'Hate group could be behind bills in 20+ states targeting trans children' & other Fri midday news briefs

National hate group could be behind the bills in 20+ states attacking transgender youth - Could be? Please. It is.

LGBTQ+ Twitter Drags Ted Cruz for Jetting to Mexico During Texas Storm - Yes we did. hehehehe. 

Debunking misconceptions about #transgender - We need more of this covering more issues about transgender folks.

LGBTQ campaign backed by German footballers hailed as a 'step in the right direction' - The struggle is universal.

Rush Limbaugh was bad. Anita Bryant was worse

 Rush Limbaugh's death and the uncovering of his vile homophobia got me digging through the lives of other anti-LGBTQ personalities and led me to the above video. LGBTQ Americans of my generation the one before us remember Anita Bryant with nausea in the pit of our stomachs. 

She was already a national celebrity, being a former beauty queen and recording artist, when in 1977 she led a fight against a FL anti-discrimination ordinance. Her efforts garnered a win by a wide majority and technically began the fusion of anti-gay religious beliefs and homophobic propaganda for political purposes. You can see how she masterfully combines the two while oozing ignorant sincerity during the above short clip

While Bryant won that battle, she eventually "lost the war." Boycotts and bankruptcies destroyed her career while we have won battle after battle securing our rights.  However on the other hand,  LGBTQ Americans have had to deal with laws and bills created by the combined weaponization of religious beliefs and anti-gay propaganda for decades even as Bryant moved away from the public eye.

And yes, girlfriend is still alive (video from 2005):

'State anti-trans bills represent coordinated attack' & other Thur midday news briefs

State anti-transgender bills represent coordinated attack, advocates say - Yep. And I bet hate group the Alliance Defending Freedom wrote those bills. 

West Virginia may give parents $4600 to send their kid to an anti-LGBTQ religious school - Aside from this madness, private schools can say "no" to children attending. So what good is getting $4600 to send your children to a private school if the school says "no," which I think said schools may do to many black children. Just saying. 

Katy Faust's Baffling Bullshit - With Some Help From Another Extremist - More lies about marriage equality and children being raised in same-sex households. 

Strategy talks in high gear to get Equality Act across the finish line - Here we go, here we go!

Rush Limbaugh's legacy lies with all of the times he called Obama 'a boy'

Rush Limbaugh died today.

Unless you've been in seclusion, you know that Rush Limbaugh, patron saint of disaffected white folks who can't deal with their privilege slipping away, lost his battle with cancer today. I don't believe in celebrating the death of any human being. But I also don't believe in sugarcoating the legacy of any prominent figure who has passed to the great beyond. And there will probably be a lot of sugarcoating of Limbaugh as is. To me, he was a creep. He was a racist, homophobic bloated windbag whose rhetoric had a double negative impact of me as a black gay man.

To  LGBTQ people, Limbaugh was the epitome of homophobia's hypocrisy. On one hand, he dehumanized us, made fun of how the AID/HIV crisis was ravaging our community, and asserted the standard lies about us supposedly "ramming our lifestyle down people's throats." And then on the other hand, claimed to not understand why we were so angry.

To African-American people, he was the epitome of racism's hypocrisy, claiming that we are being held back because we want to be victims, we are holding on to much to the past and we can succeed in life if we only try. But on the other hand, he was the main one sending up the alarm to his white listeners when any of us did achieve.

I don't see the need for a lot of discussion with regards to Limbaugh's legacy. One can break it down via  few articles:

Limbaugh repeatedly refers to Obama as a “boy” and a “man-child”

Rush: Obama a 'radical leader,' 'child' 

Rush Limbaugh Calls Obama “Little Boy, This Man-Child President” 

Rush: Obama a Petulant 'Man-Child' Who Can't Stand Opposition

Limbaugh was never a friend of any Democratic president or contender,  but something about President Obama always set him off.  He not only felt the need to make fun of  Obama, his family, and his policies, but there was also a desire to peg Obama  an incompetent child.  Or a boy in a man's job who had no business in the White House, with the heavy emphasis on the word "boy." Forget Obama making it to Harvard, getting elected to the United States Senate or two terms as the first black president. To Limbaugh, he wasn't a man. He was a "boy" and will always be a "boy."

It wasn't by accident that Limbaugh made this point.  He, like so many of us, knew the racist history of white people referring to black men as boys as a way of stripping away our manhood and implying the false notion of no matter how hard we try, we will never be on the same level of competence as them.  And that somehow all of our success comes with stealing jobs and positions from them because of "white guilt" or "affirmative action."

.

 Media personalities attempting to play nice will no doubt marvel about his "connection" to his audience. I prefer to say that he articulated the anger and resentment from a lot of sad Americans who preferred to stew in their anger over the country becoming more colorful, diverse and competitive while they are becoming less prominent and desirable.

 And Limbaugh stirred that stew like a master chef. He did not "connect" with his audience. He exploited them. He fed them illusions designed to inflate all of their anger, their fear, their false sense of self-entitlement, and their prejudices. Then he sucked it out of their souls, making sure to convert the noxious mix into cash which he filled his bank account with over and over again. 

That's Rush Limbaugh's legacy.  And that's all which needs to be said.

' U. S. House to Vote on Equality Act Next Week' & other Wed midday news briefs

U.S. House to Vote on Equality Act Next Week, Majority Leader Says - Batten down the hatches and start the conversations with our fellow Americans. The anti-LGBTQ industry and their allies will be gumming up the works like mad.

 
Texas lawmakers are trying to pass pro-LGBTQ proposals. Do they have a chance? - Miracles have happened before. 

Arizona legislator compares transgender people to farm animals - Oh I bet he's real fun at parties.

Romney declares opposition to LGBTQ Equality Act - Well duuuh. You wanna shock me? Let me know when he does support it.

Y'all, we need to pray for the Log Cabin Republicans after its vile 'Thank You President Donald J. Trump' tweet

I'm probably going to get blocked by the Log Cabin Republicans for this, so watch it while you can.  But I have to ask these folks:

What the HELL is wrong with y'all?

This President's Day, LGBTs say 'Thank you!' to President Donald J. Trump. pic.twitter.com/PavXuT82VV

— LogCabinRepublicans (@LogCabinGOP) February 15, 2021

From LGBTQnation: 

 The Log Cabin Republicans released an awkward video to honor George Washington’s birthday by praising former President Donald Trump. The video is for “President’s Day,” giving them a way to shoehorn Trump in, but that isn’t actually a federal holiday. The video features several queer supporters decrying their adoration for the most viciously anti-LGBTQ President in the nation’s history. The usual suspects appear in the video, including the group’s spokesperson Charles Moran, journalist Chadwick Moore, and the blogger “Brokeback Patriot.”

Bear in mind that while in office, Trump waged war against the LGBTQ people. He opened up the White House to religious right groups who used their access in attempts to deny us our rights as Americans. 

This is the same Donald Trump whose administration (thank you, Human Rights Campaign for this partial list): 

Appointed anti-LGBTQ judges: Trump has appointed anti-LGBTQ judges with alarming anti-LGBTQ records to appointments at every level of the judicial system, including anti-equality Supreme Court Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh and federal nominees Kacsmaryk, Mateer, Bounds, Vitter. Menashi and others. 

Supported employment discrimination against LGBTQ people: The Trump administration submitted amicus briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court supporting discrimination against LGBTQ people. 

Banned transgender service members from the military: Against the expert advice of military leadership, medical authorities, budget analysts, 70% of Americans and the armed forces of allied countries, Trump and Pence banned transgender people from serving in the military. 

Rolled back Obama-era non-discrimination protections: Trump’s Department of Justice upended previous DOJ interpretations of the Civil Rights Act that protect transgender and non-binary workers from employment discrimination and ceased enforcing non-discrimination protections as well as taking a hostile stance to LGBTQ workers in court. 

Issued rule to license discrimination: Trump’s Department of Labor issued a regulation designed to allow federal contractors to claim a religious exemption to fire LGBTQ workers because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. 

'Michelangelo Signorile: The Equality Act is being blocked by an LGBTQ senator' & other Tue midday news briefs

 

Senator Kyrsten Sinema

The Equality Act can now become law. An LGBTQ senator is blocking it. - Houston, we have a problem. More like Arizona, we have a problem. The reason cannot be seen as totally negative but we do have to come to some sort of agreement on this. 

Democratic lawmakers hope to enact statewide nondiscrimination law and ban conversion therapy for LGBTQ Texans - They do believe in miracles in Texas, I see. 

 An Ohio state legislator may have leaked a new set of anti-trans “principles” endorsed by three major anti-LGBT organizations. - This is how they are tying attacks against trans people to an overall attack on LGBTQ rights and safety.

LGBTQ+, Other Civil Rights Groups Enraged by Trump Acquittal - Can I be honest here? I don't give a crap. The votes weren't there to convict him, witnesses or not witnesses. We need to focus on the power we now have and the work we can do with it. THAT is a start when it comes to keeping that menace away from power.