Tuesday, January 09, 2018

Trump renominates dishonest and homophobic Sam Brownback as religious freedom ambassador



I refuse to believe that the LGBTQ community and the religious community do not intersect. I do not believe in the idea that there should be a gay vs. religion argument. As a black gay man, my faith is very important to me and it was my relationship with God which contributes to my honesty as an out-of-the closet gay man. It's not anyone's place to question what I believe in relation to Biblical Scripture or traditional church faith.

Unfortunately, there are some folks determined to push the false idea that being and LGBTQ means that you oppose religion and vice versa. And leave it to Trump to put a spotlight on one.

From The Advocate:


Sam Brownback, the intensely anti-LGBT Republican who’s been Kansas’s governor and a U.S. senator from the state, has been renominated by Donald Trump as ambassador at large for international religious freedom. 
Trump nominated Brownback for the post last year, but since the Senate failed to take action and Senate Democrats refused to allow the nominations to roll over into the new year, he had to be renominated, The Kansas City Star reports. His is one of numerous renominations announced today, several of which are problematic for LGBT people. 
Brownback has a long anti-LGBT record, and during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in October he refused to answer Sen. Tim Kaine’s question on if there were “any circumstance under which religious freedom can justify criminalizing, imprisoning, or executing somebody based on their LGBT status could be deemed acceptable because somebody asserts they are religiously motivated in doing so,” notes the Human Rights Campaign. HRC and several other groups opposed his confirmation. (Editor's note -see above video)

The article goes on to say:

As governor of Kansas, Brownback attempted to block marriage equality in the state, even after the U.S. Supreme Court made its ruling for nationwide equality in June 2015. “Brownback’s opposition was so extreme that a federal judge put the state on probation,” wrote Micah Kubic, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Kansas affiliate, in an Advocate commentary last August. “Doubting that the state would treat same-sex couples fairly, a federal judge is monitoring every aspect of the state’s implementation of same-sex marriage for the next three years!” 
Brownback also rescinded a previous governor’s executive order protecting state employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, and he issued another order allowing social service organizations with state contracts or grants to discriminate against LGBT and other clients, without repercussions, if the organizations cite religious objections. Further, he signed into law a bill allowing student religious groups to discriminate, even at state-funded schools.

My problem with Brownback is that not only is he anti-LGBTQ, not only does he attempt to push negative action against the LGBTQ community according to his own religious beliefs, but, as the video above coupled with the listing of his attacks on the LGBT community demonstrate, he's not honest about it.

If there is one thing I despise more than a homophobe, it's one who attempts to soft pedal it via distortions and lies.


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