Richard Grenell, Mitt Romney’s departed spokesperson, denies he was forced out of his position by GOP operatives. In fact, he’s saved most of his venom for liberals: “The far left doesn’t want a gay person to be conservative and the far right doesn’t want a conservative to be gay. Some of the most hateful, mean-spirited intolerant comments about me being the foreign policy and national security spokesman for Governor Romney… were coming from the left.” [Desert Sun]
Opponents of Maryland’s marriage-equality law are expected to begin submitting signatures to the state Board of Elections today. They have until June 30 to submit 55,736 valid voter signatures to have the law put on a public referendum, but at least one-third — 18,579 signatures—must be turned in by Thursday. “We’re going to put this thing to res. Once it’s put to rest, these politicians who are coming out in favor of this are going to be debunked and embarrassed.” said Baltimore Delegate Emmett C. Burns Jr, who opposes gay marriage. [Washington Times]
After a unanimously vote, Kentucky’s Highland Baptist Church ordained Maurice Blanchard as a minister yesterday, making him one of only a few openly LGBT clergy ordained by the Baptist Church. Pastor Joe Phelps said Blanchard was “a God-called man with deep integrity and a heart for finding God’s lost sheep.” [HBC]
The Palo Alto Weekly rescinded its endorsement of Santa Clara attorney Steven Pogue for Superior Court judge after a Queerty reader reminded the paper Pogue was a financial backer of Yes on Prop 8, the group endorsing California’s anti-marriage-equality referendum. “”The Weekly is a strong supporter of gay rights and of gay marriage, and we cannot lend our endorsement to a candidate for judge who has actively attempted to deny this right,” said publisher Bill Johnson. [Palo Alto Online]
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
The historic and pro-gay Walker Community United Methodist Church in Minneapolis was destroyed by fire on Sunday night. Fire marshals believe the blaze that consumed the 102-year-old structure was started by lightning or other natural causes, not arson. “The building is gone, but the people are the church,” said Reverend Walter Lockhart. “What we have before us is a new journey.” [The Raw Story]
Barry
If the gay community was really smart, we’d rebuild this church with donations from all over the nation…let NOM spend their money on hate. Let’s spend our money with love!!!
Chad
@Barry: I agree.
Daez
@Barry: I would agree, except that it is a church. Churches make enough money by selling lies and falsehoods. We do not need to donate money to them. Not to say that churches do not do good things, but the amount of bad they do quickly overwhelms the good. Lets give our money to causes that actually matter.
Polyboy
Burn those bridges Grennell. I’m sure the Republicas who drove you out appreciate your sacrifices.
Washington Dad
Grenell is right: The far left absolutely does not want gay people to be conservative. If there’s any doubt, simply look at the hate speech posted in response to any conservative commenter on this very site. To most Queerty readers a gay conservative = a mentally ill self-hater.
mc
If Grenell is so weak that he quit his job because his party’s opponents had something bad to say about him, then maybe he doesn’t belong in politics. On the other hand, he does a nice job of scapegoating liberals for his own party drumming him out.
Hate speech, by the way, is what Bryan Fischer & his ilk says including that pastor who wanted to round up all the gays in a concentration camp. It’s not legitimate criticism of a self serving politician who’ll gladly live in the most liberal state in the US & take all the benefits that the ‘liberals’ have gotten him, while denigrating other gay people as one issue voters.
James
Daez – You make some of generalizations about this church without actually cting anything specific that you feel they have done. This makes me wonder if your objection is to this church in question, or The Church in general. Yes, in general, the Christian faith has lost its way and there are many examples of sects that ground their beliefs in translations of the Bible and irrational fear of ‘others’, rather than the example of Christ (which to my mind is a demonstrably dangerous form of idolatry). Although I have never found a church that I could comfortably sit through a sermon within, I do consider myself a spiritual person, and in the spirit of agape, I would contribute to a fund to rebuild this particular house of God. I hope they make the process by which we might do this known.
Hyhybt
@James: Their address is on their website. Sending a physical check to a PO box might be old-fashioned, but it’s still effective.
liam3rd
this church is a group of that helps people not with dogma in the spirit we are all in this together on planet we should not back bite each other I am not a after the fire the held holiday picnic with all the neighbors they did not ask for a dime for the event
mike
Grenell, come back to the Democratic party where you belong and where you can be yourself.
tj
I don’t want a gay person to support the discrimination of gay people. Call me crazy but that sounds like betrayal.
billywingartenson
@Barry:
a baptist church -? if its the highland baptist church in Louisville Ky, they have affiliations with the American baptists On their website they say they are progressive etc.
the American baptist broke away from the extreme right wing southern baptist a few decades ago re the ordination of women.
Usually at DC gay pride we have people from American baptist churches supporting our gay community
Cam
@Washington Dad: said…
“Grenell is right: The far left absolutely does not want gay people to be conservative. If there’s any doubt, simply look at the hate speech posted in response to any conservative commenter on this very site. To most Queerty readers a gay conservative = a mentally ill self-hater.”
_______________________-
No actually Grenell is doing what he promised to do when he was forced out of the Romney campaign. He was no doubt told to minimize this and he would be given a job later in the Romney White House.
I LOVE your little “Conservatives are victims of gay hate” comments hare hilarious. Lets see, the GOP candidate for president has told Congress he wants an anti gay AMENDMENT to the Constitution, he would not have signed a Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal, AND the leader of the GOP was forced to fire a man because he was gay… son on other words they don’t even want gays to have a job and yet according to you it’s the gays that are hateful.
Nice try, but you Log Cabin Trolls need to deal with the real issue rather than trying to deflect. If somebody is swinging a baseball bat at you, THEY are not a victim because you push them away.
But again, Nice try.
Danny
Grenell needs to back away from the tweezers. His face called and it wants its eyebrows back to full size. Also, the gay community has nothing against conservatives; it only hates anti-gay conservatives whose party platforms are based on violating the 1st and 14th Amendment rights of GLBTA people.
Washington Dad
@Cam: Thank you for responding and proving my point (the Left is SO predictable).
Mo
@Washington Dad: I agree with Cam: a conservative (Republican, esp)gay is “a mentally ill self-hater.” I wonder how anyone could think Republicans are hypocrites or must lie continually about being gay in the very tolerant and unbiased Repug Party
Washington Dad
@Mo: You people who’ve convinced yourselves that no minority (gay, black, female) can possibly be right-of-center are the TRUE bigots in this arena. Again: Who is more intolerant, you or me? I say you, because at least I would invite you in to debate—you would just spit at me and childishly call me names like “Repug.” Enough said.
mc
No. # · mc
@Washington Dad: The Right is so predictable in not being able to respond to what was actually written: “the GOP candidate for president has told Congress he wants an anti gay AMENDMENT to the Constitution, he would not have signed a Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal, AND the leader of the GOP was forced to fire a man because he was gay…”
Please explain the benefits of supporting a candidate who is against gay marriage, against civil unions, who’ll defend DOMA, who wants an anti gay constitutional amendment on marriage & who’s against ENDA. Please explain why you’re angry that gay people aren’t lining up to kiss the feet of a group of people, your conservative party, who actively seek to take away their rights state by state including passing Don’t Say Gay repressive legislation & fighting bills that would give employment protection against discrimination & fighting tooth & nail any attempt to pass anti bullying legislation that would give some protection to gay & lesbian kids.
You can be as right as center as you want to be but don’t kid yourself that electing Republicans who write into law & pass into laws anti gay legislation is some harmless event that doesn’t increase the misery of the lives of GLBT youths & adults. Don’t expect praise for doing that.
Washington Dad
@mc: Expect praise? Hardly. I expect people—regardless of sexual orientation—to look beyond their own self-absorbed existences and view the big picture: As long as you’re a taxpayer (and I mean the type who has to cut a check in April every year, not the kind who get refunds) and not a leech on society, then the topic of same-sex marriage takes a distance back seat to other, more pressing issues. If you, like me, have to write a check to the government, and you witness all of the gross and reckless spending commited by Obama (twice as much in 3.5 years as Bush spent in 8 years—and he had two wars to waste money on!), then you too would want to see him go and get someone in the White House who has some sense of fiscal responsibility. On the other hand, if the most important thing to you in our current society is to be able to marry someone (whom you’ll likely be divorced from in a few years anyway), then you’ll want to go with Obama. See how easy that was without all the name-calling?
Cam
@Washington Dad: said…
“@Cam: Thank you for responding and proving my point (the Left is SO predictable).”
__________________
No, actually what you proved is that you had no argument to the point I made. That is the typical deflection of a partisan hack.
If you had a valid argument, you would have brought it, but all you had in your fist post were vague assertions and your second made it clear that there were no facts to back it up.
mc
@Washington Dad: Reading comprehension is not your strong suit if you think I only wrote about gay marriage. I wrote about job discrimination for gay people, housing, partner health benefits, ENDA and bullying legislation and Don’t Say Gay legislation that affects kids in schools who feel shunned for being who they are. My post was not just about Gay marriage that you choose to focus on and snub your nose on. I assume, getting a job & getting a house is of concern to you. These issues affect all GLBT people and these issues are about people living their lives.
Not one single name was called to you but yet you play the victim in your post. You expect people to look beyond self absorption when your entire post is the definition of self absorption with You deciding what needs to take a back seat because of what You consider important. When you have 30 states where it’s legal to fire someone for being gay & many places where you can be refused housing & evicted for being gay, you don’t get to sneer at people who want to vote Their self interest. Your cause is not any more superior than theirs.
If you do not care about the issues that directly affect the gay community, including jobs, housing, getting federal tax benefits, health benefits, deportation issues (when one couple is an immigrant) gay suicide rates, gay bashing, gay marriage/divorce any of the other issues & you proceed to help elect politicians who hurt the community then do not come back with your pretend wide eyed surprised that some people aren’t reacting to you positively.
Washington Dad
@mc: You’re right: I don’t care about all that stuff regarding LLBeanGT issues, or whatever you want to call them. I have a business to run and two kids to raise, so these issues are not on my radar and likely never will be. Sorry that doesn’t fit your idea of the perfect gay man, but I have my priorities and you have yours. We can cordially agree to disagree. Again: See how easy that was to be civil? And yet, typical of a Lefty, you have to squeeze in little digs like “Reading comprehension is not your strong suit.” Thanks for verifying my beliefs that you people are incapable of carrying on any form of discussion without sinking into name-calling. Seems it’s simply beyond your grasp.
mc
@Washington Dad: When I write about many issues & you harp on one, gay marriage & refuse to address the others, then yes, I would say you have some trouble with reading comprehension.
Obviously you’re not above name calling as everyone who offers you a different perspective is a ‘typical lefty’. What is that, but name calling hmm?
Thanks for verifying that you’re all about your own self interest, your business & your kids to raise & to heck with the LLBean issues as you call it. That’s what everyone thought about you in the first place. So when you wrote: “I expect people—regardless of sexual orientation—to look beyond their own self-absorbed existences and view the big picture,” I guess you meant the big picture of what’s good for WashingtonDad.
To summarize: You don’t care a whit about gay issue & if anti gay laws are enacted by people you help elect because it’s just not ‘on your radar,’ but came online to chastise the gay community for not embracing your ‘conservatism.’ If you can’t see how absurd a notion that is, then it’s you that has the inability to grasp things.
Hyhybt
@Washington Dad: “As long as you’re a taxpayer (and I mean the type who has to cut a check in April every year, not the kind who get refunds)…”
Interesting distinction to make. What does whether one has had too much or too little withheld over the course of the year to cover the taxes you owe have to do with anything?
Hyhybt
@Washington Dad: For that matter, how is voting based on which one you believe will result in lower taxes for yourself NOT voting based on your own self-interest?
Washington Dad
@Hyhybt: Make no mistake, my friend: I do in fact vote based on my own self-interests, as everyone does. But my sexuality is so small a part of my life that I don’t vote based on it. However, this discussion isn’t about me, it’s about Grenell and his very true statement that the gay community cringes whenever they hear that one of their own isn’t towing the gay line and has crossed over the political spectrum to embrace the Right. As someone who’s been in this position on the receiving end of such hyper-criticism from liberals (and especially gays), there’s just no arguing this point. Just because you guys might not like it doesn’t make it untrue.
Hyhybt
@Washington Dad: Voting your own interests is all well and good–except that in #19 you said people shouldn’t do that. Anyway, I was more hoping for an answer to the other question about taxes. Why do you consider it relevant whether someone overpays their taxes during the year, and therefore gets a refund, or underpays them, and therefore has to write a check come April?
Chris
(American) gay conservatives deserve all this and more. I hope their hateful party casts them all out.
WashingtonDad, unless you’re in the 1%, you do yourself a disservice by supporting the right. Even if you were, you’d still be supporting a party that hurts and marginalizes everyone who isn’t a white cis hetero male.
Washington Dad
@Hyhybt: Sure.
Needless to say, our tax system is radically flawed. It’s not a question of underpaying or overpaying, really. The numbers have surfaced recently that only the top 20% of income earners actually pay taxes. Everyone else pays nothing and yet benefits from the taxes that are paid (and no, sales tax doesn’t count). Having state and federal taxes taken out of one’s paycheck if one gets it back at the end of the year doesn’t count as paying taxes. I get taxed 30%, not to mention others items like personal property taxes, and I wouldn’t mind doing that, as long as it weren’t being wasted by the government machine, party affiliation be damned.
Washington Dad
@Chris: And again, your response is a perfect example of how the Left is intolerant while claiming to be oh-so-tolerant. In your view, straight white men are apparently pure evil. That’s tolerance? That’s acceptance? That’s not judging someone by their race, gender, or sexual orientation? You seem to be so blinded by your hate that you can’t recognize it as being hate.
ps – You’d better hope the richest 1% of our country doesn’t abandon us with all their wealth. Our economy would be pretty hard-pressed to get along without them—we’d be in a depression in no time. But I guess being jobless and hungry is okay as long as we have gay marriage, huh.
mc
Washington Dad’s info is false when he states “Having state and federal taxes taken out of one’s paycheck if one gets it back at the end of the year doesn’t count as paying taxes”
Getting a refund does not mean you’re not paying taxes, It means that you’ve overestimated your taxes & paid too much taxes (had too much taken out of your paycheck) to the government. The government uses that overpayment throughout the year to do whatever it wants with it. When you file your taxes, the refund you get is that money you’ve overpaid the government. People who get refunds & people who pay when filing can be in the same tax bracket & pay the same percentage.
Hyhybt
@Washington Dad: I remember reading not too long ago that it was about 50%; if you have something reliable that shows otherwise, I’d love the chance to look it over. But meanwhile, that’s confusing two separate matters anyway: getting a refund, and getting refunded all or more of what you paid.
I know that, when I worked for McDonald’s (hence the user name, by the way: Have You Had Your Break Today?), federal, state, and payroll taxes withheld combined were about 25% of my gross pay. And that was pretty much what I was being taxed at, because every year I’d get a small refund ($80-100) from the federal government and have to send the state about the same amount. And surely I was not in the top 20%!
Chris
WashingtonDad,
There’s one party that attacks women, gays and minorities, and it sure isn’t mine. Perhaps you assume that since your party hates, that everyone has to hate. I don’t hate. I recognize that people who cause harm to others need to be stopped, and I will shed no tears when those who work to oppress others are oppressed by the very group they supported.
Grovel at the feet of your 1% masters – I’m sure you’ll be rewarded for your service. (You won’t. They care only for the wealthy. Look at their policies.)
Washington Dad
@Chris: It’s all good, since I have a rich daddy who will leave me very wealthy. So nya.
Poetico
Here’s a Mormon/Romney fact the media isn’t talking about: there are hundreds of polygamous Mormon cults in mainstream Mormon communities where crime and abuse are rampant, and powerful Mormon legislatures and law enforcement are doing everything they can to keep it out of the press. That’s why Romney wants to keep “religion” out of the election debates. The infamous FLDS, headed by imprisoned pedophile prophet, Warren Jeffs, is just one of over a hundred polygamous groups operating behind the secret Mormon curtain. Corrupt Mormon legislatures work hand-in-hand with corrupt polygamists, and the problem has gotten so bad that recently Judge Lindberg ordered Utah’s attorney general, Mark Shurtleff (a Mormon) to pay 5 million in trust debt for the corrupt FLDS. Here’s a link: http://www.rickross.com/refere… one who’s seen the doc film Banking On Heaven would ever vote for a Mormon. Most libraries carry the DVD. Mormons appear squeaky clean on the surface, but just like their FLDS counterparts clad in prairie dresses, there’s something unnatural behind the mask. A few examples….Utah State Prison houses 80% sex-offenders, no other prison in the country comes close. Utah watches 11% more pornography than other states. When a young girl escapes polygamy, she’s given no help and quickly returned to her perpetrators. Polygamist Ross LeBaron has been impregnating his daughter for ten years while powerful Mormon legislature and law enforcement in Utah and Arizona do NOTHING. Recently LeBaron had a set of twins with his daughter. Don’t be fooled by the boyish grin and rolled up sleeves, Romney doesn’t care about American families. He’s never donated one thin dime to non-profits who help polygamous women and children transition into mainstream society. And neither has Ann Romney.
Maria Lena
ALFRED HEALING HOME was a very positive experience for me. Painful? You bet. But in ALFRED HEALING HOME I finally found who to talk to and listen. He knew EXACTLY what I was going through, within minutes I felt accepted and safe. It literally saved my crumbling marriage. alfredhealinghome(@)gmail.com is his email to contact for help.