All Things LGBTQ+ (6 Viewers)

[Farb]

Didn't really see a place for this so I thought I would start a thread about all things LGBTQ since this is a pretty hot topic in our culture right now

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/17/sup...y-that-refuses-to-work-with-lgbt-couples.html

• The Supreme Court on Thursday delivered a unanimous defeat to LGBT couples in a high-profile case over whether Philadelphia could refuse to contract with a Roman Catholic adoption agency that says its religious beliefs prevent it from working with same-sex foster parents.
• Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in an opinion for a majority of the court that Philadelphia violated the First Amendment by refusing to contract with Catholic Social Services once it learned that the organization would not certify same-sex couples for adoption.

I will admit, I was hopeful for this decision by the SCOTUS but I was surprised by the unanimous decision.

While I don't think there is anything wrong, per se, with same sex couples adopting and raising children (I actually think it is a good thing as it not an abortion) but I also did not want to see the state force a religious institution to bend to a societal norm.

 

[Bigdaddysaints]

“An Inherent Harm To Kids”: Parents Barred From School Activities Over LGBTQ-Affirming Posts​

This is kind of thing that will start happening at Public Schools before long if they keep letting the Super Karens take over the boards.

aymi and Joshua are foster parents to two children enrolled in a private Christian school. Sharing on TikTok, the couple said they were warned they are “an inherent harm to kids” and banned from school events where children are present due to Instagram posts.

In a viral TikTok video, Joshua and Jaymi said, “We are very affirming of the LGBTQ community. They added, “Our theology in this area has drastically changed over the years.”
Lynn said, “We don’t believe that being gay is a sin.” She explained, “Because we publicly posted on that, things at our kids’ school changed.”
Things escalated when Josh applied to chaperone a field trip for their 7-year-old. Before the trip, the school called and notified them, “Parents complained about our public social media posts affirming the LGBTQ community.”
Lynn replied that the two spent years working with their local youth ministry as well as their social work helping out children.
But, instead of getting any reassurance, the school quickly said they were no longer “welcome at events where there are kids present.”

MSN

 

[bird]

Ah, RW “Christians”

 

[Optimus Prime]

The Pride flag that hangs outside of Bee’s Knees General Store & Bakery, a cafe and community space in rural Nova Scotia, has been ripped down on four separate occasions. In the most recent instance, in January, the store’s owners, Sue Littleton and Candice Zaina, came in to see it had been trampled and covered in human feces.

“It wouldn’t occur to me to keep it down,” Littleton said. “We’re not going to let this stop us from providing a safe space.”

But they say they’re feeling more shaken after learning of the murder of Laura Ann Carleton, a California boutique owner shot dead by a man who tore down the Pride flag outside her Cedar Grove store. Before opening fire, the 27-year-old yelled homophobic slurs. Officials later said he had a history of posting hateful content online.

“Neither me or my wife have been sleeping well,” Littleton said. “When there’s a noise in the night, we think someone is coming to retaliate.” A week ago, the couple’s son and a friend were the victims of a homophobic attack at a county fair, which caused them to close the shop for a few days.

Littleton said it was important for her to fly the flag as there were not many queer spaces in their town, which has a population of 636. The nearest gay bar is a two-hour drive away in Halifax. “Young folks have found this to be a place where they can be themselves.”…….

Many business owners and residents who own Pride flags have responded to the news of Carleton’s killing with concern and defiance. Krysta Cavin, of Providence Village, Texas, whose children are LGBTQ+, decorates her front yard in rainbow as a show of support.

“What message would I be sending my children if I stopped?” she asked. “It does scare me some, but not enough to stop what I am doing. Mama Bear will always fight for them.”

Across the country, as Republican lawmakers propose or pass legislation restricting the rights of LGBTQ+ people, the flag has become the target of attacks. School districts and towns in Delaware, Ohio, New York state, Utah, Michigan, and Wisconsin have voted to ban the flag on public property or in schools.……

‘It’s like a target on our house’: Americans face choice over Pride flags after murder

A California woman was shot by a man who tore the flag from her store. How do others feel about keeping it flying?

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Ah, RW “Christians”

 

[superchuck500]

 

[Optimus Prime]

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Rajee Narinesingh faced struggles throughout her life as a transgender woman, from workplace discrimination to the lasting effects of black market injections that scarred her face and caused chronic infections.

In spite of the roadblocks, the 56-year-old Florida actress and activist has seen growing acceptance since she first came out decades ago.

“If you see older transgender people, it shows the younger community that it’s possible I can have a life. I can live to an older age,” she said. “So I think that’s a very important thing.”

Now, as a wave of new state laws enacted this year limit transgender people’s rights, Narinesingh has new uncertainty about her own future as she ages.

“Every now and then I have like this thought, like, oh my God, if I end up in a nursing home, how are they going to treat me?” Narinesingh said.

Most of the new state laws have focused attention on trans youth, with at least 22 states banning or restrictinggender-affirming care for minors.



For many transgender seniors, it’s brought new fears to their plans for retirement and old age. They already face gaps in health care and nursing home facilities properly trained to meet their needs. That’s likely to be compounded by restrictions to transgender health care that have already blocked some adults’ access to treatments in Florida, and sparked concerns the laws will expand to other states.

Transgender adults say they’re worried about finding welcoming spaces to live in their later years.

“I have friends that have retired and they’ve decided to move to retirement communities. And then, little by little, they’ve found that they’re not welcome there,” said Morgan Mayfaire, a transgender man and the executive director of TransSOCIAL, a Florida support and advocacy group.……

Transgender adults are worried about finding welcoming spaces to live in their later years

For many transgender seniors, the battle over trans rights in the U.S. has brought new fears to their plans for retirement and old age.

apnews.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Interesting article
============
Last year, in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, an armed pro-gun group made a big statement in Dallas’s Oak Lawn neighborhood,otherwise known as Dallas’s “gayborhood.”


I watched from a Kroger parking lot as people clad in dark military gear unloaded semiautomatic rifles from car trunks. They started marching down the street carrying their rifles, along with pink, white and blue flags.

I approached and found out they were members of a local LGBTQ+ gun rights group.
As hatred and intolerance were rising in America, they told me, they had a duty to show they were unafraid to protect themselves and their communities.

There can be no doubt that we live in time of increasing attacks on the social progress made by LGBTQ+ people. The media often euphemizes the oppression of these groups as “culture wars.” The killing last week of a California woman over her choice to display a Pride flag outside her shop reminds us why the term is such a linguistic injustice.


Because, in the real world, wars mean guns. Wars mean death.


As the drumbeat of hate rises, why shouldn’t the oppressed stand ready to defend themselves against violence?


According to reports, 66-year-old Laura Ann Carleton had nonviolently defended her turf against homophobic attacks before. Numerous times people tore down the pride flags she flew at her clothing shop in Cedar Glen, Calif., about 80 miles from Los Angeles. But each time she just put new flags up. While Carleton did not identify as LGBTQ+, she was respected as an ally of the community.

Last week again brought the culture war to her doorstep — only this time the violence was no metaphor. After Travis Ikeguchi began arguing with Carleton over her store’s Pride flag, the 27-year-old man shot Carleton, killing her. Ikeguchi fled and was later killed by police after opening fire on them.


Now, would Carlton be alive if she had used a gun? Impossible to say. But given the rise in hate crimes in recent years, the appeal of LGBTQ+ gun groups like the one I saw in Dallas is understandable. And frankly, the call for LGBTQ+ people to arm themselves is not new to anyone who has been paying attention………

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/08/25/lgbtq-culture-wars-laura-ann-carleton/

 

[zztop]

ugh

 

[fooferdoggie]

ugh

republicans proving how not to be christian.

 

[Bigdaddysaints]

more hard proof they could care less about a child once its born..

 

[fooferdoggie]

more hard proof they could care less about a child once its born..

I think they have given up even pretending to.

 

[MT15]

 

[MT15]

This is evidently a new thing this school year in several states. Heaven knows we are really worried about the things that matter here.

 

[SFIDC3]

ugh

To me the Youngkin types are just as or even more dangerous than the Trumps of the world….Wolf in sheeps clothing without a spine…..

 

[Optimus Prime]

Canada has updated its travel advisory for the United States to warn LGBTQ travelers that they are at risk of being affected by state and local laws, amid a recent surge in state-level legislation targeting the community.

“Some states have enacted laws and policies that may affect 2SLGBTQI+ persons. Check relevant state and local laws,” Global Affairs Canada, a government department that oversees the country’s international relations, said in the advisory posted Tuesday.

It used the abbreviation “2S” for “two-spirit,” a word used in Canada to describe a spectrum of genders among Indigenous people.


The page also links to broader advice on how LGBTQ people are subject to local laws at their travel destinations, “even if these laws infringe on your human rights.”

Although the advisory did not list any particular state laws or policies, a department spokesperson pointed to legislation passed this year in certain U.S. states “banning drag shows and restricting the transgender community from access to gender affirming care,” among other restrictions, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported…….

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/08/30/canada-lgbtq-travel-advisory-usa/

 

[Optimus Prime]

The US state of Mississippi has elected an openly gay person to its legislature for the first time ever.

Fabian Nelson’s victory this week left Louisiana as the only American state never to have elected an LGBTQ+ person to its legislature. And it served up a salve of sorts to a wave of laws passed in Republican-controlled state legislatures that discriminate against LGBTQ+ people, including a ban in Mississippi on gender-affirming hormones or surgery for anyone aged 17 or younger……

Mississippi elects openly gay lawmaker for first time in state’s history

Victory for Fabian Nelson, a Democrat, leaves Louisiana as only state never to have elected LGBTQ+ person to its legislature

www.theguardian.com

 

[coldseat]

Things are going great in Louisiana ... . Keep pushing people away because they're LGBTQ+, that's definitely serving the people of Louisiana.

We're going to have to start a refugee program to get LGBTQ+ people out of red states, myself included.

============
When Jake Kleinmahon and his husband, Tom, decided to move back to New Orleans in 2018, they had plans to live there forever.

Kleinmahon, a pediatric cardiologist, earned his medical degree from Tulane University, and despite leaving the state to complete his fellowships, he said he felt drawn to Louisiana.

“At the time there was only one heart transplant doctor in the state of Louisiana,” he said, adding some children who needed heart transplants had to be transferred out of state. “I believe the kids in Louisiana should have the same world class health care as any other part of the United States.”

He accepted a job at a local children’s hospital as director of the pediatric heart transplant program.

Kleinmahon and his family started building their lives in New Orleans – they made friends, peeled crawfish with their kids, attended Mardi Gras parades and Saints games, and got involved in community groups.

But this past spring the Republican-led state legislature passed a series of controversial bills that targeted the LGBTQ community.

That’s when Kleinmahon said he started having difficult conversations with his family about leaving the home they love. When he explained to his six-year-old daughter that their family had no choice but to leave New Orleans, she said, “We do have a choice, just one of them isn’t a good one.”

The Kleinmahons join other LGBTQ families who are also facing the same choice. They say they no longer feel safe or welcomed in states that have passed laws targeting their community. Many have made the difficult decision to leave.

In 2023, more than 525 anti-LGBTQ bills were passed in 41 states, according to the Human Rights Campaign, an organization that advocates for the LGBTQ community. Of those bills, more than 220 explicitly targeted transgender people. As of June, 77 anti-LGBTQ bills had been signed into law.

Many of the laws enacted have been met with legal challenges from advocacy groups and LGBTQ families. Some have been blocked by judges while the legal battles play out in court.

In Louisiana, Kleinmahon said he lobbied against the laws, calling state lawmakers and writing letters to the state’s senate education committee. But he reached a breaking point when Republican state lawmakers walked out of a senate education committee meeting as opponents of what critics call a “Don’t Say Gay” bill were discussing why it was harmful.

“It really showed that they just don’t care,” Kleinmahon told CNN. “They are not going to support our children; they are not going to support our family. And although we love New Orleans and we love Louisiana with all of our hearts, we can’t raise our children in this environment.”
===============

One of Louisiana’s only pediatric cardiologists has left the state over anti-LGBTQ legislation | CNN

When Jake Kleinmahon and his husband, Tom, decided to move back to New Orleans in 2018, they had plans to live there forever.

www.cnn.com

 

[Neworleansfan]

Things are going great in Louisiana ... . Keep pushing people away because they're LGBTQ+, that's definitely serving the people of Louisiana.

We're going to have to start a refugee program to get LGBTQ+ people out of red states, myself included.

============
When Jake Kleinmahon and his husband, Tom, decided to move back to New Orleans in 2018, they had plans to live there forever.

Kleinmahon, a pediatric cardiologist, earned his medical degree from Tulane University, and despite leaving the state to complete his fellowships, he said he felt drawn to Louisiana.

“At the time there was only one heart transplant doctor in the state of Louisiana,” he said, adding some children who needed heart transplants had to be transferred out of state. “I believe the kids in Louisiana should have the same world class health care as any other part of the United States.”

He accepted a job at a local children’s hospital as director of the pediatric heart transplant program.

Kleinmahon and his family started building their lives in New Orleans – they made friends, peeled crawfish with their kids, attended Mardi Gras parades and Saints games, and got involved in community groups.

But this past spring the Republican-led state legislature passed a series of controversial bills that targeted the LGBTQ community.

That’s when Kleinmahon said he started having difficult conversations with his family about leaving the home they love. When he explained to his six-year-old daughter that their family had no choice but to leave New Orleans, she said, “We do have a choice, just one of them isn’t a good one.”

The Kleinmahons join other LGBTQ families who are also facing the same choice. They say they no longer feel safe or welcomed in states that have passed laws targeting their community. Many have made the difficult decision to leave.

In 2023, more than 525 anti-LGBTQ bills were passed in 41 states, according to the Human Rights Campaign, an organization that advocates for the LGBTQ community. Of those bills, more than 220 explicitly targeted transgender people. As of June, 77 anti-LGBTQ bills had been signed into law.

Many of the laws enacted have been met with legal challenges from advocacy groups and LGBTQ families. Some have been blocked by judges while the legal battles play out in court.

In Louisiana, Kleinmahon said he lobbied against the laws, calling state lawmakers and writing letters to the state’s senate education committee. But he reached a breaking point when Republican state lawmakers walked out of a senate education committee meeting as opponents of what critics call a “Don’t Say Gay” bill were discussing why it was harmful.

“It really showed that they just don’t care,” Kleinmahon told CNN. “They are not going to support our children; they are not going to support our family. And although we love New Orleans and we love Louisiana with all of our hearts, we can’t raise our children in this environment.”
===============

One of Louisiana’s only pediatric cardiologists has left the state over anti-LGBTQ legislation | CNN

When Jake Kleinmahon and his husband, Tom, decided to move back to New Orleans in 2018, they had plans to live there forever.

www.cnn.com

Top article on cnn.com right now. Good job Louisiana. SMH.