Texas asking court to reinstate Mississippi's anti-lgbt 'religious freedom' law

TX Attorney General Ken Paxton

The following is unusual and a bit unnerving.  From the Austin-American Statesman:

Joined Thursday by Republican officials from eight other states, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton urged a federal appeals court to reinstate a Mississippi law that had been struck down as discriminatory against gay and transgender people.

The Mississippi law, Paxton told the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a legal brief, was intended to protect citizens from being forced by the government into taking actions that violate their religious beliefs, particularly if they oppose same-sex marriage.

“Americans have the right to peacefully live and work according to their deeply held beliefs, in accordance with the religious freedoms enshrined in our Constitution,” Paxton said.

Although civil rights and gay rights advocates say the Mississippi law allowed for government-sanctioned discrimination, socially conservative Republicans in Texas have vowed to pass similar laws when the Legislature convenes in January — a strategy that would be endangered if the appeals court ruled that the Mississippi law was unconstitutional. Precedents set by the 5th Circuit apply to Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

 . . . The law, passed in March, would have allowed businesses to refuse to serve gay people and let government employees decline to issue same-sex marriage licenses as long as somebody else in the office was available to perform the task. Those who speak out against gay or transgender people also would have been protected from lawsuits and other reprisals.

 Hours before it was to take effect July 1, however, U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves blocked enforcement of HB 1523, saying it violated the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law by allowing for government-approved discrimination against gay, transgender and unmarried people.

Apparently Paxton believes that lgbts should sacrifice our dignity and rights as American citizens because of other people's religious prejudices. The court was right to strike this law down and I don't envision them reinstating it.

'Anti-gay activist wants to 'lock Hillary up' so she won't help lgbt youth' & other Thur. midday news briefs

Hillary Clinton’s plan to fight for LGBT youth - Pay attention, folks. This is important. 

 Linda Harvey: ‘Lock Hillary Up’ To Prevent Her From Pushing ‘Sexual Weirdness’ To Kids - And of course Linda Harvey is spooked by the above.

 Franklin Graham: ‘We’re Going To Lose This Country’ If Donald Trump Doesn’t Win - Good grief, what a drama queen. I thought this was supposed to happen when Obama won in 2012. 

A brief history of LGBT involvement in presidential campaigns - History they don't tell you in schools. 

 Democrats Would Quickly Push LGBT-Rights Bill In Congress If They Win Big - I repeat something from days ago - There is NOTHING wrong with lgbts voting in accordance to how said person in office would treat us and advance our equality. We're no movement's martyrs.

HB2 forum mostly a peaceful conversation with one exception

Last night, the Charlotte Observer held a forum about that awful HB2 law. It went well and was pretty much a good conversation. That is once folks got rid of the "clutter":

Most of the back and forth was polite. After Burton spoke of bathroom safety, City Attorney Bob Hagemann, rose from the audience to point out that a nearby identical ordinance approved in Columbia, S.C., had not led to open bathrooms nor an increase in predatory incidents.

David Chadwick, senior pastor at Forest Hill Church and a spiritual counselor to Gov. Pat McCrory, told the hundreds of audience members on hand that no one deserves to be bullied or singled out. But he said supporters of HB2 are too easily stereotyped by some as intolerant and discriminatory.

But when Erica Lachowitz, a transgender woman from Charlotte, talked about her personal experiences, conservative Christian minister Flip Benham rose from his seat and changed the tone in the theater. Earlier in the evening he let out an audible “Ridiculous” as former Observer writer Elizabeth Leland recounted episodes of violence or harassment LGBT individuals she had discovered around the state.

Now Benham, waving a Bible in one hand, interrupted Lachowitz with a shout of “Abomination!” before pivoting his attention toward Chadwick.

“David, is sodomy a sin? Answer the question,” Benham roared repeatedly as two police officers rushed toward him.

“Get him out of here,” another man shouted as Benham was led through the nearest door.

Chadwick responded by saying his was a God of love, not hate, and that the love might offer the promise of compromise. Earlier in the evening, he had also said this; “You can’t legislate the human heart to change.”

'Ex-gay' rebrand, Catholic Church in Mexico sorry for comment about men's butts' & other Wed. midday news briefs

The bogus plan to rebrand ex-gay therapy - With the anti-lgbt industry, nothing ever goes away. It just gets repackaged.  

Republican strategist claims candidate is ‘exploiting’ anti-gay smear campaign - A presidential candidate is attacked by an anti-lgbt smear campaign but to a Republican strategist, said candidate is wrong because he is supposedly "exploiting" the campaign created to smear him. Pull up a chair. This explanation has to be epic. 

Catholic Church in Mexico apologises after saying ‘man’s anus is not designed to receive’ - Don't you just hate it when situations arise which make things too easy to be catty?

 4 Indiana cities ask judge to dismiss LGBT protections suit - We may win this one. 

 As Gay Dads, We’re Raising A Son Accepting Of Himself And Others 

 Coming Out as a Postpartum Anxiety Sufferer :  Two very important articles about lgbt parenting.

Religious right donor claims Christians not supporting Trump aren't mature in their faith

If you think yesterday's post on the hypocrisy of the anti-lgbt religious liberty argument was something, then you will love this post.

When it comes to lgbt equality and lgbt in general some folks who call themselves "evangelicals" (huge supporters of the anti-lgbt industry) will start going on about not being "lukewarm.

But I wonder how many feel the same way as Foster Friess, this GOP donor to a multitude of conservative Christian causes (he once backed Rick Santorum), when it comes to Donald Trump:



Apparently Jesus once said "thou shalt support the odious, egotistical vagina-grabbing lout to get the keys to my Father's house."

'Pro-lgbt Christian author discovers she has no 'religious liberty'' & other Tue. midday news briefs

Jen Hatmaker discovers that 'religious liberty' is only for anti-lgbt Christians.

The high cost of popular evangelical Jen Hatmaker’s gay marriage comments - In this situation regarding a Christian author who is lgbt-friendly, we see some folks regard "religious liberty" as being reserved for the type of Christianity which bashes the lgbt community. 

Christian retailer doesn't cave, cuts author from its resources - As much as I despise the American Family Association's One News Now, I will link to this article on its page to demonstrate the hypocrisy of what I was talking about in the above article. The comments are disgusting in their false piety and sanctimony.  

Study of adoptive families finds no differences for same-sex families - Yep. Another study in our favor. And every study which comes up will be featured on this blog. I'm going to beat this drum until folks know the tune by heart. 

 Why Donald Trump Unfurled An Upside Down Rainbow Flag Onstage - And why it didn't work out well for him . . .

 Steven Hotze: Gays Like ‘Termites’ Eating Away Nation’s Foundations - But we are SEXY termites.

'Token' civil rights leader attacks Obama's racial heritage for supporting lgbt community

The anti-gay industry (or you can call them the religious right) not only create their own "facts" about the lgbt community. They also create their own African-American civil rights leader whose first item seems to always be attacking the lgbt community.

With that in mind, I give you William Owens of the Coalition of African-American Pastors, a group bought and paid for by the National Organization for Marriage. Owens is known for being the paid black face of right-wing organizations when they need a token. Also, to make matters complete, while he has claimed to be a civil rights activist, no one involved with the actual Civil Rights Movement can remember his presence.

It's just as well. Last weekend at the anti-gay industry event, the Stand 4 Truth conference, he performed the dance which he was getting paid for - castigating President Obama over his support of the lgbt community:



From Right Wing Watch: 

 Owens declared, in remarks broadcast by conference organizers through a Facebook Live stream, that “nobody but a black president could have gotten away with” his LGBT rights agenda, claiming that Obama was able to advance LGBT equality because white people “were afraid to be called racist, so you gave him a pass.” In his support for marriage equality, Owens said, Obama “sold out” and “spit on the graves of all those people who died for civil rights.” Discussing LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination policies, Owens warned that children will soon be “brainwashed from birth,” something that he blamed on “our white brothers who will allow men to go in the restroom with your wife and your children.” “I don’t care about President Obama being black,” Owens continued, “he’s half-black. As far as I’m concerned, he’s not black because he doesn’t understand the black experience.” “So they’re going to brainwash our children from pre-school, telling them it’s alright to feel a certain way. That is terrible. Do you know what that’s doing to a tender mind, to a tender child?” he asked.