Sunday, November 24, 2024

Trust Sarah McBride

Sarah McBride

Before she has even been sworn in as the first trans Congresswoman in American history, Sarah McBride finds herself in bad territory.

On one hand, there are people like South Carolina Rep Nancy Mace who have been exploiting fears about trans women to constantly degrade her. For almost a week, Mace has been tweeting and retweeting invectives misgendering McBride and exploiting her own unfortunate status as rape victim to imply that McBride will be a predator against cis women, particularly in the ladies restrooms. 

And when she's not doing that, Mace is filming videos and interviews or selling swag, all in hopes of reaping the benefits of her "crusade." Never mind that the issue is moot for a number of reasons including the fact that McBride poses no danger to anyone or that all Congressional leaders have private bathrooms because apparently that doesn't matter more than the large amount of publicity Mace getting.

On the other hand, are members of the trans community who feel "betrayed" that McBride isn't forcefully addressing these attacks. They feel that she is capitulating and allowing herself to be degraded. They feel that she's sending ugly message to the public and to trans people by supposedly standing down.

With all due respect to the trans community and absolutely no respect to that vile woman Nancy Mace, I think we should trust Sarah McBride. She is in a very tenuous position as the first trans woman in Congress. Suddenly she's thrust in the spotlight as the most visible trans woman in America today. Unfortunately, that makes her a pioneer and a target. What Nancy Mace is doing right now will mostly likely a prelude to the attention McBride will be receiving which the world will be watching.

 I think the road she has taken thus far is smart as she focuses on the task at hand while not allowing herself to be sidetracked as a item in the war against the trans community. It would no doubt be easier for her right now to engage with Mace, but to do so would undermine everything she's working for.

This is what McBride told The Advocate on Thursday:

 “I’m here to represent my constituents, including LGBTQ constituents, but I’m not here to make this about me,” McBride said. “That means fighting for them and not allowing a right-wing culture war machine to turn me into the issue.” She added, “I am continuing to work to guarantee that the Capitol complex is safe for all staff, interns, and visitors. I can deal with this; other people shouldn’t have to.” 

McBride is not stupid. She isn't naive about where she is right now, her place in history, or the folks who will exploit fears about her being a trans woman. She knows that Mace won't stop as long as it brings her media attention and engagement. And she knows that there are others practically drooling over their turn use her to inflame fears and anger. 

But for the present, McBride is drawing a line in the sand or setting down her stake, so to speak. I don't see her as avoiding the issue, I see her saying that she will not be controlled by someone else's desperate desire for attention. I see her saying that she will not react to someone attempting to sidetrack her into a wild tangent designed to put her on the defensive even before she has even been sworn in.

I don't see McBride as capitulating. I get the sense that McBride is saying that she knows that this issue isn't going away, but she will address this issue on her terms, and not on the terms of those who seek to make her defend her own existence.

Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Nancy Mace gets angry at reporter for interrupting her transphobic publicity wave with questions about Boeing layoffs in South Carolina

South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace has been riding the anti-trans train over the last 24 hours, doubling down on her targeting of trans Congresswoman Sarah McBride while constantly retweeting her attacks or appearing on news programs to pat herself on the back.

However, earlier on Wednesday, she was asked a question about an issue actually involving her constituents - the recent announcement of Boeing layoffs in South Carolina Over 200 people are scheduled to lose their jobs next year. 

Mace chose to verbally attack the reporter for asking the question. And then took credit for bringing money and resources to South Carolina when in reality, the money and resources came from a bill she actually voted against. 


During her tirade, Mace talks about the "tens of millions of dollars in resources" she supposedly brought to her district.. In truth, she voted against the bill which brought those resources to her district.

Charleston Congresswoman Nancy Mace called the nearly $26 million federal grant for the Shipwatch Square Transit and Workforce Center project with CARTA a win for the Lowcountry, touting it as “one of the largest grants for this kind of facility.” 

 However, it might not have been made possible had President Biden’s infrastructure bill not passed through congress. That was a bill that Representative Nancy Mace voted against. 

 “The optics of it? What do you want me to do? Turn my back on the Lowcountry when we can get funding for public transit? Absolutely not,” Rep. Mace said when questioned by reporters. 

 Democrat Jim Clyburn was the only South Carolinian House delegate to vote for the bill. He was not present for the conference but at a separate one in Orangeburg called his Republican peer, all but by name, out for trying to take credit. Secretary of Transportations Pete Buttigieg, who was with Clyburn, also weighed in. 

 “Welcome aboard! Look, this is good policy,” Buttigieg said. “We’re not going to hold it against the constituents of any member who was short-sighted to vote ‘no’.”


Tuesday, November 19, 2024

Targeting of trans Congresswoman Sarah McBride is latest stunt of publicity-hungry Nancy Mace

Publicity-hungry Congresswoman Nancy Mace's newest stunt is targeting trans Congresswoman Sarah McBride.

When Sarah McBride was elected as the first trans woman in Congress, there was celebration in the LGBTQ community. However, with this celebration was some concern as to how she would be treated.

Our concern was justified.

From The Advocate:

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, introduced a resolution Monday that would bar transgender women from using women’s restrooms at the U.S. Capitol. The measure, widely seen as a direct attack on Democratic U.S. Rep.-elect Sarah McBride of Delaware, the first out transgender member of Congress, has been sharply criticized as discriminatory and politically motivated. 

 The text of the resolution uses the transphobic dog whistle “biological males” and states that allowing trans women into women’s spaces “jeopardizes the safety and dignity” of women in the Capitol and House office buildings. It tasks the House Sergeant-at-Arms with enforcing the ban. Trans women are women. 

 Mace defended the proposal, telling Fox News, “The sanctity of protecting women and standing up against the Left’s systematic erasure of biological women starts here in the nation’s Capitol.” 

 McBride has responded to Mace's resolution by saying the following:

 “This is a blatant attempt from far-right extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing,” McBride told The Advocate. “We should be focused on bringing down the cost of housing, health care, and child care, not manufacturing culture wars. Delawareans sent me here to make the American dream more affordable and accessible, and that’s what I’m focused on.” 

It simply goes to show that Mace was probably celebrating McBride's election with the LGBTQ community but for completely different reasons. This issue is not about McBride, who poses no danger to anyone, especially when she uses the restroom. This is yet another attempt by Mace to grab headlines and attention. It's her brand.  While McBride seems to be devoted to serving her constituents, Mace has spent considerable time in Congress either flip flopping, betraying colleagues, engaging in stunts, or making questionable comments all designed to gain and maximize media amplification.

Such as

The time in October of last year when she wore a white t-shirt with a giant scarlet A on it (imitating the character of Hester Prynne in 'The Scarlet Letter') while claiming that she was being demonized for casting a vote against then Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy. Mace was accused of stabbing McCarthy in the back with her vote because he had helped her get elected to Congress.

The time in 2022 when she made a complete fool of herself by publicly going to Trump Towers and supplicating herself to him and MAGA after he endorsed opponent.  She apparently learned not to do it again. In 2024, she publicly supported him for president while no doubt hoping that the past statements she made against him were forgotten (Politico has a list of them). In supporting Trump, Mace was accused of betraying Nikki Haley, who also sought the GOP nomination and who had also campaigned for her against Trump's endorse candidate. In turning her back on Haley, Mace said some pretty ugly things about her.

The time in November 2021 when she went on Fox News and CNN giving two directly opposite messages about COVID. And on the same day, too. While on Fox, she praised "natural immunity" but on CNN, she spoke highly about vaccines.

 Even her own Republican colleagues have voiced anger at her constant flip-flopping of positions, calling her an "unserious person." And last by not least, she has had an ugly issue with staff turnover. According to Mediaite in February of this year:

Every single staffer working Rep. Nancy Mace’s (R-SC) congressional office on November 1 of last year has either quit or been fired, according to a stunning new report from The Daily Beast. In the three months since then, eight members of Mace’s staff have quit and one, her former chief of staff Dan Hanlon, has been fired. Hanlon is now challenging his old boss in the GOP primary in South Carolina’s first congressional district.

 . . . The Beast also collected several damning quotes from former Mace staffers who derided her as “abusive,” “delusional,” and “a walking teleprompter.” “All this is why pretty much every staffer and fellow member on the Hill thinks she’s a joke,” said one particularly scathing employee. “Also a big reason why she’s only able to hire former George Santos staffers right now.” “For Mace it was all about control. She didn’t see the staff as people but as property,” recalled another.

And a year before, Mediaite also spotlighted another Daily Beast article talking about how Mace is more concern with media appearances than her job as a Congresswoman:

If you’ve been seeing a lot of Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) lately, it’s not an accident, it’s actually her plan. Jake Lahut of The Daily Beast got his hands on Mace’s staff handbook, which reads more like a public relations campaign than a policy outline. In addition to perusing the staff handbook, Lahut spoke to three former staffers of the freshman representative. And their feedback was consistent — Nancy Mace is more about promoting Nancy Mace than making laws.

All in all, the only woman Mace seems to be concerned with is herself. Her supposed fear about McBride using the women's restroom looks like a tactic designed to get herself in front of the cameras. 

Mace is Congress's answer to the late author and publicity hound Jacqueline Susann, but with considerably less talent and embarrassingly more desperation. She's like one of those never-was models you see on the red carpets of movie premieres and awards shows wearing something outrageous in hopes of getting a bit of attention, however brief.  Then they disappear to plan their stunt for the next red carpet.

Unfortunately, Mace won't do anyone the pleasure of disappearing. Her being in Congress means we have to deal with her antics on a regular basis. And to me, that makes her more dangerous than any trans woman needing to use the restroom.

Sunday, November 17, 2024

Black Trump supporter reminded by fellow MAGA member that he will never be accepted

Knowing how social media is, the video below could be something simply to gain engagement. But then again, what if it's genuine? I think it could be.

 To recap - a Black MAGA supporter just learned a lesson that so many folks are now learning after the election. They were used by Trump and his supporters and are now being discarded. And in his case, it's not even a polite discarding. From what he says, he was told straight up by a fellow Trump supporter that he was only accepted for his vote and now that Trump got his vote, he will never be accepted in MAGA because he's Black. Granted, it was allegedly just one person who told him this, but one person is enough. After all, the child in 'Emperor's New Clothes' was only one person.

Oh well. I wonder how my barbequed pork bellies turned out. 

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

'More Democrats rebuke scapegoating trans people after election loss' & other Wed/Thur news briefs



Several Democratic Senators Rebuke Scapegoating Trans People After Election​ - Y'all really need to be reading Erin Reed's substack. She keeps up with the news we all need. And this item is definitely needed in the face of certain people trying to blame the trans community for Harris's election loss. 



Donald Trump names anti-LGBTQ+ Rep. Matt Gaetz as the next attorney general - This right here is an ugly main event. Luckily, no one is happy at about this, INCLUDING Republicans. At least for now. '

Wake-up call': LGBTQ crisis hotlines see surge of calls amid presidential election - Above all, we have to provide help for ourselves and our people after this election.

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Trans Congresswoman Sarah McBride pushes back against those scapegoating trans people for election loss

Newly elected Congresswoman Sarah McBride

People in the midst of their sorrow about last week's election are forgetting something very important. The first transgender Congresswoman was elected to public office. Her name is Sarah McBride, she's from Delaware, and she's hitting the ground running.

From Erin Reed:

In the aftermath of the 2024 election results, a handful of political pundits and two Democratic members of Congress have pointed fingers at transgender people, blaming them for Kamala Harris’s loss in the presidential race. While few voices are echoing these claims, prominent publications like The Atlantic and The New York Times have amplified these sentiments to millions of readers, despite limited evidence linking transgender issues to Democratic losses. Now, Sarah McBride, the first transgender Democratic congressperson in U.S. history, is pushing back.

 During a press conference held by the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which represents over 100 progressive members of Congress, caucus chair Pramila Jayapal was asked, “Some have blamed that voters in your party have leaned too far into culture war issues, transgender issues… how should your party respond to that?” In response, Jayapal turned to other caucus members present, prompting Sarah McBride to step forward and deliver a sharp rebuke of those claims. 

 “Let’s be clear,” McBride started. “The party that was focused on culture wars… the party that was focused on trans people… was the Republican Party. It was Donald Trump. It was the hundred million, two hundred million dollars they spent on television ads. But I want to be clear: I do not believe, from what I’ve seen from the voters in Delaware, that the voters in my state were responding to those attacks… We were seeing those ads that Donald Trump clearly prioritized… What I was hearing from voters across the state of Delaware was not the ads that Donald Trump was putting on the air. What I was hearing from folks was the need to build an economy for everyone… What I was hearing was that the American dream is increasingly unaffordable and inaccessible. What I was hearing was that we need to guarantee affordable healthcare, housing, and childcare for every person in this state and country.”

My thought is that Kamala Harris' loss in last week's election was about inflation and economics. As much as she tried, she simply could not untie herself to President Biden's low approval rating. And with people concerned about less money their pockets, Trump probably would have won the election even if he conducted a rally in the nude.

Perish the thought.

Thursday, November 07, 2024

I was going to step down from Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters, but . . .


If Kamala Harris had won Tuesday's election, I would have announced I was stepping down from Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters and closing shop.

I'm sure some of you have noticed that I haven't been blogging as much as usual. Well, this blog is 18 years old. I began it when I was 35. Now I am 53 and things aren't moving along inside me as quickly as they were back then. Also, as some of you know, my dear mother passed away two years ago and it has still taken a lot out of me.

Furthermore, I think blogging is a little passe. This is the age of substacks, podcasts, and people looking to brand and market themselves. All I ever wanted was to educate folks on anti-gay lies. I think I've accomplished this on many levels. In addition, I got a bit of notoriety and a few awards out of it. I figured a Kamala Harris possible victory would allow me to go out on a high note.

But as we know, this didn't happen. I could still hang it all up, but I won't. For one, I ain't going out like this. I've spent too much time and effort on this blog to end it on such an awful note. I've got too much pride and, yes, ego to allow that to happen.

Secondly, Tuesday took me back to 2004 after another presidential election. George Bush was re-elected then and it was on the strength of several anti-marriage equality referendums which were also on ballots across the country. He even got assistance from Black pastors. As a black gay man, that vexed the hell out of me. So much in fact that I help to start one of Columbia, SC's first Black LGBTQ organizations called Palmetto Umoja.

The other thing I did was to begin working on a book about religious right lies. It was later self-published and wasn't exactly one of my best efforts. But a side project of my book effort was to create a blog to promote the book.

This blog right here 

Believe me when I say there is nothing like a reminder of one's origin to put things in proper perspective. 

Between the creation of this blog and today, I have seen and covered a lot of the times when my community have been found itself fearful for the future. From the passing of Prop 8 to several ballot initiatives passed via smearing us as pedophiles. I've also seen and covered a lot of victories from Obama's election to seeing marriage equality become legal via SCOTUS.

I am not going to attempt to predict the future because I don't know what's going to happen. I do know that unfortunately, things are going to get ugly before they get better. And we had better be prepared to fight and get at least as ugly as legally necessary.

As you can tell by the above picture, I have no problem with getting ugly (you can take that however you would like.)

But I can tell you that I intend to be here to educate you, get you angry, make you smile and laugh, and basically feel empowered.  I may not blog as much as I used to, but I will keep up. I will also keep you up on as much as I can. Lastly, I intend to extend what I cover. And definitely be more caustic. It's time to put that stereotype of being the "vicious queen" into effect. But only just a little.

The bottom line is as long as you're reading, you can count on me to continue writing. And I intend to raise some serious hell.





Friday, November 01, 2024

Video: Donald Trump simulates graphic sex acts during Wisconsin campaign speech


This is exactly what it looks like.  You can see the video below.

During a campaign speech in Wisconsin, I guess Trump was expressing a displeasure with the microphone. I'm only explaining why you are seeing what you're seeing. And judging by the crowd's reaction, I guess the party which accuses LGBTQ people of 'sexually grooming' children has no problem with its presidential candidate pretending to masturbate and fellate a microphone in front of a crowd which includes children.

This right here is some straight up bullshit and if the media ignores this, then I don't know what to tell you. It doesn't matter if seeing this won't change the minds of his supporters. To hell with them if they still support him. We don't need trash like this in the White House. He should have never been elected the first time and every day, he continues to prove that point.