The Bilerico Project | Daily experiments in LGBTQ

Georgia's GOP Rep Paul Broun, who sits on the House Sciences Committee has publicly declared his belief that science is a tool of the Devil, and of

...the holy Bible as being the major directions to me of how I vote in Washington, D.C.

This story, is a stark reminder of not only just how closed-minded many of our fellow citizens have become, but also how much power they and their supporters have gained. Rep Broun sits on the House Sciences Committee for the gods' sake! Along it should be noted, with Rep. Todd "legitimate rape" Akin.

These are people who have deliberately sought out positions of power from which to dismantle the bedrock of scientific and technological innovation that helped make us a superpower.

Stories like this one often prompt people in our community to rail against the "evils of religion," but it's worth noting that many of our greatest scientists and explorers have been people of faith.

That some people twist the dictates of faith to support their own financial and cultural ends, is not inherently the fault of belief. Science too can be twisted to suit an ideological end after all.

If we paint everyone of faith, or even everyone who shares an underlying religious belief system with Reps Broun and Akin, we risk alienating supporters of fairness and reason (yes one can have reason and religion), and don't think for a moment that the backers of Messrs. Akin and Broun don't intend to apply their biblical (as they see it) mode of governance to the issue of LGBT people, and people whose faith or lack their of is different than their own.

And with that cheery thought, here's what you need to know today:

• Good news from GLAAD about LGBT representation in the upocoming 2012-13 TV season
• Under the banner of religious freedom, a group of right-wing snake oil salesmen are claiming to have "cured" HIV/AIDS.
• Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has stated that ruling against LGBT rights, among other topics, is the obvious and correct approach.
• The largest psychotherapy organization in Great Britain has officially banned its members from engaging in "ex-gay" therapy practices.
• Referencing the social and institutional changes brought about in the wake of Matthew Shepard's murder in 1998, students and alumni of Laramie's University of Wyoming are disputing that school's poor ranking in LGBT acceptance by the Princeton Review.
• The "Birth Certificate" argument having lost its momentum, right wing nut jobs are trying to press home their new "Obama was secretly gay-married, and it was all arranged by Jesse Jackson" line of doggerel. No we know what becomes of writers rejected by World Weekly News.
• Despite threats of violence, and the Pride march being cancelled by the government for the second year in a row, Serbian LGBT supporters held an indoor Pride gathering on Saturday.
• So far supporters of marriage equality in Maine are far ahead in fundraising and spending compared to their opponents. But that was the case in '09 also.
• Seems like Harvard University has become a pretty good place to be a queer/LGBT student:
• A queer/LGBT art exhibit in India is one of the firsts of its kind
• An intense new documentary covers the lives of gay Ugandans' struggling in the face of unbearable institutional hatred, particularly regarding the fight around the "kill the gays" bill, which was backed by right wing American Christian organizations.
• Finally: A most adorable video of a group of ducks rescued from an animal hoarder, encounter a pond for the first time. It's not unlike someone on their first visit to a gay bar:

(God vs Science graphic via Bigstock)