The Gay Fray

I am . . . .

  • Homosexual

    Votes: 25 9.2%

  • Heterosexual

    Votes: 201 73.6%

  • Bisexual

    Votes: 31 11.4%

  • Other (I would have complained if there wasn't an "other" option)

    Votes: 16 5.9%
  • Total voters
    273
On Knees for Jesus...

The devil's in the detail, as they say, well in this case, make it the devil's in the gay.. No, really..

Reverend Bob Larson is the self-proclaimed "world's foremost expert on cults, the occult and supernatural phenomena." He has appeared on Oprah, Larry King Live, CNN's Anderson Cooper and beginning October 31, he'll have his own reality show on Lifetime which will document the work he's most famous for: exorcisms.​


Now the Reverend Larson apparently came face to face with a gay demon recently..

While presiding over a grunting, moaning, yet otherwise normal looking middle-age man, Larson commands, "I loose him from the curse of homosexuality…" and informs the audience of onlookers, "The worst thing in the world for a filthy stinking sex demon to say is 'the holy spirit' -- they hate it."

After the man is "freed" of the demon, the video cuts to Larson addressing the camera and stating, "I pray in the name of Jesus for those who may be battling sexual feelings of lust and pornography and lesbianism and homosexuality… Amen." Viewers are then encouraged to call in and order a $59 three-video set to help them break "the six strongholds of Satan."​


Aside from the possessed man reminding me of Joe Cocker when he is singing, there is something hilariously surreal and pathetically sad at the same time.

All the while, one's eyes are drawn to "OnkneesforJesus" on the top left hand corner of the video - apparently Larson's recorded videos are listed under this byline - yes, the irony..

By the time Larson starts screaming "COME OUT IN THE NAME OF JESUS", and the supposedly homosexual man starts moaning.. Well.. it was all too much really..

[video=youtube;pCPwXCRZLDs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCPwXCRZLDs&feature=player_embedded[/video]
 
So, what's the score on the gay marriage initiatives? I've been following the one in Washington State, but not any of the others.
 
The score so far

2-0 for affirmation of marriage equality specifically. 3-0 generally, if we include the Minnesota ban that failed. We're still waiting for certification of the numbers here in Washington state, but as the hours pass, there is a growing sense of inevitability. That is, we're waiting for the official announcement for the official celebration to begin, but the party has been going on since last night. The 2012 election will be a clean sweep for marriage equality advocates, which will give us a 4-32 record in the states and a 5-33 record overall (Arizona rejected a ban, and then passed another one the next year, nullifying that win).

But last night is widely presumed to be the reason the Supreme Court delayed its Prop. 8 consideration until a later calendar. These four are huge.

(I, too, am waiting on the last announcement before I post the outcome here. The latest numbers on the vote are waiting for King County, which has pushed back to 18:30 PST. The official celebration might be starting in a couple hours.)
 
So proud of Washington, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Maine and Maryland today.

. . . and Ohio. In particular, my county: Cuyahoga. We tipped the state that tipped the election. Bam! Bitches, my peeps picked the leader of the free world.

~String
 
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Formalities

Superstring01 said:

So proud of Washington, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Maine and Maryland today.
Click to expand...

I would say the suspense up here is killing me, but it's not.

In Seattle, the party has already started, but officially, we're still waiting for a final tally. Updates should start around 16:30 PST, but yesterday those numbers were pushed back a couple hours for the King County canvass.

Meanwhile, it feels considerably different to be an American today than it did on Monday. I can only thank my fellow Americans for that.
 
The fact that it was approved by the voters certainly gives it legitimacy. There's no better way for affirmation than through popular consent. Congratulations, Tiassa.
 
Countdown ....

Countdown ....
Washington state to begin issuing licenses at midnight

In a fourteen hours, county clerks in the state of Washington will begin issuing marriage licenses for same-sex couples.

Meanwhile, we might offer our congratulations to Lynn Grotsky and Lisa Brodoff, who won a Thurston County lottery drawing on Monday; they will be the first to receive a marriage license in the state.

Both Brodoff and Grotsky were featured in The Olympian and News Tribune in 2009 during the R-71 campaign, which upheld the state's domestic partnership law, and they have long advocated for recognition of same-sex couples. The two women have an adult son and adult daughter, both of whom were born to Brodoff.

The couple later was one of the first in the country to receive a second-parent adoption involving same-sex parents, and Grotsky says their case was the first contested case involving a lesbian couple. In 2007, they also registered their domestic partnership on the state registry, the first year the state Legislature extended hospital visiting and other rights to same-sex couples.

A marriage certificate still won't secure federal rights related to Social Security benefits and other federal benefits of marriage, but Grotsky said she hopes the Washington law can be extended nationally. She noted the U.S. Supreme Court is weighing whether to hear arguments in an appeal related to California's marriage law.

After all these years of fighting for rights, Grotsky said it is the fact they will have a recognized marriage that counts.

“It's equal to everybody else. It really is – when you try to go by a different name it really is second-class citizenship,” she said. “We are in a committed partnership and in our country we call that marriage. 'Domestic partnership' just doesn't do it ... It doesn't have any of the spiritual feel to it."

(Shannon)​

Grotsky and Brodoff will marry later this week in a small civil ceremony, but are planning a larger celebration when the weather gets better.

Thurston County Auditor Kim Wyman offered the tale of how her office ended up in the position to issue the historical, first license:

Wyman said her office staff decided to hold the lottery in order to grant what might become the first same-sex marriage permits anywhere in the state. King County also is issuing permits after midnight.

R-74 did have its critics, but Wyman said none of her staffers had any objections to issuing the permits.

After soliciting couples' names, they received 15 requests to be entered, and the formal drawing of names took place at a counter in her agency's offices at 1 p.m. today. Wyman held a small paper box with the 15 couples' names so that licensing and recording manager Heather Hirotaka could draw out the first 10 - nine of which were female couples.

“We had heard that King County was going to be issuing the first marriage license in the state. Not that I am competitive nor my staff is competitive (but) we thought, wait a second, there is no guarantee they would be first. Maybe we could issue the first license. So we started talking about it,” Wyman said, describing the events that led to the decision to open the Auditor's Office from about 10 p.m. Wednesday until a bit past midnight Thursday.

“It's very exciting. This truly is a historic moment for Washington state, and we are certainly on the front end of change in attitudes and change in history,” Wyman added.

The auditor plans to issue all 10 licenses “simultaneously right after midnight so they can all say they were the first couple issued a license in the whole state.” But Wyman indicated that Brodoff and Grotsky would technically be first.​

Tonight ... yeah, it's a big night for the Evergreen State.
____________________

Notes:

Shannon, Brad. "First couple: Lisa Brodoff, Lynn Grotsky to get first Thurston same-sex marriage license". The Olympian. December 3, 2012. TheOlympian.com. December 5, 2012. http://www.theolympian.com/2012/12/03/2340694/first-couple-lisa-brodoff-lynn.html
 
Washington: It Is Accomplished ....

Washington: It Is Accomplished ....
First same-sex marriage licenses issued

Well, I guess I was wrong; according to The Seattle Times, the first to receive a same-sex marriage license in Washington state were Pete-e Petersen and Jane Abbot Lightly:

​

"I am so glad this night has finally arrived," County Executive Dow Constantine said of Washington's official recognition of same-sex marriages. "This has been a long struggle nationally and in our state."

Constantine, a longtime gay-marriage supporter, signed the first license at 12:01 a.m., when the voter-approved Referendum 74 formally took effect around the state. Recorder's Office staffers planned to stay open throughout the night and until 6:30 p.m. Thursday to accommodate as many gay and lesbian couples as possible.

More than 200 couples were in line to get licenses at midnight.

The first to actually receive them was a group of community leaders, including the acknowledged matriarchs of the movement in the state, West Seattle residents Pete-e Petersen and Jane Abbott Lighty.

"It's very humbling to be chosen first. We feel like we're representing a lot of people in the state who have wanted this for a long time," said Petersen, 85, who has been with Lighty for 35 years. "It's hard to explain the thrill that we are really going to get married."​

The weddings themselves won't start until Sunday; state law requires a three-day waiting period between license and union. The Times notes that by 9:30 pm last night, around 350 people had lined up to apply for marriage licenses at the King County administrative building in Seattle. "The atmosphere resembled a party — the crowd cheered, horns from passing cars signaled approval and a makeshift choir sung 'Going to the Chapel of Love.'" Symbolically, King County Executive Dow Constantine signed the first licenses himself, using the same pen Governor Chris Gregoire used to sign the original marriage equality bill approved by Referendum 74.

This is a proud day for the Evergreen State, its legislature, governor, and voters. It is a joyous day for same-sex partners across the state. As our newly-married families begin the next chapter of their lives, they still must contend with other states and the abominable federal law known as DoMA. For now, though, it is time to celebrate love and trust.
____________________

Notes:

Rosenthal, Brian M. and Alexa Vaughn. "A license to marry: It's official!" The Seattle Times. December 6, 2012. SeattleTimes.com. December 6, 2012. http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2019841023_samesex06m.html
 
Congratulations!

Congratulations!
Washington state begins marrying same-sex couples


First: Sarah and Emily Cofer, with Judge Mary Yu. (Yes, really.)​

Dominic Holden reports:

The ceremony began at 11:57 p.m. on December 8 and finished shortly after the stroke of midnight on December 9—the first day that same-sex couples could legally wed in Washington State—making Sarah and Emily Cofer the first gay married couple in Washington State history ....​

And, yes, it should be noted that the official conducting the wedding was Judge Mary Yu.

Really.

And the weddings went on all day, with seven judges coming in on a Sunday to handle the enormous docket.

​

And suddenly I find myself socially engaged, with a wedding reception tomorrow evening for friends who can finally marry after thirteen years together.
____________________

Notes:

Holden, Dominic. "WA's First Same-Sex Marriage". Slog. December 9, 2012. Slog.TheStranger.com. December 9, 2012. http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/12/09/was-first-same-sex-marriage

—————. "Who's Marrying the First Gay Couple? Judge Mary Yu". Slog. December 8, 2012. Slog.TheStranger.com. December 9, 2012. http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/ar...s-marrying-the-first-gay-couple-judge-mary-yu

Sanders, Eli. "Love and Gay Marriage at City Hall". Slog. December 9, 2012. Slog.TheStranger.com. December 9, 2012. http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/12/09/love-and-gay-marriage-at-city-hall
 
Horsey on Marriage Equality

Horsey on Marriage Equality


David Horsey, 2007​

As many throughout the state of Washington, and indeed, across the country, celebrate the arrival of gay marriage after voters endorsed the state legislature's move to legalize gay marriage, we ought not forget about those who are troubled by the thought of people being in love while existing as the wrong human sex. David Horsey considers the context of their plight:

Over the weekend in Seattle and many other Washington cities, celebrations at courthouses were nonstop as gay and lesbian couples lined up to wed. Not everyone was celebrating, however. Christian conservatives were wondering whether it might be time to move to Texas.

Dan Kennedy, chief executive of Human Life of Washington, told a Seattle Times reporter, “I feel like I’m living in pagan Rome.” Steve Beren, a Christian conservative political consultant, tea party activist and two-time losing candidate in the state’s heavily liberal 7th Congressional District, pondered the gay glee at the courthouses and said, “I feel bad for those people because they are celebrating what they are doing wrong.” Beren equated the turn toward same-sex marriage with other unfortunate developments in history, like “burning people at the stake and sacrificing children.”

People like Kennedy and Beren think the state and much of the country are going to pot. Actually, in the case of Washington, going to pot is literal. Washington legalized marijuana on the same day same-sex marriage became legal and, in traditionalist minds, that further confirmed the pagans are taking over.

The Seattle Times article included comments from David DeWolf, a law professor at Gonzaga University, a Jesuit school in Spokane. DeWolf looked askance at the electorate’s approving nod to bad behavior and he too made an allusion to pagan Rome. “The introduction of Christianity was the introduction of a way of understanding ourselves that says we’re made for better things, we’re capable of real charity and concern for one another and living a life of virtue.”

The naughty old Romans are always dragged out as an object lesson by people who think society is going astray, but I must say that what happened in Washington was not a celebration of something wrong. The fact that couples who have spent years, even decades, together in loving partnerships have finally been given the chance to make their bonds legal seems very much like what DeWolf described as Christian values. Same-sex marriage is an affirmation that people – all people – are made for better things, are capable of charity and concern for one another, are enhanced by living a life of virtue.

If America believes marriage is, indeed, an institution that binds the nation together, can it be wrong to bring more citizens into that virtuous circle?​

The obvious answer is, "Of course it is wrong." Because homosexuality is a sin, and, furthermore, a "lifestyle" sin. That is, it's not like murdering someone, repenting unto God, and pleading for divine forgiveness. The homosexual goes to bed gay each night, and wakes up gay each morning. The conservative Christian pushback against gay marriage is much akin to the reason why Christian churches won't marry heterosexual couples that include a partner who has been divorced (1 Cor. 6.9-10).

The adulterer goes to bed in sin each night, and wakes up in sin each morning. It is a "lifestyle" sin. Hence, Christian churches do not endorse remarriage after divorce.

Oh, wait, they do?

Well, so much for that.
____________________

Notes:

Horsey, David. "Same-sex marriage brings more citizens into a virtuous circle". Top of the Ticket. December 10, 2012. LATimes.com. December 10, 2012. http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-gay-marriage-20121209,0,5688993.story
 
Boutonnieres and Bad Puns

Maine Squeeze
Marriage equality arrives in Maine, and don't say a thing about bad puns

​

David Sharp explains what you're seeing:

Arriving in a limo, Donna Galluzzo and Lisa Gorney had all the trappings of a traditional wedding: Rings, flowers, wedding vows, an entourage and a friend to officiate.

With tears in their eyes, they were among the first gay couples to exchange wedding vows early Saturday morning after Maine's same-sex marriage law went into effect at midnight.

"We're paving the way for people to go after us. I think it's just amazing. It's freeing. It's what's right," an emotionally drained Gorney said after their ceremony in front of City Hall.

After waiting years and seeing marriage rights nearly awarded and then retracted, gay couples in Maine's largest city didn't have to wait a moment longer than necessary to wed, with licenses issued at the stroke of midnight as the law went into effect.

Steven Bridges and Michael Snell were the first in line, and they received cheers from more than 200 people waiting outside after they wed in the clerk's office.

"It's historic. We've waited our entire lives for this," said Bridges, a retail manager, who's been in a relationship with the Snell, a massage therapist, for nine years. Bridges, 42, and Snell, 53, wore lavender and purple carnations on black T-shirts with the words "Love is love."​

The big day arrived in Maine thirty days after Governor Paul LePage certified November's election results. The cities of Falmouth and Portland opened their doors at midnight to accommodate happy couples; other cities intend special hours today, as well. Amid free carnations and boutonnieres, couples began filling out the requisite paperwork amid cheers, party horns, and a jazz trio. Outside Portland City Hall, waiting couples and other supporters sang, "All You Need is Love". Fourteen couples received marriage licenses, and with no three-day waiting period such as Washington state requires of all marriages, five of those pairs married before the ink was dry.

Katie Snell, one of Steven and Michael's daughters, explained: "It's just a piece of paper. Their love has been there, their commitment has been there, all along. It's the last step to make it a true official marriage because everything else has been there from the start."

Congratulations, Maine.

Marriage equality is slated to arrive in Maryland with the New Year. Now that should be a party.
____________________

Notes:

Sharp, David. "Maine's Same-Sex Marriage Law Goes Into Effect". Associated Press. December 29, 2012. HuffingtonPost.com. December 29, 2012. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/29/maines-same-sex-marriage-_n_2380334.html
 
Cowboys for a Cure ...?

The Gay Cure: Stroke a Horse
Yeah, I know. But what do you expect of the Cowboy Church?

Um ... let's just throw it straight to The Huffington Post:

The idea that a gay person can be "cured" of his or her homosexuality is not a new one. For centuries doctors, therapists and religious figures have tried a wide variety of techniques -- from pray to surgery to exorcism -- to "convert" men and women "suffering" from same-sex attractions.

But we have to admit that the "reparative" therapy used by Raymond Bell, pastor of the Cowboy Church of Virginia, is one of the strangest we've come across.

According to Gay Star News, Bell claims that the use of Equine Assisted Psychotherapy, or sessions involving the stroking of horses, can aid in the "curing" of maladies and "addictions" like homosexuality.

"EAP can help any person who is living the homosexual lifestyle or involved in it in anyway," he told Gay Star News.

Though it isn't clear exactly how EAP works to rid a gay person of their "affliction," Gay Star News notes that it can supposedly make gay men more masculine and that it is used to "identify how a person got 'involved' in homosexuality to begin with... for example, because of rape, abandonment, lacking a male role model, abuse and having low self-esteem."​

Write your own punch line. It's easy.


Coming soon: The Horse Stroker.​

Seriously, I think Stroking Horses should be the name of my next goth-funk band.
____________________

Notes:

The Huffington Post. "Raymond Bell, Pastor Of The Cowboy Church of Virginia, Claims Stroking Horses Can 'Cure' Homosexuality". December 29, 2012. HuffingtonPost.com. December 30, 2012. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...-church-of-virginia-horses-gay_n_2381028.html
 
Today in Gay

Today in Gay
Bigotry in North Dakota? Scott Lively losing it? (When did he ever have it?)

First up, New Bern, North Dakota, where WCTI reports on a semi-literate letter given to a lesbian couple by a restaurant owner:

A lesbian couple said an owner of a restaurant handed them a letter condemning homosexuality as they were walking out of the building.

Ariel and Shawnee McPhail said they went into The Stingray Café, on 520 S. Front Street in New Bern, and ate a meal there on Dec. 4. But they said as they were leaving, the restaurant's owner, Ed McGovern, handed them a letter that stated God's opposition to homosexuality. The letter reads as follows:

"God said in the last days that man and wom[a]n would be lover of self, more [than] the lover of God.

That man and woman would have unnatural [affection] for one another. Then, the coming of the Son of Man, who is Jesus. So please, look at your life. See how it hurt everyone around you. And ask the Lord to open your eye before it [is] to[o] late.

The Love of Christ

P.S. my daughter also was gay. It destroy[ed] her life and my grandson."​
​


Mr. McGovern, who was apparently so emotionally distraught that he had a hard time remembering how to spell the word "woman", told WCTI that he has done the same thing in the past, and did it as an act of love. As for the apparent syntactical problems? Well, Mr. McGovern does seem to be a bit of a moron.

Meanwhile, there is Scott Lively, a titan of the heterosupremacist movement who helped push Oregon's infamous Measure 9 in 1992, published a book blaming homosexuals for the rise of Nazis, describes himself these days as the father of the anti-gay movement in Uganda, and now finds himself answering in a federal courtroom to a civil suit alleging crimes against humanity.

Meredith Bennett-Smith reports for The Huffington Post:

Scott Lively, the embattled evangelist currently on trial for inciting human rights abuses against the LGBT community in Uganda, has doubled down on his combative rhetoric this week.

One day after the "Kill the Gays" bill supporter appeared in Massachusetts federal court, the conservative Christian gave an interview with Sandy Rios of the American Family Association, in which he claimed Noah's Biblical flood was punishment from God for the "writing of wedding songs to homosexual marriage."

Right Wing Watch obtained audio of the interview with the AFA, a group known to counteract the "homosexual agenda," the Southern Poverty Law Center notes.

From the interview:

We need to remember that in the time leading up to the Flood what the rabbis teach about the last straw for God before He brought the Flood was when they started writing wedding songs to homosexual marriage and Jesus said that you'll know the End Times because it will be like the days of Noah.​
​

According to HuffPo, Lively is not the first to advance the theory that non-heterosexuals caused the Great Flood. Last year, an Alabama pastor told American Family Radio that the flood occurred because God foresaw same sex marriage. In truth, Pastor Aaron Fruh probably wasn't the first, either.

In deference to the Associated Press standards, we might seek to avoid words like "homophobia". Thus, ladies and gentlemen, the above notes are presented to remind you of the sad state of heterosupremacist bigotry and hatemongering.

And, to borrow from comedic cinema, we might simply remind that hateful, delusional, and illiterate is no way to go through life.
____________________

Notes:

WCTI. "Lesbian couple: Restaurant owner hands them letter condemning homosexuality". January 10, 2013. WCTI12.com. January 11, 2013. http://www.wcti12.com/news/Lesbian-...ity/-/13530444/18086232/-/n0mfvd/-/index.html

Bennett-Smith, Meredith. "Noah's Flood Caused By Wedding Songs For Homosexuals, Says Scott Lively, 'Kill the Gays' Bill Supporter". The Huffington Post. January 10, 2013. HuffingtonPost.com. January 11, 2013. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/...songs-homosexuals-scott-lively_n_2450404.html
 
Do you think gay is responsive to me being straight, desiring many women? I think straight would be dominant, then a gay spirit would be man to swoop on the dudes who let love do me for whatever their own sexual preference is. I don't let love look away, some men make her stay while he does many others.

Does love equate to perfect sex? Would my love help me with ladies? :)
 
kx000 said:
Do you think gay is responsive to me being straight, desiring many women? I think straight would be dominant, then a gay spirit would be man to swoop on the dudes who let love do me for whatever their own sexual preference is. I don't let love look away, some men make her stay while he does many others.

Does love equate to perfect sex? Would my love help me with ladies? :)
Click to expand...

WTF does that even mean? Please get help.
 
Indeed

Spidergoat said:

Sounds to me like it was her bigot parents that probably ruined her life when she came out, not the actually being gay part.
Click to expand...

Aye. That and, well ... it's not quite right to say the fact that it was North Dakota. But over the years I've been caught up in the Gay Fray, one notion that arises with unnerving regularity is the idea that we shouldn't normalize being out of the closet because bigots will be mean.

This has taken many forms, but the most apparent is the idea that gay people shouldn't raise kids because other kids will be mean to the kids with gay parents.

I would think—but, you know, who the hell am I to suggest such things?—that the better solution would be to put an end to superstitious and uneducated bigotry. True, that's a lofty, perhaps unattainable goal, but there is a tremendous difference between marginalizing hatred and kneeling to kiss its ass.
 
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