Cruz: ‘Gay marriage’ leads to Christianity being defined as ‘hate speech’

By David Edwards/Raw Story

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is predicting that tolerance of equal rights for LGBT people will result in Christianity being defined as “hate speech.”

In a recent interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, host David Brody told Cruz that activists saw the opposition to same sex marriage as “hate speech from the pulpit.”

“If you look at other nations that have gone down the road towards gay marriage, that’s the next step of where it gets enforced,” Cruz agreed. “It gets enforced against Christian pastors who decline to perform gay marriages, who speak out and preach biblical truths on marriage, that has been defined elsewhere as hate speech, as inconsistent with the enlightened view of government.”

“I think there is no doubt that the advocates who are driving this effort in the United States want to see us end up in that same place.”

Cruz also told Brody that the country was in need of a spiritual revival because “we’re at the edge of a precipice.”

“If we keep going down this path we’re risking losing our nation, we’re risking losing the incredible oasis of liberty,” he warned.

Watch the videos below from CBN, broadcast July 23, 2013.

(h/t: Right Wing Watch)

North Carolina governor’s latest moves alienate Latino and LGBT communities

By Arturo Garcia/Raw Story

Members of both the LGBT and Latino communities in North Carolina were taken aback by recent decisions by Gov. Pat McCrory’s (R) that are seemingly hostile to them.

McClatchy Newspapers reported on Friday that McCrory shuttered the state office for Latino affairs, saying through a spokesperson that his administration would rely on an advisory council to handle issues related to the state’s Latino population.

“We are committed to serving the needs of all of North Carolina’s citizens,” spokesperson Thomas Stith said. “We don’t segment our constituents by race or cultural background any more than we separate them by age or gender.”

McCrory shuttering the office comes on the heels of his recent attempt to brand drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants with a pink stripe and the phrase “NO LEGAL STATUS,” which immigration advocates took as a sign McCrory wanted to perpetuate a stigma against immigrants, even those participating in the government’s Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals program, which grants qualified immigrants two-year work visas.

Latino advocates pointed out that McCrory closed the office at a time when the Republican party has expressed more interest in reaching out to Latino communities.

“To close the office of Hispanic affairs only goes to confirm what many people suspect in our state,” said Jess George, executive director of the Charlotte-based Latin American Coalition.“Which is that, despite movement with the Republican Party at the national level towards more bipartisan solutions around comprehensive immigration reform, North Carolina conservatives don’t seem to have gotten the same memo.”

According to The Huffington Post, McCrory also nominated attorney A. L. “Buddy” Collins, who has a record of opposing legislation that would protect LGBT students from bullying, to the state board of education. Collins is currently a member of the board of education for Winston-Salem/Forsyth County.

“Buddy Collins has always been a retrograde voice, inimical to the interests of youth, on the school board,” said Eliza Byard, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).

In February 2002, Collins opposed efforts by GLSEN to have sexual orientation be covered under the county board’s non-discrimination policy.

“I think it has everything to do with whether people who are gay and lesbian have some sort of special right that everybody else doesn’t,” Collins said at the time. “This request could have been made by people with overweight children or kids with glasses or any other thing that children pick on other children for.”

In an April 2002 column for the Winston-Salem Journal, the Post reported, Collins also accused GLSEN of using public schools “as a place to seek acceptance of its sexual practices” and of using public workshops to expose children to “dangerous homosexual sex acts.”

Collins must still be approved by the state’s Republican-dominated General Assembly.

Smithsonian Museum Removes An LGBT Art Exhibit After GOP Threatens To Defund It

By Tanya Somanader

Last month, the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery (NPG) unveiled “the first major museum exhibition” exploring gender and sexual identity in American culture. With 105 major works by artists like Georgia O’Keeffe and Andy Warhol, “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture,” the NPGpioneered a show that “celebrates gay and lesbian art and delineates its place in the history of American painting and photography.”

But it appears that a celebration of anything LGBT-related cannot exist without inciting right-wing backlash. In yesterday’s release of its expose, the conservative CNS News complained that the exhibit featured images of “male genitals, naked brothers kissing, men in chains, [and] Ellen DeGeneres grabbing her breasts.” The report saved particular scorn for a four-minute video exhibit that included a depiction of ants on an image of Jesus. Entitled “A Fire in My Belly,” the exhibit was intended “to depict thesuffering of an AIDS victim” but, instead, set off a firestorm of religious indignation and outcry over the Smithsonian’s federal funding.

After the Catholic League deemed the exhibit an “assault on the sensibilities of Christians” and demanded the government defund the NPG, the Republicans were quick to pile-on. Decrying the exhibit as an “in your face perversion paid for by tax dollars,” House Appropriations Committee member Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) demanded a look at the NPG’s budget, advocating for “calling them up in front of the Appropriations Committee, asking for some resignations, auditing all their budget – all their books.” The House GOP leadership seconded the outrage and Kingston’s call for a Congressional probe into the museum’s funding:

And Incoming House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., called it an“outrageous use of taxpayer money and an obvious attempt to offend Christians during the Christmas season.”

“When a museum receives taxpayer money, the taxpayers have a right to expect that the museum will uphold common standards of decency. Themuseum should pull the exhibit and be prepared for serious questions come budget time,” Cantor said through a spokesman.

Incoming House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said he condemned the use of taxpayer money for the exhibit but would not call for the removal of the exhibit.

“American families have a right to expect better from recipients of taxpayer funds in a tough economy,” Boehner said…”Smithsonian officials should either acknowledge the mistake and correct it, or be prepared to face tough scrutiny beginning in January when the new majority in the House moves to end the job-killing spending spree in Washington.”

In the face of such right-wing brow-beating, the NPG has decided to remove the video exhibit. In a statement released this afternoon, the NPG Director Martin Sullivan said, “I regret that some reports about the exhibit have created an impression that the video is intentionally sacrilegious. In fact, the artist’s intention was to depict the suffering of an AIDS victim. It was not the museum’s intention to offend. We are removing the video today.”

It is important to note that, as is common with recent GOP arguments, Republican bluster over NPG’s federal funding doesn’t actually hold water. While 55 percent of the Smithsonian budget is federally funded, those funds are only used to “pay for the buildings, the care of collections exhibited at Smithsonian venues, and museum staff.” Museum exhibits are funded solely by private donations, including “Hide/Seek.” But regardless these facts, history proves that, despite the NPG’s hope, conservative outrage will lead institutions to remove whatever is deemed offensive, regardless of what it may celebrate.