Dave Wasserman: “I’ve seen enough: in a huge victory for the pro-choice side, the Kansas constitutional amendment to remove protections of abortion rights fails.”
Time and time, over and over, Republicans will believe less and less in reality in order to protect the egos of their grossly corrupt strong men.
Pro Lifer: Well the mother should just give the baby up for adoption if she doesn’t want the baby
Me: So who will adopt the baby?
PL: I don’t know there’s lots of couples who want to adopt
Me: Do you know any couple who is waiting to adopt?
PL: Um well not personally but like I know there’s lots of people waiting to adopt.
Me: Do you know what a domestic adoption costs?
PL: I don’t know. $15,000 maybe?
Me: The average cost of domestic adoption in the United States is $70,000 if you go through a private agency.
PL: Oh I didn’t realize it was that much
Me: Yep it’s really expensive. It can be more if you want a newborn straight from the hospital. Up to $120,000.
PL: Well all life is precious.
Me: it really is. I’ve adopted through foster care and am currently a licensed foster parent. Would you be interested in becoming a foster parent yourself?
PL: Oh no I couldn’t do it.
Me: Why not?
PL: It would just be too much for me right now.
Me: Why is that?
PL: It would be too hard to handle all the issues that came with it. I’ve heard horror stories.
Me: Yep it can be extremely difficult. But what if I told you that you were required by law to become a foster parent?
PL: what?
Me: what if you had to become a foster parent by law?
PL: they would never do that. That would never happen.
Me: Well, if a woman is forced to bear a child she doesn’t want, and she goes ahead and has that child, someone has to care for the child either through adoption or foster care. You have to do one of those two things.
PL: But I don’t want any more kids.
Me: So you don’t want someone forcing you to have a child in your home that you don’t want or aren’t able to care for?
PL: no, that’s not my job to raise someone else’s child.
There it is, folks. Have the baby, but we don’t want anything to do with it afterwards.
Please notice how the church people disregarded or disobeyed the parent of these kids. Horrible abuse in the name of religion. Being gay is not a disease to be cured, it is a inborn condition that can not be changed, and the attempt is torture against those it is done to. Hugs
CBC News has learned police, Crown investigating complaints from 18 Christian Centre Academy students
Sean Kotelmach, Coy Nolin, Caitlin Erickson, Cody Nolin and 14 other former students of Saskatoon’s Christian Centre Academy, now called Legacy Christian Academy, allege they were subjected to exorcism, violent discipline and other abuse there. (Travis Reddaway/CBC)
Coy Nolin and his mother say they had no idea the four people in their living room were about to conduct a violent exorcism to cast out Coy’s “gay demons.”
Coy says that three days earlier, in an office at Saskatoon’s Christian Centre Academy, the school’s director had interrogated him for several hours after informants told the director Coy is gay. Coy, who was 16 years old at the time, says the director called him “evil” and “an abomination.”
Coy was suspended and told they would try to “cure” him.
“He told me I’d have to take it like a man,” Coy said.
Coy and his mother, Carilyn, say they agreed to the home visit in May 2004 assuming they would discuss the suspension.
But almost immediately after they walked into the house, the four officials from the school and adjoining Saskatoon Christian Centre church placed their hands on Coy. They began yelling, grunting and making other unintelligible sounds known as “speaking in tongues.”
“I was no longer in control. I was pushed aside,” Carilyn said.
After more than an hour, with Carilyn crying in the corner of the room, they stopped.
Coy says the director then grabbed his large wooden paddle, bent Coy over his lap and spanked him hard enough to leave him bruised and limping.
“That was one of the worst days of my life. Even now, just thinking about it, I go numb,” Coy said.
“This was abuse. This was a hate crime.”
Coy Nolin says he’s still scarred by the abuse he suffered while attending Saskatoon’s Christian Centre Academy, now called Legacy Christian Academy, but he is now proud of his identity and finding ways to heal. (Travis Reddaway/CBC)
CBC News has learned Coy and 17 other former students have filed criminal abuse complaints. After a 12-month investigation, Saskatoon police handed the file to Crown prosecutors in April to consider possible charges, according to police emails to students. It’s unclear when the Crown will make a decision.
The complaints include frequent paddlings, many of which allegedly occurred after the Supreme Court of Canada outlawed corporal punishment by educators in early 2004.
There are also allegations of coercion, traumatizing rituals and solitary confinement.
Many of the former students — and some of their parents — have agreed to tell their stories publicly for the first time to CBC News. They shared diaries, police statements and other documentation.
They say the physical, financial, social and emotional control from school and church officials was absolute, and that it has taken years to regain their dignity and sanity. Some say they’re still struggling.
“It’s taken a long time for people to speak up. I mean, it was a cult. It was essentially a cult,” said Caitlin Erickson, the first student to come forward to police.
Caitlin Erickson was the first of 18 former students of Saskatoon’s Christian Centre Academy, now called Legacy Christian Academy, to go to police. She says the degree of control exerted by school and church officials was similar to a cult. (Travis Reddaway/CBC)
Officials with the adjacent Legacy Christian Academy — the name was changed from Christian Centre Academy (CCA) in 2013 — initially agreed to an interview and said they’d answer all questions. The next day, they emailed a written statement and declined to answer any further questions.
“We are grieved to learn of former students who feel they were subjected to abuse during their time at CCA. We encourage and support any former student who feels this way to file a report with the police so these matters can be investigated and dealt with properly and legally,” the statement said.
Many of the alleged incidents involved leaders and staff of both the school and adjoining Saskatoon Christian Centre, now known as Mile Two Church. The two institutions have long shared a building in Saskatoon’s Lawson Heights neighbourhood, and the school’s current handbook notes they are guided by the “doctrinal beliefs” of Mile Two Church such as the infallibility of the Bible.
Mile Two Church officials declined repeated interview requests.
Erickson and other students say they’re skeptical. They say some of the same people are still working at the school and church, and that there has been no effort to apologize or make amends.
“They simply changed the name. It’s just a rebranding,” Erickson said.
Manual details ‘scriptural discipline’
Christian Centre Academy opened its doors to students in 1982, but it didn’t receive provincial accreditation allowing students to enter university or college until 1994. Like other private schools, parents pay tuition and participate in fundraising. It has also been receiving Saskatchewan government funding for the past decade.
Most of the former students who’ve come forward attended between 1995 and 2010, but there is no time limit on legal complaints of this nature involving minors.
Students and experts interviewed say all government subsidies and tax breaks for the church and school must be halted until police and prosecutors have dealt with the complaints and the government has conducted a full investigation of the school’s current practices.
They agree some key staff have left, but the former principal and school director are now teaching at other Christian schools in Saskatchewan.
“Oh my god, this makes my stomach turn. How could this happen?” said University of Regina professor emerita Ailsa Watkinson, who was involved in the 2004 Supreme Court case to ban corporal punishment in schools.
“Religion was used to torment, to discriminate. It’s cruel. This is torture. Anyone with common sense knows this.”
CBC News has obtained an 85-page, eight-lesson manual called The Child Training Seminar, written by the father of the current pastor. Students say that, during their time at the school, it was sold in the gift shop along with bibles and a selection of hand-made wooden paddles of various sizes. Students say it was used by school staff and strongly recommended for parents.
More than 20 pages are devoted to the benefits and practical applications of “scriptural discipline.”
It states “ungodly” professors, researchers and psychologists who opposed corporal punishment are “influenced by the devil” and should be ignored.
“Sometimes, spanking will leave marks on the child. If some liberal were to hear this, they’d immediately charge us with advocating child-beating,” states the handbook.
It gives detailed instruction on the types of infractions that warrant paddling, such as riding a bicycle while “forbidden.”
“Have him bend over and apply the paddle firmly. Don’t permit any wiggling around or jumping around. Don’t allow any pre-discipline howling and sniveling. Don’t let his crying and begging diminish the severity of punishment,” the handbook says.
For parents, it states fathers are the head of the household and must ensure the discipline is unemotional and consistent. It warns against using verbal discipline and says “mothers need to particularly guard against this.”
It’s unclear whether any of the handbook remains in use. The current student handbook makes no mention of corporal punishment in its “forms of discipline” section.
‘I was so scared’: former student
Sean Kotelmach, who attended the school from 1996 to 2008, said he had difficulty keeping up with the largely self-directed curriculum, which relied heavily on memorization and obedience. In his frustration, he began to talk back.
“They made me think I was stupid,” he said.
Kotelmach said he endured a punishment akin to solitary confinement as a 13-year-old. He was forced to arrive at school 15 minutes before other students, work alone at a desk in a small, windowless room for the entire day, then leave 15 minutes after his classmates had departed. He said this continued for two weeks.
He said he was also paddled multiple times. Kotelmach said he and others would “pad” their buttocks with up to nine pairs of underwear to soften the blows. If discovered, the student would be forced to remove the underwear and punishment would increase.
“Every part of me wanted to walk to the police and simply pull down my pants and show them what was done to me,” Kotelmach said. “[But] I was scared. I was so scared. I worried my parents would get in trouble for sending me to that school.”
Sean Kotelmach says Christian Centre Academy officials employed forms of solitary confinement. As a 13-year-old, he was placed a small, windowless room with only a desk for 10 consecutive school days, prohibited from speaking to anyone. (Travis Reddaway/CBC)
Later in life, medical tests would reveal Kotelmach’s dyslexia. He’s now creative director for a local marketing and media company, but said the emotional scars remain.
Kotelmach said he found the courage to file a police report last year after speaking with Erickson.
“I was tired of living with rage. I wake up in the middle of the night screaming. That’s no way to live. I want it to stop. I needed to do my part and say something,” Kotelmach said.
‘Criminal law applies to all of us’: law professor
The former students say many of these incidents, including Coy Nolin’s exorcism and paddling, occurred after the Supreme Court ruling in 2004.
In the ruling, the court limited corporal punishment to parents, and only under narrow circumstances. It must be proportional, can only be done on children between the ages of two and 12, and no implements are allowed.
It banned all other officials from doing so, and specifically mentioned teachers and school officials.
Queen’s University law professor Lisa Kelly said any teacher paddling a student after Jan. 30, 2004, was clearly committing an assault.
“That applies in any school, public or private. Criminal law applies to all of us. It is crystal clear,” Kelly said.
Kelly said any corporal punishment before 2004 could also be a concern for police and prosecutors. She said spanking, paddling or strapping a child hard enough to leave marks has long been considered by judges as excessive force.
Caitlin Erickson shared a story about her and the rest of the senior girls’ volleyball team being accused of whispering during a weekend church service in the fall of 2003.
They say that the following Monday at school, they were lined up in the auditorium and yelled at by the director, the principal and their female coach.
One by one, they were taken into a side room where one of the two male staff paddled them, they say.
“It looked like a canoe oar,” said Christina Hutchinson, the team’s captain. “Adult men doing that to a bunch of teenaged girls? It was so cruel. They were all crying, but I was so angry I didn’t cry.”
Like Erickson, Hutchinson said the school and church operated like a cult.
“Everything is based on constant fear — fear of being paddled, fear of going to hell,” she said.
They say most girls ended up with marks and bruises on their buttocks that spread as far as the back of their knees.
“I remember a week later, we were comparing bruises [in the locker room] and saying, ‘Oh, he must have been tired on you because yours isn’t nearly as bad as mine,'” Hutchinson’s sister, Stefanie, said.
She said some sessions were so vigorous that paddles broke and had to be duct-taped back together.
Erickson and other students say officials were acutely aware of the law. She said the school’s director handed out waivers in late 2003 in anticipation of the Supreme Court ban, asked parents to allow staff to continue paddling their children. Some parents refused to sign the document.
Kelly said waivers would be useless as a defence in court. A parent cannot consent to another person applying punitive physical force on their child.
One year after the Supreme Court ruling, the Saskatchewan government passed legislation banning corporal punishment in public schools. Kelly and Watkinson said this was “redundant” because the Supreme Court ruling already applied across Canada.
The Saskatoon Police Service has completed an investigation of alleged assaults and other abuse suffered by students at Christian Centre Academy, now called Legacy Christian Academy. The file has been handed to Crown prosecutors to consider possible charges, according to police emails to students. (CBC)
Academics said corporal punishment actually makes things worse. In a 2012 meta-analysis published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, authors found that children who were spanked, paddled or strapped are more likely to have mental health issues, are more prone to violence and have lower quality relationships than those raised in a non-violent manner.
“Virtually without exception, these studies found that physical punishment was associated with higher levels of aggression against parents, siblings, peers and spouses,” stated the summary.
One of that paper’s authors, University of Manitoba professor Joan Durant, said the accounts of the Saskatoon students are heartbreaking.
“All of those things you describe are degradation and abuse. Intentionally instilling fear, isolation — none of that is acceptable. It never was,” said Durant, author of the book Positive Discipline in Everyday Life.
‘She doesn’t have a demon — she’s just shy’: parent
In their written statement to CBC News, school officials say paddling hasn’t been used there for two decades. When asked for specifics, they declined.
They said exorcism “has never been practised in our school, and we are unaware of any instance where this might have occurred.”
Former students say that’s not true.
On top of the exorcism described by the Nolin family, Hutchinson said they also took place on school property.
Hutchinson said when she was eight years old, she was asked to say the school prayer for the class. She was nervous and froze. She said that, for a week, the teacher kept her inside during recess. The teacher would sit Hutchinson on her lap, firmly squeeze and rock her repeatedly while speaking in tongues, Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson told her parents, who told administration, “She doesn’t have a demon — she’s just shy.”
In the statement, officials said any homophobia alleged by Coy Nolin and others does not exist at the school today.
“Our position on LGBTQ issues is that all students are welcome in our school, and we strive to provide a safe place for every student to grow and learn who God created them to be…we are committed to creating an environment where everyone is valued and treated with dignity, love, and respect. Therefore, we would never discipline students for their sexual orientation or gender identity,” said the statement.
They say the school is a different place than it was even a few years ago, with many new staff and leaders.
“We would welcome conversations with any students who might wish to come and revisit the school and, hopefully, find an opportunity for reconciliation,” it said.
Caitlin Erickson, Sean Kotelmach, Coy Nolin, Christina Hutchinson and others say many of the longtime staff and their relatives remain in key positions, from the pastor to the school principal.
They say no effort has been made to apologize publicly or privately.
Students waiting for justice
The students say their anxiety is growing as they wait to hear from police and prosecutors.
It’s unclear when Crown prosecutors will decide whether charges are warranted. In an email to a student, a Saskatoon police investigator said abuse files involving only a single complainant and accused can take six weeks for prosecutors to decide on possible charges. She said this file had been passed to Crown prosecutors and a decision on possible charges could take until April 2023.
A Saskatchewan Justice official declined to give details on the file and recommended asking the Saskatoon Police Service. A Saskatoon police official said they can’t comment because the investigation is ongoing.
Former students of the Christian Centre Academy, now called Legacy Christian Academy, say all government subsidies and tax breaks for the school and adjacent Mile Two Church must be halted until police and prosecutors have dealt with their abuse complaints and the government has conducted a full investigation of the school’s current practices. (Jason Warick/CBC)
Students say the people who committed the abuse must be held accountable, but that there were many other adults who witnessed it and did nothing. They wonder why this systemic abuse was ignored for so long.
That’s why they want the provincial government to investigate the school itself, freezing any funding and cancelling any tax breaks until all questions are answered.
In a written statement, a provincial Ministry of Education official said three on-site inspections are now conducted annually on independent schools, and the most recent one at Legacy Christian Academy occurred June 8.
It also said the Ministry of Education “has not received any complaints regarding LCA since funding for Qualified Independent Schools (QIS) began in 2012.”
Erickson says that’s not true. She shared a June 20 email exchange with Education Minister Dustin Duncan’s assistant.
Erickson emailed Duncan to say she “reached out to your office a number of times and received no response.” She identifies herself as a former student of Christian Centre Academy, now Legacy Christian Academy, and informs him of the criminal investigation underway.
“You have been told time and time again the damage these schools do,” she said before calling on the minister to de-fund LCA and other private Christian schools.
The provincial government says it hasn’t received any complaints about Christian Centre Academy, now called Legacy Christian Academy. But former students say that’s not true, and provided CBC News with recent email exchanges with Education Minister Dustin Duncan’s office. (Kirk Fraser/CBC News)
The minister’s assistant wrote back “on behalf of Minister Duncan” and acknowledged receipt of Erickson’s email.
“The Minister’s response will be forthcoming. Thank-you for taking the time to write,” stated the email.
Erickson said she knows of at least one other former student who recently told Duncan to de-fund LCA.
‘I’m proud of who I am’: Coy
Coy and his mother Carilyn say that following the exorcism in their home, officials declared Coy would be sent away to a special school in Edmonton to be “cured” of being gay.
Carilyn said she had ignored other warning signs over the years — including officials forcing Coy and the others to attend protests against gay marriage legislation — because her extended family, friends, finances and children’s futures were all connected to the church and school.
But the exorcism was too much. She stayed up all night writing a letter to the director and placed it on the windshield of his car.
“I thought this would be a wonderful school, but this was ridiculous. I am not sending my child away,” she said.
“We left and never looked back. It was like a thousand-pound weight lifted from my chest. It was the best thing I ever did.”
After graduating from a public high school a year later, Coy Nolin spent a couple of years in Banff, terrified to admit he was gay even to his own mother.
He eventually told her in a phone call.
“I know. I love you. Come home,” she said. Coy did.
Now working in a Saskatoon department store and in a loving relationship, the 34-year-old said life is still a struggle but he has many reasons to be grateful.
“It took a long time,” he said. “But I’m proud of who I am.”
CBC News has learned 18 former students of a private Christian school in Saskatoon have filed criminal complaints for alleged abuse, including paddling, coercion, traumatizing rituals and solitary confinement. https://t.co/WLO9nqaia7
CBC News has learned 18 former students of a private Christian school in Saskatoon have filed criminal complaints for alleged abuse, including paddling, coercion, traumatizing rituals and solitary confinement. https://t.co/WLO9nqaia7
It’s been 422 days since I came forward to police about the abuse that went on at the K-12 Christian School I attended in Saskatoon. #saskatoonhttps://t.co/Hj5dxpDIpw
Caitlin Erickson was the first of 18 former students of Saskatoon's Christian Centre Academy, now called Legacy Christian Academy, to go to police. She says the degree of control exerted by school and church officials was similar to a cult. pic.twitter.com/oPrBff5d6Y
Saskatoon police have completed an investigation of alleged assaults and other abuse suffered by former students of Christian Centre Academy. The file has been handed to Crown prosecutors to consider possible charges, according to emails to students from police obtained by CBC. pic.twitter.com/CkyH0zo6Ar
The Sask. government says it hasn't received any complaints about Christian Centre Academy since it began receiving provincial funding in 2012. But former students say that's not true, and provided CBC with recent email exchanges with Education Minister Dustin Duncan's office. pic.twitter.com/ejKUSaYOZH
The Sask. government says it hasn't received any complaints about Christian Centre Academy since it began receiving provincial funding in 2012. But former students say that's not true, and provided CBC with recent email exchanges with Education Minister Dustin Duncan's office. pic.twitter.com/ejKUSaYOZH
The DeathSantis kingdom of Florida. DeathSantis is the warlord / feudal lord who wants to be king of the country. He thinks his kingdom is above the federal government. He has fought Biden on every measure to protect the public from Covid going so far as to demand businesses not follow federal rules then either. No matter how the courts ruled against him like his mentor TFG he claimed he won and was still the king. Hugs
Florida is advising school districts to ignore protections for LGBTQ students that President Joe Biden’s administration is trying to implement
ByBRENDAN FARRINGTON Associated Press
July 29, 2022, 5:28 PM
Florida advised school districts to ignore protections for LGBTQ students that President Joe Biden’s administration is trying to implement, saying the anti-discrimination language is not binding law and following the guidance could result in breaking state law.
Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz wrote to school districts Thursday saying they should not change current practices because of proposed new rules under Title IX that would extend sexual discrimination protections to students based on their gender identity or sexual orientation.
“Nothing in these guidance documents requires you to give biological males who identify as female access to female bathrooms, locker rooms, or dorms … or to allow biological males who identify as female to compete on female sports teams,” Diaz said.
He added that doing any of those things would “jeopardize the safety and wellbeing of Florida students and risk violating Florida law.”
But Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, the only statewide elected Democrat and whose agency overseas school lunch programs, said the matter wasn’t just about bathrooms, but also about feeding students. The United States Department of Agriculture requires schools to put up a poster on nondiscrimination in order to receive federal money for lunch programs, she said.
“This is a fictitious culture war that they have created that is going to deny kids food,” Fried, who hopes to challenge Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, said at a news conference. “I will do everything possible to ensure that Florida’s kids are not victimized by the DeSantis administration and denied their meals.”
Fried’s department recently told schools they should hang posters with the new language. The Diaz letter told schools to disregard that guidance because it could violate state law.
Last year, DeSantis signed a bill banning anyone assigned male at birth from participating in girls’ or women’s sports. This year, he signed a bill that prohibits discussion of gender identity or sexual orientation in public schools at least through grade 3.
Earlier this month, a federal judge in Tennessee blocked implementation of the proposed new federal protections after 20 states sued over the issue.
Florida's commissioner of education, Manny Diaz Jr., told school districts to disregard federal guidance aimed at protecting LGBTQ students https://t.co/1GEB6HMxGS
Florida advised school districts to ignore protections for LGBTQ students that President Joe Biden's administration is trying to implement…https://t.co/GQGCnpWyUA
Their public schools are already cratering (by design for privatization) because the teachers are retiring and leaving in droves, leaving a massive deficit – they’re hiring veterans with no teaching experience at dozens of elementary schools (and that’s just one example)
The (public) schools need both federal and state dollars. The FL DoEd under DeSantis doesn’t give shit the bind that they’ve created for the schools or the students. They’re just in a partisan pissing match.
When I was younger, I thought, well, I’ll wait until the prejudice old people die off, then maybe retire to Florida. Sadly, I’m a senior now, and nothing has changed in that state. It’s like hate, prejudice, and religion really kick in down there when someone turns 50.
Well he is saying the quiet part out loud and proud. Over you!! In the name of their Jesus! They will discipline this nation, meaning us that are not religious fanatics like them or follow their church doctrines. Wonder if we will all have to go to church, their church of course? What about other religious faiths, will they be allowed? I already know the Jewish faith is a no-no for them. I already know what will happen to my people. How are you at dodging large stones? This is the American Taliban folks. They have seen how it worked in Afghanistan and they liked it. They are the US ISIS, those who would rule by their religion with force. Hugs
Via email from Gab CEO Andrew Torba:
We are forming a Christian Nationalist movement and in order to be in any position of influence or leadership in the movement you must be a Christian.
We are no longer going to answer to people who do not share our values and represent a diametrically different worldview that only 2% of the country holds.
We are the 70%+ super majority in this country and we are going to do everything we can to take dominion and disciple this nation for the glory of Jesus Christ our King.
As I have said in my previous articles and videos they have pushed us too far by locking down our churches, masking our children, and forcing us to inject a foreign substance in our bodies in order to keep our jobs.
We are no longer being silent. The silent majority is getting loud and speaking the Truth of God’s Word and the Biblical worldview boldly.
The email ends, as they all do, with a money beg. Jesus needs money. Always.
Gab's Christian nationalist founder Andrew Torba says his policy and that of Doug Mastriano is "not to conduct interview with reporters who aren't Christian or with outlets who aren't Christian."https://t.co/kDiYJlVoY9
“Doug Mastriano consultant and Gab CEO Andrew Torba has a message for right-wing Jewish commentators including Ben Shapiro and Dave Rubin: You’re not welcome in our movement unless you “repent” and renounce your Jewish faith.”https://t.co/ZQj8UlMcEP
Torba — who, again, is a consultant for Mastriano — has also touted his site as a place to get "differing opinions" about the Holocaust. https://t.co/wNi8t1cPhs
When in the long history of Christianity have Christians been silent? When has the imposition of their private beliefs on public law not been their goal? When have christians not insinuated themselves into positions of power favoring other Christians for positions below them? When have Christians not steered public dollars to private pockets?
Today we’re taking a look at Texas hate preacher Johnathan Shelley. He’s been keeping busy laughing about slur words and storming local council meetings to rant about gay people. What a delight. TW for homophobia on the highest level.
I am going to highlight a few passages, but the main point to be made is that according to these people the US is already a Christian theocracy where the rules of the bible they want followed are to be what the laws of the nation are based one. Also notice the slur and accusation that the gays target children is baked into their narritive. Scary. Hugs
COLUMBUS, OH — APRIL 23: J.D. Vance, candidate for the U.S. Senate speaks at the Save America Rally featuring the former President Donald J. Trump, April 23, 2022, at the Delaware County Fairgrounds, Delaware, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for the Ohio Capital Journal.)
Republican Ohio U.S. Senate nominee J.D. Vance would oppose legislation to codify the right to marriage for same-sex couples, according to Mission: America, a Columbus based non-profit which bills itself as a ministry.
In a joint statement with Ohio Value Voters, Mission: America president Linda Harvey criticized the Ohio Republican congressmen who voted to pass the Respect for Marriage Act in the House.
“Homosexual couples embrace an ancient sin often involving high risk practices,” Harvey wrote. “These couples are never blessed with their own children, just one of the many limitations of such relationships. But homosexuals in America are often quite willing to corrupt other people’s children.”
Harvey went on to insist it’s actually the LGBTQ movement that is “intolerant,” and that they are responsible for everything from porn to “unnatural identities.” Separately, Harvey is concerned about witchcraft invading the church.
In his response to Mission: America, Vance explained he’d vote no on the Respect for Marriage Act if he were in office. According to their press release, he went on to state “the religious liberty piece of this is very bad.” No language in the bill directly implicates religion, and Vance’s campaign didn’t provide additional comment to explain his statement.
The measure, HR 8404, passed the House last week with broad bipartisan support. In all, 47 Republicans backed the proposal, including Ohio Republican Reps. Mike Carey, Dave Joyce, Mike Turner and Anthony Gonzalez.
Vance’s opposition to the bill marks the second time in a little over a month that the Republican nominee has taken a stance against notable, bipartisan legislative efforts. In June, he told a Breitbart radio show he would not support the gun control package negotiated by Sen. Chris Murphy, D-CT, and John Cornyn, R-TX.
At the time, Vance highlighted misgivings about so-called red flag laws, which allow courts to temporarily seize firearms after determining someone is a danger to themselves or others. Vance dismissed the provisions, calling them a “slippery slope.”
Murphy and Cornyn’s legislation, which was signed into law by President Biden late last month, does not impose a national red flag law. Instead, it sets aside federal funding to assist with administration if states choose to impose red flag laws of their own.
Ohio’s outgoing U.S. Senator Rob Portman, who Vance is running to replace, was one of the ten Republican senators to initially sign on to that gun control framework, signaling the legislation had a real shot at passage. He’s also one of two Republican co-sponsors of the Senate version of the Respect for Marriage Act.
Because of the Senate’s filibuster rules, Portman and other supporters will again need 10 Republicans to back the bill to bring it to a vote. In a press call this week Portman invoked Republican support in the House and emphasized the measure only codifies the “status quo.” Still, he stuck to cautious optimism.
“More than a million Americans in same-sex marriages and their families rely on that. It makes it clear that as a matter of federal law, just as is the status quo, that same-sex marriages will be given recognition across the United States,” Portman said.
“My hope is that the Senate will take it up and pass it, and send it to the president,” he said. “I don’t know the timing of that.”
As longtime JMG readers will recall, Linda Harvey has appeared here many times over the years, most recently when she declared that the rainbow flag is a “flagrant violation of God’s trademark.”
Harvey has called televised same-sex kisses “depraved airborne infections.” In 2018, she bizarrely declared oral sex to be “the practice of homosexuals.”
In 2017, Harvey called for prosecuting LGBTQ activists for “normalizing homosexuality.”
Republican Ohio U.S. Senate nominee J.D. Vance would oppose legislation to codify the right to marriage for same-sex couples, according to a questionnaire he filled out from a right-wing religious nonprofit group that shared his answer in a release.https://t.co/fFKKC9Kadg
— Ohio Capital Journal (@OhioCapJournal) July 28, 2022
Linda Harvey (resident of a Columbus suburb) tried to have a rally in her suburb to gain traction for the anti-T “bathroom bill.” Under a dozen people showed up. So she moved the next rally to a more small town/rural/exurban big box store and just over a dozen showed up. She stopped having rallies.
This is not a big “get” for Vance. It will not add one vote he doesn’t already have, may lose him some.
“But homosexuals in America are often quite willing to corrupt other people’s children.”
Seriously, focus on all the pedo priests your religion is turning a blind eye to as they instead point to the gays, who, by the way will still be gay if you prevent them from getting married. No logic.
They coming hard with the queers are pedophiles stick. I wish our leaders would start coming back at em with info about all the people who are really getting arrested everyday for child rape
I wish actual christians would go after the christians that are molesting children. But we hear nothing from them. That’s because they really don’t care how filthy and empty their faith is.
To be fair, Republicans have long been slow in accepting progress or the sea change in American views regarding homosexuality. It’s all that FOX News, coupled with their embrace of the extremist Evangelical cult, and hate groups that blinds them to the general cultural trends.
A number of the more “sane” Republicans know that overturning Roe has fucked them over in the polls by at least 10 points, and their more rabid & puritanical political colleagues among them are not helping by trying to craft more misogynistic punitive laws.
SOOOO they trot out the old Rovian/Bush solution of using gay rights as their piñata. Except, those old tactics of 2000-2004 won’t work anymore, when the majority of Americans seem to be fine with the LGBTQ being LGBTQ among them, as well as seeing them married.
To be fair, Republicans have long been slow in accepting progress or the sea change in American views regarding homosexuality. It’s all that FOX News, coupled with their embrace of the extremist Evangelical cult, and hate groups that blinds them to the general cultural trends.
A number of the more “sane” Republicans know that overturning Roe has fucked them over in the polls by at least 10 points, and their more rabid & puritanical political colleagues among them are not helping by trying to craft more misogynistic punitive laws.
SOOOO they trot out the old Rovian/Bush solution of using gay rights as their piñata. Except, those old tactics of 2000-2004 won’t work anymore, when the majority of Americans seem to be fine with the LGBTQ being LGBTQ among them, as well as seeing them married.
That’s something mainstream Democrats don’t understand, yet. Providing a solid legislative effort—especially if the effort is “behind the scenes” in any way—does NOT cement a political narrative among the majority of voters. Those voters use cemented narratives to guide their votes.
Coming up with “groomer” talking points, getting all your people into lockstep using those phrases, saturating social media with them, getting all your pundits to bang the drum, AND introducing bill after bill in state after state—with significant coverage in the media—cements a narrative.
It’s mind boggling to me the extent to which conservatives have gotten this lockstep “groomer” approach instilled in intelligent people who clearly know better, people such as Andrew Sullivan and J D Vance.
The Democrats have nothing resembling the conservative “roll out” of their marketing/propaganda.
“High-risk practices”. You meant the same things that straight couples do, at a much higher rate (due to the overwhelming number of straghts).
No one says “we need to ban straight marriage because some straight people have oral and anal sex.”
And somehow childless couples are worthless? There are a lot of straight couples who can’t have or don’t want children, and yet they are free to marry.
What the hell is he talking about. Push it to the next step? Push what? The sexual revolution? Is he still on that old trope from the 1960s. Really? Take where it has never been before. The Respect for Marriage act protects marriage equality for same sex and interracial couples. What is taking it to where it has never been to protect marriages that have been the law for some time? They cannot directly attack marriage equality without sounding like a bigot and a racist, so they try to sell fear. Be afraid, they are going to crush you if you don’t love the gay marriage. He acts as if everyone will be forced to have at least one same sex marriage in the family even if no one is gay. I am so tired of these assholes misrepresenting, misdirecting, and misinforming their followers. His whole thing was designed to give him a segment on Fox and to be repeated in right wing hate media. A part of the public is going to lose their legal rights to marry the person they love and have the legal benefits of that recognized marriage just so republican right wing bigot racists can beat their chest they made their god happy. Because clearly their god hates the same people they do and is powerless to stop crying unless the humans who follow him get to be cruel to others. Hugs
From the Family Research Council:
During today’s episode of “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins,” Senator James Lankford (R-Okla.) announced for the first time that he will vote against H.R. 8404, marketed as the “Respect for Marriage” Act, if it comes to the Senate floor.
“The far-Left is trying to say we want to be able to push this to the next step” of the sexual revolution and “take it where it has not ever gone before,” said Lankford. “And we are going to absolutely oppose that.”
Overzealous federal bureaucrats, left-wing legal groups, and LGBTQ pressure groups are no longer saying, “We demand recognition” of same-sex marriage, said Lankford; they’re now saying, “We’re going to crush anyone that opposes our belief in gay marriage.”
“They want to take it the next step and then use” the bill “as a weapon [against] others” after this bill passes, Lankford forecasted.
.@SenatorLankford states he will “absolutely oppose” a bill redefining marriage nationwide, warning that liberal activists plan to “use it as a weapon” to drive Christians out of the public square. https://t.co/ayNUxdjoD3
“The far-Left is trying to say we want to be able to push this to the next step” of the sexual revolution and “take it where it has not ever gone before,”
By voting on legislation for SOMETHING THAT IS ALREADY LAW?
Go ahead and vote against it, because voting against same sex marriage AND interracial marriage is such a popular position. Extending the marriage contract to same sex couples is “not sexual revolution.” It polls somewhere in the neighborhood of 60%-70% percent support for same sex marriage and over 90% support for interracial marriage. If by “crush people” you mean expect them to act like adults and not impose their extreme religious beliefs on everyone else, then yes, we expect that.
There is no far-left equivalent to the far-right fascists who attacked the Capitol and tried to overthrow the government. And the only ones looking to “crush” people are the right-wingers who want to overturn the Obergefell ruling and force their chosen religious beliefs down our throats.
How amusing. The very same people accusing us of pushing gay and “sexual agendas” on America are the very ones imposing their bullshit into women’s uteri.
Bitch, please. These are the same arguments they used to oppose Obergefell. It’s been seven years. None of those things happened. The only people affected are county clerks and gay couples who want to get married. All this law does is get rid of the last bits of DOMA so that when SCOTUS overturns Obergefell, gay couples in red states still have federal recognition of their legal marriages.
While a no vote will get little pushback or political damage here in Oklahoma I DARE R’s to collectively vote it down. That and their anti women agenda will hopefully blow up in their faces in November.
Radical Republican House of Representatives member Glenn Thompson voted last week to prevent same-sex couples from having the right to marriage, then just a few days later, attends his own son’s same sex marriage. Meidas Contributor Texas Paul reacts and shows us a secret recording from the wedding.
Ultra MAGA Republican Lauren Boebert is back at it again spewing more hate and nonsense. Boebert recently went on the Charlie Kirk show where she said that she opposes same-sex marriage because it’s a part of the Democrats all-out assault on America’s traditional values. Meidas Contributor Tennessee Brando reacts
This insufferable bastard! Hey my son is gay and found someone to marry, he can have marriage equality, but not your son or daughter they don’t have that right. My daughter needs an abortion, she can have one but not you or yours, they don’t have that right. If it is good for his son, and he is as happy for his son as he claims, vote for the law to protect it nationwide. Hugs
“First of all, obviously, we hope right from the beginning, it’s all about having a healthy child. But it’s about being healthy. It’s about them being healthy. We hope for safety. We’re hoping that they find their way, find opportunity, they find inspiration.
“And as they grow and as they get a little older, we also hope and pray they’re going to find that one true love so that they have the opportunity to experience that: Someone to grow old with.
“So we’re just really thankful that you’re here. It actually goes beyond that, as parents. We love it when they find their one true love, especially when they become a part of our families then. That’s what we’re rooting for.
“We’ve been fortunate with three sons, and [REDACTED]’s done a great job of adding to the family. Every kid showed up through cesarean section so it wasn’t all pleasant, right! So this has been a really good experience, especially for Penny, to have a new son enter the family!
“So we’re just blessed, and we just want to say thank you to everyone here as part of the celebration.” – GOP Rep. Glenn Thompson, speaking at the wedding of his gay son after voting against codifying same-sex marriage.
There’s audio of the speech at the link.
Listen to the speech a Republican lawmaker gave at his gay son's wedding days after voting against marriage equality. https://t.co/csFT9wYu4w
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