This Week's Quote

Image:  Wikipedia

We need, in every community, a group of angelic troublemakers.

Bayard Rustin

Source: Goodreads

The Warrior's Achilles' Heel

Image:  Wikipedia

It feels like this was inevitable.

Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters is in hot water. Two members of the state's education board accuse him of having porn on a screen during a meeting.

Why do I bring this to your attention? Hang on.

Walters has been described as Oklahoma's "top culture warrior." A MAGA Christian nationalist, Walters last year directed all public schools to incorporate the Bible and Ten Commandments into their curriculum. He denies the very existence of transgender and non-binary people, and when non-binary student Nex Benedict died after a fight at school, advocates accused Walters of creating a dangerously intolerant atmosphere.

Walters was on Donald Trump's shortlist to be education secretary. Last fall, he wanted to require schools to show students a video of him praying for Trump.

In short, Walters is such an extreme Christian he'd even piss off Jesus.

Walters often railed against "sexual material," and now it's gone and turned up in his office. There can't be a single gay person anywhere in the country who's surprised, since we're so accustomed to this sort of screaming hypocrisy on the part of religious zealots.

I guess I'm a little surprised that it was naked women on his screen and not naked men, given his vocal anti-queerness. But Walters isn't a closet case. He's just an asshole.

Fancy That

 

Day One

Image:  Facebook

George Santos, the less-than-fabulous serial fabulist, begins his seven-year prison stretch today for identity theft, wire fraud, money laundering, and theft of public funds.

The openly gay Santos couldn't tell the truth if his Ferragamo loafers depended on it.

The Advocate reports that the former congressman "has spent the week descending into a digital rampage, accusing prosecutors of conspiracy, threatening federal officials and journalists, and invoking far-right grievances against former President Barack Obama and the justice system, while praising President Donald Trump."

Santos has been holding out hope for a pardon from Trump. After all, they're so alike. Both are self-obsessed New York Republicans, both have used political power to enrich themselves, and both lie at a pace that breaks the land speed record.

In a final twist, Santos says he hopes to teach civics in prison. That would be like Jeffrey Dahmer teaching culinary arts.

Oh No

 

This Week's Quote

Image:  Facebook

Republicans Look to Rename Kennedy Center Opera House After Melania Trump

Headline that I thought was a joke

Source:  The New York Times

Baby Boomer

 

Terminated

Image:  Facebook

Since the nation's Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, 988, launched three years ago, it's fielded over 16 million calls, texts, and chats. Gay and transgender youth accounted for nearly 10% of those contacts.

The system is working. So . . . let's shut it down!

Last week the Trump administration pulled the plug on the "press 3" option, which connected queer young people with a counselor trained in their specific challenges, like discrimination, violence, and heightened suicidality.

I see this as a twofer for Trump and his suckerfish. First they actively vilify our community, especially transgender folks, and now they get to shutter a primary resource for coping with that vilification. So neat and tidy.

More and more I sense the need for a national Trump Crisis Lifeline so people can get emotional support dealing with the almost daily calamities he creates. Since 911 is taken, we need a different number. Funny, where Trump is concerned, all I can think of is 666.

Not Buying It

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay

I'm not given to conspiracy theories. But I just can't swallow the White House claim that Donald Trump is experiencing a circulatory condition.

That requires a heart.

MAGA Distress

 

This Week's Quote

Image:  Facebook

Who better to re-investigate the Epstein case for the Trump administration than another alleged sex trafficker?

Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling on Lauren Boebert's suggestion that Matt Gaetz serve as special counsel

Source:  The New Republic

Another Day At the Office

Image:  Facebook

I couldn't make this up if I tried.

Here's what Donald Trump actually posted on Saturday:  "Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship. She is a Threat to Humanity, and should remain in the wonderful Country of Ireland, if they want her. GOD BLESS AMERICA!"

Trump and O'Donnell have feuded for years, two loud New York celebrities swiping at each other. Now free of restraints, Trump believes if he as president loathes someone then that person is "a threat to humanity." Come on. Vladimir Putin is a threat to humanity. Rosie O'Donnell isn't even a threat to Brooklyn.

I don't know which is scariest, Trump's thin skin, his ego, or his willful disregard of what a president can legally do. All of them add up to a person you wouldn't want serving as a crossing guard, let alone as leader of the free world.

O'Donnell responded by posting. "I'm everything you fear. A loud woman,
a queer woman,
a mother who tells the truth,
an American who got out of the country before you set it ablaze. You are everything that is wrong with America—and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it."

She also posted a picture of Trump with Jeffrey Epstein, and I wonder whether the imbroglio Trump is in concerning Epstein is why he posted about O'Donnell, an attempt to divert his MAGA followers. So far, they're proving surprisingly undivertable.

O'Donnell concluded, "You want to revoke my citizenship?
Go ahead and try, King Joffrey with a tangerine spray tan." I've never seen "Game of Thrones," but I know Joffrey is described as a "villainous child-king," and that perfectly sums up Trump in 2025.

I'd argue, though, that his hue has morphed from tangerine to burnt umber.

The King Thing

Image:  Wikipedia

A few days ago I treated you to the story of Sure Foundation Baptist Church in Indianapolis, whose members are calling for gay people to commit suicide or be executed by the government.

No doubt they preach the love of Jesus in between.

Something has been niggling at me about these Westboro-wannabes, and I realized what around 10:30 last night when my historical gaydar finally kicked in.

While researching this delightful bunch, I'd read that they base their beliefs entirely on the King James Bible, which is called that because it was King James I of England who commissioned this translation.

Most recent historians believe King James was either gay or bisexual. 

Please, please, please, may I be the one to tell them?

This Week's Quote

Image by Mircea Iancu from Pixabay

Laugh a lot. It clears the lungs.

David Hockney

Source:  BrainyQuote

For the Love of God

Image:  Facebook

At Sure Foundation Baptist Church, a storefront affair in Indianapolis, it was "Men's Preaching Night."

Since women aren't allowed to preach, the name strikes me as redundant.

Anyway, on June 29, church member Stephen Falco offered a sermon tied to Pride Month. "Why do I hate sodomites, why do I hate faggots? Because they attack children,” he ranted."They’re coming after your children, they are attacking them in schools today, and not only schools, in public places, and they’re proud about it!"

Falco then declared gays should shoot themselves in the head. The Farce is strong with this one.

A few days later, the church responded to the ensuing criticism—by doubling down. 

"The Bible is crystal clear that sodomites (homosexuals) deserve the death penalty carried out by a government that actually cares about the law of God," said a Facebook message signed by Evangelist Justin Zhong.

So now it's the government that should kill us. Saves me having to buy a gun.

It's safe to say that Christian love isn't motivating these fellas. I suspect they preach violent homophobia and post it on YouTube because they want more than the 35 folks they get on an average Sunday.

For I believe it was Jesus who implored, "Don't hide your hate under a bushel."

I Checked

Image by TyliJura from Pixabay

Pride Month is over.

I'm still gay.

Takes the Cake

 

Fourth of July 2025

 

Question For You

Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay

The House has approved Donald Trump's "one big beautiful bill."

How do you feel?

This Week's Quote

Image:  Facebook

The thing is, billionaires don't NEED a tax cut. They already have more money than they could ever hope to spend.

So why does the Republican spending bill give them one, at the cost of health care for the sick and food for the hungry?

To harm those they see as undeserving.

Hillary Clinton

Source:  X

Exit Stage Right

Image:  Facebook

Jimmy Swaggart, who died today at age 90, wasn't as virulent on the subject of homosexuality as fellow televangelists Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.

In 2004, well after he was caught cavorting with female prostitutes, Swaggart spoke of his opposition to same-sex marriage. "I’ve never seen a man in my life I wanted to marry," the Pentecostal preacher told his congregation.

"And I’m going to be blunt and plain: If one ever looks at me like that, I’m going to kill him and tell God he died," he said to laughter.

Swaggart later apologized. But gay men were understandably offended that he threatened murder. Other gay men were offended at the idea that they could be so lacking in taste as to hit on him in the first place.