This week’s cartoon. 

More about PFOX’s war on gay youth in our schools later, when I’ve caught up a bit… 

You may have already heard the story of Jason Johnson, a gay student who was expelled from the fundamentalist University of the Cumberlands in Kentucky.  You may have heard this university claims the right to treat any of its students like less then dog shit because…hey…they’re a private institution and they don’t have to answer to any of those damn secular civil rights and equal opportunity laws.  You may have heard further that the University of the Cumberlands is slated to get a sweetheart 11 million dollars of Kentucky tax payer money from the state assembly this year…it’s status as a private institution willing to discriminate against any citizen of Kentucky it damn well pleases to notwithstanding.  God says it’s okay to steal money from the heathens.

What you may not have also heard, and which attracted my attention just a few moments ago while reading this article about the incident, is that the University of the Cumberlands is apparently also quite willing to lie through their teeth about Jason’s school record…

The summer after his freshman year, he came out to his parents and returned to campus as an openly gay man.

"I just knew that I couldn’t go back to hiding again. I wanted to be out," said Johnson, adding that he never experienced harassment or conflict because of his sexual orientation. "Being gay is part of who I am, but not the totality of who I am."

Johnson posted messages about his boyfriend and being gay on his profile at MySpace. com, and school administrators eventually saw the Web site; Johnson doesn’t know how they found it. They confronted him last week with a printout of the site, an order to leave the school and failing grades for a semester that probably would have ended with honors.

The university did not return calls seeking comment yesterday.

(Emphasis mine) Okay…it’s one thing to say that an openly gay student doesn’t conform to your school’s religious teachings.  It’s one thing to expel that student.  But it’s quite another to claim in his transcripts to any other school he might want to attend, that he failed classes which in fact he was doing quite well in, but which in fact you did not permit him to finish.  No…you mark the semester as incomplete, and if you’re ashamed to go into detail about why this particular student didn’t complete the semester you let it go at that.  But you don’t say he failed, because he didn’t.  He wasn’t allowed to finish.

The word for what University of the Cumberlands is doing here….is lie.  The word for people who do that sort of thing…is liars.  But the word from the pulpits in America now, is that it’s okay to lie through your teeth about homosexuals, and god won’t mind.

Morals.  Values.  Who would Jesus slander?

This weeks cartoon…

When you’ve just about begun to think you’ve finally plumbed the bottom of the hate barrel, something like this comes along to remind you that it has no bottom.   Just as the Soulforce Equality Ride was about to leave Oklahoma, the state school board reacted to their presence by removing the protections gay school kids had from being harrassed by their teachers.  One state representative, a (surprise) republican, said the change was necessary to protect students from gay militant activists.  If you’re a little fuzzy about how letting teachers abuse gay students protects the rest of the student body then you’re probably some kind of godless heathen pagan yourself.

More about this on the cartoon page… 

A gay teen gets in the face of Virginia senator George Allen and wonderfulness results:

Soon enough, the floor was changed – citizens wishing to question the Senator should stand up at the podium in front of the audience. I immediately stood up in response, and stood right behind a woman who took charge of the floor at the podium. She questioned health related issues, food additives and the lack of warning labels. Soon enough she stepped down – and the climate was right for controversy – which might I add seems to be the train that follows me, but not the train I attempt to board.

"Thank you Senator," I began as all eyes were on me, Del. Ed Scott looked intently at me – he knew why I was there, Del. Scott and I frequently converse about GLBT issues in Virginia. "I first want to thank you for being here, I really appreciate when our elected officials are so willing to allow the public to speak with them." Senator Allen smiled, what was he expecting me to say?

"I wanted to speak with you in regards to a Hate Crimes bill that was introduced in Congress not too long ago." He nodded at me as I continued, "This bill sought to add ‘sexual orientation’ to the country’s list of types of people that are victims of hate crimes. I myself have been victim to threats and assaults of hate crime based on the fact that I am gay, and I am a Virginian. Only two weeks ago my friend was in Richmond when he walked out of a restaurant with his partner another person called him a ‘faggot’, drew a knife, and attacked my friend. Luckily, my friend lived – others are not so lucky. Last year, you supported legislation which sought to add ‘sexual orientation’ to the nation’s hate crime list, and for that I thank you – but later this year you said that you regret your support for this bill and would not support this bill in the future, why is that?"

Senator Allen kept his smile, kept his poise, and prepared one of those typical political responses. He told me a story, that once he was at a Gay Pride Festival in Philadelphia, and there was a peaceful group reciting verses from the Bible across the street. They were arrested for assault. He believes in religious freedom, and believes religious freedom of expression is ideal in this country. I agree. Senator Allen continued to say that he believes sexual orientation is not a civil right Everyone broke into thunderous applause. I doubt the crowd understood – Senator Allen seemed to turn the table making my statement appear as if I was advocating for "special" rights, which of course is far from the truth.

"Well Senator," I began. "I too believe religious freedom of expression is part of what this country was founded upon – it is a beautiful thing to be able to express your views, however sexual orientation is not a civil right, it is a part of someone, and gay citizens are being denied basic civil liberty, very basic rights that most citizens are granted." The Senator said something along the lines of disagreement. "If you believe that this is how gay citizens should be treated," I continued, "I am assuming that is why you supported the Federal Marriage Amendment."

Senator Allen seemed a bit tense…

I can’t imagine why.  It’s one thing to beat up on homosexuals to win the bigot vote and another to do it to a gay teenager who is standing up to you and defending his rights as an American in front of everyone while you’re doing it.

That "peaceful group" in Philadelphia who Allen says were arrested for reciting verses from the Bible across the street? Here’s a snapshot of a couple of them reciting their verses:

 And here’s why they were arrested:

AFA attorney Brian Fahling called the arrests "harassment" of Christians and said that the charges violated the protesters’ freedom of speech.

Judge Tucker in a single sentence ruling rejected the argument.

The confrontation began when the 11 protestors marched to the front of a stage at Outfest and began to yell out Biblical passages to drown out the events on stage.

Police attempted to get the protesters to move to to an area on the edge of the site.  Instead they went deeper into the gay crowd.  Using a bullhorn they condemned homosexuality.  They then got into an argument with a group of Pink Angels, who screamed back.

It was at that point police intervened arresting the 11.

"They were not prohibited from preaching," said Karen Brancheau, a lawyer for the District Attorney’s Office. "A reasonable request was made to prevent a situation from becoming dangerous to their own safety as well as the safety of the participants."

At minimum Repent America was trying to provoke a confrontation with the festival goers.  At worst they wanted the crowd to give them an excuse for violence.  The police stepped in and put a stop to it.  They weren’t arrested for "peacefully praying across the street"…that’s a load of right wing bullshit.  Had they been peacefully praying across the street they’d have been left alone.  But you can’t disrupt a Gay Pride festival from across the street.  Allen probably knows full well he was bullshitting that kid, but he’s has been swimming in that religious right bullshit for years now.  It’s what you need to do to get votes in the Virginia Heartland.

Go read this kid’s blog of his encounter with Allen…it is amazing.  He stood up to Allen even though the crowd was cheering Allen.  That’s what Pride is all about.