Monday, October 30, 2017

🏳️‍🌈✝️ How It Feels When Someone Refuses to Make Your Son a Wedding Cake


Updated: Oct 27, 2017 2:48 PM ET | Originally published: Oct 24, 2017
Munn is the mother of Charlie Craig, a respondent in the Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission U.S. Supreme Court case.


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Last month, my son Charlie celebrated his fifth wedding anniversary with his husband, Dave. Him finding the love of his life is a source of great joy for me. Planning the hometown reception should have been a joy, too. But there was a hitch. They were subject to discrimination that has left its mark even now, five years later. And that discrimination is the subject of a case now before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Five years ago, Charlie and Dave asked me to join them in Colorado as they shopped for a cake for their wedding reception. Like so many mothers before me, I was honored and excited to be a part of this step. But what should have been a fun afternoon turned into a very disturbing event.

We walked into the bakery for our appointment with a baker whose shop was close to where the reception would be held. Charlie had a portfolio full of designs and a list of flavors for their five-tier cake. We were motioned to a small table inside the bakery. The owner looked at Charlie and Dave and asked if this cake was for them. They said yes.
 
Immediately the owner told them that he would not sell them a wedding cake because he would not bake one for a same-sex couple. My son and Dave never even got to say what kind of cake they liked, nor what type of design they wanted. They were just turned away, because they are two men who love one another.
 
We went into that store happy. We left broken.

When we returned to our car, I noticed Charlie’s shoulders were shaking. I soon realized he was crying. All I could do was embrace him and tell him I loved him and that we would get through this. As a parent, no matter how grown your children are, you want to shield them from harm. I felt I had failed him. He felt he had failed me; he was embarrassed that I had witnessed such a heartless response by a stranger in a public business.

The next morning, I called the bakery to ask a question that I had not asked him the day before: Why? Why did he turn away my son and his fiancΓ©e? He said he is a Christian and did not believe in same-sex commitment celebrations or marriages. I told him I am a Christian, too, and that my God teaches us to love one another, to not judge. I asked him, How can you turn away two of God’s children?
When some people hear our story, they say, “Well, it was just a cake, why not order a cake from somewhere else? What’s the big deal?” But it was a big deal — a very big deal, and not just for Charlie and Dave.

This case is not about a cake. It’s not about artistic expression. It’s about discrimination.

It’s about whether bakeries and other businesses can hurt people like Charlie and Dave because of who they are. It doesn’t matter if they can get another cake. It’s about what happened that moment when they were denied service, and what that’s meant for them every day since. They were told they weren’t good enough to be served in their own community.

Life in this country has never been easy for gay people. In fact, five years ago, it wasn’t even possible for Charlie and Dave to get married in their home state of Colorado. They spent thousands of dollars when they hired a lawyer to draw up legal documents so they would be given the same legal rights that a heterosexual couple receives when they marry. They had to travel across the country to get married in Massachusetts, where it had become legal.

That day in Masterpiece Cakeshop, they got hurt. They live in a state that has a long-standing law that protects its residents from discrimination, including discrimination based on sexual orientation. But in that moment, they were not protected.

I still see today how that day changed their lives. When they walk into a store, there’s that nagging feeling in the back of their mind telling them that this might be the day that they get turned away again. Charlie and Dave now think twice, and sometimes don’t even reveal, that they are husband and husband when they’re around strangers.

And they wonder, now that their case will be heard by the Supreme Court, if the Court will affirm the promise that they deserved to be treated like any other customer when they go into a store. Should the bakery prevail here, Charlie and Dave and countless others will have to live under that constant cloud of uncertainty, of fear.

I hope the Supreme Court justices see this case for what it is: an attempt to attack others and broaden discrimination. I want nothing more for my son, for Dave — for everyone — than to be able to live their lives without fear of discrimination because of who you are and who you love.

Correction: The original version of the author’s biography misstated her son’s role in the mentioned Supreme Court case. He is a respondent, not a plaintiff.




 
TIME Ideas hosts the world's leading voices, providing commentary on events in news, society, and culture. We welcome outside contributions. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of TIME editors.
 

 This article first appeared in Time Ideas, here.
 
 

🏳️‍🌈✝️ Why this statement, "Rejection of Nashville Statement Is a Rejection of the Bible" is pure bigotry & hate


Why this statement, "Why the Rejection of the Nashville Statement on Sexuality Is a Rejection of the Bible" is absolutely outright bigotry and hate being splashed around by AMERICANIZED EVANGELICAL'S who have twisted the WORD of GOD until they NO LONGER KNOW the TRUTH of that WORD they say they love so much.


Article written by Dr. Michael Brown except for my
comments that are highlighted in Pink through out this article.

10/30/2017


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In case you have missed it, let me share with you the NOT SO GOOD NEWS from a "CHRISTIAN" who thinks they actually know the heart of GOD. Remember first and foremost that JESUS said you would know them by their fruit Matthew 7:15-20 and His followers are to share the GOOD NEWS of the GOSPEL Mark 16:15, not their HATE twisted scriptures.

If a group of astronomers issued a major document stating that the earth revolves around the sun and the moon revolves around the earth, it would be greeted with a shrug of the shoulders. Who didn't know that? Why, then, has a recent statement by Christian leaders affirming the basics of biblical sexuality been greeted with such protest from other professing Christian leaders?  It is because these other "Christian" leaders have rejected the authority of the Word of God.

Funny that this author seems to think because other "CHRISTIANS" do NOT AGREE with his theology that they are rejecting the authority of the Word of God. It amazes me still to this day how mankind has decided that whatever their personal interpretation of the Word of God, that one is the right one and everyone else is wrong. This my friends is why Jesus said He would send you a comforter who would guide you in all knowledge of the Word of God.
John 14:26 (AMP) But the Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will help you remember everything that I have told you.


For those who haven't read the Nashville Statement, you can read it by clicking here {Since the Statement first came out the authors have gone back in and added as many scriptures as possible to justify the HATE it exudes. Guess they forgot you actually need to back up your BIGOTRY with the WORD of GOD you twist to fit your ideology.}, the Babylon Bee, a Christian satirical website, actually sums things up well, and with some well-placed sarcasm: "It says some really controversial stuff for Bible-believing Christians, like that God made Adam and Eve as (trigger warning) male and female, that marriage was created by God to be the union between one man and one woman, that He loves people with gender dysphoria and same-sex attraction even if He doesn't approve of all of their actions, and that He offers His grace and mercy to sinners of all stripes."

Yes, just the most basic of the basics, reaffirming what the church (and synagogue) have believed about marriage and sexuality for two millennia and offering grace and mercy to all. That's why, when I was asked to be one of the initial signatories, I signed on without hesitation. What was there to disagree with?

There is plenty to disagree with when it comes to the Nashville Statement that was drawn up by a group of EVANGELICAL PREACHERS who have taken the WORD of GOD out of context for so many years they NO LONGER KNOW THE TRUTH. The "Church" does NOT need another NO IT ALL PREACHER telling them they must believe what they have been taught for "two millennia". Amazing enough we are taught in SEMINARY to CONTINUE with the LIES and HALF TRUTHS, why? because that is how it has "ALWAYS" been taught. You read that right my friends. We are actually told that the people in the CHURCH have been lied to for so long now that they would NOT be able to HANDLE the TRUTH of GOD'S WORD. Imagine going to school so you can stand in front of a group of people and LIE to them WEEK after WEEK while you fill your bank account with their money. I am BLOWING the WHISTLE,  I AM SHOUTING it as often as I CAN, READ and STUDY the WORD of GOD for yourself. Check out ancient history online or in the library. You can LEARN the ABSOLUTE TRUTH of GOD'S Word if you allow the HOLY SPIRIT to teach you!!!

Yet in response to the Nashville Statement a headline on the Huffington Post declared, "Hundreds Of Christian Leaders Denounce Anti-LGBTQ 'Nashville Statement.'" The Post called the statement "divisive and bizarrely-timed," noting that it "drew harsh criticism from many other Christians, members of the LGBTQ community and even the mayor of Nashville."

Need I tell you that this article was penned by Antonia Blumberg for the Post's "Queer Voices" section?

Of course, LGBT activists and their allies will condemn a statement that reaffirms God's standards for marriage and sexuality. Why should that occasion surprise?

What is sad is the FACT that AMERICANIZED EVANGELICALS have lied and twisted  the WORD of GOD for so many years they do not even realize how ignorant they sound when making statements like the previous one.

Likewise, a September 1 op-ed piece in The New York Times stated that, "This week, an influential group of evangelical Christians publicly doubled down on intolerance in a message about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people that represents a renewed commitment to open bigotry."

Yes, "The Nashville Statement's harm is more than symbolic. The hateful beliefs it endorses have real-life, devastating consequences."
 
And who is the author of this article? Eliel Cruz, a self-described "leading bisexual activist."

Are you seeing a pattern here?

The Nashville Statement is a MAN MADE article of LAWS which JESUS HIMSELF would reject just as HE did with the Pharisees.  The Pharisees continually tried to trip JESUS up by mixing scripture with man made laws. Every time, JESUS rose above their ignorance with the TRUTH of the WORD of GOD.

The problem is not with the Nashville Statement. It is with the Bible, since the statement only reaffirms what the Bible clearly teaches, namely that: 1) God made humans male and female; 2) marriage, as intended by God, is the lifelong union of a man and a woman; 3) homosexual practice is always sinful in God's sight; 4) God offers forgiveness for all human beings through the cross of Jesus; and 5) those who struggle with same-sex attraction or gender identity confusion can be welcomed into the body of Christ like any other struggling individual, as long as they do not celebrate or affirm that which is wrong.

1. God made mankind in His image this is true Genesis 1:27-28 says God created us godlike in nature male and female.

2. God approves marriage between two consenting adults he proved that when he honored the covenant between David and Jonathan. 1 Samuel 18:3 (AMP)  Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. Once must also realize that you can ONLY get a MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE from a GOVERNMENT RUN AGENCY NOT a CHURCH.

3. Spiritual Prostitution NOT HOMOSEXUALITY -  The Mo-lech worship of Leviticus 18:21 and 20:2-5, 13, with sexual sin and with spiritual prostitution, "I will cut off from the midst of their people both him and all who follow after him in spiritual prostitution, to commit prostitution by worshiping Molech (Hebrew - to commit harlotry after Mo-lech)." Leviticus 20:5God intended to prevent His people from practicing the shrine prostitution of the Canaanites, which He warned against in Leviticus 18:3 and 20:23. The word translated Mo-lech or Moloch (the spelling varies), occurs multiple times in the Bible, in Leviticus 18:21, 20:2, 3, 4, 5, 1 Kings 11:7, 2 Kings 23:10, Jeremiah 32:35, Amos 5:25-26, Acts 7:42-43, Romans 1:18-32.

4. Yes we see over and over again all through the Word of God that GOD forgives mankind from his sins. Once you are God's NOTHING can separate you from HIM, Romans 8:31-38

5. Just an ignorant "Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin" comment that amounts to pure HATE BASED Propaganda NOT the LOVE of GOD!!! 
 

I absolutely do not agree with the NASHVILLE STATEMENT written by a group of bitter "Christians" with nothing better to do with their time. The Nashville Statement was written in a SPIRIT of HATE therefore it has NOTHING beneficial for the SAINTS of GOD. Nor will I endorse the Ignorance of the NAZARETH STATEMENT which does not line up with the Word of God either.

And that's why a counter-statement, called the Nazareth Statement, issued by LGBT "Christian" leaders and their allies, affirms all the talking points of LGBT activism, including:
  • That "our wide spectrum of unique sexualities and gender identities is a perfect reflection of the magnitude of God's creative work" and that is wrong to limit God's creative intent "to a gender binary or that God's desire for human romantic relationships is only to be expressed in heterosexual relationships between one man and one woman."
  • That it is wrong to argue that "God intended human romantic relationships to be limited to one man and one woman."
  • That is unhealthy to force "individuals to embrace a gender identity that matches the cultural assumptions based on their biology."
  • That one cannot judge Christian orthodoxy based on views about homosexuality but that is not Christlike to hold to traditional Christian teaching on homosexuality or to refuse "to openly dialogue with LGBT+ people."
Talk about turning the Bible upside down!

Since Jesus said there would be NO MARRIAGE in HEAVEN { Matthew 22:29-30 But Jesus replied to them, “You are all wrong because you know neither the Scriptures [which teach the resurrection] nor the power of God [for He is able to raise the dead].  For in the resurrection neither do men marry nor are women given in marriage, but they are like angels in heaven [who do not marry nor produce children].} and NO MALE NOR FEMALE {Galatians 3:28
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you [who believe] are all one in Christ Jesus [no one can claim a spiritual superiority].}
the Nazareth Statement along with the Nashville Statement are both BOGUS NONSENSE in the EYES of GOD!!!

According to this counter-statement, gender is what you perceive it to be, your biology doesn't determine your gender, men can have God-blessed sex with men and women can have God-blessed sex with women, provided it is "Covenantal," and it is unchristian to uphold Christian standards of marriage and sexuality.

Marriage is a COVENANTAL CONTRACT between two people. It is both SPIRITUAL and PHYSICAL. God blesses those who bind their hearts together in a covenant or marriage to each other. Being single and living in sin is NOT what God wants for HIS CHILDREN, neither does HE want you to enter into a covenant or marriage with no love between the two parties. Jesus talked about the ONLY REASON GOD ALLOWED DIVORCE was because of  the HARDNESS of the hearts of the two people Matthew 19:8-9.  How many EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS do you know that have divorced for any reason other than ADULTERY? I am quite sure you know many because the CHURCH is FULL of DIVORCED and REMARRIED PEOPLE. It is time for the CHURCH to grow up and quit placing man made laws on everyone that can never be kept by all mankind. Just do what Jesus said to do and love each other. Every covenant relationship is bound in love.

That's why I say that people who have a problem with the Nashville Statement have a problem with God and His Word. It's that simple.

That statement is meant to put BONDAGE on you. God's Word FREE'S you from BONDAGE!!!

The previous statement is NOT ground in BIBLICAL REALITY it is ground in MAN MADE LAWS that CAUSE BONDAGE in the BODY of CHRIST. The Nashville Statement is BONDAGE - The WORD of GOD sets you FREE FROM MAN MADE BONDAGE, "Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you. Galatians 5:1"

There is, however, one more angle to discuss, and that is the connection to Donald Trump.
You might ask, "What in the world does President Trump have to do with this statement on sexuality?"

It appears that some Christian leaders are upset with the statement because some of the signers endorsed Trump or serve on his advisory faith council, as if this somehow disqualifies a biblical statement from being biblical. What kind of logic is this? And what of the fact that other signers were strong Trump critics? And what of signers like Rosaria Butterfield and Christopher Yuan, both of whom came out of homosexual practice and are compassionate gospel witnesses with a non-political message of reconciliation?

Statements like above are misleading because they are absolute falsehoods contrived by the EVANGELICAL CHURCH to make people think they can actually change their sexual orientation just because the "CHURCH" says so. Nothing could be further from the truth. 
If a person who is straight goes against what is natural for them then it is a sin and when they leave that relationship they feel reconciled to God, which they surely are.  The same is done in reverse for someone who is homosexual trying to be straight which is against their nature. God created us all just as we are and NO ONE can take that away from you. I go into greater depth on this subject in my blog post, Love and Understanding.
 
A misleadingly-headlined articled in the Washington Post reads, "Why even conservative evangelicals are unhappy with the anti-LGBT Nashville Statement."

Yes, "'Had white evangelical leaders ... withheld support for Mr. Trump after the infamous 'Access Hollywood' tapes, maybe their opposition to same-sex marriage would be viewed ... as a principled, rather than a bigoted, position,' said Skye Jethani, a prominent Chicago-area pastor and author."

With all respect to Rev. Jethani, virtually every evangelical leader I know expressed disgust with those tapes, some of those leaders spoke directly to candidate Trump about them (and in strong terms), and all agreed that this was an ugly part of his past that he himself regretted.
And does Rev. Jethani really believe that liberal Christians, LGBT activists, and the secular media would have greeted our statement on biblical sexuality any differently today if none of us had voted for Trump? Does he really think that we were not already mocked and vilified for the principled, biblical stand we had taken for many years prior to this?

The Babylon Bee asks the question, "Who has signed the Nashville Statement?" The answer? "A whole mob of fringe, hate-filled bigots with zero credibility, such as John Piper, J.I. Packer, Mark Dever, R.C. Sproul, John MacArthur, Al Mohler, Russell Moore, Francis Chan, and Matt Chandler. Just look at that list of theological lightweights—couldn't they at least have gotten some people who've proven themselves as faithful witnesses of Christ?"

Leave it to ARROGANT AMERICANIZED EVANGELICALS {MODERN DAY PHARISEES} to accuse less seasoned men and women of God as theological lightweights. Sound familiar? That's right, the author of this article is one of those AAE'S who have decided to follow an EVIL MAN of the WORLD, Donald J. Trump, calling him good even though all HIS FRUIT is ROTTEN. The AAE'S who have decided to IGNORE the WORD of GOD not once but twice have deliberately disobeyed GOD'S WORD. First they have CALLED that which is EVIL GOOD, Isaiah 5:20 and they have chosen to ignore GOD'S WORD of WARNING about men like Donald J. Trump whom they are commanded to stay away from, 2 Timothy 3:1-9.

In contrast, the Washington Post quoted from almost no nationally recognized conservative evangelical voices, despite its bold headline.

The Bee also notes, with full sarcasm, "That those supporting the Nashville Statement are not doing so because they believe the Word of God, but because they are homophobic, neo-Nazi white supremacists who worship Donald Trump—which makes sense, as long as you don't think about it for longer than about three seconds."

Amazing that they say with full sarcasm what they KNOW to be TRUTH about their HATE FILLED MESSAGE and ORGANIZATIONS. Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council just held a Values Voter Summit recently with Donald J. Trump as the key speaker along with several other speakers who were less than what the BIBLE would consider holy. They even had a White Supremacists, besides Trump, Bannon who is also a NEO-NAZI speak. So I  guess you can say the statement about is less sarcasm and more so based in FACT.  Read more about this doctrine of demons, here.

Precisely so.

I'm all for dialogue with professing LGBT Christians, and I have often apologized for the church's past failures in our treatment of those who identify as LGBT. And I constantly preach on the need for a baptism of love for those who identify as LGBT.

But love and truth go hand in hand, which is why the Nashville Statement should be affirmed by all those who love Jesus, love the Bible and love the LGBT community.

Whether or not you support the Nashville Statement has absolutely NOTHING to DO with loving JESUS, the BIBLE, or anyone. Jesus said love God and love your fellowman Mark 12:30-31. If we FREELY admit and confess our sins, God will forgive us. 1 John 1:9

No my friends Dr. Michael Brown does not want to have a dialogue with TRUE LGBTQ CHRISTIANS because they would eat his lunch with the TRUTH of the WORD of GOD. Men like Dr. Brown want to continue with the old saying, "Love the sinner, Hate the Sin", which is NOT BIBLICAL AT ALL. Yes, ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of GOD, but the GIFT of GOD is ETERNAL LIFE. Romans 3:23  If you believe in Jesus you will be saved, Romans 10:9 and John 3:16-18.  Jesus said EVERYONE who believes will be saved, that would include LGBTQ, John 11:25. It is TIME for ALL of GOD'S CHILDREN to work together IN LOVE not HATE to  heal this EVIL WORLD we are living in. As long as Americanized Evangelicals continue SPEWING HATE from their pulpits there will be DIVISION in the HOUSE of GOD in the USA!!!

Dr. Michael Brown (www.askdrbrown.org) is the host of the nationally syndicated Line of Fire radio program. His latest book is Saving a Sick America: A Prescription for Moral and Cultural Transformation. Connect with him on Facebook or Twitter.
 

Friday, October 27, 2017

🏳️‍🌈✝️ AIDS IS GOD’S PUNISHMENT!!!✝️🏳️‍🌈


Not today Satan!!!
10/27/2017


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People this is a time in history you would think that IGNORANCE would be replaced with TRUTH because of all the AVAILABLE RESOURCES on ALL SUBJECT MATTER on the WWW. Even still I hear stories like this by a friend of mine Jeffrey Newman, which reminds me that IGNORANCE is still ALIVE and WELL.

# One AIDS is NOT a PUNISHMENT of GOD, AIDS is a condition as a result of being infected with the HIV VIRUS. HIV is spread through SEXUAL RELATIONS whether it be GAY or STRAIGHT. Which leads me to # TWO it is NOT A GAY DISEASE. The first people to experience HIV were STRAIGHT PEOPLE in AFRICA where the DISEASE is STILL being spread daily. 

HIV is a STD that has NO CURE, just as a person can get HERPES from sexual relations which by the way has NO CURE. Thank GOD for modern medicine that helps keep BOTH in CHECK.

EDUCATION in AMERICA is WEAK and UNTIL we STOMP OUT the STIGMA ATTACHED to SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASE and really EDUCATE the PUBLIC these DISEASE WILL CONTINUE to be SPREAD.

The next time you encounter someone's BRAVE STORY about living with HIV I hope you will learn from my friend Jeffrey Newman's Experience that JUDGEMENT is NOT YOURS to push off on someone else. It is your place as a CHILD of GOD to LOVE and PRAY for your fellow man. 

I pray GOD will burn the BLINDERS off your eyes so you can see that HIS LOVE is towards ALL HIS CREATION and it is HIS WILL that ALL HIS CREATION turn to HIM in LOVE and HONOR. You can read my personal story about HIV and the LOVE of GOD in my life here. Blessings and Peace to ALL, Rainbow Pastor David


_________________________________________________________________________________



Jeffrey Newman
AIDS IS GOD’S PUNISHMENT! That’s the message of “compassion,” a woman wrote me today, saying she doesn’t hate homosexuals, but it’s what I deserve for being gay.

WTF?! 

Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in 2017 anymore! I could almost hear my inner Julia Sugarbaker screaming, “if God was giving out sexually transmitted diseases to people as a punishment for sinning then you would be at the Free clinic all the time!”

Let me back up for a second, me put this in context. A few days ago, Pantsuit Nation posted my HIV story of the night I almost died. Within 48 hours, my post got more than 22,000 likes and 1,200 comments. And I received some of the most incredibly moving and personal, emails. 

And, then I got this today.





For as much progress as we’ve made in 35 years, I’m still amazed when people espouse such ignorance. Or, in this case, ignorance masked as some backwards-assed judgment about people who are gay, or who are living with HIV. They are NOT the same!

But, I am grateful for emails like this. I don’t see hate. I see a teachable moment.

Fact: HIV is not a gay virus, (he says in his best Julia Sugarbaker voice). HIV and AIDS are non discriminating and can happen to anyone, regardless of gender, religion, race, sexual orientation or any of that, without a morality barometer. It is NOT a punishment against anyone.

There is still so much ignorance and hate. We must educate and work to break this stigma and educate.

We are all in this together!

So, thank you to my misguided and deluded religious zealot. Because of you, a few less people now live in your place of ignorance.

And remember, when it’s your turn to hop in the transport for your trip to hell, please wave as you pass me by. I’ll be the one dancing with all the boys under the disco ball. Yours, I dare say, is much further down, and much, much darker. — Jeffrey, Positivelyjeffrey

🏳️‍🌈✝️ Russian Pop Star Zelimkhan Bakaev, Tortured and Killed In Chechnya Anti-Gay Roundup

Russian Pop Star Zelimkhan Bakaev

 Published  
  Updated





As a Pastor and a Gay Man I am deeply hurt by all the torture and needless killing of LGBTQ People around the world. It is hard to fathom how people can be so cruel to each other because they refuse to accept each other just as God created us to be. As we watch in horror the killing and torture of our fellow LGBTQ around the world we need to be AWARE that changing GOVERNMENT LAWS here in AMERICA by this evil PRESIDENT is leading to a time when we too as LGBTQ PEOPLE will be outlawed, tortured and killed. The "FAKE CHRISTIAN" movement is gaining momentum in spreading lies instead of TRUTH, stirring up much HATE for LGBTQ PEOPLE even here in AMERICA. The "AMERICANIZED EVANGELICAL CHURCH" has turned the TRUTH of GODS WORD into A LIE which they use to TORTURE others they deem NOT worthy. I have news for them, WE LGBTQ are worthy because JESUS died and rose again for us too. The WORD of GOD says ALL who believe will be saved in ROMANS 10:9.

It will take all of us standing up together against the EVIL LIES to STOP the TORTURE and KILLING of LGBTQ PEOPLE around the WORLD. I pray GOD will give every LGBTQ PERSON the STRENGTH and WILLINGNESS to go ALL THE WAY in this FIGHT for LIFE. Rainbow Pastor David

Sources are reporting that Russian singer Zelimkhan Bakaev was arrested, tortured, and murdered by by Chechen authorities due to suspicion of homosexuality.”

Bakaev was last seen on August 8 in Grozny, where he had come from Moscow for his sister’s wedding.

Bakaev’s Instagram account has mysteriously been deleted, but a small Twitter account in his name remains active, offering no recent updates. Earlier this week, Igor Kocketkovof the Russian LGBT Network made a statement to the media that touched on the disappearance, saying:
“At the end of August, we received confirmation of our earlier presumption that [Bakaev] was detained by Chechen authorities due to suspicion of homosexuality.”
A source close to activists in the region have stated that  Bakaev, 26, was tortured to death. “He arrived in Grozny and was picked up by police within three hours,” they claimed. “Within ten hours he was murdered.”

Earlier this week, Maxim Lapunov became the first victim of Chechnya’s ‘gay purge’ to come forward publicly with claims of abuse at the hands of authorities.

Igor Kocketkov claimed in Monday’s press conference that other individuals in Chechnya’s entertainment industry were subjected to “torture” as the authorities attempted to gain information on Bakayev.

Our hearts break for the family and friends of Zelimkhan Bakaev and to the LGBT community of Russia and Chechnya.




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Will Kohler

Will Kohler is a noted LGBT historian, writer, blogger and owner of Back2Stonewall.com. A longtime gay activist, Will fought on the front lines of the AIDS epidemic with ACT-UP and continues fighting today for LGBT acceptance and full equality. Will’s work has been referenced in notable media venues as MSNBC and BBC News, The Washington Post, The Advocate, The Daily Beast, Hollywood Reporter, Raw Story, and The Huffington Post

🏳️‍🌈✝️ On The Cusp of a Cure


October 26 2017
 
 
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Since the first cases of what would become known as AIDS were reported in June 1981, nearly 700,000 Americans have died due to complications from the disease. Though they might not physically remain with us, their spirits continue to inspire our stories and progress us towards an HIV-free generation.

In the last couple of decades, science has discovered HIV began much earlier than the 1980s, too. Researchers have delivered medications able to suppress the virus to undetectable levels (ultimately saving millions of lives), and has edged closer to finding a cure. But, even as technology becomes more sophisticated, researchers have also discovered that curing — or even stopping — the virus is far more complicated than they had anticipated. HIV can now be suppressed to such low levels that it becomes impossible to transmit to others. With the right combination of antiretroviral drugs, HIV-positive people can keep the virus at bay — allowing them to live long and healthy lives without the fear of death looming over them. But it wasn’t always this way…

The First Anti-HIV Drug

It took the U.S. Food and Drug Administration seven years to approve the first anti-HIV drug, and tens of thousands died in the interim. To combat the rising death rates, public health officials were pressured to give something — anything — to treat those living with HIV. They found it in azidothymidine, also known as AZT, a drug originally developed to fight cancer by inserting itself into the DNA of a cancer cell to stop it from replicating.

When the AIDS crisis was at its height, the pharmaceutical company Burroughs Wellcome found a version of AZT that appeared to block HIV activity in animal cells. A clinical trial of 300 people diagnosed with AIDS compared AZT to a sugar pill. After four months, many of the participants on the sugar pill had died, but AZT helped stabilize those with HIV, and on March 19, 1987, the FDA approved it as the first AIDS medication.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has been the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, has played a leading role in the fight against HIV since day one. “For the years… ‘85, ‘86, it was frustrating, but AZT changed things,” he recalls. “There was a degree of optimism when we showed that AZT prolonged the lives of individuals. That optimism was quickly dampened by the fact that, in many of the patients who were treated with AZT — that’s the only drug we had — after a finite period of time, the virus developed resistance against it.”

There are several classes of HIV drugs today, and AZT is still included in many antiretroviral regimens at very low doses. But at the levels it was first prescribed, AZT ate away at a person’s immune system like rat poison. Still, for nearly a decade it was the best option available, as virtually every other additional medication developed to treat HIV proved disappointing.

1996, The Great Suppression

Protease inhibitors were the second class of antiretroviral drugs developed —  with saquinavir and ritonavir approved by the FDA in 1996. Within a couple years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that annual AIDS-related deaths plummeted from 50,000 to 18,000 in the United States.

These miracle drugs were proven to prevent viral replication, and when combined with AZT (and later other drugs), were less prone to the development of drug resistance. Fauci remembers the development of highly active antiretroviral therapy as “about as transforming a moment as when we first discovered the virus back in 1983.”

HIV Reservoirs, The Great Barrier

As our ability to suppress viral replication with antiretroviral treatment increased — especially now that people on treatment are achieving undetectable viral loads — it has enabled those living with HIV to have long and healthy lives, as well as prevent transmission. Still, people around the world dream of a cure, or the complete eradication of HIV from a person’s body.
By far, the greatest barrier to reaching that goal is the existence of viral reservoirs where HIV lies dormant, ready to come roaring back and begin replicating again when someone goes off ART or develops drug resistance.

Of course, scientists have tried to outsmart these reservoirs by conceiving new strategies — particularly one called “kick and kill,” in which latency reversing agents “wake” the inactive virus, and antiretroviral medications kill it on the spot. But Fauci worries it isn’t enough. “Decreasing the size of the reservoir doesn’t really get you much,” he explains, because “when you stop therapy… they almost invariably bounce back.”

Is a Cure Even Possible?

In the last decade, reports of people being “cured” of HIV or experiencing years-long viral suppression without medications have captivated the imaginations of both researchers and those living with the virus. The most important of these cases involves Timothy Ray Brown — dubbed the “Berlin Patient” — who was cured after being treated for leukemia with a bone-marrow-supplied stem cell transplant in 2011.

It was later discovered that his donor happened to be part of the one percent of European descendants who appear immune to HIV (likely as a result of their ancestors having survived the Bubonic Plague).

Unfortunately, later efforts to replicate Brown’s results via stem cell transplants have failed. And, as Dr. Warner Greene, director of Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology points out, “doing stem cell transplants puts patients at considerable risk.”

Although Timothy Brown remains HIV-negative, David Margolis, the head of Collaboratory of AIDS Researchers for Eradication, has argued, “there are close to 80 million people that have been infected around the globe over the last century. So, one in 80 million [cured] is not great odds.” 

Those odds were raised slightly with the announcement at this year’s International AIDS Society conference that a 9-year-old HIV-positive girl has remained undetectable for eight years, after only receiving 40 weeks of antiretroviral treatment. More good news from South Africa came last year when Science Translation Medicine reported on a group of HIV-positive children with high viral loads who have no symptoms.

Greene believes he has found one way someone could be asymptomatic despite high viral loads. It involves keeping the immune system’s CD4 T cells from killing themselves, which they do in a vain attempt to stop the spread of the virus. These cell deaths trigger the immune system to send even more CD4 T cells, which end up repeating the deadly cycle. But, if you could stop the T cells from committing suicide — even if you didn’t attack the virus itself — Greene believes you could eliminate most of the symptoms of HIV.

Greene has found that the cellular death spiral can be broken by inhibiting an enzyme known as Caspase-1. One highly potent Caspase-1 inhibitor already exists but was sold to a company that appears to have no interest in developing it for HIV treatments. Greene says, because of this, “we have had to revert to creating our own [drug]… at considerable cost, which has slowed [research].”

Other researchers have turned to the promise in gene editing, but Fauci fears that idea may end up being more science fiction than science fact. “From a concept standpoint, gene editing is interesting and can work, but it may not work unless you do other interventions that are going to be dangerous for the patient,” Fauci says. “Just editing a gene without necessarily ablating the rest of the T cells in the body, may not work. It may protect those cells that were edited, but it’s not going to protect those other cells.” Still, he admits, “I like the idea about pursuing research on gene editing.”

But if curing millions of HIV-positive people isn’t possible, what is?

Medication-free Remission

“We’ve not given up entirely on the notion of eradication,” Greene argues, “but I think where the successes and the gains are being made is around the area of being able to reduce and control the virus.”

Fauci goes one step further, suggesting we need to give up on the old notion of an HIV “cure,” and embrace what he calls “ART-free remission.”

“In other words, getting people to the point where you can give them either sustained time off ART or intermittently be able to get them off ART for months, maybe even years at a time,” Fauci says. Even getting a few months of a medication vacation — without the long-term impacts that currently come from treatment interruption — would be a great advantage. But suppressing HIV for years without additional treatment is the ultimate goal. “That’s where a lot of work is going on.”

Whether you call it antiretroviral-free remission or a functional cure, a number of recent findings suggest we could be on the cusp of much longer-acting treatments.

As Fauci’s team at Emory University reported last year in Science, a drug used to treat gut inflammation (Entyvio) produced long-lasting viral remission in monkeys.

“When the animals were released from antiretroviral therapy, they didn’t rebound,” Greene explains. “Actually, they rebounded and then they reestablished a control. Amazing. The Alpha 4 Beta 7 antibody… seems to be somehow arming an immune defense against the virus that keeps it controlled,” even after ART stopped. Human trials with the antibody have already begun.

Earlier this year at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, Fauci said the antibody therapy may “teach the immune system to recognize HIV in a way it doesn’t recognize it if it just sees HIV alone. Our job now is to find out just what the nature of that immune response is.” Understanding that could be a game changer — because the difficultly in training the immune system to respond to HIV has hindered both treatment and vaccine efforts.

All Eyes on a Vaccine

For decades, researchers have been seeking another holy grail: an HIV vaccine. But like those searching for a cure, they quickly discovered creating one wouldn’t be easy. Usually vaccines involve introducing small amounts of a virus to our immune system, which develops antibodies to it. But when our immune system encounters even a small amount of HIV, it kicks into the suicidal-death spiral that Greene uncovered.

Still, a vaccine is seen as essential to ending the global HIV epidemic, and several perspective vaccines are currently in clinical trials. They aren’t all aimed at keeping HIV-negative people negative either. Some are evaluating the possibility of utilizing a vaccine to achieve a functional cure.

In a study published in Nature last year, Dr. Hanneke Schuitemaker from Janssen Vaccines reported that when her team combined an investigational vaccine (which was a combo of two other vaccines) with an immune booster and used it to treat HIV-positive monkeys, they not only reached undetectable viral loads, but also saw reduced viral reservoirs and achieved long-term viral remission.

To do that, Schuitemaker explains, “You need to further educate the immune system through vaccination and if you then wake up the latent virus… [it] can be taken out by the immune system.” In collaboration with Dr. Dan Barouch of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Schuitemaker’s team found that one-third of their test subjects remained virally suppressed for years after the discontinuation of treatment.

The treatment is now being studied on newly HIV-positive people in Phase I/II clinical trials, but Schuitemaker acknowledges they’ll probably end up needing to add additional drugs to the treatment regimen to increase its effectiveness. That fits with what Greene imagines: “some type of cocktail approach, just like we use with therapy, is probably going to wind up being important for the ultimate functional cure or eradication of the virus and of the latent reservoir as well.”

Schuitemaker and Greene also share ethical concerns, pointing out that any potential cure, even one that is just a temporary remission, must be worth the risk of removing people from antiretroviral treatments known to be working.

“We have to have a safe and effective therapy… for subjects that are doing well on antiretroviral therapy,” Greene says. “We can’t put them at high risk to achieve a cure.”
 
Read more articles from PLUS, here.
 

🏳️‍🌈✝️ Betty Price's HIV Quarantine Query Echoes White Supremacist Voices in the Trump Era


October 23, 2017



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On Friday, Oct. 20, Project Q Atlanta broke the news that Georgia State Representative Betty Price, a former anesthesiologist and the wife of former Trump Health Secretary Tom Price, questioned whether people living with HIV should be quarantined.

Price's line of questioning seemed to belong to the 1980s, when HIV and AIDS were less understood and far less preventable, as well as surrounded by much more fear and hysteria. But I heard very similar consideration of quarantining people with HIV as a viable option a few months ago -- on a white supremacist podcast. And these podcasts are the new "test kitchens" of the right -- floating ideas once considered politically impossible to see what'll stick with the core supporters of the current regime.

So, it's worth noting that an August episode of the regular podcast, The Myth of the 20th Century from the white nationalist website Social Matter dedicated two hours to the discussion of HIV/AIDS.

I'm not postulating that Betty Price listened to this podcast in her car on her way to the Georgia House of Representatives. But, at a time when Steve Bannon and Steven Miller advise the president and white nationalists feel emboldened to protest publicly, it's crucial to recognize that the line between extremist and mainstream viewpoints is growing more porous. I found this podcast reposted on Daily Stormer, which is sort of like Mad Magazine for college-age Nazis, and which is found funny or edgy by people who don't have a strict identity, far right, alt-right or otherwise.


I don't recommend that you actually listen to Social Matter's podcast, which is by turns infuriating, tiring and, well, surprisingly dull. The main host quickly reviewed And The Band Played On and some AVERT factsheets, and the entire group mixed those decently researched facts together with some almost laughable mistakes -- ART, or antiretroviral therapy, is repeatedly referred to as HRT, which is hormone replacement therapy -- and lots of grotesque comments. I will spare you most of them, but these two are crucial to get across the real viewpoint of the assembled cast: "The homosexual cries out in pain as he sodomizes your children," followed by mass laughter, and, "Any disease that reduces numbers of Africans must be a good thing. Carry on and I look forward to meds-resistant AIDS, as well."

I Don't Want to Say the Quarantine Word, But ...


As confirmed by video, Representative Price made the following comments at a Tuesday, Oct. 17 meeting of the House Study Committee on Georgians' Barriers to Access to Adequate Health Care:

... I don't want to say the quarantine word, but I guess I just said it. ... I would guess that public dollars are expended heavily in prophylaxis and treatment of this condition. So, we have a public interest in curtailing the spread. What would you advise or are there any methods legally that we could do that would curtail the spread?




Let's rewind that and play it again just in case you are as shocked as I was upon hearing that. Yes, Price wanted to know whether quarantining people living with HIV was a legal option.
She then said that there is a public interest in curtailing the spread because tax dollars are spent on prevention (most obviously condoms, needle exchange and pre-exposure prophylaxis [PrEP]) and treatment (medication, medical care and services). Most notable: Price does not seem to think "curtailing the spread" of HIV is adequately (or economically) achieved by prevention methods, but might be by more invasive approaches, such as, you know, putting everyone with HIV in quarantine.

Price followed this assertion with this gem, in which she wistfully looked back on the good old days of HIV when people were more likely to die and thus, in her opinion, posed less of a threat:
It seems to me it's almost frightening the number of people who are living that are potentially carriers, well they are carriers, with the potential to spread, whereas in the past they died more readily and then at that point they are not posing a risk. So, we've got a huge population posing a risk if they are not in treatment.

But Wait, There's More: White Supremacy Outrage on HIV Funding

Around the 53-minute mark of the Social Matter podcast, the group brings up the idea of putting people with HIV in mandatory quarantine and then engages in some doublespeak. On the one hand, they say that "the gays" use the fear/threat that "they'll throw us all in camps" in order to get funding and sympathy, both of which the Social Matter crew find repulsive and undeserved. But, then, they repeatedly point to Cuba's infamous mandatory HIV quarantine program in the late '80s and early '90s as a case study in HIV reduction success, without mentioning either the numerous negatives of that program or that country's progressive -- and more successful -- strides in treatment and reduction transmission in recent years.

One of Social Matter's main talking points, threaded throughout the podcast, is that funding for HIV and AIDS is both a fiscal and moral outrage, and those at lesser risk (in their minds, no risk) should not be required to pay for treatment and prevention when other options, such as camps or simply letting people die, are potentially on the table.

Sound familiar yet? Remember that it wasn't enough for Representative Price to ask about a quarantine as a health matter -- she felt the need to bring up the dollars spent on HIV.

Test Kitchen of the Alt-Right

Social Matter's podcast was off base and offensive. So, why should we care about this seemingly fringe view?

According to Brian Hughes, a researcher on media and extremism and a Ph.D. candidate at American University, what seem to be obscure podcasts and blogs such as these act as a kind of ideological "test kitchen" for the alt-right.

"If a talking point resonates in one of these marginal outlets, it then gets adopted by semi-mainstream and "alt-lite" sympathizers. From there, a really good meme is refined and sanitized, to the point where it can appear in a mainstream source like Breitbart.com or Tucker Carlson."

"There's no formal system for doing this," says Hughes. "It just happens, because people on the right listen to what other people on the right are saying. And most right-wing broadcasters and bloggers are more alt-right sympathetic than they can publicly admit."

In the case of Betty Price's comments, HIV/AIDS-related media quickly picked up on the story, followed by major news organizations and social media. By Saturday morning, Price was the recipient of some well-earned outrage. Many people in the HIV community understandably said that Price must be ignorant of current science, such as the basic concept that undetectable equals untransmittable, a fact highlighted by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention information sheet in the same week that Price made her remarks.

This is certainly possible, but it would be surprising. Price is a doctor; in her comments, she implied that she understood people in treatment don't pose a risk; and she previously supported the legalization of a statewide needle exchange in Georgia.

Get Ready, Stay Ready

Anyone reading this already knows that stigma and misinformation on HIV and AIDS are alive and well. TheBody.com's quick animation on PrEP and HIV treatment as prevention and Mic.com's guidelines for respectfully talking about HIV are good resources for stopping the ignorant in their tracks. I even penned this guide to dealing with internet trolls earlier this year; perhaps you'll find it helpful.

But in the coming weeks and months, it could become necessary for us all to protect ourselves and each other not only against online idiocy but also against growing anti-HIV sentiment used to target and denigrate African Americans, LGBTQ folks and others as it slips from the extremist fringe into less-extremist media and into our houses of government. In discussions on city and federal budgets or international HIV spending, queries on quarantines may be widely and quickly ridiculed -- but right on their heels could be a whole raft of proposals to cut HIV funding that would make the alt-right very happy.

Prepare to resist.

PS:
Dear Pet Shop Boys: Your fabulous song, "It's a Sin," is played at the end of the above-mentioned Social Matters podcast. I assume you didn't give them the rights.

CC: Your lawyers.

Jennifer Johnson Avril is a contributor to TheBody.com.

Read more articles from the Body, here.