LGBT Link Round Up 10.22.14

Top anti-LGBT crusader wanted his wife to stay in a marriage where she wasn’t happy

Jonathan Saenz, the leader of the top anti-LGBT groups in Texas, complained recently that it should have been much harder for his lesbian ex-wife to get out of the marriage.

Earlier this year, court documents showed that Corrine Morris Rodriguez Saenz was dating another woman when she filed for a divorce from Saenz, who became the president of Texas Values six months later.

What is up with these conservative nincompoops being members of organizations with such positive sounding names like Focus on the Family, National Organization for Marriage, or Texas Values? On the surface they sound all wholesome and gosh darn nice. It doesn’t take much digging to see that they endorse a conservative viewpoint that is at odds with progressive, Humanist views that call for equality for everyone. I suppose they’re self-aware enough to know they would be ridiculed and mocked for calling themselves something honest like the National Organization for the Advancement of Homophobia or the Texas Evangelical Asshole Party (oh, darn…that’s right, there’s already a TEA Party). I’m not giving them props for that. In fact, if they were more honest about their motives…well I still wouldn’t like them, but at least they wouldn’t be hiding behind a pretense of being concerned about values and morality.

On Monday, Lone Star Q published video of Saenz discussing his divorce last month while participating in a panel on same-sex marriage at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin.

The Texas Values president explained that he had always held anti-LGBT views.

“There’s no question that the beliefs I have when it comes to marriage, when it comes to the importance of marriage, to the impact it has on public policy and society, there’s a long history of me being involved in that,” he told moderator Emily Ramshaw. “I’ve always had these strong beliefs.”

Ah yes, those sterling values that lead you to believe that your wife should stay married, whether she wants to or not. Clearly, you view her as a human being with rights that should not be infringed just because you don’t want a divorce. See this is problem #395 of the Republican Agenda against marriage. They hold marriage up as this sacred institution that is more important than people. They are openly dismissive and disdainful of marriage equality, bc in their eyes, marriage is one thing and one thing only and everyone, including all citizens, as well as the government, should be bound by that same definition. Because the happiness and desires of the individuals getting married are secondary to the sacred institution of marriage. Viewing a marriage as a divine relationship inspired by a deity divorces it from the very human world, where it is about two people coming together in love. What’s the benefit of that? I guess it means that Christians get to claim that marriage is “theirs”, but other than that, I see nothing to be gained by elevating marriage beyond a human institution.

But he didn’t hold back when it came to the “negative impact” of no-fault divorce.

“These polices that we have, particularly some that deal with divorce, no-fault divorce, things of this nature, that I think could have an impact of encouraging people to giving up on permanency, giving up on monogamy, fidelity, and thinking that the answer is to move on to another relationship,” Saenz insisted. “So these are real, important issues that we deal with.”

“No fault divorce… has had a very negative impact, I think, on marriage, on people’s lives, because I think it some ways it encourages people to just get out way too soon.”

Yes, divorce (of any kind), affects people–most notably those who are/were married (and any offspring). People are more important than the institution of marriage dude. Get it through your head.

But what’s his problem with his ex-wife not wanting to remain married? Shouldn’t she have the freedom to enter or exit relationships as she desires? Isn’t this a human right? Not to this self-centered assclam.  I guess to him, the feelings of his ex-wife mean nothing. His wishes are paramount (probably bc god says so, too). Again, because of his views on marriage, he shows greater concern for the abstract idea of marriage (a Christian version to boot) than for the concerns of [one of] the people in the relationship. I hope that the campaign for marriage equality leads to a greater understanding that marriage should be about the wishes and desires of the people involved, and no one else.

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Top VA GOP adviser unhinged on Facebook: Gay sex leaves men in diapers, ‘pooping their pants’

Steve Waters, an advI’miser to Republican congressional candidate Dave Brat in Virginia, argued this week that homosexuality was not “normal” because it caused cancer, and it would eventually force gay men to wear diapers by destroying their rectal muscles.

On Wednesday, blogger Benjamin Tribbett called out Waters for several anti-LGBT messages that he had written on Facebook earlier in the day.

“I will say this, if homosexuality is so normal, how come the diseases, illnesses and cancers connected with it are so abnormal?” he wrote. “Even the CDC recognizes this.”

A second posting by Waters was more graphic: “Is it normal for adult males to have to wear diapers because their rectal muscles have been abused so badly they can no longer control or tighten them to avoid pooping their pants.”

After Tribbett re-posted the remarks on his Facebook page, Waters defended himself.

“I’ve got history, natural law and biology on my side on this one,” he insisted. “What do you guys have, emotion. You should know emotion doesn’t work well in public policy. But I’ll concede one accusation, I’m not normal-my wife would agree with on some days, lol!”

When pressed for evidence on his diaper theory, Waters produced a link to a Christian website that claims homosexuality is “brimming with disease,” but does not mention anything about abused rectal muscles or diapering.

I’m sure that Christian website is a resource on human biology.  ::eye roll::

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Talk Show Inspires 1 Million+ Callers to Protest India’s Anti-Gay Law

A recent episode of an Indian talk show aired to more than 100 million viewers has had a massive impact on the country’s perception of LGBT people. More than one million calls were made to a toll free hotline set up by the show to protest Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which stigmatises the LGBT community by criminalising homosexual sex.

On 19 October, an episode of Indian television talk show “Satyamev Jayate” (Truth Alone Prevails) titled “Accepting Alternative Sexualities” attempted to break a lot of misconceptions surrounding the ostracised LGBT community by answering a number of questions on the issue.

The guests included transgender woman Gazal Dhaliwal (@gazalstune) and her parents, popular psychologist Deepak Kashyap and other LGBT activists. Dhaliwal, a film writer, described her traumatic childhood as a girl trapped in a boy’s body, and her journey from self-discovery to the decision to undergo a sex change operation.

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WATCH: Bystanders at Dallas Airport stop antigay attack by piling on drunk bully

 

(via Raw Story)

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Cory Booker Targeted By Hate Group For Being Pro-Gay

Cory Booker made a name for himself by hands-on care his constituents. As mayor of Newark, he could regularly be found at the center of relief efforts wherever disaster or mother nature struck his community – everything from shoveling snow to risking his life in a memorable fire rescue. As a senator, he survived a dinner with Ted Cruz. Enough said?

Eugene Delguadio is not even in the same weight class as Cory Booker.

Cory has always been a steadfast advocate for LGBT equality. In the 2013 special election to fill the Senate seat held by the late Frank Lautenberg, Cory answered questions about his own sexuality with a shug and a “what does it matter?”  Now, Cory is running for re-election against Republican Jeff Bell, (that’s them in the photo above at last night’s debate,) and The Public Advocate has decided if they can just get the word out that Cory Booker supports gay equality, the voters will turn on him.

So Delgaudio, in an effort to help Jeff Bell, who Bloomberg reports is trailing Cory by 13 points, sent out this mailer. You will notice he spelled Cory’s name “Brooker”, but that isn’t his biggest mistake:

Given Cory Booker’s support for LGBT people, I don’t doubt that his plan is to fight for their right to be recognized by the government as citizens who should have all the same rights as other Americans.

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LGBT Link Round Up 10.22.14
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