Category: Abuse

Trans teens sue Montana for access to gender-affirming care

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/05/trans-teens-sue-montana-for-access-to-gender-affirming-care/

“Just living as a trans teenager is difficult enough, the last thing me and my peers need is to have our rights taken away.”

By Molly Sprayregen Saturday, May 13, 2023

: A supporter holds a sign that says "Support Trans Youth"

Photo: Shutterstock

Along with their parents and two health care providers, two trans teens are suing the state of Montana for its recent ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth.

The plaintiffs argue that the law, S.B. 99, violates the state constitution, which guarantees the right to equal protection, the right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children, the right to dignity, and the right to seek healthcare.

RELATED STORIES

Zooey Zephyr hugs her colleagues as she returns to the Montana House floor

Her lawsuit to be allowed back in failed right as the legislative session ended. Some of her colleagues were happy to see her.

The lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of the plaintiffs by the ACLU of Montana and Lambda Legal, also argues the unjust nature of the law because it bans gender-affirming care for trans youth but allows cisgender youth access to the same medical care for other reasons.

“The Act is so damaging to the health and well-being of transgender adolescents that some of these adolescents’ families with the resources to do so have taken steps to uproot their entire lives to move out of Montana in light of the Act,” the lawsuit states.

“For many more, however, that devastating option is not available, so these families and youth will have no choice but to remain and endure the harms that the Act inflicts.”

The litigants include 16-year-old trans girl Scarlet, along with her parents Jessica and Ewout van Garderen; 15-year-old trans boy Phoebe, along with his parents Molly and Paul Cross; Dr. Katy Mistretta of Bozeman Creek Family Health; and Dr. Juanita Hodax of Community Medical Center.

“I will never understand why my representatives are working to strip me of my rights and the rights of other transgender kids,” said Phoebe Cross in a statement. “Just living as a trans teenager is difficult enough, the last thing me and my peers need is to have our rights taken away. There were many things I hoped my elected officials would achieve, this regression in human rights is not one of those things. The blatant disrespect for my humanity and existence is deeply unsettling.”

Jessica van Garderen added, “It is mentally and physically painful to feel like you are trapped in the wrong body. Going through puberty for the wrong sex is like having your body betray you on a daily basis. The only treatment we have found to be effective and give our daughter hope again is hormone therapy. The difference we have experienced is night and day and there is no going back. Taking away this crucial medical care is inhumane and a violation of our rights. We will fight this law for our daughter and every other family whose rights are being trampled.”

The legislation was signed in April by Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte and will go into effect on October 1. The state became the center of national discourse after the anti-trans Republicans banned trans Montana state Rep. Zooey Zephyr (D) from the state house floor for speaking out against the bill.

Zephyr accused Republicans of having “blood on your hands” for supporting the bill. They then voted to prevent her from entering the chamber after she raised an inactive microphone toward protestors in the state house gallery who chanted, “Let her speak!” The protestors were later arrested.

Zephyr was forced to vote remotely on bills while sitting on a bench outside the chamber in the state Capitol building. She also filed a lawsuit, but the judge declined to grant her relief from the Republicans’ censure order.

She would remain barred from the state house floor until the legislative session was adjourned. It has since ended, and she made a triumphant return.

A Texas woman was killed by her boyfriend after getting an abortion, police say

https://www.npr.org/2023/05/13/1176007305/texas-abortion-woman-killed-boyfriend

May 13, 202312:29 PM ET

By 

Emily Olson

A screenshot taken from Google Street View shows the gas station parking lot in Dallas where Gabriella Gonzalez was fatally shot the morning after she’d gotten an abortion in Colorado.

Google Street View/Screenshot by NPR

A man fatally shot his girlfriend in Dallas on Wednesday because he was upset she’d gotten an abortion, court records allege.

Harold Thompson, age 22, is facing murder charges in connection with the death of 26-year-old Gabriella Gonzalez.

The pair were in a “dating relationship,” according to an arrest affidavit, and were seen walking together in a gas station parking lot the morning after Gonzalez had traveled to Colorado to get an abortion.

Texas has outlawed abortion in nearly every stage of pregnancy since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022. Colorado abortion law is among the country’s most permissive, allowing for legal abortions at nearly every stage of pregnancy, without waiting periods.

A police investigator wrote that Thompson was believed to be the father of Gonzalez’s child, and that he did not want her to end her pregnancy.

Video surveillance shows that Thompson put Gonzalez in a “choke hold” as they were talking, police say, but she “shrugs him off.”

Thompson then pulled out a firearm and shot Gonzalez several more times before fleeing. Police declared Gonzalez dead at the scene.

Thompson is being held in a Dallas County jail. Court records show he will be represented by state-appointed counsel but did not list the name or contact information of his attorney.

A separate arrest warrant for Thompson, issued in March, was still active at the time of the shooting, court records show. The March affidavit does not name Gonzalez as the complainant, but the May affidavit describes her as “the victim” in the incident reported then.

The March affidavit states that Thompson had beat the victim, a woman pregnant with his child, several times throughout their relationship, including trying to strangle her and leaving her with a black eye.

The victim claimed that Thompson had “violently attacked her and left her bruised up” and remained “very fearful of the suspect,” police wrote.

“She is scared of the suspect because he had made threats to harm her family and her children,” the warrant states. “She has kids from a different relationship, and suspect is very jealous of the complainant’s ex-boyfriend.”

Court records show Gonzalez’s sister, Mileny Rubio, was a witness to the shooting.

“He was so angry that she wanted to get away from him,” she told local news outlet local news outlet KXAS. She added later, “I knew she wasn’t OK but we couldn’t get help, we didn’t know how.”

Gonzalez had just ended a tumultuous, four-month relationship with Thompson when the shooting occurred, her family said.

Busted: See GOP’s DeSantis shredded on TV over book bans, as writer claps back

Some news stuff I have been reading over the last few days

ND Gov Signs Bill Ordering Outing Of Trans Students

Maddow Reports On Nazis To Speak At Trump Resort

Texas Mass Shooter Posted Praise Of Libs Of TikTok

GOP Quietly Pushes Through Voter Suppression Bills

BeccaM17 hours ago

Republicans hate democracy and free-and-fair elections because they and their vile policies cannot win majority popular support.

So they have to rig and cheat.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/desantis-florida-trump-education-politics.html

OK Gov Defends Defunding PBS Over LGBTQ Content
The governor’s office also pointed to a “PBS Newshour” feature on parents’ support for various gender care treatments including puberty blockers, a gay character in “Work It Out Wombats” which airs on OETA, PBS Kids’ “Clifford the Big Red Dog” introducing LGBTQ characters “Oklahoma taxpayers are going, ‘Hey, hang on, time out for just a second. That’s not my values,’” Stitt said. “I’m just tired of using taxpayer dollars for some person’s agenda. I represent the taxpayers.”

tbj521 hours ago

“Stop using taxpayer values to push an agenda!” the bigoted governor screeched, as he used taxpayer dollars to push his agenda on everyone in the state.

Dave B21 hours ago edited

Stitt said. “I’m just tired of using taxpayer dollars for some person’s agenda. I represent the taxpayers.”

Who the fuck are LGBTQA+ people and their families if not fucking tax payers?

Thorn Spike Dave B21 hours ago

And he’s using their tax dollars to push his own agenda. Irony still dead.

MrRobotoLA Dave B21 hours ago

LGBTQIA+ Oklahomans need to start demanding their tax dollars back.

Elagabalus MrRobotoLA20 hours ago

That’s the problem with being a minority which represents roughly 5% of the population (except in larger cities with large gay populations). Unless the majority of citizens stand with you, which they usually don’t, you’re on your own.

Darreth Dave B20 hours ago edited

And that’s the bottom line. Not that they’re taxpayers but rather the fact that that evangelical governor doesn’t see them as citizens, taxpayers, or as a demographic worth even bothering with; by acknowledging who and what they are.

Thus, he’s worse than evil. He literally can’t see LGBT people as a thing. His religion has rotted his forebrain.

Houndentenor Dave B17 hours ago

Yes, queer people are taxpayers, but they don’t consider us citizens with rights.

Frank McCormick Dave B2 hours ago

He reminds me of the Chicago aldermen that insisted that no gay people lived in their ward during the debate over gay rights.

Gregory In Seattle21 hours ago

No, sweetie, you represent a very narrow, exceedingly bigoted minority of taxpayers hell-bent on forcing the rest of the country to kowtow to your twisted views of morality.

Ingraham Guest: Biden’s Platform Is Anti-Straight White Males, Campaign Is A “Quite Explicit Vendetta” [AUDIO]

The_Wretcheda day ago

“the [white male] ones that are blamed for any social ills”

Feel free to look at the office holders for the Republican (and some D) party. Pretty much white male. Also old, rich and christian. So yes, it’s entirely fair to put all the crap at their feet. it’s their show in a large part of the USA.

Trump Resort To Host Hitler Fans For QAnon Event
Disney Expands “Retribution” Lawsuit Against DeSantis
GOP Threatens Blinken With Contempt In Docs Battle

Nic Peterson2 days ago

When you don’t have a Benghazi but need one, you do this.

Montana Republican Says She’d Rather Her Child Died Than Be Trans

The discussion between Sam, Emma, and the crew as they break down what this woman is really saying here is the important part of the video.   Notice the woman says she spent all her time on the floor praying but it seems she neglected to talk to the very doctors who could have given her daughter the help she really needed.   Yes a book written 2,500 years ago has the updated medical knowledge to treat gender issues of teenagers today.   This woman wanted a religious womanly future for her daughter, she did not care what the daughter felt or what was going on in the daughter’s body.  The only things she was worried about was her god and her daughters continuing to be in her god’s good graces.   As she says at one point, she wanted her daughter to have a shining womanly future.  It seems the daughter was rejecting the woman’s religious views, and that couldn’t be allowed.   Hugs

Montana Republican State Representative Kerri Seekins-Crowe made controversial remarks during a floor debate on a bill that would ban transgender youth from participating in school sports.

Seekins-Crowe said that she would rather her child died than be transgender. Seekins-Crowe’s remarks were met with widespread condemnation. Many people called her remarks hateful and transphobic. Some people also called for her to resign from her position.

Seekins-Crowe’s remarks are a reflection of the deep-seated transphobia that exists in Montana and across the country and that transgender people are still facing discrimination and violence. They are also a reminder that there is still much work to be done to achieve equality for all people, regardless of their gender identity.

Is this where the US is now?

Mom’s involvement with anti-LGBTQ+ hate group drove her gay son to attempt suicide

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/04/moms-involvement-with-anti-lgbtq-hate-group-drove-her-gay-son-to-attempt-suicide/

“They are preying on people,” the mom said. “They took advantage of me.”
 
By  
Mom’s involvement with anti-LGBTQ+ hate group drove her gay son to attempt suicide
Photo: flickr / public domain

A gay teen who was driven to attempt suicide after his mother came under the sway of the group Moms for Liberty is telling his story publicly.

A Vice exposé details how Moms for Liberty went from a local campaign to harass one Florida school board member to a national organization driving the politicization of education in the U.S. in just a few years. The piece also includes the heartbreaking story of one of those LGBTQ+ students, Tony, and his mother, Carolyn, whose last names are withheld to protect their privacy.

 

RELATED STORIES

Ron DeSantis helped Moms for Liberty members get on school boards to settle political scores

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/12/ron-desantis-helped-moms-liberty-members-get-school-boards-settle-political-scores/

 

Political observers worry that the newly installed members will work to oppose LGBTQ-inclusive and anti-racist education across the state.

As writer David Gilbert reports, after being outed by his boyfriend’s parents in early 2022, Tony was berated by his Southern Baptist mother, who told him he was going to hell and forced him into counseling with their pastor, who told him that being gay was evil.

After Tony’s mental health began a precipitous decline—he reportedly stopped playing baseball, locked himself in his bedroom, and engaged in self-harm—Carolyn briefly consented to allowing him to undergo counseling with the local chapter of LGBTQ+ advocacy organization Rainbow Youth Project.

At the same time, however, Carolyn contacted Moms for Liberty after learning about the anti-LGBTQ+ group on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show. For months, the group reportedly bombarded Carolyn with anti-LGBTQ+ misinformation, convincing her that Rainbow Youth Project would “convince Tony to have his private parts removed and changed.”

When Carolyn pulled her son out of counseling with the group, Tony told her, “Mom, you just killed me.” He attempted suicide that same day.

Carolyn continued to engage with Moms for Liberty, receiving a visit from a member of the group’s Austin, Texas chapter who suggested that she sue Rainbow Youth Project for “damaging” her son. Tony’s mental health continued to decline, and a second suicide attempt followed.

“They were trying to indoctrinate me to be a foot soldier for their cause,” Carolyn now says of Moms for Liberty. “Looking back, it was never about Tony. It was about them.”

Crushingly, Tony says that his experience is not unique. He says he knows of at least four other young people who participated in a Rainbow Youth Project virtual peer group “that have been through exactly what I have been, where Moms for Liberty and Fox News have totally pulled their parents into this same trap my mom went through.”

Carolyn now holds Moms for Liberty partially responsible for what the now 19-year-old Tony went through after she found him unconscious on his bedroom floor, overdosing. “I’m responsible because I was literally putting him second to all of this, for lack of a better term, bulls**t, that they were giving to me, and I will never do that again. Ever,” she says.

“They are preying on people and when you have a question and you’re trying to save your kid, they took advantage of me and I honestly believe they do that with other parents.”

Tony said that he and his mother are working on their relationship.

“A lot of people hold her responsible for what happened and she is partially responsible. We’ve had that discussion and she knows how I feel about that,” he said. “But she’s really trying. Our relationship is getting stronger. We’re not there yet, but it’s getting stronger.”

Moms for Liberty’s tactics include relentless harassment, smear campaigns, and even threats of violence that are driving more moderate officials off local school boards and pro-LGBTQ+ educators out of the education system across the country, leading at least in part to a teacher shortage that is threatening schools.

As one California school board member told Vice, the group is “inciting people with conspiracy theories and inflammatory accusations about grooming that put trustees, teachers, and LGBTQ students in real danger.”

Editor’s note: This article mentions suicide. If you need to talk to someone now, call the Trans Lifeline at 1-877-565-8860. It’s staffed by trans people, for trans people. The Trevor Project provides a safe, judgment-free place to talk for LGBTQ youth at 1-866-488-7386. You can also call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

“Kids Are Safer At Drag Shows Than At Church”

I forgot if I posted this video before.  But I am finished watching it again and I like the message.   I like the way this man thinks.   Hugs

🌈 Lego Store Employees Harassed For Being WOKE!!! 🌈 (this is the world we live in now)

Unhinged Christian activist rants about oral sex in Lego store after seeing rainbow pin

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/04/unhinged-christian-activist-rants-about-oral-sex-in-lego-store-after-seeing-rainbow-pin/

Think of the irrationality of this.   This man started shouting obscenities and talking about oral sex in front of kids because he saw a rainbow pin.   How exactly is this either protecting kids or rational?  He took his self-righteous entitled anger out on store clerks, knowing they would lose their job to fight back against him.   Hugs

He shouted about how letting children see rainbows is a form of pedophilia, recording his rant and posting it online.
 
By  
The employee had enough of this unruly customer so he got security
The employee had enough of this unruly customer so he got securityPhoto: Screenshot

A man is getting roasted online after he had a temper tantrum at a Lego store because some of the employees were wearing rainbow flag pins and then posted it online.

John K. Amanchukwu Sr. – who calls himself a “faith contributor” to the far-right organization Turning Point USA (TP USA) – posted the video in which he asked an employee of a Lego store if “the Lego Group supports” LGBTQ+ people.

 

 

The employee called over another who said, “Yes.”

“But the question is,” Amanchukwu asked, “why are you all in here with those pins on? Do you think children care about what man sucks d**k at home? What girl eats vaginas at home?”

“It’s time to leave, man,” the employee responded, probably because there were children present at the store.

Amanchukwu insisted that he wanted an answer and the employee said, “I don’t think they think about that, personally.”

“They think about it when they see your pin!” Amanchukwu responded.

“No they don’t,” the employee said, who then told him to leave again while Amanchukwu said, “That’s called grooming!”

The employee said that he’ll call security and Amanchukwu threatened to tell security “that you’re in here wearing, uh, Pride flags.”

The video then cuts to when a security guard is present and Amanchukwu was still ranting about the pins.

“Most children don’t know!” Amanchukwu said, who then talked about his own kid. “He’s been educated by me. I think it’s grooming, it’s borderline pedophilia and child abuse for these weirdos to come in here and wear that and at the same time kids buy from this store!”

The security guard then told Amanchukwu to leave, and he said that he won’t spend any more money at the Lego store and started shouting to everyone at the store that “this store is intentionally promoting LGBTQ behavior on children!”

Charlie Kirk, the founder of TP USA, then posted the video to Twitter. It does not appear to be on Amanchukwu’s TikTok account anymore.

People mocked the conservative activists for thinking that shouting about genitalia and sex acts in a Lego store would protect children.