Shake Shake Shake Your Bow-Tie

What do these two men have in common? Apparently, more than just their choice of neck-wear.

Pictured on the bottom right, 19-year-old Philip Anderton Cooney, the son of former Bush aide and American Petroleum Institute oil lobbyist Phil Cooney, recently arrested for gay bashing in Washington DC.

In the top photo is 38 year old Tucker Carlson, host of MSNBC's Tucker with Tucker Carlson show, son of Richard Warner Carlson, a former banker, Los Angeles local news anchor, U.S. ambassador to the Seychelles, director of the U.S. Information Agency, and president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, admitted that while in high school, he and another friend bashed a gay man who “bothered” him in a men’s room in Washington DC.

Could this be a copy-cat hate crime?

Carlson is a public figure and very likely a cultural icon for impressionable young White, wealthy conservative males like Cooney. Perhaps Cooney saw the show where Carlson described committing violence toward a so-called "gay" man and realized he might like to try it too. After all, in the video, you can see that the other White, straight, wealthy men thought Carlson's story was funny. It stands to reason then that a young man who relates to a celebrity like Carlson would want to emulate him. Happens all the time.

Unfortunately for Cooney, times have changed -- at least in some areas -- and laws were passed to punish those who would single out a person for violence based on his or her sexual orientation.

No wonder Carlson and his ilk rail against hate crimes legislation -- calling them "special rights." In their minds, queers have no sense of humor and are generally whiny party poopers who are spoiling all the fun.

It seems they prefer to have the opportunity to lash out violently against LGBTQ people whenever the mood strikes.

Yesterday, we asked that readers of this blog to send an email to Carlson demanding that – on the air – he explain the discrepancy between his calls for non-violence from Black teens in Jena Louisiana and his own violent crime against a supposedly gay man!

This guy has had it made in the shade his entire life. It would be great to see him squirm and take some semblance of responsibility for using his bully pulpit to make outrageous and inaccurate statements about gay people and our "agenda."

We must stop Carlson and his gang of bow-tie wearing thugs before another privileged, wealthy, White-male, conservative/predator sets out on a hunt for fresh gay red meat.

The Internet offers a great way to GO VIRAL by calling Carlson out for the hypocrite that he is! After you send your email, post a comment below to let us know what you said.

Pass this on to all of your friends and supporters and ask them to do the same.

Maybe you'll be saving your own ass -- or possibly ours.

Give the Underdogs a Bone

We live in a Country where it is perfectly legal for a woman to leave $12,000.000 to her dog while the LGBTQ Community is forced to sit under the table to beg for even the smallest scrap of rights and protections.

Hard to believe that -- in 2007 -- our State and Federal Governments remain entrenched in bigotry and ignorance.

This attitude is not only demeaning, it is infuriating.

Yesterday, the Senate voted 60-39 to end the debate on the Matthew Shepard Act, which expands federal hate crimes laws to include violence based on a victim's sexual orientation, gender, disability, and other factors.

The House already passed the Act, as a stand alone bill, last Spring.

WAIT! Don't get too excited about getting tossed a bone -- just yet.

What passed yesterday was only an amendment to a defense authorization -- a.k.a Pentagon spending bill and THAT bill has not yet passed the Senate!

And even if the bill DOES pass the Senate with the Hate Crimes Act attached to it, Bush may veto the whole thing anyway.

Why, you ask, would Bush veto a bill that gives the Pentagon the money it needs to continue to wage his immoral war?

Because he is a mean spirited, rich-kid bully whose been handed everything he could ever want in life and then some -- but still loves nothing more than to use his position to deny others he deems as unworthy.

And you, my dear queer, are the unworthiest of the unworthy.

If by chance the bill does pass and Bush does sign it, our struggle will have moved one step closer toward equality.

But -- as we were reminded yesterday by our dear friend, Ruthie Berman, "we've still got a million miles to go."

Postscript: In the saddest of ironies, Larry Craig, the self-hating, on the down-low, closeted gay Repugnican Senator from Idaho, stuck it to us one more time when he voted against the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act. Ugh.

The Matthew Shepard Act

The Matthew Shepard Act -- which when passed will (among other things) expand the existing hate crimes law to "authorize the Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute certain bias-motivated crimes based on the victim's actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability."

Current law only includes race, color, religion or national origin.

The Act passed in the House last May and since then has been languishing in the Senate. If it passes in both houses, President Bush has threatened a veto.

This proposed legislation has created another opportunity for the religious right to bash the so-called "homosexual agenda." It also proves that they have no intention to ever give the LGBTQ Community access to even the most humane and fundamental legal protection -- the right to be free from violence for being who we are.

Whenever someone argues that it is merely the equal marriage issue that riles up the wing-nuts, tell them about Rod Parsley, the evangelical mega-church preacher whose book, Silent No More, sells three for $10 in the front lobby of Hope Christian's 3,000-member church. A chapter entitled "The Unhappy Gay Agenda" argues that gay people are much given to depression and deviance, including their "substantially higher participation in sadomasochism, fisting, bestiality, ingestion of feces, orgies … obscene phone calls … shoplifting, and tax cheating."

"Homosexuality is not just sick," writes Parsley, "it is sin."

And Bishop Harry Jackson of Maryland's Hope Christian Church who recently wrote:

"The gay community, with the help of the liberal media, has worked strategically on a P.R. campaign to make Americans comfortable with homosexuality. From the slightly effeminate male assistant to the first gay marriage ceremony on television, American audiences have watched homosexual themes creep into their lives."

Clearly, these "Christian" men and their disciples of hate don't want to extend to you the right to be free from violence.

According to Princeton University Professor Cornell West, these preachers have been "inundating the media and faith communities with the message that this legislation will allow police to storm into worship services and arrest clergy if they speak against being gay. They make the incendiary allegation that the bill will create "thought crimes" by punishing people for thinking ill of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

The truth is that the Matthew Shepard Act protects all First Amendment rights. And, although that is a given, this bill goes out of its way to protect the free speech of ministers. Those pastors who wish to continue condemning and dehumanizing the gay community will be free to do so.

The hate crimes bill provides resources for the investigation of violent actions - not beliefs, thoughts, or words. The proposed federal statute does not punish nor prohibit free expression of one's religious beliefs. As University of Chicago law professor Geoffrey R. Stone recently concluded, "The argument of the pastors that the proposed legislation in any way threatens their right to preach their version of the Gospel is, to be frank, ridiculous."

Despite the ridiculousness of their claims, the powerful and cash-rich antigay lobby continues to mold opinion against this legislation with fear and falsehoods. Leaders like Jackson have used provocative "thought crime" arguments to obscure the truth that, according to the FBI, 1,017 people were the targets of violent crimes in 2005 because of their sexual orientation.

Their rhetoric steals attention away from the stories of gay couples being viciously beaten for holding each other's hand in public or a flight attendant sought out to be heinously murdered simply because he was gay.

These preachers don't care to hear the thousands of stories of lives and communities scarred by antigay violence. And, conveniently, those who bring up the reality that the Matthew Shepard Act is a constitutional and important means to prevent antigay violence are labeled by these clergy as "anti-Christian." The good intentions of this legislation have been greeted by malice by these manipulators of fact.

The efforts of antigay preachers and their supporters is not the way to create the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision of a "Beloved Community" - where we all strive to treat each other with respect and compassion.

The way to start building such a community is to listen to the words of Gordon Smith, the Republican senator from Oregon who is cosponsoring the Matthew Shepard Act. Before his fellow senators, Smith declared, "I believe that the moral imperative that underpins hate crimes legislation is simply this, and it comes from sacred writ: that when people are being stoned in the public square, we ought to come to their rescue."

In supporting the noble imperatives of the Matthew Shepard Act, we all have the chance to work toward a community that protects and respects the lives and dignity of all citizens instead of bows to falsehoods and bigotry.

Please contact your Senator today and ask that they ignore the hateful rhetoric and do the right thing. Pass the Matthew Shepard Act with a veto proof margin.

Fighting Hate in Our Community

Yesterday we read a news report about Megan Williams, a 20 year old African American woman who was kidnapped, raped and tortured in Southern West Virginia by six White men and women for over one week.

The details are nauseating:

“[Megan’s] captors forced her to eat rat droppings, choked her with a cable cord and stabbed her in the leg while calling her a racial slur... [t]hey also poured hot water over her, made her drink from a toilet, and beat and sexually assaulted her during a span of about a week.”

And yet, shockingly, Megan's attackers will not be charged with a hate crime.

This is a sad day for West Virginia and for the entire country.

In West Virginia, hate-based violence has become a daily occurrence and is rapidly increasing across the country as elected officials, courts, law enforcement officers, religious “leaders” and the news media perpetuate a “them against us” dynamic.

Someone somewhere must be benefiting from creating a climate of fear of “the other” because there is plenty of it going around.

Ask yourself, who benefits and why?

As out and open West Virginia lesbians, we are keenly aware that some of our neighbors are told in church each week that we are despicable sinners.

We know that every time our President calls for an amendment to the Constitution to “protect traditional marriage” he provides cover for these homophobic gay bashers.

When Lou Dobbs rails against illegal immigration and treats lies as news, he perpetuates violence and misunderstanding against people of color.

When the Supreme Court virtually overturns laws prohibiting segregation based on race, they are rewarding White supremacists who’ve been offended since 1954 when they were forced to sit, eat and attend school with those they feel are inferior to them.

As we go about our daily lives, we have the choice to shake our heads with disbelief about Megan’s story or do something constructive about it while the iron is hot.

Perhaps violence motivated by hate is more difficult for us to ignore because we, too, are vulnerable. However, as history has shown, violence and cruelty based on "difference" is indiscriminate. We are all unique in some way or another and eventually the person who is different may be -- you.

Remember the poem by Pastor Martin Niemöller during Hitler’s reign?

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

We for one will not stand silently by and allow acts of violence and hatred to occur in our state, in our community.

We know that people – even those who are outraged – often fail to act because they feel isolated, hopeless and helpless. How can they, as individuals make any difference or say anything to change the hearts and minds of those who hate?

That is why we need to stand together, People of Color, Native Americans, the poor, the young and old, gay and straight, Muslim, Christian, Jew and Hindu -- all of us need to understand that alone we are vulnerable but together we are strong.

Other communities have responded to hate crimes by using the incident to teach tolerance and acceptance. Resources are available to assist activists, educators and law enforcement officers to fight hate in their local community.

Today we are going to contact others in our local community to see whether we can work together to organize a rally or forum to educate around what happened to Megan.

What will you do?