Joseph Baken: The Little Boy Who Cried Wolf

I have been bullied for being gay; well, I was still a kid and didn't know from gay, so I guess I was bullied for being perceived to being gay. But, I have never been gay bashed--that sound you hear is me knocking on wood. What a horror that must be to have fists flying at you and feet pummeling your ribcage while someone, or a few someone’s, yell anti-gay slurs. Hate. Hate crime. And I think it should be punishable to the severest extent of the law. But then there's this, which makes my blood boil even more:

Missoula, Montana, law enforcement officials say that 22-year-old Joseph Baken who reported that he was the victim of a gay bashing, a hate crime, during the early morning hours of August 5 has actually fabricated the story.

“We have new information that we’re following up on,” said a Missoula Police Department spokesperson.

Baken reported to the MPD that he was celebrating his birthday downtown at the Missoula Club and, after inquiring about where he could find a gay bar, was beaten up by three men for being gay. The story broke all over the web, another gay bashing, another young LGBT person beaten for their orientation.

Except it never happened.

The Missoula Police Department obtained video footage that shows Baken doing a back-flip on Higgins Avenue and sustaining the injuries, lacerations to his face, that have been depicted on social media sites, during the landing.

Here’s a copy of the footage:

So, this little asshole decides to do a back-flip and he lands on his face. A rational person would say something like, "Ouch! That was stupid." A rational person would seek medical attention. But Joseph Baken decided to go to the police and say he was beaten up by three men because he's gay.

That would be a Hate Crime, but Baken's crime, other than being an asshole, is hateful. If even one gay person lies about being gay bashed, for whatever reason, they diminish every other Hate Crime against us. 

I hope they throw the book at him. Seriously. But, when Joseph Baken pleaded guilty to charges of filing a false police report, he was sentenced to 180 days in jail and a $300 fine. The jail time was suspended.

Big mistake. Huge. When he lied about being gay bashed, he basically gay bashed the entire LGBT community and got off with a wee fine. Joseph Baken is a reprehensible human being. Ask anyone who has ever had fists fly at their faces because they’re gay what they think of him now.

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In Missouri Queer Is Offensive

Out there in Missouri, Jesse Irey is a bisexual Liberty High School student who says that he was simply showing his support for equal rights for all when it was demanded of him to either change his offensive shirt or leave school.

His offensive shirt?
Fags Rule. Um, no, that wasn't it.
Straight People Suck. Not it either.

His shirt said: "Queer + Str8 Equal".
How.Offensive.

So, now Jesse and the American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU] are fighting back against what they say is illegal censorship by the school. 

Jesse Irey says students wear all kinds of shirts with all kinds of sayings on them. In fact, one such shirt says that Liberty High School is a "Hate Free Zone." So, then what's so offensive about Jesse Irey's shirt?

A Liberty High teacher and an assistant principal say the word "queer" is offensive.
Queer. But Jesse Irey says his use of the word 'queer'on the shirt was an attempt to "take the word back so it's not an offensive slur." Irey is also upset that Liberty High School, that hate free zone, allowed other students to wear anti-gay shirts after the school's Gay-Straight Alliance wore shirts that read 'Gay-Fine by Me.' Those shirts said, "Straight--the only thing fine by me."

So, anti-gay is okay.
And pro-gay is okay.
But, queer. Bad.

That's the message they're sending.

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Montana Sucks

Out there in Missoula, Montana, an ordinance was passed which banned discrimination on citizens based on sexual orientation and gender. And little Missoula stood tall, until this week, when the Republican majority on the House Judiciary Committee approved a bill to overturn Missoula's 2010 ordinance.

Kristin Hansen

The bill, written by Kristin Hanson, a Republican, of course, because they are the party of bigots, for the most part, now moves to the House floor for debate this week.

Debating equality. How's that for a giant step back!

Hanson Bigot Bill would prohibit local governments--like Missoula and Bozeman--from enacting any ordinance or policy that would protect residents from discrimination based on their sexual orientation and gender.

See, the GOP that runs the state house in Montana wants to make sure that LGBT people are discriminated against anywhere and everywhere, because, well, that's how the GOP rolls.

Edie McClafferty

This same judicial panel also voted to table a bill written by Democrat Edie McClafferty, that would have broadened the Montana Human Rights Act to prohibit discrimination statewide based on gender identity or expression and sexual orientation. 

It's quite simple.

Montana does not like the gays.

Now, I know, you're thinking that it's the GOP in Montana that doesn't like The Gays. But the people of Montana voted for these wingnuts and are sitting idly by, staring at the big sky, while discrimination is tolerated.

If you're gay.

So, if you're gay, or, hell, gay-friendly, and you can do it, get out of Montana. And if you gay, or gay-friendly, stay away from Montana. They are plenty of places in this country, even here in freakin' South Carolina, that welcome gay people, and protect them from discrimination.

Montana does not.
Montana sucks.

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Dick Blount: A Shining Light For The LGBTQ Community

Dick Blount is an 82-year-old retired reverend. He is also an advocate for the gay community.

Who knew those two went hand-in-hand? But they do, and so Dick Blount was honored at the Columbia Values Diversity Awards celebration in Missouri  as an advocate for social justice for the LGBTQ community.

This wasn't something he'd planned, though it was something forged from his childhood, when he would see buses pass his house, designated only for black people, and wonder, "Why don't they stop here?" See, Dick Blount was raised to love God, and to know that God is love, and to love thy neighbor, something he has made the cornerstone of his life since childhood.

In fact, he grew up to become a pastor in the local church, and did so until he retired in 1973. He decided retirement would give him "the freedom to be who I wanted to be." And he began working on his God is love ideology, and loving thy neighbor point-of-view, until attending a United Methodist Church conference back in 2000, and hearing the church declare homosexuality an unacceptable 'practice' in the Methodist faith. It was then that Dick Blount decided to act.

He began building the Missouri United Methodist Church's relationship with the LGBTQ community, creating the Open Door Ministry--which operates out of the church and promotes LGBTQ acceptance. The ministry first met in restaurants around town, but the church eventually noticed its impact, and the two soon merged.

Dick Blount said that since he began his work, the Missouri United Methodist Church has taken a 180-degree turn on its stance, but there is still work to be done. One of the major changes he watched was when Mary Ann Shaw, wife of former Columbia Public Schools Superintendent Bob Shaw, told him that her son was gay, and she asked Dick Blount to share her family's story with the church.

He said no.

"This is your story," Blount said. "You need to share it."

And so Mary Ann Shaw shared her story, inspiring other parents of gay children to share their stories, and suddenly, in that church, gay people had a face; they were no longer unknown, or different, or unacceptable. they were the children of your friends, they were your friends and neighbors and coworkers.

The next step for Dick Blount is to go beyond the church itself and build a relationship with LGBTQ groups in Columbia and the Methodist Church and create the opportunity for secular and faith communities to come together. And he says the fact that he received this award shows him that the time is right.

Dick Blount likes the idea of the church as a lighthouse--a beacon of light letting people who might be lost in the darkness know that there is a safe place. He says, "We've got a long ways to go. All we have to do is make the light shine a little brighter."

And he will.

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Hate Has A Name: Vicky Hartzler

Vicky Hartzler is running in Missouri's 4th Congressional District.
She opposes gay marriage; she opposes hate-crimes laws; she opposes the repeal of DADT.
Now, that doesn't really make her much different than most Republicans running for office, so, why then, is Vicky Hartzler considered the most anti-gay political candidate in America?
Well Vicky Hartzler does much more than take the standard GOP position on gay rights, she has made a name for herself as an anti-gay crusader.
In 2004, Vicky Hartzler drew national and international attention for her part in the campaign for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in Missouri; the amendment was the first of its kind, and passed by a huge margin in August of that year. Hartzler was subsequently quoted as celebrating her victory for "traditional marriage."
Doug Gray, a political consultant from the other side of the Missouri amendment fight, says anti-gay bias is central to Hartzler's identity:. "It's a core issue for her. Vicky is biased. She has always been very motivated by this issue."
Of course, a Vicky Hartzler spokesman says she's "not prejudiced against anyone": "She just thinks certain things are a traditional part of society--marriage being one of them."
And Vicky Hartzler doesn't want the LGBT community protected from crimes inflicted upon us for being gay, nor does she think we deserve the right to serve in the military like anyone else.
But, remember, she's not prejudiced.
Still, to see how anti-gay Vicky Hartzler is, you have to understand that even before her fight to pass a gay marriage ban amendment in Missouri, it was already illegal for gays and lesbians to marry there.  In fact, Missouri is one of the most anti-gay states out there; you can be legally fired for being gay in Missouri; Missouri has no laws granting hospital-visitation rights for gay couples.
Vicky Hartzler wasn't fighting to protect Missourians from gay marriage, because, even if her amendment failed, it would still be illegal for gay men and women to marry there. What she was doing, however, was inciting fear ion the state by pushing the marriage ban, so no one would notice that local LGBT advocates were working towards employment non-discrimination rules and hospital visitation rights.
Vicky Hartzler manipulated the populace with fear; a typical Republican strategy.
And now Vicky Hartzler is the poster child for anti- gay victories around the nation. When voters in California passed Prop H8 in 2008, a "glad" Hartzler told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that she doesn't believe gay rights issues are civil rights issues. The "color of someone's skin doesn't change," she said, because, as she believes, there is debate about whether homosexuality is a "lifestyle or they were born that way."
Get over it, Vicky. You were born straight, I was born gay; you became a hateful bigot, I chose not to go that route.
And now, in her run for office against Democrat Ike Skelton, who was an architect of DADT back in the 90s, the campaign has turned into a Who's More Anti-Gay race. While she acknowledges that she and Skelton are on the same page regarding DADT--she says repealing it "puts us at risk"--Vicky Hartzler is arguing Skelton "allowed" hate crimes legislation to be attached to a defense authorization bill in 2009 in order to advance "the extreme agenda items of the gay movement."
Anti-gay Skelton was "catering to the desires of gay rights groups," says Steve Walsh, a spokesman for Hartzler's campaign.
And, as is usual, in addition to her anti-gay-anything campaign, Vicky Hartzler is pushing for more Christian right causes. In 1999, as a state representative, she backed a bill that would have allowed for prosecutors to charge women who obtained late-term abortions with murder. Her bill would also have permitted second-degree murder charges to be filed against the doctor who performed the procedure.
Luckily, the law was vetoed by a Democratic governor.
In 2000, Hartzler also lead the fight against Missouri ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment, a federal constitutional amendment that would have formally provided for equal rights for women.
In 2008, she wrote a book, Running God's Way, outlining the "Christian" way to campaign for office.
Vicky Hartzler apparently knows nothing about the :separation of church ands state."
Vicky Hartzler obviously knows nothing about human dignity.
Vicky Hartzler obviously knows nothing....but hate, masked as Christianity.

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Missoula, Montana Doing The Right Thing

Very early yesterday morning, the Missoula City Council adopted the first equality ordinance in all of Montana that protects people from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

First steps.

"Most of us can't remember civil rights in action," said Councilwoman Stacy Rye, an ordinance sponsor. "This is it for us. This is our lifetimes."

After a nearly seven hour meeting, the ordinance, which protects Missoula residents from housing and employment discrimination based on "actual or perceived ... sexual orientation, gender identity or expression" passed by a vote of 10-2.

"Hopefully our actions tonight will ripple through Montana from Libby to Billings, from Dillon to Wolf Point, and eventually to the capital in Helena," said Councilman Dave Strohmaier, another sponsor of the ordinance.

Apparently, oddly enough, anti-discrimination ordinances are a contentious issue in Missoula. Mayor John Engen even warned people in attendance that he would recess the meeting if the audience clapped for anyone--for or against the proposal. But when the final vote was taken, the pent-up applause erupted and many supporters offered the council a standing ovation.
And they deserved They've set the standard for the rest of Montana, and for another other town which doesn't protect it's citizens from discrimination.

Good job, Missoula!