Thousands Rally Against LGBT Rights In Houston

[theHandpuppet]

That's really depressing.

Think Progress
Thousands Rally Against LGBT Rights In Houston
by Zack Ford
Posted on November 3, 2014

Sunday evening, some of the most prominent organizations that work against LGBT equality joined together in Houston, Texas to rally in defense of “religious freedom.” The event, called “I Stand Sunday,” was hosted by Grace Community Church, whose pastor, Steve Riggle, was one of the five pastors originally subpoenaed for his role in challenging the LGBT-inclusive Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO).

The subpoenas, which Mayor Annise Parker (D) withdrew last week, were the catalyst for the rally, which largely functioned as a star-studded Christian worship service. Guests like Mike Huckabee, Todd Starnes from FOX News, and Phil Robertson from Duck Dynasty preached that religious liberty is under attack from LGBT equality...

...Many speakers focused on church revival, but some spoke explicitly in opposition to LGBT protections. Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Erik Stanley was on hand to highlight cases like the bakeries, florists, photographers, and for-profit wedding chapels, who he portrayed as victims for refusing to provide the same services for same-sex weddings that they provide for different-sex weddings. The Benham Brothers were also on hand to discuss how HGTV refused to produce their house-flipping television show because of their anti-LGBT positions.

Brad Pritchett, who has helped defend HERO by managing the HOUequality website, noticed several of the attendees wearing t-shirts that read, “We Reserve The Right To Refuse Service To Homosexuals,” including some children. The shirts included the URL for the website for No Unequal Rights, the pastors’ campaign to oppose HERO....

MORE at http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2014/11/03/3587817/i-stand-sunday-anti-lgbt-rally/

[JDDavis]

1. Very scary, because when "religious freedom" is defined as

being free to deny other people their rights, then, "Houston, we have a problem".

[Bluenorthwest]

2. Probably a coincidence, but the man who attacked the guy at Dallas airport last week also named

Benham.

[theHandpuppet]

4. Interesting.

The Benham brothers are originally from Texas. Also makes you wonder about another Benham from Dallas:
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/flip-benham

[theHandpuppet]

10. Aha! They are the sons of Flip Benham. That explains a lot.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelangelo-signorile/what-makes-men-gay_b_6083442.html
Michelangelo Signorile
Editor-at-large, HuffPost Gay Voices
What Makes Men 'Gay'?
11/03/2014

David and Jason Benham aren't gay. Each is married (to a woman), and they have nine children between them. In fact, the twin brothers lost their HGTV reality show, Flip It Forward, last April, before it even got off the ground, after videos and audio surfaced on Right Wing Watch showing David Benham condemning homosexuality as "demonic" and revealing that both brothers had led a prayer rally against "homosexuality and and its agenda." They are the sons of Flip Benham, who heads Operation Save America (which split off from the militant anti-abortion group Operation Rescue) and has stood in front of mosques yelling, "Jesus hates Muslims." And there they were at the Family Research Council's anti-gay "I Stand Sunday" rally in Houston yesterday, cavorting with Mike Huckabee.

Yet when the Benham brothers were hired for the HGTV show, their buff, chiseled looks, their sense of style and their flair for design couldn't have been lost on HGTV producers, who certainly know their audience includes lots of gay men who would be glued to their TVs watching these men charmingly buy fixer-upper homes and transform them. Interestingly, after the reports of their anti-gay activities surfaced and HGTV killed the show, the gaydar of many a gay blogger went off when they witnessed the pristinely groomed North Carolina brothers in their pastel-colored dress shirts defending themselves on CNN, or when they saw other photos of them in their just-a-bit-too-perfectly-styled T-shirts and baseball caps, looking like they were headed to the gay bar down the street. Americablog's John Aravosis noted they were dressing "as gay as possible" and commented on their "perfectly-coiffed" hair.

I recently interviewed the Benham brothers at the Values Voter Summit, the annual convention of religious political activists hosted by the Family Research Council. They were making the rounds along with others whom religious-right leaders claim have been targets of supposed attacks on religious freedom. (The Benhams, by the way, completely accept that HGTV, in canceling their show, made a business decision within the free market, and they bear no grudge against the network -- which is a bit refreshing compared with others who've been cast as "victims" of supposed attacks on their religious beliefs.) They're affable, and, if I didn't know better, I'd say they're a bit flirty. As I began to interview them, the first thing they did was comment on my outfit, both men running their fingers along my sports jacket. "Man, this guy is sharp," one of them said. "Look at this guy! I like this guy." (Listen to the audio below.) Honestly, had I not known anything about them and the controversy, I'd have thought I'd just met a pair of gay twins -- that is, until seconds later, when, with gleaming smiles on their faces, they quoted Bible verses, warned of the "depth of depravity" to which the culture has sunk and explained how "Satan has chosen homosexuality to slap an agenda over." (I should point out that I don't believe they knew I'm gay or knew anything about my background as a journalist, though of course my name and affiliation were made clear to them.) Then, at the end of the interview, they once again were commenting on my clothes. "Thank you," one of them said. "We loved it. You're a sharp guy.".... MORE at link provided above.

[PDJane]

3. I would have thought that people would learn from experience......

but apparently, this lot aren't going to. I think we may be in for a long, hard time, when human rights are subject to the whim of the ignorant.

[dhill926]

5. Fuck 'em....

[Ampersand Unicode]

6. Houston, you have a problem.

It's called bigotry. You look up the word in the dictionary and there's a picture of Texas.

[okasha]

9. They look that stupid right now.

This evening on my way home, I was behind a car with a decal that showed HelloKitty with her middle fingers raised and the slogan "Fuck the Haters."

I want one.

[Gothmog]

7. This makes me sad

Houston is a normally a friendly place

[LostOne4Ever]

8. I think that it is telling

[font style="font-family:papyrus,''Brush Script MT','comic sans MS',fantasy;" size=3 color=teal]That while the fundies fight for the right to be bigots and make life worse for a minority they hate; the LGBTQ community respond by spending their time helping the less fortunate and making their life just a little bit better. [/font]


[div class="excerpt" style="margin-left:1em; border:1px solid #bfbfbf; border-radius:0.4615em; box-shadow:3px 3px 3px #999999;"]LGBT activists countered “I Stand Sunday” with a Positive Impact Day. Instead of spending two hours preaching against equality, they spend the afternoon collecting winter clothes for the less fortunate.

[font style="font-family:papyrus,''Brush Script MT','comic sans MS',fantasy;" size=3 color=teal][font style="font-family:'Brush Script MT',''Lucida handwriting MT','forte',cursive;" size=5 color=crimson]Fundamentalist[/font], proving time and time again that they are truly crappy excuses for human beings![/font]

[Initech]

11. Rallying to support your bigotry isn't religious freedom. In fact it's quite the opposite.

I think we need to reeducate these people on what the real definition of the word "freedom" means.

[dbackjon]

12. So a KKK rally

[Zorra]

13. In their world, you couldn't pay them a bigger compliment. nt