Quickies: Terrorist Attacks, Trans Suicide, Religion Vs LGBT

• “What Can We Do in the Face of Such Hate?” – By now you’ve all heard about the terrorist attacks that shook Paris and Beruit, and of the ongoing violence in Iraq and Syria. Our thoughts go out to all those injured, all those who lost someone special to them, and all those displaced by the violence. Dana Hunter at FreethoughtBlogs has an excellent post about how we can start to respond and stand up to the bigoted thugs we will now refer to as “Daesh” rather than dignifying them with a title that includes “Islamic” or “State.”
• “The Truth About Transgender Suicide” – November 14-20 is Transgender Awareness Week, culminating on Trans Day of Remembrance. This article covers some of reasons that nearly 40% of transgender people attempt suicide in their lifetimes.
• US Government: Long Hair = Unacceptable Security Risk – Chelsea Manning has finally been allowed to start her transition, to wear cosmetics and female undergarments, but she is still being barred from growing her hair using female military regulations. The DOJ claims her hair would be security risk, but exactly what risk it represents is classified.
• SNL Mocks Trans Bathroom Fright – “So the theory is that guys, in their relentless quest to watch women go to the bathroom, are going through years of hormones surgery, changing their names, their wardrobe, coming out to their families, all for that big payoff of peeing in a room without urinals. What is this fantasy that they think is going on in there?”
• Hundreds Protest Mormon Anti-LGBT Stance – “Billed as a mass resignation by Mormons, people filled out paperwork and dropped off the resignation letters at a church building. The large majority had stopped attending church years ago. But they said the new policy that bans baptisms for children of gay parents until the kids turn 18 and disavow same-sex relationships spurred them to come and formally cut ties and have their names removed from the faith’s membership rolls.”
• “Anti-Gay Utah Judge Lets Lesbian Parents Keep Foster Child—for Now” – “On Friday, Utah judge Scott Johansen amended his earlier decision ordering the Division of Child and Family Services to remove a lesbian couple’s foster child from their home, because he insisted that the baby girl would fare better in a heterosexual household. Johansen does not appear to have changed his mind about the merits of his ruling. He has simply decided to give the couple the courtesy of a hearing in December to determine the child’s best interests, before removing her from her home.”
• “Boy Scouts Open Doors To Gay Leaders — But They’re In No Rush” – “Simpson and other parent volunteers turned in their application forms right after the Boy Scouts reversed their position on gay leaders and volunteers. But the national Boy Scout office hasn’t acted on them. The organization says it’s making changes to the application process for new charters and wouldn’t comment for this story. So far, this troop has waited more than two months for a process that used to take two weeks.”
• “Catholic priest ordered to remove ‘Jesus had two dads’ sign”  – “The priest says the message wasn’t actually intended to support LGBT rights, and was meant to be an encouraging children who have heterosexual step-parents. However, he was besieged with complaints from parishioners and other hardcore Catholics who interpreted it as an endorsement of same-sex parenting, which Church doctrine condemns.”

Featured image via AP