Franklin Graham thinks his religion makes him an authority on science

Because of their support of him in the 2016 election, Trump has allowed conservative evangelicals leaders to gain access in his Administration. And due to this, many of them are out of control in terms of attempting to force policy on the rest of us. Many of them are blurring the lines between religion and politics.

None are more blatant about it than Franklin Graham. He has been supportive of Trump to the point of bending over backwards to dismiss his many faults. From time to time, he also sends proclamations to his over one million followers on twitter, like this one in which he sly infers that they should vote for Republicans in the upcoming midterm election or risk losing "religious liberty."

No one should buy the inevitable spin that Graham is merely taking advantage of his First Amendment rights. That is a lie and those who say it know this. Graham is exploiting his status as a highly prominent American religious leader to campaign for a political party.  He is adding a dangerous component to politics, i.e. the notion that voting for the "wrong" party is tantamount to sinning and God will punish you if you do. It is unethical on all counts and may be illegal. But who is going to demand that he be prosecuted for it? Who will attempt to stop him?

'GOP candidates go full homophobia, Franklin Graham embraces partisanship & abandons Christianity' & other Thur midday news briefs

Apparently, as we draw closer to the midterms, members of the GOP and their supporters are showing desperation, i.e. either pushing homophobia to scare voters or dropping all pretenses of piety:

An attack ad for an LGBTQ-friendly Republican shows a bizarre gay marriage - The ad, seen above, is disgusting. The comments are disabled for a reason.

How Dan Savage became an election issue in a Congressional race - It's getting deep in here.

And the pièce de résistance - Franklin Graham tweeted NOTHING about the terrorist threats yesterday via bombs mailed to Obama, Clinton, CNN, etc. Not a request to pray for whom the bombs were sent to or anything offering up sympathies. BUT he did send this lovely tweet out today:

Granted, if Graham sent out any prayers or sympathies in any other way, please let me know and I apologize beforehand if he did. All I know if Trump was sent this any of this stuff, Graham would be asking everyone pray, lay hands, speak in tongues, etc. As it stands now, Graham is so busy being partisan that he has forgotten to be Christian.

Democrats double down on Equality Act ahead of midterm elections - Meanwhile . . .

Trump’s anti-trans memo joins a long list of attacks against transgender people - Siiiigh! Pull up the list.

HRC - Trump's 'Erase Trans America' proposal could gut rights for the entire LGBTQ community

While the rest of the LGBTQ community must stand with our transgender brothers and sisters against Trump's awful proposal, we also need to understand the full stakes of it. According to this video by the Human Rights Campaign, Trump's proposal would not only create havoc for the transgender community but could also pave the way to take away rights from the entire LGBTQ community:

 

So-called Christian conservative burned four LGBTQ library books to protest equality' & other Wed midday news briefs

A Christian conservative burned four LGBTQ library books to protest equality - Oh yeah. LGBTQs and "the left" in general are the violent ones. Yet "Christian conservatives" are burning books and someone just tried to assassinate Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and George Soros. Not to mention blow up CNN (see post below):

Suspicious devices sent to Clintons, Obamas, CNN NY offices - This mess was on the edge when Clinton was in office (thank you Newt Gingrich) and really busted wide open when Obama became president. Fox News, Trump, etc - all of you are to blame. And let's not just make Fox News a big entity. Let's start naming individual pundits on that network who knew what they were doing. Words have an effect on people, assholes. 

LGBTQ Groups Confront Trump Officials About The Suffering Of Trans Kids In Tense Meeting - Oh snap! Take. No. Prisoners. 

Caitlyn Jenner Blasts Trump’s Trans Proposal As ‘Unacceptable Attack’ - Girlfriend, you are my sister and in the spirit of family, I have to frankly say WE TOLD YOUR ASS TRUMP WAS GONNA DO YOU DIRTY! 

Atlanta mayor claps back at Trump transgender erasure - Damn skippy!

Time Out - Let Stewie from 'Family Guy' make you laugh & cheer you up

For over a day, I've been posting news on Trump's awful 'Erase Trans America' proposal.  His nonsense has galvanized our community, but it has also depressed a lot of us. It emphasizes just how serious the situation is for our community nowadays. And to be honest, it brought back some awful memories for me. I think we all need something to make us laugh. Granted, our minds are still  on the fights ahead, but let's all just take it easy for a brief second and enjoy the following clip of my favorite character from the television series, 'Family Guy.'

'Trump claims his 'Erase Trans America' proposal is about protecting the country' & other Tue midday news briefs

Trump says transgender policy seeks to 'protect the country' - Huh? What kind of hooky-ass word salad bullshit is this? 

CDC chief on anti-trans memo: Stigma ‘not in the interest of public health’ - Even the man Trump appointed as the head of the Centers for Disease Control thinks Trump's "Erase Trans America" proposal is not a good idea. 

 Tony Perkins heads to Fox News to defend Trump administration's latest attack on trans rights - Meanwhile . . .  

These anti-LGBTQ group alumni work in federal agencies that will interpret potential anti-trans definition of gender - And this right here is scary for the entire LGBTQ community. Former employees of anti-LGBTQ hate groups working in areas of the federal government which overlooks justice, health, and education.

 A foster agency wants to discriminate against non-Christian parents - Told ya it was about more than a cake. 

LGBTQ acceptance is a 'partisan issue,' GLAAD survey of candidates finds - Well duuuuh.

Family Research Council tries to quell firestorm caused by Trump's 'Erase Trans America' proposal

Trump has got the LGBTQ community galvanized against him and the Family Research Council is scared.

You can count the Family Research Council as another entity (i.e. group or person) angry about the Trump Administration's  "Erase Trans America" proposal. However, seeing that it is the Family Research Council, the anger is not at anyone in the Trump Administration, but the New York Times for breaking the story:

No one is "defining transgenders out of existence." What President Trump is doing is following the law -- which, after eight years of Barack Obama's overreach, is suddenly a shocking concept. Under the last administration, liberals were so used to the president twisting the rules to suit the Left's agenda that it's news when Donald Trump decides to operate within the plain text of law. As far as the New York Times is concerned, the most "drastic" thing any president could do is bring America back in line with legal statutes. And this non-story that's setting the far-Left's hair on fire is nothing more than that.

In Sunday's piece, a trio of reporters argues that the Trump administration is disenfranchising people by defining gender as it always has been: a "biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth." No one is quite sure how that's radical, since it's how the law has been understood both before and since 1964. Not a single president questioned it until Obama, who decided that he didn't care what the Civil Rights Act said. He was going to "reinterpret" the 54-year-old law on "sex" discrimination to mean "sexual orientation" and gender identity too.

That's how the Obama administration justified its gender-confused school bathroom and shower mandate. They argued that people who identify as transgender were somehow part of the broad umbrella of "sex" outlined in the law in 1964. But, as FRC and others argued, sexual orientation wasn't on the minds of legislators 54 years ago when it was trying to weed out prejudice -- and more importantly, it wasn't in the text of the law it passed! Even the courts, where liberals turn when the public isn't on board with its extremism, called it a bridge too far. A half-century ago, Judge Reed O'Connor ruled, "Congress did not understand 'sex' to include 'gender identity.'" . . .