The Anti-Gay Not-Scouts

Because of the recent furor over the Girl Scouts' inclusive membership policy, an anti-gay alternative called the American Heritage Girls is seeing an explosion in membership.

The group started with 100 girls in Ohio, and in recent weeks has surpassed 18,000 members in 45 states and six countries. Nine groups with a total of 357 girls meet in the St. Louis area; there were five local groups at this time last year. They are based at private schools and churches in Jefferson, St. Charles and St. Louis counties. Founder Patti Garibay, who had been a longtime Girl Scout leader for her daughters, wanted a choice. "We are faith-based, and they are secular, and that's a change," she said. "We're not for everybody, but we're obviously for a lot of people." Garibay estimates that 90 percent of Heritage members have left the Girl Scouts. Shanna Stewart, who home-schools her two daughters in Wentzville, found American Heritage Girls after becoming concerned when she learned the Girl Scouts had invited a lesbian to speak at the national level. "They were encouraging girls to embrace whoever they were; it didn't matter what choices they made, as long as they were true to themselves. That was a concern."

Like the Boy Scouts, the American Heritage Girls ban atheists and gays from becoming members or leaders.

Archdiocese Of Milwaukee Accused Of 8000 Incidents Of Child Molestation

Court documents filed in the bankruptcy case for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee appear to have revealed over 8000 incidents of child molestation not previously reported. New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who is about to be elevated to Cardinal, is the former Archbishop Of Milwaukee. Some suspect Dolan of having hidden over $130M in church funds in order to avoid massive court-ordered child molestation settlements.

Archdiocese spokeswoman Julie Wolf said she did not have enough information to respond to the assertion, made by attorney Jeffrey Anderson during a pivotal hearing before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley. Anderson represents about 350 of the 570 victim-survivors who have filed claims in the case. But Peter Isely of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests speculated that some are likely members of religious orders, such as Capuchins or Franciscans. Order officials do not typically make public the names of their accused members, and the archdiocese claims it is not responsible for them, though they have historically helped to staff its parishes and schools. "This is a public safety crisis, a child safety crisis that needs to be investigated," Isely said at a news conference on the federal courthouse steps, surrounded by fellow survivors and reporters. "We need to know who they are and where they are. How can there be 8,000 crimes committed by over 100 offenders and there be no accountability?" he said.

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has vigorously sought the dismissal of molestation charges against several priests, arguing that the statute of limitations on their crimes has expired. (Tipped by JMG reader Tom)

"Ex-Gays" Are Being Oppressed!

PFOX is outraged that a Maryland school board member is "disgusted" by their flier campaign telling students that they don't have to "choose" to be gay.

"We call on the Montgomery County Board of Education to enforce its Nondiscrimination Policy and censure Superintendent Starr immediately," said Regina Griggs, executive director of PFOX. "The Policy mandates that schools provide 'an atmosphere where differences are understood and appreciated, and where all persons are treated fairly and with respect in an environment free of discrimination and ... abuse.' Clearly Starr has violated the Board's Policy," said Griggs. "Starr's verbal abuse, disrespectful behavior, and slurs against the ex-gay community amount to hate and illegal sexual orientation discrimination, which are all forbidden by the Policy." According to media reports, Starr is discussing with his staff how to turn the fliers into a learning experience for students. "Starr does not respect diversity and is creating an unsafe school environment," said Griggs.

NOTE: The media spokesdouche for the Maryland campaign has been FRC's Peter Sprigg, who has called for the criminalization of homosexuality.

Cardinal Edward Egan Withdraws Apology For Priest Molestation Scandals

Cardinal Edward Egan has withdrawn his apology for the child molestation scandals that were exposed when he was the Archbishop of New York. That 2002 letter of apology was read to all of the congregations under his control.

A decade after that letter, the former archbishop of New York, and former bishop of Bridgeport, now describes the handling of the priest-abuse crisis under his watch as “incredibly good.” He said of the letter, "I never should have said that,” and added, “I don’t think we did anything wrong.” “I never had one of these sex abuse cases.” he said, before adding pompously, “If you have another bishop in the United States who has the record I have, I’d be happy to know who he is.”

He also claimed that the Church had no obligation to report abuse to the civil authorities. These are lies, strutting around with pride. The Church is required to report abuse, according to laws on the books since the 1970s. Bishop Egan ran a diocese that was notoriously dangerous for children. Contrary to his claim, during his twelve-year enthronement at Bridgeport, Egan repeatedly failed to investigate priests where there were obvious signs of abuse, according to The Hartford Courant. His diocese had to settle the cases and awarded victims some $12-15 million in damages.

In 2009 Egan was succeeded by Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who himself is about to be elevated to Cardinal. Like Dolan, he is a vocal opponent of LGBT rights.

TRAILER: Kidnapped For Christ

From the film's about page:

The film centers on the story of David, a straight-A student from Colorado who was sent to Escuela Caribe in May of 2006 after coming out to his parents as gay. Like many others, David was taken in the night without warning by a “transport service” and was never told where he was going or when he would be brought back home. While at Escuela Caribe, David had no way of communicating with any of his friends or family back home until the filmmakers arrived and he decided to ask them if they would smuggle out a letter that he had secretly written to his best friend.

It's not clear when and where the film will be distributed.
(Tipped by JMG reader Walker)

14 Year-Old Fascist Youth Asks Maryland To Deny Marriage As Her Birthday Present

And SURPRISE! She's home-schooled.