NYT "Sort Of" Defends Roy Moore

From the New York Times:

Roy Moore is right that on its face, Granade’s order doesn’t require state probate judges all over Alabama — who weren’t named in the case Granade heard — to issue marriage licenses. Granade merely instructed Alabama’s attorney general not to enforce the state’s same-sex-marriage ban. That means a probate judge could go along with her decision, as some have, (and as clerks of the court did in Florida, after a similar district-court decision there went into effect in January). But they don’t necessarily have to. “If the 11th Circuit had invalidated Alabama’s gay-marriage ban, all the state-court judges would know what to do,” the Florida International University law professor Howard Wasserman, who has written about the Alabama dust-up, told me. “But the district court’s authority is much more limited.”

It's an interesting piece, hit the link and read the full thing.

33 Years Ago Today

Thirty-three years ago today the New York Times made what is considered to have been the first, or at least the first widely noticed, mention of what became to be known as AIDS. The article begins:

Doctors in New York and California have diagnosed among homosexual men 41 cases of a rare and often rapidly fatal form of cancer. Eight of the victims died less than 24 months after the diagnosis was made. The cause of the outbreak is unknown, and there is as yet no evidence of contagion. But the doctors who have made the diagnoses, mostly in New York City and the San Francisco Bay area, are alerting other physicians who treat large numbers of homosexual men to the problem in an effort to help identify more cases and to reduce the delay in offering chemotherapy treatment. The sudden appearance of the cancer, called Kaposi's Sarcoma, has prompted a medical investigation that experts say could have as much scientific as public health importance because of what it may teach about determining the causes of more common types of cancer.

More history from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation:

New York City was the epicenter of the first stages of the AIDS epidemic, and Greenwich Village was in many ways the epicenter of the epicenter. For many years, Community Board #2, which includes Greenwich Village, led the city in terms of the number of AIDS cases and AIDS deaths. And many of the locations most strongly associated with the early fight against AIDS were located in the Village, including St. Vincent’s Hospital, where so many of the first cases of AIDS in New York were treated, and the LGBT Community Center (formerly the Gay Community Center) at 208 West 13th Street, where many of the earliest meetings organized in response to the AIDS epidemic were held, including meetings of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT-UP). Another key historic site in the Village in connection to the AIDS epidemic was the house at 186 Spring Street where Dr. Bruce Voeller lived. Voeller, who specialized in sexual health and research, got the name of the disease changed from the original inaccurate and stigmatizing Gay Related Immune Defense Disorder to Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, and conducted the first studies showing that condom usage could prevent the spread of HIV.

The original New York Times article and the reaction to it served as a major plot point in a number of plays and films, perhaps most notably in The Normal Heart and Longtime Companion.

Gay Man Ponders Being A "Bio-Dad"

Yesterday a gay man pondered the responsibilities and legalities of a sperm donation to a lesbian couple in an essay published by the New York Times. An excerpt:

Beyond legal entanglements, I grew anxious wondering about the practical consequences of a known-donor arrangement. Tori and Kelly don’t want a co-parent, and I’m not looking to be a father. Still, our biological connection wouldn’t be a secret; shouldn’t I be prepared to maintain a relationship with a child I helped bring into the world? What does that look like? No one was asking me to change diapers on the daily, but should I plan on attending all birthday parties and piano recitals?

Then there were the implications for my family. “Who’d have thought,” my father joked excitedly when I broached the subject, “my gay son might be the first to give me a grandkid!” I reminded him, guiltily, that he wouldn’t be a grandfather to this child. Not really. No more than I’d be a father. Tori and Kelly are open to my family’s involvement, but it’d be less than if I were raising a child myself. This means no holidays spent together in Salt Lake; no sleepovers at Grandma or Grandpa Dodge’s. My parents understand this and have consented — possibly figuring it’s the closest they’ll come to getting a grandchild out of me — but is this fair to them?

Hit the link for his decision.

Press Release Of The Day

From Mars Hill Church:

In 2011, outside counsel advised our marketing team to use Result Source to market the Real Marriage book and attain placement on the New York Times Bestseller list. While not uncommon or illegal, this unwise strategy is not one we had used before or since, and not one we will use again. The true cost of this endeavor was much less than what has been reported, and to be clear, all of the books purchased through this campaign have been given away or sold through normal channels. All monies from the sale of Pastor Mark’s books at Mars Hill bookstores have always gone to the church and Pastor Mark did not profit from the Real Marriage books sold either at the church or through the Result Source marketing campaign. To correct a statement in a recent article, Pastor Sutton Turner was the General Manager, not the Executive Pastor or Executive Elder as reported, at the time he signed with the referenced agreement with Result Source. In the time since this campaign we have established a new Executive Elder team, new Board of Advisors and Accountability, as well as a new marketing team.

Summation: OK, you busted us. But hey, at least it wasn't illegal.

Update On Mars Hill Scandal

Details.

How Seattle Pastor Mark Driscoll Bought His Way Onto The NYT Bestsellers List

Via the Christian site World Magazine:

Seattle’s Mars Hill Church paid a California-based marketing company at least $210,000 in 2011 and 2012 to ensure that Real Marriage, a book written by Mark Driscoll, the church’s founding pastor, and his wife Grace, made the New York Times best-seller list. According to a document obtained by WORLD, ResultSource Inc. (RSI) contracted with Mars Hill “to conduct a bestseller campaign for your book, Real Marriage on the week of January 2, 2012. The bestseller campaign is intended to place Real Marriage on The New York Times bestseller list for the Advice How-To list.” The marketing company also promised to help place Real Marriage on the Wall Street Journal Business, USA Today Money, BN.com (Barnes & Noble), and Amazon.com best-seller lists.

More from Warren Throckmorton, who has the contract:

Note that RSI uses “over a thousand different payment types” to evade detection. Somehow RSI knows that the NYT bestseller list “requires a minimum of 90 geographically disperse (sic) addresses.” Apparently, the publisher must be on board with this arrangement as well since the contract requires the publisher to supply the proper number of books. I have asked Harper Collins Christian for comment but they have not replied as yet. The names and addresses are apparently very important in making sure that these purchases escape detection by those who compile the best seller lists.

Mars Hill defends its cheating this way: "We want to tell lots of people about Jesus by every means available."

PREVIOUSLY ON JMG: In Januaray, Driscoll declared that all non-Christians are going to hell. Last November, Driscoll was busted for plagiarizing other pastors in his latest book in a scandal that was heavily covered on Christian websites. In 2011 Driscoll declared that male masturbation is a form of homosexuality because it is sex with a man.

NYT Poll: 56% Back Gay Marriage

The Human Rights Campaign reacts:

A new poll out this week from the New York Times and CBS News shows that 40 percent of Republicans support marriage equality, further indication that Americans are moving steadily in one direction on the issue. Less than two years ago, just 24 percent of Republicans said they thought it should be legal for gay and lesbian couples to marry. Released Wednesday afternoon, the New York Times/CBS News poll also shows that 56 percent of all Americans believe it should be legal for same sex couples to marry. Among people 44 years of age and younger, 56 percent of Republicans and 85 percent of Democrats support marriage equality.

Read the full poll.

GLSEN Publishes Full-Page NYT Ad

Editorial Of The Day

From the New York Times editorial board:

As the Winter Olympic Games approach next month in Russia, it is hard to tell whether President Vladimir Putin wants to play the role of genial host or homophobic scold. In remarks Friday to workers preparing the Games, the autocratic Russian leader sought to reassure visitors to Sochi. “You can feel relaxed and calm,” he said. He then added: “But please, leave the children alone.” “We won’t arrest anyone,” Mr. Putin sought to reassure the world. But of course laws like the child propaganda statute are so irresponsible and vague that they can be left to individual judgment by the throngs of local police, soldiers and state intelligence agents charged with protecting the Games. Mr. Putin should keep in mind his own nation’s history of easy Kremlin hatefulness toward all manner of dissidents. His repeated and clumsy references to what are essentially his own prejudices, since glorified by the state, only make Sochi more political and less inviting to world visitors.

New York Times: Pardon Edward Snowden

From the Times editorial board:

Considering the enormous value of the information he has revealed, and the abuses he has exposed, Mr. Snowden deserves better than a life of permanent exile, fear and flight. He may have committed a crime to do so, but he has done his country a great service. It is time for the United States to offer Mr. Snowden a plea bargain or some form of clemency that would allow him to return home, face at least substantially reduced punishment in light of his role as a whistle-blower, and have the hope of a life advocating for greater privacy and far stronger oversight of the runaway intelligence community. [snip] When someone reveals that government officials have routinely and deliberately broken the law, that person should not face life in prison at the hands of the same government. That’s why Rick Ledgett, who leads the N.S.A.’s task force on the Snowden leaks, recently told CBS News that he would consider amnesty if Mr. Snowden would stop any additional leaks. And it’s why President Obama should tell his aides to begin finding a way to end Mr. Snowden’s vilification and give him an incentive to return home.

On Failing Gaydar

Fred Bernstein writes for the New York Times:

The real reason my gaydar has failed is that there is no such thing as gaydar. No item of clothing, speech pattern, hairstyle or career choice (or even facial topography) is enough to identify someone as gay. In reality, the way you know, when you enter a room, if another man is gay is by seeing how he looks at you. If he maintains eye contact a split second longer than he needs to, or gives you a once-over, he’s gay. After all, those are things a man does if he’s interested in what he sees. So if I don’t have much gaydar anymore, it may be that not many men I come across are interested in what they see. In other words: At 55, I’ve become invisible to them, so they’ve become invisible to me. If they won’t check me out, I can’t check them off.

NOM Slams Times On Musgrave

"Congresswoman Musgrave is a hero for marriage and was the lead sponsor of the original Federal Marriage Amendment in 2003. The fact that the New York Times would falsely claim above-the-fold that she now supports repealing a law to protect marriage without even checking with her shows the desperation of some in the media to push this absurd notion that Republicans support the repeal of laws passed by Americans to protect marriage." -Hate group leader and Vatican stooge Brian Brown.

RELATED: The Times reporter in question has explained her mistake, which was not, as Brown claims, part of a vast anti-Jesus conspiracy.

"Here's what happened," she e-mails. "A former district director for Marilyn Musgrave signed the brief, but her title was so long that it actually took up two lines, pushing the congresswoman's name onto a line all by itself. So when you read down the list, it looked like Ms. Musgrave had signed — when in fact she had not." Stolberg says she was "horrified" when she realized her mistake. "I corrected it immediately, called Ms. Musgrave and apologized, and she accepted. A good lesson in journalism: Check everything twice, and we are only human."

Today's Gay Etiquette Question

From Steven Petrow's Civil Behavior column in the New York Times comes this question:

Dear Civil Behavior: I recently joined a gay Alcoholics Anonymous meeting after many years denying I had a drinking problem. Now I have a new problem: My birthday is coming up, and every year I throw myself a party to celebrate. This year is a “big” birthday for me, and friends are asking what wild and crazy party I’ll be hosting this time around. Truthfully, I’m uncomfortable hosting a big drinking party this year — I don’t even want to have alcohol in my apartment at all. Should I just cancel it? Or should I host it but serve only nonalcoholic drinks? And what do I tell my friends, many of whom don’t know about my joining A.A.? As a gay man, it feels as if I’m coming out all over again. — Anonymous

Give us your answer then hit the link for Petrow's response.

Editorial Of The Day

From the New York Times:

Now that Mr. Obama has declared that he believes denying gay people the right to wed is not only unfair and morally wrong but also legally unsupportable, the urgent question is how he will translate his words into action. To start, he should have his solicitor general file a brief in the Proposition 8 case being argued before the Supreme Court in March, saying that California’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. [snip]

The outcome of the Proposition 8 case is likely to affect the lives of gay, lesbian and bisexual Americans for years to come, even if the final disposition is not sweeping enough to wipe out all state laws currently banning same-sex marriage. A strong filing by the Justice Department, forthrightly declaring that denying the freedom to marry violates the Constitution, would put the full weight of the federal government on the side of justice and could influence the shape of the ruling.

NYT Backs "Gays Won It" Meme

On Tuesday the Human Rights Campaign sent out a stats-laden press release claiming that the LGBT vote provided the winning margin for President Obama. Yesterday the New York Times appeared to agree.

While President Obama’s lopsided support among Latino and other minority voters has been a focus of postelection analysis, the overwhelming support he received from another growing demographic group — Americans who identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual — has received much less attention. But the backing Mr. Obama received from gay voters also has a claim on having been decisive. Mitt Romney and Mr. Obama won roughly an equal share of votes among straight voters nationwide, exit polls showed. And, a study argues, Mr. Romney appears to have won a narrow victory among straight voters in the swing states of Ohio and Florida. Mr. Obama’s more than three-to-one edge in exit polls among the 5 percent of voters who identified themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual was more than enough to give him the ultimate advantage, according to the study, by Gary J. Gates of the Williams Institute at the U.C.L.A. School of Law, in conjunction with Gallup. The results are consistent with earlier research on the number and political beliefs of gay voters.

Commenters on the Times article are split on the idea. One writes:

While this trend certainly helps in the popular vote, does it translate into additional electoral votes? LGBT voters can found throughout the nation, but my guess is that migration (self-deportation???) out of red states to blue states means that the advantage identified in the article results only larger winning margins in states that would have gone for the Democratic candidate regardless: Overwhelming support by LGBT voters in California and New York doesn't get a candidate more electoral votes.

Marriage Map Update

The New York Times looks at the current map and what's on the horizon:

Elated by their first ballot victories, in four states, advocates of same-sex marriage rights plan to push legislatures in half a dozen more states toward legalization as they also press their cause in federal courts. They are also preparing for what they hope will be another milestone: the electoral reversal of a constitutional amendment defining marriage as solely between a man and a woman, in Oregon in 2014. Nine states and Washington, D.C., have now legalized same-sex marriage. Though it remains unpopular in the South, rights campaigners see the potential for legislative gains in Delaware; Hawaii; Illinois; Rhode Island; Minnesota, where they beat back a restrictive amendment last Tuesday; and New Jersey, where Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in February.

David Brooks On Romney's Stumble

"The people who receive the disproportionate share of government spending are not big-government lovers. They are Republicans. They are senior citizens. They are white men with high school degrees. As Bill Galston of the Brookings Institution has noted, the people who have benefited from the entitlements explosion are middle-class workers, more so than the dependent poor. Romney’s comments also reveal that he has lost any sense of the social compact. In 1987, during Ronald Reagan’s second term, 62 percent of Republicans believed that the government has a responsibility to help those who can’t help themselves. Now, according to the Pew Research Center, only 40 percent of Republicans believe that.

"The Republican Party, and apparently Mitt Romney, too, has shifted over toward a much more hyperindividualistic and atomistic social view — from the Reaganesque language of common citizenship to the libertarian language of makers and takers. There’s no way the country will trust the Republican Party to reform the welfare state if that party doesn’t have a basic commitment to provide a safety net for those who suffer for no fault of their own. The final thing the comment suggests is that Romney knows nothing about ambition and motivation." - David Brooks, in a New York Times essay titled Thurston Howell Romney.

New York Times Rips Romney/Ryan Lies

The New York Times has published a lie-by-lie refuting of Romney and Ryan's RNC speeches. An excerpt:

Representative Paul D. Ryan used his convention speech on Wednesday to fault President Obama for failing to act on a deficit-reduction plan that he himself had helped kill. He chided Democrats for seeking $716 billion in Medicare cuts that he too had sought. And he lamented the nation’s credit rating — which was downgraded after a debt-ceiling standoff that he and other House Republicans helped instigate.

And Mitt Romney, in his acceptance speech on Thursday night, asserted that President Obama’s policies had “not helped create jobs” and that Mr. Obama had gone on an “apology tour” for America. He also warned that the president’s Medicare cuts would “hurt today’s seniors,” claims that have already been labeled false or misleading. The two speeches — peppered with statements that were incorrect or incomplete — seemed to signal the arrival of a new kind of presidential campaign, one in which concerns about fact-checking have been largely set aside. [snip]

In his floor speech, Mr. Romney repeated his widely debunked charge that Mr. Obama had gone on an “apology tour” on America’s behalf — an accusation he feels so strongly about that he laid out his own worldview in a 2010 book he titled “No Apology.” But independent fact checkers have called the accusation a distortion, and it is hard to find evidence that Mr. Obama ever said he was sorry for the United States.

Read the entire article.

Quote Of The Day - David Brooks

"Mitt Romney was born on March 12, 1947, in Ohio, Florida, Michigan, Virginia and several other swing states. He emerged, hair first, believing in America, and especially its national parks. He was given the name Mitt, after the Roman god of mutual funds, and launched into the world with the lofty expectation that he would someday become the Arrow shirt man. Romney was a precocious and gifted child. He uttered his first words (“I like to fire people”) at age 14 months, made his first gaffe at 15 months and purchased his first nursery school at 24 months.

"The school, highly leveraged, went under, but Romney made 24 million Jujubes on the deal. Mitt grew up in a modest family. His father had an auto body shop called the American Motors Corporation, and his mother owned a small piece of land, Brazil. He had several boyhood friends, many of whom owned Nascar franchises, and excelled at school, where his fourth-grade project, “Inspiring Actuaries I Have Known,” was widely admired." - New York Times columnist David Brooks, in a hilarious alternate history for Mitt Romney. Do read the entire thing.

NYT Reports On Bear Culture

The New York Times has posted a lengthy slideshow from photographer Alan Charlesworth's look at bear culture. Peter Moskowitz writes:

Mainstream culture tends to depict gay men as either comically effeminate, or supersculpted and image conscious. Mr. Charlesworth had a hard time relating, or being attracted to, those kinds of images. He said that while he questioned his sexuality in high school, he couldn’t find anything that reflected it, or an outlet to express it. He said he had a hard time figuring out who he was, but he knew he wasn’t like the well-manicured, muscular men with a penchant for designer clothes and musicals on those television shows. So Mr. Charlesworth remained confused, first about his sexuality, then about his place within gay culture, until he stumbled upon a Web site dedicated to “bears.” It was the first time he’d seen images of big, burly men who were attracted to other men. He said he felt like he’d finally found a home.