'By encouraging trans activist, Obama upstages Trump yet again' & other Fri midday news briefs

Obama

Barack Obama gave an inspiring reply to this transgender activist’s question - Even when he is as far away as India, Barack Obama reminds us AGAIN why he is a better president in his sleep than Donald Trump could ever be. And I'm not posting this just for folks to bellyache about how they miss Obama. Obama is not in the White House anymore, but we should still be inspired by his words and candor. We are still citizens of this country and we still have the power and means to fight. And that doesn't mean with desperation.

Anti-LGBTQ hate group fundraises for its UN work with swastika over a rainbow flag - Tacky, but not surprising from C-Fam 

Yesterday The Supreme Court Jolted LGBTQ People With A Frightening Reality - Even though I am hope that even if the baker wins the recently heard SCOTUS case, it won't be as far-reaching as feared to be, this piece my Michelangelo Signorile outlines the fears long after the case came to court. We need to stop being so quick to celebrate victories that we forget how they can come with caveats. This is a war over LGBTQ equality and every battle always leads to a new one. 

Trump seeks emergency court action to block transgender people from joining the military - Good luck with THAT one, fool!

America Needs Another 21,307 LGBT Elected Officials to Achieve True Equality - We only have 448 elected officials in this country. More is always better. It's a step towards success. Encouraging good LGBTQs to run for public office, then helping them to win.

Religious right Congressional ally Trent Franks resigns because of talk of surrogate motherhood

Trent Franks

On the same day that Democratic Senator Al Franken resigned over charges of sexual harassment (and I am so not happy about the entire situation),  the religious right and the GOP are now seeing an equal resignation:

Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) announced Thursday he is resigning from Congress next year. Several news outlets reported Franks’ impending departure from the House earlier Thursday. In a statement, Franks said the House Ethics Committee is investigating his “discussion of surrogacy with two previous female subordinates, making each feel uncomfortable.” “I deeply regret that my discussion of this option and process in the workplace caused distress,” he said. “In the midst of this current cultural and media climate, I am deeply convinced I would be unable to complete a fair House Ethics investigation before distorted and sensationalized versions of this story would put me, my family, my staff, and my noble colleagues in the House of Representatives through hyperbolized public excoriation.” Franks said he has informed House leadership he will resign effective Jan. 31. In a separate statement, the House Ethics Committee announced it will investigate Franks to determine whether he “engaged in conduct that constitutes sexual harassment and/or retaliation for opposing sexual harassment.”

. . . The eight-term congressman is a social conservative and one of the most aggressive anti-abortion legislators in Congress. He has led the charge, year after year, to ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy nationwide and to limit abortion in the District of Columbia. Residents of D.C. protested his efforts in 2012 by lining up outside the Arizona congressman’s office with plastic rats and photos of pot holes, suggesting that he try to fix more pressing problems in the city than women having abortions.

According to Franks's statement, the situation seems to have stemmed from him asking two female aides to be surrogates for him and his wife:

'Anderson Cooper uses the power of 'shade' during wild interview with Roy Moore's spokesperson' & other Thur midday news briefs

Watch Anderson Cooper challenge Roy Moore's spokesperson to defend his past comments about "radical homosexuals," 9/11, and Obama birtherism - It's the interview just about everyone on twitter, etc. has been talking about. Janet Porter, the extreme right-wing spokeswoman of even more extreme right-wing GOP Senate candidate from AL, Roy Moore is interviewed by Anderson Cooper and frankly there should have been admission charged. Cooper, remaining calm throughout the interview and apparently borrowing extra powers to throw shade from the rest of us gay men,  basically annihilated Porter. He peppered her with questions regarding Moore's outrageous past comments and positions, leaving her befuddled and practically speechless many times. Let me put it this way - when a charge that transgender girls are carrying camera phones in locker room showers seems to the least memorable part of an interview, we are in pretty wild territory. 

My favorite part:

Porter: "May I finish . . " 

Cooper: "No." 


Marriage equality law passes Australia's parliament in landslide vote - By the way, THIS happened. Isn't it awesome! 

Gays, pedophiles, Nazis, and the Alliance Defending Freedom - My post from last night because as of this week, I have a special hatred of the anti-LGBTQ hate group the Alliance Defending Freedom and I intend to throw the truth out about this lying, bigoted group every chance I get. Every. Chance. I. Get.

Voucher Schools Championed By Betsy DeVos Can Teach Whatever They Want. Turns Out They Teach Lies. - This affects us too. You can just imagine what these "schools" are teaching about the LGBTQ community.

Gays, pedophiles, Nazis, and the Alliance Defending Freedom

What do gays, pedophiles, and Nazis have in common?  The Alliance Defending Freedom has on occasion connected them all together. As I said in an earlier post, the organization of religious right lawyers  who on Tuesday defended a baker's supposed religious freedom to deny gay customers, have a history of  opposing LGBTQ equality so vicious that it's a wonder how it wasn't mentioned at SCOTUS as an example of possible .anti-gay animus.

If you have seen the video below (it's from last year and Alan Sears is no longer president of the ADF), see it again as a refresher course and send it to other friends and allies. I have a feeling that we are going need to remember what it contains:



Related article -Six key takeaways from The Nation's investigative report on Alliance Defending Freedom’s “legal army”  

'Old enemy of LGBTQ community becomes more prominent in Trump era' & other Wed midday news briefs

ADF hides its anti-LGBTQ animus. It's our job to rip the cover away from it.

How This Anti-Trump Evangelical Is Quietly Taking Advantage of The Trump Presidency - My dear LGBTQ brothers and sisters, an old enemy is now taking a more prominent role in undermining our equality. The Alliance Defending Freedom has done a lot of damage to us behind the scenes, but with yesterday's SCOTUS case, the group is front and center. As this article by Dominic Holden of Buzzfeed points out, I think it's time for us to start thinking more strategically. This group is pushing a "kinder, gentler" form of homophobia, showcased by figureheads such as the baker in yesterday's case. And they are doing things that I have said for the longest that WE need to do. They are studying our community and methods. And they are taking advantage of our anger to make us look like we are attacking Christianity. Marching or screeching at this group online will only fuel its narrative.  This group is more skilled than the National Organization for Marriage, the Family Research Council, the American Family Association and more methodical and patient. We can defeat its efforts but at the very least, we need to challenge our old ways of doing things. Emphasize more education about this group. Demand that the media not simply call it a group defending Christians. Demand that the true and ENTIRE story about ADF be told. And above all, tell the true and ENTIRE story yourselves. There is enough information out there and I've included a few links. ADF has skillfully hid its anti-LGBTQ animus. It's our job to rip the cover away from it.

It's not just Masterpiece Cakeshop: Alliance Defending Freedom is attacking nearly every aspect of LGBTQ equality - A reminder that ADF isn't simply about "defending Christians." That can be seen as a cover for the group to undermine LGBTQ equality. 

Alliance Defending Freedom profile from SPLC - The SPLC has called ADF a hate group but according to the Dominic Holden article from above, the organization struggled with giving ADF this label. That only goes to show how skilled ADF is in hiding it's true nature.

Ben Shapiro doesn't understand the facts of the Masterpiece Cakeshop case - I'm a bit more pessimistic about Shapiro. I believe he knows fully well but will spin it how he wants. 

Lawmaker Patted On Arm By Male Colleague Fears He Won’t Be Seen As Straight Anymore - Don't nobody want this fool. Lord! 

LGBT immigrants fear deportation as Congress debates whether to take up DACA - This is affects all of us.

LGBTQ equality vs. 'Religious liberty' has its court date

The SCOTUS oral arguments about the Colorado baker attempting to use religion as an excuse to discriminate took place today and I have to tell you honestly:

Like they always do, people overemphasize  and underemphasize what the Justices said, what questions they asked, what points they made. People are looking for the smallest clue as to how they will rule. But I don't know what the ruling will be. Of course I also said that about marriage equality and probably have said that about every court case about LGBTQ equality even if I were sure. I do know that a lot of folks on our side freaked out - as they always do.

My advice is that we have a long time from now until the case is publicly decided - spring of 2018. Let's not flip out. That includes no constant insane speculation. But I will say that the best article I read on the case was from Chris Geidner and Dominic Holden of Buzzfeed.

I found it to be precised, not opinionated - which was very needed - and inclusive of many details other articles didn't contain, like the following:

Waggoner walked a fine line between saying she wanted a ruling for her client but not a decision that creates a slippery slope, thereby possibly eroding civil rights laws for other classes of people or protecting an endless type of service providers. And yet, she sought a decision open-ended enough that other creative businesses that sell wedding services could turn away same-sex couples. Waggoner drew this line by insisting she wasn't asking to protect tailors and chefs, for example, but rather the baker's cake, which is inherently a message. 

Justice Sonia Sotomayor questioned why — even if there is a line to be drawn — the cake baker should be on the exempted side of the line. "The primary purpose of a food of any kind is to be eaten," she said. "There are sandwich artists," she said, but a sandwich-maker does't claim to create a First Amendment-protected lunch. 

Kagan synthesized the these scenarios into three "axes" of questioning, each one exploring how ruling for the baker opens further questions in a different direction. Many questions centered around which sort of business would be afforded the right to refuse service, and at what point their wares became a constitutionally protected form of expression. "A second axis is, well, why is this only about gay people?” she said, touching on questions about how a ruling could apply to racial discrimination, sex discrimination, or even, as raised at one point, disability discrimination. "Why isn't it about race?" Finally, she questioned how a decision could be confined solely to products for weddings. "What else counts?" Kagan asked — saying a funeral, bar mitzvah, or birthday could be affected. 

"So there are all three of these that suggest like, whoa, this doesn't seem like such a small thing," Kagan concluded.

Give it a read. It will calm your nerves. Also, remember that whatever the outcome, we will use it as an advantage. We will not give in to fear or despair if we lose or excessive giddiness if we win. Regardless of either outcome, this isn't over by a long shot. And when it is over, we will win because we will strive to win.

'Religious liberty' is merely the newest weapon in the 'war on the gays'

And here we go again with what I like to call "the eternal struggle." I call it that because we've been through this before and we'll probably go through it several more times in the future.

The anti-LGBTQ industry will meet us yet again at SCOTUS combat with the stakes being our equality. More specifically, a Colorado baker, with the assistance of groups who live to rip away LGBTQ equality, will see if he can use his religion as an excuse to discriminate against the LGBTQ community. The case has far reaching implications.

Don't be fooled by the spin pushed forth by anti-LGBTQ industry groups such as hate group the Family Research Council and the baker's lawyers from another hate group, the Alliance Defending Freedom. This case is not about a simple Christian being attacked or persecuted by pushy gays (which is always the spin that side puts out there) nor is it about a cake. It's not about religious freedom or religious liberty, What it's about is the same thing as the fight for marriage equality, the sodomy laws, or even the fight over adoption has been about.

It's about groups with lots of money and influence who are willing to hide their animus against the LGBTQ community behind a religious veneer while constantly working to deprive us of equality. When you pull back the phony religious layer, you will see that we are talking about decades of ugliness.

In the 70s, they said the children must be protected from "recruitment" since gays supposedly can't reproduce.

In the 80s, they exploited the ignorance regarding the AIDS crisis to make lgbts seem like deserving pariahs.

In the 90s. it was all about keeping us from receiving unfair "special rights."

And in the early 2000's, it was all about "protecting marriage."

So now we are in the middle of yet another con job propagated by slick verbiage, straw man arguments, junk science, and anecdotal stories taken out of context - i.e. "religious liberty."