Analyzing and refuting the inaccuracies lodged against the lgbt community by religious conservative organizations. Lies in the name of God are still lies.
A federal appeals court has allowed gender-affirming health care for transgender children to continue while a lawsuit against Idaho’s ban on hormone treatments makes its way through court.
Two transgender minors and their parents sued the state less than two months after Gov. Brad Little signed House Bill 71 into law, making it a felony for medical providers to prescribe treatments like puberty blockers and hormone therapy to children.
The parents argued that the law was unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill issued a preliminary injunction against the law in December, days before the state’s ban was scheduled to go into effect.
Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador appealed the case to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals this month and asked the appeals court to stop Winmill’s preliminary injunction. Three appeals court judges denied that request Tuesday.
“This ruling should be celebrated by everyone who decries discrimination,” Paul Carlos Southwick, the ACLU of Idaho’s legal director, said in an emailed statement. The organization represents the transgender minors, along with other attorneys. “We celebrate alongside transgender youth and their families throughout Idaho who will continue to have access to the health care they need and deserve.”
In terms of anti-trans measures, this would make Idaho 0-2 thus far. Last year, the same court refused to let the state enforce a ban on trans female athletes.
Editor's note - my apologies for not having the full article about the subject of this post. It is behind a paywall. However, the tweet included is the accurate summation of the situation.
A while back, transgender activists predicted that laws banning trans athletes from competing would backfire against cis athletes. A recent incident in Utah has proven them right.
A dad confronted two principals at a girls basketball game last week, insisting the shouldn't let an opposing player play because she was trans. But she wasn't.
Advocates say this is what to expect in a climate that emboldens people to target others.https://t.co/R1MdgTj68V
And apparently a similar event took place in 2022. And in Utah. According to an August 19, 2022 article in The Independent:
Parents of girls who finished second and third in a Utah scholastic sporting event filed a complaint with the Utah High School Activities Association claiming that the first place finisher is transgender. She’s not.
David Spatafore of the Utah High School Activities Association (UHSAA), the body responsible for enforcing the state’s new ban on transgender participation in school sports, told the Deseret News that he had no choice but to investigate the first place finisher’s gender after parents filed the complaint.
He found that not only is the girl in question cisgender, but that his office has received other complaints about the girl including one that she stating that she “doesn’t look feminine enough.”
It gets worse. According to an article published on that same day by MetroWeekly, UHSAA made the school investigate the young girl's record all the way back to kindergarten.
Basically, these laws which supporters claim are created to protect cis female athletes can be used - weaponized is a much better word - by fellow cis athletes and parents disgruntled at losses during athletic competitions. They can also be used to target and denigrate cis athletes who don't conform to supposed standards of femininity.
I don't know where the LGBTQ community would be without talented journalist (and GLAAD Award nominee) Erin Reed. Reed. Her work (you can and should be support here) revealed a scoop which doesn't seem to be registering as it should with the mainstream media.
Audio from a small Twitter Space featuring legislators from Ohio and Michigan was automatically posted publicly, wherein Republican legislators revealed the "endgame" of anti-trans legislation was to ban trans care "for everyone." The Space, which ejected uninvited guests, included several Michigan senators and representatives, as well as Representative Gary Click from Ohio, who sponsored the state's recent controversial gender-affirming care ban. Throughout the Space, the legislators seem to freely discuss their plans and strategies for targeting transgender care. Towards the end of the Space, the conversation shifts to a plan for the "endgame," where Republican legislators and anti-trans activist Prisha Mosley discuss various plans aimed at "banning this for everyone," referring to gender-affirming care.
The Space, hosted by Representative Brad Paquette of Michigan, was a free-form discussion over potential inroads in Michigan, as well as ongoing strategy for anti-trans laws in Ohio. Representative Gary Click was a prominent participant. Others included Michigan Representatives Josh Schriver and Tom Kunse, as well as Senators Lana Theis and Jonathan Lindsey.
. . .Never before have elected representatives spelled out the strategy of banning care for transgender adults so clearly. Representative Gary Click has ties to the Heritage Foundation and the Center for Christian Virtue, both of which are well known for playing a role in the development and authorship of anti-trans legislation. These freshly released recordings provide an important look into the endgame of anti-trans legislation: the elimination of transgender people from public life entirely through the banning of care at any age.
This shouldn't come as a surprise. Trans activists like Reed have repeatedly said that the false narrative spun against gender-affirming healthcare for trans kids masked a plan to ultimately target healthcare for all trans people. Keep in mind that these folks probably wouldn't stop with just the trans community if their desire came to fruition. My guess is that they have equally nasty desires for the rest of us in the LGBTQ community.
An incident coming out of the recent New Hampshire Republican primary deserving more discussion is SC Senate Tim Scott debasing himself in front of Donald Trump.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) left critics cringing on Tuesday with a stunning display of sycophancy to former President Donald Trump.
The senator, who dropped out of the GOP presidential race in November, was one of two former candidates onstage with Trump in Nashua to celebrate his victory over Nikki Haley in the New Hampshire primary.In 2012, when she was governor of South Carolina, Haley appointed Scott, then a member of the House of Representatives, to his Senate seat to replace retiring Sen. Jim DeMint.
“Did you ever think that she actually appointed you, Tim?” Trump said of Haley during his speech. “And you’re the senator of her state. And [you] endorsed me.”
“You must really hate her,” he added.
Scott, who had been standing behind Trump, approached the mic and said: “I just love you.”
“That’s why he’s a great politician!” Trump said.
Trump: You’re the Senator of his state. She endorsed me. You must really hate her
Cringe is too polite of a word as far as I'm concerned. I'd call it one of the greatest acts of self-humiliation I have ever seen. Scott did everything on that stage BUT offer to shine Trump's shoes while calling him "Massa."
Reports are that Scott is one of the candidates being considered as Trump's VP pick, so that would explain his sudden attack of gleeful public affection. It would also explain his recent (staged?) engagement to his girlfriend Mindy Noce (whom he revealed last year) as a way of curbing longstanding rumors that he's an in-the-closet gay man.
Whatever the case may be, it was embarrassing to see Scott debase himself in such a manner. More than that, in light of Trump's racist and bigoted history, his behavior was a slap in the face to every African American who fought, suffered, and died so that he could become a United States senator in the first place.
But let me put it another way:
I am not the only person on Twitter who felt this way. Scott has been continuously criticized throughout the day. And others weren't as "polite" as me:
My guess is that should what Scott did become a big issue, he's going play the victim during a nice and cozy Fox News "interview" with Sean Hannity. Or I think in this case, Harris Faulkner would conduct the interview. After all, you know what they say about 'birds of a feather."
Keep digging your hole, Chaya Raichik. The LGBTQ community can wait. We have patience.
The most bitter woman in America, arch-homophobe Chaya Raichik is infamous for peddling false accusations of grooming and child abuse against libraries, hospitals, and LGBTQ teachers. These accusations have allegedly led to bomb threats in several cities, including Oklahoma.
And that last part is very important for this blog post.
A far-right influencer who was accused of instigating bomb threats last year against a school library in Tulsa has been named an adviser to a state library committee, the head of the Oklahoma State Department of Education announced Tuesday.
Chaya Raichik, who runs the incendiary Libs of TikTok social media accounts and is not an Oklahoma resident, was appointed to the state education department’s Library Media Advisory Committee.
“Chaya is on the front lines showing the world exactly what the radical left is all about — lowering standards, porn in schools, and pushing woke indoctrination on our kids,” State Superintendent Ryan Walters said in a statement. “Because of her work, families across the country know just what is going on in schools around the country.”
Raichik’s Libs of TikTok accounts have more than 3 million combined followers on X and Instagram. Its content — which is often laced with bigoted rhetoric — generally singles out LGBTQ people, drag queens and their employers, and criticizes them for promoting diversity, inclusion and equity efforts.
In addition to last year’s scare in Tulsa, posts by the account have preceded several bomb threats to schools, libraries and hospitals across the country in recent years.
Walters, who appointed Raichik for whatever reason (most likely publicity) is also infamous his far-right spin regarding the LGBTQ community.
Oklahoma’s superintendent of public schools Ryan Walters (R) has suggested that the Bible be taught in history classes.
Walters has previously pushed the transphobic lie about schools providing litterboxes to students who identify as cats. He also recently referred to teachers’ unions as “terrorist organizations” and illegally tried to make rules banning LGBTQ+ books and transgender bathroom access in schools.
In a recent video, Walters said, “Oklahomans, we have a clear choice in front of us. When it comes to our schools, do we want the radical ideology in our classroom that pushes gender theory, that pushes graphic pornography in order to perform a social experiment on our kids?”
. . . “Real Americans know that we’ve got to support our kids by giving them a great understanding of our history,” Walters added. “Radical leftists and Biden administration, they would prefer to sexualize our kids.”
On one hand, this is an absolutely stupid thing for Walters to do, even if it is par for the course for him. On the other hand, I'm interested in how far this will go before it blows up in his and Raichik's face.
As you know, Ron DeSantis withdrew from the 2024 GOP presidential primary. What a shame. All of the stuff he did against LGBTQ people and African Americans in an attempt to ride an anti-woke wave to the White House blew up in his face. All of his false bravado and mess about "killing woke" simply couldn't cover up how much of a bad candidate he was. It only made his many deficiencies stand out.
This is not to take away the fact that we are still going to be fighting for our political and personal lives in this upcoming election, but let's take a moment to watch this video of DeSantis during the third GOP primary election a month ago. Brought to you by the Lincoln Project, it showcases all of the "qualities" which DeSantis oozed; "qualities" which rightfully cost him the GOP nomination.
There is a reluctance by some members of the community to see conservative and right-wing personalities being interviewed by members of the media. This is a very credible fear due to pundits being either too accommodating or not having done enough preparation or research on the interviewee. Whether done individually or collectively, all of these factors have resulted in interviewers which right-wing personalities have been able to amplify their false points without the courtesy of a correction.
A recent discussion between Moms for Liberty head Tiffany Justice and MSNBC pundit Joy Reid was not one of those interviews. Reid came prepared and determined to keep the interview getting highjacked. It was a breath of fresh air to watch Reid ask Justice probing questions about why the Moms For Liberty pushes viewpoint censorship under the guise of banning sexually explicit books. Reid named several banned books - such as ones about the Civil Rights Movement and the Holocaust - and asks why are they considered banned. Justice evades the question.
It is a contentious interview and several times, Justice throws out sexually graphic words and phrases taken from books which were banned. Reid uses that to point out that Justice is taking things out of context deliberately to shock and scare people while at the same time not knowing anything about the books she's condemning.
The interviews itself is 12 minutes long. The remaining six minutes is Reid analyzing the interview with two other MSNBC pundits. And that is as enjoyable as the interview itself.
Lawmakers in South Carolina approve ban on gender-affirming care for trans minors - What's even more galling about the bill passing was the process. It was insultingly formulaic. Over 40 parents, medical professionals, young adults, and children showed up to speak against the bill. The vast majority - if not all of them - were South Carolinians. The only person testifying in favor of it was a lawyer with the Alliance Defending Freedom who didn't even bother to show up. He testified on video. The bill now goes to the Senate.
Family Research Council president Tony Perkins (top photo) is not happy with a video made by Trump enthusiast Brenden Dilley which implied that Trump was chosen by God to lead America.
I guess there is a line Trump can cross when it comes to some conservative evangelicals. In the clip below courtesy of People for the American Way, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins criticized Trump's decision to share a recent video which implied that he was chosen by God.
Tony doesn't like it.
Tony Perkins and David Closson of the religious-right Family Research Council fault Trump for embracing the "So God Made Trump" video: "I think this video is inappropriate ... I don't like it." https://t.co/8y0Bi3rIDRpic.twitter.com/oltGHHGI3k
What will happen next? Probably nothing. Both parties will ignore it and life will go on as usual, thereby signifying yet again how conservative evangelicals are willing to sacrifice their supposed integrity for a taste of power.
But on the off chance that Trump does talk about the video, my guess is that he will offer excuses such as saying his campaign didn't make it (even though he shared it).
Now should that happen, I bet the makers of the video won't be happy.
The video was created by Dilley Meme Team, a group of online content creators independent from the Trump campaign, though they work in close contact with it. The group — which calls itself Trump’s Online War Machine — has faced controversy for its vulgar and sexist content.
Dilley Meme Team is the brainchild of Brenden Dilley and he is an "interesting character."
Last month, the New York Times profiled what it called the “troll army” that is attacking former President Trump’s enemies on social media as part of the campaign to get him elected to the White House in 2024. The leading figure behind this “army” is MAGA broadcaster and “life coach” Brenden Dilley, whose cultish devotion to Trump has gained him direct access not only to the Trump campaign, but to the candidate himself . . .
. . . Right Wing Watch has been covering Dilley since 2018 and given that he has now established such close ties with Trump’s campaign, it is even more important to expose how overtlyracist, unapologeticallymisogynistic, and gleefullyamoral he is.
The most important thing to know about Dilley is that he doesn’t “give a fuck about being factual” and will “make shit up” if doing so furthers Trump’s political agenda.
Dilley openly admitted it in 2020:
“I don’t give a fuck,” he continued. “My objective is to destroy Democrats, OK? To destroy liberals, liberalism as an idea, Democrats, and anything that opposes President Trump. That’s my goal. I’ve never made any bones about that.”
“You don’t have to fact check me because I don’t give a fuck,” Dilley added. “I fucking make up shit sometimes, from time to time. I don’t care. I don’t care. Democrats know it. Republicans know it. I don’t mind admitting it. I don’t give a shit … When I get a chance to shit on the left, I don’t mind making shit up. No, not at all.”
As you can see in the above tweet, Dilley is already overjoyed that Trump shared his video. Trump loves to lavish devotion. He calls it "loyalty." But what will happen if Dilley's excesses offend the senses of the evangelicals Trump needs to win the election.
Me in 2017 with friends celebrating my GLAAD Media award win.
There is so much good news to share right now, so I am going to make this a three-item post. First let's talk about two very important and wonderful recent happenings:
A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that a Texas law banning “sexually explicit” books from public schools likely violates the Constitution, partially upholding a preliminary injunction issued by a lower court.
The three-judge appeals panel issued a unanimous ruling that the plaintiffs — two Texas bookstores; three national trade associations representing booksellers, publishers and authors; and a legal defense fund — would likely succeed on their claims that Texas’s law violates their First Amendment right to free speech. The Restricting Explicit and Adult-Designated Educational Resources Act (READER) requires vendors who want to do business with Texas public schools to give sexual-content ratings for all library material and flag any “sexually explicit” or “sexually relevant” material.
. . .Texas has said the law aims to protect children and has pushed back on claims of free speech by the booksellers. The state also claimed there would be no irreparable harm, in arguing against the injunction.
The court rejected those arguments, however, upholding the district court’s conclusion that the government-speech doctrine does not apply and that “the ratings are the vendor’s speech, not the government’s,” and therefore the law mandating the ratings violates freedom of speech.
The court also argued that “compliance costs alone” could cause irreparable harm to the plaintiffs. And while the risk of irreparable injury must be weighed against the public interest, “neither [the State] nor the public has any interest in enforcing a regulation that violates federal law.”
In Idaho, the block on the ban against gender-affirming healthcare for trans youth remains blocked. According to KTV-TV Boise:
A federal judge will continue to enforce a block on Idaho’s law that bans transgender health care for minors.
U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill had put a temporary injunction on the ban on Dec. 26, meaning it hasn't yet gone into full effect while it's being challenged in court. Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador has appealed the decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
. . . In his decision, Winmill wrote that the attorney general didn’t provide new evidence to persuade him that the state would likely prevail in its appeal.
Labrador had argued in his motion that the judge had failed to consider the “conflicting evidence regarding the risks and benefits associated with gender-affirming care.” He said that the experts brought in by the plaintiffs currently provide gender-affirming care, and thus had a “direct financial stake in ensuring the continued availability of ‘gender-affirming care.’”
Winmill cited his earlier decision in which he acknowledged the conflicting evidence but found that “the risks associated with the treatments used in gender-affirming medical care are similar to risks associated with other types of healthcare families may seek for minors.”
The judge also noted that the doctors who were brought in as experts don’t provide care in Idaho would thus not be affected by HB 71, so they don’t likely have a financial stake in the case.
Last but not least, nominations for the 2024 GLAAD Media Awards came out Wednesday morning and this little ole blog of mine received a nomination in the category of 'Outstanding Blog.' It is my third consecutive nomination and my seventh nomination overall. As seen by the photo above, I was blessed to have won the award in 2017.
I can't begin to tell you how much this means to me. This blog, my 17-year-old baby, sprang out of the anger, misery, and pain I felt while attempting to come out during my college years. And especially the rage I felt at the forces who peddled and continue to peddle lies designed to undermine LGBTQ lives, health, and safety.
Receiving a GLAAD Award nomination means credibility and love from the LGBTQ community - a community I love in return and will continue to fight for in my own way day after day. I'm honored and grateful for the ability to fight and to help create a more positive future for the LGBTQ community, and especially our children.
If you are interested in the various topics regarding religious right lies I've covered throughout out the years, check out The Best of Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters listings on the right. Or feel free to use the search engine above to see if I covered any LGBTQ topic which interests you.
A conservative evangelical publication, The Christian Post, is angry that the Biden Administration is working with the Southern Poverty Law Center. Conservative evangelicals (publications, groups, and personalities) have had a beef with SPLC ever since the group began labeling certain religious right organizations (such as the Family Research Council and the Alliance Defending Freedom) as hate groups because of their constant verbal and legislative attacks on the LGBTQ community.
While defending these groups, Christian Post "reporter" Tyler O'Neil, in the piece Anti-Christian bias in the Biden White House, made this unbelievable statement.
The SPLC publishes a “hate map” that plots conservative Christian organizations like the Family Research Council and Alliance Defending Freedom alongside chapters of the Ku Klux Klan. The SPLC brands these groups “anti-LGBTQ hate groups,” claiming that they demonize people who identify as LGBTQ.
Contrary to the SPLC’s claims, neither FRC nor ADF demonize people for their sexual orientation or gender identity. They do, however, advocate for religious freedom and the biblical view of sexuality and the family.
O'Neil is lying. We know this because SPLC, GLAAD, and others have documented the many times FRC and ADF have demonized the LGBTQ community.
"For years, LGBT activists wanted to keep the goal of luring children into sexual confusion under wraps. Now that they’ve hoodwinked a lot of the country on their agenda, these extremists no longer have to hide. In fact, they are increasingly bold–even boastful–about their real intentions of recruiting kids.”
– Tony Perkins, “‘I Have a Girl Brain but a Boy Body’: Virginia Kindergartners Are Read Transgender Story,” posted at The Daily Signal, March 6, 2019
Editor's note - Tony Perkins is the president of the Family Research Council.
“Homosexual activists vehemently reject the evidence which suggests that homosexual men … are … relative to their numbers, more likely to engage in such actions [childhood sexual abuse] than are heterosexual men.”
– Peter Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies at FRC, on why the Boy Scouts should not allow LGBTQ scouts or leaders, FRC blog, Feb. 1, 2013
(FRC) baselessly claimed, in a document written by Robert Knight and Robert York titled “Homosexual Behavior and Pedophilia,” that “one of the primary goals of the homosexual rights movement is to abolish all age of consent laws and to eventually recognize pedophiles as the ‘prophets’ of a new sexual order.” The document also claimed that the “homosexual rights movement has tried to distance itself from pedophilia, but only for public relations purposes.” SPLC notes that the booklet has since disappeared from FRC’s website, but the organization has not withdrawn the claims it made. Former reality television star Josh Duggar, who directed FRC’s lobbying arm FRC Action, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in May 2022 after being convicted of child pornography possession that a Homeland Security investigator described as among the most abusive and horrific he had ever seen. Duggar was also charged with child molestation for abusing five underage girls, including four of his sisters.
ADF also has worked to keep LGBTQ sex criminalized. In 2003, the group filed an amicus brief in the landmark Lawrence v. Texas case, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that various laws prohibiting private sexual acts between LGBTQ adults were unconstitutional. In the brief, page after page describes, in graphic detail, vaginal, oral and anal intercourse and various infections that may result from the latter. ADF argued that the Texas ban was in the interest of public health, because gay men and lesbians, the brief contended, engage in “risky” sexual behaviors that increase the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. “The issue under rational-basis review is not whether Texas should be concerned about opposite-sex sodomy,” it argued, “but whether it is reasonable to believe that same-sex sodomy is a distinct public health problem. It clearly is.”
In 2003,(former ADF President Michael) Farris, before joining ADF, also co-wrote a 2003 amicus brief with ADF attorneys Jordan Lorence and Joshua Carden in support of Texas’ criminalization of LGBTQ sex in Lawrence v. Texas. Farris listed his affiliation in the brief as the Center for the Original Intent of the Constitution, which was formed in 1998 by the HSLDA and then was moved under the auspices of Patrick Henry College. The brief argued that states should have the right to police and criminalize sexual behavior, stating: “Defining the criminality of certain forms of sexual conduct, such as same-sex sodomy, is a policy issue that has historically and properly been left to the state legislatures.”
In addition, SPLC also has documented statements from ADF members which also contradict O'Neil's claim.
“When given the same choice the Supreme Court of the United States had in Lawrence vs. Texas, the Indian Court did the right thing. India chose to protect society at large rather than give in to a vocal minority of homosexual advocates. … America needs to take note that a country of 1.2 billion people has rejected the road towards same-sex marriage, and understood that these kinds of bad decisions in the long run will harm society.” – Benjamin Bull, former executive director of ADF Global, on the recriminalization of consensual sex between adults of the same sex in India, 2013
In fact, according to SPLC, the ADF has worked internationally for laws to imprison LGBTQ people based upon their sexual orientation.
ADF, which has argued that removing anti-LGBTQ laws from criminal codes will pave the way to marriage equality, has worked to keep those laws on the books, but mostly overseas since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down anti-sodomy laws in this country. The group has advised anti-LGBTQ organizations in countries like Belize that are trying to keep the law that criminalized LGBTQ sex on the books. That law was declared unconstitutional by the Belize Supreme Court in 2016.
. . . Other ADF attorneys have publicly advocated retaining anti-sodomy laws. Jeffrey Ventrella and Piero Tozzi, two senior counsels for ADF at the time, spoke at a 2012 conference in Jamaica, with Tozzi defending the laws as a “bulwark” against an unspecified “agenda.”
And speaking of the demonization of LGBTQ people, SPLC has ADF statements to that effect:
“We mention the new promotion of pedophilia in the context of talking about the influence of homosexual behavior on college campuses, because, despite all objections to the contrary, the two are often intrinsically linked.” – Alan Sears and Craig Osten, The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today, 2003
According to GLAAD, the ADF committed the following deceptive acts against the LGBTQ community.
Made false claims in filings against transgender students looking to participate in sports. A softball player testified in front of Arizona lawmakers in support of a ban on transgender athletes, but did not disclose she was the daughter of ADF’s general counsel, and her testimony included the false claim that her team lost a tournament to team with a transgender player. The player was not transgender; she had short hair.
For nearly a decade colluded with the American College of Pediatricians (ACP) to shore up anti-transgender policy efforts and legal arguments with junk science. The ACP uses anti-LGBTQ junk science to back up many of its discriminatory talking points and to provide medical justification for interpreting Title IX to exclude gender-identity protections. Because the ADF lacked scientific evidence to back up its claims that nondiscrimination protections put children at risk, the organization ordered custom white papers from ACP. The coordination also extended to ADF drafting legislation for many states to ban transgender healthcare; ACP members were recruited to testify in support of those bans in GA, AL, KY and OH. Despite testifying before state legislatures in support of the bills, ACP’s “experts” have been discredited as not qualified to be experts in court, including Dr. Quentin van Meter and Dr. Paul Hruz.
Apparently Christian evangelicals like O'Neil and others who read The Christian Post probably support Donald Trump because they have more in common with him than they would like to admit.
The video describes Trump's supposed strengths, including his "arms strong enough to rustle the Deep State and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild." It's not clear which of his grandchildren Trump is meant to have delivered.
The video also describes Trump as a workaholic who worked all hours of the night while president.
His work ethic was a source of debate during his time in office, particularly after his private schedules were leaked, showing that half of his scheduled time was unstructured.
The video also claimed that Trump attended church services every Sunday despite no evidence of this.
I don't know why evangelicals are disturbed by it. They eagerly supported a bigoted demagogue with a huge ego and no sense of self-awareness or shame. What did they expect to happen? And if he is officially deemed as the front-runner, they'll still support him. Hell, some of them already do.
An anti-trans bill in South Carolina sailed through a house committee in spite of the fact that over 40 South Carolinians (parents, children, and medical professionals) present at the hearing spoke against it and only one person, an out-of-state lawyer affiliated with an anti-LGBTQ group appearing on video, spoke in favor of it.
Pleas from transgender children’s pediatricians and parents to keep allowing such kids to receive hormone therapies failed to stop Republican lawmakers from advancing a ban on those treatments to the South Carolina House floor on Wednesday.
The GOP-led Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs Committee voted to advance the bill within the first two days of the 2024 legislative session.
At least 22 states have enacted similar restrictions amid recent Republican-led crackdowns on transgender medical care, bathroom usage and sports participation.
The expediency underscores South Carolina House Republicans' prioritization of the conservative issue at the outset of an election year that will pit incumbents against primary challengers from the right.
The bill would bar health professionals from performing gender transition surgery, prescribing puberty-blocking drugs and overseeing hormone therapy for anyone under 18 years old. It also prevents Medicaid from covering such care for anyone under the age of 26.
The committee hearing was held on Tuesday and demonstrated just how much coordinated nonsense the process was. For one thing, out of 50 speaking people testifying about the bill, 49 spoke against it. And they came with "receipts."
Phillip Ford, who spoke in opposition to the bill, was representing multiple groups. He stated in his speech that the mere hearing of anti-trans bills would result in a negative mental health impact to 94% of queer youth in the state, and 42% of queer youth considering suicide, citing a Trevor project study. “I was one of those youths,” he said, “several years ago when they passed the amendment banning marriage equality.”
After Ford pointed out that that studies show that transgender care is medically necessary and lifesaving, he was questioned by Republican Representative Heath Sessions, who asked incredulously, “Can we ask when we have speakers citing studies, can we get that turned into the committee?”
He responded, “I’ve got them all right here,” pulling out a comically large binder of studies with a smirk.
Below are some of the others who spoke against the bill. The moment with Ford shows that SC Republicans are willing to ignore accurate medical information in pursuit of their transphobic agenda.
And the fact that they chose to pass the bill out of committee in spite of parents, medical professionals and trans kids imploring them not to proves that they don't give a damn about parental rights or protecting kids; except for when they can weaponize the concepts.
Now speaking is Jessika Spearman, mother of 4 (including one child who is trans), mental health professional, and wife of a combat veteran. "My child is alive and thriving because he receives this necessary care. Please vote no on #H4624." pic.twitter.com/OQHhvtmzQ6
— SC United for Justice & Equality (@SCUnited_LGBTQ) January 9, 2024
Speaking now is Emily Foster, who is the sister of a transgender boy who grew up in #SouthCarolina. She shared that when her brother Knox finally got the trans-related care he needed, he was so much more joyful, kinder, and comfortable with himself. #SupportTransYouthSC#H4624pic.twitter.com/R3JbktRQxX
— SC United for Justice & Equality (@SCUnited_LGBTQ) January 9, 2024
"We have glaring problems for kids in South Carolina. Why are we spending the first day of the legislative session going after a couple of thousand kids and their medically necessary care?" asks Dr. Michael O'Brien @DrOBrienMD. #SupportTransYouthSC#H4624pic.twitter.com/9uNzjFfU4Y
— SC United for Justice & Equality (@SCUnited_LGBTQ) January 9, 2024
Thank you, Lynn Teague of @LWV, for taking the time today to testify against #H4624. This bill is a shameful example of government overreach in #SouthCarolina for the sole purpose of harming transgender youth. pic.twitter.com/TUZm2MVHbQ
— SC United for Justice & Equality (@SCUnited_LGBTQ) January 9, 2024
Veteran, father of 4, and husband Eric Childs speaks out against #H4624: "I want each of you in favor of this bill to examine your credentials and think about it you have any experience treating patients like these. If the answer is no, you should vote no." #SupportTransYouthSCpic.twitter.com/u8lACehgl6
— SC United for Justice & Equality (@SCUnited_LGBTQ) January 9, 2024
"I'm here today because my granddaughter is transgender, and there is nothing in this bill that is good for her or for the other youth in our state. When you take away the one positive option that these kids have in our state, you leave them with some awful options." #H4624pic.twitter.com/fhC9nkUx6S
— SC United for Justice & Equality (@SCUnited_LGBTQ) January 9, 2024
Speaking now is David Bell and his wife Rebecca, who share their story of supporting their transgender child – a story of joy and progress, and a story of how challenging it has already been to navigate anti-trans hostility & how #H4624 would make it worse. #SupportTransYouthSCpic.twitter.com/XDpojep3HC
— SC United for Justice & Equality (@SCUnited_LGBTQ) January 9, 2024
In spite of all of witnesses - parents, kids and medical professionals and all residents of South Carolina - the committee chose to take the word of this one witness from the Alliance Defending Freedom who isn't a resident of SC and didn't even bother to show up in person:
Surprise! The first (and so far only) person to testify in favor of #H4624 is a representative from @AllianceDefends, a far-right, extreme organization certified as a hate group by @splcenter. They tour the country pushing these bans against the will of actual South Carolinians. pic.twitter.com/cnifgkkO88
— SC United for Justice & Equality (@SCUnited_LGBTQ) January 9, 2024
If the bill passes in the House, it will move to the Senate, which may be less eager to advance the issue.
The bill is sponsored by House Majority Leader Davey Hiott and House Speaker Murrell Smith, joined by 27 other GOP co-sponsors. This collective sponsorship sends a clear signal that the legislation is a top priority for House Republicans.
Based on this comic strip courtesy of Lefty Cartoons (which you can support with your dollars - a pledge of $1 or $2 or more), maybe the push for 'Don't Say Gay' laws isn't a bad idea. After all, won't someone PLEASE think of the children. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
For now, there is a very strong chance that the upcoming 2024 presidential election will be a rematch of the 2020 election. Some people are bellyaching over it because they don't like either candidate.
I say get over it.
There is no surprise about who I'm supporting. President Biden has done a wonderful job as far as I' concerned, particularly in this ultra petty political climate where everyone - including pundits - care more enriching themselves than serving and educating the public.
Most specifically, Trump has always been a disaster. There aren't enough words in the English language which I can use to properly articulate how much I despise that man. As to why, there are so many reasons to choose from. If I had to pick one, it would be how he botched the COVID pandemic response and thus is responsible for the deaths of countless Americans. That's bad enough in itself but to make it even worse, Trump and his supporters are going to gaslight us about what he did.
The first video below features a timeline of Trump downplaying COVID even though he knew from the start how serious it was. The second video underscores that point because it is a timeline showing how the pandemic was growing and it includes Trump telling journalist Bob Woodward that he knew how serious COVID was from the beginning.
This video below shows how Trump denies the things he said about the pandemic with the footage of him making the statements that he claimed he didn't.
This is indicative of the bull we have to deal with now that Elon Musk is running Twitter. Musk has a serious objection to trans people(including his trans daughter) but obviously has no problem with the platform amplifying ridiculous 'Hilary Clinton is secretly a lesbian and it's all connected to Jeffrey Epstein somehow' accusations.
For the benefit of those not knowledgeable about the purveyor of this nonsense (and I apologize for making you aware of him), this is Dom Lucre, a far-right Twitter personality with over 900,000 followers. As you can tell, he is very popular because of tweets like the one above. And very inaccurate.
Dom Lucre is the internet personality of Dominick McGee, according to a New York Times feature which profiled him as one of several right-wing social media users who became famous for sharing 2020 election denial posts. Lucre is known for his active Twitter presence, where he frequently posts misinformation.
In June, when Madonna suffered a bacterial infection, he suggested vaccines were the reason she was hospitalized, and he previously claimed “following the science oftentimes leads to a graveyard.” In June, he tweeted: “Adrenochrome is real and I can prove it,” referencing a conspiracy theory embraced by QAnon that promotes the idea the wealthy, Hollywood elite and Democrats harvest the blood of children for a chemical called adrenochrome that they ingest to stay young. The theory has been debunked by members of the scientific community who note the chemical does not have rejuvenating properties.
Lucre also still posts claims that the 2020 election was stolen, alleging former President Donald Trump was the rightful winner.
Last year, he was suspended for posting a screenshot of a video depicting child sexual abuse supposedly connected to Peter Scully, an Australian man sentenced to life in prison for child sex abuse. After an outcry by many on the right, he was brought back:
His suspension drew immediate outrage from his right-wing supporters, some of whom tweeted “Free Dom” to encourage his reinstatement.
In a series of tweets Wednesday, Twitter owner Elon Musk said he was told the suspension was because Lucre posted child exploitation images connected to Scully, claiming only the people on Twitter’s child sexual exploitation team have seen the pictures and Twitter “will delete those posts and reinstate the account.”
Also, check out who demanded Lucre's reinstatement:
. . .Supporters of Lucre were quick to voice their outrage over his suspension on Twitter, including notable voices like Kari Lake, the 2022 Arizona Republican gubernatorial nominee who embraced election fraud conspiracy theories. Lake tweeted a screenshot of Lucre’s suspended account, stating: “When will the censorship end, @elonmusk?”
Chaya Raichik, known for running the right-wing Libs of TikTok social media accounts, tweeted: “FREE DOM LUCRE @elonmusk @lindayacc,” tagging both Musk and Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino. The right-wing account “End Wokeness,” which has more than 1.4 million followers, tweeted its anger over Lucre’s suspension and helped to try and trend “FREE DOM” on the platform.
The irony of Raichik defending someone who posted a video depicting child sex abuse while at the same time accusing the LGBTQ community of child sex abuse (which she often does) shouldn't escape anyone's notice.
Remember some years ago when Kim Davis was the talk of the conservative world because of her fight against marriage equality. Remember when she was heralded as an American hero and folks like Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz swooped in to get their pictures taken with her?
Well, the bill for all her nonsense is due and one has to wonder where are all of her friends?
Kim Davis now owes roughly $360,000 to two Rowan County men she denied a marriage license and their attorneys.
In on order filed Thursday, U.S. District Judge David L. Bunning awarded $246,026.40 in attorneys’ fees and $14,058.30 in expenses to attorneys for David Ermold and David Moore.
Those costs are in addition to the $100,000 total the former Rowan County clerk owes Ermold and Moore after a jury in September awarded damages to the men.
Davis was previously found to have violated Ermold and Moore’s constitutional rights when she denied them a marriage license in 2015.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys are legally entitled to request reimbursement of their fees and expenses as the “prevailing party” in the suit. The judge granted the entire sum of fees and expenses they had requested.
Davis’s legal team had objected to the total, saying it should be less than half of what the plaintiffs’ attorneys originally requested.
This was the final issue to be resolved in a more-than-eight-year-long legal battle that included “extensive discovery, multiple motions, dispositive and otherwise, four appeals to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, one petition for writ of certiorari to the United States Supreme Court and a three-day jury trial,” Judge Bunning noted.
I'm sure Davis will appeal, but the point remains. Are her friends such as Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz going to help her pay the bill should she ultimately lose this case?
