These are books written for 14 year olds and up, you know young adults. Again these same Christian warriors think girls that age should be forced to marry older men and be forced to carry a pregnancy to full term. But don’t tell kids about being gay or having a book that shows them their feelings are normal. That is the part that the Christian warriors hate, that it is normal and books like these show it as normal. As one parent claimed, “Gays use these books to recruit kids into the LGBTQ+ community”. By my dogs that love gravy it is 2023, and being gay is well understood not to work that way. You can not make a person gay. Full stop. No one can make a straight person gay and no one can make a gay person straight. What they want is to remove all LGBTQ+ representation from society, make gay kids ashamed that they feel different from the other kids around them, and to keep the society a nice forced Christian nation of the 1950s. We have to stop giving in to these overly loud minority. They are not the entire country, as maga people like to claim. You can’t please them. You can’t give in a bit because it is never enough. They will keep pushing for more and more their way. What they want is the erasure of an entire part of the population. Think on it. Even if the LGBTQIA was only 10% of the population, that is a minimum of 36 million people. I am sorry these people hate so, but LGBTQIA people exist and yes there are kids who are in that community. When the fuck do they think kids feel sexual, at 18? Why do kids start dating at 13, 14, 15? Because they feel an attraction. They have already started to use these laws to demand segregation, because good white kids are traumatized by having to sit in classrooms with black kids. A return to the 1950s. Hugs
one young boy said.
“Seeing that gave me at least a little bit of hope that maybe this town was OK and that people like me, kids, would feel like it’s not a bad thing and feel like they can have something relatable to connect with and make them feel hopeful and happy and secure, something as simple as a book,” he said.
and this, kids, is why respectability politics doesn't work. you can make the fluffiest, most sanitized, "unproblematic" PG-13 queer content imaginable, and the right is still going to call it porn and a danger to children, because there is no level of queerness they'll accept https://t.co/KvTxnrypQz
Nick and Charlie are all grown up and kissing – a lot – in Heartstopper season two. (Netflix)
The graphic novel series Heartstopper will no longer be available in the teen section of a Mississippi public library after a group of parents claimed the books were pornographic.
The Heartstopper books, which tell the story of two teen boys who fall in love, were removed from the teen section of the Columbia-Marion County public library and placed in the adult section after complaints.
The library moved the graphic novels from the teen section after a meeting on 9 August in which a group of parents claimed the books were pornographic, with one reportedly claiming homosexuals were using the series to “recruit” children into the LGBTQ+ community.
One mother also reportedly cited 14 other books that they found “objectionable”, asking for the board to remove them from the teen section in order to “protect our children”, The Mississippi Free Press reported.
Other titles described as objectionable included Dress Codes for Small Towns, by Courtney Stevens and Luna, by Julie Anne Peters, both of which have LGBTQ+ themes.
Heather McMurry, the mother said to have submitted the complaint about the Heartstopper series, said she had visited booklooks.org, a site run by “concerned parents” who screen children’s and young adults’ books for “objectionable” content. According to the site’s reports for Alice Oseman’s popular series, the graphic novels contain “sexual activities, alternate sexualities, alternate gender ideologies, profanity and violence.”
In reality, the books have a few scenes featuring kissing, but contain no explicit material.
Bookslooks was launched in 2022 by a member of the vocal conservative advocacy group Moms for Liberty, which has been branded as a far-right extremist organisation by civils rights activists at the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Alice Oseman is the author of the Heartstopper series of graphic novels. (Getty)
A local mother who wanted to remain anonymous said that she had not been given a chance to speak in favour of Heartstopper at the meetings, and told the newspaper that only opponents of the book had spoken.
Her son previously told the Mississippi Free Press that he had been pleased to see the series in the library.
“Seeing that gave me at least a little bit of hope that maybe this town was OK and that people like me, kids, would feel like it’s not a bad thing and feel like they can have something relatable to connect with and make them feel hopeful and happy and secure, something as simple as a book,” he said.
His mum said that while she was relieved the books were not banned outright, moving the titles to the adult section could mean that a child with a homophobic parent will not be able to read them.
The library’s director, Ryda Worthy, and the branch manager, Mona Swayze, who reportedly did not have a say in the decision to move the titles, confirmed that teenagers can only obtain books from the adult section with parental permission.
This shows just how stupid the anti-trans movement has become. In the republican debate last night, one of the republican governors was asked why he signed an anti-trans in sports bill when there was not one trans student in the state on a sports team or wanting to be on one. He was asked if it was a cause fishing for a reason to be. These anti-trans people have gone from saying men by simply being born male are superior just for that. Now it goes to saying that people born males are superior mentally simply by being born male. Misogyny anyone? All the science says by the end of one year of transitioning males lose most if not all of the advantages they may have had and by two years they are actually at a disadvantage. The famous case the anti-trans women in female sports people like to cite is Lia Thomas and the terf signature anti-trans victim Riley Gaines. Gaines went on every right wing media to say she was cheated out of her titles by Thomas, a trans woman. What those right wing media did not tell the viewers is that both tied for fifth and were beaten by four other cisgender women. But she wouldn’t have gotten fame for hating on the four women who beat her so she had to attack the one trans-woman in the swim meet. This is more of the same stupidity. Hugs
Last week, FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs), the international chess governing body, introduced new regulations that, among other things, essentially ban trans women from FIDE-sanctioned women’s tournaments and jeopardize the safety of all trans chess players. The news wasn’t widely reported until yesterday, shocking many notable chess players across the globe.
In their regulation posting, FIDE (pronounced FEE-day) wrote that the participation of transgender players is “an evolving issue in chess” and these new regulations may be changed in the future “in line with research evidence” (it’s not really clear what this is supposed to mean, however.)
I’m gonna walk y’all through how absurd and unnecessary this all comes across to competitive chess players, but because I understand there’s very little context for folks who don’t play competitive chess, it would be wise to answer some of the questions I’m sure have come to mind for those unfamiliar.
For example, I’m sure y’all are wondering: why are there women’s tournaments?
Competitive chess is notorious for being a predominantly-male world. This is not because boys and men are naturally better at chess. It’s primarily because competitive chess has historically excluded and otherwise marginalized women and girls. It wasn’t until the past few decades that sexism in the culture of competitive chess was confronted, and even now, problems persist.
One of those problems is sexual harassment and assault. This year, prominent U.S. grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez was finally investigated after he was accused of assaulting more than half a dozen women and girls, with incidents going back to 2016.
Action was only taken after the insistent advocacy of Jennifer Shahade, a two-time U.S. Women’s Chess Champion and one of the most well-known chess celebrities in the United States.
Ms. Shahade had been sounding the alarm for years, and even with her considerable influence, chess authorities (virtually all men) were reluctant to take action.
And yet, this is still a problem! This week, Chess.com (the world’s leading website for chess competition and news) announced it would be cutting ties with the St. Louis Chess Club after it failed to investigate Ms. Shahade’s claims back in 2020.
St. Louis Chess Club in Missouri is widely considered the nation’s preeminent club after philanthropist Rex Sinquefield started poured tens of millions of dollars back in 2007 and successfully lobbied to get the World Chess Hall of Fame moved to the area. It’s also where Ramirez has primarily spent his professional career, as both a coach and grandmaster-in-residence.
Essentially, for the world of chess, this situation would be like ESPN cutting ties with the New York Yankees after the club failed to investigate numerous allegations of sexual misconduct against the team captain.
Again and again, the message to women and girls in chess has been they are not as welcome as their male colleagues and do not deserve equal support.
Back in March of this year, there was significant controversy at the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix after several players withdrew, in part, because of an astonishing lack of organization by tournament organizers, something that would never occur at a tournament predominantly played by male elite players.
There’s another reason that the world of competitive chess is predominantly male: as with so many other areas of life, women are far less likely to participate due to time-consuming labor such as caregiving. It’s very common to see fathers of school-age children play competitive chess; it’s rare to see mothers in tournaments.
All of this amounts to a competitive playing environment that is far more accessible to boys and men, and it shows. In 2020, FIDE stated that just under 10 percent of its members are girls and women, the vast majority of them being girls under 18.
Ms. Shahade, who has built a sterling reputation in the chess world over the past two decades, has emphasized that girls in chess typically stop playing around 12 or 13 because of the lack of social or parental support.
Because chess is an intense, skill-based discipline, it almost always takes many years to reach the highest levels of competition, and it’s nearly impossible for adults to pick up the game and reach that level. Starting young is essential, and if girls aren’t supported or are sexually harassed or otherwise feel unwelcome, they leave the world of competitive chess, and we lose yet another potential future champion.
Thus, tournaments that are restricted to girls and women have become essential spaces for the development of great players. It doesn’t mean girls and women don’t play in open tournaments (meaning, tournaments open to all genders)—nearly every girl or woman in competitive chess does—but gender-restricted spaces offer safety and dignity and community to learn and grow in the discipline.
This is the same reason for women-only titles. What are titles? Y’all have heard of “grandmaster,” right? That’s a title. It’s earned through a complicated system based on consistent excellence in competitive play. Most chess players will never come close to earning a title. It is exceedingly difficult.
There are four “open” titles (open to all genders), descending in order of difficulty to obtain: grandmaster (GM), international master (IM), FIDE master (FM), and candidate master (CM).
There are also four titles restricted to girls and women: woman grandmaster (WGM), woman international master (WIM), woman FIDE master (WFM), and woman candidate master (WCM).
Gender-restricted titles were introduced to encourage girls and women to stick with competitive chess and recognizing that girls and women face unfair obstacles in their development that are not experienced by men.
It’s important to emphasize that women and girls can earn any of these titles, and some girls and women choose to only earn the open titles and reject the gender-restricted titles. On the other hand, many prominent women players, including Ms. Shahade, a WGM, have encouraged their use to motivate girls to stay with the game.
While it’s understandable that some feminists would be incredulous that there are woman-only titles, it needs to be understood, again, that the world of competitive chess has been historically hostile to girls and women to the point that gender-restricted titles have sustained some participation.
An unfortunate byproduct of this system is that outsiders who are already under the false impression that males have a biological advantage in chess ability perceive the gender-restricted titles and tournaments as confirmation of their perception.
To be clear: there is no evidence that boys and men have a biological advantage in chess. None. Zilch. The belief that girls and women can’t compete with boys and men in chess is deeply rooted in sexism. It holds no water.
I repeat: the reason girls and women are rare at the most elite level of competitive chess is not because of biological aptitude but because of very low rates of participation due to a lack of social support.
I have been playing competitive chess (tournament chess), off and on, since I was a 12 year-old in 6th grade. I won probably a dozen or so tournaments when I was a kid, including a state championship. I am also a trans woman, and I’m telling y’all: trans women do not enjoy a particular advantage in chess ability.
I have played in three women-only tournaments: the 2019 and 2021 U.S. Women’s Opens and the 2021 World Open Women’s Championship. I got my ass kicked in all three tournaments. Soundly. I lost nearly 70 percent of my games. I never came close to even being within shouting distance of placing or winning a prize.
Compare that with my win rate of just over 50 percent of games in open tournaments; I have literally had far more success in tournaments that included men than in tournaments restricted to women.
I am not a bad player. I’m not an amazing player, but I’m decent. I can typically hold my own with a good opponent. But the cisgender girls and women who beat me at these tournaments—including a 9 year-old who didn’t break a sweat—were quite simply better players.
Beyond being transphobic, it is deeply sexist to claim that any person assigned male at birth has a natural aptitude in chess over any player assigned female at birth. The overwhelming majority of chess players understand that chess ability isn’t based on biology, which is why this strikes us as bonkers.
Here’s the kicker, and this is something you’re not going to see in any new reports about this: no trans woman has ever won a FIDE-sanctioned women’s tournament.
It has never happened. This is a “problem” that not only lacks merit but whose premise has never existed.
And there are trans women who do compete at a professional level in women-only tournaments. For example, Yoshe Iglesias of France is a FIDE Master; she’s also the highest rated trans player in the world. She has never won a women’s tournament.
Natalia Vives of Spain (another FIDE Master) and Morgen Mills of Canada (a Woman FIDE Master) represented their countries in the 2008 and 2022 Women Olympiads, respectively. Neither of their teams made it into the Top 10, but moreover, neither of these women had great performances.
Vives won two games out of nine rounds in her Olympiad, and Mills won five games out of 11 rounds in hers.
Strangely, the Wikipedia article for Vives states that she was the runner-up in the 2008 Women’s Olympiad (this is false; Spain did not do well) and the runner-up in the 2008 Catalonia Women’s Championship (I was unable to find evidence for this).
So, there you have it: the closest any trans woman has come to winning a FIDE women-only tournament is a spurious claim that one of the few trans women competing at a high level was a runner-up in a tournament 15 years ago.
I am, of course, hurt over the intentional and unnecessary exclusion of trans women, but I also feel angry on the part of my cisgender sisters in chess who are being insulted by the men who run FIDE and never seem to miss an opportunity to denigrate the ability of women in chess.
There’s another issue here to point out: in these new regulations, FIDE reserves the right to inform tournament organizers that a player is transgender (outing them) and to intentionally mark a transgender player in the FIDE database (again, outing them).
So, for no good reason, if a player is transgender and doesn’t wish to be out, FIDE is essentially banning them from competitive chess. Transgender players, particularly girls and women, are being forced to decide between transgender and being a chess player.
Folks, this is all completely batshit. It is an intentional effort by the leadership of FIDE to marginalize transgender players in competition. I am already hearing from some trans players who are unsure if they’re going to continue with competitive chess, especially with the safety risk.
Ms. Iglesias is currently preparing for the French Women’s Championship, a FIDE-sanctioned tournament that begins tomorrow. FIDE did not give her notice of these new regulations, which go into effect on Monday. She’s not even sure she’ll be permitted to compete.
It’s worth noting that Ms. Shahade, who has been the single greatest advocate for women in chess in the United States, led the way in the U.S. Chess Federation adopting fully trans-inclusive policies back in 2018. No trans woman has ever won a USCF-sanctioned women’s tournament.
“FIDE’s transgender policy is ridiculous and dangerous,” she told me over text. “It’s obvious they didn’t consult with any transgender players in constructing it. It’s also sinister timing that this comes out just as chess is finally reckoning with sexual assault and harassment in chess highlighting the links between misogyny and transphobia is. I strongly urge FIDE to reverse course on this and start from scratch with better consultants.”
Amen.
Hi, I’m Charlotte Clymer, and this is Charlotte’s Web Thoughts, my Substack. It’s completely free to access and read, but it’s also how my bills! So, please do kindly consider upgrading to a paid subscription: just $7/month or save money with the $70/annual sub. You can also go way above and beyond by becoming a Lifetime Member at $250.
Please tell me again how teachers are groomers? Please tell me how books and movies with LGBTQIA characters are sexualizing lids? This guy is showing drawings of a penis complete with hairy balls and sperm droplets labeled my kids, to 12 or 13 year old kids and had to break the rules / laws to get his truck as close to them as possible. Think about this, a teacher can not have a rainbow sticker in the classroom or on the door because of these people, yet this upstanding member of the Republican Party who was a GOP leader can not only show kids dick drawings but take their pictures next to it! WTF. It is a game to these people, they don’t believe it in any way harms kids, in fact they support little girls being forced to marry older men and be forced to have babies. It is all about enraging the base and removing the LGBTQIA from the public, from society. Hugs
Ron Hedlund displayed a massive penis sign with the words, “Biden Sucks” written across it at a youth baseball game at RF&P Park in Henrico County, Virginia.
In a video captured at the event, Hedlund, who is listed as a Virginia GOP Central Committee Representative defended his sign after a community member said it was inappropriate because there were children present.
The man also had a “Fuck Biden” inflatable “air dancer” sign in the back of his pick up truck parked near the field. Hedlund celebrated and posted videos of teenage boys taking selfies with his massive penis sign at the park.
Capitol Police detain two men at the Virginia War Memorial’s Veterans Day ceremony in Richmond. On Nov. 11 after 11 a.m. when the ceremony began, officers noticed a man driving over a sidewalk and around barricades on 2nd Street.
The driver then stopped at the base of the amphitheater, which was blocked off due to the ceremony, with a ‘F*** Biden’ sign in the bed of his truck.
Police say the sign was ‘highly visible’ to the crowd at the ceremony. Members of the Capitol Police approached him and asked him to move. The man was identified as Ronald Hedlund, 60, of Glen Allen. Hedlund refused to move.
Hedlund, who also goes by “Ron Benghazi,” has a YouTube channel full of confrontations with the police. And of course, he has a money beg on the Christian site GiveSendGo:
Living in a free society comes with much responsibility and blood, sweat and tears. It also may involve numerous legal battles as corrupt local governments seek to usurp our rights many take for granted. I have been unlawfully arrested at the Virginia Capitol.
That charge was dropped after hiring an attorney for $2500. I have been charged with loitering and that charge was dropped, as well, after representing myself. Currently, I have been served a Protective Order that required hiring an attorney at $1500 and resulted in a 2 year Permanent Protective Order.
I now find myself needing another $2500 to appeal this travesty of justice whereby I will lose all my firearms for a period of two years unless I am able to overturn this legally unsupported Order. This Order is the result of citizens legally exercising our First and Second Amendement rights on public property in spite of objections of the Henrico County Manager.
Virginia GOP Official Displays 16 Foot Penis Sign at Youth Baseball Game to Protest Wokehttps://t.co/ZaOw9rtn9S
Used in a sentence: "Virginia GOP Central Committee Representative, Ron Hedlund, has teenage boys hold a sign of a giant penis at a youth baseball game. Ron is a text book definition of a groomer." pic.twitter.com/xmtatcMznO
Does the penis at the ballfield bother you, or no, it's okay b/c that book exists? It was also at a playground and other places around town. This is a Virginia GOP Rep doing this. pic.twitter.com/hJx6IjTaAf
We saw nothing on the local news either. BlueVirginia labels them the Gross Old Perverts party – but if not for Bitecofer, Kristol, Meidas, it wouldn’t get covered. Crickets from the Gov. https://bluevirginia.us/202…
Of course they are. Another attempt at establishing extra rights to discriminate and be above any laws Christians don’t like. “We don’t have to follow laws because of our god special rights”. But we still deserve to not pay taxes and still get taxpayer money from the state because again we are most special because of our god. Pay us to discriminate against taxpayers. Because hate and bigotry are more important than inclusion. Way to spread Chritistan love and the message of Christ. Hugs
State’s non-discrimination requirements “directly conflict with St. Mary’s, St. Bernadette’s, and the Archdiocese’s religious beliefs,” the lawsuit says.
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
In this file photograph Archbishop Samuel Aquila speaks during a press conference to address sexual abuse in the Catholic church on Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2019.
The Denver Catholic Archdiocese along with two of its parishes is suing the state alleging their First Amendment rights are violated because their desire to exclude LGBTQ parents, staff and kids from Archdiocesan preschools keeps them from participating in Colorado’s new universal preschool program.
The program is intended to provide every child 15 hours per week of state-funded preschool in the year before they are eligible for kindergarten. To be eligible, though, schools must meet the state’s non-discrimination requirements.
The Denver Archdiocese, St. Mary Catholic Parish in Littleton and St. Bernadette Catholic Parish in Lakewood filed suit against Lisa Roy, executive director of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, and Dawn Odean, director of Colorado’s Universal Preschool Program, on Wednesday.
The Denver Archdiocese and the Colorado Department of Early Childhood could not immediately be reached for comment.
“The Department is purporting to require all preschool providers to accept any applicant without regard to a student or family’s religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity, and to prohibit schools from “discriminat[ing] against any person” on the same bases,” the lawsuit said. “These requirements directly conflict with St. Mary’s, St. Bernadette’s, and the Archdiocese’s religious beliefs and their religious obligations as entities that carry out the Catholic Church’s mission of Catholic education in northern Colorado.”
The Denver Archdiocese said in the suit they do not believe adhering to their religious beliefs against accepting LGBTQ people qualifies as discrimination. The Denver Post published written guidance last year issued by the Denver Archdiocese to its Catholic schools on the handling of LGBTQ issues, including telling administrators not to enroll or re-enroll transgender or gender non-conforming students and explaining that gay parents should be treated differently than heterosexual couples.
The lawsuit said St. Mary’s and St. Bernadette’s each require their preschool staff sign annual Archdiocese-approved employment contracts affirming that staff abide by traditional Catholic teachings on life, sexuality and marriage. They require parents who send their kids to their preschools “to understand and accept the community’s worldview and convictions regarding Catholic moral issues like life, marriage, and human sexuality,” the lawsuit said.
The Denver Archdiocese argues in the lawsuit that the state has “cornered the market” for preschool services by providing universal funding and any preschool providers who don’t participate will be “severely disadvantaged” and forced to charge “significantly” higher fees, disadvantaging low-income families whose children attend Archdiocesan schools.
“Colorado did not have to create a universal preschool funding program, but in doing so it cannot implement that program in a way that excludes certain religious groups and providers based on their sincerely held religious beliefs,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit said enrolling children with gay parents into an Archdiocesan school “is likely to lead to intractable conflicts” because a “Catholic school cannot treat a same-sex couple as a family equivalent to the natural family without compromising its mission and Catholic identity.”
The lawsuit is seeking a jury trial and for the state to reverse its decision and allow the Denver Archdiocese to participate in the universal preschool program while giving them the ability to exclude LGBTQ students, staff and parents from their schools.
Blacks don’t deserve a group just to help them the right believes. Notice a white support group wouldn’t have to change their name. But it is part of the push to keep and enshrine a dwindling white majority rule in the US. Seriously this has to be stopped, it is again a resurgence of the confederate south. As one student said. “Trying to erase things that we’ve been through that we had to deal with to get to where we are now is just trying to water down the things that we’ve done,” Wiggins said. “I think our history is very important.” Hugs
Patrick Sternad
WFSU Public Media
Exterior of Computer Technology and Workplace Development buildings at Tallahassee Community College. ———————————————————————————— The Black Male Achievers at Tallahassee Community College might have to change its name or risk losing state and federal funding under a new Florida law.
A student organization that serves African-American men who attend Tallahassee Community College might have to change its name or risk losing funding under a new Florida law.
Tyler Soto, a student at TCC, is a member of Black Male Achievers. He says they’re working out possible new names, such as “Male Achievers” or “Scholar Male Achievers.”
“We’re going to have to change the name of our organization or they’re going to defund it because it has ‘Black’ in front of it.”
A new law prohibits student-led organizations that “advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion” and other social and political causes from receiving state or federal funding. While those organizations aren’t banned outright, they may only receive funding from student-activity fees under the new law.
That has him and his classmates concerned as they get ready to return to campus this month, Soto said.
Soto, who’s also a member of TCC’s Student Government Association, says changes like these only encourage him to get more involved in the political process.
“It has made me want to step up and be the change.”
Soto’s classmate Denzel Wiggins is also a member of SGA and the Black Male Achievers.
“I don’t think we should have to change our name because obviously it’s for the Black community, so I’m not a fan.”
Wiggins says he’s also not happy about the Stop Woke Act, which restricts the way race is taught in college and university classrooms. That law is the driver behind the state’s controversial new African American history standards in K-12 schools.
“Trying to erase things that we’ve been through that we had to deal with to get to where we are now is just trying to water down the things that we’ve done,” Wiggins said. “I think our history is very important.”
Clarification: WFSU News reached out to TCC by phone and email before the story published on Friday.
TCC says that it had no conversations with members of the Black Male Achievers about having to change the organization’s name.
A spokesperson emailed WFSU News the following statement on Wednesday:
“BMA provides academic support and student services to help underrepresented populations, like minority males, persist and graduate. As with all TCC clubs, orgs and programs, membership into BMA is open to any and all currently-registered students.”
This part of the plan to wipe out the LGBTQIA from society, from public view. Because if you can not see us, we won’t exist. But they can put crosses and churches on every street. It seems strange to me that in Texas which is a state that is already minority majority with whites staying in political power by the dirty tricks of voter suppression and gerrymandering. Suppressing the brown people’s votes as much as possible. So here are a bunch of white cis men trying to remain the most powerful group by outlawing and banning diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at public higher education institutions. Hugs
Jamie Gonzales, a former program coordinator at the University of Houston’s LGBTQ Resource Center, hasn’t slept well ever since she heard that the center will be disbanded in accordance with Senate Bill 17, a law banning diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at public higher education institutions.
Although she knew the closure was coming after the bill passed in April in the Texas Senate, she still found herself emotionally ill-prepared to grapple with the reality: an end of an era for a place that served as a beacon of acceptance, safety and support for thousands of queer “Coogs,” as UH students often call themselves.
“There were a lot of special moments held in that space,” said Gonzales while crying during a phone interview this week. Before Thursday, the effect of the law at UH was unclear to many students, alumni and faculty. But all that changed last week when students noticed a flyer taped to the door of the center that read, “In Accordance with Texas Senate Bill 17, the LGBTQ Resource Center has been disbanded.”
The law’s author, Sen. Brandon Creighton [photo], is also behind his state’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill for public schools. Creighton first appeared on JMG in 2019 for his bill seeking to overturn LGBTQ protections enacted by Texas cities. In March 2023, he appeared here for his bill that would deny the prospect of tenure to newly-hired university professors. Creighton has spearheaded the Texas campaign to protect Confederate monuments.
many years ago I was a student at Northern IL university and during this time I was confused and questioning my sexuality. I found out there was a small office for Gay and Lesbian folk so I went and had an interesting and worthwhile discussion with a wonderful lesbian who shared her story with me. i still remained in the closet for a few more years but I have never forgotten what she told me, in her own way she helped me come out some years later. I still wonder what if I had not gone to that office that day,.
It’s an amazing feeling when you first realize you aren’t the only one in the world. I’m not gay, just an ally but I went through a somewhat similar experience when I first found out I wasn’t the only atheist in the world. I didn’t even know there was a word for it. We need connections to survive and thrive.
In the mid 80’s, I was at a homophobic, major university in Indiana. The chancellor declared in a speech, there were no “homosexuals” there.
By accident, I found a gay, then gay/lesbian group across the street from the student union, but actually iff campus in the Wesley Foundation. It was jointly sponsored by the Methodist / Episcopalian outreach programs. No religion was pushed. We met in the church basement.
It was truly life saving, during the era of lethal, rampant AIDS, police stings, discrimination, and other abuses.
The University couldn’t touch them. They were off campus, and inna church.
By driving them out of elected office, a process that will likely take as long as it took *them* to seize power. Which is to say, it needs to be a sustained and unrelenting effort that over the course of many election cycles.
we have to start local (county and city, then state), then work our way up to federal, challenging and changing judges as we go. it is a multipronged effort that all too many don’t want to take time to do. that was how the “moral majority” did it, they started with school boards and city councils, then county level and state level. when they had a strong base in place, then they took federal offices quite easily. once in place there, they appointed judges from within their ranks and owned the country. we will have to fight tooth and nail to get this reversed.
Political mobilization is super important, but I would also gently encourage folks to also give space to what is necessary to protect their own health and wellbeing, and that of their friends and family. Don’t panic, prepare has been my mantra for a while now.
Guess what, knuckledraggers? You have one, maybe two presidential election cycles before the generation you keep fucking over is the majority. They will decide what nursing homes you end up in as well as a host of other issues that will affect your hateful lives.
That’s why they’re trying to destroy democracy – it’s to create minority rule. Remember that whites were always a minority in South Africa, and Apartheid lasted almost 50 years.
The goal for these gang thugs is to make everyone afraid to protest the abuses, to make the treat of violence and harm so great people stop putting up supportive signs or speaking out. And it has worked in a lot of cases, with venues cancelling events. Horrible way the country is going. Hugs
Because we must make slavery look as beneficial as possible to the black slaves. White people were doing these subhumans a favor by enslaving them and they gave them a chance to find the true god, have shelter, to have food, and work which every republican thinks black people should do more of. Sickening, but she is a true believer in the white race and in the need to have her god in every aspect of everyone’s life, enforced by the Christian Taliban moral police gang thugs. Hugs
The Arkansas Department of Education instructed the 6 schools offering AP African American Studies to submit their curricula to the state to ensure they don't violate a new state law banning "indoctrination" and Critical Race Theory in K-12 schools https://t.co/MQ9YWKRJ4S
They aren’t just denying credit for the course, now the state is demanding schools hand over all books and course materials on African-American history. https://t.co/7YWBCf3guQ
And of course the Proud Boys which are gang thugs carried guns and got to stay while grieving parents holding small signs got removed. The police stood by and let the gang thugs harass women and anti-gun people. Well it has come out that a large number of the police are white supremacist bigot gang thugs themselves. Birds of a feather type thing. The country is fast becoming over run by authoritarian cops and fascist politicians that are backed up by gang thugs. Welcome to the fall of the US democracy. Hugs
Families close to a Nashville fatal school shooting broke down in tears after a Tennessee Republican leader ordered state troopers to remove them and others from a legislative hearing room while they waited to testify in favor of gun control measures. https://t.co/ru3b5UdMS9
BREAKING: Drama in Tennessee House subcommittee as protesters are removed by state troopers. Their violation: quietly holding up signs. pic.twitter.com/uESCjA0Pyj
While our supporters of clergy marched and prayed over our Capitol to end gun violence, the @tnhousegop and their extremist supporters, the proud boys, threaten our democracy with their terrorism. This is what we are fighting against every single day and why we will never quit! pic.twitter.com/jyMU5XaH9E
The p-boys were back again today. I’m pretty sure we can go ahead and call this stalking now. They kept following me to the restroom, weird, huh. The troopers were pretty fed up. Grieving parents can’t have notebook paper signs, but are these guys armed? pic.twitter.com/p40eh53LcT
For years I made bread. Mostly white bread but sometimes others. I had a Breadman machine and it made great wonderful bread. I shared it with the neighborhood and it was something people asked me to make for them.
I made a 2 pound loaf ever few days for nearly two decades. I burned up two different machines. Then when I went to replace the last one, I couldn’t find an up right pan machine that has the loaf standing rather than laying down. The difference is an important one. The laying down pan has the blade or two blades in the center of the loaf, and that leaves a large hole after it cooks. Or in the case of two blades, two holes. That means a lost of a lot of bread. However the standing loafs, pans that are up right so the loaf forms higher than wider the blade hole in the bottom loses a lot less bread.
After a few years of going without making bread I looked for new bread machines. I picked a Cuisinart bread machine. I dislike it. It just down’t produce a large, good loaf. But I tried to use it. But by then both Ron and I were diagnosed as diabetics and we were trying to get our A1C down, so we switched to using Splenda for baking. Guess what? Despite everything the manufacture claims, Splenda doesn’t bake the same. Every loaf I made in the machine was not worth trying to eat. So we bought a big Kitchenaid mixer and all the stuff to make bread by hand. But still trying to use Splenda the bread was not good. For a few years I gave up.
But we missed the fresh bread. Ron and I agree that the problem was the Splenda, and since most breads don’t use much real sugar we should try going back to that. So Ron got out the machine. I made the first loaf. I am using the Breadman machine recipe as I can not find my Cuisinart booklet. Remember all that stuff was on a shelf in my old office that had the roof torn off and 8 hours of over 150 MPH winds lashing it. Most of it won’t ever be found.
The bread came out good. Not great but good. Better than store bought. The problem was the loaf was again short and it was dense. But in less than three days it has been eaten up. I am going to make another one today or tomorrow. I will add more yeast to this mix. I wish I could find and afford a new bread machine. On with the vertical pan. The old Breadman made fudge and so many other things. This one doesn’t do any of that. But for now I have to use what I got. Below are the pictures and one short movie on the bread. Hugs to all. Scottie
This is the recipe I used, the 2 pound one. On the next one I will try using 2 tsp of yeast to see if it will rise higher and be lighter. Oh and I already use bread flour. The rest of the pictures are below and a short video of Ron slicing the first slice. That seems to be the ritual we have. I bake or cook it, and Ron always does the cutting. It is silly I know, but it is something that makes him happy so I am all for it. Hugs
Scottie's Playtime 