[Active-seattle-l] [Active-l] (NEWS) Today's Cultural Warfare Update

Tue Apr 25 00:30:17 PDT 2006

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Quiet day. Too quiet. The big bad news; Paul Cameron managed to slip a  
study by a peer-reviewed journal, to which I have to ask, _who the hell  
read this thing?!_ The claim, by the way, is that homosexuality is  
_contageous_. The "source data" is a culling of some people mentioned  
in three books he bought off Amazon. No, really. That's it. This is  
genuinely bad, because while his scientific work is still _not science,  
but fraud_, this makes it just a little harder to discredit him as  
completely.

But now, today's news:

Caribbean hate crimes against gay and lesbian people becoming endemic;

South Carolina Republicans push to make adult sex toys illegal;

Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM to push for new anti-"indecency"  
broadcast legislation in Congress;

FotF blasts DNC chair Dean's comments on church politicking;

Campus group at University of California/Hastings loses (so far) fight  
to discriminate against GBLT people and also on the basis of religion  
while keeping state money; FotF outraged, of course, says the ruling  
and schools involved are "turning discrimination on its head";

Federal appeals court upholds 10 Commandments display, and lower court  
ruling;

FotF complaints about the "King and King" book other groups were  
complaining about in the previous CWU;

Michigan Republican Party endorses initiative effort to define legal  
personhood as beginning at conception, banning all forms of abortion  
and defining it as either homicide or manslaughter, depending upon  
circumstance;

Mitt Romney continues to win points with fundamentalists; this time,  
it's diverting funding for "abstinence education"; this is Family  
Research Council's ACTION ITEM to thank him;

American Family Association version of the Christian student group  
wanting to discriminate against people on the basis of religion and  
sexual orientation but still get state funding, calls the ruling  
discrimination against the club;

The AFA also has a version of the "King and King" story;

AFA trumpets New Zealand study - refused by a large number of journals  
- that women who have abortions are more likely to have mental illness  
issues; this smells funny, I'd like to dig into it some more but it's  
late right now;

AFA claims British gay men and lesbians make thousands more than  
straight men and women; they talk about an Advocate survey; I _suspect_  
that what they've done is taken the readership of an upscale gay  
magazine and compared them to the population at large, which is akin to  
taking the readership of, oh, _Forbes_ or _The New Yorker_ comparing it  
to the population at large, which is to say, completely invalid. But  
that's what they did here in the US (and repeated it endlessly ever  
since) so I imagine they're doing it again in the UK, too;

Very annoying news: notorious anti-gay activist Paul Cameron,  
"researcher" and author of "The Death Penalty for Homosexuality,"  
somehow slipped a study through a peer-reviewed journal. His data  
source: three books he bought on Amazon. His conclusion: homosexuality  
is _contageous_. Who the hell peer-reviewed this?; pointer from Thom at  
Elfintech ( http://www.elfintech.com/ );

A longer article on the same story; again, what you're looking at here  
is "how to get results you want by selecting your data to give you the  
results you want." Pointer again from Thom at Elfintech (  
http://www.elfintech.com/ ),

----- 1 -----
The Most Homophobic Place on Earth?
Crimes against gays are mounting in Jamaica and across the Caribbean
By TIM PADGETT/KINGSTON
Posted Wednesday, Apr. 12, 2006

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1182991,00.html

Brian wears sunglasses to hide his gray and lifeless left eye—damaged,  
he says, by kicks and blows with a board from Jamaican reggae star Buju  
Banton. Brian, 44, is gay, and Banton, 32, is an avowed homophobe whose  
song Boom Bye-Bye decrees that gays "haffi dead" ("have to die"). In  
June 2004, Brian claims, Banton and some toughs burst into his house  
near Banton's Kingston recording studio and viciously beat him and five  
other men. After complaints from international human-rights groups,  
Banton was finally charged last fall, but in January a judge dismissed  
the case for lack of evidence. It was a bitter decision for Brian, who  
lost his landscaping business after the attack and is fearful of giving  
his last name. "I still go to church," he says as he sips a Red Stripe  
beer. "Every Sunday I ask why this happened to me."

Though familiar to Americans primarily as a laid-back beach  
destination, Jamaica is hardly idyllic. The country has the world's  
highest murder rate. And its rampant violence against gays and lesbians  
has prompted human-rights groups to confer another ugly distinction:  
the most homophobic place on earth.

[More at URL]

----- 2 -----
Bill would make sale of sex toys illegal in South Carolina
By SEANNA ADCOX
The Associated Press
April 21, 2006

http://www.independentmail.com/and/home/article/ 
0,1886,AND_8195_4641568,00.html

COLUMBIA — Lucy’s Love Shop employee Wanda Gillespie said she was  
flabbergasted that South Carolina’s Legislature is considering  
outlawing sex toys.

But banning the sale of sex toys is actually quite common in some  
Southern states.

[More at URL]

----- 3 -----
Demand Your Senators Support Efforts to Curb Broadcast Indecency
by Gary Schneeberger, editor
CITIZENLINK DAILY UPDATE
TOP STORY
April 24, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0040237.cfm

Your phone calls could be key to cleaning up TV and radio.

Focus on the Family Action is urging concerned citizens to flood the  
Senate with calls today and the rest of this week in support of tougher  
penalties for indecent TV and radio programming.

At issue is the procedural foot-dragging by Senate Majority Leader Bill  
Frist, R-Tenn., and Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, chairman of the  
chamber's powerful Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.  
Frist has been sitting on U.S. Rep. Fred Upton's Broadcast Decency  
Enforcement Act for more than a year. The bill would increase the  
maximum fine for indecency to $500,000 per incident, along with other  
strong provisions. Although the House passed this bill by a vote of  
389-38, Frist has refused to bring the bill to a vote in the Senate.

[...]

TAKE ACTION
To contact your two U.S. senators, log in to the CitizenLink Action  
Center. Once there, you'll have the option of sending an e-mail or  
letter or making a phone call. To send an e-mail, check the "e-mail"  
option, compose your message and click "Go"; to make a phone call, just  
select the "phone" option and click the "Go" button. In either case,  
there are talking points available for use in your communication.

If you aren't a resident of Tennessee or Alaska and would still like to  
contact Sens. Frist and Stevens, you can call Frist at (202) 224-3344  
and Stevens at (202) 224-3004.

----- 4 -----
DNC Chair Tells Churches to Shut Up When it Comes to Politics
Howard Dean says tax-exempt status exempts Christian groups from  
speaking out.
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
April 24, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040248.cfm

The Chairman of the Democratic National Committee said he thinks  
churches should either pay taxes or be silent when it comes to speaking  
out about political issues.

In an interview with the Christian Science Monitor, Howard Dean said  
"The religious community has to decide whether they want to be  
tax-exempt or involved in politics."

Dr. James Dobson, the founder and chairman of Focus on the Family  
Action, told Fox News Channel's Neil Cavuto last week he couldn't  
believe the former Vermont governor would make such a comment.

[More at URL]

----- 5 -----
Judge Rules Against Campus Christian Legal Society
Student group loses funding and platform to speak.
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
April 24, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040246.cfm

A federal judge has decided University of California Hastings College  
of Law may deny funding to the campus Christian Legal Society (CLS) and  
any other student group that bars non-Christians or practicing  
homosexuals.

U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White dismissed a suit last week that  
was brought by the student group in July 2004.

The law school stopped funding CLS because it requires members to  
endorse a statement of faith and prohibits those who engage in  
"unrepentant homosexual conduct."

"The issue at root here is the right to free association, which  
protects the right of private student groups to select members and  
officers who share their beliefs and values."

Jeremy Tedesco, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, told Family  
News in Focus that schools are turning discrimination on its head.

"This is not about funding. This is about access to a speech forum," he  
said. "What they've prohibited them from participating in is every  
meaningful form of communication the university provides to student  
groups."

[...]

Dacus is urging Christians to fight back.

"If students and groups of individuals decide to do nothing," he said,  
"it's not a matter of 'if' they will lose their freedom, it's only a  
matter of 'when.' "

[More at URL]

----- 6 -----
Ten Commandments Victory in Kentucky
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
NEWSBRIEFS
April 24, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0040252.cfm

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today upheld a lower court  
decision that ruled a Ten Commandments display in Mercer County, Ky.,  
can stay.

The disputed display is alongside other historical items including the  
Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Magna Charta  
and the Bill of Rights.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sought to have the  
Commandments section removed, arguing it represented an  
unconstitutional endorsement of religion.

"This extra-constitutional construct has grown tiresome," the lower  
court's opinion read. "The First Amendment does not demand a wall of  
separation between church and state."

The appeals court affirmed that ruling.

[More at URL]

----- 7 -----
Parents Protest Children's Book on Gay Marriage
Focus on the Family
NEWSBRIEFS
April 24, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0040251.cfm

King and King, a children's book depicting gay marriage that was read  
to a second-grade class in Massachusetts, has some parents outraged.

According to WBZ-TV, some parents of second graders at Estabrook  
Elementary in Lexington, Mass., were furious after learning that a  
teacher read the story about a prince who passes up several princesses  
-- then falls in love with another prince. There is even an  
illustration of their wedding kiss.

Paul Ash, superintendent of the school district, said this book and  
others like it are intended to teach diversity. Lexington is committed  
to "teaching children about the world we live in," he said.

[More at URL]

----- 8 -----
Michigan Petition Drive Has Republican Party Support
Focus on the Family
NEWSBRIEFS
April 24, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0040249.cfm

A pro-life group in Michigan intends to gather enough signatures to get  
a constitutional amendment on the November ballot to declare that life  
begins at conception, and the Michigan Republican Party passed a  
resolution in support, Central Michigan Life reported.

The proposed amendment would give full rights to the preborn making  
abortions the equivalent of homicide or manslaughter.

[More at URL]

----- 9 -----
ACT NOW
Call or email Governor Romney to thank him for supporting abstinence  
education
Gov. Romney announced plans to provide almost $1 million in funding for  
abstinence education
April 24, 2006 - Monday
Family Research Council
Massachusetts (more on this state)
Forward to a Friend!

http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=AL06D15

The Boston Globe reported today that Governor Romney outlined his plan  
to provide almost $1 million in federal funding to a faith-based  
organization that teaches abstinence education in public middle  
schools. He said the funding would not replace comprehensive sex  
education but compliment it. The Governor said this to the Boston  
Herald: "We're saying let's provide an opportunity for parents and  
school districts to add abstinence to the curriculum. It's not  
abstinence only. It's abstinence also."

On October 11, 2005, we sent letters to 18 governors alerting them that  
the ACLU was pressuring education officials in their states to  
discontinue any abstinence-until-marriage education program. The ACLU  
claimed that the programs are "ineffective and dangerous" and that the  
"unsafe programs" should not be permitted in public schools.

In their attempts to pressure officials into discontinuing the program,  
the ACLU provided misleading information and neglected to mention the  
failed record of policies prior to the abstinence-until-marriage  
policy. In reality, according to a report in the April 2005 Adolescent  
Family and Health Journal, there is substantial evidence that children  
and young adults exposed to abstinence-until-marriage education are far  
less likely to engage in sexual activity than those who are not exposed  
to these types of curricula.

We applaud Governor Romney's willingness to look at the facts and the  
effectiveness of abstinence education and for having the strength to  
stand up to strong opposition by doing the right thing and supporting  
this initiative.

Please call or email Governor Romney and thank him for his efforts to  
increase the federal funding for this well deserved program, and  
forward this email to all of your friends and family who reside in  
Massachusetts.

Governor Mitt Romney
State House
Office of the Governor, Room 360
Boston, MA 02133
Phone: (617) 725-4005; (888) 870-7770 (instate use only)
FAX: (617) 727-9725
TTY: (617) 727-3666

----- 10 -----
Court Tells Christian Club Its Mission Not Harmed by Non-Believing  
Leaders
By Allie Martin
American Family Association/Agape Press
April 24, 2006

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/4/afa/242006a.asp

(AgapePress) - An attorney with the American Family Association says a  
Christian club at a university in California likely will appeal a  
federal judge's ruling that a state law school can discriminate against  
the club.

The University of California's Hastings College of the Law, one of the  
largest law schools in the U.S., is located just off Market Street in  
the heart of San Francisco. Last week a federal judge ruled that the  
school can deny funding as well as official recognition to a Christian  
student club that requires its members and leadership to sign a  
statement of faith. Hastings claimed that statement violated the  
school's anti-discrimination policy. The club, in return, argued that  
the law school had violated its rights of free speech, free exercise,  
free association, due process, and equal protection.

The club also claimed it could not comply with the school's  
anti-discrimination policy without abandoning its Christian mission.  
But U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White did not see it that way,  
finding instead that the club did "not demonstrate how admitting [as  
members] [unrepentant and/or practicing] lesbian, gay, bisexual, or  
non-orthodox Christian students would impair its mission."

[More at URL]

----- 11 -----
Second Time Around -- Massachusetts Elementary School Shows Its Rainbow  
Colors
By Jim Brown
American Family Association/Agape Press
April 24, 2006

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/4/afa/242006b.asp

(AgapePress) - Some parents in Massachusetts are fed up with Lexington  
school officials who are defending a second-grade teacher's decision to  
read students a book about homosexual romance and "marriage" in class.

Estabrook Elementary School teacher Heather Kramer read her students  
the book King & King, a story about a prince who spurns a number of  
eligible princesses to marry another prince. The story ends with the  
two men marrying and sharing a kiss. When parents Rob and Robin  
Wirthlin complained about what took place, the school's principal told  
them no parental notification was required, nor would it be given  
before future discussion on homosexual "marriage."

[More at URL]

----- 12 -----
New Zealand Researcher: No Denying, Abortion Harms Women
By AFA Journal
April 24, 2006

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/4/afa/242006e.asp

(AgapePress) - A self-described pro-choice atheist and rationalist set  
out to prove that abortion does not have any psychological  
consequences. He found the opposite, and the results were so profound  
that they cannot be ignored in the scientific field or the political  
arena.

Professor David Fergusson, New Zealand researcher at Christchurch  
School of Medicine and Health, said, "[F]rom a personal point of view,  
I would have rather seen the results come out the other way -- but they  
didn't. And as a scientist you have to report the facts, not what you'd  
like to report."

Fergusson and his colleagues were surprised by the study that followed  
500 women from birth to age 25 and revealed that abortive women were  
one-and-a-half times more likely to suffer mental illness.

"Those having an abortion had elevated rates of subsequent mental  
health problems, including depression, anxiety, suicidal behaviors and  
substance use disorders," according to the research published in the  
Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology.

Numerous journals refused to publish the research, but Fergusson  
defended its relevance saying it would be "scientifically  
irresponsible" to overlook the findings. "To provide a parallel to this  
situation, if we were to find evidence of an adverse reaction to  
medication, we would be obligated ethically to publish that fact," he  
explained.

[More at URL]

----- 13 -----
Commentary & News Briefs
April 24, 2006
Compiled by Jody Brown
American Family Association/Agape Press

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/4/afa/242006h.asp

... For decades now homosexual activists have been painting members of  
the their community as suffering economic discrimination due to their  
sexual orientation. But at least in the U.K., that picture seems  
different from reality. According to The Advocate, a magazine targeting  
the homosexual community, a recent survey indicates that British  
homosexuals "have fatter paychecks compared with their straight  
counterparts." Measured in annual salary, homosexual men earn $60,992  
while straight men earn $43,213. A similar gap, although not quite as  
wide, appeared for women: lesbians earned $44,185 a year, compared to  
$33,059 for straight women. "The constant complaint of discrimination  
just doesn't ring true because homosexuals actually do quite well  
economically," said American Family Association president Tim Wildmon.  
"In fact, the well-financed gay lobby groups are simply making the  
discrimination claims in order to win sympathy from a kindhearted but  
unsuspecting American -- and, no doubt, British -- public." [AFA  
Journal]

[Editor's note:  I _suspect_ that what they've done is taken the  
readership of an upscale gay magazine and compared them to the  
population at large, which is akin to taking the readership of, oh,  
_Forbes_ or _The New Yorker_ comparing it to the population at large,  
which is to say, completely invalid. But that's what they did here in  
the US, so I imagine they're doing it again in the UK, too.]

----- 14 -----
Journal of B.S.
Beaverhausen Blog
Sunday, April 23

http://beaverhausen.blogspot.com/2006/04/journal-of-bs.html

The intellectually-inclined are horrified to learn that crusading  
anti-gay "researcher" Paul Cameron has finally weaseled his way into a  
peer-reviewed scientific journal, in this case, Cambridge's Journal of  
Biosocial Research. His crap article, "Children of Homosexuals and  
Transexuals More Apt to Be Homosexual," was based on his typical  
shoddy, "sophomoric" work. According to one professional listserv, the  
extent of his pseudo-scientific studies involved developing a  
bibliography of topical books from Amazon.com, buying and reading three  
of them, and tallying up the sexual orientation of the adult offspring  
described in the texts (discarding half whose sexual orientation was  
not characterized). The result: "homosexuality is contagious." What  
else do you expect from a guy who produced "statistics" of gay  
longevity based on AIDS obituaries? At least the NARTH-types who  
actually believe this bullshit are more and more the minority these  
days (except, I guess, at the White House).

----- 15 -----
Journal publishes Cameron
Anti-gay researcher says homosexuality contagious
Last Updated: Apr 24th, 2006 - 16:55:38
By David Webb - Staff Writer
Apr 20, 2006, 22:07

http://www.dallasvoice.com/artman/publish/article_1898.php

Paul Cam-eron, an anti-gay researcher who has published dozens of  
articles painting gay men and lesbians as dangerous and diseased  
perverts, has succeeded in getting one of his questionable studies  
published in the Journal of Biosocial Science.

The academic journal, which is published by the Cambridge University  
Press, presents Cameron’s “Children of Homosexuals and Transsexuals  
More Apt to Be Homosexual” in its May 2006 issue. The opening sentence  
of the article reads, “Common sense holds that homosexuality is  
contagious.”

Cameron’s article claims that his study of 77 adult children of gay  
parents reveals that 30 percent of the participants turned out to be  
gay because the “parent’s sexual inclinations influence their  
children’s.”

The publication of Cameron’s work by the journal is shocking, said Mark  
Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence  
Project. He and his team of researchers monitor the activities of hate  
groups and their leaders.

The law center has long warned that Cameron, chairman of the Family  
Research Institute in Colorado Springs, Colo., publishes  
pseudo-scientific studies designed to denigrate GLBT people. A recent  
issue of the Intelligence Report profiled Cameron as a propagandist  
masquerading as a scientist. The article, “The Fabulist,” noted that  
Cameron self-publishes his work in bogus academic journals and that no  
respected scientific journal had ever published his studies.

[More at URL]

_______________________________________________
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