A Bucketful of Wing-Nuttery

There was wing-nuttery by the bucketfuls in the news yesterday. I will share some of it with you, because if I shared everything that amazed and appalled me yesterday, we would be here until next week sometime. We will start with every one's favorite spokeshater from the AFA, Bryan Fischer who said Christians Were Being Victimized by us vicious Gays like the Jews were victimized by the Nazis. He had the temerity to suggest that us homofacists will start making Christians wear an identifying symbol on their clothing like unto the Yellow Stars and the Pink Triangles of Nazi Germany. This guy goes deeper off the end of the short pier on a daily basis than even Tony Perkins of the FRC.  Speaking of Tony Perkins of the FRC, who along with 12 other leaders of conservative (and hate) groups threatened to abandon the Republican Party if the RNC did not reaffirm support for DOMA and a Constitutional Amendment restricting marriage to one man/one woman. Then Tony Perkins sent an email out to his followers telling them to stop sending their money to the Republican Party and send it to individual candidates of to him at the FRC instead so they could 'protect marriage' from us horrible Gays. Perkins was not finished with his foolishness yet as Michigan RNC Committeman Dave Agema, who has so far refused to resign for hateful remarks about gays on his Facebook page despite being asked to by Republican leadership, had a talk with hate group leader Tony Perkins. Agema compared homosexuality to alcoholism and drug abuse and then unleashed this zinger: "I think what the people have to know is if this passes, what will happen is it is just a progression of events that will occur. First of all, what will happen to your school kids when they are in school, it’s already being taught in a lot of places that it is an accepted lifestyle. Then the next thing that will occur is your kids will come home and say I think this is a good thing and I think I want to be one, and if you as a parent stand up and say this is against my moral beliefs and my biblical beliefs, then the next thing you’re going to get into is hate crimes because you’re speaking against something that’s been sanctioned by the state. If you look at Denmark and others then the state also tells the churches you have to marry homosexuals and if you don’t what may happen in the United States is you might lose your tax exempt status."

It is because of people like those in the paragraph above and those like them that things like the Gay man in Kansas City Missouri who was hand cuffed and dragged away from his husband's sick bed even though he had the power of attorney on file that allowed him to be there.  There are conflicting stories but  from what I have read at Towleroad and Americablog who interviewed the Gay Man's daughter, the story being put out by the Hospital and the Police is looking more and more suspect all the time.  The men in question were legally joined by a Civil Union and had filed all the requisite paperwork to be responsible for each other in the event of incapacitation, yet the brother of the sick man was actually the one causing the ruckus, but he was 'family' and the partner was treated as a legal stranger.  Eventually the brother was ejected from the hospital at the request of the patient,whose request to allow his partner to stay was ignored by the hospital staff and the police.  What it boils down to, is with out being in a legally recognized marriage, even those joined in Civil Unions are considered to be inferior to heterosexual spouses or blood kin when it comes to push and shove.  That is why we must continue to fight until we have the same full federal equal rights as the rest of the citizens of the US.  Or things like this will continue to happen.  On a positive note, the Feds are investigating the incident and their spokesman Brian Cook told BuzzFeed Thursday afternoon, "CMS is aware of this specific issue and we are working to gather the facts and determine what steps to take in a speedy manner.  All Americans are guaranteed the right to receive hospital visitors that they designate, and there are specific protections in our rules for same-sex couples across the country," Cook added. "We take alleged violations of federal rules around hospital visitation very seriously."  As well they should!

Now for some good news, Delaware Governor Jack Markell introduced a Marriage Equality bill to the Delaware legislature yesterday.  Then over in Nevada, the Senate committee advanced the bill to the floor of the Senate for debate that would overturn their ban and legalize  Marriage Equality.  There was also an announcement by the NHL of their partnership with the You Can Play Project to combat homophobia in sports.  NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman stated (in part) “Our motto is ‘Hockey Is For Everyone,’ and our partnership with You Can Play certifies that position in a clear and unequivocal way.”  Now if the NFL would get off the schneid and join the You Can Play Project as well, we would really be making some headway to eliminate homophobia and that last great closet of the locker room.  But I will take all the good news I can get.

Your Musical Moment for today features music from an English Baroque Composer unknown to me until yesterday when I discovered this video made from this CD.  The Composer was a contemporary of Handel by the name of Charles Avison who studied under Francesco Geminiani in London before returning to his hometown of Newcastle as the Organist for St John's and St Nicholas' Churches.  He also published the first Musical Critique written in the English language.  His compositions a were written in the Italian style made popular in England by Geminiani as you will hear when you listen to these 12 Concerti.  The performance today is by the Avison Ensemble on period instruments conducted by Pavlo Beznosiuk, who is the Director of the Academy of Ancient Music.  The complete play list can be found on the CD page at Amazon. 

Finally today, I have a collection of hale and hearty fellows in the all together, some more than others, that range from young and demure to sultry, hot and horny in this week's edition of Naked or Nearly So.  Thank you for spending some time today at Nichevo.  Check in over the weekend for this week's photo review of the Best of the Web This Week.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!