Mike Seaver’s Growing Pains: From Pinup Boy to Religious Nutcase

Truth be told, it’s  probably Kirk Cameron’s fault that I spent my junior high years lusting in my heart. Mike Seaver was one of my very first TV crushes. His smile, wit, charm and 501s clad butt made me lovesick every time I watched him and Boner get themselves out of whatever sticky mess they had managed to get themselves into.

But just like all the rest of my junior high crushes I’ve ran into as an adult, I now wonder just what the hell it was I was thinking.

It’s not that Kirk let himself go or that age has been unkind to him. It’s his religion and obvious guilt trip over his years of his body providing fantasy material for millions of teens everywhere that has made me thank God for my unanswered prayers.

If the dust-up over Kirk’s hate fest on CNN’s Peirs Morgan Friday night was the first time you’ve had the chance to run into Mikey since growing pains, let me catch you up.

Mike Seaver grew up to be a Trinity Broadcasting mega star. In amongst the lady with pink hair, faux gold stage sets and cheap plastic love gifts for a donation of twenty dollars or more, Kirk has found a home for his brand of “If you died tonight you are going to hell” theology along with a mustached evangelist with a New Zealand accent by the name of Ray Comfort.

Every week Kirk and Ray take to the streets to narrow down the 66 books of the Bible into a pat set of questions and verses designed to guilt their victims into turning away from their sin and accepting Jesus as their own personal buddy, lord and savior.

Never mind that the show is mostly an infomercial for their books, CDs, DVDs and unaccredited “School of Biblical Evangelism”, these guys have become big names with the same group that scoop up cheesy Thomas Kinkade paintings by the collection load and that made Charles in Charge’s Willie Aames Bible Man character a household name.

Just like the rest of the “God can be purchased at some christian bookstore for $10.99 on book or CD” crowd, Kirk and Ray also believe that dinosaurs and humans co-existed happily together, a woman doesn’t have the right to choose what to do with her own body and that Left Behind is more than just a bunch of badly written novels and movie series, it’s actual theology.

In short, Mike Seaver grew up to be Rick Santorum with better marketing skills.

Thankfully, though, not everyone in the Seaver household considers the gays to be detrimental and destructive.

After Kirk’s disgusting remarks on Friday, Mike’s dad, Jason Seaver (Alan Thicke) tweeted,“I’ll deal with Kirk’s comments as soon as I recover from Rush Limbaugh’s” and “I’m getting him some new books. The Old Testament simply can’t be expected to explain everything.”

Sister Carol (Tracy Gold) also chimed in with a very bold and touching,”I am a strong supporter of the #LGBT Community, and I believe in equal rights for all. #NOH8 #LOVE

Modern Family’s Jesse Tyler Ferguson was a few years behind me in discovering Cameron had left us lying in a puddle of homophobia. Over the weekend he tweeted: “The only unnatural thing about me being gay is that I had a crush on Kirk Cameron until about 24 hours ago.”

 

 

The Problem With Ron Paul’s Version of Liberty

You’ve got to hand it to Ron Paul, he knows how to package his message. As I listened to his speech before a crowd of about 1300 in Twin Falls on Thursday, it dawned on me why he is so popular with the high school crowds, its because his philosophies are about as intellectually fulfilling as John Galt’s oath in Atlas Shrugged. On the surface, it sounds great, but once you turn 25 or so, you realize that would pretty much mean letting every poor person or country on the planet suffer and wither away into dust.

One can sum up a Ron Paul speech in almost the exact same way.  He uses all the right buzz words: “life, liberty, individual freedom, cut spending, pay less taxes.” When it comes to practical application though, Judge Judy herself probably has more wisdom.

“I don’t like hyphenated rights or groups. I don’t think anybody has a right because of sex or sexual orientation or race. I don’t like that. You have your rights and they should be equal and no one should refute it because you’re an individual,” Paul told the crowd.

I went into the speech knowing exactly how Paul felt regarding legislation such as the at-work federal anti-discrimination law for LGBT Americans. I came out dazed knowing that Paul believes that if you simply run around and tell people you have your rights as an individual, somehow it’s going to magically happen.

For millions of LGBTQIA Americans losing their jobs, facing their loss of housing or other services this isn’t just a theory. It’s something that happens on a daily basis.  For Paul and a lot of his supporters, laws like ENDA or Idaho’s Add the Words Bill, are about allowing the government to tell others how to conduct their businesses or their property. For those of us who have been the victim of discrimination, it’s about the ability to be who we are without the fear of someone at work discovering that we have a boyfriend or girlfriend or worrying about how the landlord is going to take it when he or she finds out that our partner is more than just our “roommate.”

In a world of bright-colored rainbows and a Bob Dylan song, we would all just simply live our lives, hand in hand, without hating each other.  Unfortunately, in the real world, people are selfish, they fear what they don’t understand and they are usually pretty intolerant of those who are different than they are.

In the real world it takes government intervention to free slaves, to give women the ability to vote, to allow children of a different color to drink from the same drinking fountain.

In the real world it takes more than just a “live and let live” philosophy to ensure that’s what’s happening, whether it be in Twin Falls, New York City or Washington DC.

Paul is right about one thing: America is a great land. Now it’s time to make it even greater by ensuring that every individual have the same opportunities of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, as everyone else does.

Uganda Watch: Authorities Raid Equality Conference

Just a week after Uganda’s parliament reintroduced a controversial anti-homosexuality bill, which would impose the death penalty on those who participate in “serial” homosexual acts, a raid has sent some of the country’s most visible activists into hiding.

According to the Vancouver Sun,”Ugandan Ethics and Integrity Minister Simon Lokodo personally attended the raid in Entebbe with the police on Tuesday and ordered the arrest of Kasha Jacqueline, who was profiled in The Vancouver Sun in 2010, but she was able to escape and is now in hiding, according to her Facebook page.”

According to the BBC,”The workshop was organized by Freedom and Roam Uganda, an organization founded by the prominent Uganda gay rights activist.

“I have closed this conference because it’s illegal. We do not accept homosexuality in Uganda. So go back home,” Lokodo told the group.

“The minister also ordered the arrest of Ms Nabagesera , who was given the prestigious Martin Ennals rights award last year for her work fighting homophobia in Uganda, but she fled the hotel,” the BBC reports.

Uganda’s anti-homosexuality bill can be traced back to radical evangelical groups here in the U.S.

Michael Airhart at “Truth Winds Out” explains that the American anti-gay religious fascists are directly tied to the horrific bill,” In 2009, Exodus International director  Don Schmierer traveled to Uganda and co-keynoted what became the launch conference for the kill-the-gays legislation. Along with Holocaust revisionist Scott Lively and Caleb Lee Brundidge — an acolyte of discredited therapist Richard Cohen — the Exodus board member assured Ugandans that parental upbringing and religious infidelity were to blame for any increase in undesirable sexual honesty and authenticity in their country — and that legal sanctions combined with Christian ex-gay therapy could rid their land of homosexuals.”

Click HERE to learn more about the roots of the horrific bill.

Watch: WA “Radical Elements” Protest Rick “Frothy Mix” Santorum

As Idaho prepares to welcome Mr. Mix to Boise tonight, it might be helpful to review how exactly he feels about those who believe in marriage equality and the rest of the 99% of America.

According to Think Progress,”Occupy Wall Street protesters nearly drowned out Rick Santorum for 44 minutes as he tried to deliver remarks at the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma, Washington on Monday night. Speaking from a balcony, Santorum sought to condemn the state’s newly enacted same-sex marriage law and the Ninth Circuit’s ruling against Proposition 8, but was repeatedly interrupted by protesters yelling, “we are the 99 percent.”

Looking all the part of a scary political dictator, Santorum told the protesters to “go out and get a job,” he then described the protesters as a “radical element” that represents “true intolerance.

 

 

“Santorum has pledged to annul all same-sex marriage around the country and he met with opponents of marriage equality just hours after Gov. Chris Gregoire (D) approved a measure that would allow gays and lesbians to marry in Washington state,” Think Progress reports.

According to a Facebook  event page, Santorum will be making an appearance in the Capitol High School Auditorium, 8055 Goddard Road in Boise on Tuesday night, February 14th from 7:00-8:00 pm.

“Please come to Capitol High School (address above), prepared with signs, glitter (if wanted) and video cameras so we can catch him and his glorious sweater-vest in action. It would also be nice to show the nation where Idaho really stands on LGBT rights,” reads the page.

The fact that it’s Valentines day is not lost on protest organizers,” What better way to celebrate loving who you love than to throw it in Santorum’s face for an hour?”

Organizers of tonight’s protest in Boise warn that  security may be high.  “Arrive early so you can get in. You may want to wear a large jacket and roll your signs inside your sleeve around your arm to sneak it in. Conceal everything in a way to not be found,” writes one  Facebook commenter.

Rick “Frothy Mix” Santorum to Make Valentines Day Appearance in Idaho

The man who compares gay sex to incest, who says that gay rights are not human rights and who believes that same-gender marriages are unhealthy, is coming to Idaho on Tuesday night.

According to the LA times,” Rick Santorum’s bid for the GOP presidential nomination surged last week after he swept Tuesday’s nominating contests in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado.”

The gay sex obsessed candidate, “described last week’s court ruling striking down California’s ban on same-sex marriage as “almost absurd” and an example of “judicial tyranny,” reports the Times.

Idaho’s LGBTQIA community is invited to protest the visit.

According to a Facebook  event page, Santorum will be making an appearance in the Capitol High School Auditorium, 8055 Goddard Road in Boise on Tuesday night, February 14th from 7:00-8:00 pm.

“Please come to Capitol High School (address above), prepared with signs, glitter (if wanted) and video cameras so we can catch him and his glorious sweater-vest in action. It would also be nice to show the nation where Idaho really stands on LGBT rights,” reads the page.

The fact that it’s Valentines day is not lost on protest organizers,” What better way to celebrate loving who you love than to throw it in Santorum’s face for an hour?”

Click HERE for more information on the event.