Rep. Aaron Schock At West Point

Schock writes on his Facebook page:

Challenged by cadets at West Point to complete the Combat Water Survival Lab which is their toughest requirement for graduation. The associated press describes it as "Perhaps the mother of all swim tests – Survival Gate # 4 – can be found at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Weighed down by heavy equipment, cadets must perform several tasks in a pool amid simulated battlefield chaos. Artificial fog, rain, and deafening noise are pumped in, darkness is punctuated only by strobe lights, and the water is churned by artificial wave makers.” #almostdrowned #goarmy

Early this year Schock abruptly made his Instagram page private after blogger John Aravosis published a column titled The 7 Gayest Aaron Schock Instagram Posts Of 2013.

UGANDA: President Backs Off Anti-Gay Laws, Fears Trade Boycott By West

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni yesterday said that his nation risks a trade boycott by western corporations if the anti-gays laws struck down earlier this year on a technicality were to be reinstated.

In a commentary on Friday in the state-run New Vision daily, Museveni said he was not worried by the aid cuts that followed the initial law, but warned of a trade boycott by companies in the West. He said re-issuing the anti-gay law would likely antagonize consumers in the West, risking access to a rich export market. "To carelessly and needlessly open unnecessary wars with useful customers is irresponsible to say the least," he wrote. Homosexuality remains taboo in Uganda and many socially conservative African societies where some religious groups have branded it a corrupting Western import. The original passage of the anti-gay law was celebrated with a rally in the city center against homosexuals, which Museveni attended and where he was thanked for signing the bill by religious leaders from various denominations. Donors, who finance about 20 percent of Uganda's annual budget, lauded its annulment, and some have resumed lending. The U.S. described the court's decision as "an important step in the right direction for human rights" in Uganda.

Some insiders suspect that Museveni orchestrated the overturn of the anti-gay legislation as the court's ruling came just days before a Washington DC summit of African nations.

RELATED: Two weeks ago a Four Seasons hotel in Irving, Texas reportedly turned away Museveni and his wife. A spokesman for the hotel said that the Four Seasons simply could not accommodate them on short notice, but the incident was reported as a "snubbing" in the African press. Museveni claimed, "My people made hotel bookings for me, but homosexuals blocked it."

Tony Perkins: Liberals Hate Free Speech

"This is how radical liberals work -- they try to silence and smear, instead of discuss and debate. We've witnessed that up close and personal on issues like marriage. Instead of practicing the tolerance they say they want, these anti-freedom extremists fiercely target anyone they disagree with. Tiny family businesses like the Kleins', whose only offense is trying to operate their cake store in line with their religious beliefs. Large corporations like Hobby Lobby, who feel that they shouldn't have to pay for pills that violate their conscience. And everyday conservatives, whose own senators were trying to junk the First Amendment to keep voters from speaking the truth about their radically liberal records. The Left will do anything to steamroll the opposition. If anything's criminal, it's the liberals' totalitarian tactics!" - Hate group leader Tony Perkins, via press release.

SCOTUSblog On What Could Happen Next

Lyle Denniston writes at SCOTUSblog:

It would be hard to find a close, or perhaps even a casual, observer of the Court who would predict with any confidence that the Court will deny review of all seven pending filings on same-sex marriage, from five states. The Court actually has been quite active on the issue this year: on three occasions, it has temporarily blocked lower court rulings that would have cleared the way immediately for same-sex marriages to begin or to be recognized, in Utah and Virginia.

Those orders suggest, if they don’t actually prove, that the Court is preserving either a chance for the issue to be explored further in lower courts without thousands of new same-sex marriages occurring, or a chance for the Justices themselves to weigh in on the issue before that happens.

Moreover, it would only take the votes of four Justices to grant review of any one of the seven new petitions, and there are four Justices who strenuously objected in dissent last year when the Court struck down a key part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act — a ruling that actually set off nearly three-dozen rulings by lower federal courts, striking down (with only one exception) state bans on such marriages.

When the Court privately discusses the new cases, as it almost surely did at last Friday’s closed-door Conference, it would not be hard to predict that those four Justices would be arguing energetically to take on the issue, provided that they had some reason to hope that, after such a review, they might gather a fifth, majority-making deciding vote from another Justice.

Those four Justices also surely know that, if the Court does opt to deny review of all of the cases at this point, such a denial would trigger the full implementation of appeals court decisions that would spread in a short period of time to eleven more states beyond the nineteen (along with Washington, D.C.) that currently allow same-sex marriage. That would almost certainly add an inevitability to the campaign to win same-sex marriage rights across the nation.

So, after the silence on Thursday, the focus now turns to Monday. The new list of orders, mostly denials, will emerge first and, before the end of the day, the Court will indicate whether it is rescheduling the same-sex marriage cases for another look, at a private Conference set for next Friday morning.

TRAILER: American Sniper

Directed by Clint Eastwood.

Douchebag Of The Day - John Stemberger

(Tipped by JMG reader Erik)

RELATED: In July, Stemberger declared that the fight against same-sex marriage "is worth dying for."

Brian Brown: I'm Proud To Be A Hater

"I readily and proudly plead guilty to the 'crime' of not supporting [the HRC's] desire to redefine marriage. I have had the nerve to express that view not only here in America, but when invited to speak in other countries. Hence, in the distorted world of the campaign, I am an extremist and 'export hate.' I am proud to have played some small role in this emerging global movement. One of the few things the Human Rights Campaign correctly notes is that I have spoken to conferences around the world. However, these speeches focused not on 'hate' or 'division' but on the importance of individuals of different faiths, nationalities, cultures and political creeds uniting together in a shared defense of the truth of marriage and family. Working together with men and women dedicated to protecting the family is not the definition of hate, but love." - Hate group leader Brian Brown, who last month appeared at a Kremlin conference which concluded with a call for more nations to criminalize homosexuality.

ISIS Beheads British Aid Worker

MISSOURI: County Judge Rules State Must Recognize Out-Of-State Gay Marriages

The ACLU of Missouri writes on its Facebook page: "IT'S OFFICIAL! Judge J. Dale Youngs rules in landmark ACLU of Missouri case (Barrier v. Vasterling) that out-of-state same-sex marriages MUST be recognized in Missouri."

Here's the ruling.

Quote Of The Day - Yvette Schneider

"I think the ex-gay movement will be dead within the next 10 years. As churches become more gay-affirming, parents and church leaders won’t seek parachurch ministries to 'fix' in gay Christians what isn’t broken. The fact that the ex-gay movement has been a monumental failure with no real, lasting change in those who have sought to negate same-sex attractions and become heterosexual will become more and more apparent to the average lay Christian. This is especially true in the age of social media, when information spreads like wildfire and can’t easily be suppressed. I’m sure there will be pockets of people here and there who will still try to change someone’s orientation. But the movement as a relevant entity in the push for LGBT rights will be defunct." - Former "ex-gay" activist Yvette Schneider, speaking to the SPLC.

Meanwhile in Washington DC...

British Comedian Pranks Faith-Healers

WaPo Profiles Signorile & Griffin

The Washington Post today published a lengthy profile of SiriusXM radio host Michelangelo Signorile and Human Rights Campaign head Chad Griffin. Here's a setup:

In 2004, 38 percent of respondents supported same-sex marriage, according to a Washington Post-ABC poll. Ten years later: 59 percent. And today, only a decade after Massachusetts ushered in same-sex marriage, Freedom to Marry says that nearly 44 percent of Americans live in jurisdictions that have legalized it — 19 states and the District of Columbia.

Even observers who welcome the gains often seem pleasantly puzzled: How did that happen so fast? But the changes are the result of decades of struggle, from early gay-marriage efforts in the 1970s along with AIDS and anti-discrimination activism in the 1980s and ’90s, to challenges at the Supreme Court in the new millennium. In Lawrence v. Texas, Lambda Legal, another major gay-rights group, won a huge victory in 2003, as the justices struck down state laws that criminalized sodomy.

Gay-rights activists — including the “Let’s get this done NOW!” camp and those who proceeded more methodically in order to build support — kept pushing. In a way, Mike Signorile and Chad Griffin framed a remarkable generation, each each representing a different historical moment, Signorile at the start and Griffin at the close. Here are their stories.

Hit that link, it's an interesting piece.

BERLIN: Grindr "Art Project" Roils Locals

A Dutch artist is sitting in a Berlin gayborhood storefront where he is live-streaming photos and chats with unsuspecting local Grindr users to giant video screens in the window. Some of these men, perhaps unsurprisingly, are furious. Via Gay Star News:

The project is called Wanna Play? But many Grindr users don't consider the art playful, some consider it to be a gross invasion of their privacy. Others say they have felt manipulated into acting oddly or writing messages that they would never have done if it was being broadcast for the world to see. Parker Tilghman is one of the men furious over the art show. When he started chatting to Verhoeven, they traded pictures and chatted for awhile before he was asked whether he was interested in shaving the artist's beard. "Given the odd nature of our conversation I comically asked, 'Are you going to murder me?' to which he responded, 'No, but I'm afraid you might be the one to murder me.' When Tilghman went to the address the artist gave him, standing on the corner of Marienenstrasse, he saw his Grindr chat out there for everyone to see. "Someone involved in the project confronted me and I shouted at him louder than I have ever shouted in my life. The entire block stopped, at one point they started clapping. I screamed, 'How dare you? You are violating peoples lives, you are publicly mocking people and projecting the pictures and words onto a screen that an entire city block in one of the busiest parts of Kreuzberg for everyone to see.'"

The two-week installation is in its third day and is live-streaming here. At this writing it appears that the screen is turned off.

Kevin Spacey - That's All

Via PBS News Hour: "While rehearsing for his one night only benefit concert to support arts education, Kevin Spacey performs That's All, first sung by Nat King Cole in 1957."

UPDATE: PBS has pulled the clip.

More From Dr. Bryan Fischer, Virologist

Damn those apes and their poppers!

New Target Ad Stars Lesbian Family

Via After Ellen:

Married, pregnant couple Amanda Deibert and Cat Staggs are the stars of a new Target commercial called “Baby Digs: The Magic of Space,” and they play themselves. Amanda (an actress who you may remember from FEED) and Cat (an artist, who recently drew Wonder Woman) are due January 21 and they got hooked up with a sweet new nursery for appearing in the ad. “A friend of ours knew the casting director was looking for expecting couples and she emailed me and asked if I would be interested in sending our stuff over,” Amanda said. “We both thought it would be amazing to have so much of our nursery needs taken care of (kids are expensive!) and also loved the idea of showing an authentic lesbian family in a mainstream commercial. Obviously, Target dug that too.”

Things must be at DefCon 1 over NOM headquarters!

UPDATE: In the comments on this post, Amanda (featured in the ad) points out that I reported on the couple's Central Park wedding three years ago.

Scalia: Marriage Cases Coming "Soon"

Via the Wall Street Journal:

A coy Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia fielded questions about marijuana legalization and same-sex marriage and defended the role of religion in public life during a visit to Colorado on Wednesday. After giving a speech against the concept of an evolving Constitution, Justice Scalia at the University of Colorado was asked by a high school student about Colorado becoming the first state to allow recreational-pot sales, according to the Associated Press. The justice was also asked when we’ll find out if the high court will take up the question of whether state same-sex marriage bans are constitutional. “I know when, but I’m not going to tell you,” he reportedly replied, getting a big laugh from the audience. “Soon! Soon!” he added.

During his response to the marijuana question, Scalia noted that federal laws trump state laws. Dare we hope that he keeps that in mind when it comes to marriage? Naw.

Unemployent Rate Hits Six-Year Low

The Labor Department today reported that 248,000 jobs were created last month, pushing the unemployment down to a six-year low of 5.9%. Via Politico:

The number of new jobs easily surpassed expectations — analysts had predicted 215,000 jobs created last month, according to a Bloomberg survey. Friday’s robust jobs report comes at an opportune time for the White House as it makes a final push ahead the midterm elections to highlight the economic recovery during the Obama administration. This is the last jobs report before voters go to the polls on Nov. 4. “The data underscore that six years after the Great Recession — thanks to the hard work of the American people and in part to the policies the President has pursued — our economy has bounced back more strongly than most others around the world,” Jason Furman, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said in a statement.

The dip in unemployment can be attributed in part to an estimated 96,000 Americans leaving the work force. The labor force participation rate also dipped slightly to 62.7%.

New Cheerios Ad Stars Gay Family

In another pro-gay move by General Mills, a Cheerios campaign that stars a gay family will launch this week in Canada. Via Marketing Mag:

“The Cheerios Effect,” is the colloquial name some have given to a phenomenon that anyone who’s eaten a bowl of the cereal knows: when two Cheerios float in milk, they tend to attract one another thanks to surface tension. Cossette is using this as a jumping-off point to address the broader issue of social isolation and loneliness. Even though the phrase “Cheerios effect” first popped up on Wikipedia in 2007, surprisingly, this marks the first time that the brand has ever used the phenomenon in a marketing effort. “We were in meeting with agency talking about issue of disconnection in society, this epidemic of loneliness,” says Jason Doolan, director of marketing for cereal at General Mills Canada. “We talked about the history of Cheerios and the role it could play in bringing people together. Somebody stood up and said, ‘You know, when you put two Cheerios in a bowl, they float together.’ It didn’t take more than 30 seconds on Google for someone to say, ‘It’s a real thing.’ We think it’s a perfect metaphor for human beings’ desire to connect.”

In addition to the gay family below, the Cheerios Effect campaign will tell the stories of young people connecting via sign language. A social media-driven site for customers to tell their own connection stories has been launched to support the ads. Get ready for NOM to boycott General Mills even harder!

Lindsey Graham Might Run For President

Yup, he said that.

In a recent, hour-long interview, Lindsey Graham said if he is reelected to the Senate in November, he will begin exploring a bid for the presidency. Graham has long been one of the most active and outspoken hawks in Congress. He has been a voluble critic of the Obama administration on a wide variety of national security issues—Guantánamo Bay, Benghazi, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Russia, Iran, and others. Unlike many of his colleagues, Graham often first seeks to engage the administration privately as it debates policy with the hope that he can help shape the outcome rather than just criticize it after the fact. But Graham no longer trusts Obama enough to engage him on these matters. In our interview, Graham repeatedly spoke of the challenges that will face the next president because of the mistakes made under Obama. And he suggested that he might just be the one to fix them.

The only lifelong bachelor to become president was James Buchanan. And you know what they say about him.

Rand Paul Waffles On Gay Marriage

Via CNN:

“Society’s changing,” he said. “I mean, people change their minds all the time on this issue, and even within the Republican Party, there are people whose child turns out to be gay and they’re like, oh well maybe I want to rethink this issue. So it’s been rethought. The President’s rethought the issue. So I mean, a lot of people have rethought the issue.” It sounded, for a moment, as if Paul was hinting that he, too, could change his thinking about marriage. “The bottom line is, I’m old fashioned, I’m a traditionalist,” he said. “I believe in old-fashioned traditional marriage. But, I don’t really think the government needs to be too involved with this, and I think that the Republican Party can have people on both sides of the issue.” “You could rethink it at some point, too?” I asked him. He shrugged, and gave me a half-grimace.

The Castro By Drone

No audio.

PENNSYLVANIA: House Democrats Hold Hearing On Reinstating Hate Crimes Law

Via CBS Philadelphia:

In the wake of the September 11th gay bashing incident in Center City, the House Democratic Policy Committee held a public hearing on LGBT hate crimes Thursday. “We have an uphill battle in this legislative climate to pass LGBT hate crimes laws,” said State representative Brian Sims. Sims called the hearing, which was held at the Kimmel Center. He told dozens who sat in the audience the goal is to build a record to support an amendment that would add sexual orientation, gender identity and disability to the state’s hate crime statute. Victims, experts, and LGBT leaders testified. Alicia Gonzolez of GALEAI says LGBT people are disproportionately targeted: “Many gay bashing crimes are unsolved and many more are unnoticed.”

Read more about the hearing on Sims' Twitter feed. The current legislative session ends on November 30th.

PORTUGAL: Gay Catholics Association To Petition Pope Francis For Change

Via Portugal News:

According to the head of the Portuguese homosexual Catholics’ association Rumos Novos, gay members of the Catholic church are to ask the Vatican for an “urgent change” in attitude that will promote their acceptance and integration in local communities and parishes. Speaking to Lusa News Agency ahead of the first World Congress of Homosexual Catholics’ Associations, which takes place next week in Portimão,  José Leote said there is an “urgent need for a change in attitude on behalf of the Catholic hierarchy for there to be real acceptance […] which will involve the integration [of homosexuals] in the parish communities.” This will be one of the main points in a document to be put together during the meeting, which runs in Portimão from 6 – 8 October. Representatives of other international homosexual Catholic associations will meet in Portugal over that weekend, which coincides with the Vatican’s Synod on the Family extraordinary meeting, which takes place every year between 5 and 19 October and during which the Church reflects on “the new realities of families.” In total twenty-eight associations from sixteen different countries are due to meet in the Algarve city. The get-together has been organised to “debate the role of homosexuals in today’s Church” and, according to reports, afterwards a letter will be sent to Pope Francis asking for “more inclusion and closeness.”

The group's website is here.

TRAILER: Interstellar

New version.

Bryan Fischer, Virologist

Origins Of HIV Traced To 1920s Congo

Researchers have long believed that HIV first jumped from apes to humans nearly a century ago in central Africa. Today comes a more conclusive report.

Bustling transport networks, migrant labor and changes to the sex trade in early 20th-century Congo created a "perfect storm" that gave rise to an HIV pandemic that has now infected 75 million people worldwide, researchers said on Thursday. In an analysis of the genetic history of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS, the scientists said the global pandemic almost certainly began its global spread in the 1920s in Kinshasa in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Here, a confluence of factors including urban growth, extensive railway links during Belgian colonial rule and changes in sexual behavior combined to see HIV emerge in Congo's capital and spread across the globe. Oliver Pybus, a professor at Oxford University's zoology department who co-led the research, said that until now most studies have taken a piecemeal approach to HIV's genetic history and looked only at certain HIV genomes in particular locations. "For the first time, we have analyzed all the available evidence using the latest phylogeographic techniques, which enable us to statistically estimate where a virus comes from," he said. "This means we can say with a high degree of certainty where and when the HIV pandemic originated."

The above-linked report speculates that HIV first began to spread into the wider African population in the 1960s due to the reuse of needles during campaigns against other diseases. (Tipped by JMG reader Elroy)

GOD TV Founder Admits Adultery

Televangelist Rory Alec, who with his wife Wendy founded the GOD TV network, has confessed to adultery. Via the virulently anti-gay Charisma News:

Another leader in the body of Christ has admitted to a "moral failure" concerning his marriage. Rory Alec has resigned as chairman and CEO of the network he co-founded with his wife, Wendy. "After 20 years of service, I have had a moral failure this year," Rory said. "For this reason, I am stepping down. Please forgive me for the disappointment I've caused, but I know your eyes are on Jesus who is the author and finisher of your faith and not on me, an imperfect man. It is with a heavy heart that I confirm my season with GOD TV is over for now." Wendy, co-founder and director of television at GOD TV, will lead the network with the support of its senior management team and the company's board. GOD TV will continue its international operations.

GOD TV is available in over 250 million homes worldwide. Right Wing Watch reminds us about that time the Alecs exorcised the demons of Jezebel out of President Obama.

NEW JERSEY: Toll Collector Sues State For Being Told Not To Say "God Bless You"

A former toll collector for the Garden State Parkway is suing the state of New Jersey, claiming that she was so devastated at being told not to tell drivers "God bless you" that she was forced to quit her job of three entire weeks. You will be shocked to learn that this bullshit story is being flogged by Todd Starnes.

Cynthia Fernandez has filed a lawsuit against the Garden State Parkway claiming her former boss violated her First Amendment rights. “I was so upset, I was crying” the mother of three told me. “There’s nothing wrong with saying ‘God bless you.’” A few weeks ago she was meeting with her supervisor when he laid down the law on her toll booth language. “He said, ‘I don’t want you to say God bless you anymore. I don’t want you to offend anybody,” Fernandez said. She’d only been working at the Garden State Parkway for about three weeks and from day one she had always greeted motorists with a smile and a “God bless.” “I always say it,” she said. “Have a good day, God bless.” Ms. Fernandez said not one person complained. “People would tell me I’m the friendliest toll booth worker they’ve met,” she said. So instead of complying with the demand, Ms. Fernandez decided to quit.

The Garden State Parkway says Fernandez quit because she hadn't been assigned the shift she wanted. But she had three weeks seniority! They also say they have no ban on saying "God bless you." Which, of course, they should.

Tweet Of The Day - Crazy Eyes

(Tipped by JMG reader Lynda)

TRAILER: To Russia With Love

From the press materials:

To Russia With Love, an EPIX Original Documentary about two generations of Olympic LGBT athletes, will make its world premiere on Wednesday, October 29 at 8PM ET. To Russia With Love examines human rights through the lens of LGBT athletes, with iconoclastic athlete and commentator Johnny Weir serving as the viewers’ guide into this world. The documentary examines the experiences of Olympic legends Billie Jean King and Greg Louganis as well as the next generation of LGBT athletes who participated in the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. Shooting worldwide in locations as diverse as Sochi, New York City, Calgary, Toronto, St. Petersburg and Moscow, the film follows these athletes from the ice to the slopes as they bear the brunt of constant media questioning about Russia’s anti-gay laws.

Evil Alabama Mother: God Wants Me To Keep My Dead Son's Husband From Getting Any Money From Wrongful Death Suit

Last month an Alabama woman filed a Supreme Court amicus brief in support of Utah's ban on same-sex marriage. Pat Fancher does not want same-sex marriage to be legalized because if that happens, her former son-in-law would be entitled to the money awarded in the wrongful death suit filed against the trucking company whose driver killed his husband. And God wants her to get that money as today's demand for a summary judgment in Alabama's marriage suit makes very clear.

Pat Fancher’s position and expressed legal interest under Current Alabama Law: Neither the institution of marriage nor acts of homosexuality are recent inventions. However, the notion of redefining marriage as anything other than the union of man and woman are unprecedented in all of human history. Acts of homosexuality have been viewed negatively by many cultures in human history and embraced by others, but no known civilization has redefined marriage to include members of the same sex. This concept is unique to the generation of mankind that now inhabits our world. Ms. Pat Fancher believes that God defined, designed, and destined the family as the basic building block of society, a society on which all systems of order are based.

As such she has strongly held personal beliefs on the issue of God’s design for marriage and same sex marriage. Ms. Pat Fancher believes that this nation’s laws should reflect the moral basis upon which the nation was founded. Furthermore, she believes that the ancient roots of the common law, the pronouncements of the legal philosophers from whom this nation’s Founders derived their view of law, the views of the Founders themselves, and the views of the American people as a whole from the beginning of American history, at least until very recently, have held that homosexual conduct is immoral and should not be sanctioned by giving it the official state sanction of marriage.

Pat Fancher is the mother of the deceased, David Fancher. Under current Alabama law regarding intestate succession Ms. Fancher is the next of kin and mother to David Fancher. Plaintiff Hard requests in the Prayer for Relief of his Complaint that this Court issue an injunction “without regard” to the state of Alabama’s Marriage Protection Act or the state of Alabama’s Constitutional Provisions regarding the sanctity of marriage. This requested injunction asks this Court to prevent the Executor of David Fancher’s estate from distributing the potential wrongful death proceeds to David Fancher’s mother, Pat Fancher, and give over one half of those proceeds to Paul Hard who alleges a claim to a “spousal share.” This claim is contrary to Alabama state law. It is Defendant Fancher’s opinion that Plaintiff’s requested injunction, if granted, will violate the millennia-old institution of marriage as ordained by God.

Read Fancher's full demand at Equality Case Files. Paul Hard is being represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

UPDATE: Here's the horrible story of how Hard was treated at the time of the accident.

Hard said hospital workers refused to provide him any information about Fancher's condition after the accident. A receptionist told him that he was not a member of Fancher's family and that gay marriages were not recognized in Alabama. Hard learned from a hospital orderly that Fancher had died after about a half-hour of trying to get information. A funeral home director later insisted that Fancher's death certificate indicate Fancher was never married, citing state law. "If I can spare one other person that kind of indigity and hurt, I would do it," Hard said after filing his lawsuit. "If I can let people know how this law unjustly and cruelly affects people, I will do it. And ultimately I hope that these laws are overturned so that it now longer can give folks permission to treat Americans as second-class citizens." Hard, 55, who teaches counseling and psychotherapy at Auburn University Montgomery, is also seeking to have Fancher's death certificate changed to say that he was married.

RELATED:  Last week Fancher's backers at the Foundation For Moral Law demanded that Supreme Court justices Elena Kagan and Ruth Bader Ginsburg recuse themselves from all marriage cases. Fancher's SCOTUS brief was filed by Foundation For Moral Law senior counsel John Eidsmoe, who has a crackpot history that might exceed that of the group's founder, Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore. In 2011 Eidsmoe called for Congress to have "ex-gay" torture provided to the US military. That same year he declared that gay service members will molest children. He has also said that all women must submit to their husbands and that the United States must impose biblical laws and punishments or else the nation is doomed. Eidsmoe, NOT incidentally, was Michele Bachmann's professor at Oral Roberts University.

Mike Huckabee: If Elected President, I'd Start By Restoring Religious Liberty

POLAND: Pro Boxer Backs LGBT Rights

Poland's struggling LGBT rights movement got a boost this week when a "wildly popular" boxer publicly expressed his support. Via New York Times:

Dariusz Michalczewski, a world-famous pugilist who goes by the nickname Tiger, recently made headlines by announcing his support for one of the country’s most prominent gay rights groups, Shoulder to Shoulder on Equality — L.G.B.T. and Friends, by appearing in a photograph with a sign reading, “I am an ally of L.G.B.T. people, because I want to live in a country where my gay friends are not discriminated against.” Tiger, 46, is a former light heavyweight world champion who defended his title for almost 10 years. For a decade he dominated the prestigious World Boxing Organization, whose current champions include Vitali V. Klitschko and Manny Pacquiao. Now the boxer has decided to compete in the super heavyweight division — that is, the fight for minority rights in Poland. Mr. Michalczewski is both a surprising advocate for gay rights and the perfect choice for the role: He is white, heterosexual, Catholic, rich, professionally successful and widely popular, and thus more likely to persuade conservatives than a liberal intellectual or politician.

RELATED: Interestingly, homosexuality was never criminalized in Poland and its legality was codified in law way back in 1932. Gays are allowed to serve openly in the military, gay men are allowed to donate blood, and in 2003 LGBT Poles were protected from employment discrimination. However same-sex marriage is banned in the national constitution and anti-gay sentiment remains widespread. Last year former president (and Nobel Prize winner) Lech Walesa declared that gay members of the parliament should be forced to sit behind a wall.

NEW YORK CITY: Feds Grant $50K To Document LGBT Historic Sites

Via White House press release:

Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis announced $500,000 in matching grants to help fund 13 projects across the country to increase the number of listings in the National Register of Historic Places (National Register) associated with Latinos and other underrepresented communities including African Americans, Asian Americans and LGBT Americans.

“Our American heritage is a tapestry made up of threads from many nations and communities, and we are working with public and private partners to help ensure that our National Register of Historic Places reflects this remarkable diversity,” Jewell said. “These matching grants will enable us to add important sites that haven’t yet been recognized and more fully tell the story of our country.”

“As America’s storyteller through place, the National Park Service is using the leadership of groups like the Latino Scholars and resources like grants to develop and share more deeply the stories of underrepresented groups," said Jarvis. “Looking ahead to the National Park Service’s Centennial in 2016, we are committed to telling a more complete and diverse story of America’s history in our second century.”

On the list: "LGBT Sites in New York City -- $49,999 to survey and document historic and cultural sites associated with LGBT heritage." Currently the Stonewall Inn is the only LGBT-related site that has been "designated a national historic landmark by the National Park Service as a property having extraordinary significance in American history."

Tony Perkins On Fox News: America Must Invade Iraq Again Because Christians

Jimmy Carter Turns 90

Happy 90th Birthday, President Carter! Michelle and I send our best wishes to you and Rosalynn. -bo pic.twitter.com/Du99I0S524
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 1, 2014

Last night President Obama congratulated former President Jimmy Carter on his 90th birthday. Carter is the sixth US president to become a nonagenarian. The others: George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, Herbert Hoover, and John Adams. To date, Ford was the longest-lived president at 93 years, 165 days.

Animator Vs Animation

An animator's stick-figure character takes over his Facebook page and wreaks other havoc on his computer. Long clip but it flies.

(Tipped by JMG reader Ray)

Christian Site: Satan Is Celebrating The LGBT Characters On Network Televison

"The prince of the power of the air is celebrating his success this week using media to promote the gay agenda and subtly indoctrinate a generation with the message it's OK to be gay. GLAAD officially announced that, 'moving forward, networks must feature significant transgender content in their original programming in order to receive a grade of 'Excellent' in its rankings.' It's not enough that 3.9 percent of prime-time broadcast scripted-series regulars will be LGBT characters, which is up from 3.3 percent last year. The stats go on and on from there, slicing and dicing LGBT coverage per network, by sex, by recurring and regular characters, and so on. Meanwhile, Christian personalities on prime-time television are largely missing or grossly mischaracterized. When Christian characters do make their way to mainstream television shows, they are usually portrayed as judgmental jerks who run around condemning everyone to hell." - Jennifer LeClaire, writing for Charisma.

GOP Vs Sen. Kay Hagan

The anti-Hagan campaign is part of the GOP's national "Road To Six" push to retake the Senate.

No Marriage Orders From SCOTUS Today

Bennett/Gaga Duets Album Debuts At #1

Cheek To Cheek debuted at #1 on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart today, breaking Tony Bennett's own record as the oldest artist (88!) to reach that chart's summit.

The standards album, released Sept. 23 on Interscope/Columbia Records, sold 131,000 copies in the week ending Sept. 28, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It also hits No. 1 on both the Jazz Albums and Traditional Jazz Albums charts. 88-year old Bennett is the oldest living act to earn a No. 1 album, beating a record he set himself back in 2011. That year, a then 85-year old Bennett scored his first No. 1 album with Duets II (which included a collaboration with Gaga on "The Lady Is a Tramp"). Gaga previously led the list with ARTPOP, less than a year ago, and Born This Way, in 2011.

Cheek To Cheek dethrones Barbra Streisand's duets album Partners, which was her tenth #1 album including greatest hits compilations and soundtracks.

PHILIPPINES: Nation's Largest City OK's Sweeping Anti-Discrimination Bill

The city council of Quezon City, the largest city in the Philippines, has unanimously approved a bill that outlaws anti-LGBT discrimination. Via Gay Star News:

The law was passed unanimously by more than 30 city councilors after a marathon eight-hour session. "This is very special and better than other ordinances, because it not only penalizes actions, but there is also affirmative action. This is an early gift ahead of the QC pride march in December," Ging Cristobal, project coordinator for the Asia Pacific region of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, told GMA News. The law extended a 2003 resolution banning discrimination of LGBTI people in employment to education, delivery of goods or services, insurance and access to accommodation. The city-wide ordinance also provides venues to educate employers and educators on LGBTI rights.

Quezon City has a population of 2.7M and is one of 16 municipalities that make up the Metro Manila Capital Region.

FRANCE: Manif Pour Tous Recruits For This Weekend's Anti-Gay Parenting March

JMG reader David writes from Paris:

The Manif Pour Tous is recruiting for this Sunday's marches in Paris and Bordeaux. Yes, they're out to recruit teenagers and young adults! The local Lyon division is offering round-trip bus rides Lyon-Paris for 30 euros ($38). An article in yesterday's Le Parisien says the focus of this weekend's demonstrations in Paris and Bordeaux is to protest the European Court of Human Rights' recent decision that France must grant full parental rights to same-sex couples with children born via surrogacy or artificial insemination.

Previous marches have drawn hundreds of thousands and resulted in violent battles with riot police.

HomoQuotable - Gwen Patton

"We don’t want people to hurt us, we want people to run away from us, and the best way we have found to do that is to be armed. Now if someone tries to attack us, we can defend ourselves. Ideally we don’t want any altercation at all, but if there is a perception that the gay person on the street could have a concealed gun, it might make the perpetrator think twice. Guns can be a very useful tool, but society has turned them into something they are not. They aren’t the boogeyman. So some think of us as traitors. But at the end of the day, it’s about recognizing that the government shouldn’t be taking our rights away – our rights to be armed, and our rights to be happy and with the person we love." - Gwen Patton, head of Pink Pistols, in a Fox News article about "growing" LGBT support for the Second Amendment.

Scott Peters Vs Homocon Carl DeMaio

BREAKING: Supreme Court COULD Issue Cert On Marriage Case Tomorrow

Earlier this week we were told that the next round of news wouldn't come until Monday at the earliest. Obviously, that wasn't true.

TIME Magazine: New Rick Scott Ad Is Most Sexist Republican Message Of 2014

Via TIME Magazine:

In case there is any debate about whether 1) Republicans really want young women on board for the midterms and 2) they’re confused about how to do it, the College Republican National Committee ad for Rick Scott will settle the question once and for all. The ad features Brittany, a young undecided voter, who appears to be shopping for a wedding dress, but she’s actually shopping for candidates for the Florida Governor’s race, get it? Because women don’t like dirty old politics, women like wedding dresses!

(Tipped by JMG reader Joel)

GLAAD: Fox TV Leads New Season With Most LGBT Regular Characters

GLAAD has issued its annual report of the diversity of major network television. An excerpt:

FOX once again leads the way in terms of LGBT characters in broadcast television with 6.5% of primetime broadcast scripted regulars being lesbian, gay or bisexual; a significant increase from an already impressive 5.4% last year. The network features 10 LGBT characters among its 154 series regulars. ABC, which was tied for first with FOX last year is now in second place; 4.5% of primetime regular characters on the network are LGBT, or 9 out of 201 characters. NBC is jumping from last to third place. After a low last year (when only 1% of its primetime regular characters were LGBT), NBC has made significant efforts to rectify the lack and now boasts 3.8% LGBT regular characters; that represents seven of its 183 series regulars. CBS remains in fourth place but continues to make significant progress. The network is seeing an increase in the percentage of LGBT characters and is now at 3.2%, compared to 1.9% at the beginning of the last season. Six of CBS’ 186 primetime series regulars are LGBT. Sadly, in what is a tremendous step backwards, The CW has no regular LGBT characters out of 89 series regulars, despite 3% of its regular primetime characters being LGBT at the beginning of the last season.

Read the extensive report.

FLORIDA: Crist Takes Lead In New Poll

Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist had been in a dead heat with Gov. Rick Scott for months. Things are still very close, but there's some good news for the Crist campaign today. Via the Tampa Bay Times:

Crist's 6 percentage-point lead isn't so big because the likely-voter poll's error margin is 4.1 percent. But it ain't the topline, it's the trend to note. And for the past two weeks, the momentum has been for Crist: a net 9 percentage point shift since last week and, compared to the poll released Sept. 9, an 11-point shift. The movement in Crist's direction corresponds with Crist's increasing ad buys. Scott has been pumping more money into TV as well, but he hadn't been as closely answered as he is now. Overall, the poll track in the governor's race indicates one clear takeaway: the race is close and prone to minor shifts.

While in office as a Republican, Crist supported Florida's successful ballot measure to ban same-sex marriage. After jumping ship to the Democrats, he changed his tune. In August he issued an open letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, demanding that she not appeal that month's slew of marriage rulings. That letter was ignored.

Secret Service Director Resigns

The Tea Things are thrilled. Because they are so concerned about the president's safety.

American Conservative Union Rages Against California's Plastic Bag Ban

The ACU is the group that puts on CPAC.

NYC Takes PrEP Campaign To Grindr

The New York City Department of Health has launched a PrEP campaign on Grindr, Scruff, and social media sites. And of course, the ever combative AIDS Healthcare Foundation is furious.

A stigma persists that Truvada is a "party pill" -- an attitude shared by some doctors who scold patients about their sexual practices and won't prescribe it, said Anthony Hayes, a spokesman for the Gay Men's Health Crisis, which backs PrEP. The journal Clinical Infectious Diseases found that 74 percent of surveyed clinicians back PrEP, yet only 9 percent had prescribed it. Enter Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the health department's new assistant commissioner for HIV/AIDS control and prevention. Previously a top AIDS doctor at Mount Sinai Hospital, he is a self-described "gay health warrior." "There's not a lot of doctors who can say, 'I've done thousands of HIV [blood] tests with my hands in dark sex clubs,' " he said. "I have done that."

The city is spending about $500,000 to encourage PrEP, with outreach to doctors and ads on Facebook, Twitter and hookup apps like Grindr and Scruff. Says one ad: "Share the Night, Not HIV." Among those in Daskalakis' focus: young black and Latino men, who studies find at higher risk because of the amount of the virus in the population and health care disparities. The city's PrEP push is misguided, said Michael Weinstein, head of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which serves 200,000 patients globally. "The first order of business in medical ethics is 'do no harm,' and what the New York City Health Department's doing is doing harm, because there are people who are going to take this drug intermittently, who are going to think they're protected, who are going to not be protected," Weinstein said.

Fairly strict adherence to daily dosing is critical to maintaining Truvada's effectiveness as a preventive.

Matt Alber - Handsome Man

(Tipped by JMG reader Troy)

SLOVAKIA: Hate Group Alliance Defending Freedom Lobbies Against LGBT Rights

The Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom is taking their battle against LGBT equality to Slovakia.

"The people of Slovakia should have the freedom to preserve marriage and family if they so choose," said Alliance Defending Freedom senior legal counsel Roger Kiska, who filed an amicus brief with the court. "This referendum will allow Slovaks to affirm current Slovak law and important social values, which is perfectly acceptable under the Slovak Constitution." More than 400,000 citizens signed the petition supporting a referendum, according to Roger Kiska—more than the required number of signatures. However, Slovak President Andrej Kiska asked the Constitutional Court to review the measure because of a provision in the country's constitution that forbids holding a referendum to change "fundamental rights and liberties."

Slovakia banned same-sex marriage in June. The proposed referendum backed by the ADF would stiffen that ban to include any recognition of same-sex relationships and ban unmarried people from adopting children.

RELATED: Eight members of the 28-nation European Union have legalized same-sex marriage: Belgium, Denmark, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom (England & Wales). Nine EU members offer civil unions or partnerships: Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, and Slovenia. Eleven EU nations currently offer no recognition of same-sex couples: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia.

Headline Of The Day

Via Valleywag:

Facebook is feeling the heat and is slated to apologize for the situation later today, sources tell Valleywag. We're told the apology will be first issued at a meeting with a coalition of drag queens, LGBT activists, and San Francisco Supervisor David Campos, all of whom have been pressing Facebook end the discriminatory policy. Before making a public announcement, the company will also outline to activists how it plans to fix its policies. When reached for comment, a Facebook representative declined to comment on the terms of the policy reversal. However, the representative confirmed the meeting is taking place.

UPDATE: Facebook honcho Chris Cox has posted a lengthy message on Facebook. It begins:

I want to apologize to the affected community of drag queens, drag kings, transgender, and extensive community of our friends, neighbors, and members of the LGBT community for the hardship that we've put you through in dealing with your Facebook accounts over the past few weeks. In the two weeks since the real-name policy issues surfaced, we've had the chance to hear from many of you in these communities and understand the policy more clearly as you experience it. We've also come to understand how painful this has been. We owe you a better service and a better experience using Facebook, and we're going to fix the way this policy gets handled so everyone affected here can go back to using Facebook as you were.

The way this happened took us off guard. An individual on Facebook decided to report several hundred of these accounts as fake. These reports were among the several hundred thousand fake name reports we process every single week, 99 percent of which are bad actors doing bad things: impersonation, bullying, trolling, domestic violence, scams, hate speech, and more — so we didn't notice the pattern. The process we follow has been to ask the flagged accounts to verify they are using real names by submitting some form of ID — gym membership, library card, or piece of mail. We've had this policy for over 10 years, and until recently it's done a good job of creating a safe community without inadvertently harming groups like what happened here.

Our policy has never been to require everyone on Facebook to use their legal name. The spirit of our policy is that everyone on Facebook uses the authentic name they use in real life. For Sister Roma, that's Sister Roma. For Lil Miss Hot Mess, that's Lil Miss Hot Mess. Part of what's been so difficult about this conversation is that we support both of these individuals, and so many others affected by this, completely and utterly in how they use Facebook.

OHIO: Lesbian Sues Over Wrong Sperm

An white Ohio lesbian is suing a local sperm bank, alleging that they mistakenly sent her sperm from an African-American donor. According to the suit, while she and her partner adore their mixed-race daughter, they are having difficulty raising her in an all-white community.

Jennifer Cramblett, of Uniontown, Ohio, alleges in the lawsuit filed Monday in Cook County Circuit Court that Midwest Sperm Bank sent her the vials of an African-American donor's sperm in September 2011 instead of those of a white donor that she and her white partner had ordered. After searching through pages of comprehensive histories for their top three donors, the lawsuit claims, Cramblett and her domestic partner, Amanda Zinkon, chose donor No. 380, who was also white. Their doctor in Ohio received vials from donor No. 330, who is African-American, the lawsuit said. Cramblett, 36, learned of the mistake in April 2012, when she was pregnant and ordering more vials so that the couple could have another child with sperm from the same donor, according to the lawsuit. The sperm bank delivered vials from the correct donor in August 2011, but Cramblett later requested more vials, according to the suit. Cramblett is suing Midwest Sperm Bank for wrongful birth and breach of warranty, citing the emotional and economic losses she has suffered.

The suit further states that the plaintiff fears the child will not be accepted by her "all white and unconsciously insensitive family." Oh brother. The wingnuts are going to go crazy over this. 

25 Years Ago Today In Denmark

#01_October on 1989 Denmark introduces the world's first legal modern same-sex civil union called "registered partnership".
— This Day In History (@Wiki_History) October 1, 2014

Photo by Rex Wockner.

UPDATE: There's a great write-up on Wilson Quarterly. It begins:

On October 1st 1989, An event unlike any before in history took place at the Copenhagen town hall in Denmark. That Sunday, a national law went into effect that allowed same-sex couples to be joined in a civil union, and 11 gay male couples did just that — a school psychologist, a Lutheran minister, and a high school teacher among them. One of the grooms, Eigil Axgil (née Eskildsen), then 67 years old, told Rex Wockner, an American journalist who was there covering it, “We just never could have dreamed that we would get this far.” They had plenty of reason for doubt. Four decades earlier, Eigil’s partner, Axel Axgil (née Lundahl-Madsen), launched Denmark’s first gay rights organization, the League of 1948 (whose name was later changed to the less-discreet Danish National Organization for Gays and Lesbians, or LBL for short.) Out of the closet, Axel was fired from his bookkeeping job and evicted by his landlord, but forged ahead. It was his group’s tireless lobbying over the years that eventually laid the groundwork that led to that historic day in 1989.

Definitely hit that link. Lots of wonderful photos.

Harlem Hate Pastor: Oklahoma Beheading Victim Was Killed For Being A "Sodomite"

In one of his typically raving and spittle-flecked rants posted today, Harlem hate Pastor James David Manning declared that the victim in last week's beheading in Oklahoma was targeted because the killer "knew she was a sodomite." (Manning, as you may know, regularly posts church signs calling for homosexuals to be stoned to death.) No media reports have identified the victim, Colleen Hufford, as a lesbian.  A memorial fund set up yesterday describes Hufford as a "loyal wife, mother, and a doting grandmother." Photos on a Facebook memorial page appear to show Hufford with her husband. 

Chad Griffin Joins Twitter

.@ChadHGriffin welcome to twitter. Hope everyone sends you a tweet guessing what your middle name is. Hunter? Henry? Howard? Hiram? Hogwarts
— Jason Collins (@jasoncollins98) October 1, 2014

Court Orders Former Sen. Larry Craig To Pay Up Over Toe-Tapping Toilet Sting

A federal court yesterday ordered former GOP Sen. Larry Craig to pay the government $242,000 in campaign funds that he used to pay lawyers after being busted toe-tapping in a Minneapolis airport restroom. Craig has argued that he was entitled to use the funds because was traveling on official Senate business at the time of his arrest.

Loop Fans may recall our prior analyses of his trip to the bathroom. Best we were able to determine at the time — judging from what sources told us were the usual arrival and departure gates for his flights — Craig may have passed not one, not two, not three but four bathrooms at the airport along the way before choosing the very one that an airport official called “the biggest hotspot” for sexual encounters. But we digress. In the current legal action, Craig argued that Senate rules permit reimbursement for any costs while on official travel. But the Federal Election Commission filed suit, saying Craig converted the campaign funds for personal use in violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the District agreed. “The Court finds that defendants violated the FECA when they converted campaign funds to pay for legal expenses related to Senator Craig’s efforts to withdraw his guilty plea, which was a personal matter that was not connected to the Senator’s duties as an officeholder,” Jackson wrote.

During his 28 years in Congress, Craig voted against LGBT rights every time. He left office in January 2009 with a 0% rating from the Human Rights Campaign. He is now a lobbyist.

GOP Mocks Obamacare Anniversary

Court Date Set For Alleged Gay Bashers

Yesterday a Pennsylvania judge set December 16th as the date for a joint preliminary hearing for the three suspects in the brutal Philadelphia gay bashing that captured national attention.

Following that hearing, a judge will determine if there is enough evidence to warrant a trial. The defendants - Kathryn Knott, 24, Philip Williams, 24, and Kevin Harrigan, 26 - were excused from having to appear at the status hearing by agreement with the District Attorney's Office. But attorneys for Knott, of Southampton, and Harrigan, of Warrington, said their clients are not gay-bashers. Williams did not utter any homophobic slurs during the Sept. 11 incident near Rittenhouse Square, said his attorney, Fortunato Perri Jr. "Fortunately, my client will have a chance to present this case in a court of law instead of the court of public opinion," Perri told reporters. When asked if Williams had been struck or if he struck either of the two gay men, Perri said: "We'll resolve that matter in a court of law." Attorney Joshua Scarpello, who represents Harrigan, said, "There certainly is another side to this case, there always is, and it's going to come to light."

The victims have not yet spoken publicly.

Andrew Sullivan Writes About PrEP

"Here are your options: the blue pill or the red pill. Take the one-pill-a-day Truvada and never get HIV; take the often one-pill anti-retroviral pill, and you will never give someone HIV. To make doubly sure, you can always use a condom. Except almost every man who ever had sex hates condoms – and, unlike a pill you take every day, wearing a condom means making a decision in the middle of sexual desire and passion when your rational self is at its weakest. [snip] The discourse around this new breakthrough has long been about risks and expense and compliance and how to make sure men don’t get too promiscuous again. And all that has its place. But we fail to understand this moment if we do not understand the liberation that comes with ridding gay sex of the terror and stink of death, the liberation that comes with leaving a world where another man – before he can be anything to you – has to be put in a 'positive' or 'negative' box. Sex is about intimacy; it is about love; it is about relief. And for the first time since the early 1980s, we have a chance to rid it of fear. Why are we not rushing to embrace this? What is still preventing us from becoming collectively a force for love and friendship that is no longer limned with terror?" - Andrew Sullivan, writing for his site.