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Televangelist Pat Robertson on Monday defended an Ecuadorian preacher's homophobic comments and said that LGBT people could change their "orientation," just like God could change murderers and rapists.

The Huffington Post reported earlier this year that evangelical preacher Nelson Zavala had his political rights revoked after he said that homosexuality was "immoral" while he was campaigning for president.

"For somebody to say that a homosexual can change is somehow a hate crime -- it is a hate crime to say that somebody can change their sexual preference, that that's a hate crime?" Robertson opined on Monday. "That's what's going to happen, ladies and gentlemen. Mark that down and fight for freedom because that man's freedom of speech is being taken away."

"And the idea that anybody who has ministered to thousands of people -- as undoubtedly he has and others have in that church in Ecuador -- know very well that the power of God can change people's orientation. A murderer can change, a rapist can change, a thief can change. That's what the gospel is all about. It's not a hate crime."

(h/t: Right Wing Watch)

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Yes, it's 2013 and some states are still having these debates. The bill passed yesterday now makes its way to the Governor's desk for signing.

via KXLH, Helena.

On Tuesday, Montana's LGBT community saw a major victory on the House floor as lawmakers passed a bill which decriminalizes homosexuality.

Senate Bill 107 strikes language from Montana law which makes it illegal to have homosexual sex. In a 64 to 36 vote some Republicans joined Democrats in voting to take the language out of Montana code.

At least one Republican explained his bigotry and his vote in this way, that though he "has a whole lot of love and respect for his many homosexual friends", what they do is deviate or deviant.

Representative Dave Hagstrom (R-Billings) says homosexual sex is deviate.

"To me sex is primarily purposed to produce people," Hagstrom explained. "Sex that doesn't produce people is deviate. That doesn't mean it's a problem, it just means it's not doing its primary purpose."

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Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman recently reversed on his opposition to same sex marriage after his son came out as gay, but House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) says that he would never support equal marriage rights for an LGBT child.

During an interview with ABC that aired on Sunday, host Martha Raddatz asked Boehner if he had talked to Portman about his change of heart.

"He has, in fact, called," the House Speaker admitted. "I appreciate that he's decided to change his views on this, but I believe that marriage is a union of a man and a woman."

"Can you imagine yourself in a situation where you reversed your decision as Portman has on gay marriage if a child of yours or someone you loved told you they were gay?" Raddatz pressed.

"I believe that marriage is the union of one man, one woman," Boehner repeated. "It's what I grew up with, it's what I believe, it's what my church teaches me."

"And I can't imagine that position would ever change."

Someone plugged this guy's brain into a "wrong outlet." Sweet Jesus someone please save us from these so-called "Christian" bigots. From our friends over at Right Wing Watch, it seems these televangelists just can't quit carrying on about sex in general and especially those "evil" homosexuals who are doing things that remind them of something blowing up.

Jeffress: Homosexuality Like Plugging a TV into the Wrong Outlet and Blowing It to Smithereens:

Jeffress, who has a history of using virulently anti-gay rhetoric, argued that homosexuality violates God’s design for sex.

“Think about this one time in heaven God was sitting up there with his sketch pad and he said, ‘you know I’m going to design human beings and would it be fun of they started doing this together with one another,’” Jeffress explained. “God dreamed up sex, He thought it up for our enjoyment, He gave us the equipment to enjoy it with.”

He went on to claim that homosexuality is like plugging a TV into a 220-volt power outlet rather than the recommended 120 outlet “because those are antiquated instructions” and “it’s my TV and I can do whatever I want to with it.”

“Well it is my TV to do what I want to with it but I’m going to blow that TV into smithereens if I put it in a 220 outlet,” Jeffress said.

Put me on the list of people who will not be surprised or shocked one iota if we would find out later that Robert Jeffress is taking a page out of George Rekers' playbook and caught with some escort from Rentboy.com.

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A special education teacher from Sullivan, Indiana is joining a group of students, parents and other Christians in the community who are calling for a prom that bans LGBT people because she says they have no "purpose in life."

WTWO-TV reported that the group met at Sullivan First Christian Church on Sunday to discuss creating a prom that only allowed straight students as an alternative to the inclusive prom at Sullivan High School.

"We don't agree with [homosexuality]," special education teacher Diana Medley told the station. "It's offensive to us."

Sullivan High School student Kynon Johnson explained that the group want to "get more people to follow what they believe" by providing a "good prom."

"We believe what the Bible says, it says that it's wrong," student Bonnie McCammon insisted. "And we love the homosexuals, but we do not condone what they're doing."

But not everyone agrees. Jim Davis, a Christian who lives in Sullivan, said that Jesus did not condemn anyone, including LGBT people.

"He come here to save the world, not to condemn it," Davis observed. "Love them as a person, you don't have to love what they do because they may not, I mean, the gays may not like the bad things you make mistakes at."

Medley, however, disagreed because she believes homosexuality is a choice for LGBT people.

"I don't believe they were born that way," she opined. "I think life circumstances made them choose that. I think God made everybody equal... I have kids come to me because of their sexual preference. And they know I don't agree with it, but care about you. And the same thing for special needs. God puts those people in our life for special reasons."

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It seems this wingnut from Tennessee isn't done embarrassing his state yet: ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Sponsor Compares Homosexuality To Injecting Heroin:

Tennessee state Sen. Stacey Campfield (R) is making the press rounds to stump for the new and worsened version of his odious “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which prohibits teachers in grades K-8 from acknowledging the existence of homosexuality and also requires school officials to out gay students to their families. He has already made it clear he believes homosexuality itself is dangerous, and in an interview with TMZ, he doubled down on that absurd belief. After explaining the AIDS epidemic in Africa by claiming that sodomy was more common there among heterosexuals, Campfield went on to compare being gay to using heroin:

TMZ: If they’re going to engage in homosexual acts anyway, why not teach them how to protect themselves from [HIV]?

CAMPFIELD: You know, you could say the same thing about kids who are shooting heroin. We need to show them the best ways to shoot up. No, we don’t. Why do we have to hypersexualize little children? Why can’t we just let little kids be little kids for a while? Why do we have to have little kids be…?

TMZ: Do you believe in sex education period?

CAMPFIELD: …If you can show me where it works, great.

[...] Sex education actually works when a comprehensive safe sex curriculum is taught, and fails in states that only teach abstinence. Southern states like Mississippi, which has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the country, are starting to realize this. It’s doubtful, however, that Campfield would be interested in such facts. Read on...

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With the Supreme Court agreeing to take up the issue of gay marriage in their next term, The Daily Show's Jon Stewart reminded his viewers just what we're up against in the coming years no matter how the court ends up ruling on the cases.

He took some shots at Lindsey Graham, who when appearing with his "two amigos," Droopy Dog Lieberman and Grandpa McGrumpy on Piers Morgan's show earlier this week, compared gay marriage to polygamy. And then there's Antonin Scalia, who left little doubt about how he's going to rule, when he compared homosexuality to murder.

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Here we go again with Pastor Rick Warren making idiotic remarks about gay people. Rick Warren: Same sex marriage like punching a guy in the nose:

Megachurch pastor Rick Warren on Tuesday night said that same sex relationships would still be sinful even if they were natural.

“It wouldn’t bother me if there was a ‘gay gene’ found,” he told CNN host Piers Morgan.

“Here’s what we know about life,” Warren continued. “I have all kinds of natural feelings in my life and it doesn’t necessarily mean that I should act on every feeling. Sometimes I get angry and feel like punching a guy in the nose. That doesn’t mean I act on it. Sometimes I feel attracted to women who are not my wife. I don’t act on it. Just because I have a feeling doesn’t make it right. Not everything natural is good for me. Arsenic is natural.”

Here's more from Think Progress:

On CBS This Morning this week, Warren similarly defended his anti-gay positions by claiming that he can be “tolerant” and “accepting” without being “approving.” Though he may not act on his attractions to women who are not his wife, he seems to gloss over the fact that he did have the opportunity to act on his attractions to her by marrying her. By advocating against same-sex marriage, he works to prevent gays and lesbians from having the same security of a lasting partnership.

Warren has a long history of opposing marriage equality. Four years ago, he defended his support of California’s Proposition 8 by claiming that same-sex marriage is “equivalent” to incest, pedophilia, and polygamy. He also claimed that gays are “evil” and have “Christ-o-phobia.” Warren tries to offset his anti-gay beliefs by boasting his anti-AIDS work in Africa, but he has ties to conservative anti-gay leaders in Uganda who oppose using condoms to prevent transmission of HIV. The results of his particular efforts are unclear, but studies have shown that abstinence-only efforts have failed to lower HIV rates in Africa, and anti-gay stigma also contributes to the epidemic.

Full transcript below the fold.

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Conservative televangelist Joel Osteen on Thursday asserted that homosexuality was a sin and not "God's best" -- but at the same time, he said had not chosen to be straight.

During an interview on CNN, host Soledad O'Brien asked Osteen how he could claim to be uplifting LGBT people while also telling them they were sinners.

"It seems like in Christianity, sometimes we categorize sin," Osteen explained. "I mean pride is a sin, being critical is a sin, being negative is a sin."

"Those are all things you can change," O'Brien noted.

"I don't think it's God's best," the evangelist insited.

"You would say, the scripture says homosexuality is a sin," the CNN host noted.

"Exactly," Osteen agreed.

"When you're talking to your 45,000 people in your service and some of them are gay, you're saying to them, 'You're a sinner,'" O'Brien pressed.

"That's what I believe, that the scripture condemns it," Osteen replied. "It says it's a sin, but it also says, you know, lying is and that being prideful is."

O'Brien once again pointed out that liars made a choice to be "sinners," but LGBT people did not.

"I know I have not chosen to be straight, I feel like that's who I am," Osteen admitted. "I don't understand all those issues so, you know, I try to stick on the issues I do understand. I know this: I'm for everybody, I'm not for pushing people down. ... I don't know were the fine line is, but I do try to stay in my lane."

Speaking to Fox News earlier this year, Osteen said that he thought there should be some rights for gay men and lesbians, but stopped short when it came to marriage equality.

"I’m not for gay marriage, but I’m not for discriminating against people," he told host Chris Wallace.

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After the passage of the dreadful North Carolina Amendment One this Tuesday, CNN's Piers Morgan brought in the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins to discuss it. Why we can't seem to have a discussion in our corporate media on the topic of gay marriage or gay rights without someone giving this bigot some air time is beyond me, but if they're going to do it, they should be pointing out that his group has been designated as a hate group and why.

The Family Research Council (FRC) bills itself as “the leading voice for the family in our nation’s halls of power,” but its real specialty is defaming gays and lesbians. The FRC often makes false claims about the LGBT community based on discredited research and junk science. The intention is to denigrate LGBT people in its battles against same-sex marriage, hate crimes laws, anti-bullying programs and the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

To make the case that the LGBT community is a threat to American society, FRC employs a number of “policy experts” whose “research” has allowed FRC to be extremely active politically in shaping public debate. Its research fellows and leaders often testify before Congress and appear in the mainstream media. It also works at the grassroots level, conducting outreach to pastors in an effort to “transform the culture.” [...]

The FRC also strongly promotes the “ex-gay” movement as a way to combat LGBT civil rights measures, though professional organizations have repeatedly called so-called “reparative therapy” (which seeks to turn gays and lesbians into heterosexuals) into question and issued statements that don’t support it. For instance, the American Psychological Association issued a report in 2009 reviewing studies of “ex-gay” therapy. The report found that, “contrary to the claims of practitioners and advocates, recent research studies do not provide evidence of sexual orientation change as the research methods are inadequate to determine the effectiveness of these interventions,” according to Dr. Judith Glassgold, the lead author.

There's a lot more in their report and all of it ought to be hung around their necks for all to be made aware of any time someone from Perkins' organization comes on the air. Transcript below the fold where Perkins was again spreading the dangerous lie that people can choose their sexuality or that it's a result of the environment they've been brought up in.

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