Paul Ryan Tells 'Focus on the Family' He and Romney Will Block Equality for Gay People

Right Wing Watch has posted audio of a pledge from Paul Ryan to Focus on the Family president Jim Daly that the Romney-Ryan administration will fight gay equality.

Says Ryan when asked his thoughts about marriage:

It’s the foundation for society and for family for thousands of years. First of all, Mitt Romney and I — I’ll just say it, it’s worth repeating — we believe marriage is between one man and one woman, that’s number one. Number two, you know where I come from we had one of those amendments in Wisconsin, I was a big supporter of it and we passed it like you say, where it’s put on the ballot it passes. The second point is, President Obama gave up defending the Defense of Marriage Act in the courts, I mean, not only is this decision to abandon this law the wrong decision, it passed in a bipartisan manner, it is very troubling because it undermines not only traditional marriage but it contradicts our system of government. It’s not the president’s job to pick and choose which laws he likes. A Romney administration will protect traditional marriage and the rule of law and we will provide the Defense of Marriage Act the proper defense in the courts that it deserves.

Not a surprise, obviously. Just a reminder.

NYU Students, Rainbow Flag Creator Protest Anti-Gay Chick-fil-A

A few NYU students and rainbow flag-creator Gilbert Baker protested Chick-fil-A today for the fast food chain's massive financial support of anti-gay groups.

Kate Schaefer at Gothamist reports that the protest was organized by Hillary Dworkoski, an NYU student who started a change.org campaign to get Chick-Fil-A off the school's campus. (Gothamist also notes that the NYU location is the only Chick-fil-A in New York City, which is surprising, though nice.)

Some more:

While other vendors can be banned from campus for human rights violations, John Sexton (President, NYU) and the Student Senators Council maintain that this is a political issue, and they can't get involved, "I guess they just don't see that gay rights are human rights," says Dworkoski.

Dworkoski has been fighting this cause for a while and is running for a spot as Senator so that she can be on the Student Senators Council next year and pursue Chick-fil-A through student government. "Even if Chick-fil-A is never banned from campus, at least we're raising awareness about it and that's 13,000 more people that aren't eating Chick-fil-A," Dworkoski told us today.

In other Chick-fil-A news, Cord Jefferson today tore into equality-minded people who still partake in the unapologetic company's offerings: "If you find that it's impossible to stop eating at Chick-fil-A despite your deeply rooted pro-LGBT values, perhaps those values aren't as deep-seated as you think." I would say that's a fair assessment.

Soulforce Equality Ride to Meet with Focus on the Family

Soulforce announced today that it would meet with leaders from Focus on the Family for the first time since their tour began five years ago.

From Sunday, April 15 through Thursday, April 19, the "Equality Ride" will tour Denver and Colorado Springs, where they will meet with evangelical organization Focus on the Family, which has agreed to sit down with the "Equality Riders" for the first time in the five years of the tour. On Monday, Soulforce’s Executive Director Rev. Dr. Cindi Love will join the activists on Focus on the Family's campus to discuss the organization's oppressive values that target the LGBTQ and allied community. In past years, Focus on the Family has arrested individuals advocating for LGBTQ rights on their property.

Following the visit, Soulforce will address Young Life’s discriminatory position on LGBTQ rights by non-violently protesting outside the headquarters in Colorado Springs. On Tuesday, in a non-violent protest of Colorado Christian University's anti-LGBTQ policies, the "Riders" will address the school’s lack of anti-discrimination or bullying policies that would specifically protect the rights and safety of all students, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Along with the non-violent protests the “Riders” will be holding a service project at Clinica Tepeyac and networking events during their time in the Denver area.

Towleroad Guide to the Tube #1088

VANCOUVER CANUCKS: Ryan Kesler and Henrik Sedin talk about homophobia in hockey and the 'You Can Play' campaign.

PARENTS OF TRANSGENDER CHILDREN: It gets better.

JASON MRAZ: An American for marriage equality.

DAY OF DIALOGUE: Focus on the Family's Candi Cushman explains how Christian students are victimized and how the organization is planning to push its Biblical worldview in public schools across America.

For recent Guides to the Tube, click HERE.

'Focus on the Family' Files Colorado Ballot Initative To Allow Anti-Gay Discrimination Based on Religious Beliefs

On March 7, the Christianist Alliance Defense Fund sent a proposed ballot initative to he Colorado Legislative Council that would protect the rights of religious organizations or individuals to discriminate based on their beliefs, the Denver Post reports:

The draft language states that government may not directly or indirectly burden a person or organization by withholding benefits, assessing penalties or excluding a person or group from government programs or facilities.

...The amendment representative named is Tom Minnery (pictured), senior vice president of Focus on the Family.

Minnery...denies it's spurred by the national debate over religious freedom and conscience-based exemptions to national health care mandates, such as required coverage of birth control.

LGBT rights group One Colorado is alarmed:

Focus on the Family is attacking our families, filing a ballot initiative that would legalize discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Coloradans. If passed, this initiative would allow anyone with a religious conviction to deny employment, housing, or services to LGBT people.

The initiative’s language — which focuses on “religious liberty” — is incredibly deceptive. It doesn’t make clear the widespread implications of enacting this law. Implications that don’t just impact LGBT people — but all Coloradans.

Imagine a law that allows a pharmacist to refuse to fill a birth control prescription. A law that permits an employer to refuse to hire people on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity and expression. A law that gives protection to teachers who refuse to teach sex education or evolution. All for the sake of so-called religious freedom.

The deadline for objection to the petition is Monday and One Colorado says they need help raising $5,000 to fight it.

Focus on the Family's 'Day of Dialogue' Horror Movie Trailer: VIDEO

Day of Dialogue, the Focus on the Family-sponsored Christianist response to GLSEN's Day of Silence, in which students take a vow of silence to call attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in their schools, has posted a new promotional video.

During their Day of Dialogue on April 19, Focus on the Family basically shoves its Biblical worldview in students' faces in the guise of a "conversation" in what can only be called a national student day against gays.

Watch their new "trailer" (as in horror movie), AFTER THE JUMP...