News Tips?
-- tips@phblend.com

PHB Mobile


About
-- The Blog
-- Pam | My home page
-- Autumn
-- Daimeon
-- Julien
-- "Radical" Russ
-- Terrance

Contact the Baristas

The Blend Blogrolls

Activism


Best of the Blend
Blog Posts

Special Events and Interviews

Blend-o-licious endorsements...



The Christian Civic League of Maine's Mike Hein calls Pam's House Blend:
"a leading source of radical homosexual propaganda, anti-Christian bigotry, and radical transgender advocacy."

He is "praying that Pam Spaulding will "turn away from her wicked and sinful promotion of homosexual behavior." (CCLM's web site, 10/15/07)


Ex-gay "Christian" activist James Hartline on Pam:
"I have been mocked over and over again by ungodly and unprincipled anti-christian lesbians."
(from "Six Years In Sodom: From The Journal Of James Hartline," 9/4/2006, written from the "homosexual stronghold" of Hillcrest in San Diego).

"Pam is a 'twisted lesbian sister' and an 'embittered lesbian' of the 'self-imposed gutteral experiences of the gay ghetto.'" -- 9/5/2008



Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth Against Homosexuality heartily endorses the Blend, calling Pam:

A "vicious anti-Christian lesbian activist."
(Concerned Women for America's radio show [9:15], 1/25/07)

"A nutty lesbian blogger."
(MassResistance radio show [16:25], 2/3/07)


Pam's House Blend always seems to find these sick f*cks. The area of the country she is in? The home state of her wife? I know, they are everywhere. Pam just does such a great job of bringing them out into the light.
--Impeach Bush


who monitors yours Bevis ?? Just thought I would drop you a line,so the rest of your life is not wasted.
--"Joe"

Content © 2004-2008
Pam Spaulding

House Blend logo © 2005
Melissa McEwan

Photo of Pam Spaulding
© Judy G. Rolfe
All Rights Reserved.


SITE TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Support the Blend




An Online Magazine in the Reality-Based Community.



Fired employee, religious right groups want lgbts to follow different rules at the workplace

by: Alvin McEwen

Fri Nov 06, 2009 at 09:10:20 AM EST


crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters

One of the most effective tactics of the religious right is to truncate an incident to claim that lgbts are violent and intolerant or that Christians are in danger of losing their rights if pro-lgbt legislation passes.

We've seen it in the case the group Repent America who was arrested at a Pride festival after they wouldn't comply with police. Religious right grous made it seem that they were unfairly arrested.

We've seen it in the case of talking head Matt Barber who claimed that he was fired from AllState Insurance for righting an anti-gay piece "on his own time." Of course Barber and everyone else who pushed this narrative conviently left out that he still used company equipment to write the piece and identified himself as an employee of AllState Insurance in short biography of the piece.

Now from Massachusetts comes a new phony narrative just in time for the ENDA hearings courtesy of the anti-gay hate group Mass Resistance:

A Massachusetts man was fired from a national retail corporation because of his traditional beliefs on same-sex marriage. Peter Vadala was formally dismissed from his job as second deputy manager of the Brookstone store at Boston’s Logan Airport on August 12, 2009, after a supervisor reported him to Human Resources regarding an incident two days earlier.

. . .As Peter described the incident, he came to work on August 10 and began his day normally. A female manager from another store was in the store and began talking to Peter about her upcoming marriage. When Peter asked “where is he taking you for the honeymoon,” she corrected him and said she was not getting married to "he" but to another woman.

Peter did not immediately react, but when the manager sensed Peter’s discomfort with the subject of same-sex “marriage”, the woman apparently continued bringing it up to Peter throughout the day, reiterating that she was getting married to another woman. Finally, after the fourth or fifth time she brought it up, Peter remarked that his Christian beliefs did not accept same-sex marriage. At that point the woman became very angry and bluntly told Peter that he needed to “get over it” and said that she would be immediately contacting the Human Resources department.

A few hours later Peter was notified by a Human Resources representative that he was suspended from work without pay, effective immediately. Two days later, on August 12, after some further interaction with the Human Resources department, he was formally notified that he was terminated from the company.

Alvin McEwen :: Fired employee, religious right groups want lgbts to follow different rules at the workplace

Never mind that the story is one-sided, in that we don't know the incident from the perspective of the female employee or the store, because it is now being used to galvanize the other side. The narrative on a few sites is that "Peter Vadala was fired for saying that homosexuality is a sin."

However, no matter how clean he can make himself out, Vadala, I think, hangs himself with his own words in the video he helped to create about the incident:

 

Like I said, the entire story has yet to be told. It's only Vadala's version that is making the rounds. But even then, I don't think he has a case. He didn't simply talk about his Christian beliefs. He made a very rude comment to the woman about her life.

While Vadala has a right to his personal belief about homosexuality, there is nothing wrong with the woman talking about her upcoming marriage. I would be excited if I had her luck.

Notice how he tries to make it seem that the employee was wrong because she had the nerve to talk about her impending nuptials four times.

It's obvious that no one was trying to force Vadala into a corner and no one was trying to use the woman's marriage in an attempt to belittle him or his beliefs.

It comes down to this fact - Peter Vadala thought that his negative beliefs of homosexuality should be given special considerations; that the lesbian employee had to observe special rules regarding her wedding (a perfectly legal event in the state of Massachusetts by the way) that dictated that she kept quiet, that she abided by some ridiculous idea that what she was doing was wrong and that she needed to be ashamed.

What if it had been an interracial marriage instead of an lgbt marriage? Should it have to make a difference?

And while the other side is spinning this thing to make Vadala sound like a victim, we need to ask ourselves something.

If lgbts are supposed to abide by different rules when talking about our weddings, commitment ceremonies, etc. then what's next?

Can we put pictures on our desks of our partners and families without fear of verbal reprisal? Or how about inviting our partners and families at company events?

Bottom line: Vidala is no martyr, he is simply a man who discovered the hard way that he needed to respect lgbts in the work place.

And true to form, Mass Resistance is exploiting this case just as it did the David Parker case. That was the incident in which a man, David Parker, claimed that he was arrested for "trying to keep his son from being taught about homosexuality."

But it came down to the simple fact that Parker didn't want the school to acknowledge the existence of lgbt parents.

So now in this case, Vadala doesn't want to acknowledge the existence of happy, marriage-oriented lgbt employees.

Bascially it's all about putting us in a psychological closet.

Despite the narrative going around crowning Vadala as some sort of martyr, the attempt to undermine lgbt normalcy and happiness is the real crime here.

Tags: (All Tags)
Bookmark and Share
Print Friendly View Send As Email
It's us
It's about time we (the LGBT folks) understand that WE are the new "southern strategy".

The old, anti-black strategy, is no longer working.  They tried being anti-immigrant, but did not have enough traction.

Now, our right-wing politicos, can use anti gay attitudes among a wide variety of Christians, Roman Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, The Black Church, the overall black community, latino community, etc.

This homophobia cuts across racial, cultural, class, ethnic, lines to potentially form a new coalition.

We, of course, add to the problem by allowing our RIGHTS to be put up to a VOTE.  By doing this, we are complicit in our own downfall.  We admit that we are NOT the same as others.  We admit that we have to beg the "normal" community for any smidgen of equality.

If the rights of black people were put to a vote during the civil rights era, there would now be State Constitutional Amendments formalizing the second class status of people of color.  Most would still be in place  --  and the Civil Rights era would be called something else.

LGBT folks are a small minority.  We can be demonized as dangerous to the entire civilized world.  The fact we are everywhere, look like everyone else, do exactly what "normal" folks do can be twisted to make us MORE dangerous.

Times are bad.  The unemployment rate has just hit 10,2%.  People blame our new president for Bush's bailout, the current economic woes, and our foreign policy mess (two wars, both going badly, our standing around the world, Iran, North Korea, etc., etc.).  All these issues are hold overs from the failed Presidency of George W. Bush.

The facts do not matter.  People want it to be "all better" ("kiss it mommy").

The time is ripe for a "Strong Leader".  The security apparatus is already in place.  A new scapegoat (they ALWAYS need one of those) has been chosen  --  I'm afraid it's us.

I suspect this is a very dangerous time for what's left of the American Republic.  


WTF?
We, of course, add to the problem by allowing our RIGHTS to be put up to a VOTE.  By doing this, we are complicit in our own downfall.  
WE don't ALLOW it, the friggin state election laws are written so as to allow it.  And worst, the STRAIGHT majority ALLOW our rights to be voted away with little fanfare and not so much as an apology (present straight Blend ally company notwithstanding and thankyou).

The Antis exploit election law to rescind our rights.  Do you think for one second there would still be marriage equality in Iowa if that state had initiative or referundum laws like California or Maine?  


[ Parent ]
I read that as...
that whole process is what needs to be tackled.

I mean, California's initiative system is ridiculous. Maine's is a little better. Iowa's is close to ideal.

I'm not, per se, against ballot initiatives (especially in local races) but something like this should re


[ Parent ]
oops, didn't finish
"should require...2 legislative sessions and 2/3 of all voters. Or something like that.

Amending a Constitution is serious. It should be treated that way.


[ Parent ]
WTF indeed
I really did not hear much from "our side" about the total absurdity of allowing people to vote away the rights of others  --  any others.

We just joined in, attempting to justify our right to be Citizens, our right to live.

We are expected to pay taxes, we are courted as a "demographic", everyone wants our money, they accept the gay hairdresser, or lesbian gym teacher (as long as she's not TOO butch), but do not want to see us as regular, everyday people.  

As far as having equal rights  --  they don't give a damn,  "It's not my problem.".

Yes, we are complicit simply because we went along with the program.

Is there any way to submit a petition to make divorce illegal, "mixed" marriages illegal, etc.?  Can we have a petition to reinstate segregation on the state level?

Can we just figure out some way to deny some other group their rights  --  we can even use the bible as the basis  --  I'm sure you can find anything you want in that mish-mosh.


[ Parent ]
Ban Paid Initiative Signature Collection
Perhaps we need a federal law banning the paying of the people who circulate the initiative petitions.

Maybe there would be less enthusiasm for these un-Constitutional measures, these exercises in faith based bigotry if the holy mob had to collect their own signature instead of pay the unemployed and poor to do their dirty work for them.  


[ Parent ]
Yeah...

...If I were empress of California initiative reform and could make just one unchallenged decree, I think that one of yours would be it.

Other reforms to the initiative process would be extremely desirable, but banning paid signature gatherers in my opinion would be the best place to start.

-----
~~Autumn~~

As if there were safety in stupidity alone.
--Henry David Thoreau


[ Parent ]
The next step after that I think
would be to make it a crime to misrepresent the contents of a petition.

I am the lizard queen!

[ Parent ]
It is!
It's called "fraud", Phoenix!

Listen to "TransTalk" every Monday from 4-5pm ET on http://www.falconradio.org beginning January 11th!

[ Parent ]
Could've fooled me
with how they were able to get away with doing it with no repercussions.

I am the lizard queen!

[ Parent ]
Easy!
Lazy prosecutors. Next time file an official complaint with both your local county prosecutor, and your state's Secretary of State and the Federal Election Commission.

Listen to "TransTalk" every Monday from 4-5pm ET on http://www.falconradio.org beginning January 11th!

[ Parent ]
Easy!
Lazy prosecutors. Next time file an official complaint with both your local county prosecutor, and your state's Secretary of State and the Federal Election Commission.

Listen to "TransTalk" every Monday from 4-5pm ET on http://www.falconradio.org beginning January 11th!

[ Parent ]
Interesting ideas
What it comes down to is this: At some point, people are going to decide that they have had enough of tyranny.  There is no difference between the tyranny of an individual dictator or king, and the tyranny of a "democratic majority" when it is used to oppress a minority.

If people are willing to put up ballot initiatives to do any or all of those things you suggest, and get the required petitions signed, feel free to do so in those states that use this insane process.  I think that these initiatives are usually limited to one thing at a time, so you'd have to have separate petitions, but check the laws in the particular state for the rules.

The oppressors know that many of us are not likely to rise up in insurrection - that the oppression is not quite enough to cause us to start the revolution. If there is a revolution, it won't come from the middle class among us.

At the point that they start carting us off to sports stadiums for public executions, perhaps even the middle class might be willing to fight. But they're not doing that here, yet.

In the meantime, there are states and countries where we have more rights recognized than we have recognized in others.  Before considering violence, it might be more palatable for those in an impossibly bad situation to "vote with their feet" if they can and move to a friendlier place.  That might be a hardship, but certainly less of one than becoming wanted fugitives being pursued by police, military and "homeland security" forces.

Insurrection might be easy to justify, but it would be very difficult to carry out to a successful conclusion.  It's only treason if you lose.  We're still better off working by peaceful means to develop a majority that is not willing to tyrannically oppress us.

I am not sure that I'd want to divert money and time to banning divorce or reinstating anti-miscegenation laws (sure, an anti-miscegenation law can be passed by a ballot initiative, but the court challenges would end up going to the SCOTUS, which could then take the opportunity to strike down Loving v. Virginia - maybe the currnt court might return it to being a "states' rights" issue).



[ Parent ]
The religious right is putting themselves in a bad light with their nasty behavior
More and more straight people who never thought much about gay people except to feel vaguely uncomfortable  (sex!!!! eeek hide the children) are beginning to notice. Will this help move gay rights forward? I have no idea, but I wouldn't want to be trying to defend the religous right's behavior on this. Not very Christian, imo.

Bad light??? They keep winning.
How much better could it get for them?

Cynic, n.  A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.  
-Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary


[ Parent ]
I disagree with that
Winning what, exactly? On the mariage question, yes, obviously but everything else...depends on the locale...

[ Parent ]
Wanna bet
He told her she had a "so-called fiancée". He used that phrase four times in the clip. And "so-called marriage" twice.

 

Cisgender. Because "Genetic" (or non) is so 2006.


True, but...
He also kept referring to her as "my superior" ... I suppose there is some comfort in that.  And perhaps a little justice.

Believing there is no God means I can't really be forgiven except by kindness and faulty memories.  That's good; it makes me want to be more thoughtful.  I have to try to treat people right the first time around." -- Penn Jillette

[ Parent ]
True, but
I see the injustice in his speech and the logic in Brookstone’s termination letter. My sister (a school psych. professor) would see it. My mother (with a gay son and a psychologist daughter) would see it. But would my grandparents? Or would they just see a clean-cut young man who got fired for speaking his mind?

I wonder if the way to counter this is with a response video. Don’t talk about it, enact the reverse scenario, which is just as absurd.

Start with someone making a essentially his complaint, and then move on to a dramatic re-enactment. A young, good looking lesbian hard at work. In comes a supervisor from another store, who just won’t shut up about his pending marriage to some (gasp) girl. Cut back to the commentary: he just had to talk about it, just had to shove it in my face! And when I complained that it was against my religion, I got fired.

Anyone got a video camera and some free time?


[ Parent ]
That's what offended me.
And that he said same-sex marriage is "perceived" to be legal in Massachusetts. It's not "perceived" to be legal.  It IS legal.  Deal with it, jackass!

[ Parent ]
Can someone get ahold of the woman and put out the other side of this "story"

There has to be more -

I wonder how far I would get in any "job" environment  I have worked for myself for 14 years now - with no HR department, no counseling sessions on diversity of tolerance, and no company anti discrimination handbook to guide my actions.  And amazingly, I have had no complaints, issues, or angry clients.  I simply express no political or personal beliefs to my clients.  I am engaged in commerce when I am with clients and see no place for (and no benefit to me or them) introducing my irrelevant beliefs into conversations which do not warrant them.  I politely slip any attempt by clients to engage me in such conversations by saying that I learned long ago not to discuss opinions with clients.  

I am constantly inundated with "Bless you" - and find it harder and harder to point out that I do not believe in their imaginary friend Jesus.

I wonder whether referring to the voices in the Xians heads as an "Imaginary Friend" would be acceptable.

I'm pretty sure if I did it would cost me 40%-60% of my sales.

Question:  What does an atheist do when they fall to the floor and start "speaking in tongues"?

Answer: Get a CAT scan.


Company Policy
As a manager for the company she is probably barred from speaking of the incident without their permission as it is a confidential human resources matter.

[ Parent ]
This guy is an idiot.
We're supposed to go back to the days of "shut up and behave"?

About 15 years ago I was in the break room at the company I worked at and a guy came in, talked about his weekend, the chieck he was boffing, very intimate details.  Asked me about mine.  I mentioned seeing a move with a friend.  he  grilled me about my "girl" friend?  --no.--  Tell me about her is she a babe, etc.  Finally I said it was a guy, and then I got the proverbial "aw, jeez, why do you gays have to shove it in our face all the time?"


The anti gay bigots
Ever notice now that they can't bash blacks, hispanics and other groups, they become every so sensitive and conscientious about their rights as they bash us? They are so damn transparent.

Hypocrites!
These so-called "christians" whine about one of their own being fired just because his beliefs state that homosexuality is a "sin", but are okay with a gay person being fired just for being a homosexual.  Where is that tiny violin?

here's one...

Tiny Violin

-----
~~Autumn~~

As if there were safety in stupidity alone.
--Henry David Thoreau


[ Parent ]
Yay! Autumn to the rescue!
With her wonderful collection of emoticons!

:)

Cisgender. Because "Genetic" (or non) is so 2006.


[ Parent ]
Sounds Like HR did their job!
Suspending an employee for further investigation is normal procedure. Sounds like HR conducted an investigation and found this employee was not conducting himself according to company policy. As an employee, he should have known better than to bring his discriminatory views to work.

During my work years I have had to listen to endless talk from heterosexuals talking about their husbands, wives, girlfriends, or whatever. I never threw my sexuality in their faces like they did to me. I just did not find it appropriate in the workplace.


Not all of us talking about our husbands, etc.,
are trying to throw it in your face.  Some of us are just talking about our lives.  I want you to talk to me about your life, too.  I want you to have the same rights I have.  I want to know about your life.

[ Parent ]
HR was, indeed, doing their job.
However, HR will probably not allow the other people involved in this incident to speak about it publicly.  

HR's REAL job is the protect the company from its employees.


special rights for their religious lifestyle
so, using one of their themes, he wants special rights based on his religious lifestyle choice, to silence his coworkers.  how they do love to play the martyr

folk the war

Great turn of phrase, Sue!
I really like that: "religious lifestyle choice."  My other half likes to point out that, if they're going to keep harping on homosexuality being a "choice," then we need to bring up the point that so is their beloved religion.  But we'd never thought to phrase it so succinctly before.  Thank you.  Now we'll have additional ammo in our anti-bigotry arsenal.

"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect."  -Mark Twain



[ Parent ]
Hmmm...
Wonder how he'd feel if she had referred to his "so-called" religion or "so-called" deeply held beliefs over and over.  Wanna bet he'd have been as deeply offended as she was when he referred to her "so-called" fiancee and "so-called" marriage?

youtube version
seems the poor put upon bigot wasn't feeling the love over at youtube, mass resistance has disabled the comments for the video.

folk the war

Looks like they managed to have mine removed
I left a comment last night and it isn't there.

Believing there is no God means I can't really be forgiven except by kindness and faulty memories.  That's good; it makes me want to be more thoughtful.  I have to try to treat people right the first time around." -- Penn Jillette

[ Parent ]
What do you expect from MA's premier anti-gay hate group?
They are big proponents of free speech when it is their hate speech, but not so much when it is someone else’s speech.

[ Parent ]
the HR letter is key
The letter from Brookstone's Employee Relations Manager is helpful here:

  • Vadala was employed as a manager. Apparently, a second deputy manager, to be precise. As such his responsibility was not just to adhere to the employer's anti-harassment policy, it was to protect all employees from harassment.
  • While some of the facts appear to be in dispute, this one isn't: That Vadala twice referred to his coworker's lifestyle as "deviant," once in a written statement and again face-to-face with the Employee Relations Manager. Even without the statements made to the coworker about her fiance, that alone suggests his unwillingness/inability to protect employees from harassment.
  • Vadala and MassResistance conveniently don't publish his statement describing the encounter with the engaged coworker, letting him offer his own recollections and paraphrase his statement in the video. The letter, though, makes it clear that he went into the HR conversation unapologetically, looking for a fight.
  • Vadala admits being at least vaguely familiar with company policies as presented in videos presented to employees. Given the opportunity to challenge them, or ask for clarification on how someone with beliefs like his might balance things out, he didn't. Given the opportunity to seek a job with another company (MassResistance points out that he's found employment in the same field), he didn't. Given the opportunity to apologize and ask for input in his written statement, he didn't.

Since MassResistance says that "Luckily, Peter has since found another job in the retail field," maybe he's working for a Christian book store now.

The most explosive and manipulative possibility here, though, is that Vadala sought a job with an employer having anti-harassment policies like Brookstone's, and this bit of publicity has been tailored to get him terminated again.


Well, we can only hope that if...

...if he got his job in a Christian bookstore, let's hope he doesn't have any camera gear.

Gawds below, some days I'm just evil, I know.  

-----
~~Autumn~~

As if there were safety in stupidity alone.
--Henry David Thoreau


[ Parent ]
Perhaps you are evil...
but you pale in comparison to the Religulous Reich.

____________________________________
Cuius testiculos habes, habeas cardia et cerebellum.


[ Parent ]
Menu

Make a New Account

Username:

Password:



Forget your username or password?




Join the Blend Chat Room



Report TOS Violations

Premium Sponsors



BlogAds






Search the Blend
Current site


PHB 2.0 Web
Search Blend 1.0 Archives
Ad Networks


BlogSheroes BlogAds


Miscellany

RSS Feeds

Subscribe with Bloglines

Visit NCBlogs


frontpage hit counter

Stats

Powered by: SoapBlox