The editors of the Washington Examiner react to the story of Dr. McCaskill:
Gallaudet University's rash decision to place its chief diversity officer on paid administrative leave because she signed the petition that put Maryland's same-sex marriage law on the ballot next month is a dismaying example of political correctness run amok. But it also exposes the same kind of intimidation and coercion quietly lurking behind a facade of "fairness" and "toleration" that reared its ugly head in California four years ago over voter-approved Proposition 8.
Maggie Gallagher, a former president of the National Organization for Marriage, zeroed in on this anomaly last week, writing on National Review's blog: "Nobody that I know is losing his job for being for gay marriage." Indeed, the shabby treatment of Dr. Angela McCaskill is more proof that the Tolerance Lobby does not tolerate dissent -- even among its own card-carrying members.
... McCaskill, who lives in Maryland, says she signed the petition at the suggestion of her pastor because she believes in the democratic process. So her removal from her job at the federally-chartered D.C. university was clearly an act of retaliation for exercising her First Amendment rights.
Gay marriage proponents have tried very hard to reassure Marylanders that the new law will not force clerics to perform gay weddings or otherwise participate in ceremonies forbidden by their faith. But McCaskill's removal for merely signing a petition make these vague reassurances even less credible than before...
... McCaskill's pastor says her dismissal is "a warning of what is to come if same-sex marriage becomes law in Maryland." And MDPetitions.com founder Del. Neil Parrott, R-District 28, plans to reintroduce a bill to protect people like her -- and the 200,000 other Marylanders who signed the petition as individual voters. If Marylanders didn't face the very real threat of political retaliation, they wouldn't need such protection.
On Sunday, one of our volunteers, Arlene Mark – a Chinese American woman – was verbally attacked while waiting to distribute literature to other volunteers. What is more, Nikki Davis who came to her aid – an African American woman – was assailed with racial slurs.... According to the victims, the assailant ran at Arlene’s car, hit the back of her vehicle, and ripped the Reject 74 campaign yard sign off of the side of her car that she had taped onto her vehicle so that other volunteers who were going to meet her in the parking lot could recognize her in the rain. As he tore the sign, threw it on the ground, and stomped on it, the same-sex marriage activist yelled at Arlene, “This is what I think of your f—ing sign! I’m gay and proud of it.” The perpetrator shouted vulgar profanities at Arlene calling her a “b—-” and screaming “f—- you!”
The assailant then turned his ire on Nikki Davis, an individual uninvolved with the campaign who came to Arlene’s aid. He proceeded to hurl racial epithets and vile slurs at her, including calling her a “black b—-” and the n-word, and telling her to “go back to Africa.” He also pounded on the back of the van, and kicked its tires. Nikki, who was terrified for Arlene, for herself, and for her children who were with her in the car, called the police.
This press release includes more information about the incident.
Vincent Carroll doesn't name the ideology Tim Gill and Pat Stryker are pushing -- though we know it is redefining marriage -- but Carroll does point out that Gill and Stryker have a long record of supporting political outfits that specialize in "character assasination":
[Pat Stryker is] still happily sends big checks to groups whose abiding purpose is to smear men and women running for office with outrageous accusations largely unrelated to reality.
She has done this for a number of years without any apparent second thoughts, so why should this election be different?
Americans say they're disgusted by over-the-top political ads, but that's hard to believe. Otherwise the perpetrators' reputations would pay a price. Yet they rarely do.
Stryker is a respected member of the civic establishment in northern Colorado. No one in her social circles would probably dream of calling her out for contributing to the debasement of political discourse — any more than anyone similarly situated in metro Denver would call out Tim Gill, another of Colorado's richest citizens associated with the same ultra-attack outfits.
The single sleaziest political mailer sent to voters in both 2008 and 2010 in Colorado — and several of the sleaziest in 2006 — was produced by groups financed in part by Stryker and Gill.
The one in 2008 falsely claimed a judge had found that a Republican candidate for the state House "posed a threat and imminent danger" to an unnamed "victim." The 2010 mailer was if anything wilder, claiming that an aspiring Republican House candidate "wants to bring all of America's nuclear waste to Colorado" in a scheme so reckless it could blow the state "off the map."
... Meanwhile, mailers against state Rep. Ken Summers, produced by the Stryker- and Gill-backed Coalition for Colorado's Future, portray him as someone with a soft spot for rapists and perpetrators of domestic violence.
Over the past five years, the second- and third-highest individual Colorado donors to political campaigns have been Gill and Stryker (Congressman Jared Polis is No. 1). And more power to them for commitment to their causes.
It's hard to get too starry eyed about this idealism, however, when year after year they consent to the tactics of the gutter.
Gallaudet University’s embattled chief diversity officer said she wasn’t taking an anti-gay stance when she signed a petition advocating for Maryland’s same-sex marriage law to be put to a vote. Instead, Angela McCaskill says she was joining 200,000 others in standing up for the rights of voters to make decisions at the ballot box.
“I thought it was important that as a citizen of the state of Maryland I could exercise my right to participate in the political process. I am pro-democracy,” McCaskill explained at a news conference Tuesday in Annapolis, speaking out for the first time since the university’s president placed her on administrative leave last week after it became public that she had signed the petition.
McCaskill’s attorney said repeatedly that McCaskill had never publicly taken a stance on gay marriage, that she is not anti-gay and that she has supported gay students at Gallaudet.
...
A faculty member saw McCaskill’s name on the petition and confronted her in early October, Gordon said. McCaskill confirmed that she had signed the petition, alerted the Gallaudet president that it could become an issue and offered to organize a panel discussion to address the topic, Gordon said. The next day, the faculty member and her partner filed a formal complaint with the president, he said.
Gordon said that McCaskill was asked to issue an apology and that she declined to do so. Days later, McCaskill was notified by e-mail that she would be placed on paid leave and that an interim chief diversity officer would take over, Gordon said. The action was announced publicly Oct. 10.
“I was shocked, hurt, insulted. I was humiliated,” McCaskill said at the news conference, with the assistance of an interpreter. “I am dismayed that Gallaudet University is still a university of intolerance, a university that manages by intimidation, a university that allows bullying among faculty, staff and students.”
Gallaudet officials did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
Opponents of Minnesota's Marriage Protection Amendment have been trying to revive the "no differences" thesis through op-eds and other writings.
Dr. Kion Hoffman of Cohasset, who has practiced family medicine for 23 years, the past 19 of them in Deer River, and was an adjunct faculty member for the universities of Washington and Minnesota in the rural-training tract of family-practice residency program, reminds them about some of the findings of the new Regnerus study:
"...The problem with much of the previous research is it suffered from three types of bias. The first is sample size. If you don’t have a large enough sample, then differences don’t reach statistical significance and you can say, from a statistical standpoint, the study finds no difference between two groups when there may still be true differences. The second bias is in survey methodology. If you are trying to determine how the children raised by lesbian or gay couples fare, asking their caregivers is not conducive to objectivity. And the third bias of many studies of homosexual parenting is called selection bias. If you recruit your study subjects rather than obtaining a random sample you can introduce significant error. Admittedly, random sampling of this group is difficult because it represents a very small fraction of the general population.This recent study minimized these types of bias. It compared the responses of adult children of intact biological families with those of adult children raised in homosexual families.
Those raised in lesbian households had lower educational attainment, felt less secure and reported worse health and lower incomes. Thirty-one percent reported having had sex forced on them vs. 8 percent of adults raised in intact biological families.
Those raised in gay households with their father were more likely to have received public assistance, to have suicidal thoughts, to have had a sexually transmitted disease, to have experienced forced sex (25 percent vs. 8 percent), to have smoked, to have been arrested and to have had more sexual partners.
The study found many other differences not listed here. It showed important differences between the self-reported lives of adult children of intact biological families vs. those of adult children raised in homosexual households. Adult children of gay and lesbian households, in general, were not as healthy emotionally, physically or socially.
The marriage amendment would not change our current state law. It only would add to our state Constitution so a judge may not change marriage law against the will of the people of our state.
The marriage amendment does not prevent homosexuals from having committed relationships.
As a family-practice physician, I advocate for the health of families, and I would recommend we vote “yes” for the marriage amendment." -- Duluth News Tribune
Check out this local report on Bishop Michael Hoeppner of the Catholic Diocese of Crookston's efforts to pass the Minnesota Marriage Protection Amendment:
"To hold marriage as a unique relationship between one man and one woman is not discrimination by any sort, because that's a unique union that a union between two people of same gender cannot be."
As the debate rages over the HHS birth control mandate and other attacks on religious freedom by the government, a bipartisan group of more than 120 state legislators in nine states have launched caucuses focused on protecting religious liberties at the state level.
Organizing their efforts is the Ethics and Public Policy Center’s American Religious Freedom Program (ARFP), which will provide resources and expertise to state lawmakers who wish to enact state-specific religious freedom laws.
Dr. Angela McCaskill gives her first interview to ABC 7:
"...Signing that petition is a right that I have as a citizen of the state of Maryland. It simply means that I want to see this very sensitive issue put on the ballot as a referendum in the state of Maryland,” McCaskill said.
Her attorney, J. Wyndal Gordon, says McCaskill will not express her personal view on the matter. He says she will do that in the voting booth.
Gordon says McCaskill “is considering all options, and not ruling out taking legal action,” hoping to get reinstated at Gallaudet.
After learning of McCaskill’s signature on the petition – published by The Washington Blade – an anonymous faculty member filed an official complaint with the University. Now, McCaskill says she feels bullied and she wishes this conflict never happened.
“I feel bad for our students because they go to the university and they look to us for guidance and I feel that we have failed them,” she said. “It’s been very hurtful… because I have nothing but love and support for everyone. And to have this tarnishing my name, my reputation, my character, it hurts.”"
Apostle Dallin H. Oaks of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints renews the church's opposition to same-sex marriage and renews the commitment to strong, healthy marriages which best serve the needs of children:
Is there a business case for supporting same-sex marriage? The numbers say no. Some business leaders took out a full-page ad in Sunday’s Seattle Times endorsing Referendum 74’s same-sex marriage law, but Preserve Marriage Washington points out that protecting marriage is good for a state’s business climate. Several surveys of state economic indicators show that the majority of top performing states are ones that have protected marriage as one man and one woman.
“The facts show that states where the people have voted to preserve traditional marriage are the top performing states economically,” said Joseph Backholm, Chairman of Preserve Marriage Washington. “Rejecting Referendum 74 will not hurt Washington’s economy. If anything, it will help the economy. Research shows that states where voters rejected redefining marriage are the top performing states economically.”
For example, nine of the ten “best states for business” according to a survey of 650 business leaders by Chief Executive Magazine have voted to preserve traditional marriage.
According to Moody’s Analytics, nine of the top ten states for job growth have voted to protect traditional marriage.
Eight of the top ten performing states for “creating jobs, economic development and prosperity” do not have same-sex marriage, according to a study published by the National Chamber Foundation.
“Voting to reject Referendum 74 will not keep Washington from attracting new businesses. The neighboring states competing for jobs – Oregon, Idaho, California, Nevada, and Montana – all have voted to protect marriage,” said Backholm. “The states that are doing best are those that have preserved marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Companies in these states are not having difficulty recruiting employees or thriving in a ‘global marketplace.’”
"...Last week President T. Alan Hurwitz said in a statement that given McCaskill’s job description, signing the petition was an act that “some feel is inappropriate.” On Tuesday morning, Hurwitz released another statement to clarify that he wants McCaskill to return to campus after her paid administrative leave, resolve this matter and continue as chief diversity officer. McCaskill is scheduled to hold a press conference at 2 p.m. Tuesday in Annapolis."
The beginning of his statement reads:
“I am sending this communication to indicate forcefully that Gallaudet University would like to work with its Chief Diversity Officer, Dr. Angela McCaskill, to enable her to return to the community from her administrative leave.
As many know, Dr. McCaskill exercised her right to sign a petition concerning legislation on gay marriage. Because of her position at Gallaudet as our Chief Diversity Officer, many individuals at our university were understandably concerned and confused by her action. They wanted to know ‘does that action interfere with her ability to perform her job?’
I placed her on paid administrative leave as a prudent action to allow the university -- and Dr. McCaskill - the time to consider this question after the emotions of first reactions subsided. While this has become an issue beyond our campus, as President of Gallaudet University, my number one concern is our university community - our students, faculty and staff and so many others who support us. I act on their behalf, not with any agenda other than their well-being as all of us work to prepare these university students for the future. While I expect that a resolution of this matter can be reached that will enable Dr. McCaskill to continue as our Chief Diversity Officer, this will require that she and the University community work together to respond to the concerns that have been raised."
Only 21 days remain in this campaign, so you need to ask yourself: how important is it to you to uphold God's definition of marriage?
Make no mistake about it: this is one of the most urgent questions facing Christians, marriage supporters, and people of faith during this election cycle.
Right now, thanks to a 2-for-1 million dollar matching grant challenge, we have been given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to preserve the God-ordained, historic understanding of "one man and one woman" marriage. And we've been offered this gift just in time to spoil election night parties for every homosexual marriage lobbyist in the nation!
Remember: when you donate right now, your contribution to protect marriage from Obama will be tripled—NOM will receive an additional $2 for every $1 you give. This means NOM has the potential to raise $3 MILLION to defeat homosexual marriage...in this election!
However, if we fail to take advantage of this million dollar matching grant, and if we fail to meet our election budget, President Obama will be re-elected and his radical homosexual lobbyists will re-define marriage from the West Wing of the White House.
Marriage could also be re-defined in many states from Minnesota to Maryland. School children will be taught in public schools that it's perfectly normal for men to marry other men.
So this is not the time to sit on your hands. Donate $25 or even $2,500 right away to maximize the effectiveness of your contribution by tripling it, while there's still time.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune is reporting that the Ely, MN-based publication, "The Ely Shopper", which has been around for 80 years, is facing a boycott over the owner's public support of the Minnesota Marriage Protection Amendment (Ely is up in the iron-range part of MN up north of Duluth, right next to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness):
The Ely Shopper has been around 80 years and, according to its website, it's is the place to place an ad: "Whether you are a person selling your old boat and motor, a club announcing your next meeting or a downtown business announcing this week's sale."But when the owner of the Shopper, Delia Whitten, came out against gay marriage just weeks before Minnesota voters weigh in a proposed constitutional amendment defining marriage as strictly a man-woman thing, a dustup was sure to follow.
A new "Boycott the Ely Shopper" Facebook page had registered 155 "likes" by Monday evening, two days after being launched. Whitten did not answer calls to her home number and hasn't returned messages yet to DatelineMN left with a co-worker who promised to text her our number. A staffer at the office said only Whitten could answer a question about how many people have asked to be removed from the Shopper's mailing list.
As we have reported, a group of African-American religious leaders are calling on black voters to turn their backs on President Barack Obama over his endorsement of gay marriage through a new $1 million project called God Said. Here is their first ad:
Maggie Gallagher, a former president of the National Organization for Marriage, zeroed in on this anomaly last week, writing on National Review's blog: "Nobody that I know is losing his job for being for gay marriage." Indeed, the shabby treatment of Dr. Angela McCaskill is more proof that the Tolerance Lobby does not tolerate dissent -- even among its own card-carrying members.
On Sunday, one of our volunteers, Arlene Mark – a Chinese American woman – was verbally attacked while waiting to distribute literature to other volunteers. What is more, Nikki Davis who came to her aid – an African American woman – was assailed with racial slurs.... According to the victims, the assailant ran at Arlene’s car, hit the back of her vehicle, and ripped the Reject 74 campaign yard sign off of the side of her car that she had taped onto her vehicle so that other volunteers who were going to meet her in the parking lot could recognize her in the rain. As he tore the sign, threw it on the ground, and stomped on it, the same-sex marriage activist yelled at Arlene, “This is what I think of your f—ing sign! I’m gay and proud of it.” The perpetrator shouted vulgar profanities at Arlene calling her a “b—-” and screaming “f—- you!”
[Pat Stryker is] still happily sends big checks to groups whose abiding purpose is to smear men and women running for office with outrageous accusations largely unrelated to reality.
“The facts show that states where the people have voted to preserve traditional marriage are the top performing states economically,” said Joseph Backholm, Chairman of Preserve Marriage Washington. “Rejecting Referendum 74 will not hurt Washington’s economy. If anything, it will help the economy. Research shows that states where voters rejected redefining marriage are the top performing states economically.”
