Will the Family Research Council ever stop distorting the Sweet Cakes bakery case?

Religious right groups portray the Kleins as victims.  Don't be fooled. They aren't.

One thing which is absolutely aggravating about religious right groups like the Family Research Council is not just how they lie, but how they will repeat the lie in spite of it being refuted.

For groups who claim to speak about upholding values and Christians ethics, organizations like FRC seem to have no problem playing fast and loose with the truth whenever it suits them. Take the situation about Sweet Cakes bakery for example. FRC just sent out a Washington Update pushing the usual nonsense about how supposed Christians, like the owners of Sweet Cakes bakery, are being "persecuted" by the lgbt community:

There has to be space in our society for people who hold differing views. Isn't that what liberals meant by tolerance? Apparently not, as Aaron and Melissa Klein know all too well. Like dozens of other family businesses, the Kleins never thought that their faith would be a liability to their booming bakery business. They were wrong. In a politically correct world, thy found out that costs of running a business are a lot more than dollars and cents. For these bakers, it was their First Amendment rights.

Their dream of opening a dessert shop near Portland, Oregon turned into a nightmare when two lesbians refused to take "no" for an answer on their request for a same-sex "wedding" cake. As FRC's Travis Weber points out, the Kleins were happy to provide any item from their shop to gay and straight customers alike. They welcomed everyone to come and shop at Sweet Cakes by Melissa. The only thing the Kleins declined to do was become part of a same-sex wedding ceremony; they didn't want to be forced -- by any customer -- to create a cake that violated their beliefs. The same was true of any event contradicting their faith -- like a celebration of divorce, an order they would also decline.

Still, liberals in the state hounded the Kleins with a ferocity that ultimately forced their store to close. Now, facing a $135,000 fine, the parents of five will finally have their day in court. Until now, they've been at the mercy of a biased administrative body in Oregon that even went so far as to impose a gag order on the couple. 

FRC is being highly deceptive. No one put a gag order on the Kleins.

'Marriage equality attacked on two fronts' & other Wed. midday news briefs

Conservatives & religious right just can't leave this issue alone.

In two states, marriage equality is being attacked via legislative and judicial means. Some conservatives and members of the religious right seem to be determined to overturn the SCOTUS decision. The attempts are long shots but they also prove how deeply entrenched the other side is in not letting this issue go. All I have to say is don't laugh it off and don't let your guards down. The surest way to lost marriage equality is to assume that you can't lose it. It's not the belief that they can take away marriage equality which bothers me. It's that they think they can. You've been warned.

 Texas Conservatives Are Still Fighting Marriage Equality 

Arkansas voted for a federal constitutional convention to ban marriage equality 

Derby district rolls back bathroom access for transgender students - Awful and yet there is a kernel in this article which may blossom into something big. According to some, the students don't care about the issue either way. That is to say they aren't getting spooked by the 'bathroom/lockerroom' predator myth. The adults are. Keep your ears open on how students actually feel about this issue in general.

10-Year-Old Busts Myth About Trans People With Powerful Sign - I'm convinced that in the long run, it will be the young ones which will show us the way.  

Yet Even More Proof That Religious Right Myths Never Die - Well when you don't have enough people calling them out, they don't die. You get worn down by the power of repetition.  

The Israeli Air Force Celebrated ‘Family Day’ by Posting a Pic of This Gay Officer’s Family - NICE!

Transgender teen turns 'bathroom predator' myth on its head by putting simple truth in the mix

The issue of transgender equality has become, unfortunately, yet another situation about lgbt rights in which religious right groups seem to be defining the terms of argument, i.e. reducing the argument to an inaccurate, attention-catching point which exploits fear and subsequently finds the lgbt community playing defense.

In this case, religious right groups and spokespeople have pushed everyone's attention on bathrooms and the fear of not being safe in that very private and vulnerable space. While I despise the fact that the lgbt community finds ourselves yet again in another position of playing defense, I am happy with the fact that we are getting rather skilled at fighting from that position.

Buzzfeed proves this point in by spotlighting a drawing created by a transgender teen which turns the bathroom predator myth on its head by adding a little truth to the formula:

According to Buzzfeed,the drawing, which 22-year-old writer Jason Gross created in 2012, has become "a symbol in the fight for trans bathroom rights."

Gross told Buzzfeed:

"It’s good to know that this isn’t just me being a baby and actually resonates with others,” he said. “So if it can help further the movement the way it seems to be doing I’m happy to let it go.”

'New film explores the ability to find love after 'ex-gay' therapy' & other Tue. midday news briefs

A Gay Conversion Therapy Survivor Finds Love In This Bold New Film - 'Fair Haven' promises to be good! According to the Huffington Post:

The romantic drama, which hits select theaters Friday, follows James (played by Michael Grant), a young gay man who returns to his family’s New England farm after receiving conversion therapy treatment. At first, James believes he’s been cured of his same-sex attraction, but soon finds myself reconnecting with a former flame, Charlie (Josh Green), as seen in the video above.

 The Particularly LGBT Drama of the ‘Moonlight’ Best Picture Oscar Victory - How 'Moonlight' echoes the "the nature of LGBT political advances in recent years."  

WATCH: Sean Spicer Repeatedly Gives Bad Answers as Reporters Keep Asking About Transgender Guidance Being Revoked - As this issue moves through the courts, I have a feeling that we will be seeing more of the inability of certain folks to defend discriminatory policies against the transgender community.

 
CPAC Attendees’ Inappropriate Behavior Prompts Apology From Convention Center - Look who was acting like a bunch jackasses.

 LGBT Activists On Trans Student Guidelines: "This Is More Than A Bathroom Issue" - Amen to that!

To 'Moonlight' from a black gay man - a BIG thank you

Everyone is talking about Moonlight's big victory at the Oscars last night, as well they should. However, I noticed that something isn't being said which NEEDS to be said. Therefore, let me give my two cents with a personal letter to the motion picture and it's makers:

To the director and producers of Moonlight,

Thank you so much for making this movie. As a gay black man, it has been difficult to see three-dimensional characters on television and the big screen who are just like me. I was so desperate, I would look at old Soul Train clips on youtube and make guesses about the dancers. Or the episode of New York Undercover featuring Joe Morton a former boxer who became a drag queen.

Your victory and continued success is not only a triumph for yourselves, but also to the African-American lgbt community at large. I hope that Moonlight will be the first in a long line of films which spotlights accurate African-American lgbt portrayals and storylines.

Because goodness knows, we need it. Seriously, we have come a long way and I feel that your film is a reward for all of the times lgbts of color have had to sit through some of the most disgusting, nauseating, stomach-churning, religion -questioning ( I think you know where I'm going with this) portrayals of us created by our own people, i.e. African-Americans.

I mean there's just so many

oversexed bisexuals, self-hating black gay men in prison who commit suicide so that their mothers won't find out their orientation, butchy rape enthusiast lesbians,  gay black male plane stewards with purple lip gloss, invisible high school characters who likes to wear flesh toned hot pants during prison visits, drooling gay men who get hot and bothered over seeing men hanging over hospital beds while wearing bloody diapers, hairdressers named Peaches, devious transgender women, specials on the "downlow," fake-ass authors who publish books on "how to spot if your boyfriend is gay," phony tv shows which offer a crusty, dried up olive branch in the form of AIDS education episodes between the mocking, and above all, sermonizing by certain gospel music programs featuring certain singers who happen to be gayer than a giant statue of Judy Garland

that I can take seeing before I get the desire to pull out my razor.

Granted, my comments are not meant to speak against the lgbts of color who don't fit the supposed norms because we are all God's children There is nothing wrong with  effeminate gay men or butch lesbians. Nor is there anything wrong with sex in general. It's just that I am so happy to see anything featuring us as the main subject and the center of attention rather than a side character who is treated like a condiment.

Because, honestly speaking, I am running out of episodes of Soul Train to watch.

''Moonlight' Best Picture win perfect ending to diverse Oscar season' & other Mon. midday news briefs

The ‘Moonlight’ Best Picture Win Is A Vote For Inclusivity In Hollywood - Some have called 'Moonlight' winning Best Picture a perfect response for 'Brokeback Mountain' losing to 'Crash' in 2006. I say WOW! Us lgbts don't forget anything. LOL

Fox News’ Tucker Carlson says ‘Moonlight’ only won Best Picture because of political correctness - Dear Tucker Carlson, kindly #@!% yourself and the horse you rode in on.

 Supreme Court Instructs Liberty Counsel to Refer to Transgender Teen Gavin Grimm as Male - The case has not been heard yet, but SCOTUS will NOT stand for any disrespect to Mr. Grimm. At the very least for now, this is a good thing. 

 ‘Intolerance in practice’: Chris Cuomo shreds pundit for fear of transgender ‘genitals in your face’- The right-wing has been tearing at Chris Cuomo all weekend for his transgender-inclusive tweets. As this interview shows, Cuomo doesn't give a rip what they think. Good!

 There Is A New Landmark Suicide Prevention Strategy For LGBTI People - Wonderful!

Hate group spokesman - 'religious liberty' executive order is still coming

Editor's note - Moonlight's victory last night for 'Best Picture' at the Oscars was huge; so huge in fact that it's going to take a while for me to properly conceptualize how I feel about it. It was wild enough to finally see a movie which speaks to the experience of being a black gay man in America. Watching as said movie take a historical nod was just a bit more moving than I realized.

Blackwell

The lgbt community can't afford to let our guards down for even a minute during this Trump Administration. While he has yet to sign any anti-lgbt 'religious liberty' executive order, an official of his transition team, who is also a member of the anti-lgbt hate group the Family Research Council, told noted journalist Michelangelo Signorile that the executive order is coming:

Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, who has served as domestic policy chair of President Donald Trump’s transition team, told (Signorile) in an interview on SiriusXM Progress that the controversial “religious freedom” order that leaked to the press a few weeks ago is very much on the way, even though White House officials had played it down. 

According to Signorile, the worst is yet to come:

 . . . Blackwell, a senior fellow at the Family Research Council (deemed an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the Southern Policy Law Center), said in our interview at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) over the weekend that the order is far from dead. He also confirmed that the former director of Family Research Council’s Center for Religious Liberty, Ken Klukowski, had “actually structured” the draft order as a legal advisor to Trump’s transition team. Klukowski, who is now a senior attorney at the Liberty First Institute and a Breitbart contributor, is one of the lawyers “in the process of redrafting it,” Blackwell said, hinting that the original order may have been perceived as being too vulnerable to a legal challenge.

“In the final analysis, what we want is an executive order that will meet the scrutiny of the judicial process,” he explained. “If there is no executive order, that will disappoint [social conservatives]. But a good executive order will not. So we’re still in the process.” Blackwell envisions the “anchor concept” of the order as one that will allow people with devoutly religious beliefs to turn away LGBTQ people in the course of business.

“I think small business owners who hold a religious belief that believes that traditional marriage is between one man and one woman should not have their religious liberty trampled upon,” he explained. “I would imagine that that will be, strongly and clearly, the anchor concept [of the order].” (In an interview with me at the Republican National Convention in 2008, Blackwell had explained that he doesn’t view LGBTQ people as a class of people who are discriminated against, but rather sees homosexuality as a “compulsion that can contained, repressed or changed.”) 

To recap - according to a member of the anti-lgbt hate group the Family Research Council, who is also working with the Trump Administration, a homophobic executive order will be forthcoming. And this order is being worked on by others connected to FRC to ensure that lgbts can't win in the courts should, or rather, when it is challenged.

Maybe it's just me, but this sounds like things are going to be "hopping" before the year is out.

And it's about time, too. I'm past ready to raise some hell.