I am not trans even though I have been asked because of my super strong support of trans people. I have lost friends who wouldn’t accept trans people using a public bathroom with them even though all private functions happen in enclosed little stalls. I do have distant family members who are trans and fully supported by family. More important I can clearly see the same negative vile things said about trans people are the same things pushed against gay people when I was a struggling gay teen being pushed by the same groups on the same ideas of victimhood. They were mostly driven by hyper Christian Nationalist religious groups and those who demanded that traditions along with society never change from when they were young and happy. These same groups and feelings are in play against trans people. They are simply the homosexual aids scare of the 1980s. Just as I as a young gay person needed allies and support so do trans people today. Please give as much vocal and upfront support for trans people you can. It is easier to make progress as a society if we don’t have to undo hateful laws outlawing our very existence. Hugs
https://assignedmale.tumblr.com
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The video below talks about the shut down and how the democratic party base has changed and is moving in one direction, while the party leadership has moved or stayed where they have been for decades. They talk about the money in politics and the consulting / strategy class who still want to run campaigns designed for getting the 1990s suburban populations along with the mythical older center voters. They also discuss the AIPAC / Israeli lobby who try to get their hooks into every candidate or congressional members. Hugs
Former U.S. Representative for New York’s 16th Congressional District, Jamaal Bowman joins the program.
is today in Peace & Justice History. Feeding people is my main “thing,” so I’m featuring it today. There is so very much that has happened on October 16, and it can all be seen on this page.
| October 16th every year |
| United Nations’ World Food Day is recognized every year. |
https://www.arcamax.com/politics/opeds/s-3886919
I had a difficult time reading the gut-wrenching accounts from the parents of gay children who are part of the Supreme Court case about conversion therapy bans and freedom of speech. All claim their family relationships were seriously damaged by the widely discredited practice, and that their children were permanently scarred or even driven to suicide.
The case, Chiles vs. Salazar, arose from a 2019 Colorado law that outlaws conversion therapy, whose practitioners say they can change a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. The therapy is considered harmful and ineffective by mainstream medical and mental health organizations.
At least two dozen other states have similar laws on the books, all of them good-faith attempts to prevent the lasting harm that can result when a young person is told not just that they can change who they are, but that they should change because God wants them to. The laws were inspired by the horrific experiences of gay and transgender youths whose families and churches tried to change them.
The case was brought by Kayley Chiles, a licensed counselor and practicing Christian who believes, according to her attorneys, that “people flourish when they live consistently with God’s design, including their biological sex.”
Colorado, incidentally, has never charged Chiles or anyone else in connection with the 2019 law.
Chiles is represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian law firm known for its challenges to gay and transgender rights, including one brought to the Supreme Court in 2023 by Christian web designer Lorie Smith, who did not want to be forced to create a site for a gay wedding, even though no gay couple had ever approached her to do so. The Court’s conservative majority ruled in Smith’s favor. All three liberals dissented.
As for conversion therapy, counselors often encourage clients to blame their LGBTQ+ identities on trauma, abuse or their dysfunctional families. (If it can be changed, it can’t possibly be innate, right?)
In oral arguments, it appeared the conservative justices were inclined to accept Chiles’ claim that Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy amounts to viewpoint discrimination, a violation of the 1st Amendment’s free speech guarantees. The liberal minority was more skeptical.
But proponents of the bans say there is a big difference between speech and conduct. They argue that a therapist’s attempt to change a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity amounts to conduct, and can rightfully be regulated by states, which, after all, lawfully impose conditions on all sorts of licensed professionals. (The bans, by the way, do not apply to ministers or unlicensed practitioners, and are generally not applicable to adults.)
Each competing brief whipsawed my emotions. The 1st Amendment is sacred in so many ways, and yet states have a critical interest in protecting the health and welfare of children. How to find a balance?
After reading the brief submitted by a group of 1st Amendment scholars, I was convinced the Colorado law should be ruled unconstitutional. As they wrote of Chiles, she doesn’t hook her clients to electrodes or give them hormones, as some practitioners of conversion therapy have done in the past. “The only thing she does is talk, and listen.”
Then I turned to the parents’ briefs.
Linda Robertson, an evangelical Christian mother of four, wrote that she was terrified when her 12-year-old son Ryan confided to her in 2001 that he was gay. “Crippling fear consumed me — it stole both my appetite and my sleep. My beautiful boy was in danger and I had to do everything possible to save him.”
Robertson’s search led her to “therapists, authors and entire organizations dedicated to helping kids like Ryan resist temptation and instead become who God intended them to be.”
Ryan was angry at first, then realized, his mother wrote, that “he didn’t want to end up in hell, or be disapproved of by his parents and his church family.” Their quest to make Ryan straight led them to “fervent prayer, scripture memorization, adjustments in our parenting strategies, conversion therapy based books, audio and video recordings and live conferences with titles like, ‘You Don’t Have to be Gay’ and ‘How to Prevent Homosexuality.’ ”
They also attended a conference put on by Exodus International, the “ex-gay” group that folded in 2013 after its former founder repudiated the group’s mission and proclaimed that gay people are loved by God.
After six years, Ryan was in despair. “He still didn’t feel attracted to girls; all he felt was completely alone, abandoned and needed the pain to stop,” his mother wrote. Worse, he felt that God would never accept him or love him. Ryan died at age 20 of a drug overdose after multiple suicide attempts.
As anyone with an ounce of common sense or compassion knows, such “therapy” is a recipe for shame, anguish and failure.
Yes, there are kids who question their sexuality, their gender identity or both, and they deserve to discuss their internal conflicts with competent mental health professionals. I can easily imagine a scenario where a teenager tells a therapist they think they’re gay or trans but don’t want to be.
The job of a therapist is to guide them through their confusion to self-acceptance, not tell them what the Bible says they should be.
If recent rulings are any guide, the Supreme Court is likely to overturn the Colorado conversion therapy ban.
This would mean, in essence, that a therapist has the right to inflict harm on a struggling child in the name of free speech.
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What a smarmy arrogant little prick this kid is. First he is wrong on the founders, but that he is so cock sure of himself he can’t imagine being wrong. Christ is king, only he is king, and how can you represent Ohio if you are not Christian. He is clueless that a religious test for office is strictly prohibited by the constitution. But even after being correct the kid repeats his wrong version forcefully. Hugs
Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, activist since Stonewall, has died
Trudy Ring October 13 2025 7:29 PM EST
Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a legendary transgender activist who had been in the movement since Stonewall, died Monday at age 78.
Her death was announced by the House of GG—Griffin-Gracy Retreat and Educational Center, which she founded. She died “in the comfort of her home and surrounded by loved ones in Little Rock, Arkansas,” says a statement from the center. “Her enduring legacy is a testament to her resilience, activism, and dedication to creating safe spaces for Black trans communities and all trans people — we are eternally grateful for Miss Major’s life, her contributions and how deeply she poured into those she loved.”
Miss Major had suffered from health problems for some time and had recently begun receiving hospice care.She spent more than 50 years fighting for the “trans, gender-nonconforming, and LGB community — especially for Black trans women, trans women of color and those who have survived incarceration and police brutality,” the statement continues. Major’s fierce commitment and intersectional approach to justice brought her to care directly for people with HIV/AIDS in New York in the early 1980s, and later to drive San Francisco’s first mobile needle exchange. As director of the TGI Justice Project, she’d return to prisons as a mentor to her ‘gurls’ inside.”
She founded House of GG in 2019 as “a space for our community to take a break, swim, enjoy good food, laugh, listen to music, watch movies, and recharge for the ongoing fight for our lives,” the statement goes on. “Miss Major fought tirelessly for her people, her love as vast and enduring as the universe she knew herself to be a part of. She was a world builder, a visionary, and unwavering in her devotion to making freedom possible for Black, trans, formerly and currently incarcerated people as well as the larger trans and LGB community. Because of her, countless new possibilities have been made for all of us to thrive — today and for generations to come. She affirmed that our lives hold meaning and that we stand on the shoulders of giants like her, whose courageous love and relentless fight assured our right to live with dignity. We will forever honor her memory, her steadfast presence, and her enduring commitment to our collective liberation.” (snip-MORE good history and story on the page)
by Jodi S. Cohen and Jennifer Smith Richards
Following public outcry, the U.S. Department of Education has restored funding for students who have both hearing and vision loss, about a month after cutting it.
But rather than sending the money directly to the four programs that are part of a national network helping students who are deaf and blind, a condition known as deafblindness, the department has instead rerouted the grants to a different organization that will provide funding for those vulnerable students.
The Trump administration targeted the programs in its attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion; a department spokesperson had cited concerns about “divisive concepts” and “fairness” in explaining the decision to withhold the funding.
ProPublica and other news organizations reported last month on the canceled grants to agencies that serve these students in Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin, as well as in five states that are part of a New England consortium.
Programs then appealed to the Education Department to retain their funding, but the appeals were denied. Last week, the National Center on Deafblindness, the parent organization of the agencies that were denied, told the four programs that the Education Department had provided it with additional grant money and the center was passing it on to them.
“This will enable families, schools, and early intervention programs to continue to … meet the unique needs of children who are deafblind,” according to the letter from the organization to the agencies, which was provided to ProPublica. Education Department officials did not respond to questions from ProPublica; automatic email replies cited the government shutdown. (snip-MORE)
Like many, I remember when I realized that I found boys far more interesting than I did girls. I much preferred to be around them, was very curious about what they hid in their shorts, and knew very clearly that admitting to that would not be a safe thing to do.
As my friends began to find girls interesting I found fear and confusion instead. I found myself being left behind. I found the image in the mirror horrifying. And I found that the more I tried to avoid my problems, the more problems I had. And, I imagine now, as a late middle-aged man who grew up during the Reagan Aids fiasco, that many people of my generation found themselves in similar circumstances.
As time went, I was a decent student and received a fair education. I got a decent job and was a fair worker. I saved my money and did my best to treat people fairly. But, I was hiding who I was, only giving in to my desires occasionally and almost always very poorly. I was lost in my own camouflage, a victim of my own propaganda, and very much alone.
When I consider the affronts people endure to be themselves, I always wonder what those who abuse them would prefer? Would they prefer a person transitioning to match their outside with their inside identity to live a false life, to have to hide who they are, to be miserable? Are they so unwilling to view the sometimes lumpy way life comes about that they believe it acceptable to torture others?
When I was young I very much enjoyed watching the unusual characters on tv. Quirky people who didn’t quite fit society but were so very unapologetically genuine and fascinating and fun were far more interesting to me than the Ward Cleaver’s of the world. But I wasn’t that brave. I feared the “real Randy”.
Now I watch the judgmental speak on those who would risk being genuine in a cruel world, and it saddens me.
It seriously saddens me that we have these maga people thinking that people like my nephew who is openly gay are sick. These maga people don’t want liberty they want closets again, people afraid to be themselves, to be happy and to be free. It saddens me that seeing someone not fully conformed to the current image of masculinity or femininity somehow threatens them, makes them afraid, brings about spite and hatred. And worse, we have a government that clamors about the word “freedom” yet supports and shields those who would deny it to fellow Americans.
I watched a few Ted Lasso episodes and heard him speak that quote about “Be Curious, Not Judgmental”. I was fascinated by the simplicity – and devastated to realize the idea wasn’t new. The irony is that in the land of the free we only succeed by being confined to an approved image. And so, I find myself mystified and even a bit lost as I see the brave ones being true. I know I won’t ever really understand what they are feeling and thinking, but I am fascinated.
It is my sincere hope that I can go forward with the courage and compassion to be curious.
Thanks and Hugs.
randy
ps: I always thought Ward Cleaver must be gay because he really had some board feet shoved up his ass. just my humble opinion.
Scottie's Playtime 