'Couple suing Kim Davis awarded over $200,000' & other Fri midday news briefs

Kim Davis (before losing $200,000 in a court case.)

Judge awards couples who sued Kim Davis more than $200,000 in fees - GOOD! Maybe Mike Huckabee and all of those other folks cheering Davis will chip in the coins.

Taxpayers will pay for Kim Davis' stand: Judge orders Rowan County to pay attorneys' fees to same-sex couples who sued clerk - More details. Give it up! Turn it loose! 

LGBT groups and allies hold press conference in rotunda while Senate committee hears anti-trans bills - Big day of drama in Texas. 

Conservatives propose anti-trans ‘bathroom’ initiative in Alaska’s biggest city - Like cooking oatmeal. Always lumps you have to beat down. 

Donald Trump to Nominate Another Anti-LGBTQ Secretary to the Army - Donny didn't learn his lesson from the last time. 

Anti-LGBTQ Group Spokesperson Pulls The ‘Fake News’ Card - I have been driving folks crazy by posting this Huffington Post article twice  as well as tweeting it but trust me when I say that it is necessary. Everyone is paying attention to Trump, etc but some of us are fighting small skirmishes like this one. The anti-LGBTQ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom has been on a media blitz bashing SPLC for designating them as a hate group. In the midst of it all, the spokesperson for the group claimed that allegations regarding her group's attempts to support the criminalization of gays in foreign countries is fake news. HOWEVER Media Matters has "the receipts" (i.e. the footage, pictures, verbatim speeches) which prove her to be a liar. I caught this and have been trying to make the situation go viral. And thanks to you all, it is amongst the top stories in the Huffington Post Queer Voices section. But please help me more. Read it if you haven't already. Please share it in every way possible. This is US on the offensive instead of the defensive, for a change. And we shouldn't spare the enemies of equality any mercy.

Family Research Council pleads with Jesus about those 'wicked' transgender soldiers protecting its freedoms

A supposedly Christian organization sends out a public prayer to God. What do you think the prayer would be about?

Safety? Peace? Decent healthcare? Protection against the ills of the world:

Those choices would probably be high on the list if one were talking about a legitimate Christian organization. However, since it's the anti-LGBTQ hate group Family Research Council, the issue de jour is one which the group has been exploiting to spook its supporters and drive up the donations

Transgender men and women in the military:

“Heavenly Father, it is time for you to act, for your law is being broken! This policy must be rejected: it brazenly defies You, God our Creator, and Your fixed, eternal moral laws. We defied your definition of marriage, now we defy the very apex of your created order, mankind created in your own image, male and female. Please forgive us, extend Your mercy to us, and grant us repentance. You who bless nations that obey You, and curse nations that disobey you; You who promise battleground victory to those who obey you, but defeat to all who disobey, have mercy! Grant repentance to President Trump and Secretary Mattis for even considering to keep this wicked policy in place. Grant them understanding, courage, and willpower to stand up to the forces of darkness that gave birth to it and wholly to repeal it. Save our young men and women who are already living under this tyranny. Save our children from the predictable impact of this policy. May Your people not only pray, but rise and use every tool they possess as American citizens to preempt this policy. Please correct the members of Congress who used their votes to enable and fund it. We appeal to You! In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Some things are so silly, so contradictory and downright bizarre that they render me speechless.

'Lawsuit against congressman claims LGBTQ rainbow flag akin to religious display' & other Thur midday news briefs

Congressman Alan Lowenthal (pictured) is being sued for this pride flag display

Man files suit against Long Beach congressman, claiming gay rights flag amounts to religious display - I wish this was a joke. Some homophobic grandstanding thunderhead (he has filed other lawsuits) is suing three members of Congress for displaying the rainbow pride flags outside their offices. He claims that the flags amount to religious displays. Somehow, I think the religious right will be avoiding this situation for a number of reasons. Just take your pick.

FRC Is Outraged That Obama ‘Refuses To Sit On The Sidelines’ - Hate groups gotta raise those "coins."

Anti-LGBTQ group spokesperson pulls the ‘fake news’ card - My recent post condensed and in The Huffington Post. Please show your love by liking and/or retreating.One of the reasons why anti-LGBTQ hate groups get away with what they do is because people are too blase about them. That's why their spokespeople have no problem with telling bad lies in a public forum. They feel that it will go unnoticed. 

UNAIDS Report Reveals Continued Progress in Global HIV Fight - Good news, mostly. But there is still more work to do. 

HBCU leaders focus on LGBT inclusion during summit with advocacy group - Wonderful news!

Racist webpage joins Family Research Council's effort to smear SPLC

'White nationalist', i.e. racist website VDARE is joining FRC's anti-SPLC smear

The Family Research Council and other organizations attacking the Southern Poverty Law Center for designating them as hate groups just got some assistance in their quest.

But I doubt it's the kind of help they want or need.

 According to Media Matters:

VDARE.com, which the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has described as a “white nationalist” and “anti-immigration hate website,” has joined other hate groups in an official smear campaign against SPLC launched by anti-LGBTQ Family Research Council (FRC). 

FRC and other organizations that SPLC has labeled hate groups launched a campaign on July 17 accusing SPLC of “fueling hate, killing free speech and even encouraging terrorist-style attacks on those it doesn’t agree with,” as the Washington Examiner described it. The campaign included a “planned Monday tweetstorm” and the suggestion that its supporters use the hashtag “#SPLCexposed.” 

White nationalist hate website VDARE joined FRC’s campaign on July 18, tweeting the #SPLCexposed hashtag alongside an accompanying article from the site that called SPLC the “Southern Poverty Lie … Center” and touted the #SPLCexposed Twitter campaign. The article also attempted to cast doubt on the reasoning behind SPLC’s designation of anti-immigrant hate group Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). 

 . . . According to SPLC, VDARE, founded in 1999 by English immigrant Peter Brimelow, is an “anti-immigration hate website” with a “white nationalist ideology” that frequently publishes articles advocating for a white America and filled with anti-Semitic tropes. One article asserted that “America was defined — almost explicitly, sometimes very explicitly — as a white nation, for white people.” Another claimed that Jewish people’s “objective has been control of economic resources and political power.” Yet another article lamented that “whites are doing something no other people have ever done in human history” by welcoming “replacement by aliens” and sacrificing “our interests to those of favored minorities.” 

SPLC noted that the website also posts stories by prominent anti-Semite Kevin MacDonald and that even Brimelow acknowledges that VDARE “hosts ‘white nationalists’” but argues that they merely “aim to defend the interests of American whites”

I guess the adage of "when you lay down with dogs, you end up with fleas" is highly appropriate here. And the fact that I can direct it to both FRC and VDARE is delicious icing on the cake.\

All jokes aside, FRC would do best to publicly distance itself from VDARE. And soon.

After all, what would people think?

'State Dept dodging questions about silence over anti-LGBTQ persecution in Chechnya' & other Wed midday news briefs

Secretary of State Tillerson

State Dept. dodges question about Tillerson’s silence on Chechnya - Secretary of State Tillerson needs to speak out against LGBTQ persecution in Chechnya. No excuses. 

 The Religious Left is getting under right-wing media’s skin - For those who are wondering on the absence of the "religious left" while the religious right bogarts the conversation about culture, values, and morality. Not necessarily an LGBTQ issue per se. But then again, yes it is. 

Salvation Army among New York City drug clinics rejecting transgender people - Okay, I know the Salvation Army does good work with the bell ringers at Christmas, but this here is NOT right. The organization should NOT get a pass for this.

A Texas-Sized Special Session Is Underway Solely To Attack Transgender People - A mean spirited, nasty hot mess. And this nastiness includes attacks on transgender children.

Mormon University Professor Fired After Pro-LGBT Facebook Post - So much for "religious liberty."

Alliance Defending Freedom spokesperson cries 'fake news' while omitting her group's paper trail of homophobia - Just in case you missed my post from last night.

Alliance Defending Freedom spokesperson cries 'fake news' while omitting her group's paper trail of homophobia

ADF's Kerri Kupec made a faux pas in defending her group.

Apparently all of the attention focused on the homophobic deeds of the Alliance Defending Freedom and SPLC naming them and other religious right organizations as hate groups has exploded into a huge controversy.

Granted, this controversy is overshadowed by the GOP continuously Keystone Kops-like efforts to repeal Obamacare and the firestorm over Trump's alleged Russia connections during last year's election.

Nevertheless, it is huge ado because now ADF is dragging ABC News into the storm.

From One News Now:

A leading Christian law firm is pushing back against an ABC News story that labels them a "hate group," describing it as "journalistic malpractice." Alliance Defending Freedom invited Attorney General Jeff Sessions to a conference on religious freedom last week. In an apparent attempt to link President Trump's attorney general to some scandal, ABC News – reporting on the AG's participation in the conference – trotted out an accusation that ADF was an "anti-gay hate group." ADF's director of communications, Kerri Kupec, says the phraseology was an old trope made up by the left-leaning Southern Poverty Law Center.

One News Now's article was a biased, one-sided interview with Kupec whining about how supposedly SPLC is intolerant to ADF's seemingly innocent goals of "protecting religious liberty." Usually, I would be crying foul, but not this time.

Kupec, you see, proceeded to put ADF in a hole with the following claim:

In its report, ABC says ADF (according to SPLC) "specializes in supporting the criminalization of homosexuality abroad." To which, Kupec responds: "I have no idea where that came from. That's fake news, for sure."

So is Kupec saying that her organization doesn't support the criminalizing of homosexuality in foreign countries? Or if we were to parse her words to exact phrasing, is she saying she doesn't know where that idea came from?

If the latter is the case, one wonders if Kupec is lying or has she not checked the history of her employer?

'TX business groups stand against anti-trans 'bathroom bill' & other Tue midday news briefs

Will TX Gov Greg Abbott get his 'bathroom bill' passed? Hopefully not.

Business groups tell Texas lawmakers: Reject ‘bathroom bill’ - Get with the program, Texas. Or face the consequences. I doubt the religious right will be donating funds to bail you out.

How The Religious Right’s Love For ‘Lion Of Christianity’ Putin Is Helping To Shield Trump - Unfortunately, this is another example how religion and tyranny goes hand-in-hand. 

Every LGBTQ Rights Group You’ve Ever Heard Of Opposes Two Of Trump’s Judicial Picks - Hoo boy! And they may get confirmed. Well another mountain to climb, another river to cross. 

How the Congressional Assault on Trans Service Members Was Beaten Back - But, as this item shows, having to climb mountains and cross rivers don't necessarily mean the end result is defeat for equality.

Family Research Council leads silly hashtag tantrum against SPLC

Today, the Family Research Council and a few other organizations that the Southern Poverty Law Center have rightfully deemed as hate groups attacked the organization under the hashtag #SPLCexposed.

I should tell you though that other than small contributions from other like minded groups, the hashtag consisted mostly of FRC sending ridiculous tweets attacking SPLC:

.@splcenter has become exactly what it condemns – fueling hatred & intolerance at groups they simply disagree with. #SPLCexposed pic.twitter.com/h9osUvhBKV

— FRC (@FRCdc) July 17, 2017

"The SPLC, a totally discredited but extremely rich, left-wing organization." @TuckerCarlson #SPLCexposed https://t.co/VTGTqmkisI pic.twitter.com/Drg3QUcJPA

— FRC (@FRCdc) July 17, 2017

@SPLCenter has been linked in federal court to convicted domestic terrorist Floyd Corkins. https://t.co/qcM1GHULVy #SPLCexposed

— Tripping Infidel (@trippinginfidel) July 17, 2017

I don't think SPLC even cared to address FRC's tantrum because it stands by its accurate work. I, on the other hand, had to have a little fun with the situation:

'GOP trying to ban existing federal civil rights laws from protecting trans people' & other Mon midday news briefs

GOP Bill Banning Existing Federal Civil Rights Laws From Protecting Transgender People Advances to Subcommittee - Remember my post this morning? One transphobic bill is defeated and some of the same characters pushing out another one. Not impossible to defeat. It's just a matter of keeping your eyes open, your nails sharpened, your twitter finger on the ready, and your mouth running.

Do You Understand Me? Black Gay Men Are More Than What You See on Television - I hope so. We are portrayed as too sweet, too harsh, hardly ever intellectual, and never leaders.

The Power of Inclusive Sex Education - LGBTQ inclusive sex education is a must and I'm glad some folks are beginning to realize it.

 Eliminate Hate Campaign: News outlets that properly label hate groups should never apologize - Damn right.

  Fox News comes to hate group’s defense over ‘hate group’ label - Speaking of which . . . bring it on, bitches!

Sticking together and standing firm are keys to LGBTQ victories in Trump era

The LGBTQ community enjoyed a stunning victory last week when GOP efforts to deny transgender soldiers their necessary medical care lost in a close vote. And like every victory against those who would deny us our right to equality, this particular one demonstrates a path to the LGBTQ community should follow if we want to make such victories the normality instead of the rarity.

Michelangelo Signorile breaks it down in The Huffington Post:

. . . Since the 2016 election, we’ve heard ad nauseum from a subset of Democratic activists, pundits, and strategists that one reason Trump won is because Democrats are too focused on “identity politics,” or what Columbia University professor Mark Lilla, in a New York Times piece, derogatorily called a “fixation on diversity” and “identity drama.” In an op-ed two weeks ago in the Times, headlined, “Back to the Center, Democrats,” Mark Penn and Andrew Stein warned that Democrats had become “mired” in “transgender bathroom issues,” among other things, ignoring white “working class voters” who “feel abandoned.” It’s the same old mantra, which amounts to a call for pandering to bigotry.  

. . . But what happened this week proved, once again, that that kind of thinking isn’t just offensive; it’s bad political strategy. The Democrats stuck together, standing up for what’s right but also for their base ― which is a diverse and large coalition ― and it was the Republicans who went on the run. In the face of the danger of a rollback not just on rights for queer people but for all minorities under attack in the Trump era, this showed that standing firm, energizing activists in the base and resisting ― rather than pandering and caving in ― is the way to win.

Sorry, Family Research Council & Alliance Defending Freedom, but you are both hate groups. Own it

The Family Research Council is angry about the controversy with Jeff Sessions and has taken to bashing the Southern Poverty Law Center over the hate group designation it and other religious right groups have been given.  It's all a bunch of tripe, but take a look at this last sentence from FRC's whine fest:

After eight years of an all-out war against men and women of faith -- led in part by Obama’s Justice Department -- the attorney general’s willingness to talk openly about issues like religious freedom is refreshing. As ADF and Trump’s DOJ have made clear: “We all condemn manifestations of true hate.” But believing what the Bible says about marriage, sexuality, and gender isn’t hate -- no matter what SPLC’s apologists say.

No matter how many times SPLC has made it clear that it does not give out "hate group" designations because of religious beliefs, the Family Research Council will continuously claim that this is the reason why it is being called a hate group. That in itself is a lie. Let's go over this again, because I love doing it.

SPLC has said:

 . . .  The religious right in America has employed a variety of strategies in its efforts to beat back the increasingly confident LGBT rights movement. One of those has been defamation. Many of its leaders have engaged in the crudest type of name-calling, describing LGBT people as "perverts" with "filthy habits" who seek to snatch the children of straight parents and "convert" them to gay sex. They have disseminated disparaging "facts" about gays that are simply untrue — assertions that are remarkably reminiscent of the way white intellectuals and scientists once wrote about the "bestial" black man and his supposedly threatening sexuality.

SPLC has also said:

Generally, the SPLC’s listings of these groups is based on their propagation of known falsehoods — claims about LGBT people that have been thoroughly discredited by scientific authorities — and repeated, groundless name-calling. Viewing homosexuality as unbiblical does not qualify organizations for listing as hate groups.

'GOP ripping necessary medical care away from transgender soldiers' & other Thur midday news briefs

 

GOP Poised To Strip Medically Necessary Care For Transgender Troops - Seriously, what the hell! This is not the way to treat people fighting for our freedoms. 

 US Rep. Joe Kennedy III slams proposed defense spending bill amendment as 'anti-transgender'- And this is NOT going without a fight 

 A Reminder That Russia Is An Authoritarian State That Terrorizes LGBTQ People - It would seem that a lot of folks are forgetting this lately.

Attorney General Sessions refuses to release transcript of his speech to anti-LGBTQ hate group - Reiterating my post from last night. When the United States Attorney General has a secret meeting with a group behind almost every anti-LGBTQ bill in America and pushing the cause of criminalizing the LGBTQ community worldwide and will NOT release the transcript of his speech to them, we got problems. BIG PROBLEMS.  

Here's What Parental Leave Is Like For LGBT Families - Keep telling these important stories.

Attorney General Sessions refuses to release transcript of his speech to anti-LGBTQ hate group

Attorney General Jeff Sessions

UPDATE - Sessions's speech has been posted and it's not that controversial (for now). Dominic Holden of Buzzfeed breaks it down

From Mediaite:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has a much deserved record of both casual racism and outright attacks on civil rights, but his latest actions reveal he’s hardly concerned about his reputation for bigotry. Sessions opted to speak to members of the Alliance Defending Freedom, identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an “anti-LGBT hate group” in 2016, at an event closed off to reporters on Tuesday night, and now, Sessions is refusing to release his remarks to the group to the public. ABC News reports that the Department of Justice confirmed that Sessions spoke to the group on Tuesday, but didn’t respond to multiple requests for Sessions’ remarks to the group. Instead, the department released transcripts of Sessions’ remarks from speeches made in Dallas and Las Vegas this week. A spokesperson for the Alliance Defending Freedom told ABC News the group was “working through channels” to release his remarks, but did not specify when they would be released, nor did the group comment on the nature of its relationship with Sessions.

According to SPLC:

Founded by some 30 leaders of the Christian Right, the Alliance Defending Freedom is a legal advocacy and training group that specializes in supporting the recriminalization of homosexuality abroad, ending same-sex marriage, and generally making life as difficult as possible for LGBT communities in the U.S. and internationally. Despite its regular defamation of LGBT people, the group has managed to win special advisory status at the United Nations, in the European Union, and with the Organization of American States.

. . . The ADF has several initiatives that help train conservative Christians. These include a variety of programs designed for young lawyers, including the Young Lawyers Academy, which schools new U.S. attorneys and provides opportunities to “engage the culture and join a network of Christian attorneys around the globe,” and the Areté Academy, which “launches highly accomplished university students and recent graduates on a path to future leadership in law, government, business, and public policy.”

The ADF Academy is a training program that purports to equip participants to “effectively advocate for religious liberty, the sanctity of life, and marriage and family.” The ADF claims more than 1,800 lawyers have participated. The organization also offers the secretive Blackstone Legal Fellowship, through which Christian law students study under prominent scholars, participate in internships, and prepare for life and leadership in the legal profession. Since 2000 (the year of Blackstone’s inception), the ADF claims it has trained over 1,600 law students from 225 law schools in 21 different countries.

Media Matters pointed out how ADF uses these resources to create a homophobic octopus whose tentacles stretch not only across America, but several foreign countries

'Emerging alliance between Putin, American religious right very troubling' & other Wed midday news briefs

Franklin Graham vocally supported Putin's persecution of Russia's LGBTQ community.

The emerging alliance between Putin and Trump’s God squad - Though not as nefarious as what Trump and his cohorts may have done, but just as unprincipled and deadly to the interests of LGBTQs worldwide. I wish this was a conspiracy theory, but it's not. Putin created an image of himself being the protector of values and morality and the American religious right have been steadily and willfully falling for this lie .

July 12th: Join the Internet-Wide Day of Action to save Net Neutrality - Via GLAAD, an important post on how changes in net neutrality could harm those of us in the digital media who seek to empower and educate the LGBTQ community. Another thing to call Trump out for.

Hate Group Leader: "I’m a Pediatrician. How Transgender Ideology ..." - SWEET take down of religious right junk scientist.  

 Gay man wins Supreme Court case on equal pension rights - It may have happened it Britain but any victory anywhere for our community is a victory worth celebrating.  

Why We Need Trans Actors Playing Everyday Roles - Yes we do. Point blank. 

 This Couple Want To Prove You Can Be Gay And Muslim With Their Wedding - Mad props and many happy wishes to this couple.

 19 Things Asexual People Need You To Understand About Asexuality - This is fascinating and very educational. I got a lot of stuff wrong.