Stormy Daniels controversy demonstrates how much Trump controls the religious right

The Stormy Daniels controversy probably will not cause a break between Trump and the religious right  because they fear losing the access he gives them.

According to a recent edition of NPR, evangelicals will be meeting with Trump in June and the controversy regarding his alleged payout to porn star Stormy Daniels may come up:

As allegations continue to swirl about the president and a payout to a porn star to cover up a sexual encounter, evangelical leaders are organizing a sit-down with President Trump in June, four sources with knowledge of the planned meeting tell NPR. 

"We're very concerned" about the allegations, said a leader of a faith-based ministry. The leader is involved in hosting the gathering, which organizers are aiming to take place June 19 at Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. The source said the combination of the Stormy Daniels sex-scandal allegations and Trump's continued reputation for divisive rhetoric could suppress evangelical turnout in the November midterm elections. 

"It is a concern of ours that 2018 could be very detrimental to some of the other issues that we hold dear," like preserving religious liberty and restricting abortion rights, the source noted. The source, like the others with knowledge of the event, spoke to NPR on the condition of anonymity so as to not jeopardize the meeting.

However, those associated with the meeting are denying this. On Friday, Christianity Today reported:

 . . .  Johnnie Moore, who acts as convenor for the evangelical group, has denied the allegations in the report. He told Christian Today the June meeting was 'at a conceptual level only' at present and that there had been no serious discussion about the format of the event. He added that 'attaching the planning of the meeting to any past, personal accusations against the president is entirely farcical, that isn't the purpose and it has never been a point of discussion ... it would be about the issues'.

'Trump supporting black pastor attacks Black Lives Matter for having lesbians in leadership positions' & other Mon midday news briefs

Harry Jackson Says Black Lives Matter Can Never Achieve True Justice Because There Are ‘A Few Lesbians’ In Leadership Positions - Oh hell no! Harry Jackson, a black pastor who is bought and paid for by white religious right groups, is the last person to rag on anyone for any designations regarding black people, social movements, etc. Not only that but he is a proud supporter of Donald Trump. Look at pictures of Donald Trump with the pastors who support him regardless of his garbage. Jackson is one of the few black pastors there and smiling like a slave whose "master" let him live in the "big house." (And to answer a question hopefully not asked - those lesbians ARE black. It sounds stupid but you would be surprised how many folks would read the headline and assume that the lesbians are automatically white.)

Sex Education and LGBT groups 'rape the minds of children' says Activist Mommy Elizabeth Johnston - This right here is a stupid woman. But she has enough of a following to make Newsweek, unfortunately.

Is Ted Cruz in trouble from a pro-LGBT challenger? - That would be nice. 

Popular Gay Media Is Still Focusing On Straight Acceptance, Rather Than Celebrating Queer Difference - The eternal internal fight in our community. Where I stand is that both sides should be heard because of the diversity of our community. Some LGBTQs do seek so-called normalcy while others do want to embrace a queer identity. I think the important thing to remember is that no one has the patent on what we should be, even folks in our community.

Evangelical pastor calls Trump a strong leader. You can laugh now.

For one reason or another, enjoy the nonsense below of evangelical Christian pastor Robert Jeffress explain why folks like him will most likely still support Trump no matter what he does:

.@robertjeffress: "The reason Evangelicals overwhelmingly support @POTUS is not because he has a perfect past. None of us has that. It's because of his strong leadership and also because he's fulfilling the policy commitments that he has made." pic.twitter.com/pZXa1FyCTh

— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 8, 2018

Simply a hot mess. Just one more reason why I hope their support of Trump will blow up in the face of the anti-LGBTQ right-wing evangelical community. Their explanations of why they supported him will be EPIC.

'Franklin Graham gets dragged on twitter for attack on progressives' & other Fri midday news briefs

Franklin Graham

Franklin Graham goes on a twitter tear attacking progressives - And is getting dragged for it on twitter. 

10 tips for LGBTQ couples hoping to foster children - Yep! This is very needed!

Victory! Mississippi Supreme Court Rules That Lesbian Spouses Are Both Legal Parents to Their Marital Children - Complicated case with a good ruling. 

Parents face many challenges in discussing sex with LGBTQ children - THIS is a serious situation because it is part of the trepidation some parents have when their children come out. They need resources to help them. And there are a lot of entities just chomping at the bit to scare them with false information. 

AARP Survey: Many LGBT Elders Fear Long Term Care Facilities - Another very important issue we need to remember.

Anti-LGBTQ activist angry at 'Love, Simon' for showing a positive image of gays

Peter LaBarbera is angry at 'Love, Simon' for showing a positive image of the gay community.

I haven't written about anti-LGBTQ activist 'Porno' Peter LaBarbera in a long time. I don't find him relevant anymore. The only reason why I'm posting about him today is because of the audacity he has to whine about the hit movie, "Love, Simon."

From Right Wing Watch:

Peter LaBarbera

Anti-LGBTQ activist Peter LaBarbera was, unsurprisingly, not a fan of the new gay teenage romance film “Love, Simon,” complaining to Religious Right radio host Janet Mefferd on Tuesday that the film fails to promote a “religious message” and does not warn audiences that gay people face a life of physical and mental illness “and of course the judgment of God.” 

LaBarbera joined Mefferd on Tuesday to weigh in on the release of “Love, Simon,” which is a romantic comedy film that features a 17-year-old boy who reveals his sexual orientation to his friends and family and falls in love with a classmate. LaBarbera, who has long been livid about the entertainment industry advancing LGBTQ causes, shared with Mefferd what he saw to be “three myths” promoted in the film. 

“Number one is that being homosexual—quote-unquote ‘gay’—is basically who you are, intrinsically who you are. You know, if that line just happens to be gay. That’s number one. Number two, that there’s a total mutual equivalence between homosexual romances and the gay lifestyle and normal, heterosexual living, so it’s presented as totally equal. 

Number three, that parental love, the way they love their son after he comes out and declares his homosexuality or they find out, the parents, is they just basically express regret they didn’t know earlier,” he said. “There’s no sorrow. There’s no religious message at all in the movie, Janet, and there’s nothing that says any disapproval.” 

LaBarbera said he believed the movie was “like a Disney gay movie” that was made for teenagers before complaining that “there’s no aftermath after this boy finds his quote-unquote ‘gay’ romance.”

“We’re never going to hear later about the diseases associated with homosexuality that he likely would get, mental illness, and of course the judgment of God,” LaBarbera said.

LaBarbera deserves to be mocked, but I still find him amusingly insulting. He seems to think he has the right to tell the LGBTQ community who we are. He thinks he knows us better than ourselves to the point where he gets to determine the stories we tell. We know the horror stories about our lives LaBarbera wants to tell - evil yarns about oversexed, unhappy, multi-diseased gays who waste away in pools of their own excesses.

Too bad for him. It's not our job to coddle his religious beliefs or buttress his hate. The way we tell our authentic stories is for us to decide, not someone who is ruled by delusion springing from internal things I would talk further about if I had any experience in psychology. LaBarbera is so indicative of the rest of the religious right who get angry at us for daring to tell our stories truthfully and away from the lies and stereotypes they generate about us. How dare we take control and not fall for the web of self-hatred they craft for us out of their twisted version of religion, cherry-picked and junk science, and plain hatred.  They have a right to believe whatever they want about us, but they don't have the right to make us believe  their lies. Nor do they have the right to control how we tell our own stories.

LaBarbera will just have to get over his anger at "Love, Simon.". If not, he knows where he can go.

'No medically valid reason' - AMA strongly opposes ban on transgender troops' & other Thur midday news briefs

‘No medically valid reason’ to exclude transgender troops, AMA chides Mattis - Religious right groups and folks on the right are quick to bring up medical reasons to support the banning of transgender troops. BUT when a legitimate medical group - such as the American Medical Association -  weighs in opposing the ban, these folks are quick to omit and ignore. It's not accidental. It's Standard Operating Procedure with folks and groups who work to smear the entire LGBTQ community.

Doctors’ group slams trans military ban for rejecting ‘wide body of peer-reviewed research’ - More details about this latest development, including the fact that other legitimate medical associations are standing with transgender troops.

The Next Census Will Ask About Same-Sex Couples - I'm all for this.

A Republican dramatically came out to pass a conversion therapy ban in Maryland - This was brave of her to tell her story while voting for the ban. Her parents tried to change her from bisexual. And the story is even sadder. Her father, also a legislator, voted against the ban and denied her story.

Religious Right Activists Are Working ‘Behind The Scenes’ To Get The White House To Protect Ex-Gay Kidnapper Lisa Miller - This awful situation mostly fueled by the religious right hasn't been forgotten. The Liberty Counsel has yet to meet justice for its part in it. But we are patient. Getting Trump involved will insure that all hell will break loose. And we will be ready with the pitchforks.

A little advice before you exploit MLK's assassination, Family Research Council

Only the Family Research Council would have the audacity to depart briefly from its daily bout of Trump butt-kissing to mourn the 50th anniversary of MLK's assassination and exploit the occasion for its own purposes:

The world was a different place after that horrible day in Memphis, when Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. stepped out on his hotel balcony and took what would be his last breaths. Just 39 when an assassin's bullet killed him, Dr. King had already accomplished a lifetime of transformative work. How much more he could have done, we'll never now. What we do know is that he changed the arc of history -- forever. 

Taken at the height of his influence, Rev. King would never live to see his dream of racial harmony realized. Even now, 50 years later, Americans feel the familiar strain that threatens some of Dr. King's greatest accomplishments. In the five decades since his death, our country made progress, but the gulf between black and white still remains one of the most intense divide in America. And while the times may have changed, the solutions have not. There is one path to true racial reconciliation: the church. 

"The church," he wrote in Strength to Love, "must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state." What motivated Rev. King and powered his movement was Scripture -- an understanding that "darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that." Civil rights could not have been achieved if that light, powered by the religious freedom to shine it, had been extinguished. It's what enables the church to speak out today on behalf of marriage, the unborn, the downtrodden, and the persecuted. It's what powers the truth that everyone, regardless of race, gender, or social-economic status, has value. 

When Dr. King almost single-handedly turned the tide against racial segregation in this country, he did it from the pulpits of America's churches. Imagine where we would be now, as a nation, if pastors like the Reverend King didn't have the freedom to make their voices heard on the cultural issues of the day. He understood then, as we do know, that religious liberty was the key to every other freedom on earth. Without it, he could never have advocated for the cultural change that took root in the hearts of people across this great land. If we want to preserve his memory, we have to start by defending the church's right to speak into the racial gap -- and to stand, as unbiased representatives of Christ.

Little advice, Family Research Council? First, let's not be so quick to patronize. Turning the tide of racial segregation was a group effort and Dr. King himself would probably say that he didn't come anywhere close to almost single-handedly doing it alone. There were a multitude of folks involved from prominent African-American leaders to vibrant, brave marchers, to especially the black maids and other domestic workers who gave their nickels and dimes and other assorted monies to fund the movement. And let's not forget Bayard Rustin, the black gay man who coordinated the 1963 March on Washington. You should especially take him to heart before you begin your usual tangents about "radical homosexual agendas."

Secondly, instead of pretending to mourn King while exploiting his assassination to push for your bastardized version of "religious liberty," how about you unattach your lips from Donald Trump's rear. Stop providing a cover for his racially insensitive actions and comments. Stop using the "we all need to pray" card as an excuse to weasel out of being a true moral voice. Stop cheerleading  Trump's attempts to divide America by lies and resentment. And stop cheering his attempts to disenfranchise the poor and wreck health care.

On the risk of sounding presumptuous, I tend to think that if Dr. King were still alive, he wouldn't necessarily be a fan of yours.  So stop pretending that you are a fan of his.