Throughout the many LGBTQ stories that have been told onscreen, there is one dominant theme: suffering. From the "Bury Your Gays" trope that sees queer characters dying far more frequently than straight characters, to stories that foreground the struggles of LGBTQ lives, we rarely allow them to be happy. So why have we insisted on making queer characters miserable? Here’s our Take on how this trope has dominated LGBTQ representations over the years, and whether we can get to a place where suffering isn’t always part of their story.
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| President-Elect Joe Biden |
I hadn’t shared who my father @BillyGraham voted for in 2016 but because of @CTMagazine’s article, I felt it necessary share now. My father knew [Trump], believed in him & voted for him. He believed Donald J. Trump was the man for this hour in the history for our nation.
Tchividjian, while not outwardly calling his uncle a liar, got highly shady with his response.
I’ll never forget that day in 2016 when my grandfather @BillyGraham, shrugged off the symptoms of Parkinson’s and hydrocephalus, got up out of bed for the first time in a year, drove down to the polling station, and cast his vote. What a glorious memory!
According to Mountain Xpress, this exchange blew open the door:
For those who hadn’t followed the insular world of evangelical Christianity, this exchange blew into full view a rip in the Graham family’s fabric that mirrors a larger split within the entire evangelical community – a split likely to be accelerated by Trump’s defeat for re-election. Tchividjian and his more outspoken sister, Jerushah Duford, whose mother, Gigi Graham Tchividijian, is Billy Graham’s oldest daughter, have emerged as the family’s most visible critics of their uncle and of Trump. Both have written several books, separately and together, about their grandfather and his worldwide ministry, which was rooted in the North Carolina mountains near Asheville. Although they are not the first among evangelicals to publicly charge Franklin Graham with undermining the memory of his father, the fact that they are bringing the charge from within the family brings powerful momentum to it. Graham declined to comment through a spokesperson.
“My grandfather’s goal was to introduce people to the saving love and grace of Jesus and he stayed out of politics for the most part because he knew that he would alienate an audience if he was involved,” Jerushah, 42, said, then adding a reference to her uncle: “He is too polarizing of a personality to be introducing people to Jesus. People outside the church are not going to listen to Franklin.” Her brother, two years older, said that his uncle Franklin’s public claim about Billy Graham voting for Trump was “such blatant baloney” that he couldn’t resist responding with the sarcastic tweet. Tchividjian said that he now regards his uncle and Trump as “two peas in a pod.”
The article deserves reading and sharing. It also proves yet again that karma does not play.
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| One thing we must never forget about the Donald Trump presidency is how quickly and often the religious right pandered to him. |
Remember, while presently watching this mess going down with Trump refusing to concede the election wihch he fairly lost, the increase in COVID infections, and the general chaos, how conservative evangelicals contributed to it all. These self-appointed religious leaders have done nothing and said nothing to quell the situation. They only cared about what Donald Trump gave them and as long he gave them goodies (access to the White House, photo ops, policies favoring their desires, conservative judges), they threw plaudits after him as if he were the Second Coming of Jesus. They didn't give a damn about the damage he was doing to the country. Most likely, they still don't.
First is Gary Bauer. His claim to fame is being the first president of hate group the Family Research Council and undermining the fight against AIDS while working in the Reagan Administration. According to Reagan's Surgeon General, the late C. Everette Koop, Bauer undermined his ability to communicate to Reagan the severity of AIDS because he felt it "God's punishment."
Next is former Focus on the Family head James Dobson, the one who thinks that gays have thousands of sexual partners.
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| Michele Bachmann |
Sympathy should not be on the menu for them.
But if you ask me, the one who wins the booby prize has to be former Congresswoman, Michele Bachmann. Bachmann, who has been known for basic homophobia, took it upon herself to appeal to God to use his "iron rod" in order to smash the outcome of the recent presidential election . . . in a figurative sense of course.
Former congresswoman Michele Bachmann calls on God to "smash the delusion, Father, that Joe Biden is our president. He is not." pic.twitter.com/gqoFP97ipT
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) November 9, 2020
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| With Donald Trump losing the election to Joe Biden, anti-LGBTQ Trump officials such as Roger Severino (bottom pic) will hopefully be out of a job and conservative evangelicals (posing with Trump in the first pic) will lose their ability to dictate White House policy. |
Because of the support white evangelicals gave Trump in 2016 and beyond, he pretty much became their sugar daddy. When not personally obliging their wishes (such as creating a nonsensical ban on trans people serving in the military based on false information) he let them run amok in his administration and they not only did a lot of what they wanted to endanger LGBTQ equality and safety, they also bragged about their access.
The Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins said in August (2017), “I’ve been to the White House I don’t know how many more times in the first six months this year than I was during the entire Bush administration.” The Susan B. Anthony List’s Marjorie Dannenfelser said she visited the White House seven times in Trump’s first 100 days in office.
Penny Nance of Concerned Women for America said in September, “I’m told from people before me that even under George W. Bush, we didn’t have this kind of access. It certainly is unprecedented and we’re very grateful.” Land gushed about evangelicals having “unprecedented access” to the White House, adding that there “are more evangelicals in this administration as personnel than any administration in my lifetime.”
In exchange for access and help on their policy priorities, Trump has earned the love of the Religious Right. Some called his election a miracle. Others determined that he must have personally come to Christ. Many have gone to bat for Trump’s most controversial comments and positions. An early campaign faith adviser started a group called POTUS Shield that is dedicated to shielding the president from spiritual attack.
In exchange, Perkins and company continued to give Trump support or cover whenever his excesses attracted too much negative attention. The word "mulligan" comes to mind.
This says it all:
BREAKING: JOE BIDEN WILL BE PRESIDENT-ELECT, NBC NEWS PROJECTS. https://t.co/gGS2tyKRy9 pic.twitter.com/s17hCZDvBR
— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 7, 2020
HISTORY MADE
— Tony Snell Rodriguez 🏳️🌈 (@TonyEquality) November 7, 2020
Senator Kamala Harris is the first woman and first Black and South Asian person elected Vice President in U.S. history! pic.twitter.com/JODbS1jJv3
I need a little release after this week. I won't go over what's going on because I think everyone knows. This presidential election is crazy. But it's almost over and it looks good. However, it is playing havoc on my nerves and my postings. So I think a comical post is due because laughter is always a wonderful release. I didn't think that the 1992 movie Boomerang was all that good, but gay icons Eartha Kitt and Grace Jones stole their scenes. Definitely not safe for work.
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| Tiffany Trump is trying to trick LGBTQ people into supporting her father. |
But there is always truth which cannot be hidden and "receipts" that are always kept. This wonderful supercut video from The Recount speaks for itself:
The Trump family has spent the campaign's closing days whitewashing the president's abysmal record on LGBTQ issues.
— The Recount (@therecount) November 1, 2020
Let's roll the tape: pic.twitter.com/bJfsav3FxT
What else there left to be said except for get out there and vote. LGBTQ safety, rights, and future depends upon it.
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| Sen. Lindsey Graham |
Graham makes anti-LGBTQ comments hailing ‘traditional family structure’ - WHICH is the epitome of irony. Graham is in the fight of his life. Regardless of how it may end, he will learn this electoral season.
Our Activism Can't End With the Presidential Election - So true, no matter who wins. It's not just about the election because the work needs to continue.
Picture the 2020 Election as a vogue ball dance-off featuring the Legendary House of Democrats vs. the House of Republicans.
These next two days - and possibly afterwards - are probably going to be strenuous and stressful. And no doubt some folks are going to bend over backwards to make them as drama-filled as possible.
So right now, take a breath and enjoy this video by youtuber The Tebbster
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| First Lady Melania Trump (top photo) and the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay conservative group ,(bottom photo) are attempting to pass off Donald Trump as an LGBTQ ally. They must be out of their minds. |
When it comes to upcoming election, Donald Trump, First Lady Melania, and the Log Cabin Republicans obviously think LGBTQ people are naive or stupid.
From The Advocate:
First Lady Melania Trump filmed a video for the Log Cabin Republicans — an LGBTQ+ GOP organization that endorsed Donald Trump's reelection — claiming her husband is pro-gay, even though his policies have harmed gay people and the entire LGBTQ+ community.The video begins with the first lady claiming her husband is an "outsider" who wants all Americans to prosper, though he has staked his entire political career on white grievance and overt racism. Melania Trump then reverted to the role her family often falls back on: victim.She claimed Donald Trump earned the ire of powerful political insiders because he challenged the status quo. "I was shocked to discover that some of these powerful people have tried to paint my husband as antigay or against equality," Trump says. "Nothing could be further from the truth.". . . Melania Trump also touts her husband's appointment of Richard Grenell as ambassador to Germany and, later, acting national security advisor. Grenell resigned in June and has previously been accused of xenophobia and misogny. Grenell defended Donald Trump tear-gassing peaceful protesters this summer so he could have a photo op in front of a church.Melania Trump also claims that "as the leader of the Republican Party and president of the United States, Donald has been clear that gays and lesbians have been treated as he has always treated them, equally."
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| Amy Coney Barrett |
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| Donald Trump's lawyer, Jay Sekulow, is involved in an attempt to roll back the rights of women and LGBTQ people in European countries. |
Twenty-eight U.S. Christian right groups have spent millions of dollars pursuing conservative agendas that threaten LGBTQ and women’s rights in Europe, a new investigation by British news website openDemocracy found Tuesday.
The investigation by openDemocracy found that more than two dozen organizations have been involved in legal battles across Europe opposing same-sex adoption, defending legislation against same-sex couples and restricting access to contraception and abortion. According to the report, the majority of the money spent by these groups in Europe came from two Christian legal advocacy groups, the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) and the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the latter of which the Southern Poverty Law Center has listed as a designated hate group for its support of anti-LGBTQ legislation both in the U.S. and abroad.. . . Together, both the ACLJ and the ADF spent more than $3.7 million in Europe in 2018, according to openDemocracy’s findings based on publicly available non-profit tax filings. The 28 organizations surveyed by openDemocracy spent more than $88 million in Europe between 2007 and 2018—an amount greater than anywhere else outside of the United States, followed by Africa, Asia and Latin America. The findings come ahead of the U.S. presidential elections on Nov. 3 and amid what activists say is a worrying rollback of women’s and LGBTQ rights in central and eastern Europe.
Both the ACLJ and the ADF have intervened in dozens of European court cases over the past 10 years. President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Jay Sekulow, who served as counsel for the president’s impeachment trial, has been the chief counsel for the ACLJ since 1991. The organization has backed the Polish government several times on its stances on abortion and LGBTQ rights, including submitting arguments earlier this month in favour of the conservative government’s most recent abortion restrictions that have sparked international protests. Earlier this year, the European arm of the ACLJ also criticized the European Commission’s decision to cut funding to Poland’s regions and towns that declared themselves homophobic “LGBT-free zones.” OpenDemocracy says the ACLJ did not respond to its requests for comment.The ADF also has links to the Trump Administration as former staffers, allies and supporters of the organization have been appointed to roles in government, and has significantly increased its funding in Europe, spending more than $2.5 million in 2018 compared to $1.4 million in 2014. According to its website, the organization’s international arm “provides funding for cases with high potential to set major international legal precedents.”
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| Amy Coney Barret |
But in this case, truth smacked them in the face.
According to Raw Story:
A reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer this week cornered a Trump-loving GOP operative for sending text messages to voters falsely claiming that Democratic presidential nominee supports having 8-year-old children undergo gender reassignment surgery. Terry Schilling, the executive director of the right-wing American Principles Project, defended his organization for sending out text messages to voters that cast false aspersion on Biden’s position that transgender children shouldn’t face discrimination.
The video includes images of Biden speaking to Mieke Haeck, the mother of an 8-year-old transgender child at an Oct. 15 ABC town hall in Philadelphia. Biden told Haeck “there should be zero discrimination” against transgender people, including children.
She called APP’s claims a “blatant lie” and considered the PAC’s video so over the top in its attempt to be scary that it was “almost laughable.” Haeck would have told Schilling that, if his PAC had reached out to her. “It has nothing to do with medical intervention, medication or surgery,” she said of her question for Biden. “That’s not what we’re talking about. It’s about my daughter using she and her pronouns, growing her hair and being who she is in her heart.”
Editor's Note - by the time you read this, Amy Coney Barrett will be a SCOTUS judge. There was no doubt that it would end this way. But there is much doubt that is THE END at all for us, our safety, and equality. Don't ever lose hope. And above all, get out there and vote if you haven't already.
For transgender advocates, election stokes hopes and fears - Yep and for the rest of us, too. But the trans community has a deeper stake because Trump devoted much of his anti-LGBTQ policy against them.
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| Ritchie Torres |
Frank Amedia, . . . who founded the POTUS Shield prayer effort to wage spiritual warfare on behalf of President Donald Trump, released a video last Friday in which he claimed that God told him that he is going to shift the polls in key races heading into the election so that Republican candidates gain 5 points, while Democratic candidates lose 5 points. And to drive home the point of just how important it is for Christians to vote, Amedia warned that failure to do so would result in an America where “animalism” is accepted and “somebody can marry a cow and have perverse sex with them.”. . . “This is about morality,” he said, “This is about same-sex marriage not being approved and blessed in this country. This is not about us changing genders into five and six different meanings now. Even sexual preference has all of a sudden been changed in the dictionary to where it’s offensive. How far do they want us to go? Wait until animalism becomes acceptable and somebody can marry a cow and have perverse sex with them. You think I’m laughing. That’s what’s going to come.”
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| Amy Coney Barrett |
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
This is dedicated to those in our community who seem to think that Donald Trump is pro-LGBTQ, particularly Brandon Straka, Chadwick Moore, and Richard Grenell.
According to People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch, the Trump Administration, led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is making a move on the international stage with regards to women's health and the LGBTQ community.
And it's not a positive one:
On Thursday, Oct. 22, less than two weeks before an election that could bring the Trump administration to a close, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Health and Human Service Secretary Alex Azar are scheduled to join Brazil, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia, and Uganda in sponsoring a virtual ceremony to sign the “Geneva Consensus Declaration,” reports the Independent, which notes that, other than the U.S., the sponsoring nations involved “have strict laws on both abortion and same-sex or ban each entirely.”The HHS announcement of the event says the declaration “further strengthens a coalition to achieve these four pillars: (1) better health for women, (2) the preservation of human life, (3) strengthening of family as the foundational unit of society, and (4) protecting every nation’s sovereignty in global politics.”The event appears to be a culmination of Pompeo’s intensive efforts to build opposition to any international recognition of a right to reproductive choice—and his zeal to undermine international recognition of the rights of LGBTQ people while celebrating governmental enforcement of “traditional” religious values on gender, sexuality, and family.
Appointed by the president in 2018, secretary Pompeo has been seeking to push a pro-life US foreign policy during his time in office. Late last month he attempted to use a US-sponsored UN event as a platform to redefine international human rights and prioritize “religious freedom” over LGBTQ equality. But the event was boycotted by most EU member states.In a speech titled 'Promoting and Protecting Human Rights: A Re-Dedication to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights', secretary Pompeo told those nations in attendance that international human rights protections are in “crisis". At the meeting he also touted a recent Trump commission report which elevated rights such as religious freedom as "unalienable", meaning they can't be taken away. The report also dismissed abortion and same-sex marriage as "divisive social and political controversies".
News and video came out on Monday about gay pro-Trump event held by his daughter, Tiffany. It's one in a series of pro-gay events the Trump campaign has held in an attempt to gaslight the LGBTQ community into believing that he supports us. Apparently the Trump family thinks we have short memories when it comes to the attempts to eliminate our rights these past four years.
The event was a disaster. And the icing on this stale cake was Tiffany's speech:
This may be the worst speech I’ve ever seen.
— Molly Jong-Fast🏡 (@MollyJongFast) October 20, 2020
pic.twitter.com/5wWDXMXRBA
The event was said to have around a dozen people in attendance and was co-headlined by former White House official Richard Grenell. “I know what my father believes in,” Trump said at one point. “Prior to politics, he supported gays, lesbians, the LGBQIA plus!” Many commenters noted that she omitted the “T” from LGBTQ, which stands for transgender people.
With the election two weeks away, you can feel both sides getting more and more anxious. While there have been predictions as to who will win, folks on my side of the aisle have been pushing heavily for us to not get complacent and vote in large numbers. The debacle of 2016 which left America trapped in the lowest pit of hell - i.e. at the mercy of a Trump administration - has been a great motivator. Over 29 million American have already voted early and that number is going to increase.
On the other side of the spectrum, there is a fearful weariness that it may be all over and the bill is coming for some of them who sacrificed their names and integrity for a little power and some conservative judges.
Naturally I am talking about Trump evangelical Franklin Graham. Graham went all in for Trump by ignoring or making excuse for his excesses. And as we near election day, there is a fear one can sense in his tweets:
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| Joe Biden |
While the coronavirus rages, Donald Trump still has no plan to combat it. He's surrendered to it. Instead he holds superspreader rallies against the advice of health officials, where he dances rather badly while encouraging unhealthy behavior which will only make infections and deaths increase. The only thing Donald Trump will accomplish if he does receive a second term is the killing of more Americans. Think about this if you are undecided, leaning towards voting for him, or not voting at all.
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| Angela Stanton-King (seen here with Donald Trump) storms out of interview when confronted about her QAnon conspiracy theories. |
I do adore this development:
On Wednesday, Angela Stanton-King — a Trump-loving GOP candidate running for the late civil rights hero Rep. John Lewis’ congressional seat in Metro Atlanta — was interviewed by The Guardian‘s Oliver Laughland, and angrily cut short the interview when asked about her past tweets appearing to reference the QAnon conspiracy theory. Believers of QAnon, which holds that Trump is secretly working to bring down a Democratic-controlled ring of cannibalistic, Satanic pedophiles, have dabbled in anti-Semitism and have been flagged as a source of domestic terrorism. As a result, some Republican candidates who have affiliated themselves with it now try to deny their involvement — as Stanton-King tried to do.
As you can see in the tweet below, girlfriend tried Laughland and he pulled out the receipts:
'We're done, let's go': QAnon-believing Republican candidate walks out of Guardian interview after facing questions about her support for the baseless conspiracy theory.
— Guardian US (@GuardianUS) October 15, 2020
Click 'watch now' for the full episode of Anywhere but Washington pic.twitter.com/riEKgXSG7D
Definition of dumbassery - A group of LGBTQ people endangering themselves in support of Trump while Trump's party uses transphobia and homophobia to attack an LGBTQ Congressional candidate:
LGBTQ Trump supporters held a big boozy gathering to plot election strategy. No one wore masks.
