Category: Animals / Insects / Water Life / Plants / Nature

Wisconsin school board member sues over new sex-ed curriculum

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/12/wisconsin-school-board-member-sues-new-sex-ed-curriculum/

Dogs that love gravy this is mob rule.   These thugs are proud they shouted down parents in favor of the program.   These thugs scared a ten year old little girl and made her cry.   This is their idea of civil discourse?  This is not democracy.    Young people need comprehensive sex education, and this is education also helps protect them by teaching them the boundaries of who and where others can touch them.  In some of these classes they teach kids how to report and get help if they are being abused.   These thugs claim anything they don’t like is grooming which is a mockery of the word.   They are cheapening child abuse by claiming everyone not in their group is an abuser.   It makes the words and accusations meaningless.   I don’t even understand what these groups want other than spectacle and public schools shut down.   They claim these subjects need to be taught at home, really?  Tell me that people who think the best moral understanding was from what people understood 2,500 years ago and who think any kinds of sex that doesn’t produce a baby is capable of teaching any kind of informative sex ed to kids?  This is so frustrating that this kind of violence and stupidity is celebrated by the right and allowed to continue.    Hugs

Moms for Liberty and Gays Against Groomers have made the tiny school district a focus of their national efforts protesting against the “sexualization and indoctrination of children.”
 
By  
Wisconsin school board member sues over new sex-ed curriculum
Photo: Shutterstock

The latest round in a Wisconsin school board fight has one board member suing his fellow members to stop implementation of a controversial sex-ed curriculum while anti-LGBTQ+ organizations Moms for Liberty and Gays Against Groomers stoke the controversy.

The suit was filed by board member Michael Meier, who claims the adoption of the new Human Growth and Development curriculum for the Wauwatosa School District in Milwaukee County should be invalidated based on technicalities that include Meier being excluded from conversations among his fellow members.

“A member was excluded from the meeting process in the weekend preceding the August 22 Human Growth and Development action, and therefore that approval of the August 22 is ordered voided and rescinded as unlawful,” the lawsuit read.

Meier was the lone dissenting vote when the new standards were adopted by a vote of 6-1.

The anti-LGBTQ+ groups Moms for Liberty and Gays Against Groomers have made the tiny school district a focus of their national efforts protesting against the “sexualization and indoctrination of children.” Gays Against Groomers founder Jaimee Michell, who is based in Milwaukee, described the Wisconsin curriculum as “child abuse” and “grooming.”

At a board meeting on October 24, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported police were called after activists from both organizations plunged the gathering into chaos by shouting accusations at board members and parents, labeling them “groomers” and “child abusers” who wanted to show kids sexually explicit pictures.

“Please remember our name, Gays Against Groomers, as you will be hearing a lot more of us, and we are just getting started,” Michell warned. A 10-year old in attendance broke into tears.

Failed school board candidate and Moms for Liberty member Scarlett Johnson tweeted thanks to opponents of the measure before the meeting. “Thank you for helping us protect kids from woke gender ideology and hyper sexualization. Comprehensive Sexuality Education is evil … we can no longer mince words,” she wrote.

Support among residents of the Wauwatosa School District for the new curriculum was measured at over 70% in strong agreement, agreement, or neutral.

“I am most upset, frustrated and sad,” Wauwatosa parent Amy White said, “that extremist groups, or even people external to the Wauwatosa School District are targeting our school board.” Some parents called for the exclusion of outside groups from school board meetings.

At that same meeting, Sunny Iwanski, the first Wauwatosa resident to speak,  said she supported Human Growth and Development curriculum. She was immediately interrupted by protesters. She told them the constant disruption meant the needs of the district’s kids were being ignored.

“I think it’s important to acknowledge that we have listened to the voice of the people of Wauwatosa and that we are serving the children of Wauwatosa … I’m frustrated, and I’m ready for us to move forward as a district,” she told the meeting.

Gays Against Groomers was started by Michell, an out lesbian and professional viral media creator, and a group of gay “contributors” earlier this year. The anti-LGBTQ+ collection of gays, lesbians and detrans individuals has stalked school board meetings, anti-LGBTQ+ rallies and the airwaves since, all while being banned from multiple platforms, including Venmo, for hate speech. The group claims they are “a 100% independent, self-funded nonprofit organization.”

 
 

SC Drag Venue Evacuated After Bomb Threat: “You All Deserve To Die And We Will Kill All You Fuckers” [Video] JMG

SC Drag Venue Evacuated After Bomb Threat: “You All Deserve To Die And We Will Kill All You Fuckers” [Video]

Myrtle Beach’s CBS affiliate reports:

Myrtle Beach Police are working to determine who emailed a bomb threat on Sunday that led to the evacuation of a drag show brunch at a popular Myrtle Beach restaurant. News13 received the email, which threatened to blow up the Mr. Fish Seafood Restaurant, at 11:50 a.m. Sunday and immediately notified Myrtle Beach police.

In the email to News13, the sender said: “We have placed several bombs in the Mr Fish Restaurant, 6401 N Kings Hwy. We are not terrorists hurt children which is why you have this warning to evacuate.”

“You b——- are all child abusers and will all burn in hell,” it said. “This event is grooming children. For all “of human history its been known that the innonence of children should be preserved, you are scarring the future generations with your perverted fantasizes. You deserve to die and we will kill all you f—— for preying on children.”

Read the full article. According the outlet, the email also named six persons whose identities are not being disclosed.

Ragnar Lothbrok • 7 hours ago

This person will really freak out when they find out about youth pastors.

Friday • 6 hours ago

Christian Terrorists insisting they aren’t terrorists while calling in bomb threats with their demands and claims to be justifying the terrorism.

Nic Peterson • 7 hours ago

Ah the soothing voice of christianity!

Ragnar Lothbrok • 7 hours ago

MAGAt rhetoric gets people killed, which is why they won’t stop doing it

Nathan Roe • 6 hours ago

People like Tucker Carlson are personally responsible for this.

AyJayDee Nathan Roe • 6 hours ago

And nothing will be done about him, Chaya Raichik, Chris Rufo or Matt Walsh.

Ganon • 6 hours ago

I still have trouble coming to terms with the fact that this “recruitment/grooming” horseshit is still with us. It’s 2022, not 1977. A vocal minority of Americans insist on remaining stupid and ignorant (to the detriment of everyone).

Friday Ganon • 6 hours ago

They retread the same debunked crap every generation hoping no one remembers last time.

Dozens Of Proud Boys, Patriot Front, Armed Extremists, And Nazis Gather Outside Canceled Ohio Drag Event – JMG

Dozens Of Proud Boys, Patriot Front, Armed Extremists, And Nazis Gather Outside Canceled Ohio Drag Event

This was at a church for dogs that love gravy.   But no dissent will be tolerated from the maga thug rule.   The Christian Taliban has spoken, and head priest DeathSantis says no men wearing dresses except priests.   Please note that these thugs did manage to get the event canceled as the church and the promoters were scared, worried about violence to the people coming to see it, the performers, and the kids.   The harm was not the show, but what these thugs would do to the people at the show.   Complete lawlessness.    And all these police that can smash down black peoples doors, arrest little old ladies for a $77 dollar trash bill wouldn’t provide safe access and coverage for the event.   So what do these thugs shut down next?  A Muslim event?  A political event from the party they don’t support?  So far they have shut down school board meets and got their way on changing how things are done in schools.   No masks, no LGBTQI+ acceptance programs, so what next limiting girls to only certain grades?   Or shutting down Buddhist temples?  Hey that is the way we do government now, attack anyone who disagrees, lash out and demean others.  The republican party has shown the way with trump, Christ Christy, DeathSantis, and the entire Marge Greene congressional crew.   In one of the clips a Proud Boy protester demands to know what bible are they reading at (from).   Also for people claiming the moral high road they love to shout the word fuck over their bullhorns on public streets.  I don’t get upset over swearing but I bet the parents driving / walking by with their children were not too happy about it.  Think of this Nazi shit marching down your sidewalk in front of your home and going to attack … well you name the establishment that Nazi’s love to attack and destroy  Hugs

The Associated Press reports:

An Ohio school says an internal dispute over security prompted a last-minute cancellation of a weekend children’s storytelling event featuring performers in drag amid a planned protest by a far-right group.

The Red Oak Community School’s “Holi-Drag Storytime” event was to have been held Saturday morning at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbus, where the school is based. The Ohio Chapter of the Proud Boys last month announced plans to attend and protest the event.

About 50 to 70 members of the Proud Boys and other groups had gathered on the sidewalk on roads leading to the church, shouting, chanting and holding signs.

Matter News reports:

Previously, the Columbus and Central Ohio LGBTQ+ Leadership Roundtable, a group that consists of Stonewall Columbus, Kaleidoscope Youth Center, HRC Columbus, Equitas Health and LoveBoldly, requested that the community not show up to counterprotest the Proud Boys at the Holi-Drag event.

“This situation is potentially volatile and dangerous, and the safety of the children, families, performers and our community are of paramount importance,” the Leadership Roundtable said in a statement. “Our actions must be in service to their protection.”

See the final video below for today’s message from the event’s organizers. Give the tweets below a minute to fully load.

Texas man charged with making death threats against Boston doctor treating trans youth

Texas man charged with making death threats against Boston doctor treating trans youth

 

Matthew Jordan Lindner faces federal charges after allegedly threatening a doctor affiliated with the National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center.

By Morgan Rousseau

A Texas man has been federally charged after allegedly harassing and making death threats against a Boston doctor who treats members of the transgender community, including trans youth.

Matthew Jordan Lindner, 38, of Comfort, Texas, was arrested Friday and charged with one count of transmitting interstate threats, according to the U.S. District Attorney’s Office. Lindner appeared in the Western District of Texas Friday afternoon and will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.

Prosecutors say that in August, inaccurate information about procedures at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) for the transgender community was spreading online. According to the charging documents, on Aug. 31, Lindner called the Boston-based National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center and left a threatening voicemail targeting one of the center’s affiliated doctors. 

According to its website, the National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center provides “educational programs, resources and consultation to health care organizations with the goal of optimizing quality, cost-effective health care for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and all sexual and gender minority (LGBTQIA+) people.” The education center is part of Fenway Health and the Fenway Institute, which are among the world’s largest health centers focused on LGBTQIA+ communities.

Investigators say the targeted doctor cares for gender-nonconforming children and transgender patients.

In Linder’s expletive-packed voicemail, officials say he allegedly threatened, “You’re all gonna burn. There’s a group of people on their way to handle [the doctor]. You signed your own warrant, [doctor].”

Prosecutors also say Linder accused the doctor of “castrating our children” and said, “You’ve woken up enough people. And upset enough of us. And you signed your own ticket.”

If convicted, Lindner faces a sentence of up to five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. 

“Death threats instill fear and terror in their targeted audiences,” U.S. Attorney Rachael S. Rollins said in a news release. “The conduct alleged here is not protected free speech. The words used here do not amount to someone simply expressing their discontent or engaging in a heated debate. Mr. Lindner’s alleged conduct — a death threat — is based on falsehoods and amounts to an act of workplace violence. The victim, a doctor caring for gender nonconforming and transgendered patients, should be able to engage in this meaningful and necessary work without fear of physical harm or death.”

In August, Rollins announced the creation of the “End Hate Now” hotline (1-83-END-H8-NOW or 1-833-634-8669) for reporting hate-based incidents or potential criminal activity. Callers can report incidents of hate, hate crimes, or individuals believed to be supporting acts of hate-based violent extremism. Callers can remain anonymous. 

Bullying of LGBTQ students on the rise this year according to high school principals

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/12/bullying-lgbtq-students-rise-year-according-high-school-principals/

Seriously is anyone surprised at this news.   This is what the don’t say gay and the anti-trans rhetoric are all about.   The guy who wrote and pushed the don’t say gay bill said the reason he wrote it was he couldn’t stand that gay kids were coming out in school and accepted by the other students.   He wanted them targeted and bullied to stop other kids from coming out.   He said that!   It is the goal.  Oh and yes he claims he is a deeply religious Christian.    It is the Russia model of removing the LGBTQI+ from society / the public.   These red states have now removed any anti-bullying programs or campaigns based on it would violate parents’ rights according to these laws to teach their children that being gay of trans is an abomination to their god and so they need to be beaten / removed to make god happy.   Think of it, kids who get told that gays are molesting kids they are going to beat up and pick on gay kids and right now teachers cannot stop it in places in Florida.   This is the end result the maga religious right thugs love, the right to force others to live as they demand, do what they demand, they are the US Christian Taliban.   Hugs

There has been a marked increase in parents demanding limits to LGBTQ+ students’ rights that may have spilled over to bullying in schools.
 
By  
A kid being bullied at school
Photo: Shutterstock

Nearly half of the public high school principals who participated in a new nationally representative survey say they faced efforts from parents or the broader community to “challenge or limit LGBTQ+ students’ rights” during the 2021–2022 school year. The new study’s results suggest that adult efforts to limit LGBTQ+ students’ rights has led to increased bullying of LGBTQ+ students in schools.

During the summer of 2022, the Institute for Democracy, Education and Access at UCLA and the Civic Engagement Research Group at UC Riverside surveyed 682 public high school principals and found that culture war issues have their jobs increasingly difficult.

As NPR reports, policies and practices related to LGBTQ+ students’ rights were among the topics that 69 percent of those surveyed said led to “substantial political conflict” with parents or members of their communities.

Researchers found that principals in narrowly divided purple districts were almost twice as likely as those in more conservative or liberal areas to say they faced multiple efforts to limit LGBTQ students’ rights.

A similar 2018 survey found that 15 percent of principals indicated multiple attacks on LGBTQ students. That percentage rose to 24 percent across all schools in the 2022 survey, with the number more than tripling in purple districts.

The 2022 survey also indicated that adult efforts to limit LGBTQ students’ rights paralleled an increase in students harassing LGBTQ classmates.

“It’s quite disheartening to work so hard and care for all our students when so many people are being hateful and threatening,” said one California principal, who reported an incident in which a parent screamed an anti-gay slur at a school counselor over the phone.

Other issues that caused significant conflict, according to 69 percent of the principals surveyed, include teaching issues around race and racism, social-emotional learning, and student access to books in school libraries. They also reported that rampant misinformation is making it harder to teach many subjects, particularly current events and media literacy.

Despite their grim findings, John Rogers, a professor of education at UCLA who helped lead the survey, and collaborator Joseph Kahne, a professor of education at UC Riverside, said that many principals believe that a majority of parents do not support the conflicts raging in public schools.

Rogers told NPR that principals believe that most parents stay silent, however, “because they’re too busy or overwhelmed or are afraid that if they become engaged, they’re going to face danger.”

“If the vast majority of folks are quiet, then folks who have very strong opinions or who are willing to engage in very contentious politics will have an outsized influence,” Kahne said. “If all parents and community members speak up, and if they have reasoned and focused conversations, that dialogue will be good for schools.”

The schools use to be the place to combat prejudice, bigotry, and hate.   But now the teachers are told they cannot support the attacked kids, they cannot affirm anything positive about gay or trans kids.   Meanwhile this is what the right wing parents are hearing all day on right wing media and the kids are being told.   Wonder why a right wing kid would think trans kids are trying to attack them in the bathrooms?   Wonder why right wing kids think all gays are child molesters?   

Laura Ingraham: Trans People Are “Deeply Anti-Human”

 

School board forbids teachers from teaching kids how to eat poop

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/12/school-board-forbids-teachers-teaching-kids-eat-poop/

A giant WTF!   Seriously what the religious right thinks is going on in schools is so Qanon over the top it is hard to take them seriously, except they are managing to use their fantasies to wipe the LGBTQI+ out of the schools and society.   Kids / students need sexual education that not only covers the body parts, but also healthy ways to take care of those parts, ways to avoid pregnancy and STDs which includes proper use of condoms, and also the social aspects of sexuality such as how to date, porn is unrealistic, consent, and more.  Yes that includes what happens when aroused to the sexual areas.   It also includes teaching the concept of no shaming for those who have different kinks.    That doesn’t mean giving full on demonstrations.    What the hell do these school board members think is happening, the kids getting a porn hub four day pass?  Dogs that love gravy these religious right are so repressed it is scary.   Any kid with a phone and an interest in these kinks already understand how it works, they just need to know how to be safe, what is dangerous, and to understand boundaries.   The teachers seem to think it is just a way to outrage the public to erase any mention or acceptance of gays, trans, and the rest of the LGBTQI+.   Hugs

School board meetings have become the theater of the absurd.
 
Commentary by  
School board forbids teachers from teaching kids how to eat poop
Photo: Shutterstock

A Virginia school board has been at the center of the nationwide controversy over including LGBTQ students in the curriculum. Now, the debate – and the school board’s response – has become theater of the absurd.

After Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) rode the frenzy to ban books, fire teachers, and muzzle students all the way to the top and muscled through new laws, the board has come up with a policy that covers “sexually explicit content.”

While religious right activists and politicians have made outrageous claims about students identifying as cats and using litter boxes, the school board took it a step further – in the dog direction. They expressly forbade educators from teaching students how to eat poop.

The new policy also forbids teaching about sadomasochism, bestiality, or pee play. Because while educators are worried about ensuring educational access for LGBTQ students, that’s what the religious right thinks they are being taught in schools.

Loudoun’s policy defines sexually explicit content as “descriptions, pictures, photographs, drawings, films or other visual representations” of “sexual bestiality, a lewd exhibition of nudity … sexual excitement, sexual conduct or sadomasochistic abuse … coprophilia, urophilia, or fetishism.”

So no learning about latex or leather either.

Loudoun will publish “a current list of instructional materials with sexually explicit content intended to be used in classroom instruction, by grade and subject on the LCPS public website.”

One would think that would be an incredibly short list, but the policy “is a guise of using parental notification to erase LGBTQ students,” middle school teacher Andrea Weiskopf told the Washington Post. “This is allowing individual parents to individualize a curriculum for their own worldview.”

Over the summer, a Loudon County school board meeting devolved into chaos after transphobic, religious right protestors screamed at board members in protest of the districts’ proposed pro-trans policies. One man was arrested and another cited for trespassing after the meeting was declared an unlawful gathering.

Death threats against teachers and school board members over fears of pro-trans policies and “critical race theory” in schools compelled U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to ask the FBI and U.S. attorney’s offices to meet with federal and local law enforcement to “discuss strategies for addressing…the rise in criminal conduct directed toward school personnel.”

In response, Youngkin, then running for Virginia governor, claimed that “the FBI is trying to silence parents” and centered his campaign around parents who wish to shut down progressive policies in public schools.

Members of the board received death threats from conservatives before the recent election.

“It is too bad that your Mama is an ugly communist whore,” read one letter addressed to the child of school board member Brenda Sheridan. “If she doesn’t quit or resign before the end of the year, we will kill her, but first, we will kill you!”

The letter came after rightwing media reported a story where they claimed that a girl was sexually assaulted by a boy in a Loudoun County school restroom. They claimed that it was a result of the district’s policy on transgender students, even though the policy hadn’t even been passed at the time of the sexual assault and the assailant was a cisgender boy.

 
 

Fla. sheriff: Students no longer fear getting ‘a– cheeks’ ‘torn off’, need new discipline policy

https://www.local10.com/news/florida/2022/11/28/fla-sheriff-students-no-longer-fear-getting-a-cheeks-torn-off-need-new-discipline-policy/

What the dogs that love gravy is going on in Florida.  This Sheriff is saying kids are not being beaten enough and don’t fear adults hitting them enough these days.  Last week I posted of the 80 year old elected to the school board that wanted more spankings / corporal punishment used on disabled kids.   Is this the return to spare the rod spoil the child Christian way of teaching?  Notice the school board went hard right in the last election.    But notice the district has not written the policy yet and this new strict discipline was announced by law enforcement from a jail, not from the school system.   Why does it take an emergency meeting to draft new policy?    Does the school to prison pipeline need more slaves?   Is the school about to be overrun with liberal students demanding their rights?    Hugs

With Brevard Sheriff Wayne Ivey at his side, school board Chairman Matt Susin announced plans for a new school disciplinary policy outside the Brevard County Jail Monday.

With Brevard Sheriff Wayne Ivey at his side, school board Chairman Matt Susin announced plans for a new school disciplinary policy outside the Brevard County Jail Monday. (Brevard County Sheriff’s Office)

Days after the Brevard County School Board ousted the superintendent, plans are underway for a new school disciplinary policy in Brevard Public Schools.

Flanked by Sheriff Wayne Ivey and State Attorney Phil Archer, School Board Chairman Matt Susin went on camera Monday in front of the Brevard County Jail in Sharpes to announce plans to impose the “most prolific school discipline policy this district has ever had,” Local 10 News partner WKMG in Orlando reports.

“It’s a new day,” Ivey repeatedly said throughout the announcement.

Susin did not say what this policy would include. He said he was calling an emergency meeting for next week to draft the policy with input from Archer’s office, Ivey, and the teachers and school staff unions.

Members of the media were not invited to ask questions about what the district plans to do.

The current student code of conduct was approved by the Brevard County School Board, including Susin himself, in February 2022.

Ivey said the new disciplinary policy was necessary because teachers and administration were handcuffed by the current student code of conduct from dealing with students.

“They know nothing is going to happen to them,” Ivey said. “They know they’re not going to be given after-school detention, they’re not going to be suspended, they’re not going to be expelled, or like in the old days, they’re not going to have the cheeks of their a– torn off for not doing right in class.”

Ivey said the school discipline situation is so bad that the district is losing teachers.

A representative from the union for school bus drivers and other school employees said staff members were being hurt by students.

“The instructional assistants that are in the classrooms are choked, they’re bitten, they’re scratched. It’s an everyday occurrence,” said Delores Varney with IUPAD Local 1010. “And they’re so discouraged because nothing is ever done with the students, or at least it appears there is nothing being done. If it is, it’s taking way too long to remove these bad students from the classrooms.”

According to the most recently released student discipline data from the Florida Department of Education, Brevard Public Schools reported few student expulsions in the 2020-2021 school year — fewer than 10. However, there were 2,518 in-school suspensions, 4,457 out-of-school suspensions, 435 students placed in an alternative educational setting and 139 students who were physically restrained.

News 6 in Orlando has asked why members of the media were not invited to the announcement Monday. We are also asking the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office why it spearheaded the announcement rather than the school board, and held it at the jail.

This is the latest major change since voters approved new school board members in August and November. Within weeks, the school board entered separation negotiations with Superintendent Mark Mullins, who had been an employee with Brevard Public Schools for nearly 30 years, saying the district needed new leadership.

Todd20036  27 minutes ago

Take a good look. What is happening in Florida is what the Nazis want for the rest of us

Dirac Majorana  41 minutes ago

I’m sure that beating kids is not the reason that school shootings are less common in Canada or Australia or other places where mass shootings are rare.

This is a case where ad hoc conclusions are manufactured to fit a political agenda, not based on science.

They truly believe prayer and beatings are needed to reduce gun violence because it has increased from the last 50 years or so, when guns were less available and then they blame the rise of libruhl politics, especially gay rights and feminism for the rise of incels andof unstable families.

Friday  42 minutes ago

Christofascist ‘religious freedom’ and ‘parental rights’ to have the MAGA party beat other people’s kids for nonconformity.

 

Happy holidays? Florida school district walks back decision to nix Hanukkah presentation

Happy holidays? Florida school district walks back decision to nix Hanukkah presentation

The drive for Christain nationalism in Florida is in full drive mode.   Stuff relating to Christians is allowed, Jewish and Black holidays are not allowed.   To justifying denying the presentation of what Hanukkah is the superintendent said that they would have to teach Kwanza and Diwali.”   This is added to the anything positive about the LGBTQI+ is banned but right wing fascism is good for teaching.   Hugs

A spokesperson for the district said officials a ‘trying to be careful’ in light of the new Parents’ Bill of Rights.

Pasco County Schools says it has reversed its decision to deny a mother’s request to give a Hanukkah presentation to her son’s fifth grade class after reporters contacted the district for an explanation.

A district spokesperson said the mother would have to first meet with school staff to set up guidelines, but that the presentation has been otherwise approved.

Rachel Long has visited each of her children’s classes yearly to explain Hanukkah — the Jewish “Festival of Lights” that takes place around the same time as Christmas and similarly involves gift giving — since her eldest son was in preschool. He’s now in 10th grade.

Her short presentation includes no mention of God or religion, Long said. Instead, it consists of her reading from a book explaining Hanukkah (also written as “Chanukah”), sharing traditional food, displaying a menorah, and giving toy tops (dreidels) to each child for an in-class game.

Not counting the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, the schools Long’s children attended welcomed her into the classroom every year without issue. That was until last week when she reached out to her youngest child’s fifth-grade teacher at his elementary school in New Port Richey to ask when she could come in this year.

 

Initially, the teacher seemed open to the idea. She told Long she would confer with school higher-ups “to determine what day and time would be best.”

A few days later, however, the teacher said that after speaking with school staff and district administrators, they recommended she deny Long’s request, citing Florida’s relatively new Parents’ Bill of Rights.

“As per discussions with the team and Admin, the new Parent Bill of Rights (sic) obligates us to follow the 5th Grade Standards as written,” the teacher said by text. “At this time, a Chanukah presentation is not in our standards.”

Long asked: “Then, I assume, no Christmas activities will be done?”

The teacher did not immediately reply.

 
 

Screenshots of the text exchange between parent Rachel Long and her son’s fifth grade teacher. Image via Rachel Long.

The Parents’ Bill of Rights, which Gov. Ron DeSantis signed on June 30, 2021, provides that parents can object to — and opt their child out of — instructional materials based on their beliefs about morality, sex and religion.

The only mention of holidays and cultural traditions in the Pasco School curriculum guide for fifth grade says students will read stories from “different cultures” and encourages parents to discuss the meaning of various holidays with their children.

CPALMS, the Florida Department of Education’s official source for education standards, includes approved lessons on holidays in world language, history, and civics classes and hundreds of allowances for multicultural education.

Long contacted the school’s principal and got a similar answer. The principal, she said, claimed to have spoken with an Assistant Superintendent from the district. The Assistant Superintendent assigned to the school is Kimberly Poe, according to Pasco Schools Director of Employee Relations Kathy Scalise.

Long said the principal told her: “Due to the Parent Bill of Rights (sic), the school could not celebrate any holidays.”

Apparently, that doesn’t apply to Christmas, Long contended, noting Christmas-themed décor throughout a “holiday shop” in the school and a host of related activities.

“(The) kids are watching the musical, ‘Elf Jr.,’ during school, the school is completely decorated for Christmas, and there is a ‘Santa night’ planned,” Long told Florida Politics. “(The principal) explained these things by saying they are holiday-themed, not Christmas, and parents are able to opt their students out. Teachers are allowed to have Christmas trees in their rooms but are not allowed to do Elf on The Shelf.

“If students can participate in all these activities or be opted out, I suggested that students could be opted out of my Chanukah presentation.”

The elementary school’s “holiday shop” has no shortage of Christmas-themed decorations. Image via Rachel Long.

Long stressed that she isn’t trying to push her religion on anyone.

“I am just trying to expose my child’s classmates to different traditions,” she said. Long said the principal agreed to raise the issue again with Poe before rendering a final decision Thursday but suggested that if the school allowed a presentation on Hanukkah, “they would have to teach Kwanza and Diwali.”

“I think that would be awesome,” Long said. “I told her that if it is me coming in that is an issue; I would be happy to send the materials in for the teacher to use. I explained to her that if I am not able to do my presentation or that the teacher doesn’t do it, I will raise hell if I see one Christmas paper come home or I see one Christmas tree in the school.”

Florida Politics contacted principal Poe, Pasco Schools Superintendent Kurt Browning, and Deputy Superintendent Ray Gadd. None responded by press time.

But the issue appeared to have been resolved by Wednesday afternoon. Pasco Schools Public Information Officer Stephen Hegarty told Florida Politics that Long could indeed do her Hanukkah presentation once she meets with the teacher and other relevant faculty.

Hegarty confirmed a local TV reporter had also learned of the issue and was seeking answers. He said the district was being cautious when it expressed reticence at Long’s request.

“The Parents’ Bill of Rights is new, and even though it does not affect a lot of things, it affects some things, and everybody wants to make sure they’re doing the right thing,” he said. “They’re trying to be careful.”

He added, “My understanding is the teacher sought clarification from her principal, her principal sought clarification, and that’s where we are right now, which is that she’s going to work through it, make sure it’s all done appropriately, and I expect she’s going to go into the classroom and make a fine presentation. My understanding is she’s done a great job in the past.”

Ann Kah  21 minutes ago

Oh, y’mean the “Christian parental rights law”?

Gustav2  Ann Kah  4 minutes ago

Christian Nationalist parental rights law.

Dirac Majorana  10 minutes ago

It’s like being gay. MAGAts are worried that one exposure or mention ‘legitimizing’ it will proselytize their kid away from magic Jebus Even Christian bibles mention Judaism.I bet it’ll blow the kiddies’ minds if someone teaches them about atheism.

 

DeSantis-backed school boards begin ousting Florida educators

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/30/desantis-school-board-covid-00071305

This article is about the Covid mask controversy DeathSantis stirred up and pushed.   He was trying hard to keep tourism up and working poor parents at their jobs by making sure their kids had a place to go while the parents worked.   In places like Florida too many see school as a place to park their kids while they work, when the schools went to remote learning workers had to stay home.   Rather than make large spaces available like wealthy areas did to have the kids go to and be spread out leaving the parents free to work, poor people had to have one parent stay home.   DeathSantis felt the pain of the employers and business overlords and did everything he could to force schools to stay open with in person classroom learning with no Covid precautions.    That would have cost the state money besides DeathSantis and the wealthy parents send their kids to private schools who do use the precautions so what do they care if your kids get sick, your elderly poor get sick and die.   So this is the first nail in following science in Florida schools.   What will die in Florida schools next?  Biology?  Chemistry?   History most certainly, along with social studies.  But enforced right wing Christian ideology will flourish.   Hugs

Close schools

  New board members in two GOP-leaning counties essentially sacked their school superintendents over the span of one week.

A student raises his hand in class at iPrep Academy on the first day of school.
 

Conservative school board candidates are in office — and are purging some educational leaders who enforced Covid-19 mandates.| Lynne Sladky/AP Photo

By ANDREW ATTERBURY

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis put his weight behind dozens of conservative school board candidates across Florida during the midterms. Now they’re in office — and are purging some educational leaders who enforced Covid-19 mandates.

New board members in two GOP-leaning counties essentially sacked their school superintendents over the span of one week. The ousters were spurred by how the superintendents carried out local policies like efforts to support the rights of parents, an issue inflamed by schools imposing student mask mandates last fall in defiance of DeSantis.

 

And while not tied to the 2022 election, the school board in Broward County earlier this month fired its superintendent through an effort led by five members appointed by DeSantis. All combined, school boards with ties to DeSantis pushed out three superintendents in November alone — and each of them served over districts that implemented student mask mandates.

 
 

“We had a wave in school districts that spit in parents’ faces,” said state Rep. Randy Fine (R-Palm Bay), who earlier this year sought to punish schools with mask mandates. “And now the people who did that are gone.”

In Brevard and Sarasota counties, embattled school leaders have faced immediate pressure from newly-installed board members and offered to leave voluntarily rather than risk a vote on their terminations.

The boards in both counties now have conservative majorities who sought a change in leadership immediately after the midterms. Although school boards are nonpartisan posts, lines between Democratic and Republican candidates were drawn in many counties through endorsements from each party as well as outside groups. The newly-elected board members in these cases support parental rights while opposing critical race theory and teaching gender orientation in schools.

DeSantis in particular used his clout to endorse more than two dozen school board candidates during the 2022 election cycle, a rare move for a Florida governor that came with $1,000 cash contributions from DeSantis and other GOP lawmakers. Most of the candidates DeSantis endorsed won their elections and are now transforming the make-up of school district leadership and will have huge influence over policies affecting hundreds of thousands of students in the state.

Both Sarasota and Brevard’s school boards put the superintendents on the chopping block the same day that new members endorsed by DeSantis and conservative organizations like Moms for Liberty were sworn into office.

Sarasota board members called Superintendent Brennan Asplen’s job into question at a meeting Tuesday night specially called to discuss his contract. After fielding about four hours of public comment, mostly in support of the superintendent, board members vented criticisms over student performance in reading, how he handled masking students and a perceived lack of transparency from Asplen.

 
 

Understanding he may not have a job much longer, Asplen offered up his resignation on Monday night — the day before the board met to weigh his ouster. But the superintendent also fought at the meeting to keep his job by attempting to punch holes in the critiques from board members.

“I have a feeling I’m going to be fired after tonight because I just can’t hold this back,” Asplentold the board from as a preface.

Asplensaid that some of the board’s comments were “ridiculous” given that he had been at the school since 2020, a timeframe that included the Covid-19 pandemic. And yet despite the coronavirus uprooting education, Sarasota earned “A” grades from the state both years. The superintendent also claimed he was being shut out by board members since the election and noted that he enacted a mandatory student masking policy for only three weeks, and that was due to Sarasota’s board voting 3-2 in favor of the mandate.

“You have to get the politics out of this school district,” Asplentold the board. “This school district could be No. 1, but we shoot ourselves in the foot every single time. We are getting in our own way all the time.”

It was clear after Asplenaddressed the board that a separation would be imminent. Board members said they felt the relationship with the schools chief was “adversarial” and beyond repair. Many of the claims by Asplenwere “not accurate,” according to new board chair Bridget Ziegler.

“I am very concerned,” said Zeigler, who was endorsed by DeSantis and co-founded Moms for Liberty. “I don’t know how respectfully we build a relationship where we are functioning together for the right reasons with mutual respect.”

One Sarasota board member, Thomas Edwards, noted the similarity between the pushes to remove school leaders in Florida and elsewhere in the country, including in Berkley County, South Carolina, where a newly-elected school board fired a superintendent. Edwards suggested a possible political motive behind the move and lobbied for Asplen to be granted a chance to fix issues spelled out by the board.

 

“Whatever rationales I’m going to hear tonight, I really have to throw out the window. Because we just have to — all of as a community — look at the tealeaves,” Edwards said.

But Edwards fell short of reaching the majority of the board, including the members endorsed by DeSantis and other conservatives, who voted 4-1 to move forward with negotiating a separation agreement with the schools chief.

The local teachers union in Sarasota planned a rally in support of Asplen ahead of the meeting Tuesday and dozens lined up to speak on his behalf. But local organizers in Brevard County didn’t demonstrate when its superintendent, Mark Mullins, was pushed out last week.

Instead, the Brevard Federation of Teachers contented that Mullins’ ouster could lead to positive changes within local schools. Union leaders claim that district officials did too little to quell student discipline issues and lingering teacher vacancies facing the county.

“Students verbally and physically abuse teachers and staff, and there will be no end in sight unless meaningful systemic changes are made,” union leaders wrote in a statement Monday on social media.

Similar to Sarasota, the leadership shift in Brevard was aided by new board members. Discussions to split with Mullins came at the suggestion of Megan Wright, who was backed in her race by DeSantis and installed on the board and elected vice chair about four hours before triggering the change.

Elsewhere in Florida, new board members endorsed by DeSantis are also scoring leadership roles. In Lee County, for example, new board members Armor Persons and Sam Fisher, both endorsed by DeSantis, were elected as chair and vice chair of the school board, as reported by the Fort Myers News-Press.

 
 

With at least three superintendent jobs opening in Florida, these new-look school boards are now facing the critical task of finding new leaders.

Teachers union leaders are staying optimistic that these board members will be focused on supporting educators and staff in local schools, said Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union. And in choosing a new superintendent, they hope board members will pick candidates who are aligned with the community and not only DeSantis.

“Firing is the easy part,” Spar said. “The hard part is finding the right person.”

 
 

NHS proposals threaten to make life even harder for trans kids. Here’s how you can help

NHS proposals threaten to make life even harder for trans kids. Here’s how you can help

Protestors holding placards in support of trans kids, with the NHS logo and trans flag overlaid

The NHS is consulting on a new service specification for trans youth healthcare. (Getty)

Under new proposals from NHS commissioners, trans children could face impossible barriers to healthcare. 

The NHS is replacing its sole dedicated gender clinic for young people, GIDS (Gender Identity Development Service), with two new regional pilot services as part of an ongoing process to reduce the spiralling wait times.

Although the LGBTQ+ community welcomes plans to expand services, recently released proposals have introduced gatekeeping measures that could make gender identity services harder to access for many young people, and which have been compared to conversion practices. The service seems to have been designed to reduce the number of young people transitioning as much as possible. 

A consultation on the proposals is now open. There’s still time to make a difference by responding to the consultation before it closes on Sunday (4 December).

The Trans Learning Partnership together with Gendered Intelligence has produced an explanation of how we got here – and how you can help the trans community today. 

How did we get here? 

As pressure from the media and the government has fuelled anti-trans movements over the last few years, access to transition-related healthcare for children and adolescents has become a battleground.

Misinformation and fearmongering about gender identity services is rife, with the mainstream press claiming that gender-affirming care is too quick or too easy, or that young people have instant access to puberty delaying treatments and hormone therapies. 

A Telegraph article titled Children as young as nine prescribed puberty blockers at Sturgeon-backed gender clinic
The Telegraph has published a number of scaremongering articles around puberty blockers. (The Telegraph/Getty)

This is a fantasy. It takes at least three years to get a first appointment at GIDS, and many more to receive further care. Young people who enter the services in their teens age out without a single appointment and are thrown straight back on a waiting list – for how long, no one knows. The reality is that gender identity services in the UK, particularly for young people, have been in freefall for years. 

After GIDS came under fire for inadequate care, the NHS commissioned the Cass review. This independent review led by Dr Hilary Cass published an interim report in February 2022, which found a number of challenges to GIDS’ ability to deliver good care. 

The NHS has since decided to close GIDS and replace it with two new regional hubs. In theory, these regional hubs should allow for more patients to be seen, and to be seen closer to home. 

However, the proposals as written could end up hurting hundreds of trans children and their families. 

What are the proposals? 

There are a number of changes that the NHS is proposing. Some of these could be positive. For instance, expanding the teams that work with children and young people and improving integration with local services could provide more extensive support for service users. 

But many of the changes point towards gatekeeping. The list of professionals who can make referrals to the service is being cut down. New referrals will require an assessment just to be put on the waiting list, extending wait times even further. 

The proposals even go so far as to encourage doctors to intervene in social transition.

A trans rights protester holds a sign that reads: "Trans healthcare saves lives."
Protestors defending trans rights. (UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty/ Michael Siluk)

Under the new service, doctors could discourage prepubescent children from socially transitioning, or restrict adolescents from transition unless they meet certain criteria.

Social transition is not a medical intervention; it involves the social expression of gender such as changing name, pronouns, haircuts, and clothing choices, making intervention by doctors absurd and unenforceable in practice. Are doctors expected to police the clothing, haircuts, and behaviour of their young patients? 

This approach runs counter to all the evidence and best practice recommendations by global experts. Supporting children to socially transition leads to depression and anxiety levels that are the same as their cis peers as teenagers – this is really significant, as trans teenagers often have elevated levels of depression and anxiety compared to their peers. 

The evidence doesn’t lie, trans children who are supported in social transition continue to hold their identity, and are much happier and healthier for it. There is no evidence that social transition is harmful. 

Restricting social transition could arguably amount to a form of conversion practices.

Trans youth have often found their lives reduced to a culture war by politicians. (Belinda Jlao/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

While the UK government continues to delay bringing forward a ban on conversion practices, over 25 health, counselling, and psychotherapy organisations have created a Memorandum of Understanding on Conversion Therapy, providing a definition of conversion practices in the UK.

This definition recognises that conversion practices are “any model… [which] seeks to suppress an individual’s expression of sexual orientation or gender identity” on the basis that one orientation or identity is preferable to others.

Restricting social transition would be tantamount to suppressing an individual’s gender identity and expression, and suggesting that a cisgender identity is preferable. 

Puberty blockers

Under the proposals, puberty blockers will only be accessible via the NHS with mandatory enrolment onto long-term research programmes. This would require children and young people to be part of a clinical trial to access essential care that is clinically indicated for them (and is not in line with ethical standards for healthcare research).

There are also serious concerns for those who access puberty blockers or hormones from sources other than the NHS. The proposals state that anyone accessing the service who is using medications “from unregulated sources or from on-line providers that are not regulated by UK regulatory bodies” will be discouraged from doing so, the NHS will not enter into any shared care agreements, and “will advise the GP to initiate local safeguarding protocols”.

The NHS has a duty to reduce avoidable harm. Like many medications, taking unmanaged puberty delaying or hormonal drugs can be unsafe, and regular blood tests are needed to monitor health and adjust doses as needed. In refusing to do this, the NHS is putting children and young people at risk of avoidable harm, when instead they could ensure that these children and young people are being properly prescribed and monitored. 

A general view outside The Tavistock Centre on July 29, 2022 in London, England.
The Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) clinic at Tavistock and Portman is set to close after the Cass review criticised wait times. (Getty)

In fact, if the NHS refuses to take over a young person’s care, and at the same time advises them to stop taking medications, they could forcibly detransition vulnerable young people, causing serious psychological harm and leaving them without medical support.

The proposals conflate three sources that they imply are all dangerous to receive medications from: unregulated sources online such as pharmacies and distributors, private practitioners and overseas care are all treated as “unregulated”. These range so much that they cannot reasonably all be treated as unsafe. In fact, gender specialists working in NHS clinics often have their own private practices too. 

Threatening desperate families with unnecessary interventions from social services, just for supporting their own children, is not going to make anyone safe. No explanation has been given for these safeguarding concerns. 

Not only does this punish families for turning to alternative services to meet their children’s needs, it also risks an influx of unnecessary safeguarding reports that will overwhelm the already-stretched social care sector. This will take time away from families who are in genuine need of support. 

We aren’t alone in these worries. This weekend, the Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) released a damning statement, highlighting that in their advised approach – which the NHS is not taking – the benefits outweigh the risks, “when transgender and cisgender people are correctly regarded as equal”. It is clear from this statement that the NHS commissioners are travelling in the opposite direction to the global best practice on trans healthcare. 

Click here to read Gendered Intelligence’s full guide to the NHS consultation and to find more about how you can respond.