'Civility' is the best friend of anti-gay hate group Alliance Defending Freedom

In "honor" of the retirement of Supreme Court justice Anthony Kennedy, one thing I intend on doing is to double down on exposing the anti-LGBTQ hate groups which are trying to undermine LGBTQ equality under the guise of freedom and religious liberty.  Make no mistake about it  no matter what they say, the goal of the ao-called pro-family and morality groups is the destruction of LGBTQ equality and safety.

One group which I haven't actually focused on thoroughly is the Alliance Defending Freedom. That group is a bunch of trained right-wing lawyers working behind the scenes to craft arguments against LGBTQ equality.  They don't get as much public attention as groups like the Family Research Council or the American Family Association, but they are very good at what they do.

According to Media Matters, ADF has its hooks in many attempts to curtail LGBTQ equality from undermining the rights of transgender students, to attempting to keep gays from adopting children, to pushing Trump's anti-transgender troop ban.  It's a juggernaut of quiet, but carefully planned, highly skilled  homophobia and bigotry.

 Media Matters also said ADF has been active in countries like Jamaica and Belize to keep homosexuality criminalized. And it gets worse. Journalist Sarah Posner pointed out that the organization has infiltrated the American judiciary via its alumni members. Because of all these things, the Southern Poverty Law Center has declared ADF to be a hate group with a long history.

However, the organization continues to get away unscathed, even racking up recent victories arguing in front of the Supreme Court. How does ADF get away with it?

'Defenders of 'civility' disappear as homphobes protest the Red Hen' & other Wed midday news briefs

Can Jared Polis win in November?

WATCH: Anti-Gay Opponents of The Red Hen Protest With Signs Reading ‘Let God Burn Them (LGBT)’ - When the Red Hen restaurant refused to serve White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, we got all sorts of lectures about "civility." Then the lecturers went away when this crap happened with homophobes protesting the Red Hen. The irony is that the LGBTQ community has dealt with protests like this and being called ugly names long before the Red Hen incident and NO ONE then talked about "civility." 

Ohio conservatives consider ‘license to abuse’ bill for parents of transgender kids - Expose our transgender children to extreme danger. Just as long as you do it while observing "civility."

Jared Polis could become America’s first openly gay elected governor - Polis won the Democratic primary in Colorado last night. And I hope he wins in November. One of the MAIN ways the LGBTQ community can hold our own and work towards equality in spite of the Trump era is when we run for and win elected office. Polis's victory would be wonderful for a number of reasons.

Sharon Brackett Becomes First Transgender Woman Elected To Public Office In Maryland - Meanwhile, Sharon Brackett also makes history.

Almost Half Of LGBTQ Employees Are Closeted At Work, Report Finds - A sad situation which many of us are more familiar with than we would like to be.

Even on its best day, the Family Research Council spins distortion about transgender troop training

The Family Research Council spins a bad distortion about the Army and transgender troop training/

Unbelievable.

Even on a day in which SCOTUS gives a part of their agenda (against women's health and right to abortions) a nod, the evangelical right has to push a distortion about the LGBTQ community.

According to a Washington Update from The Family Research Council, the United States Army is supposedly abandoning training about transgender troops:

Finally, the military is announcing a kind of transitioning we can support! For the first time since President Trump overturned Obama’s transgender military policy, the Army is shifting away from the focus on politically-correct topics like gender and back to the issues it should be concerned about -- like combat. 

In a message no one could mistake, the memo makes it clear: “Transgender training is complete across the total Army.” From now on, sensitivity classes and lessons on gender transitions will be 100 percent optional. “The move, Army leaders argue, is designed to relieve stress on the overburdened troop training regimen and refocus on soldiers’ ability to fight in combat.” In a nod to the hundreds of wasted hours spent on ridiculous topics like “male pregnancies” and “off-duty drag” the chief of the Army’s training program explained, “It was all the other [training] requirements that we levied on ourselves, or we had levied from other places” that took away from military readiness. 

Like a lot of commanders, he told the Washington Times that the trainings Obama handed down as part of the integration of people who identify as transgender “served as barriers to maximizing time… to build readiness and lethality.” Of course, this is the argument that experts like FRC’s Lt. General Jerry Boykin had been making all along. The military is a fighting force, not a gender clinic. “Talk to any service member today and you will find that a majority of them will express great frustration with the amount of time that they spend in these lectures at the expense of preparing for war,” he argues. “They spent all their training time in classrooms listening to lectures on diversity, tolerance, and inclusion instead of the Military Code of Conduct.” 

That’s time our military can never get back. Every hour (and dollar) our troops waste on the social engineering of the last administration is time they could have been on the range or practicing combat maneuvers. “When do you train for battle when you’re bogged down with these politically-correct mandates?” General Boykin asked. “You don’t. You go out and crash ships or get captured by Iranians, because you were never prepared for war.” 

Fortunately, the Army is putting an end to two years of this P.C. nonsense. “One of the things this [change has done] is reinforce to commanders out in the field that you have the authority and responsibility to ensure your units are as highly trained as humanly possible” to carry out combat operations,” Colonel John O’Grady said. And sexual politics aren’t the only thing getting the boot. Branch leaders are also paring down on other non-essential trainings. It’s about time, say most troops, who were overwhelmingly opposed to the idea anyway. With the growing number of global threats, we need our servicemen and women focused on what matters: making America safe again.

Hold your anger, shock, or disappointment for just a second. It should be no surprise to anyone who knows the modus operandi of the Family Research Council or has followed how this blog has called the group out for multiple distortions over the years that the entire story hasn't been told.

FRC took an article from The Washington Times and embellished many details to suit its lies against transgender troops.  First of all, making something optional isn't the same as abandoning it, yet that is the title of FRC's Washington Update - Army Gives Trans Training the Boot.

The Top 10 LGBT Anthems (do you agree or disagree?)

Anthems are a call to order and a way to unite folks behind a message. I present this video with caveats. It was created in 2015 and some may disagree with the songs on the list, whether because they never heard of them, disliked them, or really hated the video. Still, I'm posting the video to create discussion and to send the message that no matter how bleak things look, a community united (even a little bit) can never be defeated.

We survived worse than Trump. We will survive Trump and the entourage from hell which clings to him.

How the LGBTQ community can watch its own back and even win in the Trump era

On this third anniversary of the day marriage equality became legal, I have one message for the LGBTQ community. We need to watch our backs. It's an entirely new environment and after what happened today at SCOTUS, we need not leave anything to chance.

 A court which will justify a prejudiced ban created by religious xenophobia and will allow health centers to deliberately give women inaccurate health information under the guise of "free speech" can curtail marriage equality and LGBTQ equality in general if given the chance. Unlike the cases involving the Muslim ban and false pregnancy centers, we came out of our bout with SCOTUS with our freedom barely intact (i.e. the Masterpiece case). It was like a one-handed Hail Mary touchdown catch  with one foot inside the field of play in the last seconds of the Superbowl. But those who want to take away what is ours are empowered and will continue to be.

What I suggest is simple. Empower yourselves and each other. If you aren't a transgender man or woman, educate yourself on the community. Listen to what is being said before talking. If you are not bisexual, do the same regarding that community. Whoever you aren't in the LGBTQ and ally community, educate yourself on them. Listen to what they have to say. Learn about their struggles, their hopes, their dreams, and their fears.  Understand before passing judgement. Take in mentally before reacting verbally. Build trust with each other.

Hate group leader who treated gays without any civility is suddenly concerned about civility

FRC head Tony Perkins has no room to lecture anyone on civility.

The Family Research Council president, Tony Perkins, today regarding the controversy about Sarah Huckabee and the Red Hen:

At a restaurant in rural Virginia, liberals are ordering something to go: conservatives! For members of the Trump leadership team, there's no such thing as eating out in peace -- or, in the case of Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, eating at all. After a week of escalating tensions over immigration, the face of the White House's PR became the latest victim of the Left's "tolerance." 

Her table had barely touched their cheese boards when the owner approached Sanders and asked to speak with her privately. They walked out to the patio where Sarah was informed that she wasn't welcome at the Red Hen restaurant. "I'd like to ask you to leave," Stephanie Wilkerson told Sanders. Everyone else at the table would be welcome to stay, she was told. Without hesitating, Sarah said simply, "That's fine. I'll go." Unfortunately for Sanders, who's endured more than her share of harassment on the job, this is the treatment she and other members of the administration come to expect. In the end, she tweeted, Wilkerson's actions, "say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so." 

A few days earlier, Americans watched in amazement as protestors screamed at Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Neilsen at a restaurant in D.C. (This was after her home had already been surrounded by a mob of angry Trump opponents shouting "No justice, no sleep!") White House advisor Stephen Miller was another target, accosted by a group of unhinged liberals yelling, "Facist!" while he tried to eat. Florida's Attorney General Pam Bondi, who isn't even an administration official, had to rush away from a movie screening when a confrontation outside got too heated. The threat of real violence is something every conservative is starting to take seriously. 

House Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) watched in astonishment as Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters (Calif.) tried to stoke the fire. "If you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them and you tell them they're not welcome anymore, anywhere," she said to the horror of even her own party. Worried that things could escalate, Scalise spokesman Lauren Fine reminded America what happens when debates turn vicious. "Whip Scalise knows firsthand the dangerous consequences that can result from making political differences personal and vitriolic," she said. "Harassment is never an acceptable method of disagreement."

You have admire his attempt to frame the situation. Perkins didn't want to chance being called a hypocrite by labeling Sanders being a victim of discrimination seeing that she (and he) fully supports the idea of "religious liberty," which is defined nowadays as businesses being able to discriminate against potential customers if they are gay. Also, if you blinked, you missed his attempt to make Sanders look polite in the situation. Perkins conveniently omitted that she later used her official twitter address as the White House Press Secretary to relate the story - a possible legal no-no.

'There is nothing wrong with Drag Queen Story Hour so get over your conservative selves' & other Mon midday news briefs

Josh Bernstein: Drag Queen Story Hour Is ‘Borderline Pedophilia’ - Yes, let's get this mess way out in the open because it has been simmering for a long time. So some drag queens are reading stories to children (with their parents' permission) and some members of the religious and conservative right are exploiting it to attack the LGBTQ community. Big deal. You know where I heard the story of Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot's wife turning into a pillar of salt (what the heck is that anyway)? In my first grade class because my teacher read us her Bible. Even before then, I knew the story of Little Red Riding Hood (with the ending where the wolf eats everybody), Hansel and Gretel, Jack and the Beanstalk before I got out of kindergarten. DO NOT even get me started on the Bible? No offense but there are parts of the Old Testament that's like a Quentin Tarantino movie. You want to talk about something odd? How about being taught a Sunday School lesson at age 12 or 13 about the massacre of idol worshippers by a general ordained by God to do so. It was a very fun class THAT day as I recall. I would take a drag queen reading a nice story to kids above all of that. Give me a break! Seriously! 

Sorry Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Liars Are Not A Protected Class - Michelangelo Signorile brings up an excellent point in this extensively covered controversy.

Conservatives falsely compare refusing Sarah Sanders service to ‘Masterpiece Cakeshop’- Wonderful take on this situation.

Justices won’t hear case of anti-gay marriage florist in Washington - Don't flip out. We haven't lost this case. 

What Happened When A Lesbian Sexual Assault Survivor Went To Work For Donald Trump - Complex article, but still has a bitter conclusion nonetheless.