“I ask you to allow me to love my husband the way you are allowed to love.”
Quoting my grandfather is something those around me have come to expect. I grew up admiring the shadow he threw and having no problem walking in it, aspiring to cast one of equal standing. He is not a liberal person by nature and does not quite perhaps understand why I am gay, but his words cross all chasms of opinion. “To thine own self be true, doesn’t mean you walk only thinking of yourself, it means you walk thinking of others and how to best learn from them so that you are true.†I find myself thinking about that on a daily basis. Here is a man who grew up “knowing†that being gay was immoral, wrong, deviant, and yet he is able to also understand that it does not take away from who he is. It empowers him to be a wiser man, having learned from another.
Some people KNOW that being Jewish is wrong. Some KNOW that being black is wrong. Some KNOW that praying to Allah is wrong. Yes these people know these things. Are they wrong? This is where many today forget the important lesson I was blessed to have been shown at an early age, even though I am only now fully understanding its depth. It’s easy to say you are beautiful when you have no mirror. Each ignorant or maligned thought that we send out into the world is being sent back towards us. There was a time that “white†people were enslaved, yet was the lesson learned? There was a time that Allah was known and accepted far more than Jesus, was there a lesson learned? There was a time that the Israelites were segregated into a lot of land and oppressed, was there a lesson learned?
We are all no doubt thinking the same thing, those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it. Maybe we aren’t all thinking the same thing. Perhaps some of you are thinking that I am an anti-Semite, or racist or an all-out bigot because of the times and questions I raised. I want any of you who for even a moment thought any of those things of me to keep that feeling. Keep that anger, that fight, that indignation and that need to protect yourself. That is what every gay person feels each day that goes by that we are not equal in this country.
Did you know that Charlene Strong was kept from seeing the person she had spent years with, built a home and family with, loved with as they laid passing away in a hospital room because she was not viewed as next of kin? Did you know that a young man was brutally gunned down right here in Washington, D.C. for being gay? Did you know that there are children, and I mean children not teens, running away from homes because they are being beaten, even threatened with death, because they are gay?
Look at your wife or husband and imagine their life slipping away, and now imagine being told you can’t walk the ten feet to hold them and reaffirm your love?
Watch your children for a moment. Now imagine them with bruises and broken bones that you inflicted. Then imagine them on the street, scraping garbage pails for food while you eat a full meal. Can you?
Look at your best friend and imagine taking a gun and pulling that trigger simply because their hair was brown.
Take that disgusting and vile hurt, sadness and anger and ally it with that feeling from before when you wanted to stand up and remind the world that you were not to be marginalized. That is the foundation on which we are calling for a change. As I write this I am watching the love of my life work. It’s not interesting or amusing, but I love every second of it. Why? I never know when the hatred and ignorance may keep us apart. I never thought I would ever feel this way or have these thoughts. Growing up in Canada I was fortunate in some ways. It’s a small country that for the most part is young and change is easy. I grew up in a world that protected and recognized me and said yes please marry the one you love! I don’t make this comparison out of a self-righteous motivation. I make it with a sad heart that I may never be able to say I do love you forever before the world. Or even worse, that I may not be able to say goodbye to the man who I have devoted my life to.
I learned last week that a good friend of mine from childhood lost his partner two days earlier. He was viciously stalked and ripped (yes I mean ripped) apart by a gang of, dare I use the term, people who felt that his being gay was wrong. My friend could not see his partner, nor collect the body of his beloved due to the ignorance of the government in the country within which this attack took place. His partner apparently cried out for hours, calling his name as he lay feeling his life slip away. He died not hearing that he was loved, and my friend lives on knowing this fact.
Please read this not with a mind to toss it aside as we do so many sad things that pass in front of us. Look at your family and picture any one of them feeling even a tenth of what real people are feeling each and every day. This is not a plea for people to change their minds about gay being ok. This is not a plea whatsoever in fact, this is a statement being sent to everyone out there who has ever loved someone to remind themselves that this life is fragile. We need to live and not just let live but encourage it! The only way to achieve that is to be sure that every person, every human, is afforded the ability to work, love and live freely and equally.
I ask you to allow me to love my husband the way you are allowed to love.
Growing up in Northern Ontario as a Jehovah’s Witness, Michael Talon experienced firsthand the struggle for equality. Now living in the U.S. with his partner, they work with advocates for federal equality, including immigration. Working side by side, Michael and his partner Brad, head of Luna Media Group, help to deliver messages for equality to the nation.
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U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, Republican of Georgia, is under fire after praising University of Mississippi students, some wearing American flag outfits, mocking a Black woman protester by making monkey sounds and shouting, “lock her up.”
“Counter-protestors at the University of Mississippi made racist remarks — including monkey noises and comparisons to Lizzo — towards a Black woman who was part of a planned protest against the war in Gaza,” Los Angeles Magazine reported Friday.
Collins, who tried to defund Vice President Kamala Harris’ Office in November, declared his support for the counter-protesters at “Ole Miss,” as the University is called.
“Ole Miss taking care of business,” he wrote on social media, atop the video (below).
The counter-protesters, as evidenced in the video, appear to be mostly white.
A large number of users on the social media platform X responded, accusing the Congressman and the counter-protesters of racism.
“When is the inevitable ‘I don’t have a racist bone in my body’ tweet coming,” wondered Rewire News Group editor-at-large Imani Gandy.
“Which part is your favorite, Mike?” asked Fred Wellman, the former executive director of The Lincoln Project. “Is it the white kid acting like a monkey at the black woman or the white security guy acting like she’s a threat? I’m trying to figure out which flavor of racism has you all excited the most?”
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Harvard Law Cyberlaw Clinic clinical instructor Alejandra Caraballo responded to the Georgia GOP congressman, “Thanks for confirming you’re a massive racist piece of sh*t.”
Mississippi Free Press news editor Ashton Pittman wrote: “Rep. Mike Collins, R-Georgia, praises a video showing a University of Mississippi frat boy dancing like a monkey and making monkey noises near a Black woman student who was protesting for Palestine while other frat boys chant ‘lock her up.'”
In a separate post describing a separate video taken of the same group Pittman wrote: “Frat bros at @OleMiss chant, ‘Lizzo! Lizzo!’ and shout, ‘F**k you fatass, f**k you b*tch’ at a Black woman who was protesting for Palestine. Do people really think these counterprotestors are doing it to support Jews?”
Journalist John Harwood did not mince words, writing, “Congressman proud of the racism.”
“Okay, Mike. We get it,” wrote podcast host, documentary director, and author W. Kamau Bell. “You want to be famous for being a racist. Fine. I’ll help you become a famous racist. You’re welcome.”
The original video is here.
See Rep. Collins’ post and the video below or at this link.
Caution: the video is disturbing.
Ole Miss taking care of business. pic.twitter.com/JiL9hs2pHz
— Rep. Mike Collins (@RepMikeCollins) May 3, 2024
READ MORE: Noem Heads to Mar-a-Lago After Branding Kids She Ministered in Church ‘Little Tyrants’
Amid more damning revelations from her soon-to-be released book, embattled South Dakota Republican Governor Kristi Noem will head to Mar-a-Lago this weekend as ex-president Donald Trump auditions potential vice presidential picks in front of high-dollar donors. Noem was also slated to attend a Republican fundraiser in Colorado this weekend but it was canceled over alleged safety concerns after news broke she had bragged about shooting her 14-month old dog.
While Noem’s shooting to death of her wirehaired pointer, Cricket, which she detailed in the book, is still making headlines overnight a new revelation made news: Noem falsely claims in her book she met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
A spokesperson for Noem “seemed to concede that the Kim story was false Thursday night,” and notified her publisher, Politico’s Ryan Lizza reported in his exclusive.
But less noticed appears to be the actual text of Noem’s false story, in which she brands children she ministered in church “little tyrants,” and compared them to the murderous North Korean dictator.
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“Through my tenure on the House Armed Services Committee,” Noem wrote, according to Politico, “I had the chance to travel to many countries to meet with world leaders. I remember when I met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. I’m sure he underestimated me, having no clue about my experience staring down little tyrants (I’d been a children’s pastor, after all).”
CNBC reported this week Trump “will mingle with potential vice presidential running mates and wealthy Republican donors at the Republican National Committee’s spring donor retreat. The meetings are likely to act as informal tryouts for a short list of politicos in the running to join the Trump ticket.”
The list of Republican “special guests” includes U.S. Senators Marco Rubio, Tim Scott, and J.D. Vance, Rep. Elise Stefanik, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem.
Also expected to attend are House Speaker Mike Johnson, U.S. Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida and Wesley Hunt of Texas, former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, and other elected Republicans along with RNC co-chair Lara Trump.
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NBC News, which says Rep. Donalds is also under consideration, on Friday added there will be “a fundraising retreat that could serve as a screening session” for potential vice presidential running mates.
Meanwhile, the Jefferson County, Colorado Republican Party chair announced a fundraising dinner Noem was slated to attend was canceled after threats were made, The Denver Post reports.
“We understood there was a planned organized protest outside of the hotel, led by Progress Now,” Nancy Pallozzi said. “I felt that our event would be negatively impacted, and we could not take the risk that those who made threats would cause physical harm.”
Over the weekend independent 2024 presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. spoke at a fundraiser for a far-right anti-government group in Erie County, New York – a slice of the country that had a large proportion of residents arrested and charged for crimes related to the January 6 insurrection. Kennedy, a conspiracy theorist and vaccine denialist, increasingly is embracing the far-right.
“That group, Constitutional Coalition of New York State, has founders who not only have ties to Donald Trump but are also connected to the stop-the-steal movement through their activist network, which includes groups that had a presence at the Capitol on Jan. 6,” The Daily Beast reported Friday. “It’s yet another instance of Kennedy—who is mounting one of the most well-funded third-party presidential threats in decades—serving as a peculiar bridge between his own anti-establishment movement and Trump’s.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center includes the Constitutional Coalition of New York State (CCNYS) on its page of anti-government groups. Political Research Associates, which detailed the high proportion of January 6 residents arrested and charged, included the Constitutional Coalition of New York State in its February report on “The Rise of the Far Right in Western New York.”
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“If you don’t think the government is lying to you, you’re not paying attention,” Kennedy told attendees at the CCNYS fundraiser, The Buffalo News reports.
“CCNYS founders Nick and Nancie Orticelli are also affiliated with the Watchmen, a nearby militia who Nick has encouraged his social media followers to join. The Watchmen had several members at the Capitol on Jan. 6, and one member, Pete Harding, is still facing charges for violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds,” The Daily Beast noted. “Nancie Orticelli has also hosted the Watchmen’s founder, Charles Pellien, on her weekly radio show on several occasions.”
One of Kennedy’s goals in traveling to New York was to get on the ballot for the November presidential election. Various polls show him taking votes from both President Joe Biden and ex-president Donald Trump, but Kennedy currently has only qualified to be on the ballot in three states, Utah, Michigan and Hawaii, the newspaper reported.
But The Washington Post on Thursday reported The American Independent Party of California, which has a history of “far-right ties,” and “backed segregationist and former Alabama governor George Wallace in 1968, nominated Kennedy for president.”
Kennedy “said this week that he has qualified to be on the ballot in California and will accept the nomination of the American Independent Party, which has a history of associating itself with far-right figures and individuals who have expressed racist views.”
Some news reports and RFK Jr. himself say the Trump campaign was actively courting Kennedy, attempting to convince him to consider being the ex-president’s 2024 vice presidential running mate.
“That MAGA dalliance with Kennedy could be coming back to bite the Trump campaign, some Republicans close to the former president worry,” The Daily Beast also reported.
“’They can only blame themselves,’ a Trump-aligned strategist told The Daily Beast, requesting anonymity to speak candidly about private conversations about the risk Kennedy poses, ‘because they cozied up to him and thought it was funny.’”
Watch WIVBTV’s report on Kennedy’s trip to New York below or at this link.
READ MORE: Trump Won’t Commit to Accepting Election Results if He Doesn’t Win State He Falsely Claims He Won
Congressman Pummeled for Praising Students Mocking Black Protester With Monkey Sounds
Noem Heads to Mar-a-Lago After Branding Kids She Ministered in Church ‘Little Tyrants’
RFK Jr., Embracing Far-Right, Spoke at Fundraiser for Anti-Government Group With J6 Ties
Election Denialism Embraced by ‘Large Proportion’ of Trump’s Followers: Report
Trump Won’t Commit to Accepting Election Results if He Doesn’t Win State He Falsely Claims He Won
News2 days agoCongressman Pummeled for Praising Students Mocking Black Protester With Monkey Sounds
News3 days agoNoem Heads to Mar-a-Lago After Branding Kids She Ministered in Church ‘Little Tyrants’
News3 days agoRFK Jr., Embracing Far-Right, Spoke at Fundraiser for Anti-Government Group With J6 Ties