LGBTQ 'Conversion Therapy' Survivor: 'They Got Some Weird Joy Out of Torturing Children'

 This riveting video serves as a reason why we must fight to outlaw the fraudulent practice of "ex-gay" or conversion therapy (especially for children) and not allow the religious right to divert the argument with the false concept of "religious liberty" or "religious freedom." Your religion does not give you the right to harm anyone, especially children.

 Hat tip to the Human Rights Campaign.

'Trump nominates homophobic extremist Gary Bauer to religious freedom committee' & other Wed midday news briefs

Gary Bauer

Trump nominates homophobic former Family Research Council chief to board of ‘religious freedom’ crusaders - It's bad enough that Tony Perkins was nominated to serve on this committee. The situation has just become worse because Trump has nominated Gary Bauer. Perkins may be a rabid homophobe, but Bauer is something worse. He was the first president of the Family Research Council, and was pivotal in trafficking all sorts of anti-LGBTQ propaganda. Before then, he worked in the Reagan Administration. And if we are to believe the words of the late C. Everett Koop, the Surgeon General at the time, Bauer deliberately undermined his efforts to educate Reagan about the AIDS crisis when it was first breaking out because he felt that it was God's punishment and people should die because of it. 

Gary Bauer - the anti-gay talking head who undermined the fight against HIV/AIDS in the Reagan Administration - My 2014 post on what Bauer did in the early 80s. 

Republican religious extremist who sponsored anti-gay First Amendment Defense Act loses primary - Ha! Ha! Too bad, so sad (okay, not to sad.)

Malcolm Kenyatta Makes History With State House Primary Victory - By becoming the first openly gay candidate of color ever to win a state House primary in Pennsylvania!

Remember when religious freedom panel appointee Tony Perkins called gays 'pawns of the enemy,' i.e. Satan?

Tony Perkins, one of the most prominent anti-LGBTQ activists in the country and leader of the SPLC-designated hate group the Family Research Council, was just appointed by Sen. Mitch McConnell to serve on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Does it even matter what the committee is all about? It can't be positive if Perkins is on the committee. Now I could got into details about why the SPLC considers his organization a hate group and I could talk about the many times FRC and Perkins himself have deliberately relied on junk or cherry-picked science and outright lies to denigrate and smear the LGBTQ community.  But I will simply leave links to those moments.

Instead, I think the video below from 2011 of Perkins calling gays "pawns of the enemy," i.e. Satan is enough to show why putting this man on any religious committee is simply ridiculous.

'Trump's CDC pick once worked with group which claimed AIDS was 'God's judgement' against gays' & other Tue midday news briefs

Robert Redfield has some explaining to do.

Trump’s New CDC Director: AIDS Is ‘God’s Judgment’ Against Gays

Why Trump's new CDC director is an abysmal choice

 We need some type of clarification on Robert Redfield, Trump's pick to lead the Centers for Disease Control. He once worked with a group which claimed that AIDS was 'God's judgement' on gays.  Redfield also allegedly designed policies which harmed infected personnel in the military. We need to find out  what he now believes about HIV/AIDS and a multitude of other issues.  It has been CDC data which served as the steel wall against anti-LGBTQ industry junk science. I've used this data many times to refute anti-gay propaganda. So I am extremely bothered by anyone with a questionable background leading the group.

Lawmakers inquire about 'troubling' removal of SBA's LGBTQ resources - Don't let the Trump Administration get away with any attempt to erase the LGBTQ community. 

Fox contributor Pastor Robert Jeffress lies and claims people “manufactured” his bigoted comments - Fool, they got you on video and in writing. 

Cameroon police arrest 25 men for homosexuality because ‘Cameroon has laws to enforce’ - The struggle is universal.

Anti-LGBTQ hate group employee defends anti-gay adoption law with skillful evasion

I had a very nice twitter conversation today with Kellie Fiedorek of the Alliance Defending Freedom regarding the recent law passed in Oklahoma which allow adoption agencies to receive taxpayer funding while discriminating against the LGBTQ community.

For those who don't know, the Alliance Defending Freedom has been called a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center due to its diligent attention to undermining LGBTQ rights on many levels. From writing anti-transgender student bills to defending discrimination against the LGBTQ community to helping efforts to put gays in jail simply for their sexual orientation in countries like Belize and Jamaica, ADF is a one-stop shop for attempts to put bigotry and homophobia into laws.

And (surprise, surprise) ADF also has a hand in crafting bills like the one just passed in Oklahoma.

Of course ADF doesn't actually come out of the box screaming about the "homosexual agenda" like other folks we know, such as Peter LaBarbera or Linda Harvey. Instead, ADF is very passive-aggressive, sort of like a racist organization which says that "it's not anti-black, just pro-white."

The sad thing is, as you will read in photocopied Twitter thread below, ADF employees come across nice. So nice in fact that you almost forget what the organization is actually about  (Editor's note - please pardon the spelling errors and the typos on my part) :

'Pence addresses LGBTQ-unfriendly college, credits Trump with supposedly more people believing in God' & other Mon midday news briefs

Mike Pence addresses one of the most LGBTQ-unfriendly colleges in the country - And that's not the most shocking thing about the situation. Check out the news brief below.

WATCH: Mike Pence says more Americans believe in God now because Donald Trump is president - This right here is the most shocking. And he is probably right if he is talking about the number of Americans who have sank to their knees crying "Oh God! Why is this fool in charge!" 

Anti-gay adoption bills mask messages of old bigotry with false appeals to religious freedom - My post from earlier this morning because if you haven't read it yet, you really should. 

LGBTQ Groups Call New Oklahoma Adoption Law Discriminatory - THIS is what I'm talking about in the above news brief. 

Scott Lively Wants To Be The Champion Of ‘Authentic Conservative Homosexual’ Voters - He means self-hating, closeted gay voters.

Anti-gay adoption bills mask messages of old bigotry with false appeals to religious freedom

When we attempt to take advantage of our fairly won marriage victory by going through the  rituals and routines it encompasses, that same religious horde conjures up the argument that innocent inquiries into wedding shops and bakeries or desires to simply start a family via foster care or adoption are actually strategic plots to undermine and destroy Christianity. And that people and industries whose so-called religious beliefs would never be "protected" if they were exploited to deny service because of race, religion, or gender suddenly need a blanket of protection against the gay community because we are acting as if we are normal Americans.

Don't be fooled by the lies folks say regarding the law in Oklahoma, the soon-to-become law in Kansas, and several other similar laws which allow adoption and foster care agencies to discriminate against gays while receiving tax dollars.

The proponents of these contraptions masquerading as bills and laws will  claim that agencies doing a service shouldn't have to betray their "core beliefs." Then they will tell you exaggerated anecdotes and spin awful tales of how supposedly gays are targeting Christians for financial ruin and how that these laws are the only thing standing between having successful businesses and people losing their homes, livelihood, etc.

Their spin is so good that you tend to forget that behind it is a syndicate of religious zealots and organizations with lots of money, lots of media savvy, a lot of connections to government, and a self-righteous mindset which makes them immune to any type of self-examination that doesn't end with God coming down from Heaven and anointing them with crowns while  a host of angels sing their praises.

Let me speak for other side of the issue, i.e. the men, women, children, and families who are and will be damaged by these laws. No one is paying attention to us. No one seems to care about our core beliefs or our livelihoods while preening, precisely coiffed men and women ooze fake sincerity as they repeat rehearsed talking points about "religion being this nation's cornerstone," etc. etc.