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Gay Rights: Why Is Princeton University’s President Shielding NOM’s Founder?

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Princeton University President Shirley M. Tilghman refuses to address the fact that a professor under her tenure practices anti-gay hate and uses his position at Princeton University to falsely give credence to his work.

GAY RIGHTS NATIONAL EMERGENCY – AN OPEN LETTER TO PRINCETON PRESIDENT SHIRLEY M. TILGHMAN

 

 

To:

Shirley M. Tilghman, President
Princeton University

smt@princeton.edu 

President Tlighman:

This regards your unconscionable cowardice and/or lack of good character in so far refusing publicly to condemn the malicious nationwide political gay bashing of Princeton University Professor Robert George. I sent you an e-mail in this regard, which you ignored. Separately, I sent an e-mail to Princeton University Spokesperson Martin Mbugua; he also ignored my e-mail. I then called his office; he happened to pick up, acknowledged receipt of my e-mail and said that you would not be commenting.

As a regular contributor to The Journal for the Study of Anti-Semitism, I know that one of the most urgently important lessons of the Holocaust is that a society must not wait until the lowest imaginable degradation of ignorance-fueled anti-minority prejudice is reached before taking a stand against such dangerous prejudices.

Though Princeton Professor Robert P. George is not qualified to speak scientifically about the psychology of sexual orientation, he presumes authority to speak on the topic as though he were an expert in it. Many of his published academic papers and articles are actually anti-gay hate literature that have only been published in academic journals and elsewhere because of the ongoing prevalence of ignorance-fueled anti-gay prejudice in the society.

It should nonetheless concern Princeton University when one of its supposed star scholars is publishing junk scholarship with the Princeton University brand name attached. Your institution’s integrity is on the line. By way of example I am going to cite footnote number 10 in Princeton University Professor Robert George’s notorious anti-gay hate essay “What is Marriage?” This scurrilous anti-gay hate literature was co-written by a Princeton Ph.D. candidate, meaning, at Princeton, Professor George is grooming a new generation to perpetuate a corrosive and harmful ignorance-fueled prejudice. Professor George in the aforementioned footnote wrote, “Throughout history, no society’s laws have explicitly forbidden gay marriage. They have not explicitly forbidden it because, until recently, it has not been thought possible.”

The Roman emperors Nero and Elagabalus each were married to men in public ceremonies described by such scribes as Cicero. At a later date, the Theodosian Code (9.7.3) made illegal such same sex relations. Were it not for the Romans one might point at the tradition of berdaches in the cultures of various Native American tribes. If berdaches’ domestic relationships did not correspond precisely to contemporary American marital relationships, neither did Native Americans’ heterosexual marriage-like domestic arrangements.

The cultures of ancient Rome and of the Native Americans hardly exhaust historical examples of same sex relationships being endorsed by societies. While the evidence from ancient Egypt remains incomplete, surviving Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom accounts and other evidence suggest that homosexuality in those periods extended in significance beyond mere physical relations. And, I have not yet mentioned ritualized female pairings among the Nuer of Sudan or ritualized male pairings in the Azande culture.  I trust that you know at least something about historical same-sex relationships in China and Japan.

My main point in this to you is that Princeton University Professor Robert George ignored mountainous scholarship in the field of Cultural Anthropology to allege that ritualized same sex unions had throughout history not existed. He did so in the pages of an academic journal, using his Princeton University associations as credentials, and in order to perpetuate anti-scientific, anti-fact, anti-gay prejudices. Note, please, that Professor George has had professional associations with the anti-gay hate group Focus on the Family, one of whose officials, Tom Minnery was on the floor of the United States Senate during a hearing when under oath called out for falsifying evidence about gay human beings, with intent to see discrimination against them perpetuated in the United States.

While each and every aspect of the very serious injuries Princeton’s Professor Robert George causes to be inflicted on his victims nationwide and beyond is of extreme concern, perhaps no aspect is quite so shocking as Professor George’s complicity in perpetuating nationwide school environments hostile to young LGBT human beings. The website of Professor George’s American Principles Project includes articles that rail against the teaching of humane acceptance values in public schools, with the reason given being that teaching acceptance values are “subterfuges” to promote acceptance of gay human beings. Professor George is publishing this anti-gay hate literature in a social climate where some people of influence state that anti-gay bullying is a “healthy” form of peer pressure. Dr. Rich Swier, who promotes the idea that anti-gay bullying is a “healthy” form of peer pressure, enthusiastically cites Princeton Professor Robert George’s writings on his blog. Here in case you missed the story is a report about the recent anti-gay bullycide of Jamey Rodemeyer.

NOM, the National Organization For Marriage, an organization Professor George started and of which he is Chairman Emeritus, is currently engaging in anti-gay politicking in the very district where Jamey Rodemeyer fell victim to anti-gay bullying. Professor George’s vigorous and sustained activity in this field runs counter to the policies and recommendations issued by every major modern medical and psychological association including the AMA. If you are not familiar with what a student victim of this ignorance suffers, please read my article “Gay Florida Teen, Harassed by Teacher, Tortured by Students, Denied Justice.”

We shall not remain silent while . . . even in the midst of an epidemic of bullycides among gay American teenagers . . .. Princeton University officials continue to enable the monster bigot Professor Robert George.

At this link is the online petition calling for you and other Princeton University Board of Trustee members to repudiate Professor Robert George’s ignorance-fueled anti-gay prejudices. Jamey Rodemeyer couldn’t sign the petition because he is dead. Who knows? Maybe one day he could have attended Princeton.

Shame on you, Princeton University President Tilghman. Shame.

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Editor’s note: President Tilghman and her office have not responded to repeated requests for comment.

 

New York City-​based novelist and freelance writer Scott Rose’s LGBT-​interest by-​line has appeared on Advocate​.com, PoliticusUSA​.com, The New York Blade, Queerty​.com, Girlfriends and in numerous additional venues. Among his other interests are the arts, boating and yachting, wine and food, travel, poker and dogs. His “Mr. David Cooper’s Happy Suicide” is about a New York City advertising executive assigned to a condom account.

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'GOOD LUCK WITH THAT'

‘Trying to Have It Both Ways’: Ivanka ‘Flailing’ as Trump Indictment Slams Family

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April 1, 2023

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While Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have taken to their social media platforms to viciously lash out at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for indicting their father on a reported 30 charges, Ivanka Trump posted a rather muted statement on her Instagram account which simply said, “I love my father, and I love my country. Today, I am pained for both. I appreciate the voices across the political spectrum expressing support and concern.”

According to Daily Beast conservative columnist Matt Lewis, the so-called “First Daughter,” who served in the White House with her father, is trying to stay true to her former president dad, while distancing herself from his legal problems — and it is not going to work for her.

As Lewis put it, Ivanka is “flailing” in her attempts to shed the memory of her participation in the Trump administration that reached its lowest point on Jan. 6 when supporters of Trump stormed the Capitol and sent lawmakers fleeing for their lives.

“It’s hard to argue with anything Ivanka says here, but it is not a statement of moral clarity. Nor is it (conversely) a statement of strong support for her father. She’s flailing and trying to have it both ways,” Lewis wrote before adding, “Now, it’s understandable that a daughter might not want to utterly condemn her father. Further, children are not responsible for their parents’ sins. Except, of course, if you consider the fact that Ivanka served as the primary weapon in the ‘Trump’s not such a belligerent pig as his four decades as a public figure would make you think’ propaganda push.”

RELATED: Trump is so ‘unmoored from reality’ he can’t act as a defense witness: ‘Art of the Deal’ ghostwriter

Noting that Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner — who has baggage of his own — both stuck with Trump in the White House for all four years, Lewis added, “As far as the former first daughter goes, she and her husband might be done with politics, but once you’ve been a party to an administration like Trump’s, it’s going to be a long time before politics is done with them.”

“So, Ivanka, you want to have a seat at the cool apolitical kids’ table? You want to be once again accepted by the socially liberal billionaires’ children you used to go to the Hamptons with and now have Miami Beach playdates with? You want to enjoy the privileges of being a Trump with none of the shame? Good luck with that,” he concluded.

You can read more here.

 

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Dominion Wins ‘Blockbuster Victories’ Against Fox News – Last Legal Issue Will Be Decided by a Jury: Report

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March 31, 2023

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Dominion Voting Systems won what are being called “blockbuster victories” Friday afternoon when a judge ruled the company suing Fox News for $1.6 billion in a major defamation lawsuit had met its burden of proof that Rupert Murdoch‘s far-right wing cable channel had repeatedly made false statements.

The final, and likely greatest legal issue Dominion will have to prove will be actual malice. That issue will be decided in a jury trial, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric M. Davis ruled Friday, according to Law & Crime.

Unlike previous cases, Fox News will reportedly not be able to argue the on-air statements its personalities made were opinion.

CNN legal analyst and Brookings senior fellow Norm Eisen calls Friday’s decision a “huge win for Dominion on their summary judgment motion against Fox News.”

READ MORE: Capitol Police Issue Warning Over Possible Trump Protests ‘Across the Country’

“Dominion won partial summary judgement that what Fox said about them was false! Now they just have to prove actual malice and damages,” Eisen says. “Meanwhile Fox’s motion was totally denied.”

Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, an MSNBC contributor adds: “Dominion’s evidence Fox made false statements with reckless disregard  is as strong as any I’ve seen.”

The judge was very clear in his ruling.

“While the Court must view the record in the light most favorable to Fox, the record does not show a genuine issue of material fact as to falsity,” Judge Davis wrote. “Through its extensive proof, Dominion has met its burden of showing there is no genuine issue of material fact as to falsity. Fox therefore had the burden to show an issue of material fact existed in turn. Fox failed to meet its burden.”

READ MORE: ‘Propaganda Network’: Media Reporter Says Dominion Filing Exposes Fox News as ‘Void of the Most Basic Journalistic Ethics’

Attorney and MSNBC host and legal analyst Katie Phang points to this key passage in Judge Davis’ ruling.

Court watchers and news junkies are familiar at this point with the massive legal filings Dominion has made in which it exposed how Fox News knowingly made false statements regarding the 2020 presidential election. Those filings, each hundreds of pages, also detail internal Fox News communications and bombshell conversations between the company’s top personalities, executives, and even Chairman Rupert Murdoch.

 

Image of Rupert Murdoch via Shutterstock

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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

Capitol Police Issue Warning Over Possible Trump Protests ‘Across the Country’

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21 hours ago

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March 31, 2023

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The U.S. Capitol Police and the Senate Sergeant at Arms on Friday jointly issued a statement warning they “anticipate” Trump protests across the country. The statement is not time-specific, and it states it has no information on “credible threats,” but some Democratic offices are allowing staffers to work from home Friday and Tuesday.

“The Sergeant at Arms and United States Capitol Police (USCP) anticipate demonstration activity across the country related to the indictment of former President Trump. While law enforcement is not tracking any specific, credible threats against the Capitol or state offices, there is potential for demonstration activity. USCP is working with law enforcement partners, so you may observe a greater law enforcement presence on Capitol Hill,” the statement reads.

“The SAA and USCP are monitoring the potential nationwide impacts to Senate state offices,” it adds.

The House Sergeant at Arms was conspicuously absent from the statement. Speaker Kevin McCarthy has control over that office.

READ MORE: Trump Trial Could Go Well Into the 2024 Election – Or Possibly Even Past It: Former Prosecutor

Additionally, Axios is reporting, “several House Democrats are allowing staffers to work from home as a safety precaution,” noting that “the memory of Trump supporters ransacking the Capitol on Jan. 6 is still fresh on the mind.”

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) is allowing staff to work from home for safety reasons. She told Axios, “I don’t ever want to see a Jan. 6 again.”

“I’ve been in the Trump hate tunnel, Donald Trump has gone after me, and quite frankly I don’t have security. I don’t have entourages.”

She’s not the only Democrat to raise concerns.

“Much of the language from the former President and his devotees is similar to what inspired Jan. 6th,” U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips said. “I’m concerned about safety for my colleagues and my staff.”

READ MORE: ‘Lighting the Match’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Blasted for Off the Rails Rant Defending Trump

Meanwhile, House Republicans are issuing full-throated support for Trump and calling for protests.

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who was called out by name in a six-page letter Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg sent to Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan Friday morning, announced she will be in New York on Tuesday to support Trump when he is arraigned. She has posted several tweets since Trump was indicted.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy issued a statement Thursday seemingly designed to gin up rage and action in the MAGA base.

“Alvin Bragg has irreparably damaged our country in an attempt to interfere in our Presidential election. As he routinely frees violent criminals to terrorize the public, he weaponized our sacred system of justice against President Donald Trump. The American people will not tolerate this injustice, and the House of Representatives will hold Alvin Bragg and his unprecedented abuse of power to account.”

 

Image by Elvert Barnes via Flickr and a CC license

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