Posted on 10/20/2023 7:31:56 PM PDT by UMCRevMom@aol.com
Scenes from a celebration of the same-sex marriage law — at Mar-a-Lago
“We are fighting for the gay community, and we are fighting and fighting hard,” Donald Trump told a Log Cabin Republicans gala.
PALM BEACH, Fla. — Hundreds of guests in tuxedos of all styles — sequined, quilted, velvet — and colorful gowns sipped on Trump-branded champagne and martinis. Between courses of steak and bite-sized Key lime pie, they danced to “YMCA” and “Macho Man,” the disco anthems at Trump rallies.
Thursday night’s Log Cabin Republicans’ “Spirit of Lincoln” gala in the main ballroom of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago beachfront club was a joyous celebration of gay rights and — in a case of ironic timing — the historic same-sex marriage law signed by President Joe Biden days earlier.
The long-planned event in honor of the conservative LGBTQ organization’s 45th anniversary brought in Republican notables like former Ambassador Ric Grenell, Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.), former State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus, who emceed the evening in a feathered turquoise gown, and former GOP gubernatorial candidate from Arizona Kari Lake, who was swarmed by guests eager to meet her and take a photo.
But the main attraction, obviously, was Trump. He received a standing ovation after delivering an enthusiastic affirmation of gay rights not often heard in the GOP.
“We are fighting for the gay community, and we are fighting and fighting hard,” the former president and 2024 candidate said. “With the help of many of the people here tonight in recent years, our movement has taken incredible strides, the strides you’ve made here is incredible.”
Throughout the evening, speakers praised Trump for his embrace of the gay community. They credited him for his initiatives to combat the criminalization of homosexuality, his work pushing for public heath initiatives to combat the HIV epidemic, and for appointing the first openly gay Cabinet member, Grenell, as director of national intelligence.
"Trump and his administration had a mixed record on LGBTQ issues. He's been criticized for driving a wedge between gay and transgender communities, and for promoting extreme religious liberty policies and executive orders they say allowed for discrimination against LGBTQ people that pushed the movement backwards. The Log Cabin Republicans’ first female executive director, Jerri Ann Henry, resigned in 2019 over the group's decision to endorse Trump.Can't hurt to cite the whole thing. And as counterpoint for the DeSantis proponents:"The Log Cabin Republicans’ gala came just days after the Respect for Marriage Act was passed with support of 39 House Republicans and 12 GOP senators and signed into law by Biden. But the issue of same-sex marriage has continued to spark debate inside the GOP. Conservative Christian and right-wing groups lobbied against the legislation, arguing that it stepped on religious liberties.
"According to Gallup, 55 percent of Republicans and 71 percent of Americans overall support same-sex marriage.
"In an interview on Fox News earlier this week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — a Trump rival widely viewed as a top GOP hopeful in 2024 — said there was 'no need' for the Respect for Marriage Act and called the right's concerns over religious liberty 'valid.'
"Trump did not mention the law in his speech. But attendees at the gala were quick to credit the former president: For all his recent missteps, they said he has gone further on LGBTQ rights than many others in the GOP.
"Charles Moran, president of the Log Cabin Republicans, challenged other 2024 hopefuls to also say they are willing to fight for gay rights.
" 'I just heard a Republican candidate for president stand up and say he is willing to fight and I challenge every other Republican to make the same pledge Donald Trump made tonight,' Moran said."
Florida Politics, 13 September 2023
I thought it would good to remind you the Mar-A-Lago gay party and quotes from Trump are from last December. Right around the time Trump was rushing to the defense of his big donors at Bud Light and the groomers at Disney.
Thanks for the reminder. I did put the date in the link, for that purpose.
It is an interesting issue for Florida politics, given Trump at Mar-a-Lago and DeSantis as governor, and especially interesting as the Florida Methodists are in such a schism over the whole issue, post Obergefells and the national church body's LGBT stance. One reads across the last year or so:
106 Florida churches sue to leave United Methodist Church Tallahassee.com, 15 July 2022It's that whole Romans 1 "thing," which seems to catch so many of us into its wide net. As you say, "good to remind...."Departure of 55 churches in Florida Methodist Conference is approved The Ledger, 25 April 2023
193 United Methodist Churches leave denomination; 27 from the Wiregrass WDHN News, 7 May 2023.
More Florida churches leaving UMC over LGBTQ issues WUSF, 14 August 2023
With regards to Proverbs 16-19, I view these as things as a mirror for personal reflection and growth and see them as a gut check.
In my case, my head, heart and behavior were checking most of those boxes and I needed to change my heart and my ways.
If one takes Proverbs 16-19 to heart and attempts to live up to what is written, then one’s posts are far less likely to be deleted here and what one writes is far more likely to be received in a constructive way, allowing for dialogue instead of causing a fight.
As to Biden and our government and the things our state department and the rest require others to do in order to receive American help, we are obviously a very corrupt nation.
I can only imagine what rainbow coalition hoops countries like Ukraine must jump through in order to receive American aid and it makes me feel dirty in ways a hot shower won’t clean.
To condemn Ukraine for the things we are also doing or allowing is the kind of hypocrisy I’d rather avoid. The beam in our eyes has blinded us to our own corruption such that I am not able to criticize other nations for doing the same things we’re doing.
Personally, I feel sorry for Zelensky who, in his existential fight for his nation’s survival, must do what he must do to acquire the help he needs to fight off the Russians.
None the less, I am grateful that we, the people, and our tax dollars, humanitarian aid and military hardware are coming to the rescue of the much smaller Ukraine against its much larger neighbor Russia, our historical adversary.
Ultimately, because we have been so helpful, Ukraine has a much greater chance to shake off the endemic corruption, that has plagued Russia and all of the former Soviet states both before and since the end of the USSR, as the West becomes more intimately involved there, as is now during and will be the case after the Russian invasion.
It may be that they will be trading one form of corruption for another, though. Just look at how far we all have fallen in such a short time.
But elections have consequences and electing a better government could allow for a revival and reform here and there. For this reason, I remain hopeful.
I condemn the piss-poor corrupt regimes The Ukraine has elevated to power, which has resulted in its present state of affairs.
Much in the same way I look at so many American cities: San Francisco, Portland, NYC, Chicago, et al. I don’t condemn these cities, it’s the horrible elected officials that have made them into what they presently are. If I really hated those cities, I’d want them to keep electing their Communist Mayors and other officials.
Yeah, like declaring himself Dick Tator. He's the reason The Ukraine is in the absolute disaster of a situation it finds itself in. Promised to clean up the mess of decades of criminality since 1991, and he ends up the biggest criminal, oligarch globalist puppet and warmonger of them all.
Still waiting for a condemnation from you of Putin's Russia, its invasion of Ukraine, its rocket-bombing of civilian neighborhoods, its annexation of vast swathes of land.
Regards,
Crimea is Russian territory, period.
And I already replied to your statement, on innumerable occasions over the past year and a half. I thoroughly condemn The Ukrainian leadership for 32 years of destroying its own country through epic corruption, neglect, and gross incompetence, forcing the response of Russia to have to step in as a result. If it had managed its own affairs in a competent and non-criminal manner during its short existence, there would’ve been no need for any outside forces to step in. A point for which your side summarily ignores, because this all didn’t happen in a vacuum.
Just as I condemn the corruption of American cities for similarly elevating criminal, incompetent and neglectful politicians that will also require outside forces to step in and get them under control.
Fascinating. "...I am not able to criticize other nations for doing the same things we're doing." I agree and disagree with you.
As to agreement, this Biden administration is indeed corrupt, and as I have stated and documented, so is Ukraine, and so are Russia and the EU -- especially in the European Commission -- and beyond.
As to disagreement, "we" is a very poor pronoun to capture all of this nation, as any other nation. There are the good and innocent in all nations, and there are the corrupt and guilty in all nations. So I do not share you inability to "criticize other nations for doing the same things we're doing." Biden's corruption does not represent me. Or you, I am sure.
But who has said of late there continues corruption in Ukraine? Among others -- Reuters, Politico, CNN, Financial Times, The Economist and Deutsche Welle.
I prefer to foretell God's damnation for all nations' corruption, including ours. And Russia's. And Ukraine's.
The outer perimeter, is the border of Ukraine, and nothing inside, is Russian territory.
https://twitter.com/BrilliantMaps/status/1498655743167315976
Electoral Geography:
https://www.electoralgeography.com/new/en/countries/u/ukraine/ukraine-independence-referendum-1991.html
- - -
- - -
Crimea is Russian territory.
That’s what I mean about being hypocritical. Seems like we have the same problems here with corruption in high and low places as others do and it seems like it’s getting worse, not better.
It’s good that news agencies are shining the light on corruption wherever they find it, whether in Ukraine or here in the US.
But, to make America great again, I hope they focus on our country’s corrupt with even greater zeal than they focus on anyone else’s corrupt.
If that happens, it will be a great day for us all.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
