Analyzing and refuting the inaccuracies lodged against the lgbt community by religious conservative organizations. Lies in the name of God are still lies.
'Nation Embracing Sin': Franklin Graham Goes on Twitter Rant to Defend North Carolina Anti-LGBT Law - Franklin Graham is a demagogue and a dangerous fool, but he has just done the lgbt community a favor with his egotistical tweets. Here is the question and it will be addressed in court - if you feel that something is a sin (in this case being an lgbt), is it right to create a false moral panic, lies, and laws to suppress said "sin?" Graham seems to think yes. With no proof that women and girls would be harmed by transgender folks using bathrooms and locker rooms of the gender identity they define for themselves and with no way of explaining why should lgbts be denied anti-discrimination protection, that should be the question we need to demand from the courts.
Anti-LGBT group from U.S. holds Barbados conference - Reason why have to start taking these folks seriously. If you are, then educate others. Worldwide groups with many connections and lots of money whose goal is the suppression of lgbt equality. Would be a James Bond movie if it weren't true.
The ONLY good thing about these bathroom bills is that it gives transgender folks, particularly our kids, a chance to speak out and educate.
How Our Complacency Led Mississippi to Pass An Anti-LGBT Hate Law on Steroids - Before you get defensive, let me ask you something. How many of you know that there are so-called pro-family groups in over 40 states? The point is every victory we get is no time to stop because with every loss the other side receives, they are already planning payback.
Yesterday I posted about the plans of SC Republican State Senator Lee Bright to introduce an anti-lgbt bill similar to the one passed recently in North Carolina. For now, it doesn't look like the bill is very popular. Gov. Nikki Haley (a Republican) has already voiced her disapproval of it. And today, Bright's bill was practically eviscerated on the Senate floor by Democrat Sen. Marlon Kimpson.
Kimpson didn't hold a thing back:
Kimpson, a Democrat, took to the floor of the Senate Thursday to
complain about gun reform bills not getting a hearing but then directed
his frustration at a bill introduced by Sen. Lee Bright, a Spartanburg
County Republican.
"Yesterday South Carolina sank to a new low,"
he told the Senate. "We're going to have the Lee Bright genitalia patrol
for bathrooms in South Carolina. That is the most blatant form of
intrusion, of discrimination of sexual orientation. Now we are becoming
the laughing stock in the nation because we are joining North Carolina,
Tennessee and Mississippi."
. . . Kimpson said Bright's bill has generated a hashtag, #peewithlee which is making "a mockery of the state."
"A
transgender person should use the restroom that corresponds to his or
her gender identity," he said. "Under peewithlee's Bright's bill, we're
now going to have the genitalia bill now checking birth certificates at
the restroom door. I can't imagine a more ridiculous bill."
According to GreenvilleOnline, the bill has a dim chance of passing. Let's cross our fingers.
Will South Carolina follow? Not likely with Haley in charge - More on SC's attempt to follow North Carolina's lead in passing an awful anti-lgbt bill. Further prediction that Republican Gov. Nikki Haley may be a stumbling block on the bill because of the negative economic blow back NC has been receiving.
Even More Executives Come Forward To Defend LGBT Rights- As nauseous as this backlash is, it could actually work in the favor of the lgbt community. We are able to create a dialogue on our issues, particularly issues involving our transgender brothers and sisters. Plus, the false mask of piety is slowly slipping off of the face of our opposition, revealing their base nastiness.
With its neighboring state of North Carolina catching all sorts of negative publicity and boycotts because of recently passed anti-lgbt law, one would think that South Carolina would steer far from that territory.
Unfortunately, those of us who live in SC know our legislators. Particular one state senator, Lee Bright.
South Carolina Sen. Lee Bright has filed a bill similar to a new North Carolina law that bars transgender people from using the bathroom associated with their gender identity.
Like the North Carolina law, Bright’s bill would also prevent cities and
counties from passing any laws of their own to protect transgender
people’s use of the bathroom. North Carolina’s law arose as a response
to a City of Charlotte ordinance.
Bright’s bill would force schools and state government to require people
only to use the bathrooms and locker rooms associated with their
"biological sex," which the bill defines as "the physical condition of
being male or female, which is stated on a person's birth certificate."
North Carolina has already seen serious fallout from HB2,
with PayPal dropping plans to expand in the state and the NCAA saying
it might not hold future tournaments there. A lawsuit against HB2 has
already been filed.
In comments about the bill on the Senate floor, Bright said he was upset North Carolina was "getting so much grief" over HB2.
"Apparently PayPal has shown its support for pedophiles by wanting them
to go into bathrooms," Bright said. "Men and women in public places
sharing bathrooms is just beyond me. ... I've about had enough of this. I
mean, years ago we kept talking about tolerance, tolerance and
tolerance, and now they want men who claim to be women to go in the
bathroom with children. And you got corporations who say this is OK."
Bright's statement is full of lies and his bill puts SC in dangerous position. But us lgbt South Carolinians have come to expect that from Bright. He just flat out doesn't like us. So much so that he can twist any situation into an attack on us.
Last year, after the terrible shooting at an African-American church in Charleston by a young racist which led to the deaths and injury of 10 people, including another state senator, the SC Legislature began steps remove the Confederate flag from the State House grounds. It was a way for the state to symbolically heal after so many years of racial strife punctuated by that singular awful incident in Charleston.
Someone forgot to tell this to Sen. Bright. In an opening speech during the session to decide the fate of the flag, he not only railed against removing it,
but also attempted to shift the conversation by demanding that South
Carolina do something to "stop the sin" of gay marriage before the
nation is destroyed.
The following video leads me to ask just who is more of a danger to South Carolina - transgender men and women who only want some semblance of dignity and peace while conducting their lives. Or THIS GUY:
UPDATE - SC Gov. Nikki Haley has just come out against this bill:
"We passed a law back in 1999 that dealt with religious liberty and it
basically reflected the federal law, and it works just fine," Haley
said. "In South Carolina, we are blessed because we don't have to
mandate respect or kindness or responsibility in this state, and that
law has worked perfectly."
In a statement on its webpage, the Family Research Council celebrated the passage of Mississippi's very broad religious liberty (anti-lgbt law) and NC's recently passed one:
Thanks to Governor Phil Bryant (R), facts -- not fear -- won out in Mississippi! Earlier today, Bryant signed the "Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act"
into law over the threats from corporate America and LGBT activists.
After the Left's tantrum over North Carolina, where leaders denied men
access to girls' restrooms and showers, most people started to see the
liberal agenda for the extremism it is. Now, with the enactment of H.B.
1523, Mississippi is responding by passing religious liberty legislation
that should be a model for every state.
Despite Big Business bullies,
a media misinformation campaign, and liberal scaremongers, Governor
Bryant helped to fan the flames of a national pushback to the Left's
intolerance on the issue of marriage. Under this law, churches aren't
the only ones protected from government punishment for their beliefs --
so are businesses, wedding vendors, and even public officials. While the
threats from corporate America continue to roll in to North Carolina
and Mississippi, the reality is that after Houston voters killed the
city's hugely unpopular bathroom bill in November, the momentum has been
on the side of common sense.
Thanks to his tremendous courage, Governor Bryant -- like Governor
Pat McCrory (R-N.C.) -- has cemented his legacy as one of freedom. In
the face of some of the stiffest pressure of his career, he stood strong
for the rights of his state to live and work according to their faith.
And while Mississippi -- like North Carolina -- will have to weather a
temporary storm, in the end, both governors will be rewarded with their
voters' support and a legacy of courage. Years from now, no one will
remember if a sporting event was held in a particular city -- but those
communities would be reminded daily in a thousand ways if their freedom
to believe was lost because of the political cowardice of political
leaders.
Meanwhile, PayPal may be the Left's friend, but it's no pal of North
Carolina's! The money transfer service announced this morning that it's
canceling the company's Charlotte expansion because the state won't
force young girls to share bathrooms and showers with grown men.
FRC not only glosses over the severity of the Mississippi law, but it also continues the lie about how NC's law keeps young girls from sharing bathrooms and showers with grown men. That's how FRC has continuously framed NC's law. Public safety. Protecting girls and women in showers and bathrooms. And regardless how many times that lie has been refuted, FRC continues to trot it out in a annoyingly tone deaf fashion.
