neoplacebo wrote: ↑Wed Feb 18, 2026 7:55 pmIn a recent cabinet meeting showering praise on dear leader, Kennedy experienced a coughing fit, coughed up two worms, and immediately grabbed them and stuffed them back into his mouth and took a drink of what appeared to be water but was later reported to be ice cold gin.
Virginia is for lovers.neoplacebo wrote: ↑Sat Jun 13, 2026 9:31 amTN announces that June is Nuclear Family Month. Just to make it clear that the state does not approve of any families that are not "normal."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/art ... 00172.html
... The message is not subtle. Single parents, divorced families, same-sex couples, child-free adults and the permanently childless are, by the state's own framing, doing it wrong. And the timing, layered directly over Pride Month, is not a coincidence.
... When a state government declares that the correct family is one husband, one wife and their children, it is not offering encouragement. It is issuing a verdict. Single parents who are doing the hardest job there is, LGBTQ+ families, adults who cannot have children, adults who have chosen not to—all of them are told, with the force of a state resolution, that their lives represent a deviation from the norm that needs correcting.
... Good policy lifts everyone. This doesn't. And the people it leaves out should be paying close attention, because what starts in one state has a way of traveling.
Hell, things will likely get worse. Marsha Marsha Marsha is running for governor. Lucky for me that VA is less than two miles from me.Vrede too wrote: ↑Sat Jun 13, 2026 10:35 amVirginia is for lovers.neoplacebo wrote: ↑Sat Jun 13, 2026 9:31 amTN announces that June is Nuclear Family Month. Just to make it clear that the state does not approve of any families that are not "normal."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/art ... 00172.html
Tennessee is for haters.... The message is not subtle. Single parents, divorced families, same-sex couples, child-free adults and the permanently childless are, by the state's own framing, doing it wrong. And the timing, layered directly over Pride Month, is not a coincidence.
... When a state government declares that the correct family is one husband, one wife and their children, it is not offering encouragement. It is issuing a verdict. Single parents who are doing the hardest job there is, LGBTQ+ families, adults who cannot have children, adults who have chosen not to—all of them are told, with the force of a state resolution, that their lives represent a deviation from the norm that needs correcting.... Good policy lifts everyone. This doesn't. And the people it leaves out should be paying close attention, because what starts in one state has a way of traveling.
Yeah, but TN will still disapprove of any gay household you may wish to set up.neoplacebo wrote: ↑Sun Jun 14, 2026 7:40 amHell, things will likely get worse. Marsha Marsha Marsha is running for governor. Lucky for me that VA is less than two miles from me.
Judge strikes down Texas ban on drag shows, tells people offended by them ‘just don’t go’
A federal judge in Texas struck down a 2023 state law Tuesday that sought to restrict drag shows, ruling it was unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge David Hittner, a Reagan appointee,
Hero.said the measure, known as Texas Senate Bill 12, improperly restricted speech, violating the First Amendment of the Constitution. The ruling prevents state Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is running for the Senate, from enforcing the law and denies his motion for a new trial.
In the ruling, Hittner also had advice for "those who find such activities as described in this case offensive."
"The solution is relatively simple ... just don't go," he wrote.
GoDollyGo. She is also the subject of countless drag performances.... In his ruling, Hittner mentioned Dolly Parton, whose death was announced Tuesday, and criticized the law's definition of banning performances that "[appeal] to the prurient interest," citing people who would chastise Parton "as a voluptuous sex symbol because of her big hair, flamboyant clothes and breast exposure."
"There are 'erotic' elements in countless popular performances that could be subject to both civil and criminal penalties under S.B. 12," he wrote.
Hah, as I just posted.One of the plaintiffs in the case, a drag queen who performs under the name Brigitte Bandit, impersonates Parton in her performances.
Bandit celebrated the ruling on social media Tuesday, posting a screenshot of the decision and captioning it, "Drag is free speech, b----." She announced she would also perform as Parton, who gave her a rhinestone guitar as a gift in 2023, at an Austin bar Saturday in her honor.
Why Dolly Parton decided to give Austin drag queen Brigitte Bandit a rhinestoned guitar
Dolly Parton gave Brigitte Bandit a custom rhinestoned guitar for her work fighting drag bans at the Texas Capitol in 2023.
Brigitte Bandit was having an exhausting year. It was the end of 2023. She had testified at the Texas Capitol against bills that would ban certain drag performances and story hours, and joined a lawsuit to stop the legislation.
After she performed as Dolly Parton at Oilcan Harry’s that December, one of the hosts made her sit on stage while a five-minute-long video played of people thanking her for her work on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community.
Then the host presented her with an oddly shaped box wrapped in pink.
“At first I was, like, is this like a … Dolly costume?” Bandit said. “Then I opened it, and I saw the signature.”
It was an acoustic guitar covered in rhinestones — and signed by Dolly Parton, the country legend who died Tuesday in Nashville.
Bandit said she can’t play guitar, but she can pretend to.
“Just like I pretend to sing,” she laughed.
Bandit had received global attention that year when she testified at the Capitol in drag. She brought with her a children’s book about Parton, and a photo showed it opened to a page that said: “She wore big hair and lots of makeup, and some people might’ve thought it was too much, but she liked it, and the kids did too.”
“That made it all the way to Dolly,” Bandit said.
She said Parton’s niece Rebecca Seaver, who does drag in Tennessee, showed the singer the photo and they orchestrated the whole thing.
... Parton has become an icon in the queer community and was, to Bandit, a drag queen herself.
“With the heightened femininity and the way that she spreads a message of love and self-acceptance and acceptance of other people,” she said. “I think a lot of queer people can relate to Dolly and see themselves in her, you know, with the way that she fights societal norms and expectations.”
Bandit said Parton will forever inspire and influence her work — “from entertaining people to also advocating for my community.”
She and others will pay tribute to Parton this Saturday during her regular Drag Hoedown at Stoney’s Good Time Ranch.
Bandit said she will bring the guitar.
I'll bet on dead Dolly vs live Paxton any day of the week. Back to the original article:
Bigots sure are stupid.Hittner added that the law was so overly broad as to lead even activities such as "cheerleading, dancing, live theater, and other common public occurrences" to be treated as civil or criminal violations. He also said that the law was vague on its face and that it failed "to give a reasonable person notice of what is prohibited."
Urban legend? Nope.
They had a bunch of Chers and Dollys that year and so I just over-exaggerated, made the beauty mark bigger, made my eyes bigger, the hair bigger — everything. … All of these other beautiful drag queens had worked for months and weeks getting their clothes and all that, and they were dressed like me. So, I just got in the line and I just walked across [the stage] and they just thought I was some little, short gay guy. And I got the least applause but I was just dying laughing inside. I say it's a good thing I was a girl or I'd be a drag queen.
2026 Turkish LGBTQ raids
In the early morning of 13 September 2026, prosecutors and courts started a crackdown on LGBTQ+ advocacy groups in Turkey, which then evolved into attacks on civil unions, journalists, politicians, and protesters. The government justification for the crackdowns refers to a controversial policy called "My Family is Safe".
... In May 2025, as part of the Year of the Family, Erdoğa declared a national "Decade of Family and Population" beginning in 2026. During a speech announcing the initiative, he identified the LGBTQ+ movement as "a full-fledged fascism" that "tolerates no differing opinion", and a "threat" to "not only the family but also women, children, and human dignity". He stated that "the fight against LGBT perversion is also a fight for freedom, dignity, and the future of humanity....
Projection.
Crackdowns ...
Reactions
Protests ...
International and domestic reactions ...
Political reactions ...
Heroes.