Tag Archives: Mike Pence

Activist Organization Aims to Ban Conversion Therapy in All 50 States

Disney villain and Vice President-Elect Mike Pence has voiced his support for conversion therapy, leading many LGBT people to fear for their mental wellbeing.

Conversion therapy, which has been likened to torture, employs painful and psychologically crippling techniques in order to “change” the sexual orientation of lesbian, gay and bisexual teenagers. “Therapists” induce vomiting and paralysis in patients while showing homoerotic images, force patients to snap themselves with elastic whenever they have a homosexual thought, electrically shock patients, teach patients how to act stereotypically masculine or feminine, employ “orgasmic reconditioning,” and even hypnotize patients.

Conversion therapy has been linked to higher rates of depression, anxiety, drug addiction, suicide and homelessness in youth.

The grassroots coalition 50 Bills 50 States aims to pass legislation banning conversion therapy in all 50 states. The therapy is already banned in five states: California, Illinois, Oregon, Vermont and New Jersey.

Samuel Brinton, a conversion therapy survivor and founder of the coalition, says,

We are going to work with legislators to introduce bills banning these brutal practices. We know every state won’t pass these bills in 2017 but the unanimity of submitting them will resonate from coast to coast.”

They’ve raised over $11,000 to build an educational website, shoot a video about conversion therapy and LGBT youth, print legislation materials, travel to forty-five states to submit bills in person, and provide mental health resources to conversion therapy survivors.

The group also hopes to partner with LGBT rights organizations in every state in order to learn about the work that has already been done on the ground and to meet with legislators who may be sympathetic to the cause.

Samuel Brinton is not new to activism. Since he was subjected to the poisonous “therapy,” he has been visiting colleges and universities across America in order to discuss traumatic homophobic practices and teach students how to pass legislation at a state level. His personal motto is, “You can’t change what I never chose.”

50 Bills 50 States is in need of website developers, press release writers, legal experts, and church and school liaisons. If you’d like to volunteer, check out their website.

Rachel Maddow Disappointed That Mike Pence Wasn’t Challanged About Negative Views On LGBTQ Rights

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow was left – like many of us – frustrated that Tim Kaine didn’t challenge Mike Pence his terrible history of LGBTQ Rights, in the recent VP debate.

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I mean, I don’t think that because I’m gay I was looking to hear more of it than most people were, but I mean Mike Pence is really famous for having pushed the most aggressive pro-LGBT-discrimination bill in the country, [and] having to really embarrassingly walk it back.

When he was in Congress, he said that HIV and AIDS funding should not be disbursed unless it was also spent — federal dollars — spent to try to cure people from being gay. I mean, he’s got a really, really, really radical position and history and current positions on gay issues. It didn’t come up at all.”

Maddow placed much of the blame at the feet of moderator Elaine Quijano.

I think that the debate was essentially curated, it was essentially led as if it was refrigerator poetry. Honestly, I think the topics were alphabetical. You can’t have somebody who’s been a religious right warrior his entire public life and get to one question on what was described as social issues in the last three minutes of the debate and can think that you are actually having these guys engage on what they’ve fought about.”

She added that Kaine only brought up LGBTQ rights “in the context of Russia once, but didn’t bring it up in the context of Indiana.”

Watch Maddow’s comments below.

Rosie O’Donnell Strikes Out Anti-gay Pizzeria in Indiana

Rosie O’Donnell has spoke out against the family who run Memories Pizza in Walkerton, Indiana, which plans to use the state’s ‘religious freedom’ law to refuse to serve same-sex weddings.

The pizzeria says they will deny service to same-sex weddings after Governor Mike Pence signed into law the controversial ‘Religious Freedom Restoration Act’, which gives people the right to discriminate against gay people on the grounds of religion.

Comedian Rose O’Donnell joked about the shop in an interview with SiriusXM.

Remember the pizza lady was saying that gays were going to cater their wedding with pizza? Not even lesbians would do that. We might have a potluck, we have bring your own chilli… but that’s only if financial situations are tough.”

Incredibly, a GoFundMe page set up in support of the anti-gay business has so far raised over $840,000 in donations from 29,000 people.

The donation page states:

Religious liberty is under assault in Indiana and that’s never been clearer than with the O’Connor family. When asked by local press the hypothetical question of whether or not they’d prefer to have their family owned business, Memories Pizza, cater a gay wedding, the owner said no citing their own religious beliefs as the reason. 

Rather than allowing this family to simply have their opinion, which they were asked to give, outraged people grabbed the torches and began a campaign to destroy this small business in small town Indiana. All for having an opinion that is rooted in faith.”

Hillary Clinton Tweets Against Indiana’s New Anti-Gay Law: “We Shouldn’t Discriminate Against People Because of Who They Love”

Likely Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, last night weighed in on Indiana’s RFRA law, which GOP Governor Mike Pence yesterday morning signed into law.

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act allows organisations, including businesses and churches, to refuse service to anyone on religious grounds. Nineteen other states have similar laws, and many others have proposals making their way through the legislature.

Pence said in a statement Thursday…

“Today I signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, because I support the freedom of religion for every Hoosier of every faith. The Constitution of the United States and the Indiana Constitution both provide strong recognition of the freedom of religion but today, many people of faith feel their religious liberty is under attack by government action.”

The bill received national attention, but Pence signed it with little fanfare in a ceremony closed to the public and the press.