“[The LGBT provisions] were highlighted in a story posted on the left newsblog Minnesota Independent,” wrote Tom Prichard, president of the religious right group, on Tuesday. “They correctly conclude that the focus of pro-life and social conservatives was the battle over abortion coverage mandates in the bill. But then go on to point out a number of provisions slipped in by homosexual activists ‘unnoticed.’ [sic]”

The Family Council says that opposing the “use of our taxpayer dollars to kill, eventually, millions of unborn children, was of supreme importance.”

He continued, “That, however, doesn’t negate the significance of many of provisions [sic] which seek to redefine and thus undermine the basic structure of the natural family. This is, of course, where homosexual activists ultimately want to go.”

But, the group was quick to note its opposition to the LGBT items passed on Saturday. “The provisions show homosexual activists are once again turning to government as a vehicle for indoctrinating young students,” Prichard wrote.

A quick survey of websites of national religious right groups suggests that the Family Council is the first to speak out against those new LGBT health policies, which included better access to Medicaid for HIV-positive Americans, comprehensive sex education, governmental research into health disparities among LGBT people and an end to the taxing of same-sex partner benefits.

Photo: WDCpix

While abortion politics dominated conservative opposition to the health care reform package that barely passed the U.S. House on Saturday evening, several measures in the bill that are beneficial to LGBT Americans largely went unnoticed — especially by conservatives.

The Human Rights Campaign reports it successfully lobbied to get five provisions important to the LGBT community included in the final bill.

Currently, the government doesn’t track health disparities based on sexual orientation and gender identity like it does for race, economic status, marital status, age and a number of other characteristics. The bill that passed the House would add those categories to the government’s data collection practices and would for the first time be able to determine health disparities. That would enable the government to direct funding for research and public health efforts to address those disparities. A similar bill has been offered in Congress, the Ending Health Disparities for LGBT Americans Act.

The House bill also contains language from the Tax Equity for Health Plan Beneficiaries Act. Employer-paid health benefits for a domestic partner are taxed by the federal government as income but benefits for spouses are not. That means same-sex couples that utilize their employers’ health plan pay income taxes that married couples do not. The bill that passed the House on Saturday would fix that inequity.

An important disparity in the treatment of HIV is remedied in the bill. In order for people living with HIV to qualify for Medicaid programs they must have a diagnosis of AIDS — which often comes after years of living with the disease. The new legislation would enable states to qualify individuals who are newly diagnosed with HIV disease for Medicaid programs. That policy is included in the bill as the Early Treatment for HIV Act.

Strong protections to prevent discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in health insurance and in the health care system also made it into the House bill.

Finally, the bill provides funding for comprehensive sex education programs that include relevant information for LGBT students.

Many of these policies have drawn fire from the religious right in the past, but recently such groups have been exerting most of their opposition to opposing abortion rights in the health reform bill. And the Stupak Amendment, which aims to ban any federal funding to cover abortion services, dominated the debate over the bill.

For instance, Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth, who railed against the tax equity bill in July, hasn’t mentioned its inclusion in the health bill.

The American Family Association opposed fixing health disparities for LGBT people as early as February, but abandoned that cause to fight against the inclusion of abortion rights in the health reform bill.

And the Family Research Council seems to have completely missed any notice of the LGBT provisions in the bill. The group spent a considerable amount of time and money on opposing abortion in the health reform bill, and FRC president Tony Perkins was even a featured speaker at Rep. Michele Bachmann’s “House Call” event opposing health care reform. He spoke about abortion.

Update: Now Minnesota Family Council is noticing LGBT measures in healthcare bill

“[T]oday, in 2009, in our country, it’s still perfectly legal to fire someone because they’re gay,” Franken told the committee. “You can be a hard worker, show up on time, and get exemplary performance reviews, but if your boss discovers that you’re gay or transgender, they can fire you, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Franken noted that Minnesota was the first state in the nation to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and the sky hasn’t fallen here.

Now, most Minnesotans attend religious services every week. Minnesota is home to 19 Fortune 500 companies. Minnesotans enjoy a very high standard of living. So it might surprise some of you that the Minnesota Human Rights Act was passed in 1993. This law protects workers from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. This law has been protecting workers from discrimination for fifteen years, and Minnesota’s sky has not fallen. Minnesota is basically the same as it was before this law was passed with only one small exception—about 20 or so people per year exercise their rights under this law after they are discriminated against based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Only one person spoke against the bill. Craig Parshall, Senior Vice President and General Counsel for the National Religious Broadcasters Association, said ENDA would “impose a substantial, unconstitutional burden on religious organizations.”

Despite those concerns, the bill does state that it “shall not apply to a corporation, association, educational institution or institution of learning, or society that is exempt from the religious discrimination provisions of title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”

Here’s video of Franken’s remarks:

Image: Glen, Flickr

Friday was historic for LGBT Americans as President Obama signed into law a hate crimes bill that includes sexual orientation and gender identity. But some among Minnesota’s religious right didn’t receive the news warmly, saying the law will bring the wrath of God down on America, that Obama is an “anti-Christian radical” and that the bill was a plot by “homosexuals” to silence Christians.

Bradlee Dean of You Can Run But You Cannot Hide ministries in Annandale, a group that brings its message of Christianity and morality into public high schools, slammed the passing of the hate crimes bill on his Saturday radio show, the School of Hard Knocks Roxxs. “If you grab the bull, you are going to get the horns. I want you to listen to me carefully,” he said. “America, as this is being passed again against the majority, I guarantee you that judgments are going to increase in our country… When you begin to pass laws against what God’s words say, God promises to turn that nation into hell that forgets him and if you want to go ahead play the Lord on a national level… Folks, just sit back because it’s only beginning right now.”

Dean repeatedly called gays and lesbians criminals, a familiar theme on his show. The bill, he said, is “there to protect the homosexuals that are perpetrating crimes against the righteous, and you need to understand that Obama’s calling for the decriminalization of homosexuality and he is calling for the criminalization — without saying it — of you.”

On gay marriage, he said, “So the homosexual communities are asking the government for help legalizing that which is illegal. They are also asking for a health care plan to help cure their AIDS from that same government that said it’s okay go ahead and do it.”

He continued, “Rest assured those ignorant homosexuals out there are working overtime to silence the dissent. They want to shut you up.”

Meanwhile, Jan Markell of the Maple Grove–based Olive Tree Ministries, condemned the bill on her popular “end times” radio show on AM 980 KKMS.

“I think that Christians who dare to tell the truth — including this program — about the social, moral, spiritual and health consequences of illicit homosexual acts are accused of hate speech and intimated into silence with threats of fines or jail,” she said. “I think this: The fact that the hate bill had to be passed in such an unscrupulous and cynical manner — which means attaching it to the Defense Authorization Act — reveals the depth of President Obama’s commitment to a radical anti-Christian agenda. I think he will stop at nothing to undermine the will of the majority of Americans to pay back militant homosexual activists who raised millions of dollars for him.”

She continued, “It shows the level of contempt President Obama has for the majority of Americans who oppose the homosexualization of marriage, the military and public education… We really have our work cut out for us.”

Although it has spoken out against the bill in the past, the Minnesota Family Council has been uncharacteristically silent on the bill’s passage and did not reply to a request from the Minnesota Independent. The group’s website says the bill will impose “fines or jail time if you publicly speak out against homosexual activity — even on moral or religious grounds — and a court determines your message might arouse people to hate homosexuals.”

Nationally, religious right leaders were livid. “Public school curriculum could be built entirely on the idea of what is illegal hate in our culture,” said Craig Parshall, chief counsel for National Religious Broadcasters (NRB). “And our children could be indoctrinated [to believe that] if you criticize another religion or mention Jesus as being the only way, that’s hateful— [or] if you say that homosexuality is a sin, that’s hateful.”

Family Research Council president Tony Perkins said the bill is “part of a radical social agenda that could ultimately silence Christians and use the force of government to marginalize anyone whose faith is at odds with homosexuality.”

Of course, what the religious right doesn’t mention is that religion has been covered by federal hate crimes law since its inception in the 1960.

“I knew Nate felt strongly. I anticipated (his resignation), but it’s not what I wanted,” associate pastor David Sperstad told the Brainerd Dispatch. “I expected to work with him in ministry for quite a while.”

In early October, a Minneapolis church voted to leave the ELCA over the vote. And a number of churches throughout the state are considering the same.

In Houston, Tex., city controller Annise Parker, who is a lesbian, is running for mayor, but a lit piece sent out to voters last month says that a homosexual should not lead the city.

“Annise Parkers lifestyle that of being a HOMOSEXUAL is not the proper role model to lead the fourth largest city in the United States,” it read. “The Bible speaks clearly against the lifestyle she represents, James 1:8 says, ‘A double minded man is confused in all his ways’. She does not believe in what the scripture says about her lifestyle which in return means she doesn’t believe in God.”

The flier was signed by Christians for Better Government, but the group said it didn’t create the piece and claimed that someone else is using their name.

In Akron, Ohio, Sandra Kurt is running for city council. Last week, a flier signed, “A concerned neighbor,” slammed Kurt for being a lesbian.

The flier says she has “no education or experience in government other than political activism for special rights for homosexuals.” The flier also accuses “homosexuals” of working to “sensor [sic] speech against homosexuality (e.g.. criminalize reading bible passages in church that condemn homosexual behavior), prohibit insurance coverage for therapy to repair their deviant lifestyles, require schools to teach children that homosexual behavior is natural and acceptable.”

In 2008, Ken Herndon, an openly gay candidate for the Louisville, Ky., Metro Council, lost his primary challenge by 112 votes after an anonymous flier “featured a photo of Herndon’s face planted atop the body of a man embracing two other men kissing at a gay-pride parade.” The flier read, “[Herndon] wants us to elect him because he designed new garbage cans?! I guess when you live a life of trash you become pretty familiar with garbage cans.”

Such unsigned fliers attacking LGBT candidates are a common tactic and often are effective at playing to people’s prejudices. Earlier this year, openly gay candidate Derrick Hankerson lost his bid for Dania Beach City Commission in Florida by a scant 98 votes after an anonymous flier portrayed him as “a radical gay drug-dealing felon” was distributed. He plans to sue for libel.

Yet, despite the prevalence of the practice, more and more LGBT people are getting elected into office. According to the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, the are 450 openly LGBT elected officials in the United States. And during the 2009 off-season elections, the group is tracking 76 LGBT candidates.

Photo: WDCPix

President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard Act into law on Wednesday ending a decade of efforts by LGBT and human rights groups to get sexual orientation and gender identity included in federal hate crime laws.

The bill was named for Matthew Shepard, a Wyoming college student, who was murdered because of his sexual orientation in 1998.

“After more than a decade, we have passed inclusive hate crimes legislation,” said President Obama. “I promised Judy and Dennis Shepard that this day would come and I’m glad they could join us for this event.”

Obama also praised the late-Sen. Ted Kennedy who was a fierce advocate for the bill.

LGBT rights groups immediately hailed the signing of the bill.

“We applaud President Obama for signing this bill into law and thank the leadership and our allies in the House and Senate. We also will always remember the tireless efforts of Senator Edward Kennedy on this issue,” said Joe Solmonese of the Human Rights Campaign. “This marks the first time that we as a nation have explicitly protected the LGBT community in the law. And this law sends a loud message that perpetrators of hate violence against anyone will be brought to justice.”

Jennifer Chrisler, executive director of the Family Equality Council, said, “I applaud the President and all of Congress for passing this historic bill into law. I also thank Judy Shepard, Matthew Shepard’s mother, for her courageous battle and her work towards passing this Act. Her commitment and passion are a true testament to the love of a parent.” She continued, “This bill will provide the resources and protections needed to ensure greater safety to our children, parents and all members of LGBT families.”

Source: Wikipedia

Minneapolis’ First Avenue appears to have canceled an Oct. 4 concert by controversial Jamaican reggae artist Buju Banton after the Minnesota Independent inquired about the appearance. Banton, whose lyrics have advocated killing gay men — both with submachine guns and by pouring acid on them — has had a handful of shows canceled by venues after pressure from the public.

“Two man a hug up on an’ kiss up on an’ lay down inna bed, hug up on another anna rub dung leg,” Banton sings in Boom Boom Bye. “Send fi di matic an’ di Uzi instead. Shoot di batty boy come if we shot dem.”

The song extols woman as the “prettiest thing God ever put on di land,” then includes this threat to gay men who might approach Banton: “Guy come near we, then his skin must peel. Burn him up bad like an old tire wheel.”

But controversy surrounding Banton extends beyond his lyrics. In 2004, he was investigated over the beatings of six gay men in Jamaica’s capital city of Kingston; he was acquitted in 2006 for lack of evidence. Human rights activists pointed out at the time that Jamaican authorities tend not to handle such cases aggressively.

“There is a pattern of police indifference to attacks on gay men in Jamaica that goes far beyond what Buju Banton is alleged to have done in this case,” Rebecca Schleiser of Human Rights Watch told The Guardian in 2004, months before Banton’s trial. “Neither his fame nor the stigma attached to the victims should stand in the way of a full, fair and complete police investigation.”

As of Tuesday morning, First Avenue had the show listed on its calendar. The Minnesota Independent wrote to the promotions and marketing departments early Tuesday afternoon asking if the club had faced any pressure for booking the show and what policies they have on hosting controversial acts.

The club didn’t respond to those requests, but by Tuesday evening, the event had been removed from the club’s website and the show’s Ticketmaster page listed the show as canceled.

First Avenue didn’t return a request for information about the cancellation. First Avenue’s cancellation adds to a growing list: Last week, promoters AEG and Live Nation canceled six of his shows due to outrage from LGBT groups in Chicago and Los Angeles.

“I hope this victory sends a deafeningly loud message to other promoters and concert venues that singers who glorify violence against LGBT people, or any group of people, should never be welcomed,” said L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center Chief Executive Officer Lorri L. Jean, after the center spearheaded a successful effort to have Banton’s shows shut down in Los Angles. “It shouldn’t be necessary for us to pressure promoters to do the right thing; people like Banton should never have been booked in the first place.”

While seven shows have been cut, Banton’s tour still includes 20 other scheduled stops.

Sen. John Marty, who has announced his campaign for governor, had a large presence at the festival and parade. St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, widely rumored to be running for governor, was a long way from home on Sunday when he and a contingent of supporters walked in the parade. Sen. Al Franken was also in the parade.

Protesters turned out during the festival and parade warning attendees that they must repent or burn in hell.

There were only a half-dozen protesters who heckled the crowd with a megaphone. At the parade, members of the Superior Police Department managed to isolate them.

International drag star RuPaul entertained thousands at Bayfront Park. She told the crowd to work toward making the next generation an inclusive one for LGBT people.

Locke told American Jewish World that he and Hewitt will be having a traditional Jewish wedding with some small changes. “The differences are going to be small, and it’s really going to be in the language, the things that the rabbi says, but there’s still going to be the chupa and the glass stomping and the seven brachot,” he said.

Amy Johnson of OutFront Minnesota, the state’s largest LGBT advocacy organization, is Jewish and told AJW that the decision to bless same-sex unions is a positive one for the community.

“I’m very proud that they are offering the dignity and respect that our families deserve. I would expect nothing less of Temple of Aaron to embrace the fact that love and a commitment to have a Jewish household is worthy of celebration,” said Johnson. “I hope [other synagogues] embrace the same tikkun olam [as Temple of Aaron].”

Temple of Aaron’s mottos are “You are always welcome at the Temple of Aaron” and “Temple of Aaron is where all members can feel valued and connected to the community.”