17 Comments

This is horrific. Where is HRC? ! Where is the outrage from LGBTQ groups in Texas?! Why aren't Democrats being more forceful in their pushback and outrage? I am a therapist and my ethics along with the ethics of the ACA ( American Counseling Association) would not allow a therapist to do harm by practicing a bogus therapy. There is no such thing as Reintegrative therapy!!

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Hi Dot, you are right. There is no such thing as Reintegrative therapy. It's based on pseudo-science and religion and is not evidence based at all, as they are blurring those lines between fact and fiction. I am also a therapist and the ethics of APA (American Psychological Association) has long debunked (a) the idea of same-sex attraction being abnormal and (b) that conversion therapy was a valid therapeutic treatment. It looks like APA needs to come out against this more forcefully, since these reintegrative therapy folks are citing APA on their website.

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APA, ACA, NSWA all need to denounce this FORCEFULLY! This makes me livid!!

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I'm sure GLAAD will have a gala dinner in opposition!

Let's face it, the national LGBTQ+ organizations are in total disarray. Time for local action.

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The Texas GOP is tremendously influential in the national party: it's the largest state that's reliably and consistently Republican from top to bottom. This will be a huge influence on the national platform. Recall that in 2020 the national GOP had no national platform; you can bet these Texas folks are gearing up to take their platform nationwide.

You know what's really an aberrant lifestyle? The Texas GOP.

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Women's reproductive rights are just about gone. Next are LGBT rights. The RepubliKKKans will bring back conversion therapy as they don't care if LGBT teen suicides increase. We are on the verge of a pseudo-Christian autocratic theocracy. I thought we had separation of church and state, but that's gone with the wind. With the right-wing SCOTUS, I am not optimistic about our future.

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On a side note, I guaran-damn-tee you the supreme court will go after child labor laws next. Seeing that those future fetuses will cause a great surplus in cheap labor. Hollywood stop with their war/action movie BS and make movies about the horrors of child labor and the death & dismemberment that occured at these workplaces during that time.

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If heterosexualiy came in pill form, they'd have to tie me up & shove it down my throat. And then I'd try my level best time to barf it back up: I'd think about straight sex or something equally revolting. I love LGBT culture as much as women. AFAIC, "the heterosexual lifestyle" is a boring, claustrophobic exercise in primitive sexuality & in excessive gender role playing a la Edith & Archie Bunker in service to patriarchy & Jesus.

I will say that every GD LCR/G💀P-voting queer moron deserves to find the Patriot Front at their front door. Talk about a bunch of imbecilic Uncle Toms hoisted by their "Gays For Trump" petards! There is always a minority of homosexuals, mostly males, in fascist movements, & sooner or later their straight counterparts always turn on them, often killing them, as was the case in Nazi Germany. There is no such thing as gay-friendly authoritarianism & it's about time that the rt wingnut nimrods in the LGBT community face that fact.

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Same goes for "Blacks for Trump" or "Women for Trump". They are useful tools and will get turned on by these fascists at the first opportunity. It's all about the white "straight" "Christian" man for them. And how about I put "white" in quotes, too, because we all come from a common ancestor who certainly was not white.

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We are living through the biggest backlash in history. We made some strides in civil rights, women's rights and LGBT rights. Now, the rich white guys are so afraid of losing their dominance that they've gone batshit crazy with their guns, god and grievances. My biggest fear is the Fascist SCOTUS upholding every discriminatory piece of trash that's brought before them.

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Perhaps the establishment of a religion by Gays will get their attention. First, secure all the tax deductions and codify the religion into worshipers, believers and priests/priestess’-then make it evident what we worship🍆😻. That’ll get their attention😂.

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Beyond corporate shaming, this moment also calls for community and public awareness of our humanity and the violence that the Right is executing and advocating for. The changing hearts and minds approach/mission that achieved marriage equality should have never stopped because (and this may sound a little uncharitable) it's starting to feel that a lot of the progress we've made is basically concessions that society begrudgingly gave us because they wanted us to shut up about it and there was very little effort to actually renounce their prejudices and the perceived superiority of being cishetero. One has to look no further than the reactions towards a lot of LGBTQ representation in media and how people complain it's being "forced" on them because they had to see some same-sex affection on a TV show or movie the same way heterosexual affection has always been represented.

Kindly make sure your friends, family and social circles know what is happening and how it could affect your marriage, job, safety and liberty. Make sure they don't get swept into the pervasive campaign against transgender people and that they know these hateful campaigns are diversion tactics by a fascist movement that has no political platform to improve anyone's life at all. Make sure to kindly inform them, educate them and share resources with them when you see they might be led astray by bad faith actors who want to kill us. And remember that changing hearts and minds is slow process, but it is worth it. To quote a recent great post by Olayemi Olurin:

"If you’re approaching shifting social consciousness with the goal in mind that there’s any particular information that once armed with, people will be forced, in one debate, in one twitter interaction, in one dinner argument, to immediately denounce their entire worldview, things will feel hopeless because that’s just not realistic.

This is gradual work. We change our minds over time. We come to adopt radically new world views and schools of thought over time, often without even realizing it. The more information we’re confronted with, the more that’s revealed to us to contradict our old ways of thinking, over time, it begins to erode at that foundation until eventually something new grows in its place."

(https://olurinatti.substack.com/p/how-do-we-create-change-a-lesson?utm_source=%2Finbox&utm_medium=reader2)

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Very well said.

My wife and I, along with another lesbian couple were in a cruise recently. Two straight women friends of the other couple also joined us snd one night at dinner the subject of LGBTQ+ rights came up. The one woman got it totally, but the other one did not. She said she didn’t y sweats d why we had to “push your lives in my face.” My wife (who is much more diplomatic than I am with this type of comment) explained that we are not “pushing” anything in her face, that we are simply living our lives just as she is. She also very succinctly explained what will happen to us were marriage equality done away with. This woman was clueless as she said several times that we have the same rights she does. I think (hope) by the end of that dinner that she came away realizing that that heterosexual people have rights that they take for granted. It takes a village, as they say.

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I’m scared. Scared for my marriage, scared for our rights, scared for the entire LGBTQ community. I agree with Donnab that we’re on the cusp of a pseudo-Christian autocratic theocracy. Biden had the chance to expand the court and didn’t. Women’s rights are being driven back to the 50s and we are next. I’ll continue to protest and use my voice, but my guess is after they roll back LGBTQ rights, freedom of the press and freedom of speech are next in the crosshairs.

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I agree, Emmie. I'm so glad my son and his husband left this country and I wish my daughter and her wife would do the same. My husband and I are seniors and other countries don't want us; we're a drain on their medical system. My point is that the writing is on the wall. Yes, Emmie, Biden did not expand the court, the filibuster lives, and the court will slowly take away every single one of our rights as human beings. If tRump gets away with his sedition, then what's next?

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https://www.vice.com/en/article/akedna/texas-ag-ken-paxton-sodomy-laws

What are the Democrats going to do to protect us? They've done nothing! They've left us to the wolves.

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My hope is that this is the beginning of the end for homophobic legislation. Maybe 2-3 decades from now when constitutional amendments are passed with regards to LGBTQ+ and abortion rights are passed; the homophobic/pro-life crowd will wind up like the leaders of the temperance who were screaming, crying and wailing as the 21'st amendment was passed to end prohibition. But all this won't be possible until the Democrats grow a god damn spine.

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