Republicans across the country, now bolstered by the Trump administration, have been working very hard to enable healthcare providers, adoption agencies, and other organizations to deny services to LGBTQ people in the name of religious freedom. A disturbing new report by USA Today, the Arizona Republic and the Center for Public Integrity has traced hundreds of so-called “religious freedom” bills back to a non-profit Christian organization that has created an influential playbook which Republicans are copying into bills across the country. So far, more than 60 have been signed into law.
The playbook is called “Project Blitz,” and it was created in 2017 by the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation, a Christian non-profit organization whose membership includes “hundreds” of lawmakers nationwide, including from Congress.
Category: Sexual Equality
What Not to Say to Same-Sex Parents
When is the last time you asked a casual acquaintance—or better yet, a stranger!—the details about how their baby was conceived? You probably wouldn’t go up to the random heterosexual couple ahead of you in the grocery store checkout line and request a full conception play-by-play. But same-sex parents find themselves barraged with inappropriate questions about something incredibly private to them all the time. People somehow feel it’s okay to quench their curiosity about how they built their family.
Just because a kid has two moms or two dads does not mean you can pile on the invasive questions. Even if you think you mean well, here’s what you should not be asking.
Sex, lies, and surveillance: Something’s wrong with the war on sex trafficking
Silicon Valley’s biggest companies have partnered with a single organization to fight sex trafficking — one that maintains a data collection pipeline, is partnered with Palantir, and helps law enforcement profile and track sex workers without their consent. Major websites like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and others are working with a nonprofit called Thorn (“digital defenders of children”) and, perhaps predictably, its methods are dubious.
Thorn offers internet companies its content moderation tool “Safer,” and for law enforcement, its separate data-mining and user-profiling tool “Spotlight.” Both use data sources and AI to automate policing of sex content. Of Thorn’s 31 nonprofit partners, 27 target adults and vow to abolish consensual sex work under the banner of saving children from sex trafficking.
via Sex, lies, and surveillance: Something’s wrong with the war on sex trafficking
Missouri Republicans Force Pelvic Exams Ahead of Abortions
In Missouri, where the state’s last remaining abortion clinic is in a legal battle to keep its doors open, Republicans have imposed another invasive and unnecessary requirement for anyone obtaining an abortion: now, patients must undergo a pelvic exam at least 72 hours prior to the procedure.
A pelvic exam “includes putting your fingers and other instruments in the vagina, when really that gives no medical information,” Dr. Colleen McNicholas of the St. Louis Planned Parenthood Reproductive Health Services, Missouri’s last abortion clinic, told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. “It doesn’t do anything to help the patient, or myself, choose what is the best approach for their abortion care.”
via Missouri Republicans Force Pelvic Exams Ahead of Abortions
After Rickie: 5 of our favorite LGBTQ+ teens on TV today
This August marks the 25th anniversary of the debut of My So-Called Life, the short-lived but influential teen drama that was also one of the first network shows to have a gay character as a series regular. Rickie Vasquez (Wilson Cruz) faced some of the same adolescent woes as his peers Angela Chase (Claire Danes) and Rayanne Graff (A.J. Langer), but as an out teen, he also faced homophobia at home and school. Despite the show’s limited run, Rickie became a beacon for queer teen viewers, especially queer teens of color who’d waited a long time to see themselves on TV.
via After Rickie: 5 of our favorite LGBTQ+ teens on TV today
Taiwan Celebrates Same-Sex Marriage With Big Wedding Banquet
Last week, Taiwan became the first place in Asia to legally recognize same-sex marriage. And on Saturday, over a thousand people celebrated that landmark ruling with a massive wedding banquet.
According to NPR, the celebration included a big group wedding, with about 20 couples tying the knot in Taipei, Taiwan’s capital city. In addition to the couples, there were about 1,600 supporters and other guests in attendance, all of whom watched the newlyweds walk down a red carpet. There were rainbow flags, lots of food, and festivities galore.
via Taiwan Celebrates Same-Sex Marriage With Big Wedding Banquet
UK Police Want Rape Victims to Hand Over Their Phones
In the U.K.—like in the U.S.—rape is a dramatically underreported crime, and, once reported, few cases go to trial. In 2018, only 1.9 percent of reported rapes in the UK were prosecuted, and a figure that in 2019 fell to a five-year low. So now, police in the United Kingdom have introduced a measure that they believe will improve the likelihood of these cases going to trial: a national consent form, requiring anyone reporting sexual assault hand over all of their text messages, emails, photos, social media accounts, and from their phones, laptops, or smart watches.
Why are rape prosecutions falling? – BBC News
Recorded rape offences have been rising in England and Wales, but the proportion of offences making it to court has fallen significantly over the past few years.
Police and prosecutors are asking complainants in rape cases to agree to hand their phones over or face the prospect of prosecutions being dropped – something victims’ commissioner Baroness Helen Newlove has said is “unlikely to do anything to help reverse the fall in prosecutions for rape and sexual violence”.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decides whether cases investigated by the police go to trial. In September 2018, it said the proportion of reported rapes being prosecuted had reached their lowest level in a decade.
Anger at rape victims being asked to hand phones to police – BBC News
There has been strong criticism of a move to get rape victims to hand over their phones to police – or risk prosecutions not going ahead.
Consent forms asking for permission to access information including emails, messages and photographs are being rolled out across England and Wales.
Prosecutors say the forms make clear investigators should not go beyond “reasonable lines of enquiry”.
But Labour’s Yvette Cooper said there were “no safeguards in place at all”.
via Anger at rape victims being asked to hand phones to police – BBC News
London bus attack: Arrests after gay couple who refused to kiss beaten – BBC News
Two women say they were subjected to a homophobic attack and left covered in blood after refusing to kiss on a bus.
Melania Geymonat, 28, said the attack on her and partner Chris happened on the top deck of a London night bus as they were travelling to Camden Town.
A group of young men began harassing them when they discovered the women were a couple, asking them to kiss while making sexual gestures.
Four male teenagers aged between 15 and 18 have been arrested.
They are being questioned on suspicion of robbery and aggravated grievous bodily harm.
via London bus attack: Arrests after gay couple who refused to kiss beaten – BBC News