I have a doctor’s appointment this morning, and after that I plan to ignore news and reply to comments. Plus if I can I will give a health update. So until we meet again, best wishes and hugs.
Category: Bigotry
Moms For Liberty Harasses Florida High School Into Reprinting Yearbook Without Pages On LGBTQ Students
Personal note ** I hope to be back up to the half speed I have been managing lately in a few days. I had a really bad end of the week, health wise. Ron said Thursday evening my right side back muscles were swollen up higher than his fist compared to the left. I saw the cardiologist, he changed my medication and said I needed an echocardiogram along with a medical heart stress test. He is worried about the shortness of breath and breathing problems, along with something he thinks is going on with my heart. But the change in medications will allow me to get my allergy treatments, and the blood tests came back showing really serious allergies. I will share those another time. Hugs
Please note the open bigotry and privilege. Also note these are a very small group of bigoted religious parents. Let the kids be kids doesn’t apply to the gay or other LGBTQ+ kids. These people find anything offensive that is not just as they are, feel, or want things. They want all their kids to celebrate their school years, but not the gay, trans, or the other LGBTQ+ kids to have that privilege. Notice these kids are teenagers, the woman is complaining that seeing LGBTQ+ other students and information was sexualizing a 14-year-old. Trust me, by 14 a kid knows their gender, their sexuality, and even how to masturbate. This strange idea that kids don’t have feelings, desire, or even that touching themselves feels good until the magic moment they turn 18 when suddenly all those things happen and become real. That is incredibly stupid, that schools even through the senior year can not mention anything dealing with gender or sexual orientation unless it is straight heterosexual 1950s gender stereotypical norms. Hello every teen has a smart phone, and access to smart TV’s, game consoles that browse the internet, along with computers. Get freaken real people. This really is about not letting the LGBTQ+ people be normalized, that is why these groups want to remove the media with gay or trans characters or have LGBTQ+ information. Yet they do want the anti-gay stuff pushed hard. These bans make it so there can be no programs stopping bullying, no safe places for kids that are not cis or straight to feel welcome. It is driving the LGBTQ+ people in the US to the same place the Jewish people were in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Hugs
The Orlando Sentinel reports:
Seminole County Public Schools is offering to reprint this year’s Lyman High School yearbook and remove two pages for parents upset about LGBTQ+ content, prompting criticism that the district isn’t standing up to bigotry. The pages highlight the school’s LGBTQ+ community and provide definitions of terms such as genderfluid and pansexual. A few parents and students found those pages “inappropriate,” and now the district is offering refunds or reprinted yearbooks with the pages in question removed.
Jessica Tillmann, chapter chair of the Seminole County Moms for Liberty, said she is concerned about the definitions in the yearbook because she thinks they are teaching children about sex outside the state-approved standards that parents can choose to opt their children out of. “They shouldn’t have any sexual definitions in a yearbook,” she said. “This is a yearbook that goes to every student as young as 14.”
Click Orlando reports:
Sharmon Craft [screenshot above] was among the parents who believe the page is inappropriate. “This gender ideology crap has parents in an uproar because it’s disgusting and wrong for an adult to sexualize a minor,” Craft said on Facebook.
“The district superintendent is ordering the school to give full refunds or have the books reprinted without the glossary of perverse sexual attractions and pronouns.” District officials said they have received four complaints from parents so far.
Danielle Pomeranz, the high school’s former yearbook advisor, argued against the decision. “We think that it’s important that our book remains inclusive and represents all of the students at Lyman High School,” Pomeranz said.
STFU. If you’re such a snowflake, tear the two pages out yourself. I’m sick of a couple of people dictating to the rest of the schools.
100% correct!! Why do they kowtow to idiots??
manufactured drama to needlessly excite others as they push their astro-turf nonsense.
And yet schools and other places kowtow to these idiots with their reactionary agenda. It makes me sick!
14 year olds know that gay people exist.
14 year olds often already know if they are gay or straight or even fluid, I sure did.
I always knew I wasn’t like the other boys. 14 was when I figured out what that difference was.
I wasn’t out in public until I was 24, but I was out to myself at 14.
14 was my age the first time I was able to look my reflection in the eyes and say, “I am a homosexual” out loud. It was strange to hear myself say it, but it felt so true and freeing.
Same age here, but for me it was as I was cumming while thinking of the guys in the locker room at school
I almost find it funny that these Moms for Liberty morons think that their children are innocent and pure and know nothing about sex. Do they not know the kids have access to the internet and have cell phones? Those women live in a Christian bubble.
Don’t tell them. ‘Christian’ parents have a tendency to install crappy blocking software on their kids’ phones that ostensibly block porn, but actually block anything a crazy religious parent might object to, like age-appropriate information that teens absolutely should have access to.
14 year olds with phones know a lot of things.
Hence the enthusiasm for purging all mention of them everywhere. As homophobe lawyer Matt Staver said recently, if Christian kids get to know gays, they’ll get the outrageous idea they’re not monsters in human form.
Indeed:
I was a transgender child.
This is the terrifying person the maga right conservatives want to erase and claim is a threat to society. This is a really informative video by a young man who describes the steps it took to get what he needed to be the person he really was. This person’s lived experience put to lie all the myths the anti-trans people claim are happening, like mass pushing kids to be trans, no medical checks, and just rushing kids to sex changes. It amazes me that in 2023 we still have throwbacks to dark ages in understandings of biology and social development. Notice this boy knew his gender was wrong most of his early childhood and even at 9 years old he knew he was not a girl but should grow up to be a guy, but it became a serious issue for him at 12 years old. Puberty time. This is the same period of time the maga religious right wants to claim kids don’t know anything about gender or sexual attraction. And even though this boy did not have teachers telling him about pronouns or gender expression, he still realized he was not his assigned sex / gender. He talks about gender conversion, gender dysphoria, and the misinformation about trans kids / people. His story is interesting. It also is very informative and destroys a lot of the trans haters talking points, even to the point of no harm and many benefits of letting kids socially transition. Well worth watching. Hugs
Vaush Debates Transphobe that Compares Trans People to Nazis
In a calm and rational manner, Vaush explains the truth of trans people to a guy questioning if trans is even a thing. Vaush explains where the guy’s misinformation is wrong and guides him to seeing the where his assumptions are wrong about gender VR sex. If your hang up on trans people is the issue / question of sex / gender, Vaush explains that wonderfully. He really does it in a way easy for even Dildeb could understand. Hugs
Let’s talk about Chick Fil A going woke….
As he says woke is just a code word, a dog whistle for what ever group the republican religious conservatives chose to target. Listen up, which group will they target next. Hugs
Let kids be kids … as long as those kids are straight and cis.
Wishes for haters
Uganda Made Homosexuality Punishable by Death. American Evangelical Groups Played a Role
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/uganda-homosexuality-law-american-evangelicals
The fundamentalists drool and dream of accomplishing this here and worldwide. They are going after trans people and LGBTQ+ media first, then outlaw the LGBTQ+. They may keep lesbians, as the male fundamentalist love watching girl on girl porn. These religious groups spent over 20 million in Uganda alone over the last few years to get these hateful anti-gay bills passed. This is the enemy we face here in the US. They are driven, they will sacrifice any money time and time again for the cause of their god. Hugs
This article was originally published by Vanity Fair.
After more than a decade of anti-LGBTQ lobbying from American evangelical groups, Uganda has finally enacted what’s among the harshest antigay laws in the world. On Monday, Yoweri Museveni, the president of the East African nation, signed the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023, a bill that makes homosexuality punishable by life imprisonment and “aggravated homosexuality”—a vague phrase that applies to both predators and those who use “misrepresentation” or “undue influence” to engage in gay sex—punishable by death. Even attempting “to commit the offense of homosexuality” could lead to a seven-year prison sentence. Moreover, anyone found guilty of “promoting” homosexuality in the country could face up to 20 years in prison, while so-called “serial offenders” and those who transmit HIV/AIDS through gay sex could be subject to capital punishment.
The law has faced widespread condemnation abroad. In a Monday statement, Joe Biden condemned it as “a tragic violation” of human rights and said the White House was “considering additional steps, including the application of sanctions and restriction of entry into the United States against anyone involved in serious human rights abuses or corruption.” (For his part, Museveni previously praised Uganda’s parliament members for defying “imperialist” pressure campaigns against the law, which is also being challenged in court by in-country activists.)
Antigay sentiment in Uganda has climbed in recent years due in no small part to American evangelicals, who spent more than $20 million fighting LGBTQ rights in the country between 2007–2020, according to The Washington Post. Scott Lively, an American pastor, spearheaded this effort in the early 2000s, participating in a series of popular antigay lectures in Uganda and describing homosexuality as a “disease” propagated by the West. Several years later, Uganda’s parliament proposed initial legislation, known as the “Kill the Gays” bill, that was supported by a number of American Christian groups and eventually signed into law. While that measure ultimately buckled under court scrutiny, its draconian vision has now been revived and etched into law by Museveni’s pen.
In a strange twist, one of the leading evangelical politicians in the US has joined the White House, the UN Human Rights Office, and a corporate coalition in condemning the law. “This Uganda law is horrific & wrong,” tweeted Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican. “Any law criminalizing homosexuality or imposing the death penalty for ‘aggravated homosexuality’ is grotesque & an abomination. ALL civilized nations should join together in condemning this human rights abuse. #LGBTQ.” In his own country, Cruz has consistently advocated against the civil rights of gay Americans. As recently as last year, he called Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, “clearly wrong” and an act of judicial overreach. (Those remarks were mild compared to his initial reaction to the 2015 decision, which he described at the time as “the very definition of tyranny” and “among the darkest hours of our nation.”)
Anita Among, Uganda’s parliamentary speaker, responded to criticisms of the law by stating that Museveni had “answered the cries of our people.” In a separate statement, Among urged the “duty bearers under the law to execute the mandate bestowed upon them in the Anti-Homosexuality Act.”
GOP Rep: Low-Income Housing “Discourages Marriage”
Talk about pushing your religious views on to people so poor as to need government assistance. This is more of the fundamentalist rights war on women. Look at the things the republicans have pushed, removing a woman’s right to her own reproductive care via abortion, removing a woman’s right to contraception, in 7 states the republicans are trying to outlaw no-fault divorce thinking it will force people to stay married, and of course outlawing anything but straight relations by overturning the right of marriage equality. This guy wants to force low income women to marry a guy, any guy, to be able to have a place to live. Plus the guy is a white supremacists racist. Hugs
“For whatever reason, the people who put together this bill, knew we needed work requirements for SNAP but they said we shouldn’t have them for Medicaid, which kind of, I predicted. But they left low-income housing untouched.
“I think as far as discouraging work and discouraging marriage, I think low-income housing is even a more dangerous program than the food stamps.
“So, I’m including low-income housing in the mix of having work requirements. The amendment is drafted to include Section 8 housing, which is an error on my part because there are other low-income housings as well.
“But that’s what we have before us.” – GOP Rep. Glenn Grothman, during last night’s House Rules Committee debate on the debt ceiling bill.
Grothman appeared here last week when he complained that Biden won’t nominate “straight white guys” to the federal judiciary.
He also appeared here in January 2023 when he posted a flag associated with the Christian nationalist movement outside his Capitol office.
Months earlier he gave a floor speech condemning the US Census for collecting data on LGBTQ Americans, which he found “horrifying.”
Before that he appeared here in June 2021 when he authored a bill that would ban teaching the history of racism in Washington DC public schools.
His first appearance here came in September 2011 when as a Wisconsin state senator he authored a successful bill that banned mentioning contraception in sex ed classes.
Grothman opposes recognizing Kwanzaa and Martin Luther King Jr. Day as state holidays. In 2015, he authored a bill to place a ban on same-sex marriage in the US Constitution.
Grothman ran unopposed in the 2022 election.
Librarians sue Arkansas state over law banning them from giving ‘obscene’ books to children
Move comes as rightwing groups increase pressure to remove books, most written by or about members of the LGBTQ+ community and people of colour
Nate Coulter, executive director of the Central Arkansas Library System said the law would be ‘totally impractical to enforce.’ Photograph: Katie Adkins/AP
The American Library Association and the Authors Guild are among a group of organisations bringing a lawsuit against the state of Arkansas over a law which makes it a crime for librarians to give children books with “obscene” content.
The lawsuit involves 17 plaintiffs, including the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS), the Association of American Publishers and the American Booksellers Association.
The groups are aiming to challenge Senate bill 81, which exposes librarians who provide “obscene materials” to children to criminal liability. The law, part of Act 372 of 2023, is due go to come into force on 1 August.
It says that anyone will be allowed to “challenge the appropriateness” of a book, but it does not define exactly what is meant by “obscene” or “appropriateness”. Under the law, a group of people chosen by head librarians would review material that had been challenged, and vote in a public meeting about whether it should be kept on public display or moved to an area of the library inaccessible to those under 18.
CALS executive director Nate Coulter said this part of the law would be “totally impractical to enforce”, reported the Arkansas Advocate.
The board of CALS voted this month to file the lawsuit challenging parts of Act 372 of 2023. John Adams, a lawyer from Fuqua Campbell, the law firm representing CALS, said that librarians needed clarity on the law to ensure they could do their jobs without risking arrest.
American Library Association president Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada told Publishers Weekly that the lawsuit was “to vindicate Arkansas residents’ freedom to read”.
The lawsuit is expected to be filed in the coming days. It is the second high-profile lawsuit this year concerning the restriction of books available in libraries. Earlier in the month, PEN America, Penguin Random House, and a group of authors and parents, filed a lawsuit against a Florida school district for implementing book bans. The suit argues the removal and restriction of access to books discussing race, racism and LGBTQ+ identities violates the first amendment.
It comes after increased activity by rightwing groups to remove books from libraries and schools in the US. In 2022, calls to ban books hit the highest level ever recorded in the US, according to the American Library Association (ALA), which tracks requests for removal.
Last year, there were requests to ban 2,571 titles; up 38% from 1,858 titles in 2021. Most of the books for which removal requests were made, said the ALA, were written by or about members of the LGBTQ+ community and people of colour.
