Anti-LGBTQ group's 'red wave' turns to pink from embarrassment after claiming victory before midterm votes were even tallied

Out all of the folks on the right eating crow due last week's midterms, the sweetest to watch are the anti-LGBTQ groups and personalities who attempted to exploit bigotry to get their favorites into office.

Ari Drennen and Media Matters for America pointed out how several personalities took it upon themselves rub our faces into our anticipated midterm losses.

There was Matt Walsh.

and Christopher Rufo.

Ms. Drennen pointed out something about Rufo which I found hilarious. He does have a tendency of bragging about his upcoming nefarious plans as if he were a James Bond. For that reason, I've nicknamed him "Little Blofeld." I don't think he appreciated that because he blocked me.

But the one group which takes the prize when it comes to embarrassing pre-celebrations of the midterms has to be the American Principles Project and its president, Terry Schilling. APP led the charge of far-right groups with a lot of cash and an aim of influencing the midterms by making people think that the Democrats are trying to turn their children transgender.

Their overall goal was to mingle in the predicted "red wave" and then use that success to grab more cash and more influence to spread more lies about the trans community.

 According to Media Matters, Schilling sent out the following tweets on Election Day last week before the votes were even tallied:

As it turns out, the ads are now kinda my favorites too. And I will tell you so before each one. I think you will figure out what I like them so much.

There was this ad they ran against Arizona Senator Mark Kelly. He was re-elected.

Then there was this ad against they ran against Maine Governor Janet Mills. She was re-elected by double digits.

There was this ad against Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez-Masto. She also won reelection. In fact, it was her victory which allowed Democrats to retain control of the United States Senate.

This ad was against Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers. He also won re-election.

The group also supported Michigan GOP nominee Tudor Dixon and U.S. Rep nominee John Gibson in the Republican primary when they defeated their opponents. In the general election however, both Dixon and Gibson lost to the Democratic incumbents.

Of course Schilling had to brag about AAP's first victory - helping Glenn Youngkin defeat Terry McAuliffe in the race for VA gov, marking the occasion by designating McAuliffe's loss as the first "scalp" on a wall they are hoping to create.

And Schilling's bragging ends with the following.

But as we know, APP is not winning. The "red wave" the group was trying to attach itself to didn't materialize. And their attempt to transform transphobia into a winning midterm issue also failed.  So what has Schilling been tweeting now? A jumbled hodgepodge of blaming Mitch McConnell, blaming the entire GOP, claiming that the opponents his group supported weren't really that good, whining that a lot of people do not want to support 'culture war issues.'

Schilling is basically trying to distract from what a gigantic ass he and his group made of themselves. And that should tell us something. They may have lost huge this time but they won't be backing down. With their money and the influence they do have in far-right circles, I am sure we are going to deal with APP repeatedly in the future. It's sad, but it's also a fact.

But we have a victory over them. And with that victory, we know their routines and gimmicks. Schilling was so nice to give us a front row view of it all. Let's take advantage of his generosity.

'Pink trickle - right-wing media failed at backlash against LGBTQ equality during midterm elections' & other Fri midday news briefs

Right-wing media promised a backlash against LGBTQ equality would fuel a midterm tsunami that failed to materialize​ - But that doesn't mean they aren't going to continue to target us. 

A 'rainbow wave' spreads across the U.S. as hundreds of LGBTQ candidates win elections - Bears repeating. 

MAGA author who complained about kids seeing drag queens says kids should be taken to Hooters - Hypocrisy watch. 

Colorado Board of Education approves adding contested LGBTQ, POC language back to social study standards - Good!

Video - Fox News pundits choking on all of the 'red wave' crow they have to eat.

Not necessarily an LGBTQ-related post per se, but still I think you will enjoy this. One of the best things about how the supposed Republican red wave fizzled on Tuesday is how Fox News ended up eating a lot of crow.  Sean Hannity is now saying he isn't sure where the talk of the "red wave" came from. As you can see via this video, all he had to do was turn was to watch his own network. Watching this video is so delightful that it should be both fattening and a sin.

LGBTQ candidates dominate the midterms in the approaching shadow of DeSantis

Well I am back from my day-long hiatus and apparently I missed a lot of good stuff. Maybe I should start taking hiatuses on more election nights. Aside from the big news that the GOP's expected "red wave" was mostly a pink trickle, there was other wonderful news from the midterms. While I am sure the mainstream media will conveniently omit it, the LGBTQ community had a history making  night.

Wait a minute. That's putting it too nicely. 

We kicked MAJOR ass!!!

From Metro Weekly:

For the third straight electoral cycle in a row, LGBTQ candidates for political office broke a previous record, with at least 340 out LGBTQ candidates winning races at various levels of government as of 9 a.m. on Wednesday. 

 While many races have not yet been called due to the heavy volume of mail-in ballots (one of the side effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which changed voting behavior), the number of successful candidates eclipses the previous record, set in 2020, of 336 out elected candidates. In total, 1,065 out LGBTQ people ran for office in 2022, with 678 making it to the general election. 

With 340 of those 678 winning, even if no additional LGBTQ candidates were to win in yet-to-be-called races — which is highly unlikely — it means more than half, or 50.15%, of all LGBTQ candidates appearing on general election ballots were victorious.

Among the victories, we saw three states elect and re-elect openly gay people as governors. Former Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey became the first openly lesbian governor in the country. She didn't have to wait long for there to be a second one. Tina Kotek won the gubernatorial election in Oregon. In addition, openly gay Colorado governor Jared Polis won a second term.

According to USA Today, other victorious LGBTQ candidates include:

Democrat James Roesener, a bisexual transgender man, was elected to New Hampshire House of Representatives, District 22 Ward 8. He is the first openly transgender man to win in any state legislature election. 

 First out LGBTQ immigrant elected to Congress  - Democrat Robert Garcia, who is gay, was elected in the race for California's 42nd congressional district. He is currently the mayor of Long Beach. According to his online bio, Garcia immigrated to the United States at age 5 and was raised in Southern California. 

Democrat Becca Balint was elected in Vermont to the U.S. House of Representatives. She is the first woman and openly gay person to represent the state in Congress. 

Democrat Patricia Contreras is one of the first out lesbian Latinas elected to the Arizona House of Representatives. 

 Democrat Liz Bennett, who identifies as a queer woman, was elected to the Iowa State Senate, District 39. She currently serves in the state House of Representatives.

According to The Hill:

 Democrats Zooey Zephyr of Montana and Leigh Finke of Minnesota each defeated their Republican opponents in landslide wins to become the first transgender women elected to the state legislature. 

 Minnesota voters also voted to elect Alicia Kozlowski to the state House as the legislature’s first nonbinary member. . . . 

Jennie Armstrong, Andrew Gray and Ashley Carrick — all Democrats — made history Tuesday evening, becoming the first openly LGBTQ lawmakers elected to the Alaska state legislature. All three will serve in the House. 

 Democrat Kameron Nelson also won his House race Tuesday in South Dakota, becoming the state legislature’s first openly gay member. Former state Rep. Angie Buhl, also a Democrat, came out as bisexual after being elected to her first term.

 But there is bitter with the sweet when it comes to one victory. According to LGBTQNation:

In a historic first for the country, two gay candidates ran against each other in a general election for Congress. George Santos – a Trump-loving Republican who has called himself “a walking, living, breathing contradiction” – beat out Democrat Robert Zimmerman to represent New York’s 3rd Congressional District and become the first out LGBTQ member of Congress from Long Island, getting 54% of the vote with 93% of precincts reporting. While Zimmerman ran on a platform of LGBTQ equality, Santos has said abortion is as barbaric as slavery and has voiced support for Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law.

How Santos will handle himself promises to be interesting.

All in all, LGBTQ people had a wonderful midterm. Metro Weekly points out the irony of these victories in an environment in which our rights were under attack by Republicans in state legislatures from books about us to school officials who supported us to policies designed to protect trans students. It seemed that all of it was for naught because we rose to the occasion.

But there is a problem. A huge shadow on the horizon. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis won re-election easily by a large margin. And by doing so, he has positioned himself as the Republican frontrunner in the 2024 election. DeSantis' success came in part with attacks on the LGBTQ  community via the infamous 'Don't Say Gay' law and now an attempt to outlaw gender-affirming treatment for transgender children.

Pink News rightfully called his re-election is a bad omen for LGBTQ Americans:

Editor and film critic Jon Negroni tweeted: “The real question is whether or not the guy’s politics translate to the rest of the country, and no one really knows that for sure, yet. “But I think it’s obvious to anyone with a brain that he’s a stronger presidential candidate than that other guy… The stakes here are extremely high. “A DeSantis presidency and republican congress in 2025 could bring about a rollback in rights for LGBTQ people that can’t be understated. We could be seeing federal bans on all gender affirming care, even for adults.”

I have a solution to the possibility of DeSantis using LGBTQ Americans as scapegoats much like he did in Florida. That solution is that we continue to do what we are doing. DeSantis's successes thrived in ignorance, whether it be ignorance of same-sex families, LGBTQ kids, or what gender-affirming care for trans youth actually entails in contrast to the ugly connotative images pushed by the anti-LGBTQ industry

Live openly, tell our stories. And above all, encourage more of us to run for office. These victories demonstrate that there is  place for us in America as we want it to be instead of what some try to determine for us. We need more people representing us and speaking for us. We need intelligent and rationale voices to articulate our lives and break the fever of fear and ignorance which is exploited to undermine our lives.

Let's celebrate what happened in the midterms, but let's also not be lazy. Let's not rest on our laurels. There is more work to do and, as the midterms show, the harvest promises to be plenty.

Editor's Note - I apologize for the victories I did not mention, as well as the losses. There were some of those too. However, I encourage everyone to read The Victory Fund's webpage and interactive map for more information about the LGBTQ candidates.

Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters will take a day-long hiatus

As many of y'all know, this has not been a good year for me, particularly because of my mother's passing. Today was especially bad because my mother and I always went to the polling place and voted together.

So I am going to take a day long hiatus from posting. Regardless of how the midterms go I will see you all tomorrow evening.  And if you haven't yet, get your ass out there and vote.

'Black voters overwhelmingly support LGBTQ rights except when it comes to trans athletes' & other Tue midday news briefs

Black voters overwhelmingly support LGBTQ rights except when it comes to trans athletes​ - A window into the misperceptions people have about trans athletes and athletes in general.  More discussion and education is needed.

30 LGBTQ+ Congressional and Statewide Candidates On the Ballot - Keep your fingers crossed. Positive history will be made. 

Man who won gay rights case at Supreme Court agrees to settlement - Another victory.

As anti-LGBTQ rhetoric grows, voter ID laws create obstacles for thousands of transgender voters - New challenges will cause our transgender brothers and sisters to rise to the occasion and take care of business. Again.

Enjoy these scenes from 'Young Frankenstein. Also don't forget to VOTE!

 Tuesday is the mid-term election and regardless of the narrative, polling is all over the place. I highly emphasize that we get out and vote and please ignore the polls no matter what direction they may be going. Don't get too happy or too discouraged. Remember that it is a process and those of us fighting for fairness should never stop and never give up. Having said that, I plan to take two melatonin gummies and retire early tomorrow evening. Whatever happens, I refuse to deal with it until Wednesday morning.

In the meantime, enjoy these clips from one of the funniest movies of all time, Young Frankenstein. It's a reminder that sometimes you shouldn't take life so seriously. No matter what.