A Queer Pilgrim

Just what we don’t need: The revival of Conversion Therapy, under the title of “free speech.” Municipalities around the United States are being targeted by Mat Staver and the Liberty Council founder and chair, who wants to fight against those cities and towns that have banned conversion therapy. The latest town or city that reversed its ban on conversion therapy was Waterloo, Iowa. The reason? The cost of keeping the ban in place. They banned conversion therapy in May, 2023. They will bring it back  Aug. 1, 2023. To refresh memories: Conversion therapy is the attempt to use weaponized passages from the Bible to be sure those LGBTQIA2S+ people who are coming out of their respective closets, or those parents who “fear” their child or children may be LGBTQIA2S+, go through a period of indoctrination and brain washing. Though not based on any science per se, but only “faith,” at the end of the day, this harmful practice is meant to keep those who are in the closet, or ma...

Discrimination against LGBTQIA2S+ people in educational settings does not only happen in public schools in Florida, or major research universities and colleges like Baylor University, but goes all the way to pre-school/pre-kindergarten levels, too.   In other words, there is discrimination against LGBTQIA2S+ people and our families from "cradle to tomb,” at least in educational settings? Yes. From advocate.com, Christopher Wiggins reports that the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver is objecting to the non-discrimination policies of the state of Colorado, just like wedding web designers and cake makers are objecting to the non-discrimination policies of CO. Wiggins reports the following:  The Archdiocese of Denver and two of its parishes filed a lawsuit against the state of Colorado's Department of Early Childhood on Wednesday, seeking to overrule an antidiscrimination policy held by the state's universal preschool program protecting   LGBTQ + families or students.   Acco...

I get tired of writing about this, but it is important to be aware of those church-based or church-connected institutions of higher education that proudly and loudly (unlike Jesus) claim their religious (Christian) status in harassing and abusing LGBTQIA2S+ students, staff, and teaching faculty. The latest culprit? Baylor University. Baylor claims it is a private Christian University that is “#1 in research.” This is not a small college or university, but a modern major research university with competitive sports teams that gets a lot of federal funding for many projects in the university, with law schools, medical schools, and a seminary. Nevertheless, the Biden Administration gave Baylor permission to harass LGBTQIA2S+ people. Baylor is going to be openly  un-welcoming of LGBTQIA2S+ people, claiming their Southern Baptist roots and deny LGBTQIA2S+ protections. Of course, Jesus would harass LGBTQIA2S+ people, right? You can now harass LGBTQIA2S+ with an LGBTQIA2S+ p...

Andrew Stillman, a reporter for out.com, reported on the plight of poor Josh, a 23 year-old gay man in the United Kingdom (UK), who was denied the painting services of a house painter because Josh is gay. You read this correctly. The painter refused to paint Josh's “flat” (apartment) because the painter's church’s pastor would frown upon him providing Josh that service.  Sounds to me like someone has been watching what is going on in the great state of Colorado between bigoted wedding web-designers and homophobic bakers of fine wedding cakes. From the article: "The incident occurred when the decorator visited Josh's flat in England to offer a quote for a paint job. The meeting took an unpleasant turn when, during the visit, the painter inquired if Josh's partner was present, to which Josh replied that he was at work. This moment felt like a red flag for Josh, who noticed that the decorator didn't take any pictures of the space he was supposed to service. ” Inte...