When Will Conservative Christians Relent On The Gays?

Found on  God Hates Protesters.

Tom Krattenmaker has a piece up on USA Today where he asks what conservative Christians should do: "On gay rights, keep fighting or adapt?"

You get the sense, observing the shifting cultural landscape, that we've reached a point on gay rights that is similar to that moment in a football game, or an election, or a relationship, when you know it's over even though it's not over.

It appears increasingly obvious that social acceptance of gay men and lesbians and insistence on their equal rights are inexorable.

It certainly looked over for Maggie Gallagher, National Organization for Marriage and her financial benefactors from the Mormon and Catholic Churches in New Hampshire and Maryland this week. But would the conservative Christian industry ever willingly euthanize the goose laying the golden eggs?  READ MORE

Anti-gay "pastor" charged with stealing $150K...blames gays. No, really.

This would make a good headline for The Onion.  Sadly, it's not satire at all.

Harris Himes, who calls himself "pastor" of the Big Sky Christian Center in Montana (the address of which is Himes's post office box), got himself in a bit of hot water recently.  He and another "pastor," James "Jeb" Bryant, apparently swindled an investor out of $150,000 by claiming to own a business called Duratherm Building Systems and promising good returns.  From the Missoulian:

The charges included theft, fraud, conspiracy to commit both, failure to register a security and failure to register as a salesman of same.

According to court records, Himes and Bryant claimed to own a business, Duratherm Building Systems, and promised at least one investor a large return on his $150,000. But the investor claimed to have never received any returns or confirmation of sale, nor could he get his money back.
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Actions Speak Louder Than Words: How the Obama Administration Has Worked Behind the Scenes to Advance Marriage Equality

Photo Credit: ShutterStock.com

Ultimately, it's the courts that will ultimately make marriage equality the law of the land in all 50 states.

May 18, 2012

The Obama administration has a pretty good record on LGBT issues, but it has also had a sometimes contentious relationship with gay rights activists.

Even in the wake of Obama's “evolution” on marriage last week, some critics seized on his statement that the states should decide whether to offer gay and lesbian Americans equal treatment under the law.

Yet it is only the courts – not the executive or legislative branches – that can require the states to honor same-sex marriages. And actions speak louder than words.

This week, Chris Geidner, senior political editor for the LGBT magazine Metro Weekly, appeared on the AlterNet Radio Hour to highlight where the administration has missed opportunities to advance gay civil rights, and to explain how the administration has been working to advance marriage equality nationwide in the courts – out of the glare of the political press. Below is a lightly edited transcript of the interview (you can listen to the whole show here).   READ MORE