Equality Act "Lover"
Taylor Swift didn't throw away her shot.
Hey there person reading this LGBTQ newsletter, why not pause and take a deep breath? I’m serious. Ignore what’s in your other tabs, pause your music or podcast, and follow along with this GIF at least five times. (Ignore the part about having anxiety because healthy breathing is for everybody.)
Cool. Thanks for doing that.
We’re all just people trying to figure out how to exist in this dark world, and I thought I’d do my part today to help folks center themselves a bit.
Here’s some LGBTQ news:
And another one gone, and another one gone…
Fallout over the Log Cabin Republicans’ endorsement of Trump continues. Now, the organization’s executive director, Jerri Ann Henry, has resigned, citing the board members’ defense of the endorsement among her reasons. Henry did not sign onto the endorsement op-ed, which was penned by the board’s chair and vice chair.
San Francisco police chief apologizes
If you’ve watched the Netflix Tales of the City reboot (or just otherwise know your queer history), you may know that one of the first ever trans rights demonstrations took place in San Francisco at Compton’s Cafeteria in 1966, three years before Stonewall. Following in the footsteps of the closure New York City Police provided during the anniversary recognition this summer, San Francisco Police is working to make amends with its past mistreatment of the queer community.
Police Chief Bill Scott apologized this week, saying, “We the members of the San Francisco Police Department are here to reflect and apologize for our past actions against the LGBTQ community… We want to listen to you and want to truly hear you. We will atone for our past.” Reactions were mixed but mostly positive, and the department has committed to continuing to reconcile with the community.
Conversion therapist outrage
That new report detailing the global prevalence — and harm — of conversion therapy around the world has irritated the torture’s proponents. The Restored Hope Network, a spiritual successor to the now-defunct umbrella organization Exodus International, put out a statement objecting to conversion therapy being pilloried in the media.
They claim that people who seek spiritual guidance to overcome their same-sex attractions should be “allowed to pursue happiness as they define it.” Of course, they’re conveniently ignoring the report’s findings that victims are generally coerced into the shame-based treatment. It sounds more like Restored Hope Network is the one trying to dictate how people should be able to find happiness with their sexuality.
The “Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity,” the professional network of conversion therapists formerly known as NARTH, thanked Restored Hope’s Anne Paulk for her “courage” to speak out. (If Paulk’s name sounds familiar, it may be that you recall that Anne and her ex-husband John were once the poster children of conversion therapy, but John has denounced it all and is happily living his life openly gay.)
Checking in with Dr. Chaps
Gordon Klingenschmitt is a rather homophobic preacher based in Colorado who previously previously served as a state legislator. His latest outrage offers insights into how conservatives will respond to the growing number of state laws requiring public education to be LGBTQ inclusive. Colorado’s new law, Klingenschmitt insisted, will require teachers give “mandatory homosexual lectures to children.”
“Years ago, this would be pedophiles recruiting and grooming children for their own perverse pleasure down the road,” he said. “Why don’t we see this as an illegal measure of recruiting children into sodomy?”
We shouldn’t be surprised if we hear more subtle versions of this argument, suggesting that having an inclusive curriculum is somehow harmful to children. (In reality, it actually makes schools safer for all students.)
Haters gonna hate hate hate hate hate
Whatever you think of Taylor Swift, her music, or her recent LGBTQ advocacy, it can’t be denied that she made good use of her platform at Monday night’s MTV Video Music Awards. When she won Video of the Year for her LGBTQ rights tune “You Need To Calm Down,” she noted that her petition for the Equality Act had enough signatures to warrant a response from the White House.
This public endorsement for a sweeping LGBTQ protections bill had quite the impact on conservatives. Fox News guest Allie Beth Stuckey, for example, kicked off the morning complaining that Swift has lost beauty and charm because she is no longer “politically neutral.”
By mid-afternoon, the White House had issued its own response, repeating the same talking points it had put out defending its opposition to the Equality Act in May:
The Trump administration absolutely opposes discrimination of any kind and supports the equal treatment of all; however, the House-passed bill in its current form is filled with poison pills that threaten to undermine parental and conscience rights.
What are these supposed “poison pills”? The Heritage Foundation can answer that in its own post responding to Swift’s statements. If discrimination is illegal against LGBTQ people, it means bigots who discriminate will be punished (like anti-gay bakers and adoption agencies), it’ll be unfair to girls in sports and unsafe to women in general (textbook transphobia), and bigoted parents could lose custody of their kids (family rejection causes more mental health harm to LGBTQ kids than any other kind).
Conservatives’ complaints reflect exactly what the Equality Act is designed to do: protect LGBTQ people from discrimination. They just care more about the discriminators.
Kudos to Taylor Swift for using her platform and reminding us all what an anti-LGBTQ administration this is. Here was her full live performance from the VMA’s and her acceptance speech:
Until next time, stay platinum! And hang onto that breathing GIF.