You’ve got to be freaking kidding me. After eight years of the Bush Administration and its biggest expansion of federal government and executive branch power in all of American history, the folks at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty Counsel want to push this? Bonkers. Looney. Lost marbles. Crazy (like so far past going off the deep end it is unimaginable) is the only thing that can describe it.
From Liberty Counsel’s email blast today:
The Blueprint: Obama’s Plan to Subvert the Constitution and Build an Imperial Presidency
Revealing Barack Obama’s Plan to Subvert the Constitution…and How to Stop Him. President Obama must be stopped. Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski show how to do it in The Blueprint: Obama’s Plan to Subvert the Constitution and Build an Imperial Presidency, a new No. 1 best-selling book.
The Constitution is on the side of the American people. It’s time to take America back! The Blueprint is available from Liberty Counsel for a gift of $30 or more.
Where the hell were these batshit crazy loons when Bush and his cronies were taking the Constitution and ripping it to shreds?
I’m telling you: The right wing agenda is evil, insidious and pernicious. Nothing more. Nothing less. (Although the words “sick” and “twisted” come to mind, too.)
Below is audio from my appearance on Dr. Michael Brown’s “Line of Fire” radio show on Thursday, July 23, 2009.
You can also listen at Brown’s website. For background, read “On the edge: Religious militancy in the Queen City.”
Hour One
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Hour Two
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Introduction
The cover to a 6-disc DVD set of an anti-gay lecture series delivered by Dr. Michael L. Brown in February 2007.
How thin of a line exists between violent word and thought, and violent action and deed? That’s a question answered plenty of times before, from Christian Crusades and Inquisitions of ages past to the modern day of radical Islamic terrorism. But, it is a question yet to be answered in Charlotte, N.C., where I believe there is a potentially dangerous and violent threat ramping up its efforts to counter the annual LGBT event, Pride Charlotte.
In times of great social change, there are often two opposing extremes: One path seeks to change society through violent and militant means. The other seeks change in the spirit of non-violence, a practice of living — in thought, word and deed — modeled most famously by Jesus Christ, Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
In Charlotte, it seems some religious leaders have chosen the former path, preaching and teaching with violent and militant theology and rhetoric, painting the social conflict over LGBT equality as a “battle” and a “war.”
Equality North Carolina Executive Director Ian Palmquist blasts N.C. state Rep. Paul “Skip” Stam for taking too much time to worry about marriage when there are so many other pressing issues on the table:
The 2009 legislative session has just begun and our state faces huge challenges: rising unemployment, a growing budget shortfall, crumbling infrastructure, and a broken mental health system, to name a few.
So what does NC House Republican Leader Paul Stam spend his time worrying about? Creating jobs? Repairing bridges? Helping those who’ve lost everything in the downturn?
Nope. He’s too busy making sure that my partner and I don’t have-and will never have-any rights or recognition in this state.
Yep, within the first hours of the session, Stam made clear that writing anti-gay discrimination into North Carolina’s constitution was a top priority for him this session.
He doesn’t have real ideas or solutions for dealing with the huge problems we’ve got, but he has a plan to “save” marriage. (He hasn’t managed to explain how letting more loving, committed couples participate in the institution of marriage will damage it in any way, but never mind that.)
What Stam and his cronies don’t like to talk about is that their proposal isn’t just about denying equal access to marriage for same-sex couples. It’s about denying absolutely any sort of recognition or protection for those couples.
No civil union. No domestic partnership. No joint health insurance.
Read the rest at NC Policy Watch.
To those who doubt that Obama will be an ally to the LGBT community (at one time including myself), the new White House website’s (which I’m told was updated at 12:01 p.m.) section on Civil Rights includes an entirely special focus on “Support for the LGBT Community.”
See the screengrab and click to enlarge after the jump…
Jim Burroway of BoxTurtleBulletin.com took the time to transcribe an NPR conversation with U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) yesterday.
His appearance coincided with the observance of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. On the show, Lewis discussed his experiences in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
In case you are unaware (shame if you are), Lewis chaired the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee from 1963 to 1966 and participated in the famous Freedom Rides through the South. To this day he bears the marks of a bloody attack on the riders in Montgomery in 1961.
Read the transcript after the jump…
Raleigh’s News & Observer published an insightful column Sunday:
Every argument against gay marriage is rooted in prejudice. There is no compelling state interest that should trump the gay community’s demand for equal rights.
Opponents of same-sex marriage offer two lines of attack.
The first is religious. The Bible (and the Quran), they say, casts homosexuality as a sin. That’s true. But the Bible also suggests that the world is 6,000 years old and offers scores of rules we blithely ignore. I don’t believe anyone wants to start executing adulterers (Leviticus 20:10).
If most believers followed the Bible literally, their rejection of homosexuality would truly reflect their faith. Instead, they cite its prohibition because it confirms their prejudices and fears.
Writer Peder Zane should be proud, but I should add he missed another great insight near the end of his piece:
The second line of attack involves the slippery slope. If we approve gay marriage, opponents say, then everything will be permissible.
Warren expressed this rationale in a December interview with the Web site Beliefnet.com.
“I’m opposed to redefinition of a 5,000-year definition of marriage [as being between a man and a woman],” he explained. “I’m opposed to having a brother and sister being together and calling that marriage. I’m opposed to an older guy marrying a child and calling that marriage. I’m opposed to one guy having multiple wives and calling that marriage.”
In fairness, his appeal to 5,000 years of history is not without weight. Social structures do not arise and endure willy-nilly but because they satisfy basic societal needs. They also change over time as they conflict with evolving needs and sensibilities.
A commenter called him out:
The author of this article and the editor who approved are both clueless! The argument that it’s the way we have always done done it was used to justify slavery and has been used to suppress womens rights and now to suppress the rights of people who are born gay. It seems there is an element of society which needs to define it self by what it can offer but buy what it wants to deny others. Shame on you!
Wow, it appears the submarine force is representing! I didn’t think the topic of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) would be discussed among submariners and boy am I surprised. Steven Hall, a former submarine commanding officer, came out and is working on a film about DADT.
On the blog “The Stupid Shall Be Punished” Joel Kennedy, former submarine officer, discusses Gays In The Military and says that he is torn on the issue. I can understand why he is, but I am not. I served 10 years in the military on three different submarines and I believe that it can and will work.
Let’s discuss the current situation and see how it is working now.
I served under DADT and as a gay sailor and struggled a bit. Why? It was not because my hormones were continuously raging and I was after my heterosexual comrades. In fact, it was just the opposite. I could not disclose the events surrounding times spent with a other, things as simple as chatting on the phone or going to dinner. I could never let them really know me and that meant I had to keep them at a distance concerning the most intimate part of my life; the person I loved. While they talked about their girlfriends and wives, I could only shake my head in agreement and pretend that I would one day get married to a women. BLAH!
The Christian Action League of North Carolina‘s executive director, Mark Creech, a regular criticizee of my blogging here at InterstateQ.com, is making much ado about nothing.
He’s trotted out a scare tactic for local churches, urging them to “protect themselves” from legal challenges of gay activists. What’s so unfortunate is that he considers long-time, much loved church members a threat:
A church refuses to consider a homosexual man for an advertised job as organist. The daughter of the head deacon and a member of the church since childhood demands to use the sanctuary for her lesbian commitment ceremony, but the church says no. These are just two of a myriad of situations that could lead to drawn out legal battles unless church leaders take precautions.
“I’ve thought for some time that the Christian Action League should provide some information concerning what churches needed to do to protect themselves from gay activism,” Creech says in the latest article posted at the group’s website. “It is important that they make sure they are prepared for such a threat and that they have what they need in place to protect themselves legally, especially as the political climate becomes more hostile to organizations of faith.”
Arab Times is reporting that Kuwaiti police raided several restaurants, cafes and other establishments on New Year’s Eve and arrested several youth, both male and female and at least 22 gays.
Under instructions from the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior Lieutenant-General Ahmed Al-Rujaib and Assistant Undersecretary for Criminal Security Affairs Lieutenant Ghazi Al-Omar, the Criminal Investigation Department raided a number of restaurants on New Year’s eve and arrested several youngsters — male and female — for drinking alcohol and taking part in ‘wild’ parties. During the raid police also arrested 22 gays, reports Al-Anba daily.
The places targeted included cafés and restaurants inside commercial complexes in Salmiya.
Both homosexuality and cross-dressing are illegal in Kuwait, a Muslim nation; however, many anti-gay laws are rarely or severely enforced. No civil rights legislation exists to protect LGBT Kuwaitis. If convicted of homosexuality, LGBT people can face up to seven years imprisonment. If the acts involve anyone under 21, the maximum penalty is 10 years imprisonment.
Welcome to InterstateQ.com, the commentary and opinion blog of civic journalist and progressive, LGBT activist Matt Comer. Hailing from Winston-Salem, N.C., Matt, 26, now lives in Charlotte, where he works as editor of 
