Personally, I’d like to see child-development science curriculum implemented for secondary high school students, and it could also include racial- and neuro-diversity, albeit not overly complicated. It would be mandatory course material, however, and considerably more detailed than what’s already covered by home economics, etcetera, curriculum: e.g. diaper changing, baby feeding and so forth. I don’t think the latter is anywhere near sufficient (at least not how I experienced it) when it comes to the proper development of a child’s mind.
For one thing, the curriculum could/would make available to students potentially valuable/useful knowledge about their own psyches and why they are the way they are. And besides their own nature, students can also learn about the natures of their peers, which might foster greater tolerance for atypical personalities. If nothing else, the curriculum would offer students an idea/clue as to whether they’re emotionally/mentally compatible with the immense responsibility and strains of parenthood.
Meanwhile, a person can have an unlimited number of children regardless of one’s incapacity to raise them in a healthy manner, let alone according to child-development science. And consequential dysfunctional parenting occurs considerably more often than what is officially known or acknowledged.
Hello Fgsjr. My feeling is that students / children / kids / young people should be given more information not less. All these bills pushed and passed by Republicans are restricting information, restricting knowledge from kids. Why? They seem to be of the idea that if the kids that are not exposed to LGBTQ+ information then won’t be LGBTQ+, and they won’t be supportive of the LGBTQ+ other kids. It is like these people feel that being LGBTQ+ is attractive or better so if kids know it exists, they will do it also. That is silly of course. But I watched the guy who wrote and pushed the Florida “Don’t Say Gay” bill, and he made it clear this is not about keeping little kids from learning about sex, he is a real hard core bigot that hates gays and wants them erased from society. He is bothered by same sex marriage, he hates that gays can be teachers, that gays can adopt, and he feels there are far too many of them. Yes too many of them. I posted that he said he was very upset that kids who came out were accepted as OK and not ostracized and bullied like he felt they should be. He said they were nobodies who were treated like celebrities. So when people start to tell you they are planning to restrict information you have to ask why, what do they want to accomplish.
So the Republicans want to restrict kids from learning about history, diversity, slavery, any US committed wrongs, sexuality, gender, biology, evolution, climate science, and medical science. They are pushing all that under parents’ rights. What I see all these have in common is religion. IMO. US excellence says the US can do no wrong because we are god’s favorite, established by God himself, and all those things I mention are parts of the culture wars that the religious groups are waging and until 2016 were losing. This seems to be part of the Blitz project to return the US to more and more Christian control, more help to fight against the loss of religious privilege. To promote the enforcement of Christian doctrines in the US. What they learned from Russia is if you deny the gay groups a presence and the right to defend themselves then constant attacks on them can change public perception to deep negatives. In Russia gay people were making great advances in rights and acceptance, making the church furious. So they got Putin to make any positive mention of gays where minors could hear or see it illegal on the grounds it corrupted kids. It sexualized kids, it was grooming of kids. It was recruiting kids to be gay. It was denying parents’ rights to teach their kids the morals they wanted them to have, which was gay is wrong and evil. Same basically as being pushed here now by republicans. I wonder if that is why they love Putin? So when the gays went to defend themselves, they got arrested. They couldn’t even show their pride flag. No one could argue against the bill or a pro-gay stance in newspapers, books, TV, online or on any medium a minor could see or hear as that violated the law. It may corrupt that child. Where a minor could see or hear it was intended to be overly broad and vague to mean anything in the public or anything a child could accidently find. It was designed to take the voice way from the marginalized, and it worked. Gay representation in public disappeared. No gay people or programs on TV, none in schools, no support groups or posters at school, no books about gays or gay subjects, no gay people in movies, gays became invisible. No gay internet sites and no gay help sites for gay kids to go to in hopes of understanding themselves. The program worked as far as the church and government was concern, it wiped out the gays from society and returned them to hated status. It did not however stop young people from realizing they were gay. See what these people cannot understand is gays are not recruited, but they are created. But not by other gay monsters. The gay kids are created by straight couples who have kids and some of them will be gay. LGBTQ+, the same sex attraction, the gender ID, and all of it is born within us and formed in the womb. So no matter how hard you deny gay, lesbian, or trans people they will keep being born. But what these groups of bigots do that manage to change the laws to erase the LGBTQ+ from the public like in Russia really accomplish is to make life harder for every gay, lesbian, trans kid / adult that is born. It gives them nowhere to find acceptance, it gives them no medical help, it gives them nowhere to go to understand themselves, and it gives them nowhere to turn when / if they are abused.
The abuse one is not only limited to LGBTQ+ kids but all kids. Recently a religious group blocked a program to prevent child abuse that taught kids their bodies were their own and they had a right to say who touched them and why. The program taught that if their parents were touching them wrong and making them do sexual acts, they should tell another adult as that was wrong. That was the part the religious group demanded to have taken out and replace with “Parents should be trusted and obey at all times”. Doesn’t that set off alarm bells in your head?
So In Russia the public acceptance and presence of the gay people has plummeted. No gay pride flags. No gay pride parades. No gay newspapers, those few left were closed down by the state and the people arrested with long prison terms. The polling shows that gay / lesbian acceptance that was increasing yearly has plummeted. When asked why the people have negative feelings toward gay people the response now is that those people are targeting kids for sex, recruiting them to become gay monsters like they are. That is what these Republican assholes want in the US, and in the red states they are getting it. It really scares me. The state I am living in is returning to the way things were when I was a kid and everyone repeated Anita Bryant’s hateful slander of the gays including the teens and adult males who were raping me.
Fgsjr. Sorry for the rant. This got a lot longer and more emotional than I had intended. I am still having issues from the story I posted the other day. It has nothing to do with you and I thank you for the comment that I could reply to and get these things off my chest. I am going to proofread this, sent it as a reply, and then post it as a post on its own. Your comment was grand. It needs more people to see it. Thanks
Negotiations between the Florida Senate and House of Representatives, both controlled by Republicans, broke down, with the two sides unable to agree on a bill that would require inspections of aging condo buildings and mandate that condo boards conduct studies to determine how much they need to set aside for repairs. The talks were undone by a disagreement over how much flexibility to give condo owners in the funding of those reserves.
Read the full article. Florida Republicans managed to find the time to create new laws attacking LGBTQs, voting rights, women, and educators, but “ran out of time” to stop fatal building collapses.
The stalemate means that, barring a last-minute revival of talks, Florida condo law will remain unchanged despite broad calls for reform, and there will be no statewide requirement for safety inspections of older condo buildings. https://t.co/fV86UIII45
Don’t fall for this new Republican talking point “Florida session isn’t long enough & that’s why we didn’t pass property insurance reform! Or Surfside reforms! Or any meaningful policy!” Republicans set agenda. They chose culture wars over us b/c they want to distract, not serve.
The children were sexually abused and neglected while at The Refuge, a facility located in Bastrop contracted by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, according to a report from a current employee.
The Child Protective Services office at the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services in Austin on Nov. 14, 2019. Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune
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If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, you can receive confidential help by calling the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network’s 24/7 toll-free support line at 800-656-4673 or visiting its online hotline.
Employees of a Texas-contracted facility meant to care for female foster children who are victims of sex trafficking were discovered to be trafficking the same children, according to a federal judge.
Seven children, ages 11 to 17, were victimized by nine alleged perpetrators, according to discussions held during an emergency court hearing called by U.S. District Judge Janis Jack on Thursday. The children remained in the facility for over a month after the abuse was first reported before they were removed.
The children were sexually and physically abused and suffered from neglectful supervision and medical neglect while at The Refuge, a facility located in Bastrop contracted by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, a current Refuge employee reported to state authorities on Jan. 24. The court and the court monitors — watchdogs of the foster care system appointed by the judge — were not notified until Thursday.
That employee said a former staff member sold nude photos of two children in the facility’s care, using the proceeds to purchase illegal drugs and alcohol that were then supplied to the children, according to a letter from DFPS filed on Thursday notifying the court about the incident. Local law enforcement and the Texas Department of Public Safety were immediately notified, according to the letter.
“Has the governor seen it?” Jack asked, referring to the letter. No one answered.
In a statement Thursday evening, Gov. Greg Abbott said the Texas Rangers will investigate, arrest and pursue charges against any suspects related to the Refuge allegations.
“The reports of child sex trafficking at The Refuge in Bastrop are abhorrent,” Abbott said. “Child abuse of any kind won’t be tolerated in the state of Texas, and we are committed to ensuring these despicable perpetrators are brought to justice and punished to the fullest extent of the law.”
The identities of the suspects have not yet been made public.
Rich Richman, DFPS associate commissioner for child protective investigation, told the court the children weren’t immediately removed from the facility because investigators thought the person responsible had been fired.
However, several staff members were found to be allegedly responsible for the abuse of the children, some of whom were not immediately removed. A suspect has been arrested by law enforcement, and DFPS anticipates further arrests will be made.
Between the first report on Jan. 24 and March 4, DFPS received several additional reports about the staff member who was removed from the facility. However, during the investigation, DFPS “discovered several additional staff members still employed at the operation appeared to be involved, and that many of them were related to one another by blood or marriage and/or were cohabiting,” according to the letter. The operation’s residential care director is now believed to have known about the sexual abuse.
DFPS did not remove all of the children until Wednesday, five weeks after the first documented report of sexual abuse. The department sent Child Protective Services staff and off-duty law enforcement to the facility to “ensure the youth’s safety” a day prior. Eight of the nine children who were in The Refuge at the time have been placed with other facilities that specialize in serving victims of commercial sex trafficking, according to the letter. The remaining child refused to be placed in another facility and DFPS is searching for another placement.
“This is just shocking and shameful. Children are being subjected to terrible abuse in state care, and the agencies say nothing,” Paul Yetter, an attorney who represents foster care children in the federal lawsuit, said in a statement Thursday. “Texas is failing its most basic duty: keep these innocent children safe. And we all know who pays the price. Without the vigilance of the court monitors, and the Judge’s jumping into immediate action, who knows what kind of further abuse would be happening.”
Jack, who is overseeing a decade-old lawsuit against Texas over its foster care system, expressed horror over the discovery during Thursday’s hearing.
The judge blasted DFPS for not immediately removing the children when the allegations of abuse were first reported, calling it yet another failure of the system. Numerousbombshellreports have been released by the court-appointed monitors detailing abuse within the system, neglect and even the deaths of children.
Dozens of facilities contracted by Texas have recently closed down or had their license revoked after racking up numerous offenses and subjecting children to dangerous and damaging environments. Child advocates and the judge have repeatedly criticized Texas officials for failing to ensure facilities are safe for kids in the state’s care. From summer 2019 to May 2021, the court monitors discovered that at least 23 children died in Texas’ long-term foster care system in shelters and facilities licensed by the state.
DFPS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The judge instructed the state to provide the court with the identities of the alleged abusers and victims by noon on Friday. She also asked for details on the care the children have received since they were removed.
I am struggling. I read this earlier and got triggered. I have been fighting flash backs since. I tried to lay down to get control but that made it worse. I am getting worse right now, starting to tear up. So while I have a lot of news tabs open and the email machine is full of posts I want to read, I am shutting down both computers. No more videos, no more news, no more stories of Republicans using kids lives and their sexual identities as props to rile up their base and win elections. I am going to take some medications to calm me and make me sleepy, then I am going to turn on my Xbox and play the new Halo. In there I am a powerful here winning the war against the bad guys. Night
The Idaho House of Representatives on Tuesday passed legislation to make it a crime punishable by life in prison for a parent to seek out gender-affirming health care for their transgender child.
The bill is among 29 pieces of Republican-backed legislation nationwide proposed so far this year to curtail health care for transgender youth, and it coincides with dozens of additional bills seeking to limit what can be discussed about gender identity and sexual orientation in schools and restrict transgender athletes in school sports.
But LGBTQ advocates and legal experts say the Idaho proposal differs by criminalizing cases of transgender children traveling to other states to obtain certain medical procedures.
“We are seeing the severity of those policies start to really ramp up,” said Sam Ames, director of advocacy and government affairs at The Trevor Project, a nonprofit organization that focuses on preventing suicide in the LGBTQ population.
A directive by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last month ordered child welfare authorities to “conduct a prompt and thorough investigation” of any reported instances of minors undergoing “elective procedures for gender transitioning” as potential child abuse. Multiple investigations are now underway into Texas families with transgender children, with the threat of decades in prison for anyone convicted of child abuse.
In Idaho, HB 675 would amend the state’s statute prohibiting genital mutilation to make it a felony to provide gender-affirming health care, such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgeries. But the bill goes further than other GOP efforts targeting transgender health care: A parent or guardian would also be guilty of a felony if they travel with their child to another state for the purpose of obtaining gender-affirming health care. Those found guilty could face up to life imprisonment. Idaho Rep. Bruce Skaug, the Republican sponsor of the bill, said Tuesday on the floor of the Legislature that his proposal is necessary because minors are too young to make life-altering decisions about their bodies. He also cited the Texas government’s recent move to consider gender-affirming medical treatments a form of child abuse as evidence that Idaho should act as well.
“If we do not allow minors to get tattoos, smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol or sign legal contracts,” he said, “why would we allow them to make decisions to cut away organs based on their feelings during puberty time?”
Skaug did not respond to requests for comment.
The bill cleared the Idaho House by a vote of 55-13 on Tuesday. It now heads to the Idaho Senate, where Republicans hold a 28-to-7 majority over Democrats.
Four experts who reviewed the legislation told NBC News that the Idaho proposal could be vulnerable to legal challenges. It is not unlike laws from a prior generation, including the criminalization of interracial couples traveling to another state to get married, the experts said, which was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. People already take trips to other states to do things that are legal that they can’t do where they live — from consuming cannabis, gambling or buying fireworks to obtaining an abortion — and there’s little states can do to stop that because of constitutional limits on restricting interstate travel.
The bill presents “complicated questions whether Idaho could, in that fashion, use their lawmaking authority to try to prevent people in Idaho from taking advantage of the differing law of another state,” said David B. Cruz, a law professor at the University of Southern California.
Andrew Koppelman, a Northwestern University law professor, said a fatal flaw of the legislation is another section that stipulates only males can receive testosterone from a doctor. That would violate federal prohibitions on gender-based discrimination, he said.
“The constitutionality of this bill is in doubt, even aside from the provision that says that you can’t travel out of state,” Koppelman said.
Last year, Arkansas became the first state to enact a law prohibiting gender-affirming medical care for trans youth, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. A federal court blocked the law from taking effect, in response to an ACLU-backed lawsuit, but 19 other states introduced similar legislation.
Anti-LGBTQ legislation has been increasing at the state level in recent years, with 17 bills signed into law in 2021, more than the previous three years combined, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
In a recent survey by The Trevor Project, 85 percent of trans and nonbinary youth said debates about state laws restricting the rights of transgender people negatively impacted their mental health.
“This national political assault is not really about trans youth,” Ames, of the Trevor Project, said. “It’s very clear that this has become a useful political wedge issue in a hotly contested political climate. The fact that we are playing politics with young people’s lives like this is an indication to me that we are dealing with the worst kind of politics we know in this country, which is the kind that assumes an acceptable risk of casualties.”
I have already posted that Republican strategist feel the trans issue and LGBTQ+ books in schools is the winning ticket for the midterms. They know it riles up the base, it is an easy sell to their base, it is a message the can hammer on and distort. Notice the language used in the bills, “why would we allow them to make decisions to cut away organs based on their feelings during puberty time”. Notice the cut away organs … Kids having irreversible sex changes oh my gods save the children. Except it is not happening. No more than there was a child rape ring in the basement of a pizza shop run by Hillary Clinton. It is made up to scare people. Kids get social transitioning such as the support wearing the other genders specific clothing, using the items that gender uses, allowed name and pronoun change, and with the assistance of trained medical professionals who examine the child to determine the appropriateness of treatment kids can get puberty blockers. And that is not a harmful permanent procedure and is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The majority of the medical community says that not only are puberty blockers not harmful and fully reversable they save lives and give trans kids lifelong relief from developing the traits of the gender they do Identify as so do not want to live as. This is an especially important issue that has lifelong consequences of how a person presents all their life. Imagine if you had to live your life looking like the gender you are not? Imagine you are a woman who had to go through male puberty and are built like a linebacker now? Imagine you are a man who had to go through female puberty and look like a pretty show girl. have some compassion people. But let me be clear again, no child gets a sex change operation, gets any operation for gender change done on them. They have to be 18 and in some places even 21 to have that control over the bodies. So this is a political issue like CRT made up to show the people the woke lib Democrats want to destroy gods creations and hurt white people and their kids.
The Idaho House of Representatives has passed legislation to make it a crime punishable by life in prison for a parent to seek out gender-affirming health care for their transgender child. https://t.co/6qLKSUDGQS
Advocates are sounding the alarm about two anti-LGBTQ+ bills in Idaho that come with hefty punishments—including a potential life sentence. @cohaug reports: https://t.co/kAyMzb9flF
The Florida Senate approved legislation on Thursday that limits how workplaces and schools teach about race and identity. The measure prohibits trainings that cause someone to feel guilty or ashamed about the past collective actions of their race or sex, and its passage clears the way for Gov. Ron DeSantis to sign one of his top legislative priorities into law.
After two days of emotional debate on a proposal that remains clouded by considerable confusion, the Senate passed the framework for the so-called “Stop Woke Act” 24 to 15, in a party-line vote.
DeSantis initially proposed the bill in December, arguing he wanted Florida to become a bulwark against corporate trainings and school lessons that make people uncomfortable about the actions of their ancestors.
It's really called the "Stop Woke Act." Shoulda went for something more catchy, like the "Ambien Act" or the "White Fragility Act" https://t.co/8jIizoJirX
Just now – Florida Senators pass the bill called “Individual Freedom” – what the Gov calls “Stop WOKE act”: 24-15 – party lines. It essentially blocks schools & businesses from teaching race/ethnic history & diversity in a way that makes someone feel shamed, guilty@WPLGLocal10
BREAKING: The Florida Senate just passed the so-called "Stop WOKE Act” bill, which censors conversations about racism, LGBTQ+ issues and discrimination.
This comes days after Florida passed its “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” bill. https://t.co/Q8ZxxdnAIz
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/39d52dc56083afac3802394368e2a321/Texas%20DFPS%20EG%20TT%2015.jpg)
Scottie's Playtime 
Personally, I’d like to see child-development science curriculum implemented for secondary high school students, and it could also include racial- and neuro-diversity, albeit not overly complicated. It would be mandatory course material, however, and considerably more detailed than what’s already covered by home economics, etcetera, curriculum: e.g. diaper changing, baby feeding and so forth. I don’t think the latter is anywhere near sufficient (at least not how I experienced it) when it comes to the proper development of a child’s mind.
For one thing, the curriculum could/would make available to students potentially valuable/useful knowledge about their own psyches and why they are the way they are. And besides their own nature, students can also learn about the natures of their peers, which might foster greater tolerance for atypical personalities. If nothing else, the curriculum would offer students an idea/clue as to whether they’re emotionally/mentally compatible with the immense responsibility and strains of parenthood.
Meanwhile, a person can have an unlimited number of children regardless of one’s incapacity to raise them in a healthy manner, let alone according to child-development science. And consequential dysfunctional parenting occurs considerably more often than what is officially known or acknowledged.
Hello Fgsjr. My feeling is that students / children / kids / young people should be given more information not less. All these bills pushed and passed by Republicans are restricting information, restricting knowledge from kids. Why? They seem to be of the idea that if the kids that are not exposed to LGBTQ+ information then won’t be LGBTQ+, and they won’t be supportive of the LGBTQ+ other kids. It is like these people feel that being LGBTQ+ is attractive or better so if kids know it exists, they will do it also. That is silly of course. But I watched the guy who wrote and pushed the Florida “Don’t Say Gay” bill, and he made it clear this is not about keeping little kids from learning about sex, he is a real hard core bigot that hates gays and wants them erased from society. He is bothered by same sex marriage, he hates that gays can be teachers, that gays can adopt, and he feels there are far too many of them. Yes too many of them. I posted that he said he was very upset that kids who came out were accepted as OK and not ostracized and bullied like he felt they should be. He said they were nobodies who were treated like celebrities. So when people start to tell you they are planning to restrict information you have to ask why, what do they want to accomplish.
So the Republicans want to restrict kids from learning about history, diversity, slavery, any US committed wrongs, sexuality, gender, biology, evolution, climate science, and medical science. They are pushing all that under parents’ rights. What I see all these have in common is religion. IMO. US excellence says the US can do no wrong because we are god’s favorite, established by God himself, and all those things I mention are parts of the culture wars that the religious groups are waging and until 2016 were losing. This seems to be part of the Blitz project to return the US to more and more Christian control, more help to fight against the loss of religious privilege. To promote the enforcement of Christian doctrines in the US. What they learned from Russia is if you deny the gay groups a presence and the right to defend themselves then constant attacks on them can change public perception to deep negatives. In Russia gay people were making great advances in rights and acceptance, making the church furious. So they got Putin to make any positive mention of gays where minors could hear or see it illegal on the grounds it corrupted kids. It sexualized kids, it was grooming of kids. It was recruiting kids to be gay. It was denying parents’ rights to teach their kids the morals they wanted them to have, which was gay is wrong and evil. Same basically as being pushed here now by republicans. I wonder if that is why they love Putin? So when the gays went to defend themselves, they got arrested. They couldn’t even show their pride flag. No one could argue against the bill or a pro-gay stance in newspapers, books, TV, online or on any medium a minor could see or hear as that violated the law. It may corrupt that child. Where a minor could see or hear it was intended to be overly broad and vague to mean anything in the public or anything a child could accidently find. It was designed to take the voice way from the marginalized, and it worked. Gay representation in public disappeared. No gay people or programs on TV, none in schools, no support groups or posters at school, no books about gays or gay subjects, no gay people in movies, gays became invisible. No gay internet sites and no gay help sites for gay kids to go to in hopes of understanding themselves. The program worked as far as the church and government was concern, it wiped out the gays from society and returned them to hated status. It did not however stop young people from realizing they were gay. See what these people cannot understand is gays are not recruited, but they are created. But not by other gay monsters. The gay kids are created by straight couples who have kids and some of them will be gay. LGBTQ+, the same sex attraction, the gender ID, and all of it is born within us and formed in the womb. So no matter how hard you deny gay, lesbian, or trans people they will keep being born. But what these groups of bigots do that manage to change the laws to erase the LGBTQ+ from the public like in Russia really accomplish is to make life harder for every gay, lesbian, trans kid / adult that is born. It gives them nowhere to find acceptance, it gives them no medical help, it gives them nowhere to go to understand themselves, and it gives them nowhere to turn when / if they are abused.
The abuse one is not only limited to LGBTQ+ kids but all kids. Recently a religious group blocked a program to prevent child abuse that taught kids their bodies were their own and they had a right to say who touched them and why. The program taught that if their parents were touching them wrong and making them do sexual acts, they should tell another adult as that was wrong. That was the part the religious group demanded to have taken out and replace with “Parents should be trusted and obey at all times”. Doesn’t that set off alarm bells in your head?
So In Russia the public acceptance and presence of the gay people has plummeted. No gay pride flags. No gay pride parades. No gay newspapers, those few left were closed down by the state and the people arrested with long prison terms. The polling shows that gay / lesbian acceptance that was increasing yearly has plummeted. When asked why the people have negative feelings toward gay people the response now is that those people are targeting kids for sex, recruiting them to become gay monsters like they are. That is what these Republican assholes want in the US, and in the red states they are getting it. It really scares me. The state I am living in is returning to the way things were when I was a kid and everyone repeated Anita Bryant’s hateful slander of the gays including the teens and adult males who were raping me.
Fgsjr. Sorry for the rant. This got a lot longer and more emotional than I had intended. I am still having issues from the story I posted the other day. It has nothing to do with you and I thank you for the comment that I could reply to and get these things off my chest. I am going to proofread this, sent it as a reply, and then post it as a post on its own. Your comment was grand. It needs more people to see it. Thanks