Camille is a twentysomething working in the LGBT nonprofit industry. She runs an LGBT news blog at gaywrites.org.
Ten years from now, Brian Brown says, the world will be a terrifying bastion of sexual perversion, a hotbed for mass marriages, a poverty-stricken, post-apocalyptic shell of what it once was — and all because we didn’t stop marriage equality when we had the chance. That’s the gist, at least, of a letter the National Organization for Marriage’s president wrote to the group’s supporters. Like many conservative Christian leaders of our time, Brown is terrified that marriage equality, equal rights for transgender people, and other steps toward a more civil and just society will destroy his comfortably bigoted way of living. Read more
In Fayetteville, Arkansas, a civil rights ordinance has brought out some people’s least civil sides. Chapter 119 of the city code is a measure that protects people from discrimination on the basis of race, religion, gender identity and sexual orientation. In Fayetteville’s upcoming special election, voters will have a chance to repeal the ordinance (because why wouldn’t they hold an election just to strike down a pro-equality law?), and a few brave Arkansans are stepping forward to support the law staying put. Early voting on the measure began Tuesday. In a true example of how classy the anti-gay activists are, a Fayetteville man found the word “FAG” spray-painted over the sign in his yard promoting the anti-discrimination bill. Other signs have reportedly been stolen and otherwise destroyed. Read more
Scott Lively, the evangelical pastor known for helping ignite homophobic laws in Uganda and Russia, has come up with a colorful new metaphor for homosexuality. In an appearance on Trunews on Monday, Lively described homosexuality as an “infection” that would ultimately destroy the “immune system” of society. Read more
19 Kids and Counting, the oddly popular TLC show about a gigantic evangelical Christian family, may be approaching its final days. Or so we hope. There are plenty of reasons to find the Duggar family (all 19+ of them) nauseating, and many LGBT folks, atheists, and others who don’t agree with their aggressive conservatism may have been rooting for them to go off the air for years. But the last straw came when the show’s matriarch, Michelle Duggar, recorded a robocall urging Fayetteville, Arkansas residents to vote against a transgender rights law. The ordinance (which passed) allows trans people to use public facilities, such as restrooms and locker rooms, that correspond with their gender identity, rather than their sex assigned at birth. Duggar’s call reiterated tired, defamatory claims that trans people (particularly trans women) are sexual predators: Read more
The former leader of a Christian group dedicated to “curing” homosexuality got married this week — to his same-sex partner. Former Love In Action Director John Smid used to be a loud advocate for “ex-gay therapy,” the discredited, faulty, and harmful practice of trying to rid a person of “homosexual feelings” through prayer and other Christian teachings. Smid’s ministry committed itself to the the same mission. But Smid resigned from his position as the group’s executive director in 2008 and later spoke out against ex-gay therapy. He divorced his wife the same year. And on Nov. 16, he married Larry McQueen in Oklahoma. Read more
