Trump keynoting your 'Christian' conference is nothing to brag about

Aside from the other stuff I posted last night about the Family Research Council's upcoming Values Voter Summit, there is a new development.

Apparently Donald Trump will be the first sitting president to be the keynote speaker at the summit.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, announced late Tuesday in a statement Trump would speak on Friday at the conference, which is taking place over the weekend at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. 

“Values voters have waited eight years for a leader who puts America’s mission first and respects the values that made America into a great nation,” Perkins said. “Values voters are coming to our nation’s capital thankful to hear from a president who is fulfilling the promises that he campaigned on. Since the early days of the campaign, President Trump allied himself with values voters, promising to put an end to the 8 years of relentless assault on the First Amendment

It's ironic - and deliberate on my part - that I would include Perkins's false comment about Obama assaulting the First Amendment on the very day that Trump threatens to shut down NBC  simply because the network ran a story he didn't like.

It's just part and parcel of the conundrum that is the cozy relationship with Trump and right-wing evangelicals. This is the group which continues to support him as his ratings plummet. And that's simply because he gives them what they want - access and the power to change the government to their liking regardless of the negative effects it could have; particularly to the LGBTQ community.

Based on his behavior before and especially after he won the election, FRC and others celebrating Trump keynoting their upcoming summit is yet another sign of how they really are. Behind the pious words, sincere look, and slogans of faith, country and God are a people so hungry for power that they have desecrated themselves in front of the entire nation.

When they chose to publicly support or rationalize Trump, right-wing evangelicals showed America how eager they were to trade the values they claimed to uphold for the "privilege" of diving  head first and mouth open into a vile mucky swamp.

What's happening now is that they are repeatedly dipping themselves into the fetid ooze that is Trumpism in some sort of grotesque baptism.  They are clearly pretending that the muck is clean water which will wash away their sins.

What are they going to do when they realize that there are some stains that can't be cleaned and there are some smells you simply can't wash away?

'National Coming Out Day - unstoppable & unapologetic' & other Wed. midday news briefs

Happy National Coming Out Day! One day, I may tell y'all stories about my origin (my origin? that makes me sound like a super hero . . . . or villain). But not today. Come out and be out if you can. If you are unable to, at the very least be honest with yourself and take it step by step. You don't have to apologize or give an explanation for your life:







In other news:

Letter From 114 House Democrats Challenges Trump’s Decision To Ban Transgender Troops - Don't let him ignore this letter.

Trump Administration Pulls Out of Stonewall Event, Sought Assurance That No LGBT Pride Flag is on Federal Land - Leave it to the Trump Administration to pull such a petty move as this.

New evidence reveals Russia targeted LGBTQ Americans on Facebook - Oh Good Lord!

Family Research Council 'Values Voter' Summit will see religious right meet alt-right

Steven Bannon, who mainstream alt-right views in Breitbart will be a speaker at FRC's Values Voter Summit this weekend.

It's that time again when hate group the Family Research Council will have its annual so-called Values Voter Summit  this upcoming weekend (so named because the organization high jacked the word "values.")

It's always a drag to read about when FRC and various other prominent religious right members and conservatives come together to spin their lies about the LGBTQs,Muslims, and other so-called unworthy communities or wring their hands in false abject misery of how America has supposedly fallen and they stand between it and an wrathful God wielding a thunderbolt of calamity.

This year, however, it will be nauseatingly different. With Trump in office handing out all sorts of goodies such as access and anti-LGBTQ policies and executive orders, the summit promises to be worse with them in a good mood.

But in the midst of that junk, there will be another difference which cannot be ignored. I think it's not farfetched to say that this will be an official joining of the religious right and the alt-right.

From FRC:

On Friday, October 13, former Deputy Assistant to the President, Sebastian Gorka, will address the 12th Annual Values Voter Summit taking place at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. Thousands of grassroots activists from around the country will gather in the nation's capital to hear from Gorka and other confirmed speakers which include House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), Reps. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.), RSC Chairman Mark Walker (R-N.C.), Chris Smith (R-N.J.), Dr. Bill Bennett, Laura Ingraham, Dana Loesch, "Duck Dynasty's" Phil Robertson, Todd Starnes, Steve Bannon, Judge Roy Moore, Lt. Col. Oliver North, and more. FRC Action's Values Voter Summit is co-sponsored by AFA Action, American Values, Christian Healthcare Ministries, Association of Mature American Citizens, The D. James Kennedy Center for Christian Statesmanship, The Heritage Foundation, United in Purpose, Oklahoma Wesleyan University, and Family Research Council. An exhibit hall, book signings, radio row, media row, and much more will be packed into this three-day conference.

Two new and very interesting faces will be headlining the summit - former Trump Administration officials Sebastian Gorka and Steve Bannon. Both men are controversial figures for their comments and alliances.

According to Rolling Stone, Gorka wasn't popular in the Trump Administration and no one really knew what his position was:

t's not easy to find out exactly what Gorka does in the White House for his $155,000 salary. In terms of policy, according to The New York Times, Trump's recent pro-Saudi Arabia tilt was "driven by two advisers, Stephen K. Bannon and Sebastian Gorka." But a former top White House official tells Rolling Stone, "His only job appears to be to go on talk radio or Fox News to defend the indefensible." That he does constantly, spinning the administration's confused, roller-coaster ride of a foreign policy; slamming "the fake-news industrial complex," on CNN; supporting a Supreme Court decision as "a slap in the face" to critics of Trump's Muslim travel ban, on talk radio; and, on MSNBC, explaining Donald Trump Jr.'s secret meeting with a team of Russians peddling dirt as "a massive nothingburger."

'Mississippi 'religious liberty license to discriminate against gays' bill becomes law' & other Tue midday news briefs

This just became a reality in Mississippi

The fight is on in Mississippi as it's anti-LGBTQ 'religious freedom' bill becomes law today:

Nation's most sweeping anti-LGBT law goes into effect in MS 

Mississippi Is Now Home To America’s Most Anti-LGBTQ Law. Here’s Why My Family Still Won’t Leave.

I’m A Straight Business Owner In Mississippi And I’m Horrified By My State’s New Anti-LGBTQ Law

In other news:

This Christian group helped write Jeff Sessions 'religious freedom' policy - I see I'm not the only one raising a fuss over this. This needs as much attention as possible.

Patriotic And Proud Of Their Identities, Kansas City’s Transgender Veterans Look To The Future - Keep up the fight!

If the Family Research Council isn't a hate group, why can't it refute SPLC's charges?

You can run but you can't hide from your own words, FRC.

The Family Research Council continues to blast SPLC for calling it out as a hate group. I won't to showcase it's charges this time because they are no different than the last times. All you need to know is FRC continues to play a "weapons of mass destruction" game with SPLC by accusing the organization having "offshore accounts," supposedly denigrating Christians and slandering people.

What FRC doesn't do, what it hasn't done since this entire thing began, is refute SPLC's charges that it is a hate group. Bear in mind, SPLC didn't just make these charges. It supplied proof in terms of statements from FRC employees and detailed incidents. So it seems to me that if FRC isn't a hate group, why can't the group simply refute the things SPLC is saying?

The material is on the organization's webpage. 

Contrary to what the FRC has repeatedly claimed, we do not list the FRC as a hate group because of its opposition to gay marriage or because of its religious beliefs. Instead, we list the FRC because it engages in baseless, incendiary name-calling and spreads demonizing lies about the LGBT community. 

The FRC portrays gay people as sick, evil, perverted, incestuous and a danger to the nation. It insists that gay people are “fundamentally incapable” of providing good homes for children – a myth that has been rejected by all relevant scientific authorities. One of its key leaders has actually said that homosexual behavior should be criminalized.
Perhaps the FRC’s most dangerous lie is its claim that pedophilia is a “homosexual problem,” to use Perkins’ words. Here’s what the American Psychological Association says: “Despite a common myth, homosexual men are not more likely to sexually abuse children than heterosexual men are.” The APA adds, “There is no scientific support for fears about children of lesbian or gay parents being sexually abused by their parents or their parents’ gay, lesbian or bisexual friends or acquaintances.” 

Linking the LGBT community to pedophilia is not an expression of a religious belief, as Perkins would have it. It’s simply a lie – and a particularly ugly one at that. Constantly portraying gay people as sick, evil, perverted, incestuous and a danger to the nation simply adds fuel to the fire.

And then there are the statements. Such as this one:

“The videos are titled ‘It Gets Better.’ They are aimed at persuading kids that although they’ll face struggles and perhaps bullying for ‘coming out’ as homosexual (or transgendered or some other perversion), life will get better. … It’s disgusting. And it’s part of a concerted effort to persuade kids that homosexuality is okay and actually to recruit them into that lifestyle.” — FRC fundraising letter, August 2011

And these:

“The reality is, homosexuals have entered the Scouts in the past for predatory purposes.” – FRC Vice President Rob Schwarzwalder, on radio’s “The Janet Mefferd Show,” Feb. 1, 2013.

"We believe the evidence shows … that relative to the size of their population, homosexual men are more likely to engage in child sexual abuse than are heterosexual men." — Peter Sprigg, "Debating Homosexuality: Understanding Two Views." 2011.  

 “While activists like to claim that pedophilia is a completely distinct orientation from homosexuality, evidence shows a disproportionate overlap between the two. … It is a homosexual problem.” — FRC President Tony Perkins, FRC website, 2010

These are the very things FRC need to address if it wants to prove that it's not a hate group. But I have feeling that the group won't and we all know why.

So get used to the "hate group" label, Family Research Council. You earned it and you can't simply wipe it away.

'Jeff Sessions consulted with anti-LGBTQ hate group before issuing 'religious liberty' memo' & other Mon midday news briefs

Jeff Sessions consulted with an anti-LGBT hate group before issuing his memo. Knowledge is power. Let's give the world power. 

Trump and Sessions roll back LGBTQ protections, fulfilling promise to hate group Alliance Defending Freedom - Not only did Sessions promise this to ADF, according to this article, he consulted with ADF to create the infamous guidance memo. 

 The main thing you need to remember about ADF: 

 Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is the largest anti-LGBTQ hate group in the nation and is representing plaintiff Jack Phillips in the upcoming Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission Supreme Court case. The case may determine whether businesses serving the public have the right to discriminate against LGBTQ people under the guise of “religious” or “artistic freedom.” ADF is also currently part of a joint effort, alongside a number of other anti-LGBTQ groups and hate groups, to undermine the “hate group” designation made by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). As such it has co-signed two letters opposing the designation and formally joined an “SPLCexposed” campaign. The group has supported a number of extreme, anti-LGBTQ positions, including criminalizing homosexuality. ADF (then called the Alliance Defense Fund) formally supported the criminalization of sodomy in the U.S. in 2003 when it filed an amicus brief in Lawrence v. Texas defending state sodomy laws in which it called “same-sex sodomy … a distinct public health problem.”  

When the court struck down anti-sodomy laws, ADF called the ruling “devastating” and continued its work supporting the criminalization of gay sex abroad, including in Jamaica, Belize, and India. According to SPLC, ADF representatives regularly slander and demonize LGBTQ people, including by pushing the myth that pedophilia and “homosexual behavior” are “often intrinsically linked.” An affiliated lawyer has also called marriage equality a sign of the “degradation of our human dignity” that has “led to a deification of deviant sexual practices.” The group is also leading the national campaign for “bathroom bills” targeting transgender youth. 

 I intend to raise as much hell about it as possible. Please help me.

In other news:

This Australian church donated $1 million to fight same-sex marriage - Just like the Catholic and Mormon churches did in America. And they lost. 

Here’s What Happened When The Daughter Of An Anti-LGBTQ ‘Family’ Group Exec Came Out - When family members of anti-LGBTQ industry leaders come out, I personally think God is trying to tell them something. And they hardly ever listen. 

29 Tweets That Will Make Gay Men Laugh For Like, Five Whole Minutes - This is so wrong. But it's so &%@! funny!

Mike Pence's tantrum over national anthem protest showcases his hypocrisy and homophobia

This is sure to blow up into something stupid, but before the distractions happen, I want to put the incident into a nice perspective. First the incident:

Vice President Mike Pence walked out of Sunday’s NFL game between the Indianapolis Colts and the San Francisco 49ers as several 49ers players knelt in protest during a rendition of the national anthem. “While everyone is entitled to their own opinions, I don’t think it’s too much to ask NFL players to respect our Flag and our National Anthem,” Pence wrote on Twitter minutes after leaving the game in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Pence also tweeted: 

I left today's Colts game because @POTUS and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag, or our National Anthem.

— Vice President Pence (@VP) October 8, 2017

Do you know what disrespects our flag, national anthem, and especially our soldiers even more, Mr. Pence? Saying nothing while Trump attempts to kick out transgender soldiers and Jeff Sessions attempts to strip the entire LGBTQ community of our equality under the guise of religious liberty.

Rumor control is that you, Mr. Pence, have been heavily involved in these efforts.

And do you know what is equally disrespectful? Refusing to give a clear answer when you are asked on national television (while you were governor of Indiana) on whether or not you support anti-LGBT discrimination.

Pence's actions today is a prime example of what's wrong with all of this bull about flag waving and jingoistic nonsense about loving America.

Patriotic symbols, words, and actions don't mean a damn thing when you have no problem treating your fellow Americans like crap.