Republican lawmakers in the US are leaning into outdated definitions of obscenity to outlaw drag and ban books too
For five months this year, homosexuality was prohibited in a Tennessee college town.
In June, the city council of Murfreesboro enacted an ordinance outlawing “indecent exposure, public indecency, lewd behavior, nudity or sexual conduct”. The rule did not explicitly mention homosexuality, but LGBTQ+ people in the town quickly realized that the ordinance references 21-72 of the city code, which categorizes homosexuality as an act of indecent sexual conduct.
The ordinance was essentially a covert ban on LGBTQ+ existence.
Erin Reed, one of the first and only national journalists to cover the ordinance earlier this year, noted that Murfreesboro isn’t “the only community that has these old archaic bits of code that target homosexuality”.
Earlier this month, following a legal challenge from the ACLU of Tennessee, the government of Murfreesboro removed “homosexuality” from the list of acts defined as “public indecency” by the city code. The small victory came after officials repeatedly refused to issue permits for the BoroPride Festival, citing the new ordinance.
Also in Murfreesboro-
It is a very fucked up place.
“After prayerful thought and talking with my family, I have decided not to run for re-election…"
WTF, why do these people always blame God when they get caught? God wasn’t responsible for your own shady shit, and he’s not responsible for you cuttin’-and-runnin’.
Morgan Freeman: “But there was no prayer in her thought…”
Yeah it’s famously fucked up
Cripes. Wtf Murfreesboroites?
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Big, tough, strong, straight men too afraid to see other men kiss or hold hands. These men are weak. Gay men are much more manlier.
I mean, if you think about it, gay men are so manly that they are literally into men as men. It’s like double man.
It doesn’t get manlier than that. Literally twice the men.
It’s raining men!
Hallelujah
There’s no hate like christian love.
Obscenity law needs to be eliminated entirely at this point. It’s archaic entirely. Luckily, convicting under the Miller test is rare since pretty much everything has “serious artistic or political value”, but these laws shouldn’t be on the books at all. Needless violation of the first amendment to punish victimless crimes.
A bit redundant to say “archaic” and “Tennessee” isn’t it?
Depends on the city. Chattanooga has amazing municipal internet, for instance.
The christofascist Lemmy user PepeLivesMatter is gonna be sad
Cowards.
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Just once I wished I could snap my fingers for a role reversal for all these fucking asshole bigots. They probably still wouldn’t learn anything but I at least would feel a little better for a while.
No they actively believe they are reversing roles. They think that their religion is oppressed for people like me being allowed to show our faces in public and for them to be legally mandated to treat us like people.
I don’t want revenge, I just want them to stop hurting people.
I don’t want revenge either. More like forced empathy and perspective since they are usually incapable of experiencing either.
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Yeah, if you get arrested for bullshit, it’s not like you un-miss work or get compensated for the lawyer you nerd to provide you got arrested for bukkshit.
The ordinance states that the community “has the right to establish and preserve contemporary community standards.”
I have to wonder if the “community” (and I use that term loosely) enacted pro-abortion rules/laws in '73 when Roe was passed so, you know, they kept up with contemporary standards.
Wasn’t this whole thing debunked as an obscure definition that was never enforced, and was changed weeks before a story about it ever made headlines?
Earlier this month, following a legal challenge from the ACLU of Tennessee, the government of Murfreesboro removed “homosexuality” from the list
Yep.
I’m cancelling my monthly donation to the guardian lmao. Ragebaiting like some fox news opinion piece.
Part of the authoritarian playbook is selective enforcement.
So it’s still scary, even if it never got used.
In June, the city council of Murfreesboro enacted an ordinance outlawing “indecent exposure, public indecency, lewd behavior, nudity or sexual conduct”. The rule did not explicitly mention homosexuality, but LGBTQ+ people in the town quickly realized that the ordinance references 21-72 of the city code, which categorizes homosexuality as an act of indecent sexual conduct.
…
Earlier this month, following a legal challenge from the ACLU of Tennessee, the government of Murfreesboro removed “homosexuality” from the list of acts defined as “public indecency” by the city code. The small victory came after officials repeatedly refused to issue permits for the BoroPride Festival, citing the new ordinance.So the city was using the ordinance to shut down a pride festival based on the new ordinance’s reference to 21-72 of the city code until the ACLU got involved and they backed down rather than pay for lawyers to fight a battle they knew they couldn’t win in the courts.
Murfreesboro made public homosexuality illegal and was enforcing it until the ACLU slapped them around. How is that “debunked”? You don’t think it’s newsworthy that a city government outlawed public homosexuality just because they rescinded it when challenged?
https://www.facebook.com/boropridetn this is the pride organisers page. On the 2019 event listing they state it is the 4th annual event. They’ve been running pride events in the town every year for nearly a decade. The event occurred again this year, making it the 9th consecutive year.
I don’t see gays being oppressed, I see dumb small town officials thinking they can make weird laws that would never hold up in court and getting immediately corrected.
It’s more shocking to me that there was apparently no law that referenced that definition of “sexual conduct” until now that would have highlighted this bigoted part of the city code thats been there for years.
Was fucking in the street legal? Why is it only on the 9th year of the event that they are getting push back? How many officials were involved in this law passing? Questions the guardian isn’t looking at because they don’t give a fuck, or the answers aren’t ragebait enough.
It’s the fact that it had to be removed… And that there are plenty of people in government, including the speaker of the house, who actually want it to be illegal to be gay.
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Isn’t this a blatant violation of the Laurence ruling?
I feel like would be a great town to fuck in the park at midnight. Just more exciting because you could get a small ticket for it.
Uncertain if it’ll be a small ticket from a police officer. I’m more confident it’ll be a burning cross and a noose from a group of white hooded individuals. There’s a history.
Maybe a small bullet (or ten) from the cop. :/
Ten small warning shots to the back of the head.
True, but as long as they aren’t wearing their hoods they are probably the ones most likely to be engaging in the behaviors they so publicly despise.
I’m sure this won’t be a popular opinion, but how is this surprising? Gay marriage was voted down at the state level many times all across the country. Those voters are still out there and 5 supreme court justices didn’t change their opinions on homosexuality.
True, but also some of those voters have changed their minds. I wouldn’t be surprised if my red state would overturn our constitutional ban on gay marriage if Obergefell were struck down, and Obergefell was against our state.
This is the most worthless comment I’ve read on lemmy yet, not only is it wrong or also acts smug about it lmfao get outta here
Your entire comment history is antagonism or insults. Tell the IRA you more rubles this month, comrade ✌️😘
I was gonna reply doing the same thing but I checked my own comment history and nah you got a point. Didn’t realize how consistently irritated I get on here, I only comment when it’s something that pisses me off. Thank you for pointing that pattern out, it’s not something typical of me irl, as I tend to work around a variety of people in political spaces and am accustomed to working around differing ideals. Obviously, that doesn’t show at all in my comment history.
That type of commenting isn’t how I like to talk to people in real life, as I prefer to treat everyone seriously. I think that I kept deciding to just say fuck it for a second and go off, which lead to what you see there. Anyways, thanks again for pointing it out, I was unaware overly toxic I’ve become on here.
Edit: meant to also say I’m gonna make a point to talk to people the way I do irl from here on.
I was feeling all warm and fuzzy about your response, and thank you for it! Then I watched myself go write a similar comment a few minutes ago so… yknow, no one’s perfect 🤷♂️✌️
Based on documented state voting the majority of the population would agree with my statement. You are in the small minority. Bitch all you like, that will not change.
Based on documented state voting the majority of the population would agree with my statement.
What state? What would they agree with?
I said in a earlier reply that gay marriage was voted against many times, in multiple states all across the USA. That’s what I was referring to, feel free to Google it.
Please, just do a simple Google search and educate yourself:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_opinion_of_same-sex_marriage_in_the_United_States
Gay Marriage has had one of the most radical changes in public opinion of any concept in general. The overwhelming majority of people are in favor of it, to the point that it would be law even in places you would not expect.
I said what I said about your comment because it was smug and objectively untrue. Nothing irritates me more than that combination. Please, understand the way you learned things years ago does not determine the immutability of them.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._state_constitutional_amendments_banning_same-sex_unions
That’s a quick Google search. It barely made it through the supreme court, passing 5/4. I’m not sure where you are gathering your information, but it’s skewed.
Another search https://www.dailysignal.com/2014/10/06/states-voted-gay-marriage-now-forced-upon/
I assumed push back as you don’t agree with the actual facts I posted, but didn’t expect you to put blinders on. How do you factually measure how people feel? The answer is clearly you don’t. I said gay marriage was voted down many many MANY times in different states all across the United States. It was, that actually happened. The people that voted against still actually exist, and it’s likely their opinion has not changed just because you don’t like it. How fucking obtuse can one person be?
I’m so confused. What is this actually in response to? It feels like you’re responding to a different comment rather than OP.
Why is it likely that their opinion has not changed? I, for one, change my opinion if I find it doesn’t suit me anymore
I believe no one it’s forcing any minority to keep being in a place where they are not welcomed, move and leave alone the old-fart flat-earthers.
Sure, but that’s not as easy as it sounds. Your suggestion is to leave family, friends, work, etc etc. Lots of people are tied to a location based on circumstances they can’t control.
Nothing it’s free in this world, if it worth it you have to pay the price.
Sure, I’ve uprooted plenty. Some people have circumstances… Like a dependent parent or dependence on a job for insurance. Being human is hard for plenty of people without all the added shit.
Absolutely, so you can take your own advice and go live with the rest of the bigots.
God I would fucking love to move out of my hell-hole conservative state. You going to contribute to my go fund me? Got a room for negligible rent?
I feel you, I really do, but I’m getting old and out of options.
I own a home in NW Florida, and there’s no way I move without seriously fucking myself up. FFS, my mortgage is $600/mo. and interest/tax free. I might even have it paid off in the next 5 years. (Thanks Habitat for Humanity! AMA. Seriously folks. I’ll help if I can.)
I might retire to the Philippines with my new Filipina wife (married last Friday!), and that has its pros and cons. Of course I could rent my house out, which lemmy says makes me an evil son-of-a bitch landlord.
And one could say, “You should have left long ago!” Well… Just got here 18-years ago and Florida was purple then, we voted for Obama twice, and it’s only leaning red ATM. And again, lemmy tells me I’m a son-of-a-bitch for living here because my governor and congressman are asses.
So… what? I just run away and destroy my family’s life because the last couple elections went sour?
