Dr. King’s SCLC moves to oust L.A. chapter president over his support for gay rights.

ThinkProgress.org: The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) — the civil rights group founded by Dr. Martin Luther King — is “seeking to remove the president of its Los Angeles chapter,” Rev. Eric P. Lee, in response to his role in organizing opposition to California’s same-sex marriage ban, Prop. 8, last fall. Lee believed his public opposition to Prop. 8 would acceptable because the SCLC informed him that the organization was taking a publicly neutral position on the measure. The New York Times explains:

In April, Mr. Lee attended a board meeting of the civil rights organization in Kansas City, Mo., and found himself once again in the minority position among his colleagues on the issue of same-sex marriage, but was told, he said, by the interim president of the civil rights organization, Byron Clay, that the group publicly had a neutral position on the issue.

Explaining that he was unable to come to Atlanta on such short notice, Mr. Lee then received two letters from the organization’s lawyer, Dexter M. Wimbish, threatening him with suspension or removal as president of the Los Angeles chapter if he did not come soon to explain himself.

Lee explained that his opposition to Prop. 8 “created tension in my life I had never experienced with black clergy. But it was clear to me that any time you deny one group of people the same right that other groups have that is a clear violation of civil rights and I have to speak up on that.” The SCLC refused to comment on the matter.

LSB: Dr. King and Mrs. King must be rolling over in their graves.

Congressman on Provost murder and DADT: the military 'doesn't want that discussion to take place'

Pam Spaulding, Pam's House Blend: The reason for the lack of information being released by the Navy and the Marine Corps about whether sailor August Provost's murder was a hate crime related to his sexual orientation is because, according to a U.S. Congressman from California, it would raise questions about consequences of DADT and the inability for any gay or lesbian to report harassment without outing themselves. Here is the Navy Times take on the status of the case.

A sailor remained the top suspect in the June 30 murder of a fellow sailor with Assault Craft Unit 5 at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

...Navy officials said they don’t believe the shooting was gang- or terror-related. They also continued to dispute rumors that Provost was killed because he was gay, despite contentions raised by several relatives and gay advocacy groups who claim the sailor had been harassed at the unit because he was open about his homosexuality.

While Navy officials have denied that the shooting was a hate crime, Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., has asked Navy and Marine Corps officials for additional investigations into Provost’s death. Provost “made the selfless and courageous decision to serve his country, regardless of his sexual orientation; he should be treated with honor and respect,” Filner wrote in letters to Defense Secretary Robert Gates; Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway; Col. Nicholas F. Marano, who is Camp Pendleton’s base commander; and Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., who chairs the House Armed Services Committee.

Filner said he was frustrated with a lack of information from the Navy and the Marine Corps, particularly over the suspicion that Provost’s sexuality might be connected to his death, which would raise questions about consequences of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

“They don’t want that discussion to take place,” he said.

There is zero incentive for the Pentagon to admit this was a sexual orientation-related hate crime. I do hope that all of the relevant information comes out, because clearly there is no national security risk if the facts come out. The real risk out there is the one the Pentagon put the country in by discharging qualified gay and lesbian personnel.

DOD considering banning smoking, regardless of social experiment's effect on morale and cohesion

John Aravosis (DC), AmericaBlog.com: I thought we were a nation at war? Can you imagine our soldiers shooting straight when they're going through nicotine withdrawal? Ah, but no fears - according to a reader who just heard a report on CBS News radio, we're being told that our men and women in the military know how to follow orders, and if they're told do accept a drastic change in policy, they'll do it, daggumit.

I'm all for smoking bans. But don't for a minute think that with one in three US service members using tobacco that the smoking ban currently being considered by the administration wouldn't have a serious impact on unit morale and cohesion, and our military's overall readiness. Because it would. At least temporarily.

Maybe the administration should spend more time building public support for the smoking ban so that they can do this by the end of the next term. But only if Congress takes the lead.

LSB: Snarky reference to the DADT policy, but the "study by the Institute of Medicine, requested by the VA and Pentagon, calls for a phased-in ban over a period of years, perhaps up to 20." Let's all hope that for good of our national security that DADT is overturned long before soldiers have to deal with this (smoking) 'social experiment.' Also, have they considered the effect to the military's PXs that sell cigarettes? How will eliminating cigarette sales affect the bottom-line of these stores? And might this decision require a bailout for the cigarette manufacturers for their lost sales? We haven't heard yet from the tobacco lobbyists or the civilian contractors operating these stores, so let's not worry too much that cigarette sales for the military will be going away anytime soon.

Naming Someone Who Hates Public Schools to Head the State Ed Board? Gov. Perry, You Can't Be Serious!

Susie Madrak, Crooks and Liars: Hoo wee. Via Fred Clark, this story about Texas Gov. Rick Perry considering the appointment of a right-wing extremist Christian to head the state's Board of education.

Oh, and she just happens to despise public education, thinks it's unconstitutional and thinks public schools should be abolished. (She also thinks Barack Obama is getting ready to impose martial law.) Yep, she sounds perfect for the job - at least, in Wacky Wingnut World.

Fred sums it up nicely:

...Just like the fire departments, school boards seem to attract a significant unhinged minority of firebugs -- people who just want to destroy public education and laugh while it burns.

Dunbar is a member of what one blogger called "the Texas Taliban," a coalition of state school board fundamentalists. Since this is the year the board purchases new textbooks, their goal is to make sure the textbooks selected are as wingnutty and deliciously wacky as their own personal beliefs.

By the way, she's a graduate of Regent University School of Law, founded by that noted legal scholar, Pat Robertson. Another notable grad? Monica Goodling.

AUSTIN — Critics who engineered the recent ouster of State Board of Education Chairman Don McLeroy, in part because of his strong religious beliefs, could end up with someone even more outspoken in her faith.

Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond, who advocated more Christianity in the public square last year with the publication of her book, One Nation Under God, is among those that Gov. Rick Perry is considering to lead the State Board of Education, some of her colleagues say.

Critics are gasping and allies are cheering over speculation that Dunbar, a lawyer, could win a promotion to the leadership spot.

“It would certainly cause angst among the same members of the pagan left that rejected Don McLeroy because he was a man of faith,” said David Bradley, R-Beaumont, one of the seven socially conservative members on the 15-person board.

Nicely done, Dave. So any mainstream Christians who dare to disagree with you are secret pagan sympathizers!

Perry’s office declined to comment until “a final decision is made.”

[...] In a book published last year, Dunbar argued the country’s founding fathers created “an emphatically Christian government” and that government should be guided by a “biblical litmus test.” She endorses a belief system that requires “any person desiring to govern have a sincere knowledge and appreciation for the Word of God in order to rightly govern.”

Also in the book, she calls public education a “subtly deceptive tool of perversion.”

The establishment of public schools is unconstitutional and even “tyrannical,” she wrote, because it threatens the authority of families, granted by God through Scripture, to direct the instruction of their children.

Perry’s appointment of Dunbar would send a statement “that
the governor shares her shocking hostility toward public education,” said Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, an organization that monitors the State Board of Education.

“Just as bad, he would be siding with a faction of self-righteous politicians on the board who have made it crystal clear that they believe the only real Christians are the ones who agree with them,” Miller said. “If the governor really decides that selling out our kids like this is a good re-election strategy, then this state has an even bigger problem than we thought.”

From the Houston Chronicle's Lisa Falkenberg (hmm. Isn't that a Communist-sounding name?):

If the chatter from some board members proves correct, and Gov. Rick Perry is indeed considering appointing member Cynthia Dunbar as the board’s new leader, we may find ourselves reminiscing fondly about the good ol’ days when Chairman McLeroy simply disregarded experts, sidelined teachers and insisted on inserting his religious beliefs into public policy-making.

Dunbar’s shortcomings go far beyond ideology and poor leadership skills to beliefs promoting paranoia and bigotry.

This is the same Richmond Republican who penned an online essay shortly before the presidential election warning Barack Obama was plotting with terrorists to attack the country. She refused to retract her claim, even under pressure from Republicans.

Gov. Perry will do just about anything to woo the far right fundamentalists, won't he?

LSB: Favorite comment? Hobbit709: "Mark Twain had it right when he said, "First God made idiots; that was for practice. Then he made school boards."" While some doubt that even if nominated she will be approved by the Legislature, that is no sure thing. And for those of you reading this outside of Texas, just remember: because it purchases a large number textbooks, the changes in the text required by a wingnut Texas Board of Education could find their way into the textbooks used in your state's classrooms!

UPDATE: Gov. Rick Perry Friday named Gail Lowe of Lampasas to chair the Texas State Board of Education. Ms. Lowe, a graduate of Louisiana State University, is a co-publisher of the Lampasas Dispatch Record but is not a teacher. Deeply distrustful of public education, she home-schooled her children. Ms. Lowe’s elevation helps Gov. Perry move Texas toward a true Christian government. She refers to herself a creationist and said the study of evolution, while important to the teaching of biology, also believes “Kids ought to be able to hold religious beliefs and still study science without any conflict.” Gail Lowe also embraces a conspiracy theory heard in the rightwing echo chamber that says President Obama is ineligible to be president because he was born in Indonesia (he was born in Honolulu, HI), and like many other far-right loons, Lowe refuses to believe his Hawaii-issued birth certificate is a valid document.

Dennis Kucinich Pummels Right Wing Dr. On Canadian Healthcare System

Logan Murph, Crooks and Liars: Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich absolutely tore it up today on Capitol Hill. In this video he is questioning Dr. David Gratzer of the Manhattan Institute. One need only read the title of Gratzer's new book, "The Cure: How Capitalism Can Save American Healthcare" (complete with forward written by Milton Friedman) to know what side of the debate he was on.

Gratzer was there to spew lies and right wing talking points about the Canadian health care system, but Kucinich wasn't having any of it. As always, my hat goes off to Dennis! You can watch the entire CSPAN video here.

The Cheat-Team Hotline

LSB: ROTFLMAO!

Uh Oh: Coburn Knew Of Ensign Affair

Hotline, NationalJournal.com: And reportedly urged him to pay off the mistress and her husband.

Double trouble.

Can you say Senate ethics investigation?

Jon Ralston of the Las Vegas Sun interviewed Doug Hampton, husband of GOP Sen. John Ensign's mistress, who said that Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and others urged Ensign to end the affair, help the Hamptons pay off their home and move to CO. But Ensign was "so infatuated" that he continued, Hampton said.

John Hart, a Coburn spokesman, released a statement yesterday saying Ensign should have ended the affair.

"Dr. Coburn did everything he could to encourage Senator Ensign to end his affair and to persuade Senator Ensign to repair the damage he had caused to his own marriage and the Hampton's marriage," according to the statement. "Had Senator Ensign followed Dr. Coburn's advice, this episode would have ended, and been made public, long ago."

Cynthia Hampton was the treasurer of Ensign's political action committee and re-election campaign, while Doug Hampton served as a senior aide on Ensign's Senate staff. Meanwhile, per the Las Vegas Sun, Doug Hampton said Ensign paid his wife more than $25K in severance when she stopped working for the senator. And if true, the paper suggests that Ensign faces a possible felony violation of campaign finance law if he failed to report the money as an in-kind contribution to the campaign committees where she worked.

So now Coburn is ensnared in the Ensign drama. And the Ensign mess involves more than an extramarital affair but a possible pay off. Trouble ahead.

UPDATE: Now, in a letter to Politico, Ensign's lawyer has revealed that the senator's parents gave a "gift" of nearly $100,000 to the family of Cindy Hampton out of his private funds. [LSB: Haul out the popcorn - this story is a long way from being complete.]

UPDATE II: Sen. Tom Coburn said he would invoke privilege if asked about advice he gave to Sen. John Ensign on handling an extramarital affair. Coburn said he was talking to Ensign about his tryst with a former staffer in his capacities as a doctor and a man of the cloth, Roll Call reported. "I was counseling him as a physician and as an ordained deacon," Coburn said. "That is privileged communication that I will never reveal to anybody. Not to the (Senate) Ethics Committee, not to a court of law, not to anybody." [JEB: Politics as usual for the party of "NO." BTW, Coburn is an OB-GYN; how exactly was he counseling Ensign as a physician? Does privilege extend to deacons, or just to the ordained clergy? Does Coburn's silence based on these flimsy excuses help or hurt Ensign's case? How is Coburn's reputation with the voters in his state affected by his association with this sordid - and possibly (financially) illegal - affair? Stayed tuned for the next shoe to drop!]

Texas II: Kicked Out For A Kiss

Joe.My.God.: A group of gay men were thrown out of an El Paso, Texas restaurant last week after a security guard objected to a kiss between two of the men. The cops were summoned and the ejected men were stunned when police told them they were liable for a citation as homosexual activity was illegal in Texas.

At about 12:30 a.m. on the morning of June 29, the five men were placing their order at the Chico's Tacos on Montwood when the two men made their public display of affection, sparking the ire of two contracted security guards at the restaurant, police and witnesses said. After the group sat down, the security guards told them "they didn't allow that faggot stuff to go on there," and made them leave, de Leon said. An officer arrived at the restaurant about an hour later, after police received five calls, including from the security guards and de Leon. The men were told to leave the restaurant and had anti-gay slurs directed at them while they waited for the police.

"I went up to the police officer to tell him what was going on and he didn't want to hear my side," de Leon said. "He wanted to hear the security guard's side first." The officer informed the group it was illegal for two men or two women to kiss in public, de Leon said. The five were told they could be cited for homosexual conduct - a charge the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional in 2003 in Lawrence v. Texas. That same year, the city of El Paso passed an ordinance banning discrimination based on sexual orientation by employees of the city and by businesses open to the public. El Paso Police Detective Carlos Carrillo said a more appropriate charge would probably be criminal trespass. "The security guard received a complaint from some of the customers there," Carrillo said. "Every business has the right to refuse service. They have the right to refuse service to whoever they don't want there. That's their prerogative."

The ACLU and a local civil rights group point out that if lewd behavior was the restaurant's complaint, that standard must apply equally to straight and gay patrons by El Paso law. Clearly the El Paso police are not up to speed and the gay men have grounds for a lawsuit.

LSB: This is the second time in the past two weeks that the homophobes in Texas have been put into the national spotlight for their Neanderthal ways. While this story is disheartening and we do have more than our fair share of troglodytes in this state, these assholes do not represent the overwhelming number of fair-minded (albeit gun-toting) citizens. It does, however, demonstrate the work still to be done in this state and others. I hope de Leon and his friends sue the bejeebus out of the EPPD and Chico's; this is the only response that will get their full attention and the only thing that will cause them to change their ways.

Fox News' Kilmeade: We "marry other species," Finns "pure"

Alex Koppelma, Salon's WAR ROOM: Watching Fox News' morning show, "Fox and Friends," is a little bit like watching the aftermath of a particularly nasty car crash. Yeah, it's awful, but you just have to keep looking, because, well, who knows what mangled body parts they'll pull from the wreckage next?

Even by those standards, though, host Brian Kilmeade's performance on Wednesday was just terrible.

Kilmeade and two colleagues were discussing a study that, based on research done in Finland and Sweden, showed people who stay married are less likely to suffer from Alzheimer's. Kilmeade questioned the results, though, saying, "We are -- we keep marrying other species and other ethnics and other ..."

At this point, his co-host tried to -- in that jokey morning show way -- tell Kilmeade he needed to shut up, and quick, for his own sake. But he didn't get the message, adding, "See, the problem is the Swedes have pure genes. Because they marry other Swedes .... Finns marry other Finns, so they have a pure society."

LSB: Coming on the heels of the kids at the Creative Steps Day Camp being kicked-out of the Valley Swim Club, a private Whites-only club, simply for being black and the Facebook racism of a Young Republicans leader, this is yet another appalling example of the racism that still exists in this country. Yes, we have an African-American president, but that has not washed away the racism that exists in this county; in fact, it may have intensified racist hatred among those that fear someone different than themselves. These inane comments by the dimwits at FAUX-News (does this clown know that people of all ethnicities are the SAME species?) only amplify and exacerbate the gap that continues to exist between our citizens. This asswipe's contract was recently renewed by FAUX-News, so he'll continue to spew hate and ignorance for several more years to the feeble-and-narrow-minded wingnuts who watch that network. Disgusting!

Rep. Patrick Murphy: TRUE Fierce Advocate

TowleRoad.com: The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Servicemembers United announced today a national "Voices of Honor" Tour to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA), a former West Point professor and Iraq War vet, is the lead sponsor of legislation to repeal the unpopular policy that bars LGBT people from serving openly in the United States armed services. Murphy said, in part:

"Our president, President Barack Obama, has stated that If Congress can get a bill to his desk repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell, he will sign it into law. It is now our job, and my job specifically, to quarterback this through the Congress of the United States to do just that. I can not tell you today how long it's gonna take. All I can tell ya is that paratroopers don't quit, and paratroopers get the job done. To remove Eric Alva honorable, talented and committed Americans from serving in our military is contrary to the values that our military holds dear."

"Voices of Honor" will make stops in Philadelphia; Trenton; Virginia Beach; Phoenix; Kansas City, MO; Orlando and Tampa and will feature former Marine Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, the first American soldier injured in Iraq, among others. CNN points out that some of those involved were chosen because they're straight, as outreach to other straight soldiers.

Obama "Wrestling" with Faith and LGBT Issues

Julie Bolcer, The Advocate: In preparation for his first meeting with Pope Benedict XVI in Italy this Friday, President Barack Obama held a roundtable with members of the Catholic media at the White House last Thursday, reports Fox News. During the 45-minute meeting, which was kept off the White House schedule, Obama said that he is “wrestling” with his Christian faith and “concern for gays and lesbians.”

xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> Dan Gilgoff, religion reporter for U.S. News and World Report, posted the following remarks from Obama to the Catholic media:

“For the gay and lesbian community in this country, I think it's clear that they feel victimized in fairly powerful ways and they're often hurt by not just certain teachings of the Catholic Church, but the Christian faith generally. And as a Christian, I'm constantly wrestling with my faith and my solicitude and regard and concern for gays and lesbians.”

According to Gilgoff, Obama also characterized the decision to have an abortion in a less than favorable light, and said that he receives a daily devotional reading on his BlackBerry.

Read more excerpts from Obama’s sit down with the Catholic media here.

Reader Comment: If I am correct, the President's job is not to follow his religion, but to run the highest office in the US... WHILE keeping separate church and state. I don't care if he is wrestling with his faith. He just needs to do his job and stop being the victim. 'Nuff said!

Out of Annapolis – Gay Alumni of the U.S. Naval Academy

Bloggernista: This trailer is for the new film Out of Annapolis a new documentary tracing the experiences of gay alumni of the U.S. Naval Academy. This film provides more proof that the military’s ban on openly gay soldiers is damaging to our soldiers and our military. See also 10 Gay Documentaries Everyone Should See.