Pride 2025

Image:  Facebook

In year one of Trump 2.0, it felt important to me to represent by attending Pride. So even though I'd had a rotten cold all week, I hauled my carcass to Seattle Pride yesterday, and marched in the parade with my fellow Unitarian Universalists.

I hid my red nose behind a rainbow fan.

The day before, about 100,000 Hungarians also felt a need to show up at Pride—under much scarier circumstances. The government of Hungarian Grand Poobah Viktor Orbán, which has been steamrolling democracy for years, recently decided it can ban public LGBTQ events.

So all those Hungarians, gay and straight, were actively defying an official ban. They risked heavy fines and conflict with police. The 30th annual Budapest Pride turned out to be not only record-setting in size, but also a clear rebuke of an autocrat's government.

A queer-led protest against abuse of power? Sounds like Stonewall to me.

Law of the Jungle

Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay

In this final week of its term, the Supreme Court has been very good to Donald Trump and his fellow travelers.

Today the Court decided that school systems must allow parents to pull their kids from class when course material conflicts with their religious views. Translation: If a book has LGBTQ characters, Junior is outta there.

Religion as an excuse to demonize a minority group is exceedingly tiresome for us, but I'll wager some of the most tired people on the planet right now are the Court's three liberals. Those women must feel they're the nation's last defense against presidential power grabs and right-wing cruelty.

No pressure or anything.

This Week's Quote

Image:  Facebook

Can't wait until the next Democratic president puts 2 pride flags up on those Trump flagpoles.

MAGAs will try to overthrow the government again.

Alex Cole

Source:  X

Face It

 

So Says He

Image:  Facebook

Last night I forced myself to watch Donald Trump justify bombing Iran. As part of his short remarks, he said, "I want to thank and congratulate Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. We worked as a team like perhaps no team has ever worked before."

Now we know. Trump and Netanyahu are the Lennon and McCartney of warfare.

Then Trump thanked the American military for "an operation the likes of which the world has not seen in many, many decades." He congratulated "all of the brilliant military minds involved in this attack." 

Also, "There's no military in the world that could have done what we did tonight, not even close. There's never been a military that could do what took place just a little while ago."

Trump boasted like a teenage boy who's just had sex for the first time.

He was losing his way at the end when he said, "And in particular, God, I want to just say, we love you God." This is what happens when a guy who doesn't have a spiritual bone in his body tries to pull off Christian-speak on the fly.

Whatever Trump does next in the Middle East, it will be the most brilliant move the world has seen since the beginning of time. And Jesus will agree.

This Crazy World

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Vladimir Putin has offered to mediate the Israel-Iran war.

That's like Donald Trump offering to preside over a rape trial.

June 19

 

This Week's Quote

Image by Mark Thomas from Pixabay

By retreating from meaningful judicial review exactly where it matters most, the Court abandons transgender children and their families to political whims. In sadness, I dissent.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who read her dissent aloud from the bench today

Source:  The Hill

Dig It

Image:  Facebook

Erik Shoji, the captain of the U.S. men's national volleyball team, posted a video on social media a few days ago. The 35-year-old libero sat down and said, "I am here to tell the world today that I am queer."

And I'm here to applaud him.

Also, I want to emphasize that just because the libero wears a jersey that's a different color from the rest of his team, doesn't mean all liberos are gay. But you can continue to hope.

Signing Off

I promise this is my last post regarding protest signs.

Until the next protest.

First, I wrote on the day of the "No Kings" demonstrations that I'd spied a slogan outside Seattle that I assumed was homegrown. It turns out "The only kings we want are salmon" was a protest theme in Alaska. So official—o-fish-el?—credit goes to residents of The Last Frontier.

Second, when my sister Kim and her kids protested in Bellingham, Wash., she carried a two-sided sign. With "USA:  Rejecting Kings Since 1776," she resisted Trump. On the other side, as the picture shows, she saluted Pride Month. When a straight family member does that, I feel supported.

A sign that both protests and uplifts? The way Kim multitasks is downright scary.

American Sign Language

Image:  Facebook

I've been at this protesting thing long enough to know that people share sign ideas online. So if you see a witticism on a sign in a Poughkeepsie protest, you'll see it again in news reports from Detroit, Little Rock, and Billings.

Today, as I joined hundreds of folks in a bedroom community outside Seattle for a "No Kings" protest, I noticed a woman holding a sign that I'm guessing is actually unique to the Pacific Northwest. It read "The only kings we want are salmon."

Royalty

 

Monarch of the Moment

My longtime friend Dennis is ready for a "No Kings" demonstration in Maine tomorrow. I love the itty-bitty hands, the endless tie, and the Burger King crown. I also love it when straight guys have artistic talent and aren't afraid to show it.

This Week's Quote

Image by 🆓 Use at your Ease 👌🏼 from Pixabay

Geoff Bennett: Does language like that coming from a sitting member of Congress, does that risk escalating tensions at this already volatile moment?

Rep. Norma Torres: Absolutely not, any more than language like just grab them by the P-word. Guess what, America? We have become the P-word.

Source:  PBS News Hour

Idiomatic

Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay

Labeling the Los Angeles protesters "insurrectionists" when you're the person who incited a mob to storm the U.S. Capitol? If that isn't the POTUS calling the kettle black.

We'd All Prefer It

 

Credit:  Ian Thomas Malone

Delusional Pride

Image:  Facebook

As expected, Donald Trump hasn't issued a proclamation recognizing June as Pride Month.

Yet he's still managing to benefit financially from Pride, because the Log Cabin Republicans of New York City are holding a Pride party at Trump Tower. These gay GOP'ers, who suffer from too much money and too little conscience, want you to join them "for our biggest event of the year."

For $175, you can attend PrideRight at Trump Tower. It'll feature an open bar, hors d'oeuvres, and "special guests!" LGBTQ Nation guesses that might turn out to be Melania Trump, since she has a symbiotic relationship with the Log Cabin Republicans—she likes to get paid, and the group likes to pay her.

The date is June 28, when Pride will be in full swing in the Big Apple. That Trump not only refuses to bless Pride but is busily attacking transgender people and wiping out gay history means nothing to these folks, who live in a different universe, and I'm not talking about Staten Island.

May their canapés be burnt, the booze watered, the help surly. And may every queer New Yorker refuse to sleep with any of this bunch all weekend long.

I Hope This Clears It Up For You

 

Joan and Bette Have Nothing On Them

 

Spiteful Pete

Image:  Facebook

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the Navy to rename the USNS Harvey Milk. And the news has emerged during Pride Month.

It's safe to say Hegseth is telling gay people to shove it up our sequined asses.

This move is infuriating not just because Hegseth is wounding gay people and erasing LGBTQ military history, but because he himself is such a loser. It took him about five minutes in the job to reveal his incompetence through Signalgate. He talks like he's John Wayne, but at his core he's Yosemite Sam.

By way of explanation for this offense, Hegseth's office said, "Secretary Hegseth is committed to ensuring that the names attached to all DOD installations and assets are reflective of the Commander-in-Chief's priorities, our nation's history, and the warrior ethos."

So we are to assume gay rights pioneer Harvey Milk wasn't part of our nation's history. Whose was he a part of, Peru's?

It's unknown what the new name of the fleet replenishment oiler will be. But if it needs to align with the Trump/Hegseth priorities, American history, and the warrior ethos, then it should be called the USNS Toxic Masculinity.

This Week's Quote

Image by Vilius Kukanauskas from Pixabay

Scott Bessent and Ric Grenell, both openly gay men, are celebrating Pride Month by supporting Trump’s decision to ban Pride Month.

Paul Rudnick

Source: X

Really, Zip

 

Captain Ludicrous

Image by Bruce Emmerling from Pixabay

As we head into a new work week, take comfort in knowing that the president of the United States always has the American people in the forefront of his mind.

Except when the president is Donald Trump.

On Saturday night, Trump took the time to repost on Truth Social a gonzo claim that former President Joe Biden was executed in 2020 and replaced with clones or robots.

That's our leader, so measured, so calming, so responsible.

I'd feel more secure being governed by Trump's putter.