Alvin McEwen

I am simultaneously amazed and disappointed by how some American Christians choose their heroes these days.

Mississippi state lawmaker and minister Andy Gipson recently cited a Biblical passage that demands death for men who've had sex with men as his way of speaking out against President Obama's support of...

Whether it meant to or not, the National Organization for Marriage just demonstrated how callous the organization is when it comes to children living in same-sex households:

This is what NOM's blog says about the matter:

Kalley Yanta of the Minnesota Marriage Minute explains why marriage should not be redefined because some same-sex couples are raising children:

"Very few same-sex couples are raising children. According to the Williams Institute, only 22% of same-sex couples are raising children. Many if not most of those couples involve children from a previous heterosexual relationship. The census bureau shows only 0.55% of all U.S. households are households of same-sex couples. Only 0.12% of U.S. households are same-sex couples raising children."

Beginning at the 1:14 mark in the video, Yanta sums up the coldness of NOM's anti-marriage equality campaign with this statement: "Why should the definition of marriage that has served us so well be redefined for the 99.88 percent of households in order to accommodate the desires of the 0.12 percent?"

First, let's get that question out of the way. Protecting same-sex families in no way redefines the marriages of heterosexual families, nor does protecting same-sex families cause harm to heterosexual families.

I'm just struck by the basic callousness of Yanta's statement. I refuse to argue whether or not her points are accurate, because it is irrelevant. It doesn't matter how many same-sex families raising children exist in America. Shouldn't these families be treated equally as heterosexual families? Not according to Yanta, and definitely not according to NOM. According to their reasoning, because same-sex families are not as numerous as heterosexual families, they don't deserve protection under the law. To Yanta and NOM, these families and their children don't matter.

This is a contradiction of the statements made by former NOM head Maggie Gallagher during a congressional hearing last year. Remember when she said that "there are some gay people who are wonderful parents"? So Gallagher concedes that some gays make wonderful parents, but according to her organization they don't deserve protections for their partners, and especially not for their children. Is this a new Christian ethic, one that values families not based on the love and support they give but based on the number of them that exist?

It's an ugly thing to ponder, especially when one remembers the Biblical story of the lost sheep. According to the Gospels of Matthew (18:12-14) and Luke (15:3-7), Jesus told a story of a shepherd who left his flock to find one lost sheep because he cared about that one lost sheep as much as he cared about those 99 others. The shepherd did not say, "Forget that sheep. It's just one, and I have 99 others." No, the shepherd looked for that sheep until he found it.

The point is that we all have value, and that value is defined not by the number of us who may exist but by the fact that we exist, period. And that's a value that needs to be upheld. It doesn't matter how many same-sex families raising children exist in this country. They count just as much as heterosexual families raising children. And they should be treated with the same amount of fairness, because it is the right thing to do.

A truly ethical and Christian organization would know this. But what does NOM know about true Christianity and true ethics? No matter how much NOM tries to deceive us, the organization's mask always seems to fall off, showing its true, ugly...

The National Organization for Marriage has been steadily attempting to blunt the charges that it is trying to drive a wedge between the black and gay communities on the subject of marriage equality.

Ever since confidential documents came out detailing NOM's strategy to play the gay and black communities...

We've all missed one face during the recent scandal involving the revelation of confidential documents leaking the National Organization for Marriage's plans for homophobic race-baiting and other eyebrow-raising tactics to stop marriage equality: where in the heck is NOM's chair, John C. Eastman?

We've read statements from NOM...

Ever since GLAAD unveiled its Commentator Accountability Project, religious right groups and anti-gay pundits have been scrambling to defame the organization and the project.

GLAAD's Commentator Accountability Project calls out 36 anti-gay pundits by focusing on statements they have made vilifying the LGBT community.

Now, in spite...

A new report is highlighting the plight of a population who always seem to be ignored when African-American leaders begin debating issues pertaining to the community.

Via Think Progress:

. . . a coalition of public policy and family advocacy organizations released "LGBT Families of Color:...

Maggie Gallagher, co-founder of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), an anti-marriage-equality...

In celebration of the recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling against Proposition 8, I was going to write something uplifting about the perseverance of the LGBTQ community. But I decided not to.

For one, I am sure that there are so many others who are going to be dwelling...

A 2005 article on now-disgraced Atlanta pastor Eddie Long highlights a disturbing perspective to this issue of the National Organization for Marriage utilizing the black church and leaders against marriage equality that very few people are openly talking about.

The article quotes the Rev. Timothy McDonald, who theorizes...

You must forgive me for not being impressed with the news that MSNBC has allegedly finally been driven to the extremes by columnist Pat Buchanan's "incendiary musings on race and immigration" and is seeking to get rid of him.

Don't get me wrong. It's way overdue. Buchanan has gotten...

A researcher has come out complaining that a religious-right "expert" distorted her work to stigmatize the LGBTQ community.

According to Box Turtle Bulletin, Rick Fitzgibbons of the National Association of Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) wrote a piece about same-sex adoption. In the piece Fitzgibbons cites...

Chuck Norris is an action movie star -- and a bad one. But he should stay that way. His forays into politics reveal his basic ignorance.

He has penned a piece for the American Family Association whining about how the Obama administration has declared war on religion. Personally I don't...

The Obama administration took a huge step against LGBT persecution worldwide.

Also, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a monumental speech in Geneva, in which she basically broke it all down to the simple fact that gay rights are human rights.

The Obama administration was no doubt spurred...

Those who are my friends know that I am a serious fan of the 1970s detective drama Columbo. The thing I really love about this show is how police detective Columbo never considers a murder case completely simple. He never buys into the idea of an "open-and-shut" case if he...

Last month, when Minnesota Archbishop John Nienstedt sent out a letter urging every Catholic church in the state to create ad-hoc committees that would work to pass a constitutional amendment against marriage equality, he caused a deserved uproar regarding the idea that a tax-exempt entity would take such an...

In its efforts to help pass a state constitutional amendment against gay marriage in Minnesota, the Catholic Church is creating a troubling precedent:

Archbishop John Nienstedt sent a letter to every priest in the state at the start of October urging them to put every Catholic church in Minnesota...

Thanks to this past weekend's Values Voter Summit, I am learning that I am not an ordinary gay American.

Apparently I am Darth Vader.

The speakers at the supposed Christian rally have said that gays are evil. We are out to destroy America. We are threats to public health.

There are times when the National Organization for Marriage is so anti-gay that it burns, such as the post on its blog regarding the birth of Congressman Jared Polis' newborn son:

A simple congratulations would have...

In May 2012, North Carolina will vote on an amendment barring gay marriage in the state. But as the discussions and debates about this amendment are taking place, its lead sponsor has come under heavy fire for statements he made and for allegedly falsifying his credentials.

Gaston County state senator...

Here we go again.

The North Carolina Legislature has passed a bill to allow its citizens to vote on a state constitutional amendment against gay marriage.

The majority of folks in North Carolina are against this amendment, but that is considered a minor detail by the organizations and people pushing...