I am the youngest public plaintiff in the “Don’t Say Gay” lawsuit. I am my Florida high school’s first openly-gay Class President. I am being silenced, and I need your help. 🧵
A few days ago, my principal called me into his office and informed me that if my graduation speech referenced my activism or role as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, school administration had a signal to cut off my microphone, end my speech, and halt the ceremony. (2/8)
I am the first openly-gay Class President in my school’s history–this censorship seems to show that they want me to be the last. This threat is not the first that I have received from administration about my queer rights. (3/8)
When administration discovered that I was organizing a Say Gay walkout, they had all our posters ripped from the walls and told me to shut down the protest. They said they would send school security if I did not listen. (4/8)
I held the walkout anyways, and it became our county’s largest protest. I won’t give into threats and I won’t be silenced. I have a plan to fight back again, and this time, I need your help. (5/8)
The SEE Initiative has secured 10,000 Say Gay stickers that we’re prepared to ship to high school seniors across Florida. We want you to wear them on your gowns as you cross the graduation stage, reminding underclassmen that we’re done with highschool, not the fight. (6/8)
Tennessee cops bust down the door of a 16-year-old transgender girl while she was playing Minecraft on a Twitch live stream for being truant from school. As it turns out, the school rejected her use of her preferred bathroom and was pressured into going to school online, and since she protested the online schooling, she was taken away into foster care. Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian discuss on The Young Turks.
Read more HERE: https://twitter.com/keffals/status/15… “a 16-year-old trans girl from Tennessee was denied an education because she wasn’t allowed to use the correct washroom. the state decided she was truant. while playing minecraft, cops busted her bedroom door down and before dragging her into foster care asked “are you winning””
A new nationwide survey confirms once again what LGBTQ+ people of all ages already knew: affirming and supporting queer and trans youth saves lives.
On Wednesday, LGBTQ+ advocacy and crisis support organization The Trevor Project released its latest research into the mental health of queer youth, a survey of 34,000 young people ages 13-24. The report is a revealing portrait of how LGBTQ+ youth are dealing with legislative attacks and the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a road map for how to best support them.
One key finding in the survey — as has been noted in almost every other study of its kind, including last year’s survey — is the power of family and community affirmation to positively influence mental health. According to the report, only 6% of LGBTQ+ youth who “felt high social support from their family” had attempted suicide in the past year, less than half the rate of those who felt they had “low to moderate” family support. The same was true for communities in general; 21% of youth who described their community as “very unaccepting” had attempted suicide in the past year, compared with just 8% of youth who lived in “very accepting” communities.
The survey, which recruited participants via targeted social media ads, also highlighted the diversity and complex experiences of LGBTQ+ young people. 55% of survey respondents were White, compared to around 60% of the general U.S. population per the 2020 Census; 51% identified themselves as bi or pansexual, and 48% said they were transgender or nonbinary.
“Lumping diverse youth into broad identity categories and applying single-size approaches does a disservice to everyone, and makes our work to end LGBTQ youth suicide even harder,” said Dr. Myeshia Price, Senior Research Scientist for The Trevor Project, in a statement. “This year’s findings emphasize the importance of intersectionality in research, particularly among a community as diverse as LGBTQ youth, as disparities in mental health and suicide risk were found across race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity.”
The survey also highlighted struggles that LGBTQ+ youth face in obtaining mental health care. Overall, of the factors preventing young people from obtaining the proper care, “fear of discussing mental health concerns” was the most common barrier, followed by “concerns with obtaining parent/caregiver permission,” the fear of not being taken seriously by providers, and affordability of care.
Even when it doesn’t pass, discriminatory legislation still impacts trans youth.
Crucially, however, the survey also includes data on how to best support LGBTQ+ young people, and things that bring them joy. Respondents reported feeling support from parents and caregivers who were welcoming to queer and trans peers, “talked with them respectfully” about their identity, and simply used their proper names and pronouns. “[T]hey also described hundreds of ways in which they find joy and strength in their lives,” the report notes, like attending drag shows, dance, video games, and “just knowing that there’s people out there like me.” That joy of community can come from close relationships and mass media alike; 89% of respondents said LGBTQ+ representation in TV shows and movies “made them feel good about being LGBTQ,” as did celebrities coming out and non-LGBTQ+ celebrities expressing allyship.
“We urge fellow researchers to include expansive identity terminology in all youth survey research, and for public health officials and youth-serving organizations to tailor services to meet LGBTQ youth’s unique needs,” said Dr. Price. “Only then will we be able to better understand and support the young people who need us most.”
I like this video blogger. A vlogger is someone who uses an avatar instead of their face while they do their videos. The avatar is female, but the blogger is male, happily male. Cis Male. Also is happily polysexual, but that is beside the point. He uses a female avatar to make the point that it doesn’t matter to him, he doesn’t get upset over it. I preferred it when he used his own face and body to do his videos, but I understand his point.
His content covers a lot of subjects and I recommend you check out his other videos. He is a staunch supporter of LGBTQ+ rights despite having been raised a highly evangelical conservative Christian forced to attend church schools. He admits he believed the crap forced on him and treated the LGBTQ+ very badly as a teen and young adult. He even drove away a friend he had for years because the friend was gay. Even though Chris tried to apologize that friend never forgave his treatment by Chris and that is something Chris understands and regrets to this day. Suris / Chris claims it took getting away from his highly religious parents and that community living on his own in the real world that he had his eyes opened. When he tried to push the religious views he had been taught to be normal and the way things should be he found himself at odds with all the people he wanted to be friends with. Talking to them and listening to who they really were, he found he couldn’t reconcile that with what he had been taught. So he started to open his eyes and change his views. Unfortunately, as he says he can never make it up to those he hurt and bullied for his god because he was taught that was what his god wanted. At least he is honest and will admit the damage his highly religious upbringing did to him and the people he encountered.
At the very beginning there is some blog stuff he does with his followers, I usually ignore it as I am also doing other things. It is not very long but if it bothers you please fast forward to the real subject of the video, a Florida teacher got fired for answering a question by her students over her family / sexual partner relationships. Spoiler she was not graphic nor explicit, but she simply was not cis heterosexual one woman one man. How dare she let kids know that all people don’t follow that religious dictate! Watch the video to what life in the US under Republican rabid right religious wing is going to be like. Remember these are not little kids these are middle schoolers what was called JR high in my schooling years. This was not about teens drawing sexual pictures of their orientations but about the flags they drew representing their orientations. Colored flags are now so offensive that you can be fired in Florida if they do not represent the republican religious heterosexual normative one man / one woman only nature of sexual expression. I hate this so much! The right wing media really misrepresented this story.
Channel 9 is learning more about an alleged “cult-like” secret society operating within Leesburg High School involving both faculty and students. Records show it was started as some kind of religious group by two school employees and a few former students.
Gabriel Fielder has requested a chance to resign in lieu of termination after a report was made to Leesburg police by a former student who said he was “a member of a secret society at Leesburg High School called the Elder Council.”
State records show Fielder and a guidance counselor named Leonardo Finelli started a nonprofit group in 2019 named Elder Council, Inc. It’s described in part as setup for “not-for-profit missions and teaching activities for the greatest evangelical Christian church globally.”
The former student also told police that the guidance counselor once sent sexual text messages to him and asked to “meet up.”
The man told police that he did not meet up with Finello. Once he graduated, however, he told police the two were in a romantic relationship for about three months, the report stated.
While the text messages were “romantic” in nature, they did not contain sexually explicit or pornographic images, the report stated. Because the alleged sexual activity was between two consenting adults, no criminal charges were filed.
The number of members of the group, which has now reportedly disbanded, is not yet clear. The incorporation papers for the nonprofit list a 13-acre Marion County property owned by Felder as its address.
Please take 2 minutes out of your day and watch @PeteButtigieg perfectly articulate why Republicans behave the way that they do, and how it harms people more than it could ever help.
Scottie's Playtime 