Tuesday, January 03, 2023

Gay journalist - George Santos' serial lying undercuts GOP attack on LGBTQ people

George Santos


For those who aren't paying attention, the GOP was supposed to officially take control of the House of Representatives on Tuesday. I say "supposed to" because they are presently sidetracked with a delightful internal fight which at present leaves them with no Speaker of the House.

Poor Kevin McCarthy. He bent over backwards, stooped lower than most, and handed off pieces of whatever little integrity he had for the job of Speaker and it still isn't enough to satisfy some of his own people.

Mind you though, this is simply one of the many problems the GOP has had stemming from last year's mid-terms. They were supposed to take over both Houses of Congress in what was called a "red wave." The "red wave" turned out to be a pink trickle which saw them barely taking over the House while actually losing a seat in the Senate.

However, lost in the story of the GOP in disarray is another one which we should pay close attention to.

 According to long-time LGBTQ journalist and good friend of mine (yes, I am name-dropping and clout- chasing) Michelangelo Signorile, this story has to do with recently elected and proven "liar-on-steroids" George Santos. 

To hear Signorile tell it, the LGBTQ community "dodged a bullet" in terms of the damage Santos could have done to the community as an openly gay Republican because his history of telling outrageous lies nukes his effectiveness as a possible mouthpiece for anti-LGBTQ legislation.

Signorile's column deserves a read and a share.

Excerpt:

None of us knows exactly what will happen next regarding fabulist grifter George Santos. But one thing is clear: As a House representative, he’s severely damaged goods, exposed beyond anyone’s wildest imagination as a less-than-talented Mr. Ripley. 

That is a great development for LGBTQ Americans as Republicans are set to push a federal “don’t say gay” bill through the House with the help of gay Republicans who psychotically believe they’ll be accepted by MAGA extremists immersed in QAnon conspiracies if they just throw some of their own under the bus. 

 Santos, who supported Ron DeSantis’s odious “don’t say gay” law, would have been front and center in this effort as the first non-incumbent gay Republican elected to the House. He’d surely have been the poster boy of self-hate, giving speeches on the floor and sitting on TV talk shows, pushing smears about gay teachers as “groomers,” and attacking drag queens and transgender people as dangerous to children.

 But now Santos will be too preoccupied with keeping his seat in Congress, let alone keeping himself out of an American, or perhaps Brazilian, prison. He’ll have to keep his head down as GOP leaders do everything they can to hide this deranged fabricator from the press. Nothing he says will have even a shred of credibility. 

 Only weeks ago the tiny band of gay MAGA in politics was exhilarated over having one of its own in the House. But after the scandal broke the joyous squealing fell more silent than a herd of feral pigs that suddenly keeled over.

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Thursday, December 29, 2022

DeSantis picks another fight with drag queens while ignoring a huge child sex trafficking scandal in Florida's foster care system

Instead of handling a child sex trafficking scandal in Florida's foster care system, Ron DeSantis is picking another fight with drag queens and the LGBTQ community.


Implying that LGBTQ people and our culture are "sexually grooming" kids has gotten Fl Governor Ron DeSantis a lot of press, so naturally he is continuing to push that narrative. 

From LGBTQNation:

The administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is investigating a performing arts venue for hosting a drag queen event. A right-wing online activist also recorded a video of himself being escorted out of the venue by security during the event after he stood up and yelled about kids being present. Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) is investigating the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale and other venues after receiving “multiple complaints” of a December 26 “A Drag Queen Christmas” event that was allegedly “sexually explicit” and “marketed to children,” The Hill reported. If the venues are found to have violated the DBPR’s licensing standards, they could have their business and liquor licenses revoked, essentially putting them out of business. The investigation could also be referred to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for “potential criminal liability.” 

 . . . In a letter addressed to the Orlando Philharmonic Plaza Foundation, the second-to-last stop on the show’s tour, and sent to Drag Fans, the event’s organizer, the DBPR wrote, “The Department has reason to believe that this drag show is of a sexual nature, involving the exposure or exhibition of sexual organs, similar sexual activity, and/or the sexualization of children’s stories. The Department has become aware that drag shows by Drag Fans have been marketed to and attended by minors, including young children.” In actuality, the show contains one reference to alcohol with neither no nudity nor sexual references. 

 . . .A spokesperson for the Broward Center told The Hill that the drag performance was limited to people 18 years or older, unless accompanied by a parent. However, the Center’s web page advertising the event on December 17 called the event “an all-ages show” that “may contain adult content.” The Broward Center also sent out a “Know Before You Go” message to ticket purchasers making them aware that the show contained adult themes and content.

Attacking drag shows by falsely claiming that they are deliberately and sexually marketing to kids has been a popular claim from conservative "activists" and politicians this year. Hysterical claims helped along by distorted and taken out of context videos have helped to fuel a false narrative which has led to threat of violence against not only drag queens but the LGBTQ community at large.

In this particular situation, however, there seems to be pushback against DeSantis. State Rep Carlos Guillermo Smith sent out a series of tweets claiming that DeSantis is more interested with picking fights with drag queens and pushing culture war tropes than actually dealing with a huge scandal involving child sex trafficking in the state's foster care system. 


In reference to Rep. Smith's second tweet, according to a November article in MSN:

An investigation published by the South Florida Sun Sentinel found that 6,669 hotels and other lodging establishments had received 14,279 citations since a 2019 sex trafficking law required them to make changes to protect victims. Under the anti-trafficking law, violators are supposed to receive fines of up to $2,000 a day. However, the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation says not a single fine has been issued because the law allows hotels a 90-day period to fix violations, and so far all have done so.

So apparently Florida does have a problem with sex-trafficking. But the problem isn't with drag queens or any other members of the LGBTQ community. The problem lies with DeSantis who is attempting to build a road to the presidency on the backs of LGBTQ people he demonizes and the sexually abused children he is ignoring.

Editor's note - This will most likely be my last post of 2022. Happy New Year and hope to see you in 2023.

'Elon Musk continues to embarrass himself by sharing bigoted memes' & other Thur midday news briefs

Elon Musk

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Wednesday, December 28, 2022

Video: Survivor of Pulse nightclub mass shooting calls out DeSantis, 'grifters,' & right-wing extremists for 'pouring gasoline on anti-LGBTQ hysteria'

2022 was an ugly year for LGBTQ Americans

. From bogus legislation targeting trans men, women, and children. to  elected officials exploiting us as a stepping stones to higher office, to wannabe internet personalities passing distorted videos about drag queens to further the lie that we want to 'sexuall groom' kids, violence - physical, psychological, and spiritual - increased against LGBTQ people at a level which I have never seen before.

And punctuating it all was the mass shooting at Club Q in Colorado which left five people dead and over 20 others injured.

Earlier this month, Congress held hearings about the violence against LGBTQ people. Testifying was Michael Anderson, James Slaugh and Matthew Haynes, three survivors of the Club Q shooting. And the man in the video above, Brandon Wolf who survived the 2016 mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Years from now, his testimony will be remembered as one of the greatest speeches of our time.


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Tuesday, December 27, 2022

Chaya Raichik of Libs of TikTok calls the entire LGBTQ community a child-grooming 'cult'

Chaya Raichik of Libs of TikTok may not know it yet, but she just gave the world her 'number.'


It only took just one interview with that disgusting Tucker Carlson for Chaya Raichik of Libs of TikTok to drop her mask and show the world her true ugly face of hate. Of course with so many other things, LGBTQ folks could have saved the world the trouble because we always had girlfriend's number.

From Mediaite:

The face behind the Libs of TikTok account was revealed Tuesday on Fox Nation’s Tucker Carlson Today. Fox News host Tucker Carlson sat down with the formerly anonymous creator Chaya Raichik, who declared the “LGBTQ community” has become a “cult.” The Libs of TikTok account shares videos from TikTok of LGBTQ activists and teachers who are typically fairly extreme in their views and expression of said views. The account has attracted a large following, but also faced backlash and been deemed hateful by critics. 

 Raichik made stunning comments in her interview with Carlson, accusing “evil” people within the “LGBTQ community” of trying to hurt kids. The creator said: 

 “There’s something so unique about — the LGBTQ community has become this cult and it’s so captivating and it pulls people in so strongly unlike anything we’ve ever seen and they brainwash people to join and they convince them of all these things and it’s really, really hard to get out of it. It’s really difficult.”


Alejandra Caraballo posted a clip of the interview on Twitter:



Let me be clear about two things.

1. Raichik just demonized an entire group of people. It wasn't just a simple generalization. She is saying that LGBTQ people as a group are dangerous because we supposedly want to harm children. And when groups are deemed as harmful to society, certain actions to undercut this supposed harm are either encouraged or overlooked. Even if said actions are violent. In other words, think of one of those animated RAID bugspray commercial in which first the bugs are deemed destructive and then eradicated in an overly dramatic way. 

Also, there is nothing new about what she claims. Anita Bryant made the same claim in the 70s. The discredited researcher Paul Cameron made the same claim in the 80s and 90s (Of course he also claimed that we stuffed gerbils up our rectums. How long will it be for Raichik goes down that road?) Demonization of LGBTQ people is an old practice and is no different than anti-Semitism, anti-Asian racism, or anti-black racism. The only difference in this case is that people are able to hide their bigotry behind terms like 'religious freedom' or videos deliberately and falsely accusing LGBTQ people of sexually grooming children. Strip away that subterfuge and we are talking about the same mindset which claims that Jewish people are funding worldwide chaos, Asian people are responsible for the coronavirus, or that black people are violent sociopaths.

2. Let's break this down for some folks inside of the LGBTQ community. 

All of you supposedly "straight-acting," "upstanding" gays pointing the finger at the so-called oddballs in the community who you claim makes it so difficult for us to be "accepted," 

All of you white-bread, privileged gays who count on your high status and money to shield you from the discrimination dealt to us so-called lower echelon gays,

All of you LGB folks pointing fingers at our transgender brothers and sisters, calling them "the problem," 

All of you silly, stuck in the past fools whining about how the new generation of LGBTQ are too extreme,

NONE of you are excluded. 

When Raichik attacked the community, she meant you too. Like or not, we all are in the same boat in her eyes. And she is steadily attempting to drill as many holes in the bottom as she can. 

Also, allow me to be clear about one last thing. 

Miss Thing's interview with Tucker Carlson confirms one fact which we all must be clear on and repeat. None of this is about protecting children. None of this is about stopping the sexual grooming of children. It is all about, as it is always was about, falsely portraying LGBTQ people as oversexed monsters (again). It is all about a slow and steady march to building a narrative which would eventually make it acceptable to wreck our lives. Either by legislation or something else less legal and more destructive. Or may all at the same time.

Sounds familiar? It should because we've had this dance before. So much so that one would think we could recognize the steps. 

Truth be told,  Raichik  doesn't gives a damn about sexually trafficked children. Strip away her ugly disguise and you have an obviously sad person with possible personality issues. Raichik is under the illusion that she is doing something worthwhile when in reality she is trafficking the same hate which has led to so much destruction against innocent people throughout history.