Iowa Republicans Propose Pro-Bullying Laws Against LGBT Students

Take a good look. This is the face of a bully. He is the guy that might have pushed you to the ground in the schoolyard and called you "fag". He is the guy who might have robbed you of your lunch money or slammed you into a locker and he is trying to do it again in Iowa, but with the this time he wants to do it with a law.

His name is Matt Windschitl, and he is a state representative in Iowa. He and his bullying friend, Jason Schultz have introduced a bill entitled, "Exclude Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) Students from Safe Schools Law ".

These assholes actually have the nerve to actively push a law that encourages bullying and harassment of LGBT kids. Now perhaps you think my language is a bit strong. You're God damned right it is! This is the kind of thing I would expect form the American Nazi Party not the Republicans, but perhaps I have forgotten that the GOP is now run by jackbooted thugs!

This is going to take a national effort to bring these bigots to their knees. I propose a letter writing campaign to flood their offices with mail. Not EMAIL either, real honest to God letters.

The bullies addresses are:

Matt Windschitl
222 West Huron
Missouri Valley, Iowa 51555

Jason Schultz
18 Valley View Circle
Schleswig, Iowa 51461


Let these two know how you feel and why they are the problem not the solution.

Here is the bill!

A Big Thank You To Everyone at Creating Change

To all the folks who made Creating Change such a success, I do not have enough words to thank you. I saw so many excited and energized LGBTQ activists this weekend I feel a whole lot better about the state of our movement.

I also wanted to thank the NLGTF for their unexpected award for Leather Leadership. I will cherish this for the rest of my life and I will try to live into the expectations such an honor means. I hope I am up to it.

I thought I would print my thank you speech here, in case some of my friends might want to read it.

I am incredibly honored to receive this award. I want to thank the task force for their bravery in continuing to present this award every year. I well understand that the Leather community is often used by our enemies as that boogie man that can drum up fear in their followers. They portray the LGBTQ community and more specifically the leather community with half truths and inflammatory lies.

It is sad that they cannot see people like us as simply another facet in the jewel that is God’s gift of sexuality. Now I also understand there are those here who will get uncomfortable when I bring God into the discussion, but I can find no better explanation for the intense and rewarding relationships I have found in the LGBTQ leather community but a gift of the divine.

On a hopeful note, I want you to know that in my travels and presentations at leather, BDSM and Fetish events across the continent, I find that we leatherfolk have a unique ability to unite people of many sexual orientations including heterosexuals. These people have found common ground in the leather BDSM fetish realm and have come to understand the unique difficulties being a sexual minority. The knowledge we share with one another, the principals of safety, consensuality and negotiation in our activities contributes to a richness and authenticity in their lives and relationships. That can only be a good thing.

I sincerely hope that the work of the task force continues, but not for too long. The goal of any organization that works to end discrimination and intolerance is to work itself out of a job. My fondest dream is that someday we will no longer need to dedicate so much time and money and effort to enjoy the freedoms and rights that most Americans take for granted. Until that time, we all have a lot of work to do.

Dallas Morning News Favors Repeal of DADT.

The Dallas Morning News is a bastion of conservative opinion in Dallas and has been all of my life, that's why it is so surprising that they have come down on the side of repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell.

Long out of touch with the changing political demographic of Dallas the News often rails against anything that even resembles progressive, so this move is huge. I can only imagine that even the DMN inderstands that DADT is just plain bad policy and encourages dishonest behavior. I would think honesty is something you would want in people serving in the military.

I know several military men who are not LGBT and all of them favor the repeal. They have seen good officers and specialists discharged when the military needs all the expertise they can get. Even General Colin Powell is in favor of doing away with this crappy policy.

Creating Change Notes - Friday Afternoon

Well, after a short tri to the X-ray guys, I made it to Creating Change. The keynote by Rea Carey was great. She took a few well needed jabs at President Obama and then acknowledged the passage of the Hate Crimes Bill. More to the point she encouraged everyone to become ambassadors for the movement. Talking to people each week about who we are and why we need to have the same rights as everyone else.

I also attended a workshop on Sexual Liberation that was interesting. I am glad to see sex becoming part of the LGBT movement again. For a long time activists seemed like eunuchs and it was not PC to talk about sex. Assimilation was the vogue, but I am glad to say that detour is behind many of us.

Tomorrow much more in the way of workshops and speeches, and then Sunday I get an award! (download the nifty poster with me on it here.)
Anyone interested, please attend the Leather Caucus this Saturday at 6:00 pm. It should be fun and enlightening.

Obama Calls Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill "Odious"

Well it is a start anyway. Today at the National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama dropped a bomb when he called the pending Ugandan legislation "odious". It is significant since that event is sponsored by the Fellowship Foundation, a far right religious group.

From Think Progress come these quotes:

CLINTON: And I recently called President Museveni, whom I have known through the Prayer Breakfast, and expressed the strongest concerns about a law being considered in the parliament of Uganda.

– OBAMA: We may disagree about gay marriage, but surely we can agree that it is unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are, whether it’s here in the United States or as Hillary mentioned, more extremely in odious laws that are being proposed most recently in Uganda.

I have criticized the President for attending this fake official event, but if he uses it to give these guys a nice verbal spanking, then I recant!

"National" Prayer Breakfast Includes the President

Sad, but true. Obama succumbed to political pressure and spoke at the fundamentalist propaganda fest, the National Prayer Breakfast. This event, which masquerades as some sort of official gathering is actually sponsored by the Fellowship, a shadowy fundamentalist group. The Fellowship has had it's fingers in the Uganda Anti-Homosexual laws, as well as numerous scandas in the infamous "C Street House".

It is politically difficult to not attend, since it would immediately garner attacks from right winders, but still to have Obama, Biden and Clinton at this gathering is disturbing.

I have no problem with prayer, I pray daily. I have a problem with associating with far-right fundamentalists who have worked to spread their radical brand of Christianity through our military and government. I put them right up there with the radical Islamists who have infiltrated Middle Eastern governments.

It's time Christians took their religion back from the far right.

Colin Powell Comes Out - In Favor of DADT Repeal!

General Colin Powell, once mentioned as a possible Republican candidate for VP and former top military officer in the 1990's has come out in favor of repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell.

“In the almost 17 years since the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ legislation was passed, attitudes and circumstances have changed,” General Powell said in a statement issued by his office. He added: “I fully support the new approach presented to the Senate Armed Services Committee this week by Secretary of Defense Gates and Admiral Mullen.”

More from the NY Times.

Why President Obama Should Not Attend The National Prayer Breakfast

It is no secret, I am a Christian. Now, before you go imagining fire breathing evangelists, let me assure you I am not that kind of Christian. The Bible thumping fundamentalists have hijacked the word "Christian" and it's almost impossible to identify as one without the negative stereotypes getting in the way.

Well here is one reason those stereotypes exist. It's a group known as the "Fellowship Foundation" or sometimes "The Family". They are a strange group of people who hang out at the infamous "C Street House" in Washington DC and their members include Senators and Congressmen. My problem with this bunch is their subversive attempts to integrate religion with the government.

For example, Senator James Inhofe(R-OK)evangelizes while traveling at taxpayer expense. That is pretty clearly a violation of that whole church/state separation. More importantly, this group sponsors the National Prayer Breakfasts which have become almost mandatory for politicians wishing to score points with the fundamentalist right.

It is because of that group and their activities that CREW, the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is urging everyone from the President on down to avoid the breakfast. You can read their letter here.

If you want more proof of the Fellowship Foundation's dirty deeds, look to Uganda and their anti-homosexual law that is before the Ugandan legislature. It was inspired by a visit from Fellowship members.

Scott Roeder Convicted of Murder

The man who killed Dr. Tiller in the foyer of the church where Dr. Tiller was serving as an usher has been convicted of murder. Scott Roeder saw himself as a champion of unborn children. Instead he was just a murder with delusions of grandeur.

Roeder was steeped in the anti-abortion rhetoric that fuels such violent acts, and his own statement, "those children were in immediate danger if someone did not stop George Tiller", shows how he has continued to try to justify murder.

The jury deliberated only 37 minutes to convict Roeder, and now he will serve a mandatory life in prison sentence.

In my opinion, the verdict should go further and should find that the radical organizations who fueled Roeders delusion should be included as accessories to this crime, but that won't happen.

No matter whether you are pro-choice or anti-abortion, such acts of violence and insanity should not go unpunished. A degree of justice has been handed out by the Kansas jury, the real injustice of Dr. Tillers murder can never be righted.

I am no fan of abortion, but I am certainly no fan of terrorists like Scott Roeder. The tough decision to seek an abortion should be between a woman, her physician and her family. Nobody rejoices over abortion, but it is a choice that should still be available as a last resort.