Fun in the Hawaiian Sun. On Hawaii's
gubernatorial election, the
Hawaii Reporter website related the following:
Yesterday, Hawaii Reporter talked to a handful of people outside the Republican Party who had direct knowledge of a new secret whispering campaign against Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Linda Lingle. Apparently a woman claiming to be the former lover of Lingle is calling targeted Republicans as a part of a smear campaign against Lingle. Lingle says she is not gay and in fact has been married twice.
Lingle supporters says smear mongers are hoping to distract voters from the real issues like the fact that the state has hit rock bottom in almost every category -- education, business, social problems, importation of drugs, domestic violence, theft -- because of poor political leadership.
Democrats tried this same smear in 1998 against Lingle when she ran for governor against incumbent Benjamin Cayetano and against some of their own candidates in years prior who weren't the "chosen" party candidates, including a Democrat candidate for mayor and a Democrat candidate for governor.
And then there's this,
as reported by the Washington Times:
When [Lingle] denied lesbian rumors, Democratic Gov. Benjamin J. Cayetano, who is term-limited, said that her denial suggested she felt that homosexuality is "something to be ashamed of" and therefore she was "denigrating gays."
She says her opponents have falsely accused her of everything from wanting to privatize the whole state government to wanting to cancel Christmas as a state holiday.
She says they have lied about her favoring the legalization of same-sex "marriage" and physician-assisted suicides and making Hawaii a right-to-work state.
So first her opponents spread a gay rumor to hurt her, and when she denies the rumor they call her homophobic. No wonder people hate politics.
(Note: The Hawaii Reporter story was first noted on the blogsphere by David Hogberg's Cornfield Commentary site and andrewsullivan.com)
Destructive Therapy. A sad but interesting
piece ran in the San Jose Mercury News about the
self-destructive behavior and ultimate brutal murder of transsexual
teen Gwen/Eddie Araujo. Of particular interest is the
following:
People offered Eddie their help, including Linda Skerbec, a therapist associated with the Focus on the Family ministry who had known the family for years and saw Araujo between the ages of 14 and 16. She said she was on the verge of persuading Araujo to "move beyond the label" of transgender and "claim the sexual identity that matched his anatomy."
We"re also told, however:
This would have been Araujo's senior year at Crossroads High School, but he never showed up".Araujo's behavior grew more self-destructive, and his mother concedes now that she "never understood the magnitude of his pain."" Aaraujo attempted suicide and drank more frequently. He had no job and wasn't studying. Friends told police he traded sex for beer and marijuana. Last month, Araujo was found unconscious"passed out after a night of drinking. But it wasn't unusual. He often wouldn't come home at night.
Sounds like the fundametalist, homophobic "therapy" was of great help, right? Shouldn't this quackery be considered a form of child abuse?
[Update: Read Ms. Skerbec's letter to us, stating that the allegations against her were false.]
Speaking of ex-gay quackery, here's a not-too-bad piece on
the
re-emergence of ex-gay activist John Paulk, from the
conservative Washington Times.
--Stephen H. Miller