I agree with this statement by NARTH

I don't agree with all of the perspectives that NARTH represents.  This time, I do agree with this statement here by NARTH about the Federal Court of Appeals ruling on California law, SB 1172. 

However, reading the statement by Liberty Counsel, at the same site, is troubling to me on multiple fronts.  The comments there are closed so I cannot express my reactions there.

And I agree with most of this article from NARTH, by Christopher H. Rosik, Ph.D., written in May of 2012, entitled, Fact- Checking California Senate Bill 1172. 

Ages of consent in North America

This will be a helpful reference.  These are the various ages of consent for areas in North American, including the range of ages of consent in the 50 states of the USA.  Especially consider California and New Jersey's ages of consent. 

My thoughts on bill SB 1172 in CA being upheld by Federal Appeals Court

Commenting on the AP article about the Federal Appeals Court upholding CA law SB 1172.

Conversation therapy does not necessarily seek to turn gay youth straight.  But if you say something enough, in a democracy, the public tends to believe it.  That’s what I meant when I said that in a democracy, effective communication is incomplete and inaccurate communication. 

Again, the APA says sexual orientation includes sexual attraction, sexual behavior and more. 

Does therapy appear dangerous in other regards – of course.  And as I said about the NJ bill A3371, at my blog here,  if you read it carefully it also bans licensed therapists from helping a bisexual minor become gay.   

My review of CA bill SB 1172

I posted these points for consideration in regards to California bill: SB 1172 to the LA Times article.   

Working through CA bill SB 1172: 

Points I want to make for consideration.  I split them up into 5 separate comments to meet comment space restrictions for the LA Times:

·         You can be religious and be a clinical counselor.  Laws like this inhibit clinical counselors from seeking to be licensed, if they do not agree with the precepts of the law.

·         My point is that it also thus prohibits a licensed health professional from assisting a minor who wants to change their sexual orientation from bisexual to gay.  Gosh, this is poorly written. 

·         Even though they are saying that a bisexual orientation is not a disease, etc., they are saying by the language of the law, that it is  not healthy to change from bisexual to gay. 

·         Again, the language is only “can pose.”  This can equally be said for any form of counseling or any form of medical treatment. 

Nudging toward better vocabulary

I think that it is important to continue to nudge people toward using correct vocabulary. 

So, I posted this reply today to a person's comment to Jonathan's article.

Mike Jones Aug 28, 2013 at 12:03 pm               

"I would then ask, in the wider world what is bisexual synonymous with?  

I know it’s cumbersome to say, “same-sex sexual attractions” instead of “same-sex attractions,” but there is a significant difference between the two terms, even within the gay community as well as within the segment of the Christian community who experiences some level of same-sex sexual attractions, but who do not desire to express those attractions in intimate same-sex sexual behavior.  

NJ law is being challenged in court

I felt that it was important to post this reply to a person commenting on

Susan K. Livio's article.  The article was about New Jersey bill A3371

Mike Jones

Aug 27, 2013 at 12:38 pm

Again, we need to be careful as to whether we are referring to identity, orientation, attraction, behavior, or romantic attractions. We can determine our identity, as separate and distinct from our orientation or our attractions. People can decide to be straight in their identity, and they can decide to be straight in their behavior, even though they might be gay in their orientation, or they might be bisexual in their orientation.

My comment to the actual article was:

Mike Jones

Commenting on AP article on Divide over Religious Exemptions on Gay Marriage

AP article – Divide over Religious Exemptions on Gay Marriage

The last part of this article seemed to be the most telling:

"The religious community would have done much better to ask for protection for their religious liberty instead of trying to stop same-sex marriage and try to prevent it for everybody," said church-state expert Douglas Laycock of the University of Virginia, who is recommending the more pragmatic course. "The more same-sex marriage seems inevitable, the less likely we are to see religious liberty protection in blue states."

Mark Silk struggles to understand Timothy Dolan

I was reviewing some of the other articles that Mark Silk wrote on his RNS Blog site. 

 

So, I decided to post the following comment on Mark's blog from July 31st, entitled, Dolan Disses the Papacy.

 

Similar to Mark writing about Jesus when he isn’t a Christian, he can also write about people who are Christians who experience same-sex sexual attractions who desire to follow Catholic teaching on sexuality, and thus feel it wouldn’t be honest for them to say that their identity is gay.   

However, because of Mark’s vantage point, which is not the same vantage point as even the person who is a Catholic priest, who does experience some level of same-sex sexual attractions, who has made the decision to be celibate chaste in their position as a priest, it is harder for him to understand and to write accurately about what Timothy Dolan is speaking about. 

Thus, the phrase that Mark uses, “basically banning gays from becoming priests,” shows

My most recent comment to Jonathan's article

This is my most recent comment that I posted to Jonathan's article.  There has been some meaningful dialogue there.

What I find more lacking today in our culture and our society is compassion and respect and love coming from people who are gay affirming in their own position, towards people who are not in denial, but who are open about the same-sex sexual attractions that they experience and who have decided for themselves to not pursue intimate same-sex sexual behavior. They might be in heterosexual marriages. They might be single. They might have been married and are now divorced. They might or might not have experienced a shift of some degree in their sexual attractions.

Jonathan Merritt writes about intersex individuals

I posted this comment to Jonathan Merritt's article. 

"Jonathan, I’m glad to hear that you pursued this with Russell Moore. His response to you shows me that he hasn’t thought about the question much. I think we need to be careful in how we use both terms, transgendered and transsexual. Some people who say they are transgendered, do not desire to seek a shift in sexual anatomy or seek hormonal input. They are comfortable with their sexual biology. We also need to be careful in how we understand gender as opposed to sex."

I was glad to see that Jonathan has an in with Russell Moore where he can have Russell respond to him.  I wasn't able to trigger a response from Russell when I wrote to him privately or when I commented about intersex individuals to his article on transgendered individuals.

Chris Christie is against bisexual teens becoming gay

So, consider the logic of Governor Christie.  If sexual orientation cannot shift, then a bisexual person under 18 cannot become gay.  If a questioning person in an LBGTQ group wants to shift from Bisexual to Gay, Chris Christie says that cannot happen, since he believes that sexual orientation is set at birth.  Think about all the teens that say that they are bisexual when they are engaging in only gay sexual activity.  Is that about orientation or identity?  This law only pertains to people who are licensed.  Thus it wouldn't apply to most LBGTQ support groups.  And notice that section 2.b. says that even gender identity, thus from bisexual to gay, cannot be assisted by a licensed person for another person under 18 - since it says "not limited to".  The logic of the bill is that a shift can only happen toward someone of the same gender and not toward someone of the opposite gender. 

AAB didn't stay long in the top 100 TuneCore rock chart

Steve posted this on his Facebook page on Aug. 10th:

"Thank you for being part of the TuneCore digital music distribution community.  Congratulations on the success of All-American Boy! #4 on iTunes rock chart!"

Hummm, instead of being on the rock chart, I wonder why the song wasn't on the country chart.....? Given how the media promoted the video and song being from a gay country singer. 

And, by Aug. 14th, it was #90 and by Aug. 15th, it was out of the top 100.  It's always interesting how information is presented. 

It looks like the song was made available on iTunes on Aug. 8th. 

Nick says he was Steve's lover in AAB

This is what Nicholas Alan said on August 1st. on Twitter:

Hey Guys Thanks for checking out my page! see me play the lover in Steve Grand's VIRAL youtube Music Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjiyjYCwNyY

Now that's an interesting way of describing the role he had in AAB of declining Steve Grand's romantic advances.  If that is what Nick sees as being someone's lover - to reject their advances but still be their friend, that does sound more parallel to his interactions with people on the gayhoopla site. 

The Moynihan Letters

This is an excellent article by Dr. Robert Moynihan, carefully going though the context and the conversations of Pope Francis with the reporters interviewing him on his flight back from Brazil. 
 
I had not come upon The Moynihan Letters before.  

Scott P. Richert's article, Pope Francis on Homosexuality, Take a Deep Breath

I posted this today to Scott P. Richert's article Pope Francis on Homosexuality, Take a Deep Breath, on about.com 

My guess is that it is because Pope Francis has allowed himself to understand the subject of same-sex sexual attractions and same-sex sexual behavior very well, that he speaks in the way that he does on this subject.  My guess is that he understands very well priests and women religious who do experience some level of same-sex sexual attractions or who experience only same-sex sexual attractions.  He understands how those individuals think who make the decision not to pursue same-sex sexual behavior.  He understands those who find the need to own an identity of gay, but still be celibate.  He understands those who have difficulty resisting same-sex sexual behavior even though they have made the commitment to the Catholic church to do so.  He understands those who are sexually active and are priests or women religious. 

Mark Silk's political spin on Pope Francis' statements

Posted to Religion News Service as a reply to Mark Silk’s reply to a person commenting on his article, “Explaining away the pope.”

*amazing that Mark Silk is: "...and in 1998 founding editor of Religion in the News, a magazine published by the Center that examines how the news media handle religious subject matter."  When he so blatantly uses the RNS news media to distort religious news.  He doesn't even have a degree in religion. 

Mike Jones Aug 6, 2013 at 5:26 pm

The individuals Pope Francis is referring to when he asks that we not marginalize them, is anyone who has some level of same-sex sexual attractions. He is not referring to how they might express behave in response to those attractions. What the Pope is referring to in terms of who he asks that we not judge is anyone, as even the Pope is only like a trial lawyer, whether for the defense or for the prosecution. Depending on the topic and point at hand. He knows that no lawyer ends up being the judge or the jury. Yet he also knows that he is invited to represent his position well in the court setting, so to speak. The setting here and his position is that same-sex sexual attractions are not sinful, and all intimate same-sex sexual behavior is sinful.

Pope Francis, thus is not judging at all. He is saying that he understands how someone could say, “the fact of a person being gay.” He would invite them to restate that, as something like this, “the

Nicholas Alan (Taylor) - the AAB pulling at straws

Nicholas Alan is now pulling at straws.  Discover what this talent agency actually is….

Steve Grand finally gives credit to Nick Alan on his Facebook page after more than a month of the video coming out.  Steve refers to Nick as his good friend and references Nick’s newFacebook page that was created only on July 29^th

So, it appears that Nick doesn’t go by Taylor but the AAB: 

Nicholas Alan  Fan page for Nicholas Alan aka "The All American Boy" For bookings or interviews contact bc@bactalent.com

Brandon Cohen just started this company in July of this year, 2013.  Hummmm.....

Most accurate article I have found on Pope Francis' comments

This article from AP is the most accurate article that I have read thus far on Pope Francis' comments he made with reporters on his flight back from Brazil. 

A dialogue about Pope Francis' words

A portion of my dialogue with someone commenting at National Catholic Register to the article there on Pope Francis’ comments on his return plane flight from Brazil.  I posted my comments with Disqus. 

 

This has turned out to be an intriguing dialogue with this person, going by markbirch, on the National Catholic Reporter where I signed in with Disqus.  I didn’t have to be arguing to make my points with him – which is the way he interacts with other people here at this site.  All I needed to do was to continue to present facts in regards to his statements.  I didn’t need to be accusatory toward him.  I didn’t need to say he was wrong.  I just needed to keep saying what I knew to be right.  What I’m asking him, in my own way, is why does he care what the Pope says, if he isn’t a Catholic any longer and is only an agnostic.  From our dialogue being on the NCR site, our discussion is public.  So, I decided to post this section of the dialogue here.