Category: LGBTQ+ / Gay / Trans / Gender

Florida just stripped countless trans people of life-saving healthcare with ‘shameful’ Medicaid ban

Florida just stripped countless trans people of life-saving healthcare with ‘shameful’ Medicaid ban

Republicans have long made being poor a reason to be denied medical care or having any quality of life.  Some states make being homeless a crime now.    This country has become one of well off upper incomes / the wealthy and the lower incomes / desperate workers / the poor.   This is driven by anti-trans hate and bigotry.   This goes against the best medical practices accepted by the majority of medical associations.   Trans gender affirmative medical care is the treatment  backed up by medical science and data.   That is a fact.  Gender-affirming care, as defined by the World Health Organization, encompasses a range of social, psychological, behavioral, and medical interventions “designed to support and affirm an individual’s gender identity” when it conflicts with the gender they were assigned at birth.

Florida to ban gender-affirming healthcare from Medicaid coverage

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. (Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Florida will ban transgender residents from using Medicaid to obtain gender-affirming healthcare, including hormone medications and surgery.

According to ABC News, the new law will come into effect on Sunday (21 August).

Florida will join several other states – including Arizona, Missouri and Texas – in explicitly banning residents from using the medical expenses assistance programme to cover transgender healthcare, disproportionately affecting lower-income trans people.

 

The state’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) laid out the legislation in June, recommending limitations on puberty blockers, hormones, gender-affirming surgeries, and “any other procedures that alter primary or secondary sexual characteristics”.

The state’s surgeon general Joseph Ladapo previously said that providing trans healthcare to minors is “about injecting political ideology into the health of our children”.

LGBTQ+ civil rights organisations including Lamda Legal said in a statement they would “fight this rule and defend the rights of transgender people in Florida in whatever forum necessary to protect their rights to access health care coverage”.

Sarah Warbelow, Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) legal director, said it was the “latest example of the DeSantis administration shamefully targeting transgender Floridians”.

 

“The governor’s administration thinks it knows better than the residents and medical providers of Florida,” Warbelow said.

“The purported rationale behind these latest moves to deny medical care to transgender people has been thoroughly debunked time and time again since this effort first surfaced publicly in April.

“Rather than following the science, the data or the experts, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration instead chose to misinterpret studies, ignore evidence, and lend credence to prejudice – yet again putting the state between patients and doctors for no reason other than political grandstanding.

“This rule will harm thousands of Floridians when it goes into effect, and it should be reevaluated immediately.”

The HRC added that the move will affect the care of approximately 9,000 transgender Floridians who rely on Medicaid.

 

The move follows Florida’s widely-criticised “Don’t Say Gay” legislation which passed in March, and prohibits classroom discussion of LGBTQ+ topics.

Following the signing of the bill, Amit Paley, CEO and executive director of LGBT+ mental health and suicide prevention charity The Trevor Project, said in a statement: “LGBTQ youth in Florida deserve better. They deserve to see their history, their families, and themselves reflected in the classroom.

“Social support is vital for suicide prevention, and I want to remind LGBTQ youth in Florida and across the country that you are not alone.”

Serbian bishop calls for armed attack on LGBTQ+ people: ‘If I had a weapon, I would use it’

Serbian bishop calls for armed attack on LGBTQ+ people: ‘If I had a weapon, I would use it’

 

Bishop Nikanor speaks

Serbian Orthodox Church bishop Nikanor Bogunović of Bana. (Screen capture via YouTube)

A senior bishop in Serbia has been condemned for encouraging armed attacks against an LGBTQ+ Pride event in Belgrade.

In September, the Serbian capital will host EuroPride, which celebrates LGBTQ+ rights across the continent, in a first for a southeastern European country.

But Serbian Orthodox Church bishop Nikanor Bogunović of Banat, a region that covers parts of Serbia, Romania and Hungary, has vowed to “curse” all those who attend the week-long festival.

 

“I will curse all those who organize and participate in something like that,” Nikanor said in remarks made on 11 August, according to Balkan Insight.

“I can do that much. If I had a weapon, I would use it, I would use that force if only I had it, but I do not.”

He added that EuroPride participants “will come to Belgrade and flaunt and desecrate the city of Belgrade, the holy Serbian city,” and that “we raise our voice against such [people]”.

https://twitter.com/reznikWSWS/status/1558369966965276673?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1558369966965276673%7Ctwgr%5E04909180f9001b26ca17f9de52008ab97a3de1b7%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinknews.co.uk%2F2022%2F08%2F15%2Fserbia-orthodox-church-bishop-nikanor-bogunovic%2F

Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić said Nicanor’s sermon had another clear target – the country’s lesbian prime minister, Ana Brnabić, elected in 2017.

 

“Bishop Nicanor insulted himself and our church, humiliated our church, much more than Ana Brnabić or anyone else ever did,” he told TV network Prva TV on 12 August.

Only three days after Nikanor’s comments, chants of “Hands off our children” and “Stop the parade of shame” boomed through the streets of Belgrade as part of a protest against EuroPride.

Tens of thousands of people gathered outside Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarchate offices before ending at the Sain Marko Church. The demonstration was backed by the Serbian Orthodox Church, according to local media reports.

Serbia, a deeply conservative country in the Balkans, has a spotty track record with LGBTQ+ rights at best. Something seemingly at odds with it being one of the few nations to have an openly gay leader.

Queer Serbs do enjoy some protections in the eyes of the law, but same-gender couples are not legally recognised and marriage equality remains firmly banned by the constitution.

 

Though the days when nearly half of Serbs considered being gay an illness are long gone, officials remain sluggish to tackle homophobia while religious leaders consider LGBTQ+ rights a degenerate Western plot.

Serbia’s prime minister Ana Brnabić (2-R) at Belgrade Pride in 2017. (ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP via Getty Images)

The knock-on effect of this is easy to see. Almost 60 per cent of LGBTQ+ Serbs have reported physical or emotional abuse in the course of a year, according to a 2020 report by the human rights group Center for Research and Development of Society IDEAS.

So for a high-ranking religious figure like Nikanor to call congregants for arms wasn’t exactly unexpected to some activists.

“It’s deeply disturbing to see a bishop incite armed violence against the LGBTQ+ community, however, it’s not surprising,” Nik Jovčić-Sas, a British-Serbian LGBTQ+ activist, told PinkNews.

“The Serbian Orthodox Church’s response to the queer and trans community for the past 20 years has been one of implicit and explicit violence.”

Jovčić-Sas said the first Belgrade Pride ever held in 2001 has come to be known as “Крви Прајд, ‘the bloody Pride’, for its extreme violence”.

Football hooligans joined right-wing nationalists to beat up and stone Pride-goers wishing to celebrate who they are. The violence only ended when police fired in the air to disperse the seething crowds.

The haunting scene was repeated nearly a decade later in 2010 when the second Belgrade Pride was held. Thugs tore through the march, lobbing Molotov cocktails, bricks, stones, glass bottles and firecrackers at Pride-goers and police in a protest egged on by religious leaders.

More than 100 people were arrested after the office of the ruling Democratic Party was set on fire and at least one shot was fired in clashes with the police.

“The church has always allowed itself to be the heart of the country’s most virulent anti-queer campaigns,” Jovčić-Sas added.

Patriarch Porfirije offered LGBTQ+ Serbs hope for a more inclusive and tolerant Serbian Orthodox Church when he expressed sympathy for queer couples fighting for legal recognition.

“However considering that he has not condemned Bishop Nikanor for his comments and allowed the church to be the rallying point for this weekend’s anti-Pride march,” Jovčić-Sas said, “I am not optimistic we will see any change from this Patriarch.”

A Children’s Hospital Providing Gender-Affirming Care is Being Targeted with Death Threats. Guess Who’s Behind It.

https://www.intomore.com/the-internet/childrens-hospital-providing-gender-affirming-care-targeted-death-threats-guess-whos-behind/

 

Back in June, Harvard Law clinical instructor and trans activist Alejandra Caraballo tweeted about the troll account Libs of TikTok harassing a Nebraska children’s hospital for providing access to information about gender-affirming care at a Pride event.

Now, the account has taken on a bigger target: Boston Children’s Hospital.

As Caraballo has pointed out, Libs of TikTok has been publicly harassing the hospital on Twitter for the past week due to its policy of providing gender-affirming care to trans teens and adults. Now, employees and providers at BCH have been receiving death threats and harassment.

The Libs of TikTok account claims, like so many other right-wing propaganda accounts, that providing access to gender-affirming care for minors is tantamount to child abuse and “grooming.” The truth is much less sensational: the hospital provides care to children and adults who are seeking transition-related care. Libs of TikTok, however, seems to believe that because the Wayback Machine shows a time when BCH didn’t specify a specific age cutoff for gender-affirming surgeries, the hospital is responsible for encouraging teens to seek medical care without their parents’ knowledge or approval.

Which, even if it were true, wouldn’t actually be a bad thing, especially if your parents are rampant transphobes.

But there’s a bigger question to be asked in the midst of all this: why is Libs of TikTok still allowed to be active on Twitter? Once again, Alejandra Caraballo has the answer:

With or without the Musk drama, it’s pretty interesting to see accounts like Libs of TikTok flourish on Twitter while other accounts end up banned for “hate speech” when they are, in fact, trying to counteract hate speech.

Meanwhile, in France, Libs of TikTok has already been banned thanks to laws in place that prevent bigots and white nationalists from being platformed:

What would it be like to live in a world where bigots aren’t platformed? Sadly, here in the U.S., we wouldn’t know anything about that!

 

Flamingo dads adopt chick abandoned by biological parents

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/08/flamingo-dads-adopt-chick-abandoned-biological-parents/

This post is for all those who claim homosexuality is not natural.   Same sex relationships / sex in the animal kingdom is very well documented.   Which means that the bigots must now admit that OK it is inborn and happens in some people but god meant you cannot act on it.    Yet his other animal creations are allowed to do so?   Why would he be OK with them doing that but not the human animal?   Plus notice that the gays are always loving enough to accept and care for those kids that the straights want to ignore or throw away.    Hugs

Pink-feathered fathers Hudson and Blaze were chosen by zoo keeps to take responsibility for hatching an egg.
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Flamingo dads adopt chick abandoned by biological parents
Photo: Whipsnade Zoo

An abandoned baby flamingo has found new life with a couple of longtime flamingo dads.

At ZSL Whipsnade Zoo, northwest of London, pink-feathered fathers Hudson and Blaze were chosen by zoo keeps to take responsibility for hatching an egg abandoned by the soon-to-be chick’s bio parents.

The American flamingo egg (Phoenicopterus ruber) was popped in an incubator while the bird team at the zoo, the UK’s largest, searched for adoptive parents.

They didn’t have to look far.

Team leader Tim Savage said: “Flamingos usually work together, as a monogamous pair, to care for their eggs and subsequent chicks. Hudson and Blaze were the clear choices for the incubated egg, as they have always proved to be ideal parents.”

Among the zoo’s whole “flamboyance”, or group of flamingos, the same-sex couple was known by staff for taking exceptional care of their shared bird crib. After the egg was handed over, the pair sat tight until it hatched.

“After the chick hatched in their nest, they sat with it for two weeks, keeping it warm and protecting it from other flamingos, who often squabble and shove around different nest sites,” Savage said.

As parents, male flamingos share some of the same traits found in females, making a same-sex upbringing a natural choice. The bright red “crop milk” that sustains chicks after hatching is produced by both males and females of the species.

“The same hormone that regulates milk production in mammals, regulates the production of crop milk,” said Savage. “It’s stimulated by the mother or father’s experience of sitting on an egg and watching the chick hatch.”

“The milk is made in the linings of their digestive tract and contains fat, protein and blood cells. You can often spot the new parents in a group because they give so much of their own pigment to their chicks that they almost turn white!”

Same-sex flamingo pairs have been observed at the Zoo before, as have thruples, with a mix of male and female birds in one nest. Penguins are also known to form same-sex pairings during the breeding season.

The dad couple’s adopted kiddo, still covered in a downy coat of grey feathers, is out of the nest, but they’re keeping a pair of pink birds’ eyes on it.

Wedding rescued by stranger after baker refuses to make cake for lesbian couple

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/08/wedding-rescued-stranger-baker-refuses-make-cake-lesbian-couple/

I am getting really tired of the open bigotry and the willingness of some to go along with it.    I try to be understanding so that if it is a misunderstanding or an issue of wrong education, I can correct these things.    But the times have reverted to where bigots and haters are taking open pride in their cruelty and their ability to slam doors in other people’s face in the name of their god, their bible, or their political party.   It is not only hurting the people involved but the ones causing the harm are then taking a victory lap celebrating the pissing on another person’s happiness, while in some cases celebrating doing all they can to ruin joyous occasions for LGBTQ+ people.   What kind of person does that?   I am getting angrier and more bitter about it.   It used to be a fringe thing, until our government got taken over by a fascist religious movement and now the highest court in the land is openly pushing religion and removing the rights of the LGBTQ+ people along with women.    50 years of progress wiped out by religious bigots.   This reminds me of the dark ages when Europe went from enlightenment to regressive religious control.   They call it the dark ages for a reason.   Please note this was the only baker int the area of what kind of cake they needed.    This answers the question of just go to a different company / place to get what you need.   There is often not another provider for what you need without a lot of trouble and travel.  

 Personal note.    I made a joke with my doctor today and mentioned my spouse.  He said she must be …   I replied “Yes Ron and I have been together …”   He immediately apologized for assuming it was a woman and using the pronoun her.   He clearly was not trying to be offensive, and the things he said showed me he was accepting of my relationship and gave it value.   I told him it was not a problem, and we continued to talk.   The reason I mention this is this doctor had the right now in Florida to end our medical relationship, to stop being my medical provider and all he would have to do is say his religious beliefs said so.  I like this doctor, I trust him, he has done a lot for me that other doctors missed, and I am following him to his new practice.   But by mentioning that my spouse was male he could have legally dropped me, refusing to provide me service in Florida.  He has the right now in the red bigoted kingdom of DeathSantis to leave me with no medical assistance in his field of practice.    That is the world we now live in as LGBTQ+, something that we once had secured wouldn’t be allowed.   How chilling it must be for younger or less secure people to be open about their relationships or being different when it can cost them their jobs, their housing, their medical providers, all the things in their lives that used to be secure.   This is what the republican maga cult Christian nationalist thugs want, to drive the LGBTQ+ back into the closet too scared to let it be known who they are.     That is what the republicans / maga cult have brought us. If you support the hate / bigotry, then this is the world you support for people like me.    Hugs

A New York baker stepped in when another cake-maker backed out at the last minute.
 
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Wedding rescued by stranger after baker refuses to make cake for lesbian couple
Photo: Shutterstock
 

“We don’t know how to begin to wrap our heads around this and voice our gratitude.”

So said engaged couple Desirie White and Jess Dowd after a New York baker stepped in to save their wedding day with a free vegan cake.

In June, the pair were planning their nuptials and contracted for a cake over the phone with local vegan bakery O Taste and See Delight in Effort, PA.

After the bakery owner received the signed contract back indicating the cake would be for a same-sex couple, she denied them service.

The owner wrote: “I want to thank you again for reaching out to me and asking me to create your wedding cake. However, I will not be able to do this for you. Please accept my deepest apologies.”

“I believe that the LGBT + community has the right to live as other civilians and be protected. Yet, my refusal to make your cake is based on my fidelity to the God of Scripture, and my religious beliefs are combined with my business practices. I have refunded you the full amount of $275.00. The contract is no longer binding.”

White posted the about-face on Facebook.

“I don’t know what to make of this. I am extremely upset. I’m extremely upset that she has waited a month to the date to wait and tell us no, when I reached out to her in June.”

“Jess and I agreed we wanted to invest in her small, black owned business. I reached out to her because she specializes in cakes that I need for a medical issue. It has taken us awhile to find that type of bakery so it felt like a blessing to have found a small business that bakes vegan goodies and is about 15 minutes away from our venue.”

“I believe in God, but I know that MY GOD would not condemn or deny me because of who I am and who I love. My conscience and my decisions are made from unconditional love, respect, and understanding which I know in my heart are God’s values, too. Not fear of punishment. I’m not going to lie, this hurts really deep.”

That’s when Rebecca Riley, the owner of Peace, Love, Cupcakes in Syracuse, NY reached out online to offer the couple her own wedding day dessert, free of charge.

White told Syracuse.com of the offer: “I immediately started crying, like something hit me in the gut. Some people in my family wouldn’t go this far for us.”

Riley posted she was “furious” with the baker’s denial of service, and since she’s “only two hours and 52 minutes away,” she would provide the couple’s vegan lemon cake for free.

White added in a follow-up post: “Rebecca extended her hand without a second thought to offer her services in making us a beautiful cake at no cost with the support of her followers.”

“One person turned their back on us and a whole community stepped up to stand beside us and the feeling I get from that is just so overwhelming… from the bottom of our gay hearts, thank you.”

While Riley got pushback on Facebook for ”patting ourselves on the back” and “shoving our liberal agendas down everyone’s throats,” she wanted her followers to know:

“Our hearts are just bursting. Thank you for all of the love and beautiful words but please know, this is about so much more than us. This is about the incredible community surrounding us and how they chose to step up just as quickly as I did, no questions asked. That’s the real feel-good story here.”

One follower commented: “You just keep kicking butt and frosting cupcakes. We know where your heart is. And we appreciate it.”

The name of the bakery that denied service is likely a reference to the Bible’s Psalm 34:8: “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”

 
 

Straight congressman’s impassioned speech for marriage equality nails what is at stake

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/08/straight-congressmans-impassioned-speech-marriage-equality-nails-stake/

 

Donald Norcross, a fourth-term Congressman, is a blue collar workhorse. That’s precisely why his impassioned stemwinder before a marriage equality vote in Congress stands out.
 
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Rep. Donald Norcross (NJ)
Rep. Donald Norcross (NJ)Photo: House of Representatives
 

There’s no shortage of media-hungry bigmouths in Congress rights now.  Sadly it’s a feature of American politics and not a bug at this point.

By contrast, Donald Norcross, a fourth-term Congressman, is a blue collar workhorse from Philly’s South Jersey ‘burbs. And that’s precisely why his impassioned stemwinder before a marriage equality vote in Congress stands out. With the Supreme Count poised to reverse their 2015 gay marriage decision, the Democratic-controlled Congress is keen to codify marriage equality into Federal law.

Congressman Norcross:

“I woke up this morning, got ready to come over to the Capitol, and as I often do, I glanced over to pictures of my family. And I glanced to a picture of my nine-month-old grandson. Couldn’t be happier about the newest addition to my family. I couldn’t be prouder of the two people who brought him into the world: my daughter Corey and her wife, Hedya. When my daughter told me she wanted to get married, I told her what every good parent should tell her: that if this is the person you want to spend the rest of your life with, I couldn’t be happier for you.”

His voice filled with emotion, he explained how his daughter-in-law’s cancer diagnosis brought a life-and-death urgency to their wedding plans.

“And as I stood at their wedding… I knew it was only made possible because of a recent Supreme Court decision. And today… that same court has opened the door to dismantling families like mine. Splitting this little guy’s family apart, potentially. We can’t let that happen…. I don’t speak about the religious beliefs of my colleagues, but I have to ask: What God would fault in this baby and his two mommies? There is nothing wrong with this. This is pure love. It’s what we all should aspire to. And with that, I encourage my colleagues to vote ‘yes’ so we are equal in all states.”

The legislation passed 267-157, a tally that includes most of the Democratic caucus plus 47 republicans. The bill’s prospects are unclear in the upper house where at least 10 GOP votes are needed to break a Senate filibuster and get the legislation to President Joe Biden’s desk.

And if supporters meet the 60 vote threshold in the Senate, it’ll be thanks to anecdotes like the one Donald Norcross shared on the House floor.

“I’m a rather private person when it comes to the family,” Congressman Norcross told LGBTQ Nation. “But the idea of having some of the statements from the other side of the aisle, what they were saying was just no middle ground. I think it’s incredibly important that people can be who they are.”

Norcross beamed when he mentioned his grandson. 

“And he came into this world because of an absolutely wonderful marriage between my daughter and her wife and I spoke from a very real perspective of who they are, and how their life has just grown and blossomed,” Mr. Norcross added. 

According to Brielle Winslow-Majette, Deputy Director, Garden State Equality, support for marriage equality is at an all time high because of personal anecdotes like this one. 

“Congressman Norcross’s story about his daughter, her wife, and their 9-month-old son is a story millions of Americans across the country share,” Ms. Winslow-Majette told LGBTQ Nation. “Simply put, it is a story about a loving family. Loving someone and building a family with them is all we’re talking about here. I was touched by the Congressman’s story and I hope the commonality of a story that is shared by so many will resonate in the halls of Congress.”

It’s a high bar in the Senator where supporters must flip ten (or more) Republicans to clear the next hurdle.

Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski (AK), Susan Collins (ME), Rob Portman (OH), Thom Tillis (NC), and Ron Johnson (WI) have previously expressed support for marriage equality legislation. That takes the whip count to 55 if all Democrats vote yes as expected.

The list of on-the-fence GOP Senators includes Mitt Romney (UT), Pat Toomey (PA), Tommy Tuberville (AL), Dan Sullivan (AK), Ben Sasse (NB), and Indiana’s Mike Braun and Todd Young, among others.

Congressman Norcross noted that Utah’s entire Congressional delegation, all Republicans, voted for marriage equality, perhaps portending Senator Romney as a pivotal 56th YES vote in the Senate.

For his part, Congressman Norcross is already discreetly lobbying members of the Senate to vote YES on marriage equality.

“This is one of those times that I’m going to keep that a little bit quiet,” Mr. Norcross told LGBTQ Nation when queried about who he’s lobbying. “They, depending on what Senator we’re talking about, face different pressures from outside, in addition to their own personal views. And I don’t want to give anybody a reason to go and torque him up or her up, I think we’re going to try to do this just a little bit more quietly, and see where we can go with it and I think it stands a chance.”

Gay realtor launches website to help LGBTQ Texans flee the state

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/08/gay-realtor-launches-website-help-lgbtq-texans-flee-state/

Saying the state has transformed “into a juggernaut of right-wing conservatism,” Bob McCranie is helping LGBTQ people get out.
 
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Rainbow and Texas flags
Photo: Shutterstock
 

As Texas becomes a hotbed of anti-LGBTQ laws targeting transgender youth and their families, Bob McCranie, a gay realtor in Dallas, has launched Flee Texas, a website that helps families find homes in more accepting states.

“As LGBTQIA+ citizens of Texas, many of us feel at risk,” the website says. “If you feel the need to leave the jurisdiction of Texas, let us help you sell your property here and connect you with an LGBTQIA or ally agent in a better location of your choice.”

The website helps poeple sell their homes and connects them with LGBTQ  and supportive realtors in other states.

McCranie, the founder of Texas Pride Realty, has been a resident of Texas since 1987. Since then, he said he has seen the state “transform into a juggernaut of right-wing conservatism,” particularly noting its recent crusade to prosecute the families of transgender children who get access to gender-affirming medical care for “child abuse.” McCranie said he knows of many queer Texans who have since moved to blue states and even Mexico to escape the state’s ultra-conservative politics.

While some people have accused him of capitalizing on the state’s anti-LGBTQ climate to make money, he said that it’s not about that. He pointed to realtors in other anti-LGBTQ red states who have started offering similar relocation services.

“A lot of people don’t remember what it’s like to be an illegal person,” McCranie said. “Families with trans kids need to get out of this jurisdiction now.”

In February, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) ordered the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate parents of trans kids for child abuse. Though the order has since been blocked by a state court, some parents of trans youth began fundraising to leave the state. Others formed “Mothers Against Greg Abbott” to challenge other anti-LGBTQ policies taking hold in the state.

“Mothers across Texas are so mad at Greg Abbott and the GOP’s policies, that every single time he opens up his mouth, he alienates a new group of parents,” Mothers Against Greg Abbott founder Nancy Thompson told Newsweek.

Thompson pointed to Texas school districts banning LGBTQ books as proof of the state’s queerphobic shift. The state’s Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) also recently referred to LGBTQ people as “predators” and said he’d be willing to spearhead a Supreme Court case to re-criminalize sodomy.

The state Republican Party’s 2022 platform refers to LGBTQ people as “groomers” (pedophiles) and supports so-called conversion therapy, a discredited form of psychological torture that purports to change the sexual orientations and gender identities of queer people. Some conservative lawyers have also filed lawsuits that would allow government officials to deny same-sex marriage certificates and healthcare insurance providers to stop covering PrEP and contraceptives.

“What is happening right now in Texas isn’t even Republican… it’s the extremes of the party,” Thompson said. “They’re trying to totally gain control over our personal rights and freedoms and the safety that we need in Texas for our families to be able to thrive.”

Community rallies & raises over $133K for library that got defunded over LGBTQ books

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/08/community-rallies-raises-133k-library-got-defunded-lgbtq-books/

The maga cult thugs like to pretend they represent the majority of the country and local communities.   They don’t.   Far more people are tolerant and accepting than are against the LGBTQ+.   Notice the haters prayed for a safe place for children as if even being in a room where there were books with LGBTQ+ characters was harmful somehow.  Far more parents wanted masks in school than the maga brownshirt thugs who attacked school boards at their meetings.  But the maga cult thugs use threats and intimidation to get their way.    So much for democracy.    Hugs

Conservatives defunded their local library because it carried several LGBTQ books. People from all over the world are now picking up the slack.
 
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Patmos Library
Patmos LibraryPhoto: Google Maps
 

A library that lost most of its funding in a ballot measure earlier this month because it refused to remove LGBTQ books has managed to raise over $100,000.

Voters in Jameson Township, Michigan voted earlier this month to end the property tax that funds the local Patmos Library, gutting its $245,000 yearly budget. The move came after months of conflict between extremist residents who wanted the library to remove books with references to same-sex love and the library, which refused to do so.

A group called Jamestown Conservatives started to campaign against the library around Memorial Day, saying that its Pride Month display “promoted the LGBTQ ideology.”

“Pray that we can make changes and make the Patmos Library a safe and neutral place for our children,” one of the group’s flyers said.

“50% Millage INCREASE to GROOM our kids? Vote NO on Library!” one sign that was directly across the street from the library said, using the word “millage” to refer to the property tax, in the days leading up to the vote.

Without any funding, the Patmos Library was expected to deplete its reserves and run out of money next year. But two days after the vote, resident Jesse Dillman, set up a GoFundMe for the library that has generated $133,332 so far.

“I am very passionate about this, and I have people that are behind me to do this,” the father of two told NBC News. “I think I have to do it now, because the iron is hot. If this is going to happen, it’s going to happen now.”

Donors cited the need for LGBTQ books in libraries and their support for libraries in general in the comments.

“Australian citizen here, proud to be helping gay kids in small-town western Michigan read books that actually help them,” one donor wrote. “Keep up the good work, and be proud of whomever and whatever you are.”

“As a former Michigander… I can’t stomach seeing a library defunded because they dared to have LGBTQ books on their shelves,” wrote another. “I wish those resources had been available to me when I was a child. Shameful that so much hatred still exists today.”

“I can’t imagine that it was easy to come to work in the morning driving past all of the ‘Vote No to the Library’ signs,” a donor wrote. “But it never seemed to deter your spirits! We’d walk our daughter down to Patmos and we’ve always felt comfortable and welcomed.”

The controversy began earlier in the year when a parent complained about Gender Queer: A Memoir, Maia Kobabe’s graphic novel about coming to terms with eir identity as nonbinary and asexual. The book was in the adult section, but the parent thought that it shouldn’t be in the library at all.

This led to dozens of residents attending library board meetings in the spring, demanding Gender Queer and other books be pulled from the shelves entirely. Some of the other books include Spinning and Kiss Number 8. Both books discuss teen girls who have feelings for other girls.

Library officials said that the library has about 90 books with LGBTQ themes in its 67,000 book collection.

The library agreed to move Gender Queer behind the counter so that people would have to ask a librarian for it if they wanted to read it, but it wasn’t enough. The complaints turned into alleged harassment, and library Director Amber McLain resigned.

“I had to change my name on Facebook for a time to prevent messages that were starting to come in,” McLain said. “I never read any of them fully, but it was the typical fare — that I’m evil, that I’m indoctrinating kids. In March, a woman came into the library filming on her cell phone. She said she was looking for ‘that pedophile librarian’ and ‘the freak with the pink hair.’”

McLain was replaced by interim director Matthew Lawrence, who resigned soon after.

“I love my country, and I believe what is happening is going against the First Amendment,” Lawrence said of the defund movement. “The people who need the library the most can’t vote because they are children.”

Bizarrely, many of the people who voted to cut most of the funding to the library said they don’t believe it should close. Amanda Ensing, who helped organize opposition to the library saying that “it’s not a political issue, it’s a Biblical issue,” even said that she wanted the vote to be a “wake up call” to the library to get rid of the few LGBTQ books that it has.

“A wake-up call to what? To take LGBTQ books off the shelf and then they will give us money? What do you call that? Ransom?” library board director Walton said. “We stand behind the fact that our community is made up of a very diverse group of individuals, and we as a library cater to the diversity of our community.”

Marjorie Taylor Greene mocked for saying teachers are “monsters” turning kids transgender

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/08/marjorie-taylor-greene-mocked-saying-teachers-monsters-turning-kids-transgender/

Again let me go over the facts for those that have the mistaken idea that this is happening.   Boys know their gender and their sexual orientation in their preteen middle school years clearly.   Teen boys know their gender and sexual orientation, ever hear the phrase “girl crazy” and teen boys trying desperately to get a girl to have sex with them.    Their hormones are on over drive.   Now also remember kids are desperate to fit into the majority, and the majority are straight cis kids.   Trans, gay, and lesbian are really the minority.   One that is frequently the victim of bullying, malicious or vicious attacks by the bigot straight cis kids.   Yes more tolerance in some schools / places were happening but it is not roses and sunshine to be a kids who is different from others.   It is not fun to be the odd one out.   Why do you think it is so important for schools to push a message of tolerance and acceptance, to have supportive groups like the gay / straight alliances.   But in many red states that is all gone now.  
 
Now take that situation and tell a boy that he must dress as a girl, live as a girl, go by a girl’s name, wear his hair as a girl, act as a girl does, use female pronouns all the time.   Not just for a day but a whole school year.    Tell him he will have to struggle to get to the bathroom and will often be screamed at by adults or other kids when in public if he uses a public women’s toilet.   Tell him that he will be forced to change his clothes in a separate bathroom that may be a long way from the locker rooms or in the coach’s office, then dressed as a girl do girls’ PE.    That boy will freak.   He will beg you not to make him.   I bet they would beg for extra schoolwork instead or be willing to work after school doing your yard work for free.    Anything but making them live a girl.   So this idea that it a fad or lark, or kids are doing it for fun makes no sense.   Hugs
 
 
“This evil idiot is what you get when you ban books.”
 
By     
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene
Marjorie Taylor GreenePhoto: Screenshot

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is getting mocked online for suggesting that teachers are lying to boys to turn them into transgender women.

“Parents raise your boys to be men and protect them from teachers who try to deceive them to become women,” Greene wrote. “Guard your children from such monsters in these evil days.”

Her post doesn’t seem to be a reference to any specific story, since this isn’t something that happens in the real world. Several of her supporters responded with stories about teachers using their transgender students’ pronouns, which is not what Greene was discussing.

Greene’s critics, on the other hand, mocked her for her latest conspiracy theory.

https://twitter.com/Kim79661484/status/1558784951897694208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1558784951897694208%7Ctwgr%5E743b0487a19a21b39ea6d46d2133a54b21e30acd%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lgbtqnation.com%2F2022%2F08%2Fmarjorie-taylor-greene-mocked-saying-teachers-monsters-turning-kids-transgender%2F

https://twitter.com/Roxann_Jane_Doe/status/1558787077235417089?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1558787077235417089%7Ctwgr%5E743b0487a19a21b39ea6d46d2133a54b21e30acd%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lgbtqnation.com%2F2022%2F08%2Fmarjorie-taylor-greene-mocked-saying-teachers-monsters-turning-kids-transgender%2F

https://twitter.com/MIGIRLINVA1/status/1558988461113229312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1558988461113229312%7Ctwgr%5E743b0487a19a21b39ea6d46d2133a54b21e30acd%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lgbtqnation.com%2F2022%2F08%2Fmarjorie-taylor-greene-mocked-saying-teachers-monsters-turning-kids-transgender%2F

 

Saudi academic sentenced to 34 years in prison after expressing support for women’s rights

https://english.alaraby.co.uk/news/saudi-rights-activist-sentenced-34-year-imprisonment

*** Personal note not related to the post.    I have another doctors visit this morning early (9:15) and then home to catch up on five days or more of comments.    Since last Thursday I have been suffering through waves of nausea, upset stomach, and fuzzy head making it hard to concentrate.   Like I had taken too much pain medication or something.   Ron had one day of it, he vomited and slept the day and was pretty much over it in a day and 1/2.   I have had it a lot longer and I have spent most of the days laying down.   Today I feel much better.     Yesterdays visit did not find a definitive cause.   Most of my labs are better this time than the last blood draw.   There is an issue with my thyroid, which is one thing to be addressed today.    Also my kidneys are showing signs of stress, which is understandable.   My weight is down.     I found out yesterday that after years of looking for a good endocrinologist that understands my complex medical history I learned my doctor I will be seeing today is leaving the current practice to move to another facility quite a way from here.    I cannot justify that much travel to keep him.   So I start again.  Hugs   ****

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

To the post.   Does this sound familiar?   Someone pushing for women to have rights and equality to men is attacked by the fundie religious government, fined, and imprisoned.    This is what the Christian nationalist maga Taliban wants for the US.   trump just held a money making (for him) golf tournament paid for by the Saudi government.  The golfers for that tournament were paid a lot of money by the Saudi’s just to show up and play with more money if they won.    All paid for by the Saudi government.   What did they want from trump and the maga cult he owns?      Hugs

Salma al-Shehab, a mother of two and a PhD candidate at the University of Leeds, was detained by Saudi authorities when visiting the kingdom for a holiday in early 2021.

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Salma al-Shahab’s sentence is reportedly the longest given to any women’s rights defender in the country [Getty]

A Saudi academic and women’s rights activist was sentenced to 34 years in prison in what observers say is the longest such sentence given to a women’s rights defender in the kingdom. 

Salma al-Shehab is a mother of two boys and a PhD candidate at the University of Leeds. She was detained in Saudi Arabia in January 2021 days before she was meant to return to the United Kingdom for tweets expressing solidarity with other women’s rights activists in the country, according to a press release by the Freedom Initiative, a Washington DC-based rights group. 

Al-Shehab is a Shia Muslim, a minority in Saudi Arabia who have long faced discrimination in the hardline Sunni kingdom. 

Most recently, she expressed her support for fellow women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul on social media, who was released from prison in February last year shortly after Al-Shehab was detained. 

“Saudi Arabia has boasted to the world that they are improving women’s rights and creating legal reform, but there is no question with this abhorrent sentence that the situation is only getting worse,” said Dr Bethany Al-Haidari, the Saudi case manager at the Freedom Initiative.

“It is ironic that while Loujain’s release was celebrated, Salma remained behind bars on the ground that she called for that very release. It’s a pattern for Saudi authorities to ensure that women activists can’t celebrate or take credit for any of their hard-won victories,” she added. 

Dozens of people have expressed their outrage at Al-Shehab’s sentence over social media. 

“This is irrational, heartbreaking, and disastrous for the hundreds of women detained or to be detained in similar charges of supporting rights or freedom” tweeted Hala al-Dosari, a Saudi Arabian scholar and women’s rights activist. 

“This is also reflective of an increased regime insecurity, both domestically and abroad,” she added in another tweet. 

Other users pointed out the hypocrisy of major sports brands and personalities for receiving sponsorship from Saudi Arabia, downplaying the kingdom’s claims that it is becoming a freer place as a facade. 

Yashar Ali of New York Magazine tweeted “Here’s your LIV golf tournament!” in reference to the Saudi-backed golf tournament meant to rival the PGA, while Hazel Southwell added that “the Saudi state can’t claim to be making any progress while doing this.”

Saudi Arabia has detained dozens of dissidents and activists for calling for basic rights in the kingdom, including the now-released Loujain al-Hathloul and Raif Badawi – a Saudi blogger and activist who was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 50 lashes a week for twenty weeks in 2014. 

The New Arab has contacted the Saudi embassy in London for comment but has yet to receive a response.