The Pride Network

Kevin Swanson, a pastor known for vitriolic hate speech against LGBT people, is at it again. He’s come after Harry Potter before for *ruining* young people, and now he’s out for Girl Scout leaders. 

Swanson, who is a pastor at the Reformation Church of Elizabeth, Colorado, slammed the Girl Scouts for promoting “lesbianism, abortion and contraception for 14-year-old girls” among its participants on Monday’s installment of his weekly radio show, “Generations with Kevin Swanson,” Right Wing Watch first reported.

He then implied that scout leaders should be put to death, specifically by having “a millstone be hanged” around their necks and “drowned at the bottom of the sea,” for their actions toward young girls.

“Jesus means what he says. You’ve got to take what he says, and you have to apply it,” he said. “Don’t train your little girls to be feminists.”

Yesterday, Raffi Freedman-Gurspan was named as the official LGBT liaison for the White House. She’s a trans woman of color with lots of experience organizing in trans communities and advocacy groups – and she’s also the first transgender person to ever have this role. 

Last year, Raffi became the first trans person on staff at the White House when she became the outreach and recruitment director in the presidential personnel office. Now, she’ll be the administration’s primary point person when it comes to working with LGBT groups. 

Some background on both Raffi and the role:

Marsha Scott, a straight woman, was the first White House gay and lesbian liaison, named to the role by President Clinton in 1995. Later, cisgender gays and lesbians held the role in the Clinton and Obama administrations. The position was held most recently by Aditi Hardikar, who left the post in January to join Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Before joining the White House, Raffi was a policy adviser at the National Center for Transgender Equality and a legislative director in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

Meet Ben Melzer, the first trans man to appear on the cover of a men’s fitness magazine in Europe! He’ll be on the cover of the German edition of Men’s Health.

Melzer landed on the cover after entering the German magazine’s cover model contest.

“My inside and outside finally fit and that’s why I’m not at all shamed to talk about it,” Melzer said in a video posted by Now This. He hopes to use the publicity surrounding his bid for the cover as a way to give hope to other people who are struggling with their gender identity.

“When I was in that situation, I had nobody to talk to, nobody to ask all these questions,” he added. “That’s what I want to do. I want to give the community a face, stand up and answer those questions for people.”

Thirteen years ago, the Supreme Court ruled in Lawrence v. Texas that bans on sodomy were illegal. For whatever reason, 12 states haven’t taken their sodomy bans off the books. Michigan is one of them.

Now, a new bill meant to outlaw animal cruelty may also impose punishments on people who engage in “acts of sodomy,” i.e. anal or oral sex. Here’s the breakdown of the bill, which the Michigan Senate already passed: 

After the state passed Senate Bill 291 in a 37-1 vote last week, a new wrinkle has emerged. Introduced by Republican State Sen. Rick Jones, the bill includes an update to the language of the state’s existing ban on sodomy, which states “a person who commits the abominable and detestable crime against nature either with mankind or with any animal is guilty of a felony” that is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Because the bill specifies “with mankind,” a number of LGBT outlets have pointed out that any act of anal or oral sex could be interpreted as illegal as the wording essentially equates sodomy and bestiality. Although anti-sodomy laws have been used to criminalize homosexuality at the global level, some have noted that Michigan’s ban does not reference same-sex couples specifically.

When asked by Towleroad’s John Wright as to why he didn’t remove the reference to sodomy “with mankind” on the bill, Jones said “nobody wants to touch” the terminology.  

Unbelievable. I am speechless.