I agree with Walter—the ruling should have been broader. Laws violate the First Amendment when they force people to print or utter words in which they disbelieve.
Author Archives: Stephen H. Miller
That’s Not Funny!
LGBTQ hypersensitivities have played a major role, after race and gender, in the intersectional hysteria that has gripped college campuses and, indeed, much of the left. Does growing mockery signal that sanity may be returning? If so, is there a path toward equality and supportive community that doesn’t invoke authoritarian-like thought control and the demonizing of white, heterosexual, cisgender males?
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Really not so funny:
More. Via Heterodox Academy: “In the wake of the violence at Middlebury and Berkeley…many commentators have begun analyzing the new campus culture of intersectionality as a form of fundamentalist religion including public rituals with more than a passing resemblance to witch-hunts.”
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Assaults on Free Speech Continue
Left-fascist youth mobs enabled by progressive college administrators. Latest target: James Kirchick. https://t.co/ifM9jCO5Vp
— IGF CultureWatch (@IndeGayForum) May 11, 2017
This says so much:
Kirchick [was] expected to address the ways in which oppressive regimes endanger gay rights. The event has generated controversy on campus, with DePaul officials censoring a poster promoting the talk due to its statement: “Gay Lives Matter.”
More. It’s not just Jamie Kirchick. Leftist Protesters Shout Down Gay Journalist at Portland State University, referencing Chadwick Moore’s attempt to share his views. Writes Tom Knighton:
College campuses aren’t welcoming places for any speaker who isn’t a Leftist—the Left’s dirty little secret is that identity doesn’t really matter to them at all. …
The student group that put on the event, Freethinkers of PSU, is reportedly a non-partisan student group. They reported that they attempted to place flyers for the event with PSU’s Queer Resource Center, but were denied.
From the comments:
Kosh III: The true danger to the First Amendment is from Trump and his cult followers such as Miller and other quislings. But maybe Miller hopes for a sinecure in the Fourth Reich?
Jason replies: Only in the Alice-in Wonderland delusions of the left would opposing mob tactics to keep invited speakers from expressing views that the mob dislikes be seen as the Nazi side.
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The Colbert Contretemp
CBS’s Stephen Colbert said of President Trump during a “Late Show” monologue: “You’re a real prick-tator. The only thing your mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin’s cockholster.”
Flashback: Alec Baldwin Apparently Calls Paparazzi A ‘C**ksucking Fag’
Stephen Colbert's response to #FireColbert: "I don't regret it" https://t.co/joGZ4O1HyV pic.twitter.com/5YXgIbS8J4
— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) May 4, 2017
Thin-Skinned Comedians Abandon Humor in Era of Trumphttps://t.co/VoaMZgWKqd pic.twitter.com/GKXFpLZpVq
— Joseph Curl (@josephcurl) May 8, 2017
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Pride Month Approaches
June is Pride Month, and various cities and locales are facing a new wave of politically correct deplatforming and exclusion protests.
In Washington, D.C., organizers of D.C.’s annual Capital Pride Parade and Festival were pressed by a group called No Justice No Pride to ban police officers and corporate sponsors from the annual pride parade and events. The organizers stood their ground.
DC Pride and the Equality March is under attack – https://t.co/jNJhfdMl1R #LGBT #gay #Pride
— Back2Stonewall.com (@BACK2STONEWALL) April 29, 2017
OPINION | Police, corporate sponsors must be welcome at Pride https://t.co/7K41cFKAdO
— Washington Blade (@WashBlade) May 4, 2017
In Toronto, organizers went the other way and banned LGBT police from participating in their pride events, capitulating to Black Lives Matter activists.
Shocking that @PrideToronto still purports to be inclusive despite banning #LGBT police from marching/having booth at #PrideTO. #TOpoli https://t.co/Q1TDBdZxBr
— Joseph Adams (@josephintoronto) April 29, 2017
As Pride Month nears, I remember how it felt to walk proudly in uniform – with my partner and fellow members. @PrideToronto @TDotGayCops pic.twitter.com/Azt00idBx2
— K. Ashley (@kcashley_1987) April 28, 2017
D.C.’s Capital Pride did remove a volunteer event producer for expressing views they deemed offensive. Bryan Pruitt had posted an article last year at the conservative blog RedState that said government decrees and legislation regarding transgender bathroom use sought “to implement a solution in search of a problem. The City of Charlotte passes an unnecessary law and the State Legislature provides an equally overreaching response.”
On that point, if not on others, I would agree, so I guess my volunteer services would also be unwelcome.
Capital Pride volunteer ousted over trans remark https://t.co/Xrua9lq7P1
— Washington Blade (@WashBlade) April 30, 2017
And the demands keep coming….
NEW at @WashBlade:
Small Gang of #LGBT #Pride Critics Stink of 'Privilege' –#NoJusticeNoPride Seeks to Hijack Eventhttps://t.co/lgwny2EAMy— Mark Lee (@MarkLeeDC) May 12, 2017
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‘Religious Freedom’ Is a Core Value, Not a Scare Phrase
.@POTUS: "We will never, ever stand for religious discrimination." pic.twitter.com/QCaaaLQ5bN
— FOX Business (@FoxBusiness) May 4, 2017
The executive order is significantly reduced in scope from earlier drafts promoted by the Heritage Foundation and other social conservatives. In its final form, it:
1. Declares that it is the policy of the administration to protect and vigorously promote religious liberty;
2. Directs the IRS to exercise maximum enforcement discretion to alleviate the burden of the Johnson Amendment, which prohibits religious leaders from speaking about politics and candidates from the pulpit (and which mostly goes unenforced, especially against black churches supporting Democratic candidates);
3. Provides regulatory relief for religious objectors to Obamacare’s preventive services mandate, a position supported by the Supreme Court decision in Hobby Lobby.
The ACLU is threatening to sue. Update: No, now they’re not.
Rallying outside the White House against @realDonaldTrump's #LicenseToDiscriminate. When you attack one of us you will hear from all of us! pic.twitter.com/61QhwMNLRj
— Chad Griffin (@ChadHGriffin) May 3, 2017
Social conservatives, rightly, see a defeat—Trump (and Ivanka/Jared) are not, and have never been, on the anti-gay bandwagon.
President Trump's executive order disappoints religious conservatives, @jonward11 writes https://t.co/Gt20IxUL43 pic.twitter.com/J0Wn0VmDZ1
— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) May 4, 2017
But the Human Rights campaign isn’t changing its narrative:
An attack on one of us, is an attack on all of us. Learn more about @realDonaldTrump’s newest executive order here: https://t.co/OvW7OlP79F
— HumanRightsCampaign (@HRC) May 6, 2017
Furthermore. From the comments: To the charge “Isn’t it more accurate to say that [the Johnson Amendment] mostly goes unenforced against ‘any’ churches? There has been exactly one (1) prosecution of a church under the Johnson Amendment in the 63 years it’s been around. Why single out black churches in particular?,” reader Jason replies:
Short of actual prosecution is the threat of prosecution. White evangelical churches have been warned, from time to time, about supporting socially conservative politicians and “crossing the line” from the pulpit, and liberal groups have threatened to make this an issue. But Stephen is correct; African-American churches sermonizing to vote for Democrats are under much less pressure, owing to the history of the civil rights movement. To raise the issue (and some on the right do) is to invite the charge of racism. So black churches feel much less constrained than do white churches.
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The Trump Divide
Log Cabin makes its case:
LGBT rights leaders flunk Trump on first 100 dayshttps://t.co/o0zzpuqQCK pic.twitter.com/YNdMC46POi
— DCHomos (@DCHomos) April 27, 2017
Trump can be criticized on many grounds but all those “F”s from LGBT activist “leaders” is pure partisan progressive hackery.
Plus this charming cover.
And widespread disdain for both parties—by those who identify as party supporters:
COLUMN | Voters Learn There's Little to Love About Either Party
>@WashBlade:https://t.co/QzvvrDK7rS— Mark Lee (@MarkLeeDC) April 28, 2017
Finally, Andrew Sullivan detests Trump but makes some pertinent observations.
Trump’s first 100 days have proven that the Constitution can, so far, keep his worst impulses in check https://t.co/5IhHsxEBCr
— Daily Intelligencer (@intelligencer) April 28, 2017
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More on the Anti-Trump March
Washington Blade columnist Mark Lee comments on Facebook that “people are starting to ask on social media if the event will actually happen or if they should cancel their travel plans and reservations.”
As the Blade reports:
The National LGBTQIA+ “Equality March for Unity and Pride” in DC takes place in only 7 weeks – but there’s been little preparation or organizing for the event. No permits yet, no route finalized, no website launched, no details disclosed, and no money raised to cover the major expenses for an event of this type.
Yes, it will happen. Yes, it will be a mess. And yes, it will amount to little and lead to nothing.
But hey, the co-chairs are diverse, complete with a listing of their preferred pronouns including “They, Them, Theirs,” “They/Them She/Hers,” and “She, Her, Hers, Trans Goddess.”
More. When it’s finally announced, expect that platform to embrace the full bag of left-progressive political demands. On the LGBTQIA+ front, expect calls to roll back the extremely limited protections for small businesses under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act by passing the Human Rights Campaign-backed Equality Act, and demands that the federal government mandate what are essentially gender-neutral restrooms and changing facilities.
Some activists might even say having ‘genital preferences’ in dating is transphobic, at which point sexual orientation itself may become a thought crime.
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Gender Nonconforming Isn’t Necessarily Transgender
Via the New York Times: My daughter is not transgender. She’s a tomboy. https://t.co/f0w0XeZh3s
— IGF CultureWatch (@IndeGayForum) April 20, 2017
An interesting comment posted here:
When I hear about children who are identified as transgender today, I often think about what would have happened if I had been asked if I wanted to be a boy in 1987. I probably would have weighed the pros and cons and said “does that mean I don’t have to wear dresses or waste my time with makeup, can I have short hair, and not be made fun of for being stronger than all the boys? Sure, I’m a boy if it means you’ll leave me alone and let me play!” That’s a terrible position to put a child in– and, for many female children (and their parents), I fear, taking the transgender path may ultimately be a pyrrhic victory.
I love being a grown lesbian woman today (yup, lots of those “tomboys” will turn into lesbians that reveal the complexity and diversity of womanhood). I wouldn’t trade it for anything. But I have little doubt that many folks would be more comfortable with me and my lesbian sisters if we were “gender-conforming” straight men. What a loss that would be for everyone.
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HRC’s Shakedown Racket
The Weekly Standard's accusations against the Human Rights Campaign are rightfully disturbing. https://t.co/4zT92x7XuR
— IGF CultureWatch (@IndeGayForum) April 18, 2017