John Aravosis @aravosis | Facebook | Google+. Editor of AMERICAblog, joint JD/MSFS from Georgetown, worked in the US Senate, World Bank, Children's Defense Fund, and as a stringer for the Economist. A frequent TV pundit, he has been on The O'Reilly Factor, Hardball, World News Tonight, Nightline & Reliable Sources. Full bio and article archive.
Get Updates
Weekly: Recap top stories, occasional action alerts.
On October first 1936 the Nazi Party introduced a new department – the Reich Central Office for Combatting Homosexuality and Abortion. The Gestapo was given the task of hunting out homosexuals . The claim was made that homosexual behaviour equalled dissidence and opposition to the Reich.[non patriotic] Those not imprisoned were sent to state-run mental institutions so that they could be “cured of their illness”.
“We need to have profound compassion for people who are dealing with the very real issue of sexual dysfunction in their life and sexual identity disorders.” — Senator Michele Bachmann
Some senior Nazi leaders also believed that homosexuality was contagious and could undermine the Third Reich.
Andrea Lafferty of the Traditional Values Coalition has stated that civilization is “doomed to collapse” if gay rights laws succeed,
Most arrested homosexuals were sent to prison but between 5,000 and 15,000 were sent to concentration camps.
“The fact is that the Christian Church for 2000 years tried to and eventually got homosexuality to be made illegal, when you make it illegal a lot of people don’t get into it because it’s illegal, when you make it illegal a lot of people get out of it because it’s illegal, when you say ‘we don’t want to be unkind’—Hey, we have to protect our children!” Paul Cameron of the Family Research Institute
mark_in_toronto
” . . . the godly principles that the Constitution was founded on.”
Funny how little these people know about the Constitution they claim to hold so dear.
Just like their bible, they only pick the parts that are convenient for them to either make an argument or justify their stupidity and bigotry. And even then, they have no clue.
And the really scary thing is . . . . they are the ones with the guns.
http://www.facebook.com/JohnTheWireGuy John Padgett
HE IS TOTAL BS
HE WAS ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE AND HE NEEDS TO REPRESENT THEM.
NOT DECIDE ON LAWS WITH ONLY ON HIS AGENDA.
A REAL Public Servant would rather die than see our service men take a pay cut or see children blocked from the WH tour.
CONGRESS HAS MANY PERSONAL ISSUES/AGENDAS THAT ARE CONFLICT OF INTEREST TO THE PEOPLE THEY CLAIM TO REPRESENT.
THEY ALL NEED TO BE FIRED.
Fix the economy! it never should of been in this mess in first place! and stay out of peoples personal decisions. STOP FUNDING A WAR ON A HERB
Someone’s got to tell me…Since when has “sodomy” become an exclusive practice of homosexuals? The city of Sodom was not, in its day, an enclave of deviant unbelievers, any more than any major city on the planet. Indeed, its practice has been the most ancient form of heterosexual birth control.
I congratulate Senator Portman for his voice. Contrary to reports, the Senator know his son was gay for two years. His current public acknowledgement of support for his son demonstrates a far higher level of “family values” than those of his detractors.
Naja pallida
The term means absolutely nothing. It is just a contrivance of obnoxious prudish douche bags who want to control every aspect of your life to amalgamate anything of a sexual nature that makes them feel guilty when they fantasize about it.
http://adgitadiaries.com/ karmanot
Thank you!
http://firefeeder.blogspot.com/ Stratplayer
Ah, the liberty-loving American right, fighting for their freedom to oppress others!
Apparently they do agree with religious and political manustupration! Holy Ronald Reagan! Holy Archie Bunker! They really should return to the nineteenth century and risk dying from some curable disease.
Charles Kelly
No matter who you are, somebody on the Right hates you.
No wonder Will Rogers was a Democrat.
Island In The Sky
What a bunch of loathsome, backward, sub-human filth in this video. The sooner their diseased thinking dies out (and it is) the better. And what a laughingstock the tri-corner hat idiot is with whatever speaking accent he’s trying to affect.
http://blogvader.tumblr.com/ Blogvader
Of course they found the biggest douche in the place. I doubt the man in the Revolutionary War costume has gotten laid in decades.
tedhayes
Amos B. Alcott must have foreseen the CPACers when he said: “To be ignorant of one’s ignorance is the malady of the ignorant.
Cain Toomey
And people wonder why the GOP is considered to be made up of nothing but bigoted assholes. Jesus Christ, the guy’s being a good father and being supportive and loving of his son! And you fucking rake him over the goals!!
THIS IS WHY POLITICS IN AMERICA SUCK!!!
http://adgitadiaries.com/ karmanot
The Gopers are so behind. Wasn’t Sodomy hanged in Iraq a few years back?
Max_1
“That’s his fault… (his son is gay), that’s not mine”
… Compassionate Conservative my ass.
“He gets no sympathy from me, I’m sorry.”
… Yep, a REAL Compassionate Conservative creature she is.
Max_1
“Godly principles that the Constitution was founded on…”
Theocracy for us and none for the Muslims?
… Because when Muslims do it, that’s evil.
Hypocrisy on parade…
Max_1
The Golden Rule…
… “Nope, nope, nope. That doesn’t even cover it. The Golden Rule doesn’t even cover it.”
Said the Pastor.
John 11:35
Jesus wept.
Max_1
“I’m a product of the 1950′s [...] and I really preferred it that way if you want to know the truth.”
Yeah, somehow a three corner hat and overhauls don’t cut it. ;o)
Vegas Dave
I was very amused by the tri-corner hat guy claiming he was a pastor at a “Black” church. Really? Just remember, our opposition is dying, literally. What a bunch of backward old geezers. The truth is once a person comes out of the closet and lives their life openly, the knuckledraggers in their family and friends start to realize us Gays are people too. I’m just saddened Portman took two years to acknowledge what the rest of America is starting to get. Once you know someone close to you is Gay, it gets harder to treat them and the rest of us as an abstract.
Clevelandchick
And I bet on the internet, he says ” I’m a member of the Democrat party…but (insert far right wing talking point here)”
emjayay
“the tri-corner hat guy claiming he was a pastor at a “Black” church. Really? ” Yes, that is a bizarre and unique situation, being an older white guy. Really wierd.
http://adgitadiaries.com/ karmanot
Plantation mentality at its finest.
Sweetie
Oh, I’m all for sodomy.
I think it’s great to kill a mother for the “crime” of turning around to look at the mass murder of a city by the “God of love”.
I think it’s great for a father to offer his daughters to be gang-raped by a crowd.
I think it’s great for a father to have incestuous sex with both of his daughters, getting them pregnant. That truly shows that he was the only holy man in the city.
I think it’s great that God killed their mother for looking at something but enabled them to get pregnant and successfully bear a line after raping their father.
Yeah, sodomy is awesome, especially the part where “all the people”, “young and old”, were somehow interested in gang-raping girls even though modern “translations” say the entire population was comprised, magically, of homosexual men.
Sweetie
Oh, and sodomy apparently also involves blatantly stealing tropes from other mythology and mangling them.
Naja pallida
Seems to me the Republican party should get rid of the elephant as their party animal/symbol, and change it to a snake eating its own tail.
http://adgitadiaries.com/ karmanot
I suspect Republicans eat tail quite often, probably explains their bad breath.
Sweetie
ABC’s Channel 9 news put on a bigot running one of those fake family values rackets for a lengthy interview and didn’t even try to offer any non-heterosexist opinions from anyone else.
Sickening, but not that surprising.
rmthunter
Gods, these people are disgusting. And “conservatism is founded in God’s law”? Is that the part that says “render unto Koch what is Koch’s, and render unto Koch what is everyone else’s”?
citizen_spot
GOPers blast God for having a hippie son, “agreeing with compassion for the less fortunate”.
nicho
The Teabaggers may be against sodomy (I’ll bet more than a few of them really aren’t), but they do love their drag outfits.
arcadesproject
LOL!
samiinh
Getting head in the airport or hotel bathroom is sodomy. Ask Larry Craig.
chip321
getting or giving ?
http://adgitadiaries.com/ karmanot
If you practice yoga you and get what you give.
Karl
The third lady is like my mom!
RonThompson
Focus for a minute on what this says about Portman. I agree that he’s finally gotten something right, but by a process that is utterly at odds with democratic governance.
Until today, he had claimed that his opposition to marriage equality was based on principle, and not just political principle but religious principle. He campaigned and won election as a social conservative. Now he is willing, not merely to reverse his political judgment, but to reverse his religious judgment, and to substitute for it the complete opposite of the position on which he campaigned and was elected.
Obviously, feeling empathy for a member of a persecuted minority group is such a new experience in Portman’s life that he has not had occasion to think about the difference between his love for his son and his commitment to the people who put him in office.
How would progresssives react if a pro-choice Democratic senator suddenly abandoned that position to become an ardent right-to-lifer as the result of something that happened to a close relative? We’d be outraged. We would say your private beliefs are your own business, but we supported your campaign because you assured us that you would be a fierce advocate for our position. The right is perfectly justified in saying the same thing to Portman.
Now, who’s going to be the first to say It’s different when we do it?
FLL
My criticism below was of two of the fools at the CPAC conference. The two CPAC comments that I made reference to were very general and applied to any given situation, not specifically Portman’s case. My criticisms of those comments were likewise very general, without specific reference to Portman’s case.
Ninong
Those Ohio voters who voted for Portman primarily because of his opposition to same-sex marriage will either be disappointed in his change of position or they may decide to reconsider their own views on marriage equality. The latest poll in Ohio showed that 45% of voters agree with same-sex marriage and 47% do not. http://www.quinnipiac.edu/institutes-centers/polling-institute/ohio/release-detail/?ReleaseID=1823
A certain number of Ohioans will not be pleased by his new position but perhaps a larger number of Ohioans will welcome it.
http://www.rebeccamorn.com/mind BeccaM
The difference is the Dems tolerate violations of their party’s official platforms and positions all the time. The GOP vilifies, primaries, and expels anyone among their ranks who does so.
In other words, if Portman was a Dem who suddenly announced he’d changed his mind and no longer supported marriage equality — such as Maryland state representative Sam Arora did — he would not necessarily lose his party’s support, or be primaried, or lose re-election. Portman, however, can probably kiss his GOP Senate seat goodbye, because he’s already being vilified by his party and the conserva-sphere and I will eat my hat if he’s not primaried by some wingnut GOP tea-bagger in 2016.
UncleBucky
If you don’t get to eat your hat, I have a nice fedora you can have instead? :)
Portman is burnt toast. ;o)
http://www.rebeccamorn.com/mind BeccaM
I love fedoras.
FLL
Attendee comment: “I’m a product of the 1950s when people who were homosexual stayed in the closet, and I really preferred it that way if you want to know the truth.” My own remarks: Many people hold the cultural and scientific accomplishments of Greco-Roman antiquity in great respect because they form the foundation of Western civilization, although the following Dark Ages plunged the Western world into ignorance. During Greco-Roman antiquity, Bible-believing Christians didn’t exist, and I really preferred it that way if you want to know the truth.
Attendee comment: “The golden rule doesn’t cover it.” My own remarks: It would be in the interests of Bible-believing Christians to encourage the widespread acceptance of the golden rule, seeing as they’re becoming an increasingly unpopular minority.
samiinh
Well said. Very well said.
Buford
Well said. I’ll add that the whole ‘Tea Party’ self-identification is a poor analog, since the Boston Tea Party was more of a protest against unfair, monopolistic mingling of business and govt than it was a revolt against taxes. Using the Tea Party (and the colonial headwear) as a symbol for the newfound need to lower taxes misses the point, in the extreme.
arcadesproject
Agreeing with sodomy? Is that better or worse than agreeing to sodomy? :)
You must think it’s very odd of me
That I enjoy the act of sodomy
You might call the wrath of God on me
But if you try it, then you might agree
That you enjoy the act of sodomy….
EDIT: Dear God, I’m actually quoting that hack Peter Jackson favorably.
http://adgitadiaries.com/ karmanot
Or agreeing on sodomy?
iamlegion
Was there ever a clearer picture of the thugs and throwbacks that run the GOP?
lynchie
And once again I am sitting here wondering how this party and these people survive. How their love of all things bible doesn’t extend to treating one another with respect. I guess I am a dumb shit but it is hard for me to grasp what attraction the GOP has for the middle class and elderly of this country. To continue to spew hate and condemnation on others, to promise to take away the earned benefits and reward the right with more…. well I could go on but what is the point.
http://madisonleathersmith.com leathersmith
just be happy you don’t have to spend eternity sharing their version of heaven
http://adgitadiaries.com/ karmanot
True, Republican country clubs and creamed chicken dinners are hell.
UncleBucky
Haha, I wish I could ^ that a dozen times! “creamed chicken dinners are hell” made me splutter with glee. I think I want some soup now. Naw. Naw. Toast and coffee, that’s it!
iamlegion
Because they don’t actually love the Bible. That’s a lie. They only love having someone else to feel better than. That’s all they use the Bible for – persecuting others. The idea of love and respect mean exactly nothing to them.
Dakotahgeo
I’ve chided these irreligious people that the Bible is NOT a WMD!!! (weapon of mass destruction), but they just don’t seem to learn. Pity poor them!
emjayay
Continuing to spew hate and condemnation on others is exactly the appeal to the middle class and elderly.
http://adgitadiaries.com/ karmanot
Who you calling kimosabi paleface. This eldery nor any of his friends are on board with the anti-gay.
Jim Olson
There is a lot of America that has been deprived of proper education for the past 30 years or so, deliberately. This is the product of that denial.
UncleBucky
Now would be a good time for Portman to leave the GOP and join the Democratic Party (some people say they are the same, so a name change wouldn’t be so bad) or perhaps at least become officially a Libertarian (who are not against Equal Marriage, right guys, no government intrusion???). Well. Let’s see.
Oh wait, Cheeny is still a Republican. And his daughters’ wife and family are not ostracized. Or are they?
Ninong
I think Dick Cheney’s position is that he is not against same-sex marriage but he still thinks it should be up to each individual state to decide that for themselves. It would be rather difficult for him to say he’s against the parents of his youngest grandchild.
Our “Fearless Advocate” finally came out a couple of days ago and stated clearly that now that he supports same-sex marriage, he no longer believes it should be up to the states.
Stev84
That’s Portman’s position too. He thinks it should be left to the legislatures and not be decided by courts. You know, the legislatures who didn’t repeal slavery and segregation laws until the 90s. Or the ones that still uphold unconstitutional anti-sodomy laws. He still an idiot. And obviously an extremely selfish one since he didn’t give a shit when it didn’t affect his family.
S1AMER
Lordy, the outraaged reaction on the religious right today is a real hoot!
Even better is the knee-jerk “I still hate them homosexuals” reaction from all the Republican politicians getting mikes thrust in their faces (Newtie’s beliefs on marriage are priceless). This, alone, makes Portman’s coming out as a supporter of his gay son worthwhile.
Buford
It helps to remember that all of this boils down to their ignorant belief that homosexuality is a lifestyle choice rather than being innate. Every hateful word spoken, discriminatory policy supported, and hateful act perpetrated is done because these people think people are choosing to live what they consider to be a deviant lifestyle… despite all the science to the contrary.
This doesn’t validate their stance, but it does help us normal folks understand their stance.
When you go in a bear cave you just find find a bear
Ninong
The sodomites are coming, the sodomites are coming!
They’re coming for your sons, as well as your guns!
UncleBucky
LOL! “This is my rifle, and that is your gun” Do you mean that TEH gay is coming for straight guys’ manhood? :D They’ve already surrendered their manhood, the angry white guys… :D
Ninong
Reminds me of “this is my weapon and this is my gun; this is for fightin’ and this is for fun.” Just something I learned almost six decades ago. LOL
http://www.rebeccamorn.com/mind BeccaM
Or just watch Full Metal Jacket on DVD.
UncleBucky
Hah, you remembered it better than I did. The thing is that the “gun” that angry white guys value so much doesn’t matter much. TEH Gay ain’t interested in those little pea shooters. Hahaha, as if it is recruiting… my, my!
arcadesproject
They’re coming for our sons? Well, if they’re attractive….
Ninong
You have to remember that most of the fundamentalist Christianists believe that homosexuality is a “lifestyle” choice, not an innate sexual orientation. They believe that no one is born gay, they have to be “recruited” to that “lifestyle” by one of the “sodomites.” If only Teh Gays would stay in the closet where they belong, their children wouldn’t be “recruited.”
I find myself thinking, so what if it is a choice? (I’m not saying it is, but work with me here.) What possible basis is there for making that choice illegal aside from unconstitutional reasons based ultimately on religion?
And I’ll tell you what undoubtedly is a choice: being a Bible-thumping fundie. Nobody’s born into Jesus freakery that I know of. Why should that choice take precedence over all others?
Ninong
Actually most people do inherit the religion of their parents. You can’t say they had a choice to be baptized when they were only days or weeks old. They may make a choice of their own later in life but usually that choice comes only after their dependent childhood has passed.
Hm…it’s a fair point. But then, under that standard, you could classify a large range of human behaviors as not strictly chosen. I’m not sure where that leaves the point I was trying to make…all the same I think we can both agree that religious belief is not an innate characteristic but must be taught.
http://adgitadiaries.com/ karmanot
It is a choice and I made it proudly with blood, sweat, loss and tears to be an authentic identity. I say: “Damn right its a choice and a mighty one at that.”
Write to [email protected] with your pet's photo, name and breed, your name and where you live (if you don't mind them being published), and tell us something about your pet (goofy, touching, whatever you like), and we'll include it in our Readers' Pets archive and we might just write a post about it too! Make sure to put "pet" in the subject line.
Print
