Anyone know about a new anti-gay group?

[LiberalEsto]

When I went to vote in Derwood this morning, some new nut group had a little stand and signs right outside the polling place. They were handing out literature. The signs said something about a referendum that might allow gay men in ladies' restrooms, or some such crap.

My husband ran into them outside the supermarket a couple of weeks ago. He recognized one woman as a member of the Covenant Life megachurch on Muncaster Mill Road in Derwood. I know the Covenant Lifers teach their kids that Catholics are going to hell and that Mormons are a cult, but I didn't know they were also actively anti-gay. Or maybe this woman is doing this on her own.

[lizerdbits]

1. I got a voice mail from that or a similar group last month

I believe the bill is allowing transgender people to pick what public restroom/lockeroom they use. The voice mail was 'girls and women will not be safe.' I think their real fears are 1) People not fitting into "traditional" categories and 2) Non heterosexuals might get human rights. Oh noes! :eyes:

[LiberalEsto]

2. I found out more about them

I did some Googling and found out they are now the "Maryland Citizens for Responsible Government."

They have been nicknames the "Shower Nuts" because of their apparent terror that gays and transsexuals are going to invade their bathrooms.
Here's a website I found that warns about MCRG:

http://www.teachthefacts.org/2008/02/vote-today-and-watch-for-shower-nuts.html

[AnnieBW]

3. Yeah, my friend mentioned the same thing.

Some anti-trans group.

[Deny and Shred]

4. They probably get Federal funding at this point.

Catholics going to hell - that is a new one. Who is the heretic?

[Fearless]

5. Oh they're ALL cults... my opinion of course...

To each their own... Something about throwing stones at glass houses... whatever...

OVERTURN DoMA!

[Mabus]

6. I just got a phone call from them, they have a website

http://notmyshower.com They're apparently worried that pre-op men will go into the public showers at pools and that kids will exposed to a naked man. The woman doing the pre-recorded phone call was aghast. What if a small child saw the genitalia of the opposite sex! My gosh, I hope she covers her own kids' eyes so they won't see her breasts when she's taking a shower.

It's funny but she never implied that she was worried about pre-op women wandering in the wrong showers and that small boys would be freaked out by seeing breasts. The implication I got from the phone call was that grown men would be exposing themselves to small children of all genders in the women's showers.

They said they'd be at the Westfield and Piney Branch Giant stores this weekend. Also, they only need 5K more signatures before they'll feel safe in public showers again. the calls was paid for by Citizens for a Responsible Government and they referenced Bill # 2307.

Here's the crux of what's getting their panties in a knot (meaning I went to their website so you wouldn't have to):

Wait a minute …. Didn’t they pull the bathroom amendment?

The council had specifically added an amendment to expressly ALLOW transgenders access to the bathrooms of the sex they identify with – thus they expressly added language to allow transsexual males access to female bathrooms. They did delete this amendment. Read the deleted amendment here….

However, without specific language to exclude access to bathrooms, conflicts will be determined by the Human Rights Commission. The Human Rights Commission has already stated they will allow access to bathrooms based on gender identity.

But I wrote the council, and they said there is an exception for “distinctly private and personal accommodations”

Read the code. Distinctly private and personal is substantiated by years of case law as referring to private organizations such as the Boy Scouts. In fact, it was the "distinctly private and personal" clause that Sport and Health pointed to claim they are a "membership based" organization, and thus exempt from the law. Read the detailed letter to pastor, or the AFF legal challenge, for a full discussion. The Montgomery County Council has been sending out automated standard email replies on the subject and seems unwilling to discuss the issue.

source url: http://www.notmyshower.net/bathrooms.shtml

:banghead:

[LiberalEsto]

7. If one of them tries calling me

I fear they may need to see an ear doctor to treat their fried eardrums.


Obviously these idiots have too much free time on their hands.

[Mabus]

8. It was a pre-recorded message

I thought about hanging up several times but thought it better to hang on to see what they were saying. At the end of their message they said if I wanted to be removed from their calling list (we've had the number a whole week now!) that I could do so by hitting some key or doing some other stuff.

Of course they have too much free time on their hands. They don't feel safe hanging out in and around public showers right now. :eyes:

It's nice, a weird way, to know that there are over-reacting idiots everywhere.

on edit: they are targeting transgenders, not gays. They refer to "gender identity confusion" on their website. Here's the text that appears on the top of most of their webpages:

A resident, Lisa G., wrote to the Council: "From what I'm reading, the person with gender identity confusion is being protected by what she or he FEELS he or she is. So, if I'm in a bathroom all by myself late at night, and a man walks in, I am supposed to be okay with this? This is truly unbelievable, and I'm embarrassed that Montgomery County is even spending its time on this piece of nonsense."

Either way, it is total bullshit. They make it sound like someone who is considering gender reassignment surgery or coming to terms with their gender identity will wander into the wrong bathroom. Guess what? They've been forced into the wrong bathrooms all their lives and they are more aware of what society will accept than the people who are behind this drive.

It is so stupid. Why do they continually try to pick on and alienate portions of our population that already have it rough? I've known several people who have undergone gender reassignment surgery and the last thing they want to do is to draw the wrath of small minded people around them.

[LiberalEsto]

9. We got the call on Saturday

What a pack of nonsense.

These folks are under some kind of delusion that they're being good Christians, but I hardly think Jesus would have supported this sort of bias-spreading. As I recall, Jesus welcomed everyone, including sinners, prostitutes, and the poor.

If these nutcases really wanted to behave like decent Christians, they would take all the money they've raised to pay for commercial fliers and posters and robo-calls, and use it instead to help the poor right here in our own communities.

[TZ]

10. They were outside my grocery store

the other week. AND they have been robocalling me. Its an organized group. I believe they are supported by James Dobson's group, IIRC.

[Vet31203]

11. Yeah

I've been getting some weird stuff from a similar group too.

William J Meyers for House 2008

[weeklyjourney]

12. I hate anti-gay groups

they are bad.

[Stinky The Clown]

13. Religicans

"The only thing of which I am intolerant is intolerance." Stinky the Clown, many years ago

[undergroundpanther]

14. I hope they never show up

near where I live.. I will let them have it.I will chew their ears off,make them doubt their fucking"faith" and make my points sharp and irrefutable.
I will gather people to counter them and shame them.
I will drive them OUT.
I will not treat them too "nice".