Trump & Company & The Trans Community

The rhetoric coming out the White House and the Republicans has caused a drastic increase in violence against the LGBTQ+ community.

The Trump administration has been trying to label our community are anarchists but, the reality is that we are the victims of that animosity.

 2025 was “one of the most dangerous years on record” for LGBTQ+ people in America

Over half of the incidents documented in a new report targeted transgender and other gender non-conforming individuals.

LGBTQ Nation

Greg Owen

February 1, 2026

A grim new report documents over a thousand attacks on LGBTQ+ people in the United States in 2025, following Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.

The report from ALERT Desk, GLAAD’s Anti-LGBTQ Extremism Reporting Tracker, catalogues 1,042 anti-LGBTQ+ incidents in 47 states and Washington, DC in 2025, a five percent increase over 984 incidents in 2024.

The incidents included 128 acts of vandalism, 76 assaults, 22 threats of mass violence, and 15 arson attempts.

Over half of the incidents targeted transgender and other gender non-conforming individuals, a 10% increase from 2024.

All as a direct result of all the lies coming out of Washington!

GLAAD ALERT DESK DOCUMENTS MORE THAN 1,000 ANTI-LGBTQ INCIDENTS NATIONWIDE IN 2025

• 51% of incidents targeted transgender and gender non-conforming people, a 10% increase from 2024
• June 2025 saw a nearly 400% increase in incidents since tracking began in June 2022

January 27, 2026

In 2025, the ALERT Desk tracked 1,042 anti-LGBTQ incidents in 47 US states and the District of Columbia. These included 128 acts of hateful vandalism, 76 violent assaults, 22 threats of mass violence, and 15 arson attempts. This is up from 984 incidents tracked in 2024, a 5% increase in hate.

We remember and honor the lives of those taken by hate-fueled violence in 2025 – Rodolfo Fernandez de Velasco, Chris Allen Villegas Fentress, Jonathan Joss, Christina Hayes, Dream Johnson, and Alvin Prasad – along with more than 70 others injured during anti-LGBTQ attacks.

[...]

Key Findings From The 2025 ALERT Desk Recap

• Incidents targeting transgender and gender non-conforming people are on the rise. Over half (532) of all tracked incidents in 2025 specifically targeted transgender and gender non-conforming people, a 10% increase from the 485 anti-trans incidents the ALERT Desk documented in 2024.
• Context: Despite making up less than 1% of the population, transgender and gender non-conforming people are at increased risk of harm. As politicians campaign on stripping legal protections from transgender Americans and high-profile social media accounts baselessly frame trans people as “dangerous,” research consistently shows that transgender people are four times more likely than cisgender people to be victims of violent crime — as we saw in the tragic murders of Christina Hayes in Detroit and Dream Johnson in Washington, D.C.
• Pride 2025 saw a dramatic rise in incidents, making it one of the most dangerous years on record for LGBTQ Americans. The ALERT Desk tracked 268 incidents during June 2025, a nearly 400% increase from the 54 incidents tracked in June 2022 when GLAAD began its data collection.
• Context: The heightened visibility of LGBTQ Americans during Pride Month can be a double-edged sword. The openness and joy that characterize our community are also wielded by opponents as an opportunity to showcase their anti-LGBTQ extremism.
• In 2025, states at the center of political debates over the rights of LGBTQ people led the US in terms of number of incidents. States with the most incidents are: California (198), New Hampshire (72), Texas (66), Ohio (50), and Washington (50).
• Context: In 2025, each of these states helped drive national conversation about the rights of LGBTQ Americans.
• California: Gavin Newsom made waves by inviting guests on his podcast who spread harmful, inaccurate rhetoric about transgender people.
• New Hampshire: Opponents of transgender people drew media attention after they filed a lawsuit against a school district in the small town of Bow, in an attempt to force the local school district to allow them to harass a transgender player on the high school girls’ soccer team.
• Texas: Greg Abbott ordered the immediate removal of all Pride-themed crosswalks across the state, many of which had been in place for years, and over the wishes of local communities and the private donations used to create and maintain the sites.
• Ohio: The City Club of Cleveland invited a lobbyist from an SPLC-designated anti-LGBTQ hate group to speak as part of its “civic engagement” program. Local pushback helped spark a one-sided Congressional hearing seeking to curtail the rights of non-profit organizations.
• Washington: Seattle’s mayor drew the ire of residents after they permitted a so-called Christian group that activates against LGBTQ people to hold a rally in Cal Anderson Park – an integral part of Seattle’s queer neighborhood and a memorial to Washington State’s first out gay legislator.

It is also having an impact on the Pride Centers!

Sacramento LGBT Center addresses safety concerns at packed town hall

CBS News

By Madisen Keavy

December 17, 2025

It was standing room only Tuesday night as the Sacramento LGBT Community Center hosted a town hall focused on community safety.

The meeting comes just six weeks after a Halloween attack Sacramento police say was hate-motivated, leaving the victim critically injured and a suspect in custody on felony assault charges.

The LGBT Community Center says it has also been targeted recently, with someone smashing a window and a group of people trying to tear down its Pride flag.

People packed the center, asking questions about how resources are being used to keep the community safe.

"The city needs to stop this as soon as possible. Until it does, there needs to be more on-site security," said Will Green, a Sacramento resident.

The Quest Night club that was where a terrorist attack happen3e back in 2024 was burned down this week.

Alabama LGBTQ activist visits burned-out Quest, reflects on Birmingham club’s historic role

All Alabama

By Greg Garrison 

Mar. 08, 2026

Central Alabama Pride President Josh Coleman visited the burned-out Quest nightclub on Friday after a Thursday night fire and reflected on its role in the life of Birmingham’s LGBTQ community.

“Today I stopped by what’s left of the Quest,” wrote Coleman in a Facebook post.

The Quest opened in 1982 and closed in 2024.

“I had been asked to talk with NBC News and ABC News about the fire and about what the Quest meant to Birmingham. After the interviews, I couldn’t resist walking a little closer and looking at the destruction for myself. Standing there, I realized just how many memories are tied to that place.”

And that is what Bias Crimes do, it is not just an attack on one person or business, but rather an attack on a whole community!

It has been a very bad year!

This Is Far More Common

Every November 20^th we remember our dead. Assaults on trans people is increasing just in Connecticut there has been an increase in bias crimes against us.

Man charged after attacking transgender woman at Portland MAX stop, court records say

By Leslie Dominique and FOX 12 Staff

Published: Feb. 11, 2026

A 51-year-old man remains in custody after prosecutors charged him with a bias crime and several other offenses following an attack on a transgender woman at a Portland MAX station.

The incident occurred the night of Feb. 8 at the PSU Urban Center MAX stop, a routine transit hub for students at Southwest 6th Avenue and Southwest Montgomery Street.

Portland State University confirmed the victim is not affiliated with the university. Court documents say the victim, who identifies as a transgender woman, was waiting for a train when 51-year-old William Thomas Ashley allegedly approached her aggressively.

The victim told officers Ashley repeatedly called her “a man,” then ripped an umbrella from her hands and hit her with it several times. She said he grabbed her by the hair, dragged her to the ground and punched her.

---

Then in New York City, a trans woman was targeted in another attack:

Man attacked on NYC subway for kissing trans woman partner

Police are still searching for the suspect who slashed the man's face.

The Advocate

By Trudy Ring

Jan 21, 2026

New York City police are searching for the person who attacked a man on a subway train the evening of January 10 when the man was kissing his transgender female partner. The attacker shouted homophobic slurs and then slashed the right side of the man’s face with a sharp object, Gay City News reports.

The suspect escaped, and the 28-year-old victim was taken to Bellevue Hospital for treatment. The trans woman was not injured.

The attack is similar to one that occurred December 20, when a man on a subway train was slashed behind his left ear by another passenger after a verbal argument, Metro Weekly reports.

---

And in Seattle...

Convicted felon facing hate crime trial for attack on transgender woman

by Lynnanne Nguyen, KOMONews

February 4, 2026

A convicted felon, Andre Karlow, is on trial facing hate crime and assault charges for allegedly attacking a transgender woman in the U District last year.

Court records reveal this is not the first time Karlow has been accused of attacking a member of the transgender community.

According to court records, Karlow has a criminal history dating back more than 20 years, including more than 30 arrests.

He was convicted last fall for an unprovoked attack in 2024 on another transgender woman working as a Sound Transit fare ambassador. Karlow is scheduled for sentencing in March in that case.

There have been 26 mass shootings in one month in the U.S. from January 1 through January 31, 2026.

Breaking News! Very Sad Another School Shooting

This time with a link to the trans community. Reports are still coming in but the early media reports are not good.

Rhode Island ice rink shooting suspect's gender identity was source of past family conflict: docs

Robert Dorgan is accused of opening fire during youth hockey game in what police called a 'family dispute'

Michael Dorgan By Michael Dorgan Fox News

Published February 17, 2026

A suspect accused of shooting and killing two people at a Rhode Island ice rink on Monday before killing himself was identified as transgender and had a history of past family conflict over his gender identity, a local news outlet reported, citing court documents.

Court records show Robert Dorgan had been involved in multiple disputes with relatives in recent years, including allegations that tensions escalated after he underwent gender reassignment surgery, according to WPRI.

Boston.com writes,

“It looked like it was a family dispute, and there was one individual that was a family friend. But as for identifying the victims, at this time, it’s too early in the investigation to identify people, because obviously we want to make sure that their families are well aware of what’s going on before we put it out to the public again,” Gonclaves said.

And then... and then...

Canadian school shooting sparks anti-trans uproar after shooter identified

Authorities have identified the shooter that killed eight people as an 18-year-old local resident.

The Advocate

Ryan Adamczeski

Feb 12, 2026

Canadian authorities have identified the shooter who killed eight people — mostly children — at a school in British Columbia on Tuesday.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have named Jesse Van Rootselaar, an 18-year-ohatld resident of Tumbler Ridge, as a suspect, believing she died by suicide after fatally shooting her 39-year-old mother, 11-year-old stepbrother, a 39-year-old teacher, three 12-year-old girls, and two boys ages 12 and 13.

Police had responded to multiple wellness checks that involved weapons at Rootselaar's home over the past several years, Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald said at a press conference Wednesday, including one incident two years ago where they confiscated firearms from her. She was detained on more than one occasion for assessment and follow-up under the nation's Mental Health Act, and did not have any firearms registered to her at the time of the shooting.

Rootselaar was assigned male at birth but had began transitioning six years ago, according to McDonald. RCMP is not identifying her as transgender, as officials identify suspects as "they chose to be identified in public and in social media," and Rootselaar identified as female "both socially and publicly."

Mini-Post: It Is World Wide

All around the world LGBTQ+ people are being persecuted, Russia, Hungary, the middle-east countries, and Africa.

Prison time, fines and ostracisation: anti-gay law shocks community in African country seen as relatively safe

Jail terms of up to five years for ‘promoting homosexuality’ in Burkina Faso is latest in push for ‘family values’ sweeping the continent

The Guardian

Sat 6 Sep 2025

For my own safety I’ve become much more distrustful, I’ve shut myself off and try not to talk to certain people,” says Paul*, a young Burkinabé. “How will we go to health centres? Will doctors and nurses protect us? Or will they report us?”

On 1 September, Burkina Faso’s minister of justice and human rights, Edasso Rodrigue Bayala, announced an amendment to the Code of Persons and Family (CPF) which came into force in 1990, establishing for the first time a prison sentence of between two and five years and a fine for those who “promote homosexuality”.

The amendment is “a historic reform linked to a legal innovation, respect for cultural values and the will to build a Burkinabé family”, says Bayala. He says homosexuality will be detected in people who show “bizarre behaviour”.

First approved by the president, Ibrahim Traoré, in July 2024, it was unanimously passed by the transitional legislative assembly, which has replaced parliament since a coup d’état in September 2022.

The new law has sent shock waves through the country’s queer community.

It is spreading like a virus, like a plague, like a slime.

Mini-Post: Even In Connecticut!

A hate incident...

Police investigating complaint about derogatory comments directed at congregants at Stamford mosque

NBC Connecticut

August 11, 2025

Stamford police are investigating an incident outside a mosque in which a man is accused of making derogatory comments directed at people at a local mosque.

They said they received a complaint on Sunday about a driver stopping in front of the Islamic Center at 1558 Washington Boulevard and making derogatory statements to several congregants on Saturday night.

Police said they have identified the man and the department’s Bureau of Investigation and the State’s Attorney’s Office are investigating.

The Connecticut chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations released a statement, calling for local, state and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate the incident as a possible hate crime and to increase patrols around local mosques.

Even in Blue Connecticut hate happens!

I don't know if it is a hate crime since no threats were made as far as I could tell... but the creatures from the swamp are crawling out.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations said,

The Connecticut chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CT), a chapter of the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today expressed concern that the charges brought against Michael Slocum, 36, who allegedly engaged in a vile anti-Muslim tirade outside the Islamic Cultural Center of New York (ICCNY) in Stamford, may not fully reflect the severity and targeted nature of his actions.

I agree! But the First Amendment says otherwise. Incidents like these affect the whole community, it sends fear up and down the community. The crime isn't against one person but the whole community/

Mini-Post: Its Global!

The hate is going global! The Associated Press reported that LGBTQ+ violence is growing in Germany!

How an LGBTQ cafe's neon sign became a beacon for hate in Berlin

There are 45 pending criminal investigations related to the cafe over the past year and a half, ranging from verbal and physical attacks to Nazi graffiti.

By  FANNY BRODERSEN and STEFANIE DAZIO

July 31, 2025

A neon sign inside the Das Hoven cafe in a trendy Berlin neighborhood proudly proclaims “QUEER AND FRIENDS.”

The sign was intended to show the cafe is a safe space for LGBTQ+ people. But it has also become a beacon for hate and homophobic attacks.

Owner Danjel Zarte said there are 45 pending criminal investigations related to the cafe over the past year and a half, ranging from verbal and physical attacks on patrons and workers to windows being broken or covered in feces and Nazi graffiti. One person even stood outside the cafe with a gun.

“An act of terror,” Zarte said. “I sometimes have panic attacks in the morning and am afraid to look at my cell phone because I’m afraid that something has happened again.”

Attacks against LGBTQ+ people and gay-friendly establishments are rising across Germany, including in Berlin, a city that has historically embraced the community, members of which often use the word queer to describe themselves.

The haters have learned that we are easy pickings.

Hostility toward LGBTQ+ people serves as a “rallying cry” for believers in right-wing extremism, according to Judith Porath, the association’s managing director. Experts have seen an increase in demonstrations and violence among neo-Nazis, most of whom are young men.

The right-wingers have noticed what is going on world wide and are capitalizing on the violence.

Mini-Post: These Guys Just Want To Stir Up Trouble

With their lying all they want to do is stir up trouble. They have a public platform and they use it to stir up hate against the Democrats.

How conservative X accounts promoted wild theory implicating Gov. Tim Walz in lawmaker’s killing

Politifact

By Madison Czopek

June 15, 2025

If Your Time is short

• Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in 2019 reappointed Vance Boelter to a state board focused on Minnesota’s workforce. Boelter had first been appointed to the board by a prior governor.
• Boelter was named a suspect in the June 14 killing of state Rep. Melissa Hortman, a former Democratic speaker, and her husband Mark, and the shootings of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette.
• Walz’s spokesperson said the governor had no relationship with Boelter. And there is no indication that Walz viewed Hortman or Hoffman as political rivals; he referred to Hortman as a dear friend.

Hours after the shooting of two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses, prominent conservative influencers spun unsubstantiated theories that the suspect was a left-wing extremist who targeted the Democratic-aligned leaders for voting against party lines, and did so with the blessing of the state’s top Democrat, Gov. Tim Walz.

These podcasters just want to stir up trouble and animosity against any liberal.

Mini-Post: Why We Have Pride

This meme has been circulating on Facebook and this also is why we have Pride...

Man, teen accused of beating woman at suburban McDonald’s over sexual orientation

WGN 9

by: Andy Koval

May 21, 2025

A man and teen are accused of severely beating a woman over her sexual orientation at a suburban McDonald’s.

Police responded to a report of a fight in progress at a McDonald’s, located in the 1660 block of South Kennedy Drive, on May 13.

Authorities allege John Kammrad, 19, of Elgin, and a juvenile boy made derogatory remarks about a woman’s sexual orientation.

The incident escalated into a fight, according to police.

The woman, ______, took to GoFundMe and posted pictures of her injuries. She was transported to a local hospital in serious condition, where she was released.

That is why we have Pride.

 Pride is about love, liberation, and the right to exist without fear or discrimination.

Disgusting!

A new low, and that is hard for Trump. But this is so horrible that I had to write about!

Donald Trump shares anti-LGBTQ+ Nazi era ‘Pink Triangle’ insignia on Truth Social

President of the United States Donald Trump has shared an article featuring a ‘Pink Triangle’ graphic on his social media platform Truth Social – a logo that was commonly used by the Nazis to identify queer men.

Pink News

by Charlie Duncan

March 12, 2025

The first few months of Donald Trump’s second presidency have been marked by a slew of anti-LGBTQ+ executive orders signed, enacting everything from ‘Only two sexes‘ now being government policy to DEI being gutted from government and the military.

Trans individuals have once again been banned from the military and Trump also instigated a ban on healthcare for trans youngsters – and that’s just the start.

One of Trump’s latest posts (9 March) on Truth Social (his own social media platform) consisted of a link to an article featuring the image of a downward pointing pink triangle with a prohibition sign over the top of it.

Trump shared the article titled “Army recruitment ads look quite different under Trump”, written by former U.S. Army intelligence captain Jeremy Hunt from The Washington Times. Its featured image contains the aforementioned graphic, credited as ‘Military recruitment ads illustration by Linas Garsys / The Washington Times’.

How low can you go! Using Holocaust symbols to demonize us just like Hitler did back in the 30s and 40s! Just in case you think this fake news... Snopes wrote,

U.S. President Donald Trump posted a link on Truth Social that displayed a symbol Nazis used to identify gay men in concentration camps.

Rating:

True

Context

Trump posted a link to an article, which displayed a preview of the featured illustration of an upside-down pink triangle with a red slash through it. It was not clear whether he read the article or knew what the illustration depicted or symbolized.

In March 2025, a rumor spread online that U.S. President Donald Trump posted a symbol Nazis used as a badge to identify gay men to his social media platform Truth Social. Users shared screenshots of the post to Facebook, Reddit and Instagram, where one account captioned the image: "Trump posted this today on truth social. For those that don't know, the pink triangle was a symbol used during Nazi Germany as a 'badge' to identify gay men or trans women in their concentration camps. Since 1970 the LGBT community reappropriated the symbol to symbolize pride & other queer movements" (archived, archived, archived):

I cannot believe that he did know what that symbol meant to us, that were were sent to gas chambers just like Jews and all the other Nazi undesirables like  OutSmart writes...

The symbol, overlaid with a prohibited sign, signals division and emboldens hate.

The recent revelation that Donald Trump posted an image featuring a pink triangle overlaid with a “prohibited” sign on his Truth Social page is both alarming and deeply offensive. The pink triangle, originally used by the Nazis to mark and persecute LGBTQ individuals during the Holocaust, has since been reclaimed by the community as a symbol of resilience and defiance.

However, when combined with the “prohibited” sign—a symbol commonly associated with exclusion and repression—this image takes on a disturbing and dangerous meaning.

Trump’s use of this imagery is not a gesture of solidarity; it is a calculated signal to extremists. At a time when LGBTQ rights are under relentless attack—from statehouse bills targeting trans individuals to book bans erasing queer voices—such symbolism is a deliberate attempt to stoke division and fuel hatred.

As usual... Trump uses a double entendre to weasel out... does the "not" sign mean that he wants to exterminate us or does it mean no to concentrations camps? I believe that it reflexes his hate toward us and that this post represents a Hate Crime that calls for our extermination!

What do you think?

online polls

Speak Now Or Forever Be Silence...

It is hard each day writing about the anger directed at us each day... it takes a toll on me. For example take this article,

Hate killed my beloved friend Meka Shabazz. Transgender people don't deserve this. | Opinion

"All of this rhetoric, and more, has an effect. All of this hatred results in more hatred. All of these words of violence become acts of violence."

Columbus Dispatch

By Judith Graham, KFF Health News

January 3, 2025

Rev. Joelle Henneman is pastor of United Methodist Church for All People.

It has become trendy to hate transgender people.

Tens of millions of dollars were spent by Republicans in this national election season, generating fear of gender-diverse people to score political points.

In post-election analysis, Democrats blamed transgender people for election results — scapegoating the scapegoated.

In Ohio, the legislature has passed laws that medical experts have said will increase rates of depression, anxiety, suicidality and violence against LGBTQ+ youth.

All of this rhetoric, and more, has an effect. All of this hatred results in more hatred. All of these words of violence become acts of violence.

In December, my friend Meka Shabazz died after jumping off a bridge.

The right-wing cheers over our deaths.

She could be strong-willed and sometimes drive us crazy. But as we say at the United Methodist Church for All People, “No matter who you are or what you have done, you are a beloved child of God.”

Meka’s belovedness was wiped out.

Some religions have corrupted the teachings of Jesus changed it from love to hate, they have been mislead by false profits.

When clergy preaches love they are answered with hate.

I made an Instagram video making the same point — that we have to say "enough" to the hatred and division that kills people.

In response, I received a litany of hateful messages saying "enough" of people like me, calling transgender people sick and asking, “So what?” that Meka died.

I call on all affirming religions to speak out against the hate to speak in the silence about love, love for all of gods people... your silence give legitimacy to their hate.

It Is All Intertwined.

Politics… Bullying… Harassment… Murder… They are all tied together, one leads to another.

GOP candidates elevate anti-transgender messaging as a rallying call to Christian conservatives
AP News
BY JAMES POLLARD
February 18, 2024

Thousands of people in one of South Carolina’s most conservative counties roared when Donald Trump promised to cut federal funding on “Day 1” for schools pushing what he called “transgender insanity” onto children.

“And I can’t even believe I have to say it, but I do have to say it,” Trump told the crowd this month. “I will keep men out of women’s sports.”

The former president has repeatedly mocked transgender people during his campaign, using language about gender identity that LGBTQ+ advocates say is wrong and harmful. Others in the GOP field have attacked transgender participation in athletics and proposed nationwide bans on affirming care for transgender minors.

Transgender-related issues have become perhaps the biggest rallying call to Christian conservatives, more than abortion rights or same-sex marriage. That shift worries advocates who note transgender people are already disproportionately prone to stress, depression and suicidal behavior when forced to live as the sex they were assigned at birth.

“Republicans might be overplaying their hand as a political matter. As an ethical matter, I think it’s gross,” said Tim Miller, a former Republican political operative who worked as communications director for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s 2016 presidential campaign.

And that all leads to…

Libs of TikTok appointed to “make schools safer,” but trans kid dies
Nex, a trans teen, dies after a year of transphobic bullying in a school targeted by the biggest anti-trans influencer. When will it end?
LA Blade
By Erin Reed
February 20, 2024

The stories of transgender children being killed are among the hardest I am tasked with writing. I refer to them as stories because, regrettably, there have been multiple incidents over the past two years. Eden Knight, Brianna Ghey, Ariyanna Mitchell—names that will forever resonate with me—all young, tragically stripped of their lives in a world where individuals like them face relentless dehumanization and maltreatment by those holding power.

This week, we have yet another name to add to a list already unbearably long from the first addition… Nex, a gender-fluid transgender high school student, was brutally attacked in an Oklahoma bathroom and lost their life, only a month after Chaya Raichik of Libs Of TikTok was appointed as part of a plan to “make schools safer” in Oklahoma.

The news emerged over the weekend through a post highlighting a student allegedly assaulted by three peers in a high school bathroom at Owasso High School West Campus. This post revealed that a student named Nex had been killed, criticized the media for deadnaming them (using their old name), and noted that their transgender status was being ignored.

Them writes,

An anonymous source who identified herself as a friend of Benedict’s mother told local news outlet KJRH that the 16-year-old was attacked by three older classmates on February 7, adding that she believed Benedict died from “complications from brain trauma.” The source claimed that although Benedict couldn’t walk to the nurse on their own following the incident, school staff did not call an ambulance. According to KJRH, Benedict’s grandmother brought the student to the hospital after the altercation.

"I know at one point, one of the girls was pretty much repeatedly beating [their] head across the floor," the source told KJRH.

The Owasso Police Department (OPD) told KJRH that they were called to Bailey Medical Center on the afternoon of February 7. When they arrived, Benedict’s parents told police their child had been involved in a fight at school. OPD provided a statement saying that the cause of death has not yet been made public.

It is all trickle down… the politicians, to the parents, and then to the children. As South Pacific song says,

You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a different shade—
You’ve got to be carefully taught.

 

Discrimination is passed down through generations, Trump was taught by his father, who was probably a member of the KKK. Fred Trump was arrested at a KKK rally and the kids today are being taught to hate trans and LGBTQ+ children.
 

Do You Expect Anything Different From Florida?

They are crawling out of the swamps, they heard the call and are answering it. Trump, DeSantis, the Sirens with their seductive singing and enchanting music are calling the creatures out of the Florida swamps.

Neo-Nazis Gloat as Florida Becomes a Magnet for Hate
As white supremacists from as far as Canada revel in intimidating Sunshine State residents, critics blast DeSantis for his silence
The Rolling Stone
By Tim Dickinson
September 14, 2023

NEO-NAZIS HAVE BEEN ecstatic in the wake of their headline-grabbing action outside Orlando earlier this month. White nationalists with handles like “Dietrich,” “Red Pill,” and “Scotty Big Balls” greeted each other with shouts of “Hail victory!” on a Sept. 10 Telegram livestream. Echoing the sentiments of many participants, “Combat Carl” told listeners it was “probably the best weekend of my life.”

The march represented a merger of two neo-Nazi hate groups with different styles — the hard-edged BloodTribe, aka Blutstamm, whose Maine-based leader Christopher Pohlhaus has a runic face tattoo goes and goes by the name “Hammer”; and the Goyim Defense League, a meme-savvy group whose antisemitism is steeped in layers of irony, led by Jon Minadeo II, who calls himself “Handsome Truth.” This was the largest, but only the latest, of a series of high-profile neo-Nazi actions in Florida.

More than 50 members of both groups joined together on Sept. 2 — wearing red shirts and dark shorts, with most covering their faces with black masks. Some toted massive swastika flags, and their hate march culminated with a demonstration on a freeway overpass in Altamonte Springs, where the neo-Nazis performed stiff-armed Hitler salutes and shouted antisemitic threats like, “Jews get the rope!”

Many of these haters were not Florida natives. As detailed on the livestream, they’d traveled from as far Canada and California, spending thousands of dollars on flights and hotels to participate in this show of intimidation in the Sunshine State. And this joint mobilization was augmented, on the same day, by a third neo-Nazi group that rallied just a few miles away, outside DisneyWorld. Members of the Order of the Black Sun staked out an entrance to “the most magical place on Earth,” holding placards reading: “Have you thanked Hitler today?”

The songs of the Sirens are calling them from far and wide.

What have you heard from the DeSantis? Crickets!

”Talk to anybody from any of these marginalized communities. There is a fear on the ground,” says Nikki Fried, who was the highest ranking Jewish woman in the history of state government, stepping down from her cabinet post at the beginning of this year to lead state Democrats. She tells Rolling Stone she’s floored to be living through a moment of American history where she has to “denounce Nazis in my home state — and have a governor who refuses to do so.”

We never had this before, they were scared to crawl out of the swamp, but Trump lured them out to do his dirty work for him and he rewarded them by calling them “Very fine people.” And the Republican party have been courting them ever since.

DeSnatis tried obscure them with a red herring…

But that is advice Governor DeSantis’ camp has, at times, found difficult to follow. In Jan. 2022, a group of hardcore haters staged a rally in Orlando, chanting slogans like “the Jew is the devil” and hoisted hateful banners over freeway overpasses. But when called on to condemn them, Team DeSantis first lofted a false-flag conspiracy theory, instead. In a since-deleted tweet, spokesperson Christina Pushaw asked: “Do we even know if they are Nazis?” and suggested that the hate mongers could have been, “Dem Staffers.”

[…]

The governor has since observed a strategy of silence in response to neo-Nazi actions in the state — even when hate groups have invoked his name and political imagery. In July 2022, a group of neo-Nazis set up camp in front of a right-wing youth conference in Tampa, holding lightning bolt ‘SS’ flags, Nazi posters, and a banner reading “DeSantis Country.” One held a sign trolling DeSantis as “our glorious leader.”

DeSantis is following in the footsteps of Sergeant Schultz of Hogan's Heroes… “I know nothing, nothing!”

DeSantis himself gave a similar answer in response to a Jewish voter who questioned him directly about neo-Nazis sporting his flag, during a “conversation with the candidate” that aired in early August in Manchester, New Hampshire. Without directly condemning the haters, DeSantis bragged that he’d made Florida the most “pro-Israel state in America,” spent millions on security for Jewish day schools, and vowed to “defeat the scourge of anti-semitism.” As for the neo-Nazis waving his banner: “Those are not true supporters of mine,” he said. “That is an operation, to try to link me to something so that it smears me.” DeSantis added: “They are trying to divide, by using that as a weapon against me.”

Don’t look behind the curtain!

The dark truth is that white identity politics and scapegoating of minorities is now part and parcel of the MAGA agenda. Trump made his corner of the GOP a safe space for racists by popularizing the birther conspiracy; slandering Mexican immigrants as “rapists” and “drug dealers”; pursuing a “Muslim ban;” and by insisting that the tiki-torch bearing Charlottesville marchers — who chanted “Jews will not replace us!” in 2017 — included “good people.”

He doesn’t want to antagonize their loyal white nationalists base, the Republicans want to keep them mad so that they vote.

The only way we are going to bring about change is to VOTE! Vote as if your life depends upon it because it does.

Down the Rabbit-Hole

That is where we are heading and I don’t know anyway to stop it. If it was just right-wingers stirring the flame at least that would be a place to start. But when it is a whole political party who are members of Congress where would you start? November 2024 is so far away, I am afraid of what can happen between now and then.

Armed Neo-Nazis With Swastika Flags Disrupt Wisconsin Pride Event

“It was so terrifying to have Nazis there that even the religious protestors and Gays Against Groomers left,” an organizer said.

The Advocate

By Christopher Wiggins

July 31, 2023

Swastika flag-bearing neo-Nazis, some of them armed, descended upon a Wisconsin LGBTQ+ Pride celebration on Saturday.

Members of Blood Tribe, a neo-Nazi extremist group, joined other right-wing hate groups, like Gays Against Groomers and anti-LGBTQ+ religious organizations, in protesting the presence of drag queens as part of a Pride in the Park event in Watertown.

Gays Against Groomers, an anti-trans group, had been promoting disruptions at the event for days, highlighting it online and urging its extremist followers to join in protest at Riverside Park, the location of the festivities.

The Pride event organizers, Unity Project of Watertown, brought in food trucks, artisans and vendors, a drag performance, and a drag queen story hour event for kids.

But then the wackos arrived… armed!

A group arrived with guns and swastika flags in hand. Their faces were covered with balaclavas and sunglasses, and they wore khaki pants and black shirts. They started call-and-response style chants. “Us or the pedophiles,” they chanted. “There will be blood, blood, blood!”

What can you do? What can you do when the former President of the United States called them “very fine people.” What can you do when the governor of the state of Florida keeps silent when there is a protest at the entrance to Disney World by neo-Nazis waving swastika flags and DeSantis signs?

Julie Janowak, a board member of the Unitiy Project of Watertown, the group that organized the Pride in the Park event, tells The Advocate that around 9 a.m., about 50 people from far-right religious groups arrived, followed by about a dozen members of Gays Against Groomers. She says that the neo-Nazis arrived around 10:45 a.m. and remained until after 11:30 a.m.

The police said that they can’t do anything because of First Amendment rights but I don’t think that the First Amendment cover making threats… “There will be blood, blood, blood!” I don’t think that the amendment protects against that.

Then on top of all that they tried to gaslight people;

The hate group tried to push the conspiracy theory that federal agents were conspiring to appear like neo-Nazis. Far-right extremists and those who are terminally online believe that FBI agents generate “false-flag” or staged events and dress like members of extremist groups to get negative attention.

These people are sick with hate. They are white supremacists. They are against everything except white Christian straight.

Wisconsin’s Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, condemned the protest and the display of neo-Nazi insignia.

“This is a disgusting and direct attack on our state’s LGBTQ community, communities of color, and Jewish Wisconsinites,” Evers said in a statement to The Advocate. “Nazis, swastikas, and any other anti-LGBTQ, white supremacist, or anti-Semitic messages, symbols, or groups are unacceptable and unwelcome in Wisconsin. Period.”

He said that he was particularly worried by the public display of hatred, which disrupted, intimidated, and harassed kids and families just trying to honor the LGBTQ+ community.

“This is dangerous, hateful behavior, and it should be condemned in all of its forms and by every elected official at every level, and that includes all those who continue to push radical rhetoric, divisive legislation and litigation, and falsehoods and disinformation about the LGBTQ community—those words, those actions, and those policies have real and harmful consequences,” Evers said.

“LGBTQ Wisconsinites deserve to be treated with dignity, decency, kindness, and respect just like every other Wisconsinite, and they deserve to be safe being who they are without fear or threat of shame, harassment, intimidation, or violence. I will continue to support and protect them,” he concluded.

We need more than rhetoric, we need arrests to be made. We need long term prison sentences. We need you to get out and not only vote but take an active part in the elections, volunteer. 

---

Heading up to the Cape today this morning, I hate the drive but love the Cape.

You got to be flexible and roll with the punches. I was supposed to go to the Cape but something came up and I decided not to go this week and instead buy a new washing machine. I've been putting it off because they needed a few days to deliver it and I was home long enough to do it. So I had a change in my schedule and decided to go up next week after the new washer is delivered.

Right Out Of Their Playbook!

One thing all these authoritarian governments Russia, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Brazil, Colombian, Iran, Guatemala,  and Perú have in common with Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, and South Dakota… anti-LGBTQ+ laws!

How Targeting LGBTQ+ Rights Are Part of the Authoritarian Playbook
Corrupt leaders from Colombia to Hungary to Oklahoma are using us as pawns to maintain power.
The Advocate
By Mauricio Albarracin-Caballero
September 3, 2022<


In the last three decades, protections for LGBTQ people’s rights have advanced rapidly in many countries and regions. However, rising populist authoritarianism poses a significant threat to this progress because abolishing sexual freedom is often at the heart of repressive political projects. The progress and backsliding in my home country, Colombia, illustrates the process of using democracy to erode rights.

In 2016, Colombia seemed like a legal paradise for LGBTQ people. That year, a pinnacle of legislative success was a Constitutional Court ruling that secured a range of family rights for same-sex couples, including marriage and adoption, and protection of LGBTQ students in schools. But toward the end of the year, there was another exceptional event. In an effort to end a brutal, decades-long armed conflict, the Andean country held a plebiscite on a peace agreement between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas. Unexpectedly, a small majority of 50.2 percent rejected the agreement after a bitter and polarizing campaign.

A key issue that mobilized the “no” electorate was the moral panic generated by the inclusion of gender, women rights, and LGBTQ-related provisions in the peace agreement, including a definition of gender and the explicit recognition of these populations as victims of the armed conflict. Extremist groups decried these provisions as imposing a “gender ideology,” tapping into a recent controversy about gender and sexuality education in schools.

And then the conservative right-wing came into power!

Anti-LGBTQ movements develop national, regional, and global strategies that rely on political authoritarianism, the spread of misinformation, and grassroots mobilization. A notable rhetorical feature of the anti-gender movement is its use of human rights language to undermine LGBTQ rights, for example, by using religious freedom or parental rights as a basis for attacking minority rights. This political homophobia approach is the major threat to LGBTQ rights worldwide.

[…]

Moreover, these actors are often aligned with authoritarian political projects that use social media to spread misinformation and smear campaigns. They instrumentalize anxieties around children and their welfare to garner popular support, invoking inveterate, dangerous stereotypes of LGBTQ people as immoral corrupters of children. In some contexts, these actions usher in anti-LGBT legislation and, at the same time, bolster the political fortunes of authoritarian leaders.

This new form of anti-LGBTQ sentiment is codified in legislation that focuses on censoring public expressions of identity, including speech on sexual orientation and gender identity, justified under the pretext of “protecting children.” The Russian “gay propaganda” law is a classic example of political homophobia that curbs the rights of LGBTQ youth and has a broader, stifling effect on the public expression of identity.

It is only going to get worse!

As the middle class get squeezed anger grows and they look for a scapegoat. And we are it! We are the low hinging fruit.

Instead of the real culprits… the oligarchs who are sucking up all the money in the world. Wage that don’t keep up with inflation, unfettered monopolies, and price gouging with huge corporate profits!

It Is 1933 All Over Again!

[Editorial]

They say that history repeats itself and “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

Conservative activists want to ban 400 books from a library — but they aren't even on shelves
NBC News
By Tyler Kingkade
August 23, 2022</


For months, a group of conservative Christians have inundated the staff and board of a public library in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, with complaints about books they didn’t want to see on the shelves.

Their list of more than 400 titles predominantly focuses on young adult books with LGBTQ characters, scenes describing sexual activity or invoking the occult.

The only problem: None of the books are in the library’s collection.

Still, the activists in this town of 2,500 people wanted the books pre-emptively banned. They fumed that the library planned to join the American Library Association, a nonprofit trade organization known for fighting censorship that local activists falsely accused of “promoting pedophilia.” They started a campaign to recall four of the five library trustees over a policy against restricting access to controversial books, putting up signs around town that read: “Our Mission is to protect children from explicit materials and grooming.”

Now lets look at 1933 Germany…

1933 Book Burnings

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

On May 10, 1933 student groups at universities across Germany carried out a series of book burnings of works that the students and leading Nazi party members associated with an “un-German spirit.” Enthusiastic crowds witnessed the burning of books by Brecht, Einstein, Freud, Mann and Remarque, among many other well-known intellectuals, scientists and cultural figures, many of whom were Jewish. The largest of these book bonfires occurred in Berlin, where an estimated 40,000 people gathered to hear a speech by the propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, in which he pronounced that “Jewish intellectualism is dead” and endorsed the students’ “right to clean up the debris of the past.”

The library of Dr. Hirschfeld institute was attacked and the books on LGBTQ+ topics were burned!

6 MAY 1933: LOOTING OF THE INSTITUTE OF SEXOLOGY

On 6 May 1933, the Institute of Sexology, an academic foundation devoted to sexological research and the advocacy of homosexual rights, was broken into and occupied by Nazi-supporting youth. Several days later the entire contents of the library were removed and burned.

The institute was initially occupied by The German Student Union, who were a collective of Nazi-supporting youth. Several days later, on 10 May, the entire contents of the library were removed to Berlin’s Bebelplatz Square. That night, along with 20,000 other books across Germany, they were publicly burned in a symbolic attack by Nazi officials on their enemies.

[…]

Jewish, gay and outspokenly liberal, Hirschfeld was an obvious target for the Nazis, and the seizure and destruction of the institute on 6 May took place only three months after Hitler was made Chancellor of Germany. During the attack and subsequent book burning, Hirschfeld was working in Paris. He saw the burning of his own library in a news report at the cinema. Among the texts thrown onto the bonfire at the Bebelplatz was Heinrich Heine’s Almansor, in which the author noted:

‘Where they burn books, in the end they will burn humans too’.

Now here in the US books are being ripped off the library selves because the LGBTQ+, now tell me what is the difference between Fascist Germany and the right-wing conservatives?

Members of the white supremacist group The Patriot Front march through Boston shortly before 12:45 p.m. Saturday. (Boston Herald staff photo by Stuart Cahill)

Boston mayor condemns ‘white supremacist’ march through city; civil rights probe launched
Michelle Wu, Ed Flynn call out ‘cowardly’ group
The Boston Herald
By Flint Mccolgan and Stuart Cahill
July 2, 2022


A group of about 100 marchers identifying themselves by flyers as belonging to the white nationalist group the Patriot Front, cut through the heart of downtown Saturday sparking a confrontation.

A scanner call came in at around 12:30 p.m. announcing that a group had gone up to a rental truck parked in the area of the Haymarket MBTA station and off-loaded a number of shields and flags. Many were U.S. flags, with at least one flown upside-down and many showing just the 13 stars in a circle for the original U.S. colonies, as well as flags featuring different designs.

Many flags also had a stylized version of the symbol that represented Benito Mussolini’s National Fascist Party.

Then down in Charlottesville in 2017 there was the Tiki Torch parade…

Unite the Right march on the University of Virginia campus. Photograph: Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Charlottesville: far-right crowd with torches encircles counter-protest group
People gathering to oppose Unite the Right demonstration say they were hit with pepper spray and lighter fluid in clash on University of Virginia campus
The Guardian
By Jason Wilson
12 August 2017


Hundreds of far-right demonstrators wielded torches as they marched on to the University of Virginia campus in Charlottesville on Friday night and reportedly attacked a much smaller group of counter-protesters who had linked arms around a statue of Thomas Jefferson.

Starting at a municipal park less than a mile away, “alt-right” protesters who have gathered for the weekend Unite the Right rally marched in a long column over the short distance to the campus, chanting slogans like “You will not replace us” and “Blood and soil”.

Now look at Germany in 1933, Facing History and Ourselves writes,

On the night of January 30, 1933, SA men paraded with torches through Berlin to celebrate Hitler’s appointment as chancellor.

On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany. That evening, members of the Nazi Party carried fiery torches as they paraded through the streets of Berlin. They were joined by thousands who had gathered to cheer for Paul von Hindenburg, the president of Germany, and Hitler. The two men responded to the crowd from separate windows—Hitler at the chancellery and Hindenburg at a hotel next door. Nearby was the French embassy, where Ambassador André François-Poncet watched from a window, later writing:

The torches . . . formed a river of fire . . . over the very heart of the city. From these brown-shirted, booted men, as they marched in perfect discipline and alignment, their well-pitched voices bawling war-like songs, there rose an enthusiasm and dynamism that were extraordinary.

Then we have Mussolini’s Blackshirts in 1922;

MUSSOLINI’S BLACKSHIRTS MARCH ON ROME SEIZING TOTAL CONTROL
History On This Day
October 28, 1922


Today on October 28, 1922, Benito Mussolini’s Blackshirts infamously March on Rome, seizing total control over the Italian government.

The March on Rome marked the beginning of Fascist rule over Italy, ending all social-liberal parliamentary regimes. Benito Mussolini was the founding member and leader of the Fascist Party in Italy. With an abundance of personality and charisma, he was capable of captivating massive crowds and attracting large swaths of loyal followers. The end of World War I resulted in unfavorable peace treaties for both Germany and Italy, leaving widespread discontent across the population and a fragile political environment. The government was ripe for the taking. On October 24, the fascist party leaders planned to March on Rome and seize power from the liberal regime. Nearly a decade later, Hitler too would rise to power in Germany on the basis of popular unrest.

So what is the difference between 1933 and now?

We have Trump’s fascists marching through Charlottesville which Trump said that they “very fine people” and then in Boston we have Patriot Front white supremacist group, I don’t know about you but I do not see any differences… they are both fascists!

In Politico Mr. Lithwick writes,

Welcome to the new alt-right, which might not be so new at all.

***

‘Where America still sees Nazis and flaming torches, I see the first stirrings of the thing that comes after.’

Dahlia Lithwick is the senior legal correspondent for Slate.

Remember that both Hitler and Mussolini were part of the rise patriotism, they were part of their version of “Make America Great Again” and the social economic unrest of the “great depression” just the conditions we are seeing today.

[/Editorial]

---

Update 8/29/2022 11:30

Boy the right-wing media just proved my point for me that they are leading us down the road to fascism.

Rightwing journalist uses Nazi book-burning picture while calling LGBTQ books “filth”

The OAN reporter complained that the left wants to ban books while saying it's the right's "duty... to purge our schools of such filth."

LGBTQ Nation

By Alex Bollinger 

August 24, 2022

One America News (OAN) reporter Kara McKinney used a photo of Nazis burning books while calling LGBTQ literature “filth” that deserved to be banned earlier this week on her show.

McKinney was ranting about how Democrats “use their outsize media influence” to trick voters into thinking that conservatives want to ban books.

“It’s the [unintelligible] Saul Alinsky Rules for Radicals tactic of accusing your political opponent of what you’re doing yourself,” McKinney insisted as she showed an image of the Hitler Youth burning books that were labeled “anti-German” in 1938.

But less than a minute later, she was arguing for banning books.

“I think banning pornographic books from school libraries was not only justifiable, it’s the only moral option,” she said.

[…]

If anything, McKinney’s use of the Hitler Youth image while talking about banning LGBTQ literature is apt; the Nazi Party destroyed Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institute of Sexology – which did pioneering work on understanding LGBTQ identities, including transgender people – in 1933, years before the onset of World War II.

That is where the Republicans and the Christian Nationalist are leading us, down the path to fascism.

---

Update 8/29/22 10:30PM

An armed standoff took place between protester who were protesting a children’s drag brunch and those anti-protesters.

Armed Drag Brunch Defenders Shield Against Far-Right in Texas

Photos and video shows black and rainbow-clad people standing watch outside the venue where the drag brunch was happening.

The Advocate

By Christopher Wiggins

August 29 2022

A group of people armed with AR-15 style assault rifles stood guard outside a Texas drag queen brunch location Sunday to defend people enjoying the show from armed right-wing extremists bent on disrupting it. Eventually, the two sides clashed, and a local journalist caught it on video.

A video showing some of the heated exchanges that ensued went viral on Twitter.

Dallas-area freelance investigative journalist Steven Monacelli posted a thread to his Twitter timeline, where he documented the day’s events.

Monacelli also captured this terrifying image of a right-wing extremist menacing the assembled crowd by intimidating them with a baseball bat wrapped in razor wire.

This is not good, everyone is burning with a short fuse.

It Is Out There!

The right-wing conspiracy theorists are already stirring up the hate against us (There is that word again, so tell is it justified?). I was on a Zoom meeting yesterday on Monkeypox (The say they are going to change the name but everyone still uses it.) and one of the people on the meeting was from the ADL and he posted this like from their website blog,

Right Wing Lies About Monkeypox Target LGBTQ+ Community
From: Center on Extremism
August 8, 2022


Right wing public figures, notably U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA), are sharing homophobic and potentially dangerous lies about the transmission of the monkeypox virus. These false narratives, which paint the LGBTQ+ community as child predators, put that community at significant risk. They are also easily debunked.  

Background 

On July 22, 2022, CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky was interviewed on Washington Post Live to discuss the current state of COVID and other public health issues. During the broadcast, she noted that two children had contracted monkeypox – both of whom could be “traced back to individuals who come from the men-who-have-sex-with-men community.”  

On July 23, 2022, the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a global health emergency. Later that day at 6:22 pm, Marjorie Taylor Greene shared Walensky's segment about monkeypox in children on several of her social media pages with the caption, “If Monkeypox is a sexually transmitted disease, why are kids getting it?” 

[…]

Greene’s post, however, gave the conspiratorial and bigoted theories additional oxygen – and reach. 

By the evening of July 25, 2022, the content had appeared verbatim on 8kun’s Q Research board, TheDonald, GreatAwakening.win, and Telegram (including an official Philippines-based Proud Boys channel).

So do you think that justifies using the word “hate?”

Despite these efforts, the heightened focus on monkeypox being transmitted through sexual contact has been used by extremists in conjunction with homophobic slurs and demonization of gay men, as seen in a white supremacist group’s Telegram post from May 21, 2022. In this post, a forwarded message containing vulgar slurs suggested that “as many gays as possible should get together to contract monkeypox”, conflating the transmission of the virus with pride activities:

On July 28, 2022, another post shared in a QAnon-centric Telegram channel included an article alleging that the mainstream media are distorting the narratives surrounding monkeypox in an effort "to hide the epidemic of pedophilia and grooming plaguing America”. 

How about now?

The rhetoric coming out of the Republican party is getting deadly, there is going to be violence at some LGBTQ+ event.

Monkeypox-fueled hate echoes the HIV/AIDS era, even in rainbow cities
Washington Post
By Petula Dvorak Columnist
August 18, 2022<


It was a sunny day last week when it finally happened, the thing Jay had left his small, conservative hometown in the South to avoid — hate.

He came here to be his full self. But it was the pink mask and Birkenstock sandals the man singled out as he verbally assaulted the 31-year-old on the Yellow Line last week, using slurs targeting gay people, ranting about monkeypox and advancing into Jay’s personal space as the train stopped in a tunnel.

It’s “people like you that can’t stop going to orgies getting the rest of us killed,” the guy screamed into Jay’s face, as Jay balanced his Trader Joe’s grocery bag and tried to keep his composure.

Jay got off at the next stop, and the man who raged at him didn’t follow. But the man’s hatred — and the silence of others in the Metro car and on the platform after he left the scene — is jarring in a nation where same-sex marriage is legal but discrimination against someone based on who they love is not.

For many in the community they have never had to confront this hatred, for the old-timers this in nothing new, they lived through the violence and hatred of the AIDS/HIV epidemic and the hatred of gays. The San Francisco Gate had this to say about back then,

A significant source of Reagan's support came from the newly identified religious right and the Moral Majority, a political-action group founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell. AIDS became the tool, and gay men the target, for the politics of fear, hate and discrimination. Falwell said "AIDS is the wrath of God upon homosexuals." Reagan's communications director Pat Buchanan argued that AIDS is "nature's revenge on gay men."

With each passing month, death and suffering increased at a frightening rate. Scientists, researchers and health care professionals at every level expressed the need for funding. The response of the Reagan administration was indifference.

And now we are seeing the Republicans once again stirring up the hate and to add gas to the fire are the social network's conspiracy theorist are spreading the lie. Now we see white supremacist marching in the streets of Boston. Now we see Pride events and Drag Queen's Story Hours coming under threats. 

And people tell me that I am over reacting about the dangers.

As one person in yesterday’s meet said, it could have started in any community. It is just that one person attended the wrong party.

---

Another Court Victory.

And another court case that will be going to the Supreme Court!

Court: Arkansas can’t ban treatment of transgender kids

AP News

By Andrew DeMillo

August 25, 2022

 A federal appeals court on Thursday said Arkansas can’t enforce its ban on transgender children receiving gender-affirming medical care.

A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a judge’s ruling temporarily blocking the state from enforcing the 2021 law. A trial is scheduled for October before the same judge on whether to permanently block the law.

Arkansas was the first state to enact such a ban, which prohibits doctors from providing gender-confirming hormone treatment, puberty blockers or surgery to anyone under 18 years old, or from referring them to other providers for the treatment. There are no doctors who perform gender-affirming surgery on minors in the state.

“Because the minor’s sex at birth determines whether or not the minor can receive certain types of medical care under the law, Act 626 discriminates on the basis of sex,” the court’s ruling Thursday said.

[…]

“The Eighth Circuit was abundantly clear that the state’s ban on care does not advance any important governmental interest and the state’s defense of the law is lacking in legal or evidentiary support,” Chase Strangio, deputy director for Transgender Justice at the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project, said in a statement. “The state has no business categorically singling out this care for prohibition.”

Now we will see this going to the Supreme Court mainly I think because other appeal judges have okayed the ban and that will mean the cases will proceed up the chain of courts.

A federal judge in May blocked a similar law in Alabama. A Tennessee ban that was enacted last year on transgender treatments for youth, which is limited to providing gender-confirming hormone treatment to prepubescent minors, remains in effect.

~~~~~~

 It seems to me that the Republicans are trying to force down on everyone some weird version of 1950 “Father Knows Best” morality. They are trying to live a Norman Rockwell painting, a little white church with the father in a suit, the mother in a dress with heels, a boy, a girl in a dress with Mary Jane’s on bobby socks, and their dog spot.

Is This Their Best?

The quality of candidates and types of candidates leaves you wondering what type of swamp creatures are they nominating.

Kari Lake will disavow gay-bashing antisemite or the election is over
Opinion: If Lake doesn't rescind her endorsement of Jarrin Jackson, she'll provide proof-positive she is unfit for governor.
Arizona Republic
By Phil Boas
August 20, 2022


Arizona will seldom have moments of clarity like this, so let’s get to the brutal facts.

One of our two-major party candidates for governor has just endorsed a man who hates Jewish people, despises gay people and wants no Black or brown immigrants in this country.

Jarrin Jackson is no casual bigot. He has produced such a stream of internet bile he can only be seen as a committed anti-Semite, homophobe and racist – one of the most vile people in political life, unfit for government and unwelcome in polite society.

And yet Jarrin Jackson, Republican candidate for the Oklahoma state Senate, tweeted on Wednesday that he has won the endorsement of Kari Lake, Arizona Republican candidate for governor. There he was photoshopped together with the smiling Lake, two peas in a tweet.

[…]

On the social media app Telegram and other forums, Jackson said:

• Using the phrase LGBTQ “is using language designed by Satan.”
• “LGBTQ is the gateway to pedophilia.”
• “Call me old fashioned, but I don’t want a society of homosexuals.”
• “(Being gay) is the most disgusting, despicable, stupid blehh (makes gagging noise) thing ever. Insert barf emoji. And yet, we’re supposed to celebrate this and supposed to treat it like it’s normal?"
• "All Jews will go to hell if they don't believe the gospel of Jesus Christ … just like everybody else."
• "I love Jews because Christ told me to, not because they deserve it."
• "I'm not beholden to Jews or any other group."
• "I ain't owned by the Jews. I worship Jesus Christ. He's my Messiah."

On and on he goes.

In Florida a candidate threatens the FBI a so called "Law & Order" party,

GOP Candidate Says FBI Agents Would Be Put In 'Body Bag' If His Home Were Searched
Despite the controversy blowing up over the video Saturday, Sarasota businessman Martin Hyde defended his remarks.
HuffPost
By Mary Papenfuss
August 20, 2022


A Florida Republican candidate for Congress threatened that FBI agents would go “home in a body bag” if they ever try to search his house the way they did Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.

In a shocking video he posted to YouTube on Saturday, Sarasota businessman Martin Hyde said, “I wish they’d turn up at my home ’cause they’d have gone home in a body bag.”

“When they turned up at Mar-a-Lago and raided the home of President Trump, that was an assault on every one of the 75 million people who voted for Donald Trump. It was an assault on democracy,” Hyde baselessly claimed in the video. “These people would stop at nothing.”

I’m telling you it is a race to the bottom of the swamp for the Republican party.

Then up in Wyoming we have...

Liz Cheney lost her primary to an anti-LGBTQ lady who people are convinced might be a Batman villain
Queerty
By Graham Gremore
August 17, 2022


[…]

Hageman has also said she supports all of Donald Trump‘s policies, which, of course, included things like the trans military ban, stripping away funding from homeless shelters that house queer folx, scrubbing LGBTQ people from the 2020 census, slashing health services to those living with HIV, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc.

[…]

“He was the greatest president of my lifetime,” she gushed to the New York Times last year, “and I am proud to have been able to renominate him in 2020. And I’m proud to strongly support him today.”

Then candidate in South Carolina…

Pro-Trump Candidate Calls for Executing Parents of LGBTQ+ Kids
Mark Burns described the fight for LGBTQ+ rights as a treasonous attempt to “destabilize the republic.”
Advocate
By Donald Padgett
June, 14 2022


The Trump-endorsed Republican candidate in South Carolina’s 4th Congressional District called for the arrest and execution of those who advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and the protection of trans children.

During an appearance on The Stew Peters Show, Pastor Mark Burns was asked by host Jane Ruby to commit to voting for transphobic laws that target LGBTQ+ children and their parents and ending what she called “this war on children.” Burns went much further than committing to voting for legislation.

“Not only will I vote to make sure that those parents be held for child abuse because there’s no such thing as trans kids, only abusive parents, period,” Burns responded adding that trans-supportive parents are unnaturally influencing their children’s development.

In Wisconsin…

GOP governor candidate Michels opposes same-sex marriage
AP News
By Scott Bauer
June 15, 2022


Donald Trump’s endorsed candidate for Wisconsin governor is standing by his opposition to same-sex marriage, telling The Associated Press that he believes “marriage should be between a man and a woman.”

Tim Michels, co-owner of Michels Corp. construction company, is one of four Republicans running for a chance to take on Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in November and this month won the former president’s endorsement. Michels spoke with the AP on Tuesday about the race.

His views on same-sex marriage have been in question after he made comments in his U.S. Senate race in 2004 when he backed a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. He did not comment when asked earlier this month what he thought of Evers raising a rainbow flag over the state Capitol to celebrate Pride Month.

“My position that is that marriage should be between a man and a woman,” Michels said when asked about it Tuesday.

In Indiana…

'Flow from the pulpit:' The LifeGate church members providing security to Doug Mastriano [Video]
Lancaster Online
By Carter Walker
August 20, 2022


Doug Mastriano is running an unconventional campaign for governor. He’s not raising a lot of money. He prefers to attend closed-door events with his base or campaign at public events where reporters are often kept at arm's length.

But the Republican nominee’s campaign is also notable for another reason: Mastriano has surrounded himself with a non-professional, armed security team whose members include at least one person with direct ties to a militia group.

Mastriano’s detail includes several members of a relatively new evangelical church near Elizabethtown, LifeGate, whose leaders have spoken openly about electing Christians to office to advance biblical principles in government.

[…]

Emery [A member of the security team], along with fellow LifeGate members Stephen and Danielle Lindemuth, won seats on the Elizabethtown Area School Board just a few days before Lamb’s sermon. A political yard sign for the three was placed on LifeGate property.

This year, LifeGate members campaigned to win seats to the local Republican committee. In a break between sermons in March, LifeGate member Sharon Ogilvie encouraged members to get active by signing petitions for local candidates.

All around the country anti-LGBTQ+ candidate have been picked in primaries if the Republicans gain control of the Senate and House we are going to dozens of anti-LGBTQ+ bill introduced and it is my guess that they will not stop at us but also gays and lesbians. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has already introduced a bill Friday that would make providing gender-affirming medical care to transgender minors a felony, punishable by up to 25 years in prison.

They have nominated a bunch of anti-Semites, homophobes, transphobes, and racist for office.

This is our future if the Republicans win.

Their wins are usually by only a few percentage points, they are able to rally their anti-Semites, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, and racist base to get out in vote. We need to get out the independent voters to vote, we need to motivate them to see why their vote is important.