15th Nationwide LGBT Rural Summit Held In Iowa

The Iowa LGBT Rural Summit Was Held On August 18. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Center for Lesbian Rights co-sponsored the Iowa LGBT Rural Summit at Drake Law School on August 18. The summit was the 15th in the nationwide LGBT Rural Summit Series, which aims to elevate voices in rural LGBT communities and share information for politics, programs, and services to protect and strengthen them. From a Drake University news release:

Many LGBT people choose to live, work, and raise their families in rural areas. To highlight the unique needs of this community, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has partnered with Drake Law School, One Iowa, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and True Colors Fund to organize the Iowa LGBT Rural Summit. [...] This event is the 15th summit in the nationwide LGBT Rural Summit Series and #RuralPride Campaign, which aims to elevate the voices of the rural LGBT community, highlight the important federal policy efforts to protect this community, and identify next steps to ensure all rural communities have access to the resources they need. The Iowa LGBT Rural Summit will share information about programs and services that exist to protect, promote, and strengthen LGBT members of rural communities. Issues related to housing, education, healthcare, youth empowerment, and more will be discussed. [Drake University, 8/5/16]

Right-Wing Media Freak Out Over “Lesbian And Transgender Hillbillies”

Conservative Blog The College Fix Mocked Summit. A conservative blog, The College Fix, speculated about how much “the program is costing U.S. taxpayers” and mocked the idea of LGBT people in rural communities experiencing unique challenges:

It’s tough being gay and living in rural areas – or so says the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). That’s why the agency known for grading your beef is teaming up with LGBT groups and Drake University’s law school to host an “LGBT Rural Summit” on Thursday. [...] It is unclear how much the program is costing U.S. taxpayers, although USDA’s Office of Civil Rights, which is coordinating the summits, requested $24.4 million in funding in its fiscal-year 2016 budget request. The agency appears to have an uneven record when it comes to promotion of LGBT causes. Its website only returns four hits on the search term “LGBT,” including a 2014 post by Davis on LGBT Pride Month and a message from Vilsack for the “It Gets Better” campaign to encourage LGBT youth who feel bullied. [The College Fix, 8/16/16]

Wash. Free Beacon: Summit Will Teach “Lesbian And Transgender Hillbillies.” On August 16, conservative outlet The Washington Free Beacon reported that the summit will teach “lesbian and transgender hillbillies how to get subsidies from the government”:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is holding summits to promote the role of lesbian farmers as a part of its “Rural Pride” campaign. The agency is working with singer and LGBT activist Cyndi Lauper for a “day of conversation” about the struggles of gay and transgender individuals in rural America. The agency says its wants to change the perception of what it means to be a farmer in America away from the “white, rich male.” [...] The all-day summit will teach lesbian and transgender hillbillies how to get subsidies from the government like rural housing loans and “community facility grants.” Bullying will also be discussed. [The Washington Free Beacon, 8/16/16]

Rush Limbaugh: Summit Is A Part Of “Obama Regime” Attack On “Rural America.” Rush Limbaugh alleged that he, “El Rushbo,” is “able to read the stitches on the fastball” to clearly see that the Iowa LGBT Rural Pide Summit is the “latest Democrat scam” by the “Obama regime” to “bust up one of the last geographically conservative regions in the country.” Limbaugh described the “strategic reason” for the summit as convincing “lesbians to become farmers.” From the August 17 edition of Premiere Radio Networks’ The Rush Limbaugh Show:

RUSH LIMBAUGH (HOST): Have you heard the latest Democrat scam? Have you heard about the Agriculture Department's financial grants to lesbian farmers? You think I'm making this up? See, this is how they do it. All right. I hadn't intended to get into this right -- let me find it here in the stack, because it's something that's happening. It's actually real, and there is a strategic reason for -- here it is [...] This is part of the disinformation campaign. “White, rich male” is how the left describes pretty much any constituency group that they're opposed to. But what the point of this is, folks, it's not about lesbian farmers. What they're trying to do is convince lesbians to become farmers. You sit in there and laugh. OK, go ahead and laugh at it, but I'm telling you what they're doing. They are trying to bust up one of the last geographic conservative regions in the country, and that's rural America. Rural America happens to be largely conservative. Rural America is made up of self-reliant, rugged individual types. They happen to be big believers in the Second Amendment. So here comes the Obama regime with a bunch of federal money and they're waving it around, and all you gotta do to get it is be a lesbian and want to be a farmer and they'll set you up. I'm like you; I never before in my life knew that lesbians wanted to be farmers. I never knew that lesbians wanted to get behind the horse and the plow and start burrowing. I never knew it. But apparently enough money can make make it happen, and the objective here is to attack -- they're already attacking suburbs, and that has been made perfectly clear by what happened in Milwaukee. And they're going after every geographic region that is known to be largely conservative. They never stop, folks. They are constantly on the march. Now, I guarantee you that most people reading the news would come across a story with the Washington Free Beacon headline “Feds Holding Summits for Lesbian Farmers,” and they would probably ignore it or laugh at it but ultimately cast it aside. But I, El Rushbo, able to read the stitches on the fastball and clearly see what this is about. I only need to read three paragraphs of this story to understand what this is about. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 8/17/16]

WND: “Feds Thrust Lesbians Into Farming For Disturbing Reason.” Right-wing conspiracy website WorldNetDaily hyped Limbaugh’s claims that the summit is a Democrat “scam” to turn rural areas Democratic by recruiting lesbian farmers to move there. From the August 17 article:

A new federal plan encouraging lesbians to become farmers has a hidden, strategic purpose, according to radio host Rush Limbaugh, who is blasting it as “the latest Democrat scam.” [...] “It has a specific political objective,” he continued, “and the quick explanation is this is the left expanding their sphere of dominant influence.” [WND.com, 8/17/16]

The Daily Wire: LGBT Rural Summit Might Be The “Dumbest Thing Feds Have EVER Spent Your Tax Dollars On.” The Daily Wire’s Amanda Prestigiacomo reported that the summit is possibly the “dumbest thing Feds have EVER Spent your tax dollars on,” writing that the summit is promoting “the idea that lesbian farmers exist.” In the August 17 article, Prestigiacomo mocked the summit as a “noble cause,” and asserted that instead the LGBT community would “prefer protection from ISIS”:

Federal bureaucrats are spending your hard-earned tax-dollars to promote the idea that lesbian farmers exist. Yes, you read that correctly. According to the Obama Administration, Americans believe that all farmers fit a “white, rich male” stereotype, which apparently is wildly detrimental. I mean, if I don't know that the chocolate milk I'm drinking was originally obtained from a lesbian milking a cow, things could really breakdown. [...] Talk about a noble cause! And here I was thinking the LGBT community would prefer protection from ISIS, those barbarians who kill scores of gays in nightclubs right here in America for simply being gay. Good thing those feds know best! The next groundbreaking lesbian-farmer summit will take place at Drake University in Iowa on August 18, where lesbians in overalls will be taught about subsidies, rural housing loans and “community facility grants.” [The Daily Wire, 8/17/16]

The Patriot Post: “Figurehead For The Homosexual Agenda” Cyndi Lauper Will Headline Summit Meant “To Waste Taxpayer Dollars.” The Patriot Post alleged that “something queer” is “going on in farmland,” with President Obama addressing the “pressing issue” of lesbian farmers. The August 17 article called singer and activist Cyndi Lauper a “figurehead for the homosexual agenda” and lamented the government “wast[ing] taxpayer dollars” for the summit: