I Didn't Say It

Mallory McMorrow, Michigan Democrat State Senator, defending herself from an attack from Republican State Senator Lana Theis:

“I am the biggest threat to your hollow, hateful scheme. Because you can’t claim that you are targeting marginalized kids in the name of ‘parental rights’ if another parent is standing up to say No. You say, ‘She’s a groomer. She supports pedophilia. She wants children to believe that they were responsible for slavery and to feel bad about themselves because they’re white.' I am a straight, white, Christian, married, suburban mom who knows that the very notion that learning about slavery or redlining or systemic racism somehow means that children are being taught to feel bad or hate themselves because they are white is absolute nonsense.”

This is what Democrats need to do. Stand the fuck up and speak the fuck up and call out this lunacy as nothing but a fear tactic meant to scare up votes for the GOP.

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Charlee Corra, child of Roy Disney, Walt’s grandnephew, has come out as transgender—pronouns are he/him and they/them—to speak out against the anti-LGBTQ+ bills that Disney originally failed to condemn:

“I had very few openly gay role models, and I certainly didn’t have any trans or nonbinary role models. I didn’t see myself reflected in anyone, and that made me feel like there was something wrong with me. That’s what makes legislation like the “Don’t Say Gay” law and other anti-trans laws so harmful … They can’t learn about their community and their history at school, or play sports or use the bathroom they want to use?”

It’s all about simple respect, taking people as they are, whether you fully understand it or not.

At the HRC gala, when Corra publicly came out, ha also announced that the Disney family would be matching donations of up to $250,000 at the annual Human Rights Campaign gala in March. Last week, Corra’s father Roy upped the ante to $500,000 in the fundraising email.

Maybe the family can help erase the harm that the company inflicted on the LGBTQ+ community.

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Ian Mackey, openly gay Missouri lawmaker, called out state Representative Chuck Basye’s new bill that allows school districts to vote on banning trans student athletes from youth sports, and brought up Basye’s own gay brother:

“Your brother wanted to tell you he was gay, didn’t he? Why would he think [his family wouldn’t accept him]? I would have been afraid to tell you too. I would have been afraid to tell you to because of stuff like this because this is what you're focused on. This is the legislation you want to put forward. This is what consumes your time ... I was afraid of people like you growing up. Thank God I made it out … I think every day about the kids who are still there who haven't made out, who haven't escaped from this kind of bigotry. Gentlemen, I'm not afraid of you anymore, because you're gonna lose. You may win this today, but you're going to lose.”

They’ve lost already when you realize how they shut people out, their own family members, for a vote, for a political position; they sold their souls for power.

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Tom Suozzi, New York Democrat state Representative, who is running against Governor Kathy Hochul in the Democratic primary, has called a controversial new Florida law aimed at discouraging discussions about sexuality and gender in classrooms “reasonable”:

“I think it’s a very reasonable law not to try to get kids in kindergarten to be talking about sex. I wish it wouldn’t become such a hot button issue where people are just attacking each other—it’s just common sense. I’m very much in favor of equal rights, I’m very much in favor of treating gay people fairly and treating them like the human beings they are.”

And he thinks denying the right to exist in discussions is equal? No one, no one, is saying that kindergartners will be discussing sex, but if the topic of sexual orientation comes up—which, keep in mind, is not about sex, but orientation—simply explain that sometimes men love women, and sometimes men love men, and women love women..

It saddens me that a Democrat is either this ignorant or this pandering.

UPDATE: Suozzi wants to make clear that he doesn’t support Florida’s controversial new law restricting discussion of sexual orientation in schools, despite saying some aspects of it were “reasonable” and made “common sense.”

Uh huh. But that’s exactly what you said, until the public caught wind of it, and now you’re changing your tune.

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Frank Niceley, a Tennessee GOP state Senator, who voted in favor of a bill to cut down on homeless camps spoke on the Senate floor about how Adolf Hitler is an example of hope for the homeless:

“I haven’t given y’all a history lesson in a while and I wanted to give a little history on homelessness. In 1910 Hitler decided to live on the streets for a while. So for two years Hitler lived on the streets and practiced his oratory and his body language and how to connect with the masses. And then went on to lead a life that got him in the history books.”

Last I checked he wasn’t in the history books for his eloquence, but for the murder of 11,000,000 human beings.

Seriously, Tennessee, this is what you elect to office? That explains your backwoods, back water, toothless cousin fucking state.

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Mayim Bialik, on how she was asked to "tone it down" while hosting, citing how her gender plays a role:

"I think as a woman there's a special consideration, because when women sound definitive or stern it's a different message than when men sound definitive or stern. And a lot of times when people will say, 'Oh, you sound like you think you know it all,' I'll think, 'Gosh, that's just because I'm using an affirmative voice.' One of the neat things about having a woman in this role is it's bringing up a lot of questions about the labels we put on those things. One of my biggest challenges is I'm so impressed that people know the answers that they've asked me to tone down how excited I am when people get them right, which I think is a great note to get."

Personally, I like Bialik on Jeopardy, even more than I like Ken Jennings, and to think they asked her to ‘tone it down’ seems highly misogynistic.

God forbid a woman should sound definitive.

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Quote Of The Day

Tom Suozzi, a practicing Catholic who came out against same-sex marriage in favor of civil unions in his primary for governor against Eliot Spitzer in 2006, has had a change of heart, and has uttered three words you rarely, if ever, hear from a politician:

"I was wrong. I have listened to many well-reasoned and well-intentioned arguments both for and against same-sex marriage. And as I talked to gays and lesbians and heard their stories of pain, discrimination and love, my platitudes about civil unions began to ring hollow. I have struggled to find the solution that best serves the common good. I now support same-sex marriage. This is a subject of great debate before the New York State Legislature (although the legislators there are a little distracted right now), and I hope that same-sex civil marriage will be approved within the month...Many civil marriages are not considered 'holy matrimony' by religious institutions because they do not conform to the rules of the religious institution. Those marriages have not challenged religious liberty. We must see that civil marriage, which has always been separate from religious marriage, will remain so.

But most important, gays and lesbians have suffered too long from legal discrimination, social marginalization and even violence. They are entitled to clear recognition of their equal status as citizens of a country that is founded on the principle that we are all inherently worthy."