Pediatrician isn't here for the anti-LGBTQ religious liberty con game

Daniel Summers, a gay pediatrician, has something to say about the new division of HHS designed to protect healthcare workers who refuse to give certain treatments under the grounds of "religious liberty." He pulls no punches and makes no apologies for his rejection of this idea.

In a piece published by  The Slate , Summers says the following:

If you are a healthcare provider who doesn’t want to treat LGBTQ people or their families, please don’t waste your time and mine applying for a job in my practice.  

  .  .  . Because many people justify their bigotry against gender and sexual minorities in religious terms, this new division is quite alarming news for LGBTQ people. The creation of this division appears to open the door for medical providers to, for example, refuse to provide gender confirmation treatment for trans people, or refuse to treat children with same-sex parents. 

 One attendee at the ceremony announcing this new division was Sara Hellwege, a nurse-midwife who sued in 2014 after being denied a job at a Florida health center. The reason she didn’t get the job? She admitted that she would refuse to prescribe birth control pills because of her religious beliefs—and prescribing birth control pills was part of the job she applied for. 

 She had no business seeking the position in the first place. 

 David Gorski, a surgeon and editor of the website Science-Based Medicine, expressed the views of many medical providers, myself included, when he tweeted that “physicians who refuse to treat certain patients based on their religious beliefs are in the wrong profession and should never have become doctors in the first place.”

  . .   .If you don’t think same-sex couples should be raising children, you won’t be interacting with families in my practice at all. If you’re not willing to discuss PrEP with your gay male patients, and think HIV prevention funding would be better spent on conversion therapy, you won’t be seeing any patients here. If you’re going to ignore the needs of our trans patients or insist on mis-gendering them, we have no opening here for you. And I don’t care at all if you justify any of that with your religion. 

Check out the entire column here.

News brief special - Evangelical conservatives hit with huge backlash over hypocritical support of Donald Trump

Editor's note - What was first a small occasional drip . . . drip and moved to a slow but steady trickle is now a raging flood. Conservative evangelicals, particularly their leadership, are now facing a tremendous backlash for their dogged support of Trump and minimizing of his bad behavior (which includes racism and cheating on his wife with a porn star). It would do the LGBTQ community some good to pay attention to this firestorm and "collect receipts" for the future.  This much deserved backlash probably won't make a dent in the "true believers" crowd who support conservative evangelicals, but you would be surprised how a little sunlight makes the truth more powerful. The truth, in this case being how these folks love to demonize the LGBTQ community, but those attacks like their support of Trump, is rooted in hypocrisy, fear tactics, and un-Christian desires for power. And barring a public "come to Jesus" moment in which they admit their hypocrisy (which probably won't happen), expect them to double-down and even triple-down on their support of Trump. These conservative evangelical leaders are incapable of admitting that they are wrong.



Don Lemon perfectly nails Franklin Graham’s ‘ends justify the means’ moral hypocrisy on Trump - See above video. It means a lot to me to see an openly gay man drag Franklin Graham for his hypocrisy.

Evangelical leader defends ‘mulligan’ remark about Trump, Stormy Daniels - The Family Research Council's Tony Perkins makes a fool of himself.

After Years Of Questioning Obama’s Christianity, Tony Perkins Gives Trump A ‘Mulligan’ On Porn Star Affair - Oh if there were only a way to compare how religious evangelicals leaders dogged Obama (who ran a scandal free, successful administration ) in relation to how they lovingly embrace Trump (who has arguably the worse administration in the history of this country). Oh wait. There is this lovely piece which looks at Tony Perkins's  (the one in the last news brief) attacks on Obama when he was in office.

Former RNC Chair Michael Steele: Trump’s Evangelical Backers Need To ‘Shut The Hell Up’ - Never thought I would agree with Michael Steele, but here we are.

The religious activists on the rise inside Trump's health department - The fruits of their rotten labor Part 1. 

‘Religious freedom’ for adoption discrimination on Georgia Republican’s to-do list - The fruits of some of their rotten labor Part 2.

And the editorial pages have been brutal:

Trump's a true-believing Christian? Tell me, how does that work?

Michael Gerson: The Trump evangelicals have lost their gag reflex

Hypocritical conservative evangelicals shelter themselves from Stormygate

Franklin Graham rails against 'sin of homosexuality' days after justifying Donald Trump's sins

One would think that in light of all the scrutiny paid to the hypocritical support religious evangelicals give Donald Trump, they would be in a position of hiding or at least self-examination.

Not hardly. In spite of admissions that they only support Trump and defend his many bouts of behavior because of the power he gives them, religious evangelical leaders seem to want us to pretend that there nothing wrong with what they are doing.

Case in point is Franklin Graham. Today, he posted the following on his facebook page:

Please bear in mind that only days ago, Graham was giving poor denials to allegations that Trump racially slurred foreign countries or paid off a porn star he had an affair with at the time of present wife's pregnancy.

Finally, when pressed by about past comments he made claiming that America has a "sin problem," Graham said Trump wasn't perfect.

Keep it up, Mr. Franklin. Don't think people neither see nor know what you are doing. Dig that hole and when it gets deep enough, enjoy not being able to get out of it.

'Religious right leader Tony Perkins admits it - evangelicals don't care about Trump's behavior as long as he gives them power' & other Tue midday news briefs

Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council (first picture) admits that as long as Donald Trump gives the evangelical right power in terms of policy, they will overlook his consistent bad and incompetent behavior and  instead will treat him like the new Messiah (second picture.)

The Family Research Council head says that evangelical conservatives are willing to overlook Trump’s past behavior so long as he delivers for them on policy - So many things to unpack from this article:

1. Without a degree of shame, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council admits that the religious right are willing to overlook Trump's un-Christian behavior if he continues to give them what they want in terms of policy - i.e. the power to control people's lives and divert the direction of this country, less healthcare for women, and an undermining/reversal of the LGBTQ equality and safety. I always knew this. So many others already knew this. However. it's amazing to hear Perkins simply admit that all of the religious right's talk about a "moral crisis" in America over the years was a big fat lie. 

 2. If Perkins is accurate, evangelicals do not like John McCain and, just like Trump, don't view him as a war hero because he got captured. 

3. It's not just that evangelicals will overlook Trump's bad behavior. As shown in the article, they sometimes give justifications & lies about his bad behavior 

 4. The religious right should never get to demonize the LGBTQ community ever again without being strongly and repeatedly reminded of this moment.

Evangelical conservatives surrendered moral authority to Trump. They don't deserve to get it back.- A perfect time to remind folks about last night's post.

Here Are the 2018 GLAAD Media Awards Nominees - Congratulations to all of the nominees, including several of my friends for their nominations in the category of 'Outstanding Blog.' Having been nominated three times and winning one last year, I know how much of a thrill this is. Enjoy it because y'all deserve it. 

Laverne Cox Makes History As Cosmopolitan’s First Transgender Cover Girl - Not bad. Not bad at all.

Evangelical conservatives surrendered moral authority to Trump. They don't deserve to get it back.

Religious conservatives surrendered their moral authority to Trump. They don't deserve to get it back.

Recently, someone in my Sunday school put forth an interesting theory which got a lot of support. She claimed that God may have put Trump in the White House, not as a vouch of support, but to send a message to people about certain interests and concepts.

That may have a ring of truth when one considers how the evangelical right have acted with him in office, i.e. like greedy hogs at a trough constantly eating and not caring about being seen as gluttons. Today is yet another example.

According to this tweet, conservative evangelicals consider Trump's first year as a success.

The Trump administration is "genuinely interested and responsive to the concerns of the evangelical community." @tperkins @TheBrodyFile @CBNNews #POTUS https://t.co/N6ZGqgku2y

— FRC (@FRCdc) January 22, 2018

And why shouldn't they consider him a success for their cause. After all, he has given them unprecedented access and power. He has bowed to their desire for symbolic support, vouched for their ideas that their religion makes them superior, and has partly surrendered secular government agencies and judiciaries to their control.

But they don't seem to understand what they have lost.

The video below shows the many of the gaffes and horrors Trump has committed in his first year. From his awful Muslim ban to the mind-boggling irresponsible comments he made after the Charlottesville tragedy, the gaffes and horrors are many. America needed a loud and visible moral voice to remind us about the goodness of this country because of these gaffes and horrors. We received that moral voice, but it didn't come from the conservative evangelical community. They were too busy either counting the coins Trump threw at them or justifying his unjustifiable acts to receive more.

Bottom line - whenever Trump leaves office, Franklin Graham, Robert Jeffress, and the rest of that ilk shouldn't have moral authority to criticize folks for scratching their junk in the public, much less criticizing this country's moral climate. And as far as I am concerned, that specifically speaks about the LGBTQ community. Evangelical conservatives no longer have what little moral authority they did hold to call us out. Ever again.

Video shows intricate dangers of anti-LGBTQ discrimination

A new video released by the Colorado-based independent think tank Movement Advancement Project highlights things which people should be aware of regarding anti-LGBTQ discrimination. It goes beyond scenarios like baking cakes and arranging flowers. As the video shows, even the simplest things, such as going to the movies, can be problematic when ignorance is thrown into the mix. And many times, people aren't aware because they aren't specifically affected. 

'More cash than Christ' - Franklin Graham called out for hypocritical defense of Donald Trump

In the midst of the madness that is the Trump Administration (the latest being Trump's lack of good leadership has led to a government shutdown and it was discovered that before the election, his lawyer paid off a porn star, Stormy Daniels, to keep quiet about an affair she had with him), Franklin Graham stepped up today to defend him.

Graham, who seems to never been speechless when it comes to denigrating the LGBTQ community, offered an absolutely ridiculous defense of Trump

  

Graham, the president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, was questioned by MSNBC “Live” anchor Alex Witt on Saturday. 

Witt asked Graham how he could support President Trump after his sh*thole comments.
“He said he didn’t say it,” Graham said. “I don’t think any of those senators, if he did use that language, have heard that word for the first time. I’m sure that’s a word they’ve used before, I think there’s a little hypocrisy here.” 

“He said he didn’t say it, so I have to go along with the president in that he didn’t say it,” Graham claimed. 

“We have a businessman who is a president, not a politician, but a businessman,” Graham said. “We should all be grateful that he’s brought his knowledge to Washington and he’s helping to turn this economy around.” 

“Reverend, you just told me that this country has a sin problem and I know you’ve no doubt heard that the president is accused of having his lawyer pay $130,000 to a former porn star allegedly for her silence about his sexual encounter while he’s married,” Witt said. “The previous allegations as well, that access “Access Hollywood” tape, does that challenge your faith in the president?” 

“Does the president have a sin problem?” Witt asked. 

“I can promise you he is not President Perfect,” Graham replied.

In response to that, another pastor, William Barber, let loose with both barrels at Franklin during an appearance on "AM Joy" with MSNBC's Joy Reid:

“What we see here is a mass coverup by so-called white evangelicalism that’s more about, as I’ve said before, cash than Christ,” Barber explained. 

 “It’s heavily funded, you see Franklin Graham saying we have a sin problem. We do. But it’s not what they’re talking about.” “We see 365 days of attacks on voting rights, that’s sin, attacks on Muslims, that’s sin, attacks on the LGBT community, that’s sin, attacks on health care, attacks on living wages, giving the greedy and the wealthy tax breaks on the backs of the poor and the working poor,” Barber said. 

 “Wherever you look in the scripture, that’s sin. Anyone who attempts to justify that is engaging in a modern day form of heresy.” “It’s just wrong what he’s saying. Actually, I would say to my brother Franklin Graham, he needs to stop lying, tell the truth and not being bought off or paid or whatever is causing him to misrepresent the faith like that.”

'New 'religious freedom' division of HHS in Trump Administration led by anti-LGBTQ advocate' & other Fri midday news briefs

Former Heritage Foundation employee Roger Severino leads controversial new HHS division.

New HHS division slammed as tool for anti-LGBT discrimination - Speaking of that awful monstrosity of an office . . . we are just waiting for one screw-up. JUST ONE.

Roger Severino - Director of Office of Civil Rights (at Dept. of HHS) - And while we are at it, let's take a look the history of the man leading this office from when he worked for the right-wing Heritage Foundation. He isn't exactly an advocate for our community. 

Who Is Roger Severino? Donald Trump's New Appointment Sparks Concern Among LGBTQ Activists - And his history. Like I said. JUST ONE SCREW-UP.

Nearly half of trans people have been a victim of hate crime in the last year - We simply have to do better to protect our own.

Court Orders Return of Gay Mexican Asylum Seeker ‘Dumped at the Border’ Over Christmas Holidays - That's right and there should be some shame with doing him ugly. 

 This Man With HIV Just Won His Battle To Change The Rules So He Can Become An Airline Pilot - Awesome!

Anti-LGBTQ group call books about gay families & transgender kids 'morally toxic'

A bigoted group, One Million Moms, called books about transgender kids and gay families 'morally toxic.'

At pretty much the same time the Trump Administration is instituting some "religious liberty" garbage at Health and Human Services, an anti-LGBTQ right-wing group is raising hell at Scholastic Books for focusing on same-sex families and transgender children. A representative of this group, One Million Moms, called books about same-sex families and transgender children "morally toxic."

According to OneMillionMoms.com, Scholastic, Inc. is no longer safe for children. Monica Cole, director of the online activist group, explains that Scholastic books is "publishing and marketing books that are not safe for your children" and "promoting pro-homosexual and pro-transgender picture books for children." 

 In an Action Alert to its supporters, 1MM says the Scholastic website features "morally toxic" reading lists for children, such as: 

 "Mother's Day Books for Two-Mommy Families" 

"Great Books for Two-Dad Families" 

"6 Picture Books About Transgender Children" 

"... We're concerned [that] Scholastic is pushing topics on children and introducing them to children as young as preschool age [that] should be left up to the parents to discuss," Cole states, "and [selling] books ... at book fairs at your child's school that you may or may not be aware of.

"It is shocking because we know the dangers and how harmful the lifestyle choices are and can be," she adds.  

 The pro-family group cites the American College of Pediatricians on the issue: "Conditioning children into believing that a lifetime of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex is normal and healthful is child abuse." OneMillionMoms is calling on Scholastic, Inc. to stop pushing this agenda.

So according to this group, it's morally toxic to even acknowledge same-sex families and transgender children, even though according to a 2013 study by the Williams Institute as the UCLA School of Law found that:

As many as six million American children and adults have an LGBT parent. Same-sex couple parents and their children are more likely to be racial and ethnic minorities. An estimated 39 percent of individuals in same-sex couples with children under age 18 at home are non-white, as are half of their children.

'Religious freedom' is a quiet way of normalizing homophobia

Editor's note - With the news today that the Trump Administration is trying to shield healthcare workers who deny care on the grounds of "religious liberty," it is imperative that we don't continue to allow people to lie about what "religious liberty" is. In the hands of the anti-LGBTQ industry (groups and personalities of the religious right), religious liberty is less about protecting personal beliefs and more about being a weapon to undermine LGBTQ equality and safety. With that in mind, I am reposting a piece from 2014 (and slightly altered) which best explains what I am talking about.

In the 50s and 60s, they said we were perverts who ought to be jailed.  

In the 70s, they said we recruit children.

 In the 80s, they said we were diseased freaks who run around catching AIDS. 

 In the 90s, they said we wanted "special rights." 

 In the 2000s, they said we wanted to redefine marriage. 

 Now they claim we are trying to put Christians out of business and jail them.

The more I think of this bogus argument of "religious liberty" or "religious freedom," the more angry I become about how the entire debate is being conducted with no perspective. "Religious liberty" is merely a new anti-gay buzzword. It is the latest in a long line of concepts and claims used to justify anti-gay animus and discrimination. It's nothing new and it shouldn't be debated as if it is a new concept. Allow me to elucidate with the use of words and visuals from various anti-gay spokespeople and groups in debates throughout the years:

 1970s: Gays are pedophiles - "As a mother I know that homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children. Therefore, they must recruit our children." - Anita Bryant

1980s: Gays are diseased -   ''The poor homosexuals -- they have declared war upon nature, and now nature is extracting an awful retribution.'' - columnist and Presidential candidate Pat Buchanan during the early days of the AIDS crisis

'Trump Administration wants to shield healthcare workers who deny care on grounds of 'religious liberty'' & other Wed midday news briefs

The Trump Administration wants to shield healthcare workers who deny care on grounds of 'religious liberty.'

Trump to shield health care workers who claim moral objections - We warned this could happen when the anti-LGBTQ industry began its "religious liberty" lie:

The Trump administration is planning new protections for health workers who don't want to perform abortions, refuse to treat transgender patients based on their gender identity or provide other services for which they have moral objections. Under a proposed rule — which has been closely guarded at HHS and is now under review by the White House — the HHS office in charge of civil rights would be empowered to further shield these workers and punish organizations that don’t allow them to express their moral objections, according to sources on and off the Hill.

Trump will give healthcare workers the right to refuse to treat LGBT people - The ENTIRE LGBTQ community could be negatively affected by this. It's bad enough for our transgender brothers and sisters. That automatically puts the LGB community into this fight from the get-go.

The solution to this? Don't put all of your eggs in an "impeachment basket."Raise hell, get LGBTQs to run for public office, support positive candidates,  vote, register people to vote, break down Trump's power by helping to elect blue candidates later this year, then unite behind a 2020 candidate. ABOVE all, show unity, trust, and discipline.

Senior DHS adviser Frank Wuco claimed "societies and nations for millennia have suffered greatly" for LGBTQ acceptance - Meanwhile the hint of homophobia and transphobia taints other parts of the Trump Administration.

Gay Couple Sues Printing Company Over Homophobic Wedding Pamphlets - Mess like this only happens because we are winning. The other side is pushing back HARD. Keep the momentum going.

Alabama Senate Passes Bill To End Marriage Licenses - THIS is interesting.

MSNBC's Ari Mebler takes the evangelical right to church over their defense of Trump's racist comments

All I can say when I see this clip is "it's about time."

 For a while there, I felt like a lonely voice in the wilderness pleading to folks to not allow the anti-LGBTQ right and religious conservatives to walk away proverbially smelling like a rose after the controversy over Trump's vulgar words about immigrants from Africa, Haiti,and Central America. I was "collecting receipts," i.e. noting how Trump's religious conservative allies were either conveniently ignoring or defending his words. But it seemed that hardly anyone else, particularly folks in the LGBTQ community were.

 Our problem is that we are too damned jaded. We as a community have been hit constantly by these so-called Christians with their dehumanizing venom and lies that we've become desensitized to a degree by it. Call it a survival technique, if you will. The only problem with this is that when these folks are in a situation such as this which unmasks their hypocrisy, we can't amass enough anger, righteous indignation, and desire for payback to give them the verbal thrashing they deserve.

In other words, we can't be petty, if you will, when pettiness is the appropriate response to the situation.

Thank goodness Ari Mebler from MSNBC handles the business quite well. And he breaks the hypocrisy of the right wing quite nicely.

'Transgender kids: we are being discriminated against, Trump Administration: we don't think we can help you' & other Mon midday news briefs

Trump Admin To Transgender Kids: We Won’t Deal With Your Civil Rights Complaints - That the Trump Administration is attempting to ignore the complaints of transgender kids should surprise no one:

 In Texas, a transgender teenager said his high school discriminated against him for almost two years. He was not allowed to use the bathroom that corresponded with his gender identity. When he traveled overnight with one of the school’s teams, he wasn’t allowed to room with his male peers, he alleged. But Donald Trump’s Department of Education did not think it could help this student. 

The teenager’s case is one of at least three involving transgender students’ experiences navigating school bathrooms or gender-specific sports teams that the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has dismissed in the past several months, with the explanation that these issues do not fall under its jurisdiction, according to documents obtained by HuffPost and a source familiar with the matter. The Trump administration’s view of these cases diverges sharply from that of the Obama administration, which contended that Title IX ― the federal law that deals with sex discrimination ― included discrimination based on gender identity. 

The Obama administration issued guidance holding that schools should allow students to use the facilities that align with their gender identity. But a month into Trump’s presidency, the Department of Justice and Department of Education rescinded this guidance, saying that these issues should be decided at the local level and that the original guidance did not contain enough legal analysis. Since then, it has been unclear how exactly the Office for Civil Rights, or OCR, would handle these cases. An internal OCR memo from June directed employees to still take the complaints of transgender students seriously. It said employees may dismiss complaints related to bathroom issues, but it did not specifically direct them to do so.

Republicans block hate crime law for LGBT people in Virginia - A hate crimes law already exists in Virginia. They just don't want to add LGBTQs to it.

Ann Coulter says US should refuse entry to people with HIV - Begging y'all's pardon, but Ann Coulter can go to hell on this one.

No Mr. Perkins - You don't get to appropriate Martin Luther King's legacy - Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council won't comment on Trump's recent racist comments, but have the nerve to appropriate King's legacy simply because his niece is a poseur. Oh no you don't!

Cowardice of conservative evangelical leaders should always be remembered

It's both fascinating and sad that on a day in which we honor Martin Luther King, Jr., a religious man who became the moral voice of where America should be in relation to the treatment of its poor and minorities, we see other religious figures failing to a righteous stand  by their own choice.

In the aftermath of Trump's racist comments regarding immigrants from Africa and Haiti, one would think that the evangelical conservative leaders who support him would step up. Very few have and those who haven't stand out for their lack of courage and desire to defend or distract.

James Dobson once excused Trump's excesses by calling him a "baby Christian." According to the Washington Post, he has refused to comment on Trump's words.

Franklin Graham also refused to comment, but he did send out the following ridiculous tweet instead:

Then on Monday, he sent the following ironic tweet:

Robert Jeffress, Trump's supposed evangelical advisor, sent a tweet which supported Trump's comments while attempting to underplay its racist tone.

The Family Research Council chose to focus on attacking transgender children instead of addressing Trump's comments. Meanwhile, Ken Blackwell, a member of the group, attempted to defend Trump by completely distorting comments Obama once said about Libya.

These cowardly actions by conservative evangelical leaders shouldn't be forgotten. It really doesn't matter if no consequences will come of their words. It doesn't matter if they don't lose the support of their followers or that the media still regard them as "religious leaders."

What matters is that the truth be told about these leaders constantly and that truth never be far from the conversation about the things they do choose to take a stand on.

Or to speak plainly - the next time any of these jokers attack the LGBTQ community, I intend to say a couple of things about their embracing or ignoring Trump's racism.

Family Research Council chooses to attack transgender children instead of Trump's racism

No surprise here, but let's make it official and mark the Family Research Council as the latest conservative evangelical Trump-supporting bloc who have refused to comment on his recent racist statements about Haiti and Africa.

Instead, here are just two items the group decided to focus on today:

From what I hear, neither James Dobson nor Franklin Graham will be commenting about Trump's comments either.

No surprise here, but just consider what I'm doing now as "receipt gathering."

'Conservative evangelical pastor Robert Jeffress defends Trump's racist comments' & other Fri midday news briefs

Conservative evangelical pastor Robert Jeffress praised Trump's racist comments.

And we have our first conservative evangelical leader defending Trump's racist comments. Who else but Robert Jeffress:

What's missing in Jeffress' statement is how he can hold his breath with his head so far up Trump's ass. But I did hear that he has a special Bible which tells us that when the woman with the issue of blood touched the hem of Jesus's robe, Jesus turned to her and said, "Get away from me, you dirty bum."

And wouldn't you know it? Jeffress is a homophobe. A BIG one:

No fan of the gay community, Jeffress believes that gays and lesbians are “perverse” people who are either pedophiles or likely to abuse children in the future; compared homosexuality to bestiality and called it “a miserable lifestyle”; accused gay people of using “brainwashing techniques” to have homosexuality “crammed down our throats”; said that gay people “are engaged in the most detestable, unclean, abominable acts you can imagine”; predicted that the gay rights movement “will pave the way for that future world dictator, the Antichrist”; and labeled homosexuality a “filthy practice” that will lead to the “implosion of our country.”

Related post:  Dear conservative evangelicals, we notice your convenient silence about Trump's racist comments


In other news:

Within 1 Week, 4 Black Lesbians Were Murdered - THIS is downright spooky.

LGBT candidates hoping to ride Democratic wave - Damn right. Now is not the time for bickering.

Gospel singer leaves industry & comes out as bisexual - Good for you, my brotha!

Dear conservative evangelicals, we notice your convenient silence about Trump's racist comments

With Trump's racist comments today, one wonders if Franklin Graham regrets this ridiculous tweet from last year.

As hard as it is to believe, Donald Trump has sank lower than ever today with comments about African and Haitian immigrants:

President Donald Trump reportedly asked lawmakers during a meeting in the Oval Office on Thursday why so many people from “shithole countries”—referring to Haiti and countries in Africa—immigrate to the United States, The Washington Post has reported. 

“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump reportedly asked seven members of Congress present at the meeting. Trump also reportedly followed up the remark by asking why “people from countries like Norway” don’t migrate as much to the U.S. 

In a statement released on Thursday, the White House did not deny Trump made the remarks. Instead, the statement restates the president’s stance on curtailing family-based legal immigration. ending the visa lottery program, which aims to bring more immigrants from low-represented countries around the world.

To no one's shock, our Orange Menace is getting deservedly blistered in the media and online, while being defended by some folks on Fox News. But I think the conservative evangelical leadership, i.e. the bunch of folks who supported Trump and declared that he would be a great defender of Christianity and that he gave his heart to Jesus, should say a word or two about the situation.

So far, they have been silent, no doubt hoping that this thing will blow over or someone will craft a reasonable defense which they can latch onto.

Sorry guys, I see you. All of you

Most specifically, I would like to see folks like Robert Jeffress, James Dobson,  Franklin Graham, the Family Research Council, Tony Perkins, Gary Bauer, and all of the other evangelicals who have been kissing Trump's ass like it's sugar actually do something moral for a change. Call this man out with as much energy as you attack the LGBTQ community for not accepting second class treatment or with as much vigor as you specifically stigmatize transgender men, women, and children as predators for merely attempting to live their authentic lives.

Come on guys. Trump just said something viciously racist. It shouldn't be so difficult to take on the mantle of morality and call him out on it.

But then again, who am I kidding? These so-called Christian leaders wouldn't dare call out Trump. Knowing how he likes to throw tantrums,  he probably wouldn't give them more any "access."

And they certainly can't have that.

'Hate group working with Trump administration to take protections away from trans inmates' & other Thur midday news briefs

The primary goal of the Alliance Defending Freedom is to undermine or eliminate LGBTQ equality and safety.

Recent reporting on violence against trans inmates illustrates the dangers of Trump administration rescinding protections - The Trump Administration is seriously considering rescinding protections which keep trans inmates from being exposed to prison violence. And guess what hate group is behind it - the Alliance Defending Freedom. This is the SAME group which is fighting to keep trans children from being protected in America's schools and pushing for homosexuality to be illegal in foreign countries. More proof of the point that there are organizations out there geared to undermining LGBTQ equality and safety. We not only had better recognize, but we need to proverbial yell from it from the mountaintops until the fact is drilled into people's heads. No matter what they tell you, the primary goal of the Alliance Defending Freedom is to undermine or eliminate LGBTQ equality and safety.

More info on the Alliance Defending Freedom (for you to digest, educate yourself and other folks on, put to memory):

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

The many ways Alliance Defending Freedom is fighting against transgender student equality

A compliant press helped bring Alliance Defending Freedom's anti-LGBTQ hate back into the mainstream in 2017

In other news:

Williamston school board members who voted for transgender policy face recall effort - I bet if you scratch deep enough, you'll find the Alliance Defending Freedom in the middle of this mess, too.

New Hampshire Lets Debunked Gay Conversion Therapy Remain Legal - For some of the dumbest reasons, I might add.

How to Cope When You're Gay and Lonely - A MUCH needed article.

Remember the anti-marriage equality 'Gathering Storm' ad?

All of you folks who were as deep into the marriage equality fight as much as I was, do you remember the controversial "Gathering Storm" ad which officially brought the National Organization for Marriage and the group's fight against marriage equality into the nation's view:



It's hard to believe that it's been eight years since the ad premiered. But is it wonderful to watch it again knowing that NOM and its fight to keep marriage from us failed miserably.

'School district will pay transgender student $800,00 to settle lawsuit' & other Wed midday new briefs

A School District Will Pay A Transgender Student $800,000 To Settle A Discrimination Lawsuit - And a Wisconsin school district is the latest to learn the lesson of what it costs when you don't treat our transgender children fairly. And I tremendously approve.

This court just issued a sweeping LGBTQ victory for the Western Hemisphere - Just like that, marriage equality will expand across Central and South America. 

Take Five Minutes To Look At The Happy Same-Sex Couples Who Got Married Today - Speaking of marriage equality, it is officially legal in Australia and these just-married couples are all for it.

India’s Gay Prince Opens His Palace To Vulnerable LGBTQ People - THIS is pretty damn awesome.

Trump renominates dishonest and homophobic Sam Brownback as religious freedom ambassador

I refuse to believe that the LGBTQ community and the religious community do not intersect. I do not believe in the idea that there should be a gay vs. religion argument. As a black gay man, my faith is very important to me and it was my relationship with God which contributes to my honesty as an out-of-the closet gay man. It's not anyone's place to question what I believe in relation to Biblical Scripture or traditional church faith.

Unfortunately, there are some folks determined to push the false idea that being and LGBTQ means that you oppose religion and vice versa. And leave it to Trump to put a spotlight on one.

From The Advocate:

Sam Brownback, the intensely anti-LGBT Republican who’s been Kansas’s governor and a U.S. senator from the state, has been renominated by Donald Trump as ambassador at large for international religious freedom. 

Trump nominated Brownback for the post last year, but since the Senate failed to take action and Senate Democrats refused to allow the nominations to roll over into the new year, he had to be renominated, The Kansas City Star reports. His is one of numerous renominations announced today, several of which are problematic for LGBT people. 

Brownback has a long anti-LGBT record, and during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in October he refused to answer Sen. Tim Kaine’s question on if there were “any circumstance under which religious freedom can justify criminalizing, imprisoning, or executing somebody based on their LGBT status could be deemed acceptable because somebody asserts they are religiously motivated in doing so,” notes the Human Rights Campaign. HRC and several other groups opposed his confirmation. (Editor's note -see above video)

The article goes on to say:

'LGBTQ community need not freak out because SCOTUS allowed Mississippi anti-LGBTQ law to stand' & other Tue midday new briefs

SCOTUS turned back a challenge to Mississippi's anti-LGBTQ 'religious freedom' law. BUT for a good reason and it doesn't negatively affect attempts to overturn it.

Supreme Court allows Mississippi anti-LGBT law to stand - I deliberately held back from posting this because I can't stand needless hand wringing. In actuality, the court refused to hear a case in which a lower court turned down a challenge to this ugly law. The challenge was turned down because the law had not taken effect as of yet, therefore the plaintiffs could not show how it damaged them. Unfortunately, this makes sense. When people attempt to use this law to discriminate will be a perfect time to challenge it, and not before. It WILL be struck down eventually.

Supreme Court Refuses To Hear Early Challenge To Mississippi’s Anti-Queer Law - More details about this situation.

Chechnya's LGBT Muslim Refugees Struggle To Cope In Exile - The LGBTQ community in America have problems, but not as bad as this. Keep these folks in your prayers and if you can do something for them, do it.

2 trans people ask Utah Supreme Court to grant gender changes a judge denied them - Kudos to them for fighting for what should be theirs.

Brian Brown: Gorsuch Confirmation Was Step Toward Overturning ‘Illegitimate’ Marriage Equality Decision - Yeah. Whatever. We don't take lightly attempts to steal away what we earned. You got a fight on your hands, Brown.

Why We Need More Latinx LGBTQ Representation in Pop Culture - Amen. As a start, too.

While Trump causes chaos for immigrant families, Franklin Graham distracts with an attack on the trans community

Franklin Graham distracts while Trump creates chaos for El Salvadoran families

And the self-degradation of the anti-LGBTQ evangelical right under Trump continues. And my chronicling of how these hypocrites are debasing themselves continues.

To me, the basic hypocrisy of the anti-LGBTQ evangelical right spotlight because of the Trump Administration is contained in the below tweet starring who else but Franklin Graham:

A little background is in order.

'Gay teacher harassed by students wins $110,000 settlement' & other Mon midday news briefs

A gay teacher who was harassed by students got a $110,000 settlement - Something we don't often think about - gay teachers being harassed by homophobic students. And for one school district in New Jersey, failure to act properly just cost them $110,000. What kind of mess is this? Where were the parents in this situation?

She Quit Working For Trump. Now She’s Running For Congress To Fight Him - Democrat Gina Ortiz Jones would be the first lesbian, Iraq War vet and Filipina-American to fill a U.S. House seat in Texas.

Trans-exclusionary radical feminists target Labour MP Stella Creasy with horrendous abuse - Great. They have problems with TERFs overseas, too. What are TERFs? Click on the link contained in the name and God help you.

New book with personal essays give spotlight to South Carolina's diverse queer community - Revisiting my post from last night because it is an important book project I am involved with. 

Florida broadcast media should learn from mistakes of West Palm Beach's coverage of ban on harmful anti-LGBTQ conversion therapy - A lesson we should all take to heart when it comes to awful coverage on LGBTQ issues.

New book with personal essays give spotlight to South Carolina's diverse queer community

One of the complaints I've lodged on numerous occasions is when it comes to the LGBTQ community and our history, certain areas of the country have been ignored or omitted. Specifically, the South. To many in our community, the South is portrayed as a virtual prison for LGBTQs, with our wardens being ignorant and stringent adherers of the Bible Belt.

Nothing can be further from the truth and thanks to a group of us in South Carolina, the diversity of our community is receiving  spotlight.

A  friend of mine and the author of four nonfiction books and several short stories, Sheila Morris, collected personal essays from several South Carolinians. These essays give a wonderful view of how the queer movement began in this state and has continued to successfully grow:

In Southern Perspectives on the Queer Movement: Committed to Home, Sheila R. Morris has collected essays by South Carolinians who explore their gay identities and activism from the emergence of the HIV-AIDS pandemic to the realization of marriage equality in the state thirty years later. Each of the volume’s nineteen essays addresses an aspect of gay life, from hesitant coming-out acts in earlier decades to the creation of grassroots organizations. All the contributors have taken public roles in the gay rights movement. 

The diverse voices include a banker, a drag queen from a family of prominent Spartanburg Democrats, a marching minister who grew up along the Edisto River, a former Catholic priest and his tugboat dispatcher husband from Long Island, the owner of a feminist bookstore, a Hispanic American who interned for Republican strategist Lee Atwater, a philanthropist politician from Faith, North Carolina, and a straight attorney recognized as the “Mother of Pride” who became active in 1980, when she learned her son was gay.

Southern Perspectives on the Queer Movement challenges the conventional understanding of the LGBTQ movement in the United States in both place and time. Typically associated with pride marches and anti-AIDS activism on both the east and west coasts and rooted in the counterculture of the 1960s and “Stonewall Rebellion” in New York City, Southern variants of the queer liberation movement have found little room in public or scholarly memory. Confronting an aggressively hostile environment in the South, queer political organization was a late-comer to the region. But it was the very unfriendliness of Southern political soil that allowed a unique and, at times, progressive LGBTQ political community to form in South Carolina. The compelling Southern voices collected here for the first time add a missing piece to the complex puzzle of postwar queer activism in the United States.

Southern Perspectives on the Queer Movement: Committed to Home has garnered a lot of attention since it was published late last year and some really good reviews, including:

"I've got a sign up on my wall, a quote from Lillian Smith that says "The winner names the age" and I know that is mostly true. But I know too that we can defy ignorance and prejudice and fear with our own matter of fact stories of how all of us dangerous provocative people account for our lives. Thirty years of history retold from the inside is in this anthology. The people who stood up and risked their homes, their families and their very lives to make the world safer and more just for all of us tell us how they did it, day by day, year by year. So put up another notice, one that defies denial as this wonderful anthology does. We can claim our history one story at a time, and the stories rename the age."--Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard out of Carolina and Cavedweller  

 "In Southern Perspectives on the Queer Movement, Sheila Morris has curated a gallery of queer activists' stories. If the SC Historical Commission ever casts around for some new figures for all the surplus bronze, this book has a hero for every platform."--Kate Clinton, feminist humorist, contributor to the Progressive and the Huffington Post

Lastly, I should mention that one essay in Southern Perspectives on the Queer Movement is by yours truly. The essay isn't my usual fare about the anti-LGBTQ industry. Instead, I chose to give y'all fairly comical, bittersweet view of what it was like to be an African-American gay college student just coming out and coming to grips with certain realities (realities, I might point out that I have fought very hard to change at least a little).

I don't think there is anything wrong with posting a little excerpt of what I wrote:

. . . the one thing I wasn’t able to escape was the isolation, the inability to get into a good relationship or at least a nice friendship with other gay folks because so many of us were so scared to come out of the closet.. It’s an ugly feeling to go through every day, and feeling isolated from the folks around you even though you may sit with them at lunch or converse with them after classes were over. It was a terribly lonely feeling to be at a party and watch the heterosexual couples slow dance to some nice romantic song while knowing that you couldn’t even if there was another gay man present for fear of being “discovered.”  

 And worse yet, while heterosexual couples had the luxury of openly dating, fighting, breaking up, getting back together , or finding new partners – the lovely rituals of having a relationship, us gay men were reduced to clandestine relationships after dark, sneaking into each other’s dorm rooms where we fumbled our way through meaningless physical encounters. We fooled ourselves into thinking that we had something nice until we realized that while heterosexual couples went through the day-to-day drama of relationships, we were stagnant because society put it on our heads that we would be best served to let things stay as they are. We were fooled into thinking that sticky encounters in which desperation took the place of simple affection, was all we could have. 

 In that unfortunate backdrop, I was able to forge at least one good relationship with a freshman when I was a junior. And it is here that I want you to know that a lot of first time gay encounters don’t resemble what you see on television with two innocent, albeit sexually responsible but very good looking skinny white twinks having intercourse complete with fire, music, and serious ambiance.

This time, it involved a gangly black guy with thick glasses and a chubby white younger guy with equally thick glasses who both had libidos which had no patience with waiting for “better choices” on the bottom half of a bunk bed with a really awful Chuck Norris movie playing on television in the background.  

 That’s my nice way of saying that the first encounter I had with my friend didn’t resemble any scene from that cable series Queer As Folk or even a scene from the television show Glee. It was more like that scene between Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton from the motion picture Monster’s Ball but with no desperate passion fueled by tragedy, no destroyed furniture, and no ripped clothing (that came later).

If I had to use one word to describe this book, it would be "victorious." There are no sob stories in these essays, no overt or covert cries for pity, and especially no bellyaching about how the South is supposedly a terrible place for the queer community and our allies.  In telling our stories, LGBTQ South Carolinians and our allies show that strong people with pride in who we and where we live. And it because of that, we are working to make a change for the better, either by working for that change or simply living with the God-given dignity we were blessed to have.

Southern Perspectives on the Queer Movement is available where all books are sold, including Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

'Trump judicial nominee once argued that gay judges shouldn't hear LGBT cases' & other Friday midday news briefs

Howard Nielson

Trump Judicial Nominee Howard Nielson: Gay Judges Shouldn’t Hear LGBT Cases - Good grief! Who picked this disaster for Trump? Do I have to even ask?

 Religious liberty bill could have lasting impact on Georgia economy - And none of it is good.

This Man Was Just Told He Can’t Enlist In The Military Because He’s Transgender - Somebody is tripping! Don't worry because Buzzfeed is on it and the issue has been rectified. Transgender men and women can enlist in the military. 

Trump expected to rollback transgender inmate protections - I don't care if a person is in prison. They should never be put into a situation where they could be injured or murdered. And mess like this is just that.

Meet the black lesbian superhero ready to take over TV on The CW’s Black Lightning - Oh snap! I definitely approve THIS message.

Megachurch pastor attacks other Christians who criticize his support of Trump

Robert Jeffress is mad at fellow Christians who speak against Trump.

It's no secret that white conservative evangelicals have been bending over backwards to either support Trump or excuse his many bouts of bad behavior. It's also no secret that their behavior has been criticized by other Christians.

Now, one of them is responding with whining and name calling which will probably do nothing but further this much-needed schism.

Long-time Trump supporter and megachurch pastor Robert Jeffress  recently attacked the Christian critics of evangelical Trump supporters.

This is hypocritical of the evangelicals who say their personal piety won't allow them to support President Trump," Jeffress stated. "I mean, my gosh – how self-righteous is that? When did personal piety ever become a test of who you were going to vote for for president?"

Thie irony of this statement coming from Jeffress is stark, considering he had plenty of ugly things to say about Obama, specifically the statement that Obama was paving the way for the Anti-Christ.

And to answer his question, "personal piety" was the main reason why evangelicals on his side of the spectrum wouldn't support Obama. Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and the rest of that bunch stood against Obama on a multitude of issues, particularly when it came to LGBTQ equality. One religious right group, the Liberty Counsel, even talked about impeaching Obama.

Jeffress, who once said that God gave Trump authority to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un,  continued to dig the hole:

"What you're seeing is the divide between these 'evangelical elites' who continue to resist President Trump's policies and the vast majority of evangelicals in the pews who swept him into office and continue to support him," he said. people praying over (candidate) Donald Trump. 

In fact, Jeffress says it's the never-Trump evangelicals who have left their core theology behind. "What it comes down to is the 'evangelical elite' really don't embrace these values," said Jeffress.  

"They are more concerned about fixing the problem with DREAMers than they are about protecting the life of the unborn. Or when it comes to Israel, they are much more concerned about the plight of the 'poor Palestinians' than they are of protecting the Jews' right to inhabit that land God gave them." He didn't stop there: "And when it comes to religious liberty, [if] you talk to these evangelical elites privately [you'll find] they really do believe those Colorado bakers ought to be forced to bake that wedding cake for a gay wedding."  

The interview was embarrassing in that Jeffress practically wallowed in a combined fetid mix of his own ego, self-righteousness, and downright cruelty.  One thing I found interesting is how he dehumanized his fellow Christians by painting them as a nameless, faceless horde. It's just like what many of his contemporaries have done to the LGBTQ community over the years.

And then he comes across in an ugly, mocking tone against Dreamers, Palestinians, and of course members of the LGBTQ community. Apparently all of those verses and parables attributed to Jesus about children, the Good Samaritan, and showing love means nothing.   All that matters to Jeffress is that folks like him get to dictate what issues are the most crucial for entire Christian community.

Nothing that he says challenges anyone's mindset about how conservative evangelicals and the religious right have willingly debased themselves in pursuit of influence in the Trump Administration.

If you ask me, Jeffress would have saved time if he would have come out and said the following:

"To hell with us appealing to a higher standard. We only said that junk when the president was someone who wasn't in our hip pocket. Now that we have a president who will cater to all of our whims, we are going to do everything in our power to make his decisions look good, his mistakes look like reverse psychology genius, and his excesses look like deliberate messages from Jesus.  And if the rest of your Christians don't like it, you had better get with the program or kiss my bony ass. We are getting while the getting's good."

Ellen DeGeneres vs. little Eric Trump, folks want to 're-horrify' people about homosexuality, and other Thur. midday news briefs

Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen DeGeneres Ridicules Eric Trump Over His Weird Conspiracy Theory About Her - I kinda wish it was Donald Trump who started this absolutely ridiculous rumor. That way, I would be able to enjoy seeing people and groups like Franklin Graham and the Family Research Council tie themselves into knots trying to justify it.

Shouting Into The Wind: Words From The Hearts Of Christian Moms With LGBTQ Children - THIS is everything. Mothers of LGBTQ children defend their babies.

Linda Harvey: We Must ‘Re-Horrify People About The Sin Of Homosexuality’ - Oh mercy, does this mean we are going to see more pictures of anal warts? There are actually some people who say we should ignore people like Linda Harvey and 'Porno' Pete LaBarbera. I say there are times where we can use them to show what other members of the anti-LGBTQ industry, who are generally successful in making their bigotry sound palpable, actually think about us. Behind the mask of every Franklin Graham, Robert Jeffress, Tony Perkins, etc is a raving Linda Harvey or Peter LaBarbera obsessed with "horrifying" people about gay sex.

These two anti-LGBT Republicans may run for Senate in 2018 - I can just about handle Mitt Romney, but Michele Bachmann? Lord, hammercy!

If States Got LGBT-Friendlier, They Could Earn Billions - We've known this, but some people are just plain stubborn.