To the fool who wants to "save" my soul from homosexuality . . . do not come for me

Every now and then, I get interesting messages from people trying to "save" my soul from the supposed sin of homosexuality. I got this one today:

Homosexuality SHOULD be AVOIDED and not celebrated. Straight people(Christians especially) do not 'celebrate' homosexuality. We serve a God who shuns gay lifestyle as an abomination. We don't stand for gay lifestyle. We stand for Godly lifestyle. We have every right not to take part in applauding homosexuality. Jesus loves you. He died for you to SET YOU FREE from your sins, not so you could PERISH celebrating the wrong things. Gays certainly don't celebrate Christianity and heterosexuality. So why should we celebrate men destroying themselves with AIDS? How is that a GOOD thing? 

My answer:

Dear Person Who Makes A Lot of Assumptions,

If I ever need to find out what God thinks of homosexuality, I will go to the source and ask Him. As it is, I already know the answer. The God I know doesn't shun his LGBTQ children. He made us exactly as we are. To paraphrase a Biblical quote:

  We are the Lord's doing and marvelous we are in His eyes.

I know this personally because it is my faith in God which allowed me to accept myself exactly as I am. Perhaps you should educate yourself before you draw LGBTQs and Christians into two opposite camps. Some of us are Christian, some of us are Jewish, some of us are Muslim, while some of us embrace no religion at all. I don't need some irrelevant nobody to tell me that Jesus loves me. I know that already. As God made me to be gay, Jesus loves me as gay.

What you claim to stand or not stand for is none of my concern. No one is forcing you to celebrate anything you don't want to. But I am telling you that we are as much a part of this world as you and you need to lose that self-righteous tone which led you to invade my blog and start pronouncing judgements on me without the courtesy of getting to know me.  If you don't like it, that is your problem. You have no right to demand that the LGBTQ community live our lives embracing your sad sense of entitlement. You have no right to demand that we edit our lives to suit your ignorance and lurid imagination of what you think we do in the bedroom.

You are a sad, ignorant bigot. Your hiding behind religious beliefs doesn't make you a hero. It doesn't make you noble. It reveals simply how much of a coward you are. 

'Conservative evangelical leaders deliberately silent as Trump scapegoats immigrants' & other Fri midday news briefs

Conservative evangelicals have a new 'savior.'

Trump-Loving Evangelical Leaders Silent as He Bashes Migrants - Prime example of right-wing evangelical hypocrisy. The Family Research Council, Robert Jeffress, James Dobson, Gary Bauer, etc. go to the outer limits falsely accusing the LGBTQ community of "recruiting children" and trying to "destroy Christianity." Here we have a president openly and actively bashing immigrant men, women, children and these so-called protector of morality are conveniently silent. And why? Because they don't want to jeopardize the goodies Trump gives them with regards to access and shaping policies. Don't forget whenever Trump leaves that we got a LOT of conservative evangelical leaders we need to make give an account of their behavior when he was in office. 

 Trump: Nobody’s Done More For Religion Than I Have - White conservative evangelical dominionism is hardly a religion worth bragging about.  

Gay Billionaire Peter Thiel Says He’ll Support Trump in 2020, Calls His Lies ‘Exaggerations of the Truth’ - I don't care how much money Peter Thiel has. He ought to be ashamed of himself for supporting someone who has declared war on the LGBTQ community. 

Christian woman terrifies kids when she crashes children’s story time to yell anti-gay slurs - This right here is a hot mess. Children AND their parents were enjoying a wonderful event when Ms. Anita Bryant Wannabe came busting in talking about "homosexual indoctrination." I'm not one for violence but if I had a child and was at the event, girlfriend would have had her weave snatched.

Can't Be Converted: An Arkansas Woman on Surviving Conversion Therapy - Sad but wonderful story.

'Porno'Pete LaBarbera angry that no one is alarmed about large number of LGBTQs running for public office

LaBarbera

Regardless of how next Tuesday's midterm elections turn out, the fact that it includes a very large number of LGBTQ Americans running has not escaped many people,  particularly long-time anti-LGBTQ activist 'Porno Pete' LaBarbera. According to People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch , the enormous amount of us seeking public office has gotten him rather upset, He was on VCY America’s “Crosstalk” radio program complaining about it with host Jim Schneider. LaBarbera was especially upset that no one in the mainstream seems to negatively care about the development as much as he does. It's called "progress," my weirdo friend. Deal with it.

'They are targeting LGBTQs in Tanzania and American hate group in position to undermine action against it' & other Thur midday news briefs

Will Tony Perkins and FRC undermine efforts to stop international LGBTQ targeting?

Tanzanian City to Begin Anti-LGBTQ Witch Hunt - They are witch hunting LGBTQ people in Tanzania's capital, Dar es Salaam. It's something to keep in mind for two reasons - the LGBTQ struggle for equality and safety is universal. And anti-LGBTQ groups such as the Family Research Council, though not directly taking part in this, are in the position to undermine efforts at the United Nations to speak out against witch hunts like this:

FRC is partnered with anti-LGBTQ hate group World Congress of Families, which worked to pass Russia’s “gay propaganda” law. FRC is a dues-paying partner of the World Congress of Families (WCF), an anti-LGBTQ hate group that worked closely with Russian lawmakers, activists, and officials as the country shaped its “gay propaganda” law. After the ban passed, the group issued a press release supporting the law. The law was closely tied to a “ratcheting up of homophobic rhetoric in state media and an increase in homophobic violence around the country,” according to Human Rights Watch, and has been used to detain LGBTQ rights activists. WCF promotes the idea of a “demographic winter,” which suggests that European populations “are in decline because of homosexuality, abortion, feminism, women in the workplace, and a variety of other things that deviate from the ‘natural family.’” 

More on FRC's United Nations connections - Family Research Council is terrible, and its president Tony Perkins just got appointed to an international commission  

Will Bolsonaro's victory in Brazil usher right-wing ripple effects in Latin America? - And a right-wing president in Brazil  is sending LGBTQ Brazilians on edge. 

Activists Unfurl Giant Transgender Pride Flag at Lincoln Memorial - Because of what's been going on lately with Trump's attempt to erase the transgender community, actions like this are very appropriate. 

Transgender people turned to safety hotlines in droves in response to Trump’s erasure memo - Because it is scaring a lot of people.

 IOWA: Hundreds Of Books Donated To Library After Christian Activist Checks Out And Burns LGBT Titles - We still got lots of support everywhere.

While Trump demonizes immigrants for midterm elections, the religious right demonizes transgender community

With good reason, a lot of folks are up in arms about Trump's attempt to demonize immigrants and asylum seekers to get his base out for next Tuesday's election, Unfortunately, folks are missing how anti-LGBTQ groups are doing the same thing to the transgender community in order to undo non-discrimination protections in Massachusetts. A vote about this will also be on the ballot next Tuesday. Look at this commercial they are running.

Of course this is a damn lie which has two goals - reduce the argument of trans-inclusive nondiscrimination laws to a single argument about bathrooms and then to scare the voters. According to a wonderful article in IntoMore:

 In seeking to strike down the two-year-old law, the Massachusetts campaign is hewing extremely to the tactics waged by anti-LGBTQ activists in Houston three years ago. The Campaign for Houston successfully lobbied to overturn the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO), which was voted down by a 61-to-39 margin in November 2015. Commercials claimed trans-inclusive protections could allow “registered sex offenders” to abuse innocent people in public restrooms simply by “claiming to be a woman that day.”

 IntoMore also pointed out how both ads are deceptive:

Each segment relies on what is a widely debunked myth to stir up anti-trans sentiment. A recent study conducted by UCLA’s The Williams Institute showed the passage of local nondiscrimination ordinances in the Bay State had not led to an increase of attacks on women and children in public bathrooms — a crime which remains illegal even with trans-inclusive protections in place. 

But deceptive ads and claims geared to motivate fear is the standard modus operandi of the anti-LGBTQ industry. It worked for a while regarding non-discrimination ordinances in general and against marriage equality.

Next Tuesday, we will learn just how successful it will or won't be against the transgender community.

'Hate groups attempting to undo trans-inclusive nondiscrimination protections in Massachusetts' & other Wed midday news briefs

Conservative gay & fake journalist Jim Hoft may have finally gotten into a mess he can't get out of. See second news brief.

These national anti-LGBTQ groups are working to make anti-trans discrimination legal in Massachusetts - "National anti-LGBTQ groups are aligned with and have worked alongside a campaign in Massachusetts that would repeal the state’s trans-inclusive nondiscrimination protections, which protect transgender people from discrimination in housing and the workplace and give them equal access to public facilities such as bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity. The anti-trans Keep MA Safe campaign was started by Massachusetts Family Institute, a state anti-LGBTQ group with direct ties to major national groups Family Policy Alliance, Alliance Defending Freedom, and Family Research Council." Sigh. Just with like marriage equality, anti-LGBTQ hate groups and their cohorts are spurring a statewide vote and using horror stories, bad science, and lies to win. If they win in Massachusetts, here we go with another round.

Rightwing fake news site run by a gay man implicated in conspiracy to derail Mueller investigation - I once met Jim Hoft. He is an awful person and deserves what backlash he may receive.  

What it means to the LGBTQ community to have bisexual people in Congress - As far as I'm concerned, it means more LGBTQs in Congress. And that's a good thing.  

LGBTQ Voters and Midterms: What’s at Stake? - An enormous amount of consequences. Get off your shoulders and vote.

Saturday Night Live asks 'Is Dracula Gay?'

All of the controversy from this midterm election is killing me and the hits on my blog. Trump is like the blob in that horror movie because he is  consuming all of the attention from other issues, including LGBTQ issues.  Also, I find myself playing nurse maid because from time to time, I am posting videos and the like devoted to making people laugh and taking their mind off of the monstrosity in the White House and the havoc he is creating in the LGBTQ community. At least for a little while.

Granted,  I want to cheer people up, not distract them from what needs to be done - particularly voting. With that in mind, the video below is from a 1994 episode of Saturday Night Live with guest host John Travolta. In this sketch, Travolta portrays Count Dracula attempting to prove to a young couple that he isn't gay in spite of evidence to the contrary.


SNL - Dracula from lorne michaels on Vimeo.