Nearly half of all LGBTQ+ youth feel unsafe in school settings, and over half said they had been bullied due to their queer identities, a new report from the Human Rights Campaign(HRC) found.
But even though over half of queer respondents also showed signs of anxiety and depression, majorities of LGBTQ+ youth have also come out to their families and feel hopeful for the future nonetheless.
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RELATED STORIESAnti-LGBTQ+ legislation is making 66% of queer youth more anxious & suicidal
A recent survey suggested several ways to help LGBTQ+ youth, too.
The HRC’s 2023 LGBTQ+ Youth Report surveyed over 13,000 LGBTQ+ youth between the ages of 13 and 17, from all 50 states and Washington, D.C.
Approximately 54% of transgender and gender-expansive youth and 46% of LGBQ+ youth surveyed said that they felt unsafe in at least one school setting. Nearly 60% of all LGBTQ+ youth said that they had been “teased, bullied, or treated badly” at school over their LGBTQ+ identities.
Only one in five LGBTQ+ youth reported school bullying to a school staff member. While 23.3% of these kids said the adult “didn’t help me at all,” 20.0% said the adult “helped me a lot.”
Additionally, 55.1% of survey respondents screened positive for depression, 63.5% screened positive for depression, and 64.7% rated their ability to manage stress as “fair” or “poor.” These rates were on average five points higher for transgender and gender-expansive youth. 48.9% of LGBTQ+ youth had received therapy in the prior year.
The HRC noted that these findings have likely been affected by the spike in anti-LGBTQ+ legislation nationwide. During the most recent legislative session, 10 have passed transphobic “bathroom bills,” 23 states have passed transphobic “sports bans,” six have passed “forced outing” bills requiring schools to out trans and gender-expansive youth to their parents, and six have passed “Don’t Say LGBTQ+” bills banning queer content from classrooms.
Despite this, 90.3% of LGBTQ+ youth said they were proud to be part of the LGBTQ+ community, and nearly 83% of queer youth said that they had come out to at least one member of their immediate family.
Trans and gender-expansive youth who feel free to express their gender identity around their families and those whose family members use their correct pronouns and names also reported the lowest levels of depression and anxiety among trans and gender-expansive youth.
Additionally, 56.8% of LGBTQ+ youth said they somewhat or strongly agree that “the LGBTQ+ community is accepted more and more every day.”
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. The Trans Lifeline (1-877-565-8860) is staffed by trans people and will not contact law enforcement. The Trevor Project provides a safe, judgement-free place to talk for youth via chat, text (678-678), or phone (1-866-488-7386). Help is available at all three resources in English and Spanish.
But notice what book they don’t submit to the bot scan is the bible, which includes everything they programmed into it for getting rid of LGBTQIA inclusive material.
Official: “It is simply not feasible to read every book” for depictions of sex.
In response to recently enacted state legislation in Iowa, administrators are removing banned books from Mason City school libraries, and officials are using ChatGPT to help them pick the books, according to The Gazette and Popular Science.
The new law behind the ban, signed by Governor Kim Reynolds, is part of a wave of educational reforms that Republican lawmakers believe are necessary to protect students from exposure to damaging and obscene materials. Specifically, Senate File 496 mandates that every book available to students in school libraries be “age appropriate” and devoid of any “descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act,” per Iowa Code 702.17.
But banning books is hard work, according to administrators, so they need to rely on machine intelligence to get it done within the three-month window mandated by the law. “It is simply not feasible to read every book and filter for these new requirements,” said Bridgette Exman, the assistant superintendent of the school district, in a statement quoted by The Gazette. “Therefore, we are using what we believe is a defensible process to identify books that should be removed from collections at the start of the 23-24 school year.”
To determine which books fit the bill, Exman asks ChatGPT: “Does [book] contain a description or depiction of a sex act?” If the answer is yes, the book will be removed from circulation.
The district detailed more of its methodology: “Lists of commonly challenged books were compiled from several sources to create a master list of books that should be reviewed. The books on this master list were filtered for challenges related to sexual content. Each of these texts was reviewed using AI software to determine if it contains a depiction of a sex act. Based on this review, there are 19 texts that will be removed from our 7-12 school library collections and stored in the Administrative Center while we await further guidance or clarity. We also will have teachers review classroom library collections.”
Unfit for this purpose
In the wake of ChatGPT’s release, it has been increasingly common to see the AI assistant stretched beyond its capabilities—and to read about its inaccurate outputs being accepted by humans due to automation bias, which is the tendency to place undue trust in machine decision-making. In this case, that bias is doubly convenient for administrators because they can pass responsibility for the decisions to the AI model. However, the machine is not equipped to make these kinds of decisions.
Large language models, such as those that power ChatGPT, are not oracles of infinite wisdom, and they make poor factual references. They are prone to confabulate information when it is not in their training data. Even when the data is present, their judgment should not serve as a substitute for a human—especially concerning matters of law, safety, or public health.
“This is the perfect example of a prompt to ChatGPT which is almost certain to produce convincing but utterly unreliable results,” Simon Willison, an AI researcher who often writes about large language models, told Ars. “The question of whether a book contains a description of depiction of a sex act can only be accurately answered by a model that has seen the full text of the book. But OpenAI won’t tell us what ChatGPT has been trained on, so we have no way of knowing if it’s seen the contents of the book in question or not.”
It’s highly unlikely that ChatGPT’s training data includes the entire text of each book under question, though the data may include references to discussions about the book’s content—if the book is famous enough—but that’s not an accurate source of information either.
“We can guess at how it might be able to answer the question, based on the swathes of the Internet that ChatGPT has seen,” Willison said. “But that lack of transparency leaves us working in the dark. Could it be confused by Internet fan fiction relating to the characters in the book? How about misleading reviews written online by people with a grudge against the author?”
Indeed, ChatGPT has proven to be unsuitable for this task even through cursory tests by others. Upon questioning ChatGPT about the books on the potential ban list, Popular Science found uneven results and some that did not apparently match the bans put in place.
Even if officials were to hypothetically feed the text of each book into the version of ChatGPT with the longest context window, the 32K token model (tokens are chunks of words), it would not likely be able to consider the entire text of most books at once, though it may be able to process it in chunks. Even if it did, one should not trust the result as reliable without verifying it—which would require a human to read the book anyway.
“There’s something ironic about people in charge of education not knowing enough to critically determine which books are good or bad to include in curriculum, only to outsource the decision to a system that can’t understand books and can’t critically think at all,” Dr. Margaret Mitchell, chief ethicist scientist at Hugging Face, told Ars.
More than 20 members of Congress want to join a federal lawsuit to help protect Gov. Greg Abbott’s buoy barrier in the Rio Grande, referencing Noah’s Ark and questioning if the river can be considered a “navigable waterway” despite being the fourth largest river in North America.
In a motion filed on behalf of U.S. Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Lubbock, and other GOP members, lawyers for the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation have asked to be part of the case and targeted how a key law is interpreted in it.
The U.S. Justice Department sued Abbott last month for deploying a 1,000-foot buoy barrier in the Rio Grande without first getting permission from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers as required by the federal Rivers and Harbors Act.
From their amicus brief:
Indeed, if one takes the Book of Genesis literally, then the entire world was once navigable by boats large enough to carry significant amounts of livestock. Under the federal government’s theory, these anecdotes would render any structure built anywhere in Texas an obstruction to navigation subject to federal regulation.
Arrington was among the 126 Republican House reps who voted to overturn the 2020 election.
NEW: Republicans are invoking Noah’s Ark in court to defend Greg Abbott’s border buoys in the Rio Grande
It is all part of their questioning of whether the federal government can really classify the Rio Grande as a federal navigable river despite it being the 4th largest river in North America
Texas Gov Abbott has installed circular saws between the Rio Grande border buoys to maim or kill anyone who attempts to climb over. Two bodies have already been found trapped in the floating barrier.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is under fire for installing buoys with “circular saws” in the Rio Grande along the U.S.-Mexican border. Mexican authorities say two people have died. pic.twitter.com/it5helvFYS
We filled more than 300 pages in a legal brief explaining — in detail — why Texas can use the floating barriers that we have placed in the Rio Grande River. https://t.co/mFLhNZk6UN
The cruelty is always the point. And the point is always pointless. By their lack of reason, anytime there’s a flood, no one can do a thing about it, because Noah has an ark.
Dumb Idiot Ham has something like this in his putrid attractions. There’s a placard at his “museum” claiming that it was OK for anyone to commit incest back then because it was a way for humans to produce children like rabbits in the mythical Pre-Flood world.
From that same book in their bible they’re always so fond of quoting to condemn LGBT’s,
“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
If we’re going to use the Bible to justify drowning and killing people looking for a better life, it’s important to remember that Jesus first and foremost commanded us to treat others as we want to be treated. Moreover, the Bible is full of verses telling us we should help the poor, needy, and strangers.
None of the things you mention there seem very christian, not in my experience. All I remember is bootstraps, poor people are bad and queers rot in a lake of fire for eternity. They are quite adamant about all of that. Then it gets weird.
Most of the stuff that the fundies rally around is from the Old Testament, even though Jesus said to ignore all the old teachings (which is why the Christians think it’s okay to eat pork).
An independent state of Texas would last for about 15 minutes. Then the power would go out and the cartels would take control. Texas would be reabsorbed into Mexico. Past is prologue.
The Texas Republicans have gerrymandered and dirty tricked their way into staying in power, even though they don’t actually have majority support anymore. It’s a very divided state that remains in the hands of lunatics, for now. Eventually the majority will just be too big to suppress anymore, and it will flip.
Who thought these types of self entitled people who have seen a sudden rise in the power of their bigotry would stop at just erasing positive messages of the LGBTQIA. Well these right wing bigots are also racist. Please tell me how teaching kids to be nice to each other and work together is an ideology that must not be taught? What they really are saying is it is against the conservative right wing maga way to push white cis superiority. Just as they hate the pride flags and demand that any positive anti-discrimination against the LGBTQIA be removed from school, they are now saying that a poster showing inclusion of non-white people is traumatizing to their white snowflake children. Yes that is correct, black kids sharing a school and activities with white kids is unacceptable. It is an ideology just like rainbow flags. No shit. This is what the school board member said after a parent complained about it. In 2023 we have white people saying in public school we shouldn’t have mixed race positive messages, and we should allow the terrorizing and bullying of gay, lesbian, and trans kids because they don’t like them. I warned everyone this was their next step, DeathSantis along with the Huckabeast in Arkansas trying to outlaw the teaching of the real brutality of slavery / racism in the US history is just an opening to try to return the country to the open racism of the 1950s. Hugs
A trustee says a child was traumatized by a poster showing different colored children holding hands and had to switch classrooms. Now, she’s arguing to remove displays of racial inclusivity and pride.
CONROE, Texas (KTRK) — Some Conroe ISD trustees want to crack down on displays of racial inclusivity and pride, saying they represent, “symbols of personal ideologies.”
One trustee says a child was traumatized by a poster showing different colored children holding hands and had to switch classrooms.
School officials against this say a policy prohibiting political displays, not related to curriculum, already exists. The trustee who brought this forward didn’t realize that.
When it was brought to her attention, the trustee said she wants that policy to go further. Citing “a number of parents reaching out to her about supposed displays of personal ideologies in classrooms,” Melissa Dungan asked her fellow board members to crackdown on them.
“I wish I was shocked by each of the examples that were shared with me, however, I am aware these trends have been happening for many years,” Dungan said.
When pressed to share one of those examples, Dungan referred to a first grade student whose parent claimed they were so upset by a poster showing hands of people of different races, that they transferred classrooms.
“Just so I understand, you are seriously suggesting that you find objectionable, a poster indicating that all are included,” Stacey Chase, another trustee, said.
Dungan wouldn’t say whether she found that poster objectionable, just that she wants to avoid “situations like that” by having the board adopt stricter standards and adhere to state policies already in place, prohibiting teachers from displaying political items not relevant to curriculum.
Another trustee even asked if the poster was illegal and went on to claim previous displays of pride flags were.
“We do have violation of this law,” Misty Odenweller said.
When asked if bible verses were also in violation of existing policy and should be removed, Dungan struggled to respond.
“Right? Would you agree?” trustee Datren Williams asked Dungan.
A trustee says a child was traumatized by a poster showing different colored children holding hands and had to switch classrooms. Now, she's arguing to remove displays of racial inclusivity and pride. https://t.co/scyrw05x2q
These bigots have been emboldened by Trump, Abbott, DeSantis, and others, to publicly and proudly promote their racism. They are horrible people and should be publicly shunned.
Imagine if they saw the Mr. Rogers episode where he and his Black mailman friend both dipped their feet into a kiddie pool to cool off on a hot, summer day. The horror!
Conroe is a northern suburb/exurb of Houston. It’s not exactly the boonies but on the edge of one of the largest metropolitan areas in the US and according to many sources the most diverse city in the US. People who think of race as black/white need to visit Houston where there are people from pretty much everywhere in the world where there are humans. Conroe, however, is about 72% white and as is typical in the outer burbs, these are people who fled Houston because they freaked out when an Indian or Chinese family moved in next door.
If children are being traumatized by posters showing inclusion, I’d take a good hard look at the parenting style of their fucking parents. Flags, all red.
This is a clip from Boston Legal. Obviously I do not own any of the rights to Boston Legal, I simply own the DVD set to season 3. However, I believe it is both a tribute to the show and a good sales pitch towards purchasing a copy of this show to introduce herein a clip that demolishes the absurd religious views on homosexuality. In this clip, Alan Shore presents his case as to why the man he represents has been scammed out of $40k by a religious organization that intended to “cure” his SSAD (“same sex attraction disorder”, aka homosexuality). Brilliant and appropriate for this moment in time.
Thanks to Ali for the link. This cartoon really says it all. Please go to the link above and read the two few paragraphs that fill in the cartoon’s backstory. It is important. I am going to post the cartoon so you get a taste of it, but the two short stories of how the same care is approached when a young person is cis vs when they are trans. Hugs
Many thanks to Ali for this cartoon. Again a cartoon expresses a lot of information and corrects an old myth with just four panels. At the web link above you can read the break-down of the cartoon and the thoughts of the artist. As well as see other thought provoking cartoons. Hugs
This is long, and maybe too long for most people. It took me three days to watch it all. But it is even handed, it is informative, it is well documented, and it is truly how I and so many feel. I loved TYT, but about the time Cenk decided to run for office and gave a lot of control over the company / show to Anna, I noticed a shift / change in both hosts and the company direction. Cenk became very bitter and anti-democratic party, while Anna became overly more assertive on every show. When Cenk came back so bitter from being what he felt was unfairly treated by the democrats but others felt was him trying to claim a position without doing the work others had done before him Anna started talking over him, interrupting him, not letting him finish his sentences. But at the same time if he tried to interrupt her she got very vocal about it and wouldn’t tolerate it. She was now in charge and she wanted the world to know it. It showed how she felt about her position, she had the authority and say, so don’t disagree with her. That was very off-putting for me a long time viewer and supporter of the show. But then Cenk’s constant vitriol against the Democratic Party started to interfere with his reporting on Biden. Right from the start he wanted Biden to do the impossible and when he did not Cenk couldn’t even give him credit for what he did get accomplish. Cenk being a bombastic fighter spent two years demanding Joe Biden attack and call out Joe Manchin and pushed for the most virulent attacks on him. Which would have lost the democrats the control of the Senate and stopped any left leaning judge appointments. Then Cenk got more bitter towards Biden and other progressive members of congress who did not throw the disruptive bombs he wanted to destroy the party, so he openly attacked the very groups he started along with attacking all progressives. What crossed the line for me what his attacks on Biden and openly trying to promote primary challengers to him talking up fringe candidates, knowing historically any time a sitting president was primaried they lost, giving the other party the win. He did not care, his bitter anger was more important to him. He kept up his now constant attempts to tear down Biden to the point he is doing the work of a republican challenger for president. I wrote that when I canceled my long time membership, that Cenk was doing the work of the Republican Party in tearing down and maligning Biden. This hard right turn of Anna’s and Cenk’s weirdly not even willing to listen to any criticism of her was the last straw for me. He is not even really addressing the issue that Anna made as the start of this problem, and keeps misrepresenting it. If Anna wants to be called woman that is great, if trans women demand to be called women that is great and everyone would do as they ask. But there are transmen with parts that medical people need to address and that are on medical forms / question forms. It was pointed out so often that no one in conversation referred to Anna as a “birthing person” but she still took offense to the term even existing. She was demanding a medical term to be inclusive not exist because she felt it diminished her as a female. Total right wing maga fundamentalist thinking. This is entirely a case of two people drinking their own Kool-Aid on their own importance and getting called out for it. Their egos have gotten in the way of the work they were doing. I can no longer support them as they are, and I hope people will watch this well researched and documented video. Hugs
Cenk Uyger, Ana Kasparian, and The Young Turks have had a history of scandals and controversies throughout the existence of the network. I want to talk about that history, as well as the events leading up to their recent meltdowns on the podcast circuit and Twitter.
I am not a religious person. I do not believe in the supernatural nor in any deity. I am a confirmed heathen. I enjoy being a heathen and do not hide it. But by My Dogs That Love Gravy, I do appreciate and respect this man, this person Rev. Ed Trevors! I respect him, I support a lot of what he says as is clear in that I repost his videos. I think I could sit in his congregation and hear a sermon of his with no anger or disgust. I could spend a happy pleasant afternoon in chat with him. I wouldn’t believe in his deity or in their holy book, but I do believe in his message of inclusion. It is one I not only support but want to amplify.
I want to make one thing very clear on this site, my Play Time (that some days doesn’t feel much like playing or fun), I am against hate, bigotry, discrimination, and abuse of others. Notice in that list I did not include religion, faith, personal codes of conduct, worship, or any particular deity / religion. When I joined the military I took an oath to support the constitution of the US and its principles, which I still believe in. One of those rights was for people to worship their own gods in ways that did not harm others and government wouldn’t / couldn’t form a preference for any religion over any other, including simply having none.
Notice in the above paragraph I did not include being able to force others to worship and live as you do. I am against that and the hate churches that preach that. I post a lot against them. Just as I don’t insist everyone have same-sex relations just as I do, I fight against heterosexuals who insist others must have the opposite sex relations they do. I support trans rights, but I don’t insist all cis people must be trans, must dress as the gender they don’t identify with. When you break it down into those terms you see clearly what the bigot haters are trying to do, what they want to force the world into, a mold of them, just like them and only them. And they misuse their religion and deity to do this.
Which leads me back to the Rev Ed Trevors. Here is someone that understand his faith is not justification to harm others. His faith is not a weapon to use to hurt those who are different from him. Instead he uses his faith as a guide on how to live his life and treat others. Just as I do with the Christians who come to my Play Time I respect and admire him. Those people are welcome and deserve our respect, and that goes for any faith that comes here with the same ideas of respect. Hugs
Photo: Shutterstock
