Tag: Gay Politics

Thirty-Five LGBTQ People Are Running for Office in Texas

Buck Banks

35

“A record 35 openly LGBTQ people will run for public office in Texas in 2018, according to an extensive review by OutSmart. That’s roughly twice as many as in any previous election cycle in the state’s history. … The unprecedented field of LGBTQ candidates includes two for governor, one for Texas Supreme Court, two for Texas Senate, eight for Texas House, seven for U.S. Congress, and 12 for various judicial seats.”

Following Yet Another Moment of Silence, House Democrats Ask: “Where’s the Bill?”

Trish Ponder

U.S. House Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) tried to put the same “moment of silence” coin in the slot the day after the Orlando mass shooting as he did after others, but House Democrats discovered they have backbones and acted accordingly.

“The fact is that a moment of silence is an act of respect, and we supported that. But it is a not a license to do nothing,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters off the House floor afterward.

“Members have just had enough of having one minute, a moment of silence on the floor, and then take no action,” she said.

Yep. Haven’t we all?

The Sisyphean Task of Gay Republicans

Trish Ponder

Watching gays try to be conservative Republicans is like watching people beat themselves up.

— Steve Silberman, Wired writer and editor, tweeting a link to an AP story about the Western Conservative Summit barring Log Cabin Republicans from taking a booth at their expo this summer, where Republican presidential candidates are expected to speak. “We’d love to have them attend the summit and be in the discussion,” the group’s president said. “But we have to draw the line at a formal relationship between two organizations with diametrically opposed policy beliefs.”

Gay Alabama Lawmaker Threatens to Expose Affairs Over Gay Marriage Ban

Buck Banks

I will not stand by and allow legislators to talk about ‘family values’ when they have affairs, and I know of many who are and have. I will call our elected officials who want to hide in the closet out.

— Alabama State Rep. Patricia Todd (D) warned her colleagues there would be consequences if they continues to oppose same-sex marriage, the Times Daily reports.

Congressional Candidate Calls Gays ‘Gremlins’ in Facebook Post

Buck Banks

Same-sex marriage is “a pestilence that has descended on our society, against our will, by those in the courts and government that do not value the traditional family. Same sex couples that seek to destroy our way of life and the institution of marriage are NOT cute and cuddly but rather (for those of you that are old enough to remember the movie), Gremlins that will only destroy our way of life.

— Anthony Culler (R), who is challenging Rep. James Clyburn (D) for a South Carolina congressional seat, referring to same-sex couples as “gremlins” and “bullies” in a Facebook post, according to The Hill.

Zaltzman: Phelps’ Death Was “Tragically Late”

Trish Ponder

There’ve been two main stories that have been absolutely bombarding our inbox this week. One, I’ll come to in due course. And the other is the tragically late death of the Westboro Baptist Church leader, Fred Phelps, the massively anti-gay, hate-fueled preacher who died at the undeserved age of 84.

— Andy Zaltzman, asking co-host of the Bugle Podcast John Oliver (most recently of the Daily Show) if he was preparing one of the show’s “fuckeulogies” for Phelps. Oliver responded that Phelps was unworthy of a fuckeulogy, heretofore reserved for the likes of Osama bin Laden and Moammar Gadhafi, calling him a “sniveling little prick” who doesn’t deserve the oxygen it would take to create one. Oliver continued that the sooner Phelps is forgotten, the better. Which kind of sounded like a fuckeulogy.