I’m offended by you always being offended!

Extra!  Extra!  Read all about it!  America is still a “free” country!

We have freedom of speech here.

We have freedom of expression here.

I am free to be whatever I want or say whatever I want or think whatever I want and you have the right not to like it and vice versa.

You can choose to be offended all you want, and I have the right not to care and vice versa.

In the case I’m looking at here, a Kentucky BBQ restaurant is being attacked for “LGBTQ” shirts they are selling that have been deemed “offensive” by some.

In many places around the country, LGBTQ stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer.”  On the other hand, many people don’t know what LGBTQ means, and they don’t really care.

According to Anna Hopkins for Fox News, “A Kentucky barbecue joint is facing serious blowback after some of their merchandise has been deemed inappropriate and offensive to the LGBTQ community.”

“Belle’s Smoking BBQ, which operates out of a food truck based in Williamstown, Ky., promoted their new t-shirts on social media this week, which are emblazoned with the slogan, ‘I support LGBTQ – Liberty, Guns, Bible, Trump, BBQ.’”

“Many were quick to respond …, calling the misappropriation of the ‘lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer’ slogan bigoted and harmful.”

Unless I’m mistaken, and from what I was able to learn, I’m not, the LGBTQ acronym is not legally trademarked.  This means anybody is free to use that acronym any way they want…, have it mean anything they want…, and have it stand for anything they want.

As much as the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community wants to believe they own that acronym…, they don’t.

‘“I posted the shirt for new swag and it just went out of hand and it got blowed up,’ Belle’s Smoking BBQ owner Jamie Smith told Fox 19.  He added that even before advertising the shirts on Facebook, he had sold about 100 of the shirts.”

“After the post went viral and was inundated with negative comments, Belle’s Smoking BBQ removed it from Facebook and issued a statement apologizing, but also arguing that some individuals were behaving hypocritically by calling their shirts hateful while also making threats to the owners.”

‘“Belle’s Smoking BBQ apologizes if we have offended any groups, organizations or individuals with our shirts,’ the statement began.”

‘“We respect all beliefs and lifestyles and want no ill will towards anyone. We know each person has their own thoughts and beliefs but we are hurt that the people who are saying, “stop the hate” are the ones coming at us with the harassing messages and threatening phone calls. Again we apologize for any hurt feelings and thank our supporters who truly know us.’”

The only people who have to worry about public opinion are politicians and businesses.  Hence the apology.

But the bottom line with all of this “being offended” stuff is we can never make everyone happy.  Someone is always going to find a reason to be offended…, about something…, even if it’s just one out of a million.

Case in point from a recent headline:

“LGBTQ GROUPS CONDEMN TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S CAMPAIGN TO END CRIMINALIZATION OF HOMOSEXUALITY WORLDWIDE AS STUNT”

What!?

Yes…, “LGBTQ GROUPS CONDEMN TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S CAMPAIGN TO END CRIMINALIZATION OF HOMOSEXUALITY WORLDWIDE AS STUNT”

According to Hollie McKay for Fox News, “The Trump administration, spearheaded by the openly gay U.S Ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, announced a new initiative aimed at bringing an end to the criminalization of homosexuality worldwide.”

“Wow,” you might say…, that’s a pretty noble initiative by President Trump and his administration.

“On January 10 in the southwestern Iranian city of Kazeroon, a 31-year-old man was publicly hanged, according to state-run media, after being found in guilty of the ultimate crime: homosexuality.”

“The man, whose identity was not released, was just one of more than 6,000 alleged to have been executed under the Islamic republic’s Sharia penal system. What’s more, Iran is just one of 73 countries where homosexuality is criminalized, and one of eight nations, alongside Afghanistan, Brunei, Mauritania, Sudan, Nigeria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Somalia, where it is classified as an offense punishable by death.”

‘“The United States continues to work to protect and defend human rights for all. Governments have an obligation to ensure that all people can freely enjoy the universal human rights and fundamental freedoms to which they are entitled,’ a State Department spokesperson told Fox News this week. ‘Working to advance longstanding U.S. policy around human rights is the kind of work our Ambassadors do all around the world every day.’”

So what kind of problem could the LGBTQ community in The United States have with this type of initiative you might ask?  What would cause them to label the initiative as a “stunt?”

“The initiative has in large part not been praised my many gay, lesbian and transgender rights groups and activists in the United States, and has actually been met with considerable backlash and skepticism.”

“Jeremy Kadden, Senior International Policy Advocate for the Human Rights Campaign, the largest national lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer civil rights organization in the country, told Fox News: ‘If this commitment is real, we have a lot of questions about their intentions and commitments, and are eager to see what proof and action will follow.’”

“James Esseks, Director of the ACLU’s LGBT and HIV Project also censured the initiative. ‘Any talk from the Trump administration about improving life for LGBTQ people in other countries will ring hollow for the millions of LGBTQ people in America who have been under attack by this administration from day one,’ he stressed. ‘If the Trump administration wants to reduce the very real violence and discrimination faced by LGBTQ people, it should start at home by ensuring LGBTQ people are protected by our nation’s civil rights laws.’”

And Tarah Demant, Director of the Gender, Sexuality and Identity Program at Amnesty International pointed out that ‘Amnesty stands with activists calling for the decriminalization of homosexuality,’ but said they were concerned that key LGBT groups in the United States were not invited to the Grenell-led summit to kick of the campaign in Berlin this month.”

Oh, I get it now.  The anointed LGBTQ keepers of the discrimination “holy grail” were not paid proper homage to.

As usual with liberals…, it’s more about what is said than what is actually done.  The fact that this may actually help LGBTQ people around the world doesn’t really matter.  What only matters to these people is that they keep their cottage industry of being offended alive in order to justify their own existence.

Some members of the media and policy experts “view the vilifying of the campaign with collective frustration.”

‘“The left, and many on the right, have expressed concern about the harsh penalties for homosexuality in other nations for an extremely long time,’ noted Adam Weiss, CEO of AMW, a public relations firm. ‘President Trump is constantly hit with a barrage of baseless claims that he is harmful to the LGBT community, but this effort could potentially save many lives around the globe. Even when he is helping, they insist that he is hurting. It’s madness.’”

“According to Dan Gainor, VP of Business and Culture at the Media Research Center, ‘it’s a case of being damned if you do and damned if you do not.’”

“You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time.” – Abraham Lincoln

On a side note…, a new “app” has been developed that identifies restaurants and businesses that are safe for conservatives to visit.

Think about that for a minute.

Have they needed an app that identifies restaurants and businesses that are safe for LGBTQ individuals to visit?

Just sayin’.

 

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Thank you, MrEricksonRules.