I’ve been sitting here for a quite a while now trying to figure out how exactly I am going to go about getting this blog started…..and truth be told I’m still kinda sorta stuck so here goes nothing!!
I was browsing through my ‘tweets’ the other day, well more so browsing the tweets posted by those I follow and I stumbled upon a tweet with a link to an article and video clip that made reference to Michele Bachmann and her rather outspoken ways in her home state of Iowa as of late and her recent association with Bob Vander Plaats (who, prior to reading this, I had never heard of). I have copied and pasted the article below (all that I, Africa, have written is in blue italic font, if in black font please refer to the link for the author.)
http://www.kcci.com/r/27548009/detail.html
‘Colbert Report’ Takes Aim At Bob Vander Plaats.
DES MOINES, Iowa — A controversial statement by the leader of the fight against same-sex marriage in Iowa was featured on a national comedy show Tuesday night.Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert talked about Vander Plaats’ comparison of the risks of same-sex marriage to second-hand smoke.
Vander Plaats group, The Family Leader, held seminars in Iowa titled, “The Second-Hand Effects of Same Sex Marriage.” Vander Plaats told the “Iowa Progressive” organization on videotape that he considered homosexuality a risky behavior.
“This is a risky lifestyle, health risk lifestyle. If we’re teaching the kids, ‘don’t smoke, because that’s a risky health style,’ the same can be true of the homosexual lifestyle. That’s why I think we need to speak the truth once in a while,” said Vander Plaats.
Colbert used the video during his Tuesday night show in a segment called “Threat Level: Rainbow.”
Link to video below:
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/381487/april-12-2011/threat-level–rainbow
So after reading this and listening to the video clip, it intrigued me to find out more about this supposed “The Second-Hand Effects of Same Sex Marriage.” that Bob Vander Plaats and his group The Family Leader are working so hard to get accross in Iowa. For those of you reading this and possibly unfamiliar with the reason for this, the most basic way to break it down is that Iowa has legalized same sex marriage in their state, making them one of only a handful of states that allow these weddings between same sex couples in the United States and this in turn makes it a holy battle ground for the Ultra Wackjob Christians/right wing.
After spending the better part of a few hours reading this information both directly from their website as well as from others blogs posted online, I have stumbled upon some rather disturbing information. Please don’t get me wrong, I am not a full out lobbying, protesting, challenging the ways of the land kind of person. I do, however, feel that I deserve the same rights as every other tax paying, hard working, respectable individual in the “Land of the Free.”
Right now this most definitely does not exist and I think that getting to a place where we can all agree to disagree on certain viewpoints and find a place where everyone, either homosexual or heterosexual, can ‘get along’ is not going to happen over night, and I’m not certain it’ll ever really happen. BUT reading the information below is what begins to almost scare me. The full agenda of these people, and the words/descriptions of GLBT people and their relationships depicts GLBT members of society as a disease, a disease that could cause as much harm to your young children/society in general as second hand smoke does.
Because I am not the best blogger in the world and this blog has already been carefully documented by someone else I am going to now piggy back on what they’ve written and come back with my two cents worth at the end. It is a little long…..but once I started reading it I couldn’t believe what I was reading nor could I stop reading….kind of like that car accident you go by and just can’t help yourself from staring at!!
Iowa’s Family Leader tour: To where, exactly, do they wish to lead the state’s gays?
Today, when casually looking for information on how Bob Vander Plaats’ “Family Leader” tour is going in Iowa, we found some hidden data that shows concretely just how extremely this group — and its larger parent organization, the Iowa Family Policy Council — views not only gay people’s marriages, but also their innate lives. It’s information that shows concretely what sort of “leadership” Vander Plaats and crew are hoping to impose onto The Hawkeye State. Misrepresentative data that cuts right through the “it’s only about marriage” spin. Let’s begin.
So our sleuthing started when we went to The Family Leader’s host domain (thefamilyleader.com). Typically when one clicks the “Capturing Momentum Tour” logo on that page, he or she is directed to an obscure address that begins with http://www.web.me (Apple’s Mobile Me service), and looks something like this:
But for some reason or fluke (or kismet?), on one of the times we clicked the icon, we instead got this url:
We found that odd. Because “The second hands effect of same-sex marriage”? That totally sounds like an attempt to connect homosexual orientations to something like smoking. And since Vander Plaats and company act like their fight is all about the ring finger and not the gay human, we would be surprised if they were making some of the anti-gay movement’s more hidden goals known to the public at large. So naturally, we began digging to see what this is all about.
And guess what? It turns out that IFPC totally DOES have a program called “The SecondHand Effects of Same-Sex Marriage! In fact, they’ve been conducting under-the-radar seminars using this very title, primarily to rally pastors into the fight against marriage equality. This promotion comes from IFPC’s associated website, SecondHandEffects.com:
But from here, it gets even more shocking. And revelatory. And disturbing, And conclusively designed to “change” the state’s gays into the scientifically-shunned state of “ex-gayness.”
On this Second Hand Effect’s site, we found a link to a packet of information that IFPC has been sending around to all interested parties, both in CD and email form. The packet is simply teeming with far-right spin from the likes of Brian Camenker and Matt Barber, with titles like “Gay Sex Kills,” as well as from “ex-gay” advocacy groups like NARTH. Sources include the nothing-if-not misrepresentative Lifesite News, Renew America, and WorldNetDaily. And, just as suspected, much of the information is meant to liken gay relationships themselves to cigarette smoking, and to paint gays as intrinsically diseased. Here are some screen caps from the packet:
Oh, and the packet also contains confidential documents showing how they spin and twist and strategize about us behind our backs. Documents from people like the National Organization For Marriage’s onetime general counsel, Charles LiMandri:
(*Note the source links. Free Republic? AFTAH?)
This is the state’s big marriage group! The one that led the charge to fire three judges. The one that will not rest until this spin, disinformation, and fight against people rather than disease is codified into the state’s civil law.
So, if you really read through all of this and even if you skimmed over the pictures you’d see that there’s a bar graph in there that says that non smoking heterosexuals have a life expectancy of 75, heterosexuals who smoke 65, however homosexuals w/HIV a life expectancy of 39 and those without HIV a mere 41 years…..how are these numbers proven? What was their ‘base’ of people taking part in this study, who were they, where did they live, oh hell did it even take place or is it all fabricated?
The ultimate outcome of this blog for me to explain to my mom why it is I say I don’t believe in the institution of marriage. MOST IMPORTANTLY, in so saying, it does NOT mean I do not believe in the ability to meet that one person you could spend forever with, what I don’t believe in is buying into an institution that most likely will not be recognized in the vast majority of the United States as well as numerous countries abroad. Why spend thousands of dollars for people to show up to a party, most of which you hardly ever see, but feel obligated to invite due to “family” and other sorts of commitments.
Also, particularly in my situation, if I was ‘straight’ I could have found someone to marry and by now could have my green card and permanent residence within the USA. But because I follow my heart and I live with who makes me truly happy I am not afforded these same rights because I’m not ‘allowed’ to love another female.
I don’t feel I need a certificate issued by a State (that has legalized same sex marriage) but is not enforced at a Federal level to say “Hey I love you!” I don’t need a piece of paper to reaffirm the fact that I am deeply in love and completely devoted to my partner.
So in closing, I guess in a sort of complicated way, I am trying to say that while this sort of prejudice exists and there is this much hate of the ‘unknown’ out there (unknown referring to my ‘lifestyle’ as seen by those who choose rather to hate then to familiarize themselves with me, my partner, our love, our relationship and our lives), I choose to not participate in any ‘phony’ institutions’ that serve to some how validate what I KNOW I already have!!
Also, I hope and I pray that one day the pointless hate comes to an end!! Hatred of the unknown, the unfamiliar, the different…..hatred has no place in our lives, it makes us bitter and takes from our lives what should be happy times, focusing on our families, our lives and learning to co-exist with those different then ourselves.
Vander Plaats, Bachmann and their group of cronies who make such a point of spreading and promoting hatred (and propaganda) should all be ashamed of themselves and all one can do is hope that one day they’ll see the error of their ways…….lets just hope it’s before one of their children ‘come out’ and are shunned and hated for who they love…….or worse yet…..choose never to come out and live a lie because of the hatred they were raised immersed in.
