Category: LGBTQ+ / Gay / Trans / Gender

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.
 
By      
 
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.
 
By      
 
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.

 

 

“Religious Freedom” is Neither

Kindergartner kicked out of Baptist school after adoption by lesbian couple

https://onlysky.media/hemant-mehta/kindergartner-kicked-out-of-baptist-school-after-getting-adopted-by-lesbians/

“They didn’t think this was a good fit,” said one of the parents
 
by HEMANT MEHTA
 
Kindergartner kicked out of Baptist school after getting adopted by lesbians | Bible Baptist Academy wanted nothing to do with Zoey because her new parents are both women
Bible Baptist Academy wanted nothing to do with Zoey because her new parents are both women (Screenshot via KPLC)
Reading Time: 4 MINUTES
 
 

ABaptist school in Louisiana kicked out a child who was about to enter kindergarten because she was recently adopted by lesbians.

It’s the latest example of Christian love in action.

The story is even more tragic when you realize what the child has been through. Five-year-old Zoey already lost both of her biological parents, with her father dying in an industrial accident in 2020. Thankfully, her aunt, Jennifer Parker, took her in, and the adoption became official earlier this month. Zoey had already taken pre-K classes at Bible Baptist Academy in DeQuincy, Louisiana, so the plan was to continue there for kindergarten.

But last week, just days before the school year began, and after the family attended open house and Zoey got her uniform, Jennifer and her partner Emily were told their new daughter was being kicked out… because the two of them are lesbians.

BIBLE BABTIST ACADEMY is a disappointment. Calling me and Jennie Parker in for a meeting TWO days before school starts to tell us that they can not educate our child due to the fact that we are a married same sex couple.

Even though this isn’t her first year to attend…

You know what you just taught my daughter? How truly judgmental your church is. How unforgiving and unrelenting you are. I was angry, hurt, embarrassed but I am not anymore. Now, I am thankful. Thankful you will not mold my tiny human’s brain to be anything like you. I will teach my child to love EVERYONE just like you say your God is supposed to.

My child has lost so much. Her mother, her father, her whole life has been wrenched away before her 5th birthday. And now… her education, her friends, and her teachings of the God that she loves and I support. Look at this girl and tell me you would judge her Bc of her parents choices….

Such a disappointment but can I say I’m surprised? This southern world disgusts me.

Emily Parker spoke with news station KPLC about what the school told her, and their response only makes things worse:

“The pastor met us in the meeting room and started talking about gender identification and that they teach the words of the Lord and marriage was between a man and a women,” Emily Parker said. “They didn’t think this was a good fit.”

Bible Baptist Academy said in a statement that the school is “committed to instructing and living in accordance with the teachings of Scripture.”

They say that’s what they strive to teach students who attend.

“This should not be interpreted that we have any hatred or malice toward them. We are just as committed to loving all people as we are to holding to Bible principles that people may not agree with or may not understand.”

I have no clue what “gender identification” has to do with a same-sex couple… but it’s not like Christian bigotry is supposed to make sense. To punish a child who’s been through so much for the imaginary “sins” of her parents is beyond cruel. It’s absolutely hatred and malice, and that doesn’t change just because the school claims it’s all biblically mandated. It’s very predictably Baptist. That’s the religion for you.

The school’s entire statement wasn’t any better, saying “The Bible also teaches us to love everyone with the love of God despite their personal choices. We strive to teach this to the students who attend. We encourage them to show love and compassion to everyone.” That’s seriously their defense for why they kicked out a child who hadn’t done anything wrong, even by their own bottom-of-the-barrel standards. You can’t expect leaders of a Christian school to do the right thing when their entire moral code requires them to go down a path of cruelty.

There’s an argument to be made that none of this should be news at all. A private Christian school has every right to enforce its own rules, no matter how despicable the rest of us might find them. We’re not anti-gay, they argue. We’re anti-sin. So any sinners would not be allowed in the school unless they’ve repented for it. The problem with that argument is that this isn’t really about all sins. Does this school kick out children whose parents smoke, or drink, or take the Lord’s name in vain, or cheat on their taxes, or pay for abortions, or any of the other sins Christians commit all the time? Of course they don’t. They probably don’t know, or don’t care, or don’t bother to look into any of those situations.

You’ll never see a news story about a Christian school kicking out a child because her parents spent a weekend gambling in Vegas. But if that child has loving same-sex parents, it’s a five-alarm fire. It’s the selective bigotry by these Christian schools that’s so infuriating. That’s why the school’s excuses ring so hollow.

The silver lining here is that other Christian schools in the community reached out to the family and Zoey has a new school already lined up. The family will be fine. The school has a well-deserved stain on its reputation.

The obvious question is why anyone, especially a same-sex couple, would want to send a child to a private bigoted religious school in the first place. I posed that exact question to Emily Parker, who told me last night that she knew what kind of school this was, but she felt it was important to send Zoey there so she could have some stability and continuity:

We were completely aware BBA is a Christian Baptist school. [Zoey’s] father died in 2020. She learned that God was taking care of her daddy. That anytime she needed to talk to daddy she could pray. God was her connection to her daddy and we completely supported her.

We were eager for BBA to help teach her about the God she already loved. Being a private school, we knew what BBA was and were willing to pay the monthly fees to ensure her education and faith. They were so accepting the previous year. We had no idea there would be a problem.

I am nothing more than a supportive parent.

That’s a valid point, no matter how much I disagree with the school’s beliefs. Zoey being with her classmates, especially while everything else around her is changing, has its benefits, even if it’s at this school. It also raises an interesting question about why none of this came up last year. The Parkers were Zoey’s legal guardians when she was in pre-K; it was the legal adoption, then, that invoked the Baptist school’s cruelty.

(Thanks to @GodlessEngineer for the link)

What Is “Biological Sex”? (With Viced Rhino)

Two guys talking about trans issues and biological sex really means. They address all the science on biology such as sexual orientation, gametes, chromosomes, intersex, and so much more. If you want to learn but not be overwhelmed this is the show to watch. Yes one of the guys has a female avatar. He is not trans, he is entirely a straight cis male who is into poly relationships, but it showcases how just making assumptions can be wrong. Hugs

Librarian Sues Anti-LGBTQ Activists For Defamation

Librarian Sues Anti-LGBTQ Activists For Defamation

I want to point out a few facts that seem to hard for the rabid right maga to understand.   Anal sex is not gay.    Not all gay people want anal sex.   A lot of straight couples practice both female and male anal sex because the anal cavity has a lot of nerves that can be pleasurable stimulated and in fact the male “g” spot is up in the butt.   In fact there were reports of teen girls preferring to do anal with their boyfriends as they thought it kept them virgins and reduced the risk of them getting pregnant.   The idea against anal sex is a religious one as it is not sex for procreation but for fun.   The horror of that idea, sex for fun.   These people that are trying to prevent anyone from getting anal sex are also against anyone getting a blow job, because again that is sex for fun.   I really wish the US would break away from that damn 1600 Puritan way of thinking about the human body and sex.    Hugs

The Hill reports:

A librarian in Louisiana filed a lawsuit against two men and a conservative organization, alleging they defamed her when they attacked her for supporting the teaching of books involving the LGBTQ community.

Amanda Jones, a middle school librarian and the president of the Louisiana Association of School Librarians, alleged in the lawsuit that a “public campaign” against her started after she spoke out against removing certain books from the Livingston Parish Library system at a board meeting.

The lawsuit also alleges that Ryan Thames, who runs a Facebook page called “Bayou State of Mind,” posted a meme of Jones on or around July 21, showing her smiling and sitting behind a desk and saying that she advocated teaching anal sex to 11-year-olds.

Reads the full article.

The Twitter account of the above-cited right wing group, Citizens For A New Louisiana, is full of Trump cultist, anti-vax, “stolen election” batshittery.

Ed B • 3 hours ago

Just an aside…
There are actually gay people who are *not* into anal sex.

Crazy, I know.

Elagabalus Ed B • 3 hours ago • edited

And many straights who are. In fact, I’d wager that most of the “sodomy” that’s being “committed” is happening among straights since they represent more than 90% of the population compared to little old us.

Longpole Elagabalus • 2 hours ago

16 year girls can “keep” their virginity by letting their boyfriend butt fuck her.
And, no worry about pregnancy either.

billbear1961 • 3 hours ago

We were 12 and 13, I think, when they told us about the “birds and the bees” in our final year of elementary school and first year of junior high. Anal sex, what it was, was among MANY things we were told about. Nothing was “advocated”–we were told what things were, not how to DO them. As for younger children, say 5 to 10 years old, I would imagine that, especially if they ASKED, you’d tell them some men have boyfriends instead of girlfriends, and they can marry and raise a family; and some women have girlfriends instead of boyfriends, and THEY can ALSO marry and raise a family. There’s nothing very complicated about ANY of this, and nothing SINISTER, except when dishonest people PRETEND there is, and the sly media fan the flames for the sake of sensationalism.

Steven in TX 🏳️‍🌈 ISOLATION billbear1961 • 3 hours ago

It is just this simple.
Welcome back, always love your postings!

Thumbnail

Elagabalus • 3 hours ago • edited

The lawsuit also alleges that Ryan Thames, who runs a Facebook page called “Bayou State of Mind,” posted a meme of Jones on or around July 21, showing her smiling and sitting behind a desk and saying that she advocated teaching anal sex to 11-year-olds.

So, in the minds of the cultists, teaching children that LGBT people exist is tantamount to teaching anal sex to children. That’s their “argument.” Good for this librarian for hitting back.

Ninja0980 Elagabalus • 3 hours ago

An age old trope.
Reduce LGBT people to sex acts and it makes it easier to shun and discriminate against them.

JF910 Bambino🇺🇦🌻 • 3 hours ago

“Books and ideas are the most effective weapons against intolerance and ignorance.”
I like wearing this in front of all bigots!

S_E_P • 3 hours ago

In the 70s and 80s there were no books in my school library that discussed lgbt issues. Somehow I became gay anyway. I wonder how?

Mouse 2024 🇺🇸 • 3 hours ago

These fool are worried about books and librarians wile priests and GOP congressmen are arrested daily for molesting children🤔

Stoned and loving it Mouse 2024 🇺🇸 • 2 hours ago

it’s always been do as I say not as I do.

re: TFG signs legislation for handling classified material. TFG violates same.

TuuxKabin • 3 hours ago

Fundraiser for Amanda Jones by Tiffany Whitehead : Legal Fees for Librarian Amanda Jones

https://www.gofundme.com/f/…

S_E_P • 3 hours ago

Isnt butt sex supposed to be how good xstain girls stay virginal until their married off by their parents?

Texas Investigates Bar That Hosted Drag Event For Kids

Texas Investigates Bar That Hosted Drag Event For Kids

The Christian Post reports:

The Texas comptroller said the state has opened an investigation into a Dallas bar that held a drag show for children earlier this summer.

In a statement released Friday, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar identified himself as one of many Texas parents who found themselves “disturbed by the recent images showing children participating in a drag show in the Dallas area, including one of a child placing money in a performer’s undergarment.”

Hegar’s announcement came one day after Republican state Rep. Bryan Slaton [photo] called on Hegar to treat Mr. Misster as a “sexually-oriented business.” As Slaton explained, “Sexually-oriented businesses are required to pay $5 per attendee present and they must also prevent children and sex offenders from attending or participating.”

Read the full article.

Slaton, who is fond of making public appearances carrying an assault weapon and wearing a belt of ammunition, first appeared on JMG in March 2021 when he introduced a bill making abortion a death penalty crime for doctors and even women who undergo the procedure.

Earlier this year he introduced a bill requiring genital exams for trans athletes in public schools.

As I reported in June, extremists mobbed and attempted to enter Mr. Misster during the show, hurling abuse at children and parents.

https://twitter.com/EFJBGC/status/1533217028731027456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1533217028731027456%7Ctwgr%5Ee23dbf03d2a6cbfb16068aa5fc19abfcfc9b45e6%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.joemygod.com%2F2022%2F08%2Ftexas-investigates-bar-that-hosted-drag-event-for-kids%2F

https://twitter.com/EFJBGC/status/1533323135054921728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1533323135054921728%7Ctwgr%5Ee23dbf03d2a6cbfb16068aa5fc19abfcfc9b45e6%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.joemygod.com%2F2022%2F08%2Ftexas-investigates-bar-that-hosted-drag-event-for-kids%2F

 

Teedofftaxpayer • 14 hours ago

As usual the backward asses wants to make something funny as something stupid. And there are people out there who has no idea of the entertainment that Drag shows give. Just another way for the right wing assholes to turn communities against us.

ErnestMc • 17 hours ago

If only children hadn’t been forced to attend this drag event. Oh, wait …

Mihangel apYrs • 17 hours ago

So, parents shouldn’t take their kids to these events, being irresponsible, BUT must be informed if their kids come out, or have related issues.

Jean-Marc Canada – ✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ • 17 hours ago

Texass being Texass.

Like Florid’uh, cruelty and violence is the point.

Teedofftaxpayer • 17 hours ago

These backwards assholes have no idea what a drag show it. Their heads are so far up their asses it’s unbelievable.

BKnSF Teedofftaxpayer • 17 hours ago

Exactly. It’s so frickin ridiculous. ‘Entertainment should only be what we the State believes is proper’. The GOP has thrown out western values.

Hank: NO MORE WoW!!! • 17 hours ago

What about “Parents RIGHTS”????

They use that falsehood to Ban Books and teaching TRUTH inSCHOOLS.
So, if a parent wants to take their kids to a Drag Show, do they NOT HAVE THE RIGHT to DO SO???

PickyPecker another_steve • 18 hours ago

but that’s how fascism works. you change your behavior to meet the expectations.

Serene Pumpkin PickyPecker • 18 hours ago

Right. First they get drag queen story time canceled, then all drag shows, then they’ll work on getting all gay bars closed (a child might walk past one!) and all LGBTQ content expunged from TV, movies, and the Internet. Think of the chilllldrennnnnn!

Misutaa Roboto another_steve • 18 hours ago

There is no appeasing them. Their concerns are disingenuous, and if they are allowed to shift the Overton Window, they’ll just keep pushing until they are allowed to criminalize and/or kill us again.

Serene Pumpkin HomerTh • 18 hours ago

If we really want to appease them, we all need to stop existing ASAP. Because our existence is what triggers those delicate snowflakes’ feeeeeelings more than anything.

Mark • 18 hours ago

In the video, I’m noticing a column of cop cars – yet not a single cop is present in the confrontation. WTF?

Hayseed Mark • 18 hours ago

Maybe this?

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Bridget’s Trans Identity In Guilty Gear Finally Leaves Behind The Character’s Harmful ‘Trap’ Origins

https://www.thegamer.com/bridget-trans-identity-trap-origins-guilty-gear-strive/

The world continues to change.   Even the gaming universe which a decade ago or more was rocked by a huge anti female scandal has long ago accepted being gay and lesbian.   Those character settings and modifications are available in all mainstream big name games.   But trans characters were haphazardly applied, hard to set or understand.    Even though it was common for a trans person to choose a different gender character the game play was still cis gender.   That is changing.   Now before there are the grooming complaints and such, understand the buyers and users of the games drive big video game characters.   So once there was a large drive by users that there be gay characters for them to play as gay characters were able to be chosen, that is now happening for characters to be trans.   This is the world of the future, the world of acceptance.    Hugs

Guilty Gear Strive has finally done right by one of its best characters.

Gaming still has a lot of baggage when it comes to femininity. The medium that largely focused on an audience of straight white men for its early decades has become one of the most diverse forms of media in the world. Such progress has different ethnicities, sexualities, and genders welcomed into the fold as the toxic echo chamber becomes more tolerable.

Things are changing, and we’re forced to confront long-standing issues before we can justify moving forward. Rampant sexualisation, thinly-veiled racism, and fear that supporting more inclusive audiences will see games reduced to political objects are all things we’re still grappling with. Progress is being made, but slowly, and not without forces holding us back. I don’t think this will change, at least not for a long time, but the steps being taken by games like Guilty Gear Strive give me hope for the future. More specifically, characters like Bridget.

Guilty Gear Strive confirmed earlier this week that series veteran Bridget is transgender. This had been part of a complex headcanon for years, but the continued use of masculine pronouns and the narrative’s unwillingness to explore this aspect of her character meant nothing was ever satisfactorily confirmed in the canon. Raised in an English village, Bridget was brought up as a girl due to a local superstition that twins born of the same gender were bad luck, but has remained in ‘girl mode’ well into adulthood.

Her parents believed this superstition, so she came to wear feminine clothes, use she/her pronouns, and presented herself as a cis women. However, the audience (and several other characters) knew she was born male, and she was referred to by he/him or other masculine titles on occasion too. Back in the day she wasn’t viewed from a strictly queer perspective, but was seen as a ladyboy hiding a penis under her clothes that male gamers could make fun of one another for finding attractive because dicks are scary apparently. It leaned into a ‘trap’ stereotype that claims trans people are merely trying to fool people into finding them attractive before their genitals expose the real truth. Like we’re a sick circus attraction instead of actual human beings.

This is a situation that in the real world has gotten trans people killed (and cis people have gotten away with it, under the Trans Panic defence), but given how juvenile and heteronormative games tend to be, burdening Bridget with this stereotype happened quickly and remained an inside joke amongst series’ fans for decades. As a closeted teenager I admired characters like Bridget because they were male beneath it all, yet exhibited all the signatures of an attractive, passing woman.

She was someone I wanted to be, so to see the character labelled as transgender with such explicit declaration feels like queer fans are reclaiming something that was once held over them as a twisted joke. Women have to look and behave in a certain way, or they risk being seen as a societal oddity or unworthy of attention. Bridget fell into this nebulous middle ground.

Her transgender identity is immediately embraced by the wider cast of Guilty Gear Strive, which only furthers how positive this reveal has been. One scene in the arcade mode has Bridget talking with Goldlewis Dickinson and Ky Kiske about a journey of self discovery that is far from easy, but she knows the final destination will be more than worthwhile. The two characters sit alongside her, nodding in agreement while providing the advice that every trans person needs to hear – leaving behind the fear of prejudice and failure to become the individual you want to be is worth the inevitable heartache.

Dickinson is unsure of what to call Bridget, given the complex layers of her gender identity, calling her “cowgirl” before falsely correcting himself to “cowboy”. She responds: “Cowgirl is fine. Because… I’m a girl!” So many games would be scared to define something so clearly, largely so the typical minority of vocal chuds can deny any semblance of queer representation in fear it will ruin the entire game for them. Guilty Gear Strive couldn’t care less, and the conviction it expresses in Bridget’s character and how unapologetic she is in being a trans girl is so damn liberating.

Players have already unearthed further instances of dialogue that only serve to reinforce Bridget’s transgender character arc in the game, making it clear that Arc System Works are fully on board with this new interpretation. It’s been a long time coming, and feels like fitting retribution for a character that for years has been the victim of transphobic punchlines.

While the games themselves might have never leaned into the idea of Bridget being a trap designed to fool eagle-eyed male players, the community embraced that idea and made it the most iconic aspect of her character. It sucked, and I wish I knew better as a teenager instead of leaning into such needless jokes. My internal fascination would eventually lead to me making strides with my own queer identity, but Bridget has always deserved better, and to see her receive that respect in Strive means so much.

She joins Testament, a character who was revealed to be non-binary earlier this year and has also been taken in by fans as a welcome example of queer representation. Fighting games aren’t always heavy on narrative, often leaving us to fill in the blanks or providing lore dumps outside the core gameplay for audiences to obsess over. That is also true for Guilty Gear, but it makes characters like Bridget and Testament so much easier to fall in love with.

Their queerness is deliberate and seldom up for debate, with small nuggets of dialogue between encounters and nestled between modes providing just enough context for us to rejoice over. Bridget is a cute, confident, and empowering trans character who for decades has been working towards this eventual destiny, and to see it capitalised upon while simultaneously subverting a culture of ingrained transphobia is a perfect storm of brilliance.

I wrote recently that Guilty Gear Strive made me wish I wasn’t so bad at fighting games, and not even a day later Bridget is revealed as a trans character to entice me. Maybe it’s a sign.