'Ohio news station gives much needed platform to transgender community' & other Mon midday news briefs

Ohio news station hosts the mother of a transgender boy to highlight dangers of anti-trans bill - You mean actually interviewing transgender people or supportive members of their family instead of bought-and-paid-for pundits or anti-LGBTQ talking heads with precise talking points? Why the very idea is so novel that it may actually give us a clear view of issues facing transgender Americans! 

Meet ‘Mama Dragons,’ A Fierce Group Of Moms ‘Breathing Fire’ For Their LGBTQ Kids - Mama Dragons? I LOVE it! 

Mormon Rockstar Releases Documentary on Helping LGBTQ Youth - I am in total support of this.

Anti-LGBTQ Campaign to Force Transgender Discrimination onto the Ballot Fails in Montana - Battles are still fought and won, regardless.

Here's What Pride In 2018 Looks Like All Around The World - Soak it in, folks. We are STILL badasses.

Franklin Graham pushes 'gay recruitment' hysteria over anti-bullying videos

Witness the following tweet Franklin Graham just sent:

Parents in the East Penn School District are up in arms about being told they can't see videos that their children were shown without their permission. Parental rights are being ignored here. We need Christian men & women running for school boards. https://t.co/VJYYIQmQnY

— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) June 30, 2018

Graham is so typical of the self-righteous homophobia which permeates conservative  right-wing evangelical circles. He sees the words "LGBT"  and  automatically thinks of sex or "recruitment." Apparently to Graham, adherence to what he thinks is God's word is more important than reading comprehension.  If he had taken the time to read the article he retweeted, he would have seen that the videos in question were about bullying:

 Videos played by the Gay-Straight Alliance Club during Emmaus High School's morning announcements back in April are now in the spotlight. 

At a school board meeting earlier this month several parents, community members and the president of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania voiced their concerns, saying the entire student body was exposed to homosexual and transgender ideals. 

. . . Emmaus High School student Aidan Levinson says the idea that the videos forced the gay lifestyle onto heterosexual students couldn't be further from the truth. 

"It was more of an anti-bullying effort more than anything else," Levinson said. Levinson is not a member of the LGBTQ community, but spoke at the school board meeting Monday -- expressing his support for showing the videos. 

 . . .The superintendent of the East Penn School District says he was not aware of the videos before they played but has seen them since. 

In a statement to 69 News he says, "I did view the videos at a later date and found them to be appropriate and related to the mission of eliminating bullying and promoting sensitivity and understanding of our LGBT population."

First of all, nothing in the article says that parents aren't allowed to see the videos. Aside from Graham's ignorance, this incident gives a view of the game which is played to stigmatize our community. A so-called pro-family group brands anything having to do with the LGBTQ community as scandalous, no matter how non-threatening it may be and then spooks parents into raising a fuss about it. It creates a situation which implies that we are attempting to "recruit" children behind the backs of their parents. The very idea is inane enough, but it gets downright insulting when one factors in that these concerned parents don't give a damn  that LGBTQ students AND same-sex household with children exist and should have a say in the matter as much as them.

But speaking of Graham, I tend to think that him reading the article wouldn't have changed his mind about the situation. In 2015, he praised Russian president Vladimir Putin for how he was persecuting the gay community there, claiming that Putin was keeping children safe. So perhaps the idea that Graham is angry that the school district is attempting to keep LGBTQ kids safe from bullying isn't that farfetched to contemplate.

'Anti-LGBTQ hate group leader Tony Perkins already 'picking out drapes' for America' & other Fri midday news briefs

FRC's Tony Perkins don't know how my community can use our 'receipts.' He will learn.

Tony Perkins: We Can Do For Gay Rights What We’ve Done To Abortion Rights - So Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council is already picking out drapes to go with his version of America that he thinks Trump's pick for Kennedy will bring. We are deep into the second stage of what happens when the anti-LGBTQ right get a huge victory - them planning victory parties before the battle has even started. They learned nothing from their behavior and what it led to in 2004 after Bush was re-elected and they won several anti-marriage equality referendums in the same election. Or more to the point - if one of the largest anti-gay hate groups in America with a list of documented offenses a mile long - including relying on the work of a discredited researcher who once claimed that gay men stuff gerbils up their rectums - THINK it is easily going to take away our equality without a long, bruising fight in which folks like myself are now scouting where we can lay the deepest blows on its overall integrity, then it has some serious surprises coming. I do not say this to advocate violence and I am certainly not talking about violence. I simply mean certain "Christian" groups are damaging their brands even as I speak with their behavior. And all we have to do is deepen the holes they are poking into their own credibility. 

DISCRIMINATION IN S.C.: Legislature Sends Appropriations Bill with Anti-LGBTQ Provision to Governor - And just like that, my backyard has fallen victim of one of those "let the adoption agencies smear gays while taking their tax money" bills. There will be a resolution to this and it will go in our favor.

The Day My Dad Kicked Me Out For Being Gay Changed My Life Forever - By deliberate design, anti-LGBTQ groups dehumanize us as a mindless horde out to force issues on people and destroy America if we don't get what we want. This man's story is the reality.

‘Queer Eye’ Stars Have Different Takes On Masterpiece Cakeshop Owner - One of them makes a wonderful point. Why should we give people like that cakeshop owner a piece of OUR platform under the illusion of being "civil." 

Conservatives hope an ampersand will help defeat marriage equality - A dumb campaign.

We should never forget what Fox News did to President Obama . . . and we should never forgive either

This isn't an LGBTQ issue per se. But then again maybe it is. Being an African-American, I was very ecstatic when Barack Obama became the first black president of the United States. And I was also disgusted by the ways in which Fox News chipped away at him throughout his eight years in office by constantly labeling him as hating America and defining even the smallest of his actions as attempts to harm the country. It was deliberate. And it probably helped foster the vile attitudes among voters which led to Trump winning the Oval Office and all of the horrors coming with it, including a possible erosion of LGBTQ rights by whomever he selects to fill Kennedy's seat on SCOTUS.

History will NOT be kind to Fox News. And neither should any freedom-loving American.

'Groups giddy about Kennedy retirement, while bigot 'educates' about 'male butt sex'' & other Thur midday news briefs

Before diving in the news briefs, check out this video for a wonderful laugh. Anti-LGBTQ activist Dave Daubenmire resurrects the language and tone abandoned by "respectable" anti-LGBT groups, i.e. he melts down talking about "male butt sex." 

Ecstatic’ Religious Right Sees Kennedy Resignation As Chance To Overturn Roe, Obergefell - Meanwhile, the rest of the religious and evangelical right are having a public orgasm over the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy.

5 reasons why Anthony Kennedy’s retirement is a major blow for LGBTQ rights - What we may lose because Kennedy is retiring. 

Here’s why the GOP going after Roe v. Wade, LGBT and civil rights is a really bad idea for them - This opinion piece does bring up a good point which no one talks about - the religious and evangelical right are eager to undermine LGBTQ equality but probably fear the idea of a nation of pissed-off gay folks. It's no joke. There is an element of fear there which they hide quite expertly.

'Civility' is the best friend of anti-gay hate group Alliance Defending Freedom

In "honor" of the retirement of Supreme Court justice Anthony Kennedy, one thing I intend on doing is to double down on exposing the anti-LGBTQ hate groups which are trying to undermine LGBTQ equality under the guise of freedom and religious liberty.  Make no mistake about it  no matter what they say, the goal of the ao-called pro-family and morality groups is the destruction of LGBTQ equality and safety.

One group which I haven't actually focused on thoroughly is the Alliance Defending Freedom. That group is a bunch of trained right-wing lawyers working behind the scenes to craft arguments against LGBTQ equality.  They don't get as much public attention as groups like the Family Research Council or the American Family Association, but they are very good at what they do.

According to Media Matters, ADF has its hooks in many attempts to curtail LGBTQ equality from undermining the rights of transgender students, to attempting to keep gays from adopting children, to pushing Trump's anti-transgender troop ban.  It's a juggernaut of quiet, but carefully planned, highly skilled  homophobia and bigotry.

 Media Matters also said ADF has been active in countries like Jamaica and Belize to keep homosexuality criminalized. And it gets worse. Journalist Sarah Posner pointed out that the organization has infiltrated the American judiciary via its alumni members. Because of all these things, the Southern Poverty Law Center has declared ADF to be a hate group with a long history.

However, the organization continues to get away unscathed, even racking up recent victories arguing in front of the Supreme Court. How does ADF get away with it?

'Defenders of 'civility' disappear as homphobes protest the Red Hen' & other Wed midday news briefs

Can Jared Polis win in November?

WATCH: Anti-Gay Opponents of The Red Hen Protest With Signs Reading ‘Let God Burn Them (LGBT)’ - When the Red Hen restaurant refused to serve White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, we got all sorts of lectures about "civility." Then the lecturers went away when this crap happened with homophobes protesting the Red Hen. The irony is that the LGBTQ community has dealt with protests like this and being called ugly names long before the Red Hen incident and NO ONE then talked about "civility." 

Ohio conservatives consider ‘license to abuse’ bill for parents of transgender kids - Expose our transgender children to extreme danger. Just as long as you do it while observing "civility."

Jared Polis could become America’s first openly gay elected governor - Polis won the Democratic primary in Colorado last night. And I hope he wins in November. One of the MAIN ways the LGBTQ community can hold our own and work towards equality in spite of the Trump era is when we run for and win elected office. Polis's victory would be wonderful for a number of reasons.

Sharon Brackett Becomes First Transgender Woman Elected To Public Office In Maryland - Meanwhile, Sharon Brackett also makes history.

Almost Half Of LGBTQ Employees Are Closeted At Work, Report Finds - A sad situation which many of us are more familiar with than we would like to be.