The GOP's Newest Fundraising Attempt.....

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The 7 Most Anti-Gay Representatives, And .... Big Surprise .... They're All Republican

Remember when the GOP stormed Congress during the last election on the rallying cry that Obama had done nothing to fix the economy so they would step in and make everything right for America?

Yeah. Didn’t happen. But what did happen was that a group of anti-LGBT Republicans introduced ten major anti-gay bills, resolutions, and amendments in the U.S. House of Representatives. While 144 Members of Congress have sponsored or co-sponsored at least one of these anti-LGBT proposals, seven members of Congress signed on to five or more of the pro-discrimination measures.

So, who are these homophobic--all Republican, all the time--Representatives?

• Rep. Tim Huelskamp, a Republican from Kansas authored his state’s constitutional amendment that banned both same-sex marriage and civil unions; he authored an amendment to ban a directive that would allow not force military chaplains to voluntarily solemnize same-sex union; he authored an amendment to “prohibit the use of funds to be used in contravention of the Defense of Marriage Act,” and authored a bill to ban the use of military facilities for any same-sex unions. And he didn't stop there, because, you know, he was all done fixing the economy and stuff; he also co-sponsored three measures just to criticize the Obama administration for not defending the Defense of Marriage Act, to direct the Speaker of the House to defend the law instead, and to delay implementation of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal.
• Rep. W. Todd Akin, a sixth-term Republican Congressman from Missouri, warned us all in 2006 that “anybody who knows something about the history of the human race knows that there is no civilization which has condoned homosexual marriage widely and openly that has long survived.”
• Rep. Dan Burton, a fifteenth-term GOP Congressman from Indiana, who is thankfully retiring at the end of 2012, loves to say that “Marriage between a man and a woman has been the foundation of human civilization for thousands of years all around the world.”
• Rep. Phil Gingrey, a fifth-term Georgia GOP  Congressman, often cites God a s his reasons for supporting an anti-gay constitutional amendment--he's never heard of Separation of Church and State--and has said, "I don't like the secularism that’s occurring in this country one bit and I think it is incumbent upon those of us [that] stand strong, to stand very strong, in regard to that and say ‘look, [my wife] and I believe that marriage is a sacrament.’”
• Rep. Vicky Hartzler, a first-term GOP Congresswoman from Missouri, was spokes-bigot for that anti-gay constitutional amendment effort in Missouri and has compared same-sex marriage to pedophilia and letting three-year-olds drive cars.
• Rep. Doug Lamborn, a third-term Republican from Colorado, came under fire for racially insensitive comments that associating with President Obama was like “touching a tar-baby.”
• Rep. Donald A. Manzullo, a tenth-term GOP Congressman from Illinois, recently lost re-nomination after reportedly telling House Republican Leader Eric Cantor--another anti-LGBT GOP goose-stepping fool--that the devout Jew was not “saved.”

And there are fourteen more House Republicans who either sponsored or co-sponsored at least four of these anti-LGBT proposals, and just one Democrat; and he is Mike McIntyre from, big surprise, North Carolina, who co-sponsored a proposed constitutional amendment to anti-gay marriage. 

All of the other 143 anti-gay activists were Republicans who have also committed $1.5 million in taxpayer funds to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court. 

This is all funny, sick, sad and twisted, when you hear crybaby GOP goose-stepper-in-chief, and Speaker of the House, John Boehner, downplay the Republican focus on social issues and say he'd rather talk about jobs.

Yeah, I'd rather the GOP talk about jobs, but they aren't. They're too busy being homophobes and bigots and haters; they continue to be a Do-Nothing Congress.

source

Before I Forget .... It's Original Recipe Lohan's™ 76th Birthday!

I'll give her this one.
Here she looks almost normal,
though she doesn't really look like Lindsay Lohan
with the new nose and lips.

Indeed.
The Old Girl turns....oh, this has to be a misprint....it says she's 26.
Is that in dog years? Twenty-six?
Road hard and put away wet, as we like to say down here in horse country.

On the other hand, this is 24-year-old Emma Stone:

Just two years younger than Lohan, and, I think, she kinda has the career Lohan should have, even could have, without the drink and drug and rehab and jail. And Lohan could have looked like Emma, instead of looking like Emma's crazy, drunk mom.
Just sayin'.

Matt Bomer: On Coming Out

So, after reading about Husband-In-My-Head Anderson Cooper's Coming Out, I stumbled upon an article about, that other Husband-In-My-Head, Matt Bomer's coming out and how he didn't realize what a step he was taking.

"I never really endeavored to hide anything, [but] there were times I chose not to relegate my history to the back page of a magazine, which to me is sort of akin to putting your biography on a bathroom wall."

But he has learned that just by saying the words--and his coming out was as simple as thanking his longtime partner, Simon Halls, and their children, Kit, Walker and Henry, while being honored by the Desert AIDS Fund in Palm Springs--and acknowledging that he is a gay man, he will have an effect.

"I had somebody from the military approach me a few weeks ago just saying how this helps people, affects people. It brought me to tears."

And he understands that his coming out, while, to him, just a bit of news, has great significance on younger LGBTQ people, and that it might, just might, save a life.

"I hope so. [LGBTQ youth] need saving, certainly in this day and age as much as ever—no matter how much we think we've progressed."

And he hopes that by coming out, and as other actors do so as well, it will have less importance in their careers.

"What we really have to do is stop the adjective before the job title—whether it's 'black actor,' a 'gay actor' or 'anything actor.' Everybody thinks that equality comes from identifying people, and that's not where equality comes from. Equality comes from treating everybody the same regardless of who they are. I hope the media and the press catches on to that because it's time to move out of 1992."

And every time a celebrity, a journalist, anyone with a modicum of fame, comes out, we move further away from that closet and closer to true equality.

Anderson Cooper Comes Out

So, I read an article in Entertainment Weekly about how celebrities come out of the closet these days. There seems to be less of a stigma, as there was when Ellen Degeneres came out in 1997, in Time and on Oprah, to these days when it's just a statement of fact, as when Zachary Quinto, in a bit of writing about bullying, uttered the line, "as a gay man."
It's become no big deal, the coming out process, these days, but Coming Out is still huge.
So, when Daily Beast writer Andrew Sullivan, wanted Anderson Cooper's take on the New Coming Out Process--as he says, "for obvious reasons"--and got an email response from Anderson that said this:

Andrew, as you know, the issue you raise is one that I've thought about for years. Even though my job puts me in the public eye, I have tried to maintain some level of privacy in my life. Part of that has been for purely personal reasons. I think most people want some privacy for themselves and the people they are close to.

But I've also wanted to retain some privacy for professional reasons.

Since I started as a reporter in war zones 20 years ago, I've often found myself in some very dangerous places. For my safety and the safety of those I work with, I try to blend in as much as possible, and prefer to stick to my job of telling other people’s stories, and not my own. I have found that sometimes the less an interview subject knows about me, the better I can safely and effectively do my job as a journalist.

I've always believed that who a reporter votes for, what religion they are, who they love, should not be something they have to discuss publicly. As long as a journalist shows fairness and honesty in his or her work, their private life shouldn't matter. I’ve stuck to those principles for my entire professional career, even when I’ve been directly asked “the gay question,” which happens occasionally. I did not address my sexual orientation in the memoir I wrote several years ago because it was a book focused on war, disasters, loss and survival. I didn't set out to write about other aspects of my life.

Recently, however, I’ve begun to consider whether the unintended outcomes of maintaining my privacy outweigh personal and professional principle. It’s become clear to me that by remaining silent on certain aspects of my personal life for so long, I have given some the mistaken impression that I am trying to hide something - something that makes me uncomfortable, ashamed or even afraid.

This is distressing because it is simply not true.

I’ve also been reminded recently that while as a society we are moving toward greater inclusion and equality for all people, the tide of history only advances when people make themselves fully visible.

There continue to be far too many incidences of bullying of young people, as well as discrimination and violence against people of all ages, based on their sexual orientation, and I believe there is value in making clear where I stand.

The fact is, I'm gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn’t be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud.

I have always been very open and honest about this part of my life with my friends, my family, and my colleagues. In a perfect world, I don't think it's anyone else's business, but I do think there is value in standing up and being counted. I’m not an activist, but I am a human being and I don't give that up by being a journalist.

Since my early days as a reporter, I have worked hard to accurately and fairly portray gay and lesbian people in the media - and to fairly and accurately portray those who for whatever reason disapprove of them. It is not part of my job to push an agenda, but rather to be relentlessly honest in everything I see, say and do. I’ve never wanted to be any kind of reporter other than a good one, and I do not desire to promote any cause other than the truth.

Being a journalist, traveling to remote places, trying to understand people from all walks of life, telling their stories, has been the greatest joy of my professional career, and I hope to continue doing it for a long time to come. But while I feel very blessed to have had so many opportunities as a journalist, I am also blessed far beyond having a great career.

I love, and I am loved.

In my opinion, the ability to love another person is one of God’s greatest gifts, and I thank God every day for enabling me to give and share love with the people in my life. I appreciate your asking me to weigh in on this, and I would be happy for you to share my thoughts with your readers. I still consider myself a reserved person and I hope this doesn’t mean an end to a small amount of personal space.

But I do think visibility is important, more important than preserving my reporter’s shield of privacy.

Welcome Out, Anderson, my Husband-In-My-Head.
And please accept, as a gift for Coming Out, the Homo HQ copy of The Gay Agenda--it's a short read, just one word: Equality--as well as the obligatory Coming Out Toaster Oven.
We can say we always knew you were gay, but now we know.
Thanks for that.

Another Blow To The Catholic Church

Bishop Finn

Out there, Missouri way, Jackson County Circuit Judge John Torrence has ordered that the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph must provide prosecutors with information about the diocese's investigation into past reports of pedophile priests.

Torrence, who is overseeing a case against Bishop Robert Finn and the diocese, has also ruled that the diocese must turn over documents from the independent investigation into the case of Reverend Shawn Ratigan; Ratigan has pleaded not guilty to state and federal child pornography charges and remains jailed.

Bishop Finn and the diocese are charged with misdemeanor failure to report suspected child abuse after they learned of suspected child pornography found on Ratigan's computer. Finn learned about the photographs in December 2010, a full six months before Ratigan was arrested and, naturally, did nothing about it.

Shawn Ratigan

Attorneys for the diocese argued that records of the investigation and interviews by U.S. Attorney Todd Graves' law firm are protected by attorney-client privilege, but Judge Torrence disagreed, because when the diocese hired Graves to do the investigation, they said they would issue a public report upon its completion.

It's not all a win for victims of child abuse at the hands of Catholic pedophile priests, however, because Torrence also rules that, while information about the diocese's investigations into the alleged misconduct of five other priests is relevant to the state's case, the information could not be photocopied and must be returned to the diocese's lawyers.

So, I guess those five priests may have dodged a bullet.

Still, the tide is changing in this decade’s long battle against the Catholic Church for their decade’s long abuse scandals. Now, at least some of the victims may feel a sense of justice, and some of the pedophiles, as well as those who helped shield them from police, will be brought to justice.

The Catholic Church, of course, says nothing.

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Sunday Funnies

Sunday Funnies: The Health Care edition