Trump's anti-LGBTQ adoption, foster care policy deliberately sends message of second-class status

Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council

By now, we all should know about Trump's latest attack on the LGBTQ community, ie allowing faith-based adoption and foster care agencies to receive taxpayer dollars while refusing to work with potential LGBTQ parents. And naturally, Tony Perkins and the rest of our "friends" at the Family Research Council are downright giddy over it

But not giddy enough to not to misdirect about Trump's proposal:

The Trump administration couldn't agree more. And on Friday, the first day of National Adoption Month, HHS kicked off the celebration by announcing a change years in the making. For the first time since Barack Obama, adoption agencies won't have to violate their faith -- or parents' wishes -- in placing kids. Under a new rule proposed by the president's team, faith-based providers will be able to continue to serve their communities in a manner consistent with their religious beliefs. 

That doesn't mean same-sex couples can't adopt children. The liberal media -- and its hysterical headline writers -- would love for you to believe that. But this rule has nothing to do with outlawing gay adoption or discrimination of any kind. The same adoption agencies that matched other families with kids before this bill will still be matching them with kids after. That's because this debate has never been about banning LGBT adoption -- it's about letting everyone operate by their own set of beliefs.

You will notice what's not mentioned in that passage - any justification of LGBTQ tax dollars going to an entity which will discriminate against us. In fact, there is no mention of that conundrum in any part of FRC's piece, even though that is the main objection to Trump's proposal. Try as they might, neither Perkins, nor FRC, nor anyone supporting the proposal can't justify our tax dollars going to entities which will discriminate against us. Therefore they avoid that argument as much as they can.

We shouldn't let them ignore this.  The LGBTQ community shouldn't allow ourselves to be put in a Catch-22 situation in which the narrative is that we have to choose between our rights as taxpayers and the ability of a child to have a family. That's false narrative. We aren't the ones who demanding to have things both ways.  We aren't the ones thinking that we don't have to follow the same rules as everyone else. We are taxpayers and we should be treated with as much dignity and respect as heterosexual taxpayers.  Religion should not be seen as an excuse to steal our monies, because that is what Trump's proposal is - wholesale theft.

To me as a gay man, it's downright humiliating to have an entity refuse to work with me on the basis that it finds my sexual orientation as sinful and then be freely given my hard earned tax dollars as governmental approval of its scorn. It's downright degrading. It's like being spit upon and then forced to fork over cash to the person doing the spitting. Don't be fooled by any spin given by the Family Research Council or any group favoring Trump's policy. It's not about religious liberty. It's about sending a message to the LGBTQ community that no matter how many battles we win or how many of us are out and thriving, we belong in second-class status and don't deserve respect because we aren't "normal."

If religious-based adoption and foster care agencies don't want to work with potential LGBTQ parents, then they shouldn't have their hands out demanding our hard earned tax dollars. If they feel that we are undeserving of their services, they should have the same negative point of view about grabbing our money.

'What's at stake for LGBTQ Americans in the 2020 election' & other Mon midday news briefs

One Year Out: What’s at Stake for LGBTQ Americans in 2020 - There is nothing wrong with being a single-issue voter when that issue happens to be your equality.

Trump administration to allow adoption agencies to discriminate against LGBTQ people - I know you probably already heard what happened on Friday but this bullshit bears repeating.

African HIV experts are calling on Uganda to legalise homosexuality - Would be nice, although I don't think it's going to happen any time soon.

Why were SCOTUS Justices Alito and Kavanaugh meeting with anti-LGBTQ activist Brian Brown?

What in the world were SCOTUS Justices Alito and Kavanaugh doing meeting with anti-LGBTQ activist Brian Brown? Presently, SCOTUS is mulling over three cases having to do with anti-LGBTQ discrimination.

Something happened last week which raises a question about the possible bias of some SCOTUS justices when it comes to ruling on LGBTQ issues. But hardly anyone is talking about it.

From Quartz:

On Oct. 29, Brian S. Brown, president of the conservative advocacy group National Organization for Marriage (NOMA), tweeted a photo of himself with justices Brett Kavanaugh and Samuel Alito and boasting about a “great day” at the US Supreme Court. The tweet raised alarm bells for court critics. 

NOMA regularly files amicus briefs with the court, as it already has this term in some of the most controversial cases before the justices. Brown’s organization, as a “friend of the court,” submitted a filing opposing a finding that Title VII, an anti-employment-discrimination statute, protects gay and transgender people.

Congresswoman with extensive record of homophobia now helping 'ex-gay' group lobby on Capitol Hill

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (seen here accepting an award from the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins in 2018) helped an 'ex-gay' group lobby Congress by securing space for their forum.

Thursday on Capitol Hill, there was a group of people who called themselves "ex-gays" lobbying against pro-LGBTQ legislation.

A group of people from across the country who formerly identified as gay and transgender have descended upon Washington this week to share their stories and lobby against two proposed LGBTQ-rights bills. The group is made up of 15 members of Church United and Changed, two California-based organizations that seek to provide community for, and protect the rights of, “formers” — individuals who formerly identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. The bills the group is lobbying against are H.R. 5, better known as the Equality Act, and H.R. 3570, or the Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act. Both have been supported by the country’s major LGBTQ advocacy organizations, though neither is expected to become law anytime soon.

 Their existence and plans were mostly ignored or laughed at by the LGBTQ community. We've seen "ex-gay" groups and personalities come and go. No  matter how they repackage themselves as something new, they always pander the same old homophobia and ridiculous talking points.

But according to the Huffington Post, this group was able to hold a forum in the Cannon House Office Building, next to the office of Democratic Rep.  Ted Lieu, who is the sponsor of a bill outlawing "ex-gay" therapy.

How were they able to do this? Thanks to another Congressional leader who has a long history of opposing the LGBTQ community and our equality - Rep. Vicky Hartzler.

Because Changed held the forum in a taxpayer-funded congressional space, the event required a member of Congress to sponsor the discussion. And although the group both refused to disclose who that representative was and also denied that they knew their identity, a Capitol official familiar with scheduling told HuffPost that Hartzler was the member who signed off on the event. 

A staffer for Hartzler initially denied she was the sponsor. “This was a Family Research Council event,” said Danny Jativa, Hartzler’s communications director. 

Family Research Council does appear to have been involved in the event, as handouts supplied included FRC literature, including an “issue analysis” titled “Are Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE) Effective? Are They Harmful? What the Evidence Shows.” 

After HuffPost pressed Hartzler’s office again over email, however, noting that a member of Congress would have had to sign off on the event, Jativa admitted that Hartzler had secured the meeting space for the group. 

“The only involvement Rep. Hartzler’s office had with the event was putting in an order to request a meeting space. Our office, nor the member, participated in the event. We did not recruit nor advertise the event in any way, shape, or form,” Jativa said.

The Huffington Post points out that Rep. Hartzler is a long time opponent of the LGBTQ community.

Franklin Graham whines about Trump's impeachment and gets dragged on Twitter

Most likely, the House will vote to impeach Trump. That's a fact. And Trump's white evangelicals supporters aren't happy about that. A lot of them have been very vocal with their anger:

Faith leaders told President Donald Trump at a private meeting at the White House this week that they saw the Democrats’ impeachment efforts in Congress as an attack on their conservative agenda, several attendees told McClatchy. 

Trump’s meeting on Tuesday with at least 25 faith leaders from around the country was not on his public schedule, however it was acknowledged by a brief White House statement later that day. Johnnie Moore, a member of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom who attended the meeting, said faith-based leaders vented about the impact of impeachment efforts on their legislative priorities and that the sentiment was, “they’re trying to impeach us.” 

“Agree or disagree with the evangelical community, we represent a third of the country in some form. In a democracy, our voice matters, and our voice deserves representation in the public square,” Moore said. 

. . . Robert Jeffress, senior pastor at First Baptist Dallas and a participant in the meeting, has been promoting a Public Religion Research Institute poll that found 94 percent of Republicans and 99 percent of evangelical Republicans oppose impeachment. “Many evangelicals like myself believe that this is more than just a political skirmish,” he told McClatchy. 

“They really believe that to impeach President Trump would be to impeach their own closely held values. And that’s why they take impeachment so personally,” Jeffress said about the faith leaders.

Notice that none of these folks tried to defend Trump against the charges that he threatened to hold back aid from the Ukraine if the government did not investigate Democratic presidential front runner Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

I think it's because they don't care. They are defending Trump because he gives them trinkets, i.e. the power to create policy and shape the nation into their version of a so-called Christian nation. They are so shortsighted. They think that Trump has elevated them, when in reality he has reduced them. He's wrecked their reputations and made the majority of the country see them as the fake, posturing hypocrites that they are.

Trump supporting pastor Franklin Graham got a taste of that on twitter Thursday night. He sent out the following tweet:

This is a sad day for America. Our politics in this country has hit a new low. @SpeakerPelosi and her followers in Congress have weaponized the impeachment process. This is just another attempt to tarnish and embarrass @POTUS @realDonaldTrump before the next election. 1/2

— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) October 31, 2019

And proceeded to get torn to shreds:

" i moved on her like a bitch, knew she was married "
DONALD J TRUMP

— Paul Becker (@horsevtnek) October 31, 2019

Franklin, if you don't understand that Trump abused his position, it's probably because you abuse your position daily pretending to be a minister. The best thing for the BGEA and the Purse is for you to resign as well when Trump's impeached. You've abused your power too long

— Cheerwhine (@cheerwhine1) October 31, 2019

'Legislation planned to negatively target trans children' & other Thur midday news briefs

This Republican wants to make it illegal for trans kids to receive medical care - This is probably going to be the new "bathroom bills" controversy.

Trump judicial nominee cries at hearing during questioning on attitude toward LGBTQ people - Nope. Sorry. I am not moved.

Anti-LGBTQ Group's Compound Ordered Sold for $2.8 million - Give it up, turn it loose.

Uganda government urged to drop charges against LGBTQ activists - This entire incident is an ugly mess.

'A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2' is the gayest horror movie you will ever see

Since Thursday is Halloween, let's do a frivolous and historic post for tonight.

A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2 is considered by many to be a very subversively gay horror movie. Of course when I watched it, I was surprised and pleasantly pleased by the amount of male nudity is showed. Now, as our community has moved out of the closet and into the warm glow of sunshine, it turns out that the undercurrent of homosexuality in this movie was in fact intentional.

Or let my friend, Matt Baume tell you more:

Or if you don't want to hear all of that talking, check out these scenes from A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2 and judge for yourself. (Viole ce and Nudity alert)