here in the U.S. religious freedom also means freedom from religion and there
are many of us that feel that religions and their teachings have gained too
much power in our society. As a gay atheist I have no problem with anyone
exercising their religious beliefs as long as I am not proselytized to or
forced to accept them. There has been nothing more offensive than a stranger
approaching me on the street wanting to lay hands on me to pray for my
blindness to be healed. What people do in church or their home is their
business as it should be the same as what I do in my home or bed room. This is
why there has been so much emphasis placed on gay rights and marriage. Children
today are raised in nontraditional families and children and young adults are
dealing with gender identity issues at an earlier age so it is something that
needs to be addressed and understood in school. Today schools are forced to
deal with children with all types of issues and gender identity issues are not
any different than any other trait that people deal with in their lives. I know
that in many foreign countries the role of the school is quite different than
it is here as schools in foreign countries may not have become part of the
social safety net that exists to deal with various issues.
Chuck
From: abdulah aga
Sent: Monday, September 7, 2015 3:06 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: uncertain future of Log Cabin Republicans
Hi
I want to bee honest here,
if they are start to gays and lesbians teaching in public schools
I would not let my child go in that school..
Second I don’t agree with public school to tich child how to use condom,
what is brf control and how to use.
Looks like school thich child from
orly age to have sex,
no to have sex, on other hands give them advice to have sex from orly age.
This country say this is religion freedom, if is like they are say religion
freedom,
why they are destroy some body freedom?
why fours some body child to learn in school about lesbian and gays?
I had school in secular country, but I didn’t have to know about this staff.
Now in democracy we have all thinks, but all under democrats' system.
From: mailto:dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, September 07, 2015 4:34 PM
To: Blind Democracy
Subject: [blind-democracy] uncertain future of Log Cabin Republicans
The Log Cabin Republicans' Uncertain Future
The Log Cabin Republicans strive for legitimacy within a party that worked
tirelessly against marriage equality. Can they replicate past successes
battling “religious freedom” in red states?
Image: Javarman/Shutterstock
A mention of Log Cabin Republicans in some queer quarters will elicit a
response similar to the invocation of Jews for Jesus or Uncle Tom: a derisive
snort. Or worse.
LCR celebrated nationwide marriage equality with the rest of the LGBT
community, after having worked hard to bring it about. But the party to which
it pledges allegiance has pitched a rearguard action against marriage for
years, surrendering no ditch without a skirmish.
The GOP and the greater conservative movement sometimes seem to want little to
do with LCR. To wit: While some GOP presidential contenders have met with LCR,
they all condemned the United States Supreme Court’s marriage equality decision
in June, some in floridly apocalyptic terms; most immediately seized the banner
of the next battle, “religious freedom.” LCR finally attended the GOP national
convention as a recognized group in 2012, yet anti-LGBT rhetoric peppered the
party’s platform, and LCR was still denied full inclusion at the influential
Conservative Political Action Conference, settling this year for participation
in a single panel with no booth on the floor. LCR was disinvited from June’s
Western Conservative Summit, its $250 deposit returned. And last year, the
Texas GOP denied LCR’s chapter a booth at the annual convention, citing an
obscure rule that Texas LCR chairman Jeff Davis says is routinely overlooked
for others.
Yet LCR soldiers on for both LGBT rights and Republicanism, seemingly immune to
the humiliation of such rejection. With marriage equality legally settled, and
with the ban on transgender participation in the military on a path similar to
that of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” one main issue confronting LGBT political
campaigners, including LCR, is whether they can successfully head off or defeat
“religious freedom restoration acts” (RFRAs) coming out of red-state
legislatures and statehouses.
LCR has scored victories in the past. The group was founded in California to
combat the ultimately unsuccessful 1978 Briggs Initiative, which would have
barred gays and lesbians from teaching in public schools. The organization
helped quash the Federal Marriage Amendment, introduced in Congress in 2004 and
endorsed by President George W. Bush. And in 2010, a California federal judge
ruled DADT unconstitutional in a lawsuit filed by LCR; many political watchers
credit that victory with paving a path to DADT’s repeal.
But can LCR replicate its political successes against RFRAs? And does it want
to?
The establishment of such RFRA policies is unlikely at the federal level, or in
blue states like California. The assault will come from the South and the
Midwest — and what LCR can do there is unclear. One problem is the absence of
chapters in critical GOP-leaning states, including Mississippi, Arkansas,
Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana, Idaho, Montana, North
and South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Kansas. LCR’s Alabama chapter shut
down sometime after 2010, the year of the last entry on its Facebook page.
Nevertheless non-Republican advocates in conservative states with LCR chapters
view the organization as a valuable ally.
“Within the Texas legislature, they are an incredibly effective voice,” says
Equality Texas’s Daniel Williams. He credits LCR with helping head off certain
anti-LGBT bills in the latest legislative session.
Equality Utah executive director Troy Williams (no relation) says that “LCR
have been instrumental in establishing relationships with both Governor Gary
Herbert and his predecessor Jon Huntsman.”
LCR is “going to be important to move the needle,” says Equality North Carolina
executive director Chris Sgro. But the extent to which local chapters depend on
the national organization’s health is uncertain.
Jimmy LaSalvia founded the now-defunct Kentucky LCR chapter in 2004, later
served at the national level, and ultimately left LCR to found GOProud, a
since-disbanded Republican LGBT group. LaSalvia quit the GOP last year. His
book, No Hope: Why I Left the GOP (and You Should Too), comes out in October.
LaSalvia claims LCR is “hanging by a thread,” that the national office once had
seven employees but is now down to executive director Gregory T. Angelo and an
intern, and that membership has fallen since around 2004, which he calls the
group’s “heyday.”
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http://www.advocate.com/print-issue/current-issue/2015/08/31/log-cabin-republicans-uncertain-future
