Kent Christmas, preachin’ the hate – Twitter screenshot
Far-right conservative preacher Kent Christmas asked God to “loose a Holy judgment” on the upcoming Barbie movie because it is “full of transsexual and transgender and homosexuality.”
Posted on June 25, a now-viral video shows the Tennessee-based Christmas saying, “I curse in the name of the Lord this new Barbie movie that has been released full of transsexual and transgender and homosexuality in the name of the Lord. May God loose a judge, may God loose a Holy judgment. Hallelujah.”
The movie has yet to be released. There is no indication it will be LGBTQ-focused.
The movie features a slew of stars, including Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Hari Nef, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Emma Mackey, Sharon Rooney, Nicola Coughlan, Dua Lipa, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Simu Liu, John Cena, America Ferrara, Will Ferrell, and Helen Mirren.
Director Greta Gerwig says The Wizard of Oz loosely inspired the film. The use of disco music and pink-adorned set leads fans to herald the piece as a “potential camp masterpiece,” PinkNews reported.
This is not the first time the anti-gay Christmas has made far-fetched claims about the LGBTQ community in his 50-year career.
He also claimed he can “immediately tell that someone is gay just by looking at them because the demonic spirit inside of them ‘changes the physical appearance of people.’”
No person affiliated with the movie has expressed annoyance with Christmas’s words.
What has caught the attention of Warner Bros., however, is the film’s ban in Vietnam.
Vietnamese officials banned the movie over a scene with a map “that shows China’s unilaterally claimed territory in the South China Sea,” Reuters reported.
“The U-shaped ‘nine-dash line’ is used on Chinese maps to illustrate its claims over vast areas of the South China Sea, including swathes of what Vietnam considers its continental shelf,” Reuters continued.
“The map in Barbie Land is a child-like crayon drawing,” a Warner Bros. Film Group spokesperson told Variety. “The doodles depict Barbie’s make-believe journey from Barbie Land to the ‘real world.’ It was not intended to make any type of statement.”
Barbie is rated PG-13 and will be released on July 21, 2023, the same day as Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.
After removing all references to transgender people from the Stonewall National Monument website earlier this year, the National Park Service has now scrubbed mentions of bisexual people as well.
As first reported by transgender journalist Erin Reed on her Erin in the Morning Substack, the change occurred on July 10, when the homepage was updated to read, "Before the 1960s, almost everything about living authentically as a gay or lesbian person was illegal."
Subsequent pages, including the site's "History and Culture" section, were also altered to remove broader LGBTQ references. One now reads: "Stonewall was a milestone for gay and lesbian civil rights," whereas it previously noted that living "openly as a member of the Stonewall comunity was a violation of law."
A Christian high school in California went out of its way to recruit a talented baseball player, and then rejected him because he has two gay dads.
Caleb Degala-Burnett, a recently graduated eighth grader from Union City, was invited to a high-level scouting event for the Class of 2029–2030, where 20 top prospects participated in a pro-style workout and game. According to statistical analysis, he had the fastest outfield throw in his class. The website Perfect Game rates him a "college prospect" and a potential pro draft pick "with development."
Authorities have charged the women with “distributing obscene material” for writing danmei, gay male romance fiction popular among young female readers.
At least 30 women in their 20s have been arrested in China since February for publishing gay-themed erotica. They have been charged with "producing and distributing obscene material."
Many of the women published their work on Haitang Literature City, a Taiwan-hosted platform known for "danmei," a genre of gay male romance and erotica. According to The New York Times, the site is only accessible through software that bypasses China's Internet firewall. Danmei has attracted a largely young, female audience.
Inspired by Japanese manga, danmei emerged online in the 1990s and quickly grew in popularity. Dozens of titles have topped bestseller lists, and in 2021, sixty were optioned for film or TV. Several major Chinese stars launched their careers in danmei-based dramas.
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