LGBT strides under fire

Will Religious Freedom Bills tear down LGBT advances?

With the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, LGBT persons won a major victory
towards LGBT and Civil Rights in this country.  Now, LGBT rights are in danger by
Religious Freedom Bills and remarks by Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.

The Georgia Senate passed a Religious Freedom Bill. House Bill 757
passed the Senate 38-14 after three hours of debate that was, at times, heated.
Last week it passed the House 161-0. CNN


Ted Cruz Launches Anti-Gay ‘Religious Liberty’ Advisory Council (Towleroad.com)

On Monday, Ted Cruz announced the formation of a “religious liberty” advisory council intended to help the Texas senator sound the dog whistle of “religious freedom” and advocate for discrimination against LGBT Americans.

Cruz is following in the footsteps of Republican rival Marco Rubio who last month created a “Marriage & Family Advisory Board.” The expressed purpose of that board is to overturn the Supreme Court’s gay marriage ruling. Honestly, it’s surprising it took Cruz this long to follow up with his own anti-gay advisory council given his propensity for fomenting bigotry.

Rubio creates anti-LGBT ‘marriage and family’ board

Ahead of the South Carolina Republican primary, Marco Rubio has created a “marriage and family” board for his campaign that seems intent on reversing marriage rights for gay couples. According to a campaign statement, Rubio established the “Marriage & Family Advisory Board” because he believes family is the most important institution in society and “everyone benefits” when marriage and family thrive. Washington Blade

Did Marco Rubio Just Propose a Constitutional Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment?

"We are going to be a country that says life begins at conception and the life is worthy of the protection of our laws. We are going to be a country that says a marriage is between one man and one woman."

"Unless Rubio is talking about mass brainwashing, because the majority of Americans are supportive of same-sex marriage, he means the government when he says “country,” and the only way the government can “say” that marriage is between one man and one woman is through a constitutional amendment. It’s possible that Rubio was just playing footsie with religious conservatives, and has no intention of making good on that promise, or maybe he does. Someone should ask him about that during one of his many appearances on Sunday."

Follow Mediaite.com

Chick-Fil-A; Christianity on a bun

Chick-Fil-A is a company founded by  S. Truett Cathy, who is still the company's chairman, in the Atlanta, Georgia suburb of Hapeville in 1946.  It is a privately owned company and has come under considerable scrutiny for its Christian based business philosophy.

From Wikipedia.org:
Chick-fil-A's connection to Christianity has been brought before the courts when Aziz Latif, a Houston-based Muslim employee for six years, sued the company in 2002 for firing him, alleging that he was fired for his religious beliefs when he had refused to take part in an employee prayer.^[29] The suit was settled on undisclosed terms.^[30]
In January 2011, various news outlets^[31][32] reported that Chick-fil-A was co-sponsoring a marriage conference^[31] along with the Pennsylvania Family Institute,^[33] a 501(c)3 organization that seeks to "strengthen families by restoring to public life the traditional, foundational principles and values essential for the well-being of society".^[34] PFI had filed an amicus brief against the trial ruling striking down Proposition 8 in California,^[35] and had also lobbied against a state effort to ban discrimination in Pennsylvania on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.^[36] At the time the WinShape Foundation was also quoted as stating it would not allow same-sex couples to participate in its marriage retreats.^[37][38] In response to the reported connections between PFI and WinShape and to Chick-fil-A's statements, students at several colleges and universities formed grassroots efforts to ban or remove the company from their campuses.^[39]
Responding to the situation via their official company Facebook page, Chick-fil-A said:

First and foremost, thanks for your patience as we made sure we gathered the facts in regards to recent postings. We have determined that one of our independent Restaurant Operators in Pennsylvania was asked to provide sandwiches to two Art of Marriage video seminars. As our fans, you know we do our best to serve our local communities, and one of the ways we do that is by providing food to schools, colleges, civic groups, businesses, places of worship, not-for-profit groups, etc. At his discretion, the local Operator agreed to simply provide a limited amount of food. Our Chick-fil-A Operators and their employees try very hard every day to go the extra mile in serving ALL of our customers with honor, dignity and respect.^[40]

Through WinShape, Chick-fil-A has given $3 million to anti-gay social conservative groups since 2003, with a total of $2 million in 2009 alone.^[41][42][43]

Contact Governor Rick Perry's Candidacy website

Here is the link to Rick Perry's Presidential Candidacy page. Please write him and tell him what you think about his stance against Marriage Equality, supposed "abhorrent lifestyles" and anti-LGBT rhetoric:

Prick Perry for President 2012