Iowa officials have confirmed that Iowa State Senator Matt McCoy received a death threat by telephone on Monday. Iowa’s first and only gay lawmaker, McCoy has been a vocal supporter of the Iowa Supreme Court’s recent ruling on gay marriage, and the threat comes in the midst of protests for and against marriage equality at the state capital.

From the Des Moines Register:

Security was heavy at the Capitol again Monday as supporters of traditional marriage rallied outside the building, then came inside to lobby lawmakers. They want lawmakers to take steps against an April 3 Iowa Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in Iowa.

Below is a message from Senator McCoy after the gay marriage ruling…

A group of concerned Virginia citizens have formed the Protect Isabella Coalition in response to a custody battle between lesbian parents over their six-year-old daughter Isabella. Birth mother Lisa Miller who now lives in Virginia is fighting for sole custody of their daughter from her former partner Janet Jenkins in Vermont. The couple was joined by civil union in 2001 but split a few years later when Jenkins decided she was no longer a lesbian and moved back to Virginia. Isabella was just 17 months old.

To drum up support and media attention for the case the Protect Isabella Coalition has put out the following television ad in Virginia.

And from their website’s Action page…

What can you do to help?

First, pray. We believe God has a wonderful plan for both Lisa and Isabella. Please pray with us that they will be able to stay together, without the disruptive visitations ordered by the Vermont Judge. Pray that God would turn Janet Jenkins’ heart and open her eyes to Isabella’s real needs, which are far greater than her own. Pray for Janet’s salvation. Pray also for godly wisdom for our nation’s leaders, our legislators and judges.

Currently Virginia courts have refused to deny a Vermont court order granting Jenkins visitation rights. Unfortunately Miller has frequently been in contempt of that order by refusing visitation, and is reported in Newsweek as likening the visits to “…handing my child over to the milkman.” Miller who is now a devout Baptist also said that Jenkin’s lesbian “lifestyle” would be harmful to the child and was “fundamentally wrong.”

I wonder what’s more harmful? Having a lesbian mom or an ex-lesbian mom whose heart is filled with bigotry and hate?

Maggie Gallagher, President of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), defended their anti-gay “Gathering Storm” ad on Hardball today against Joe Solomonese of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).

Since “Gathering Storm” debuted online yesterday, HRC has exposed its participants as actors having discovered the audition tapes for the ad…

Frankly I’m not all that surprised that these were actors, and bad actors at that. But they were too pretty. Sorry to go all “judging a book by its cover” on everyone but a lot of these haters are as ugly on the outside as they are in the inside. Fred Phelps anyone?

Visit HRC for a thorough debunking of the Gathering Storm ad.

Former British Prime Minister and recently converted Catholic Tony Blair provides a little bit of education to the Pope in the latest issue of Attitude magazine, which I am sure the Pope is a loyal subscriber.

Organized religions face the same dilemma as political parties when faced with changed circumstances. You can either A: Hold on to your core vote, basically, you know, say ‘Look let’s not break out because if we break out we might lose what we’ve got, and at least we’ve got what we’ve got so let’s keep it’. Or B: You say ‘let’s accept that the world is changing, and let us work out how we can lead that change and actually reach out’.
…
“There is a huge generational difference here,” he said. “There’s probably that same fear amongst religious leaders that if you concede ground on [homosexuality], because attitudes and thinking evolve over time, where does that end? You’d start having to rethink many, many things.” He added: “If you went and asked the [ordinary Catholic] congregation, I think you’d find that their faith is not to be found in those types of entrenched attitudes.”

I suspect that if Blair had not played opposite George Bush during the Iraq war, we’d all have a far different opinion of him now.