Fresh Air from WHYY: Milk screenwriter and executive producer Dustin Lance Black explains how Harvey Milk, gay rights and his upbringing in the Mormon church influenced his writing.  Listen to the interview here.

By Eric Norwood
Republished with author’s permission
Further info at Mormon Gulag

This story is about Eric Norwood’s personal experiences at a place called The Utah Boys Ranch, which models itself as a “tough-love” prep-school, but while Eric was there, he witnessed some unbelievable atrocities. It is a Mormon-funded and staffed facility, and religious indoctrination is a fundamental aspect of the school. There was sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, suicide, staff corruption, and escape. A major Utah political figure, Senator Chris Buttars, was the executive director while Eric was there. This is Eric’s story.

Excerpt from The Hastings Center:

Discussions and debates over the origins of homosexuality have tended to focus on two possibilities: you’re either gay because you’ve got a ”gay gene,” or you’re gay because of some aspect of your upbringing.

(The latter option is usually imagined to involve something nasty, like a pedophilic priest.) These two options—gene-gay and turned-gay—fit neatly in the (yawn) nature-nurture debate, and that
probably explains why almost everyone seems to keep ignoring a third option, one for which there is astoundingly robust data: womb-gay.

Please encourage everyone you know to see the new film, Milk, between Wednesday and Sunday. This is a very important film about a historic person, time, and events for gay civil rights. It is very timely with many parallels to the current uproar about Proposition 8. And if you don’t already know the story, I can promise you that this will NOT be a boring docudrama. The film is often mentioned as a top Oscar contender. Please visit NoMilkForCinemark.com and support their efforts to see the film at a gay rights friendly theater.

StopTheMormons.com today issued a statement to lend its support to the LDS church in its efforts to establish its religion in the Kyrgyz Republic.

Darin Weeks, founder of StopTheMormons.com said, “While the Lesbian and Gay community is outraged that the Mormon church played such a significant role in singling out our community for different treatment under California law, we feel that all laws or regulations that unfairly single out any group for different treatment are wrong.  As such, we urge the Kyrgyz Republic to put fear aside and allow the Mormon church to establish itself in their country.”

I find it highly amusing to read in Utah’s Deseret News that the government of Kyrgyzstan is making it difficult for the Mormons to have their religion officially recognized by the country.

One of the reader comments posted with the story says, “It’s not about a religious Us vs. Them — it’s about a government saying Only Us, Not Them.” 

Ha! How does it feel?

The new Kyrgyzstan law would make it much more difficult to register. Instead of requiring just 10 members in the country before a church could register, it would now require 200, a commission said.

Farmington LDS chapel vandalized

There were a couple of stories that caught my attention today in Utah.  One was a minor act of vandalism to a Mormon church that could be investigated as a hate crime.  In the other, a suicidal man was found in front of an LDS temple.

The vandilism case seems clearly related to Prop 8.  The words, “Nobody’s born a bigot” followed by a heart and smiley face were found spray-painted on a cement wall outside chapel.  The vandalism was reported on Wednesday, and police are investigating it as a possible hate crime.

The California Supreme Court ruled today that they will hear cases challenging prop 8, but will NOT allow marriages to resume in the meantime.   They also allowed the backers of Proposition 8 to intervene, however they did not allow another pro prop 8 group, Campaign for California Families, to do so.

The ruling text follows below.   For news analysis, see the SF Chronicle.

STRAUSS v. HORTON
Case: S168047, Supreme Court of California

Apparently, the “Almighty Eternal Creator” has filed a brief with the Supreme Court over Proposition 8.  It seems that god is now based on Mira Mesa Blvd in San Diego, at the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN World Divine Mission.  Here are some quotes from the brief: