Category: LGBTQ+ / Gay / Trans / Gender

CO Republicans And GOP House Candidates Call For Chair To Resign Over “Burn All Pride Flags” Message

CO Republicans And GOP House Candidates Call For Chair To Resign Over “Burn All Pride Flags” Message

This is what drives the increased hate and attacks on the LGBTQ+.  This is what republicans consider to be high quality discourse and thought.  Attack anyone different and hurt them hard, wipe them out.  It is gang thug rule and it is the cults they are in.  Either the tRump cult or the Fundamentalist cult.   Hugs.  Scottie

June 7, 2024 Christianists, Trump cultists

 

Denver’s ABC affiliate reports:

The fallout from the Colorado GOP’s anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric earlier this week continued Friday with state Republican leaders calling for party chairman Dave Williams to resign.

The latest denouncement came from the Jefferson County Republicans, who on behalf of “numerous Colorado Republican County Chairs, other county party officers, members of the Colorado State Central Committee in all 64 Counties, and many Republican candidates” called on Colorado GOP chairman Dave Williams to “immediately resign.”

The mounting backlash against Williams follows a blast email from the Colorado GOP that was signed by the chairman, in which the party accused the LGBTQ+ community of being “godless groomers” who want to harm children. On its official profile on X, the Colorado GOP also called for the burning of Pride flags.

The Advocate reports:

Williams sent an email to GOP voters earlier this week that referred to queer people as “barbaric,” “creeps,” “degenerates,” “godless,” “groomers,” “predators,” “radicals,” and “reprobates.”

Valdamar Archuleta, the head of Colorado’s Log Cabin Republicans, has been one of the few GOP members to defend Williams. He said Wednesday that “I do not think Dave hates me because I’m gay. I don’t think that Dave is a homophobic person. He’s trying to get a reaction.”

The Colorado News-Press reports:

Five of the six Republican candidates running for Congress in Colorado’s 4th District are disavowing their state party’s leadership, citing its recent anti-LGBTQ messaging and concerns over campaign impropriety.

The conservatives, who are on the primary ballot this month, have called into question Colorado GOP Chair Dave Williams and are advocating for new leadership. Only U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, who received the endorsement of the party, declined to comment on Williams’ messaging.

Williams has sparked criticism inside and outside of the Colorado Republican Party for an email sent from the state party that claimed people in the LGBTQ community are “evil” and “godless groomers.”

As I reported earlier today, Colorado has seen a spree of stolen Pride flags since the state GOP issued its “burn all Pride flags” message. Williams has called reports of the thefts a hoax.

Last month the Colorado GOP called on Christians to remove their children from public schools because Democrats are using schools to “turn more kids trans.”

Williams is running to replace retiring GOP Rep. Doug Lamborn. Williams, you may recall, lost a lawsuit seeking to have “Let’s Go Brandon” by his name on the ballot during his failed 2022 House bid.

During a December 2023 appearance on extremist Laura Loomer’s podcast, Williams told the Colorado Supreme Court to “go fuck themselves” after they removed Trump from the ballot. It’s what Jesus would want.

 

N649309 PG702 days ago

My 90 year old Colorado Father in law has always been a republican. He loves his Gay son and his gay sons husband (me), He told us last night, “I’m done with the republican party” after he received this email.

JoeMyGod Mod2 days ago

“Only U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, who received the endorsement of the party, declined to comment on Williams’ messaging.”

Dwight Williamson2 days ago
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SPLC Reports 50% Surge In White Supremacist Hate Groups, 33% Rise In Anti-LGBTQ Hate Organizations

SPLC Reports 50% Surge In White Supremacist Hate Groups, 33% Rise In Anti-LGBTQ Hate Organizations

Again the haters spewed their bigotry non-stop for years, over shooting any other voice, we have to raise our voice just as loud.  We were stomping this shit out until the cult of tRump maga made being a low intellect gang thug the in thing.  This is driven by those who insist on controlling the lives of others, to make others live as the haters are comfortable with.     Hugs.  Scottie

June 8, 2024 Christianists, Extremists

 

The Florida Phoenix reports:

Emboldened by the mainstreaming of hard-right politics ahead of a presidential election cycle, white nationalist and anti-LGBTQ+ groups increased to record levels in the United States last year, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s latest annual report on hate and extremism. The SPLC, which has published the annual report since 1990, documented 835 active anti-government groups, up 133 from 2022’s count, and 595 hate groups, an increase of 72 over the previous year’s figure.

Accounting for a large portion of the increase was a 50% surge in white supremacy hate groups in 2023, the highest jump ever recorded by the SPLC, growing to 165 over 109 in 2022. White power and neo-Nazi rallies across the U.S. totaled 143 in 2023, down from 191 in 2022. SPLC saw a 33% rise in anti-LGBTQ+ organizations over last year, bringing the total to 86. The group said the growth was largely attributable to the anti-trans movement on the far-right.

Read the full article.

 

Houndentenor  another_stevea day ago

Trump emboldened them. These folks were always racist and sexist but they knew to disguise it. Now they are proud of it. It’s no surprise that they want to belong to groups of like-minded groups. The Klan used to hide. Now some similar groups wear masks but many do not. They don’t hide their identities because they don’t feel they need to. We have to prove them wrong.

Bruno  another_stevea day ago

I think 6 members of SCOTUS have even more to do with it.

Elagabalusa day ago

Fear of the “other” has animated Republican politics since forever. If it isn’t LGBT people, it’s immigrants. In his weekly screed, Andrew Sullivan blames Biden for “losing” the election to Trump over immigration, all without ever mentioning the fact that Republicans, on marching orders from Trump, squashed bipartisan legislation to secure the southern border. Funny how that rather important element is simply ignored. Block Javascript to read:

https://andrewsullivan.subs…

Ninja0980a day ago

The hubby and I got a couple of guns (locked away for safekeeping) but if push comes to shove, we’re not going down quietly.
Hate to have to think that way now.

Hank: NO MORE WoW!!!a day ago
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Church Does Mass Checkout Of Library’s LGBTQ Books

Church Does Mass Checkout Of Library’s LGBTQ Books

There is no hate as strong as some Christian’s “love”!  I love you so much I must hurt you badly, deny you exist, deny you have worth, I love you so much I must format hate against you.  With loving friends like that who needs enemies.  Hugs.  Scottie

June 8, 2024 Christianists, LGBT News

 

NPR reports:

A Wichita pastor recently encouraged members of his church to mark Pride Month by checking out mass amounts of gay- and transgender-themed books from their local library. “One way you can love your neighbors and your community is to gather together some of the men in your church and go empty the local library of all their LGBTQ+ books,” pastor Kyle Lammott [screenshot] wrote in a recent post on Instagram. “Start with the kids’ books and work your way up.”

The post featured a photo of more than 100 books checked out of the Andover Public Library. The titles include dozens of young adult novels with LGBTQ characters or themes, books about the Black Lives Matter movement and an autobiography of tennis star Billie Jean King. Lammott, lead pastor of Exodus Church in east Wichita, declined an interview and did not say whether he plans to return the materials.

Read the full article.

From the church’s about page:

We believe that men and woman are created in the image and likeness of God, but through Adam’s sin mankind is also fallen. We have inherited a sinful nature and have become alienated from God. Man is thus separated from God and, left to himself, incapable to remedy his fallen condition.

We believe that God, being rich in mercy, did not leave His people in their fallen condition, but through the blood of Christ purchased for Himself a people. Redeeming them from their sinful state and conforming them into the image of Christ.

Lammott has made his Instagram account private since the NPR’s report was published.

 

 

Paul a day ago

The cruelty is the point.

As a young gayling I ‘forgot’ to check out a copy of ‘The Front Runner’ from my local library. I sneaked it out in a stack of textbooks. I devoured it in two days and then rode my bicycle back to the library on a Sunday to put it in the book drop, so terrified was I that someone might see me. But that book opened worlds for me.

I’m an old curmudgeon now, these bible-thumping hypocrites have no power over me, but it breaks my heart to think how what they’re doing affects young queer people.

Charles in Bloomington  Paula day ago

I remember the experience of reading that book as a teenager too.

Tiggera day ago

Also from the NPR article: Taylor and other area librarians said the protest strategy likely would backfire because checkouts are an indication of demand for certain materials. Libraries track demand as they replenish their collections.

 

Teen Charged With Shattering Library’s Pride Display

Teen Charged With Shattering Library’s Pride Display

Kids are not born haters, they are taught to hate by adults and older kids around them.  Every maga republican and fundamentalist religious leader is spreading this hate like an infectious disease.   Hugs.  Scottie

June 8, 2024 Crime, LGBT News

 

Portland, Oregon’s CBS affiliate reports:

A juvenile suspect has been arrested in connection to an incident at the Newberg Public Library in which a window that displayed an LGBTQIA+ Pride flag was shattered by a BB gun.

According to the Newberg-Dundee Police Department in a post on Facebook, police were originally dispatched to investigate the incident on Wednesday at 7:15 p.m. No one was injured and it was initially investigated as a vandalism complaint.

It’s unclear what charges may brought to the juvenile, including whether or not they may include bias crime charges. However, police said the case is being “referred to the Yamhill County Juvenile Department for prosecution.

Read the full article.

 

Todd20036 20 hours ago

Teens usually don’t hate that much without help

 

Country Of Georgia Moves To Criminalize All LGBTQ Events, Ban All LGBTQ Rights, Erase LGBTQs In Media

Country Of Georgia Moves To Criminalize All LGBTQ Events, Ban All LGBTQ Rights, Erase LGBTQs In Media

Welcome to Russia under Putin, Hungary under Victor Orban, North Korea under Kim Jong Un, or China under Xi Jinping.  Now the nation of Georgia.  What do these countries have in common?  They are dictatorships with the people have no rights or limited rights.  They have to live as the state demands, live as the govern tell them they must, like it or not. 

Do we really want that here?  But that is what the minority of Fundamentalist Christians and right wing maga republicans want.  Complete control over the lives of the people.  The want a white controlled cis straight society who are forced to live by their version of Christianity.  They want to do this to the US also.  Plus notice the hater bigots leaders in the US had been over there stirring up anti-LGTQ+ hate and vilification.   Hugs.  Scottie

June 8, 2024 LGBT News, Politics

 

Deutsche Welle reports:

The latest effort to restrict the rights of LGBTQ+ people in Georgia comes shortly after a “foreign agent” law was adopted in May despite weeks of unrest and pro-EU rallies. The Georgian parliament, where the ruling Georgian Dream party has a decisive majority, will start discussing the planned LGBTQ+ bill in the coming weeks. The final reading is expected to be held in the fall.

If adopted, the bill, as well as amendments to 18 existing laws, would make any kind of LGBTQ+-related gatherings illegal. The proposal would also outlaw same-sex marriages, gender transition and the adoption of children by same-sex couples; it would also ban LGBTQ+ “propaganda” in schools and prohibit the broadcast of intimate scenes involving same-sex relationships.

Politico Europe reports:

Same-sex couples would be stripped of their rights under terms of a new draft law put forward by Georgia’s ruling party. The move marks yet another major break between the European Union and the candidate country in the South Caucasus.

On Tuesday, Shalva Papuashvili [screenshot] — the speaker of Georgia’s parliament and one of the leaders of the governing Georgian Dream faction — brought forward a package of legislation targeting so-called “LGBT propaganda.”

Broadcasters, advertisers and movie theaters will also be ordered to redact any content that features same-sex relationships, regardless of the intended age of the audience, before broadcast.

So much for their EU candidacy.

I first reported the then-proposed bill in March 2024, at which time its backers acknowledged that it could even criminalize the possession of rainbow flags.

As I reported at the time, last year Tbilisi Pride was shut down after police failed to stop hundreds of violent extremists from storming the event.

A similar incident in 2021 resulted in a fatality and a formal call for prosecutions from the US State Department. 

That same week in 2021, it was revealed that US hate group leader Brian Brown had endorsed an extremist affiliated with that year’s anti-LGBTQ mob.

As noted by Right Wing Watch at the time, Brown also accompanied said extremist when he organized “illegal gangs” to protest Tbilisi Pride in 2019. Video of Brown at that protest is still on Facebook.

Georgia, population 4 million, is around 90% Christian with most belonging to the Georgian Orthodox Church. Georgia declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

The Georgian Dream Party holds half of the seats in parliament, with the rest scattered among 14 other parties.

Of note, in 2022 I reported that Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili met with US leaders in Washington DC to plea for support should Russia’s attack on Ukraine expand into Georgia.

Zourabichvili leaves office later this year, after which future Georgian presidents will be “selected indirectly” by parliamentary electors.

 

 

Idaho Bar Celebrates “Hetero Awesomeness Month”

Idaho Bar Celebrates “Hetero Awesomeness Month”

And republican spewed hate continues.  I have a few of these to post this morning. We have to be as vocal and determined to push back on this attempt to force the nation back decades in LGBTQ+ and women’s rights.   We need to decide to fight for the country we want, one of equality and diversity for all as hard as they try to make it a cis straight Christian country.     Hugs.  Scottie

June 8, 2024 Christianists, Idiocracy

 

NBC News reports:

An Idaho bar has drawn national attention for celebrating “Heterosexual Awesomeness Month” in response to LGBTQ Pride month, which has been celebrated during June for decades.

The Old State Saloon in Eagle, a suburb of Boise, announced its “inaugural Heterosexual Awesomeness Month” on social media last month.

“Each Monday will be Hetero Male Monday and any heterosexual male dressed like a heterosexual male will receive a free draft beer,” the bar said in a Facebook post that has since gone viral. “Each Wednesday is Heterosexual couples day and each heterosexual couple will receive 15% off their bill.”

Fox News reports:

Even Idaho bar owner Mark Fitzpatrick was surprised by the strong reaction to his Heterosexual Awesomeness Month promo in response to Pride Month.

“I was thinking of a way that we could celebrate the other side of sexuality, heterosexuality, the way God designed it. And that’s kind of where I’m at with people that support us and are like-minded. So we decided to do Heterosexual Awesomeness Month and then launched it and boy, oh boy, did it take off,” Fitzpatrick told Fox News Digital.

He added, “I’m not just going to sit there and do nothing anymore. I’m going to be involved. I’m going to be out there. I’m going to be rallying people to help do the right thing, celebrate godly things. And I think the rest of the country should do that.”

The Christian Post reports:

The business states on its website that its celebration of “Heterosexual Awesomeness Month” has led to threatening backlash and “theft of our property, vendors refusing to fulfill our orders for ingredients, wedding catering [cancellation], libel, slander — even the owner being falsely accused of being a sex offender!”

In addition to the deals on food and alcohol available to heterosexual patrons, Old State Saloon is selling special merchandise during its “Heterosexual Awareness Month.”

T-shirts with the American flag and the symbols for male and female, as well as T-shirts with a picture of a glass of beer emblazoned with the Old State Saloon logo accompanied by a caption reading “Beer for Breeders” and “Heterosexual Awesomeness Month” are available for $28.

In the interview below, the owner, who says he’s a former cop, boasts that “Idaho is everything that California isn’t.”

 

DoctorDJ14 hours ago

Their best selling brand.

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Doug105 15 hours ago
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April in OK 14 hours ago edited

Bar owner says: I’m going to be rallying people to help do the right thing, celebrate godly things…

Their bible has much to say about being a drunkard and drunkenness. Not so much about being LGBTQ,

Dwight Williamson14 hours ago edited

😂

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2guysnamedjoe 15 hours ago

“I was thinking of a way that we could celebrate the other side of sexuality, heterosexuality, the way God designed it.
In a pickup bar

Doug105 14 hours ago
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patty thomas 14 hours ago

The reason heterosexuals don’t need a Pride is the same reason there aren’t soup kitchens for the rich.

(thought I saved that great meme and can’t find it!)

Shy Guy  patty thomas14 hours ago

One of these?

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Doug105 15 hours ago
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Houndentenor  Doug10513 hours ago

You laugh but there are people who believe that the King James Bible (whatever version of that they grew up with) is the only true Bible. They are serious. It’s hilarious (You have to know zero about languages to believe something so absurd.) but that’s fundamentalism for you: Certain in their uniformed absolute beliefs.

Bluestocking  Doug10510 hours ago

The scary part of this is that there probably are at least a few Americans who are stupid enough to actually believe all this garbage — not just the idea that Jesus was somehow American (despite the fact that America didn’t exist until over one and a half millennia after the presumed year of the Crucifixion), not just the idea that Jesus wrote the New Testament (let alone the Old Testament), but also the idea that the New Testament somehow wasn’t assembled by people who existed more than two centuries after the supposed year of the Crucifixion and therefore could never have met Jesus of Nazareth or even met anyone who had met someone who had met him

 

 

 

Let’s talk about Maryland, Alabama, and very serious things….

Christian families sue for the right to mistreat LGBTQ+ foster children

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2024/06/christian-families-sue-for-the-right-to-mistreat-lgbtq-foster-children/

I love that they say Vermont doesn’t care about vulnerable children when these people want to abuse vulnerable LGBTQ+ children by forcing a religion on them that calls them an abomination.  They want the right to force these kids into conversion therapy or to not let them transition.  This is seriously scary shit.  Hugs.  Scottie

They claim it’s religious discrimination to not let them foster children they say they will refuse to accept.
 
By  
A gavel and a rainbow bookmark in a law book
Photo: Shutterstock

Two Christian families in Vermont, alongside the Southern Poverty Law Center-designated hate group Alliance Defending Freedom, are suing the state after it stripped their foster care licenses over their homophobic and transphobic beliefs.

“Vermont says they’re unfit to parent any child because of their traditional religious beliefs about human sexuality,” said ADF legal counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse in a press release. “Vermont seems to care little about the needs of vulnerable children, much less the constitutional rights of its citizens. That’s why we’re suing them in federal court.”

RELATED:

Ron DeSantis appoints hate group member to state appeals court

Roger Gannam said that trans-inclusive anti-discrimination policy would lead to sexual assaults against women.

The Wuoti and Gantt families filed the lawsuit along with the ADF on Tuesday, initiating a formal complaint against the state. 

Vermont changed its policies regarding foster families in recent years to better support LGBTQ+ youth. It requires that foster parents are supportive of young people’s identities – such as properly gendering trans youth or allowing kids to embrace their sexual orientation. 

It strictly prohibits “discrimination and bias based on a child or youth’s real or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.”

The lawsuit argues that both families are required by their religion to misgender any foster children, stating that “a person’s sex is binary and fixed by God at conception.” It goes further in arguing that, in the case of the Gantt family, they believe that trans people must detransition and that people should not gender trans people correctly.

The lawsuit also claims that Kaitlyn Wuoti had gender dysphoria as a child, leading her to be filled with “compassion” for children. Both Brian and Kaitlyn Wuoti believe that they cannot even associate with a Pride parade or those in it because “they convey a message about human sexuality that goes against their faith.”

Radke emphasized in a statement that while DCF does not comment on pending lawsuits, the lawsuit was nevertheless filed at the beginning of Pride Month, a time normally dedicated to celebrating LGBTQ+ people.

“It is a human right for all to be valued and supported, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity,” Radke said. “The Family Services Division is here to serve all and upholds that expectation for both its staff, as well as the foster parents who agree to take on the care of the youth in our custody.”

This lawsuit comes at a time when LGBTQ+ youth are especially vulnerable, facing attacks on their healthcare across the world. This atmosphere contributes to stigma against these youths. Moreover, LGBTQ+ youth are more likely to be homeless and in the foster system.

“It’s the role of families to provide that kind of affirmation and validation,” said Amanda Rohdenburg with Outright Vermont. She says it’s impossible to tell who is LGBTQ+ just by looking at them, so LGBTQ+ youth might be placed with anti-LGBTQ+ foster parents. “They are at high risk of experiencing rejection or internalizing homophobia or transphobia that impacts their sense of sense over their lifetime.” 

The named defendants in the suit are Department for Children and Families (DCF) Commissioner Christopher Winters, Deputy Commissioner of the DCF’s Family Services Division Aryka Radke, and DCF’s Director of Residential Licensing & Special Investigations Stacey Edmunds.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont, Windham Division and has Gretchen M. Wade of Wadleigh, Starr & Peters, P.L.L.C as additional legal counsel.

The Alliance Defending Freedom is known for its ties to the book The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today, which was written by former ADF CEO Alan Sears and ADF member Craig Osten. They group also supports banning LGBTQ+ individuals from the military and the Boy Scouts of America.

The ADF has filed lawsuits across the country, such as in the case of 303 Creative vs. Elenis, where they defend an individual trying to discriminate against LGBTQ+ individuals based on religion.

 

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The Roads to rhetoric, pride, and 3 messages….

Happy (And Safe) Pride Month!

Happy (And Safe) Pride Month!

By my dogs that love gravy I love Barry’s post.  I can not think of a better way to present the facts.  The most needed facts about trans people, facts about pride parades, and about young people knowing who they are.  Please read the post.  Also please subscribe to Barry’s blog, he present things with a view point that is often refreshing compared to what we normally hear about things.   In honor of Barry, Best wishes.  Scottie