Duncan Grant
Duncan Grant's JournalMissouri anti-LGBTQ+ laws linked to population loss and decline in tax revenue...
Missouri anti-LGBTQ+ laws linked to population loss and decline in tax revenue, studies findFor years, Missouri lawmakers have heard warnings that enacting policies targeting the LGBTQ+ population could drive individuals and businesses out of the state. Local officials and chambers of commerce raised red flags about potential impacts on recruitment and retention of employees, as well as the ability to lure businesses to the state.
Now, studies are showing that the state’s actions have already pushed LGBTQ+ Missourians to move — taking their tax dollars, and even businesses, elsewhere.
Analysis by the Movement Advancement Project estimates that around $362 million to $879 million in household income has left the state, a number that is expected to increase.
The estimate is based on a survey conducted by MAP in collaboration with The Trevor Project, a mental health nonprofit for LGBTQ+ youth. Their research shows that among LGBTQ+-identifying people ages 13 to 24, around 39% have considered moving to a different state and 4% have already moved because of policies targeting gay and transgender people.
Certainty, ferocity and solidarity is why you can't reach white trump supporters/extremists.
Why Fundamentalists Love Trump
David French
I grew up in a church that most would describe as fundamentalist, and I’ve encountered fundamentalism of every stripe my entire life. And while fundamentalist ideas can often be quite variable and complex, I’ve never encountered a fundamentalist culture that didn’t combine three key traits: certainty, ferocity and solidarity.
Certainty is the key building block…
That certainty breeds ferocity. Indeed, ferocity — not piety — is a principal trait of every truly fundamentalist movement I’ve ever encountered...
Yet certainty and ferocity are nothing without solidarity. It’s the sense of shared purpose and community that makes any form of fundamentalism truly potent…
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/07/opinion/donald-trump-fundamentalists-evangelical.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article
Tampa Pride 2026 canceled due to 'current political and economic climate'
Tampa Pride 2026 canceled due to ‘current political and economic climate’TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Tampa Pride announced that it will be putting the city’s annual Tampa Pride Festival and Diversity Parade on hold for a year.
In a Facebook post, which appears to be a copied letter from the Board of Tampa Pride dated Aug. 1, Tampa Pride cited political and economic difficulties in maintaining the festivities for 2026.
“The current political and economic climate, including challenges with corporate sponsorships, reductions in county, state and federal grant funding, and the discontinuation of DEI programs under Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, has made it increasingly difficult for our organization to sustain ongoing operations for 2026,” the post reads.
Tampa Pride said these challenges have caused it to put the celebration on a one-year hiatus for all Tampa Pride events.
(Williams Institute Data: A 2021 report from the Williams Institute estimated about 188,500 LGBT adults in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro area.)
And what about all those lazy white Christians who couldn't be bothered to vote? (/s)
Tlaib is such an insignificant footnote in the Harris loss — and the current UN General Assembly visa denial story. I have to wonder what the real motive is whenever I see one of these threads. Since that’s subjective, I’ll keep it to myself.
Personally, I can’t forget the millions upon millions of white Christian people who couldn’t be bothered to even cast a vote. Seems to me “those people” deserve ire and ongoing examination. The same people, by the way, who are woefully uninformed about the genocide in Gaza — and the key political players responsible. The same people, who denied a Harris Administration a mandate to prioritize Palestinian human rights? (We’ll never really know how that would have played out…)
Conflating Tlaib with this story is odd, considering her limited authority and power. Are you a Palestinian who believes Tlaib ruined this opportunity for Palestinian autonomy — or is this just an opportunity to take a jab at her?
Those people disappearing from your streets? It's a distraction. (Now write us a check.)
As much as I hate sports analogies — where the f*ck is our offense?! G*d damn. This is an example of complicity and cowardice. The methodology described in the article is madness (and as innovative as a rotary telephone). The current trajectory is like abandoning your property — expecting it to be improved 3 years from now. Criminal negligence.
This is not normal. I have no need to tolerate this any longer.
Donald Trump's Big Gay Government (NYT - gift article)
Oh yeah, it’s a must read…
Donald Trump’s Big Gay Government
On the town with the A-Gays of Washington, who have never been happier to be out, proud and Republican.
But there is a kind of paradox about these men’s existence in Washington. They live in the gayest city in America, which is also pretty much the most Trump-hating city in America.
The gay men who work for him here are keenly aware that they are in hostile territory, surrounded by other gay men who consider them self-deluded traitors or worse. At gay bars around town and on dating apps they are either iced out or confronted about the things this president has said and done. He cut AIDS relief around the world and H.I.V. vaccine research and funding for L.G.B.T.Q. suicide prevention services. He called drag shows “anti-American.” His defense secretary announced during pride month that the Navy Vessel named after Harvey Milk would be renamed. Perhaps most worrying for many gay people is the how conservative the Supreme Court has become thanks to Mr. Trump. Could same-sex marriage go the way of Roe? It’s not out of the question.
Gay Trump appointees interviewed for this article — some of whom said they weren’t authorized to speak on the record — dismiss such opprobrium as overheated liberal whining. They argue that the battle for gay rights has basically been won, and that there has never been a Republican as friendly to the gays as Donald J. Trump.
Aren’t they themselves proof that this is so, they ask?
(Name dropping: Charles Moran, Tony Fabrizio, Trent Morse, Richard Grenell, Jacob Herbert)
Rainbow crosswalk outside Florida Pulse nightclub where 49 LGBT+ people were killed is removed...
I wanted to make sure this was documented in this forum. -DGRainbow crosswalk outside Florida Pulse nightclub where 49 LGBT+ people were killed is removed overnight on Trump’s orders
A rainbow-painted crosswalk on Orange Avenue was paved over in the early morning hours on Thursday, blindsiding state and local officials, LGBT+ advocates and Pulse survivors…
“We are devastated to learn that overnight the state painted over the Pulse Memorial crosswalk on Orange Avenue,” Dyer said in a statement. “This callous action of hastily removing part of a memorial to what was at the time our nation's largest mass shooting, without any supporting safety data, or discussion, is a cruel political act…”
Democratic state Rep. Anna Eskamani, whose district includes the Orlando area, said the crosswalk “was never a political statement, and caring about people of all backgrounds is not meant to be a political statement.”
“But what is political, what is authoritative, and what is disrespectful to the 49 lives murdered and our entire community, is sneaking into the city in the middle of the night to literally erase a rainbow crosswalk that was originally established with [Florida’s] approval!” she wrote.
Information is not the problem. The lack of an effective opposition party is the problem.
We are flooded with information, it’s inescapable. Some might be surprised to know, most Americans don’t rely on corporate media (referring to your OP) for political news.
The problem is the lack of an effective opposition party. Maybe I’m wrong to look to the democrats to do this, but they flexed their power effectively recently. As I recall, the donor class and party elite found a way to work the levers of power to remove Joe Biden, their incumbent nominee, from the ticket. How is it possible that these same powerful people are so inept at harnessing this opportunity to mobilize a strong, effective resistance/opposition party? I don’t get it. It doesn’t make sense.
(And while I’m at it, the entire Biden travesty, was not a grass roots movement — it was corporate media, a PR campaign, and the thumb of the donor ($) class heavily on the scale. This should tell everyone about how the party actually worked in this instance, but I digress...)
The party is not doing enough by any stretch of the imagination and optimism isn’t going to accomplish the necessary work that needs to happen. A fundamental course correction is needed. Let’s begin by asking, what do the democrats stand for — and how far are they willing to go to prove it?
The exchange of ideas and robust criticism is not a negative influence on this party — or on this moment in history. I’d appreciate it if you would join me in encouraging this, rather than cheerleading for business as usual.
Lastly, the problem isn’t the dissemination of information. The problem is the lack of an effective opposition party. They are not doing enough.
My "pointy head" has something to say to you.
I have no expectation that the Democratic Party can legislate trump’s criminal enterprise into lawful behavior — by actual votes. All pointy heads know this to our marrow.
We do have room for improvement in our mobilization and communications game. What do we stand for — and how far are we willing to go to prove it?
Since you’ve insulted so many pointy heads, I have no intention of discussing this with you further. I’m only posting here, so that other pointy heads will be emboldened to defy you.
Ask your friends, family and neighbors, "Are democrats doing enough in response to trump crimes?"
In my corner of the world, here on the west coast, the answer is an emphatic — no! But I’ll be sure to show them your list.
As I sit here in my 1933 reverie, I don’t believe we have the effective and well-organized opposition party I/we deserve. Furthermore, I support a robust exchange of ideas about our future — and what we should be doing now. I have no interest in stopping criticism or debate.
A serious course correction is needed by the Democratic Party, imho. I, for one, don’t believe they are doing enough. If this makes me a heretic at DU, so be it.
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