Behind the Aegis
Behind the Aegis's JournalImpeachment hearings expert is a "snarky bisexual" champion for LGBTQ rights too
Pamela Karlan, the standout witness in yesterday’s impeachment hearings, is also an LGBTQ champion. Karlan, a self-described “snarky bisexual Jewish” woman, fired back at Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) for implying she is incompetent and partisan in a made-for-TV moment.
Karlan, a potential Supreme Court nominee to replace David Souter in 2009, argued in front of the court in October in a case that could shape the future of LGBTQ civil rights. She represented Gerald Bostock and the late Donald Zarda, both of whom were fired from their jobs for being gay.
A constitutional law expert and Stanford University professor, Karlan testified as to whether the allegations against President Donald Trump warranted impeachment proceedings under the constitution.
Collins, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, claimed that Karlan was a biased witness and insinuated that she hadn’t read the 300-page report and witness transcripts issued by House Democrats. In response, Karlan schooled Collins both on her competence and the facts presented in the report.
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Belgian town sheds UNESCO status over anti-Semitism row
Source: Deutsche Welle
The northern Belgian town of Aalst has decided to withdraw its annual carnival from the UN cultural heritage list, saying it is fed up with allegations of anti-Semitism.
The town was widely condemned after one of the floats at its carnival parade in March featured offensive caricature depictions of Orthodox Jews with hooked-noses and sitting atop bags of money. UNESCO, the European Union and Jewish groups called the float anti-Semitic, with the EU saying it was reminiscent of the kind of caricatures disseminated in Nazi Germany during the 1930s.
Aalst mayor Christoph D'Haese said Sunday that city officials "have had it a bit with the grotesque complaints" and no longer want the UNESCO designation.
"We are neither anti-Semitic nor racist. All those who support this are acting in bad faith. Aalst will always remain the capital of mockery and satire," he said in a statement quoted by Belga news agency.
Read more: https://www.dw.com/en/belgian-town-sheds-unesco-status-over-anti-semitism-row/a-51494071
This sums it up: D'Haese said it was not up to him to police humor, adding that it was "unavoidable'' that there would be more Jewish ridicule at next year's carnival.
I would post a picture of the 2013 Nazi picture, but most are from StormFront. I am sure UNESCO is breathing a sigh of relief.
One fifth grader was thankful for two dads. That triggered this substitute's homophobic rant.
When a substitute teacher in a Utah County school asked a class of 5th graders what they were thankful for this Thanksgiving, one child couldn’t wait to answer. He told the class how happy he was to have finally be adopted, and live in a loving home with two caring fathers.
Unfortunately, the child’s excitement caused the substitute to subject him and his entire class to a undeserved, raging spew of homophobia, to the point that students had to leave the class against the substitute’s orders and beg the principal to remove her.
The incident took place at Deerfield Elementary in Cedar Hills, Utah – whose school theme this month, ironically, emphasizes the need for communication and respect for diversity. Josh and Louis van Amstel – the parents of the child, and the latter of whom is known for being a professional dancer on Dancing with the Stars – took to social media. The child remains unnamed, due to fears that his adoption could be revoked.
As reported by The Salt Lake Tribune, the van Amstel’s child was subjected to directed bullying from the substitute after he revealed to her that he was part of a same-sex family. The 30 kid-classroom was subjected to 10 minutes of “her own views, [saying] how ‘homosexuality is wrong’ and ‘two men living together is a sin.'” She reportedly said directly to the student that being adopted by a stable, providing gay couple is “nothing to be thankful for.”
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A reminder: homophobia is real and it can even affect those who aren't gay.
See also: Three Utah Girls Stood Up To a Teacher Who Condemned a Boy For Having Two Dads Brava! 
Oh, just another reminder: gay people are minorities who face discrimination, too.
Here are all the times the Trump administration has attacked LGBTQ rights since he became President
Keeping a running track of the Trump administration’s attacks on the LGBTQ community is about like counting the number of lies he tells. It’s a thankless job, but someone has to do it.
Thankfully, our friends at GLAAD run the Trump Accountability Project, and they have kept a tally of the nonstop barrage on the community’s civil rights. From erasing our issues from federal websites minutes after being inaugurated to allowing healthcare providers to discriminate against LGBTQ people, it’s all on the list.
And, of course, we’ve been here reporting it all for you. And we’ll continue to monitor the situation with our partners at GLAAD until Trump finally leaves office – and update this list as necessary.
THE LIST
January 20, 2017- Minutes after Donald Trump was sworn into office, any mention of the LGBTQ community was erased from White House, Department of State, and Department of Labor websites.
PAY ATTENTION!
Study finds an epidemic of suicide among LGBTQ youth. Most blame "recent politics."
The Trevor Project’s National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health — the largest survey of LGBTQ youth mental health ever conducted with over 34,000 respondents ages 13 to 24 from across the United States — showed there’s a mental health epidemic among LGBTQ youth with politics playing a huge role.
Among the survey’s results from suicidal respondents, 76% said recent politics impacted their mental health or sense of self and only 47% had received psychological or emotional counseling from a mental health professional. The survey also found that nearly 30% of young trans people had attempted suicide and 54% had considered suicide in the last year.
Approximately 36% of queer youth who attempted suicide had experienced physical violence beforehand, 22% had experienced some form of discrimination.
About 78% of trans and non-binary youth reported being the subject of discrimination due to their gender identity and 70% of LGBTQ youth reported discrimination due to their sexual orientation.
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Think about this the next time you hear a gay "joke". Think about this the next time someone defends homophobia because "it is a comment on the target, not "really" about gay people." Think about this when people fail to recognize GLBTQ people are actual minorities. Homophobia is real. Homophobia kills!
Gay teen fights back against school bully as teachers do nothing in viral video
Jordan Steffy finally reached his limit.
After being called a “f*ggot” by the same student nearly every day since the seventh grade, the out high school junior was forced to take matters into his own hands last week after teachers refused to help him.
Two different clips show Steffy fighting back against his bully and have racked up over 10 million views combined in just a matter of days.
The physical altercation happened inside a classroom at Laporte High School in La Porte, Indiana. Both videos show the bully calling Jordan a “f*ggot” and advancing on him despite being asked to step back.
“Back the f*ck up out of my face, now,” Jordan is heard saying. “Cause I’m not playing with you.”
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Of course, it was Jordan who was punished because when a gay person stands up for him(her)self, we are the aggressor/abuser. This shit happens more than people know, or care to admit. This is also why many GLBT people here (and a few of our allies), really do not like casual homophobia and transphobia, because they have real world consequences.
Kristallnacht began today (11/09/1938). A precursor of things to come.
source
Kristallnacht | "It Came From Within" | YadVashem.org
Kristallnacht (German pronunciation: [kʁɪsˈtalna?t]) or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November Pogrom(s),[1][2] was a pogrom against Jews carried out by SA paramilitary forces and civilians throughout Nazi Germany on 9–10 November 1938. The German authorities looked on without intervening.[3] The name Kristallnacht ("Crystal Night" ) comes from the shards of broken glass that littered the streets after the windows of Jewish-owned stores, buildings and synagogues were smashed.
Jewish homes, hospitals and schools were ransacked as the attackers demolished buildings with sledgehammers.[4] The rioters destroyed 267 synagogues throughout Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland.[5] Over 7,000 Jewish businesses were damaged or destroyed,[6][7] and 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and incarcerated in concentration camps.[8] British historian Martin Gilbert wrote that no event in the history of German Jews between 1933 and 1945 was so widely reported as it was happening, and the accounts from foreign journalists working in Germany sent shockwaves around the world.[4] The Times of London observed on 11 November 1938: "No foreign propagandist bent upon blackening Germany before the world could outdo the tale of burnings and beatings, of blackguardly assaults on defenseless and innocent people, which disgraced that country yesterday."[9]
The pretext for the attacks was the assassination of the Nazi[10] German diplomat Ernst vom Rath by Herschel Grynszpan, a 17-year-old German-born Polish Jew living in Paris. Estimates of fatalities caused by the attacks have varied. Early reports estimated that 91 Jews had been murdered.[a] Modern analysis of German scholarly sources puts the figure much higher; when deaths from post-arrest maltreatment and subsequent suicides are included, the death toll climbs into the hundreds, with Richard J. Evans estimating 638 suicide deaths.[11] Historians view Kristallnacht as a prelude to the Final Solution and the murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust.
source.
That was then and there, this is now and here...27 Jews On What It Feels Like To Be Afraid For Their Lives?
Men dressed as Jews hand out Holocaust denial fliers at Boulder mall
A group of men who appeared to be posing as Jews handed out fliers promoting Holocaust denial and hung up cards bearing anti-Semitic canards on a pedestrian mall in Boulder, Colorado.
The fliers handed out at the Pearl Street Mall claimed the Holocaust was “impossible.” The men, who wore large white kippahs and tallesim, or prayer shawls, also hung notes on index cards that claimed “Academia is dominated by Marxist Jews,” Jews run the porn industry” and “Jews ran the Atlantic slave trade,” the Daily Camera newspaper reported.
The men livestreamed their actions, according to the report.
https://twitter.com/koshersemite/status/1190868265985302534
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WTF Colorado?!
Or L'Simcha: Joyce, Richard, Rose, Jerry, Cecil, David, Bernice, Sylvan, Daniel, Melvin, and Irving
Joyce Fienberg, 75
Richard Gottfried, 65
Rose Mallinger, 97
Jerry Rabinowitz, 66
Cecil Rosenthal, 59
David Rosenthal, 54
Bernice Simon, 84
Sylvan Simon, 86
Daniel Stein, 71
Melvin Wax, 88
Irving Younger, 69
LGBT History: 2019 marks the 40th anniversary of the White Night Riot. "He got away with murder!"
I was not at Stonewall, but I was at San Francisco City Hall ten years later and 3000 mile away when upwards of 5000 people expressed their outrage at the verdict in the trial of Dan White for the murders of Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. Like my memories, the opinions that follow are solely my own.
At Stonewall, they slashed the tires of police cars. On White Night they burned police cars. Twelve of them.
For those unaware of the details behind the murders, the short version is this. In November, 1978, former police officer and former firefighter Dan White had resigned his seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors because it did not pay enough to support his family. Viewed as their only voice on the board, several of his extremely conservative constituents convinced him to rescind his resignation.
Initially, Moscone agreed to let White stay, but several people including Milk convinced him not to. A reporter told White over the telephone before Moscone could.
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Did you know October is LGBT History Month? How much GLBT history do you know?
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