And best of all, while they were fear mongering and fanning a little hatred into flame they distracted attention from the crappy education system, bad healthcare, effects of rising sea levels, more powerful and frequent storms, regressive tax system &c.Scooter wrote:It worked quite well for the dog whistle crowd though, didn't it? Plus it helped to mask all the other ways they were attempting to strip away civil rights protections.
Amber DeLong
Yesterday at 1:14pm ·
So...Listen...I've tried exceptionally hard to keep my social media posts positive and encouraging lately and I'm afraid what I'm about to say doesn't fit either but I'm going to say it anyway.
I just returned home from having breakfast with some friends. When we finished and as we were about to pay and leave, my friends went to the front of the building to pay and I went to the back to use the restroom. Being a woman I obviously chose the woman's room. Within 3-5 seconds of being in the stall, I hear the door open and a woman starts pounding on my stall door, yelling at me, telling me I'm a pervert and she's going to call the cops and her husband is waiting outside to beat my perverted ass to the ground and what have you....Basically I heard every slur in the book and to be quite frank, I was a little bit scared. I said through the stall 'ma'am please calm down I'm a woman' (I should note at this point: if you've seen me in real life you know that I can easily be mistaken for a man, I keep my hair short, and 90% of the time I'm wearing just jeans and a T-shirt and a baseball hat and if you've ever heard me speak, my voice can be taken as iffy...as in...*could* be a man's voice *could* be a woman's) I wasn't at all surprised that some people saw me duck into the woman's room and thought they saw a dude. But, I digress... I said I was a woman and she kept on pounding on the stall door and yelling and threatening to call the cops and she saw me come in there and knows I'm not a woman and her husband is going to kick my ass. So I opened the stall door to come out. And she looks me in the eye and keeps yelling for a couple seconds... Then she did a double take (my guess is she spotted the Double D's proudly adorning my chest)...stopped mid sentence... Basically 'you nasty son of a.....oh....ohhhhh....oh God...I'm so sorry' Now...I'm a forgiving person, And I understand there are issues out there that instantly make people's blood boil... So I said...'Don't worry about it, mistakes happen' and went to open to the door to go out....(yeah I was a bit shaken and forgot to wash my hands) And let me tell you...this woman wasn't kidding when she said her husband was waiting outside to kick my ass, because as I opened the door and took a step out...these massive hands grabbed me by the shirt and pinned me against the wall spewing something about how I'm going stay put because 'we're' calling the cops...thankfully his wife was right behind me and told him No...look...that's not a dude...so he let me go and started stammering out an apology and his grabbing someone and pinning them against the wall thing had attracted attention and several people came up asking if there was a problem, is everything OK...I could have said... Fuck this shit, and told them to call the cops because I felt I was just harassed and man handled but I knew in my heart these two people were just doing what they thought was right and I respect that...sure they ended up in the wrong but least they were trying to look out for their community. So I said to the couple people who came up to ask...Yeah, everything's fine, no problems here, just a misunderstanding. And I left. To find my friends waiting by the car smoking... I'm thankful they had paid and gone outside to wait while I went to the bathroom because if they were there... That situation would have absolutely exploded. (As in, they would have started knocking heads together and it would have been more drama than was necessary)
Anyway...look, We live in a country that has been devastatingly polarized by politics. We spend so much time arguing amongst ourselves over this issue or that issue that we have stopped ACTIVELY LISTENING to the other side. We don't see 'human being' anymore we see 'libtard', 'repooplican' and all the other names I'm sure you've seen being thrown at each other on the internet. This isn't helping. This is damaging to us as people, as human beings. People react and act out based on what label they see, not who they see, it has GOT to stop. I was almost physically assaulted today for no other purpose than how someone else thinks.
Knock it the fuck off. Start ACTIVELY LISTENING to each other instead of labeling and dismissing someone else because they don't necessarily think the same as you. If we as citizens remain divided, then our government is free to do whatever it wants knowing we'll never stand together to take our country back.
WASHINGTON — A North Carolina-based advertising agency has found one surefire way to send the state’s anti-LGBT law down the drain.
“We think it’s time to flush North Carolina’s House Bill 2, and we think you probably agree with us,” Durham-based agency McKinney said in a statement to The Huffington Post, accompanied by a customized roll of TP. “To make that safer for city plumbing, we’ve printed the entire bill on rolls of toilet paper.”
McKinney is using the hashtag #FlushHB2 to broadcast its discontent with the bill. The agency also provided some instructions for the 80 or so local businesses that received a roll.
1. Install it in a restroom
2. Use segments as cocktail napkins, bookmarks, shopping bag tissue paper or facial tissues prior to flushing
3. TP a section of your public space, such as your entryway or behind your bar, and flush at day’s end
Movement to #standwithtarget grows amid company's gender-inclusive stance
By Ava Ahmadbeigi, Programs Intern | April 27, 2016
Last week, Target made a pledge in support of the right for its customers to use the restroom and fitting room that corresponds with their gender identity. Now, there is a growing campaign to #standwithtarget, and you can be a part of it by clicking here.
In its powerful statement, which has been published in the context of debate about anti-LGBT legislation around the country, Target wrote:
Target's restroom and fitting room policy is an important stand for inclusivity. Unfortunately, there has been some backlash against this policy. Among those calling for a boycott of the company is Anita Staver, whose husband, Mat Staver, is listed in GLAAD's Commentator Accountability Project, which accumulates critical information about frequently cited anti-LGBT figures.Recent debate around proposed laws in several states has reignited a national conversation around inclusivity. So earlier this week, we reiterated with our team members where Target stands and how our beliefs are brought to life in how we serve our guests.
Inclusivity is a core belief at Target. It's something we celebrate. We stand for equality and equity, and strive to make our guests and team emembers feel accepted, respected and welcome in our stores and workplaces every day.
We believe that everyone -- every team member, every guest, and every community -- deserves to be protected from discrimination, and treated equally. Consistent with this belief, Target supports the federal Equality Act, which provides protections to LGBT individuals, and opposes action that enables discrimination.
In our stores, we demonstrate our commitment to an inclusive experience in many ways. Most relevant for the conversations currently underway, we welcom transgender team members and guests to use the restroom or fitting room facility that corresponds with their gender identity.
We regularly assess issues and consider many factors such as impact to our business, guests and team members. Given the specific questions these legislative proposals raised about how we manage our fitting rooms and restrooms, we felt it was important to state our position.
Everyone deserves to feel like they belong. And you'll always be accepted, respected and welcomed at Target.
But Target is standing firm. According to NPR, when company spokesperson Molly Snyder was asked about a petition to boycott Target, she responded, "We certainly respect that there are a wide variety of perspectives and opinions. As a company that stands firmly behind what it means to offer our team an inclusive place to work -- and our guests an inclusive place to shop -- we continue to believe that this is the right thing for Target."
In support of Target's continued support of LGBT inclusivity, the Family Equality Council has started the #standwithtarget campaign. The site serves as a place for people to support and thank Target for its stand on LGBT rights. The #standwithtarget website states, "Target is standing on the right side of history. Join us in standing with them." Visit the website or tag the campaing on social media to show your support for Target's stance.
Reporters covering Target's policy, or a variety of nondiscrimination related bills and ordinances should familiarize themselves with GLAAD's "Debunking the 'Bathroom Bill' Myth" guide, in order to alleviate misunderstandings about transgender people, who have a right to use facilities that correspond with their identities.
(From the Daily Beast.)Last year, 407 businesses achieved a perfect score of 100 on the Corporate Equality Index (CEI), a survey distributed by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) that measures support for LGBT employees and the broader LGBT community. That high score is impossible to achieve without having trans-inclusive health-care and anti-discrimination policies that include gender identity.
In other words, money spent at at these businesses helps to normalize a culture in which transgender people are seen as valid and worthy of special protection.
These 407 companies aren’t exactly mom-and-pop shops, either. It would be almost impossible for bigots to avoid doing business with all of them.
In fact, if you oppose transgender rights, you shouldn’t even be spreading AFA’s petition using their recommended #BoycottTarget hashtag because Facebook, Twitter, and Google all aced the CEI. Every minute spent on those social media giants helps them promote LGBT equality — including the T.
If you don’t want your money to go to a company that openly supports transgender people, you can’t buy an iPhone, eat an Egg McMuffin, drink a Sprite, stock up on Budweiser, or fill your prescriptions at either of the nation’s two largest pharmacy chains because Apple, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch, Walgreens, and CVS all scored a 100 on the HRC index.
Good luck flying anywhere without putting money in the coffers of companies that proudly endorse LGBT rights. American, United, Southwest, JetBlue, and Alaska Airlines all earned top marks, as did Boeing. If you decide to travel by car instead, be sure you’re not in a vehicle manufactured by Ford, GM, Toyota, Nissan, or Volkswagen.
Without a car, you will have to wear non-Nike shoes to walk to your local ATM, where you should withdraw all of your money because most major banks — including Chase, Bank of America, Citi, and Wells Fargo — have a 100 on the CEI. Get used to paying with cash because you will have to shred your credit cards. Mastercard, Visa, American Express, and Discover all have a perfect rating, too.
But there's still a problem: Your options for spending that cash are fairly limited if you don’t want any of it to go toward a world in which transgender people can pee in peace. Build your own furniture because IKEA’s a no-go, but do not get the tools to do that from Home Depot. You can’t buy clothes at JCPenney, Sears, Nordstrom, or, of course, Target, nor can you purchase food sold by General Mills, Kellogg, Kraft, or Kroger.
After withdrawing from public life and buying most of your goods in cash from local artisans, you will probably find yourself in need of decent home entertainment. But if you oppose trans-friendly businesses, you will have to do without a DirecTV or even a Sirius XM Radio subscription. The good news is you can watch movies but there’s a catch. Five of the six major film production companies — Sony, Universal, Paramount, Disney, and Warner Brothers — all have a 100 on the CEI.
And last but not least, if you are still so upset with Target and other companies for allying themselves with the transgender community that you’re willing to boycott them, you had better stop reading this article right now and unplug your Internet. Comcast, AT&T, and Time-Warner all have transgender-inclusive policies. There would be no more #BoycottTarget movement, sure, but at least you’d be consistent.
RALEIGH -- U.S. Justice Department officials Wednesday notified Gov. Pat McCrory that House Bill 2 violates the U.S. Civil Rights Act.
The department gave state officials until Monday to address the situation “by confirming that the State will not comply with or implement HB2.”
The letter says HB2, which pre-empted Charlotte’s anti-discrimination ordinance, violates Title IX of the Civil Rights Act, which bars discrimination in education based on sex, and Title VII, which bars employers from discriminating.
If that determination is upheld, North Carolina could lose millions in federal school funding. During the current school year, state public schools received $861 million in federal funding.
Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/p ... rylink=cpy
