this post was submitted on 26 Nov 2023
537 points (97.2% liked)

News

23266 readers
3127 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

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.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 88 points 11 months ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 50 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

“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'.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Morgan Freeman: "But there was no prayer in her thought..."

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

Yeah it’s famously fucked up

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Cripes. Wtf Murfreesboroites?

[–] [email protected] 66 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 11 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago
[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago

Tennessee needs this law because without it all the men there go gay.

[–] [email protected] 51 points 11 months ago

There's no hate like christian love.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 11 months ago (2 children)

WE WILL NOT GO BACK IN TO THE CLOSEST!

[–] [email protected] 37 points 11 months ago (2 children)

THEN HOW WILL YOU GET CLOTHES

[–] [email protected] 35 points 11 months ago

THE BOUDOIR OR MAYBE A DRESSER

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

THEY WILL SIT IN A PILE ON THE FLOOR AND I WILL SMELL THEM BEFORE PUTTING THEM ON, BUT ONLY IF THEY AREN'T TOO WRINKLED IN WHICH CASE I WILL USE THEM AS PAJAMAS OR WASH THEM AGAIN.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 35 points 11 months ago (1 children)

A bit redundant to say "archaic" and "Tennessee" isn't it?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago

Depends on the city. Chattanooga has amazing municipal internet, for instance.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The christofascist Lemmy user PepeLivesMatter is gonna be sad

[–] [email protected] 33 points 11 months ago (2 children)

They're still doing the Pepe thing? They do know Pepe's creator hates them and killed Pepe in his comic, right?

How embarrassing and stupid of them.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Forechin doesn't care though

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Honest to gawd I read that as "foreskin" and did a double-take.

Obviously I haven't had enough caffeine today.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

Yep. Seems to have been banned though. Yay!

[–] [email protected] 29 points 11 months ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I lived scarily close to Murfreesboro to be reading this. Luckily I moved out of Tennessee back in August, and I hope my friends can get outta there soon.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I lived in Cookeville for a few years, glad I got the fuck outta TN, especially Cookeville. So many racists and homophobes there.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

Yeah I went to TN Tech for a year so I know Cookeville :/

[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago
[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago

Christianity going to Christian

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (4 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago

Part of the authoritarian playbook is selective enforcement.

So it's still scary, even if it never got used.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

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?

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

Isn’t this a blatant violation of the Laurence ruling?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

You reap what you sow Tennessee

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 11 months ago (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Maybe a small bullet (or ten) from the cop. :/

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

Ten small warning shots to the back of the head.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›