For at least eight years sexual minority groups have been the victims of religious extremists' attacks on their freedom such as the one against which the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom is currently defending. If you can spare two minutes to make a call to urge InterContinental Hotels Group and the Holiday Inn of Worthington, Ohio not to bow to public pressure from chief instigator Peter LaBarbara of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality to cancel its contract with Adventures in Sexuality to host Winter Wickedness, one of more than 200 such BDSM events routinely held across the country each year, please do so now. LaBarbara calls the event "a freakish sadomasochistic perversion-fest" and urges people to call the hotel's corporate headquarters to pressure them into canceling "for the sake of decency and public health." For more of the extremist language being used, visit the Americans for Truth About Homosexuality website. I am encouraged by Barak Obama's efforts thus far to correct some of the disastrous unconstitutional policies of the Bush administration, and I hope that the following signals an end to the blind eye taken by President Bush that encouraged attacks on lawfully-held private events. In this morning's Washington Post I read the following:
Speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast at the Hilton Washington yesterday, Obama said the goal of the [new administration's version of the faith-based] initiative "will not be to favor one religious group over another -- or even religious groups over secular groups. It will simply be to work on behalf of those organizations that want to work on behalf of our communities, and to do so without blurring the line our Founders wisely drew between church and state."
Can it be that the heyday of favortism for religious groups, including those who squander precious revenue teaching failed abstinence-only sex education programs at an annual taxpayer cost of $176 million is finally coming to an end? Can everybody say "HALLELUJAH!"
