Using chosen names reduces odds of depression and suicide in transgender youth

Ryan T. Anderson, in defense of his faith, is a ubiquitous advocate for conduct that does violence to transgender youth.

When we think of University of Texas at Austin Mark Regnerus comes to mind. A new study proves that there are sane people on that campus. My comments follow the quoted text.

In one of the largest and most diverse studies of transgender youths to date, researchers led by a team at The University of Texas at Austin have found that when transgender youths are allowed to use their chosen name in places such as work, school and at home, their risk of depression and suicide drops.

Leave it to Brian S. Brown to reverse-Midas his Easter message

National Organization for Marriage's Brian S. Brown has an improbable attraction to misadventures. His Easter message email titled May The Joy of Easter be With You doesn't start well:

Dear %%FIRST%% — As we reflect on the meaning and import of Holy Week, it's tempting to think in historical terms, as amazing events long since passed. But what we celebrate at this time of year is not merely an ancient memory from long ago, but times that present parallels to modern circumstances today, and that offer the promise of an incredible future.

A gun violence survivor's admiration for the Parkland teens

A group of hurt teens has created a level of positive activism that this country hasn't seen since the Vietnam war.

I was shot in the back in 2004 in an attempt to put the brakes on an internal audit. The incident ravaged my life and negatively affected others. It continues to seriously compromise my well-being.

David Hogg was not physically injured by the gun violence that took the lives of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14. The loss of others may have injured David and his classmates in other ways. The incident has motivated these students to demonstrate and lobby for common sense gun reform.

Guilty verdicts in rape-away-the-gay case

Sean Cole and Khadeijah Moore

The sheer stupidity of this story has smothered my snark-crank. Some things are just so vile and idiotic that they leave no room for sarcasm.

29-year-old Sean Cole of Alabama had a brilliant idea. Concerned that his 11-year-old autistic son might be gay, Cole had his girlfriend, Khadeijah Moore (20 at the time), rape and abuse the child to “straighten him out.” How, as a nation, are we producing ignorant morons of this caliber? A unique form of stupidity is required to believe that a child's sexual orientation can be changed, let alone by raping him.

Don't know if I am to blame for this ...

The important thing is not who or how but that Arthur Goldberg is being held accountable for promoting conversion therapy pseudoscience.

The SPLC has asked a New Jersey court to find Arthur Goldberg guilty of violating a permanent injunction prohibiting him from operating a conversion therapy business

Last December, based primarily on an analysis of their 2016 tax return, I questioned whether Arthur Goldberg was back in the conversion therapy business in defiance of a New Jersey court order.

Has Jewish gay conversion therapy returned to New Jersey?

Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS)

For the security conscious set, SBF is now configured to enable HTTPS eg:

• https://www.slowlyboiledfrog.com or;
• https://slowlyboiledfrog.com

Existing links to http: will continue to work.

Selective evangelical morality

Mike Huckabee is one of many evangelical Christians who call the budget immoral.

Evangelical leaders have come forward to criticize Trump for an “immoral” spending bill. They also claim that Republicans passed the bill “in a moment of weakness.” Apparently the “statement” which seems to only exist as a Twitter image was virtually signed by retweeting it. The original tweet was posted by Johnnie Moore, previously with Liberty University. It has been retweeted by Eric Metaxas (who will do just about anything if his name is repeated), Mike Huckabee and an assortment of religious nuts … and bolts.

Conversion "therapy" for minors on the way out in Maryland

On Tuesday, Maryland's senate approved a measure that would make conversion (sometimes called reparative) therapy by medical professionals to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of a minor unlawful and unprofessional conduct.

Violations would lead to discipline by the state's licensing board. That could include fines, suspension or license revocation.

A Mark Regnerus article I like

Mark Regnerus does have the training and experience to produce worthy offerings. Whether or not he would publish findings at odds with the teachings of the Catholic Church remains unknown, perhaps doubtful. Regnerus has an article at Witherspoon Institute's blog that tends to prove a point that we have made strenuously over the years in regards to the contrast between polygamy and same-sex marriage.

The article is titled: Polyamory: Complicated New Identity or Primarily About Sex? The subtitle reads:

A study of consensual, overlapping sex partners unwittingly reveals the strengths of monogamy.

Even for Blowhard Bill - This is over the top

The headline from Blowhard Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, reads: SATANIC ICE CREAM HITS USA . Blowhard likes all-caps. Here's the relevant text from his diatribe:

When a Catholic League member emailed us a note recently about a Canadian ice cream company, Sweet Jesus, we decided to give it a pass: it was a fairly innocuous appropriation of Christianity, and there was no reason to believe that the intent was to offend. But that has all changed.

"Billy" - Recycling anti-gay to anti-trans

Walt Heyer is determined to spread pseudoscience through a pseudo-intellectual blog.

As a Defender of the Faith, Ryan T. Anderson is obsessed with transgender people. Anderson has the most overrated intellect in Christendom. Anderson is the editor of Witherspoon Institute's pseudo-intellectual blog.

Walt Heyer is also obsessed with transgender people. Heyer had sex reassignment surgery about 34 years ago at about 42 years of age. He had the surgery reversed about eight years later. About 25 to 30 years later, for religious reasons (he is also a conservative Catholic), and in an attempt to make sense of his own life and to get some attention Heyer has been on an anti-trans crusade. It is also how Heyer seems to support himself. No one overestimates Heyer's intellect. Doing so would bWalt Heyer is determined to spread pseudoscience through a pseudo-intellectual blog.
e comparable to critiquing a one-note opera.

Another Heritage polemicist claims expertise in gender dysphoria

Monday, at Heritage Foundation's blog, Scott Yenor offers: How Courts and Legislatures Are Disempowering Parents to Push Transgender Agenda. Perhaps the Transgender Agenda™ is an addendum to the Homosexual Agenda™. People see a nefarious mission being executed by pernicious LGBT activists and they lose perspective when it comes to the best interests of children.

Scott Yenor, a political science professor at Boise State, presumes to be qualified to assert himself on the care of transgender youth. Yenor is not a psychologist and he is not an MD. He has previously written that homosexuality is an alternate lifestyle. It is all so familiar so it seems safe to assume that the presence of transgender people creates a religious conflict for Scott Yenor.

CA mega-church has a fit over proposed conversion therapy legislation

A Bethel Church service via Facebook

Bethel Church's finances and Jesus-healing are highly controversial. Monday, it has had a fit over some proposed legislation in California that would ban conversion therapy for everyone (the state currently bans conversion therapy for minors). Bethel is a huge church with enormous funds available. They have issued a statement to “educate” citizens. Bethel's take on the three bills is actually fairly accurate. Conversion therapy is banned and Bethel does not like that. They assert that pray-away-the-gay is effective. They also believe (contrary to medical science) that gender dysphoria can be cured.

The three bills at issue are relatively straight-forward.

"Scholar?" Seriously?

Calvin Freiburger has some strange ideas about scholarship

Calvin Freiburger is one of LifeSiteNews' low-voltage robots. Stick a quarter in the thing and it recites homophobia a capella. Freiburger has a rather pointless and unfocused piece about Trump and LGBT issues. It is not worthy of review.

However, the last two paragraphs are interesting (emphasis added):

… [Trump] replaced a planned executive order protecting religious liberty with a heavily diluted version.

The original draft contained very specific language protecting the conscience rights of pro-life and pro-marriage Americans from government discrimination. But according to marriage and gender scholar Ryan T. Anderson, the finalized order contained only “general language about the importance of religious liberty” …

Disqus issues - Nothing too serious

With your help and by blocking a large swath of Pakistani space plus using word filters I have really tamed the problem with "work at home" comment spam. If you use the name of the leading search engine your comment will go to moderation and, for some odd reason, I am not receiving moderation notices by email. Flags I get but not posts that require approval.

Unless the cretins adapt using digits (00) in place of letters (oo or OO) works.

Mat Staver has actually read - and now withdraws support for - FADA

Mat "Mad Mat" Staver

Hate group leader Mat Staver, of Liberty Counsel, calls the revised First Amendment Defense Act a “Trojan horse.” The bigot that he is, Staver cannot accept a piece of legislation that recognizes the legitimacy of same-sex marriage even though the measure, if passed, would provide a broad license-to-discriminate.

According to Mad Mat:

The original language of the First Amendment Defense Act stated: "Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Federal Government shall not take any discriminatory action against a person, wholly or partially on the basis that such person believes, speaks, or acts in accordance with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman, or that sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage."

Brian S. Brown warns of transgender dangers

Is Brian Brown a moral man?

Brian S. Brown of National Organization for Marriage has sent out an email titled: “Help Overturn Anchorage's Dangerous Transgender Bathroom Law.” It follows the usual script in support of an anti-trans ballot measure.

Brown is a zealous, and fundamentalist, Catholic convert. You would think that his deep faith would require Brown to be honest in all of his dealings. That is simply not the case. Conservative Christians, including Brown, seem wed to the proposition that lying in defense of the faith is not only acceptable but required behavior.

Just how many "homosexual activists" are there?

Apparently, this is the heroine of their story

According to American Family Association (a hate group), there seem to be a whole lot of “homosexual activists” who seem to show up in a whole lot of places. Consider today's piece by Steve Jordahl on AFA's news blog:

Homosexual activists and their allies continue to weaponize social media to go after anyone who doesn't endorse their sin and lifestyle choices.

They love the word “weaponize.” Lifestyle choices? As you can see, Mr. Jordahl has consumed the intellectual Kool-Aid. He prattles on:

I cannot tell if Mollie Hemingway is a tribalist, plain stupid - or both

Mollie Hemingway's real competence is in self-promotion. She has a spectacularly over-estimated intellect.

Mollie Hemingway of the highly esteemed Federalist (nothing is too awful for the Federalist to publish) keeps pumping out bullshit in the hopes that it will somehow alter the facts about Trump. Thursday, Hemingway writes:

Thousands upon thousands of media reports over the last year and a half have intimated, suggested, or flat-out asserted that President Donald Trump is a traitor who colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election from Hillary Clinton. What this widely held theory lacks in evidence, its diehard supporters in the media and other anti-Trump bastions make up for with their faith-filled conviction of its truth.

Porno Pete vs. John Oliver and Pence's daughter buys Oliver's book

It's not really a fair fight. John Oliver had a great piece last Sunday highlighting Mike Pence's self-righteous anti-LGBT hypocrisy. Pence is a piece of work. He manages to dodge any question that isn't scripted in his talking points. The super-moralist is not terribly honest about many things. Yet he remains a symbol of extreme hatred and bigotry.

Enter hate group leader Peter LaBarbera:

If nothing else, Linda Harvey can be novel

Linda Harvey - Does anyone still listen to this witch?

A Nigerian outlet (of all things) is reporting that anti-LGBT loon, Linda Harvey, claims that homosexuality is God's punishment for abortions. Silly me. I would think that there were gay people long before people aborted fetuses. Or does abortion go that far back in time?

The more salient point is that most people do not regard sexual orientation as some kind of punishment (unless of course you happen to be Richard Simmons).

Controversial anti-LGBT judicial nominee Gordon Giampietro finds a defender at Witherspoon

Randall B. Smith

There is a new post at Witherspoon Institute's blog titled: The New McCarthyism: Religion, Marriage, and Judicial Nominations. Its author is Randall B. Smith. Mr. Smith requires a history lesson. Suffice it to say that an avenue of inquiry that he does not like is not McCarthyism. Witherspoon Institute's pseudo-intellectual blog is edited by Ryan T. Anderson. Anderson is the proprietor of the most overrated intellect in Christendom. Anderson's shortcomings explain much of the content of the blog.

Randall Smith is an easy target. He is a professor of theology at a Catholic college. According to his faculty bio:

Mat Staver appeals attorney fees in Kim Davis case

Kim Davis and Mat Staver - Why are these idiots smiling?

Hate group leader (and America's dumbest lawyer) Mat Staver is appealing the decision to award attorney's fees in the Kim Davis case to the ACLU. I don't think that Kim Davis even has standing. The Commonwealth of Kentucky is on the hook for the legal fees.

There are three reasons for this suit:

1. Staver cannot come to terms with the fact that he lost this case.
2. The award goes to the evil ACLU.
3. He doesn't have a client responsible for legal fees.

Matt Barber's insane list of horribles

J. Matt Barber's ethics are selectively applied

Several outlets have reported that Matt Barber is compiling a list of supposedly anti-Christian organizations. Barber, who is insanely, bat-shitly homophobic, has had that list up since at least December at his Christian Civil Rights Watch. The list is actually quite comical. Examples of inclusions (in no particular order):

• American Psychological Association
• American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
• Institute of Medicine (National Academies of Sciences)
• World Health Organization (regional)
• Hollywood (italicized)
• United Nations
• National Lawyers Guild
• Amnesty International

Ted Baehr emerges with a shocker

Honestly, does anyone give a rat's ass about Ted Baehr's Movieguide awards?

Ted Baehr, writing as the Christian Film and Television Commission, provides us with: You Won't Believe What the LGBT Agenda Has Done to 'Little Women'. Oh do tell Teddy:

The children's book, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy is a modern retelling of the Little Women story that was first published 150 years ago. The modern retelling changes the racial makeup of the characters, which is fine. Where it goes off the rails is by making Jo, the second oldest of the sisters, a lesbian.

American College of Pediatricians is trying to look respectable

Michelle Cretella, president of American College of Pediatricians recently claimed that a "Gay pride parade is nothing more than a celebration of pedophilia."

Recent offerings from the American College of Pediatricians (a small anti-LGBT hate group) include:

• Helping Your Preschooler Love to Read
• Child Nutrition: Dividing the Responsibility Between You and Your Child
• How to Talk to Your Kids About Tragedies in the World
• 3 Ways to Calm a Fussy Baby

They are not fooling anyone. I am not impressed.

AFA has a warning for Christian parents - It's the gay, again

Love, Simon seems harmless enough to normal people, It has an IMDB score of 7.9 and is rated PG-13

The latest from hate group American Family Association on their phony “news” blog: A trendy romance? Be wary, parents. And what is it that Steve Jordahl (who also writes for Focus on the Family) finds so alarming?

Christian parents are being advised to be ready for a conversation with their children about a movie that opened this weekend that could have them talking.

Jordahl continues:

Love, Simon (PG-13) is billed as a trendy romance – but in fact it's the first "gay" romantic movie with a full-throated Hollywood marketing campaign. This movie was not made for LGBT audiences; instead, it's a subtle message movie for the straight world:

The incoherence of a university president

Everett Piper wants to ensure that Oklahoma remains as hateful to LGBT people as is possible.

The Oklahoma legislature is considering a measure (SB-197), the intent of which is to invalidate municipal nondiscrimination ordinances that protect LGBT people — now and in the future. State laws do not offer such protections. The bill is based on the familiar boilerplate of Alliance Defending Freedom, an anti-LGBT hate group. The bill died in the state Senate in March, 2017. It has been resuscitated. According to the most recent version of the bill:

2. "State government" means:

a. the State of Oklahoma or a political subdivision of the state,
b. any agency of the state or of a political subdivision of the state, including a department, bureau, board, commission, council, court or public institution of higher education…

Texas newspaper edits out son's same-sex marriage from mother's obituary

Brenda Light died last month in a small Texas town with small Texas minds. Brenda Light's obituary in the Olton Enterprise included a great deal of family history. When the obituary was submitted to the paper it included “Those left to cherish her memory include her son, Barry Giles, and his husband, John Gambill of Dallas”.

However, when the obituary was published there was no mention of Mr. Giles or Mr. Gambill. The couple who had been together for more than 30 years had been airbrushed from Brenda Light's family at the whim of a holier-than-thou editor. A grieving son was exposed to raw bigotry at a time of sorrow.

Mollie Hemingway must be running out of buckets

This seems preferable to an image of Hemingway

Mollie Hemingway at the infinitely unreliable Federalist has been carrying a great deal of water for Trump. She has not done so very successfully including an inadequate attempt on Friday. Hemingway's latest bit of ineptitude is titled: REVEALED: Peter Strzok Had Personal Relationship With Recused Judge In Michael Flynn Case. Ooh! Eureka!

Hemingway goes on to explain:

Breitbart is directly selling a financial scam

The email from Breitbart has the same subject line: The Trump Story No One's Talking About. 

Say what you will about progressive outlets. They do not cannibalize their readers. Mother Jones doesn't send out emails hawking products. Neither does the Huffington Post or any other that I can think of. Bear with me while I lay this out.

Eric Metaxas does his bit for David Lane's brand of Christian supremacy

Pseudo-historian Eric Metaxas will be a participant at an event promoting Christian Supremacy

Secretly funded and organized by David Lane, 600 pastors and their wives are expected to attend American Renewal Project’s “Pastors & Pews” event, March 22-23 at the Hilton Doubletree Hotel in Chesterfield, MO. Pastors and their wives receive free hotel accommodations and meals. The purpose of these events is to get pastors to run for political office in order to effect a Christian theocracy in America. As a reminder, American Renewal Project was a party to a conspiracy to commit tax fraud. Conservative Christian ethics are selective in nature.

Christian Supremacy starts as an ideology in a dishonest motif. Its stridency and militancy are disguised as Christian morality and righteousness. Christian supremacists target LGBT people, women, Muslims and other minorities in order to obtain political power. The Islamophobia is overt. They attempt to obfuscate an undertone of anti-Semitism with Christian Zionism and support for Israel.

How the religious conservative propaganda undermines reality

Indiana University of Pennsylvania student, Lake Ingle (Fox News)

Lake Ingle, a senior at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, was expelled from “Christianity 481: Self, Sin and Salvation.” According to Ingle, this occurred after he insisted that there are only two genders. According to the authoritative and principled Fox News:

After showing a 15-minute TED Talk by transgender ex-pastor Paula Stone Williams … He told the class that the official view of biologists is that there are only two genders.

To raise money, Brown calls Chai Feldblum a "Radical LGBT Extremist"

I wrote about Chai Feldblum on Tuesday and I am not going to repeat myself. You can click on the link. Then it was American Family Association. Now it is Brian S. Brown of National Organization for Marriage who sees an opportunity for the gullible to send him some money. According to Brown:

It's being reported that President Donald Trump has nominated a radical LGBT extremist to a key civil rights post. Chai Feldblum is a prominent activist and avowed proponent of expansive special legal rights for gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and the transgendered. Worse, she has repeatedly said that their rights take precedence over any religious liberty claims that Christians might assert. Her nomination to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a disaster that we must oppose.

Florida's version of FADA died in committee

Jay Fant tried to advance his quest to become Florida's AG through the introduction of a license-to-discriminate bill

Florida's Republican controlled legislature is quite sane by GOP standards. Hell, they even passed a meaningful gun safety measure and now they have killed off HB-871 which was a garden variety license to discriminate endeavor.

HB-871 was introduced by Rep. Jay Fant whose district includes parts of downtown Jacksonville and Rep. Scott Plakon whose district is in central Florida. I wrote about this when the bill was first introduced. It was an attempt to bolster Fant's campaign to become the state's next AG. I have no idea what Plakon was thinking.

Cretella: "Gay pride parade is nothing more than a celebration of pedophilia."

Hate group leader Michelle Cretella - American College of Pediatricians

Michelle Cretella of American College of Pediatricians is promoting the gays-as-child-molesters theme. For the record, there is not much to the American College of Pediatricians compared to the real peer group, the American Academy of Pediatrics and there is little wonder why SPLC has designated it a hate group.

AFA's latest anti-LGBT diatribe and Maggie Gallagher

Hate group leader Tim Wildmon - American Family Association

American Family Association, an anti-LGBT hate group, has a new petition: Tell President Trump to withdraw liberal EEOC nomination. They are referring of course to Chai Feldblum whose greatest offense to AFA is the fact that she is gay. The fact that she is Jewish doesn't help.

According to the hate group's leader, Tim Wildmon:

Feldblum's influence at the EEOC places a so-called right to sexual deviancy (sexual sin) over and above religious liberty. Her mixed-up views force Christians to abandon their deeply held religious beliefs on marriage and sexuality.

Kim Davis has learned nothing

Kim Davis and Mat Staver. Just look at this woman when she is the center of attention. Her narcissism is insatiable

Lisa Bourne at LifeSiteNews has decided to review Kim Davis' book. Presumably the book's cover is now marred with drool. Bourne is not exactly a high intellect critical thinker.

Let us recall that America's dumbest lawyer and hate group leader, Mat Staver, insists that Kim Davis won her case. We know better because the winner of a case gets legal fees from the loser. That is precisely why the taxpayers of Kentucky were obligated to pay the ACLU the sum of $224,703.

Davis lost yet she continues to be incapable of empathy to understand this from the perspective of those she discriminated against. This continues to be about what Kim Davis believes without a shred of personal responsibility for what Kim Davis does. This makes Davis, like her lawyer, a sociopath. She doesn't know the difference between right and wrong and she doesn't care.

This must be an instructional video on how to fleece religious conservatives

I can think of no rational explanation of why Bill Hamon claims to have met Michael the Archangel. After they shook hands (I suppose) Hamon discussed spiritual strategies with Michael who gave him tips on effective warfare. According to Hamon God introduced him to Michael as “one of my generals of the army of the saints on earth.” By the way, the “Dr.” in Dr. Bill Hamon is BS.

I cannot describe the greater intellectual felony. The fact that someone would spout this crap; the fact that he expects people to believe him; or the fact that there will be plenty of people who do believe him. The other thing to consider is whether Hamon is delusional or a grifter. I suspect the latter.

AFA: 'Subterranean water in diamonds confirms Gen. 7 Flood'

Subterranean water in diamonds does not confirm The Great Flood mythology. Not even close.

The presence of water droplets in diamonds that were disgorged from hundreds of kilometers within our planet confirms that there are small pockets of water deep within the earth's surface. Also discovered was a weird type of crystallized water which scientists call ice VII. This all suggests that material may circulate more freely at substantial depths below the earth's surface than has been previously thought possible.

Yet people take these folks seriously when they pose crackpot theories about LGBT people. Amazing.

Kentucky House Bill 372 makes clear our second-class status

Kentucky slides further off the rails of reality. Titled “AN ACT relating to protections of religious organizations,” HB-372 is a garden variety license to discriminate straight from Alliance Defending Freedom's boilerplate machine. Almost identical to the reintroduced First Amendment Defense Act (courtesy of ADF), the bill obliquely recognizes same-sex marriage. They are just too clever. However, the recognition is utterly meaningless.

My very brief response to a professional Christian

Margot Cleveland once wrote a piece titled: Why practicing Catholics definitely have the best sex. Her current offering is no better.

Margot Juliette Cleveland was a career law clerk for Judge Daniel A. Manion, US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Some judges have career clerks. Most (including the Supreme Court) do not; preferring instead to have ambitious recent graduates who will serve for one or two year terms and bring fresh thinking to chambers. These days, Cleveland is an adjunct professor for the college of business at Notre Dame. She also writes tedious articles for The Federalist.

Cleveland's latest screed is titled: What The Federal Courts Are Getting Wrong About Transgender Discrimination In The Workplace. Oh, do tell. I will limit my reaction to just the first two paragraphs of a lengthy diatribe:

I have no clue what these religious fanatics want

Thomas D. Williams has answers to questions that were not asked

Writing for Breitbart, Thomas D. Williams seems to be yet another professional Catholic and Breitbart's Rome correspondent. I would think that Breitbart doesn't really need correspondents to make stuff up. Williams, who sports a PhD from somewhere, enlightens us all with:

Nobody Is Truly Transgender Because Sex Change Is ‘Physically Impossible,’ Writes Philosopher

{Sigh…} We get it. No one can alter their chromosomes. I have furiously searched the known Internet universe to the point of great frustration and anxiety. I cannot find any instance of anyone claiming that one's natal sex can be changed. Perhaps through prayer and piety Thomas D. Williams and Ryan T. Anderson have been more successful at tracking that down.

No Mr. Brown - Your approval is not required

One of Brian S. Brown's goofier images. A maniac wearing a NOM tiara

Thursday, Brian S. Brown of National Organization for Marriage sent out a fundraising email titled: “Not married at all.” Brown begins by bragging about NOM lobbying Georgia legislators to approve a bill that would allow taxpayer funded adoption agencies to discriminate against gay couples. The extent and effectiveness of NOM's activities in Georgia remain  unknown. NOM does not have a reputation for great competence. Brown proclaims (amid frequent donation links):

Same-sex 'marriages' are not marriages at all. 

FADA - recognizing same-sex marriage - reintroduced in the Senate

The First Amendment Defense Act is back. Were this to pass it would give conservative Christians special rights to discriminate against LGBT people. It includes government contractors and even federal employees making it overtly odious.

Few surprises in co-sponsors: Mr. LEE (for himself, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. HATCH, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. RISCH, Mr. WICKER, Mr. ENZI, Mr. JOHNSON, Mr. ROUNDS, Mr. BARRASSO, Mr. SASSE, Mr. HOEVEN, Mr. THUNE, Mr. PAUL, Mr. PERDUE, Mr. SCOTT, Mr. COTTON, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. CRUZ, and Mr. MORAN).

AFA confuses faith with science on the origins of the universe

American Family Association's blog is running with “A brilliant mind fails to trace 'nothing' to a creator.” I am surprised that they give due deference to Stephen Hawking. I guess that they are smart enough not to call Hawking a crackpot — at least not up front. They do, however, manage to get there. Creationists lecturing Stephen Hawking. It is quite remarkable. But first:

Brilliant physicist Stephen Hawking was interviewed recently about the "Big Bang," the theory that the universe exploded suddenly from a single point of origin billions of years ago.

"Nothing was around before the Big, Big Bang," Hawking said.

Defining chutzpah Bermuda parliament plans to attract LGBT tourists

Disconnected from reality: Bermuda MP Leah Scott and minister of tourism, Jamahl Simmons were both in favor of reversing marriage equality and now want to attract more LGBT visitors. 

Bermuda has had a conversation in parliament about attracting more LGBT tourism. They are seemingly oblivious to the fact that the island has alienated LGBT people by reversing marriage equality. Quoting from Bernews:

The Rainbow Alliance of Bermuda said they are “shocked at the contradictory comments made in the House of Assembly regarding attracting more LGBTQ tourism.…

Their comments follow after discussion of LGBTQ tourists in Parliament, with OBA Deputy Leader Leah Scott saying that while she is “not a supporter of same sex marriage” the “LGBTQ community spend money, and they spend big money.”

Apparently the confusion of faith with science is "sound and compassionate"

Christian conservative John Stonestreet has difficulty separating scientific fact from faith. Yet he presumes to have all the answers.

John Stonestreet (Colson Center) takes to CNS, one of L. Brent Bozell's outlets, with A Sound, Compassionate Response to the Trans Movement. There is no “trans movement” and transgender people do not need another lecture with the phony pretext of responding to something that does not exist from a group that does not exist. Who is Stonestreet responding to? Doctors?

Stonestreet weaves a tale of misery through misleading selective observation. I will indulge in a lengthy quote, in full.

Kansas GOPers pretend that the Establishment Clause does not exist

The rather witless Eric Teetsel makes an obligatory appearance at a National Organization for Marriage event

Based upon their latest babble you would think that medical science doesn't exist either. The Kansas Republican party has voted to pass a resolution opposing “all efforts to validate transgender identity” and supporting “God's design for gender as determined by biological sex and not by self-perception.”

In other words, a group of people has voted to validate that, as a group, they are spectacularly stupid. The last part of this reads:

RESOLVED, that the Kansas Republican Party recognizes the dignity of every human being, including those who identify as LGBT …

Tony Perkins' money-beg condescension

Hate group leader Tony Perkins - Family Research Council

Tony Perkins has a special way of conveying his contempt for the people who keep the lights on at the anti-LGBT hate group, Family Research Council. Perkins makes some outrageous appeals which scream “I know you people are stupid and incurious.” Perkins has outdone his antipathy for donors with an email titled: “FRC uncovers bold new progressive threat.” Uncovers mind you.

Behold the bullshit:

I want to take just a few minutes to share with you a bold new progressive threat that seriously threatens our American values. **This is not front page news.**

A search for the evidence that Ryan T. Anderson promises to provide

Ryan T. Anderson it s a poseur lacking any meaningful credentials to opine on gender identity.

It seems that the faithful cannot get enough of Ryan T. Anderson, the orthodox Catholic Defender of the One True Faith™ and employee of Heritage Foundation. Last night, Anderson's promoter du jour was Witherspoon Institute's pseudo-intellectual blog. Anderson is the editor of that outlet. The title of Anderson's latest bloated “eureka” is: “Sex Change: Physically Impossible, Psychosocially Unhelpful, and Philosophically Misguided.”

What is misguided is Anderson's presumption of expertise. Lacking any meaningful qualifications, Anderson turns religious advocacy into callous obtuseness. As for the title of the piece, no one contests the fact that gender affirmation cannot change genes. Rather, it attempts to align someone's physical appearance with their gender which, in the case of people seeking an intervention, is incongruent with their natal sex. The rest of Anderson's title is equally meaningless babble. As for the subtitle:

Even for Brian S. Brown this is a nutty way to ask for money

With each money plea, Brian S. Brown is increasingly ridiculous

I received an email from National Organization for Marriage this afternoon. Its subject reads: “Oscars So Strange.”

Allow me to skip right to the punchline. There are two graphics (with donation links of course) separated by some paragraphs of gibberish: