Sunday, March 31, 2019

Six gay minutes with Waylon Smithers of 'The Simpsons'

Again, let's ease into the week with a little comedy and frivolity. How much has Waylon Smithers' sexual orientation has been used a comedic device on The Simpsons over the years? This much. It's interesting to gauge the trajectory of LGBTQ visibility by this one character.



Thursday, March 28, 2019

Anti-LGBTQ activist claims Jussie Smollett was freed to protect 'three pillars of liberalism'



According to anti-LGBTQ activist Peter LaBarbera (first picture), Jussie Smollett (second picture) was able to walk away from charges of allegedly staging a hate crime to protect the 'three pillars of liberalism.'

Perennial anti-LGBTQ activist and all-around laughing stock 'Porno' Pete LaBarbera claims to know why actor Jussie Smollett was able to walk away free from charges that he allegedly staged a hate crime.

According to LaBarbera, Smollett being gay had a lot to do with it:

One pro-family activist who works to expose the truth about homosexuality says he is not happy with the decision of prosecutors to drop all charges against openly gay Smollett. 
. . . Americans for Truth about Homosexuality Founder and President Peter LaBarbera argues that liberalism has encouraged people like Smollett to act like victims in fake hate crimes. 
"Liberals have deified homosexuality,” the pro-family leader asserted. “Liberals have decided that homosexuality –[which is] a sexual perversion [and] immoral behavior – a sin in the eyes of God -- is almost sacred." 
The Christian leader also noted that homosexuality is one of the three pillars of liberalism today – along with support of abortion and illegal immigration. 
"And so, because liberals have celebrated homosexuality to such a degree, they've helped these gay activists to feel like, “Oh, wow, I'm a victim, and the right is so hateful,” and they make up this whole mindset,” the outspoken conservative continued. “And then, sometimes, things can go off the deep end – like Jesse Smollett – and they act on it."

Yes, I confess that Peter LaBarbera is correct. And I would know because I was chairman of the committee to get Smollett freed. And I was very angry that I had to take time away from my crucial work of "recruiting" Christians into homosexuality and imprisoning children to hinder them from practicing their faith. Or something like. that.

But this was supposed to be secret. Who spilled the beans to LaBarbera? Why can't any of you queens keep your mouths shut?

Unrelated post, but still check it out while you're here - What's wrong with anti-LGBTQ 'religious freedom' laws? It's rather simple to explain.;


'Apple, Google, Facebook stand against TX anti-LGBTQ bills' & other Thur midday news briefs

Wednesday, March 27, 2019

What's wrong with anti-LGBTQ 'religious freedom' laws? It's rather simple to explain.


One thing about these so-called religious freedom bills popping up is how their supporters attempt to make them sound reasonable when they aren't.

This is how the fake news source, One News Now, described one in Texas:

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-Texas) is pressing forward with a new bill that would protect the religious rights of Texans when threatened by LGBTQ activists seeking privileges in the name of “civil rights,” inclusion, and so-called “nondiscrimination.”  . . . “The bill would allow state license holders like lawyers, health care professionals and counselors to serve clients based on their religious beliefs without any adverse actions from licensing boards,” CBN News reported. 

It sounds justified except for when one gets past the rhetorical nonsense. And there is a simple way to do this. Substitute other racial and ethnic groups for the phrase "LGBTQ activists."

1.Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-Texas) is pressing forward with a new bill that would protect the religious rights of Texans when threatened by African-Americans seeking privileges in the name of “civil rights,” inclusion, and so-called “nondiscrimination.”  . . . “The bill would allow state license holders like lawyers, health care professionals and counselors to serve clients based on their religious beliefs without any adverse actions from licensing boards,” CBN News reported.  

2. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-Texas) is pressing forward with a new bill that would protect the religious rights of Texans when threatened by people of the Jewish faith seeking privileges in the name of “civil rights,” inclusion, and so-called “nondiscrimination.”  . . . “The bill would allow state license holders like lawyers, health care professionals and counselors to serve clients based on their religious beliefs without any adverse actions from licensing boards,” CBN News reported.  

3. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-Texas) is pressing forward with a new bill that would protect the religious rights of Texans when threatened by interracial couples seeking privileges in the name of “civil rights,” inclusion, and so-called “nondiscrimination.”  . . . “The bill would allow state license holders like lawyers, health care professionals and counselors to serve clients based on their religious beliefs without any adverse actions from licensing boards,” CBN News reported.  

4. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-Texas) is pressing forward with a new bill that would protect the religious rights of Texans when threatened by Muslims seeking privileges in the name of “civil rights,” inclusion, and so-called “nondiscrimination.”  . . . “The bill would allow state license holders like lawyers, health care professionals and counselors to serve clients based on their religious beliefs without any adverse actions from licensing boards,” CBN News reported. 

 If it bothers you when other groups are substituted for "LGBTQ activists," then shouldn't it bother you that "LGBTQ activists" (which is anti-LGBT industry code phrasing for LGBTQ people in general) are the prime group targeted by these bills in the first place?

Claiming that these laws merely protect people's "rights" to serve clients based on their religious beliefs without any adverse actions  is a clever deception which doesn't answer a key question. What if  a person's religious beliefs dictate that African-Americans are inferior? Or that interracial couples are sinful? Or that Muslims or Jewish people shouldn't be treated the same as Christians? Or vice versa?

It's not by accident that the supporters of these "religious freedom" bills tend to avoid these questions.


Related postTexas Republicans advance a bill that would allow doctors to refuse LGBTQ patients

'TX bill would allow doctors to refuse LGBTQ patients' & other Wed midday news briefs


Texas Republicans advance a bill that would allow doctors to refuse LGBTQ patients - Part of me is a bit fatalistic. People need to understand just how dangerous these bills are.

Charges dropped against Jussie Smollett, attorneys say - THIS happened yesterday, which you all know, and everyone has been flipping.

Right-Wing Media Melts Down After Charges Dropped Against Jussie Smollett - I haven't seen this many pissed off folks on the right since Obama got re-elected. 

Transgender Teen Wins Gender-Neutral Prom Title After Being Told He Can’t Run For King - Boom!

Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Federal court removes final barrier to Trump's ban on transgender military troops


Yes it sucks and is no way to treat our fighting men and women. You want to change it? Then it's going to have to be done the hard way. Work to change the administration pushing this mess.

From The Washington Blade:

A federal appeals court has issued a mandate confirming its order to allow enforcement of President Trump’s transgender military ban, clearing the way for the administration to implement the policy. 
A three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the mandate Tuesday after a trial judge, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, affirmed her injunction against the Trump policy was still in effect and the administration was “incorrect” in moving forward with plans to initiate it April 12. 
. . . No transgender person is expected to be expelled from the U.S. military as a result of the implementation of the ban. The policy contains an exemption that allows transgender service members who are already out to continue to serve and receive transition-related health care. 
However, as a result of the policy, individuals who have sought to obtain transition-related care or been diagnosed with gender dysphoria will not be able to enlist in the armed forces. Moreover, service members not included in the exemption who are later diagnosed with gender dysphoria or seek transition-related care will be discharged.
Even though the target date for implementation of the ban is still weeks away and on its face the policy doesn’t impact transgender people currently in service, Minter said troops are already feeling its impact. 
“We are concerned by the serious harms that the imminent enforcement of the Mattis ban is already causing, both to the military and to transgender service members, many of whom are now scrambling to come out and initiate a gender transition before the April 12 deadline in order to be included in the so-called ‘grandfather’ provision,” Minter said. “The government’s plan is already wreaking havoc in the lives of dedicated transgender troops who must now face the grim choice of suppressing their identity or leaving military service, to the detriment of their fellow service members and national security.”

And I'm willing to bet that as cold hearted as those jerks are who pushed this ban, they are probably working to undermine the exemption conditions. Like I said, fight like hell to change this mess.

Related posts:

Trump’s ban on transgender troops, explained 

Hate group Family Research Council awards Congresswoman who waged war against transgender troops 

Family Research Council exposes own lie about cost worries in latest attack on trans soldiers

'Gay, transgender detainees allege abuse at ICE facility' & other Tue midday news briefs


Gay, transgender detainees allege abuse at ICE facility - This is a huge, folks. Abuse of immigrants is an LGBTQ issue.

Pete Buttigieg surges to 3rd place in Iowa polling - Openly gay presidential candidate Pet Buttigieg is getting popular. I hope he gets so popular that the religious right mounts a homophobic counter offense against him. After their defense of Trump, the notices calling out their hypocrisy would be epic.

Meet The 11-Year-Old Who Wants To Be America’s First Lesbian President - LGBTQ youth being empowered is awesome. 

 Home For LGBTQ Youth To Open In Indianapolis This Summer - Speaking of our kids.

Monday, March 25, 2019

Colorado passes bill banning use of 'ex-gay' therapy on minors


Colorado just proved why it matters that the LGBTQ community get engaged and grab our seat at the political table. This bill just passed and WILL BE signed by an openly gay governor:

Colorado is poised to become the 16th state to ban the use of conversion therapy on minors. 
On Monday, the state Senate passed House Bill 1129, which prohibits state-licensed mental health professionals from subjecting anyone under age 18 to the discredited practice, designed to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. 
The House of Representatives first passed the bill February 19, and it now goes back to that chamber for approval of some language slightly amended by the Senate. Then it goes to Gov. Jared Polis, the first out gay man to be elected governor of any state.

Polis previously pledged that he would ban the practice if elected governor and is now expected to sign.

This was the fifth consecutive year that backers of the ban tried to pass it, but they were always blocked by the Senate’s Republican leadership. Democrats captured a Senate majority in the 2018 election, though, clearing the way for the legislation’s approval.

More at The Advocate

'TX airport bans Chick-Fil-A for its support of anti-LGBTQ causes' & other Mon midday news briefs

Sunday, March 24, 2019

11 gay minutes with Rami Malek


After a weekend like this, i.e. the Mueller report and the coming fight, everyone, including the LGBTQ communit,y needs all of the frivolity and silliness we can get. Hopefully this blog post will help.

Before he was an Emmy and Oscar award winning actor, Freddie Mercury portrayer Rami Malek was a young struggling actor. And at the time, his most prominent gig was 'The War At Home,' a Fox Network comedy which ran from 2005 to 2007. Malek was the secretly gay best friend of one of the protagonists. His in-the-closet, but obvious to the audience, stereotypically comedic portrayal of a  gay teen was featured prominently in the television series:

Thursday, March 21, 2019

Family Research Council brought anti-LGBTQ junk science & phony experts on Capitol Hill to lobby against Equality Act


When facts and experts don't match up to the anti-LGBTQ beliefs of  activists like Tony Perkins (first picture) and groups like the Family Research Council, they create "alternative facts" and phony experts such as Michelle Cretella (second picture) to channel their beliefs and ideas. And then count on the conservative media industry to amplify these "alternative facts" and phony experts while simultaneously drowning out true facts and experts.

From Media Matters:
Extreme anti-LGBTQ group the Family Research Council (FRC) brought American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) Executive Director Michelle Cretella and ex-trans activist Walt Heyer to meet with members of Congress to advocate against the Equality Act within a day of the bill’s introduction on March 13. The bill would add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to existing civil rights nondiscrimination protections. 
Extreme anti-LGBTQ groups and right-wing media have regularly and inaccurately portrayed ACPeds as a legitimate medical organization to add a veneer of credibility to the broader anti-trans agenda, even though the group is a small, right-wing organization that traffics in extreme anti-LGBTQ animus. 
While there is limited information available on the substance of these congressional meetings, FRC’s public discussions with Cretella and Heyer around the time of the meetings pushed the debunked myth that trans-inclusive policies threaten the safety of women and girls and promoted an unvalidated hypothesis that transgender youth are coming out as a fad.

Former 'ex-gay' therapists speak out against the fraudulent therapy' & other Thur midday news briefs


Meet the Conversion Therapists Who Turned Against Conversion Therapy - Wonderful! The steady attempt to destroy that bit of fraudulent therapy is working.

Nevada Considers Banning ‘Gay Panic’ Defense - Good for Nevada. The idea that you get so scared of someone hitting on you so much that you feel compelled to do them harm is ridiculous. Think of how many heterosexual men would be dead. 

State Department disputes HRC claim US refused to sign Chechnya statement - I am not buying it.

Companies supporting the Equality Act have given more than $750,000 to its biggest Senate obstacles - This is interesting. And not in a good way.

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Even Trump's gay ambassador Richard Grenell is a 'failure.' German politicians want expelled him from the country.

Richard Grenell has been a disaster as Trump's ambassador to Germany.

It would seem that almost anyone associated with Trump becomes a disaster. Even a member of the LGBTQ community.

From LGBTQNation:

Donald Trump’s ambassador to Germany has been a complete “failure” according to German politicians who want to expel the gay diplomat from the country. Wolfgang Kubicki, deputy chairman of the opposition Free Democrats (FDP), has called on Foreign Minister Heiko Maas to revoke Grennell’s credentials and boot him out of the country. Kubicki decried Grennell’s repeated interferences in German sovereignty by inserting himself into internal political affairs. “Any US diplomat who acts like a high commissioner of an occupying power must learn that our tolerance also knows its limits,” Kubicki said.

. . . Carsten Schneider, caucus manager of the Social Democrats (SPD), echoed Kubicki’s comments, telling reporters “Mr Grenell is a complete diplomatic failure.” “Mr Grenell damages trans-Atlantic relations with his repeated clumsy provocations,” he added. Chancellor Angela Merkel deliberately avoids him. She hasn’t received him in Berlin, despite being in close contact with Grennell’s predecessor, former Ambassador and now-New Jersey governor, Phil Murphy.

Grenell wasn't popular to begin with. One would think he would have worked to dispel negative notions of himself. Not prove them to be accurate. By the way, Grenell was the same official who was spearheading the supposed Trump Administration initiative to decriminalize homosexuality across the globe.

The same initiative Trump seemed to know nothing about

'Trump stands with leader who once said he would rather have his son be dead than gay' & other Wed midday news briefs


Trump and Bolsonaro praise one another for discriminatory policies - simple mess. The leader of the free world standing with this man. Trash loves trash

More about Brazilian president Bolsonaro: President Trump Normalizes Dangerous Anti-LGBTQ Record of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro 

Hate groups have come unhinged over the Equality Act. You won’t believe what they’re saying. - Nothing they haven't said before. We should keep inventory for future reference. 

Booker pledges to reverse trans military ban ‘right away’ if elected president - Good for him! I hope the other Democratic candidates for president agree. 

More than 100 religious leaders in Tennessee take a stand against slate of anti-LGBT legislation - Stuff you hardly hear about because the religious right has bogarted the debate about religion and the LGBTQ community.

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Family Research Council calls SPLC out for hypocrisy but forgets its own PR problems

It is no secret that the Family Research Council despises the Southern Poverty Law Center.  In 2010, SPLC designated FRC as a hate group because of its long history of denigrating the LGBTQ community via lies and smears. Since that time, FRC have been steadily attempting to undermine the group. I guess FRC figures this to be easier than proving SPLC wrong.

Recently and unfortunately, SPLC had to dismiss one of its founder Morris Dees over allegations of racism and sexual misconduct.

And FRC is crowing about it:

For as much money as Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has, they could certainly do better in the crisis PR department. A week after the organization's stunning announcement that founder Morris Dees had been fired for allegations of racism and sexual misconduct, the group's only move has been setting out to prove detractors right. Instead of seizing the moment for some honest soul-searching, SPLC decided to show once again how unapologetically partisan it is. 
 . . . Like so many of us who know the real SPLC, Rich Lowry of NRO couldn't believe the group could write that with a straight face. "The missive is touching in its assumption that the SPLC still has moral authority or integrity. The scandal is, nonetheless, a remarkable comeuppance for an organization that has weaponized political correctness for its own money-grubbing."


It's rather appropriate that the one finger FRC is using to point at SPLC sends three back against it. Let's talk about scandal and PR when it comes to FRC.

In 2008, FRC spokesperson Peter Sprigg caused controversy by saying that gays should be exported out of the United States.

 

FRC issued an apology but as far as it was known, did not take any action against Sprigg.

In 2011, FRC tangled and lost with GLSEN.  GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network) issued a cease-and-desist letter against the Family Research Council demanding that the organization remove video falsely accusing GLSEN of distributing an explicit safe-sex guide to children. FRC subsequently changed the video, tacitly admitting that it was pushing a falsehood against GLSEN. FRC, however, did not apologize.

Judge rules Trump's ban on transgender military troops cannot take effect as of yet


Guess what? Trump's ban on transgender men and women serving in the military, which the Pentagon says will not be a ban, may not as of yet be implemented, thanks to a recent ruling.

From Dominic Holden at Buzzfeed:

The Trump administration was wrong to claim last week it could begin to implement a ban on transgender troops, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said in a decision issued Tuesday that rebuked officials for insisting a court order blocking the ban since 2017 had been lifted. 
“Defendants were incorrect in claiming that there was no longer an impediment,” says Kollar-Kotelly’s notice in US District Court in Washington, DC. “Defendants remain bound by this Court’s preliminary injunction to maintain the status quo.”

What does this mean? We will see:

 Still, it wasn’t immediately clear if Kollar-Kotelly’s decision would change a timeline to implement the ban, which the Pentagon said will take effect on April 12, due to pending action from an appeals court. 
The underlying legal situation is complicated. The case is one of four in which judges issued nationwide injunctions that blocked the policy from being implemented. Courts had lifted three of the injunctions while all of the legal challenges continue — though the status of this fourth injunction in the DC court was disputed. The Justice Department argued that when the DC Court of Appeals vacated the injunction in January, it ceased to exist and the Pentagon was free to instate a ban. LGBT advocacy lawyers countered that the appellate court still hadn’t issued a mandate to lift the injunction, because a series of procedural steps had to first be undertaken while the plaintiffs decide to request a rehearing. 
The Trump administration issued its memo to set up the ban anyway. That led to Tuesday’s decision from Kollar-Kotelly.

The entire article is worth a read. 

'Stories across the country prove why the Equality Act is needed' & other Tue midday news briefs

Monday, March 18, 2019

The anti-LGBTQ industry was wrong about marriage equality. Don't believe them about the Equality Act

Remember how the anti-LGBTQ industry claimed that marriage equality would wreck society? They were wrong then, so why should we believe their predictions of doom about the Equality Act?

With the Equality Act being pushed by Democrats in Congress, the anti-LGBTQ industry and its allies are already spinning dire predictions of its consequences (cue up the lies about transgender predators and so-called Christian businesses being driven out of business). But I think it's not necessarily a bad thing that they are doing this. We've come to expect their portents of doom.

And should take this opportunity to remind everyone about their past portents of doom concerning other LGBTQ issues, such as marriage equality. Last year, journalist Parker Malloy pointed out eight predictions the religious right made about what would happen if marriage equality became legal.  And all eight predictions turned out to be wrong Here are two:

"Marriage equality will lead to legal bestiality." 
This was a really common argument made by anti-equality pundits, politicians, and religious leaders leading up to and after the Supreme Court's decision. 
"Watch what happens," warned Pat Robertson during a July 2015 episode of "The 700 Club." "Love affairs between men and animals are going to be absolutely permitted." 
Appearing on "The Glenn Beck Show," Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) mused over a similar question. "If we have no laws on this, people take it to one extension further — does it have to be humans? You know?" Oh, we know, senator. 
Verdict: FALSE.

'Poll - majority of evangelicals support laws protecting LGBTQ community from discrimination' & other Mon midday news briefs


A majority of evangelicals now support laws protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination - Even though right-wing evangelicals grab all of the attention they are not the majority. And this goes to prove it.

Equality Act Faces Lack Of GOP Support Upon Being Reintroduced In Congress - No shit. But it has the religious right running scared. 

Trump’s HIV proposal may be slowed by states that refused to expand Medicaid - Figures. 

WNBA stars respond to homophobic SNL skit - I agree. The SNL skit was tiresome and boring.

Sunday, March 17, 2019

'Family Guy' and gay Stewie - how did the religious right miss THAT?

As I do on this blog from time to time, let's ease into the week by talking about something completely frivolous.







  On the risk of starting some stupid argument about "political correctness" (which will be full of people throwing around the term without  any nuance of what it actually means), I hear that the show 'Family Guy' will be phasing out gay jokes. And this is a good thing because the show was awful to the LGBTQ community.

Still, I am amazed about how the character of Stewie Griffin practically got away with being portrayed as gay. Granted, I suppose it is better than his original characterization - an insane megalomaniac genius who wanted to murder his mother and take over the world - but still with all of the whining religious right groups and figures such as Franklin Graham and the American Family Association does, it amazes me that they didn't scream bloody murder about the above clips.

Thursday, March 14, 2019

'Christian' Trump supporters spew nasty rage at presidential candidate who called out Mike Pence's hypocrisy

Sunday night, openly gay presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg called out the hypocrisy of VP Mike Pence. Buttigieg called Pence a "cheerleader of  the pornstar presidency" because Pence's reputation of being an evangelical Christian conflicts with Trump's less-than Christian attitude and exploits.



Buttigieg's comments got a lot of attention, but not all of it was positive. Readers of the religious right "news source" One News Now (courtesy of hate group the American Family Association) abandoned all pretenses of  a Christian attitude as they defended Pence by viciously attacking Buttgieg. I don't know what was more interesting - the way some of them sidestepped Buttigieg's point, or how some of them went right at connecting his name with anal sex.

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Conservatives throwing all of the usual anti-LGBTQ tropes at The Equality Act

On Wednesday, the Democrats unveiled The Equality Act, legislation which would ensure LGBTQ equality and safety on a multitude of levels by amending existing civil rights law to include our community. As of now, The Equality Act, is enjoying diverse popularity. But, according to The Advocate, conservatives and others in the anti-LBTQ industry have opened the floodgates of fear and lies in hopes of scaring people against it

The Equality Act “would undermine women’s equality and force women and girls to share private, intimate spaces with men who identify as female, in addition to denying women fair competition in sports,” said a statement released by Kristen Waggoner, senior vice president of the Alliance Defending Freedom’s U.S. legal division. “Like similar state and local laws, it would force Americans to participate in events and speak messages that violate their core beliefs.” 
 . . . Terry Schilling, executive director of American Principles Project, appealed to transphobia in his statement on the bill. “Forcing young girls to shower with men. Telling abused women they have to room with men in battered women’s shelters. Allowing men to compete against — and typically beat — women in women’s sporting events. This is what ‘equality’ looks like as defined by the radical Left. This is what ‘equality’ would look like under the so-called ‘Equality’ Act,” he said.  “The reality is that this bill isn’t about equality — it’s about enshrining supremacy into the law for one ideology over another,” he continued. “And the result will be the widespread erasure of women, prohibition of dissent, and sexualization of children.”
 . . . There’s no word yet from some of the biggest names in anti-LGBTQ activism, such as Family Research Council president Tony Perkins. However, the FRC did tweet a link to an article published online Monday by the Gospel Coalition, an association of churches in the Christian Reformed faith, in anticipation of the Equality Act’s introduction. The article, authored by Andrew T. Walker, contended that the bill “represents the most invasive threat to religious liberty ever proposed in America.” It “would forever cement the legitimacy of sexual-revolution ethics into federal law,” “accelerate the number of conflicts pitting Christians against their conscience,” and “accelerate the pace of anti-Christian bias in society.”

That's always the key with these groups - grab a narrative of fear and continuously repeating it, drowning out the truth and reasonable debate.

Ohio high schooler suspended for trying to 'heal' LGBTQ students with Bible verses & other Wed midday news briefs


Christians outraged after Ohio high schooler suspended for trying to ‘heal’ gay students with Bible verses - So apparently religious liberty entails harassing your fellow LGBTQ students? I don't think so. BTW, the word 'Christians' should be in parenthesis. Not as a grammatical correction, but a situational one.

Donald Trump is fighting HIV by cutting funding for global AIDS initiatives - The latest thing he is being two-faced about.

DeVos opens door to taxpayers funding religious orgs by stopping enforcement of church-state separation rule - Lovely. Who will it bite in the butt first. The LGBTQ community or those pushing it? You know what I'm hoping for.

Meet the Creator of the World's Largest Trans Career Fair - It's sometimes difficult to remember that there is still good going on in the world.

Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Pentagon signs directive to push Trump's transgender military ban

You do not treat soldiers the way the Trump Administration has treated our transgender troops

The Trump Administration just announced the new guidelines to ban transgender men and women from serving in the military. The Pentagon claims that this is not a ban. Whatever it is labeled, this is still some mess and not the way to treat people who fight for your freedoms.

The Pentagon announced Tuesday night that a directive has been signed to implement President Trump's policy barring most transgender people from serving in the military.
Under the policy, transgender people would have to serve in the gender they were assigned at birth. Service secretaries would be allowed to grant waivers on a case-by-case basis. The policy will go into effective in 30 days, according to the memo signed by acting Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist. The directive is being issued after a court last week lifted the last of the orders preventing the transgender military policy from taking effect. 
A federal judge in Maryland ruled he had no choice but to lift the injunction after the Supreme Court in February ruled 5-4 to lift two other holds. The Trump administration said it planned to move forward with the policy following the judge's ruling last week. Still, advocates for transgender troops have argued the Pentagon is still constrained by a fourth injunction, pointing to a stipulation in the order that allows for a period of time for the plaintiff to decide whether they want a rehearing in front of the court’s full bench. That 21-day period, though, ends before the memo signed Tuesday says the new policy takes effect. 
 . . . The Pentagon denies the Mattis policy is a ban, but advocates argue it effectively is, comparing it to the defunct “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy for gay, lesbian and bisexual service members.

You can read more here and check out the links below about those who "crafted" and then pushed this hot mess. It is not over by any means:

Don't forget what Mike Pence and the religious right are doing to transgender soldiers

Family Research Council exposes own lie about cost worries in latest attack on trans soldiers

'Trump invites anti-LGBTQ Brazilian president to the White House' & other Tue midday news briefs

Trump send another negative message to the LGBTQ community.

Trump Invites Homophobic Brazilian President to White House - Trump slaps the LGBTQ community in the face again.

South Carolina school rejects 4th grader’s essay supporting LGBTQ rights - Unbelievably homophobic crap from my state, unfortunately. 

The LGBTQ Equality Act heads back to Capitol Hill, this time with massive corporate support - Keep your fingers crossed, although extremely problematic. 

Iowa Supreme Court sides with two trans women fighting for Medicaid coverage - Wonderful news! 

Seth Owen: Gay teen shunned by Florida parents starts college fund for others - Several days old but still a wonderful story.

Monday, March 11, 2019

Family Research Council exposes own lie about cost worries in latest attack on trans soldiers


Don't be fooled. When it comes to Trump's attempt to ban transgender men and women from serving in the military, groups like the Family Research Council will say their support of this ban has to do with caring about costs. But it's actually about bigotry.

It's amazing how FRC continues to push the lie that the amount of money devoted by the military to trans health care is extreme:

Already, as of February 1, the Pentagon has forked over $7,943,906.75 to gender reassignment surgeries, hormones, and psychotherapy. That’s millions of dollars it could have spent equipment, salaries, and training. Instead, we’re blowing through taxpayer dollars so that troubled service members can use the military as their free ticket to elective surgery. Not a penny of that is going to the DOD’s real mission: fighting and winning wars. 
As usual when it spins an anti-LGBTQ narrative, FRC omits certain facts. From PBS News Hour:

According to new data from the Defense Department provided to the House Armed Services Committee ahead of the hearing, the military has spent about $8 million on transgender care since 2016 out of its $50 billion overall health care budget. The Associated Press obtained the data Wednesday.

Sunday, March 10, 2019

Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg calls Mike Pence 'cheerleader for porn star presidency'


Pete Buttigieg 
Openly gay Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg may be a long shot for the White House but at Sunday's CNN Town Hall meeting he nailed a hole-in-one when it comes to calling out the hypocrisy of VP Mike Pence in supporting Donald Trump. It only took him 59 seconds to state what so many Christians should be stating with regards to not only Pence but also other evangelical conservative Christian support of Trump. Like I said, sometimes it takes a gay man to state the obvious. Two snaps up and rewind!

Don't forget what Mike Pence and the religious right are doing to transgender soldiers


With a recent ruling on Trump's ban of transgender troops in the military throwing everything into bizarre chaos (the ban will be implemented sometime unannounced or may be it won't), it's easy to forget that that mess we are presently in is because of Mike Pence's anti-LGBTQ prejudice and those who helped him subvert fairness and accuracy.

But we won't forget. We will never forget and we will bring it up until no one will ever forget it:

From ThinkProgress, March 25, 2018:

Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern reported Friday night that, according to multiple sources, Pence played “a leading role” in creating the report, along with Ryan T. Anderson of the Heritage Foundation, which has been dubbed “Trump’s favorite think tank,” and Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council (FRC), an anti-LGBTQ hate group. Both Heritage and FRC praised the report Friday. According to Stern’s reporting, it was true that Mattis favored allowing transgender military service, but Pence “effectively overruled” him. 
A separate source independently confirmed to ThinkProgress Saturday that Pence was involved, characterizing him as forming his own ad hoc “working group,” including Anderson and Perkins, separate from the panel of experts Mattis had assembled. Though it bears Mattis’ signature, the report released Friday appears to reflect the findings of Pence’s working group and not the committee report that Mattis submitted to Trump last month. Mattis’ original document was not currently publicly available at the time of the recommendation, but it was widely reported that Mattis favored an inclusive approach that resembled what had originally been proposed by Defense Secretary Ash Carter under President Obama in 2016. His February recommendation, also released Friday, jibes with the new report, contradicting reports at the time. 
How exactly Pence overruled Mattis’ recommendation over the past month the source did not know. But his working group’s influence is apparent. In particular, the report features numerous anti-trans talking points that FRC and other anti-LGBTQ groups have used in various campaigns favoring discrimination against transgender people. It also attempts to distort the research on transgender health in ways that directly parallel Anderson’s recently released book, When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment. Anderson likewise argued in his book against supporting trans people in their gender transitions, and the recommendations in the report rely on a strikingly similar framing.

Watchdog site Media Matters had this to say about Pence's "experts" on the same day

Family Research Council has a history of pushing anti-trans misinformation to justify harmful and discriminatory policies. When the transgender military ban was first announced in July 2017, FRC senior fellow Peter Sprigg published a report with the false claim that over the next ten years, allowing transgender people to serve in the military could cost “as much as $1.9 to $3.7 billion,” an estimate significantly higher than those from the Pentagon-commissioned Rand Corp study and research from the Palm Center. In the past, FRC and its representatives have also spread misinformation about transgender-inclusive restrooms, promoted conversion therapy, claimed that LGBTQ youth suicide rates would drop if the teenagers were “discourage[d] from self-identifying as gay, lesbian, or bisexual,” and suggested that being transgender is a “cultural phenomenon.”  
 In July, FRC president Tony Perkins admitted that FRC worked with the White House on the transgender military ban, and in August, Foreign Policy reported that FRC was lobbying Congress to keep the Pentagon from using government funds to “provide medical treatment related to gender transition.”  
 Another of Trump’s “experts,” anti-trans extremist Ryan T. Anderson, has repeatedly used biased and junk science to justify bigotry against the transgender community. In February, he published When Harry Became Sally, an entire book dedicated to discrediting the transgender experience. The book falsely argues that transgender people are mentally ill and would have better outcomes if they did not transition.

Men and women fighting to defend out freedoms don't deserve to have their careers and livelihoods stolen because of other people's bigotry and the lies they tell. The truth will come out and those who have lied will have to defend what they have done.

Related post - Let Us Serve: These Brave Transgender Troops Just Made History in Congress

Thursday, March 07, 2019

Anti-LGBTQ hate group possibly gains foothold in judiciary

Former Alliance Defending Freedom intern Allison Jones Rushing just became a federal judge.  As the chart below shows, the LGBTQ community cannot ignore this group nor what it is attempting to do to the country's judiciary or our equality.



The news that Allison Jones Rushing, a lawyer affiliated with anti-LGBTQ hate group the Alliance Defending Freedom, was just appointed a federal circuit judge should open the door for more scrutiny about the group and its former behind-the-scenes exploits against the LGBTQ community. The following news briefs should be your guide. As some show, Rushing isn't the only lawyer affiliated with ADF invading our courts and federal government. This is not to predict that Rushing would be a biased justice. But based upon who she has chosen to associate herself with in the successful advancement of her career, the LGBTQ community should keep an eye on her and ADF in general:

The extremism of anti-LGBTQ powerhouse Alliance Defending Freedom - This is the definitive guide to the group. From how it worked to criminalize homosexuality, to its advocating sterilizing trans men and women in foreign countries, to its legislative attacks on the LGBTQ community - specifically trans youth, to its false linking of homosexuality and pedophilia. It's all here.

No Gays Allowed - A webpage set up to educate about ADF


ADF and friends: Hate group Alliance Defending Freedom is at the center of an anti-LGBTQ industry 

Alliance Defending Freedom Through The Years

Masterpiece Cakeshop was just the beginning. ADF is pushing several other license-to-discriminate cases through the courts.

These anti-LGBTQ group alumni work in federal agencies that will interpret potential anti-trans definition of gender

Here are 300 of extreme anti-LGBTQ group Alliance Defending Freedom's reported 3,300 allied attorneys

We stop ADF by making it and its exploits public. Groups like the Alliance Defending Freedom operate expertly in the shadows. They don't like spotlight. So we should give them as much spotlight as we can.


'Pentagon accused of deceiving Congress to justify Trump's trans military ban' & other Thur midday news briefs


Former military chiefs accuse Pentagon of deceiving Congress about transgender troops -
The former military leaders say Department of Defense officials ignored internal data to make the claim that medical treatment for trans troops keeps them out of service for longer than other personnel. “In seeking to justify President Trump’s wrong-headed ban on transgender service members at a congressional hearing last week, Defense Department officials made misleading claims,” Deborah Lee James, Ray Mabus and Eric Fanning, who ran the Air Force, Navy, and Army respectively, said in a statement.

‘Religious freedom’ arguments kill Nebraska’s LGBTQ employment protections bill - Religion used as a weapon to justify discrimination.

LGBTQ conversion therapy bill is dead in the Utah State Legislature - Well shit. 

New U of L Scholarship Will Serve Catholic LGBTQ Students - Some good news to end the day.

Wednesday, March 06, 2019

Randy Rainbow puts explanation point on failure of Trump's North Korea Summit



It's basically agreed all around that Trump's latest attempt at a Nobel Peace Prize  . . . I mean his latest summit meeting with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un was a huge failure.  However, let's leave it to Randy Rainbow to put an explanation point on it. Sometimes, "it simply takes a queen."


'Lawyer affiliated with anti-LGBTQ hate group becomes federal court judge' & other Wed midday news briefs

Allison Jones Rushing just became a federal judge. 

Republicans are about to make a hate group’s lawyer a federal appeals court judge - Makes the job of attaining our equality difficult, but not impossible. The thing we can do now is tell folks and make the noise.

The Senate confirms Allison Rushing, a judicial nominee who once interned for a hate group - More details.

Duck! "Ex-gay" uncovers a vast conspiracy - There they go again. 

An LGBTQ-friendly church covered up ‘United Methodist’ in its sign in protest of anti-LGBTQ ban - Good for them! 

Nebraska bill to ban LGBT job discrimination stalls - bruuutherr!

Tuesday, March 05, 2019

American Family Association showcases those not supporting its campaign against Walmart


Hate group the American Family Association is angry at retail giant Walmart for its ad featuring a gay couple. The group is mobilizing its supporters to sign a petition demanding that Walmart remove the  ad because it supposedly "normalizes" same-sex relationships and to "stay neutral" in issues such as these.

Whether this campaign is gaining traction unknown, but AFA seems to be desperate in attempts to goad its followers.

 From an email:




It's a comical tactic, but not necessarily a dumb one. On its fake news source, One News Now, AFA can always count on its supporters to rail against the LGBTQ community as shown below:



The biggest problem is that normalizing abnormal behavior gives permission to do the behavior which by God's standards is sin, abominable sin. It leads to NO eternal life with Christ. I thought our place on earth as His ambassadors was the same as Jesus - be the best Christ we can be, explain our reasoning, and bring them to wonderful gift of eternal life with their Messiah. Walmart will now be under judgment for leading "the little ones" to sin and the Bible says the penalty for that is: it would be better that a millstone be put around their neck and be quickly thrown into the sea - to drown. I pray the gift of repentance be given to the Walmart officials that made this decision and to those who trusted them and followed it. 
"normalizing abnormality"....the ultimate oxymoron, eh? But the left, dims, alphabet people will never 'get it ' until they truly experience God's love and His grace and mercy! I KNOW people in the homosexual "lifestyle' CAN Change....their hearts are hardened for now!



To see if love is in the aisle? I tell you what IS in the aisle... VOMIT!!! Clean up on aisle 6!!!! Seeing all of these commercials and shows anymore being what I called "gayed up" makes me sick!! If the gay community was as large as hollyweird makes it appear in their shows and commercials, one would think that 50% or more of America was gay. That is simply not the case, it is a small percentage, but they are trying to make it seem so much larger than it is by using this tactic. The progressive left is SICK!!!!!!

I guess AFA thinks that showing how some are making fun of its campaign will galvanize its supporters even more. Maybe. Or maybe not.