Tag Archives: Utah

Republicans Introduce the Fairness for All Act (FFA) aka. Equality Act Lite. All the Discrimination, Half the Equality

Republicans Introduce the Fairness for All Act (FFA) aka. Equality Act Lite. All the Discrimination, Half the Equality

Featured, Gay News Domestic & U.S. Politics, Religious Morons and Anti-Gay Idiots, , , , , , ,

To counter the Democrat backed Equality Act that would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to provide housing, employment, and public accommodation protections to millions of LGBT American citizens a Republican congressman on Friday introduced legislation he says will balance the rights of the religious and LGBT people.

The Fairness for All Act (FFA), introduced by Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, would still make sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) protected classes under the federal Civil Rights Act. But would still allow the right to discriminate aka. religious freedom, exempting churches and religious nonprofits from the anti-discrimination rules. Only for-profit business owners would be subject to the rules, unless they have fewer than 15 employees.

“The Equality Act was written in such a way that a religious person like myself couldn’t vote for it,” said Stewart, who is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “[Democratic legislators] wrote it so that they could say to LGBT people, ‘No Republican voted for it; they don’t care about people like you,’ which just isn’t true.”

Congressman, Sean Patrick Maloney of New York’s Hudson Valley, warned the public to avoid getting fooled by the FFA bill that he said has nothing to do with fairness.

“The bipartisan Equality Act is the only bill in the House that will bring equal protections under the law for LGBT people. This weak legislative stunt by the Republican Party won’t deter us in our fight for true equality.”

The American Civil Liberties Union’s national political director Ronnie Newman said in a written statement that “this bill facilitates efforts to allow taxpayer-funded discrimination, undermines existing civil rights protections, and gives a green light to turning LGBT people away from jobs, health care, housing, and more.”

He continued, “The bill would change the critical balance between our fundamental values of religious liberty and prohibiting discrimination that Congress already struck in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in order to license more discrimination. There’s no reason laws prohibiting discrimination should be different for LGBT people.”

Utah Teacher Kicked Out of School After Homophobic Rant About Students Gay Dads

Utah Teacher Kicked Out of School After Homophobic Rant About Students Gay Dads

Featured, Gay News Domestic & U.S. Politics, Of Interest, , ,

A Utah teacher was removed from class after going on a homophobic rant about a fifth-grade students’ gay dads.

An 11-year-old boy who was in the foster care system reportedly said that he was thankful that he was “finally going to be adopted by my two dads.”

The teacher to fire back at the student that “that’s nothing to be thankful for,” and then went on a 10-minute rant about her own views, telling the class that “homosexuality is wrong” and “two men living together is a sin.”

The teacher, a substitute at Deerfield Elementary School  — who wasn’t identified — was ultimately escorted out of the building after three girls in the boys class stood up for the boy and repeatedly asked her stop and when she didn’t they went to the principal’s office and complained.

“She also tried to blame our son,” said one of the boy’s dads, Louis van Amstel, who is a dancer on the television program Dancing With The Stars, “and told him that it was his fault that she went off.”

Alpine School District spokesman David Stephenson said he cannot speak about personnel issues but noted that “appropriate action has been taken.”

BUSTED: Security Exchange Commission Charges The Mormon Church of Hiding Billions of Dollars

Mormon Church Won’t Oppose Utah’s Gay Conversion Therapy Torture Ban

Featured, Gay News Domestic & U.S. Politics, , , ,

Salt Lake City’s Fox 13 News :

A bill to ban conversion therapy for LGBT children is set to be unveiled in the Utah State Legislature. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints told FOX 13 it will not oppose the bill, which could give it a boost on Capitol Hill.

The bill is being carried by two Republican lawmakers: Rep. Craig Hall, R-West Valley City, and Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton. The gay rights group Equality Utah has scheduled a news conference on Thursday to discuss the bill.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has in the past suggested people can “overcome” homosexual feelings. But the faith now says it does not believe sexual orientation can be changed. The Church also does not support same-sex marriage, but allows gay or lesbian members to remain in their ranks so long as they are celibate.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has in the past has done more than just “suggest” that one  could overcome homosexuality.

The Mormon Church has backed and promoted many conversion therapy “camps” and programs some even being held at Brigham Young University that have damaged and pushed gays and lesbians to suicide.

Gay GOP Utah State Official Blames High Gay Suicide Rate On Promiscuity

Gay GOP Utah State Official Blames High Gay Suicide Rate On Promiscuity

Featured, Idiots, , , , ,

A gay quisling Utah Republican official is experiencing a backlash after saying that  the high rate of suicide in the LGBT community is linked to having a high number of sex partners.

Via the Huffington Post:

Dave Robinson, who is the Salt Lake County Republican Party’s new communication director, said in a Monday meeting with the Salt Lake Tribune’s editorial board that he knows people in the LGBTQ community who have had “over 2,000 sex partners” ― a number that he believes could be reflective of the “self-loathing” that drives people to commit suicide.

“You talk to some of these people that have had grundles of sex partners, and the self-loathing and basically the unhappiness and the self-hatred level is tremendously high,” he said, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. “The gay community really needs to start having some conversations within their community, saying how is our lifestyle affecting our mental health?”

Robinson also said the gay community “went to the county health department and said, ‘Look, if you love the gays, then you need to give us and all of our people this medication [PrEP] for free.’ And so the county’s like, ‘Yes, we love the gays,’ so they start giving them all this medicine.” Then, he said, members of the gay community began having unprotected sex like “bunny rabbits” at monthly “sex parties” because they were unaware that the pill did not prevent STDs.

Well now. Someone sounds awfully bitter about being unfuckable.

 

Four Gay Men Chased By Anti-Gay Mob After Utah PRIDE

Four Gay Men Chased By Anti-Gay Mob After Utah PRIDE

BREAKING NEWS, Featured, Gay News Domestic & U.S. Politics, , , , ,

A mob of homophobic bigots chased four men gay men leaving Utah Pride, hurling anti-gay slurs at them and attacking a man who tried to intervene on their behalf.

A group estimated to be of about 15 and 20 men chased four gay men leaving Pride,Utah on Saturday night, to the Doki Doki dessert shop, where employee Terrance Mannery tried to hold off the angry mob after learning what was happening.

Jen Parsons-Soren, who had attended Pride said she heard the group yelling homophobic slurs; Salt Lake City police also have also confirmed that the group was shouting slurs.

“Based on the actions the group was making, based on everything the gentlemen who came in had told me — if I allowed anyone in the store, they would try to cause harm to people,” Mannery told The Salt Lake Tribune

Mannery said he couldn’t see how many people were hitting him; but he got punched at least seven times. Mannery did not suffer any dangerous injuries.

“It felt like they were trying to pull me out so they could all jump on, but I was trying to push them out, so that actually worked in my favor,” he said.

Inside the shop, customers, staff and the four men chased there by the crowd watched helplessly.

A woman outside the shop tried to break up the crowd as Mannery kept fighting. Finally, a security guard from a neighboring building approached, and the mob ran away.

News of the attack has shocked Salt Lake City’s LGBT community. The Utah Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce said Tuesday it was offering $5,000 for information leading to an arrest and prosecution

LGBT Rights Groups File Lawsuit Challanging Utah’s ‘No Promo Homo’ Law In Public Schools

Featured, Of Interest, Religious Morons and Anti-Gay Idiots, , , ,

LGBT Rights Groups File Lawsuit Challanging Utah's ‘No Promo Homo’ Law In Public Schools

 

The National Center for Lesbian Rights and Equality Utah have filed a lawsuit against the state of Utah challenging a law that forbids discussion of homosexuality in schools that might be construed as “advocacy”on behalf of students in public schools identified in court documents only as “John Doe,” “James Doe” and “Jessie Doe.”

The legal challenge is the first of its kind in the nation and claims First Amendment rights of students and teachers are violated, as well as federal education laws.

The law, nicknamed “No Promo Homo” by LGBT rights activists, bans schools from any kind of discussion about homosexuality in classes like sex ed, history or student clubs that could be construed as a “positive” portrayal.

“These are some of the last remaining anti-LGBT laws that are currently being enforced in the country, and they’re especially odious, because they explicitly apply to school classes on every subject,” Equality Utah Executive Director Troy Williams said. “These laws send a message that our lives are shameful and must be hidden and censored. They create a deadly culture of silence and non-acceptance, causing harms that can never fully be undone. The time has come to end the stigma and strike down this shameful law.”

The lawsuit claims that children are harmed by the law because it prevents discussion of sexual orientation and LGBT people. Equality Utah said one of its plaintiffs is a gay teen who has been harassed in high school and claimed he could not give a school report on his family history because he wanted to mention his uncle, who is in a same-sex marriage.

claims she was targeted in middle school for holding another girl’s hand, while heterosexual teenagers faced no punishment for public displays of affection.

“It is long past time for these dangerous laws to be struck from the books. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that sexual orientation is ‘a normal expression of human sexuality’ and that LGBT people must be treated equally under the law. These laws openly discriminate against LGBT students and teachers,” said Kate Kendell, the executive director of NCLR in a statement announcing the lawsuit.

“They stigmatize vulnerable young people who should be celebrated and supported, and they censor constitutionally protected free speech, including students’ right to receive accurate information about sexual orientation and LGBT people.”

The lawsuit seeks an injunction stopping the so-called “No Promo Homo” law from being enforced in Utah schools.

Read the full complaint here. 

Salt Lake City Pride Turns Away Gay Groups In Favor of Corporate Entries and Money

Featured, Gay News Domestic & U.S. Politics, , , , , ,

Salt Lake City Pride Turns Away Gay Groups In Favor of Corporate Entries and Money

Allegations have arisen that Salt Lake City’s Pride Parade has put at least 13 entries from LGBT community groups on a waiting list for this year’s event opting instead to show favoritism to corporate entrants to march instead.

Parade organizers state that only 30 percent of the event’s 150 entries are corporate, and that the LGBT groups were left out because they turned in their applications late.

KUTV.com

A gay activist who owns a local consignment shop, has marched in the parade for six of the last seven years, but was told there is no room for his entry in 2016.

“I’m disappointed,” Sanders said. “When I see a parade that accommodates corporations and big-business marketing to my community and doesn’t really have room for me anymore I feel that is broken. … The parade is our parade, it’s our protest march. it’s our call to action.”

“I do have companies like Bud Light and AT&T, but I also have sponsorships like Equality Utah and Planned Parenthood,” said Bonnie O’Brien, who puts together the parade for the Pride Center told KUTV.com. Corporate sponsors are critical to the event’s success, brining in about $200,000 for the Pride Center each year.

“This building isn’t open and the services that are available at this building don’t exist without corporate sponsorship,” she said.

O’Brien says she will work to ensure that groups currently on the waiting list can participate in this year’s event.

Shameful. Gay Inc. at its worst.

Anyone else remember when Pride was actually about PRIDE?

 

Indiana Republicans’ LGBT Protections Bill Only Protects The Religious Right. ARE WE SHOCKED?

Gay News From Around The Globe, , , , ,

BoycottIndiana

 

Copying the worthless Utah LGBT Discrimination Bill that passed erlier this year with major criticism from the LGBT community. , Indiana Senate Republicans introduced legislation Tuesday that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the state’s civil rights laws while carving out large exemptions for those with radical religious objections.

The bill explicitly protects religious leaders such as pastors, priests and rabbis from being required to perform marriages for same-sex couples. But it also includes exceptions for churches and religious-affiliated institutions such as charities, private universities, hospitals, colleges, adoption agencies and day care providers to still be able to discriminate against the LGBT community.  The very offenders which the bill is needed to protect against.

Other exemptions would allow schools, employers and others to determine their own restroom policies for transgender people; businesses with fewer than four employees to refuse wedding services to same-sex couples; and religious-affiliated adoption agencies to reject prospective same-sex parents.

Also Transgender individuals would be required to live as their preferred gender for a year or receive a medical opinion before able to file a discrimination complaint. And the measure would also create a $1,000 penalty for “frivolous” discrimination complaints and prohibit local governments from enacting stricter non-discrimination ordinances.

“This bill is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, This doesn’t protect LGBT people — it is a road map for discrimination against LGBT people  It aims to guarantee the right of some medical, social services and other institutions to discriminate against married same-sex couples, and to do so with taxpayer dollars. It aims to write separate, lesser protections for LGBT people into state law.” said Jennifer Pizer, law and policy project director at Lambda Legal. 

The sham Bill would also prohibit local municipalities from passing any protections that extend beyond the state’s limitations. Specifically, “an ordinance may not establish requirements that are more stringent or otherwise are in conflict” with the bill, and any such regulation is “preempted”.

In an open letter to the governor and legislative leaders, Lambda Legal explained that it could not support legislation that:

  • leaves any segment of the LGBT community behind by not offering full, explicit protections;
  • treats discrimination against LGBT people differently from other forms of discrimination prohibited under Indiana law, including by the addition of hurtful carve-outs for service providers who wish to refuse to serve LGBT people for religious reasons;
  • lessens or waters down protections in existing law for other groups that face discrimination;
  • leave out full employment, housing, and public accommodations protections for LGBT people.

The Republicans’ bill blatantly violates all four tenets, sending a clear signal that LGBT people are not meant to enjoy equal protection under the law, in Indiana and are nothing more than hated second-class citizens.

 

SLC Utah Man Harassed, Abused, Had “Die Fag’ Carved Into His Arm, and Forced To Drink Bleach. Police Have No Leads.

Featured, Gay News Domestic & U.S. Politics, , , ,

slc pizza rick jones

 

A young Salt Lake City, Utah man was robbed, had “Die Fag” carved into his arm with a knife, and was forced to drink bleach on a Saturday night in late April, and  it doesn’t stop there. 

Five days later, the words “Die Fag” were spray-painted on his and his family’s house.

And this week, a Molotov cocktail was thrown through his window and his house was spray-painted again, this time with “You’ll Die. Burn Fag.”

Rick Jones, 22  stayed  late to finish up the paperwork at the Grand Central Station Pizzeria in Delta, Utah.that his  family owns and he manages.

“I went out to take out the trash, and when I came back in, I thought it was strange that I didn’t hear the door close,” he said. “I turned around to shut the door, and someone grabbed me by the head and slammed me to the wall.”

“I remember waking up and I was lying on the floor,” he said. “Someone was on my chest and legs and they were trying to force me to drink bleach.”

He woke up again as medical teams were considering life-flighting him to Salt Lake City, but he regained consciousness. Rick had lacerations — the words “Die Fag” cut into his arm — and a concussion. They attended to his wounds, held him overnight and released him.

The following Thursday morning, April 30, Jones and his family woke up to the same “Die Fag” words spray-painted on their garage door and the weekend of the Utah Pride Festival  a Molotav cocktail thrown through his bedroom window and, “You’ll Die. Burn Fag” spray-painted on the house.

And the Millard County Sheriff’s Office has no leads as to who is behind this horrible abuse and harassment of Rick Jones.

On June 11 the Sheriff’s office sent out a press release appealing to the community to help find the perpetrators.

“These crimes are the latest in a string of crimes perpetrated against the owners of this local business. The Sheriff’s Office is currently investigating several different leads in these cases. There is a reward available to anyone providing information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrators of these crimes. Also we would like to encourage all citizens to report any suspicious persons or circumstance to the Sheriff’s Office dispatch immediately.”

Meanwhile Rick Jones and his family live in fear.

Mormon LGBT Group Denied Permission To March In Salt Lake City and Provo Parades

Events, Featured, Gay News Domestic & U.S. Politics, Religious Morons and Anti-Gay Idiots, , , , ,

Mormon

 

The Mormon LGBT group Mormons Building Bridges has once again been denied permission for the second straight year.to march in two of the most popular parades in the SLC/Provo, UT area.  The Days of ’47 Parade in Salt Lake City and the Freedom Festival Grand Parade in Provo.

In line with the Days of ’47 Parade’s theme of “Pioneers — Forging a New Frontier,” Mormons Building Bridges had proposed a “Utah’s LGBT Pioneers” entry. It would have featured six LGBT leaders from business, education and public service riding in an antique convertible.

Greg James, executive vice president of the Days of ’47 said the decision was based on its belief that Mormons Building Bridges is an advocacy group.

The rules for the July 24 parade forbid advocacy groups of any kind “whether it’s a group you might agree with or don’t agree with. We don’t do anything that’s advocacy. This one is advocacy,”

Mormons Building Bridges was founded in 2012 with the goal of improving the relations between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the gay community. The group is nonpartisan.

Earlier this year Governor Gary Herbert signed into law an LGBT non-discrimination bill a, paving the way for equal rights among members of the LGBT community. Unfortunately the bill was filled with many religious exemptions and looked much better on paper than it actually was.