Snag in the gay agenda

If your gay agenda included the item "Get Married in Annapolis and use the Discover Annapolis Tours trolleys as transportation," you'll need to cross it off your list. At least the part about the trolleys. Matt Grubbs, owner of the trolley company, has decided to get out of his popular wedding service business. 

Grubbs' god apparently told him he isn't allowed to shuttle same-sex couples and their wedding guests on his trolleys. On the other hand, the State of Maryland told him back in 2001--long before it passed the law that will allow same-sex couples to marry beginning January 1, 2013--that he cannot legally discriminate in his business on the basis of sexual orientation. So Grubbs felt he had no choice but to go out of the wedding services business.

However, Grubbs is now pushing for a change in the law that would allow wedding related businesses to discriminate against--same-sex married couples? same sex couples whether they're married or not? anyone based on their sexual orientation?--if their bigotry is grounded in their personal religious convictions.

But whether or not the current law is amended to allow discrimination, same-sex couples marrying in Annapolis will need to find a mode of transportation other than a trolley. At least until a trolley service run by someone whose god (or lack thereof) allows the business to transport same-sex couples fills the void.

Uphold the sanctity of divorce with SODA!

First the gays wanted the right to marry. Now they want the right to divorce! Will they never be satisfied until they have the same rights as straight people?!
 

"Maryland threatens the sanctity of divorce" by Ralph E. Shaffer sets out the compelling argument that same-sex divorce, an issue now before Maryland's highest court, the Maryland Court of Appeals, threatens the sanctity of the traditional, Biblical view of divorce--the severing of a marriage between one man and one woman.

Shaffer warns that without legal protection preventing gays from divorcing, straight couples will no longer file for divorce. And, in my opinion, that obviously spells doom for the entire institution of divorce! What dire consequences will straights not-divorcing have on the fabric of our society?

Shaffer urges the adoption of the "Sanctity of Divorce Act" (SODA) to defend traditional, God-approved divorce from the threat posed by same-sex divorce. SODA would go beyond allowing each state to decide whether or not to permit same-sex couples to divorce in that state, permitting states to nullify same-sex splits legalized by other states. Just the type of bold and noble legislation needed to save the sacred institution of divorce!

Help save divorce as we know it. Help save the American family by not allowing gays to divorce. Help save children from the stigma of having divorced, gay parents. Help save the U.S. Help keep God in divorce. Support SODA!

Civil rights in short supply; gays haven't suffered enough violence for a full share

This week the Maryland General Assembly approved the Civil Marriage Protection Act which allows same-sex couples to marry, much to the distress of Emmett C. Burns, Jr., a member of the House of Delegates and Baptist minister. Burns knows, as Maryland legislators who voted in favor of the bill do not, that civil rights are in short supply and must be allocated to only the most civil rights-worthy minorities. According to Burns, gays and lesbians simply don't qualify for full civil rights since none have suffered the amount of violence blacks have.

Burns asked, "Blacks were hung, firebombed. They were shot. Where are the whites who were shot because of their sexuality?"

It is unclear from Burns' comments why the many documented cases of gays and other sexual minorities being murdered because of their sexual orientation, including the murder of Glen H. Footman in Baltimore, don't qualify as points towards full equality for same-sex couples. (Note: Although generally not clear from the reporting, as Burns points out, all the individuals who are members of the GLBT community are "whites.")

While there are many scales for measuring the relative suffering of various minorities to determine if they qualify for martial equality and other civil rights, it appears that Burns may be using "The Bible Says Gay Sex is a Big Sin" (TBSGSBS) scale which requires all evidence of violence against gays to be excluded from the computation of civil rights eligibility. Use of this scale probably means that even additional murders of gays will not increase their civil rights eligibility score.

Rapists will start disguising themselves as women if transgendered protected

The biggest concern about Baltimore County's proposed bill to protect individuals who are transgendered from discrimination based on gender identity seems to be the fear that if transgendered people are protected, men will start dressing as women, then enter women's public restrooms for the purpose of peeping at or raping women.

Apparently, the bill will provide, for the very first time, instruction for men on how to disguise themselves as women so they can enter women's bathrooms without notice, since obviously no man could possibly know how to do that now.

Maryland same-sex marriage bill threatens religious liberty--at least according to Catholic bishops

Maryland Catholic bishops are opposing the proposed Maryland same-sex marriage bill because, they claim, it threatens the freedom of Catholics to practice their religion.
 
So the bill requires Catholic priests to perform same-sex marriages, right? Nope.

So the bill forces Catholics to marry only people of the same sex, right? Nope.

So the bill forces Catholics in heterosexual marriages to get a divorce, right? Nope.

Requires Catholic priests to preach about the rights of same-sex couples to marry? Nope.

Then the bill must close down Catholic churches, right? Nope.

Prevent Catholics from going to mass and participating in their sacraments? No.

Ban the saying of the rosary? No.

Force Catholics to give up saving bits of bones and skin and drops of blood from their saints as a health risk? No.

Oh...the bill keeps the Catholic bishops from insisting that everyone, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, live in accordance with Catholic religious beliefs, is that it? Yes! That's it!

Look, Catholic bishops, allowing same-sex marriages doesn't keep any Catholic from practicing any part of his or her faith. A law recognizing same sex marriage no more threatens Catholic religious liberty than laws allowing the prescribing, selling, and use of birth control do. (Of course, Catholic bishops might indeed believe that the government's permitting the use of birth control does threaten Catholic religious liberty, but the evidence of harm to the religious rights of Catholics is non-existent.)

Do you threaten the religious liberty of Jews and Muslims when you eat pork, or that of Hindus when you eat beef? Do you threaten the religious liberty of Mormons when you drink coffee? Do you threaten the religious liberty of Seventh Day Adventists when you work on a Saturday? Do you threaten the religious liberty of Jehovah's Witnesses by celebrating birthdays or getting a blood transfusion? Do you threaten the religious liberty of Jains when you kill mosquitoes or flies? Well, do you?

Bishops, stick to trying (but increasingly less successfully) to control the behavior of people who voluntarily choose to believe in the stuff you claim God has told you through the straight-from-God-to-the-minds-of-Catholic-authorities psychic pipeline. Keep out of the marriages and bedrooms of the rest of us.

#Marryland: I support marriage equality

It seems to me as though the argument of many of the opponents of the Maryland Marriage Equality bill boils down to: "My god doesn't like it."

I am baffled that your god seems so obsessed with who is doing what, with what body parts, and with whom--especially since he was in charge of designing all those body parts in the first place, right?

Certainly, if your god had wanted to limit human sexual activity to only male-female vaginal intercourse--and then only among married people--he had the power to make that happen. Surely he knew how to design sexual attraction and sex organs (you know, the "naughty bits" you--and he--are so concerned about) so humans would never be attracted to someone of the same sex, and would bond to their single mate for life.

And look at all the wonderful variations in sex organs and mating he managed to design for the other critters he made! A veritable plethora of options! Clearly, he wasn't particularly attached to one design. Some of those other animals' sex organs are designed so sexual activity can occur in one way and one way only. I can't understand, then, why your god chose the human design that he did, so that there are so many creative ways to put all our body parts to such delightful use.

Oh, I see! He created humans in his own likeness. That explains it. So, does your god have a penis or a vagina? Or maybe both? Clitoris or not? Testicles? And, if so, what does he use them for?

And he explained the proper use of sex organs in his special book--the one book that condoned slavery, rape, and infanticide. Well, I can see why that settles the whole same-sex marriage debate.

Yes, I am baffled by so much of what your god does--or doesn't do.

Which is one of the reasons why he's your god, not mine.