'Hate group trying to gross America out with book about gay sex' & other Fri midday news briefs

This propaganda book is nothing new. It presents the same old lies about gays wrapped in a new package.

MassResistance Wants To Gross America Out With Book About Gay Sex - It's an old but popular propaganda tactic of the anti-LGBTQ industry. Exploit preconceived notions and underlying curiosity about gay sex by establishing false talking points and relying on junk science and cherry-picked legitimate science to prove said points. It's as old as the "gay men want to recruit children" lie. I should write a book on it. Wait a minute. I did. 

There’s a rising global tide of crackdowns on LGBT communities - They are trying to test us but they won't defeat us. 

How two female playwrights are risking their lives to fight homophobia in Africa - Fight on, my sisters!

Jeff Sessions never thought ‘religious freedom’ would allow anti-LGBTQ discrimination - Yeah right. And I'm Scarlett O'Hara from 'Gone with the Wind.' 

Flier At Cleveland State University Encourages LGBTQ Students To Kill Themselves - Then the university claimed that the flier was "free speech." Then folks got really pissed ... 

Parents infuriated after football coach directs players to mock student with gay parents - This here is some mess. But it does show that more people care about doing the right thing. Other parents and students prevented this junk from happening.

Jeff Sessions won't answer question about his 'religious liberty' guidance and anti-LGBTQ discrimination

Durbin: Does religious liberty guidance let fed workers & contractors refuse LGBT people?

Sessions: [4 second pause] I'll get back to you. pic.twitter.com/E67XzDxh9e

— Dominic Holden (@dominicholden) October 18, 2017

There is so much nonsense, chaos, and confusion ala Trump that we are in danger of missing things happening which are important to the future of our equality. On Wednesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions faced a Senate committee and was asked questions about his "religious liberty" guidance memo.

The anti-LGBTQ industry trumpeted Sessions's guidance memo, claiming that it "protects" Christians from having to choose between their faith and their jobs. Those of us who know better says that it is the latest in the war on LGBTQ equality by the religious right and their supporters. In the committee hearing, we finally got to the meat of our problems with the idea of so-called religious liberty. The exchange above between Sessions and Sen. Dick Durbin is the reality of the dangers of Sessions's guidance memo and the idea of "religious liberty" as it is being pushed by the anti-LGBTQ industry.

It's not by accident that groups like the Family Research Council and the Alliance Defending Freedom, as well as people like FRC president Tony Perkins tend to shy away from a thorough debate about "religious liberty." And it's not by accident that Durbin's question left Sessions stymied and tongue-tied.

'Anti-LGBT industry hoping to play 'divide & conquer' plan to defeat pro-trans policies' & other Thur midday news briefs

Remember this mess? Expect the anti-LGBTQ industry to exploit something like it to divide our community.

Values Voter Summit Panelist: ‘Divide & Conquer’ To Defeat ‘Totalitarian’ Trans Inclusion Policies - Remember that "drop the T" crap some gay folks were pushing (as in abandon the transgender community while pursuing equality.) The anti-LGBTQ industry thinks that it's a wonderful strategy. So much so that they will be pushing something along the same lines along with other plans to denigrate the entire community. So folks deal with the fact that there should be and will be NO abandoning in this so-called culture war. If one of us goes down in flames, we all go down in flames. We are in this TOGETHER.

Two states brace for public campaigns against transgender equality - Speaking of which . . . 

White Nationalism and Christian Right Unite at Values Voter Summit - The sad thing is that there was no internal struggle with so-called Christians. They just want power. 

The U.N. Wants American Businesses to End Anti-LGBT Discrimination - Money always talks.

Settlement Proposed In North Carolina Transgender Bathroom Lawsuit - Could be good news for the transgender community. We'll see. 

HuffPost: Roy Moore’s Charity Accepted Donation From Nazi-Founded Group - The next time the LGBTQ and African-American communities start fighting over legacies, they both need to be reminded that they have a lot of the same enemies.

Trump's judicial nominee continues to show why he shouldn't be appointed to the federal bench

Trump judicial nominee Jeff Mateer

According to Vice, in a 2015 speech to the National Religious Liberties Conference, Trump's judicial nominee to the federal bench in Texas, Jeff Mateer, admitted that he discriminates against gays:

“Guess what? I attend a conservative Baptist church. We discriminate, alright. On the basis of sexual orientation, we discriminate.” 

 . . . That remark is just one of many that Mateer — who’s currently the first assistant attorney general in Austin, Texas — made during a pair of speeches at the conference. In them, Mateer provided a roadmap for businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ people without legal repercussions. In the two speeches — titled “Seven Things Every Christian Employee Should Know” and “Are You Ready? Protecting Your Church or 501(c)(3) Ministry” — Mateer also said the Constitution doesn’t mandate the separation of church and state and that diversity training “brainwashes” people into accepting the LGBTQ lifestyle.   Citing both speeches, 36 LGBTQ advocacy organizations sent a letter to the Senate on Tuesday demanding that its members vote down Mateer’s nomination. His comments, the letter states, “disqualify” him from public service.

Comments taken from the speeches are a veritable cornucopia of reasons as to why Mateer has no business on the federal bench.

Among them, Mateer said the separation of church and state is nowhere in the Constitution, diversity training is reprogramming, churches should be able to endorse candidates, marriage equality is illegal in spite of the SCOTUS decision legalizing it, and "honest conviction" allows employers to discriminate.

During the time of the speech, Mateer as employed as general counsel for First Liberty Institute, a religious right organization. He is already under fire for other past statements, including claiming that transgender children are a part of "Satan's plan." This latest development only adds to his troubles.


Hat tip to The New Civil Rights Movement.

'Trump judicial nominee played 'Nazi Germany' card in attack on LGBTQs, Obama Admin.' & other Wed midday news briefs

It's LGBTQ Pride in SC! Check out articles in news briefs for more information.

Trump judicial nominee invoked Nazi Germany in describing treatment of Christians in US - See, I knew all of those claims comparing the Obama Administration to Nazis would come back to haunt some people. Just another notch as to why Jeff Mateer shouldn't have a lifetime appointment as a federal judge. His attacks on the LGBTQ community was bad enough.

Night Moves - With a move to a two-day festival, Famously Hot South Carolina Pride is courting a bigger audience. Can it do so without losing sight of itself? - It's LGBTQ Pride time in South Carolina. And guess what intrepid blogger has been asked to bring his 2017 GLAAD Media Award and to say a few words. What should I wear? How should I do my hair? 

As S.C. Celebrates Pride, Some Signs of Change in the Dominant Political Party? - And with this year's Pride comes the fact that slowly but sure, SC is changing for the better. It's still gonna take a little work but I'm always down for a fight. 

New York’s highest court’s first openly gay judge is sworn in - Quietly but steadily. 

Inside The Fight For Transgender Americans In The Mountains Of North Carolina - Meanwhile in NC, the transgender community aren't taking any slack. 

Tony Perkins Says LGBTQ People In The Military Create ‘Moral Confusion’ That Makes Men Harass Women - Dang, Tony. Sit your ass down!

Evangelical hate group tries & fails to justify support of Trump

Trump and conservative evangelicals have a predatory relationship.

Hate group the Family Research Council is furious about the criticism its recent Values Voter Summit and Trump, who gave a keynote address,  has received. In its latest  Washington Update, the group whined specifically about North Carolina pastor and activist William Barber

Barber had called the summit "heretical extremism" during an appearance on MSNBC and criticized Trump for addressing the group.

FRC head Perkins said the following about Barber's words:

Before the motorcade even arrived at the venue, liberals had fired their first shots. First, they took aim at Donald Trump for speaking to a "hate group." When that didn't work, they started in on Christians, shaming them for supporting a man they claim "contradict[s] Jesus directly." Conveniently (and selectively), they quote Scripture to make their point, desperate to prove that conservatives are betraying their faith by sharing an agenda with the president. "We have to stop pretending that these men and women are leaders in the Christian church," Rev. William Barber argued. Why? Because they appreciate a leader who will finally go to bat for that church? Say what you will about Trump's past or his fiery personality, he's done more for Christian conservatives than any president since Ronald Reagan -- and this is only his first year!

This isn't blind allegiance on the part of evangelicals. This is the earned respect of a man who's kept his promises. We wanted to move public policy, and this president has. Look at what he's done since taking office: defunding global abortion, protecting religious liberty, rolling back President Obama's social experimentation in the military, appointing originalist judges, overturning the HHS mandate, and fighting for mothers and their unborn children. As I've said before, our support isn't unconditional. But Donald Trump has done more to restore a pro-family, pro-faith culture in eight months than George W. Bush did in eight years! Were Christians foolish for supporting him?

Yet still, people like Rev. Barber fumed, "Last week, the men and women who crowded into that D.C. ballroom claimed to be attending a values conference. But instead, they proved yet again how morally bankrupt a vocal segment of Christians has become." Morally bankrupt for advocating for the unborn? Morally bankrupt for advocating for the freedom to live according to stated biblical values? Rev. Barber, who was a part of the Democratic National Convention, which called for forcing taxpayers to fund abortion and pushed religious freedom to the back of the bus so that sexual libertines could impose their values on the nation, is looking in the mirror of moral bankruptcy.

Even though he clearly didn't mean to, Perkins justified the criticism aimed at FRC and other so-called moral groups and evangelicals for supporting Trump. Since taking office, Trump has been a disaster who has thus far accomplished nothing. He is unfocused, immature, and has a tendency to either shamelessly lie or pick petty fights with members of his own party. He has taken the side of white supremacists, attacked the First Amendment right of individual Americans and the media, and whines about being treated unfairly when quoted specifically and directly.And I haven't even mentioned the sexual harassment accusations or the "grab them by the pu**y" comment.

It is this man, Perkins claims, who is restoring a pro-family, pro-faith culture. That, my friends is a big load of horse shit.  Perkins can talk about "restoring a pro-family, pro-faith culture" all he wants. Talk is cheap when everyone sees how quickly and eager you are to kiss the ass of the devil.

'Russian man first to go on record about anti-gay purge in Chechnya' & other Tue midday news briefs

They are 'purging' LGBTQs in Chechnya. We have on-record testimony from a victim.

Russian man is first to go on record as a victim of antigay purge in Chechnya - And what he has to say will put a chill in your bones. 

36 LGBT Groups Demand Withdrawal of Jeff Mateer Nomination - No Jeff Mateer, no one has forgotten about you. You have a special place on our sh!t list.

Me Too: The Difficult Truths About Gay Men And Sexual Assault - Goes without saying. 

Trump was asked to explain his support for an anti-LGBTQ extremist. It didn’t go well. - Does anything go well with this monstrosity polluting the Oval Office? 

Celebs, Rights Groups Appalled By Trump’s Reported Quip That Pence Wants To Hang Gays - Speak of the monstrosity, jokes like this is never funny. Direct your attention to the first item on today's news briefs.

Conservative evangelicals gladly turn their backs on integrity for the power Trump gives them

They can deny it all they want, but evangelicals have turned their backs on their faith to embrace Trump.

There is one itsy-bitsy, nonetheless significant positive of Trump being in the White House.

The rest of the country is seeing what the LGBTQ community has always known about the religious right. For all of their talk about values, morals, and their "Judeo-Christian" faith, their efforts have solely been about their desire to control lives and gaining power.

And they simply don't care what avenue they travel to get that power.  I don't think I'll ever get tired of these "why does the religious right support someone as immoral as Donald Trump" articles like the one Politico recently published:

Several senior White House officials say they've never heard Trump reference the Bible privately or pray in the Oval Office — even though he has, at times, asked Vice President Mike Pence to pray. He swears frequently, even startling some aides with his coarse language. He was famously caught on tape saying he could grab women by their genitals because he is famous. In New York, he was well-known for cheating on his wives and encouraging coverage of his sex life in the tabloids. 

Though he has declared the Bible to be his favorite book, just ahead of his autobiography, he has not exhibited a deep knowledge of it. On the campaign trail, one of his more famous moments was calling the communion "my little wine and my little cracker" and incorrectly calling Second Corinthians "Two Corinthians." 

Yet he has told advisers he sees evangelicals as among his most important constituencies, and he has enjoyed fervent support, as evidenced by another rapturous reception on Friday at the Values Voter Summit. A Reuters poll in September showed more than 60 percent of white evangelicals back Trump, far higher than his overall approval rating, which has often fallen below 40 percent. 

“Trump has been focused like a laser beam on the evangelical vote since the day he entered the presidential race in June 2015, and that has never changed," said Ralph Reed, founder and chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, who said Trump called religious leaders repeatedly during the campaign.

Several people who know Trump say he appreciates that evangelicals have been loyal to him — and he wants to keep them in the fold, almost as he would valuable business customers.

It gets even better:

. . . several religious leaders said, they feel Trump is fighting for them in a cultural war that has been heading in the other direction. 

"They believe they have a commander in chief that is effectively using the bully pulpit to advance a Judeo-Christian framework that has been minimized, scrutinized and ostracized for the last few decades," said David Brody, who has enjoyed tremendous access to White House officials as a correspondent for the Christian Broadcasting Network. He says his viewers overwhelmingly support Trump and see him as unfairly under attack, a view shared by a dozen religious leaders interviewed for this story.

Seems to me that if these so-called religious people can fold up their supposed integrity to support Trump with all of his deliberate warts and all, whatever faith they practice probably should be minimized and shunned.

'Trump jokes about Pence wanting to hang gays' & other Mon midday news briefs

Trump’s sick ‘joke’ about how much Pence hates LGBTQ people - Again Trump opens his big mouth and makes a Freudian slip. We all know Pence's record on the LGBTQ community. And none of it is good. It's a tasteless joke on its own but gets even more tasteless when one remembers that Trump gave a speech last weekend to a room full of people who want to, at the very least, criminalize homosexuality. 

The Danger of President Pence - Speaking of Pence, here is the article which documents Trump's "joke."

Sessions Confounds Critics By Aiding Murder Prosecution In LGBTQ Case - Even a wolf in sheep's clothing gets caught up and starts to bleat every now and then. 

Australian Children's Rights Groups Say Yes To Marriage Equality - Meanwhile in Australia, we are still fighting. 

 Gay lawmakers create first LGBTQ caucus in Arizona Legislature - Long overdue.

Pastor calls Values Voter Summit 'heretical extremism . . . perpetrating a fraud'

There has been a justifiable complaint that if last weekend's Values Voter Summit isn't representative of all Christians, then why don't other Christians, particularly Christian leaders,  speak out against it.

One has publicly spoken against it and his words were blistering in their tone and accuracy. William Barber is a minister in North Carolina and a community leader who is heavily involved in progressive activism. And unlike other ministers who hide behind twitter, Barber takes an active role in leading protests and getting arrested for his beliefs.

Joy Reid conducted an interview with him Saturday in which he called out the Values Voter Summit for a multitude of things, including, as he puts it, replacing the values of Christ for cash.

" . . . from Jeremiah 22 to Jesus and Matthew 25, Christian values for nations and political leaders has to do with love and justice, equality, stopping exploitation of the vulnerable, caring for the poor, caring for children, welcoming immigrants, helping the sick and loving all, And by these standards, the so-called Values Summit is not about Judeo-Christian values, it’s not about Christianity, but the values of a heretical rhetorical extremism funded by a whole lot of money, perpetrating a fraud on the American people.”

In addition, he also called out Trump for being the first president to address the group.

“What the president did was irreligious, it is an anathema to Christian values. He boasted about taking health care, that’s not Christian. He promoted arrogance, he promoted warmongering — these are not Christian values — and it’s high time that we call it out,”

Donald Trump & the Values Voter Summit - jack meets ass (or vice versa)

The religious right trades Jesus for Donald Trump

Editor's Note - HUGE shout out to those on our side who are attending that vile Values Voter Summit to document all of the madness. You are doing wonderful work because if I was there, I would have already been Granny Clampett with the switch.

President Trump Claims People ‘Don’t Use The Word Christmas Because It’s Not Politically Correct’ - The best way to describe the Values Voter Summit is the the official moment when the religious right traded in Jesus for Donald Trump. A bunch of bigoted jackasses kissing the butt of an idiot as he claims he saved a"Judeo-Christian" values the day after he sabotages health care for millions of people. That's about it. WE ALWAYS SAID MERRY CHRISTMAS YOU JERK!

Trump claims he 'met with the president of the Virgin Islands.' That's him. - AND he makes a complete fool of himself besides.

Trump gets hero’s welcome at Christian summit - For a "nicer" view of Trump at the summit, go here.


For up-to-date information on this hot mess of a summit, go to Right Wing Watch (and swing some money to PFAW for their wonder efforts.) But for you can expect, allow me to repost the following:

Values Voter Summit promises to be an orgy of hypocrisy and hate

Family Research Council 'Values Voter' Summit will see religious right meet alt-right


Last but not least, how can we forget the meat of the summit - rampant, virulent homophobia:

Here’s what’s in the grab bag at the anti-LGBT Values Voter Summit - Oh you are going to LOVE this.

This Is The Anti-Gay Pamphlet Handed Out At The Values Voter Summit - Another look at the mess.

This is the pamphlet advertising a book referenced in the last two news briefs. I personally liked it better when it this:

You see, that's a secret of anti-LGBTQ propaganda. It's the same lies year after year, decade after decade. But it's put in a different package every time.

To break it down, THIS is how the Values Voter Summit attendees see the LGBTQ community. And by their actions, they want to confine our being into this fictional image.

For more information about the comic book, Deathstyle, see -

  #TBT - 'Homosexuality: DEATHSTYLE'

Values Voter Summit promises to be an orgy of hypocrisy and hate

Don't let them fool you with their false piety and flowery language about protecting faith, God, and country.

The Family Research Council's upcoming weekend event, Values Voter Summit, will be nothing more than a bunch of self-righteous, hateful folks giving both Christianity and conservatism bad names as they gather to lick the boots of a madman and plan what mayhem they will cause for those of us who don't fit their definition of purity.

Kinda like a Nazi rally without the ugly battleship grey uniforms.

Trump will be giving the keynote address Friday night, no doubt leaving the crowd drooling over what they can get away with his Administration. And, according to Right Wing Watch, the following are a few of the other attendees (aside from the usual cast of vile characters - Tony Perkins, James Dobson, Todd Starnes, Michelle Malkin, etc):

Roy Moore:

Moore is likely to get a hero’s welcome in spite of revelations this week that he took more than $1 million from the nonprofit he founded, the Foundation for Moral Law, between 2007 and 2012, which the Washington Post reported “far surpassed what the group disclosed in its public tax filings most of those years.” On top of that, Moore’s political career has been funded in part by Michael Peroutka, who has been active in Christian Reconstructionist and neo-Confederate groups and promotes the idea that a certain interpretation of biblical law should trump civil laws. Moore has repeatedly put his own religious beliefs above the law. He is intensely hostile to legal equality for LGBT Americans, arguing that homosexual relationships should be criminalized. And his avowed devotion to religious liberty seemingly extends only to those who share his faith.

'Sessions openly defends anti-LGBTQ discrimination' & other Thur midday news briefs

Jeff Sessions

Attorney General openly defends anti-gay discrimination - It's all about JESUS! The folks who push this nonsense are clearly hiding their motives. It's not about baking a cake or arranging flowers. It's about what it has always been about - oppression. They simply change the lie. They used to say "gays are trying to corrupt children." They shifted that argument to attack the transgender community and now are saying "LGBTQ equality will deprive Christians of their rights." Know the pattern and types of lies and tell everyone. Unfortunately we can't seem to do that because folks are paying too much attention to the trees instead of noticing the forest. It's not about a cake so stop talking about cakes. Stop defending these bakers, florists, etc. 

A hate group's anti-LGBTQ law just went into effect in Mississippi. Here's what you need to know. - Other than it's crap, there is plenty that needs to be known.

Saying Queer People Should Stop Coming Out Isn’t Just Stupid, It’s Absolutely Offensive - Brought to you from the school of "black people should stop talking about racism," and "women should stop talking about sexual harassment." 

Caitlyn Jenner calls Trump administration the “worst ever” for LGBT+ rights - Girlfriend, what took you so long? 

White Evangelicals Are Why America Can’t Have Nice Things - Rather harsh tone but rings true. This was posted in June but it's remains relevant.