Pat Robertson claims 'Drag Queen Story Hour' is going to bring God's 'judgment' on America

Drag Queen Story  Hour is an event which has been taking place  across America for a long time now. It's when drag queens read stories to young children in order to encourage inclusiveness and tolerance.

And while religious right groups have been attacking repeatedly it, they really have no ground to stand on because Drag Queen Story Hour is very popular with children and their parents, who of course have to give their permission for their children to attend. And sometimes these parents also attend and enjoy themselves.

Still, that doesn't keep religious right and anti-LGBTQ personalities like 'The 700 Club' host Pat Robertson from raging about it. Geez, Pat Roberson is so decrepit here that you can practically see the dust coming out of his mouth. It's like watching a religious right version of 'The Mummy.'

Yes, what I said was cruel and I almost didn't want to post this.  But then I remember when I was young and trying to come out, how watching 'The 700 Club' and Pat Robertson attack LGBTQs made me feel so awful.  I don't consider this a revenge post, but a simple reminder about whose time it is right now.

Lastly on that same note, it seems to me that if God was going to "judge" America, I think He would be looking at things other than drag queen reading books to children and their parents. Such as a certain Orange Menace populating the White House who steals children from their parents and puts them in cages and generally wrecking the integrity of this country.


Hat tip - Right Wing Watch

'Trump Administration weaponizes religion to allow federal contractors to discriminate against the LGBTQ community' & other Tue midday news briefs

It's becoming apparent that Trump probably rubbed  his butt with this flag after the picture was taken. That's what he has done to the LGBTQ community in general since taking office.

New Trump administration directive lets federal contractors discriminate against LGBT people – for Jesus - The Trump Administration weaponizes religion to discriminate against the LGBTQ community again. So now on the basis of "religious liberty" the Trump Administration is allowing federal contractors to discriminate against the LGBTQ community. If anything, this makes the argument against the Log Cabin Republicans & other LGBTQ Trump supporters. They supported Trump but aren't pushing back against the myriad ways he is dogging our community. A political group with ACTUAL political power would do that instead of acting like it is in an abusive relationship making excuses for their partner and attacking those who try to make them see the truth. The truth in this case being Trump don't give a damn about us.

Labor Department becomes latest Trump agency to take interest in ‘religious freedom’ - More on this insanity and it brings up a point. "Religious liberty," or the weaponization of religion as a tool for anti-LGBTQ discrimination is making its way through U.S. agencies like a virus. I smell the noxious odor of Mike Pence in this. 

Trump Admin Upholds Religious Freedom for Federal Contractors - And from the other side of the coin - the wrong side - how this issue is playing in the anti-LGBTQ evangelical right community.

'Not scared': Russian teen charged under 'gay propaganda' law says he'll keep protesting - In Russia with his life clearly in danger. This young man is bravery personified.

Liberty Counsel Claims Victory In Scott Lively’s Embarrassing Defeat - "Bitches gotta fundraise."

Jeff Sessions' support of anti-LGBTQ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom condemned in blistering video

I have to give props to the Human Rights Campaign for this video which blasts Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his support of anti-LGBTQ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom. It's a wonderful way to keep attention focused on this issue, with us controlling the narrative.

 For more information as to why the Alliance Defending Freedom is a hate group, read these links:

ALLIANCE DEFENDING FREEDOM

The extremism of anti-LGBTQ powerhouse Alliance Defending Freedom

The many ways Alliance Defending Freedom is fighting against transgender student equality

Masterpiece Cakeshop was just the beginning. ADF is pushing several other license-to-discriminate cases through the courts.

Alliance Defending Freedom is working to keep LGBTQ people from adopting children

'Landscaper denies service to gay couple, then trolls them online' & other Mon midday news briefs

Landscaper denies service to ‘perverse’ gay couple and trolls them on Yelp - What a landscaper did to a gay couple is mess which cannot and shouldn't be hidden or obscured by claims of personally held religious beliefs. But it can be an aspect of the future if anti-LGBTQ groups like the Alliance Defending Freedom has anything to say about it. 

Scott Lively Loses Appeal To Reword Judge’s Ruling That Calls Him Abhorrent, Pathetic, And A Crackpot Bigot - No matter how bad things may seem, I will always be comforted by the fact that a nasty, homophobic bigot can't change the facts about him being a nasty, homophobic bigot.

These adults are plotting a hate crime against a transgender 12-year-old - This right here is a nasty shame.

Straight British Comic Jack Whitehall is Playing Disney’s First Openly Gay Character and People are Pissed - A fascinating debate which didn't start with this and certainly won't end with it. I'm highly undecided about this sort of thing, except for when it comes to the transgender community. I can see where the transgender community is coming from about anger over not getting trans actors to portray trans characters.

Ruby Rose Leaves Twitter After ‘Batwoman’ Critics Say She’s Not Gay Enough - But I'm generally undecided because of mess like this.

Human Rights Campaign demanding answers regarding 'religious liberty' task force' & other Fri midday news briefs

HRC wants answers from DOJ and Jeff Sessions about the 'religious liberty' task force.

HRC's Chad Griffin: We're Going After Sessions's Christian Task Force - The Human Rights Campaign has officially submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for all records associated with Jeff Sessions' "religious liberty" task force. Okay, I know some LGBTQs have a negative view of the Human Rights Campaign, but I think in this case, we need all of our ducks in a row.  We can have disagreements, strong disagreements in fact, with each other while at the same time putting forth as much unity as we can. Me personally? I'm not interested at this very point in rehashing problems. We have an out-of-control Attorney General conspiring with anti-LGBTQ hate groups to possibly weaponize the Department of Justice against those fighting said anti-LGBTQ hate groups. I think they deserve more of our ire right now.

Right-wing media pastor and GOP-backed congressional nominee favorably remembered when “homosexuality was once criminalized” - Exhibit A to the first news brief post. This guy is running for a United States House seat. 

Exclusive: Florida Wants To Help Bullied Kids — Unless They’re Gay - To the surprise of no one.

Some transgender drivers are being kicked off Uber’s app - What kind of nonsense is this?

Caitlyn Jenner Says Trump Has ‘Not Been Doing A Very Good Job’ - Really? Uh no shit, girlfriend.

Jeff Sessions insists Alliance Defending Freedom not a hate group in spite of extensive proof which says otherwise

Attorney General Jeff Sessions (top) insist that the Alliance Defending Freedom (logo at the bottom) is not a hate group in spite of extensive proof which says otherwise.

Wednesday night, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he does not believe that the Alliance Defending Freedom is a hate group even though it has been proven that, among other things, the group has falsely conflated homosexuality with pedophilia and worked to imprison gays in foreign countries simply for being gay.

Sessions said these comments during a speech at the ADF's Summit for Religious Liberty. He also blasted the Southern Poverty Law Center, the organization giving ADF the designation:

"I wanted to come back here tonight partially because I wanted to say this: You are not a hate group," Sessions told attendees (video below) at the ADF's Summit on Religious Liberty, as Towleroad reports. 

 "When I spoke to ADF last year, I learned that the Southern Poverty Law Center had classified ADF as a ‘hate group.’ Many in the media simply parroted that as a fact," Sessions charged. "They have used this designation as a weapon and they have wielded it against conservative organizations that refuse to accept their orthodoxy and choose instead to speak for their conscience and their beliefs. They use it to bully and intimidate groups that fight for religious freedom, these constitutional rights of the American people."

Via  his speech, Sessions performed the modus operandi of ADF and other religious right groups which SPLC have called out, i.e. playing the victim and using the "religious liberty" card in hopes of diverting attention from what caused them to be labeled as hate groups in the first place.

In the case of the Alliance Defending Freedom, the organization has a long history of demonizing the LGBTQ  community, working to undermine LGBTQ equality, and using the force of the law against the LGBTQ community. In his speech, Sessions claimed that SPLC has no proof to back up its claim that ADF is a hate group.

He lied.

SPLC has extensively documented research from the time of the Alliance Defending Freedom's founding to the present, making sure to point the numerous times the group attacked the LGBTQ community.

Hypocrisy and deliberate paranoia defined - Franklin Graham when marriage equality was legalized

As nauseating as the following the video is, there is so much to unpack from this Fox News interview which Todd Starnes conducts with Franklin Graham. It took place three years ago  when marriage equality was legalized.

Three interesting points to make:

1. No pastors have been attacked, put in jail, or forced to perform gay weddings. Of course we knew that wasn't going to happen.

2. The idea of gays targeting so-called Christian businesses was definitely a narrative created by folks like Graham way before all of this ado about "religious liberty." It was, and still remains a way to cover up their sour grapes over the fact that they lost the marriage equality fight.. On the whole, however, that fearmongering about marriage equality bringing in anti-Christian persecution was bull. Of course Starnes and Graham most likely knew that at the time.

3. It's amazing how Franklin Graham went from "America has a moral crisis" back then to the now excuses of Donald Trump isn't "president perfect" and his extramarital affairs are "no one's business." 

Apparently a little power brings out the hypocrisy in some people.

'SPLC refutes Jeff Sessions and his 'religious liberty' task force' & other Wed midday news briefs

Richard Cohen of  SPLC

SPLC refutes Sessions’ comments about hate group designations - When Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced his "religious liberty" task force, he made veiled comments attacking the Southern Poverty Law Center for designating several religious right groups as anti-LGBTQ hate group. Earlier week, SPLC president Richard Cohen responded with a two page letter to Sessions which basically says (and pardon the vernacular) "ain't nobody scared of you or your ratchet task force."

You can read the letter here. 

From the archives - 16 reasons why the Family Research Council is a hate group - And because I'm an evil little queen who has been itching for a fight about this issue LONG BEFORE the Southern Poverty Law Center began naming certain religious right organizations as hate groups, here is a post I published in 2011. 

Christine Hallquist May Become America’s First Openly Transgender Governor - Oh! This would be sweet! 

A Republican Lawmaker Seeking Reelection Once Compared Gay People To "Rapists" And Other Criminals - Lovely . . . 

16-year-old is first minor prosecuted by Russian 'anti-gay propaganda' laws - Remember when Franklin Graham said he supported these laws because it would keep gays from "recruiting" children?

Religious leaders calls out hypocrisy of Jeff Sessions' 'religious liberty' task force

How did I miss this?

 Last weekend, religious leaders, Rev. Dr. William Barber and religious speaker, writer, and pastor Jonathan Wilson-Hartgove, appeared on AM Joy and blasted Attorney General Jeff Sessions's recently announced 'religious liberty' task force.  Barber, specifically wasn't having it, so to speak. He labeled the idea as hypocrisy in view of Trump's immigration policy. He also said that the task force was only for what he called "Trumpvangelicals."

Also appearing was Robert Jones, CEO with Public Religion Research Institute with some polling data on what people feel about the idea of "religious liberty" as defined by conservative evangelicals, i.e. the right to refuse service to LGBTQs.  Barber was very pointed about how he felt about that concept. He said it was the same rationale that segregationists used against African-Americans.

Hat tip - The New Civil Rights Movement

'Fight over potential SCOTUS justice Kavanaugh heats up LGBTQ equality struggle' & other Tue midday news briefs

Potential SCOTUS justice Brett Kavanaugh

Another US court rules against Donald Trump banning trans people in the military - I NEVER get tired of hearing this.

An LGBT Rights Group Is Arguing Brett Kavanaugh Is A “Direct Threat” To LGBT People - PREACH! 

Anti-gay activists are lobbying Democrats to back Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh - Meanwhile . . .

Transgender Actors Roundtable: Laverne Cox, Chaz Bono and More on Hollywood Discrimination - And they speak the truth back and forth.

Meet the lesbian Native American woman running for Congress in Kansas - And she is a professional MMA fighter, too. Ooooo I hope she wins. 

  Trans LoveLoud Concertgoers Say LGBTQ Festival Lacked Inclusive Bathrooms - Come on, folks. This is highly slack of some in our community.

Buzzfeed: Jeff Sessions, Justice Department keeping secrets about 'religious liberty' task force

Big props to Buzzfeed and journalist Dominic Holden (an acquaintance of mine) for keeping this issue in the public eye. With all of the chaos going on regarding Trump and Russia, the LGBTQ community should still keep our eyes open regarding the Justice Department's "religious liberty" task force.

As Holden writes it, details about the task force, such as who will be members, remains unknown:

Despite the fanfare, however, Justice Department officials haven’t provided basic information about Sessions’ new task force or what it will actually do. 

Who will be on it? When will it meet? Is there an agenda for its meeting? Will its proceedings be open to the public? 

The Justice Department didn’t answer those questions from BuzzFeed News. A DOJ point person for the task force, Jeffrey Hall, referred inquiries to a DOJ spokesperson, who cited a transcript of Sessions' speech and a memo, which also didn’t provide answers. Follow-up questions went unanswered.

With good reason, spokespeople from religious groups which do not embrace right-wing evangelical Christianity are beginning to ask questions:

“My biggest concerns is the lack of transparency and clarity,” Johnathan Smith, the legal director of Muslim Advocates, told BuzzFeed News about the panel's unclear mandate, membership, and agenda. 

“There is a concern that certain Christian and evangelical communities are being brought to the forefront, and others, particularly Muslim communities, are discriminated against and harassed,” he added. “When you create a religious task force and you don’t have that detail and transparency, it raises a lot of questions about whether all communities will benefit from this government action.” 

Lacking details, the panel could be brushed off as little more than a gesture — a bone thrown to the evangelical right before the midterm elections. 

But given the politicized rollout, the task force may instead prove a new vehicle to enforce Sessions’ hardline agenda, sheltered from oversight because it’s housed entirely inside the Justice Department.