Tag Archives: gay rights

The Little-Known Movers Behind North Carolina’s Anti-Gay Law: Ted Cruz’s Advisers

by PhilippASV Posted on April 13, 2016

Mother Jones

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As he worked to rally evangelical voters a week before North Carolina’s March 15 primary, Ted Cruz gave a speech at a church in the Charlotte suburb of Kannapolis, where he was joined by a trio of prominent local social conservative supporters: Charlotte pastor and congressional candidate Mark Harris and the Benham brothers, the telegenic real estate entrepreneurs whose house-flipping show on HGTV was canceled in 2014 when their history of anti-gay activism came to light. At the event, Cruz thanked Harris for “calling the nation to revival,” and called David and Jason Benham “an extraordinary voice for the Christian faith.”

For years, Harris and the Benhams have been at the forefront of every battle to oppose gay rights in North Carolina. This past February, they were at it again, this time against a nondiscrimination ordinance proposed in Charlotte that, among other things, allowed transgender people to use public restrooms based on their gender identity and protected LGBT people from discrimination by public institutions. The advocacy of these top Cruz supporters against the Charlotte ordinance eventually led the North Carolina legislature to push through one of the most sweeping anti-LGBT measures in the country, a law that has caused a national outcry and caused many companies, including PayPal, to scrap plans to invest in the state. The law, the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act, strikes down all existing and future LGBT nondiscrimination statutes in North Carolina and requires that transgender people use bathrooms based on their sex at birth.

Harris’ and the Benhams’ state activism is significant because, if Cruz wins the presidential race, the considerable influence of these three religious activists could extend far beyond North Carolina. In February, Cruz appointed them to his campaign’s advisory council for religious liberty, along with 16 other conservative Christian leaders. The GOP candidate has promised that this group will “guide his policies to protect religious liberty”—policies that could look very much like the anti-LGBT bill in North Carolina. The group is filled with key players in the anti-LGBT world, including Tony Perkins, the head of the Family Research Council (which is classified as an anti-LGBT hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center); it has already recommended that Cruz, if elected president, should stop federal employment discrimination protections for LGBT people, direct federal agencies to change their interpretation of “sex” to exclude sexual orientation and gender identity, cancel the mandate that employers provide contraceptive coverage, and much more. Cruz has surrounded himself with this group of anti-LGBT heavyweights, and the work of Harris and the Benhams in North Carolina provides a glimpse into what this group can accomplish when it comes to rolling back LGBT protections in the name of religious freedom.

Harris and the Benhams first rose to prominence in 2012, when they helped organize the movement to pass a North Carolina constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages and civil unions. The Benhams—who are sons of an evangelical minister, and who had previously worked to quash local pride parades and organize anti-abortion protests—testified in favor of the measure and at one point equated the battle against marriage equality with fighting Nazis. Harris has been a well-known Baptist minister in Charlotte since 2005 and his church contributed more than $50,000 to the campaign to ban same-sex marriage. (The amendment passed but was invalidated in 2014 after a Supreme Court ruling.)

Their temporarily successful work against same-sex marriage illustrated the growing power and influence of the state’s social conservatives. Fueled by millions of campaign dollars from a few conservative megadonors, Republicans took over both chambers of the state legislature in the 2010 election, fueled by voters’ economic dissatisfaction. Once in power, legislating social issues was a logical next step for this group of newly elected conservatives, says Steven Greene, a political-science professor at North Caroline State University. By 2012, the General Assembly made one of its first moves in this direction by voting to put the ban on same-sex unions onto that year’s ballot. “Before 2010, we were largely under Democratic control,” Greene says. “All the social-issue stuff was bottled up with no outlet. But once you had the Republican legislature, you could just go wild.”

In 2014, when HGTV pulled the Benhams’ show after journalists revealed their anti-gay activism, the brothers became social conservative heroes. They then wrote their first book, Whatever the Cost, about their sacrifice for their faith. Soon after, in February 2015, Charlotte introduced its anti-discrimination ordinance and Harris and the Benhams snapped into action. Faith Matters NC, a grassroots religious liberty group vice chaired by Harris, took out a radio ad on a conservative talk radio station in Charlotte. “I’d be really scared if a man shared a bathroom with my daughter,” says a woman in the ad, of the bill’s provision allowing public-restroom use based on gender identity. “This nightmare could become a reality right here in Charlotte if we don’t speak up quickly,” she continues, encouraging listeners to contact their city council members and demand that they vote down the “bathroom bill.”

The Benham brothers, meanwhile, headlined a rally to promote biblical values at Charlotte City Hall. And on a conservative radio show David Benham called the bill part of “the radical gay agenda’s plan to change America.” He also penned an op-ed for the Charlotte Observer opposing the bill: “Clearly, this ordinance isn’t really about non-discrimination,” he wrote. “It’s about forcing the acceptance of behavior.” With his father, Flip, a well-known anti-gay street preacher in Charlotte, David addressed the city council on the day they voted on the ordinance. During the meeting, a transgender woman collapsed after giving her testimony. Flip Benham reportedly laughed and poked fun at her gender while she lay on the floor awaiting medical attention. He also allegedly confronted a transgender girl as she walked out of the bathroom, calling her a “pervert” and “young man.”

The bill failed in 2015 but was reintroduced the following year. Once again, Harris and the Benhams led the opposition: Harris, for instance, held meetings at his church for the Don’t Do It Charlotte campaign, and all three headlined a rally opposing the measure. Despite their efforts, the ordinance passed in February 2016. Several weeks later, on March 18, opponents of the measure held a press conference in front of a city government building to urge state lawmakers to override the ordinance. David Benham was the opening speaker: “We sure hope the governor and General Assembly will do what is right,” he said. Harris gave the closing speech: “Governor McCrory and the General Assembly must act now to protect women and children all across North Carolina,” he said. He urged the governor to call for a special session to undo the Charlotte ordinance.

Five days later, that’s exactly what happened. In a hastily convened special session, legislators in the Republican-controlled assembly introduced, debated, and passed HB 2, the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act, in less than 12 hours. Lawmakers had five minutes to read the bill, and Democratic legislators walked out of the assembly in protest. The rushed passage of HB 2 and the law’s broad scope gained national attention, in part because the bill’s language invalidates all local nondiscrimination statutes in the state, not just those tied to protecting the LGBT community. “Make no mistake: While LGBT folks were clearly the political target, everybody lost rights,” Democratic state Sen. Jeff Jackson told Charlotte TV station WCNC. The bill also prohibits a locality from setting a minimum wage standard for private employers, and it limits how citizens can file claims of discrimination based on factors like race, religion, nationality, biological sex, and more.

When asked about their involvement in pushing for HB 2’s passage, the Benham brothers, in an email to Mother Jones, wrote: “Before the bill was passed we had already been notified by the Governor that legislative action was certain, so we simply encouraged our elected officials to listen to the voice of the people.” They continued, “It’s common sense not to allow men in women’s restrooms. It’s also common sense not to force business owners to participate in expressive events that are against their religious beliefs.”

For Cruz, who has staked his campaign on winning over evangelical voters, Harris and the Benhams made natural allies. And as Cruz plotted his presidential bid, he sought to woo these influential social conservatives. In 2014, Cruz headlined a religious rally at Harris’ Charlotte church. That same year, Cruz reached out to the Benhams to express his support after HGTV dropped their show. Then last November, the Benhams emceed a Cruz rally for religious liberty in South Carolina, and in January 2016 they formally endorsed Cruz for president. The following month, Harris endorsed him as well. “Mark’s commitment to be a guiding light in the cultural and political arenas has impacted Christians in North Carolina and across the nation,” Cruz said in a press release trumpeting the endorsement.

Supporting Cruz may bring political benefits for Harris, too. Two days after the HB 2 victory, Harris announced he would be running for Congress to protect “liberty, faith, and family.”

Mark Knoop, the campaign’s spokesman, said that since starting his own campaign, Harris “is entirely focused on his own campaign,” and has put his role as a religious liberty adviser to Cruz “on the backburner.”

The impact of the work of Harris and the Benham brothers in North Carolina has caused national backlash. As word spread of the state’s new law, more than 120 major corporations, including Apple, American Airlines, and PayPal, urged the governor to repeal the bill or to face dire business consequences. In response, the Benham brothers wrote an op-ed for conservative website World Net Daily defending the governor: “Once the media started reporting, you would’ve thought the governor had joined ISIS!” wrote the brothers. “They’ve crafted the narrative in the media that North Carolina’s HB2 is against LGBT individuals, yet nothing could be further from the truth.” (On Tuesday, the state’s Gov. Pat McCrory responded to the backlash with an executive order granting LGBT protections only to state employees.)

Harris’ campaign makes a similar point. “Its not like North Carolina is persecuting the LGBT community,” says Knoop. “The whole point is that people going to a bathroom are going to the right bathroom.” When asked to elaborate on Harris’ stance on portions of HB 2 unrelated to bathroom use, including the part that invalidates the state’s LGBT nondiscrimination ordinances, Knoop declined to comment.

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The Little-Known Movers Behind North Carolina’s Anti-Gay Law: Ted Cruz’s Advisers

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Justice Department Takes Steps to Protect Transgender Prisoners

by ArletteMcknight Posted on March 25, 2016

Mother Jones

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Amid several proposals in Republican-controlled statehouses to limit protections for transgender residents came a glimmer of hope from the federal government on Thursday. The Department of Justice issued new regulations clarifying guidelines it set in 2012 for the treatment of transgender inmates in prisons. The 2012 guidelines required prison and jail staff to consider inmates’ gender identity when deciding where to place transgender inmates, but many prisons continue to follow state rules that assign inmates housing according to their genitalia, the Guardian US reports. The new DOJ guidelines state that any “written policy or actual practice that assigns transgender or intersex inmates to gender-specific facilities, housing units, or programs based solely on their external genital anatomy” is in violation of the federal standard, which mandates that prisons consider both inmates’ gender identity and personal concerns about their safety when assigning them to a housing facility.

A survey conducted by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2011 and 2012 estimated that 4 percent of state and federal prison inmates and 3 percent of jail inmates reported being sexually assaulted by other inmates or staff in the previous year. But more than a third of transgender inmates in prisons and a third in jails said they had been sexually assaulted during the same time period. Transgender women housed in men’s prisons are at even greater risk for sexual assault. A California study found that nearly 60 percent of transgender women inmates housed in men’s prisons reported being sexually assaulted, compared to just 4 percent of non-transgender inmates in men’s prison. The BJS estimates that there are 3,200 transgender inmates in US prisons and jails.

The new guidelines are largely symbolic—they are not legally binding—but they make plain the federal government’s stance on the housing of transgender inmates, the National Center for Transgender Equality and Just Detention International said in a joint statement. “The new guidance, posted online today by the National PREA Resource Center, sends the clearest message yet that current housing practices in prisons and jails are in violation of PREA and put transgender people at risk for sexual abuse,” they said, according to Guardian US.

Last year, the Department of Justice wrote to a Georgia court in support of Ashley Diamond, a transgender woman who sought a transfer to a women’s prison. Diamond claimed she had been sexually assaulted multiple times at several men’s prisons during her three-year incarceration. She also requested a court order forcing the Georgia Department of Corrections to give her access to the hormones and medications she had been taking for years to treat her gender dysphoria prior to incarceration. (Diamond has since been released.) But most states have been slow to catch up.

There’s one state that’s ahead of the pack. Last year, California became the first state to adopt a policy of providing gender-affirmation surgery to transgender inmates for whom a doctor had determined the surgery was medically necessary. Months before adopting the policy, the state had agreed to pay for gender-affirmation surgery—at an estimated cost of between $15,000 and $25,000—for transgender inmate Michelle Norsworthy, after a judge ruled the state was constitutionally obligated to provide it to her under the Eighth Amendment. Norsworthy was released on parole before receiving the treatment.

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Justice Department Takes Steps to Protect Transgender Prisoners

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The Boy Scouts Are No Longer Welcome at This Anti-Gay Jamboree

by EmelyJonathan Posted on September 25, 2015

Mother Jones

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Poor Boy Scouts. Earlier this year, their leadership made a fairly dramatic change in policy to allow gay people to become troop leaders, following on the heels of last year’s decision to stop kicking out gay Scouts. The move to end discrimination has cost the organization some members and donations from religious groups that were outraged about the change. But it’s also suffered smaller, pettier indignities—like its banishment from this weekend’s Values Voter Summit, the premier political conference for evangelical Christians.

The DC summit, organized by the conservative Family Research Council Action, is headlined by no fewer than seven GOP presidential candidates. For many years, the Boy Scouts have had a place of honor at the event, presenting the American flag as the color guard. This year, though, the Scouts are nowhere to be found. In their place are boys from Trail Life USA, the outdoor adventure and character development group created last year as a Christian alternative to the Boy Scouts. Joining them were American Heritage Girls, the religious alternative to the Girl Scouts.

Trail Life was founded by a religious-right activist from Florida, associated with James Dobson’s Focus on the Family, who was active fighting the Boy Scout policy change. The group’s official policy on gays says:

We believe that homosexuality is sinful and immoral, as is any sexual activity outside of the sanctity of marriage between a Man and a Woman. Consistent with this belief, we have specific policies that address membership and sin in both youth and adult members.

Trail Life also excludes Mormons and Jews because they don’t subscribe to the group’s particular theology.

A spokeswoman for the summit’s organizers didn’t respond to a request for comment. But Trail Life CEO Mark Hancock, at his booth in the convention hall, said his group was invited to replace the Boy Scouts color guard because of “the direction the Boy Scouts have taken. They think we’re a better fit.” Asked specifically if it was because of the acceptance of gays, Hancock demurred, saying it was simply the Boy Scouts’ “general departure from their traditional values” that prompted their exclusion.

Kim Luckabaugh, the DC-area coordinator for the more established American Heritage Girls, said her group replaced the Boy Scouts at the conference last year, when Trail Life was just getting off the ground, because “we are aligned ministerially. We are aligned in our values.” She says the FRC organizers have “been very kind and gracious to us.”

The booting of the Boy Scouts from the event isn’t all that surprising. The Family Research Council, which sponsors the Values Voter Summit, has been an ardent opponent of the Boy Scouts’ acceptance of gays. Earlier this year, FRC head Tony Perkins lamented that the Boy Scouts were moving “away from their moral standard of being morally straight and clean and moving into open homosexuality.” He claimed that both the Boy Scouts and Girls Scouts “are done” as organizations because of their acceptance of gays.

A regular speaker at the event, Mat Staver, with the legal group Liberty Counsel, said last month that the change in policy at the Boy Scouts meant that “you are going to have all kinds of sexual molestation. This is a playground for pedophiles to go and have all these boys as objects of their lust. This is insane, and we need to literally abandon the Scouts because the Scouts, unfortunately, have abandoned us.”

The Values Voter Summit has long been a hotbed of anti-gay activism, but this year, organizers are going to great lengths to honor people who’ve personally discriminated against LGBT people, such as Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, who refused to follow the Supreme Court edict and issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples; a florist who dissed her friend and refused to do flowers for his gay wedding; and a pair of bakers who refused to make a cake for a lesbian couple’s wedding. The organizers’ exclusion of the Boy Scouts seems only fitting, but perhaps they’ve done them a favor: The boys will be spared from associating with people who will be remembered on the wrong side of history.

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The Boy Scouts Are No Longer Welcome at This Anti-Gay Jamboree

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Defiant Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis Could Face More Legal Trouble. This Time for Copyright.

by JorgeBrabyn Posted on September 9, 2015

Mother Jones

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Yesterday, Kim Davis—the now-infamous Rowan County clerk who was held in contempt for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Kentucky—was released from a five-night stint in jail. Escorted by Mike Huckabee, the GOP presidential hopeful who helped throw the rally for her release, an emotional Davis threw her arms in the air, closed her eyes, and basked in the sounds of “Eye of the Tiger,” Survivor’s 1982 hit about being awesome.

Unfortunately for Davis, the writers of that song don’t think Davis is so awesome—and they never agreed to let her or Huckabee broadcast their song at the rally. Survivor’s Jim Peterik tweeted his disapproval, saying Davis would be receiving a “cease and desist” letter from his publisher:

CNN reports that Peterik was shocked to hear that his song was played at the rally:

“I was gobsmacked,” he said. “We were not asked about this at all. The first time we saw it was on national TV.” Peterik’s co-writer, Frankie Sullivan, was also upset about the use of “Eye of the Tiger” and posted a message on Facebook to vent. “I would not grant her the rights to use Charmin!” he wrote.

This reaction is not completely uncommon when it comes to musicians and political events. When Donald Trump played Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” at an event at Trump Tower in June to announce his candidacy, Young’s longtime manager Elliot Roberts told Mother Jones that the use of the song was unauthorized. “Mr. Young is a longtime supporter of Bernie Sanders,” he said.

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Defiant Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis Could Face More Legal Trouble. This Time for Copyright.

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Kentucky Clerk Continues to Defy Supreme Court by Refusing to Issue Marriage License to Gay Couple

by Karin72Ssuvckt Posted on September 1, 2015

Mother Jones

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The Supreme Court on Monday night denied an emergency application from a defiant Kentucky clerk who is refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. Today, Kim Davis, of the Rowan County Clerk’s office, is once again refusing to comply with a lower court’s order by denying marriage licenses to anyone, gay or straight.

When asked by a same-sex couple on Tuesday morning under whose authority she was failing to obey the high court, Davis answered, “under God’s authority.” She then told the crowd to leave and threatened to call the police.

The Supreme Court denied Davis’s application to turn away same-sex couples seeking marriage licenses because it did not align with her religious beliefs. Her appeal marks the first time since June’s historic Supreme Court decision that the justices have had to deal with the issue again.

If she continues to defy the court, Davis could be found in contempt and face possible jail time and fines. A hearing is set for Thursday.

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Kentucky Clerk Continues to Defy Supreme Court by Refusing to Issue Marriage License to Gay Couple

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Boy Scouts End Age-Old Ban on Gay Leadership

by AdalberOreilly Posted on July 27, 2015

Mother Jones

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The Boy Scouts of America voted today to scrap a blanket ban on gay leaders, marking the end of a policy as old as the group itself. The change will also bar discrimination based on sexual orientation in all Boy Scouts of America official facilities and paying jobs.

Robert Gates, president of the Boy Scouts of America (and former US defense secretary), called for an end to the ban in May, saying the organization should “deal with the world as it is, not as we might wish it to be.”

The end of the ban does not, however, mark complete acceptance of gay leaders: Some scout groups, particularly those with close religious affiliations, will be able to limit leadership positions to heterosexuals.

Here are some stories that demarcate turning points in the controversy:

An alternative group called the Navigators gained traction with families fed up with BSA policies against gay scouts, atheists, and families who wanted their daughters and sons to be in the same scouting troop. Navigators USA publicized itself as an organization that “welcomes all people…no matter what gender, race, lifestyle, ability, religious or lack of religious belief.”
This timeline shows just how long anti-gay discrimination has been going on in the BSA.
In 2013, the BSA ended its ban on kids in the program who identify as gay, but kept its ban on adults—meaning, in effect, that once a scout turned 18, he could be kicked out.
The Boy Scouts council threatened to kick out a Maryland pack for posting an inclusive statement on its website promising not to discriminate against gay scouts.
BSA funders such as UPS, United Way, the Merck Company Foundation, and the Intel Foundation fled for the hills as a direct result of the Boy Scouts’ anti-gay policies.

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Boy Scouts End Age-Old Ban on Gay Leadership

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Caitlyn Jenner Just Delivered this Kickass Speech About Acceptance

by BonnyMcclellan8 Posted on July 16, 2015

Mother Jones

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Caitlyn Jenner received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at last night’s ESPY’s in Los Angeles, and used the opportunity to deliver a powerful speech urging fellow athletes and celebrities to understand the immense challenges trans people, especially teenagers, face everyday.

“It’s not just about one person,” Jenner said. “It’s about thousands of people. It’s not just about me, it’s about all of us accepting one another. We’re all different. That’s not a bad thing. That’s a good thing. And while it may not easy to get past the things you don’t always understand, I want to prove that it is absolutely possible if we only do it together.”

The award, presented by ESPN, recognizes individuals who “transcend sports,” and is named after the late African-American tennis champion Arthur Ashe, who was known for fighting discrimination in the sport and raising public awareness about AIDS.

Looking ahead, the former Olympian said she would use her fame to push for transgender rights. Jenner mentioned 17-year-old Mercedes Williamson and 15-year-old Sam Taub, both trans teenagers who killed themselves earlier this year, to illustrate the urgency of the challenges facing teens.

“They’re getting bullied,” Jenner said. “They’re getting beaten up. They’re getting murdered. And they’re committing suicide.”

She concluded her speech with a message for her critics and those questioning the motives behind her public transition.

“If you want to call me names, make jokes, doubt my intentions, go ahead because the reality is I can take it,” she said. “But for the thousands of kids out there coming to terms with being true to who they are, they shouldn’t have to take it. So for the people out there wondering what this is all about, whether its about courage or controversy or publicity, it’s about what happens from here.”

Jenner’s transition made national headlines after she sat down with Diane Sawyer for an exclusive interview in April, in which she detailed her journey. She made her public debut with a June cover shoot for Vanity Fair.

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Caitlyn Jenner Just Delivered this Kickass Speech About Acceptance

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South Carolina Senator Rants Against Gay Marriage During Vote on Confederate Flag Removal

by Melliss69C Posted on July 6, 2015

Mother Jones

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In a historic 37-3 vote, members of South Carolina’s Senate just voted to remove the Confederate flag from its statehouse grounds. Monday’s vote followed hours of debate, with lawmakers overwhelmingly making the case to do away with the racist symbol once and for all.

Perhaps confused by the subject at hand, Sen. Lee Bright used Monday’s debate as an opportunity to voice his support in keeping the flag and dually attack the Supreme Court’s gay marriage decision last month, not to mention the “abomination colors” showcased by the White House to celebrate the court’s decision.

“This nation was founded on Judeo-Christian principles and they are under assault by men in black robes who were not elected by you,” Bright warned.

“Our governor called us in to deal with the flag that sits out front, let’s deal with the national sin that we face today!” he continued. “We talk about abortion but this gay marriage thing, I believe will be one nation gone under like President Reagan said. If we’re not one nation under God, we’ll be one nation gone under.”

With more biblical references and anti-LGBT ranting, Bright went onto urge his fellow lawmakers to continue flying the battle flag. It was a rare moment of crazy, perhaps even for his two fellow Confederate flag supporters, who likely knew they had only one fight to lose on Monday.

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South Carolina Senator Rants Against Gay Marriage During Vote on Confederate Flag Removal

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Sweet Vindication for Gavin Newsom, Who Staked His Career on Same-Sex Marriage

by HassieSchurr403 Posted on June 27, 2015

Mother Jones

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In 2004, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom unleashed a national political and legal tempest when he issued about 4,000 marriage licenses to same-sex couples. At a time when gay marriage was expressly prohibited by California law, even many of Newsom’s allies wondered aloud whether the rising Democratic star had effectively sabotaged his political career. Others grumbled that by forcing the hot-button issue into the presidential campaign, he’d handed a sharp weapon to the Republicans. During two political fundraisers in San Francisco that year, Barack Obama infamously refused to be photographed with Newsom.

But history was on Newsom’s side. In 2008, the California Supreme Court struck down the state’s same-sex marriage ban. Proposition 8, a subsequent, voter-backed constitutional amendment outlawing gay marriage, was later invalidated by a federal appeals court in a decision the US Supreme Court allowed to stand. Friday’s Supreme Court ruling has enshrined same-sex marriage as the law of the land, offering Newsom, now California’s Lieutenant Governor, sweet vindication 11 years after he took his rogue stance. I spoke with Newsom on Friday afternoon.

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Sweet Vindication for Gavin Newsom, Who Staked His Career on Same-Sex Marriage

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Genius Conservative Compares Gay Marriage to 9/11, Pearl Harbor

by DoloresTrumper Posted on June 26, 2015

Mother Jones

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So, you’re a conservative and you’re upset that every state is going to be forced to be nice to gay people, so you take to Twitter to share your outrage and you reach for a simile. Not just any simile but, like, a good simile—one that has a strong tradition and is emotionally evocative and will let everyone know you mean business. Ding! Ding! Ding! You’ve got it!

Now you’re getting those faves, you’re getting those retweets, you’re getting those hateful replies. You’re liking this feeling. You’re flying high. You’re on a cloud. You’re on the moon, my love. You are a starship leaving this goddamned solar system! You want to chase the feeling. You want more. You want to never stop feeling like this. Why would anyone ever want to not feel like this? But how can you top Pearl Harbor?

You know what to do, baby. You know what to do:

Bryan Fischer, ladies and gentleman.

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Genius Conservative Compares Gay Marriage to 9/11, Pearl Harbor

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