Tennessee Church Kicks Out Boy Scouts For Being Too Accepting

A Tennessee church that had supported a local Boy Scouts troop for more than 50 years asked the group to meet elsewhere after the national organization revised bylaws this summer to accept gay and lesbian adult leaders, USA Today reported Wednesday.

The church is the third in the state to sever ties with the Boy Scouts since they became accepting of out gay leaders, said Boy Scouts executive Larry Brown, who declined to name the other religious establishments in his interview with USA Today. Churches in other states have also decided to reject local troops.

Brown told the paper that the North Boulevard Church of Christ in Murfreesboro, Tenn.,  had given the matter “a great deal of thought” and “decided to drop their charter with the Boy Scouts of America and the Middle Tennessee Council,” an area consortium of troops.

He told the paper that the Church of Christ, which reported more than 1,700 members in 2014 has given the approximately 100 Boy Scouts members time to find a new meeting location.

“We are trying to find new sponsors that would be willing to sponsor their units,” Brown said in a phone interview with USA Today. “We have right at 600 churches and other groups like civic clubs that are charter partners with us. We have three out of 600 that have decided to leave.”

Brown told the paper that he hopes North Boulevard Church of Christ will reconsider its decision to sever ties.

“North Boulevard Church of Christ has been an outstanding partner with Boy Scouts Middle Tennessee Council for over 50 years, producing hundreds of great citizens and community leaders, and we welcome them to come back and partner with the Middle Tennessee Council at any time,” Brown told the paper.

Every leader in Boy Scouts has to sign a declaration of belief in God, he added.

Churches supporting Boy Scouts troops across the country have been supportive of the rule change. The Blackman United Methodist Church Council informed the Boy Scouts that they trusted its troop to make leadership decisions, USA Today reported.

Laura Bohling whose gay son is an Eagle Scout with a troop that meets at the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints in the same county as the ousted troop told the paper that the Murfreesboro church had been accepting.

“I would say that I’m disappointed for a storied program like the one at North Boulevard Church of Christ for those kids not being able to continue,” Bohling told the paper. She said that in order to become a scout leader at her church, all a boy had to do was “be a person in good standing.”

Elizabeth Daley

www.advocate.com/religion/2015/10/15/tennessee-church-kicks-out-boy-scouts-being-too-accepting

The One Million Moms Outrage Test
One Million Moms, a media watch group arm of the American Family Association, has targeted this new Campbell’s soup commercial featuring a real-life pair of dads feeding soup to their son:

According to 1MM, the ad is “pushing the LGBT agenda” by “glorifying this unnatural marriage.” They are calling for a boycott if Campbell’s does not stop airing the ad. 1MM admonishes Campbell’s tactics. “Companies should advertise the quality of their products,” they state. “They should not be highlighting who is attracted to whom or who sleeps with whom.”

Would other commercials hold up under the same scrutiny? Let’s put some commercials to the One Million Moms Test to judge whether they (a) advertise the quality of their product, or (b) highlight who is attracted to whom or who sleeps with whom.

Look at this Campbell’s commercial from 1953:

It is evident that this commercial is (b) highlighting who is attracted to whom. Johnny is attracted to “the girl of his dreams” but decides he will “seek another bride.” But when the girl’s mother advises serving Campbell’s, Johnny returns and marries the girl! The blatant sexuality of this commercial is astonishing. How did they allow this to air back in the 1950s? There is a quick mention of the soup’s quality at the end, but the bulk of the commercial is pushing a soup-based, sexual agenda.

Is it just Campbell’s? Or are other soup commercials pushing a progressive, sexual-charged cause? Let’s take a look at Progresso. First of all, Progresso sounds like ‘progressive,’ which is most likely offensive to the 1MM group. If we take a look at their advertising, such as “The Proposal” from a few years ago, we can see that Progresso, too, is (b) highlighting sexual attraction and not advertising the quality of their product. In this commercial, a woman believes a man in her office wants to marry her because he has served her a bowl of Italian wedding soup. She believes the man wants her “to live in his arms forever” and her heart is audibly pounding. The woman is excited, some might say sexually aroused. Disgusting.

What about other popular commercials? Progressive has mounted a series of popular ads featuring the quirky Flo character. Let’s ignore the fact that the product is called “Progressive” and that Flo is obviously some sort of word play of menstrual flow. Instead, let’s examine other ways that the company is pushing a progressive agenda. In “Flo’s Family,” we are introduced to Flo’s parents and siblings. Yes, that’s right – parents and siblings! Do you realize what that means? Flo and her brother and sister are products of the sexual intimacy between her two parents! This advertisement is flaunting (b) who is attracted to whom! There is not even a mention of the quality of the product. And, to make matters worse, all of the characters are portrayed by the same actress! I don’t know what that means, but it seems unsettling. 1MM must agree that these portrayals should not be viewed by small children.

State Farm, another insurance company, has several questionable ads. Take the popular Road Trip commercial with the comic line “Six callers ahead of us, Jimmy.” This ad features a man, his son, and his mother. The mother had sex to produce the man, and the man had sex to produce the son. Pushing this sort of sexual agenda to sell insurance is downright loathsome. Or, how about the company’s “It’s Jake from State Farm” commercial? In it, a man is seen with his wife in the middle of the night (3:11 a,m. to be exact). A man and his wife?! This is (b) highlighting who is attracted to whom — the wife is even jealous of the phone call the husband is making! It has nothing to do with (a) the quality of the product.

Have you seen the new Burger King campaign for chicken fries, called Pregnant? In it, a chicken announces that she is pregnant with French Fries’ baby! Where do I begin?! This is definitely a case of (b) highlighting a chicken having sex with a potato, or bestiality. Or should we call it vegetablality? No matter what it is, there is no mention of the product’s quality. The ad is repugnant.

An ad like this is a flagrant and shameless plug for inappropriate sexuality. But there are other, more subtle ads that are equally damaging. Take Matthew McConaughey’s Lincoln commercial, I Just Liked It. On the surface, it appears that the commercial is (a) proving the quality of the product because of Mr. McConaughey’s endorsement. But you must read between the lines here. McConaughey’s statement that he has been driving a Lincoln, not because it was “cool” or to “make a statement,” but rather, because he “just liked it.” This is clearly promoting a homosexual agenda. We cannot go around doing things just because we “like” it. What kind of message is that? Perhaps if McConaughey had said that he did it because “that’s the way the Lord likes it according to the Bible,” then it would be more acceptable.

Thanks, 1MM for opening our eyes to the dangers of the advertising world.

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Open Question: How is the LGBT community being denied same sex marriage rights considered "unequal" when straight people can't marry the same sex either?
Where exactly does the “unequal treatment” come in to play?

answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20151015054308AAGFY2W

‘Freeheld’ Starring HRC Supporters Ellen Page and Julianne Moore Opens Nationwide

Tomorrow, the film ‘Freeheld,’ which tells the true story of a same-sex couple fighting for pension benefits, will be released nationwide.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/freeheld-starring-hrc-supporters-ellen-page-and-julianne-moore-opens-nation?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Christopher Racster Named New Head of Outfest Film Festival

L.A.-based Outfest, the leading organization creating, sharing, and protecting LGBT stories on screen, announced Christopher Racster was officially selected by their board of directors to take over from Kirsten Schaffer as the new executive director.

Through Outfest’s original film festival as well as Outfest Fusion, the film festival celebrating LGBT people of color; educational programs such as OutSet, a workshop for young LGBT filmmakers; and archival efforts like the Legacy Project, the only program devoted to preserving classic LGBT moving images, Outfest has helped push the needle forward for queer creators, actors, and stories in cinema since it was founded by students at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1982.

Racster promises the best is yet to come and sat down exclusively with The Advocate to discuss the impact and future of the organization.

The Advocate: How did you originally become involved with Outfest?
Christopher Racster: I have been a part of the Outfest community since the late 1990s. I started out as an attendee. I was really impressed with everything, and the executive director at the time convinced me to become a major donor. He really showed me what Outfest was doing could affect change. Then eventually I became a filmmaker myself, and it was the programmers at Outfest who took my films, made sure they got into theaters, and ended up with distribution deals. Personally, I have been tremendously affected by Outfest. So to have that responsibility now to continue that tradition for others is both humbling and exciting.

What can people look forward to this year from Outfest?
In the coming year what the community will see so much more of is what we do beyond the festival. Outfest produces a brilliant film festival, but we also do so much within the community year-round to help nurture emerging voices, such as our OutSet program that we do with the Los Angeles LGBT center. That program produces five films every year from young people aged 16–24 and helps them to find their voice and tell their stories. For me the next year is going to be making sure people know everything we do year-round like this to try and support the LGBT community, as well to try and shift perception and create greater acceptance of LGBT people.

What are you most excited about as you step into this role?
I’m most excited about working with the board of directors and the community to help determine what Outfest needs to be for the next 30 years. We’re at a point where we’re ready to take a look and say, “What does the community need today and in the future?” Where is the filmmaking, TV, and video community and what do they need from us in terms of support, access, and opportunity? To work with this board and help shape our programs to make sure we are truly serving that need, that’s hugely exciting to me to be a part of that change.

As the LGBT community becomes more integrated into mainstream entertainment, how can groups like Outfest continue to help push the envelope for greater visibility?
I’m a 40-something white gay male. I see a lot of depictions of people who look, sound, and have experiences like me, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the LGBT community does. So I think it’s important for us to be honest and look at the scope of our community and realize that there are many voices and many stories that aren’t getting out into the world — whether that be a Latino story, a bisexual story, more stories of the transgender experience after transition. These things are not as prevalent. Those stories still need to get out there, and they’re still critically important in creating safe places and moments for affirmation.

What are some of the ways you’ve seen Outfest affect others?
I have seen how our ability to give access, to teach, to mentor can personally shape and affect the trajectory of someone’s life. The more we’re able to grow those programs and take them out into other areas, the more people we can affect. Even if those people never make another film in their lives, we’ve taught them that their voice matters, and that’s the most rewarding thing to be able to take home at the end of the day. 

Jase Peeples

www.advocate.com/film/2015/10/15/christopher-racster-named-new-head-outfest-film-festival

Tammy Baldwin Has One Thing in Common With Trump
The junior senator, 53, from Wisconsin on the many things the rest of the country can learn from the Midwest, and why the casserole is not one of them.

How the Internet Is Celebrating #SpiritDay

This year marks the fifth anniversary of Spirit Day, the annual GLAAD-supported holiday that encourages millions of participants nationwide to wear purple and take a stand against bullying. 

To commemorate the occasion, take a look below at how people are using Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to celebrate a day that is all about empowering LGBT youth!

Advocate.com Editors

www.advocate.com/youth/2015/10/15/how-internet-celebrating-spiritday

Open Question: How to meet more LGBT people?
I am a 23 yr old male, and I came out as bi later than most would at the age of 21, I’ve been totally busy workwise, and still associating predominately with my regular friends even after I came out as Bi, and would really love to know how/where I would go about meeting new LGBT “Friends”. -Thanks in davance

answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20151015023750AACBg3d

Going to hell
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Going to hell
byu/Ryan949 inlgbt