Bevin Must Be So Proud

Resign, motherfucker.  No sweet judgeships for practicing homophobic bigots.

From the AP:

A Kentucky family court judge says he won't hear any more adoption cases that involve gay adults.

The Courier-Journal reports Judge Mitchell Nance issued an order Thursday saying he believes that "under no circumstance" would "the best interest of the child be promoted by the adoption by a practicing homosexual."

Nance cited an ethical rule that says judges must disqualify themselves when they have a personal bias or prejudice.

Nance's order said lawyers representing gay people in adoptions in Barren and Metcalfe counties would have to request a special judge.

Don't bother sending Nance the dozens of studies showing that the vast majority of pedophiles and child abuses are heterosexual.  Or the hundreds showing that children thrive with gay parents

He's a trumpy.  He doesn't care about the facts. Fags make him feel icky in his bathing suit area, so no adoptions for them!

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/latest-news/article147409639.html#storylink=cpy

Kentucky Bill Allows Bigotry by "Faith"

No religion gets a get-out-of-obeying-the-law-free card.  Your religious "freedom" ends where my rights begin.

And stop pretending your homophobia is religious.  You want a pass to discriminate against gays? Move to Saudia Arabia, motherfuckers.

As usual, the Kentucky lege is way behind the times: bills just like this have been struck down as unconstitutional, and this one will, too.

But not before two special elections to fill Democratic House seats in March. The gay-bashing ads have already been filmed.

John Cheves at the Herald:

A Senate committee approved two “religious liberty” bills Thursday, one to legally protect businesses that don’t want to serve gay, lesbian or transgender customers because of the owners’ religious objections, and the other to protect religious expression in public schools.

The first measure, Senate Bill 180, would prohibit the government from compelling services or actions from anyone if doing so conflicts with their sincerely held religious beliefs. The bill expands the state’s 2013 Religious Freedom Restoration Act to clarify that businesses could not be punished in such cases for violating local ordinances that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

SNIP

The committee voted 8 to 1 to approve SB 180 and send it to the Senate floor. Sen. Perry Clark, D-Louisville, cast the sole “no” vote, saying the state and federal constitutions already offer adequate protection for religious liberties. Four senators voted “pass,” citing the Hands On Originals case and saying the Senate traditionally doesn’t like to approve legislation that would affect lawsuits pending in the courts.

After the hearing, a gay-rights advocate said Robinson’s bill is “an open attack” on Lexington, Louisville, Covington, Morehead, Frankfort, Danville, Midway and Vicco, which have ordinances that protect the civil rights of their lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens.

“It’s a clear attack on the eight cities that passed anti-discrimination fairness ordinances to protect LGBT people,” said Chris Hartman, director of the Louisville-based Fairness Campaign. “They made it crystal clear during the committee hearing that that’s what their aims are. So we’ll be doing everything we can to halt the progress of this legislation.”

 You want your civil and human rights protected against freakazoid demands for Dominionism?  Vote Democratic.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article62413757.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article62413757.html#storylink=cpy

Weaponized Religious Exemptions

There is no fundamental difference between the original Indiana freakazoids-can-hate-on-the-gays law and Kentucky's hate law and every other state and federal hate law.  They all accomplish the same thing. 

The sole purpose of these religious freedom laws - including the federal RFRA that idiots keep pointing to as an example that supposedly does not allow businesses to discriminate - is to give freakazoids and bigots a legal excuse to treat anybody they don't like as sub-human shit.

Want proof?  The Hobby Lobby case, which allowed a private company to break federal law in order to deny birth control to its employees - a new low in misogyny - was decided on federal RFRA law. Ask Antonin Scalia if he thinks RFRA bars private discrimination.

The Supreme Court may force every state to recognize gay marriage, but the actual result is going to be a flood of hate legislation so vicious that businesses will not only be allowed to discriminate against gays (and minorities and muslims and atheists and liberals and fuck why not Democrats), but will be forced to do so.

djw at Lawyers, Guns and Money:

There was no connection between their status as a religious group and the nature of the particular exemption they were seeking; in essence they were arguing that the RFRA gives them license to avoid a law they found inconvenient. (Hypothetically, if a religious organization sought an exemption to historic zoning on grounds that their religion prohibited worshiping in buildings over a certain age for ceremonies, this case would have more merit.) Turning religious exemptions into a license for religious groups to evade general laws when inconvenient seems entirely deserving of pushback.

But this is only a partially weaponized use of religious exemptions; they’re being used as a weapon to advance the Church’s goals, but not striking against their political enemies. The quintessential case of a weaponized religious exemption is, of course, Hobby Lobby; Obamacare was to be the subject of a blitzkrieg, to be hit with any and every weapon imaginable, and that’s what the RFRA provided. Their efforts to make the claim appear credible could hardly be lazier or more half-assed. One possible check on weaponization, in a better and more decent society, could conceivably be a sense of embarrassment or shame; exposing one’s religious convictions as a cynical political tool to be wielded against one’s political enemies might be hoped to invoke enough embarrassment that it might be avoided, but we were well past that point. A remarkable document of this trend is this post from Patrick Deneen–fully, openly aware of the fundamental absurdity of Hobby Lobby’s case, cheering them on nonetheless. I mean, you’d think they’d at least have found a company owned by Catholics.

You're Closed Because You're a Hateful Bigot

Guess his little plan to get publicity for his nasty restaurant backfired. 

The Indiana pizzeria that made headlines on Wednesday for vowing never to cater a gay wedding decided to close it doors, at least temporarily, due to the backlash over the owner's comments on gay marriage and the Indiana religious freedom law.

TMZ initially reported Wednesday afternoon that Memories Pizza in Walkerton, Ind., shut down, and Fox News confirmed the report Wednesday night on "The Kelly File."

According to Fox, the restaurant owner, Kevin O'Connor, said that Memories was inundated with phone calls following news reports on his family's views on same-sex marriage. O'Connor could not decipher which calls were made to place real orders and which were not, pushing him to close the pizzeria. He told Fox that he was unsure whether he would reopen.

"Because I don't believe in something they want, they see fit to be angry about it," O'Connor said about the backlash over his beliefs. "It's really confusing to me. I'm just a little guy in a little tiny town. That's where I've been all my life. It's just been ugly. I don't know what to call it."

It's called "getting what you deserve."  Nobody cares what you believe.  Nobody cares if you never, ever "cater" a gay wedding. You brought this on yourself by announcing that you deny human rights to human beings.  If you'd kept your fucking mouth shut, you'd be serving pizza right now.

And no, that's not denying your First Amendment right to free speech.  That's explaining that you, like everyone, must live with the consequences of saying what you think.

Are You Being Oppressed? A Quick Quiz

First, Amanda Marcotte concludes a brilliant piece on "religious liberty" with this:

And this is why liberals are revolting. The religious freedom question was best handled by telling people to mind their own business, not just because it’s the fairest way to deal with this, but also the simplest. Christian conservatives want to pinch away everyone else’s religious freedom by creating a society full of small coercions—denial of service here, penalties at work there—that make it hard for people who disagree with them to live our own lives as we see fit. If we don’t stand up to this now, they will keep turning up the heat.

And here's the quiz, three years old but still dead on, from Rev. Emily C. Heath:

"How to Determine if Your Religious Liberty Is Being Threatened in Just 10 Quick Questions." Just pick "A" or "B" for each question.

1. My religious liberty is at risk because:

A) I am not allowed to go to a religious service of my own choosing.
B) Others are allowed to go to religious services of their own choosing.

2. My religious liberty is at risk because:

A) I am not allowed to marry the person I love legally, even though my religious community blesses my marriage.
B) Some states refuse to enforce my own particular religious beliefs on marriage on those two guys in line down at the courthouse.

3. My religious liberty is at risk because:

A) I am being forced to use birth control.
B) I am unable to force others to not use birth control.

4. My religious liberty is at risk because:

A) I am not allowed to pray privately.
B) I am not allowed to force others to pray the prayers of my faith publicly.

5. My religious liberty is at risk because:

A) Being a member of my faith means that I can be bullied without legal recourse.
B) I am no longer allowed to use my faith to bully gay kids with impunity.

6. My religious liberty is at risk because:

A) I am not allowed to purchase, read or possess religious books or material.
B) Others are allowed to have access books, movies and websites that I do not like.

7. My religious liberty is at risk because:

A) My religious group is not allowed equal protection under the establishment clause.
B) My religious group is not allowed to use public funds, buildings and resources as we would like, for whatever purposes we might like.

8. My religious liberty is at risk because:

A) Another religious group has been declared the official faith of my country.
B) My own religious group is not given status as the official faith of my country.

9. My religious liberty is at risk because:

A) My religious community is not allowed to build a house of worship in my community.
B) A religious community I do not like wants to build a house of worship in my community.

10. My religious liberty is at risk because:

A) I am not allowed to teach my children the creation stories of our faith at home.
B) Public school science classes are teaching science.

Scoring key:

If you answered "A" to any question, then perhaps your religious liberty is indeed at stake. You and your faith group have every right to now advocate for equal protection under the law. But just remember this one little, constitutional, concept: this means you can fight for your equality -- not your superiority.

If you answered "B" to any question, then not only is your religious liberty not at stake, but there is a strong chance that you are oppressing the religious liberties of others. This is the point where I would invite you to refer back to the tenets of your faith, especially the ones about your neighbors.

In closing, no matter what soundbites you hear this election year, remember this: Religious liberty is never secured by a campaign of religious superiority. The only way to ensure your own religious liberty remains strong is by advocating for the religious liberty of all, including those with whom you may passionately disagree. Because they deserve the same rights as you. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Steve Beshear on Anti-Gay Hate Law: Moron or Liar?

And the law, in its non-discriminatory majesty, makes it illegal for rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets and steal food.

Shame on you, Steve Beshear. You're done in politics in seven months. You really want your legacy to be not "Breaking the back of endemic poverty in Kentucky through Obamacare" but "Stupidly Lying to Pander to Hateful and Sex-Terrified Freakazoids and Deny Human Rights to Human Beings"?

Andrew Wolfson at the Courier:

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear says the state's ban on gay marriage should be upheld in part because it is not discriminatory in that both gay and straight people are barred from marrying people of the same gender.

In an argument labeled absurd by gay marriage advocates, Beshear's lawyer says in a brief filed last week at the U.S. Supreme Court that "men and women, whether heterosexual or homosexual, cannot marry persons of the same sex" under Kentucky law, making the law non-discriminatory.

The argument mirrors that offered by the state of Virginia nearly 50 years ago when it defended laws barring interracial marriage there and in 15 other states, including Kentucky, by saying they weren't discriminatory because whites were barred from marrying blacks just as blacks were barred from marrying whites.

The Supreme Court in 1967 rejected that argument in the historic case of Loving v. Virginia, in which Richard Loving, a white man, and Mildred Jeter, a black woman, were charged with a crime for marrying.

AynRandy on "religious freedom:'' Moron or Liar?

The Tribble-Toupeed One is living down to all of our expectations.  From isolationist to warmonger, small-government champion to Pentagon budget-stuffer, anti-banker to Wall Street cocksucker and now liberty-loving brogressive to freakazoid bibble-fucker.

(Sniff!)  I'm so proud!

Steve Benen at Maddowblog:

The religious right movement is looking for a presidential candidate to rally behind. It seems the junior senator from Kentucky believes he can be that candidate – and if that means shameless pandering, so be it.

Speaking to a group of pastors last week, Rand Paul went so far as to say, “The First Amendment says keep government out of religion. It doesn’t say keep religion out of government.”

Oh my.

If the Republican senator is going to quote the First Amendment, he should probably read it first. The first 16 words of the Bill of Rights are as follows: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” As Thomas Jefferson later explained, the point of the language was to “build a wall of separation between church and state.”

I don’t have a problem with Rand Paul swearing fealty to constitutional language, but if he’s going to do so, it’s important that he at least get the language right. The senator claims to have deep, passionate beliefs about the First Amendment, but it appears we now have yet another issue that the Kentucky Republican addresses without any real depth of understanding.

That said, the larger political point of the senator’s efforts is also coming into focus. Social conservatives and so-called “values voters” are looking for a standard bearer, and in general, this constituency doesn’t see Rand Paul as a natural ally. Clearly, the senator hopes to change that impression, emphasizing his opposition to marriage equality, his opposition to reproductive rights, decrying the nation’s moral crisis, misquoting the First Amendment, and even telling pastors, “We need a revival in the country. We need another Great Awakening with tent revivals.”

Time will tell if this has the desired effect on the religious right, but in the meantime, one wonders if Paul’s libertarian-minded allies will stop recognizing their one-time champion.

Why No Hate for Kentucky's Hate Bill? Boycott Us!

If the NCAA sacks up this week and pulls the tournament from hoosierville because Indiana passed a right-for-freakazoids-to-discriminate bill two years AFTER Kentucky passed its own version, the only reason they wouldn't bring it to Rupp Arena in Lexington is because it's the home of the UK Wildcats, current favorites to take the championship.

Because nobody seems to notice Kentucky's only-god-botherers-can-discriminate bill passed in 2013.

Maybe because it passed over Governor Steve Beshear's veto and therefore there is no repug hate-figure like Steve Pence?

Or because the corporations who think gay-bashing discrimination is stupid and anti-business don't do business in Kentucky?

Or is it because big corporations headquartered in Kentucky are perfectly happy with their employees and customers being treated like shit by the freakazoid motherfuckers who run this state?

Hey, Humana: Why do you hate your gay employees and customers?

Hey Brown and Williamson:  You just sponsored the ACLU of Kentucky's annual Fairness Dinner - open bar and four-course meal shindigs for 400 don't come cheap.  Are you trying to cover up for the fact you're not holding the General Assembly accountable for this abomination?

Why all the hate for Indiana and none for Kentucky, national business leaders?  Boycott us, too!  And make sure no repug state legislators get national corporate campaign cash.

Taking away their money is the only thing likely to get through to them.

Call Now to Stop KY Trans-Teen Hate Bill

 

The Senate Education Committee has just announced that Senator C.B. Embry's anti-transgender "Bathroom Bounty Bill," SB 76, is set to be heard Thursday, Feb. 19 at Noon in Capitol Annex Room 171.

If you can come to the Capitol to show your support for transgender students in Kentucky, please do! If not, please call 1-800-372-7181 and leave a message for "My Senator, Senate Leadership, and the Senate Education Committee" to OPPOSE SB76!

The Capitol Annex is the building located immediately behind the Capitol, 700 Capitol Avenue, 40601. For directions or questions, call 502.640.1095 or Chris@Fairness.org.

Senator C.B. Embry's "Bathroom Bounty Bill" SB 76

• It's an unnecessary solution in search of a problem
• Absurdly demands chromosomal and biological proof of gender to use school restrooms
• Opens the stall door to Kentucky politicians regulating school restrooms throughout the state
• Violation of Title IX, the federal law banning discrimination in schools based on sex
• Takes home rule away from local school districts and school principals
• Targets gender non-conforming students, who are already among the most harassed--nearly nine in ten have been verbally harassed at school and more than half have been physically assaulted
• Allows students to claim a $2,500 bounty for each encounter with a transgender student and more money for psychological and emotional harm
• "I tend to think that working through issues such as this are better handled on the local level." -Bowling Green Independent School District Superintendent Joe Tinius

Read More Here
Courier-Journal
Washington Post
Bowling Green Daily News

Are There In Kentucky No Bathroom Stall Doors?

And how wonderful that the most pressing problem faced by Kentucky public schools is an apparent shortage of bathroom stall doors.

This would be funny if it weren't tragic for thousands of Kentucky students.  From the Fairness Alliance:

 

C.B. Embry's "Bathroom Bully Bill" SB 76

• It's an unnecessary solution in search of a problem
• Absurdly demands chromosomal and biological proof of gender to use school restrooms
• Opens the stall door to Kentucky politicians regulating school restrooms throughout the state
• Violation of Title IX, the federal law banning discrimination in schools based on sex
• Takes home rule away from local school districts and school principals
• Targets gender non-conforming students, who are already among the most harassed--nearly nine in ten have been verbally harassed at school and more than half have been physically assaulted
• Allows students to claim a $2,500 bounty for each encounter with a transgender student and more money for psychological and emotional harm
• "I tend to think that working through issues such as this are better handled on the local level." -Bowling Green Independent School District Superintendent Joe Tinius.

Meanwhile, the moron is giving interviews to national reporters, who are giving him plenty of rope to hang himself.

Last week, Kentucky State Sen. E.B. Embry, Jr. (R) filed a bill that would ban transgender students from using their appropriate school restrooms and locker rooms and even allow other students to sue schools for $2,500 every time they see a trans student in one of those facilities. In private conversations with a concerned citizen, Embry revealed more about his beliefs about transgender people and the origins of the bill, including an invented problem to justify it.

Angela Swift Hill is a former Kentucky resident, an educator, and the proud mother of a transgender teenager. She reached out to Embry via Facebook to express her concerns about his legislation, lauding the “love and strength” she has found in her own daughter’s journey and suggesting that he was “encouraging hatred.” Hill shared her exchange with ThinkProgress, though Embry kept much of it private.

Embry defended his bill by essentially rejecting the existence of transgender people:

There is no hate involved. It is simple. Children of a certain sex should be the only ones allowed to use the restroom for that sex. Children can present themselves and dress as any sex they want. They can be gay or staight [sic], as they wish and should not have to deal with bullying. Strong action should be taken regarding bullying of any type. Those things have nothing to so with this issue. School children who are girls should use the girls restroom, and the boys the boys restrooms, nothing else is at issue.

His claim to oppose bullying does not jibe with his vote against an anti-bullying bill that would have extended protections to LGBT students.

Here's an idea: How about the Democrats turning this disgusting spew of ignorance, homophobia and hate into a law that protects transgender students from locker room harassment? 

McConnell-recommended Judge Strikes Down Ky's Anti-Gay-Marriage Law

Let's not overreact here, people; this is no reason to vote for Mitchie-poo in November. Although I'm not holding my breath waiting for Alison Lundergan Grimes joins Rep. John Yarmuth in praising the ruling.

Steve Benen at Maddowblog:

Nearly a decade ago, Kentucky voters approved a ban on marriage equality that included a specific and important provision: if a same-sex couple gets legally married in another state and then moves to Kentucky, the Bluegrass State will not recognize that marriage.

 

Today, a federal court ruled that the law is unconstitutional.

In a ruling that could open the door to gay marriage in Kentucky, a federal judge on Wednesday struck down Kentucky’s ban on recognizing valid same-sex marriages performed in other states, saying it violates the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law.

 

U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II joined nine other federal and state courts in invalidating such bans.

In his ruling, Heyburn concluded, “[I]t is clear that Kentucky’s laws treat gay and lesbian persons differently in a way that demeans them.”

 

Note, Heyburn was nominated for the federal bench by Bush/Quayle. He’s a former aide to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who recommended Heyburn for the judiciary.

I've met one of the couples who filed this lawsuit. They have been together two decades, since being high-school sweethearts. Anybody who could deny them equal rights based on the fears of some Bronze-Age sheepherder is a vicious piece of shit.

NFL Executives Are On Crack

Of the many powerful reactions today to the egregious display of cowardice on the part of NFL executives, this one by Lt. Col. Robert Bateman hits the hardest.

Forgive me, Col. Bateman, for copying every word.

So it has recently been made apparent that a dude who is frickin' huge, fast, and hits people like they stole his tricycle, is gay.

News flash: So friging what.

Here is the most disgusting little bit of this "news" story. NFL executives apparently are telling journalists that this is not the time for a gay man to be in the NFL.

Really? Seriously? It has now been years -- not weeks, not months, years -- since gay men and lesbian women have openly laid down their lives for our nation in combat. And you, Mr. NFL executive who does not even have the slightest whiff of moral courage to even use your name, say that America is not ready for gay NFL players? Really? You think that the nation is cool with gay men dying in combat, in service to our nation, in desperate distant places, but you don't think the country is cool with them playing in your game?

Are you on crack?

Being a soldier, or being in any of the military forces, is about service. It means a lot to a bunch of people, about 1.4 million actually as of today. And there are about 27,000,000 veterans as well. Several years ago the decision was made that being gay did not matter anymore. (Prior to that point it was a crime.) Turns out there were tens of thousands of men, and some women, who served in silence prior to that day. Some of them won decorations for courage in combat that most people can only imagine.

Now look at the NFL.

They are "not ready" for a gay player? Regardless of how fking HUGE that motherfker is or how fast his ass can cross the field to lay absolute scunnion upon his foe? Are they that fking stupid?

A man is a man, regardless of how his genes inclined him. Some men are large. Some man are fast. Some men are large, fast, and violent. And some of those men are gay. Who the fk cares about the latter? When I am making my fantasy football team I could give a rats ass about the sexual inclinations of my preferred middle-linebacker. What I want to know is, "Can he make the mother of the fullback cry because he stuffed her little boy into last week?" THAT is what I want to know, just as with a soldier I want to know if they can kill, efficiently, when needed. Gay or lesbian does not matter, and maybe the morons leading the NFL might need to figure that out.

May I just add my voice to the many NFL fans hoping that the general manager of my favorite team will be smart enough to draft Michael Sam?  11.5 sacks and Defensive Player of the SEC - how could you NOT draft him?

Secretary Hagel: Cancel All DoD Funding to Oklahoma Now

And make them pay back every fucking federal taxpayer dime they've ever gotten.

Zack Ford at Think Progress:

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R) announced earlier this month that state-owned National Guard facilities will no longer allow any married couples to apply for spousal benefits, regardless of whether they are same-sex or opposite-sex. The Supreme Court’s decision overturning the Defense of Marriage Act means that servicemembers with same-sex spouses are now eligible for federal benefits. Fallin’s unusual tactic is designed to avoid having to recognize those couples, which she asserts would violate Oklahoma’s constitutional amendment limiting marriage to one man and one woman:

FALLIN: Oklahoma law is clear. The state of Oklahoma does not recognize same-sex marriages, nor does it confer marriage benefits to same-sex couples. The decision reached today allows the National Guard to obey Oklahoma law without violating federal rules or policies. It protects the integrity of our state constitution and sends a message to the federal government that they cannot simply ignore our laws or the will of the people.

This decision directly contradicts an order from Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordering states to provide same-sex couples with the federal benefits they deserve under the law. All married couples will now have to travel to one of the five federal facilities in Oklahoma to apply for benefits. Incidentally, the state’s facilities were built almost entirely with federal funds and 90 percent of the Oklahoma Military Department — which includes the National Guard — is funded by the federal government.

No, It's Not Just A Joke

It's the foundation of oppression

From Divine Irony:

I Hope Jonathan Martin Sues the Shit Out of Incognito, the Dolphins and the NFL

All the macho motherfuckers defending Richie Incognito need to learn some lessons from the wide receiver in this video.

Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money: 

How the NFL and its supporters have rallied around Richie Incognito over the hazing and threatening of Jonathan Martin is both disgusting and typical. Martin is essentially being drummed out of the league. It’s really hard to see how he returns to the league. It would take the right kind of coach, the right kind of locker room, one that seemingly doesn’t exist in the violent, homophobic, misogynistic NFL. Everyone on the Dolphins supports Incognito and is blaming Martin, saying he wasn’t enough of a man to just punch Incognito in the face, which evidently is the solution to all problems. Peter King is opening his site at Sports Illustrated to a former Dolphin who is basically saying the same thing (I love the “I’m only interested in the truth” line. Ah). What’s more, everyone is saying there’s no way Incognito can be called a racist. After all he did was call his black teammate a “half-nigger,” who could call that racist! We all know that the only real racists in American society are those who support equality for blacks and who therefore are racist toward whites. And while of course no one in the NFL is tying their explanation away or half-apologies for Incognito’s racist text to the modern conservative political definition of racism, they are in fact closely related. In our society, no one is a racist. The mom who dressed her kid up as a KKK member for Halloween? She’s just continuing a family tradition. Why, I bet some of her best friends are black! There evidently are no racists anymore. The word itself has become demonized, as if it doesn’t actually describe certain behaviors and is itself a term more offensive than “half-nigger.” It’s all horrifying.

Also, given all of this, anyone think a gay NFL player is possibly going to come out? And put up with the horrors of the locker room, not to mention other teams? What would Richie Incognito do to a gay teammate? I don’t really want to know.

Yet there are voices of dissent. Travis Waldron at Think Progress:

Stick to the code. Don’t go to others. Be a man. Handle it yourself. Do it any other way, Murtha and others are saying, and you’re weak, soft, not a man.

That’s not how Terrelle Pryor sees it, though. Asked about the Dolphins’ situation Thursday, the second-year Oakland Raiders quarterback applauded Martin’s courage to stand up against the bullies, even if he didn’t do it with his fists.

“I hope that we see [Jonathan] Martin playing again soon – I’ve watched some tape of him, he’s a good player,” Pryor said, according to Raiders.com. “Hats off to him for standing up and being a man.”

But that wasn’t all. Pryor also insinuated that there should have been leaders — men — in the locker room who stood up for Martin and spoke out about Incognito’s problems (which are only looking worse with each passing day).

“There are some situations where sometimes you have to do that, it’s minor things, but you want to cut things off,” Pryor said. “There are so many situations that pop up – your teammate has one drink or something like that and you want to say, ‘Hey, maybe you should take a cab, come take a cab with me,’ something small like that you just get so much respect from your teammate that you stopped and helped him. It’s just little things like that, it matters and that definitely comes in on a leadership role.”

The NFL could use a few more players with Terrelle Pryor’s definition of manhood. It’s a shame the Dolphins don’t seem to have any.

Tell the Farm Bureau to Climb Out of the Conservatard Gutter

The Kentucky Farm Bureau's insurance company is above reproach: it provides coverage to remote rural property no other company will insure, and its service is excellent.

But its policies and politics could not possibly be worse. They've been getting away with supporting and funding the most regressive, hateful, conservatard laws and programs in the Commonwealth, and it's long past time to stop them.

From Fairness.org:

KENTUCKY FARM BUREAU DISCRIMINATION

Members of the ACLU-KY, Jefferson County Teachers Association, Fairness Campaign, and Louisville Metro Councilwoman Attica Scott joined in a protest yesterday of the Kentucky Farm Bureau's discriminatory policies, which are anti-LGBT, anti-union, anti-choice, and pro-death penalty, among others. You can download a petition listing their policies by clicking here. You can also visit the Fairness Campaign's booth in South Wing C of the Kentucky State Fair to sign a petition asking KFB to drop these policies.

The company's discriminatory policies were brought to light in 2004, when Reverend Todd Ekloff was fired from KFB for issuing public statements in support of same-gender marriage. A copy of their policies is sent annually to every elected state official in Kentucky, but not to the nearly 500,000 insurance holders who are automatically enrolled as paying members of the Kentucky Farm Bureau Federation, the company's 501(c)4 lobbying arm.

Many policy holders who enrolled with Kentucky Farm Bureau years ago because there was no alternative may not realize that other companies have expanded their service in Kentucky. You don't have to subsidize KFB's hate any more. 

Five Freakazoid Fundamentals From Fugelsang

From Divine Irony:

See The five nasty traits all religious fundamentalists share…

1. Hate gays
2. Hate  women
3. Their superiority over all other religions
4. Violence is OK if fundamentalists do it
5. Sex hangups

Watch the video.

The Upstairs Lounge - Never Forget

I have to admit I had never heard of the massacre at the Upstairs Lounge before reading Chris Clarks' post today. But there's a reason for that.

The UpStairs Lounge arson was the deadliest fire in New Orleans history and the largest massacre of gay people ever in the U.S. Yet it didn’t make much of an impact news-wise. The few respectable news organizations that deigned to cover the tragedy made little of the fact that the majority of the victims had been gay, while talk-radio hosts tended to take a jocular or sneering tone: What do we bury them in? Fruit jars, sniggered one, on the air, only a day after the massacre.

Other, smaller disasters resulted in City Hall press conferences or statements of condolence from the governor, but no civil authorities publicly spoke out about the fire, other than to mumble about needed improvements to the city’s fire code.

Continuing this pattern of neglect, the New Orleans police department appeared lackluster about the investigation (the officers involved denied it). The detectives wouldn’t even acknowledge that it was an arson case, saying the cause of the fire was of “undetermined origin.” No one was ever charged with the crime, although an itinerant troublemaker with known mental problems, Rogder Dale Nunez, is said to have claimed responsibility multiple times. Nunez, a sometime visitor to the UpStairs Lounge, committed suicide in 1974.

Watch the trailer for Royd Anderson’s new documentary about the UpStairs Lounge:

Clarke writes:

It was a horrible murderous act, with 32 people dead, and Terry’s post is really hard to read. Not only for the description of the suffering (with a grotesque photo of the body of Metropolitan Community Church pastor Bill Larson, be warned) but also for the description of the reaction of locals after the event.

Tough reading, but do it anyway if you can. The victims at the UpStairs Lounge have been all but forgotten. They fucking well deserve better, and so do we.

First Federal Hate Crime Charges in Nation Send Kentuckians to Prison

That the motherfuckers who kidnapped and beat a gay man were his own brothers is just Eastern Kentucky's signature twist on the crime.

Bill Estep at the Herald:

In the first case of its kind in the nation, four Eastern Kentucky relatives were sentenced in federal court Wednesday for their role in an attack on a gay Letcher County man in April 2011.

David Jason Jenkins, 39, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for kidnapping and beating Kevin Pennington. Anthony Jenkins, 22, a cousin to Jason Jenkins, was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove.

Anthony Jenkins' wife, Alexis, and his sister, Ashley, pleaded guilty to aiding in the attack. Van Tatenhove sentenced Alexis Jenkins, 20, to eight years in prison and Ashley Jenkins, 20, to eight years and four months.

The case received nationwide attention because the charges against the four were the first under a part of the federal hate-crimes law that outlaws attacks motivated by the victim's real or perceived sexual orientation.

The details are bizarre even for Eastern Kentucky.  Read the whole thing.

"Discrimination is real."

Shelbyville's next. Because the Shelbyville City Council's cowardly and illegal cancellation of its June 6 meeting to avoid discussing a fairness ordinance just means that at the next meeting they're going to have to rent the Louisville Convention Center to hold every angry citizen who wants her say.

Karla Ward at the Herald:

A crowd of about 200 people gathered before the Frankfort Board of Commissioners on Monday night to comment on whether the city needs a fairness ordinance.

SNIP

The portion of the work session that dealt with the fairness ordinance was moved from city hall to the Kentucky History Center to accommodate the overflow crowd, said Mayor Bill May.

Frankfort citizens on both sides of the issue engaged in a sometimes emotional debate that lasted more than two hours.

More people spoke in favor of the ordinance than against it.

SNIP

Speaking in favor of an ordinance, Nicholas Holmes said he was not gay, but because he's unmarried and has artistic interests, people sometimes think he is.

"I've been in a few job interviews where there was an uncomfortable pause," he said, when he felt compelled to clarify his orientation. "I feel ashamed for that. My action was rooted in fear. ... Discrimination is real."