'Anti-LGBTQ hate groups, conservatives desperately trying to hide communication with Trump Administration on trans ban' & other Fri midday news briefs

Conservatives who crafted transgender military ban claim they’re the victims of bullying - Those who follow this blog know that I've been monitoring this situation with drooling anticipation as anti-LGBTQ hate groups futilely attempt to hide their coordination with the Trump Administration in pushing that ridiculous trans ban in the military. Now the Liberty Counsel has jumped in. Works for me. They can run all they want but Lambda Legal is on their tail with the subpoenas.

HuffPost Celebrates LGBTQ Pride, Love And Resistance In 2018 - It's Pride Month for the LGBTQ community and the Huffington Post has wonderful coverage of it. 

Soccer star confirms she quit national team because God didn’t want her to wear a LGBTQ Pride jersey - Oh well. Bye, girl. It's your free choice. No one forced you to do anything in any direction.

Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes mocks disabled gay man: "As far as sex goes ... you're a giant, small loser" - Trash is as trash does.

#Pride30: Black trans lawmaker Andrea Jenkins is bringing diversity to politics - A role model for everyone.

Anti-gay pastor Franklin Graham called out for 'praise the Lord and vote Republican' fakery

It's about time that someone not allow Franklin Graham to get away with the "praise the Lord and vote Republican" fakery he has been pulling in California. And the fact that it happened on Fox News - Donald Trump's propaganda arm - is a miracle in itself.

From Raw Story

Evangelist Franklin Graham thinks it is “sad” that Democrats and Republicans cannot be friends in today’s political climate. But Fox News political editor Chris Stirewalt isn’t convinced that Graham is all that concerned with bipartisanship.  

 “That is a pretty remarkable contradiction,” Stirewalt said during a Thursday appearance on the network. “You have a guy that goes and out complains about how divided the country is politically, and then follows that up with don’t vote Democrat, whatever you do.” “It is so telling, so indicative of how bad — really — our politics have become. This is something that most Christian leaders would never have done even a decade ago.” 

Franklin wouldn't allow Stirewalt's comment to go unanswered.

' Anti-LGBTQ industry using the anti-abortion playbook to undermine marriage equality' & other Thur midday news briefs

In order to combat the undermining of marriage equality, we have to resurrect images of the past such as this one (from 1986) and connect them with the present to demonstrate how the anti-LGBTQ industry has engaged a decades long smear campaign designed to wreck our community's equality, safety, and dignity.

How Republicans Are Using The Anti-Abortion Playbook To Undermine Same-Sex Marriage - I sincerely hope people stop saying that if we ignore the anti-LGBTQ industry, they will go away. They have too much money, too much gall, and too much self-righteousness to go away. And now thanks to Buzzfeed, we see that they will be copying the anti-abortion playbook in order to undermine marriage equality. By focusing on ways to cause little roadblocks - i.e. "religious liberty" laws which will prevent us from adopting children as well as receiving other services and even protection from discrimination, they are stockpiling state laws designed to make our lives hell. BUT there is a solution. The article doesn't say the solution, but I am. If you are a fan of my blog, then you should know what the solution is. It is the same reason I began this blog over 11 years ago. 

This latest gambit of the anti-LGBTQ industry is no different than the last few (i.e."protecting marriage," "protecting children," "homosexuality is a deadly lifestyle like cigarette smoke," "homosexuals want special rights.") over several decades. It is the latest attempt to undermine the equality, the dignity, and the safety of the LGBTQ community by a group of people and organizations who have concentrated their contempt and hatred of us behind religious beliefs and a cynical rendering of talking points and laws. And these groups and organizations have manipulated certain segments of the public into thinking  that protecting our rights, children, and families present a danger. 

These groups and individuals been doing this for decades in one form or another.. That's how it's always been. From Anita Bryant to Gary Bauer to Lon Mabon to Scott Lively to Tony Perkins or Ryan T. Anderson. From 'Save the Children' to the Oregon Citizen Alliance to the National Organization for Marriage' to the Family Research Council and the Alliance for Defending Freedom. Different people, different groups, and different decades but it's all the same game. 

The anti-LGBTQ industry is like some bizarre cryptoid out of Greek mythology. When one head is  severed, another one springs up, spewing as much venom as the first.  It's time we open the doors of history and drag it all out. Drag out the junk science, the cherry-picked science, the lies, the false claims, the basic verbal disrespect, the attempts to reduce our lives to their stereotypical specifications.  It's never been about protecting children, religious beliefs, or anything else.  It's all been about homophobia, hatred, and animus. And if we do not make the rest of the country aware of this noxious history, the anti-LGBTQ industry will continue to control narrative and get away scott free with all of the things it has done.

How They See Us: Unmasking the Religious Right War on Gay America - A beginning step would be educating ourselves more on the history of anti-LGBTQ propaganda. My free online booklet from 2013 is a small step in that direction. Please read and share. 

District Reverses Decision to Call Transgender Student by Birth Name at Graduation - When we raise hell for the right reasons, we cause positive change.

Betsy DeVos Meets Teen Wearing Trans Pride Flag During School Visit - Speaking out takes many forms.

It looks like Indonesia will not criminalize gay sex after all - Good for Indonesia!

Alliance Defending Freedom decries anti-Christian persecution in India but omits it supported the country's anti-gay law

The Alliance Defending Freedom is speaking out against the persecution of Christians in India. But in 2013, the group applauded India for recriminalizing gay sex. ADF obviously believes in a pecking order when it comes to fighting persecution.

Today, via the right-wing online publication The Daily Signal, an official with anti-LGBTQ hate group the Alliance Defending Freedom sounded the alarm about anti-Christian persecution in India.

Meghan Fischer, legal counsel with ADF International, a branch of the Alliance Defending Freedom,  reported that in India, there are several requirements would make it difficult for people to convert from one religion to another (in this case, from Hinduism to Christianity). In addition, Christians are being attacked and arrested:

Some laws require potential converts to notify local government officials, while others even mandate advance permission, which often is not granted. This violates a fundamental principle of international human rights—that a person may believe whatever he or she chooses to believe, and that no one may force him or her to adopt or renounce a particular belief. 

Members of the lowest castes who convert away from Hinduism lose certain government benefits—an obvious attempt to keep them in their place. Conversely and unsurprisingly, if someone wants to convert to Hinduism, the majority religion, there are no hurdles. Mass Hindu conversion ceremonies take place with no consequences, even though some participants claim they are forced to take part. 

Recent arrests include 32 Catholic seminarians singing Christmas carols, chaperones for a Christian summer camp, and a Christian handing out pamphlets. Extremists attack Christians as they worship in their churches and homes under the pretense of preventing fraudulent conversions. Lawyers like Baskaran represent Christians who have been attacked, but it can take years for victims to receive reparations, if they receive any at all. 

To hear something like this is awful. People should have the right to be able to change religions without being prey to threats, violence, or requirements designed to undermine their desire. But at the same time, I really question the integrity of  any branch of ADF to call attention to this.

In 2013, ADF publicly supported recriminalizing gay sex in India.

'LGBTQ fight against false definition of 'religious liberty' will continue even after SCOTUS ruling' & other Wed midday news briefs

The video above from the Human Rights Campaign explains what's at stake in the upcoming SCOTUS decision about using the concept of "religious liberty" to discriminate. No matter what the decision is, this fight is far from over. That's why the video is needed. 

More LGBT issues loom as justices near wedding cake decision - I repeat, no matter how the court rules, this will NOT be over. It will be a pitched and ugly battle. Give no inch and give no quarter. Don't back away from our right to be treated with fairness and dignity. 

Congressman Predicts More 'Displaced' Children if ACLU Wins Faith-Based Adoption Lawsuit - This will be one of the next issues.  Religious based adoption agencies can discriminate against gays in accordance to their faith all they want. But they should NOT be able to receive tax dollars for doing it.

Report says school violence on the rise against LGBT students - This is awful. We need to do better.

Wales Is Leading the Way in LGBT-Inclusive Sex Education - Too bad we have so many roadblocks from decent LGBT-inclusive sex education here in America.

Forget 'Roseanne.' Let's talk about 'Frasier'

I don't know about y'all but I've had my fill of Roseanne and her now-canceled sitcom. She makes it difficult to remember that not all sitcoms are negatively controversial. Some, in fact, are very funny without being preachy or losing their comedic integrity.

 Take Frasier for example.

My friend Matt Baume has created a video focusing on an episode of the sitcom, "The Matchmaker," which features a gay theme:

 It wasn’t easy to put gay characters on TV in the 1990s. But one show managed to be gayer than pretty much any other mainstream sitcom of the time. Frasier had two huge advantages when it came to LGBT inclusion: first, a ton of gay people worked on it, from the cast to the writers to directors. And second, its comedy hinges on misunderstandings, farce, and unspoken social taboos -- and unspoken taboos just so happen to be something queer people know a thing or two about. 

 What's really interesting about Frasier in general is not only the two openly gay cast members who worked on the show, David Hyde Pierce and Dan Butler, but also the fact that the actor portraying Frasier - Kelsey Grammar - is a conservative Republican.

 Definitely from another time and universe when compared to the bunch present nowadays.

'Hate group Alliance Defending Freedom pushes skilled propaganda in video' & other Tue midday news briefs

Chinese general Sun Tzu once said you must know your enemy. In that spirit, I present a video from the hate group the Alliance Defending Freedom. The video features Washington State florist Barronelle Stutzman. Hers is not the case in front of the Supreme Court right now, but the video bears watching so it can show how skilled ADF is in making anti-LGBTQ discrimination sound reasonable and not as far reaching at it truly is.  A key thing to think about - ADF and Stutzman claims the gay  couple could have easily gone somewhere else, but as you can read via another article in these news briefs, ADF is steadily working to eliminate the "somewhere elses" that LGBTQ people can go to when it come to many businesses besides florists.(BTW the "dislikes" of the video is far ahead of the "likes." Feel free to add your opinion.)

Washington Supreme Court rules against florist who discriminated against same-sex couple - And by the way, here is the true and complete story of Stutzman.

Six key takeaways from The Nation's investigative report on Alliance Defending Freedom’s “legal army” - AND most importantly, let's talk about the Alliance Defending Freedom, the group propping Stutzman up, by way of summarizing a special report of its "activities" against the LGBTQ community.

 Turning Away Gay Homebuyers Isn’t Religious Liberty, It’s Discrimination - And this right here is why we must not be tricked by the narrative ADF is pushing. Last week, California Republican Dana Rohrabacher said homeowners should be allowed to turn away potential LGBTQ buyers. Michelangelo Signorile spells out what's dangerous about this and how it connects to Stutzman and the baker's case which will soon be decided by SCOTUS: 

 Last year a federal judge, in a first, ruled that LGBTQ people are in fact protected under the FHA. But if the Supreme Court rules that a baker may turn away a gay couple seeking a wedding cake ― and that seemed to be a very real possibility during oral arguments last fall ― all bets are off as to how the court might rule in other areas.  

 That’s because the arguments in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case center on the baker’s “religious liberty,” something that Justice Neil Gorsuch broadly views as allowing for discrimination ― and which the Supreme Court previously allowed for in the Hobby Lobby decision. That ruling allows employers to opt out of offering contraception to women in their health care plans based on corporate owners’ religious beliefs. 

  But if “religious liberty” is reason for a baker who’s open to the general public to say he can’t make a wedding cake for a gay couple, why should it be any different for a landlord or a home seller or a bank, all serving the general public? If religious liberty is paramount, then, as Rohrabacher said, a homeowner “shouldn’t be required to be in business with someone they think is doing something that is immoral.” Rohrabacher’s comments expose the slippery slope the Supreme Court might put us on. They also underscore how deeply rooted bigotry against LGBTQ people is, and how religion is used to exempt it.

Gay, black and HIV positive: America's hidden epidemic – video - Sad but necessary video.

In Poland, a Nation of Catholics, a Gay Atheist Mayor is a Presidential Hopeful - I'll believe it when I see it.