You can think twice about finding Mr. Right Now on Craigslist; Plus BenDeLaCreme pens an amazing manifesto and 45’s Trans ban now sadly becomes U.S. government policy.

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Today is the day that the administration’s ban on transgender Americans serving in the military takes effect.

While it’s unclear whether the deadline for the ban will be met (since officials have already missed deadlines since the initial proposal of the ban), March 23 is the official deadline set by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Defense (DoD). ﻿

A private recommendation was delivered to the Oval Office occupant last month from Defense Secretary James Mattis but its contents remain a mystery. Of course, what began all of this was a surprise tweet from 45 last year calling for a ban on transgender service people because they were, in his view, somehow “burdened” the military.

His assessment was made without input from attorneys or military leaders, and has bounced back and forth in legal wranglings. It was in fact a court ruling that kept transgender applicants able to join the service until the last few days. But this week, the Justice Department made clear that a new policy is on the way.

Mr. Right? Wrong.

Craigslist, according to a CNET report, will no longer help you find someone to keep you company on those cold nights.

“The popular online classified ads site Craigslist has stopped publishing personal ads,” says the bulletin, “after the Senate approved a controversial sex trafficking bill that makes website operators more accountable for their users’ activities.”

Wednesday, the US Senate gave its approval to a bill to Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA). Now that it’s passed, the CNET story states, “Craigslist said it couldn’t afford to risk its operations by running personal ads>”

Quoting a statement from Craigslist, the report elaborated that “Any tool or service can be misused. We can’t take such risk without jeopardizing all our other services, so we are regretfully taking craigslist personals offline. Hopefully, we can bring them back some day.”

The bill effectively rewrites the 1996 Communications Decency Act, considered by many internet service providers as de facto indemnity from liability for user-uploaded content. The new legislation, according to CNET “makes it a crime to operate an internet platform with the intent of promoting prostitution.”

Benefesto

Of all the queens interviewed for All Stars, BenDeLaCreme stood apart (see her video here). She seemed to be as interested in observing the show as participating in it, and more introspective than the other queens when not actually performing on stage.

Now her fans — and the legions of haters who love to troll the internet looking for someone they can try to demean in order to bolster their own egos — have a big chunky piece of her mind to mull over in a powerful reflection she posted today on Facebook.

Despite the fact that her remarks run from scathing to loving, her mindfulness and word choices are above reproach.

She begins her treatise by appealing — as Lincoln once did “to the better angels of our nature” — (that’s Abe, not Ben) and then makes a case for those who watch the show to refrain from bullying or harassing the contestants — which has needed saying for years now, since drag queens are often the most abused members of our community. Where did they learn to read people with such viciousness? Well consider this: They’re used to people talking to them or about them in exactly those derisive tones. Only unlike Ru’s reading room, most of those folks weren’t kidding.

Our first impulse was to give you excerpts from what Ben has to say, but it does her a disservice to take her out of context. Let me just say that if you can sit through 9+ seasons of Drag Race, you owe it to yourself to read her compassionate and thoughtful words here. You may never look at drag the same way again.

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Last modified: February 14, 2019