Conservative Boycott of Small LGBTQ Business Backfires BADLY

A small conservative group in Lancaster, Ohio targeted local businesses and institutions that were LGBTQ+ friendly in response to an annual family-friendly pride event that held an outdoor drag show. When the group failed to get the city to penalize drag performers—and ban drag altogether—they then circulated a boycott list. Local business owners, however, were not harmed by the boycott. In fact, they saw a major influx in traffic after people drove from out of town to support the businesses after seeing them on the anti-LGBTQ+ boycott list.

J.K. Rowling Transvestigates ANOTHER African Cis Woman

Another cis woman from Africa has become the target of a transvestigation from Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling. This time it’s Barbra Banda, a Zambian soccer star who was voted BBC’s footballer of the year. J.K. Rowling insinuated that Banda was a trans woman and that her award was offensive to all women. This comes after she spearheaded a global cyberbullying campaign against Imane Khelif, an Algerian gold medalist who competed in the Paris Olympics. 

Ben Shapiro Gets HUMILIATED By His Own Idol In Live Interview | Hasanabi reacts

I like that in this video Ben Shapiro tries his uninformed anti-trans ideas on Neil deGrasse Tyson.  He learns the hard way between bullying a student and talking on a profession who understands and knows science.  Not only does Tyson turn Shapiro’s anti-trans people in sports completely around on him, he asks Shapiro why the issue even matters to him.  Trans people are no threat and are not in large numbers so why is Ben beating that fear drum.  It is wonderful.   Hugs

Cenk Uygur NEGATIVE Opinion Segment Casts Trans-Activism in NEGATIVE Light AGAIN!

This is a video from the Letterhack.  I like the host’s clam informative delivery.  I don’t know how anyone who watches Play Time feel about Cenk and Anna, but I do know how I feel.  When this situation first erupted and Anna went ballistic on something that was only used on select medical forms and when criticized about it Cenk acted like a teen boy defending his hot girlfriend and went way over board defending her against anyone even vaguely critical and making threats claiming things that were said that never were.  But here is the thing that because they refused to accept any criticism of that they claimed, they were supported by republicans and championed the cause republicans would use to win. From there Cenk and Anna branched into bashing Biden while claiming that crime was soaring echoing the right wing media talking point about crime and homelessness.   Cenk then went so far as to attack trans supporters and advocates while trying to cozy up to republicans like tRump.  I left TYT when Cenk said that the only way to win nation elections was to drop support for the T in LGBTQ+.  He was so adamant in that, just throw them under the bus and when we win we can go back and get them.  Yet the years that Cenk was pushing this all the republicans trying to run on trans hate lost.  They lost by huge margins.  But Cenk and Anna never admitted they were wrong using the time to go further right on other republican issues like housing the unhoused and finding ways to deal with crime.  They ignored the real reasons for these problems adopting a hard right republican view of the issues.  Anyone who disagreed with them was attacked vigorously.  

So here is a video and I am not sure at what point in the saga this was videoed at.   All I know is Cenk, Anna, and most of TYT has lost the mantel of “Home of the Progressives” and taken on a more smarmy look.   Look this is an important video on supporting the trans community and not on attacking Cenk.  But we can not let anyone on the left claim to be the home of the progressive left and then give the haters room to attack trans people.   Trans rights, trans people, are far more important today than maybe they ever had been. But if you know your history, congratulation you survived the educational purges, then you know that the Stonewall riots where the LGBTQ+ rose to defend themselves and their rights wouldn’t have happened without the valiant drag queens and trans people who used their high heels as weapons to defend the rights of all the LGBTQ+.  We need to keep that in mind knowing we still and will always need them and their courage.   Hugs

Cenk Uygur continues to use anti-activist rhetoric when discussing Trans-Rights in dehumanizing ways while neglecting to include facts in his wild opinions about gender affirming care for minors. 

Man Sues Employer After Being Fired For Repeatedly Posting Anti-LGBTQ Bible Verses On Company’s System

This person was not fired for his religious beliefs.  He was fired for pushing his beliefs on others and doing something at work on work property that their employer told them not to do.  How many of us get to disregard the orders of our bosses and when fired claim it was because of ours religious beliefs? 

But this is entirely about getting the case to the SCOTUS to move the US a little closer to making Christianity the official religion of the country, and cementing into law that Christians do not have to follow the non-discrimination laws due to being Christians, so above such laws.  It is about making Christians above any law or rule because of … god, because you can make the bible say anything you desire.  It is about making it legal for Christians to push their religious beliefs on coworkers while insulting and refusing to work with those they claim their god dislikes.    And forcing the employer to make special concessions to them again based on what they claim their holy book says and it is only their holy book that counts.  Hugs.

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Law.com reports:

Eli Lilly & Co. has been hit with a suit claiming it fired a New Jersey drug sales representative for holding a biblically based view on sexual morality. In a case that pits an employee’s right to religious expression against the company’s support of its LGBTQ+ workers, plaintiff Jonathan Samaniego claims he was terminated based on his religious views, in violation of Title VII and New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination.

In Samaniego v. Eli Lilly & Co., the plaintiff began posting scripture passages during a discussion of Pride Month on the company’s in-house employee communication system, Yammer.

On June 14, 2024, Samaniego’s manager, Jacqueline Porter, posted a lengthy message about Pride Month on Yammer, according to the lawsuit. According to Samaniego’s suit, the plaintiff prayed about how to respond to Porter’s Pride Month posting, then made his own post to Yammer from the book of Leviticus, which said, “You shall not sleep with a male as a with a woman. It is an abomination.”

Read the full article.

According to the report, Samaniego was called into HR and told to refrain from such future postings on the company’s system.

However, days later he reportedly posted anti-gay bible verses again, including this from Corinthians: “Do you know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”

After refusing to sign a directive agreeing to stop the postings, he was then terminated, per the report.

Samaniego is being represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation, which appeared here in 2022 when they sued to block LGBTQ-related questions from the US Census.

The group first appeared on JMG in 2010 when they sued then-California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in an attempt to force him to defend Proposition 8 in federal court.

In 2012, they attempted to force a California state referendum that would have banned mentioning LGBTQ figures in history lessons.

Also in 2012, they attempted to sanction DOJ attorneys for opposing the Defense of Marriage Act.

The group has repeatedly sued to overturn state bans on ex-gay torture, claiming that 80% of ex-gay “conversions” are successful.

In 2019 they sued California to end sexual education and HIV prevention instructions in public schools.

The Pacific Justice Institute, their parent organization, was named a hate group by the SPLC in 2014.

Since the advent of the pandemic, the group has also filed multiple lawsuits against COVID protocols and vaccine mandates.

 

 

“…fired …for holding a biblically based view on sexual morality…”

No, you have the right to hold any view you choose. You were fired for spreading it around on company media, which you mistakenly thought was a pulpit. Your religious beliefs are YOUR beliefs, just yours.

you have every right to wallow in your own ignorance. you have no right to fling your wallow shit at others. mind your own damn business.

Company property. No different than spray painting bible quotes on a building.

The right to freedom of speech and to religious practice is not an entitlement to use your employer’s systems to spread your personal views.

He should lose, but I have no faith in SCOTUS. (If it reaches them and they take it up, which isn’t guaranteed.)

Dear Religious Fucknut,

The company has a right to its policies, seriously, it’s right there in virtually every employee handbook of the majority of companies. You used company property to push your cult bullshit, thus committing acts of discrimination, they warned you and you chose to violate the policy again.

Also, this is in no way a Title VII violation of your rights as you had been told, via the company, that you were violating their employee guidelines and non-discrimination policy that they set. The irony of you suing for doing what you claim they did to you is hilarious. This should be laughed out of court, but in present day USA, anything religious takes priority, even over other human rights.

Ridiculous nonsense

 

Gay couple brought to tears as Japanese court rules marriage equality ban unconstitutional

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2024/12/gay-couple-brought-to-tears-as-japanese-court-rules-marriage-equality-ban-unconstitutional/

As other countries with much smaller fundamentalist Christian influence over the government are working steadily towards equality and full legal rights of the LGBTQ+ communities the US is falling backwards in a regressive retreat of minority rights.  Again for some reason driven by fundamentalist Christian religious groups who create problems that never existed and use lies to promote disinformation creating hate towards the minorities they target.  You ask why the republicans have partnered with these fundamentalist Christians?  Because both groups seen the lost of group power over society they banded together to force society back to a time and culture when they did have majority power.   It comes down to power over others, and control of society.   I did not think that Christians believed in that.   At least I know Rev. Ed Trevors doesn’t.   But for far too many tradition, what was done by my grandparents, done by my parents, should be done by me also.  That is wrong because time, cultures, and the understandings change.   Hugs.

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2017 MAY 08. TOKYO JAPAN. LGBT rainbow flag covered on back of a man
2017 MAY 08. TOKYO JAPAN. LGBT rainbow flag covered on back of a man

The Fukuoka High Court of Japan has become the third of Japan’s eight high courts to rule that the government’s policy against same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. However, the court upheld a lower court ruling that dismissed three same-sex couples who had sought 1 million yen ($6,540) each for being denied their constitutional rights to gender and legal equality, individual dignity, and the pursuit of happiness.

The couples, who live in the southwestern cities of Fukuoka and Kumamoto, had their damage claims dismissed by the Fukuoka District Court in 2023 after the court ruled that the government wasn’t obliged to compensate them or legalize marriage equality legislation despite being in “state of unconstitutionality,” The Mainichi reported.

High Court Judge Takeshi Okada ruled that civil laws forbidding same-sex marriages violate the nation’s constitution, saying, “There is no longer any reason to not legally recognize marriage between same-sex couples.” However, he noted that any change in national marriage laws must be decided by Japan’s legislature, known as the National Diet.

As the judge read his ruling, a 35-year-old plaintiff identified in the media as Kosuke couldn’t stop crying. Despite this, his 37-year-old partner Masahiro said “[the judge] understood our suffering, and I felt very reassured.”

 

 

 

Opponents of marriage equality in Japan have noted that Article 24 of the Japanese constitution specifically states, “Marriage shall be based only on the mutual consent of both sexes and it shall be maintained through mutual cooperation with the equal rights of husband and wife as a basis.”

However, marriage equality advocates have also pointed out that the constitution’s other articles state, “The people shall not be prevented from enjoying any of the fundamental human rights,” and, “All of the people are equal under the law and there shall be no discrimination in political, economic or social relations because of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin.”

 

Regardless, in October the Tokyo High Court ruled similarly, echoing another one made by the Sapporo High Court in March, which said that limiting marriage to couples of the opposite sex is “unconstitutional” and “discriminatory.” Despite the rulings, the country’s judiciary doesn’t have the power to overturn existing civil marriage codes.

Marriage equality has divided the country’s court system in opposing rulings over several years. Meanwhile, Japan’s conservative government lags behind increasingly supportive public opinion. Seventy percent of the Japanese public supports marriage equality, but it faces opposition from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

The party lost its parliamentary majority in last Sunday’s election and will likely have to compromise on more liberal policies pushed by the opposition parties, like marriage equality, the aforementioned publication noted.

 

Right now, Japan doesn’t offer national LGBTQ+ non-discrimination protections or same-sex marriage. As a result, LGBTQ+ people in Japan often face inequities in employment, housing, education, and health care.

More than 200 Japanese municipalities offer some form of recognition for same-sex couples. Such recognition can help same-sex couples rent apartments together, visit each other in city hospitals, and receive other services that married heterosexual couples enjoy.

Though several jurisdictions offer “partnership certificates,” they’re entirely symbolic and don’t offer federal benefits given to married heterosexual couples.

 

LGBTQ+ advocacy groups have pushed for a national bill that would enshrine equal civil rights and non-discrimination protections into law. However, the conservative party of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida helped defeat the effort in the lead-up to the 2021 Olympic Summer Games.

Japan remains the only country in the G7, a political and economic forum of seven of the world’s most advanced economies, that has not legalized marriage equality. Currently, the only Asian countries that have legalized same-sex marriage are Taiwan, Nepal, and Thailand.

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Young LGBTQ+ people advise each other on how to survive challenging times

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2024/12/young-lgbtq-people-advise-each-other-on-how-to-survive-challenging-times/

Group of young cheerful friends strolling together on day of gay pride parade in city. People LGBT community pose hugging looking smiling at camera outdoor. Generation z and sexual liberation.

With a record number of social and political stressors facing young LGBTQ+ people, the Trevor Project has released a collection of advice given by young queers to their peers.

The responses were taken from the organization’s 2024 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People which made the following open-ended request to respondents (who were between the ages of 13 and 24): “We would love for you to share a message of advice or encouragement to other young people in the LGBTQ community.”

One respondent wrote, “Finding a sense of community helps so much, whether it’s online or in person. Just find a place where you can ask questions and read about other people’s experiences.”

Another stressed the importance of envisioning a better future and doing what one can to cultivate community support now.

“Find your group and work towards where you wanna be in life and you’ll make it there,” one wrote, as other offered encouraging words like, “Keep pushing,” “Keep going for another day,” “Just keep going, please,” and “Please keep strong.”

Another urged resilience and perseverance. “Be yourself always,” they wrote. “You may lose connections along the way but trust, there’s someone out there who will love you.” Another respondent agreed, writing, “Just look for the people who love you no matter what.”

Others urged self-compassion and patience as young people figure out their identities. One such message said, “Don’t rush finding your identity. Take your time to explore, and don’t be afraid to take up labels if they feel right at the time.”

 

Some respondents suggested repeating self-affirmations like the following:

  • I love you.
  • I believe in you.
  • You got this.
  • You are so strong and you are deserving of love always.

“Wake up everyday, and tell yourself you love yourself — until, one day, you believe it,” one young person wrote.

Other respondents acknowledged the adversity faced by young LGBTQ+ people, whether in politics or unaccepting homes.

“[It’s] very easy to think that the entire world [despises] you for who you are when your home environment conveys that,” one wrote. “You might not feel safe and happy now,” another wrote, “but hopefully, there will come a day when you find your home.”

 

“Don’t let the people around you tell you that you can’t love who you want and feel what you want to feel,” one respondent wrote. 

Another added, “I know things look down right now and it’s hard to see past the hate that’s being spread but it always helps to remember that most people don’t hate us and that there are tons of us out there that are willing to help.”

“We’ve always been here. And we always will be,” another wrote. “They cannot erase us.”

Other respondents advised doing things to lessen negativity.

“Ignore the Idiots and cut people off if [you] have too [sic]. Life is too short to care what people think about you and they don’t even have to live your life and experience the things you do.”

 

In the same vein, another respondent replied, “Don’t let the people around you tell you that you can’t love who you want and feel what you want to feel.”

“Peer support is associated with lower levels of emotional and behavioral distress among LGBTQ+ young people,” the Trevor Project wrote. “However, not all LGBTQ+ young people have consistent access to peer support, especially LGBTQ+ young people who hold multiple marginalized identities.”

As such “hearing words of encouragement and advice from fellow LGBTQ+ young people has never been more needed,” the group added.

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This government just took a major step towards banning anti-LGBTQ+ hate speech

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2024/12/this-government-just-took-a-major-step-towards-banning-anti-lgbtq-hate-speech/

We in the US need to have the same hope and constant drive as the LGBTQ+ in Poland.  See their government is anti-LGBTQ+ and the leader calls them “evil”.  But they did not give up and kept working to change the hearts and minds of the people.   And it is working.  We need to do the same.  Hugs.

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June 10, 2018: Warsaw's LGBTQ pride equality march
June 10, 2018: Warsaw’s LGBTQ pride equality march

Poland made a landmark move for LGBTQ+ rights after it banned hate speech against sexual orientation and gender in a new set of regulations.

Currently, the country’s laws prohibit hate speech on the basis of race, religion, and ethnicity. “These provisions do not provide sufficient protection for all minority groups who are particularly vulnerable to discrimination, prejudice and violence,” the national justice ministry said.

“The new regulations aim to more fully implement the constitutional prohibition of discrimination and to meet international recommendations on standards of protection against hate speech and hate crimes,” the ministry added.

The United Nations Human Rights Council has previously criticized the country’s lack of hate crime protections for LGBTQ+ individuals.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk approved the new legislation. It now moves on to Parliament. If Parliament passes it, President Andrzej Duda will have the option to sign it into law or pass it. He has previously stated that he believes LGBTQ+ individuals are “evil.”

However, Duda’s final presidential term ends next year, and the ruling party hopes they can get someone to replace him in time to sign the legislation into law.

Bart Straszewski, an LGBTQ+ activist in Poland, told PinkNews, “I felt like a second-category citizen, and we were treated like second-category citizens. The government is telling you that you don’t deserve equal rights, that you are not creating families, and that you are an agent of the West trying to fight family values or tradition.

 

“The atmosphere was hostile. We felt that they didn’t want us here, but we still were here, we still were fighting for our country because we are part of it,” Straszewski added.

Poland previously has not been friendly to LGBTQ+ rights. During the Law and Justice (PiS) party’s time in power, the country became one of the most viciously anti-LGBTQ+ countries in Europe. Cities designated themselves “LGBT-free” zones and government-run media outlets regularly demonized and spread lies about the queer community. Gay reporters were fired from publications as part of the national purge.

However, advocates have been working tirelessly to grant protections for LGBTQ+ individuals. A TV anchor apologized this year for his past anti-LGBTQ+ statements and came out in support of the community. Activists also rejoiced when the Polish Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage is not illegal, per Poland’s Constitution.

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Representation: People who received Presidential Citizens Medals Today

They won’t get nearly the jabber that Liz Cheney’s and Bennie Thompson’s medals are getting, and all are good people. I emboldened a bit especially pertinent to this blog.

Biden Giving Liz Cheney A Fancy Medal Today, So That’ll Make Trump’s Butt Itch by Rebecca Schoenkopf

Every 2024 Presidential Citizens Medal winner is a better human than the bastard who’s about to be president again. Read on Substack

The first time Donald Trump was president, one of the ways he absolutely beclowned the office and rendered it meaningless was who he’d pick to give the Presidential Medal of Freedom and other similar honors.

Historically, such awards went to people who had done something important. Under Trump 1.0, it was more like “Here is the presidential medal of excellence in giving me money!” It went to Miriam Adelson, AKA one of Trump’s big bucks no whammies donors. (That’s the one where he got in trouble recently for saying Adelson’s award was better than Medal of Honor winners, AKA the military’s highest honor.)

Trump gave the Medal of Freedom to Rush Limbaugh, before that guy waddled off to hell. He gave it to Devin Nunes and Jim Jordan, for excellence in doing congressional coverups for Trump or something.

We are sure Trump 2.0 will make those recipients look like American patriots.

The Presidential Citizens Medal is the award just below the Medal of Freedom, and Trump didn’t seem to give much of a shit about it during his first term. He awarded it in 2019 to a 9/11 first responder, posthumously. But that appears to be it. The award is given to someone “who has performed exemplary deeds or services for his or her country or fellow citizens,” so you can see why it might not get Trump very excited.

President Joe Biden is big on giving it, though. In 2023, he gave it to people like Capitol Police officers Michael Fanone and Aquilino Gonell, who protected Congress during the terrorist attack Trump’s supporters committed on January 6, 2021. (He awarded it posthumously to former Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who died after he was assaulted by Trump supporters at the Capitol that day.) Also to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, the Georgia election workers Rudy Giuliani owes all his money to, for repeatedly lying about and defaming them.

In all, he gave it to 12 people who in various ways defended American democracy from Trump’s attacks in 2020.

Now, today, Biden is giving another set of 20 of these medals for 2024, and damn, they are just more people Donald Trump could never ever fucking be, not in a million years, not if he went to the Emerald City and grabbed the Wizard by the pussy and begged him for a soul, or for integrity, or decency, or goodness. (In this mental image Elon is in drag as Dorothy, obviously.)

Liz Cheney is getting one for her work on the House January 6 Select Committee, and all the ways she’s stood up to defend democracy the last couple years, so that’ll piss Trump the fuck off.

Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, who co-chaired the January 6 Committee with Cheney, will also receive the medal.

We are sure Trump will have some sort of hallucinatory conniption about how they deleted all the evidence that TOTALLY EXONERATES him, because once Trump gets an incorrect conspiracy theory mangled up inside that big ugly head of his, he never gets free of it.

On top of those types of folks, there’s Mary Bonauto, who argued Obergefell v. Hodges, AKA the marriage equality case, before the Supreme Court. Plus Evan Wolfson, perhaps the single most important activist over the decades of that fight.

You can check out the whole list here. On top of a number of former politicians like Bill Bradley and Chris Dodd, it’s full of people with bios that read like that of Diane Carlson Evans, who “founded the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundation to ensure female service members received the recognition they deserve.” Plus civil rights leaders and more women’s rights leaders, and so on and so forth.

And this posthumous award, which seems to contain a pre-emptive rebuke for the incoming Hitler wannabe administration:

Mitsuye Endo Tsutsumi

In a shameful chapter in our Nation’s history, Mitsuye Endo was incarcerated alongside more than 120,000 Japanese Americans. Undaunted, she challenged the injustice and reached the Supreme Court. Her resolve allowed thousands of Japanese Americans to return home and rebuild their lives, reminding us that we are a Nation that stands for freedom for all.

The entire list is a rebuke of Trump, really. American heroes, all.

But yeah, the Liz Cheney part is the part that’s gonna stick up Trump’s ass and give him sideways bowel movements. Bet those sting REAL bad. (snip-comments on the page)

Someone who gets the most from his body and is prepared for an attack

Please remember when you read what I write, I never went through Army basic.  I was a former US Navy, so showed up at my first army post with no uniform.  It freaked the low level E4 – E5s out, they were demanding I change into a uniform I did not have.  

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Hi Ten Bears.  I reblog this not only because it is impressive and the fact is a lot of it I couldn’t do at 20 and in the US Army.   Just being honest.  My job valued our technical skills not the physical aspect of military life.  In the one live action three day drill with laser tag gear in the early 1980s where our people in our satellite compound were included we happily dressed up in face paint (mixed with face cream for easy removal) listened carefully, and that morning took up our assigned places.  We quickly grew bored but diligently shot at any enemy we saw.  We were proud defenders of our installation from the evil USSR.

Early in the afternoon our upper ranks pulled us in.  Told us to clean up and there would be a meeting in the morning.   Excited about the meeting we all gather in the morning looking for our gear, our faces and hands again well coated with face cream colored camo.  We did not find our laser tag stuff, no vests, nothing to place on our M16s.  Then the meeting started and we all felt shitty.   We no longer would be part of the drill.   The infantry base that was assigned to protect us would do so without our help.  A lot of barely out of our teens boys clamored to know why, we had fun even if it was very boring.  

Turns out that the reason they pulled us in the afternoon before was in our eagerness to protect our site and play soldier … which we all knew we were not.  To be continued …

(side note during one of the yearly common task training we all had to pass one thing was to recognize which tank was from which enemy.  I couldn’t do a single one.  My answer was always the same.  “I don’t know which country it is from but I am sure as hell not going to shoot at it with an M16 and piss the fucker off”  I passed the test with 100%.  Also during that testing was a requirement to open and correctly orient, sight the target, and then press the correct buttons to then fire a LAWS rocket. 

When it was my turn I proudly took my 117 pounds up to the table, took the law dummy, stepped up to the mark and tried to pull it open which would slide the two halves into the fully opened locked position.    I struggled for a few times until the training officer stopped me, took the training tool, turned it around to the proper direction showing me the markings.   Ok I felt a bit foolish but determined now to ace the test.  I yanked on both sides and nothing happened.  I did it again.  Then I tried doing it by jumping up in the air to use the momentum to help.  It did not.  After about three minutes and in frustration I put the thing between my legs to try to pull it open. At that point Sergeant Emory rushed to me and took the training tool, opened it up and positioned it on my shoulder.  I sighted it like a pro and pressed the correct buttons plus trigger and registered a direct hit with the system.  I passed.  I was an Army soldier on the books.   

One last note on that training.   The old timers in the unit told us many tips like the face cream for the face paint, but the never addressed the placement of stuff on our waist belts.  The shoulder belts did have special places for things, but the waist belt was not defined.  I was so small that by the time I got everything I was to have on the belt, I had no place for the canteen … So I placed my full of water very regulation hard canteen right in front of my body.  Yes follow the body line.   

The drill required us to run and zigzag then when ordered drop and cover ourselves.  I proudly started my run, hell one thing I had going for me was I was fast, I zigged, I zagged, and then the command was bellowed to drop and cover.   Very much into the moment of playing army … Remember I never went through Army Basic Training … I dropped full on my belly … and nearly lost my mind and consciousness.   Only the fact of my abusive past allowed me to roll desperately sideways, clawing desperately at a place some lower than my waist. For those that still can not picture what happened let me explain. 

My canteen was hanging directly down in my front.  Think of what is in the front of a boy / guy that landing on a hard object at a full run dive might be the resulting impact point. Yes my very sensitive testicles took the impact of my full 117 body weight fully on my regulation hard canteen.   I couldn’t breathe, I rolled, I staggered to my knees, then fell again, then I struggled to me feet, staggered a few steps and collapsed into a fetal tight posture.  I lost the world.   

When I woke up I was in the hospital, I was told that Sergeant Emory had rushed to me and tried to open my posture and then realized what happened.  I did not suffer any lasting effects except for some reason I never had to do common task testing again while in the unit.  Every time they came up someone was needed to be at the site and somehow the schedule always had me pulling shift leader.   But I always passed.)  

Now to the reason we were pulled from and stopped from being part of the three day drill.  As I said we took defensive positions inside our fenced in satellite site and even when bored we shot any enemy we could see.  The problem was the first day the program did not introduce the enemy yet.  The people we proudly lined up on with our tag system M16s were our very own defenders from the nearby infantry base.  

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So that is why I admire Ten Bears and his program of personal health, exercise, and being ready for those that might attack him.  My body long ago gave out with decaying bones, nerves fraying and shorting / dying, my spine doing 5 different ways of causing me pain and the lack of ability to keep standing when my legs go out under me suddenly, the broken bones of childhood refused to heal properly.  I admit I admire him, I wish I could do the same.   And on that point, one more last thing for a long post.  

In the last year I went from not being able to walk 8 car lengths and back to and from our mailbox to now my daily walk I do most days is 2.08 miles.   I bought a small hand weight system, the max is 11 pounds on one hand bar and there are two bars.  The weights come in 1 pound units and can be placed together with the handle being 3 pounds.  I started out using two 1 pound weights hooked together for arm and what my different shoulders can do with the torn / ripped apart muscles in my shoulders.  I am now up to using the 3 pound handle for arm stuff, including triceps.  I still can not use that weight on my shoulders and can not use any weight on my left shoulder that I need / have an MRI order for.   

The entire point is I agree with Ten Bears.   Things are going to get bad.  We who are not on the maga side need to do all we can to protect ourselves.   Those of us LGBTQ+ need to do all we can to protect ourselves and each other.  Look the person that did that bombing was a native born Army vet, yet the right wing media including fox entertainment is still claiming it was an immigrant.  They have long blamed the LGBT+ for all social ills, and the last three years attacked every drag queen story hours claiming they were saving kids.   What will they do or manufacture now?    Hugs