GAY, SORTA, DISCRIMINATION AT A STRAIGHT CLUB?

Next Mag posts a screed about an incident at the Standard. Someone came on a nongay and non-gay friendly night.

If a club wants to cater to a gay clientele it needs to be open and accepting all the time, every night of the week.

Okay, I agree, but, wait. This one-gay-night-a-week thing at club venues has been going on for a lo-o-o-o-ng time around here. You're just noticing? C'mon Next.

I always saw the phenom as something of a half-step backward. The outcome is practically guaranteed.

Gay club life has been of the floating party variety in New York for some time. Sensitivity training for staff is a start, but how long does that stick?

This could be sorted out rather easily, with a solution I have in mind. It would take a little work, though, and perhaps the party givers don't have the time to spare.

See also: BACHELORETTE PARTY BAN INTERVIEW

DOMA RULED UNCONSTITUTIONAL BY U.S. 1ST CIRCUIT COURT? NOT SO FAST...

MSNBC has the same story everyone else does, saying that DOMA is struck down:

A federal appeals court has ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act, a law that denies a host of federal benefits to same-sex married couples, is unconstitutional.

Not so fast! It's true as far as it goes, but this one's going to the U.S. Supreme Court, and we know the rotting composition of that fallen branch of government.

Second, the U.S. 1st District Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against FEDERAL discrimination against same sex marriage. What's absurd in this road show is that the actual constitutional language that bears on the law was never at issue. I speak of course of the "full faith and credit" clause, which binds states to recognize the acts and proceedings of other states.

I know, I know. We'll get the usual, "This one helps the cause, because it heaps up more arguments on our side." Yes, but this particular Supreme Court has an absolutely dismal record of applying law and logic to much of anything that appears to be a political issue. Socially just they are not. So, let's be ever hopeful, but watch with caution.

So, hurray, a bit, maybe, sort of... Again, where are these "strict constructionists" when the word-for-word reading of the constitution would simply make same-sex marriage instantly, as in NOW, legal throughout the land? Thunderous silence.

So, pop only yesterday's flattening champagne and make a mimosa. Leave the new bottle on the shelf.

See also: MITT FUNDED OPPOSITION TO MARRIAGE EQUALITY

KANSAS PREACHER-CREATURE CURTIS KNAPP: GOVERNMENT SHOULD KILL GAYS

Murder-lover Curtis Knapp

Good as You tracked down this new lovely antigay screed (audio at link).

Curtis Knapp, pastor of Seneca, Kansas' New Hope Baptist Church:

"Oh, so you're saying we should go out and start killing them? No, I'm saying the government should. They won't, but they should."

Another call for government-run genocide.

And I thought Conservatives thought government couldn't do anything right. A sudden change of ideology when it serves their vampiric cravings for blood.

Related:
TODDLER'S NO-HOMOS-IN-HEAVEN RAP
PROTEST OF CREATURE PREACHER WORLEY
NIGHTMARE NC PREACHER SEAN HARRIS

BRAINWASHED TODDLER SINGS ANTI-GAY HATE JINGLE BEFORE CHURCH (VIDEO)

Children singing in Church to enthusiastic... by f100001838231867

Watch, if you can stomach the poison that's been given this innocent child. "Ain't no homos gonna go to heaven," gets them jumping to their feet and cheering.

Here you have it, a full-on demonstration of why the national far-right crowd opposes anti-bullying laws. They want kids to grow up to be a member of the anti-gay hate patrol, to spew epithets, and possibly to inflict harm verbally, maybe even physically. It's "just kids," after all, isn't it?

You could call it child abuse, but it's so widespread that it just seems part of the air we breathe. Hatred does not come from the air, though, it comes from aping the unevolved apes like the big ones dressed up in these pews.

Related: ANTI-GAY PREACHER PROTEST

(Funny how these things are all coming up now. It's almost like a timed campaign. I'm not a major conspiracy theorist, but Gay Pride celebrations are just around the corner, or going on about now.)

UPDATE: CUE THE MARTYRDOM

Daily news reports:

Since it hit the blogosphere, the church, identified as the Apostolic Truth Tabernacle Church in Greensburg, Indiana, has received harassing phone calls, and its pastor, Jeff Sangl, has even gotten death threats at home, members told TMZ.com.

PROTEST OF KILL-THE-GAYS PREACHER WORLEY

Evil preacher-creature Worley, who advocates death camps for gay and lesbian people, got a little bit of big protest thrown at him.

I think the worst part of this video may not be this unholy wreck of a man, but the counter-demonstrators who support him. Yikes. They've had time to mull it over, and they're just fine with the idea.






Related: BRAINWASHED TODDLER ANTIGAY SONG IN CHURCH
See also "Kansas Pastor Wants Government to Kill Gay People"

INTERVIEW: BAN ON BACHELORETTE PARTIES

CNN interviews David Cooley, owner of the Abbey in West Hollywood. He makes a strong statement for equal rights, going beyond the ban to draw the larger picture. Bravo.

Follow-up to: BAN ON BACHELORETTE PARTIES

See also: DOMA UNCONSTITUTIONAL? NOT SO FAST... 
GAY, SORTA, DISCRIMINATION AT A STRAIGHT CLUB?

SCARY STUFF: ATLANTA ANTI-CHOICE FIRES, POSSIBLE DOMESTIC TERROR (UPDATE: ANOTHER IN N.O.?)

Atlanta area fires and burglaries are hitting pro-choice advocates, and seem to target speech as well as clinics:

Federal agents are investigating two fires in the past week at women's clinics in metro Atlanta, authorities said. ...

The two fires, along with several burglaries that struck women's clinics in recent months, have raised concerns that the clinics are being targeted by vigilantes.

The physicians who were victims of the burglaries and Sunday's fire did not perform abortions but they had all visited the statehouse this session to discuss the impact of abortion-related legislation, said Dr. David Byck, president of the Georgia Obstetrical and Gynecological Society.

"We are concerned that each of these physicians spoke with lawmakers during the session and that each then became targets of felony crimes," Byck said in a statement.

This looks like either one person or a group at work to silence these doctors. That does constitute terrorism, by definition, no?

UPDATE: Here's another case of arson at a Women's education, advocacy, and community center in New Orleans. Again, this one is deliberate, going after the information materials (speech). I am not saying they are directly connected, but it's worth exploring the angle, while the feds are at it. This group seems to have overturned a law that made prostitutes subject to sex-offender registry, somehow based on a 205-year-old statute. FBI, please get on this.

Related: TN'S ANTI-CHOICE SCARLET LETTER BILL
CHICAGO CLUB 'VELVET ROPE' FIRE IS ARSON

THE ABBEY BANS BACHELORETTE PARTIES

West Hollywood gay bar, The Abbey, bans bachelorette parties:

"Every Friday and Saturday night, we're flooded with requests from straight girls in penis hats who want to ogle our gogos, dance with the gays and celebrate their pending nuptials. They are completely unaware that the people around them are legally prohibited from getting married," David Cooley, the founder of The Abbey said in a statement.

Thanks to Steven T. for alerting me to this story.

I wish more bars would institute something of the sort. Around my neighborhood, mentioned in the article, crazed drunken women take over gay establishments every weekend because, as they all ways put it, "It's safe."

Ah for the bad old dangerous days.

UPDATE: THE CNN INTERVIEW

GAYDAR IS REAL: STUDY PROVES IT!

From the Department of DUH! A University of Washington study proves gaydar is real.

In the study, 96 black-and-white photos of gay and straight men and women were shown to 129 students, who were then asked to guess their subject's sexuality.

In two-thirds of cases, they were able to tell if a woman was gay or straight, and they accurately judged 57 per cent of the males they saw.

Even turning the photos upside down did not stop ability of viewers to correctly guess the subject's sexuality.

 So, guys, switch off Grindr, stop woofing on Scruff, and use your eyes and ears (and your psychic kids' sixth sense, if you've got it tuned). What did the cavemen do? Do that, and I don't mean painting antelopes on cave walls.

SUBWAY IMPROVEMENTS

Photo: RDinNYC

I'm glad they're constantly fixing it up. You don't want an unpainted door sticking out like a sore thumb. How would that look?

NC NIGHTMARE PREACHER SEAN HARRIS

This just in:

Get Pastor Harris's tweet: "Even my apology is being judged by those who are supposed to be the most tolerant as insincere. At this point nothing seems sufficient."

Oh my gawwwd, how he's being pilloried by the mean homosekshuls of the world! What bullies they are.

The story so far:

Homophobe of the week Sean Harris preached a sermon that advocated breaking the wrist of any male toddler caught seeming to be effeminate, audio via GoodAsYou.

Can I make it any clearer? Dads, the second you see your son dropping the limp wrist, you walk over there and crack that wrist. Man up. Give him a good punch. Ok? You are not going to act like that. You were made by God to be a male and you are going to be a male. And when your daughter starts acting to Butch you reign her in. [Transcript excerpt, errors included, from that site.]

The words spread out from Berean Baptist Church in Fayetteville, NC, like an oil spill, and the church staff and preacher spent a day saying it was all a joke, or maybe just an exaggeration for effect, or whatever. Anything to get the phones to stop ringing. And the retraction has come in, via his blog. Oh, but wait!

However, I do not apologize for the manner in which the Word of God articulates sexual immorality, including homosexuality and effeminacy, as a behavior that is an abomination to God. Nothing in this official statement of retraction should be perceived as an apology for the overarching intent and message of the sermon and the need to define marriage as one man and one woman and to maintain the gender distinctions that God created from the beginning when He made them male and female (Genesis 1). I recognize that there are those in the LGBT community who believe that their sexual behavior is not sin. I do not agree with them and this official retraction should not be misunderstood as an apology for the gospel of Jesus Christ or the Word of God.

I do not apologize for the manner in which I emphasized the importance of one man and one woman getting married and staying married for the benefit of their children and society.

My bold. So we have a non-retraction retraction. What was the "manner in which [he] emphasized"? Precisely to tell parents to break and beat their kids for the least wavering from beer-commercial gender roles. The man cannot help himself. Someone needs a rainbow intervention. Where's a bubble machine and a busload of drag queens? Time to show up in front of the place next Sunday.

Scarier still is that the church runs a school. Via The Advocate, it's K-12. Hello child protective services? Care for a casual swing by?

I just noticed his Linked in profile. Twenty years in the army? I'm sure he knows a few effective wrist-snapping techniques. The man has violent fantasies that he loves to express. That doesn't mean he's acted on them.

SECRET SERVICE HIDES BEHIND CHILDREN AT STATE DEPARTMENT

This is too good. Via C.S. Monitor:

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland opened the daily news briefing with a salute to the handful of underage observers who joined journalists for the mid-day run-down of global events.

But any hopes that the briefing would steer clear of the salacious dissipated as questions focused on charges that Secret Service agents and other U.S. government employees caroused with strippers and prostitutes on overseas assignments.

"What a topic to be talking about on Bring Your Kids To Work day," Nuland said. "Parents, you can explain all of this later."

Meanwhile, The Hill interviewed Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), who said that she's been briefed about some new rules coming down the pike that will forbid Secret Service agents from going to "any place of bad acts."

That rules out Congress, I suppose. Bad acts are bad. Kids, don't do them, don't go near them, and plug up your ears while we talk about what daddy was doing in that hotel room.

As I predicted, the cover-up is swinging now, baby. It's a party!

FRESH SECRET SERVICE SEX SCANDAL

From Seatlle's KIROtv.com, the Secret Service apparently whored it up a year ago in San Salvador:

This source witnessed the majority of the men drink heavily ("wasted," "heavily intoxicated") at the strip club. He says most of the Secret Service "advance-team" members also paid extra for access to the VIP section of the club where they were provided a number of sexual favors in return for their cash.

...

"No surprise to me." The owner told Halsne his club routinely takes care of high-ranking employees of the U.S. embassy in San Salvador as well as visiting FBI and DEA agents.

 The source is referred to as a subcontractor, and he's backed up by the owner. Apparently, two of the agents took two women back to the hotel, and boasted that they did that all the time.

See also:
Secret Service Whoring It Up in Colombia

SECRET SERVICE UPDATE - Updated

Regulate Stuff?

Naw, not really. Our bureaucrats are too busy getting "massages" in Vegas.

Catholic Priest Stands Up Against Archbishop in WA Antigay Petition Drive

Via Think Progress:

But at least one Catholic leader — Father Michael Ryan of St. James Cathedral — is resisting the effort and refusing to “circulate petitions inside his parish for the campaign to repeal the state’s same-sex marriage law”:

Dear Friends,
Archbishop Sartain has written a letter in which he has expressed his support for Referendum 74 and for the collecting of signatures in parishes. Media reports regarding this are somewhat misleading. While the Archbishop has given his support to the effort, he has wisely left it up to each pastor to decide whether to allow the collection of signatures in his own parish.
After discussing the matter with the members of the Cathedral’s pastoral ministry team, I have decided that we will not participate in the collecting of signatures in our parish. Doing so would, I believe, prove hurtful and seriously divisive in our community.
Father Ryan

This statement took guts, and he received a standing ovation in his church upon his appearance. Read the details. It looks like people are not just falling in line with bigotry any more.

P.S. Isn't this the Church getting directly involved with politics? How is it not, when it's a directive from the archbishop? Enlighten me.

Cross-posted at Flaneur: "Does The Soul Not Feel Better, When The True Church, Does Something Risky and Truth-Filled"

See also: ARCHBISHOP DOLAN'S ABUSING PRIEST PAY-OFFS

Rugby Player Who Woke Up Gay Video Interview

A must-see video interview with Chris Birch, the former rugby enthusiast-player who fell on his head, had a stroke and woke up gay, gay, gay.

Actually, let him tell the story. The realization dawned on him gradually.

This does not mean that if someone is hit in the head, he or she will instantly become gay, but stroke can change personality, sometimes dramatically.

Sexuality is not that pliable a factor. I also don't notice that he seemed to have any choice in the matter. He just was suddenly interested in guys, no decision required. So, no straight-bashing on a lonely night, guys!

He seems to be doing just fine. It does make one ponder, tho'.

SECRET SERVICE UPDATE - Updated

Now it turns out there were 20 working women, they all had to show IDs at the desk (and those were taken down somehow, copied, scanned...).

11 Agents and 20 ladies of the evening? A report says that the rest went to MARINES.

So, more to come.

Update to: Secret Service Whoring It Up in Colombia

Update TWO: April 19, 2012. It seems the "stiffer" only offered the woman $30, and she called the police. Yes, it also seems that the other guys were confirmed as from the Pentagon. (Or some other witchy D.C. symbol.) CNN says they number FIVE. Now, wait. 20 women, 16 guys... still not adding up.

Deeeeeeelightful.

Meanwhile, other Secret Service agents are in Turkey, shopping for a rug big enough to sweep this all under.

Secret Service WHORING IT UP in Colombia

These agents were hard at work, and it appears, off-work. The juicy details are just coming out:

Washington Post:

Kessler said he was told that a dozen agents had been removed from the trip. He added that soliciting prostitution is considered inappropriate by the Secret Service, even though it is legal in Colombia when conducted in designated “tolerance zones.” However, Kessler added, several of the agents involved are married.

CNN:

Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, was briefed on the matter and told CNN that the government personnel brought prostitutes back to their rooms Wednesday night and "one of the women did not leave the room in the morning."

A hotel manager tried to get in the room, and eventually the woman emerged and said "they owed her money," according to King. Similarly, U.S. government sources said there was a dispute between at least one Secret Service member and a woman brought back to his hotel over a request to be paid.

So, a dozen are dragged home, and another five are on lock-down in the hotel, still! Apparently they'd be drinking a huge amount, then went scrounging for hookers, and after they all or most got them, one of them had a dispute over the fees for now not-so-secret service.

Update: Secret Service Update

Cory Booker Saves Neighbor From Burning Building

Local hero of the week, Newark's mayor.

Only Kryptonite can stop him.

From the Daily News:

A detective in the mayor’s security detail grabbed Booker by the belt in an effort to keep him from heading into the second-floor blaze in Newark’s South Ward.

But Booker won the forceful debate by turning to Det. Alex Rodriguez and declaring, “If I don’t go in, this lady is going to die.”

Seals Frolic in New York Harbor

The NYDN has the photos.

Small, puppy-like heads begin popping up out of the water.
It takes a moment to realize that they’re seals.

And, yes, they are cute. The cruises end in April, but the company has whale and dolphin jaunts that run through August.

I can't imagine how the harbor is clean enough for the creatures, but apparently it's so. Who am I to argue with such cuteness?

It won't be long before we're overrun with seals, and people start complaining about them.

Related: White Kiwi Chick (Not a New Movie)
NY Airport Geese to Be Cooked and Given Away