Anti-Gay Child Street Preacher Comes from a Family of Them, Was Indoctrinated with Hate: VIDEO

Yesterday I posted a clip of a little kid yelling at Easter Sunday churchgoers about Leviticus at the LGBT-friendly Green Street United Methodist Church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

“The Bible talks about that the homosexuals are worthy of death.  Not only them that do it, but them that approve of it. They are worthy of death!”

So who is this kid? His name is Nolan, and his story is a sick tale of religious indoctrination.

Jim W at evoL did a bunch of research:

This was not Nolan’s first performance yelling at innocent strangers on the street. In a previous performance outside a courthouse he actively invited them to disobey secular law.

The website Official Street Preacher Blogspot gives insight into the Cranford family. According to the site, “Nolan has been watching preach clips from youtube like children playing videos or watching cartoons”...

...When Nolan was four, he was started on the streets yelling at passersby. The Cranfords are the anti-gay’s acceptable “traditional” family: one man, one woman. Nolan and his younger siblings were home schooled by his mom, while he was encouraged in his public disturbance vocation by the cohorts of his father. One reported, “We all stayed at the Cranford’s home and we celebrated their sons birthday on our last day of preaching, Nolan was to turn 8 later that month but we celebrated it that evening. He has been inspired by his father and the many youtube clips of open air preachers nationwide, as most kids his age would watch cartoons or play on the computer, he watched preaching videos… after dinner we had a birthday cake and placed Noland on the hot seat. From there a few street preachers questioned him and if he gave the correct answer, he got $20.00 an answer … He made a few bucks that night.”

So when religious right-wingers sermonize that gays are indoctrinating kids, you can point them to this story and tell them what real indoctrination kids.

I've reposted the clip, AFTER THE JUMP...

North Carolina Cafe Owner Hands Lesbian Couple Letter Condemning Homosexuality As They Leave

Ariel and Shawnee McPhail, a married lesbian couple from North Carolina, say Ed McGovern, the owner of the Sting Ray Cafe in New Bern, handed them a letter as they left his restaurant, condemning their homosexuality, WCTI reports.

Said the letter:

God said in the last days that man and wom[a]n would be lover of self, more [than] the lover of God.

That man and woman would have unnatural [affection] for one another. Then, the coming of the Son of Man, who is Jesus. So please, look at your life. See how it hurt[s] everyone around you. And ask the Lord to open your eye[s] before it [is] to[o] late.

The Love of Christ

P.S. my daughter also was gay. It destroy[ed] her life and my grandson."

McGovern says he didn't like that the couple was kissing outside his restaurant, which they deny doing.

"First of all, we didn't kiss. We don't kiss in public. We were holding hands," said Shawnee McPhail. "Secondly, if I did kiss my wife in public, what married couple would you go to and say, 'how dare you. You cannot hold hands and you cannot kiss in public therefore you deserve my judgement.'"

Watch WCTI's interview with the couple HERE. Read the letter below.

Documentary Tackles Love, Equality, NC's Amendment One: VIDEO

An upcoming documentary (now in post-production) looks at North Carolina's Amendment One.

Writes director Becca Roth:

I dreamed of one day making a documentary that approached the issue of gay rights from a different perspective: one of compassion, empathy, and relating as human beings.

Then, in the fall of 2011, when I heard about the proposed constitutional amendment in North Carolina, a place that is very politically divided and often considered a swing state,  I knew I had my film. I launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the project, and it was so heartening to find out how many other people, friends and strangers alike, wanted to see this film get made and see these conversations happen. Soon I found myself in the breathtaking mountains of North Carolina, reaching out to as many different people as I could, trying to get to know them as people and  find out where they’re coming from.

The original title of the film was Hear Our Stories, but after spending months talking people from all walks of life, who on the surface appear as though they could not be more different from one another, I realized something. Something that I was hoping to find all along: People are people. And we are all one.

Watch the trailer, AFTER THE JUMP...

150 Game Changing Wins that Made 2012 the Gayest Year Ever

A remarkably short four decades ago, the Stonewall Revolt of 1969 opened the flood gates for LGBT rights. The closet, so sturdy for so long, started being swept away in a rush of pride. Still, LGBT Americans lived in a culture of "tolerance," a popular euphemism for enduring.

There have been momentous years since then — both Barney Frank's 1987 coming out and the 2003 Supreme Court ruling overturning anti-sodomy laws come to mind — but when we look back in twenty years time or ten or even five, 2012 will be remembered as quantum leap for LGBT rights in the United States of America. It's the year that equality went from being a far-off dream to becoming an inevitable, immutable and irreversible reality. Even Newt Gingrich agrees!

This was the year of equality, the year the American dream came into sharper focus and the nation crossed from begrudgingly tolerating gays, and sometimes even acknowledging their relationships, to demanding our inclusion in the greater American family. Coming out is for the large part no longer a big deal, which is a big deal in and of itself.

There have never been as many out and proud elected officials; never before has Wall Street embraced us with such force; never before have so many conservatives admitted they need to shift gears on marriage equality and embrace change. This was a year of "never before" and "never again."

AFTER THE JUMP, 150 reasons why 2012 was a year of permanence for LGBT Americans, a year that the next wave of rights began its swoop across the purple mountain majesty and above the fruited plain.

And for more of our 2012 Year in Review, be sure to read "I'm Gay: 50 Most Powerful Comings Outs of 2012" HERE.

News: Michael Urie, Linda Harvey, RuPaul, Israel

Some bad news for gay actor Michael Urie: CBS decided his latest television venture, Partners, based on Will & Grace creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan's real-life friendship, didn't meet the ratings mark and gave it the ax.

"Who killed the Twinkie?"

The gay conservative group GOProud, in an email called "Unions Killed Twinkies," say they've stocked up and will give one to people who donate at least $50 to their right wing cause. Is it worth it?

David Petraeus' affair is the gays' fault. Because, you know, why not?

Rihanna and Kanye remix "Diamonds".

Baby ducks and kittens make a great match.

University of Michigan professor and author David Halperin discusses his new book, How To Be Gay. Part of the book looks at why gay men often celebrate certain types of celebrities, like Lady Gaga. Says Halperin, "What my analysis implies is that one way to explain gay male culture’s investment in some of these figures is to say that gay culture is responding to certain hierarchies of gender and sexuality that pervade the cultural field."

The sun has been exceptionally gassy this week.

At least 42 Palestinians and 3 Israelis have been killed in the increasingly violent and worrisome conflict between the two sides.

The White House says Israel "has the right to defend itself".

Take a listen to Will.i.am and Britney Spears' new single, "Scream and Shout".

Zac Efron pumping... his gas.

Gay activists in North Carolina are preparing for a fight to pass employment non-discrimination across the Tar Heel State. Said Stuart Campbell, executive director for Equality North Carolina, "We’re going to have to grow the base by creating coalitions and working with folks on the local level with lots of different communities. We’ll be building a movement that will ultimately lead to a statewide effort.”

The Twin Peaks bar in San Francisco's Castro District has been given landmark status.

Happy birthday, RuPaul!

The United Nations have until Tuesday to decide whether or not to come out against state-sponsored discrimination against LGBT people.

Rather than getting with the times and learning to accept the fact that there are gay people in this world, Linda Harvey and her conservative group, Mission: America, are trying to boycott all of the companies that scored well on Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index. From their form letter: "You are highly-rated by the [HRC] as a company supportive of many aspects of the homosexual activist agenda. I am hoping you have done this out of ignorance about the true nature of both homosexuality and the goals of aggressive homosexual advocacy."

UNC-Chapel Hill To Open Gender-Neutral Dorms

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is adopting new dorm rules to help students, particularly LGBT students, feel more comfortable in their school-provided digs.

From local ABC affiliate WWAY-3:

The board of trustees unanimously endorsed Thursday "gender-neutral" housing. Supporters of the gender non-specific housing option say the move would help students - specifically gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students - who are being harassed and bullied in traditional on-campus housing.

Students will be able to apply for the option of choosing roommates of either gender in campus suites and apartments. The university already has coed dorms but students of the opposite sex do not share rooms.

How long before the right gives this some kind of "gay agenda" spin.