'Anti-LGBTQ industry creating horror stories of gay intolerance, recruitment via omission and lies' & other Monday midday news briefs

Mat Staver of the Liberty Counsel doesn't mind lying to create a false image of LGBTQ recruitment.

Fox News marks Transgender Day of Remembrance by airing two anti-trans segments - At the University of California, a student senator is horribly vilified for abstaining from a vote on a resolution of support for LGBTQ students. In Florida, a gym teacher is attacked for, as some right-wing publications put it, "refusing to watch a girl shower in the boys' locker room. These events are horrifying, terrible, and TOTALLY UNTRUE. A little omission here, a basic downright lie there, add a dash of Fox News "journalism" courtesy of  Shannon Bream and Laura Ingraham. An anti-LGBTQ hate group representative (Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, Mat Staver of the Liberty Counsel) accompanying both the student and the gym teacher during the interviews. Let all of the anti-LGBTQ and right-wing propaganda sources spread the story under the guise of real journalism. Let simmer. And you have the makings of an old, but effective tactic of anti-LGBTQ industry - the creation of a horror story about the LGBTQ community attacking Christians and "recruiting" children.

Taiwan’s referendums on LGBTQ rights have disappointing results - Booooo! Not a good situation in Taiwan. 

Twitter took a huge step to protect trans people from harassment on the platform - Some people may disagree (the TERFs and their allies have been going into orbit all weekend), but I don't. 

Evangelist Franklin Graham desperately insists Trump is a defender of the faith — despite his ‘sordid life’ - It's not only the fact that Graham will wantonly defend Trump in spite of his many offenses, it is also how Graham constantly rails against the LGBTQ community. Since when is an inept liar who imprisons brown children in cages and tear gasses families is considered morally devout while the LGBTQ community are the evil ones?

Report: Anti-LGBTQ 'religious exemption' laws worsening the process of foster care, adoption

The Family Research Council, the Alliance Defending Freedom the Heritage Foundation, and other anti-LGBTQ groups (and their supporters) have been heavily promoting the idea of "religious exemptions" laws with regards to adoption and foster care agencies. That would mean that these agencies would be able to discriminate against LGBTQs wanting to participate in foster care and adoption while still being able to receive tax dollars.

The idea is wrong and insulting to the LGBTQ community. Our hard earned tax dollars shouldn't be made available to entities which would discriminate against us. And now, according to a new report, there is another reason to oppose these laws. They actually make it more difficult for children in foster care and wanting to be adopted to find homes

From MSNBC:

Religious exemption laws allowing child placement agencies to deny LGBTQ prospective parents from fostering or adopting are exacerbating the current “child welfare crisis,” according to a new report from the liberal Center for American Progress (CAP), Voice for Adoption and the North American Council on Adoptable Children.

 . . . In 2017, there were about 443,000 children in foster care across the U.S., according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Each year, some 50,000 children are adopted through the U.S. child welfare system, but about 20,000 others “age out” before being placed with an adoptive family, according to HHS.  

In addition to helping place more children in permanent homes, the CAP report claims taxpayers could save hundreds of millions of dollars by removing barriers blocking LGBTQ people from becoming adoptive parents.

 . . . The report warns that turning qualified prospective parents away will add unnecessary stress to “an already stressed system,” and it notes LGBTQ people represent a an “important subgroup of potential parents.”

“Same-sex couples raising children are seven times more likely to be raising a foster child and seven times more likely to be raising an adopted child than their different-sex counterparts,” the report states, citing data from the UCLA’s Williams Institute. “They are also more likely to adopt older children and children with special needs, who are statistically less likely to be adopted.”

The report also looked at  two states which have these "religious exemptions" and found that the number of homes which could foster and adopt children were tremendously reduced:

The CAP report undertakes case studies of Michigan and Texas, two large states that have adopted relatively broad religious exemption laws. (Policy analyst at the Center for American Progress and one of the report’s author  Frank J.) Bewkes described the situation in these states as “pretty bleak,” and the report describes an acute placement crisis in each of them.

“Nationwide, 28 percent of youth had been in foster care for two or more years in fiscal year 2016,” according to the CAP report, which cited HHS data. “In that same period, 38 percent of Texas youth and 52 percent of Michigan youth had been in care for two or more years.”

 

In Texas, which has had a religious exemption law for child placement agencies since 2017, the number of foster and adoptive homes working with licensed child placement agencies has decreased nearly 40 percent from 2012 to 2017, according to data from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

And in Michigan, which has had a religious exemption law for child placement agencies since 2015, the number of licensed foster homes dropped by more than 20 percent from 2012 to 2017, according to data from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

The report and article are both good sources of information for the next time FRC and ADF claim that they are pushing for these exemptions because of the children. It's clear that they aren't thinking of the children at all.. 

God forbid anything distracts them from their mission of undermining LGBTQ equality and safety.

'Anti-LGBTQ activist: Ugly women become lesbians because no man would ever love them' & other Wed midday news briefs

Dave Daubenmire: Ugly Women Become Lesbians Because No Man Would Ever Love Them - We fight everyday against the homophobia Daubenmire demonstrates here in different forms. The difference between him and groups like the Alliance Defending Freedom and the Family Research Council is that Daubenmire doesn't play games to hide his hatred. Nor does he conjure up legislation and false arguments to justify it. At the end of the day, it is all the same. Remember that.

Chuck Grassley: USDA should not have pressured 4-H to rescind LGBT policy - I'm as shocked as you are. I guess after those nasty judges Grassley has been pushing on us, he figures let us have this one.

Family Research Council doesn't like LGBTQ community, but wants LGBTQ tax dollars - Reposting last night's piece. With the new SCOTUS coming in, anti-LGBTQ groups such as FRC will be looking to take advantage with mess like this. 

Queer & Muslim in Trump’s America - We have a serious problem with division in America's LGBTQ community and it stems from people refusing to understand that we are a multi-national, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic group. The LGBTQ orientation crosses all lines. Articles like this provides proof of that. 

Gay Christian Pastor Holds First Worship In Hong Kong Pride Parade - Like I said - multi-national, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic.

Family Research Council doesn't like LGBTQ community, but wants LGBTQ tax dollars

The Family Research Council is thinking of new ways to steal LGBTQ tax dollars.

According to the Family Research Council, there is a war on faith-based adoption agencies:

National Adoption Month Kicks off with Attack on Faith

November 20, 2018

By FRC's Mary Beth Waddell, Senior Legislative Assistant

While millions of American were voting, Philadelphia foster parents were in court fighting the government's attempt to shut down Catholic Charities adoption and foster care services because it is faith-based. Nearly half of all Catholic Charities adoptions nationally are for special needs children, so their permanent closure would be especially devastating. It was a somber launch to National Adoption Month for children seeking families.

In March of 2018, the City of Philadelphia (the city) put out an urgent call for foster parents. Despite this urgent need and within days of this call, the City terminated its foster placement contracts with Catholic Charities and Bethany Christian Services -- two of its nearly thirty partner agencies, because they were faith-based. This has resulted in empty foster homes and children left languishing because fewer agencies are working on their behalf. One such empty foster home was Cecelia Paul's. She had fostered over 130 children, adopted six, and been named "Foster Parent of the Year." Other foster parents, like Sharonell Fulton, who is caring for two special needs children, may not be able to continue fostering because they no longer have access to the training, resources, and support of Catholic Charities -- which she and others have observed as superior to that of government agencies.

Worse yet, sibling groups are in danger of not being placed together. When another agency transferred a child into Catholic Charities' custody so that it could be placed with its sibling already in Catholic Charities' care, the city didn't respond favorably. Although the city didn't separate the siblings, it sent a notice to its partner agencies demanding written acknowledgment of the referral contract termination; thus, indicating that siblings would not automatically be placed together.

Taking a page from fellow anti-LGBTQ hate group the Alliance Defending Freedom, FRC looks to  to cover up the truth of the matter. Just as ADF exploited baker Jack Phillips in the Masterpiece case to distort the issue of "religious liberty" to a situation about a cake instead of what it actually was about (using religion as an excuse to discriminate), FRC is exploiting Ms. Paul and Ms. Fulton, the caregivers in piece above, to hide what this issue is about.
 
In actuality, the city of Philadelphia did not terminate the  contracts with the agencies because they were faith-based. The contracts were terminated BECAUSE the agencies would not  work with same-sex couples, which was a violation of the contract with the city.

Alliance Defending Freedom wants to take its war on transgender children to the Supreme Court' & other Tue midday news briefs

Supreme Court asked to mandate segregation for transgender students - Remember the Alliance Defending Freedom, that hate group which is presently the subject of the NoGaysAllowed campaign and webpage? This  judiciary attack on our transgender children (fueled by discredited junk science) is why the campaign is necessary. As well as the four other cases it is hoping SCOTUS will take - cases which, if ADF wins, will cause all sort of hell for the LGBTQ community.

No Gays Allowed - Speaking of the NoGaysAllowed webpage, this is a wonderful time to visit it and educate yourselves on ADF's undercover efforts to undermine our community's equality and safety.

On Transgender Day of Remembrance, advocates honor lives lost to violence - Sad day. Our people are being taken from us. The media, and the rest of us need to step up. 

Walking Dead actress says she lost a role because she doesn’t look ‘authentically LGBTQ’ - Oh girl, I guess I'm not 'authentically LGBTQ' either. 

All Feminists Must Stand Up For Trans Liberation - YEP!

Anti-LGBTQ fake news site whines about 'censorship' while practicing 'censorship'

'Porno' Peter LaBarbera

Lifesite News is another nauseating hard-right fake news site which attacks and smears the LGBTQ community under the guise of preserving morality. Today, the publication is on the warpath because an old enemy of our community, 'Porno' Peter LaBarbera, got checked by Facebook:

Facebook deletes pro-family page for ‘hate speech’ against LGBT

Over the weekend Facebook unpublished the page of a prominent social-conservative group for allegedly using unspecified “hate speech,” Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) president Peter LaBarbera revealed Monday.

AFTAH is dedicated to “apply[ing] the same single-minded determination to opposing the radical homosexual agenda and standing for God-ordained sexuality and the natural family as countless homosexual groups do in promoting their harmful agenda.” LaBarbera frequently debates homosexual issues on mainstream and pro-LGBT media, and has written for LifeSiteNews.

On Sunday, Facebook took down AFTAH’s Facebook page entirely, leaving only a “Page Not Found” message in its place as of the time of this writing.

'"You disgust me" - Parents abandon lesbian daughter after she refuses to leave college for 'ex-gay' therapy' & other Mon midday news briefs

‘You disgust me’: Christian parents cut off lesbian daughter after she refuses to leave college for conversion therapy - 'Christians parents' my black ass! And the situation got worse: 

Friends raised money for a gay college athlete after her parents disowned her. Then the NCAA called. - The NCAA made the situation worse. She has an awful decision to make. I cannot perceive how people who claim to "love" would cause this situation to happen to their child simply because she is gay. But the sad thing is that this happens. A lot.

UPDATE from ThinkProgress - according to a statement from Canisius College - the NCCA will allow Scheck to retain her eligibility while receiving GoFundMe donations.  But still, those parents! My God! It just gets me angry!

House GOP Urges Trump to Remove ‘Inappropriate and Insulting’ Protections for LGBTQ Workers in New Trade Pact - One more month to go before the new House takes over and these folks just can't stop being homophobic.

New Report Details Ongoing Epidemic of Violence Against Transgender People - This SHOULD NOT be happening period, to nothing of the fact that it shouldn't be happening without anyone paying proper attention.

Iowa 4-H Leader Fired For Defending LGBT Inclusion: Report - Attack of the Trump Administration AGAIN.