Signs and Wonders: Gay marriage advocates fight the battle to lose the war on immigration reform

Silly me. Earlier this week, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., tried to tack on an amendment to the immigration bill that would allow an American citizen’s foreign-born, same-sex “spouse” the ability to become a citizen. The amendment was apparently an attempt to pander to the pro-homosexual wing of the Democratic Party, because after allowing some debate, Leahy did not call for a vote on the measure. He knew that if the amendment, by some fluke, happened to pass, it would kill any chance at immigration reform. As it turns out, Leahy’s hat-tip to the homosexual lobby only served to make them indignant. But rather than blame Leahy, Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin—who says there are more than a quarter-million illegal homosexual immigrants—blamed Republicans who are attempting to get this unruly immigration bill passed. “Instead of working to achieve common-sense solutions,” Griffin said, “Sens. Graham, Flake, McCain and Rubio threatened to derail the entire immigration bill to appease a small but vocal group of anti-gay social conservatives that will do anything to stop progress for lesbian and gay couples.” Silly me, I thought those were the guys trying to get it passed.

Same-sex assault. Since the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” which now allows homosexuals to serve openly in the military, same-sex sexual assault appears to have shot up dramatically. According to a new Pentagon survey, sexual assault is on the rise, and most of victims of sexual assault in the military were not female (about 12,000 incidents), but male (about 14,000). It’s possible that the discrepancy is even greater, since men—according to The Washington Times—are less likely to speak up when they have been sexually assaulted. “How could this happen?” asks Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. “Well, for starters, the Obama administration ordered military leaders to embrace homosexuality—completely dismissing the concerns that it could be a problem to have people attracted to the same sex, living in close quarters.” Seems like common sense to me, but—to paraphrase Voltaire—the problem with common sense is that it is becoming increasingly uncommon.

Awwk-waard. One of the stranger moments in the news coverage of the Oklahoma tornado came when CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked a woman holding a baby if she “thanked God” for delivering her and her child from the storm. The woman at first tried to deflect the question, but then admitted she was an atheist. Her answer created an awkward moment on live television, though she went on to say, with what I guess passes for post-modern magnanimity, that she “would not blame anyone for thanking the Lord” under such circumstances.

Atheists and foxholes. A new study indicates that traumatic war experiences drove World War II vets to church. According to Religion News Service, “The study also found that when service members were fearful in combat, they reported prayer was a better motivator for getting them through it than several other factors, including the broader goals of the war.” This should be interesting (and galling) data for folks like Mikey Weinstein, who has been working to get religion, Christianity in particular, out of the military. The study will come out in a future edition of the Journal of Religion and Health. The study could help health professionals, counselors and clergy who work with veterans.