Hate group to host Congresswoman who funneled its false data

Rep. Vicky Hartzler, hate group stooge.

Hate group the Family Research Council is in bragging mood about the fact that it has a Congressional leader in its hip pocket:

If there was an unsung hero in the effort to end social experimentation in our military, it’s Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.). She tackled the issue of transgenderism in the military that many Republicans don’t even want to talk about (let alone fight). Vicky has repeatedly stood up for our troops -- and America’s taxpayers. In what was one of the fiercest debates of Trump’s first year, she stood in the fire while other members ran and hid, determined to stop what Barack Obama started: the decimation of the world’s greatest fighting force. 

Although the House didn’t reward her hard work, President Trump did, ordering a halt to the previous administration’s policy to let the gender confused serve. In a series of tweets that exploded across social media, the president was clear: “After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you.” 

For conservatives, it was a powerful and crystallizing moment. But a lot of the credit for raising that issue belongs to Vicky. Her amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which would have blocked the use of taxpayer money to pay for gender reassignment surgery or hormone treatments was narrowly defeated -- but it helped focus the White House’s attention on the issue.  

Tomorrow, October 24, Congresswoman Hartzler is going to personally deliver an update on where the fight for our military currently stands in a special FRC Speaker Series talk, “Keeping Our Military Ready: Why Radical Social Experimentation in Our Armed Forces Must End.” You won’t want to miss this important conversation! Join us at FRC headquarters

According to People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch in 2010:

Mother Jones posited that Hartzler might be the “most anti-gay candidate in America”– she believes that repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell will “put us at risk,” maintains that sexual orientation is a choice and therefore gay people aren’t entitled to civil rights, and dubbed hate crimes legislation one of the “the extreme agenda items of the gay movement.”

'How to detect & debunk anti-trans propaganda in the media' & other Mon midday news briefs

Christian Right tips to fight transgender rights: separate the T from the LGB - The new divide-and-conquer strategy is official in this detailed report by SPLC. 

How to Detect and Debunk Anti-Trans Propaganda in the Media - Goodness knows this is NEEDED.  

Georgia lawmaker says call for HIV quarantine ‘taken out of context’ - I read her comment. No it wasn't.

Thousands Rally For Same Sex Marriage Before Australian Vote Closes - Go Australia!

Neo-Nazi renounces movement, embraces being gay and Jewish

Some things have to been seen to be believed. At any rate, I commend this man for finally being truthful with himself and attempting to make amends for his violent past.

'Hate group trying to gross America out with book about gay sex' & other Fri midday news briefs

This propaganda book is nothing new. It presents the same old lies about gays wrapped in a new package.

MassResistance Wants To Gross America Out With Book About Gay Sex - It's an old but popular propaganda tactic of the anti-LGBTQ industry. Exploit preconceived notions and underlying curiosity about gay sex by establishing false talking points and relying on junk science and cherry-picked legitimate science to prove said points. It's as old as the "gay men want to recruit children" lie. I should write a book on it. Wait a minute. I did. 

There’s a rising global tide of crackdowns on LGBT communities - They are trying to test us but they won't defeat us. 

How two female playwrights are risking their lives to fight homophobia in Africa - Fight on, my sisters!

Jeff Sessions never thought ‘religious freedom’ would allow anti-LGBTQ discrimination - Yeah right. And I'm Scarlett O'Hara from 'Gone with the Wind.' 

Flier At Cleveland State University Encourages LGBTQ Students To Kill Themselves - Then the university claimed that the flier was "free speech." Then folks got really pissed ... 

Parents infuriated after football coach directs players to mock student with gay parents - This here is some mess. But it does show that more people care about doing the right thing. Other parents and students prevented this junk from happening.

Jeff Sessions won't answer question about his 'religious liberty' guidance and anti-LGBTQ discrimination

Durbin: Does religious liberty guidance let fed workers & contractors refuse LGBT people?

Sessions: [4 second pause] I'll get back to you. pic.twitter.com/E67XzDxh9e

— Dominic Holden (@dominicholden) October 18, 2017

There is so much nonsense, chaos, and confusion ala Trump that we are in danger of missing things happening which are important to the future of our equality. On Wednesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions faced a Senate committee and was asked questions about his "religious liberty" guidance memo.

The anti-LGBTQ industry trumpeted Sessions's guidance memo, claiming that it "protects" Christians from having to choose between their faith and their jobs. Those of us who know better says that it is the latest in the war on LGBTQ equality by the religious right and their supporters. In the committee hearing, we finally got to the meat of our problems with the idea of so-called religious liberty. The exchange above between Sessions and Sen. Dick Durbin is the reality of the dangers of Sessions's guidance memo and the idea of "religious liberty" as it is being pushed by the anti-LGBTQ industry.

It's not by accident that groups like the Family Research Council and the Alliance Defending Freedom, as well as people like FRC president Tony Perkins tend to shy away from a thorough debate about "religious liberty." And it's not by accident that Durbin's question left Sessions stymied and tongue-tied.

'Anti-LGBT industry hoping to play 'divide & conquer' plan to defeat pro-trans policies' & other Thur midday news briefs

Remember this mess? Expect the anti-LGBTQ industry to exploit something like it to divide our community.

Values Voter Summit Panelist: ‘Divide & Conquer’ To Defeat ‘Totalitarian’ Trans Inclusion Policies - Remember that "drop the T" crap some gay folks were pushing (as in abandon the transgender community while pursuing equality.) The anti-LGBTQ industry thinks that it's a wonderful strategy. So much so that they will be pushing something along the same lines along with other plans to denigrate the entire community. So folks deal with the fact that there should be and will be NO abandoning in this so-called culture war. If one of us goes down in flames, we all go down in flames. We are in this TOGETHER.

Two states brace for public campaigns against transgender equality - Speaking of which . . . 

White Nationalism and Christian Right Unite at Values Voter Summit - The sad thing is that there was no internal struggle with so-called Christians. They just want power. 

The U.N. Wants American Businesses to End Anti-LGBT Discrimination - Money always talks.

Settlement Proposed In North Carolina Transgender Bathroom Lawsuit - Could be good news for the transgender community. We'll see. 

HuffPost: Roy Moore’s Charity Accepted Donation From Nazi-Founded Group - The next time the LGBTQ and African-American communities start fighting over legacies, they both need to be reminded that they have a lot of the same enemies.

Trump's judicial nominee continues to show why he shouldn't be appointed to the federal bench

Trump judicial nominee Jeff Mateer

According to Vice, in a 2015 speech to the National Religious Liberties Conference, Trump's judicial nominee to the federal bench in Texas, Jeff Mateer, admitted that he discriminates against gays:

“Guess what? I attend a conservative Baptist church. We discriminate, alright. On the basis of sexual orientation, we discriminate.” 

 . . . That remark is just one of many that Mateer — who’s currently the first assistant attorney general in Austin, Texas — made during a pair of speeches at the conference. In them, Mateer provided a roadmap for businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ people without legal repercussions. In the two speeches — titled “Seven Things Every Christian Employee Should Know” and “Are You Ready? Protecting Your Church or 501(c)(3) Ministry” — Mateer also said the Constitution doesn’t mandate the separation of church and state and that diversity training “brainwashes” people into accepting the LGBTQ lifestyle.   Citing both speeches, 36 LGBTQ advocacy organizations sent a letter to the Senate on Tuesday demanding that its members vote down Mateer’s nomination. His comments, the letter states, “disqualify” him from public service.

Comments taken from the speeches are a veritable cornucopia of reasons as to why Mateer has no business on the federal bench.

Among them, Mateer said the separation of church and state is nowhere in the Constitution, diversity training is reprogramming, churches should be able to endorse candidates, marriage equality is illegal in spite of the SCOTUS decision legalizing it, and "honest conviction" allows employers to discriminate.

During the time of the speech, Mateer as employed as general counsel for First Liberty Institute, a religious right organization. He is already under fire for other past statements, including claiming that transgender children are a part of "Satan's plan." This latest development only adds to his troubles.


Hat tip to The New Civil Rights Movement.