Tag Archives: misinformation

TEXAS Judge Rules Employers Under "Religious Freedom" Can Deny Paying for PrEP

Facebook Refuses To Remove Ads Promoting Misinformation About HIV Prevention Drugs

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Facebook feeds have been inundated with misleading ads containing false information about HIV prevention and LGBT advocates, are saying that the tone-deaf tech giant’s refusal to remove the content is creating a public-health crisis.

The paid ads have been viewed millions of times in recent months, They’ve scared patients, potentially those who may be most at risk of contracting HIV, out of taking preventative drugs, known as PrEP, even though health officials and federal regulators have said they are safe.

The ads many of which have been purchased by personal-injury lawyers allege in lawsuits that HIV medications, such as Truvada, actually threaten patients with serious side effects. LGBT groups that work with Facebook say the ads are “false” and have urged Facebook for months to take them down— and Facebook refuses stating that the ads do not violate its policies.

“We value our work with LGBT groups and constantly seek their input,” said Facebook spokeswoman Devon Kearns said in a statement. “While these ads do not violate our ad policies nor have they been rated false by third-party fact-checkers, we’re always examining ways to improve and help these key groups better understand how we apply our policies.”

Demetre Daskalakis, the deputy commissioner for the Division of Disease Control at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said the ads, which he has seen on his own Facebook feed, threaten to undo years of work to promote a drug that can cut down on the transmission of HIV and potentially save lives.

“I still see patients,” Daskalakis said. “Four of my seven PrEP patients came in and said, ‘How could you be putting me on this medication that’s so unsafe? My Instagram ads say so.’”

Despite the fact that health officials and federal regulators have said that the HIV prevention drugs are safe personal-injury lawyers claiming to represent thousands of HIV patients say the data actually are on their side — and that they have a role in informing patients about the risks in medication.

“These Facebook ads provide a service to let them know there are options available for them now,” said Robert Jenner, the co-lead counsel in the consolidated lawsuit.

Video – Howard Stern Smacks Down Chick-fil-A

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Said Howard:

“I don’t really care what the political beliefs are of a corporation…When  you’re in business, you don’t want to turn off anybody. It’s the smart  way to do business, because while I’m not gay, I do support gay marriage…  Because really what the guy is saying is ‘oh sure anyone can eat here but our  money and our beliefs are that anyone who wants to be married who is gay is  wrong’. Now that’s a pompous statement for a guy who makes chicken for a  living….Don’t come out as a corporation against anybody. OK, if you want to  come out against Hitler, I’ll back you on that. But, just keep your mouths  shut.”

It’s great that Howard Stern came out and said something about Chick-fil-A.  He reaches an audience that we in our “gay media bubble” haven’t been able to successfully reach.

But still the real message that Chick-fil-A has donated millions of dollars over the past years to anti-gay groups with extremists goals beyond that of stopping same-sex marriage has not hit the mainstream or progressive media. Because that’s the REAL message that should be sent to prove the full extent of Chick-fil-A’s and Dan Cathy’s anti-gay hate

Now how do we rectify that?

FOX News Uses NOM Propaganda To Misinform and Fearmonger About AZ’s Domestic Partnership SCOTUS Lawsuit

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Not that this should really be a surprise to anyone, but on FoxNews.com Wednesday they published an anti-gay propaganda article warning their audience that an “under-the-radar case pending before the Supreme Court” could “invalidate traditional marriage laws altogether.”

Which is a lie.

What they are really reporting on is  Arizona’s Tea Party Governor Jan Brewer’s July 2 filing with the Supreme Court asking them to reverse the September 2011 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that kept same-sex domestic partners health-care benefits in place in the state despite her attempts to invalidate them.

But according to Fox News,“traditional marriage laws could be on the line” if the case makes it to the Supreme Court:

One veteran 9th Circuit judge thinks his colleagues have declared a war on marriage.

Those judges “all but expressly held that opposite-sex-only marriage rules are unconstitutional — indeed, that such rules are irrational per se because they can rest only on a ‘bare desire to harm a politically unpopular group,'” Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain wrote in dissent of his court’s decision not to grant the case further review. He said his colleagues were ignoring Supreme Court precedent and all but called upon the high court to take the case. Arizona’s attorney general recently filed a brief with the justices asking them to accept O’Scannlain’s invitation.

Lawyer John Eastman, with the National Organization for Marriage, called the 9th Circuit ruling “groundbreaking,” and one that could render traditional marriage laws across the country “unconstitutional” if it takes hold. 

Eastland [sic] says the legislature’s action was perfectly reasonable given the budgetary fix it was in and that courts are supposed to defer to elected lawmakers to make difficult decisions — like what programs or benefits to cut when money is tight. “The 9th Circuit has now effectively gone on record as saying it’s irrational for the state to provide benefits to traditional married couples that it doesn’t extend to everybody else. And that the only explanation for it is bigotry toward homosexuality.”

Other than the fact that Eastman is probably the last legal analyst in the world who should be asked about this case given his position with the National Organization for marriage. Eastman also has a history of making poor legal judgments in order to advance his anti-gay agenda, including defending unconstitutional state sodomy laws.

And for the Supreme Court to invalidate AZ’s state marriage laws based on this case, it would have to introduce a whole slew of issues and arguments that neither the plaintiffs or Arizona have introduced.

The Arizona case is not about same-sex marriage.  Its about fairness since opposite-sex  domestic partners health-care benefits are not being challanged by Brewer and the state.

There are plenty of cases that will give the Supreme Court the ability to weigh in on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage bans starting in the fall.

But despite Fox News’ propaganda and  fearmongering this case is not  one of them and is very likely not even to be heard

Shocking Poll Shows 8 Out Of 10 Progessives and Democrats Do Not Know What ENDA Is

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A random polling of Progressive and Democrat attendees at this years Netroots Nation in Providence, Rhode Island uncovered some shocking statistics as 8 out of 10 of those polled could not answer the simple question  “What Is ENDA?”

The (unscientific) poll taken by this site BackStonewall.com randomly asked this question to a random sampling of attendees over the four days of Netroots Nation and a mind boggling 80 percent of them did did not know what ENDA (The Employment Non-Discrimination Act)  was.  Even more shocking was the fact that many were under the belief that LGBT employment discrimination protections were already in place under the 1964 Civil Rights Act and all were unaware and disgusted when they learned that ENDA has been stalled in Congress for over 20 years and LGBT Americans can still be fired for simply being who they are.

Now this is disheartening news to say the least.  Especially since this question was asked to a group of actively involved political progressive and democrats.

So the question needs to be asked: “Why didn’t such a large percentage of Netroots Nation attendees know what ENDA is?

A few people I’ve talked with about the results blame the acronyms and names of the LGBT bills that we put forward for lack of recognition.  I could actually agree with that if not for the fact that we’ve had over 20 years to get use to the acronym ENDA.

My answer is much simpler.  We have a huge problem informing the “general population” of our issues because we have become very myopic on the issues that we do push.

Our biggest issue is not same sex marriage as some may lead you to believe.  Same sex marriage is not the do all, and end all of LGBT equality issues.  We lay other, more important issues to the wayside as if we cannot concentrate on more than one issue at one time.  What are we Congress?

Same sex marriage while important only benefits those who some day would like to get married where in LGBT employment discrimination effects everyone in our community.

Secondly I can almost a guarantee you that at least 9o percent of the traffic of Back2Stonewall.com is of an LGB make up, as it most probably is any of the popular blogs, LGBT new sites, papers, magazines and even Sirus XM’s Michelangelo Signorile’s radio show.  Which is one of our biggest problems.  We literally preach to the choir.  We know what ENDA is.

And while many of our major LGBT organizations do try to get our issues coverage on the national news outlets.  CNN, MSNBC, etc.  Lets face it, these news outlets are almost like fast food joints.  It comes down to a sound-byte which is not very filling and has little to no detailed information of the issue at hand. And the networks  are really only interested if they can counterpoint it with anti-gay hate group leaders who spread hateful lies and propaganda that the networks don’t even bother to fact check.

We must all start spreading the word outside of our community and to news sources that people seek out because they are interested issues.  AlterNet, TruthOut, The Political Carnival, and  progressive radio shows such as The Stephanie Miller Show and The Progressive to name a few.  Outlets that reach out further than LGBT audience to those who seek out and want to learn about political issues and who will truly embrace us and help us if we inform and educate them.

While we preach to ourselves, and pass up these opportunities to inform and educate others in independent venues that are far more accessible to us than the major news outlets our enemies aren’t missing a beat promoting their hate,  lies and propaganda in any venue possible.

Case in point the Southern Law Poverty Centers certified hate group the Family Research Council and its latest anti -LGBT propaganda video against ENDA recently posted on YouTube.

Peter LaBarbera and AFTHA Use The Penn State Tragedy And It’s Victims To Promote Their Anti-Gay Agenda

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The shock and sadness of what has happened to over 100 children at Penn State University has touched everyone in the country..  But it has touched none so much as disgusting anti-gay activists like Peter LaBarbera, the president of Naperville, Ill.-baesd Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) who are blatantly using this tragedy and its innocent victims to push thier hateful anti-gay agenda.

LaBarbera, who falsely keeps claiming that Jerry Sandusky’s horrid actions are the result of being gay even though Sandusky identifies as heterosexual, is married, and has grown children is now blaming LGBT-rights advocates for having a hand in  perpetuating sexual violence against children in an oft handed way.  

On Thursday LaBarbera sent out he following Press Release not once, but THREE times via the news-wire service the Christian Communication Network:

Sandusky is married but obviously has a homosexuality (perversion) problem. Yet pro-“gay” liberals will deny any linkage between homosexuality and Sandusky’s rape/seduction of boys. In fact, after news of the Penn State scandal came to light, “gay” activists stressed that Sandusky is married and that most pedophile cases involve “straight, married men.” However, behavior is what matters — not a person’s marital status or self-described “sexual orientation.” Sandusky was married but was he really “straight” (sexually or morally)? Some inner demons or life traumas — probably in his own youth — caused him to lust for boys, wrecking untold misery in the lives of his victims. Behavior is the issue, and this was a case of a serial homosexual predator raping boys.

For LaBarbera and other right wing  supposedly “Christian” groups to use this horrible tragedy and its victims to spout lies and misinformation just to push their own hateful agenda is monstrous.   Numerous studies and reasearch from reputable organizations and accredited institutions of higher learning, unlike that of the sham research that LaBarbera and his ilk use, proves there is NO LINK whatsoever between being gay and child molestation,

We can not allow laBarbera and the “christian right” to use this tragedy, and those poor children for their own hateful purposes and they should finally be seen by all as the hateful sociopath monsters that they really are.

Source: American Independent