Thursday, June 30, 2022

Video: Queer Movie Moments That Changed Our Lives

 
We've had a month full of celebration coupled with alarm and fear. But let's never forget who we are or where we came from. And also let's take time out to enjoy the little things which mean a lot, such as the above video which looks at Queer Movie Moments That Changed Our Lives. It's by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. How many of these movies have you seen? Is there any you think should have been included.

'Anti-LGBTQ GOP candidate continues to dig hole in feud with drag queen who was once her friend' & other Thur midday news briefs

Kari Lake

This drag queen had the best response to an anti-LGBTQ Republican threatening a lawsuit - I am enjoying the Kari Lake vs. drag queen feud. Kari continues to dig that hole. 


LGBTQ lawmakers win primaries in 3 states​ - Not bad at all. More of us should run for office. 

Exclusive: Vice President Harris Hosts Historic LGBTQ+ Pride Reception - Even though I won't probably EVER be invited to one of these things, it's good to see us at a point in which we are acknowledged as who we are on that level. 

For anti-abortion LGBTQ groups, Roe's reversal is a 'human rights victory' - And they don't believe that SCOTUS will go after LGBTQ rights next. Okay, I am saving this article for posterity. Simply for posterity.

Wednesday, June 29, 2022

Marjorie Taylor Greene claims gun control laws would hinder people from stopping 'the trans agenda on kids'

Marjorie Taylor Greene

A tweet by the always annoying Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene deserves more scrutiny.

From LGBTQNation:

Last week, the Senate passed a bill to reduce gun violence that included a provision to incentivize states to pass red flag laws, which allow judges to temporarily take guns away from people who are determined to be dangerous. Greene said that this is bad because conservatives who threaten transgender people could be disarmed under such laws. She said that the laws “will be a tool to disarm any gun owner that wants to stop abortion, the trans agenda on kids, mass illegal migration, & big government oppression suffocating our families, faith & freedoms.”

 




 Why does she feel that people need guns to stop any of those things she mentioned, particularly the supposed 'trans agenda on kids?' 

More importantly, why isn't anyone demanding an answer from her to that question?

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Remembering all of the times Franklin Graham and other conservative evangelicals kissed Donald Trump's a$$


Conservative evangelicals aren't weighing on the latest shocking revelations about Donald Trump, while enjoying the goodies he gave them.

As further news of how unhinged Trump was during the Jan 6th insurrection comes out, one group seems to be omitting itself. The religious right, while celebrating how Trump's SCOTUS picks led the way in overturning Roe v Wade, have been fairly silent as the country learns just close we came to complete chaos on that momentous day.

And that's ironic, seeing how many times Franklin Graham, the Family Research Council and others kissed Trump's butt and defended his behavior every time he gave them something they wanted:







Franklin Graham alone deserves his own wing in the Trump ass-kissing museum:








If Graham and the rest were true religious leaders, they would have something to say about the revelations we are learning about Trump.  They won't because they are too busy celebrating the goodies they traded their integrity for in giving him their unwavering support. And while they won't admit it publicly, I bet a lot of them are telling themselves it was all worth it to get Roe v Wade overturned.



Monday, June 27, 2022

'Uncle Clarence' Thomas willing to sacrifice freedom of the press to go after 'the gays'

Justice Clarence Thomas wants you to believe that he is as crochety as he looks here.


This Supreme Court term has been a disaster on all levels, especially its boneheaded decision to overturn Roe V Wade.  There is one precedent the court didn't overturn, however. But if one crochety justice had his way, it would have.

From The Hill:

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on Monday expressed a desire to revisit a landmark 1964 ruling that makes it relatively difficult to bring successful lawsuits against media outlets for defamation. Thomas’s statement came in response to the court’s decision to turn away an appeal from a Christian nonprofit group who disputed their characterization by the civil rights watchdog group Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). 

 Coral Ridge Ministries Media sued the SPLC for defamation for listing them as a hate group on their public database, which led to Amazon excluding Coral Ridge as a recipient of charitable contributions from online shoppers. 

 Thomas dissented from the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear the lawsuit, which had been dismissed by lower courts for failing to overcome the decades-old legal standard, established in the landmark 1964 New York Times v. Sullivan decision, that public figures who sue for defamation must not only prove defendants made defamatory statements, but that those statements were made with “actual malice.”

“This case is one of many showing how New York Times and its progeny have allowed media organizations and interest groups ‘to cast false aspersions on public figures with near impunity,’” Thomas wrote. “SPLC’s ‘hate group’ designation lumped Coral Ridge’s Christian ministry with groups like the Ku Klux Klan and Neo-Nazis,” the justice added. “It placed Coral Ridge on an interactive, online ‘Hate Map’ and caused Coral Ridge concrete financial injury by excluding it from the AmazonSmile donation program. Nonetheless, unable to satisfy the ‘almost impossible’ actual-malice standard this Court has imposed, Coral Ridge could not hold SPLC to account for what it maintains is a blatant falsehood.”

The irony is that SPLC could probably prove that Coral Ridge Ministries is a hate group.  According to Raw Story:


In its iconic 2010 report, "18 Anti-Gay Groups and Their Propaganda," the Southern Poverty Law Center explained that the "late Rev. D. James Kennedy started turning fundamentalist Coral Ridge Presbyterian into a mega-church in the 1960s."

 In an especially nasty 1989 edition of a CRM newsletter, Kennedy ran photographs of children along with the tagline, “Sex With Children? Homosexuals Say Yes!” "Over the years," the SPLC report adds, Rev. Kennedy "emphasized anti-gay rhetoric, particularly in his TV ministry. He recommended as 'essential' the virulent work of R.J. Rushdoony ... who believed practicing gays should be executed."

Also in 1986,  Kennedy endorsed an outrageously homophobic booklet called Homosexuality: Legitimate Alternate Deathstyle. The booklet contained false information on gays claiming, amongst other things, that gay men molest children at a proportionately large number, are serial killers, and are dangerous to the public in general:



The booklet also contained the following images:









Kennedy's endorsement of this monstrosity read as follows:

"Dick Hafer (the comic book's author) has produced a very accurate portrayal of homosexuality and the problem it poses to our nation and civilization. This unique book deserves an open-minded reading by all Americans, and especially by those who serve in leadership capacities."

Coral Ridge Ministries trying to defend this would have made for an interesting day in court. But to the point, Thomas seems to be full of himself during this session. He already helped overturn the precedent of Roe V Wade and in doing so, said he wanted to revisit precedents which allowed contraception, knocked down the sodomy laws, and established marriage equality.

He conveniently omitted the case which established the right to interracial marriage. I'm sure his wife, Ginni, would be glad about that one.

Sunday, June 26, 2022

Right-wing pundit has a vulgar meltdown after seeing Pride flag

Pride flags gets Alison Steinberg angry.

Amidst all of the chaos and fear these days have brought up, the following makes me grin. It's tonic for all that ails me.


From Mediaite:

One America News anchor Alison Steinberg short-circuited over the weekend — going on a profane meltdown over seeing the rainbow flag in the middle of Pride Month. Steinberg, who previously mused that it was “gay” to support Ukraine in their war against the invading Russian military, posted a fire-breathing rant to Instagram on Saturday night over seeing the LGBT pride flag fly over Huntington Beach.

“Guess what I came home to be greeted with?” Steinberg said while pointing to the flag. “This f*cking bullsh*t.” 

 That was hardly the end of it: 

" What the hell is that? Huntington Beach is the town of good ol’ fashioned, hard-working American people! People that worked all through the Covid lockdowns. Yes, that’s right! Huntington Beach never shut down through any of the Covid nonsense f*ckery. And now we’re peddling this garbage!? What the hell is this? The only flag that should be up there is the American flag. This is a disgrace to our city and it should be taken down immediately! Whoever the hell is running this town needs to be fired! Make America great again! Make Huntington Beach great again."

Poor baby. In the long run, it doesn't matter what you do or say. It doesn't matter how many times folks like you call us 'groomers' and threaten us. It doesn't matter how many videos Libs of TikTok distort to hurt us or how many boardroom plans are conjured up with the goal of stealing our rights. And it certainly doesn't matter how much money is spent to put biased justices on America's courts.

LGBTQ people aren't going anywhere. And we ain't going back to the days of fear and shame, where we hid in the closet in large numbers or made excuses for people's bigotry against us.  What we got right now is what we earned the hard way. We're not giving ANY OF IT up without a fight.

So throw your tantrums, spew your slogans, get it all out. Try us and you will have a fight on our hands. And we know how to fight. 

Thursday, June 23, 2022

NY library reverses removal of LGBTQ books and Pride display after intense community backlash

The following is an example of what happens when we fight back.  There has been a nasty wave of bigotry against the LGBTQ community this year and some folks have spent much time and effort spelling out the many ways we are 'doomed.'  We aren't doomed if we fight back:

According to the New York Daily News:

The Long Island library that decided to tear down Pride displays and remove books from children’s sections reversed its decision at an emergency meeting Thursday night. The Smithtown Library board of trustees voted 4-2 to rescind its controversial Tuesday night decision. One of the seven trustees abstained. 
The initial decision prompted a massive response by advocates and a strong statement from the governor, leading to Thursday’s emergency meeting. On Tuesday, the board voted 4-2 in favor of a “motion to remove all Pride Displays, in addition to removing all books of the same subject on display, from all Children’s sections in all Smithtown Library buildings.” One member was absent on Tuesday.' 

The initial decision to remove the Pride display and books garnered a lot of negative attention. Even New York Governor Kathy Hochul weighed in by ordering an investigation  She also condemned library's decision to remove the Pride display and books: 

 Hochul said in a press release today she is “horrified” by the vote and ordered the New York State Division of Human Rights to investigate reports of an anti-LGBTQ bias. “Public places are prohibited by law from engaging in discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity,” she said. “We will not tolerate a 'Don't Say Gay' philosophy taking root in our state.”

The New York Daily article points out that the backlash isn't over just yet.

Earlier, the decision prompted immediate action by the LGBT Network, a nonprofit that fights for the rights of LGBTQ people and their families in Queens and Long Island, which criticized the library’s “bigoted move” and announced measures directed at protecting local LGBTQ youth. .

 . . Late Thursday morning, the organization held a press conference to explain how it plans to act against the “really scary” decision by the library, which Kilmnick referred to as “an attack on LGBTQ youth in our community.” The measures, which were originally scheduled to be launched in the fall, will now be officially announced on Monday at a virtual town hall — after the library’s decision forced the group to “fast track and accelerate them.” 

 They involve the creation of “LGBT Network ambassadors” in every school district — parents, students, teachers and other community members who will work to ensure that LGBTQ curriculum is taught “and that our history is recognized, represented and not erased.”

Wednesday, June 22, 2022

BUSTED! Far right caught spreading false story that a drag queen exposed self to children


With the help of a doctored picture (first picture), the far right continues its inane lie that drag queens are  'grooming' children. 

Yet again in their need to demonize drag queens, far right conservatives have shown how low they are willing to stoop. 

According to the Associated Press:

CLAIM: A drag performer flashed their genitals to children while reading aloud in a Minnesota library.

 AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The performer in this 2019 photograph was wearing several layers of nude tights, said Hennepin County Library Communications Manager Joshua Yetman. “There wasn’t any exposure to children,” Yetman said. 

THE FACTS: As hateful and misleading rhetoric aimed at the LGBTQ community has escalated in recent months on social media, Drag Queen Story Hour events hosted by libraries or bookstores have become a frequent target. This week, some social media users are resurrecting a 2019 photo of such an event in a Minneapolis suburb and reposting it with false claims it shows the performer exposing their genitals to children. The image captures the performer, who is wearing a short dress while seated in front of students, reaching to the side for a book. In some versions of the post, a black box labeled “CENSORED” has been added to the space between the performer’s legs.

 “This is literally a sex crime,” reads a June 10 tweet that was shared some 10,000 times. “Adult flashes his penis to young children at library’s drag queen story hour,” another tweet read. However, unedited versions of the image show that the performer was wearing opaque nude tights that covered their genitals, a fact that Yetman confirmed to the AP in a phone interview Monday. “The performer was wearing tan or nude-colored tights, several layers of tights,” Yetman said. 

“They did not expose themselves to the children.” Yetman said the photo was captured in October 2019 during a drag queen story hour program at Ridgedale Library in the Minneapolis suburb of Minnetonka. The image circulated online with the same false claims shortly after the program happened, and the library system debunked them at the time.

This isn't the first time the far right has run distorted pictures in order to demonize LGBTQ people. 

There was the following in 2010 during an attack on Progressive Insurance because of that company's pro-LGBTQ policies:

Doctored picture



Actual picture



Then there was this 2014 monstrosity below which you read all about here. 

Doctored picture



Actual Picture



It's the thing to remember and keep in perspective while beating back smears against drag queens.. The targets may have changed from gay men to trans men and women to drag queens, but the propaganda techniques never do.  Nor do the lies.


Related posts:


Candace Owens can't even tell a good lie. Far right personality busted using fake photo of 'drag queen' 

'Right-wing media's latest anti-LGBTQ strategy is calling for kids to be taken away from their parents' & other Wed midday news briefs



Right-wing media’s latest anti-LGBTQ strategy is to call for kids to be taken away from their parents

 Candace Owens of The Daily Wire called for parents to have their kids taken away if they take them to a Drag Queen Story Hour event. She added that such parents are “underqualified to have children. They should have their children taken away from them because it's child abuse.” [The Daily Wire, Candace, 6/15/22] 

 Right-wing podcaster Steven Crowder claimed that progressives are opening the door to parents having their kids taken away if they don’t help the kids transition. “No one complained when you did it [Drag Queen Story Hour] at your private gay bars, no. But when it's at a public library with children, all of a sudden that’s where you get people I guess guilty of hate speech,” he added. [BlazeTV, Louder with Crowder, 6/14/22] 

Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon tweeted that parents who take their kids to drag shows should be arrested: “We need a show called ‘To Catch a Groomer’ where cops organize fake ‘family-friendly’ drag shows and then arrest all the parents who show up with their kids.” [Twitter, 6/5/22] 

Washington Times columnist Tim Young said parents taking their kids to drag shows “deserve no rights in this country” and “at the very least” should “be in jail.” [Twitter, 6/4/22] 

 On The Faulkner Focus, Fox News Radio host Jimmy Failla claimed, “There was a time in this country of just a little more decency, where if someone even voiced the idea of taking your kid to a drag show, they would be arrested.” [Fox News, The Faulkner Focus, 6/7/22] 



Conservative Anti-LGBTQ+ Trolls Cause Threats of School Violence - The new anti-LGBTQ right. And as tiresome as the old. We will win.

Tuesday, June 21, 2022

No, this gay man is NOT trying to 'convert' or 'groom' toddlers.

 

As this silly message I got earlier this month proves, the smearing of LGBTQ folks as 'groomers' of children is reaching the Twilight Zone level of inanity (click on graphic to read it):


How sad that your agenda is smothering our children! No one wants to “erase” you. Just stop trying to “convert” our toddlers. Some of these little ones are still in diapers, have pacifiers and blankies. And you want to teach them about your “pride”! Our little ones should be proud of themselves without you trying to convert them. Can’t you at least wait for middle school?

Well! I've been accused of many things as a gay man, but NEVER of trying to 'convert,' 'recruit' or 'groom' babies. Honestly speaking, it simply underscores just how inane this 'groomer' accusation is.

 I think I speak for quite a few LGBTQ folks (as well quite a few heterosexual folks) in saying that if I could truly 'groom' or 'convert' anyone, I wouldn't waste my time on kids with so many millionaires and billionaires around.

I've got fake fur coats to get out of layaway. 

Monday, June 20, 2022

'Transgender kids become the victims of ugly culture war' & other Mon midday news briefs



Trans kids and advocates blame culture war for debate over adolescent health care - In other words, people saw money to be made to by inflaming anti-trans feelings and lies. They didn't give a damn about the kids. 

Texas GOP adopts shockingly explicit anti-LGBTQ party platform - Texas is a drag right now. And not in a good way.

Mass. School Can’t Call Itself Catholic for Flying Pride and BLM Flags - The things I could say about the Catholic Church (but I won't.) 

Sunday, June 19, 2022

So-called anti-LGBTQ mastermind Christopher Rufo is a huge snowflake

Christopher Rufo


Far-right culture warrior Chris Rufo is mad at me.



I take it as a badge of honor. This man is partly behind the attempt to smear LGBTQ people as groomers and pedophiles. And he even encourages people to lie on us.


He didn't appreciate me mocking his wannabe James Bond villain need of publicly bragging about his homophobic plots. Like this one:




I guess Rufo didn't appreciate that his latest tweet proves the point I made about him in an earlier post:

Rufo's eagerness and unashamed openness in telling people to lie in order to cast LGBTQ people as groomers says more about his willingness to put us in danger than about him actually wanting to protect children from danger.

Related posts:

Far-right personality encourages supporters to deceive people into talking about 'trans strippers in school'


Friday, June 17, 2022

Far-right personality encourages supporters to deceive people into talking about 'trans strippers in school'

Christopher Rufo

There is no such thing as "trans strippers in schools," but far right personality Christopher Rufo wants conservatives to start using that phraseology instead of talking about "drag queen in schools."

This is what I said about Rufo in a past blog post:

To the luckily uninitiated, Christopher Rufo is the newest homophobe on the block. That's right. Move over Peter LaBarbera, Linda Harvey, Matt Barber, Ryan T. Anderson, and every other bigot we've vanquished because Christopher has got goals to wreck us.  Unlike those others, he had the power of a cadre misinformers behind him either lapping up or repeating his every word. He first came on the scene pedaling the very successful anti-Critical Race Theory hysteria. This got him heavy mainstream attention.


 And now he has set his sights on attacking LGBTQ people.  Or at the very least, telegraphing it with the clumsiness of a James Bond villain. And with that clumsy telegraphing comes much embellishment.  That's always our saving grace when it comes to the enemies of our equality. They lie so much that they tend to lie to themselves.

Rufo's clumsy telegraphing continues with a bunch of tweets he sent out Friday:




There are no "trans strippers in schools" It is an absolutely ludicrous term which I am sure that Rufo and others on his side of the spectrum will defend with fake photos, videos taken completely out of context, one-sided debates on Twitter and the right-wing media, and doublespeak defenses so illogical that they would make your head spin.

But the point is how Rufo is openly telling people to play distortion games. To him, it's not whether or not there are actually trans strippers in schools (there aren't,) but that folks on his side can deceive and scare people with the idea. It's not about truth with him. It's about "framing the argument" even if the frame is a reprehensible lie.

Like the recent spread of the fake drag queen photo committed by other conservatives, Rufo's eagerness and unashamed openness in telling people to lie in order to cast LGBTQ people as groomers says more about his willingness to put us in danger than about him actually wanting to protect children from danger.

Thursday, June 16, 2022

Candace Owens can't even tell a good lie. Far right personality busted using fake photo of 'drag queen'

 Conservative personality Candace Owens making a fascist fool of herself is as customary as a weekday. I am beginning to find it more and more difficult to be shocked by how low she stoops to grift the money. 

Still, girlfriend manages to pull a shock out of her cauldron every now and then. Like so:



Really Candace? I mean really? Let's go over this again. Drag Queen Story Hour is a perfectly innocent event enjoyed by kids and parents alike. Owens is simply trying to attach herself to the current right-wing moral panic about drag queens. It's simply another way people on her side of spectrum spook the gullible with lies about LGBTQ people supposedly wanting to harm children.

And what's more, Owens doesn't even try to tell a good lie as shown by this image:


The picture on the screen behind her is not from a Drag Queen Story Hour or any drag show. It is from a 2019 heterosexual burlesque show. Owens is simply the latest far right personality (aside from Babylon Bee editor Seth Dillon and FL Gov Ron Desantis's spokesperson Christina Pushaw) to use the photo to lie about Drag Queen Story Hour and drag queens in general.

Owens even verbally misrepresent the photo behind her as coming from a drag show starting at 1:40.

If folks used logic in this matter, they would ask if Drag Queen Story Hour and the like are so dangerous to kids, then why do right-wing personalities such as Dillon, Pushaw, and especially Owens have to lie to make that argument.

In their defense, logic has no place in the world of grifting, spooking, and clout chasing.

Video - Turning Point USA’s Drew Hernandez is obsessed with smearing LGBTQ people as 'groomers.' REALLY obsessed.

 





Editor's note - This is a special post because when I first saw the video, I had to post something about it. After read it, feel free to read  Did Libs of TikTok help set stage for white supremacist attempt to disrupt Pride event?, which was supposed to be tonight's only post before this guy showed up. 

 


The host of Turning Point USA’s daily show Frontlines, Drew Hernandez, has spent the first half of June targeting the LGBTQ community and Pride Month, referring to it as “groomer month” and calling LGBTQ people “mentally ill.” Publishing videos to TPUSA’s half a million-plus YouTube subscribers, Hernandez has called for parents who bring their children to Pride events to be arrested.

This video is like watching the camp classic Mommie Dearest.  You try not to laugh but its so ridiculous that you simply cannot help yourself. Hernandez's desire to scapegoat LGBTQ people as 'groomers' borders on obsession.  It's downright spooky.

Wednesday, June 15, 2022

Did Libs of TikTok help set stage for white supremacist attempt to disrupt Pride event?


Libs of TikTok (top picture), white supremacists who were arrested for trying to disrupt an Idaho pride event last weekend (second picture)




Right-wing influencers, including the pseudonymous, viral Twitter account “Libs of TikTok,” repeatedly drew negative attention to the Pride event in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in its runup, setting the stage for white supremacists to target it. 

 Police arrested 31 members of the white nationalist hate group Patriot Front before they had a chance to descend on the crowd on Saturday, June 11, and charged them with conspiracy to riot, which is a misdemeanor. Had police not apprehended the Patriot Front members, the situation could have proven volatile. Before their arrival, people photographed other likely extremists who appeared to walk among the otherwise pro-LGBTQ crowd. 

 The conflict created by Patriot Front and other anti-LGBTQ agitators highlights the correlation between social media performers flagging targets to their right-wing audiences and the subsequent mobilization of extremists to act in response. An example of this trend is when Twitter influencers, including some high-profile hate figures, hyped election-related disinformation in the runup to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, setting the stage for what became an insurrection attempt. What happened in Coeur d’Alene, a city in northwest Idaho of roughly 50,000 people, functioned in a similar way, even if the players and setting are different. 

Out-of-state members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front and other extreme far-right figures could have chosen many different targets during Pride month. They homed in on an obscure event highlighted by Libs of TikTok.

The rest of this article should send alarms to us all as we celebrate Pride Month 2022. Libs of TikTok is a viciously homophobic site which encourages acts of prejudice under the lie that its protecting children from pedophiles.  What happened last week may just be a prelude. Libs of TikTok has gotten folks harassed and fired because of its lies  (such as the one about 'furries.') but  the white nationalist attack on a Pride event takes things to a new level.

Someone may get hurt.

Related posts:

'Fox News spent more time attacking trans people and drag queens than it did covering second Jan 6 hearing' & other Wed midday news briefs



Fox spent more time attacking trans people and drag queens than it did covering the second January 6 hearing - That network is the main problem with this country right now. And it's not easily going away. 

Fox News ran a positive segment with a trans teenager. Other members of the right-wing media lost their minds. - I still don't trust Fox News. Not by a longshot. And as you can see, even when it tries to be fair (laugh), the network's 'buddies' bring the hate. 

How Pride organizers are responding to increased threats to LGBTQ events - Good for them because they are noting the threat and taking action. 

Everything You Need to Know About Brittney Griner's Russia Detainment - Major prayers that she is able to come home.