Saturday edition …

#1 – The cruel and the unusual …

Correctional officer Jose Perez, 42, faces a year in jail from misdemeanor charges that he groped a 30-year-old transgender inmate’s breast over the shirt at Santa Clara County Main Jail, Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ed Wise said.

He is a 14-year veteran of the department, Cursi said.

The alleged incidents happened over the course of three days in November 2006, according to Wise. The final incident was reported to officers by another inmate who spied the pair on the main jail’s sun deck Nov. 5.

The Department of Corrections also is investigating the allegations. Perez has been on paid administrative leave since the investigation began in November, Cursi said.

Jail guard arrested on sex charges

… and …

The real Brittany Ossenfort is not happy.

A man who looks and dresses like a woman used her identity when he was arrested for prostitution in Orlando.

…

Law enforcement officials learned the fake Brittany was the real Richard about 12 hours after he was arrested Friday night wearing a white bandana, white pants and a bra-like top. At first, deputies considered him a woman, but later learned his true identity.

…

During a interview in jail this afternoon, Phillips introduced himself as Brittany Ossenfort and said he doesn’t know why the name Richard Phillips came up with his fingerprints. He also claims not to know the other Brittany.

Cross-dressing man arrested under female friend’s name

… and …

Alexis Giraldo was born a man but lives life as a woman. She takes hormones to feminize her appearance, a fact she says prison officials did not care about even as her male cellmate raped and beat her repeatedly.

…

Giraldo is suing the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for emotional distress and violating her constitutional right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. She has asked Superior Court Judge Ellen Chaitin to order prison officials to come up with a new system for housing transgender inmates.

…

Briefs filed by the state argue that Giraldo initially was in a consensual sexual relationship with her cellmate in violation of prison policy, did not report specific rape claims and refused offers to be moved to a different cell. Once she made it clear her cellmate was sexually assaulting her and prison staff found strangulation marks on her neck, she was removed to protective custody, the state maintains.

…

Giraldo was sent to Folsom for shoplifting and a parole violation in January 2006. She spent three months in the general prison population and another four months in a single cell away from other inmates. She remained in the medical prison until she was paroled earlier this month.

Transgendered ex-inmate sues prison

#2 – Of course, Concerned Woman Matt Barber “plays it straight, so to speak” …

On August 9, MTV’s homosexual cable network, Logo, is hosting the first-ever presidential debate intended to promote the homosexual and transgender (gender identity disorder) lifestyles.

…

“It’s disgraceful that our nation’s moral standards have now dipped so low that it’s considered ‘tolerant’ to hold a debate organized entirely around the promotion of sexual immorality. What’s next? Are presidential candidates going to be asked to participate in a debate on how to garner widespread acceptance of adultery or incest? Are members of the growing polygamy lobby and the pedophile group NAMBLA going to tap candidates for a televised debate to promote their chosen lifestyles?

Homosexual Immorality: What’s the Debate?

#3 – Janet must have got that e-mail from the TVC …

What the mainstream media, including your paper, are not covering is the Democrats’ plan to deliver on campaign promises to homosexuals in the form of House Bill 1592 and Senate Bill 1105.

Those bills create a federally protected class for homosexuals, transvestites, transgender and transsexual persons. If these laws are passed, the federal government will be empowered to investigate and punish politically incorrect speech and thoughts as hate crimes. It also mandates federal prosecution for state offenses, with the possibility of life imprisonment for crimes motivated or perceived by “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” without even defining what these terms mean.

These bills violate the concept of equal protection under the law by granting more government protection to certain classes of people. They also represent a clear overreach of power, allowing the federal government to intervene in local and state affairs.

Even more chilling is the fact that HR 1592 paves the way for religious persecution. Christians who hold traditional beliefs on homosexuality and pastors who preach on the Bible’s view of the subject could be arrested, jailed or fined, for anything perceived as “hate speech.” In an effort to ram this bill through, U.S. Sens. Ted Kennedy and Gordon Smith have attached the legislation to the Defense Authorization Bill.

Bills go overboard in protecting rights of gays

#4 – The General has passed on …

The protagonist of one of Portugal’s most gripping courtroom dramas has died after almost 20 years in which she fooled everyone, including her live-in companion, that she was actually a male army general.

With her general’s uniform complete with medals, Maria Teresinha Gomes cut a dashing figure as the respectable and charming General Tito Anibal da Paixao Gomes. What started out as a costume for the 1974 carnival, knocked up by a tailor in Lisbon, soon became the defining aspect of an invented personality. The general was only occasionally seen in uniform, but even in his civilian clothes he had a distinguished martial air about him that was enough to convince almost everyone.

Portugal’s cross-dressing ‘general’ dies after 20 years as a man

#5 – Finally, with “Hairspray” currently so much in the news, here’s one person’s take on the “dozen greatest drag performances from the last 50 years” …

Here’s my list of the dozen greatest drag performances from the last 50 years. I had to leave off at least a dozen more, so don’t be cross (or give me a dressing down) if yours isn’t here.

1. “Some Like It Hot” — Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis escape the St. Valentine Day’s massacre in Chicago by joining an all-girl band — which happens to contain Marilyn Monroe, who snuggles up unknowingly to each in turn. The funniest farce of all time.

2. “Boys Don’t Cry” — Hilary Swank won an Oscar as Teena Brandon, who tried to pass as a man named Brandon Teena in the Midwest and met a brutal end. No matter how you feel about transgender behavior, you can’t help but be touched by someone so uneasy in her own skin.

3. “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” — Tyler Perry leads the pack of black men in (hefty) women’s clothing as the uproarious, unstoppable Madea in the first of the comedies from his plays.

4. “What’s Opera, Doc?” — Bugs Bunny dons Brunnhilde’s pigtails and Valkyrie armor to capture the heart of unsuspecting Elmer Fudd. Some think this is the finest cartoon short ever made.

The rest of “Great pretenders | The best gender-crossing films” can be found here. And, you can see “What’s Opera, Doc?” here.

That’s all, folks.

Sometimes one wonders if the American Family Association‘s OneNewsNow “news team” even has a 1980′s style Rolodex. I mean, really. It’s like the same couple of people every time.

Two articles from today:

- LaBarbera condemns Dems’ presidential debate on ‘GLBT’ issues

LaBarbera calls the debate “one of the most extraordinary developments in our country’s history.” He laments the societal mindset from which such an event would even occur.

“A debate framed from a pro-homosexual perspective — when homosexual behavior, for centuries, [for] thousands of years, was regarded as deeply sinful by Christians and people who believe in God,” he says. “It’s just astonishing. I’m waiting for the adultery presidential debate or maybe the pro-drug use presidential debate.

“Who ever heard of framing a presidential debate around a sin?” he asks.

Peter LaBarbera is the director fot the organization/blog Americans For Truth About Homosexuality. He used to work as the director of the Illinois Family Institute, and was formerly a senior policy analyst for the Culture and Family Institute , an affiliate of Concerned Women for America.

- Senate backers of ‘hate crimes’ bill criticized for ‘sneaky’ tactics

A spokesman for Concerned Women for America (CWA) accuses Senate proponents of the so-called “hate crimes” bill of using “underhanded” tactics to ram the legislation through. Matt Barber is denouncing Senators Ted Kennedy and Gordon Smith for attaching the legislation to the Defense Authorization bill.

…

“This is just an underhanded way to try to get a very dangerous and entirely unnecessary hate crimes bill under the radar and past President Bush’s indication of a veto,” he argues. “They are putting President Bush, very intentionally, in a very uncomfortable position and trying to force his hand.”

Barber explains his reasoning on the matter. “If he vetoes the [Defense Authorization] bill because they’ve attached this hate crimes legislation to it, then they can accuse him of being a hypocrite and not funding the troops,” says the CWA spokesman. “[H[e has indicated that he intends to veto hate crimes legislation, so they know this is a sneaky and surreptitious way to get it through.”

Matt Barber works as the Policy Director for the Culture and Family Institute — that affiliate of the Concerned Women for America — and was the former Corporate Outreach Director for Americans For Truth About Homosexuality.

It as if on LGBT issues, the American Family Association has two “go to guys” — LaBarbera and Barber — both related to Americans For Truth About Homosexuality and the Concerned Women for America.

Well, actually, there’s no as if to the American Family Association’s LGBT issues “go to guys” at all. They got two guys to ask, and they pretty much say what one would expect them to say when asked about issues — pretty much the most alarmist, over-the-top responses to LGBT issues.

The Concerned Women for America (CWfA or CWA) state in their talking points about the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crime Protection Act (LLEHCPA) that:

The most recent FBI Uniform Crime Report shows that bias-motivated crimes are on the decline. In fact, less than 17% of all law enforcement agencies reported a single hate crime in 2005. A total of only 1,171 “sexual orientation” bias crimes were reported (one-half of which were name-calling, pushing or shoving) — representing the largest and most consistent decrease of all bias-motivated crimes.

The Williams Institute at the UCLA Law School has an updated study out, from which The Advocate reports:

The “Comparison of Hate Crime Rates across Protected and Unprotected Groups” shows that on average, 13 in 100,000 gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals per year report being the victim of a hate crime, compared with eight in 100,000 African-Americans, 12 in 100,000 American Muslims and 15 in 100,000 U.S. Jews.

“Often, people try to pass off (the lack of legal protection for gays) as ‘Oh, it’s not as big a problem as race-based hate crimes,’” says Rebecca Stotzer, a research fellow at the Williams Institute.

“But when you actually look at the rates and you think of it as a risk per person, you can see that the numbers are actually much more even between groups that are protected versus those that are not,” Stotzer said.

The new report was based on a 2004 study by Williams Institute faculty chairman William Rubenstein, but hate-crimes legislation now before Congress and the availability of more data prompted an update to the report.

The interpretation of FBI data coming out of the CWfA was by non-statitician Matt Barber:

According to FBI statistics, there were nearly 1.4 million violent crimes in 2005. Of those, little more than 1,000 were reported as “hate crimes” directed against homosexuals or cross dressers. A full one-third of that 1,000 were reports of “intimidation” or “hateful” words as opposed to violent acts.

The interpetation of FBI statistics by the UCLA Law School was accomplished by Williams Institute faculty chairman William Rubenstein in 2004, and updated by Rebecca Stotzer, a Public Policy Fellow this year:

Although tracking is invaluable for understanding hate crimes in the United States, evidence suggests that underreporting is a problem. As with other types of crime, there is a large gap between what is reported by the police and what is reported in victimization surveys. A report from the Bureau of Justice statistics comparing the FBI data and victimization survey data suggests that only about 44% of hate crimes are reported to the police.2 Thus, these estimates are a conservative look at the number of hate crimes that are occurring across the United States…

…The FBI’s raw counts of hate crimes do not take into account the size of the populations covered. For example, racial and ethnic minorities account for about 30% of the total population of the United States, but the estimated population that identifies as gay, lesbian, or bisexual is only about 4%.4 Therefore, calculating proportional rates of possible victimization provides another important perspective for comparing hate crimes across groups.

I know who I trust interpretation of FBI data from more, and it’s not by the guy who’s the former Allstate Insurance Company Manager hired as the CWfA’s Policy Director for Cultural Issues – it’s the Williams Institute faculty chairman and the seinior fellow.

Box Turtle Bulletin: Sticks and Stones; The man they call “Porno Pete” is a little chafed
Excerpt: Peter LaBarbera doesn’t like his nickname. … For several years now, it’s been reported that Peter LaBarbera has made it his quest to attend various leather and S&M events, report on what he sees, and claim that it somehow is representative — or even relevant — to the gay community at large. Whenever he goes to events like these, he takes several salacious photos and posts them on his website. Then he exhorts his readers to “take action” of some sort (which usually involves harassing the hosting venues) and demands that everyone in the gay community condemn the event.

Gay & Lesbian Times: Ex-gay announces run for District 3 City Council seat
Excerpt: Ex-gay James Hartline announced recently that he will be entering the race for the District 3 City Council seat currently occupied by lesbian Councilmember Toni Atkins, who terms out in 2008. Fasten your seat belts; this should be one helluva ride.

San Francisco Chronicle: Felony charges to be filed in DVC cheating case
Excerpt: The Contra Costa County district attorney plans to file felony charges in July against as many as 67 people suspected of taking part in a grade-changing scandal at Diablo Valley College.

Concerned Women For America: Queerly Beloved – “Gay” Activists Sue eHarmony
Excerpt: So, eHarmony becomes the latest casualty of the lefty-lavender-bully-brigade as they seek to rid the world of contrived and twisted notions of “heterosexism” and “homophobia.” The plan is underway. The intent is to fill the vacuum with government mandated celebration of deviant, mutable and disordered homosexual behaviors. (The terms “homophobia” and “heterosexism” are made up word weapons used by the left against anyone who agrees with the traditional values model of human sexuality or who doesn’t unconditionally accept homosexual behavior.) (Opposition piece.)

New York Times: Sam Brownback: What I Think About Evolution
Excerpt: The question of evolution goes to the heart of this issue. If belief in evolution means simply assenting to microevolution, small changes over time within a species, I am happy to say, as I have in the past, that I believe it to be true. If, on the other hand, it means assenting to an exclusively materialistic, deterministic vision of the world that holds no place for a guiding intelligence, then I reject it. (Subscription Required)

The Guardian (UK): Starbucks reputation on line in court case; Coffee giant accused of union-busting in New York
Excerpt: …Starbucks remains a favourite with mutual funds that invest in socially responsible companies. Ellen Kennedy, an analyst at Calvert, a pioneer in socially responsible investments, said Starbucks is a holding in its Social Index Fund and it remains a labour relations leader in the quick-service restaurant industry, particularly with its exemplary health and safety record and support of gay, lesbian and transgender workers. She said that while she was concerned about the NLRB allegations she feels the company will respond positively as it needs its social responsibility reputation intact as it continues to expand.

When opportunity is limited, it’s hard to be a functional member of society. Plans to address this in the worldwide transgender community:

———

Southern Voice: New initiatives seek jobs for trans people
Sparked by crackdown on trans prostitutes, activists seek ways to find legal employment

Excerpt:

Transgender prostitutes working the streets of Midtown have drawn the ire of numerous residents tired of seeing them in their neighborhoods.Two proposed initiatives — one by queer and trans activists and another by the Atlanta Police Department — hope to quell that resentment by helping the sex workers find legitimate jobs.

The Queer Progressive Agenda and transgender activists and allies are starting a Transgender People of Color Workers Project. The project seeks to join forces with gay business organizations to find employers willing to hire transgender employees as well as offer job training, tips on writing a resume and help with interview strategies. The project is also compiling a database of available jobs.

And the Atlanta Police Department is slated to hold a job fair later this year specifically for transgender people and bring in employers who won’t discriminate against a person based on gender identity.

Both initiatives were sparked by a crackdown by the APD approximately a year ago. Working with the Midtown Neighborhood Association, officers worked to reduce sex workers in the area, including many trans women.

APD Officer Darlene Harris, the gay liaison for the department, said she became frustrated seeing members of the community — including gay people — stigmatize transgender sex workers, but she also understood residents wanting to keep their neighborhoods safe.

The sex workers “weren’t going anywhere because of discrimination they faced trying to find jobs, so we thought it would be great to get employers together and help them so they don’t feel the need to be on the street,” Harris said.

———

Livemint: Transgenders in Tamil Nadu get more than government help
While the state has banned discrimination against transsexuals, two agencies are now offering free courses.

Excerpt:

Chennai: Seven years ago, 27-year-old Gopal Gopinath walked out of the jewellery store where he worked, unable to bear the lampooning and the mistrust directed at him by his employer.”I had pierced my ears, and I had grown my hair long, like a woman—and the way I walked and spoke was feminine,” Gopal explained.

No employer he ever worked for quite let Gopal be—whether it was in the jewellery store where he first took up a job, or in a shoe factory, where he endured misery for seven years.

Finally, tired of the posturing, Gopal renamed himself—or rather, herself—Gomathi, and joined the Thamilnadu Aravanigal Association (Thaa), a body run by transgenders that aims to uplift their community in the state.

The association spells its name thus because the acronym Thaa means ‘give’ in Tamil.

“My dream is to have a nine-to-five job in any field, in any capacity,” she says.

What she also means is a job with dignity.

Two agencies, the Stenographers’ Guild and the government-run Women’s Development Corporation, have stepped in to offer free vocational courses in basic computing and hand embroidery for the transgender community—hoping to do just that.

———

Many religious right folk focus on the posibility of cross-dressing elememtary school teachers. Many trans folk are focusing on finding good jobs so they can have their basic necessities met, and pay for transition expenses. Many community activists and allies are working to improve transgender employment numbers.

Let’s hear it here for a transgender enclusive ENDA.

—————
Crossposted from Pam’s House Blend.

I’ve been the victim of sexual harassment.

Near the end of my 20-year, U.S. Navy career, a subordinate of mine decided I was gay and didn’t want me in his Navy – he talked to my last four division officers trying to get an investigation into my alleged homosexuality started on me.

My subordinate finally found a sympathetic ear in a new Executive Officer (XO). I got called in front of the XO twice. I’d stayed within the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) rules, but he asked me if I were gay anyway.

I wrote up my subordinate and my XO for male-on-male sexual harassment — they violated the DADT rules in a way that met the Navy’s three criteria for sexual harassment:

1. The attention was unwelcome.
2. The harassment was sexual in nature.
3. The harassment involved the workplace.

Unfortunately for my harassers, for seven years of my military career I’d been a Naval Equal Opportunity and Sexual Harassment instructor. Both of my harassers were found at the end of investigation to have committed male-on-male sexual harassment. The Navy didn’t take male-on-male sexual harassment seriously, so my subordinate’s punishment was a verbal reprimand, and my XO got a “fiche 5″ service record entry.

I knew the rules and criteria for sexual harassment. (One can read more of my DADT story on the SLDN‘s or HRC‘s website.)

Why mention my story of harassment here? Matt Barber of the Concerned Women For America’s Culture And Family Institute recently announced what he believes a sexually harassing, hostile work environment is created when a transwoman uses a female designated bathroom.

Read the rest of this entry »

Southern Voice: Healing our wounds
Monica Helms writes: In my 10 years living as Monica, I have had three close friends commit suicide and one who was murdered. . .

Pam’s House Blend: Gallup: public favors expansion of hate crime law, despite the bleatings of the fringe

ShakesVille: Rape is Not Only Hilarious; It’s No Big Deal

Concerned Women For America: ENDA Would Dismantle First Amendment Liberties
Excerpt: Matt Barber, Policy Director for Cultural Issues with Concerned Women for America (CWA), warned, “This bill would force Christian, Jewish or Muslim business owners to hire people who openly choose to engage in homosexual or cross-dressing behaviors despite a sincerely held religious belief that those behaviors are dangerous, sinful and not in keeping with basic morality. ENDA would essentially force employers to check their First Amendment protected rights to freedom of religion, speech and association at the workplace door. It’s absurd! For instance, female employees would have to endure both systematic sexual harassment and a hostile work environment by being forced to share bathroom facilities with male employees who get their jollies from wearing a dress, high heels and lipstick. (Opposition Piece)

Ex-Gay Watch: We Interrupt for a Special Report from James Dobson

San Francisco Chronicle: Laddies In The Ladies Room
Excerpt: The men’s room sign has large print that reads “Ladies” and smaller text clarifying women shouldn’t go in there because it’s the men’s room. The women’s room has a similar sign. . .The signs have been up for 10 years in Destin and 30 years in Pensacola.

In their article Kings and Queens: A “Sexual Orientation” Primer, the Concerned Women for America (CWA or CWfA) take talking points from the Traditional Values Coalition (TVC).  The CWfA states in it’s piece:

With the introduction of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2007 (ENDA) and the most recent incarnation of “hate crimes” legislation now coming before Members of Congress, it’s time to remind everyone that these two bills constitute a shell game in which the liberals always win and you ultimately loseWeight Exercise your freedom of speech.

ENDA loosely defines “sexual orientation” as “homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality,” and also includes “gender identity,” defined as “the gender-related identity, appearance, or mannerisms or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, with or without regard to the individual’s designated sex at birth.”

H.R. 1592, the “hate crimes” bill just passed by the House, defines “gender identity” vaguely as “actual or perceived gender-related characteristics.” The bill, however, does not offer a definition for “sexual orientation.” In one ironic way, that makes it the more honest of the two bills. While ENDA covers three “sexual orientations,” 23 “sexual orientations” actually exist.

Would they be covered under ENDA and “hate crimes” legislation? Ostensibly, yes. The left has been trying to pass ENDA and “hate crimes” legislation for years, but only in recent response to the growing political clout of the transgender movement has “gender identity” been added to these bills – a term that would cover #22 in the list below, and by extension #4, #6, #7 and #8.

WARNING: Some of the descriptions in the list below may be offensive to readers’ sensibilities. [Page numbers are from "Paraphilias," Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (Washington: American Psychiatric Association, 2000), pp. 566-582.]. . .

The CWfA article then lists twenty-three of the thirty listed conditions that the TVC listed in their article ‘Sexual Orientation’ And ‘Gender Identity” Protection Is A Slippery Slope (that I posted an entry on here).  The text of the TVC article before the list of thirty conditions:

Congress is making a serious mistake by providing federal protection for “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.” These terms include a wide variety of sexual orientations outside of normal heterosexuality. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association, lists a whole range of sexual orientations that may end up being “protected” by passage of ENDA or H.R. 1592.

The list below is from the 2000 edition of the DSM. . .

It seems odd for the CWfA to be taking talking points from the TVC — an organization listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a “general hate” organization.

When I read stories like this, I just get to feeling ill. The Philadelphia Gay News has a story out today Trans woman leaving longtime job because of bad treatment, she says:

After 16 years of employment with the Free Library of Philadelphia, transgender woman Bobbie E. Burnett is ready to close this chapter of her work life.

It’s not because she doesn’t enjoy the work, she said; it’s some of her coworkers and managers she can no longer bear.

“I want out,” Burnett said this week. “I’m weary and disheartened. I’d like it to be over.”

When she began working as a librarian assistant in June 1991, this self-described “people-person” had no reason to expect the Free Library to be a hostile work environment, she said.

But that’s what it became shortly after she began her two-year transition to the opposite gender in June 2001, she claimed.

In January 2003, Burnett filed her first of three complaints against the Free Library with the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations (PCHR) in which she alleged disparate treatment, verbal abuse from coworkers and supervisors, excessive scrutiny, denial of overtime work, forced transfers to less-desirable worksites and retaliation for complaining about these issues to management.

Staffers have hurled slurs at her, including “freak,” “monster” and “man in woman’s clothing,” she said.

Rachel Lawton, PCHR’s deputy director for compliance, declined to comment on the case other than to confirm that the city’s law department is reviewing the matter.

In recent years, Burnett, 51, has been transferred to seven different library branches and has encountered challenges at every one, she said.

At one branch, she was forbidden from using a unisex restroom and a break room that was supposed to be accessible to all employees, she said, adding that at another branch she had to fight to obtain a building key rather than wait outside until another staffer arrived.

Her attorney, Kristine W. Holt, has compiled a hefty file on the case, which includes several memos from Burnett to library officials that specified her various grievances.

“The official response to Bobbie’s complaints seems to be, ‘Well, what do you expect? You’re transgender,’” said Holt, who is also transgender. “How do you deal with a response like that?”

There is more to the article one can read at the link.

What gets hard for me is that earlier this morning I doing some research for my peer Ex-Gay Watcher David Roberts. The bill that has been introduced to Congress each year under the name Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act (LLEEA) or Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (LLEHCPA) is being introduced this year under name Matthew Sheppard Bill. For David I was doing some research on what folk in the ex-gay movement say about this bill. Here are some examples.

(Statements by folk from ex-gay affirming organization after the flip)

Read the rest of this entry »

So as I do sometimes, I did a search on my name on Google, and a search on Google Blog Search.  Hey — I am a kinda amateur research librarian, so I like to do the research on “the researcher” every now and then to see where my name is mentioned.  (Okay, I’m at least somewhat vane.  )

Well low and behold, I found this blog I’d never heard of called “. . .➯ ➯ ➯. . . – poorly executed good intentions.” It had a post up by Gretchen Arnold on the Homosexual Agenda called homosexual agenda? aka… dear autumn sandeen, and mentioned me in the post from a post I did at Pam’s House Blend called Now Part Of The Homosexual Agenda: Sex Reassignment Surgery For 12 Year Olds.

I zeroed in on two things from Gretchen’s post — one was that her preferred name for homosexuals was homos, and that she figured no one would ever read her particular entry on me /the homosexual agenda.

Last night, I left a comment on her blog saying that I read the entry — no editorializing on my part; I just wrote that I saw her piece.

This morning, the post is gone. I wanted to see how she’d reply, but the whole darn post just plum disappeared.

Yup, it’s a weird world, this blogosphere. Ya’ can make nasty comments about someone, but if the someone who you’re commenting about notices your commentary — then you can go apparently all chickensh*t and delete your post. (Assuming Blogger didn’t delete he post for the anti-gay pejorative homo.  ) 

Wow. What a world, what a world.

Many LGBT people took insult at former basketball player Tim Hardaway’s recent comments on a Florida Radio Station.  He was quoted as saying:

“You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don’t like gay people and I don’t like to be around gay people. I’m homophobic. I don’t like it. It shouldn’t be in the world or in the United States.”

Lots of bloggers have already commented on the original story, and on Hardaway’s two apologies. I frankly tend to stay away from larger stories, just because my voice becomes a squeak in a sea of voices.

But do I care pretty deeply how ex-gay and ex-gay affirming organizations respond and comment on LGBT folk.

A bit ago I stumbled accross a Concerned Women for America (CWfA) press release on Hardaway’s anti-gay rant — three-quarters of the press release centered on quotes by Culture and Family Institute Director Matt Barber. The paragraphs with quotes by Mr. Barber read as follows:

“Hardaway’s comments are both unfortunate and inappropriate,” said Matt Barber, CWA’s Policy Director for Cultural Issues. “They provide political fodder for those who wish to paint all opposition to the homosexual lifestyle as being rooted in ‘hate.’ It’s important to note that Hardaway’s words represent the feelings of Hardaway. His words do not represent the feelings of the vast majority of people opposed to the homosexual agenda.

“It’s perfectly natural for people to be repelled by disordered sexual behaviors that are both unnatural, and immoral,” said Barber. “All too often those behaviors are accompanied by serious physical, emotional, and spiritual pitfalls. However, the appropriate reaction is to respond with words and acts of love, not words of hate. Jesus Christ offers forgiveness and freedom for all sinners, and that is the heart of the Gospel message.

“Thousands of former homosexuals have been freed from the homosexual lifestyle through acts of love. Hardaway’s comments only serve to foment misperceptions of widespread homosexual ‘victimhood’ which the homosexual lobby has craftily manufactured.”

So let’s be clear, this statement is an ad hominem attack on LGBT inviduals as a class of people. Barber attacks the sincerity of LGBT people as a group in the framework of his ‘victimhood’ comment.

Reading Mr. Barber’s comments, I’m left with this feeling that he doesn’t believe any LGBT people are actually insulted by Hardaway’s comments, but believes instead that LGBT people are disingenuous folk only interested in using the Hardaway quote as a means to create a “craftily manufactured” response — specifically and only to further the Homosexual Agenda®.

It’s almost as if Barber and the CWfA don’t believe LGBT people aren’t human enough to actually be emotionally hurt by hurtful comments … or is it even an “almost” thing?

This post is related to the story posted here (and crossposted here) regarding the Matt Barber’s comments on the story of the 14 year old Austrian transgirl — My friend TransApologist sent me this e-note, and I think it’s worthy posting here unedited.  IIt’s so well said that ‘d like to take credit for this piece, but I didn’t write this.
——-

Am I confused or What?

I love satire–it makes me smile. That’s why I have always been a big fan of the Concerned Women of America (CWA), which I suspect more and more might be a creation of the true geniuses at The Onion Magazine, who snarkfully proclaim themselves “America’s Finest News Source.” I think CWA may be America’s Finest Views Source.

These CWA folks on more than about six million occasions have written very concerned (and womanly and American) sounding screeds abut transgender people in which they inevitably use the word “confusion”–usually in the context of “gender confusion.” The brilliance therein is that the spokesperson for the CWA is almost always not a woman and therefore probably not a concerned woman of America, although maybe, I suppose, a confused woman of America.

Thankfully yesterday, the group tipped its hand, presumably because we were too confused to get the joke they were so anxiously playing on us all. Sure they went a little over the top, but now we at least see the joke.

They start a press release (and remember the “of America” part of their name) with the words “a 14 year-old German boy.” Apparently, somewhere in the Germany part of America, a fourteen year-old, in consultation with parents and doctors, has opted for medical treatment that said parents and doctors believe is appropriate for that person. I don’t know the particular case, so I am unwilling to pass judgment on the diagnosis or treatment, although I too am concerned and a woman and of America.

The best part for me about the story is that in this case the spokeswoman for CWA is a not gender-confused concerned woman named “Matt Barber”–which I hope is not some sort of tacky homosexual euphemism I don’t know about.

Thank you, CWA. Now I get it. You are not women, you are not of America and you are not concerned–except maybe about other people’s medical treatment and raising money for your hatemongering.

Sound the alarms! Danger! DANGER! Danger Will Robinson! The HO-MO-SEX-U-AL LOBBY is out to evilly destroy the world!

…Again.

*sigh*

If you didn’t know it, dear homosexual friends, you, in a most bleak and evil way, support sex change operations for 12 year olds. It’s part of your homosexual agenda.

How do I know? Well, the new “concerned woman” Matt Barber (of the Concerned Women for America’s Culture And Family Institute) says that’s what you think. Read it here in this Concerned Women For America press release:

A 14-year-old German boy has decided to undergo a sex change, making him the youngest patient in history to receive this extreme procedure. The young boy Tim, who prefers to be called “Kim,” has wanted gender reassignment surgery since he was 12 and claims to have considered himself female since age two. Concerned Women for America (CWA) is saddened that doctors and parents have fostered this young boy’s gender confusion and are allowing him to go forward with the surgery.

“This poor kid’s situation really undercuts the homosexual lobby’s deceptive equality-fluff and hyperbole,” said Matt Barber, CWA’s Policy Director for Cultural Issues. “It casts a bright light on the truly destructive, bleak and evil nature of the homosexual agenda. Has our world completely lost all sanity? That parents would allow their child to be treated like this is mind-boggling.

“Rather than addressing the emotional or chemical problems responsible for Tim’s gender confusion, his parents and doctors have bought into the homosexual lobby’s PC puffery hook, line and sinker. They’re about to rob him of his ability to father a child, and render him horribly disfigured and further confused. It’s not just a tragedy. It’s a travesty.”

For those of y’all who are not read up on exactly what the experts actually say about transsexual youth, please take a read at the Point 1. of the Ex-Gay Watch’s Mike Ensley On Gender Fluidity piece — no one is going to support doing sexual reassignment surgery on a 12 or 14 year old. Summed up briefly, the Harry Benjamin Standards Of Care actually state “…irreversible physical interventions should be delayed as long as is clinically appropriate” because ”[i]dentity beliefs in adolescents may become firmly held and strongly expressed, giving a false impression of irreversibility; more fluidity may return at a later stage.” So, the standards of care plan is actually to put transgender youth off of irreversible changes as long as possible — and put off irreversable surgeries until adulthood.

Heck, most transgender activists don’t support sex reassignment surgery for folk under 18 because the surgeries are significant…irreversible. A lot of us transpeople — believe it or not — actually think about the consequences of sex reassignment surgery for adolescents! Imagine that — thinking!

But don’t let us get in the way of what Matt Barber and Peter LaBarbera believe you darn evil homosexual agenda-ists believe. You bleakly and evilly think sex reassignment surgery for 12 year olds is a super idea — Matt and Pete said it’s so, so it must be true…Right?

Oh that’s right — not right. The statements of Barber and LaBarbera are what we call straw man arguments. Duh.

So maybe the alarms were sounded for nothing? Quoting the always cross-dressing Bugs Bunny, “Could be!”

From the Concerned Women For America’s website annoucement CWA Welcomes Matt Barber:

CWA President Wendy Wright introduces us to a welcome addition to the CWA staff. Matt Barber, featured in the March-April 2006 issue of Family Voice magazine, now serves as CWA’s Policy Director for Cultural Issues. Wendy and Matt discuss how the Lord has led him to CWA and what he hopes to accomplish in his new post. Click here to listen.

Can’t wait for his first utterances from Matt Barber in his new position — we all can remember how trans-friendly Robert Knight was to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans people in that position.