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Something quick that I wanted to pass along!
Today, Australia's House of Representatives passed their country's marriage equality bill! The bill is now on its way to the Governor General to be signed into law! #loveislove
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UPDATES
Wednesday 11/22/2017
10/30/2017 Update #2
Monday 10/30/2017
Tuesday 9/26/2017
Friday 9/15/2017
Tuesday 8/29/2017
Monday 8/28/2017
Saturday 8/19/2017
Wednesday 8/9/2017
ORIGINAL POST Each and everyday, Donald J. Trump sinks to a new low and just when you think he can't get any worse, he proves us wrong. A few Fun Facts to keep in mind to dispute Trump's reasoning behind this ban:
During Thursdays press briefing, Sarah Huckabee Sanders once again sold her soul for the privilege to lie on behalf of Trump, saying this:
Brief thought: Listen, we all know Trump is a piece of shit, there's no other way to describe him @ this point. I don't care if you're African American, Caucasian, Latino(a), Asian, tall, short, fat, skinny, straight, gay, bi, or transgender, if you are willing to put your life on the line to fight against those who want to cause us harm, so be it, and thank you for making that sacrifice! Being transgender is not a choice, it's the way a person was born...period. What a person has between their legs or lack there of is no business of mine, yours, or Trumps. I don't understand why people are so bothered with how other people live, especially if it's not affecting their lives! How a person was born should hold no merit on their ability to service in this country's military! If a person wants to service @ the pleasure of protecting this country, LET THEM! If a person has the guts to put country before self, LET THEM! Who the hell does this racist, homophobic pig think he is?? Not once did this piece of shit serve in government, let alone in the military. Let us NEVER forget that he dodged the draft many times! Let's all be perfectly clear, this ban has nothing to do with Trump not liking transgender people, although that may be true, but it has everything to do with him wanting to dismantle President Obama's legacy. United Airlines needs to get their shit together and get it together quickly!
Last Saturday, Henry Amador-Batten, who's a gay male, was flying back home to North Caroline with his son when a flight attendant accused him of touching his own son while on the flight! Flight attendants on the flight from Newark to Raleigh contacted police to make them aware that a man on the flight was resting his hands "near the genitals" of a boy. Amador-Batten was questioned by police once the flight landed and he made them aware that his son was simply afraid of flying and had his hand on the boy's lap to soothe his anxiety. Authorities also questioned his son who confirmed his father's story, they were both released, and the investigation was closed. Posting on their gay parenting blog DADsquared, his husband Joel had this to say, "This is not how anyone deserves to be treated. This is not something that should have happened in front of my son. This is not something that anyone should have to worry about happening to them on a flight just because someone might not like the looks of them." United has come forth with an apology saying, "In this instance, the crew believe it was appropriate to ask authorities to meet the plane and interview the customer. After speaking with the customer, authorities determined that no further action was necessary. Our customers should always be treated with the utmost respect and we have followed up with our customer to apologize for the misunderstanding." The Amador-Batten family have since hired an attorney and are looking @ their options to sue. Brief thoughts: I fully support them suing because that's absolutely crazy! You embarrassed this man in front of everybody, probably had people thinking that this man was/is a pedophile, and probably traumatized the child. Also, did these flight attendants know that he was gay and if so was that a contributing factor into why they thought he was doing something to the child? Devil's advocate: kudos to being vigilant as to what's happening on the plane, but I'm pretty sure somebody checked their tickets when they boarded the plane, and according to their tickets it would be clear that they're father and son. Heaven forbid if a parent tries to be a good parent and tries to comfort their child. We oversexualize everything in this country, so I do find it disturbing that instead of asking is everything alright, these flight attendants just automatically assumed that this man was trying to sexually assault this child. I'm more than positive that if 1 of them had just asked if everything was ok, this man would've been more than willing to explain that his son was scared of flying, and a conversation could have been started with the child, who would've then confirmed that he was scared! I suppose I'm torn on this 1, on 1 hand I support flight attendants being aware of their surroundings especially with the world that we live in today, but on the other hand, the situation could've been handled so much differently. Just a quick post I wanted to share!
Last Wednesday, Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval signed Bill 201 into law which makes it illegal for a physician and/or any other health professional to perform conversion therapy...that doesn't work...on anybody younger than 18. In a statement that Sandoval released after the bill was signed, he had this to say, "Conversion therapy has been disavowed by medical experts and is considered a non effective method of treatment that can cause harm to an adolescent. This law will help protect some of our state's most vulnerable youth." **Stands and gives him a round of applause. Thank you for recognizing and openly saying that it's a treatment that doesn't work.** However, the bill was amended to allow counseling by members of the clergy and exempt religious organizations. Religious groups and conservatives insist that such a ban would impede on their rights to religious freedom. **IF YOU'RE NOT GAY, THIS DOESN'T AFFECT YOU @ ALL! If you're not gay, this shouldn't even be a thing to cross your mind. If you're not gay, then why does how somebody else being gay bother you so much? Why do you care? You're religious freedom isn't being bothered IF YOU'RE NOT GAY. Go somewhere, sit down, live your own life, and leave these people alone! That's 1 of the biggest problems in this country and around the world, people inserting themselves in other people's business instead of focusing on themselves!** Fun fact: This bill will make Nevada the 8th state in the country to ban conversion therapy
**CAUTION** This post includes graphic details about the murder of another human being.
Joshua Vallum of Mississippi received a 49 year prison sentence yesterday for the murder of Mercedes Williamson. Williamson was a transgender woman and this is the 1st case ever prosecuted under the federal Hate Crimes Prevention Ave involving a victim being targeted for their gender identity. Williamson was 7 @ the time of her murder back in 2015. On the night of the murder, Vallum lured Williamson into a car in Alabama, drove her 50 miles to his family home in Mississippi, he shocked her with a stun gun, then stabbed her with a pocketknife. Williamson tried to get away from Vallum, but he went after her, and when he caught her he bashed her in the head with a hammer. Prosecutors said that Vallum killed Williamson to prevent other members of the Latin Kings gang, that he was apart of, from finding out about them having sex. According to gang rules, homosexual activities are forbidden and deemed punishable by death. US District Judge Louis Guirola Jr had the option to sentence him to life in prison, but decided against it due to a plea agreement between prosecutors and defense attorneys who said that said Vallum's neglected childhood and other issues. Guirola and defense attorneys declared that his history of abuse as a child had to be considered. Brief thoughts: Listen, many of us had hard childhoods, many of us have gone through difficult things in life, but you don't see us going around killing people just because we don't like who they truly are. If we don't like somebody, we just remove them from our lives and act like they don't exist...unless it's Donald Trump. Don't get me wrong, 49 years is a long time to spend behind bars, however I do think it's bullshit that he wasn't given life in prison just because had a hard childhood. Boo freaking hoo! If the trauma of your childhood is affecting you that much, then you need to be seeking counseling and getting help, not going around killing people! Important note: by no means am I mocking people who've traumatic things happen to them during their childhood because I am 1 of them, all I'm saying is, you don't see me or other people like me ending people's lives. I don't buy the story of him having a hard childhood as the excuse for him killing this girl, I don't buy it for 1 second. He killed her because what his fellow gang members thought about him was more important than her life...bottom line. The crazy thing to me is that he didn't want his other gang members to find out, but by killing her, THEY FOUND OUT! And whether he knows it or not, it's a fact that gangs are huge in prison, soooo does he not think that there's a faction of his gang in prison? And does he not think that they won't know how he wound up in prison? I would like to think they'll place him in some sort of protective custody, but just in the off chance that they don't, the thing that you didn't want to happen, is ultimately going to happen, sooo what was the point?? I don't know how old he currently is, but there's a possibility that he could get out of prison 1 day, granted he'll be up there in age, but regardless he'll be "free." He'll be free to attempt to enjoy the remaining years of his life, meanwhile this girl was murdered just for being who she was. Another important note: Nobody deserves to have their life taken from them and especially nobody deserves to have their life taken from them just for being who they were born to be. Regardless of how the life was taken, if a person's life has been taken just for being who they were born to be, being the religion that they are, being the color that they are, etc. on this blog I will say their names until I can't say them any longer! #sayhername I know I've done posts about this before and I'm positive I've said this before, so once again, I do not understand why if there's an increase in need for foster/adoptive parents in this country, why are we discriminating against groups of people who are willing to take on the responsibility??
Texas State Representatie James Frank has introduced a bill that's supposed to debated and voted on this week, that'll allow state funded and private adoption agencies to turn away Jewish, Muslim, and LGBTQ people who would like to adopt, based upon the agencies religious beliefs and obligations. Supporters of the bill say it's designed to support the religious freedom of foster care providers and adoption agencies. Representative Frank also said the bill is designed to address the state's foster care crisis by making 'reasonable accommodations so everyone can participate in the system.' **To me that's just a contradiction in itself. You're trying to make it so that everyone can participate by excluding these 3 groups of people? How does that work?? The above statement makes no sense to me, but the statement that Catherine Oakley, who's senior legislative counsel for the Human Rights Campaign, made makes all the logical sense in the world to me. She said, "This bill would allow adoption agencies to turn away qualified, loving parents who are perhaps perfect in every way because the agency has a difference in religious belief. This goes against the best inters of the child. The bill also blatantly violates the Constitution. As a governmental entity, Texas is bound to treat people equally under the law. This is a violation of equal protection under the law." STANDS AND GIVES HER A ROUND OF APPLAUSE! Suzanne Bryant, who's an Austin based adoption attorney who works with LGBTQ clients, also made an outstanding point, "Not only could agencies turn away hopeful parents under the religious freedom provision, but they could require children in the foster care system to comply with their faith-based requirements." Brief thoughts: Once again, who cares how these people live their lives and who they pray to? It's about the children and these lawmakers are losing sight of that. You can't say that you're introducing this bill to include all that would like to participate by excluding 3 groups of people, that doesn't even make any sense! Another thing that gets on my nerves, I CAN NOT STAND when people try and use religion to try and justify their discrimination! Devil's advocate, ok I can see why religious people would be against LGBTQ people adopting (I'M NOT SAYING IT'S RIGHT), but what do your religious beliefs have to do with Muslims and Jews wanting to adopt?? If a person would like to take on the responsibility of fostering a child and/or adopting a child regardless of their color, their sexual preferences, their religion, they should be allowed to do so! Back to Oakley's point, there's a need for parents to take these children in and they could wind up being the best parents these children could ever ask for, but because they're Muslim, because they're Jewish, and because they don't love in the same way that you love, they're disqualified? Boy, oh boy, Trump has these lawmakers feeling mighty comfortable with blatantly showing their racism and their discrimination. Also, just like Trump these lawmakers keep forgetting that there is such thing as the Constitution in this country, which is the law of the land, no matter what you jackasses try to introduce, and you can't violate it! If you choose to violate the Constitution a court of law will come back and tell you your little bill is unconstitutional and null and void. We'll put this in the win column for LGBTQ rights!
The Supreme Court has once again rejected an appeal from a San Diego minister and others regarding gay conversion therapy. The group claimed that banning conversion therapy violated their 1st Amendment religious freedoms. California Gov. Jerry Brown signed the ban into law in 2012 and the Supreme Court has been rejecting efforts to reverse the ruling in California and New Jersey ever since. My thoughts: I will never understand if it something doesn't affect you, why are you so worried and bothered about how somebody else lives? How are your religious freedoms being violated if you're not gay? Somebody please explain that to me! Why does another person loving somebody of the same sex bother you so much if that's not how you love?! Stop trying to push your religious beliefs on other people! If you don't want to live a gay lifestyle, then continue being straight and mind your own damn business! Another thing, conversion therapy doesn't work. It leads people to live these lies just to try to appease the people around them. You're not going to go to hell for being gay, the man upstairs created you just the way you are and he loves all his children, conversion therapy is not the way to go! You're born gay, lesbian, bi, queer, etc. Own it, embrace it, love it, live in your truth! Hopefully, we can add this as another win for LGBTQ.
This past Tuesday, Democratic lawmakers introduced the Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act of 2017, which is aimed @ banning conversion therapy for the LGBTQ community. Just in case you're not sure what conversion therapy is, I got your back! It's a type of treatment that was 'created' in the belief that members of the LGBTQ community could go to camps and retreats and @ these camps and retreats, the employees there would try and change these folks' sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Basically believing that they could change who they loved, which is a big crock of bullshit. Of course, the bill is heavily supported by Democrats and opposed by Republicans who believe that this type of therapy shouldn't be banned and deemed illegal. My thoughts: conversion therapy is a bunch of bullshit, it doesn't work, why do you care who other person loves, they don't love you, so what's the problem? If you're not gay, then continue to live your heterosexual life and keep it moving. People in this country are so worried about how the other 1/2 lives and they make it their business and for what?? If it doesn't directly affect you, why the hell do you care?? Fun fact: In February 2016, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo put in place an executive action banning public and private insurers from covering conversion therapy in NY state. A win anywhere for the LGBT community is a win everywhere!
The Nebraska Supreme Court upheld a decision to end a ban that's been in effect since 1995, denying same sex couples the opportunity to become foster parents even after they went through training and background checks. This decision is the result from a lawsuit that was filed back in 2013 by 3 same sex couples, the ACLU of Nebraska, the ACLU LGBT and HIV Project, and the law firm of Sullivan and Cromwell LLP. According to state employees, when they denied these couples, they were just following a 1995 administrative memo that said, "It is my decision that effective immediately, it is the policy of the Department of Social Service that children will not be placed in the homes of persons who identify themselves as homosexuals. This policy also applies to the area of foster home licensure in that, effective immediately, no foster home license shall be issued to persons who identify themselves as homosexual," the memo reads, according to court documents." The memo was removed from the agency website during court procedures in 2015. Also in 2015, a judge ordered the state agency to license gay and lesbians as foster parents, but the state appealed the decision. State officials said they appealed the decision because they wanted to make sure children were placed in the "most family like setting" possible. What the hell does that even mean? There are kids that aren't in foster care and don't even have 1 parent to love and care for them, so why in the hell are we depriving these couples that want to be parents the opportunity? If a couple comes together and wants to love, nurture, and raise a child who cares if it's 2 men, 2 women, 2 trans people, who cares?? Hopefully, more of these couples will be able to foster these children and provide them with the love and care that they deserve! Fun facts:
Super quick post.
A federal appeals court ruled that the Civil Rights Acts prohibits workplace discrimination against LGBT employees. "We conclude today that discrimination on basis of sexual orientation is a form of sex discrimination," Judge Diane Wood wrote for the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Should be a common sense thing to not discriminate against people for being born the way they are and it shouldn't have to take a court to rule that and make it law in 2017, but hey we'll take all the victories we can take! |
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