The Peter is probably having a cow right now since this is in his backyard.
An openly gay Chicago alderman is proposing changes to the city's domestic partner benefits plan to ensure that the partners of city workers remain insured if they marry in California.
The existing plan contains a provision that prohibits the same-sex domestic partners of employees from receiving benefits if either partner is married. When the insurance plan was crafted same-sex marriage was not contemplated and the exclusion was meant to cover instances where an employee or partner was already in an opposite-sex marriage so that the city would not be paying for both a spouse and a partner.
"Our domestic partner [ordinance] was specifically for domestic partners, never thinking that this day of marriage would come so quickly. Now, in this ever-changing landscape of legislation, there's a Catch-22," Alderman Tom Tunney told the Chicago Tribune.
...Tunney, Chicago's first openly gay alderman, said he expects the newest revision to be approved with little difficulty.
LaBarbera already had his knickers in a twist over Chicago Pride and the allegedly anti-Christian programming by Chicago public television station WTTW.
Americans For Truth President Peter LaBarbera today accused the Chicago public TV station WTTW, and by extension the Public Broadcasting System, of using taxpayer monies to celebrate homosexuality and worse, air programs that displays flagrant anti-religious bigotry during "Gay Pride Month."
What were these flagrant displays? In his post he cites, among other devastating bigotry:
* A homosexual male couple adopting a Guatemalan baby.
* Repeated assertions that God made homosexuals that way and that portray Christians who disagree as hateful, ignorant or prejudiced. Said one homosexual man's mother: "God created homosexuality. It's just part of a person."
Come on, man, this is weak.
Share
Like what you read? Subscribe to The Bilerico Project by Email.
Want others to read it too? Use the buttons and links here to share this entry with others. (Move your cursor over a button or link to learn more about it.)
7 Comments
« Two Gay Guys: Sex and the City...and Gay Marriage | Home | A great day for LGBT Californians! »
When I first read your title, "The Peter" I was thinking you meant refers to a more colloquial term referencing a particularly valued part of the male anatomy.
After reading about Americans For Truth President Peter LaBarbera, however, I think either meaning of the word would apply. He sounds like a real dick.
Brynn Craffey | June 17, 2008 7:42 PM
Reply to this comment
Oh, Brynn- It is so good to have you back! That was perfect! :)
Waymon Hudson | June 17, 2008 7:50 PM
Reply to this comment
Wasn't Peter The Dick also at the right wing book burning? Or was it the spiritual retreat he took with Rev Hagee? Or the canoe trip with Larry Craig? These folks live in an alternate reality that is based upon weak ignorance.
Robert Ganshorn | June 18, 2008 12:00 AM
Reply to this comment
LaBarbera's one of the worst enemies of the T community. He actually was allowed to attend a couple Southern Comfort Conferences, and he was a very keen observer. He's dangerous to us because he knows our community well, and knows our achilles' heels.
He knows the gay community well, too, but the problem with gay marriage for Reichers is that there really aren't many sensible arguments against it. But if anyone in the reich can find one, it will be LaBarbera. I fear him because, unlike Jackson, Perkins, Robertson, Lou Shelton, Tim LaHaye, and their ilk, he's no joke or cartoon. He does his homework and is well informed.
Polar | June 18, 2008 3:24 AM
Reply to this comment
Whether LaBarbera is a "dick" or "does his homework" one thing is clear about his arguments: They imply that the First Amendment extends to him and those who agree with him, and not to those who disagree with him, such as gays and lesbians.
The quicker we can label this guy as an enemy of free speech and free religious expression, the quicker we will have disarmed him of whatever political influence he has --- that is, as long as most Americans support the Constitution as currently written and interpreted.
BTW, although I do respect Polar's opinion, I agree more with Brynn than with Polar --- for the most part, this guy's a dick.
A. J. Lopp | June 18, 2008 11:34 AM
Reply to this comment
Polar, what you say is frightening...
I agree with A.J. We need to "label this guy as an enemy of free speech and free religious expression," and not let people forget it.
Brynn Craffey | June 18, 2008 12:58 PM
Reply to this comment
It sounds like a perfectly reasonable policy change to me. Of course it doesn't to the rightwing nutjobs.
Bil Browning | June 18, 2008 1:53 PM
Reply to this comment