LGBTQ news and entertainment
In this week’s podcast:
• Hate crime charges have been filed against the Miami Beach Pride day attackers
• Oklahoma has the dubious distinction of having the first anti-LGBTQ state law of 2018
• Arrow and Teen Wolf star Colton Haynes has filed for divorce after six months
• The Trump administration continues its assault on the transgender community
• RuPaul is set to star in a new Netflix sitcom, AJ and the Queen
All that and more on this episode of The Randy Report
America, America, America – 2018 was doing pretty well so far when it comes to new legislation and the LGBTQ community. No new state bills attacking the community had been signed into law this year.
Until now.
In Oklahoma, Gov. Mary Fallin has put her signature on Senate Bill 1140 which effectively legalizes LGBTQ discrimination by faith-based adoption and foster care agencies which receive public funds.
This is the first new anti-LGBTQ law in the United States in 2018. What a dubious achievement.
The new law makes it legal to deny placing children in LGBTQ homes based on “religious objections.” Simply declaring a religious or moral opposition to same-sex marriage would allow a faith-based agency the legal right to refuse to place a child in same-sex homes.
The legislation could also withhold child placement with single or divorced people if their social status were to offend an adoption agency’s religious beliefs.
LGBTQ advocates quickly criticized the new law.
“It is shameful that Gov. Mary Fallin has signed into law a patently discriminatory law that targets children,” said JoDee Winterhof, Senior Vice President of Policy and Political Affairs at the Human Rights Campaign. “Gov. Fallin has cemented her legacy, siding with discrimination and the legislature in throwing kids under the bus to create a ‘license to discriminate’ against LGBTQ Oklahomans.”
And Troy Stevenson, Executive Director of Freedom Oklahoma, issued a statement which read, in part: “While we are deeply disappointed that Governor Fallin choose to sign discrimination into law, we are more concerned about the children – desperately looking for homes – that will be harmed by this disgraceful legislation.”
“Our message to Governor Fallin, and the lawmakers who championed this travesty is simple: we’ll see you in court!” added Stevenson.
Supporters of the new law say these faith-based agencies will have to shut their doors if forced to place children into LGBT homes.
Currently, five states – Mississippi, Michigan, Virginia, Texas, Alabama, South Dakota and North Dakota — have similar laws on the books, although Michigan’s law is being challenged in the federal courts thanks to the ACLU.
Kansas’s governor has a similar anti-LGBTQ adoption bill waiting on his desk.
In this week’s LGBTQ headlines:
• Oklahoma and Kansas state legislatures pass anti-LGBTQ adoption laws
• A new survey of over 40,000 Americans shows acceptance for same-sex marriage has hit 61%
• Ireland moves to ban so-called “conversion therapy”
• The ‘boys of summer’ are back and most Major League Baseball teams have scheduled special LGBT Pride Nights (head over to Outsports.com for a complete list of MLB Pride Nights)
• Drag queen Ada Vox exits American Idol with her head held high
• Tony Kushner’s Angels In America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes became the most Tony-nominated play in history as the 2018 Tony Award nominations were announced
• Adam Rippon came to slay on the premiere of the all-athletes season of Dancing with the Stars
All that and more on this episode of The Randy Report
We were looking good there, America.
Four months into 2018 and no new anti-LGBTQ legislation on the state level. Until this week.
Both Oklahoma and Kansas have passed bills that will allow faith-based adoption and foster care services to legally discriminate against LGBT folks while using public funds.
In Oklahoma, the House approved the measure by a vote of 56-21 on Thursday this week after the state Senate had previously voted to advance the bill.
Kansas followed just hours later as the Senate approved the bill 24-15 at 1:51 a.m. Friday after the House passed it Thursday night, 63-58.
The legislation had been sitting for weeks before lawmakers revived and passed it in a matter of hours.
Both bills now head to their respective governors’ desks to be signed into law.
More from The Advocate:
The bills could allow discrimination against many types of prospective parents who offend an agency’s religious beliefs — single parents, divorced and remarried parents, interfaith couples, and more, in addition to LGBT individuals and same-sex couples, Winterhof pointed out. But Oklahoma Senate Majority Leader Greg Treat, who authored his state’s legislation, mentioned that when agencies express objections to certain placements, they often cite opposition to same-sex marriage, the Family Equality Council noted.
Opponents of both states’ measures said the legislation would make the already-overloaded child welfare system even more so by making fewer people eligible to become foster or adoptive parents. But supporters said the religious protections would encourage more faith-based agencies to work with the states.
Texas, Alabama, South Dakota, Virginia, and Michigan have similar laws in place, NBC reports. Michigan’s is being challenged in court by the American Civil Liberties Union.
What’s truly sad is this reduces the number of possible adoptive homes for children who really need loving parents.
Bigotry at the expense of children.
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• Handsome dog, right? The pup’s a cutie, too 😉
• The most anti-LGBTQ Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives barely eked out a win over his primary opponent in Illinois. He now faces (no exaggeration) a Republican whose a devout Neo-Nazi.
• Cell phone video shows a gay teen in Oklahoma getting his head bashed into a school locker by a bully.
• For the first time in decades the National Rifle Associations has a net negative approval rating.
• Included in the undercover recordings of Cambridge Analytica executives was one of the top ranking bosses suggesting spreading gay rumors about candidates was an effective method of bringing them down.
• Political analyst Stu Rothenberg spoke to several insiders who predict the Democrats will win between 30-45 seats in the House during the fall mid-term elections, more than the 24 seats needed to take control.
• In a somber Instagram post, insanely handsome Superman star Henry Cavill shares the news that his facial hair is, sadly, no more. #ShavedButNotForgotten
A bill working its way through the Oklahoma legislature would allow religious-based adoption agencies to discriminate against same-sex couples, single people and non-Christians.
The Oklahoma state Senate just passed Senate Bill 1140 by a vote of 35-9.
According to the Associated Press, SB1140 would “cover child-placing agencies that block adoptive parents who do not meet the agencies’ religious or moral standards.”
Check that last part – “moral standards.”
The bill now heads to the state House where the Republicans hold a huge majority of 73-28.
Clearly, the effect of the legislation will be to keep children from loving homes.
The Human Rights Campaign issued a statement which read in part:
“Bills such as SB 1140 are a clear attempt to solve a ‘problem’ that simply doesn’t exist while enshrining anti-LGBTQ discrimination into law,” said Marty Rouse, national field director for HRC. “If lawmakers in Oklahoma truly wanted to help find permanent homes for the children in the child welfare system, they wouldn’t be focusing on narrowing the pool of potential parents, which only hurts those kids. HRC calls on the Oklahoma House to reject this needless, harmful bill.”
Research consistently shows that LGBTQ youth are overrepresented in the foster care system, as many have been rejected by their families of origin because of their LGBTQ status, and are especially vulnerable to discrimination and mistreatment while in foster care. SB 1140 will only exacerbate the challenges faced by LGBTQ young people.
This bill is similar to SB 375, which passed in the Georgia State Senate last month.
Since Donald Trump’s election, several states including Alabama, South Dakota and Texas have passed similar laws.
On Thursday, former Oklahoma state Sen. Ralph Shortey, who pleaded guilty to child sex trafficking in connection to meeting a 17-year-old boy at a motel for paid sexual favors, asked Judge Timothy Deguisti to release him pending sentencing.
According to police investigations, the teenager apparently needed money and offered sex acts in exchange for money. Shortey showed up with marijuana and condoms.
Shortey’s lawyer based the request for release predicated on Shortey not being a flight risk due to having a wife and his four children who are all homeschooled.
Judge Deguisti denied the request and had Shortey taken into custody.
Shortey, an anti-LGBT, “family values” Republican acted as Donald Trump’s Oklahoma state campaign chair during the 2016 presidential election.
Some news items you might have missed:
• InstaHunk of the Day: Sean Andrew Sanders
• A Navy pilot drew a big penis in the sky and everyone is talking about it.
• If you ever get down about a mistake or misstep you’ve made lately, remind yourself that at least you’re not this guy:
• Congrats to Allison Ikley-Freeman, an openly lesbian married woman who was just elected to Oklahoma state senate in a district that Donald Trump won in last year’s presidential election.
• Remember this Australian couple who said they would divorce if marriage equality came to Australia? No word yet on whether they intend on following through on that…
• “I love my body/I love my skin/I am a goddess/I am a queen,” sings Jessie J on her latest single, “Queen.” The self-empowerment-themed mid-tempo is from her upcoming album R.O.S.E. (Realizations, Obsessions, Sex and Empowerment). Listen below.
Why does it seem it’s always the “family-values Christians” that end up being that which they attack so viciously?
You’ll recall former state Sen. Ralph Shortey was found in a room at a Motel 6 with a teenage boy on March 9. It was later deduced that he had offered the boy cash in exchange for “sexual stuff.”
Apparently, “sexual stuff” meant having bare back sex and ejaculating in the teen’s “boy p***y.”
From NBC affiliate KFOR in Oklahoma City:
Ralph Shortey, a Republican from Oklahoma City who represented the state’s 44th senate district, was charged last week in Cleveland County with three counts relating to child prostitution. He turned himself in last Thursday and has been out on bond since.
He faces three felony counts of engaging in child prostitution, engaging in prostitution within 1,000 feet of a church and transporting a minor for prostitution or lewdness. Friday was his initial court appearance and the judge entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
Court documents lay out lurid messages that were sent between the teen and Shortey. WARNING: The court documents in the link below contain GRAPHIC, DISTURBING and ADULT language. Reader discretion is strongly advised.
Shortey served as Donald Trump’s state campaign chair during the GOP primary.
Married to a woman with three children, the former state senator faces up to 25 years in prison.
You can read the affidavit below. Click the image to enlarge. Warning – ADULT language.
It’s not often we get good news regarding LGBTs in Oklahoma.
But this past Thursday, the Republican-controlled state Senate voted down a bill that would have blocked local municipalities from passing their own ordinances that would protect LGBTs from housing and employment discrimination.
Oklahoma has no statewide protections for LGBT citizens.
Republican state Sen. Josh Brecheen, who authored the bill, said his intent was to protect the “sincerely held religious beliefs” of Oklahomans. But the state Senate gave the legislation a thumbs down by a vote of 25-18.
Clearly those lawmakers have seen what happened over in North Carolina and Indiana when anti-LGBT laws were passed.
A second measure, which would allow businesses to discriminate against LGBTs, was withdrawn after Brecheen’s bill went down.