'Michigan's so-called 'religious freedom' bill dies in Senate' & other Friday midday news briefs

Good news from Michigan:

Michigan House and Senate adjourned without final passage of license to discriminate bills! #MiLeg #MiStareDown pic.twitter.com/uLjb1345rc
— Equality Michigan (@Equality_MI) December 19, 2014

 
Transgender Student Files Federal Complaint Against School District For Banning Him From The Boys Restroom - If anything, this case points out the hysterical lunacy our transgender brothers and sisters face everyday. There wasn't a problem with him using the boys restroom until anti-gay groups got parents spooked.

Bigotry doesn’t pay: North Carolina anti-gay group $15,000 in debt - Oh the poor babies (extreme sarcasm alert).

 Anti-gay orgs continue to offend children of single parents, gay parents, more - Children DESERVE a family who will give them love and support and that does not come solely from the one man/one woman dynamic.

Richmond's Gay Community Strikes Back With 'We Are All Born To Love' Billboard - Now that the 'ex-gay' billboard has backfired spectacularly, let's throw some real love in the situation.

Good news for transgender community has anti-gay group spinning fear about children and churches

Excellent news for the transgender community. According to the Huffington Post:

The Justice Department will now interpret the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as protecting transgender government employees from discrimination, Attorney General Eric Holder announced Thursday.

In a memo, Holder wrote that the "best reading of Title VII's prohibition of sex discrimination is that it encompasses discrimination based on gender identity, including transgender status." Holder said that while Congress "may not have had such claims in mind when it enacted Title VII, the Supreme Court has made clear that Title VII must be interpreted according to its plain text."

In a statement, Holder called the move an “important shift" that "will ensure that the protections of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 are extended to those who suffer discrimination based on gender identity, including transgender status."

And leave it to the Family Research Council to distort Holder's statement and spin a little fear into the situation:

FRC Senior Fellow for Policy Studies Peter Sprigg released the following statement:
"Parents are deeply concerned that giving a special status to transgender persons will lead to troubling situations for their children, and religious leaders are left unsure how this arbitrary new rule will affect hiring within their ministries.  This is another example of the Obama administration circumventing the role of Congress in imposing its own radical re-interpretation of the law.  It seems safe to assert that not a single member of Congress in 1964 would have believed that they were granting special rights to people who want to reject or change their biological sex.

In other words:

Granted, the graphic above is by the Traditional Values Coalition but FRC is saying pretty much the same thing, albeit in muted terms.

It's still a vicious lie and an ugly stereotype.