After Liz Truss’ victory in the Tory leadership race, we look at her likely new cabinet and their stances on LGBTQ+ rights.
Truss was confirmed as Britain’s next prime minister on Monday (5 September), and will take office after visiting the Queen in Balmoral on Tuesday (6 September).
Immediately, she will set about installing a team of allies around her, who collectively will shape Britain’s path on everything from education and finances to equality and human rights.
It’s been widely predicted that Liz Truss’ cabinet will include current business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor and former leadership rival Suella Braverman as home secretary.
The current ministers in those roles – Nadhim Zahawi and Priti Patel, could offered lesser offices – whether they would accept demotions remains unclear.
There won’t be a job for Rishi Sunak, it’s thought. However Kemi Badenoch, who also vied for the leadership and was an equalities minister under Truss, is tipped for a big promotion, with work and pensions secretary Thérèse Coffey also being eyed for a key role.
Ahead of the official announcement, we take a look at the likely candidates for Liz Truss’ cabinet and scrutinise their LGBTQ+ records.
Suella Braverman
Suella Braverman wants schools to be able to misgender trans kids. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)
Attorney general Suella Braverman made a short-lived bid for the Tory leadership, with a campaign rooted firmly in “war on woke” rhetoric.
She announced her bid with an anti-trans dogwhistle, claiming: “We need to get rid of all of this woke rubbish and get back to a country where describing a man and a woman in terms of biology does not mean that you’re going to lose your job.”
While anti-trans talking points became a defining part of the Tory leadership race, Braverman didn’t simply pick up this rhetoric to win votes. Even before Johnson’s downfall, she was making headlines for suggesting Westminster could block Scotland’s vital and long-promised reform of the Gender Recognition Act, which would make it easier for trans people to get a Gender Recognition Certificate.
Since she was knocked out of the race, her profile heightened, she has continued this line of politics. In a speech in August, she attacked LGBTQ-inclusive education, saying schools should not be teaching kids “keywords” about the LGBTQ+ community or affirming trans identities.
She also told The Times that teachers have no legal requirement to support trans and non-binary pupils by letting them use the toilets or wear school uniform that aligns with their gender.
Kemi Badenoch
Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch. (Facebook/ Kemi Badenoch MP)
Truss confirmed in August that Kemi Badenoch was in line for a top cabinet role.
During her leadership bid, Badenoch positioned herself as “anti-woke”, winning an endorsement from far-right group Britain First.
Nadine Dorries
Culture secretary Nadine Dorries has increasingly taken aim at trans rights. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)
There is speculation that Nadine Dorries could remain in her role as secretary for digital, culture, media and sport, primarily so that she can continue her work around reforming the BBC license fee and privatising Channel 4.
This is bad news for the LGBTQ+ community – in particular, trans athletes.
Dorries has been vocal in her support of banning trans athletes from women’s sports, telling British sports bosses that trans women competing alongside cis players is “inherently unfair”.
In June, Dorries told representatives from football, cricket, rugby, tennis, athletics and other sports: “I have made my position absolutely clear: I expect sporting bodies to follow the policy that competitive women’s sport must be reserved for people born of the female sex.”
In 2013, Dorries voted against same-sex marriage and even compared it to incest, asking parliament: “If the gay marriage bill takes sex out of marriage could a sister marry a sister to avoid inheritance tax?”
She labelled the bill “political suicide” and argued that same-sex marriage could never be valid because queer couples couldn’t consummate the union with “ordinary and complete sex”.
In 2021, Dorries called the vote her “biggest regret”. “I will regret it all of my life but truly hope that all same-sex marriages live happily ever after,” she said.
Thérèse Coffey
Work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey
Thérèse Coffey has become known for her staunch opposition to same-sex marriage.
She voted against marriage equality in England and Wales 2013 and against in Northern Ireland in 2019.
Explaining her views in 2020, she said: “I took the view at the time, and I still hold to that, I have a strong faith background about what is a legal partnership and what is marriage.”
Kwasi Kwarteng
Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng arrives at CCHQ ahead of the prime minister announcement. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
Kwasi Kwarteng, who is expected to take the role of chancellor in the newly formed cabinet, twice voted against same-sex marriage in 2013, and has been absent from all other votes on the subject since.
Kwarteng told Sky News: “I don’t think there’s a culture of misogyny”. He later conceded that while there were some “bad apples”, “that doesn’t mean that the entire culture is extremely misogynistic or full of male entitlement”.
James Cleverly
James Cleverly, education secretary, arrives for a Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
James Cleverly, currently education secretary, could become the new foreign secretary after he backed Truss’ campaign.
Cleverly has never voted on LGBTQ+ rights in parliament but has made statements supporting same-sex marriage, LGBTQ-inclusive education and LGBTQ+ servicepeople.
“There were ‘no’ gay soldiers when I joined the army, yet some of my closest military friends were gay,” he said in 2019.
“Since homosexuality was legalised in the forces we discover that military discipline didn’t collapse and (surprise, surprise) we are still a world class fighting force.”
In a 2005 blog titled “I like marriage”, which he reposed in 2013, he described his views on equality.
“Gay ‘marriage’ takes nothing away from heterosexual marriage and while there will be some civil partnerships which are done for the wrong reasons the same can be said of straight marriage. Best of luck I say,” he wrote.
Republicans aren’t afraid of “Critical Race Theory,” they are afraid of critical thinking. They know the biggest threat facing their party is a new multi-racial generation of young people unafraid to speak truth to power. That’s why they are waging a war on America’s teachers. Watch more: The Real Motive Behind the GOP’s “Culture War” ►► https://youtu.be/_-nO8cBD79k
My dogs that love gravy !!! Think of the parents’ rights stomped on of the parents not wanting their kids Christian baptized, think of the parents who have kids of other religions or atheist parents? Clearly they have no rights. The entire parent’s rights campaigned by the maga right is to push the Christian doctrines and bigotry along white supremacy racism. WTF! Hugs
A North Carolina school baptized more than 100 students without asking permission from their parents, TheFayetteville Observer reported on Friday. When parents learned that their children had been baptized at the Northwood Temple Academy, they were upset.
“My daughter calls me from the school and says, ‘Mama, can you bring me some dry clothes? I got baptized today,’” one parent told the Observer. “I said, ‘WHAT?’”
A few students had actually been scheduled to be baptized, Northwood Principal Renee McLamb told the Observer. “But the Spirit of the Lord moved and the invitation to accept the Lord and be baptized was given and the students just began to respond to the presence of the Lord.”
A North Carolina school baptized more than 100 kids without parental permission or attendance: 'Mama, can you bring me some dry clothes?' https://t.co/51h7GVZD1K
Boston Children’s Hospital, one of the top hospitals that provide trans healthcare for children, received a bomb threat after multiple reports of targeted online threats regarding transgender healthcare. The Majority Report crew talks about fascism and its influence on the Right. The MR crew also revisit one of Peterson’s famous videos on individualism and how it contradicts his statements about how trans people do not have the right as individuals to transition because it disrupts society.
Matt Walsh discusses threats being levied against the Boston Children’s Hospital due to Walsh and Libs Of TikTok creator Chaya Raichik’s terror campaign. Walsh says that there is a “smoking gun” for why they wanted to bring so much attention to the hospital. The “smoking gun” is an audio recording of Raichik speaking with 2 hospital receptionists who try to transfer her to the right department at the hospital.
The governor says how a student expresses their gender is a choice for the parents. WTF. It is not a choice. The student has a right to use the names and pronouns they wish, it is only being respectful and nice. If Jonathan wants to go by John or Johnny you don’t see people freaking out. If a kid goes by Ace or Skip because their first name sucks no one freaks out. So why if Tommy wants to be called Mary or some other nick name does it require a parents permission? Remember when Ms. was an alternative to Miss. If a student doesn’t want to be called Miss but Ms. does the parent have to be notified? Or is this really just about anti-trans hate and trying to keep kids that feel unsafe from coming out at home forced to stay hidden and quiet about their gender identity. That is what this really is all about. Hate and making kids stay in the closet. Making the LGBTQ+ disappear. All because some people cannot stand that tradition is changing and that society has moved on and some religious people insist that being nice and polite to LGBTQ+ is against gods wishes. Because god wants them to be assholes and jerks right? Hugs
Gov. Glenn Youngkin insisted that how a student will “express their gender” is a choice parents should be making.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) called on school officials to out transgender and gender nonconforming students to their parents. Speaking at a “Parents Matter” rally on Wednesday, Youngkin criticized Fairfax County Public Schools’ Regulation 2603, which allows students to use the pronouns, restrooms, and other school facilities that correspond with their gender identity and does not require school officials to notify parents of students’ transition.
“They think that parents have no right to know what your child is discussing with their teacher or their counselor,” Youngkin said, “particularly when some of the most important topics, most important topics that a child may want to discuss are being determined.”
“What’s their name? What pronoun will they use? How are they going to express their gender? This is a decision that bureaucrats in Fairfax County believe that they should be able to make without telling parents,” the governor continued.
Youngkin’s comments drew a rebuke from GLSEN. The organization works to end bullying and harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity in schools, and has published a guide along with the ACLU detailing the rights of transgender and gender nonconforming students.
“It’s devastating to see politically motivated attempts to break trust between students and educators and to force educators to violate students’ privacy by outing them to guardians,” the organization’s executive director Melanie Willingham-Jaggers said in a statement sent to the Los Angeles Blade. “This kind of hostile school climate puts trans youth at greater risk of harassment, mental health challenges or discrimination. Transgender and nonbinary students need respect and autonomy, not additional scrutiny and policing of their gender identity in school.”
In a separate statement, Equality Virginia blasted Youngkin for targeting transgender students to gain political points. “Transgender and nonbinary students are not going anywhere, and we need to treat them with the respect and care that they deserve,” the statement read. “The governor’s administration needs to hear and really listen to what transgender youth in our schools have to say about their experiences and ensure that there are policies in place to protect them. By instead making open threats to their rights, the administration is failing transgender students in Virginia and contributing to hostile school environments for our youth.”
So-called “parental rights” in education have recently become a particular flashpoint for conservatives aiming to control what kids learn about and the ideas they are exposed to in schools. The line of attack has led to disruptions atlocal school board meetingsacross the country, book bansin school and public libraries, and laws restricting the teaching of topics related to race and LGBTQ issues. Florida’s infamous “Don’t Say Gay” law – officially known as the Parental Rights in Education Act – bans any mention of LGBTQ topics at most grade levels.
Again the Libs Of TikTok with smears of pedophilia and attacks against teachers. Yet some people still believe the lies this group puts out about trans people, and kids being rushed into surgery or forced to transition. Hugs
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), his campaign, and the Florida Republican Party have launched a coordinated attack on Karla Hernández, the Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Florida. They claim Hernández, as president of the United Teachers of Dade (UTD) union, “protected a sexual predator for years and accompanied him through numerous investigations into his sexual assaults of multiple students.” This claim, Popular Information has learned, is false.
The allegation against Hernández appears to have originated on Twitter from a notorious right-wing disinformation account, Libs of Tik Tok. News of Hernández’s selection as the Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor, running on a ticket with Charlie Crist, was first reported on August 26 at 2:01 PM Eastern. At 8:36 PM, Libs of Tik Tok posted that Hernández was involved in a coverup “for a teacher who pled guilty to sexual assault of a student.”
But it is false that Hernández “protected” Wendell Nibbs or “accompanied him through numerous investigations.” The known allegations against Nibbs span from May 2004 to May 2016. Hernández did not become president of UTD, which represents more than 28,000 educators, until May 2016.
When an investigation into a teacher is criminal, UTD does not play any role, a union spokesperson told Popular Information. UTD confirmed that, after Hernández became president in 2016, UTD had no involvement with the investigation into Nibbs.
As the allegations against Hernandez failed to penetrate major media outlets, DeSantis himself voiced the debunked allegations. “You do not put union politics ahead of middle school students who are in danger of being sexually abused,” DeSantis said on Tuesday.
DeSantis Spreading False Libs of TikTok Claim Against Charlie Crist’s Running Mate: Report https://t.co/HBlezTxqaz via @mediaite
The UTD member Karla Hernandez Mats protected through years of investigations and student rape allegations pled guilty to rape of a child and was sentenced to prison in Jan 2020.
By May 2020, media was back to promoting Karla for her pro-lockdown stance.https://t.co/CmZ0UWxLOP
I wish people would judge someone by the tactics they stoop to. I don’t mind hardhitting stuff as long as it’s true. This acceptance of utter lying unapologetic spewing of batshit as a cool tactic is a major reason I despise any and all GOPers.
Well lets hope the democrats get a move on and are planning on calling the press together and call out the lies… and use the word LIES and point out how they have nothing to run on except fake take toc conspiracy theories and hate mongering . But it is Florida so ………..
What this guy is spouting is gaining traction all across the nation, not because more people are getting religious but because these type of assholes are pushing their Christian Taliban ideas backed up by the Republican political party and the violent maga brownshirt enforcers now enforcing a minority view on the public with little pushback from law enforcement. Hugs
Dalton Clodfelter accused The Satanic Temple’s Lucien Greaves of indoctrinating kids… by teaching them compassion
Dalton Clodfelter rants about Lucien Greaves (screenshot via Rumble)
If white nationalist Dalton Clodfelter has his way, the United States will become a Christian theocracy and The Satanic Temple’s co-founder Lucien Greaves will be imprisoned for life for his act of “terrorism” by… offering kids an After School Satan program to counter Bible clubs.
During his show Tuesday night, Clodfelter, for some reason, rehashed a story from January about an After School Satan club at an elementary school in Moline, Illinois. In short, the club was an alternative to a Christian club the district had already approved. Parents were furious because they assumed something evil was taking place (which is not true), and several of them protested outside the school, but administrators had no legal right to refuse the Satanists’ offer and said as much to the press.
Clodfelter didn’t mention any of those legal details. Instead, he just played a four-minute segment from KWQC before launching into his beliefs about how we ought to live in a Christian nation. He said Christianity should be the “national religion” and that the religion should be taught (presumably as fact) in every school. He claimed, with a straight face, that the ASS club represented “indoctrination of children.”
Then he launched into a broader attack on religious pluralism… before literally threatening Greaves:
After rehashing an old story about After School Satan clubs, white nationalist Dalton Clodfelter said non-Christians shouldn't be allowed to hold elected office… and that The Satanic Temple's Lucien Greaves should be charged with treason.
You see, I don’t believe that all religions are equal. I don’t necessarily believe that you should be able to serve public office if you are not Christian. I think if you are a Satan worshipper, if you are an atheist, if you are a Jew, if you are a Muslim, your interests do not equate the interests of the American people. You do not represent this country. This country was built on the backs of hard working Christian men, and what you are doing is simply an attack on faith.
…
I believe that we are going to take this country back and I believe that we are going to win. And when we do win, we will lock up The Satanic Temple guy, Lucien Greaves or whatever his name is, we will lock him up for attempting to indoctrinate children, because his plan is to destroy this nation’s morality. That is an act of terrorism and an act of treason.
Anyone who decided to indoctrinate a child into their false religion should be locked away forever for treason and domestic terrorism because they are destroying this nation from the inside.
Clodfelter’s arguments boil down to:
Non-Christians shouldn’t be in public office… violating the Establishment Clause and “No Religious Test” part of the Constitution.
Non-Christians “don’t represent” this country… when, by definition, they literally do.
The Founders were Christians… which is wildly inaccurate.
The mere existence of Satanists is an “attack on faith”… which is bizarre when you consider what the Satanists in question are attempting to teach.
Teaching kids compassion and empathy and humility and honesty and respect would “destroy this nation’s morality.”
Offering an explicitly non-Christian alternative to an after school Bible club is an “act of terrorism and an act of treason” and should be punished with a life-long prison sentence. (Technically, treason is punishable by execution, though he didn’t say that.)
It’s just Christian extremism, full of lies and threats, with no discernible pushback because he’s speaking in a right-wing bubble.
Despite that, Lucien Greaves laughed off the threat in an email to me:
I’m not familiar with this little Dalton fellow in the video, and I suppose that my immediate concern should be whether or not he’s attached to violent radicals, as he’s calling for me to be tried for treason. But, to be honest, it looks too much like a campaign video made by a kid running for middle school class president to be intimidating.
Poor Dalton tries to strike a commanding presence, but it is all too obvious that there is nothing that he doesn’t fear, as he fears what he doesn’t understand. But who knows? Maybe he’ll grow up and start experimenting—reading novels, eating “exotic” foods—and Dalton will start to appreciate, rather than fear, the unfamiliar world around him.
If not, I’m sure that when he and his friends come to arrest me for treason they’ll be wearing adorable little matching hats.
The problem with extremists like Clodfelter isn’t usually the guy himself, but rather what his followers may do. Here’s hoping no one’s listening.
Trigger warning for kidnapping kids, religious bigotry, child physical abuse, child sexual abuse, many laws broken to steal a teenager from a safe home and take him to a Christian prison until his father could rescue him, but it doesn’t tell how long the teen was there and what the dad had to do to rescue him. Hugs.
We have a serious problem with the Christian nationalist that feel only their church doctrines and made-up rules have to be followed and the laws of the nation are unimportant. Plus add to that the idea that children at all ages but even more troubling in their later teens are still the property of the parents or guardians. Property to do what you wish with them. Which when it comes to religions is scary as can be and opens the child up to abuse. Yes this is a story I should not have read. It set me back. Once I realized what it was before I continued, I took steps to protect myself and placed three video tabs on the other computer / monitor. All three are distracting and I can instantly switch to them and lose myself in them as needed. I have done that. If anyone noticed the delay in my morning posting it is because of this story and my need to walk away from it. But having read it I think it is really important other people know of this and we do all we can to stop it. Think of the lifelong damage this boy will have due to his mistreatment and abuse because some people see him not as a person but as property to be controlled. I am not going to color or highlight anything. I am just too shaky. I read it once to decide if I should post it. I read it a second time to copy and paste it. I am sick to my stomach and eyes are watering, and I just cannot deal with this anymore today. Hugs
The longtime former dean of Agape Boarding School in Missouri, Julio Sandoval, faces up to five years in prison
The former dean of Agape Boarding School in Missouri conspired with a California woman to have her son handcuffed and transported over 24 hours to that school, according to a recently unsealed federal indictment. The two people now charged with crimes face up to five years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine.
On Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced that the man and woman in question had been arrested for the alleged crime.
The woman is 35-year-old Shana Gaviola. About two years ago, her son began living with a different family and demanded emancipation. He wanted a legal separation from his parents. He accused Gaviola of domestic abuse and obtained an order of protection to keep her away from him. She was legally forbidden from interacting with him or from taking away his phone.
The man is 41-year-old Julio Sandoval. He used to be the dean of Agape Boarding School in Missouri but has since transferred to Lighthouse Christian Academy in the same state. He also manages a business called Safe, Sound Secure Youth Ministries, which is essentially a service that takes kids against their will to Christian schools or treatment centers with the approval of their parents. (“The transport is the first phase of this amazing journey called ‘change’,” Sandoval writes on the website.)
Last year, the two of them worked on a plan to send her son to Lighthouse Christian Academy. But how could she do that when she wasn’t allowed to interact with him? Simple. They hired outsiders to do the job for them.
Despite the protection order, Gaviola and Sandoval made plans for Gaviola’s son to be forcibly transported from California to Missouri. On Aug. 21, 2021, individuals acting on behalf of Gaviola and Sandoval found the minor at a business in Fresno, handcuffed him, and forced him into a car. He remained in handcuffs for over 24 hours while they drove to Stockton, Missouri. He was then held at the boarding school until his father was able to free him.
The story is even worse in the actual indictment. Gaviola was also said to have forged a court document that said he had the right to do this.
All of that is awful enough. But it’s deeply troubling that Agape Boarding School, Gaviola’s former employer, is involved in all of this, because that school has been a hotbed of abuse in its own right.
Last year, five staffers at Agape were charged with over a dozen felony assault counts… and yet the state’s attorney general had originally recommended prosecutors go after 22 employees on 65 total counts. One of the victims said he was “beaten, assaulted, starved,” and that other kids had been “slammed on tile, concrete and asphalt.” The decision not to go after all those other adults infuriated the attorney general so much that he asked to be taken off the case.
In addition to all that, the school’s in-house doctor, David Earl Smock, was charged in December with—wait for it—”second-degree statutory sodomy, third-degree child molestation of a child less than 14 years of age and enticement or attempted enticement of a child less than 15 years of age.” The school’s doctor was accused of a slew of sex crimes! Smock has since pleaded not guilty. (A different child sued Smock for sexual abusethis week.)
All of this was so horrible that Republicans in Missouri’s legislature eventually considered and passed a bill requiring some oversight of these schools. Until recently, faith-based schools in Missouri had been exempt from any statewide regulations. Now they must meet some basic health and safety guidelines, conduct background checks on employees, provide students with basic necessities like food and health care, and give parents access to their kids at all times.
The federal indictment this week says the teenager was sent to a boarding school in Stockton, Missouri… which, as it turns out, is also the home of Agape.
For the mother’s part, her lawyer told The Daily Beast there’s more to the story,
Anthony Capozzi, the attorney defending Gaviola in court, told The Daily Beast, “What’s in the indictment is not totally accurate to what happened. It only presents one side of the story. If Shana Gaviola had known there was a valid restraining order, this wouldn’t have happened. That’s all I can say at this point.”
Gaviola “will be fighting this case, and will take it to trial,” Capozzi added, saying that there “is a reason she did what she did. To protect her son. And to protect others. There’s so much more than what’s in this indictment. So much more.”
Whatever happened with these people and at that school, there seems to be blame to spread around. The amount of torture and trauma is off the charts. The scary thing is that there seems to be no end in sight to the depths of the horrors. Each week brings with it a new revelation of how Christianity gave these people cover to inflict all sorts of pain upon children.
Photo: Shutterstock
SEPTEMBER 1, 2022
Scottie's Playtime 