'Biden releases his LGBTQ policy plan' & other Fri midday news briefs

Joe Biden releases LGBTQ policy plan

Joe Biden releases his LGBTQ policy plan just in time to steal support from Bernie - Some say "steal.' I say because he is the present front runner in the race, he needs to do this. And folks need to read what it says BEFORE lodging any criticism. This is not a pro-Biden comment, just a request that people dispense with the bitchiness. This is serious and after SCOTUS rules in several LGBTQ cases, I have a feeling that things are going to get downright "real."

LGBTQ voters turned out in record numbers on Super Tuesday - And it's just the beginning. TRUST me. 

Former Illinois Congressman Aaron Schock Comes Out As Gay - Just in case folks are living in caves with their fingers in their ears. And if you've heard, you also know he is getting dragged and rightfully so. Schock wasn't necessarily an ally to his brothers and sisters. 

This brutal documentary exposes Chechnya’s queer genocide - Trigger alert - this ain't nice.

Alabama Senate passes bill making it a crime for doctors to correctly treat trans youth

The way these bills attacking trans children are circulating around the country, one would think there is a plot to make it a 2020 election issue. That remains to be seen, but Alabama just did something really harmful to our kids:

The Alabama Senate today passed a bill that would make it a crime for doctors to prescribe opposite sex hormones or drugs that block puberty from people under age 19 who identify as transgender. The bill by Sen. Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville, was approved by a committee last week after a public hearing that included testimony from doctors and people with first-hand experiences who took positions both for and against the bill.

Shelnutt said today most children with gender dysphoria eventually adjust and that giving them medications that could have permanent effects amounts to child abuse. Shelnutt’s bill is called the Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act. The Senate passed the bill today by a vote of 22-3. It moves to the House of Representatives. “I just don’t think and others don’t think that kids should be given experimental drugs or surgeries that could have irreversible consequences for the rest of their life,” Shelnutt said. “Kids are not fully developed until later in life. I think we can all agree that kids aren’t capable of making certain decisions until certain ages. And so, we want to just stop these procedures from happening in Alabama.”

'LGBTQ candidates chalk up big Super Tuesday wins, religious right candidates don't' & other Thur midday news briefs

LGBTQ Candidates Win Big In Super Tuesday Contests Across U.S. - Wonderful!

Texas Democrats picked a lesbian while Republicans rejected a religious right candidate - Good for Texas!

Super Tuesday Not So Super For These Religious-Right Candidates - And even more good news.

Pete Buttigieg’s candidacy meant a lot to LGBTQ Christians like me - Preach!!

Rita Moreno singing 'Everything's Coming Up Roses' cause the devil has been busy the day after Super Tuesday

Tonight will be a night of no politics on my blog simply because I am bit of a foul mood. No details, but I will say this - certain people have been attacking other people of a certain ethnic identity because these folks rejected their candidate. Definitely the "devil has been busy" the day after Super Tuesday (lighten up. it's just an expression.)

So I am going to do the most stereotypical gay thing in the world to calm the waters - or at least my soul. And that is post a video of a gay-friendly diva singing a show tune.

But this is rather different. From the 1976 motion picture version of the 1975 Broadway play The Ritz (about a man hiding in a gay bathhouse from his Mafia brother-in-law ), here is Rita Moreno singing 'Everything's Coming Up Roses.' Moreno won a Tony for her performance, which was well-deserved because only someone with a lot of  talent can pretend to be such a bad singer.

'Randy Rainbow reminds us what's important about the 2020 election' & other Wed midday news briefs

Some may disagree but it's worth remembering just in case the candidate you support does not get the nomination. The election is about the overturning of Trumpism.

Putin Calls For Russian Constitution To Define Marriage As Heterosexual - and you just know jerks over here will be getting ideas.

How a data-backed Christian nationalist machine helped Trump to power - I told folks to pay attention to the religious right.

Dallas will soon have the most rainbow crosswalks in the country -Every little milestone helps.

'Daily Wire' cowards call for violence against drag queens from the safety of their podcast 'studios'

The right continues to be scared of Drag Queen Story Hour

Drag Queen Story Hour is a national event, in which drag queen performers read children's books to youngsters. The point is to foster tolerance and encourage literacy. It is very popular among the children and their parents, many of whom participate in the event with their kids.

Unfortunately, Drag Queen Story Hour also attracts anti-LGBTQ and conservative figures looking to find something new to scare people about our community.

From Media Matters:

 The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh and Michael Knowles called for drastic measures to prevent drag queens from being around children, with Walsh explicitly calling for violence against them by saying “real men” should kick a drag queen “out on his ass” and call the police. Walsh also said that the adults in a room in which a drag queen danced in front of a child “should be going to prison,” and Knowles called on “the arm of the state to stop this.” 

 . . . On the March 2 edition of his podcast The Matt Walsh Show, Walsh claimed a video of a drag queen dancing in front of a child at a drag brunch illustrates “the collapse of Western society.” He called for violence against performers, saying that “real men” would be “grabbing that drag queen by the collar, if he has a collar, and dragging him out of the room, and kicking him out on his ass, out of the room, and then calling the police.” Walsh said that he believes that “all of the adults in that room, in that video, should be going to prison” and that the video should end with police officers storming the event.

. . . Also on March 2, Knowles covered the same video of the drag queen on his podcast, The Michael Knowles Show. He similarly called for state action against drag queens, saying, “We should use the arm of the state to stop this ... radical sexual grooming that’s going on for young people.” He also asked for the country to introduce laws to prevent drag queens from being around children, saying, “We have always had laws against this kind of stuff in America.”

 Again, there is nothing sexual going on when it comes to Drag Queen Story Hour.  It is a perfectly innocent event enjoyed by children and their parents.

'Team Trump to rally at 'Gay is Not Okay' church' & other Tue midday news briefs

Trump continues to target the LGBTQ community and the media continues to ignore it.

Team Trump to rally at ‘Gay is Not Okay’ church - From my pal, buddy, and person whom I am constantly envious at over his incredible astute activist, Jeremy Hooper comes this nauseating bit: 

  . . . the same team that sells pride merchandise on its site, is supposedly working to help LGBTQ people across the globe, and that gives lip service to being a friend to LGBTQ people is choosing to rally at a church that deeply opposes LGBTQ people and all that we stand for. Solid Rock Church has made no bones about its resistance to even basic acceptance of LGBTQ people, and has even managed to carve out a national profile due to this stance. But for Team Trump, this is just another opportunity to court ant-LGBTQ people through yet another deeply homophobic and transphobic partnership. 

 What say you, Richard Grenell, Peter Thiel, and Log Cabin Republicans? 

'Whiplash' Of LGBTQ Protections And Rights, From Obama To Trump - Trump targeted us and we aren't going to forget that. Or forgive it either. 

Drag queen charity bingo benefiting senior centers targeted by authorities as “gambling” - It was never gambling. The money always went to senior citizen charities.

Pete Buttigieg Changed What It Means For LGBTQ Candidates To Run For Office - Yes he did. And he made history.