Gay Men To That!!

Image Via Texas Governor's Office How is this 2024 and Texas is still acting like it's the 1950's! When you have nothing but hate and grievance to offer, this is what happens!! Via Advocate : A joint ACLU of Texas and Equality Texas press release notes that after a record-breaking legislative session in the state—with more than 140 anti-LGBTQ+ bills filed—Texans are now struggling with a collection of new laws that eliminate medical freedom for trans youth, censor school libraries, ban trans athletes from participating in collegiate sports, end DEI practices at public universities, threaten drag performances, and undermine local governments’ already limited power. According to the press release, these laws are a systemic attack on the fundamental rights, dignities, and identities of LGBTQ+ persons that opens the gates for discrimination by both public and private actors.

  Granbury Independent School District Superintendent Jeremy Glenn (Left)  In a continued attack on the LGBTQ community, the state of Texas is leading the charge.  Via The Texas Tribune: In early January, a day before students returned from winter break, Jeremy Glenn, the superintendent of the Granbury Independent School District in North Texas, told a group of librarians he’d summoned to a district meeting room that he needed to speak from his heart. “I want to talk about our community,” Glenn said, according to a recording of the Jan. 10 meeting obtained and verified by NBC News, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune. Glenn explained that Granbury, the largest city in a county where 81% of residents voted for then-President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, is “very, very conservative.” He noted that members of Granbury’s school board — his bosses — were also very conservative. And to any school employees who might have different political beliefs, Glenn said, ...

Okay. I think we may have another self-loathing closet case spending too much time and energy on what he thought was gay activity in a public park.  From Queerty.com: A former Maryland teacher has been arrested for allegedly assaulting men he believed were gay in a park in DC. Michael Thomas Pruden, 48, sprayed the men with a “chemical irritant” according to authorities. Some news reports say it was pepper-spray. The attacks, on five men, happened between April 2018 and March 2021 in Meridian Hill Park, aka Malcolm X Park. The park is a known cruising site for men after dark. On two of the occasions, Pruden, who was formerly a fourth-grade teacher at an elementary school, pretended to be a ​​United States Park Police officer. He gave police-style directives and shined a flashlight in the faces of the men, before spraying them. He was arrested yesterday by the FBI in Norfolk, Virginia. We have previously reported on studies showing that homophobic men have a greater tendency to be c...

Once again, don't believe a thing that Donald Trump says. The testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson has been corroborated by a DC cop.  From CNN: A Washington, DC, police officer has corroborated to the House select committee investigating January 6, 2021, details regarding a heated exchange former President Donald Trump had with his Secret Service detail when he was told he could not go to the US Capitol after his rally, a source familiar with the matter tells CNN. The officer with the Metropolitan Police Department was in the motorcade with the Secret Service for Trump on January 6 and recounted what was seen to committee investigators, according to the source. Read the full article. 

President Biden, showing his anger that the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe V Wade, signed an executive order that strengthened Federal protections for reproductive healthcare.  Via Yahoo News: WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden said the Supreme Court decision overturning the right to an abortion was an exercise in "raw political power" and signed an executive order on Friday to help protect access to services to terminate pregnancies. Biden, a Democrat, has been under pressure from his own party to take action after the landmark decision last month to overturn Roe v Wade, which upended roughly 50 years of protections for women's reproductive rights. The president's powers are constrained because U.S. states can make laws restricting abortion and access to medication, and the executive order is expected to have a limited impact. "What we're witnessing wasn't a constitutional judgment, it was an exercise in raw political power," Bid...

If you're old enough to remember when the news of a "gay cancer" started circulating in the early 1980's, you may get a bit of PTSD from the latest news about Monkeypox spreading among clusters of gay men. It is always concerning that minority communities will be ostracized due to ignorance and fear.  From The New York Times: This weekend marks the end of Pride month, as cities across the country host events to celebrate the L.G.B.T.Q. community. It is also a fraught moment in public health: A global outbreak of monkeypox is causing concern, with many of the cases clustered around men who have sex with men. Experts are now trying to strike a delicate balance, warning people who may be at higher risk, without stigmatizing a community that has often been scapegoated for health scares in the past. The first thing is wondering how did this virus, that has been circulating in Africa for many years, end up being spread in gay communities? What likely happened in this case i...

File this one under "No Kidding"!! We all know the difficulties of being LGBTQ in an oppressive society. For me, knowing that I am not alone in my anxiety is kind of "soothing" for lack of a better word.  According to the Census Bureau:  Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) adults have consistently reported higher rates of symptoms of both anxiety and depression amid the coronavirus pandemic than non-LGBT adults, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The results were the same regardless of the period in question: LGBT adults ages 18 and older reported roughly twice the rate of mental health challenges as non-LGBT adults (Figures 1a and 1b). Another interesting point in the study is the mental health of LGBT adults who are raising children. Throughout the time series, LGBT adults living in households with children were more likely than adults (regardless of LGBT status) in other types of households to report anxiety symptoms. Dealing with homophobia plus ...