'World Health Organization no longer classifies being transgender as a mental disorder' & other Tue midday news briefs

The World Health Organization announces it finally no longer classifies being transgender as a mental disorder - HUGE positive step in the right direction.

Conservative evangelical groups & leaders care more about their fantasies than immigrant children - Post from last night because it needs to be repeated. 

BuzzFeed Celebrates LGBTQ+ Teens With Its Second-Annual Queer Prom - Wonderful! Anything which helps our kids is a good thing. 

Michigan is trying to erase LGBTQ people & immigrants out of school history classes - They can try, but it doesn't mean they will succeed.

TEXAS: Megachurch Pastor Screams Oppression Over Removal Of His “America Is A Christian Nation” Billboard - Oh my heart "bleeds" for this self-righteous rascal.

Conservative evangelical groups & leaders care more about their fantasies than immigrant children

Evangelicals like Tony Perkins (top) & Franklin Graham (bottom) could do more to help the immigrant children the Trump Administration snatched from their parents. But they probably won't.

Religious groups and evangelical public figures have taken time out of their busy schedules of dehumanizing transgender people and spinning religious liberty panics in order to weigh in on who they feel is the real victim during this awful crisis of the Trump Administration's seizing of immigrant children from their parents

Donald Trump.

By either blaming the so-called liberal media, telling lies about "progressives" and "open borders," claiming that these children are in better circumstances, or even blaming the parents, groups like the Family Research Council and the American Family Association, and people like Franklin Graham are clearly showing where their loyalties and values lie.

And all of them give off the same inference - "it's terrible, it's a shame, but let's pray for a solution because that's all we can do." These are the same groups and people who orchestrated national panics on the so-called idea of "religious liberty" which made it to the Supreme Court. The same folks who initiated a huge boycott of Target over the lie that men were invading women's bathrooms and got over one million signatures for a petition about it in hardly any time at all.

Franklin Graham has been known to issue Facebook statements on current issues and within a day, he would have over 100,00 comments from mostly cloying followers either echoing his sentiments or praising him.

You cannot tell me that these groups and people can't do anything about this issue. It's simply that they don't care. Just like they didn't care about Trump's language, his less than Christian behavior, the fact that he has on more than one occasion cheated on his wife, his basic incompetence  etc etc. They don't care about what psychological damage  Trump's policy will do to those little brown boys and girls or their families. They don't care how many future terrorists Trump may be creating. Their weak tea statements and defiant lies were less about the children and more about keeping themselves in Trump's good graces, while simultaneously tricking the rest of us into believing  that they are actually concerned for those families and their children.They only care about access, being invited to White House meetings, being allowed to put their imprint on national policy, and thus being able to craft the country in the image of their version of Christianity, which we are now seeing has nothing to do with humility, or love, or basic decency.

'How Trump's attack on immigrant children is connected with homophobia, racism, and Islamophobia' & other Mon midday news briefs.

Anti-LGBT, anti-Islam, anti-immigrant rhetoric featured alongside racist dog-whistles and Trump cabinet officials at WCS 2018 - As the Southern Poverty Law Center clearly shows, do not think that the xenophobia which fueled Trump's snatching of immigrant children away from their parents, the homophobia which tries to deny the LGBTQ community equality, the Islamophobia which dehumanizes Muslims, and the racism which causes black men and women to lose their lives because of corrupt policemen aren't all connected. Earlier this month, the purveyors of all of this junk converged at the Western Conservative Summit. They were all there, including Jeff Sessions.

Pope Francis: Gay Couples Cannot Make a Family - We need to stop praise dancing every time the Pope or the Catholic Church gives us a little positive whatever. In truth, this is what they think of us and our families. And we need to be firmly against anyone or any institution that seeks to disrespect us and our families.

Kathy Griffin: Love Letter to the LGBTQ Community - Kathy Griffin points out a central fact about the LGBTQ community. If you show us love, we will support you through thick and thin. She is simply the latest to learn this. 

Thousands of Ukrainian riot police swarmed Kiev Pride & arrested dozens - BUT guess who got arrested. You will be pleasantly pleased with this article. 

A record number of LGBTQ candidates are running for office. Here's why. - THIS is a way the LGBTQ community can begin to change the world for the better.

The Top 10 Coming Out of the Closet scenes & a complaint

I'm beginning to like my "Sunday ease-ins," as I call my practice of posting frivolously funny or insightful things Sunday night.  The purpose is to get everyone ready for the weekly nonsense we have to deal with via the Trump Administration. Tonight is slightly serious because it comes with a small complaint:



Besides the fact that I would like to see coming out scenes involving the bisexual and transgender community, why does television portray young folks coming out as cute, whispy, or basically attractive. They tend to be "too pretty" for me.

 A lot of us who come out aren't exactly considered as "models of beauty." Hell, when I was young, I had bad skin and bad hair, to say nothing about a unusually skinny frame and eyeglasses so big that they could double as a helmet. And I haven't even begun to talk about my dark skin tone, which was looked at as a negative. I would love to see television shows rely on  normal, awkward folks coming out rather than folks who look so pretty, you have a hard time believing that they sit on toilets.

'Jeff Sessions creating havoc for immigrants, their children, & LGBTQ asylum seekers, but bends over backwards for 'religious liberty'' & other Friday midday news briefs

Jeff Sessions

Jeff Sessions just signed the death warrant for LGBTQ asylum seekers - It's not just the policy Attorney GeneralJeff Sessions is pushing separating immigrant children from their parents that's causing problems. This other policy about no longer giving asylum for victims of domestic or gang violence is also causing havoc. And to our LGBTQ brothers and sisters, it's practically a death sentence.

Jeff Sessions: Trump administration will fight with faith groups on their discrimination claims - I hate to push this juxtaposition but here it is because here it is. At the same time, Sessions is ready to fight for houses of worship seeking building permits. Take these two news briefs as you will.  What's more important to God? Expanding churches and discrimination under the guise of 'religious liberty' or the safety and well-being of men, women, and children? You tell me.

ADF defends Indiana teacher who rejected his district’s transgender-inclusive policy - Of course this hate group will. Sorry but your so-called religious liberty does not rank higher than the health and well-bring of our LGBTQ kids. 

6 Homeless LGBTQ Youths Share Their Stories - Stories which NEED to be amplified.

EXCLUSIVE: LGBTQ Federal Employees Confronted Betsy DeVos Last Year - She obviously didn't listen.

Video: When faced with discrimination, elderly LGBTQ Americans can't simply 'go somewhere else'

This video by Movement Advancement Project emphasizes the fact that sometimes when faced with discrimination, some of us simply can't "go somewhere else."

If you can handle discrimination by doing that, remember that there are many who can't, such as elderly LGBTQ Americans:

This new ad illustrates the housing discrimination LGBT Americans can face in the absence of nondiscrimination protections. Nursing Home depicts an older gay man arriving to move into an assisted living facility. But when the facility director learns that the new resident is gay, he refuses to allow him to move in and tells him and his family to leave.

'Gay students rally to defense of teacher driven to the brink by homophobic bullying' & other Thur midday news briefs

After teacher comes forward about bullying, gay students in Rocklin share similar stories - This is why it is so important for the LGBTQ community to first defend our own before we look to others to defend us. A California lesbian teacher was put on mental health leave after students bullied her. The school did nothing about it. And the parents? Well they backed up their kids with the usual religious right lies by talking about the teacher "pushing her lifestyle" on students. We've all heard that explanation before and in this case, it's more infuriating because the teacher didn't mention her sexual orientation or relationships status in class. The little brats found  photos online. Well now, other gay students in the school have come forward to have the back of the teacher AND to tell their own stories of bullying. Good for them!

As trans high school athletes win state titles, parents petition to ban them - Instead of trying to keep them from competing, maybe your children need to work harder so they can compete against the trans athletes. 

Senator Hatch’s pro-LGBTQ floor speech rings hollow - Thank for Sen. Orrin Hatch for speaking up for our LGBTQ kids on the US Senate floor. However, Zack Ford makes a wonderful point here. Talk is cheap in the face of positive action. 

Athens GOP leader goes on anti-gay rant on Pulse anniversary - Trash is as trash does.

Meet the amazing gay single dad-of-3 whose husband died before their twins were born - Sad but awesome story of love.

Anti-gay groups using Pulse tragedy survivor to create more harm for the LGBTQ community

Anti-gay groups are exploiting a survivor of the Pulse tragedy to fight against a pro-gay bill in California.

There is a bill in CA, AB2943, which would outlaw marketing or selling the fraudulent practice of ex-gay therapy.  The religious right have been fighting like mad to create a narrative which would allow them to fight the bill. First, they tried to portray it as something called a "must stay gay" ban. That didn't resonate. Then they falsely claimed that the bill would ban the Bible. That narrative failed.  The two attempts to falsely portray the bill failed because its supporters consistently pointed out that it has to do with financial practices and transactions rather than personal beliefs.

So now from the religious right comes this new direction which is simply downright vile - exploiting a survivor of the Pulse tragedy to wreck the bill.

From the Family Research Council:

It's been two full years since it happened. People were still dancing at a nightclub on the south side of Orlando, when a gunman walked through the doors and brutally ended the lives of 49 people. India Goodman says she can still feel the body slumped against her in the dark, shielding her from bullets. She's just one of the survivors who says their story changed forever. 

Luis Javier Ruiz is another. Like so many others in the Pulse nightclub that night, Luis thinks a lot about what could have happened. He looks back on his struggles then, identifying as a gay man, and believes -- without a doubt -- that it was the lowest point of his life. "I should have been number 50," he posted after the tragedy. An emotional Ruiz talked about how difficult things had been, even before the horror that June night.  

"Going through old pictures of the night of Pulse, I remember my struggles of perversion, heavy drinking to drown out everything and having promiscuous sex that led to HIV. My struggles were real! The enemy had its grip, and now God has taken me from that moment and has given me Christ... I've grown to know His love in a deeper level. Two out of the 49 were my close friends and are no longer with us. They lost their life that night. I should have been number 50, but now... I know who I am and I am not defined with who the enemy says I use to be -- but who Christ Jesus says I am."  

Luis went public with his story, joining the Freedom March in early May with other people who've walked away from a lifestyle that brought nothing but pain. "It's not a gay-to-straight thing," he tells reporters, "but a lost to save[d] thing." During his recovery, he remembers, members of a local church came in and prayed with him. They shared portions of Scripture and told him about the love of God. Through that, he says, "I was able to not only just be free of the lifestyle but be free of me in general -- from every type of sin."

'South Carolina pro-Confederate flag, anti-LGBTQ candidate in runoff for Congressional seat' & other Wed midday news briefs

This guy right here, former SC state senator Lee Bright, who in 2015 (seen in the above video)  interrupted a vote to remove the Confederate flag from atop the State House to rant insanely about marriage equality, was one of the candidates who won enough votes last night to participate in a run-off for a U.S. Congressional seat. Bright will be competing against present SC state senator William Timmons. Bright, who by the way opposed removing the Confederate flag, pushed an anti-transgender bathroom bill in 2016 which failed and subsequently cost him his seat in the SC Legislature.

 In other news:

More than 100 youth activists played dead on the Capitol lawn to raise awareness for gun violence - An issue very pertinent to the LGBTQ community.

Who Are LGBTQ Americans? Here’s A Major Poll On Life, Sex, and Politics. - Fascinating. We are all so quick to talk about "the community," yet we know very little about each other.

This Pastor Disrupted a Drag Queen Story Hour: ‘There’s No Such Thing as Transgenders’ - What an absolute dumbass.

Trump/Golden Girls mashup featuring Putin, Pence, & Kim Jong Un is kinda spooky now

When I posted this a long while back, it was simply funny and campy. But based upon what we now know about Russia's involvement in the 2016 election which got Trump in the White House and after Trump's recent summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, we probably should ask can something be campy and spooky at the same time.

News brief special - Two years after Pulse, LGBTQ community will continue to combat physical & spiritual violence

Today, @HRC marks two years since 49 lives were senselessly taken at Pulse nightclub. It has been 730 days since this tragedy yet nothing has changed. We urge our elected officials to pass common-sense gun violence protection measures. #HonorThemWithAction https://t.co/foV600EyxL pic.twitter.com/zesTdO0TZD

— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) June 12, 2018

The Stories of the Victims of the Pulse Gay Nightclub Massacre in Orlando - Never forget.

No, We Cannot Weep Together - An appropriate post written two days later.

Jim Obergefell, Marriage Equality Plaintiff: Religion Is Being Weaponized Against Us - Meanwhile, the fight for our dignity and rights continue. Those who try to take away what is ours don't always use physical violence. Spiritual violence is just as bad.

Why Are Antigay Ads Running Before LGBT Videos on YouTube? - See commentary on news brief above . . .

22 Incredible Photos Of LGBTQ Pride Celebrations Over The Decades - But we will not lose. As we commemorate and weep and fight, we are still here. We will continue to be here.