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Kentucky School Administrators Force Students to Remove LGBTQ-Pride T-Shirts

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“We don’t promote that here,” school administrators told the students, before outing several of them to their parents.

Administrators at a Kentucky high school reportedly forced several students to remove LGBTQ-affirming t-shirts. The students say they were told “we don’t promote that here,” referring to being LGBTQ, and that the shirts were a “disruption.”

Administrators at Martin County High School reportedly claimed the tee shirts violate the school’s dress code, which says: “Clothing must be appropriate for school and must not interfere with the educational process.”

The tee shirts said “Queen Queer” and “Lady Lesbian,” according to Yahoo News.

The school administrators might have violated the students’ free speech, based on other similar cases.

The students are accusing the administration of refusing to allow a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA), suggesting that words like “lesbian” or “queer” when used in a positive manner are “disruptive” and could put students in danger, and saying that school is not a place they can or should be open about who they are – while allowing students to flaunt their support of the Confederate flag or President Trump.

“The administrators stated to us that [students] were forced to change because [administrators] were ‘worried for the dangers of the students, and did not want to hear of any students coming back saying they were being bullied,” one of the students told Yahoo News. They added that the administrators said “that school was not a place for children to express their sexual orientation.”

Rather than working to protect free speech – an important lesson for all school students – the LGBTQ students were discriminated against, victimized, and might have had their civil rights violated by the school administrators.

“It was basically just [the principal] saying that we don’t need to advertise our orientations on a big billboard because that puts a target on us for bullying,” one of the students, Jessica, added. “She also said we didn’t need a [Gay-Straight Alliance] because we already know who our friends are that support us.”

“We want the administration to really treat others equally because we want the ability to express our identities just like the students who wear Trump apparel, religious apparel or the Confederate flag. I know we are in a rural, Christian-Republican community, but we want tolerance. Our shirts aren’t hurting anyone. It’s unfair that because the staff have certain beliefs, they treat students differently and scare them into not speaking out,” Jessica also said. “We just want justice.”

Yahoo News adds that “Jessica even alleged that the principal outed some LGBTQ students to their parents when calling to warn about a possible walkout which never took place.”

The school appears to be ripe for an intervention from civil rights groups.

In 2016 The ACLU sued a Tennessee school district that had banned a student from wearing a tee shirt that said: “Some People Are Gay, Get Over It.” The ACLU won.

In a detailed look at pro-LGBTQ t-shirt cases, including the 2016 Tennessee case, the Southern Poverty Law Center adds: “First and most importantly, a school cannot manufacture its own ‘disruption’ by overreacting to speech.”

The SPLC also offers more examples, including this one:

“In 2008, a Florida judge struck down a Pensacola-area school’s ban on logos including rainbows, pink triangles and the words ‘gay pride’ or ‘GP,’ which students began wearing in defense of a classmate bullied for being a lesbian.”

Here’s a video report from about the Martin County school administrators decision to ban the speech of several LGBTQ students, from WYMT:

Written by David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement. Image via NCRM

Ignoring Many Instances of Discrimination, Log Cabin Republicans Endorse Trump

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The group of gay Republicans didn’t even endorse Trump four years ago, but his administration’s lengthy record of anti-LGBTQ actions didn’t stop them from endorsing him this time.

Last Thursday, the Log Cabin Republicans shocked the entire United States with a Washington Post op-ed endorsing Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election. And now Trump himself is using the endorsement as a shield from criticism.

In their rather mindblowing op-ed, Log Cabin Republicans chair Robert Kabel and vice chair Jill Holman wrote, “To be treated equally, fairly and justly under the law is our goal, and we know that ‘Inclusion Wins’ is a mantra we share with the president.”

The Log Cabin Republicans endorsement is particularly surprising in light of the fact that the group did not endorse Trump in 2016. The group made that decision based on the fact that Trump had never met with them, then a necessary step to receive their support. Trump has still not met with the Log Cabin Republicans; however, they’ve now chosen to endorse him anyway.

Their reasoning is laid out by Kabel and Holman in the op-ed as follows: “This is the party that Trump has helped make possible by moving past the culture wars that dominated the 1990s and early 2000s, in particular by removing gay rights as a wedge issue from the old Republican playbook.”

The group points to the Trump administration initiative to decriminalize homosexuality worldwide, the appointment of openly gay diplomat Richard Grenell as ambassador to Germany, and the administration’s stated intent to end the HIV epidemic by 2030 as reasons to believe that Trump and his administration have moved beyond using “gay rights as a wedge issue.”

However, the Trump administration has taken a variety of other anti-LGBTQ actions since Trump’s election three years ago, from the erosion of Civil Rights Act protections previously afforded to LGBTQ people under the Obama administration to the many gestures they’ve made toward privileging “religious freedom” over LGBTQ people’s rights to things like housing, employment, and even medical care.

There’s also the trans military ban, of course, and Kabel and Holman do mention the Log Cabin Republicans’ continued objection to that obviously anti-LGBTQ measure. “We are committed to letting all qualified Americans serve in the military, and Log Cabin Republicans was a leader in the legal fight to end the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy,” Kabel and Holman write. “We oppose the transgender service restriction and will continue to press the administration to reconsider.”

However, the endorsement stands, despite all of the obvious anti-LGBTQ actions Trump has taken. Log Cabin Republicans spokesperson Charles Moran told the Washington Blade that this was because they’re just so excited to be able to support an incumbent Republican who hasn’t voted against marriage equality. “We’ve not had a second term Republican president that Log Cabin has had the opportunity to endorse in quite some time,” Moran said. “2004 was the last time and we declined to endorse President Bush for re-election due to the constitutional ban on gay marriage he made a centerpiece of the campaign. So we really don’t have any [precedent] for a re-election to follow.”

Now, of course, Trump himself has picked up on this endorsement. He used it in a press conference yesterday to dodge a pointed question about anti-LGBTQ discrimination in the workplace, and actions his administration has taken to enable such discrimination. “Well I just got an award and an endorsement from a group… the exact group,” Trump said in response, as seen in a video posted to Twitter by Vox reporter Aaron Rupar.

“The Log Cabin group,” Trump continued. “And I was very honored to receive it. I’ve done very well with that community. Some of my biggest supporters are of that community, and I talk to them a lot about it… Peter Thiel and so many others, they’re with me all the way, and they like the job I’m doing.”

So now, not only have the Log Cabin Republicans chosen to ignore a vast amount of discrimination that affects them and the community they represent, they’ve given Trump himself an easy go-to defense for his discriminatory actions. And now we can no doubt expect to hear about this endorsement over and over throughout the 2020 campaign.

Please, can we get this guy out of here already?

Image via Screencap from Aaron Rupar/Twitter

Mike Pence Blasted For Appearing with Anti-LGBTQ Extremists Three Times in Five Days

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The Vice President continues to be blatant in his support for the erosion of LGBTQ rights, and his support of those who work against us.

Vice President Mike Pence has spent three of the past five days appearing at conferences and on stage with anti-LGBTQ extremists, including one who calls gay people “terrorists” and compares them to ISIS, as well as a group that appears on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of anti-gay hate groups. Some are starting to notice and call him out for it.

“Less than a week after appearing at an Erick Erickson-sponsored conference, and a day after appearing with anti-LGBTQ extremist Sam Brownback, Mike Pence continues his anti-LGBTQ crusade with an appearance at an event organized by the anti-LGBTQ hate group the Alliance Defending Freedom,” the Human Rights Campaign says in an email. HRC points to the Vice President’s “close ties” to ADF, a group that HRC says “is among the most horrific of any group operating in the United States.”

The Vice President late Tuesday morning addressed the ADF, a group that successfully represented an anti-gay Christian baker at the U.S. Supreme Court and works to deprive LGBTQ people of their civil rights, while offering false narratives. Pence, speaking at the Ritz-Carlton in Arlington, Virginia, bragged that he and the Trump administration have “taken action to protect the conscience rights of doctors and nurses and healthcare providers,” and “gone to court to protect the right to religious expression in the public square,” while praising the ADF for being “there every step of the way.”

The Trump administration claims it is working to decriminalize homosexuality around the world (there do not appear to be any public reports on its progress) and yet the Vice President is bragging about his work with the ADF, a group that, according to HRC, “believes in the re-criminalization of homosexuality in the U.S. and across the globe.”

ADF also “has advocated for the sterilization of trans people,” and its “extremist views have found their way into Trump administration and state legislative actions.”

Rights Activists Alarmed as Pompeo Installs Anti-Gay Anti-Abortion Activist to Head New Commission on “Natural Law”

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Pompeo hopes to redefine the entire concept of “human rights,” and to do so he’s hired a woman with a decades-long record of anti-LGBTQ activism.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday announced the formation of a new commission that will take a “fresh look” at human rights through the lens of “natural law,” and civil and human rights advocates are outraged. In preliminary filings the State Dept. noted the Commission will explore “our nation’s founding principles of natural law and natural rights.”

“Natural law,” is religious right wing extremist code for anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ rights, especially marriage for same-sex couples.

Critics are outraged.

The director of the ACLU’s Human Rights Program weighed in:

Secretary Pompeo, a known right wing Christian extremist in his own right, has named Mary Ann Glendon, a professor who is also his former mentor, to lead the “Commission on Unalienable Rights.”

Glendon is an anti-abortion, anti-gay Catholic activist who served as U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See (the Vatican) under President George W. Bush. She is also known for her opposition to the use of condoms to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS.

“I hope that the commission will revisit the most basic of questions: What does it mean to claim something is, in fact, a human right?” Pompeo told reporters Monday, adding, as Yahoo News notes, that “words like rights can be used for good or evil.”

Glendon should understand Pompeo’s remarks. She penned a 2004 op-ed supporting a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. In a unique twist of language she claimed the amendment “should be welcomed by all Americans who are concerned about equality and preserving democratic decision-making.”

And in a shocking move Glendon chastised the awarding of a Pulitzer Prize to the Boston Globe for its work exposing pedophile priests. She reportedly said, “If fairness & accuracy have anything to do with it, awarding the Pulitzer to the Boston Globe would be like giving the Nobel Peace Prize to Osama bin Laden.”

Anti-gay hate group leader Tony Perkins was briefed on the Commission before it was officially announced, CBS News reports.

A State Dept. official says the Commission is a “personal project” of Secretary Pompeo’s, and Politico reports the Commission “was conceived with almost no input from the State Department’s human rights bureau, people familiar with the matter say, effectively sidelining career government experts who have focused on human rights policy and history across numerous administrations.”

As extreme as Glendon is, the preliminary proposed Chair was Robert P. George, a Princeton professor who co-founded the extremely anti-gay National Organization For Marriage (NOM).

Meanwhile, Amnesty International issued a scathing rebuke to Pompeo and his new Commission. In “Trump Administration Commission on Unalienable Rights Politicizes Human Rights for Hate,” the human rights organization’s national director of advocacy and government affairs, Joanne Lin, said:

“This administration has actively worked to deny and take away long-standing human rights protections since Trump’s inauguration. If this administration truly wanted to support people’s rights, it would use the global framework that’s already in place. Instead, it wants to undermine rights for individuals, as well as the responsibilities of governments.”

“This approach only encourages other countries to adopt a disregard for basic human rights standards and risks weakening international, as well as regional frameworks, placing the rights of millions of people around the world in jeopardy.”

“International agreements, like the Universal Declaration for Human Rights, have been upheld by prior administrations over the last 71 years, regardless of their party. This politicization of human rights in order to, what appears to be an attempt to further hateful policies aimed at women and LGBTQ people, is shameful.”

Written by David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement. Image via NCRM

Cobra Cabana Takes A Stand With Their Gay-Fil-A Special

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Cobra Cabana’s Gay-Fil-A is not only a statement against Chick-Fil-A’s anti-LGBTQ politics, but also a damn good chicken sandwich.

“All freakies are welcome — I’ve always cared about freaky scenes and freaky people, and their values are very significant to me,” says Valient Himself, one of three owners of Cobra Cabana. Himself, who sings in metal band Valient Thorr, got together with Rob Skotis, bassist of thrash band Iron Reagan, and Josh Novicki, a chef with restaurant experience, to open Cobra Cabana last summer. Located in Carver, just north of the VCU campus, this neighborhood bar and grill strives to be inclusive to everyone, especially those who feel like outsiders.

One particular group often deemed outsiders that Cobra Cabana hopes to welcome into their space is the LGBTQ community. This, of course, puts them in stark contrast with Chick-Fil-A, who officially became the third-largest restaurant chain in America as of 2019, according to Business Insider. In 2017 alone, Chick-Fil-A were found by a ThinkProgress investigation to have donated nearly $2 million to three different groups with anti-LGBTQ agendas.

“I’ve taken a stand several times when big corporations would make their views known to the world and it was a pretty messed up view,” Himself said, “The popular ‘Eat Mor Chikin’ chain blantantly refuses to hire and discriminates against gay kids and they are not queer-positive at all.”

In March, Chick-Fil-A held a “Beloved Benefit” in its founding city of Atlanta, raising money for a variety of non-profit organizations working to help underprivileged communities in the area. The benefit’s name was based on an idea of the “Beloved Community” popularized by Dr. Martin Luther King. Through actions like these, Chick-Fil-A helps shift emphasis from the more discriminatory aspects of their religiously-driven business model to a more positive portrayal. But Valient Himself sees through this.

“I haven’t eaten at that chain in over ten years because of their values,” Himself said. “I want to be able to stand up to them and say: they’re closed on Sunday? We’ll be open on Sundays, and offer an alternative to this corporate garbage — but make it even better.”

Cobra Cabana chef Lauren Vincelli originally came up with the idea of making an alternative to Chick-Fil-A’s well-known chicken sandwich. Himself and the other owners thought it was a perfect way to show their opposition to Chick-Fil-A’s agenda.

“Lauren pitched this great idea, and we ran with it,” said Himself. “She helped us pick [LGBTQ youth support and advocacy organization] Side By Side, a local non-profit here in town, to donate the proceeds to.” Side By Side receives 10 percent of the proceeds generated by the sandwich special.

The Gay-Fil-A, as Cobra Cabana has dubbed it, is a pickled bun chicken-breast sandwich, which comes with waffle fries and a house-made Polynesian sauce. A vegan version of it is offered as well, and the Gay-Fil-A is only offered on Sunday particularly to make a political statement.

“It is reminiscent of a Chick-fil-A sandwich, from what I can remember,” said Himself. “Come get a better version of it on a day that they won’t even sell it.”  

The Gay-Fil-A made it’s debut about six months ago and it has been one of the best sellers on Sundays.

“If someone enters on Sunday and sees the Gay-Fil-A, they ask about it, and almost always buy it,” said Himself. “It’s a good system to have specials, and in turn has generated money for the local nonprofit.”

As a restaurant with roots in the community and an independent ownership, Cobra Cabana is glad to take stands against oppression whenever they have the opportunity. Indeed, after they learned of the Yuengling beer company’s endorsement of Trump, and CEO Dick Yuengling’s defiant response to the boycott that ensued, Cobra Cabana removed Yuengling from their draft list, despite having carried it since they opened. “I’m not going to support Trump, and I’m not going to support hatred, xenophobia, racism and homophobia,” said Himself.

As far as he can tell, making these kinds of decisions has only helped Cobra Cabana’s standing in the community. “I’m not scared of any kind of weird backlash,” Himself said. “We’ve been supported in our neighborhood and city because of this, and we appreciate everyone in our community that supports not only us, but also the local LGBTQIA community.”

Cobra Cabana is located at 901 W. Marshall St in Carver, and are open every day from 11 AM til 2 AM. Don’t let another Sunday go by without trying their Gay-Fil-A — the opportunity to finally eat a chicken sandwich with a clear conscience isn’t one you want to miss.

Written by Brea Hill and Marilyn Drew Necci. Photos by Brea Hill.

Senate Republicans Just Gave a Lifetime Appointment to One of the Most Anti-LGBTQ Judges Trump Has Ever Nominated

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He thinks transgender people are “delusional.”

He sees the fight for LGBTQ equality as a “clash of absolutes” where “religious liberty and sexual liberty” are forever at odds.

He says the Equality Act, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, is “weaponizing” the Supreme Court Obergefell marriage ruling against Christians.

He’s said that “preventing sexual orientation-based discrimination cannot justify serious burdens on…constitutionally protected religious freedom.”

He works for an anti-LGBTQ legal group that seeks to defend Christians against  perceived religious discrimination. Among their clients have been Christian bakers Melissa and Aaron Klein of Sweetcakes by Melissa.

And on Wednesday Republicans in the U.S. Senate voted 52-46 to give him a lifetime appointment to the federal bench.

Matthew Kacsmaryk of the very anti-LGBTQ First Liberty Institute will soon be U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk for the Northern District of Texas.

All Democrats and one just one Republican, Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) voted against Kacsmaryk’s confirmation, as The Washington Blade reports.

Kacsmaryk is opposed by hundreds of LGBTQ and civil rights groups. The Leadership Conference, a coalition of more than 200 national organizations calls Kacsmaryk “a right-wing extremist who has made a career out of dehumanizing LGBTQ people, debasing women, and assailing health care rights. He has expressed staunch opposition to the Equality Act, marriage equality, and promoted the dangerous lie that being transgender is a ’delusion.’ He has attacked Roe v. Wade and challenged the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive access.”

Lambda Legal is part of a 75-group coalition that also opposes Kacsmaryk, saying in a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein. The group notes that Kacsmaryk defended Melissa Klein of Sweetcakes by Melissa, and argued that “preventing sexual orientation-based discrimination cannot justify serious burdens on…constitutionally protected religious freedom.”

The Alliance for Justice published a six-page report on Kacsmaryk, concluding “Kacsmaryk has built his legal career opposing equal rights for millions of his fellow citizens. His harsh and demeaning rhetoric regarding LGBTQ rights and reproductive rights sends a clear message that he has little regard for established legal precedent in this area. Kacsmaryk often couches his opposition to equal rights in religious language.”

The AFJ added, “Kacsmaryk’s statements demonstrate beliefs that discrimination against LGBTQ Americans is valid and should be condoned.”

Written by David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement. Photo via NCRM.