This man help push a police of separating children from their parents at the Southern border. He belongs to a party that has cut funding for child healthcare, food assistance programs, school meals, and any assistance program that helps kids. Now suddenly the focus on trans kids. They love the culture wars and worrying about the sexual organs / gender expression of other people. Hugs
A deluge of radio spots and mailers targeting transgender children is hitting swing-state voters as part of a broad ad campaign directed by prominent Trump administration alums. Polling rarely registers transgender-related issues as a top priority for voters, with other topics like the economy and public safety taking the lead in this midterm cycle.
But America First Legal, launched by longtime Donald Trump aide Stephen Miller, has plastered airwaves and mailboxes with the issue ahead of the election — all without mentioning candidates currently running for office, as both groups are registered nonprofits.
Ads targeting transgender children have spread in at least 25 states across the political spectrum — from Texas to Illinois to Michigan — in the last month.
Radio ads and mailers — which fly under the radar more than TV spots — targeting transgender kids are flooding swing states, @mar1ssamart1nez and I report: https://t.co/QThf55KgZB
What the fuck. I simply cannot imagine having the time, energy, or other resources to be so vehemently opposed and oppressive toward a demographic that poses absolutely zero threat to oneself. Good grief, dude. Take up knitting or ceramics or something.
A federal judge in Phoenix issued a restraining order Tuesday night against a group that has been photographing and recording voters casting ballots at drop boxes in Arizona.
The order, issued by U.S. District Judge Michael Liburdi, prohibits Clean Elections USA from “openly” carrying weapons or “visibly wear body armor” within 250 feet of drop boxes. Liburdi’s order also bars the group’s members from taking photos, recording, following or yelling at voters within 75 feet of drop box locations.
Furthermore, he told the group’s founder, Melody Jennings, to post a message to her account on Truth Social, former President Donald Trump’s social media platform, that reads in part: “It is not always illegal to deposit multiple ballots in a ballot drop box. It is legal to deposit the ballot of a family member, household member, or person for whom you are the caregiver.”
The group and its founder were accused of “intimidation and harassment” of voters as they dropped off their ballots in Maricopa County. The lawsuit was filed by the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans and Voto Latino.
Armed people dressed in tactical gear at the site of a ballot drop box in Mesa, Ariz., on Oct. 21.Maricopa County Elections Department / AFP – Getty Images
Again politics and hate over accepted medical science. Gender-affirming care for both adolescents and adults has been endorsed by the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychiatric Association, and many other professional groups as necessary and frequently lifesaving for transgender individuals. One doctor wrote ““By proposing an alternative standard of care, Florida is ignoring the broad consensus among the medical community and the weight of peer-reviewed medical literature,” AAP president Dr. Moira Szilaygi said in written testimony. ” Plus to try to get unacceptable hateful ban on real medical care these people had to lie, repeatedly. Vice News reported in August that 10 researchers whose work was cited in Florida’s guidance say that their research was misrepresented or distorted to justify denying gender-affirming care. Proponents of the ban were reportedly allowed to speak first, some making misleading and false claims. One doctor who testified in favor of the ban falsely claimed that 90% of trans youth de-transition. These are the same people who claim that the covid vaccine causes death and that ivermectin is a treatment for Covid instead of real medications designed for Covid. They don’t believe in science or even medical care, they want profit and power. Hugs
The committee cut public comment short, leading some to call the hearing a “sham.”
A joint committee of the Florida Board of Medicine and the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine met last week. Photo: Screenshot
A joint committee of the Florida Board of Medicine and the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine has voted in favor of new proposed guidelines that would ban gender-affirming care for minors, which would effectively force transgender minors in the state to de-transition.
The new rules proposed by Florida’s Health Department in April and backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) would prohibit gender-affirming surgical procedures which experts say are almost never performed on young people, medications like puberty blockers and hormone therapy, and “any other procedure that alters primary or secondary sexual characteristics for the treatment of gender dysphoria” for patients under 18. They would also institute a mandatory 24-hour waiting period for adults seeking gender-affirming care.
Gender-affirming care for both adolescents and adults has been endorsed by the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychiatric Association, and many other professional groups as necessary and frequently lifesaving for transgender individuals. Vice News reported in August that 10 researchers whose work was cited in Florida’s guidance say that their research was misrepresented or distorted to justify denying gender-affirming care.
Last week’s vote occurred after five hours of heated testimony, which Harvard Law Cyberlaw Clinic’s Alejandra Caraballo characterized as “stacked against trans youth.” Proponents of the ban were reportedly allowed to speak first, some making misleading and false claims. One doctor who testified in favor of the ban falsely claimed that 90% of trans youth de-transition.
The hearing was stacked against trans youth from the start. Despite local families and activists getting there first, 9 anti-trans folks testified first. After selectively filtering to give a 50/50 split after, the board closed the hearing early leaving many to not speak.
According to Common Dreams, public commentary was overwhelmingly against the ban.
“By proposing an alternative standard of care, Florida is ignoring the broad consensus among the medical community and the weight of peer-reviewed medical literature,” AAP president Dr. Moira Szilaygi said in written testimony. “We call on the Florida Board of Medicine to reject the call for the development of new standards of care and ensure that the existing evidence-based standards of care are allowed to be used to care for children and adolescents with gender dysphoria. Only by doing so will the health and well-being of children and adolescents with gender dysphoria in Florida be preserved.”
“Going on testosterone is the single best decision I have ever made in my life and that is not an exaggeration,” 15-year-old Yuri Tversky said in written testimony. “I am no longer suicidal. I can finally acknowledge and embrace the fact that I have a future, and a family that loves and accepts me for who I am. I don’t have to pretend to be someone else anymore. Until now. Until you.”
“Gender-affirming care saved my life at 16,” said Aaron Demlow. “Please do not take this vital care away from other young people like me.”
Retired social worker Susan Nasrani who counseled a transgender youth testified that “Having access to gender-affirming medical care kept this young person from deep depression and suicide.”
Despite this, the committee ended public comment early, telling opponents of the ban to email them. Queer activist Erin Reed called the proceedings “a sham hearing with fake experts.”
A dark day for trans youth.
Florida Board of Medicine has just voted to ban gender affirming care for all trans teenagers.
They cut the hearing early and told activists to "email them."
Notice that when denied the right to publicly discriminate and hate others these Christians claim it is an attack on them and their religion. He is proud of their attempts to oppress others and very open about pushing their church believes, forcing everyone to live according to his Chruch doctrines. What a horrible world that would be. Hugs
Robert Jeffress has advised Mike Pence and Donald Trump. He also once advised a suicidal lesbian teen to go to conversion therapy.
Donald Trump with anti-gay pastor Robert Jeffress at a 2016 rally. Photo: Screenshot/Twitter @DanScavino
Powerful anti-LGBTQ Texas pastor Robert Jeffress said that the U.S. was “founded as a Christian Nation” and that conservative Christians should “impose their values on society.”
Jeffress, who is the senior pastor at the 14,000-member First Baptist Church in Dallas, was on Real America’s Voice talking about rising Christian nationalist sentiment in the U.S.
Christian nationalism is the idea that the U.S. should be an explicitly Christian nation and that there should not be a separation of church and state.
“We always put our love for God above everything, even allegiance to our country,” he said about conservative Christians. “But that’s not what they’re really talking about. Listen carefully. They say they are opposed to people who say America was founded as a Christian nation, Americans who believe not only in the spiritual heritage of our nation, but believe that we ought to use elections to help return our country to its Christian foundation.”
“If that’s Christian nationalism, count me in,” the pastor laughed. “Because that’s what we have to do. And what’s so hypocritical about this, Tim, is the left don’t mind at all imposing their values on our country through the election process. They don’t mind forcing their pro-abortion, pro-transgender, pro-open borders policy upon our nation.”
“But they object when conservative Christians try to impose their values on society at large. It’s complete hypocrisy.”
Jeffress has had access to some of the most powerful Republicans in the country. He was a member of Donald Trump’s Evangelical Executive Advisory Board and had Mike Pence speaking in his church back when he was vice president. In 2017, he spoke at a private inaugural service for the Trump and Pence families.
He also has a long history of anti-LGBTQ sentiment. In his 2004 book Hell? Yes! (which was re-published in 2008 under the title Outrageous Truth… Seven Absolutes You Can Still Believe) contained the “truth” that “homosexuality is a perversion.”
In that chapter, Jeffress wrote about a high school senior called “Susan” who had just come out.
Jeffress said he asked her how “God feels about your homosexual activity?”
“I understand now that God created me with these desires, desires that I have had since I was a little girl,” she responded, according to Jeffress. “For years I have been miserable trying to deny those feelings and have seriously contemplated suicide. But now that I have accepted who I am, I am happier than I have ever been in my life!”
Most people would probably be glad that a teenager who was considering suicide was feeling better, but not Jeffress. He wrote that “homosexual relationships are neither ‘normal’ nor ‘healthy’” and that gay activists are really working “to cover over the darkest secret associated with this perversion: child molestation.”
“None of us gets a ‘pass’ from God for rebellious behavior just because it arises from our innate desires, regardless of the cause of those desires,” he wrote. “But here is the good news: Through the power of Jesus Christ, all of us can be freed from acting on those desires.”
He added that it’s a “myth” that “homosexuality is a fixed desire and cannot be changed.”
As for Susan, he concluded: “I wish I could report that after hearing the above information, she renounced her homosexual tendencies, confessed her sin to God, and left my office with a newfound attraction to the opposite sex. She didn’t.”
Jeffress has supported conversion therapy as late as 2014 when he told a local TV station that he supports conversion therapy.
“I have talked to people who have undergone therapy like this and they have said as Christians it has helped them manage their temptations,” Jeffress said. “No therapy can remove those desires that we all have in different areas of life, but as a Christian, we have the power to overcome those desires and I think that’s the true reparative therapy that only comes to those who know Jesus Christ his savior.”
“It is so degrading that it is beyond description,” he said in the sermon. “And it is their filthy behavior that explains why they are so much more prone to disease.”
He has also said that marriage equality is a sign of the “last days” and in 2011 he said that he learned about the “brilliant plan of gay activists to normalize the abnormal practice of homosexuality using the same brainwashing techniques that had been used by the Chinese for hundreds of years.”
In 2015, he insisted that Christians are being “martyred” by LGBTQ people for being asked to follow the law.
“What is happening is that we are becoming desensitized to the persecution of Christians just not globally, but also in our Country,” he said. “The fact is that we are being told that Christians who refuse to serve a wedding cake to a gay couple, that they are extremists, its OK to take their livelihood and shut down their business. I believe that we are getting desensitized to that, which will pave the way for that future world dictator, the Antichrist, to persecute and martyr Christians without any repercussions whatsoever.”
Jeffress has denied that he is a Christian nationalist in the past, but he has also said that the separation of church and state was only meant to keep the government from favoring one form of Christianity over others, not to keep the government from forcing people to follow Christianity at all.
(l to r) Rome Pride, Sabastion Mikel and son Jaxen, and Justin Deal. Photos by Ivan Felipe and Lee Jones.
There’s Atlanta, and then there’s Georgia.
My photographer and I, firmly in the former category, were clear about this as we loaded his camera equipment onto my backseat before pulling out of his driveway on an unusually cool October morning en route to Rome, Georgia.
We were two Black gay men leaving behind the safety and inclusiveness — both actual and perceived — that we sometimes take for granted living in Georgia’s most populated city. And unlike many other cities in Georgia, Rome’s national reputation had already been shaped in our consciousness before we entered the city’s downtown area.
Before the 2020 election of Marjorie Taylor Greene to the U.S. House of Representatives, the city of Rome, a small, picturesque southern town an hour north of Atlanta, flew under the national political radar.
Rome, Georgia, October 10, 2022. Photo by Lee Jones Photography for Queerty.
Today, it’s nearly impossible for the 14th Congressional District, home to over 700,000, predominately white (73%) Georgia citizens, and ranking as the 28th most Republican district nationally, to avoid the national spotlight.
Largely because of Greene, Rome reaches beyond its seven hills and three rivers onto the national stage. With every tweet, election denial lie, and QAnon conspiracy theory amplified, Greene simultaneously energizes her supporters and humiliates a minority of the district’s residents in favor of her political agenda.
In February 2021, Greene drew applause from supporters for her opposition to The Equality Act — a long-stalled bill first that would extend civil rights protections to the queer community. But it was Rep. Marie Newman’s (D-IL) decision to erect a trans flag in support of her trans daughter outside her congressional office that provoked Greene to erect an opposing sign declaring “THERE ARE ONLY TWO GENDERS: MALE & FEMALE,” thereby erasing non-binary and trans people while inspiring supporters to echo her anti-trans rhetoric on Twitter.
A sign hangs on the wall outside the office of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) as a Transgender Pride flag hangs outside the office of Rep. Marie Newman (D-IL) (R) in the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill, on February 25, 2021, in Washington, D.C. Photo by Al Drago/Getty Images.
While Greene and other Republican leaders deploy fear tactics to rile up their base, her actions continue to have real-life consequences for her constituents in Rome, especially for the parents of trans children who believe Greene’s anti-trans rhetoric creates an environment in Rome where their children are less safe.
Rome resident Lynn Green is president of Rome, Georgia’s PFLAG chapter and mother of 15-year-old trans son Ashby. After living a quiet, mostly apolitical life for nearly two decades, she founded a local PFLAG chapter after her son came out as trans three years ago and discovered that she was not the only mother of a trans or gay child in Rome.
“A lot of straight cisgendered families don’t talk about it, so it’s not well known,” she says. “But I guarantee that the family sitting next to you in church or the guy at the restaurant at the next table either has a queer immediate family member, cousin, or friend. But we don’t talk about it. And so, nobody knows here.”
Green tells Queerty that living in the district can be scary. More than 73% of residents voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 election, and families like hers are constantly on the receiving end of Marjorie Taylor Greene’s rhetorical blows.
Our society is sick. Mothers are mutilating and murdering their babies through transgenderism and abortion. Meanwhile, society sits back and allows men to destroy women’s sports.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) April 8, 2022
Twitter says this tweet violated rules about hateful conduct.
I can’t imagine anything more hateful than promoting “gender reassignment” surgeries for children. https://t.co/65LHtYXbGw
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) July 18, 2022
Only one day each year, we honor military members who died serving our country for ALL of us to be free.
An entire #PrideMonth and millions in spending through corporations & our government on LGBTQ sexual identity needs to end.
The movements goals were achieved, were they not?
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) June 1, 2022
And with the Republican stronghold on the district and Marjorie Taylor Greene campaign signs on almost every block, it’s a constant reminder that queer people in Rome are not only in the minority but the fodder for political attacks that only threaten to get worse in a Republican Congressional majority. In addition, residents across the state face the continued advancement of anti-LGBTQ legislation, including Georgia House Bill 1084, which created an athletic committee with the power to ban transgender youth from playing on sports teams that align with their gender identity. Governor Brian Kemp signed the bill into law this April and remains ahead in the polls in his reelection campaign again LGBTQ stalwart Stacy Abrams.
The fight for trans equality
Sabastion Mikel, 29, is a trans father and birth parent of two boys, Jaxen, 6, and Colin, 3.
A Locust Grove, Georgia native, Mikel is approaching his second year as a Rome resident. He began transitioning at 18 after a tumultuous coming out that led him to escape during his senior year to a now-closed safe house for trans people in Arizona. While he prefers small-town life, Mikel says living in the conservative area as a trans person comes at a price.
Sabastion Mikel with son Jaxen, October 10, 2022. Photo by Lee Jones Photography for Queerty.
“Being an out queer person is kind of scary here. I have concerns about going to the doctor sometimes. I have been turned down in the past for medical care because I am trans,” he says.
In August, Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced the Protect Children’s Innocence Act, a bill that would make providing gender-affirming care to a minor a felony punishable by up to 25 years in prison with a maximum fine of $25,000.
Access to affirming trans healthcare is also a concern for Green and her trans son, who have witnessed trans adults in Rome drive as far as 200 miles to Augusta, Georgia, to receive appropriate medical care.
“One of the good things to come out of the pandemic is we’re able to see a doctor in Decatur [Georgia], virtually,” Green says. “My child won’t go to the doctor here. My child wouldn’t go to immediate care even when he had COVID because all his charts say F for female.”
In Georgia, trans individuals must undergo sex reassignment surgery (SRS) before legally amending the gender marker on their birth certificate. Some jurisdictions, however, permit a gender marker change if the individual is undergoing hormone therapy. Green says her son’s legal name change now appears on his birth and medical records. And at 15, he has also begun hormone therapy, a medical decision Green says was necessary for his mental health.
“I know my child, and they were not okay,” she says. “This is not a decision that me and his dad made on a whim. Through conversations with therapists and the doctor, we learned that we could try very small increments of things. And if it’s working, then we know we’re on the right track. And if it’s not working, then we stop. No harm, no foul. No permanent changes,” she says.
Rome resident Lynn Green, October 10, 2022. Photo by Lee Jones Photography for Queerty.
The American Medical Association (AMA) supports Green’s claims and issued a formal recommendation to the National Governors Association in April 2021, urging member governors to oppose state legislation prohibiting medically necessary gender transition-related care to minors.
AMA chief executive officer Dr. James L. Madara wrote that “mental health counseling, non-medical social transition, gender-affirming hormone therapy, and/or gender-affirming surgeries” were medically accepted standards of care, concluding that “it is imperative that transgender minors be given the opportunity to explore their gender identity under the safe and supportive care of a physician.”
In Rome, Green has become a surrogate mother, and her home a safe place for other trans kids who have experienced rejection or been denied medical care — scenarios that Green struggles to accept.
“Why would you not accept your child? I can’t imagine acting any other way or making any other decisions,” she says. “I wish that more people would be open to at least considering [hormone therapy] and having the conversation. It might not be right for every child, but if it’s right for yours, it’ll save their life.”
Green says her entire family is prepared with passports if the proposed bill prohibiting gender-affirming care ever becomes law.
“Who would’ve ever thought I’d have a conversation with my 15-year-old child about what country would you want to live in if we had to leave?” she says. “I never in my life would have predicted those conversations.”
Pride comes in all shapes and sizes
Like Green, Justin Deal, 36, is a Rome activist out of necessity. Deal identifies as pansexual and is the driving force behind the city’s inaugural Rome Pride. The event drew hundreds of people to Heritage Park in June. A few weeks prior, Marjorie Taylor Greene publicly called for an end to Pride Month while citing the “possible extinction of straight people within 150 years.”
Rome Pride celebration in Heritage Park, June 25, 2022. Photo by Ivan Felipe Photography.
“When I think about her [Greene], she’s the epitome and kind of a microcosm of the problems in this area,” Deal says. “And she’s exacerbated those and made them worse.”
According to Deal, Greene’s rhetoric has trickled down into the community, saying it’s not uncommon for Rome Pride to receive emails with profanity and anti-gay slurs. But the unwanted coverage on Greene’s weekly Facebook live show featuring drag performer Benjamin Gentry’s (aka Courtney Chanel Stratton) scheduled appearance during drag queen story time spurred death threats. Gentry subsequently withdrew from the event out of safety concerns.
Gentry accuses Greene of attempting to dox him.
“You can hear her say during the live stream, ‘Do we know where — does he live in Rome?’ She was trying to find my home address to give it out,” he says.
Rome Pride, June 25, 2022. Photo by Ivan Felipe Photography.
Gentry and Pride organizers secretly relocated drag queen story time and notified registered attendees of the new location.
“All these people who were supposedly going to stop drag queen story time showed up to the gazebo to nothing,” Gentry says through laughter. “We had even more people come to see it because of her free advertising.”
“She was poking the bear,” Deal explains. “And at that point, we were just a small-town Pride. We weren’t looking for that kind of coverage.”
Then like clockwork, Greene published a tweet in June threatening to introduce legislation to make it illegal for children to be exposed to drag performances.
I’m introducing a bill to make it illegal for children to be exposed to Drag Queen performances.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) June 15, 2022
The uphill battle to unseat Marjorie Taylor Greene
Marcus Flowers, an army veteran and former official for the Department of Defense, is Greene’s Democratic opponent in the 14th Congressional District seat race.
His surprise appearance donning his signature Black cowboy hat in the Rome Pride Parade and his willingness to listen to their concerns amid Greene’s chaos has endeared him to the local queer community.
Marcus Flowers, running against U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), is seen outside of an America First Rally on May 27, 2021, in Dalton, Georgia. Photo by Megan Varner/Getty Images.
“As a member of Congress, you represent all of the constituents of your district, no matter race, creed, religion, or sexual preference,” Flowers tells Queerty. “And that’s what members of Congress like Marjorie Taylor Greene are forgetting.”
It was was a pleasure marching alongside my fellow Georgians in today’s Pride parade in Rome!🏳️🌈 pic.twitter.com/sRpDsoPezF
Wendy Davis, who lost the Democratic primary election to Flowers but served two terms as Rome’s city commissioner, says that while Greene’s conspiracy theories have gotten most of the attention, she’s actually remained focused on the bread-and-butter of the GOP base.
“How we get here wasn’t because everybody around here went QAnon cuckoo,” Davis told The Guardian. “We got here because she loved Trump, she loved guns, she hated socialism, she hated abortion and that won that primary and it’s a Republican district.”
Will slow and steady win the race?
Justin Deal, October 10, 2022. Photo by Lee Jones Photography for Queerty.
For Deal, Greene’s actions are the fuel that ignites their activism in Rome and keeps Deal from fleeing to a more progressive city. Deal tells Queerty that many residents react positively to the growing visibility of the LGBTQ community in the conservative town. And despite the lack of gay bars or businesses, unexpected allies are creating space.
“There’s never really been an establishment. We have a few spots that’ll do an LGBTQ night. We now have drag shows at least once a month at Peaches,” Deal says, referencing the nightclub venue in Rome that has provided space for local drag queens to perform.
Peaches, Rome, Georgia, October 10, 2022. Photo by Lee Jones Photography for Queerty.
Surprisingly, many local businesses jumped at the opportunity to sponsor Rome Pride.
“We were blown away,” Green says. “Come to find out, they all have a connection, a child, a brother, or a sister that’s part of the community. And so it was important for them to support. But you wouldn’t know that by walking down the street.”
Because of Deal and Green’s organizing, the city of Rome has officially recognized June as LGBTQ Pride Month, a process that only requires approval from the city clerk’s office after citizen request, according to Kristi Kent, communications director for the City of Rome.
Rome Pride, June 25, 2022. Photo by Ivan Felipe Photography.
The proclamation request received little pushback.
That’s not to say the district will become more accepting any time soon. Flowers faces an uphill battle unseating Greene in November, given Greene’s commanding lead in the polls.
But for Gentry, who references one of Greene’s most widely derided conspiracy theories with the wit of his drag persona, the choice is clear.
“The b*tch believes in space lasers,” he says of Greene’s rant about the cause of California’s 2018 wildfires. “How can you vote for someone that thinks Jewish space lasers are turning people gay and liberal?”
Despite her antics and the inhospitality of some residents, the LGBTQ community in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District isn’t going anywhere.
Miami-Dade County requires that poll volunteers during elections pledge to be “respectful of all voters” and to “remain nonpartisan,” but at least one high-profile volunteer has cast some doubt on his desire to follow those rules.
“That’s right, you heard it right, I’m working the poll. Cry some more, liberals. Enjoy your day,” said ex-Vice City Proud Boys leader Gabriel Garcia while wearing a “Fuck Biden” hat in a video shared on the “Floridians FIRST” Telegram channel.
Two other men who were at one time affiliated with the Vice City Proud Boys — a Miami-based splinter sect of the group that’s now been disavowed by national leadership, according to members of the Villain City Proud Boys — will also be working the polls.
All three are members of the Miami-Dade Republican Executive Committee. In the video below, Garcia can be heard calling out, “Nancy! Come out and play!” as he stormed the Capitol. Garcia last appeared on JMG when he was among the Proud Boys who blocked reporters from the hospital room of Marco Rubio’s canvasser.
3 ex-Proud Boys hired as Miami-Dade poll workers. One of the three tossed a couple weeks ago after Election Chief found out he's about to go on trial for Jan 6 felonies. https://t.co/0wxx9NXcjR
Maybe they’re just assholes, but maybe they’ll learn from exposure that most of the people involved with our elections want them to be handled fairly and truthfully. And that most people accept the results even if they don’t get what they wanted. In 2016, I hoped right to the end, that the Electors would do the part of their job that is to prevent someone unworthy from becoming President. They didn’t and I cringed for the next 4 years, but I managed not to riot. I’m not saying they should be more like me, but they should.
Don’t be surprised that the right wing gang thugs don’t try to do this also. And the republicans / police will look the other way. Over the years the right has both politically and physically tried to stop the other side from voting. Now they are trying to intimidate the voters trying to use drop boxes. What makes you think they won’t just try it at the entrances to polling places in democratic areas? The republican party has already called for right wing poll watchers with instructions to impede voting by minorities, what makes you think that some maga people won’t just block entrances or roadways. Hugs
The future of one of the world’s largest democracies and the Amazon rainforest was on a knife edge as Brazil held its most important election in decades and its far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, battled to cling to power amid claims that security forces were engaged in a pro-Bolsonaro voter suppression campaign.
As 156 million Brazilians went to the polls, there were alarming reports that members of the federal highway police – a notoriously pro-Bolsonaro security force – had set up roadblocks in Lula strongholds in the country’s north-east.
Brazil’s opposition denounced the unusual operations, which were reportedly planned during a meeting at Bolsonaro’s official presidential residence, as a deliberate attempt to prevent Lula voters reaching their polling stations.
Brazil is feared to be undergoing a massive campaign of voter suppression, with federal highway patrols conducting hundreds of operations causing traffic chaos, especially in the Northern areas, where a huge turnout for left-leaning former president Lula was expected.
Organizers of a Halloween-themed drag show meant to raise funds for a local LGBTQ resource center are facing threats of violence and death after the event was featured by a right wing Twitter account with a nationwide reach.
Lindsey Knapp, an attorney and U.S. Army veteran who has works as an advocate for victims of sexual violence, said she’s started receiving threats of violence and death over the event from strangers after the event was featured this week by “Libs of TikTok.”
Libs of TikTok’s tweet indicates that one of the drag performers is “inspired by Satanism,” although Knapp says she doesn’t know that performer and they are not on Sunday’s bill.
Happening now: 16 Proud Boys & about 16 others holding signs about “groomers” are outside a venue in Sanford, NC that is hosting a drag brunch pic.twitter.com/QRb5on2gvN
The Proud Boys have been claiming all day they had supporters inside taking pictures of the drag show brunch. I didn’t believe it until this woman came out and got a selfie with them flashing “white power” before she left. pic.twitter.com/I9MkXOzRb6
Notice these assholes are masked. These are the same people that stormed school board meetings to stop mask wearing. These are the same people that would not wear masks in stores or shops when we were having a public health emergency to protect against virus, but will cover their face to harass and intimidate people doing a legal activity. This is so like the abortion clinic protest people, figuring their demands must be met and the facilities closed by force if necessary. Well there is no right to abortion in the red states, and some of those same states have bills to make drag shows against the law also. What is next outlawing gays, lesbians, definitely they will ban trans people. Plus notice these are white supremacy white power groups. This is the right wing now racist gang thug bigots. Hugs
yes, and its the ‘standard’ in NC,and SC, SCs ancient gov loves anything that is anti LGBT, NC relig kooks in upper gov levels are the same….The weather is good in those states, and temps stay in the 1860s Year round……
Agreed. We need to get the gym bunnies out there to intimidate them right back. Those boys can maybe use their muscles for something besides preening and posing in the mirror.
It should be obvious by now that the fascists don’t give two shits about grooming and pedophilia on their side, nor will that dissuade people from voting for them.
Don’t take this personally, but there’s a serious case of chronic “‘Daily Show’ brain” on our side, where people still seem to think that point out hypocrisy on the right, with a bit of snark added for good measure, is an effective political tactic.
Fascists don’t care about consistency or looking like the good guys. They care about power.
“….don’t give two shits about grooming and pedophilia…” That is too true. Whatever they hate about others is food for this behavior. Gay people and abortion are so hated in this country, that they can do this with impunity and they know it. It really is time for some payback.
Not, not at all unsurprising. Except for a few, many cops hate gays and racial/ethnic minorities. Now they feel empowered to put their hatred into action. Derek Chauvin’s conviction and imprisonment were a fluke. How many are still out there, killing with impunity?
Maybe it’s because these guys–at least the unmasked ones–look like guys in pickup trucks hanging around the cruisey area of the local woods, a friend tells me.
So they can keep bullying and terrorizing is without repercussions. I thought it would be obvious by now that it’s useless to try and “well ackshually” them by pointing out hypocrisy and inconsistency.
To be called out on one’s hypocrisy, one would have to have some shame (at least for the calling out to have positive results). Most of this lot have no shame.
This is not democracy. Drag events are legal, and thugs, gang thugs are stopping them. Where are the police to stop this? Is the US a country of laws or a place run by gangs like in Hati? Notice who is behind it and who is pushing it. The damn Libs of TicTok, a rabid hate group run by a woman and her daughter. They claimed gay kids shouldn’t be in the same classrooms as “normal” kids. What is next that black kids shouldn’t be in the same classrooms as white kids? They are the moral police of the right and the gang Proud Boys are the brownshirt enforcers. This is how the republicans want to govern. This is how the right wants to live, being able to cause fear and intimidate other people into living according to the gangs’ demands. Hugs
Organizers of a Halloween-themed drag show meant to raise funds for a local LGBTQ resource center are facing threats of violence and death after the event was featured by a right wing Twitter account with a nationwide reach.
But organizer and SYCC owner Lindsey Knapp, an attorney and U.S. Army veteran who has works as an advocate for victims of sexual violence, said she’s started receiving threats of violence and death over the event from strangers after the event was featured this week by “Libs of TikTok,” a Twitter account with 1.4 million followers that “reposts a steady stream of TikTok videos and social media posts, primarily from LGBTQ+ people, often including incendiary framing designed to generate outrage,” according to a story from earlier this year in the Washington Post.
Libs of TikTok’s tweet indicates that one of the drag performers is “inspired by Satanism,” although Knapp says she doesn’t know that performer and they are not on Sunday’s bill.
“I’m not so concerned about the people who are just mad at me or who may show up to protest,” Knapp said Friday. “On the back end, there are people posting threats, saying to show up with guns and ‘shoot your local pedophile,’ and that’s what has me concerned.”
Knapp has reported three separate death threats to local authorities, and has hired private security for the event. She says accusations of “grooming” and pedophilia have nothing to do with the event.
“This is about showing the LGBTQ community that they are loved and supported, and that their freedom of expression is supported,” she said. “I’m the parent of a trans youth, and I want him to know that he can be himself. I wholeheartedly believe that children should be protected from sexual assault – I own an organization called Combat Sexual Violence and I’m an attorney, and I literally represent survivors every day.”
Knapp said she’s trying to stay positive by planning a sign making party at her yoga studio on Saturday and encouraging those who support the drag show and its cause to show up and make themselves heard.
“We’re just trying to send a message that love wins and we all have a right to exist,” she said.
Sanford Police Department Major Vinnie Frazer said law enforcement is aware of the threats and investigating them.
“We’re adding extra officers that day to be downtown monitoring and making sure nothing happens and nobody’s rights are violated,” he said. “We take any threats of violence seriously.”
This isn’t the first time controversy has surrounded a drag show hosted by SYCC and Hugger Mugger. In June, both the yoga center and the brewery faced calls to cancel the event and subsequent criticism when they declined. But that event didn’t draw any threats of violence, and although a handful of protesters showed up outside, no incidents were reported.
“(Threats of violence are) taking up a lot of my time,” Knapp said. “I’ve reported them, and I had to go sit in front of the magistrate, and all that takes away from what should be a really positive thing. If people want to protest, that’s fine. As a veteran, I swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution, and that includes freedom of speech. But you have to take threats seriously.”
(l to r) Rome Pride, Sabastion Mikel and son Jaxen, and Justin Deal. Photos by Ivan Felipe and Lee Jones.
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