Monday, July 14, 2014

'Group planning 40-day fast against marriage equality' & other Monday midday news briefs

Editor's note - beginning tomorrow, my postings will less on schedule than usual due to my attending the Netroots Nation conferences. But I will have things up, so please check back now and then when you can.

Christian Group Plans 40-Day Fast Against Marriage Equality - Oh for Pete's sake! I am not against this sort of thing (Gandhi would fast for a cause) but don't you think that fasting so that lgbts and their families don't receive rights defeats the noble notion of the practice?

  The Woman Who Helped Change How Police Treat Transgender People - A genuine hero gets her due.

 Former Congresswoman Apologizes For Requesting Religious Exemption From LGBT Protections - Fine. Just don't let it happen again.

 Comic book icon Archie to be killed off while protecting gay friend - Sorry but I simply DO NOT agree with this. 

 Will criminalization of HIV transmission hinder or help prevention efforts? - And Uganda shoots itself in the foot with its homophobia.

The new anti-gay argument - marriage equality will lead to incest

Just preparing folks for the newest anti-marriage equality argument that you will most likely hear:

An Australian judge will be investigated for his "appalling" comments on incest, in which he reportedly said sex between siblings was gaining social acceptance just like homosexuality, authorities said on Friday.
New South Wales state Attorney General Brad Hazzard said he was "extremely concerned" about District Court judge Garry Neilson's alleged comments in a case where a man was accused of repeatedly raping his younger sister, which were reported in the Sydney Morning Herald.
"In my view the community would be rightly appalled at his reported comments," Hazzard said in a statement.
"Incest is completely reprehensible, unacceptable, disgusting and criminal." 
Neilson was quoted as saying communities might no longer see sex between siblings as "unnatural" or "taboo", likening a change in mindsets to how homosexuality was now socially accepted despite being criminalised in the past. 

That last sentence (highlighted by me) is what unfortunately connects this awful situation to us. I have already read references to it on many anti-gay sites and more are sure to follow.

Granted, the case has nothing to do with lgbts or our fight or marriage equality, except for in the mind of one foreign judge.

But to a crop of desperate anti-gay groups and spokespeople who have been on the losing end of the marriage equality fight for quite a while now, any case or offhand quote coming from the case is fodder.