'NBC spotlights GOP attack on LGBTQ families' & other Fri midday news briefs

As evidence supporting LGBTQ families mounts, legal hurdles loom - Thank you NBC for putting the spotlight on the GOP's "religious liberty" anti-gay adoption bill. I still have one problem with the coverage. I know it sounds cold, but I really do believe that how gay taxpayers are erased by this bill should be considered. Children need good families, no matter if they are LGBTQ families or heterosexual families. AND LGBTQ taxpayers shouldn't have to give our hard earned tax dollars to entities which discriminate against us. We are being told that we should pay for a service that we can't have because we are supposedly inferior. If my gay dollars is good enough for an entity to have, then giving me respect should also be a must.

Related post - You don't get to call me a sinner AND help yourself to my gay tax dollars

Catholic Priest Denies Communion to Trans Teen… Because She Was Chewing Gum - Yeah, riiiiiiight.

Why Trump's Putin Fixation Is an LGBT Problem - Trump's existence in the Oval Office itself is an LGBT problem. His Putin fixation only make things worse. 

British teen banned from doing drag in school talent show invited to perform with Drag Race queens - Wonderful! I love a happy ending!

Media Matters exposes the homophobia that hate group Alliance Defending Freedom is hiding

Reading and sharing information like this about hate group Alliance Defending Freedom is vital for the LGBTQ community to win this so-called culture war.

The LGBTQ community will never make any definitive steps in attaining equality unless we publicly acknowledge to that there is a deliberate effort to undermine our safety and dignity as American citizens. And this effort is being undertaken by several religious right groups with deep pockets and very little scruples for being honest.

Our battle is not with religious beliefs in general nor ordinary individuals. Our battles are with groups and personalities who work diligently undermine our equality. Enough pussyfooting. Enough nonsensical discussions about Gays vs. Christianity. That was never the argument.

It was always:

 Gays vs. The Family Research Council

Gays vs. the American Family Assocation

Gays vs. the Liberty Counsel.

Gays vs. the Alliance Defending Freedom.

Gays vs. every group, organization, paid personality, pundit, and talking head who claimS to be "pro-family," "pro-Christian," or "pro-morality."

For over 11 years, I have, via this blog, one failed self-published book, and one online booklet, tried to expose these folks myself in my own inimitable fashion AND get our community and our leadership to step up in calling these folks out.

I've succeeded a lot in the former more than I have in the latter. But I am also glad to note that I have not been alone. Other blogs, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and organizations such as Media Matters did a lot to focus on this situation. And granted, it may not be as popular as internal arguments, cute little academic terms and esoteric language, and other  ways some of us in the LGBTQ community have wasted time, this work is very necessary.

 And that's why I am thrilled at the new project published by Media Matters.

An interactive research book on the anti-LGBTQ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom

“The extremism of anti-LGBTQ powerhouse Alliance Defending Freedom” is an interactive research book outlining the anti-LGBTQ positions of the influential legal powerhouse Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). These positions were identified through extensive review of public statements by ADF and its representatives, reports on the group's legal and political activities, and publicly available materials created by the group. Information regarding significant portions of ADF's legal and political advocacy work is not publicly available; the group may hold additional positions or engage in additional activity that it refrains from commenting on publicly.

Click here to download the interactive PDF version of this report.

The following below is a smaller facsimile of the report:

'Transgender students gain huge court victory, opposition to trans troop ban marks full year' & other Thur midday news briefs

Today marks a year since Trump announced his trans troop ban. It has been a disaster for him.

Full Page USA Today Ad Features Bipartisan Opposition To Trump’s Transgender Military Ban - It's been a full year since Trump announced his ridiculous ban of trans men and women from serving in the military. Since then, the announcement backfired on him to become one of the many embarrassing missteps of his administration. 

Judge's ruling supports Dallas School District's transgender policy - An Oregon school district policy which protects transgender students has been upheld by the courts. Sharing space with transgender students doesn't violate anyone's rights.

This bisexual Russian man could be killed if he’s deported — but an Oregon judge won’t let him stay - The struggle is real and it is worldwide, y'all.

Bryan Fischer’s Answer To Global AIDS Crisis: No Sex For Gay Men - Ah yes. The man who almost singularly got the American Family Association designated as a hate group. 

America’s most self-loathing homosexual blasts ‘the gaying of Fox News’ - Oh for crying out loud . . .

Moving from cakes to housing and adoption - 'religious liberty' is being weaponized to discriminate against gays

So many of us repeated the simple fact that "religious liberty" or "religious freedom" as defined by the anti-LGBTQ evangelical right was not simply about a cake or a bakery or participation at a same-sex wedding. Those trite things were merely the beginning of a plan to codify anti-LGBTQ discrimination by using religion as a weapon.

According to a recent events,  things have moved steadily from businesses supposedly not wanting to participate in same-sex weddings. We are now talking about senior living communities who don't want to house gay couples:

A St. Louis County senior community has denied housing to a married lesbian couple who have been together for nearly four decades because of the couple's sexual orientation, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court. 

Mary Walsh, 72, and Bev Nance, 68, both of Shrewsbury, say the Friendship Village senior living community, which has locations in Sunset Hills and Chesterfield, denied occupancy to the couple to live at the Sunset Hills community in 2016 because their relationship violated its cohabitation policy that defines marriage as "the union of one man and one woman, as marriage is understood in the Bible," according to the lawsuit.
The policy, the suit says, violates the Fair Housing Act and the Missouri Human Rights Act. It names Friendship Village and its parent company FV Services Inc. as defendants. The couple is represented by the San Francisco-based National Center for Lesbian Rights, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Washington D.C.-based firm Relman, Dane & Colfax. 

Walsh and Nance were married in Massachusetts in 2009 but have been together for 37 years, their suit says. They tried to move to Friendship Village in July 2016, got on a waiting list and paid a $2,000 deposit but were later told they couldn't because of the "longstanding policy." Friendship Village continues to enforce the "cohabitation policy" that has denied housing to other same-sex couples, the suit claims. 

And let's not forget the laws in Kansas, Oklahoma, and South Carolina, as well as a bill moving through the House of  Representatives which contains an amendment that, under the grounds of "religious liberty," allows foster care and adoption agencies to discriminate against gay couples while still being able to receive tax dollars.

Today, 40 Democratic Senators targeted the amendment:

In a letter to Senate appropriators, the senators slammed a House Republican proposal passed earlier this month that would shield taxpayer-funded adoption and child welfare agencies that refuse to provide services to children and parents on the basis of religion, LGBTQ status, or family structure. The senators urged the Senate Appropriations Committee not to include this dangerous proposal in the upcoming appropriations bill. 

“Allowing child welfare agencies to close the door to willing and fully qualified foster and adoptive parents due to a difference in religious belief opens the door to taxpayer-funded discrimination and deprives vulnerable children of safe and loving homes,” the senators wrote. “We strongly encourage you to reject this language and instead, support federal laws and regulations barring discrimination, and protect the rights of all qualified parents who answer the call to foster and adopt children in foster care.” 

The proposal would allow the Department of Health and Human Services to withhold federal funding from states that prevent child welfare agencies from denying services to LGBTQ parents or children, penalizing states with existing nondiscrimination policies. Late last week, over 100 child advocacy organizations sent a letter to Congress opposing this proposal. 

Wyden was joined on the letter by Sens. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass.; Mazie K. Hirono, D-Hawaii; Tom Carper, D-Del.; Chris Coons, D-Del., Maggie Hassan D-N.H.; Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.; Dianne Feinstein D-Calif.; Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.; Tim Kaine, D-Va.; Tina Smith, D-Minn.; Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; Angus King, I-Maine; Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill.; Kamala Harris, D-Calif.; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Michael Bennet D-Colo.; Chris Murphy, D-Conn.; Jack Reed, D-R.I.; Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.; Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii; Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc.; Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.; Tom Udall, D-N.M.; Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.; Cory Booker, D-N.J.; Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; Robert P. Casey, Jr., D-Pa.; Bob Menendez, D-N.J.; Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.; Jon Tester, D-Mont.; Mark R. Warner, D-Va.; Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.; Ben Cardin, D-Md.; Amy Klobuchar D-Minn., Gary Peters, D-Mich.; Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.; and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.

And I am certain that there will be more instances to come in which the anti-gay evangelical right will weaponize religious beliefs  against the LGBTQ community. You can count on that.

'Does the religious right want to criminalize gay sex again?' & other Wed midday news briefs

The Religious Right Appears Intent On Criminalizing Gay Sex Again - A recent column by Tony Perkins of hate group The Family Research Council has Michelangelo Signorile wondering are religious right groups wanting to bring back the sodomy laws. While it may seem hysterical, I say, from monitoring religious right groups for close to 12 years,  that nothing is for sure and one should never assume. When it comes to these groups, it's all about audacity. No matter how ridiculous the cause may seem, if they think they can succeed, they will put forth a huge effort and at the very least, we would have to deal with debating issues which we never thought we would. Personally, I feel that if these groups want to bring back the time in which they openly and freely cited discredited studies by charlatans who accused us of stuffing gerbils up our rectums, feel free.  We got receipts regarding all of the lies groups like FRC once told about us. And we haven't forgotten a single thing.

GLAAD calls for increased and accurate media coverage of transgender murders - Siiigh! Our transgenders sisters are being murdered across America and it's not being handled like it should. We need more press coverage and at the very least, can the media not misgender our sisters. 

Trump's Timeline of HATE - Trump has been screwing up everyone who isn't white and straight. Makes me wonder if this nonsense with tariffs is his way to not make THEM feel left out.

Oklahoma woman offers to be a stand-in mom at LGBTQ weddings - Awwwww! This is so sweet!

National LGBT Bar Association want attorneys to repudiate anti-LGBT (hate) legal groups

No doubt this is sure to get the anti-LGBTQ right and their supporters whining about being persecuted, but to hell with them. Full speed ahead.

My only concern is that there is someone out there to push the narrative of what this is truly about.

The National LGBT Bar Association announces a new campaign that asks attorneys across the nation to COMMIT to INCLUSION by repudiating anti-LGBT legal groups like Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and Liberty Counsel and pledging never to support them through pro bono services.

“For more than 25 years, groups like Alliance Defending Freedom and Liberty Counsel have overseen an army of litigators and waged a systematic, insidious, and well-funded crusade to strip protections from LGBT people,” said LGBT Bar Association Executive Director D’Arcy Kemnitz. “With the recent Supreme Court decision in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, the announced retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, and more and more court victories for those seeking a license to discriminate, fair-minded attorneys committed to diversity must push back. If we don’t take these threats seriously and act accordingly, we could face long term legal setbacks for LGBT people.”

The COMMIT to INCLUSION campaign includes a fact sheet detailing the history of these anti-LGBT legal groups, their enormous budgets, and a sample list of cases in which they have sought to harm LGBT people. It also includes a one-minute video featuring: National LGBT Bar Executive Director, D’Arcy Kemnitz; Chief Counsel, Freedom for All Americans Education Fund, Jon Davidson; and Cathy Sakimura, Family Law Director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights.  

The COMMIT to INCLUSION pledge reads in part: “We commit to inclusion by ensuring that our personal pro bono and volunteer capacity and personal financial resources will not be used to support the work of ADF and Liberty Counsel.” 

COMMIT to INCLUSION runs from July 24 through September 27.

''Religious freedom' refusals creating discrimination & endangering health' & other Tue midday news briefs

Same-sex couples are being refused service by wedding vendors - Since the Masterpiece ruling, which shouldn't even be allowing this mess, some folks have been going buck wild. And not just with regards to gay weddings: 

CVS fires pharmacist who denied hormone prescription to transgender woman 

Walgreens Pharmacist Refuses To Provide Drug For Ariz. Woman With Unviable Pregnancy 

In other news:

NAACP hosts ‘historic’ LGBT Town Hall - This was last week and I apologize for missing it. This event should have had more coverage. 

Teenager 'heartbroken' after school banned his talent show drag act - Drag is about performance. It was and to an extent still is a way for the LGBT community to take on the personalities of folks or entities they admire for their boldness and project that quality into their own lives. Too many people think it's about making fun or being sexually graphic. It's about skill, discipline, and self-empowerment.

Gay guys from around the globe talk sex and personal safety in Amsterdam - Very very necessary.

Delaware Just Banned Gay Conversion Therapy For LGBTQ Youth - Go Delaware! It's your birthday . . .!