State Farm will turn 100 years old next month, June which is PRIDE month. And for years State Farm has been a very good ally and supporter. Then State Farm has proved it’s actually a shitty neighbor when the Illinois-based corporation’s chief diversity officer sent an email to employees, stating it was dropping its “support of a philanthropic program, GenderCool,” saying it “has been the subject of news and customer inquiries.”
The program helps put LGBTQ-inclusive books into libraries and schools.
According to chief diversity officer Victor Terry: “This program that included books about gender identity was intended to promote inclusivity,. “We will no longer support that program.” And in an apparent bowing down to rising far right-wing extremism and anti-LGBT hate, the diversity expert declared, “conversations about gender and identity should happen at home with parents.”
Veteran activist and journalist Michelangelo Signorile, host calls State Farm’s actions “grotesque as LGBT rights are backsliding across the country. Now companies joining Ron DeSantis, MAGA and the ‘don’t say gay’ purge.”
State Farm in the past has made strong statements in support of LGBT equality and diversity. Just last June they tweeted: “We believe no one should be afraid to celebrate who they are. Let’s support our LGBTQ+ neighbors and show our Pride together!”
On February 25th the Florida House of Representatives passed a bill that critics call the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. The bill is now set to go before the Florida Senate on Monday.
The bill would “prohibit primary school educators from engaging in discussions related to sexual orientation or gender identity.” and “restrict mention of LGBTQ+ topics in classrooms that are not ‘age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.’”
On Saturday Disney has issued a rather lackluster statement regarding the bill. In the statement, Disney notes that they “understand how important this issue is to [their] LGBTQ+ employees and many others.” Disney goes on to say that for “nearly a century, Disney has been a unifying force that brings people together. We are determined that it remains a place where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.”
That is all well and fine and thank you for the Gay Days (although your movie inclusion could be better) but REALLY is this the BEST Disney who owns roughly 30,000 acres in Central Florida and brings billions of dollars to Florida’s economy yearly can do to help protect LGBT children and Americans?
You’ll be okay as long as you are in our park. -SMFH-
The Bill has received heavy criticism from a number of individuals and groups, including the President of the United States. LGBT activist and advocates across the country have said that the bill will “harm LGBTQ youth by shunning representation and inclusion from classrooms.” They also say that by erasing the presence of LGBT from lessons, it implies that “students should be ashamed or suppress their gender identity or sexual orientation.”
So Disney it is time for you to finally put up or shut up when it comes to the support of LGBT Americans because being an ally means a helluva lot more than a pair of rainbow mouse ears
NEW: Disney responds to protests and calls for action surrounding Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” Bill, saying in part, “The biggest impact we can have in creating a more inclusive world is through the inspiring content we produce.”
Jeffrey Hurant, the former CEO of the website Rentboy.com, was sentenced to six months in prison by U.S. District Judge Margo K. Brodie in Brooklyn.
“The very thing that is illegal – there is no question it did a lot of good,” Brodie said as she announced the sentence, which included a $7,500 fine.
Hurant said he created the website so sex workers could proceed in a safer manner.
Prosecutors wanted him to serve at least a short term to deter operators of other escort services from similar misconduct, while his lawyers have argued that he deserves no more than probation.
In letters to the court, the lawmakers, civil rights organizations and other supporters have cautioned that a tough sentence could send the wrong message to the gay community.
The case is troubling “because it harkens back to a dark chapter in our nation’s history when the government used its vast resources to target and threaten LGBT adults by exposing their private consensual sexual activity,” wrote state Sen. Brad Hoylman, a Manhattan Democrat.
Five New York City council members from the LGBT community also signed a letter arguing that “a harsh sentence will serve neither society nor the Los Angeles Rehab of Mr. Hurant.”
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Prosecutors had alleged that Rentboy was the equivalent of an online brothel, and what the site called escorts were actually prostitutes. They said part of theproof was in the explicit ads that featured nude photos, listings of all manner of physical attributes and pricing options ranging from $150 an hour to $3,500 for a weekend. – via CBS.com
There has still been no explanation why Homeland Security was involved in the raid upon Rentboy.com in 2015. Many gay activists along with this website have questioned why the agency would single out Rentboy when other escort websites, gay or straight, continue to do business.
“We must fearlessly fight for the rights for consensual adults to choose what they do with their bodies,” Hurant said as he left court, hugging some 30 friends and family members who had come to show their support.
The Supreme Court decided Monday to hear a case involving a Colorado baker’s refusal to design and make a cake for a same-sex marriage. The baker, Jake Phillips, declined to make the custom cake and said it conflicted with his religious beliefs.
The Colorado Civil Rights Commission decided that Phillips’ actions amounted to sexual orientation discrimination under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act. The Colorado Court of Appeals said the commission’s ruling did not violate the First Amendment because Phillips’ speech was “conduct compelled by a neutral and generally applicable law,” as attorneys for Phillips noted in their petition to the high court.
The case comes from the home state of Justice Neil Gorsuch, who joined the high court in April. The Supreme Court relisted the case several times for consideration, as it may have been waiting for a full nine-justice court to hear the case. – The Washington Examiner
Of course Anti-LGBT hate group leader Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council jump all over this news and sent out a word salad press release.
The U.S. Supreme Court now has an opportunity to issue a ruling that makes clear the government has no authority to force Americans like Jack Phillips to use their artistic talents to celebrate events with which they have a moral and/or religious disagreement.
With Justice Gorsuch now on the bench, we are more optimistic that the Supreme Court will uphold our nation’s long tradition of respecting the freedom of Americans to follow their deeply held beliefs, especially when it comes to participating in activities and ceremonies that so many Americans consider sacred.
The First Amendment has long protected Americans from being compelled by the government to advocate a message to which one objects. As Americans, our consensus on religious freedom has historically recognized the God-given right of Americans to live all aspects of their lives according to their faith. This is no different today. Attempting to restrict religious conviction to the four walls of a church is not freedom, that is tyranny.
Now remind me again who wants “special rights”?
“The bakery claims … that its owner’s religious belief gives it a special right to defy the law…”
In an attempt to justify their recent Anti-immigration Ban disaster and to push the fear of terrorism to justify it, Donald Trump’s White House staff has released a document of terrorist attacks that they say the media have “ignored,” incredibly they specify The Pulse Nightclub massacre as one of them.
Trump claimed Monday that terror attacks are happening ‘all over Europe’ but they’re not being covered by the ‘very, very dishonest press.’
Speaking to U.S. Special Forces and U.S. Central Command soldiers, he said, ‘We’re up against an enemy that celebrates death and totally worships destruction. You’ve seen that. ISIS is on a campaign of genocide, committing atrocities across the world.
‘Radical Islamic terrorists are determined to strike our homeland as they did on 9/11, as they did from Boston to Orlando to San Bernardino, and all across Europe,’ he said. ‘You’ve seen what happened in Paris and Nice. All over Europe, it’s happening.’
He at that point added: ‘It’s gotten to a point where it’s not even being reported. And in many cases the very, very dishonest press doesn’t want to report it. They have their reasons, and you understand that.’
On June 12, 2016, Omar Mateen entered the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando and opened fire, killing 49 people and injuring 53, making it the worst mass shooting by a lone gunman in United States history.
Media attention was fast and widespread, with major networks filming live at the scene with non-stop coverage by all major news networks.
Manteen was an American born citizen.
You can see the full list of attacks the White House propaganda team says the media has ignored HERE.
In a vote was 10-0. Charlotte’s City Council has voted to repeal its controversial non-discrimination ordinance, unfortunately known as the ‘bathroom’ ordinance” despite the fact that encompassed LGBT protections for housing and employment discrimination along with public accommodations. The ordinance was pushed through the council in early 2016, just months into Mayor Jennifer Roberts’ tenure, and as a part of it required businesses to allow people to use the bathroom corresponding to their gender identity which quickly became the main issue on both sides.
Following a surprise move by the Charlotte City Council, Gov.-elect Roy Cooper said Monday that Legislative leaders have promised him to call a special session Tuesday to repeal House Bill 2.
“Senate Leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore assured me that as a result of Charlotte’s vote, a special session will be called for Tuesday to repeal HB 2 in full,” Cooper said in a statement. “I hope they will keep their word to me and with the help of Democrats in the legislature, HB2 will be repealed in full.
“Full repeal will help to bring jobs, sports and entertainment events back and will provide the opportunity for strong LGBT protections in our state.” Cooper’s announcement followed the Charlotte City Council’s vote to rescind the LGBT ordinance that prompted House Bill 2. The council was meeting at a breakfast meeting called to discuss its legislative agenda.
Mayor Jennifer Roberts called it the first concrete opportunity to repeal HB2. The law, which limits LGBT rights, has been cited as the reason for millions in lost economic development and boycotts by the NCAA and others.
LGBT activists nationwide along with the the ACLU and Lambda Legal are outraged by the city of Charlotte’s move:
“H.B. 2 was an unprecedented attack on the LGBT community, in particular against transgender people, and we are encouraged that its days are numbered,” said Sarah Gillooly, Policy Director for the ACLU of North Carolina. “It is imperative that the General Assembly hold up their end of the deal and repeal H.B. 2 in full without delay. This will be an important step for North Carolinians to move forward, but it never should have come at the cost of protections for LGBT people living in Charlotte.”
“LGBT rights aren’t a bargaining chip. Charlotte shouldn’t have had to repeal its ordinance in exchange for H.B. 2 to be repealed,” said Simone Bell, the Southern Regional Director for Lambda Legal. “LGBT people in North Carolina still need protection from discrimination.”
The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of North Carolina, Lambda Legal and the law firm of Jenner & Block are challenging H.B. 2 in federal court on behalf of four LGBT North Carolinians and members of the ACLU of North Carolina.
The ACLU and Lambda Legal lawsuit, Carcaño v. McCrory, was filed days after H.B. 2 was passed by the North Carolina General Assembly and signed by Governor Pat McCrory. In the lawsuit, the groups argue that through the law, North Carolina sends a purposeful message that LGBT people are second-class citizens who are undeserving of the privacy, respect, and protections afforded others in the state and that transgender individuals, in particular, are expelled from public life through H.B. 2’s mandate that they be forced out of restrooms and changing facilities that accord with who they are.
The complaint argues that H.B. 2 violates Title IX and Title VII by discriminating against students and school employees on the basis of sex. It also argues the law is unconstitutional because it violates the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment by discriminating on the basis of sex and sexual orientation and violates the privacy and medical decision making rights of transgender people.”
Unsurprisingly the Human Rights Campaign does not seem all that upset about it:
“Governor-elect Cooper has briefed us on a deal he brokered with state lawmakers to reach a complete and total repeal of HB2,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “HB2 is precisely why North Carolinians went to the polls and ousted Governor McCrory last month. It’s time to chart a new course guided by the state’s values of dignity and respect, not discrimination and hate — and to ensure non-discrimination protections exist in cities, towns and across the state of North Carolina. It’s been 271 days since the shameful and archaic HB2 was first passed, and the entire country has witnessed its devastating impact. It’s time for state lawmakers to repeal HB2 and begin repairing the harm this bill has done to people and the damage it has done to North Carolina’s reputation and economy.”
Crissle West — writer, comedian, and co-host of The Read podcast — popped by Comedy Central’s Drunk History this week to dutifully drain a few glasses of boozer and retell the story of the Stonewall Riots, and Marsha. P. Johnson’s involvement in it and got it all wrong, basically just telling the same tired trans-activists narrative lie of that fateful evening on June 28, 1969.
West’s version of the same old lies and rewriting of history by trans-activists with an agenda to steal Stonewall from the gay men and lesbians and put trans-people as the stars of this historical event when in actuality they were only a small part of the supporting cast.
FACT: Marsha Johnson was homeless because she had mental health problems. She suffered psychotic breaks and a multiple personality disorder. And while loved by many was actually banned from many of the gay bars in the Village.
FACT: She was not a customer at the Stonewall. She wasn’t inside the Stonewall. Neither was Sylvia Rivera. The only person who ever said Sylvia Rivera was inside the bar was Rivera herself and not one confirmed patron ever saw her of Johnson in the bar.
FACT: Johnson did not “spark” the riots. She did not throw a shot glass inside the Stonewall. No one did. And she did not give a speech. In her own words she was not near the bar when the riot started. There was no one person who “sparked” the riot, although the closest candidate would be a lesbian who resisted being hustled into a police car. A lesbian. Not a crossdresser. Not a transgender.
FACT: The Stonewall riots were 3 nights, not 2.
FACT: Gay youth did not have access to bars and dance clubs as the video claims. In fact, there was a group of homeless white and Latino gay kids living on the street near the Stonewall and they – not transsexuals or transgenders – were the ones who fought most fiercely.
FACT: The rioters were overwhelmingly gay male. They were largely white (reflecting the makeup of NYC in 1969), but there was substantial Latino and African American participation. There were only a tiny number of crossdressers at Stonewall, in the range of 2-4, and Johnson was the only transgender present. This is out of a cumulative 3-night crowd of 2000. There were far more heterosexual rioters at Stonewall than crossdressers or transgenders.
Last night Rachel Maddow sat down with Hillary Clinton and during her interview asked Hillary about both the Defense of Marriage Act and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell two anti-gay bills that her husband then President Bill Clinton signed into law despite running on a “pro-LGBT platform his first term. two issues which have taken over “a decade of progressive activism to unwind.” And have harmed hundreds of thousands of gay and lesbian lives.
Asks Maddow in the clip below:
“Whether it was ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ or the Defense of Marriage Act or the – you know, tough on crime (ph) mandatory sentences. Former President Clinton is progressive on all those issues now… but the policies that he signed – for politically practical reasons – in the ’90s have taken – you know, the political miracle of Barack Obama’s election and a decade of progressive activism to unwind those things to get back to zero. …And so I know that you and President Clinton are different people, and I know that you’re not responsible for what he did as president. But is your approach to civil rights issues the same as his, or is it different? “
Clintons reply?
“Well, I want to say a word about the issues you mentioned, because my take on it is slightly different. On Defense of Marriage, I think what my husband believed – and there was certainly evidence to support it – is that there was enough political momentum to amend the Constitution of the United States of America, and that there had to be some way to stop that. And there wasn’t any rational argument – because I was in on some of those discussions, on both ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ and on DOMA, where both the president, his advisers and occasionally I would – you know, chime in and talk about, ‘you can’t be serious. You can’t be serious.’ But they were. And so, in a lot of ways, DOMA was a line that was drawn that was to prevent going further.
“It was a defensive action. The culture rapidly changed so that now what was totally anathema to political forces – they have ceded. They no longer are fighting, except on a local level and a rear-guard action. And with the U.S. Supreme Court decision, it’s settled. ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ is something that – you know, Bill promised during the ‘92 campaign to let gays serve openly in the military. And it’s what he intended to do.”
I call total Bill-shit. The only “defensive move” was that to get Bill re-elected for a second term which he then blew. Or at least Monica did.
This excuse has been 10 years in the making with the help of former Clinton staffer and current Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin.
I wish Rachel would have asked her about Bill using his signing of both the anti-gay laws in his re-election campaign. And all the lives both DADT and DOMA harmed and the millions upon millions of tears, dollars and man-hours spent trying to undo them..
I will admit it. just don’t 100% trust Hillary Clinton. But unfortunately I am probably going to have to vote for her using the “lesser of two evils” voting strategy.
I tell you know though. If Hillary Clinton comes back and bites us in the ass if elected. You will see an “I told you so” of biblical proportions.
It has come to light that Bob McNair owner of the (crappy) NFL team the Houston Texans’ has donated $10,000 to the viciously anti-gay coalition that has placed a repeal of Houston’s LGBT rights ordinance on the November ballot.
After incencensed fans contacted the team they sent the following cop-out reply:
“Our team Founder, Chairman and CEO, Bob McNair made a personal contribution relative to the HERO issue. Mr. McNair’s rationale for his personal opposition to the HERO issue is based on the way the current ordinance is written, it has begun to separate rather than unite our community. He believes this problem can be solved by defeating the current bill in November, thoughtfully rewriting it and then resubmitting it to voters for approval.
“The Houston Texans as an organization are neutral to the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) and believe that the issue should be decided by Houston voters. We encourage Houston residents to study the issue and vote their conscience on November 3rd. We appreciate your email and would like to thank you for your continued support.
Thank you & Go Texans, Houston Texans.”
So the Houston Texans’ are “neutral” on LGBT rights. are they also “neutral” on racism, the holocaust, and other social justice matters?
If you are neutral in situations of injustice, quite simply you have chosen the side of the oppressor.
“If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” ~ Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu
You can leave a note of disgust on the Houston Texans Facebook page by CLICKING HERE
Urge your Members of Congress to Oppose the so-called “Equality Act,” a supercharged version of ENDA that equals trouble for the freedom to believe
Dear XXXXX:
Equality is imperative in a civil society, but Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Representative David Cicilline (D-R.I.) apparently do not understand equality. They recently introduced a bill that is subversively entitled the “Equality Act” (S. 1858 and H.R. 3185). If allowed to pass, it would act as a supercharged version of the failed — and likewise inaccurately titled — Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).
The entire purpose of the “Equality Act” (better titled the “Un-equality Act”) is to provide special privileges to people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered by incorporating sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity into laws regarding employment, like ENDA would. But it doesn’t stop there. It would also encompass laws governing public accommodations, public facilities, public educational institutions, private employment, housing, credit, and jury selection. This “Un-equality Act” would change more than twenty-five provisions of the U.S. Code and would effectively require high schools to allow boys in the girls’ locker rooms, strip elementary schools of the authority to dismiss a kindergarten teacher for transitioning from a male to a female during the course of the school year, and could force religious hospitals to provide sex-change operations and family-owned businesses to affirm such behavior.
Not only that, but this sweeping legislation specifically limits the ability of people who object to its requirements from seeking accommodations based on their religious beliefs in natural marriage. Thus, in the battle between special rights for homosexuals and freedom, the Equality Act strips conscientious objectors of their freedom and would, by law, require their compliance with the LGBT agenda.
Act now to ensure religious liberties are not trampled at the feet of liberal LGBT activists. Contact your Members of Congress today, and tell them to oppose the inaccurately-titled Equality Act. Call your Congressman and Senators at(202) 224-3121, or email them at the link below and ask them to call for a vote on this critical legislation today.
Urge your Members of Congress to Oppose the Equality Act
Sincerely, Family Research Council
P.S. Please forward this alert to friends, family and fellow church members, and post to your favorite social networks.
The fact that the FRC will always blatantly lie about how the”Equality Act” or any LGBT civil rights bill would “require high schools to allow boys in the girls’ locker rooms”, “force religious hospitals to provide sex-change operations” and give gays and lesbians getting “special privileges” while “religion”and the FRC which hides under that moniker is a protected class in the 1964 Civil Rights Act is typical of their propaganda.
We can no longer stay silent. We must fight this propaganda and the FRC and show to everyone what hateful liars and evil human beings they actually are.
