Memphis radio host resorts to anti-gay bias

TEP's Grand Divisions: Memphis radio host resorts to anti-gay bias

Uganda "Kill the Gays" Bill Nears Vote

From The Advocate: "Kill the Gays" Bill Nears Vote in Uganda

A bill that would give harsh punishment to gays and lesbians in Uganda for their sexual orientation may have a final vote sometime this week as lawmakers finished a second day of hearings on the matter on Monday.

While the initial version of the bill, introduced in 2009, would have found homosexuality punishable by death, the bill's author, David Bahati, said the Parliament has "moved away" from such a provision, the Associated Press reports. Now, lawmakers are considering a recommendation by prominent Ugandan pastor Martin Ssempa to make homosexuality punishable by up to seven years in prison. Ssempa told the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee Monday that he does not agree with the proposed death penalty portion of the law, but he said "homosexuality is killing our society."

UPDATE: Uganda Anti-Gay Bill Postponed

Big Bullies: How the Religious Right is Trying to Make Schools Safe for Anti-Gay Bullies

The Religious Right has been leading a concerted effort to stop programs that seek to protect LGBT youth from bullying and to deny that the problem of anti-gay bullying exists. Today, People For the American Way released a report exposing the Religious Right's pro-bullying efforts and the myths it is using to promote them.

The report, Big Bullies: How the Religious Right is Trying to Make Schools Safe for Bullies and Dangerous for Gay Kids, can be found online at http://www.pfaw.org/rww-in-focus/big-bullies-how-the-religious-right-trying-to-make-schools-safe-for-bullies-and-dangero

Ugandan Gay Activist Murdered

Ugandan Gay Activist David Kato Murdered


David Kato, a prominent Ugandan gay rights activist in threatened in October with hanging on the front page of a Kampala newspaper, was found brutally beaten to death Wednesday at his home.  Kato was the advocacy officer for Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG).

The Guardianreports that Kato was bludgeoned to death at his home in the town of Mukono in the afternoon. Witnesses saw a man fleeing the scene in a car.

SMUG called for the police and government to investigate the murder seriously and for religious leaders, politicians, and media to stop demonizing LGBT people. David Bahati, a member of parliament with close connections to American evangelicals, continues to push for a bill that would impose the death penalty on gay people in some circumstances.

Val Kalende, the board chair at Freedom and Roam Uganda, said in the news release,“David’s death is a result of the hatred planted in Uganda by U.S Evangelicals in 2009. The Ugandan Government and the so-called U.S Evangelicals must take responsibility for David’s blood!”

SMUG executive director Frank Mugisha said, “No form of intimidation will stop our cause. The death of David will only be honored when the struggle for justice and equality is won. David is gone and many of us will follow, but the struggle will be won. David wanted to see a Uganda where all people will be treated equally despite their sexual orientation.”

Burial arrangements for Kato are under way for Friday afternoon at his ancestral home in Namataba, Mukono District.

The BBC offers an obituary. Kato was a primary school teacher turned activist who proudly claimed the label of the first out gay Ugandan.

Read Jeff Sharlet's October cover story for The Advocate on the deadly consequences of antigay rhetoric in Uganda.

Update:

U.K. human rights activist Peter Tatchell released the following statement on Kato's murder: 

"David will live on in our memories. He will also live on through the rights and equalities that LGBTI Ugandans will win eventually thanks to his many years of tireless groundwork and campaigning. I express my admiration and appreciation to all the members of SMUG who are battling for LGBTI freedom in conditions of great adversity and danger. Their courage and tenacity is awesome.

"This savage killing will, I hope, finally prompt Uganda's political, religious and media leaders to cease their homophobic witch-hunts. Their hatred helps create the bigoted atmosphere that leads to queer-bashing violence."

The U.S. embassy in Kampala has also issued a statement on Kato's death:

"The U.S. extends its sympathies to David's family, friends and human rights colleagues. David's courageous devotion to promoting the universal human rights of members of Uganda's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community improved the lives of minority populations in Uganda and throughout Africa, and his selfless dedication to defending human rights and speaking out against injustice served as inspiration to human rights defenders around the world."

The White House issued this statement from President Obama:

"I am deeply saddened to learn of the murder of David Kato. In Uganda, David showed tremendous courage in speaking out against hate. He was a powerful advocate for fairness and freedom. The United States mourns his murder, and we recommit ourselves to David’s work.

"At home and around the world, LGBT persons continue to be subjected to unconscionable bullying, discrimination, and hate. In the weeks preceding David Kato’s murder in Uganda, five members of the LGBT community in Honduras were also murdered. It is essential that the Governments of Uganda and Honduras investigate these killings and hold the perpetrators accountable.

"LGBT rights are not special rights; they are human rights. My Administration will continue to strongly support human rights and assistance work on behalf of LGBT persons abroad. We do this because we recognize the threat faced by leaders like David Kato, and we share their commitment to advancing freedom, fairness, and equality for all."

UPDATE:
Violence Erupts at Kato's Funeral

10 Hateful Anti-Gay Myths Debunked

Southern Poverty Law Center debunks 10 Anti-Gay Myths

Maddow Interview with Ugandan "Kill the Gays" Bill Author

Rachel Maddow Interivews David Bahati

Julie Bulcer, The Advocate:

David Bahati, the Ugandan parliament member who authored the bill that calls for the execution of gay people, told Rachel Maddow that he intends to protect children from being recruited into homosexuality, but he could not produce any facts.

Bahati, who spoke from Washington, D.C., said he had been granted a visa to attend a conference in the United States, but the event denied him entry over his bill. The bill, which is still pending in parliament, would impose life imprisonment for homosexual acts and the death penalty for instances of “aggravated homosexuality.”

Maddow asked him about the part of the bill that has prompted international outcry.

“I know there has been a lot of spin, negative propaganda about this bill, using that clause and I wanted to make the record straight,” he said. “I am not in a hate campaign. I do not hate gays. I love them but at same time, I must protect our children who are being recruited into this practice.”

Pressed for facts about what Maddow called the “foundational myth” of gay recruitment, Bahati could not defend his assertion.

“It is something that is factual and all you need is to get these facts,” he said.

Watch the interview in two parts

SPLC Updates List of Anti-Gay Hate Groups

SPLC Designates Family Research Council and American Family Association as Hate Groups

From Evan Hurst, Truth Wins Out:

The Southern Poverty Law Center has updated its list of designated hate groups, and this year is significant in that some of the larger anti-gay outfits have made the cut. After a litany of ever more extreme statements from people such as Peter Sprigg and Tony Perkins of the FRC, Bryan Fischer of the AFA and Laurie Higgins of the IFI, the SPLC has determined that these groups all deserve to be designated as having gone beyond mere advocacy, and into full-blown hatred against the LGBT community. Especially after the recent spate of gay teen suicides elicited no remorse from any of these institutions, they have indeed earned their place in the halls of hate.

It is notable that Focus on the Family is not on the list. Though we at Truth Wins Out still stand in solid opposition to Focus’s mission, they have indeed made baby steps in the past year to moderate their message, which is in stark contrast with the growing extremism at FRC and AFA. Higgins and the IFI have always been awful, of course. These groups especially deserve recognition for their abject ignorance of facts and reality, choosing as they do to spread anti-gay propaganda at all costs, which indeed suggests that their “work” is inspired by little more than juvenile animus.

The list of anti-gay hate groups now includes the following:

1. Abiding Truth Ministries [Scott Lively]
2. American Family Association
3. Americans for Truth About Homosexuality [Peter LaBarbera]
4. American Vision
5. Chalcedon Foundation
6. Dove World Outreach Center [Terry Jones]
7. Faithful Word Baptist Church [Steven Anderson]
8. Family Research Council
9. Family Research Institute [Paul Cameron]
10. Heterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environment
11. Illinois Family Institute
12. MassResistance
13. Traditional Values Coalition

18 Anti-Gay Groups and Their Propaganda | Southern Poverty Law Center

Family Research Council Anti-Gay Rally in Memphis

The Family Action Council is sponsoring STAND FOR THE FAMILY: A RALLY TO CELEBRATE AND PROMOTE THE TRADITIONAL FAMILY, Monday at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis.

Special guests include two anti-gay bigots: Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council and Bishop Harry Jackson, Pastor of Hope Christian Church in Washington D.C. Bishop Jackson led the efforts to stop same-sex marriage in Washington D.C., and Tony Perkins and the FRC have led the efforts of Focus On The Family to oppose civil rights for gays and lesbians.

It should be a lovely "family" event....

Meanwhile, the Memphis Gay & Lesbian Community Center and LGBT groups in Memphis are holding an alternative rally, STAND FOR ALL FAMILIES, at Nashoba Unitarian Church

The Family Action Council of Tennessee oppose equality for LGBT families in TN.

Tony Perkins has political connections with other religious and political extremists, including David Duke and the racist white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens. Here's a picture of Tony Perkins speaking to a meeting of the Council of Conservative Citizens in 2001!


Perkins claims he didn't know the politics of the CCC, but how could he not see that WHITE CONFEDERATE flag behind him??

Pam's Houseblend: Tony Perkins and White Supremacy

Why are African-American pastors Alton Williams and Bishop Harry Jackson sharing the stage with Tony Perkins? Do they fear gay people more than White Supremacists and Racists

UPDATE: Truth Wins Out--"Pro-Family" vs. Actual Pro-Family

Tommy Simmons, Is This The Best They Can Throw At Us?

Rachel Maddow vs. Anti-gay Religious Wing Nuts

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow has been exposing the connections between the U.S. religious right and the anti-gay government in Uganda.

Rachel Maddow on Ties Between "The Family" and Uganda's Anti-Gay Legislation
Watch Rachel Demolish "Ex-Gay Therapist" Richard Cohen, who has inspired the anti-gay movement in Uganda



Uganda's "Kill the Gays" Bill Tied to Rick Warren

Thanks in part to Rachel Maddow's exposure of his connection to the anti-gay movement in Uganda, Rick Warren Finally Condemns Uganda's "Kill the Gays" Bill

Republican Party using Anti-Gay Innuendo Against TN Dem Candidate?

It looks like the Republican Party is up to it's old tricks in the race to replace TN Blue Dog Democratic Rep. John Tanner.

The NRCC has been quick to attack Tennessee state Sen. Roy Herron, who has emerged as the Democratic candidate for the seating of retiring Blue Dog Rep. John Tanner -- and along the way, they seem to be using some rather interesting rhetoric.

Herron is a former minister and an attorney, and he has taught at both the divinity and law schools at Vanderbilt, his alma mater. He has been married for 22 years, and has three sons. He has also written several books, including Tennessee Political Humor, How Can a Christian Be in Politics?, and God And Politics. However, the NRCC says Herron isn't being honest about his social liberalism.

Over the course of the past week, the NRCC has mounted a series of attacks on Herron that taken together could suggest they're trying to say that Herron is gay or effeminate. The NRCC denies that's their line of attack, and the Herron camp hasn't publicly raised the issue, but TPM takes a look at what the NRCC has been saying.

Is the NRCC Using Anti-Gay Innuendo Against Dem Candidate?

Gay Youth Attacked, 2 killed in Tel Aviv

Israelis Rally After 2 Murdered at Gay Youth Center
(Tel Aviv, Israel) Reeling from the worst attack ever aimed at homosexuals in Israel, members of the country’s gay community and their supporters rallied Sunday in the heart of Tel Aviv a day after a masked gunman killed two people at a center for gay youth and escaped.

HAARETZ: Police-Too Early to Assume Attack Was Hate Crime

Ft. Worth Gay Bar Raided on 40th Anniversary of Stonewall

Seven Arrested in in Texas Gay Bar Raid

Shortly after midnight on Sunday, police raided a gay bar in Fort Worth, TX, and arrested seven customers for public intoxication. (One man was reportedly taken to the hospital "with bleeding in his brain after officers threw him to the ground and used zip-ties to handcuff him.") Police said they were simply conducting an "alcohol beverage code inspection" when several customers made sexual advances toward the officers. However, the owner of the Rainbow Lounge, J.R. Schrock, said that claim was a "lie."

Unbelievable that this would happen on the 40th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots!