Q Toon: Hungary and Thirst for Rightwingness

This is one of those weeks when I wish I were one of those cartoonists who didn't care whether the subject of my cartoon bore the slightest resemblance to my caricature of them.

 

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is an ultra-right-wing politician who came to power in 2010 whipping up fear and anger against Muslim refugees fleeing civil wars in Syria, Sudan, Libya and Afghanistan. His administration has been marked by an assault on press freedoms and dissent, and by unchecked kleptocracy.

Part and parcel of this right-wing package has been enforcement of a conservative brand of Christian "traditional values," primarily by attacking LGBTQ+ rights in every aspect of Hungarian life. The latest move has been a law prohibiting any positive mention of LGBTQ+ orientation or persons in the nation's education system.

Faced with outrage from Western members of the European Union, Orbán has proposed a national referendum to prove that his criminalization of LGBTQ+ discussion in schools enjoys popular support. Arriving at a meeting of his fellow EU leaders last month, Orbán claimed that there was nothing at all antigay about his antigay law.

He even portrayed himself as an LGBTQ+ rights hero:

"I am a fighter for their rights. I am a freedom fighter in the communist regime. Homosexuality was punished and I fought for their freedom and their rights. So I am defending the rights of the homosexual guys, but this law is not about that."

His anticommunist activities in 1989 notwithstanding, in the last two years, his agenda to defend the rights of the homosexual guys has involved rescinding recognition of transgender persons, and censoring LGBTQ+-positive content from television and film.

Orbán last appeared in this blog last December, when Hungarian representative to the European Union Parliament, József Szájer, a founder of Orbán's Fidesz Party, was caught at a gay sex party in Brussels that had too many participants according to Belgian COVID-19 restrictions then in effect. Orbán quickly accepted Szájer's resignation, telling the Hungarian press that "What our fellow member József Szájer has done does not fit into the values of our political community."

I doubt that Orbán's concern for the values of his political community was that there had been too many homosexual guys in that apartment.

Q Toon: Upon Further Reflection

The North Dakota Republican Party overwhelmingly adopted a strongly anti-LGBTQ plank in their party platform this year.

Then the Fargo Forum reported on it last week; and ever since, North Dakota Republicans have claimed to have no idea how that thing ever got in there. Governor Doug Burgum, Senators Kevin Cramer and John Hoeven, Rep. Kelly Armstrong, Party Executive Director Corby Kemmer, Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner, and House Majority Leader Chet Pollert, all Republicans, have all issued statements disavowing "Resolution 31."

We're not talking about a single sentence hidden in boilerplate about tax cuts for industrial rapeseed farmland. No, five "whereas" paragraphs call us sexual predators who pose a danger to children and the health of the community.

Chairman Rick Berg said in a statement Tuesday, July 28, the party's Executive Committee voted to disavow "harmful and divisive language" in a recently passed resolution that advocates against laws that ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, often referred to as "SOGI."
That resolution contains the following statements:
"SOGI bills grant protection to voyeurs who wish to prey on members of the opposite sex."
"Research has shown that causes of Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) compulsions are primarily developmental and not genetic as in color and gender."
"SOGI laws empower those practicing LGBT behaviors to assume positions of mentorships of minors often over objections of parents, influencing their emotions and thereby recruiting for their lifestyles."
"Many LGBT practices are unhealthy and dangerous, sometimes endangering or shortening life and sometimes infecting society at large."
The final line of the resolution says the party "opposes the passage of legislation which adds sexual orientation and gender identity to our Century code as protected classes."

North Dakota Republicans had cancelled their in-person convention this spring because of the coronavirus, holding a virtual convention instead. Party members approved the platform by a vote of 621 to 139. According to Mr. Berg, participating party members had no choice but to approve or reject the entire party platform via mail-in ballots.

I guess they can follow their President's lead and blame it all on the Post Office.

Q Toon: While You Weren't Watching

Not to minimize the importance of the impeachment trial or upcoming elections, but the anti-LGBTQ right is working overtime to get their agenda passed while our attentions are busy elsewhere.

Florida Republicans slipped four anti-LGBTQ bills in under the wire last week, and Tennessee Governor Bill Lee plans to sign a bill passed by the legislature to guarantee funding for adoption agencies that discriminate against LGBTQ families.

"This is the most overtly anti-LGBTQ agenda from the Florida legislature in recent memory,” Equality Florida Public Policy Director Harris Maurer said in a statement. "It runs the gamut from openly hostile legislation that would arrest and imprison doctors for providing medically necessary care, to legislation that would carelessly erase critical local LGBTQ protections."

And, regarding Tennessee's "Slate of Hate,"

In April of last year, 11 companies signed a letter in coalition with the Human Rights Campaign denouncing Tennessee’s anti-LGBTQ legislative momentum, including Nike, Hilton, Lyft, IKEA, Marriott and several others. ... Warby Parker co-founder and co-CEO Dave Gilboa said in an email to CNBC, “Nashville is Warby Parker’s second home, and we want to see the city and state continue to thrive. We strongly urge Governor Lee to reconsider.”

Then there are the Trump Administration's new rules this week amplifying its blessing of anti-LGBTQ discrimination.

“Today’s new regulations proposed by the Trump-Pence White House roll back existing protections for LGBTQ and other people seeking government services and benefits,” said Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David. “The right to believe and to exercise one’s faith is a core American value. The right to discriminate with taxpayer dollars is not. These regulations would dismantle meaningful protections for beneficiaries of these federally funded programs and strip away basic notice requirements designed to ensure that beneficiaries know their rights to be free from discrimination and their right to an alternative, non-religious provider. Taxpayer funds should not be used to allow discrimination.”

But, hey, did you see what Hillary Clinton said about what Bernie Sanders said about what Elizabeth Warren said about Alan Dershowitz's defense of abuse of presidential power?

Q Toon: What a Friend We Have

After accepting the congratulations of his minions and toadies following the mass murder in Orlando, Republican presumptive nominee Donald Berzilius Trump tweeted:

"Thank you to the LGBT community! I will fight for you while Hillary brings in more people who will threaten your freedoms and beliefs."

Campaigning in Atlanta, Trump appealed not only to the LGBT community, but the communities of gays and lesbians as well:

"The LGBT community, the gay community, the lesbian community — they are so much in favor of what I've been saying over the last three or four days. Ask the gays what they think and what they do, in, not only Saudi Arabia, but many of these countries, and then you tell me — who's your friend, Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton?"

The Twitterverse responded with the hashtag #AskTheGays, in which it seems pretty obvious that Trump hadn't Asked The Gays before speaking on our behalf.

The next week, The Donald held a closed-door meeting with right-wing evangelical Christian leaders and announced the formation of a "Religious Advisory Board" including vocally antigay luminaries such as former Focus on the Family president Dr. James Dobson, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr., Bishop Harry Jackson, First Baptist Church of Dallas Pastor Robert Jeffress, and Faith and Freedom Coalition founder Ralph Reed.

We're still waiting for the formation of an LGBT Advisory Board for whenever Trump decides to #AskTheGays.

Q Toon: You Must Remember This

Well, I went ahead and cartooned about The Kiss anyway this week.

People like ex-Giant Derrick Ward have been stunned to find out that not everyone finds it "disgusting" that Michael Sam would kiss his boyfriend, Vito Cammisano: "Man U got kids lookin at the draft. I can't believe ESPN even allowed that to happen." Happily, this attitude is not universal in the NFL (although there was also Dolphin Don Jones, who was briefly suspended and issued an apology for tweeting that Sam and Cammisano's celebration was "horrible.")

Dallas TV host Amy Kushnir stormed off the set of a local The View-esque TV show when she didn't get unquestioned agreement with her disgust. “When parents do not have a choice about whether or not they want their children to see this, it is wrong…I don’t call it a moment of celebration."

Ward and Kushnir didn't just object to the possibility of children seeing two grown men kiss. They also objected to the possibility of children seeing two grown men pushing cake onto each other's faces.

Said Kushner, "I would have said, 'Get a room!' I don't want to see cake on your faces." All but saying that some of his best friends are gay people, Ward tweeted before running out of characters: "No matter if he's gay or not. I could careless. Shoving cake into your significant others face then deep" (In a subsequent tweet, he completed the thought that Sam and Cammisano had gone "overboard.")

Mixed-sex couples pushing cake onto each other's faces has been a staple feature of every wedding reception I've ever seen . I guess Sam and Cammisano were trying to destroy the sanctity of marriage with that bit of Gay Agenda.

Now Kushnir is defending herself on Fox News, where her right to free speech is protected because nobody  there is going to contradict her. And Ward is claiming that he never said that he would begrudge Sam a little peck on the cheek, like heterosexual athletes do, but going at it like you mean it was just too much for Ward's delicate sensibilities.

Dr. George Rekers and Traveling Companion

Dr. George A. Rekers, a co-founder of the Focus on the Family institute and a longtime antigay activist for the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NAMBLA) was caught coming home from a European vacation with a young man he found on rentboy.com, a gay sex hook-up site.

"I had surgery and I can't lift luggage. That's why I hired him."

—Rekers, to Miami New Times, which broke the story.

Apparently the qualities Rekers was looking for in a baggage handler were someone with a "smooth, sweet, tight ass" and "perfectly built 8 inch cock (uncut)" who was "sensual," "wild," and "up for anything"; at least that's how Jo-Vanni described himself on his rentboy.com profile. Jo-Vanni says that in addition to carrying Reker's luggage, he also gave the 62-year-old nude massages, but there was no "sex."

Rekers recently testified before the Florida legislature against adoption rights to same-sex couples at the request of state Attorney General Bill McCollum, and has been speaking out condemning gays and lesbians since the 1970's.

But what takes the cake this week is Rekers' explanation that he was actually following Jesus' example by ministering to sinners — you know, prostitutes, tax collectors. But it's so difficult to find an IRS agent willing to lug your bags around Europe.