GLR September-October 2023

based magazine welcomes you with open arms. On the other hand, if tipping the demographic balance is what ’ s at stake, why not consider a move to blue-shifting Georgia or Arizona? Mas sachusetts is already blue enough! Mr. and Mr. Nobody We need to talk about the U.S. Supreme Court ’ s 6 – 3 ruling in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis , which held that the state of Colorado could not compel a website designer to create a wedding site for a gay couple. It was a blow to LGBT rights and followed a similar (but narrower) ruling on wedding cakes in 2018. But then a strange thing happened: it was dis covered that the gay couple in the case didn ’ t exist! The lawsuit had been brought by a hate group called Alliance Defending Freedom on behalf of one Lorie Smith, who claimed that mak ing a gay website violated her religious beliefs. Critics of the ruling argued that the gay couple ’ s nonexistence de-legitimized the ruling. And yet, is it possible that the plaintiffs did us a favor by this ruse? What it underscores is that the case was not about the people requesting the website (or cake, etc.), but instead about the creation of a product with explicitly LGBT content. Presumably the ruling also protects someone from having to make a website or cake promoting, say, a neo-Nazi organiza tion. It could be a slippery slope to a more sinister kind of dis crimination in which the people aren ’ t hypothetical — Samuel Alito may be licking his chops — but for now there ’ s no actual gay couple being barred at the door. Ribbit KarlMarx ’ dictum about history repeating itself, first as tragedy and then as farce, is playing itself out yet again. If ever there was a tragedy on the political stage, it was the assassina tion of Robert Kennedy, the great hope of antiwar Democrats, in 1968. And now we have presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr., who popped up during the Covid crisis as a strident anti vaxxer and soon began to promote zany conspiracy theories to rival those of Alex Jones (often the same ones). Of late he ’ sbeen talking a lot about frogs, many of which, he claims, are transi tioning from male to female due to the presence of the chemical atrazine in their ponds — which also explains a purported rise in transgenderism in humans and a general feminization of Amer ican men. Frogs, of course have a longstanding connection with the LGBT community and especially with bisexuals (for whom there are frog pins, frog banners, etc.). The main reason is that frogs are amphibious, which is probably why Kennedy went after them as well. Frogs (like bisexuals) often get a bum rap. In any case, every study has shown that atrazine is not in our water and doesn ’ t have this effect on humans. Robert Kennedy Sr. is famous for saying: “ Some men see things as they are and ask, Why? I dream things that never were and ask, Why not? ” And then there are the men who see things that never were. September – October 2023

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