Minnesota Protestor “Gay Glitters” Mitt Romney
EAGAN, MN – A protestor showered Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney with glitter to object to the former Massachusetts governor’s positions on gay rights issues. Romney joins other GOP hopefuls who have received glitter-grenades, including Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Michele Bachmann.
The GOP frontrunner was attending a campaign rally with former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, and was accompanied by his wife and son. Pawlenty had just introduced Romney, who was approaching the stage when he was “glittered.” Pawlenty himself was glitter-bombed last June in San Francisco by two LGBT activists during his own failed run for the Republican nomination.
Romney, who won last week’s Florida GOP primary, may have misunderstood the protestor’s intent: he referred to the glitter-bombing as a “little celebration.”
Said the candidate: “Hey, listen, guys: I’m delighted to be here with you. This is an exciting time. I’m happy for a little celebration. This is confetti! We just won Florida! We’re just going to win the White House next! Let me tell you, President Obama is not going to be seeing a lot of confetti.”
… and Gingrich and Paul Find No LGBT Welcome in Minnesota, Either
BLOOMINGTON, MN – Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich was confronted at two separate campaign events in Minnesota by LGBT activists with the group the “Glitterati,” who were protesting the former Speaker of the House’s positions on gay rights. In Bloomington, while Gingrich was delivering a 40-minute speech, a protestor yelled, “Hey Newt, why do you support discrimination against gays and lesbians all the time? Serial hypocrisy!” After the activist was pushed out of the room, a second protestor took up the chant, “No hate in our state, why do you discriminate?”
A female Gingrich supporter grabbed the protestor’s wrists before police escorted him away. The candidate took a dramatic head count of those present, and then suggested that the crowd consisted mostly of those who support him. “My guess is it’s 407 to three,” Gingrich said.
Another GOP contender, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), was showered with glitter during a campaign stop at the Minneapolis convention center as the candidate left the stage. The protestor, also a “Glitterati” activist, shouted at the 76-year-old congressman “Housing and healthcare are human rights, not privileges!”
NC Pastor Says Lesbian Blogger Needs Man to “Rock Her World”
SEATTLE, WA – The pastor of a North Carolina evangelical assembly told a radio interviewer that LGBT activist Pam Spaulding needs to find a man to “rock her world.”
Patrick Wooden, a pastor at Raleigh’s Upper Room Church and an outspoken supporter of North Carolina’s proposed constitutional amendment that would bar recognition of gay marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships, was a guest on the radio program of Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH). When asked about recent remarks made about Wooden by Spaulding, who is bisexual, the minister said that Spaulding’s sexuality would alter when she “meets the Lord.”
“Pam needs Jesus. When Pam meets the Lord that yearning for a member of the same sex will change,” Wooden explained. “She’d probably make a fantastic mother and would enjoy having a husband who was born male–no ‘Chaz Bono business’–born male, and meet her man, and rock her world in the name of the Lord.”
Spaulding, who lives in North Carolina and blogs about LGBT-related issues at Pam’s House Blend, is a vocal opponent of the proposed statewide amendment. She recently referred to Wooden as “a vigorous rent-a-reverend who never fails to get face time with the professional bigot brigade.”
Of same-sex intimacy, Wooden has previously said that semen was not meant to be “emptied into an area that is filled with feces,” but recently told Sirius XM Radio’s Michelangelo Signorile that sodomy is acceptable in heterosexual relationships. “I believe the Bible says that marriage is honorable in all and the bed is undefiled,” the pastor offered. “I believe sexual activity is for persons of the opposite sex.”
Virginia Lawmakers Approve Bill to Limit Gay Adoptions
RICHMOND, VA – On Friday, Virginia lawmakers approved a measure to limit gay and lesbian people from adopting children. The bill allows private adoption agencies to discriminate against gay applicants if such discrimination is consistent with the organization’s moral or religious beliefs.
The House of Delegates approved the bill overwhelmingly with a 71 to 28 vote. State senators also advanced their version of the bill on Feb. 3, with the Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee approving it with an 8-7 vote along party lines. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican, says he supports the legislation.
“When signed into law by Gov. McDonnell, this measure will chisel into law the principle that people of faith can adhere to their convictions, without fear of reprisal from those who would discriminate against their religious beliefs regarding how we should raise our children,” the bill’s House sponsor, Delegate Todd Gilbert (R-Woodstock), said in a statement.
“What this bill is designed to do is allow any agency to discriminate based on sexual orientation,” Democratic Senator Mark Herring said during the social services committee hearing, noting that the measure would allow any agency to discriminate against prospective LGBT foster or adoptive parents.
Anti-Gay Group says: Gay Parents “Molest” Their Kids
OLYMPIA, WA – Last week’s passage of a marriage equality bill by the Washington State Senate has mobilized opponents, with the Family Policy Institute of Washington (FPIW), which opposes Gov. Chris Gregoire’s plan to legalize same-sex marriage claiming that gay parents molest their children.
On its Web site, the organization has published an article written last year by George Dent Jr. In the article, entitled “No Difference?: An Analysis of Same-Sex Parenting,” Dent, a professor of law at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, claims that “high rates” of gay parents molest their kids.
Dent’s report reads in part: “Due in part to promiscuity, homosexuals have high rates of disease. Gay men became more cautious about sex after the onset of AIDS, but infection rates soon rebounded to their former levels. Gay men also suffer disproportionately from many other diseases. The tendency of male homosexual acts to spread disease may help explain the revulsion many people feel about them. Lesbians also suffer high rates of suicide, mental illness and drug and substance abuse. Although many homosexuals brag about the absence of gender discrimination in their relationships, those relationships are often abusive.”
“The high rates of child sex abuse among homosexuals and bisexuals are also a cause for concern. At the least, given the uncertain effects of homosexual parenting, the children raised
by homosexual couples are being treated as guinea pigs, which is troubling,” he added.
Dent also claims that gay parents are more likely to raise children who are homosexual: “There is evidence that children raised by homosexuals
are more likely to engage in homosexuality and to feel confused about their sexual identity.”
FPIW’s executive director, Joseph Backholm, 30, testified last week before a Senate sub-committee and urged senators to put marriage equality to a referendum and let voters decide if “moms and dads do matter.”
Half of Marylanders Say They Support Full Marriage Equality
KNOXVILLE, TN – A Washington Post poll finds that fully half of Maryland residents now favor the legalization of same-sex marriage, although support varies significantly along the racial, religious, and generational lines.
Among Democrats, 71 percent of whites support same-sex marriage, and 24 percent oppose it. For African American Democrats, 41 percent support marriage equality, while 53 percent are opposed. The largest percentage of African Americans resides in Maryland outside of any Southern state.
In addition, the data showed that almost three-quarters of those opposed to marriage equality say their views stem from religious beliefs, while just 5 percent of those who support same-sex marriage say their views are largely shaped by their religion. It also found that those who attend weekly religious services are almost three times more likely to oppose marriage equality as those who do not attend at all.