House GOP bill would legalize giving tax dollars to anti-LGBT adoption agencies & punish LGBT-friendly states

If the House GOP gets its way, this will be the future and gays will be giving up  tax dollars to fund it.

From Dominic Holden at Buzzfeed comes news that House Republicans just advanced an amendment out of committee which would allow adoption agencies to discriminate against gays while still helping themselves to gay tax dollars under the guise of "religious liberty."

The House Appropriations Committee advanced the amendment, introduced by Alabama Rep. Robert Aderholt, that says adoption agencies declining a child welfare service based on “sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions” could not be punished. 

Specifically, agencies that reject applicants, including gay couples and divorcées, based on religious objections, could not be denied federal funding. Nor could a state deny funding to agencies if it receives federal funding for child welfare services under the Social Security Act. 

Further, the measure would punish LGBT-friendly states. The Department of Health and Human Services would withhold 15% of its annual adoption dispersals from states that don’t meet the same standards for protecting religious adoption groups. States could lose federal adoption funds, for instance, if they ban anti-LGBT discrimination — thereby tilting federal adoption funding toward states that allow religious recusals.

According to Holden's article, the amendment goes in front of the entire House as a part of the federal budget where it could face opposition - or rather HAD BETTER face opposition - from Democrats and moderate Republicans.

Holden also pointed out that Alabama Rep. Robert Aderholt, who introduced the amendment, sent out the following tweet:

Today my colleagues and I of the @HouseAppropsGOP passed my amendment which prohibits the discrimination of child welfare providers based on religious beliefs or moral convictions.

— Rep. Robert Aderholt (@Robert_Aderholt) July 11, 2018

Conveniently Aderholt failed to address the lack of fairness in making LGBT taxpayers give their hard-earned monies to groups which would freely discriminate against us.

You gotta love those Republicans. They won't do anything to reign in the disaster that is the Trump Administration. They won't do anything about gun control. And they certainly won't do a thing about how the Trump Administration is committing a human rights disaster by stealing migrant children from their parents.

But they will bend over backwards to screw with us.

Y'all probably know what I am going to say, but I will repeat myself anyway.

We told folks that this nonsense about "religious liberty" wasn't just about cakes or flowers at gay weddings.

It's about weaponizing religion, one particular religion - i.e. conservative evangelical Christianity  - to create a legal right to discriminate against the LGBT community.  I hope it makes you angry enough to raise hell to your representatives, friends, and neighbors, and especially to vote in November. 

'Trump Administration to pay for migrant children detention by siphoning funds from HIV/AIDS program' & other Wed midday news briefs

Trump Administration To Pay For Detention Of Migrant Children By Siphoning Funds From HIV/AIDS Program - THIS IS WHY YOU DON'T PLAY GAMES WHEN VOTING, PEOPLE! It's bad enough that they are detaining migrant children, but now they are causing potential problems for those who have HIV/AIDS to pay for it. A flippant policy by a shitty leader can have terrible repercussions. It reminds me when Romanian leader Nicolae Ceausescu banned contraception and would not test the blood supplies in that country for diseases. It didn't end happily for anyone, not the scores of Romanian children who became infected with HIV/AIDS and definitely not Ceausescu. 

The ‘Minor Attracted Persons’ Flag Appears to Be a Hoax to Connect LGBTQs with Pedophilia - Meanwhile, we got hoaxes left and right attempting to mess with our community. 

‘Out and Sober’ group helps LGBTQ people with substance abuse recovery - I can push happy news too. 

‘Feminists’ Who Exclude Trans Women Aren’t Feminists At All - If there one thing I HATE, it's LGBTQ people who will work with the anti-LGBTQ right to harm their own people. And I really despise TERFs for doing it.

Trumpvangelicals use Christianity to oppress minorities — the #SlaveholderReligion hashtag highlights how - So true. Say it again!

Philly Christian foster care agency agrees to work with gay couples, city stops suspension of its contract

While religious right groups still continue to distort the SCOTUS ruling on the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, I doubt they will have much to say about a situation in Philadelphia which proves how difficult it will be to justify discriminating against the LGBTQ community while taking gay tax dollars.

This took place late last month, but it is still wonderful news:

The City of Philadelphia resumed foster-care and adoption work  . . .  with Bethany Christian Services, whose contract had been suspended because of its policy that prevented staff from working with same-sex couples. 

Department of Human Services Commissioner Cynthia Figueroa said Bethany Christian Services of Greater Delaware Valley had changed its policy to conform with the city’s antidiscrimination laws and partnered with the Mayor’s Office of LGBT Affairs to train staff on “cultural competency for serving individuals and same sex couples who are LGBTQ.” 

“Our faith calls us to work with vulnerable children and families and therefore, it is important that Christians remain in this space,” Bethany said in a statement. “To that end, while we will remain compliant with the law, we also remain committed to our Christian beliefs and core values.”

The announcement comes as a federal judge prepares to rule whether the city violated Catholic Social Services’ religious freedom by suspending its contract for the same reason. The city has said it was unaware of the discriminatory policies until a same-sex couple told the Inquirer and Daily News they were turned away from Bethany last year. Of Philadelphia’s 28 foster-care agencies, only Bethany and Catholic Social Services had policies against working with same-sex couples. The city suspended both contracts.

Like I said before, you can't justify discriminating against the LGBTQ community while taking our tax dollars. Of course regardless of this outcome, some will no doubt still try. Case in point is the related post below:

Related post:

Anti-LGBTQ hate group employee defends anti-gay adoption law with skillful evasion

'How will Trump's SCOTUS pick Kavanaugh handle LGBTQ cases?' & other Tue midday news briefs

Brett Kavanaugh

LGBTI and women's groups oppose Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh - Kavanaugh's record on LGBTQ equality is mostly a blank slate but we aren't taking ANY chances. 

Brett Kavanaugh Has GOP Bona Fides, But a Surprising Record - Hmmmm 

Brett Kavanaugh's Opinion On Gay Marriage Is Backed By A Notorious Anti-LGBTQ Group - This happened 13 years ago. Still may be relevant. 

Lesbian group’s anti-trans protest at London Pride backfires - You've heard about that ridiculous transphobic protest at London Pride. Here is how it backfired.

The overshadowed LGBT fight for ‘normality’ - This is a fascinating bit of LGBTQ history.

Radio conversation with 'Christian' Trump voter disassembles into jangled hot mess

This is something we should all listen to and remember the next time someone tells us that we should attempt to understand Trump voters.

On his SiriusXM show Friday, host John Fugelsang spoke with a Donald Trump-supporting caller named Tiffany. Because she said her Christian faith meant so much to her, Fugelsang tried getting her to answer a simple question: Could she cite anything from the Bible — any teaching of Jesus — that backed up Trump’s horrendous policies? In other words, was there anything Christian about Trump? Tiffany, who admitted her “political knowledge is not very high,” couldn’t come up with a single Christ-like thing about Trump.

 The above summary is merely a nice way to put this 13 minute conversation. All in all, Fuselgang's conversation with Tiffany ran the gambit from showing just how sadly uninformed  as a voter she was to her having a resentment-filled meltdown about immigrants. She claimed that she wasn't a Fox News viewer. I sincerely doubt that.

It would have been an amusing conversation except for the fact that it was over a million "Tiffanys" at the ballot box who put Trump in office.

      

'Trump's SCOTUS nominees alarm LGBTQ leaders, the huge problem I have with TERFs,' and other Mon midday news briefs

Trump's 'extreme' Supreme Court shortlist alarms LGBTQ advocates - As well they should. And yet another example of why some mutants voted for Trump. Nary a person of color in the bunch when it comes to his nominees. No matter. Bring it on. I'm feeling ornery. 

Trump's Three Alarming Supreme Court Finalists - And when it's whittled down to three, it's gonna be an ugly fight. And I adore ugly fights. I get to rhetorically throw chairs and get away with it.

Scholars dismantle the myth policing trans kids’ genders - It never ceases to amaze me how when the media talks about transgender issues, they hardly ever bring on anyone who has studied the issue. I care little for talking heads, but would definitely listen to an unbiased expert when it comes to issues like this.

Anti-trans group allowed to lead Pride in London march after hijack - In case you didn't hear, a small group of very annoying TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminists) briefly interrupted London's Pride celebration with the usual discriminatory bullshyte about how the trans community is erasing women. In the past, I've tried to understand this group. I've talked with a couple of them and read a lot of their literature. And the best way to describe them is how I describe homophobes. When it comes to homophobes, no matter what the issue about the LGBTQ community, it all comes down to their fevered imaginations of male gay sex. With the TERFs, it's all about the penis (particularly seeing penises) and the fear that transgender women want to force them to have sex. No matter how they intellectualize it, that's what it's all about - misandry so high that they view transgender women as men who want to violate ALL of their spaces. It's a lie. A big fat fearful lie. 

In An Already Tight Housing Market, LGBTQ Seniors Face Challenges Finding Homes They Can Afford - Don't forget about our LGBTQ seniors.

Early TBT- 'Becky with the big ole booty' steals show at anti-LGBTQ conference with interpretative dance

Call the following video an early "Throwback Thursday" gift. It's not to take lightly anything the LGBTQ community has to fight with regards to groups like the Family Research Council and the Alliance Defending Freedom scheming against us with the Trump Administration. It's simply a wonderful way to ease us into another week of fighting and maintaining.

But first a little intro

In November of last year, anti-gay hate group Mass Resistance held a wildly homophobic conference filled with crackpots spinning stories about gays recruiting children, harming children, and plotting to cause all sorts of general mayhem.

Probably the most sane moment was the conference kick-off, which featured an interpretative dance with rainbow flags by a Derek Paul, who I have nicknamed "Becky with the big ole booty." Needless to say the dance caught international attention due to where it took place. Some couldn't believe that this dance was genuine.  Others thought the guy was trolling the conference.  I say "wow, he got a big ole butt"