'Religious freedom' is a quiet way of normalizing homophobia

Editor's note - With the news today that the Trump Administration is trying to shield healthcare workers who deny care on the grounds of "religious liberty," it is imperative that we don't continue to allow people to lie about what "religious liberty" is. In the hands of the anti-LGBTQ industry (groups and personalities of the religious right), religious liberty is less about protecting personal beliefs and more about being a weapon to undermine LGBTQ equality and safety. With that in mind, I am reposting a piece from 2014 (and slightly altered) which best explains what I am talking about.

In the 50s and 60s, they said we were perverts who ought to be jailed.  

In the 70s, they said we recruit children.

 In the 80s, they said we were diseased freaks who run around catching AIDS. 

 In the 90s, they said we wanted "special rights." 

 In the 2000s, they said we wanted to redefine marriage. 

 Now they claim we are trying to put Christians out of business and jail them.

The more I think of this bogus argument of "religious liberty" or "religious freedom," the more angry I become about how the entire debate is being conducted with no perspective. "Religious liberty" is merely a new anti-gay buzzword. It is the latest in a long line of concepts and claims used to justify anti-gay animus and discrimination. It's nothing new and it shouldn't be debated as if it is a new concept. Allow me to elucidate with the use of words and visuals from various anti-gay spokespeople and groups in debates throughout the years:

 1970s: Gays are pedophiles - "As a mother I know that homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children. Therefore, they must recruit our children." - Anita Bryant

1980s: Gays are diseased -   ''The poor homosexuals -- they have declared war upon nature, and now nature is extracting an awful retribution.'' - columnist and Presidential candidate Pat Buchanan during the early days of the AIDS crisis

'Trump Administration wants to shield healthcare workers who deny care on grounds of 'religious liberty'' & other Wed midday news briefs

The Trump Administration wants to shield healthcare workers who deny care on grounds of 'religious liberty.'

Trump to shield health care workers who claim moral objections - We warned this could happen when the anti-LGBTQ industry began its "religious liberty" lie:

The Trump administration is planning new protections for health workers who don't want to perform abortions, refuse to treat transgender patients based on their gender identity or provide other services for which they have moral objections. Under a proposed rule — which has been closely guarded at HHS and is now under review by the White House — the HHS office in charge of civil rights would be empowered to further shield these workers and punish organizations that don’t allow them to express their moral objections, according to sources on and off the Hill.

Trump will give healthcare workers the right to refuse to treat LGBT people - The ENTIRE LGBTQ community could be negatively affected by this. It's bad enough for our transgender brothers and sisters. That automatically puts the LGB community into this fight from the get-go.

The solution to this? Don't put all of your eggs in an "impeachment basket."Raise hell, get LGBTQs to run for public office, support positive candidates,  vote, register people to vote, break down Trump's power by helping to elect blue candidates later this year, then unite behind a 2020 candidate. ABOVE all, show unity, trust, and discipline.

Senior DHS adviser Frank Wuco claimed "societies and nations for millennia have suffered greatly" for LGBTQ acceptance - Meanwhile the hint of homophobia and transphobia taints other parts of the Trump Administration.

Gay Couple Sues Printing Company Over Homophobic Wedding Pamphlets - Mess like this only happens because we are winning. The other side is pushing back HARD. Keep the momentum going.

Alabama Senate Passes Bill To End Marriage Licenses - THIS is interesting.

MSNBC's Ari Mebler takes the evangelical right to church over their defense of Trump's racist comments

All I can say when I see this clip is "it's about time."

 For a while there, I felt like a lonely voice in the wilderness pleading to folks to not allow the anti-LGBTQ right and religious conservatives to walk away proverbially smelling like a rose after the controversy over Trump's vulgar words about immigrants from Africa, Haiti,and Central America. I was "collecting receipts," i.e. noting how Trump's religious conservative allies were either conveniently ignoring or defending his words. But it seemed that hardly anyone else, particularly folks in the LGBTQ community were.

 Our problem is that we are too damned jaded. We as a community have been hit constantly by these so-called Christians with their dehumanizing venom and lies that we've become desensitized to a degree by it. Call it a survival technique, if you will. The only problem with this is that when these folks are in a situation such as this which unmasks their hypocrisy, we can't amass enough anger, righteous indignation, and desire for payback to give them the verbal thrashing they deserve.

In other words, we can't be petty, if you will, when pettiness is the appropriate response to the situation.

Thank goodness Ari Mebler from MSNBC handles the business quite well. And he breaks the hypocrisy of the right wing quite nicely.

'Transgender kids: we are being discriminated against, Trump Administration: we don't think we can help you' & other Mon midday news briefs

Trump Admin To Transgender Kids: We Won’t Deal With Your Civil Rights Complaints - That the Trump Administration is attempting to ignore the complaints of transgender kids should surprise no one:

 In Texas, a transgender teenager said his high school discriminated against him for almost two years. He was not allowed to use the bathroom that corresponded with his gender identity. When he traveled overnight with one of the school’s teams, he wasn’t allowed to room with his male peers, he alleged. But Donald Trump’s Department of Education did not think it could help this student. 

The teenager’s case is one of at least three involving transgender students’ experiences navigating school bathrooms or gender-specific sports teams that the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has dismissed in the past several months, with the explanation that these issues do not fall under its jurisdiction, according to documents obtained by HuffPost and a source familiar with the matter. The Trump administration’s view of these cases diverges sharply from that of the Obama administration, which contended that Title IX ― the federal law that deals with sex discrimination ― included discrimination based on gender identity. 

The Obama administration issued guidance holding that schools should allow students to use the facilities that align with their gender identity. But a month into Trump’s presidency, the Department of Justice and Department of Education rescinded this guidance, saying that these issues should be decided at the local level and that the original guidance did not contain enough legal analysis. Since then, it has been unclear how exactly the Office for Civil Rights, or OCR, would handle these cases. An internal OCR memo from June directed employees to still take the complaints of transgender students seriously. It said employees may dismiss complaints related to bathroom issues, but it did not specifically direct them to do so.

Republicans block hate crime law for LGBT people in Virginia - A hate crimes law already exists in Virginia. They just don't want to add LGBTQs to it.

Ann Coulter says US should refuse entry to people with HIV - Begging y'all's pardon, but Ann Coulter can go to hell on this one.

No Mr. Perkins - You don't get to appropriate Martin Luther King's legacy - Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council won't comment on Trump's recent racist comments, but have the nerve to appropriate King's legacy simply because his niece is a poseur. Oh no you don't!

Cowardice of conservative evangelical leaders should always be remembered

It's both fascinating and sad that on a day in which we honor Martin Luther King, Jr., a religious man who became the moral voice of where America should be in relation to the treatment of its poor and minorities, we see other religious figures failing to a righteous stand  by their own choice.

In the aftermath of Trump's racist comments regarding immigrants from Africa and Haiti, one would think that the evangelical conservative leaders who support him would step up. Very few have and those who haven't stand out for their lack of courage and desire to defend or distract.

James Dobson once excused Trump's excesses by calling him a "baby Christian." According to the Washington Post, he has refused to comment on Trump's words.

Franklin Graham also refused to comment, but he did send out the following ridiculous tweet instead:

Then on Monday, he sent the following ironic tweet:

Robert Jeffress, Trump's supposed evangelical advisor, sent a tweet which supported Trump's comments while attempting to underplay its racist tone.

The Family Research Council chose to focus on attacking transgender children instead of addressing Trump's comments. Meanwhile, Ken Blackwell, a member of the group, attempted to defend Trump by completely distorting comments Obama once said about Libya.

These cowardly actions by conservative evangelical leaders shouldn't be forgotten. It really doesn't matter if no consequences will come of their words. It doesn't matter if they don't lose the support of their followers or that the media still regard them as "religious leaders."

What matters is that the truth be told about these leaders constantly and that truth never be far from the conversation about the things they do choose to take a stand on.

Or to speak plainly - the next time any of these jokers attack the LGBTQ community, I intend to say a couple of things about their embracing or ignoring Trump's racism.

Family Research Council chooses to attack transgender children instead of Trump's racism

No surprise here, but let's make it official and mark the Family Research Council as the latest conservative evangelical Trump-supporting bloc who have refused to comment on his recent racist statements about Haiti and Africa.

Instead, here are just two items the group decided to focus on today:

From what I hear, neither James Dobson nor Franklin Graham will be commenting about Trump's comments either.

No surprise here, but just consider what I'm doing now as "receipt gathering."

'Conservative evangelical pastor Robert Jeffress defends Trump's racist comments' & other Fri midday news briefs

Conservative evangelical pastor Robert Jeffress praised Trump's racist comments.

And we have our first conservative evangelical leader defending Trump's racist comments. Who else but Robert Jeffress:

What's missing in Jeffress' statement is how he can hold his breath with his head so far up Trump's ass. But I did hear that he has a special Bible which tells us that when the woman with the issue of blood touched the hem of Jesus's robe, Jesus turned to her and said, "Get away from me, you dirty bum."

And wouldn't you know it? Jeffress is a homophobe. A BIG one:

No fan of the gay community, Jeffress believes that gays and lesbians are “perverse” people who are either pedophiles or likely to abuse children in the future; compared homosexuality to bestiality and called it “a miserable lifestyle”; accused gay people of using “brainwashing techniques” to have homosexuality “crammed down our throats”; said that gay people “are engaged in the most detestable, unclean, abominable acts you can imagine”; predicted that the gay rights movement “will pave the way for that future world dictator, the Antichrist”; and labeled homosexuality a “filthy practice” that will lead to the “implosion of our country.”

Related post:  Dear conservative evangelicals, we notice your convenient silence about Trump's racist comments


In other news:

Within 1 Week, 4 Black Lesbians Were Murdered - THIS is downright spooky.

LGBT candidates hoping to ride Democratic wave - Damn right. Now is not the time for bickering.

Gospel singer leaves industry & comes out as bisexual - Good for you, my brotha!