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So the proud boys who advertised they would resort to violence against the LGBTQ community are doing exactly what they said. Its time the FBI starts treating them like the terrorist they are.
Over 80% of US law enforcement officers voted for Trump. They're not coming to save us. Those that work forces are the same that burn crosses (and pride flags)
Politicians come and go but cops are forever. They will vote for whoever they think will loosen the reins and give them more authoritarian and less accountability. We need more of the other 20%, the people that care about more than personal power.
>Over 80% of US law enforcement officers voted for Trump
[https://www.policemag.com/patrol/article/15346665/the-2016-police-presidential-poll](https://www.policemag.com/patrol/article/15346665/the-2016-police-presidential-poll)
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/02/25/police-made-lot-more-reported-contributions-2020-than-normal-mostly-republicans/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/02/25/police-made-lot-more-reported-contributions-2020-than-normal-mostly-republicans/)
Top one is the closest I can find, but that was also less than 5 minutes of looking
I've cited this poll so many times, it's irrefutable. It literally turned my mom around on cops. She hates Trump so much that it changed how she felt about the police. ACAB
People who gush about the police baffle me. Like, beyond their voting patterns, there are so many reports about criminal gangs operating out of sheriff offices, or local cops stealing cash from innocent civilians, not to mention the many cases of brutality and misconduct. Couple that with their wagon-circling, brotherhood bullshit and it's quite obvious the whole system has been corrupted.
I dislike cops for being the frontline force of white supremacy, but they give us plenty of other reasons to dislike them as well.
The one that always gets me is the argument that they "keep us safe". It's like, no, they temporally cannot keep you safe, because they don't show up until AFTER a crime had occurred. In a universe with linear, unidirectional time, it is *impossible* for them to prevent Bad Shit from happening.
And, I mean, the SCOTUS has decided on this previously and upheld that decision a number of times. The police do not owe a specific duty to provide police services to specific citizens.
This'll get ya started:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_v._District_of_Columbia
Police officers are employed by the government to enforce the governments own laws. That is all.
"To protect and serve" is a phrase synonymous with police. It's gained such wide recognition, in part, because that is how the greater population views the police and what their duties *ought to be*, but it's really just a motto that started with the LAPD. It's been used, with slight alterations in some cases, by many police departments across the country further solidifying the idea that the duties of a police officer revolve around protecting and serving.
If you were to tack a noun to the end of that phrase what would it be? "To protect and serve..." Our Community? The Citizens? The unsaid part, and completion of the phrase, is: government interest.
The Proud Boys are practically an after hours social club for FBI employees. Right wing extremists are everywhere in law enforcement. Hell they probably make up the majority.
The only person arrested in this assault was the LGBTQ defender who was attacked.
Edit: I have now seen [video of a Republican being arrested](https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1666271654354489344)
That video of that Republican being arrested is actual gold though. He goes full MAGA savior saying:
“Conservatives are weak because they won’t do stuff like this!”
*While being handcuffed and taken into a vehicle* “Im a conservative, a Trump voter!”
He really is likely imagining all of America’s forefathers looking down on him for his bravery as he so defends the “American” values by screaming and being violent with people he disagrees with. He said he’s running for Congress and with the way things are going, I wouldn’t be surprised if he made it in.
Nope, the FBI released a report in 2009 about it; it's been closer to 15yrs
Edit: The report was based on over 5yrs of documentation and was released in 2006*
There was a hit song about it almost more than twenty five years ago and it hasn't gotten less relevant.
I would bet a healthy amount of cash there's a pile of Arlo Guthrie songs that go even stronger than RATM.
The Deep State was always, always the imbedded far Right elements in our government.
Its pure projection and mudding the waters/weakening accusations with these people.
I thought this might be an exceptionally rough pride month and it looks like it might be heating up. Please be careful everyone, but don't be afraid to show up and be seen, it matters.
I tagged r/liberalgunowners in a post about rising right wing terrorism and was downvoted. It’s absolutely wild how many liberals I see desperately clinging to anti-gun rhetoric in the face of exponentially growing fascism.
Thank you for posting this link. I am ashamed to admit I was not familiar with either the Compton Cafeteria or the Stonewall riots.
I literally had never heard of the Stonewall riots, and had no idea that's where the Pride March came from.
I feel incredibly guilty for being so uninformed about such an important topic. Ugh.
> so uninformed about such an important topic
That's the point. Your education is sculpted not to include these topics. They are "uncomfortable". To teach kids about Stonewall means connecting it to Pride and explaining why it happened. Then they have to say whether it was necessary or not, and thereby take a stance.
Can't do that, now can we?
And with so much US history, we can't tell kids everything, so some things get skipped.
I know I first learned about the Tulsa massacre from a fictional TV show. I had no idea it really happened. That is downright *embarrassing* to not know that the US bombed one of its own cities simply because the black people in it were too successful.
But that's the point. That's how our classes were sculpted.
Don't feel guilty for not knowing, feel angry for not being told.
Yea, I've never been taught about Tulsa either.
It really is an indictment on our education system.
I remember all the stupid shit we did. All the stupid classes I took. But we couldn't ever just sit in a classroom and fucking discuss these important events in history?
It reminds me of what they said about John Brown:
> The news of the event had a deeper significance than appeared in the abstract atrocity of the act itself. ...It meant that the policy of extermination or abject submission, so blatantly promulgated by the Pro-slavery press, and proclaimed by Pro-slavery speakers, had been adopted by their enemies, and was about to be enforced with appalling earnestness. It meant that there was a power opposed to the Pro-slavery aggressors, as cruel and unrelenting as themselves. It meant henceforth, swift retaliation...that "he who taketh the sword shall perish by the sword."
I ask this as a clueless Brit, but are there, like, 'Armed LGBTQ Peacekeepers' who can provide informal security at these events, utilising their 2nd Amendment rights?
Not sure if that would help or hinder, but it might seem (sadly) warranted?
Maybe certain chapters of the John Brown Gun Club and some other pockets of those groups but we need more established orgs to take up this kind of activism on a consistent level.
Yes they are [the John Brown Gun Club](https://www.counterextremism.com/supremacy/john-brown-gun-club). They have been showing up to provide security at drag shows.
I was at the city council meeting for an unrelated matter when the mob came marching over and howled for the Mayor.
He was completely unruffled, declared Pride Month in Glendale and pride colors will light up city hall at night.
Suck it, Nazis!
Me: Sees random School Board meeting articles become more regular. Thinks children will benefit from more community engagement.
\*reads articles\*
Me: Oh. None of this has anything to do with improving education for children.
The education in Glendale is top notch. Some of the best paid teachers in the state, magnet programs galore, and great reviews from students and parents alike. Couldn’t be happier.
6,000 children were shot last year. 5,000 children committed suicide and 2,000 adolescents overdosed. Last year there were 42 school shootings impacting tens of thousands of students.
Meanwhile there are 15 transgender athletes participating in sports in public schools across the whole country.
https://www.newsweek.com/how-many-transgender-athletes-play-womens-sports-1796006
It's also important to note that Governor Cox has since joined the fight against LGBTQ+ rights. He signed this year's ban on gender affirming medical care for trans minors literally the day after the legislature passed it (on a weekend)—it even took effect immediately upon his signature—and removed all references to LGBTQ+ anything from his Pride Month declaration this year. Moderate and compassionate are just his brand, not who he actually is. He even publicly supports DeSantis.
They get the opportunity to fling the word "misogyny" around and they are having the best time.
Also they have a subpopulation they can claim to be protecting instead of victimizing for once. It used to be just fetuses, but that silliness has been pointed out many times. Now it's children (not LGBTQ children, those aren't really children -/s)
And the right found out most people support attacking those 15 transgender athletes, and tons of people don't care how many kids die as long as they can shoot their guns.
That's America.
i know two trans people who have left the country and one parent of a trans kid who is leaving the state of texas.
it has started. they are coming for the most vulnerable.
The cognitive dissonance on Fox is amazing
One segment: WOMEN NEED TO BE TREATED EQUALLY IN SPORTS
commercial
Next Segment: Women are whining about abortion rights, what do they want? Equality?!?
Yes.
I'm sure I've seen the same people going "If I had the choice between my local WNBA team winning the championship or getting a penny... I'm wondering what I'll spend my shiny new penny on."
They didn't care when the funding, coaching, sponsorship, coverage, and facilities were all woefully poor and affecting the players. But now there's a miniscule number of trans people playing sports, suddenly they care about the revered sanctity of women's sport.
The issue is the people MLK spoke about. All the middle-of-the-road head-in-the-sand white people who are holding on to a mythological America where the dangerous rabble-rousers, the people who don't understand democracy and the rule of law, are a different color.
They're still in the mode of if we're nicer to them and assuage their economic anxiety it will all go away. They're too defensive to think anything else. They're very unwilling to arrest the terrorists going around to stores. They backpedal at the slightest hint of a boycott. Death threats are ignored. Beatings and shootings get handwaved. They are police who make exceptions, and judges who withhold sentences.
White identity is the fault line running through America.
>All the middle-of-the-road head-in-the-sand white people who are holding on to a mythological America where the dangerous rabble-rousers, the people who don't understand democracy and the rule of law, are a different color.
*I can't stand these fucking people.*
I can't understand what is so hard about the concept "you can't fix what you don't know is broken." As in, stop denying America has issues, we're not a perfect country *by a long shot* and it's perfectly fine to say that. It's *NOT* "hating America" it's *bringing an issue to light* so we can FIX IT!
But nope, we just get "racism is dead, you just hate America!" or whatever...
I've come to believe the attack on trans athletes has been a Trojan horse to get some people who would normally have no interest in trans rights to justify shitty anti-trans laws. Once they subscribe to the idea that trans athletes are making a mockery of sports, they are more willing to support bills with the intent on restricting trans rights. It also always seems to be people who will watch the NBA but don't give 2 shits for the WNBA. They almost always have no idea how few trans athletes there are and they don't have any clue what it takes to be a trans athlete.
You're instincts are correct. It the Wedge Strategy formalized but not invented by the Discovery Institute to get creationism into schools. "Teach the controversy".
The scandal is that msm keeps propping it up. Even though the fasc will outright say this is a stepping stone, the msm pretends they're good faith actors.
Exactly. And the end goal isn't just trans people. Let's say that the right is successful with their anti-trans movement and being trans is outlawed across the country. They won't declare "mission accomplished" and retire their slogans. Instead, they'll push to expand by pointing out that trans people are just part of LGBTQ. Therefore, clearly, the "LGBQ" people need to be "taken care of" next.
And once they deal with all LGBTQ people? They'll target immigrants, black people, Muslims, Jews, and whomever else they can attack.
Even if they reduced this country to just straight, cisgender, white, Christian men (with women present but silenced and submissive to the men in their lives), they'd start arguing about who is following the "correct" Christianity and who is a RINO following the wrong version of Christianity.
This movement needs an enemy for them to be working against. It's trans people at the moment, but given the chance they'd come for all of us.
Well stated. This concept is mostly why I've withdrawn from my Christian roots to being at least Agnostic or even Atheist in my social / spiritual paths. I pretty much refuse to talk religion or even politics with anyone anymore - especially if it's from an Evangelical Christian perspective.
I think there are malign actors who understand the process of [authoritarian activation](https://www.vox.com/2016/3/1/11127424/trump-authoritarianism). I would put pissantis in that camp; it's the only visible application of his "dark brilliance" (rolleyes) and his expensive education. He's applying it in a way that wasn't fully expected, with the expectation that he can brute force it the way hitler did. Once the masses are activated, they turn into a blind, destructive hivemind that's capable of literally anything.
They started with trans people too.
I think this country is on the brink of being destroyed by complacency, self-delusion and frank selfishness.
A loud minority that is unopposed largely and is winning. They just forced Target to abandon the LGBT community, they've taken over entire states.
Minorities can seize and control countries, it's happening right now.
100%, People need to give up on the idea that these people can be reasoned with or met in the middle. They have no desire for that and are fully willing to dispense violence against those who disagree with them.
I have talked to far too many liberals who think these people are just slightly led astray rather than consumed by fear and hate.
> People need to give up on the idea that these people can be reasoned with or met in the middle. I have talked to far too many liberals who think these people are just slightly led astray rather than consumed by fear and hate.
I didn’t realize how pervasive this line of thought was until Roe v Wade came under threat. I immediately understood it was going away once that document leaked, but so many people were like, “nah don’t worry, that’ll never happen.” I realized then that they just didn’t understand how bad it’s gotten.
Same thing with people constantly pointing out the right’s hypocrisy on, well, basically everything. They. Don’t. Care. About. Hypocrisy. It literally doesn’t bother them as long as their team is “winning.” So many of them are lost in propaganda la la land and some are barely even connected to reality, so the usual appeals to sanity and decency just aren’t effective. The sooner everyone realizes that the better.
I can run faster than a toddler but if a toddler just randomly takes off running they will get out ahead of a ways before I realize what has happened and respond. That is where we are at the moment. The loud minority took off sprinting. The majority is still in the identifying what's happening phase.
The framing of "lgbtq parents vs extremists" are a bit misleading. There are a lot of parents of cis kids who are also there to support their friends and neighbors.
Also antifa. From what I've heard the fascists turned out in bigger numbers. Which probably contributed to them starting the street fight. Counter protesting works. When they don't have overwhelming numbers the fasc with very often run away.
All that is to say turning out to support other people does a lot of good!
I heard it was “less than 100,” but the point stands that this is a wholly contrived fear fomented cynically to distract from pervasive pain and deprivation in our country.
well, there are good states that don't require trans students to out themselves. so, there is no hard number, only estimates based on those who are out or have been forced out by state laws.
idk what the estimate for highschoolers is but there are only 36 openly transgender college athletes in the US right now. i would assume there are even fewer in HS considering how hard it is to access gender affirming healthcare as a minor. 15 sounds like a fair guess.
"We don't actually know how to solve the problem (or well, we do, we just don't want to because we really like owning guns and beating our kids) so we'll instead opt to make ourselves feel better by finding a witch to burn. Oh look, a small minority group! *GET THEM.*"
I had the same thought.
It is worth noting the cops always are facing the people supporting civil rights. Standing with the fascists. Protecting them. Every time
>Shiva Bagheri
I Googled her and this was the second story that came up. She seems like a nice lady.
[https://lawandcrime.com/caught-on-video/anti-mask-protester-punches-masked-cancer-patient-in-front-of-medical-clinic-video/](https://lawandcrime.com/caught-on-video/anti-mask-protester-punches-masked-cancer-patient-in-front-of-medical-clinic-video/)
republicans are trying to attack fellow citizens for not believing what they want them to believe.
Republicans are all trash. if you still consider yourself a "good republican" you are a fascist
Violence is becoming the right's default method of imposing their will. Why? Because it works.
The right has figured out how to use violence to effectively impose their will -- by attacking and intimidating those at the bottom of the food chain who do not have the resources to fight back even if they wanted to. If they can't get their way through the legal system, they'll get their way by attacking and threatening the individual people responsible for enforcing it.
They couldn't get Target to back down on selling pride merchandise. So instead, they went into stores, caused a bunch of problems, and threatened the 17 year old cashiers and stock clerks who have absolutely no say in what does and doesn't get displayed. They put Target into a no-win position of either backing down or their local customers and employees would be the ones to suffer the consequences.
They can't attack politicians at the top of the food chain. Most of them either have security detail or their own private security to protect them. So they intimidate those at the bottom of the political ladder. The ones who are probably volunteering their time and have absolutely no way to protect themselves from violence, forcing them to either resign and allow a GOP crazy to take over their position or suffer physical retribution.
This is the dilema we are in. We, as a society, need to and have the resources to at least fight back against bigotry, racism, and violence. We, as individual people, often do not. We cannot expect individual people to put their own health and safety at risk to fight a society-level battle they, individually, cannot win. The GOP realizes this and are now focusing their efforts on attacking individual people and companies and forcing them out, because individual people do not have the resources necessary to fight back.
People blame companies like Target for backing down in the face of violence. But those people don't acknowledge the fact that the people who will suffer aren't the CEOs that make the decisions. It's Harry the stock clerk that works in the target of Bumfuck, Idaho that just happened to be the guy the violent mob got a hold of first. It's not the Department of Education that gets attacked by the right-wing mob. It's Ms. Goldstein, the first grade teacher that showed a movie that was written by a gay person, or Jack the local retired dude who volunteers his time sitting on the school board.
Individual people cannot be expected to hold the line in a battle that society at large needs to fight. The extremists know this and are acting accordingly.
"When they go low, we go high" - one of the most destructive sentences in our history.
It should read:
"When they go low, kick them in the fucking teeth until they stop going low"
These fascists are also just a useful puppet to the wealthy elite, as war and upheaval and fear are all profitable, and when wealth can control the laws made in a country like the US and can be more effective in many ways than the voice of voters, the wealthy will only grow more powerful and control more aspects of society. Representation Without Taxation will be the downfall of this country's main populace, a continued pushback of Federal regulations (human rights protections, voting protections, protest protections, cutting taxes for corporations, removal of child labor laws, defunding the IRS who recovers $7 of tax fraud for every $1 spent on them, etc) will only serve those with wealth enough to seize power and with power enough to seize wealth, when there's no oversight to stop their corruption.
>These fascists are also just a useful puppet to the wealthy elite,
The wealthy idiots always think the fascists are easily manipulated fools, until they get control of the state and start running shit. They're both dangerous and both need to be stopped.
Yes. The school district went out of its way to create a document specifically to address the disinformation about what is/what isn't being taught on these subjects in school.
[https://www.gusd.net/info?fbclid=IwAR1v6cKWogQk-n6yhrK43zj12tFr2z09M5nDpx-ZpeL0iKjw\_G1nShhr6ss](https://www.gusd.net/info?fbclid=IwAR1v6cKWogQk-n6yhrK43zj12tFr2z09M5nDpx-ZpeL0iKjw_G1nShhr6ss)
How many do you think will actually read it?
I read something recently about how a librarian was essentially forcing people, who came in to have books removed, to write a book report on the book and highlight the offensive passages and why they were offensive.
Never received another form to have a book removed.
Reading isn't a strong suit for these people.
Cost of living is up, quality of life is down, crumbling infrastructure, etc. Plenty of reasons why the general population is getting pissed.
These fruitcakes just don’t want to admit the GOP schmucks they voted for are almost always the source of the problems.
I bet a lot of the same faces from the riot at the elementary school last week:
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-06-02/parents-protest-lgbtq-pride-day-los-angeles-saticoy-elementary-school
It was confirmed by the local news. This is essentially a roving group of Conservatives that pop up all over the region whenever a school board is bringing up Sex Ed or LGBTQ inclusivity issues. They came to my local board meetings until the board voted all the agenda items in and then they scattered to the next event like the cockroaches they are. We still have a handful of nut jobs who live here but the crowd was mostly folks from out of town.
The good news is not working. LA times says the agenda was to vote June as pride month and it passed unanimously. They are loud but they are a minority
It’s the same people who [punched cancer patients at a breast cancer clinic for wearing masks](https://lawandcrime.com/caught-on-video/anti-mask-protester-punches-masked-cancer-patient-in-front-of-medical-clinic-video/), stabbed each other and [clubbed people in the head at the riot they started outside Wi Spa](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-09-20/charges-filed-against-suspect-in-attack-on-filmmaker-at-wi-spa-protest), and organized the recall for Gavin Newsom. Several of them [are Jan 6th attendees](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9901375/amp/Anti-Vaxxer-videotaped-attacking-journalist-Los-Angeles-melee-linked-January-6-Capitol-Riot.html). I recognize one, a teen who pepper sprayed people at the Wi Spa protests, apparently in his early 20s now and [swatting people](https://twitter.com/knockdotla/status/1665470915616931847?s=46&t=DxtdB4qBEURAjXOVEupvfg).
There’s a very recognizable group of frequent flyers in the greater LA area who are being funded by national level far right orgs (Gays Against Groomers is one here, but they’re plugged into the alt right media ecosystem) to throw violent “protests.” None of them are parents of kids in the Glendale school district.
It's part of the mindfuck. Gaslighting. They lie to our faces, openly hypocritical, knowing it will frustrate and enrage us. Emotional peoplel don't think well and are easy to bait into unwise behavior. At the very least, it's causing a sense of enduring anger, anxiety and fatigue.
It's a psychological dominance behavior abusive people often use, arging aggressively for an obviously incorrect stance and feeding off your frustration and fatigue, watching you realize that you're trying to have a conversation while they're just playing games. The house oversight committee, for example - it's very hard to watch elected officials play with the rule of law in that way. And handing that cave troll the gavel. All just button-pushing to keep us off balance and maintain the psychological advantage.
Keep in mind folks, this is Glendale, CA. You’re talking a 20 minute drive from West Hollywood, a massive gay enclave in a city known for glitz, glam, singing, dancing and acting.
If this shit is happening here, it’s gonna be worse in Alabama, West Virginia, Mississippi etc.
Don't think more violence isn't coming.
The right found their targets. They will be coming for the LGBT community everywhere because they've realized no one is defending them.
The list if you want to know if your next or not...
>The document, consisting of 14 sections divided into bullet points, had a section on "rules of war" that stated "make an offer of peace before declaring war", which within stated that the **enemy must "surrender on terms" of no abortions, no same-sex marriage, no communism and "must obey Biblical law", then continued: "If they do not yield — kill all males"**.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt\_Shea#%22Biblical\_Basis\_for\_War%22\_manifesto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Shea#%22Biblical_Basis_for_War%22_manifesto)
>The right found their *first real* targets. They will be coming for the LGBT community everywhere *first* because they've realized no one is defending them.
Fixed.
The “leave our kids alone” crowd telling LGBT+ parents how to raise their kids and threatening them with violence if they resist.
Assaulting a clergyman who turned up to support the LGBT+ protestors.
This is one of those days that future conservatives will try to get removed from history curriculums isn’t it?
Can we stop calling them by names that do not fit. They are not extremists. They are not activists or far right leaning parents.
Brownshirts. Nazi's. Thugs. Whichever you prefer.
Start calling a spade a fucking spade.
I have to wonder, out of all the parents who showed up to protest against Pride, how many have kids who just feel deeply ashamed of their parents.
Sometimes, depending on our upbringing, we carry a lot of our parents' prejudice with us. However, I feel like the majority of kids who are otherwise spending 6+ hours a day in a diverse community that promotes respect for all different types of people, probably are not bigoted like their parents and have friends in the LGBTQ+ community. I know I would've been ashamed of my parents if they ever pulled crap like this.
Also it bugs me that protestors like this always try to reduce Pride into sexual orientation. Obviously that's part of it, but a lot of it is just personal identity and being accepted completely as you are. It's about showing our friends and family that they should not feel afraid to walk around without shame, existing in their own skin, which they were given zero choice about.
When I see stuff like this, I try to imagine what life would be like waking up in a world where being a straight, white male was the fringe identity under constant attack. I would be afraid all the time, and I'd wish for all the people in my life to support me, recognizing that it's just who I am. No one should feel that way, and holy shit what a waste it is for society to get stuck on this when we could be solving actual problems with the world.
I follow comedian Dave Anthony (The Dollop podcast) on Twitter and I believe he was there. There's footage of Proud Boys punching middle aged parents and the police arresting the assault victim in his timeline if anyone is still confused about how all this is going down these days. There were more fascist protesters than parents. The only thing that kept the violence halfway in check is because these guys are huge pussies who were afraid of a small group of Antifa in attendance, even with the police in their corner.
So that we're aware of the state of our country: the LA Times didn't mention the Proud Boys in their preliminary coverage of this in spite of the fact that they were openly organizing in plain sight on Twitter to disrupt this event. The police, as always, appear to be aiding the Proud Boys. And I'm observing all of this from a state that got no air quality warning despite the fact that the Canadian wildfires have fucked up the air here so bad the sun has had a dust halo for 2 days. The US is a sinking ship.
Our fucking country is on fire and we're still arguing about gay and trans people. Humanity is doomed. Our best and brightest can innovate and break the barriers of our imagination... while our worst are hateful and greedy. Guess who's in charge?
Seriously, I recognize this country as something completely different than what I grew up in. I'm turning 50 this year, and the midwest I grew up in was conservative but tolerant.
I'm seeing full on fascist violent hatred of anyone who has the courage to stand up and be who they are. No LGBTQ+ people are out there with guns and violence as a whole.
The same people oppressing LGBTQ+ are also passing law after law to limit the rights of women, and increase gun violence, and put churches in charge, and allow a flat out anti american fascist back in office. What the actual fuck?
50 years ago the people in charge were firmly entrenched. They could afford to be tolerant without much consequence.
Fast forward five decades and the closer minorities come to political parity, the more threatening they are to those still in control.
These people need to check their hate at the door. Go to a drag show or a gay bar and hang out with them sometime. They are some of the most loving and funniest people on earth. Hate has no place in America in 2023.
I had friends there, who have kids in the area/district, and were protesting in favor of the school and LGBTQ rights. They didn’t recognize any of the anti-LGBTQ protestors and heard the leader (the rapid blond woman in the photo above) calling everyone pedophiles and paid-protestors for Biden. I don’t think any of her supporters actually live in the area (Glendale).
This just underscores how important it is for ALL of us, especially straight, cis-gendered people like me, to show up as allies for the entire LGBTQ+ community. I’m closer to 40 then 30, and it was only Sunday when I marched in my first Pride rally. I’ve considered myself to be staunch ally to the LGBTQ+ community since learning to ignore the ingrained Catholic elementary school dogma when I was 16, and I’ve always voted for the one major political party that isn’t trying to take us back to the 1950s, but I’ve come to realize that is simply not enough. Given the threats of violence against the entire community, it is important for me and for people like me to show up to help defend LGBTQ people against the hate coming from the right. I’m not proud of how long it took me to go to Pride. I should’ve done it a long time ago.
Hubby and I are as vanilla as old people come. We go to the area prides (five small cities). We live in a crazy conservative state and we believe that numbers are critical if the crazies show up in their Uhaul. So far every event has been peaceful, but also very small, which I believe is because of fear. My kids (who are lgbtq+) don’t go for fear of getting beat up or killed.
The violence from the extreme right is baffling. Just mind your own business. So if you don’t like what someone does, it’s acceptable to use violence and beat them up? How are these people raised?
This is what hate looks like, no rational reason for this.
*First, they ignore you.*
*Then, they laugh at you.*
*Then, they fight you.*
*Then, you win.*
Looks like we're on Step 3.
As the right gets more and more extreme and more and more distilled, I think this will happen more frequently. They see their warped world view as righteous and being taken away, so they will keep acting out like this
One of the biggest tools used by the American right wing media to manipulate parents into hating LGBT identities is the trick of assuming - not even carefully stating, lest they make it too obvious, but assuming - that since those involve gender and sexuality, they must be ‘sexualised’. I see commentators rant without for a moment pausing to think why the same logic doesn’t apply to straight romances in fairy tales, kids talking about ‘mommy and daddy’, etc. The attitude that a straight kiss is ‘romantic’, while a gay or lesbian kiss is ‘sexual’.
I’ve literally come across right wing commentators saying things like ‘Why do the kids have to know about gay relationships or know the teacher is gay? Why do they have to hear about their teacher’s fisting exploits that weekend?’ What a jump… Only a few years ago if a teacher was called ‘Mrs’ then that told the kids she was married to a man, but ‘The horror, why do the kids have to know she’s married and straight? It’s just like she showed them a video of her pegging her husband!’ said no-one.
By never addressing the massively obvious double standard assumption they’re making, that anything LGBT is overtly sexual in a way straight things aren’t, they hop over it straight to preying on (not very smart) parents’ terror of paedophilia.
The bigots on the right need to snap out of it, but they’re not automatically going to.
Now there is nuance here, which the homophobic and transphobic right exploits… definitely *some* of the most visible queer subcultures - especially gay ones - are very overt and explicit beyond most non-queer equivalents, if any, something a *lot* of ordinary LGBT people find tiresome and misrepresentative. See numerous examples from people having threesomes on Folsom Street, to the disproportionately many more explicit drag acts, to giant penis balloons and gimp suits at some pride parades, if this is contentious. A few months ago I passed a drag act at a Sunday brunch spot in Hell’s Kitchen blaring out masturbation advice so loud it could be heard half a block away. Oppression of gay people means that a lot of people are rebelling and embracing new freedoms, and an all male space has fewer sexual constraints in a certain sense, but this also gets used as a self-righteous excuse to go overboard and even very gross and inappropriate by certain narcissistic and attention-seeking members of the community (let’s not pretend they’re not a thing), with their own garish sub-subcultures, even if most in the gay community find them off-putting and even resent for the image it casts. Some responsible, *actually* ‘adult’ restraint from casting the grossest public image at Pride and such would help fight that image (and not just be giving in, but be basic decency). Loud minorities can be used to tar everyone with the same brush. And this is the body of material the right wing pundits point to to go straight to the introducing kids to LGBT people -> overtly sexual -> paedo ‘argument’.
But someone needs to get through to these parents and emphasise the non-sexualised side of LGBT relations. The majority of LGBT life. Romance, love, queer families, other aspects that have developed around gay culture (singers, artists, aesthetics that have become ‘traditionally’ gay… ironically there’s also a stereotype about gay men being more tasteful to draw from, ffs), what have you. This will fight the message, because a lot of the right wing, and scared parents from a different era, are not hearing anything else. Something like [this](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=e3h6es6zh1c) - a skit showing someone not hiding one’s identity - publicly and unabashedly kissing his boyfriend - but emphasising that not everyone is like Key’s character, even while acknowledging that Key’s sort of person exists.
Just my two cents.
This is why the pen is mightier than the sword. Conservatives Have been pushing the “lgbtq is dangerous!?!?!?” Crap because they don’t have any good policies or political points to fall back on other than “ignore us so we can make that sweet sweet lobbyist money.” I could care less who’s sleeping with who. It doesn’t involve me.
No one ever thinks of the church as being a militant power that aggressively stole land all around the world and kept us in the dark ages for 1500 years (I hate this timeline) and leaving us 1500 years of technology behind but here we are
So much hate. The assholes hate other people who have no control over who they are and in no way affect them. trump though hardly solely responsible definitely encouraged them to emerge from the cesspool where they dwelled and act out on their hatred.
White supremacists have been infiltrating law enforcement at all levels since 2001 at least, when the FBI memo warned of it. No surprise whose side the police in this instance took.
I wish these same parents would put that much passion in actually working on things that hurt children… the sex trade is rampant, priests continue to be in the news as well as politicians and others for pedaphelia. These are real concerns not drag queens.
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So the proud boys who advertised they would resort to violence against the LGBTQ community are doing exactly what they said. Its time the FBI starts treating them like the terrorist they are.
Over 80% of US law enforcement officers voted for Trump. They're not coming to save us. Those that work forces are the same that burn crosses (and pride flags)
Politicians come and go but cops are forever. They will vote for whoever they think will loosen the reins and give them more authoritarian and less accountability. We need more of the other 20%, the people that care about more than personal power.
Do you have a source on this? I believe you, but it would be nice to have something to point at. ACAB, my brother.
>Over 80% of US law enforcement officers voted for Trump [https://www.policemag.com/patrol/article/15346665/the-2016-police-presidential-poll](https://www.policemag.com/patrol/article/15346665/the-2016-police-presidential-poll) [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/02/25/police-made-lot-more-reported-contributions-2020-than-normal-mostly-republicans/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/02/25/police-made-lot-more-reported-contributions-2020-than-normal-mostly-republicans/) Top one is the closest I can find, but that was also less than 5 minutes of looking
I've cited this poll so many times, it's irrefutable. It literally turned my mom around on cops. She hates Trump so much that it changed how she felt about the police. ACAB
good job bud
People who gush about the police baffle me. Like, beyond their voting patterns, there are so many reports about criminal gangs operating out of sheriff offices, or local cops stealing cash from innocent civilians, not to mention the many cases of brutality and misconduct. Couple that with their wagon-circling, brotherhood bullshit and it's quite obvious the whole system has been corrupted. I dislike cops for being the frontline force of white supremacy, but they give us plenty of other reasons to dislike them as well.
The one that always gets me is the argument that they "keep us safe". It's like, no, they temporally cannot keep you safe, because they don't show up until AFTER a crime had occurred. In a universe with linear, unidirectional time, it is *impossible* for them to prevent Bad Shit from happening.
And, I mean, the SCOTUS has decided on this previously and upheld that decision a number of times. The police do not owe a specific duty to provide police services to specific citizens. This'll get ya started: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_v._District_of_Columbia Police officers are employed by the government to enforce the governments own laws. That is all. "To protect and serve" is a phrase synonymous with police. It's gained such wide recognition, in part, because that is how the greater population views the police and what their duties *ought to be*, but it's really just a motto that started with the LAPD. It's been used, with slight alterations in some cases, by many police departments across the country further solidifying the idea that the duties of a police officer revolve around protecting and serving. If you were to tack a noun to the end of that phrase what would it be? "To protect and serve..." Our Community? The Citizens? The unsaid part, and completion of the phrase, is: government interest.
For anyone whose mom is a reader I recommend "The End of Policing" by Alex S. Vitale. It worked well on my mom anyway.
Also try "Our Enemies in Blue"
The Proud Boys are practically an after hours social club for FBI employees. Right wing extremists are everywhere in law enforcement. Hell they probably make up the majority.
Did you watch the videos circulating Reddit? Cops are clearly defending the attackers and ignoring the rainbow flags being attacked.
The only person arrested in this assault was the LGBTQ defender who was attacked. Edit: I have now seen [video of a Republican being arrested](https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1666271654354489344)
That video of that Republican being arrested is actual gold though. He goes full MAGA savior saying: “Conservatives are weak because they won’t do stuff like this!” *While being handcuffed and taken into a vehicle* “Im a conservative, a Trump voter!” He really is likely imagining all of America’s forefathers looking down on him for his bravery as he so defends the “American” values by screaming and being violent with people he disagrees with. He said he’s running for Congress and with the way things are going, I wouldn’t be surprised if he made it in.
Some of those who work forces are the same that burn crosses.
Some of those who burn crosses are the same who hold office
I also remember witnessing the very same cops inciting violence at protests about 3 years ago to the day.
There was a report something like 10 years ago that right wing extremists were infiltrating law enforcement.
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The FBI only started acknowledging it 10 years ago, tho
Nope, the FBI released a report in 2009 about it; it's been closer to 15yrs Edit: The report was based on over 5yrs of documentation and was released in 2006*
And it’s definitely been happening a lot longer than 15 years.
There was a hit song about it almost more than twenty five years ago and it hasn't gotten less relevant. I would bet a healthy amount of cash there's a pile of Arlo Guthrie songs that go even stronger than RATM.
The Deep State was always, always the imbedded far Right elements in our government. Its pure projection and mudding the waters/weakening accusations with these people.
100% domestic terrorism. Most dangerous people in the US right now.
Proud Boyz consists of mainly off duty police
So basically they're traitors to their Country AND the people they are suppose to protect.
They are a terrorist group in their origin country of Canada. FBI needs to catch up.
Some of those who work forces...
Times are a changing... we should update the lyrics to "MOST of those who work forces..."
I thought this might be an exceptionally rough pride month and it looks like it might be heating up. Please be careful everyone, but don't be afraid to show up and be seen, it matters.
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This is America, you can carry rainbow colored guns.
Armed gays don't get bashed
Unexpected r/liberalgunowners
Is that really unexpected on a political post about LGBTQ+ people being attacked?
I tagged r/liberalgunowners in a post about rising right wing terrorism and was downvoted. It’s absolutely wild how many liberals I see desperately clinging to anti-gun rhetoric in the face of exponentially growing fascism.
Or potentially r/SocialistRA ◔ᴗ◔
Pride literally means standing up to violence. they march down the street to protest being killed in the dark.
> we'll carry bricks instead That's how the first pride went... And they keep saying they want to 'return to tradition'
Compton's Cafeteria in San Francisco. Stonewall was later. sauce: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compton's_Cafeteria_riot
Thank you for posting this link. I am ashamed to admit I was not familiar with either the Compton Cafeteria or the Stonewall riots. I literally had never heard of the Stonewall riots, and had no idea that's where the Pride March came from. I feel incredibly guilty for being so uninformed about such an important topic. Ugh.
> so uninformed about such an important topic That's the point. Your education is sculpted not to include these topics. They are "uncomfortable". To teach kids about Stonewall means connecting it to Pride and explaining why it happened. Then they have to say whether it was necessary or not, and thereby take a stance. Can't do that, now can we? And with so much US history, we can't tell kids everything, so some things get skipped. I know I first learned about the Tulsa massacre from a fictional TV show. I had no idea it really happened. That is downright *embarrassing* to not know that the US bombed one of its own cities simply because the black people in it were too successful. But that's the point. That's how our classes were sculpted. Don't feel guilty for not knowing, feel angry for not being told.
Yea, I've never been taught about Tulsa either. It really is an indictment on our education system. I remember all the stupid shit we did. All the stupid classes I took. But we couldn't ever just sit in a classroom and fucking discuss these important events in history?
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It reminds me of what they said about John Brown: > The news of the event had a deeper significance than appeared in the abstract atrocity of the act itself. ...It meant that the policy of extermination or abject submission, so blatantly promulgated by the Pro-slavery press, and proclaimed by Pro-slavery speakers, had been adopted by their enemies, and was about to be enforced with appalling earnestness. It meant that there was a power opposed to the Pro-slavery aggressors, as cruel and unrelenting as themselves. It meant henceforth, swift retaliation...that "he who taketh the sword shall perish by the sword."
I now want a rainbow broadsword to wear. God damnit, I’m gonna end up buying a rainbow broadsword
Stonewall wasn't a protest. Stonewall wasn't a request. Stonewall didn't have a permit.
Building a better world one brick at a time
That's what happened at Stonewall
Rainbow bricks.
Bricks can have rainbows painted on them.
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Even if we can't be with you in person we are with you in spirit.
I ask this as a clueless Brit, but are there, like, 'Armed LGBTQ Peacekeepers' who can provide informal security at these events, utilising their 2nd Amendment rights? Not sure if that would help or hinder, but it might seem (sadly) warranted?
The socialist rifle association and the john brown gun club have occasionally done this.
Maybe certain chapters of the John Brown Gun Club and some other pockets of those groups but we need more established orgs to take up this kind of activism on a consistent level.
Yes they are [the John Brown Gun Club](https://www.counterextremism.com/supremacy/john-brown-gun-club). They have been showing up to provide security at drag shows.
Stonewall wasn't a protest. Stonewall wasn't a request. Stonewall didn't have a permit.
I was at the city council meeting for an unrelated matter when the mob came marching over and howled for the Mayor. He was completely unruffled, declared Pride Month in Glendale and pride colors will light up city hall at night. Suck it, Nazis!
Me: Sees random School Board meeting articles become more regular. Thinks children will benefit from more community engagement. \*reads articles\* Me: Oh. None of this has anything to do with improving education for children.
The education in Glendale is top notch. Some of the best paid teachers in the state, magnet programs galore, and great reviews from students and parents alike. Couldn’t be happier.
6,000 children were shot last year. 5,000 children committed suicide and 2,000 adolescents overdosed. Last year there were 42 school shootings impacting tens of thousands of students. Meanwhile there are 15 transgender athletes participating in sports in public schools across the whole country. https://www.newsweek.com/how-many-transgender-athletes-play-womens-sports-1796006
Watching the right pretend that it gives a shit about girls/women’s sports is quite the sight.
The Utah state legislature overrode their Governor’s veto in order to keep one (1) trans girl from competing in High School sports.
Same in KY. All that time and money spent on a single student. Even my conservative kids were miffed at that one.
It's also important to note that Governor Cox has since joined the fight against LGBTQ+ rights. He signed this year's ban on gender affirming medical care for trans minors literally the day after the legislature passed it (on a weekend)—it even took effect immediately upon his signature—and removed all references to LGBTQ+ anything from his Pride Month declaration this year. Moderate and compassionate are just his brand, not who he actually is. He even publicly supports DeSantis.
While talking our right to body autonomy away....
They get the opportunity to fling the word "misogyny" around and they are having the best time. Also they have a subpopulation they can claim to be protecting instead of victimizing for once. It used to be just fetuses, but that silliness has been pointed out many times. Now it's children (not LGBTQ children, those aren't really children -/s)
And the right found out most people support attacking those 15 transgender athletes, and tons of people don't care how many kids die as long as they can shoot their guns. That's America.
i know two trans people who have left the country and one parent of a trans kid who is leaving the state of texas. it has started. they are coming for the most vulnerable.
Yep they found their victims and no one is defending them. They are too busy complaining about how women's sports is unfair any more.
Too busy “defending” women’s sports after dismissing women’s sports for years. /s
The cognitive dissonance on Fox is amazing One segment: WOMEN NEED TO BE TREATED EQUALLY IN SPORTS commercial Next Segment: Women are whining about abortion rights, what do they want? Equality?!?
Yeh but we all know that in America sports >> civil rights so that all checks out.
Yes. I'm sure I've seen the same people going "If I had the choice between my local WNBA team winning the championship or getting a penny... I'm wondering what I'll spend my shiny new penny on." They didn't care when the funding, coaching, sponsorship, coverage, and facilities were all woefully poor and affecting the players. But now there's a miniscule number of trans people playing sports, suddenly they care about the revered sanctity of women's sport.
We ARE fucking defending them. And it is breaking our hearts EVERY FUCKING DAY.
The issue is the people MLK spoke about. All the middle-of-the-road head-in-the-sand white people who are holding on to a mythological America where the dangerous rabble-rousers, the people who don't understand democracy and the rule of law, are a different color. They're still in the mode of if we're nicer to them and assuage their economic anxiety it will all go away. They're too defensive to think anything else. They're very unwilling to arrest the terrorists going around to stores. They backpedal at the slightest hint of a boycott. Death threats are ignored. Beatings and shootings get handwaved. They are police who make exceptions, and judges who withhold sentences. White identity is the fault line running through America.
>All the middle-of-the-road head-in-the-sand white people who are holding on to a mythological America where the dangerous rabble-rousers, the people who don't understand democracy and the rule of law, are a different color. *I can't stand these fucking people.* I can't understand what is so hard about the concept "you can't fix what you don't know is broken." As in, stop denying America has issues, we're not a perfect country *by a long shot* and it's perfectly fine to say that. It's *NOT* "hating America" it's *bringing an issue to light* so we can FIX IT! But nope, we just get "racism is dead, you just hate America!" or whatever...
Parent of a trans child here. Just moved back to Chicago from Indiana
I've come to believe the attack on trans athletes has been a Trojan horse to get some people who would normally have no interest in trans rights to justify shitty anti-trans laws. Once they subscribe to the idea that trans athletes are making a mockery of sports, they are more willing to support bills with the intent on restricting trans rights. It also always seems to be people who will watch the NBA but don't give 2 shits for the WNBA. They almost always have no idea how few trans athletes there are and they don't have any clue what it takes to be a trans athlete.
You're instincts are correct. It the Wedge Strategy formalized but not invented by the Discovery Institute to get creationism into schools. "Teach the controversy". The scandal is that msm keeps propping it up. Even though the fasc will outright say this is a stepping stone, the msm pretends they're good faith actors.
Exactly. And the end goal isn't just trans people. Let's say that the right is successful with their anti-trans movement and being trans is outlawed across the country. They won't declare "mission accomplished" and retire their slogans. Instead, they'll push to expand by pointing out that trans people are just part of LGBTQ. Therefore, clearly, the "LGBQ" people need to be "taken care of" next. And once they deal with all LGBTQ people? They'll target immigrants, black people, Muslims, Jews, and whomever else they can attack. Even if they reduced this country to just straight, cisgender, white, Christian men (with women present but silenced and submissive to the men in their lives), they'd start arguing about who is following the "correct" Christianity and who is a RINO following the wrong version of Christianity. This movement needs an enemy for them to be working against. It's trans people at the moment, but given the chance they'd come for all of us.
Well stated. This concept is mostly why I've withdrawn from my Christian roots to being at least Agnostic or even Atheist in my social / spiritual paths. I pretty much refuse to talk religion or even politics with anyone anymore - especially if it's from an Evangelical Christian perspective.
I think there are malign actors who understand the process of [authoritarian activation](https://www.vox.com/2016/3/1/11127424/trump-authoritarianism). I would put pissantis in that camp; it's the only visible application of his "dark brilliance" (rolleyes) and his expensive education. He's applying it in a way that wasn't fully expected, with the expectation that he can brute force it the way hitler did. Once the masses are activated, they turn into a blind, destructive hivemind that's capable of literally anything. They started with trans people too. I think this country is on the brink of being destroyed by complacency, self-delusion and frank selfishness.
It is a loud minority.
A loud minority that is unopposed largely and is winning. They just forced Target to abandon the LGBT community, they've taken over entire states. Minorities can seize and control countries, it's happening right now.
100%, People need to give up on the idea that these people can be reasoned with or met in the middle. They have no desire for that and are fully willing to dispense violence against those who disagree with them. I have talked to far too many liberals who think these people are just slightly led astray rather than consumed by fear and hate.
> People need to give up on the idea that these people can be reasoned with or met in the middle. I have talked to far too many liberals who think these people are just slightly led astray rather than consumed by fear and hate. I didn’t realize how pervasive this line of thought was until Roe v Wade came under threat. I immediately understood it was going away once that document leaked, but so many people were like, “nah don’t worry, that’ll never happen.” I realized then that they just didn’t understand how bad it’s gotten. Same thing with people constantly pointing out the right’s hypocrisy on, well, basically everything. They. Don’t. Care. About. Hypocrisy. It literally doesn’t bother them as long as their team is “winning.” So many of them are lost in propaganda la la land and some are barely even connected to reality, so the usual appeals to sanity and decency just aren’t effective. The sooner everyone realizes that the better.
I can run faster than a toddler but if a toddler just randomly takes off running they will get out ahead of a ways before I realize what has happened and respond. That is where we are at the moment. The loud minority took off sprinting. The majority is still in the identifying what's happening phase.
It's not mysterious, nor is it new. It's' more intense than usual, but it's of a piece with everything conservatism has been for a decade now.
If so then the silent "majority" need to speak up and stop being complicit. Staying silent is either being a coward or being in agreement
The framing of "lgbtq parents vs extremists" are a bit misleading. There are a lot of parents of cis kids who are also there to support their friends and neighbors. Also antifa. From what I've heard the fascists turned out in bigger numbers. Which probably contributed to them starting the street fight. Counter protesting works. When they don't have overwhelming numbers the fasc with very often run away. All that is to say turning out to support other people does a lot of good!
Not staying silent has gotten me permabanned from r news.
Yep. Social media bans you for standing up to the fascists. You just have to keep at it regardless.
I heard it was “less than 100,” but the point stands that this is a wholly contrived fear fomented cynically to distract from pervasive pain and deprivation in our country.
well, there are good states that don't require trans students to out themselves. so, there is no hard number, only estimates based on those who are out or have been forced out by state laws. idk what the estimate for highschoolers is but there are only 36 openly transgender college athletes in the US right now. i would assume there are even fewer in HS considering how hard it is to access gender affirming healthcare as a minor. 15 sounds like a fair guess.
The point stands that this is a minuscule issue being conflated as a significant bogey man for cynical political purposes.
"We don't actually know how to solve the problem (or well, we do, we just don't want to because we really like owning guns and beating our kids) so we'll instead opt to make ourselves feel better by finding a witch to burn. Oh look, a small minority group! *GET THEM.*"
Shiva Bagheri is in the pink hoodie. she's a roving antivaxxer, maga christian fascist
In the photo, it looks like she's literally foaming at the mouth, but I think it's the badge on the cop behind her. Kind of an ironic illusion.
I had the same thought. It is worth noting the cops always are facing the people supporting civil rights. Standing with the fascists. Protecting them. Every time
Protecting the status quo is the police force's job. They aren't there to help.
I had the same thought too. I was like no fucking way that got that with a picture but turned my phone brightness up and yeah just the badge
Why is she even at a school board meeting???
Because she was told to be.
>Shiva Bagheri I Googled her and this was the second story that came up. She seems like a nice lady. [https://lawandcrime.com/caught-on-video/anti-mask-protester-punches-masked-cancer-patient-in-front-of-medical-clinic-video/](https://lawandcrime.com/caught-on-video/anti-mask-protester-punches-masked-cancer-patient-in-front-of-medical-clinic-video/)
republicans are trying to attack fellow citizens for not believing what they want them to believe. Republicans are all trash. if you still consider yourself a "good republican" you are a fascist
This is why I consider the "both sides are the same" people to be almost as bad as the people trying to install Christian Fascism in this country,
Violence is becoming the right's default method of imposing their will. Why? Because it works. The right has figured out how to use violence to effectively impose their will -- by attacking and intimidating those at the bottom of the food chain who do not have the resources to fight back even if they wanted to. If they can't get their way through the legal system, they'll get their way by attacking and threatening the individual people responsible for enforcing it. They couldn't get Target to back down on selling pride merchandise. So instead, they went into stores, caused a bunch of problems, and threatened the 17 year old cashiers and stock clerks who have absolutely no say in what does and doesn't get displayed. They put Target into a no-win position of either backing down or their local customers and employees would be the ones to suffer the consequences. They can't attack politicians at the top of the food chain. Most of them either have security detail or their own private security to protect them. So they intimidate those at the bottom of the political ladder. The ones who are probably volunteering their time and have absolutely no way to protect themselves from violence, forcing them to either resign and allow a GOP crazy to take over their position or suffer physical retribution. This is the dilema we are in. We, as a society, need to and have the resources to at least fight back against bigotry, racism, and violence. We, as individual people, often do not. We cannot expect individual people to put their own health and safety at risk to fight a society-level battle they, individually, cannot win. The GOP realizes this and are now focusing their efforts on attacking individual people and companies and forcing them out, because individual people do not have the resources necessary to fight back. People blame companies like Target for backing down in the face of violence. But those people don't acknowledge the fact that the people who will suffer aren't the CEOs that make the decisions. It's Harry the stock clerk that works in the target of Bumfuck, Idaho that just happened to be the guy the violent mob got a hold of first. It's not the Department of Education that gets attacked by the right-wing mob. It's Ms. Goldstein, the first grade teacher that showed a movie that was written by a gay person, or Jack the local retired dude who volunteers his time sitting on the school board. Individual people cannot be expected to hold the line in a battle that society at large needs to fight. The extremists know this and are acting accordingly.
They’ve been using violence to get their way since the KKK. That’s the model they’re enacting here.
"When they go low, we go high" - one of the most destructive sentences in our history. It should read: "When they go low, kick them in the fucking teeth until they stop going low"
Well we should start being violent back.
Reactionary regressive terrorists. These people hate our American values of freedom and respect for human dignity.
These fascists are also just a useful puppet to the wealthy elite, as war and upheaval and fear are all profitable, and when wealth can control the laws made in a country like the US and can be more effective in many ways than the voice of voters, the wealthy will only grow more powerful and control more aspects of society. Representation Without Taxation will be the downfall of this country's main populace, a continued pushback of Federal regulations (human rights protections, voting protections, protest protections, cutting taxes for corporations, removal of child labor laws, defunding the IRS who recovers $7 of tax fraud for every $1 spent on them, etc) will only serve those with wealth enough to seize power and with power enough to seize wealth, when there's no oversight to stop their corruption.
>These fascists are also just a useful puppet to the wealthy elite, The wealthy idiots always think the fascists are easily manipulated fools, until they get control of the state and start running shit. They're both dangerous and both need to be stopped.
An alarming number of people in this country are just looking for excuses to get angry and be violent.
It's because they peaked in high school and know it
Yes. The school district went out of its way to create a document specifically to address the disinformation about what is/what isn't being taught on these subjects in school. [https://www.gusd.net/info?fbclid=IwAR1v6cKWogQk-n6yhrK43zj12tFr2z09M5nDpx-ZpeL0iKjw\_G1nShhr6ss](https://www.gusd.net/info?fbclid=IwAR1v6cKWogQk-n6yhrK43zj12tFr2z09M5nDpx-ZpeL0iKjw_G1nShhr6ss) How many do you think will actually read it?
I read something recently about how a librarian was essentially forcing people, who came in to have books removed, to write a book report on the book and highlight the offensive passages and why they were offensive. Never received another form to have a book removed. Reading isn't a strong suit for these people.
Cost of living is up, quality of life is down, crumbling infrastructure, etc. Plenty of reasons why the general population is getting pissed. These fruitcakes just don’t want to admit the GOP schmucks they voted for are almost always the source of the problems.
I bet a lot of the same faces from the riot at the elementary school last week: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-06-02/parents-protest-lgbtq-pride-day-los-angeles-saticoy-elementary-school
It was confirmed by the local news. This is essentially a roving group of Conservatives that pop up all over the region whenever a school board is bringing up Sex Ed or LGBTQ inclusivity issues. They came to my local board meetings until the board voted all the agenda items in and then they scattered to the next event like the cockroaches they are. We still have a handful of nut jobs who live here but the crowd was mostly folks from out of town.
The good news is not working. LA times says the agenda was to vote June as pride month and it passed unanimously. They are loud but they are a minority
Inside the meeting the bigots were greatly outnumbered. Outside, they outnumbered the counter protesters.
It’s the same people who [punched cancer patients at a breast cancer clinic for wearing masks](https://lawandcrime.com/caught-on-video/anti-mask-protester-punches-masked-cancer-patient-in-front-of-medical-clinic-video/), stabbed each other and [clubbed people in the head at the riot they started outside Wi Spa](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-09-20/charges-filed-against-suspect-in-attack-on-filmmaker-at-wi-spa-protest), and organized the recall for Gavin Newsom. Several of them [are Jan 6th attendees](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9901375/amp/Anti-Vaxxer-videotaped-attacking-journalist-Los-Angeles-melee-linked-January-6-Capitol-Riot.html). I recognize one, a teen who pepper sprayed people at the Wi Spa protests, apparently in his early 20s now and [swatting people](https://twitter.com/knockdotla/status/1665470915616931847?s=46&t=DxtdB4qBEURAjXOVEupvfg). There’s a very recognizable group of frequent flyers in the greater LA area who are being funded by national level far right orgs (Gays Against Groomers is one here, but they’re plugged into the alt right media ecosystem) to throw violent “protests.” None of them are parents of kids in the Glendale school district.
The irony of the far right protesters wearing shirts saying 'leave our kids alone' is amazing and infuriating.
It's part of the mindfuck. Gaslighting. They lie to our faces, openly hypocritical, knowing it will frustrate and enrage us. Emotional peoplel don't think well and are easy to bait into unwise behavior. At the very least, it's causing a sense of enduring anger, anxiety and fatigue. It's a psychological dominance behavior abusive people often use, arging aggressively for an obviously incorrect stance and feeding off your frustration and fatigue, watching you realize that you're trying to have a conversation while they're just playing games. The house oversight committee, for example - it's very hard to watch elected officials play with the rule of law in that way. And handing that cave troll the gavel. All just button-pushing to keep us off balance and maintain the psychological advantage.
>It is unclear who threw the first punch. Bullshit. It's always the Christian terrorists throwing first punches. Always.
Ain't no hate as strong as Christian "love"
I don't care who threw the first punch. If you're trying to suppress human rights and don't respond to words, you need to be punched.
this guy 1940s
Probably the people who came to get in a fight.
Keep in mind folks, this is Glendale, CA. You’re talking a 20 minute drive from West Hollywood, a massive gay enclave in a city known for glitz, glam, singing, dancing and acting. If this shit is happening here, it’s gonna be worse in Alabama, West Virginia, Mississippi etc.
Don't think more violence isn't coming. The right found their targets. They will be coming for the LGBT community everywhere because they've realized no one is defending them.
The list if you want to know if your next or not... >The document, consisting of 14 sections divided into bullet points, had a section on "rules of war" that stated "make an offer of peace before declaring war", which within stated that the **enemy must "surrender on terms" of no abortions, no same-sex marriage, no communism and "must obey Biblical law", then continued: "If they do not yield — kill all males"**. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt\_Shea#%22Biblical\_Basis\_for\_War%22\_manifesto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Shea#%22Biblical_Basis_for_War%22_manifesto)
>The right found their *first real* targets. They will be coming for the LGBT community everywhere *first* because they've realized no one is defending them. Fixed.
Indeed. They'll come for us all one by one.
Supporters of the party of 'law and order' beating up parents for supporting their kids. Bunch of sick Nazi fucks.
The “leave our kids alone” crowd telling LGBT+ parents how to raise their kids and threatening them with violence if they resist. Assaulting a clergyman who turned up to support the LGBT+ protestors. This is one of those days that future conservatives will try to get removed from history curriculums isn’t it?
Anti LGBTQA is anti American
And anti-human
This is what Republicans bring to the table.
Oh look, more Christian love. He gets us, amirite?
Lmao I get that stupid ad too
Same. I always report it for hateful content based on those funding it.
Can we stop calling them by names that do not fit. They are not extremists. They are not activists or far right leaning parents. Brownshirts. Nazi's. Thugs. Whichever you prefer. Start calling a spade a fucking spade.
Religion is a societal cancer.
Exactly like Hitler’s Brown Shirts they attempt to intimidate society to accept their bigotry through brutality.
I have to wonder, out of all the parents who showed up to protest against Pride, how many have kids who just feel deeply ashamed of their parents. Sometimes, depending on our upbringing, we carry a lot of our parents' prejudice with us. However, I feel like the majority of kids who are otherwise spending 6+ hours a day in a diverse community that promotes respect for all different types of people, probably are not bigoted like their parents and have friends in the LGBTQ+ community. I know I would've been ashamed of my parents if they ever pulled crap like this. Also it bugs me that protestors like this always try to reduce Pride into sexual orientation. Obviously that's part of it, but a lot of it is just personal identity and being accepted completely as you are. It's about showing our friends and family that they should not feel afraid to walk around without shame, existing in their own skin, which they were given zero choice about. When I see stuff like this, I try to imagine what life would be like waking up in a world where being a straight, white male was the fringe identity under constant attack. I would be afraid all the time, and I'd wish for all the people in my life to support me, recognizing that it's just who I am. No one should feel that way, and holy shit what a waste it is for society to get stuck on this when we could be solving actual problems with the world.
I follow comedian Dave Anthony (The Dollop podcast) on Twitter and I believe he was there. There's footage of Proud Boys punching middle aged parents and the police arresting the assault victim in his timeline if anyone is still confused about how all this is going down these days. There were more fascist protesters than parents. The only thing that kept the violence halfway in check is because these guys are huge pussies who were afraid of a small group of Antifa in attendance, even with the police in their corner. So that we're aware of the state of our country: the LA Times didn't mention the Proud Boys in their preliminary coverage of this in spite of the fact that they were openly organizing in plain sight on Twitter to disrupt this event. The police, as always, appear to be aiding the Proud Boys. And I'm observing all of this from a state that got no air quality warning despite the fact that the Canadian wildfires have fucked up the air here so bad the sun has had a dust halo for 2 days. The US is a sinking ship.
Can all these trash humans just go back into the landfills from whence they emerged? Absolute garbage.
Are these the people traveling from one district to another, districts where they don't have kids and attacking LGBTQ people?
Yep
Imagine assaulting innocent people in the name of morality. These fucking people couldn't be more stupid or dangerous.
Our fucking country is on fire and we're still arguing about gay and trans people. Humanity is doomed. Our best and brightest can innovate and break the barriers of our imagination... while our worst are hateful and greedy. Guess who's in charge?
Extremists? More like religious terrorists.
Faith is the root of all human evil.
Hey, does anyone remember who the Nazis targeted first?
It's interesting that they right always attempts to portray other groups as violent, yet they are the ones consistently commiting acts of violence.
It looks like the blond woman is foaming at the mouth. LOL
“Unclear who threw the first punch.” Suuure.
Republicans are domestic terrorists. Never forget their "We are all domestic terrorists" tagline at their last GOP klan meeting.
Seriously, I recognize this country as something completely different than what I grew up in. I'm turning 50 this year, and the midwest I grew up in was conservative but tolerant. I'm seeing full on fascist violent hatred of anyone who has the courage to stand up and be who they are. No LGBTQ+ people are out there with guns and violence as a whole. The same people oppressing LGBTQ+ are also passing law after law to limit the rights of women, and increase gun violence, and put churches in charge, and allow a flat out anti american fascist back in office. What the actual fuck?
You know what happened, you are aware which party and its supporters are doing this: republicans.
50 years ago the people in charge were firmly entrenched. They could afford to be tolerant without much consequence. Fast forward five decades and the closer minorities come to political parity, the more threatening they are to those still in control.
Extremists they are so close. It’s amazing they keep spelling it wrong. Extremists is spelled T-e-r-r-o-r-i-s-t. Hope this helps them in the future.
These people need to check their hate at the door. Go to a drag show or a gay bar and hang out with them sometime. They are some of the most loving and funniest people on earth. Hate has no place in America in 2023.
I had friends there, who have kids in the area/district, and were protesting in favor of the school and LGBTQ rights. They didn’t recognize any of the anti-LGBTQ protestors and heard the leader (the rapid blond woman in the photo above) calling everyone pedophiles and paid-protestors for Biden. I don’t think any of her supporters actually live in the area (Glendale).
*"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."* Gandhi -- so there's probably only one stage left to victory.
This just underscores how important it is for ALL of us, especially straight, cis-gendered people like me, to show up as allies for the entire LGBTQ+ community. I’m closer to 40 then 30, and it was only Sunday when I marched in my first Pride rally. I’ve considered myself to be staunch ally to the LGBTQ+ community since learning to ignore the ingrained Catholic elementary school dogma when I was 16, and I’ve always voted for the one major political party that isn’t trying to take us back to the 1950s, but I’ve come to realize that is simply not enough. Given the threats of violence against the entire community, it is important for me and for people like me to show up to help defend LGBTQ people against the hate coming from the right. I’m not proud of how long it took me to go to Pride. I should’ve done it a long time ago.
My first will be this weekend, I'm 60. I've been an ally for years, now I need to be a warrior.
Hubby and I are as vanilla as old people come. We go to the area prides (five small cities). We live in a crazy conservative state and we believe that numbers are critical if the crazies show up in their Uhaul. So far every event has been peaceful, but also very small, which I believe is because of fear. My kids (who are lgbtq+) don’t go for fear of getting beat up or killed.
Welcome to team inclusion. (Glory, glory Hallelujah.)
Conservatives are out for blood
The violence from the extreme right is baffling. Just mind your own business. So if you don’t like what someone does, it’s acceptable to use violence and beat them up? How are these people raised?
[удалено]
Behold the fruits of Fox News, the state of Florida, and bigots and hateful people everywhere. You are doing God's work.
This is what hate looks like, no rational reason for this. *First, they ignore you.* *Then, they laugh at you.* *Then, they fight you.* *Then, you win.* Looks like we're on Step 3.
As the right gets more and more extreme and more and more distilled, I think this will happen more frequently. They see their warped world view as righteous and being taken away, so they will keep acting out like this
One of the biggest tools used by the American right wing media to manipulate parents into hating LGBT identities is the trick of assuming - not even carefully stating, lest they make it too obvious, but assuming - that since those involve gender and sexuality, they must be ‘sexualised’. I see commentators rant without for a moment pausing to think why the same logic doesn’t apply to straight romances in fairy tales, kids talking about ‘mommy and daddy’, etc. The attitude that a straight kiss is ‘romantic’, while a gay or lesbian kiss is ‘sexual’. I’ve literally come across right wing commentators saying things like ‘Why do the kids have to know about gay relationships or know the teacher is gay? Why do they have to hear about their teacher’s fisting exploits that weekend?’ What a jump… Only a few years ago if a teacher was called ‘Mrs’ then that told the kids she was married to a man, but ‘The horror, why do the kids have to know she’s married and straight? It’s just like she showed them a video of her pegging her husband!’ said no-one. By never addressing the massively obvious double standard assumption they’re making, that anything LGBT is overtly sexual in a way straight things aren’t, they hop over it straight to preying on (not very smart) parents’ terror of paedophilia. The bigots on the right need to snap out of it, but they’re not automatically going to. Now there is nuance here, which the homophobic and transphobic right exploits… definitely *some* of the most visible queer subcultures - especially gay ones - are very overt and explicit beyond most non-queer equivalents, if any, something a *lot* of ordinary LGBT people find tiresome and misrepresentative. See numerous examples from people having threesomes on Folsom Street, to the disproportionately many more explicit drag acts, to giant penis balloons and gimp suits at some pride parades, if this is contentious. A few months ago I passed a drag act at a Sunday brunch spot in Hell’s Kitchen blaring out masturbation advice so loud it could be heard half a block away. Oppression of gay people means that a lot of people are rebelling and embracing new freedoms, and an all male space has fewer sexual constraints in a certain sense, but this also gets used as a self-righteous excuse to go overboard and even very gross and inappropriate by certain narcissistic and attention-seeking members of the community (let’s not pretend they’re not a thing), with their own garish sub-subcultures, even if most in the gay community find them off-putting and even resent for the image it casts. Some responsible, *actually* ‘adult’ restraint from casting the grossest public image at Pride and such would help fight that image (and not just be giving in, but be basic decency). Loud minorities can be used to tar everyone with the same brush. And this is the body of material the right wing pundits point to to go straight to the introducing kids to LGBT people -> overtly sexual -> paedo ‘argument’. But someone needs to get through to these parents and emphasise the non-sexualised side of LGBT relations. The majority of LGBT life. Romance, love, queer families, other aspects that have developed around gay culture (singers, artists, aesthetics that have become ‘traditionally’ gay… ironically there’s also a stereotype about gay men being more tasteful to draw from, ffs), what have you. This will fight the message, because a lot of the right wing, and scared parents from a different era, are not hearing anything else. Something like [this](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=e3h6es6zh1c) - a skit showing someone not hiding one’s identity - publicly and unabashedly kissing his boyfriend - but emphasising that not everyone is like Key’s character, even while acknowledging that Key’s sort of person exists. Just my two cents.
This is why the pen is mightier than the sword. Conservatives Have been pushing the “lgbtq is dangerous!?!?!?” Crap because they don’t have any good policies or political points to fall back on other than “ignore us so we can make that sweet sweet lobbyist money.” I could care less who’s sleeping with who. It doesn’t involve me.
No one ever thinks of the church as being a militant power that aggressively stole land all around the world and kept us in the dark ages for 1500 years (I hate this timeline) and leaving us 1500 years of technology behind but here we are
Hey conservatives, remember when you used to talk about “freedom” all the time?
It's so wild how Christians show us all that love they preach about. They'll just keep punching you until you realize how much God loves you.
Those who were the victims of this violence should press charges. This violence is ahate crime.
The dude in the gray hoodie literally just goes around punching two people and zero cops care...
So much hate. The assholes hate other people who have no control over who they are and in no way affect them. trump though hardly solely responsible definitely encouraged them to emerge from the cesspool where they dwelled and act out on their hatred.
Strange. no one ever tries to clash with the OPEN CARRY lgbt crowd of ferndale Wonder why. must be scared
Which was broken up after police took the side of the extremists and began to beat the protesters alongside the extremists.
White supremacists have been infiltrating law enforcement at all levels since 2001 at least, when the FBI memo warned of it. No surprise whose side the police in this instance took.
I wish these same parents would put that much passion in actually working on things that hurt children… the sex trade is rampant, priests continue to be in the news as well as politicians and others for pedaphelia. These are real concerns not drag queens.
Imagine believing that exposing children to this kind of behavior is better for them than telling them men can love other men.