Haters tried. Haters failed.
From MSN:
About 100 activists lined the sidewalk outside of Hamburger Mary's, an LGBTQ-friendly restaurant in downtown, Sunday to stand against a handful of anti-transgender protesters from North Texas who came to demonstrate outside a drag show at the restaurant.The dozen or so protesters with Protect Texas Kids, a group that claims children are being “indoctrinated” by gay and transgender activists, were largely drowned out by boos and chants from the counter-protesters who vastly outnumbered them. “Stop the hate, stop the fear, everyone is welcome here,” the crowd chanted. Soon after the protest started, a small group of men, some of them wearing Nazi regalia, arrived to join the anti-trans protesters, shouting homophobic slurs and Nazi slogans across Prairie Street.. . . Outside the restaurant on Sunday, the 100 or so counter protesters danced along to the disco and funk music booming from Hamburger Mary's, holding up large cloth banners to protect patrons from view and cheering when some of the performers came out to take pictures. The anti-trans demonstrators and counter-protesters lobbed insults at each other from across Praire Street, but the standoff never amounted to a physical confrontation.(Kelly) Neidert, a well-known conservative activist, said her group traveled from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, to denounce a performance that she acknowledged was taking place at a privately-owned business, but one that she said was “inherently sexual.” “I don’t think parents should be allowed to take their kids to these events, and I think that there should be a law banning it from happening,” Neidert said.The anti-trans demonstrators left Hamburger Mary’s after about three hours, followed shortly after by the counter-protesters. For the counter-protesters, their large turnout, compared to the paltry showing from the anti-trans demonstrators, was proof that Houstonians would not abide hate.
Have y'all heard of this new anti-LGBTQ group called 'Gays Against Groomers.' The group will have you to believe that it is a coalition of gays who think that the 'radical gays' are making us all look bad supposedly sexualizing and indoctrinating kids. It's the old "America would accept and tolerate LGBTQ people if we didn't try so hard to be outrageous' argument on steroids combined with the even older lie that LGBTQ people are 'recruiting' children.
We know nothing about this group except for how it conveniently sprang up on Twitter out of nowhere, appropriates right-wing lies against LGBTQ people, and that the conservative propaganda industry is trying hard to make it seem legitimate.
I say it's all astroturfed bullshit, probably from the same grimy political crevice which created and funds that droll Libs of TikTok. And like Libs of TikTok, 'Gays Against Groomers' uses the modus operandi of mischaracterizing tweets and slandering people as examples of LGBTQ people supposedly sexualizing children.
Or, as the tweet below shows, making up all sorts of nonsense about LGBTQ people, teachers, and drag queens which borders on parody.
Even the name is a joke. 'Gays Against Groomers' or 'GAG' for short? Does the group even know the irony of it all? It claims to be against sexualization while reeking of sexualization.
If the group isn't legitimate, it wouldn't surprise me. Far right conservatives have a tract record of making fools of themselves when they attempt to portray themselves as "appropriate gays." Of course if this group is in any small way legitimate, then it's obvious that its either telegraphing some serious internal homophobia or some serious carnal desires which I suggest its members need to take care of instead of pushing up on the rest of the LGBTQ community.
Hating on us ain't gonna get you laid.
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| SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas wants to revisit decisions favoring LGBTQ Americans. Rolling Stone magazine just pointed out a possible breach of ethics between him and an anti-LGBTQ hate group. |
This article from Rolling Stone magazine needs more attention. It underscores just how brazen far right conservatives and some SCOTUS justices are:
At an evangelical victory party in front of the Supreme Court to celebrate the downfall of Roe v. Wade last week, a prominent Capitol Hill religious leader was caught on a hot mic making a bombshell claim: that she prays with sitting justices inside the high court. “We’re the only people who do that,” Peggy Nienaber said.This disclosure was a serious matter on its own terms, but it also suggested a major conflict of interest. Nienaber’s ministry’s umbrella organization, Liberty Counsel, frequently brings lawsuits before the Supreme Court. In fact, the conservative majority in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, which ended nearly 50 years of federal abortion rights, cited an amicus brief authored by Liberty Counsel in its ruling.In other words: Sitting Supreme Court justices have prayed together with evangelical leaders whose bosses were bringing cases and arguments before the high court. Nienaber is Liberty Counsel’s executive director of DC Ministry, as well as the vice president of Faith & Liberty, whose ministry offices sit directly behind the Supreme Court. She spoke to a livestreamer who goes by Connie IRL, seemingly unaware she was being recorded.“You actually pray with the Supreme Court justices?” the livestreamer asked. “I do,” Nienaber said. “They will pray with us, those that like us to pray with them.” She did not specify which justices prayed with her, but added with a chortle, “Some of them don’t!” The livestreamer then asked if Nienaber ministered to the justices in their homes or at her office. Neither, she said. “We actually go in there.”
With the expansion of equal rights for LGBT people, especially, the Liberty Counsel has come into their own, working to attempt to ensure that Christians can continue to engage in anti-LGBT discrimination in places of business under the guise of “religious liberty.”Through lawsuits and its annual Awakening conference in Orlando, the Counsel attempts to enforce the idea that Christian beliefs and law trump all other law. Staver has warned about homosexuality, abortion, and the consequences for Christians who oppose homosexuality and marriage equality, saying they will be targeted for their views. He even went so far as to call for a new revolutionary war as marriage equality advanced. In March of 2015, Staver stated that he would personally advocate disobedience to any U.S. Supreme Court ruling that favored marriage equality, and that “collectively, we cannot accept that as the rule of law.”During the 2015 brouhaha over Indiana’s religious freedom law, Staver likened “the homosexual lobby” to terrorists, claiming that “it’s hard to negotiate with people who are irrational and who are inventing things that simply don’t exist.” He has also supported the criminalization of homosexuality both in the U.S. and in other countries, stating in one instance that Malawi’s anti-homosexuality laws were in its “own best interests” after the U.S. reportedly withheld monetary aid to the country because of its efforts to outlaw homosexuality.In the Counsel’s amicus curiae brief in the 2003 Lawrence v. Texas lawsuit in which the Supreme Court decriminalized sodomy, the attorneys writing (including Staver) called for the court to uphold anti-sodomy laws, stating that “This Court again should decline to deprive states of the power to enact statutes that proscribe harmful and immoral conduct.” The Liberty Counsel went on to say that statistical evidence “demonstrates, however, that those who engage in homosexual conduct are at increased risk for numerous diseases as compared to heterosexuals.”
Every group has to deal with stereotypes created out of prejudices. And of course that includes LGBTQ people.
I made a short list:
We are trying to recruit children
We like lots of sex, the unhealthiest the better
We are disease ridden individuals
We are criminals
We hate Christians
It's same message Anita Bryant pushed in the 70s, the Moral Majority pushed in the 80s, the religious right pushed in the 90s, and the same message we are being bombarded with today by people like Ron DeSantis, Christopher Rufo, Seth Dillon, and the rest of that bunch.
And like in the past, it's being prettied up and disguised behind the veneer of parental rights, protecting the children, religious liberty or whatever boardroom concept conservatives have dreamed up. But as difficult as it is, we must never forget the rip off the mask every chance we get and expose just what we're dealing with.
When you rip away the disguise, below is what you see. Lies, lies, and more lies.
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| Kari Lake |
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| Marjorie Taylor Greene |
A tweet by the always annoying Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene deserves more scrutiny.
From LGBTQNation:
Last week, the Senate passed a bill to reduce gun violence that included a provision to incentivize states to pass red flag laws, which allow judges to temporarily take guns away from people who are determined to be dangerous. Greene said that this is bad because conservatives who threaten transgender people could be disarmed under such laws. She said that the laws “will be a tool to disarm any gun owner that wants to stop abortion, the trans agenda on kids, mass illegal migration, & big government oppression suffocating our families, faith & freedoms.”
Passing red flag laws was not a solution by Democrats to stop mass shootings, it will be a tool to disarm any gun owner that wants to stop abortion, the trans agenda on kids, mass illegal migration, & big government oppression suffocating our families, faith, & freedoms.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) June 25, 2022
1/10
More importantly, why isn't anyone demanding an answer from her to that question?
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| Texas attorney general Ken Paxton |
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| Conservative evangelicals aren't weighing on the latest shocking revelations about Donald Trump, while enjoying the goodies he gave them. |
As further news of how unhinged Trump was during the Jan 6th insurrection comes out, one group seems to be omitting itself. The religious right, while celebrating how Trump's SCOTUS picks led the way in overturning Roe v Wade, have been fairly silent as the country learns just close we came to complete chaos on that momentous day.
And that's ironic, seeing how many times Franklin Graham, the Family Research Council and others kissed Trump's butt and defended his behavior every time he gave them something they wanted:
If Graham and the rest were true religious leaders, they would have something to say about the revelations we are learning about Trump. They won't because they are too busy celebrating the goodies they traded their integrity for in giving him their unwavering support. And while they won't admit it publicly, I bet a lot of them are telling themselves it was all worth it to get Roe v Wade overturned.
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| Lil Nas X |
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| Justice Clarence Thomas wants you to believe that he is as crochety as he looks here. |
This Supreme Court term has been a disaster on all levels, especially its boneheaded decision to overturn Roe V Wade. There is one precedent the court didn't overturn, however. But if one crochety justice had his way, it would have.
From The Hill:
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on Monday expressed a desire to revisit a landmark 1964 ruling that makes it relatively difficult to bring successful lawsuits against media outlets for defamation. Thomas’s statement came in response to the court’s decision to turn away an appeal from a Christian nonprofit group who disputed their characterization by the civil rights watchdog group Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
Coral Ridge Ministries Media sued the SPLC for defamation for listing them as a hate group on their public database, which led to Amazon excluding Coral Ridge as a recipient of charitable contributions from online shoppers.
Thomas dissented from the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear the lawsuit, which had been dismissed by lower courts for failing to overcome the decades-old legal standard, established in the landmark 1964 New York Times v. Sullivan decision, that public figures who sue for defamation must not only prove defendants made defamatory statements, but that those statements were made with “actual malice.”
“This case is one of many showing how New York Times and its progeny have allowed media organizations and interest groups ‘to cast false aspersions on public figures with near impunity,’” Thomas wrote. “SPLC’s ‘hate group’ designation lumped Coral Ridge’s Christian ministry with groups like the Ku Klux Klan and Neo-Nazis,” the justice added. “It placed Coral Ridge on an interactive, online ‘Hate Map’ and caused Coral Ridge concrete financial injury by excluding it from the AmazonSmile donation program. Nonetheless, unable to satisfy the ‘almost impossible’ actual-malice standard this Court has imposed, Coral Ridge could not hold SPLC to account for what it maintains is a blatant falsehood.”
In its iconic 2010 report, "18 Anti-Gay Groups and Their Propaganda," the Southern Poverty Law Center explained that the "late Rev. D. James Kennedy started turning fundamentalist Coral Ridge Presbyterian into a mega-church in the 1960s."In an especially nasty 1989 edition of a CRM newsletter, Kennedy ran photographs of children along with the tagline, “Sex With Children? Homosexuals Say Yes!” "Over the years," the SPLC report adds, Rev. Kennedy "emphasized anti-gay rhetoric, particularly in his TV ministry. He recommended as 'essential' the virulent work of R.J. Rushdoony ... who believed practicing gays should be executed."
"Dick Hafer (the comic book's author) has produced a very accurate portrayal of homosexuality and the problem it poses to our nation and civilization. This unique book deserves an open-minded reading by all Americans, and especially by those who serve in leadership capacities."
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| Pride flags gets Alison Steinberg angry. |
OAN Contributor Alison Steinberg is raging after returning home to Huntington Beach to find the city flying a Pride flag. (Language) pic.twitter.com/fk5rTg88hF
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) June 26, 2022
One America News anchor Alison Steinberg short-circuited over the weekend — going on a profane meltdown over seeing the rainbow flag in the middle of Pride Month. Steinberg, who previously mused that it was “gay” to support Ukraine in their war against the invading Russian military, posted a fire-breathing rant to Instagram on Saturday night over seeing the LGBT pride flag fly over Huntington Beach.
“Guess what I came home to be greeted with?” Steinberg said while pointing to the flag. “This f*cking bullsh*t.”That was hardly the end of it:" What the hell is that? Huntington Beach is the town of good ol’ fashioned, hard-working American people! People that worked all through the Covid lockdowns. Yes, that’s right! Huntington Beach never shut down through any of the Covid nonsense f*ckery. And now we’re peddling this garbage!? What the hell is this? The only flag that should be up there is the American flag. This is a disgrace to our city and it should be taken down immediately! Whoever the hell is running this town needs to be fired! Make America great again! Make Huntington Beach great again."
The following is an example of what happens when we fight back. There has been a nasty wave of bigotry against the LGBTQ community this year and some folks have spent much time and effort spelling out the many ways we are 'doomed.' We aren't doomed if we fight back:
According to the New York Daily News:
The Long Island library that decided to tear down Pride displays and remove books from children’s sections reversed its decision at an emergency meeting Thursday night. The Smithtown Library board of trustees voted 4-2 to rescind its controversial Tuesday night decision. One of the seven trustees abstained.
The initial decision prompted a massive response by advocates and a strong statement from the governor, leading to Thursday’s emergency meeting. On Tuesday, the board voted 4-2 in favor of a “motion to remove all Pride Displays, in addition to removing all books of the same subject on display, from all Children’s sections in all Smithtown Library buildings.” One member was absent on Tuesday.'
Hochul said in a press release today she is “horrified” by the vote and ordered the New York State Division of Human Rights to investigate reports of an anti-LGBTQ bias. “Public places are prohibited by law from engaging in discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity,” she said. “We will not tolerate a 'Don't Say Gay' philosophy taking root in our state.”
Earlier, the decision prompted immediate action by the LGBT Network, a nonprofit that fights for the rights of LGBTQ people and their families in Queens and Long Island, which criticized the library’s “bigoted move” and announced measures directed at protecting local LGBTQ youth. .. . Late Thursday morning, the organization held a press conference to explain how it plans to act against the “really scary” decision by the library, which Kilmnick referred to as “an attack on LGBTQ youth in our community.” The measures, which were originally scheduled to be launched in the fall, will now be officially announced on Monday at a virtual town hall — after the library’s decision forced the group to “fast track and accelerate them.”They involve the creation of “LGBT Network ambassadors” in every school district — parents, students, teachers and other community members who will work to ensure that LGBTQ curriculum is taught “and that our history is recognized, represented and not erased.”
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| With the help of a doctored picture (first picture), the far right continues its inane lie that drag queens are 'grooming' children. |
Yet again in their need to demonize drag queens, far right conservatives have shown how low they are willing to stoop.
According to the Associated Press:
CLAIM: A drag performer flashed their genitals to children while reading aloud in a Minnesota library.AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The performer in this 2019 photograph was wearing several layers of nude tights, said Hennepin County Library Communications Manager Joshua Yetman. “There wasn’t any exposure to children,” Yetman said.THE FACTS: As hateful and misleading rhetoric aimed at the LGBTQ community has escalated in recent months on social media, Drag Queen Story Hour events hosted by libraries or bookstores have become a frequent target. This week, some social media users are resurrecting a 2019 photo of such an event in a Minneapolis suburb and reposting it with false claims it shows the performer exposing their genitals to children. The image captures the performer, who is wearing a short dress while seated in front of students, reaching to the side for a book. In some versions of the post, a black box labeled “CENSORED” has been added to the space between the performer’s legs.“This is literally a sex crime,” reads a June 10 tweet that was shared some 10,000 times. “Adult flashes his penis to young children at library’s drag queen story hour,” another tweet read. However, unedited versions of the image show that the performer was wearing opaque nude tights that covered their genitals, a fact that Yetman confirmed to the AP in a phone interview Monday. “The performer was wearing tan or nude-colored tights, several layers of tights,” Yetman said.“They did not expose themselves to the children.” Yetman said the photo was captured in October 2019 during a drag queen story hour program at Ridgedale Library in the Minneapolis suburb of Minnetonka. The image circulated online with the same false claims shortly after the program happened, and the library system debunked them at the time.
Candace Owens of The Daily Wire called for parents to have their kids taken away if they take them to a Drag Queen Story Hour event. She added that such parents are “underqualified to have children. They should have their children taken away from them because it's child abuse.” [The Daily Wire, Candace, 6/15/22]Right-wing podcaster Steven Crowder claimed that progressives are opening the door to parents having their kids taken away if they don’t help the kids transition. “No one complained when you did it [Drag Queen Story Hour] at your private gay bars, no. But when it's at a public library with children, all of a sudden that’s where you get people I guess guilty of hate speech,” he added. [BlazeTV, Louder with Crowder, 6/14/22]Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon tweeted that parents who take their kids to drag shows should be arrested: “We need a show called ‘To Catch a Groomer’ where cops organize fake ‘family-friendly’ drag shows and then arrest all the parents who show up with their kids.” [Twitter, 6/5/22]Washington Times columnist Tim Young said parents taking their kids to drag shows “deserve no rights in this country” and “at the very least” should “be in jail.” [Twitter, 6/4/22]On The Faulkner Focus, Fox News Radio host Jimmy Failla claimed, “There was a time in this country of just a little more decency, where if someone even voiced the idea of taking your kid to a drag show, they would be arrested.” [Fox News, The Faulkner Focus, 6/7/22]
As this silly message I got earlier this month proves, the smearing of LGBTQ folks as 'groomers' of children is reaching the Twilight Zone level of inanity (click on graphic to read it):
How sad that your agenda is smothering our children! No one wants to “erase” you. Just stop trying to “convert” our toddlers. Some of these little ones are still in diapers, have pacifiers and blankies. And you want to teach them about your “pride”! Our little ones should be proud of themselves without you trying to convert them. Can’t you at least wait for middle school?
