When Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947, he was subjected to racist jeers from fans, discrimination from some of his teammates, death threats, and sometimes physical abuse. During his first year on the Brooklyn Dodgers, a player from an opposing team intentionally slid into him cleats-first, leaving a gash in his leg. This treatment was all due to the simple fact that he was a black man playing baseball. His willingness to endure heckles, taunts, and worse, while blazing a trail for other black athletes to follow, has led many people to label him the bravest athlete in sports history.
But now, according to the gay sports outlet Outsports, Robinson&#8217;s reign has come to an end. Cyd Zeigler, writing for the publication, has <a href="https://www.outsports.com/2020/1/14/21062012/fallon-fox-trans-athlete-mma-courage-brave">declared</a> that the bravest athlete of all time, the sports figure who best embodies the virtues of courage and heroism, is a biological male who beat the hell out of a bunch of women in MMA. Zeigler gave the &#8220;trans&#8221; athlete Fallon Fox that moniker in a recent article, explaining that the professional woman-beater &#8220;is an indelible part of LGBTQ sports history&#8221; and has &#8220;opened possibilities for trans athletes in women’s sports that will be felt for generations.&#8221; Why any of this requires courage — much less the most courage of any athlete ever — is never explained.
It also isn&#8217;t explained how courage is involved when a biological male, with his testosterone and greater muscle mass and denser bone structure, <a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/transgender-female-boxer-gives-female-opponent-concussion-breaks-her-eye-so">fractures the skull of a female opponent</a> and leaves her lying on the mat, concussed, and bleeding. One would think that the female opponent at least has more courage than the man who is beating her half to death.
We&#8217;re assured that it&#8217;s okay for a male to physically brutalize a female because females sometimes brutalize each other. This is how Fox himself justified it. &#8220;I’m not the first female MMA fighter who’s broken another fighter’s bones,&#8221; he said. &#8220;And people will of course, because I’m trans, hold it up as this devastating thing that couldn’t possibly happen if I weren’t trans. But there are many different examples of similar things happening.&#8221;
He&#8217;s right, of course. He&#8217;s not the first female fighter to break another fighter&#8217;s bones. Mostly because he&#8217;s not a female fighter at all. Notice here how the arbitrary sex versus gender distinction has been collapsed and disregarded. The large, muscular man with a penis and XY chromosomal structure isn&#8217;t just a woman by gender. He is, in fact, a female.
Don&#8217;t count on Zeigler to grapple with that difficulty. We are just supposed to dutifully applaud, accepting at face value whatever lame excuses and justifications are put forward. Zeigler doesn&#8217;t present actual arguments in favor of allowing men like Fox to fight women because there are no arguments available to him. It is objectively wrong on every conceivable level — morally, ethically, scientifically. A coherent defense of the practice cannot be offered, and never has been offered. The most the other side of this debate can do is make vague emotional appeals, hoping we&#8217;ll forget that the women being abused and cheated have emotions, too. But their emotions are irrelevant, we&#8217;re told. Just as science is irrelevant. Just as fairness is irrelevant. All that matters, for some reason, is how this one guy feels. And his insistence on doing what makes him feel good, at any cost, is admirable. Not just admirable, but also heroic. Not just heroic but the most heroic thing anyone has ever done or could ever do.
Heroic. Courageous. Beautiful. Keep repeating it until you believe it.

woman MMA

WALSH: Male Trans MMA Fighter Who Beat Up Women Dubbed &#8216;Bravest Athlete In History&#8217;

LGBT

Sports

Transgender

The news media, which never tires of cake-related controversies, spent some time last week ginning up outrage towards a Christian school in Louisville, Kentucky. According to the headlines, the stodgy bigots over at Whitefield Academy expelled a 15-year-old student for the crime of eating a multi-colored birthday cake.
The headlines were breathless and unanimous:
<a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=11&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiUrP3c8pLnAhVPSN8KHSYnDwAQFjAKegQIAhAB&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Freligion%2F2020%2F01%2F15%2Frainbowcakewhitefieldacademy%2F&amp;usg=AOvVaw16WHM_dWE0BANQg_rOvYae">Christian school expels teen after she posed with rainbow birthday cake, mother says.</a>
<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/whitefield-academy-kentucky-christian-school-expels-15-year-old-over-rainbow-cake-mom-says">Kentucky Christian School Expels 15-Year-Old Over Rainbow Cake, Mom Says.</a>
<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/01/14/kentucky-christian-school-expels-girl-gay-rainbow-cake-mom-says/4468374002/">Christian school expelled student over a &#8216;gay&#8217; rainbow cake, family says.</a>
<a href="https://nypost.com/2020/01/15/teen-expelled-from-christian-school-after-rainbow-shirt-cake-photo/">Teen expelled from Christian school after rainbow shirt, cake photo.</a>
<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/christian-school-whitefield-academy-expels-teen-girl-rainbow-sweater-birthday-cake-violate-christian-values/">Christian school expels teen for rainbow sweater and birthday cake that violate &#8220;Christian values.&#8221;</a>
And so on.
Some of the headlines include the &#8220;mother says&#8221; qualifier, while others simply assert the family&#8217;s claims as objective fact. But in either case, the point is to paint the school as clear villains in the situation.
Here&#8217;s how the body of the CBS report, linked above, frames the story:
<blockquote>A teenager from Kentucky celebrated her 15th birthday last month by blowing out the candles on a rainbow cake while wearing a rainbow sweater. After her mother posted a photo from her birthday party on Facebook, the teen was expelled from her Christian high school.
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<div id="mpu-plus-top-right-rail" class="ad-mpu-plus-top-right-rail lazypreload lazyloaded" data-ad="mpu-plus-top-right-rail" data-ad-unit="&quot;mpu-plus-top-right-rail&quot;" data-google-query-id="CMmu34P0kucCFdIchwodfTsOaw">
<div id="google_ads_iframe_/8264/aw-cbsnews/us_4__container__">Kayla Kenney was a freshman at Whitefield Academy, a private Christian school in Louisville, until she was expelled last week. Her mother said the school called her daughter&#8217;s sweater and cake &#8220;lifestyle violations.&#8221;</div>
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Kenney&#8217;s mom, Kimberly Alford, told the Louisville Courier-Journal that she received an email from Whitefield Academy&#8217;s head of school, Bruce Jacobson, expelling her daughter. He wrote that the picture she posted on Facebook &#8220;demonstrates a posture of morality and cultural acceptance contrary to that of Whitefield Academy&#8217;s beliefs.&#8221;
While the rainbow flag is a symbol of LGBTQ rights, Alford said when she ordered the cake, the design was described as having &#8220;assorted colors&#8221; and was not meant to have a deeper meaning.</blockquote>
Already, even without any more information than what the media has deigned to provide, a thoughtful person should be extremely skeptical. It is not a simple or easy process to expel a student. At a private school, the expulsion comes with a financial cost. You aren&#8217;t just kicking the student to the curb, but her tuition alongside her. Why would a school go through that trouble and absorb that cost over something as trivial as a cake? And if they do issue expulsions so easily, shouldn&#8217;t there be dozens of other stories of students getting tossed out for similarly arbitrary reasons? There are almost always two sides to a story like this. Could this be the exception where the first version of the story, as presented by a partisan for one side of the dispute, is entirely accurate and faithful to the facts? Maybe. But probably not.
<iframe title="Another Media Narrative Falls Apart | The Matt Walsh Show Ep. 408" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4u2ETYGS0Z8?start=359&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Social media is not a place for this sort of healthy skepticism, so thousands of people hopped on the outrage train and issued angry tweets about the stupidity and pettiness of this school, in particular, and Christian schools, in general, and Christians, in general. And then, after the reputation of Whitefield Academy had been sufficiently injured, the train moved on and the media lost interest. The outrage mob always descends like a tornado, rips everything to shreds, and dissipates as quickly as it formed. By the time the other side of the story is presented, nobody cares any longer.
Predictably, the other side of the story in this case, <a href="https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/the-rainbow-cake-girl-what-the-media-are-hiding/">as reported by Rod Dreher over the weekend</a>, paints a very different picture from the one offered by the family and the media. After looking at the student&#8217;s social media posts, talking to insiders at the school, and reading the school&#8217;s public statements, Dreher reports that the student was allegedly a perpetual troublemaker who had been given numerous warnings about her behavior. She also allegedly promoted the LGBT lifestyle both at school and in her social media posts. The rainbow cake and sweater were a part of this pattern — and by far not the most egregious example of it — and it is this pattern of flouting the rules and violating school policy that got her expelled. The apparently purposeful trolling she did with the cake may have been the last straw, but it is dishonest to report that it was the only straw.
School principal Dr. Bruce Jacobson, while limited in his ability to defend his actions due to confidentiality concerns, <a href="https://www.wave3.com/2020/01/15/whitefield-academy-defends-decision-expel-student-after-picture-rainbow-sweater-birthday-cake/">explained</a> in a letter to parents that the student had been specifically warned &#8220;that any further promotion, celebration, or any other actions and attitudes that are counter to Whitefield’s philosophy would not be tolerated.&#8221; I suppose you could choose to believe that the rainbow cake and sweater weren&#8217;t intended to promote or celebrate anything, and didn&#8217;t have any &#8220;deeper meaning&#8221; at all, as the mother contends, but Dreher&#8217;s report makes that extremely hard to believe. From his piece:
<blockquote>When Alford says her daughter “is no angel,” and confirms that she has had “disciplinary issues,” she’s understating matters. My understanding is that Kayla Kenney had a long, specific list of repeated infractions — bullying, disrespecting teachers, vaping in school (as Alford acknowledges), and so forth. Part of what she has allegedly done is promoting LGBT consciousness in the school, including aggression on that front. I’m trying to be delicate here, but I can tell you that she has transgressed against other students on this front, to promote bisexuality. For example, she allegedly drew rainbows and wrote slogans like “bi pride” on other kids’ papers, and gave at least two different girls the impression that she was sexually harassing them. Kayla has been presenting herself as gay on her Instagram account.</blockquote>
Granted, many people will feel that expelling a student for promoting the LGBT lifestyle isn&#8217;t any better than expelling her for eating a cake. But one&#8217;s personal feelings about Christian teaching on homosexuality are irrelevant. This is a private Christian school. In that role, it understandably seeks to advance Christian teaching on all matters, including sexuality. If you do not agree with those teachings, if you think those teachings are barbaric and bigoted and so on, you are quite free to attend any other school. Nobody forced this student&#8217;s parents to enroll her in this particular academic institution. Louisville is not some outpost in the wilderness with no other schools around for hundreds of miles. This family must have had many options. They chose the one place where waving a gay flag will get you into trouble. They gave this place their money. They signed an agreement swearing to follow its rules. And then, apparently, they decided they didn&#8217;t like the rules anymore. Whose fault is that? Not the school&#8217;s, as far as I can tell.

A slice of rainbow cake

WALSH: Media Claims A Christian School Expelled A Student For Her Rainbow Birthday Cake. Now The Truth Has Come Out.

Christianity

Fake News

Homosexuality

Kentucky

Media

Media Bias

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In a historic Sunday night episode of &#8220;Batwoman,&#8221; the lady caped crusader came out as a lesbian to Gotham City, thereby making her sexual orientation official.
According to <a href="https://deadline.com/2020/01/batwoman-comes-out-ruby-roses-cw-superhero-tells-gotham-shes-a-lesbian-1202835688/#comments">Deadline</a>, the midseason premiere episode, titled &#8220;How Queer Everything Is Today,&#8221; featured actress Ruby Rose&#8217;s Batwoman revealing her sexual identity after learning about a teenager whose parents refuse to accept her sexuality.
&#8220;The big reveal came in a magazine article published by CatCo, and the scoop belonged to none other than Kara Danvers, a.k.a. Supergirl (Melissa Benoist), the title hero from Batwoman’s Arrowverse sister show,&#8221; the outlet reported of the big moment.
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&quot;What&#39;s next for Lena? Lena Luthor spotted in Gotham&quot; What was Lena doing there?! jajaja and, also, Kara wrote the article of Batwoman being a lesbian!!!! Kara and Kate BROTP! <a href="https://t.co/TH2QbLMV3B">pic.twitter.com/TH2QbLMV3B</a>
&mdash; 𝗗𝗿. 𝗗𝗮𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀 (@lKDanvers_) <a href="https://twitter.com/lKDanvers_/status/1219082978292391937?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Speaking with <a href="https://ew.com/tv/2020/01/19/batwoman-coming-out-caroline-dries-1x10/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:5;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk">Entertainment Weekly</a>, series showrunner Caroline Dries, who wrote the episode, said she wanted the character to &#8220;stand in her truth.&#8221;
“For me, it was so important for this character to stand in her truth,” said Dries. “The girl underneath the costume is so comfortable with who she is and so comfortable with being truthful, and she never really has been in the closet.”
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The character Batwoman first came onto the comic book scene in the 1950s as a potential <a href="https://comicvine.gamespot.com/kathy-kane/4005-81174/">love interest</a> for Batman, but she eventually took a backseat in the 1960s and did not become a lesbian until being reintroduced in DC’s “<a href="https://comicvine.gamespot.com/batwoman/4005-9052/">New 52</a>.” A previous Hollywood Reporter <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/batwoman-series-poll-elseworlds-recap-1168339">poll</a> showed that 85% (more than 2,000 people) of respondents wanted a separate “Batwoman” series.
Though Batwoman certainly has her own woke pedigree, SJWs were reportedly upset over the openly gay Ruby Rose’s casting, prompting her to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/34435/ruby-rose-quits-twitter-after-leftist-critics-emily-zanotti">leave social media</a> after enough people complained she was “not gay enough” to play the title character.
“A #RecastBatwoman hashtag started circulating, with people also wondering why the role couldn’t have gone to a lesser-known LGBTQ+ actress in need of an acting break,” <a href="https://www.glamour.com/story/ruby-rose-quit-twitter-after-getting-bullied-about-her-batwoman-casting">Glamour reported</a> at the time. “Critics also accused Rose of not being a lesbian since she also refers to herself as gender-fluid.”
In response, Rose said she could not believe people were actually insinuating she was not gay enough when her entire career has been people accusing her of being too gay. “Where on earth did ‘Ruby is not a lesbian, therefore she can’t be Batwoman’ come from — has to be the funniest most ridiculous thing I’ve ever read,” the actress tweeted at the time. “I came out at 12? And have for the past five years had to deal with ‘she’s too gay’ how do y’all flip it like that? I didn’t change.”
The CW network broke barriers on the SJW-themed “Supergirl” with the arrival of Nia Nal, the first transgender hero in television history, played by transgender actor Nicole Maines and based on the <a href="http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Nura_Nal_(Pre-Zero_Hour)" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:2;elm:context_link;itc:0">DC Comics character Nura Nal</a>. Sometimes called “Dream Girl,” the character Nia Nal is a humanoid alien that also sees into the future.
Marvel has separately announced that phase four in its cinematic universe will feature more LGBTQ representation, starting with “The Eternals,&#8221; which will introduce the universe’s<a href="https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/12/16/the-eternals-marvel-openly-gay-superhero-trailer-mcu-brian-tyree-henry-angelina-jolie-gemma-chan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> first openly gay superhero, Phastos</a>. The character will be married to a man and will be portrayed by actor Brian Tyree Henry.
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Celebrity Sightings in Los Angeles &#8211; September 11, 20199

HISTORIC: ‘Batwoman’ Tells Gotham City She&#8217;s A &#8216;Lesbian&#8217; In Latest Episode

Lesbian

Political Correctness

Sexuality

Social Justice

On Wednesday, a divided panel of the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled, in 2–1 fashion, that a transgender litigant — a biological male who suffers from gender dysphoria and subjectively feels that he is a female — cannot require a court to address him using female pronouns.
The case, <a href="http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/19/19-40016-CR0.pdf">U.S. v. Varner</a>, pitted Reagan nominee Judge Jerry E. Smith and Trump nominee Judge S. Kyle Duncan in the panel majority, against Clinton nominee Judge James L. Dennis as the lone dissenter. What made the opinion particularly fascinating was that Duncan&#8217;s majority opinion used male pronouns, whereas Dennis&#8217; dissent used female pronouns.
Alas, the latest and most disputatious, headline-grabbing front of our ceaseless culture war has fully hit the federal judiciary.
As highlighted by legal blogger extraordinaire and Ethics and Public Policy Center President Ed Whelan <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/transgender-pronoun-conflict-in-the-fifth-circuit/">noted yesterday</a> at National Review&#8217;s &#8220;Bench Memos&#8221; blog, Duncan&#8217;s majority opinion provided three distinct reasons for denying the plaintiff Varner&#8217;s motion for the &#8220;use [of] female pronouns when addressing&#8221; him:
<blockquote>
First, no authority supports the proposition that we may require litigants, judges, court personnel, or anyone else to refer to gender-dysphoric litigants with pronouns matching their subjective gender identity. &#8230;
Second, if a court were to compel the use of particular pronouns at the invitation of litigants, it could raise delicate questions about judicial impartiality. &#8230; Increasingly, federal courts today are asked to decide cases that turn on hotly-debated issues of sex and gender identity. In cases like these, a court may have the most benign motives in honoring a party’s request to be addressed with pronouns matching his “deeply felt, inherent sense of [his] gender.” Yet in doing so, the court may unintentionally convey its tacit approval of the litigant’s underlying legal position.
Third, ordering use of a litigant’s preferred pronouns may well turn out to be more complex than at first it might appear. &#8230; [O]ne university has created this widely-circulated pronoun usage guide for gender-dysphoric persons.
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Duncan then inserted the &#8220;pronoun usage guide for gender-dysphoric persons,&#8221; borrowed from the &#8220;LGBTQ+ Resource Center&#8221; at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, which is a colorful five-by-nine matrix. This is potentially confusing, to say the least, as Duncan noted, and &#8220;[d]eploying such neologisms could hinder communication among the parties and the court.&#8221;
Duncan then referenced New York City&#8217;s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/05/17/you-can-be-fined-for-not-calling-people-ze-or-hir-if-thats-the-pronoun-they-demand-that-you-use/">regulation</a> that &#8220;prohibit[s] &#8216;intentional or repeated refusal&#8217; to use pronouns including &#8216;them/them/theirs or ze/hir&#8217; after person has &#8216;made clear&#8217; his preferred pronouns&#8221; as an example of his point that &#8220;[w]hen local governments have sought to enforce pronoun usage, they have had to make refined distinctions based on matters such as the types of allowable pronouns and the intent of the &#8216;misgendering&#8217; offender.'&#8221;
Ultimately, Duncan concluded, &#8220;[c]ourts would have to do the same. We decline to enlist the federal judiciary in this quixotic undertaking.&#8221;
It was something of a proverbial &#8220;mic drop&#8221; moment for the Louisiana-based judge, who has been on the Fifth Circuit for less than two years. Formerly the general counsel for the prominent Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, Duncan was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in April 2018 by a narrow 50–47 margin.
Along with fellow Trump-nominated Fifth Circuit Judges Andrew S. Oldham and James C. Ho (for whom, in the interest of full disclosure, I previously served as a judicial law clerk), Duncan has frequently been mentioned as someone who should be added to any new Supreme Court nominee &#8220;list&#8221; produced by the Trump administration. In fact, in some ways, Duncan seemed to be following the lead of his colleague Ho. Duncan&#8217;s opinion cited twice a March 2019 opinion, <a href="http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/16/16-51148-CV0.pdf">Gibson v. Collier</a>, written by Ho, which similarly used male pronouns to refer to a biological male individual who subjectively felt that he was a woman.
Good for Judge Duncan for both adhering to the letter of the law and for defiantly standing athwart the modern cultural Left&#8217;s pernicious insistence on gaslighting the American citizenry into thinking that words may not mean what they so clearly do, in fact, mean.

US. Fifth Circuit Court Of Appeals

Culture War In The Courts: Federal Appeals Panel Rejects Transgender Pronouns

Judicial Branch

Judiciary

Over the weekend, a gay conservative and right-wing college group leader <a href="https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2020/01/gay-right-winger-protested-drag-queens-marriage-equality-died-suicide/#.Xhyx7DGCCPA.twitter">reportedly</a> took his own life after receiving abuse online for publicly opposing &#8220;drag queen story hour&#8221; events for children.
Twenty-one-year-old Wilson Gavin led a group of 15–20 protestors from the University of Queensland’s Liberal National Club (which is right-wing) to protest a &#8220;drag queen story hour&#8221; event being held at the Brisbane Square Library in Australia this weekend, according to <a href="https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2020/01/gay-right-winger-protested-drag-queens-marriage-equality-died-suicide/#.Xhyx7DGCCPA.twitter">LGBTQ Nation</a>.
Gavin and fellow right-wingers chanted that “drag queens are not for kids” and voiced opposition to the indoctrination of children via “radical gender theories,&#8221; the outlet noted.
The videos went viral online and Gavin became a target for abuse, receiving &#8220;savage criticism and abuse from those purporting to represent the LGBTI community and others on social media,&#8221; <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/drag-queen-protest-has-tragic-fallout/news-story/e32fba37f6341b2ff48c5122704f6016">The Australian</a> reported.
Hinting at the abuse Gavin reportedly received following the protest, Liberal National Party of Queensland member Dawson George Christensen announced that he was leaving &#8220;broken&#8221; Twitter for good.
&#8220;Suicide happens when Twitter keyboard warriors pile on an individual for a political protest,” Christensen tweeted. “Twitter is broken. It’s for ad hominem attacks &amp; pile-ons, not real discourse. And it’s aided &amp; abetted by the media. I can’t delete the media but I am deleting my Twitter account. Bye.”
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George Christensen says he&#39;s quitting Twitter, saying it&#39;s &quot;broken&quot; <a href="https://t.co/XjU3LQWLb9">pic.twitter.com/XjU3LQWLb9</a>
&mdash; Josh Butler (@JoshButler) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoshButler/status/1216581913915187200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Gavin died by suicide over the weekend, <a href="https://www.starobserver.com.au/news/story-time-protest-leader-wilson-gavin-dead/191866">The Star Observer</a> of Australia reported Monday: &#8220;Gavin was found dead at Chelmer Railway Station this morning at 7:07am. Ambulance officers who attended say he died from critical injuries, but have provided no further details.&#8221;
As highlighted by Federalist writer and openly gay conservative Chad Felix Greene, folks in the LGBT community celebrated the young man&#8217;s death. Some of the screenshots captured by Greene reveal Gavin being trashed for having supposed &#8220;self-hatred,&#8221; while other commenters emphasized that they have &#8220;absolutely no sympathy&#8221; for the conservative.
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<a href="https://t.co/uxt5xZ1I3Z">pic.twitter.com/uxt5xZ1I3Z</a>
&mdash; Chad Felix Greene (@chadfelixg) <a href="https://twitter.com/chadfelixg/status/1216784517815504899?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2020</a></blockquote>
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&mdash; Chad Felix Greene (@chadfelixg) <a href="https://twitter.com/chadfelixg/status/1216784527433064448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2020</a></blockquote>
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&mdash; Chad Felix Greene (@chadfelixg) <a href="https://twitter.com/chadfelixg/status/1216784535276466179?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2020</a></blockquote>
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&mdash; Chad Felix Greene (@chadfelixg) <a href="https://twitter.com/chadfelixg/status/1216784548396224513?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2020</a></blockquote>
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<a href="https://t.co/IQoelMXxol">pic.twitter.com/IQoelMXxol</a>
&mdash; Chad Felix Greene (@chadfelixg) <a href="https://twitter.com/chadfelixg/status/1216784558772887553?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Notably, one of the drag queen performers shared kind words of support to Gavin&#8217;s family following the news of his passing.
“My heart goes out to the family and friends of the affected,” wrote Johnny Valkyrie via Facebook. “If the family are reading this please know that I support you, and I am here to gather support and I know you are good people.”
&#8220;To those of you who follow me,&#8221; continued Valkyrie, &#8220;if you require support, please reach out to community services and hotlines which are freely available￼ to the community. I cannot say anymore at this stage. ￼￼￼￼￼￼I have to reflect on the events, heal, and extend my love to the community.&#8221;
According to The Australian, Gavin was a high-profile student activist who &#8220;was forthright in his ­opposition to same-sex marriage in 2017, giving interviews in the national media and organising protests backing a No vote in the plebiscite held to decide the issue.&#8221;
&#8220;His role in that campaign ­attracted vociferous criticism, but he insisted there were thousands of gay people like himself who ­opposed same-sex marriage,&#8221; noted the outlet.
&#8220;They hate me because I’m a conservative, and they hate me more because I’m a gay conservative,” Gavin said during an interview with Sky News.
“I’m not a homophobe,&#8221; he noted. &#8220;I love gay men. You can’t call me a homophobe just because I’m opposed to same-sex marriage.”

red remors &#8211; stock photo

Gay Conservative Reportedly Kills Himself After Being Harassed For Publicly Opposing Drag Queen Story Hour. Celebrations Erupt Online.

Conservatism

Suicide

Political observers in the year 2020 know that, for the Democratic Party and the broader political Left alike, intersectionality often reigns supreme. For those still wondering what exactly &#8220;intersectionality&#8221; is, Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro has produced a helpful explanatory video on the topic:
<iframe title="What Is Intersectionality?" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rc7VUoytoU4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&#8220;Intersectionality is a form of identity politics in which the value of your opinion depends on how many victim groups you belong to,&#8221; Shapiro <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ben-shapiro-what-intersectionality-jacob-airey">explained</a>. &#8220;At the bottom of the totem pole is the person everybody loves to hate: The straight, white male. And who’s at the top? Well, it’s very hard to say, because new groups claim victim status all the time. No one can keep track.&#8221;
Alas, it should come as no surprise that contemporary Democrats would rally around what is perhaps one of the most readily identifiable sub-identity groups boasting immense &#8220;intersectional&#8221; street credibility: The transgender illegal alien.
&#8220;House Democrats plan to call on a key immigration agency to release all transgender people who are currently being detained, arguing that the U.S. has failed to follow guidelines to protect individuals who face more perilous conditions in detention than other migrants,&#8221; The Hill <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/477954-lawmakers-to-call-on-ice-to-release-all-transgender-detainees">reported</a> yesterday.
The outlet then reported on the precise contents of the early copy of the letter it obtained. The letter will be sent to Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Matthew Albence. Per <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/477954-lawmakers-to-call-on-ice-to-release-all-transgender-detainees">The Hill</a>, the letter reads, in relevant part:
<blockquote>We write to demand the release of all transgender people currently detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Transgender migrants and asylum seekers are particularly vulnerable to sexual harassment, solitary confinement, physical assault, and medical neglect. These inhumane conditions and systematic abuses are evidenced in countless reports and accounts by formally detained people.</blockquote>
According to the outlet, the letter cites research from left-wing organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign, Amnesty International, and the Center for American Progress in order to argue that &#8220;due to their gender identity, transgender migrants are more likely to face &#8216;the pervasive use of solitary confinement&#8217; and that they are &#8217;97 times more likely to be sexually victimized&#8217; compared to &#8216;their cis-gender and straight counterparts in detention.'&#8221;
The effort is being led by Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL), who TheBlaze <a href="https://www.theblaze.com/news/house-democrats-want-ice-to-release-all-transgender-detainees">notes</a> is of the belief that ICE is actually required to release all transgender detainees. In order to advance that claim, the letter cites a 2015 ICE memo and the Department of Homeland Security&#8217;s 2020 appropriations bill.
&#8220;Quigley&#8217;s office is working to get lawmakers&#8217; signatures on the letter and expects to send it to acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf and ICE Director Matt Albence later this week,&#8221; the Washington Examiner <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/house-democrats-to-ask-ice-to-release-all-transgender-immigrants-in-custody">reports</a>.
The year 2019 was a busy year for ICE, especially over the first six months. Record numbers of illegal aliens seemed to flood over America&#8217;s porous southern border on a seemingly monthly basis, although the tide has stemmed over the <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/month-decline-unauthorized-border-crossings-nearing-million/story?id=66134521">past few months</a>. As the 2020 election heats up, President Donald Trump is continuing to emphasize border security and immigration enforcement as key political priorities.

ICE logo

Jailbreak: House Democrats Call To Release All Transgender ICE Detainees

Democratic Party

Illegal Immigration

Immigrants

Immigration

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Intersectionality

Leftism

Progressivism

An 8-year-old boy&#8217;s hair has become the center of a new &#8220;discrimination&#8221; debate swirling around the U.K. that has even prompted the boy&#8217;s mother to float the idea of listing him as &#8220;non-binary&#8221; in order to keep the flowing locks that helped him rise to fame on Instagram.
In a story covered by multiple British outlets, including the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-50916305/farouk-james-the-boy-with-very-long-hair">BBC</a> and the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7880983/Mother-declare-eight-year-old-model-son-non-binary-long-hair-school.html">Daily Mail</a>, Instagram sensation Farouk James, whose mother began a page for him when he was just 2 years old, is desperately trying to keep his long hair amid what his mother suggests are non-&#8220;tolerant&#8221; and &#8220;outdated&#8221; secondary school rules about boys&#8217; haircuts.
The mother of the young male model — who has over 260,000 <a href="https://www.instagram.com/faroukjames/?hl=en">Instagram</a> followers and has been flown all over the world in large part because of his unusually long hair, landing modeling gigs with the likes of Guess — is heading up a movement to force some secondary schools in England to change their grooming codes.
Appalled that the three schools her son wants to attend don&#8217;t allow boys to have long hair, his mother &#8220;began investigating different schools&#8217; rules, after planning ahead for Farouk&#8217;s applications in Year 5,&#8221; the Daily Mail reports.
&#8220;We are told we are supposed to be tolerant, and embrace diversity,&#8221; said the boy&#8217;s mom, Bonnie, 41, who&#8217;s from west London. &#8220;However this policy teaches children that they cannot be different.&#8221;
&#8220;Why are we teaching — at such a young age — that long hair means there is something wrong with these children?&#8221; Bonnie asked.
&#8220;I have been trying to think of loopholes, and think how can I get him in,&#8221; she said, explaining, &#8220;The mixed schools I have been looking at have policies which clearly differentiate between boys and girls.&#8221;
One action she&#8217;s considered taking to sidestep the schools&#8217; grooming policies, she said, is listing the eight-year-old as &#8220;non-binary.&#8221;
&#8220;Applying for a mixed school, I may just put him down as non-binary,&#8221; said the boy&#8217;s mom.
Meanwhile, Bonnie has started a petition aimed at ending the &#8220;discriminatory&#8221; and &#8220;outdated&#8221; policies. &#8220;I thought &#8216;I have to do something about this, children&#8217;s mental health is more important,'&#8221; she explained.
Along with allowing boys to better &#8220;express themselves,&#8221; the rule change, Bonnie believes, &#8220;will also allow transgender people to be more comfortable,&#8221; the Daily Mail reports.
Forcing kids to cut their hair, says Bonnie, can be devastating as it is &#8220;part of their identity.&#8221;
&#8220;Parents have shown me they have had to chop their child&#8217;s hair off, and the devastation it has caused,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It&#8217;s a part of their identity. You are asking someone to take away a huge part of themselves, to fit in to what is socially expected.&#8221;
As for her very young, very long-haired son&#8217;s early fame, Bonnie said it has been an inspiration for others and he has attained a &#8220;role model&#8221; status for some, &#8220;chang[ing] others children&#8217;s lives.&#8221;
&#8220;He&#8217;s become a role model for children, for boys with long hair,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Parents say they refer to Farouk&#8217;s page to give their child confidence. I&#8217;ve cried numerous times because, just from me allowing him to be himself, he has changed other children&#8217;s lives. Farouk globally can be himself, and be appreciated for who he is through Instagram.&#8221;
&#8220;But locally he is not accepted,&#8221; Bonnie stressed. &#8220;When he goes to secondary school, he is going to be told he has to change. He will be told, he is going to have to take a piece of himself away.&#8221;
The boy&#8217;s mother says she set up his Instagram page when he was just two years old after a social media influencer used a photo of young Farouk without her permission, the Daily Mail notes.

Cutting hair

Mother Says She May Declare 8-Year-Old Son ‘Non Binary’ So He Doesn’t Have To Cut His Long Hair

Discrimination

England

Gender

Chick-fil-A may now be having second thoughts after departing from Christian organizations like The Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes after LGBTQ activists branded them as homophobic.
In a December fifth <a href="https://www.afa.net/media/449831/letter-from-chick-fil-a.pdf">letter </a>to Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association, Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy expressed some regret after the business “inadvertently discredited several outstanding organizations” after shifting gears on its corporate giving strategy this past November.
&#8220;As you have seen, recently we announced changes to our giving strategy at the Chick-fil-A Foundation. These changes were made to better focus on hunger, homelessness and education,&#8221; wrote Cathy. “We understand how some thought we were abandoning our longstanding support of faith-based organizations. We inadvertently discredited several outstanding organizations that have effectively served communities for years.&#8221;
“Some also questioned if our commitment to our Corporate Purpose was waning. Let me state unequivocally: It is not,” he added.
Cathy went on to say that Chick-fil-A never had any intention of weighing into political or social movements, asserting that it will simply be focusing on ways to fix hunger, homelessness, and education.
&#8220;The intent of our corporate giving has always been to have impact &#8212; not to make a statement or support a political or social agenda,&#8221; wrote Cathy. &#8220;In the future, our company will seek to make a greater impact by addressing the challenges of hunger, homelessness and education. Chick-fil-A will give to faith based and other organizations that we believe to be highly effective in a particular area.
&#8220;Grant recipients will likely rotate, as we assess from year to year partners who help us meet our stated goals,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;Also, our operators in your community will continue to invest in local causes that are meaningful at their discretion. Additionally, our family will continue to fund and operate our family foundations and give to other charities of our choice.&#8221;
Though Wildmon <a href="https://www.afa.net/activism/action-alerts/2020/chick-fil-a-responds-to-afa-letter/">said</a> that Cathy&#8217;s letter was a &#8220;welcomed clarification,&#8221; he still expressed caution for people reading deeper. He cited the fact that Chick-fil-A donated to organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Covenant House, which has <a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/new-chick-fil-a-donation-recipient-hosts-drag-queen-story-hour-events">supported</a> &#8220;drag queen story hour&#8221; in public libraries.
“It appears that Mr. Cathy understands how many evangelicals perceived the company&#8217;s decision, as he stated that these Christian groups were ‘inadvertently discredited,’” <a href="https://www.afa.net/activism/action-alerts/2020/chick-fil-a-responds-to-afa-letter/">said</a> Wildmon. “The fact that Dan Cathy called these two Christian groups ‘outstanding organizations’ will mean a lot to evangelicals.”
&#8220;However, I also mentioned in my initial letter that Chick-fil-A stated that the company would support Covenant House, a ministry to homeless youth, including homosexual young people. While it is admirable to help hurting youth in desperate circumstances — including those who are LGBTQ — Covenant House also openly promotes homosexuality as normal, natural, and healthy,&#8221; continued Wildmon. &#8220;This was evident in Covenant House&#8217;s participation in the NYC gay pride parade and a number of other efforts that make it clear the ministry does not hold to a biblical view of human sexuality.&#8221;
“As a result, AFA will continue to monitor Chick-fil-A&#8217;s corporate giving, at least for the foreseeable future,” concluded Wildmon. “We believe our supporters rely on us to do so.”

US-ECONOMY-RETAIL-FOOD

Chick-Fil-A CEO Says Company Will Still &#8216;Glorify God&#8217; After Throwing Salvation Army Under The Bus

Chick-fil-A

Salvation Army

Same-Sex Marriage

Just a few years ago, advocates of so-called &#8220;gender identity&#8221; insisted that all they wanted was space to “live and let live” — to “be themselves.” Unfortunately, that was not true — they wanted much, much more. In the case of British academic <a href="https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2019/12/our-integral-regime">Maya Forstater</a>, we recently got a glimpse of the ominous end game of gender identity ideology: Nothing less than the total and complete social alienation of anyone who asserts the biological reality that men cannot be women and women cannot be men.
Until last March, Maya Forstater was a visiting fellow at the Centre for Global Development (CGD), working within her research area on the topic of taxes, inequality, and poverty. But she lost it all on Twitter.
Forstater’s <a href="https://twitter.com/MForstater/status/1036375230279819264" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/MForstater/status/1036375230279819264&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1578618003714000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFSrOupbBeXDf-v2hgKO0c0QHzxPA">tweets</a> were anything but inflammatory. In a typical <a href="https://twitter.com/MForstater/status/1036375232062337025" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/MForstater/status/1036375232062337025&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1578618003714000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFOVKURXZiCaMFg-Shobf4oNbEbFQ">tweet</a>, she said, “I share the concerns of @fairplaywomen that radically expanding the legal definition of ‘women’ so that it can include both males and females makes it a meaningless concept, and will undermine women’s rights &amp; protections for vulnerable women &amp; girls.”
Yet, tweets like that cost Forstater her fellowship at CGD. In mid-December, she then <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/dec/18/judge-rules-against-charity-worker-who-lost-job-over-transgender-tweets" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/dec/18/judge-rules-against-charity-worker-who-lost-job-over-transgender-tweets&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1578618003714000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFZDiTU5I6DKfDinpyO-I1HAvMQ2Q">lost</a> a lawsuit in which she contested CGD’s decision. In the ruling, the judge made this shocking statement:
<blockquote>[Forstater] is absolutist in her view of sex and it is a core component of her belief that she will refer to a person by the sex she considered appropriate even if it violates their dignity and/or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. The approach is not worthy of respect in a democratic society. (Emphasis added.)</blockquote>
Not only, the ruling says, does gender identity deserve an equal place in the social conversation about sex and gender; it deserves a preeminent and uncontested place. Anyone who disagrees with it can, legally, lose their job.
It is amazing that this has to be clarified: no one should lose his or her job for believing that men and boys are male and that women and girls are female. This is a biological fact; all the surgeries and hormones in the world cannot change the reality that every single cell of a man’s body is encoded with an X and a Y chromosome, and every single cell in a woman’s body is encoded with two X chromosomes. Biological sex cannot be changed.
Asked about the possibility of changing one’s sex, Dr. Lawrence Mayer of Johns Hopkins has a straightforward <a href="https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2018/03/21151/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2018/03/21151/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1578618003714000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFeNJ2NQF48UK870siECeuLHvP4aw">answer</a>: It can’t be done. “Scientifically speaking, transgender men are not biological men and transgender women are not biological women.”
Shutting down honest conversations about sex and gender is an extremely detrimental form of “cancel culture.” Just a few years ago, the statements made by Forstater were not controversial among feminists. Lesbian groups frequently took a clear stand on this issue, advocating for a <a href="https://www.economist.com/open-future/2018/07/03/the-gender-identity-movement-undermines-lesbians" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.economist.com/open-future/2018/07/03/the-gender-identity-movement-undermines-lesbians&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1578618003714000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG4P9EcR92JKBeRExXAp1jUip-Q4A">biologically based</a> understanding of sex.
Now, however, gender identity ideology has such a chokehold on discourse that anyone who disagrees with it faces personal and professional ruin. In a grimly ironic and patronizing tone, gender identity ideologues have the gall to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/17/transgender-reforms-will-not-diminish-womens-rights-scottish-government" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/17/transgender-reforms-will-not-diminish-womens-rights-scottish-government&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1578618003714000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGnXCJ-MYY5Z2algENOM6041sZQvA">claim</a> that they are committed to defending women’s rights even as they systematically target and destroy women’s careers.
It is now not even necessary to defend biological sex to end up in hot water. All a person has to do today is defend someone else’s freedom to hold to biological sex in order to be cancelled, vilified, and silenced. The day after Forstater lost her case, &#8220;Harry Potter&#8221; series author J.K. Rowling tweeted out her support for Forstater’s right to believe that men are men and women are women.
Rowling’s tweet read: “Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya.” Within hours people began hurling the epithet “<a href="https://twitter.com/i/events/1207690260496318465" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/i/events/1207690260496318465&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1578618003714000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFo-AR7LtllRjBhA1gyYu2dvF5AJw">TERF</a>” (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) at Rowling and calling for her to apologize for her tweet.
Previously a darling of the progressive Left after saying that her famed character Albus Dumbledore was gay, Rowling’s vilification means that no one is safe from mudslinging and suppression when it comes to gender identity ideologues. These activists demand absolute acquiescence from everyone else in society — and they will not hesitate to turn on their own (former) allies at the first sign of dissent.
We all can agree that individuals with gender dysphoria deserve compassion, but no amount of self-perception can make a man a woman, nor change the reality of what being a woman is. That reality is made undeniable on the field of play, where an increasing amount of female athletes — including <a href="http://www.adfmedia.org/News/PRDetail/10816" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.adfmedia.org/News/PRDetail/10816&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1578618003714000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFmqo_ppX40O2JGuotDN8MPcDBpuQ">clients</a> represented by Alliance Defending Freedom — are being cheated out of their chance to stand atop a winner’s podium.
Yet, according to at least one judge, it’s out of bounds to so much as notice that men and women are different. This ruling is a travesty. No one should lose their jobs for asserting this reality — but so as long as gender identity ideologues get their way, we are all at their mercy.
And, as we see with Forstater and Rowling as well as female athletes made spectators in their own sports, when it comes to gender identity ideology, it’s women who have the most to lose.
&nbsp;
Kristen Waggoner is general counsel and senior vice president of U.S. legal division and communications at <a href="http://www.adflegal.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.adflegal.org/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1578618003714000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH3GTk6aJZSR1orAWUUvAgUNFkeBg">Alliance Defending Freedom</a>. Follow her on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/KWaggonerADF" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/KWaggonerADF&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1578618003714000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGcoqBtZrlhWHavPMv0RwPk-cQj3A">@KWaggonerADF</a>, and follow Alliance Defending Freedom @AllianceDefends.

J.K. Rowling

WAGGONER: J.K. Rowling &#8216;Controversy&#8217; Shows Women Have Most To Lose With Gender Identity Ideology

Feminism

Harry Potter

JK Rowling

There has to be a way to honor someone’s religious beliefs and respect members of the LGBT community at the same time. <a href="https://firstliberty.org/hensley/">Judge Dianne Hensley</a> thought she struck that balance. Instead, she received an official reprimand from the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct (“Commission”).
Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court decided Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015, public officials who are authorized (but not required) to officiate wedding ceremonies have faced the same dilemma Dianne faced. Many, rather than risk compromising their religious convictions, simply stopped officiating all weddings. But some demand that justices of the peace like Dianne either officiate all marriages or find themselves disqualified from office altogether.
Dianne knew there had to be another way. What if she were able to reconcile her religious beliefs with serving the needs of her community?
She knows that her convictions prevent her from officiating gay weddings, but she also respectfully understands that many of her gay friends do not share that same conviction. If she, like most of the justices of the peace in McLennan County, Texas, stopped officiating weddings altogether, it is those without ready access to low-cost alternatives who suffer most.
Instead, she found a way to honor her religious convictions and make sure any gay couple who wanted to get married could get married without delay or additional cost. Her referral system worked brilliantly.
If, because of schedule or moral reasons, Dianne could not officiate a requested wedding, she referred them to those who could — including a nearby walk-in wedding chapel. As soon as the couple holding a marriage license could make the three-block walk to the walk-in wedding chapel, they could be married.
It would cost the same, too. In fact, Judge Hensley offered to pay from her own pocket the difference between her rate and that of the walk-in wedding chapel. But the walk-in wedding chapel simply agreed to reduce its rate, instead, for those referred by Judge Hensley’s office.
It worked well. Dianne’s religious convictions remained undisturbed and her referral efforts accounted for more low-cost gay weddings than perhaps any other public official in all of McLennan County. But then, without having received a complaint, the Commission launched an investigation. Rather than praise her proactive problem solving, they determined she had to be reprimanded.
Dianne received a “Public Warning” for trying to honor her religious beliefs while respecting members of the gay community. It’s understandable why many have strong feelings about gay marriage, but surely we should be able to agree that justices of the peace like Dianne Hensley should not have their careers ruined for following both the rules of their faith and the law alike.
Surely in 2020, we can find a way to protect those with religious beliefs that prevent them from officiating weddings with which they morally disagree, while also accommodating the marriage of anyone lawfully allowed to wed. At the very least, no state agency should be punishing Dianne for her reasonable effort to reconcile her religious beliefs while meeting the needs of her community.
In fact, in a lawsuit we at First Liberty Institute filed in defense of Dianne, we argue that the Commission’s disciplinary actions violate the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act. There’s no compelling justification for the commissioners to punish a justice of the peace who, rather than cease officiating weddings entirely, accommodated more low-cost same-sex marriages than perhaps anyone in her entire local area.
Judge Hensley also hopes to continue using her referral system, even though she’s not required to officiate weddings at all. More than that, justices of the peace and other elected officials with the ability to officiate weddings are watching, hoping for a way to honor the distinctiveness of their faith while also respecting those in the gay community who wish to be married.
Is the only option really more reprimands? More penalties? More fines? Why must it either be officiate no weddings, officiate all weddings, or be disqualified from office because of your religious convictions, when there is a reasonable way to respect everyone involved?
Rather than punish her, the Commission ought to have recognized Dianne’s effort to balance her faith with the needs of her community — a type of basic, human, and much needed fairness missing in much of America today.
&nbsp;
Jeremy Dys (<a href="https://twitter.com/jeremydys">@JeremyDys</a>) is Special Counsel for Litigation and Communications for First Liberty Institute, a non-profit law firm dedicated to defending religious freedom for all Americans. Read more at <a href="https://firstliberty.org">FirstLiberty.org</a>.

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DYS: Religious Liberty Must Be Respected In The Era Of Same-Sex Marriage

Lawsuit

Religion

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Texas

Deep disagreements about whether to allow gay marriage and the ordination of lesbian and gay clergy has prompted the United Methodist Church to officially announce its plan to split in two and create a new denomination for those who hold the &#8220;traditional&#8221; views on the issues. The schism in the nation&#8217;s second-largest Protestant denomination, which has over 12 million members in the U.S., follows similar splintering in other major denominations over the issue of sexuality in recent years.
After years of debate over same-sex marriage, leaders from the United Methodist Church announced Friday that the church plans to officially separate, creating a new &#8220;Traditionalist Methodist&#8221; denomination for those who adhere to the &#8220;traditional&#8221; view of sexuality and marriage. The decision, the leaders said, was the result of &#8220;<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/united-methodist-church-split-lgbtq-rights">fundamental differences</a>&#8221; in their view on gay marriage and LGBT ordination.
The long-brewing division in the denomination reached a boiling point in late February 2019 when the leaders and lay members voted to uphold and strengthen the church&#8217;s ban on same-sex marriage in the church by a vote of 438-384. &#8220;The practice of homosexuality,&#8221; a majority of the leaders and members voted, &#8220;is incompatible with Christian teaching.&#8221;
&#8220;Before opting for the Traditional Plan, delegates rejected an alternative known as the One Church Plan, which would have allowed individual churches to decide whether to perform same-sex marriages and welcome gay and lesbian clergy members,&#8221; <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-religion-lgbt-united-methodist/united-methodist-church-strengthens-ban-on-same-sex-marriage-lgbt-clergy-idUSKCN1QG022">Reuters</a> reported in February. &#8220;Under that plan, the statement that homosexuality is at odds with Christianity would have been eliminated.&#8221;
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&#8220;We are not going anywhere,” Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli of Foundry United Methodist <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/01/us/united-methodist-church-gay-clergy-ban.html">told</a> fellow progressives in the church after the tense February conference. &#8220;If someone wants to come for me, for us, then bring it.&#8221;
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&#8220;The debate cannot continue forever,&#8221; the Wesleyan Covenant Association, one of the church&#8217;s leading conservative groups, said following the vote. &#8220;We recognize irreconcilable differences exist.&#8221;
Over the course of the year those &#8220;irreconcilable differences&#8221; only hardened. Progressives leaders in the church were soon working toward a plan for separation. Leaders from sixteen of the liberal-leaning churches created an informal committee to determine a separation plan that would allow &#8220;each part of the church to remain true to its theological understanding,&#8221; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/us/methodist-split-gay-marriage.html">The New York Times</a> reports.
After months of increasing disunity, the two sides determined that their beliefs on sexuality and marriage had diverged too far to remain under one roof. After a few days of mediation, church leaders announced Friday that they had roughed out a separation plan and would address, among other things, how to divide up the church&#8217;s considerable financial assets.
According to the Times, the majority of the denomination’s churches in the United States will likely &#8220;remain in the existing United Methodist Church, which would become a more liberal-leaning institution as conservative congregations worldwide depart.&#8221;
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&#8220;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,&#8221; the Times reports. &#8220;The initial response from some conservatives and liberals after the announcement suggests its passage is likely.&#8221;
The Episcopal Church underwent a similar split in 2008, when conservatives <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/us/04episcopal.html">announced</a> that they were founding their own denomination, the Anglican Church in North America. The Presbyterian Church has also been deeply divided over the issue of same-sex marriage and LGBT ordination. The Presbyterian Church (USA) has allowed LGBT people to serve in the church since 2010 and has allowed same-sex marriage since 2014.

LGBT Flag Methodist Church

After Vote Banning Gay Marriage, Methodist Church Announces Plan To Split, Form New Denomination

In the lead-up to his return as host of the Golden Globe Awards, comedian Ricky Gervais ripped woke culture&#8217;s ruination of comedy by refusing to back down from making jokes it has deemed taboo.
Speaking with <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/ricky-gervais-5-time-golden-globes-host-has-a-few-more-things-say-hollywood-1265405">The Hollywood Reporter</a> (THR), Gervais addressed the intense Twitter backlash he has faced in recent days for making jokes at the expense of transgender activists. Most recently, he jokingly responded to a satirical article from Jarvis Dupont, sarcastically blasting biological women upset over transgenders using their bathrooms and taking over their sports.
“Those awful biological women can never understand what it must be like for you becoming a lovely lady so late in life,” Gervais said on Twitter. “They take their girly privileges for granted. Winning at female sports and having their own toilets. Well, enough is enough.”
Gervais later told THR that he was simply playing along with Jarvis Dupont&#8217;s persona of taking woke to an illogical extreme, arguing that his critics were angered by the fact he dared to make a joke about a touchy subject.
&#8220;I&#8217;m taking the p*ss out of Jarvis Dupont, who is actually a woman in real life. And this is the problem. You can say, &#8216;Listen, I was joking. It&#8217;s a joke.&#8217; But that&#8217;s not always enough for people. They go, &#8216;Well, why were you joking?&#8217; Also, add to that the nature of Twitter — it&#8217;s so curt, there&#8217;s no nuance, it&#8217;s there forever out of context,&#8221; Gervais said.
When THR pressed Gervais as to why he would engage in that kind of joke in the first place, the comedian said that some people would say it&#8217;s better not to engage in such jokes strictly due to fear. &#8220;For an easy life, it&#8217;s better not to,&#8221; he said.
On the issue of woke culture destroying comedy, a subject that &#8220;Joker&#8221; director Todd Phillips publicly lamented in recent months, Gervais said the onslaught of such purity results from a dislike for freedom of speech.
<blockquote>People like the idea of freedom of speech until they hear something they don&#8217;t like. So there&#8217;s still a pressure, but that doesn&#8217;t mean I&#8217;m going to water it down or back down and not say what I want. It&#8217;s just another form of what we&#8217;ve been through many, many times — it used to be called P.C. I think those things start off with very good intention and then they&#8217;re mugged. It&#8217;s a good thing to not be racist and sexist and homophobic. But it&#8217;s not a good thing to not be allowed to make jokes about those things, because you can tell a joke about race without being racist. I&#8217;m happy to play by the rules. It&#8217;s just that the 200 million people watching have different rules. That&#8217;s the plight. When people say, &#8220;He crossed the line,&#8221; I say, &#8220;I didn&#8217;t draw a line, you did.&#8221; It&#8217;s relative. It&#8217;s subjective.</blockquote>
When THR pressed Gervais on the issue of transphobia, he outright denied having no animosity against transgender individuals, and simply wanted to make a point about people holding up taboo subjects as a sacred cow.
&#8220;Some people, when you deal with contentious issues or taboo subjects, the very mention of them is the sacrilege,&#8221; said Gervais. &#8220;That&#8217;s why they stay taboo. People straight away, particularly with a comedian, if you&#8217;re joking about a subject, they think you&#8217;re anti it as opposed to pro it.&#8221;
Ricky Gervais faced heat for criticizing radical transgender activist Jessica Yaniv, who filed suit against a beauty parlor in Canada for refusing to wax his genitals. When news broke that he would return to host the Golden Globes, <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2019/11/ricky-gervais-transphobic-golden-globes-1202189531/">IndieWire argued</a> that Gervais&#8217; past transgender jokes warrant cancelation.

Ricky Gervais

Ricky Gervais Slams Woke Culture&#8217;s Stranglehold On Comedy: I’m Not ‘Going To Water It Down Or Back Down’

Golden Globes

The Canadian government has conducted a poll to see how “comfortable” Canadians would be aroung LGBTQ people, including questions asking whether Canadians would be “comfortable” having a doctor who was gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender.
As <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6344287/canadian-government-asked-canadians-comfortable-lgbtq2/">Global News</a> reported, the mid-summer poll was commissioned by the Privy Council Office; Global News explained that the Privy Council Office “is the federal department that supports the work of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and, at the time of the poll, housed the government’s LGBTQ2 Secretariat. That secretariat has since been transferred to the Department of Canadian Heritage and reports to Waterloo MP Bardish Chagger, tapped to be the minister of diversity and inclusion and youth.”
The poll asked:
<blockquote>How comfortable would you be in each of the following situations?
If you had a next-door neighbor who was gay, lesbian, or bisexual
If you had a next-door neighbor who is a transgender person
If you had a manager or supervisor who is gay, lesbian, or bisexual
If you had a manager or supervisor who was a transgender person
If you had a doctor who is gay, lesbian, or bisexual
If you had a doctor who was a transgender person</blockquote>
As far as having an LGBTQ next-door neighbor, the poll found 91.8% of respondents were “comfortable” if neighbor was gay, lesbian or bisexual and 87.6% felt the same way about a transgender next-door neighbor. 90.5% of respondents were “very comfortable” or “somewhat comfortable” with a gay, lesbian or bisexual boss; 88.2% were  “comfortable” with a gay, lesbian or bisexual doctor, while almost 80% were comfortable with a transgender doctor.
Helen Kennedy, executive director of the LGBTQI2S advocacy group Egale Canada, was pleased, asserting, “It’s really good to see the attitude of Canadians changing and being more open and inclusive. We obviously have more work to do. But it’s definitely a step in the right direction.”
PCO spokesperson Stephane Shank stated,  “The separate questions regarding gender identity were deliberate given experiences of discrimination faced by many transgender people in Canada. The Government of Canada is committed to better understanding the challenges faced by LGBTQ2 people — that is why the Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth has been given a mandate to consult civil society representatives of LGBTQ2 communities to lay the groundwork for an LGBTQ2 action plan that would guide the work of the federal government on issues important to LGBTQ2 Canadians.”
In mid-December, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a letter to Minister of Justice and Attorney General David Lametti in which Trudeau stated he wanted that ministry “to amend the Criminal Code to ban the practice of conversion therapy and take other steps required with the provinces and territories to end conversion therapy in Canada,” the <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/conversion-therapy-ban-trudeau-lgbtq_ca_5df407f6e4b03aed50ee3e9b">Huffington Post</a> reported.
In June 2017, the province of Ontario, Canada, passed a law that would enable the government to remove a child from their parent’s home if the families refused to accept their child&#8217;s chosen &#8220;gender identity&#8221; or &#8220;gender expression,&#8221; the <a href="https://www.christianpost.com/news/ontario-passes-law-government-seize-children-parents-oppose-gender-transition-186332/">Christian Post</a> reported.
The Christian Post added:
<blockquote>The bill replaces the Child and Family Services Act, or Bill 28, which governs child protection, foster care and adoption services. Bill 28 stated that the parent of a child in care retains the right &#8220;to direct the child&#8217;s education and religious upbringing.&#8221; However, the new law amends it thus: &#8220;to direct the child or young person&#8217;s education and upbringing, in accordance with the child&#8217;s or young person&#8217;s creed, community identity and cultural identity.&#8221;</blockquote>

CANADA-TORONTO-PRIDE PARADE

Canadian Government Conducts Poll Asking How ‘Comfortable’ You Are With LGBTQ People

Canada

As part of the Blumhouse Productions horror firm &#8220;Into the Dark&#8221; anthology series, Hulu will be breaking new ground with the release of &#8220;Midnight Kiss&#8221; — a slasher movie in which a quartet of Los Angeles gay men are picked off by a masked killer during a weekend trip to Palm Springs.
&#8220;The friends are a quartet of L.A. gays and their closest straight gal pal,&#8221; the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2019-12-26/midnight-kiss-hulu-blumhouse-into-the-dark-gay-slasher">Los Angeles Times</a> wrote of the movie. &#8220;Their cabin in the woods is a rambling, ultra-modern manse in Palm Springs. And &#8216;Scream’s&#8217; white mask has been replaced with a sly reference to the popular kink known as &#8216;pup play.'&#8221;
&#8220;In other words, &#8216;Midnight Kiss,&#8217; which arrives Friday on Hulu, gleefully remixes familiar genre tropes with distinctly gay subject matter, delving into the use of hookup apps and the pitfalls of open relationships while coining the hilariously ribald phrase &#8216;psychopath bottom,'&#8221; the report continued.
According to the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7010681/Ruff-Inside-kinky-world-pup-play-San-Francisco-men-act-like-young-dogs.html">Daily Mail</a>, &#8220;Pup Play&#8221; is a kink subculture within BDSM &#8220;in which mostly men act like young dogs decked out in gear that includes a colorful array of masks, hoods, muzzles, collars, leashes, mitts and tails, and sometimes coupled with brightly-hued knee socks stamped with paw prints. &#8221;
In an interview with the Times, actors August Prew and Scott Evans, along with writer Erlingur Thoroddsen and director Carter Smith, recalled how the film centered on its subject matter and Hulu&#8217;s encouragement in creating a mainstream &#8220;gay slasher movie&#8221; that uses aspects of gay culture to create a horror-thriller.
&#8220;Being able to make a gay slasher movie for one of the major streaming services is a sort of tectonic shift in its own right,&#8221; said the Times.
&#8220;I hate that it seems groundbreaking. That really sucks. [But] it’s kinda cool,&#8221; responded Evans.
&#8220;Horror, traditionally, gay people have had to read between the lines,&#8221; said director Carter Smith. &#8220;It’s spoken to queer people before, but it’s rarely represented them in a way that they felt like they could see themselves. It’s very rare that you see a gay character in a horror film that is not there to be the sidekick or the best friend or the comic relief.&#8221;
On the subject of race, the Times wondered if perhaps critics might see the movie as &#8220;too white,&#8221; given that the two queer characters of color do not make it to the final round of slasher-dom.
&#8220;Everybody’s gonna criticize. Of course they are,&#8221; said Evans. &#8220;But come on! Look at the bigger picture! It’s a cast full of gay men playing gay parts. Also, seeing those abs at the beginning. … It’s what hooks the gays.&#8221;
&#8220;In the script stage, and in pre-production — before we cast anything — there wasn’t that much talk or thought about what these people looked like,&#8221; Smith added. &#8220;That wasn’t how Zachary was written at all. Zachary was a studly male model in the script. And then Chester [Lockhart] came in read for it, and I was like, &#8216;Oh, my God.'&#8221;
&#8220;We spend so long searching for ourselves in entertainment, but more than anything, this is a very specific story about a very specific group of people, and hopefully all types of viewers can find a bit of themselves in these characters,&#8221; he continued.

In this photo illustration the Hulu logo is seen displayed

&#8216;Midnight Kiss&#8217;: Hulu Breaks New Ground With ‘Gay Slasher Movie’

California

Hollywood

Los Angeles

Following his last apology for past comedy routines, actor/comedian Eddie Murphy has now expressed embarrassment for previously making anti-gay jokes that he says now make him cringe.
Speaking with <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/eddie-murphy-dolemite-is-my-name/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CBS</a>, Murphy described the embarrassment he often feels when revisiting his past material.
&#8220;Some of it, I cringe when I watch it,&#8221; Murphy said, as reported by <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/eddie-murphy-stand-up-jokes-gay-community-cringe">Fox News</a>. &#8220;I&#8217;m like, oh my God, I can&#8217;t believe I said that.&#8221;
One particular clip that Murphy took issue was a segment from his 1983 comedy special &#8220;Delirious,&#8221; in which he joked about having &#8220;nightmares about gay people.&#8221; Though Murphy has no regrets regarding his life, he now sees how those jokes would not land well in today&#8217;s environment.
&#8220;I get a joke every now and then that&#8217;s cringe-y,&#8221; Murphy said. &#8220;But that&#8217;s not to say I don&#8217;t appreciate it. I still appreciate it. I&#8217;m looking at it within the context of the times. I&#8217;m going, OK, I&#8217;m a kid saying that.&#8221;
As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/eddie-murphy-expresses-regret-for-ignorant-old-comedy-routines">reported</a> by The Daily Wire&#8217;s Ashe Schow, Murphy expressed regret during a recent interview with The New York Times for past jokes he now believes were &#8220;ignorant.&#8221; Here&#8217;s how the Times reported it:
<blockquote>“I went through all that stuff, so this is not scary,” he said about controversies over jokes. He pointed that he had been picketed and had also <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/PAGE-ONE-After-15-Years-Actor-Apologizes-For-2982557.php">apologized for material about AIDS</a> that he now calls “ignorant” before adding, on the subject of anxiety by comics today: “All this stuff they are talking about: ‘Hey, welcome to the club.’”</blockquote>
Recently, actor/comedian Kevin Hart <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kevin-hart-regrets-how-he-handled-oscars-controversy-i-was-immature">reflected upon his being booted</a> from hosting the Oscars after members of the LGBTQ community resurfaced several offensive tweets and jokes he made at their expense years earlier. Hart now believes he acted immaturely in response to the backlash.
“What I thought was going to blow over ended up becoming a bigger mess than I expected,” Hart says in the Netflix documentary “Kevin Hart: Don’t F**k This Up.&#8221;
Looking back, Hart now feels that he “missed an opportunity.”
“I missed an opportunity to say simply that I don’t condone any type of violence in any way, shape, or form to anyone for being who they are,” Hart now says. “I f***ed up. &#8230; Instead, I said, ‘I addressed it.’ I said, ‘I apologized.’ I said, ‘I talked about this already.’ I was just immature. You’re not Superman. You’re not invincible. You don’t know everything. Your way is not always the right way. Sometimes it’s very valuable to stop for a second and assess. I know the things that I could’ve done better. I have no problem in saying I was wrong.”
Prior to the release of &#8220;Joker,&#8221; director Todd Philips said that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/joker-director-slams-woke-culture-says-its-why-he-stopped-making-comedies">he quit making comedies</a> because he feared the backlash that might erupt if a joke were to offend someone.
“Go try to be funny nowadays with this woke culture,” Phillips told Vanity Fair. “There were articles written about why comedies don’t work anymore — I’ll tell you why, because all the f***ing funny guys are like, ‘F*** this s***, because I don’t want to offend you.’”
“It’s hard to argue with 30 million people on Twitter,” the director continued. “You just can’t do it, right? So you just go, ‘I’m out.’”

Hammer Museum Los Angeles Presents MoMA Contenders 2019 Screening And Q&amp;A Of &#8220;Dolemite Is My Name&#8221;

Eddie Murphy Reflects On Past Anti-Gay Jokes: ‘I Can’t Believe I Said That’

Comedy

Last month, speaker, advocate, and wife of Lutheran minister Jamie Bruesehoff celebrated her 12-year-old child, whom she claims is transgender, receiving a puberty-blocking implant in the arm.
&#8220;Today, this kid showed her strength once again. Today, she did something that was hard and scary. Today, she made herself proud,&#8221; said a social media post from Bruesehoff, the mother of Rebekah, a preteen who is biologically male but identifies as female.
&#8220;Today, Rebekah had her second surgical procedure to place a hormone blocking implant in her arm to prevent her from progressing farther into puberty,&#8221; Bruesehoff gushed. &#8220;This is one example of what medically appropriate, medically necessary, life-affirming, and often literally life-saving treatment looks like for a transgender child.&#8221;
Rebekah was just ten years old when his parents allowed an implant to be put inside the child to start blocking puberty; the latest implant was a &#8220;replacement,&#8221; according to the mother.
⁣&#8221;That is the face of a girl terrified of hospitals and needles, but more terrified of having to live life as someone she is not. That is the face of a girl feeling on top of the world, knowing her body won’t betray her and she’s one step closer to the woman she will grow up to be,&#8221; the mother captioned two photos of Rebekah — one at 10 years old, the other at 12.
&#8220;Today, I’m thankful for top notch medical facilities and physicians,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;I’m thankful for ongoing and growing research and guidelines. I’m thankful for health insurance that covered my kid’s medically necessary treatment. And I’m extra thankful and proud to say that the insurance covering this procedure for my transgender daughter is provided to my husband through his employer &#8230; the church.⁣&#8221;
Bruesehoff closed out the post by bashing President Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers for seemingly preventing and trying to prevent transgender procedures on minors, which she claims is tantamount to stopping &#8220;life-saving care.&#8221; 
⁣ 
&#8220;With news of further discrimination out of the White House spreading and GOP lawmakers in multiples states trying to prohibit gender affirming, life-saving care like this for minors, I’m immensely grateful for my child’s medical care. EVERY kid deserves access to that care. We must fight those who want to prevent kids like her from living the lives they deserve,&#8221; the post reads. &#8220;ALLIES, we need you. Pay attention. Speak up. Stop the spread of misinformation. This is not abuse. This is allowing my child to live her best life.⁣&#8221;
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<blockquote cite="https://www.facebook.com/jamiebruesehoff/posts/2602509243142728" class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore">
Today, this kid showed her strength once again. Today, she did something that was hard and scary. Today, she made&#8230;
Posted by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/jamiebruesehoff/">Jamie Bruesehoff</a> on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/jamiebruesehoff/posts/2602509243142728">Friday, November 1, 2019</a></blockquote>
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On Saturday, Bruesehoff celebrated Rebekah making PEOPLE magazine.
&#8220;Big day for [Rebekah Bruesehoff]. We found the January 6 issue of People on newsstands. Rebekah and some of her fellow Marvel’s #HeroProject heroes are in it!! Get your copy and read about these awesome kids,&#8221; the mother captioned a Facebook post. &#8220;AND she got her ears pierced!⁣ We’ve been meaning to for a while, but haven’t been able to squeeze it in. She loves them! #mightyrebekah #transisbeautiful.&#8221;
PEOPLE described Rebekah as a &#8220;transgender activist.&#8221;
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Big day for Rebekah Bruesehoff!We found the January 6 issue of People on newsstands. Rebekah and some of her fellow&#8230;
Posted by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/jamiebruesehoff/">Jamie Bruesehoff</a> on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/jamiebruesehoff/posts/2731047656955552">Saturday, December 28, 2019</a></blockquote>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/jamiebruesehoff/about/?ref=page_internal">Bruesehoff</a> describes herself as &#8220;an award-winning writer, speaker, and advocate&#8221; who is &#8220;openly queer&#8221; and &#8220;married to a Lutheran pastor and mom to three spirited children, including a twelve year old transgender daughter.&#8221; Bruesehoff specifies her pronouns as &#8220;she/her.&#8221;
&#8220;[Bruesehoff] is passionate about sharing her family’s story, because she believes our stories are bridges to understanding, compassion, and celebration,&#8221; the advocate&#8217;s Facebook page details. &#8220;Jamie writes and speaks about LGBTQ identities, policies and practices, advocacy, anti-bullying, parenting and faith. Jamie strives to live and lead with love, grace, and courage.&#8221;
H/t <a href="https://www.theblaze.com/news/lutheran-pastors-wife-rejoices-that-transgender-daughter-12-just-got-life-affirming-hormone-blocking-implant">The Blaze </a>

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Minister’s Wife Celebrates Trans Child, 12, Getting Puberty-Blocking Implant, Making PEOPLE Magazine

According to feminist Amanda Marcotte, a &#8220;politics&#8221; writer at Salon, Hallmark Channel movies are &#8220;fascist propaganda&#8221; filled with &#8220;shiny-teethed, blow-dried heteronormative whiteness.&#8221;
&#8220;Hallmark movies, as cloying and saccharine as they are, constitute the platonic ideal of fascist propaganda,&#8221; Marcotte posits in a think piece for <a href="https://www.salon.com/2019/12/25/hallmark-christmas-movies-fascist-propaganda/">Salon</a> published on Christmas day.
The predictable romantic comedies always center around &#8220;MAGA-style ideas about what constitutes &#8216;real&#8217; America,'&#8221; the feminist complains, adding, &#8220;Their money comes from selling a vision of America that increasingly authoritarian conservatives wish to believe once existed and can be restored again — an America that excludes most of an increasingly urban, racially diverse, cosmopolitan nation.&#8221;
If you were unaware that your sweet 60-year-old mother was consuming fascist propaganda in enormous quantities, particularly during the holidays, that&#8217;s likely because the fascist messaging is applied subtly, just like they did in Nazi Germany, the feminist explains:
<blockquote>When most of us think about fascistically propagandistic movies, we think of the grotesque grandeur of <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/leni-riefenstahl">Leni Riefenstahl&#8217;s films celebrating the Third Reich</a> — grand, but cold sweeping shots of soldiers goose-stepping and flags waving, all meant to inspire awe and terror. But the reality is, even in Nazi Germany, the majority of movies approved by the Nazi minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1979/03/11/archives/escapist-movies-from-wartime-germany-german-war-movies.html">were escapist and feather-light,</a> <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/german-expert-on-nazi-films-and-propaganda/a-2728383">with a Hallmark movie-style</a> emphasis on the importance of &#8220;normality.&#8221;</blockquote>
Kate, a workaholic who finally made partner, getting stranded in her hometown during the holidays only to predictably fall in love with the sweet, simple boy next door seems harmless, but that&#8217;s all part of developing an &#8220;authoritarian worldview,&#8221; warns Marcotte.
&#8220;There&#8217;s plenty of reason that empty-headed kitsch fits neatly in the authoritarian worldview,&#8221; she writes. &#8220;It&#8217;s storytelling that imitates the gestures of emotion without actually engaging with real feeling. The Hallmark movie steers clear of the real passion or deeper emotion that tends to be the engine driving more artful fiction. Characters who have real feelings, after all, can prompt empathetic reactions in the audience, and empathy for others is the greatest single threat to the authoritarian mindset. And so schmaltz walks through the paces of &#8216;love&#8217; without touching on any of the messy but compelling realities of it.&#8221;
Marcotte&#8217;s screed against Hallmark Channel movies comes on the heels of a lesbian kiss controversy surrounding the channel.
As reported by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hallmark-channel-apologizes-will-allow-lgbt-ads-promises-to-work-with-glaad">The Daily Wire</a>, a #BoycottHallmarkChannel hashtag trended easier this month after The New York Times reported that the channel pulled four ads from wedding planning and registry website Zola that featured a same-sex marriage kiss. The company was pressured by activist family group One Million Moms, which denounced the lesbian kiss as inappropriate for the “family-friendly” channel.
Hallmark, however, ultimately <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hallmark-channel-apologizes-will-allow-lgbt-ads-promises-to-work-with-glaad">caved</a> to left-wing pressures after initially pulling the ad.
“The Crown Media team has been agonizing over this decision as we’ve seen the hurt it has unintentionally caused,” CEO of Hallmark Cards, Inc. Mike Perry said in a statement. “Said simply, they believe this was the wrong decision. Our mission is rooted in helping all people connect, celebrate traditions and be inspired to capture meaningful moments in their lives. Anything that detracts from this purpose is not who we are. We are truly sorry for the hurt and disappointment this has caused. … Across our brand, we will continue to look for ways to be more inclusive and celebrate our differences.”

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Feminist: ‘Hallmark Movies Are Fascist Propaganda’

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On December 14, transgender activist Brynn Tannehill penned an op-ed for The Advocate, an LGBTQ publication. The op-ed is titled: “Is Refusing to Date Trans People Transphobic?”
Tannehill makes several arguments in the piece pertaining to alleged transphobia, which you can read <a href="https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2019/12/14/refusing-date-trans-people-transphobic">here</a> if you want further insight into such thinking, however, one argument Tannehill makes stands out because it completely contradicts itself.
After admitting that “most transgender people have not had ‘bottom’ surgery,” meaning the surgical procedures that would restructure male or female genitalia into an approximation of the other, Tannehill suggests that it is not “transphobic to have a genital preference.”
<blockquote>&#8230;this rule can theoretically be applied neutrally across cisgender and transgender people. Thus, the rule of, “I am not attracted to people with a vagina” or, “I am not attracted to people with a penis” can be equally applied to both cisgender women and transgender men.</blockquote>
Tannehill continues, offering an example of how one can discern transphobic behavior:
<blockquote>The legal realm also provides insight into whether a something is inherently transphobic in and of itself. There is a legal concept call the “but for test,” where but for a certain fact or action, something would not have happened. It is also referred to as the sine qua non rule, which means &#8220;without which not.&#8221; In civil rights cases, this is a crucial test to see if individuals are being discriminated against.</blockquote>
Tannehill says that if a woman is fired from her job for wearing pants like those of her male colleagues, and she wouldn’t have been fired for wearing pants if she had not been a woman, that is a “but for” scenario.
<blockquote>Similarly, imagine a date that’s going well. There’s mutual physical attraction and definite chemistry. Then you find out they’re transgender via conversation (yes, everyone still has their clothes on), and end the date right then and there. But for the fact that the other person was transgender, this would have been a really good date, and you probably would have seen them again. This is discrimination against the transgender person for being transgender.
Obviously, this isn’t illegal, nor should it be. But, from a logical standpoint, yes, this is discriminatory and transphobic.</blockquote>
So, having a “genital preference” isn’t transphobic except for when it is. Tannehill’s arguments contradict each other. In the world Tannehill has created, an individual is allowed to state their attraction limits – but only prior to engaging with another person to whom they might be attracted.
For example, a male can say that he is only attracted to someone who has a vagina, e.g. a female, and that’s acceptable. However, this very same male cannot go out on a date with a biological male masquerading as a female, then, upon the revelation that this biological male is not a female and does not posses natural female genitalia, end the date due to his genital preference.
Embedded in Tannehill’s argument is a deconstruction of what it means to be male and female.
Tannehill implies that if a man is physically attracted to and has chemistry with a female-presenting biological male prior to the disclosure that this female-presenting biological male is indeed a biological male, any unwillingness to proceed romantically following the revelation would be “transphobic.”
This scenario suggests that biology and physical presentation are the same thing; that once any kind of physical attraction is established between two parties, the genitalia of either party ceases to matter. Tannehill’s assertion disregards the fact that built into an individual’s physical attraction to another person is the presupposition that the person to whom they are attracted has the preferred genitalia.
If an individual who loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches sees one sitting on a plate, then bites into it only to find that what he believed to be peanut butter was actually wet sand, should he be faulted for not wanting to continue to eat the sandwich? While he is initially attracted to the sandwich’s physical presentation with the presupposition that the ingredients are peanut butter and jelly, once he discovers that a key ingredient is missing, that changes his perception of the entire sandwich.
To suggest that visual presentation should supersede the fundamental ingredients that make up what it definitionally means to be something specific is absurd.

LGBT activists.

CAMP: Trans Activist Seems To Suggest That ‘Genital Preference’ Isn’t Transphobic&#8230;Until It Is

Here are several questions for biologists and medical professionals: If a person is found to have XY chromosomes (heterogametic sex), does a designation as female on his birth certificate, driver&#8217;s license or Social Security card override the chromosomal evidence? Similarly, if a person is found to have XX chromosomes (homogametic) does a designation as male on her birth certificate, driver&#8217;s license or Social Security card override the chromosomal evidence? If you were a medical professional, would you consider it malpractice for an obstetrics/gynecology medical specialist, not to order routine Pap smears to screen for cervical cancer for a patient who identifies as a female but has XY chromosomes?
If you were a judge, would you sentence a criminal, who identifies as a female but has XY chromosomes, to a women&#8217;s prison? A judge just might do so. Judge William Pryor of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit focused on a Florida school district ruling that a transgender &#8220;boy,&#8221; a person with XX chromosomes, could not be barred from the boys&#8217; restroom. Pryor suggested students shouldn&#8217;t be separated by gender at all.
Fear may explain why biologists in academia do not speak out to say that one&#8217;s sex is not optional. Since the LGBTQ community is a political force on many college campuses, biologists probably fear retaliation from diversity-blinded administrators. It&#8217;s not just academics and judges who now see sex as optional. Federal, state and local governments are ignoring biology and permitting people to make their sex optional on one&#8217;s birth certificate, passport, Social Security card and driver&#8217;s license. In New York City, intentional or repeated refusal to use an individual&#8217;s preferred name, pronoun or title is a violation of the New York City Human Rights Law. If I said that my preferred title was &#8220;Your Majesty,&#8221; I wonder whether the New York City Commission on Human Rights would prosecute people who repeatedly refused to use my preferred title.
One transgender LGBTQ activist filed a total of 16 complaints against female estheticians, with the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal after they refused to wax his male genitals. He sought financial restitution totaling at least $32,500. One woman was forced to close her shop. Fortunately, the LGBTQ activist&#8217;s case was thrown out by the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal, and he was instructed to pay $2,000 each to three of the women he attacked. The LGBTQ activist is not giving up. He is now threatening to sue gynecologists who will not accept him as a patient.
In 2012, an evangelical Christian baker in Colorado was threatened with jail time for refusing to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex marriage ceremony. When Christian bakery owner Jack Phillips won a landmark (7-2 decision) U.S. Supreme Court case in June 2018 over his refusal to make a wedding cake for a gay couple based on his religious convictions, he thought his legal battles with the state of Colorado were over. But now Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colorado, 24 days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in his favor, faces a new court fight. This fight involves a lawyer who asked him to bake a cake to celebrate the anniversary of her gender transition. There are probably many bakery shops in and around Lakewood, Colorado, that would be happy to bake a cake for homosexuals; they are simply targeting Phillips.
For those in the LGBTQ community, and elsewhere, who support such attacks, we might ask them whether they would seek prosecution of the owner of a Jewish delicatessen who refused to provide catering services for a neo-Nazi affair. Should a black catering company be forced to cater a Ku Klux Klan affair? Should the NAACP be forced to open its membership to racist skinheads and neo-Nazis? Should the Congressional Black Caucus be forced to open its membership to white members of Congress? If you&#8217;re a liberty-minded American, your answers should be no.
Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University. To find out more about Walter E. Williams and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

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WILLIAMS: Corrupting Our Social Norms

The phrase &#8220;pillow fight&#8221; is now offensive to gay people, according to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).
As reported by <a href="https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/culture/gabriel-hays/2019/12/20/now-pillow-fights-are-offensive-gays-says-glaad">Newsbusters</a>, the LGBT activist organization criticized Politico for uttering the words &#8220;pillow fight&#8221; in reference to the argument that erupted between Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
“The South Bend mayor has been testing an outsider message in a field dominated by D.C. insiders, but he’s been a bit sidetracked by his pillow fight with Elizabeth Warren,” Politco originally <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook-pm/2019/12/19/the-awkward-democratic-debate-487946">wrote</a> in its Playbook PM.
Later, Politico reported that GLAAD sent them a letter describing the use of &#8220;pillow fight&#8221; as an offensive slur.
“GLAAD sent us a note yesterday about Playbook PM, noting that our use of ‘pillow fight’ when describing a fight between Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren may have offended people,&#8221; Politico <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2019/12/20/all-you-need-to-know-about-the-debate-487950">said</a>.
Drew Anderson, GLAAD&#8217;s Director of News and Rapid Response, wrote that the LGBT community generally views the phrase pillow fight as a slur.
&#8220;For women and LGBTQ people at the workplace, hearing phrases like ‘dramatic,’ ‘over the top,’ and even ‘pillow fight’ during office disagreements fosters negative stereotypes and diminishes a person simply because of who they are,&#8221; wrote Anderson. &#8220;Disagreements happen in politics, but using these loaded terms during disputes feed into the sexist and homophobic tropes that simply have no place in our political coverage and rhetoric.&#8221;
Politico subsequently apologized, claiming they never meant offense by employing the phrase, emphasizing that it meant “a fight where no one draws blood.”
GLAAD has been making headlines in recent days for its fight against the Hallmark Channel and its fight against author JK Rowling, who dared to say that &#8220;sex is real&#8221; regarding transgender issues.
“<a id="related_article_link_j-k-rowling" href="https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/emily-watson-itv-drama-too-close-jk-rowling-chernobyl-1203328394/" data-tag="j-k-rowling">J.K. Rowling</a>, whose books gave kids hope that they could work together to create a better world, has now aligned herself with an anti-science ideology that denies the basic humanity of people who are transgender,” said Anthony Ramos, head of talent at GLAAD. “Trans men, trans women and non-binary people are not a threat, and to imply otherwise puts trans people at risk. Now is the time for allies who know and support trans people to speak up and support their fundamental right to be treated equally and fairly.”
Prior to that, the Hallmark Channel promised that it would be working in conjunction with GLAAD in order to promote LGBTQ equality on its platform.
“Hallmark will be working with GLAAD to better represent the LGBTQ community across our portfolio of brands,” the company said in a statement. “The Hallmark Channel will be reaching out to Zola to reestablish our partnership and reinstate the commercials.”
GLAAD originally denounced Hallmark Channel for pulling an ad that featured two lesbians kissing in response to a petition launched by the pro-family group One Million Moms.
“The Hallmark Channel’s decision to correct its mistake sends an important message to LGBTQ people and represents a major loss for fringe organizations, like One Million Moms, whose sole purpose is to hurt families like mine,&#8221; said GLAAD President and CEO, Sarah Kate Ellis. &#8220;LGBTQ people are, and will continue to be, a part of advertisements and family programming and that will never change. GLAAD exists to hold brands like The Hallmark Channel accountable when they make discriminatory decisions and to proactively ensure families of all kinds are represented in fair and accurate ways.&#8221;

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GLAAD: The Phrase ‘Pillow Fight’ Is Offensive To Gay People

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