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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Latest Anti-Gay Oklahoma Bills Are Almost Too Crazy to Believe
Outrageous anti-LGBTQ bills are now a fixture of the American legislative landscape. At the start of each year, extremist legislators come forward with a slew of discriminatory proposals, ranging from cleverly underhanded to openly deranged. Oklahomas latest bills fall on the latter side of that spectrum. In addition to some typical religious liberty legislation that would let businesses refuse service to gayspar for the course at this pointOklahoma Republicans have cooked up some fascinatingly cruel bills. Lets examine them one by one, ranked in terms of sadistic ingenuity.
1. HB 1598: Protecting ex-gay conversion therapy.
2. HB 3044: Preventing depressed and suicidal queer youth from seeing a gay-affirmative therapist.
3. SB 733: Forbidding HIV-positive people from getting married.
more...
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A reminder: Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, and Transgender are people too! Marriage equality is wonderful, I should know! However, it was not the last fight for LGBT people.
29 states do NOT prohibit housing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
15 states do NOT record hate crimes against GLBT persons.
29 states do NOT protect LGBT in regards to public accommodations.
The lists go on!
GLBT rights are human and civil rights!
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)Behind the Aegis
(53,919 posts)I am very fortunate none of those bills would affect me or my husband, but what really scares me, is they will affect GLBT youth, the disenfranchised, and those who are "on the edge". Though, of all the other things I listed, sadly, Oklahoma is affected by those lack of rights. I am usually the "worrywart" in my house. If I can imagine something bad happening, I have seen it, planned for it, and expect it; even if it never comes. When Oklahoma was finally cleared for "gay" marriage, it was my husband who was worried. What would happen when it was announced in the paper? It made me so sad and angry that someone who is usually so carefree and happy was worried about something which was supposed to be a happy occasion.
He got over it. Now, he's mine!
I just hope people see things aren't over. There is still much to do in the way of GLBT equality.
brer cat
(24,517 posts)that we keep having to fight the same fights over and over. Whether LGBT, women, or people of color, every step forward seems to send the sharks into a frenzy.
What worries me the most is the horrible added pressure on LGBT youth. Adolescent angst is bad enough without having them painted as some kind of "other" who has to hide such a fundamental part of themselves. It is no wonder that depression and suicide are so prevalent.
On a brighter note, the teen sometimes-neighbor who spent the summer confiding in us because he was afraid for his fundamentalist Baptist relatives to know he is gay, was outed to his family and the world didn't come to an end. We saw him yesterday and he greeted us with sparkling eyes and a big grin to tell us he had a date for the basketball game. How normal!
deathrind
(1,786 posts)Text from the HB1598 bill...
Electroshock, Electroconvulsive, Touching, Pornography, Vomit-Induction...this is actually considered "Therapy"?!?
I knew the so called "anti-gay" therapy was controversial but I did not realize that it was pulled straight out of the Inquisition.
OMG...
"Aversion therapy means any counseling by a mental health provider that exposes or asks a client or patient to undergo physical pain, such as electroshock or electroconvulsive therapy, touch therapy, pornography exposure or vomit-induction therapy, in order to change sexual behaviors or gender-identity expressions and/or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex."
The sponsor of this bill is a twisted individual.
yellerpup
(12,252 posts)Perpetrated on MINORS. I don't see any adult signing up for such 'therapy.'
Volaris
(10,266 posts)Getting a torture-hardon and then turning it off halfway through to go rub one out rather misses the point
deathrind
(1,786 posts)I have never seen it. I have heard it is rather terrible so I will leave that one to your opinion.
Solly Mack
(90,758 posts)Damn.
merrily
(45,251 posts)(for me) or some similar organization (maybe for others) and hope they fight successfully.
I live in Massachusetts and am not aware of any crazy statutes about any minority group or women here. I'm not saying everyone's behavior is perfect. Even Rep. Lynch (D) was no prize on issues relevant to women and the LGBTQ community. However, when he ran against Markey, Lynch got more liberal because statewide elections here are different from the district he had then.
On laws, however, Massachusetts has done very well relative to other states, esp. for a state that has had large and devout religious populations, esp. Irish and Italian Catholics.
dsc
(52,147 posts)merrily
(45,251 posts)dsc
(52,147 posts)that is one point where they weren't. I also don't think they have banned conversion therapy for kids yet which should be done.
Betty Karlson
(7,231 posts)1. Make sure that young GLBT can be subjected to depressing circumstances that will burden them with low self-worth for years to come
2. Make sure that they don't get the psychological help they need to overcome that burden.
3. Make sure to deny them rights after they have, in their low self-worth, exposed themselves to dangerous sexual behaviour (directly related to low self-worth and / or concomittant drug-use).
It amounts to premeditated murder, really. May God damn these legislators.
elias49
(4,259 posts)That is pathetic. Some of the mid-west is truly disturbing. I feel like they are a different species.
Donald Ian Rankin
(13,598 posts)(On reading): nope, this is just common-or-garden far-right American craziness. Craziness like this isn't even *rare* in state legislatures, sadly. There are a *lot* of crazy people in America, and many of them appear to gravitate to the state legislatures of red states.
This is one of the reasons why my hackles rise every time someone talks about localism and devolution as being good and centralisation as being bad.
I'm not sure what a far-right piece of state legislation in the USA would have to look like in order to be too crazy for me to believe it.
Faux pas
(14,643 posts)and sadness
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)because they will never give up. Look at how they keep nibbling away at Roe v Wade.
beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)The fight is not over, thank you for reminding us.