Forget 'Roseanne.' Let's talk about 'Frasier'

I don't know about y'all but I've had my fill of Roseanne and her now-canceled sitcom. She makes it difficult to remember that not all sitcoms are negatively controversial. Some, in fact, are very funny without being preachy or losing their comedic integrity.

 Take Frasier for example.

My friend Matt Baume has created a video focusing on an episode of the sitcom, "The Matchmaker," which features a gay theme:

 It wasn’t easy to put gay characters on TV in the 1990s. But one show managed to be gayer than pretty much any other mainstream sitcom of the time. Frasier had two huge advantages when it came to LGBT inclusion: first, a ton of gay people worked on it, from the cast to the writers to directors. And second, its comedy hinges on misunderstandings, farce, and unspoken social taboos -- and unspoken taboos just so happen to be something queer people know a thing or two about. 

 What's really interesting about Frasier in general is not only the two openly gay cast members who worked on the show, David Hyde Pierce and Dan Butler, but also the fact that the actor portraying Frasier - Kelsey Grammar - is a conservative Republican.

 Definitely from another time and universe when compared to the bunch present nowadays.

'Hate group Alliance Defending Freedom pushes skilled propaganda in video' & other Tue midday news briefs

Chinese general Sun Tzu once said you must know your enemy. In that spirit, I present a video from the hate group the Alliance Defending Freedom. The video features Washington State florist Barronelle Stutzman. Hers is not the case in front of the Supreme Court right now, but the video bears watching so it can show how skilled ADF is in making anti-LGBTQ discrimination sound reasonable and not as far reaching at it truly is.  A key thing to think about - ADF and Stutzman claims the gay  couple could have easily gone somewhere else, but as you can read via another article in these news briefs, ADF is steadily working to eliminate the "somewhere elses" that LGBTQ people can go to when it come to many businesses besides florists.(BTW the "dislikes" of the video is far ahead of the "likes." Feel free to add your opinion.)

Washington Supreme Court rules against florist who discriminated against same-sex couple - And by the way, here is the true and complete story of Stutzman.

Six key takeaways from The Nation's investigative report on Alliance Defending Freedom’s “legal army” - AND most importantly, let's talk about the Alliance Defending Freedom, the group propping Stutzman up, by way of summarizing a special report of its "activities" against the LGBTQ community.

 Turning Away Gay Homebuyers Isn’t Religious Liberty, It’s Discrimination - And this right here is why we must not be tricked by the narrative ADF is pushing. Last week, California Republican Dana Rohrabacher said homeowners should be allowed to turn away potential LGBTQ buyers. Michelangelo Signorile spells out what's dangerous about this and how it connects to Stutzman and the baker's case which will soon be decided by SCOTUS: 

 Last year a federal judge, in a first, ruled that LGBTQ people are in fact protected under the FHA. But if the Supreme Court rules that a baker may turn away a gay couple seeking a wedding cake ― and that seemed to be a very real possibility during oral arguments last fall ― all bets are off as to how the court might rule in other areas.  

 That’s because the arguments in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case center on the baker’s “religious liberty,” something that Justice Neil Gorsuch broadly views as allowing for discrimination ― and which the Supreme Court previously allowed for in the Hobby Lobby decision. That ruling allows employers to opt out of offering contraception to women in their health care plans based on corporate owners’ religious beliefs. 

  But if “religious liberty” is reason for a baker who’s open to the general public to say he can’t make a wedding cake for a gay couple, why should it be any different for a landlord or a home seller or a bank, all serving the general public? If religious liberty is paramount, then, as Rohrabacher said, a homeowner “shouldn’t be required to be in business with someone they think is doing something that is immoral.” Rohrabacher’s comments expose the slippery slope the Supreme Court might put us on. They also underscore how deeply rooted bigotry against LGBTQ people is, and how religion is used to exempt it.

Gay, black and HIV positive: America's hidden epidemic – video - Sad but necessary video.

In Poland, a Nation of Catholics, a Gay Atheist Mayor is a Presidential Hopeful - I'll believe it when I see it.