My favorite positions (on issues)

Over on the right is another new page. This one is called “My Favorite Positions (on issues).” It shorthands where I stand on issues such as government-paid-for-heatlthcare, the Second Amendment, same sex marriage, term limits, taxes, etc. Twenty-two positions in all. Probably something for everyone. I may add more later.

Looking at that list, it’s funny to see how different my positions were 10 years ago.

 

It’s a painting, not a photograph or Maybe I need to learn to be offended easier

Certain groups in the Christian community, including Concerned Women for America and The Catholic League are in high dungeon over a poster being used to advertise this weekend’s Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco. In case you are not one of those whipped up about this event, it is an annual street fair that caters to a certain segment of the GLBT (this is one time all 4 letters are appropriate) community who enjoy certain sexual fetishes, especially BDSM and leather. It is not for that faint of heart. (The FSF link above has a galleries section in case you need more detail about what sorts of things happen at this fair.) Anyway, here’s the poster:

Obviously, it’s meant to bear a striking resemblance to Leonardo De Vinci’s Last Supper.

Matt Barber, policy director for cultural issues with CWA said his group wants California’s elected officials – including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer – to “publicly condemn this unprovoked attack against Christ and His followers.” How exactly is this an attack on Christ or his followers? While it is certainly a parody of a painting made 1500 years after the events it purports to depict, it in no way says anything negative about Jesus or Christians.

Gays are the boogeyman to these groups. Gays are ridiculed, attacked, mocked, lied about and rejected by these groups in order to raise money. Other “sins” committed by those inside the flock are not safe to attack. Divorce, domestic violence and gluttony, also named as sins, receive little or no attention from AFA, CWA of the Catholic League. Throughout my Pentecostal upbringing, I spent way to many Sunday nights after service sitting across the table at Shoney’s watching a 400 pound traveling evangelist shovel another hot fudge cake into his maw while gossiping about the last church he was at to take this manufactured outrage very seriously.

And the final irony for me is the fact that The Catholic League has contacted 200 other religious organizations to join them in a boycott of Miller Brewing Company, one of the event sponsors. Religious groups calling for a boycott of a beer company for sponsoring a gay event. Wow.

To have a real impact, they should ask their members to boycott Blow Buddies.

[Update:  For a different view on this, visit local blogger Mark Rose over at Right Minded.]

 

Nashville has AIDS

Nashville Cares, one of the local organizations that provides services to those with HIV/AIDS in the Middle Tennessee area has a new campaign called “Nashville has AIDS.” The name is a jarring, but the statistics are too. For example, last year a person with HIV disease died on average every four days in Middle Tennessee. Thirteen percent of new cases are among people aged 15 to 24. While most people who test positive are gay or lesbian, unsafe heterosexual behavior accounts for 25 -27 percent of new cases

This issue really hits close to home with me. Several people I know, including one of my closest friends, are HIV positive. For a short time, I dated a guy who was positive. I would urge everyone to remember that this disease has not been cured and is still actively killing sons, daughters, fathers, aunts and friends on a daily basis. Nashville Cares and the Comprehensive Care Center are two outstanding organizations working to make life better for people affected by HIV/AIDS. Both organizations are worthy of support.

 

Thoughts on Sen. Craig

By now, everyone knows that Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct for his actions in the restroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The police documents are here.

Sen. Craig was an idiot to have pled guilty without first obtaining and consulting an attorney well versed in criminal law.

Sen. Craig should not have been arrested in the first place. He did not have sex in the restroom. He did not improperly expose himself in the restroom. He is accused of signaling that he wanted to have sex in the restroom.

If Sen. Craig had walked up to the officer and said, “Do you want to have sex with me in that stall over there?” I still would not support his arrest. Without more, the appropriate response to a come-on is a declination, not an arrest. Yes, such behavior is vulgar, but it should not be a law enforcement issue.

People who actually have sex in the public restrooms at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport should be arrested, regardless of gender, sexual orientation or political affiliation.

I don’t support involuntary outings, regardless of the reason.

Update:  After posting this, I saw that Dale Carpenter over at The Volokh Conspiracy had some thoughts along the same line.

 

Poor college students seeks financial aid

A man and his wife want to attend the University of Phoenix so he can get a master’s degree in counseling.  His wife will be studying psychology.  They have two kids.  In order to fund their education and lifestyle, the couple have decided to send out a mass email looking for people who will provide monthly support for two years while they study.

It might be a bit surprising that they need this help since they own a home, currently on the market for $715,051.  When he left his last job his severance package included one year’s salary of $138,000 and he retained royalty rights to numerous books he had written.

Yet, his desire to further his education and help those less fortunate tugs at the heart strings.  Especially since this man is Ted Haggard.

 

Prince Harry is hot!

 

Gay Levi’s commercial

You know that commercial where the really hot guy pulls up his jeans and the phone booth pops up through the floor? Yeah, the one that focuses on his crotch in the boxer briefs. On Logo (one of the gay channels (Bet you straights didn’t know there are two gay channels available here in Nashville.)) Logo has there is a gay version. When he pulls up his pants, the phone booth has a guy in it. Not a cute guy, but a guy none the less.

 

Sexual orientation and gender identity are two separate things

Why do we use the acronym “GLBT” as if gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders have a common interest? They do not. Bisexuals only deal with issues to the extent they are expressing same sex attraction. Transgender people may or may not be gay. I have known straight men who dress and mostly live as women and only date women.

Then there’s the story of the man who had a sex change operation and wants to be able to deduct the cost of the surgery from his taxes, ruling it was cosmetic and not medically necessary. For some reason, he is being represented by Jennifer Levi, an attorney with a group called Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders:

Levi argues that because gender-identity disorder is a recognized mental disorder that is generally treated with hormones and surgery, the costs are legitimate medical deductions.

“Every mental health textbook and medical dictionary recognizes the legitimacy of both the diagnosis and course of treatment,” Levi said.

Why would a gay and lesbian group get involved with this while we are still having to defend ourselves from the argument that homosexuality is a “mental disorder?” We should instead distance ourselves from such associations.

Update:  I corrected my spelling error in the title.  Wish WordPress spell check worked up there.

 

Republican in the toilet

Let’s assume this is true, since it probably is:

State Rep. Bob Allen was arrested Wednesday afternoon at a local park after offering to perform a sex act on an undercover officer in exchange for $20, police said.

Why should it be illegal to offer a guy $20 bucks to suck his dick? I hope I never have to pay for sex. But if I did, I should have that right.

 

Sign

This was the only sign I saw that was directed at the marchers, other than the free water sign.  What exactly it means, I’m not sure.  I also don’t know why sex is in quotes.  Probably most people would agree that perverted sex (or “sex”) is merely one of the issues we face.  The fact that there are other issues, even bigger ones, does not mean that we should ignore perversion.  More likely, the sign writer felt that the kind of sex he likes was being targeted by the marchers and was a bit defensive.