Deep Something

No Kings Day: A Stand Against Power and Injustice

June 13, 2025 B. John 1326 Views 0 Comments Parade, methodist, Church, Trump, Authoritarianism, Protest, Wesley

This Saturday, people will rise across 2,000 U.S. cities, including Tampa, united in one unflinching message: “No Kings.” This is not a protest born of idle dissent. It is a fierce rebuke of President Donald Trump and a social order built on abuse of power. Flag Day plus Trump’s 79th birthday equals a military parade costing taxpayers $25–45?million. The implicit message? A cult of personality masquerading as patriotism. For United Methodists grounded in Wesleyan conviction, this is intolerable. John and Charles Wesley stood against social evil, not in quiet tones but with prophetic boldness, calling out power when it crushes the least among us. That same courage calls us now to confront policies that tear at the fabric of our communities.

Gay Issues Featured Politics Legislature Presidency Society

How Trump-Era Policies and State Legislation Are Harming LGBTQ+ Americans

May 31, 2025May 31, 2025 B. John 1227 Views 0 Comments Transgender, Trump, LGBTQ, republicans, Non-Binary, gay, Harm

A recent Pew Research Center report (Feb. 2025) found that a staggering 81% of LGBTQ adults expect Trump’s policies to harm gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. Among transgender respondents, 88% expect negative effects. These fears are grounded in experience: during his first term, Trump rolled back protections for trans students, banned transgender people from military service, and allowed discrimination under the guise of religious freedom. In his second term, the pace and intensity have only increased.

Racism Featured Politics Congress Election Religion Society Gay Issues Hate Groups

The Call to Justice is Urgent

November 13, 2024 B. John 1286 Views 0 Comments Trump, justice, Harris, 2024 Election

Progressives stand at a critical juncture where the call for justice is louder and more urgent than ever. My faith compels me to see the injustices that surround us and act against them with conviction, guided by Christ’s example of righteous defiance in the face of oppression. While persistence is essential, there are moments when persistence alone is not enough; sometimes, our witness demands a more forceful resistance, a willingness to dismantle the systems that perpetuate inequality and cause harm actively.

Courts Society Gay Issues Right Wingnuts Hate Groups Featured Places Tampa Politics

Judge William Jung-Douchebag of the Day

October 6, 2019October 9, 2019 B. John 2726 Views 1 Comment LGBT Youth Suicide, William Jung, Liberty Counsel, Robert Vazzo, David H. Pickup, Reparative Therapy

This entry is in the series Daily Douche-Bag

In 2017, Tampa passed an ordinance that prohibited conversion therapy for children under 18. As they always do, Liberty Counsel and their perpetual “client,” Las Vegas-based Robert Vazzo (not even a resident of Florida), and a David Pickup of Dallas (not licensed in Florida) filed a lawsuit to get the ordinance overturned. However, Republican Trump-appointee William Jung had to bend himself into a Gordian Knot of legal reasoning to give them that win.

Featured Fun Stuff Places Tampa Society Gay Issues

Politicians and Pride

April 4, 2019April 4, 2019 B. John 866 Views 0 Comments Pride, Ybor City, Mayor, Bob Buckhorn

This past Saturday I went with some friends to the annual Tampa Bay Pride parade over in Ybor City. The parade was led off by a couple of Grand Masters of course, but then came all the candidates (Tampa is having municipal election runoffs) and local office holders. They kept coming and coming, and finally when the first actual float came by I looked at my watch, and it had taken nearly 25 minutes for all the pols to get by.

Religion Society Gay Issues Methodism

Wesley Covenant Association Proceeds with Plans for New Denomination

November 7, 2018November 7, 2018 B. John 7336 Views 3 Comments UMC, United Methodist Church, Weslyan Convenant Association, WCA, IRD, John Wesley, Schism

As a group takes up the name of Wesley to promote schism within the UMC, John Wesley had this to about schism, ““[Schism] is evil in itself. To separate ourselves from a body of living Christians, with whom we were before united, is a grievous breach of the law of love. Note that the damage in schism is not to a structure, but to the character of holiness in those who participate in it.”

Gay Issues Methodism Religion Society

My Reaction to Matthew Shepherd’s Service Today

October 27, 2018October 27, 2018 B. John 1037 Views 0 Comments UMC, LaTrelle Easterling, Matthew Shepherd, National Cathedral, Episcopal Church, methodist, Bishop Gene Robinson

I’d taken Friday off for some recuperation. I wound up watching the Service for Matthew Shepherd today from that National Cathedral. I was particularly struck in two ways. One was related to Rep. Virginia Foxx, the other to the Methodist Church.

Society Gay Issues Crack Pots Featured Politics Congress

U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher – Douche Bag of the Day

May 25, 2018October 10, 2018 B. John 2150 Views 0 Comments Dana Rohrabacher, National Association of Realtors, Homeowners, Bigot

This entry is in the series Daily Douche-Bag

U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) told a group of Realtors it should be OK for homeowners to refuse to sell their property to gays and lesbians. “Every homeowner should be able to make a decision not to sell their home to someone (if) they don’t agree with their lifestyle,” Rohrabacher told an Orange County Association of Realtor’s delegation at a May 16 meeting.

Crack Pots Featured Politics Legislature Religion Society Gay Issues Right Wingnuts

Kansas Sen Steve Fitzgerald – Douche Bag of the Day

May 8, 2018October 26, 2018 B. John 1933 Views 0 Comments senate, Bigots, White Supremacists, Kansas, Steve Fitzgerald, Rep. Tom Cox, LGBT Adoption, Homophobes

This entry is in the series Daily Douche-Bag

Well, Senator Fitzgerald came to our attention when he was mentioned in an article about yesterday’s Douche Bag of the Day winner. Fitzgerald went on an all too common rant on the Kansas Senate Floor about the “Gay Agenda,” as his argument for a bill allowing funding to adoption agencies that object to placing children with LGBT couples.

Legislature Religion Society Gay Issues Right Wingnuts Crack Pots Featured Politics

Republican Tom Cox of KS – Douche Bag Award Winner

May 7, 2018September 29, 2018 B. John 1300 Views 1 Comment Bigots, Idiots, White Supremacists, Kansas, Adoption, LGBT, Tom Cox, @TomCox4KS, Steve Fitzgerald

This one is just kind of outside our usual realm of notice, but we decided his action was just deplorable enough to warrant recognition with our Douche Bag of the Day award. Republican Tom Cox is a member of the Kansas house of Representatives representing the Shawnee-Lake Quivira district of good old KS, and he underhandedly changed his vote to make it possible for adoption agencies in KS to receive state funds AND discriminate against LGBT people.

Right Wingnuts Crack Pots Featured Religion Society Gay Issues

Brian Brown – Douche Bag of The Day

April 2, 2018September 29, 2018 B. John 1606 Views 0 Comments money, Nom, marriage equality, Grift, LGBT, Brian Brown, SPLC

This entry is in the series Daily Douche-Bag

I didn’t go back and look, but it is likely Brian has received our award before. He is, after all, head of the infamous “National Organization for Marriage (NOM) (an SPLC designated hate group). We decided to recognize Brian this time for his heretical efforts to make himself relevant again (and get some money flowing), by using Christ and Easter. Brian claims he’s as persecuted and Jesus was.