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.

This Year You Deserve a Specifically Queer Valentine

 

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

Facebook Reminded Me I Posted This 5 Years Ago

 

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.

Cock-a-Doodle-Doo-Doo

 

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?

This Week's Quote

Image by Мирас Толеуханов from Pixabay

Competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work. Unfortunately, our entire national ideology is predicated on coddling the feelings of women and minorities, and demoralizing competent white men.

Darren Beattie, just appointed to a top State Department job

Source:  CNN

Done Already

Image by heblo from Pixabay

On the "PBS News Hour" last night, a political expert pointed out that a new president is most popular and powerful in his first few weeks. In other words, the president has a honeymoon period.

He'll be hearing from my divorce lawyer in the morning.

Ordered Out of Existence

Image:  Pixabay

We know from his first term in office that Donald Trump isn't a hard worker. But he's set a blistering pace here in the first days of his second term, pumping out executive orders at a rate that can only be described as bigly.

One of his main targets? Transgender people.

On his first day in office, he issued an order stating the U.S. recognizes two sexes, thus denying the existence of trans, nonbinary and intersex people. That day he also put the kibosh on DEI programs across the federal government, hurting all queer people and other marginalized groups.

Last week, Trump reinstated his previous ban on transgender people in the military. A line from his order reads, "For the sake of our Nation and the patriotic Americans who volunteer to serve it, military service must be reserved for those mentally and physically fit for duty."

Trans people aren't mentally fit, you see. Of course, neither is the new defense secretary, but never mind.

The executive order winningly called "Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation" restricts federal funding for gender-affirming care for trans minors and some adults. Next came the order barring schools that receive federal funding from allowing students to identify with the appropriate name and pronouns.

It's been a full-on assault, a Heritage Foundation wet dream.

I'm one who believes in the pendulum effect, that social trends swing back and forth. But right now it feels as though we're swinging so far to the right the pendulum looks more like a wrecking ball. And that guy giddily operating the crane shouldn't have access to anything bigger than a Tonka.