Coronavirus Camp Classics 3 - 'The Zombies of Sugar Hill'

Time for another change of pace in an attempt to perk up spirits during this pandemic. Try to keep up when it comes to the plot of this 1974 blaxploitation cult classic, Sugar Hill (otherwise known as The Zombies of Sugar Hill.) Marki Bey portrays Sugar Hill, a photographer whose boyfriend is murdered by the Mob because they to get ownership of his very lucrative night club. Naturally, Sugar wants revenge but can't go to the police. Instead, with the help of a voodoo priestess (Zara Cully of  'The Jeffersons') she contacts the Haitian lord of the dead, Baron Samedi, and his voodoo army of undead former slaves to teach exact proper and deadly vengeance.

You get all of that? By this trailer, it looks like a rather spooky movie:

It is slightly scary but it's more campy than scary. Being a blaxploitation movie, Sugar Hill shared the same tropes as others in that genre (ie. Coffy, Cleopatra Jones, Shaft, Superfly, Blacula) - a weak storyline carried by charismatic actors, strong and heroic black characters, evil white characters, sell-out evil black characters, racial components, outrageous hairstyles and fashions.

'A Secret Love' traces lesbian couple's relationship across six decades' & other Thur midday news briefs

 

Netflix’s ‘A Secret Love’ Traces Lesbian Couple’s Unlikely Romance Across 6 Decades - A wonderful story which puts out sisters in the spotlight. Awesome reminder of the power of love.

UK moves to ban trans youth from getting gender affirming health care -  Transphobia across the sea. NEVER a good thing.

 LGBTQ Asian Americans Brace for a 'Double Whammy' as Hate Crimes Rise - Siiiigh!

Homophobes rage at 'DuckTales' for featuring gay dads but can't do a thing about it

Some people are angry that the Disney cartoon 'DuckTales' featured gay dads in a recent episode. They can stay mad.

When it comes to noting and combating homophobia, I have a massive guilty pleasure. I sometimes like to read the comments on anti-LGBTQ websites. I don't necessarily see the comments as negative more than they are educational as to the mindsets of those who oppose us. And sometimes they are a pleasure to read.

For example, take the recent comments from the religious right website Lifesite News. Presently, the folks there are up in arms because a Disney cartoon, DuckTales had the temerity to include a simple fact that some children are being raised same-sex parents. Believe it or not, the article from the site is pretty much straight forward (except for a small part at the end.) It's the comments from readers which are a hoot. 

Raging, stomping, making threats, spinning conspiracies about plots to recruit children. They all emphasize the point that there is nothing more delicious than a bigot blowing smoke because he or she is unable to stop progress. Here are just a few. And I warn you, they aren't nice. (Editor's note - for the sake of veracity, I should tell you that I was banned from commenting on LifeSite news articles years ago.)

.... ohmygoodness, like - what is wrong with these people?! Can they just stop shoving LGBT nonsense on everybody's throats?! Leave the children alone for crying out loud!

Am I missing something? They portray a larger homosexual "duck" whose "companion" is a smaller "chicken" (having a beak and not a bill). This has got to be a play on older homosexual pedophiles, known as "chicken hawks", who prey on younger males.....there are people in Disney that are really perverted....

Why are they taking this show and adding gay peiple kids do not understand what gay means so why instroduce them.to this leave our kids alone go abck to good family oridinted movies this is.leaning towards perversion we need clean movies for our kids this is just disgusting (Editor's note - I presented this comment exactly as it was written)

Normal is the way God made it to begin with. He didn't make Adam and Steve or Eve and Madam. Normal is the way your mom and dad got together to create you.

April 15, 2020: Actually, it's up to the parents and guardians of children to make sure they don't get exposed to such perversion...spread the word. Raise Awareness of Disney's alliance with perversion and urge parents to keep their children away. When that happens, maybe Disney will back away of partnering with those who would harm our children.

I'm so gayed out! I have been done with Disney for years and it looks like I haven't missed anything. Sick and twisted.

I actually believe we are being prepared for the coming of the antichrist who will be a homosexual. satan perverts everything he can about Jesus and that is who he plans to be seen as. The Messiah of Israel.

I'm guessing that these comments rightfully disturb you. However, it helps to remember that they are a sign that we are winning. Years ago,  no one would have dared to include same-sex parents in a spotlight, much less a children's cartoon. And now it's happened without so much as a whimper, that is except for some people who can't face the reality that same-sex families exist, we are raising very wonderful children, and that our community was never on the outside looking in.

The comments probably don't feel like a victory to some of us because we are still in the war. We are knee deep in the mud with battle cries ringing in our ears while debris is continuously flying overhead. But in the midst of it all, we are moving forward instead of backwards. Ignorance is giving up ground. We aren't. And that is what matters.

'Advocates to Congress: don't use relief bill to discriminate against LGBTQ Americans' & other Wed midday news briefs

Advocates to Congress: Don't use relief bill to discriminate against LGBTQ Americans - Don't EVEN think about discriminating. 

A Republican compared coronavirus measures to Nazis. His gay, Jewish governor wasn’t having it. - That's right. Pluck that turkey!! 

 1 in 5 Russians Want to 'Eliminate' the LGBTQ Community - The struggle is real and it's starting to get scary.

Donald Trump is merely the symptom. Fox News is the disease.

 

 The Donald Trump Administration will not last forever. Whether it will slither away or go down in a blaze of shame is irrelevant. We've been ignoring the real problem and it's not Trump. Trump is merely a symptom. The actual problem is the Fox News network and the ugly propaganda it successfully spews. Just like it helped to create the tea party:

and the Trump presidency:

and the demonization of Obama:

 

Fox News and its goons will work extensively to give birth to more liars, sheep-like protesters, and  general havoc.   One example of this is how the network is helping to undermine the fight against COVID-19 via giving a platform and support to the coronavirus protests:

While we rail at Trump, we fail to recognize that behind his rise and the basic lowering of American integrity, common sense, and basic goodness is Fox News;  propaganda network preaching that greed is good, selfishness is wonderful, and resentment is a virtue. Many of us like to say that what's happening during the Trump Administration isn't normal. We need to stretch that to emphasize that the Fox News isn't normal. And it's not healthy. 

'Marriage equality blamed for coronavirus (again)' & other Tue midday news briefs

Pat Robertson 

Pat Robertson blames coronavirus on same-sex marriage - They're at it again part 1

LGBTQ Orgs Say They're in Deep Fundraising Trouble Because of Coronavirus - And we have a serious problem. 

 Conservative Christians calls for a boycott of Disney over DuckTales episode - They're at it again Part 2

Eight of 10 most-banned books challenged for LGBTQ content - Some things never change.

Coronavirus pandemic and AIDS epidemic have one thing in common - being undermined by the same anti-LGBTQ talking head

Gary Bauer

Discussions and arguments comparing the coronavirus pandemic to the AIDS epidemic have left a lot of people bristling. I've chosen to stay out of such a controversial discussion.

That is until today because I found a sad similarity between the two. The American Family Association's online "news" source, One News Now featured an interview with conservative evangelical talking head Gary Bauer. Bauer was spinning the insane notion - without any proof - that Donald Trump's opponents and the media was exploiting the coronavirus epidemic to yank down Trump's approval rating and eventually cost him re-election:

It's just hard to know how many of the American people are buying into this Democrat media narrative that the president reacted to all of this too slowly," he tells OneNewsNow. "The whole charge is ridiculous – but nearly every media outlet in the country is promoting that idea."Bauer doesn't deny that millions of Americans are hurting financially because of the lockdown – but suggests that some of the president's opponents don't have a problem with that.

"Historically even if a president was not responsible for the economic pain, people tend to blame the incumbent of whatever party if they've lost their job, if they've lost their business," he says. "So, this is a huge challenge for the president. [But] some of these people would like to keep things shut as long as possible, because that will mean that on Election Day there won't be enough recovery for voters to reelect the president and vice-president.

By making such a statement, Bauer is spreading false information much like Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. This filters down to the protests we have seen last weekend and this week by wrong-minded fools whining about how America needs to be "re-opened." And all of it serves to undermine the fight against COVID-19 or the coronavirus pandemic. Unfortunately, this sort of thing is not new to Bauer. Before making his name as a "pro-family" talking head, Bauer worked in the Reagan Administration.  That was the time when the AIDS virus hit America. Reportedly, Bauer undermined Surgeon General C. Everett Koop's efforts to fight against the epidemic because he felt that it was God's judgment.