I am almost always amazed at the lengths some of our most ardent, erstwhile opponents in our fight for equality will go to malign and marginalize us folks of the LGBT persuasion, and the lows of which they will stoop to do so. I love it when they are schooled on their shit. I am even more delighted when they are caught in a lie, have to publicly admit it and apologize for it. Such is the case of the National Organization for Marriage's Ruth Institute and its director Jennifer Roback Morse. Coming up in May in San Diego is their ITAF13 conference in which they will ostensibly instruct youthful Christians in the ways they can battle the 'evils of homosexuality' and take those learned skills back to their home churches to instruct others.
In a email sent out to promote this conference, director Morse touted some NFL Memorabilia from the Chicago Bears as coming from the Bears organization in support of the conference and its cause. She thanked the Chicago Bears for their support in the email. The Memorabilia was an autographed jersey from Chicago Linebacker Brian Urlacher and an autographed photo of their great Running Back, the late Walter Payton shown below:
The only problem with this was the fact that the Memorabilia was personally acquired by director Morse but not from the Chicago Bears organization, who issued the following statement:
Reached by phone Wednesday afternoon, Morse initially declined comment. But the website later dropped all images and references to the Bears at the team's request, and Morse issued a statement: "The Ruth Institute is not working with the Chicago Bears organization or any of its players past or present to promote our upcoming auction. The memorabilia we are auctioning off was acquired by me personally, not through the team or players. We understand that the Chicago Bears organization takes no position on social issues, and we regret any confusion we may have caused on this point."
The only regret she really has is that she got caught in an outright lie and the Chicago Bears called her on her shit. I am sure, however, that we have not heard the last from director Morse who I believe to be the modern day embodiment of the Wicked Witch of the West. Maybe someone should throw some water on her so we could watch her melt into a puddle of goo.
Last week when it seemed the whole world was talking about Marriage Equality at the Supreme Court and Facebook was turning into a sea of red in support of that Equality, some people were still somewhat ambivalent about the whole thing. Case in point, Simon Curtis, of the blog Robots, Laser Guns and Legos, was a bit post-gay on the whole marriage issue...until his own sister wrote a Facebook status denouncing marriage equality due to her Christian faith. In response to this, Simon wrote the following blog post 'Regarding Gay Marriage':
Today was a big day for anyone who is gay. ”Acceptance and equality may finally be upon us!” etc. etc. I found the entire thing rather tiresome, the uproar, the hype, the incessant red photos and the insistence that anyone who didn’t post one was a bigot… ”We are beyond this,” I thought. ”So much energy wasted on what will be a complete non-issue in a few years…”
…And then my sister in law posted a message on Facebook that stopped my heart, a message condemning the movement, and proclaiming her Christian values, her pride over denouncing everyone’s red photos and outcries for equal rights. I realized right then how much of an issue this still is, just how important those silly red photos really are, and how very much they should mean to me, and anyone else who has ever been told he, or she, is condemned, or is less than what they are, for merely being who they are.
I decided to share the letter I just wrote to my sister, in hopes that anyone else might be able to share it with someone in his or her family posting similar protests on Facebook, who may not be able to find just the right words. Please feel free to use mine, as they are yours as well. They are ours.
…And to anyone posting a silly red photo today, you are a fucking hero.
“Hey Ashley, just read your post, and instead of writing a passive aggressive status myself in response, I figured I’d just reach out and write to you directly. Suffice it to say, reading those words you posted stung deeper than you could possibly imagine. They truly, truly broke my heart.
I’ve endured a lot in my life, but at the end of the day, I’ve learned from all of it. I’ve learned that family is the greatest source of love of all. The loyalty, acceptance, eagerness to accept differences, all of it, is incomparable to any other kind of love on earth. I consider you my family. You ARE my family…
I suppose I just wanted to say that I hope someday you might be able to think on this issue a little more, a little deeper, and think of your family… I hope you’ll think of me, a guy who considers you a sister (and believes you regard him as a brother as well), who is gay- a guy who never had a choice in the matter, a guy who strives to live every day as a good person, who prays every single night to the same lord and saviour that you do, who loves you and thinks of you as his family, who loves your daughter with all his heart, and that maybe you might see things just a little differently.
You’re about to have a son, have you ever thought about how you would feel if in fifteen years or so you found out that he was gay? Would he be afraid to tell you? Would you ostracize him, tell him that you wished he was dead, as my parents told me? Or would you hold him, tell him that you loved him, and assure him that some people were just made differently, and that ultimately, God still loved him too? Odds are, you won’t have to have such a conversation, but have you thought about how you would react if you did?
I love you very much. I most certainly don’t want this letter to resonate as malicious or angry or anything of the sort. I guess I was just caught so off guard reading such a message posted by a member of my family that I didn’t know what to do besides reach out and share my feelings openly.
I truly hope that one day you can feel differently about this issue, about homosexuality in general. I hope one day you can see past what a respected pastor might have to say about it, a pastor who may not have firsthand experience with homosexuality or gay family members, or is running from something himself, and come to another conclusion about how God would treat a gay person. I hope one day you can realize how much pain is caused to people, real people, people who love you, with statements like the one you posted today.
Anyway, I love you. I’m an open book if you feel like chatting. If not, I understand.
Can’t wait to meet the little guy.
Love,
s
The truth conveyed in love repeatedly by those of us in our community to our family, friends and love ones is how we will eventually prevail in our battle for Equality. I congratulate Simon on his ability to respond as he did, let's hope the message got through.
Reached by phone Wednesday afternoon, Morse initially declined comment. But the website later dropped all images and references to the Bears at the team's request, and Morse issued a statement: "The Ruth Institute is not working with the Chicago Bears organization or any of its players past or present to promote our upcoming auction. The memorabilia we are auctioning off was acquired by me personally, not through the team or players. We understand that the Chicago Bears organization takes no position on social issues, and we regret any confusion we may have caused on this point."
The only regret she really has is that she got caught in an outright lie and the Chicago Bears called her on her shit. I am sure, however, that we have not heard the last from director Morse who I believe to be the modern day embodiment of the Wicked Witch of the West. Maybe someone should throw some water on her so we could watch her melt into a puddle of goo.
Last week when it seemed the whole world was talking about Marriage Equality at the Supreme Court and Facebook was turning into a sea of red in support of that Equality, some people were still somewhat ambivalent about the whole thing. Case in point, Simon Curtis, of the blog Robots, Laser Guns and Legos, was a bit post-gay on the whole marriage issue...until his own sister wrote a Facebook status denouncing marriage equality due to her Christian faith. In response to this, Simon wrote the following blog post 'Regarding Gay Marriage':
Today was a big day for anyone who is gay. ”Acceptance and equality may finally be upon us!” etc. etc. I found the entire thing rather tiresome, the uproar, the hype, the incessant red photos and the insistence that anyone who didn’t post one was a bigot… ”We are beyond this,” I thought. ”So much energy wasted on what will be a complete non-issue in a few years…”
…And then my sister in law posted a message on Facebook that stopped my heart, a message condemning the movement, and proclaiming her Christian values, her pride over denouncing everyone’s red photos and outcries for equal rights. I realized right then how much of an issue this still is, just how important those silly red photos really are, and how very much they should mean to me, and anyone else who has ever been told he, or she, is condemned, or is less than what they are, for merely being who they are.
I decided to share the letter I just wrote to my sister, in hopes that anyone else might be able to share it with someone in his or her family posting similar protests on Facebook, who may not be able to find just the right words. Please feel free to use mine, as they are yours as well. They are ours.
…And to anyone posting a silly red photo today, you are a fucking hero.
“Hey Ashley, just read your post, and instead of writing a passive aggressive status myself in response, I figured I’d just reach out and write to you directly. Suffice it to say, reading those words you posted stung deeper than you could possibly imagine. They truly, truly broke my heart.
I’ve endured a lot in my life, but at the end of the day, I’ve learned from all of it. I’ve learned that family is the greatest source of love of all. The loyalty, acceptance, eagerness to accept differences, all of it, is incomparable to any other kind of love on earth. I consider you my family. You ARE my family…
I suppose I just wanted to say that I hope someday you might be able to think on this issue a little more, a little deeper, and think of your family… I hope you’ll think of me, a guy who considers you a sister (and believes you regard him as a brother as well), who is gay- a guy who never had a choice in the matter, a guy who strives to live every day as a good person, who prays every single night to the same lord and saviour that you do, who loves you and thinks of you as his family, who loves your daughter with all his heart, and that maybe you might see things just a little differently.
You’re about to have a son, have you ever thought about how you would feel if in fifteen years or so you found out that he was gay? Would he be afraid to tell you? Would you ostracize him, tell him that you wished he was dead, as my parents told me? Or would you hold him, tell him that you loved him, and assure him that some people were just made differently, and that ultimately, God still loved him too? Odds are, you won’t have to have such a conversation, but have you thought about how you would react if you did?
I love you very much. I most certainly don’t want this letter to resonate as malicious or angry or anything of the sort. I guess I was just caught so off guard reading such a message posted by a member of my family that I didn’t know what to do besides reach out and share my feelings openly.
I truly hope that one day you can feel differently about this issue, about homosexuality in general. I hope one day you can see past what a respected pastor might have to say about it, a pastor who may not have firsthand experience with homosexuality or gay family members, or is running from something himself, and come to another conclusion about how God would treat a gay person. I hope one day you can realize how much pain is caused to people, real people, people who love you, with statements like the one you posted today.
Anyway, I love you. I’m an open book if you feel like chatting. If not, I understand.
Can’t wait to meet the little guy.
Love,
s
The truth conveyed in love repeatedly by those of us in our community to our family, friends and love ones is how we will eventually prevail in our battle for Equality. I congratulate Simon on his ability to respond as he did, let's hope the message got through.
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The Music this week seems to have taken on the theme of Live Concert Recordings and today's Musical Moment will not stray from that theme with this 2010 Concert from the Great Hall of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. The concert piece is Symphony Number 2, Opus 27 by Sergei Rachmaninoff with a performance by the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Eivind Gullberg Jensen.
Finally today, I know there are those of you out there who have an appreciation for a delectable derriere. To feed your desires for beautiful butts, I am premiering another new eye candy theme, Bootylicious (a term coined by Beyonce, but appropriate nonetheless) on display below today's Musical Moment. Thanks for spending part of your day here at Nichevo, see you again tomorrow. Until next time as always, Enjoy!
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