#OpLGBT

Via Twitter.

Via Twitter.

The computer-hacking activist collective known as Anonymous claims to have shut down several North Carolina government websites in protest of the state’s anti-LGBT law, House Bill 2.

The organization announced its action in a series of tweets over the weekend and today, tagging the group’s name, #OpLGBT, in several posts:

 

[…]

However, while many of those domains the tweets listed remain inaccessible, some major sites, such as those of the governor and the state legislature, are online and functioning. “All of our state government websites are operating as normal,” a spokesman told CNN Money.

Anonymous and other “hacktivists” intend to keep up the pressure on the state over HB 2, which invalidates all LGBT-inclusive municipal antidiscrimination laws, prevents cities and counties from enacting new ones, and bars transgender people from using the restrooms and locker rooms, in government buildings, that match their gender identity.

Full Story Here.

LGBTTTQQIA Plus Another A People.

Joe Mavretic (N.C. Spin/screen grab)

Joe Mavretic (N.C. Spin/screen grab)

…“I’m a little unhappy with the four of you,” the former Speaker sarcastically told his fellow panel members. “Because clearly you’re not with it.”

“What we’re talking about here is not four letters of the alphabet. We’re talking about L-G-B-T-T-T-Q-Q-I-A plus another A if you want to be an ally!”

“Are you going to explain that?” host Tom Campbell asked.

Mavretic revealed that the letters stood for “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, two-spirited, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual.”

“Now, here’s the issue,” he continued. “What we’re really talking about is the body vs. the brain. We’re talking about that issue — we’re talking about biology against psychology. And we’re also entering the me su arena of politics where narcissism is prevalent. People want to be me. ‘I want this for me.’ I’ve not heard anybody talk about the common good since this first hit the headlines.”

Biology against psychology? So the brain isn’t biological in nature now? “Common good”. I’m getting this full body slump weariness whenever I see or hear the word common. Rapidly becoming one of my least favourite words.

“It’s all about me!” Mavretic opined. “Well, can a white person want to be a black person and then get minority contracts? Can a female want to be a male and go to the beach and and not have to wear a top like males do?”

According to Mavretic, the United States was “bordering on being the most narcissistic-me-individually-oriented culture on the planet.”

Mmmhmmm, and you certainly are trying to get attention for your particular views, right, Joe? That might be considered an all about me! thing. I’m pretty sure that transgender people existing turning into some sort of ohmygods topless on the beach is strictly a Joe thing. I don’t know of anyone else, anywhere, who is concerned about that. Or even thought that. Right. Let’s see if we can get back to something like transgender people are like everyone else, and deserve the same rights. . .

“I think it’s offensive to call them narcissists when they’re just trying to live their life,” Fitzsimon said.

“Well, I’ll tell you what,” Mavretic shot back angrily. “We are not politically correct anymore and I can call it what I want to call it. And that’s what free speech is all about.”

I guess we can’t. I think we can safely say that Joe “I can call it what I want to call it” Mavretic is on the self-centered side. Full story here.

Why Christians Will Win the Transgender Debate.

Image courtesy of Dennis Hlynsky via Flickr creative commons - http://bit.ly/1VWTOaW

Image courtesy of Dennis Hlynsky via Flickr creative commons – http://bit.ly/1VWTOaW


Yesterday, I posted about an article: Why Christians Will Lose the Transgender Debate. There’s been a response as to why the author of that article is wrong.

…Unfortunately, Merritt is quite wrong in arguing that “conservative Christians will lose the transgender debate.”
[…]
Some might be guilty of doing this, just as some Christians focus on theology while ignoring people, but everyone I speak to about the transgender issues is focused on people rather than ideology.

How so?

First, they are focused on the people affected by transgender activism, such as the many schoolchildren who are being negatively affected and whose cases are now coming to public attention, or the women who have been sexually abused in the past and have now become unintended victims of transgender activism. [That link goes to a youtube video made by Alliance Defending Freedom, and if you don’t like being outraged first thing in the morning, or any other time, skip it.]

Do these people not matter?

Do we overlook other victims – including innocent little children – because they are not part of the LGBT spectrum?

[…]

The reality is that transgender activists expect us to embrace someone’s self-identification absent any scientific evidence, meaning that Bruce Jenner is now to be recognized as Caitlyn simply because that is how he now self-identifies. And should his biology and chromosomes affirm that he is a man, we are still expected to embrace him as a woman.

Genitals matter! Wait, no they don’t, chromosomes matter!

In that sense, it is transgender activists who sometimes ignore science and who open the door to the very dangerous slope of “perception is reality.” (For a striking example, see my video on the man who became a woman then became a mythical dragon.)

[…]

As for the stance we must take as followers of Jesus, as I’ve said over and again, we can reach out to those who are marginalized without sacrificing our children on the altar of political correctness and radical LGBT activism.

I invited Jonathan Merritt in joining me on the front lines as, together, we resist radical LGBT activism while reaching out to LGBT individuals with compassion.

The whole article is riddled with the worst misinformation and bigotry.

European Union Denounces HB 2.

europeanunion

The European Union spoke out against North Carolina’s anti-LGBT House Bill 2 this week, saying that it should “be reconsidered as soon as possible.”

In a statement released this week, the European Union singled out North Carolina’s HB 2, as well as the anti-LGBT laws that have passed in states such as Tennessee and Mississippi recently. The European Union said that those states “are violating an international agreement on civil rights,” reports The News & Observer.

[…]

The statement from the European Union posted online said that “traditional or religious values” should not be used to “justify any form of discrimination, including discrimination against LGBTI persons. These laws should be reconsidered as soon as possible.”

The European Union announced their support of the LGBT community in the statement, writing, “We will continue to work to end all forms of discrimination and to counter attempts to embed or enhance discrimination wherever it occurs around the world.”

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory’s campaign spokesman, Ricky Diaz, took no offense with the European Union’s statement.

“We relinquished our adherence to the British crown and European powers over 200 years ago,” Diaz, reports the Observer. “The law is now in federal court, where it will be resolved.”

[…]

N.C. Republican Party executive director Dallas Woodhouse told the Observer that the European Union’s statement was “absolutely no surprise since North Carolina Democrats led by Roy Cooper want to install European socialist policies … that are an affront to the common sense traditions of North Carolina and America.”

Full Story Here.  “Common sense traditions”. No, fuck that noise. North Carolina does not define America, and if there is any NC tradition going here, it’s one of bigotry. Given the amount of in state protest against this bigotry, I’m afraid those “common sense traditions” don’t define North Carolina, either.

phil-bryant-x750

Gov. Phil Bryant.

In related news, Gov. Phil Bryant (Mississippi), is speaking out against the new federal education guidelines.

The Mississippi Gov.,who recently passed an anti-LGBT law in his state, spoke out against the Obama administration’s directive that transgender students are protected under Title IX.

In a Facebook post published on Friday, Phil Bryant said that the “Mississippi Department of Education should disregard the so-called guidance the Obama administration has issued regarding public schools’ restroom policies.”

[…]

The Mississippi Gov. called the directive “nonbinding,” saying it “does not carry the force of law.” “Because these decisions are better left to the states, and not made at the point of a federal bayonet, Mississippi’s public schools should not participate in the president’s social experiment,” said the Gov. via Facebook.

Full Story Here.

travis_weber_750

Travis Weber, Family Research Council.

Travis Weber, of the Family Research Council, played a game of “I can’t answer that question” on Hardball.

Travis Weber, a member of the anti-LGBT hate group, Family Research Council, went on MSNBC’s Hardball on Friday, but refused to answer whether a trans woman belonged in a men’s bathroom or a woman’s bathroom.

[…]

Chris Matthews directed his next question at Weber, saying, “Tell her what bathroom she shoud use.”

The Family Research Council member refused to answer the question. Matthews asked the same question again: “What should a transgender person who identifies as a woman do? What bathroom should they go to? Just keep it simple.”

Matthews became visibly frustrated when Weber kept dodging his question. “You can’t answer the question, can you?,” said the MSNBC host.

Weber finally gave Matthews a response, saying, “They can use the bathroom of their biological sex, except when there’s a genuine issue, and an accomodation can be made.”

The MSNBC host was unsatisfied with his response. He asked Weber, “What does that mean?”

Full Story Here.

Why Christians Will Lose the Transgender Debate.

Image courtesy of Dennis Hlynsky via Flickr creative commons - http://bit.ly/1VWTOaW

Image courtesy of Dennis Hlynsky via Flickr creative commons – http://bit.ly/1VWTOaW

This is a very good article, with a Christian take on why Christians will be losing when it comes to transgender politics and law.

When LGBT rights first became a national issue following the Stonewall Riot of 1969, conservative Christians responded with a disastrous campaign against gay and lesbian causes. Christian leaders cited pseudo-science claiming homosexuality was a “choice,” or worse, a mental disorder. Preachers regularly promoted the idea that AIDS was God’s judgment on LGBT people. And money began to flow into “ex-gay” Christian ministries that promised to make LGBT people straight, but ended up making them suicidal instead.

When it comes to conservative Christianity, it seems the more things change, the more things stay the same. A national debate on transgender rights has rapidly progressed in America, and predictably, conservative Christians have once again elbowed their way to the front lines. Christian leaders make speeches, pastors preach sermons, and political activists make cable news network appearances–each armed with rhetoric intended to incite panic and stir up fear.

Sadly, their messages are just as disconnected from reality as their response to the LGBT rights movement decades ago. By recycling old tactics, conservative Christians are poised to lose the transgender debate in America.

The full article is here. I’m very appreciative of progressive Christians who are actively working to make a difference, and recognizing that conservative Christianity isn’t good for anyone, including other Christians.

A Personal Stake in Transgender Politics

Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, at her office on Capitol Hill, has veered away from many Republicans on gay and transgender issues. Credit Chad Batka for The New York Times

Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, at her office on Capitol Hill, has veered away from many Republicans on gay and transgender issues. Credit Chad Batka for The New York Times.

Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, a transgender activist and Representative Ros-Lehtinen’s son, in New York. Credit Jake Naughton for The New York Times.

Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, a transgender activist and Representative Ros-Lehtinen’s son, in New York. Credit Jake Naughton for The New York Times.

This is a really nice story, about people who have their priorities in the right place, and are ruled by love, care, and empathy, not fear, bigotry, and hate.

MIAMI — The day Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen told his prominent parents about his new gender identity, he did so in a letter that he left on their bed. Then he grabbed a packed bag and, unsure of whether he would be welcomed back, went to a friend’s house to see if his family would love him or leave him.

His shocked parents, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Miami Republican, and Dexter Lehtinen, who served as the top federal prosecutor here, did not hesitate. They grabbed the phone and told him that they loved him and that family trumped all, and asked him to come home. But as with many parents of transgender children, they were also overwhelmed by fear: The future they saw for their then 21-year-old, whom they had named Amanda, would be pockmarked with discrimination and bullying, if not outright violence.

It was this visceral reaction to want to protect her child that drove Ms. Ros-Lehtinen to break from her party’s skepticism or hostility on gay and transgender issues — a stance evident now in North Carolina’s battle over transgender bathroom visits — and become a conspicuous advocate in Congress and more recently in public service announcements. On Monday, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, her husband and her son, now 30, will appear in the latest one for SAVE, a longtime South Florida gay rights group that hopes to engage the Latino community here.

The Full Story is Here, and it’s full of warm fuzzies.

Sunday Facepalm

March_sign

Wikimedia Commons.

Christians Sue State over ‘Abortion Mandate’.

ALBANY, N.Y. — Pushing back against the state’s notoriously liberal stance on abortion, a number of New York’s Christian organizations served the Department of Financial Services with a lawsuit, claiming the agency obscured regulatory language which forces employers to cover abortions.

The 44-page filing in Albany County Supreme Court uses terms like “moral evil” and “unspeakable crime” to describe abortion. It highlights a section of the “model language” used by DFS over the last two years — a standard state form which dictates how insurance companies operating in-state should present their coverage to clients.

According to the lawsuit, Section 6 of the “model language” includes a subsection dealing with “Interruption of Pregnancy.” The language states: “We cover therapeutic abortions. We also cover non-therapeutic abortions in cases of rape, incest or fetal malformation.”

“Practically speaking, ‘therapeutic’ would include abortions for emotional health, fetal health, fetal malformation,” said Mary DeTurris Poust, spokesperson for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany. “Really, we’re talking about any abortion.”

The Diocese of Albany is one of 13 plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which also includes Episcopalians, Baptists, Lutherans, a nursing company and a general contractor in Plattsburgh. Their document goes to significant lengths to outline core beliefs on the “sanctity of every life,” including a number of paragraphs dealing with the concept of life beginning at conception in the mother’s womb.

The group claims the model language was “known only to DFS and the health insurers, and never disclosed to plaintiffs.” They go on to say they were caught unaware when their respective insurance companies informed the group that “they had been separately covering abortions under the service category of ‘medically necessary’ surgery.”

“There is a possibility that we could have already been forced to pay for an abortion,” DeTurris Poust said on Friday.

The full story is here. I will be forever grateful that when I had an abortion back in the 1970s, no one thought that was any of their business. Mine was quiet and professional, and there were no screaming, hateful people anywhere, thinking they had an absolute right to interfere with a private decision to have a medical procedure.

Etymological LGBT history.

Rep. Alan Grayson

Rep. Alan Grayson

Rep. Alan Grayson has made etymological LGBT history.

The Florida Democrat reportedly became the first politician to say “cisgender” in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Grayson employed the term, which describes nontransgender people, in a scathing denouncement of the “Republicans, bigots in North Carolina” who support House Bill 2 […] In a wide-ranging, nearly 13-minute speech, Grayson, who is hoping to oust Republican Marco Rubio as a U.S. senator from Florida, cited trans pioneer Christine Jorgensen, #WeJustNeedToPee social media posts, infamous “wide stance” bathroom toe-tapper Larry Craig, and even the gender wage gap as among the reasons to be outraged at these so-called bathroom bills.

“You’re going to force people who look like men, act like men, [and are men, Rep. Grayson] you’re going to force them into a ladies room. My God, what’s wrong with you?” Grayson said.

I’d really like an answer to that question too. The Advocate has the story, and video.

F*CK HB 2

north-carolina-beer-company-protests-anti-lgbt-billx750

North Carolina’s beer industry has a message for the governor: Hate has no place in their state.

In response to House Bill 2, the controversial law that forces trans people to use the public restroom that does not correspond with their gender identity, the state’s Wedge Brewing Company has begun printing “#F*CK HB2” on its beverages. The can of the company’s popular Iron Rail IPA, features the hashtag printed on the bottom of the can. It’s designed to look like a serial number.

[…]

“We’ve seen businesses, municipalities, and even rock legends from around the country punish North Carolina for passing this law,” Myers said in a statement. “We’ve seen business expansions and job opportunities pull out of the state. We see that our communities are being harmed by this action.” He further added: “We didn’t feel like HB2 represented us as businesses or as residents of North Carolina.”

In April, over 40 local companies announced that they would be releasing a limited-edition brew to raise money for local LGBT non-profits, including Equality North Carolina and Queer Oriented Radical Days of Summer (QORDS), a summer camp specifically for LGBT youth. The beer, called “Don’t Be Mean to People, A Golden Rule Saison,” will be available locally in May.

Full Story Here.

In related news, McCrory has found a whole new career in whining. What now? Well, the new federal education guidelines. Pat doesn’t like them.

[Read more…]

How to destroy an entire civilization.

Elsa in Disney's Frozen.

Elsa in Disney’s Frozen.

While some groups want the fictional ice princess in Disney’s animated hit Frozen, to have a girlfriend in an upcoming sequel, conservatives recoiled in rage, demanding instead that Elsa be set up with the requisite Disney prince, Right Wing Watch reports.

Twitter users have been mounting a campaign using the hashtag #GiveElsaAGirlfriend to make the character Disney’s first lesbian princess.

Tweet

A conservative group, CitizenGO is up in arms about that prospect, responding in-kind with the hashtag #CharmingPrinceForElsa.

“Disney is facing fierce pressure from liberal groups who are demanding their writers turn Queen Elsa into a lesbian during the sequel, Frozen 2,” Gregory Mertz wrote to fellow CitizenGO members. “Please join the 37,000 who’ve already signed our petition against this absurd ‘movement.’ With our petition, we’re suggesting Disney with a much better idea… An idea that promotes solid family values to our children and represents the natural family.”

Then there was Kevin Swanson, who has advocated for the execution of LGBT people, who was already seething with fury over the first installment of Frozen.

“Of course Elsa is going to get her girlfriend eventually,” he said on his radio show Monday. “That’s the way you destroy sexuality. That’s the way you destroy an entire civilization. The entire social system of the United States of America is collapsing.”

Full Story Here. I haven’t seen Frozen, but I’m all for Elsa having a girlfriend. She could even be a Charming Princess.

Oh FFS 2

Shutterstock

Shutterstock

A North Carolina high school will allow students to carry pepper spray, razors and other items which one board member suggested they might need to defend themselves against transgender classmates they encounter in the bathroom.

The Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education removed prohibitive language in its policy on defensive weapons this week but will continue to debate which items will be allowed on campus, reported the Salisbury Post.

One school board member said pepper spray and other chemical irritants should be allowed in case a court strikes down the state’s controversial HB2, better known as the anti-LGBT “bathroom bill.”

“Depending on how the courts rule on the bathroom issues, it may be a pretty valuable tool to have on the female students if they go to the bathroom, not knowing who may come in,” said board member Chuck Hughes.

[…]

Board members agreed to allow students to carry disposable razors, as well — although they maintained a ban on straight-edge razors.

After some disagreement on razors, board members agreed to specify that personal razors should be used for shaving only while at school.

Full Story Here.

Bigger in Texas: Transphobia

Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick at left; Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton at right

Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick at left; Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton at right

Two of the state’s top elected officials — the lieutenant governor and the attorney general — both went on transphobic, fear-mongering tirades as North Carolina ramped up its defense of a controversial anti-trans law.

Moments after North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory announced Monday that he was suing the federal government over its determination that his state’s sweeping anti-LGBT law violates federal civil rights law, Texas’s top lawman rushed to his fellow Republican’s defense.

Local LGBT publication Dallas Voice posted the full statement from Attorney General Paxton, who is currently facing a federal securities fraud lawsuit, on top of similar charges filed against him  last year in state court. Paxton previously earned the ire of marriage equality supporters (and a formal ethics complaint) last year when he falsely informed Texas county clerks that they did not have to abide by the Supreme Court’s ruling bringing the freedom to marry to all 50 states.

Paxton said:

“The people of the United States, through their representatives in Congress, enacted the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to ensure, in part, that men and women are treated equally. Congress has not changed this law to mean that individuals may choose whether they want to be male or female for the purpose of public accommodations. One’s sex is a biological fact, not a state of mind, and this threat to North Carolina is the latest in a long series of efforts by an unaccountable federal executive branch. My office stands with Governor McCrory and the people of North Carolina regarding this unconstitutional form of federal overreach.”

[…]

The same day, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — himself no stranger to transphobic fear mongering — took aim at a school superintendent who had approved a modestly trans-inclusive policy regarding bathroom and locker room access for students in the district.

Patrick suggested Monday that Kent Scribner, Fort Worth school district superintendent, should be removed from his position following the April 19 adoption of a district-wide policy that allows trans students to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

Full Story Here.

Saudi Cleric: Homosexuality should not be punished.

Salman al-Ouda talking to young YouTube producers (Emad Alhusayni/Flickr)

Salman al-Ouda talking to young YouTube producers (Emad Alhusayni/Flickr)

A leading Saudi cleric has publicly stated that homosexuality should not be criminally punished, during a visit to Sweden to visit Syrian refugees.

“Even though homosexuality is considered a sin in all the Semitic holy books, it does not require any punishment in this world,” Dr Salman al-Ouda said in an interview with the Swedish Sydsvenskan newspaper, adding that homosexuals would be punished “after death.”

Homosexuality has long been a controversial topic in much of the Muslim world. LGBT people still face the death penalty in Saudi Arabia.

[…]

“Homosexuals are not deviating from Islam,” continued Ouda in the interview. “Homosexuality is a grave sin, but those who say that homosexuals deviate from Islam are the real deviators.

“By condemning homosexuals to death they are committing a graver sin than homosexuality itself.”

He added that Islam did not “encourage individuals who have same-sex attraction to show their feelings in public.”

His comments have already provoked controversy in Saudi Arabia and other parts of the Middle East.

[…]

He also condemned the abuse of the concept of Sharia law by Islamic State and al-Qaeda.

“Sharia is a very broad and wide concept and it is a concept that has been kidnapped,” he said.

Though still a controversial topic, Ouda is not the first senior Islamic figure to propose changing the legal status of homosexuality.

Middle East Eye has the story.