OLD HOMOPHOBIA IS RISING AGAIN IN THE UNITED STATES

OLD HOMOPHOBIA IS RISING AGAIN IN THE UNITED STATES


We’re driving through rural Indiana to the Indianapolis airport on a hot afternoon. Enormous American flags droop at half-mast. When I ask the driver why, he doesn’t know but says it’s customarily done for “uniformed officers” when they’re killed on the job. I wonder silently, “Do they do that for Black kids shot by the uniformed officers?”

Then I spot a huge sign over a roadside store: GUNS GUNS GUNS. And another. And another. The driver, who is African American, says, “Yeah, folks come to Indiana to get their guns. They can even get weapons of mass destruction here.” We talk all the way to the airport. He says the KKK is active in these parts, too.

Two days later, the mass shooting of 49 men and women at a Latino LGBT club in Orlando, Florida, is all over the news.

I was visiting Indiana for a screening of my film This Is Gay Propaganda: LGBT Rights & The War In Ukraine. It’s about the effects of Russia’s (so-called) Gay Propaganda Law, which criminalizes homosexuality and has forced LGBT folk to flee the Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine. Human Rights Watch has documented the fact that death threats, raids and even the torture of LGBT people are routine in Russia and the regions it dominates.

Turns out this shit is happening all over the world. Russia. Lithuania. Nigeria – and Indiana, where activists have been fighting similar laws since the early 90s.

In the U.S. alone, more than 200 anti-gay laws under the guise of freedom of religion have been passed in the past six months. In 2015 alone, 115 such laws were passed.

Twenty-one individual states, in-clud-ing Indiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Michigan, West Virginia, Iowa, Maine and Georgia, have enacted so-called Religious Freedom Restoration Acts on the premise that religious groups, not LGBT people, are the victims of discrimination.

The first such legislation, signed into federal law by president Bill Clinton in 1993, allows businesses and institutions to deny services to LGBTQ people on the basis of religious conviction.

In Indiana, the LGBTQ community fought hard against that state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the bill was softened, but not much. Housing and employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity are legal in most states with such laws.

Other state’s RFRAs restrict access to bathrooms for transgendered people or weaken the ways in which state governments can protect LGBTQ residents and visitors. This is all part of the backlash against the Supreme Court’s striking down of the Defense Of Marriage Act – opening the way for the legalization of same-sex marriage – which has become darkly popular across the country.

Florida, in particular, has a long history of anti-gay discrimination. Remember Anita Bryant? In the 1970s, the orange juice advert star led a campaign called Save Our Children that resulted in a Florida law prohibiting same-sex adoption.

While that legislation has since been repealed, gender identity and sexual orientation are not protected under Florida state law. The state passed its Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 1998.

In 2015, legislators proposed an amendment that would have allowed doctors to turn away HIV-positive patients and refuse to provide women with birth control. The amendment would also have made it legal for adoption agencies to turn away prospective gay parents. Mark Joseph Stern, who covers LGBTQ issues for Slate, described it as a “plainly malicious, proudly discriminatory, profoundly malefic measure.”

Only relentless lobbying by Florida Equality Action (FEA) prevented passage of the amendment. But the group continues to fight for LGBT rights in housing and employment.

FEA member Carlos Guillermo Smith of Orlando says anti-gay views continue to get plenty of airtime. “This horrific tragedy has demonstrated that bigotry is alive and well in the state of Florida.”

My own research has shown that where there is anti-gay legislation, LGBTQ hate crimes escalate.

In Ukraine, for example, “corrective rape” – the raping of masculine-looking women by men to supposedly “correct” them – has become common.

What happened in Orlando could happen in Mississippi or in South Carolina. Smaller LGBT bar raids and shootings have happened all over Russia and Ukraine.

As LGBTQ activist Olena Shevchenko, whom I interviewed for my film, points out, Russia’s gay propaganda law is not just a Russian trend. It’s happening all over the world.

Powerful, well-funded American evangelical groups like the Abiding Truth Ministries, the World Congress of Families and the Family Research Council have been active in Africa, the Caribbean, South America and eastern Europe for many years, helping to craft anti-gay laws around the world. Now they’re finding a niche in U.S. state law, contributing to what the Huffington Post calls “a globalization of homophobia.”

While there is no definitive proof that the carnage at Pulse was an ISIS attack, there is one thing we can be sure of. This mass shooting occurred in the context of a terrifying wave of religious extremism.

Fly all your flags at half-mast, America. You can’t outsource this shooting.
This one is on you.

https://nowtoronto.com/news/in-the-us-old-homophobia-is-rising-again/



This surprised me! I rather thought (aside from the Orlando shooting) that homophobia was decreasing, at least, that's what the media would have us believe.

Anyway. This picture says it best for me.

Like racism, homophobia is still dying out -- literally, as older, more prejudiced generations die off. You're not seeing any rise in homophobia or other bigotry among younger people.

Remember the poll that showed that the only reason Trump is poised to win Texas is because the over-65 set goes for him so strongly? Among every younger age group in Texas (still thought of as such a far-right state), Clinton is leading.

This is true throughout the U.S. (and yeah, I think it's totally fair to use Trump as a stand-in for bigotry):



America is going to change a LOT in the next 10 years. The boomers will be dying out and the Millennials will make up the majority of the electorate and the workforce.

You think Clinton is going to change America? Really??

I wonder if the "old uns" know more about life in general "cause they have lived it" than the know it all young ones?

nicko wrote:I wonder if the "old uns"   know more about life in general "cause they have lived it" than the know it all young ones?

I'm not sure that has anything to do with gay issues.

eddie wrote:You think Clinton is going to change America? Really??

Yeah, and with all due respect, you admitted to knowing little about her policy proposals.

Should also say, I don't think all the changes are going to come because of Clinton. I'm talking generational change that is going to see fewer Trump-supporter types in a decade.

nicko wrote:I wonder if the "old uns"   know more about life in general "cause they have lived it" than the know it all young ones?

The "old 'uns" grew up in a very different country than what America is today. I do my work on the Internet and have a Mexican boss -- not something someone in their 70s could probably relate to.

Ben Reilly wrote:

eddie wrote:You think Clinton is going to change America? Really??

Yeah, and with all due respect, you admitted to knowing little about her policy proposals.

I did, that's true. Can't even wriggle out of that one as I only said it about 12 hours ago.

Ben Reilly wrote:Should also say, I don't think all the changes are going to come because of Clinton. I'm talking generational change that is going to see fewer Trump-supporter types in a decade.

So the answer to my question: "You think Clinton is really going to change America? Really?"

Was...No.

And yes generational change is where it's at. That's what got met googling the gay issue actually, to see if US had changed.

eddie wrote:

Ben Reilly wrote:Should also say, I don't think all the changes are going to come because of Clinton. I'm talking generational change that is going to see fewer Trump-supporter types in a decade.

So the answer to my question: "You think Clinton is really going to change America? Really?"

Was...No.

And yes generational change is where it's at. That's what got met googling the gay issue actually, to see if US had changed.

Now, now. I also think Clinton will bring about some changes, as Obama did. I particularly look forward to her bringing the public option back into the discussion of health care reform. I really think that with that, we could nearly call the U.S. healthcare system fixed.

She also supports a lot of education reform that would have an enormous positive impact on the lives of everyday Americans.

More: https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/

Okay are you trying to Clintonise me?

I am going to read some of that. I like her early years education particularly this:

Significantly increase child care investments so that no family in America has to pay more than 10 percent of its income to afford high-quality child care.


That's a massive issue here too, childcare costs for single mothers and women raising children.

I'm going to come back with what I think. I'll give her a fair go.

eddie wrote:Okay are you trying to Clintonise me?

I am going to read some of that. I like her early years education particularly this:

Significantly increase child care investments so that no family in America has to pay more than 10 percent of its income to afford high-quality child care.


That's a massive issue here too, childcare costs for single mothers and women raising children.

I'm going to come back with what I think. I'll give her a fair go.

Hey, I never bashed The Donald before hearing what he had to say. Well, I bashed the idea that he had any qualifications, but I already knew his resume.

I'm going to look at the policies I know I'll understand, (military spending is just whoosh! over my head), and I'll read through them. I've only read some of Trump's anyway and that was from a decidedly dodgy link on Facebook.

http://www.newsfixboard.com/t17912-hilary-clinton-s-promises#340482

I have seen some homophobic people say that the problem they have with  homosexuals is that they don't like the idea of gay sex  and then these haters usually proceed to describe the gay sexual act in some detail, ending their narrative with the phrase "think about it, think about what they actually do in bed".

Well um, no thank you. What two consensual adults get up to, in privacy is none of my business and I have no wish to "think about it" whatsover. Their gay lifestyle is their business and does not impact on me in any way.

I will not comment on this vile act as LF will find a feeble excuse to either ban or basement me.

Jules wrote:I have seen some homophobic people say that the problem they have with  homosexuals is that they don't like the idea of gay sex  and then these haters usually proceed to describe the gay sexual act in some detail, ending their narrative with the phrase "think about it, think about what they actually do in bed".

Well um, no thank you. What two consensual adults get up to, in privacy is none of my business and I have no wish to "think about it" whatsover. Their gay lifestyle is their business and does not impact on me in any way.

I think the very fact that these overtly homophobic people describe a gay sex act in such vivid detail tells me that they've thought about it a lot!

How about the dirty bleeduz who go home to their wives, girlfrieds and then have sex with them, never right.

Major wrote:I will not comment on this vile act as LF will find a feeble excuse to either ban or basement me.

i think we are all quite aware of your opinion on this matter major (to which of course you are entitled).

but like so many of the "gay haters" you have never advanced any sensible/logical reason as to why you consider it wrong...
nor, and this is more to the point, what difference it makes to you? How in any way can it affect your life...how does what THEY do , in any way, impact upon your life?

Major wrote:How about the dirty bleeduz who go home to their wives, girlfrieds and then have sex with them, never right.

But that would apply to anyone who goes out and has sex with someone else behind their partners backs.
Some men specifically find a woman who will do the things their wives wont, which probably entails an act similar to what 'some' homosexuals do.

I agree with Jules on this ....I don't want to imagine what ANYONE get up to in bed thanks....it's not my business.

nicko wrote:I wonder if the "old uns"   know more about life in general "cause they have lived it" than the know it all young ones?

no it is that they were raised to be scared and fearful fo the different.
feed on lies most fo their life.
young people have lived and succeed what old ones say is immpossible doesn't work etc. like the old ones here they say multiculralism doesn't work
It is that they HAVE NOT LIVED it they have avoided it and been fearful of it their whole lives never accepted it as is.


Plus Brain rot. it is simply fact that when your brain has decayed the natural response when you try and think about something stored in decaying brain cells is to rely heavily on sterotypes and and other simple stored procedures.

Remembering what my Dad said about Homosexuals, "they can do what they like as long as they don't frighten the Horses".

veya_victaous wrote:

nicko wrote:I wonder if the "old uns"   know more about life in general "cause they have lived it" than the know it all young ones?

no it is that they were raised to be scared and fearful fo the different.
feed on lies most fo their life.
young people have lived and succeed what old ones say is immpossible doesn't work etc. like the old ones here they say multiculralism doesn't work
It is that they HAVE NOT LIVED it they have avoided it and been fearful of it their whole lives never accepted it as is.


Plus Brain rot. it is simply fact that when your brain has decayed the natural response when you try and think about something stored in decaying brain cells is to rely heavily on sterotypes and and other simple stored procedures.

After reading that particular example of Outback philosophy, I have reached the conclusion that my 77-year-old brain cells are in a damn site better condition than yours.

nicko wrote:Remembering what my Dad said about Homosexuals,    "they can do what they like as long as they don't frighten the Horses".

My old dad said: "It's their business and nobody else's - just so long as they don't make it compulsory."

Veya thinks he will never get old, ha, ha, he's got it coming.

eddie wrote:

Jules wrote:I have seen some homophobic people say that the problem they have with  homosexuals is that they don't like the idea of gay sex  and then these haters usually proceed to describe the gay sexual act in some detail, ending their narrative with the phrase "think about it, think about what they actually do in bed".

Well um, no thank you. What two consensual adults get up to, in privacy is none of my business and I have no wish to "think about it" whatsover. Their gay lifestyle is their business and does not impact on me in any way.

I think the very fact that these overtly homophobic people describe a gay sex act in such vivid detail tells me that they've thought about it a lot!

Yep. Precisely what I was alluding to.

eddie wrote:Okay are you trying to Clintonise me?

I am going to read some of that. I like her early years education particularly this:

Significantly increase child care investments so that no family in America has to pay more than 10 percent of its income to afford high-quality child care.


That's a massive issue here too, childcare costs for single mothers and women raising children.

I'm going to come back with what I think. I'll give her a fair go.

PERFECT WAY to bankrupt a country...

Or starve the welfare, health and education sectors of necessary funding...

Go for unbridled "family/middle class welfare" spending --  rather than directing limited tax' revenue to where it's most needed.