Atheism, fuck yeah!
Welcome atheists, skeptics, freethinkers all,
to this little corner of godlessness.
~Mooglets

California became the first state toban the use for minors of disputed therapies to “overcome” homosexuality, a step hailed by gay rights groups across the country that say the therapies have caused dangerous emotional harm to gay and lesbian teenagers. In a statement,California Gov. Jerry Brownsaid, “This bill bans non-scientific ‘therapies’ that have driven young people to depression and suicide. These practices have no basis in science or medicine and they will now be relegated to the dustbin of quackery.”

This law, which goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2013, will prohibit attempts by mental health providers to perform therapy on minors intended to change their sexual orientation, including efforts to “change behaviors or gender expressions, or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.”

Christine P. Sun, deputy legal director for the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and director of its LGBT rights project,commented on the significance of this law:

This is a great day for youth in California who have been subjected to incredibly harmful therapy based on junk science. Conversion therapy has brought nothing but pain and devastation for many who have endured it. Sadly, the conversion therapy movement has pushed its message for decades — despite the dangers of this practice — and has increasingly targeted LGBT youth across the country. Passing this law is an important step for California and the nation to raise awareness about the lies behind conversion therapy and put an end to this junk science.

Emphasis here on the phrase “junk science.”The American Psychological Association denounced the use of ex-gay therapies. Furthermore, in 2012Dr. Robert Spitzerrefuted his earlier infamous claims touted by the ex-gay movement as gospel that “highly motivated” gay people could reach their “heterosexual potential” through prayer and therapy. Even theex-gay group Exodus Internationalbacked away from promising a cure for “homosexuality” though they and other like minded groups still maintain that “homosexuality” represents a sin that one must overcome.

Wayne Besen, executive director of Truth Wins Out, notes that while the California law might be a milestone, it should be seen as a first step. He said that “the ideas in reparative therapy have been widely adopted by church ministries and others promoting the idea that homosexual urges can be banished .”

As expected organizations like theLiberty Counseland theNational Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH)who advance the view that “homosexuality is a choice” took to the airwaves and Internet to justify their use of debunked medical practices under the guise of “religious freedom” and “parental rights.”

These “pro-family” activists conveniently ignore the glaring reality that this law does not force any religious entity or individual to go against their individual conscience. Within the confines of their church or home school scenarios, clergy and parents have considerable latitude when it comes to teaching the doctrines of their particular faith tradition. (In a similar vein, no law supporting marriage equality will force anyone to perform a same sex wedding. Ordained clergy have the right to refuse to marry anyone for any reason, a simple fact lost on those determined to legislate their view of Americana Christianity on to an ever increasing pluralistic public square.)

Under this law, unlicensed “Christian” counselors can continue their practice of “praying away the gay.” Hence, parents can still find resources should they wish to “cure” their children from the “sin of homosexuality” provided they can pay for the cost of these treatments. However, this law denies those mental health professionals who hold licenses issued by the state of California from engaging in practices deemed to be harmful to minor children. Should they continue to practice ex-gay therapies, they will risk censure and loss of their license. Simply put, if one wants the benefits that comes with having a state issued license such as insurance reimbursement, then one has to follow the civil laws issued by that state.

This law continues in the spirit of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Bob Jones University vs. United States (1983) where the SCOTUS decreed that those faith-based organizations who choose to avail themselves to financial incentives offered by the U.S. government like tax-exempt status and federal funding must abide by civil laws or risk losing said financial incentives.

—-

WashingtonPost

Good. Not the end point, but definitely an important step along the way. 

~Mooglets

Allowing women to drive in Saudi Arabia would mean no more virgins and an increase in homosexuality, according to academics at Saudi Arabia’s highest religious council, Majlis al-Ifta’ al-A’ala, it has been reported in the Telegraph.

More pornography would be used if women were allowed on the roads and rates of prostitution and divorce would also rise, the report stated.

Produced in conjunction with Kamal Subhi, a former professor at the King Fahd University, the study into repealing the ban predicted that there would be no more virgins left in the Arab kingdom in 10 years.

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world which bans women from driving.

Professor Subhi described sitting in a coffee shop in an unnamed Arab state where “all the women were looking at me“.

“One made a gesture that made it clear that she was available,” he said. “This is what happens when women are allowed to drive.”

The report was produced for the country’s legislative assembly, the Shura Council. However this institution has no power as Saudi Arabia is ruled by a monarchy with absolute power.

The state’s controversial ban on female drivers last came under attack in September after Shaima Jastaniya was sentenced to 10 lashes just days after Saudi King Abdullah granted women the right to vote. The punishment was overturned after international and domestic pressure.

Saudi Arabia is currently considering a law for women to cover up their eyes if they are deemed too“tempting.”

HuffPo

WHAT. WTF Saudia Arabia. Seriously? 

All bolding in the above is mine. Because WHAT.

Seriously, Saudi Arabi, what the fuck are you doing. 

I cannot respond to this coherently right now. Jesus fucking christ.

~Mooglets

DEFENDERS of Cornwall’s new faith secondary school have hit back at critics’ “orchestrated attack to undermine” it.

Supporters and representatives argued there was a need for St Michael’s Catholic free school as a place to teach moral values.

Wallace Simmons, the grandfather of a former student, called a meeting with governor Joyce Sanderson, Father Chris Findlay, priest at the church associated with the school at Camborne, and the West Briton in response to criticism over its funding from the Government as it prepares to open next week.

Formerly St Michael’s Catholic Small School in Truro, it is now the UK’s first Catholic free secondary, funded directly from the Government, rather than through the local education authority.

The school was dubbed an “ideological gimmick” by the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and local politicians and a head teacher criticised the £4.5 million being spent to extend it, despite 600 available places at secondaries in the Camborne, Pool and Redruth area.

This week Mr Wallace called the criticism an “orchestrated attack to undermine the school”.

“The whole population is taught that homosexuality is fine and children should accept they can have two mums or dads but they should not be taught that nonsense. It is not right,” Mr Simmons said.

“Schools are not teaching basic family values and that mum and dad are the heads of the family and that’s how it should be.

“There are so many problems in schools today where basic family values are not taught and it is OK for Jack to marry Jack and not Jill.

“The morals of this country should not be dragged down.”

Mrs Sanderson was quick to reassure that the school would not discriminate over sexuality, but said those students from homosexual backgrounds were expected to respect Catholic values on family life.

“Gays would be welcome to this school,” she said, “but we would not encourage it.

“We want to know they (children) are happy to follow our teaching and that’s crucial. We do not wish to make children unhappy and refer to their home circumstances.

“I think those people who declare their views are entitled to express them as much as I am entitled to do so.

“The school follows the teaching of Catholic values and treatment (of children) is charitable.

“We lay down what you should try to follow but how people follow it is their business.”

The school also assured it had a good track record and something positive to offer to the community.

Father Findlay said Catholic education was not a gimmick but a “strong brand” and “something many people value”.

He added: “We have our own ethos and approach to school. We have a clear understanding about the human person and how a person fits into the society including everything from marriage, work- place, family life, self-discipline and clarity of moral values.”

thisiscornwall

Excuse me. Government funding. GOVERNMENT FUNDING. WTF. 

Also, fuck you, Catholicism. Fuck. You.

~Mooglets

The religious stood together today outside of Chick-Fil-A’s nationwide.

More, in fact, at one time than we’ve ever seen waiting for a chance to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, or stand up for social outcasts whom society has marginalized… like the entire homosexual community.

You know, things Jesus actually told his followers to do.

Irony is a bitch.

Today, Christians stood up for what they call “traditional marriage”, even though most forms of traditional marriage in the Christian Bible are illegal in the US (and for good reason). And all this despite the fact that Jesus was conceived out of wedlock and grew up with (arguably) two fathers. Where does any of that fit into the Religious Right’s image of traditional family values?

Isn’t it weird to live in a so-called Christian nation that would have cut funding to programs Jesus’ own family would have greatly benefitted from? But I digress…

The larger question looming over this entire debate is: Where would that first century bastard-son-of-a-carpenter-turned-social-revolutionary even fit in our modern American society when it comes to the whole marriage debacle?

Does anyone out there really think he’d have been seen waiting in line for a (relatively adequate) chicken sandwich while simultaneously opposing equality? Probably not. In fact, that sounds like something that might hinder people from hearing the Christian message of love and acceptance. And he probably wouldn’t have been protesting on the other side of the parking lot, either.

Continue to read this article at An American Atheist

A Catholic hospitalis being suedfor denial of HIV medication to a gay man “for going against God’s will.”

Trinitas Regional Medical Center, says Joao Simoes, admitted him last August but then denied him the medicine he needed and also would not let his sister see him.

Denial of access to medicine for people living with HIV/AIDS, even for short periods, can have serious consequences for long term survival because ofdrug resistance. This can result from missing as few as five doses — which Simoes says he missed.

The complaint says that after admittance he metDr. Susan V. Borga. She asked him how he had acquired HIV and “closed the plaintiff’s file, put it down and looked at plaintiff with disgust on her face and asked, coldly, ‘Is that from sex with men?’”

Three days later, he was finally permitted to ring his personal physician and learned that he had already told Borga about his medication, but he had not received any or been visited by any doctor.

Borga had allegedly told his physician: “You must be gay, too, if you’re his doctor.”

The complaint adds:

Additionally, apparently realizing that plaintiff’s doctor had an accent, Dr. Borga exclaimed, “What, do you need a translator?” to which plaintiff’s doctor had again responded that Dr. Borga needed to give plaintiff his HIV medication.

Dr. Borga responded to plaintiff’s doctor by stating, “This is what he gets for going against God’s will,” and hung up the phone on plaintiff’s doctor.

American Medical Association (AMA) policy is that“physicians can conscientiously object to the treatment of a patient only in non-emergent situations” and that they “must provide alternative(s) which include a prompt and appropriate referral.”

Principle I of the AMA Principles of Medical Ethics calls upon physicians to provide medical care with compassion and respect for human dignity and rights. Accordingly, physicians may not decline to accept patients based on their race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or “any other basis that would constitute invidious discrimination”

You can sign a petition to Trinitas here.

Care2

That is some fucked up shit right there. 

~Mooglets

A gay Iowa teenager has been told that he cannot receive the Matthew Shepard Scholarship at his Catholic school’s annual awards ceremony.

Prince of Peace Catholic school senior Keaton Fuller was initially told that he could accept the scholarship at his school’s awards ceremony on May 20. According to the Eychaner Foundation of Des Moines, which granted the scholarship, Fuller even learned of the scholarship from his school, and the principal issued a statement to notify the scholarship committee that he could accept the award at the ceremony.

But weeks later, the opportunity to formally accept the scholarship at his high school has been revoked after pressure from the local Catholic diocese. “It is difficult to understand how after I have spent 13 years at this school and worked hard during all of them, I would be made to feel that my accomplishments are less than everybody else’s,” Fuller wrote in a letter to the student body and staff. “This whole ordeal has been incredibly hurtful, and I am even sadder that this will be one of my last experiences to remember my high school years by.”

The Matthew Shepard Scholarship grants $40,000 to an openly LGBT student attending the University of Iowa the following fall. Fuller won the scholarship based on his academic work as well as his efforts to reduce homophobia at school and in his community.

As of Tuesday morning, more than 4,000 people have signed a Change.org petition supporting Fuller and asking the school’s principal, superintendent Leland Morrision, and Bishop Martin J. Amos change their minds.

Advocate.com

At least one boy under the age of 16 was castrated to ‘help’ his homosexual feelings while in Catholic church care in the 1950s, the NRC reported on Saturday.

But there are indications at least 10 other boys were also castrated, the paper said. The claims were not included in the Deetman report on sexual abuse within the Catholic church published at the end of last year.

The paper says the one confirmed case concerned a boy - Henk Heithuis - who reported being sexually abused by priests to the police in 1956. After giving evidence, he was placed in a Catholic-run psychiatric institution where he was then castrated because of his ‘homosexual behaviour’.

Evidence

The paper says the Deetman committee was informed about the castrations in writing but did not include mention of them in its report because ‘there were few leads for further research’.

The Deetman committee was set up by the church itself in 2010 after the sexual abuse scandal broke. It reported in December having identified some 800 priests and monks who abused children in their care between 1945 and 1985.

In addition, church officials, bishops and lay people were aware of what was going on but failed to take action to protect children, the report  said.

Politician

The NRC also said on Saturday the final Deetman report did not mention that a leading politician with the Catholic people’s party KVP had tried to have prison sentences dropped against several priests accused of abusing children in 1958.

Vic Marijnen, who went on to become prime minister in 1963, was chairman of the children’s home where Henk Heithuis and dozens of other children were abused until 1959.

MPs are now calling for a full parliamentary investigation into the abuse scandal because of concerns about the neutrality of the Deetman inquiry. MPs are due to question Deetman at a hearing next week.

Dutch News

I sincerely hope by ‘castration’ they mean ‘chemical castration’ because good fucking god, let’s punish a child for being raped by men!

Also, some of the comments on this article disgust me, at least one of them equates homosexuality to pedophilia. Because that’s true. Obviously.

Jesus fucking christ.

~Mooglets

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has said that marriage should remain between opposite-sex couples - because anything else would be forcing unwanted change on the UK.

The comments came in a speech at a World Council of Churches gathering in Geneva, yesterday.

There, he told delegates that while anti-discrimination legislation was beneficial and necessary for protecting the vulnerable, it should not be used to cultivate cultural change. 

Specifically, he said that human rights laws “falls short of a legal charter to promote change in institutions.”

Adding: “If it is said that a failure to legalise assisted suicide – or same-sex marriage – perpetuates stigma or marginalisation for some people, the reply must be, I believe, that issues like stigma and marginalisation have to be addressed at the level of culture rather than law.”

He added human rights language could be “confused and artificial”, even becoming “an alien culture, pressing the imperatives of universal equality over all local custom and affinity.”

Critics say the comments – which follow Lord Carey’s assertion that gay marriage is wrong – were devised to slow British Prime Minister David Cameron from forging ahead with his promise to implement gay marriage.

However, Williams did argue that nations which actively persecute homosexuality are wrong and have “no justification”.

“Laws that criminalise certain kinds of sexual behaviour need the most careful scrutiny: legislation in this area is very definitely to do with the protection of the vulnerable from those with power to exploit and harm. Go beyond this, and the territory is a lot more slippery. 

“Many societies would now recognize that legal interference with some sorts of consensual sexual conduct can be both unworkable and open to appalling abuse. This concern for protection from violence and intimidation can be held without prejudging any moral question; religion and culture have their own arguments on these matters.”

PinkPaper

1. There is more than one gender, so this ‘opposite-sex couples’ thing is bullshit

2. It’s not ‘gay marriage’, it’s ‘marriage’

3. Marriage shouldn’t be a fucking religious thing anyway, it should be purely legal and if the people getting married want to add religious shite to it, they can do it on their own time

4. If there is indeed ‘no justification’ for persecuting non-heterosexuals, why the fuck are you sitting there talking about continuing to block their human right to marry whomever they so choose?

5. Allowing people who currently cannot get married, to marry, will affect no-one but the people who want to get married. The Government is not striding into Churches, Mosques and Temples and forcing the religious representatives of such at gun point to marry people. It is simply bringing the human rights of the population to an equal standard across the board. The only damn reason people are fighting this is because they are scared of the shake-up to their world-views. Well, ever so sorry that your world-views are out of line with the rest of the damn world. 

6. Fuck you, sir. Fuck you.

~Mooglets