Analyzing and refuting the inaccuracies lodged against the lgbt community by religious conservative organizations. Lies in the name of God are still lies.
A preacher, a delivery driver and a trans activist: Meet these SC Senate hopefuls - And just like that, history is made. Dayna Smith has become the first transgender person to run for public office in South Carolina. I've known Dayna for a long time and I can tell you that this is not joke. She is serious about becoming a state senator and will do a wonderful job. All of the naysayers (because they always come out when it comes to LGBTQ progress in South Carolina) need to remember that progress doesn't come from sitting on your ass and dismissing possibilities. Progress comes from making possibilities.
Religious right activist Janet Porter (formerly Folger) (last seen making a fool out of herself for Roy Moore during his failed Senate campaign last year) gave the answer as to why conservative evangelicals give unwavering support to Donald Trump in spite of his incompetence, basic dishonesty, and downright inhumanity.
And, believe it or not, she answered this question in 2010. It comes down to one basic thing:
When this video came out back then, it was view as comical. In light of recent events, particularly Trump in the White House, his very cozy relationships with Porter's colleagues in the evangelical right, and Justice Kennedy's retirement, Porter's prayer sails from comedy to eerie.
The sad irony is that Porter is heavily involved in the anti-abortion movement. And that is even spookier in light of the fact that should Trump's pick for SCOTUS get confirmed, attempting to overturn Roe vs. Wade seems to be the first order of business.
Then it will our turn to be at stake. So what can the LGBTQ community do about it? What we have always done from Day 1 - fight like hell. But it's not just simply us or those who believe that a woman has the right to control her own body who needs to fight like hell.
We all need to ask ourselves what example does America want to send to the world - do we want to be controlled by a bunch of self-righteous religious fanatics?
Ohio news station hosts the mother of a transgender boy to highlight dangers of anti-trans bill - You mean actually interviewing transgender people or supportive members of their family instead of bought-and-paid-for pundits or anti-LGBTQ talking heads with precise talking points? Why the very idea is so novel that it may actually give us a clear view of issues facing transgender Americans!
Witness the following tweet Franklin Graham just sent:
Parents in the East Penn School District are up in arms about being told they can't see videos that their children were shown without their permission. Parental rights are being ignored here. We need Christian men & women running for school boards. https://t.co/VJYYIQmQnY
Graham is so typical of the self-righteous homophobia which permeates conservative right-wing evangelical circles. He sees the words "LGBT" and automatically thinks of sex or "recruitment." Apparently to Graham, adherence to what he thinks is God's word is more important than reading comprehension. If he had taken the time to read the article he retweeted, he would have seen that the videos in question were about bullying:
Videos played by the Gay-Straight Alliance Club during Emmaus High School's morning announcements back in April are now in the spotlight.
At a school board meeting earlier this month several parents, community members and the president of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania voiced their concerns, saying the entire student body was exposed to homosexual and transgender ideals.
. . . Emmaus High School student Aidan Levinson says the idea that the videos forced the gay lifestyle onto heterosexual students couldn't be further from the truth.
"It was more of an anti-bullying effort more than anything else," Levinson said.
Levinson is not a member of the LGBTQ community, but spoke at the school board meeting Monday -- expressing his support for showing the videos.
. . .The superintendent of the East Penn School District says he was not aware of the videos before they played but has seen them since.
In a statement to 69 News he says, "I did view the videos at a later date and found them to be appropriate and related to the mission of eliminating bullying and promoting sensitivity and understanding of our LGBT population."
First of all, nothing in the article says that parents aren't allowed to see the videos. Aside from Graham's ignorance, this incident gives a view of the game which is played to stigmatize our community. A so-called pro-family group brands anything having to do with the LGBTQ community as scandalous, no matter how non-threatening it may be and then spooks parents into raising a fuss about it. It creates a situation which implies that we are attempting to "recruit" children behind the backs of their parents. The very idea is inane enough, but it gets downright insulting when one factors in that these concerned parents don't give a damn that LGBTQ students AND same-sex household with children exist and should have a say in the matter as much as them.
But speaking of Graham, I tend to think that him reading the article wouldn't have changed his mind about the situation. In 2015, he praised Russian president Vladimir Putin for how he was persecuting the gay community there, claiming that Putin was keeping children safe. So perhaps the idea that Graham is angry that the school district is attempting to keep LGBTQ kids safe from bullying isn't that farfetched to contemplate.
FRC's Tony Perkins don't know how my community can use our 'receipts.' He will learn.
Tony Perkins: We Can Do For Gay Rights What We’ve Done To Abortion Rights- So Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council is already picking out drapes to go with his version of America that he thinks Trump's pick for Kennedy will bring. We are deep into the second stage of what happens when the anti-LGBTQ right get a huge victory - them planning victory parties before the battle has even started. They learned nothing from their behavior and what it led to in 2004 after Bush was re-elected and they won several anti-marriage equality referendums in the same election. Or more to the point - if one of the largest anti-gay hate groups in America with a list of documented offenses a mile long - including relying on the work of a discredited researcher who once claimed that gay men stuff gerbils up their rectums - THINK it is easily going to take away our equality without a long, bruising fight in which folks like myself are now scouting where we can lay the deepest blows on its overall integrity, then it has some serious surprises coming. I do not say this to advocate violence and I am certainly not talking about violence. I simply mean certain "Christian" groups are damaging their brands even as I speak with their behavior. And all we have to do is deepen the holes they are poking into their own credibility.
This isn't an LGBTQ issue per se. But then again maybe it is. Being an African-American, I was very ecstatic when Barack Obama became the first black president of the United States. And I was also disgusted by the ways in which Fox News chipped away at him throughout his eight years in office by constantly labeling him as hating America and defining even the smallest of his actions as attempts to harm the country. It was deliberate. And it probably helped foster the vile attitudes among voters which led to Trump winning the Oval Office and all of the horrors coming with it, including a possible erosion of LGBTQ rights by whomever he selects to fill Kennedy's seat on SCOTUS.
History will NOT be kind to Fox News. And neither should any freedom-loving American.
Before diving in the news briefs, check out this video for a wonderful laugh. Anti-LGBTQ activist Dave Daubenmire resurrects the language and tone abandoned by "respectable" anti-LGBT groups, i.e. he melts down talking about "male butt sex."
Here’s why the GOP going after Roe v. Wade, LGBT and civil rights is a really bad idea for them - This opinion piece does bring up a good point which no one talks about - the religious and evangelical right are eager to undermine LGBTQ equality but probably fear the idea of a nation of pissed-off gay folks. It's no joke. There is an element of fear there which they hide quite expertly.
