Folklore

 

Pride 2026

 

Here's evidence that I (on the right) marched with my church in Seattle's Pride Parade yesterday. The crowd seemed both celebratory and defiant, which, by the end of the procession, was more than could be said for my knees.

The Horror

 

That Was Then

Image:  Facebook

It was 11 years ago today that the Supreme Court made marriage equality the law of the land.

If that hadn't happened and Jim Obergefell stood before this present crop of justices, they'd give him a choice between conversion therapy or scrubbing the Reflecting Pool.

This Week's Quote

Image by naeem a from Pixabay

How many more gay people must God create until we realize that he wants them here?

Kaniela Ing

Source:  AZ Quotes

Pastor Odious

Image:  Facebook

Allow me to introduce you to Jackson Lahmeyer, megachurch minister.

The founder of Pastors for Trump, Lahmeyer has ended his bid for a congressional seat from Oklahoma, thanks to a report in the Daily Mail tabloid. It seems the married Lahmeyer exchanged thousands of racy text messages with a former beauty queen who worked on his campaign.

In one message, the father of five says he "enjoyed those lips." In another, Lahmeyer tells her of going to a strip club after leaving Mar-A-Lago.

Just another fundamentalist minister who moonlights as a hypocrite?

Not quite. Lahmeyer previously claimed that "witchcraft-practicing lesbians" started Black Lives Matter. And he posted that the "Antichrist will be a HOMOSEXUAL of Jewish descent."

Lahmeyer's sexting scandal won't land the two-faced HETEROSEXUAL bigot in nearly enough trouble for my taste. If you ask me, the witchcraft-practicing lesbians have shirked their duty by not coming up with a spell for these occasions.

My Fave So Far

 

Mama Mia

Image:  Facebook

Once close right-wing allies, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Donald Trump are now as compatible as Risotto alla Milanese and Kool-Aid.

Trump's claim that Meloni "begged" him for a photo at the recent G7 Summit has cheesed off the Italian leader, who called the assertion "totally fabricated."

CNN points out that Trump has a lengthy history of lying about individuals begging him for things, especially when the person, formerly supportive of Trump, turns critical, as Meloni has over tariffs, the Pope, and the Iran war. "Rather than risk looking spurned, he pretends that he was the spurner."

It's about "face-saving dominance," the zillionth example of Trump's addiction to hypermasculinity. And telling whoppers.

What former supporter will he use this tactic against next? Don't be surprised if Trump claims that Marjorie Taylor Greene is begging him to appoint her special ambassador of heckling.

June 19 Does Double Duty

 

This Week's Quote

Image:  Facebook

Riley Gaines just swam the DC reflecting pool and came in fifth, right after the algae.

Paul Rudnick

Source:  X

Miss Lindsey's Dream Come True

 

Lordy

Image:  Facebook

Even by Trumpian standards, this one was bananas.

In the Oval Office on Thursday, Donald Trump declared that states are snatching people's children and forcing them to transition.

"Where your child leaves your house, and they take your child from you, in some cases . . .  Think of it, in six states, they take the child and do what they want to do. What they do is, is— I don’t even want to talk about it! No transgender mutilization of your children."

That's not a typo. He really said "mutilization."

I know it's easy to say our president is a buffoon, but now he actually sounds just like Moe Howard of The Three Stooges, who often threatened, "I'll murderize you!"

Why, I wonder, have states gotten in the habit of kidnapping and performing surgery on kids? Is it a moneymaker, a way of paying for roads and bridges? Or do state officials simply like to dress up as the Child Catcher in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?"

Trump failed to mention which six states are doing this dreadful thing. So I'm forced to guess:  East Dakota, Upper Carolina, Lower Slobbovia, Calisota, Missitucky, and Moosylvania.

And they should all be ashamed of themselves.

Solemn Day

 

This Week's Quote

Image:  Facebook

Mace arrived in Congress after flipping a Charleston-area district in 2020 and built a reputation as a moderate who appealed to swing voters. She voted to codify same-sex marriage rights, called herself "pro transgender rights" and urged her party to "meet in the middle" with Democrats on abortion. By last year, Mace had begun repeatedly mocking transgender people as "trannies" and disparaged gay relationships on social media. In recent days, Mace suggested a Republican opponent in the governor’s race came from "a slum in India."

Natalie Allison on Rep. Nancy Mace's dismal finish yesterday in South Carolina's GOP gubernatorial primary

Source:  The Washington Post

The Cat's Meow

Image:  Facebook

At the Tony Awards on Sunday, Qween Jean captured the award for Best Costume Design of a Musical, and that made her the first ever openly transgender Tony winner.

Reading about her triumph, I realized Jean is every single thing the Trump administration hates. The show she worked on, "Cats: The Jellicle Ball," draws from ballroom culture. Jean is also an activist, having founded an outreach organization called Black Trans Liberation. And, she was born in Haiti.

A Black, transgender, activist, immigrant theater artist. I guess a celebratory Big Mac at the White House is out of the question.

He's Generous That Way

 

Attuned to June

Image:  Facebook

Republican governors are trying their hand at rebranding a certain month.

In Tennessee and Indiana, June is Nuclear Family Month. In Utah and Arkansas, it's Fidelity Month. In Alabama, it's Strong Families Month.

In the case of the latter, the governor seized on Father's Day, proclaiming fathers are "the head of the household." Alabama's governor is a woman.

This obvious attempt to replace LGBQT Pride has me pondering what the Strong Nuclear Faithful Family parades will look like.

I suppose the floats will be sponsored by Pampers and Huggies. Marching teenagers will hand out purity pledge cards. Adults will toss biblical tracts on traditional marriage, traditional gender roles, and traditional tradition to the crowd. At points along the parade route, men will testify how Jesus saved them from pornography.

An hour of that and sheer boredom will drive people across town to the queer parade.

Yes, Even Tugger and Sprinkles

 

Credit:  Joe Dator

This Week's Quote

Image by Serena Wong from Pixabay

I realize that if I wait until I am no longer afraid to act, write, speak, be, I'll be sending messages on a Ouija board, cryptic complaints from the other side.

Audre Lorde

Source:  AZ Quotes

Pride Pledge