Tag Archives: Texas

Gay History – September 16: Farewell Maria Callas, NAMBLA, Wilheim Von Gloeden, and GM’s “Little Faggot Truck”

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September 16:

1730: In Amsterdam, Lourens Hosponjon is executed for sodomy. Other than the record of his execution no other historical details are available.

1856: Wilheim Von Gloeden, German photographer of beautiful young men, is born in Wismar, Germany. . At the turn of the 20th century his picture postcards of naked youths from the Sicilian town of Taormina were “must haves”. Even though they passed for art they were among the first examples of modern gay porn.  

Wilhelm von Gloeden lived heroically.  He knew what he was and was proud.  Like Oscar Wilde before him, von Gloeden lived in dangerous defiance of an age and a Christian society that hounded and tortured men of his kind.  As Charles Leslie writes:

He was one of those rare nineteenth century men who would not accept the destruction of his true being as the price for being allowed to survive in an allegedly civilized Western world that officially despised what he was.  In his own way he triumphed, and therefore became one of those figures who, to this day, stand as models for people who dare to live the truth of what and who they are.

Today Von Gloeden is considered one of the most important gay visual artist of the pre–World War I era. 

1977:  Soprano Maria Callas dies at the age of 53.  There may have been divas before Maria Callas, but there is no doubt that the modern idea of what is a diva owes a great deal to the legendary opera singer, who, without ever singing a note of popular music, was as famous during her lifetime as a movie star.  “I am divine, I am oblivion, I am love.”

1979: The newly formed New York City Gay Men’s Chorus holds its first auditions.

1990:  Thanks to The San Francisco Board of Supervisors who loudly complained to General Motors after learning that a video, made to be shown only to GM personnel only, referred to a Japanese-made vehicle as a ”little faggot truck”

The presentation, made from 90 hours of taped interviews with 500 Chevrolet owners, contains one from a farmer who says he prefers full-size pickups.

“There isn’t no foreign company that makes any decent working pickup. It’s either going to be big, or some “little faggot truck,” the farmer said.

GM publicly apologized and never showed the video again.

1992: Robert Sawyer of Brattleboro, Vermont pleads not guilty to charges that he murdered his ex-girlfriend, Judith Hart Fournier, after she left him for another woman. She had a restraining order, but Sawyer violated it repeatedly. The case sparked a demand for anti-stalking legislation.

1992: Fifty-eight year old Roy Downs files a complaint of brutality against the Ft. Worth Police Department. He was arrested during a series of raids on gay bars, and officers beat and verbally abused him.

1994: The International Lesbian Gay Association loses its non-governmental organization representative status at the United Nations after a campaign by US Senator Jesse Helms revealed that one of its member organizations was NAMBLA, (The North America Man Boy Love Association) which condoned sex with children. As a result, ILGA expelled NAMBLA from its membership.

1994: Richard Hongisto, a former San Francisco police chief, is convicted of civil rights violations for ordering the removal of an issue of Bay Times, a gay newspaper, from the stands. Hongisto began his career championing justice and equality for racial minorities and homosexuals, but his career was later marred by various controversies, ending with the Bay Times controversy.

 

TEXAS Judge Rules Employers Under "Religious Freedom" Can Deny Paying for PrEP

TEXAS Judge Rules Employers Under “Religious Freedom” Can Deny Paying for PrEP

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Judge Reed O’Connor, a Bush appointee for the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, ruled yesterday that paying for PrEP via the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. PrEP, when taken daily, prevents HIV infection.

Via The Texas Tribune:

“In the suit, a group of self-described Christian business owners and employees in Texas argue that the preventive care mandates violate their constitutional right to religious freedom by requiring companies and policyholders to pay for coverage that conflicts with their faith and personal values. The lawsuit was filed in 2020 by Austin attorney Jonathan Mitchell, the legal mind behind Texas’ civilly enforced six-week abortion ban. In the suit, Mitchell also challenges the entire framework through which the federal government decides what preventive services get covered.”

The lawsuit specifically addresses PrEP, but O’Connor’s ruling, which addresses how the federal government can decide what preventive care is covered in employer health care plans, may end up having much more wide-reaching consequences.

TEXAS Sues USDA Over Added LGBT Protections In Food Supplement Programs

TEXAS Sues USDA Over Added LGBT Protections In Food Supplement Programs

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Last May, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that food assistance programs that receive funding from the Food and Nutrition Service were ordered to “investigate allegations of discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation” and to update their policies to specifically prohibit discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation.

Of course Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is challenging the federal Food and Nutrition Service’s new policy.

Paxton claims the guidance issued by the USDA is “unlawful” because states were not consulted and did not have an opportunity to provide feedback, in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act. They also argue that the USDA is misinterpreting the Supreme Court case Bostock v. Clayton County, which extended sexual discrimination in the workplace to include discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation.

“[It] will inevitably result in regulatory chaos that threatens essential nutritional services to some of the most vulnerable citizens,” Paxton’s office said in a press release.

Tuesday’s lawsuit was filed in the Eastern District of Tennessee Knoxville Division

Texas GOP State Rep To File Law To Ban Family Friendly Drag Shows In The Presence of Minors

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Mr. Mister a gay bar in Texas invited parents and their kids to attend a family-friendly drag show on Saturday, during PRIDE which drew angry Neanderthal protesters and sparked outrage on social media by the extreme right . Now, a Texas Republican lawmaker wants to close the doors on all-ages drag events.

Via The Dallas Observer:

On Monday, Royse City state Rep. Bryan Slaton tweeted that he’ll file a bill next session to ban drag shows from being held in the presence of minors. “The events of this past weekend were horrifying and show a disturbing trend in which perverted adults are obsessed with sexualizing young children,” Slaton said in a statement. “As a father of two young children, I would never take my children to a drag show and I know … the rest of my Republican colleagues wouldn’t either,” he continued. “Protecting our own children isn’t enough, and our responsibility as lawmakers extends to the sexualization that is happening across Texas.”

Further proof conservatives love to “protect children” unless they’re actually losing their lives.

Just sashay away.

57+ LGBT Candidates Are Running For Congress

Exxon/Mobile Bans LGBT Rainbow Pride Flags

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Exxon Mobil Corp. plans to prohibit the LGBT Rainbow Pride and rights flag from being flown outside its offices during Pride month in June prompting an immediate backlash.

Via Bloomberg:

Exxon updated company guidance on what flags can be displayed outside its offices, banning “external position flags” such as PRIDE and Black Lives Matter, according to the policy seen by Bloomberg News. In response, members of Exxon’s PRIDE Houston Chapter are refusing to represent the company at the city’s June 25 Pride celebration, according to an employee group email.

“Corporate leadership took exception to a rainbow flag being flown at our facilities” last year, Exxon’s PRIDE Houston employee group wrote in the email Thursday. “PRIDE was informed the justification was centered on the need for the corporation to maintain ‘neutrality.’” 

“The updated flag protocol is intended to clarify the use of the ExxonMobil branded company flag and not intended to diminish our commitment to diversity and support for employee resource groups,” Tracey Gunnlaugsson, vice president of human resources, said in a statement. “We’re committed to keeping an open, honest, and inclusive workplace for all of our employees, and we’re saddened that any employee would think otherwise.”

Sure Jan.

Alabama Senate Approves “Don’t Say Gay” Law 

Alabama Senate Approves “Don’t Say Gay” Law 

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Via The Birmingham Herald

The Alabama Senate passed its own version of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law Thursday after a surprise amendment to a transgender bathroom bill. At the start of debate Thursday, an amendment was offered that would stop K-5 elementary teachers from “instruction” on sexuality and gender. The bill passed the Senate 26-3. Since it was amended, it needs to go back to the House for final approval. In addition to instructional limits, the bill requires students to use school bathrooms and locker rooms that match the sex on their birth certificate.

The GOP in Red states are following the templates that have be devised by renegade Florida and Texas. This will not stop until we make them stop.

Texas Officials Tell Librarians to REMOVE LGBT Books, AG Tell School District "PRIDE Week" is Illegal

Texas Officials Tell Librarians to REMOVE LGBT Books, AG Tell School District “PRIDE Week” is Illegal

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Texas or Florida. Which sucks the most right now? It’s like they are in a race to the WORST.

Reading is Fundamental Except in Texas:

Via The Texas Tribune:

In early January, a day before students returned from winter break, Jeremy Glenn, the superintendent of the Granbury Independent School District in North Texas, told a group of librarians he’d summoned to a district meeting room that he needed to speak from his heart. “I want to talk about our community,” Glenn said. He noted that members of Granbury’s school board — his bosses — were also very conservative. And to any school employees who might have different political beliefs, Glenn said, “You better hide it,” adding, “Here in this community, we’re going to be conservative.”

Glenn added the was concerned about the inclusion of books with LGBT themes, even if they do not describe sex.

“There are two genders. There’s male, and there’s female. And I acknowledge that there are men that think they’re women. And there are women that think they’re men. And again, I don’t have any issues with what people want to believe, but there’s no place for it in our libraries.”

“Specifically, what we’re getting at, let’s call it what it is, and I’m cutting to the chase on a lot of this,” he said. “It’s the transgender, LGBTQ and the sex — sexuality — in books. That’s what the governor has said that he will prosecute people for, and that’s what we’re pulling out.”

Legal experts say the North Texas superintendent’s comments raise concerns about possible violations of the First Amendment and federal civil rights laws that protect students from discrimination based on their gender and sexuality.

PRIDE Illegal in Texas Schools

The Hill reports:

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) said in a letter to the Austin Independent School District (AISD) this week that its Pride Week was “breaking state law.” Paxton wrote Tuesday that by hosting pride week, the district “has, at best undertaken a week-long instructional effort in human sexuality without parental consent. Or, worse [the] district is cynically pushing a week-long indoctrination of [students] that not only fails to obtain parental consent, but subtly cuts parents out of the loop.” The Texas AG also wrote that the Austin ISD’s curriculum and lesson plans “deal head-on with sexual orientation and gender identity—topics that unmistakably constitute ‘human sexuality instruction’ governed by state law.”

No more than 45 minutes after Paxton’s office tweeted out the letter, the school district’s superintendent, Stephanie Elizalde, replied back: “I want all our LGBTQIA+ students to know that we are proud of them and that we will protect them against political attacks.”

District spokesman Jason Stanford told The Washington Post the celebration will continue as planned. “We’re going to react to this by doubling down on making sure our kids feel safe and celebrating Pride.”

#COVID19 – Comatose Anti-Vaxxer Flown To Texas After Minnesota Hospital Decides To Turn Off Ventilator.

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Via The Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Scott Quiner, 55, of Buffalo, was flown from the Twin Cities to Texas over the weekend, an attorney representing the family said. Scott Quiner’s case drew widespread attention last week after Mercy Hospital said it would disconnect the ventilator on Thursday. Quiner, who was unvaccinated, had been in the hospital’s ICU since Nov. 6 with critically low oxygen levels and had shown little signs of improvement since his arrival.

Quiner’s wife, Anne, went to Anoka County court seeking an emergency restraining order to prevent Mercy from disconnecting the ventilator. Without a judge’s decision, “my husband will die,” Anne wrote in her petition seeking the court’s action. A GoFundMe has pulled in more than $28,600 as of Monday morning. A second fundraiser on the Christian crowdfunding site GiveSendGo was seeking to raise $100,000. As of Monday, the effort had brought in $41,000

Of course anti-vax extremists and QAnon/Trump loons are besides themselves and Quinner’s wife wants to keep giving him futile care while taking up an ICU bed in a pandemic so she can give him ivermectin and vitamins.

I’m sure everything will turn out just fine. (No it won’t)

TX GOP Dan Crenshaw Trashes Greene & Gaetz's Freedom Caucus. Calls Them "Performance Artists and Grifters"

TX GOP Dan Crenshaw Trashes Greene & Gaetz’s Freedom Caucus. Calls Them “Performance Artists and Grifters”

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Look’s like the GOP is beginning to splinter as Texas GOP Rep Dan Crenshaw is breaking from the EXTREME right of certain members of the Republican party and is trying to distance himself a bit more center and away from the Freedom Caucus and GANG GREENE.

There are two types of members of Congress: there is performance artists and there is legislators. Performance artists are the ones who get all of the attention, the ones you think are more conservative because they know how to say slogans real well.

They know how to recite the lines that they know our voters want to hear. What you hear so often is not true. It’s not true. We have grifters in our midst. I mean in the conservative movement.

Lie after lie after lie because they know something psychologically about the conservative heart. We’re worried about what people are doing to do to us, what people are going to infringe upon us, that’s the nature of conservatism.

GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw

Dan Crenshaw in an asshole, but he is kinda hot. Maybe he and Adam Kinsinger could get together and do some Daddy GOPorn when their political careers are over.

Texas Officials Tell Librarians to REMOVE LGBT Books, AG Tell School District "PRIDE Week" is Illegal

Texas State Board of Ed Rejects Teaching Students About Respect for LGBT People

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The Republican-controlled Texas State Board of Education rejected proposals in a series of votes Thursday and Friday to teach students in public school health classes that everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.

Board member Ruben Cortez, D-Brownsville, proposed standards requiring students in Grades 7-8 and high school be able to define and differentiate between sexual orientation and gender identity. Two other proposals called for students to learn that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of their orientation or identity. Board Democrats and one Republican backed all four proposals, but nine Republicans voted them down.

“Imagine the tragic message state board members have sent by refusing to acknowledge that LGBT students even exist in our classrooms,” said Carisa Lopez, political director for the Texas Freedom Network., “The board had a chance to stand with young people who are looking to feel safe and respected in their schools. A majority of board members chose to abandon them and stand with the bullies instead.”

Mary Elizabeth Castle, policy advisor at the 501(c)(3) non-profit anti-LGBT hate group Texas Values countered: “Today, we are grateful that the State Board of Education voted to stick to education and teach children how to live a healthy and productive life as opposed to confusing them with controversial political ideologies. The statewide Health standards look nothing like Austin ISD’s radical sex education propaganda; and efforts to politicize Science failed.”