And so it begins...

[Scooter]

Will Trump deign to tweet about this grotesque affront to LGBT veterans? Don't count on it.

Homophobic vandals poured tar over a memorial for LGBT veterans

A memorial for LGBT veterans in Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery has been defaced with a tar-like substance.

Unveiled in 2015, the monument in the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery, Illinois, is the first federally-approved monument honoring LGBT veterans anywhere in the United States.

The monument pays tribute to the brave LGBT servicepeople who have suffered and lost their lives.

In a shocking act of vandalism, the memorial was defaced this week.

According to local media, a thick black substance like roof tar was poured over the monument, obscuring a large pink triangle and much of the text.

The crime has stunned the authorities who maintain the cemetery, which is overseen by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Cemetery director Sean Baumgartner told CBS: “My reaction, it was horrible. Who would do that?

“Who would take the time to deface a monument on such a sacred ground. It’s ridiculous.

“It was really a slap in the face to veterans everywhere and it was really uncalled for.

“I’d love to see them come forward and own up to what they did, you know take their medicine.”

The vandalism was discovered last Friday, June 16.

Workers quickly set to work cleaning the monument, which has now been restored with no permanent damage.

Police are investigating the crime – and if found, the vandals could face serious charges.

Chief Fred Hayes, Elwood Police Department told ABC: “Any kind of damage to federal property is an enhanced penalty.

“So that person would face state charges and possibly federal charges for damaging a national monument.”

The caption on the memorial reads: “Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people have served honourably and admirably in America’s Armed Forces.

“In their memory and in appreciation of their selfless service and sacrifice, this monument was dedicated.”

The dedication of the monument in 2015 was a major step, just a few years after the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’, which had forced LGB troops to stay in the closet.

[Big RR]

We need to abandon this "LGBTQ" false identity. People are either heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual (the latter of which simply means wanting to have sex with anyone at all of legal age

Meade--do you really think bisexuals want to have sex with anyone at all of legal age? Do heterosexuals want to have sex with anyone of the opposite gender of legal age? Do you (I presume you are heterosexual)? I can certainly state I can think of a lot of people I wouldn't want to have sex with, and I would bet most bisexuals would feel the same way. Being bisexual hardly makes one's desire insatiable.

As for the T and Q people, as with the LGB people, their sexual identity differs from the societal norms, so I fail to see how they are in a different category entirely.

[MajGenl.Meade]

I should have written: "anyone of either sex", which is what I meant. "Of legal age" was an effort to make it clear I wasn't suggesting that bisexuals were after minors. And by anyone I don't mean everyone

[Lord Jim]

I can think of a lot of people I wouldn't want to have sex with

So can I...

It's a pretty long list...

[rubato]

We need to abandon this "LGBTQ" false identity. People are either heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual (the latter of which simply means wanting to have sex with anyone at all of legal age

Meade--do you really think bisexuals want to have sex with anyone at all of legal age? Do heterosexuals want to have sex with anyone of the opposite gender of legal age? Do you (I presume you are heterosexual)? I can certainly state I can think of a lot of people I wouldn't want to have sex with, and I would bet most bisexuals would feel the same way. Being bisexual hardly makes one's desire insatiable.

As for the T and Q people, as with the LGB people, their sexual identity differs from the societal norms, so I fail to see how they are in a different category entirely.

We should be understanding.

He was too exhausted after the leap of pure imagination required for him to think of sexual congress to realize that sexual desire, like hunger, is modulated by preference.



yrs,
rubato

[BoSoxGal]

On a more positive note, deeply Catholic Ireland just elected an openly gay PM and Germany today legalized gay marriage with full adoption rights.

Arc of the universe . . .

[MajGenl.Meade]

Nice evasions all.

There is no true "community" LGBTQ because BTQ have no relation whatsoever to the so-called LG (which in reality is just H).

It is a clever marketing device to inflate numbers and claim a false parity of interest.

[Joe Guy]

We would never have had all of this confusion about sexuality if the government hadn't experimented with Homo milk during the Cold War....

[MajGenl.Meade]

He was too exhausted after the leap of pure imagination required for him to think of sexual congress

Props for that one, rube. Pretty good!

[Scooter]

Homo milk has been been available in Canada for many decades, which explain why we were quicker to decriminalize homosexuality and legalize same-sex marriage.

[RayThom]

It's homo-gene-ized, and past your eyes.

[Scooter]

[Econoline]

I just found this (via the Daily Kos) and it's way too good not to share. Y'all might want to keep this in mind as a future bathroom strategy:

• In the tiniest of tiny backwater redneck Montana towns, there is a 4th of July parade for four blocks (and back). All the festivities follow, including chicken poop bingo, turtle races, a barbeque, and then a surprisingly fine fireworks show late at night. It’s safe, it’s fun, it’s predictable, it’s Americana. Where better for my liberal friend to unleash her biting political humor?
  
  Finding the women’s bathroom in the bar occupied, and in a bit of a desperate state, she stepped into the men’s bathroom. As she tells it, she had looked around and seen no one near it, and the bar was only minimally occupied, so she figured she could slip in and out unnoticed.
  
  However, the moment her pants were down (her words), someone tried the door, so she knew a man had to be waiting outside. As she washed her hands, she had time to consider her exit strategy, and it was a doozy.
  
  She confidently opened the door and stepped out, and as she smiled and waved to the next gentleman, she said cheerily, “I had to go with what was on my birth certificate!” He ducked his head and ran.
  
  I am in awe. With this line now at the ready, I am inspired to use the opposite sex’s bathroom from now on at every opportunity.

[BoSoxGal]

I wonder which of the redneck Montana towns this was - I can think of dozens.

But really, women have been doing this for years and no excuses are necessary. I liked the commenter on the original story who mentioned how not a big deal this is in Europe where women will use stalls in the men's bath while men are at the urinals. I've never really understood why folks are so uptight about sharing the bath, especially with stalls for privacy - when most folks share a bath with family, friends or spouses on a regular basis. I think it's just more of America's pathological attitude toward all things even remotely sexual.

[Econoline]

I see the big plus—the real genius—of this approach as the fact that it gets more and more people thinking, (a) "Wait...how can I be sure???" and more importantly, "Does it really make any difference?"

[rubato]

I wonder which of the redneck Montana towns this was - I can think of dozens.

But really, women have been doing this for years and no excuses are necessary. I liked the commenter on the original story who mentioned how not a big deal this is in Europe where women will use stalls in the men's bath while men are at the urinals. I've never really understood why folks are so uptight about sharing the bath, especially with stalls for privacy - when most folks share a bath with family, friends or spouses on a regular basis. I think it's just more of America's pathological attitude toward all things even remotely sexual.

At UCSC most of the bathrooms in the dorms were co-ed. When new students moved in there were a lot of parents upset about it but a week later no one cared. Just not a problem.


yrs,
rubato

[Scooter]

Jeff Sessions addresses 'anti-LGBT hate group,' but DOJ won't release his remarks

Attorney General Jeff Sessions delivered a speech to an alleged hate group at an event closed to reporters on Tuesday night, but the Department of Justice is refusing to reveal what he said.

Sessions addressed members of the Alliance Defending Freedom, which was designated an “anti-LGBT hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2016, at the Summit on Religious Liberty at the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, in Dana Point, California.

The event promised to “bring together prominent legal advocates, scholars, cultural commentators, business executives and church leaders to examine the current state of religious freedom” and “develop legal and cultural strategies to allow freedom to flourish in the United States and around the world.”

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin and the first openly gay person to be elected to the U.S. Senate, told ABC News that she was concerned by the speech.

“This sends a very troubling message that our Attorney General, America’s top law enforcement official, is not committed to standing up to anti-LGBT hate," Baldwin said.

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice confirmed that Sessions addressed the Alliance Defending Freedom on Tuesday but did not respond to multiple requests to release his remarks. The Department of Justice released a transcript of remarks he delivered in Dallas earlier on Tuesday and a transcript of remarks he delivered in Las Vegas on Wednesday, but a transcript of his address to the Alliance Defending Freedom has yet to be released.

A spokesperson for the Alliance Defending Freedom said that the group was “working through channels” to release his remarks but declined to comment on the nature of Sessions’ relationship with the group.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Alliance Defending Freedom is a legal advocacy group founded in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1994 that “specializes in supporting the recriminalization of homosexuality abroad, ending same-sex marriage and generally making life as difficult as possible for LGBT communities in the U.S. and internationally.”

The group is representing Colorado baker Jack Phillips, who is challenging the state’s nondiscrimination protections after he was found in violation of the law for refusing to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple in 2012. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review the case in June 2017.

In a recent appearance on ABC’s “The View,” Phillips defended his actions.

“I don’t believe that Jesus would have made a cake, if he would have been the baker,” he said.

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice did not respond to questions about whether the speech was a show of support for Phillips’ case or whether Sessions met with any of the group’s members before or after his speech.

In a recent blog post on its website titled “Hate-group labelers are the ones spreading hate,” the Alliance Defending Freedom called the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “hate group” designation a “lie.”

“We at ADF condemn all such manifestations of true hate,” the post reads. “They have no place in our society.”

According to David Dinielli, the deputy legal director for the Southern Poverty Law Center’s LGBT Rights Project, however, the label is “rightfully earned,” and the speech raises questions about whether Sessions will uphold laws protecting LGBT people from discrimination.

“How can we trust that the nation’s top law enforcement officer will protect all Americans when he’s willing to meet behind closed doors with a group that supports criminalizing homosexuality and marginalizing LGBT people around the world?” Dinielli said in a statement. “If Attorney General Jeff Sessions doesn’t condone such beliefs, he should immediately make his remarks to the group public and be prepared to defend them. The LGBT community — as well as all Americans — needs to know if he is capable of upholding our country’s fundamental promise of equal protection under the law.”

The speech prompted a statement from Democratic National Committee spokesman Joel Kasnetz condemning the Alliance Defending Freedom and Sessions’ choice to address it.

“You can judge a person by the company they keep, and tonight Attorney General Jeff Sessions is choosing to spend his time speaking in front of one of the country’s leading anti-LGBTQ hate groups,” Kasnetz said. “The Alliance Defending Freedom actively helped draft discriminatory legislation, worked to preserve laws criminalizing same-sex relations and attacked the separation of church and state. ADF has been previously designated a hate group, and Sessions’ appearance at this event, as the top law enforcement official in the country, brings in to question whether the attorney general intends to protect all Americans.”

The Attorney General of the United States is meeting with a group whose avowed aim is to recriminalize homosexuality. Tell me again how this isn't a prelude to getting us all tattooed and herded into extermination camps. I'm sure your denials will sound so convincing.

[Crackpot]

Because chipping and tracking is so much more cost effective and manageable

[Big RR]

While that could happen Scooter, it doesn't need to; the plan (as I see it) is too push "those people" back into the closet, a pretty good place for many of them to exterminate themselves (which I'm certain is what many of those in the Alliance would love).

I never had much respect for Sessions, but I lost what little bit I may have had.

[Guinevere]

Ok Big RR, I'll bite. What was it that led you to have some respect for Sessions in the first place?