Tuesday, April 24, 2018

(once again for the folks in the back) Your Religious Liberty Doesn’t Give You The Right To Steal My Gay Tax Dollars


Editor's note - I'm reposting this again because it's not being said loud enough and it's not being said by more people.

If your religion says you can’t accept me, that should include all of me, especially my tax dollars.

With Trump in the White House, religious right groups such as the Family Research Council and figures like Franklin Graham and Fox News personality Todd Starnes are eager to get certain goals accomplished.

High on their list is a dehumanization of the lgbt community under the seemingly innocent courtesy of “religious liberty,” or allowing entities and people to discriminate against queers under the guise of “personally held religious beliefs.” It’s been a goal they have been working on for a long time and with Trump as president, they hope to reap benefits for all of the stories and hype they have spun about bakeries and florists “forced” to accept money from queer customers for their services, government employees like Kim Davis “forced” to do their jobs, and religious groups such as Catholic Charities with its adoption services which are “forced” to say no to government money because they refuse to not discriminate against lgbts.

They imply that it’s all about preserving the integrity of the “faith” of groups and people supposedly targeted by lgbts with a huge phone book, an obscene amount of Facebook friends, a pipeline to a secret worldwide organization not unlike the one James Bond has fought against, and long list of IOUs to cash in for being denied the right to supposedly “flaunt” their lifestyle or “pervert” marriage all of these years.

Okay, I am exaggerating a little bit, but the gist of what I said is true. And so is my next statement. Like so many times before, the entire truth about “religious liberty” is a world of difference from what is fed to us by the religious right. Unfortunately, the terms of this debate are usually dictated by them because they appear to have the loudest megaphone and the most access to the media, even if what they say isn’t necessarily true.

'Trump's anti-gay pick Pompeo set to be Secretary of State' & other Tue midday news briefs

Mike Pompeo

The Senate is set to approve an anti-LGBTQ Secretary of State. People could die if they do. - Barring any fortunate change, Mr. "homosexuality is a perversion" Mike Pompeo will probably be Secretary of State. The only thing we can do is raise hell when he crosses up against the community, collect the receipts, and create a betting poll as to how long will he last before Trump fires him.

Gay teacher suffered harassment at his New Jersey school for being a foster parent: lawsuit - (In my best imitation of Eddie Murphy acting like someone telling her friend to sue for alimony after the divorce) - "That's right honey! Get as much as you can! Get it all! You deserve it! Take all of their money!" 

Religious right says CA legislation will outlaw the Bible, but didn't they claim the same thing about hate crimes legislation? - Reposting this from last night because why not.

Trans youth more likely to suffer from mental health issues - Because they constantly have to deal with transphobic nonsense and jerks. Those of us who are allies need to do more to let them know they are loved and perfect.

White House won’t comment on HHS proposal to nix rule for trans health - Stuff like this creates situations in the above news brief and it's not by happenstance. 

  Montevallo, Alabama OKs LGBT Protections - Things are not all bad. Again places in the Southern states prove stereotypes about the South wrong.