Saturday, February 15, 2025

Dead Letters

Image:  Facebook


The transgender flag still flies at the Stonewall National Monument in New York City, but something else is missing.

On the National Park Service's Stonewall website, "LGBTQ" has turned into "LGB." Our community has suffered an amputation. Without benefit of anesthetic.

This can only be due to Donald Trump's spastic efforts to wipe out all evidence of trans people from the federal government. If you have another explanation . . . I ain't buying it.

Multiple ironies leap to mind. First, the site meant to memorialize the start of queer liberation now can't say the word "queer," at least not online. Second, the L's, the G's and the B's were also definite outcasts not long ago, but now have achieved enough standing that the government isn't aiming to make them disappear. Yet.

The third irony I see is that gay people often used to ignore the part played by transgender and gender non-conforming folks at Stonewall. The community largely clawed past the racism and classism and gave the likes of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera their due. Now we're watching them be disappeared again.

Some aren't having it. On X, New York's governor decried  the sudden removal of trans and queer references as "just cruel and petty."

Protesters gathered yesterday at the Stonewall Inn. A transgender woman told CBS News, "I served in the military. I didn't say I had bone spurs to get out of it."

As far as I know, no bricks were thrown at the protest, just brickbats. And the politicians in attendance were for us, not against us. Things have changed a great deal since 1969. Which is precisely what scares many Americans, and part of what propelled Trump to victory.

We have our work cut out for us in 2025, to stop the reversal of what began in 1969. If you want to make a party out of it, wear 1969 fashion to the next protest. I didn't look good in it then—I was six—and I don't now, but I'm willing to take one for the team.

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

This Week's Quote

Image:  Facebook


Trump appointed gay Log Cabin lapdog Ric Grenell as interim head of the Kennedy Center. Grenell has no background in management or the arts, and LGBTQ people despise him. He's George Santos only even more smarmy and corrupt.

Paul Rudnick

Source: X

Saturday, February 8, 2025

Cancel Culture

                                                       Image:  Facebook

The following isn't a joke, something I have to point out often these days.

"At my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., GREAT AGAIN. I have decided to immediately terminate multiple individuals from the Board of Trustees, including the Chairman, who do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture," Donald Trump posted yesterday on Truth Social. "We will soon announce a new Board, with an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP!"

Yes, Mr. Modest plans to appoint himself chairman of the Kennedy Center.

This raises too many issues to count, starting with the fact that Trump doesn't know jazz from Jazzercise.

But what I first thought of upon hearing this news is the Kennedy Center Honors, normally bestowed for lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts. Trump will see to it that the next honorees are certified artistic legends:  Ted Nugent, Scott Baio, Kevin Sorbo and the Naked Cowboy.

Thursday, February 6, 2025

Slightly Different Standards

Image by Donna Williams from Pixabay


The Washington Post offered four possible explanations for Donald Trump's "shocking" assertion that the U.S. will take over Gaza.

It's a distraction, or a negotiating ploy, or he wants to be seen as crazily unpredictable or he's become an imperialist.

Remember when Republicans accused Barack Obama of being "unpresidential" for wearing a tan suit?