Sunday, January 05, 2020

'Lawmaker wants to punish educators who allow trans athletes to compete as they identify' & other Mon midday news briefs


Lawmaker wants to punish educators that allow trans athletes to compete as they identify - Don't these people have anything better to do?

United Methodist Church Announces Proposal to Split Over Gay Marriage - If you gotta split, you gotta split.

Remembering the queer voices and allies we lost in 2019 - We honor their memory by carrying on their work. 

Illinois schools to start teaching LGBTQ history - And it has begun. Deal with it.

Weak video opposing marriage equality demonstrates a good example of why conservatives lost



Though some folks have criticized me for it, I like going through past written words and videos of groups who oppose LGBTQ equality. I do it for three reasons - 1. to educate myself on their arguments because they generally get recycled and repackaged  2. keep myself from becoming slack in refuting them. 3. marvel at how simplistically idiotic they are.

And the above video by the group TFP Student Action is a doozy. TFP Student Action is an offshoot of the American Society for the Defense Tradition, Family, and Property  - a far-right Catholic group . Naturally, this means that another activity of the group is pushing the lie that the LGBTQ community is unhealthy to society. It was small, but very vocal, part of the conservative right's ultimately unsuccessful fight against marriage equality. And with arguments made in the video above, it's no wonder they lost.

All it contains is a hashtag of bad talking points backed by wishful thinking, religious entitlement, and deceptions (i.e. using President Obama talking about single parents to denigrate same-sex households and spinning the lie about the Massachusetts father who was jailed for allegedly trying to keep his son from being "exposed" to homosexuality in his school.) 

Yet, this video contained the general arguments of those opposing our right to marry. And what the opposition ended up arguing in the courts. A special highlight comes at 4:28 when the only black guy in the video is some random person they filmed on the street going on about "Adam and Steve" as he and his facial piercings draw so close to the camera that you think he's going to lick it.

But I shouldn't be too harsh. What points the video loses on facts and logic, the participants make up for it by being vigorous. Extremely vigorous.

The most enjoyable thing about watching this video is knowing that a few short months after it was made, the Supreme Court legalized marriage equality, thereby telling TFP - and other religious right and conservative groups - to go play with themselves. And after watching this video, can anyone really blame SCOTUS?