Pat Robertson Goes Off On DOMA

BRITAIN: Court Rejects Catholic Bid For Exemption From Gay Adoption Laws

A British appeals tribunal has rejected the demand of the Catholic Church that they be exempted from laws banning discrimination against gay adoptive parents. As we've seen happen in several U.S. cities, church adoption officials say they'd rather close their doors and let children go without families than abide by the law.

Leeds-based Catholic Care have said they will have no choice but to end their work finding homes for children if they are forced to comply with the new equality regulations which prohibit discrimination against same-sex couples wanting to adopt. The case went to the High Court last year before being referred to the Charity Commission, who would not back Catholic Care’s position. And the Charity Commission’s stance was upheld today by a first-tier tribunal which dismissed the appeal.

MINNESOTA: GOP Legislators Introduce Marriage Ban In State Senate

Minnesota GOP state Sen. Warren Limmer:

"The proposed constitutional amendment asks voters to define marriage as solely between one man and one woman in Minnesota. This issue constantly comes up during legislative sessions and it’s time for the people to decide. Allowing a small number of politicians, or activist judges in St. Paul to decide the definition of marriage would not be acceptable. We propose an early passage in the legislature this year, followed by a year discussion in our communities statewide in order to be prepared to vote in next year’s General Election."

Minnesota Democratic state Sen. Scott Dibble, via press release:

"It’s disturbing that Republicans want to use one of the last weeks of the legislative session to marginalize one group of people and divide our state. We are facing a $5 billion budget shortfall, yet Republicans believe the biggest threat to our state’s welfare is who is allowed to be married. Minnesotans who are married legally have access to at least 515 laws that provide security, legal protections, and basic rights such as the ability to care for each other. As lawmakers, we should be focused on breaking these barriers that still exist for thousands of Minnesotans, rather than further isolating one group of people and wasting taxpayers’ time with unfounded fears."

TN State GOP Rep. Stacey Campfield Defends His "Don't Say Gay" Bill

UNRELATED: Once again we thank JMG reader Dave Evans, our devoted video clipper who scours the networks for LGBT-related news items. You folks would never see many of these segments were it not for Dave's hard work at funneling them to us here.

NOM Celebrates: We're Causing Same-Sex Marriage Activists To Lose Their Jobs

In a post about recent personnel changes at marriage equality groups around the nation, NOM is sarcastically "apologizing" for "driving up the unemployment rate."

It started with Geoff Kors, Executive Director of Equality California in California, who could never recover from his monumental defeat in the Proposition 8 campaign in California, of which NOM was one of the chief supporters and leading organizations to qualify the initiative. Kors stepped down in March of this year. Next up was the Executive Director of Equality Maryland, Morgan Meneses-Sheets, who was fired two weeks ago after failing to pass a gay marriage bill through the Maryland Legislature. It was supposed to be a “given” that gay marriage would pass in Maryland this year. A given, that is, until NOM got involved.

Shortly after Meneses-Sheets was fired, Equality Maryland's Development Director Matthew Thorn resigned in protest over the firing. Most recently, Kathy Kushnir, the Executive Director of Marriage Equality of Rhode Island (MERI) --the leading group advocating for gay marriage in that state-- resigned after failing to even get the gay marriage bill out of Committee in another state that was, we were told, a slam dunk for them this year. All the while, as our opponents keep talking about the march of history, tout biased polls, and tell themselves that their victory is inevitable…secretly, the Executive Directors of other states' “marriage equality” organizations are updating their resumes.

Many of us have recently noticed an increasingly nasty tone from NOM, who (compared to some anti-gay groups) had previously kept their vitriol at a relatively low boil. They are still burning, terribly, over the Marinelli defection.

Prop 8 Proponents Move To Vacate Judge Vaughn Walker's Ruling Because He's Gay

They've been talking about it for weeks and today Prop 8's backers officially filed to vacate Judge Vaughn Walker's ruling overturning the ban of same-sex marriage in California. Because a gay judge cannot possibly be impartial about gay issues.

The sponsors of California's same-sex marriage ban said Monday that the recent disclosure by the federal judge who struck down Proposition 8 that he is in a long-term relationship with another man has given them new grounds to have his historic ruling overturned. Lawyers for the ban's backers filed a motion in San Francisco's U.S. District Court, arguing that Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker should have removed himself from the case or at least disclosed his relationship status because his "impartiality might reasonably be questioned." "Only if Chief Judge Walker had unequivocally disavowed any interest in marrying his partner could the parties and the public be confident that he did not have a direct personal interest in the outcome of the case," attorneys for the coalition of religious and conservative groups that put Proposition 8 on the November 2008 ballot wrote.

Lambda Legal's Jon Davidson reacts:

To say that Judge Walker's should have disclosed his ten-year relationship with another man or that it made him unfit to rule on Proposition 8 is like saying that a married heterosexual judge deciding an issue in a divorce proceeding has to disclose if he or she is having marital problems and might someday be affected by legal rulings in the case. Or that any judge who professes any religious faith is unable to rule on any question of religious liberty or, at a minimum, must disclose what his faith teaches. Much like a suggestion that a female judge could not preside over a case involving sexual harassment or an African American judge could not preside over a case involving race discrimination, Proposition 8's supporters improperly are suggesting that a judge will rule in favor of any litigant with whom he shares a personal characteristic.

American Foundation for Equal Rights reacts:

"This motion is yet another in a string of desperate and absurd motions by Prop 8 Proponents who refuse to accept the fact that the freedom to marry is a constitutional right. They're attempting to keep secret the video of the public trial and they're attacking the judge because they disagree with his decision. Clearly, the Proponents are grasping at straws because they have

NCLR's Shannon Minter reacts:

"This is a desperate and ill-advised move that underscores their inability to defend Prop 8 on the merits. This is not likely to win them any points with the courts, who understandably do not appreciate having the integrity of judges called into question based on such outrageous grounds. This is part and parcel of the underhanded way the Prop 8 campaign itself was run-based on lies, insinuations, and unsupported innuendo."

Quote Of The Day - Bryan Fischer

"A self-identified lesbian by the name of Keori confessed to [Pam's House Blend] readers on Friday that she is now in love with a male Marine. This relationship came right on the heels of a three-year love affair with another woman. She sheepishly admits that 'I didn't intend to love this Marine,' and then ruefully acknowledges that 'bisexuality happens, ok?' which is just another way of saying that even she has been forced to admit that sexual orientation is fluid and is hardly a fixed, immovable thing. She is living proof. So apparently without even realizing what she was doing, she has just dropped a grenade on the foundational plank of the gay activist worldview, that sexual orientation does not change, cannot change, and that those who think that change is possible - like most of us in the pro-family community - are just homophobic bigots." - American Family Association radio host Bryan Fischer.

Read Keori's post on Pam's House Blend.

Ruben Diaz Rides The Waambulance

"One of the things that I thought makes the United States special is that we can disagree and still get along. Unfortunately, the growing hatred of many people in New York's homosexual community toward me does not demonstrate that. It makes no sense to me as a minister and as a Senator because I have never preached hatred toward anyone, and I denounce those who do. My strong position against homosexual marriage is the very same as the positions held by rabbis, ministers, imams and priests. I'm not sharing this information to appear to be a victim for sympathy sake, but I do want to put this in perspective. I feel a great sympathy for the people who are targeting me with so much hatred. They will all be in my prayers." - NY Sen. Ruben Diaz, in a press release quoting numerous anti-Diaz blog comments and tweets.

RELATED: Diaz may claim to denounce anti-gay hatred, but I was right fucking there in the front row at his massive anti-gay rally in 2009 where thousands of his supporters waved signs about Sodom and Gomorrah, eternal damnation, pedophilia, etc. As he did two years ago, Diaz cleverly scheduled his coming protest on the day of the AIDS Walk, a move which decimates the potential number of counter-protesters. In my 2009 slideshow below, note that the barricaded area for marriage equality supporters was practically empty.

Creation Institute: Teaching Evolution Leads To Homosexual Indoctrination

"From the patriarchal days of Sodom and Gomorrah to the Law of Moses to the New Testament, God’s Word consistently declares that homosexuality is sin and warns of the condemnation it brings to the individuals who practice it and to societies that promote it. Indeed, the rampant teaching of evolution in our schools that is effectively undermining belief in God and absolute moral standards is not only creating an atmosphere of 'tolerance' for homosexuality, but for just about anything.

"As the truism goes, 'Without God, everything is permissible.' So, in reality, there’s nothing to prevent the same rationale being used today to justify homosexuality and homosexual marriage from being used tomorrow to sanction polygamy or pedophilia or, as one very honest evolutionist wrote a while back (a piece that quickly disappeared from public view), if evolution is true, then rape is a very valid and/or efficient way for a man to spread his genes. After all, why not? It’s the survival of the fittest. Of course, in a purely evolutionary world, homosexuals would naturally be bred out of existence, as well. But you won’t hear that from pro-evolution advocates." - Tom DeRosa, executive director of the Creation Studies Institute.

Quote Of The Day - Sen. Ruben Diaz

"If the affront to my personal safety wasn't enough, it was embodied in an article that was so poorly researched. The two factual errors come to mind: first of all, if as you say my chief-of-staff is gay, no one has bothered to tell her. Also, if any of your readers are interested in attending a counter-demonstration, they shouldn't bother taking your directions to gather at 181st Street expecting the end of our rally there, I and the thousands of New Yorkers who believe in respect for human life and sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman will be found praying near the Bronx County Courthouse at 161st Street and the Grand Concourse. It's so sad to see people in journalism abuse their positions, but it's outrageous to see how the editors of the Village Voice use their editorial discretion to facilitate and encourage homicide." - New York state Sen. Ruben Diaz, responding to a Village Voice blog post in which a commenter made a death threat against him.

RELATED: On May 15th Diaz, who signed the above letter "Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz," will stage what may be the largest anti-gay rally in state history. A similar rally in 2009 brought over 20,000 Hispanic evangelicals to midtown Manhattan, most of whom arrived via out of state church buses. LGBT groups have noted that Diaz' rally is scheduled to conflict with NYC's annual AIDS Walk in order to diminish counter-protests.

ALSO RELATED: Please do not leave comments making even the most idle of threats of physical harm or property damage against any persons or places. Longtime readers may recall that in late 2009, anti-gay and Christianist websites launched a campaign against JMG, claiming that readers were making "terrorist threats" against supporters of Proposition 8. Please contact me via email if you see any threats or calls to violence and I will dispatch them at once. Our enemies are reading every word you write.

Iowa GOP Files Impeachment Charges Against Pro-Gay State Supreme Court

Thanks to a truckload of money funneled to them by Newt Gingrich, last year hate groups were able to unseat three of Iowa's seven state Supreme Court justices over their backing of same-sex marriage. Yesterday GOP lawmakers in the state House filed impeachment charges against the four remaining justices. Here's an excerpt of the charges against Justice David Wiggins:

By his action in the Varnum case, Justice Wiggins has created a constitutional imbalance and confusion within the State of Iowa as to the proper constitutional function of each department, thus undermining the integrity of the tripartite separation of powers among the departments and creating social disorder and unrest. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE, That the conduct of Supreme Court Justice David S. Wiggins, in committing malfeasance in office, warrants impeachment, trial by the Senate, and removal and disqualification from any office of honor, trust, or profit under the state pursuant to the procedures set out in Iowa Code 3 2 chapter 68.

The latest move has the backing of Family Leader, Iowa's most prominent anti-gay Christianist group.

NEW YORK: Sen. Ruben Diaz To Stage Massive Anti-Gay Marriage Rally

Arch homophobe Sen. Ruben Diaz (D-Bronx) will once again work with anti-gay Hispanic evangelicals to stage a massive anti-marriage rally in New York City on May 15th. JMG reader Sabirjan provides us with a translation of this news story.

Radio Vision Cristiana, a New Jersey-based Spanish-language AM radio station that broadcasts religious programming, is planning a huge anti-gay march in New York City on May 15, 2011. It will be held in the Bronx (starting at noon the participants will march from 149th Street and Third avenue to 181st street in the Bronx). The radio station, as well as the main organizer of the event, State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr. are urging all Hispanics and especially evangelicals to oppose the possible legalization of same-sex marriages in New York State. Ruben Diaz is urging the participants "to paralyze all traffic in the Bronx" on that day. Organizers of the event expect up to 30,000 people to show up. A similar rally was held in 2009, it attracted about 20,000 people and took many city officials by surprise.

I attended the 2009 rally staged by Diaz and Radio Cristiana. The vast majority of the protesters arrived via church buses from outside New York City. In my video below, watch the crowd erupt in ecstatic song as their hero Diaz arrives.

TENNESSEE: "Don't Say Gay" Education Bill Passes State Senate Committee

Tennessee's state Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a bill banning the mention of homosexuality in public schools prior to the ninth grade. Such a bill could derail any potential lessons on anti-gay bullying. The law is the pet project of state Sen. Stacey Campfield (left), who has introduced it six years in a row.

As introduced, the bill would have put into law a declaration that it is illegal to discuss any sexual behavior other than heterosexuality prior to the ninth grade. But when it came before the Senate Education Committee, Sen. Jim Tracy, R-Shelbyville, contended current law already prohibits such instruction by deeming it a misdemeanor to teach any sex education that is not part of the "family life curriculum" adopted by the state Board of Education. Tracy proposed an amendment to rewrite Campfield's bill to require the Board of Education to study the issue and determine whether any teaching about homosexuality is occurring and, if so, recommend what should be done about it. Campfield contends homosexuality is being discussed in classrooms. Spokesmen for the Board of Education and the state Department of Education told the committee they are unaware of any such activity. The Tracy amendment passed over Campfield's objections.

FLORIDA: Anti-Gay Group Launches MTV Boycott Over Transgender Character

The Florida Family Association has launched an advertiser boycott against MTV because the network's Degrassi series positively portrays a young transgender man. Degrassi airs on MTV's Teen Nick channel. FFA chairman David Caton (left) writes in a letter to the show's advertisers:

It is very concerning that your company would knowingly advertise during a television show that condones and promotes transgender lifestyles to an audience that is almost exclusively watched by young teens and children. You would think by the number of episodes that MTV devotes to including the relationship between a female to male transgender high school student and a bi-sexual lesbian student that such relationships are a common occurrence in America’s high schools. The odds of this bizarre relationship occurring in high schools are extremely rare. Yet, MTV feeds this salacious and irresponsible propaganda to an audience made up of almost exclusively young teens and children as if it were common place. MTV airs a free promo for PFLAG on DeGrassi which directs kids to an organization that will encourage our youth to embrace a different sexual identity that may stay with them for life. Will your company continue to advertise on this irresponsible show?

RELATED: World Net Daily publicized the boycott today in a lengthy article that repeats Peter LaBarbera's unfounded charges about GLSEN's Facebook page.

NEW YORK: Sen. Ruben Diaz Denounces Gov. Cuomo For Gay Marriage Push

"I am deeply offended that during this Holy Week, which is a most sacred time to millions of New Yorkers, Governor Andrew Cuomo is working hard to mobilize elected officials to legalize homosexual marriage in New York. We all know that Governor Andrew Cuomo’s budget, which was done in haste to beat the clock, will cause tremendous suffering to countless New Yorkers – especially Black and Hispanic communities. His cuts will hurt students, senior citizens, the sick, the poor and the needy. Now Governor Cuomo is targeting communities of faith in an effort to redefine marriage. The most basic tenets of New York’s largest faith communities include defining marriage as between one man and one woman. These religions that cherish these values include Catholic, Christian, Jewish and Muslim." - Anti-gay New York state Sen. Ruben Diaz, in a statement issued yesterday.

RELATED: In 2009 over 10,000 Hispanic evangelicals protested against same-sex marriage in Manhattan. Organized by Diaz, it was the largest such anti-gay rally in the history of the state.

VIRGINIA: State Board Votes 7-2 Against Allowing Gay Couples To Adopt

Following the advice of anti-gay Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, a state board has voted 7-2 against allowing gay couples to adopt.

The State Board of Social Services has voted overwhelmingly against new adoption rules that some say would allow same-sex couples to adopt in the state for the first time. In a 7-2 vote Wednesday afternoon, the board opted against the new rules, first proposed by former governor Tim Kaine. In Virginia, only married couples and single men and women, regardless of sexual orientation, can adopt. The proposed changes would require private and faith-based groups, such as Catholic Charities and Jewish Family Services, to allow gay parents to adopt or foster children.

Democrats hold a 5-4 majority on the board.

Family Research Council: It's Not Too Late To Block The Repeal Of DADT

From a Family Research Council op-ed posted yesterday on Fox News:

Here’s a quiz: What is the current state of the 1993 law that barred homosexuality in the Armed Forces (usually referred to as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”)? If you said that the law has been repealed, and that open homosexuals are now welcome in the military, you would be wrong. “But,” you might say, “I thought the lame duck Congress passed the bill to repeal it last year.” True, and President Obama signed it on December 22, 2010.Yet odd as it may seem, the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010” did not actually repeal anything. Instead, it set in motion an unusual series of trigger mechanisms, which would not lead to repeal until sixty days after the last one of them is completed. Since this process has not yet been completed, the law barring homosexual conduct in the military is still in place—and there is still time to stop this ill-advised repeal.

The article goes on to call on the House to hold hearings to block certification.

Quote Of The Day - Tony Perkins

"I was somewhat amused when Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who had just spent the last four years adding trillions to the deficit, said the U.S. Congress couldn't afford to retain lawyers to defend DOMA now that President Obama's DOJ surrendered to their liberal base on the issue. On the heels of the news that Congress will add another DOMA challenge suit to their caseload, this time a challenge in New York State, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) today sent a letter to Pelosi regarding the House's intent to protect taxpayers.

"He writes: 'The burden of defending DOMA, and the resulting costs associated with any litigation that would have otherwise been born by DOJ, has fallen to the House. Obviously, DOJ's decision results in DOJ no longer needing the funds it would have otherwise expended defending the constitutionality of DOMA. It is my intent that those funds be diverted to the House for reimbursement of any costs incurred by and associated with the House, and not DOJ, defending DOMA.' The Speaker's solution is both simple and effective. We've seen no reply from the newly fiscally aware Rep. Pelosi. I applaud the Speaker for taking the right steps to defend the laws of this nation." - Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, via press release.

$500,000 To Defend DOMA

According to a press release from the Human Rights Campaign, the GOP's contract with the law firm hired to defend DOMA stipulates a maximum payment of $500,000. Oh, but it could be more.

In order to defend discrimination by any means necessary, House Republican leaders have contracted with the law firm King & Spalding at the rate of $520 an hour to argue that they’re right to deny recognition to legally married couples, according to the contract made public today. The document caps the cost at $500,000 but can easily be increased upon further negotiations with the firm. “DOMA inflicts a great cost on same-sex couples but now its defense is burdening taxpayers to the tune of $520 per hour,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “The firm of King & Spalding and their attorney Paul Clement should be ashamed at every penny earned in trying to justify discrimination against American families.” There are currently at least nine cases challenging the constitutionality of section 3 of DOMA which bars federal recognition of marriages between same-sex couples. If the House were to intervene in all nine that would mean less than 100 billable hours would be spent per case in order to hit the $500,000 cap.

Where are the jobs?

INDIA: Supreme Court Defers On 2009 Ruling Decriminalizing Homosexuality

In 2009 the New Delhi High Court issued a landmark ruling decriminalizing homosexuality. That judgment prompted religious and political groups to petition the Indian Supreme Court to overturn the ruling. Today the Supreme Court deferred their decision until "after summer vacations."

Senior BJP leader B P Singhal, who had approached the High Court opposing legalisation of gay sex, has challenged the verdict in the Supreme Court saying such acts are illegal, immoral and against ethos of Indian culture. Religious organisations like the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Utkal Christian Council and Apostolic Churches Alliance have opposed the High Court's verdict. Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Right, Tamil Nadu Muslim Munn Kazhgam, astrologer Suresh Kumar Kaushal and yoga guru Ramdev have also opposed the verdict in the apex court.

Indian activists are disappointed that the Court refused to reject the petitions entirely. Below, Australian television covers the issue in a report filed before today's deferment.