That’s the contention of Alyssa Rosenberg at ThinkProgress.org, whose manifesto about the show’s immorality has been flying around the Internet, aided in part by 5,468 of my closest friends who emailed, Facebooked, and Tweeted me the link, asking what I thought.

Rosenberg is not a conservative outraged at Glee‘s celebration of cultural diversity; she’s a progressive who thinks Glee is mangling its handling of serious cultural and social issues, such as the Coach Bieste domestic violence storyline in the most recent episode, “Choke.”

“(O)ver the past two seasons, it’s become impossible to escape the conclusion that Glee is an immoral show,” she writes. “It’s become a show that’s not just sloppy but exploitative and manipulative of serious societal issues and human experiences. And it’s time to walk away, even for hate-watching purposes.”

She makes a good case. I share nearly every problem she has with the show. I think it does treat serious issues lightly, and even its celebration of freaks, geeks, queers, and outsiders can’t compensate for that, at least, on a political level.

But no, I don’t think Glee is an immoral show, and I definitely don’t think progressives need to stop watching it. To explain why, I’m going to tell you a story.

Once upon a time, I was in love with a girl in my high school. She was blonde and smart and amazingly talented, and I wanted to be with her all the time. She seemed to feel the same way, although we never talked about it, and pretty soon our parents and all the other students in our school took notice.

Our parents were mostly just white-lipped about the whole thing, never coming right out and saying what they were really worried about, which was not that we were “spending too much time together” but that we were l-e-s-b-i-a-n-s. Shhhh, don’t say it out loud.

Our fellow students were not so shy. They definitely knew what to call us – mostly words neither of us had ever used about ourselves yet, but ones the meaning of which was perfectly clear.

And you know, I loved this girl in that all-consuming, passionate, possessive way that marks so many first loves. And all through high school, although we both dated guys from time to time, I never once felt like there was any guy in her life who meant more to her than I did.

Until there was.

And what I felt then was not just the usual agony you feel when the person you love falls in love with someone else. It was the realization that she was moving away from me into the world of “real” relationships, and I had absolutely no way to compete with the crushing load of societal, cultural, religious, governmental, and family expectations and rewards that came with being in a heterosexual relationship.

So, I survived. I grew up and fell in love with other women, and saw the world’s attitudes toward homosexuality change. If you’d asked me at 16 if same-sex marriage would ever be legal anywhere in the U.S., I’d have sworn the answer was no. And I was wrong.

But one thing didn’t change. I never really saw my own first love on television, until one night I was watching Glee and saw Santana Lopez tell Brittany S. Pierce she loved her. And when Brittany said she’d gladly be with Santana if she wasn’t already in a relationship with Artie, Santana said, “But he’s just a stupid boy.”

I went from normal engaged watching to sobbing in a single moment, because of that six-word recapitulation of absolute otherness.

That does not, of course, mean Glee isn’t a mess. It is. For all they’ve gotten right in their portrayal of Santana, it’s still the case, as Rosenberg says, that Naya Rivera’s “performance makes it easy to forget how far she’s exceeded the material she’s been given.”

But there is something immeasurably precious about what we glibly call “visibility.”

I think a lot of people believe that means “parity,” some sort of proportional representation of our numbers reflected in the casting and story lines of popular television shows and films. But “visibility” is not a quota. It’s about being seen, yes, but most of all, it’s about seeing ourselves.

Glee has reflected a lot of pieces of my life back to me as it’s told Santana’s story. And it’s done the same for all kinds of other under-represented groups.

Start with this one: This is a show that has had two fat girls as major characters, Mercedes and Lauren Zizes. How does that feel to all the girls out there who aren’t a size 2, to see these young women singing and dancing (and, in Lauren’s case, competing in high school athletics) instead of agonizing over a diet and how they need to lose weight?

In fact, the one time Mercedes is pressured into losing weight, we got a PSA about self-acceptance and a heart-rending confession from the beautiful, slender Quinn that she struggles with an eating disorder and body image problems.

When Lauren was trying on prom gowns and didn’t find one that she liked, no one said to her, “It’s because you’re too fat.” It was clearly presented as a failure of the prom gown industry. And when a threatened Quinn told Lauren her campaign for prom queen would be treated like a joke, Lauren didn’t dissolve into a pile of tears and self-hatred; she told Quinn girls wanted a prom queen who was like them.

I’m not saying Lauren’s act of cruelty to Quinn that followed was okay, but I do think that seeing someone wield the ultimate weapon plus-sized girls have been conditioned to let destroy them – “You’re fat!” – and show it having zero impact on Lauren’s emotional state is revolutionary.

I’ve called Glee out for racism in its portrayal of its characters of color a number of times in my recaps. For instance, I find its characterization of Mercedes as “lazy” particularly problematic, given the pervasive stereotype of the fat, lazy black woman. And while I know we’re not supposed to agree with her, the next time Sue uses the words “taco truck” in any discussion of Santana I’m going to throw something at the television set.

© AfterElton.com. Read more from AfterElton here.

Every Republican politician seems to have at least one gay friend these days. That’s not too difficult: even if you tried, it would be hard to live and work in America without meeting at least one openly gay person you can get along with.

Mitt Romney

But for a right-wing politician having gay friends, shall we say, has benefits. These unnamed, unseen gay friends send a message that an anti-gay politician isn’t a hater. I mean, how can you hate your friends? It’s just policy, nothing personal.

Of course, the problem is that it is personal. Having gay friends doesn’t absolve one of anti-gay prejudice any more than loving one’s wife and daughters absolves one of defunding Planned Parenthood. Even if you’d be happy to have gay people over to dinner, that doesn’t give you a pass to deny them fundamental rights.

The “gay friends” defense is weak, but popular. And Mitt Romney, scrambling to clarify his position on equal rights after President Obama’s endorsement of marriage equality, must be considering it right about now.

Romney has always been careful to stipulate that his various and elusive anti-gay policies have nothing to do with any personal anti-gay animus. This strategy was clear in a 2006 speech to the right-wing Family Research Council, recently unearthed by PFAW’s Right Wing Watch.

In it, taking homophobia to a whole new level, the candidate declares that “the price of same-sex marriage is paid by the children” and amazingly asserts that marriage equality is the result of “spreading secular religion and its substitute values.” He then offers a spoon full a sugar with a call for an “outpouring of respect and tolerance for all people” and laughably encourages his listeners to “vigorously protest discrimination and bigotry.”

When President Obama announced last week that he supports marriage equality, Romney responded by repeating his opposition to not only marriage equality but also to civil unions. He then insisted that same-sex couples have the “right” to “have a loving relationship, or even to adopt a child.”

The next day, he changed his mind about the adoption part. The day after that, he delivered a commencement address to Liberty University, which bans openly gay students and is allied with some of the most vile anti-gay rhetoric in the Religious Right today.

But none of this wavering matches Romney’s recent, brief hiring of an openly gay staffer, foreign policy spokesman Richard Grenell. A Republican adviser told The New York Times after Grenell was forced out of Romney’s campaign, “It’s not that the campaign cared whether Ric Grenell was gay. They believed this was a nonissue. But they didn’t want to confront the religious right.”

Increasingly, when it comes to choosing between basic dignity and futile attempts to appease the far right, the mainstream GOP has been choosing the far right.

Unfortunately for Romney, Religious Right, the object of his caving, isn’t buying his frantic attempts to pander. The most outspoken critic of Romney’s decision to hire Grenell quickly, the American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer, became the most outspoken critic of the decision to fire him.

“How is he going to stand up to North Korea if he can be pushed around by a yokel like me?” Fischer demanded.

It has to give at least some Republicans pause that the far right has become so extreme, and Republican leaders have become so subservient to their demands, that it is now not even possible to have any gay people work for a GOP campaign.

But soon Mitt Romney will tell us that he has gay friends.

Michael Keegan is President of People for the American Way. Reprinted by permission.

Tracy Thorne-Begland, a Richmond prosecutor for the past 12 years, had been nominated for an open judgeship, but the nomination was quickly decried by the conservative group The Family Foundation and Marshall, who argued that Thorne-Begland’s sexual orientation would conflict with his ability to hold up the state’s constitution.

Thorne-Begland, who lives with his partner and two adopted children, has been an outspoken advocate of LGBT rights, particularly following his discharge from the U.S. Navy in the early 1990s under the now repealed “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy. He has also served as a board member of Equality Virginia, an LGBT advocacy organization.

Thorne-Begland received 33 votes, and 31 delegates voted against him. He needed a majority of the 100-member House — 51 votes — to secure the judgeship. Ten delegates abstained and 26 others did not vote, reported Metro Weekly.

The vote split largely along party lines, with 25 Democrats and eight Republicans, mostly from districts in Fairfax County and the Richmond suburbs, voting for his nomination. All 31 votes against Thorne-Begland came from Republicans, with nine Republicans and one independent abstaining, and 19 more Republicans and seven Democrats not voting.

Thorne-Begland was one of nearly three-dozen nominees, but was the only one rejected after conservative lawmakers.

Marshall, who is running for the U.S. Senate in a primary against George Allen – former governor and former U.S. senator – questioned whether Thorne-Begland could be impartial in upholding Virginia law, including the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, considering his sexual orientation.

Metro Weekly →

In an email statement to LGBTQ Nation on Tuesday, Equality Virginia Executive Director James Parrish said he was “profoundly disappointed and dismayed that the Virginia General Assembly allowed fear mongering and shrill personal attacks” to derail Thorne-Begland’s election to the bench “simply because he is an out gay man.”

“Contrary to the Family Foundation’s shrill attack, the fact that Mr. Thorne-Begland chose to acknowledge his sexual orientation publicly and accept the consequences (an unwanted discharge from the military) rather than continue to live each day in a lie showed his honesty and integrity and respect for the law,” Parrish wrote.

“Mr. Thorne-Begland should be seen as a hero, like others whose celebrated civil disobedience helped bring change to unjust laws, rather than vilified as a law breaker by those who continue without reason to oppose basic human rights and nondiscrimination laws for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Virginians.

“The fact that the legislature caved in to the Family Foundation’s biased blathering is another unfortunate marker on the forced march to the past on which they seem determined to lead the Commonwealth.”

“It’s hard to think about what happened in the General Assembly and not conclude that it’s a form of bigotry,” said Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael N. Herring. He said Thorne-Begland’s defeat in the Virginia House of Delegates is an “embarrassment” for the state.

Marshall has made headlines in the past for his controversial, anti-gay views.

Last June, Marshall sent a letter to the Federal Reserve Bank of Virginia alleging that its decision to fly a rainbow flag in honor of LGBT pride month, “undermines the American economy” and claimed it was a class six felony in Virginia.

Repeated requests for a comment from Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell went unanswered.

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On Tuesday, the City Council voted 7-0 to approve a proposal by the Hillcrest Business Association (HBA) to install a 65-foot flagpole in the median on Normal Street where it intersects with University Avenue.

Michael Brennan, Urban Green

Artist rendering of the Hillcrest Pride Flag project.

City Councilmember Lorie Zapf was absent from the vote.

The plan calls for the pole to fly an 18 foot x 12 foot rainbow pride flag year-round, and include some minor enhancements to the median, around the base of the flagpole.

Many city residents came to today’s meeting to speak to the council in favor of or in opposition to the project, although the number of people present supporting the project greatly outnumbered those against.

Longtime anti-gay opponent James Hartline called the flag project a “giveaway of public land” even though that is a false claim.

Steve Greenwald called the flagpole a “public safety issue” because of its size, and fears it would topple.

Despite only several negative comments, the general sentiment in the audience favored the project. Speakers in support of the project greatly outnumbered those opposed.

Nicholas Moade, owner of Rich’s and a donor to the flag project, urged the City Council to pass Item 333. “This flag symbolized tolerance and diversity,” Moade said. “As long as LGBT youth are being bullied … it is important to fly this flag as a beacon of hope.”

Dwayne Crenshaw, executive director of San Diego Pride, said Pride is a partner in this private effort. He said Pride would maintain the site year-around.

Michael Brennan, a Hillcrest resident and owner of Urban Green, said the flag “represents me.” As one of the project’s designers, he disputed criticism that the flagpole was too large scale. “This will inspire the community,” he said to applause.

Courtney Ray, who calls herself a straight ally, said the flag represents her as well.

Joel Trambley, a city Human Relations commissioner, said his panel approves of the project. He said rainbow flag is a symbol of tolerance and diversity as values that San Diego supports.

District 3 City Councilman Todd Gloria, who is openly gay, spoke in favor of the project. He applauded that the project will be paid for in full without using taxpayer money. “This has been truly a community effort,” he said.

City Councilman Carl DeMaio, one of two mayoral candidates who is also openly gay, said a great city is defined by its diversity. He noted that the project had widespread community support and doesn’t cost taxpayer money. He seconded Gloria’s motion to approve the project.

© San Diego Gay & Lesbian News. Read more from the San Diego Gay & Lesbian News here.

HRC headquarters

District of Columbia police officers, accompanied by bomb detection canines, were called to the national offices of the HRC and the Task Force after police in Los Angeles, Calif., received an unspecified bomb threat against a “national gay rights organization,” reported Metro Weekly.

With the surrounding block cordoned off, police vehicles surrounded the building and prevented pedestrians from approaching as teams led dogs in search of any threat. By 12:50 p.m., MPD called the all-clear and people began re-entering the building.

HRC President Joe Solmonese, returning to the building, said this was the second time that the headquarters, at 17th Street and Rhode Island Avenue NW, had been evacuated since he began as president in March 2005. The other evacuation occurred during the August 2011 earthquake, ”When we thought it really was a bomb,” said Solmonese, due to leave HRC in June.

A few blocks away, at the building that houses the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality, at 1325 Massachusetts Ave. NW, as well as several other non-LGBT entities, staff waited outside as police began searching that address at about 1 p.m.

Metro Weekly →

No devices or threats were found according to a spokesperson for D. C. police.

Karen Ocamb of the L.A.-based LGBT/POV blog, after speaking with LAPD media relations, reported that the threat was made via pay phone “through the 911 system from a caller who stated that he was going to blow up the LGBT building in Washington, D.C.”

The LAPD spokesperson, Detective Gus Villanueva, told Ocamb the call was made at 8 a.m. Pacific Time, but would not release the location of the pay phone.

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In an interview with KTLA-TV, Rusconi said he believes that the couple who targeted him did so because he is a gay, single parent.

KTLA-TV

Paul Rusconi

“They all called me a sexual deviant and a pervert,” Rusconi told KTLA. “That’s all stemming from my sexuality.”

On June 17, 2011, Rusconi was arrested and his two daughters were taken from him and placed in the custody of his accusers — the nanny who took care of Rusconi’s two girls, and her husband. The couple had convinced Malibu Sheriff officials and Los Angeles County Child Protective Services that they were the best caretakers for the twins.

Rusconi was jailed overnight and then released on $220,000 bail the next day.

The nanny and her husband accused Rusconi of raping his daughters after seeing photos that he had taken of himself with his girls in a bath tub, KTLA reported.

Six months later, a rape kit produced negative results and prosecutors, unconvinced by the allegations, agreed that Rusconi posed no threat and he got his daughters back.

Rusconi is now suing his accusers, and said, “My circle is much tighter. The people I let into my life is much tighter, and I intend on keeping it that way.”

Rusconi is known for his celebrity photography including photos featuring President Barack Obama as well as the Hollywood elite.

A video interview from KTLA is here →

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Watch:

Warning against the “homosexual agenda,” Family Research Council president Tony Perkins introduced Mitt and Ann Romney and lauded the former Massachusetts governor for understanding “the threat that this imposes to our nation.”

Romney condemned people, especially activist judges, whom he accused of “trying to establish one religion, the religion of secularism” and “reject traditional values” and “reject the values of our Founders.”

“Here in Massachusetts, activist judges struck a blow to the foundation of civilization — the family — they ruled that our constitution requires people of the same gender to marry,” Romney said.

“The principal burden of this court’s ruling doesn’t fall on adults, it falls on children.” He continued, “The price of same-sex marriage is paid by the children, our fight for marriage then should focus then on the needs of children, not the rights of adults.”

Romney called for the adoption of a Federal Marriage Amendment to block the “spreading secular religion and its substitute values” that he said “weaken the foundation of the family” and dishonor the Founders.

Other speakers included Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, American Family Association president Don Wildmon, and preacher Wellington Boone, who reminisced about the time when sodomy was a capital offense in America, joked about “sodomite island,” and said the push for LGBT rights represents the “rape of the civil rights movement.”

© Right Wing Watch, All Rights Reserved. Reprinted by permission.

“Congress is clearly on notice that I think it’s a bad idea,” Obama said regarding DOMA during “The View” interview, which was recorded Monday morning.

But later in the day, at a New York City fundraising event hosted by openly gay singer Ricky Martin, Obama said he believes marriage equality “strengthens families,” and said the 2012 election would be about values — including “repealing DOMA.”

It’s been said that this election is going to be about values, and I absolutely agree. It’s about the economic values we have, about the values that I believe are what makes America so special — the idea that everybody gets a fair shot, everybody does their fair share, everybody plays by the same set of rules.

So everything we do — from Wall Street reform, making sure that banks aren’t taking risks with other people’s money that taxpayers may have to end up bailing out later, to repealing DOMA, to getting the DREAM Act passed, to investing in our schools, to rebuilding manufacturing in America — all of these things are designed to make sure that we’re restoring middle-class security for all those folks out there that are struggling for their small portion of the American Dream.

“This is going to be a big contrast in the campaign because you’ve got Governor [Mitt] Romney saying we should actually have a constitutional amendment installing the notion that you can’t have same-sex marriages,” Obama said, during “The View” appearance, which aired Tuesday.

Watch:

The President added that ultimately, he doesn’t think social issues such as same-sex marriage will determine the outcome of the November election.

The full interview and additional excerpts from “The View” are here.

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In total, 46 percent of respondents expressed a favorable impression of Obama’s statement during an interview with ABC News’ Robin Roberts last week, in which the President said he personally has come to support marriage equality for same-sex couples; 47 percent responded unfavorably.

One notable difference over previous polling is by race, ABC News reported.

Just 41 percent of African-Americans supported gay marriage in ABC/Post polls in mid-2011 and early 2012. Yet 54 percent express a favorable view of his position on the issue in this poll – suggesting that, for some, allegiance to Obama may have prompted a rethink on the issue itself.

At the same time, among whites, support for gay marriage was 9 points higher in March than are positive responses to Obama’s position now, 54 percent vs. 45 percent, apparently indicating the opposite effect.

Last week, GOP Congressman Allen West, (R-Fla.) a member of the House Tea Party Caucus, told ABC News that Obama’s announcement is “going to cause an incredible discussion in the black community, because, as you know, on Sundays in the black community the most conservative people in America are in those black churches.”

The ABC News/Washington Post poll also mirrored a wide gender gap in Obama’s support more generally — 54 percent of women respond favorably to his backing of gay marriage, compared with 37 percent of men.

There was an even broader gap by age – 63 percent of young adults favor the president’s position, vs. 34 percent of seniors.

An encouraging sign for Obama, the poll revealed, is that independent swing voters had a slightly more favorable than unfavorable view of his position.

A CBS News/New York Times poll released Monday showed that two-thirds of Americans support legal recognition of same-sex unions, and also indicated that support full marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples is significantly higher among younger generations.

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DENVER — Despite being given a second chance by Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Republican state House committee on Monday evening killed the Colorado Civil Union Act on a party-line vote, 5-4.

The decision came after about four hours of testimony.

Supporters of the bill had hoped Rep. Don Coram, R-Montrose, who is the father of a gay son, would be a swing vote. However, he told a crowd of more than 300 the bill was too similar to same-sex marriage and a “yes” vote would invalidate a 2006 voter approved amendment defining marriage between a man and a woman.

Coram also said he thought the bill was being used for political gain.

“I’m concerned that the gay community is being used as a political pawn,” he said. “(Civil unions) only came up when we had a split house. And I think that’s wrong because these are great people.”

Supporters argued they need rights to protect their families.

“Our relationship is the centerpiece, and backbone of our family,” said Denver gay man Jason Cobb. “Our son is supposed to see parents as committed to each other as they are to him.”

Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, a Democrat, also weighed in on the issue.

“Civil unions is important to our entire community, state and country,” he said. “… I hope this comes to pass on your watch and you don’t defer it to someone else.”

Opponents argued that the bill would redefine marriage in Colorado and that it goes against the will of Coloradans.

“This is not simply a religious issue,” James Flynn of the Denver Archdiocese said. “This is an issue of common sense. It is also a matter of long tradition. Marriage is the fundamental cornerstone of humanity.

“We as state, if we want our kids to do as best they can, we need to make sure they grow up with their own father and mother,” Glenn Stanton of Focus on the Family.

Hickenlooper, a Democrat, called for the special session to discuss this bill and six others — giving House Republicans the time they claimed they need to debate the bill.

The bill, sponsored by Minority Leader Mark Ferrandino and Sen. Pat Steadman, would have expand legal relationship recognition for same-sex couples here. Both Ferrandino and Steadman are gay Denver Democrats.

The legislation was re-introduced this morning and assigned to the State Affairs Committee.

Supporters of the bill were fearful heading into the hearing. There was no confirmed “yes” vote.

The bill was originally introduced on the first day of the legislature’s regular session, Jan. 11. About a month later, it cleared two Senate committees.

Steadman then held the bill for two more months while he and Ferrandino courted House Republicans to sponsor the bill. They hoped a GOP sponsor would ensure passage to the full floor of the House.

Republicans enjoy a one-vote advantage in the House, 33-32.

© OutFront Colorado. To view a digital copy of OutFront Colorado's latest edition, click here.

The partisan vote was approved by the five Democrats on the council; the two Republicans abstained, saying they had a conflict of interest.

“Prejudice and discrimination are never right in this community for any reasons,” said Councilman Carl Eskridge, sponsor of the “fairness ordinance,” after the vote.

“This is good for Lincoln. It says this is a progressive community, open to whoever chooses to come… a welcoming city… a respectful community to live, work, play and raise families,” Eskridge said.

The measure is being challenged, however. Two conservative right wing christian advocacy groups said they will organize a petition drive to stop the proposal from going into effect until there is a city-wide vote on the issue, reported the Lincoln Journal-Star.

The Nebraska Family Council and Family First will be distributing petitions to collect the more than 2,500 signatures of registered city voters needed to get the issue on the ballot, said Al Riskowski, executive director of Nebraska Family Council.

Under a provision of the city’s charter, the coalition has just 15 days to collect the signatures.

In a six-and-a-half hour marathon hearing a week ago Monday, the council heard from more than 70 people expressing their opinions for and against the proposed ordinance that would protect gay and transgender citizens from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations.

“This is an issue of basic fairness,” Lincoln’s Mayor, Chris Beutler said. “No one should live in fear of losing a job or housing because of sexual orientation or gender identity. Lincoln is the capital city of the state whose motto is ‘Equality before the law.’ It’s time to make those words ring true.”

Opponents said the ordinance would impinge upon their religious freedoms by requiring them to accept behavior they consider immoral.

“You just create a very difficult environment in the state if you start allowing various cities to have new protected classes,” said the Rev. Al Riskowski, executive director of the Nebraska Family Council.

The Omaha City Council recently added similar anti-discrimination protection for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people to its civil rights ordinance.

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Cameron suggested that President Obama, who recently announced his support for marriage equality, might be gay. He later maintained that “the long term goal of the homosexual movement is to get every little boy to grab his ankles and every little girl to give it a try,” warning that children might be “forced to at least once experience homosexual acts.”

Said Cameron:

Well, the timing is I think miserable for his reelection. I would have expected him, as you did, to wait until he was the new president and say, “Guess what? I’ve changed my mind,” or, “I’ve evolved.” But homosexuality is the one sin, or the one habit, that is 24/7. It is homosexuality all the time. And actually, while I’m not sure about the claims by the various people who have reported that Obama has at least participated at times with them in homosexual acts, this certainly lends some credence.

[...]

Mark my words clearly; the long term goal of the homosexual movement is to get every little boy to grab his ankles and every little girl to give it a try. They will not rest until every one of our children at least gets to try, has the opportunity and maybe is forced to at least once experience homosexual acts. There is no retreating from that, they made it very clear earlier on—now they don’t take about it—but that’s what they want, they will not be happy until they get it, marriage is just a step along the way.

Cameron later said he “partially agreed” with a caller who said, “they gave blacks equal rights and that was a bad path and now look where we are, if I don’t feel like I want to hire a black man for my business I’m in all sorts of trouble and now it’s going to be some homo who is gonna have to get a job because I can’t do nothing about it.”

Cameron claimed the push for LGBT equality “brings into question the civil rights mentality” because it created “special rights on the basis of certain characteristics,” calling gays and lesbians “mentally deranged” and transgender people “people that are really strange.” He went on to compare gays and lesbians to people who have a sexual attraction to “dirty socks” and said “we’re headed to a place where the weirder the people, the more rights they will obtain and the more normal the fewer rights you will have”:

Unknown Song

Cameron told Schneider that “we almost need a second American Revolution” to defeat legislation like a bill in California that would limit ex-gay “reparative therapy,” which he warned would make the state take kids away from their parents:

Unknown Song (1)

But he went on to say that such “reparative therapy” does not work and instead advocated that homosexuality be made “illegal” in order “to protect our children”:

Unknown Song (2)

Cameron: Part of the problem with the Christian Church in the United States today is that’s it’s be psychiatricized or psychologilized [sic], we seem to think that it’s our job to be counselors or do something to help people change. The fact is that the Christian Church for 2000 years tried to and eventually got homosexuality to be made illegal, when you make it illegal a lot of people don’t get into it because it’s illegal, when you make it illegal a lot of people get out of it because it’s illegal, when you say ‘we don’t want to be unkind’—Hey, we have to protect our children! We have to have a future!

The Christian Church until just recently, just the last few years of time, said we must prevent homosexuality from corrupting our society, corrupting our kids, and so that’s the area where I think we ought to go. If you stake your efforts on trying to convert people who are into drinking heavily or drugging heavily or homosexuality you are going to fail by far most of the time. Some of them will come over but there is no known technique to take someone who is in a besetting sin like this and free them.

Schneider: But for the power of God.

Cameron: Yes but the Christian Church for almost 2000 years said we will protect the rest of society from these miscreants and we will be kind to those who come to us individually and say ‘help me blah blah blah’ and that’s fine. I hear Christian spokespersons saying things like ‘we must be kind to the homosexuals because we must get them to come to church and listen to us and maybe they’ll convert,’ good luck! Sometimes that happens but you’re really running a very bad bet and you’re going way outside of mainstream Christian history.

© Right Wing Watch, All Rights Reserved. Reprinted by permission.

Michael Wilson, a 14 year employee at Shorter, resigned last week after refusing to sign a required “Personal Lifestyle Statement” against homosexuality.

Last October, the college announced a policy to require its more than 200 employees to sign the pledge against homosexuality, adultery, premarital sex, drug use and drinking in public.

The “lifestyle statement” also requires faculty to be active members of a local church, and is one of several steps the university has taken to intensify its Christian identity after the Georgia Baptist Convention began asserting more control over the campus six years ago.

The requirement has provoked an uproar among faculty, alumni and observers, reported the website Inside Higher Ed.

Before the new contracts were circulated, more than 50 members of the faculty and staff who felt they could not abide by its rules, or did not feel they should have to, resigned. Wilson stayed.

But when he was offered his contract for the academic year, he signed and returned it, but with one line crossed out: “I reject as acceptable all sexual activity not in agreement with the Bible, including, but not limited to, premarital sex, adultery, and homosexuality.”

“It’s a matter of conscience,” Wilson said.

Wilson is one of nearly 60 staff members who are leaving Shorter because of policy changes at the school, according to Save Our Shorter, a group fighting to “reveal the truth about what is happening on the Shorter campus.”

Several departments, including science and the fine arts, have been “eviscerated,” Wilson said.

The university’s president, Don Dowless, said in October that any staffer not signing the agreement faces immediate termination.

Lincoln Chafee

Chafee’s executive order is a “follow through” on a 2007 non-binding opinion by then-Attorney General Patrick Lynch, which favored recognizing out-of-state same-sex marriages, reported the Associated Press.

The executive order is expected to have many real-world implications.

Same-sex spouses of state employees and anyone covered by an insurance company regulated in Rhode Island will be entitled to health and life insurance benefits, gay rights advocates say.

Both partners in a same-sex couple will be able to list their names as parents on a child’s birth certificate, and same-sex couples will be entitled to sales tax exemptions on the transfer of property including vehicles.

Chafee signed the order in a ceremony before an audience gathered in the Rhode Island Statehouse, that included many same-sex married couples who enthusiastically cheered when the governor appeared.

Ray Sullivan, executive director of the group Marriage Equality Rhode Island, called the executive order “significant” and “bold.”

Chafee said his order is an important step, but added that he would continue to press for Rhode Island to legalize marriage for same-sex couples — currently, Rhode Island only allows civil unions between gay couples.

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“No matter who you love or what God you love, you can still pursue your own happiness,” he told the nearly 600 graduates who gathered on Columbia University’s South Lawn after referencing the 1969 Stonewall riots. “I will be with you every step of the way.”

Obama joined Freedom to Marry President Evan Wolfson on stage less than a week after he announced his support for marriage equality during a White House interview with ABC News’ Robin Roberts. Barnard also honored Care USA President Helene D. Gayle and chemistry professor Sally Chapman during the ceremony.

Retired New York Court of Appeals Chief Judge Judith Kaye described Wolfson as a “hero for the charge of marriage equality” and a “champion for the cause of civil rights for all” before she presented Wolfson with Barnard’s Medal of Distinction.

“You have turned a once lonely march into a surging national movement,” she said to sustained applause. She further noted that the number of Americans who live in jurisdictions that allow nuptials for gays and lesbians more than doubled last June after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the state’s marriage equality bill into law. “The momentum in the direction of your dream Evan is positively undeniable. Today we hail your extraordinary influence and limitless commitment to every loving man and woman.”

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