Category: LGBTQ+ / Gay / Trans / Gender

Amazing teacher goes viral for passionate speech calling out policy to out transgender students

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/09/amazing-teacher-goes-viral-passionate-speech-calling-policy-transgender-students/

 

“Our students must be able to choose the time and the manner in which they share their transness and with whom. It is not our place to force them to do so.”
 
By  
Dawn Riggs, Ohio Board of Education Speech
Dawn Riggs, Ohio Board of Education Speech Photo: Screenshot
 

A teacher is making waves on Twitter for her impassioned speech before the Ohio State Board of Education in support of trans students.

Dawn Riggs, a teacher of 33 years, was testifying against a resolution that would require Ohio schools to out trans and nonbinary students to their parents, allow teachers the right to refuse to use a student’s preferred name and pronouns, and require students to participate on sports teams based on their sex assigned at birth, effectively excluding trans girls from school sports.

The “Resolution to Support Parents, Schools, and Districts in Rejecting Harmful, Coercive, and Burdensome Gender Identity Policies” was introduced by Board member Brendan Shea as a reaction to new federal Title IX rules that expand protections for LGBTQ students. 

Riggs spoke before the board about the difference it makes to support trans students.

“I have many trans and nonbinary students in my classes. My experience with transgender individuals spans my entire career. I am still in touch with some of those folks. Every single former student has told me how much knowing they had a safe space to be their authentic selves has meant to them”

Riggs said students have opened up to her about their trauma and suicidal thoughts, and their “wish to disappear.”

“The fact that they could walk into my classroom, be called the name they chose, and be called by the pronouns that reflect their lived experience made a difference. Even if no other adult in their life affirmed their identity, they knew they would be safe for at least a little while each day.”

She added, “It is no burden to use a name that we are asked to use. It is no burden to use the pronouns that are shared with us. If your friend William asked you to call him Billy, you don’t blink an eye.”

She also lambasted the board for considering allowing schools to out students to their parents.

“Our students must be able to choose the time and the manner in which they share their transness and with whom. It is not our place to force them to do so. I urge you to oppose this hateful and misguided rhetoric.”

On Twitter, people praised Riggs for her words and actions.

“She saved lives, 100% certain.” one user wrote.

“If more people had her attitude and kindness there would be a lot more happier trans and non binary people in the world,” said another.

Three members of the Board of Education also released an official statement against Shea’s resolution, writing that they “are embarrassed that our time as a board will be spent discussing an issue that so egregiously works to bully children and threaten adults.”

“Shea not only presented a resolution full of factual errors and based in religious pedagogy,” the statement continued, “but he also submitted a resolution that works to detract our body from the work many of us were elected to do.”

Editor’s note: This article mentions suicide. If you need to talk to someone now, call the Trans Lifeline at 1-877-565-8860. It’s staffed by trans people, for trans people. The Trevor Project provides a safe, judgement-free place to talk for LGBTQ youth at 1-866-488-7386. You can also call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
 

Republicans attack Kansas Gov Laura Kelly for supporting trans people. She responded in 8 words

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/09/republicans-attack-kansas-gov-laura-kelly-supporting-trans-people-responded-8-words/

I have covered the swimmer ground before.   In the past anti-trans people have tried to claim that men who cannot win in men’s sports against men then claim to be women so they can compete in an easier contest against women while biologically still men.   That is not just not happening.    Male swimmers are competing in a men’s contest on Monday and then on Wednesday decide to swim in a female contest.   What is happening is trans women living as the gender they identify as wanting to participate in a sport they enjoy.   To participate in the sport a trans woman must meet the medical qualification of what is considered the normal hormone ranges for females.   Often there is at least one or two years of transitioning before joining a women’s team, during which time the benefits of male puberty are diminished / dissipated / removed.    Also it is important to note that trans women do not win all the events and take all the awards.   You know what determines the winners of these sports events?  Those who have natural talent and practice the sport more, longer, harder, and make the effort to be the best at their sport.  

But the sports thing is really a misdirection.    It really is not what these bills are for.   Remember the governor who vetoed on of these bills because there was only one trans child in their schools and that child was not interested in sports?   The republican legislature overrode the veto because it is entirely an issue to rile up the base and get the rabid right wing to vote.   It is not about kids, health, or education but it is entirely about getting the religious people and the rabid right who cannot accept the changes in society to be upset enough to vote republican.   That is entirely want this is about.    Are you uncomfortable that your traditions are not universal now, that other ideas are present?  Return to the past where it was all good and you were comfortable because you understood it all, vote republican.   This is what it really is what these anti-trans / don’t say gay laws are about.    Hugs

She doesn’t have time for the BS.
 
By  
Topeka, Kansas - January 14, 2019: Democrat Governor Laura Kelly delivers her inaugural speech is front of the steps of the Kansas State Capitol building

Topeka, Kansas – January 14, 2019: Democrat Governor Laura Kelly delivers her inaugural speech is front of the steps of the Kansas State Capitol building Photo: Shutterstock
 

The Republican Governor’s Association (RGA) is saying Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D) is lying about her record on transgender rights as she faces attack ads from the conservative organization over her two vetoes of transgender sports bans.

In 2021 and this past April, Kelly vetoed bills that would have banned transgender girls from participating in school sports as their gender. The bills did not similarly restrict transgender boys.

“We all want a fair and safe space for our kids to play and compete,” she said when she vetoed this year’s bill. “However, this bill didn’t come from the experts at our schools, our athletes, or the Kansas State High School Activities Association. It came from politicians trying to score political points.”

RGA has been running ads attacking Kelly for those vetoes. One of those ads featured cisgender swimmer Riley Gaines who said, “I was forced to share a locker room with a biological man. It was uncomfortable and it was wrong.”

“This has to stop,” she concluded. “If Laura Kelly can’t protect women, she shouldn’t be governor.”

In one of her ads, Kelly responded to the claims succinctly.

“You may have seen my opponent’s attacks,” she said in the ad. “So let me just say it: of course men should not play girls’ sports. OK, we all agree there.”

The rest of the ad calls out her opponent, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt (R), for his support of cutting school funding.

Her statement is true: these laws are not about stopping boys or men from playing girls’ or women’s sports, they’re about banning a subset of girls and women – those who are transgender – from participating in school sports. Like most mainstream Democrats, Kelly is in favor of transgender people getting access to full educations – sports education included – but isn’t in favor of removing gender distinctions in schools.

But Republicans are now accusing her of lying, mainly because they refuse to acknowledge transgender people for who they are.

“Laura Kelly is looking Kansans in the eye and flat out lying about her record of failing to protect girls and women from having to compete against biological men in athletics,” said a spokesperson for RGA Kansas in a press release issued today.

The press release didn’t defend Schmidt when it came to his record on cutting funding for schools.

 

Right wing troll targets another hospital for helping transgender people

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/09/right-wing-troll-targets-another-hospital-helping-transgender-people/

Again the moral police anti-trans US Christian Taliban managed to shut down the web site of a hospital providing legal medical best practice trans affirming care.    That is what all the major medical groups support.   Here is some of the medical organizations that support trans affirming treatment. 

 Look over the list again.   These anti-trans haters like Matt Walsh claim to know more than all these medical providers.   Based on their religious beliefs I guess.   These gang of thug maga right wing win bigots are doing the dirty work so that the red state governor can pretend there is a problem, but these haters are making the problem.   It is like they flood a bathroom by stopping up the drains and then stage an investigation into the plumbers’ organizations claiming that they are why the bathroom flooded.  How long is the US going to be ruled by a small minority of thugs, gangs using threats of violence, lies, and misinformation to force the rest of the public to follow their religious views of sexuality / gender.  They want to erase all the social gains of the last 60 years.   They want the women to return to being subservient to men and the LGBTQ+ to go away / not to exist.   Hugs 

The state’s anti-LGBTQ governor is threatening to launch an investigation based on a Twitter thread.
 
By  
Right wing troll targets another hospital for helping transgender people
Photo: Shutterstock
 

Conservative anti-LGBTQ commentator Matt Walsh has targeted Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) this week in a crusade against gender-affirming healthcare.

In a Twitter thread on Tuesday, Walsh claimed that based on the results of an investigation by him and his team, the staff at VUMC’s Transgender Health Clinic “now castrate, sterilize, and mutilate minors as well as adults, while apparently taking steps to hide this activity from the public view.”

Walsh criticized the clinic’s Trans Buddy program – which offers peer support to patients – and repeatedly accused the medical staff of “drugging and sterilizing” kids for financial gain.

And his accusations are fueling anti-LGBTQ politicians. In response to Walsh, anti-LGBTQ Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) released a statement expressing that Walsh’s claims warrant an investigation.

“The ‘pediatric transgender clinic’ at Vanderbilt University Medical Center raises serious moral, ethical and legal concerns,” Lee said. “We should not allow permanent, life-altering decisions that hurt children or policies that suppress religious liberties, all for the purpose of financial gain. We have to protect Tennessee children, and this warrants a thorough investigation.”

The office of the state’s Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti also reportedly confirmed an investigation is taking place.

VUMC has since shut down the website for the Transgender Health Clinic and has released a statement defending the work they do for the trans community. The statement opens by saying the video footage and social media posts Walsh used to accuse the hospital of using trans people to make money “misrepresent facts.”

“VUMC began its Transgender Health Clinic because transgender individuals are a high-risk population for mental and physical health issues and have been consistently underserved by the U.S. health system,” the statement says.

“We have been and will continue to be committed to providing family-centered care to all adolescents in compliance with state law and in line with professional practice standards and guidance established by medical specialty societies.”

The hospital emphasized that parental consent is required to treat all trans minors and that employees may decline to participate “in care they find morally objectionable.”

“The Trans Buddy program mentioned in the video has received national acclaim,” it continued. “Its purpose is to provide peer volunteers who support persons who are seeking highly personal care in an unfamiliar environment, and who may have been refused medical services in the past or avoided seeking them out of fear of being met with hostility.”

Anti-trans conservatives continue to put hospitals (and the children they treat) at risk by spreading lies about gender-affirming health care.

The Boston Children’s Hospital was recently forced to evacuate after an anonymous bomb threat was called in following a weeks-long harassment campaign from anti-LGBTQ groups.

After far-right Libs of TikTok founder Chaya Raichik falsely claimed the hospital was conducting gender-affirming surgery on children as young as two or three years old, physicians received so many death threats, harassing calls, and emails that the hospital had to hire extra security and give doctors new guidance on responding to threats.

Around the same time, Children’s National Hospital in Washington D.C. was targeted with bomb and death threats after the far-right anti-LGBTQ Twitter account Libs of TikTok falsely claimed that the hospital was performing hysterectomies (the removal of the uterus, cervix, fallopian tubes, and sometimes ovaries) on transgender children.

In reality, gender affirming surgery is almost never performed on minors.

Instead, puberty blockers are used in the treatment of transgender youth to hold off the permanent changes of puberty so that young people have more time to understand their gender identities better.

The reversible medications have been shown to significantly reduce lifelong suicide risk among transgender people. The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, American Psychological Association, and other major medical/mental health organizations all support gender-affirming care for pubescent youth when appropriate.

Republicans push anti-LGBTQ+ bill in Pennsylvania that ‘goes further’ than ‘Don’t Say Gay’

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/09/21/pennsylvania-anti-lgbtq-bill-dont-say-gay/

“The intent of these bills seems to be to wipe out any discussion and pretend that [LGBTQ people] don’t exist,” Ward said.    And after they get the gays out of view in society who will be the next scapegoats.    Remember this pandering by red state governors are to their base, which is a small minority of vocal and thuggish people.   The majority of the public doesn’t want these enforced bigotry bills.   The vast majority of the public wants acceptance and tolerance of diversity.   Also don’t be fooled when the bills say notify the parents of any healthcare treatment they are talking of social transitioning such as name changes and use of pronouns.   Basically outing kids to their parents.    Hugs

Several people hold up LGBTQ+ Pride and trans Pride flags

Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania have introduced a new bill,  “patterned” on Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law, that would ban discussions on LGBTQ+ topics in classrooms. (Getty)

Republican state lawmakers are rallying behind newly introduced anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that would ‘go further’ than Florida’s reviled ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law. 

GOP politicians held a rally at the Pennsylvania state capitol Tuesday (20 September) to introduce House Bill 2813. The bill shares similarities with Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law, which bans discussions of LGBTQ+ topics in classrooms between kindergarten and third grade. 

Pennsylvania state representative Stephanie Borowicz, the bill’s primary sponsor, said HB 2813 is “patterned” on the Florida legislation but actually “goes further” than the other measure, according to PennLive. 

 

The bill states that any public or charter school “may not offer instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity to a student in kindergarten through fifth grade”. 

It would also require schools to notify parents of “health care services offered by the school entity” to students. The legislation would also allow parents to bring civil action against schools that they believe are violating the measure. 

Borowicz added she believed the bill could be extended further in the future and wanted to ban classroom discussions on LGBTQ+ topics through high school. 

“It really needs to be protected up through 12th grade, we need to go all the way,” she said. 

However, the bill is unlikely to pass into law as Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf has already promised to veto HB 2813 and other ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bills if they land on his desk. 

 
Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf speaks at a podium
Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf has promised to veto HB 2813 as he says it “denies humanity by reinforcing homophobic ideologies”. (Getty)

Wolf wanted lawmakers in the state to focus on the real issues facing Pennsylvanians rather than “engaging in discrimination and bullying”, WHTM reported. 

“HB 2813 is an effort to scorch individuality and normalise unacceptance,” Wolf said. “This legislation denies humanity by reinforcing homophobic ideologies.”

Sharon Ward, senior policy advisor for the Education Law Center of Pennsylvania, warned this bill – like other ‘Don’t Say Gay’ measures – could “really add to the existing targeting and bullying of LGBTQ kids in schools”. 

“The intent of these bills seems to be to wipe out any discussion and pretend that [LGBTQ people] don’t exist,” Ward said.

 

Pennsylvania lawmakers in the state Senate passed a similar bill, Senate Bill 1278, in June and currently awaits consideration in the House. 

SB 1278 would also ban classroom discussions of LGBTQ+ topics for pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade students. Instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity would also be prohibited between sixth and twelfth grade unless it is done in an “age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate” manner. 

 

Several people hold up LGBTQ+ Pride flags during a protest
Campaigners have denounced the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bills as they attempt to “wipe out any discussion and pretend that [LGBTQ people] don’t exist”. (Getty)

 

The Pennsylvania Commission on LGBTQ Affairs described SB 1278 as a “copy-paste version of Florida’s discriminatory ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill that would harm students and set back human rights” in the state.

Rafael Álvarez Febo, executive director of the LGBTQ Affairs Commission, said the bill is a “cruel attempt to politicise” queer people and “deny their humanity” to “score cheap political points”. 

“We at the Pennsylvania Commission on LGBTQ Affairs know that the guise of calling LGBTQ people and topics ‘age inappropriate’ is really just fearmongering,” Febo said. 

Febo continued: “Bills like these will cause LGBTQ teachers to have to conceal their identities and strip any resources available for LGBTQ youth out of schools. 

“Even more alarming, these bills have emboldened far-right hate groups to mobilise to commit violence against LGBTQ people.”

Wolf has promised to veto both HB 2318 and SB 1278, but the bills await an uncertain future as Pennsylvania will have a new governor next year. 

The Republican running for office, state senator Doug Mastriano, voted in favour of SB 1278. He described the anti-LGBTQ+ measure as a way to “empower parents” to ensure children aren’t exposed to so-called “sexually explicit materials and bizarre discussions about gender identity”.

Democratic nominee Josh Shapiro, the state’s attorney general, has openly opposed the measure. Shapiro’s campaign spokesperson said the state legislature needed to stop “wasting time and taxpayer dollars on these attempts to bully LGBTQ Pennsylvanians”. 

 

America’s Busiest Troll

Let’s talk about Banned Books Week 2022….

Tucker Carlson Endorses Anti-LGBTQ Vigilantism – JMG

Tucker Carlson Endorses Anti-LGBTQ Vigilantism

This one of the most watched loudest voices in right wing media.  Spreading more lies so more people will be targeted for violence and more LGBTQ+ events will get shut down by the Proud Boys gang thugs enforcement arm of the republican party.    Grooming is when someone builds a relationship, trust and emotional connection with a child or young person so they can manipulate, exploit and abuse them. Children and young people who are groomed can be sexually abused, exploited or trafficked. Anybody can be a groomer, no matter their age, gender or race.   Teachers are not groomers, nor are drag queens reading stories with parents present.  The ones sexualizing kids is the right who are claiming anything they don’t like is sexualizing kids, and anyone they are against is a grooming pedophile.   Kids understand gender from the time they notice mommy and daddy, brother and sister, and kids understand love attraction again because they see it at home, on TV, at church, anywhere there are people in relationships.   They understand it if Mr. T and Mr. B are a couple that they love each other like their family.  They are not sexualized to see a picture of a straight spouse on a teacher’s desk and they are not sexualized to see a picture of a same sex spouse on a teacher’s desk.   It doesn’t sexualize them in anyway.   It is just the world around them.  What does sexualize them is what the right wing is doing, making children a sexual pawn to criminalize / ban everything you don’t like in society.  Don’t bring the kids into your hate, be honest and just say you hate some and are against it.   Don’t hide behind the kids.   Hugs

“In a healthy country, with an intact social fabric, neighborhood dads would give out instant justice to anyone who even thought about sexualizing their kids.

“And if you doubt that, go out and try it in Bulgaria or South Africa or the Solomon Islands. Good luck. Let us know how that ends, if you can still speak.

“Libs of TikTok was being banned from the internet — why? Because it showed documentary evidence of what was happening. Some people described what was happening as grooming.

“We are not exactly sure what that means, but if it’s sexually abusing children — yeah, that is what’s happening. But the term groomer is now hate speech, says NBC News.

“What you’re seeing is a society that hates children. You would have to hate children in order to sexualize them. Because sexualizing children screws them up for life — ask anyone to whom it has happened — period.

“No one should put up with this. No parent should put up with this for one second, no matter what the law says. Your duty — your moral duty — is to defend your children.

“This is an attack on your children and you should fight back.” – Tucker Carlson, on last night’s show.

Libs Of TikTok is still active on Twitter and Facebook.

“Death To Gays” Pastor Quits After Admitting To “Sins”

Donnie Romero, a pastor who wished death to gay people, resigned after admitting to a few of his “sins.” Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur discuss on The Young Turks. Watch LIVE weekdays 6-8 pm ET.
http://youtube.com/theyoungturks/live

Read more HERE: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n…

“Donnie Romero — a pastor who gained national attention after his views on the Pulse nightclub shooting inspired a protest from LGBTQ advocates — has resigned. In a video posted to YouTube, Romero says that he had sinned by paying for sex, gambling and using drugs.

Romero — formerly the pastor of Stedfast Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas — publicly voiced support for the Pulse nightclub gunman, who opened fire inside the popular LGBTQ nightclub in Orlando and killed 49 people. A June 2016 Dallas Morning News report says Romero’s words sparked a protest.

‘These 50 sodomites are all perverts and pedophiles, they’re the scum of the Earth and the Earth is a better place now and I’ll take it a step further,’ Romero said in a sermon published online, the publication reports. ‘I’ll pray to God like I did this morning, and I will again tonight, that God will finish the job that that man started,’ Romero said.”

Analysis: Book Banning By School Districts Is Growing -JMG

Analysis: Book Banning By School Districts Is Growing

 

Changing America reports:

The momentum behind the nation’s wave of book bans is growing. A total of 1,648 individual books have been banned as of June, according to a new report from PEN America, a nonprofit focused on defending the right to freedom of expression in literature, journalism, and education. Those banned titles were written by 1,261 different authors, 290 illustrators, and 18 translators.

Out of those books, 674 titles, or 41 percent of all banned books, have an LGBTQ+ protagonist or secondary character or focus on LGBTQ+ themes. Another 659 times, or 40 percent, have a protagonist or prominent secondary character of color, and 338 banned books, or 21 percent, talk about issues of race or racism. Book bans have taken place in 138 school districts across 32 states. But there are three states that account for an overwhelming majority of the bans: Pennsylvania, Florida, and Texas.

CNN reports: 

The organization identified 50 groups operating at the national, state, or local level that advocate for bans in K-12 schools and said it appears that the majority of those groups formed in the last year. They range from local Facebook or online groups to more established conservative organizations.

One of those groups is Moms for Liberty, a conservative group that came together last year to fight for parental rights in Florida and has since spread across the country.

PEN America has identified another seven national groups with numerous chapters, as well as 38 groups operating at the state, regional, or community level that appear unaffiliated with the national groups or with one another, the report says.

 

 

Gustav2 • 2 hours ago • edited

Quit calling Christo-Fascists “conservatives”

Brian Green • 2 hours ago

If they’re banning books with sex, violence and murders, they started with The Bible, right?

Sarah greenmanTN • 2 hours ago

For folks who allegedly don’t like China, they’re acting suspiciously like the CCP when it comes to books.

Bambino🌻 • 2 hours ago

It’s easier and faster if they just close down the schools.

starmom Bambino🌻 • 2 hours ago

Working on it.

jk105 • 2 hours ago

Worth noting is that there are no books banned by liberal-left organizations, which have been maligned as being merchants of cancel culture. This makes clear that the true enemies of free speech are right wingers.

TexasBoy • an hour ago • edited

If you don’t like the subject of a book, don’t read it. Seems simple, right? But what do you expect from fascists, I mean, look at Monica, One Mad Mom. She has no idea that her TV has a Power Off button.

Staver: Passing Marriage Bill Will “Destroy America”- JMG

Staver: Passing Marriage Bill Will “Destroy America”

I personally think it is a mistake to wait until after the midterm election to put the bill on the Floor of the Senate.   Republicans have asked for this because they understand voting against it carries a penalty and so will voting for it.   If the vote against it the money and the independents might vote against them for their opponent.   But if they vote for it their own base will vote against them.  After the midterms and they win their races what is there to induce them to vote for it when they won’t have the threat of the independents voting for their opponents and their base will still turn against them if they vote for it.   The point is after the midterm election is over there is little to no downside to the republicans voting against it.   So what leverage the Democrats have now will be gone.   Sorry I don’t accept well they gave their word, we have seen how far you can trust that.   If this doesn’t pass then Schumer needs to be run out of the Senate.    But to the crap spewed by the liberty counsel and the cases they push demanding Christians be exempt from anti-discrimination laws and be allowed to take public money but not serve all the public like everyone else is required.   You know, they want special privileges.    They want the right to hate to be enshrined into law.   They demand that their religious doctrine be the laws of the land and everyone forced to live by them.  Meet the US Taliban.   Hugs

Via email from hate group leader Mat Staver:

Natural marriage keeps a culture strong. Sexual immorality and lack of monogamy kill a culture. If you want to destroy America, pass HR 8404. That is why we must warn members of the Senate to STOP HR 8404.

The “Respect for Marriage Act” will throw gasoline on the fire that is burning down marriage, family and the objective reality of gender in our nation!

Only six more Senate votes are needed to pass HR 8404. There are 16 Republican senators who have not publicly committed how they will vote on this bill. Rush your urgent faxes to every senator you can to block this bill.

The time to turn back the unbridled Jezebel spirit poisoning American minds, bodies and culture is NOW! It is successfully perverting a third American generation and destroying our Judeo-Christian culture before our eyes!

Liberty Counsel is fighting for the soul of America by fighting disastrous policies like HR 8404, and by defending religious freedom and life in state and federal courtrooms across America. But we are only able to perform this mission-critical work because of faithful supporters like YOU.

Won’t you prayerfully consider making a recurring monthly donation to fund this intensifying legal battle for religious freedom? Every donation made today will be DOUBLED IN IMPACT by a Challenge Grant. Thank you in advance.

Earlier this month Staver claimed that the bill will legalize pedophilia, polygamy, incestuous marriages, and “child brides.”

https://twitter.com/imillhiser/status/1570496418405814272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1570496418405814272%7Ctwgr%5Eb5c193a05330f51b8f64520e0fd9148ae8e8bb64%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.joemygod.com%2F2022%2F09%2Fstaver-passing-marriage-bill-will-destroy-america%2F

Houndentenor heleninedinburgh • an hour ago

In the years since gay marriage was passed (first in states and then federally) they can’t find examples of damage to society? They keep claiming it does harm but can’t even think of isolated examples?

The same for gays in the military. All that uproar and panic. Not one story of problems. (As a younger relative in the navy told me, “We all already pretty much knew who was gay and we didn’t care before and we don’t care now.”)

Houndentenor • an hour ago

Their prophecies of doom and gloom never come true but they always keep pushing that doom off into the future and somehow there are millions of people believing them. Of course, religion has been doing this shit for millenia.

Cel • an hour ago

We gays have been able to marry in the US for 17 years. America should be completely “destroyed” by now HAHAHA!

Elagabalus • an hour ago

“Natural marriage,” as though animals in the wild “marry” one another. I detest the way these bigots usurp terms that bolster their side while being a put-down to the other. And didn’t we hear all this scare-mongering before Obergefell which never materialized? Damn these bigots!

clay Elagabalus • an hour ago

“Natural marriage”, like “natural law”, is US Protestants aping Roman Catholic theology because enforcing their gender ideals is more important to them than honest originality.

heleninedinburgh • an hour ago

If the US can be destroyed by people getting married it can’t have been that good in the first place.
WHY DO YOU HATE AMERICA, MAT?????

Bikeguylarry (AKA John Doe) • an hour ago

“Lack of monogamy?”

Quit cheating on your spouse’s by diddling kids.

clay Bikeguylarry (AKA John Doe) • an hour ago

They’ve already pushed “covenant marriage” as a contrast to equal legal recognition of same-sex marriages. Interesting that it hasn’t taken off anywhere once the straights realize it’s just a way to go back to outlawing (straight) divorce. (Under covenant marriages same-sex divorces would still be legal, since they weren’t *real* marriages to begin with.)

Melissia • an hour ago

An entire generation of young adults and soon-to-be young adults has grown up with marriage equality all their lives, and the USA is still here– despite the best efforts of Trump and the Republican party.

rmthunter • an hour ago

“Natural marriage” — does that include marriage between one man and several women? One woman and several men, as in one cultlure in Africa? What about thoe peoples in China that don’t recognize marriage at all?

Come to think of it, there’s nothing “natural” about marriage to begin with — it’s purely a human cultural institution.

As for “fighting for America’s soul”, I don’t doubt that for a minute. I just don’t like what you plan to do with it.

Yves R. Mektin • an hour ago

Oh noes! Not “child brides”, Mat! You and your cohorts are the ones trying to make them give birth at age 10.

Teslaac • an hour ago • edited

oh look two two natural penguins not giving a rat’s ass what matty thinks or who he is.

pragDem • an hour ago

“Rush your urgent faxes to every senator you can to block this bill.”

*giggles*

John • an hour ago

So, to encourage monogamy, we must limit marriage to only certain groups of people? And that will help, how, exactly?