosexuals can do the same thing. How many of my heterosexual friends believe they could be persuaded by prayer to be gay? Yeah, that’s what I thought. You can’t wish (or pray) the gay away or into someone. That’s now how it works.

Luckily, Smid also realizes that too. “I used to define homosexuality or heterosexuality in terms describing one’s behavior,” he confessed. “I thought it made sense and through the years often wrote articles and talked from that perspective. Today, I understand why the gay community had such an issue with my writings. My perspective denied so many facets of the homosexual experience. I minimized a person’s life to just their sexuality but homosexuality is much more than sex.”

Precisely. Just as sex is only a small part of a heterosexual person’s identity, sex isn’t the entire portion of a homosexual’s identity either. We are all so much more than who we go to bed with at night. I’m glad Smid finally realizes that and has been enlightened. I applaud him for not only making the change but admitting it.

It takes a lot of strength to admit you have been behaving badly, and I applaud Smid for not only eating crow but for now being a voice for truth.

Good News in CA: Governor Signs LGBT Bills Into Law

The Advocate reports that California Governor, Jerry Brown, recently signed several LGBT bills into law for his state. These laws received recognition from many national LGBT organizations, who see the new laws as steps in the right direction for the gay community.

Among these laws are Seth’s Law, which “mandates that schools post anti-bullying policies throughout campuses, provide complaint forms on their websites, and give schools a timeline to investigate and resolve complaints.” The law was named after Seth Walsh, a 13 year old, who hung himself after excessive bullying at his school. Eventually, his school was found negligent in their attempts at resolving Seth’s continued harassment. Considering the amount of bullying-related deaths around the country, this was a much needed measure to protect all children, whether gay or straight.

Another law, the Gender Nondiscriminatory Act, “makes ‘gender identity and expression’ its own protected category at work, at school, in housing, at public accommodations, and in other settings.” This will prohibit individuals transitioning from male to female or female to male from being discriminated anywhere in California. Gender reassignment is already a difficult process without adding the fear of losing one’s livelihood or residence. This law prevents that from happening.

At a time when it seems there is only bad news for LGBT rights, it’s always good to hear when LGBT voices are heard and rights are upheld by lawmakers instead of stripped by them.

 

Tomorrow is National Coming Out Day!

Whether you’re gay or a straight person who loves your gay friends, tomorrow is an important day in the GLBT community. It is National Coming Out Day, a day to celebrate not only who you love but who you are.

National Coming Out Day started on October 11, 1987, when half a million people marched in Washington in support for GLBT rights. Since then, October 11th has been a day when the GLBT community and their supporters unite in solidarity to help equality reach us all!

So, if you see someone wearing purple or proudly displaying their rainbow button, let them know you are a GLBT ally. And, if you want, you can wear purple tomorrow too!

Rick Santorum Supports Reinstating DADT & Ex-Gay Therapy

Republican Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum once again proved today how un-electable he is.

During an interview this morning on FOX news, Santorum regurgitated his support for the reinstatement of DADT, which he expressed during the GOP debate where a soldier was booed. (Click here to read that post).

Santorum believes that if gays are allowed to serve openly in the military then our “recruitment and retention” will decrease. He makes these claims despite the reports that the majority of service members have no issue working alongside homosexual soldiers. Once again, a candidate chooses to ignore the facts and instead pushes an agenda fueled by hate and prejudice. Most soldiers don’t care who sleeps with who anymore than most people care who their colleague sleeps with at home. Everyone’s private life is just that–private. The government needs to stop caring what happens in the privacy of an individual’s home and refrain from making laws, which attempt to govern any individual’s pursuit of personal happiness.

To add insult to injury, however, Santorum’s rhetoric is strikingly similar to the arguments used in the 1940’s when racial integration became a problem for the military. Candidates against integration worried about “close sleeping quarters” and “showers” just as Santorum does. Homosexuality isn’t a communicable disease anymore than being Black is. If that was the case, I’d be sneezing all over everyone in Washington! Then, those conservative politicians would not only be gay but Latino too! (I bet they’d really hate that!)

Still, Santorum’s frothing at the mouth knows no bounds! For Santorum, homosexuality is a choice, despite the many psychological studies conducted to combat this belief. (Once again, science and cold hard data mean little when faced with ignorance). To make matters worse, Santorum supports ex-gay therapy saying that “There are all sorts of studies out there that suggest just the contrary, and there are people who were gay and lived the gay lifestyle and aren’t anymore. I don’t think that’s the case with anyone who’s black.”

Apparently, Santorum forgets there was a time when Blacks used to bleach their skin to try and blend in. The hate they felt from the nation drove those American citizens to feel as if they had to change their skin color something that is really unalterable in order to fit in. As ridiculous as trying to lighten one’s skin tone seems to be now, that is the same nonsense ex-gay conversion spouts.

Ex-gay conversion doesn’t work, according to the APA, but once again, who cares about the facts, when an argument is based on hate, fear, and ignorance? All of those are a wonderful platform for a presidential candidacy, aren’t they?