Ohio antigay group launches campaign against AIDS organizations

Ohio antigay group launches campaign against AIDS organizations | News | Advocate.com

Are you HIV+? Fake Christians are after you. "Mission America" is targeting AIDS education, prevention, and human decency in Ohio by directly ignoring their alleged lord's teaching of compassion and caring for the sick. Their hatred is blinding them.

THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT CHRISTIANS. WHEN IS THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA GOING TO GET THIS?

American Idol : Going Home

I admit it. I'm going to miss Kevin. I was hoping Bucky would be going home.

Return Trip Haiku

Meadow Mountain trees / Llamas escort Bears back home / Guster plays Careful // Scene It, ate it, drank / Weekend in the woods with friends / drama-free and fun // Keep it Together / Back to work, reality / Lifestyle? Gay? Puh-lease!

Happy St. Patrick's day from the hills of West Virginia.

Crying Wolf

Another gay outrage-of-the-day story has turned out to be a bunch of bull-pucky. A high school senior posted to his blog being expelled from high school for a class-project short film, in which is a scene of two guys snuggling shirtless in bed. He said he was being expelled from school and transferred. It turns out the kid is now in a lot of trouble for making up this story.

Pam's House Blend:

The high school student Brandon Flyte is real. The 'Brokeback High' film is real. The fact that he had onscreen characters in a same-sex screen 'snuggle,' that had to be snipped from the class project was real. But he was not expelled by the administrators for the film. He did get in trouble for screening his film for a class that didn't have the scene cut out, and that landed him in the dean's office.

This kind of crying wolf really burns you as a blogger. I wrote once about the couple in Florida who had their trailer torched and "Die Fag" scrawled onto the front step. It turns out they did it themselves.

You put your energies into finding stories and staying informed so you can pass the news and outrage along to your friends and readers, only to find out that the story is made up or the fire was deliberately set. This is one of the main reasons I do not always write a daily post. I have been a reluctant blogger. Sometimes I spend hours reading about a story and begin writing, eventually abandoning the post because I just can't judge the validity of the claim from the view of my laptop while sitting on the couch.

Equality Rider, Director: Jacob :: Featured on Planet Out

Jacob Reitan
Soulforce Equality Rider, co-director

Hometown: Eden Prairie, Minnesota
Age: 23

Planet Out Open Forum
March 14, 2006

"...When we were at Liberty, we asked Falwell to learn from his own history. During the era of segregation, based on his reading of the Bible, he did not let African-Americans into his church. He once called the civil rights movement the 'civil wrongs movement.' Today, Falwell won't let gay and lesbian people come to his school, and he was recently quoted as saying that if Liberty ever embraced gay and lesbian equality it should be 'burned to the ground.'

Somehow, Falwell sees a difference in these two statements. I don't. As I see it, they both misuse the Bible to justify discrimination."

Soulforce Outnumbered and Outgunned

In this one picture -- nineteen cops and nineteen guns.

The religious Right's strategy of dealing with Soulforce is clear in this paragraph about the students' arrival at Regent University:

"We got information that demonstrators were arrested Friday at Liberty University, so we were just here to keep the peace, make sure the demonstration was peaceful," (Virginia Beach police spokesperson Rene) Ball said.

Let me tell you, you do not need at least two dozen cops, a helicopter, a "Marine Patrol Dive Team," several vehicles, and a police chaplain to keep the peace. Last fall I witnessed about fifty anti-war protesters - some very hostile - across the street from 200 pro-Bush supporters - many just as hostile - kept at peace with a handful of DC police. Even in this tense situation peaceful people were still allowed to cross the lines to speak with one another. Just what kind of information did Virginia Beach police "get" that would inspire them to all but call out the national guard and prohibit students from peaceful interaction?

The religious Right is calling out all the stops in order to portray Soulforce as some invading violent protest group. Now homosexuals must be kept out by force if necessary. What's next?

Soulforce has visited these campuses in the past with no problems, they have repeatedly stated and shown they are firmly committed to nonviolence and dialogue. But all of a sudden Liberty and Regent lock down their students and man the barricades because two dozen kids want to pass out leaflets, say prayer together, and hold bible study. Isn't that what these bible thumpers have been doing to the rest of us for decades?

Spring Is Popping Up in the City

Though the air is still chilly enough for a wool coat, the trees in DC are beginning to bloom. I have figured out how to send this from my phone with more than just 145 characters. Paragraphs would be nice, though.

Ok, so I wasn't really drunk on anything but sleeplessness. Two Red Bulls in a day does that to me. I don't know how people drink those socially.

bTALK - A Podcast for, by and about Gay Bears in Minneapolis, Minnesota

bTALK - A Podcast for, by and about Gay Bears in Minneapolis, Minnesota

This is a podcast I regularly listen to - just about the only one. The Howard Sterns of virtual Bear Radio, they are five bears from Minnesota who speak their minds. They are genuinely funny, casual without rambling, and free with topics, language, and opinions. The podcast is structured well and lasts just a reasonable one hour per week. I'm still trying to figure out who is who. They're a little too much into Tyra Banks and model shows for me, but they're still entertaining. If you're not into Tyra, you can always fast-forward to hear their take on public displays of affection, monogamy, the minefield of the Hanky Code (and the new iPod Shuffle fetish [j/k]), or very personal hygene. They're pretty cute up close. Thier friend Stevo is way hot. And sometimes they say things you wonder if they won't regret some day.

Oh and I drunk called them tonight.

Regent Students Physically Prevented from Leaving Campus to Talk with Soulforce

On Kayla's blog, she speaks about how Regent University Students were prohibited from leaving campus to speak with members of Soulforce. Closed-mindedness enforced by men with guns...

yesterday we arrived at pat robertson's regent university to face a closed down campus surrounded by more police (via foot, vehicle, horse, and helicopter) than were riders. we stood on the sidewalk beyond campus property in a silent vigil, holding up literature, waiting to welcome dialogue with any students who might venture off campus to speak with us. when students began to come our way, the police stopped them. i am not sure what the police told the students, but it must have been effective because the students did not feel able to continue on their way to speak with us.

This has been confirmed by the Virginian-Pilot, which also reports on the obscene police presence:

The security cordon worked in both directions, blocking protesters from entering the campus and students from reaching the protesters.

Richard Lindsay , a Soulforce media liaison who held up his cell phone number for spectators, said students called him and said they had been blocked by the university from approaching the protesters.

A handful of students reached the protesters, including first-year law student Tim Spaulding , who said curiosity and the fine weather brought him out during a class break.

When asked about Soulforce, Spaulding said the protesters were "trying to raise awareness and make some positive change about schools who have policies, I guess, against gays and homosexuals. I don'?t believe Regent has a policy as such."

Before Spaulding could say much more, Regent's (David) Shearman interrupted the interview, saying, "Are you a Regent student? Can I talk with you for a minute?"

He then talked to Spaulding and Zack Hofstad , another law student, out of earshot. Spaulding subsequently would not say what the encounter was about, but (Regent Lawyer Louis) Isakoff said city police had advised that Regent keep the protesters and campus community apart to avoid confrontations.

Rene Ball , a Virginia Beach police spokesperson, confirmed that her department had requested limited contact between spectators and protesters "for safety reasons, to maintain the peace."

Virginia Beach police were out in force. Ball said she was prohibited from saying how many police were deployed, but an on-site tally included six mounted police, two motorcycle officers, an EMS unit, a mix of unmarked vehicles and cruisers, a "Marine Patrol Dive Team" vehicle, at least nine uniformed officers and a police chaplain.

The excuse that the police and Regent's Lawyer give does not wash. The arrests at Liberty were extremely peaceful, and the group was obviously outmanned and certainly outgunned. They abruptly ended an obvious peaceful conversation.

And a Marine Patrol Dive Team??? I'll say it again, WHAT ARE THESE FAKE-CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS AFRAID OF???

Oh, that's it. The truth.

Travelling Tour Terrifies Robertson's Regent

Haven Herrin, co-director of the Soulforce Equality Ride, was the first to be arrested on the Regent University campus today. Five more gay-rights advocates were arrested after they walked on campus to talk with Regent University Students. Photo by John H. Sheally II / The Virginian-Pilot.

Six Soulforce Equality Riders were arrested attempting to speak with students at Pat Robertson's Regent university. [AP: Seven Arrested]

At least eight Regent students met with Soulforce last night for a bible study, according to the Hampton Roads Pilot Online.

Click on the links to these stories. Do you see all the cops?? I swear I didn't see that many in one place on the streets of DC when thousands of people came last September to protest the war.

WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE AFRAID OF?

Equality Rider: Kayla

Soulforce Equality Rider: Kayla Bonewell

Name: Kayla Bonewell

Hometown: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Age: 26
Home Page: www.cahouse.blogspot.com

From Kayla's Blog:

...what i learned today was that when a conversation with students turned into a game of trying to win the conversation between who had more points to back up their side, no common ground was gained. but when i entered a situation, knowing and acting like the other human being was my brother or sister in christ, and came to the conversation by way of lighthearted jokes and common expereriences, we both left the dialouge feeling as though we each had truth to offer to each other. the goal is reconcilliation and the creation of the beloved community/kindom of god. we touched and felt this community today. may the seeds of compassion and justice be watered towards growth from this moment on.

Equality Rider : Kevin

Soulforce Equality Rider: Kevin Mumaugh

Name: Kevin Mumaugh

Hometown: Laramie, Wyoming
Age: 22
Home Page: www.geocities.com/equalityridekevin

From Kevin's Blog:

"...As we approached the guard house of Liberty University, a large number of Lynchburg and Liberty police moved to meet us. While we did not enter the campus, we crossed the line that had been designated restricted to us. Jake began to give a speech he had prepared before hand. After no more than the first line of the speech, Jake was warned that he was trespassing and must leave. He continued. Then he was informed that he was under arrest. He was given the option of signing a summons (which would mean he could leave right then and there) and elected not to do so. At last he cuffed with ties and taken aside. He complied fully with the police.

"Then I stepped forward....With Jake's speech in hand, I crossed the line and picked up Jake's speech from right where he left off. I made it through maybe a sentence, then was told I was in violation of trespassing and must leave immediately. I said I would not leave and continued. I was then informed that I was under arrest and was given the option of signing a summons. I elected not to sign it. I was cuffed with ties, my hands behind my back, and was escorted away with the police.

"And after me, another came forward and continued the speech. And then another and another and another. 24 equality riders and members of the community stepped forward to give the speech. While I only heard it as far as the second line, I am told the speech was nearly completed by the time the line had been fully detained..."

Christians, gays ally on school issue

A truce? A ceasefire? I can't wait to read the compromise.

Christians, gays ally on school issue

Ben Feller, Associated Press
published Sunday, March 12, 2006

WASHINGTON -- As public schools cope with conflicts over homosexuality, they can now get some tips from an unlikely pair: conservative Christians and gay advocates. Leaders of those groups have agreed on guidelines for how educators, parents and teachers should deal with any aspect of school life involving sexual orientation.

Unveiled on Thursday, the guidance is meant to be a First Amendment framework for finding common ground -- essentially, a way to get people talking instead of screaming at each other.

Equality Ride: Going Behind the Lines in the Battle for Equality

Soulforce : Freedom for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People
The members of Soulforce are road warriors in the battle for equal rights. They are part of Generation Gay: out, and unafraid.

The Soulforce Equality Ride is a contingent of brave young LGBT volunteers traveling the country by bus to hold dialogue with people at some of the most hostile places for gay Americans. They began their journey last Friday, March 10, at Liberty University.

...the Equality Ride will take 25-30 young adults on a seven-week bus tour to confront several religious and/or military colleges that ban the enrollment of GLBT students. At each stop along the journey the members of the Equality Ride will present a powerful case for GLBT equality. Through dialogue with administrators and discussions with students, the young activists of the Equality Ride will make clear the harmful effects of the false notion that homosexuality is a "sickness and a sin," and "a threat to the nation and the military." To make public their case for equality, the young activists on the Equality Ride will hold vigils, Bible studies, class discussions, community forums, and press conferences.

Last year when Soulforce members visited Liberty University for a similar outing, they were greeted with cookies. This year, they were greeted with cuffs. On Friday, Jerry Falwell's private security force arrested members of Soulforce and other participants for trying to hold open dialogue with students at Liberty.

Campus police charged all of those arrested with trespassing, and two faced additional charges of inciting trespassing. They were restrained in plastic handcuffs before being taken to a local magistrate.

All were released without bail later in the day, pending a court appearance April 3. The maximum penalty for the misdemeanor charge is a year in jail and a $2,000 fine.

The Rev. Jerry Falwell, the university's chancellor, had warned the group that it would not be permitted on campus, saying he would not allow his school to be used for a media event aimed at raising money for gay rights.

"Neither will we permit them to espouse opinions or otherwise suggest beliefs or lifestyles that are in opposition to the morals and values that this institution promotes," he said in a statement issued earlier.

And far as I can tell the only "raising money" going on by this ride is to self-support the effort to bring honest talk to his closed-minded campus. It sounds like he's very afraid of a handful of homosexuals merely talking to his students. Does he not have enough faith in his students or his lord? Or is he afraid that the gays will bear witness to the truth and talk sense to his misguided sheep?

Either way, now the Equality Riders will have legal costs and possible jail time. I'll keep an eye out for anything raising money to cover that, but in the meantime I'm asking that you please support the ride itself financially.

Remember, the radical right has an army of check-writing oppressors who live to keep gay Americans second-class citizens. Soulforce is fighting this battle by daring the heardened hearts at the core of the radical Right to end oppression in the name of their god. The brave volunteers at Soulforce deserve wide support.

From the Soulforce website

Donate to the Soulforce Equality Ride

With a financial contribution to the Soulforce Equality Ride you will enable students and young activists to jumpstart a dialogue with school officials and bring hope and empowerment to closeted gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students at the religious and military schools that currently oppress them. You will also be helping to confront strongholds of misinformation about sexual orientation at its source.

You can make an online donation HERE. You can also sponsor individual riders.

Soulforce, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization and all contributions are tax-deductible.

• $75 will provide four riders with housing for one night.
• $250 will buy lunch for all 35 riders for one day.
• $350 will fill up the gas tank on the bus.

Get to know more about each member of the Soulforce Equality Ride and read about how you can sponsor him or her...

Christianity and the Den of Thieves

Mark 11:15-18 (New International Version)

On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, "Is it not written: " 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it 'a den of robbers.'"

The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.

Jeremiah 7:11 (New Living Translation)

Do you think this Temple, which honors my name, is a den of thieves? I see all the evil going on there, says the LORD.

You know, I feel kind of guilty when I rant about Christianity. It's not really Christianity that has me upset, it's the hypocrites who use the name of Christianity to justify and wield their bigotry.

I feared after 9/11 that the country would overreact with a religious fervor. I just didn't expect that the declared enemy would be gays and not Islam. It turns out Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell were really sounding a rallying cry when they blamed gays and lesbians for the attacks on America even as the smoke freshly rose from the bloody wreckage at Ground Zero. I suppose the collective mindset needed somewhere to target its displaced anger, and gay Americans despite all the cosmetic social recognition were touted as an acceptable scapegoat.

People, by their nature, are social beings. We find that we have things in common, and we form little collectives of like-minded people who socialize, worship, work, mate, grieve, and argue with one another. When these communities are based around religion, the community leaders - some of whom are of seriously questionable character - have a powerful ability to influence the average weak mind.

For every major name like James Dobson or Beverly LaHaye, there are hundreds of local leaders who use the same xenophobia, gay hatred, and self righteousness to obtain importance in their own local community. They support the national machinery that is behind the oppression of gay Americans. These local leaders are poisonous to society.

Because much of the public cannot comprehend consensual same-sex physical intimacy - or because they fear it - these non-Christian anti-gay communities are attractive to people who want to feel they are part of something fighting the forces of evil. They fall victim to the propaganda, corruption, politics and deceit of the anti-gay right, and do not realize the damage their fear and manipulation causes to gay families.

Tell me, does this foursome look like the forces of evil (satanic holiday aside)?



These are not Christians who are waging the War Against Homosexuality. Christ - if you believe in him - above all taught charity and humility in worship. Christian communities swept up in the anti-gay fervor are being led by blasphemers and hypocrites. The radical extremist religious right has made Christianity the tool of the exact people Christ allegedly spoke against - users of the poor, hypocrites, grandstanders, and corrupt businessmen.

So I feel guilty when I rant about radical Christianity, because they're really not Christians.

Visit the Queer Resources Directory

Queer Resources Directory

"I do not want my homosexuality to be something that must be accepted and respected. I want it to be something that is perfectly ordinary."

-- Lambda 10 Project, 1998

Honesty isn't always easy.

Convention Center At Night

Technology is amazing. I am blogging to you as I walk, slightly intoxicated, down 9th street in Washington nortwest. In 145 characters or less.

Dusk Overhead

An Evening On The Brink Of Spring

Today was too nice to stay inside the house. Now, night is falling and it's getting chilly. Time to walk home.

Text Message Joe!

If you want to send a text message to my phone, just send me an e-mail at bearnakedjoeweb (at) gmail.com and put the word "text" as the subject. This is a forwarder, so please identify yourself in the body of the message.

LIVE: Phone Blogging - Destiny B. Childes

Live at Titan: Grand Illusions

LIVE: Bear Happy Hour

Tony & Troy

Phone Blogging

Happy Friday.

Was this a gay joke?

I'm inclined to think at least one panelist laughed like it was...

Channel: NBC Channel 4 WRC, Washington, DC (Background noise as I'm doing laundry)

Time 12:46 during "Flight 29 Down," a teen drama that looks like it's based on "Lost."

A commercial promo for a local sports show...

Announcer: "Tonight on Full Court Press"

Host, George Michael, wearing a pink tie (spoken completely straight): "Seven o'clock tonight, Full Court Press Returns: The real truth about what it's like to be the bottom guy on the four man luge. (At) seven tonight exclusively on Full Court Press."

My boyfriend says no, but one male panelist laughed so heartily and mischievously on camera as the commercial came to an end, and I can only think of this one crude joke to explain why.

I sounds like a joke I might make at Bear Happy Hour, but not on Saturday morning kids TV.

Was this a gay joke?

Atom feed fixed

I discovered my atom feed hosted here at bearnakedjoe.com wasn't working correctly because of a forwarding rule I have in place. I have now fixed it. It can be located here: http://bearnakedjoe.com/bearnakedjoe/atom.xml

Other feeds and easy-subscribe links are available here:

New! Add me to your Google home page or Google reader!

>>

Generation Gay

Gays and Lesbians must come out.

Americans who believe that gays deserve equal rights must change conventional wisdom.

Decades ago, conventional wisdon believed one could argue whether blacks and whites should be allowed to marry. Today, no one makes that argument. A century ago, conventional wisdom said that women were an underclass and one could argue that they shouldn't have the right to vote. You can't publicly make that argument today. Why? Conventional wisdom has changed.

Today one is allowed to argue that gays are diseased sluts who want to rape children and die at 43. One is allowed to argue that gays can't be good parents. A preacher is allowed to argue to his congregation on a Sunday that "Lesbianism" is running rampant in DC schools because his son can't get a date. This is today's conventional wisdom, and it needs to change.

How will it change? Death. Old bigoted people will die off and young openminded people will take their place as decision makers in society. We need to teach the young openminded people that the old conventional wisdom was wrong, just like it was for race and sex.

Like suffragettes and civil-rights marchers before us, it is the destiny of our generation to bring this progress to America.

Gays need to be out, open and unafraid.

Progressive Americans need to demand that mainstream media must no longer accept these bigoted arguments from the AFA or from Tom fucking DeLay. Do not allow the media to give validity to the bigots' intellectual dishonesty.

We need to demand from society to not elect leaders that spout these bigoted beliefs. It must become unacceptable to make these arguments. Not because the beliefs are politically incorrect, but because they are prejudicial, wrong, and they damage a whole class of society.

Straght (but not narrow) America must help us. This is not just a gay issue, this is about human rights.

Gays must stop blaming themselves! Do not look at the negative aspects of life and blame the so-called gay community. Can an alleged stereotypical "gay community" represent all gays? It's an easy label we give ourselves to inflict self-hate. Well you know what? Straights are promiscuous, too. Straights use Meth. Straights have STDs. Straights have drama - oh BOY do they have drama. Why do gays pretend we are the only ones afflicted with humanity? Why do we let others do the same?

Gays must remember what can happen if they don't remain hard in this fight:


From Wikepedia, History of gays in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust (emphases mine):

Prior to the Third Reich, Berlin was considered a liberal city, with many gay bars, nightclubs and cabarets. There were even many drag bars where tourists straight and gay would enjoy female impersonation acts. There had also been a fairly significant gay rights movement under Magnus Hirschfeld around the turn of the century. The advancements of the gay community were soon erased, however, with the coming to power of the Nazi Party.

Nazi ideology held that homosexuality was incompatible with National Socialism because gays did not reproduce and perpetuate the master race...

...a special division of the Gestapo was instituted to compile lists of gay individuals. In 1936, Heinrich Himmler, Chief of the SS, created the "Reich Central Office for the Combating of Homosexuality and Abortion."

Himmler had initially been a supporter of Ernst Röhm (a man Hitler perceived as a potential threat, and the leader of the SA, the Nazi Party's first militia, who was discreetly gay until 1925 when he was outed by a Social Democratic newspaper), arguing that the charges of homosexuality against him were manufactured by Jews. But after the purge (the Night of the Long Knives), Hitler elevated Himmler's status and he became very active in the suppression of homosexuality. He exclaimed, "We must exterminate these people root and branch... the homosexual must be eliminated." (Plant, 1986, p. 99).

A gay couple: victims of the Holocaust

...Hitler believed that homosexuality was "degenerate behavior" which posed a threat to the capacity of the state and the "masculine character" of the nation. Gay men were denounced as "enemies of the state" and charged with "corrupting" public morality and posing a threat to the German birthrate. About one million gay men were victimized by the Nazi regime. Gays were not initially treated in the same fashion as the Jews, however; Nazi Germany thought of German gay men as part of the "Master Race" and sought to force gay men into sexual and social conformity. Gay men who would not conform and switch sexual orientation were sent to concentration camps under the extermination through work campaign.

...Gay men suffered unusually cruel treatment in the concentration camps. It can be attributed to the harsh view of the SS guards toward gay men, as well as to the homophobic attitudes present in Nazi society at large. The marginalization of gay men in Germany was reflected in the camps. Many died from harsh beatings, some of them caused by other prisoners. And Nazi doctors often used gay men for scientific experiments in an attempt to locate a "gay gene " to cure any future Aryan children who were gay.

Once vibrant Eldorado gay night club in Berlin after being shut down, displaying banners promoting "Hitler List 1".

...An account of a gay Holocaust survivor, Pierre Seel, details life for gay men during Nazi control. In his account he states that he participated in his local gay community in the town of Mulhouse. When the Nazis gained power over the town his name was on a list of local gay men ordered to the police station. He obeyed the directive to protect his family from any retaliation. Upon arriving at the police station he notes that he and other gay men were beaten. Some gay men who resisted the SS had their fingernails pulled out. Others were raped with broken rulers and had their bowels punctured, causing them to bleed profusely. After his arrest he was sent to the concentration camp at Schirmeck. There Seel stated that during a morning roll-call the Nazi commander announced a public execution. A man was brought out, and Seel recognized his face. It was the face of his eighteen-year-old lover from Mulhouse. Seel then claims that the Nazi guards stripped the clothes of his lover and placed a metal bucket over his head. Then the guards released trained German Shepherds Dogs on him, which mauled him to death.

...Some leaders clearly wanted gays exterminated, while others wanted enforcement of laws banning sex between gay men or lesbians. More than one million gay German men were targeted, of whom at least 100,000 were arrested and 50,000 were serving prison terms as convicted gay men. An additional unknown number were institutionalized in state-run mental hospitals. Hundreds of European gay men living under Nazi occupation were castrated under court order.

Remember, this happened less than seventy years ago in a liberal democratic society. It can happen in America. Our generation must grab the bullshit by the horns and drag this country to the next level of liberty.

"It couldn't happen here in Oz..." Elphaba, Wicked