'Couple suing Kim Davis awarded over $200,000' & other Fri midday news briefs

Kim Davis (before losing $200,000 in a court case.)

Judge awards couples who sued Kim Davis more than $200,000 in fees - GOOD! Maybe Mike Huckabee and all of those other folks cheering Davis will chip in the coins.

Taxpayers will pay for Kim Davis' stand: Judge orders Rowan County to pay attorneys' fees to same-sex couples who sued clerk - More details. Give it up! Turn it loose! 

LGBT groups and allies hold press conference in rotunda while Senate committee hears anti-trans bills - Big day of drama in Texas. 

Conservatives propose anti-trans ‘bathroom’ initiative in Alaska’s biggest city - Like cooking oatmeal. Always lumps you have to beat down. 

Donald Trump to Nominate Another Anti-LGBTQ Secretary to the Army - Donny didn't learn his lesson from the last time. 

Anti-LGBTQ Group Spokesperson Pulls The ‘Fake News’ Card - I have been driving folks crazy by posting this Huffington Post article twice  as well as tweeting it but trust me when I say that it is necessary. Everyone is paying attention to Trump, etc but some of us are fighting small skirmishes like this one. The anti-LGBTQ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom has been on a media blitz bashing SPLC for designating them as a hate group. In the midst of it all, the spokesperson for the group claimed that allegations regarding her group's attempts to support the criminalization of gays in foreign countries is fake news. HOWEVER Media Matters has "the receipts" (i.e. the footage, pictures, verbatim speeches) which prove her to be a liar. I caught this and have been trying to make the situation go viral. And thanks to you all, it is amongst the top stories in the Huffington Post Queer Voices section. But please help me more. Read it if you haven't already. Please share it in every way possible. This is US on the offensive instead of the defensive, for a change. And we shouldn't spare the enemies of equality any mercy.

Family Research Council pleads with Jesus about those 'wicked' transgender soldiers protecting its freedoms

A supposedly Christian organization sends out a public prayer to God. What do you think the prayer would be about?

Safety? Peace? Decent healthcare? Protection against the ills of the world:

Those choices would probably be high on the list if one were talking about a legitimate Christian organization. However, since it's the anti-LGBTQ hate group Family Research Council, the issue de jour is one which the group has been exploiting to spook its supporters and drive up the donations

Transgender men and women in the military:

“Heavenly Father, it is time for you to act, for your law is being broken! This policy must be rejected: it brazenly defies You, God our Creator, and Your fixed, eternal moral laws. We defied your definition of marriage, now we defy the very apex of your created order, mankind created in your own image, male and female. Please forgive us, extend Your mercy to us, and grant us repentance. You who bless nations that obey You, and curse nations that disobey you; You who promise battleground victory to those who obey you, but defeat to all who disobey, have mercy! Grant repentance to President Trump and Secretary Mattis for even considering to keep this wicked policy in place. Grant them understanding, courage, and willpower to stand up to the forces of darkness that gave birth to it and wholly to repeal it. Save our young men and women who are already living under this tyranny. Save our children from the predictable impact of this policy. May Your people not only pray, but rise and use every tool they possess as American citizens to preempt this policy. Please correct the members of Congress who used their votes to enable and fund it. We appeal to You! In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Some things are so silly, so contradictory and downright bizarre that they render me speechless.

'Lawsuit against congressman claims LGBTQ rainbow flag akin to religious display' & other Thur midday news briefs

Congressman Alan Lowenthal (pictured) is being sued for this pride flag display

Man files suit against Long Beach congressman, claiming gay rights flag amounts to religious display - I wish this was a joke. Some homophobic grandstanding thunderhead (he has filed other lawsuits) is suing three members of Congress for displaying the rainbow pride flags outside their offices. He claims that the flags amount to religious displays. Somehow, I think the religious right will be avoiding this situation for a number of reasons. Just take your pick.

FRC Is Outraged That Obama ‘Refuses To Sit On The Sidelines’ - Hate groups gotta raise those "coins."

Anti-LGBTQ group spokesperson pulls the ‘fake news’ card - My recent post condensed and in The Huffington Post. Please show your love by liking and/or retreating.One of the reasons why anti-LGBTQ hate groups get away with what they do is because people are too blase about them. That's why their spokespeople have no problem with telling bad lies in a public forum. They feel that it will go unnoticed. 

UNAIDS Report Reveals Continued Progress in Global HIV Fight - Good news, mostly. But there is still more work to do. 

HBCU leaders focus on LGBT inclusion during summit with advocacy group - Wonderful news!

Racist webpage joins Family Research Council's effort to smear SPLC

'White nationalist', i.e. racist website VDARE is joining FRC's anti-SPLC smear

The Family Research Council and other organizations attacking the Southern Poverty Law Center for designating them as hate groups just got some assistance in their quest.

But I doubt it's the kind of help they want or need.

 According to Media Matters:

VDARE.com, which the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has described as a “white nationalist” and “anti-immigration hate website,” has joined other hate groups in an official smear campaign against SPLC launched by anti-LGBTQ Family Research Council (FRC). 

FRC and other organizations that SPLC has labeled hate groups launched a campaign on July 17 accusing SPLC of “fueling hate, killing free speech and even encouraging terrorist-style attacks on those it doesn’t agree with,” as the Washington Examiner described it. The campaign included a “planned Monday tweetstorm” and the suggestion that its supporters use the hashtag “#SPLCexposed.” 

White nationalist hate website VDARE joined FRC’s campaign on July 18, tweeting the #SPLCexposed hashtag alongside an accompanying article from the site that called SPLC the “Southern Poverty Lie … Center” and touted the #SPLCexposed Twitter campaign. The article also attempted to cast doubt on the reasoning behind SPLC’s designation of anti-immigrant hate group Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). 

 . . . According to SPLC, VDARE, founded in 1999 by English immigrant Peter Brimelow, is an “anti-immigration hate website” with a “white nationalist ideology” that frequently publishes articles advocating for a white America and filled with anti-Semitic tropes. One article asserted that “America was defined — almost explicitly, sometimes very explicitly — as a white nation, for white people.” Another claimed that Jewish people’s “objective has been control of economic resources and political power.” Yet another article lamented that “whites are doing something no other people have ever done in human history” by welcoming “replacement by aliens” and sacrificing “our interests to those of favored minorities.” 

SPLC noted that the website also posts stories by prominent anti-Semite Kevin MacDonald and that even Brimelow acknowledges that VDARE “hosts ‘white nationalists’” but argues that they merely “aim to defend the interests of American whites”

I guess the adage of "when you lay down with dogs, you end up with fleas" is highly appropriate here. And the fact that I can direct it to both FRC and VDARE is delicious icing on the cake.\

All jokes aside, FRC would do best to publicly distance itself from VDARE. And soon.

After all, what would people think?

'State Dept dodging questions about silence over anti-LGBTQ persecution in Chechnya' & other Wed midday news briefs

Secretary of State Tillerson

State Dept. dodges question about Tillerson’s silence on Chechnya - Secretary of State Tillerson needs to speak out against LGBTQ persecution in Chechnya. No excuses. 

 The Religious Left is getting under right-wing media’s skin - For those who are wondering on the absence of the "religious left" while the religious right bogarts the conversation about culture, values, and morality. Not necessarily an LGBTQ issue per se. But then again, yes it is. 

Salvation Army among New York City drug clinics rejecting transgender people - Okay, I know the Salvation Army does good work with the bell ringers at Christmas, but this here is NOT right. The organization should NOT get a pass for this.

A Texas-Sized Special Session Is Underway Solely To Attack Transgender People - A mean spirited, nasty hot mess. And this nastiness includes attacks on transgender children.

Mormon University Professor Fired After Pro-LGBT Facebook Post - So much for "religious liberty."

Alliance Defending Freedom spokesperson cries 'fake news' while omitting her group's paper trail of homophobia - Just in case you missed my post from last night.

Alliance Defending Freedom spokesperson cries 'fake news' while omitting her group's paper trail of homophobia

ADF's Kerri Kupec made a faux pas in defending her group.

Apparently all of the attention focused on the homophobic deeds of the Alliance Defending Freedom and SPLC naming them and other religious right organizations as hate groups has exploded into a huge controversy.

Granted, this controversy is overshadowed by the GOP continuously Keystone Kops-like efforts to repeal Obamacare and the firestorm over Trump's alleged Russia connections during last year's election.

Nevertheless, it is huge ado because now ADF is dragging ABC News into the storm.

From One News Now:

A leading Christian law firm is pushing back against an ABC News story that labels them a "hate group," describing it as "journalistic malpractice." Alliance Defending Freedom invited Attorney General Jeff Sessions to a conference on religious freedom last week. In an apparent attempt to link President Trump's attorney general to some scandal, ABC News – reporting on the AG's participation in the conference – trotted out an accusation that ADF was an "anti-gay hate group." ADF's director of communications, Kerri Kupec, says the phraseology was an old trope made up by the left-leaning Southern Poverty Law Center.

One News Now's article was a biased, one-sided interview with Kupec whining about how supposedly SPLC is intolerant to ADF's seemingly innocent goals of "protecting religious liberty." Usually, I would be crying foul, but not this time.

Kupec, you see, proceeded to put ADF in a hole with the following claim:

In its report, ABC says ADF (according to SPLC) "specializes in supporting the criminalization of homosexuality abroad." To which, Kupec responds: "I have no idea where that came from. That's fake news, for sure."

So is Kupec saying that her organization doesn't support the criminalizing of homosexuality in foreign countries? Or if we were to parse her words to exact phrasing, is she saying she doesn't know where that idea came from?

If the latter is the case, one wonders if Kupec is lying or has she not checked the history of her employer?

'TX business groups stand against anti-trans 'bathroom bill' & other Tue midday news briefs

Will TX Gov Greg Abbott get his 'bathroom bill' passed? Hopefully not.

Business groups tell Texas lawmakers: Reject ‘bathroom bill’ - Get with the program, Texas. Or face the consequences. I doubt the religious right will be donating funds to bail you out.

How The Religious Right’s Love For ‘Lion Of Christianity’ Putin Is Helping To Shield Trump - Unfortunately, this is another example how religion and tyranny goes hand-in-hand. 

Every LGBTQ Rights Group You’ve Ever Heard Of Opposes Two Of Trump’s Judicial Picks - Hoo boy! And they may get confirmed. Well another mountain to climb, another river to cross. 

How the Congressional Assault on Trans Service Members Was Beaten Back - But, as this item shows, having to climb mountains and cross rivers don't necessarily mean the end result is defeat for equality.