Buttigieg's Rise Drives "Christian" Hate Merchants to Apoplexy

Regardless of whether or not he wins the Democrat nomination, Pete Buttigieg's rise among the Democrat contenders is causing the usual hate merchants of falsely labeled "Christian" organizations to reveal the full depth of their dishonesty and desire to be above the nondiscrimination laws that bind the rest of us.  A case in point is Bryan Fischer, a gay hater and extremist of the first order, associated with American Family Association ("AFA"), a certified hate group and one of the most dishonest of these toxic organizations.  In a tirade, Fischer rants that Buttigieg is an "open and defiant homosexual" - I've been called similar thing by Victoria Cobb of The Family Foundation, one of Virginia's leading hate groups. What's telling is that everything that Fischer accuses Buttigieg of is actually applicable to Fischer and his fellow dominion who want a Christian theocracy in America and most definitely want a "Christian Supremacy Act."   Having followed AFA's lies and extremism for over two decades, anyone AFA opposes is precisely who sane and moral people should support.  LGBTQ Nation looks at Fischer's mentally disturbed rant.  Here are excepts:  

A prominent Christian conservative [extremist] has said that South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg is the “biggest threat to religious liberty in history.”

Bryan Fischer is the Director of Issues Analysis for the SPLC designated anti-LGBTQ hate group American Family Association.

In a column on the far-right website OneNewsNow, he calls Buttigieg “an open and defiant homosexual” and says that it makes sense to reject him for his “sexual proclivities” – comparing being gay to being Donald Trump.

“We can certainly understand the left’s condemnation of President Trump for his sexual romps with porn stars 12 or 13 years ago,” Fischer writes. “This means, of course, that unless they are profoundly hypocritical, [progressives] will be able to understand our legitimate concerns about Buttigieg’s aberrant sexual conduct and what it means for his qualifications to become the leader of the Free World.”

Fischer is quite clear that his problem is with Buttigieg’s sexual orientation, not just his policies, but he also goes after his policies.

His first big problem is that Buttigieg is in favor of transgender people’s civil rights.

He also criticizes Buttigieg for supporting the Equality Act, which he calls “The Homosexual Supremacy Act,” claiming that the law that outlaws discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, public accommodations, and other areas would require churches “to hire homosexual choir directors” and would allow “men barging into restrooms reserved for little girls.”

“Therapists who try to help teens overcome unwanted same-sex attractions will have their professional licenses yanked and be put out of business,” Fischer writes, although he doesn’t explain why that’s a bad thing, or even how it’s related to the Equality Act.

Fischer was able to find one thing to compliment Buttigieg about. Who knew it would be his “boyish good looks”?

Amy Coney Barrett: A Frightening Possible SCOTUS Nominee

Barrett belongs to a right wing group that believes wives should be subservient to their husbands.

Throughout his term on the U.S. Supreme Court the late Antonin Scalia routinely allowed his right wing Catholicism to influence his opinions on the Court, utterly ignoring the warnings of Thomas Jefferson who condemned rulers and judges who imposed their beliefs on all.  Jefferson called such actions "sinful and tyrannical."  Meanwhile, even as he imposed his own beliefs, Scalia pretended to be an "originalist" who sought to channel the intent of the Founding Fathers.  Now, as a column in the  New York Times notes, Trump, a/k/a Der Trumpenführer, may be contemplating nominating an individual who would be Scalia on steroids when it comes to believing her extreme right Catholic beliefs should be binding on all Americans. Equally disturbing is her lack of top credentials and very limited time on the bench - of any court.  Here are column excerpts:

There’s little that President Trump loves more than cementing his supporters’ adoration of him while making his foes squirm. Nominating Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court would do both. She’s not just a staunch conservative over whom Republicans and Democrats would wage a familiar fight. She’s the prompt for an all-out culture war. 

She was one of four finalists interviewed by Trump on Monday, when CBS News, without specifying its source or sources, identified her as one of two leading contenders. The other was Brett Kavanaugh, a judge on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

Many conservatives are lobbying ardently on her behalf. . . . Barrett, you see, talks readily and proudly about her Catholicism, making no bones about its presence at the center of her life. She and her husband have seven children, two of whom are adopted. She belongs to a mostly Catholic group, People of Praise, whose members make an especially intense commitment to their faith.

And Republicans . . . They’re setting her up to be a Christian martyr, minus the grisly end, and daring Democrats to take the bait.

The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake sagely sized up the appeal of this dynamic to Trump, writing that it’s “exactly the kind of battle he generally relishes: One that invites his opponents to overreach.” My Times colleague Ross Douthat tweeted that if Trump wants to “trigger the libs,” he’ll nominate Barrett. Douthat further predicted that her nomination “might bring on the culture-war apocalypse.”

In terms of experience, she’d be an atypical nominee. She’d be the only justice on the Supreme Court without the imprimatur of the Ivy League, and there’s little whiff of the coastal elites about her. She did her undergraduate work at Rhodes College in Tennessee and then attended law school at Notre Dame, where she subsequently taught for more than a decade, up until her appointment to the circuit court last year. While she clerked long ago for Justice Antonin Scalia, her own time on the bench is limited to her eight months on that court.

And her Senate confirmation hearings after her nomination for the circuit court made her a hero to conservatives, especially religious ones. They took issue in particular with questions that Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, asked Barrett about whether she could properly separate her fidelity to Catholic tenets from her duty to interpret the law for all Americans.

Barrett should be measured by the legal perspectives that she has articulated in public remarks and scholarly journals. Those have persuaded her backers that she can be depended on to sweep aside Roe v. Wade and to toe the conservative line on other issues. Democrats should be equally convinced, and should confront her, fiercely, on those grounds.

A piece in the Times last year looked at the bizarre quasi-Catholic that Barrett belongs to.  Suffice it to say, it about as far as one can get from mainstream as possible:

Some of the group’s practices would surprise many faithful Catholics. Members of the group swear a lifelong oath of loyalty, called a covenant, to one another, and are assigned and are accountable to a personal adviser, called a “head” for men and a “handmaid” for women. The group teaches that husbands are the heads of their wives and should take authority over the family.

Current and former members say that the heads and handmaids give direction on important decisions, including whom to date or marry, where to live, whether to take a job or buy a home, and how to raise children.

Legal scholars said that such loyalty oaths could raise legitimate questions about a judicial nominee’s independence and impartiality. The scholars said in interviews that while there certainly was no religious test for office, it would have been relevant for the senators to examine what it means for a judicial nominee to make an oath to a group that could wield significant authority over its members’ lives. 

The group believes in prophecy, speaking in tongues and divine healings, staples of Pentecostal churches that some Catholics have also adopted in a movement called charismatic renewal. . . . about 90 percent of its members are Catholic.

To fulfill the group’s communitarian vision, unmarried members are sometimes placed to live in homes with married couples and their children, and members often look to buy or rent homes near other members.

There are some indications that both Ms. Barrett and the People of Praise may have tried to obscure Ms. Barrett’s membership in the group.

Every nominee for the federal bench is required to fill out a detailed questionnaire for the Senate Judiciary Committee. Ms. Barrett did not list any religious affiliations on her questionnaire, though many nominees have in the past.

Sadly, Republicans rubber stamped Barrett's nomination to the 7th Circuit. If she is elevated to the Supreme Court, expect rulings that uphold a Christian version of Sharia law in America.  She is very frightening. 

Richmond Times Dispatch Prints Anti-LGBT Ad

image via William Mccormack/Facebook

The Richmond Times Dispatch has long been viewed as a "conservative" newspaper - the paper's former right wing editorial columnist James Kilpatrick was even ridiculed on for years Saturday Night Live for his bigotry - but in recent years the paper seemed to be belatedly coming into the 21th Century.  Apparently, such was not the case given that the newspaper recently published an ad by a Christian extremist group attacking LGBT rights and pushing deliberate lies against the LGBT community.  Richmond has made great strides towards becoming a modern, progressive city.  It is a shame that its newspaper continues to lag behind.  One can only wonder if an ad by white supremacists or Neo-Nazis will be next. Perhaps no coincidentally, the ad was run shortly before Equality Virginia's Commonwealth Dinner that takes place this coming Saturday in Richmond.  Gay RVA looks at the disturbing ad that should never have been published by a reputable newspaper.  Here are highlights:

There’s hate speech in today’s paper. It’s right there in black and white, in the Richmond Times Dispatch. Headlined “Homosexuality (LGBTQ) & Culture Change,” there is a small line of text above the black-bordered essay that reads “Paid Advertisement.” But what follows is a clear-cut attack on LGBTQ rights and reproductive freedom, written in the kinds of hateful terms that any reputable publication should think twice about printing — even if they did get paid for it.

The advertisement was paid for by the Virginia Christian Alliance, and the essay it contains is attributed to Greene Hollowell, listed on Virginia Christian Alliance’s Board Of Directors page as Founder and Web Editor of the group.

Painting the struggle for LGBTQ rights as a sinister plot, the essay says that “the homosexual community saw how the culture was changed by using slogans like ‘a woman’s right to health care’ and ‘choice’… they organized and have been very successful in changing people’s minds by demonstrations, appeals for ‘fairness,’ comparisons to the African-Americans’ fight for freedom, and again, the Supreme Court’s rulings” At this point, things go from dog-whistle implications to outright anti-LGBTQ propaganda. “This has occurred despite the universal feeling of the not-so-distant past that the acts were so gross that they were referred to as ‘unmentionables.’ Through the years, it has been referred to as sodomy, homosexuality, gay, and now LGBTQ.” That’s right, folks — the newspaper just told you and everyone who cares about you that attempting to treat LGBTQ people fairly is a sure path to burn in the fires of hell. Either that, or they’re saying that supporting the LGBTQ community will straight-up get you killed — that last line could really be read either way. Regardless, not the sort of thing anyone wants to read in their hometown’s biggest and best-known print publication.

Virginia Christian Alliance previously grabbed headlines when they sponsored a 2015 bill introduced by the unlamented former delegate, Bob Marshall. The bill, 2015′s HB 1414, was known as a “conscience clause” bill, and was intended to allow for discrimination against members of the LGBTQ community under the guise of “religious freedom.” These sorts of bills continue to bedevil the LGBTQ community in this state and others to this day, though thankfully none have yet been passed here in Virginia.

LGBTQ people and their allies who read the Richmond Times-Dispatch today got to hear about how they were courting damnation. I hope the money that paid for that ad was worth risking a loss of support from the significant majority of Americans who support marriage equality (64 percent according to a 2017 Gallup poll). Maybe they were just hoping we wouldn’t notice.

Shame on the Times Dispatch.  Hopefully, the Virginian Pilot and Daily Press will not participate in publishing lies and hate-based propaganda if such an ad is submitted to them.  

Trump Judicial Nominees Seek to Roll Back LGBT Rights

Trump nominee opposes LGBT rights and criticizes the Civil Rights Act of 1964 .

Under the toxic and foul Trump/Pence regime, there is so much destruction being done to regulations that protect public safety, the stability of the banking system, and the legal protections of consumers.  In the dizzying cycles of Trump's latest out rage or the swirling Russiagate investigation, one are that poses a danger to many citizens and LGBT citizens in particular is what Trump is doing to the federal judiciary where he is appointing ideologues and religious zealots to lifetime appointment judge ships.  One pending nominee even has announced hostility to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  These appointees - which Republican lap dogs in the U.S. Senate are mostly confirming - believe in preferential rights for whites and special rights for Christofascists a majority of whom , in my view, are racists and seek to trample n the religious freedoms of other citizens.  A piece in The Daily Beast raises the alarm about what is happening mostly under the radar.  Here are excerpts:

It’s time to sound the alarm again on another bunch of Trump judges queuing up for confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Like the earlier nominees, they are overwhelmingly white and male. One in three has something explicit in their record and/or their writings that is hostile to LGBTQ rights.

“They’re still fighting over whether same sex couples should have the right to marry and have children,” says Sharon McGowan, director of strategy at Lambda Legal, which litigates on behalf of LGBTQ people. “This is a real concerted effort to take back ground that has been lost not only in the law but in public opinion, by putting people on the court that have these views.”

With just 51 votes needed (and yes, it was the Democrats who changed the rule, back in 2013), the GOP can wave through on mostly partisan votes just about everybody the White House sends up.

The only tool the opposition has is to highlight the worst of the worst, and shame some Republican senators into withdrawing their support. Three nominees withdrew last year after negative media coverage (Jeff Mateer, Bret Talley, and Matthew Petersen). Mateer had called transgender children the “spawn of Satan;” Talley had a taste for the paranormal, and Petersen’s inability to answer basic questions about the law went viral.

Heading the list for this season’s worst of the worst is Kyle Duncan, nominated for the 5th Circuit (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi) and the “go-to guy for the anti-LGBTQ movement,” says McGowan. “He has spent the last decade plus crafting their arguments and seeking out experts to defend them.” . . . . he has advanced similar arguments against broad-based LGBTQ rights. Duncan says he has a “conscience-based” opposition to what he doesn’t consider “real marriage,” and that he is defending the “age-old bedrock” of traditional marriage.

He was the lawyer advising the North Carolina legislature on its passage of House Bill 2, the so-called bathroom bill, that required people to use the restroom of the gender on their birth certificate. “He recruits experts who say that individuals who have gender identity different from what was assigned at birth are victims of some delusion, and that it’s not a legitimate health situation that science recognizes,” McGowan told The Daily Beast.

All that’s standing between Duncan and a lifetime appointment on the 5th Circuit is a Senate vote. Born in 1972, if confirmed, he could serve 30 or 40 years on the court.

Another nominee with an anti-LGBTQ record awaiting Senate action is Howard Nielson, who turns 50 this year and is teed up for a seat on the federal District Court of Utah. He was part of the legal team in California that defended Proposition 8, a 2008 ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage.

A third nominee, Gordon Giampietro, appeared headed to an easy confirmation as a district judge in Wisconsin until two audio recordings from 2015 surfaced in which he says marriage equality is “against God’s plan,” and LGBTQ people are “troubled” and unfit to be parents. He declares that Justice Anthony Kennedy, the deciding vote on marriage equality in the Supreme Court, “went off the rails years ago.”

He says the new definition of marriage “actually focuses marriage on the sex act. Because if it were simply that we wanted to honor the love of two people, we would allow sons to marry their mothers, brothers to marry their sisters, for example, to get them healthcare.

In online writings that have just surfaced, Giampietro criticizes the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as an “intrusion into private business,” and says that “calls for diversity” are “code for relaxed standards.”

With so much to pay attention to in every news cycle, the steady stream of Trump judges gets overlooked. They shouldn’t get a free pass. “If we don’t protect the courts, the courts won’t protect us,” says McGowan. “We can hold our breath and make it through four years, but these are lifetime appointments.”

Hypocrisy Alert: Trump Administration Pushes Abstinence-Only Education

Coincidence?  Not at all.

A serial adulterer who has boasted about sexually assaulting women occupies the White House thanks to evangelical Christians. So what are these "godly folk" pushing?  Abstinence only sex education which study after study have found NOT to work.  Indeed, industrial nations with science based comprehensive sex education programs have far lower teen pregnancy rates than the United States.  Likewise, states with the most comprehensive, fact based sex education programs have far lower teen pregnancy rates than deep red states in the so-called Bible belt which has the highest teen pregnancy rate and the highest divorce rate  - and the highest usage of Internet pornography - which suggests that evangelicals ought to be worrying more about their own sex lives (and that of their "dear leader") than those of others.  The idiocy and hypocrisy is off the charts.  A piece in the Washington Post looks at this batshitry (I have edited out the false term "social conservatives):

Abstinence-only sex education — long-championed by [Christian extremists] social conservatives — is reemerging as the preferred approach during the Trump administration, a political era in which there's increasing attention to the alleged past sexual activity of its leader.

[Christian extremists] Social conservatives at the Department of Health and Human Services say the current White House is more supportive of abstinence education than the Obama administration.

In addition to allocating millions of dollars to programs that encourage teens to abstain from sex, groups seeking Title X federal family planning funds are being asked to place a “meaningful emphasis” on “the benefits of avoiding sex” in their sex education and to avoid programs that “normalize sexual risk behaviors.”

But data shows that teens are having sex less and that the teen pregnancy rate has declined, arguably in part because of the more comprehensive sex education programs of the Obama era.

Births among Hispanic and black teens have dropped by nearly half since 2006, according to the CDC.

And the most recent report from the National Center for Health Statistics reported that the teen birthrate in the United States is at a record low, dropping below 25 births per 1,000 teen females for the first time since the government began collecting consistent data on births to teens ages 15 to 19.

Perhaps support for abstinence-only education is in part rooted in what is happening in the communities of [Christian extremists] social conservatives. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof said:

“When evangelical kids have sex, they’re less likely to use birth control — and that may be a reason (along with lower abortion rates) that red states have high teen birthrates.

Nine of the 10 states with the highest teen birthrates voted Republican in 2016. And nine of the 10 states with the lowest teen birthrates voted Democratic.”

[T]he 10 states with the highest teen birthrates are: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Texas, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Mexico, West Virginia, Alabama, Tennessee. President Trump won in all those states except New Mexico.

Despite the interest in teens' sex lives from some affiliated with [Christian extremist] socially conservative groups, others from those same organizations appear to have little concern about the sex life of the president they support.

Robert Jeffress, who also is one of Trump’s most high-profile faith advisers, told Fox News: “Evangelicals still believe in the commandment: Thou shalt not have sex with a porn star. However, whether this president violated that commandment or not is totally irrelevant to our support of him.”

Trump has failed to be a strong leader when it comes to morals, especially sexual ethics. In addition to reports about his infidelity, nearly 20 women have accused the president of sexual misconduct.

It is far past time that the deceptive term "social conservatives" cease being used by the media.  These groups and their followers need to be accurately called what they are, Christian extremists.  As for their claims of moral superiority, their loyalty to Trump underscores their utter hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy.  Give me a moral atheist any day over a "godly Christians."

Trump's Terrifying Nomination to the Office of International Religious Freedom.

No one talks more about religious freedom more while striving to take it away from others than the Christofascists and evangelical Christians.  Any restriction on their right to mistreat or discriminate against others is shrilly called a threat to their "religious freedom," yet, if allowed to have their way, contraception would be illegal, homosexuality would lead to imprisonment or worse, non-Christians would be greatly restricted in their ability to worship and the separation of church and state envisioned by the Founding Fathers would be eliminated.  Disturbingly, the Christofascists have found a strong ally in the White House.  Der Trumpenführer has delivered on few if any of his campaign promises to rank and file Americans.  But he has delivered on a number made to Christian extremists in New York in June, 2016, which collectively point towards Christofascist supremacy. For example, he's appointed Neil Gorsuch, a man who would reverse that Supreme Court's same sex marriage ruling, to that Court; his appointees, Betsy De Vos and Jeff Sessions are busy reversing Obama era protections for LGBT students; last week Sessions argued in a brief to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals that  the Civil Rights Act of 1964 offers no protections to LGBT Americans; last week Trump said he was banning transgender troops from the U.S. Military.  Continuing this frightening trend, he has now anti-LGBT Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback to lead the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom.  Religion Dispatches looks at this very disturbing nomination.  Here are excerpts:

After the president’s hastily tweeted ban on transgender Americans serving openly in the military, the Justice Department’s unusual interjection in a federal employment lawsuit to proclaim, contrary to growing precedent, that existing civil rights laws do not protect LGBT people, Trump announced his intent to nominate notorious anti-LGBT Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback to lead the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom.

As NPR rightly noted (in its opening line, no less), Brownback is “one of the least popular governors in the country,” but he’s been working to elevate his profile as a conservative Catholic culture warrior for more than a decade. The Ambassador-at-Large position is considered a senior advisor to the administration, while the Office of International Religious Freedom states that its mission is to “monitor religious persecution and discrimination worldwide, . . . 

But given Brownback’s history of using “religious freedom” as a sword to discriminate against LGBT people, his nomination offers the strongest evidence yet that, when the Trump administration talks about “religious freedom,” it actually means “Christian supremacy.” Though Brownback an equal-opportunity excluder: the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which Newsweek identified as the nation’s largest Muslim civil liberties group, said Brownback should be “disqualified” from the position due to his history of “rushing to sign anti-Islam legislation designed to vilify Muslims.”

Brownback’s nomination is also the latest sign that Trump is willing to hire even economic “losers” if it appeals to his base, which has been grumbling lately about the president’s attacks on his own attorney general, Jeff Sessions.

If confirmed, Brownback would be the first religious freedom Ambassador-at-Large who did not attend seminary or a pursue a similar denominational education. . . . . it’s much more likely to mean he will continue the Christian supremacist agenda he’s been pushing since he entered public office. New York‘s Ed Kilgore explains:

[Brownback] was a member of the shadowy conservative Christian power-elite group the Fellowship; a disciple of meta-culture-warrior Chuck Colson; and a former evangelical turned Catholic by way of the controversial conservative group Opus Dei. Unsurprisingly, Brownback was dubbed “God’s Senator” in a rather frightening profile by Jeff Sharlet that appeared in 2006. In one prototypical action, in 2004, Brownback traveled to Alabama to be present for the unveiling of a blatantly theocratic Constitution Restoration Act, designed to remove church-state conflicts from the jurisdiction of the federal courts.

Those who haven’t been subjected to Brownback’s regressive tax policies (which have nearly bankrupted his home state) or his right-wing political agenda might be wondering what all the fuss is about. . . . . he is staunchly opposed to abortion, and has signed a host of laws restricting access to any form of pregnancy termination. When it comes to LGBT rights, Brownback distinguished himself early as a fierce opponent to any measure that conferred on LGBT people equal dignity under the law. He pointedly refused to allow Kansas to embrace marriage equality, resisting orders from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals when it found, in 2014, that same-sex couples in that circuit had a Constitutional right to marry.

After losing that battle, Brownback focused his efforts on excluding LGBT people from as many parts of public life as possible, leaning heavily on a lopsided definition of “religious freedom.” In 2016, he signed a law that allowed student groups at public colleges and universities to engage in discrimination without penalty — as long as the discrimination was rooted in “sincerely held religious beliefs.” When signing the bill, he was surrounded by members of the Kansas Catholic Conference and the anti-LGBT Family Policy Alliance of Kansas. Video of the signing ceremony, tellingly, includes zero non-Christians.

Of course, none of that was unexpected, given Brownback’s voting record during his 14-year tenure in the U.S. Senate. Brownback opposed hate crimes legislation, claiming in 2007 that efforts to prosecute violent bias-based crimes against LGBT people were actually aimed at “not allowing people to speak their beliefs about homosexuality.” He co-sponsored a failed attempted to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban marriage equality . . .

None of that history provides any indication that Brownback has an interest in protecting religious liberty as the bedrock principle it was intended to be, either at home or abroad. Instead, it’s an unavoidable signal to Trump’s right-wing, white evangelical Christian base that he will continue to privilege their delusional claims of “persecution” in dealing with far-flung countries that don’t kowtow to conservative Christian doctrine.

Christian Activist Arrested At Pulse Memorial

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of the Pulse massacre that left 49 dead and more than 50 people wounded (and countless more emotionally and psychologically scared).  And true to form a "Christian activist" showed up spewing hatred and bigotry - see the image above - and disrupting the memorial service.  As noted before, unless and until religious liberals loudly confront and condemn the hate groups and individuals - e.g., Family Research Counsel, Tony Perkins, Brian Brown, James Dobson, the Southern Baptist Convention, etc. - who traffic in such ugliness, they will continue to allow Christianity to be defined by these types of hate merchants.  Sometimes open confrontation is warranted.  Thankfully, the Orlando police intervened and arrested the "Christian" protesters.  Here are highlights from WFTV 9:

A man who protested outside Pulse nightclub Monday following a ceremony marking the anniversary of the attack was handcuffed by Orlando police.

Local officials and the community had just finished a remembrance ceremony at the venue, which honored the victims and first responders.

The man, who has not been identified, was part of a group of about three protesters holding anti-gay signs. The crowds chanted, “Love conquers hate,” as the man was placed in handcuffs.

With "Christians" like these protesters on constant display, it is no wonder that nearly one third of the under 30 generations have walked away from religion.  With Hampton Roads Pride events in full swing this week and this weekend, this incident is a reminder that many hate us because we challenge their myth and fairy tale based beliefs derived from Bronze Age herders in the case of Christians, and the writings of a mentally deranged individual in the case of Islam. 

On a more positive note, the Orlando Sentinel has a number of respectful articles on those who died and the experiences of survivors which can be found here.

Trump Tells Muslims to Drive out Extremists as He Panders to Christofascists at Home

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Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans like to depict every Muslim as a would be extremist and terrorist.  Meanwhile, back home in America Trump and the GOP in general prostitute themselves to Christian extremists every bit as consumed by hatred of those who are different and who reject their Medieval beliefs as are the "radical Islamic extremist: that Trump and the GOP so love to condemn.  I have no love for Islamic terrorists, but if we are going to condemn religious extremism and religious based hatred, then ALL faiths that spread hatred ought to be cited and moderates of those faiths should be called upon to drive out and discredit the extremists.  New York Magazine looks at Der Trumpenführer's comments to Muslim leaders that ought to be applied her at home to the majority of evangelical Christians and virtually every "family values" group that preaches hatred and division.  Here are article highlights:

President Donald Trump delivered his first major speech on the world stage in Saudi Arabia on Sunday, a rallying cry to leaders in the Muslim world “to take the lead in combating radicalization.”

“We must be united in pursuing the one goal that transcends every other consideration,” Trump said to the more than 50 leaders gathered in the opulently decorated room. “That goal is to meet history’s great test — to conquer extremism and vanquish the forces of terrorism.”

Trump did not use the phrase “radical Islamic terrorism” in his address – though he had repeatedly accused Obama of failing to use that phrase during the campaign. In what did seem like a jab to the previous administration, Trump promised that the United States was not here to “lecture,” but to offer its partnership in combatting the scourge of extremist ideology and terrorism. And yet, Trump issued his own demands: . . . . A better future is only possible if your nations drive out the terrorists and extremists. Drive. Them. Out.”

Drive them out of your places of worship. Drive them out of your communities. Drive them out of your holy lands. And drive them out of this earth.”

Trump was mostly short on strategy to “defeat terrorism and send its wicked ideology into oblivion,” though he called on Muslim countries to deny “territory to foot soldiers of evil” and access to funds. To this end, Trump announced two broad initiatives: the creation of the “groundbreaking” Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology, to be based in Saudi Arabia, and, later, an agreement to form a Terrorist Financing Targeting Center that would be co-chaired by the United States and Saudi Arabia and include the six countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Trump also used his platform to condemn Iran, a direct denunciation that was eagerly welcomed by the president’s Saudi hosts, who considered Obama’s approach toward their regional enemy too conciliatory. . . . . Trump also criticized Iran for its “destabilizing interventions in of Syria,” though he noticeably failed to mention the other key destabilizing force: Russia.

Pretty words but likely disingenuous and filled with hypocrisy.  Trump preaches to Muslim leaders yet the GOP allowed its platform to be drafted by Christian extremists some of who have documented ties to white supremacy groups.  Trump ought to practice at home what he preaches abroad.  The Christofascists should be treated in the identical manner Trump wants Islamic extremists.  Both groups are a blight on human kind.  Oh, and did I mention that Saudi Arabia is the number one financial backer of Islamic fundamentalism and the terror it breads.

Trump to Reverse LGBT Protections for Federal Workers This Week?

Trump with anti-gay "Christian" extremists in June, 2016

Those Republicans with LGBT friends and family members will prove themselves to be true backstabbing enemies if Donald Trump, a/k/a Der Fuhrer follows through on the promises he made to a veritable who's who of anti-LGBT hate merchants last June in New York City.  These foul individuals and their organizations, a number of which have been certified by SPLC to be hate groups, will not rest until every LGBT American be fired and discriminated against at will.  Some even what us criminalized if not executed in a few instances.  Yet these are the folks that Der Fuhrer sold his soul to - assuming, of course, that he even has one - and promised to appease by reversing President Obama's LGBT-friendly executive orders and signing the falsely "First Amendment Defense Act" which will allow open anti-LGBT discrimination by private citizens, business, government workers, and even medical providers.  The Washington Post looks at Trump's likely negation of Obama's executive order protecting LGBT federal workers.   Here are highlights:

The White House is embroiled in a debate over whether to reverse some key protections that the Obama administration extended to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers, according to several people briefed on the process.

A draft of a potential executive order began circulating in Washington over the weekend that would overturn President Barack Obama’s directive barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in the federal workforce and by federal contractors.

That top officials are debating whether to wade into the issue of gay and transgender rights highlights the tension the new administration faces when it comes to social issues. Trump campaigned on an economic message, but he is under pressure from the social conservatives who propelled him into office to implement their top priorities.

The issue of gay rights is particularly fraught for Vice President Pence, who as governor of Indiana signed a controversial measure expanding religious liberties in a way that gay rights groups said opened the door to legalized discrimination. A national outcry over the bill led Pence and the state legislature to weaken the measure.

Speaking to reporters Monday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer declined to comment on whether an executive order affecting gay and transgender people was under consideration.

The executive order Obama signed in 2014 had two parts. It expanded protections in federal hiring, which already barred discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, to also include gender identity. And it required all companies doing business with the federal government to have explicit policies barring discrimination against gay and transgender workers. 

Any attempt by the Trump administration to rescind or weaken Obama’s order would essentially be an effort to “authorize discrimination” against gay and transgender people, said James Esseks, director of the LGBT program at the American Civil Liberties Union.

“The Trump administration has shown that it’s willing to go against core American values of freedom and equality, and it’s troubling to hear they may target LGBT people as well,” he said.

White heterosexuals should also know that these same religious zealots if allowed to do so would outlaw most forms of contraception.   They want to the police the bedrooms of everyone, not just LGBT individuals.  Oh, and the federal legislation Der Fuhrer promised to sign could also impact cohabiting heterosexual couples too. 

Betsy DeVos Is A Dangerous Threat to LGBTQ Equality

The 2016 presidential election was one of the most decisive in history.  Perhaps only the election of 1860 caused as many breaks in friendships and family ties.  What is frightening to me is the manner in which Donald Trump - always Der Fuhrer in my mind - sold his soul (assuming he even has one) to a who's who of Christofascist leaders s in order to cause them to turn out the evangelical vote on November 8, 2016.  Now, the Christofascists are calling in the chips in the form of Trump's cabinet nominees, many of whom are the most extreme imaginable.  A case in point is billionaire homophobe and anti-public school zealot Betsy DeVos whom Der Fuhrer has nominated to be Secretary of Education.  Blogger friend and and radio personality Michelangelo Signorile lays out in the Huffington Post the threat that Devos poses to LGBT students and public education in general.  here are excerpts:

“It is unfathomable that the next Secretary of Education would oppose basic protections for LGBT students and roll back the progress we have made to ensure all students feel safe and supported in our schools,” Representative Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), an openly gay House member, said in a statement last week about Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Education, the Michigan billionaire Betsy DeVos. “Ms. DeVos’ history of opposing equality for LGBT individuals is deeply troubling, and the public deserves to know whether she will work with us to improve lives or continue to advocate an extremist agenda that bullies our students.”

DeVos is not just someone who has opposed marriage equality in the past, like many people, Democrat and Republican, or who differs on particular policies or laws. She is a hardened anti-LGBTQ crusader, a member of a family that has devoted itself ― by donating tens of millions of dollars ― to fighting the rights of queer people. DeVos is a religious zealot who spoke about using public education to “advance God’s Kingdom.” She doesn’t belong in a government job in which separation of church and state is crucial, and one which over the past eight years has been critical to the safety and educational experience of LGBTQ students.

Amid reports in recent years of what seemed like an epidemic of suicides of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students, the Obama administration worked with advocates for queer youth to fight the bullying in schools that often leads to students taking their own lives.

And last year, the administration issued guidance on the treatment of transgender students with regard to public facilities, something which conservatives challenged in court ― a challenge that is still pending, with the Obama administration fighting it during the last days of the administration and which is uncertain under a Trump administration.

Will DeVos continue these programs and advance further desperately needed policies toward LGBTQ equality? Both her record and Vice President-Elect Mike Pence’s own words in a radio interview with evangelical leader Dr. James Dobson during the election campaign would suggest not. Pence said he and Trump plan to withdraw federal guidance to the states issued by the Obama administration protecting transgender students.

And since 1998, DeVos and her family’s foundations have donated at least $6.1 million to Focus on the Family, which has fought rights for LGBTQ people, promotes “conversion therapy,” and deems transgender people as “mentally ill.” Focus on the Family also opposes the very anti-bullying programs that the Education Department has developed, and opposes workplace protections for LGBTQ people (like those included in an executive order President Obama signed banning discrimination among federal contractors).

The DeVos family also contributed $500,000 to the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage. And DeVos and her husband Richard personally contributed to a successful effort to ban marriage equality in Michigan’s constitution.

[U]nless she disavows them and claims to have had a miraculous transformation, it’s impossible to imagine how this individual who has championed school vouchers and private, Christian schools could fairly guide the nation’s public education system, where LGBTQ students are often under attack and need the protections of the federal government.

As I wrote at the very beginning of the Trump transition, with evangelical, anti-LGBTQ Pence in charge of the transition, the Trump cabinet picks are a who’s who of homophobia and transphobia, as evangelical groups like the Family Research Council are getting paid off for their support. It looks like a pack wolves ready to rip apart rights for LGBTQ people. And Besty DeVos is among the leaders of the pack.

In some ways, Betsy DeVos is just as extreme as Islamic fundamentalist who seek to force their religious beliefs on all of society.  Indeed, in DeVos' mind freedom of religion translates to her right to inflict her ignorance embracing, and homophobic believes on all without opposition or criticism. 

Every One of Donald Trump’s Cabinet Picks Is Anti-Gay

I hope all of my Republican "friends" who voted for Donald Trump and religious extremist, Mike Pence, are paying attention to who Der Fuhrer is selecting for his cabinet.  Without exception, every single one so far has a documented of being hostile to LGBT rights.  That's right, every single one of them..Yet these "friends" continually assure me "that there is nothing to worry about."   Easy for them to say since they are white, heterosexual Christians.  It is a kin to such a person telling black Americans that there is nothing to fear if they are pulled over by the police.  Until one has experienced living as a constant target for haters, they really have no idea of what they are talking about or why one feels so worried as Trump parades out his cavalcade of anti-gay forces.  Not all are anti-gay zealots, but many of them are.  A piece in New York Magazine looks at the reality facing the LGBT community.  Here are excerpts:

During his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, Donald Trump did something unusual: He acknowledged LGBT Americans. Referring to the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, Trump said, “This time, the terrorist targeted the LGBTQ community … and we’re going to stop it.” He then promised to “protect LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology.”

But Trump’s promise was to protect LGBT Americans from hateful ideology abroad — he didn’t mention the hatred many regularly experience at home, sometimes due to policies proposed by people with whom he surrounds himself. Because of all his cabinet and cabinet-level picks so far, not one has a history of standing up for LGBT rights.

Jeff Sessions, attorney general 

[Y]ou can pick almost any LGBT rights issue, and chances are Sessions has voted against it. He supported a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage; voted against adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the definition of hate crimes; and voted against repealing the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

He also co-sponsored a bill that would allow Alabama’s definition of marriage to supersede the federal definition, basically ending same-sex marriage in the state. And he’s co-sponsoring the First Amendment Defense Act, which would let government-funded organizations ignore laws that conflict with their religious beliefs. His score with the Human Rights Campaign is a big, fat zero.

Mike Pompeo, Central Intelligence Agency director

Trump chose Kansas congressman Mike Pompeo to fill the post of CIA director around the same time he tapped Sessions. While serving in congress, Pompeo voted to protect anti-same-sex marriage opinions as free speech and also supported a bill saying a state’s definition of marriage should supersede the federal one. 

Betsy DeVos, Education secretary

Betsy DeVos, Trump’s pick for Education secretary, comes from a wealthy Michigan family with a long history of donating to anti-LGBT, pro-GOP causes. According to Politico, DeVos and her husband — Dick DeVos — have “given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian group whose founder called the battle against LGBT rights a ‘second civil war.’” DeVos’s late father and her husband’s family were also major donors to the Family Research Council (another conservative Christian group), and they reportedly donated thousands to efforts to block the legalization of same-sex marriage in states like Florida, Michigan, and California.

Tom Price, Health and Human Services secretary

As a state representative for Georgia, Tom Price — Trump’s pick for Health and Human Services secretary —- voted against prohibiting job discrimination based on sexual orientation and in favor of defining marriage in the Constitution as between one man and one woman. He also has a zero rating from the Human Rights Campaign, and pro-LGBT advocates worry that, as secretary of Health, he could take away protections specifically for transgender Americans. Price is in favor of dismantling the Affordable Care Act, which bans sex discrimination — including discrimination against trans people — in health care.

Price has also criticized protections for transgender students in public schools, saying a “federal restroom policy” is “yet another abuse and overreach of power by the Obama administration, and a clear invasion of privacy.”

Elaine Chao, Transportation secretary

Yesterday, Trump named Elaine Chao to the post of secretary of Transportation. . . . . She has no voting record, so it’s tough to pin down where Chao stands on the issue of LGBT rights, but her family provides some clues. She’s married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who led opposition to LGBT rights in the upper house. Chao has campaigned heavily for her husband in the past, so it’s likely she shares at least some of his views on the issue.

Reince Priebus, chief of staff

True, Reince Priebus — Trump’s new chief of staff — doesn’t have a voting record either, but as chairman of the Republican Party, the guy spearheaded one of the most anti-LGBT platforms to date. Among other things, it calls for the repeal of same-sex marriage, gives states the right to choose which bathroom transgender people use, and defends businesses who deny service to LGBT Americans based on their religious beliefs. 

Mike Flynn, White House national security adviser

According to the Human Rights Campaign, retired Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn has a “history of animus toward LGBT people.” Most recently Flynn, whom Trump has named national security adviser, went on a tirade against “political correctness” in response to the Obama administration’s decision to allow transgender soldiers to serve openly in the military. 

Nikki Haley, ambassador to the United Nations

South Carolina governor Nikki Haley will serve as the ambassador to the United Nations, and although she drew fire from conservative pundits for referencing “modern families” in her response to Obama’s final State of the Union, she’s not exactly progressive when it comes to LGBT issues. In 2010 she said marriage is between “one man and one woman,” and three years later she backed her state’s ban on same-sex marriage. 

The reality is that ISIS and Islamic terrorists pose a minimal threat to LGBT Americans.  Over the course of American history, the main threat has come from right wing Christian religious extremists who seek to force their version of a Sharia Law equivalent on the nation.  These are the people Trump has named to his cabinet.  So I would ask my "friends" who voted for Trump to explain to me why I should be happy and unafraid of what we see unfolding?  Especially given Mike Pence's - Trump's COO, if you will - extensive history of anti-LGBT animus.