August 2022 - Page 3 of 3

Report: Conservative Media Using the Monkeypox Crisis to Vilify Gay Men

12Aug

By str8darNo Comments

Health, Media

Report: Conservative Media Using the Monkeypox Crisis to Vilify Gay Men

Right-wing media personalities are using the monkeypox emergency to fuel the anti-vax movement and to attack gay and bisexual men, according to a report from Media Matters that was published today. The report argues that conservative pundits are using anti-vax talking points alongside “AIDS-era rhetoric” in an effort to stigmatize men that have sex with other men. Framing the spread of the disease as a result of gay mens promiscuity rather than recognizing the community’s victimization by the outbreak. The Biden administration declared a public health emergency on August 4. This after the U.S reported the fastest rise and highest number of monkeypox cases globally in the last week of July. Although native to certain African countries, the virus had until now been rare in Europe a...

Locals Raise Almost $100,000 in Support of Library Defunded Over LGBTQ Books

Locals in western Michigan raised almost $100,000 in support of their town’s library after it was defunded for its inclusion of LGBTQ books. The Patmos library in Jamestown Township lost 84% of its annual budget as two-thirds of local voters rejected a proposal that would renew the libraries’ tax funding. Last November, a group of conservatives in the western Michigan town raised questions about the LGBTQ-related books that were available in the library. Although the library agreed to take some books off the shelves, voters still chose to defund the library. Library officials have stated that they expect to run out of money by late next year without the tax dollars. A local resident created a fundraiser two days after the announcement to help the library raise the funds....

Anti-LGBTQ Hate Online Increases After Florida’s Enactment of the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill

Research that studied social media trends found that hateful rhetoric towards people of the LGBTQ+ community rose after Florida passed the “don’t say gay” law. A bill that prohibits the instruction of gender identity and sexual orientation in kindergarden through the third grade. According to the study released by the Human’s Rights Campaign, references to “pedophiles” & “grooming” increased by more than 400% in the month after the bill was passed. The researchers revealed in the study that they reported 100 of the most heinous tweets that they saw to Twitter but only one was removed. In the report, experts consulted by the Human’s Rights Campaign warn that an increase in online hate can reflect a rise in offline violence and hate. Adding that the normalization of anti-L...