Obama Tells LGBTs at New York Fundraiser: ‘Religious Freedom Is No Excuse’

President Obama took off the gloves as he addressed LGBT attendees at a Democratic Party fundraiser Sunday.

“We need to reject politicians who are supporting new forms of discrimination as a way to scare up votes,” Obama said. He was introduced at Gotham Hall by Jim Obergefell, a plaintiff in the case that the Supreme Court narrowly decided June 26, establishing marriage equality throughout the U.S. 

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Democrats have long been a major source of political and financial support, and the president wasn’t shy about acknowledging that support and touting his accomplishments over one and a half terms.

“We live in an America where ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ is something that ‘don’t exist,’” Obama said to a huge round of applause, with audience members recognizing the 2011 repeal of the ban on gays, lesbians, and bisexuals serving openly in the armed forces. 

“We’ve come a long way in changing hearts and minds so that trans men and women can be who they are — not just on magazine covers, but in workplaces and schools and communities,” said the president to cheers from the crowd.

“We live in an America where all of us — LGBT or not — are protected by a hate-crimes law that bears Matthew Shepard’s name. We live in an America where a growing share of older generations recognize that love is love, and younger generations don’t even know what all the fuss was about. And tonight, thanks to the unbending sense of justice passed down through generations of citizens who never gave up hope that we could bring this country closer to our founding ideals — that all of us are created equal — we now live in America where our marriages are equal as well.”

As the crowd frequently interrupted Obama with applause, cheers, and standing ovations, he also said it’s important to recognize that some Americans remain opposed to what he called the “world-wind” shift in values. “With change, with any progress, comes some unease. And as Americans, I think we have to acknowledge that. I think that it’s important for us to recognize that there are still parts of the country that are getting there, but it’s going to take some time.”

Yet in acknowledging that as Americans, “we cherish our religious freedom and are profoundly respectful of religious traditions,” Obama said that right must not be used to deny the constitutional rights of others.

“Even as we are respectful and accommodating genuine concerns and interests of religious institutions, we need to reject politicians who are supporting new forms of discrimination as a way to scare up votes. That’s not how we move America forward,” said Obama in a clear reference to several Republican presidential candidates.

“In their world, everything was terrific back in 2008, when we were in the midst of a spiral into the worst financial crisis and economic crisis since the Great Depression, when unemployment and uninsured rates were rising and when our economy was shedding jobs each month, and we were mired in two wars, hopelessly addicted to foreign oil, and bin Laden was still at large. Those were the golden years, apparently. And then, I came in and messed it all up.”

The president did concede there was still some division within his own party, saying, “I think we’re right on most policy issues,” and that the Democrats have not always been on the right side of history. 

“There have been times where the Democratic Party stood in the way of progress. And there have been times where Republicans, like Abraham Lincoln and Everett Dirksen, stood on the right side of change.”

He made the point that federal contractors can no longer fire employees just for being gay, but he made no mention of the proposed Equality Act, which is stalled in the Republican-controlled Congress. 

Obama also called for support of efforts to ban the use of so-called conversion therapy on minors. And he made a strong plea for those in attendance to act on what he called their “unique obligation” to stand up against bigotry in all its forms: 

“We speak up to condemn hatred against anybody — gay or straight, black or white, Christian, Muslim, Jew, nonbeliever, immigrant, because we remember what silence felt like when hatred was directed at us, and we’ve got to be champions on behalf of justice for everybody, not just our own.”

Dawn Ennis

www.advocate.com/marriage-equality/2015/9/28/obama-tells-lgbts-new-york-fundraiser-religious-freedom-no-excuse

Gay high school student suspended for trying to bring boy to homecoming dance

Lance Sanderson is getting an unexpected week off from school.

He didn’t try and cut class, cheat on a test or sass a teacher.

What he did was try to bring a male date to the Christian Brothers High School homecoming dance in Memphis, Tennessee.

‘When I arrived at school today, the administration told me to stay home for the week,’ Sanderson tweeted on Monday (28 September).

Sanderson said after being at school for an hour, an administrator told him that the administration at the Catholic school ‘had 890 other students to worry about’ and could not deal with him, he wrote in a letter detailing what had happened to him.

‘You won’t let me dance with my date and you won’t let me go to class now either,’ he wrote. ‘I had hoped that today would be one for positive conversation going forward. Instead, I was sent home. I haven’t done anything wrong and haven’t hurt anybody. I want to be welcomed back to the school building … and I want this mean-spirited semi-suspension ended, so that I can do my classwork like anybody else.’

According to school policy, students ‘may attend the dance by themselves, with other CBHS students or with a girl from another school.’ Boys from other schools cannot attend ‘for logistical reasons.’

Sanderson had spoken to an official last year to make sure it was OK, and says he was told the school wouldn’t discriminate. But when that official left, he sayshas been facing ‘harsh opposition’ from the school.

‘They said specifically as a Catholic school, they couldn’t support that… and that they struggled with the idea of me taking a guy to homecoming or prom,’ Sanderson told WHBQ-TV last week.

The school claims the reason why they do not accept boys from other schools is because it could cause ‘problems’ and insist homophobia is not tolerated at the school.

The post Gay high school student suspended for trying to bring boy to homecoming dance appeared first on Gay Star News.

Greg Hernandez

www.gaystarnews.com/article/gay-high-school-student-suspended-for-trying-to-bring-boy-to-homecoming-dance/

NY Mets Forced To Wear Underoos; Nick Jonas’ Costar Went Full Frontal

Brandon Flowers, pop music’s cutest vocalist, joined the Pet Shop Boys, the genre’s smartest and wittiest duo, for a rendition of their song “Rent,” during a recent L.A. concert. The results (that’s a pun for Liza Minnelli fans) were magical, of course.

Sorry ladies, Helen Mirren will no longer be doing nude scenes. She told The Telegraph, “My pleasure pillows are strictly for my husband.”

Maybe it’s the fast talking that keeps John Stamos looking eternally young. The 52-year-old actor explains why you need to watch his new sitcom Grandfathered.

Here’s something to interest us in sports: Rookie members of the New York Mets were forced to partake in some sort of hazing ritual and wear them home from Cincinnati where they played the Reds over the weekend.

The team decided not to take the bus but walk back to the hotel. Fresh air and comfortable @underoosbrand! #Mets pic.twitter.com/8Zv7A6rHhM

— New York Mets (@Mets) September 27, 2015

Veteran actor Frank Grillo, whose credits include Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Kingdom opposite Nick Jonas, did a completely nude photo shoot early in his career. See the NSFW pics here.

 

Jeremy Kinser

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/X2jy7yqZ8Jc/ny-mets-forced-to-wear-underoos-nick-jonas-costar-went-full-frontal-20150928

Angry ‘Stonewall’ Protesters Crash Toronto Int’l Film Fest Premiere: WATCH

Canada’s LGBT news outlet Daily Xtra attended the premiere of Stonewall at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 18 and just posted their report on the event, which was attended by director Roland Emmerich and some of the film’s stars.

Also attending the red carpet event were a number of demonstrators, who made their problems with the film known over a bullhorn. One altercation with an attendee was recorded by the Xtra crew, along with interviews with both the protest organizers and the filmmakers (including Emmerich) and actors.

The film opened in limited release this past weekend and did what The Hollywood Reporter called “abysmal” numbers, grossing $112,414 from 127 theaters for a location average of $871.

Watch the report from Canada’s Daily Xtra:

The post Angry ‘Stonewall’ Protesters Crash Toronto Int’l Film Fest Premiere: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

Andy Towle

Angry ‘Stonewall’ Protesters Crash Toronto Int’l Film Fest Premiere: WATCH

WATCH: First Look at Protests Outside Toronto's 'Stonewall' Premiere

The world premiere of Stonewall at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month was not the usual flashy, black-tie bonanza, reports Canadian news outlet Daily Xtra, as the cast was nearly overshadowed by LGBT demonstrators.

Video of the September 18 event was posted to YouTube by Daily Xtra, showing the protesters shouting at the stars and holding waht they called a “teach-in” about the 1969 riots outside New York City’s Stonewall Inn, on which the film is based.

Blasting the film for its portrayal of transgender, lesbian, and drag demonstrators of that era, one protester made sure her complaint was heard. “This movie turns them all into thieves,” shouted Kami Chisolm into a megaphone.

Chisolm and her fellow demonstrators accused the makers of Stonewall of downplaying the key role that trans people of color and lesbian activists played in the riots that launched the modern gay rights movement in the U.S.

Stonewall’s gay director, Roland Emmerich, told Daily Xtra he wanted to make a movie for everybody. “I never quite understood this whole word of ‘whitewashing,’” he told the news source.

The film opened in U.S. theaters this weekend to poor attendance and largely negative reviews. Watch video of the Toronto protest from Daily Xtra‘s YouTube Channel, below.

Dawn Ennis

www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2015/9/28/watch-first-look-protests-outside-torontos-stonewall-premiere

A Catholic Nun-Turned-Lesbian Mom Reflects on Seeing Pope Francis at the White House
As I stood on the White House lawn watching Pope Francis drive by and wave in his cute little black Fiat last week, I felt pride: for Catholics, for my daughter, for my LGBTQ sisters and brothers. This pope symbolizes hope for a deeper connection with the people of the world in a way that speaks to who I am, how I think and the way I live my life in the service of others.

Even from the earliest years in elementary school, I always had the desire to be a nun. I was raised Catholic in a very traditional West Indian family. My brother and I were the first in our family born in the U.S. I attended St. Teresa Avila Catholic School in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, then Erasmus Hall High School in the Flatbush neighborhood. On weekends in high school, I worked in the rectory of our church and grew to have a deeper connection and love for the religious life the sisters lived. The nuns that I knew in my earlier days were predominantly teachers, but as I began a deeper exploration into the sisterhood, I found a group that better met my interest, which was social work. These women worked particularly with girls who couldn’t live at home and were placed in foster care. I was intrigued by the sisters, the way they lived, their devotion and love for prayer and the people of God. I believed that I had a special calling to dedicate my life to God they way they did.

I tagged along with those sisters for the next ten years, trying to understand their life, working with them on weekends, doing a lot of praying. In the middle of that, I went to Maryville College in Tennessee and enjoyed what I would call normal and healthy experiences of young adulthood. I was an athlete and I played basketball and volleyball competitively through college. I had a great time, made wonderful lifelong friends, went to parties and drank a lot of beer. During college, I kept my desire to join the convent a secret. When I felt comfortable, I would tell classmates that I’d go on retreats with nuns during vacations and that I desired to become a nun after graduation. They’d be like, “What?! You’re loud, you’re funny, you’re not typical nun-type.” And this was the mid-’70s — none of them knew any black nuns. Still I never lost the desire to become a nun and two years after graduation I entered the Brooklyn convent in September 1981. In my role, I served as a childcare worker in a group home for kids who were unable to live at home, as many had suffered various trauma and crisis. Years later I actually became the director of that group home. I did everything from waking up the children in the morning to putting them to bed at night and anything they needed in between. I stayed in the convent for over 12 years, making my first and final vows. At that time I truly believed it would be my life choice forever.

But over the years, I began to realize I was becoming more and more unhappy being a nun, something was missing. Just struggling with whether or not it was the right thing for me. It was becoming difficult to stay for many reasons: being the youngest of the sisters I lived with, being the only African-American women in the order, just to mention two. Then between the eleventh and twelfth year, I met someone, a woman I later fell in love with. She volunteered in my group home and was thinking about joining the order. It was in meeting her that I came to a major realization in my life — I had to admit to myself that I was a lesbian, that I had deep feelings for this woman and that I wanted to be with her. I soon petitioned my superior to leave the order.

Nine years later, in 2003, we adopted our daughter. As her parents, we still considered ourselves Catholic, and from day one we wanted all the benefits of being Catholic for our child. We knew we wanted to have her baptized and raised Catholic as we both had been. After moving to New Jersey, we found an LGBT-friendly and inclusive church, and my daughter attended religious instruction and eventually took her first communion.

But she slowly began to feel uncomfortable with the things she was hearing in sermons and on television about the church’s stance on gays in the church. About three years ago, we got a call from a Sunday school teacher saying that they had discussed Pope Benedict XVI and my daughter had openly asked her, “Why doesn’t the pope like gay people?” She didn’t understand why those around the pope weren’t talking to him and encouraging him to allow gay people to marry in the Catholic church — and why he didn’t believe our family was good enough to be accepted like other families. Her teacher just wanted us to be aware of the discussion and how it might be impacting our daughter. As her parents, we were proud that she felt comfortable to speak her mind and express her feelings openly as we have taught her. But our church got a new pastor, and it was slowly beginning to feel more and more conservative. It was becoming increasingly difficult for me to justify staying. Other people would ask me, “How can you still be Catholic when they don’t support you and your lifestyle?” I would always say, “It’s never been about the institutional church or about who leads it. I don’t go to church for the pope or the institution of the church. I go for me, my faith, my family and the community life I experience in the local church.” But truthfully, I wasn’t feeling the support in the leader of that local church anymore — and my daughter’s struggles mirrored her parents’ struggles. So we had to address the same question, “Why am I doing this?” Basically we slowly stopped going.

Some time has passed now and we have a new pope. Pope Francis is opening people’s eyes in a different way all over the world. In early September, Family Equality Council, where I’m a board member, gave me the opportunity to be a part of arrival ceremony for the pope at the White House, to stand in witness as a Lesbian mother for what I hoped for the church and for families like mine around the world. Admittedly, I was nervous because the Pope’s message isn’t always reflective of our LGBT issues but I was also excited, as I believe he’s opened a dialogue on so many things in a healing and positive way. His words are changing the way the larger church sees so many things – especially for LGBT folks.

The feeling in the air was electric as I stood there with the thousands, and he didn’t disappoint even in the few words he did speak at that event, his first one on U.S. soil. He talked about the poor. He referenced Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, saying, “We can say that we have defaulted on a promissory note and now is the time to honor it.” That blew my mind, it showed how in touch he was with all of humanity. His holiness came through in such a profound way. He spoke of family and marriage, and his comments were heard by some LGBT advocates as opposing my family and those like mine. But I heard them differently. In the context of the long hard walk to equality and justice for so many people, this pope chose not to defame me. He chose to honor family and marriage, not limit which families and which marriages. And for this church, in the context of this pope’s choices, that is progress. While he didn’t say everything I might have hoped for it was a step and not a small one. I have lived through many changes and I know that life is a long journey made of many small and sometimes painful, hard and misguided steps. So looking back now I celebrate another step in the right direction.

At first, I was disappointed not to be standing in a big group of LGBT people. But in the end, it didn’t matter who you were standing next to. We stood for hours waiting in great anticipation, talking with strangers about the pope’s goodness. Everyone was excited to see a man who has come to mean so much to us — all for different reasons. While I couldn’t identify the other gay moms or gay dads, I knew we were there among the 15,000 guests, some joining me in representing Family Equality Council and the people we serve, off somewhere in the crowd. For me and the other LGBT parents in the crowd, this was our pope, too!

Looking at this new pope, I thought we’ve come a long way. This is someone who looks at the world’s population and sees all their goodness, no matter what their circumstances. His words inspire all of humanity to want to do more to make the world a more welcoming place for all God’s people — no matter what their race, sexual orientation, socioeconomic standing, etc. Just knowing how conservative many in our church can be, I think the pope’s stance on many issues will make a big shift in the American Catholic church and it will only help to change the way the church leaders speak about the LGBT people and our families. I felt happy and overwhelmingly proud of the pope, being Catholic and being gay all at the same time. I think his words and deeds will also give my daughter hope that she can have a place in a church that welcomes, accepts and respects her family.

I’m even considering going back to church again and taking my daughter.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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What’s Worse Than Reviews For Stonewall? Its Weekend Box Office Gross

It’s not a good time to be Roland Emmerich. Following controversy and threats of a boycott over the decision to focus on the plight of a fictional blond white protagonist as the hero of Stonewall, his retelling of the historic Christopher Street riots of 1969, the film opened in theaters over the weekend to blistering reviews and disastrous box office receipts, landing at 29th place among the weekend’s top-earners. According to Box Office Mojo, the period drama took in a mere $112,414 from 129 theaters for a feeble $871 per-screen average. While this news had to be depressing for the filmmaker, who partially self-financed the movie, it couldn’t have been wholly unexpected. On September 26, the movie review aggregating website Rotten Tomatoes showed that Stonewall had a 7% rating (it’s since increased to a whopping 10%), yet it has an audience score of an almost unbelievable 95%, which is a remarkable disparity between professional critics and film audiences.

Emmerich, who is to be commended, of course, for his work to raise money and awareness for homeless LGBT youth, raised hackles even more early last week for a BuzzFeed interview in which he defended his use of Jeremy Irvine as the lead character, saying that he needed a “straight-acting” protagonist so this gay rights story would hold appeal for heterosexual filmgoers. Huffington Post’s Michelangelo Signorile, a longtime and always outspoken queer rights activist, posted a note on his Facebook page that revealed Emmerich had canceled an interview with him and other journalists after the early pans of the film were published.

What, then, is one to make of the imbalance between the opinions of critics and moviegoers, as reflected on the Rotten Tomatoes tally? Are audiences so starved for LGBT-themed films that they helped jack the rating in advance or is it possible that people who saw the film over the weekend actually enjoyed it? Don’t jump to that latter conclusion too quickly, for a quick scan of the audience opinion show that of the 41 users who actually posted reviews more than half rated the film with one star or less. Could users be manipulating the score on the site? Queerty emailed the Rotten Tomatoes publicist about this possibility but has yet to receive a reply.

As a personal aside, I spoke with a friend last week who told me that although he was aware of the scathing reviews and was not a fan of Emmerich’s other films, he planned to see Stonewall over the weekend as a way to counter-protest what he saw as trans activists trying to rewrite the events that actually took place during the 1969 riots. I’m still too aghast at his idea to follow up with him for a response.

Fortunately, though, the critical and commercial failure of Stonewall isn’t likely to ring a death knell for other LGBT-themed films. Later this year we’ll see the release of two other fact-based major movies: Freeheld, which stars Julianne Moore and Ellen Page, and The Danish Girl, with Eddie Redmayne, which has been touted as a possible awards contender. Next year Alan Poul will direct a feature adaptation of Andrew Holleran’s classic novel Dancer from the Dance. In the meantime, there’s a multitude of television series that range from sitcoms such as Modern Family to dramas like Empire to satisfy the need for queer storylines.

Jeremy Kinser

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/2W-X4VRdwFs/whats-worse-than-reviews-for-stonewall-its-weekend-box-office-gross-20150928

News: Male Model Monday, Aaron Rodgers, Super Blood Moon, Arctic Drilling

> Male Model Monday: Matthew Djordevic.

> Music video: JoJo’s “When Love Hurts.”

> Nick Jonas may be off the market.

> Did you see the super blood moon? Mormon church calls for calm as fears of apocalypse rise.

> OutSports wants Aaron Rodgers to stop shoving his heterosexuality in our faces. 

> House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (expected to be the new Speaker of the House) opposes the endless game of government shutdowns favored by some Republicans. 

> Richard Wall, who played Douglas in Bill Sherwood’s Parting Glances, has passed away after a long battle with kidney disease.

> 4 men in Michigan face felony charges for affair with underage teen they met on Grindr.

> Shell scraps plan to drill in the Arctic.

> Justin Bieber gets wet and chained up for ‘Complex.’

> Texas Governor Abbott won’t be getting an invite to the gay wedding of his former law school buddy who sued the Lone Star State over its gay marriage ban.

> Gang member sentenced to life in prison in brutal killing of gay man who was targeted because he was gay.

> West Hollywood club Mickey’s closed for 30 days following investigation by the Alcoholic Beverage Control board.

> Is there a problem with straight acting gay men?

The post News: Male Model Monday, Aaron Rodgers, Super Blood Moon, Arctic Drilling appeared first on Towleroad.

Sean Mandell

News: Male Model Monday, Aaron Rodgers, Super Blood Moon, Arctic Drilling

Gay Teen Suspended From Catholic School After Not Attending Dance

Lance Sanderson, the gay senior at Christian Brothers High School in Memphis, Tenn., just can’t catch a break. 

After being told last year that he could bring a same-sex date to the homecoming dance at his all-boys Catholic high school this month, another administrator reversed course and told Sanderson that bringing another boy to the dance was not allowed for “logistical reasons.” 

Despite a Change.org petition with more than 23,000 signatures demanding that the Catholic school #LetLanceDance, and the support of alumni, who rallied for Sanderson’s right to bring his same-sex date over the weekend, the Christian Brothers administration wouldn’t budge. So Sanderson didn’t attend his senior year homecoming dance — with or without a date. He just stayed home. 

But when he went back to school today, he was told that he was suspended for a week, reports Logo’s NewNowNext. Although it appears that Sanderson was not given formal documentation of his suspension, NewNowNext reports that administrators told Sanderson the school did not “appreciate the unwanted publicity” that Sanderson’s story has garnered. 

“I am disappointed that I am unable to sit in class today,” Sanderson told NewNowNext. “While many assignments can be reached online, I was going to take two tests today and an in-class timed essay. Tomorrow at CBHS, I was going to meet with admissions representatives from around the country (they do not visit often). I hope to be welcomed back into a classroom setting soon.”

Sanderson did send a letter to his school documenting today’s events, wherein he recounts being “told that the administration ‘had 890 other students to worry about’ and could not deal with me.” 

“I haven’t done anything wrong and haven’t hurt anybody,” Sanderson continued in his letter, which has yet to receive a response. “I want to be welcomed back to the school building today and I want this mean-spirited semi-suspension ended, so that I can do my classwork like anybody else.” 

Sunnivie Brydum

www.advocate.com/youth/2015/9/28/gay-teen-suspended-catholic-school-after-not-attending-dance

Paging Dr. Ben Carson: Homophobia Calling

A man who is unconscious of himself acts in a blind, instinctive way and is in addition fooled by all the illusions that arise when he sees everything that he is not conscious of in himself coming to meet him from outside as projections upon his neighbour.
– Carl Jung, “The Philosophical Tree” [1]

Certain biases sneak past intelligent minds without data, critical thinking or experience. How can this be?

Consider the case of neurosurgeon and presidential candidate, Ben Carson, who had a ready-made theory and evidence in proof of his theory about homosexuality. The theory: Being gay is a choice; his evidence: “Because a lot of people who go into prison go into prison straight – and when they come out, they’re gay.” Later he apologized saying that he did not know how all gay people became gay.

Why didn’t his scientific and rational mind question or critique his words before they came out of his mouth? Why do people become not only ignorant, but collaborators in believing and spreading ignorance especially when it is hurtful ignorance?

Consider the case of Ed — a straight man, a religious man, who believes both of these qualities are part of his goodness, his worthiness. Of course, Ed has impulses, especially sexual impulses, that he considers immoral. Rather than resolve this tension internally, which would instigate a moral conflict requiring true psychological reflection, Ed judges, disowns and disavows these impulses finding them inconsistent with his religious beliefs upon which his sense of self stands. These impulses are then relegated to Ed’s shadow — an unconscious region of Ed’s psyche.

Consistent with all shadow aspects of people, Ed projects his own “immorality,” his “deviousness,” onto an “other,” in this case our gay sisters and brothers. The result: When Ed thinks about issues facing our gay sisters and brothers, true reflection is rendered nearly impossible because he is not considering the real lives of real gay people, instead he is considering something called “gay” as manufactured by his psyche — aspects of Ed’s nature that he finds onerous.

The door that keeps that shadow closed to discordant information and critical thinking also closes the heart to empathy for the harm done to those projected upon.

The simple truth — that being gay is an expression of nature’s beauty, truth and love — is rendered out of reach to his conscious mind, as it is from Ben Carson’s thinking and statement.

Illuminating the Shadow: Bringing Light to Carson’s Biases

It is a psychological rule that the brighter the light, the blacker the shadow; in other words, the more rationalistic we are in our conscious minds, the more alive becomes the spectral world of the unconscious.
– Carl Jung [2]

There are two assumptions perpetrated by Carson’s thinking. Let’s take them one at a time in order to shine the light of honest reflection into a shadow not only in Carson’s psyche, but the culture at large.

Assumption 1: Being gay is a sickness caused by rape or abuse.

The message here is this: Our LGBTQ sisters and brothers are not acting out of love or nature, in fact, they are not even acting out of their right minds. They are sick; being gay is an illness.

Carson is clearly not alone in perpetrating this viewpoint. For example, the Center for Marriage and Family Studies of the Family Research Council believes that “[M]en who sexually molest boys all too often lead their victims into homosexuality and pedophilia.“

The American Psychiatric Association also held the view that homosexuality was a mental illness for much of the 20th century. However, in 1973, they corrected their error, eliminating this diagnostic category. Being gay was no longer considered an illness.

The truth is that being raped in prison does not result in a person becoming gay; in fact, it’s quite the opposite: a gay person entering prison is more likely to be raped.

The research is not only clear, it is alarming, indicating that “sixty-seven percent of gay or transgender men have been sexually assaulted by another inmate — a rate fifteen times higher than the overall inmate population.”

The projecting psyche twists the facts so egregiously! Instead of seeing our LGBTQ sisters and brothers as more vulnerable to being abused, they view homosexuality as a sickness that results from being abused.

Indeed, there is a sickness — it is this kind of thinking!

Assumption 2: Homosexuals are inherently criminal; they are rapists.

Carson’s thinking suggests that mainstream America should fear “them,” should be protected from “them,” should not trust “them,” and should not befriend “them.” “They” are dangerous. This kind of thinking is the hallmark of projection — the creation of an “us and them” that not only makes distinctions, but colors “them” in a cloak of something so negative that “they” can be treated inhumanely.

The research shows this logic to be totally opposite from the truth. Actually, gay folks are not likely to end up in prison because they are inherently criminal, instead, they are more likely to go to prison because they are treated criminally by their families and the criminal justice system.

Many gay youth suffer painful rejection by their families. Twenty-six percent leave their homes and turn to the streets to escape emotional and physical abuse. “Prosecutors frequently file charges against these youth for being “incorrigible” or beyond the control of their parents or guardians, based largely on the parent’s objections to their sexual orientation.”

Abuse by families, communities and an ignorant criminal justice system leads our gay sisters and brothers into jail, not their sexual identity.

Again, the twisted logic of the projecting psyche views a more vulnerable population as the perpetrating population.

This pattern of blaming victims as a way of deflecting and hiding the abuse done by perpetrators is quite common. Members of marginalized groups are regularly stereotyped as being sick and predatory. For example, Jews were thought to murder Christian babies in ritual sacrifices and black men in the United States were often lynched after being falsely accused of raping white women.

More recently, the Catholic Church tried to lay blame for the sexual abuse of minors at the feet of homosexuality — it was the homosexual clergy that were at fault, not them. In fact, in 2002, the Vatican responded to allegations of clergy sexual abuse by declaring that some gay men should not be ordained.

Once again, the research undermines this thesis indicating that homosexual men are no more likely than heterosexual men to molest children or to be sexually attracted to children or adolescents. As for our lesbian sisters — the physical abuse and sexual abuse rates are almost zero!

The Worst of It: Shame

I think shame is deadly. And I think we are swimming in it deep.
– Brene Brown [3]

Carson’s thinking is not just wrong-headed, it is dangerous. Being looked upon as an illness, as a danger, destroys the soul of a person, teaching them to not trust their own thinking, their own feelings and desires, their own spirit — their spiritual and moral rightness.

Simply put, it injects a lethal dose of shame into the psyche. The suicide rate alone attests to the deadliness of this shaming where gay and questioning youth are 3-4 times more likely to attempt suicide.

It’s time to inject a strong dose of critical thinking into our political and social discourse. Moreso, it’s time for all of us to learn psychological thinking, specifically about the moral problem inherent in belief systems that identify their own light as so bright and true that they can only leave an equally dark shadow in their wake.

[1] Carl Jung, “The Philosophical Tree,” Collected Works 13: Alchemical Studies (1945), 335.

[2] Spuk: Irrglaube oder Wahrglaube? Foreword by C. G. Jung, Collected Works 18 (Zurich 1950), 10.

[3] www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/26/brene-brown-shame_n_3807115.html

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