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Southern Baptist Leader Renounces 'Reparative' Therapy
Southern Baptist Leader Renounces 'Reparative' Therapy
Russell Moore acknowledges that so-called ex-gay therapy is “severely counterproductive.”
Stevie St. John
www.advocate.com/politics/religion/2014/10/28/southern-baptist-leader-renounces-reparative-therapy
Anti-Gay Marriage Group Attacks Kay Hagan For Supporting Judge Everyone Else Supported Too
Anti-Gay Marriage Group Attacks Kay Hagan For Supporting Judge Everyone Else Supported Too
WASHINGTON — The National Organization for Marriage launched a new ad Tuesday criticizing Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) for voting to confirm a federal judge who went on to strike down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage this month.
But what the ad fails to mention — aside from the fact that judges rule independently from Congress — is that nearly everyone in the Senate voted to confirm U.S. District Court Judge Max Cogburn back in March 2011, including North Carolina’s other senator, Republican Richard Burr, who helped lead the effort to usher Cogburn through the nomination process.
NOM’s ad, called “Kay Hagan’s Judge,” reasons that because Hagan voted to confirm Cogburn in March 2011, it’s her fault that he rejected the state’s same-sex marriage ban this month. The ad urges voters to take out their anger over that ruling by replacing Hagan with GOP Senate challenger Thom Tillis.
“Same-sex marriage has been imposed by a federal judge handpicked and confirmed by Kay Hagan, without voters getting our day in court,” states the ad, which is running statewide this week. “Kay Hagan and her judge betrayed us. Send them a message. Vote Thom Tillis for U.S. Senate.”
But an activist judge Cogburn is not. He cleared the judiciary committee in a unanimous voice vote, and later passed the full Senate 96-0 — hardly a sign of concerns about his judicial independence. Burr sang Cogburn’s praises during his confirmation hearing.
“He is an excellent choice and I believe will be a great addition to the court,” Burr said at the November 2010 hearing. He ticked off Cogburn’s accomplishments: a Stanford law degree, experience as a Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney and a magistrate judge, and time “spent teaching others how to herd cattle and shoot straight” at a dude ranch.
“Out of all the qualifications that Max Cogburn brings to this nomination, let me say this: He’s a good man. And we need good individuals to serve on our bench,” he said. “I highly recommend to the committee that we move as expeditiously [on] this nominee as we can.”
NOM announced this week that it plans to spend $200,000 in the North Carolina and Arkansas Senate races. Brian Brown, the group’s president, touted its “powerful new television ad” targeting Hagan.
“Hagan was the person who hand-picked the federal judge who invalidated the North Carolina marriage amendment without so much as giving voters a day in court,” Brown said in a statement.
NOM sent out a fundraising email later Tuesday urging opponents of same-sex marriage to give the group money to “take down liberals like North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan for trashing her own voters by supporting judicial tyranny and the redefinition of marriage.”
A request for comment from NOM on the broad support Cogburn received during his confirmation process was not returned. A Hagan spokeswoman also did not respond to a request for comment.
The Hagan-Tillis race is one of the tightest in the nation. Hagan is currently holding a slight lead, at 44 percent to Tillis’ 42 percent, according to an average by HuffPost Pollster.
Five Things Major League Baseball Must Do To Help Players Come Out
Five Things Major League Baseball Must Do To Help Players Come Out
As the San Francisco Giants and the Royals square off in the World Series in Kansas City, consider this sad fact: Since baseball was invented in the 1800s, thousands of pro baseball players have participated in the game. Yet to this day, Major League Baseball lacks a single openly gay player, even in the minor leagues, past or present.
And it’s easy to see why. When the late, great Glenn Burke, briefly came out to teammates in the 1980s, he was punished by bullying and harassed out of the game by his manager. Billy Bean, who came out shortly after retiring, has talked talked eloquently about being forced to chose between his love for the game and his love of his life, a man.
But there is hope. Bean is now MLB’s first Ambassador For Inclusion, and his best-selling book, Going The Other Way, has been reissued in paperback.
In honor of the World Series, and this great game, here are five things MLB should do to level the playing field for gay ballplayers so the game finally lives up to its promise as the American pastime…
1. Step up diversity training during Spring Training with an LGBT anti-bullying emphasis, for every major and minor league team.
2. Create a pro-LGBT code of conduct to be prominently displayed in every clubhouse and locker room. Give teeth to code of conduct violations, and repeatedly underscore player’s responsibility to serve as positive role models.
3. Form partnerships with local LGBT youth groups, in which players, coaches and executives make personal appearances at fundraisers as well as site visits.
4. Encourage hiring (much like the NFL’s Rooney Rule), that proactively recruits well qualified, experienced professionals who are openly gay for job opportunities–and for promotion within baseball organizations–from front office to grounds crew to coaches.
5. Since change is most likely to come from the ranks of high school and college athletes, where players are increasingly open about their sexuality, the game should step up funding for athletic programs where gay players are made to feel comfortable.
The high school outfielders of today are the out major leaguers of tomorrow.
Chris Bull, Queerty’s editorial director, is co-author of Billy Bean’s Going The Other Way, published by The Experiment
Chris Bull
Unmanned Rocket Bound For International Space Station Explodes: VIDEO
Unmanned Rocket Bound For International Space Station Explodes: VIDEO
In a stunning new video, an unmanned rocket headed for the International Space Station (ISS) exploded mere seconds after launching. USA Today reports:
The Antares rocket supplied by contractor Orbital Sciences blew up six seconds after liftoff, NASA said.
NASA and Orbital Sciences were gathering data to determine the cause of the failure of the Orbital CRS-3, the space agency said.
“There has been a vehicle anomaly,” Orbital Sciences, the contractor supplying the rocket, said on its Twitter feed.
[…]
The Cygnus cargo ship was loaded with 5,000 pounds of gear for the six people living on the space station. It was the fourth Cygnus bound for the orbiting lab; the first flew just over a year ago.
Among the cargo were more than a dozen student research projects, including an experiment from students at Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart in Houston to test the performance of pea shoot growth in space.
NASA is paying the Virginia-based Orbital Sciences and the California-based SpaceX company to keep the space station stocked in the post-shuttle era. This is the first disaster in that effort.
No word yet on when a new mission will be planned to get the necessary cargo to ISS astronauts.
Watch the video, AFTER THE JUMP…
Sean Mandell
www.towleroad.com/2014/10/unmanned-rocket-bound-for-international-space-station-explodes-video.html
lgbt pride 2014 İSTANBUL
lgbt pride 2014 İSTANBUL
gay.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZO6HNWnWaLM&feature=youtube_gdata
T-girl
Pope: Christian Family, Marriage Under Attack
Pope: Christian Family, Marriage Under Attack
Without specifically mentioning LGBT people, the pontiff strikes a less conciliatory tone than he has in the past with regard to nontraditional families.
Stevie St. John
www.advocate.com/politics/religion/2014/10/28/pope-christian-family-marriage-under-attack-1
When Southern Baptists Get Saved
When Southern Baptists Get Saved
Salvation was always such an important part of my upbringing. We were constantly begged, pushed, prodded and manipulated to go down the aisle. If I got saved once, I got saved a hundred times. When the preacher started talking about hell and the rhetorical fires started tickling my toes, I especially felt the tug to make sure I was sure about all this salvation stuff. The older I got, the more skeptical I became of the saved rhetoric. With all the oppressive language and actions that surrounded us, I didn’t see anyone getting saved from anything. I actually began to wonder if getting saved actually made things worse. Then it started happening.
There was a man at our church I loved dearly. With seemingly magical powers, Brother Bobby captured my childhood attention and taught me about the love of God. Before then, I never thought that God could love me as an individual. Brother Bobby believed in me and taught me that God did too. I didn’t think Southern Baptists could teach like this. I asked him one Sunday morning what made him so different and he replied, “Just like you, I am growing into who God created me to be.” Months later, Brother Bobby was kicked out of our church for coming out as gay. Many years after, I saw pictures of Brother Bobby joyously smiling and holding hands with his partner. I knew Brother Bobby got saved.
I wrestled with my own sexuality for years. Whenever I found a man attractive, I just knew I was going to hell… probably penis first. Though I remained mostly attracted to women, I didn’t know what to do with this other piece of me. I kept it quiet. Then I grew close to Pastor Greg. For decades, Pastor Greg led Southern Baptist churches. I decided to open up with him about my sexuality and he assured me that God lovingly created me just the way that I am. A few years later, Pastor Greg called me while I was a student at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and told me that he was dying of cancer. When I made it to his bedside, Pastor Greg told me that he had lived his life as a closeted gay man. With tears in my eyes, I knew that Pastor Greg was finally getting saved.
Not long after, one of my classmates asked if we could talk. When we sat down late one night, Marcus told me that he was gay. If we were at any other school this revelation would have been less of a deal, but we were students at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Having contemplated suicide in the struggle to keep it quiet, I could see the visible relief in Marcus’ body when he told me. Later, Marcus came out and declared that he was a gay Southern Baptist pastor. I knew he got saved.
There are countless stories like these. People who got saved from hate and fear to live into the person that a loving God has created them to be. Unfortunately, the entire Southern Baptist system opposes such a salvation. I struggled with my sexuality and suicide throughout my early years as a Southern Baptist and my tenure at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Throughout this time, people consistently told me their secrets. Honestly, I now feel like I know more closeted Southern Baptist pastors than I do straight Southern Baptist pastors. Earlier this week, I asked people in our largely LGBT congregation at the Cathedral of Hope United Church of Christ to stand if they felt like they were direct victims of physical and emotional abuse at the hands and mouths of the Southern Baptist Convention, Southern Baptist churches or Southern Baptist pastors. Hundreds and hundreds of people stood up and demanded that I tell their stories when I arrived at the Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission conference.
From personal experience, I know that stories change lives. When Southern Baptists get saved, I see them blossom into amazing storytelling evangelists of the power of the love of God. I believe that God can work miracles. While in Nashville, I hope we see a few people get saved.
Amen.
HRC Walks to End HIV
HRC Walks to End HIV
This past Saturday, HRC participated in the Walk to End HIV, a walk and timed 5K run benefiting and produced by Whitman-Walker Health, a health center specializing in HIV/AIDS related care.
HRC.org
www.hrc.org/blog/entry/hrc-walks-to-end-hiv?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed
