Quote of the Day

"I don't think people like children being injected into controversies that are far beyond their understanding. ... An eight-year-old doesn't know what homosexuality is, nor should he or she!"—Bloviating fartsack Bill O'Reilly, scolding the mother of an 8-year-old boy who, earlier this week, told Rep. Michele Bachmann at a campaign appearance that his mother is a lesbian and doesn't need to be fixed.

O'Reilly is obviously a stupendous child psychologist and childhood development expert, absolute tops in his field, he probably has at least three different degrees from Smart Guy University, which is so exclusive you couldn't get in so don't even try, and I'm just some random knucklehead who happened to grow up with gay friends and friends with gay parents, but it seems to me that actually a lot of 8-year-olds do know what homosexuality is, and they find it to be orders of magnitude less controversial than 62-year-old straight men who make a fine living pretending to care about the well-being of children whose families he marginalizes at every opportunity to bring spiteful joy to the bitter homobigots he calls fans who are desperately concerned about their super-special relationships losing the shimmering, golden glow that only denying equality to same-sex couples conveys upon their gloriously gilded unions.

But, hey, I'm no expert.

Pat Robertson Responds to Hillary Clinton's Speech

[Trigger warning for homophobia and Christian Supremacy.]

I'm pretty sure if someone had asked me to predict what Pat Robertson's response would be to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's landmark LGBTQI rights speech, I would've guessed pretty much exactly this, minus one Thomas Jefferson (mis)quote, and plus one deeply misguided rendition of Dolly Parton's "Straight Talk."

Isn't it appalling that the United States of America would try to enforce the acceptance of homosexuality on other nations, but at the same time we would not force them to take care of their religious minorities and they would permit discrimination and persecution of Christians? What kind of a country have we got? You know, there is a god in heaven and he is just. Thomas Jefferson: "I tremble when I remember that god is just." He is just; he is not going to allow this kind of thing to go on forever. This country cannot continue to violate god's principles and to make a mockery of his laws and think we're going to get away with it. And when the blow comes, it's going to be horrible.

That's what she said.

[Via.]

FYI

[Trigger warning for homophobia.]

In case you had forgotten for six seconds that Rick Santorum is a titanic garbage monster, here is a timely reminder.

Backlash Backfire

[This post originally ran in February, but the included video is making the rounds again, and I've gotten a bunch of emails about it, so here it is again. Enjoy!]

In August of 2007, the state of Iowa's prohibition on same-sex marriage was ruled unconstitutional. In 2008, the case for marriage equality went to the Iowa Supreme Court, and, in 2009, the Court unanimously ruled in favor of marriage equality, thus making same-sex marriage legal in Iowa.

So of course Republicans in the state House introduced an amendment to the state's constitution to outlaw it again—a futile gesture, since state Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal flatly refuses to allow it to come up for a vote in the Senate. (Rock on.) But there were hearings nonetheless, because homobigots love to hear themselves talk in poorly appointed rooms on shitty microphones.

What they weren't counting on was providing a platform to 19-year-old Iowan Zach Wahls, who was raised by a same-sex couple and whose compelling testimony has gone viral, making a passionate appeal for marriage equality the most talked-about event of their stupid symbolic hearing. Whooooooops!

Take it away, Zach.


[Transcript below. H/T to everyone in the multiverse, and thanks to each and every one of you.]

Good evening, Mr. Chairman. My name is Zach Wahls. I'm a sixth-generation Iowan, an engineering student at the University of Iowa, and I was raised by two women.

My biological mom, Terri, told her grandparents that she was pregnant, that the artificial insemination had worked, and they wouldn't even acknowledge it. It wasn't until I was born and they succumbed to my infantile cuteness that they broke down and told her that they were thrilled to have another grandson. Unfortunately, neither of them lived to see her married to her partner, Jackie, of 15 years, when they wed in 2009.


My younger sister and only sibling was born in 1994; we actually have the same anonymous donor, so we're full siblings, which is really cool for me. Um, you know, and I guess the point is that our family really isn't so different from any other Iowa family—you know, when I'm home, we go to church together, we eat dinner, we go on vacations. But, you know, we have our hard times, too—we get in fights, um, you know, actually, my mom Terri was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2000; it is a devastating disease that put her in a wheelchair, so we've had our share of struggles.

But, you know, we're Iowans; we don't expect anyone to solve our problems for us; we'll fight our own battles; we just hope for equal and fair treatment from our government.

Being a student at the University of Iowa, the topic of same-sex marriage comes up quite frequently in classroom discussions. You know, and the question always comes down to, "Well, can gays even raise kids?" And the question, you know, the conversation gets quiet for a moment, because most people don't really have an answer—and then I raise my hand and say, "Actually, I was raised by a gay couple, and I'm doing pretty well."

I scored in the 99th percentile on the ACT; I'm actually an Eagle Scout; I own and operate my own small business. If I were your son, Mr. Chairman, I believe I'd make you very proud.

I'm not really so different from any of your children. My family really isn't so different from yours. After all, your family doesn't derive its sense of worth from being told by the state, "You're married—congratulations!" No, the sense of family comes from the commitment we make to each other, to work through the hard times so we can enjoy the good ones; it comes from the love that binds us. That's what makes a family.

So what you're voting here isn't to change us. It's not to change our families; it's to change how the law views us, how the law treats us. You are voting for the first time, in the history of our state, to codify discrimination into our constitution—a constitution that, but for the proposed amendment, is the least amended constitution in the United States of America. You are telling Iowans that some among you are second-class citizens who do not have the right to marry the person you love.

So will this vote affect my family? Will it affect yours? Over the next two hours, I'm sure we're going to hear plenty of testimony about how damaging having gay parents is on kids. But in my 19 years, not once have I ever been confronted by an individual who realized independently that I was raised by a gay couple.

And you know why? Because the sexual orientation of my parents has had zero effect on the content of my character.

Thank you very much. [applause]

Quote of the Day

"The family is the bedrock of our society; unless we protect it with the institution of marriage, our country will fall."—Professor of Epic Dipfuckery and GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum, waxing apocalyptic about same-sex marriage again.

I continue to love (where "love" = loathe with the fiery passion of 10,000 suns) conservatives' insistence on talking about "families" and "same-sex marriage" as if those are mutually exclusive concept.

Whoooooooooooooooops you are gross and stupid and wrong.

Number of the Day

$2 million: The amount of money fast food chain Chick-fil-A donated to anti-gay groups in 2009.

Earlier this year, Chick-fil-A became embroiled in a controversy surrounding its donations to anti-gay groups. Though Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy denied having an "agenda against anyone," an Equality Matters investigation discovered that Chick-fil-A donated more than $1 million to anti-gay causes between 2003 and 2008. Now, new IRS 990 forms reveal that the company donated nearly two million dollars to anti-gay groups in 2009 alone, the most recent year for which public records are available.

There are a handful of Chick-fil-A franchises opening in the area where I live, the first time the brand has been in this market. I've never been to a Chick-fil-A, and had no real desire to go, but I might have tried it once just for the sheer curiosity after singing along to Ben Folds' "Army" for 12 years. Grew a mustache and a mullet / Got a job at Chick-fil-A / Citing artistic differences / The band broke up in May... Heh.

Guess who won't be giving a dime to them now...?

If you'd like to let Chick-fil-A know that they won't be getting any(more) of your business, you can tweet at them, visit their Facebook page, or submit feedback at their website.

[H/T to Deeky.]

Number of the Day

Zero: The amount of credibility megapastor Joel Osteen has on the subject of gay people's lives—or any subject, for that matter, with the possible exceptions of "How to Gain Notoriety and Wealth by Exploiting Bigotry in the Name of the Lord" and "I Am a Shameless Fartsack."