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.
More than 9 in 10 LGBTQ adults are out to someone in their lives about their sexual orientation or gender identity -- yet many remain closeted when it comes to family members or co-workers.
According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in January, 96% of LGBTQ adults say they have told someone about their identity, while only 3% say they have not come out to anyone. However, up to one-third of LGBTQ adults -- including those who have come out to “someone” -- say they are not out to extended family members, such as grandparents, aunts and uncles, or cousins.
The state of Iowa will pay $85,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a group of LGBTQ teens who were expelled from the Iowa Capitol during a 2020 advocacy trip organized by Iowa Safe Schools, after a dispute over bathroom access.
The lawsuit, filed in 2022, claimed that about 150 students and chaperones were unfairly ejected while visiting the Capitol to meet with legislators.
Nate Monson, then the executive director of Iowa Safe Schools, told The Des Moines Register that state troopers barred a smaller group of students from using bathrooms that matched their gender identity and directed them instead to a gender-neutral restroom elsewhere in the Capitol.
The Capital Pride Alliance and WorldPride DC organizers hosted a "wrap-up party" on September 30 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center to unveil the WorldPride 2025 Impact Report, highlighting the celebration's economic and cultural reach.
The event, featuring food, drinks, and live performances, celebrated WorldPride’s success while giving LGBTQ community members a chance to reflect on the experience and the lessons learned from hosting a large-scale festival in D.C., helping build an infrastructure the city can use for future events.
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