Franklin Graham caught up in Trump Foundation controversy

Franklin Graham

Recently on his Facebook page, Franklin Graham took it upon himself to castigate the media about Trump's unreleased tax returns. He claimed that there are more pressing issues they should be concerned about . . . like the transgender community:

The media keeps talking about it, but to be honest with you, nobody gives a rip about Donald J. Trump’s taxes. What people do care about is their own taxes. And when I read about the government spending $8.4 million of taxpayers’ money a year—starting today—for things like gender reassignment and hormone therapy for military personnel, I’m disgusted! Aren’t you? This is the kind of immoral garbage President Obama and his administration are allowing to be put in place in our country. $8.4 million a year—with all the things our military needs—can you believe that? Things like this need to be stopped. It just shows you how morally warped our politicians have become.

Graham has long used his Facebook page as if he was God delivering  messages from a high mountain. However, this time he probably should have kept his mouth shut.

According to a recent article by NBC News, Trump used his own charitable foundation to give money to several conservative groups who helped him raise his profile in anticipation for his run for president. The Trump Foundation is already facing scrutiny for a myriad of unethical and possibly illegal activity. On Monday, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman ordered the charity to stop fundraising in the state after reports that it had not submitted to routine audits.

According to the NBC News article:

The foundation, which Trump initially financed with his own money but has been funded by outside donors since 2008, gave $286,000 to prominent conservative groups that were important players on the road to the GOP nomination, according to tax filings first reported by RealClearPolitics. The groups included Iowa's Family Leader, South Carolina Palmetto Family Council, the American Conservatives Union and Citizens United.

Together, the donations paint a picture of the wealthy businessman using charity-earmarked money to build relationships with conservative activists in early voting states. There are laws prohibiting self-dealing that would bar these kinds of donations if they were solely for Trump's personal benefit, but there's nothing stopping Trump from donating to these groups as a charitable act — even if it does grease the wheels of his presidential bid along the way. 

And Franklin Graham:

Though Evangelical Rev. Franklin Graham is not endorsing a candidate, he was an early ally of Trump — and his charities reaped the benefits, too. "The more you listen to him, the more you say to yourself, 'You know, maybe the guy's right,'" Graham told ABC News in 2011.

The organization named for his father, the Billy Graham Evangelical Association, got a $100,000 check a year later in 2012, while Samaritan's Purse, a Christian relief group, got $25,000 the same year. 

Graham should have been more forthcoming with Trump's donations to his groups with the same  eagerness  he attacks the transgender community. He would still be a nasty demagogue, but at least he wouldn't be a hypocrite.

'Trump trying to play lgbts & Muslims against one another' & other Tue. midday news briefs

Trump Is Trying to Turn Gays Against Muslims - The National for Marriage tried to pull this crap with gays and black folks. We didn't fall for it then, I really hope we don't fall for it now. The only reason why Trump wants lgbts to fear Muslim is to take attention away from his cooperation with those who would seek to take our equality away in this country:

In other news:

 A Look at LGBT Artifacts From the National African-American Museum - THIS is wonderful. I am glad that we lgbts of color are included. 

 Evangelist Franklin Graham: Ignore Trump’s Taxes! We Have to Stop Transgender Soldiers’ Rights! - Modesty keeps me from thoroughly commenting what I feel.

Entitlement at the root of homophobic bigotry

So I got this interesting message from someone whom I consider to be an opponent of lgbt equality:

It's great to see the LGBT champions of tolerance and non-discrimination show such intolerance and discrimination against Christians. 

I'm sure a lot of you recognize this as the tired semantic wordplay which goes like this - lgbts are hypocrites because they claim to be tolerant unless you say something they don't agree with, then they try to shut you down.

That argument is the proverbial last refuge of the homophobe, especially in this case when the post at hand which led this anonymous person to send me the message had nothing to do with silencing anyone. The post was about Mike Pence's duplicity in claiming that Indiana's religious liberty law weren't anti-lgbt in spite of him being accompanied by anti-lgbt activists while signing the law.

So that's this person's mindset.  He or she doesn't see us as tax paying American citizens who deserve equality. He or she thinks the proper way for lgbts to "show tolerance" to those who "disagree" with our supposed lifestyle is to allow ourselves to be discriminated and treated like second class citizens.

Or to put it another way, the following is the video of Don Feder, spokesman of the anti-lgbt World Congress of Families, talking about us in awful terms:

Transcript: 

 “The problem is this is a way people are living and they’re demanding that it be respected, they’re demanding that all of society be changed for their comfort and their convenience,” Feder said. “We’re not saying that these people have to be persecuted, we’re not saying that you can’t have compassion for them, of course you can, but you can’t let this be the role model and you can’t allow Christians and other religious people to be persecuted because they refuse to go along with this agenda.”

“You know, other people have demanded minority status based on their religion, based on their race,” he continued. “This is the first group that demands minority status based on what they do in their bedrooms. And that’s what makes it so dangerous. And if you look at the United States, I mean if Africans look seriously at the United States, they should be horrified at what’s going on.”

What Feder - and that anonymous commentator - proves is that the struggle for lgbt equality is in fact one of entitlement.  The religious right - such as Feder, etc.- think that they are entitled to dictate to us the terms of who we are, what we deserve, and what we should have based upon their religious beliefs and hysterically inaccurate notions of our lives.

It will be my pleasure to disappoint these folks and their ridiculous ideas of supremacy as many times as I can.

Eight is Mike Pence's unlucky homophobic number

In anticipation for the upcoming vice presidential debate, the following bears repeating.

I think it's safe to say that no one is fooled about Trump's false gestures to the lgbt community. He claims that he will protect us from foreign countries who would harm us in accordance to their beliefs. Conveniently he doesn't say a word about the American groups who would deny us our rights. In fact, he has aligned himself with them.

But to put it another way, if one wants to garner the truth about how Trump as president would treat the lgbt community, one word says it all - eight.

That's how many times last year his VP pick, Mike Pence, refused to say he is opposed to anti-lgbt discrimination during an interview with George Stephanopoulos. I wonder will the moderator at the upcoming debate between him and Democrat VP pick Tim Kaine ask him about it

'Mike Pence should be asked about extensive history of homophobia during VP debate' & other Mon. midday news briefs

At The VP Debate, Mike Pence Should Be Asked About Anti-LGBT "Religious Freedom" Laws - Let's not feast on Donald Trump's errors that we forget about those of his VP pick. In the upcoming vice presidential debate, Pence has a LOT to answer for with regards to his long history of homophobia, particularly the mess he created in Indiana with his "religious freedom" law. Remember his claim that the law had nothing to do with anti-lgbt discrimination in spite of the fact that he was surrounded by statewide anti-lgbt activists when he signed the bill?:

College Football Championship Will Now Be Held In A City With LGBT Protections - Just in case you didn't hear, North Carolina continues to suffer for its transphobia.  

Lyft driver kicks out rider after homophobic, anti-Semitic rant - A reminder about the work which must be continued.

 Inside Mexico’s Surprise Backlash To Marriage Equality - One guess who was behind it and what lies they used to rally folks. The beast never changes course of attack because no one confronts the beast head on.

Equality Forum, I love your list but I have a problem with two of your lgbt 'icons'

It's that time of the year again when the Equality Forum selects its 31 iconic figures for LGBT History Month:



I've always supported this endeavor and will continue to do so and I have a dream that one day I will included in a future list.

However, there are two choices this year which I must cry foul over.

 Granted, Equality Forum's list is always controversial and this year is no different. Malcolm Forbes was a multi-millionaire and owner of several successful ventures, including Forbes magazine. But he was not an out gay man. Instead, his outing as an alleged gay man generated a lot of controversy.

James Buchanan, the 14th president of the United States, was the subject of many rumors about his sexual orientation. His status as possibly the first and only gay president is can be considered the only reason why he is included in this list.

But honestly speaking, a lot of historians think of him as one of the worst presidents we ever had.

According to U.S. News and World Reports:

 Even before he became president, he supported the various compromises that made it possible for slavery to spread into the western territories acquired by the Lousiana Purchase and the Mexican War. (Particularly hurtful to the cause of restraining slavery's spread was the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, for example, allowed settlers to determine the status of slavery in their proposed state constitutions.) In his inaugural address, the 15th president tacitly encouraged the Supreme Court's forthcoming Dred Scott decision, which ruled that Congress had no power to keep slavery out of the territories. More damaging to his name, though, was his weak acquiescence before the secessionist tide—an unwillingness to challenge those states that declared their intention to withdraw from the Union after Lincoln's election. Sitting on his hands as the situation spiraled out of control, Buchanan believed that the Constitution gave him no power to act against would-be seceders.

My point is  if one is to be considered an official "lgbt icon," one should have more on his or her resume than being an lgbt or an alleged lgbt. An icon is one who is idolized because he or she creates a standard to emulate. Being considered one of the worst presidents of the United States or being a deep-in-the-closet millionaire who gets yanked out at the time of his death shouldn't be a standard anyone should want to emulate.

Gays are coming after YOUR children . . . again?

This lie must be confronted.

One thing the lgbt community should confront as a stand alone issue is the constant propagation of the lie that we are trying to "recruit" children.

From Anita Bryant in the late 1970s to the marriage equality fights, to the present battle over transgender equality, the religious right has consistently created a horrible image of lgbts luring young boys and girls into a so-called life of homosexual squalor and wanton sex.

It is probably the most successful and enduring lie the religious right has in its arsenal.

The latest incarnation is from wannabe anti-lgbt activist Michael Brown in an column at One News Now:

Do you need to lock your doors and windows at night because a homosexual predator is coming after your kids? That is absolutely not what I mean when I say that LGBT activists are coming for your children.I'm talking about educators and government leaders; I'm talking about celebrities and judges; I'm talking about people of influence who want to indoctrinate your children even before they get to school.I'm talking about an all-out war for the minds and hearts of your kids.
 . . . I understand what motivates the activists and educators. They want to teach "tolerance" and they want a child who does not appear to be "gender conforming" to realize that their insides might not be in harmony with their outsides. But that doesn't make what they're doing right, nor does it make it helpful. And the best motivation in the world cannot change falsehood into truth. That being said, it is clear that LGBT activists and their allies have had ample motivation to change the thinking of Americans, beginning with our children, and already in 1995, lesbian author Patricia Nell Warren stated, "Whoever captures the kids owns the future." (Published in The Advocate, October 3, 1995, p. 80, in the article "Future Shock.")

To put it mildly, Brown is an idiot. His hysterical diatribe omits two facts - that many young children are identifying as lgbts without any prodding from anyone and that same-sex families are raising children. That last point is important to combat the semantics of his argument. Lgbts are not after the children of so-called normal families. We are not outside the box watching heterosexuals raising children. We are raising children ourselves.

However, the sad part of Brown's nonsensical column is that some people will believe it as truth. That's unfortunately to be expected.

Still, the lgbts want to "recruit" children is a lie that the community must aggressively call out. And not before someone likes Brown puts us on the defensive.