Jesus

Boycot Lowe's

From Entertainment Weekly's website:

Lowe's pulls ads from "All-American Muslim" after "ordinary" portrayal protested

A TLC reality show offering a positive portrayal of Muslim life has come under protest and at least one advertiser has pulled its support.

Hardware store giant Lowe’s has yanked ads from the series after the Florida Family Association encouraged members to email the program’s advertisers.

“The show profiles only Muslims that appear to be ordinary folks while excluding many Islamic believers whose agenda poses a clear and present danger to liberties and traditional values that the majority of Americans cherish,” the group said about the show, a docu-soap chronicling everyday Muslim families in Dearborn, Michigan that debuted last month. “Clearly this program is attempting to manipulate Americans into ignoring the threat of jihad and to influence them to believe that being concerned about the jihad threat would somehow victimize these nice people in this show.”

The organization posted a letter allegedly from a Lowe’s representative agreeing to pull its ads: “While we continue to advertise on various cable networks, including TLC, there are certain programs that do not meet Lowe’s advertising guidelines, including the show you brought to our attention. Lowe’s will no longer be advertising on that program.”

Lowe’s then acknowledged and defended its decision on Twitter: “We did not pull our ads based solely on the complaints or emails of any one group. It is never our intent to alienate anyone. Lowe’s values diversity of thought in everyone, including our employees and prospective customers.”

Florida Family Association also suggested Home Depot and Sweet’n Low have been scared off, but emails posted from the companies say they only bought one ad each in the first place. All told, the organization claims its email campaign has convinced 65 companies to stop advertising with the show.

Now the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee has weighed in and is calling on its membership to support the show — and to contact Lowe’s. “Sadly corporations, such as Lowe’s, have succumbed to the idiocracy of such garbage campaigns, which are orchestrated by groups and organizations which lack credibility, legitimacy, and are founded on the basic notions of bigotry and racism reminiscent of a shameful era in this country’s history,” said the organization in a statement.

A TLC spokesperson wouldn’t discuss the protest, but told EW: “We stand behind the show All American Muslim and we’re happy the show has strong advertising support.”

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Here's a link to the story.

Here's a story about Lowe's sort of apology.

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From Kal Penn's Twitter feed: “Our next movie: ‘Harold & Kumar Do Not Go To @Lowes. Please take a sec to sign & support an all-American show.”

The Passion of the Clueless

Courtesy of this site.

The It Gets Better Project

From Dan Savage via here:

I’ve launched a channel on YouTube to host these videos. My normally camera-shy husband and I already posted one. We both went to Christian schools and we were both bullied — he had it a lot worse than I did — and we are living proof that it gets better. We don’t dwell too much on the past. Instead, we talk mostly about all the meaningful things in our lives now — our families, our friends (gay and straight), the places we’ve gone and things we’ve experienced—that we would’ve missed out on if we’d killed ourselves then.

“You gotta give ’em hope,” Harvey Milk said.

Today we have the power to give these kids hope. We have the tools to reach out to them and tell our stories and let them know that it gets better. Online support groups are great, GLSEN does amazing work, the Trevor Project is invaluable. But many LGBT youth can’t picture what their lives might be like as openly gay adults. They can’t imagine a future for themselves. So let’s show them what our lives are like, let’s show them what the future may hold in store for them.

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Here is the initial video and below-video description from their YouTube channel.



"If you're gay or lesbian, or bi or trans, and you've ever read about a kid like Billy Lucas (pictured below) and thought, "Fuck, I wish I could've told him that it gets better," this is your chance. We can't help Billy, but there are lots of other Billys out there—other despairing LGBT kids who are being bullied and harassed, kids who don't think they have a future—and we can help them..."

Letter from My Parents to the Catholic Church

Both of my parents are quite active in the Catholic church. They brought me and my two sisters up Catholic. We went to Catholic school - one of my sisters and I for 13 years, my other sister for 9 years. They have always gone to church every Sunday, and required us to do the same until we left home at 18 or so.

Currently, my mom is an usher and my dad is a lector for their parish's weekly masses.

When they found out that the New Orleans Archbishop donated money for the recent campaign to stop civil unions in Maine, they contacted the Archbishop, whom they have known (on a first-name basis) for 30 years. (He was a priest in our local parish when we lived in another area of New Orleans.)

Here is what their letter said.

February 17, 2010

Archbishop Gregory Aymond
[his address]

Dear Greg:

The action that you took donating $5,000 to stop civil unions in Maine hurt us deeply.

We personally have two children who were raised in the Catholic Church to love God and love their fellow man without any reservations. God created them in His image and even though their sexual orientation may be different from yours or ours, they should not be marginalized or denied their civil rights because of this.

Christ's actions, when He was here on earth, were to accept everyone as equal. We have a moral responsibility to live the way Christ taught us by His example, which is to love our fellow man - even though he or she may be different from us.

We urge you, in the future, to reach out just as Christ did to those individuals who may be different from us whether in ethnicity, sexuality or in religious beliefs instead of trying to ostracize them.

We wish you much success as we all strive to live our lives in the image of Christ. Thank you so much for your time and we hope to see you soon.

Sincerely,

[my parents]


I am very proud of them for taking a stand - and for taking the time to make their feelings known!

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The Archbishop replied to them. I do not have a copy of the letter, but I do remember bits of it:
- "Granting civil unions to homosexuals would undermine the sanctity of marriage."
- "Though I disagree with your opinion, I respect it."
- "I was not the one who gave the $5000. It was the previous Archbishop, though I agree with his decision."

(If/When I can get a copy of the letter, I'll update this post.)

What a bunch of crap!

Article: It's Not God Saying Gays Should Be Put to Death, It's YOU

Filed by: Waymon Hudson (pictured below)
February 24, 2010 4:00 PM


Alright. Let's get one thing straight, fundie homophobes- you don't get a pass when you "quote" the Leviticus Bible verse saying:

If man lies with a man as he would lie with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death and their blood shall be upon them.

This may come as a shock to the "hate the sin, love the sinner" set, but by quoting that verse, it's not God saying that gays should be put to death - it's YOU. It's not simply a personal religious view or a debatable "political difference" or a great talking point. YOU are saying that I should be put to death.

This week we've heard it from everyone from a Ugandan Pastor to another California Beauty Queen, Miss Beverly Hills 2010 Lauren Ashley. And despite them both saying they 'don't hate gay people', there's not much love in saying I should have 'blood upon me.' That's not really a debatable point.

Of course we've all heard that Leviticus quote in every debate about homosexuality and LGBT rights that comes up. Everyone from Focus on the Family to politicians to Westboro Baptist Church throws that verse up as a bump-sticker quote that explains why they hate us- and why it's beyond their control that they do.
They just can't help it- God says so.

Uganda's Porn Peddling Pastor Martin Ssempa uses the quote to explain why his country should pass the "Kill the Gays" Bill, even while at the same time he says he doesn't hate gays. It's just about the act, not the person. It's out of his hands- that verse means we should die. It's not up to him.

Even the new Miss Beverly Hills 2010 Lauren Ashley uses the verse to explain why it's okay if she hates the gays:

The Bible says that marriage is between a man and a woman. In Leviticus it says, 'If man lies with mankind as he would lie with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death and their blood shall be upon them.' The Bible is pretty black and white. I feel like God himself created mankind and he loves everyone, and he has the best for everyone. If he says that having sex with someone of your same gender is going to bring death upon you, that's a pretty stern warning, and he knows more than we do about life.

Yet in the same breath, she says she personally doesn't hate gays, we just have a friendly difference of opinion:

That isn't really the issue. I have a lot of friends that are gay, and ... I have a lot of friends who have different views, and we share our views together.

See? It's not Miss Beverly Hills who thinks you should die - just ask her gay friends!

This verse has become a homophobic cover for people to try to wash their hands of the damage they are doing and the violent, extremist views they hold. It's become an accepted talking point for bigots and haters, parroted without any real thought about the consequences of saying a swath of people should be killed because their personal idea of 'God says so.' (Oddly, the same people breeze over other 'abomination' verses in the same book and put on their mixed fiber clothing and eat their shrimp scampi after church.) I've personally heard that 'gays should be killed verse way too much in my life. It's what started my life as an activist when a skycap played it over the intercom in Fort Lauderdale Airport as a joke. Because saying I should die is simply hilarious.

Think it's a stretch to mention the Ugandan Pastor and a California Beauty Queen in the same post? It's not. It's the "trickle down" hate effect. Leaders crow about how gays should die and then small-minded bigots use it in casual conversation. It's all the same hate.

That's why it's important that we don't give passes to people like Miss Beverly Hills. She invoked 'death for gays' in a discussion on gay marriage (and pageants) and wasn't challenged by the interviewer. That's how accepted the talking point has become. That's what we are facing.

And that's why we have to always call it out.

Let's be clear: when you trot out this Bible verse, you are endorsing it, embracing it, and wrapping yourself in it. No amount of "I have gay friends", "it's just the act", or excuse-making will soften it. YOU are saying I should be killed.

You can't wipe your hands of it, you can't act shocked when violence happens to LGBT people, and you can't distance yourself from it. YOU own it. YOU are part of it.

And no amount of fancy pageant walking will change that.


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The original article is here.

Here is a related article about the "beauty" queen.

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Finally, here is a related sign.

Religion Flowchart

Click to make it larger...

Quotes from the Family

Here are the latest quotes from my niece and nephew:

My 3-year-old niece Eden (who has an older and a younger brother, but no sisters): "I don't want God to make me a girl. I want to be a boy like Bennett and Nolan."


Bennett, the 4-year-old older brother: "When I get big, I am going to be an altar boy and a Monster Truck driver."


Bennett: Dad, who's playing?
Jeff, the Dad: The Bengals and the Steelers.
Bennett: Why are they the Steelers? Do they steal the ball a lot? Are they bad people?

Pro-Gay Christian Billboards Spark Debate

I found the below article here, one of my daily stops.

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NORTH TEXAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ― Christine Lutz was traveling down Interstate-30, just east of Fort Worth, when she came face to face with a billboard containing a pro-gay message. "I cringed. I was disgusted at the same time," she said.

The billboard angered Lutz so much, that she fired off a stern e-mail. "I said how dare you take the scriptures and twist it to fit your needs," she recalled.

There are four billboards with similar pro-gay messages along I-30 that have started a debate among Christians in North Texas.

Rev. Jon Haack, with Promise Metropolitan Community Church, said, "If we go back to the gospel readings, we don't find anything within those texts that discriminate or exclude against gay and lesbian people. Gay and lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender people are part of God's creation too."

Rev. Haack is with one of five local churches sponsoring the billboards that advocate gay acceptance by all Christians.

One billboard reads, "The early church welcomed a gay man." Another one reads, "Jesus affirmed a gay couple."

The billboards were put up a week ago along I-30 between Grand Prairie and Fort Worth and the negative e-mails are already coming in. "There are people who have told us to reread our Bible which is the very question we're asking others to do," explained Rev. Colleen Darruagh, with Metropolitan Community Church of Greater Dallas. "We've had people say, 'How dare you take the name of God in vain' and that God hates homosexuals."



Pastor Sam Dennis, of Parkway Hills Baptist Church in Plano, says Christians shouldn't hate gays. He disagrees however with the billboards' use of scripture to back a pro-gay message. "I'm hard pressed to find that scripture advocates that it's alright to live in a gay lifestyle. Just like I'm hard pressed to find that scripture advocates that's it's alright to live in an adulterous relationship or as a wife abuser or as a murderer."

The five local churches sponsoring the billboards are part of the Worldwide Metropolitan Community Church which has a predominantly gay congregation.

The roadside signs will be up in North Texas throughout September. For a closer look at the billboards check out the website www.whywouldwe.org and www.wouldjesusdiscriminate.org.

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I love the irony: "The billboard angered Lutz so much, that she fired off a stern e-mail. 'I said how dare you take the scriptures and twist it to fit your needs,' she recalled."

Buy More Pepsi

Church boycotting Pepsi over gay marriage debate

BRANDON, Florida - The Cola Wars aren't just between Coke and Pepsi. Now, a Tampa Bay church is taking on one of the largest corporations in the world.

"We would like to send them a message," said Terry Kemple, President of the Community Issues Council that is organizing a boycott of Pepsi products because he says it "advocates the acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle."

In addition to hundreds of church-goers who have joined the boycott, Kemple just got his mega-church, the Bell Shoals Baptist Church, to remove its 10 Pepsi machines. They have been replaced with Coke machines.

"They (have) begun to utilize the money we've helped them build up to trample on what we consider family values," said Kemple of Pepsi.

He said the company donated more than a million dollars to organizations that fought California's gay marriage-banning Proposition 8. He also says the Pepsi Corporation has sponsored gay pride events and commercials that accept cross-dressing and homosexuality.

"We're concerned about that diminishment of the ability of Christians to speak what the Bible says," Kemple said.

But Nadine Smith, the Executive Director of Equality Florida, called the boycott offensive to her and embarrassing to those who participate.

"The irony is that - in moving from Pepsi products to Coke products - they actually switched from one company that supports full-equality to another companty that supports full-equality," Smith said.

Pepsi is one of the largest corporations in the country, boasting subsidiaries like Gatorade, Tropicana, Frito-Lay and Quaker. However, calls to the company's headquarters went unreturned on Tuesday.

Representatives from the Bell Shoals Baptist Church, which draws several thousand members every Sunday, declined comment as well.

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Note to Self: Buy more Coke too.

Quotes from the Family

My younger sister Claudia (who lives in Atlanta with her husband and three kids) emailed me this today:

(Claudia's husband) Jeff is holding Bennett [the four-year-old kid] as he is getting communion...
Bennett: "Dad, when I get big, I can get one of those Body of Christs, right?"

Ahhh. Growing up Catholic.