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Kansas Lawmakers File a Bill Voiding Same-Sex Marriage That Reads Like an Anti-LGBTQ Manifesto of Hate

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The bill is being called the “most vile, hateful and disrespectful legislation” ever seen, by the head of Equality Kansas

Nearly four years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marriage, Republicans in the Kansas House of Representatives have filed legislation that aims to void same-sex marriage.

Not only would House Bill 2320 rescind those rights, it also would cement into law a litany of far right wing extremist claims, including that being LGBTQ is a “mythology,” government recognition of LGBTQ people is “the greatest sham since the inception of American jurisprudence,” and the proposition that there “are no ex-blacks but there are thousands of ex-gays.”

HB 2320, if it were to become law, would designate all existing marriages between same-sex spouses “parody marriages” that “erode community standards of decency.” It also would place LGBTQ people in the same class of people who practice bestiality.

In an obvious violation of the First Amendment, the bill would strip away the religious rights of LGBTQ people by declaring they are all Secular Humanists.

The assertions in the lengthy, 8-page bill are extreme, and reveal a basis in anti-LGBTQ hate from “persecuted Christians,” according to the text of the bill.

“The sworn testimonies of ex-gays, medical experts, persecuted Christians and licensed ministers demonstrate that there is no real proof that a gay gene exists,” begins one passage. It adds that “the idea that sexual orientation is predicated on immutability is not proven,” and “sexual orientation is a mythology, dogma, doctrine or orthodoxy that is inseparably linked to the religion of secular humanism.”

Another passage falsely suggests the LGBTQ community is so well “organized” there is a “daily code” its members observe. Daily KOS says the bill implies “LGBTQ is actually a secret society.”

“The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) community is organized, full and has a daily code by which members may guide their daily lives, which makes it a denominational sect that is inseparably part of the religion of secular humanism.”

To be clear, that is false.

“Instead of having a cross, the ten commandments icon, or star and crescent, the LGBTQ secular humanist community has the gay pride rainbow colored flag to symbolize its faith-based worldview,” the bill also claims. That, too, is false.

The bill creates a religion it calls “LGBTQ secular humanism,” which does not exist. It then falsely declares that “the government’s endorsement of LGBTQ secular humanism has not been about ‘tolerance,’ but ‘dominance.'” And it claims that “many citizens who object to the government’s endorsement of LGBTQ secular humanism is not based on ‘bigotry,’ but on ‘biology,'” which, again, is false.

The lawmakers also attack the popular phrase, “love is love,” declaring that “when a secular humanist says that ‘love is love,’ what they really mean is that they are amenable to government assets being used to oppress and marginalize anyone who disagrees with their beliefs.”

LGBTQ people, the bill claims, seek “to infiltrate public schools and public libraries with the intent to indoctrinate and proselytize minors to their religious worldview on faith, morality, sex and marriage with the government’s stamp of approval.”

The lawmakers who penned HB 2320 perversely point to “the civil rights movement lead by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” to support their false claims, ignoring the fact that Coretta Scott King has repeatedly said her husband would have supported the LGBTQ civil rights movement.

The lawmakers who are the initial sponsors of the Kansas bill are Republican Representatives Randy GarberOwen DonohoeDavid FrenchCheryl HelmerRon Highland, Steve Huebert, and Bill Rhiley.

Garber is the bill’s lead sponsor, and says LGBTQ people are “trying to force their beliefs on society.”

The Wichita Eagle notes the legislation “comes just months after voters elected the state’s first openly gay lawmakers and less than two weeks after the introduction of a bill that would prohibit discrimination against LGBT individuals statewide.”

Tom Witt, the head of Equality Kansas, calls the bill the “most vile, hateful and disrespectful legislation” he’s ever seen.

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BIGOTRY

Texas to Investigate Anonymous Complaint Teachers Used Trans Student’s Pronouns

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After a Moms for Liberty member claimed that teachers at a Texas high school used a trans student’s new name and proper pronouns, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott ordered an investigation.

On February 13, Denise Bell of the right wing, anti-LGBTQ group Moms for Liberty, addressed the Houston Independent School Board. She read a statement that she said came from the parents of a trans student at Bellaire High School. The parents were upset that teachers used the student’s new name and pronouns, according to Erin in the Morning. The anonymous statement Bell read said that the change happened without parental consent, and “goes against our Christian faith, the advice of [their] therapist and quite frankly common sense.”

Bell then claimed that the school district was “purposely and secretively transitioning minors.”

READ MORE: GOP Candidate Complaining She Wasn’t Allowed to ‘Have Kids Laugh At’ Transgender Students in Viral Video Draws Rebuke

State Representative Steve Toth—who represents a different district than the school is in—informed Abbott of the complaint in a letter on February 26. Two weeks later, Abbott replied to Toth’s letter, revealing he told the Texas Education Agency to investigate the Bellaire High School, accusing the teachers of helping “to ‘socially transition’ a student—violating the express wishes of the child’s mother,” which Abbott called “inappropriate and potentially unlawful.”

Abbott directed the TEA to not just determine whether or not the teachers did indeed use the trans student’s name and pronouns, but also open a full investigation into the school. TEA was told to find out if the school had also violated “policies concerning sexual education curriculum, parental consent for communications with students, mental health services or guidance to students, and parent grievances”; if any school employees had “engaged in misconduct”; and whether any student “has been subjected to abuse or neglect.”

That last one has a footnote on “abuse or neglect,” referring to a statement from President Donald Trump’s March 4 speech in front of a joint session of Congress:

“A few years ago, January Littlejohn and her husband discovered that their daughter’s school had secretly socially transitioned their 13-year-old little girl. Teachers and administrators conspired to deceive January and her husband, while encouraging her daughter to use a new name and pronouns—‘they/them’ pronouns, actually—all without telling January, who is here tonight and is now a courageous advocate against this form of child abuse.”

This is not the first time Abbott and his administration have attacked the state’s trans community. In his “State of the State Address” this year, he said that teachers who discuss gender transition with students should be fired, according to KTRK-TV. Texas has also banned trans students from sports as well as the use of puberty blockers in cases of minors experiencing gender dysphoria, according to the Houston Chronicle.

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AMERICA FIRST?

Tim Walz: ‘Racism’ Motivates MAGA Movement to Pardon Derek Chauvin

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Minnesota Governor Tim Walz didn’t mince words when asked what the motivation was for the new movement among MAGA Republicans to convince President Donald Trump to pardon Derek Chauvin, the former police officer who killed George Floyd in 2020.

“Racism. It’s racist. OK? That’s what I believe,” Walz said in an interview with Semafor published Wednesday.

The calls to pardon Chauvin started with an online petition earlier this month, according to The Independent. The pardon push picked up steam this week when conservative commentator Ben Shapiro of the Daily Wire launched a webseries, “The Case of Derek Chauvin.” Shapiro claims the officer was convicted on “extraordinarily scanty evidence,” saying Floyd did not die from having Chauvin’s knee on his neck for over nine minutes, but rather from drugs in Floyd’s system and heart disease.

READ MORE: Derek Chauvin Sentenced to 22-and-a-Half Years for Murder of George Floyd – Less Than Maximum Possible Sentence

Walz, however, disputes this interpretation of events.

“This was a man who murdered George Floyd on TV,” Walz said, adding that a pardon “would undermine the faith in the system.”

The White House, however, has denied that a Chauvin pardon is in Trump’s plans. Earlier this month, Trump said he hadn’t even heard about a push to pardon Floyd’s killer, and on Wednesday, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt repeated that a pardon is “not something he’s considering at this time,” according to The Grio.

However, some commentators, like The Hill’s Juan Williams are skeptical, pointing out that Trump has pardoned two police officers convicted of killing a Black man in the first days of his second term.

In 2020, after the killing, Trump condemned Chauvin.

“We all saw what we saw. It’s hard to conceive anything other than what we did see. It should have never happened,” Trump said.

If Trump were to pardon Chauvin, it would be largely moot. Presidents can only pardon those convicted on federal charges. Chauvin was convicted on both federal and Minnesota state charges. In the event Trump cleared the federal charges, the main thing that would happen is that Chauvin would be moved from the federal prison in Big Spring, Texas to a Minnesota state prison.

Minnesota sentenced Chauvin to 22 and a half years for murder; on the federal level, he was sentenced to 21 years for violating Floyd’s civil rights. Barring a federal pardon, the two sentences are running concurrently, not consecutively.

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BAD PRESIDENT

Biden ‘Strongly Opposes’ Measure of Bill Stripping Rights from Trans Kids, Signs It Anyway

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President Joe Biden said he “strongly opposes” a section of a bill that would strip funding for gender care for trans kids in military families, but signed it anyway.

The National Defense Authorization Act gives $895 billion to the Department of Defense, State Department, Department of Homeland Security and intelligence agencies, as well as national security programs at the Department of Energy. The bill was passed with bipartisan support in the House and Senate.

Normally, this would be a straightforward funding bill, but earlier this month, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) added a provision blocking TRICARE, which funds health care for service members, from paying for gender-affirming care for children. This will affect approximately 2,500 trans kids, according to Newsweek.

READ MORE: Lone Dissenter Calls Texas Supreme Court Transgender Ruling ‘Cruel, Unconstitutional’

Biden signed the bill on Monday, although called out that section in a statement.

“My Administration strongly opposes Division A, title VII, subtitle A, section 708 of the Act, which inhibits the Department of Defense’s ability to treat all persons equally under the law, no matter their gender identity.  By prohibiting the use of appropriated funds, the Department of Defense will be compelled to contravene clinical practice guidelines and clinical recommendations,” Biden wrote.

“The provision targets a group based on that group’s gender identity and interferes with parents’ roles to determine the best care for their children.  This section undermines our all-volunteer military’s ability to recruit and retain the finest fighting force the world has ever known by denying health care coverage to thousands of our service members’ children.  No service member should have to decide between their family’s health care access and their call to serve our Nation,” he continued.

The news created quick backlash, with people calling out what they see as hypocrisy and a failure to protect trans kids.

“And just like that, the first anti LGBTQ bill in nearly 3 decades was signed by Biden and passed by a Democratic senate. It included a ban on gender affirming care for trans children of military families. So much for having our back, you god damn liar,” journalist Alejandra Caraballo wrote on the social media platform Bluesky.

And just like that, the first anti LGBTQ bill in nearly 3 decades was signed by Biden and passed by a Democratic senate. It included a ban on gender affirming care for trans children of military families. So much for having our back, you god damn liar. www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-roo…

Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2024-12-24T13:11:07.737Z

Caraballo is referring to the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy signed by President Bill Clinton in 1993. While allowing LGBTQ people to serve in the military, it prohibited them from talking about or expressing their queerness, even while off duty. Military officials were, however, also prohibited from asking if a service member was gay. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was repealed by President Barack Obama in 2010.

In the wake of anti-trans ads from Republican candidates in the 2024 election, Democrats have been accused of moving to dump transgender rights from their platform. Some elected Democrats have even called out the party’s prior embrace of LGBTQ rights.

“The Democrats have to stop pandering to the far left,” Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) told the New York Times. “I don’t want to discriminate against anybody, but I don’t think biological boys should be playing in girls’ sports.” He then offered some advice to his party: “Democrats aren’t saying that, and they should be.”

“Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many Americans face,” Rep. Seth Moulton, (D-Mass.) said. “I have two little girls, I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.”

The minimal pushback on the National Defense Authorization Act is just another signal that Democrats are backing down on defending one of the most vulnerable populations in American society.

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