Tuesday, January 16, 2024

The Christian Post claims religious right groups never demonized the LGBTQ community. The many 'receipts' tell a different story.



A conservative evangelical publication, The Christian Post, is angry that the Biden Administration is working with the Southern Poverty Law Center. Conservative evangelicals (publications, groups, and personalities) have had a beef with SPLC ever since the group began labeling certain religious right organizations (such as the Family Research Council and the Alliance Defending Freedom) as hate groups because of their constant verbal and legislative attacks on the LGBTQ community.

While defending these groups, Christian Post "reporter" Tyler O'Neil, in the piece Anti-Christian bias in the Biden White House, made this unbelievable statement.

The SPLC publishes a “hate map” that plots conservative Christian organizations like the Family Research Council and Alliance Defending Freedom alongside chapters of the Ku Klux Klan. The SPLC brands these groups “anti-LGBTQ hate groups,” claiming that they demonize people who identify as LGBTQ. Contrary to the SPLC’s claims, neither FRC nor ADF demonize people for their sexual orientation or gender identity. They do, however, advocate for religious freedom and the biblical view of sexuality and the family.

O'Neil is lying. We know this because SPLC, GLAAD, and others have documented the many times FRC and ADF have demonized the LGBTQ community. 

The Family Research Council

From SPLC 

"For years, LGBT activists wanted to keep the goal of luring children into sexual confusion under wraps. Now that they’ve hoodwinked a lot of the country on their agenda, these extremists no longer have to hide. In fact, they are increasingly bold–even boastful–about their real intentions of recruiting kids.” – Tony Perkins, “‘I Have a Girl Brain but a Boy Body’: Virginia Kindergartners Are Read Transgender Story,” posted at The Daily Signal, March 6, 2019 

Editor's note - Tony Perkins is the president of the Family Research Council.

 “Homosexual activists vehemently reject the evidence which suggests that homosexual men … are … relative to their numbers, more likely to engage in such actions [childhood sexual abuse] than are heterosexual men.” – Peter Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies at FRC, on why the Boy Scouts should not allow LGBTQ scouts or leaders, FRC blog, Feb. 1, 2013 

 From GLAAD

  (FRC) baselessly claimed, in a document written by Robert Knight and Robert York titled “Homosexual Behavior and Pedophilia,” that “one of the primary goals of the homosexual rights movement is to abolish all age of consent laws and to eventually recognize pedophiles as the ‘prophets’ of a new sexual order.” The document also claimed that the “homosexual rights movement has tried to distance itself from pedophilia, but only for public relations purposes.” SPLC notes that the booklet has since disappeared from FRC’s website, but the organization has not withdrawn the claims it made. Former reality television star Josh Duggar, who directed FRC’s lobbying arm FRC Action, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in May 2022 after being convicted of child pornography possession that a Homeland Security investigator described as among the most abusive and horrific he had ever seen. Duggar was also charged with child molestation for abusing five underage girls, including four of his sisters. 

Also

(Tony Perkins also) claimed gay parents “provide distorted values to innocent adopted kids.” 

 

 And below is a video of Tony Perkins claiming that gays are the "pawns of the enemy" (i.e. Satan)

 

The Alliance Defending Freedom 

 According to O'Neill: 

 The SPLC claims that ADF has supported criminalizing LGBTQ identity, a claim ADF has repeatedly denied.

 But SPLC has the 'receipts,' so to speak. 

 ADF also has worked to keep LGBTQ sex criminalized. In 2003, the group filed an amicus brief in the landmark Lawrence v. Texas case, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that various laws prohibiting private sexual acts between LGBTQ adults were unconstitutional. In the brief, page after page describes, in graphic detail, vaginal, oral and anal intercourse and various infections that may result from the latter. ADF argued that the Texas ban was in the interest of public health, because gay men and lesbians, the brief contended, engage in “risky” sexual behaviors that increase the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. “The issue under rational-basis review is not whether Texas should be concerned about opposite-sex sodomy,” it argued, “but whether it is reasonable to believe that same-sex sodomy is a distinct public health problem. It clearly is.” 

 In 2003,(former ADF President Michael) Farris, before joining ADF, also co-wrote a 2003 amicus brief with ADF attorneys Jordan Lorence and Joshua Carden in support of Texas’ criminalization of LGBTQ sex in Lawrence v. Texas. Farris listed his affiliation in the brief as the Center for the Original Intent of the Constitution, which was formed in 1998 by the HSLDA and then was moved under the auspices of Patrick Henry College. The brief argued that states should have the right to police and criminalize sexual behavior, stating: “Defining the criminality of certain forms of sexual conduct, such as same-sex sodomy, is a policy issue that has historically and properly been left to the state legislatures.”

 In addition, SPLC also has documented statements from ADF members which also contradict O'Neil's claim.

 “When given the same choice the Supreme Court of the United States had in Lawrence vs. Texas, the Indian Court did the right thing. India chose to protect society at large rather than give in to a vocal minority of homosexual advocates. … America needs to take note that a country of 1.2 billion people has rejected the road towards same-sex marriage, and understood that these kinds of bad decisions in the long run will harm society.” – Benjamin Bull, former executive director of ADF Global, on the recriminalization of consensual sex between adults of the same sex in India, 2013

In fact, according to SPLC, the ADF has worked internationally for laws to imprison LGBTQ people based upon their sexual orientation.

 ADF, which has argued that removing anti-LGBTQ laws from criminal codes will pave the way to marriage equality, has worked to keep those laws on the books, but mostly overseas since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down anti-sodomy laws in this country. The group has advised anti-LGBTQ organizations in countries like Belize that are trying to keep the law that criminalized LGBTQ sex on the books. That law was declared unconstitutional by the Belize Supreme Court in 2016. 

 . . .  Other ADF attorneys have publicly advocated retaining anti-sodomy laws. Jeffrey Ventrella and Piero Tozzi, two senior counsels for ADF at the time, spoke at a 2012 conference in Jamaica, with Tozzi defending the laws as a “bulwark” against an unspecified “agenda.” 

 And speaking of the demonization of LGBTQ people, SPLC has ADF statements to that effect: 

 “We mention the new promotion of pedophilia in the context of talking about the influence of homosexual behavior on college campuses, because, despite all objections to the contrary, the two are often intrinsically linked.” – Alan Sears and Craig Osten, The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today, 2003

 According to GLAAD, the ADF committed the following deceptive acts against the LGBTQ community.

 Made false claims in filings against transgender students looking to participate in sports. A softball player testified in front of Arizona lawmakers in support of a ban on transgender athletes, but did not disclose she was the daughter of ADF’s general counsel, and her testimony included the false claim that her team lost a tournament to team with a transgender player. The player was not transgender; she had short hair. 

 For nearly a decade colluded with the American College of Pediatricians (ACP) to shore up anti-transgender policy efforts and legal arguments with junk science. The ACP uses anti-LGBTQ junk science to back up many of its discriminatory talking points and to provide medical justification for interpreting Title IX to exclude gender-identity protections. Because the ADF lacked scientific evidence to back up its claims that nondiscrimination protections put children at risk, the organization ordered custom white papers from ACP. The coordination also extended to ADF drafting legislation for many states to ban transgender healthcare; ACP members were recruited to testify in support of those bans in GA, AL, KY and OH. Despite testifying before state legislatures in support of the bills, ACP’s “experts” have been discredited as not qualified to be experts in court, including Dr. Quentin van Meter and Dr. Paul Hruz. 

 Apparently Christian evangelicals like O'Neil and others who read The Christian Post probably support Donald Trump because they have more in common with him than they would like to admit.

For one thing, they all lie like hell.

Monday, January 15, 2024

Trump shares a video declaring that God 'chose' him. Some pastors disturbed by it.

Trump shared a video which claimed that he was chosen by God. Some evangelicals voiced concern about it.

I wish this 'God Made Trump' video was a parody, but it's not. Trump shared it and now some evangelicals are very disturbed by it. 

For those who don't have the temperament to look at the video and stomach it's many lies:

The video describes Trump's supposed strengths, including his "arms strong enough to rustle the Deep State and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild." It's not clear which of his grandchildren Trump is meant to have delivered. The video also describes Trump as a workaholic who worked all hours of the night while president. His work ethic was a source of debate during his time in office, particularly after his private schedules were leaked, showing that half of his scheduled time was unstructured. The video also claimed that Trump attended church services every Sunday despite no evidence of this.

I don't know why evangelicals are disturbed by it. They eagerly supported a bigoted demagogue with a huge ego and no sense of self-awareness or shame. What did they expect to happen? And if he is officially deemed as the front-runner, they'll still support him. Hell, some of them already do.

Wednesday, January 10, 2024

South Carolina legislators ignore parents, trans kids, and medical professionals to pass anti-trans bill out of committee

 
 An anti-trans bill in South Carolina sailed through a house committee in spite of the fact that over 40 South Carolinians (parents, children, and medical professionals) present at the hearing spoke against it and only one person, an out-of-state lawyer affiliated with an anti-LGBTQ group appearing on video, spoke in favor of it.


 Pleas from transgender children’s pediatricians and parents to keep allowing such kids to receive hormone therapies failed to stop Republican lawmakers from advancing a ban on those treatments to the South Carolina House floor on Wednesday. The GOP-led Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs Committee voted to advance the bill within the first two days of the 2024 legislative session. 

At least 22 states have enacted similar restrictions amid recent Republican-led crackdowns on transgender medical care, bathroom usage and sports participation. The expediency underscores South Carolina House Republicans' prioritization of the conservative issue at the outset of an election year that will pit incumbents against primary challengers from the right. 
The bill would bar health professionals from performing gender transition surgery, prescribing puberty-blocking drugs and overseeing hormone therapy for anyone under 18 years old. It also prevents Medicaid from covering such care for anyone under the age of 26.

The committee hearing was held on Tuesday and demonstrated just how much coordinated nonsense the process was. For one thing, out of 50 speaking people testifying about the bill, 49 spoke against it. And they came with "receipts." 

According to journalist Erin Reed:

 Phillip Ford, who spoke in opposition to the bill, was representing multiple groups. He stated in his speech that the mere hearing of anti-trans bills would result in a negative mental health impact to 94% of queer youth in the state, and 42% of queer youth considering suicide, citing a Trevor project study. “I was one of those youths,” he said, “several years ago when they passed the amendment banning marriage equality.” 

 After Ford pointed out that that studies show that transgender care is medically necessary and lifesaving, he was questioned by Republican Representative Heath Sessions, who asked incredulously, “Can we ask when we have speakers citing studies, can we get that turned into the committee?” He responded, “I’ve got them all right here,” pulling out a comically large binder of studies with a smirk. 

Below are some of the others who spoke against the bill. The moment with Ford shows that SC Republicans are willing to ignore accurate medical information in pursuit of their transphobic agenda.
And the fact that they chose to pass the bill out of committee in spite of parents, medical professionals and trans kids imploring them not to proves that they don't give a damn about parental rights or protecting kids; except for when they can weaponize the concepts.

In spite of all of witnesses - parents, kids and medical professionals and all residents of South Carolina - the committee chose to take the word of this one witness from the Alliance Defending Freedom who isn't a resident of SC and didn't even bother to show up in person:

According to WLTX News 19:

If the bill passes in the House, it will move to the Senate, which may be less eager to advance the issue. The bill is sponsored by House Majority Leader Davey Hiott and House Speaker Murrell Smith, joined by 27 other GOP co-sponsors. This collective sponsorship sends a clear signal that the legislation is a top priority for House Republicans.

 

Monday, January 08, 2024

Why 'Don't Say Gay' laws may not be such a bad idea after all . . . or something like that

 Based on this comic strip courtesy of Lefty Cartoons (which you can support with your dollars - a pledge of $1 or $2 or more), maybe the push for 'Don't Say Gay' laws isn't a bad idea. After all, won't someone PLEASE think of the children. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 



Sunday, January 07, 2024

Video - Don't let Donald Trump lie to you about his disastrous response to the COVID pandemic

For now, there is a very strong chance that the upcoming 2024 presidential election will be a rematch of the 2020 election. Some people are bellyaching over it because they don't like either candidate. 

I say get over it. 

There is no surprise about who I'm supporting. President Biden has done a wonderful job as far as I' concerned, particularly in this ultra petty political climate where everyone - including pundits - care more enriching themselves than serving and educating the public.

Most specifically, Trump has always been a disaster. There aren't enough words in the English language which I can use to properly articulate how much I despise that man. As to why, there are so many reasons to choose from. If I had to pick one, it would be how he botched the COVID pandemic response and thus is responsible for the deaths of countless Americans. That's bad enough in itself but to make it even worse, Trump and his supporters are going to gaslight us about what he did.

I've already posted videos on how Trump botched the COVID pandemic response and how Fox News pundits tried to cover up for him. Consider the videos below as a continuation. 

The first video below features a timeline of Trump downplaying COVID even though he knew from the start how serious it was. The second video underscores that point because it is a timeline showing how the pandemic was growing and it includes Trump telling journalist Bob Woodward that he knew how serious COVID was from the beginning.

   
   

This video below shows how Trump denies the things he said about the pandemic with the footage of him making the statements that he claimed he didn't.  

 

Wednesday, January 03, 2024

Brought to you by Elon Musk's definition of 'free speech' - accusations that Hilary Clinton is a lesbian connected with Jeff Epstein

 This is indicative of the bull we have to deal with now that Elon Musk is running Twitter. Musk has a serious objection to trans people (including his trans daughter) but obviously has no problem with the platform amplifying ridiculous 'Hilary Clinton is secretly a lesbian and it's all connected to Jeffrey Epstein somehow' accusations.


For the benefit of those not knowledgeable about the purveyor of this nonsense (and I apologize for making you aware of him), this is Dom Lucre, a far-right Twitter personality with over 900,000 followers. As you can tell, he is very popular because of tweets like the one above.  And very inaccurate.

According to Forbes

Dom Lucre is the internet personality of Dominick McGee, according to a New York Times feature which profiled him as one of several right-wing social media users who became famous for sharing 2020 election denial posts. Lucre is known for his active Twitter presence, where he frequently posts misinformation.
 
In June, when Madonna suffered a bacterial infection, he suggested vaccines were the reason she was hospitalized, and he previously claimed “following the science oftentimes leads to a graveyard.” In June, he tweeted: “Adrenochrome is real and I can prove it,” referencing a conspiracy theory embraced by QAnon that promotes the idea the wealthy, Hollywood elite and Democrats harvest the blood of children for a chemical called adrenochrome that they ingest to stay young. The theory has been debunked by members of the scientific community who note the chemical does not have rejuvenating properties.

 Lucre also still posts claims that the 2020 election was stolen, alleging former President Donald Trump was the rightful winner. 

 Last year, he was suspended for posting a screenshot of a video depicting child sexual abuse supposedly connected to Peter Scully, an Australian man sentenced to life in prison for child sex abuse. After an outcry by many on the right, he was brought back:

 His suspension drew immediate outrage from his right-wing supporters, some of whom tweeted “Free Dom” to encourage his reinstatement. In a series of tweets Wednesday, Twitter owner Elon Musk said he was told the suspension was because Lucre posted child exploitation images connected to Scully, claiming only the people on Twitter’s child sexual exploitation team have seen the pictures and Twitter “will delete those posts and reinstate the account.”
Also, check out who demanded Lucre's reinstatement:
 
. . .Supporters of Lucre were quick to voice their outrage over his suspension on Twitter, including notable voices like Kari Lake, the 2022 Arizona Republican gubernatorial nominee who embraced election fraud conspiracy theories. Lake tweeted a screenshot of Lucre’s suspended account, stating: “When will the censorship end, @elonmusk?”

 Chaya Raichik, known for running the right-wing Libs of TikTok social media accounts, tweeted: “FREE DOM LUCRE @elonmusk @lindayacc,” tagging both Musk and Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino. The right-wing account “End Wokeness,” which has more than 1.4 million followers, tweeted its anger over Lucre’s suspension and helped to try and trend “FREE DOM” on the platform. 

 The irony of Raichik defending someone who posted a video depicting child sex abuse while at the same time accusing the LGBTQ community of child sex abuse (which she often does) shouldn't escape anyone's notice.

'Southern Baptist Convention settles sex abuse lawsuit (and not a drag queen in sight)' & other Wed midday news briefs



Southern Baptist Convention settles sex abuse lawsuit against former judge Paul Pressler​ - Not a drag queen in sight. Hmmmm.

Nine Moments in 2023 That Made LGBTQ+ History - We ruled last year - like we always do - in spite of some people's plots and plans.