Russian journalist Mikhail Zygar speaks with CNN’s Bianna Golodryga about lawmakers passing a strict anti-LGBTQ law that would ban all Russians from promoting or “praising” homosexual relationships or publicly suggesting that they are “normal.”
This article is about the Covid mask controversy DeathSantis stirred up and pushed. He was trying hard to keep tourism up and working poor parents at their jobs by making sure their kids had a place to go while the parents worked. In places like Florida too many see school as a place to park their kids while they work, when the schools went to remote learning workers had to stay home. Rather than make large spaces available like wealthy areas did to have the kids go to and be spread out leaving the parents free to work, poor people had to have one parent stay home. DeathSantis felt the pain of the employers and business overlords and did everything he could to force schools to stay open with in person classroom learning with no Covid precautions. That would have cost the state money besides DeathSantis and the wealthy parents send their kids to private schools who do use the precautions so what do they care if your kids get sick, your elderly poor get sick and die. So this is the first nail in following science in Florida schools. What will die in Florida schools next? Biology? Chemistry? History most certainly, along with social studies. But enforced right wing Christian ideology will flourish. Hugs
New board members in two GOP-leaning counties essentially sacked their school superintendents over the span of one week.
Conservative school board candidates are in office — and are purging some educational leaders who enforced Covid-19 mandates.| Lynne Sladky/AP Photo
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis put his weight behind dozens of conservative school board candidates across Florida during the midterms. Now they’re in office — and are purging some educational leaders who enforced Covid-19 mandates.
New board members in two GOP-leaning counties essentially sacked their school superintendents over the span of one week. The ousters were spurred by how the superintendents carried out local policies like efforts to support the rights of parents, an issue inflamed by schools imposing student mask mandates last fall in defiance of DeSantis.
And while not tied to the 2022 election, the school board in Broward County earlier this month fired its superintendent through an effort led by five members appointed by DeSantis. All combined, school boards with ties to DeSantis pushed out three superintendents in November alone — and each of them served over districts that implemented student mask mandates.
“We had a wave in school districts that spit in parents’ faces,” said state Rep. Randy Fine (R-Palm Bay), who earlier this year sought to punish schools with mask mandates. “And now the people who did that are gone.”
In Brevard and Sarasota counties, embattled school leaders have faced immediate pressure from newly-installed board members and offered to leave voluntarily rather than risk a vote on their terminations.
The boards in both counties now have conservative majorities who sought a change in leadership immediately after the midterms. Although school boards are nonpartisan posts, lines between Democratic and Republican candidates were drawn in many counties through endorsements from each party as well as outside groups. The newly-elected board members in these cases support parental rights while opposing critical race theory and teaching gender orientation in schools.
DeSantis in particular used his clout to endorse more than two dozen school board candidates during the 2022 election cycle, a rare move for a Florida governor that came with $1,000 cash contributions from DeSantis and other GOP lawmakers. Most of the candidates DeSantis endorsed won their elections and are now transforming the make-up of school district leadership and will have huge influence over policies affecting hundreds of thousands of students in the state.
Both Sarasota and Brevard’s school boards put the superintendents on the chopping block the same day that new members endorsed by DeSantis and conservative organizations like Moms for Liberty were sworn into office.
Sarasota board members called Superintendent Brennan Asplen’s job into question at a meeting Tuesday night specially called to discuss his contract. After fielding about four hours of public comment, mostly in support of the superintendent, board members vented criticisms over student performance in reading, how he handled masking students and a perceived lack of transparency from Asplen.
Understanding he may not have a job much longer, Asplen offered up his resignation on Monday night — the day before the board met to weigh his ouster. But the superintendent also fought at the meeting to keep his job by attempting to punch holes in the critiques from board members.
“I have a feeling I’m going to be fired after tonight because I just can’t hold this back,” Asplentold the board from as a preface.
Asplensaid that some of the board’s comments were “ridiculous” given that he had been at the school since 2020, a timeframe that included the Covid-19 pandemic. And yet despite the coronavirus uprooting education, Sarasota earned “A” grades from the state both years. The superintendent also claimed he was being shut out by board members since the election and noted that he enacted a mandatory student masking policy for only three weeks, and that was due to Sarasota’s board voting 3-2 in favor of the mandate.
“You have to get the politics out of this school district,” Asplentold the board. “This school district could be No. 1, but we shoot ourselves in the foot every single time. We are getting in our own way all the time.”
It was clear after Asplenaddressed the board that a separation would be imminent. Board members said they felt the relationship with the schools chief was “adversarial” and beyond repair. Many of the claims by Asplenwere “not accurate,” according to new board chair Bridget Ziegler.
“I am very concerned,” said Zeigler, who was endorsed by DeSantis and co-founded Moms for Liberty. “I don’t know how respectfully we build a relationship where we are functioning together for the right reasons with mutual respect.”
One Sarasota board member, Thomas Edwards, noted the similarity between the pushes to remove school leaders in Florida and elsewhere in the country, including in Berkley County, South Carolina, where a newly-elected school board fired a superintendent. Edwards suggested a possible political motive behind the move and lobbied for Asplen to be granted a chance to fix issues spelled out by the board.
“Whatever rationales I’m going to hear tonight, I really have to throw out the window. Because we just have to — all of as a community — look at the tealeaves,” Edwards said.
But Edwards fell short of reaching the majority of the board, including the members endorsed by DeSantis and other conservatives, who voted 4-1 to move forward with negotiating a separation agreement with the schools chief.
The local teachers union in Sarasota planned a rally in support of Asplen ahead of the meeting Tuesday and dozens lined up to speak on his behalf. But local organizers in Brevard County didn’t demonstrate when its superintendent, Mark Mullins, was pushed out last week.
Instead, the Brevard Federation of Teachers contented that Mullins’ ouster could lead to positive changes within local schools. Union leaders claim that district officials did too little to quell student discipline issues and lingering teacher vacancies facing the county.
“Students verbally and physically abuse teachers and staff, and there will be no end in sight unless meaningful systemic changes are made,” union leaders wrote in a statement Monday on social media.
Similar to Sarasota, the leadership shift in Brevard was aided by new board members. Discussions to split with Mullins came at the suggestion of Megan Wright, who was backed in her race by DeSantis and installed on the board and elected vice chair about four hours before triggering the change.
Elsewhere in Florida, new board members endorsed by DeSantis are also scoring leadership roles. In Lee County, for example, new board members Armor Persons and Sam Fisher, both endorsed by DeSantis, were elected as chair and vice chair of the school board, as reported by the Fort Myers News-Press.
With at least three superintendent jobs opening in Florida, these new-look school boards are now facing the critical task of finding new leaders.
Teachers union leaders are staying optimistic that these board members will be focused on supporting educators and staff in local schools, said Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union. And in choosing a new superintendent, they hope board members will pick candidates who are aligned with the community and not only DeSantis.
“Firing is the easy part,” Spar said. “The hard part is finding the right person.”
The NHS is consulting on a new service specification for trans youth healthcare. (Getty)
Under new proposals from NHS commissioners, trans children could face impossible barriers to healthcare.
The NHS is replacing its sole dedicated gender clinic for young people, GIDS (Gender Identity Development Service), with two new regional pilot services as part of an ongoing process to reduce the spiralling wait times.
Although the LGBTQ+ community welcomes plans to expand services, recently released proposals have introduced gatekeeping measures that could make gender identity services harder to access for many young people, and which have been compared to conversion practices. The service seems to have been designed to reduce the number of young people transitioning as much as possible.
The Trans Learning Partnership together with Gendered Intelligence has produced an explanation of how we got here – and how you can help the trans community today.
How did we get here?
As pressure from the media and the government has fuelled anti-trans movements over the last few years, access to transition-related healthcare for children and adolescents has become a battleground.
Misinformation and fearmongering about gender identity services is rife, with the mainstream press claiming that gender-affirming care is too quick or too easy, or that young people have instant access to puberty delaying treatments and hormone therapies.
The Telegraph has published a number of scaremongering articles around puberty blockers. (The Telegraph/Getty)
This is a fantasy. It takes at least three years to get a first appointment at GIDS, and many more to receive further care. Young people who enter the services in their teens age out without a single appointment and are thrown straight back on a waiting list – for how long, no one knows. The reality is that gender identity services in the UK, particularly for young people, have been in freefall for years.
After GIDS came under fire for inadequate care, the NHS commissioned the Cass review. This independent review led by Dr Hilary Cass published an interim report in February 2022, which found a number of challenges to GIDS’ ability to deliver good care.
The NHS has since decided to close GIDS and replace it with two new regional hubs. In theory, these regional hubs should allow for more patients to be seen, and to be seen closer to home.
However, the proposals as written could end up hurting hundreds of trans children and their families.
What are the proposals?
There are a number of changes that the NHS is proposing. Some of these could be positive. For instance, expanding the teams that work with children and young people and improving integration with local services could provide more extensive support for service users.
But many of the changes point towards gatekeeping. The list of professionals who can make referrals to the service is being cut down. New referrals will require an assessment just to be put on the waiting list, extending wait times even further.
The proposals even go so far as to encourage doctors to intervene in social transition.
Protestors defending trans rights. (UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty/ Michael Siluk)
Under the new service, doctors could discourage prepubescent children from socially transitioning, or restrict adolescents from transition unless they meet certain criteria.
Social transition is not a medical intervention; it involves the social expression of gender such as changing name, pronouns, haircuts, and clothing choices, making intervention by doctors absurd and unenforceable in practice. Are doctors expected to police the clothing, haircuts, and behaviour of their young patients?
This approach runs counter to all the evidence and best practice recommendations by global experts. Supporting children to socially transition leads to depression and anxiety levels that are the same as their cis peers as teenagers – this is really significant, as trans teenagers often have elevated levels of depression and anxiety compared to their peers.
The evidence doesn’t lie, trans children who are supported in social transition continue to hold their identity, and are much happier and healthier for it. There is no evidence that social transition is harmful.
Restricting social transition could arguably amount to a form of conversion practices.
Trans youth have often found their lives reduced to a culture war by politicians. (Belinda Jlao/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
While the UK government continues to delay bringing forward a ban on conversion practices, over 25 health, counselling, and psychotherapy organisations have created a Memorandum of Understanding on Conversion Therapy, providing a definition of conversion practices in the UK.
This definition recognises that conversion practices are “any model… [which] seeks to suppress an individual’s expression of sexual orientation or gender identity” on the basis that one orientation or identity is preferable to others.
Restricting social transition would be tantamount to suppressing an individual’s gender identity and expression, and suggesting that a cisgender identity is preferable.
Puberty blockers
Under the proposals, puberty blockers will only be accessible via the NHS with mandatory enrolment onto long-term research programmes. This would require children and young people to be part of a clinical trial to access essential care that is clinically indicated for them (and is not in line with ethical standards for healthcare research).
There are also serious concerns for those who access puberty blockers or hormones from sources other than the NHS. The proposals state that anyone accessing the service who is using medications “from unregulated sources or from on-line providers that are not regulated by UK regulatory bodies” will be discouraged from doing so, the NHS will not enter into any shared care agreements, and “will advise the GP to initiate local safeguarding protocols”.
The NHS has a duty to reduce avoidable harm. Like many medications, taking unmanaged puberty delaying or hormonal drugs can be unsafe, and regular blood tests are needed to monitor health and adjust doses as needed. In refusing to do this, the NHS is putting children and young people at risk of avoidable harm, when instead they could ensure that these children and young people are being properly prescribed and monitored.
The Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) clinic at Tavistock and Portman is set to close after the Cass review criticised wait times. (Getty)
In fact, if the NHS refuses to take over a young person’s care, and at the same time advises them to stop taking medications, they could forcibly detransition vulnerable young people, causing serious psychological harm and leaving them without medical support.
The proposals conflate three sources that they imply are all dangerous to receive medications from: unregulated sources online such as pharmacies and distributors, private practitioners and overseas care are all treated as “unregulated”. These range so much that they cannot reasonably all be treated as unsafe. In fact, gender specialists working in NHS clinics often have their own private practices too.
Threatening desperate families with unnecessary interventions from social services, just for supporting their own children, is not going to make anyone safe. No explanation has been given for these safeguarding concerns.
Not only does this punish families for turning to alternative services to meet their children’s needs, it also risks an influx of unnecessary safeguarding reports that will overwhelm the already-stretched social care sector. This will take time away from families who are in genuine need of support.
We aren’t alone in these worries. This weekend, the Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) released a damning statement, highlighting that in their advised approach – which the NHS is not taking – the benefits outweigh the risks, “when transgender and cisgender people are correctly regarded as equal”. It is clear from this statement that the NHS commissioners are travelling in the opposite direction to the global best practice on trans healthcare.
Click here to read Gendered Intelligence’s full guide to the NHS consultation and to find more about how you can respond.
I agree homosexuality has always been around and it’s why it’s referred to as an abomination in the Bible. God says it’s a sin and we’re given the reason as to why He calls it this. What is new, however, is the transgender and homosexuality push to teach this ideology in the schools. And, YES, they are trying to teach it. Where the problem comes in is when the LGBQT community tries to force THEIR views onto the conservative family. Christian families want nothing to do with this ideology. We don’t want it in our schools, in our businesses, in our churches or in our families. Now that doesn’t mean we would be ugly or rude to someone just because they’re gay, no, because that wouldn’t be right. It just means we believe what the Bible teaches and the Bible is quiet clear, those whose practice this sin, will die in it. Whether you believe in God or not doesn’t change this simple fact.
Hello ROBINDD4L. I read your comment and pondered if you are just a misinformed true believer or a troll. Not that it matters. I could explain to you that what that verse the abomination really referred to was temple boys being used by men for sex in some faiths, I could explain that it doesn’t matter what is or is not a sin as this is not a theocracy, never was intended to be, and so far it is not now. None of that really matters to what you seem most misinformed on. Let’s talk about that.
What you take as teachers pushing an ideology is that you somehow have lost track of the last 50 years, and the idea that you as a Christians won’t tolerate it in your communities, your schools, your families … is you are not everyone! The rest of us get a say in the PUBLIC and in PUBLIC schools. Your family is your business, but the rest of us have families and views also that don’t agree with yours. Look up the polls Robin. Times have changed. Get out of your bubble. The majority of people are accepting of gay people, same sex marriage, and yes also the trans community.
Here is what you don’t get. You think that not allowing you to oppress the LGBTQI+ means you’re being persecuted. Wrong. It doesn’t matter if you accept it or not, but the medical science and data is in. People are born gay; people are born with a different gender identification than they are assigned at birth. Look at the graphs on the side bar of this blog to understand the scientific data! Your religious views don’t matter, your knowledge is based on what people knew 2,500 years ago. This is 2022, we know and understand a lot more now.
It is not your school; it is the public school. And the public disagrees with you. You don’t want tolerance and acceptance taught in your schools to your kids, don’t send them to public schools. Simple. See what you are demanding is the rest of us live by your church rules, your religious views. No sorry we don’t have to. You want to fine. Don’t agree with gay sex, don’t have any. Don’t believe in transgender, don’t transition. Don’t want same sex marriage then don’t get married to someone of the same sex. But you have no right to stop anyone else from living the life they were born to live. The rest of us have rights also. We have the right to live equally in the US democracy. Not Theocracy, Democracy.
We know and understand that people are born LGBTQI+. Including the two that seem most mentioned the trans and the gays. Born that way. They have the right to have a full and open life just as people born cis or straight. Religion is a choice but being LGBTQI+ is not, you are born LGBTQI+. Society understands that now. We have learned and advanced tolerance and acceptance. What you call pushing ideology in schools is actually simply requiring tolerance and acceptance of diversity or difference. Just as no kid should be bullied or picked on for wearing a cross no kid should be picked on for wearing a pride / trans flag. Just as no kid should be bullied for reading the bible, no kid should be bullied for reading a book with gay or trans characters or subjects. That is what you are so afraid of, tolerance and acceptance. You want to indoctrinate what you believe is the only way, only good. It doesn’t work that way. Society has moved on.
On last thing, you talk about sin and those who practice this sin will die. Yes they will, eventually. Guess what, so will you. No joke, you are going to die also. Also this line was funny Whether you believe in God or not doesn’t change this simple fact. You still don’t get it. Your god doesn’t matter. Not to me. Not to the majority of the people in the US. Your god doesn’t set the laws nor the standards in a democracy. The US is a democracy. Here is the key, your god matters to you and in our country you have the right to worship that god yourself for yourself. You do not have the right to force me or anyone else to follow your god. We are tolerance of you. We insist you also be tolerant of us. That is what makes a civil society.
I am here if you want to really talk about the issue. Hugs
During the public comment period for Maricopa County, Arizona’s certification of the 2022 election results, Kari Lake’s conspiratorial supporters showed up to voice outrage because the county’s Republican officials won’t break the law and refuse to certify the results.
As Sam and Emma say the Matt Walsh types do not want gays and trans to be accepted and act like high priests to tell everyone it not only is wrong but to remove it from society. Their goal with their hate is to return to a time when the LGBTQ+ and other minorities were not in the public square, were not seen. Hugs
Scottie's Playtime 
I agree homosexuality has always been around and it’s why it’s referred to as an abomination in the Bible. God says it’s a sin and we’re given the reason as to why He calls it this. What is new, however, is the transgender and homosexuality push to teach this ideology in the schools. And, YES, they are trying to teach it. Where the problem comes in is when the LGBQT community tries to force THEIR views onto the conservative family. Christian families want nothing to do with this ideology. We don’t want it in our schools, in our businesses, in our churches or in our families. Now that doesn’t mean we would be ugly or rude to someone just because they’re gay, no, because that wouldn’t be right. It just means we believe what the Bible teaches and the Bible is quiet clear, those whose practice this sin, will die in it. Whether you believe in God or not doesn’t change this simple fact.
Hello ROBINDD4L. I read your comment and pondered if you are just a misinformed true believer or a troll. Not that it matters. I could explain to you that what that verse the abomination really referred to was temple boys being used by men for sex in some faiths, I could explain that it doesn’t matter what is or is not a sin as this is not a theocracy, never was intended to be, and so far it is not now. None of that really matters to what you seem most misinformed on. Let’s talk about that.
What you take as teachers pushing an ideology is that you somehow have lost track of the last 50 years, and the idea that you as a Christians won’t tolerate it in your communities, your schools, your families … is you are not everyone! The rest of us get a say in the PUBLIC and in PUBLIC schools. Your family is your business, but the rest of us have families and views also that don’t agree with yours. Look up the polls Robin. Times have changed. Get out of your bubble. The majority of people are accepting of gay people, same sex marriage, and yes also the trans community.
Here is what you don’t get. You think that not allowing you to oppress the LGBTQI+ means you’re being persecuted. Wrong. It doesn’t matter if you accept it or not, but the medical science and data is in. People are born gay; people are born with a different gender identification than they are assigned at birth. Look at the graphs on the side bar of this blog to understand the scientific data! Your religious views don’t matter, your knowledge is based on what people knew 2,500 years ago. This is 2022, we know and understand a lot more now.
It is not your school; it is the public school. And the public disagrees with you. You don’t want tolerance and acceptance taught in your schools to your kids, don’t send them to public schools. Simple. See what you are demanding is the rest of us live by your church rules, your religious views. No sorry we don’t have to. You want to fine. Don’t agree with gay sex, don’t have any. Don’t believe in transgender, don’t transition. Don’t want same sex marriage then don’t get married to someone of the same sex. But you have no right to stop anyone else from living the life they were born to live. The rest of us have rights also. We have the right to live equally in the US democracy. Not Theocracy, Democracy.
We know and understand that people are born LGBTQI+. Including the two that seem most mentioned the trans and the gays. Born that way. They have the right to have a full and open life just as people born cis or straight. Religion is a choice but being LGBTQI+ is not, you are born LGBTQI+. Society understands that now. We have learned and advanced tolerance and acceptance. What you call pushing ideology in schools is actually simply requiring tolerance and acceptance of diversity or difference. Just as no kid should be bullied or picked on for wearing a cross no kid should be picked on for wearing a pride / trans flag. Just as no kid should be bullied for reading the bible, no kid should be bullied for reading a book with gay or trans characters or subjects. That is what you are so afraid of, tolerance and acceptance. You want to indoctrinate what you believe is the only way, only good. It doesn’t work that way. Society has moved on.
On last thing, you talk about sin and those who practice this sin will die. Yes they will, eventually. Guess what, so will you. No joke, you are going to die also. Also this line was funny Whether you believe in God or not doesn’t change this simple fact. You still don’t get it. Your god doesn’t matter. Not to me. Not to the majority of the people in the US. Your god doesn’t set the laws nor the standards in a democracy. The US is a democracy. Here is the key, your god matters to you and in our country you have the right to worship that god yourself for yourself. You do not have the right to force me or anyone else to follow your god. We are tolerance of you. We insist you also be tolerant of us. That is what makes a civil society.
I am here if you want to really talk about the issue. Hugs