Trump win resets culture war debate on abortion, LGBT rights

[webfact]

Trump win resets culture war debate on abortion, LGBT rights

By DAVID CRARY and RACHEL ZOLL

 

NEW YORK (AP) — For the combatants in America's long-running culture wars, the triumph of Donald Trump and congressional Republicans was stunning — sparking elation on one side, deep dismay on the other.

 

Advocates of LGBT rights and abortion rights now fear setbacks instead of further gains. But the outcome emboldened the anti-abortion movement and breathed new life into the religious right's campaign for broad exemptions from same-sex marriage and other laws.

 

Kelly Shackelford, head of First Liberty Institute, a legal group that specializes in religious freedom cases, said that, for his cause, the environment will transform from "brutal" under the Obama administration to friendly given GOP control of both Congress and the White House. His clients include two Christian bakers in Oregon who were fined for refusing to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding.

 

"Many of us who fight for religious freedom have felt in the last four or even eight years there was a lot of overreaching that was wrong," said Shackelford, who was among hundreds of religious conservatives who met with Trump last June. "To have someone who is president-elect, who says I'm going to put an end to this ... we're going to go back to a country built on religious freedom. That makes us very hopeful."

 

Among the election's repercussions will be a renewed campaign, in state legislatures and in Congress, to pass tough anti-abortion legislation. Religious conservatives will press for far-reaching conscience protections and a repeal of regulations they said violated their religious liberty. And the push to let transgender students use the bathroom of their choice at school, strongly backed by President Barack Obama, may wither in the face of GOP resistance.

 

"There's no question a lot of transgender students and their parents woke up Wednesday morning really scared," said Sarah McBride, a 26-year-old transgender activist who is national press secretary for the LGBT-rights group the Human Rights Campaign. "I'm feeling the way a lot of folks are feeling — worried that the heart of this country isn't big enough to love us, too."

 

McBride in July became the first openly transgender person to address a national political convention when she spoke to the Democrats' gathering in Philadelphia.

 

Comparable worries surfaced among abortion-rights supporters.

 

"My colleagues across the country are deeply disheartened," said Dr. Willie Parker, an Alabama-based physician who provides abortions in three Southern states. He predicts intensified efforts to lay the groundwork for a challenge of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision establishing a nationwide right to abortion.

 

"We're disappointed, but not defeated," said Parker. "Like the civil rights movement, we're in it for the long haul."

 

Anti-abortion leaders initially were wary of Trump, who in the past had supported abortion rights. They rallied behind him — and launched a massive door-knocking campaign in several battleground states — after he pledged to support several of their key goals. These include defunding of Planned Parenthood, a ban on most late-term abortions, and the appointment of Supreme Court justices who might weaken or reverse Roe v. Wade.

 

Marjorie Dannensfelser, leader of the anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony List, hailed the GOP sweep as "an historic moment for the pro-life movement," putting its goals within reach.

 

Yet some wariness remained.

 

"We are well aware that promises are not deeds," said Troy Newman, the president of Operation Rescue. "We will work to hold the new administration's feet to the fire throughout Trump's presidency, to ensure that promises are kept."

 

Planned Parenthood, whose services include birth control, sex education and abortions, has been a longtime target of Republican politicians, and is now bracing for intensified challenges.

 

"There are almost no words to capture the threat that this election result poses," said the organization's president, Cecile Richards. "We will not give up, we will not back down."

 

On social media, many women were broaching the option of acquiring long-lasting intrauterine devices as their form of birth control, on the possibility that birth-control pills would no longer be available free if Obama's health care act is repealed.  

 

The GOP triumph was a heavy blow to the Human Rights Campaign and other gay-rights organizations which had worked vigorously on behalf of Hillary Clinton. They embraced her campaign as unprecedented in the breadth of its outreach to gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people.

 

"It hurts," said Rachel Tiven, CEO of the LGBT-rights group Lambda Legal. "Our beautiful, slowly improving, two-steps-forward-one-step-back country took a giant step backward."

 

LGBT activists are now wondering if same-sex marriage — legalized nationwide by a 2015 Supreme Court ruling — is in jeopardy given the prospect of Trump appointing conservative justices who might reconsider that decision.

 

Activists also are worried by news that Ken Blackwell, a former Cincinnati mayor, was being tapped to handle domestic issues for Trump's transition team. Blackwell is a senior fellow with the Family Research Council, a staunch foe of same-sex marriage and other LGBT-rights causes.

 

On same-sex marriage and other issues, the Obama years brought one defeat after another for religious conservatives, who saw the president and his supporters on an inexorable march to curtail the rights of people of faith.

 

Liberals considered these fears overblown and said the First Amendment already offered significant protection for religious groups. But conservative Christians were deeply anxious about their future. Their only major victory came when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled two years ago in favor of Hobby Lobby, the Christian-owned arts and crafts chains with faith objections to the birth control coverage requirement in the Affordable Care Act.

 

Now, advocates see a transformed landscape.

 

"We now have more equilibrium between the so-called competing sides — between the LGBT rights movement and the religious freedom proponents," said Tim Schultz of the 1st Amendment Partnership, a Washington-based group which advocates for religious exemptions.

 

In a letter last month to Catholics, Trump decried what he called hostility to religious freedom and pledged, "I will defend your religious liberties and the right to fully and freely practice your religion, as individuals, business owners and academic institutions."

 

During the campaign, he promised to repeal the Johnson Amendment, an IRS rule barring pastors from endorsing candidates from the pulpit.

 

Due to the election results, Schultz expects the Justice Department will be friendlier to religious conservatives, and Congress more willing to enact legislation that advances conscience protections.

 

Retired Navy Chaplain Wes Modder, a Pentecostal minister, was the target of a complaint that he was disrespectful in counseling gay sailors when discussing his religious opposition to same-sex relationships. The First Liberty Institute took him on as a client and successfully challenged the complaint as a violation of Modder's religious freedom. The case became a rallying cry for Christian conservatives upset about the Obama administration's support for LGBT rights.

 

"No military chaplain should have to go through what I went through," Modder said of his fight to avoid being ousted from the Navy.

Modder, among military veterans who met with Trump in September, said he was very hopeful that Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence, a religious conservative, will advance policies that would prevent recurrences of what happened to him.

 

Trump "understands the importance of religious liberty," said Modder, who recently retired from the military to become a pastor in Chicago. "The team that he is assembling, the people he is surrounding himself with, I think are going to give him the right messaging."

 

-- © Associated Press 2016-11-14

[55Jay]

Not too sure about that last bit re: Trump's cabinet.  The talking heads are all abuzz about the circus list of surrogates who stroked Trump's ego during the campaign.  Rudy G, Chris Christie, the ex-Breitbart guy, Dr. Ben "space cadet" Carson, and of course, Kelly Anne Conway as Certified Trump Whisperer-in-Chief. 

 

Old Bernie seems to be "over it" and says he's willing to work with Trump on common interests, but pledges to oppose if Trumps starts walking backwards on civil and human rights.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olILIkiIrM0

 

 

[Ulysses G.]

I was completely against gay marriage, but have no problem with something like  civil partnerships with the same rights as straights. In a way, I would like to see it go, but not sure it is fair after so many marriages have been performed.

I guess if the term "marriage" was changed to something else, but the rights were preserved, It would-be fair enough.

As to abortion, don't want to see it outlawed completely, but understand people that do. Don't want to go back to illrgal abortions and all the problems they cause though.

[otherstuff1957]

Trump himself doesn't seem to have strong opinions about LGBT rights or abortion, but some of his cabinet choices are strongly opposed to them.  If another one of the Supremes needs to be replaced, his advisors may push him to the extreme right when choosing a replacement.  

[Emster23]

"Religious freedom" term used. Now there is a prime example of double speak if I ever heard one, the way they use it. Freedom to oppress, freedom to deny equal protection, freedom to get religion back in schools regardless of those who have different faith or no faith, money for religious based schools (think "madrasa schools" only one textbook),freedom to use churches for political purposes (hmm sound like Iran?)

Trump won't care about civil rights: no money in there for him and his buddies. Not so hard on immigrants as they provide bigger labor base.

[zaphod reborn]

Trump "understands the importance of religious liberty,"   LOL, only his religion.

[joeyg]

http://usherald.com/college-students-given-coloring-books-play-doh-help-cope-trumps-victory/

 

[elgordo38]

Ladies it might be time to consider tubular litigation while its still legal. The Republicans are already preparing to litigate away your rights. 

[Grubster]

I sure hope this LGBT, and Abortion stuff doesn't get in the way of the real problems that effect us all.

[Berkshire]

39 minutes ago, Grubster said:

I sure hope this LGBT, and Abortion stuff doesn't get in the way of the real problems that effect us all.

 

Well if you were part of the LGBT community or a woman wanting to get an abortion, I'm pretty sure you would consider it "real problems." 

[Grubster]

3 minutes ago, Berkshire said:

 

Well if you were part of the LGBT community or a woman wanting to get an abortion, I'm pretty sure you would consider it "real problems." 

Yes I would but that doesn't make it the most important issue does it.  We have been beating that horse in the ass for years while our standard of living has been cut in half.

[Jingthing]

Don't be deceived by the man baby fascist president elect's recent comment that he's OK with legal same sex marriage. He has pledged to only pick hard core far right wing supreme court judges that are politically the same as SCALIA. He has a list. The names fit. So yes the majority of Americans that favor women's right to choice should be very worried about the upcoming trumpist SCOTUS, and also the majority of Americans that favor that same sex marriage stay legal should also be just as concerned. 

 

I understand quite well that a significant portion of trump voters do not want to make abortion illegal or undo marriage equality, but that's part of the package that they did vote in. 

 

Anyway, trump voters that don't want these regressive things to happen but voted for them to happen, thanks a million for throwing people that are likely your friends and family UNDER THE BUS. 

 

Edited November 14, 2016 by Jingthing

[55Jay]

18 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

What's the new clothes pin avatar about?

[Tawan Dok Krating Daeng]

Since one of the obnoxious Baby Trumps publicly stated that Trump's VP will be de facto President since Trump himself will just do the glory bits and leave the hard work to the VP, then it is useful to take a deeper look at Pence. Also since Trump sucks all the oxygen out of the room and essentially was a one man campaigner, no real vetting of Pence happened.

 

Before he was Trump's running mate, Mike Pence led the anti-LGBT backlash

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/04/mike-pence-led-anti-lgbt-backlash-trump

 

Here’s What Mike Pence Said on LGBT Issues Over the Years

http://time.com/4406337/mike-pence-gay-rights-lgbt-religious-freedom/

 

Just for starters:

 

• He said gay couples signaled societal collapse
• Opposed law prohibiting workplace protection for LGBT people
• Opposed repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell
• Rejected Obama's administrative directive on trans bathrooms

More reasons to resist the Trump nightmare.

 

#notmypresident

#werestillhere

[Jingthing]

28 minutes ago, 55Jay said:

What's the new clothes pin avatar about?

It's about resistance to trump.

Such a man baby that ran the nastiest hate campaign in American history and has now infected the oval office with a world famous white supremacist American fascist will never unify a country as incredibly DIVERSE as the USA. 

People that think this was a normal election leading to a normal presidency are tripping.

Edited November 14, 2016 by Jingthing

[Prbkk]

Interesting piece in today's NYT on ( of all things) a gay curling league in Canada, in the context of gay rights more broadly. Some of the zealots seeking to wind back that clock might well look to Canada as an example of how things can be in an inclusive society. Of course they wil not as its part of their hateful ideology to want to deny equality to others.

I doubt that Trump has any personal anti gay feelings and in any case if he lets the loony fringe attack dog nutters off their leashes he will be squashed by the moderates and those who voted on economic and security issues.

[Jingthing]

Look at Pence. He already has. Not to mention the SCOTUS pledge.

[Dagnabbit]

8 minutes ago, Prbkk said:

Interesting piece in today's NYT on ( of all things) a gay curling league in Canada, in the context of gay rights more broadly. Some of the zealots seeking to wind back that clock might well look to Canada as an example of how things can be in an inclusive society. Of course they wil not as its part of their hateful ideology to want to deny equality to others.

I doubt that Trump has any personal anti gay feelings and in any case if he lets the loony fringe attack dog nutters off their leashes he will be squashed by the moderates and those who voted on economic and security issues.

 

A gay curling league is not inclusive. That is a group of people looking to exclude others.

 

As for Trump & gays - he has a gay man in his transition team.

[Prbkk]

1 minute ago, Dagnabbit said:

 

A gay curling league is not inclusive. That is a group of people looking to exclude others.

 

As for Trump & gays - he has a gay man in his transition team.

 

In respect of the curling league, anyone can join a team: no gender, age, race, sexuality excluded. But the bigger point is that Canadian society is none the worse for embracing GbLT rights , rather the converse. 

[Usernames]

Okay, AP, what's the next anti-Trump lie you want to throw out there. 

 

Donald Trump said he is “fine with” same-sex marriage but offered few specifics about his plans for the first 100 days of his administration during his first television interview since becoming the president-elect.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/donald-trump-same-sex-marriage-231310

[55Jay]

42 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

It's about resistance to trump.

Such a man baby that ran the nastiest hate campaign in American history and has now infected the oval office with a world famous white supremacist American fascist will never unify a country as incredibly DIVERSE as the USA. 

People that think this was a normal election leading to a normal presidency are tripping.

Ok, that's what I thought.  Only because you seem to be a sponge for every trend and new millennial term on the internet.   We all know how you feel about this, you've been squealing at high pitch for 6 days about it.   Do you really think you are being effective or accomplishing anything besides making a spectacle of yourself with all the dramatic hand wringing and continuous rants on an obscure website in Thailand?   Just sayin'.

 

[Jingthing]

The goal is to resist people thinking the trump regime is normal, to constantly remind people that the man baby didn't even get the most votes, and hopefully to tactically apply the most protest pressure when particularly odious things are about to be passed with the hope of getting them more tempered down.

[55Jay]

9 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

The goal is to resist people thinking the trump regime is normal, to constantly remind people that the man baby didn't even get the most votes, and hopefully to tactically apply the most protest pressure when particularly odious things are about to be passed with the hope of getting them more tempered down.

The constant refrain when nothing's going on, gets you ignored.  When the time comes for tactical surges, you're not taken seriously.  

 

You've been calling him a bloviating orange liar for a year.  A CONMAN!  No need to start taking all his nonsense seriously all the sudden.  At any rate,  I think Obama rattled and outclassed him at their meeting.  I could picture Uncle Mitch explaining the facts of life to Trump.   Culture War Reset?  Pfft, hardly.  Trump's rowing his little boat back to the Center so fast, he's probably given himself whiplash..... and it's only been 6 days.

[Jingthing]

Please do ignore me.

Do me the favor.

[Usernames]

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

The goal is to resist people thinking the trump regime is normal, to constantly remind people that the man baby didn't even get the most votes, and hopefully to tactically apply the most protest pressure when particularly odious things are about to be passed with the hope of getting them more tempered down.

 

Trump isn't the one who appears to be abnormal.

[55Jay]

8 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Please do ignore me.

Do me the favor.

If you mean the Ignore function, I'm not a child, I don't use it.  If I did, I would just do it, not announce with a flourish to seek attention.  

 

I always read your posts but in the last few days, sadly, a cursory scan to see if you are still in Man Baby Trump mode yourself........... then scroll on by.  That's ok though, not like you get paid by the reader.  Have a Great Trump Day now, ya' hear!  Cheers! 

[Jingthing]

No I meant I found your post obnoxious, too personal, and of no value.

[55Jay]

53 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

No I meant I found your post obnoxious, too personal, and of no value.

In other words, dead on accurate.  If you haven't already, check out ClutchClark's thread over in Home Country. You'll find that obnoxious, personal and of no value too.  LOL.

[Jingthing]

2 minutes ago, 55Jay said:

In other words, dead on accurate.  If you haven't already, check out ClutchClark's thread over in Home Country. You'll find that obnoxious, personal and of no value too.  LOL.

Goodbye.

[55Jay]

Just now, Jingthing said:

Goodbye.

OK, take care, dude.