January 4, 2020

United Methodist Church Announces Plan to Split Over Same-Sex Marriage (NYT)

United Methodist Church Announces Plan to Split Over Same-Sex Marriage
Under an agreement to be voted on in May, a new “traditionalist Methodist” denomination would continue to ban same-sex marriage and gay and lesbian clergy.

The United Methodist Church is only the latest denomination to be roiled with intense and exhausting theological disputes over the place of L.G.B.T. members and clergy. Such fights have led to an exodus of congregations from Presbyterian and Episcopal churches in recent years, and pushed young evangelicals and Catholics to leave the pews as well.

Representatives from the Methodists’ wide-ranging factions, including church leaders from Europe, Africa, the Philippines and the United States, hammered out the separation plan during three two-day mediation sessions held at law offices in Washington. The negotiations largely centered on how to allocate the church’s significant financial assets and how to craft a separation process.

Once the agreement is written in more granular detail, it must be approved when the denomination meets for its global conference in Minneapolis in May. The initial response from some conservatives and liberals after the announcement suggests its passage is likely.

“The solution that we received is a welcome relief to the conflict we have been experiencing,” said the Rev. Tom Berlin, who represented groups that opposed discrimination against L.G.B.T. people in the mediation. “I am very encouraged that the United Methodist Church found a way to offer a resolution to a long conflict.”

Many of us (me included) are not members of organized religions but I have to say my progressive Methodist friends are some of the most inspiring people I have ever known. If you have progressive Methodist friends, talk with them about this. One can’t accuse them of hypocrisy - they have walked the walk on behalf of LGBTQI people.

December 2, 2019

Here are all the times the Trump administration has attacked LGBTQ rights since he became President

Here are all the times the Trump administration has attacked LGBTQ rights since he became President

2019

November 01, 2019 – The Trump Administration announced they are allowing taxpayer-funded adoption agencies to use “religious beliefs” as an excuse to deny placement of children into homes of LGBTQ couples — simply for being LGBTQ.

October 11, 2019 – The Trump Administration announced its support of allowing faith-based schools to use religion as a so-called “right to discriminate” against LGBTQ teachers and staff and removing pro-LGBTQ curriculum in classrooms.

October 01, 2019 – The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) sent a letter to members of the Ames City Council asking the city remove pro-LGBTQ themed crosswalks in the community, citing so-called “federal traffic control standards.”

September 27, 2019 – The Trump Administration pens a “statement of interest” in support of granting the Archdiocese the ability to discriminate or even fire a person from their job because they are LGBTQ.

Full list can be found at the link above.

(I’m particularly sick of the trump era today — and its petty selective “morality”.)

December 2, 2019

The Trump administration is erasing transgender people from government websites

The Trump administration is erasing transgender people from government websites
While multiple references to the LGBTQ community have disappeared, trans people are specifically being erased entirely.

The Sunlight Foundation, which oversees the Web Integrity Project, has been working to notify the public about changes that occur on America’s websites when they’re not related to actual policy change.

“Our examination of key case studies…identified two key trends: the removal of access to resources about discrimination protections and prevention, especially for transgender individuals, [and] the removal of resources containing LGBTQ community-specific information,” the foundation wrote in review.

Rachel Bergman, the co-director of WIP, told The Daily Beast in 2018 that “We’ve seen a general reduction in the prominence of LGBT content across Health, Labor, Education, Housing—even the White House itself…this is definitely a signal that LGBT concerns have been significantly de-prioritized and, in the worst cases, they’re actively being undermined.”

WIP’s latest report provides further evidence that the administration is not only overlooking LGBTQ people in general, but at times completely erasing the mention of transgender people altogether.

I’m old enough to remember when we put a condom over a senator’s entire house (f*ck that guy). Isn’t it time again for direct action? I think these selective “moral majority” types forgot who they’re f*cking with.

November 23, 2019

Jim Jordan was imposed on us for egregiously partisan reasons. Now he's afflicting the nation.

Cleveland.com

Jim Jordan was imposed on us for egregiously partisan reasons. Now he’s afflicting the nation.

When Jordan slithers out from under his rock each morning, dons a shirt and tie - sans the jacket, lest he be mistaken for Joe McCarthy - his life’s work is to besmirch everything America stands for in service of Donald Trump.

If it takes undermining yet another principle of democracy by condoning attacks on men and women who have devoted their lives in honorable service to this country, Jordan is always ready and willing.

If it takes changing the Trump defense strategy on an almost daily basis because facts keep getting in the way, Jordan is the ideal bootlicker. Trump’s support is all that seems to matter to the man former House Speaker John Boehner regularly referred to as "a legislative terrorist” – along with a whole bunch of other descriptions unfit for print.

Why would Jordan so readily ruin what little was left of his reputation? One theory holds he hopes to inherit Trump’s base for a presidential run of his own in 2024. The swamp will be a crowded place in four years, overrun with loathsome folks angling to continue the dastardly business of shredding the Constitution.

November 18, 2019

Chick-fil-A is ending donations criticized by LGBTQ activists after years of backlash

You’d still have to pay me to eat there, ymmv. -DG



Chick-fil-A is ending donations criticized by LGBTQ activists after years of backlash

On Monday, Chick-fil-A announced it was making a major change to perhaps the most controversial part of the company: its charitable-giving arm.

In a press release, the company said it would "deepen its giving to a smaller number of organizations working exclusively in the areas of education, homelessness and hunger." A Chick-fil-A representative confirmed that the company would no longer donate to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Salvation Army, two organizations that have been criticized by LGBTQ advocates.

"We made multiyear commitments to both organizations, and we fulfilled those obligations in 2018. Moving forward you will see that the Chick-fil-A Foundation will support the three specific initiatives of homelessness, hunger and education," the representative said in a statement to Business Insider.

Chick-fil-A had previously worked with the groups to fund specific programs — such as summer camps — that work directly with underprivileged children.

November 17, 2019

Russia: Criminal Charges for Gay-Friendly Chat Show

Russia: Criminal Charges for Gay-Friendly Chat Show

(Moscow) – Russian authorities should drop a criminal case over a YouTube video of children talking to a gay man and ensure the man’s safety amid threats and attempted physical attacks, Human Rights Watch said today.

Maxim Pankratov, 21, took part in the “Real Talk” video series, modeled on an American show “Kids Meet,” on which children interview people with different life experiences, asking them unscripted questions. “Real Talk” previously featured children interviewing a woman with anorexia, an African man, a person of small stature, and others.

In the video, posted earlier this year, four children, ages six to 13, talk to Pankratov about his life and experiences as a gay man. In response to their questions, he tells them how he found out about his sexual orientation, how other people treat him, how he likes to dress, how he feels about girls, and how eventually he would like to get married and to have his own biological children or adopt a child. There was no discussion of sex or physical intimacy.

In October 2019, the Interior Ministry opened an administrative case over alleged “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations” against the YouTube channel owners, and the state media and communications watchdog agency, Roskomnadzor, blocked the video. Then in November, Moscow’s investigative agency opened a criminal investigation alleging that the episode amounted to sexual assault of children.

More at link...

September 14, 2019

U.S. man in same-sex marriage sues Japan government

U.S. man in same-sex marriage sues Japan government for long-term visa

A U.S. man whose marriage to his Japanese husband is legally recognized in his country sued the Japanese government on Wednesday for the same right to stay that a heterosexual couple would get, saying he was being denied a family life.

According to Japanese law, foreign nationals married to Japanese in heterosexual marriages are granted long-term residence status upon arrival in Japan, but those in same-sex marriages are not.

Though nearly two dozen Japanese cities, towns and wards issue certificates recognizing same-sex partnerships, they lack legal standing.

Japan remains deeply conservative and the constitution says marriage is between a man and a woman.

August 27, 2019

The 175-Year History of Speculating About President James Buchanan's Bachelorhood

The 175-Year History of Speculating About President James Buchanan’s Bachelorhood
Was his close friendship with William Rufus King just that, or was it evidence that he was the nation’s first gay chief executive?

Excerpt:

More than 60 personal letters still survive, including several that contain expressions of the most intimate kind. Unfortunately, we can read only one side of the correspondence (letters from King to Buchanan). One popular misconception holds about that their nieces destroyed their uncles’ letters by pre-arrangement, but the real reasons for the mismatch stem from multiple factors: for one, the King family plantation was raided during the Battle of Selma in 1865, and for another, flooding of the Selma River likely destroyed portions of King’s papers prior to their deposit at the Alabama Department of Archives and History. Finally, King dutifully followed Buchanan’s instructions and destroyed numerous letters marked “private” or “confidential.” The end result is that relatively few letters of any kind survive in the various papers of William Rufus King, and even fewer have ever been prepared for publication.

By contrast, Buchanan kept nearly every letter which he ever received, carefully docketing the date of his response on the backside of his correspondence. After his death, Johnston took charge of her uncle’s papers and supported the publication of a two-volume set in the 1880s and another, more extensive 12-volume edition in the early 1900s. Such private efforts were vital to securing the historical legacy of U.S. presidents in the era before they received official library designation from the National Archives.

More at link above.

July 30, 2019

Marie Newman vs. the Democratic Machine (Chicago: IL 3rd Dan Lipinski)

The Nation
Marie Newman Could Shape the Future of the Democratic Party
The congressional candidate in Illinois is challenging incumbent Dan Lipinski’s betrayals—and her party’s conservative tendencies.

She’s optimistic that voters in a presidential election year will swing in her favor: she’s registered some 7,000 progressive voters since the midterms, she won the under-50 set by 21 points, and her district typically sees a 10 percent voter turnout bump during a presidential election year. However, her campaign has a new and daunting obstacle to face: the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

This past March the DCCC issued new standards that stop vendors of political services—such as strategic consulting, research, and marketing—from working with primary candidates who challenge incumbents. It essentially created a blacklist: If vendors help a primary challenger, the DCCC will not hire them or recommend them to any of its campaigns. The organization justifies this by referring to its goal of supporting incumbents, maintaining or expanding its House majority, and dedicating resources to endangered or flippable districts. But the effect has been to protect the party’s straight white men. That has made it predictably unpopular among rising new stars in the party, like Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), who won their seats by primarying incumbents. But it has teeth. Three vendors have dropped Newman’s campaign, and a handful of others dropped out during the vetting process. “It’s ridiculously expensive to run a campaign,” she said. “Now we have to throw out a good bit of work…and I have to figure out how to cobble together volunteers to help me out with this, which takes my time and my campaign manager’s time. It’s stressful.”

Newman’s run highlights urgent and unavoidable questions about the future of the Democratic Party: Can it encourage new blood, promote diversity, and increase its number of seats while supporting middle-of-the-road incumbents? Should the party embrace a big tent, or is there a place for ideological litmus tests? Will the party be more successful by embracing its progressive wing or hewing more closely to the center? Should being a member of Congress be a job for life? And if the DCCC is truly interested in change, will it be willing to alter its institutional approach to running and funding campaigns?

I asked Newman these questions a few days after the parade, at her home and temporary campaign headquarters in the suburb of La Grange. We sat in a cozy home office, surrounded by stacks of paper, family photos, and a map of the district pinned on the wall. Ziggy, her beagle, sat behind her on the desk chair and snored lightly as we talked. Her campaign has attracted national attention because she has been vocal about the impact of the DCCC vendor rule and because “Pro-Choice Candidate Takes On Anti-Abortion Incumbent” makes for a nice headline in a moment when reproductive rights are under attack.

July 24, 2019

Russian LGBTQ activist is killed after being listed on gay-hunting website: Yelena Grigoryeva

Russian LGBTQ activist is killed after being listed on gay-hunting website Yelena Grigoryeva sounded the alarm after her name appeared on a website that offered prizes for attacking gays. Days later, she was dead.

A Russian LGBTQ activist, Yelena Grigoryeva, was fatally stabbed in St. Petersburg Sunday night after her name was listed on a website that encourages people to “hunt” LGBTQ activists, inspired by the torture-themed film "Saw."

Reports in the Russian newspaper Fontanka said that a suspect, a “40-year-old resident of Bashkortostan,” had been detained by police.

Grigoryeva, 41, was active with Russia’s Alliance of Heterosexuals and LGBT for Equality and other activist causes, according to the Russian LGBT Network.

According to friends' and colleagues' online posts, Grigoryeva was worried about her safety after she found her name and personal information listed on the snuff site.

Please rec to honor her and bring awareness to the injustice.