President Obama Remembers Gay Holocaust Victims in Speech at Holocaust Memorial Museum: VIDEO

In a speech introduced by Holocaust survivor Professor Elie Wiesel, President Obama marked Holocause Remembrance Day with a speech at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. Gay victims of the atrocity were among those the President noted in his speech:

I say this as a President, and I say it as a father.  We must tell our children about a crime unique in human history.  The one and only Holocaust -- six million innocent people -- men, women, children, babies -- sent to their deaths just for being different, just for being Jewish.  We tell them, our children, about the millions of Poles and Catholics and Roma and gay people and so many others who also must never be forgotten.  Let us tell our children not only how they died, but also how they lived -- as fathers and mothers, and sons and daughters, and brothers and sisters who loved and hoped and dreamed, just like us.  
 
We must tell our children about how this evil was allowed to happen -- because so many people succumbed to their darkest instincts, and because so many others stood silent.

I've cut to the section of his remarks in the following video - follow the link to YouTube to watch the entire speech.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Missouri 'Don't Say Gay' Bill Sponsor: School Discussion of LGBT Issues Will Lead to Talk of Boys Marrying Goats

Last week I mentioned that, like Tennessee, Missouri also has a disgusting "don't say gay" bill which is advancing in the state legislature. The discussion around the bill is equally despicable:

The HuffPo reports:

House Small Business Committee Chairman Dwight Scharnhorst (R-St. Louis), a co-sponsor, said he believes sexual orientation issues should be taught by parents, clergy and physicians. Parents have been passing along responsibility for children to the public schools, partly because of the writings of the late pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock, Scharnhorst said.

Scharnhorst told HuffPost that teaching about LGBT issues would lead to other discussions. "There is no need to talk about Billy wanting to marry a goat," he said.

State Rep. Stephen Webber (D-Columbia), a leading opponent of the bill, said he is not surprised by its introduction because Missouri Republicans have been wanting to limit discussion of LGBT issues. Webber pointed to the defeat of his bill to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation for the past several years. He said that while some Republicans have privately expressed support for the bill, political concerns prevent them from voting for it.

(via think progress)

Dark Knight Rises: VIDEO

Conan O'Brien previews the new Batman film.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

The Penetrating Gaze: VIDEO

148 movie stars looking directly at you, AFTER THE JUMP...

Poll: Support for Amendment Banning Same-Sex Marriage Slips in North Carolina

A new PPP survey shows support for 'Amendment One', which appears on the ballot May 8 slipping slightly in North Carolina, the News Observer reports:

The Public Policy Polling survey released Tuesday shows 54 percent of primary voters support making marriage between one man and one woman the only legal union recognized in North Carolina -- a four-percentage-point drop from a month ago.

Black voters favor the amendment two-to-one and even Democratic primary voters are split evenly. The referendum needs a majority for approval. Opposition increased slightly to 40 percent from 38 percent, a nudge within the poll's 2.9 percent margin of error, according to PPP, a left-leaning polling firm based in Raleigh.

Voters are still a bit confused, however:

The survey shows more primary voters are starting to understand the amendment would ban gay marriage and civil unions. But 10 percent still erroneously  think it legalizes gay marriage and another 27 percent are unsure what it would do.

Click HERE to support Protect All NC Families.

Soul Force Equality Ride Members Meet with LDS Church

(via Soulforce - Facebook)

Members of gay Christian activist group Soulforce met with LDS legislative lobbyist Bill Evans, public-affairs representative John Taylor, former TV reporter Ruth Todd and LDS attorney Alexander Dushku in Salt Lake City yesterday as part of their Equality Ride, the Salt Lake Tribune reports:

The group, Soulforce’s 2012 Equality Ride, had four specific requests for the LDS Church: to cut all ties with and denounce Evergreen International, which continues to use "reparative" therapy in its treatment of gays; to stop funding groups that are fighting civil marriage equality across the country; to encourage LDS Business College to bring its policies on homosexuality in line with current Mormon teachings; and to add sexual orientation and gender identity/expression to the faith’s policies for church employees.

The Soulforce group members had hoped to meet with Church leadership, although they described the meeting as "overall positive":

[Jason Conner, Equality Ride’s co-director] said Mormon officials also agreed to work on using "more inclusive language" and to reiterate to members that no gay person should "question their worth or value or be kicked out of their home because of their orientation or gender expression identity."

The church, for example, should stop describing members who were "struggling with their sexuality," Conner said. "I’m not struggling. I am completely comfortable with my sexuality."

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