"We had a great last night sneaking about in snow covered Olympia. We paid another visit to the bigots over at the Mormon Church. We covered their building with messages in spray paint, such things as there is no sin in your desire, love who you want to love and love how you please, sex is fun! Its not shameful, queer and trans insurrection and many, many, many, many others. We also left them a surprise, its a pretty big one, we think theyll notice it within a few days. The Mormons are an atrocious bunch and, well, it just felt amazing to $@#! up their holy place, especially on an early Sunday morning with the snowflakes glistening in the street lamps."
Oh, and they plan on galling in "gay" to work as a protest to Prop 8.
Excerpt: About 25 teachers plan to take Wednesday off and to have their work covered by substitutes while they discuss ways to introduce gay issues to their students and volunteer at the local branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, Craig said. A letter telling parents why so many teachers would be out went home Monday.
While at first glance you may think this video is fairly harmless and even funny, the sole purpose of this video is to cast those of us who feel it is important to protect families into a less than favorable light and paint us as hypocrites and evil doers.
Excerpt: It's amazing. Hollywood liberals, who shout "McCarthyism!" as a first resort, see nothing wrong with this. If Jews were attacked in this way for giving too much money to a political cause, Barbra Streisand would already have a French passport.
Never mind that Proposition 8 carried nearly every demographic slice of voters. Put aside the fact that the Catholic Church and scores of other Christian churches supported it too. Discount the inconvenient truth that bans on gay marriage have now passed in 30 states. It's all the Mormons' fault.
Richard Raddon, the director of the Los Angeles Film Festival who has been at the center of controversy ever since it was revealed almost two weeks ago that he had contributed $1,500 to the campaign to ban gay marriage in California, resigned from his post over the weekend.
MIAMI – A judge on Tuesday ruled that a strict Florida law that blocks gay people from adopting children is unconstitutional, declaring there was no legal or scientific reason for sexual orientation alone to prohibit anyone from adopting.
California's Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) confirmed Monday that it will investigate allegations that the LDS Church failed to report nonmonetary contributions to the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign.
An independent nonprofit organization, Californians Against Hate, called for the investigation after the measure passed earlier this month, effectively ending same-sex marriages in that state.
"They read my letter and I guess came to the conclusion that there's something worth looking into," said Fred Karger, who heads Californians Against Hate, which was formed to track donations in support of the ballot initiative. "I'm hopeful that the LDS Church will cooperate and share all the records and all the information they have about their activities in the Proposition 8 campaign."
Here's a fantastic editorial by the national review:
Excerpt:
To date, 30 states have voted on initiatives addressing same-sex marriage, and in every state traditional marriage has come out on top. But somehow the fact that Mormons got involved during the latest statewide referendum constitutes a bridge too far? In truth, Mormons are a target of convenience in the opening salvo of what is sure to be a full-scale assault on much of America’s religious infrastructure, which gay activists perceive as a barrier to their aspirations. Among religious groups, Mormons are not the biggest obstacle to same-sex marriage — not by a long shot. But they are an easy target. Anti-Mormon bigotry is unfortunately common, and gay-rights activists are cynically exploiting that fact.
The gay movement has created a website to help them in their inquisition. They have pasted the names of many people who donated to the Yes on Prop 8 campaign, in an attempt to encourage their community to not patronize them.
If you live in California, I would strongly encourage you to use this list against them and patronize these businesses. And when you do, let them know you appreciate their stance on protecting families and children.
Good news! The California Supreme Court denied requests to stay the implementation of Proposition 8.
In a nutshell the lawyers for the gay community and various other parties requested the California Supreme Court to issue a "stay" on Prop 8, which would basically put the measure on hold until the Supreme Court heard arguments and decided on the legality of Prop 8. The gay community were hoping they would be able to continue to enter into same sex marriages while the legal battle was raging.
Thankfully, this request was denied. For now, Prop 8, is the law.
One other major victory in the Courts decision to allow Real Parties of interest to defend this measure. So now the same group who got this measure passed can defend it. If they did not allow this, the it would be left up to Attorney General Jerry Brown to defend the measure, and since he actively opposed it in the first place, it would have been catastrophic if this case depended on him.
Here's a great article about the current situation with Prop 8
Excerpt: In Oakland, California, a mob gathered outside a Mormon temple in such numbers that officials shut down a nearby freeway exit for more than three hours.
In their midst was a San Francisco Supervisor who said “The Mormon church has had to rely on our tolerance in the past, to be able to express their beliefs.” He added, “This is a huge mistake for them. It looks like they’ve forgotten some lessons.”
Apparently Mormons don’t have the same rights as other Americans, at least not if they don’t vote the way gay activists want them to vote.
Here's a letter I sent to Michele Dinello, the Director of Corporate Communications for Subway. This letter was sent as a response to this:
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid66446.asp
Dear Ms. Dinello,
I am writing today to express my dissatisfaction with the manner that Subway handled the recent event of a franchisee donating their personal funds to exercise their opinion in a democratic ballot measure.
I understand the fine line between keeping everyone happy and giving the impression that a company is being fair to all people, but the way you caved to the the political extortionists of the gay movement leaves me a bit dismayed.
The gay movement, which represents a very small section of society, is currently engaged in a campaign of vandalism, hate crimes, and terrorism, to strike fear into the hearts of those people who do not agree with them. By their actions it is clear that they do not respect people's opinion, nor the democratic process.
By buckling to the rantings of an insignificant blogger, you have helped them in their quest to silence those who do not agree with them. By your actions, it is apparent to me that Subway supports and is now providing material funding to an organization that has little regards for society, democracy, and the freedom of expression— a group who will use all the tools at their disposal, including hate and terrorism, to silence any an all who disagree with them. Think I'm exaggerating? Here's a few of many examples:
A religious group is attacked in San Francisco and needs a police escort to get them out of the area safely: (read the description on this video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrRxFoBSPng
Here's a nice compilation of the vandalism, hate and bigotry of the gay movement. (The music is a bit dramatic, but you get the idea) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWeg6AkYNQY
A more extensive collection of crimes and acts of hate and bigotry by the gay movement can be found on my blog http://renman.blogspot.com/ .
Now, you may be thinking that these examples are just a few bad apples in the group, but it is important to note that to date, not one gay movement organization has condemned these actions in an official press release or statement.
So what I would like from you and from Subway is :
1. A statement and press release clarifying that Subway does not support nor tolerate any organization that uses fear or engages in hate crimes or acts of domestic terrorism against any group of people, including people of religion, or that try to thwart the democratic process.
2. A statement clarifying that Subway not only respects the rights of its employees, franchisees, and vendors to become involved in the lawful exercise of the political process, but that you encourage it.
3. A statement that Subway will not apply any pressure or retribution against any employee, franchisee, or vendor who chooses to exercise said rights.
As far as I'm concerned, the religious arguments against same sex marriage is enough. However, sometimes you want a secular argument as well. Here is a fantastic letter written with a non-religious argument against same-sex marriages.
Excerpt: Last night, under the veil of fog, we visited the Church of Latter Day Saints. We left their locks glued with anarchist messages scrawled in spray paint over their boring veneer.
We did this to show our solidarity with all who are resisting heterosexism everywhere, hopefully to spur them into action; and also because we are angry at the amount of money and propaganda that the Mormon church pumped into the homophobic Proposition 8 campaign. From their disgusting commercials to their despicable sermons to those gross lawn signs, we are sick of this parade of bigotry. The Church has to pay.
Read the description below (caution it's graphic) before watching the video (which is also graphic, so turn your speakers down):
THIS VIDEO WAS NOT POSTED BY ANY MEMBER OF THE GROUP JHOP. HOWEVER, BELOW IS AN ACCOUNT OF ONE OF JHOPSF'S TEAM MEMBERS WHO WAS THERE.
November 14, 2008
I went to the Castro (the homosexual district of San Francisco) with JHOPSF (I have been with the Justice House of Prayer San Francisco since April 2008.) like we usually do on Friday nights.
Normally, we sit on 18th and Castro, and someone plays the guitar, and we all worship God.
Sometimes a person will yell at us, or maybe a few. Sometimes people will ignore us. Sometimes people will let us pray with them.
This time was not a normal night. It was the first time we'd been back in the Castro to do our normal outreach since California Proposition 8, which defined marriage as "one man with one woman" was passed. We played the guitar and sang together and worshiped the Lord. After just singing and worshiping God for a while, Roger decided that we should all hold hands in a circle and continue singing. So we did.
Someone (Actually a person who came up and hugged and kissed some of us who he knew from the past) convinced some people that we were there to protest against the no on 8 campaign.
Then some guy who was dressed up like one of the sisters (The sisters of perpetual indulgence is a group of men who dress up like nuns and call themselves the spiritual authority of the Castro.) took a curtain-type thing (Which I think they use to curse people) and wrapped it around us.
Then a crowd started gathering. We began to sing "Amazing Grace", and basically sang that song the whole night. (At some points we also sang "Nothing but the Blood of Jesus" and "Oh the Blood of Jesus".) At first, they just shouted at us, using crude, rude, and foul language and calling us names like "haters" and "bigots". Since it was a long night, I can't even begin to remember all of the things that were shouted and/or chanted at us. Then, they started throwing hot coffee, soda and alcohol on us and spitting (and maybe even peeing) on us. Then, a group of guys surrounded us with whistles, and blasted them inches away from our ears continually. Then, they started getting violent and started shoving us.
At one point a man tried to steal one of our Bibles. Chrisdene noticed, so she walked up to him and said "Hey, that's not yours, can you please give it back?". He responded by hitting her on the head with the Bible, shoving her to the ground, and kicking her. I called the cops, and when they got there, they pulled her out of the circle and asked her if she wanted to press charges. She said "No, tell him I forgive him." Afterwards, she didn't rejoin us in the circle, but she made friends with one of the people in the crowd, and really connected heart to heart. Roger got death threats. As the leader of our group, people looked him in the eyes and said "I am going to kill you.", and they were serious. A cop heard one of them, and confronted him. (This part is kinda graphic, so you should skip the paragraph if you don't want to be offended.)
It wasn't long before the violence turned to perversion. They were touching and grabbing me, and trying to shove things in my butt, and even trying to take off my pants - basically trying to molest me. I used one hand to hold my pants up, while I used the other arm to hold one of the girls. The guys huddled around all the girls, and protected them. Soon after, the cops came and stood between us and the mob. When it was getting more heated, the cops were like "You guys should leave." and Roger said "We want to stay." Someone tried to steal my backpack, but I tapped a cop on the shoulder, and said "Hey, that's my bag." and he got it from him and gave it to me. Others weren't so lucky. Probably half our team got their jackets stolen.
Eventually, as the crowd was getting more and more uncontrollable, the cops were afraid for our lives, so they escorted us to our van. (The cops were very nice to us from start to finish.) Our van was parked pretty far because it was hard to find parking that day. As the cops escorted us, the mob followed us, until the cops formed a line, and held off the people so we could drive away. We took the long way home, just in case anyone tried to follow us.
When we got home, we prayed and sang more, and then prayed over each-other. Please know my heart. All of what we do is for the Love of Jesus Christ, and the love for those in the Castro. The Bible says to love God, and then love people. We can only love because He loved us first. We can't hate the people because they are just broken and blinded by the spirit of this age. Our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against Principalities and Powers. It's not a political thing, we just love the people.
