Do LGBTQ taxpayers count?
Not if conservatives have anything to say about it.
Today is the four-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s marriage equality decision! If you want to hear just how archaic opposition to same-sex marriage now sounds, my nemesis Ryan T. Anderson over at the Heritage Foundation regurgitated his beliefs about how “marriage” must be between a man and a woman or it loses all meaning. It’s good for a laugh.
Also, some super anti-gay extremists held a “rally” at the Supreme Court and then attended a meeting at the White House. Cool cool cool.
(Sidenote: I always feel odd celebrating Supreme Court ruling anniversaries, because so many of them come down in late June, including a lot of bad ones, but it is what it is.)
Make data collection sexy again!
Okay, maybe data collection was never “sexy,” but I’m putting it at the top this week because it’s actually one of the most important issues impacting the LGBTQ community. What we’re talking about is whether or not LGBTQ people are identified as such in a variety of surveys and other research the government collects.
Think about it this way: If a survey — let’s say, one about access to housing — doesn’t ask people to identify their sexual orientation or gender identity, then we have no way of knowing whether LGBTQ people are having a different experience with respect to housing. And then, we don’t have as much evidence with which to advocate for LGBTQ needs in housing. And then, massive sums of money appropriated to assist people with housing won’t reach the LGBTQ people who need that assistance. So inclusive data collection is vital to everything we fight for!
The Trump administration has systematically rolled back asking about LGBTQ identities, including in the massive American Community Survey managed by the U.S. Census Bureau. But as my colleague Casey Quinlan writes today, Democratic lawmakers are proposing legislation — the LGBT Data Inclusion Act — to reverse that erasure and make sure LGBTQ people are properly accounted for in data the government collects. As unsexy as that legislation sounds, it will be an important way to hold Republicans accountable for not even wanting to know who’s LGBTQ or how that impacts their lives.
A good witch!
There’s so much great Stonewall 50-adjacent content to highlight! Today I want to point you to an essay by the brilliant Nathaniel Frank about how his grandfather was Judy Garland’s biographer. As the story goes, grief over Garland’s death was one of the catalyzing factors for the Stonewall riots. Frank lovingly reflects on her legacy and its impact on the LGBTQ movement as we know it today.
The legacy continues
There is still much in the world to protest, and it can feel overwhelming to always participate. That’s why I always find it empowering to see others taking a stand. Then maybe next time, you’ll feel ready to join in.
Check out the images and videos from Tuesday’s trans rights protest at Trump Tower in NYC. It was a diverse group with an important message: WE WILL NOT BE SILENT.
Blood? No. Kidney? Yes.
My pal Nico Lang, a wonderful reporter on LGBTQ issues, has a new story at MTV News about a young gay man who made a non-directed kidney donation. Men who have sex with men are still banned from donating blood unless they go a full year without any sexual activity, but the same discriminatory barriers apparently don’t apply to organs. It kind of shows you just how dumb the ban is! Check out Nico’s report on these contradictory policies and one young man’s generosity in the face of these archaic bans.
Conservatives vs. libraries and drag queens, part 704
Y’all probably thought there can’t be that many stories about drag queens and libraries, but here comes Pat Robertson calling drag queen story time an “outrage.” His advice? “Whoever is permitting it needs to be voted out of office.” So if your community elects its public librarian, pay attention to your local election!
No really, it’s all fear-mongering about children
Conservatives are so angry that kids might learn that LGBTQ people exist (and that it’s okay that they do) that they now want to completely defund PBS over the same-sex rat marriage on the kids’ show Arthur. You know, the one an Alabama station refused to air, so then a church stepped in to air it?
Writing for the Heritage Foundation (and elevated by the hateful Family Research Council), Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-SC) — yes, a member of Congress — argues that liberals are “seeking to indoctrinate the next generation with secular progressive views, using public money to do it.” He insists, “It is time to stop sending our hard-earned tax money to support programming that is objectionable to many Americans,” and that’s why he’s introducing a bill to cut off all federal funding for PBS.
Let me again remind you that we’re talking about one fifteen-minute episode of a kids’ television show in which a cartoon aardvark’s cartoon rat teacher married his cartoon aardvark same-sex partner. (Had it been a female aardvark Mr. Ratburn married, that interspecies marriage would have been okay?)
I want to highlight that I might not have noticed this story if it weren’t for two bloggers who never gave up on the LGBTQ blogosphere, Alvin McEwen (Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters) and David Cary Hart (The Slowly Boiled Frog). Hart has a thorough takedown of Lamborn’s screed if you want to take a deeper dive.
Or if you want, watch the full episode, “Mr. Ratburn & The Special Someone.” It’s free online, thanks to, you know, that funding Lamborn wants to cut.
What should taxpayer money fund, you ask?
The state of Maryland has a number of programs to improve education, such as scholarships for low-income students and a plan to update textbooks and technology. But one school, Bethel Christian Academy, was disqualified from the funding because of its discriminatory anti-LGBTQ policies. The school is now suing (represented by, you guessed it, the Alliance Defending Freedom), alleging that its religious beliefs were violated.
Their argument rests on the old canard that policing same-sex behavior is not the same as policing sexual orientation:
It’s also hard to square their complete rejection of transgender identities with the “gender identity and expression” nondiscrimination protections recently added to the law that provides the scholarships and funding (“BOOST”).
But they just want a free pass to take public funds while refusing to allow LGBTQ students equal access. It’s the exact same argument they use for public funding for anti-gay adoption agencies, too, and we should call their request what it is: a “license to discriminate.”
Rosen Resorts fights back
As Maryland’s scholarship program suggests, the same argument about taxpayer funding going to anti-LGBTQ schools is also a big concern when it comes to school voucher programs. In Florida, for example, taxpayer-funded vouchers are helping pay for students to attend various private schools that believe homosexuality is a sin worthy of expulsion.
Rosen Hotels and Resorts has decided it’s no longer going to steer $1 million in tax credits to the state vouchers program until there’s a guarantee that the funding won’t go to discriminatory schools. Now that public awareness is increasing about the issue, other businesses will hopefully follow suit. Legislation has also been filed to implement LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections in the state voucher program, but it would have to survive Republican majorities in both chambers of the legislature and a Republican governor.
Scaling back the harm of “religious liberty”
I’m of the somewhat controversial opinion that the ship has sailed on reclaiming “religious freedom,” which Christian conservatives have made the tagline for all the discriminatory policies they wish to impose. But some faithful progressives are still fighting to address what the expression means and scale back the Supreme Court’s expansion of the “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” (RFRA) in the Hobby Lobby case a few years ago.
House Democrats held a hearing this week on the “Do No Harm” Act, which would draw narrower lines around RFRA to keep it from being abused in ways that curtail civil rights. Given the Trump administration’s penchant for prioritizing conservative Christians’ concerns over anybody else, it probably won’t get far anytime soon, but it’s still an important discussion to be having.
Habitual misgendering on the “news” side
Media Matters has a new report outlining how Shannon Bream, an anchor on the “news” side of Fox News, habitually misgenders trans people on the air. It might sound subtle, but Bream is repeatedly undermining the legitimacy of transgender identities with this language, thereby encouraging viewers to do the same. Watch the mash-up and then check out the receipts and some more context:
Today in local prejudice
A restaurant in Houston called the Plush Daiquiri Bar and Grill described one customer on his receipt as the “to go dude with dreads, fat, gay.” One of the co-owners actually defended the server’s comment, saying it was “just her way of describing him” and there was “nothing against him or nothing person.” But another co-owner confirmed she’d been disciplined with a three-month suspension. The customer has said it was an offensive enough experience that he won’t be going back to the establishment.
Don’t underestimate a “gay, fat dancer”
As a chaser to that story, watch this clip from America’s Got Talent. It’s better if I don’t tell you more than the preview already gives away:
She did whip her hair both back and forth
On the series Red Table Talk, 18-year-old Willow Smith (daughter of Will and Jada Pinkett) came out as bisexual and also expressed her interest in polyamory or a “polyfidelitous” relationship with two people. Check out the very candid conversation she had with her mother and grandmother about her identity. Thanks for your visibility Willow!
Hannah Gadsby is brilliant
I had the chance to see Hannah Gadsby’s new tour “Douglas” last night. That woman is so brilliant and kept us in compelling hysterics for two full hours. Thank goodness she didn’t quit comedy! I especially love the way she discussed processing the hate she receives from her detractors, treating it like a vaccine against letting future hate bring her down. It was also great to just be in such a gender-diverse space, with many queer and non-binary folks in the audience. I wish spaces like that were more commonly available!
If you have a chance to see one of her few remaining U.S. shows (D.C., Nashville, L.A., and NYC) or elsewhere around the world, DO IT. And if you never watched Gadsby’s Netflix special “Nanette,” set aside an hour for it this weekend because it’s still amazing. Or watch it again, like I did before I went to see her new show.
For a little glimpse of what Gadsby’s talking about in her new special, you should watch her recent TED talk. For the record, it’s not really a spoiler for “Douglas,” but it does touch on some similar themes:
“I’m not going to the fucking White House.”
While we’re on the subject of badass queer women, let’s wrap up with U.S. Women’s Soccer star Megan Rapinoe telling soccer magazine Eight by Eight, “I’m not going to the fucking White House.” She doubted whether the team would even be invited.
Trump noticed and tweeted at her, saying she “should WIN first before she TALKS!” (Speaking of winning first, he got her Twitter handle wrong the first time and had to delete and repost the thread.) He promised to invite the team, but further chastised her for disrespecting the flag. She recently took flak from Trump for refusing to sing or put her hand on her heart during the national anthem in solidarity with those in the NFL who have kneeled during it to protest the persecution of black Americans. (After Rapinoe kneeled once herself, the U.S. Soccer Federation passed a rule requiring players to “stand respectfully.”)
I can’t wait to see how she handles this standoff in the future. When Olympic skater Adam Rippon similarly balked at visiting the White House, his feud with Vice President Mike Pence became a national news story, creating an opportunity to shine light on the administration’s abysmal anti-LGBTQ record.
That’s all for today! Until next time, stay platinum!
(Photo Credit: Flickr/Ted Eytan)