Florida gay rights bill won’t advance after Senate stalemate – LGBTQ Nation

It took a decade for Florida’s Republican-dominated Legislature to even listen to a bill to give LGBT people civil rights protections. When it finally did, the legislation was dead on arrival.

What little hope gay rights advocates had that an anti-discrimination bill would move forward withered this week when the Senate Judiciary Committee remained deadlocked on the measure a day after voting 5-5 on the bill.

A procedural measure kept the bill technically alive, but its sponsor and other supporters know there’s almost no chance the issue can be revived this year.
,,,
Although there are signs that some Republican attitudes are changing on gay rights — two Republicans voted for the bill in the Judiciary Committee and Republican Rep. Holly Raschein is sponsoring the House version of the bill (HB 45) along with nine GOP co-sponsors — it took only five Republicans to stop it from advancing.

Florida gay rights bill won’t advance after Senate stalemate – LGBTQ Nation

ADDENDUM::“The Daily Show” takes down laughably ignorant anti-gay pastor who thinks he’s “discriminated” by anti-discrimination law - Salon.com

Little ole lady Joyce Zeller is the bomb in this clip,,, 

Klepper sits down with Pastor Randall Christy, a vocal opponent of the ordinance, who tells him that, as a Christian, he’s felt “deliberately discriminated” against  in Eureka Springs. The city, FWIW, is made up of 88% Christians. He goes on to explain that the “energy” has changed quite a bit in the town because of the influx of LGBT people and that “family-oriented” shops have been replaced by “gay-oriented” ones. Asked for examples of “gay-oriented” shops, a long, uncomfortable silence ensues.

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook,Daily Show Video Archive

“The Daily Show” takes down laughably ignorant anti-gay pastor who thinks he’s “discriminated” by anti-discrimination law - Salon.com

Woman suing Fishbones after being mistaken for a man and kicked out of the woman s restroom - WXYZ.com

I highlight this case for 3 reasons,,,

1. So Peter LaBarbera, you still feeling like a Jew?  In other words, it is and LGBTI issue.
2. It is an LGBTI issue that may have "interesting" legal ramifications, especially in regards to the type of politicking that occurs - ie. Michelle Duggar.
3. It is something I can relate too.

You see I am not exactly the most feminine of individuals.  I smoke, I chew, I cuss like a sailor.  At points in my life my hair has been buzzed to a crew.  And as an athlete,,, lets just say I ain't no gymnast and I walk like I just got off a horse.  Although I'm a 44DD, while wearing a coat, many times I have been called sir.  I have had little kids ask me if I was a boy or a girl. 

It use to bother me especially when I was younger.  Now I laugh hysterically and flash my tits and threaten to make people feel 'em just so they are sure (uh,,,not the little ones , just adults).  But, I shouldn't have to. And yes, I am being blunt for a reason as I do not understand what the fuss is all about.

You see, as I pointed out in my first piece concerning Michelle Duggar, all she does is regurgitate the falsehoods perpetuated by Paul Cameron.  Falsehoods "which are derived from the false assumption that men who molest boys are gay, despite the fact that Groth's original study found that none of the men identified himself as homosexual. Instead, the pedophiles were either heterosexual outside of their criminal behavior or were what Groth termed 'fixated pedophiles with no interest in sex with adults.'"

By playing on the "bathroom predator" line of argument, Duggar et al are equating "transgender people to sex offenders and pedophiles, and suggesting that men will simply pretend to be trans as a means to assault women and children in private facilities. These talking points play on the public's fears, and ignore the fact that transgender individuals are far more likely to be the victim of physical or sexual assault in a place of public accommodation than they are to be the agressor."

It's not like Duggar et al have a leg to stand on with their arguments.  But fear wins out and people should know this by now.  It's not as if the "hets" are a persecuted and demonized minority as LaBarbera seems to think.  And it doesn't even matter if Bogorad is part of the LGBTI community.

What matters as Suzi Chase writing over at Suzi's Place points out,

Unless the manager and the guard are ruthless sociopaths who love to see trans people suffer,,,it’s likely that they just never thought about it,,,.  [I]t makes no sense that a woman whose gender history is recognizable should be required to use a different restroom from a woman whose gender history is not,,,.
,,, 
This world isn’t ideal. Transgender bathroom use isn’t on the radar of most cisgender people and won’t be, unless we change that. It is up to us to make sure that people understand why it simply can’t be any other way.

If we don’t, more incidents like the one in Detroit will occur, and more people will get hurt.

As the following will attest, what we have is the first known "innocent" victim of the false GOP narrative and moral panic about transpeople in the bathroom.

Cortney Bogorad has lived in Detroit all her life and has eaten and Fishbones multiple times. But, she hasn't returned since the January 23rd incident, when, she says, she was kicked out of the restaurant's women's bathroom - accused of being a man.

Bogorad says she went to use the restroom and a security worker yelled from outside for whatever man is in the restroom to come out now.

“As I came out of the stall, this gentleman - who was a security guard - came in the bathroom, and before I was even completely out of the bathroom he grabbed me by the arms and pushed me up against the wall, told me that boys aren’t allowed in this restroom," she says. "This could have happened to anybody. There are lots of females out there with short hair. some people might think we’re boys, but, at the end of the day, we’re not"

Woman suing Fishbones after being mistaken for a man and kicked out of the woman s restroom - WXYZ.com

UPDATE::Eureka Springs Defies State Legislature, Upholds Non-Discrimination Ordinance - The New Civil Rights Movement

Voters in Eureka Spring, Arkansas, have voted to retain a local non-discrimination ordinance that defies a new state law forbidding communities to adopt LGBT protections.


Eureka Springs Defies State Legislature, Upholds Non-Discrimination Ordinance - The New Civil Rights Movement

In Arkansas, Gay Rights Ordinance Highlights Clash Between Two Faces of Tourism - NYTimes.com

Today is the day,,,

Local conservatives mounted a challenge of their own, effectively forcing the Council to put the measure on a May 12 ballot.

Opponents of the ordinance are optimistic, noting that voters rejected similar measures in nearby Fayetteville, Ark., and Springfield, Mo. But the Eureka Springs campaign has been tailored to local concerns, focusing on tourism. It is the city’s only substantial industry since the 19th century, when Americans flocked here in the belief that the water held special healing properties.

“If you think tourists are going to be excited about even the possibility that their wives, daughters and girlfriends will be sharing a bathroom with a guy who decides he’s ‘transgender’ just to have a little fun (or worse) at the ladies’ expense, you don’t know tourists and you don’t know sex offenders,” one newspaper ad read.

At the same time, a website promoting gay tourism, Out in Eureka, has already begun incorporating the Council’s passage of the ordinance into its argument that the city is “the antithesis of the redneck stereotype” and a “microcosm of San Francisco.” Gay travelers, it says, can feel at home along with “all manner of colorful characters, misfits, eccentrics and rugged individualists.”

On the tiny twisting streets of downtown, some shopkeepers say they are wary of taking a stand for fear of losing business.

On the tiny twisting streets of downtown, some shopkeepers say they are wary of taking a stand for fear of losing business.

A local ministers’ association refused to allow some Methodist church members to march in the Easter parade, for fear that they would display a banner that could be interpreted as pro-gay. Two Chamber of Commerce board members resigned in protest after the chamber issued a statement opposing the ordinance.

In Arkansas, Gay Rights Ordinance Highlights Clash Between Two Faces of Tourism - NYTimes.com

Arkansas Town Infiltrated By Duggar Cash And Robocalls Repeals Anti-Discrimination Law - The New Civil Rights Movement

Just how dangerous are the Duggars of "19 Kids and Counting",,,

This summer many were shocked when Michelle Duggar, the matriarch on TLC's reality TV show "19 Kids and Counting," recorded a scathing, fear-mongering, anti-trans robocall urging voters in Fayetteville, Arkansas, to vote against a non-discrimination ordinance. The Duggars don't even live in Fayetteville, which made her involvement even more surprising.

"I don’t believe the citizens of Fayetteville would want males with past child predator convictions that claim they are female to have a legal right to enter private areas that are reserved for women and girls," Michelle Duggar said in the robocall.

The city council, despite urgings of the Duggars and the religious right, passed the ordinance into law.

Last night, by a 52-48 vote, Fayetteville residents repealed the nascent law.

"It was called the Civil Rights Ordinance, but it was misnamed," local minister Duncan Campbell, the head of the repeal campaign Repeal 119, told 5 News. "It was an ordinance that actually took away civil rights and freedom from people. It criminalized civil behavior."

[,,,]
The Duggars weren't done fighting after the robocall, however.

The "19 Kids and Counting" family "donated $10,000 toward the campaigns of the three most outspoken opponents to Fayetteville’s new Civil Rights Administration ordinance. The Duggars gave $2,000 to John La Tour, and $4,000 to both Joshua Crawford and Paul Phaenuef," the Fayettevile Flyer reported October 31. "La Tour, Crawford, and Phaneuf have all said they oppose the ordinance and were each listed as contacts on a press release for Repeal 119."

Little Joshie is quite proud as well.

Arkansas Town Infiltrated By Duggar Cash And Robocalls Repeals Anti-Discrimination Law - The New Civil Rights Movement

UPDATE::Michelle Duggar Gets Verdict in Her Quest Against LGBT Ordinance in Ark. | Advocate.com

After more than 10 hours of public debate, the City Council in Fayetteville, Ark., passed a bill implementing a comprehensive nondiscrimination ordinance, protecting individuals on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression in housing, employment, and public accommodations.

The ordinance became the subject of national news after TLC's 19 Kids and Counting matriarch Michelle Duggar recorded a robocall in opposition to the ordinance, using a number of debunked talking points about transgender individuals generally used as scare tactics.

Duggar's call played on the "bathroom predator" line of argument, equating transgender people to sex offenders and pedophiles, and suggesting that men will simply pretend to be trans as a means to assault women and children in private facilities. These talking points play on the public's fears, and ignore the fact that transgender individuals are far more likely to be the victim of physical or sexual assault in a place of public accommodation than they are to be the agressor.

Despite Duggar's efforts, the ordinance passed by a vote of 6-2 around 3:20 a.m. local time.

Michelle Duggar Gets Verdict in Her Quest Against LGBT Ordinance in Ark. | Advocate.com

Michelle Duggar robocall tries to rally opposition to Fayetteville’s anti-discrimination proposal | Fayetteville Flyer

Ya know, I have no issue what so ever with Michelle Duggar using her celebrity status to speak on issues that are of no concern to her. For the most part I have no issue that she comes from a biased religious POV, that is her right. But I do have issues when what she spouts is utter bullshit and lies. I am not talking distortions or hyperbole to make a point, I am talking the outright use of falsehoods to create fear and hatred. She sounds like a parrot of Paul Cameron.

Legitimate scientists have identified and described in detail multiple fundamental flaws in the ISIS study's methodology and statistical analysis, any one of which would be enough to destroy its credibility. But still, to this day, Cameron's 1983 survey serves as the religious right's primary wellspring of anti-gay fear mongering.

"Whenever frightening claims about homosexual sex habits or child molestation are reported in pamphlets, videotapes or other materials, chances are the information has been taken from this single study," writes David Williams, director of the Kentucky Gay and Lesbian Library and Archives, who tracks the use of Cameron's statistics. "As propaganda, it has taken on a life of its own. As information, however, it's stunningly useless."

The same year Cameron conducted the ISIS survey, he released a separate study claiming that homosexuals are "10-20 times more likely than heterosexuals to molest children," a startling figure that still frequently pops up in hard-right religious sermons and AM radio screeds.

Cameron based that finding on a 1978 study by Nicholas Groth, the highly respected director of the Sex Offender Program at the Connecticut Department of Corrections. Groth had interviewed 175 convicted child molesters and found that more of them had molested boys than girls. Cameron's statistic is derived from the false assumption that men who molest boys are gay, despite the fact that Groth's original study found that none of the men identified himself as homosexual. Instead, the pedophiles were either heterosexual outside of their criminal behavior or were what Groth termed "fixated pedophiles with no interest in sex with adults."

I need to re-evaluate this lying for Jesus schtick, sounds like it is a lucrative means of making a living. Wonder how much the Reich would pay a de-converted, bipolar ex-junkie lesbian Pentecostal to re-convert and join the speakers tour? Oh wait, I actually have morals.

Michelle Duggar robocall tries to rally opposition to Fayetteville’s anti-discrimination proposal | Fayetteville Flyer

Houston declares Houston Equal Rights Ordinance repeal petition invalid | abc13.com

Houston officials say the city's non-discrimination ordinance will not be put on an election ballot after they deemed the ordinance's repeal petition invalid.

Houston City Attorney Dave Feldman says the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance repeal petition failed to garner the signatures to put the ordinance to vote.

"The charter requirements are in place to ensure a fair and credible process absent of fraud," Houston City Attorney Dave Feldman said. "In this instance ... this petition filed to repeal the HERO ordinance, there are simply too many documents with irregularities and problems to overlook. The petition is simply invalid, there is no other conclusion."

[,,,]
Even though the petition failed, Mayor Annise Parker says the ordinance still won't be immediately enforced.

"I fully expect ... petitioners will to head to the courthouse. I'm confident that the courts will agree with the strict interpretation of the rules set out in the charter for the requirements and that the courts will protect the integrity of our petition process," Parker said. "Since I do have expectation that there will be some legal action, I'm going to delay implementation of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, not indefinitely but certainly to allow these issues to work their way out."

Parker is right. Opponents of the ordinance are promising a legal fight.

"All we are asking is for the public to have their say," said Pastor Dave Welch, head of the Houston Area Pastors Council and a driving force behind the petitions. "Unfortunately, this administration has once again excluded people. Complete lack of integrity. Which we're not surprised either, so we're going to pursue legal remedies and we'll see what form that takes." Welch and his supporters are expected to file a lawsuit. The exact date is unclear, though it could come as early as end of the week. (**The hearing is scheduled for tomorrow August 15 according to other sources.)

Houston declares Houston Equal Rights Ordinance repeal petition invalid | abc13.com

Starkville resolution backs gay equality | The Clarion-Ledger | clarionledger.com

Starkville became the first city in Mississippi to pass a resolution supporting the LGBT community, a move approved during its Board of Aldermen meeting Tuesday night.

The resolution states that the city does not condone discrimination of any kind, including any against its citizens for their sexual orientation or gender identity.

There was no discussion about the item labeled on the board’s consent agenda as “consideration of a resolution supporting equality.”

Instead of loud opposition or dissent, history was made in Mississippi with a simple vote of “yea.”

[,,,]
“We felt that it’s important to make it clear in a written document adopted by the Board of Aldermen that absolutely no discrimination is tolerated by the city of Starkville,” Wiseman said Wednesday in a phone interview with The Clarion-Ledger.

Starkville resolution backs gay equality | The Clarion-Ledger | clarionledger.com

Two More States Introduce 'Right to Discriminate' Bills | The Bilerico Project

Remember earlier this month when legislators in Arizona advanced a bill that would create a special "right" for individuals and businesses to refuse to serve LGBT people, as long as they claimed Jesus told them to? Well, similar bills could become law in two more states, if Republican legislators have their way. In Kansas, House Bill 2453 would allow both people and private businesses to deny a long list of services to LGBT couples, just as long as the person or business is "operating consistently with its sincerely held religious beliefs." (Funny, I wasn't aware that businesses had religious beliefs...)

[,,,]
The bill has a decent chance of passage, since the Republican Party controls both houses of the Kansas Legislature and notorious homophobe Sam Brownback sits in the governor's mansion.

Sounds bad, right? That's because it is. But believe it or not, South Dakota's bill could be even worse.

The relevant portion of South Dakota's "right to discriminate" bill, Senate Bill 67, reads as follows:

No person or any personal business may be required to provide services, accommodations, facilities, goods, or privileges for a purpose related to the solemnization, formation, or celebration of any marriage, or treat any marriage as valid for any purpose if such action would cause any such person or personal business to violate the person's sincerely held religious beliefs.

Two More States Introduce 'Right to Discriminate' Bills | The Bilerico Project

Corbett backs ban on sexual orientation discrimination - Philly.com

I'm having a hard time buying this so-called change of heart and here's why: "The new Quinnipiac University poll finds that 56 percent of voters do not believe he deserves to be re-elected in 2014 compared to 35 percent who say he does. His approval rating is down to just 36 percent versus 53 percent who do not approve of his job performance."  Is this a numbers prop? By even suggesting this he is at risk at being primaried.

Also have to consider, he now has Rick Santorum emailing supporters seeking donations for Corbett's re-election campaign. One unpopular PA. politician propping up another, although I think this is more for Santorum's benefit than Corbett's; endorsement seeking for 2016.


In a marked shift toward the political center, Gov. Corbett said Tuesday that he would support legislation banning discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, housing, and public accommodations.

Corbett, who has previously staked out conservative positions on social issues, told The Inquirer that he was "coming out in support" of the bill after learning that federal law does not cover discrimination in the state.

"I've had people come and talk to me about how they were discriminated against," said Corbett, who served for eight years as the state's attorney general. "The federal government has antidiscrimination laws. I believed they covered it."

Corbett's support of legislation that has languished in the General Assembly for a decade is viewed by many advocates as a major step forward on a civil rights issue.

"This is remarkably big news," said Ted Martin, executive director of Equality Pennsylvania, a statewide gay rights advocacy group. "His leadership will move the issue forward in a way that is long overdue."

Corbett backs ban on sexual orientation discrimination - Philly.com

Christian Counselor Who Refused to Treat Suicidal Gay Youth Awarded $75,000?!? | Alternet

First off,,,why was she in a secular institution, in a field of study such as this; did she not think that this issue would come up??  The article doesn't say, but I hope that she did not tell her client why she was passing him off, IMHOo she did nothing wrong there, but to sue the school is bullshit based on her being in a secular institution of learning,,,

The graduate student, Julea Ward, had been enrolled in a graduate counseling program at EMU, which required her to provide counseling to a number of clients. Yet, when a suicidal LGBT man sought her help in understanding his same-sex relationship, she passed the case to another client, saying that her Christian beliefs didn’t allow her to encourage the partnership. In 2009, the university expelled her from school for discriminating against a client based on sexual orientation, causing Ward to sue the school for violating her constitutional right to freedom of speech.

[,,,]
Religious institutions are often exempt from providing treatment that goes against their stated religious values, but individual doctors and medical professionals don’t necessarily receive those same rights. Legally, the controversy boils down to a fight between two rights clauses: the patients’ right not to be discriminated against based on sexual orientation, race or gender, and the heath care professional’s “conscience protections,” which afford them the right to refuse to perform some procedures that go against their religious values.

Not sure where the author is getting this conclusion, I may be a bit biased as this has never been an issue for me,,,

Yet, the Ward case demonstrates that same-sex marriage is only one aspect of full equality for LGBT individuals. The lack of access to mental health counseling creates a double-discrimination against the LGBT community,,,Yet, as the Ward settlement demonstrates, this community that is arguably most in need of mental health treatment also has to contend with limited access to these services--a limitation that is, as of now, quasi-legal, quasi-illegal due to the gray zone of “conscience protections” for medical health providers.


Christian Counselor Who Refused to Treat Suicidal Gay Youth Awarded $75,000?!? | Alternet