The Top 10 Ridiculous 1980s Music Videos (you just KNOW LGBTQs are included)

As I've noted before, in this age of Trump, the LGBTQ community finds itself fighting tooth and nail for the rights we recently won and also not to be pushed back in the closet. And we are going to win, too. 

But with that in mind, there needs to be some time where we can cool off and laugh. This is why from time to time on this blog, I am going to feature things designed to be totally fun and frivolous, such as this video, which had me laughing and going back to memory lane at the same time.

This countdown of the Top 10 ridiculous music videos of the 1980s is simply brutal but it is on point as it calls out the bad dancing, shoved down your throat symbolism, silly homoeroticism, and how an idea of using gay men as a bad big reveal was just stupid.

I will give you a hint about the number one video. I featured it on this blog years ago because it infamously ruined a musician's career.

'Bill allowing adoption agencies to discriminate against gays and still get tax dollars passes in Oklahoma' & other Fri. midday news briefs

A bill allowing adoption agencies to get taxpayer monies while discriminating against gays on the grounds of  'religious liberty' has just passed in Oklahoma.

Bill making it legal to ban gays & lesbians from adopting passes in Oklahoma - That means the bill passed BOTH the House and Senate. Taxpayer money can now go to adoption agencies which discriminate against the LGBTQ community. Don't count on the courts too much if Trump has his way and puts as many conservatives (backed by groups pushing for these bills) as he can. Don't wait until the last minute and think that a street protest will take care of the situation. This is probably only the beginning. Pay attention and work to stop it now. And the real start begins in the mid-term elections.

49 senators accuse Mattis of bringing back 'don't ask, don't tell' - This is getting REAL. Those 49 Senators include one Republican. They don't like his stance against transgender troops and they want answers about his recommendations. 

GLSEN'S Day of Silence 2018 - remembering our LGBTQ children - Reposting last night's post to remind folks why we fight for equality. 

The Persecution Of Kim Davis, According To Kim Davis - I know folks are tired of hearing about Kim Davis but she isn't going away and she is also allowing herself to be used as a symbol. We already see in the first news brief what the "religious liberty" argument she is pushing leads to.

GLSEN'S Day of Silence 2018 - remembering our LGBTQ children

Friday is the annual GLSEN's Day of Silence in which students in schools across the nation stand against the bullying and erasing of LGBTQ children

'Alliance Defending Freedom steadily working in state legislatures to undermine LGBTQ equality' & other Thur midday news briefs

The anti-LGBTQ hate group the Alliance Defending Freedom is quietly undermining LGBTQ equality via state legislatures. 

GOP legislators intertwined with hate group Alliance Defending Freedom, on anti-LGBT efforts - At the same time the anti-LGBTQ hate group the Alliance Defending Freedom is pushing for the right for businesses to discriminate against the LGBTQ community, it is also pushing to pre-empt anti-discrimination bills before they even have time to become law. This yet another reminder that while the LGBTQ community argues over things like RuPaul's Drag Race or are manipulated to turn against our allies for ALLEGED past comments, anti-LGBTQ hate groups are in state legislatures practically writing laws undermining our equality, which are then pushed by state legislators. And it is ALL legal. Ignoring these groups won't help. Wishing and hoping that members of these groups are secretly gay and will be caught in some public restroom chasing booty is futile. The solution is telling it all to as many people as possible, voting, running for office, demanding attention for the issue.

How LGBTQ+ People Are Successfully Fighting Against Conversion Therapy - This is the sort of thing which happens when the LGBTQ community gets our stuff together. 

Michael Arceneaux There is no black 'Love, Simon' because gay men of color are portrayed as our pathologies - THIS is something we should be discussing.

Linda Harvey: The Day Of Silence ‘Discriminates Against Christians’ - Every year, people like Linda Harvey attacks GLSEN's Day of Silence with the same lies. I guess this one - i.e. an offshoot of the "religious liberty" lie - is a new one.

All four service chiefs contradict Trump's reasoning for ban on transgender troops

Recently, something very crucial happened in the fight against Trump's ridiculous ban on transgender troops. People should be paying more attention to it, but they can't if they aren't informed about it:

According to Military Times:

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein told Congress Tuesday he was not aware of any negative effects from transgender personnel serving, joining all three other service chiefs in a rare public split with President Donald Trump over the issue. 

Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, D-N.Y., as she had with the top military leaders of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps when they appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee for their budget hearings, used the opportunity to question Goldfein as to whether he was aware of any “issues of unit cohesion, disciplinary problems or issues of morale resulting from open transgender service.” 

“In the last two weeks Gen. [Mark] Milley, Gen. [Robert] Neller, and Adm. [John] Richardson have told me that they have seen zero reports of issues of cohesion, discipline, morale as a result of open transgender service in their respective service branches,” Gillibrand said, referring to the chiefs of staff of the Army, Marine Corps and Navy, respectively. 

Goldfein said he was not aware of any issues with transgender service members, but emphasized that each case is unique. Goldfein said among the transgender service members he had talked to, he had found a “commitment to serve by each of them.”

And just in case you need a video of it, the following is courtesy of the Human Rights Campaign:



So all four service chiefs contradict Trump when it comes to transgender troops. Just who is Trump listening to when it comes to his ridiculous trans ban?  I think we know and slowly as the truth comes out, the entire country will know.

'Teacher asks about anti-discrimination protection & gets branded as a 'radical homosexual activist'' & other Wed midday news briefs

LGBT rights debate heats up Mansfield school board meeting. And the winner is ...-  A suspended lesbian art teacher in a Texas elementary school is under fire. She has lots of supporters and will probably come out as the winner, but the entire situation underlines a huge problem. She didn't do anything that could be perceived as remotely eyebrow raising. All she did was to inquire about about anti-discrimination protections in her area's schools. That's right. Simply asking about anti-discrimination protections will get you accused of violating religious liberty, wanting girls to be attacked by "male predators" in the bathrooms (i.e. the transphobic horror story du jour) and being accused of attempting to indoctrinate students. It's about homophobia and prejudice, but folks won't admit it and why should they.  They can use the language created by the anti-LGBTQ industry. They will tell you that they don't hate gay people, they are just concerned about their children. That's the hidden danger of religious right anti-gay propaganda. They give people a seemingly justifiable reason to not only hate us but deny us equality. 

Joy Reid Doubles Down: Homophobic Posts ‘Hacked,’ ‘Fraudulent’ - I'm going to say this point blank. Folks need to pay attention to how outside interests are manipulating us to turn against our own. I'm on Reid's side here in this situation. Check out the scenario - we have someone doing good work to call out lies, someone goes digging into the person's past and finds negative things. She acknowledges these things and apologizes. Someone conveniently goes digging again and supposedly finds "new things." There is a time and a place for everything but folks need to recognize game, especially when the players of the game are familiar ones (i.e. that jerk Glenn Greenwald). Now is not the time to allow folks to exploit what they perceive is your weakness. If it happens in this case to Reid, count on other allies having things dug up on them and/or made up against them. I remind folks of how Strom Thurmond tried to use Bayard Rustin's past arrest for being caught having public gay sex in a car to undermine the 1963 March on Washington. Black folks were hip to the nonsense and didn't fall for it. Let's act the same. 

Massachusetts schools to give LGBT history and health lessons - Possibly one of the newest battlefields in our pursuit of equality and self-determination. 

Virginia GOP candidate freaks out after learning kids in California may learn LGBTQ people exist - My point of the above news brief better expressed.

(once again for the folks in the back) Your Religious Liberty Doesn’t Give You The Right To Steal My Gay Tax Dollars

Editor's note - I'm reposting this again because it's not being said loud enough and it's not being said by more people.

If your religion says you can’t accept me, that should include all of me, especially my tax dollars.

With Trump in the White House, religious right groups such as the Family Research Council and figures like Franklin Graham and Fox News personality Todd Starnes are eager to get certain goals accomplished.

High on their list is a dehumanization of the lgbt community under the seemingly innocent courtesy of “religious liberty,” or allowing entities and people to discriminate against queers under the guise of “personally held religious beliefs.” It’s been a goal they have been working on for a long time and with Trump as president, they hope to reap benefits for all of the stories and hype they have spun about bakeries and florists “forced” to accept money from queer customers for their services, government employees like Kim Davis “forced” to do their jobs, and religious groups such as Catholic Charities with its adoption services which are “forced” to say no to government money because they refuse to not discriminate against lgbts.

They imply that it’s all about preserving the integrity of the “faith” of groups and people supposedly targeted by lgbts with a huge phone book, an obscene amount of Facebook friends, a pipeline to a secret worldwide organization not unlike the one James Bond has fought against, and long list of IOUs to cash in for being denied the right to supposedly “flaunt” their lifestyle or “pervert” marriage all of these years.

Okay, I am exaggerating a little bit, but the gist of what I said is true. And so is my next statement. Like so many times before, the entire truth about “religious liberty” is a world of difference from what is fed to us by the religious right. Unfortunately, the terms of this debate are usually dictated by them because they appear to have the loudest megaphone and the most access to the media, even if what they say isn’t necessarily true.