All Things LGBTQ+ (2 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.

 

[SFIDC3]

I go back and forth on the issue of taxing churches. I always end up slightly in favor of not taxing them. The deciding factor is always this: with taxation comes the right to government representation and I don't want any religion to have the right to government representation.

They are already doing it....in spades.....

It's not a balancing act, it's just another one of those situations where the laws exist but are not or rarely enforced.....

Why am I paying more because big, wealthy megachurch institutions pay nothing? F all of them.....

 

[Optimus Prime]

When Ashton Holmes saw the results of the largest-ever transgender survey in the U.S., the data elicited ripples of joy: “It made my heart happy.”

The survey by the National Center for Transgender Equality of over 92,000 binary and nonbinary transgender people offers a window into a world often clouded by misconceptions. Nearly all respondents – 94% − said they were satisfied with their lives after transitioning.

Holmes, 39, a Black transgender man who navigates life with a “let’s love on each other” philosophy, says the statistics give powerful proof “that people are satisfied when they are seen, when they are affirmed.”

Transgender advocates are hoping the data not only shows that validation − but also cuts through a tornado of misinformation about transgender people that has swirled in the past few years.

“This survey is tremendously significant for the quality, the quantity and frankly the timing,” says Cathy Renna, communications director for the National LGBTQ Task Force. “We could not need this more than we do right now.”...........

Why the largest transgender survey ever could be a powerful rebuke to myths, misinformation

The survey of over 92,000 binary and nonbinary transgender people shows nearly all respondents – 94% − said they were satisfied with their lives.

www.usatoday.com

 

[SystemShock]

I would throw in a healthy (unfortunately) dose of fake Christian churches.....

What's a "fake" Christian church?

 

[SFIDC3]

What's a "fake" Christian church?

My definition - all of them, (because I think Christian beliefs like most other organized religious beliefs are based on fairy tales).....

My Christian sisters definition (which I find reasonable) - any church that is not all inclusive, that advocates forcing their beliefs upon others and supports violent actions as a means.....

 

[SystemShock]

My Christian sisters definition (which I find reasonable) - any church that is not all inclusive, that advocates forcing their beliefs upon others and supports violent actions as a means.....

According what the Bible says, that would be a fake church too.

There are no "fake" Christian churches. No matter the denomination, you will find at least 1 passage, fable, commandment, or teaching in the Bible that validates that denomination's tenets.

 

[SFIDC3]

According what the Bible says, that would be a fake church too.

There are no "fake" Christian churches. No matter the denomination, you will find at least 1 passage, fable, commandment, or teaching in the Bible that validates that denomination's tenets

Good thing I don't care what the Bible says, different "interpretations" of a fairy tale to me, not attached to reality.....also dangerous.....

 

[superchuck500]

 

[coldseat]

fork both of those bigoted butt crevasses!

 

[bird]

Obviously they want filth in OK. They voted that guy into office.

 

[coldseat]

See, I think more Conservative Christians move to Russia like this family. They support your views. #forkaroundandfindout

 

[Optimus Prime]

Hundreds of LGBTQ+ people gathered on the steps of the Florida state house on Wednesday to protest against a first-in-the-nation bill that critics say would raise health insurance costs for all state residents.

The Republican-backed proposal, house bill 1639, mandates that insurance carriers cover conversion therapy, a scientifically discredited practice whose practitioners falsely claim to be able to change the sexual orientation or identity of LGBTQ+ people.

“We hope that legislators wouldn’t vote for a health insurance mandate that would increase everyone’s costs as a way to just demonize LGBT people,” said Quinn Diaz, public policy associate for Equality Florida. “But we really don’t have any faith in this state government, at this point.”


Diaz said the proposed legislation would also force trans people to “out themselves” on state-issued identification cards, requiring Florida residents to list the sex they were assigned at birth on their driver’s licenses.……

LGBTQ+ people protest in Florida over Republican conversion therapy bill

Bill mandates insurance carriers cover discredited practice and would force people to list sex assigned at birth on driver’s licenses

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Federal investigation announced into bullying claims in death of Nex Benedict

The education department said it will launch an inquiry after the non-binary teen died after a fight at an Oklahoma public school

www.theguardian.com

 

[Eeyore]

Neo-Nazi GOP candidate pledges to ban same-sex marriage & “exile all Jews”

Her views are increasingly common in the Republican party.

www.lgbtqnation.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Tennessee is poised to become the first state to in effect ban Pride flags in public and charter school classrooms, prompting outrage from the LGBTQ+ community.

The Tennessee house advanced a bill, HB 1605, that forbids schools, teachers or faculty from displaying flags other than the US flag and the Tennessee state flag in public schools. The bill would also allow “a parent of a child who attends, or who is eligible to attend” a Tennessee public or charter school to sue their school district if a Pride flag is displayed “anywhere students may see the object”.

The bill does not mention LGBTQ+ Pride flags or Black Lives Matter outright, but some Republican lawmakers have made it clear that the bill is meant to restrict them.


The bill is expected to clear the senate as early as next week.……

‘A concern for everyone’: Tennessee poised to ban Pride flags in schools

Activists warn of ‘creeping restrictions on expression’ as bill forbidding schools from displaying flags is expected to clear senate

www.theguardian.com

 

[LA - L.A.]

Tennessee is poised to become the first state to in effect ban Pride flags in public and charter school classrooms, prompting outrage from the LGBTQ+ community.

The Tennessee house advanced a bill, HB 1605, that forbids schools, teachers or faculty from displaying flags other than the US flag and the Tennessee state flag in public schools. The bill would also allow “a parent of a child who attends, or who is eligible to attend” a Tennessee public or charter school to sue their school district if a Pride flag is displayed “anywhere students may see the object”.

The bill does not mention LGBTQ+ Pride flags or Black Lives Matter outright, but some Republican lawmakers have made it clear that the bill is meant to restrict them.


The bill is expected to clear the senate as early as next week.……

‘A concern for everyone’: Tennessee poised to ban Pride flags in schools

Activists warn of ‘creeping restrictions on expression’ as bill forbidding schools from displaying flags is expected to clear senate

www.theguardian.com

From the article:

When pressed by Democratic colleagues to explain the proposed ban, Bulso declined to say if the bill prohibits the display of the Confederate flag in Tennessee classrooms.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Conservatives Attack Trump As His Florida Mar-a-Lago House Hosts Gay Wedding

Criticism arises among some conservatives as former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida plays host to a same-sex marriage ceremony.

www.thestockdork.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

nice story
=========
When I came out to my father, he immediately went quiet.

It was 2019 and I was 28. I had just opened up to him about the fact I’d decided to start taking testosterone and that I’d like him to refer to me as a different name to the one he and my mother had chosen for me.

That’s when he asked me to give him half an hour to think about it and disappeared to his desk.

Unnerved, I was bracing for the worst. He didn’t know a lot about trans folks at the time and had had a difficult time accepting my being outed as a lesbian when I was a teenager (another story for another time!).

Sure enough, around 30 minutes later, he came back to me and had a piece of paper in his hand. I noticed it had up to 20 adjectives on it.

He said he’d written down all the words he felt best described me – his child – and in doing so, had realised that none of them were gendered. I remember a few: ‘kind’, ‘thoughtful’, ‘compassionate’, ‘ambitious’…

So if what I was telling him was really that I was going to make some changes to my body but still be the same person he’d brought up and loved, then he was fine with it.

At first I was just confused – like waiting for the sound of a crash but it never comes. It was only later when I told my best friend that I realised he’d just invented a text book response for a loving parent of a trans person.

When I was a kid, my father was always the person who inspired me to imagine things. If we were waiting in line somewhere or sitting at a restaurant, he’d encourage me to write in what I called my little ‘detective notepad’ about all the interesting people and things I could see – imagining worlds and stories beyond what met my eyes.

He also encouraged me when I would dress up (unknowingly) in drag – wearing an old fake beard I’d found in the dress-up closet, along with his oversized leather jacket and baggy shorts.

In a way, without realising it, my father was allowing me the fun, adventurous boyhood I was secretly longing for.

He encouraged me to surf, skate, play ball, be brave, and dream big – these were all things that not many girls I knew at the time were being allowed to do.............

MSN

 

[MT15]

Hmmmm