Is this the US exceptionalism that the right keeps saying we need to instruct kids in schools? No this is the part of history they want to whitewash away. This is what the rabid right wing and Republicans like DeathSantis and Stephen Miller do not want US kids to know about. The US was not always the shining knight doing the best thing for everyone. The US like every country has a dark past that needs to be acknowledged and accepted so we can heal and never repeat them again. But if the right can erase these actions then they can also repeat them.
Is this indoctrination? Compare this to the don’t say gay bills Republicans are pushing in public schools and the public school religious staff that push their religion on the kids despite the laws against it. People need to understand this is a concentrated push to rewind the culture war on LGBTQ+ that the right lost and make the LGBTQ+ go away so they can pretend the right way to live and the way everyone does is heteronormative and in accordance with church doctrines. I went to a private church boarding school. Yes most were straight horny kids, but there was a bunch of gay kids, just very much in the closet. We had to pretend we agreed with the anti-homo language to survive and graduate but for those raised in the church it ate deep into them. It agonized them about the thing they were that their god despised along with everyone they knew and loved. It is a horrible thing to try to pray away part of yourself and think you are going to hell because of something you cannot change. I know, I lived it. Thankfully for me it was only for only 2 years and it got me out of a worse hell. I know boys raised in the faith who are gay who never got over it. One boy was so terrified of being found out he was gay he wouldn’t even shower nude, he wore his underwear. We had large communal shower rooms. To me doing that to a kid, installing that much fear over a normal thing they are born with is child abuse. Yet there are people still doing it to their kids and there are others doing everything they can to push us back to those days. By the way the comments I found were very interesting as well. Hugs
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A homework assignment given to several middle-schoolers at Christian Academy of Louisville encourages students to persuade an imaginary friend to reject homosexuality.
And parents, members of the LGBTQ community and others aren’t pleased.
The assignment, which was due Thursday, came to the light Friday, when JP Davis, a Kentucky-based business owner, posted screenshots of the assignment on social media.
CAL officials confirmed the assignment late Friday afternoon.
Davis told The Courier Journal he was shown the homework by a close friend with a child who attends CAL who was “visibly and understandably upset about the assignment.”
“Her kid is in the class that was given the assignment, and he and her are both uncomfortable with it,” Davis, owner of the JP Davis Partners consulting agency, said. “She doesn’t know how to handle it. … And her kid’s upset.”
Screenshots show the assignment required students to write a letter to a hypothetical friend “struggling with homosexuality” and persuade them “God’s design for them is good,” “homosexuality will not bring them satisfaction” and “you love them even though you don’t approve of their lifestyle.”
Modern day education assignment at Christian Academy of Louisville. Middle school. Write a letter to your homosexual friend explaining why it’s wrong. Shameful. #stopthehatepic.twitter.com/UdgXv3FEBA
“Assume that you have known this friend since kindergarten, that you go to the same church and that you have been pretty good friends over the years until now,” the screenshot of the assignment read. “… The aim of your letter should be to lovingly and compassionately speak truth to the person you’re talking to in a way that does not approve of any sin. Instead, TRY TO PERSUADE THEM OF THE GOODNESS OF GOD’S DESIGN for them.”
In an email Friday afternoon, Christian Academy of Louisville School System Superintendent Darin Long said the assignment had been given to students in a middle school Bible elective class.
The homework was “part of a unit of study which discusses ‘What are humans and where is their identity?'” Long wrote, and “in context, was how a person could discuss homosexuality with a friend from a biblical perspective with compassion and love.”
“This hypothetical friend conversation was for our students to review the class discussions and their perspectives on the subject,” his statement said. “Moving forward, we will review this assignment to ensure there is clarity in its purpose and language.”
The Christian Academy School System is a private school system in the region with a Christianity-based curriculum. It has four campuses in Louisville and Southern Indiana. More than 3,000 children are in the school system.
Davis said the issue is personal to him. He spent the first 23 years of his life hiding his homosexuality, he said, before coming out as a gay man.
It took him a long time to gather the courage to go public, he said, and as he gets closer to 40, Davis said he doesn’t want the next generation to face the same struggles.
“The statistics speak for themselves on suicide among LGBTQ+ people, and these are seventh-graders that are being subjected to hate and division, and it’s not necessary,” Davis said. “I know it’s a Christian school, but that’s not my Christianity. That’s not my values. And that’s not what Jesus, if they want to make that argument, represented. Jesus didn’t go around asking people to judge and tell other people how they’re wrong and shame.”
A 2002 CAL graduate with ties to the school, Kylee Marcy told The Courier Journal she was also outraged when she heard about the assignment Friday morning through a social media post. She said she immediately reached out to other alumni, as well as parents who have kids at CAL.
She was angry, she said. But she wasn’t surprised.
“I would not call this out of character in any way,” she said. “But I was still really disappointed because I’ve been gone 20 years, and I would’ve hoped that in 20 years maybe they would have learned that love is the way to go, as opposed to the fire-and-brimstone hate. But it doesn’t seem like it to me.”
Marcy said the text and contents of the assignment indicate it was homework issued in the school’s Christian Worldview class. She questioned why CAL would focus an assignment targeting one sin — “if you do believe homosexuality is a sin, which I personally do not” – and called on the school to make some changes moving forward.
“I would like them to issue an apology and change the Christian Worldview class curriculum, and I would like that this specific teacher issue an apology to at least the parents and the students,” Marcy said.
In Long’s statement, he said CAL teaches content “with a biblical worldview” and said the school believes marriage should be between a man and a woman and that it also encourages tolerance.
“We believe that God created the marriage covenant to be between one man and one woman (Gen. 1:27, Gen. 2:24). We believe that sex is a good gift of God, to be celebrated within the confines of the marriage covenant, agreeing that all other sexual expressions go against God’s design. (1 Cor. 6:18, Gal. 5:19),” Long’s statement said.
“We believe that all individuals are created in the image of God, and therefore should be treated with compassion, respect, dignity and love at all times even in disagreement.”
It makes me uncomfortable when you make me touch your pee pee during confession. I specially don’t like the sticky mess that it causes. Could you please stop doing that? My teacher said it is wrong and that I should write you a letter.
By the time I was in Middle School, I was clearly aware that I was gay. My first thought on reading this is what happens to the kid in this school who is struggling with all of this? It’s that particular brand of cruelty and manipulation that goes by the name christian.
Turn The Table: Public school assignment from atheist teacher requires students to write a letter to a hypothetical friend “struggling with Christianity” and persuade them “God isn’t real,” “fairy tale beliefs will not bring them satisfaction” and “you love them even though you don’t approve of their chosen religious lifestyle.”
“The school was one of ten private schools established in the wake of a court ordered busing to desegregate public school in Jefferson county in 1975. Farmer claimed that the school was not an escape from integration, but that busing “caused people to take a closer look at the school system.”
Because I’m so far removed from first coming out and from being in this kind of Christian environment, I laughed at this. I realize that for many it’s not funny, and I’ll address that in a minute. But these assholes actually think that we’re all sitting around waiting for them to come to our doors and tell us what they think about how we ought to live our lives. We aren’t. As the 70s song said, “You can’t even run your own life. I’ll be damned if you run mine!” So it’s just funny to me that they think this “letter” will contain something about how parts of society view homosexuality that an actual homosexual has never heard or thought about. I mean really. But that’s how those people think.
Of course this isn’t funny that young people are being taught that being a buttinsky isn’t going to get them smacked in the face (literally or figuratively) because it is. Of course they’ll just play martyr when that happens. But it’s what they deserve. It’s the same thing you’d deserve if you walked up to someone and commented on their weight or how they are dressed. That’s on you if you want to do shit like that. I don’t recommend it and when they smack you one, I’m going to cheer and by them a hot beverage of their choice.
Anyway, this just typical of how this crowd thinks. I wonder what sexual harassment that school is covering up at the moment while they worry that some people are off being gay somewhere. Yeah. Fucking pile of hypocrites, the lot of them.
Christians and other religious cults have to recruit members to the cult because no one‘s born believing in a religious cult. They have to be recruited, indoctrinated and brainwashed into them, peferably from birth.
Can someone tell me why this action by the Israeli military is supported by the civilized world? Why does the US give billions of dollars a year to a country that has a population of people they attack even as those people try to have a funeral for their members killed by that very military? She was a clearly marked member of the press that the Israeli military did not want to report their abuses of the Palestinian people. So they killed her. Then they attacked her funeral and harassed her parents at their home that day claiming the occupied people who have no rights to fly or hold up their own flags. It might upset the good real people of the nation, the Jewish people. I am not an antisemite and shouldn’t have to say that. Criticizing the actions of a belligerent government against people unable to defend themselves is not bigotry against the Jewish people. The people of Palestine have no rights. They live under military rule. Their children can and often are rounded up and detained for no reason and the government doesn’t need a reason according to the Israeli government. The Palestinians live in an open air prison under military rule of an occupying army and they have no rights. The Israeli position is that they want to make it so horrible that all these people either die or leave, giving all of the land to the occupiers, who claim it’s all theirs given to them by their god. And the US government supports this. Your tax dollars support this. Hugs
Disturbing video shows Israeli riot police clashing with mourners at the funeral for Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed two days earlier as she covered an army raid in the Israeli occupied West Bank. At one point, the tussling becomes so intense that her coffin almost topples to the ground.
Veteran Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed by the Israeli Defense Forces in the West Bank during her assignment covering Israeli raids in the Jenin refugee camp. Israel disputes that she was killed on purpose by Israeli gunfire, even though multiple eyewitnesses claim that there was no fighting before Abu Akleh and her crew arrived as well as her wearing an obviously marked press vest.
“Israeli forces killed a Palestinian American journalist for the Al Jazeera news network in the West Bank early Wednesday, according to the network and the Palestinian Health Ministry. Israeli officials said the journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, was killed in an exchange of gunfire but said they had not determined who fired the fatal shot. Abu Akleh, 51, a longtime Al Jazeera correspondent and a revered figure on Arab television screens, was shot in the neck while covering Israeli raids in the Jenin refugee camp, according to witness accounts. In a statement, Al Jazeera accused Israeli forces of killing Abu Akleh “in cold blood” and said she had been “clearly wearing a press jacket that identifies her as a journalist.” In interviews, multiple eyewitnesses — including two journalists who were standing next to Abu Akleh — disputed Israeli assertions that she was killed during crossfire, saying there was no fighting in the area just before Abu Akleh was shot.”
A Louisiana pastor and headmaster of a Christian school who is also a member of the sate Republican Party governing board has been arrested for a second time on juvenile cruelty charges. John Raymond, 60, pastor of New Horizon Church in Slidell and founder of Lakeside Christian Academy, is an elected member of the Louisiana Republican Party State Central Committee.
Police said the new allegations include Raymond holding a 4-year-old boy upside down by his ankles and “whipping his buttocks” and in a separate incident covering the same child’s mouth and nose with his hand to stop a “tantrum.” Witnesses reported Raymond’s actions prevented the child from breathing “to the point of him going limp.” A staff member said the child was “out of it and lethargic” and “unable to stand.”
Raymond unsuccessfully ran for the Slidell-based 90th District seat in the state House of Representatives in 2018. His campaign played heavily on his support of President Donald Trump and his opposition to gay marriage, and Raymond touted himself as the most conservative Republican in a race that featured several other GOP candidates. He lost that race in a runoff to Mary DuBuisson, another Republican.
Raymond was a “Survivor” contestant in 2002; he was the voted off the island in Thailand. A story published about his exit from “Survivor” in 2002 described him as “bossy, dominating and (who) irritated his tribemates.” He has been active in state Republican politics as a member of the Louisiana Republican Party State Central Committee as credentials committee chair who determines if there is a quorum during meetings.
Story: Louisiana pastor, school headmaster and Republican Party official arrested again on new juvenile cruelty charge, accused of holding 4yo upside down by ankles and whipping him. John Raymond has bonded out of jail #lagov#lalegehttps://t.co/WEHF2bCz13 via @theadvertiser
Raymond had previous been arrested by Slidell Police on April 7 and charged with three counts of cruelty to a juvenile after allegedly taping three 13-year-old students’ mouths shut with packing tape for talking too much in class.
Raymond said the students were offered a choice between calling their parents to say that they were suspended or having Raymond tape their mouths. He blamed the students for upsetting a teacher.
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””
Scottie's Playtime 