Log Cabin Quislings
All harm, no good.
It’s Friday, it’s summer, and I’m home with a cold, but there were still some stories I wanted to highlight for you, so let’s do this!
The Log Cabin Republicans ARE NOT pro-LGBTQ
Let’s get this out of the way first. The Log Cabin Republicans (LCR) have always identified themselves as queer people who support queer equality but otherwise identify as conservatives. Fine. But if you support Republicans despite their opposition to queer equality, then you’re just a group of quislings. And LCR made perfectly clear this week that’s the case.
In an op-ed in the Washington Post Thursday night, LCR Chairman Robert Kabel and Vice Chairwoman Jill Homan endorsed Trump for re-election in 2020. Trump has undoubtedly been the most harmful president to LGBTQ people, and this op-ed literally dropped in a week when Trump was making it easier for federal contractors to discriminate against queer workers and literally arguing that firing people for being trans should be legal.
Kabel and Homan rely on so many lies and distortions, I don’t know where to begin. Well, how about the beginning?
“The arc of history for America’s LGBTQ community continues to bend toward equality and inclusion.”
This is false! Anti-LGBTQ hate is on the rise, and support for LGBTQ acceptance has plateaued and even declined among some groups. That’s to say nothing of the countless ways Trump has dismantled LGBTQ protections, including transgender protections in almost every facet of life. Remember the trans military ban? LCR “will continue to press the administration to reconsider” it. How quaint.
“He has committed to end the spread of HIV/AIDS in 10 years, through the use of proven science, medicine, and technology to which we now have access.”
This is technically true, but Trump’s plan actually lacks in ambition compared to what researchers and activists have called for. Assuming the administration follow through on this plan, it’s still the bare minimum. And giving him credit for this ignores all the ways he’s hurt the fight against AIDS, such as cutting money from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program to pay for his family separation policy.
“Trump has used the United States’ outsize global influence to persuade other nations to adopt modern human rights standards, including launching an initiative to end the criminalization of homosexuality, which is considered illegal in more than 70 countries.”
There is zero evidence this is actually happening. This summer, the White House hosted leaders from several of the countries that fit this description, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar. There’s no evidence their sodomy laws even came up, nor is there any plan for how to apply such pressure. In fact, Trump officials have come out against such pressure in the past.
The rest of the op-ed just claims that Republican policies that really only help the rich help all LGBTQ people. The reverse is true; because queer people are more susceptible to discrimination, we’re hurt even more by such policies.
This endorsement makes crystal clear that LCR has zero investment in advancing LGBTQ equality. As the group has claimed for years, they want a seat at the GOP table so they can pretend to be relevant, but in reality, their presence has zero impact on protecting queer people.
They are quislings, through and through. They are traitors who would reject their own people just to get a semblance of power — and it’s really only a semblance. In fact, the Trump campaign didn’t even acknowledge the endorsement. We should regard the Log Cabin Republicans as a threat to LGBTQ equality, and never again pretend they aren’t 100% concerned with their own egos.
/soapbox
Trump asks SCOTUS to allow anti-trans firings
As I mentioned above, Trump’s Justice Department filed a brief today asking the Supreme Court to rule that it’s totally legal to fire someone for being trans. I think I might do a deeper dive on this brief in a bonus issue, but for now, check out the Washington Blade’s reporting.
More on that anti-trans USA Today op-ed
Remember my bonus issue about the father who wrote in USA Today about how eager he is to reject his transgender son? Over at Media Matters, Alex Paterson dug up even more context about the shadowy organizations behind these anti-trans talking points and how significant it is that they were mainstreamed this week.
Elizabeth Smart’s father comes out
Ed Smart became a very public figure 17 years ago when his then-14-year-old daughter Elizabeth Smart was abducted. This week, he announced at age 64 that he’s gay, divorcing his wife, and leaving The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. “I didn’t want to face the feelings I fought so hard to suppress, and didn’t want to reach out and tell those being ostracized that I too am numbered among them,” he wrote. “But I cannot do that any longer.”
Mississippi church kicks out same-sex couple
The Gracewood Baptist Church in Southaven, Mississippi held a church-wide vote and decided “without objection” to kick out Olivia and Mary Trollinger because of their “unbiblical lifestyle.” This was a surprise to Mary, whose father is head deacon in the church. “Not only did my mum say, ‘You can’t live here’, but my church said ‘You can’t go here’, and it was in the same day,” she said. The couple had actually met through the church and married last year. The church explained they could return if they show “evidence of repentance and reformation.”
Police target gay men in Washington, DC park
In the past year, U.S. Park Police has made 26 arrests in Meridian Hill Park, a large park in NW DC, of men seeking men for sex. They have used undercover officers who solicit the encounters to entrap the men for arrest. As many have noted, it’s reminiscent of the kind of targeted arresting that was more common half a century ago.
As someone who lives near this park and frequents it, it’s sad to know that police are using it to target gay and bi men — when honestly there’s a whole lot more they could be doing to make the city safer. Moreover, it just saddens me that in the age of apps, there are still men who don’t have a safe place to connect with others.
Gym lied about undercover cops patrolling locker rooms
In a twisted reverse of that situation, a London gym has come under fire for lying to its customers. Virgin Active’s Barbican gym claimed that it was bringing in undercover police officers to try to curb “inappropriate behavior” in the locker rooms. One customer, knowing the history of anti-gay/bi police stings, shared the gym’s notice with BuzzFeed, who contacted the London police for verification. The police denied the claim and even demanded the gym issue a correction, which it has not.
The Great British Cake Discrimination fight
It’s not only in the United States that anti-gay bakeries are fighting nondiscrimination laws. An activist in Northern Ireland is still squaring off with a bakery that refused to bake a cake featuring Sesame Street’s Bert and Ernie and the message “Support Gay Marriage.”
Last year, the UK’s supreme court sided with Ashers Bakery, claiming the reason for the refusal was the message, not customer Lee Gareth’s identity. Gareth is now asking the European Court of Human Rights to weigh in.
Band leader defies UAE sodomy law
When The 1975 was playing its first ever show in Dubai, frontman Matt Healy took it upon himself to kiss a male audience member during the performance. “I love you bro,” he said. “We’re all human, right?” But of course, homosexuality is illegal in the United Arab Emirates, so it was a defiant and possibly illegal act, as he noted in a tweet afterward.
I personally had never heard of The 1975, but I now know that it’s done more to challenge laws criminalizing homosexuality than Trump has!
Like I said, I’m fighting a cold this weekend, but you could send some positivity my way by promoting this newsletter to others! I have no doubt it’ll speed my recovery.
Until next time, stay platinum! Have a great weekend!
(Log cabin fire photo credit: Flickr/James Brooks.)
(Bert & Ernie cake photo credit: Facebook/QueerSpace Belfast.)