Online attempts to connect LGBT equality with pedophilia are vicious hoaxes

This flyer is part of a vicious lie

Lies created to denigrate groups of people never really go away. They become phrased differently and continuously repeated.  African-Americans have to deal with it concerning issues of crime and violence.

And the LGBT community has to deal with the awful lie that most of us are pedophiles. Over the years, we've repeatedly refuted this lie. Unfortunately we have to continue that fight even in 2018

 According to the site Resisting Hate:

It has come to our attention recently that a group of people are using social media to try and undermine the LGBT movement by claiming to be part of a wider “LGBTP” group. The P (they claim) stands for Paedophilia and the group put out messages campaigning for the ‘rights of paedophiles to find love with children’. They make inflammatory comments about paedophiles having the right to actualise their love and make ludicrous comparisons between paedophiles and homosexuals. 

This is of course absolute nonsense and has nothing to do with the genuine LGBT community who are certainly not campainging for the rights of paedophiles. No credible LGBT group of whom we know have any intention at all of adding a ‘P’ to promote paedophile rights. This is nothing more than an attempt to discredit the good work of pro LGBT activists who fight for equal rights and education for the gay and transgender communities. 

(There are some groups who use a ‘P’ to support the pansexual community. Pansexuals find love indiscriminative of gender or gender identity. They are nothing at all to do with paedophiles. Groups using the P for this purpose are perfectly legitimate).

The investigation site Snopes dug deeper and discovered that there seems to be a legitimate plan to connect the LGBT community with pedophilia, One attempt involved a fraudulent flyer/poster (see flyer/poster above):

 This fraudulent poster seems to be the work of a 4chan misinformation campaign that began with a 23 June 2016 thread about tricking LGBT activists into supporting pedophiles. These “PsyOps” campaigns are usually aimed at tricking (“redpilling”) people into seeing “reality.” Several users chimed in with their ideas of how to make and promote the poster, which originally included the tagline “Love Is Ageless

And apparently, this isn't the only subversive attempt to undermine the LGBTQ community by connecting us with pedophilia.

Trump supporter Franklin Graham condemns Jimmy Carter's support of LGBT community' & other Fri midday news briefs

Franklin Graham has no grounds to condemn gays

Pro-Trump evangelist Franklin Graham slams Jimmy Carter by saying God will punish gays with fire and death - So old big mouth fake-ass Franklin Graham slams a 2015 pro-gay comment by former president Jimmy Carter. And he did so by bring up Sodom and Gomorrah. Well let me put it this way. Jesus once said "how can you point out the speck in your neighbor's eye when you have a beam in yours." To the same point of fact, I ask Graham "How can you bring up the so-called sodomy of your neighbor when you haven't wiped off the orange stains on your lips which came from  kissing Trump's sinful ass?"

Essays-on-Religious-Exemptions - OMG! This is so awesome and needs more coverage. These are personal stories from Americans about the many ways the religious right ideas of "religious liberty," or using religion as a weapon to discriminate, have negatively affected their lives and put them in danger.

Brett Kavanaugh Doesn’t Have To Reverse Obergefell To Destroy LGBTQ Rights - Something to think about. 

Trans coach boosting visibility for girls’ baseball - Wonderful! 

Gay couple’s son denied Irish passport over DNA rules - This right here is some evil bullshit. 

You don't get to call me a sinner AND help yourself to my gay tax dollars - I'm trying to get this to trend big time because this will be a HUGE issue if it already isn't. Religious-based groups fulfilling whatever service have every right to believe that my sexual orientation is evil and makes me a sinner. But I'll be damned if I am going to freely hand them my tax money to endorse that belief.

You don't get to call me a sinner AND help yourself to my gay tax dollars

For an organization which claims to be about truth, morality, and Christian values, the Family Research Council seems to use a lot of deception and misdirection to get its point across.

Case in point is the situation about a bill in Congress which would give tax dollars to adoption agencies which uses religion to discriminate against gays. The bill would also punish LGBT-friendly states if they tried to pass anti-discrimination laws.

The Family Research Council heavily supports the bill and, in that effort, pushed a heart-tugging story via the right-wing Daily Signal about a young expectant mother, Kelly Clemente,  who supposedly only wanted to give her baby to a family which shared her values.

The article and the video (courtesy of the Heritage Foundation, which also has a hand in creating copy for The Daily Signal. It's all connected, folks) is a definite tearjerker:

Now, 10 years later, she says that being able to handpick her son's family was the greatest comfort she had. So when a movement started to take away that right from moms like her, she couldn't help but speak out. When liberal activists started punishing adoption agencies for making sure kids were placed in homes with matching beliefs, Kelly was horrified. She watched as the dominos started to fall in places like Philadelphia, Massachusetts, Illinois, California, and D.C. Suddenly, groups like Bethany and Catholic Charities were being given a choice: start putting children in homes that violate the morals of birth moms like Kelly, pay crushing fines, or shut your doors. 

"I would never tell a gay couple, 'Oh, because you two are in love with each other, and you're not a heterosexual couple, don't even think about adopting a child.' That's not what I'm saying," Kelly explains in Heritage's new video. "What I am saying is that birth mothers have a right to choose." Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee agreed, voting 29-23 to protect the freedom of moms like Kelly. Thanks to adoption champions Reps. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) and Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), the new Labor-HHS spending bill now includes an amendment that says the federal government can't discriminate against faith-based groups if they decide not to provide services like adoption or foster care on religious grounds. The bill also says that if a state or local government is found in violation, HHS will withhold up to 15 percent of the federal child welfare funding from the areas responsible.

Just like the baker Jack Phillips in the Masterpiece cakeshop case, Clemente is allowing herself to be used as a pawn in order the cloud the issue. The issue is not who she picks to adopt her child or where she goes.

The issue is why should gay taxpayers have to give our hard earned money to groups which freely discriminate us. The Family Research Council avoids even bringing this up. The organization throws out another misdirection:

The Democrats, meanwhile, continued cranking out lies about what the amendment really does, insisting that it somehow stops same-sex couples from adopting. Hardly! The same adoption agencies that matched them with kids before this bill will still be matching them with kids after. That's because this debate has never been about banning LGBT adoption -- it's about letting everyone operate by their own set of beliefs.

Since using personal stories in order to control the narrative seems to be the order of the day for the anti-LGBTQ right, allow me to give mine.

Anti-gay groups celebrate & distort bill which weaponizes religion to degrade LGBT taxpayers

As to be expected, anti-LGBT organizations are either cheering

Thank you for your work on the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion amendment, @Robert_Aderholt! https://t.co/OzJoUaf1hI

— FRC (@FRCdc) July 12, 2018

or deliberately distorting a bill which would allow adoption agencies which discriminate against gays to still receive tax dollars and would also punish states which protect the LGBT community from discrimination.

Bill protects adoption agencies that protect children

My post from last night gives more detail about the bill. Please read and share:

House GOP bill would legalize giving tax dollars to anti-LGBT adoption agencies & punish LGBT-friendly states 

But most importantly, the bill gives a clear view of the how the anti-LGBTQ right reduced religion into a weapon against LGBTQ equality and safety in two ways

1. The bill itself weaponizes religion, one particular religion - i.e. conservative evangelical Christianity - to create a legal right to discriminate against the LGBT community. 

2.  The bill deliberately degrades the LGBT community by erasing us as taxpaying American citizens and forces us to pay for services which are denied to us. 

These points need to be repeated not only about this bill but also the entire narrative of "religious liberty" as perverted by groups like the Family Research Council and the American Family Association.

House GOP bill would legalize giving tax dollars to anti-LGBT adoption agencies & punish LGBT-friendly states

If the House GOP gets its way, this will be the future and gays will be giving up  tax dollars to fund it.

From Dominic Holden at Buzzfeed comes news that House Republicans just advanced an amendment out of committee which would allow adoption agencies to discriminate against gays while still helping themselves to gay tax dollars under the guise of "religious liberty."

The House Appropriations Committee advanced the amendment, introduced by Alabama Rep. Robert Aderholt, that says adoption agencies declining a child welfare service based on “sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions” could not be punished. 

Specifically, agencies that reject applicants, including gay couples and divorcées, based on religious objections, could not be denied federal funding. Nor could a state deny funding to agencies if it receives federal funding for child welfare services under the Social Security Act. 

Further, the measure would punish LGBT-friendly states. The Department of Health and Human Services would withhold 15% of its annual adoption dispersals from states that don’t meet the same standards for protecting religious adoption groups. States could lose federal adoption funds, for instance, if they ban anti-LGBT discrimination — thereby tilting federal adoption funding toward states that allow religious recusals.

According to Holden's article, the amendment goes in front of the entire House as a part of the federal budget where it could face opposition - or rather HAD BETTER face opposition - from Democrats and moderate Republicans.

Holden also pointed out that Alabama Rep. Robert Aderholt, who introduced the amendment, sent out the following tweet:

Today my colleagues and I of the @HouseAppropsGOP passed my amendment which prohibits the discrimination of child welfare providers based on religious beliefs or moral convictions.

— Rep. Robert Aderholt (@Robert_Aderholt) July 11, 2018

Conveniently Aderholt failed to address the lack of fairness in making LGBT taxpayers give their hard-earned monies to groups which would freely discriminate against us.

You gotta love those Republicans. They won't do anything to reign in the disaster that is the Trump Administration. They won't do anything about gun control. And they certainly won't do a thing about how the Trump Administration is committing a human rights disaster by stealing migrant children from their parents.

But they will bend over backwards to screw with us.

Y'all probably know what I am going to say, but I will repeat myself anyway.

We told folks that this nonsense about "religious liberty" wasn't just about cakes or flowers at gay weddings.

It's about weaponizing religion, one particular religion - i.e. conservative evangelical Christianity  - to create a legal right to discriminate against the LGBT community.  I hope it makes you angry enough to raise hell to your representatives, friends, and neighbors, and especially to vote in November. 

'Trump Administration to pay for migrant children detention by siphoning funds from HIV/AIDS program' & other Wed midday news briefs

Trump Administration To Pay For Detention Of Migrant Children By Siphoning Funds From HIV/AIDS Program - THIS IS WHY YOU DON'T PLAY GAMES WHEN VOTING, PEOPLE! It's bad enough that they are detaining migrant children, but now they are causing potential problems for those who have HIV/AIDS to pay for it. A flippant policy by a shitty leader can have terrible repercussions. It reminds me when Romanian leader Nicolae Ceausescu banned contraception and would not test the blood supplies in that country for diseases. It didn't end happily for anyone, not the scores of Romanian children who became infected with HIV/AIDS and definitely not Ceausescu. 

The ‘Minor Attracted Persons’ Flag Appears to Be a Hoax to Connect LGBTQs with Pedophilia - Meanwhile, we got hoaxes left and right attempting to mess with our community. 

‘Out and Sober’ group helps LGBTQ people with substance abuse recovery - I can push happy news too. 

‘Feminists’ Who Exclude Trans Women Aren’t Feminists At All - If there one thing I HATE, it's LGBTQ people who will work with the anti-LGBTQ right to harm their own people. And I really despise TERFs for doing it.

Trumpvangelicals use Christianity to oppress minorities — the #SlaveholderReligion hashtag highlights how - So true. Say it again!

Philly Christian foster care agency agrees to work with gay couples, city stops suspension of its contract

While religious right groups still continue to distort the SCOTUS ruling on the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, I doubt they will have much to say about a situation in Philadelphia which proves how difficult it will be to justify discriminating against the LGBTQ community while taking gay tax dollars.

This took place late last month, but it is still wonderful news:

The City of Philadelphia resumed foster-care and adoption work  . . .  with Bethany Christian Services, whose contract had been suspended because of its policy that prevented staff from working with same-sex couples. 

Department of Human Services Commissioner Cynthia Figueroa said Bethany Christian Services of Greater Delaware Valley had changed its policy to conform with the city’s antidiscrimination laws and partnered with the Mayor’s Office of LGBT Affairs to train staff on “cultural competency for serving individuals and same sex couples who are LGBTQ.” 

“Our faith calls us to work with vulnerable children and families and therefore, it is important that Christians remain in this space,” Bethany said in a statement. “To that end, while we will remain compliant with the law, we also remain committed to our Christian beliefs and core values.”

The announcement comes as a federal judge prepares to rule whether the city violated Catholic Social Services’ religious freedom by suspending its contract for the same reason. The city has said it was unaware of the discriminatory policies until a same-sex couple told the Inquirer and Daily News they were turned away from Bethany last year. Of Philadelphia’s 28 foster-care agencies, only Bethany and Catholic Social Services had policies against working with same-sex couples. The city suspended both contracts.

Like I said before, you can't justify discriminating against the LGBTQ community while taking our tax dollars. Of course regardless of this outcome, some will no doubt still try. Case in point is the related post below:

Related post:

Anti-LGBTQ hate group employee defends anti-gay adoption law with skillful evasion

'How will Trump's SCOTUS pick Kavanaugh handle LGBTQ cases?' & other Tue midday news briefs

Brett Kavanaugh

LGBTI and women's groups oppose Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh - Kavanaugh's record on LGBTQ equality is mostly a blank slate but we aren't taking ANY chances. 

Brett Kavanaugh Has GOP Bona Fides, But a Surprising Record - Hmmmm 

Brett Kavanaugh's Opinion On Gay Marriage Is Backed By A Notorious Anti-LGBTQ Group - This happened 13 years ago. Still may be relevant. 

Lesbian group’s anti-trans protest at London Pride backfires - You've heard about that ridiculous transphobic protest at London Pride. Here is how it backfired.

The overshadowed LGBT fight for ‘normality’ - This is a fascinating bit of LGBTQ history.

Radio conversation with 'Christian' Trump voter disassembles into jangled hot mess

This is something we should all listen to and remember the next time someone tells us that we should attempt to understand Trump voters.

On his SiriusXM show Friday, host John Fugelsang spoke with a Donald Trump-supporting caller named Tiffany. Because she said her Christian faith meant so much to her, Fugelsang tried getting her to answer a simple question: Could she cite anything from the Bible — any teaching of Jesus — that backed up Trump’s horrendous policies? In other words, was there anything Christian about Trump? Tiffany, who admitted her “political knowledge is not very high,” couldn’t come up with a single Christ-like thing about Trump.

 The above summary is merely a nice way to put this 13 minute conversation. All in all, Fuselgang's conversation with Tiffany ran the gambit from showing just how sadly uninformed  as a voter she was to her having a resentment-filled meltdown about immigrants. She claimed that she wasn't a Fox News viewer. I sincerely doubt that.

It would have been an amusing conversation except for the fact that it was over a million "Tiffanys" at the ballot box who put Trump in office.

      

'Trump's SCOTUS nominees alarm LGBTQ leaders, the huge problem I have with TERFs,' and other Mon midday news briefs

Trump's 'extreme' Supreme Court shortlist alarms LGBTQ advocates - As well they should. And yet another example of why some mutants voted for Trump. Nary a person of color in the bunch when it comes to his nominees. No matter. Bring it on. I'm feeling ornery. 

Trump's Three Alarming Supreme Court Finalists - And when it's whittled down to three, it's gonna be an ugly fight. And I adore ugly fights. I get to rhetorically throw chairs and get away with it.

Scholars dismantle the myth policing trans kids’ genders - It never ceases to amaze me how when the media talks about transgender issues, they hardly ever bring on anyone who has studied the issue. I care little for talking heads, but would definitely listen to an unbiased expert when it comes to issues like this.

Anti-trans group allowed to lead Pride in London march after hijack - In case you didn't hear, a small group of very annoying TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminists) briefly interrupted London's Pride celebration with the usual discriminatory bullshyte about how the trans community is erasing women. In the past, I've tried to understand this group. I've talked with a couple of them and read a lot of their literature. And the best way to describe them is how I describe homophobes. When it comes to homophobes, no matter what the issue about the LGBTQ community, it all comes down to their fevered imaginations of male gay sex. With the TERFs, it's all about the penis (particularly seeing penises) and the fear that transgender women want to force them to have sex. No matter how they intellectualize it, that's what it's all about - misandry so high that they view transgender women as men who want to violate ALL of their spaces. It's a lie. A big fat fearful lie. 

In An Already Tight Housing Market, LGBTQ Seniors Face Challenges Finding Homes They Can Afford - Don't forget about our LGBTQ seniors.

Early TBT- 'Becky with the big ole booty' steals show at anti-LGBTQ conference with interpretative dance

Call the following video an early "Throwback Thursday" gift. It's not to take lightly anything the LGBTQ community has to fight with regards to groups like the Family Research Council and the Alliance Defending Freedom scheming against us with the Trump Administration. It's simply a wonderful way to ease us into another week of fighting and maintaining.

But first a little intro

In November of last year, anti-gay hate group Mass Resistance held a wildly homophobic conference filled with crackpots spinning stories about gays recruiting children, harming children, and plotting to cause all sorts of general mayhem.

Probably the most sane moment was the conference kick-off, which featured an interpretative dance with rainbow flags by a Derek Paul, who I have nicknamed "Becky with the big ole booty." Needless to say the dance caught international attention due to where it took place. Some couldn't believe that this dance was genuine.  Others thought the guy was trolling the conference.  I say "wow, he got a big ole butt"

'How safe is LGBTQ equality with Kennedy gone from the Supreme Court?' & other Fri midday news briefs

Kennedy

Is marriage in danger with Kennedy gone from Supreme Court? - With the Alliance Defending Freedom leading the charge, I would wager that it's not just marriage equality which is in danger. 

‘I’d be panicked’: MSNBC’s Ali Velshi warns Trump court pick could destroy LGBT rights - My point, exactly. Except for the panic part. This is war and panic will only make you careless. 

New Jersey Gov. Signs Bills Giving Transgender Residents More Rights - Nice to see someone still on the ball in the midst of the nonsense. 

WND Column: Supreme Court Rulings On LGBT Equality, Church-State Separation Are Tyrannical - Via World Net Daily, the right-wing is getting just a little bit carried away with the notion of having a conservative majority on SCOTUS.

Pride may be over, but here's how to celebrate LGBTQ Wrath month - Totally tongue-in-cheek but it is SORELY NEEDED.

Throwback Thursday - NOM unleashes 'The Gathering Storm' against marriage equality

In 2009, the now toothless National Organization for Marriage unleashed a $1.5 million ad campaign against marriage equality. The center of this campaign was a television ad entitled The Gathering Storm, which attempted to shift the narrative to the idea that marriage equality will cause discrimination against those who disagree with it:

:
The backlash against this ad was immediate and vicious. Its campy nature was parodied constantly by "response" commercials. I've included several of them below. However, the long term effect of The Gathering Storm cannot be ignored because it formed the building blocks of the "religious liberty" argument which is now used in various attempts to justify anti-LGBTQ discrimination.

Still, the parodies are hilarious.

Tell the Washington Post not to sugarcoat its coverage of the anti-gay hate group Alliance Defending Freedom

Don't let the Alliance Defending Freedom fool you. Its goals are not noble.

No news briefs today. There is something more important happening.

Yesterday, the Washington Post published a fluff article on the anti-gay hate group the Alliance Defending Freedom.  The article is very one-sided, making ADF and its lawyers look normal and their goals noble. The first paragraph should give you a idea of what I'm talking about:

Two days before the announcement of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s retirement, a woman who stood to gain from it was on the steps of the Supreme Court once again. Kristen Waggoner’s blond bob was perfectly styled with humidity-fighting paste she’d slicked onto it that morning at the Trump hotel. Her 5-foot frame was heightened by a pair of nude pumps, despite a months-old ankle fracture in need of surgery. On her wrist was a silver bracelet she’d worn nonstop since Dec. 5, 2017, the day she marched up these iconic steps, stood before the justices and argued that a Christian baker could legally refuse to create a cake for a gay couple’s wedding.

It's like writing an article on long-time racist David Duke and going into detail about how his face-lift makes him look "distinguished."  Bear in mind that the Alliance Defending Freedom may purport to "protect Christians," but its definition of doing this is making sure that the LGBTQ community's equality and safety are undermined.  I am very disappointed that the Washington Post and the author of the article, Jessica Contrera, took this direction.

I've prepared two tweets which you can retweet, mark as a favorite, or build upon for your own tweet. The tweets include two items about the ADF which aren't included in the article. The goal is to demand more nuanced coverage when it comes to groups and people purporting to "protect Christians" from us.  And also to send a message to those groups, such as the Alliance Defending Freedom, that with more spotlight comes more scrutiny. You will be pulled out in the sunlight for the world to see you as you truly are. Not as you pretend to be.

@washingtonpost @mjcontrera (You failed to mention this in your normalization of the Alliance Defending Freedom. Please do better in the future). Alliance Defending Freedom is working to keep LGBTQ people from adopting children https://t.co/jo33DGdpoS

— Holy Bullies (@holybullies) July 5, 2018

@washingtonpost @mjcontrera (ADF has defended imprisoning gays & sterilizing trans people in foreign countries. Please do not normalize them or their lies.) Alliance Defending Freedom is attacking nearly every aspect of LGBTQ equality https://t.co/QXDwX87PwE

— Holy Bullies (@holybullies) July 5, 2018

Related post - The Christian Legal Army Behind ‘Masterpiece Cakeshop’ - A much more detailed and truer article about the Alliance Defending Freedom.

'Dayna Smith becomes first transgender person to run for public office in South Carolina' & other Tue midday news briefs

Dayna Smith

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.

White House won’t say if Kennedy successor will uphold LGBT rights - Hell, I can guess the answer to that question. That's why it is imperative that many of us who can do what Dayna Smith is doing. This is our country, too. 

Is the Supreme Court poised to side with ex-gay conversion therapy? - I don't necessarily agree with this but it is something to ponder. 

The Healing History Of Two-Spirit, A Term That Gives LGBTQ Natives A Voice - This is wonderful. Our communities has such a diverse outreach and history. To inhibit it via spotlighting only one region of the country or one group limits us severely.

The reason why the anti-LGBTQ, anti-choice evangelical right supports Donald Trump was given in 2010

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?

Or do we want to keep our freedoms?

'Ohio news station gives much needed platform to transgender community' & other Mon midday news briefs

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! 

Meet ‘Mama Dragons,’ A Fierce Group Of Moms ‘Breathing Fire’ For Their LGBTQ Kids - Mama Dragons? I LOVE it! 

Mormon Rockstar Releases Documentary on Helping LGBTQ Youth - I am in total support of this.

Anti-LGBTQ Campaign to Force Transgender Discrimination onto the Ballot Fails in Montana - Battles are still fought and won, regardless.

Here's What Pride In 2018 Looks Like All Around The World - Soak it in, folks. We are STILL badasses.

Franklin Graham pushes 'gay recruitment' hysteria over anti-bullying videos

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

— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) June 30, 2018

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.

'Anti-LGBTQ hate group leader Tony Perkins already 'picking out drapes' for America' & other Fri midday news briefs

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. 

DISCRIMINATION IN S.C.: Legislature Sends Appropriations Bill with Anti-LGBTQ Provision to Governor - And just like that, my backyard has fallen victim of one of those "let the adoption agencies smear gays while taking their tax money" bills. There will be a resolution to this and it will go in our favor.

The Day My Dad Kicked Me Out For Being Gay Changed My Life Forever - By deliberate design, anti-LGBTQ groups dehumanize us as a mindless horde out to force issues on people and destroy America if we don't get what we want. This man's story is the reality.

‘Queer Eye’ Stars Have Different Takes On Masterpiece Cakeshop Owner - One of them makes a wonderful point. Why should we give people like that cakeshop owner a piece of OUR platform under the illusion of being "civil." 

Conservatives hope an ampersand will help defeat marriage equality - A dumb campaign.

We should never forget what Fox News did to President Obama . . . and we should never forgive either

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.