All Things LGBTQ+ (3 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.

 

[MT15]

So murder is ok if you are not religious? Wild take.

You are so completely wrong about this and everything else actually. If there is no person, and there isn’t, then it cannot be murder. What you are doing is using inflammatory language to try to punish other people according to your own religious beliefs.

I will tell you though, that women are actually people. With all sorts of rights to their own bodies and their own decisions. Just as many rights as you have actually. Quit trying to take away their rights.

Your religion explicitly states that you must abide by its tenets of your own free will, does it not? God will punish those who sin, it’s not your place. But, again, we see that you are eager to decide what everyone else can and cannot do, according to your own religious beliefs. This is not the way your religion is supposed to work, it’s a perversion of Christianity. Much like the Taliban is a perversion of Islam, IMO.

There are several religions who don’t follow the beliefs of the Catholic Church, why do you insist on imposing your religious beliefs on others?

 

[coldseat]

You are right as far as I know. I think La tried to make child rape a capital offense. But yes, those should be, and any level, even child porn should be punishable by death.
I also think corruption by public officials should be as well.
As far as the number of inmates executed, why would that matter? Do you know how many innocent people are killed by abortion every year? I bet it would be a lot less than the pedos we put down.

Like I said, your thinking on this is as irrational as you using aborted fetuses as justification for the death penalty.

 

[Bigdaddysaints]

Embracing some of the finer parts of Sharia Law are you now? Loss of hands and other appendages, this will lead.

that is exactly 100% what most right wing Rs want. Sharia Law.

 

[Bigdaddysaints]

Like is said, your thinking on this is as irrational as you using aborted fetuses as justification for the death penalty.

next he'll want capital punishment for miscarriages.

 

[Taurus]

If it turns out that prenatal hormones play a role in sexual orientation and/or gender identity, then people who are uncomfortable with sexual diversity are going to be even more miserable as time goes on.

Most of the environmental pollutants across the planet are endocrine disruptors and they are in all of the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat. But wait there's more, not only are they everywhere, but their parts per billion levels keep climbing at an alarming pace.

But wait there's even more, we are doing very little to curtail the problem. Staunchly CIS, hetero parents might be wise to start preparing themselves for an ever increasing likelihood that their children will be very non-CIS and non-hetero.

How much you want to bet the rabidly anti-hormone treatment for transgender children crowd will bully their way to the front of the line to get prenatal hormone treatments to make sure their babies turn out CIS and hetero?

While they militantly refuse to even consider regulations to reduce these pollutants.

 

[Taurus]

No, you cannot force other people to adhere to your religious beliefs, no matter how badly you want to do so.

Actually, they can. And have.
Because the rest of us let them.

 

[BullSheetBuddha]

Girls having to swim against boys but not related to trans.

This may not belong here but I found it very interesting regarding females competing against males. It doesn't only happen in transgender cases.

==========================================================

Wellesley swim’s 70-meet winning streak hangs in the balance at a meet vs. Milton overshadowed by questions​

By Michael Silverman Globe Staff,Updated September 29, 2023, 10:22 a.m.

The Wellesley girls' swim team won the MIAA Division 2 title in 2022.WELLESLEY ATHLETICS
The Wellesley High girls’ swim & dive team has not lost a Bay State Conference meet since 2016.
That 70-meet winning streak is at real risk of being snapped by Milton in Friday’s meet at Blue Hills Regional, said Wellesley athletic director John Brown, because Milton has several strong male swimmers on its roster.
Bay State Conference rules allow co-ed swim teams if a school cannot field enough athletes of one gender. Statewide, boys’ swim teams compete in the winter season. The BSC, along with the Merrimack Valley Conference and a few others, field girls’ teams in the fall. The rest compete in the winter.
“Do we wish it was all girls [on Milton]? Of course we do, but it’s not,” Brown said Thursday. “We’re going to go out and compete and whatever happens, happens, but is it a competitive advantage to have boys against girls? I don’t think there’s any doubt. I think that’s a proven fact.”
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Wellesley is the three-time defending MIAA Division 2 girls’ champion. Wellesley has a boys’ team that competes in the winter season.
This fall, because Milton, along with three other Bay State Conference schools, could not field a full single-gender team, it placed the boys – 10 in all, alongside 12 girls – on the girls’ team.
And like 4-0 Wellesley, the Milton team is also undefeated, cruising to its three wins.
Its first-year athletic director, Michael Bierwirth, deflected the question of if he’s sympathetic to the idea that his team poses a threat to Wellesley and its streak because it is co-ed.
“I’m just following what the guidelines of the league are,” said Bierwirth. “Any time we put on a high school event, it’s not really about the wins and losses, it’s about the experience for the student athletes.
“I just hope it’s a great event for the kids tomorrow and they walk out of there having a good time — on both sides, not just Milton but Wellesley as well.”
While Brown didn’t outright concede the event to Milton, he worried that the gender component to the meet could spoil his swimmers’ experience if they do lose.
“What I don’t want to have happen is our girls to feel like they haven’t accomplished what they needed to accomplish to keep a streak going if they lose to a team with a bunch of boys on it,” said Brown.
“I don’t want to sound like we’re crying about it. We’re going to play the schedule the way it is. We’ve done it for years, and we’re going to continue to do it. I just think the difference right now is the fact that we’ve got an awful long streak on the line here.”
Brown said he was unsure if there were more male swimmers on the Milton team this year.
Bierwirth was sure there were not, citing the word of his coach, Jess Gillooly, that this year’s team had fewer boys than last year. Wellesley won last year’s meet, 100-64, over a Milton team that included boys.
Quality has more to do than quantity this year, he theorized.
“I think it’s just a combination of maybe they’re a little bit more talented or that we also do have divers (two girls, one boy) on our team this year — if you compete against another team and they don’t have divers, you pick up points,” said Bierwirth. “I think it’s just a combination of their hard work and what they put into the program. It could be a bunch of different factors.”
The way those factors add up are what have Brown worried about the streak.
“Their predominant top swimmers right now are all boys,” said Brown. “That wouldn’t surprise anybody. Clearly, when you look at times, boys’ times are better than girls’ times for the most part.
“I’m not sure of the numbers, but in most of the races, the boys are the ones that are winning all the races.”
Brown said he has proposed in the past that Milton and the three other schools — Walpole, Braintree, and Weymouth — that mix their boy swimmers with the girls in the fall league form a four-school co-op that would field all girls’ swim teams in the fall and all boys’ teams in the winter.
The idea has not advanced.
“From what I’ve been told it’s been talked about, but it’s just it’s something that hasn’t worked out,” said Bierwirth.
Brown pointed out that “we don’t hold anything against the Milton team or the boys that are on that team — it’s the situation that they’ve been dealt.”


https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/09...eed_ContentQuery&p1=Article_Feed_ContentQuery

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[Optimus Prime]

COLOGNE, Germany — In the shadow of Cologne’s Gothic cathedral, the St. Stephan’s Youth Choir struck up a chorus of “All You Need Is Love” as couples — men with men, women with women, and women with men — lined up to have their unions blessed by ordained Catholic priests wearing rainbow stoles.


It was an act of love — but also sedition, in direct defiance of the Vatican’s decree that same-sex unions should not be celebrated or recognized.


The German Catholic Church, long known for pushing the boundaries of the faith, has been translating frustrations among progressive Catholics in pockets throughout Europe into a veritable revolt.

The question for 1.3 billion Catholics now is whether the German church is in flagrant disobedience — or showing a different path.

Pope Francis has reprimanded Germany’s Catholic leadership. He quipped to the head of its bishops’ conference last year that Germany already had one protestant church — “We don’t need two.”

On Monday, however, the Vatican released a document that seemed to open a door to blessing same-sex unions and the study of female priests.
In the letter, dated Sept. 25, Francis wrote that there are “situations” that may not be “morally acceptable” but where a priest can assess, on a case-by-case basis, whether blessings may be given — as long as such blessings are kept separate from the sacrament of marriage.

“We cannot be judges who only deny, push back and exclude,” Francis wrote. “As such, pastoral prudence must adequately discern whether there are forms of blessing, requested by one or several people, that do not convey a wrong idea of a matrimony. Because when one seeks a blessing, one is requesting help from God.”

His words appeared to contradict a 2021 Vatican statement that confirmed a ban on blessing same-sex couples. Francis has also notably removed the conservative official said to be the architect of that decision and appointed a fellow Argentine who has seemed to take a different view……..

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/02/pope-francis-gay-blessings-synod/

 

[zztop]

shot 7 times. Someone wanted to make sure

Philadelphia journalist who advocated for homeless and LGBTQ+ communities shot and killed at home

Authorities say a journalist and advocate who rose from homelessness and addiction to serve as a spokesperson for Philadelphia’s most vulnerable was shot and killed at his home early Monday.

apnews.com

 

[superchuck500]

Yet another study on same-sex sexual behavior in mammals - this one focusing on social impacts.

The evolution of same-sex sexual behaviour in mammals - Nature Communications

There is still no consensus on the factors favouring the evolution of same-sex sexual behaviour in mammals. This study presents evidence that it is a widespread behaviour that has evolved repeatedly in mammals, and that may play an adaptive role in bonding and conflict resolution.

www.nature.com

 

[UncleTrvlingJim]

Because homosexuality is natural, despite what some people try to push.

 

[superchuck500]

Because homosexuality is natural, despite what some people try to push.

“Homosexuality is unnatural and wrong! Animals aren’t gay, the species wouldn’t survive! It’s fundamental!”

“But science has observed and studied genuine homosexual behavior in every order of animals and it’s especially prevalent in primates. ”

“Well, um, okay it’s still wrong because God meant for humans to he different, it’s in the Bible!”

 

[UncleTrvlingJim]

“Homosexuality is unnatural and wrong! Animals aren’t gay, the species wouldn’t survive! It’s fundamental!”

“But science has observed and studied genuine homosexual behavior in every order of animals and it’s especially prevalent in primates. ”

“Well, um, okay it’s still wrong because God meant for humans to he different, it’s in the Bible!”

That's basically the "logic" being followed. It's exhausting.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Sitting together in the light-filled living room of their family home in Surrey, Caroline and Peter Litman finish one another’s sentences, as can happen after 28 years of marriage.

“We’re not the most well-informed,” says Peter, 57, who wears a small ‘trans ally’ pin on his T-shirt.

“We make mistakes and don’t always use the right words,” adds Caroline, 56.

“But what we hope we can do to help the trans community is humanise the debate. This is just an ordinary family; a coherent, loving family that’s been ripped apart,” Peter continues.

“Not because Alice was transgender,” his wife says, “but because of the reaction to her being trans.”

Their youngest daughter, Alice Litman, was 20 years old and living in Brighton with a close friend when she died on 26 May 2022. Her parents believe firmly that their daughter’s struggles to access timely mental health intervention and gender-affirming care contributed significantly to her death.

Next week a coroner will deliver her written conclusions regarding Alice’s death, and has already statedthe evidence before her suggests healthcare provision for transgender people is “underfunded and insufficiently resourced for the level of need that the society we live in now presents”.

Reading Caroline’s witness statement for the inquest, where the family were supported by the Good Law Project, her fury and frustration radiate off the pages as she describes the repeated minimising and dismissal she encountered. “It was an immense battle to get her taken seriously,” she says now.

It was a “complete surprise” to Peter and Caroline when their youngest child – dancer, rugby player, who wanted to be like “that cool science guy [Einstein]” when she grew up – told them she was questioning her gender identity.

The family were aware that something was troubling the 16-year-old: she was increasingly anxious and her school attendance suffered.……

‘She just wanted to live how she wanted to’: couple mourn their trans daughter

Alice Litman, 20, was facing a five-year wait for a gender identity assessment when she died. Her parents say a complete overhaul of trans care is needed

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Most American voters believe the US needs stronger protections for LGBT+ people against discrimination and violence, while a plurality of voters believe that the nation has become increasingly politically hostile towards LGBT+ people, according to results from a new survey.

Roughly 57 per cent of respondents in a survey from progressive think tank Data for Progress believe that the US needs new laws to protect LGBT+ Americans from discrimination and violence, amid a rise in threats and legislation targeting LGBT+ people.

Forty-eight per cent of respondents believe that “the political climate has become increasingly hostile to LGBTQ+ Americans,” according to the survey.

But statements supporting LGBT+ people against political threats and discrimination and violence fall sharply along partisan lines and whether Americans are or know someone who is LGBT+.

An overwhelming majority of LGBT+ people, 91 per cent, believe the US needs new LGBT+ protections, compared to 53 per cent of straight and cisgender voters. Those protections are supported by 72 per cent of voters who know a trans person, compared to 49 per cent of voters who do not, the survey found.

And along party lines, support for those protections is favoured strongly among Democratic voters – 82 per cent – but only 32 per cent of Republican voters support them.…..

Most US voters want more protections for LGBT+ people, poll finds

Voters who know someone who is LGBT+ are far more likely to support policies protecting them

www.the-independent.com

 

[Patrick66]

I'm curious. Would you folks dislike a person if they said that they don't believe that a person can change their sex?

 

[cuddlemonkey]

I'm curious. Would you folks dislike a person if they said that they don't believe that a person can change their sex?

Not at all. What a lot of people dislike- myself included- is when people use those beliefs to advocate taking away basic rights and dignity from the LGBTQ community and/or demonizing them as groomers, pedophiles, and other dehumanizing lies.

 

[Patrick66]

Not at all. What a lot of people dislike- myself included- is when people use those beliefs to advocate taking away basic rights and dignity from the LGBTQ community and/or demonizing them as groomers, pedophiles, and other dehumanizing lies.

I feel the same, as does Jesus, who said in Mark 12:31 "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."