Sean Cormie, a newly out gay man, and his boyfriend, Gary Gardner, were attacked at First Assembly of God in Blackwell, Oklahoma after being lured there by Cormie's family.
Cormie says that he is traumatized by what happened.
"I wanted to go to church to make my mom proud and make her happy."
What started off as a normal service soon turned ugly when the pastor began preaching directly at Cormie and Gardner that homosexuality was "an abomination."
The Winchester Star, a daily newspaper in Virginia that claims to be pro-LGBTQ, published an editorial recently that both called into question the right of same-sex couples to marry and the very existence of transgender people.
The publication, part of the Ogden Newspapers chain, is controlled by the owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team, Robert Nutting.
As first noted by the progressive blog Blue Virginia, the paper published an editorial on Wednesday slamming Gov. Ralph Northam (D-VA) for boycotting President Donald Trump’s recent appearance at the 400th anniversary commemoration of the Jamestown settlement.
“Gov. Northam?” the paper opined. “He made a speech earlier in the day, a few hours before Mr. Trump, speaking not of the tradition’s majesty, but of Virginia’s dubious 21st century achievements — i.e., homosexual marriage, elevation of the transgender lifestyle, etc. And then disgracefully departed, nowhere to be seen or heard when Mr. Trump spoke.”
By almost all measures, AT&T has been a stalwart supporter of LGBTQ equality for a long time. It has protected workers from sexual orientation discrimination since 1975. It sponsors the Trevor Project to help LGBTQ youth in crisis. It received a perfect 100 score from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) in its annual equality index, ranking among the nation’s most inclusive places to work.
By any measure, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) is among the nation’s most anti-LGBTQ bigots. He defended bans on same-sex marriage as “sound public policy” and spearheaded the effort to block the elected government in Washington, D.C., from enacting marriage equality. He boasted of receiving a “True Blue Award” from the Family Research Council, a Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)-designated anti-LGBT hate group. He consistently earns a 0 score on HRC’s congressional scorecard, ranking among the lawmakers most virulently opposing equality.
Yet, AT&T’s corporate political action committee has given tens of thousands of dollars to Jordan’s campaigns since 2010, helping bankroll the re-elections of a man who HRC once inducted into its anti-equality “Hall of Shame” for “proactively [working] to undermine existing legal protections and promote anti-LGBT discrimination.” And AT&T’s PAC has given more than $400,000 to other firmly anti-LGBTQ members of Congress in recent years.
When a debate broke out over which bathrooms transgender individuals should be able to use, Trump told the Today show that Caitlyn Jenner could use any bathroom she wanted at Trump Tower. He later tweeted that he would be better for LGBT Americans than Hillary Clinton. And during his acceptance speech at the Republican national convention, he cited the shootings at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla.
“As your President, I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology,” he vowed.
But since becoming president, Trump and his administration have repeatedly rolled back existing protections, especially for transgender Americans.
Alabama Public Television chose not to air PBS’s Arthur episode that included a same-sex marriage.
In the episode, which aired nationwide May 13, Arthur and his friends attend their beloved teacher Mr. Ratburn’s nuptials to his partner.
APT preempted the episode by showing a re-run of Arthur.
Mike Mckenzie, director of programming at APT, said APT was notified by WGBH and PBS in mid-April about the episode titled “Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone” and decided to show a re-run. Mckenzie said APT has no plans to air the episode at a later date.
President Donald Trump’s State Department is quietly de-recognizing the marriages of some LGBT couples, and using that as an excuse to then deny their children birthright citizenship.
The policy specifically deals with an interpretation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) that sets forth the conditions for eligibility for birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment.
According to the State Department website, “The U.S. Department of State interprets the INA to mean that a child born abroad must be biologically related to a U.S. citizen parent. Even if local law recognizes a surrogacy agreement and finds that U.S. parents are the legal parents of a child conceived and born abroad… if the child does not have a biological connection to a U.S. citizen parent, the child will not be a U.S. citizen at birth.”
The head of Chick-fil-A’s tax-exempt foundation addressed the growing backlash against its continued giving to anti-LGBTQ organizations on Wednesday, telling Business Insider that it does not intend to change its ways. He dismissed concerns about the Chick-fil-A Foundation giving millions to organizations that discriminate as an unimportant “political or cultural war that’s being waged.”
ThinkProgress reported in March that the Chick-fil-A Foundation distributed $1.8 million in 2017 to non-profits with a history of anti-LGBTQ discrimination — contrary to repeated promises that it was winding down its giving to groups that discriminate. This included more than $1.6 million in contributions to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, a religious group that works to spread an anti-LGBTQ message to college athletes, requiring a strict “sexual purity” policy for its employees that bars any “homosexual acts.”
Texas state Rep. Jeff Leach (R) said Tuesday that lawmakers had an obligation to ensure Chick-fil-A was able to have stores in every airport across the country.
His comments come one day after the Republican-controlled Texas state Senate revived a bill that would prevent local governments from impeding Chick-fil-A and other companies based on their religious beliefs, moral convictions, and anti-LGBTQ views.
“People love Chick-fil-A. You can’t argue with Chick-fil-A’s food and I don’t think you should be able to argue with the organizations that Chick-fil-A chooses to support either,” Leach said, speaking with Fox & Friends.
He continued, “It’s our obligation as policymakers, as lawmakers, is to protect that right of Chick-fil-A to do that and to protect their right to exist and to have an establishment in any airport, in any city, in any community across the country.”
PARIS — France is seeing a rise in reported attacks and other abuse targeting members of the LGBT community.
The French Interior Ministry said in a statement Tuesday that it registered 1,378 infractions based on sexual orientation last year, a rise of 34 percent from the year before.
BOULDER, COLORADO — Students at the University of Colorado Boulder held a protest Monday in opposition to the impending confirmation of former Republican congressman Mark Kennedy as president of the university system, citing his record of conservative and anti-LGBTQ votes.
Kennedy, the former president of the University of North Dakota, was named as the sole candidate to be the next University of Colorado president by the University’s Board of Regents in an announcement last week. In the announcement, the Board of Regents cited Kennedy’s “commitment to diversity.”
Kennedy served as a congressman representing Minnesota in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2001 to 2006. While in office, he voted in favor of and co-sponsored bills that aimed to create a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. He also voted in favor of funding health care providers that do not provide information about abortions and against providing grants to black and Hispanic colleges.
Chick-fil-A has taken great pains to downplay its anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and giving, seven years into a national boycott by LGBTQ and allied diners. But contrary to the company’s latest claims that it has no political or social agenda, newly released tax filings show that, in 2017, the Chick-fil-A Foundation gave more than $1.8 million to a trio of groups with a record of anti-LGBTQ discrimination.
The donations — $1,653,416 to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, $6,000 to the Paul Anderson Youth Home, and $150,000 to the Salvation Army — actually represent a slight increase from the previous year. The foundation’s funding comes almost entirely from the corporate treasury and shares leadership with the company.
The Fellowship of Christian Athletes is a religious organization that seeks to spread an anti-LGBTQ message to college athletes and requires a strict “sexual purity” policy for its employees that bars any “homosexual acts.” Paul Anderson Youth Home, a “Christian residential home for trouble youth,” teaches boys that homosexuality is wrong and that same-sex marriage is “rage against Jesus Christ and His values.”
Republican congressional candidate Fern Shubert has a unique theory about the root cause of crime. In a statement on her campaign website during her unsuccessful 2004 bid for North Carolina governor, she explained that she opposed same-sex marriage because “[t]he government’s attack on traditional families is already reflected in rising crime rates. Anyone who cares about the future should seek to structure a society that provides the best environment for raising children, and that is the traditional two parent family.”Full story
Nebraska is one of more than two dozen states that have no LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections at the state level. That’s not changing anytime soon, as a bill to create employment protections came to an abrupt end this week.
State Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks (D) introduced LB 627 in January this year. The legislation would have updated all relevant state statutes to prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Pansing Brooks, whose son is gay, pleaded with fellow lawmakers Tuesday to consider the bill.
Pansing Brooks nearly secured the 25-vote majority she needed for passage, but could not find the 33 votes she needed to overcome a filibuster-ending cloture motion. Opponents of the bill claimed that it would be used to target religious business owners in the state and punish them for their beliefs.
A group of seven Republican lawmakers in Kansas have introduced what is perhaps the most convoluted, if not cockamamie, attempt to roll back LGBTQ equality that has ever been dreamed up. The proposal is absurd and extremely unlikely to become law — Kansas’ governor, Laura Kelly, is a Democrat whose first official act was to reinstate protections for LGBTQ workers which her predecessor had eliminated. Nevertheless, the bill lends some insight into the minds of anti-LGBTQ lawmakers as they ponder how much leeway a Supreme Court with a conservative majority, and a rightward trending judiciary, might give them.Full story
The South Dakota House of Representatives voted to approve a bill Tuesday that would erase transgender kids from the state’s schools. Though several states still have “no promo homo” laws that prohibit any discussion of homosexuality in schools, this is the first “no promo trans” bill to actually have traction in the country.Full story
House Bill 1108, which advanced by a vote of 39-30, adds only one line of text to the state’s books: “No instruction in gender dysphoria may be provided to any student in kindergarten through grade seven in any public school in the state.” This simple-sounding legislation could have massive consequences for transgender youth.
Many transgender kids come out at very young ages, and research has consistently shown that they are best served through affirmation, including respecting their names and pronouns. It’s unclear if the legislation would allow schools to accommodate trans kids whatsoever, but it would certainly come into play when a student transitions. Even telling other students what name and pronouns to use for the student might be prohibited, and certainly any education about trans issues to help protect that student from bullying would be a nonstarter.
If you've been anywhere near the internet in the last week, you'll already know that Ellen Page has been making headlines recently for calling out hate and homophobia.
Appearing on Stephen Colbert's The Late Show, Ellen made an impassioned speech about leaders who "promote hatred and intolerance". The video, which has been watched more than 15 million times, has since gone viral, with almost 90,000 retweets.
And she didn't stop there. Not long after her interview, Chris Pratt appeared on the same show to talk about his spirituality. However, Ellen clearly wasn't impressed, tweeting about his church being "infamously anti LGBTQ".
Lawyers for Kentucky GOP Governor Matt Bevin say that former Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis must pay the $225,000 in legal fees owed to the gay couples who sued her for refusing to issue marriage licenses because of her Christian-based opposition to same-sex marriage.
The Lexington Herald-Leader reports: ‘Although Bevin, a Republican, publicly has praised Davis as “an inspiration … to the children of America,” his attorneys are taking a more critical tone in court briefs, blaming the ex-clerk for failing to do her job following the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2015 decision legalizing gay marriage. A three-judge panel will hear arguments about the case’s expenses Thursday at the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. A district judge ruled in 2017 that the couples suing for marriage licenses clearly prevailed and that the state of Kentucky must pay their fees and costs.’
Bevin’s lawyers want the bill handed to Davis, and say she acted alone in denying the marriage licenses.
The U.S. Senate last month unanimously passed a bill that would explicitly make lynching a federal crime. Not everyone, however, is pleased with passage of the Justice for Victims of Lynching Act.
Liberty Counsel, an evangelical nonprofit that opposes gay rights, and its chairman, Mat Staver, are taking issue with the bill’s inclusion of LGBTQ people.
There is a gay-straight alliance at Leo Jr. Sr. High School in Allen County, Indiana.
But according to a new lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, this school’s club for LGBT students and their allies isn’t allowed to call itself a “gay-straight alliance” or even a “GSA,” and is instead only permitted to refer to itself as a “Pride Alliance.”
There’s another catch, too: The GSA can’t use the “Pride” in its name to refer to LGBT Pride. Instead, “Pride” is allegedly required to be used as a reference to an a common school acronym: “Professionalism, Respect, Integrity, Diligence, and Excellence.”
