Wedged between politics and Texas muscle, migrants thread dangerous path across border
Asylum-seekers are caught in a political tug-of-war as Texas muscles up and the Biden administration issues new border restrictions.
I love that they say Vermont doesn’t care about vulnerable children when these people want to abuse vulnerable LGBTQ+ children by forcing a religion on them that calls them an abomination. They want the right to force these kids into conversion therapy or to not let them transition. This is seriously scary shit. Hugs. Scottie
They claim it’s religious discrimination to not let them foster children they say they will refuse to accept.
Two Christian families in Vermont, alongside the Southern Poverty Law Center-designated hate group Alliance Defending Freedom, are suing the state after it stripped their foster care licenses over their homophobic and transphobic beliefs.
“Vermont says they’re unfit to parent any child because of their traditional religious beliefs about human sexuality,” said ADF legal counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse in a press release. “Vermont seems to care little about the needs of vulnerable children, much less the constitutional rights of its citizens. That’s why we’re suing them in federal court.”
Roger Gannam said that trans-inclusive anti-discrimination policy would lead to sexual assaults against women.
The Wuoti and Gantt families filed the lawsuit along with the ADF on Tuesday, initiating a formal complaint against the state.
Vermont changed its policies regarding foster families in recent years to better support LGBTQ+ youth. It requires that foster parents are supportive of young people’s identities – such as properly gendering trans youth or allowing kids to embrace their sexual orientation.
It strictly prohibits “discrimination and bias based on a child or youth’s real or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.”
The lawsuit argues that both families are required by their religion to misgender any foster children, stating that “a person’s sex is binary and fixed by God at conception.” It goes further in arguing that, in the case of the Gantt family, they believe that trans people must detransition and that people should not gender trans people correctly.
The lawsuit also claims that Kaitlyn Wuoti had gender dysphoria as a child, leading her to be filled with “compassion” for children. Both Brian and Kaitlyn Wuoti believe that they cannot even associate with a Pride parade or those in it because “they convey a message about human sexuality that goes against their faith.”
Radke emphasized in a statement that while DCF does not comment on pending lawsuits, the lawsuit was nevertheless filed at the beginning of Pride Month, a time normally dedicated to celebrating LGBTQ+ people.
“It is a human right for all to be valued and supported, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity,” Radke said. “The Family Services Division is here to serve all and upholds that expectation for both its staff, as well as the foster parents who agree to take on the care of the youth in our custody.”
This lawsuit comes at a time when LGBTQ+ youth are especially vulnerable, facing attacks on their healthcare across the world. This atmosphere contributes to stigma against these youths. Moreover, LGBTQ+ youth are more likely to be homeless and in the foster system.
“It’s the role of families to provide that kind of affirmation and validation,” said Amanda Rohdenburg with Outright Vermont. She says it’s impossible to tell who is LGBTQ+ just by looking at them, so LGBTQ+ youth might be placed with anti-LGBTQ+ foster parents. “They are at high risk of experiencing rejection or internalizing homophobia or transphobia that impacts their sense of sense over their lifetime.”
The named defendants in the suit are Department for Children and Families (DCF) Commissioner Christopher Winters, Deputy Commissioner of the DCF’s Family Services Division Aryka Radke, and DCF’s Director of Residential Licensing & Special Investigations Stacey Edmunds.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont, Windham Division and has Gretchen M. Wade of Wadleigh, Starr & Peters, P.L.L.C as additional legal counsel.
The Alliance Defending Freedom is known for its ties to the book The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today, which was written by former ADF CEO Alan Sears and ADF member Craig Osten. They group also supports banning LGBTQ+ individuals from the military and the Boy Scouts of America.
The ADF has filed lawsuits across the country, such as in the case of 303 Creative vs. Elenis, where they defend an individual trying to discriminate against LGBTQ+ individuals based on religion.
Since I got my steroid back shots I have been able to sleep great with much less pain. So I did not get up this morning until 5 am. Ok late but very happy to be sleeping well for a change. But soon my happy turned to ashes. After Ron and I worked together, as he decided to get up with me as he wanted to work on the outside stuff before it got hot, we fed cats, got coffee, and all else. Then I sat down at the command consoles and went to work.
I started videos and started the dump and reinstall of the Blogging computer. Everything went great. All programs installed … until I installed Vivaldi. Clicked on the bookmarks bar at the top for my Scotties Playtime blog. Yes the page came up. Then I went to the log in. Signed in with out much thought as it always works that way so why sweat it. The log happened and on the top of the Playtime window was the notification bell I love. I clicked it. My stuff was not there. I went over to the admin button and again nothing of mine was there. No matter what I tried to do I was getting the wrong stuff. I figured the install went bad. But first I spent a few hours trying to make the WordPress / Jetpack coming up work.
I dumped it again. Loaded it up partly and went to Vivaldi again and the same happened. Now I could use it on the other computer. I was supper upset. I figured maybe the order I was loading it up in was the issue so I dumped it again. This time I reinstalled the Windows system very carefully and was careful of every setting. I slowly added programs and checked them, I cleaned the computer between every step. I was very happy with the install. About 8 hours had gone by and I had not eaten or showered nor did anything else. From 5:30 am to about 3:45 pm I worked only on this and worried about it. When Ron asked me why I was so upset I told him my blog is really my life, it is my window to the world and something was causing me to lose my window, my world, my friends.
So as the last thing I installed Vivaldi. Remember it was working great on the Video computer and I was blogging from there. Imagine my horror when I brought up my Playtime and everything looked great. Then I clicked the sign on button, it came up with the name Scotties…….. and I clicked next, the computer put the password in. I hit the button and my blog came up with the write button and the bell button that I use to do posts and reply to comments along with read other blogs. I hit the bell and my heart sank. It was the same. I had already tried it with Chrome and Firefox so I knew my blog was OK, … my heart felt like it was heavier than the very large cat we have named Odie who has lost weight but at 26.1 pounds is still a struggle for me to lift. What could possibly be wrong.
I debated pulling the drives out and doing a 35 sweep wipe on them but as I did the installs I wiped them quickly so that did not seem likely to be the problem. In despair I cleaned everything, cleaned all the saved data / cookies in Vivaldi. Then opened the Playtime saved bookmark. My page came up. I clicked the sign in button and my blog name came up. I sat there depressed, I was tired, very very sore, I had not eaten but Ron made me take a donut because of my sugar, and I started at the sign in. The computer people reading this can already tell the problem and what I was doing wrong. Something that had not happened on the first time I installed Vivaldi.
When I installed it originally I had it take the bookmarks, passwords, and all important stuff from my Chrome long time forever browser. What I missed … I have had Chrome for all my blogs since 2007 and all my blogs start with the same thing … Scotties. I am used to Chrome putting up the right sign in for Playtime as it did for every other blog. What has caused me a day of anxiety, anger, fear, doubt, and worry was Vivaldi was offer all of those former ones that Chrome saved but never used with the Playtime sign in.
As I sat there glaring at it I began to see it, the problem. Yes the username did start Scotties … but the end was toybox. A blog I lost years ago in deep frustration. It kept trying to sign me into a blog I no longer had. Being WordPress it remembered and offered it to me as a sign in even though it was long gone. I retyped it to Scottiesplaytime, put in the correct password. I took a deep breath and hit the sign in button.
My blog returned in all its glory. It was there and I was back. Oh by my dogs that love gravy I think I was experiencing something like sexual satisfaction. So I am happy, the truth is I was stupid and taking something for granted that I should have paid attention too. I could have been back up at 8 am with everything ready. Now I have to go take a shower, and have something to eat. But I will be back later if my back and butt will stand it. Loves, Hugs, Best Wishes, and so many happy breaths. Scottie
Does it surprise anyone at this point that Fox is a lying media arm of the republican part. They are militant in their pro any thing hard core right wing and anti anything about democrats / Biden. They have become a parody and a joke. Sadly far too many watch them and believe their crap. Hugs. Scottie
A clip has now gone viral showcasing a manufactured “awkward” moment where Biden apparently tries to sit on an invisible chair.. except there is a chair there and he does sit down.
A report in the New York Times, verified by documents and Israeli government officials, confirms that Israel has been using fake social media accounts and websites in an attempt to sway U.S. policy.
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Scottie's Playtime 