Drag Queens RULE!!

Drag queens get a bad rap. Whenever certain people - whether they be internal concern trolls or outsiders thinking that our existence depends upon their acceptance - want to make a gripe about how LGBTQ people try to be "deliberately different," they seem to always point to the drag queens. Asserting that drag queens are what's wrong with our community, they falsely portray them as a sort of public enemy number one. All of this madness came into focus during the multiple and increasingly silly attacks on Drag Queen Story Hour.

The truth is, drag queens are some of the most popular facets of LGBTQ culture, and that includes with heterosexuals. And why shouldn't they be?  They are the epitomes of talent in our community. They create their own personas, make their own costumes, practice their own routines until they get them perfect. And on top of all of this, they lend their time and talents for charitable endeavors, seeking no monetary payment but simple acknowledgement for what they do. 

So while we give homage to the hell raisers and rabble rousers of LGBTQ history, let's not forget the queens who raise our spirits with their performances and who continue to remind us just how wonderful it is to be unique. They prove on a daily basis that unique folks need not follow the crowd. The crowd follows them.

'Religious right outraged at a mattress ad for showing lesbian and gay couples' & other Tue midday news briefs

Conservative Christians outraged at sweet mattress ad that shows lesbian & gay couples​ - Let them stay mad. Enjoy the above ad. 

‘Christocrat’ Rick Scarborough Has Big Plans to ‘Take Over’ School Boards All Across Texas - Oh yeah. Here we go again. 

'Worst List' names 180 colleges that are 'unsafe' for LGBTQ students - Siiigh! 

A Texas school suspended male & non-binary students for having long hair. They’re suing. - Sock it to 'em! 

North Carolina lieutenant governor doubles down on LGBTQ beliefs, criticism of books - A jackass will be a jackass.

Dave Chappelle tries to work defiance but comes across as tone deaf and clueless

Dave Chappelle comes across as a bigger idiot in his phony defiant statement about his recent controversial special,

Guess who wants to be back in the news and I know I am going to get grief from my own for covering it. Some seem to think that if I don't give him any attention, he will go away. Uh uh. That's not how it works. Since I have a platform, albeit more minor than his,  I will do my best to speak for the folks who are being bullied by him because they aren't celebrities and thus don't have thousands of people groveling at their feet and feeding on their every word. They are just folks trying to live their daily lives as best as they can.

Dave Chappelle is talking about the controversy he started with his Netflix special. In the special, he attacked the transgender community and erased the lives of black LGBTQ people in order to make his attacks seem justifiable via  the tired black people vs. LGBTQ people narrative. He got a lot of people calling him out. Also,  probably because he's a celebrity,  he has a lot of individuals supporting him. Trans employees of Netflix staged a protest last week to call him and Netflix out.

Chappelle addressed this in a video he put out:

Chappelle remained unapologetic about the special — which was accused of containing transphobic and homophobic remarks and led to a walkout at Netflix — saying: “I said what I said.” “It’s been said in the press that I was invited to speak to the transgender employees of Netflix and I refused. That is not true — if they had invited me I would have accepted it, although I am confused about what we would be speaking about,” Chappelle said in the video. “I said what I said, and boy, I heard what you said. My God, how could I not? You said you want a safe working environment at Netflix. It seems like I’m the only one that can’t go to the office anymore.” 

He also claimed that the media has been framing the entire situation wrong

“I want everyone in this audience to know that even though the media frames it that it’s me versus that community, that is not what it is. Do not blame the LBGTQ [sic] community for any of this shit. This has nothing to do with them. It’s about corporate interests and what I can say and what I cannot say,” Chappelle said. “For the record, and I need you to know this, everyone I know from that community has been loving and supporting, so I don’t know what all this nonsense is about.” Chappelle also spoke about his upcoming documentary about his summer 2020 comedy tour, claiming that it has now been excluded from film festivals. “This film that I made was invited to every film festival in the United States and some of those invitations I accepted. When this controversy came out about ‘The Closer,’ they began disinviting me from these film festivals,” Chappelle claimed. “And now, today, not a film company, not a movie studio, not a film festival, nobody will touch this film. 

 . . .Though Chappelle said he was willing to meet with members of the trans community, he jokingly listed off a slew of conditions that would have to be met: “To the transgender community, I am more than willing to give you an audience, but you will not summon me. I am not bending to anybody’s demands. And if you want to meet with me, I’d be more than willing to, but I have some conditions. First of all, you cannot come if you have not watched my special from beginning to end. You must come to a place of my choosing at a time of my choosing, and thirdly, you must admit that Hannah Gadsby is not funny.”

What a goddamn simpering asshole.  Seriously, what kind of bullshit is this? He's blaming the media now? It wasn't the media who made ugly comments about trans people. It wasn't the media which designated themselves as 'Team Terf." All of that was him.

And then he has the gall to make it seem like he is being a defiant underdog besieged by a group of bullies? Excuse me? Who the hell called out who? Who began this shit?  It certainly wasn't the transgender community.  

Then he has the audacity to set conditions as to when and how the transgender community can meet with him for a discussion. Excuse me, but when did Chappelle become a king? I mean I wish I had his audacity to push an argument up against a group of people and then attempt to dictate when and if they get to meet with me to register their anger.  But yet even with all of that mess, Chappelle considers himself the canceled one. He still considers himself as a victim.  He must be out of his damn mind.

I don't know what's worse about Chappelle's statement  - the fact that he comes across as a two-faced tone deaf moron or the fact that as far as I'm concerned, he doesn't even address the main reason why I've been pissed at him. And that has to do with how in his special, he dishonestly made his personal attack on the trans community seem like a racial issue by erasing the existence of LGBTQ people of color.  And he does it again with his weak-ass idea of a defiant statement by not having the decency to address us. Even though we haven't gotten much attention for it, us LGBTQ people of color haven't been silent with our displeasure about the controversy. 

We take very much offense to being erased yet again by heterosexuals in the black community who either take our lives for granted or act as if we don't exist, even though we are going through the same mess which hobbles them. In the year 2020, 44 trans people were murdered and the majority of them were of color. But Dave Chappelle won't mention these trans people. Apparently to him, black lives only matter when they aren't LGBTQ black lives.

The only reason why some folks support Chappelle is because they are either his friends or sad folks who will eat grass if a celebrity does it first. But to me, Chappelle has disproven any claims that he is a comedic genius or can even adequately work a whoopie cushion. He's turning into a one-note idiot who is coming unglued because maybe some folks are realizing that he was nothing more than hype. Maybe that's why he had that "issue" years ago which caused him to cancel his television show.

Far be it from me to diagnose anyone's 'issues,' but I will say this. Whatever his mind is going through, he has no right to make trans people his scapegoats or erase the existence of LGBTQ people of color. 

We aren't your problem, Dave. So stop attempting to be ours.

Related post - Dave Chappelle can kiss my black gay ass

'Survey goes around school asking if 'queers' should use 'normal people' bathrooms' & other Mon midday news briefs

Survey goes around high school asking if “queers” should use “normal people” bathrooms - Easily the single most ridiculous mess this week (so far)

Queer Black lives on screen: A brief history of the good, the bad and what needs to come next​ - Damn right. Don't forget us. 

Rep. Jim Banks suspended from Twitter for misgendering trans government official Dr. Rachel Levine - What a tacky thing to do, Rep Banks. 

Boosie BadAzz Sends Violent Tweet About Lil Nas X and Gay Sex - What a sad man to have such a ridiculous reaction. 

12 superheroes who came out in 2021 - One thing wrong with this. Loki is NOT a superhero.

'Normalizing homosexuality to children' is a phrase disguised to sugarcoat bigotry and lies

South Carolina Pride was last weekend and it was fun and inspirational. As they always do, the organizers did a wonderful job. It even got a great article in the area newspaper, The State, breaking down how Pride is important for LGBTQ children and families in general:

“Our LGBTQ community is making its own families now. We’ve grown so much and we’ve come such a long way. Marriage equality — we’re all getting married. We’re having kids,” SC Pride President Jeff March said. “So family pride is an important part of our street. We have children in school, and so it’s as much their pride as it is ours.” This year, Famously Hot South Carolina Pride is back in Columbia after a COVID-19 hiatus, and the weekend-long event has something for everyone. Children and families seeking out experiences specifically for them can check out the Family Pride section of the Saturday’s Pride festival, located near intersection of Washington and Main streets in downtown.

 . . . “One of the things that I like about the family area of Pride is that not just LGBT families are attracted to coming,” Harriet Hancock Center board secretary Christian Hesch said. “And because of that, you allow them to open the door in an age-appropriate level to their own kids, so if they if they realize one day that maybe they’re part of the community, they know, ‘Oh yeah, I went to family pride with my mom, and I know she’s going to accept me and I can talk to her.’” 

In envisioning the Family Pride area, Hesch said she wanted it to be a place where people like herself, a mom of four, could go and enjoy LGBTQ+ Pride without having to have uncomfortable conversations with their kids the next day. “My wife and I have four kids elementary school age, and I want families like ours to see that they’re not alone in the area,” Hesch said. “It’s critical to recognize that we have LGBT folks in the community and South Carolina generally that are of all different family makeups. “We’re not just targeting LGBT youth. We’re also talking about targeting LGBT parents. We’re parents. We have kids. We would like to be able to go celebrate our Pride in our family unit with our kids. ... This is about celebrating pride in an entire community, and family is just one aspect and one segment of that community.”

It's about time an article about Pride focused on what it does for our kids and families. Generally we are portrayed as outsiders attempting to barge into the American idea of family.  In contrast, this article brings forth a simply truth - we are not outsiders. We are a part of the American idea of family.

However, there is also bad with good as seen by this tweet criticizing SC Pride:

The tweeter is reacting to the picture (which was chosen to run with the article) by citing an unfortunately common stereotype imposed on LGBTQ people. And that stereotype is any visibility about us, any talk about us, anything about us at all has to do with sexual intercourse and how children need to be guarded from all things about us because we would 'normalize' homosexuality (particularly sex) to them.

It's a bunch of bull. 

Now there was a time in which I would have of course totally disagreed with the statement but with the proviso that the picture above wasn't the best choice to be run. Well chalk it up to  the weariness of getting older and simply not giving a 'f@k' but I don't think there is anything wrong with the picture. I love it. It's an adorable thing to me on so many levels. And it pinpoints the idiocy that comes with fearing LGBTQ people. 

All I see is an LGBTQ man in make-up holding a baby (they are both identified in the picture above the article in the link) who is obviously curious about what he's seeing. But most babies are like that. That's all. It's simple and basic. Some folks will conjure up nonsense about 'grooming,' 'sexualizing children,' 'normalizing homosexuality' and a bunch of other ridiculous words and phrases designed to make their silly fear sound like concern. But it would appear to me that our concern shouldn't be with the LGBTQ man holding the baby, but with the minds of folks who see something dastardly about it.  Because frankly, I can't make any connection of the infant being exposed to any danger. And I don't think that anyone thinking logically could either.

But I do get how the picture is scary to some people just like the article following it is scary. They both represent LGBTQ people as being happy and free, unencumbered by the stereotypes and lies some try to anchor to our heels, and especially not in a prostate frame of mind begging for 'tolerance.'

You don't beg for tolerance so that you can live in your own house. You simply live. And it's high time that LGBTQ folks begin that asserting that because America is our house, too.

BTW, folks did pushback on our friend in the above tweet (including yours truly. Twice):

'How the extreme right is weaponizing bigotry to campaign in Virginia' & other Fri midday news briefs

How the extreme right is weaponizing bigotry to campaign in Virginia - Ground zero and if you've been paying attention, it's not pretty.

GOP senators highjack judicial hearing to spread already refuted transphobic story about sexual assault in school bathroom - My post from yesterday because it further demonstrates the facts behind the first news brief. 

Jonathan Bennett details the extreme homophobia that made him develop ulcers - Unlike what some people may claim, having to deal with homophobia does more damage than simply "hurt feelings." 

A Man Allegedly Shot His Stepfather Over LGBTQ+ Houseguest - Speechless . . . 

UDC hosts event recognizing LGBTQ support at HBCUs - Wonderful! Historically black colleges and universities need this sort of thing.

GOP senators highjack judicial hearing to spread already refuted transphobic story about sexual assault in school bathroom

Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn) (top) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo) (bottom) were only two of several GOP senators who highjacked a hearing for a Biden judicial nominee to repeat an transphobic horror story about an sexual assault in a school bathroom. But the aspect of the story having to do with the transgender community, which the senators continuously brought up,  was refuted a day before the hearing.

And now a double lesson on

1. Why we shouldn't ignore anti-LGBTQ entities and especially the lies they tell about us

2. Why we should never be so naive as to think that we only have to refute an anti-LGBTQ lie only once.

Earlier this week,  I posted about how the group Media Matters exposed that an assault on a female student in a Virginia school last year was being exploited to create a negative narrative about trans students and pro-trans policies in schools:

Right-wing media have seized on a report of a sexual assault at a high school in Loudoun County, Virginia, to attack trans-inclusive bathrooms, often suggesting that a policy in the school district opened the door to predators in girls’ bathrooms. In reality, the policy was not in effect when the reported sexual assault occurred, and it is always illegal to assault or harass someone.

Also, according to The Washington Post (by way of Media Matters), conservative entities  identified the young man perpetrating the assault as gender fluid and wearing a dress, but the authorities did not verify either assertion.

If you thought this was the end of it, then you obviously don't know the anti-LGBTQ right or their allies. As I have written about on numerous occasions, they tend to repeat false stories and junk science about LGBTQ people even when said false stories and junk science have been refuted.  With regards to this particular false anti-LGBTQ story, Republican members of the United States Senate used it to interrupt a judicial nominee's hearing on Wednesday. 

According to The Huffington Post:

Holly Thomas, President Joe Biden’s pick for a lifetime seat on a powerful U.S. appeals court, got her Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday. But Republicans on the Judiciary Committee decided to make something else the focal point of the hearing: their own transphobia. One by one, GOP senators used their allotted time for questions with Thomas, a civil rights attorney up for a California-based seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, to talk about a months-old case of sexual assault at a high school in Loudoun County, Virginia.

 . .  .“Last week, we learned that the Loudoun County school board in Virginia covered up the fact that a male wearing a skirt had sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl in the girl’s bathroom at the school,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the top Republican on the committee. “In 2016, you argued in multiple briefs that concerns about the safety of young girls in school bathrooms were unfounded,” he said to Thomas. “In light of the troubling news about Loudoun County, do you still believe that concerns about safety and privacy, especially for young girls, in school bathrooms are [not] valid .

 . . “Do you stand by your comments in these [2016] briefs that there is no evidence of violence or crime in restrooms by allowing biological males to use biological females’ restrooms?” asked Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.).

 “It should not be lost on you how unsettled that Tennesseans that I represent are by your nomination because of what you have said about the transgender rights and the assault that happened in Loudoun County,” said Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.). “People want to know that their children are going to be safe.”

 “I want to get back briefly to what Sen. Hawley was talking about,” said Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), referencing one of her 2016 briefs relating to bathrooms. 

 “You said that, ‘In states where nondiscrimination protections are already law, Texas’ predicted safety harm has never materialized.’ It then went on to classify Texas’ concerns as ‘anxiety about possible future bathroom crime as nothing more than unsupported speculation,’” said Lee. “How would anyone know in that circumstance ... that no harm could ever materialize?”

It's sad that these elected officials disgraced their office by repeating a lie designed to demonize transgender kids, thereby making their lives more difficult. However it could have been worse. At least the truth regarding the incident was on record before they started. So instead of achieving a slam dunk against a Biden nominee, the GOP ended up with egg on their face, so to speak.

Of course the problem with that is how very few are paying attention. This means that Grassley, Lee, Hawley, Blackburn, and any other senator involved in this sad effort  can pretend as if they didn't cynically highjack a judicial committee meeting to sabotage President Biden's judicial nominee at the expense of trans children. And these children unfortunately have to depend upon them for their safety.