Canadian Media Provide Comfort to the Enemy

In the media coverage of the tenth anniversary of equal marriage in Ontario, I noticed an odd thing.

Not one anti-gay spokesperson was polled on his or her 'take' on the situation. That's odd considering how strident opponents are and how readily they will spout their hate and lies.

No. In fact the coverage was rather self-congratulatory. Golly gee, aren't we enlightened and aren't we pleased to have moved on?

Look at this CBC piece for example.

And we have come a long way pretty damn quickly.

In 2002, an Ekos poll found that 47 per cent of Canadians had an unfavourable opinion of same-sex marriage. Taking into account the high number of undecideds, the pollsters concluded that opponents of gay marriage made up a majority. In 2012, an Ipsos Reid poll found that just 18 per cent of respondents were “totally opposed” to same-sex marriage. What happened?

Well, some would say that 'media happened'.

Even in the US, things are moving along on this front. Here's a bit of video on media there congratulating itself for its role in normalizing USians' view of gays and gay culture.

In fact, one pundit says: 'Gay culture is American culture'.

Funny thing. Here, pro-choice culture is Canadian culture.

But does our media celebrate that achievement? Does it congratulate itself for moving the issue forward and normalizing the notion that women have the same right to bodily autonomy that men do?

Does it appropriately marginalize the tiny percentage of extremists -- around 5% -- 'totally opposed' to abortion rights?

No. Canadian media -- perhaps envious of the acrimonious and profitable abortion 'debate' in the US -- continue to try to whip up controversy where it just doesn't exist. In covering Dr Morgentaler's death 22 of 35 stories saw fit to consult wannabe abortion abolishers to 'balance' the views of Dr Morgentaler's friends and supporters.

One would think this is counter-productive. After all, a large majority of Canadians -- two-thirds of us -- don't even want to talk about it.

But a group that does want to talk about it is the nutters themselves of course. In fact, the media's obeisance to their foot-stomping and shrieking has them crowing 'The media is ours'.

If this was war, one could say that the Canadian media is giving comfort to the enemy.

We ask again: When will Canadian media step up and celebrate the achievement of human rights for women?

Is Michele Bachmann a Fag Hag®?

Gee, I dunno. Listen to the beginning of this.




JoeMyGod had it first. (Read the hilarious comments there.)

Now, Mother Jones is on it.

Politico's James Hohmann published a story Tuesday on the unique role of Rep. Michele Bachmann's husband, Marcus, on the campaign trail. Aside from the obvious points about how he's had to pick up the slack on the home front since his wife left for Washington, the piece notes a few of the recent controversies that could become "liabilities" on the campaign trail—namely, the fact that his family farm received subsidies, and that his Christian therapy practice accepted Medicaid funding.

That might be a stretch. The fact that Marcus Bachmann received farm subsidies is bad because they're the kind of government handout the candidate loves to hate, but it's really not the kind of thing that sways voters—especially when you consider that a lot of Republican primary voters also receive farm subsidies. There is one part of the Marcus Bachmann story, though, that is already becoming an issue for the Bachmann campaign.

In addition to the fairly commonplace practice of accepting Medicaid payments, Bachmann's Christian therapy clinic has also been accused of dabbling in something called "conversion" or "reparative" therapy, in which gay people are supposedly cured of their gayness through steady doses of prayer. The American Psychiatric Association does not endorse "conversion therapy" and has suggested it might have damaging mental health consequences. But as Hohmann's story notes, Marcus Bachmann is not a member of any of Minnesota's three major professional organizations for psychologists. For Marcus Bachmann, this is bigger than science; it's a moral imperative. Gays, he has said, are like "barbarians" that need to be "disciplined."

. . . The problems don't end with the therapy, though. Marcus' fiercely anti-gay language has itself spawned the predictable, unsubstantiated "takes one to know one" backlash.

Lotsa fun links at Mojo. Celebs, including Cher, weighing in. Andrew Sullivan has a couple of very funny clips.

And for more fun, follow MarcusBachmanIsSoGay.

About Bloody Time

New York State has a proud history of civil rights legislation, but it has fallen badly behind in equal marriage rights.

That may be about to change.

Governor Andrew Cuomo has introduced a bill to legalize same-sex marriage.

Marriage-equality legislation has passed numerous times in the State Assembly, but has been repeatedly blocked in the State Senate. In December 2009, when Democrats still controlled the Senate, the bill failed 38 to 24.

Hoping to avoid a repeat of 2009, Cuomo has repeatedly said he would not introduce a bill until enough “yes” votes are secured.

Assured of support in the Democrat-controlled Assembly, the Marriage Equality Act needs 32 votes in the 62-seat Senate to pass.

At this hour, 31 senators have promised support, and six remain undecided.

But the New York Post reported on Monday that privately, Cuomo has the votes needed, and that “far more of the [GOP] members are in play than anyone realizes, including some surprising names from conservative upstate areas.”

This should be interesting. Maybe even ReThuglicans are waking up to the fact that younger Merkins are cool with gay people and don't see any reason to discriminate against them.

Expect ReThuglican caterwauling if this passes.

First Sensible Thing to Come from the Teabaggers

On the recent US election, the microscopy continues. They're pondering too -- do socially conservative issues help or hurt the Thugs?.

Some Teabaggers seem to think they hurt.

A gay conservative group and some Tea Party leaders are campaigning to keep social issues off the Republican agenda.

"On behalf of limited-government conservatives everywhere, we write to urge you and your colleagues in Washington to put forward a legislative agenda in the next Congress that reflects the principles of the Tea Party movement," they write to presumptive House Speaker John Boehner and Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell in an advance copy provided to POLITICO. "This election was not a mandate for the Republican Party, nor was it a mandate to act on any social issue."

I love this bit:

"When they were out in the Boston Harbor, they weren't arguing about who was gay or who was having an abortion," said Ralph King, a letter signatory who is a Tea Party Patriots national leadership council member, as well as an Ohio co-coordinator.

King said he signed onto the letter because GOProud seemed to be genuine in pushing for fiscal conservatism and limited government.

"Am I going to be the best man at a same sex-marriage wedding? That's not something I necessarily believe in," said King. "I look at myself as pretty socially conservative. But that's not what we push through the Tea Party Patriots."

Natch, LifeShite is SHRIEEEKING. Waaah! Noooo! We need our slut-shaming fix!

And besides, they say, you need us.

The [exit] poll found 30 percent of all voters said that abortion “affected” their vote with 22% of all voters backing pro-life candidates and eight percent saying they supported pro-abortion candidates — giving pro-life candidates a net pro-life advantage of 14 percent among all voters.

But these were mid-term elections, when more insanely obsessed committed voters turn out. More difficult to predict for the next presidential election.

So, will the Thugs throw the anti-choicers and gay-bashers under the bus?
Not bloody likely, says Bridgette P. LaVictoire at LezGetReal.

Among the groups who signed this letter is GOProud, who are about to find out that they will be sold up the river without a single secondary thought from the anti-LGBT Republicans.