Where's Fake News Ivanka, stalwart of L.G.B.T. rights in Trumptown? Did she learn nothing from Trudeau and "From Far Away"?
6
What you disagree with the bigots about, though?
Bigotry is often appropriate, especially in keeping a social hierarchy. We are talking about creating systemic inequalities here, not personal insults or killing anyone. Discrimination against LGBT is well founded on the basis that they are a minority and should not be regarded equally as the heterosexual majority. The difficulty in the American system is that it uses religious grounds to enforce hierarchy, when hierarchy should be enforced by secular laws.
It is true that Trump can do other, bigger things, like amend the constitution, defund egalitarian organizations, seize control of the media, install government links to academia, and so on. But he is not ideologically inclined to nationalism, nor does he understand much about it. Even your so-called alt-right doesn't. So for now, "religious liberty" is a good step towards inequality.
Bigotry is often appropriate, especially in keeping a social hierarchy. We are talking about creating systemic inequalities here, not personal insults or killing anyone. Discrimination against LGBT is well founded on the basis that they are a minority and should not be regarded equally as the heterosexual majority. The difficulty in the American system is that it uses religious grounds to enforce hierarchy, when hierarchy should be enforced by secular laws.
It is true that Trump can do other, bigger things, like amend the constitution, defund egalitarian organizations, seize control of the media, install government links to academia, and so on. But he is not ideologically inclined to nationalism, nor does he understand much about it. Even your so-called alt-right doesn't. So for now, "religious liberty" is a good step towards inequality.
3
If only I could find freedom from religion. Why is it I can understand how people can be religious but the religious rarely if ever can understand how someone could not be religious let alone prefer to live a godless, religion-free life?
24
It doesn't matter what he thinks. He was elected to uphold the constitution and represent the people of this country. He needs to leave his bigotry at the door.
9
None of the issues discussed - especially the fate of Republicans - is of any interest to Truthless Trump. He only cares whether he can make money from it and whether it will gratify his ego. Truthless Trump is not a politician - Republican or other; he's a con man.
15
Senator, you're talking to the wrong guy, one who doesn't read. This idea has Mike Pence's hateful fingerprints all over it. Call HIM out instead.
23
No one should be able to use the United States' Constitution to justify discrimination against another person. Not. One. Person.
Unfortunately, we have a president who is so dim that the idea that one person might use his/her religious liberty to discriminate against another person - who may be equally religious - just does not seem to raise any problem. I hope Trump will do the almost unprecedented and listen to those who are pleading, "DON'T DO IT."
Unfortunately, we have a president who is so dim that the idea that one person might use his/her religious liberty to discriminate against another person - who may be equally religious - just does not seem to raise any problem. I hope Trump will do the almost unprecedented and listen to those who are pleading, "DON'T DO IT."
8
Myself once a registered Republican, I applaud and thank Senator Simpson for his principled position. I left GOP in disgust after the invasion of Iraq, he chose to stay, probably out of sense of loyalty and hope. I am glad there are still people in the Republican Party that may be able sway it back to normalcy. Not me, I have given up. Rapidly growing ranks of independents in the country reflect the overall attitude towards partisan politics, of which good example is Republican stubborn clinging to the debates that are at best embarrassing, at worst unconstitutional.
16
The two-party system does not work for the majority of Americans, that is one reason why so few vote, they cannot find a candidate who will carry the water about their issues. The "T" is not Christian, just a narcisstic, old white male. A dinosaur really who just believes in enriching himself and those around him. Sad, very sad for our country. We no longer lead on any level on the world stage except in a negative sense. I am headed to Europe in a couple weeks and am really not prepared to answer all the questions I anticipate about the state of America and its current so-called leader. Elected yes; leader, no.
11
Alan Simpson has always been, and always will be, a man of pragmatic decency. That's why 45 will never listen to him.
13
Out of the closet are we- Mr. Simpson? Another retried GOP lawmaker [not worried about re-election] now wants to speak up and do the right thing! In most cases it's better late than never; but in your case it really doesn't matter. Go clear your conscience someplace else...
7
That pesky 27 to 30% of crossed-arm, feet stamping toddlers who reject anything inclusive, fair or which might cost any daddy figure anything, as the bible says, "...will always be with us."
8
One of the few encouraging things about Trump's campaign was his willingness to depart from some of the orthodoxy that has held the GOP back. He was willing to admit that W had blown it on the Iraq war, that Planned Parenthood does a lot of good things, that Trans people should be allowed to use the bathrooms of their choice and he encouraged his party members toward a greater acceptance of LGBT people.
Since being elected, he has stood fast to several bad ideas (the muslim ban, the Mexican wall, the repeal of Obamacare) because he had run on those issues, but he seems to be quite willing to jettison all the good stuff.
The one thing Trump proved in the election is that he's very popular. With his ability to lead a large swath of the electorate, he could have opened hearts and mind towards greater tolerance. But now that he has the power, he chooses to follow rather than lead. Sad.
Since being elected, he has stood fast to several bad ideas (the muslim ban, the Mexican wall, the repeal of Obamacare) because he had run on those issues, but he seems to be quite willing to jettison all the good stuff.
The one thing Trump proved in the election is that he's very popular. With his ability to lead a large swath of the electorate, he could have opened hearts and mind towards greater tolerance. But now that he has the power, he chooses to follow rather than lead. Sad.
10
Trump is not liberal or conservative, religious or atheist, pro or anti LGBT rights, and he DOES care what people think... of him. That's why he, like all pathological liars, says whatever he wants at any given moment, to manipulate anyone's opinion or sense of reality and bend them to his will. It's not a long-term strategy, so let's just hope that he won't take too many of us down with him when he crashes. It will be soon. At this point I think avoiding nuclear war and saving our country are at the top of the list.
19
Mr. SImpson speaks to "President" Trump as though he is a rational human being with who he can have a discussion.
Sad.
Sad.
15
Well, since the Obama "wiretap" distraction didn't have the intended effect, here's another squirrel to try and take the dogs off of the Russia hunt...
9
Rights within the Republican order are apportioned based on how loyal a given group is to the party. Religious Freedom protections are afforded to bigoted Evangelical Christians who wish to discriminate against the LGBT Community due to their high rank in the Republican order. Voting rights for all (especially minorities) are afforded very low order based on this group being strongly aligned with the "other" party. This is obvious to anyone with even the semblance of a moral compass.
8
Kudos to good ole Wyoming dude, Senator Simpson! A thinking Republican!
I'm certainly not a Republican, but have to give a bit of credit to this man!
BTW, Senator Simpson: Did you vote for Trump?
I'm certainly not a Republican, but have to give a bit of credit to this man!
BTW, Senator Simpson: Did you vote for Trump?
6
Time to IMPEACH this Traitor
7
I cannot think of anyone I admire more than Alan Simpson, but this article is very disappointing because it is based on innuendo and hearsay. I cannot find a link to the alleged "4-page draft" of an executive order, and I do not give weight to second-hand opinions. Did I miss something?
3
" Sixty-two percent of Americans in the survey say they favor same-sex marriage, " I hope he means "favor ALLOWING" same-sex marriage !!
4
The nation and the Republican Party would be in such better shape if advice like this were heeded. Senator Simpson gets it: the American people have moved past this issue and the GOP should as well. Unfortunately. I am not particularly optimistic that the advice offered here will be taken. Authoritarian demagogues need an other to push around and gay Americans are a rather large target.
The irony of this is that the proposed action is not in any meaningful way conservative in the classic sense. It would make government benefits subject to the luck of the draw as to whether one runs across a bureaucrat with some kind of religious view which would treat you differently. It undermines the principle of equal treatment under the law and elevates extreme religious views above clearly expressed public policy and constitutional protections. How long will this policy be in place before a whole crop of people find a "religious" justification for treating Jewish or black Americans differently? This is the old rancid wine of bigotry poured into a new shiny bottle called "religious liberty".
The irony of this is that the proposed action is not in any meaningful way conservative in the classic sense. It would make government benefits subject to the luck of the draw as to whether one runs across a bureaucrat with some kind of religious view which would treat you differently. It undermines the principle of equal treatment under the law and elevates extreme religious views above clearly expressed public policy and constitutional protections. How long will this policy be in place before a whole crop of people find a "religious" justification for treating Jewish or black Americans differently? This is the old rancid wine of bigotry poured into a new shiny bottle called "religious liberty".
4
This opinion piece by Alan Simpson came as a surprise to me because I very clearly remember him being contemptuous toward gay people when he was a senator. In 1996 he strongly favored a national ban on gay marriage.
So, if he has evolved during recent years sufficiently to write the opinion piece I read today then there is hope, perhaps, for some of those regressive Republican legislators still in office to evolve as well - but only after they are no longer in office...
So, if he has evolved during recent years sufficiently to write the opinion piece I read today then there is hope, perhaps, for some of those regressive Republican legislators still in office to evolve as well - but only after they are no longer in office...
7
I thought Cruz or Rubio would be religious fanatics, since they clearly are. At least they are honest about it.
But this guy, this non-Christian, greed focused, empathy lacking exemplar of cronyism and privilege, he is the most frightening advocate for theocratic rule we've had in a century. His hypocrisy is astonishing. His morals non existent.
But this guy, this non-Christian, greed focused, empathy lacking exemplar of cronyism and privilege, he is the most frightening advocate for theocratic rule we've had in a century. His hypocrisy is astonishing. His morals non existent.
12
The dislike of women, minorities, and LGBTQ is not really a stereotype when the GOP has a long, public history of attempting to pass discriminatory laws. The GOP has repeatedly targeted minorities with laws designed to suppress their votes and disrupt their communities. They repeatedly try to pass laws blocking gay marriage. They repeatedly fight legislation and regulation that prevents their white, conservative christian base from discriminating against people who are different from them under the false guise of religious freedom. They repeatedly attack and marginalize the poor, both in rhetoric and in policy.
The vociferousness of these actions vastly drown out whatever paltry resistance might still exist within the party. Most of anyone who might have vocally disagreed with those stances has fled the party long ago.
The vociferousness of these actions vastly drown out whatever paltry resistance might still exist within the party. Most of anyone who might have vocally disagreed with those stances has fled the party long ago.
8
Trump is their poster boy.
4
We're all watching to see if Donald can get even with everyone who voted against him before he gets booted from office for how he won.
3
I believe that the Americans who voted for Trump are alienated from the political system because what they "know" not wanting to think. A good example is the "Obamacare" versus the ACA. They are the ones not seeing the opportunism of the Trump administration to forge a deadly change of killing many Americans. Yes,killing Americans. There is an exception here, the killing will be indiscriminate,killing his supporters along with his detractors. Whether it is healthcare, social security or foreign policy,he will be pre-meditatively killing people. Gays, elderly,young , Ukranians, Christians, Americans, soldiers , human beings. Trump denies everything that is self evident. He wants everyone to feel but not think. Thank you Mr. Simpson, for proving that a Republican can still foresee a future of good & not abandon it to a domestic terrorist named Trump.
1
There will always be tension between the establishment clause and the free exercise clause, which is how Americans, right back to our nation’s founders, like it. What often decides the balance is when one or the other side realizes that their argument could be used against them by the other side (or someone else) for a very different purpose and end.
2
"Religious freedom" could become a justification for doing, or not doing, just about anything. For example, my religion, a conservative offshoot of Pastafarianism, requires that, in honor of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, I not provide any type of service or accommodation to pasta eaters.
I fully intend, before helping anyone, to ask if they have eaten pasta within the past 10 years and, if so, I will be unable to help them.
I fully intend, before helping anyone, to ask if they have eaten pasta within the past 10 years and, if so, I will be unable to help them.
8
Its true. I am a gay transgender woman, so these hate orders would directly apply to me. Not only that, I would bare the brunt of discrimination because Im easy to identify and cannot blend into the cishet world.
If Trump signed this order I would be in the streets fighting for my rights. If things went south, Id also would probably become violent. I am no Gandhi, and all the trans-hate on places like Breitbart have really pushed me to the edge. Every day Breitbart and the Federalist have some new article against their crazy idea of "transgenderism" and the "transgender cult." Go look at it, everyday millions of fanatics read this stuff and get more and more hatred in their hearts. It cannt go on long before breaking down.
If Trump signed this order I would be in the streets fighting for my rights. If things went south, Id also would probably become violent. I am no Gandhi, and all the trans-hate on places like Breitbart have really pushed me to the edge. Every day Breitbart and the Federalist have some new article against their crazy idea of "transgenderism" and the "transgender cult." Go look at it, everyday millions of fanatics read this stuff and get more and more hatred in their hearts. It cannt go on long before breaking down.
21
A Trump turnabout on gay rights would add to the evidence that this American president is anti-American.
9
People who are most exorcised about threats to their religious freedom, routinely practice abominations, as defined in the Bible (lighting a BBQ on the sabbath to cook shrimp and pork counts as 3). Yet they excoriate others for practicing different abominations that they care not for.
They want the right to discriminate against LGBTQ for their abominations, but god forbid (ironic) that someone might discriminate against them for theirs (a hypothetical building inspector who seeks to condemn the abominable BBQ joint?).
America's religious zealots care nothing for the big issues you want them to expend energy on. They're obsessed with serving up gluttonous mounds of archaic predisposition.
They want the right to discriminate against LGBTQ for their abominations, but god forbid (ironic) that someone might discriminate against them for theirs (a hypothetical building inspector who seeks to condemn the abominable BBQ joint?).
America's religious zealots care nothing for the big issues you want them to expend energy on. They're obsessed with serving up gluttonous mounds of archaic predisposition.
12
The problem with having no core beliefs yourself is that you are easily swayed by those who pressure you and whose support you seek.
Mr. Trump doesn't understand history or policy enough to know the struggles some groups have had. He doesn't have empathy for anyone that I have been able to identify though he speaks of it and then changes his mind.
He has found the perfect group in GOP congress to exploit his shortcomings and bolster their agendas.
President Tool is what he is. How sad that the majority of people who believe in not subjugating the rights of others have an unwitting champion who cannot be counted on to keep his word or display humanity.
How sad that he allows public TV and safety nets for seniors and the poor to go when tax breaks for the rich are at stake. If that is his agenda eventually he will be a failure.
Mr. Trump doesn't understand history or policy enough to know the struggles some groups have had. He doesn't have empathy for anyone that I have been able to identify though he speaks of it and then changes his mind.
He has found the perfect group in GOP congress to exploit his shortcomings and bolster their agendas.
President Tool is what he is. How sad that the majority of people who believe in not subjugating the rights of others have an unwitting champion who cannot be counted on to keep his word or display humanity.
How sad that he allows public TV and safety nets for seniors and the poor to go when tax breaks for the rich are at stake. If that is his agenda eventually he will be a failure.
8
President Trump does have core beliefs: cruelty is one. Revenge and vindictiveness is another. And expecting blind, slavish loyalty is a third. Signing a "religious exemption" executive order scratches all three itches: it is cruel and punitive to tens of thousands of people; it strikes back at groups who loudly opposed him during his campaign; and it cements the sale of the religious right's soul into his immoral hands. If you are DJT, what's not to like?
7
37% of americans think he's doing great. But it's a falling number. 16% of americans are his twitter followers and have endorsed the cult of personality he's building. As for the rest of us, well most people didn't vote for him. He's a one termer with little to loose. If he thinks he can make money of the deal he'll throw LGBT rights under the bus. If it sells condons in trump toer, increases the sale of ivankas high heels or ups the price of a membership at Mar-a-lago, he'll do it. He'll do anything for money, if he does it for popularity, that's only because influence brings money. To talk about LGBT rights, Abortion, Healthcare - any issue outside of the prism of money in his family's pocket, is to completely miss the whole point to the Donald's presidency. He'll love you, until there's more money to be made in hate. Like playing a market.
10
They better maintain the best of relations with the Chinese and their biggest supercomputers because the analytics provided by Mercer's Cambridge or the always friendly Blackrock/Blacktstone supercomputers are not going to be enough to figure out the necessary metadata on how to discriminate with accuracy among the potential 90 million votes against the GOP in the midterm elections
2
Too bad the president doesn't read. Or take advice from people who aren't in his inner circle of crazies. Or, you know, care.
8
Your sexual orientation does not get you "rights", how absurd can you be. We are created equal from the get go. This insane notion that the Government should show favor to people based on what kind of sex they have is ridiculous, and an insult to common sense. The idea you can legislate morality through activist judges against the will of the vast majority is a Liberal idea that is bound to fail.
In my lifetime we have went from tolerance to outright state sponsorship of open Homosexuality, with instructions for the children to boot. What is even more appalling is that any speech other than an endorsement of Sodomy is considered hate speech.
One other item, why has the Rainbow been hijacked by 3-6% of the population to designate it as a Homosexual symbol? and how can you have a transgender human when it is physically impossible for the man, or the woman, to replace their most valuable item with the opposite attachment, or lack thereof. Taking a bunch of hormones does not make you woman Bruce, until you remove the attachment old boy, your just a glorified transvestite.
In my lifetime we have went from tolerance to outright state sponsorship of open Homosexuality, with instructions for the children to boot. What is even more appalling is that any speech other than an endorsement of Sodomy is considered hate speech.
One other item, why has the Rainbow been hijacked by 3-6% of the population to designate it as a Homosexual symbol? and how can you have a transgender human when it is physically impossible for the man, or the woman, to replace their most valuable item with the opposite attachment, or lack thereof. Taking a bunch of hormones does not make you woman Bruce, until you remove the attachment old boy, your just a glorified transvestite.
5
I thought things were finally getting safe for gays and lesbians. And then I saw a program on FDR's Japanese internment camps and realized that freedom under the law is very transient.
12
Unfortunately Senator Simpson, Our Grand Old Party has ceased to be the one of sense, intelligence, and decency. We are no longer the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, or Ike Eisenhower. We have allowed our party to be over-run by ignorance, hatred, and bigotry and as such, our current standard bearer, Mr. Trump has ceded American leadership. We no longer hold the moral highground, nor are we the world's champion of human rights, democracy, or even of the freedoms we aspired to 228 years ago.
11
"The mind of a conservative is like the pupil of the eye. The more light shed the greater the contraction."
22
Mr. President, my advice is to keep on the course you are on. That course is a runaway train towards self-immolation and final destruction of the GOP in its current form. In other words, I agree with Senator Simpson - except for his conclusion.
You should sign the order.
My guess it will have little effect in the real world because it will be stayed by the courts. But as Simpson says, it will energize the opposition like nobody's business. Mr. President, your ignorance, insecurities and mendaciousness require to keep on course and do the right thing. In this case, it means, sign the order. Thanks for your service.
You should sign the order.
My guess it will have little effect in the real world because it will be stayed by the courts. But as Simpson says, it will energize the opposition like nobody's business. Mr. President, your ignorance, insecurities and mendaciousness require to keep on course and do the right thing. In this case, it means, sign the order. Thanks for your service.
21
Why would anyone believe Trump's lies about his alleged support for the LGBTQ community? Trump lies about everything else, and he will throw gay people under the bus just like everyone else!
15
Good try, Senator Simpson, but why do you -- or anyone -- expect Donald Trump to act rationally in any situation at any time? This narcissistic psychopath in the White House gets his jollies from only one source: knowing he has the power to destroy anything he wants whenever he wants to.
10
Maybe the Republicans should just back off the gay rights issue as there are many other issues in which they must contend. The healthcare bill, immigration policy and Supreme Court justice nominee will certainly keep them pretty busy. The gay rights issue is a contentious one and they will make more enemies than friends. They must know when to pick their battles and this is not one of them.
2
I sleep a little better knowing Sen. Simpson is still weighing in.
5
Why should some people be given the freedom to discriminate?
7
Our political system and political discourse has become incredibly polarized. It sickens me to read tweets from both "sides" that only demonize others, describing our political system as open warfare with "the other side." Senator Simpson is right -- we are all one American community that is made up of a diverse array of people. We can and should treat each other with respect. It also saddens me to hear elected officials tout their religiosity and then express vehement support for policies that violate the tenets of that same religion. They twist excised passages of scripture to suit their own callous, self-serving, power-hungry, greedy desires. Shameful indeed.
5
The Republicans did this to themselves. Rather then govern our country and pass laws that are best for citizens, they played games. Now, we have a game show host as a president. Get rid of Ryan, McConnell, 45 and their ilk and start working for the American people. They have damaged our country enough!
20
I will never again trust a Republican!
17
I feel exactly the same. I'm no longer an independent.....now I'm "anti-GOP".
5
There are more developments: the administration has eliminated questions of sexuality from several federal surveys, meaning that LGBT’s and their issues will become invisible, in keeping with right-wing wishes that LGBT people would just go away.
The webpage of the Office of National AIDS policy has been removed and remains blank. Persons with HIV are now invisible, and the GOP can pretend they don’t exist. This is exacerbated by a hiring freeze on federal employees, weakening the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces laws against discrimination.
Trump has given hate a seat at the UN, naming representatives of two anti-equality groups to the US delegation to the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Lisa Correnti, is vice-president of the “Center for Family and Human Rights,” dedicated to blocking recognition of LGBT persons in international treaties and the UN. The Center also opposes abortion and access to reproductive care. It is headed by Austin Ruse, defender of Vladimir Putin’s antigay policies and supporter of harsh anti-gay laws in Africa which result in prison sentences for LGBT’s.
The other partner in the delegation is the Heritage Foundation, which opposes marriage equality, laws defending against discrimination on the basis of gender orientation and identity, and supports laws allowing discrimination against LGBT’s, as well as supporting elimination of restrictions on political involvement by churches and other non-profits.
The webpage of the Office of National AIDS policy has been removed and remains blank. Persons with HIV are now invisible, and the GOP can pretend they don’t exist. This is exacerbated by a hiring freeze on federal employees, weakening the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces laws against discrimination.
Trump has given hate a seat at the UN, naming representatives of two anti-equality groups to the US delegation to the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Lisa Correnti, is vice-president of the “Center for Family and Human Rights,” dedicated to blocking recognition of LGBT persons in international treaties and the UN. The Center also opposes abortion and access to reproductive care. It is headed by Austin Ruse, defender of Vladimir Putin’s antigay policies and supporter of harsh anti-gay laws in Africa which result in prison sentences for LGBT’s.
The other partner in the delegation is the Heritage Foundation, which opposes marriage equality, laws defending against discrimination on the basis of gender orientation and identity, and supports laws allowing discrimination against LGBT’s, as well as supporting elimination of restrictions on political involvement by churches and other non-profits.
15
Trump is a hypocrite just like his mentor, Roy Cohn, a closeted homosexual. As depicted in Tony Kushner's "Angels in America" and elsewhere Cohn and homophobes in general have only to look within to find the problem.
Gay rights are human rights. Humans have rights.
Gay rights are human rights. Humans have rights.
21
Kushner described Cohn as the "pole star of human evil." Catchy phrase and still fresh after 20 years. Roger Stone was another Cohn protege. They are driven by and drive others with fear. Cohn died a horrible death during the Reagan years from "liver cancer." Truly, what goes round comes round.
1
Donald Trump has remade himself into a radical Republican. At present, Radical Republicanism is based on reactionary intollerance and hatred of "otherness."
Moderate Republicans can not save their party from self destruction.
Moderate Republicans can not save their party from self destruction.
11
The GOP and the "Christian" Right are hijacking the term "religious liberty". The discrimination against women, the LGBT community, other religions, ethnic groups, etc., is NOT to be tolerated. When clerks deny marriage licenses to proclaim their religious protections, they are breaking the law. If they want to practice a strict adherence to their beliefs, then they need to work somewhere that they aren't imposing their religious beliefs on someone else. When women are denied women's health rights under the law, THEIR religious liberty is being challenged. All Americans are not Christians. When the rights of the LGBT community are denied in pursuit of living lives under the laws of our nation, THEIR religious liberties are being denied. While the Christians and others are claiming that the USA is a "Christian Nation", that is incorrect. We are diverse in religion as well as ethnicity, gender, race. There is a good reason that our forefathers insisted on the separation of Church and State, and the GOP needs to recognize that in their embracing of the Constitution.
72
I've almost always thought of Log Cabin Republicians as people who were distantly related to the various minorities that supported National Socialism, up until they came for them.
5
Simpson asks what Trump gets out of this deal re: a turnabout on LGBT rights.
IF Trump is aligned with Putin's Russia and SINCE Putin's Russia is an outcast because of THEIR bigotry, he serve's Russia's purpose by making this order, by legitimizing this offence.
IF Trump is aligned with Putin's Russia and SINCE Putin's Russia is an outcast because of THEIR bigotry, he serve's Russia's purpose by making this order, by legitimizing this offence.
6
Let if Trump signs this executive order...
The response will be worse than The Stonewall Riots or San Francisco's White Night Riots.
"Believe Me"
The response will be worse than The Stonewall Riots or San Francisco's White Night Riots.
"Believe Me"
11
Senator Simopson, with all due respect, Mr Trump has shown that he is not a builder or supporter of anything, but a dedicated destroyer of the United States and the Republican Party. He is not a religious man at all, he hates the rules of law, he hates American Institutions. He loves money, and power. He may have sincere regard for the LGBT community, but he has no loyalty to anyone, except perhaps his Russian handlers.
10
Dear Senator Simpson:
Will you be my Republican friend?
Will you be my Republican friend?
4
The republicans of course should represent all their constituents. But we all know that isn't the case. The fanatic bible thumping hypocrites have made sure that the LGBT community is given all the grief and hatred that they can dish out. The cowardly Republican Party has bought into this pervasive thinking. After all, god created this country. Just ask the thumpers. The LGBT's pose a threat to these hypocrites and haters. They are such good, caring and loving Christians. Their pious platitudes to their hateful beliefs are sickening.
9
It's sad that it is now surreal to hear statesmanship from a politician.
15
"...money, the mother's milk of politics."
That's the key to this and every other GOP move. And, actually political moves from almost everyone. Bernie has it right: get money out of politics and maybe we'll have a chance to fix some stuff.
That's the key to this and every other GOP move. And, actually political moves from almost everyone. Bernie has it right: get money out of politics and maybe we'll have a chance to fix some stuff.
7
Great column Mr. Simpson. Now please speak up, loudly,for the rights of all Americans....go on talk shows, write more articles.....constantly keep reminding Republicans of what they once were. They are no longer that.
17
My takeaway from this opinion is that there exists the assumption that any suggested change must mean someone else is being discriminated against. This I believe is the crux of the problem. When you view change only through the lens of your own perspective and biases it is then you find yourself a possible victim of others freedom. Let me first prefix my comments for complete understanding: I do not go to church nor do I attach the Christian label to myself. What I do claim and cherish is the idea of individual freedom. When gay marriage was approved by the Supreme Court, I watched the aftermath with sadness as people took their newfound liberty and used it as a sword to try to injure others who did not agree with the ruling because of their personal religious beliefs. This of course, only applied to Christians, they were not allowed to disagree. Muslims, they get a pass. They are the protected religion. They can disagree and no one cares. That's when you really know who is being discriminated against. What the Right wants, is to be treated like the Left treats Muslims.
You will know you have arrived at liberty when you truly respect others views even if you don't agree with them. Forced concensus is the real discrimination.
You will know you have arrived at liberty when you truly respect others views even if you don't agree with them. Forced concensus is the real discrimination.
2
Kathy
You're wrong.
No-one is denying the right of Christian pretenders to hate whoever they want, to advocate for whatever law they want, to associate with whomever they want. Nobody.
The issue is that your Christian victims don't just want the right to hate at will. They want to force the country to follow suit. They want the deference they believe they deserve as God's only true representatives on this earth. They want the law to change so they can live in open society with their hatred and their arrogance at full staff.
This cannot happen. If you run a business, you have to treat everybody equally. That's the law. If you want to only sell cake to lapsed Christians, then you can only sell cake at church picnics. Your choice, make it.
If you want to be a doctor, you have to serve everyone or you have to have a ready and reasonable referral (someone in your own office) to accommodate the patients your prissy morality will not allow you see. And you need to take that Hippocratic oath off your wall.
We don't allow Amish to drive their buggies on the freeway. We don't allow Wiccans to conduct human sacrifice. We don't allow Jehovah's Witnesses to tramp through your yard looking in all the windows. We don't allow Scientologists to...OK, bad example.
This is about responsibility to the nation and the community. If you can't do that, either found a community in the woods or move to Uganda. This is no more about religious freedom than littering is.
You're wrong.
No-one is denying the right of Christian pretenders to hate whoever they want, to advocate for whatever law they want, to associate with whomever they want. Nobody.
The issue is that your Christian victims don't just want the right to hate at will. They want to force the country to follow suit. They want the deference they believe they deserve as God's only true representatives on this earth. They want the law to change so they can live in open society with their hatred and their arrogance at full staff.
This cannot happen. If you run a business, you have to treat everybody equally. That's the law. If you want to only sell cake to lapsed Christians, then you can only sell cake at church picnics. Your choice, make it.
If you want to be a doctor, you have to serve everyone or you have to have a ready and reasonable referral (someone in your own office) to accommodate the patients your prissy morality will not allow you see. And you need to take that Hippocratic oath off your wall.
We don't allow Amish to drive their buggies on the freeway. We don't allow Wiccans to conduct human sacrifice. We don't allow Jehovah's Witnesses to tramp through your yard looking in all the windows. We don't allow Scientologists to...OK, bad example.
This is about responsibility to the nation and the community. If you can't do that, either found a community in the woods or move to Uganda. This is no more about religious freedom than littering is.
1
"This of course, only applied to Christians, they were not allowed to disagree."
I'm sick of this tired, historically illiterate, and patently false pseudo-equivalency argument. Christians have not only ruled over everyone else on the planet with iron-fists that killed dissenters and destroyed whole societies for over a millennium, they are STILL in power! I don't care what's written in your book of fairy tales written by Iron Age nomadic desert dwellers. It's ruined countless lives and deserves to spend an equally long time now paying for its crimes against humanity.
Now that we are throwing off the destructive shackles of Christianity, it doesn't get to switch places with its victims. It is not a victim but the supreme victimizer. Your argument is like saying prison-time is an abuse of criminal offenders that requires Constitutional protection. You had your time. It's over. Step aside now peacefully or suffer further losses.
I'm sick of this tired, historically illiterate, and patently false pseudo-equivalency argument. Christians have not only ruled over everyone else on the planet with iron-fists that killed dissenters and destroyed whole societies for over a millennium, they are STILL in power! I don't care what's written in your book of fairy tales written by Iron Age nomadic desert dwellers. It's ruined countless lives and deserves to spend an equally long time now paying for its crimes against humanity.
Now that we are throwing off the destructive shackles of Christianity, it doesn't get to switch places with its victims. It is not a victim but the supreme victimizer. Your argument is like saying prison-time is an abuse of criminal offenders that requires Constitutional protection. You had your time. It's over. Step aside now peacefully or suffer further losses.
2
"What gifts will you be handing to Democrats and others on a silver platter? A great cause, new supporters, new energy and money, the mother’s milk of politics."
The machine has been there since the 70s, does this guy really not know this? I do not think we are talking a new anything. The fight may be won but the fighters will always be ready to pick up their arms.
The machine has been there since the 70s, does this guy really not know this? I do not think we are talking a new anything. The fight may be won but the fighters will always be ready to pick up their arms.
3
Mr. Simpson:
This is a brilliantly written article, and I couldn't agree more with your premise or your arguments.
It's just such a pity, though, that POTUS won't have the attention span for more than the first 140 characters. And I'm rather doubtful that Steve Bannon or the Vice President will take the time to distill your message to him in a sound bite or two. Can't say you didn't try, though!
This is a brilliantly written article, and I couldn't agree more with your premise or your arguments.
It's just such a pity, though, that POTUS won't have the attention span for more than the first 140 characters. And I'm rather doubtful that Steve Bannon or the Vice President will take the time to distill your message to him in a sound bite or two. Can't say you didn't try, though!
4
I have to agree, but expecting anyone to take the advice is optimistic, to say the least. Why do these people insist on interpreting freedom of religion as the freedom to discriminate against those who don't share their views? It makes no sense when the founder of their religion preached tolerance and love (but then neither did the Inquisition).
4
Funny, you portray these actions as unpopular and politically damaging but never as just wrong. Funny for a party so wrapped up in the flag and so closely associated with Christianity. I read your article as "don't do because it does not have a big enough payoff for Republicans".
7
The Art of the Deal? Deal me out.
The present administration and those who back it in Congress are betraying every ideal for which we as a people have strived throughout our history. The fact that he is legally our President does not make him our leader anymore than those who purport to represent us are our representatives.
I mean this as a statement of observable fact which is clear anyone who climbs out of bed and bothers to open their eyes.
He and they are misfits who have learned to use the political brush to paint a rosy scene which too many among our citizenry considered a masterpiece instead of the childish scratches of their infantile minds and we are now stuck with men and women who have little or no understanding of life as an adult, or art.
The present administration and those who back it in Congress are betraying every ideal for which we as a people have strived throughout our history. The fact that he is legally our President does not make him our leader anymore than those who purport to represent us are our representatives.
I mean this as a statement of observable fact which is clear anyone who climbs out of bed and bothers to open their eyes.
He and they are misfits who have learned to use the political brush to paint a rosy scene which too many among our citizenry considered a masterpiece instead of the childish scratches of their infantile minds and we are now stuck with men and women who have little or no understanding of life as an adult, or art.
4
Could I refuse to pay taxes because oh I don't know, just because?
3
This article should serve as a primer for Tom Perez and the Democratic Party establishment. I'm almost inclined to let Pres. Trump pursue the "religious liberty" agenda which could, in effect, bring together the Democratic Party for the winning a lot more seats in the 2020 mid-term elections. Having said that, it would be very difficult for VP Pence to stand there and watch this all unfold without issuing a strong warning to Trump (recalling what happened to him as Governor of Indiana). On the other hand, Trump would probably ignore him, anyway!
2
Senator Cat Food Commissioner is complaining about the solvency of Social Security again completing a world record 40 consecutive years of warning of the impending Doom.
2
Beyond being shocked, shocked to see that Trump has sold out yet one more constituency--remember the whole, "Well, at least he doesn't have any interest in making life harder for gay people," thing of last summer?--I am even more shocked to recall that yes, Virginia, there ARE Republicans who aren't crazy or craven.
Cripes, I could actually consider VOTING for Alan Simpson. Good for you, Senator.
Cripes, I could actually consider VOTING for Alan Simpson. Good for you, Senator.
1
"As one Republican to another..." A a former Republican to a Republican, I ask, how can you be? The party of No, the party of deceit, the party that looks away as Russia toys with our delicate democracy, the party of Trump and Cheney -- how is any thinking, rational person a Republican these days? Do human rights, the health of the world we live in matter less than a tax cut? Truly, I don't understand.
7
I am gay, and yet I feel like this is rearranging deck chairs. The captain of the ship is insane.
5
Trump is a heathen hedonist pagan by nature and nurture. Trump is 'pro-life' in believing in serial affairs, serial adultery and serial procreative child -bearing marriages. The sanctity of life to a moral degenerate like Trump is limited by ignoring a few of the Ten Commandments in favor of others. Henry Hyde was also against abortion but for adultery.
If the LGBT were not created in God's image then God is neither omnipotent nor omniscient nor omnipresent. And the promised eternal blessing for the sick, the imprisoned, the poor and the despairing is a deceitful callous lie. The inhumane inhuman cynical callous cloistered costumed hypocrisy of a celibate judgmental clergy is judged wanting by the Jesus of Matthew 25:31-46.
Either gay rights are human rights or we are all at risk. Turnabout is the nature of an immature and intemperate man like Trump who is prone to temper tantrums.
If the LGBT were not created in God's image then God is neither omnipotent nor omniscient nor omnipresent. And the promised eternal blessing for the sick, the imprisoned, the poor and the despairing is a deceitful callous lie. The inhumane inhuman cynical callous cloistered costumed hypocrisy of a celibate judgmental clergy is judged wanting by the Jesus of Matthew 25:31-46.
Either gay rights are human rights or we are all at risk. Turnabout is the nature of an immature and intemperate man like Trump who is prone to temper tantrums.
8
American voters handed command of all three branches of US governance to the Republican Party in full knowledge of their disdain for LGBT minorities.
To refresh your memory, the Republican party have opposed every single LGBT rights ordinance in US history, including DADT Repeal, DOMA Repeal, Prop 8 Repeal, LGBT anti-discrimination laws, White House LGBT RIghts measures, ENDA, schools anti-bullying policy and same sex marriage.
Given that the GOP now control the White House, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, the majority of state legislatures and governorships AND command the US military, it is clear that opinion polls are as wrong in showing public support for LGBT equality as they were in showing support for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. Obviously the US public do not support equal rights for LGBT Americans, or they wouldn't vote Republican.
Trump and the Republican Party he leads didn't just walk into office by themselves, and are only doing what they were elected to do, specifically: repeal all Obama's executive orders including those that protect LGBT Americans, repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act, build a Mexican border wall, ban Muslims from entering the USA, tear up clean air, water and soil agreements, tear up NATO, overturn the Supreme Court same-sex marriage decision and Roe v Wade, give tax cuts to the super rich and force transgender men to use ladies' bathrooms.
It's voters you need to talk to, not their representatives.
To refresh your memory, the Republican party have opposed every single LGBT rights ordinance in US history, including DADT Repeal, DOMA Repeal, Prop 8 Repeal, LGBT anti-discrimination laws, White House LGBT RIghts measures, ENDA, schools anti-bullying policy and same sex marriage.
Given that the GOP now control the White House, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, the majority of state legislatures and governorships AND command the US military, it is clear that opinion polls are as wrong in showing public support for LGBT equality as they were in showing support for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. Obviously the US public do not support equal rights for LGBT Americans, or they wouldn't vote Republican.
Trump and the Republican Party he leads didn't just walk into office by themselves, and are only doing what they were elected to do, specifically: repeal all Obama's executive orders including those that protect LGBT Americans, repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act, build a Mexican border wall, ban Muslims from entering the USA, tear up clean air, water and soil agreements, tear up NATO, overturn the Supreme Court same-sex marriage decision and Roe v Wade, give tax cuts to the super rich and force transgender men to use ladies' bathrooms.
It's voters you need to talk to, not their representatives.
9
Is the debate really about gay rights and their inclusion? 1.5 billion muslims and about the same number of christians do not make up a fringe right group. If you are truly interested in diversity, you would embrace those whose beliefs differ from yours. But no, you want to control people, and to control those who disagree with you. To illustrate how loving and inclusive your side is, just try to refuse to bake a cake for a gay wedding. The gates of hell have been unleashed shutting down small family businesses in more than one instance. Your version of love and inclusion? Be honest in your beliefs and intentions. To shut down christianity and islam, to silence them forever. So your carefully scripted gospel can go forward, in love as you smash the opposition.
1
Two issues:
First: Simpson correctly describes anti-LGBT groups as fringe parts of our society. It's clear that the majority of American, close to two thirds of American, now support marriage equality. Many supporters are religious people. Despite the suggestion by those opposed, there isn't universal support by Christians or other faiths against LGBT rights.
Second: Aren't bakers, florists and photographers in business to do provide services and make money? You suggest that marriage equality supporters have initiated these conflicts. Wasn't it really a few angry wedding service providers who decided to make examples by refusing to provide their services? They claim their religious rights are being violated if they have to do their jobs for anyone wanting their flowers or catering? Do they ask all of their potential heterosexual clients whether their marriages conform with their specific views of religious marriage? If Catholic, can a service provider refuse to be part of a marriage of a previously divorced person? Can you refuse service to a couple that has premarital sex? Why would anyone want to open such a Pandora's box? Isn't it better to just worry about whether the check or credit cleared and how you can bake a good cake or deliver beautiful flowers?
First: Simpson correctly describes anti-LGBT groups as fringe parts of our society. It's clear that the majority of American, close to two thirds of American, now support marriage equality. Many supporters are religious people. Despite the suggestion by those opposed, there isn't universal support by Christians or other faiths against LGBT rights.
Second: Aren't bakers, florists and photographers in business to do provide services and make money? You suggest that marriage equality supporters have initiated these conflicts. Wasn't it really a few angry wedding service providers who decided to make examples by refusing to provide their services? They claim their religious rights are being violated if they have to do their jobs for anyone wanting their flowers or catering? Do they ask all of their potential heterosexual clients whether their marriages conform with their specific views of religious marriage? If Catholic, can a service provider refuse to be part of a marriage of a previously divorced person? Can you refuse service to a couple that has premarital sex? Why would anyone want to open such a Pandora's box? Isn't it better to just worry about whether the check or credit cleared and how you can bake a good cake or deliver beautiful flowers?
3
NOBODY is trying "to shut down Christitanity and Islam". You are free to worship in your homes, private places, churches, and mosques. You are not free to force your beliefs on others which is what you are doing if you offer a public service to the community that excludes certain members who don't line up with your beliefs. It's that simple. How can you call us out on "love and inclusion" when Christianity and Islam began and continue the discriminating in the first place?
Discrimination does NOT warrant nor deserve protection.
Discrimination does NOT warrant nor deserve protection.
4
This country allows a person to "have all the religion he or she wants". What it does not allow is the use of that religion to discriminate against someone else. Lest we forget, the founding fathers (and yes it was a sexist world back then) specifically banned a state religion in the Constitution. That is why our government cannot favor one religion over another, or promote one religion over another. Further, when you own a business or work for government, you are subject state and federal laws. This generally means that you cannot refuse service to someone based upon your religious beliefs. Apparently folks have forgotten the civil rights movement of the 1960s, where many of these same arguments were made.
4
What this proves is that the Trump voters who claimed it was 'all about the economy' either were lying (which I suspect a lot of the blue collar voters in the NY area in fact are, given how homophobic they are) or willingly ignoring who Trumps base really is and don't care enough about LGBT or any rights to think twice about voting for him.
Trump knows who his base is,the ones he relies on, and he knows most of them are haters, pure and simple. If he puts out this executive order, he will be setting a precedent that religious belief trumps (pun intended) all other law, like the belief of the christian stupid who say "freedom of religion is in the first amendment, so it trumps all other rights". This is the same idea behind 'religious freedom laws' that have been spreading like wildfire in what Mencken called 'The Sahara of the Bozart' , it is to allow people to use their religious belief to discriminate.
I can suggest one thing, if Trump signs this order, then people of good heart use it to retaliate against the religious bigots. If you are a boss, refuse to hire or promote conservative Christians, saying their beliefs violate yours, if you are Jewish refuse to hire anyone who belongs to an evangelical or conservative church. The nice part about a rule like this is like any good sword it goes both ways.
Trump knows who his base is,the ones he relies on, and he knows most of them are haters, pure and simple. If he puts out this executive order, he will be setting a precedent that religious belief trumps (pun intended) all other law, like the belief of the christian stupid who say "freedom of religion is in the first amendment, so it trumps all other rights". This is the same idea behind 'religious freedom laws' that have been spreading like wildfire in what Mencken called 'The Sahara of the Bozart' , it is to allow people to use their religious belief to discriminate.
I can suggest one thing, if Trump signs this order, then people of good heart use it to retaliate against the religious bigots. If you are a boss, refuse to hire or promote conservative Christians, saying their beliefs violate yours, if you are Jewish refuse to hire anyone who belongs to an evangelical or conservative church. The nice part about a rule like this is like any good sword it goes both ways.
5
Most commentators are correct, the Republican Party has shifted but this has been occurring for years now. It did not pop up overnight. King Trump will not hear any of Mr. Simpson's words unless Ivanka tells him of it. The puppet now has many masters and who knows who is really running the place. But if the Republicans allow themselves to be the slaves of these masters, the ire of the American people will be felt in the voting booths. If we last that long.
1
Mr. Simpson, thank you for your measured and practical comments about a serious misstep for this administration.
Looks like Mike Pence's fingerprints all over this ...
Looks like Mike Pence's fingerprints all over this ...
4
Dear Senator Simpson,
Thank you for trying. Your analysis is absolutely correct. Sorry to tell you, but the party you belonged to while serving the people of Wyoming is long gone. Trump's staggering overreach on this and many other issues (24 million of our fellow Americans being cruelly stripped of there healthcare for another example) is our shining hope at this momentous time. Is it enough to get you and other's who value a once honorable party to do what's right?
Thank you for trying. Your analysis is absolutely correct. Sorry to tell you, but the party you belonged to while serving the people of Wyoming is long gone. Trump's staggering overreach on this and many other issues (24 million of our fellow Americans being cruelly stripped of there healthcare for another example) is our shining hope at this momentous time. Is it enough to get you and other's who value a once honorable party to do what's right?
Treating the president as a legitimate president is a HUGE mistake. And I, for one, refuse to do so. The US election was hacked into and manipulated by a hostile foreign government, and the "president" is under investigation for collusion. This essay is a sad digression.
1
Maybe the folks that voted for Trump do not care about gay rights. Ever thought of that? Maybe they are sick of all of this stuff. Maybe some people do not agree with LGBTQ or whatever flavor of the month. It may be shocking to you if you are on of them. To others it would seem just normal.
2
I'm ambivalent.
On the one hand, I am grateful for Mr. Simpson's support. Retired Republican lawmakers, former appointees of Republican presidential administrations, influential party thinkers and donors—they helped us achieve marriage equality years before I ever thought possible, and many of those same people have continued to go to bat for us in its aftermath. Those Republicans, whatever they said or did before their "evolution," are our allies. Period.
At the same time, I bristle at the way Mr. Simpson characterizes the Democrats' response to the pernicious homophobia of the GOP's most socially conservative bloc. Democrats have stood by us far longer than enlightened Republicans. Is their a political opportunity when the bigots grab the microphone? Sure. But to imply that's their sole motivation? That's disingenuous and insulting. Sometimes lost in the praise of pro-gay Republican defectors is the fact their significance is only possible because of the Democrats' uniform stance against homophobia.
Another thing. The only reason Trump pulled that executive order was because gay rights are, for some reason, sacrosanct to his daughter and son-in-law. Letters from supportive faith groups? Pressure from fellow Republicans? That sort of thing hasn't really swayed him elsewhere. It's his inner circle that has his ear and can compel him to act.
Last one. This isn't just an anti-LGBT bill. It's anti-woman and essentially anti–non-Christian, (somehow) just as relevant in 2017.
On the one hand, I am grateful for Mr. Simpson's support. Retired Republican lawmakers, former appointees of Republican presidential administrations, influential party thinkers and donors—they helped us achieve marriage equality years before I ever thought possible, and many of those same people have continued to go to bat for us in its aftermath. Those Republicans, whatever they said or did before their "evolution," are our allies. Period.
At the same time, I bristle at the way Mr. Simpson characterizes the Democrats' response to the pernicious homophobia of the GOP's most socially conservative bloc. Democrats have stood by us far longer than enlightened Republicans. Is their a political opportunity when the bigots grab the microphone? Sure. But to imply that's their sole motivation? That's disingenuous and insulting. Sometimes lost in the praise of pro-gay Republican defectors is the fact their significance is only possible because of the Democrats' uniform stance against homophobia.
Another thing. The only reason Trump pulled that executive order was because gay rights are, for some reason, sacrosanct to his daughter and son-in-law. Letters from supportive faith groups? Pressure from fellow Republicans? That sort of thing hasn't really swayed him elsewhere. It's his inner circle that has his ear and can compel him to act.
Last one. This isn't just an anti-LGBT bill. It's anti-woman and essentially anti–non-Christian, (somehow) just as relevant in 2017.
3
• ...permitting discrimination against L.G.B.T. Americans in the name of religion....
Religion IS discriminatory, what it's always been about: my god vs. your god, my truth vs. your truth, "my friend in heaven is better than your friend in heaven".* It's exclusively exclusive of all non-adherents, the only way, truth and light!
* "Religious wars are basically people killing each other over who has the better imaginary friend." - NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
Religion IS discriminatory, what it's always been about: my god vs. your god, my truth vs. your truth, "my friend in heaven is better than your friend in heaven".* It's exclusively exclusive of all non-adherents, the only way, truth and light!
* "Religious wars are basically people killing each other over who has the better imaginary friend." - NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
6
Dear Senator Simpson,
I think it is time now for you to realize that you are not a Republican. Not anymore. I am sorry if this will be hard for you to admit but your primary
obligation to the country at this point has to be renouncing the party that has long since left you.
Best wishes
Best wishes.
I think it is time now for you to realize that you are not a Republican. Not anymore. I am sorry if this will be hard for you to admit but your primary
obligation to the country at this point has to be renouncing the party that has long since left you.
Best wishes
Best wishes.
I guess that means he is on his way to being a decent person?
1
Senator Simpson: you always annoyed me with your out-of-contexts quotations from Shakespeare, but this piece was good. Thanks.
Nice article, Mr. Simpson. But -- if you'll pardon my saying so -- it's too little and too late. As a gay man who has been out since the '70s, I well recall the carefully orchestrated anti-gay crusades and presidential campaign planks that were propounded by the Republican Party. After decades of anti-gay activism from conservatives, you now are advocating moderation from the likes of our current Republican chief executive? Someone who makes his policy decisions based on what he saw 5 minutes ago on Breitbart News or Fox and Friends? Get real, buddy. The Republican Party bought Donald Trump; now they own him. If they can't control him perhaps they should consider taking him back to the dog pound.
4
Mr. Simpson's opinion is a load of anti-intellectual nonsense. It's completely make=believe. There's virtually no attempt to stay focused on the real world, as Pres Trump has made no actual attempt to do any of the nightmarish things that seem to be running through Mr. Simpson's mind.
He's having a panic attack, thats all...........
He's having a panic attack, thats all...........
1
I am both the mother and sister of gay men---and I thank you.
You could not find two better individuals than my son and brother. That they have to prove their inherent dignity everywhere they go is bad enough without institutional discrimination on top of it.
No one chooses to be gay--especially since it STILL renders you a pariah in some circles. Nothing about gay sex is unique to homosexuals. It may not be polite to say it, but many heterosexuals ALSO practice the exact same sex acts (yes they do!). The only thing that separates LGBTQ from the rest of us is WHO they love.
In the case of my young son, he did not arrive at this conclusion lightly nor was this borne of sex but rather of whom he first felt attracted to.... Your first crush is so precious--I really wish his would have been allowed without internal recriminations. Similarly, I want him to experience dating right along his peers without fear and prejudice. What mother would want anything else?
For all the gains we have made, LGBTQ still have disproportionate levels of suicide and mental health issues. A relative of mine suggested rather unkindly that this was to be expected when you have a "mental defect"--how happy I was to show her the study that shows how much suicide rates have fallen since marriage equality took root. We must step it up now and include our transgender youth as their suicide rates are startlingly high. Still.
You could not find two better individuals than my son and brother. That they have to prove their inherent dignity everywhere they go is bad enough without institutional discrimination on top of it.
No one chooses to be gay--especially since it STILL renders you a pariah in some circles. Nothing about gay sex is unique to homosexuals. It may not be polite to say it, but many heterosexuals ALSO practice the exact same sex acts (yes they do!). The only thing that separates LGBTQ from the rest of us is WHO they love.
In the case of my young son, he did not arrive at this conclusion lightly nor was this borne of sex but rather of whom he first felt attracted to.... Your first crush is so precious--I really wish his would have been allowed without internal recriminations. Similarly, I want him to experience dating right along his peers without fear and prejudice. What mother would want anything else?
For all the gains we have made, LGBTQ still have disproportionate levels of suicide and mental health issues. A relative of mine suggested rather unkindly that this was to be expected when you have a "mental defect"--how happy I was to show her the study that shows how much suicide rates have fallen since marriage equality took root. We must step it up now and include our transgender youth as their suicide rates are startlingly high. Still.
I am both the mother and sister of gay men---and I think you.
You could not find two better individuals than my son and brother. That they have to prove their inherent dignity everywhere they go is bad enough without institutional discrimination on top of it.
No one chooses to be gay--especially since it STILL renders you a pariah in some circles. Nothing about gay sex is unique to homosexuals. It may not be polite to say it, but many heterosexuals ALSO practice the exact same sex acts (yes they do!). The only thing that separates LGBTQ from the rest of us is WHO they love.
In the case of my young son, he did not arrive at this conclusion lightly nor was this borne of sex but rather of whom he first felt attracted to.... Your first crush is so precious--I really wish his would have been allowed without internal recriminations. Similarly, I want him to experience dating right along his peers without fear and prejudice. What mother would want anything else?
For all the gains we have made, LGBTQ still have disproportionate levels of suicide and mental health issues. A relative of mine suggested rather unkindly that this was to be expected when you have a "mental defect"--how happy I was to show her the study that shows how much suicide rates have fallen since marriage equality took root. We must step it up now and include our transgender youth as their suicide rates are startlingly high. Still.
You could not find two better individuals than my son and brother. That they have to prove their inherent dignity everywhere they go is bad enough without institutional discrimination on top of it.
No one chooses to be gay--especially since it STILL renders you a pariah in some circles. Nothing about gay sex is unique to homosexuals. It may not be polite to say it, but many heterosexuals ALSO practice the exact same sex acts (yes they do!). The only thing that separates LGBTQ from the rest of us is WHO they love.
In the case of my young son, he did not arrive at this conclusion lightly nor was this borne of sex but rather of whom he first felt attracted to.... Your first crush is so precious--I really wish his would have been allowed without internal recriminations. Similarly, I want him to experience dating right along his peers without fear and prejudice. What mother would want anything else?
For all the gains we have made, LGBTQ still have disproportionate levels of suicide and mental health issues. A relative of mine suggested rather unkindly that this was to be expected when you have a "mental defect"--how happy I was to show her the study that shows how much suicide rates have fallen since marriage equality took root. We must step it up now and include our transgender youth as their suicide rates are startlingly high. Still.
With the election of Trump and Pence, Republicans have now made it extremely loud and clear that they are the party of
racism
sexism
anti-semitism
Islamophobia
homophobia
and ableism.
Republicans are all about oppression of anyone who is not Caucasian, male, straight, Christian, and able-bodied. Anyone who finds this disturbing belongs in the Democratic party.
racism
sexism
anti-semitism
Islamophobia
homophobia
and ableism.
Republicans are all about oppression of anyone who is not Caucasian, male, straight, Christian, and able-bodied. Anyone who finds this disturbing belongs in the Democratic party.
3
Not true Christians. They tend to belong to those sects (cults?) who tell their members to tell outsiders that they each read the Bible through twice a year. When you really only listen to what your 'pastor' reads you, that never includes any of Jesus's words. Also they say they 'believe' that Jesus is God. When I ask, "who said 'This is MY Son in Whom I am well pleased', at Jesus's baptism, they never heard of the quote, or His Baptism. They ask their pastors & are told to never speak to me again. I know this cause they tell me.
Some day God will take a breather from all the other things He is doing, to look at us. When He discovers He has been demoted, well, I just hope He doesn't take it out on everyone else in the world. He did at Sodom, He did with the flood.
Maybe His next choice for advancing a species to run this planet, He will clear us out & pick the cockroach. Better stock.
Some day God will take a breather from all the other things He is doing, to look at us. When He discovers He has been demoted, well, I just hope He doesn't take it out on everyone else in the world. He did at Sodom, He did with the flood.
Maybe His next choice for advancing a species to run this planet, He will clear us out & pick the cockroach. Better stock.
Harry R Wachstein Philly Pending Approval
Let's take a closer look at the claims of conservative Christians that baking a wedding cake for a gay couple would violate their religious liberty. Homosexuality is not the only sin in conservative Christianity. Adultery and fornication are also sins. To many conservative Catholics, divorce is also a sin. There are hundreds of thousands of heterosexual couples in every region of the country who live in 'common law' marriages, relationships that are considered sinful and a violation of Church law. Given the widespread existence of these relationships, it is reasonable to assume that some of these couples have wanted to celebrate their relationship with a cake or party. Yet, I have never heard of a single instance of a cohabiting straight couple who have been turned away by a baker, caterer or photographer on religious grounds. A retail business or service provider is, in effect, functioning as a public accommodation licensed by a state or local government. The Civil Rights Bill of 1964 did outlaw unequal treatment in public accommodations. But not for gay citizens. Today, there are as many instances of housing and employment discrimination against gay citizens as there are common law marriages. To the surprise of many Americans, it is still perfectly legal to discriminate against gay citizens, single or married, in dozens of states and localities. The religious freedom issue is just a new twist on a well-entrenched injustice.
Let's take a closer look at the claims of conservative Christians that baking a wedding cake for a gay couple would violate their religious liberty. Homosexuality is not the only sin in conservative Christianity. Adultery and fornication are also sins. To many conservative Catholics, divorce is also a sin. There are hundreds of thousands of heterosexual couples in every region of the country who live in 'common law' marriages, relationships that are considered sinful and a violation of Church law. Given the widespread existence of these relationships, it is reasonable to assume that some of these couples have wanted to celebrate their relationship with a cake or party. Yet, I have never heard of a single instance of a cohabiting straight couple who have been turned away by a baker, caterer or photographer on religious grounds. A retail business or service provider is, in effect, functioning as a public accommodation licensed by a state or local government. The Civil Rights Bill of 1964 did outlaw unequal treatment in public accommodations. But not for gay citizens. Today, there are as many instances of housing and employment discrimination against gay citizens as there are common law marriages. To the surprise of many Americans, it is still perfectly legal to discriminate against gay citizens, single or married, in dozens of states and localities. The religious freedom issue is just a new twist on a well-entrenched injustice.
3
Senator, I hope your column is effective. I, as a gay man, am beyond sick and tired of being a political punching bag for the homophobic extremists who appear to own and run the GOP from top to bottom.
2
Simpson is like a relic from another, gentler time. Things have changed considerably, sir, since you were in power.
As the American Revolutionaries screamed, "No taxation without representation!" I, as a gay man, plan to stop paying my taxes should a discriminatory bill like this passes. Many others plan to do the same, putting our taxes into escrow accounts and then suing the Federal government when they come after us. If I don't have equality, I don't pay taxes, it's that simple. Name one reason why I should.
3
As usual, the same 30 percent who will approve of anything at all the Republicans do because they have been hammered into a state of abject terror of "the other" (anyone who doesn't look or act like them) by decades of echo chamber radio talk shows, right-wing websites and a major propaganda TV station (perversely owned by a wealthy immigrant with no loyalty to anything but money and a Saudi prince). The Republicans are too busy joyriding and enacting the most radical, Ayne Rand-ian conservative agenda I've seen in my lifetime to care about offending one more group. And as to Trump, well, we all know he thinks he can shoot a person on 5th Avenue and get away with it. And, frankly, this same 30 percent are the ones who would allow him to do so. Your reasonable statements will fall on deaf ears.
2
The same 30% will line up on 5th Ave to be the person shot. It would be their honor. (If they had any, which I don't think they do)
"Please consider this a little helpful advice, offered from one maverick Republican to another." Sorry Simpson. You would have me if all you said was "It is wrong to discriminate against another human being". For the good of the party? Screw the Republican Party and their religious nazis!
3
It's likely that the 80,000 or so swing state voters who flipped the election would have little interest in pursuing an anti-gay rights agenda. But Donald will give the priority to evangelicals and social conservatives who supported him in great numbers during some of his lowest points in the campaign.
Go, Alan! What the Republican party needs now is a number of honest, decent legislators like Simpson and McCain, instead of both parties now bowing and scraping to the multi-national oligarchs.
But if there ever had been a "turn around" in the right-wing circle about gay rights, I've never heard of it.
But if there ever had been a "turn around" in the right-wing circle about gay rights, I've never heard of it.
The GOP is employing a tactic that's being used by far-right groups in Europe: use the LGBT community/women's right as a cudgel against Muslims and other foreigners. They don't really care about LGBT/women's rights. Rather, they argue that the failure of Muslim's/foreigners to recognize the rights of gays and women is per se cause to deny them entry to the country or to remove them altogether. As a gay person, I refuse to allow myself to be used in such a manner--especially when plenty of Christians are also on board with stripping us of our basic civil rights.
71
If you think that the Muslim religion is somehow ok with gays and treat women with equality, I highly recommend that you take a trip to the ME someday.
Just because some Christians are intolerant of LGBT and don't want women to be equal does NOT make it ok to add more religiously intolerant people to our country. Tolerating intolerance is not a good idea and somehow allows more of the same. Stop. It's hypocritical.
Just because some Christians are intolerant of LGBT and don't want women to be equal does NOT make it ok to add more religiously intolerant people to our country. Tolerating intolerance is not a good idea and somehow allows more of the same. Stop. It's hypocritical.
1
"Tolerating intolerance is not a good idea and somehow allows more of the same. Stop."
Oh, no you didn't!
DJ, thanks! A perfect one sentence summary of years of Fundamentalist, Evangelical, Republican arguments against LGBT rights: "If you lying liberal elites are so tolerant, you have to tolerate our intolerance. Hypocrites."
And, just as real Christians deny the faithfulness of the hateful loudmouths of the religious right (as, I suspect Jesus would) it is a mistake on your part to see the word 'Muslim' and believe you know all there is to know about the person so labelled.
You may suffer from hatred and arrogance regarding people you don't agree with (well, that's not true; these so-called Christians pick and choose their commandments, easily accepting infidelity, sexual perversion (turnpike bathrooms anyone?), sexual harassment, dishonesty, serial divorce, greed, etc.), and you may meet in sordid little First Church of God family rooms to share your contempt for the people you know are sub-human but, in this country, you can't take it to the street.
Oh, no you didn't!
DJ, thanks! A perfect one sentence summary of years of Fundamentalist, Evangelical, Republican arguments against LGBT rights: "If you lying liberal elites are so tolerant, you have to tolerate our intolerance. Hypocrites."
And, just as real Christians deny the faithfulness of the hateful loudmouths of the religious right (as, I suspect Jesus would) it is a mistake on your part to see the word 'Muslim' and believe you know all there is to know about the person so labelled.
You may suffer from hatred and arrogance regarding people you don't agree with (well, that's not true; these so-called Christians pick and choose their commandments, easily accepting infidelity, sexual perversion (turnpike bathrooms anyone?), sexual harassment, dishonesty, serial divorce, greed, etc.), and you may meet in sordid little First Church of God family rooms to share your contempt for the people you know are sub-human but, in this country, you can't take it to the street.
I saw just the other day where Evangelical Christians are now Trump's largest and most reliable supporters. The reason for this -- so the article says -- is that these 'Christians' see Trump as a defender of Christain rights in the (perceived) 'War on Christianity'. What's more, they firmly believe that the 'scientific community' is waging a campaign to convert all Christians to Atheists. I have no idea how any sane person can compete with such fundamental lunacy -- especially when held in the name of God -- to say nothing of the utter hypocrisy it represents relative to the Christian faith. Long ago, Karl Marx characterized religion as 'the opiate of the masses'. Today, HATE is the religion of the masses...
Good advice from Alan Simpson- I doubt DT or anyone in his administration will follow it. This Manchurian Candidate is hell bent on ruining this country on every level.
While he wants to obliterate Meals on Wheels and could not care less about the bad PR that brings- I doubt he will be receptive when it comes to LGBT rights or concerns since it is not important to his ignorant base.
While he wants to obliterate Meals on Wheels and could not care less about the bad PR that brings- I doubt he will be receptive when it comes to LGBT rights or concerns since it is not important to his ignorant base.
7
Thanks for speaking rationally Senator Simpson. Your words actually sound reasoned and humane, something we typically don't see from Republicans which I've come to think of as "The party of Hate". I have two comments: All political problems in my mind lead to one issue: campaign finance reform! Get the lobbyists out of government and you will be amazed at how much better the issues that Simpson addresses...education, humane immigration, etc. will be addressed. Second, I honestly don't understand what all this discrimination against gay people and minorities is all about: these people are US citizens. Period!. They deserve the exact same rights and support as everyone else. Period! I'm not religious and I'm inclined to think that religion causes a lot of problems in the world and in this country. Should I be allowed to discriminate against Christians? Refuse them service in my business? Be able to fire them because I disapprove of their religious beliefs? Support folks who would beat them and leave them for dead like gay bashers did to Matthew Shephard?
11
"This executive order would be a political tinderbox that could explode in the faces of Republicans everywhere, reinforcing negative stereotypes about the party’s dislike of L.G.B.T. Americans, women, and religious and ethnic minorities."
Stereotypes? A stereotype is an unfair and exaggerated generalization concerning a group of people. It is no exaggeration at all to say that the Republican Party has been unrelentingly hostile to gay rights since Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority barged their way onto the national scene under Ronald Reagan.
There has never been a plank in any Republican platform that supported marriage equality or basic civil rights for LGBT Americans. If this is not proof positive of institutionalized homophobia within the Republican Party, then I fear Senator Simpson has fallen victim to the Trump effect under which all facts get tossed out the window in favor of the fiction of the moment.
Other than that, the Senator is to be commended for his defense of LGBT Americans. However, I think all our energies should be directed a praying to Saint Ivanka and Saint Jared to intercede on our behalf with the wrathful orange god, Donald Trump.
Stereotypes? A stereotype is an unfair and exaggerated generalization concerning a group of people. It is no exaggeration at all to say that the Republican Party has been unrelentingly hostile to gay rights since Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority barged their way onto the national scene under Ronald Reagan.
There has never been a plank in any Republican platform that supported marriage equality or basic civil rights for LGBT Americans. If this is not proof positive of institutionalized homophobia within the Republican Party, then I fear Senator Simpson has fallen victim to the Trump effect under which all facts get tossed out the window in favor of the fiction of the moment.
Other than that, the Senator is to be commended for his defense of LGBT Americans. However, I think all our energies should be directed a praying to Saint Ivanka and Saint Jared to intercede on our behalf with the wrathful orange god, Donald Trump.
10
All you were doing is trying to be funny! Saying nothing of substance!
I see this possible new EO another reason to march on Washington as the Citizens' Army, clean out the WH, then congress. Stopping on the way home to do the same in needed state capitals.
Are we a country? Or a group of disparate states who actually hate each other? The Founding Fathers might have had to give states some rights back in the beginning to make is seem we were a country. We were not then, & are not now. So, time has come to either make this one country. With states meaning nothing, except to tourists & history. No more states' rights. All congresspeople should be elected 'at large' by the whole country, no districts, no state only elections. If the Red States don't like that option, there is one more. All Blue States will stop sending any tax money to Washington. Every cent collected for Federal taxes would stay in Blue states. All SS & Medicare money would stay in the state. All SS & Medicare trust fund money would be parceled out to (Blue States first) states with the Feds having to come up with the 3 Trillion that has been stolen over the years for congressional boondoggles. Once the Blue States get their shares, whatever is left (if any) can be given to Red States. No money from Blue States will go to Red States. For all purposes we will become 2 separate countries. No disaster relief for Red States, no farm subsidies, all Federal money, properties, & support will be removed. Not one more cent from Blue to Red. Red people will need visas to go to Blue States.
Are we a country? Or a group of disparate states who actually hate each other? The Founding Fathers might have had to give states some rights back in the beginning to make is seem we were a country. We were not then, & are not now. So, time has come to either make this one country. With states meaning nothing, except to tourists & history. No more states' rights. All congresspeople should be elected 'at large' by the whole country, no districts, no state only elections. If the Red States don't like that option, there is one more. All Blue States will stop sending any tax money to Washington. Every cent collected for Federal taxes would stay in Blue states. All SS & Medicare money would stay in the state. All SS & Medicare trust fund money would be parceled out to (Blue States first) states with the Feds having to come up with the 3 Trillion that has been stolen over the years for congressional boondoggles. Once the Blue States get their shares, whatever is left (if any) can be given to Red States. No money from Blue States will go to Red States. For all purposes we will become 2 separate countries. No disaster relief for Red States, no farm subsidies, all Federal money, properties, & support will be removed. Not one more cent from Blue to Red. Red people will need visas to go to Blue States.
1
What is the so -called religious liberty that proponents of discrimination against gays like to use as a smokescreen? Nobody is invading the proponent's right to practice their religion. It is important to remember that no right is absolute when it hurts others. Even free speech has its limits. No one has a right to yell fire in a crowded theater when there is no fire. Even Justice Scalia recognized that the right to possess firearms is subject to reasonable regulation.
10
Thank you senator for speaking out and placing reason front and center of the debate. May it infect your former colleagues on the right.
4
How could any sane person vote for Trump in the first place? Please explain this simple question. Then, let's move on. This is right-on, retrumplicans!
6
Let's take a closer look at the claims of conservative Christians that baking a wedding cake for a gay couple would violate their religious liberty. Homosexuality is not the only sin in conservative Christianity. Adultery and fornication are also sins. To many conservative Catholics, divorce is also a sin. There are hundreds of thousands of heterosexual couples in every region of the country who live in 'common law' marriages, relationships that are considered sinful and a violation of Church law. Given the widespread existence of these relationships, it is reasonable to assume that some of these couples have wanted to celebrate their relationship with a cake or party. Yet, I have never heard of a single instance of a cohabiting straight couple who have been turned away by a baker, caterer or photographer on religious grounds. A retail business or service provider is, in effect, functioning as a public accommodation licensed by a state or local government. The Civil Rights Bill of 1964 did outlaw unequal treatment in public accommodations. But not for gay citizens. Today, there are as many instances of housing and employment discrimination against gay citizens as there are common law marriages. To the surprise of many Americans, it is still perfectly legal to discriminate against gay citizens, single or married, in dozens of states and localities. The religious freedom issue is just a new twist on a well-entrenched injustice.
17
In regards to the baker turning away a previously divorced or living in sin or adulterating couple, one would not "know" that without asking questions, which im sure they dont do, none of business, not allowed. In the case of a gay marriage it is obvious!
1
Donald Trump and his administration DONT READ.Alas!
1
The judiciary is not buying this idea? Except the man now the subject of hearings as to whether he should take Merrick Garland's stolen seat on the Supreme Court!
4
Trump is an incompetent and a liar. I wonder when the people who voted for him will realize the sham that is his politics. He plays to the baser instincts of people. I realize that there is a Republican push to roll back the gay agenda and that religious discrimination is the latest fad. It is a desperate attempt to put the genie back in the bottle. It did take a couple of election cycles for Conservative Christians to figure what a fraud President Bush (think Karl Rove ) was when promising one thing and delivering nothing. I really wonder how long it will take Trump voters to realize that they have been fooled again.
Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me.
Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me.
6
The idea that it is somehow discrimination against gays for a person of conscious to refuse to create art for a gay wedding is absurd. Since when do we demand that business people of any kind – let alone artists – convey messages with which they disagree? Since when does the government step in and demand the people attend ceremonies which they believe to be immoral?
Indeed, the group-think expression “gay rights” is questionable of itself; what rights do gays have that others don’t? No one has the right to demand that an artist create a work he finds offensive. Ever. For any reason. And a government which imposes on the rights of the minority, demanding that some people speak against their will, qualifies as tyrannical.
My guess is that if you put the First Amendment up to a vote, it would lose. That’s why we don’t put it up to a vote. It’s precisely so that people with unpopular opinions don’t face governmental coercion to renounce them.
In short, the author writes that the forces of tyranny have lots of friends. A surprise, that. But a courageous party stands up for the right to speak – or not – despite the consequences.
Indeed, the group-think expression “gay rights” is questionable of itself; what rights do gays have that others don’t? No one has the right to demand that an artist create a work he finds offensive. Ever. For any reason. And a government which imposes on the rights of the minority, demanding that some people speak against their will, qualifies as tyrannical.
My guess is that if you put the First Amendment up to a vote, it would lose. That’s why we don’t put it up to a vote. It’s precisely so that people with unpopular opinions don’t face governmental coercion to renounce them.
In short, the author writes that the forces of tyranny have lots of friends. A surprise, that. But a courageous party stands up for the right to speak – or not – despite the consequences.
5
Michael, let me try to provide you with a clear understanding of the issue: if a business is open to the public, it must provide goods and services to all who choose to purchase them. The business cannot discriminate against certain segments of the public for personal (in this case religious) reasons. We have established anti-discrimination laws to ensure equal treatment of all Americans in the marketplace. If a christian baker trulls believes that making wedding cakes for gay couples is "against god's law" then he or she must open a private, membership only bakery that allows only christians who abide by biblical dogma to join. But to claim that the baker is being "tyrannically" (favorite word of the far right) forced to violate his/her faith by baking a wedding cake for Bob & Bill which celebrates their love and relationship is absurd to most Americans. "Religious Liberty" legislation is just another step backward to an old-fangled America where church = state. Is that what you really want?
But forcing an artist to express something against their belief has never been the issue. Even in Oregon where bakers have been sued under the state law for refusing to sell a wedding cake, the courts have not required them to express approval of the marriage.
1
Glad you asked. It has something to do with two things:
1. The right to enjoy the same rights as anybody else, including the freedom to walk down the street dressed pretty much as you please without being attacked, and the right to get married and have kids.
2. The responsibility to do business fairly and openly with the whole public, without fear or favor, if you're going to use the public's money and the public's services and the public's protections so that you can run your business at all.
Whoop-de-do: two guys onna cake. Photos of happy people at a wedding. Boy howdy, THERE are troubles and problems to keep any adult up late at night crying.
1. The right to enjoy the same rights as anybody else, including the freedom to walk down the street dressed pretty much as you please without being attacked, and the right to get married and have kids.
2. The responsibility to do business fairly and openly with the whole public, without fear or favor, if you're going to use the public's money and the public's services and the public's protections so that you can run your business at all.
Whoop-de-do: two guys onna cake. Photos of happy people at a wedding. Boy howdy, THERE are troubles and problems to keep any adult up late at night crying.
1
Isn't it really sad that we still discuss this? Shouldn't this be in the dark past? But sorry, it isn't. So, here in less than 140 characters, because that's all that Trump is capable of comprehending:
@realTrump, don't do it. If you do, we will make sure you will never forget #realFreedom
@realTrump, don't do it. If you do, we will make sure you will never forget #realFreedom
2
I'm a middle aged woman. When I was little I was terrified of that the NAZI's or monsters would destroy the world and my family. Now I'm only scared of what hateful and cruel things the Republican Party is going to do to my fellow LGBT community; ethnic and religious minorities; the poor; our fragile environment; our public educational system; our democracy; and cause WWIII.
The GOP ineffably more frightening to me as I see them march us toward the abyss.
The GOP ineffably more frightening to me as I see them march us toward the abyss.
7
You only have to fear the abyss if you just do nothing. If you march toward it without daring to do anything, you will fall in. I grew up knowing that if I allowed others to discriminate against ME, it was my fault. If I was willing to fight then what happened was their fault.
We the People of the United States of America must stand on our own 2 feet & stop these criminals from destroying our country. Every one of them have already broken their oaths. All are guilty of treason (some smaller ones who only deserve long prison sentences; others like those in the WH & congress should be hung).
The Founding Fathers gave us the Right, the Obligation to Revolt against those who wish to abolish our Rights as free citizens. They put that Obligation in the Declaration of Independence, which was made unchangeable, so no regime could take our Right to stop them away. The Constitution, as wonderful as it is, can be changed by hard work & majority opinion. Takes a lot of time, work, talk, votes, votes, votes, & still most amendments fail. As they should.
So, it is time to march on Washington, as the Citizens' Army. To clean out the White House, & congress. Trying the traitors. Either imprisoning them or hanging them, depending on the person's traitorous acts. We are all that stands between ourselves & oblivion. Congress should, but, they are either traitors themselves, or cowards. So we MUST do it ourselves. This is not politics as usual. This should be WAR.
We the People of the United States of America must stand on our own 2 feet & stop these criminals from destroying our country. Every one of them have already broken their oaths. All are guilty of treason (some smaller ones who only deserve long prison sentences; others like those in the WH & congress should be hung).
The Founding Fathers gave us the Right, the Obligation to Revolt against those who wish to abolish our Rights as free citizens. They put that Obligation in the Declaration of Independence, which was made unchangeable, so no regime could take our Right to stop them away. The Constitution, as wonderful as it is, can be changed by hard work & majority opinion. Takes a lot of time, work, talk, votes, votes, votes, & still most amendments fail. As they should.
So, it is time to march on Washington, as the Citizens' Army. To clean out the White House, & congress. Trying the traitors. Either imprisoning them or hanging them, depending on the person's traitorous acts. We are all that stands between ourselves & oblivion. Congress should, but, they are either traitors themselves, or cowards. So we MUST do it ourselves. This is not politics as usual. This should be WAR.
You should be affraid of what the liberals were doing to the education system. I see it, its scary!
1
Oh, you mean helping people think for themselves? Those damn liberals!
"I would respectfully suggest that you expend your time and energy on other issues — the solvency of Social Security, the cost of health care, humane immigration reform, building infrastructure and educating kids to succeed..."
Wrong party and wrong demagogue Mr. Simpson. Trump is primarily in this game for himself. How do I know that? Five decades of documented behavior
in the private sector. Trump gave almost nothing to charity, although he used the idea of charity as a ruse to promote his self image. LGBT rights? Not if the far right, which paid for his candidacy handsomely and will do so again in 2020 want the legal rights to pursue their traditional patterns of bigotry.
Come now, who does Trump cater to? Everyone knows.
Wrong party and wrong demagogue Mr. Simpson. Trump is primarily in this game for himself. How do I know that? Five decades of documented behavior
in the private sector. Trump gave almost nothing to charity, although he used the idea of charity as a ruse to promote his self image. LGBT rights? Not if the far right, which paid for his candidacy handsomely and will do so again in 2020 want the legal rights to pursue their traditional patterns of bigotry.
Come now, who does Trump cater to? Everyone knows.
2
So, regardless whatever else is going on in Washington D.C., the world must revolve around gay rights. Millions are starving in the Sudan, thousands are in political prisons, and North Korea is threatening the U.S. with long range weaponry, but the New York Times continues its obsession with gay rights as the over-riding need of our time. Together with bathrooms, this is where our political system has brought us.
3
Actually the way this works is, you go down that whole list of troubles, and you ask: what the heck is wrong with the fanatics who think that two guys getting married or the genitalia of whoever's in the next stall is more important than everything else?
Oh, and by the way...publishing an editorial BY A REPUBLICAN is not exactly the same as busting into your house and making your kids wear funny clothes, you know.
Maybe take a gander at the front page?
Oh, and by the way...publishing an editorial BY A REPUBLICAN is not exactly the same as busting into your house and making your kids wear funny clothes, you know.
Maybe take a gander at the front page?
Do you think that your fellow GLBT Americans feel the same? Why are you so terribly upset about your fellow Americans being protected?
That you INSIST that only one or two problems be solved at a time perhaps indicates your lack of ability. Not ours.
That you INSIST that only one or two problems be solved at a time perhaps indicates your lack of ability. Not ours.
Clearly you haven't actually read the New York Times and are not competent to comment. If you had, you'd have seen that there were reports about all those topics you mentioned. Extensive coverage, in fact.
Gay rights and bathrooms are not the obsession of the Times. They are the obsession of people like you, who would rather have hatred, bigotry and discrimination go unreported, thinking and saying that any reporting is too much.
The Republican Party's obsession with bedrooms and bathrooms is where you should be focusing your ire. I'm confident that as soon as Republicans stop trying to enact discrimination, as soon as Republicans decide to let people live their lives in peace, as soon as Republicans evolve, in other words, you'll never see another article in the Times about it. Until then, discrimination is just as legitimate a news story as any other.
Gay rights and bathrooms are not the obsession of the Times. They are the obsession of people like you, who would rather have hatred, bigotry and discrimination go unreported, thinking and saying that any reporting is too much.
The Republican Party's obsession with bedrooms and bathrooms is where you should be focusing your ire. I'm confident that as soon as Republicans stop trying to enact discrimination, as soon as Republicans decide to let people live their lives in peace, as soon as Republicans evolve, in other words, you'll never see another article in the Times about it. Until then, discrimination is just as legitimate a news story as any other.
the 'fringe' groups behind this are very crafty by focusing almost exclusively on lgbtq when proselytizing on it. they very quietly leave out the part about women & religious minorities. I wonder why? maybe because the backlash would be even greater? can we say "Women's March on Washington?"
1
Once the Citizens' Army marches on Washington, the trials are over, the criminals from the WH & congress either imprisoned or hung, these 'less than' people will be back to keeping their mouths shut, also they will not teach their kids 'edukashun is evil". All schools, in all states will teach a common curriculum: Reading, Writing (to grade level every year of no promotion), Math, Science, History, Civics, Sex Ed. From kindergarten up. The senior civics class, won't be needed for graduation. But, if you don't take it (or drop out before), or you don't ace the closed book test, you will never be allowed to vote. Ace it, get a certificate, that when presented in any state gives you the right to vote. Once the National ID is out (still in testing, called the Passport Card), your certificate will be on it. For the first couple years there will be night classes for adults, take the class once, ace test, get certificate. Otherwise, you will be a second class citizen. No take overs. After first years to give adults a chance, only given to seniors in high school. Based on the test given those going for citizenship. If you can't read at 12th grade level, you will not be able to ace the test. Just because daddy can't read, so can't pass the test, doesn't mean his kids can't, if they buckle down in school. All jobs except menial ones will come with a test in reading & any other skills (math?) you need. Can't pass, no job. Except the dirty ones. For below minimum wage, live in gov dorms.
I love how Senator Simpson sidesteps the issue that bigotry against the LGBT community is enshrined the GOP platform and is, in fact, celebrated by the party. Is there no one in the GOP with the courage to stand up to the Evangelical Extremists that propagate this bigotry and hate? Let's be honest Senator Simpson represents a teeny tiny minority within the GOP. The vast majority of the party has ZERO issue with bigotry against the LGTB community just as they have ZERO issue with bigotry against people of color and people who practice religions other than their brand of intolerant money grubbing Southern Evangelicalism.
6
The GOP is the party of hate, and the party of the super-wealthy who brainwash the poor by appealing to their petty bigotry and racism via Fox "News" and Breitbart and other "National Enquirer"-style conspiracy theory nonsense. And now they've gone and elected a billionaire con man President. Maybe things were different back when Alan Simpson was in the Senate, but it's plain naive for him to pretend the GOP is ever going to be calm or rational, or a friend to the LGBT community. I'm gay, and happily married to another man, and I know who's attacking my family - the Republicans. At this point, appealing to reason, or decency, where Republicans are concerned, is yelling into the wind.
7
Right on, Sen. Simpson!
Just one question--When did the Republicans retreat on the bathroom bill?
Just one question--When did the Republicans retreat on the bathroom bill?
1
I'm tired of people's sex, I'm tired of people's religion, I'm tired of people's race; when I die I only want to come back if it can be as an ant.
Short life, the evangelicals will step on you first time you leave your home.
Thank God, Wolfie, then I won't have to listen to them anymore, but I can at least say I tried.
Not to allow people the legal right to have their marriages recognized is more than just a Gay Rights issue, it is a Human Rights Issue.
11
How refreshing to see Senator Simpson engage Mr. Trump in language the president can understand -- the art of the deal.
The "what's in it for me" and "what's in for them" dialectic is a practical approach. It eschews the moralizing of bleeding heart ideologues on both right and left and gets down to business.
Democrats and Trump-bashers, take notice.
The "what's in it for me" and "what's in for them" dialectic is a practical approach. It eschews the moralizing of bleeding heart ideologues on both right and left and gets down to business.
Democrats and Trump-bashers, take notice.
1
OK, no more bleeding hearts when your family dies in a house fire, because you put off getting it rewired. Too expensive you said.
No help from the Red Cross, any religion, any government agency. You will still owe every penny on the mortgage & the bank will take all the insurance. No person is important. Ever. No one will ever help anyone again. The government will pass laws and make sure this is so. To save land, all the dead will be cremated & used as fertilizer, no burials. Again no person is important. Only what they do for the government counts.
No nanny state. If you do something stupid YOU will PAY big time. No car insurance, cause an accident. Every asset you & your family has will be turned over to the family of the injured. What you spend on health insurance will be turned over for better insurance for the injured & family. If you are caught in a lie, you will be forever banned from working in any manner than as a menial laborer who lives in a dorm, owned by the gov. Separate from the other gender, never allowed to have any relationship with anyone again. Fed subsistence food 2 meals a day (middle meal is while you are working, & too dirty to eat). Automatically divorced from spouse, & parental rights severed. You will be a non person. Forever. No one will care.
No help from the Red Cross, any religion, any government agency. You will still owe every penny on the mortgage & the bank will take all the insurance. No person is important. Ever. No one will ever help anyone again. The government will pass laws and make sure this is so. To save land, all the dead will be cremated & used as fertilizer, no burials. Again no person is important. Only what they do for the government counts.
No nanny state. If you do something stupid YOU will PAY big time. No car insurance, cause an accident. Every asset you & your family has will be turned over to the family of the injured. What you spend on health insurance will be turned over for better insurance for the injured & family. If you are caught in a lie, you will be forever banned from working in any manner than as a menial laborer who lives in a dorm, owned by the gov. Separate from the other gender, never allowed to have any relationship with anyone again. Fed subsistence food 2 meals a day (middle meal is while you are working, & too dirty to eat). Automatically divorced from spouse, & parental rights severed. You will be a non person. Forever. No one will care.
I am not sure how to respond to this.
There was a time, around 1994-1995, I literally hated this guy, Alan Simpson, the senator from Wyoming. At the time, I was new to US, studying for MS. I was debating whether to continue towards my PhD or not. I really wanted to do it. But at the time this senator introduced a bill that required all students to return to their home country as soon as they graduate. While this would have caused some hardship for me, nothing signifcant in retrospect. I planned to return after working for 3-4 years anyway. Thankfully, this whole idea was dropped, I finished my PhD. For whatever turn of events, I chose to stay, became US citizen, and so on.
At the time around 1994-95, I thought Alan Simpson was the worst person in the world. I was not aware of any politician names at the time. But this name stuck around in my head for a long time.
In the last 20 years or so, I realized that he may not be as bad as I thought he was then. But the impressions remain. Now, though, when I read this article, I feel if this is sanest guy in the republican party, we are doomed.
One comment about the article itself: The argument should rest on `You should treat people equally because it is the right thing to do' rather than `Doing so will energize democrats or will be bad for republicans'. Who cares if democrats or republicans exist as a party or not. One should care about people because whether they exist and how they are treated is what matters
There was a time, around 1994-1995, I literally hated this guy, Alan Simpson, the senator from Wyoming. At the time, I was new to US, studying for MS. I was debating whether to continue towards my PhD or not. I really wanted to do it. But at the time this senator introduced a bill that required all students to return to their home country as soon as they graduate. While this would have caused some hardship for me, nothing signifcant in retrospect. I planned to return after working for 3-4 years anyway. Thankfully, this whole idea was dropped, I finished my PhD. For whatever turn of events, I chose to stay, became US citizen, and so on.
At the time around 1994-95, I thought Alan Simpson was the worst person in the world. I was not aware of any politician names at the time. But this name stuck around in my head for a long time.
In the last 20 years or so, I realized that he may not be as bad as I thought he was then. But the impressions remain. Now, though, when I read this article, I feel if this is sanest guy in the republican party, we are doomed.
One comment about the article itself: The argument should rest on `You should treat people equally because it is the right thing to do' rather than `Doing so will energize democrats or will be bad for republicans'. Who cares if democrats or republicans exist as a party or not. One should care about people because whether they exist and how they are treated is what matters
11
Senator, your speaking to the choir on this issue, what you need to do is talk to your fellow representatives, governors, some of whom are blatantly anti-LGBT, This is the audience that you need to convince, as you put it, " simple as pointing out that supporting discrimination against anyone is just a bad idea and that doing so in the name of religion is hypocritical as well. But just for good measure..." Some of your fellow politicians have used their position to enact laws that are directed square at the LGBT community and claim their religious beliefs for doing so. Speak to them, tell them they are hypocrites, they are the one's that need to hear this.
4
If such an executive order is enacted, there will be an outcry of fierce opposition heard around the world. Never underestimate the power of the LGBT community when they are sparked into action. Just look at how we reversed the AIDS crisis when we became our own advocates, rallied for marriage equality and the strength of our nonprofits working on our behalf. Be very careful.
3
Rob, don't forget all the people like me who think the white trash need to be stopped & stopped hard, about seeing anything 'different' than them is bad.
Join the Citizens' Army. March to Washington with us. Help us fumigate the WH & congress (the state capitals that need it on the way home), try, find guilty, sentence & execute those now in power.
I have never been able to figure out why anyone cares who anyone else sleeps with anyway. Could it be because they hate sleeping with their opposite gender spouses so much they want everyone to be miserable like them?
Join the Citizens' Army. March to Washington with us. Help us fumigate the WH & congress (the state capitals that need it on the way home), try, find guilty, sentence & execute those now in power.
I have never been able to figure out why anyone cares who anyone else sleeps with anyway. Could it be because they hate sleeping with their opposite gender spouses so much they want everyone to be miserable like them?
As a Republican "maverick," how can you not understand that this kind of policy is exactly what Republicans like Pence have been aching to pass for years. Trump owes Pence for legitimizing him. He's just paying up.
1
How about saying, "It's just wrong!" If trump wants to be the leader (haha) of the free world, do not discriminate!
1
Well, it was only a matter of time. I knew it was coming. It seems that T. is at war with the people of his own country, or most of them. As a gay man of 71 who has seen a lot and rejoiced in the advances we've made over the years I am of course angry and disappointed, to say the least. But as a Jew with the knowledge of centuries of discrimination and murder against his people I know these things go in cycles. It's the sheer intentional destructiveness of it. It's the digging out of all that is ugly and cruel in human beings and in this country in particular with no regard for the basic goodness that resides alongside it. It's the evil of this man and his minions who are repeating patterns of the last century regardless of the lessons of history. It's the grim pleasure he and his ilk seem to take in it. And there is nothing Christian about it; even a gay Jew knows that.
224
Thank you, arrower, Christian, Jonathan Gould and so many of you for your thoughtful expression of the OUTRAGE that continues to build against Trump, Ryan, Nunez and their hate supporters across this country. It won't stop until we vote the dangerous little monsters out of office. In my Arizona legislative district, the attendees at our Democratic Party meetings have more than quadrupled in numbers and in our commitment to change this OUTRAGE into a better America.
Trump has zero moral values and is psychologically deranged. Those who support him should be looking in a mirror. They are no better than he is. He is a failed president who imagines he's being bullied while he bullies everyone else. He's never going to read this or anything else that requires intelligence. He'd rather watch fake news and insult a majority of citizens by being the dumbest president of all.
Eclectic Pragmatism — http://eclectic-pragmatist.tumblr.com/
Eclectic Pragmatist — https://medium.com/eclectic-pragmatism
Eclectic Pragmatism — http://eclectic-pragmatist.tumblr.com/
Eclectic Pragmatist — https://medium.com/eclectic-pragmatism
5
Unfortunately Senator you're an anachronism. The Republican Party you're speaking to no longer exists and what they've become thinks people like you lack the foritude to crack a few eggs, as Lenin said, to make an omelet. The America they want to make great again must first be purified.
26
Aftervirtue wrote: "The Republican Party you're speaking to no longer exists and what they've become thinks people like you lack the foritude to crack a few eggs, as Lenin said, to make an omelet
I agree "Aftervirtue". You must represent the "new" Republican Party, quoting Lenin and "cracking a few eggs". It is my sincere hope that the FBI is truly investigating your egg cracking.
Thank your for choosing that name, Aftervitue.
I agree "Aftervirtue". You must represent the "new" Republican Party, quoting Lenin and "cracking a few eggs". It is my sincere hope that the FBI is truly investigating your egg cracking.
Thank your for choosing that name, Aftervitue.
1
The Democratic Party of the mid-20th century that hated communism and was full of religious people has definitely ceased to exist. That may explain why nobody votes for your guys anymore.
"For example, a Social Security Administration employee could cite his religious beliefs to refuse benefits to the surviving spouse of a married same-sex couple."
NYT that is fear mongering at its lowest form. A government employee who refuses to follow the law or a regulation and do the job she/he is being paid to do will be removed and one who can do the job will replace her/him. Sometimes you try, in the name of progressive liberalism, to cross that bridge too far!
NYT that is fear mongering at its lowest form. A government employee who refuses to follow the law or a regulation and do the job she/he is being paid to do will be removed and one who can do the job will replace her/him. Sometimes you try, in the name of progressive liberalism, to cross that bridge too far!
6
Perhaps you did not understand that this opinion piece was written by a Republican former Senator. Also, perhaps you missed the news last year about a county clerk in Kentucky who refused to obey a ruling of the United States Supreme Court regarding the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/02/us/same-sex-marriage-kentucky-kim-dav... Senator Simpson just making up such scenarios.
1
Do you remember how long it took for someone to replace Kim Davis?
@tired of hypocrisy:
That isn't true, if Trump signs an executive order making it okay to justify discrimination based on religious belief existing rules or laws no longer apply. For example, the 'religious liberty laws' allowed a business to discriminate against let's say a gay person because they believe gays are sinners. This despite the fact that businesses are public conveyances and are not allowed to discriminate against people based on other attributes, like sex, national origin and so forth. This kind of ruling could be applied by a sympathetic judge or even SCOTUS to say that a company with protections for LGBT people or a state that protects people like this are overruled by religious belief.
This has come up in other ways, for example an ardent Catholic pharmacist refusing to dispense a prescription for birth controls pills or a morning after pill because both are proscribed by his/her faith (and yes, this has happened). The law already requires companues to take into account employees religious beliefs as long as they don't interfere with the business, this would go quite a few steps further.
That isn't true, if Trump signs an executive order making it okay to justify discrimination based on religious belief existing rules or laws no longer apply. For example, the 'religious liberty laws' allowed a business to discriminate against let's say a gay person because they believe gays are sinners. This despite the fact that businesses are public conveyances and are not allowed to discriminate against people based on other attributes, like sex, national origin and so forth. This kind of ruling could be applied by a sympathetic judge or even SCOTUS to say that a company with protections for LGBT people or a state that protects people like this are overruled by religious belief.
This has come up in other ways, for example an ardent Catholic pharmacist refusing to dispense a prescription for birth controls pills or a morning after pill because both are proscribed by his/her faith (and yes, this has happened). The law already requires companues to take into account employees religious beliefs as long as they don't interfere with the business, this would go quite a few steps further.
Why, Senator, you had a closet liberal in you all this time? It's always nice to see pols become statesmen once they slip the shackles of political slavery. Well done. For readers outside of Wyoming, Senator Simpson has done some excellent advocacy here, especially in matters of education.
Memo to the LGBTQ's. If you are born with a penis, you are a man and may not use the women's bathroom. If you are born with a vagina, you are a woman and may not use men's bathroom. That is perfectly reasonable and it does not violate the constitution or common sense. Have we all gone mad? Transgenders should have more important t things to worry about than which bathroom they choose to relieve themselves in. You denigrate your cause by fighting for such trivial ridiculous concessions. It is offensive. Get over yourselves!
6
Memo to bigots. Trans people have been using the bathroom with you for decades. If you are worrying about someone else in the bathroom, then you are the problem. These laws, like most proposed by republicans, are solutions in search of a problem
2
Memo to the uninformed: It is none of your business where or how an individual goes to the bathroom. It is offensive. This is a free country. Get over being a three year old victim of bad potty-training.
Sometimes the best political theater arises from giving folks what they say they want. Perhaps soon groups of folks will be entering small-mind American restaurants, courthouses, and other public places. They will be dressed, coiffed, and taught to faithfully appear as a member of the gender to which you say they do not belong. They will proceed to use the restrooms you say they must use. And then we'll see how you like it.
I suggest they bring pepper spray
I suggest they bring pepper spray
1
C'mon, Alan, spit it out. This 'so-called executive' order is christian fascism plain and simple.
24
I call it "domestic terrorism."
This isn't just just trump, this ideology of hatred belongs to the GOP and is enshrined in their platform with planks against gay and transgender rights. This is what they have espoused for the last 40 years. I'm not sure what republican party Senator Simpson thinks he belongs to but as a gay citizen, I can say that the Republican party has never supported my rights as a human being. Many of Trump's appointees are anti-gay, religious fundamentalists. If you voted for republicans then you support this bigotry.
On March 20, 2017 the Washington Blade reported that "The State Department last week announced Center for Family and Human Rights Executive Vice President Lisa Correnti and Heritage Foundation Associate for Social Issues at the U.N. Grace Melton is among the members of the U.S. delegation to the conference that is scheduled to end on March 24.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated C-FAM as a hate group, noting its strong opposition to LGBT and intersex rights."
I suggest to Senator Simpson that he reassess his mistaken belief that his party somehow cares about anything but cutting taxes and vilifying minorities and join the rest of us in the reality based community.
On March 20, 2017 the Washington Blade reported that "The State Department last week announced Center for Family and Human Rights Executive Vice President Lisa Correnti and Heritage Foundation Associate for Social Issues at the U.N. Grace Melton is among the members of the U.S. delegation to the conference that is scheduled to end on March 24.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated C-FAM as a hate group, noting its strong opposition to LGBT and intersex rights."
I suggest to Senator Simpson that he reassess his mistaken belief that his party somehow cares about anything but cutting taxes and vilifying minorities and join the rest of us in the reality based community.
51
Trump isn't the GOP's biggest problem - he's just so outlandish that it makes it easier to notice how truly awful his party's policies are. Perhaps Mr. Simpson, who makes a good case here, can talk some sense into the party faithful about actually doing something to benefit all Americans, not just a select few CEOs.
Religious zealots and other bigots should have no place in any political party, but hey, they glom onto the GOP for a reason. Be ashamed. Be very ashamed.
Religious zealots and other bigots should have no place in any political party, but hey, they glom onto the GOP for a reason. Be ashamed. Be very ashamed.
One of President Trump's first actions was to refrain from overturning an Obama-era Executive Order prohibiting discrimination against employees of Federal contractors. I skimmed the article (at work) but I did not see reference to President Trump's upholding of GLBTQIA rights. It's important to be factually accurate even if it doesn't advance your argument. By avoiding unpleasant truths, this article's strength is weakened.
1
The article twice mentions Donald Trump as a stated supporter of LGBT rights.
If you can take the time to write a response, you can certainly take the time to read the article. It weakens your counter argument not to do so.
If you can take the time to write a response, you can certainly take the time to read the article. It weakens your counter argument not to do so.
1
Dear Uncommon Wisdom,
I am afraid that refraining from overturning a regulation is not an action but at best a passive acceptance and more likely just a postponement of a future action. I see no evidence in any of Trump's actions that he cares in any way about the rights of minorities, LGBT people or indeed anyone but himself and his family.
I am afraid that refraining from overturning a regulation is not an action but at best a passive acceptance and more likely just a postponement of a future action. I see no evidence in any of Trump's actions that he cares in any way about the rights of minorities, LGBT people or indeed anyone but himself and his family.
3
Trump is a serial liar so, despite all logic, it should shock no one if he does this.
The gop only wants to fight battles that they've already lost (healthcare, abortion, LGBT rights). Old issues that seem settled are the only ones they care about... polls be damned.
Wouldn't it be refreshing if republicans came up with a new idea, that wasn't pro-rich, that actually benefitted average Americans? Seems impossible at this point.
The gop only wants to fight battles that they've already lost (healthcare, abortion, LGBT rights). Old issues that seem settled are the only ones they care about... polls be damned.
Wouldn't it be refreshing if republicans came up with a new idea, that wasn't pro-rich, that actually benefitted average Americans? Seems impossible at this point.
13
how does Obama cause a leak of a draft executive order from this new republican white house? does he have spies in the white house? has he tapped the white house? tap, tap, tap,tap......................
2
Thus spoke Peter Thiel on the RNC last July: "Every American has a unique identity. I am proud to be gay. I am proud to be a Republican. But most of all, I am proud to be an American."
And as every clear minded person could see, he was later betrayed by the party and the man he supported. Of course! It is a riddle how this very intelligent entrepreneur could be so utterly duped by Trump. But I guess it goes to show that IQ has very little to do with wisdom. What in Trump's personality Mr Thiel saw appealing is a mystery.
And as every clear minded person could see, he was later betrayed by the party and the man he supported. Of course! It is a riddle how this very intelligent entrepreneur could be so utterly duped by Trump. But I guess it goes to show that IQ has very little to do with wisdom. What in Trump's personality Mr Thiel saw appealing is a mystery.
4
It's not that Trump is bigoted or misogynistic or anti-Muslim... I don't think he is capable of sustaining a belief that rises to the level of an "ism." He hates Obama. Period. He lives in the hope that he can hurt or humiliate the former President. He is undoing Health Care because it was Obama's signature reform. He will go after women, gays and Muslims because Obama did not. Trump is pathologically simple and driven. You can't shame or reason with him.
The Republican obsession with controlling women's bodies and its fixation on all things homosexual is incredibly disturbing. You all need some serious mental health treatment.
I'm a gay man, and I am crossing my fingers that King Pumpkin signs this executive order. The courts would throw it out in no time, and it would be another dose of cyanide for Republicans to swallow.
21
Mr. Simpson suggests that the president expand his time and energy on a set of other issues that the Republicans could leverage for broad support.
He doesn't mention that the Republican Party has now become party of the very wealthy whose primary goal is to cut their taxes and regulations on their business and middle and lower class people who have listened to the dog whistle of bigotry believing that the reason they are not better off is not because the top 1% is getting far more than their fair share but because someone as bad off as they are is doing so.
I doubt that if Trump turned to the things Simpson suggests in anything close to a realistic way, he would find much support from Republicans in Congress as most have run against those very things.
He doesn't mention that the Republican Party has now become party of the very wealthy whose primary goal is to cut their taxes and regulations on their business and middle and lower class people who have listened to the dog whistle of bigotry believing that the reason they are not better off is not because the top 1% is getting far more than their fair share but because someone as bad off as they are is doing so.
I doubt that if Trump turned to the things Simpson suggests in anything close to a realistic way, he would find much support from Republicans in Congress as most have run against those very things.
6
You sir are an old school Republican gone today from the political landscape that is now inhabited by those who adhere to the so called alt right.
Don the Con is neither a Republican nor Democrat he is 45 inc. He cares not a whit about party loyalty but merely leverages the prejudices of the electorate against each other for power. He could give a damn about Health Care, Roe V. Wade or "Religious Liberty". While he has been sowing chaos in Washington he has deployed his children on a world wide gluttonous, corporate, scavenger hunt. The showman in chief will slash taxes for himself, smash the piggy bank and then disappear in a puff of smoke, leaving us with the ruinous aftereffects.
20
blanketflower, you might be correct. of course, the people who are prejudiced might be ripped off, but maybe they have it coming. same with greedy people who are easy to con. con men have an easy time conning the greedy person. Madoff did it for years. con men have been doing it for years.
Every word true, but sorry, he's all theirs. The Republicans claimed him. He's all Republican. No escaping that fact.
1
Will the REAL trump stand up? He said many things on the campaign trail to get elected. Some of those issues he is trying to enforce: building the wall, eliminating Obamacare. But on other things his true colors are showing through. Universal health care? Rights for minorities?
The man himself is racist, sexist, totally uncaring and has always been. He seethes every time he sees Obama, a self identified black man, as successful. He will do everything to remove Obama from the pages of history.
Soon those that voted for him will not have health care. And somehow instead of realizing that he repeatedly talked about repealing Obamacare, those people will, like trump, blame everyone but trump.
The man himself is racist, sexist, totally uncaring and has always been. He seethes every time he sees Obama, a self identified black man, as successful. He will do everything to remove Obama from the pages of history.
Soon those that voted for him will not have health care. And somehow instead of realizing that he repeatedly talked about repealing Obamacare, those people will, like trump, blame everyone but trump.
4
Isn't this what republicans do? They talk about freedom and getting government out of your life... unless they don't like you. Republicans are nasty people. That's all there is to it.
16
Alan Simpson has a long record of trying to convince gay people to support the GOP. As for getting the GOP to stop persecuting gay people, not so much.
Is his heart in the right place? Who cares? He's done nothing for gay rights.
Is his heart in the right place? Who cares? He's done nothing for gay rights.
7
In addressing your appeal to the so called president, you're making the mistake of talking to the monkey when you should be talking to the organ grinder, his name's Steve Bannon.
2
Being of the "older" generation, I may remember things most do not. I remember being denied certain classes in college because they were reserved for men. I remember being "let go" from my fine government job because I was pregnant and "showed" (1956). I remember being unable to collect unemployment insurance because, being pregnant, I was considered unable to work. I remember, when shopping for a car, being told to "bring my husband in, little lady." I remember being questioned intensively about being able to work because I had a child at home. For year, after starting my own business, I remember having men constantly ask "to speak to my husband," "to speak to the boss," or "to speak to the owner.
As a woman, in those days, I was discriminated against as much as many of the LGBT community has been in the past and in many cases is still discriminated against today. Humans seem very like chickens in that they seem to have an inbred need to establish a pecking order. Finding folks to discriminate against seems to fulfill an inborn need. Time, everyone, to Cease and Desist! Time to grow up. Please, do NOT fall back on these antiquated notions. We are all humans. Everyone of us deserve respect both from the law and other humans.
As a woman, in those days, I was discriminated against as much as many of the LGBT community has been in the past and in many cases is still discriminated against today. Humans seem very like chickens in that they seem to have an inbred need to establish a pecking order. Finding folks to discriminate against seems to fulfill an inborn need. Time, everyone, to Cease and Desist! Time to grow up. Please, do NOT fall back on these antiquated notions. We are all humans. Everyone of us deserve respect both from the law and other humans.
Trump plainly doesn't care about this issue, Sen. Simpson, so don't bother writing to him. Write to Pence and to Bannon. They're the real decision makers here. Convince them, and it will be done.
3
Great advice to a president who is currently under siege. I especially liked this sentence: "If you still aren’t concerned about dragging the entire party into another swamp of political quicksand, then let’s focus on what you do care about: the art of the deal." It appeals to his ego...that might get his attention.
Redundancy is a good thing, especially for someone with a short attention span. Ergo, you should have repeated this sentence - or a variant of it- with your concluding remarks.
Redundancy is a good thing, especially for someone with a short attention span. Ergo, you should have repeated this sentence - or a variant of it- with your concluding remarks.
I'm gay. But I do not identify only and merely with issues that effect the LGBTQ community. And while allowing this Executive Order- one of a number that would relegate anyone else but 45 to the "funny farm"- would be tragic- a part of me says- go ahead. Why? The callousness, inhumanity and evil this Administration has already promulgated in Executive orders, public policy, foreign policy- in every facet of government is so severe- I would almost prefer being added to a list of even more persecuted minorities. Bring it on.
I know this is not a healthy attitude- but it drives home one point, put so eloquently over 400 years ago:
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee."
I know this is not a healthy attitude- but it drives home one point, put so eloquently over 400 years ago:
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee."
4
Conservatives applaud equal treatment for everyone but strongly refuse to let the culture be intentionally destroyed by political panderers.
Pandering is the most appropriate term for what Barack Hussein O, messenger of elitism, did with making our LBGT people into a hammer to pound the culture he had always despised.
Progressivism wants the poor worker happy with what government gives him or her and expects total loyalty at election time. This mirrors what Dems tell EVERY tiny group in our melting-pot society: settle for the crumbs and just remember who hands your crumbs out to you.
I bet you prefer the freedom to succeed or fail on your own as well.
Pandering is the most appropriate term for what Barack Hussein O, messenger of elitism, did with making our LBGT people into a hammer to pound the culture he had always despised.
Progressivism wants the poor worker happy with what government gives him or her and expects total loyalty at election time. This mirrors what Dems tell EVERY tiny group in our melting-pot society: settle for the crumbs and just remember who hands your crumbs out to you.
I bet you prefer the freedom to succeed or fail on your own as well.
I think you have the wrong political party. Trickle down ring a bell?
"Conservatives applaud equal treatment for everyone..."
A little evidence might be in order here.
Let's make it easy and start with the subject of this essay. Please list the top five...um...one GOP advocate for LGBTQ rights. In order.
A little evidence might be in order here.
Let's make it easy and start with the subject of this essay. Please list the top five...um...one GOP advocate for LGBTQ rights. In order.
I never thought I would be wholeheartedly agreeing with Mr. Simpson. Very well said!
The "religious liberty" executive order is exactly what the Christian right has been dreaming of. In their America, its our way or bust. And Steve Bannon has his own alt-right white Christian agenda that he wants to push into policy.
Trump? Who knows what he personally thinks. We do know that he will do or say anything to help himself and no one else.
Your party, Mike Pence and Steve Bannon would love this executive order. And Jeff Sessions would be glad to support it in the courts. I suggest you go talk to them.
Trump? Who knows what he personally thinks. We do know that he will do or say anything to help himself and no one else.
Your party, Mike Pence and Steve Bannon would love this executive order. And Jeff Sessions would be glad to support it in the courts. I suggest you go talk to them.
Senator Simpson, you and I disagree more often than not, but you do what a political leader should: make policy goals and find the strategies to achieve them.
Mr. Trump, on the other hand, doesn't give a fig for policy. He does whatever he thinks will get whoops and cheers for one Donald J. Trump. His sole motivation seems to be the immediate gratification of the needs of a desperate ego. If someone (Bannon, most likely) whispers in his ear that he can book a rally in a red region to hear a crowd applaud this EO, he will sign it.
Mr. Trump, on the other hand, doesn't give a fig for policy. He does whatever he thinks will get whoops and cheers for one Donald J. Trump. His sole motivation seems to be the immediate gratification of the needs of a desperate ego. If someone (Bannon, most likely) whispers in his ear that he can book a rally in a red region to hear a crowd applaud this EO, he will sign it.
1
So...don't do it Mr. President because it will hurt The Party? Well, isn't that the milk of human kindness! Such compassion, such generosity of spirit!
And if it DIDN'T "hurt The Party'?
Where do we stand then?
The utter, profound meanness and hatred of your precious 'Party' never ceases to amaze me. Just when I thought you've hit bottom, out come the shovels and you redouble your efforts.
Keep digging Smeagol, your precious is down there somewhere. And when you get there, STAY there.
And if it DIDN'T "hurt The Party'?
Where do we stand then?
The utter, profound meanness and hatred of your precious 'Party' never ceases to amaze me. Just when I thought you've hit bottom, out come the shovels and you redouble your efforts.
Keep digging Smeagol, your precious is down there somewhere. And when you get there, STAY there.
4
I would like to commend Senator Simpson for his wisdom and civility. He gives eloquence to the reasons why I left the Republican Party immediately after hearing Pat Buchanan's "Culture War" speech at the 1992 Republican Convention that renominated George W. Bush. In terms of ethics and reason, it has unfortunately been all downhill since that speech for the GOP and that particular political dynasty.
As a septuagenarian gay man, I remember as a child watching on the family TV Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy and his lawyer Roy Cohn (Trump's now deceased lawyer/mentor) go after "the gays" in the McCarthy Army Hearings. I remember good old President Eisenhower caving into the "Right Wing" and issuing an order to cleanse the Federal Government of all LGBT employees. Nixon's "Southern Strategy" successfully brought in all the racist and homophobic Dixiecrats into the GOP tent.
Senator Simpson, your problem with your party is a longstanding one that preceded you. It seems you failed to notice it while in office. I hope the "tinderbox" that is the Republican Party does explode since logic and common decency have failed. This country deserves a sane and morally grounded opposition party and, given its history, I don't see one emerging from the current Republican Party.
As a septuagenarian gay man, I remember as a child watching on the family TV Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy and his lawyer Roy Cohn (Trump's now deceased lawyer/mentor) go after "the gays" in the McCarthy Army Hearings. I remember good old President Eisenhower caving into the "Right Wing" and issuing an order to cleanse the Federal Government of all LGBT employees. Nixon's "Southern Strategy" successfully brought in all the racist and homophobic Dixiecrats into the GOP tent.
Senator Simpson, your problem with your party is a longstanding one that preceded you. It seems you failed to notice it while in office. I hope the "tinderbox" that is the Republican Party does explode since logic and common decency have failed. This country deserves a sane and morally grounded opposition party and, given its history, I don't see one emerging from the current Republican Party.
2
He lied. Shocking.
1
Do we have to run everything we do through the LGBTQ filter nowadays? When will liberals realize the vast majority of us are tired of identity politics and the fake creation of protected classes that represent less than 3% of our population. Choices made in life have consequences even if you were born that way without a "Choice". The intolerance that is coming from the left has destroyed any hope of discussion based on reality, not fantasy. Being conservative does not make us Nazis, we just are standing up to the insane hypocrisy that the left is selling to further a socialist agenda.
3
David: What in the world are you talking about?
Two hours away from me, the city of Charlotte decided to let people who had become physiologically an alternate gender, use bathrooms that suited their new anatomical status.
Nobody cared about this. nobody protested - until some Republicans (look it up - you can find it quite easily) decided they could make good political hay about this. I guarantee you, nobody else in North Carolina gave a fig about this.
As far as a socialist agenda, do you read? Do you have the vaguest notion of what state socialism is (I assume you're talking about that)? Nobody in America, except.3% of leftist wackos in the East Village and a few other spots, is interested in repeating the utter disaster of state socialism.
Finland, as was recently reported in the Times, is a capitalist country. They also have universal health care and all kinds of government programs that make their citizens far more secure, that - you should also note - 70% OR MORE OF OUR FELLOW AMERICANS SUPPORT!!! (sorry for shouting - this point is so little known it's worth shouting from the rooftops)
Stop believing the insane rants of Rush and Ann and start paying attention to reality. I am neither Left nor Right, liberal or conservative. But I do like paying attention.
www.remember-to-breathe.org
Two hours away from me, the city of Charlotte decided to let people who had become physiologically an alternate gender, use bathrooms that suited their new anatomical status.
Nobody cared about this. nobody protested - until some Republicans (look it up - you can find it quite easily) decided they could make good political hay about this. I guarantee you, nobody else in North Carolina gave a fig about this.
As far as a socialist agenda, do you read? Do you have the vaguest notion of what state socialism is (I assume you're talking about that)? Nobody in America, except.3% of leftist wackos in the East Village and a few other spots, is interested in repeating the utter disaster of state socialism.
Finland, as was recently reported in the Times, is a capitalist country. They also have universal health care and all kinds of government programs that make their citizens far more secure, that - you should also note - 70% OR MORE OF OUR FELLOW AMERICANS SUPPORT!!! (sorry for shouting - this point is so little known it's worth shouting from the rooftops)
Stop believing the insane rants of Rush and Ann and start paying attention to reality. I am neither Left nor Right, liberal or conservative. But I do like paying attention.
www.remember-to-breathe.org
The Donald: I have a dream. That one day, Ill be remembered for using my position and doing everything in my power to return this country to good, hard working, white, straight, Christian men.
I've often tried to dissect what he means by Making America Great Again". Executive Orders like this make it pretty obvious.
I've often tried to dissect what he means by Making America Great Again". Executive Orders like this make it pretty obvious.
"This executive order would be [...] reinforcing negative stereotypes about the party’s dislike of L.G.B.T. Americans, women, and religious and ethnic minorities."
The GOP, as Simpson appears to perceive it, has been repealed and replaced. And Simpson, it seems, is in deep denial.
The GOP, as Simpson appears to perceive it, has been repealed and replaced. And Simpson, it seems, is in deep denial.
If Trump were to sign a "religious liberty" executive order allowing discrimination against women, gays, and religious minorities, it would be total war. Nothing the Trump Administration could ever do after that would be considered reasonable or even considered at all. // I have been a gay activist for over forty years. One mentally ill president will not undo our victories or take away our rights as American citizens and human beings.
1
With all due respect, Mr. Simpson, as a Republican you really have no moral high ground to criticize Mr. Trump on this issue. Being anti-LGBT and against women's right to choose are CORE PLANKS of your party's agenda. Until you renounce your party and leave it entirely, you are aiding and abetting Mr. Trump's hate agenda.
3
Great Op-Ed.
It would be wonderful if anyone on the right would read and absorb this piece, but I really doubt that, in the current climate (pun intended), few Get Off my Planet party members will entertain it.
It would be wonderful if anyone on the right would read and absorb this piece, but I really doubt that, in the current climate (pun intended), few Get Off my Planet party members will entertain it.
Thank you Mr. Simpson, unfortunately we have known all along, and it has been proven over and over again in the past 2 months that we cannot believe a thing that trump says. He has not center, but a simple ability to spew untruths to those who need to believe him.
From Trump U, to Trump Steaks, to Trump Towers, all he has ever done is prove that he is the ultimate unethical salesperson who will say anything to make a sale.
He made the biggest one of his life. Now we are all stuck with the clunker he sold us.
From Trump U, to Trump Steaks, to Trump Towers, all he has ever done is prove that he is the ultimate unethical salesperson who will say anything to make a sale.
He made the biggest one of his life. Now we are all stuck with the clunker he sold us.
With Obama and Clinton both out of office, the only unifying cause that Republicans have is hatred and bigotry, whether it is Mexicans, Muslims, or the LGBT community. Animus is what characterizes today's GOP, except maybe for the of love and devotion to Russia.
1
When Republicans are in power, they grossly overreach. Every. Single. Time. Look at the circus going on right now. If they add rolling back gay rights to all of the other outrages they are currently facilitating, it will just be another nail in their coffin.
The obituary for the Democratic Party was written much too soon.
The obituary for the Democratic Party was written much too soon.
155
If Pelosi and the other old guard still occupy the leadership positions I would not bet on a democratic come back. Whose idea was to have former Gov. Steve Beshear of Kentucky give the Dem's response. I am sure millenials were thrilled and ready to get out and vote!
ANOTHER nail in their coffin? I don't think there are too many now. The Republicans have the presidency, the senate, the house and are about to put the swing vote in their favor on the Supreme Court. The Democrats have a lot to do before that coffin is nailed shut and put six feet under. All the most horrific political positions got them to this point. Why would they (or Trump) think they should change anything now? And I've long been and continue to be a staunch Democrat. Heaven help us.
Dear Mr. Simpson,
It ain't YOUR Republican Party anymore. It belongs to the Tea Party and uses Ayn Rand for "guidance".
So save the "message to Mr. Trump" especially when it's printed in that "fake news" paper, the NYT.
Trump doesn't read "newspapers" and "tweets" his thoughts in 25 words or less. But if writing this made you "feel good" about the Republican Party then, I guess, its served it's purpose.
It ain't YOUR Republican Party anymore. It belongs to the Tea Party and uses Ayn Rand for "guidance".
So save the "message to Mr. Trump" especially when it's printed in that "fake news" paper, the NYT.
Trump doesn't read "newspapers" and "tweets" his thoughts in 25 words or less. But if writing this made you "feel good" about the Republican Party then, I guess, its served it's purpose.
74
Donny is hurting so many people cutting so many programs; meals-on-wheels, school lunches, Medicade, Healthcare, proposing government funded discrimination, the list goes on.
There is nothing good about it. Except that chances Democrats take back the House and Senate are getting better and better.
There is nothing good about it. Except that chances Democrats take back the House and Senate are getting better and better.
123
I agree that with all the undoing of programs that will hurt so many people, the Democratic Party could have a resurgence. Unfortunately, people that refuse to listen to or read from a variety of news sources will be once again be hoodwinked into voting against their own self interest. You know those people who didn't know that the ACA is Obamacare. They are in for a very rude awakening.
I hope that the Democrats can indeed take back Senate and possibly the House. But a great deal of ground work must be done to accomplish this goal. Let's also hope that Alan Simpson may consider changing sides and become an Independent and caucus with the Dems when these issues arise. Trump won't listen to you. He only hears how great he is at doing a deal , not for the country but for himself. Put your money where your mouth is Senator.
Silly Republican, the Donald isn't listening to you. The Donald doesn't want, need or accept your advice or the advice of anyone. The Donald is the center of his universe and is only aware of what surrounds it to the extent that he can acquire more of it to absorb within the all-absorbing ego of The Donald. The Donald might as well have been born without ears. No worries, though. This issue, like so many, are just another page out of the lesson plan in the education of silly Republicans like yourself who voted for The Donald. Welcome to Trump University. No, the Donald isn't going to hand you your diploma. The Donald does things his own way. You're going to feel a little pressure.
9
I know this is the hilarious fact none of these op-ed/NY times contributors seem to reticent to accept... that they are preaching to the choir. What absolute ignorance to think that this piece of writing will ever reach the appropriate eyes in the Capitol, let alone "The Donald"'s. These pieces are so self-indulgent it's becoming repugnant. Sorry Mr. Simpson, I know you won't be reading this comment either, but you need to remember that your target audience feeds on a steady diet of Breitbart, Fox, and Alex Jones. Your "logic" has no place in our current political and social milieu.
I say, go for it Donald! As a gay man, I would love to discriminate against those silly evangelical Christians. We gay men and women are typically capable to conceal our identity. Xtians, for some reason, feel a curious need to wear a little plus sign around their necks. Go for it, Donald!!!
5
Thanks Senator, but Trump doesn't read the Times. People have to stop thinking of Trump as if he's playing chess, or as if there's any internal logic to what he's doing, or as if he's effected by common sense appeals from former distinguished public servants. He's not. He's simply floundering along, day after day, hoping that he can get his ratings up. The people whispering in his ear tell him he can get his ratings up by making the reprehensible, trashy moves that he does. Period.
11
Is this parody?
I can't tell anymore.
I can't tell anymore.
1
@realdonaldtrump sign this order & you lose all of us independents & many, many young people that want jobs, safety, & civility. We voted for you to be the anti-politician - not some Republican Conservative anti-human.
Be who you are. That got you elected. Not what the Democrats say you are or what the Republicans wish you are.
Jobs.
Safety.
Civility.
Be who you are. That got you elected. Not what the Democrats say you are or what the Republicans wish you are.
Jobs.
Safety.
Civility.
Second!
The United States was founded on separation of church and state. End stop.
There is no need to carve out religious exceptions for anyone. People are free to pray to whatever deity they wish. They even get subsidized by the tax payer to do so. ( a whole other conversation to be sure )
If a particular employee of the ''state'' feels so strongly about a particular subject that may or may not conflict with their religious views, then they have complete autonomy to resign or step aside to let another employee carry out whatever duty.
Again, there is a clear cut separation of church and state. The United States is a secular society. It is against the law to enforce any type of religious dogma upon the citizenry under the guise of government.
Any unconstitutional law trying to reverse that infringes on all human rights and will be swiftly struck down. ( even if it gets to SCOTUS )
On the other hand, who knows what clothes the Emperor is wearing today.
There is no need to carve out religious exceptions for anyone. People are free to pray to whatever deity they wish. They even get subsidized by the tax payer to do so. ( a whole other conversation to be sure )
If a particular employee of the ''state'' feels so strongly about a particular subject that may or may not conflict with their religious views, then they have complete autonomy to resign or step aside to let another employee carry out whatever duty.
Again, there is a clear cut separation of church and state. The United States is a secular society. It is against the law to enforce any type of religious dogma upon the citizenry under the guise of government.
Any unconstitutional law trying to reverse that infringes on all human rights and will be swiftly struck down. ( even if it gets to SCOTUS )
On the other hand, who knows what clothes the Emperor is wearing today.
7
Do Gays/Lesbians really believe they don't have the name rights as the rest of us? They keep beating this drum, but all I see is legislation and articles that prove that we have come to terms with this and have corrected this historical imbalance.
Jobs, medical, school etc etc are all now on a level playing field, in fact, I feel that it has turned much more in favor of gays and lesbians, which is fine.
I think the problem the times has is this fraction of the 1% of the population that want to go to the bathroom in the other genders toilet, unfortunately, the times and some of its readers are the only ones who care about this issue.
Whenever you're in doubt, simply just look south and you'll know what gender you are. The most basic and simple answer you'll ever get in this world.
Jobs, medical, school etc etc are all now on a level playing field, in fact, I feel that it has turned much more in favor of gays and lesbians, which is fine.
I think the problem the times has is this fraction of the 1% of the population that want to go to the bathroom in the other genders toilet, unfortunately, the times and some of its readers are the only ones who care about this issue.
Whenever you're in doubt, simply just look south and you'll know what gender you are. The most basic and simple answer you'll ever get in this world.
3
The theocrats came to power due to Ronald Reagan GOP's manipulation of America - not just of traditional evangelical lower income whites around the country, only some of which was generational, but also the so-called evolved Catholics and minorities that ought known better and done better but are also some of the most religious conservative people in the U.S., then as well as 37 years later.
It is past time to make excuses for anyone who treats women and gays and lesbians as anything but human and fellow Americans. The slippery slope begins with excusing bigotry as degrees of "tolerant". It is 2017, and we ought not still be having these culture wars that are predicated on pure bullying and hate from the entitled tax free jesus crowd. Those religionists are anything but tolerant or deserving of continued wiggle room. Discriminate and you ought lose your tax free status, along with any private or public funding and licensing. Period.
It is past time to make excuses for anyone who treats women and gays and lesbians as anything but human and fellow Americans. The slippery slope begins with excusing bigotry as degrees of "tolerant". It is 2017, and we ought not still be having these culture wars that are predicated on pure bullying and hate from the entitled tax free jesus crowd. Those religionists are anything but tolerant or deserving of continued wiggle room. Discriminate and you ought lose your tax free status, along with any private or public funding and licensing. Period.
5
Mr. Simpson most famous for the trashing of Anita Hill
did more to undermine equal rights and gay rights and
equal protection of women in the workplace than just about
anyone save Orrin Hatch
Yo Mr Simpson just be quiet and go away
Thank you.
did more to undermine equal rights and gay rights and
equal protection of women in the workplace than just about
anyone save Orrin Hatch
Yo Mr Simpson just be quiet and go away
Thank you.
Dear Mr. Simpson,
Your party, the Republican Party, now relies on fundamentalist Christians for a big block of its votes. This explains why three GOP candidates for the presidency -- Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, and Bobbie Jindal -- all pandered, on stage, to a vicious and loony pastor named Kevin Swanson, who had organized a YUGE Christian conference ... and who marched around in the spotlight, flailing his skinny arms and calling for the execution of all homosexuals in the United States. You hear about that?
You have heard of our Vice President, right? Mike Pence was selected as a running mate for Trump because he can stir up the Christians. He wants creationism taught in the public schools and supports "conversion therapies" that promise to change gay teens into straight teens.
Then there's Ben Carson, another prominent GOP presidential candidate. This guy has mounted a big portrait of himself in his house that shows Jesus standing behind him with Jesus's hand resting on his shoulder ... as if Christ had agreed to vote for Ben.
Your party is staffed now with plenty of loonies who preach Christianity, and gun ownership, and profit from proud displays of self-righteous homophobia, intolerance, and, yup, ignorance.
Haven't you been watching?
Your party, the Republican Party, now relies on fundamentalist Christians for a big block of its votes. This explains why three GOP candidates for the presidency -- Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, and Bobbie Jindal -- all pandered, on stage, to a vicious and loony pastor named Kevin Swanson, who had organized a YUGE Christian conference ... and who marched around in the spotlight, flailing his skinny arms and calling for the execution of all homosexuals in the United States. You hear about that?
You have heard of our Vice President, right? Mike Pence was selected as a running mate for Trump because he can stir up the Christians. He wants creationism taught in the public schools and supports "conversion therapies" that promise to change gay teens into straight teens.
Then there's Ben Carson, another prominent GOP presidential candidate. This guy has mounted a big portrait of himself in his house that shows Jesus standing behind him with Jesus's hand resting on his shoulder ... as if Christ had agreed to vote for Ben.
Your party is staffed now with plenty of loonies who preach Christianity, and gun ownership, and profit from proud displays of self-righteous homophobia, intolerance, and, yup, ignorance.
Haven't you been watching?
5
Relevant and insightful perspective. Unfortunately, DT would never read such prose in the "failing New York Times". You lost him in the first paragraph. Perhaps you opened up some eyes elsewhere.
Quit trying to appeal to that madman. Madness and hate are not the GOP's means, they are their ends.
Just resist the damage, keep calm, and give the Democrats Constitution-amending, veto-overriding Congressional majorities in 2018. The remainder of the Commander-in-Tweet and his party of hate then need to suffer and despair and fear their phones and town halls for the remainder of their terms, for the pain they wreak on those in need—impeachment will be too good for them.
Just resist the damage, keep calm, and give the Democrats Constitution-amending, veto-overriding Congressional majorities in 2018. The remainder of the Commander-in-Tweet and his party of hate then need to suffer and despair and fear their phones and town halls for the remainder of their terms, for the pain they wreak on those in need—impeachment will be too good for them.
3
Bravo! So right.
"For example, a Social Security Administration employee could cite his religious beliefs to refuse benefits to the surviving spouse of a married same-sex couple."
Sounds about right for the Republican stranglehold on all three branches of government. Let's not kid ourselves -- the judiciary, too, will very soon be in the hands of fascists. Donald Trump is the far-right's meal ticket, they'll ride him to the end, and he'll do what they say because that's how he'll stay in power.
He pandered his way to the presidency by shouting out everything that everyone with a grudge wanted to hear: anti gun control, anti abortion, anti EPA, anti NIH, anti arts and music, anti any sort of regulation, anti science, anti marriage equality, anti civil rights . . . . Every little faction got a little something.
Here we are.
Deplorable.
Sounds about right for the Republican stranglehold on all three branches of government. Let's not kid ourselves -- the judiciary, too, will very soon be in the hands of fascists. Donald Trump is the far-right's meal ticket, they'll ride him to the end, and he'll do what they say because that's how he'll stay in power.
He pandered his way to the presidency by shouting out everything that everyone with a grudge wanted to hear: anti gun control, anti abortion, anti EPA, anti NIH, anti arts and music, anti any sort of regulation, anti science, anti marriage equality, anti civil rights . . . . Every little faction got a little something.
Here we are.
Deplorable.
9
Ah for the good old days of mature, reasonable Senators like Mr. Simpson! Trump needs your wise advice. It's time Congress and the White House remove the R and D labels on their uniforms and quit playing government like it's the NCAA playoffs!
And that was from Alan Simpson? Times change.
Simpson conveniently forgets, or ignores the fact the Russia is absolutely anti gay, hostile in fact making Russia a dangerous place to be LGBT. You could die there for it. (one can die here too for it) Since this entire process is about turning America into a slave state the Trump administration not only does not care about LGBT rights they will actively seek to diminish them and fall more into line with the Rich Russian Oligarchs that have stolen the election here. Simpson also humorously asserts that the biggest reason for not going along with it is that Democrats will have a field day. Simpson acknowledges that it is cruel and unjust, but insists that its politically expediency is the most important issue. Simpson will vote for Gorsuch the usurper without a hint of irony, speaking of the judiciary. He will also vote for the Republican budget, the cruelty of which cannot even be measured, but its addition to the deficit can be measured and will be ignored. We have a lot of new liars on the scene, Simpson is an old liar but a liar none the less. We are being reshaped into Russia. Our rich have decided that is what they want and they've thrown their collective billions at it with the help of foreign billionaires. They are like a mafia, killing those who get in their way, ignoring everyone who doesn't count. LGBT are just the tip of the iceberg.
4
And why, exactly, do you think he would listen to reason? And BTW, you failed to mention that all of this is unconstitutional. Remember the US Constitution, Senator? You once swore an oath to uphold it. Maybe Mr. Khan can lend you his copy.
4
Another constituency who thought Trump might be a refreshing break from the Republican establishment. He's no more able to live and let live with gays than he is with women. In fact, he cares so little about certain issues that he has handed them off like meat to Pence's 'christian' lions.
1
All of you who said trump was just acting feel good now? All of you refusing to blame trump for the rise in racist activity ready to accept reality? All of you who voted for this evil ready to look in the mirror and say You we're WRONG and are willing to get him and his people out of there? I thought not. Apologist time is over. Revolution is now.
2
There's a simple resolution for the government employee who can't, in good conscience, serve all people equally.
Find another job.
It's unfortunate that Senator Simpson has to even bring this up.
Find another job.
It's unfortunate that Senator Simpson has to even bring this up.
I don't get it. Why does anyone care ? Why discriminate ? I don't care who you love...or your gender identity. It would appear that a lot of people do...and it gets their knickers all in a twist...to the point that they'd do things to actually hurt others....all about love, and who you choose. I'm a cis male married in the burbs...a Ward Cleaver from all descriptions.
Trumps' supposed moderation and "NY Values" turned out to be a farce. He's such an opportunist that he can sell out whatever values he may have and suck up to the worst of the Republican agenda.
Leave gay (and other) folks alone.
Trumps' supposed moderation and "NY Values" turned out to be a farce. He's such an opportunist that he can sell out whatever values he may have and suck up to the worst of the Republican agenda.
Leave gay (and other) folks alone.
Former Sen. Simpson's opinion piece is written as if Trump himself is going to read it: it is very straight-forward and very simple and to the point: it is wrong to discriminate against any group and it goes against the grain of how most Americans feel about this issue. Sen. Simpson has forgotten, however, that Trump, when he goes off script as he so often does, says one thing one day and then the opposite another day. It has been said that Trump is a liar but I won't go there. I won't bring it up. Rather: because he makes things up on the fly Trump forgets what he has said and, therefore, often reverses himself. Trump is, after all, a marvelous marketer. It is unfortunate that Trump has no conscience; for, to have a conscience, one would readily understand that it is wrong to discriminate. Furthermore, Trump is not a visionary; he doesn't understand the cost in political capital of such a measure should he implement it.
donald sits in the Oval office because he brought forth and in a perverse way legitimized the fear, anger and frustrations of a vast electorate. This base includes bigoted hate groups. Despite a faltering beginning to his presidency, despite his hateful tweets this base still cheers him as witnessed in crowds attracted to his most recent town hall gatherings in Kentucky and Tennessee. It can be presumed that most in that gathering would favor the signing of an executive order delegitimizing the rights of the LGBT. I would assume that a reasonable, thoughtful man, who was elected to the presidency would not even consider an executive order as you discuss Mr. Simpson in your article. Unfortunately that man does not occupy this nations presidency today. donald will decide, not whats best in the national interests, but whats best in his narcissistic interest.
1
Senator Simpson,
Thank you for making your advice to President Trump public, which understandingly the intentions are more than two-fold. Although I mostly agree with you on most of today's issues, I do have a question concerning the unforeseen impacts without having "limitations" on certain freedoms our Constitution implies.
In certain instances some freedoms would to some extend clash with other freedoms. For example the issue of under marriage or "child brides" is real and alive in the US, which according to the organization Human Rights Watch, in children as young as 14-years old can still be married New York State with the consent of their parents.
A bill was introduced (A.5524) in New York Sate Assembly in late February 2017, which is still in committee, investigating to raise the age to 17-years old.
One question I have is why has it taken the State of New York this long to address this issue if Governor Cuomo is such a champion of "Women's' Rights" ? These young girls do not have a choice and even if this bill passes, young women at seventeen can still be held in bondage if their parents so choose.
Have politicians in New York been put in a position to choose which "rights" to impose limitations? Do they limit religious practices of certain Muslims that practice this form of bondage or limit the rights of women?
Links:
https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2017/A5524
https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/02/14/us-new-york-children-young-14-can-marry
Thank you for making your advice to President Trump public, which understandingly the intentions are more than two-fold. Although I mostly agree with you on most of today's issues, I do have a question concerning the unforeseen impacts without having "limitations" on certain freedoms our Constitution implies.
In certain instances some freedoms would to some extend clash with other freedoms. For example the issue of under marriage or "child brides" is real and alive in the US, which according to the organization Human Rights Watch, in children as young as 14-years old can still be married New York State with the consent of their parents.
A bill was introduced (A.5524) in New York Sate Assembly in late February 2017, which is still in committee, investigating to raise the age to 17-years old.
One question I have is why has it taken the State of New York this long to address this issue if Governor Cuomo is such a champion of "Women's' Rights" ? These young girls do not have a choice and even if this bill passes, young women at seventeen can still be held in bondage if their parents so choose.
Have politicians in New York been put in a position to choose which "rights" to impose limitations? Do they limit religious practices of certain Muslims that practice this form of bondage or limit the rights of women?
Links:
https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2017/A5524
https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/02/14/us-new-york-children-young-14-can-marry
Bring it on. He will become the most hated president ever.
The 'cloak of religion' has been used by all manner of folk from despots, dictators, and strongmen to divide and conqueror folks. As a federal employee you must check your personal politics and religious beliefs at the door when you come to work. Don't try to do work on the Creator's behalf. For He is the final Judge and Arbiter of us all. And he will judge us all in due time. Live let live and worry about your own salvation.
1
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"
How can American “Christians” have so little understanding about their own history?!? Yes, I put "Christians" in quotes for a reason. The first amendment was NOT put in place because of the religious intolerance that caused the Puritan exodus. AND the First Amendment wasn’t put in place to protect “Christians” from different religions. It was put in place because of the theocratic practices by the colonial governments in AMERICA between 1620 and 1776. It was put in place to protect these fools from themselves.
Plymouth colony was a Theocracy. That theocratic monopoly only lasted fifteen years before Roger Williams was expelled for heresy, and founded Rhode Island. Quakers gravitated to Pennsylvania because they were persecuted, imprisoned and HANGED in Massachusetts. Perhaps today’s modern “Christians” forget the Boston Martyrs, where four Quakers were hanged by the government of the Massachusetts Bay Colony between 1659 and 1661, simply for refusing to accept banishment from the colony and for refusing to recant their “heresy” of simply worshipping in a way not approved by Puritan theocracy.
The irony of that statement, in its current context, is priceless. The ignorance conveyed by this Administration, and by Mike Pence and his cronies, is unconscionable, unconstitutional and irrational.
How can American “Christians” have so little understanding about their own history?!? Yes, I put "Christians" in quotes for a reason. The first amendment was NOT put in place because of the religious intolerance that caused the Puritan exodus. AND the First Amendment wasn’t put in place to protect “Christians” from different religions. It was put in place because of the theocratic practices by the colonial governments in AMERICA between 1620 and 1776. It was put in place to protect these fools from themselves.
Plymouth colony was a Theocracy. That theocratic monopoly only lasted fifteen years before Roger Williams was expelled for heresy, and founded Rhode Island. Quakers gravitated to Pennsylvania because they were persecuted, imprisoned and HANGED in Massachusetts. Perhaps today’s modern “Christians” forget the Boston Martyrs, where four Quakers were hanged by the government of the Massachusetts Bay Colony between 1659 and 1661, simply for refusing to accept banishment from the colony and for refusing to recant their “heresy” of simply worshipping in a way not approved by Puritan theocracy.
The irony of that statement, in its current context, is priceless. The ignorance conveyed by this Administration, and by Mike Pence and his cronies, is unconscionable, unconstitutional and irrational.
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Straight talk from the redest of the red States.
It's against my religion to help that old lady across the street.
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The first clue that no one should have trusted Trump to defend LGBT rights is that Trump's history shows he's a serial con-man and liar. Secondly, Trump admires Putin and looks to him as an example of leadership -- Putin is no friend to LGBT rights. Finally, for his running mate, Trump chose Mike Pence, who supported the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act, an act that legalizes discrimination, and Mike Pence has supported gay conversion therapy.
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But Trump was able, with the aid of Comey and Wikileaks and Congress, to portray Hillary Clinton as a bigger liar. Remember "Crooked Hillary"? That resonated more with voters than anything else. Americans have been taught not to care about qualifications even if those qualifications could make a substantial difference in how our country is run. It's about whether or not they think they can sit down and have a beer with the president. Pitiful yes, unexpected, no.
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The idea that this man and his fringe group of supporters (37%) according to the latest poll) has a right to make such hateful decisions is too much to take. We know he was in some way illegitimately elected. We know he has no core beliefs save the last thing Bannon whispered in his ear. We know his moral values are profoundly skewed or outright lacking, and nothing matters to him but gold encrusted everything. If he thinks there is opposition now he has seen nothing yet. As a proud mother of an incredible gay son there is nothing I won't do to protect his rights.
2
If the hypocritical, selectively "Christian" are allowed to express their belief that their religion tells them to not serve gay people they cannot be required to be in a position where a woman has domination over them - so Christian (and Muslim) men cannot work for women, they are free to ignore female police officers, they cannot be compelled to take classes taught by women, matter of fact women must remain silent in their presence. And who is going to stop them from bringing their slave to work?
Its funny, sort of, that of all the requirements of the Bible, and seemingly only the Bible, that it is this one thing where they draw the line.
Its funny, sort of, that of all the requirements of the Bible, and seemingly only the Bible, that it is this one thing where they draw the line.
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Didn't his SCOTUS nominee, Gorsuch, sign on with the Poor Little Sisters determination to prevent their employees from accessing birth control through employer health care? I think so. That decision legalized legalized discrimination against women by religious bigots. The court is already stacked with half the judges certain that the rights of corporations superseded those of regular people. The GOP has embraced White Supremacism. Bullying because of sexual orientation is a very small step. Quite a few Congress critters already embrace this behavior.
Well said, Senator. But you fall into the trap of imagining Donald Trump as an at least somewhat rational human being. He's not.
This isn't about the proposed executive order, or the people who want it, or the people who oppose it or the people that would be hurt by it. It's not about what is best for the country or any problems the order might nor might not solve. As always with Mr. Trump, this is about Donald Trump. In his head, the executive order is the opposite of what Barak Obama would do and that ALONE is the temptation to sign it. He is obsessed by Mr. Obama. Mr. Trump's presidency has only one meaning: do everything to undermine Mr. Obama's previous administration and anything it may have achieved. It's not sane. But that is reality, pure and simple. Being right or wrong is not part of the calculus. If someone could actually convince him Obama would sign the order, he would oppose it.
It's Pavlovian. He's a mental case.
This isn't about the proposed executive order, or the people who want it, or the people who oppose it or the people that would be hurt by it. It's not about what is best for the country or any problems the order might nor might not solve. As always with Mr. Trump, this is about Donald Trump. In his head, the executive order is the opposite of what Barak Obama would do and that ALONE is the temptation to sign it. He is obsessed by Mr. Obama. Mr. Trump's presidency has only one meaning: do everything to undermine Mr. Obama's previous administration and anything it may have achieved. It's not sane. But that is reality, pure and simple. Being right or wrong is not part of the calculus. If someone could actually convince him Obama would sign the order, he would oppose it.
It's Pavlovian. He's a mental case.
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"This executive order would... reinforc[e] negative stereotypes about the party’s dislike of L.G.B.T. Americans, women, and religious and ethnic minorities."
"Negative stereotypes"?
You mean, "negative stereotypes" based on--for instance--the party's own platform released at the RNC this summer that "condemned the lawless ruling" of the Supreme Court allowing gay people marriage equality?
The same platform suggested that letting people use bathrooms matching their preferred gender identity is "the mold of an ideology alien to America’s history and traditions."
These aren't stereotypes, Sen. Simpson--they're facts.
"Negative stereotypes"?
You mean, "negative stereotypes" based on--for instance--the party's own platform released at the RNC this summer that "condemned the lawless ruling" of the Supreme Court allowing gay people marriage equality?
The same platform suggested that letting people use bathrooms matching their preferred gender identity is "the mold of an ideology alien to America’s history and traditions."
These aren't stereotypes, Sen. Simpson--they're facts.
Ask yourself how does Saudia Arabia feel about his switch? Follow the money for this man... has nothing to do with our country at all.... look at Russia...follow the money
Excerpt from bio. Alan Simpson…advocate for access to abortion….not be a political issue in a party that believes in "government out of our lives" and "the right to be left alone" and "the precious right of privacy"… supports gay and lesbian rights, and equality regardless of race, color, creed, gender, or sexual orientation.
I only wish there were more Republicans in the Senate like you Mr. Simpson. Unfortunately I don’t believe Trump has any true beliefs, he shifts positions like the shifting winds, uncaring about any subject or cause that is brought to his attention. His one and only caring thought is his own self adulation and a handful of individuals that tell him how great he is.
Trump is hopeless and hence our only other hopes are in Congress and the Courts. And so far we haven’t seen much in the way of help from The Republican Congress. But our Courts are holding the line so far, at least with the Muslim ban.
I only wish there were more Republicans in the Senate like you Mr. Simpson. Unfortunately I don’t believe Trump has any true beliefs, he shifts positions like the shifting winds, uncaring about any subject or cause that is brought to his attention. His one and only caring thought is his own self adulation and a handful of individuals that tell him how great he is.
Trump is hopeless and hence our only other hopes are in Congress and the Courts. And so far we haven’t seen much in the way of help from The Republican Congress. But our Courts are holding the line so far, at least with the Muslim ban.
Seems like great advice, worthy of the president's attention. Speaking for myself but as a Democrat, your analysis of the consequences of discriminating against LGBTQ seems accurate...
Would you consider reading this column on a cable TV show, so Trump actually hears your viewpoint? Probably CNN of FoxNews would be best...
Would you consider reading this column on a cable TV show, so Trump actually hears your viewpoint? Probably CNN of FoxNews would be best...
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"Aside from being plain cruel and ugly, permitting discrimination against L.G.B.T. Americans in the name of religion . . . "
No need to go further, this encapsulates Trump's motivations.
No need to go further, this encapsulates Trump's motivations.
We are ALL under attack - unless you are a RICH, WHITE MALE! Our planet is under attack. Our civil liberties are vaporizing. The madness is insane and intense.
I say, let TRUMP and the states come after us! Go ahead, tip the scales just a little bit farther. Let the Alt-Right take discrimination to its highest level. It will finally be the downfall and END to this craziness! We will have to purge the government totally to get the tilt back to Obama's openness. But we will have the numbers and the anger behind us.
It will ignite a fire so big, that it will not just be a march in DC and other cities, we will march INSIDE the state and national capitols and storm them. Throwing out ALL of the TRUMP family, Cruz, McConnell, Ryan, Bannon etc.
There is so much rage in the past two months against this man and his hate filled freak show.
Let the pendulum swing allllllll the way to the farthest right so that then we can swing things back and shut this door, to another universe, that has opened.
First thing on the new order's agenda would be TAX ALL CHURCHES - for their buildings and their income! It is time that churches feel the pain that they are causing.
I say, let TRUMP and the states come after us! Go ahead, tip the scales just a little bit farther. Let the Alt-Right take discrimination to its highest level. It will finally be the downfall and END to this craziness! We will have to purge the government totally to get the tilt back to Obama's openness. But we will have the numbers and the anger behind us.
It will ignite a fire so big, that it will not just be a march in DC and other cities, we will march INSIDE the state and national capitols and storm them. Throwing out ALL of the TRUMP family, Cruz, McConnell, Ryan, Bannon etc.
There is so much rage in the past two months against this man and his hate filled freak show.
Let the pendulum swing allllllll the way to the farthest right so that then we can swing things back and shut this door, to another universe, that has opened.
First thing on the new order's agenda would be TAX ALL CHURCHES - for their buildings and their income! It is time that churches feel the pain that they are causing.
3
Let's take a closer look at conservative religious people's claim that baking a wedding cake for a gay couple would violate their religious liberty. Homosexuality is not the only 'sin' in conservative Christianity. Adultery and fornication are also sins and to many conservative Catholics so is divorce. Why haven't we heard these claims of violation of religious freedom before gay marriage became legal? There are millions of heterosexual couples who live in 'common law' 'non- marriages' across the country, many more than gay married couples. According to traditional Christianity they are living in sin. Given the widespread existence of common law couples in every region of the country I think at least some of these people would have wanted to celebrate their relationships with a cake or party. But I have never heard of a single case of any common law heterosexual couple being turned away by caterers, photographers or bakers on religious grounds. I also thought that a retail business, which is a public accommodation licensed by a state or local government, would be required to serve all customers--even those who believe that Gay marriage is not sinful. Didn't the Civil Rights bill of 1964 end unequal treatment in public accommodations? Well, maybe not for Gay people since employment and housing discrimination against gays--married or single-- is as widespread today as 'sinful' common law marriage. Maybe some day, gay people will be full equal citizens.
Let us keep in mind that a “religious liberty” executive order that would allow discrimination against gays, women and religious minorities could also be used not to serve straights, white men, and religious "majorties". Imagine the rancor of a straight white male Evangelical Chrisitan being told by a Social Security official that his case cannot be heard because doing so would violate the "religoous freedom" of the Social Security employee.
Trump is beginning the process of protecting himself from negative voting results in the mid-term elections. He is telling Congress to support the "Repeal and Replace" or they will lose their seats.
Actually, it is the actions of the President that will cause the most lost seats, because they will not vote against his terrible ideas. Trump, however, will be able to say, "I told you so!" Congress isn't creating executive orders, but Trump will make sure that the anger produced by those orders is directed at Congress.
I'm going to get some popcorn.
Actually, it is the actions of the President that will cause the most lost seats, because they will not vote against his terrible ideas. Trump, however, will be able to say, "I told you so!" Congress isn't creating executive orders, but Trump will make sure that the anger produced by those orders is directed at Congress.
I'm going to get some popcorn.
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Unbelievable! A Republican who has a real concern for the American people instead of what Ayn Rand thinks or some very strange and convoluted version of Christianity. Thank you Senator Simpson
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Too little, too late!
Nice try, Mr. Simpson, but your basic premise is wrong. Trump is not a Republican. He just ran on their ticket because they'd let him. Nor does he care if he creates a "political tinderbox that could explode in the faces of Republicans everywhere." Trump only cares for Trump. If Republicans lose elections because of his actions it has nothing to do with him. It just means those Republicans are losers. Trump will still have his crowds to sustain him and reinforce his belief in his greatness. If Trump can get a big round of applause when he says he'll push for "religious freedom," then he'll do it. That he remains loved is what matters. Who he hurts is not.
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Trump is definitely a Republican. Republicans are lined up behind him like little ducks in a row. Where is the outrage from Republicans? Where is the common decency? Not a peep out of them when this man mocked a disabled reporter, stated that he can grab any woman he wants because he's famous, derided and ridiculed a Gold Star family, said it was John McCain's fault that he became a prisoner of war. They're all spinelsss and without morals. That's the Republican party of today. What you're describing doesn't exist anymore.
Dear Senator Simpson, I have news for you. The party you served honorably for years is now made up almost entirely of "fringe right groups and raging extremists," hellbent on destroying anything with the black guy's fingerprints on it. That includes (besides affordable health care of course) undoing equal access to civil rights for people like me, a gay man who's always paid his taxes and never committed a crime greater than speeding on a state highway. Talk to your former Senate colleague John McCain; he can give you an earful about "the whacko birds" who've turned your party into a looney bin. Thanks for your defense of our legal protections but it's going to fall on stone deaf ears. The LGBT minority is too easy to sacrifice in the bonfire of extremism that now burns at the heart of your party and that I can only hope will finally reduce it to ashes.
Sincerely, a fellow Citizen
Sincerely, a fellow Citizen
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Nearly half the country voted for Trump. We have to stop kidding ourselves that they are a "fringe." "Hellbent on destroying...," maybe. But a lot more than a fringe.
I’m Catholic and did not vote for Trump, his not my president. I cannot understand how 60% of Catholics did vote for him. How can anyone support such discrimination against any human being? I surely believe the Popes comments. “Best to be an atheist then a hypocritical Christian”
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52% of Catholic vote. Bad enough.
@tony:
More importantly, how can any Catholic vote for a man who has been divorced twice, cheated openly on his wives, and was proven to be a sex obsessed, misogynist pig, whose actions are not of a Christian. The reason they voted for Trump? Because they hated Hillary, whether because she was a woman, or because they bought all the horrible claims about her, and more importantly because their faith only means something to them when it is convenient for them.
More importantly, how can any Catholic vote for a man who has been divorced twice, cheated openly on his wives, and was proven to be a sex obsessed, misogynist pig, whose actions are not of a Christian. The reason they voted for Trump? Because they hated Hillary, whether because she was a woman, or because they bought all the horrible claims about her, and more importantly because their faith only means something to them when it is convenient for them.
I'm skeptical of the 60% statistic. It does not fit my experience.
Mainly, this is a sad reminder of what a United States senator from the state of Wyoming could once be. There is not a single Republican in the current Senate who approaches Alan Simpson's level of decency and integrity. Not one. Including John McCain, who moves between nobility and crass opportunism as the spirit moves him.
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Lindsay Graham has his moments too. Decency and integrity are not values appreciated by the Republican Party in their senators. Of course, with a leader like Mitch, I guess it should be expected that Republican senators be morally defunct. Maybe that's why Graham and McCain hang together, for support.
Hello Jonathan - when Simpson was a senator he strongly opposed gay rights. His opinion today is a drastic reversal of his support for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage when he was in the senate.
1
Must agree with you, there. Our state's present senators and sole representative from the state of Virginia are increasingly distant from their constituents and eager to ally themselves with 45. Even we few Wyoming democrats miss Al.
Senator Simpson is, alas, one of a dying breed -- a dyed in the wool Republican who is thoughtful and rational. During his time in the Senate, he worked hard to find ways to work with the other side with the goal of crafting workable public policy. The President would do well to heed the Senator's advice.
8
don't be fooled by the fact that he understands that opposing the freedom to love whomever one chooses is bad politics. while he liked to claim that he was "moderate" in fact simpson was a rabid right wing partisan and attack dog while in the senate. he was viscous towards those whom he opposed. check out his treatment of anita hill as just one example.
We could use more of Alan Simpson's generation of Republicans in the GOP today.
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Wonderful op-ed piece though it would be more effective in reaching the President if it were delivered in a series of tweets.
5
This column shows how much the GOP has shifted from one generation to the next. It has gone from a party of moderately conservative pragmatism to one of ideological extremism that is now seen as normal and necessary to please a base that lives in its own isolated world.
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Go for it President Trump (and that sticks in MY craw). I have known for years that control of the Republican Party has been in the hands of the Christian Conservatives (also the same people under different names such as Moral Majority) now its time for others around me to FINALLY see it. Maybe then we can move away from these people who think they have a right to control other people's rights and toward a reasonable set of social policies. Then perhaps I can rejoin Republicans as a slightly right of center voter. As far as policies that will hurt people (I'm one of them, Gay), well we have gained enough traction that I think we can withstand a modest push back.
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I don't understand why any Republican who feels like this continues to be a Republican. Your party has abandoned all reason and compassion and civic-mindedness. It's a party of fanatics, and it is destroying our country. Why cling to it? It only serves to empower them.
3
Mr. Simpson expects Trump and Republicans to focus on: "the solvency of Social Security, the cost of health care, humane immigration reform, building infrastructure and educating kids to succeed." Wow, he must be referring to a Republican party from some bygone era because these goals have nothing whatsoever to do with today's Republican party. Please, vote for Democrats if these issues matter to you.
4
I miss Alan Simpson in the Senate. He could never be elected as a Republican today.
1
Good God, Wyoming Sen Alan Simpson is now the voice of reason in the Republican Party?
We are truly in deep trouble. His record is one of voting against every progressive thought in the past 30 years. Healthcare, clean air, gun rights, emission controls, abortion, you name it- Simpson has ben so far right as to be a parody.
Truly the fringe is running the country now if Simpson is considered a moderate.
We are truly in deep trouble. His record is one of voting against every progressive thought in the past 30 years. Healthcare, clean air, gun rights, emission controls, abortion, you name it- Simpson has ben so far right as to be a parody.
Truly the fringe is running the country now if Simpson is considered a moderate.
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An excellent writeup about how hard it must be to remain Republican these days. Perhaps, the time is ripe to spin off a new party...? As an outsider to your political system, I sometimes fail to see "democracy" in a two party system that is designed for lobbying, maneuvering, and fighting so much more than for constructive consensus.
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"What would you get out of signing this executive order?"
You are implying that Trump does things to achieve an end, a purpose, even if is negative. No, Trump does things to appease his own need for power and attention and his love of manipulation. The results of his actions are not germane; it is only important that he exercise his power over others. Appealing to him to consider the impact of his actions on his presidency and the Republican party will fall on deaf ears.
You are implying that Trump does things to achieve an end, a purpose, even if is negative. No, Trump does things to appease his own need for power and attention and his love of manipulation. The results of his actions are not germane; it is only important that he exercise his power over others. Appealing to him to consider the impact of his actions on his presidency and the Republican party will fall on deaf ears.
3
The Democrats are not the issue here, although they are far more capable of governing. These laws are mean spirited and allows other voices more power over others. Certainly, they are not truly "Christian" either.
Herein lies the problem of a non-believer seeking the support of the Religious Right. Trump continually has to prove himself. His nomination of Gorsuch is not enough. And even if Trump signs a so-called "religious liberty" executive order, that will not be enough.
I do not care that the turnabout may hurt Republicans: consider it a feature, not a bug.
I care deeply that it will hurt LGBT people, who, as a whole have made this country far better than any Republican of recent memory has.
I care deeply that it will hurt LGBT people, who, as a whole have made this country far better than any Republican of recent memory has.
3
As someone who grew up in NYC, I am wondering why isn't this a bigger deal in NYC? After working for years in the garment industry, I am stunned by the silence of the fashion industry. I thought they would have been one of Trump's biggest foes not only on this issue but on potential trade issues.
2
Jcaz
You nailed it when you said fashion "industry".
They are, collectively, a business, and their only advocacy is for themselves and their bottom line.
You make the classic American consumer mistake: assuming the image, the personality, the marketing are somehow related to reality when all that matters to these people, ALL that matters, is the money. And who has more, allegedly, than Trump?
It's not true everywhere, thankfully, but American capitalism and American business are all and only about the cash.
You nailed it when you said fashion "industry".
They are, collectively, a business, and their only advocacy is for themselves and their bottom line.
You make the classic American consumer mistake: assuming the image, the personality, the marketing are somehow related to reality when all that matters to these people, ALL that matters, is the money. And who has more, allegedly, than Trump?
It's not true everywhere, thankfully, but American capitalism and American business are all and only about the cash.
So this is where we are at, where Alan Simpson is the voice of reason?
2
Good points, Mr. Simpson. I am not sure that logic will prevail.
It appears that the Trump administration is prepared to legalize discrimination of more than half the country's population in order to please the fundamentalist Christians among us. Women are more than half the population by themselves, and adding LGBT people increases that. So many gains have been made for these groups in the past few decades, that it is intolerable to contemplate returning to the unjustified bigotry of 50 years ago.
This type of order will be struck down in court, as it is clearly discriminatory and favors one religious group over others and penalizes women and LGBT persons as not as good as the white men who favor it.
Jesus said, "Treat others the way you want to be treated." How does this edict offer that?
This type of order will be struck down in court, as it is clearly discriminatory and favors one religious group over others and penalizes women and LGBT persons as not as good as the white men who favor it.
Jesus said, "Treat others the way you want to be treated." How does this edict offer that?
Have all these righteous Christians forgotten "let the one without sin cast the first stone?" The stones are a-flying.
How much more far right can you be than Donald Trump?
Offcourse this is not the correct decision: to enforce a law or guideline to keep people more apart than together. My L.G.B.T. brothers and sisters have been fighting for their rights long enough don't you think? I was raised with the firm rule that all are equal.
Also as an atheist I find the term 'religious research' kind of suspicious and frankly ridiculous.
There is a reason why this news keeps coming up. Look beyond it for the actual course that is being set. You keep getting blinded by primary reactions on a tweet or scoop. Look beyond it and see: Who benefits? It's a classic divide and conquer tactic.
On another note; hey, pssstt... Did you hear that thing about the climate?
We passed 400ppm last year: that means we set in motion an (irreversible?) escalation of the heating of the seas, earth, and the change in climate.
This tends not to discriminate because we all will be victims. Look at Yemen, Sudan, Ethiopia. Not trump tower.
How about prioritising what's important. Like the sustainability of human life on this planet.
Also as an atheist I find the term 'religious research' kind of suspicious and frankly ridiculous.
There is a reason why this news keeps coming up. Look beyond it for the actual course that is being set. You keep getting blinded by primary reactions on a tweet or scoop. Look beyond it and see: Who benefits? It's a classic divide and conquer tactic.
On another note; hey, pssstt... Did you hear that thing about the climate?
We passed 400ppm last year: that means we set in motion an (irreversible?) escalation of the heating of the seas, earth, and the change in climate.
This tends not to discriminate because we all will be victims. Look at Yemen, Sudan, Ethiopia. Not trump tower.
How about prioritising what's important. Like the sustainability of human life on this planet.
1
The best of luck to you, Mr Simpson. But I think the SS Trump has sailed.
Senator Simpson, you give a little lip-service to discrimination being "cruel and ugly", but your main justification for your advice to Mr. Trump is that it would be a politically unsound thing to do and hurtful to the Republican party. It's quite sad that you believe that's the best reason for not discriminating against the LGBT community, women, and members of certain religions. This is exactly why I will never vote Republican -- you are all basically heartless at the core.
4
With all due respect to Senator Simpson I don't think the current GOP or Trump care about who or what they offend. And they are definitely not concerned with the welfare of anyone or anything but themselves, their corporate masters, and anyone who has donated large sums of money to their election campaigns. That effectively disqualifies nearly every American whether or not they are LGBTQ, religious or not, minority or not, etc. The big tent of the GOP has no room for citizens who need anything from government unless those citizens are corporate or very rich.
28
The point of the article is that in the long term this is likely to hurt the interests of the GOP and the people they care about.
This is true. But it's still pleasing to me, a Democrat who believes in a cooperative two party system, to see this traditional Republican, the likes of whom are relatively few now in Congress, making the case for inclusive, decent policies.
2
Trump to Bannon: "Simpson? Who is Alan Simpson? Don't know him. What's his problem? Don't worry 'bout it"
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Bannon to Trump: "Just another loser."
How telling that the most persuasive argument to Trump that Mr. Simpson could muster (in the laughable conceit that our current president reads anything, much less the NYT), was that discriminating against gay people was bad for the Republican party. Not unethical, immoral, unconstitutional, inhumane.... just bad politics. And even that's probably not persuasive enough for the ego-in-chief, as Mr. Simpson concedes in his cajoling, cynically flattering editorial.
I’m of two minds when considering this advice. Part of me thinks, “Sure, Trump, go ahead and push atavistic policies that will erode the support for you and the GOP for a generation. It will hurt, but the people will move away from you and support a liberal majority that will last for decades.” Another part of me thinks, “Don’t push these atavistic policies, I have family and friends who will suffer now and in the future. Don’t doom them to continuing real pain and suffering that will last for years if not the rest of their lives.”
Of course, Trump is not going to listen to me and probably not Mr. Simpson. I hope he chooses the path of tolerance and wisdom, but I doubt it.
Of course, Trump is not going to listen to me and probably not Mr. Simpson. I hope he chooses the path of tolerance and wisdom, but I doubt it.
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You so aptly described the GOP, exactly why are you a part of this party? Good advise but honestly you accept a President of the USA in need of this advise in the 21st century? Just so sad.
Actually, I'm a very liberal Democrat in a red state who is still trying to hear what people are saying rather than what they are shouting. It's not easy and (for the present) not very successful for having a real conversation.
I'm a partisan who can see my family and friends get caught in cultural war crossfire. The does not mean I won't engage in the battle, but my eyes are open to the collateral damage.
I'm a partisan who can see my family and friends get caught in cultural war crossfire. The does not mean I won't engage in the battle, but my eyes are open to the collateral damage.
You were trained in school to yearn for government to get big enough to hand you everything you wanted. But the year the government changed hands, you are left with no alternative?
It's starting to look like a problem with your dependence.
It's starting to look like a problem with your dependence.
Trump, I believe, turns his bigotry on any group he can, if he feels it will advance his status as the world's supreme bully. He is inherently a hater of all things and almost all people owing to their obvious inferiority in comparison to his warped self-perception.
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Gays (and their ilk) have revealed their heterophobe animosity and intolerance.
People who don't believe in any legitimacy of condoning gays are called a number of derogatory names by gays and their supporters.
The hatred by gays to anyone who may believe that gay is a sin blacken them by calling them “fools,” ”idiots,” “goofballs,” “bigots,” “clowns,” “con-artists,” “zealots,” “Nincompoops,”“dim,” “looney-tune,”“Neanderthals,” “cuckoo's nest,”and “trolls” and gays praying for them (as one NY Times comment put it) to “go to h-ll.”
There will be much worse in days to come when people openly express their views against the LGBT agenda..
Thom McCan
You actually just did that?
You really want us to pass a "Gay Haters Protection Act"?
Because if would really help you feel better, I might consider it.
Just be aware that, like LGBTQ rights legislation, it doesn't give you any special privilege except the right to be treated like a human being, like everybody else.
You actually just did that?
You really want us to pass a "Gay Haters Protection Act"?
Because if would really help you feel better, I might consider it.
Just be aware that, like LGBTQ rights legislation, it doesn't give you any special privilege except the right to be treated like a human being, like everybody else.
President Bannon will be signing this bill.
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The end of this column is really telling- does Mr. Simpson really see Trump pursuing humane immigration reform, building infrastructure or educating kids to succeed? I have been waiting to see any in the party in power question where the great infrastructure plan is in the budget, unless you equate fighter planes and weapon technology with improvements to our sorry mass transit, bridges, roads, and bike and foot paths. Betsy DeVos is really planing to improve our education system, when she is hostile to public education? In what universe in hauling in parents for deportation while they are dropping off children at school a humane policy?
Mr. Trump has lied about almost every aspect of his plans and policies- why would stabbing the LGBT in the back be any different?
Mr. Trump has lied about almost every aspect of his plans and policies- why would stabbing the LGBT in the back be any different?
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The Trump Infrastructure and Thirty Foot Wall Construction Company is waiting in the wings ... there's contracts to be had in them there bridges and roads. There's a high speed train between Trump Tower and Mar a Lago under consideration as we speak.
Mr. Simpson, I have tremendous respect for you as a Senator who got things done for the country, cooperating with your fellow senators, cutting across party lines, working for the good of the Republic.
However, I lost you at "As one Republican to another..."
Trump is about as Republican as a visitor from a different planet. He is merely an opportunist who will say anything, do anything, promise anything to get through the day, or the next hour, the next speech, or tweet.
You are asking for too much of Trump.
However, I lost you at "As one Republican to another..."
Trump is about as Republican as a visitor from a different planet. He is merely an opportunist who will say anything, do anything, promise anything to get through the day, or the next hour, the next speech, or tweet.
You are asking for too much of Trump.
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Simpson hasn't been paying attention to what the Republican party has become since the Tea Party took over. I used to respect Republicans in the Senate as well, but their breed is long gone. His desire for Trump and the current batch of Republicans to remain in power shows an inability to see the truth. The budget and health care proposals indicate a lack of common decency toward others, and worse, an inability to acknowledge that we have a president put in power by collusion with an enemy nation.
1
So WHY are virtually ALL republicans lined up in support of this man if he is not a real republican? Seems you need to update your definition and come to terms with what republicans really are.
1
Trump is pandering to a large part of the current Republican Party. Simpson represents the dying breed of responsible Republicans. He is shouting, as one Republican to another, across the great rift in that party.
1
Who qualifies to be a minority?
What is the norm ?
I always thought at least on paper every citizen in the USA has the same rights, and discrimination based on religion, belief or sexual orientation is illegal.
Is it within the constitutional law to sign a “religious liberty” executive order that would allow discrimination against gays, women and religious minorities?
Do jews, mormons, othodox catholics, calvinists, humanists, atheists, bi sexuals, interracial families, couples with international spouses, (just to name a couple of examples), all qualify to these minority categories?
Are handycapped excluded or only if they are non religious?
Or is non religiousness alreday a minority?
Maybe a simpler idea would be to discriminate categories of people step by step.
Look at history where that road is taking us
What is the norm ?
I always thought at least on paper every citizen in the USA has the same rights, and discrimination based on religion, belief or sexual orientation is illegal.
Is it within the constitutional law to sign a “religious liberty” executive order that would allow discrimination against gays, women and religious minorities?
Do jews, mormons, othodox catholics, calvinists, humanists, atheists, bi sexuals, interracial families, couples with international spouses, (just to name a couple of examples), all qualify to these minority categories?
Are handycapped excluded or only if they are non religious?
Or is non religiousness alreday a minority?
Maybe a simpler idea would be to discriminate categories of people step by step.
Look at history where that road is taking us
14
Discrimination based on sexual orientation is legal in 29 states and not prohibited by Fed law.
No, it is not illegal in many states to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.
Is discrimination against the law? Of course it is. Does discrimination exist? Actually, it does, and it is against the law. Who is a "minority?" Anyone who is the victim of discrimination because of what group they belong to or what physical characteristics they have. As long as the courts deny the rights of people based on these characteristics because ,well, there's no law against that, there needs to be a law. When the courts decide to enforce equal treatment of everyone, only then will laws protecting specific groups be unnecessary.
Did you vote or him? Yes or no - out with it.
89
Why is that important to you? It's none of your business, let alone the "out with it" attitude.
No
I actually hope that he does sign this executive order, not because I agree with him but because it would force the issue to be settled once and for all by the courts. So far these discriminations against minority groups have only gained traction at the state level in those states that are under Republican control. Should it be enacted at the federal level, once the courts strike it down as being unconstitutional that ruling would apply to all Americans at all levels and that will be the end of it.
In a country that was founded on the premise of life, liberty, and the persuit of happiness we need to stop allowing prejudice against those who are different than the majority to be denied their inalienable rights to live their version of the American dream. While I understand that prejudice and intolerance has always been a part of the American experience isn't it time to put an end to that chapter of our history and move forward.
My roommate and I were talking today about how we didn't realize how much hate there is in this country until Trump's presidency. The ugly underbelly of America has been revealed for all Americans to see. We're talking about it now. Now we need to do something about it and end this type of behavior once and for all.
In a country that was founded on the premise of life, liberty, and the persuit of happiness we need to stop allowing prejudice against those who are different than the majority to be denied their inalienable rights to live their version of the American dream. While I understand that prejudice and intolerance has always been a part of the American experience isn't it time to put an end to that chapter of our history and move forward.
My roommate and I were talking today about how we didn't realize how much hate there is in this country until Trump's presidency. The ugly underbelly of America has been revealed for all Americans to see. We're talking about it now. Now we need to do something about it and end this type of behavior once and for all.
124
Once Trump has stacked the Supreme Court with justices of his choosing, we won't be able to fight discrimination in court. This is why the nomination of Gorsuch must be stopped.
1
Please remember what happened in Germany in the 1930s. Many good and humane Germans believed that once the people saw what Hitler was really up to they would be able to dislodge him.
Nope.
Nope.
Ami - I'm 83 years old and it pains me to know you young people are facing this terrible political devastation we are experiencing right now! And sadly, "the ugly under-belly of America has been revealed for all Americans to see" is only half of it: the whole world is seeing the ugliness that exists here in our country, and the ugliness of Trump and his senior advisers, Bannon and Miller. You young people are the big hope for the future that we have - hang in there and believe that the majority of Americans are good people!
"I wish it were as simple as pointing out that supporting discrimination against anyone is just a bad idea..." I hope he meant to say "morally repugnant", but who knows?
30
He does say it's "plain cruel and ugly." Looks to me like Alan Simpson has been on the road to Damascus sometime in the past 20 years.
Alan, you piece makes perfect sense to me however I do not believe the GOP of today really cares what the majority of Americans want or how they feel.Trump has shown he is determined to satisfy his base of supporters regardless of how that may hurt the rest of America and we all know what that bass thinks about gay rights. As a DEM I am cheering on the GOP on their path of self destruction and waiting for the midterms!!
23
Thank you, Senator Simpson, for your sagacious note of advice to Donald Trump. Unfortunately, he has no idea who you are.
66
Bravo, Alan K. Simpson.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
I do think the term "religious freedom" is a bit of an oxymoron in this case.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
I do think the term "religious freedom" is a bit of an oxymoron in this case.
This President has promised so much and can deliver very little. So he must appeal to his base supporters and role out Hate the Gays platform. This is politicians unable to make America great again, and instead rolling out the same clown car over and over. Please donate today to ACLU and Lambda Legal.
24
Steven Tracey McCarthy - And don't forget donating to the Southern Poverty Law Center! They are fighting hatred and discrimination pro bono!
One more example of the Christian fundamentalist agenda's being forced on those who are not part of that community. Free exercise and equal protection are the law of the land. Let's not tinker with them.
55
Trump has stated his support for "Originalism" as a SCOTUS judicial philosophy. The Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendments protects "persons" with absolutely no demographic designation. Certainly Mr. Trump is a man of his word.
4
Was your last sentence a joke?
1
As an honorably discharged military veteran, I am deeply offended that I cannot in good faith recite the Pledge of Allegiance. I thought I was fighting for "liberty and justice for all". I repeat, Liberty and Justice for All.
Well said.
2
Thank you for this. However, the person you need to be talking to is Sen McConnell.
30
It's time to show what discrimination against CHRISTIANS and STRAIGHT folks looks like. Perhaps then they will understand what they are doing.
2
I thought you were being ironic, but nooooo... more like daft.
I think it would be perfectly OK for a Muslim butcher not to provide pork to a Christian (or another) family.
Would you call it "discrimination" against Christians if we allowed the Muslim NOT to provide pork?
Indeed many religious cabbies in New York city object to advertising "gentlemen's clubs" on top of their cabs. If we allowed cabbies to object, would you say that we are supporting discrimination against heterosexuals?
Observer, we have to accommodate everyone's life and happiness as far as we are able. To paint various personal choices as "discrimination" is wrong.
It is better to ask "Which party is harmed MORE by allowing or not allowing some choices?"
Would you call it "discrimination" against Christians if we allowed the Muslim NOT to provide pork?
Indeed many religious cabbies in New York city object to advertising "gentlemen's clubs" on top of their cabs. If we allowed cabbies to object, would you say that we are supporting discrimination against heterosexuals?
Observer, we have to accommodate everyone's life and happiness as far as we are able. To paint various personal choices as "discrimination" is wrong.
It is better to ask "Which party is harmed MORE by allowing or not allowing some choices?"
I see no movement by the gay community to limit the free excercise of my religion and to recieve the rights and benefits of an American. I do see the very unChrist like fringe of Christian leadership pushing to deny the basic freedom and privileges afford each American to the gay community. Deny them tax and social security benefits, terminate their empolyment based on their beliefs, restrict their travel, housing and restaurant access. Why do this fringe Christians hate so much?
You may be correct that only an ignorant minority of Republicans calls for such legislation. I doubt it.
Apologists like Richard Luettgen may be correct to suggest this is a moral issue with people clinging to beliefs at the center of their moral or religious universe. I doubt that too.
Look at this obscene legislation: it encourages low level, small power Federal employees to substitute personal prejudice for national policy. It Balkanizes a divided nation. It allows pleas to "community" to override decency, logic, and nationhood.
Worse, it gives cover to Republicans eager to accomplish exactly this abomination by allowing them to claim respect for individual rights.
Freedom of religion is an invalid argument. No one forces any one to sell cakes or flowers or whatever apocryphal product one might name. But if you choose to do so, unless its from a secret store in the church basement then, yes, you need to serve your entire community. If you're such a bigot that handing roses over the counter offends your sensibility, get another job.
If you claim "community standards" as Richard does below, consider that no community is more in need of common ground and fellow feeling than the community of Americans. If you need to get together to hate gay people, go ahead. In the church basement next to the secret flower store.
But when you emerge into the American day, be prepared to treat your fellow citizens with respect if not honor, and civility if not compassion.
Apologists like Richard Luettgen may be correct to suggest this is a moral issue with people clinging to beliefs at the center of their moral or religious universe. I doubt that too.
Look at this obscene legislation: it encourages low level, small power Federal employees to substitute personal prejudice for national policy. It Balkanizes a divided nation. It allows pleas to "community" to override decency, logic, and nationhood.
Worse, it gives cover to Republicans eager to accomplish exactly this abomination by allowing them to claim respect for individual rights.
Freedom of religion is an invalid argument. No one forces any one to sell cakes or flowers or whatever apocryphal product one might name. But if you choose to do so, unless its from a secret store in the church basement then, yes, you need to serve your entire community. If you're such a bigot that handing roses over the counter offends your sensibility, get another job.
If you claim "community standards" as Richard does below, consider that no community is more in need of common ground and fellow feeling than the community of Americans. If you need to get together to hate gay people, go ahead. In the church basement next to the secret flower store.
But when you emerge into the American day, be prepared to treat your fellow citizens with respect if not honor, and civility if not compassion.
83
"supporting discrimination against anyone is just a bad idea "
But it is not clear that ALLOWING someone not to bake a cake for a gay wedding is the same as "supporting discrimination".
What are the details of the religious liberty act?
Vague terms like "religious liberty" and "constitutional rights" do not allow us to draw a sensible line between the interests of one party and the interests of another.
And that means that we ALL deserve respect. Gays deserve respect, and those who think that gay marriage is a sin also deserve respect. We can accommodate both, but not via simplistic slogans.
But it is not clear that ALLOWING someone not to bake a cake for a gay wedding is the same as "supporting discrimination".
What are the details of the religious liberty act?
Vague terms like "religious liberty" and "constitutional rights" do not allow us to draw a sensible line between the interests of one party and the interests of another.
And that means that we ALL deserve respect. Gays deserve respect, and those who think that gay marriage is a sin also deserve respect. We can accommodate both, but not via simplistic slogans.
1
You cannot have a business that caters to the public, and then pick and choose who's in your public.
"those who think that gay marriage is a sin also deserve respect"
That's not the issue, though. The issue is whether one can provide a public service and then say "But not to you because you're gay." Shall we have hetero-only hotels, too?
That's not the issue, though. The issue is whether one can provide a public service and then say "But not to you because you're gay." Shall we have hetero-only hotels, too?
Would you say the same about someone who thinks interracial or interfaith marriages are a sin? Would you agree with the restaurant who refused to serve a same sex couple, or a mixed race couple, a Muslim couple? Where do you draw the line?
1
What woukd be the reaction of these right wing loonies if a Buddhist civil servant refused to inspect an abattoir, a Jewish civil servant refused to 'work' on a Friday, a Amish civil servant refused to use the telephone.
Each civil servant has a chouce, they can do their job or they can find other work.
Each civil servant has a chouce, they can do their job or they can find other work.
28
It is thanks to 19th-century Jewish workers in the US that everyone now has a weekend. God bless those Jewish workers.
1
I love this, a republican against Trump. You guys and gals have to own this presidency. Trump is yours, every single bit of him. I cannot imagine what it will be like to own all of this as a republican or how you all will explain your support of him to yourselves or your offspring, but you must, he is yours. Let me venture a prediction, denial?
6
Trump has always been a fair weather friend to anyone but his own personal interests. He doesn't care about the gays anymore than he cares about the GOP. It's all about himself. He's a narcissist, not Republican. A clue to where his heart lies is what he's said about Russian President Putin who has praised our so-called president trump.
For those that claim it's not that they hate these people, it's that God tells them to, their justification for being allowed to discriminate must also require them to discriminate against the liars, adulterers, (Trump is in trouble with just those two), thieves, etc. It also must allow the discrimination against kafir Christian's by Muslims, and even the killing of kafir.
3
At some point conservative Christians joined the Republican party, thus giving up their neutrality. If they now convince the Republican president to sign this executive order allowing so-called Christians to discriminate against anyone they don't like (and no, it won't be based on religion or fear of sin--it will be simply gut-level dislike), then they show themselves for the political animals they are.
The active political religious right (and left) should lose their tax exempt status as mere political players no different than any lobbyist seeking favors. And that will cost them their halos with the public. Some people still respect their piety. But many of us already despise them for hypocrites and frauds trying to tell everyone else what to do. This will only get worse when they can challenge our ability to simply live life like everyone else--they will be like the dog that caught the care. So just as Trump shouldn't tie the Republican party to this cabal of bullies and power grabbers, the so-called religious right should go back to fundamentals and try living like Jesus did--who would he refuse to serve?
The active political religious right (and left) should lose their tax exempt status as mere political players no different than any lobbyist seeking favors. And that will cost them their halos with the public. Some people still respect their piety. But many of us already despise them for hypocrites and frauds trying to tell everyone else what to do. This will only get worse when they can challenge our ability to simply live life like everyone else--they will be like the dog that caught the care. So just as Trump shouldn't tie the Republican party to this cabal of bullies and power grabbers, the so-called religious right should go back to fundamentals and try living like Jesus did--who would he refuse to serve?
15
I hope that Trump shows his true colors and continues to overtly discriminate against L.G.B.T., religious and ethnic minorities, immigrants of all shades, and women, the sooner the delusional will shed their delusions about Trump and flush all of his spineless and unprincipled Republican supporters out of Congress the better.
3
A well-written analysis. But if Trump was capable of listening to it, he would have listened to the voices of a lot of other reasonable people around him that have tried to rein in his excesses. Alas, he's basically self-destructive.
You would think that having approval ratings in the 30s would give him pause, and maybe he would make some sort of course correction, but don't count on it.
You would think that having approval ratings in the 30s would give him pause, and maybe he would make some sort of course correction, but don't count on it.
4
This is a well thought-out, well reasoned appeal that would give any ordinary person cause to stop and reflect. But the intended recipient doesn't do reflection, and he apparently doesn't do reading either. If you could get someone to put it on television, he might deign to look at it, but it's not clear that it would survive the torturous journey from eye and ear to the central cortex dwarfed by that massive comb-over. In the words of another larger than life American burn-out, "Return to sender".
The attack on LGBTQ people is already underway under the Trump administration. HHS has already removed a question about sexual orientation from its annual National Survey of Older Americans Act Participants. The right wants LGBTQ people to disappear, by whatever means necessary, it seems.
9
I agree with the author here, except for one thing; those extreme, fringe groups? They have become mainstream.
The Republican Party sold its soul to them a long time ago, and now they have come to collect; not as outsiders to the Republican party, but as constituents.
The Republican Party sold its soul to them a long time ago, and now they have come to collect; not as outsiders to the Republican party, but as constituents.
19
Once upon a time, there actually were a few Republicans who were decent people, and who were worth listening to. Alan Simpson was one of those, back when he was in the Senate; and I am glad he continues to share his opinions with us even now.
The complaint of the anti-LGBT crowd, that their "religious freedom" is somehow being crushed just because LGBT people are to receive the same rights that other Americans enjoy, does not persuade the majority of us in this country, who have a better understanding of what this country is about. It's gratifying that Senator Simpson sees through that "religious freedom" nonsense. It's just insubstantial rhetoric, that gives comfort to those with anti-LGBT prejudices. As such, their complaint offends those of us who are truly interested in defending the rights of religious people.
The complaint of the anti-LGBT crowd, that their "religious freedom" is somehow being crushed just because LGBT people are to receive the same rights that other Americans enjoy, does not persuade the majority of us in this country, who have a better understanding of what this country is about. It's gratifying that Senator Simpson sees through that "religious freedom" nonsense. It's just insubstantial rhetoric, that gives comfort to those with anti-LGBT prejudices. As such, their complaint offends those of us who are truly interested in defending the rights of religious people.
13
Senator Simpson, you do understand you're talking to a President that ran on not touching medicare, medicaid and social security and is now threatening Republican congressman if they don't support his healthcare bill that will drive 24 million out of health insurance and kill folks?
Expecting him to think rationally about what your presenting, as rational as it is, when he consciously will hurt, and in some cases, kill, seniors 60-64 and those with pre-existing condiitions, etc., is, if you'll excuse me, naive beyond anything I've ever heard you say.
Expecting him to think rationally about what your presenting, as rational as it is, when he consciously will hurt, and in some cases, kill, seniors 60-64 and those with pre-existing condiitions, etc., is, if you'll excuse me, naive beyond anything I've ever heard you say.
6
Think of the field day the ACLU will have with this one. They will have their fundraising program in high gear and they will be in court 20 minutes after Dear Leader signs this thing. And it will be stopped dead in its tracks by the courts which is where it should be stopped.
6
Please Republicans in Congress be patriotic and American and stand up against Trump's worst inclinations. There are many Republicans who are anti LGBT, minorities and women, but I believe that a strong minority of Republicans are not. Please do your American patriotic duty and stand up against discrimination. It is the only decent thing to do. Do not place party above your American duty to serve and protect all of the citizens of America.
5
The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.
2
It is past due time for this partisan bickering to end - we the citizens of the US are being harmed. I urge the Democrats to voice their upset over Merrick Garland's treatment, say that two wrongs don't make a right, look at Judge Gorsuch's obvious qualifications and vote yes. I urge President Trump to crumple that executive order up and throw it away. It's time to move past divisive and hateful legislation, rules, and Presidential/ Congressional activity and inactivity. We the people of the United States want our government to be "of the people, for the people, by the people." Please stop the tweets, laws and actions that divide and start to tweet, enact laws and make rules that bring us together.
Gorsuch, while on the 10th Circuit ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby's "right" to discriminate against women by refusing to pay for contraception because it would violate their religious freedom. It's astounding and disappointing the courts, including SCOTUS, bought the religious freedom argument and allowed this to happen. Write your Senator and tell them No to Gorsuch.
4
Vote yes? Get real. It always seems that the Democrats are the ones who have to turn the other cheek. Someone needs to break the cycle of gleeful sadism and grudging masochism. When one stops reinforcing bad behavior, it's more likely to be extinguished.
2
I think it's already been established that Trump doesn't care about all that much, so to continue to play to "what you do care about: the art of the deal" or to some imagined 'better instinct' is to admit to a weird naiveté about a man we all know is 100% unadulterated fraud.
12
Judge Neil Gorsuch is much better than any executive order.
I hope he does sign it, simultaneously with Pelosi and Schumer announcing their retirement. The Democrats would have a landslide midterm.
1
Senator Simpson, you and your generation of senate colleagues are deeply missed.
7
It would appear the polling commented on in this piece is about as accurate as the NYT's was on the day of Election 2016.
if there were a civil rights bill protecting LGBT's, this would not be a problem. Getting such a bill passed strikes me as a lot more important than marriage rights and bathroom rights. Why there is no serious civil rights movement is beyond me.
It is worth a Try, despite not needing reason Why,
Trump promised he's their Guy or was it just a Lie?
If change his Mind, shows is a liar and also is Unkind.
People who lead and inspire, know the ties that Bind.
So must do as said, be True, be You & also sound of Mind.
Trump promised he's their Guy or was it just a Lie?
If change his Mind, shows is a liar and also is Unkind.
People who lead and inspire, know the ties that Bind.
So must do as said, be True, be You & also sound of Mind.
1
trump, I recommend you pursue this bill wholeheartedly--exactly what our country needs to remove you and your party from office.
"This executive order would be a political tinderbox that could explode in the faces of Republicans everywhere, reinforcing negative stereotypes about the party’s dislike of L.G.B.T. Americans, women, and religious and ethnic minorities."
"This executive order would be a political tinderbox that could explode in the faces of Republicans everywhere, reinforcing negative stereotypes about the party’s dislike of L.G.B.T. Americans, women, and religious and ethnic minorities."
4
Mr Simpson, UnfortunatelyI doubt that Donald Trump even understands a letter like yours; well written and more than one paragraph.
12
This column is presented as an offering of rational and sober advice to Donald Trump. The premise would be amusing, this attempt at reasoning with a lunatic, but at this point, the futility of the gesture is far too terrifying to be humorous.
4
Well stated, Senator Simpson. But one might go further. Another argument too seldom raised about "religious freedom" protections is that they focus exclusively on animus toward LGBT people. It would be easier to take such protections seriously if the language permitted refusal to pay taxes for nuclear weapons development or for armed intervention in civil wars elsewhere in the world. Do I get to pay taxes selectively if I claim a religious objection to certain kinds of public spending?
5
"As one Republican to another, I’d like to offer this bit of advice to President Trump: Don’t do it."
Trump is not a Republican; he feels no loyalty to Republicans who disagree with him, such as Congressmen who oppose the new healthcare bill. Don't kid yourself, not only will he not listen to you, he doesn't care what you think.
Trump is not a Republican; he feels no loyalty to Republicans who disagree with him, such as Congressmen who oppose the new healthcare bill. Don't kid yourself, not only will he not listen to you, he doesn't care what you think.
6
I am an anti-discrimination, pro-envirinment, pro-public school, pro-balanced budget independent voter who finds the only thing worth supporting on the Republican agenda is decreasing low value regulations. DJT is eminently unqualified for the presidency and the Republcan base is focused on making America not great. I hope that they are stopped by the media, courts, public opinion and just a few Senate and House defectors with a shred of decency.
16
It is a sad day when we have to "advise" our president NOT to be discriminatory because its good politics. In any other time it would just be human decency.
19
Mr. Simpson could have framed this question as a matter of human decency. No one is stopping him, and this is just an opinion piece.
1
This controversy actually involves the behavior of two separate groups of people, government officials and private business owners. Defenders of an executive order might make a plausible argument that individual freedom in the marketplace requires that merchants enjoy the right to select their own customers, although federal law explicitly bans that notion in the case of race.
Even supporters of this conception of freedom, however, could not use it to sanction discriminatory behavior on the part of public employees. No one enjoys a right to hold public office. Applicants have to satisfy certain qualifications, and, if the position is elective, they have to persuade the voters to choose them. All government officials have a legal obligation to enforce the law, and that responsibility does not permit them to withhold services from citizens based on differences in race, gender, religion or sexual orientation.
This simple principle not only satisfies the requirements of fairness, it also preserves peace and harmony in a culturally and ethnically diverse society. Any executive order that violated it surely would not survive a court challenge based on the 14th amendment.
Even supporters of this conception of freedom, however, could not use it to sanction discriminatory behavior on the part of public employees. No one enjoys a right to hold public office. Applicants have to satisfy certain qualifications, and, if the position is elective, they have to persuade the voters to choose them. All government officials have a legal obligation to enforce the law, and that responsibility does not permit them to withhold services from citizens based on differences in race, gender, religion or sexual orientation.
This simple principle not only satisfies the requirements of fairness, it also preserves peace and harmony in a culturally and ethnically diverse society. Any executive order that violated it surely would not survive a court challenge based on the 14th amendment.
2
I take it that Simpson want to stop discrimination not because it is the right thing to do, but because of possible damage to the GOP.
Not a very good reason to be against discrimination. I wish these folks thought more about the people they are hurting and less about themselves.
Not a very good reason to be against discrimination. I wish these folks thought more about the people they are hurting and less about themselves.
6
Mr Simpson, here's the thing. "States' Rights" means that legal discrimination can occur no matter what the federal govt thinks -- by means of passing state laws. The NC bathroom law (still standing by the way) is the obvious example of this. You go on and on about Trump but he is largely tertiary to the issue currently in play.
Sure, the Supreme Court can take these contentious state laws on, but with Gorsuch coming, it seems unlikely.
Which means: The near future for gay civil rights is indeed in trouble, but at the STATE LEVEL. Yet your essay is all about Trump.
Here's what will happen -- Trump will like beg off the whole issue of Federal level gay civil rights and let this play out at the state level. Because he knows his republican governors can create all kinds of discriminatory laws and his name is not blemished in the press.
The power of "States' Rights" makes lots of Republicans "happy" and as a republican you should already know that.
31
....except where "marihuana" legalization is involved, of course. Then Federal law must be obeyed (and cannot be changed).
@K Henderson: Simpson is right. Image matters in politics. Whatever goes on in the states, if the American people see Trump and the Republicans as hateful and discriminatory, it will hurt their party. Attempts to weaponize religion to inflict bigotry will especially repel younger voters, seriously threatening the GOP's future.
Mr. or Ms. Henderson, here's the thing. State actors can and will continue to be sued for violating the Constitution, lose, and be forced to pay money damages that needlessly drain state coffers, and they can and will be subject to injunctive relief that forces them to cease and desist their illegal and shameful conduct.
Obviously, people like you would like to forget Brown v. Board of Education, Plessy v. Ferguson and a host of other seminal cases where state actors committed 'legal discrimination' that is, of course, anathema to the Constitution that public servants and veterans of every stripe have sworn to uphold--and in some cases, given life and limb to protect--and to which school children pledge allegiance every day.
Like it or not, Trump and state actors are NOT going to be permitted to reproduce the 1950s, when blacks and other minorities, women, and people with sexual preferences other than yours were persecuted and obstructed--in the case of Brown v. Bd. of Educ., little children treated like criminals because of the color of their skin, in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, where blacks couldn't use a drinking fountain or bathroom because of the same, baseless reason.
"Make this country great again?" If that means returning to a White makes right, back-to-the-future world, you've already lost--and will lose again, and again, again.
Obviously, people like you would like to forget Brown v. Board of Education, Plessy v. Ferguson and a host of other seminal cases where state actors committed 'legal discrimination' that is, of course, anathema to the Constitution that public servants and veterans of every stripe have sworn to uphold--and in some cases, given life and limb to protect--and to which school children pledge allegiance every day.
Like it or not, Trump and state actors are NOT going to be permitted to reproduce the 1950s, when blacks and other minorities, women, and people with sexual preferences other than yours were persecuted and obstructed--in the case of Brown v. Bd. of Educ., little children treated like criminals because of the color of their skin, in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, where blacks couldn't use a drinking fountain or bathroom because of the same, baseless reason.
"Make this country great again?" If that means returning to a White makes right, back-to-the-future world, you've already lost--and will lose again, and again, again.
3
"This executive order would be a political tinderbox that could explode in the faces of Republicans everywhere."
Good. because I haven't seen any evidence that your party is doing much to help the country. You're giving polluters license to melt the planet. Stripping 24 million American of health care for no reason at all. You shut down the government when you don't get your way. You steal a Supreme Court seat. When Vladimir Putin to all appearances suborns the presidency, all you are interested in is the White House leaks that inform the public of this.
And always, you lie, lie, lie, to the point at which it sickens me to hear you speak.
What has your party become, and why would you or anyone else want to be associated with it?
Anything that harms your party is fine with me.
Good. because I haven't seen any evidence that your party is doing much to help the country. You're giving polluters license to melt the planet. Stripping 24 million American of health care for no reason at all. You shut down the government when you don't get your way. You steal a Supreme Court seat. When Vladimir Putin to all appearances suborns the presidency, all you are interested in is the White House leaks that inform the public of this.
And always, you lie, lie, lie, to the point at which it sickens me to hear you speak.
What has your party become, and why would you or anyone else want to be associated with it?
Anything that harms your party is fine with me.
330
The GOP is imploding all on its own--think how much a powerful statement on behalf of LGBTQ it would be that even the incredibly DESPICABLE GOPers knew better......
4
The Democrats like to think of the LGBT community as uniquely theirs.
So do many Republicans, even though as Trump just did they sometimes make an appeal to it themselves.
Hit the other party's base? Or steal some of it away? That is the choice.
Are Republicans really going to get much of that base? No. So for them, is it a choice?
Well, Trump should do the right thing anyway. Goring the other side's ox is not the only thing in politics. Doing the wrong thing to one group rebounds among other groups. It can be very self destructive.
There seem to be factions swirling around Trump, some pulling for this, others not. That seems to be true of many issues around Trump.
What is Trump himself thinking? He seems to have enough long term thinking to win the election. However, it has always been his method to hide that ball. If he knows, he's the only one who knows.
He said nice things about LGBT, and at the same time circulated a proposal to the contrary. Doing it both ways and hiding his real thoughts seems to be his method in all things, not just this one.
So do many Republicans, even though as Trump just did they sometimes make an appeal to it themselves.
Hit the other party's base? Or steal some of it away? That is the choice.
Are Republicans really going to get much of that base? No. So for them, is it a choice?
Well, Trump should do the right thing anyway. Goring the other side's ox is not the only thing in politics. Doing the wrong thing to one group rebounds among other groups. It can be very self destructive.
There seem to be factions swirling around Trump, some pulling for this, others not. That seems to be true of many issues around Trump.
What is Trump himself thinking? He seems to have enough long term thinking to win the election. However, it has always been his method to hide that ball. If he knows, he's the only one who knows.
He said nice things about LGBT, and at the same time circulated a proposal to the contrary. Doing it both ways and hiding his real thoughts seems to be his method in all things, not just this one.
38
@Mark, just curious, what evidence do you have to assert Democrats think the LGBT community belongs to them?
While Log Cabin has been around for a while, if memory serves, a Bush official who is a closet gay - forgot his name - chose to follow the Republican social conservative orthodoxy to oppose gay right in the Bush Administration until he was out of a job and then came out. Such opportunist! If the Republicans have a slightly inclination to believe in other people's freedom, North Carolina governorship would still be in the Republican hand democratically instead of trying to do a naked power grab.
Trump said many things that very often contradict other things he said. A liar is a liar even if it may be true in some cases. There is no the other side except his own side. Sen Simpson is smart to offer up practical reasons for Trump to do the moral thing but this is another sleight of hand for him. He is more likely to do LGBT baiting when the Russian investigation is becoming hot and heavy
While Log Cabin has been around for a while, if memory serves, a Bush official who is a closet gay - forgot his name - chose to follow the Republican social conservative orthodoxy to oppose gay right in the Bush Administration until he was out of a job and then came out. Such opportunist! If the Republicans have a slightly inclination to believe in other people's freedom, North Carolina governorship would still be in the Republican hand democratically instead of trying to do a naked power grab.
Trump said many things that very often contradict other things he said. A liar is a liar even if it may be true in some cases. There is no the other side except his own side. Sen Simpson is smart to offer up practical reasons for Trump to do the moral thing but this is another sleight of hand for him. He is more likely to do LGBT baiting when the Russian investigation is becoming hot and heavy
18
and recall, just after the election Ivanka arranged a meeting between Al Gore and Trump. That meeting was described as having been 'productive,' or 'nice,' or maybe even helpful.
Look at what that lead to.
Another example of 'Method Acting?'
Look at what that lead to.
Another example of 'Method Acting?'
6
Mark Thomason - Clawson
Thoughts ? I don't think he has any thoughts, other than those he gleaned from TV.
Do you remember John Fogarty's 1985 song,"I Saw it on TV" ?
" I know it's true, oh so true, cause I saw it on T.V. "
Thoughts ? I don't think he has any thoughts, other than those he gleaned from TV.
Do you remember John Fogarty's 1985 song,"I Saw it on TV" ?
" I know it's true, oh so true, cause I saw it on T.V. "
2
I agree that an executive order this broad is damaging to Republicans and to Americans generally. I’ve always supported the need for enforcement of law that treats ALL Americans equally under law.
But Sen. Simpson tars all motivations here with the same broad exclusionist brush. I don’t think that helps us, either. The issue that motivates some is that current law requires that service providers tend to the needs of ALL who seek their services and can pay for them. To be clear, while I understand that this imposes disagreeable requirements on some, I see no option because by FAILING to protect such rights we invite dramatic and negative impact on some Americans based solely on who they define themselves to be and who they are. And we mustn’t tolerate that.
But this also is an issue of community and of compelling behavior on the part of SOME that is opposed to their deepest convictions, and we take extreme attempts to protect some classes at the expense of others at our peril. The breadth of this proposed executive order in reaction to the need for protections is evidence of how much we risk when Americans are told that unless they actively embrace all forms of diversity … they’re somehow not Americans. If there are enough of them, it could turn out that WE’RE the ones who become “un-American”.
We need to be careful when we mess with people’s deepest convictions: the challenge of America ALWAYS has been to COHERE, somehow, despite our differences.
But Sen. Simpson tars all motivations here with the same broad exclusionist brush. I don’t think that helps us, either. The issue that motivates some is that current law requires that service providers tend to the needs of ALL who seek their services and can pay for them. To be clear, while I understand that this imposes disagreeable requirements on some, I see no option because by FAILING to protect such rights we invite dramatic and negative impact on some Americans based solely on who they define themselves to be and who they are. And we mustn’t tolerate that.
But this also is an issue of community and of compelling behavior on the part of SOME that is opposed to their deepest convictions, and we take extreme attempts to protect some classes at the expense of others at our peril. The breadth of this proposed executive order in reaction to the need for protections is evidence of how much we risk when Americans are told that unless they actively embrace all forms of diversity … they’re somehow not Americans. If there are enough of them, it could turn out that WE’RE the ones who become “un-American”.
We need to be careful when we mess with people’s deepest convictions: the challenge of America ALWAYS has been to COHERE, somehow, despite our differences.
11
Richard, I get your general ideals about equality-for-all, but sometimes federal laws are needed to protect citizens when state laws clearly discriminate.
39
A florist who doesn't want to serve certain classes of customers because of his or her religious beliefs has a clear solution available: find something else to do for a living. Not everyone is suited to work with the public, and someone who only wants to engage with perceived heterosexual customers clearly is not. But while awaiting the MMPI results from the career counselor, that florist shouldn't be allowed to engage in systematic discrimination in commerce.
26
OK, so if I belong to a religion that prohibits African-Americans from sitting at the front of the bus or at a "whites only" lunch counter, then that's OK? Could a Catholic caterer refuse to serve at a wedding because one of the spouses was divorced? Can a doctor refuse to write a prescription for birth control pills for an unmarried woman because he is opposed to sex outside of marriage for religious reasons?
Being a part of a community - and having compelling behavior - means that you have to treat all people equally. National law stands above religious law. The best way to cohere, despite differences, is to treat everyone with respect. Anyone can practice their deepest religious convictions in the privacy of their own homes - they don't need to invite gays or African Americans or unmarried people in an "inappropriate" relationship to their homes if they don't want to - but if they are in business, they need to serve everyone.
Being a part of a community - and having compelling behavior - means that you have to treat all people equally. National law stands above religious law. The best way to cohere, despite differences, is to treat everyone with respect. Anyone can practice their deepest religious convictions in the privacy of their own homes - they don't need to invite gays or African Americans or unmarried people in an "inappropriate" relationship to their homes if they don't want to - but if they are in business, they need to serve everyone.
27
Thank you, Sen Simpson. Sadly, your party has left you behind and chooses to taking a joyride with narcissistic teenager.
It is thoughtful of you trying to find common ground with Trump with the maverick label. Alas, there are good mavericks and bad mavericks. Thus far, nothing good is coming out of all those executive orders, let alone all those bizarre tweets on Twitter.
In the political arena, there are differences in political philosophies and tactical moves; but except for some ugly episodes, Congress used to be respectable. Not anymore since you left. Not only the Republicans were disrespectful to a sitting president, they plotted to undermine President Obama on day one in the midst of the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression using American citizens as they weapons. They are not just a few extreme right wingers, religious nuts or fringe groups. They are the Republican leadership. McConnell, Ryan et al. While you were chairing for the National Commission of Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.
While moderate Republicans might be heartened to see your thoughtful piece, for the good of the Republican Party and the good of America, alas your caution is likely be to unheeded because your grand old party is no more
It is thoughtful of you trying to find common ground with Trump with the maverick label. Alas, there are good mavericks and bad mavericks. Thus far, nothing good is coming out of all those executive orders, let alone all those bizarre tweets on Twitter.
In the political arena, there are differences in political philosophies and tactical moves; but except for some ugly episodes, Congress used to be respectable. Not anymore since you left. Not only the Republicans were disrespectful to a sitting president, they plotted to undermine President Obama on day one in the midst of the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression using American citizens as they weapons. They are not just a few extreme right wingers, religious nuts or fringe groups. They are the Republican leadership. McConnell, Ryan et al. While you were chairing for the National Commission of Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.
While moderate Republicans might be heartened to see your thoughtful piece, for the good of the Republican Party and the good of America, alas your caution is likely be to unheeded because your grand old party is no more
259
Ryan really takes the biscuit. In my thirty odd years of news-junkie-hood I have never seen a less principled vacuous person at the head of a national parliament and we've had a few zingers here in Switzerland let me tell you.
3
Thank you, Alan Simpson for your call for basic human decency from the current administration. I am afraid it will fall on deaf ears.
If this President has any interest in helping the American people - excuse me, *all* the American people, we would have seen a far different proposed budget.. quite different from the one that slashes the funds of the small agencies and bureaus that that truly support life, or make life worth living - food, maternal and infant care, help for the elderly, the arts, education, the air we breathe, clean water.. I could go on, but we all know. The budgets that are being slashed in favor of The Great Wall, and Military spending all comes at the expense of the most vulnerable.. and in the case of the elderly - people who have paid into the system their entire working lives only to be tossed out into the cold. Now. By a billionaire. Make America great!!
The discrimination now proposed, as you say, against women, gays, and religious minorities..who* isn't* on this list of those targeted for discrimination? Straight Christian men, that's it.
Maybe they'll listen to you, maybe they won't , but they are showing the ugly at the core of the basest of the base supporters. While many of here here move toward inclusion and neighborliness, the unleashing of that base has resulted in an uptick in hate crimes, both in number and in random attacks. People are being hurt, physically and psychologically.
Trump and his crew. They don't care.
If this President has any interest in helping the American people - excuse me, *all* the American people, we would have seen a far different proposed budget.. quite different from the one that slashes the funds of the small agencies and bureaus that that truly support life, or make life worth living - food, maternal and infant care, help for the elderly, the arts, education, the air we breathe, clean water.. I could go on, but we all know. The budgets that are being slashed in favor of The Great Wall, and Military spending all comes at the expense of the most vulnerable.. and in the case of the elderly - people who have paid into the system their entire working lives only to be tossed out into the cold. Now. By a billionaire. Make America great!!
The discrimination now proposed, as you say, against women, gays, and religious minorities..who* isn't* on this list of those targeted for discrimination? Straight Christian men, that's it.
Maybe they'll listen to you, maybe they won't , but they are showing the ugly at the core of the basest of the base supporters. While many of here here move toward inclusion and neighborliness, the unleashing of that base has resulted in an uptick in hate crimes, both in number and in random attacks. People are being hurt, physically and psychologically.
Trump and his crew. They don't care.
362
Thank you Ellen. Not only people who had paid into the system but people who led productive lives. People who paid insurance and hardly used it, people who were productive all their lives, people many who lost jobs due to mergers, people especially affected during the real estate boom and crashed. it is so sCary as so much is dismantled. While indeed ideas to bring jobs are worthwhile and important, one as citizen feels impotent to escape how everything is dismantled while one cannot do anything.
It feels as an old Monarchy. not a democracy. It feels as this ceased to be long ago a Democracy. Someone wrote an excellent article in the WSJ weeks ago. "Where is God". .Where really in this matter?
All aspects of Government require there be integrity and strong and focused policies and all the decisions of no President including President Obama were perfect. But each day as one wishes not to read the news one findside that in America a vote does not count.
It feels as an old Monarchy. not a democracy. It feels as this ceased to be long ago a Democracy. Someone wrote an excellent article in the WSJ weeks ago. "Where is God". .Where really in this matter?
All aspects of Government require there be integrity and strong and focused policies and all the decisions of no President including President Obama were perfect. But each day as one wishes not to read the news one findside that in America a vote does not count.
The only adjective you omitted in your description of who is aided by the Trump budget? "White." I'm guessing it was an unintentional omission, since #45 sure isn't leaving anything in the budget for all those blacks in the cities to whom he made such promises during the campaign.