So everything is basically reset back to where it was before this law. The only difference is teachers and schools will have to deal with fundamentalist Christian maga parents and wing nuts who don’t even live in those schools claiming that teachers are teaching gender or sexual orientation for allowing a rainbow sticker, that the schools are violating the law because the library returned the books with and about LGBTQIA characters / plots in them, and it will tie all schools up in lawsuits the state won’t help them with. DeathSantis is really just admitting he was wrong without saying it. Kaplan said that she was sure that the law would be ruled unconstitutional if they continue with the appeal, but that it would take at least two years of kids being bullied and the books out of the library. Of course DeathSantis is claiming a total win when it completely rolls back his law. Gay teachers can let the kids know they are gay, those married can talk about their spouses and post pictures. Anti-gay bullying programs are allowed again. Plus maybe the best thing, the gay straight alliance clubs are allowed again. The real thing you see is DeathSantis only pushed this as long as he was running for office, and once he was no longer needing to suck up to the fundamentalist Christians he backed down, and did not fight for it. I think he knew all along it was an illegal bill. Hugs. Scottie
*** Personal note. Was not feeling well all weekend and this morning I woke up at 4 am needing to throw up. But all I could bring up was air. Then after half a cup of coffee, I started to throw up last night’s meal. All morning I keep feeling dizzy and nauseous every 20 minutes or so. I have spent a lot of yesterday and so far today, in bed. Hugs. Scottie1`
Opponents said the law had created confusion about whether teachers could identity themselves as LGBTQ or if they even could have rainbow stickers in classrooms.
ORLANDO, Fla. — Students and teachers will be able to speak freely about sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida classrooms, provided it’s not part of instruction, under a settlement reached Monday between Florida education officials and civil rights attorneys who had challenged a state law which critics dubbed “Don’t Say Gay.”
The settlement clarifies what is allowed in Florida classrooms following passage two years ago of the law prohibiting instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades. Opponents said the law had created confusion about whether teachers could identity themselves as LGBTQ or if they even could have rainbow stickers in classrooms.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis attends the drivers meeting prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Feb. 19, 2024.Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images file
Other statesused the Florida law as a template to pass prohibitions on classroom instruction on gender identity or sexual orientation. Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky and North Carolina are among the states with versions of the law.
Under the terms of the settlement, the Florida Board of Education will send instructions to every school district saying the Florida law doesn’t prohibit discussing LGBTQ people, nor prevent anti-bullying rules on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity or disallow Gay-Straight Alliance groups. The settlement also spells out that the law is neutral — meaning what applies to LGBTQ people also applies to heterosexual people — and that it doesn’t apply to library books not being used in the classroom.
“What this settlement does, is, it re-establishes the fundamental principal, that I hope all Americans agree with, which is every kid in this country is entitled to an education at a public school where they feel safe, their dignity is respected and where their families and parents are welcomed,” Roberta Kaplan, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said in an interview. “This shouldn’t be a controversial thing.”
In a statement, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s office described the deal as a “major win” with the law remaining intact.
“Today’s mutually agreed settlement ensures that the law will remain in effect and it is expected that the case will be dismissed by the Court imminently,” the statement said.
The law, formally known as the Parental Rights in Education Act, has been championed by the Republican governor since before its passage in 2022 by the GOP-controlled Florida Legislature. It barred instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through the third grade, and it was expanded to all grades last year.
Republican lawmakers had argued that parents should broach these subjects with children and that the law protected children from being taught about inappropriate material.
But opponents of the law said it created a chilling effect in classrooms. Some teachers said they were unsure if they could mention or display a photo of their same-sex partner in the classroom. In some cases, books dealing with LGBTQ topics were removed from classrooms and lines mentioning sexual orientation were excised from school musicals. The Miami-Dade County School Board in 2022 decided not to adopt a resolution recognizing LGBTQ History Month, even though it had done so a year earlier.
The law also triggered the ongoing legal battles between DeSantis and Disney over control of the governing district for Walt Disney World in central Florida after DeSantis took control of the government in what the company described as retaliation for its opposition to the legislation. DeSantis touted the fight with Disney during his run for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, which he ended earlier this year.
The civil rights attorneys sued Florida education officials on behalf of teachers, students and parents, claiming the law was unconstitutional, but the case was dismissed last year by a federal judge in Tallahassee who said they lacked standing to sue. The case was appealed to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
Kaplan said they believed the appellate court would have reversed the lower court’s decision, but continuing the lawsuit would have delayed any resolution for several more years.
“The last thing we wanted for the kids in Florida was more delay,” Kaplan said.
Of note, the lead attorney in the lawsuit is Roberta Kaplan, who is best known to most as E. Jean Carroll’s attorney. Kaplan was also Edith Windsor’s attorney in the landmark Supreme Court ruling on DOMA.
A settlement over Florida's "Don't Say Gay" law will allow students and teachers to speak about sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom, if it's not part of a lesson. https://t.co/FTg3TWJCyo
#Florida settles lawsuit over @GovRonDeSantis' controversial parental rights law & will clarify vague wording. Plaintiffs calling it the Don’t Say Gay law say the deal will stop school districts from “overreacting.” https://t.co/E4SQGjlUYQ via @JeffSolochek
What I love about this one is that he talks about it is not his job and he doesn’t have the right to force or demand you to live his life, his ways. Nor do you have the right o demand or force it the other way on him. He says it is not his job to make you the same religion he is. He says it is his job to show you the love of Christ in the gospels and if you decide it is not for you or you want a different church he is very fine with it. He is not charged by his god to make you be the same religion / faith or join his church. His job is to live god’s love, and by example show you that love. He says if your faith says don’t do something, then you shouldn’t do it. But only those who also believe like you, everyone else is free to do it. What a refreshing thing to hear a religious person say. Hugs. Scottie
Wow how clueless can some people be in following their god and right wing ideology? Seriously, does he realize that when women couldn’t vote, he was not covered by the civil rights laws and he wouldn’t be allowed to serve in such a high government position by the white people who think he shouldn’t be able to vote or speak up in public. Yes just as he looks down on women as inferior to him a man, the majority of whites then, and some now also, believe he as a black man is inferior to any white person. I don’t understand bigotry, no matter who it is against. See bigotry is counter to reason, it is irrational. Yet it is hard to use reason to combat it is difficult because bigotry is built on emotion. But this guy is out there as a bigot, hater, and just abusive to anyone who disagrees with him. Again how is this acceptable? What ever happened to decorum and civility from elected officials? Seriously what happened to being able to look up to elected federal and state legislators as the best of the public? Seriously when did being an internet troll be one of the qualifications for political office? When was being a vicious bully an admired trait? But this guy is both? Hugs. Scottie
“The only thing worse than a woman who doesn’t know her place, is a man who doesn’t know his,” he wrote on Facebook in December 2017.
In a newly unearthed video, North Carolina’s GOP nominee for governor says America was better then because Republicans “fought for real social change.”
On Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson won the GOP primary to become his party’s nominee for North Carolina governor, presumably with the help of female voters.
But just four years ago, Robinson invoked a bizarre hypothetical in which he said he’d “absolutely” like to return to the days when the 19th Amendment didn’t exist ― when women didn’t have the right to vote.
“I absolutely want to go back to the America where women couldn’t vote,” Robinson said in a newly resurfaced video of his remarks at a March 2020 event hosted by the Republican Women of Pitt County.
During this event, Robinson, who was running for lieutenant governor at the time, recalled someone recently asking conservative activist Candace Owens to pick which version of America would make America “great again,” one where “Black people were swinging from cheap trees” or one where women weren’t allowed to vote.
Robinson said he would definitely return to the days in America when women were denied the right to vote “because in those days we had people who fought for real social change, and they were called Republicans.”
This room full of women was quiet as he spoke, though a faint “That’s right” could be heard when Robinson later said Republicans ended Jim Crow laws. (In fact, lawmakers in both parties in Congress and President Lyndon Johnson ended Jim Crow laws by passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.)
You catch watch the full clip of Robinson’s remarks here:
Requests for comment from Robinson’s campaign and from his government office were not returned.
In still more Facebook posts, the GOP gubernatorial nominee strangely equated feminism with sexism and racism.
“If blacks should stand up against racism, and women should stand up against sexism….shouldn’t men stand up against feminism?” he posted on Sept. 20, 2016.
That same day, he also wrote, “I am REALLY sick of feminism and feminist. They are just as bad, if not worse, than racist.”
Robinson will go up against Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein in November. North Carolina is a crucial swing state in the 2024 presidential election. Former President Donald Trump won North Carolina in 2020, but barely ― and that was before he tried to steal the election, incited an insurrection and was facing 91 felony charges.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who endorsed one of Robinson’s challengers in the GOP primary, said Wednesday that it’s up to the voters in his state to decide in November if they want him to be the governor.
Asked if he agrees with Robinson’s inflammatory rhetoric, Tillis told HuffPost, “Not at all.”
“Now that we’re past the primary … he just needs to go to the people in North Carolina, explain that and get their vote,” he said.
Back when women were property, “colored” folk like you were not allowed to eat at restaurants with white folk, were segregated in public venues(sitting in the shitty section at theaters and such), schools, hospitals, and even the men weren’t allowed to vote even though they had the right. Go back a little further and all black people were owned by white people in the slave states with absolutely no rights at all. And you, sir, are a fucking idiot. Go slap yourself silly.
For Republican women all that matters apparently is the “R” after his name. Of course why any woman would suppport the Republican Party is the obvious next question.
A lot of Republican women have been beaten, raped and otherwise abused into submission by the men in their lives; fathers, husbands, pastors, etc. to the point where they are brainwashed to vote how the men in their lives tell them to. A while back, I read an article about some fundie douchebag pastor preaching to a group of men how they really shouldn’t allow their wives to vote, but if their wives insist on voting, their husbands should make sure that their wives vote “correctly,” so their votes do not “cancel out” the husbands’ votes.
That reminded me of a story an ex-Mormon friend told me, about how before she went in to vote for the first time as a college freshman in 1992, her father handed her and her mother a list of candidates (all Republican) and said “This is how I expect you to vote, I’ll be watching.” Her father stood in the voting booth next to her, giving her the side eye the entire time she was casting her ballot. Even though she wanted to vote for Clinton, she voted for George Bush I instead, because dad was also an abusive asshole, and she feared what he might do if she didn’t vote as she was told. If the poll workers saw what her Dad was doing, they didn’t do anything. It was probably quite common in the shitty Mormon town she was raised in. And I doubt things have changed.
Back when women were property, “colored” folk like you were not allowed to eat at restaurants with white folk, were segregated in public venues(sitting in the shitty section at theaters and such), schools, hospitals, and even the men weren’t allowed to vote even though they had the right. Go back a little further and all black people were owned by white people in the slave states with absolutely no rights at all. And you, sir, are a fucking idiot. Go slap yourself silly.
The short clip is very important for all to hear. Thank you TG for posting it. I know many here also follow Mock Paper Scissors, but for those that do not or missed the post, this is great. It is about mistreating children, it is about Nex Benedict. Hugs. Scottie
Thank you Personnelente for the link. This is grand news for those who live in where ticks lurk. Like the article says, if we can do it for our pets, why not for humans. Hugs. Scottie
This is the teaching of ideology, republican capitalism ideology, something republicans keep claiming they are trying to wipe out in schools. We can not teach comparative ideas of systems or how anything including capitalism can be taken to unhealthy extremes. Plus this law mandates stressing how bad and harmful communism is, which means stressing how great republican strongman democracy backed by run away capitalism is. In Florida you can not teach anything in public schools that might make straight white cis Christian kids uncomfortable (or their parents unhappy) such as the truth about racism and how it still is in effect today or how some people are not straight cis or even Christian. But none of these laws including this one doesn’t apply to any private or voucher school. Just public ones? Why because poor disadvantaged kids go to public schools, so let’s force right wing Christian nationalism white supremacy on to these kids. Hugs. Scottie
Rep. Ashley Gantt raised questions about what would be included, at what point a deep dive into totalitarianism would be “age appropriate,” and why voucher-funded schools are exempted from this requirement.
Rep. Anna Eskamani noted that the Legislature had established bans for discussions of diversity and sociology, and “in the context of what’s happening in K-12 schools,” she claimed the legislation was based on “teaching that a political ideology is bad” rather than a good-faith comparative study of ideologies.
Ahead of the final passage, Democrats floated amendments the day before to try to expand the bill to include analysis of “McCarthyism” and how the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol Riots could lead to communism, but these did not make the final product.
The mistakes made by the Soviets, the Chinese and other communist regimes are one step closer to being part of Florida K-12 classrooms.
The House passed by a 106-7 vote SB 1264, a “History of Communism” product previously passed by a 25-7 vote in the Senate, putting the bill on a path for a Gov. Ron DeSantis signature.
Ahead of the vote, some Democrats sought to knock the bill down, while Republicans and one Democrat loved it up.
Rep. Ashley Gantt raised questions about what would be included, at what point a deep dive into totalitarianism would be “age appropriate,” and why voucher-funded schools are exempted from this requirement.
Rep. Anna Eskamani noted that the Legislature had established bans for discussions of diversity and sociology, and “in the context of what’s happening in K-12 schools,” she claimed the legislation was based on “teaching that a political ideology is bad” rather than a good-faith comparative study of ideologies.
Rep. Bruce Antone, a Democrat, rose in support of the bill until he was reminded he was speaking during the block of time reserved for opposition.0
Rep. Chuck Brannan, closing on his bill, said the real purpose was to address concerns of Florida’s “diverse communities” of refugees from communist countries, not to “indoctrinate anybody or promote fear mongering.”
Students in traditional public and charter K-12 schools are on track to receive instruction on the history of communism beginning in the 2026-27 academic year in what is billed as an age-appropriate and developmentally appropriate way.
The bill would also compel the creation of a museum of history of communism, create the Institute for Freedom in Americas at Miami Dade College, and rename the Adam Smith Center for Study of Economic Freedom as the Adam Smith Center for Economic Freedom.
There is a key party
..split on these bills among actual voters, meanwhile.
Polling conducted by Sachs Media found Republicans were overwhelmingly supportive (74%) of an effort to teach K-12 students about the “horrors of communism.” By comparison, only 41% of Democrats believe kids need a crash course on Soviet genocide.
Ahead of the final passage, Democrats floated amendments the day before to try to expand the bill to include analysis of “McCarthyism” and how the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol Riots could lead to communism, but these did not make the final product.
Florida condo market takes a tumble in the past year, but at least kindergarteners will learn about communism, kids can get their hands on AR-15s at a younger age & you can spread measles at your leisure! https://t.co/9lNParhBCQ
— Lesley Abravanel 🪩 (@lesleyabravanel) March 6, 2024
Call me crazy but I suspect wrangling 20 five year olds is probably hard enough without educating them on competing economic systems
Florida Senate passes proposal to teach kindergarteners about threat of communism https://t.co/lANzpTmuJu
When I was a senior at Lake Worth High School, in 1964, the state of Florida required us to take a 6-week course in Americanism vs. Communism. One of the textbooks was J Edgar Hoover’s Masters of Deceit. Not a lot seems to have changed.
We aren’t allowed to explain in the classroom why Billy has two daddies because their poor innocent minds are not developed enough yet to comprehend it, but we can tell them about Communism.
The fact that kindergarten friend Johnny has two moms? VERBOTEN!
Advanced socio-political/economic theory for a system of government not a single country in the world actually practices? Totes appropriate for a 5yo, sure.
obviously, the object is not to actually teach the kids anything – it is to establish that communism == bad, so that democrats can then be accused of being communists
They will tell them that sharing is communism. I’m sure that will go over well with the parent’s. “Billy, share your toys with your brother!” “But mommy, the teacher said that’s COMMUNISM!”
So in classes where we used to teach kids that sharing and treating others with courtesy are important we’re going to tell them they’re all on their own.
Technically, that is the American way, the wholly rugged individual Fuck You nonsense. I know many (I’d like to think most) Americans don’t think that way, but it is a reputation that the US has promoted over the decades.
Brought to you by people who couldn’t distinguish between communism, Marxism, totalitarianism and socialism if their lives depended on it.
I wonder how the curriculum is going to handle the whole cult leader thing. Then again, self-awareness is not a MAGA strong suit while immunity to cognitive dissonance is.
They should also do a live-action demonstration of that cartoon about capitalism, with one guy with one cookie, one guy with no cookies and the capitalist with a pile of cookies saying to the first guy, “Hey, that other guy wants to steal your cookie!”.
Rep. Chuck Brannan, closing on his bill, said the real purpose was to address concerns of Florida’s “diverse communities” of refugees from communist countries, not to “indoctrinate anybody or promote fear mongering.”
I thought taking diversity into consideration was illegal in Florida.
By my dogs that love gravy they are talking concentration / prison type encampments surrounded by guards with prison like rules. Basically no freedoms that all adults enjoy. Plus the Republican Party is seriously going all in that homelessness harms home values and harms tourism / the attractiveness of the state for businesses / people moving to the state. Those conditions, funded by the counties, include clean restrooms, running water, security on premises and bans on drugs and alcohol. They must also be located in places that don’t impact the value of nearby properties. The legislation accords with a stated desire of the Governor to have camps with restrictions on what occupants can do and “help” available, in efforts to include what he has called “judicial scrutiny.” DeathSantis has long wanted to institutionalize that he terms undesirables. Right now it starts with the homeless, but soon who else is going to be put in camps or other style forced confinement? The poor? Trans people? The entire LGBTQIA? What about those who don’t follow the correct and proper god? Like all these culture war type laws it is deliberately written very vaguely so that it can be interpreted as strongly as the most extreme person would want to take it. The same vagueness held true for how a homeless person would get a permit for outdoor camping. Basically the law gives permission / compelling these localities to round up the homeless and put them somewhere. Detain them, jail them, just hide them from the good more well off people of society. One last thing. This was written by a right wing think tank, it is legislation they want to use in every red state. Just like the anti-trans laws / don’t say gay laws Florida will be the test place to see if it will pass, because Florida is run by a crazy maga governor. If it passes here, they will try pushing it everywhere. Democratic Sen. Jason Pizzo, who contended Tuesday that a “think tank” wrote the legislation. Hugs. Scottie
The Senate has passed a House bill creating a new financial obligation on localities by banning homeless people from sleeping in public, setting the stage for a Gov. Ron DeSantis priority becoming law.
The measure from Rep. Sam Garrison (HB 1365), passed by a 27-12 vote after being substituted for the Senate version, would ban counties and municipalities from permitting public sleeping or public camping on public property without explicit permission, compelling these localities to round up the homeless and put them somewhere.
The Governor, who has suggested institutionalization should be brought back, said mental health help for the unhoused is “important,” but that he didn’t want “Sodom and Gomorrah” style homeless camps.
Democrats: People are living on the street. We need to build affordable housing.
Republicans: People are living on the street. My wealthy donors don’t like seeing poor people in public. Homeless people need a permit to be homeless. If they can’t pay the fine, toss them into one of the many for-profit prisons owned by my wealthy donors.
Caitlyn Jenner’s suggestion was to bus them out to the desert and have them camp there, instead of near the beaches. No food, no water, no sanitation, but hey, they’re homeless. I guess they’ll adapt somehow?
I fully understand that sodomy comes from Sodom, and I understand what sodomy is. But what do we get from Gomorrah? Gomorrahmy? And what the hell is that.
So, living on the street becomes a crime that will lead to one losing their freedom. They will be shocked when the read the headlines about a mass casualty shooting incident when law enforcement went to enforce this law.
Of course not. However, the number of highway patrol officers assigned to the Spring Break week is increased, in order to keep the- ahem – darker elements away.
It should also be a crime for assholes pretending to be taller by wearing 5 inch lifts. I can hardly wait for the day when Bootsy and his never ending cruelty comes to a very painful end.
A.G. Gancarski
Scottie's Playtime 