Category: Anger

Wisconsin man charged with hate crime for allegedly cutting internet cable of neighbors he thought were in the country illegally

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/wisconsin-man-charged-hate-crime-allegedly-cutting-internet-cable-neig-rcna53491

Another thug vigilante, who thinks he is entitled to enforce his version of rules on others based on his feelings.    Laws and facts mean nothing to these thugs.   He felt he had the right to deny these people a legal service because he did not like them based on their race and his incorrect idea of their immigration status.   And he was wrong, the police say the people were here legally.   But he thinks all Mexican are here illegally.   I wonder where he gets that idea?  From Fox and other right wing media that basically claims the country should only be white and have white immigrants.   What ever happened to people minding their own business and leaving others alone?  Also the asshole was not brave enough to own up to what he did originally trying to blame it on the repair person.    Hugs

“I just don’t feel that they deserve cable,” said Shannon Pearson, 48, according to a criminal complaint. “They’re illegal aliens.”
 
 
 
By Mirna Alsharif
 

A Wisconsin man was charged with a hate crime after allegedly cutting his neighbors’ internet cable because he thought they were in the country illegally and don’t deserve the service, according to a criminal complaint.

On Sept. 22, a worker came to install internet in the Eau Claire apartment upstairs from Shannon Pearson. Pearson, 48, who admitted to drinking alcohol earlier that day, told officers he “was upset because the upstairs occupants were in the country illegally” and “should not be able to get cable.”

 

Pearson initially told officers he informed the cable installer that his upstairs neighbors were in the country illegally, and the installer “freaked out” and cut the cable before leaving. Pearson says he then went upstairs to confront his neighbors, who he said don’t speak English, about their status but was pushed down the stairs by one of them.

Through an interpreter, officers interviewed the neighbors —identified as J.L. and M.A. in the complaint — who denied any type of altercation or making contact with Pearson.

The internet installer, who returned to the upstairs apartment during the interview to fix the internet, claimed Pearson “had come outside and was saying racist things” during the installation and that he cut the cable.

According to the complaint, when confronted with the cable installer’s statement, Pearson said, “I just don’t feel that they deserve cable. I’m sorry, I don’t. They’re illegal aliens.” 

He admitted to cutting the cable with scissors and reiterated that he believed his neighbors were in the country illegally because they don’t speak English.

J.L. and M.A. are not in the country illegally, according to police.

It was not specifically clear why Pearson had an issue with his neighbors, but according to the complaint, he expressed frustration to police because “Mexicans” moved into the apartment above him on a monthly basis.

Pearson was arrested and charged with felony criminal damage to property and obstructing an officer. The criminal damage charge was upgraded to a felony because it is classified as a hate crime.

He was released from jail on $1,000 bond and under the condition that he doesn’t try to contact his upstairs neighbors.

If convicted, Pearson may be fined a maximum of $10,000 and serve up to two years in prison. He’s due back in court on Nov. 28.

It’s not clear if Pearson has an attorney at this time.

“The Biggest Hypocrite in Congress” Award

GOP official wants to defund state libraries giving kids “non-age-appropriate materials”

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/10/gop-official-wants-defund-state-libraries-giving-kids-non-age-appropriate-materials/

What is wrong with these people that they want complete control over everyone’s lives?   They again want to force everyone to live by their church dictates on morality.  They are so desperate to return the country to the 1950s and make it Leave It To Beaver time again. What happened to parents’ rights to guide what their children read; do they only have rights when they do what moral police want?  Are we a police state like China where we can only read or watch what the government approves?   Notice the claim it is to protect the kids, save the children.  But it really one group of people imposing their repressive morality on everyone.   What do they think is inappropriate, any LGBTQ+ content or characters.   Anything not allowed in the 1950 polite society.    What is the prurient interest of any minor?  What he means is anything not church approved reading material about good little boys and girls who don’t have any interest in that dirty body / sex stuff or dating until they hit that magic age of 18.  He says he wants kids to stay kids a little longer, what the hell.   What he is saying is he hates that society has progressed and we understand that kids have feelings and desires that they need to know about to understand.   He doesn’t want LGBTQ+ kids knowing they are normal and the other kids around them knowing it is normal and okay.     He says he wants to give control back to local communities and parents, but he is dictating this action from the state down taking that very control from the parents / local communities.  As the library person said, who is going to decide and will it be per kids as all kids are different?     Hugs 

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft says libraries need to stop giving kids materials “that appeal to the prurient interest of any minor.”
 
By  
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft Photo: Joshua Hoover/US Dept of Education
 

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (R) – who is the state librarian – has proposed a rule that would require libraries to keep youth away from “non-age-appropriate materials” or else lose state funding.

The plan would require libraries to create a policy to determine criteria for what is and is not appropriate for different ages and says that “no funds received shall be used to purchase or acquire materials in any form that appeal to the prurient interest of any minor.”

It also allows individual parents to essentially curate what their child can access, stating that libraries would need to adopt a “policy allowing any minor’s parent or guardian to determine what materials and access will be available to a minor.”

It adds that no library employee can knowingly provide a minor with material that their parent or guardian has not approved.

“When state dollars are involved, we want to bring back local control and parental involvement in determining what children are exposed to,” Ashcroft, who is the son of former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, said in a statement. “Foremost, we want to protect our children.”

“Supporting the efforts of libraries across our state has been a priority of mine since day one – we have been able to provide millions of dollars to libraries through grants and other funding. Yes, we want to make sure libraries have the resources and materials they need for their constituents, but we also want our children to be ‘children’ a little longer than a pervasive culture many often dictate.”

Ashcroft’s proposal comes as conservatives across the country fight to ban books deemed “inappropriate” and “pornographic,” descriptions they often give to books containing LGBTQ characters and themes.

In Missouri, the city of St. Louis has already seen 114 book bans take place in schools just this fall, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The bans are the result of a new state law – which the Missouri Library Association strongly condemned – that bans “explicit sexual material,” which it defines as visual images or descriptions of genitalia or sex acts (though there are exceptions for art and science).

Regina Greer Cooper, the executive director of Missouri’s Springfield-Greene County Library, told NPR that Ashcroft’s proposal doesn’t seem necessary considering the policies the library already has in place.

“Several of the things that are in there, our library district is already doing this. We already have policies — we have a collections materials policy. We have librarians who are well trained — we buy things that are age appropriate and designated for certain ages. We place them in the library in the appropriate place for those age groups.”

She added that they also already have a method in place for parents to challenge the appropriateness of a book.

And the proposal is worrisome, she says.

“What worries me is who is going to decide, you know, which materials are in the age-appropriate areas, and are they going to have a different opinion than our trained librarians, and who is the authority with this rule, and what will happen, and how will it be implemented. Will somebody be checking on something?”

Ashcroft’s proposed rule will enter the Missouri Register on November 15th and will then undergo a 30-day comment period.

Florida approves new anti-LGBTQ rules that could cause teachers to lose their licenses

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/10/florida-approves-new-anti-lgbtq-rules-cause-teachers-lose-licenses/

There has never been a recorded verified case of a trans person attacking or harming anyone in a bathroom or locker room.    But there are many cases of trans people being attacked and harmed trying to simply use a bathroom.   Even cis women have been assaulted by vigilantes when trying to use the bathroom because they did not look female enough for the self-appointed bathroom police.    This is not about protecting kids from sexualization, knowing that gay / trans people / same sex couples exist is not sexualizing kids any more than letting them know that straight people / straight couples exist does.    Talking about the issues of gay / trans kids really means the right wing haters don’t want anti-bullying promoted and talked about.   That is what that means, a teacher cannot stand up for a bullied kid by talking of acceptance and tolerance without breaking that law.  The entire law is meant to revert the country to a more restrictive time when the LGBTQ+ were not seen in society, were villains and bad people, a time when equality for the LGBTQ+ was not an issue so the hateful bigots could attack / harass the minorities as much as they wanted.   Tell me how kids knowing teacher A is in a same sex marriage is dangerous or sexualizing kids any more than the kids knowing teacher B is in an opposite marriage.   It doesn’t, but to some people one of those is a horrible sin and shouldn’t be allowed, forcing their incorrect regressive views on everyone.   If Tommy dates girl A it is fine and not sexualizing kids, but if Tommy dates boy B it is a crime for it to be known or talked about in school because of protecting the kids?   From what?  Understand what this law is about.   It is about doing what was done in Russia, driving the LGBTQ+ out of society and destroying any acceptance / tolerance that have been earned and gained.    It is about making the LGBTQ+ illegal and removing all our rights.   They want us gone.   Starting with the kids makes it seem sort of reasonable, but in truth it is the younger generation that was driving the acceptance of the LGBTQ+ because they were friends with known LGBTQ+ people.   Stop that acceptance by making the LGBTQ+ stay hidden and we go back to when no one knew that their friends, doctors, a lot of other people in their lives were members of the LGBTQ+ community.   Hugs

In a state that already has a Don’t Say Gay law, the rules just got even tougher.
 
By  
schools, transgender, tennessee,
Photo: Shutterstock
 

The Florida Board of Education has approved new rules that will make life harder for LGBTQ people and allies.

One of the rules requires schools to post on their websites and notify parents by mail if they allow students to use bathrooms and locker rooms in accordance with their gender identity rather than their sex assigned at birth.

In a statement, Equality Florida’s Senior Political Director Joe Saunders called this policy an “attempt to bully and intimidate school districts that are providing these accommodations.”

“The Board of Education’s facilities separation rule does not and cannot prevent transgender students from accessing facilities aligned with their gender identity — we know Federal law and the constitution protect these rights,” Saunders said.

“Florida school districts have been following federal law for more than a decade, establishing policies we know will continue to work long after this politically-motivated proposed rule…[Gov.] Ron DeSantis’ war on transgender Floridians must end. All students deserve access to school facilities that are inclusive and safe.”

In the wake of the 2020 Supreme Court decision in Bostock v. Clayton County that outlawed anti-LGBTQ discrimination in the workplace, President Joe Biden signed two executive orders that said federal agencies should “fully implement” the decision by applying the reasoning that anti-LGBTQ discrimination inherently involves sex discrimination. His order included the Department of Education, meaning it has become a violation of federal law for schools to discriminate against trans students.

But the new policy from the Board doesn’t direct schools not to follow the law. It just makes them have to jump through more hoops to do so and also potentially puts them in the crossfire of angry parents who won’t support inclusive policies.

The second new rule instituted by the Board of Education is in relation to the state’s Don’t Say Gay Law, which prevents teachers from mentioning LGBTQ people in elementary schools.

The rule takes the law a step further by directly punishing teachers who violate it. It says any K-3 teacher who is found to have taught their students about LGBTQ issues can have their licenses suspended or revoked.

According to Equality Florida, the rule contradicts a recent ruling on the Don’t Say Gay law that found violations are the responsibility of the school district and not individual teachers.

“The Board of Education’s move to target individual teachers’ jobs and licenses is another cruel attack from an administration that has spent months punching down at Florida’s LGBTQ youth and families,” Saunders said. “Qualified, effective teachers are fleeing the profession in Florida thanks to the constant politicization of their roles and discrediting of their characters by the DeSantis Administration.”

“Rather than help to clarify the Don’t Say LGBTQ laws scope, the Board of Education has taken this bigoted law to yet another extreme, threatening teachers if they dare to acknowledge LGBTQ families in the classroom. This escalation in deference to the far right agenda of the governor makes our schools less inclusive – and less safe.”

The chairman of the State Board of Education, Tom Grady, defended the rule, stating, “It’s parental notification. It’s not mandating what a particular bathroom looks like or doesn’t look like or who can use it. It’s about parental notification.”

 
 

Mar-A-Lago Docs Included Intel On Iran And China

Mar-A-Lago Docs Included Intel On Iran And China

The Washington Post reports:

Some of the classified documents recovered by the FBI from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home and private club included highly sensitive intelligence regarding Iran and China, according to people familiar with the matter. If shared with others, the people said, such information could expose intelligence-gathering methods that the United States wants to keep hidden from the world.

At least one of the documents seized by the FBI describes Iran’s missile program, according to these people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe an ongoing investigation. Other documents described highly sensitive intelligence work aimed at China, they said.

Unauthorized disclosures of specific information in the documents would pose multiple risks, experts say. People aiding U.S. intelligence efforts could be endangered, and collection methods could be compromised.

Read the full article.

 

Nic Peterson • 18 hours ago

Hmmm, right now, Iran is one of Uncle Vladi’s besties and China is his payday lender. Very interesting.

 

Cultist MD Gov Nominee Accepts Gift From Proud Boys – JMG

Cultist MD Gov Nominee Accepts Gift From Proud Boys

The proud boys are part of the gang of thugs that are the republicans enforcers that intimidate the regular people who don’t want the hateful policies of the right.   This is like in the old days we thought long gone where the political parties gloried in their support from the KKK and other violent groups.   We were headed away from those times but we got snapped back to them hard because the racist haters couldn’t stand the idea of a black man being in the White House as president.   Dogs that love gravy a minority of hateful racist bigots have taken us all hostage and we have to fight back hard.    Hugs

The Washington Post reports:

As Del. Dan Cox worked the crowd at his primary victory party this summer, a young man wearing a black polo shirt with a Proud Boys insignia offered a handshake and small gift to the newly minted GOP nominee for governor. “Here, this is a present from Maryland Proud Boys to you,” the young man said in video footage publicly posted on a Dan Cox Vimeo account, naming the local chapter of a far-right extremist group with a history of violence.

The footage, posted two months ago, was online Friday morning nestled among other Cox campaign materials, attack ads against Democratic nominee Wes Moore and promotions of Cox’s biography. The clip was removed after The Washington Post contacted the Cox campaign, which responded with a statement denying an association with the young man. “In the noise of the victory celebration, it was hard to hear what was being said,” Cox said in the statement.

Read the full article.

 

Gigi • 13 hours ago

No words needed. Her expression says it all.

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A Vermonter who secretly lowered the fluoride in his town’s drinking water for years just resigned. ‘I cannot in good conscience be a party to this’

Again one science denier thinking he knew more than the medical community and everyone else.   Yes I am upset that the other town officials are claiming that they were accepting the reports because they did not understand they were wrong.   There are failures all around here, but this is something that most people don’t understand … This is a population of under 4,200 people.  I have mentioned that back in the 1960s when they were charged with abusing me, my adoptive parents moved serval times and ended up in a tiny town with more cows than people.  In Vermont.  The charges went away.   Lucky for me a very understanding gay principal of the of my new school quickly recognized my abuse and worked hard to help me.  However if you read the article until he got called out, he did fulfill all his job requirements.   Just none of his supervisors knew or understood the report number he was giving them and they signed off on.   That is their fault not his.  The state people did repeatedly over these years call him and tell him of the deficiencies that violated state requirements.    He would then bump the Floride up and then lower it again.   But the point is that this is one person who thinks they know more than anyone else anywhere and I should get to decide what treatments others get.  Sound familiar? He thinks he has the right and knowledge to decide for all the people on that water system and their children than any medical person or medical peer reviewed accepted study.   This is the situation we are fighting today with trans kids and vaccines that simply won’t accept the verified medical science.   Hugs  

BYLISA RATHKE AND THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
October 20, 2022 at 2:41 PM EDT
Richmond, Vermont

Richmond, Vermont.
AP PHOTO/WILSON RING

A town employee who quietly lowered the fluoride in a Vermont community’s drinking water for years has resigned — and is asserting that the levels had actually been low for much longer than believed.

Richmond water superintendent Kendall Chamberlin disclosed in his five-page resignation letter, submitted Monday, that fluoride levels have not been in the state-recommended range for over a decade — instead of nearly four years, as the state had recently disclosed.

Chamberlin said in his letter — in language that at times echoes unfounded reports that have circulated online in recent years — that he doesn’t think the current fluoridation policy is legally required or scientifically sound, and, in his opinion, poses “unacceptable risks to public health.”

“I cannot in good conscience be a party to this,” he wrote.

Chamberlin wrote that he has never received a negative job review, has each day accurately measured the fluoride levels in the water, and has provided monthly written reports that were approved and signed by the town manager and submitted to two state agencies.

He contends that fluoridation is voluntary and that the amounts are not mandated.

While fluoridating municipal water is voluntary, Vermont towns that do “shall control the level of fluoride” within the state’s specified ranges, according to the state’s water supply rule.

The Vermont Health Department said it does not regulate municipal water systems. It communicated frequently with Chamberlin about the target fluoridation, and “Richmond’s monthly operating reports would show signs of improvement, but levels would drop back off again,” according to Robin Miller, the health department’s director of oral health.

“We worked on good faith that all parties were working toward the same goal,” she said by email.

Months after the discovery that the fluoride added to the water was half the amount recommended by state and federal agencies, the town of Richmond said two weeks ago it would raise levels to be within range.

Town Manager Josh Arneson said Thursday that he will review fluoride levels monthly and that the town’s Water and Sewer Commission will also look at the report.

The original news that the fluoride had been reduced for nearly four years — a much shorter time than Chamberlin revealed in his resignation letter — shocked some residents and area doctors, who raised concerns about misinformation, dental health and government transparency, and said it was not a decision for Chamberlin to make alone.

The addition of fluoride to public drinking water systems has been routine in communities across the United States since the 1940s and 1950s. Many U.S. municipalities and other countries don’t fluoridate water for a variety of reasons, including opposition, feasibility and the ability to get fluoride other ways.

Critics assert that the health effects of fluoride aren’t fully known and that adding it to municipal water can amount to an unwanted medication; some communities in recent years have ended the practice.

The American Dental Association notes on its website that fluoride — along with life-giving substances such as salt, iron and oxygen — can indeed be toxic in large doses.

But in the recommended amounts, fluoride in water decreases cavities or tooth decay by about 25%, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which reported in 2018 that 73% of the U.S. population was served by water systems with adequate fluoride to protect teeth.

Mar-A-Lago Docs Included Intel On Iran And China – JMG

Mar-A-Lago Docs Included Intel On Iran And China

I tried to get to the Washington Post article but they wanted a subscription.    We have far too many things we need to pay for and I couldn’t in anyway find a way to pay for this.   Here is the Joe My God post on it.   Hugs

OT (my blog I can do this) Ron got a few minutes to talk to Odies’s vet.   He went to talk to them on the way to do the grocery shopping and talked to a desk person and they took the information as the doctor was in a something.   Totally understandable they were without power for the same time we were, so appointments were backed up and everything else.   The vet called Ron back and explained that the disability could be explained by Odie’s diabetes.    Because it started before the evacuation, diminished and got better on our trip, and got horribly worse when we got back in the home and started feeding him all the food he wanted.  She said that his diabetes could be causing that.   So we bought new insulin since his is very sensitive to temperature.   Ron got home with the new insulin for him and the instructions and immediately assigned me the job.   I gave a little push back as Ron really has much more medical training than I do, and he gave shots at work.   His answer was “He loves you; he trusts you, he always acts like I am hurting him and with you he just lays there accepting it, so I don’t want to do it”.    I said OK but if I am not available you will need to do it.   As a patient that gets very painful injections into my spine and rock-hard muscles, I understand how much it matters if you trust the person doing it.   OK back to the regularly scheduled channel.   Hugs

IMG_0450

 Now to the post!

The Washington Post reports:

Some of the classified documents recovered by the FBI from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home and private club included highly sensitive intelligence regarding Iran and China, according to people familiar with the matter. If shared with others, the people said, such information could expose intelligence-gathering methods that the United States wants to keep hidden from the world.

At least one of the documents seized by the FBI describes Iran’s missile program, according to these people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe an ongoing investigation. Other documents described highly sensitive intelligence work aimed at China, they said.

Unauthorized disclosures of specific information in the documents would pose multiple risks, experts say. People aiding U.S. intelligence efforts could be endangered, and collection methods could be compromised.

Read the full article.

 

Trans icons Juno Dawson and Hannah Graf rally against ‘dangerous’ anti-trans public figures

Trans icons Juno Dawson and Hannah Graf rally against ‘dangerous’ anti-trans public figures

One thing people need to understand is I am pro-science, pro-professional training, pro-advances in society.   I support things that make life better for people that are data / science driven.   I like facts and data.   I do not like and actively argue against lies, misinformation, and bigoty / hate.   On trans issues the science is in and clearly proven.   Yes some details around the edges may need to be worked on for society which gives the anti-trans haters the room to attack, but the medical science has proven that the issue of gender of a person is not connected to biological sex determination at birth.   Sex is not limited to a binary of if it dangles it is male and if not it is female.   Both biological sex and gender are a spectrum regardless of how loud the deniers who want to go back to easier simpler times will scream.  Those are accepted medical facts.   Just like decades of climate change denial was false and lost time in fixing a the issue, so is denying the gender / trans issue.   At one time being gay was thought a mental illness, but the medical community researched it and realized it was a normal inborn condition.  Society adjusted even though some people still fight against our acceptance to this day.   The same will be with trans gender people.   But now the right / hating bigots have learned how to use social media and right wing media to mass spread misinformation and scary stuff to the public.   That is where we are and what I fight.   It is like the Covid deniers / vaccine hate myths /  Qanon believers / and bigfoot believers they all don’t accept reality and medical science.   Instead they believe lies, myths, misinformation and will fight to the death in their belief.    They are wrong!  One fact no anti-trans person can argue against is that the major medical organizations support affirmative trans gender care and treatment as best practices and there is decades of use of puberty blockers that show they are safe and reversable.   These are facts.   The haters scream that puberty blockers are unsafe and cause all the evils in life, but the truth is they have been used in some forms since the 1970s and fully accepted by the medical establishment in 1993.  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved puberty blockers in 1993.   Nearly 30 years ago and that is after the studies were conducted.    

I will have a civil discussion with anyone on the subject of trans gender issues.  I will not tolerate slurs or repeated misrepresentations, myths, and lies.   Once a subject / issue has been addressed it is not to be repeatedly brought up days later.   It has been addressed and done.  I won’t allow disinformation and will call out fringe unscientific claims of studies or unfounded fake medical claims.  I am about truth and science, the real verifiable data with peer reviewed studies, which so far have all confirmed that gender and biological sex is a spectrum, and that trans gender best practice treatment is the affirmative transition treatment given today.   Hugs  

Juno Dawson, Joanne Harris and Hannah Graf MBE

Juno Dawson, Joanne Harris and Hannah Graf MBE at the PinkNews Awards 2022. (PinkNews Awards 2022)

Trans icons Hannah Graf MBE and Juno Dawson have slammed well-known public figures and for stoking “uninformed and divisive” views against the trans community. 

The pair spoke at the PinkNews Awards 2022, supported by joint headline sponsors Lloyds Banking Group and United Airlines, where they presented the Ally of the Year award to Chocolat author Joanne Harris.

In her speech Graf, a former officer of the British Army, detailed how “vital allies are” and shared how she had felt “isolation and fear” while growing up.

 

“On a positive note younger trans people, particularly today, we have more role models, more support networks, more understanding of who they are than ever before.

“That support is from parents, friends, organisations like Mermaids, they now have somewhere to turn to and feel that little bit less alone.”

Juno Dawson, Joanne Harris and Hannah Graf.
Juno Dawson, Joanne Harris and Hannah Graf. (PinkNews Awards 2022)

But despite the increased support available, Graf highlighted that “trans young folk remain under attack”. 

“They are bullied at school by their peers, sometimes even their teachers,” she said. 

She added that trans children’s families are often attacked for supporting them and the media “continues to debate their very existence”.

“This becomes truly dangerous when it then gets involved with public figures with huge social media followings, most of whom have never talked to a trans child or their terrified parents.”

She said these figures spout “uninformed and divisive” views, and added: “The mainstream media would have us believe these are innocent concerns vocalised for the good of society, but freedom of speech should not be freedom from consequence. 

“For example, the sustained and utterly inexplicable Twitter campaign from a certain author – she who who must not be named – against trans youth charity Mermaids of which I’m a proud patron.”

Graf said the impact of the author’s Twitter campaign has been “truly devastating” and led to the abuse of the charity’s volunteers.

 

She recalled terrible names the team have been called and said “multiple death threats have been made specially at individuals”, with people’s and addresses and phone numbers also being shared online. 

“This is to a charity that has been largely run by mothers, fathers, volunteers, all of who are now afraid for their own safety and the safety of their children.

“I’m sorry, but If your words incite these behaviors then you are accountable,” Graf added.

Hannah Graf MBE (l) and Juno Dawson
Hannah Graf MBE (l) and Juno Dawson at the PinkNews Awards 2022. (PinkNews Awards 2022)

Bestselling author Dawson noted the mainstream media “like to create a myth that there is some great ideological divide between cisgender women and trans women”. 

She explained that the first people she came out to were all cisgender women and highlighted how if they speak up for their trans brothers and sisters they are “shut down and locked out”.

The duo then presented the Ally of the Year award which went to Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat, who said it was “so wonderful” to finally have a “supportive, wonderful, fabulous community that I understand and that understands me”.

Joanne Harris
PinkNews’ Ally of the Year Joanne Harris. (PinNews Awards 2022)

She said she didn’t feel she deserved the award as she “only tweeted” and said a few things, so she dedicated the award to her trans son, who came out in June. 

Harris was subjected to vicious online abuse this year due to her support for trans people, with one academic claiming people with trans children should be forced to “declare” their family relationships.

“I’m still coming to terms with what that means, but I’m so impressed by this young generation of people who are so incredibly articulate about their gender, their sexuality and their mental health.

“These magical children who don’t need a special hat to tell them who they are, but who have actually worked it out for themselves.”

‘I was a target’

In an interview at the PinkNews Awards 2022, Harris said she started talking about trans issues five years ago but didn’t realise there would be so much “push back”

When her son came out as trans Harris realised “not only was he a target, but so was I”.

“So I thought, damn it, I’m just going to come out and say things as they are. I think it’s important that people understand that this ridiculous media-driven culture war narrative, where the trans people are the enemy, is just so dangerous and so divisive and it absolutely needs to be combatted.”

Harris added there are so many powerful and influential people sharing the anti-trans narrative that it is time “that somebody else stood up and spoke the truth”.

A shocking 80 per cent of LGBTQ+ students feel unsafe in school, report reveals

Overwhelming majority of LGBTQ+ students feel unsafe in school, report finds

No child or staff of a school should feel unsafe or be without food, comfort, or needed medical care.   It is hard enough to learn and some kids have a lot of issue that make it harder for them.   Anything that can make it easier for them to process the information learning to thing / reason is something we as adults / a society need to do.  Teachers need to feel safe.   Teaching is a skill, not everyone can do it or do it well.  I use to teach people unfamiliar with operating windows some basics and how to set some settings.   I got good at doing this even over the phone.  But it takes being able to see in your mind what should be and also what the other person is seeing and talking in a way that limits confusion.   I have had great teachers in my life that I still remember what they taught and how they kept me interested and I have had teachers I couldn’t learn from and sleepwalked through the classes.   Teachers need to focus on their students and the lessons.   The idea that teacher have an easy job and don’t work much is so wrong an entire post could be made to debunk it.  Teachers shouldn’t be providing the needs students have for supplies, yet a lot do now.   When I was a kid our communities were proud to show how well the local schools were funded and had everything they needed.   That is not happening today.   Public schools have been starved for so long they are nearly skeletons of their former selves.   Education is the way we improve life and progress for all.    Our youth / children are the future of our country and they will one day be the leaders of the country, if our 80 and 90 year old will ever step aside.   If we don’t want to backslide into a less educated / less progressive time we need to fund public education and treat the idea of schools with the seriousness / importance it needs / should have.  These don’t say gay and the removal of supportive acceptance posters / clubs   Hugs

More than 80 per cent of LGBTQ+ students reported feeling unsafe at school last year

More than 80 per cent of LGBTQ+ students reported feeling unsafe at school last year (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

More than 80 per cent of LGBTQ+ students across the United States reported feeling unsafe at school in the last year, a new survey has found.

An annual report from the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN), found that 81.8 per cent of LGBTQ+ students surveyed felt unsafe at school because of “at least one of their actual or perceived personal characteristics”, with nearly a fifth of these students (16.2 per cent) reporting that these feelings led them to change schools.

The study, published on Tuesday (18 October), also found 32 per cent of LGBTQ+ students across the US had missed at least one full day of school over concerns for their safety.

 

Disturbingly, LGBTQ+ students reported experiencing increased high levels of verbal and physical harassment from their peers in the past year, with more than 75 per cent reporting in-person verbal harassment at school due to their sexual orientation or gender identity, and a horrific 12 per cent saying they were physically assaulted in the last year.

GLSEN said the findings indicate “specific school-based supports” including “an LGBTQ+ inclusive curriculum and supportive student clubs” are sorely needed in the country.

The organization’s chief of staff Aaron Ridings said findings come at a time when students have reported “a decline in school resources” to tackle LGBTQ+ discrimination, as well as “the COVID-19 pandemic [creating] a period of mass disruption and trauma”.

The research comes as students across the US face waves of discrimination in the form of homophobic and transphobic laws from the government. Alabama has banned gender-affirming healthcare for trans youth and several states have banned trans students from playing sports at school.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis also pushed through the much-criticised Don’t Say Gay bill in March, restricting schools from discussing LGBTQ+ issues in classrooms.

Some Republican politicians now want to roll that bill out across all of the US.

Teachers in Florida have spoken out about the damaging implications of the bill, with educators fearing “legal action” if they defy the bill to teach children about LGBTQ+ families.

Cory Bernaert, a Florida elementary school teacher, told PinkNews at the time of the bill’s passing that it was hurtful both “personally and professionally”.

“I do feel that teachers are going to be mindful because it is now law, and the last thing that an educator wants to worry about is any sort of legal action taken against them,” he said.

“The fear is there… I don’t blame them. It feels as if we have been bullied.”

Ensure ‘safe and affirming schools’

GLSEN wrote that despite this, an LGBTQ+ inclusive curriculum, supportive educators, and LGBTQ+ clubs is a way forward to ensure queer youth feel safe in a school environment. 

“Instituting these measures can move us toward a future in which all students have the opportunity to learn and succeed in school, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression,” GLSEN wrote.

“Especially given the decline in LGBTQ+ supports in schools that we found in this year’s report, it is imperative that all who are committed to ensuring safe and affirming schools for all students intensify their efforts in policy, advocacy, and classroom practices.”