Join TWO’s Wayne Besen in DC and Baltimore Next Week to Expose the ‘Ex-Gay’ Myth

First, I want to apologize for the number of e-mails this week. Please know that I respect your time and try very hard to limit the number of messages we place in your inbox. Next week we will try to minimize communications.

However this has been an especially busy week for Truth Wins Out and there was much to share with our friends and supporters.

•  I got married this week!

• TWO placed a hard hitting ad in the Ithaca Journal urging people not to buy into the right’s fake arguments about “religious liberty.”

• TWO demanded that the “ex-gay” group PFOX apologize for defamation or face legal action next week

• TWO commented in Associated Press article about Hillary Clinton‘s international speech on LGBT equality and wrote about the issue.

The reason for this e-mail is because we have one more important message that we want to share with you. TWO is honored to be working with the Southern Poverty Law Center and GetEqual to expose the harm caused by “ex-gay” programs.

We are holding seminars across the nation on this topic. Come out and meet me — I’ll be there! Here are our exciting first two events:

WASHINGTON, DC

Tuesday, Dec. 13

6-8 pm · Busboys & Poets

2021 14th Street NW at V Street

Free Refreshments Provided

TWO’S Wayne Besen will be giving a multimedia presentation and will be joined by “ex-gay” Survivor Nick Cavnar.

BALTIMORE, MD

Thursday, Dec. 15

6-8 pm · 2640 Co-op

2640 Saint Paul Street

TWO’s Wayne Besen will be joined by “ex-gay” survivor Chris Camp. Free Refreshments Provided

splcenter.org/conversion-therapy

RSVP appreciated but not required. Call 855.841.8356 or email ashley@splcenter.org

Even if you are not from these towns, please help spread the word. We are having an impact on “ex-gay” groups and if we focus and work hard in the next year, we can hopefully put some of these dreadful groups out of business.

Thanks — enjoy the weekend! And, please accept my apologies for this week’s number of e-mails. We will try to make your inbox lighter next week.

Finally, the holidays are here. Please consider purchasing a TWO “Thank God, You Can’t Pray Away the Gay” T-shirt at our online store.

Please also consider an end of year tax-deductible contribution to Truth Wins Out.

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• Obama, Clinton to world: Stop gay discrimination – Deseret News (deseretnews.com)

Republican Candidate for President, Newt Gingrich, Insults the Palestinian People

Newt Gingrich, Self-Acclaimed "Historian" @ $1.6 Million Dollars/Consultation

The Jewish Channel Exclusive Interview With Newt Gingrich Excerpt: “Invented Palestinian People“

Does Newt Gingrich believe in a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Democratic and Republican administrations have adopted that framework, but Mr. Gingrich raised the possibility he might break with it, calling Palestinians an “invented” people and the current stalled peace process “delusional.”

His comments were made this week in an interview with the Jewish Channel, a cable service. Author: Trip Gabriel, New York Times. MORE

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Sen. Lindsey Graham Refuses to Create Jobs in South Carolina & Challenged Occupy to Stop His Re-Election

The 99% Mic Check Sen. Lindsey Graham

TPMDC

Ryan J. Reilly December 8, 2011, 5:33 PM 1874 67

The same group that crashed Newt Gingrich’s fundraiser on Wednesday night invaded a private fundraiser Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) held at a D.C. restaurant on Thursday.

Demonstrators with Take Back The Capitol walked into Johnny’s Half Shell as Graham and his supporters were enjoying their salad course. Graham listened to the protestors tell stories about being unemployed as other attendees either listened to the protestors or awkwardly stared at their plates.

Graham later offered to help some of their protestors, including a now unemployed Marine who served in Iraq from 2005 to 2009. Protestors asked if he would support the American Jobs Act and extend unemployment benefits. He said he wouldn’t support the Jobs Act but said he would vote for unemployment benefits.

“I really appreciate you coming by, this is a way to engage, but I’m going to run for office, and come to South Carolina and try to beat me if you don’t like what I’m doing,” Graham told the protestors.

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CITIZEN, WHAT’S YOUR CHOICE?

The Boston Massacre

CITIZEN, WHAT’S YOUR CHOICE?

Once upon time we only had

one option.

TWO Debunks Fake Religious Freedom Lie With Groundbreaking Full-Page Ad

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Wayne Besen, Executive Director
Phone: 917-691-5118
E-Mail: wbesen@truthwinsout.org

 

TWO Debunks Fake ‘Religious Freedom’ Lie With Groundbreaking Full-Page Ad

Ad Is In Response To New York Marriage Clerk Who Refused To Marry Lesbian Couple Under the Guise of ‘Religious Freedom’

Burlington, Vt. – Truth Wins Out announced today that it would place a groundbreaking full-page ad in the Ithaca Journal on Saturday that debunks the Religious Right‘s latest strategy of claiming they are victims of religious discrimination when asked to follow the same laws as other citizens. TWO’s hard-hitting ad is headlined “Special Rights Masquerading as Religious Freedom” and signals that this fraudulent argument, increasingly used by anti-gay activists, will be vigorously challenged and exposed as a lie.

TWO’s ad is in response to the unethical actions of Ledyard, NY town clerk Rose Marie Belforti, who refused to marry a lesbian couple who asked for a marriage license. Belforti disobeyed the law and then justified refusing to do her job by claiming she was a victim of religious discrimination.

“The private religious beliefs of public workers should be respected,” said Truth Wins Out Executive Director Wayne Besen. “However, agents of the state are not entitled to pick and choose which members of the public they serve or which laws they obey. Refusing to serve entire classes of people based on religious objections will lead to chaos. It creates a slippery slope where self-appointed moral scolds serve as the gatekeepers to our freedom.”

Until recently, anti-gay activists argued that LGBT people were not entitled to equality because it was contrary to the will of the people. As recent polls show a sea change in support for marriage equality, particularly among younger demographics, the extreme right has switched its strategy. They now try to pose as martyrs whose beliefs give them the special right to discriminate and ignore the law.

“Belforti’s twisted version of ‘religious freedom’ comes at the expense of liberty for everyone else,” said TWO Communications Director John Becker. “It creates a balkanized nation that divides people based on sectarian differences. We must reject the unfair notion that some people have a special right to discriminate based on religious beliefs.”

TWO’s ad points out that allowing fundamentalists to follow their own rules would create chaos and undermine societal cohesion. The ad gives several examples of where this false notion of “religious freedom” might lead:

•         Will town clerks use their fundamentalist beliefs to refuse issuing marriage licenses to divorced people who wish to remarry?
•        Will town clerks use religion to justify turning away interfaith or interracial couples who want a marriage license?
•        Will postal workers refuse to carry mail they find objectionable, or refuse to deliver to households whose religious beliefs they disagree with?
•        Will religious public school teachers choose to educate only students who share their faith?

This latest effort is part of TWO’s Center Against Radical Extremism (TWOCARE), which debunks right wing propaganda and misinformation campaigns. TWOCARE also monitors and reports on extremist organizations and launches campaigns to spotlight their dangerous views.

Truth Wins Out is a nonprofit organization that fights anti-LGBT extremism. TWO specializes in turning information into action by organizing, advocating and fighting for LGBT equality.

(This ad costs $2,500. If you like it, please kindly consider a tax-deductible contribution to help us pay for it.)

 

 P.S. I got married today!

Wayne

Black-Led Detroit Resists White Control Under Manager

BLOOMBERG

By Chris Christoff

(Corrects figure in fourth paragraph under ‘Getting as Pass’ subhead in story originally published Dec. 7.)

Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) — The law that threatens Detroit with direct state rule may be repealed through a petition drive powered by unions and residents opposed to white control of a city that’s 82 percent black.

“It’s nothing but a takeover bill,” said Brandon Jessup, chairman of the Stand Up for Democracy coalition seeking 161,300 signatures to place the measure on the November ballot. “This is definitely a race issue. It’s affecting people of color not only in this generation but future generations.”

Detroit has the highest concentration of blacks among U.S. cities with more than 100,000 residents, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. It will exhaust its cash by April and may run up a deficit topping $200 million by June.

Last week, Governor Rick Snyder, a white Republican, ordered a review that may lead to appointment of an emergency manager, rekindling rancor in a city scarred by race riots in 1967. Detroit lost one-quarter of its population since 2000 — much of it to largely white suburbs.

Four Michigan cities are controlled by emergency managers. All have populations that are mostly black. If Detroit joins them, 49.7 percent of the state’s black residents would live under city governments in which they have little say.

Michigan’s emergency managers have sweeping authority to nullify union contracts, sell assets and fire workers. Snyder has said he doesn’t want one for Detroit, though he called the city’s financial condition severe enough to warrant help. [MORE]

 

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Obama, Middle-Class Warrior – Cool and Deadly! – VICTORY IN 2012

Mitt Romney fully embraces Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan

Image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr

Posted at 02:59 PM ET, 12/08/2011

By Greg Sargent

One of the key stories of the day — perhaps the one that will have the greatest long term political impact — has to be that Mitt Romney has now fully embraced Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan.

After previously hedging on the Ryan plan, Romney is now fully declaring his support for it, as a way to wound the surging Newt Gingrich among conservative voters. Newt, you’ll recall, famously referred to the Ryan plan as “right wing social engineering,” and Romney, in a post on his Web site, has revived this Newt quote, and is suggesting he’d sign it into law as president, in order to portray himself as the only true conservative in the race.

“With friends like Newt, who needs the left?” the Romney Web site now blares.

The reason this matters: It will give Dems a weapon in the general election against Romney. “In order to make this attack, Mitt Romney has now given himself ownership of the Ryan plan,” Jed Lewison writes. “Let me say that again: Mitt Romney is now one hundred percent committed to Paul Ryan’s proposal to end Medicare and replace it with vouchers.”

Steve Benen added: “This is the line Democrats have waited eight months for Romney to take.” [WASHINGTON POST: MORE]

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• Mitt Romney camp comes out swinging against Newt Gingrich (bostonherald.com)

The Colbert Report Stephen Colbert “Rick Perry’s Anti-Gay Ad” 12-08-11 (video)

NO “SUN AND SAND” THIS CHRISTMAS

For the second year in a row Republicans have thrown cold water on the Christmas holidays and promise a chill to the New Year.  This go-round they oppose the extension of the payroll tax cut which is a matter of survival to the 99%’ers class of Americans.  To show his determination to fight for the preservation AND restoration of the middle-class, President Obama issued a warning: He told Congress not to leave town until the payroll tax cut is extended. Without action, it will expire at the end of the year and take $1,000 out of the pockets of the typical middle-class family. Listen to Obama, Warrior for the Middle-Class:

IF YOU ARE “MAD AS HELL,”  click HERE

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