The first priority of the new School Board: sneer at human rights

Posted on January 12, 2012 by David

The very first action taken by the newly elected Loudoun County School Board was this:

Regarding the Virginia Human Rights Act:

“I move to amend the Board’s previously adopted Legislative Program by removing the recommendation to expand the protected classifications contained in the Virginia Human Rights Act, Code of Virginia §2.2-3900 and §2.2-3901, to include gender orientation and gender identity and to further amend the Code of Virginia §22.1-78 to allow local school boards to similarly expand the protected classifications contained in local school board policies and regulations and that Staff be directed to make such other changes to the Legislative Program as to conform to the Program language of this motion.”

[from page 5 of the adopted Legislative Program]

Motion: Mr. Kuesters
Second: Mr. Fox

Vote: 6-3-0 (Mr. Reed, Mrs. Bergel, and Mrs. Sheridan opposed)

The only reason for initiating such an action is ideological, and the idea in play is that gay, lesbian, bisexual and/or transgender and gender variant youth are not deserving of having their human rights protected. The Wisconsin School District that was the subject of the film Bullied found out the hard and expensive way that this is not a good position for school boards to take. I hate to being up money when this is a fundamental moral issue, but unfortunately that’s the only language some people seem to understand.

Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, News | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

What the anti-gay sociopaths have wrought

Posted on January 12, 2012 by David

Rob Tisinai of Waking Up Now posted this video back in 2010 demonstrating that the pending Ugandan “Kill the Gays” bill is actually much, much worse than we knew. The bill is constructed in such a way that its language could, and certainly would, be used to seek the death penalty for such “offenses” as the failure to report a gay congregation member to authorities. Watch the video and read the text of the bill for yourself.

Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Events, News | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on What the anti-gay sociopaths have wrought

Yes, Virginia, it IS possible to do the right thing

Posted on January 11, 2012 by David

Once again our activist Attorney General has offered his advice to a Virginia agency, only to be politely told “thanks, but no thanks.” From the Washington Post:

The board that oversees Virginia’s juvenile correctional facilities agreed Tuesday, for a second time, to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation despite being counseled against such action by Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II.

The board voted 5 to 1, rejecting Cuccinelli’s contention that only the General Assembly can designate a special class of citizens.

You could sort of guess that this wasn’t going to go Mr. Cuccinelli’s way by the use of the term “evidence-based” on the Board of Juvenile Justice website.

Meanwhile, the AG continues to belligerently insist that the code of Virginia requires state agencies and public institutions to permit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, the health and safety of children in state custody be damned. And Governor McDonnell is again in the position of having to “clarify” that the law and public policy of the Commonwealth does not explicitly violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, News | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Benefit for Ugandan LGBT rights in Sterling

Posted on January 9, 2012 by David

Benefit Celebration for GLBT Rights in Uganda
with Rev. Mark Kiyimba
Music by Tom Teasley
Friday January 13th, 7:00 – 10:00 pm
Unitarian Universalists of Sterling
22135 Davis Drive, Sterling (map)

It’s illegal to be gay in Uganda, and has been since colonial times. But that wasn’t enough to satisfy the anti-gay fringe in America. Following a 2009 conference arranged by three American extremists, a bill was introduced in the Ugandan Parliament that would institute the death penalty for gay people under some circumstances, prohibit any form of advocacy or human rights work on behalf of gay people, eliminate confidentiality for health care providers and clergy, and even make it a crime to fail to turn in one’s own family members. Along with the bill a vicious pogrom has been unleashed against the gay community, leading to many Ugandans living in constant fear. The developing situation has been extensively covered by Box Turtle Bulletin.

LGBT activists in Uganda point to a virulently anti-gay March 2009 conference put on by three American Evangelical activists for inciting the latest round of violence and intimidation against the local LGBT community. Among the three were Holocaust revisionist Scott Lively, Exodus International board member Don Schmierer, and International Healing Foundation’s Caleb Lee Brundidge, who is a protege of ex-gay advocate Richard Cohen. Lively, who blamed gay men for the rise of Nazism and the Rwandan genocide, proudly declared his talk as being a “nuclear bomb” against LGBT advocacy in Africa.

Continue reading →

Posted in Events | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Waking up now?

Posted on January 6, 2012 by David

This is absolutely dead on, and what we’ve been saying to those people trying to either dismiss or defend Mr. Delgaudio for years now. Rob Tisinai does more than just point it out, though; he walks us through it, in detail both hilarious and sad. Sad, because Mr. Delgaudio is a fraud, which means that someone is being duped. This brief analysis of his financial records demonstrates it. Thanks to Rob for posting the link in comments.

Put it together with Mr. Delgaudio’s open admission to a colleague that he really doesn’t care, personally, about the so-called “homosexual agenda,” and what do you have? Some folks I have to feel a great deal of pity for, among other things.

Delgaudio has the public’s eye right now, and he’s working it. This might be a good time for him to step back from his cries of persecution and tell his donors exactly what it is he does with their money — besides using it to ask them for more money.

But why? They’ve shown no interest in that information thus far. I think that he just may have compiled a list of the stupidest people in America. And anyone defending him here in Loudoun, whether for their own personal gain or for any other reason, is helping this sociopathic little man to prey on them.

Posted in Commentary | Tagged , | Comments Off on Waking up now?

Federal court overturns Prop 8

Posted on December 8, 2011 by David

This (originally posted 08-4-10) is the funniest damn juxtaposition I have seen in a long time.

From closing arguments by Ted Olson, for equality:

The Supreme Court has said that marriage is the most important relation in life. Now that’s being withheld from the plaintiffs. Marriage, the Supreme Court has said again and again, is a component of liberty, privacy, spirituality and autonomy.

From closing arguments by Charles Cooper, against equality:

Marriage is to channel the sexual behavior between men and women into a procreative union.

Posted in Commentary, News | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Federal court overturns Prop 8

Posted on December 7, 2011 by David

Yesterday in Geneva, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a brilliant, deeply compassionate speech in recognition of International Human Rights Day.

She begins by describing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted following the atrocities of World War II.

“It proclaims a simple, powerful idea: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. And with the declaration, it was made clear that rights are not conferred by government; they are the birthright of all people.”

All people. Those are such straightforward, easily understood words that it seems silly to discuss the fact that some people don’t understand them. “Because we are human, we therefore have rights.” There are still some among us who actually advance the argument that some people are not really people, and that insisting that they are amounts to conferring upon them “special rights.” There are some who would – seriously – claim that this declaration of our universal humanity is merely a matter of “opinion.”

Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, News | Tagged , , | Comments Off on