John Russell (He/Him)February 18, 2026, 11:07 am ESTAfter elected officials raised a Pride flag on a temporary flagpole, activists raise the flag on the permanent flagpole at the Stonewall National Monument in New York City Feb. 12, 2026. Thousands gathered at the monument to see the flag raised after President Donald Trump had ordered the flag to be removed earlier in the week. | Seth Harrison/The Journal News / USA TODAY NETWORK
The Trump administration violated federal law when it removed the LGBTQ+ Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument in New York City, according to a lawsuit filed by several nonprofit groups on Tuesday.
The lawsuit, led by the Gilbert Baker Foundation — which honors the artist who created the original, eight-striped rainbow Pride flag in the 1970s — alleges that the administration’s “arbitrary and capricious” removal of flag earlier this month violates the Administrative Procedures Act and that the administration “misinterpreted” its own policies as a pretext for the flag’s removal.
“The policies the government says require removing the Pride flag expressly permit the [National Parks Service] to fly other flags that provide historical context to national monuments—which is precisely what the NPS official Pride flag did at Stonewall for many years,” the lawsuit states.
As the New York Times notes, an NPS-sanctioned Pride flag that has for years flown in Christopher Park, the site of the Stonewall Monument in New York’s Greenwich Village, was removed sometime during the night of February 8 with no notice or explanation. NPS later cited new guidance issued by the Trump administration in January mandating that “only the U.S. flag and other congressionally or departmentally authorized flags are flown on NPS-managed flagpoles, with limited exceptions.”
But according to the lawsuit, neither the Department of the Interior policy on flag displays nor the administration’s January directive require the removal of the Pride flag.
“The Policy permits officials to ‘authorize the flying of flags and pennants, other than [U.S. and DOI flags], as appropriate, provided flags and flagpole space are available for this purpose” and “the Directive provides an exemption for flags that ‘provide historical context,’” according to the complaint. “Under the policies that they are purporting to be implementing, Defendants had discretion to allow the Pride flag to be displayed at the Stonewall memorial.”
“This was no careless mistake. The government has not removed other historical flags at other national monuments, most notably Confederate flags,” that lawsuit alleges. “Meanwhile, the assault on Stonewall is the latest example in a long line of efforts by the Trump Administration to target the LGBTQ+ community for discrimination and opprobrium.”
The complaint cites several examples over the past year, including the administration’s removal of any mention of trans people from its website for the Stonewall Monument, its deletion of NPS websites covering LGBTQ+ history, the firing of an FBI employee allegedly for displaying a Pride flag at his desk, and the renaming of the a ship previously named after trailblazing gay politician Harvey Milk.
“These actions alone support a strong inference of animus against the LGBTQ+ community and that Defendants’ reasons for removing the flag were pretextual,” the lawsuit argues. “Because Defendants’ reasons were pretextual and based on an impermissible reason, i.e., animus toward the LGBTQ+ community, they are arbitrary and capricious.”
The lawsuit notes that while local lawmakers restored a Pride flag in Christopher Park last week, “Defendants have not restored the NPS-sanctioned Pride flag” and “continue to prohibit its display.”
The Gilbert Baker Foundation and other plaintiffs are asking the court to issue an order requiring the administration to restore the officially sanctioned Pride flag to the monument and to permanently enjoin the administration from removing it without, at minimum, taking into account the effect such a change would have, in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act.
“The government’s decision is deeply disturbing and is just the latest example of the Trump administration targeting the LGBTQ+ community,” Alexander Kristofcak, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said according to Courthouse News Service. “At best, the government misread its regulations. At worst, the government singled out the LGBTQ+ community. Either way, its actions are unlawful.”
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Tag: Religious Bigotry
Political cartoons / memes / and news I want to share. 2-20-2026
I was an abused boy trying to deal with his budding sexuality being gay. I did not think I gave off signs but the bullies sensed my vulnerability because I did not form friends and stayed to myself. So they attacked me. What shocked me was not that the bullies attacked me but that the teachers in the 1970s joined in, giving the bullies full permission to do so while restricting my grades. Remember, I was not an out gay kid, I was an abused boy trying to keep his head down and get by each day. But the future maga sinced my vunerablebiltey and attacked me. Once it went around the school my entire teen school years became agony. That is what the republican Christian nationalists are trying to drive us back to. It changed in the 2000s with anti bulling and anti-discrimination programs. tRump’s amdin has desperately attempted to remove all those programs and protections. Hugs
Plenty of gay men took their husbands name or they both hyphenated both their names. So these gay couples would not have a matching birth certificate. I am one of those. I took Ron’s last name deperatly wanting to leave my abusive adoptive parents last name very far behind. Hugs
About these letters. Allison Gill on the Daily Beans news podcast gave sourced reports that ICE detention agents raided the children’s rooms at this detention concentration camp for children / families and took all their letters with the intent to destroy their reports of what was happening to them. Allison Gill has sued the government in court to save them and get them published. I fear it will be too late. Hugs.
Right-wing media hacks use two recent shootings to label trans people as mass shooters.
It is a fact that most mass shooters are males, mostly white males. But right wing media are so desperate to slander and smear trans people the same way it was tried to before the internet with other media against gay people. The know what they are creating is false but they don’t care because they know that others will believe it and repeat it everywhere. It is a sickness and curse to want to create that much hate and chaos against the most vulnerable communities in society. Hugs
Political cartoons / memes / and news I want to share. 2-19-2026
I finally made a comic strip about fall (but without any references to pumpkin spice lattes).
This is me during high school in a nutshell btw
I have been here. No means no, stop means don’t argue just stop and change activites, consent can be withdrawn at any time during sex. Hugs
“Our flag is red, white, and blue, but our nation is a rainbow—red, yellow, brown, black, and white—and we are all precious in God’s sight.”
Many people have requested such wearable designs lately, so I was happy to oblige. Just a bunch of funny, silly, lighthearted designs, yes, such as:
-“Sorry babe, I can’t make it to the function tonight, I have fascists to punch” (my personal favorite);
-“Abolish ICE” but in a beautiful gradient from the future;
-“Nerds against ICE” with a natural 20 (they are messing with the wrong DnD party);
-“I thought we agreed that concentration camps were BAD”;
-“ICE OUT” but in trans colors for added conservative nightmares.
There’s also a few variants and other new stuff! Check them out here.
We know from testimony that there were abuse videos made and sent to Epstein. Trigger warning the meme below is very graphic and difficult to read. Hugs
German referee assaulted after viral proposal to boyfriend
A man does something beautiful making so many happy. But haters have to try to ruin something that doesn’t affect them at all. None of the attackers are being asked to have same sex with the men, the attackers are not being asked to go to the wedding. So seriously why be so angry that they attack a man for claiming his love for another man? This shit is starting to get far too normal where straight cis people assault, injure, and make LGBTQ+ people afraid to be themselves openly in public. For some reason it seems to infuriate these hateful bigots just to know someone not cis or straight exists. Anyway. At least in Germany he has free healthcare and even though the right wing fascists are rising as a political force driven by wealthy haters, Christian nationalists, and Russia their government is still left leaning. I really wish the US government was still leaning left. Hugs
https://www.advocate.com/news/german-referee-bisexual-assaulted-proposal
A video still of Pascal Kaiser proposing to his partner. @fckoeln/Instagram
Political cartoons / memes / and news I want to share. 2-17-2026
SORRY HATERS MY SMILE IS ICONIC
Don’t be worried or afraid, I am just expressing the thoughts in my head
I went out shopping early this morning. Then I came home and after putting the stuff away I did all the dishes. It was not a lot but three days worth and last night I cooked a good meal. I am washing all the bed linens and all the towels in the chairs / places that Tupac lays on. So as I try to do they cartoon / meme post for tomorrow …. My mind is fractured. So these songs are in my mind. Sorry if this hurts anyone. Also remember I am not in danger of self-harm. I won’t do that to all of you who I respect so much. Hugs or best wishes to all as you appreciate the gesture. The songs below are shattering my thoughts. I walk alone, and I wish for the sound of silence. Oh, to have the thoughts in my mind stop! I desperately wish for it. I have not eaten yet today, nor did I after breakfast yesterday and Ron has called me 3 times asking me to eat. Even telling me to order something if it is more pleasing to me. I just can’t. I bought salad stuff today so maybe a salad later. I am so confused. I had four more ready to post and suddenly realized it was useless. Is my life useless? I do good things. My husband loves me. His cat sleeps pressed up against me at night, yet even last night as I struggled to sleep and he moved up onto my pillow I took no comfort from him. I am feeling so numb inside when I let myself feel anything at all because the government is forcing my pain doctors to reduce my medications despite the new MRI showing severe and increased damage to my spine. My doctors say it my be necessary for me to do surgery to get relief because RFK Jr. has determined that all pain clinics lower their clients morphine equviancy to less than 100. Those who do not feel chronic pain or live in long pain because they dont hve to suffer … well illegal drugs all of a sudden get a hollier than though about drugs. Seriously, this former drug adic is restricting needed medication from people like me with seriously damaged spines and no contributions to his campaigns. But drugs from a qualified pain doctor can mean the difference between living a quality life and suffering in even more agony. Hugs
I am sorry. I do not not want to worry anyone or cause fear. But I feel so… out of sync with the world. I just hurt. It is part physical and a lot emotional. The MRI I had just had showed many parts of my lower spine are showing far more damage than my doctors had thought. They thought I had a few more years before surgery. I cannot afford surgery. The MRI moved many of my lower vertebrae from the moderate to severe to extremely severe zone. One the report said was in civilian terms destroyed. The bone matrrial decaded, the inside soft stuff pushed out and the nerves were caught by the edges of the jagged edges of the bones both being forced out and being pinched and being pinced inside as I moved. It is why I cannot sit in my chair very long. Ron is going to get me an air seat when he gets home but I doubt it will help. I am sitting here thinking of why when my spine shows ever more damage the government is requiring that my pain doctors reduce everyone’s pain medications. Just because the former coke addict RFK Jr dosent feel the crippling pain that people like me do doesn’t mean he gets to stop our pain medication or at least shouldn’t. All that does is force us on to illegal drugs to get relief. I wonder if that is the point all along. Think of it, all the friends in pain suddenly not able to vote would change the election in plenty of ways. Hugs
Sorry, but I keep repeating the songs over and over. Hugs
Every body hurts. But today I hurt terribly. Sorry. Now I have to go struggle to make the bed because I washed the bed sheets. More pain. Hugs
Political cartoons / memes / and news I want to share. 2-16-2026
My nights 
This is why I have a Rolodex with all my passwords and user names. Hugs
The Department of Homeland Security has brought on a 21-year-old social media professional from the Department of Labor to help run its communications channels — despite internal concerns about N*zi-coded content he previously posted.
According to The New York Times, Peyton Rollins moved from digital content manager at the Labor Department to a key role in DHS communications this month.
His name is Peyton Rollins. C’mon.
This kid has definitely killed small animals.
Could central casting find a more inbred Nazi looking 21 year old?
I wonder when they will attack my blog or me. Hugs
There were masks on the walls in a room on Epstein Island what had a dentist chair in the middle. Howard Lutnick [current Sec of Commerce] lived next to Jeffrey Epstein on 71st St and both their homes were owned by Les Wexner. #TheEpsteinClass
Republicans love immigrant #PeterThiel and his rampant drug use. Republicans look right past his homosexuality. Republicans love his Big Government Palantir tracking your every move.
This all shows that it’s not about invasive, gay, immigrant, ketamine addicts. All that matters is who serves fascist white nationalism.
Billionaire sex abusers get more than due process, they get Republican protection.
TN Advances Bills To Legalize Anti-LGBTQ Discrimination
February 13, 2026
Nashville’s NPR affiliate reports:
Tennessee lawmakers have advanced a host of anti-LGBTQ bills that would run counter to U.S. Supreme Court precedent. Two measures, both proposed by Rep. Gino Bulso, R-Franklin, would challenge landmark cases that legalized same-sex marriage and established protections for discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, questioned the legality to going against Bostock v. Clayton County, which established that LGBTQ people are protected from discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Tom Lee, member of the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Pride Chamber, spoke against the bill, arguing that it could allow discrimination against LGBTQ couples.
“Imagine if under this bill a private employer said, ‘Well, you can’t take family leave because I, as a private citizen, don’t recognize — using the language of the bill — your purported marriage,’” Lee said. “Or a bank says, ‘You’ll pay the higher rate (for unmarried couples). We’re not bound by the 14th Amendment. You’re not married in our eyes.’”
From my January 2025 report:
The Banning Bostock Act would codify that laws prohibiting sex discrimination would not prohibit discrimination against a person for being homosexual or transgender, nor would it prohibit discrimination because of sexual orientation, sexual behavior, gender identity, or gender non-conforming behavior.
Meanwhile, the next bill would allow private citizens, businesses, and organizations to refuse to recognize same-sex marriage, and protect attorneys from being punished for refusing to celebrate or perform a same sex marriage.
Bulso first appeared here in February 2024 for his ultimately failed bid to ban Pride flags, which he is now attempting again. In April 2024, we heard from Bulso when he objected to a ban on marriages between first cousins because gays can’t make babies. Last year Bulso launched a failed bid to fill the US House seat left open by the abrupt resignation of Rep. Mark Green.
Kansas Gov Vetoes Anti-Trans Bathroom Bounty Bill
Why is the most intense bigotry always seem to be pushed by Christians? I don’t understand the hate because no one is walking around nude in bathrooms, and women’s bathrooms do not have urinals just enclosed stalls. No one can see in the stalls. All the talk of protecting little girls is BS because if a man ws going to hurt a child he wouldn’t have to pretend to be trans, he would just walk in and do it. Nope this is all about making trans lives miserable and keeping them out of the public / society. This is all about forcing their religious views on everyone else. There church doctrines don’t accept trans people so no one can accept trans people or be trans in public according to them. They see no problem forcing their religious views on everyone else but scream to their highest heaven when they are told they have to respect other people’s views. Hugs
February 13, 2026
First, the backstory about the bill:
Just last week, the Kansas legislature passed some of the most far-reaching measures to push trans and gender-nonconforming people out of public life to date. Bathroom bans that bar trans people from restrooms aligned with their gender identity have become grimly common; over 20 states have such a law on the books. But Kansas’s new anti-trans bathroom bill adds a dangerous twist: a bounty hunter provision.
The law would permit private citizens to sue and seek monetary reward based on claiming to encounter a trans person in the bathroom. That’s on top of some of the harshest punishments of any existing bathroom bans, such as criminal charges, steep fines and even jail time.
The language of the bill, while vague, says that any person who alleges to be “aggrieved” by the presence of a trans person they encounter in a restroom facility can file a civil suit against that individual for “damages” of at least $1,000. Kansas Republicans rushed through the bathroom ban, skirting public comment by essentially sneaking the bill into another piece of legislation aimed at denying trans people correct government IDs.
Just in via press release:
The following veto message is from Governor Kelly regarding her veto of House Substitute for Senate Bill 244:
“This poorly drafted bill will have numerous and significant consequences far beyond the intent to limit the right for trans people to use the appropriate bathroom. Under this bill: If your grandfather is in a nursing home in a shared room, as a granddaughter, you would not be able to visit him. If your wife is in a shared hospital room, as a husband, you would not be able to visit her.
“If your sister is living in a dorm at K-State, as a brother, you would not be able to visit her in her room. If you feel you have to accompany your nine-year-old daughter to the restroom at a sporting event, as a father, you would have to either enter the women’s restroom with her or let her use the restroom alone.
“I believe the Legislature should stay out of the business of telling Kansans how to go to the bathroom and instead stay focused on how to make life more affordable for Kansans. “Therefore, under Article 2, Section 14(a) of the Constitution, I hereby veto House Substitute for Senate Bill 244.”
The bill passed with a veto-proof majority in both chambers, so an override is probably likely. The bill’s author is GOP Rep. Susan Humphries, whose bio notes that she is a graduate of Texas Christian University. Humphries last appeared here in 2024 for her bill that would somehow ban minors from visiting any website that mentions LGBTQs.
Scottie's Playtime 