What is it with these religious bigots who think their god gives them the right to force everyone to believe / live as they claim to do.Β They are the first to demand their rights to worship / live as they wish.Β What gives them the idea the rest of us don’t want the same right. They were the first to attack the Taliban for forcing everyone in the country to worship / live by their version of Islam.Β Yet now they demand to be the US Christian Taliban.Β I do not understand their hate.Β Β They pick one or a few passages in the OT to clobber others while ignoring all the rest.Β They don’t stone their rebellious children, they don’t follow the other things in Leviticus and they do not follow anything Jesus said about caring for others.Β Hate, dominance, and vengeance is all they care about.Β The Old Testament god gives them that. And pleae notice the bill is titled Increasing Penalties for Child Pornography …Β Β it goes against all porn.Β Just like innocent drag queen story hours were attacked to protect the children from seeing people in costumes reading stories.Β Β Hugs
Alongside SB593, Deevers, who is also a pastor at Grace Reformed Baptist Church in Elgin, Oklahoma, introduced legislation to abolish abortion, prohibit drag performances in front of minors, ban divorce on the grounds of incompatibility, and provide tax credits to couples who opt into βcovenant marriagesβ or have multiple children within the bounds of marriage β just to name some highlights.
An Oklahoma state senator has introduced legislation that would ban all pornography, with criminal penalties of up to 10 years in prison for the βproduction, distribution or possessionβ of any pornography, according to aΒ press releaseΒ from the Oklahoma Senate.Β SB 593, proposed by Senator Dusty Deevers on January 21, is part of a slate of eight bills by the legislator to βrestore moral sanityβ to the state of Oklahoma.
The bill, entitled βIncreasing Penalties for Child Pornography and Prohibiting Pornography in Oklahoma,β goes far beyond the scope suggested in its title. While it does advocate for raising the penalty for the possession, distribution, or production of child pornography from 0-20 years up to 10-30 years, the bill has gone so far as to prohibit pornography entirely.
βPornography is both degenerate material and a highly addictive drug,β Deevers said in the press release. βIt ruins marriages, ruins lives, destroys innocence, warps young peopleβs perception of the opposite sex, turns women into objects, turns men into objects, degrades human dignity, and corrodes the moral fabric of society. Any decent society will stand against this plague with the full weight of the law.β
Deeversβ description of pornography as a βhighly addictive drugβ directly echoes the words of the authors ofΒ Project 2025,who, in the foreword to the over 900-page blueprint for a very different America, linked pornography to both child abuse and trans identity.
βPornography, manifested today in the omnipresent propagation of transgender ideology and sexualization of children, for instance, is not a political Gordian knot inextricably binding up disparate claims about free speech, property rights, sexual liberation, and child welfare,β the foreword to the documentΒ reads. βIt has no claim to First Amendment protection. Its purveyors are child predators and misogynistic exploiters of women. Their product is as addictive as any illicit drug and as psychologically destructive as any crime. Pornography should be outlawed.β
Alongside SB593, Deevers, who is also a pastor at Grace Reformed Baptist Church in Elgin, Oklahoma, introduced legislation to abolish abortion, prohibit drag performances in front of minors, ban divorce on the grounds of incompatibility, and provide tax credits to couples who opt into βcovenant marriagesβ or have multiple children within the bounds of marriage β just to name some highlights.
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Mike Stabile, the director of public policy at the Free Speech Coalition, said the proposed bill was really an attempt to encroach on free speech in a statement toΒ USA Today.
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“Porn is the canary in the coal mine of free speech, and the trial balloon used by governments to pass laws that can censor speech more broadly,” he told the outlet. “No matter how people feel about adult content, we should all be concerned about the proposed government crackdown on speech.”
Deeversβ attack on pornography comes less than a month after age verification laws effectivelyΒ made porn inaccessible in 16 U.S. states, mostly in the regional South.
At the time that many of these bans went into effect, Aylo, the parent company to PornHub, toldΒ MashableΒ that it has βpublicly supported age verification of users for yearsβ but that the kind required by these bills is βineffective, haphazard, and dangerous,β as well as a threat to usersβ security.
A contributor to Project 2025 was recorded last year stating that age-verification laws are a βback doorβ to broader porn bans.
Legislators in several states have introduced similarly bizarre bills criminalizing sexual freedom in the short time since Donald Trumpβs ascent to the presidency for the second time. Last week, Mississippi state senator Bradford Blackmon introduced the βContraception Begins at Erection Act,β which would make it illegal for a person to “discharge genetic material without the intent to fertilize an embryo.” The bill suggested a fine of $1,000 for a first offense, $5,000 for a second offense, and $10,000 thereafter. In a statement to local affiliateΒ WLBT, Blackmon said the bill was meant to act as a counterpart to contraception and abortion bills.
“All across the country, especially here in Mississippi, the vast majority of bills relating to contraception and/or abortion focus on the womanβs role when men are fifty percent of the equation,” he told WLBT. “This bill highlights that fact and brings the manβs role into the conversation. People can get up in arms and call it absurd but I canβt say that bothers me.”
Mathew RodriguezΒ isΒ the former senior news editor atΒ Them. In the past, he has been a senior culture editor atΒ The Atlantic,Β as well as a staff writer atΒ Out Magazine,Β INTO, andΒ Mic. His writing has been featured inΒ Slate, Teen Vogue,Β The Village Voice,Β MEL Magazine,Β and more. He …Β Read more
It is nice to know that despite the religious right hate media which includes Fox Entertainment, that people are not buying the current demonization of the LGBTQ+ community.Β But if we don’t get loud and vocal and our democratic leaders don’t develop a spine and support the LGBTQ+ community our acceptance levels will keep sinking.Β Β Hugs
Itβs no secret that queer rights are on a backslide in the United States β and American citizens arenβt happy.
In anΒ annual survey by GallupΒ conducted just before Donald Trump took office, Americans were asked about their satisfaction with various aspects of the countryβs culture and politics. That included βthe acceptance ofΒ gayΒ andΒ lesbianΒ people in the nation,β which only 51% of respondents said they were βvery satisfiedβ or βsomewhat satisfiedβ with. Thatβs the lowest satisfaction rating in that area since 2013, and an 8 percentage point drop from 2017 at the start of Trumpβs first term.
Respondents were also asked about their satisfaction with βthe acceptance ofΒ transgenderΒ people in the nation.β To that, only 38% of respondents said they were βvery satisfiedβ or βsomewhat satisfied.β
Notably, the satisfaction varied by political party. Republicans reported that they were largely satisfied with the countryβs treatment of gays and lesbians (55%) while Democrats reported dissatisfaction (44%). Both parties expressed dissatisfaction with Americaβs treatment of transgender people (though potentially for different reasons), with only 42% of Republicans and 31% of Democrats satisfied.
Beyond queer issues, Americansβ overall satisfaction is sitting at 38%, a record low thatβs been maintained since 2022.Β
Ah no love like Christian love!Β Every time these loving Christian gang thugs break the laws to stop legal expression they don’t agree with because they demand everyone follow their church doctrine.Β Β The complete arrogance of these gang thugs who believe their religious views give them the right to disregard any laws they want while threatening families and terrorizing little kids.Β Β Sure a good way to make Christian recruits and spread the love of god screaming at little kids who want a story from a person in a costume.Β This is not protecting children nor evangelizing, their is terrorism and out of control hate.Β If anyone has an update to theis story please share it with us. Best wishes or Hugs
The event, which was taking place as part of Aucklandβs annual Pride festival, was cancelled after 50 protestors pushed their way through the library and refused to leave.
Around 30 toddlers, young children and adults were forced to barricade themselves inside the library as the protestors continued, according to local outlets.
During the commotion, a 16-year-old girl attending a sports event alleges she was assaulted by Destiny ChurchΒ members, suffering a concussion.
Police are investigating allegations of assault after anti-drag protestors stormed a family-friend drag event in Auckland, New Zealand.
Protestors linked to Christian fundamentalist group Destiny Church stormed the Te AtatΕ« in Auckland on Saturday (15 February), where a storytime event for children hosted by a drag king was taking place.
The event, which was taking place as part of Aucklandβs annual Pride festival, was cancelled after 50 protestors pushed their way through the library and refused to leave.
Around 30 toddlers, young children and adults were forced to barricade themselves inside the library as the protestors continued, according to local outlets.
During the commotion, a 16-year-old girl attending a sports event alleges she was assaulted by Destiny ChurchΒ members, suffering a concussion.
Destiny Church members storming the library in Auckland. (YouTube)
Auckland Police said it is investigating allegations of assault over the protest, which it said βcrossed a line.β
βThe groupβs actions caused considerable distress and concern among tamariki [children], library staff and visitors,β Inspector Simon Walker, acting WaitematΔ district commander, said. βnobody, especially children, should ever be made to feel unsafe.β
Walker encouraged anyone subjected to violent behaviour during the protest to make a report at their nearest Police station, or contact officials online atΒ 105.police.govt.nz.
βPolice and Auckland Council have worked closely around the pride celebrations, and this work will continue. We live in a diverse city in a diverse country, and that is worth celebrating.β
No arrests have been made at the time of reporting, though Walker added that enquiries are βin the early stages.β
The goal is to erase gay people because super Christian Rubio agrees with the hateful that LGBTQ+ need to die or go away.Β They are not human people like good straight cis people are.Β Β So lets protect the straight people and hope the icky gays get the aids virus.Β That is their view, not mine, yours, or real Christians who follow Jesus’s command to love and care for people.Β Β Hugs
But Rubioβs waiver itself stated that βgender or DEI ideology programsβ and βtransgender surgeriesβ β e.g., any overseasΒ programs or organizations that support trans peopleΒ β should not receive aid during the βpause,β and that any programs not specifically named in the waiver βmay not be resumed without express approval.β
Sign up forΒ The AgendaΒ βΒ Them’s news and politics newsletter, delivered to your inbox every Thursday.
The Presidentβs Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is still barred from providingΒ PrEPΒ to LGBTQ+ people around the world, according to recent State Department documents, placing millions of people at elevated risk of HIV exposure.
Shortly after President Donald Trump and Secretary of StateΒ Marco Rubio orderedΒ a 90-day freeze on foreign aid in January,Β Rubio issuedΒ an additional βemergency humanitarian waiverβ on February 6 which appeared to allow HIV medications to be distributed abroad during that time. That waiver ostensibly meant that pre-exposure prophylaxis, orΒ PrEPΒ β the antiretroviral drug that prevents the transmission of HIV β would be distributed through PEPFAR. But Rubioβs waiver itself stated that βgender or DEI ideology programsβ and βtransgender surgeriesβ β e.g., any overseasΒ programs or organizations that support trans peopleΒ β should not receive aid during the βpause,β and that any programs not specifically named in the waiver βmay not be resumed without express approval.β
Now, a newΒ State Department document, dated February 6 and published online by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) confirms that PrEP βshould be offered only to pregnant and breastfeeding women,β whereas anyone else βwho may be at high risk of HIV infection or were previously initiated on a PrEP optionΒ can notΒ be offered PEPFAR-funded PrEPβ (emphases in original) during the aid freeze.
Among the βhigh riskβ populations currently blocked from receiving PrEP through PEPFAR is LGBTQ+ people β particularly men who have sex with men (MSM) and trans people, two demographics with anΒ increasedΒ riskΒ of exposure to HIV.Β UNAIDS estimatedΒ this week that more than 3,000 new HIV infections have occurred worldwide as a result of the Trump administrationβs aid freeze.
Founded in 2003 to combat the international spread of HIV,Β PEPFAR reportedΒ distributing antiretroviral treatments to over 20 million people worldwide in 2024, including 2.5 million new PrEP users. In 2022, PEPFAR spent 8.9% of its budget, or approximately $20.1 million, on services for MSM and trans people, according to an analysis by the health policy research organizationΒ KFF. A further $28 million went to provide HIV prevention and treatment services for sex workers.
Trump and Rubioβs aid freeze has also already resulted in PEPFAR-assisted programs shutting their doors. The Kenyan βFahari ya Jamiiβ initiative, aΒ five-year HIV prevention projectΒ founded in 2022, shut down more than 150 clinics and placed more than 700 workers on unpaid leave following the freeze last month, as theΒ Washington BladeΒ reported February 5.
The freeze is part of Trumpβs larger war against the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, the federal agency which distributes civilian foreign aid and partially funds PEPFAR. Amid the administrationβsΒ purge of βwokeβ terminologyΒ β including the terms βgenderβ and βLGBTQβ β from government websites, the USAID site was still entirely offline at time of writing. The agency was also the subject of a House committee hearing on February 5, during which Rep. Nancy MaceΒ repeatedly used a transphobic slurΒ to denigrate U.S. support for LGBTQ+ programs abroad.
Global health organizations have condemned the Trump aid freeze particularly as it relates to HIV prevention, warning of dire consequences already taking place. The international watchdog groupΒ Human Rights WatchΒ wrote this week that even a temporary pause on PEPFAR programs βcould be devastatingβ for countless people around the world. The AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC) and Journalism Development Network, Inc.Β filed a joint lawsuitΒ against Trump, Rubio, and Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought on February 10, alleging the administrationβs aid freeze is illegal and unconstitutional. On February 11, a group of USAID contractors and non-governmental organizationsΒ filed another such lawsuit, alleging that the freeze had already caused βirreparable damage.β The administration is alreadyΒ fighting a third lawsuitΒ brought by a group of USAID employees last week, which led a federal judge to issue an injunction against the furloughing of USAID workers on February 7.
β[W]ith this new guidance, the Trump Administration is choosing politics over science, discrimination over compassion, and ultimately, death over life,β AVAC representatives wrote in aΒ statementΒ last week. βThe February 6th guidance […] is not only a dangerous deviation from sound public health policy β it is a death sentence for thousands of people at risk of HIV globally,β the organization wrote, adding, βThis decision appears to be less about public health and more about an ideological agenda that seeks to police morality rather than protect lives.β
The Republican President has been in office one month today, and we’ve seen some of today’s history repeat itself already. Republicans are working very rapidly.
February 20, 1942 The vast majority of teachers in German-occupied Norway refused to comply with the forced Nazification of the school system. The government had ordered display of the portrait of German-installed Minister President Vidkun Quisling (formerly head of Nasjonal Samling, the Norwegian fascist party) in all classrooms, revision of the curriculum and textbooks to reflect Nazi ideology, and teaching of German to replace English as their second language.The teachers organized and 12,000 of 14,000 nationwide wrote the same letter on this day to the education department refusing membership in the newly formed Nazi teachersβ association. Two days later clergy throughout the country read a manifesto against Nazi control of the schools. Vidkun Quisling (on right), Germanyβs puppet leader in Norway, allowed Germany to invade his country and declared himself Prime Minister. In Norway his name has become synonymous with traitor. How the teachers pushed backΒ Norwegian teachers prevent the Nazification of educationΒ
February 20, 1956 The U.S. rejected a Soviet proposal to ban nuclear weapons tests and deployment. The U.S. continued atmospheric nuclear testing in the South Pacific and Nevada until 1963.
February 20, 2011 Nearly 40,000 pro-Democracy Moroccans demonstrated peacefully in 57 towns and cities across the country. Though there was sporadic violence later that night, Interior minister Taeib Cherqaoui called the earlier efforts βthe healthy practice of the freedom of expression.β
It came in an email with action alerts, linked. I made a religious statement earlier, and I don’t want to overdo religion here. Anyone can participate without fear, though, and they don’t check to see if you’re Christian; they just appreciate the help. Mainly I really like the toon above; it belongs here. Good Afternoon!
February 16, 1936 A coalition known as the Popular Front (Frente Popular), comprised of socialists, communists, republicans, and labor groups, narrowly won a majority in the Cortes, Spainβs parliament, defeating the National Front.
February 16, 1959 Fidel Castro was sworn in as Cubaβs youngest prime minister after leading a years-long guerrilla campaign that forced right-wing dictator Fulgencio Batista into exile. Fidel Castro Castro, who had become commander-in-chief of Cuba’s armed forces after Batista was ousted on January 1, replaced the more moderate Jose Miro Cardona as head of the country’s new provisional government. Fulgencio Batista More background on Fidel As reported at the time, including a filmed interview with Castro in English
February 16, 1982 Citizensβ Action for Safe Energy (CASE) succeeded in stopping construction of Black Fox Nuclear Power Plant near Inola, Oklahoma. Public Service of Oklahoma announced the cancellation, the first of its kind solely due to citizen protest. CASEβs founder, Carrie Barefoot Dickerson, known as Aunt Carrie, and her husband, Robert, spent nearly a decade and all their financial assets organizing folks around Tulsa and the state. The Dickersonsβ principal concern was the potential damage to health near the plant, and elsewhere through uranium mining and processing. Aunt Carrie, her allies and their successΒ watch videoΒ Β (2011)
February 16, 1996Β Seven activists were arrested for blocking the road to the ceremony commissioning the nuclear submarine U.S.S. Greeneville at the Norfolk (Virginia) Naval Base.
February 16, 2005Β The Kyoto Protocol went into effect after countries responsible for 55% of the worldβs greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions had ratified the treaty, following Russiaβs agreement to its terms. The agreementβs purpose was to reduce such gases to 12% below their levels in 1990 by 2012 and, thus, slow global warming. Β 180 countries had agreed (except for the United States and Australia, two of the worldβs top emitters of GHG per capita) to rules for implementing the Kyoto Protocol on July 29, 2001, in Bonn, Germany. President George W. Bush withdrew the U.S. from the process shortly after he took office that same year. His reasoning was that, since India and China had not signed on, they would gain a competitive advantage. The U.S. is now responsible for 15.6% of the earthβs GHG (with 5% of its population). History, background on the Kyoto Protocol
(However, it’s not well-known, it’s chilling, and it could be upsetting, so take only what you can take. It’s like Rosewood+Greenwood, plus yet more. -A)
Photo: Unidentified Photographer, June 1921 (Getty Images)
Most Black Americans have never heard of the Red Summer of 1919β¦but it is an element of Black history that we need to pay attention to. This country specializes in committing monstrous atrocities and then ignoring the consequences of their actions. It happened with Native Americans and the Trail of Tears. And, of course, it happened with Black folks. This truth is best captured when we consider what happened in the year 1919.
When Austrian Archduke Franz was assassinated on 28 June 1914, it set off a chain of events that led to what we now call World War 1. Working age white men were drafted and sent to fight, so that left many job vacancies in northern cities that Black men were happy to fill. See, Black folks were feeing the racist South hoping to find less racism in northern cites. The population of Black Chicagoans increased by more than 100% while the number of Black folks in Philadelphia grew by 500%.
While that was happening, 367,000 Black Americans either enlisted or were drafted into service to fight in the war that had just popped off. Black men were eager to prove to white America that Black people deserved dignity. They hoped they would see that by fighting in what white folks were calling βThe Great War.β But once the war ended, Black soldiers returned to an ungrateful nation. Thinking about these men, W.E.B. Du Bois wrote on May of 1919 in the NAACPβs Crisis newsletter, βWe return. We return from fighting. We return fighting.β
Du Bois had no idea how prophetic his words would be. From May of that year to December, over 25 race massacres took place on American soil. More than 250 Black men, women and childrenβs lives were violently cut short. Black folks discovered that the racial violence they thought they escaped when they left places like Alabama and Mississippi was not a feature of Southern living. Instead, it was part of being Black in America.
Those white soldiers who came home and discovered that scores of Black people had moved to the north. They also found Black soldiers who felt that they had earned their place in American life by serving their country. An officialΒ put it like this: βone of the principle elements causing concern is the returned negro soldier who is not readily fitting back into his prior status of pre-war times.β Therefore, white soldiers became white terrorists to put these soldiers and anyone who looked like them back in their place. There were race massacres in Washington D.C., Omaha, Knoxville, and a massive race riot in Chicago where 38 people were killed and 537 injured. Few white people were arrested for these crimes, fewer were prosecuted. Two years later was the Tulsa race riot where the Greenwood district, what we now call Black Wallstreet, was burned to the ground.
As we celebrate Black History Month, we need to tell the entire truth of our history. Not just the accomplishments of men and women who embody Black excellence, but also the way that America has wronged us. The Red Summer of 1919 is one of those stories that we would like to forget. Yet donβt our accomplishments shine even more brightly considering the darkness we had to endure? No doubt we have endured daysΒ when hope unborn had died.Β But, somehow, against all odds, we came to the place for which our fathers sighed.
