The administration of Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) quietly took down LGBTQ+ youth resources from a state website after a conservative media outlet questioned the links, records show, building on a pattern of removals derided by public health employees who say their work is being politicized.
Within hours of an inquiry from the Daily Wire, a dozen resources, including a live-chat online support group for teens, were removed from the state health department website at the direction of a Cabinet-level agency, according to emails obtained under the state’s open records law.
The presence of the materials — and their subsequent disappearance on May 31 — generated two headlines and a flurry of online reaction from conservative readers of the outlet, co-founded by right-wing commentator Ben Shapiro.
Youngkin officials quietly pulled LGBTQ+ youth resources off a VA Dept. of Health website.
LGBTQ+ youth do better socially, emotionally and academically when they have access to resources and feel connected to a supportive community.https://t.co/x24eGKY6dg
The Youngkin administration has three times stripped the state health department website of information: on abortion, sexual health and now LGBTQ+ youth resources.https://t.co/swRgQWbyDo
They WANT dead kids. From mass shootings to removing suicide prevention to allowing pedophile clergy to outlawing loving same-sex family adoption. How much more obvious can it be????
Ron DeeeeeSantis must wake up every morning and think to himself, “what can I do today to further destroy the lives of the little people?” And then he sets out to do it.
The problem is that they view our pride as their shame. They don’t understand that it’s not about them. They don’t have to feel anything, just acknowledge that we are fellow creatures and move on.
Hey white trash rednecks. Guess what? We don’t need a rally or a fucking hat. We vote for true honor and respect of our country. Go put your confederate flag on the back of your tacky ass pickup truck, while you hurl empty cans of manly beer at electric cars.
Told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing.
IDK, I rather enjoyed seeing that paltry Trump rally in Bumblefuck, SC…especially the booing of Ms Lindsey. (Imagine being boo’d by the citizens of the very county you were born, raised & lived in. Must be how Trump felt in NYC.)
thatotherjeana day ago No, Brian, no. Nobody wants to “steal” your independence: they want to share in your rights. You’re treating those rights as though they belonged exclusively to white, straight, male people, to be granted to others as you see fit. No. The rights to “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” among other rights, belong to all of us.
That man on the right is anti-LGBT hate leader Brian Brown, meeting with US Supreme Court justices Kavanaugh and Alito aa they decide whether people can be fired for being LGBT.
Brown is heavily involved in Russia, and supports its anti-gay laws (which have proven deadly). pic.twitter.com/RCmPVI61wr
Karma Chases Dogma thatotherjean20 hours ago A man you don’t even know sticks his pecker in another man you don’t even know. Tell me, Brian, exactly how is this stealing YOUR independence? The gay agenda is to live a normal life like everyone else
Brian is objecting to the fact he no longer has the “independence” to stone gay people to death without repercussions as his religion demands. To misquote George Orwell: Some rights are more equal than others.
An armed transphobe in Eugene, OR attempts to intimidate folks at a Pride festival and fails pic.twitter.com/hiVsl3WPEj
— Marjorie Gaylor Queen 🏳️🌈 (@Tim_Tweeted) July 3, 2023
Paddycakes2001 jaspersdad18 hours ago That was great. One thing I wish he had also asked when the guy said drag is inherently sexual is “Oh, does that turn you on?”
True story. There was a guy in the gay bar years ago, who said he was totally straight, but got off on drag queens. But he’s totally straight and it wasn’t gay at all. That’s how their minds work.
AyJayDee221 hours ago There’s a real, concerted effort by the Republicans and the anti-liberal left to use RFK Jr. And Cornel West to spoil the 2024 election and help Trump win another term.
I ran into someone on the left who tried the “why the hating on RFK Jr?” on one of my social media pages. I responded, “Because of the belief in numerous conspiracy theories and ads that appear to have been made in Russian troll farms. No other reason, tho!” 😉
He is not a democrat. He is being supported by the far right. This is their new thing–sham candidates, many of whom run as a democrat and if they win, they change their party affiliation to republican. This sure stinks of election fraud to me. I hope he gets so humiliated that he slinks away back into whatever cave he’s been hiding in and is never seen or heard from again.
In the four years since DeSantis took office, his administration has routinely stonewalled the release of public records, approved a slew of new legal exceptions aimed at keeping more information out of the public eye, and waged legal battles against open government advocates, the press and other watchdogs. DeSantis, a Harvard-educated lawyer and former U.S. attorney, is the only Florida governor known to use “executive privilege” to keep records hidden, transparency advocates and experts said. His travel records, previously under scrutiny by the media, are now secret, thanks to a new legal exemption — one of a record number created in 2023 by the Republican-led Legislature and approved by the governor. DeSantis also has fought to conceal information about some of the most significant events during his tenure, including withholding Covid infection data and blocking release of records about the controversial relocation of dozens of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, legal filings show.
I just listened to episode 2 of Rachel Maddow’s latest podcast, Deja News. Great analysis of how the current dictator of FL is dredging up the hate & fear of others, just as the John’s Report did in the 50s & 60s.
Doughty last appeared on JMG in June 2021 when he blocked the COVID vaccine mandate for federal workers in a ruling that was riddled with false anti-vaccine claims and which cited a notorious anti-vaccine activist. In September 2022 he issued a permanent injunction against vaccine mandates for teachers.
I read through the decision. It’s bonkers. It’s all just regurgitating conspiracy theories and complaining about the decisions of Twitter and Facebook that *every* other court who has looked at this nonsense has held to be private action, not government action, and thus not violating the 1st Amendment at all. And it gripes about things done when Trump was still president. One of the plaintiffs is Jim Hoft of the Gateway Pundit, a/k/a the dumbest man on the Internet, and the judge complains about a Twitter suspension before Biden became president. And, of course, it claims the story about “Hunter’s laptop” was suppressed even though it was the biggest story in the country — and happened when Trump was president.
This is really nutty stuff. Not surprising, I guess. This is the same judge who credulously quoted anti-vax nonsense and granted an injunction against HHS’s requirement that healthcare workers get one of the vaccines. The Supreme Court undid that and held that “mandate” was perfectly constitutional. This judge can’t learn his lesson and control himself. Given the current composition of the 5th Circuit, though, we shouldn’t be surprised if it stays in place for a while.
They don’t know their flag. They don’t know the law. They don’t know the Constitution. They don’t know their history. They don’t know their Buybull. This is today’s anti-woke Republicans.
As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen (Muslims); and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan (Mohammedan) nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
Treaty Of Tripoli, Article 11, 1796… passed unanimously in the US Senate by many of the actual ‘founders’.
As a forriner I find it super weird how much the Founding Fathers are respected and ‘claimed’. It’s like a religion to some Americans.
They were just people, and more importantly, people of their time. Slave owners, white, educated (read: rich). People who wanted to do their best for their country but they were full of flaws like the rest of us.
Who gives a fuck what someone said several hundreds years ago? Oh, right: Bible humpers.
“And here’s the thing,” Robinson said during his speech on Sunday. “Whether you’re talking about Adolf Hitler; whether you’re talking about Chairman Mao; whether you’re talking about Stalin; whether you’re talking about Pol Pot; whether you’re talking about Castro in Cuba; or whether you’re talking about a dozen other despots all around the globe, it is time for us to get back and start reading some of those quotes.”
We have reached the point where Republican elected officials are pushing for bans on LGBTQ books but encouraging all to read books by Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. https://t.co/pLBlzpk95F
BartmanLA2 days ago They’re not going to “tolerate” what the actual fuck??? The LGBTQ community has been TOLERATING the hate and bullshit discrimination from the right and conservatives for DECADES… Get off your fucking high horse and go do something actually worthwhile, better yet just go crawl in corner and die!
This is why there is no middle on the issue lgbt rights. We want equal rights; they want us to disappear. At the very least they want us all back in the closet afraid that we will be fired, ostracized or even killed if we come out. There is no middle ground between the two.
Big shots on the right, even the supposedly educated “conservative thought leaders,” always sound so incredibly ignorant when they talk about LGBTQ+ America. They always seem to talk about us like we’re citizens of a different country (the way most of them think Puerto Ricans are citizens of a different country). Are they just pandering to the rank-n-file, or are they really so genuinely clueless? Honestly, part of me would prefer Machiavellian pandering to braindead ignorance.
Former Arkansas Governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has called LGBTQ rights the “biggest threat” to religious morality in America.
In an interview with The Christian Post, Huckabee…decried acceptance of LGBTQ people and blamed the “Christian Church” for not doing enough to combat LGBTQ equality.
One of the most wild revelations coming out of the backlash over the anti-trans and anti-gay ad released by the DeSantis team is that the Gays Against Groomers org is basically a Ron DeSantis astroturf organization.
I have become more worried about the TYT network. Anna was given more authority over the show and the hosts, and she has since them abused that authority. She talks over every other host, belittles them, and acts toward Cenk like she is a host on Fox who is the one talking to a token not hard right person. Anna acts like the over top authority that shall not be questioned, and by her own admission has moved very right wing in her thinking. She demands the limelight on every show. She interrupts him constantly yet refuses to let him interrupt her, she rails against his opinions unless it is him attacking democrats.
Cenk got really bitter and admitted he burned his bridges in the Democratic Party after he ran for congress and lost badly. He was someone who never held any public office yet felt entitled to the office due to his show to gain entry to the federal House of Representatives. So now he attacks Joe Biden / the Democratic Party at every turn no matter how trivial the reason just because he is constantly pushing for someone to primary Biden, which is not going to happen. All Cenk is doing with these constant angry attacks is to provide the republicans with stuff they can use to attack Biden in the General election. The show has changed a lot over the last year and I have canceled my membership.
TYT was once was a news program that cut through the bias driven media of opinion corporate networks. Now the shows they host have become inflammatory opinion driven episodes that could be shown on Fox News or delivered by their hosts. Sad but Anna had a change in thinking just 6 months ago because of a traumatic incident, and Cenk got bitter that he couldn’t just move into congress. Between them they changed their show from news to opinions. They have gone from saying remove emotion to see the misinformation to screaming emotionally about the misinformation they spew. This is one of a dozen videos from former workers and guest hosts who have recently been turned on by Cenk and Anna. Hugs
Twin brothers Blake Krenzer, 19, and Brandon Krenzer, 19, of Gambrills have been charged for alleged involvement in the vandalism of the Black Lives Matter and Pride signs at the Ark & Dove Presbyterian Church. Officers responded to the Odenton church on the morning of June 14, where they found the vandalized signs. An investigation revealed the vandalism had happened around 10 p.m. the previous evening. Police said the Krenzers were identified with the help of the public.
While the Court’s decision only addresses expressive original designs, I’m deeply concerned that the decision could invite more discrimination against LGBTQI+ Americans. More broadly, today’s decision weakens long-standing laws that protect all Americans against discrimination in public accommodations – including people of color, people with disabilities, people of faith, and women.
American Christianity isn’t “merely” anything. It’s a foul pestilence that should be righteously and vociferously mocked and shunned as the anti science, anti logic and reasoning millstone dragging society down to stupidity that it is.
If you want context that this is a made up political issue watch this
If Republicans are truly worried about members of the first family improperly benefitting from their name, Mehdi says there are two people besides Hunter Biden that they should be looking at: Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.
Because that was the price for the top-secret intelligence documents Kushy obtained from his FIL’s top-secret stash at Mar-A-Shitto and passed on to Saudi intelligence….
At least that’s what I believe. I fear that someday, we will discover that Kushy did more damage to the US than every other convicted spy combined. No wonder Skanky is trying to distance herself from Daddy…..
I wonder if any of her GOP opponents in the upcoming debates are going to have the guts to call her “Nimrata” and ask her why she insists on trying to pass as White…and oh by the way, why hasn’t she released her “long form birth certificate” to prove that she was really born in the USA and not India?
It goes back to Aristotle and Aquinas plus back to Old Testament where a man “plants his seed.” The DNA for the complete human being is in the man’s seed, just like a plant. The woman is just the furrow where the seed is planted.
I’m reminded of the Comstock Act, especially as it pertained to mailing birth control or abortifacients in the 1870s. It was expressed that one of the underlying reasons for this was In reaction to the influx of the Irish Catholics (especially in NYC), and the need to insure that English Protestants didn’t become a minority.
if students wanted their loans forgiven, why the fuck didn't they just take Sam Alito on a luxury fishing vacation and tell him how to vote? I mean, show some initiative, people
Sam_Handwich5 days ago edited In my very blue neck of the woods a “controversy” has arisen after the local zoo posted pictures on FB of Pride decorations in some of the animal enclosures. Not sure this would even be an issue were it not for the right’s renewed tantrum that gay people exist. I have mixed feelings about zoos as a thing, haven’t been there in years, but might visit today or tomorrow.
DeSanctimonious is a dangerous religious maniac, craven for power, and there is nothing he won’t say or do to achieve his goals. It is a relief to see the Orlando Sentinel has stood up to this fascist bigoted governor. More leaders need to stand up and do the same thing.
Floridians are not ready for a new fight to begin. They overwhelmingly reelected a fascist governor who hates us. Down here in SWFL, there is a practical news blackout on the the horrible new laws taking effect in a couple of days. Nobody seems to care. It feels like what 1930’s Germany must have felt like to live there.
Dennis5 days ago They spent billions to indoctrinate Republican voters to become far-right extremists and conspiracy theorists and now they are trying to stop someone who is representing such views..
They never liked trump, they thought they could control him. That went badly. Now they see a nazi that they don’t need to babysit and they are rightly afraid the orange shit stain is gonna rain on their parade.
The only reason they want to stop Trump is because they can read the polls which say he will lose to Biden in 2024.
In other news, the New Hampshire House passes legislation to ban gay and trans panic defenses 271-98 with the Senate concurring. I am so pleased to see this LGBTQ civil rights measure head to Gov. Sununu's desk and am happy to have played a part in drafting the bill's language. pic.twitter.com/lzGDB7HX5x
— Anthony Michael Kreis (@AnthonyMKreis) June 29, 2023
Yves R. Mektin5 days ago So they plan on doing absolute zilch nada zip for the American people or their constituents. Nothing but performative obstruction.
I’d ask on what grounds, but it’s just petty political vindictiveness that will only serve to waste time and taxpayer money; in other words, business as usual for the GQP
Conversion therapy is complete and utter quackery, and it’s a crime that it’s not outlawed federally. This practice should be outlawed regardless of age, not just for minors.
At least a large chunk of states are picking up the slack.
We’ve been far too tolerant for all manner of quackery (Dr Oz for example) for far too long. Frauds and scammers should be put out of business. This isn’t a first amendment issue. This is an issue of lying to people (or their parents) and inflicting harm on them.
It is psychological terrorism. The pray away “movement” coincided with APA’s declassification of same sex orientation as illness. Evangelicals were pissed not to have a “sick” scapegoat.
Great news. Once again, if it weren’t already obvious, LGBT rights expand under Democrats and contract under Republicans. The folks who are always saying the Dem’s do nothing aren’t paying attention.
They know their voters are captured assets. They only listen to propaganda and have inoculations in place to keep any outside information of getting in.
Message of the year: How do you spot an idiot? Look for the person who is cruel. The kindest person in the room is often the smartest. 🏆 @GovPritzkerpic.twitter.com/X8BvFq5215
Read the full article. There’s much more. Gift link here. This same developer has given DeSantis and wife rides on his private jet and was in the news just last week for an unreported $27,000 golf simulator he had installed at Florida’s governor’s mansion.
Read the full article. Hunt last appeared on JMG in February 2023 when she responded to an anti-drag bill with a troll amendment that would bar parents from enrolling their children in “religious indoctrination camps.” The final April 1st tweet below is pinned to the top of the hate group’s feed.
A Nebraska lawmaker filed a defamation lawsuit against a local far-right political action committee after members claimed she was grooming her transgender son.
DmR4 days ago I live near her district, which is in a blue pocket in an otherwise bright crimson state. She is making quite the name for herself and the Wingers do not like the attention and support she is getting.
I’m not as disturbed by the picture at the Governor’s mansion as I am concerned for her children. The height of their creativity is a brainwashed image of a picture of torture? Where are the flowers, magic fairies, animals?
This deliberate violation of church/state can’t be prosecuted either.
Evangelicals now have their required threshold majority in key places. Once they are the solid majority wherever they are they are the de facto standard and NOTHING can remove them. That’s why we’re becoming a failed nation. Once a nation is ruled by Bronze Age religious mythology it collapses.
Something tells me in coming years the entire LGBTQ community will be required to march and fight for our rights all across this country…. Even us quiet, middle aged suburban gays are needed to get more involved.
The DeSantis message is kind of amazing: "You might have thought Trump is a bigot, but occasionally he seems to say non-bigoted things. I'll be all bigotry all the time!" https://t.co/CYZblJAwgY
Team DeSantis boasting, like all normal socially adjusted people would, that his laws "literally threaten trans existence" https://t.co/8GbdWauFgg
— Roger Sollenberger (@SollenbergerRC) July 1, 2023
GayOldLady3 days ago Peanuts 🥜 DeSantis trying to prove his manhood by leaning into the Pulse massacre! This bastard is a danger to our community and we ignore him at our own peril. We must proactively stand against him. 🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🌈
We will fight him in the orchards, we will fight him in the mangroves, we will fight him on the beaches, we wll fight him in the cornfields, we will fight him any fuckin place he challenges our Civil and Human rights
Well, at least DeSantis has finally shown his true colors. His ridiculaous campaign has NOTHING to do with “Protect the Children” and everything to do with “Hate the Gays.” Which we knew all along.
This is not only deranged and idiotic, it’s a not so subtle call for violence against LGBT people. The subtext is that DeFascist will get rid of these people once and for all. And of course the Log Cabin quislings are surprised the leopards are eating their faces.
Max-1 🔫+cult(R)=☠️4 days ago With Supreme Court LGBTQ decision, marriage equality is at risk The court’s decision demeans our nation’s aspirations to equality and inclusion and thereby diminishes us all. By Laurence H. Tribe and Jeffrey B. Abramson Until this week, under long-standing state public accommodations laws, if a business wanted all the benefits that came from being generally open to the public, then it had to serve all customers equally. Since 1964, this principle has applied to a motel in the heart of Atlanta, Ollie’s barbeque joint in Birmingham, Ala., and social clubs and private schools that advertised to the general public. As Justice Sonia Sotomayor noted about the historic case involving Ollie’s, it would not do for the owner to have said, “I’ll serve Blacks but only on a takeout window, not inside my restaurant because that sends a message that I endorse integration.”
By twisting free speech into a license to discriminate, the court has now carved out an exception from public accommodations law for businesses that recast their services in ways that highlight their expressive features. But the court offers no workable principle to cabin that exception in any meaningful way.
Todd20036 Max-1 🔫+cult(R)=☠️4 days ago Sodomy laws are next Hiv meds could be no longer covered by insurance We could be arrested for holding hands in public or kissing in public Don’t think that’s impossible
One would think that the court would find for the nation’s best interests to encourage a fair, equitable, and cohesive society, not to promote the very toxicity that tears society apart, no matter whether it’s disguised in “free speech” or “religion.”
I knew the night RBG died that we were fucked and would be fucked for longer than I’ll likely be alive. Right wingers have made no secret that they hated anything that gave rights to minorities. They like to frame it in a libertarian argument so it sounds like freedom, but the freedom they want is the freedom to be bigots. Everything is going to be ruled unconstitutional and that’s going to affect the blue states, not just the red. And especially the blue islands in red states! So very fucked and not in the good way.
Tie up the courts, the judges, and waste lawyers time along with the time of Congress…. …for not wanting to put on a CDC recommended mask when in the company of others.
It’s all very interesting that after years of these fascists whining that they couldn’t breathe when wearing a mask, so many of them now show up at protests…WEARING MASKS!
Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), and Ralph Norman (R-S.C.)
The other names weren’t a surprise, but I have to admit, Ralphie didn’t ring a bell for me. Had to look him up, and wow, shocker, real estate mogul old white guy. Jokes about sexual assault. Negligent with firearms. Used the supposedly MAGA hated remote voting to skip town to get to CPAC. Hates student loan forgiveness, but got some $300k+ of PPP loans forgiven. Wanted Steve King back after his boot for white nationalist comments. Wants to impeach Biden.
Weird, he hits all the same marks as the MTGs and Boeberts and such, but I had absolutely no recollection of him. Wonder if he’ll join the GOP presidential clown car next…
northalabama Gene Perry4 days ago standing, schmanding! it’s 2023, you just have to invent a plaintiff out of thin air, then have enough billionaires lined up to pay your expenses for years until you win, easy peasy.
It amazes me that these decisions so blatantly favour the rich and privileged. Striking down Affirmative Action can only harm the less privileged. Student loans are used by those who need them and don’t have their own resources. and the LGBT community can now be refused services by public commercial operations. Nothing here for the poor or the minorities can take any comfort in. It looks like the Supreme Court has found their own ‘protected class’ of wealthy privileged bourgeoisie.
What Paxton and his office did not say: The law firm that produced the report, Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, has been paid more than $500,000 in public money to defend him against whistleblowers who sued the agency for wrongful termination because they went to the FBI with allegations of corruption.
I start my allergy shots this week, and the sooner the better. All the troubles I have had with my heart, breathing, and with thinking came from needing my allergy shots and needing to stop the medications keeping my heart rate in check.
Here is the list of things I am allergic too, some at life-threatening levels, which is why I have EpiPens. Positive allergy test for Australian pine, Bermuda grass, dust mites, cat, cockroach, dog, cedar, nettle, short ragweed. Also food allergy test was positive for crab, lobster, and shrimp. Total IgE was 102 KU/L. But that was not all. Also there was this second set of testing. Positive allergy test for fire ant, wasp, yellow hornet, yellow jacket, and white faced hornet.
Interesting thing is to be allergic you have to react greater than the normal range of <0.10 and on most of the panels I was higher than that, some by a lot. For cats, I was not that bad, just 0.14 instead of <0.10. For dogs, I was 0.17 instead of <0.10. Most things like mite house dust I am 8.90 and to the house dust mites I am 10.70.
We long ago took steps to get rid of carpets and other things that trap the pollen. I stay inside most of the time. Ron cuts the grass. The only plant we have is in the family room and is a big friendship bamboo randy sent me. I have been taking allergy shots on and off since the 1990s. Every time I get to a maintenance dose and they think I have stopped reacting, they tell me I can stop the shots. But I gradually get sick again. Testing confirms my allergies have come back and some stronger. My allergist says he thinks I will just have to stay on the maintenance dose forever to have relief. Hugs
Marchers cheer during the Come Out With Pride Parade in downtown Orlando on Saturday, October 15, 2022. Thousands lined the streets for the yearly event supporting inclusion. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel) User Upload Caption:
Any comprehensive history of Pride Month starts with savagery and defiance — commemorating the first time the nation’s gay community openly mutinied against routine oppression and casual violence. The Stonewall Riots radiated from one small bar in Greenwich Village, which was, in the late 1960s, seen as one of the few tiny havens for LGBTQ+ Americans to live their lives with some degree of openness.
Even inside those confines, any kind of openly non-heterosexual behavior could put life and liberty at risk. That’s why gay-friendly establishments, including the Stonewall Inn, were owned or controlled by organized crime-syndicates. Yes, there was a time in American history when the Mafia did a better job of protecting individual rights than any governmental agency did.
Instead, governments across the nation served as oppressors, raiding gay-and-lesbian clubs or posing as potential sexual partners as a form of entrapment. For the most part, Florida was no different. But slowly, small bastions of liberty began to emerge. And they included Central Florida, where ex-military people were transitioning into the space program.
Pride’s beachhead in Florida
Orlando’s first gay nightclub, The Palace Club, opened the same year as the riots. When Disney’s Magic Kingdom opened its gates, the City Beautiful took on added allure as a safer — though still not safe — space for non-heterosexual Americans to love and live their lives. As documented by the LGBTQ History Museum of Central Florida, a group of entrepreneurs known as the Gay and Lesbian Gang quickly established a series of nightclubs that included the iconic Parliament House. Within a decade of the Stonewall riots, Orlando saw its first Pride Picnic at Turkey Lake Park.
It still took decades to unwind Florida’s layers of hateful, oppressive laws. Every step felt hard-won: Stonewall-era law enshrined total bans on any expression of alternate sexuality. Some of those laws were not invalidated until the early 2000s, when a rapid tumble of landmark U.S. Supreme Court rulings battered sexual-identity and orientation laws until they crumbled. And the ugliness never fully went away. Within the past few decades, Florida has seen cruel debates on whether LGBTQ people could adopt children, or marry.
The hearts and minds of Floridians, however, shifted much more quickly. By the turn of the century, most Sunshine State residents expressed support for civil unions and adoption rights. People flew rainbow flags and showed up for Pride demonstrations without fear.
Every step seemed to move things a little closer to a day when sexual orientation and non-gender-conformity were simply accepted as defining traits. When fear and hate were reviled and forced into the shadows, where love was welcome in the full light of day.
Florida saw the reflections of the fear and anger of the Greenwich Village riots shift to cheerful acceptance of sexuality in The Villages —- saw it as a change for the better. The surge of love and alliance after the massacre at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub helped heal hearts ripped apart by an openly acknowledged act of terrorism.
But as this Pride Month draws to a close, we must ask: How is it, in 2023, that we are sliding backward?
Back, to a day when providing gender-affirming care — or simply being transgender — could mean losing access to healthcare or even at risk of arrest and prosecution?
Back, to a time when Florida teachers are warned not to talk about sexuality with their students and innocent books that merely acknowledge the differences among families are outlawed?
Back, to a place where official government sources refer to gay people as “groomers” and suggest their mere existence puts children at risk of predatory behavior? Where the governor seems to obsessed by the mere existence of drag queens, and not in a healthy way?
This is nothing to be proud of.
So as Pride Month draws to a close, Floridians must make it clear: They are ready for this new fight to begin. They are ready to rebuke those who would force shame on people who yearned so long for the right to live in safety and with dignity.
They are ready to stand up for the right to love and be loved without fear once again — and be proud to do so.
From the linked article in the above Joe.My.God. post. Remember, this is a Yale history grad, claiming that is OK to honor Confederate Generals that fought the US government to keep slavery because “But at the end of the day, you know, we had people that have done great things for this country,” DeSantis said.”
Despite the limited scope of the DoD’s renaming, the Governor likened taking Bragg’s name off the fort to moves to “take Abraham Lincoln off the statue down in Boston … take Teddy Roosevelt down in New York City” and “remove George Washington’s name from schools in San Francisco.”
“And that’s not, I think, what I want to see. I mean, I think you can look back at anybody and you could find flaws. But at the end of the day, you know, we had people that have done great things for this country,” DeSantis said.
“I’m not in a position to say that somehow I’m so much better than any of this. It’s a different time. People make mistakes. There’s different parts of our society, we look back and can say was a mistake. But this idea that we’re going to erase history, I just think, is fundamentally wrong, and we’re not going to do that.”
'I think you can look back at anybody and you could find flaws.'@RonDeSantis doubles down on restoration of 'iconic' Fort Bragg name
While we’re at it, let’s also create Fort Hirohito. Why not, he was the leader of a foreign nation that attacked the United States. Let’s run with this theme Governor Fucknutz.
“And here’s the thing, you know, you learn from history, you don’t erase the history” and yet history that makes students uncomfortable can’t be taught in schools…right
Trump’s an elderly sociopathic narcissist, he’s spent decades refining his charisma and reflexes to lie instantly, without hesitation and with complete believability.
Ronnie isn’t, even if he’s a sociopath himself, he’s just hungry for power and clout and tries constantly to copy Trump to try and steal his thunder and his followers. But he can never be as good a liar.
Wow, he first says the name of the military base did not cause him to learn any history at all, then claims keeping the name is vital to learning the history he was totally ignorant about until they removed the name of the incompetent traitorous slaver, demonstrating he is lying through his teeth. He must have experts help him prove himself a liar like that, I don’t think he’s clever enough to figure it out himself.
I guess he means we learn only from white history, not the black history he is censoring in the schools. That’s erasing history, asshole!! This guy is such a lying fucking hypocrite.
Watters wanted and got the Tucker spot at fox. To get it he has to appeal to the most right wing demographics sought after by media, and to win them he has to be full open racist and the most ardent supporter of the right wing conspiracies along with pushing the idea of Christian nationalism. Hugs
Jesse Watters on Monday went after Barack Obama for criticizing the disparity in media attention on the submersible that imploded during its venture to the Titanic wreck when compared to the sinking of a fishing boat that was carrying up to 750 refugees. https://t.co/kAYwlmOh0L
Watters, new host of Tucker’s 8pm slot, says of Obama: “This is a guy whose father has roots in Africa…Spent a lot of time in Hawaii. Was that the last state to get a star on the flag? He's never really looking at things from an American perspective.” pic.twitter.com/cXZ6xKD1JE
If man sees a kid playing in the street, then notice a car driving down the street, and he shrugs and says ‘free will’ and the car hits the kid, is that man a good person or a bad person?
Yet somehow Christians want to tell you that God is good, even though he allows bad things to happen. (And he could have just stopped it all by making Adam and Eve barren, or ending the world 4000 years ago.)
Ending one segment that knocks Pete Buttigieg for "prioritizing a far-left green agenda" only to tee up another segment about the "brutal temperatures" and "dangerous heat" in Texas. pic.twitter.com/ZRFYPKBbcP
Two workers died amid extremely high temperatures in Texas, a tragedy that's likely to exacerbate criticism of Gov. Abbott's water break ban. https://t.co/11ZeBlijYd
“We are flying electric helicopters on Mars, but we can’t use the dryer in Texas. This is because scientists are in charge of Mars and Republicans are in charge of Texas” ~Amy Martin #ERCOT#Texasgrid#VoteThemAllOut2022pic.twitter.com/uIW3c3cyHr
TWO MEN leaving a public restroom . Man#1 approaches Man#2 and says: “Excuse me sir but I noticed you didn’t wash your hands after using the urinal. I’m from Texas and in Texas we’re taught you should always wash your hands after using the restroom.” Man#2 replies: “Well I’m from California and in California we’re taught you should’nt pee all over yourself.”
I wish non-Dem Texans would learn to blame the GQP they vote in for the shitty state of their infrastructure but if the Ted Cruz fleeing for Cancun didn’t teach them shit . . .
This is really a non-issue because if the power goes out and people die, nobody can sue the power company because the Republican Texas Supreme Court just held that Republican-controlled ERCOT is immune from lawsuits. No liability = No Problem.
Strang previously appeared here when he declared that people who oppose Trump are possessed by demons and that voting against Trump is a vote for the “apocalypse.” Also, holograms and Trump’s impeachments? Both the work of Satan. We last heard from him when he appeared in a “documentary” with Dr. Demon Semen.
What’s happening lines up with God’s Word regarding what would happen in the end times before Jesus returns.
But that’s what you want, isn’t it? Shouldn’t you be happy? I mean, your imaginary friend is going to show everyone he’s not imaginary after all. That’s a good thing, right?
There was a book, “The Late Great Planet Earth” that was popular among the end times folks. “The last days are nigh!” Published in 1970. 53 years ago. And even in the late 1800s, preachers were saying the end times were near.
They literally pray “Lord come quickly!” But then complain about all the “signs of the end times” as if that’s a bad thing. They should be working -toward- the ‘one world government” and a global currency and world peace and “the mark of the beast” because that’s what will bring the rapture. (Your eschatology may vary).
This is basically the attempt by white supremacists to prevent the natural decline of white majority / supremacy in the US. They are terrified over the demographics that shows the steady decline of the white majority and the increase in non-white people. It terrifies them because they fear being treated as they have treated POC all during the history of the US. They want to remain the unchallenged authority they have always been. This denies everything we understand about culture and human development, not to mention what the US has always stood for. We are better / stronger / improved the more we blend and add to our prior society. Hey if you treat others that are different from you decently, they will do the same to you. If you act like an asshole toward them, they might do the same back. The thing to understand is be a decent nice person to others. Remember race is a social construct. We are all humans. We may look different but we really are the same species. Do dogs or cats of different colors be racist against each other, and should they, as they are all dogs or cats. Hugs
LMAO this clown went to Harvard Law school and should know the Constitution a little better, particularly the 14th Amendment. But you needn't take my word for it. Birthright citizenship was defined and affirmed by the SCOTUS in 1898, in US v. Wong Kim Ark:https://t.co/OAYLAAteLy
— Deborah, who loves fashion & loathes fascists (@litbrit) June 26, 2023
Yes… and look which demographic he’s coddling. They’ll fall totally in line with him. Evangelicals always find the worst in humanity to align themselves with
I don’t do 1930s/40s comparisons lightly or often, but DeSantis could certainly be someone to take us down a similar road, just a 2020s version of it. He’s already taking actions in that vein — shipping human beings like cargo, book bannings, etc. I’m not suggesting it could be a literal Holocaust, but he will seriously and intentionally harm a lot of Americans (and more so, people wanting to become Americans) before he would be done. A lot of people would die.
Also, I’m not not saying he wouldn’t cause a literal Holocaust, either.
We will never stop fighting bigots like Ron DeSantis – they must be told repeatedly that LGBTQ Americans deserve ALL the rights due to them under our Constitution.#Pride2023https://t.co/oT6gpM9nPQ
— Democratic Coalition (@TheDemCoalition) June 30, 2023
JackFknTwista day ago edited O/T : – At the risk of having only one tune, I don’t think it can be said often enough that in their doctrinaire zealotry the conservative Justices of the Supreme Court have betrayed their underlying hypocrisy. In their preening self-importance all they have exposed is their lack on any integrity, their enthusiasm to lie at any opportunity and their shallow semblance of probity. What we have on the US Supreme Court is a few liars, charlatans and those willing to prostitute themselves at the alter of the Federalist Society on the one hand and to rich ‘grooming’ billionaires on the other. Was there ever a Supreme Court so compromised?
Yes, 1937 or so. Towards the end of the “gilded age”, the SCOTUS was as virulently anti-decency as Alito and Thomas are now. FDR, then president, make a threat to “pack” (unfvck) the court and the court suddenly changed its tune on what the law was. Then the plan to fix the court fell apart.
There’s some suggestion that a similar thing may have happened between last term and this one with regard to KNAW, Roberts and Raspberry Baret. They have not gone along with the same degree of YOLO-ALITO that marked last year / the Dobbs Term.
They can’t win on real issues that matter to people so we’ll have lots of noise on wedge issues over the next year. Brown people invading, drag queen groomers and Susie has to call her teacher they/them at school.
DeSantis keeps trying to resurrect the infamous Jones commission – which attemped to erase homosexuality from all colleges and other schools throughout the state some 50 years ago, along with the actions of Senator Joseph McCarthy, who tried it nationally. The only result was the ruining of the reputations and hopes of over 200 students and faculty in Florida. This is evil in its strongest form.
Most of this is Florida law, so US SCOTUS is largely irrelevant unless there is a conflict with Federal Law. The Florida SCOTUS is packed with bigots, in a large sense the fate of Florida rests in the hands of the appellate courts.
That’s gonna be the kicker. We already know the FLSC is packed with bigots. The appellate courts are either going to side with a dictator or with the republic that placed them in their robes.
I feel like this is part of the whole make shit up and get it to the current Supreme Court so they can declare god and church and money or whatever. Like the website bitch in Colorado and the made up gay client.
Win or lose, Tater will screech about how he’s “fighting for families* and against woke culture & a woke & woke judges.” Others will be smart enough to point out his losses or how vaguely worded his laws are, but at the end of the day, DePudding will declare himself “the great fighter for American values*”
* values & families don’t include individuals, friends or family of the LGBTQ, nonChristians, nor nonWhite racial groups. Additional exclusions not listed or implied are applicable by the tiny dictator
Ron DeSantis is the worst candidate I’ve ever seen. It’s like he’s been assembled from the discarded spare parts of Bobby Jindal, Bill deBlasio, Rick Perry, and Scott Walker. https://t.co/5f6UILNVPI
DeFascist can indeed get the country on a different path – Here’s what Ron DeFascist has accomplished – – LGBT students cannot discuss their personal lives with teachers or counselors, making them feel marginalized, alone, and possibly increasing their risks of suicide. Some parents with LGBT family members are moving out of the state. State ACLU currently suing to end this. – Universities are unsure what they can or cannot teach based on the whims of literally one man. GOP prefer students to be inculcated with cheap cheerleading America First nationalism (this shut down by a judge, results pending) – History teachers can’t teach about the truth of American racism and black history because it might upset white people – Some teachers are seeking employment in another state. – A school principal had to resign because one of her teachers showed students a picture of Michelangelo’s David. – A teacher is under investigation because she showed 13 year olds a Disney movie with a gay character. – Women who discover they’re pregnant after 6 weeks, and are unable to have a child, can’t get an abortion in Florida, even though there should be retroactive abortion, Don Jr. lives there – Property taxes and insurance costs are becoming unaffdable – Million dollar contracts are given to DeFascist’s donors – 87,141 people died of Covid in Florida. Less would have died had there been the slightest of protective measures taken, but DeFascist didn’t allow that. – Hispanic farm and construction workers are not going to work out of fear of DeFascist’s draconian rules to punish undocumented workers and their bosses. Hispanic truckers are refusing to deliver to the state. Farm products are rotting while remaining unpicked. – Students and companies who support diversity and inclusion are no longer allowed to do so. – Trans children can no longer get medical care, use bathroom of pronouns of their choice (this shut down by a judge, results pending) – a court could temporarily remove children from their homes if they receive gender-affirming care – LGBT people who seek medical care can be denied it if they’re unlucky enough to have a religious fanatic doctor. – Drag queens can be arrested for appearing in drag in public where children can see them. (this shut down by a judge, results pending) – Any idiot can buy a gun without a permit, training, or with or without a criminal record. – Disney, the state’s largest employer, is suing DeFascist because of politically motivated harassment after he started a fight with them because they don’t approve of his anti-LGBT laws. Disney cancelled a $1 billion construction project that would have brought the state over 2,000 jobs. – More to come. White retirees probably love him because he’s getting rid of the blacks, gays, immigrants and other assorted annoyances. DeSantis calls Florida “the freest state in America.” Actually you’re free to move here, retire and die.
A “standing order” that Trump has claimed authorized him to declassify documents removed from the Oval Office could not be found by either the Justice Department or Office of Director of National Intelligence https://t.co/wPbnrUTi8s
The Supreme Court has issued an interim order recognizing marriage rights for same-sex and non-traditional heterosexual couples! This landmark decision calls for amendments to the Civil Code — [1/2] pic.twitter.com/hlW7MRvqHB
Fantastic news! The world is evolving, but sadly the GQP and TFG will do everything in their power to stop equality in this country from becoming pernanent and legal. I’m sure TFG is probalby labelling Nepal as one of those shit hole countries he doesn’t like.
Apparently, our evangelical and assorted radical Christian groups, who hate us with the love of God, didn’t know where Nepal is or didn’t know such a country existed. I’ll bet they’re boning up on their geography now.
The San Diego Union-Tribunereports: Two protesters offended by a Pride exhibit at the Rancho Peñasquitos Library have checked out nearly all the books in the display and vowed to keep them until the library eliminates what they call “inappropriate content” for children. The anti-gay protest is the latest example of a growing national backlash against Pride exhibits, which experts say has been fueled by debates over how schools should handle transgender minors. The Rancho Peñasquitos protest ratchets up the usual backlash San Diego library branches experience when they create Pride exhibits or host events like drag queen story times, said head librarian Misty Jones. The protesters, Peñasquitos residents Amy Vance and Martha Martin, said libraries are open, public spaces for children that should be free of references to gender identity and how adults experience sexual attraction. Read the full article. A local city council member is raising money to buy additional copies of the books.
Protestors ruin Rancho Penasquitos library's Pride exhibit by checking out nearly all the books https://t.co/q5erkSeWAZ
I’m starting to think this is a matter for the police. They checked them out and stated that they have no intention of returning them unless the library does exactly what they want. Last I checked, that’s called theft.
They get 5 renewals, unless the items have holds on them. So I urge anyone and everyone in San Diego who is disgusted by their motives to place holds. MANY HOLDS. That way they will be required to return the items or be turned in to a collections agency. That will also likely block their library privileges to borrow any other materials. If it goes beyond that, it is indeed theft.
I had a home in a small town for nearly 30 years. It had a small library, maybe twice the size of the one in my high school. The “Christians” would come in and check out ALL the non-Christian religious books and never return them. It was their way of making sure people couldn’t learn about other religions. And this was before Trump and the MAGA folks. If your religion of “Christianity” is SO GREAT, it should be able to prove itself against the others by its merits and ideals, not by making the beliefs of others unobtainable.
Damn these people. A book offered me permission not to hate myself for being who I am.
*** Editor note *** It was books that gave me my escape from my life. It was books that let me leave the life of abuse, hurt, and fear I was living constantly at home, in my home. It was books that let me understand I was not a horrible abomination in life that was going to do horrible things and die in a gutter as my adoptive parents (the ones beating and sexually abusing me and letting their kids do so) claimed long before they even knew I was gay, that I did not need to suffer in silence, (Which I did for most of my life). These books that these people are trying to ban and deny to the very kids that need them meant so much to me and other kids. Please do not let them. Look in the 1950s these people want to revert the social and country to there were no of these kinds of books, no positiverepresentatives in media, but gay, lesbian, and trans kids still existed. I am going to post a video about a old long time soap opera about gay people and the damage hate can do. Hugs.
When you say “wife,” “husband,” “fiancé,” “girlfriend,” etc.–all commonly heard from heterosexuals–you are inserting sexuality in public spaces where children are or may be.
Mere gender identification on a bathroom door is the actual issue here. These delusional evangelicals are literally incapable of connecting the dots on gender/sexual expression issues.
I’m currently reading a book about the John Birch Society and everything they are doing now is the same shit the Birchers were doing in the 50s and 60s. Only back then MSM and even the GOP leadership weren’t on their side.
They don’t care about corporations either. They only want Republicans to hold the power over everything – people, corporations, city councils, school boards, etc.
Republicans sure don’t like people voting, do they? They’ll overturn elections, make it harder for statewide resolutions to pass, throw out elected officials they don’t like, and now this. Democrats might wish to mention this on the campaign trail.
Kinda like how Texas has created special rules that only apply to specific counties that vote mostly Democratic that take away aspects of self-governance from them.
In public facilities, including prisons and schools, a new requirement will go into place requiring designated bathrooms for men and women, and individuals will be required to utilize facilities based on their gender as assigned at birth. It has no exceptions even for those who have fully transitioned through gender-reassignment surgery.
The Board of Education has already effectively expanded through high school a prohibition of instruction about sexual orientation or gender identity. A new law (SB 1069) codifies that at least through 8th grade. The legislation also prohibits any requirement that school officials use preferred pronouns that don’t match gender assigned at birth.
Health care providers can now turn patients away and refuse treatment based on “conscience-based objections.” DeSantis signed the new law (SB 1580) in front of a “Prescribe Freedom” sign and said it empowers physicians to act within their own morals. LGBTQ advocates label it a right to discriminate bill against gay and transgender Floridians, and the latter group has already seen restrictions on health care put into place this year by statute and the Board of Medicine.
Also going into effect today is the right to carry a concealed weapon without any permit or training, the right of hospitals to refuse care to undocumented patients, and a law allowing the state to use radioactive fertilizer byproducts in the creation of roads. That last one came about due to lobbying by the phosphate industry, which in 2021 saw a leakage of their toxic byproducts into Tampa Bay.
Scottie's Playtime 