No Religion. No God.

Forgive me for not writing yesterday.  When they tell you that gutting your kitchen is "inconvenient," they're not kidding.  Of course it's difficult to whine about spending a lot of money on a brand new kitchen.  I'm sure I'm going to.  But I know that I shouldn't.

So, today...

The devil makes you gay.  If you have faith you can "overcome" same-sex attraction.  Through faith and prayer, you too can be made "normal."  Being gay is not in the DNA.  And the APA was wrong when it removed homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1973.  That's pretty much what Elder Bruce Hafen, a member of LDS, told the 19th annual conference of Evergreen International, "a nonprofit group that helps Mormons 'overcome homosexual behavior' and 'diminish same-sex attraction.'"  Historically, faith and science have been at odds with one another.  Adversarial.  And yet here is Bruce Hafen bringing them together.  If you hate enough, you can overcome anything.  Facts.  Reason.  Logic.  Science.  Congratulations Bruce, for holding true to your prejudiced convictions in spite of any and all evidence!  

A gay college student in North Carolina had a note delivered to him via a rock through his window.  It read:  "You don't deserve life like the rest of the world. It's bad enough with out all the gay crap pulling people down. It's sick, unnatural, and death is almost too good for you. Almost."

Jan Brewer, Janet Napolitano's replacement as the Governor of Arizona, believes "that God has placed me in this powerful position of Arizona's governor to help guide our state through the difficulties that we are currently facing."

She has recently rescinded the domestic partnership benefits that then Governor Napolitano made a reality for state employees in Arizona.  Was it really fiscal responsibility that made her do it?  Or was it God?  Or was it a combination - fiscal responsibility paid for by treating Arizona's gay state workers as second class citizens because God told her that gays don't deserve equality.

As we fight for the right to marry, some must now fight for the right to divorce.  It seems that we just can't win.

I don't even have a comment for what Tom Coburn's (R-Oklahoma) Chief of Staff said at the Values Voters Summit last weekend.  There's just too much to say and it would take too much energy.

John Stewart of the Iowa Family Policy Center wonders why infertile couples, older couples, or couples who just don't want to have children would want to get married.  I agree.  It would be so silly to want all those laws and protections and responsibilities when you could just be roommates (wait, should unmarried couples live together?).  It would be so silly to stand up in front of friends and relatives and declare your love and commitment to one another if there aren't going to be any children involved.  What if you want children when you get married, but then change your mind?  Does the marriage dissolve?  Questions to ponder.

Ninety-two percent of Iowans report that marriage equality has brought "no real change to their lives."  That said, forty percent say they would vote for a constitutional amendment to ban it.  Now that's interesting.  It doesn't affect me, but I don't want you to be able to do it.  

I'm still waiting - and I imagine that I will be waiting for a very long time - for someone to give me one reason why my life is abhorrent or why I'm currently forced to fight for my equal rights as an American without using religion or God.  One reason.  No religion.  No God.  And just not using the words doesn't count.  If the argument is predicated on religion or God, the reason is disqualified.  No religion.  No God.  Go...

In fun news - no, no Michele Bachmann today, sorry - the brilliant Taylor Branch (author of the compulsively readable, exhaustive, and, oh yeah, Pulitzer Prize winning trilogy America in the King Years) interviewed President Clinton 79 times during his presidency.  Those conversations were so secret that Clinton told almost no one about them and kept the recordings (all of the interviews were taped) in the back of his sock drawer.  They were extremely hush-hush.  Until now!

Also in fun news, what does your Facebook page say about you?  Is there anything you're keeping secret?  Think again.  And no, it's not hackers that can break into your account.  It's psychologists who can figure out all kinds of information about you just by looking at your peeps.  Big brother is watching.  Or at least inferring.  

More tomorrow.