2018 Resolution - Don't let these anti-LGBTQ hate groups get away with pretending to be Christian

For 2018, as the LGBTQ community continues to fight tooth and nail for our equality, it is imperative that we do what we can to break down to America the lies perpetrated against us by groups and people who masquerade their homophobia and hate behind a religious veneer.

It is equally imperative that we don't get distracted by side arguments regarding religion in general or get tricked into having to defend or explain why we should be treated fairly. The onus needs to be on these groups such as the Family Research Council, the Alliance Defending Freedom, the American Family Association and their allies (such as Franklin Graham and Robert Jeffress) who will use whatever power they have in the Trump Administration to distort the narrative. They will claim they are merely attempting to "protect Christians." That's a lie, just like their last explanation (they are "defending marriage) or the one before that (they are merely trying to keep gays from getting "special rights") and so on and so forth . . .

This so-called culture war they talk about is about what it's always been about from the beginning - depriving the LGBTQ community of our dignity and God-given rights to equality and self-determination.  In the long run, it doesn't matter how many millions they have, how polished they are in front of the press, how many times they appear on Fox News showcasing their ability to tell one-sided distortions,  or how many times they can hide their animus, the bottom line is they are lying snakes wearing masks.

And there is only one way you can properly deal with lying snakes wearing masks - rip the masks off for the world to see. Don't give them any slack. Not even a little bit.

The Alliance Defending Freedom

10 Facts About The Nation's Largest Anti-LGBTQ Hate Group: 

1. SPLC Labeled ADF A Hate Group Because Of Its Extreme, Demonizing Lies About LGBT People. 

2. ADF Boasts A $48 Million-Plus Annual Budget And Over 3,000 “Allied Attorneys.” 

3. ADF Defended The Constitutionality Of Criminalizing Gay Sex In The U.S. 

4. ADF Has Expanded Its Anti-Choice, Anti-LGBTQ Extemism Internationally. 

5. ADF Is Behind The National Push For Anti-LGBT “Religious Freedom” Laws. 

6. ADF Is Leading The National Campaign For “Bathroom Bills” Targeting Transgender Youth. 

7. An ADF Attorney Once Called Matthew Shepard’s Murder A Hate Crime Hoax. 

8. ADF Believes In A “Homosexual Agenda” Dedicated To Destroying Christianity. 

9. ADF Has Long Opposed Anti-Bullying Efforts In Schools And Even Launched The “Day Of Truth” To Combat The “Day Of Silence.” 

10. ADF Wields Significant Power In The U.S. Legal System.


 The Family Research Council:

 

 The Liberty Counsel:

 

 These are only three, but there are so many more. One of our goals for 2018 should be to knock them down a peg and rip away their undeserved label of being groups for faith and family.

That's my goal. And I do not intend to fail.

'2017 ends as the LGBTQ community stands unbowed & unbeaten' & other Wed midday news briefs

A Look Back At 2017’s Best, Worst and Ugliest Queer Political Moments - Actually this has not been a bad year. It was a trying year, but if there is no struggle there can be no progress. And it's good to see that our community hasn't lost our ability to fight. In addition, we are seeing new heroes taking their much deserved turn in the spotlight - i.e. the transgender community.

In 2017, LGBTQ Progress Was Built on Local Elections - Damn skippy!

17 Times the Trump-Pence Administration Attacked the LGBTQ Community in 2017 - And there are simply the top ones.

Ten Federal Judges Have Now Rejected Trump’s Transgender Military Ban - This is lovely. Trump is learning that he can't decided something as crucial as military service simply because he is in the Oval Office. There must be a GOOD REASON to make policy.

Minnesota Court of Appeals rules a transgender man's discrimination lawsuit against Starbucks can proceed - Let's see them try to the pull the "religious liberty" argument with this one.

Hornet’s Editors Pick Their 10 Favorite Celebrity Stories of 2017 - And you know we just love our celebrities.

Video - Why white evangelicals sold out God, Jesus, and Christianity to kiss Donald Trump's tush

We all know that Franklin Graham, Robert Jeffress, James Dobson, and the rest of the white evangelical/religious right crowd sold out God, Jesus, and Christianity to become a part of the Trump Administration. However, the above video presents the situation in such an easy-to-understand way that I think that it will be continued to be viewed years later when folks ask just why did so many people in this county abandon morality and reason to put such a vile toad in the Oval Office. 

Consider this video as my gift to you. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

'Roy Moore calls out former opponent's gay son in tantrum over loss, hate groups trying to spin Kelvin Cochran court loss, ' & other Thur midday news briefs

Roy Moore

Roy Moore melts down over Muslims, Marxists and ‘Doug Jones’s gay son’ in wake of humiliating defeat - Y'all, pray for Roy Moore. He still hasn't gotten over his loss as of yet. And to call out the gay son of Doug Jones, the man who defeated him, is simply tacky.

The Terrible Anti-LGBTQ First Year Of The Promised ‘Pro-Gay’ President Trump - This is what we had to endure this year, but we are still standing and personally I am ready to fight some more.

Sorry Alliance Defending Freedom, but Kelvin Cochran did not win his case - Reposting my piece from last night because the American Family Association, Alliance Defending Freedom, the Family Research Council, and others are still attempting to spin this case as a win. It wasn't. 

Hate group claims hollow victory in case of Atlanta’s fired anti-gay fire chief - To repeat the situation from a different perspective but reaching the same conclusion that Kelvin Cochran lost and his bid to be a "religious freedom martyr" failed. 

Man who fought gay marriage ban running for Texas Senate - Wonderful!

Sorry Alliance Defending Freedom, but Kelvin Cochran did not win his case

Kelvin Cochran's 'religious freedom' martyrdom failed in the courts.

No matter how much prestige it may receive or how thick  the cloak of morality it may drape itself with, an organization dedicated to undermining  LGBTQ equality via lies and misdirection will always show itself as the brazen nest of hypocrites it is.

I speak of the anti-LGBTQ hate group the Alliance Defending Freedom. Today it claimed a victory in court regarding a fired Atlanta fire chief. However it turns out that their cheering was a simple misdirection:

A federal district court ruled Wednesday that city of Atlanta rules which led to the termination of Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran are unconstitutional. The court found that the city’s policies restricting non-work speech, like a book for Christian men that Cochran wrote, are too broad and allow city officials to unconstitutionally discriminate against views with which they disagree. 

“The government can’t force its employees to get its permission before engaging in free speech,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot, who argued before the court on behalf of Cochran last month. “In addition, as the court found, the city can’t leave such decisions to the whims of government officials. This ruling benefits not only Chief Cochran, but also other employees who want to write books or speak about matters unrelated to work. Atlanta can no longer force them to get permission or deny them permission just because certain officials disagree with the views expressed.” 

With regard to the city’s “pre-clearance” rules, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia wrote in its decision in Cochran v. City of Atlanta, “This policy would prevent an employee from writing and selling a book on golf or badminton on his own time and, without prior approval, would subject him to firing. It is unclear to the Court how such an outside employment would ever affect the City’s ability to function, and the City provides no evidence to justify it…. The potential for stifled speech far outweighs an unsupported assertion of harm.” 

The court added that provisions within the rules “do not set out objective standards for the supervisor to employ.” “This does not pass constitutional muster,” the court concluded. 

Cochran wrote a 162-page devotional book on his personal time that briefly mentions his Christian views on sex and marriage. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed suspended Cochran for 30 days without pay and announced that he would have to complete “sensitivity training.” Reed then fired him, even though a city investigation concluded that he did not discriminate against anyone.

This press release by ADF omitted a lot of information as to what the court actually said. In truth, Cochran won on only two claims he filed. However, he lost on the claims of free speech retaliation, viewpoint discrimination, and association.

News brief special - Trump, religious right team up in attempt to devastate LGBTQ equality, health, and wellness

Before the election, Trump said he would be an advocate for the LGBTQ community if he won.

Now that he is in The White House, Trump is giving unfettered access and power to those "faith leaders" who gained prominence undermining LGBTQ equality while labeling the LGBTQ community as "pedophiles," "confused people,"
"tools of Satan," and purveyors of a "dangerous lifestyle." 

Trump’s Judicial Assault on LGBT Rights - "Trump’s record speed and the alarmingly high number of nominees with anti-LGBT records whom he is advancing is triggering a growing judicial crisis for LGBT people. Nearly one-in-three have records that demonstrate hostility towards the rights of LGBT people. While several of these nominees are anti-LGBT activists who have openly denigrated LGBT people and families, others have more quietly undermined LGBT rights and protections."

CDC’s Banned Words Would Be Deadly For LGBT Americans - Could be if we give in to fear and not be ready to fight like hell.

HHS under fire for proposal overseen by former anti-LGBTQ hate group employee - Repeating my post from last night. Banning words is not the only mischief that Trump seems to be planning for the LGBTQ community.

Trump administration ‘misled court’ about need for transgender military ban - Of course they did. Why are we surprised.

Trump Is Forcing the Military to Lie in Court About the Transgender Troops Ban - More on this situation.

The Year The Religious Right Moved Into The White House - Just in case you didn't see this, a wonderful break down of the many ways the anti-LGBTQ/evangelical right has taken advantage of its power in the Trump Administration. An excerpt:

February 2: Trump gathers conservative leaders, including representatives from the NRA, the Chamber of Commerce and Americans for Tax Reform, along with the Susan B. Anthony List’s Dannenfelser, Concerned Women for America’s Nance, National Right to Life’s David O’Steen, Charmaine Yoest of American Values and, of course, Paula White, to personally thank him for the Gorsuch nomination and to discuss the confirmation fight ahead.

February 23: The departments of justice and education withdraw protections for transgender students in public schools that had been implemented by the Obama administration. Religious Right groups express their gratitude.

March 13: HHS announces its intention to eliminate “questions seeking to identify gay, lesbian and bisexual elders in a U.S. health survey.” The plan is later dropped. 

March 24: ProPublica reports that the Trump administration has “quietly appointed” former Heritage Foundation official Roger Severino to head the HHS Office for Civil Rights. 

March 29: The Census Bureau proposes and then quickly un-proposes counting LGBTQ people in the 2020 census. 

April 7: Neil Gorsuch is confirmed to the Supreme Court.

April 10: Nance and Dannenfelser go to the White House to celebrate with Gorsuch.

HHS under fire for proposal overseen by former anti-LGBTQ hate group employee

Shannon Royce, head of HHS's Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, is causing a controversy over a proposal which could negatively affect the health of women and the transgender community. In addition, eyebrows are being raised as to how public comments deemed negative to the proposal are being allegedly censored by HHS. Lastly, Royce's former tenure as chief operating officer of the anti-LGBTQ hate group the Family Research Council has to be factored in on both the fairness of the proposal and the accusations regarding the comments.

Editor's note - I'm running this post early because I figure after that final vote on that awful GOP tax bill, our minds will be caught up elsewhere.

The Department of Health and Human Services is now under fire for a decision which could negatively affect women seeking abortions and transgender men and women seeking medical care.

And it looks like a former employee of  anti-LGBTQ hate group the Family Research Council is linked to it.

From Politico:

HHS is defending its decision to withhold more than 10,000 public comments on a proposal that could affect access to abortion and care for transgender patients. 

“There has been a voluminous response to the [request for information], and the center’s team is working through a review of the submissions,” Shannon Royce, who leads the agency’s Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships and is overseeing the proposal, said in a statement on Monday night. 

The Trump administration in October sought public comments on its plan to reduce HHS' regulations for religious and faith-based groups. Allies and opponents of the plan say the stakes are high: Loosening the current requirements could allow such groups to cite religious exemptions and deny certain services and care. For example, Catholic hospitals could gain new protections to refuse to provide abortions. 

 . . . While HHS received 10,729 comments on its proposal, the agency has only posted 80 comments — less than 1 percent of all submissions — that overwhelmingly back the administration’s anti-abortion policies or attack regulations advanced by the Obama administration, such as a rule forcing health care providers that accept federal funding to provide services to transgender patients. Sources with knowledge of HHS' decision say the agency hand-picked the comments that it released.

According to the article, lawyers from all sides are bickering over whether or not this is illegal, with some saying that it really doesn't matter at all.

However, the article also contains an item which, if we lived in a world where people weren't so oblivious about certain things which are so obvious, would properly explain the fears some have about this policy and especially how it is being presented.

The person overseeing the proposal, Shannon Royce, served as chief operating officer the Family Research Council  until May of this year.

Politico calls Royce an anti-abortion activist and the Southern Poverty Law Center has called the Family Research Council an anti-LGBTQ hate group because it spreads negative and false narratives about the LGBTQ community (such as claiming that gay men molest children at a high level or implying homosexuality itself is a public health hazard).

 In recent years, FRC has aimed a lot of its efforts in denigrating the transgender community, including creating false policy papers filled with dubious claims and nasty rhetoric or lying about transgender troops serving in the military.

So to cut through all of the blather, this is the controversy:

HHS is issuing a proposal which could negatively affect a woman's access to an abortion and the transgender community's access to medical care in general because of the "religious liberty" argument.  The agency invited the public to give comments on this proposal but published less than one percent of the comments, with the majority being from people who support the proposal.

And the proposal is being overseen by a person who opposes abortions and, until very recently, was a high ranking officer in an organization who is known to have spread false stories and dubious claims about the transgender community.

It's safe to say suggest that this proposal and the seemingly unscrupulous way it is being handled has nothing to do with fairness, safety, or health. Unfortunately, it's all about ideology.