Sacramento Bishop A Smooth Operator

Gays in Africa being pushed back into closet, or worse
Image via Wikipedia Washington Post: Persecution of Gays is intensifying across Africa, fueled by fundamentalist preachers, intolerant governments and homophobic politicians. Gay people have been denied access to Health Care, detained, tortured and even killed, Human Rights Activists and witnesses say. The growing tide of Homophobia comes at a time when Gays in Africa are expressing themselves more openly, prompting greater media attention and Debates about Homosexuality. The rapid growth of ...

Affica's gays said to face increasing persecution
(12-13) 04:00 PST Kampala, Uganda -- Persecution of Gays is intensifying across Africa, fueled by fundamentalist preachers, intolerant governments and homophobic politicians. Gay people have been denied access to Health Care, detained, tortured and even killed, Human Rights Activists and witnesses say. The growing tide of Homophobia comes at a time when Gays in Africa are expressing themselves more openly, prompting greater media attention and Debates about Homosexuality. The rapid growth of I...

Hot Post: Ann Coulter Takes Aim at Butt-Less Chaps
This popular post was originally published here. Liberace, Paul Lynde, the Village People and other Gay entertainers were popular for basically two reasons:  they were perceived as harmless, and many people didn’t realize they were gay.  Yes, today we’d say anybody who didn’t know that was pretty dense, but until quite recently, Homosexuality was so unmentionable that - well - people just didn’t mention it.  And in the public mind, what wasn’t spok

Sepp Blatter says gays should refrain from sex during 2022 World Cup in Qatar
Source: Sydney Morning Herald Football fans will have to adjust to more than just the sweltering desert heat when the 2022 World Cup event goes to the Middle East. FIFA President Sepp Blatter says gay supporters should not have sex in Qatar, with Homosexuality banned in the Gulf State. Asked whether gays and Lesbians should worry about attending the tournament because of the Middle Eastern country's hostile attitude towards homosexuality, Blatter quipped: "They should refrain from any sexual act...

YMCA, Rebranding Itself As The Y, Dumps Santa For Frosty To Be More Inclusive
YMCA officials are “rebranding” the Young Men’s Christian Association as “The Y”, are defending a decision to replace Santa with Frosty the Snowman. “It wasn’t replacing; it was transitioning,” said John Rappaport, Executive Director of the McBurney YMCA. “We realized that change is sometimes good, and that Frosty is a great winter character who would appeal to a broader number of kids.” The decision to ditch Father Christmas came dow...

Giant Jesus statue completed in Polish town
© Czarek Sokolowski/AP Workers completed a giant statue of Jesus Christ in Swiebodzin, Poland. Its creators say the crowned statue ranks as the biggest in the world. A gigantic statue of Jesus that Poles claim is the world's largest rose majestically above a small town, as the grandiose dream of a local priest finally came to pass. The white statue with outstretched arms and golden crown rising above the western Polish plains in Swiebodzin provides competition to Rio de Janiero's iconic ...

Gay Bashing at the Smithsonian
EACH Aug. 4, my wife Alex and I visit a church to light candles for two people we loved who both died tragically on that day two years apart — my mother, killed at 64 in a car crash, and Alex’s closest friend from graduate school, killed by AIDS at half that age. My mother was Jewish but loved the meditative serenity of vast cathedrals. Alex’s friend, John, was a Roman Catholic conflicted by a religion that demonized his Sexuality. Our favorite pilgrimage is to an Episcopal chu...

MRC's Graham Misleads to Keep Up Art Censorship Effort
MRC's Graham Misleads to Keep Up Art Censorship Effort Topic: Media Research Center Tim Graham is sticking to the company line in his Dec. 10 NewsBusters post that the 11-second "ants-on-Jesus" video the MRC succeeded in getting censored from a Smithsonian exhibition is "mocking Jesus Christ," and he misleads about other things too. In attacking a Washington Post article on the manufactured Controversy, Graham mocks the universally accepted idea advanced by article author Ph...

Justice Monica Marquez becomes first Latina and first openly gay justice on Colorado Supreme Court
photo credit AP ...

LaBarbera's ramblings exposes the Family Research Council's deception
crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters Leave it to Peter Labarbera to unwittingly call the Family Research Council a liar. LaBarbera is no doubt still smarting from his organization being called an anti-gay Hate Group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Now one of the main reasons why SPLC named LaBarbera's organization, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality, as a Hate Group (as well as several other religious right groups) is because they continue to push many falsehoods abo...

AHFs Michael Weinstein on Blacks, Gays, AIDS and the Consequences of Racism
AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein and I were honored by In The Meantime, the important Grassroots black Gay men’s wellness organization in Los Angeles, on Saturday night at the Vintage Hollywood Private Club. In accepting the Founder’s Award from founder and CEO Jeffrey King, I evoked the name of the late AIDS Activist Michael Callen, who used to say “the Gay community is just a useful fiction.” I said I wished Michael was alive and in the room to see...

Republicans Pushing For Further Restriction On Abortion Rights
Despite all the claims leaders of the Tea Party movement that they are only interested in fiscal issues, there has been considerable evidence that the movement is dominated by social Conservatives. Even before the election, Republicans made it clear that they were sticking to their backwards views on Social Issues. Therefore it comes as no surprise to see that they intend to attempt to further restrict Abortion rights: A leading Congressional opponent of Abortion rights, who is in line to take...

Joe Manchin goes both ways
Joe Manchin, West Virginia's popular Governor who was recently elected to the Senate, is grappling with the difficulties of trying to represent an increasingly right-leaning state as Democrat. The results aren't pretty: Manchin said that the Military's ban on Openly Gay and Lesbian service members "needs" to be repealed, despite his vote last week on a procedural measure that would have advanced a Repeal of the policy. "I was here three weeks. It's something that probably would be — it nee...

TRENDING: Petreaus' top NCO pushes for repeal of 'don't ask, don't tell'
Washington (CNN) - The top enlisted adviser for U.S. forces in Afghanistan said on Friday that he believes the Troops are ready for a Repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' and that those who oppose ending the policy should leave the Military. "If there are people who cannot deal with the change, then they're going to have to do what's best for their Troops and best for the organization and best for the military service and exit the military service, so that we can move forward - if tha...

Manchin looks to explain vote against 'Don't ask, don't tell' repeal
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) sought on Monday to defend his vote last week against repealing the Military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Manchin said that the Military's ban on Openly Gay and Lesbian service members "needs" to be repealed, despite his vote last week on a procedural measure that would have advanced a Repeal of the policy. "I was here three weeks. It's something that probably would be — it needs to be — and will be repealed," the newly minted senator said on MSNBC. Manch...

New bill requires gay history in textbooks to fight bullying
Openly Gay state Sen. Mark Leno , D-San Francisco, introduced a bill today that would require Public School materials to include the historical contributions of gay people as a way to fight Bullying. Leno's Senate Bill 48 is similar to a proposal that was approved by the Legislature in 2006 but vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger . "Most textbooks don't include any historical information about the LGBT (Lesbian, gay, Bisexual, Transgender) movement, which has great significance to both Cali...

Adele Starr dies at 90; unflagging gay-rights activist
Adele Starr, a Brentwood mother of five who overcame dismay at her son's Homosexuality to become a leading voice for Gay Rights and marriage equality, has died. She was 90. Starr died in her sleep Friday at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, where she had been convalescing after surgery, said her son Philip Starr. In 1976, Starr founded the Los Angeles chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, a Gay Rights and acceptance organization known then as Parent FLAG, now as PFLAG. ...

PFLAG/LA Founder Adele Starr Has Died
Adele Starr, founder of the large Los Angeles chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, died in her sleep Friday night, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.  She was 90. Starr founded PFLAG/LA in 1976 - a group that still marches in the annual Christopher Street West Pride Parade every year to grateful applause. Her efforts to education others about LGBT rights included speaking on the steps of the US Capitol during the historic 1979 national march in Washington DC. She b...

The Answer is Simple
This is going to get Sullivan flamed: I’ve had many criticisms of the Obama Administration’s tardy and milque-toast efforts on Civil Rights for Gays and Lesbians. But at this point, the peril facing Repeal of the Military’s gay ban is not the administration’s fault. In fact, it seems to me the events of the last month or so reveal that the Obama administration has finally delivered the goods for the military, which is hobbled by this dated, counter-productive policy, an...

NYC: YMCA Ditches Santa Claus In Favor of Frosty The Snowman
Good grief… (NY Post)- He’s a lost Claus. A politically correct West Village YMCA has fired Ol’ St. Nick in favor of Frosty. Kids who once thrilled at sitting on Santa’s lap at the 14th Street McBurney YMCA’s wildly popular annual holiday luncheon will now suffer the icy embrace of a talking snowman and his sidekick, an anonymous penguin, at today’s event. Forget about bringing a list or checking it twice — Frosty doesn’t take gift requests, an...

Humbug!
Well, it's time for the annual re-fighting of the "War On Christmas." We have on one side, the devout Christians who insist that we all remember "the reason for the season" and "keep Christ in Christmas." On the other side, we have a bunch of anti-Christians and anti-religious people who demand that any concession -- by government, private industry, or any other body -- is tantamount to bringing about a Christian theocracy on America. We have groups and web sites that track "nice" and "naughty...

Stupid: West Village YMCA Boots Santa in Favor of Frosty the Snowman
Do these people even realize "Frosty the Snowman" is outdated? I recall reading in Politically Incorrect Holiday Stories that he's called "Frosty the Persun of Snow". Whatever the case, here's some more idiocy for you, courtesy of some clowns in New York City.He's a lost Claus. A politically correct West Village YMCA has fired Ol' St. Nick in favor of Frosty. Kids who once thrilled at sitting on Santa's lap at the 14th Street McBurney YMCA's wildly popular annual holiday luncheon will now suff...

New York City YMCA Gives Santa the Boot
He's a lost Claus. A politically correct West Village YMCA has fired Ol' St. Nick in favor of Frosty. Kids who once thrilled at sitting on Santa's lap at the 14th Street McBurney YMCA's wildly popular annual holiday luncheon will now suffer the icy embrace of a talking snowman and his sidekick, an anonymous penguin, at today's event. Forget about bringing a list or checking it twice -- Frosty doesn't take gift requests, and doesn't care if you're naughty or nice. YMCA officials, who say they are...

Calvin College
Gerard Thomas Straub is an award-winning author of four books, including a novel. His critically acclaimed book "The Sun and Moon Over Assisi" was named the best Spirituality hardcover book of 2001 by the Catholic Press Association. His photo/essay book on global Poverty, "When Did I See You Hungry?", features photographs taken in India, Kenya, Brazil, Jamaica, the Philippines and Mexico. Gerry has written and directed nine Documentary Films, three of which have aired on many...

West Village YMCA axes Santa Claus for Frosty
EXCLUSIVE He's a lost Claus. A politically correct West Village YMCA has fired Ol' St. Nick in favor of Frosty. Kids who once thrilled at sitting on Santa's lap at the 14th Street McBurney YMCA's wildly popular annual holiday luncheon will now suffer the icy embrace of a talking snowman and his sidekick, an anonymous penguin, at today's event. Forget about bringing a list or checking it twice -- Frosty doesn't take gift requests, and doesn't care if you're naughty or nice. YMCA officials, ...