Feds Holding Summits for Lesbian Farmers

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 latest summit, first reported by the College Fix, will be held on August 18 at Drake University in Iowa. [17] The Office of the Assistant Secretary of Civil Rights, in collaboration with the National Center for Lesbian Rights and The True Colors Fund, will engage with LGBT rural communities across the country to host the LGBT Rural Summit Series,” the USDA said. “Each series will offer a unique opportunity for USDA and other federal agencies to share information relating to policies, programs, and services that exist to protect, promote and strengthen LGBT rural communities.” 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. [1] The Daily Wire called it “dumbest thing Feds have EVER Spent your tax dollars on.” [3]

Rush Limbaugh

Everybody knows that the federal government is run by rigid P.C. ideologues who despise anything rural, so “Rural Pride” would seem to be an oxymoron for them — except that in Liberalese, “pride” is a euphemism for homosexual deviancy, which they will go to any length to encourage because it undermines marriage, family, normalcy, morality, and Christianity, not to mention public health. [14] This lunacy caught the eyes of conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh who talked about it on his radio show. “Have you heard the latest Democrat scam?” Limaugh asked on his program. “Have you heard about the Agriculture Department’s financial grants to lesbian farmers?” he asked on the Aug. 17 airing of his Rush Limbaugh Show on the Premiere Radio Network. “Now, I understand farmers are not “rich.” This is part of the disinformation campaign. “Rich, white male” is how the left describes pretty much any constituency group that they’re opposed to. 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.” At this point it is already clear that Rush seem to think that this lesbian farmer thing is just a way for the Obama administration to infiltrate rural communities with democratic party operatives and liberal zealots. “I’m like you; I never before in my life knew that lesbians wanted to be farmers,” said Limbaugh. “I never knew that lesbians wanted to get behind the horse and the plow and start burrowing. I never knew it.” [15] Rush continued:

You sit in there and laugh. Okay, 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 geographically conservative regions in the country; that’s rural America. Rural America happens to be largely conservative. Rural America is made up of self-reliant, rugged individualist 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. [15]

Smelling another dirty trick coming from the Obama administration, Limbaugh took to the airwaves to warn of the impending lezpocalypse set to descend on the rural South. “Here comes the Obama regime with a bunch of federal money and they’re waving it around,” claimed Limbaugh. “And all you gotta do to get it is be a lesbian and want to be a farmer and they’ll set you up. [..] And the objective here is to attack rural states. […] They’re going after every geographic region that is known to be largely conservative,” Limbaugh warned. “They never stop, folks. They are constantly on the march.” [15][16]

Depending on which news outlet you like to read, Limbaugh’s comments were either hailed or assailed. [11] Here’s a rundown of some of the headlines:

• “Rush Limbaugh warns that federally paid ‘lesbian farmers’ could invade your town” (The Daily Dot)
• “Rush Limbaugh Is Right: Obama Is Encouraging Lesbian Farmers To Take Over The Country” (Autostraddle)
• “Mass Lesbian Farm Infiltration Is Obama’s Best Scheme Yet” (Jonathan Chait)
• “‘Lesbian and transgender hillbillies’ are taking over rural America” (LGBTQ Nation)
• “Rush Limbaugh warns of an invasion of government-trained ‘lesbian farmers’” (Mic)
• “‘Bust Up’ Conservatives: Feds Thrust Lesbians Into Farming” (WND)

Limbaugh’s comments came in response to the 15th annual Nationwide LGBT Rural Summit, which took place Aug. 18 in Iowa. The summit, which undoubtedly does draw a gay farmer or two, was roundly mocked and criticized by the right-wing media for being hosted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Civil Rights. [16] The summit will talk about “what life is like for LGBT people in southern and rural American communities” and provide information on programs and services that “exist to strengthen our lives and the lives of our loved ones.” For those unaware of what “rural pride” means, the agency is happy to explain. “Contrary to widely held myths that the LGBT community is largely living in affluent metropolitan areas, studies show a very different and more realistic picture of the LGBT community,” the USDA said. “For a number of reasons, many people in the LGBT community choose to live, work, and raise their families in the rural communities that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is proud to serve.” The agency said nearly 10 percent of all same-sex couples in the United States live in rural areas and are “actually more likely to be families of color and raising children.” [1]

Cyndi Lauper: Now conspiring with the feds to turn farms into freak shows.

“The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force also issued a report finding that these couples are more likely to be low-income and are almost twice as likely to receive public assistance,” the agency said. “The transgender community is particularly vulnerable.” The government said the LGBT community in rural America has “a number of particular needs and vulnerabilities that USDA is excited to target and address.” The purpose of summit is to “elevate the voices of the LGBT community living in rural America.” “#RuralPride is all about increasing visibility of rural LGBT people and families across the country,” the USDA said. The USDA has held at least 13 rural LGBT summits, and has teamed up with the True Colors Fund, a group co-founded by Lauper that works to end homelessness for LGBT teens. “We applaud the USDA for celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people living in rural communities across the country with this important series of summits,” Lauper said. “LGBT youth comprise up to 40 percent of our nation’s homeless youth population. Those in rural communities face incredibly unique challenges and are such an important and often overlooked part of this conversation.” [1]

During a summit in Jackson, Mississippi last year, the head of the USDA’s rural pride summit Ashlee Davis said the agency is working very hard to change how people think about rural America, away from the “white, rich male.” Davis also said “gender identity” and “gender expression” are part of the USDA’s anti-discrimination policies, the Jackson Free Press reported. “We are trying very hard to change people’s mindsets,” Davis said. “When [people] hear ‘rural America,’ I don’t want them to think that means one type of person: a white, rich male.” Another summit last month in Central Valley California featured the Cultivating Change Foundation, whose co-founder stressed the importance of celebrating gay farmers. “You do have gay farmers who are growing your food,” said Marcus Hollan. “You have lesbian agricultural teachers in your high schools and your colleges teaching youth. It’s time we start recognizing them but also celebrating them.” Hollan said the summit is about sending young people the message of “I don’t have to leave the farm, I can still be a farmer and be my authentic self.” [1]

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