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| The Liberty Counsel's Mat Staver |
"This [situation] involves a young lady, Ann*, who is getting married in May," says Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. "She was shopping for a bridal dress with her mother and sister and she's been saving herself for her husband." According to Staver, the store employee helping "Ann" in and out of dresses in the dressing room turned out to be a man dressed as a woman. "This young woman felt completely violated and deceived by the bridal store," says Staver. "This day was [supposed to be] a day of celebration and joy – and it turned into a disaster. And it should never have happened."
It was bound to happen and personally I think it's about time. Conservative online publication Deseret News is sending out the warning alarm about the concept of "religious liberty." There is a growing belief that "religious liberty" is more about weaponizing faith to discriminate. And this belief, according to the publication, is going to lead to problems.
Amid growing calls to advance LGBTQ rights, conservative religious freedom advocates are scrambling to avoid potential fallout for people of faith. In so doing, they’ve been forced to confront an uncomfortable truth: Many Americans see faith-based protections in the public square as a bad thing. A recent survey from Public Religion Research Institute found that only 22% of U.S. adults support exempting business owners with religious objections to some LGBTQ rights from anti-discrimination rules. Twice that many Americans (44%) feel their own rights are threatened by other people’s religious liberty claims.
Deaton, who is gay, acknowledged that faith groups played a role in bringing about religious liberty’s current PR crisis. As support for gay rights grew in recent decades, some religious leaders vilified the gay community in hopes of protecting themselves. For example, in the lead-up to gay marriage legalization, U.S. Catholic bishops often argued that same-sex relationships damaged society as a whole. “There are people who have misused and misappropriated religious freedom to harm LGBTQ people,” Deaton said.
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| Former Fox News personality Megyn Kelly is telling another lie. |
Y'all, I'm trying so hard to be nice today but people are working my nerves. They are trying to make me forget how much I love my Jesus.
In the middle of all of this madness with regards to anti-trans athlete bills which supporters have proven there is no need for, Biden trying to clean up Trump's messes while the GOP undermines him, etc etc, comes a mountain of hot mess with Dr. Seuss, the Muppets and Mr. Potato Head.
Three companies recently made private decisions about their products. The publisher of Dr. Seuss books decided to no longer publish six of them because of their racist imagery. The company which makes Mr. Potato Head decided that the toy will not be sold as Mr. and Mrs. Last but not least, Disney will be adding content warnings to certain episodes of The Muppet Show on its streaming service.
Whoop te do. No big deal, huh? Guess again. Via the extensive conservative and GOP televised and social media pipeline, those three seemingly innocuous incidents are now claimed to be a part of a huge conspiracy of supposed "cancel culture" by liberals, Joe Biden, George Soros, and who ever else are considered as left-wing boogeymen to control action and stamp out free speech, And this nonsense has been blasted all over the right-wing blogsphere. Seriously, Fox News went absolutely apeshit over the Dr. Seuss non-controversy for two days.
The big booby prize, however, for the dumbest way the right has exploited this junk is a tie between Mike Huckabee and Megyn Kelly. Huckabee tweeted a meme which placed the blame on Joe Biden:
Not be undone, former Fox News personality (she was never a journalist) Megyn Kelly channels Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion with her tweet:
This goes beyond silly. It's downright depressing. Huckabee and Kelly are many things (none of them are positive) but stupid isn't one of them. They know exactly what they are doing by repeating these lies. And both have prominent positions in the media. As much as it disgusts my very core to think admit, both of them have the power to influence a lot of people and power like that shouldn't be abused.
Yet here they are abusing it with no concept of care or integrity.
But can we really blame Huckabee or Kelly more than we blame ourselves? Who in the world decided to give these two so much power? I keep hearing all of the whining about how divided America is and how we seem to be at each other's throats. Maybe we should make better choices in terms of our social influencers. That could help a lot.
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| This wonderful book set off a ridiculous moral panic on Twitter. |
In the latest episode of "Homophobia makes you stupid" comes this tweet from a woman in England. Apparently she finds it disturbing that a child is reading book about LGBTQ people:
The 'progressive alphabet' for the next generation. God help us! pic.twitter.com/h7wPt6jdDN
— Dianne 🏴 (@DianneLester) February 28, 2021
The Equality Act, passed last week by the House and awaiting a Senate vote, is a comprehensive LGBTQ rights bill. The religious right is attacking the bill in the same manner it attacks all things pro-LGBTQ - via bad science, horror stories, and out-and-out lies.
The Family Research Council has just come out with a booklet denouncing the Equality Act. Calling it a booklet is being nice on my part because it's actually a mess. FRC throws so many arguments against the Equality Act that the booklet gives an impression of sad desperation.
I am not going to link it because one of the claims turned my stomach:
The Equality Act would also virtually do away with sex-segregated spaces, meaning women and girls would no longer have privacy when in publicly accessible bathrooms, locker rooms, and other such spaces. Similar laws mandating SOGI in public accommodations at the local and sate level have already resulted in litigation. In one case, a kindergartener was assaulted by a boy classmate in her school's bathroom.
Any type of assault is nothing to make light of, particularly that of children. We must always be careful to guard against it. We should also be careful to get all of the facts before making claims of assault
But in this case, it would appear that FRC didn't bother to.
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| Attacks on HHS nominee Rachel Levine reveal how the religious right distorts science against LGBTQ people. |
Senator Rand Paul thought he was being cute during a Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday.
From Media Matters:
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) promoted right-wing media lies about medical care for trans youth during the Senate confirmation hearing for Dr. Rachel Levine, who has been nominated to be the assistant secretary of health at the Department of Health and Human Services. Paul lied that Levine supports the “genital mutilation” of trans kids, who do not undergo gender affirmation surgeries.In reality, affirming the gender identity of trans youth is best practice health care and widely supported by medical professionals and research, and it yields long-term mental health benefits and can be lifesaving for young trans people. Furthermore, young trans and gender-diverse children are not undergoing surgery or irreversible treatments; rather, as social work professor Katherine Kuvalanka told The Washington Post, “The only interventions for young children is affirmation and acceptance for who they are.”
Despite these facts, Paul repeatedly and falsely suggested during Levine’s February 25 hearing that trans kids were undergoing “genital mutilation” and lied that Levine supports “surgical destruction of a minor’s genitalia.” As PinkNews has noted, these false claims are based on right-wing media lies attacking Levine’s nomination.
On Thursday, the House of Representatives will be voting on the Equality Act and it looks good. If it passes the House, it will go to the Senate where I'm sure things will be a bit more, shall we say, boisterous.
The religious right, right-wing groups, and the anti-LGBTQ industry have been working overtime with their government allies dreaming up excuses and other assorted lies to derail the Equality Act. But at least for this one time, I'm not going to waste time refuting their nonsense.
I think I've haven't been cutting to the chase.
None of them oppose the Equality Act for the reasons they've mentioned. The Equality Act will not endanger women or girls, it won't ruin women's sports, it won't make females more susceptible to "predators" attempting to sneak into women's dressing rooms and locker rooms. Whatever other reasons these folks dream up to oppose the Equality Act are also lies. .
Truth be told, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins already told us in 2011 why his side opposes the Equality Act. It's relatively simple and we've all known the reason. We simply don't point it out enough:
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| If you think that attacks against the Equality Act look familiar, it's not your imagination. |
You can tell that the fight over the Equality Act is heating up when you read nonsense like this Family Research Council tweet:
Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, told a group of Tea Party supporters on a conference call that gay marriage would be a slippery slope to polygamy and bestiality. "When you say it's not a man and a woman anymore, then why not have three men and one woman or four women and one man?" Gohmert asked. "Or why not, you know, somebody has a love for an animal or-? There is no clear place to draw a line once you eliminate the traditional marriage."
“This is something that I believe is the beginning of the end of Western Civilization,” (the Liberty Counsel's Mat) Staver told a conservative radio station in October. “You can’t simply redefine and pretend that ontological differences between men and women do not exist. This will have consequences.”
2015 - Mike Huckabee in a conference call with the Family Research Council
“If the courts rule that people have a civil right not only to be a homosexual but a civil right to have a homosexual marriage, then a homosexual couple coming to a pastor who believes in biblical marriage who says ‘I can’t perform that wedding’ will now be breaking the law . . . It’s not just saying, ‘I’m sorry you have a preference.’ No, you will be breaking the law subject to civil for sure and possible criminal penalties for violating the law…. If you do practice biblical convictions and you carry them out and you do what you’ve been led by the spirit of God to do, your behavior will be criminal.”
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio took a decidedly conservative turn on same-sex marriage in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network this week, warning that “there’s a real and present danger” that gay marriage proponents will cast the teachings of mainstream Christianity as “hate speech.”
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| Conservative conference CPAC cancelled an anti-Semitic speaker but will retain the one who posted this tweet. |
This week, CPAC (Conservative Political Action Committee) will be hosting its annual conference and it promises to be boisterous as always. The group is already in trouble because of a now canceled speaker.
The theme of this year's event is "America uncanceled," which is ironic since the organization that runs CPAC, Matt Schlapp's American Conservative Union, just canceled one of its scheduled speakers. That speaker, Young Pharaoh, has made statements CPAC is now calling "reprehensible. "On Twitter Young Pharaoh repeatedly posts about pedophilia, including linking it to LGBTQ people, Christianity, and the Biden family.Some of his tweets appear to echo QAnon and other conspiracy theories. He's also linked "caucasians" to bestiality. Media Matters reports Young Pharaoh "has told followers that Judaism is a 'complete lie' and 'made up for political gain,' said that Jewish people are 'thieving fake Jews,' tweeted that 'all the censorship & pedophilia on social media is being done by Israeli Jews,' and claimed that 'all of these big tech [companies], media, & social media platforms are controlled by CCP & Israel through Jewish CEO & corrupt Democrats.'"
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| President Biden's support of LGBTQ rights is angering the religious right. Whoop te do. |
Last week, conservative radio talk show icon and all-around vile racist and homophobic human being Rush Limbaugh died from cancer. There is much debate about his impact on American politics, with some declaring him a hero while many others calling out his smears, nasty attacks, and bigoted rhetoric.
But according to the Christian evangelical (and actual hate) group the American Family Association via its 'news source' One News Now, there is no debate. According to One News Now, Limbaugh was a good Christian and a strong conservative, even if the publication has to omit several facts about his life to make this point.
The article it choose to publish, Hated by libs, adored by millions, Limbaugh leaves behind legacy, is a nauseating whitewash which paints Limbaugh as standing up for America while wrecking "humorless liberals" with zingers which supposedly exposed their hypocrisy and hatred of American values.
Decades before President Donald Trump would blast the "fake news" intent on bringing him down, Limbaugh called CNN the “Clinton News Network” and knocked traditional news shows such as “Meet the Press,” which he mocked as “Meet the Depressed.”How is the national media reacting to Limbaugh’s death? According to Rich Noyes of the Media Research Center, the liberals who were mocked by Limbaugh for decades are reacting just as conservatives would expect. “It's the same stuff you heard at the beginning of his career. They're now doing it at the end,” he advises. “It really is a shabby way to treat someone who has just passed away but they're sort of picking out all of the things that they've criticized over the years. They're accusing him of things like racism, which wasn't true."Conservatives arguably should not be surprised at Limbaugh’s treatment by humorless liberals after they witnessed him mock "Environmental Wackos" vowing to ban SUVs and "Femi-Nazis" who were vowing to never marry a man.
Rush Limbaugh's death and the uncovering of his vile homophobia got me digging through the lives of other anti-LGBTQ personalities and led me to the above video. LGBTQ Americans of my generation the one before us remember Anita Bryant with nausea in the pit of our stomachs.
She was already a national celebrity, being a former beauty queen and recording artist, when in 1977 she led a fight against a FL anti-discrimination ordinance. Her efforts garnered a win by a wide majority and technically began the fusion of anti-gay religious beliefs and homophobic propaganda for political purposes. You can see how she masterfully combines the two while oozing ignorant sincerity during the above short clip
While Bryant won that battle, she eventually "lost the war." Boycotts and bankruptcies destroyed her career while we have won battle after battle securing our rights. However on the other hand, LGBTQ Americans have had to deal with laws and bills created by the combined weaponization of religious beliefs and anti-gay propaganda for decades even as Bryant moved away from the public eye.
And yes, girlfriend is still alive (video from 2005):
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| Rush Limbaugh died today. |
Unless you've been in seclusion, you know that Rush Limbaugh, patron saint of disaffected white folks who can't deal with their privilege slipping away, lost his battle with cancer today. I don't believe in celebrating the death of any human being. But I also don't believe in sugarcoating the legacy of any prominent figure who has passed to the great beyond. And there will probably be a lot of sugarcoating of Limbaugh as is. To me, he was a creep. He was a racist, homophobic bloated windbag whose rhetoric had a double negative impact of me as a black gay man.
To LGBTQ people, Limbaugh was the epitome of homophobia's hypocrisy. On one hand, he dehumanized us, made fun of how the AID/HIV crisis was ravaging our community, and asserted the standard lies about us supposedly "ramming our lifestyle down people's throats." And then on the other hand, claimed to not understand why we were so angry.
To African-American people, he was the epitome of racism's hypocrisy, claiming that we are being held back because we want to be victims, we are holding on to much to the past and we can succeed in life if we only try. But on the other hand, he was the main one sending up the alarm to his white listeners when any of us did achieve.
I don't see the need for a lot of discussion with regards to Limbaugh's legacy. One can break it down via few articles:
Limbaugh repeatedly refers to Obama as a “boy” and a “man-child”
What the HELL is wrong with y'all?
This President's Day, LGBTs say 'Thank you!' to President Donald J. Trump. pic.twitter.com/PavXuT82VV
— LogCabinRepublicans (@LogCabinGOP) February 15, 2021
The Log Cabin Republicans released an awkward video to honor George Washington’s birthday by praising former President Donald Trump. The video is for “President’s Day,” giving them a way to shoehorn Trump in, but that isn’t actually a federal holiday. The video features several queer supporters decrying their adoration for the most viciously anti-LGBTQ President in the nation’s history. The usual suspects appear in the video, including the group’s spokesperson Charles Moran, journalist Chadwick Moore, and the blogger “Brokeback Patriot.”Bear in mind that while in office, Trump waged war against the LGBTQ people. He opened up the White House to religious right groups who used their access in attempts to deny us our rights as Americans.
Appointed anti-LGBTQ judges: Trump has appointed anti-LGBTQ judges with alarming anti-LGBTQ records to appointments at every level of the judicial system, including anti-equality Supreme Court Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh and federal nominees Kacsmaryk, Mateer, Bounds, Vitter. Menashi and others.Supported employment discrimination against LGBTQ people: The Trump administration submitted amicus briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court supporting discrimination against LGBTQ people.Banned transgender service members from the military: Against the expert advice of military leadership, medical authorities, budget analysts, 70% of Americans and the armed forces of allied countries, Trump and Pence banned transgender people from serving in the military.Rolled back Obama-era non-discrimination protections: Trump’s Department of Justice upended previous DOJ interpretations of the Civil Rights Act that protect transgender and non-binary workers from employment discrimination and ceased enforcing non-discrimination protections as well as taking a hostile stance to LGBTQ workers in court.Issued rule to license discrimination: Trump’s Department of Labor issued a regulation designed to allow federal contractors to claim a religious exemption to fire LGBTQ workers because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
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| Senator Kyrsten Sinema |
Editor's note - this is one of those evergreen columns (I originally wrote it in 2016) which I don't mind reposting. Folks unfortunately always need a reminder.
As a gay African-American, I’ve heard the argument about how “you can’t compare the gay civil rights movement to the African-American civil rights movement” more times than I care to count.
The constant so-called moral outrage of some African-American heterosexuals when the topic is mentioned has gotten me to the point where my mind automatically tunes out the monotonous drones of how supposed sinful homosexuals are “high jacking” the civil rights movement or how gays “can’t compare their sin with black skin.”
As such, I almost missed the epiphany which occurred two weeks ago.
I was vaguely scanning comments on a conservative site by an anonymous African-American female as she went on and on about how gays were never subjected to slavery, segregation or declared three fifths a person. While the logical side of my mind was gathering up the customary argument of how wrong it was for disadvantaged people of any stripe to play the “Oppression Olympics,” the emotional side of my mind struck immediately.
“This is the most ignorant crap I’ve ever heard,” I thought. “Just where in the hell does she think gay black people were during slavery and segregation? On a spaceship orbiting the Earth? “
I was instantly struck by oddity of what I had thought. Not that my outrage wasn’t coming from a place of truth, mind you, but how the simple fact never entered my mind that yes, gay people were subjected to slavery, segregation and racism because of our skin. Just as LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people of color exist now, we existed back then. Then it suddenly struck me again that I’ve never recalled any acknowledgement of this fact during the myriad of discussions, I’ve read, listened to or seen regarding comparisons between the gay and civil rights movements.
And why is that?
When I was in 11th grade, I rocked my entire high school by getting a date to the prom before most of my peers were even worried about Christmas gifts. If you saw what I looked like back then, you would understand why everyone was shocked. Seeing that it was 1988 though, my date was not with another guy. Granted, my prom date was a nice girl and we had a good time, but looking back, I often wonder how things would have been had I been able to ask a guy to my prom.
That memory and the fact that Valentine's Day is Sunday put me in the mood to show the above video about a 14-year-boy on his first date. It's nice for an eight minute video. While not the usual call-out on anti-LGBTQ tactics, it's a reminder of who we truly are in spite of attempts of some to muddy our lives. And our souls.
