Homophobic People May Have Psychological Issues

Well, this is certainly a major turn-around, isn't it?

Until the 60's or 70's, being gay was considered to be a psychological defect, that there was something wrong with you. It was only till then that professional psychological organizations sought to remove such standing, and removing homosexuality as being a psychological disorder.

But now, the shoe it seems is on the other foot! A new study seems to suggest that very homophobic people may tend to have psychological issues themselves!

This doesn't mean that homophobic people are psychotic; rather, psychoticism is a personality trait marked by hostility, anger and aggression toward others. But the study does suggest that people who cling to homophobic views have some psychological issues, said lead researcher Emmanuele Jannini, an endocrinologist and medical sexologist at the University of Rome Tor Vergata.

You may read the paper itself here (not sure if it is available at this link in perpetuity).

So, how do you like them apples?

Zz.

Kentucky's Clerk Kim Davis Might Be Violating The Bible Herself!

And interesting take on this ridiculous issue in an article from Huff Post. It comes from a passage in the Bible (Roman 13).

Based on that passage, this is what the author concluded:

Of course, this famous passage in Romans is in addition to other verses like 1 Peter 2:13 and Titus 3:1 and Jesus's own command to "Render unto Caesar" in Mark 12:17, Matthew 22:21, and Luke 20:25. Together they mean that if we're going to play the The Bible Is Clear™ game, then Kim Davis is clearly in violation of Scripture for the Bible clearly and repeatedly tell us to obey the government. Which obviously creates an incredibly awkward conundrum, for in her steadfast determination not to violate her biblical values, Davis has done just that.

Regardless of what she believes in, she is a PUBLIC SERVANT, and it is part of her job. The local government didn't refuse tax money from gay men and women, or give them partial refunds, because it would not provide some service to such citizens. So she is obligated to provide such a service.

If she can't, then she has not been performing the job she was hired to do. She should quit, or she should be fired!

It is as simple as that!

The claim of religious freedom is bogus. Did she check if the straight couple she issued marriage licenses to have had premarital sex? Has she ever issue licenses to a pregnant woman? Does that mean that she actually endorses all of these behaviors?

Once again, we have an example of people using religion to hide and justify their bigotry and stupidity.

Zz.

Biltmore

Biltmore Estates, Asheville, North Carolina. This is a view from the "side" yard.

Zz.

Millennium Park

Fun times during the summer at Chicago's Millennium Park.

Zz.

Presidential Election Comic Relief

It seems that for the past few US presidential election, the Republican party has not failed to provide ample comic relief to the election/campaign process. 2 elections ago, we had Sarah Palin. Then we had Michele Bachmann in the last election. This election, we have Donald Trump.

There appears to be an endless supply of clowns running for president in the Republican party.

Zz.

Theatergoer Tried To Recharge Phone Onstage!

Again, you can't make these things up!

A patron at the Tony Award-nominated play "Hand to God" on July 2 climbed onstage just before the show began to try to recharge his phone in what looked like an outlet. Ushers at the Booth Theatre quickly converged, and the young man was pulled off the stage.

And he couldn't charge his phone anyway, because it turned out that the outlet on stage was a prop that was part of the show.

This is an instance where public shaming is highly appropriate, and that this person's identity should be published. After all, do you really want him to propagate his stupid genes?

Zz.

Businesses Being Allowed To Discriminate Against GLBT

I don't know if everyone who is a proponent of this simply drawing a blind eye, or if the rest of the population is not seeing this.

As more and more states in the US and in various parts of the world start to accept and legalize gay marriages, there are now laws in other parts trying to allow various private organizations and businesses to refuse serving people or activities that these entities think are "contrary to their beliefs". Of course, they word it that way so that it doesn't sound as if they are targeting gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender community. But they are.

But there is a side effect to this and everyone seems to have missed! Let's look at the case of this baker in Ireland who refused to make a silly cake:

"We just didn't want to be forced to use our creative skills to help endorse and promote a campaign message that went against our sincerely held religious beliefs," he said.

"We are just trying to be faithful to the Bible. We think it is wrong to use the law to force anyone to say something that they oppose, and we hope the court will take the same view."

OK, let's run with that, shall we? What if a Muslim person walks into this bakery, and requested a cake for "Happy Eid Fitr"? Will he also refuse to do such a cake? After all, it is "promoting" a festival of another religion, and what is more offensive to his Christian belief than the promotion of another religion that clearly claims that his belief is false?

The same can be applied to all those laws in the books in various states in the US. Are people of various religions can now refuse to serve those of the opposite religion? Keep in mind that the most serious attack on one religion is another religion, considering that each considers the others to be false! So who should you be most offended with, a GLBT person, or someone who practices another religion?

Yet, if this baker or if the laws were to say that we can refuse to serve someone just because of his or her beliefs, everyone will be up in arms and shouting religious discrimination! But that is what such beliefs and such laws allow! So why aren't people seeing and addressing that?

Zz.