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New U.S. Fund to Push Transgender Policies Internationally
By Stefano Gennarini, J.D. |
January 6, 2022
NEW YORK, January 7 (C-Fam) The Biden administration launched a new $2.5 million international fund to promote acceptance of homosexuality and transgenderism and label opponents of the LGBT agenda as “anti-democratic.”
The U.S. State Department announced a new fund to promote LGBT advocacy internationally by linking LGBTQI+ issues with democracy. The fund objectives include increasing the participation of individuals who identify as LGBTQI+ in politics and public life, creating political narratives that promote LGBTQI+ issues, and engaging supportive political, business, and religious leaders.
According to the description of the programs under the new fund, programs funded by the new initiative must work to label opposition to the LGBTQI+ agenda as “anti-democratic” and characterize their opponents’ messaging as “disinformation.”
The fund, called Global LGBTQI+ Inclusive Democracy and Empowerment Fund, or GLIDE Fund, was announced last month and is administered by the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.
Robert A. Destro, the head of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor during the Trump administration told the Friday Fax that “DRL proudly funds the social and political activism of LGBTQI+ organizations worldwide. What outcomes the United States and its Global Equality Fund partners actually achieve with these funds is a question worth asking.”
Programs funded by the GLIDE initiative must fulfill three requirements.
First, the organizations that receive grants must be “emergent, small, and/or medium-sized LGBTQI+ organizations.” Second, the programs funded by the GLIDE initiative must be tailored to “queer women, transgender and intersex persons, and other persons from marginalized LGBTQI+ communities”, including youth. Finally, the programs must also establish “communication strategies” for advancing the LGBT agenda that “address and counter anti-democratic trends and disinformation in democratic processes.”
Under these terms, opponents of homosexual marriage and giving transgender rights to children should be labeled as anti-democratic and their opposition to the LGBTQI+ agenda must be fought against as “disinformation.”
The GLIDE fund is part of the Global Equality Fund according to the information on the State Department website. The fund is administered by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor alongside over $20 million annually for global LGBTQI+ advocacy through multiple funds.
The Global Equality Fund and GLIDE are components of a well-funded, international, public-private partnership, including the United States, the European Union, and Nordic countries, private foundations, and the business sector, that has long sought to include broad language on laws and policies in UN resolutions to promote acceptance of diverse “sexual orientation and gender identity.” It succeeded last month in a resolution on programs that promote democracy internationally through free and fair elections.
The GLIDE fund is part of the effort of UN agencies and international donors to give teeth to that resolution, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations last December. It was the first time that the General Assembly included language on “sexual orientation and gender identity” in a resolution adopted unanimously.
The State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor was directly involved in the UN negotiations of the resolution, which commits countries to “eliminate laws, regulations, and practices that discriminate, directly or indirectly” against individuals who identify as LGBTQI+ or that may have an effect on their participation in elections.
This is a big step in the direction of Sodom and draws us closer to the Judgment of God as exampled by Sodom and Gomorrah.
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Surprise! ECHR makes another good decision!
EU rights court throws out gay cake case
A gay rights activist has seen his case over a pro-LGBTQ cake design dismissed by the ECHR
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has dropped a case against a Christian couple who refused to bake a cake with a pro-LGBTQ message on it. The case has cost the taxpayer more than £250,000 ($338,390).
On Thursday, the court said the case brought forward by Gareth Lee, a member of Queer Space, an LGBTQ advocacy group, was “inadmissible” as the applicant had not invoked his convention rights at any point during domestic court proceedings.
“By relying solely on domestic law, the applicant had deprived the domestic courts of the opportunity to address any convention issues raised, instead asking the court to usurp the role of the domestic courts,” the Strasbourg-based institution added in a statement.
The case was brought against a Christian couple in Belfast, Daniel and Amy McArthur, who refused to bake a cake for Lee. The Queer Space member had ordered a £36.50 ($49.41) cake from the couple, who were the owners of Ashers Bakers, in 2014.
The bakers refused, stating that they disagreed with the design which featured the Sesame Street puppets Bert and Ernie and the slogan “Support Gay Marriage.”
The McArthurs’ refusal prompted a seven-year legal case, brought forward by Lee, which cost the Equality Commission of Northern Ireland £251,000 ($339,740). Ashers Bakers, which takes its name from an Old Testament figure, was supported by the Christian Institute, which covered their £250,000 ($338,400) legal costs.
In 2018, the case reached the UK Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the bakers. Lee then referred his complaint to the European court.
Northern Ireland First Minister Paul Givan supported the European ruling on Thursday, stating he was glad to see the UK Supreme Court’s decision affirmed. “It validates the decision of the UK Supreme Court, which was to say that this never should have been brought to court in the first place,” he stated.
The Christian Institute said it was “good news for free speech, good news for Christians.”
It is good news, but Givan is right, it should have been thrown out of the first court hearing as being malicious.
UK school which ‘canceled’ JK Rowling faces new trans row
over Olympian replacement
Leaders have received a mixed reaction after reportedly distancing itself from JK Rowling
in favor of an Olympian who has previously spoken out against transgender rights
A UK school which replaced a tribute to Harry Potter author JK Rowling with British athlete Kelly Holmes has come under fire after comments were discovered which the Olympian made about transgender athletes.
Rowling, who is one of the world's most successful authors, enflamed the so-called 'woke' mob with a succession of tweets about the transgender community after first drawing criticism in the summer of 2020 when she objected to the phrase 'people who menstruate' being used in an op-ed article in place of the word 'women'.
That set off a torrent of complaints aimed at the writer and even led to the Harry Potter film series' trio of stars, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, distancing themselves from her.
Of course, these three probably have a combined IQ almost equal to Rowling's.
There were also reports that Rowling was disinvited from the recent Harry Potter film anniversary celebrations because of the controversy.
Now Boswells School in Essex, which had named one of its houses after the author, appears to have taken a further stand by bowing to public pressure and rescinding the decision.
The school's replacement for Rowling, double-gold winning Olympian Kelly Holmes, was initially seen as something of an easy choice.
Holmes is one of the most successful female athletes in Great Britain's history and has medaled at a variety of middle-distance events throughout her extensive athletic career – but the decision to opt for her has drawn further criticism after historical comments made by Holmes about trans athletes came to light in which she described transgender people competing against women in sports as "a bloody joke".
"This is a trans woman – a male body with male physiology – setting a world record and winning a woman’s event in America in powerlifting," wrote former Olympian Sharron Davies after a transgender weightlifter announced that she had broken records at a competition in the US in 2019.
"A woman with female biology cannot compete. It’s a pointless, unfair playing field."
Holmes replied: "It's a bloody joke and all getting ready for biological women to boycott certain events.
"Have a trans category if need be but, even better, a trans Games. Otherwise I’m starting to worry about the backlash and abuse that the trans community will get from spectators. It will happen."
Holmes reacted with pride at having a house named after her and praised Rowling as being a world-renowned author.
"I am always honored when a school names a house after me," the champion in the 800m and 1,500m events at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens was quoted as saying by MailOnline.
"I hope my name represents determination, strength in adversity and a never-give-up attitude.
"JK Rowling is a brilliant, world-renowned author and should be credited for all the good she has done in the literature world to help young people, in particular have vision, creativity, dreams and much more."
The switch has received a mixed reaction on social media, with some saying that it makes very little sense. "Seems like a weird decision given that Holmes has publicly stated the same views previously anyway," one wrote.
"Cancel culture at its finest. Utterly moronic and once again we see women's rights being eroded," said another.
"So, following Boswells School’s decision to replace JK Rowling with Dame Kelly Holmes, it’s emerged that Dame Kelly’s trans views are even more controversial.
"She believes they should have their own separate category or even their own separate games. Couldn’t make it up," wrote a third, while another said that the situation was a stain on 'wokedom'.
"It's another side-splitter from the self cert progressive end of wokedom. It will be awkward if they can't find an admirable role model who shares their values. Doubt it will make them ponder those values, though," they said.
Another asked: "What are the chances of choosing two gender critical women? Anyone would think it was a generally held opinion instead of extreme bigotry."
That is, anyone with a functioning brain.
Twitter suspends conservative pundit over transgender tweets
The ban will be lifted only when the tweets in question are deleted
Conservative pundit and Daily Wire podcaster Matt Walsh announced on Friday night that he had been suspended from Twitter over tweets claiming there were only two genders, and suggesting trans women dominate women in competition.
Walsh announced that he’d been notified of the suspension only minutes before a segment on Fox News’ ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’, telling Carlson, “I just found out five minutes ago, just before we went on the air, that I just got suspended on Twitter because I pointed out that biological males are men.”
Walsh’s tweets did not name anyone specifically, but referenced multiple transgender people who he says he refuses to refer to as women, despite that being their preferred pronouns and gender identity.
“The greatest female Jeopardy champion of all time is a man,” Walsh tweeted in one of the flagged tweets. “The top female college swimmer is a man. The first female four star admiral in the Public Health Service is a man. Men have dominated female high school track and the female MMA circuit. The patriarchy wins in the end.”
Walsh’s tweet apparently refers to Amy Schneider, recently celebrated as the first woman to pass $1 million in prize money on ‘Jeopardy’, University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, and US Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine.
In another censored tweet, Walsh said he refuses to refer to “an individual person as if she is two people.”
Walsh said on Fox News that the suspension was “all part of the game here,” as his critics do not want to “engage intellectually” and would rather “shut down” debates on certain topics.
Walsh, who has more than 760,000 Twitter followers, also posts on Gettr, an alternative platform headed by former Donald Trump adviser Jason Miller. The platform has seen hundreds of thousands of new followers flock to the platform in recent days, after podcaster Joe Rogan announced he was joining in light of some of his podcast segments being censored, as well as the recent suspension of Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) for allegedly spreading Covid-19 misinformation.
Walsh’s suspension is only for 12 hours, but the clock will only start running if he chooses to delete the tweets, according to the Daily Wire.
Twitter has not officially commented on Walsh’s suspension, but the conservative pundit appears to have violated the platform’s ‘hateful conduct policy’, which prohibits users from promoting “violence” or “threats” against other users.
More specifically, the policy prohibits tweets that “reinforce negative or harmful stereotypes,” which includes “targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals.”
Walsh has long maintained his views on gender, even authoring a children’s book titled ‘Johnny the Walrus’, a satirical look at current gender identity politics. The story follows a young boy who believes he’s a walrus and his “confused mommy” who takes this seriously and tries to “raise him accordingly.”
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