Hate Is Spreading

Around the world hate against us is spreading...

‘Witch-hunt’ in Niger as military regime rounds up LGBTQ+ population

Fears of resurgence of HIV/Aids amid loss of access to PrEP drugs as at least 40 people arrested in ‘toxic’ climate

The Guardian

Sarah Johnson

Wed 1 Jul 2026

A “witch-hunt” is under way in Niger, where dozens of people have been arrested for homosexuality in the west African state following the introduction of a new penal code earlier this year.

Up to 40 people have been arrested and 16 men, including high-ranking military officials, have been imprisoned across the country, according to local media.

Organisations providing HIV services to men who have sex with men have had to stop working, according to a source who asked to remain anonymous.

“With the recent witch-hunt, and these arrests that are taking place, the climate here is truly toxic,” they said.

“LGBTQ+ populations are keeping a low profile and have gone into hiding because they are at risk. We have lost contact with many and the recent arrests have exacerbated tensions.”

They are idiots! Diseases never stops. Look at what happened when Reagan didn't do anything about HIV/AIDS and as a result it spread like wildfire. And in Niger it will be even worst because it is in the general population!

Larissa Kojoué, a political scientist and pan-African activist, dismissed the idea of homosexuality being somehow linked to western culture. “Political leaders are using this to advance their own political agenda,” she said. “They claim ‘African values’, sovereignty and culture, all the while happily undermining human rights for people.”

They are taking pages out of Trump playbook.

Examples include Uganda’s 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act, which made homosexual acts punishable by death; a new law in Senegal doubling the maximum prison term to 10 years for same-sex relations and criminalising the “promotion” of homosexuality; and a bill in Ghana criminalising groups promoting gay rights and identifying as LGBTQ+. Globally, half of the 66 countries that criminalise consensual same-sex acts are African.

There are already Republicans who also want to imprisoned us!

Pop Quiz!

What do Belarus, Hungary, Russia, and the U.S. have in common?

They are all persecuting the LGBTQ+ community. While the first three are established authoritarian regimes, the U.S. is currently home to a few "wannabes."

Belarus parliament approves new law targeting ‘LGBTQ+ expression’

Lawmakers in Belarus have approved a bill introducing penalties for what authorities describe as the “promotion of homosexuality, gender transition, childlessness, and pedophilia”.

Pink News

Apr 03

by Tom Hutt-Dixon

The legislation passed the upper chamber of parliament on Thursday, after clearing the lower house last month. It now awaits the signature of president Alexander Lukashenko, who is widely expected to sign it into law.

Under the proposed measures, those accused of “promoting” such ideas could face fines, community service, or up to 15 days of administrative detention.

Sound familiar? Does that sound like “Don’t Say Gay” to you? Pulling LGBTQ+ books from libraries, gee where have we heard that before?

Activists have also accused the country’s security agency, known as the KGB, of targeting LGBTQ+ individuals, including allegations of blackmail to coerce cooperation.

There are also growing concerns among transgender individuals that the legislation could restrict access to healthcare and legal recognition.

Throughout history, we have been the targets of hate and persecution by petty tyrants (Trump included).

On The Road To...

Bob Hope did a series of movies call "Road to..."

Trump is on the road to ruin... he brags about the country's 250 Anniversary and is even having a coin with his image upon it like a Roman Caesar! Well the question is will we make it to July?

Between Trump's War and what it is doing to the economy with gas prices skyrocketing and the stock market diving it sure raises the questions. In Iran Trump is going through ordnance bring down our stockpiles of missiles. There are military leaders and retirees who in private worry that with the stockpiles low that China might think it is a good time to go after Taiwan.

While others worry about the growing Christian Nationalists in the military!

Invoking faith in wartime, Pete Hegseth breaks norms and worries critics

The Washington Post

Story by Michelle Boorstein

March 29, 2026

U.S. military leaders have long understood the power and perils of invoking faith — especially in wartime.

Facing the Germans in World War II, Gen. George Patton ordered a chaplain to write an interfaith prayer for troops to say on the battlefield.

It took just a week in September 2001 for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to change the name of the campaign against terrorism from Operation Infinite Justice to Operation Enduring Freedom — a switch meant to clarify that the U.S. was not in a religious war.

[...]

But those longtime norms are being upended by the proselytizing Christian campaign of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, say multiple former high-ranking military officials and experts on religion and law. Rather than boosting cohesion through a more universal spiritual uplift, they say, the new approach violates the Constitution and undermines the bonds of mutual respect between troops that are essential, especially in wartime.

Hegseth lives in a dream world Walter Mitty and that is very, very scary! He imagines himself in armor on a white horse with a Crusader's flag!

“The American military has had a remarkable ride of equanimity and fairness and justice and all manner of good adjectives with regard to religion. It’s done this in a way that’s really remarkable — until now,” said retired Army Col. Larry Wilkerson, who served as chief of staff to Colin Powell when he was secretary of state and then was chair of the Joint Chiefs. Hegseth’s actions, Wilkerson said, “are totally violative of everything that transpired before it. This has come on us in a very quick fashion.”

[...]

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Randy Manner, who was second-in-command at the National Guard from 2011 to 2012, has worked in recent years to train hundreds of interfaith military chaplains. Manner said he has talked with “dozens and dozens” of active-duty chaplains in recent weeks who say those who don’t identify with Hegseth “are being marginalized.” They feel they can’t voice their concerns to their own superiors, he said, and feel their work as the primary advocate for troops’ spiritual, mental and moral health is being threatened.

“I’ve had people tell me they’re not included in staff meetings,” Manner said.

He sees the war as a "Just" war to bring the true faith to the infidels!   

At Pentagon Christian service, Hegseth prays for violence ‘against those who deserve no mercy’

AP News

By  TIFFANY STANLEY

March 25, 2026

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, hosting his first monthly Christian worship service at the Pentagon since the Iran war began, prayed Wednesday to have “every round find its mark.”

“Every month it is fitting to be right here,” he told the gathered civilian employees and uniformed military personnel. “All the more fitting this month, at this moment, given what tens of thousands of Americans are doing right now.”

He read a prayer he said was first given by a military chaplain to the troops who captured then-President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela.

“Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation,” Hegseth prayed during the livestreamed service. “Give them wisdom in every decision, endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.”

He is on the road to war crimes!

During the expanding Iran war and global conflicts, Hegseth’s Christian rhetoric has drawn renewed scrutiny, including his past defense of the Crusades, the brutal medieval wars that pitted Christians against Muslims.

Statements of faith are common in American public life, across political parties and religious traditions. Pentagon aides and Hegseth’s defenders pull examples from history, such as President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s support of giving Bibles to troops. Hegseth regularly cites George Washington, who pushed to establish the military chaplain corps.

Hegseth often goes beyond standard calls for God to bless the country or its troops. Last week, he asked Americans to pray for service members “in the name of Jesus Christ.” On Wednesday, he again prayed in Jesus’ name.

We are floundering we are on the road to disaster!  The Washington Post goes on to write,

Americans United earlier this week sued the Defense Department for not turning over public records requests about the Hegseth-led Christian prayer services at the Pentagon. In a release, it said Hegseth is abusing his position and taxpayer funds to impose his preferred religion.

“Even if these prayer services are presented as voluntary, there is pressure on federal employees to attend in order to appease their bosses — especially since these services occur amidst the Trump administration’s campaign to punish anyone who doesn’t comply with its Christian Nationalist agenda,” AU wrote.

Hegseth’s change comes as the Supreme Court has in recent years weakened church-state separation and supercharged the free exercise of religion. Among the concepts the justices are reexamining are what constitutes religious coercion and an illegal government “establishment” of religion.

Couple an military with a Christian Nationalist and we have a problem! A question arises, is Hegseth promoting generals with his religious views and firing those who don't?

Hegseth wrote a book called American Crusade: Our Fight to Stay Free! This is the cover to the book...

Hegseth’s pastor said...

“I think the morale is very high, because we don’t have admirals in dresses, who aren’t supposed to be wearing dresses. Pete’s emphasis on lethality and warrior readiness is, for the average sailor or marine — that’s just the jam,” Wilson said. “People feel like someone is running this department who wakes up in the morning knowing what he thinks.”

This Is Vindictiveness!

This is pure and simple meanness! I don't know how to otherwise describe it!

This gay couple escaped Iran, fearing for their lives. The administration is sending them back.

“There is a very, very real — not speculative — concern,” the couple’s lawyer says.

LGBTQ Nation

John Russell (He/Him)

January 26, 2026,

A pair of gay asylum seekers is fighting to stay in the U.S., even as the presidential administration has ordered their deportation to Iran, where they could face the death penalty for a previous conviction for homosexual activity.

The men’s attorney, Rebekah Wolf of the American Immigration Council, noted in an interview with AZ Mirror that homosexuality is punishable by death in Iran.

This shows how deep the Trump adminstration hatred of us goes.

Wolf described the couple’s cases as “textbook” asylum claims: “People from a country where who they are is criminalized and punishable by torture or death — that is literally the definition of an asylum seeker,” she told Advocate.

But the men have remained in detention since entering the U.S. Wolf explained that they did not have legal representation at their hearings in late April and early May, which she described as “fraught with bias” and violations of due process. Their claims were denied, and while Wolf has worked to appeal the decisions, the couple has been scheduled for deportation to Iran three times, though they have not yet been removed from the U.S.

But the Trump adminstration slammed the door on them! And sentenced them to death!

Reason wrote,

President Donald Trump has threatened war with Iran if the government harms its own people. But he's also planning to hand over Iranians, some of whom may face the death penalty, to that government. On Thursday, the nonprofit National Iranian American Council warned that it had learned about a planned deportation flight to Iran. On Friday, a lawyer for two gay Iranians set to be deported confirmed the story to MS NOW and CNN.

"The same administration that promised Iranians that 'help is on the way' amid a deadly crackdown is now forcibly sending Iranians back into danger," National Iranian American Council President Jamal Abdi said in a press release. "Words of solidarity against violence and repression ring especially hollow when you're rounding those same people up and forcing them on planes to deliver them back into the hands of their oppressors."

But nothing stops the hate the Trump adminstration has shown against not olny the trans community but also anything LGBTQ+!

In Iran they still do "honor" killings to defend the family name, in 2021...

Alireza Fazeli Monfared wanted to live as a free gay man in the West. His family in Iran beheaded him days before his dream came true, say activists.

Business Insider

By Joshua Nelken-Zitser 

• Alireza Fazeli Monfared, a 20-year-old gay Iranian man, was killed in an alleged "honor killing."
• Insider obtained voice notes indicating he was days away from fleeing Iran because of persecution.
• Activists are among those seeking to draw attention to his killing.

[...]

But five days before he was due to leave Iran, his half-brother discovered paperwork for his military exemption detailing his sexuality. 6Rang's executive director, Shadi Amin, said that triggered some relatives to take Monfared to a remote village and end his life.

The 20-year-old's murder has sparked a global outcry, including social-media posts by the likes of Demi Lovato. But Iranian human-rights activists have said it is emblematic of a daily persecution that gay people in Iran face.

This is what faces if they are returned to Iran!

Your Moral Compass!

You know the groups that you associate with tells a lot about your moral character... the saying when you lie down with dogs you get up with flees, has some bearing in truth.

There are Republicans defending the Young Republicans and there are those who are denouncing them.

 NY's Young Republican chapter disbanded after racist messages exposed in group chat

WABC 7

ByStacey Sager

October 17, 2025

Fallout continues for New York's Young Republican chapter as a pivotal vote to disband the group has been approved.

The decision comes after a series of racist and antisemitic messages from a private group chat were made public.

Several former leaders have already lost their jobs, and Friday's vote is seen as a step toward a fresh start.

It's a blow to the Republican Party, and it has top GOP leaders emphatically distancing themselves from any of those involved.

A group chat on the Telegram messaging app including certain members of the Young Republican National Federation, was exposed in a Politico report detailing seven months of racist, anti-semitic, and violent texts that reportedly became part of their culture.

But JD Vance said according to the Guardian,

JD Vance sought to downplay the revelation that leaders of a group called the Young Republicans exchanged hundreds of racist and sexist text messages – including one in which rape was called “epic”, and another in which someone wrote “I love Hitler” – as youthful indiscretions.

Vance suggested that the participants in the leaked chats were much younger than they in fact were. Some of the participants were barely younger than the 41-year-old vice-president.

The other thing to think about is why did think it was okay for them to think it was all right to use that type of language? These were not "kids" like Vance said adults and one was a legislator!

Vermont Legislator Resigns Over Racist Texts in Republican Group Chat

The G.O.P. officials who participated in a group text chat have faced calls to step down. State Senator Samuel Douglass was the group’s only elected member.

The New York Times

By David W. Chen

Oct. 17, 2025

A Vermont Republican legislator who faced bipartisan condemnation after participating in a long-running group chat that was peppered with racist and antisemitic language announced on Friday that he would resign.

State Senator Samuel Douglass, 26, was one of a dozen young Republican Party activists from around the country who had participated in the texts, which were first reported on Tuesday by Politico. And while some participants worked for Republican lawmakers or held government posts, Mr. Douglass was the only elected official.

Did they really think it was okay to use that language if no one learned about it?

“Offense was taken and people were hurt, so I will mend bridges to the best of my ability. Since the story broke, I have reached out to the majority of my Jewish and BIPOC friends and colleagues to ensure that they can be honest and upfront with me, and I know that as a young person I have a duty to set a good example for others,” Mr. Douglass added, using an acronym for Black, Indigenous and people of color.

They used it so casually that it must be normal for them. And now they expect it to blow over... we cannot let it!

That point to the Republicans' moral compress.

---

Update: 5:30PM

Politico:

GOP split over how to respond to racist texts

As the White House attempts to redirect focus to violent Democratic rhetoric, Republicans face the vexing choice of how to respond to a trove of hateful messages.

By Jason Beeferman

10/18/202

When POLITICO approached Rep. Elise Stefanik this month with hate-filled messages from the same Young Republicans she backed and bankrolled for years, her condemnation was swift and full-throated.

Hours after the story published — and just minutes after Vice President JD Vance derided criticisms of the chat as “pearl clutching” — Stefanik pivoted to attacking Democrats. She derided POLITICO’s story as a “hit piece” and those across the aisle raising alarm about it as “hyperventilating.”

For them racist speech is common, so they are surprised when others condemn it.

“These were not even candidates for elected office outside of internally in a young professional political organization,” Stefanik wrote on X, shortly after Vance’s post. “Meanwhile, the VA Democrat Attorney General candidate Jay Jones said he wanted to shoot his political opponent in the head and wanted their children to die in their mother’s arms. Democrats have refused to condemn this violent rhetoric and refused to call for him to exit the race.”

Stefanik’s shift reflects a broader dilemma Republicans across the country are now facing as they’re forced to confront a damaging situation: whether to denounce or deflect in their public messaging in response to a trove of private discussions Democrats say is proof of the GOP’s long-dismissed problem with white supremacy.

There is no doubt, the leadership of the Republican's are not only racist but also 

On the national level, Vance doubled down on his initial comments by attempting to draw more attention to texts from Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones, in which Jones talks about shooting his political opponent.

They are so used to it that they don't see it!

Mini-Post: Homophobic

You think they are only coming for us the trans community but guess again!

Paul: Gay CDC official’s ‘lifestyle’ disqualified him from government

The Hill

by Joseph Choi

09/02/25

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Tuesday said a gay leader at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) who resigned last week in protest of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had “no business being in government” due to the “lifestyle” he led.

Demetre Daskalakis, former director of the CDC’s Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, was among the four CDC leaders who resigned last week, saying in their resignations that the changes under Kennedy were preventing them from carrying out the agency’s public health mission.

“One of the guys that is the biggest proponent of doing all this is the guy who describes the risky behavior that he and his lifestyle involve,” Paul said when asked about the exodus in CDC leadership Tuesday evening, referring to Daskalakis.

Take a look at what Paul said, "...risky behavior that he and his lifestyle involve," see they still think like the 1940s and he is a doctor no less! "Lifestyle!" That is right out of the "Lavender Scare" and Senator McCarthy hearings! 

Mini-Post: Mouthing Off

Two Republicans are going at it here in Connecticut and it is being investigated as a bias crime.

Alleged ‘hate incident’ between two CT political figures caught on video. Police are investigating.

Hartford Courant

By Livi Stanford

August 30, 2025

The Waterbury Police Department is conducting an investigation involving two political figures after an incident that was captured on video.

The video reportedly shows former state Rep. Victor Cuevas confronting and making homophobic comments to Efrain Torres, a Republican Board of Aldermen candidate.

“We are investigating the report of a disturbance that occurred on Grant Street on Friday and both of those parties are involved in that investigation,” said Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo.

[...]

Noujaim claims that Cuevas “acted irrationally, provoking and stalking my candidate using homophobic slurs.” He also called it a hate crime and said that it should not have taken place.

So welcome to Republican politics!

The Democratic candidate said...

“What we have seen over the last two plus years from leadership of the Republican Party is a focus on insults over ideas and this certainly seems to be a symptom of that and our choice this fall will not just be on policy, but how we want to treat each other in Waterbury,” he said. “To build our city up we don’t have to tear each other down.”

P'town!

[Editorial]

Many of you have heard of the bias incidents that happened in P'town last week, and many have said that it is hate crime, as much as I wish it was true... it isn't.

Three Charged After Homophobic Slur Incident in Provincetown

Instinct

July 10, 2025 by Eugene Sun

It was a typical summer evening in Provincetown: the breeze was salty, the vibes were high, and somewhere on Commercial Street, a drag queen was probably doing a death drop in heels. Tourists were juggling soft-serve and shopping bags. The soundtrack? Donna Summer, obviously. Then—like a record scratch you didn’t ask for—a car tore through town, and suddenly the air was filled with slurs, air horns, and a whole lot of ugliness.

[...]

The ringleaders (allegedly) are Ryan Mahimtura of Framingham, Henry Ward of Hudson, and an unnamed minor also from Hudson. All three are facing two counts of disorderly conduct, and according to Provincetown police, that may just be the start.

Well I doubt very much that they will be charged with a hate crime.

Why?

Because no threats were made and the courts have ruled in the past that all that crap is covered by the First Amendment. No matter how vile, if they don't make threats of violence or actual physical violence then I don't think it is not going to be a hate crime. However, maybe how the air horn was used could have a factor in the case, I would think like if they held it near an ear that might cause injury.

[/Editorial]

Laramie.

For my generation this has grave meaning, we remember the tortured death of Mathew Shepard that lead to a federal bias law, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009.

For those who are not familiar with his murder, the Guardian wrote this after the 25 anniversary of his murder,

On October 7 1998, Matthew Shepard, a young, gay student at the University of Wyoming, was found badly beaten and barely alive, lashed to a fence in the hills outside the small mid-west town of Laramie (population: 26,000). His attackers, two young, ill-educated local men the same age as Shepard, who had picked him up from a local bar, robbed him and left him to die in the wilderness, were quickly apprehended. Five days later, Shepard died, as journalists descended, making snap judgements about why this homophobic crime had taken place, what it meant about Laramie, and what it said about the state of America. Then the media melted away.

At that this point, the Tectonic Theater Project moved in. Members of the company went to Laramie and spent over a year interviewing locals. The result is a remarkable piece of verbatim theatre that pieces together the story of Shepard and presents a detailed portrait of a small US town, in the residents' own words.

From his murder a play was written, “The Laramie Project.”

The play described his murder and the trial, but it also had the “Angles”* which was people dressed like angles with sheets as wings to block the protests be an anti-LGBTQ+ church protesters by Westboro Baptist Church. And now there is a court case that says that the play Laramine Protect discriminates against religion. The play is about a historic event!

School must face Christian bias claim over staging of 'Laramie Project,' U.S. court says
Corey McNellis said he was fired at a Colorado high school for offering “a Christian perspective” on a school play about the murder of a gay college student.
NBC News
By Reuters
September 11. 2024

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday revived religious discrimination claims by the former assistant principal of a Colorado high school who says he was fired for offering “a Christian perspective” on a school play about the murder of a gay college student.

A unanimous three-judge panel of the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said plaintiff Corey McNellis could proceed with a bias lawsuit against the Douglas County School District because school administrators allegedly cited his “religious comments” about the play as the basis for his 2020 firing.

McNellis in an email exchange with the school’s theater director and other faculty members suggested that as a Christian he disagreed with students staging a production of "The Laramie Project," which depicts the aftermath of the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student in Wyoming.

The 10th Circuit panel said a Colorado federal judge was wrong to rule that McNellis could not prove his religious bias claims under federal and Colorado laws because he had not alleged that the school district treated him differently than non-Christian coworkers.

The Catholic Vote reports,

Following an October email from the theater department to all school staff announcing the play, McNellis responded by email, asking, “As a Dad of a student here and also as an employee in the school, what is my recourse if I disagree with the production? Was this a heads up to see if everyone was cool?”

The Assistant Principal and father of a family followed up with subsequent emails, in which he stated, “As a [C]hristian I would love to collaborate with your project… Please let me know if the love that Jesus can provide will help your play.”

McNellis also stated that he stood alone within the administration in his objections to the play and its content. “For the record, all of administration does not agree with me on this” he said in an email. “I am totally solo… Forgive me for having a different viewpoint and the audacity to publicly share it.”

McNellis was subsequently placed on administrative leave by the Douglas County School District and investigated for his “religious comments” regarding the play. He complained at the time to the school’s Principal, Mr. Ottmann, and several colleagues that he was facing investigation “based on his Christian beliefs.”

Okay, from what I read I don’t know if the firing was justified, just sending the email I don’t see as justifying the firing.

What I do question is what he sees as a problem “As a [C]hristian I would love to collaborate with your project…” what do they see wrote with the play? It is pretty straight forward discription of what happened during the murder and the trial. Lit Charts writes,

The Laramie Project
by Moisés Kaufman

Religion is a strong presence in Laramie, and many people of different faiths are represented in The Laramie Project. For those people, the religious teachings with which they grew up tend to influence the prejudice or acceptance with which they view Matthew Shepard. Because of this, the town’s religious leaders have tremendous power to shape public opinion, and their reactions to Matthew’s death reflect the reactions of the town at large. Through its focus on several of the town’s religious leaders, The Laramie Project grapples, in particular, with the ambiguous ethics of situations in which religious doctrine seems to inspire or justify immoral acts.

[…]

Meanwhile, the most extreme minister in Laramie, the Baptist minister, equivocates when asked about the violence against Matthew. Effectively, the Baptist minister weighs Matthew's sexuality against his murder, suggesting that Matthew may have deserved to be murdered because of his sexuality. The Baptist Minister, in believing that Matthew’s brutal death might be God’s punishment, seems to view God as a figure to be feared rather than a figure of love and mercy. Fred Phelps, a minister from the notorious Westboro Baptist Church, provides an extreme example of hate-focused religious interpretation when he protests Matthew Shepard’s funeral, shouting horrible things about God’s wrath. Fred Phelps’s church is a Christian church, and so it is based in the same texts and traditional doctrine as the Baptist, Catholic, or Mormon churches. Through Fred Phelps’s presence, the play shows how the same general religion (Christianity) that Father Schmit interprets as obligating him to hold a vigil for Matthew can also inspire someone to promote the same kind of violence that killed Matthew.

Okay, I don’t understand what they want, do they not like the truth about the murder? Or the fact that the Westboro Baptist Church protested with homophobic signs at his funeral? Or the counter protests by the Angles?

Now if the religious leaders get their way, then I think that the affirming churches should also get the say.

 

*****

 

*Angles

During the 1999 trial proceedings against Matt’s killer Aaron McKinney, the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas protested in front of the courthouse in Laramie, Wyoming while waving vulgar signs and shouting hate speech. Matt’s friend Romaine Patterson and others fashioned angel costumes with broad white wings and encircled the church group, spreading their wings to make them impossible to see from the crowd where media cameras were located. This act is immortalized in the play (and later HBO production of) The Laramie Project.

In The Heat Of The Moment.

When you are angry and you use a derogatory word and you apologize for it, well I don’t buy it. You are only apologizing for it because you got caught!

When you are mad or angry you don’t use words that you don’t use in everyday speech, you use words that are familiar to you. So when you use a homophobic word you are using a word that is common to you. You don’t use highfalutin words you use words that slip off you tongue you use words that you use everyday. My guess that it is common locker room talk that he and possible the team uses everyday in the locker room.

Apology not accepted. 

It Is Spreading!

Just like the 1930s, it is just like it now in Eastern Europe… it is becoming scary for the likes of us!

LGBTQ+ rights at risk in Bulgaria as parliament approves anti 'propaganda' law

Human rights activists have called on the EU to clamp down on Bulgaria after MPs voted through an amendment to ban the promotion of LGBTQ+ "propaganda" in schools.

By Euronews

August 8, 2024

Bulgaria has passed a law banning LGBTQ+ "propaganda" in schools, in a new blow to human rights that advocacy groups and campaigners have widely condemned.

The amendment to Bulgaria's education law, voted through by parliament on Wednesday, bans the "propaganda, promotion, or incitement in any way, directly or indirectly, in the education system of ideas and views related to non-traditional sexual orientation and/or gender identity other than the biological one."

Members of parliament approved the draft law with a large majority, giving it 159 votes in favour, 22 against, and 12 abstentions.

The amendment, suggested by the country's pro-Russian far-right Vazrazhdane party, also introduced a definition of "non-traditional sexual orientation" — which is being explained as contrary to Bulgaria's legal concept of "emotional, romantic, sexual or sensual attraction between persons of opposite sexes".

Hmm… where have we seen this before? I have seen this twice before.

Russia and the Republican states here in America.

Think on that for awhile.

Bulgarians take to the streets to protest regressive ban on LGBTQ+ ‘propaganda’ in schools

LGBTQ+ people and their allies have rallied outside Bulgaria’s national assembly building to denounce an amendment to a law which will ban so-called LGBTQ+ propaganda in schools.

Pink News UK

By Sophie Perry

August 9, 2024

The update to the country’s 2020 Pre-school and School Education Act, proposed by the pro-Russian Vazrazhdane Party, was passed on Wednesday (7 August) by 159 votes to 22, with 12 abstentions.

The amendment outlaws the “propaganda, promotion or incitement in any way, directly or indirectly in the education system” and now defines “non-traditional sexual orientation” as “different from the generally accepted and established notions in the Bulgarian legal tradition of emotional, romantic, sexual or sensual attraction between persons of opposite sexes”.

We seen the same laws in Russia and here in Florida and other Republican states.

After the amendment was passed, queer rights group Deystvie said “Bulgaria is following in Russia’s footsteps”, with lawyer Denitsa Lyubenova saying the new law “implicitly foreshadows a witch-hunt and sanctions any educational efforts related to LGBTQ people in school”.

Stirring up hatred against us, fear of those who are different, where have wee seen this before? The 1930s?

In October 2022, a report by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance called on the Balkan nation’s leaders to crack down on anti-LGBTQ+ behaviour.

The report, focused on addressing inequality in Bulgaria, identified the LGBTQ+ community, as well as Roma people [Previously known as Gypsies] , as “the main victims of public expressions of hatred and prejudice” in the country. However, last year, the Supreme Court.

It is almost like the former Soviet Black nations want to go back to their authoritarian roots.

 

---

 

 The far right around the globe are being stirred up by politicians, it is not just here in the U.S. but all the western countries. It is being spurred by the forced migration from poverty and war-torn countries.

Far-right riots are ravaging the UK. Why are they happening now?
The Christian Science Monitor
By Katie Marie Davies Contributor    
August 7, 2024

When a crowd of far-right rioters descended on a budget hotel in the British town of Rotherham Sunday, it had one target in mind: the tens of asylum-seekers living inside. First, the rioters blocked the emergency exits. Then, they tried to set fire to the building.

The Rotherham attack was not an isolated incident. On the same day in the town of Middlesbrough, 90 miles north, rioters blocked the roads, only allowing drivers who were “white and English” to pass. Farther south, in the town of Tamworth, a second mob targeted a hotel housing migrants, hurling petrol bombs and wounding a police officer.

As the United Kingdom grapples with the wave of racist, anti-migrant, and Islamophobic violence – which began after far-right groups falsely claimed that a Muslim migrant had been responsible for the fatal stabbing of three children in the town of Southport on July 29 – many are in shock. Mosques and businesses have been repeatedly attacked, and a library in Liverpool torched. Police are preparing for more riots Wednesday night in as many as 30 locales, according to reports.

[…]

New messaging for the far right

Part of what made this weekend’s violence so disturbing was the openness of its prejudice and hatred. Racist and Islamophobic slurs were scrawled on walls and shouted in the streets.

“For a long time, obvious racism, like chants or the graffiti, has been consigned to the margins [of the far right],” says Aurelien Mondon, a lecturer focusing on racism and mainstreaming of the far right at the University of Bath. “It was a social taboo.”

It is the politicians who are stirring the flames, they are using the unrest for votes!

Media coverage has in turn impacted public discourse and policy. In April 2022, then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak unveiled plans to remove asylum-seekers to Rwanda while their applications were being processed. Accommodation for refugees – and its cost – have been mainstay topics in Parliament and in newspaper headlines, leading ministers to start housing prospective asylum-seekers on a windowless barge. Meanwhile, in the U.K.’s recent general election in July 2024, both of the country’s major political parties, the incumbent Conservatives and the then-opposition Labour Party, made promises to be “tough on immigration” as part of their election campaign.

Sound familiar?

Hey Teacher, Leave Those Kids Alone

The Pope got a talking to about his language that he uses by students, that it is homophobic and transphobic.

Student tells Pope Francis to stop using anti-LGBTQ language
At a panel discussion between students and the pope, a student told him that his use of homophobic slurs has caused "immense pain."
NBC News
By Reuters
June 20, 2024

A student pleaded with Pope Francis on Thursday to stop using offensive language against the LGBTQ community, taking the 87-year-old pontiff to task over homophobic slurs he has allegedly used during private meetings.

Francis was twice quoted by Italian media in the last month as using the Italian term “frociaggine,” roughly translating as “faggotness” or “faggotry,” referring to priests and to the general atmosphere in the Vatican.

The Vatican issued a rare apology after the first report, but the incident sparked outrage and Vatican watchers said it had damaged Francis’ image as a reforming LGBTQ-friendly pope.

My theory is that when people use language like that is that is to them common usage, that everyone around them uses the same language. That is why they act surprised.

We Don’t Want The Little Darlings To…

..Feel bad about themselves. They call us “snowflakes” but the real snowflakes are the conservatives, their children can’t be told the truth about mommy and daddy doing back things to people.

Ruby Bridges blasts book bans as “ridiculous” attempts to “cover up history”

“The history, all the subject matter that they want to ban, it’s happening in the world.”

LGBTQ Nation

By Julianne McShane 

May 4, 2024

Civil Rights icon Ruby Bridges is an integral part of U.S. history lessons in classrooms nationwide, given her status as the first Black child to integrate an elementary school in the South. But to the right-wing culture warriors behind efforts to ban books about American history—including systemic racism and discrimination against LGBTQ people—Bridges has become something else: a threat. 

Books recounting Bridges’ story—several of which are authored by Bridges herself, including one published in January—have been banned or challenged by schools in Pennsylvania, Texas, Iowa, and Tennessee. And last year, a school in Florida stopped showing a Disney film about Bridges’ life after a parent complained it might make kids think white people hate Black people.

“The excuse that I’ve heard them give is that my story actually makes, especially White kids, feel bad about themselves,” Bridges told Welker, adding that children from all around the world regularly reach out to her to tell her what her story means to them.

“I found through my 25 years of travel that they resonate with the loneliness, probably the pain that I felt, not having a friend,” she told Welker of readers. “There’s all sorts of reasons that they’re drawn to my story. So I would have to disagree…I believe that it’s just an excuse not to share the truth—to cover up history. I believe that history is sacred—that none of us should have the right to change or alter history in any way.”

Let’s face it, a lot of white people did a lot of bad things to Black people… well for one, like enslaved them. And… like make Blacks ride in the back of of the bus so that the Lilly white snowflakes did have to see them. And like lynch them if they looked a white girl the wrong way.

And now they don’t want their children to learn what they did,

The conservative group Moms for Liberty has led the charge to ban books nationwide, and several of its activists have deemed books about Bridges “inappropriate.” One of the group’s co-founders claims that the way one of the books about Bridges is taught—but not the book itself—is “divisive,” because a teachers’ manual directs teachers to mention a racist slur featured in the book.

You have to wonder what banning books teach the children, after all the Republicans say iy is all for the children. So what do book bans do to the children?

Understanding the Consequences of Banning Books in K-12 Education

Public School Review

By Robert Kennedy [It is not the same Kennedy running for president]

October 30, 2023

Our children were born in the early 70s. There was no Internet. Indeed, there were no smartphones, computers, or tablets. Instead, our kids had a mother who read to them when they were a few weeks old. She also taught them how to read. We had books everywhere. As a result, our children became voracious readers. They read fiction and non-fiction. It's no wonder both daughters earned degrees in American Language and Literature. That's why we must take the current controversy over book banning seriously.

The freedom to read is a fundamental right that forms the cornerstone of a robust democratic society. However, banning books in public K-12 schools has periodically surfaced throughout history, bringing this freedom under scrutiny. The American Library Association (ALA) records numerous instances of censorship challenges, highlighting the pervasive nature of this issue.

[…]

The negative impact of banning books in education becomes apparent when examining historical cases. A notable example includes Ray Bradbury's dystopian novel "Fahrenhei 451," ironically a commentary on the dangers of censorship itself, which frequently landed on the ALA's list of challenged books due to its "offensive language" and "unsuited to age group" complaints.

They say it is to protect the children, but in reality it is to protect their bigoted ways, they are afraid that the children make just see through their lies and bigotry.

The American Psychological Association (APA) asserts that constructive conversations about complex topics can help children develop empathy, increase their understanding of social issues, and enhance their decision-making abilities. By having these conversations, children are also provided a safe and nurturing environment to discuss their questions, thoughts, or concerns.

But, but, but we don’t want them to get empathy for the Blacks, for the trans people, for the gays, for the Jews and Muslims… we want to have them hate people who are different. It is not because they fear it will make their children gay, or  trans, or worship a different god but rather because they are afraid that their children with see them as they really are… bigots. And also they might have friends who their parents hate.

They have to be carefully taught to fear people with eyes different from themselves, people whose skin tones are different from themselves, people who worship at different place from themselves, people who love different from themselves, and whose gender identity is different from themselves.

Banning books can have detrimental effects on students' educational experiences. History has shown that the practice can limit students' exposure to different perspectives, stifle critical thinking, and hinder their understanding of important societal issues.

And that my friend is exactly what they want!

---

I Own You! You are mine!

A man in Texas thinks the woman he dated he owns. That's because he slept with her for 6 months that he owns her body.

CNN reported that he is suing to get her medical records,

A Texas man is seeking a court order so he can depose a woman he was dating who traveled to Colorado to get an abortion, in a case that may have ramifications in the ongoing legal battles over abortion rights.

[…]

The woman filed a petition for court records to be sealed so her identity would remain anonymous, her attorney told CNN. She began dating Davis in November 2023 and found out that she was pregnant in January, according to the petition.

I own you, no mater where you go, I won you!

“This is all part of a scare campaign to make people afraid that if they go out of state and get an abortion, that they or their loved ones might be sued,” Hearron said. “We really want to emphasize that people should not be intimidated.”

The “Eyes of God” are coming to get you, they will track you down no matter to what state you hide.

If this isn’t the beginning of the “Handmaid’s Tale” it is awful close to it.

Live Free Or Die

That is the New Hampshire state motto that you see on the license plates of all the car, but it seems more only certain people can live free.

 

The Republicans are at it again this time they are going after the son of the town manager.

New Hampshire town manager resigns after homophobic harassment
An art display and a performance at the town theater led to comments Jim Gleason didn’t want to have to hear anymore.
NBC News
By Alex Tabet
February 2, 2024

Friday is the last day on the job for the town manager of a small New Hampshire community after an LGBTQ art display off the town’s Main Street kicked off a local controversy.

Jim Gleason, 65, officially resigned after three pieces of art, sponsored by the nonprofit LGBTQ group North Country Pride, drew the ire of state Sen. Carrie Gendreau, who is also a member of the town board.

The art, which went up last summer on the side of a Chinese restaurant, featured a subtle rainbow, meant to symbolize inclusivity for the LGBTQ community. But Gendreau wasn’t warming to the new art in her community.

“I don’t want that to be in our town. I don’t want it to be here,” Gendreau said at a town board meeting in August. Gleason reminded her that the town can’t police private property.
Whoa! Wait a minute, the senator objects to a private individual showing a painting? She objects to a painting that is not obscene, just because it is about LGBTQ issues!
A few weeks later, Gendreau spoke to The Boston Globe. Gendreau, a Christian, told the Globe she was perceiving the artwork from a “biblical perspective.” She also said it had “demonic hidden messages” and called homosexuality an “abomination.”

So she is trying to force her religion on everyone else. This is the mural that is causing the flap

New Hampshire State Senator Carrie Gendreau described this image as “demonic symbolism.
”Alex Tabet / NBC News

 New England Cable News (NECH) writes,

A former mill town in the White Mountains, Littleton reversed a long decline in part through art. Tourists come now for antiques, galleries, boutiques and “the world's longest candy counter." They also look at the bronze statue of Pollyanna, erected outside the public library to honor the 1913 book by local author Eleanor H. Porter, whose main character came to define relentless optimism.

Pollyanna’s motto “Be Glad!” — which hangs from banners up and down Main Street — has been tested as townspeople found themselves debating over inclusion, tolerance and equality.

The board then sought an attorney’s advice on what they could do to regulate artistic expression on town property and Gendreau gave several interviews, telling The Boston Globe that the iris painting carried “demonic hidden messages.”

This buttinski think she can tell other what think… so much for “Live Free or Die”

The artist, Meg Reinhold, said her “We Are Joy” painting was inspired by Iris, the Greek goddess of rainbows. She told The Associated Press in an email that she hoped to “evoke feelings of joy and empowerment,” add beauty to Littleton, and celebrate people living with pride in the LGBTQ+ community.

In an article by New Hampshire Public Radio…

Kerri Harrington, co-chair of North Country Pride, a nonprofit that supports LGBTQ+ people in the area, said it's been a difficult chapter for Littleton and that Monday’s meeting was a bit of a shock to not receive an apology. The meeting also closed with a reading by Gendreau, in which Harrington said people walked out on feeling upset by its contents.

“People were angry and sad, and it's been really rough, it's not been feeling great around here,” Herrington said. “Now we're in a predicament because we're not going to have a town manager.”

For a state that prides itself in freedom they sure want to regulate what people can do.

 

Yes! Connecticut’s Rep. Rosa DeLauro!

She has spunk!

House Republican ‘Terrorists’ Target LGBTQ+ Community Center Funding in ‘Unprecedented’ Move

Democrats in the House of Representatives are livid and have called out their GOP colleagues.

The Advocate

By Christopher Wiggins

July 18 2023

In what lawmakers have called an unprecedented move, House Republicans introduced and moved a last-minute amendment stripping three community projects of funding as part of a committee markup for the 2024 Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development spending bill. Of the 2,680 projects previously approved, these three all serve the LGBTQ+ community.

The ranking member of the committee, Connecticut Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro, called the GOP move one of “terrorists.”

The Republican-led House Committee on Appropriations took up and passed a last-minute amendment that sought to strike funding for three community centers that serve LGBTQ+ seniors in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. LGBTQ Senior Housing Inc., William Way LGBT Center, and LGBT Center of Greater Reading were all stripped of funds.

Thank you Representative DeLauro for standing up for us  and telling like it is.

Rep. Brendan Boyle, whose Philadelphia-area project was defunded, tells The Advocate that he and many of his colleagues suspect that Republicans just searched for the keyword “LGBTQ” to see which projects to target.

Quigley also wondered whether Republicans just looked for the term. “Is this going to be part of the process as we go on?” Quigley asked. “Are we reconstructing the closet here?”

And the funding was for senior living centers for us, where we are facing more discrimination as we grow older.

Yeah, there animosity toward us is so great that I wouldn’t put it past to do a document word search! 

Stand Tall!

Many companies have caved in after getting pushback from right-wing conservatives but a few stand tall besides us.

The North Face used a drag queen for a Pride advert and – you guessed it – bigots are whining

The North Face is being hounded by right-wing bigots who are demanding a boycott of the outdoor clothing brand after it launched its 2023 Pride Month campaign. 

Pink News

By Sophie Perry

May 26, 2023

Summer of Pride. This is the second year in a row it has run the campaign.

“Hi, its me Pattie Gonia, a real-life homosexual,” the drag artist said in the tongue-in-cheek advert. “I’m here with The North Face to help you come out … in nature with us.”

In the wake of conservative backlash against Bud Light, Target and Adidas over LGBTQ+ inclusive campaigns and products, homophobes were quick to direct their relentless ire at The North Face.

Controversial Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene took to Twitter, saying she now only wants to buy “generic brand clothing” to avoid “brands sexually targeting children”.

So far they are standing with us against all the crap the conservatives are throwing at them.

“The North Face online community is designed to be a safe, positive and inclusive environment. 

“It’s why we have a zero-tolerance policy against racist, discriminatory, threatening, abusive, harmful, vulgar or attacking social media comments, which will be removed immediately.

The ultra conservative Washington Examiner had this to say,

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) called for conservatives to boycott “woke” clothing retailer North Face following its new ad campaign featuring a drag queen.

[…]

“How many times do we have to explain to the woke marketing departments at these disgusting companies that America is not a nation of degenerates?” Boebert tweeted.

“It’s time to boycott ANY product North Face has ever made,” she added. “Let’s make it as shameful to wear North Face as it is to drink Bud Light!”

I’ll tell you what really is disgusting… it is white supremacist homophobe who use her public office to stir up divisiveness.

North Face, Target Latest Focus Of LGBTQ Culture Wars: Here Are All The Others

Forbes

By Conor Murray

May 24, 2023

Key Facts

• Bud Light faced boycotts and a dip in sales after it sent TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney, known for documenting her gender transition to her 10 million followers, a customized can with her face on it on April 1, with high-profile critics including musicians Kid Rock, Travis Tritt and John Rich and pundits Ben Shapiro and Candace Owens.
• Amid the Bud Light controversy, Tritt and other critics dug up a two-year-old Jack Daniels marketing campaign featuring drag performers from RuPaul’s Drag Race.
• Another Mulvaney collaborator, Nike, was condemned by Olympic athletes Sharron Davies and Caitlyn Jenner for its marketing campaign in which Mulvaney modeled leggings and sports bras.
• A months-old Miller Lite commercial for Women’s History Month, in which actress and comedian Ilana Glazer promotes the company’s commitment to recycling old advertisements it deems sexist to create fertilizer to brew more beer, resurfaced in mid-May and caught the attention of Joe Rogan and Shapiro, who slammed “identity politics” (Molson Coors forcefully defended the campaign, stating there is nothing “remotely controversial” about it).
• Critics jumped on Adidas for a trans-inclusive swimwear marketing campaign, including Davies, a frequent critic of transgender women participating in women’s sports, who tweeted the hashtag #AdidasHatesWomen.
• Starbucks debuted an ad in India last week depicting a father reconciling his relationship with his trans daughter, which some labeled sweet and “groundbreaking,” though it attracted criticism from Shapiro and other commentators.
• Critics including conservative pundit Dave Rubin recirculated a two-year-old campaign from Ford, who in response to internet trolls built the “Very Gay Raptor,” a Ranger Raptor car adorned with rainbow colors that has appeared in promotional materials and at pride events.
• The Los Angeles Dodgers came under fire from some Catholics, including advocacy group CatholicVoice, and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) after it planned to honor The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a charity that raises money for LGBTQ causes and performs in in drag dressed as nuns, at Pride Night, causing the Dodgers to uninvite the Sisters to the outrage of the Dodgers’ other LGBTQ partner groups.
• Target sparked outrage from conservatives including Megyn Kelly and Shapiro for selling trans-inclusive swimwear and items designed by a brand whose other designs have used Satanic imagery, leading the retailer to pull some items from its Pride collection, a decision that angered LGBTQ supporters.
• The North Face unveiled its second annual “Summer of Pride” marketing campaign featuring drag queen and environmentalist Pattie Gonia to urge customers to enjoy the outdoors, quickly sparking outrage from critics including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who accused the brand of “sexually targeting children,” a false claim often used by conservative critics to target drag queens.

These boycotts are going to show us those who support us because they think that there is a profit supporting us and those companies that support us because it is the right thing to do.

Support those who support us.

This year's commercial

Have You Noticed?

That there has been an increase in pro-LGBTQ+ articles? I don’t know if is because of some computer program deciding that is what I want to read or if there really is an increase in articles.

Anyhow, USA Today has a good article about us.

'War' on LGBTQ existence: 8 ways the record onslaught of 650 bills targets the community
USA Today
By Susan Miller
March 31, 2023

LGBTQ people are under siege by a staggering number of bills across the U.S. with a deliberate aim, a new report says: to expunge the community.

So far in 2023, 46 states have introduced more than 650 anti-LGBTQ bills, according to a report by the Movement Advancement Project, or MAP, a think tank that researches LGBTQ issues and laws.

Young people, particularly those who are transgender, are being targeted, MAP's research shows: More than 160 anti-LGBTQ school-specific bills were unveiled in state legislatures in just the first two months of the year.

"It’s clear that we are in a disturbing new era of attacks on our communities, and especially on transgender people," Logan Casey, MAP's senior policy researcher and adviser, told USA TODAY. "This dramatic rise in political attacks clearly illustrates how emboldened anti-LGBTQ activists seem to feel. Over the years we’ve seen many attacks on LGBTQ communities, but this moment is very different and frankly terrifying for many people."

The report has a blunt warning not to view 2023 as a time of progress, marred by setbacks. "In reality, this is a war against LGBTQ people in America and their very right and ability to openly exist," the report says.

Yes, here in Connecticut we had some right-wing bills introduced but they never made it out of committee.

MAP's analysis points to eight distinct legislative fronts that put the community in the crosshairs from school policies on transgender youths to the elimination of harassment protections to book bans. When a bill makes progress in one state, copycat language and similar bills quickly crop up in other states, the report notes, citing coordinated efforts by far-right lobbyists and extremist groups.    

"There are a range of reasons for the rise in these political attacks, including a deliberate misinformation campaign seeking political gain, which exploits the fact that many people are still learning what it means to be transgender," Casey said.

Stop and think for a moment. This isn’t some highbrow newspaper like the New York Times or the Washington Post. This is USA Today who is saying this. The same newspaper stuck under every hotel room door. I think it has a much wider impact than some of the elite media outlets.

The goal is to "force LGBTQ people out of public life," said Naomi Goldberg, MAP's deputy director. "If LGBTQ youth are unmentionable in school, if government cannot collect survey information about LGBTQ people’s lives, and if transgender youth must be called by their old names and pronouns, it will be as if LGBTQ people no longer exist.”

BINGO! They want to force us back to the world of “Father Knows Best” where Blacks knew their place, gays were forced into backstreet bars and we didn’t even exist as far as they are concerned. And is right out of the Lavender Scare... "Are you now or every have been a 'homosexual'?" and the  Anita Bryant's "Save Our Children" campaign.

Here are the eight ways that MAP says LGBTQ people are being targeted:

• Censoring discussions of LGBTQ people in schools
• Enacting school policies that target trans youths
• Eliminating bullying, harassment protections
• Outlawing, criminalizing supportive school environments
• Protecting educators who don't use correct pronouns
• Nixing school survey efforts
• Putting a bulls-eye on libraries
• Regulating drag shows

There were some that I didn’t even think about like “nixing school survey efforts.” Yeah, I can see that. Not allowing surveys like GSLEN annual school climate survey.

I have been saying this for years that they want to "force LGBTQ people out of public life" just like they forced abortion to back-alleys again. They want to force us back into the “Stonewalls” again, where we could get fired for being LGBTQ, and us arrested for not having three pieces of male clothing on.

---

Here in Blue Connecticut this can't be happening!

Racist flyers found in Stamford as antisemitic acts double statewide in 2022
Connecticut Public Radio
By Eddy Martinez
March 27, 2023

A Jewish neighborhood in Stamford is one of the latest areas in the region targeted by hate literature from a white supremacist group. The flyers were discovered on driveways in the Pepper Ridge-Springdale neighborhood in mid-March, as antisemitic incidents have risen throughout the state and country, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

Police said they are investigating the incident, and no one has been charged.

The ADL reported that antisemitic incidents in the United States hit an all-time high in 2022, representing the largest number of incidents against the nation’s Jewish population since the organization began tracking in 1979.

For white supremacist groups, the mission of the flyers is simple: quickly promoting their views and raising money, said Stacey Sobel, the regional director for ADL Connecticut. She said residents who find hate flyers should contact police and her organization.

“We call on everyone to stand up,” Sobel said. “We as a community need to speak out.”

But it is!

It takes a village to end the bigotry and to drive them back into the swamp.

It Has Comes To Connecticut!

Yup, we are not immune. It is happening right here in River City! Or in this case Madison CT.

There is going to be Drag Queen Bingo and the far-right churches are in a dither.

Drag Queen Bingo comes to Madison's First Congregational Church to raise funds for youth mission
CT Insider
By Sarah Kyrcz
January 16, 2023


Dressed to the nines in cocktail dresses and women’s brunch finery, accented by jewelry and artfully applied makeup, six drag queens will entertain at the First Congregational Church’s Drag Queen Bingo night.

For Michael Morgan, known as Morgana DeLuxe when performing, this means “a little black dress and a strand of pearls.”

“I have a pair of aurora borealis stone earrings," Morgana DeLuxe said. "They catch with the light, and I think they sparkle a little better.”

Drag Queen Bingo will take place Saturday, Jan. 28 at the First Congregational Church’s Hubley Hall, 26 Meeting House Lane, Madison from 7 to 9 p.m. Tickets are $20.

The evening will raise money for the church’s annual youth mission trip to Appalachia for home repair and rehabilitation, scheduled for June 14 – July 1. 

Last year, 25 youths participated, along with 10 adults. The trip, said Rev. Sarah Vetter, typically costs between $20,000 and $25,000.

The performers will donate their time and any gratuities to the mission trip.

The evening will include bingo, interspersed by lip sync performances by the drag queens.

Meanwhile just down the street in Guilford an evangelical church is creating unrest over it the show. From the church’s Facebook page…

Sadly, we are seeing more and more Christians affirming immoral lifestyle choices in the name of being more inclusive, affirming, and loving — even in the spirit of the Love of Christ Himself!

Now this is Bingo. Not Drag Story Time for children. It will be not at a bar but at a church!

Shaneeda Razor, who prefers to be known only by her stage name, said “it’s going to be tasteful dress because there are going to be youths there.”

“The clothing that everybody is going to be wearing would most likely be something that someone would wear to brunch or to a nice dinner party,” she said. “It’s not going to be like fishnet stockings and feather boas.”

Shaneeda Razor, who prefers to be known only by her stage name, said “it’s going to be tasteful dress because there are going to be youths there.”

“The clothing that everybody is going to be wearing would most likely be something that someone would wear to brunch or to a nice dinner party,” she said. “It’s not going to be like fishnet stockings and feather boas.”

[…]

Morgana DeLuxe has been doing drag since 1991 and participates in about two or three dozen benefit shows a year.

[…]

Morgana DeLuxe and the five other performers are members of the Imperial Sovereign Court of All Connecticut.

“The Court is a nonprofit group that raises funds for other nonprofits,” said Morgana DeLuxe. “Our chapter has been around since 1999, the international court system was actually founded in 1965.”

I have been to a number of Imperial Sovereign Court of All Connecticut functions fundraiser and including their coronation. I am friends with Morgana DeLuxe and have know her for over ten years and I worry about them tomorrow, will there be armed protesters? Will there be violence?

Why do they hate us so? What have we done to them? Why can't they just mind their own flock?

The evangelicals are always screaming "Religious Freedom" but it seems that they can deny other people their "Religious Freedom" if it doesn't agree with their religious beliefs. 

---

Update 1/29/23 @ 4:00AM

Queer News reports...

FABULOUS update on Drag Queen Bingo. The line was around the building and they had to turn people away! We got in! But we are sitting at the stage.

Oh yeah the “protesters” were 5 folks with one sign. Love wins.

"Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad."

The Republicans continue to amaze me their venom against anything LGBTQ+, now they are banning books on gay penguins!

Florida schools ban book about gay penguins in reaction to Don’t Say Gay law
Schools are banning innocuous books about LGBTQ+ people to comply with the anti-LGBTQ+ law.
LGBTQ Nation
By Alex Bollinger
January 6, 2023


In the wake of Florida’s Don’t Say Gay law, schools in the state are banning books with LGBTQ+ themes, including And Tango Makes Three, a book about a baby penguin named Tango who has two dads.

The Don’t Say Gay law, also known as the Parental Rights in Education Act, was signed into law last year by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and bans discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in grades K through 3 and restricts such discussions in older grades.

Conservatives said the bill was necessary to stop sexual discussions in schools as well as instruction about sex and that the law wasn’t anti-LGBTQ+. The DeSantis administration called opponents of the bill “groomers,” another word for child sex abusers.

But it turns out that the bill is doing what opponents said it would do: making LGBTQ+ people a taboo topic in schools.

They want to force us back in the closet, think about what it is teaching the student about LGBTQ students? Think about what it is doing to LGBTQ student?

It is the Republicans who are the groomers, the grooming to create bigotry against anyone who is different.

Seminole County Public Schools banned three books citing the Don’t Say Gay law. The books were 10,000 Dresses (about a boy with a dream of making dresses), I am Jazz (about the experiences of trans activist Jazz Jennings), and Jacob’s New Dress (about a boy who wants to wear a dress to school).

None of the books contain sexual content, but the district said they, “pursuant to the aforementioned statute [the Don’t Say Gay law], would be deemed as not being age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in kindergarten through grade 3.” They were removed from district libraries and “will only be available for check-out to a student in grade 4 or 5 when the parent has provided written consent and picks up the book from the principal or designee at the school.”

Can you imagine you as a sixth grader having to get a letter from your parents and then go to the principal’s office to get the book? How many students would do that?

The Republicans are all about “Freedom” as long as you want the same thing as they do… oppress minorities.

Christians

Trans people tend to lump all religion together, but they are not homogeneous each is unique we cannot bundle them together.

Why a Group of Christians Is Fighting the Growing Threat of Christian Nationalism
USA Today
By Vera Bergengruen
December 30, 2022


On Jan. 6, 2021, Amanda Tyler watched the attack on the U.S. Capitol unfold with a growing sense of dread—and recognition.

Like many Christian leaders, Tyler, the executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, immediately noticed the presence of religious symbols in the crowd. Large crosses were everywhere, carried by protestors marching to the Capitol and depicted on flags, clothing, and necklaces. Demonstrators held up Bibles and banners reading, “In God We Trust,” “An Appeal to Heaven,” and “Jesus is my savior, Trump is my President.”

Many of the people there that day cast the attack on the Capitol to stop the certification of the 2020 election as a biblical battle of good versus evil. Christian nationalism, a resurgent ideology that views the U.S. as a Christian country and whose proponents largely define American identity as exclusively white and Christian “helped fuel the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, uniting disparate actors and infusing their political cause with religious fervor,” Tyler testified on Dec. 13 at a House Oversight subcommittee hearing.

[…]

“I’m really grateful that members of Congress are paying attention to how Christian nationalism overlaps with and provides cover for white supremacy, and how some of these extremists are being fueled by Christian nationalism, using it to try to justify their violence as being done in God’s name,” Tyler told TIME in a Dec. 15 interview.

Rep. Greene said, “I say it proudly, we should be Christian nationalists,” and “Zionist supremacists were conspiring to wipe out white people,” while Gov. Santis said, “put on the full armor of God,” and “You will face flaming arrows, but if you have the shield of faith, you will overcome them, and in Florida we walk the line here.”

But not all religious leaders are against us. Last month at a committee meeting I sat between an Imam and a Muslim woman, I would have never dreamed that I would be making small talk with an Iman and also at the table were two Rabbis. We were there to discuss bias crimes.

I know of a couple trans priests one who is the head of a parish.

There are many religions that have our back.

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You know I am not a religious person but one thing that I remember going to Catechism Classes one thing that stuck with me was the New Testament and Jesus said I bring you, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

Somehow I can’t figure how that command has been twisted hating LGBQT+ people?

Homophobic and transphobic agendas are not supported by the Bible: Opinion
Courier-Journal
Claire T. Ackleow Opinion Contributor
December 28, 2022

In light of the Department of Homeland Security’s most recent statement warning against domestic terrorism to the LGBTQIA+ community, I would like to briefly address homosexuality in the Bible in an effort to further this community’s Biblical literacy and reduce the hate in people’s hearts.

The Bible is often used to condemn the LGBTQIA+ community. The specific verses used to further homophobic and transphobic agendas have come to be known as the “Clobber Verses.”  However, these verses aren’t actually saying what many people think they are saying.

For example, when people condemn same-sex marriage in favor of “Biblical marriage,” they are ignoring the many and diverse examples of marriage that are found in the Bible. In actuality, the Bible endorses monogamous marriages between one male and one female in addition to polygamy, sexual slavery, incest, and forced marriage to virgins…and God even blesses all these varieties of marriage.

The Bible was written by a bunch of old men.

The King James Bible was written in 1611 by mainly Richard Bancroft, the archbishop of Canterbury and now new version are coming out. NPR wrote,

RAZ: Next year, as part of, I guess, the marking of the 400 years since the King James version came out, two new versions of the English Bible are set to be released. One is the New International Version. The other is the Common English Bible. How much of a departure do we expect these versions to be? Will they be earth-shattering, or will they be fairly conservative revisions?

The Rev. CROSS: The New International Version will likely be a fairly conservative revision of the already-existing New International Version. The CEB is a totally new translation done by a broad team of scholars.

Wait! What? A new version? How can that be either the Bible is the Bible or not! How can you have a new version?

The Courier-Journal article goes on to say,

In addition to losing the original authors’ intentions over time, we have forgotten to look at the historical, cultural and linguistic context that the Bible exists in. Instead of translating it and understanding it according to the time, place and language it originally existed in, we try to translate and understand it in our own current contexts.

This is like taking instructions written by a Renaissance woodworker on how to build a desk - instructions that detailed how to hew the wood from trees, lathe and carve all the appropriate pieces, and hand-fitting everything with an iron chisel and mallet - and using those 1,000 year old instructions to put together your IKEA desk today. It’s talking about the same basic idea, but it’s saying very different things.

I have always thought it is how you live your life that is important.

The one thing that the Bible does talk about in nearly every verse is the importance of living in right relationship with God, with each other and with all of creation. That is, creating, strengthening and maintaining relationships and communities that are supportive, life-giving and lived in love. This also includes reconciling damaged relationships and communities wherever right relationship is possible.

How you care and treat others, not the building you go to one a week… how you love your neighbor.