A day where the Irish people will have wide open arms

The Guardian says a Yes vote is certain – which is sort of obvious given the numbers, but still worth hearing. It’ll be official in a bit over an hour, at 6 p.m Irish time, apparently.

Henry McDonald

At the start of the referendum campaign a 67-year-old veteran politician finally outed himself as gay for the cause of the Yes campaign. Pat Carey, a former parliamentarian for Fianna Fail, told the Guardian two months ago that he came out to convince those of his generation and rural background that it was ok to be gay.

Turning up at Dublin Castle, Carey said of the result: “It means everything for myself and people like me. It’s a gigantic step along the road of a very long journey and it’s a day where the Irish people will have wide open arms, and embraced us like I never thought they would do it with such strength and generosity.”

Yes yes yes yes.

It will be a resounding Yes vote

RTÉ News on the referendum:

The same-sex marriage referendum looks set to be passed by a margin of possibly two to one, according to tallies.

A number of campaigners against the marriage referendum have congratulated the Yes side on its campaign.

The first official constituency result was declared in Sligo-North Leitrim with Yes on 53.57% and No on 46.43%.

In Waterford the result was: Yes with 60.33% and No on 39.67%.

In Wicklow, the result was Yes on 68.37% and No on 31.63%.

The official national result is expected to be announced before 6pm.

Large crowds have been gathering in Dublin Castle to hear the final result, which will be a resounding Yes vote.

Two to one!! That’s amazing!!!

The count in Dublin, RTÉ just said, is 71% yes.

 

Yes

The BBC says the yes side seems to be winning.

Government ministers have said they believe it will pass, while prominent “no” campaigners have conceded defeat.

Counting started at 09:00 BST on Saturday morning. An “unusually high” turnout has been reported.

A result is expected late afternoon on Saturday.

The Indy says the no side has conceded.

The Republic of Ireland appears set to become the first country to introduce same-sex marriage by a popular vote, especially now since the ‘no’ campaign appears to have conceded.

David Quinn, of the Iona Institute and ‘No’ campaign tweeted a concession and congratulations to the ‘Yes’ campaign amid widespread reports of a landslide.

A landslide!

Congratulations Ireland!

 

The Family Research Council

The SPLC has a dossier on the Family Research Council, former employers of Josh Duggar.

The Family Research Council (FRC) bills itself as “the leading voice for the family in our nation’s halls of power,” but its real specialty is defaming gays and lesbians. The FRC often makes false claims about the LGBT community based on discredited research and junk science. The intention is to denigrate LGBT people in its battles against same-sex marriage, hate crimes laws, anti-bullying programs and the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

To make the case that the LGBT community is a threat to American society, the FRC employs a number of “policy experts” whose “research” has allowed the FRC to be extremely active politically in shaping public debate. Its research fellows and leaders often testify before Congress and appear in the mainstream media. It also works at the grassroots level, conducting outreach to pastors in an effort to “transform the culture.”

The SPLC provides a selection of quotations.

“[H]omosexual activists vehemently reject the evidence which suggests that homosexual men … are … relative to their numbers, more likely to engage in such actions [childhood sexual abuse] than are heterosexual men.”
– Peter Sprigg, Senior Fellow for Policy Studies at FRC, on why the Boy Scouts should not allow LGBT Scouts or leaders, FRC blog, February 1, 2013. [Read more…]

Josh Duggar boasts “children are a gift from the Lord”

Think Progress collects Josh Duggar’s nine most sanctimonious moments as Executive Director of the Family Research Council. (Mr Family Values, that guy – grope your sisters, they’re Family.)

1. When Josh Duggar argued that an LGBT nondiscrimination measure in Arkansas jeopardized the safety of children:

Enacting additional laws that are trying to protect one group of people over another is not really the solution and in fact it has the inverse effect on others…We have to make sure we’re standing up to protect the rights of privacy and protecting the well-being of women and children in our cities.

Yeah baby. Keep the poofters from molesting our women and children. Don’t let them marry, because then they might have a straight son who would molest his younger sisters. We wouldn’t want that. [Read more…]

The Duggar family is a cult

Mark Joseph Stern at Slate points out the undeniable, that Josh Duggar’s horrible ignorant benighted fanatical parents made him what he is. Yes, indeed they did.

A boy grows up in a controlling, cultlike family that rejects Enlightenment values and closes off much of the outside world. He is deprived of any conception of morality separate from a fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible. His intellectual and ethical development is stunted by reactionary, dogmatic views about gender and sexuality. He is told that women were made to be subservient to men, to be obedient to their masters. How should we react when it comes to light that this boy repeatedly molested young girls?

With rage at his parents and the Quiverful movement, and at popular culture in general and TLC in particular for treating it like a darling quaint back to nature movement. [Read more…]

Arkansas police have destroyed the record

Unbelievable.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Arkansas police have destroyed a record outlining a nearly decade-old investigation into reality TV star Josh Duggar, a spokesman said Friday, a day after the 27-year-old resigned his role with a prominent conservative Christian group amid reports about sexual misconduct allegations from when he was a juvenile.

“Sexual misconduct” is putting it a great deal too politely. The allegations are that he groped his younger sisters.
The reports are also that his parents did nothing about it, and that his sisters were expected to “forgive” him and leave it at that.

And that the Duggars have been telling the world how fabulous they are because Jesus via a popular reality tv show for the past seven years. Amid those reports, the records have been destroyed. What a squalid tank of shit all this is. [Read more…]

Counting what, exactly?

This thing is horrific.

The In Touch article has the details, and they’re jaw-dropping. Vaticanesque, but with the extra turn of the screw that the “girls” in question are his sisters. Maybe having 19 children isn’t such a brilliant idea after all, huh?

WARNING: Graphic descriptions contained in police report.

Jim Bob Duggar waited more than a year after his son, Josh, confessed to sexually molesting several female minors before contacting police, In Touch Magazine is reporting exclusively, based on information contained in the official police report.

The female minors were his sisters.

What’s more, Jim Bob informed the elders of his church about Joshua’s actions and they waited three months before contacting authorities. The explosive new information is contained in a Springdale, Ark., police report obtained by In Touch magazine.

The report has been hidden since 2006 and was just obtained by the mag through a Freedom of information Act request. Jim Bob also refused to allow police to interview Josh when they opened a felony investigation in 2006. The Duggars star on TLC’s hit show 19 Kids and Counting.

Just like the Catholic church, except that it’s his own daughters “Jim Bob” is victimizing. [Read more…]