Today's Cultural Warfare Update (catchup 2)

Focus on the Family still cranky (again cranky, really) against "outrageous" sex-ed curriculum in Maryland that says being queer is a normal sexual variation;

Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM against ENDA pulls out the "special rights" language again; the "special rights for homosexuals" language is a lie on several levels, most importantly that by pretending that heterosexuality is not a sexual orientation, they claim that only queers - and not straights - get protection under things like ENDA. This is a lie. However, it's one they've been repeating for over a decade in these battles;

Focus on the Family unhappy as Governor Schwarzenegger only vetoes - for the second time - legalising same-sex marriage and doesn't veto the other four bills they were campaigning against, chief amoungst these being a bill saying that public school teachers couldn't teach anti-queer materials in school. Focus calls this "forc[ing] teachers to promote homosexuality" by "present[ing] a one-sided message";

"Teen Ranch" - fundamentalist run - got taken off the Michigan state list of "troubled teen" treatment centres. I'm not familiar with this particular one, but the fundamentalist movement has these set up in many areas across the country, and they're primarily religious camps. The Alliance Defense Fund has sued to get it back on the state rolls, and, hence, receiving state moneys;

Focus on the Family's "fact sheet" on ENDA does, for once, acknowledge that heterosexuality is included in sexual orientation, but then spends the rest of the time cranky about how queers in the workplace automatically hurt Christian employees and saying it'll drive litigation costs through the roof;

FotF - many times, actually, I'm not including them all - brings another round of "ex-gay" quackery, this time talking about a book (also described as a study) supporting the fundamentalist position. A quick check for the authors in Google Scholar turns up a whole series of pro-"ex-gay" papers and positions going back a decade or so, mostly in religious publications; their university, Wheaton College, has the motto "For Christ and His Kingdom," and is a religious institution first and foremost; the school is officially young-earth Creationist, for example, and requires "a biblical doctrine that is consonant with evangelical Christianity";

Focus on the Family "applauds" the study (...or book...) again in a separate article;

Maryland Supreme Court upholds state anti-GBLT marriage law; Focus on the Family demands state Constitutional amendment providing an extra layer of anti-gay ban anyway;

Focus on the Family's Gary Schneeberger says that while James Dobson isn't going to start a new party, he will be encouraging people to vote for a suitable third-party candidate this fall if certain leading Republican contenders take the nomination. I would presume this would be the Constitution Party, which is pretty much the Christian Reconstructionist party;

Focus on the Family brings its "ex-gay" roadshow to California;

Focus on the Family condemns the movie Golden Compass as "heretical," saying that it "promotes atheism and denigrates Christianity;" the Catholic League is in on this, too;

Focus on the Family promotes anti-marriage umbrella organisation, the "National Organisation for Marriage," says that "absolutely everything" is at stake; given that he's said same-sex marriage rights will destroy Western civilisation, I think he means everything everything;

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani is showing up at the big theoconservative confab in DC this weekend; we'll see how much bowing and scraping he does to get the Dobson crowd back in his fold;

I include this just because it's so completely not religious and purely political; Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM, carried forward from redstate.org, to demand Chris Matthews not be allowed to moderate any Republican debates because he's an "anti-Bush talk show host";

FotF: "Evangelicals" support Dobson's threats to the GOP, will follow him away;

Focus on the Family starts up something they normally use against abortion: they're suggesting that the HPV vaccine - the anti-cervical-cancer vaccine - kills people. They're hedging this much more than they do the anti-abortion health-claim rhetoric, but that it's there at all means they're looking to build a case against it if they can find a reason other than "we'd rather have women die of cervical cancer";

Focus on the Family reprints James Dobson's column in the New York Times saying that if the GOP doesn't nominate an anti-abortion and anti-queer candidate, they're walking;

Planned Parenthood opens clinic in Aurora, Illinois; fundamentalist leadership promises to run them out of town and close the clinic;

New US Supreme Court declines to hear appeal, allowing Alabama's "obscenity" ban to stand; sex toys are illegal in Alabama under this 1998 law; Focus on the Family wants to see active enforcement;

Focus on the Family says "Clergy Appreciation Month" is a great opportunity to get more politics in your church by getting pastors involved in politics;

Focus on the Family applauds 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that gender identity disorder / transwomen and transmen do not fall under "sexual orientation" in legal terms, so are not protected by state laws;

FotF propagates the "birth control causes abortions" lie in this story about a ruling by the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals; this has been a big hobbyhorse of Concerned Women for America, the assertion that almost all forms of birth control "may sometimes cause an abortion," and is also part of their campaign against emergency birth control, a.k.a. "Plan B." Plan B is not an abortion drug; the confusion they engender is deliberate;

If he weren't retiring, I'd be headlining this higher up, but: Marine General Pace restates his opposition to allowing queer people in the military, and expands his comments to state that the military must "not, through the law of the land, condone activity that ... is counter to God's law."

Iowa pastors launch anti-marriage Constitutional drive;

Concerned Women for America and Focus on the Family say that ENDA without a the T isn't any better than ENDA with the T, and that businesses should be able to fire solely on the basis of sexual orientation, and that this is in fact vital to businesses owned by Christians.

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I don't like it, but I'm still voting for it

This is just a mini-post to refer people to llachglin's post on Sound Transit 2/Regional Transportation Improvement District "Roads and Transit" package on the ballot this fall, Proposition 1. I agree with a lot of what he has to say on this particular vote. (Frequent readers of my political posts might note that he and I argue a lot in comments.) I've said before that I don't really like the package, but I think there are three key things:

1. The "next version" won't actually happen. Now, they may throw something else on the ballot in another couple of years - probably two to three - but even if they do:
   
2. The next version won't be better. (C.f. the 1993 vs. 1996 Sound Transit votes, the 1968 vs. 1970 Forward Thrust votes llachglin mentions, the Seattle Commons vote and second vote, and others going back in time.) If you're banking on a second, "better" version, stop. You're not getting it. This is the second version. Or, arguably - going back to Referendum 41 - the third. (41? 43? I lose track of the numbers.) And, aside from that,
   
3. We need the infrastructure buildout now. C.f. my comments halfway down here.

One thing he doesn't cover is how I have to work my way past my loathing of the inept and incompetent Sound Transit management board. I've spent a lot of time fighting that thing and holding it up as an example of idiocy and trying to get it reformed. I have not changed my mind about that. They're jerks, and the reforms that did happen didn't go far enough. But with the Monorail project scuttled, and with Metro just now an extension of King County, there's not an alternative, and there's not going to be an alternative in any realistic timeframe. We're stuck with them. I don't like it either, but I accept it and move on.

So. It sucks. But it's good enough. Under the circumstances, it'll have to do. So go read Erik's post, he talks about a lot more than I am here, and then go hold your nose and vote Yes. That's what I'll be doing.

All the World Like Glass

All the World Like Glass (110K)

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