'Queer valedictorian's silenced LGBTQ identity speech may see federal civil rights review' & other Wed midday news briefs

Queer valedictorian's silenced LGBTQ identity speech may see federal civil rights review - Y'all shouldn't have shut down his speech.

Unsportsmanlike: The Right-Wing Attack on Transgender Women and Children — PART II - The second part of a much needed report. 

NFL proudly declares 'football is gay' in new video - Well I knew that. 

Kataluna Enriquez Becomes First Trans Woman Crowned Miss Nevada - Awesome!

EU Leaders Tell Hungary, Orban to 'Get Out' Over Anti-Gay Law - Good!

Marjorie Taylor Greene claims that learning about LGBTQ people is child abuse

Marjorie Taylor Greene

Up to now, the ridiculous exploits of Q-Anon Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene have been either mildly amusing to mediumly annoying. But now Miss Thing is stepping way over the line. 

Online magazine Queerty posted the following:

Following earlier attacks on embassies flying Pride flags, she yesterday took to Twitter to lambast what may or may not be on the school curriculum. Greene shared a video of a 14-year-old girl recently testifying before a school board meeting in a suburb of Indianapolis. The girl has not been named. In the clip, the youngster, who has certainly had a difficult upbringing in her formative years, talks of being a “trauma child” and of being adopted from a foster home when she was four. She complains about being taught about sexuality at school, which she believes should be a private matter. She also says she cannot see how she has white privilege, given her own background.

 

I saw the video and I refuse to share it. The child was obviously being exploited to play against the need for appropriate sex education, support for our LGBTQ kids, and teaching about historical racism.

And Ms. Greene took it a step further with the following tweet:

First of all, Greene continues to tell the lie that Critical Race Theory, a legal argument, is being taught in K-12 schools. No matter how many times this has been debunked, the lie continues to be repeated by the GOP, the conservative propaganda news industry, and the religious right.

As for that other thing about "normalizing," "sexualizing," and whatever other talking points Ms. Greene wants to throw at us, let me speak on that in another way:

Girlfriend think she's cute but on this note, she needs to check herself. She shouldn't get it twisted simply because members of Congress tolerate her hot messes. LGBTQ people have neither the time nor energy to tolerate mess. We've had to deal with with ignorant folks trying to stigmatize and dehumanize us before and we never took a backseat and allowed it to happen.

Granted, this is not the first time she has come after the LGBTQ community, so this is nothing new.  But before continuing to spout off at the mouth, Ms. Greene needs to take a tip. The LGBTQ community have been through fights like these more times than we can count. Hell, we are still going through it. We determine who we are and how we are seen. We should already have that right as Americans, but unfortunately because of people like Ms. Greene, we have to fight for it.  And we do NOT fight to lose. We fight for ourselves, our families, and future generations. We will not allow our lives to be stigmatized or diminished to suit the inflated sense of entitlement of homophobes, bigots and all-around ignorant people.

That especially includes a bothersome young Congresswoman whose 15 minutes of fame is steadily running out. 

Don't come for the LGBTQ community unless we send for you, Ms. Greene. And we won't be sending for you any time soon.

'Why SCOTUS decision on trans youth Gavin Grimm is major LGBTQ victory' & other Tue midday news briefs

SCOTUS Decision on Trans Youth Gavin Grimm Is Major LGBTQ+ Victory - More about this important victory which caught us by surprise. 

The right is attacking trans people as a part of its 'critical race theory' political tactic - I mentioned this last week.

Pride means knowing LGBTQ history — including that of Indigenous Two-Spirit people - We should know all of our history. And that includes pre-Stonewall.

20 LGBTQ Movies Everyone Should Watch At Least Once - How many have any of you seen? 

This service rep just won Pride with her response to a customer upset about rainbow marketing - The work continues. 

California bans state-funded travel to five new states over anti-LGBTQ laws - Good for California!

Anti-gay pastor still upset at Trump's loss, calls Biden a pedophile and Harris a 'Jezebel demon'

 A wonderful side benefit to Trump no longer being in office is how it has affected some members of the religious right. It's as if Jesus came down from Heaven and slapped them. A lot of it has to do with how much egg many of them have on their faces from the embarrassment of having to explain pre-election day assurances that God said Trump would win. Some admitted they were wrong and others made excuses.

And then there are folks like Pastor Greg Locke of the Global Vision Bible Church in Tennessee. 

That last statement is not altogether accurate. I doubt there are any pastors like Locke. He is in a class by himself and that's not necessarily a good thing.

Locked predicted that Trump would win. And now that the election is over, he is still claiming that Trump won.  

And it gets better (or worse, or more comical depending on your sense of mood.) During a  recent sermon, Locke had some very vulgar things to about President Biden, Vice President Harris, and various Hollywood celebrities. He called them a bunch of sex-trafficking perverts, making sure to single out Harris by calling her a 'Jezebel demon.' Then came the claims that there are child trafficking tunnels under the Capitol and the White House.

Right-wing pastor Greg Locke used his sermon today to allege that there are child-trafficking "tunnels" under the Capitol and White House and accuse Joe Biden, Oprah Winfrey, and Tom Hanks of being "a bunch of pedophiles." pic.twitter.com/hYC864ir8a

— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) June 27, 2021

And  based upon past sermons, Locke is also a rabid homophobe (which really shouldn't surprise anyone.)

Locke’s extremism ranges widely. He is old school religious-right when it comes to LGBTQ people, denouncing Pride Month and marriage equality, saying, “It’s always been about these pedophiles!” https://t.co/9mxYzEGx0O

— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) June 28, 2021

Earlier today, Franklin Graham and the Family Research Council verbally attacked Olympic athlete Gwen Berry for supposedly disrespecting the American flag. They have yet to comment about Locke and I doubt they will. It's rather indicative of the religious right's sad state of misplaced priorities and inflated sense of importance. 

'Veteran activist Jessica Stern named U.S. Envoy for LGBTQ Rights' & other Mon midday news briefs

Jessica Stern

Veteran Activist Jessica Stern Named U.S. Envoy for LGBTQ+ Rights - A much better official than that ghastly Richard Grenell.

Catholic & Southern Baptist leaders are making faith more about their politics than God - Yep. It's going to backfire and then they are going to blame us. 

Vatican tries to block LGBTQ Hate Crime Law with treaty powers - Case in point. 

Gay marriage won rare support. Will other LGBTQ rights follow suit? - It ain't going to be easy.

These Photos Show Us What An Inclusive Gay 'Safe Haven' Actually Looks Like - Nice!

Even More Saturday Night Live 'Gay Moments' for Pride Month 2021

 

 

As the sun slowly sets on the June 2021 pride month, let's observe it fading into our memories while sitting on the patio with a cocktail in hand. Or at the very least, while we watch another batch of Saturday Night Live LGBTQ moments guaranteed to make us laugh and raise our spirits.

Conservatives trying to add their homophobia & transphobia to Critical Race Theory hysteria

We can always count on conservatives and the right in general to get their white supporters stoked up about some fake controversy.  And these days, it's about Critical race theory. To hear them describe it, Critical race theory is a racist philosophy which teaches that white people are inherently evil and there is a liberal plot to indoctrinate children and America in general with it.

Or something like that. 

To those raising hell, the definition always changes and frankly they don't know what they are angry about. The only thing is they are sure is that they are angry because (wait for it), the right-wing propaganda engine and the GOP have been fearmongering about it.

According to Media Matters, Fox News has mentioned "Critical race theory" over 1,300 in the past three and a half months. 

Media Matters also said the following:

Critical race theory is an academic legal framework which examines the systemic impact of racism in the United States. But “critical race theory,” like “cancel culture” and “political correctness” before it, also functions as an umbrella term the right-wing movement uses to turn its mostly white adherents’ racial anxiety into political energy. 

 In this case, a sophisticated, nationwide network of conservative think tanks, advocacy groups, media outlets, and GOP officials have seized on the term and, in the words of Christopher Rufo -- a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute and a key player in the effort -- sought to render it “toxic” and apply to it “the entire range of cultural constructions that are unpopular with Americans.” Republicans have proposed or passed a slew of legislation restricting “critical race theory” and hope to use it as a core part of their political strategy in upcoming local, state, and federal elections.

According to the Free Speech Center:

Critical race theory (CRT) is a movement that challenges the ability of conventional legal strategies to deliver social and economic justice and specifically calls for legal approaches that take into consideration race as a nexus of American life. The movement champions many of the same concerns as the civil rights movement but places those concerns within a broader economic and historical context. It often elevates the equality principles of the Fourteenth Amendment above the liberty principles of the First Amendment.

 . . .Some of the basic tenets of CRT rest on the belief that racism is a fundamental part of American society, not simply an aberration that can be easily corrected by law; that any given culture constructs its own social reality in its own self-interest, and in the United States this means that minorities’ interests are subservient to the system’s self-interest; and that the current system, built by and for white elites, will tolerate and encourage racial progress for minorities only if this promotes the majority’s self-interest.

In other words, CRT is an amorphous legal argument which has obviously been selected by those on the right to scare its mostly white supporters into hysterically thinking their children are being "indoctrinated" into a dangerous philosophy. And in spite of the fact that CRT is not being taught in K-12 schools, conservative groups are using the "Critical race theory" name to attack all diversity endeavors, even when they have nothing at all to do with Critical race theory:

One conservative organization, the Heritage Foundation, recently attributed a whole host of issues to CRT, including the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, LGBTQ clubs in schools, diversity training in federal agencies and organizations, California’s recent ethnic studies model curriculum, the free-speech debate on college campuses, and alternatives to exclusionary discipline—such as the Promise program in Broward County, Fla., that some parents blame for the Parkland school shootings. “When followed to its logical conclusion, CRT is destructive and rejects the fundamental ideas on which our constitutional republic is based,” the organization claimed.

And especially endeavors to create safe school environments for LGBTQ students. Recently,  a Loudon County school board meeting was inundated with a large group of parents angry about the possibility of Critical race theory being taught to their children. The meeting got so rowdy that it was cancelled and two people ended up arrested. Some parents were also angry at measures which were to be taken for the safety of LGBTQ students.  Safety for LGBTQ students and Critical race theory are two separate issues, but SPLC - designated hate group the Family Research Council connected the two issues:

Surveys have shown that overwhelming majorities of parents oppose schools teaching that America was founded on racism and is structurally racist. It's no wonder, then, that Loudoun County parents turned out yesterday by the hundreds to offer their commentary on what that school system is promoting to students. Not only were many parents supportive of Christian PE teacher Tanner Cross, they were outraged by unfair treatment of a student whose parents opted him out of LGBTQ+ lessons for Pride Month. They also overwhelmingly oppose a proposed policy to allow opposite sex students access to bathrooms, locker rooms, and hotel rooms. And while conservative and Christian parents are painted as "out of order" or "unruly," it was the "screaming" parent of a transgender student who accused the "followers of Jesus" of "dripping with hate."

Unfortunately what happened at the Loudon country school board meeting - albeit not as violent -is replaying across the nation as school boards are dealing with angry parents manipulated by a sophisticated propaganda engine. And according to a recent article in Politico, this hysteria doesn't look like it will be stopping for a while.  The article says that the GOP and its associates hope to use the anger harnessed by this critical race theory moral panic to take control of Congress with next year's midterm elections. 

That is if the folks they are working up don't drop dead of heart attacks from all of their anger.