[RD] LGBTQ news

[EgonSpengler]

All of which goes back to the vicious cycle we discussed previously. Democrats' voters will #AbandonBiden them if their one main issue doesn't advance/happen, while Republican voters stay faithful through thick and thin, in the hope that someday, somehow, the stars will align and their team will deliver on one big issue... that's how we end up with Roe overturned, the Voting Rights Act gutted, affirmative action banned, etc... and that's how we are going to end up with Obergefell overturned, another Muslim ban, the return of the Soviet Union/Russian Empire, a second Partition in Israel instead of India, not to mention what is going to happen with climate change.

It's disheartening, but what can you do... I fully understand the reasons folks are declaring that they refuse to vote for Biden, based on one or two issues that are really important to them.

It's like the old saw, "Democrats fall in love; Republicans fall in line", and the Will Rogers quote, "I'm not a member of any organized political party; I'm a Democrat" (and Will Rogers died in 1935).

 

[Gorbles]

All of which goes back to the vicious cycle we discussed previously. Democrats' voters will #AbandonBiden them if their one main issue doesn't advance/happen, while Republican voters stay faithful through thick and thin, in the hope that someday, somehow, the stars will align and their team will deliver on one big issue... that's how we end up with Roe overturned, the Voting Rights Act gutted, affirmative action banned, etc... and that's how we are going to end up with Obergefell overturned, another Muslim ban, the return of the Soviet Union/Russian Empire, a second Partition in Israel instead of India, not to mention what is going to happen with climate change.

It's disheartening, but what can you do... I fully understand the reasons folks are declaring that they refuse to vote for Biden, based on one or two issues that are really important to them.

Given the bolded, I'm not entirely sure you fully understand, because you're back to browbeating folks (via text) with negative consequences.

I've got a tip for the party does allegedly didn't want Roe overturned. Codify it next time, or don't run on a platform promising to despite knowing it was apparently never going to be possible

 

[KMRblue1027]

There hasn't ever been a time with over the threshold to nuke the filibuster of pro-choice senators. The coalition that votes for such candidates is too concentrated to reach the roughly 55-58 seats you'd need. Same with most liberal leaning causes like LGBT and in the current day even voting rights. That's a systemic problem that's only gonna get worse too.

 

[Gorbles]

There hasn't ever been a time with over the threshold to nuke the filibuster of pro-choice senators. The coalition that votes for such candidates is too concentrated to reach the roughly 55-58 seats you'd need. Same with most liberal leaning causes like LGBT and in the current day even voting rights. That's a systemic problem that's only gonna get worse too.

That's fair enough. Don't run on that promise then (would be my advice assuming a couple of posts on the Internet were ever seen by anybody remotely related to this).

 

[NinjaCow64]

I kind of fudged this, I saw that article pop up in my news thingy, so I assumed it was current, but it's actually from about a year ago (so much for the Google Chrome news algorithm I guess). It looks like the bill had been introduced in '22 as well but died in committee, which isn't a great sign.

Even ignoring all the *******s in Congress, SCOTUS would be a big problem for efforts to use federal preemption to stop discrimination against trans people.

lmao. Of course. I overestimated the Democrats. Again.

All of which goes back to the vicious cycle we discussed previously. Democrats' voters will #AbandonBiden them if their one main issue doesn't advance/happen, while Republican voters stay faithful through thick and thin, in the hope that someday, somehow, the stars will align and their team will deliver on one big issue... that's how we end up with Roe overturned, the Voting Rights Act gutted, affirmative action banned, etc... and that's how we are going to end up with Obergefell overturned, another Muslim ban, the return of the Soviet Union/Russian Empire, a second Partition in Israel instead of India, not to mention what is going to happen with climate change.

This is somewhat off-topic but I don't agree with that assessment. Republican voters don't stay faithful because they're like that they stay faithful because the Republicans are actually doing what they want lol. Trump successfully pushed a lot of horrible things that the Republicans wanted, the Red States even more so. Democrats and Biden? They've actively done nothing about issues that nearly all Democrats support (the big one being abortion) and they've been cheerleading a genocide in Palestine (something that a majority of Democrats don't want). No wonder voters are abandoning Biden. Most people aren't going to give five stars to an Uber driver who doesn't show up, most people aren't going to vote for a politician who does nothing to further the causes they care about.

Only allowing the American flag and other official flags to fly at U.S. embassies and other State Department facilities,

oh the horror

I mean I don't even disagree. Its a minor thing. I have mixed feelings about queer flags being flown at outposts of American imperialism anyway.

But like, its just so pathetic to see Democrat simps go on and on about how great Biden is for queer people, how much he cares about queer issues ect when he constantly pulls things like this. ""Biden agrees to take down queer flags at U.S embassies so that the Republicans will let him give more money to the military" is the perfect encapsulation of his failure of a Presidency. He will down among the most pathetic losers to ever sit in the chair, his name will be uttered in the same breath as dunderheads like Millard Fillmore.

 

[Lexicus]

It's disheartening, but what can you do... I fully understand the reasons folks are declaring that they refuse to vote for Biden, based on one or two issues that are really important to them.

I would just like to point out again that I would vote for Biden if I were in a state where it actually mattered. However important those issues are, my view is that keeping Trump out of the Presidency is priority #1, in part because he will make those issues even worse than they are now.

As far as news, well...

Democrats side with far right against the people

While Democrats have postured as the last line of defense for LGBTQ people against the far right’s assault, in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, several Democrats sided with GOP lawmakers to pass two anti-LGBTQ rights bills earlier this month. One would allow schools to segregate LGBTQ people and the other would restrict access to transition-related health care for trans youth.

This betrayal echoes a maneuver by Maryland Democrats in 2022, who killed their own trans health care bill over fears they wouldn’t be able to override a veto by the Republican governor, who had not even expressed opposition to the bill. The bill was finally passed the following year.

At the national level, Democrats have been scarcely better champions of LGBTQ rights. Biden pledged to pass the Equality Act in his first 100 days in office, which would ban discrimination against LGBTQ people across wide swaths of U.S. public life. Three years later, it has yet to come to a vote in the Senate. Meanwhile, last year Biden’s own Education Department made anti-trans changes to Title IX, which mandates gender equality in sports programs. LGBTQ people denounced these changes as a “roadmap” for bigots to discriminate against them.

The Democrats, which cast themselves as the champions for many minorities, including LGBTQ people, are continuing to prove that they will not even be fair-weather friends to queer people as the far-right attacks get worse, and increasingly see us as a political liability. This is in spite of opinion polls showing for years that anti-LGBTQ laws are deeply unpopular in U.S. society, with 64% of respondents to a March 2023 poll — including 55% of Republicans — saying there is “too much legislation” aimed at “limiting the rights of transgender and gay people in America.” Another poll last September found that 70% of respondents said politicians aren’t qualified to write laws about trans people’s medical care, and another showed that 65% of Americans oppose the Supreme Court’s position that religious-based discrimination should be legal.

Instead, the data shows that over the last year, roughly half of Americans are listing material concerns like unemployment, high living costs, inflation, and poverty, or the “poor” national leadership, as their most important concerns, while less than 0.5% said LGBTQ rights was their most important problem.

More Democrats side with far right as anti-trans attacks continue

The Democrats, which cast themselves as the champions for many minorities, including LGBTQ people, are continuing to prove that they will not even be fair-weather friends to queer people as the far-right attacks get worse, and increasingly see us as a... #lgbtq #lgbtqrights #transliberation

www.liberationnews.org

 

[Sommerswerd]

As far as news, well...

More Democrats side with far right as anti-trans attacks continue

The Democrats, which cast themselves as the champions for many minorities, including LGBTQ people, are continuing to prove that they will not even be fair-weather friends to queer people as the far-right attacks get worse, and increasingly see us as a... #lgbtq #lgbtqrights #transliberation

www.liberationnews.org

I am expecting any such segregation laws to eventually fall to Constitutional challenges, however that won't undo the pain, suffering and trauma LGBTQ children will have to endure as a result of these laws until that happens.

 

[Lexicus]

I am expecting any such segregation laws to eventually fall to Constitutional challenges, however that won't undo the pain, suffering and trauma LGBTQ children will have to endure as a result of these laws until that happens.

I think SCOTUS has only started its unravelling of our civil rights legal infrastructure.

 

[QarQing]

What do you all think about Caitlyn Jenner announces bid for California governor as a Republican?

Sucks, she brags too much and thinks that she is better that everyone

 

[NinjaCow64]

I am expecting any such segregation laws to eventually fall to Constitutional challenges, however that won't undo the pain, suffering and trauma LGBTQ children will have to endure as a result of these laws until that happens.

I don’t trust the court to make a sensible ruling.

 

[Sommerswerd]

I think SCOTUS has only started its unravelling of our civil rights legal infrastructure.

I read an article yesterday (that I'm too lazy to go look up now) that was clutching its pearls about KBJ (and other liberal Justices) shrugging their "Meh" shoulders about First Amendment issues (paraphrasing) "Why shouldn't government officials, like press secretaries be allowed to pressure/coerce journalists out of publishing certain positions that are unfavorable to the government?"

I think the context IIRC is stopping, for example, FOX News, from promoting lies and misinformation... but the point is that the concern about the SCOTUS eroding Civil Rights is a theme that is being cultivated on multiple fronts.

 

[Sommerswerd]

I would just like to point out again that I would vote for Biden if I were in a state where it actually mattered.

So your proposed vote against Biden, that by your own definition, does not matter (which has already been pointed out to you is inaccurate), is then what? Virtue signaling? Something else? What is your goal in voting against Biden (and/or announcing your intention to vote against Biden)?

Again, I'm not trying to get you to vote for Biden, my dug-in-bunker here remains probing/challenging the logic/reasoning/justifications behind voting against Biden, mostly so that I can hear and consider the responses. Vote against Biden all you want, based on your feelings and/or beliefs, whatever those might be.

 

[Cloud_Strife]

How about the Democrats fight for us rather than just use us and throw us away when it's no longer advantageous for them.

We're constantly let down by them

 

[Crezth]

I read an article yesterday (that I'm too lazy to go look up now) that was clutching its pearls about KBJ (and other liberal Justices) shrugging their "Meh" shoulders about First Amendment issues (paraphrasing) "Why shouldn't government officials, like press secretaries be allowed to pressure/coerce journalists out of publishing certain positions that are unfavorable to the government?"

I think the context IIRC is stopping, for example, FOX News, from promoting lies and misinformation... but the point is that the concern about the SCOTUS eroding Civil Rights is a theme that is being cultivated on multiple fronts.

I take it you’re aware of the Clarence Thomas stuff right? Also the recent decision declaring that executive agencies aren’t allowed to set regulatory policies through their mandate. That was pretty awesome. Sort of questionable how effective it’ll be but it really is one of those spanner in the gunnyworks deals.

I am sorry to tell you this but everyone has to because it’s true: you are watching the system fail in real time. And part of failing is realizing that transpeople are expendable. They will throw us to the wolves to protect themselves and their ill gotten moneys.

 

[Sommerswerd]

I take it you’re aware of the Clarence Thomas stuff right?

What "stuff"? Are you talking about him being totally corrupt and taking nonstop bribes? Or something else?

Also the recent decision declaring that executive agencies aren’t allowed to set regulatory policies through their mandate. That was pretty awesome. Sort of questionable how effective it’ll be but it really is one of those spanner in the gunnyworks deals.

I am sorry to tell you this but everyone has to because it’s true: you are watching the system fail in real time. And part of failing is realizing that transpeople are expendable. They will throw us to the wolves to protect themselves and their ill gotten moneys.

A substantial factor in that failure lies with the SCOTUS and Trump putting three Justices on the Court kicked that failure into overdrive... if Biden loses to Trump then maybe Trump will get to put one or two more Justices on the Court. Thomas and Alito are the oldest, followed by Sotomayor and Roberts. So with any luck for Republicans, if Trump wins, they can maintain their imbalance even if Thomas and/or Alito drop off.

 

[Lexicus]

which has already been pointed out to you is inaccurate

Well Gori said so a few times but as I said then, I'm not convinced by his argument.

I think the context IIRC is stopping, for example, FOX News, from promoting lies and misinformation... but the point is that the concern about the SCOTUS eroding Civil Rights is a theme that is being cultivated on multiple fronts.

Afaik this is in connection with the oral arguments on the social media case where the Fifth Circuit absurdly ruled that the government has no right to express its own view as to disinformation.

 

[schlaufuchs]

tbc, the breakdown in government functioning here is twofold:

1) a decades-long general trend of the hollowing out of government services, and a cynicizing of political possibility; i.e. a shift towards a view that government is merely a means to redirect suffering (increasingly towards a theoretical political enemy), rather than actually striving towards correcting social ills

2) a political development whereby one party has lost all interest in observing the rules for democratic governance, and a general disregard for constitutional protections broadly, AND (crucially) another party that is completely disinterested in doing anything, or using any mechanisms at their disposal to hold the bad actors to account.

Since I was a child, I was taught that the American system is great because the checks and balances ensure no party can trample on constitutional protections or abuse the system to corrupt or self-serving ends, and the two parties have together demonstrated this over the past 15 years to be a total farce. There are no actual checks and balances, and this constitution is rendered wholly impotent in the face of a party which coordinates politically between the branches.

 

[Sommerswerd]

Afaik this is in connection with the oral arguments on the social media case where the Fifth Circuit absurdly ruled that the government has no right to express its own view as to disinformation.

Yeah the 5th Circuit took the position that the Government doing so violates free speech/freedom of the press.

 

[Lexicus]

Yeah the 5th Circuit took the position that the Government doing so violates free speech/freedom of the press.

Well, I'm honestly not quite sure why you brought that up in response to what I said. I am not saying with certainty that the Court will definitely eviscerate civil rights protections for queer people but neither do I see any reason to "expect" that red state anti-LGBTQ laws will be struck down by this Supreme Court. The Court has shown willingness in the past to rein in the Fifth Circuit but they've also gone along with it e.g. in Bruen. And the Fifth Circuit isn't the only appeals court controlled by insane right-wingers.

 

[schlaufuchs]

That’s also leaving aside that what the judges rule, and what the police, governors, and attorneys general decide to abide by are two very different things