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.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Forking Oklahoma again
==================

Republicans in red states across the US have been pushing a slew of anti-LGBTQ+ measures targeting same-sex marriages with an aim of ultimately securing a supreme court ban on the federally protected right.

The recent wave of Republican-led bills targeting same-sex marriage comes amid a second Donald Trump presidency in which his administration has taken on more emboldened attacks against LGBTQ+ communities across the country, as seen through a flurry of executive orders he signed, assailing various LGBTQ+ rights.

Numerous Republican lawmakers across red states have followed suit in both rhetoric and the introduction of bills, sparking concerns across LGBTQ+ and civil rights organizations over their social and political effects.


In Oklahoma last month, a day after Trump’s inauguration, the Republican state senator Dusty Deevers introduced a series of bills targeting LGBTQ+ rights, among them the Promote Child Thriving act.

The Promote Child Thriving act establishes a $500 tax credit per child for a mother and father filing jointly and is escalated to $1,000 if the child was born after the marriage of the parents.

Describing the bill, Deevers said: “There is no greater factor in the wellbeing and future success of a child than whether they grew up in a two-parent household with their mother and father. It’s not even close.”

He added: “I know that not everyone benefits from this act, but everyone should support what is good for kids, and growing up with one’s mother and father is, in the vast majority of cases, the most important factor in a child’s wellbeing.”

In response to Deevers’s bill, the Tulsa-based pastor Randy Lewis of the All Souls Unitarian Church told News Channel 8: “I have a non-traditional family – my partner’s kids are not mine, so it would be one of those situations. My kids aren’t biologically my partner’s. We’d be one of those situations [where] we’re eliminated from the grant process.”

Another Republican Oklahoma state senator, David Bullard, introduced a similar bill that would offer a $2,000 child tax credit per child only for married couples with biological children from the marriage.


Explaining the bill to Jenna Ellis, a former lawyer for Trump, Bullard said it was introduced to challenge the supreme court’s 2015 decision in Obergefell v Hodges that declared same-sex marriages as legal across the US.

“Really what we want to do is challenge that concept and see if we can get to Obergefell,” Bullard said. “And I think that’s kind of what we’re pushing at all the way around the board with a bill like this, is to actually go straight at Obergefell and say: ‘No, the constitution protects my right, my freedom of speech, my freedom of expression, my freedom of religion to disagree with same-sex marriage.’”

“The reality is we have to push back on Obergefell,” Bullard added.………

Republican state lawmakers galvanize to attack same-sex marriage

The recent wave of GOP-led bills comes as Trump becomes emboldened in orders against LGBTQ+ communities

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Do you know how hard it is being a straight man in America?
========
A longtime Starbucks manager is suing the coffeehouse chain for discrimination, retaliation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, accusing his bosses of ignoring the “extreme and outrageous” harassment he claims he suffered on the job because he is straight.

Christopher Thevanesan, a “heterosexual, gender typical man” in Rochester, New York, claims supervisors at his location treated him “in a materially different manner” than employees who were “not heterosexual and/or gender typical men,” according to a lawsuit filed under New York State’s Human Rights Law and obtained by The Independent.

The suit, which was served on Starbucks in late February, describes the 47-year-old Thevanesan as “a model employee who performed the essential functions of his employment in an exemplary fashion.”

However, it contends, his LGBTQ+ coworkers created a “hostile” work environment for Thevanesan due to his “gender typicality and sexual orientation,” and higher-ups allegedly fired him when he complained.……

Starbucks manager claims he faced ‘egregious’ discrimination for being heterosexual

Exclusive: Christopher Thevanesan’s straightness was “weaponized” against him, attorney Neil Flynn claimed to The Independent

www.independent.co.uk

 

[Lapaz]

Do you know how hard it is being a straight man in America?
========
A longtime Starbucks manager is suing the coffeehouse chain for discrimination, retaliation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, accusing his bosses of ignoring the “extreme and outrageous” harassment he claims he suffered on the job because he is straight.

Christopher Thevanesan, a “heterosexual, gender typical man” in Rochester, New York, claims supervisors at his location treated him “in a materially different manner” than employees who were “not heterosexual and/or gender typical men,” according to a lawsuit filed under New York State’s Human Rights Law and obtained by The Independent.

The suit, which was served on Starbucks in late February, describes the 47-year-old Thevanesan as “a model employee who performed the essential functions of his employment in an exemplary fashion.”

However, it contends, his LGBTQ+ coworkers created a “hostile” work environment for Thevanesan due to his “gender typicality and sexual orientation,” and higher-ups allegedly fired him when he complained.……

Starbucks manager claims he faced ‘egregious’ discrimination for being heterosexual

Exclusive: Christopher Thevanesan’s straightness was “weaponized” against him, attorney Neil Flynn claimed to The Independent

www.independent.co.uk

I doubt that he can prove he was discriminated against for being straight, but I'm in favor of rooting out ALL discrimination. If he wins his lawsuit, it will reinforce that sexual orientation must be protected. That may be the unintended consequence of Thevanesan's lawsuit.

 

[coldseat]

Do you know how hard it is being a straight man in America?
========
A longtime Starbucks manager is suing the coffeehouse chain for discrimination, retaliation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, accusing his bosses of ignoring the “extreme and outrageous” harassment he claims he suffered on the job because he is straight.

Christopher Thevanesan, a “heterosexual, gender typical man” in Rochester, New York, claims supervisors at his location treated him “in a materially different manner” than employees who were “not heterosexual and/or gender typical men,” according to a lawsuit filed under New York State’s Human Rights Law and obtained by The Independent.

The suit, which was served on Starbucks in late February, describes the 47-year-old Thevanesan as “a model employee who performed the essential functions of his employment in an exemplary fashion.”

However, it contends, his LGBTQ+ coworkers created a “hostile” work environment for Thevanesan due to his “gender typicality and sexual orientation,” and higher-ups allegedly fired him when he complained.……

Starbucks manager claims he faced ‘egregious’ discrimination for being heterosexual

Exclusive: Christopher Thevanesan’s straightness was “weaponized” against him, attorney Neil Flynn claimed to The Independent

www.independent.co.uk

I can just smell the bullshirt in that article. He was the freaking manager, give me a break. He's just pissed because he got fired for cause, is homophobic, and is using the current anti-DEI climate around LGBTQ+ people to extract money from Starbucks.

 

[Huntn]

In the good news department:

Powerful Speeches From Trans Dems Flip 29 Republicans, Anti-Trans Bills Die In Montana

Transgender Reps Zooey Zephyr and SJ Howell delivered powerful speeches on the Montana House floor on Thursday. Republicans defected en masse to join them in voting against anti-trans bills.

www.erininthemorning.com

A week ago, transgender Representative Zooey Zephyr delivered a powerful speech against a bill that would create a separate indecent exposure law for transgender people. Since then, momentum on the House floor slowed. Today, two of the most extreme bills targeting the transgender community came up for a vote. Transgender Representatives Zooey Zephyr and SJ Howell gave impassioned speeches—this time, they broke through. In a stunning turn, 29 Republicans defected, killing both bills. One Republican even took the floor to deliver a scathing rebuke of the bill’s sponsor.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Transgender women incarcerated in the US prison system have been transferred to men’s facilities under Donald Trump’s executive order, despite multiple court rulings blocking the president’s policy, according to civil rights lawyers and accounts from behind bars.

Trump’s day-one “gender ideology” order, one of several sweeping attacks on trans rights, said the attorney general “shall ensure that males are not detained in women’s prisons or housed in women’s detention centers” and that no federal funds go to gender-affirming treatment or procedures for people in custody.

The executive order was quickly challenged in court. In three lawsuits filed on behalf of trans women housed in women’s prisons, federal judges have ruled that the US Bureau of Prisons (BOP) cannot withhold their medical treatment and was barred from moving them to men’s facilities. One judge said the plaintiffs had “straightforwardly demonstrated that irreparable harm will follow”.

Lawyers fighting Trump’s directive say the court rulings prevented the transfers of 17 trans women who are plaintiffs in the cases, but others not included in the litigation are now facing placements in men’s facilities.


“I’m just continuing to be punished for existing,” said Whitney, a 31-year-old trans woman who was transferred from a women’s facility to a men’s prison this week. The BOP changed her records from “female” to “male”, records show. In messages before her transfer, she said she felt like a “pawn in others’ political games”. The Guardian is not using her full name due to concerns about retaliation.…….

Trans women transferred to men’s prisons despite rulings against Trump’s order

Incarcerated trans women report being groped by male guards and suicidal thoughts: ‘I’m punished for existing’

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

……….Representative SJ Howell then spoke out against an even more extreme bill that sought to remove transgender children from their parents.

“Every time a child is removed from their family, it’s a tragedy. Sometimes a necessary tragedy, but a tragedy nonetheless. This bill does not come close to the seriousness with which those decisions should be contemplated,” said Howell.

“Put yourself in the shoes of a [child protective service] worker who is confronted with a young person … living in a stable home with loving parents, who is supported and has their needs met. And they are supposed to remove that child from their home and put them in the care of the state? We should absolutely not be doing that.”

The bill was defeated by 71 votes to 27, after 29 Republicans defected.

After the votes, Zephyr thanked Republican colleagues for helping defeat the bills.

“Rep Howell & I have built solid relationships with Republicans and those relationships change hearts, minds, and (eventually) votes. It is painful, grueling work. But it makes a difference,” Zephyr wrote on Bluesky.

“May [Rep Essmann’s] courage be contagious, and may it lead to more Republicans standing up against these bills,” she also posted.


There are 696 bills currently under consideration across 49 states that would negatively impact trans and gender-nonconforming people. Texas is the state with the most anti-trans policy initiatives, with 97 active bills, followed by Missouri, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Iowa and Connecticut. So far this year, 18 bills have been passed, which follows an unprecedented 87 in 2024, according to the trans legislation tracker.……

‘Stop these crazy bills’: Republicans join Democrats to defeat anti-trans legislation in Montana

One bill would remove trans children from their parents, and the other would ban drag shows and Pride marches

www.theguardian.com

 

[Incumbent]

While unlikely to pass (for now) the cruelty is on full display. I can’t get used to the fact that this is where we are as a country. Infuriating and heartbreaking.

“HB 3817 would make it a state jail felony for a person to “identify” to a state agency or private employer their “biological sex as the opposite of the biological sex assigned to the person at birth.”

https://www.kxan.com/news/texas-politics/texas-bill-could-charge-transgender-people-with-gender-identity-fraud-if-passed/

 

[Optimus Prime]

 

[Optimus Prime]

Late last month, the Trump administration moved to fire transgender people serving in the armed forces.

This includes those who have honorably served for for 19 years (one year short of retirement) those who have served honorably in combat situations, and those in whom the military has already invested millions of dollars in training.

I’m a transgender woman who medically transitioned while on active duty service. I wish more people knew that transgender service members are not a threat. Instead, we’re the ones who volunteer when others won’t. We bring unique perspectives and skills to the armed forces.

Transgender individuals are twice as likely as all adults in the US to have served in the armed forces, a testament to our commitment and dedication.


We are also seven times more likely than US civilians to attempt suicide during our lifetimes. This is no surprise when we are constantly told – through actions like this drastic transgender military ban – that our careers and our lives are not worth saving.

I served for 20 years in the army and endured my share of hardships. In 2005, I was deployed to Afghanistan, working as a repairer on Apache helicopters, when I found out that my wife had been diagnosed with cancer. She died 12 months after I got home, and I became a single parent to our young children.

As their only provider, I was fortunate to be able to keep my job when I came out publicly in 2016 under President Obama. But while I was stationed in Missouri, I faced a frightening amount of transphobia.

I was verbally harassed, physically threatened, and once, someone stood in my driveway and shot into my car. My kids saw all of it. This is the reality of the discrimination that transgender service members face.

If I were still actively serving in the military today, I would lose my career, health insurance, and other benefits, and so would my family.

The Trump administration is wrong about transgender service members. The Pentagon memo declares that being transgender is “incompatible with the high mental and physical standards necessary for military service”. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

There are at least 15,000 transgender individualsin the military, and they serve everywhere. They are pilots, submariners and infantry; they are in command positions; they are trusted in the highest-skilled military jobs and the riskiest; they hold top secret clearances (as I did).

The cumulative loss of institutional and career knowledge across the spectrum that will come from this decision is devastating, as is the personal loss to these service members and their families.


This new order is reckless and counter-productive to military preparedness. When we face threats worldwide, we need a strong and resilient military. We don’t need to leave 15,000 skilled positions vacant……..

I’m a transgender veteran. Trump’s military order is reckless and dangerous | Alleria Stanley

Trans people are twice as likely as US adults overall to serve in the armed forces. But we’re regularly told our careers and lives aren’t worth saving

www.theguardian.com

 

[fooferdoggie]

Texas bill would make identifying as transgender a felony punishable by jail

The bill, while unlikely to pass, highlights the increasing extremism of legislation targeting trans people, especially in Texas, in recent years.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[superchuck500]

 

[coldseat]

Republicans showing their arse!

House hearing ends after lawmaker introduces Rep. Sarah McBride as ‘Mr. McBride’

A House subcommittee hearing abruptly ended on Tuesday when Texas Republican Rep. Keith Self introduced the first openly transgender lawmaker in Congress as "Mr.

apnews.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Russell T Davies has said gay society is in the “greatest danger I have ever seen”, since the election of Donald Trump as US president in November.

Speaking to the Guardian at the Gaydio Pride awards in Manchester on Friday, the Doctor Who screenwriter said the rise in hostility was not limited to the US but “is here [in the UK] now”.

“As a gay man, I feel like a wave of anger, and violence, and resentment is heading towards us on a vast scale,” he said.


“I’ve literally seen a difference in the way I’m spoken to as a gay man since that November election, and that’s a few months of weaponising hate speech, and the hate speech creeps into the real world.”

“I’m not being alarmist,” he added. “I’m 61 years old. I know gay society very, very well, and I think we’re in the greatest danger I have ever seen.”…..

Russell T Davies: gay society in ‘greatest danger I’ve ever seen’ after Trump win

Exclusive: Doctor Who writer says he feels ‘a wave of anger heading towards us’ and hostility in UK as well as US

www.theguardian.com

 

[coldseat]

Russell T Davies has said gay society is in the “greatest danger I have ever seen”, since the election of Donald Trump as US president in November.

Speaking to the Guardian at the Gaydio Pride awards in Manchester on Friday, the Doctor Who screenwriter said the rise in hostility was not limited to the US but “is here [in the UK] now”.

“As a gay man, I feel like a wave of anger, and violence, and resentment is heading towards us on a vast scale,” he said.


“I’ve literally seen a difference in the way I’m spoken to as a gay man since that November election, and that’s a few months of weaponising hate speech, and the hate speech creeps into the real world.”

“I’m not being alarmist,” he added. “I’m 61 years old. I know gay society very, very well, and I think we’re in the greatest danger I have ever seen.”…..

Russell T Davies: gay society in ‘greatest danger I’ve ever seen’ after Trump win

Exclusive: Doctor Who writer says he feels ‘a wave of anger heading towards us’ and hostility in UK as well as US

www.theguardian.com

I agree.

 

[fooferdoggie]

I agree.

He is lucky he is not trans they will have it far worse.

 

[Optimus Prime]

When Wylie joined the Postal Service in December, they had two very contradictory thoughts about the coming return of Donald Trump.

They knew, as a nonbinary transgender person, that the next four years would be hell. Trump, after all, had made attacking what he called “transgender insanity” a central part of his 2024 campaign and his first administration. But Wylie didn’t want to hide who they are, either.

Instead, working with the public each day would be a quiet way of resisting the demonization from the White House, while also keeping an ear to the ground in case the public mood grew too violent.

“I wanted to be out in the streets, be where people can see me, and also see the day-to-day on the streets so that if anything starts changing I perhaps have time to respond,” said Wylie, who asked not to use their full name for their safety……

Federal workers told The Independent these steps amount to a new Lavender Scare, the paranoid, Cold War-era purge of LGBTQ+ people from the federal government that caused thousands to leave federal service for good. None of those interviewed for this story wanted to use their full names for fear of reprisals.

In agencies and offices around the country, LGBTQ+ government officials are wrestling with what they can say around their colleagues, which bathrooms they can use, and how they’ll survive now that the government won’t fund gender-affirming healthcare.

Wylie has alternated between defiance and defense, continuing to using the bathroom of their choice in federal buildings, while also engaging an immigration attorney in case they have to flee the country if Trump goes further down what they see as his “Nazi” path.

“I kind of assume that I will be driven out of the country in the next four years,” Wylie added. “I am an Eagle Scout. I love this country, but it clearly doesn’t love me back.”………

Workers fear Trump is leading new Lavender Scare purge of LGBTQ+ federal employees

LBGTQ+ federal workers say they are under a cloud of suspicion and uncertainty as the Trump administration purges trans people and DEI from federal government. Josh Marcus reports

www.independent.co.uk

 

[Optimus Prime]

A transgender public school teacher in New York’s Hudson Valley says she was taunted by students, repeatedly misgendered by colleagues, and forced out of her job by the administration after parents launched a vitriolic social media campaign against her.

Tonia Daniels, who was employed as a substitute in Dutchess County, claims kids in her classes laughed at her, asked continually if she “was a boy or a girl,” and, in one instance, was mockingly called “sir” by a fifth-grader.

When Daniels reported the ongoing situation to higher-ups, her concerns were thoroughly ignored — until she was ultimately fired for candidly “disclosing her gender identity” to a student who had inquired about it, according to a federal human rights lawsuit obtained by The Independent.

Daniels, who worked as an educator for 35-plus years, now works cleaning houses and as a rideshare driver, said attorney Jillian Weiss, who is representing Daniels and is herself transgender.

In an emailed statement, Daniels said, “I have been devoted to my education profession and my students for many years. Thankfully, I was quite successful, and spent many happy years as an educator and administrator. I wish that the School District, and the parents who pushed for my firing, could have looked beyond their bias against trans people, which trumped my many years of experience educating students. I am filing this lawsuit so no other teachers need ever face such job bias in the education profession in the future.”……..

Trans teacher says she was forced out after bullying by students and faculty

Exclusive: Tonia Daniels, a longtime educator, is now cleaning houses to make ends meet

www.independent.co.uk