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.

 

[SystemShock]

Also, it was not the Last Supper. It was a depiction of an ancient Greek Bacchanal…

Ha! That was the word. I used the word debauchery in my post, but I had a feeling it wasn't the right word.

 

[SystemShock]

They knew exactly what they were doing. There was one performer who's balls were hanging out the whole performance. A man will know immediately if that happens so any claims that he didn't realize they were out aren't believable.

It's not an apology, it is clarification.

Besides, even if they actually intended to mock Christianity, why shouldn't Christianity be mocked? I'm willing to bet all of those offended Christians think is perfectly fine to draw caricatures of Mohammed.

 

[bird]

They knew exactly what they were doing. There was one performer who's balls were hanging out the whole performance. A man will know immediately if that happens so any claims that he didn't realize they were out aren't believable.

I don’t give a flying flock at a rolling doughnut. Conservatives and Republicans are so fixated on sex as to need mental healthcare.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Bostock v. Clayton County (2020) was one of the few pleasant surprises for liberals to come out of the Supreme Court during the Trump administration.

Authored by Trump appointee Neil Gorsuch and joined by Republican Chief Justice John Roberts, Bostock held that a decades-old federal civil rights law prohibits workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. It’s also written using such expansive language that it leaves little doubt that discrimination against LGBTQ people is forbidden in many other contexts, including health care and education.

suggested that Bostock has nothing to say about discrimination by educational institutions like public schools and universities.

One opinion, by the far-right United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, simply ignored Bostock altogether, as though it didn’t exist. Another opinion, joined by two Republicans on the Sixth Circuit, spent just two paragraphs trying to explain why the plain language of Bostock does not apply to schools.

Now, both of these cases — known as US Department of Education v. Louisiana and Cardona v. Tennessee — are before the Supreme Court on its “shadow docket, a mix of emergency motions and other matters that are often decided on a very tight timeframe. The stakes are enormous, as these two cases could determine whether the justices intend to enforce the one significant pro-LGBTQ rights decision they’ve handed down since former President Donald Trump started to remake the Supreme Court in the Federalist Society’s image..............

A new Supreme Court case threatens to gut the Court’s one good trans rights decision

Republican Justice Neil Gorsuch surprised most Court watchers by supporting trans rights in Bostock v. Clayton County. We’re about to find out if he actually meant it.

www.vox.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Pride flags flown from two Massachusettschurches were stolen and replaced with anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric and a “Christian” flag over the weekend.

First Congregational Church and Christ Lutheran Church in Natick were targeted, according to authorities.

Members of the congregations arrived at church on Sunday to find trans Pride, gay Pride and mental health awareness flags discarded under bushes, according to WCVB.


Reverend Cindy Worthington-Berry of First Congregational Church described the incident as “a kick in the gut.” She told the outlet the church has been a welcoming congregation for the last 20 years.

Something similar happened at Christ Lutheran Church, except the bandits there left behind anti-LGBTQIA+ letters.

“It’s startling,” Reverend Christephor Gilbert said. “They hung the flag here and then on the corner of the church they hung another banner that said, ‘Jesus is king.’”……..

Massachusetts church has pride flags stolen: ‘A kick in the gut’

The reverends of the churches are hoping that whoever is responsible is held accountable

www.independent.co.uk

 

[LA - L.A.]

Pride flags flown from two Massachusettschurches were stolen and replaced with anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric and a “Christian” flag over the weekend.

First Congregational Church and Christ Lutheran Church in Natick were targeted, according to authorities.

Members of the congregations arrived at church on Sunday to find trans Pride, gay Pride and mental health awareness flags discarded under bushes, according to WCVB.


Reverend Cindy Worthington-Berry of First Congregational Church described the incident as “a kick in the gut.” She told the outlet the church has been a welcoming congregation for the last 20 years.

Something similar happened at Christ Lutheran Church, except the bandits there left behind anti-LGBTQIA+ letters.

“It’s startling,” Reverend Christephor Gilbert said. “They hung the flag here and then on the corner of the church they hung another banner that said, ‘Jesus is king.’”……..

Massachusetts church has pride flags stolen: ‘A kick in the gut’

The reverends of the churches are hoping that whoever is responsible is held accountable

www.independent.co.uk

Christian on Christian crime, just proves what all Christians are. /sarcasm

 

[Optimus Prime]

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge has ruled that Florida’s transgender health care ban discriminates against state employees and violates their civil rights.

Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker ruled Thursday that the state’s ban violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects employees and job applicants from employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.

The lawsuit was filed in 2020 by three current and former state employees against the Florida Department of Management Services. The employees had challenged the denial of medically necessary treatment for their gender dysphoria under the state’s categorical exclusion of coverage for “gender reassignment or modification services or supplies.”

The plaintiffs are represented by Southern Legal Counsel, the ACLU of Florida and Legal Services of Greater Miami.…….

Federal judge rules that Florida’s transgender health care ban discriminates against state employees

A federal judge has ruled that Florida’s transgender health care ban discriminates against state employees and violates their civil rights. Chief U.S.

apnews.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

This made me laugh more than it should have

 

[zztop]

even if trump does not win this election, his previous 'work' has set this country back decades

Did the Supreme Court just overrule one of its most important LGBTQ rights decisions?

The Court appeared to abandon Bostock v. Clayton County this weekend.

www.vox.com

The Biden administration’s rules seemed to be crafted with Bostock compliance in mind — indeed, had a key provision of those rules been written any other way, they would have been illegal under Bostock. And yet the Court ruled against this provision regardless.

 

[Optimus Prime]

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Key West, Fort Lauderdale, Wilton Manors and St. Petersburg are among several Florida cities that have long been top U.S. destinations for LGBTQ+ tourists.

So it came as a surprise this week when travelers learned that Florida’s tourism marketing agency quietly removed the “LGBTQ Travel” section from its website sometime in the past few months.

Business owners who cater to Florida’s LGBTQ+ tourists said Wednesday that it marked the latest attempt by officials in the state to erase the LGBTQ+ community.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis previously championed a bill to forbid classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity, and supported a ban on gender-affirming care for minors, as well as a law meant to keep children out of drag shows.

“It’s just disgusting to see this,” said Keith Blackburn, who heads the Greater Fort Lauderdale LGBT Chamber of Commerce. “They seem to want to erase us.”…..

Florida quietly removes LGBTQ+ travel info from state website

Key West, Fort Lauderdale and Wilton Manors are among several Florida cities that have long been top U.S. destinations for LGBTQ+ tourists.

apnews.com

 

[Taurus]

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Key West, Fort Lauderdale, Wilton Manors and St. Petersburg are among several Florida cities that have long been top U.S. destinations for LGBTQ+ tourists.

So it came as a surprise this week when travelers learned that Florida’s tourism marketing agency quietly removed the “LGBTQ Travel” section from its website sometime in the past few months.

Business owners who cater to Florida’s LGBTQ+ tourists said Wednesday that it marked the latest attempt by officials in the state to erase the LGBTQ+ community.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis previously championed a bill to forbid classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity, and supported a ban on gender-affirming care for minors, as well as a law meant to keep children out of drag shows.

“It’s just disgusting to see this,” said Keith Blackburn, who heads the Greater Fort Lauderdale LGBT Chamber of Commerce. “They seem to want to erase us.”…..

Florida quietly removes LGBTQ+ travel info from state website

Key West, Fort Lauderdale and Wilton Manors are among several Florida cities that have long been top U.S. destinations for LGBTQ+ tourists.

apnews.com

"Seem", Keith? Come on, what do they have to do, straight up lynch y'all? They don't "seem" they absolutely "want" to erase you.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Starting Tuesday, transgender Texans are no longer able to change the sex on their driver’s license, according to a new state Department of Public Safety (DPS) policy.

“As of Aug. 20, 2024, DPS has stopped accepting these court orders as a basis to change sex identification in department records – including driver licenses,” a spokesperson with the department wrote to The Hill.

KUT Texas first reported on the change announced through an internal policy email within the Department of Public Safety.

Before the policy change, Texans could change the sex on their driver’s license if they had a valid court order. However, the DPS spokesperson wrote that state Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) “raised concerns regarding the validity of court orders being issued.”

The spokesperson added that DPS and other government agencies are not “parties to the proceedings that result in the issuance of these court orders and that the lack of legislative authority and evidentiary standards for the Courts to issue these orders has resulted in the need for a comprehensive legal review by DPS and the OAG.”

Under the new rule, the department has also asked employees to send copies of documentation requesting the names of those seeking updates to a special email address with the subject line “Sex Change Court order.”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ALCU) of Texas slammed the decision, with ACLU of Texas LGBTQIA+ Rights staffer Ash Hall saying the policy “jeopardizes trans people’s health and safety.”

“The Department of Public Safety has a responsibility, as stated in its own name, to keep all Texans safe. This policy does the opposite. Not having accurate driver’s licenses jeopardizes trans people’s health and safety — by potentially outing us and exposing us to discrimination, harassment, and violence,” Hall wrote in a statement. “State agencies can’t ignore court orders nor is DPS allowed to collect or share people’s personal information for political aims.”

“This relentless targeting of transgender Texans is yet another alarming attack on our privacy, safety, and dignity. Trans people deserve to live free from persecution in Texas and everywhere else,” they added………

https://thehill.com/homenews/lgbtq/4845079-transgender-texans-blocked-changing-sex-drivers-licenses/

 

[LA - L.A.]

Starting Tuesday, transgender Texans are no longer able to change the sex on their driver’s license, according to a new state Department of Public Safety (DPS) policy.

“As of Aug. 20, 2024, DPS has stopped accepting these court orders as a basis to change sex identification in department records – including driver licenses,” a spokesperson with the department wrote to The Hill.

KUT Texas first reported on the change announced through an internal policy email within the Department of Public Safety.

Before the policy change, Texans could change the sex on their driver’s license if they had a valid court order. However, the DPS spokesperson wrote that state Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) “raised concerns regarding the validity of court orders being issued.”

The spokesperson added that DPS and other government agencies are not “parties to the proceedings that result in the issuance of these court orders and that the lack of legislative authority and evidentiary standards for the Courts to issue these orders has resulted in the need for a comprehensive legal review by DPS and the OAG.”

Under the new rule, the department has also asked employees to send copies of documentation requesting the names of those seeking updates to a special email address with the subject line “Sex Change Court order.”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ALCU) of Texas slammed the decision, with ACLU of Texas LGBTQIA+ Rights staffer Ash Hall saying the policy “jeopardizes trans people’s health and safety.”

“The Department of Public Safety has a responsibility, as stated in its own name, to keep all Texans safe. This policy does the opposite. Not having accurate driver’s licenses jeopardizes trans people’s health and safety — by potentially outing us and exposing us to discrimination, harassment, and violence,” Hall wrote in a statement. “State agencies can’t ignore court orders nor is DPS allowed to collect or share people’s personal information for political aims.”

“This relentless targeting of transgender Texans is yet another alarming attack on our privacy, safety, and dignity. Trans people deserve to live free from persecution in Texas and everywhere else,” they added………

https://thehill.com/homenews/lgbtq/4845079-transgender-texans-blocked-changing-sex-drivers-licenses/

I'm guessing a lot of people on this board have played Risk. If you have, remember the player who would always aggressively overreach and extend their armies beyond their ability to defend their gains? Yeah, that player. That's the Republican Party since 2016.

 

[Taurus]

I'm guessing a lot of people on this board have played Risk. If you have, remember the player who would always aggressively overreach and extend their armies beyond their ability to defend their gains? Yeah, that player. That's the Republican Party since 2016.

To extend the metaphor, every time the Orange Overextender runs into an opponent in position to defeat him, they inexplicably bend the knee. (See: Mitch, Moscow)

 

[Optimus Prime]

Some parents have stockpiled medications in hidden locations. Some have stopped socializing with neighbors. Some have made plans to flee the state.

In Missouri, transgender youth and their families are grappling with an onslaught of attacks on their rights.

Last year, Republican lawmakers outlawedcritical healthcare treatments for trans youth and banned many trans athletes from school sports.

Local school districts worked to censor LGBTQ+ books and prohibit trans children from using bathrooms that match their gender identity.

And the state’s attorney general has become a national leader in anti-trans policy, seeking to gain access to trans kids’ medical records, fighting to restrict trans adults’ healthcare and attackingtrans adults who use public locker rooms.


The state is one of the epicenters of the moral panic and anti-trans rhetoric that have dominated campaigns and media cycles during the presidential election. Under the guise of fighting the “indoctrination of our children”, Republicanshave made restricting trans rights a focus of their platforms.

Donald Trump has vowed to stop “the leftwing gender insanity” while a leading Missouri Republican has celebrated residents leaving the state due to anti-trans policies, saying: “We are better if they are gone.”

The toxic discourse has fomented fear and anger among conservatives about trans people’s increasing visibility in society and created deep anxiety and distress for queer and trans people and their families.

Parents of trans youth across the St Louis region interviewed for this article said they were desperately trying to protect their kids’ health and wellbeing as politicians have zeroed in on their children.

They are rationing medications and traveling hours out of state for care. Some are counting the days until their kids turn 18 and the laws don’t apply; “We are truly doing what we can to keep our children alive,” said one mother of a trans boy.

“Kids are being told by their government that they have to be eradicated from public life,” said Chelsea Freels, a recent high school graduate from St Louis, who has become a vocal advocate for trans youth like herself.

“I’m 18 now. I can handle it – ish. But I have to help the kids who are younger. It’s like Sisyphus pushing a boulder up a hill. You can help them get better, but then it’s gonna go back down.”……..

‘Legislators don’t see me as human’: Missouri trans youth fight to survive anti-LGBTQ+ bills

GOP lawmakers have made the state hostile for trans youth. These teens and their parents vow to ‘assert themselves’

www.theguardian.com

 

[Nebaghead]

Some parents have stockpiled medications in hidden locations. Some have stopped socializing with neighbors. Some have made plans to flee the state.

In Missouri, transgender youth and their families are grappling with an onslaught of attacks on their rights.

Last year, Republican lawmakers outlawedcritical healthcare treatments for trans youth and banned many trans athletes from school sports.

Local school districts worked to censor LGBTQ+ books and prohibit trans children from using bathrooms that match their gender identity.

And the state’s attorney general has become a national leader in anti-trans policy, seeking to gain access to trans kids’ medical records, fighting to restrict trans adults’ healthcare and attackingtrans adults who use public locker rooms.


The state is one of the epicenters of the moral panic and anti-trans rhetoric that have dominated campaigns and media cycles during the presidential election. Under the guise of fighting the “indoctrination of our children”, Republicanshave made restricting trans rights a focus of their platforms.

Donald Trump has vowed to stop “the leftwing gender insanity” while a leading Missouri Republican has celebrated residents leaving the state due to anti-trans policies, saying: “We are better if they are gone.”

The toxic discourse has fomented fear and anger among conservatives about trans people’s increasing visibility in society and created deep anxiety and distress for queer and trans people and their families.

Parents of trans youth across the St Louis region interviewed for this article said they were desperately trying to protect their kids’ health and wellbeing as politicians have zeroed in on their children.

They are rationing medications and traveling hours out of state for care. Some are counting the days until their kids turn 18 and the laws don’t apply; “We are truly doing what we can to keep our children alive,” said one mother of a trans boy.

“Kids are being told by their government that they have to be eradicated from public life,” said Chelsea Freels, a recent high school graduate from St Louis, who has become a vocal advocate for trans youth like herself.

“I’m 18 now. I can handle it – ish. But I have to help the kids who are younger. It’s like Sisyphus pushing a boulder up a hill. You can help them get better, but then it’s gonna go back down.”……..

‘Legislators don’t see me as human’: Missouri trans youth fight to survive anti-LGBTQ+ bills

GOP lawmakers have made the state hostile for trans youth. These teens and their parents vow to ‘assert themselves’

www.theguardian.com

Same thing here in Nebraska. Also Nebraska has a weird law that you are technically not an adult till 19. At least you can’t sign legal documents and other such things. So the Trans law applies to people under 19. I am grateful my son turned 19 before that law went into effect and lives in St. Paul. Not a lot has been said about it but Walz signed a bill making MN a sanctuary state for Trans people.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Colorado Republicans have voted to remove their party’s chairman amid mounting internal criticism of his leadership, including over recent posts that attacked the L.G.B.T.Q. community and accusations that he had fueled divisions within the party.

Dave Williams, a hard-line state representative who was elected to helm the Colorado Republican Party last year, was ousted on Saturday, two months after dozens of state Republican Party members signed a petition to hold the vote. Party members selected Eli Bremer, a former chairman of the party in El Paso County in Colorado, to serve out Mr. Williams’s term.

According to Michael J. Allen, a Republican district attorney in Colorado Springs, about 88 percent of the 182 or so eligible members voted for the motion at the Saturday meeting to remove Mr. Williams.

“There has been an open revolt to his leadership of the party across the state,” Mr. Allen said in an interview. “It has been an accumulation of things at the expense of party unity and real electoral progress.”

Mr. Allen, who prosecuted a 2022 mass shooting at an L.G.B.T.Q. nightclub in Colorado Springs, said he was particularly sensitive about what he criticized as Mr. Williams’s “hate-fueled” posts and emails that vilified the L.G.B.T.Q. community, which included a call to burn all Pride flags.

In an email Sunday night, Mr. Williams denounced the meeting, which was held at a church in the municipality of Brighton, near Denver, as a “sham,” noting that it was “illegitimate” based on procedural grounds...............

MSN

 

[Optimus Prime]

Transgender residents of South Carolina have sued the state over its ban on their healthcare, challenging one of the most restrictive anti-trans laws in the nation, which has stripped youth and adults of access to critical medical treatments.

The complaint filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Thursday challenges a bill enacted by Republicans in May, which prohibited gender-affirming treatments for trans youth under 18 and banned public funds from being used for all trans healthcare.……

Representative David Hiott, H4624’s lead sponsor, promoted the bill by stating: “When God created us, he created us male and female … There is no other choice, and all these other folks that want to change that … we need to stand up against that.”


A spokesperson for the state attorney general declined to comment on the suit, but said in an email: “We will vigorously defend the state’s laws.” Spokespeople for Hiott and governor Henry McMaster did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday afternoon.

“I’m an adult. It is ridiculous that the state has the ability to have any say over the healthcare I’m receiving,” Sterling Misanin, a 32-year-old Charleston man and one of the ACLU’s plaintiffs, said in an interview.

Misanin, a trans man, had been an MUSC patient for years and had a long-planned gender-affirming surgery, a hysterectomy, scheduled this summer. But days before his surgery, he said he got a call announcing it was canceled due to the law. “It was really hard to process,” he said.

“There was a lot of frustration and anger mixed with this fear that I would never be able to get this.” He said he contacted the ACLU because he was feeling “desperate to try anything in my power”…….

Trans adults stripped of healthcare access sue South Carolina over GOP bill: ‘I’m desperate’

Plaintiffs in complaint says ‘it’s hard to see a future’ after bill blocked care for trans youth and adults in May

www.theguardian.com