Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Saturday, July 23, 2022
A Story From the Interwebs
I go to school, and in front of me sits a boy named Jake. He’s tall. Blond. Plays varsity baseball. Somehow, he discovers I’m gay. Fine, I think, who gives a fuck.
“Who’s the hottest girl in the class?” he asks. I ignore him.
We read a book with a gay character. “I know who else is gay,” he whispers. I ignore him.
We repeat this everyday; he’s teasing me. “What’s the difference between bisexual and lesbian?” he questions. Stupid straight boy, I think, and roll my eyes.
Last day of school. He turns around as the teacher is talking, and hands me a picture. A family portrait, himself included. But there is no father--only two women, clearly married. He has played me for an absolute fool.
Torches & Pitchforks Are On The Way
Remember that the crazies are a minority, so if you want to stop them, register to vote and VOTE!
After Roe, Republicans sharpen attacks on gay and transgender rights
Days after the Supreme Court overturned the right to abortion, Michigan’s Republican candidates for governor were asked if it was also time to roll back constitutional protections for gay rights.
None of the five candidates came to the defense of same-sex marriage.
“They need to revisit it all,” one candidate, Garrett Soldano, said at the debate, in Warren, Mich.
“Michigan’s constitution,” said another candidate, Ralph Rebandt, “says that for the betterment of society, marriage is between a man and a woman.”
Since the Supreme Court decision last month overturning Roe v. Wade, anti-gay rhetoric and calls to roll back established LGBTQ protections have grown bolder. And while Republicans in Congress appear deeply divided about same-sex marriage — nearly 50 House Republicans on Tuesday joined Democrats in supporting a bill that would recognize same-sex marriages at the federal level — many Republican officials and candidates across the country have made attacking gay and transgender rights a party norm this midterm season.
In Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton said after the Roe reversal that he would be “willing and able” to defend at the Supreme Court any law criminalizing sodomy enacted by the Legislature. Before that, the Republican Party of Texas adopted a platform that calls homosexuality “an abnormal lifestyle choice.”
In Utah, the Republican president of the state Senate, Stuart Adams, said he would support his state’s joining with others to press the Supreme Court to reverse the right of same-sex couples to wed. In Arizona, Kari Lake, a candidate for governor endorsed by Donald Trump, affirmed in a June 29 debate her support for a bill barring children from drag shows — the latest target of supercharged rhetoric on the right.
And in Michigan’s governor’s race, Soldano released an ad belittling the use of specific pronouns by those who do not conform to traditional gender roles (“My pronouns: Conservative/Patriot”) and accusing “the woke groomer mafia” of wanting to indoctrinate children.
Some Democrats and advocates for LGBTQ communities say the Republican attacks have deepened their concerns that the overturning of Roe could undermine other cases built on the same legal foundation — the right to privacy provided in the 14th Amendment — and lead to increases in hate crimes as well as suicides of LGBTQ youth.
“The dominoes have started to fall, and they won’t just stop at one,” said Attorney General Dana Nessel of Michigan, a Democrat who was the first openly gay person elected to statewide office there. “People should see the connection between reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, interracial marriage — these things are all connected legally.”
This year, Republican-led states have already passed numerous restrictions on transgender young people and on school discussions of sexual orientation and gender.
In June, Louisiana became the 18th state, all with GOP-led legislatures, to ban transgender students from playing on sports teams that match their gender identity. Laws to prohibit transitioning medical treatments to people younger than 18, such as puberty blockers, hormones, and surgeries — which advocates call gender-affirming care — have been enacted by four states. And after Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida signed a law in March banning classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades, more than a dozen other states moved to imitate it.
In all, more than 300 bills to restrict LGBTQ rights have been introduced this year in 23 states, according to the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organization.
The bills under consideration focus not on same-sex marriage but on transgender youth, on restricting school curricula and on allowing groups to refuse services to LGBTQ people based on religious faith. Most of the measures have no chance of passage because of opposition from Democrats and moderate Republicans.
Still, the Human Rights Campaign had characterized 2021 as the worst year in recent history for anti-LGBTQ laws after states passed seven measures banning transgender athletes from sports teams that match their gender identity. So far in 2022, those numbers are already higher.
Officials and television commentators on the right have accused opponents of some of those new restrictions of seeking to “sexualize” or “groom” children. Grooming refers to the tactics used by sexual predators to manipulate their victims, but it has become deployed widely on the right to brand gay and transgender people as child molesters, evoking an earlier era of homophobia.
On the right, the transgender restrictions have been pushed by advocacy groups that have long opposed LGBTQ rights and in some cases consulted in the drafting of legislation. And on the left, the wave of legislation has been used by liberal organizations to mobilize their base, fundraise and help turn out voters in midterm primaries in a hostile national political climate for Democrats.
In Arizona, where Republicans control the Legislature and the governor’s office, a law enacted this year bars trans girls from competing on sports teams aligned with their gender and on transitioning surgery for people younger than 18.
“My colleagues on the right have spent more time demonizing me and the LGBTQ community than I’ve ever seen,” said Hernandez, the state representative, who is running in the Democratic primary for Congress on Aug. 2 in a Tucson-area seat.
Wednesday, July 20, 2022
Hot Shot of the Day
Dylan O'Brien 2022. I excuse the beard because it's Dylan and he's so fucking hot . . .
Tuesday, July 19, 2022
"You Can Now Take A Whole Damn College Course On Harry Styles"
Study hard, folks.
By Josephine Harvey | Jul 19, 2022
Harry Styles fans, assemble!
Texas State University is planning to offer a course on the British pop superstar next spring.
Associate professor of digital history Louie Dean Valencia announced the course, titled “Harry Styles and the Cult of Celebrity: Identity, the Internet, and European Pop Culture,” on Twitter Saturday.
According to Valencia’s announcement, the class will focus on Styles and popular European culture to “understand the cultural and political development of the modern celebrity as related to questions of gender and sexuality, race, class, nation and globalism, media, fashion, fan culture, internet culture and consumerism.”
The coursework will count towards studies in European or world history, international studies, pop culture, diversity and women’s and gender studies.
“The way I like to describe the class is that it’s really about the history of the last 12 years or so. So, it is about Harry Styles in the same way that some classes are about the Beatles and you might take a class like that to learn about, ‘What were the ‘60s like?’” Valencia said in an interview with KXAN. “This class will give you an idea of questions around globalism, issues around gender, sexuality, race, and really trying to kind of peel apart how did we become a part of the world that we’re living in today?”
Unsurprisingly, Valencia said he’s a “huge fan” himself, and started listening to Styles’ music during his One Direction days. This summer, he visited the star’s hometown in England, his fashion exhibit and saw one of his recent “Love on Tour” shows.
“As an historian, I want the class to get to really see how the world has changed in the last 12 years or so, but also how to put that into historical context, through the lens of Harry Styles, and how they can learn from him and his art, activism and philosophy, like any great artist,” Valencia told KXAN.
Monday, July 18, 2022
EDITORIAL
If you’re one of those people who doesn’t vote, thinks it doesn’t matter, feels like your vote doesn’t count, think about the disaster of 2016, and think about these things, and then Cast a Goddamned Vote:
Republicans in Congress are lining up behind legislation that would roll back protections for transgender Americans. The GOP has introduced a bill to block federal funding to colleges that allows transgender women to participate in sports with cisgender women, while a second bill would block funding to schools that disobey state laws regarding “materials harmful to minors,” mimicking state laws that have been used to remove books discussing history around race and LGBTQ themes; it’s a national Don’t Say Gay bill.
And while the GOP seeks to discriminate trans Americans it also seeks to protect white supremacist Americans and Nazis in both our police force and military.
Last week the House approved an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act to compel government officials to prepare a report on combating white supremacists and neo-Nazi activity in the police and military.
While both bills face extreme odds in the Senate, where Republicans have dubbed it “Abortion Tourism,” it does tell Americans where the GOP stands, and how far the GOP will go to make access to abortion completely illegal in the entire country.
And then we have Senate Democrats working on legislation to make contraception rights, same-sex marriage and parenting, and interracial marriage, the law of the land, but all but one of the Senate Republicans have refused to say they would vote for them.
If you think your vote doesn’t count, or you think we don’t need your help defeating these racist, transphobic, homophobic, anti-women Republicans, then you aren’t thinking.
November is coming, CAST A GODDAMNED VOTE, or wait for the GOP to come after you, because they will.
* * * * *
Sodomy
Given the current radical slant of the Republican majority on the Supreme Court, people who engage in sexual activity might want to acquaint themselves with the legal definition of "sodomy" because it very well may come back to haunt us.
SODOMY
In the law, the term sodomy refers to anal or oral sex, whether between a man and woman, two women, or two men, and was historically considered to be a criminal act. As recently as the 1960s, all 50 states had laws that made even consensual sodomy illegal, viewing such acts as “crimes against nature,” or deviant sexual acts. By the end of the 20th century, 36 states had done away with their sodomy laws, and another 10 states had repealed laws considered to be “anti-homosexual” in nature. The specific laws concerning sodomy vary greatly by jurisdiction. To explore this concept, consider the following sodomy definition.
Definition of Sodomy
Noun
Sexual activity that involves oral or anal copulation, whether with the same or opposite sex.
Origin
Approx. 2000 B.C. The term originates with the biblical account of the destruction of the cities Sodom and Gomorrah
What is Sodomy
Historically, laws of the individual states within the United States defined sodomy as anal sex, oral sex, or, in some cases, any non-procreative sexual activity, whether between two people, or between a person and an animal. While these laws applied to sexual participants, even in their own homes, prosecution for sodomy in such a private setting was rare. Although sodomy laws applied to both hetero- and homosexual activities, enforcement was often specifically targeted toward homosexuals.
Sodomy Law
On a societal level, sodomy has been viewed as deviant sexual activity for thousands of years. Biblical accounts have two cities, Sodom and Gomorrah, being destroyed for freely engaging in such activities. Civil law then followed religious prohibitions against non-procreative sexual activities.
Since the inception of the U.S. legal system, sodomy law has varied by state, and has rarely been used to convict consenting adults of opposite sex. Sodomy laws were sometimes used to enhance penalties in cases of rape and child sexual abuse. Today, nearly every state has decriminalized consensual, private sexual acts, including sodomy, between adults. Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2003 ruling striking down Texas’ sodomy law as unconstitutional, states have revised their statutes to do away with prohibitions against sexual acts between members of the same sex.
What is Sodomy First Degree
Each state has specific statues that deal with, and classify, acts of sodomy. Many states classify sodomy acts by degrees, or by other categories that specify the seriousness of the offense. In a system that classifies by degree, sodomy 1st degree is the most serious, and carries the most severe penalties.
For example, in some jurisdictions, felony charges of sodomy first-degree apply if:
- A person engages in sexual intercourse with another by force;
- A person engages in sexual intercourse with another person who is unable to consent due to physical helplessness or mental incapacity; or
- A person, who is 16 years or older, engages in deviate sexual acts with a person who is under the age of 12 years.
Modern law, which has done away with specific sodomy law, classifies these acts under the statutes of rape and sexual assault.
Lawrence v. Texas
On September 17, 1998, two men, 55-year old John Lawrence and 40-year old Robert Eubanks, had been in a homosexual romantic relationship for 8 years. The two planned on spending the night together and invited another man, 31-year old Tyrone Garner, over to Lawrence’s apartment. Eubanks began drinking and, after becoming intoxicated, became angry at the flirting going on between Lawrence and Garner.
Eubanks left to purchase a soda from nearby store and, while he was gone, called the police and reported a man going crazy with a gun at Lawrence’s address. Police responded to the call, and stormed the unlocked apartment. One officer claimed he had walked in on Garner and Lawrence having anal sex in the bedroom. Another officer stated that the two men were engaged in oral sex. The two remaining officers claim they did not see any sexual activities occurring.
In spite of Lawrence’s immediate objection to the officers entering his home, Lawrence and Garner were arrested and placed in jail. The pair, at the urging of gay rights advocates, pled no contest, waived trial, and were each given a $100 fine. The low fine, however, was below the minimum amount required to allow them to appeal the case. At the parties’ request, the judge increased their fines to $125, enabling them to file an appeal.
After several actions at the state trial and appeals court levels, Lawrence and Garner appealed their case to the U.S. Supreme Court, claiming that the state’s law was unconstitutional, as it prohibited sodomy between same-sex individuals, but not between heterosexual individuals. The pair also claimed to have a right to privacy. On June 26, 2003, the Supreme Court ruled, in a 6-3 split decision, that Texas’ Homosexual Conduct law was unconstitutional in that it violated individuals’ rights of due process, as well as equal protection guarantees provided by the U.S. Constitution. In its decision, the Court affirmed, “Our obligation is to define the liberty of all, not to mandate our own moral code.”
Saturday, July 16, 2022
Friday, July 15, 2022
Tuesday, July 12, 2022
Saturday, July 9, 2022
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