Category: BlueSky / Social Media

Orlando Teachers Banned From Wearing Rainbow Items, Having Photos Of Same-Sex Spouses On Desks [VIDEO]

Orlando Teachers Banned From Wearing Rainbow Items, Having Photos Of Same-Sex Spouses On Desks [VIDEO]

And so the erasing of same sex couples begins.  Just students know that a teacher is married to someone of the same gender is now forbidden in Florida.  How does this protect children?   It does clearly make gay married teachers a lower class of people than straight married teachers.   What next limiting benefits to gay married teachers or just making it illegal to have gay teachers?   WTF, I am going out of my mind that the US in a few short years snapped back into a theocracy.     Hugs

Orlando’s ABC News affiliate reports:

Representatives for Orange County teachers sounded alarm bells Monday after word spread from principals that Orange County Public Schools would impose strict restrictions on classroom behavior after Florida’s new Parental Rights in Education law, a.k.a the “Don’t Say Gay” law, took effect.

According to representatives of the county’s teacher association, teachers and staff members will be disallowed from wearing rainbow articles of clothing, including lanyards distributed by the district last year. Elementary-level teachers reported being discouraged from putting pictures of their same-sex spouse on their desk or talking about them to students.

“Safe Space” stickers aimed at LGBTQ students may have to be removed from doors, teachers will have to report to parents if a student “comes out” to them and they must use pronouns assigned at birth, regardless of what the parents allow, the CTA reported.

Read the full article.

 

Read_My_Feels991 • an hour ago

We all knew this would happen. I’d love to hear how all the straight teachers are being told to remove their partners pictures from their desks.

Houndentenor Joann Prinzivalli • 40 minutes ago

Florida has no law barring such discrimination nor does the federal government. There’s no basis for such a suit and should it actually go into court the current right wing courts will rule against us. This is why we are so fucked and this is just the beginning.

Bob’s Your Uncle – BYU • an hour ago

Wait until you can’t put photos of interracial spouses or family on your desk because CRT is bad y’all.

The_Wretched La’Kietha • 44 minutes ago

Give it time. If Thomas gets his no ‘substantive due process’ case, that would undermine Loving. And there’s cases every year about one wedding or another not allowing an interracial couple to celebrate there – and the venues do win the cases if they are sufficiently private.

JackFknTwist • an hour ago

Wow.
Florida is an object lesson on how to fuck up education.
In Europe this is memory of fascism stuff.

AyJayDee JackFknTwist • 12 minutes ago

Hear, fucking, hear. I think a lot of Americans, including people on this forum, really haven’t grappled with what’s happening. For all the country’s history of injustice against Blacks, Native people, women and LGBT people, most of us have only ever known life in a nation of democracy, freedom and rule of law.

We’re now entering a phase of history that people in Europe and other countries such as Chile have already seen – where democracy, freedom and rule of law all collapse and are replaced with dictatorship, oppression and lawless rule by decree. It’s disorienting, like the sudden death of a loved one, and it takes a while to wrap your head around it and realize that what you have always known as normal is now gone.

JackFknTwist AyJayDee • 8 minutes ago

I so totally agree.
It’s painful for us in Europe to see in real time the swing towards the extreme right wing of fascism.

Ninja0980 SkokieDaddy – wiener dog dad • an hour ago

I think there is a fear of filing lawsuits now given what SCOTUS has become.
It’s another way the bigots win without having to do anything.

ChristopherM Raising_Rlyeh • an hour ago

Yup. They want to cripple public education so they can privatize and monetize it.

Houndentenor Raising_Rlyeh • 43 minutes ago

They already are. I am in a number of online groups for music teachers. They are leaving in droves. I guess the MSM will wait and report on this in September when schools can’t open for lack of teachers. (Always a day late and a dollar short our US excuse for journalism!) So it’s already bad, but yes this will make it worse.

Gustav2 Ed B • an hour ago • edited

The books that have been banned are like “And Tango Makes Three” showing two male parents and no sex. But stories like Goldilocks with a Mama Bear, Papa Bear and Baby Bear are not banned.

It is about indoctrinating their version of what a family looks like, what a couple looks like.

You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late
Before you are six or seven or eight

Don’t Go Chasing Water Bugs | Deep Look

Giant water bugs — aka “toe-biters” — pack one of the most painful bites of any insect. But they make the best dads ever. Rather than leaving the survival of his eggs to chance, dad will haul them around piggyback style for weeks, until they hatch right off his back. SUBSCRIBE to Deep Look! https://www.youtube.com/user/kqeddeep… Please join our community on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/deeplook DEEP LOOK is an ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small. — This summer, as you cool your bare feet in a stream somewhere in California – or almost anywhere in the world, really – you might feel a painful nip. The menacing culprit: a giant water bug. Lurking just below the surface of that flowing creek or refreshing pond, these bugs resemble enormous aquatic ticks, with googly eyes and praying mantis arms. And although they won’t seek you out for an attack, they also won’t hesitate to take a defensive bite if you get too close, earning them the nickname “toe-biters.” They puncture the skin with dagger-like mouth parts and have a bite known as one of the most painful of any insect – sharp and stinging like a wasp’s. You may not even get a chance to spot the offending insect before it dashes off, but you’ll undoubtedly be left with an indelible impression. And a swollen, throbbing toe. — What do giant water bugs eat? Giant water bugs are voracious predators that will take down any small animals they can subdue. They have a long needle-like mouth and their bite contains a cocktail of chemicals that paralyzes their prey and digests their tissues. Then the giant water bugs slurp up its meal. Giant water bugs hunt other insects, tadpoles and frogs, small fish, and even the occasional duckling. — How do giant water bugs breathe? Giant water bugs spend their lives in freshwater, but they must return to the surface to breathe. Giant water bugs have two little air straps that protrude from their backside. The air straps work like a snorkel to pull air into a bubble trapped under their wings. — What do giant water bugs taste like? In Southeast Asia giant water bugs are sometimes eaten as a regional delicacy. Like other arthropods, giant water bugs are said to taste a bit like shrimp with a slightly sweet flavor. —+ Read the entire article on KQED Science:

OA608: Forget Church-State Separation, SCOTUS Mandates Christian Favoritism

OA608: Forget Church-State Separation, SCOTUS Mandates Christian Favoritism

I love this podcast for making laws and court rulings understandable to the public.   Also for those that are hearing impaired they do a transcript of the show.   Sadly the transcript for this episode is not up yet.   I hope you enjoy the show and the breakdown of how the six conservatives justices are gaslighting the country to make these religious laws not based on the constitution but on their religious dictates to give religion a superior place in US society, to make place the Christian religion above all others and to demote secularism to mean discrimination of the Christian religion.   Hugs

 BY LAWPOD
 

OA608: Forget Church-State Separation, SCOTUS Mandates Christian Favoritism

The hits just keep on coming with this disgraceful, illegitimate Supreme Court. Andrew Seidel joins us to break down Carson v. Makin, and explains why precedent is meaningless, and the only thing that matters to this court when it comes to Church/State cases is: Christians win.
Then, Ace Associate Morgan Stringer joins us to explain why the entire internet is wrong about Biden “banning Juuls and cigarettes.”

-Support us on Patreon at: patreon.com/law

–Subscribe to the YouTube Channel and share our videos!

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-Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/openargs/, and don’t forget the OA Facebook Community!

-For show-related questions, check out the Opening Arguments Wiki, which now has its own Twitter feed!  @oawiki

-And finally, remember that you can email us at openarguments@gmail.com!

 



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Men

Instagram and Facebook remove posts offering abortion pills

https://apnews.com/article/abortion-technology-politics-health-016eb3efd65dafc2b568af1495f5bac5

FILE - The drug misoprostol sits on a gynecological table at Casa Fusa, a health center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Jan. 22, 2021. Facebook and Instagram have begun promptly removing posts that offer abortion pills to women who may not be able to access them following a Supreme Court decision that stripped away constitutional protections for the procedure. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano, File)
FILE - Boxes of the drug mifepristone line a shelf at the West Alabama Women's Center in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Facebook and Instagram have begun promptly removing posts that offer abortion pills to women who may not be able to access them following a Supreme Court decision that stripped away constitutional protections for the procedure. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed, File)
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FILE – The drug misoprostol sits on a gynecological table at Casa Fusa, a health center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Jan. 22, 2021. Facebook and Instagram have begun promptly removing posts that offer abortion pills to women who may not be able to access them following a Supreme Court decision that stripped away constitutional protections for the procedure. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano, File)
FILE - Boxes of the drug mifepristone line a shelf at the West Alabama Women's Center in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Facebook and Instagram have begun promptly removing posts that offer abortion pills to women who may not be able to access them following a Supreme Court decision that stripped away constitutional protections for the procedure. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed, File)
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FILE – Boxes of the drug mifepristone line a shelf at the West Alabama Women’s Center in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Facebook and Instagram have begun promptly removing posts that offer abortion pills to women who may not be able to access them following a Supreme Court decision that stripped away constitutional protections for the procedure. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed, File)
 

Facebook and Instagram have begun promptly removing posts that offer abortion pills to women who may not be able to access them following a Supreme Court decision that stripped away constitutional protections for the procedure.

Such social media posts ostensibly aimed to help women living in states where preexisting laws banning abortion suddenly snapped into effect on Friday. That’s when the high court overruled Roe v. Wade, its 1973 decision that declared access to abortion a constitutional right.

Memes and status updates explaining how women could legally obtain abortion pills in the mail exploded across social platforms. Some even offered to mail the prescriptions to women living in states that now ban the procedure.

Almost immediately, Facebook and Instagram began removing some of these posts, just as millions across the U.S. were searching for clarity around abortion access. General mentions of abortion pills, as well as posts mentioning specific versions such as mifepristone and misoprostol, suddenly spiked Friday morning across Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and TV broadcasts, according to an analysis by the media intelligence firm Zignal Labs.

By Sunday, Zignal had counted more than 250,000 such mentions.

The AP obtained a screenshot on Friday of one Instagram post from a woman who offered to purchase or forward abortion pills through the mail, minutes after the court ruled to overturn the constitutional right to an abortion.

“DM me if you want to order abortion pills, but want them sent to my address instead of yours,” the post on Instagram read.

Instagram took it down within moments. Vice Media first reported on Monday that Meta, the parent of both Facebook and Instagram, was taking down posts about abortion pills.

On Monday, an AP reporter tested how the company would respond to a similar post on Facebook, writing: “If you send me your address, I will mail you abortion pills.”

The post was removed within one minute.

The Facebook account was immediately put on a “warning” status for the post, which Facebook said violated its standards on “guns, animals and other regulated goods.”

Yet, when the AP reporter made the same exact post but swapped out the words “abortion pills” for “a gun,” the post remained untouched. A post with the same exact offer to mail “weed” was also left up and not considered a violation.

Marijuana is illegal under federal law and it is illegal to send it through the mail.

Abortion pills, however, can legally be obtained through the mail after an online consultation from prescribers who have undergone certification and training.

In an email, a Meta spokesperson pointed to company policies that prohibit the sale of certain items, including guns, alcohol, drugs and pharmaceuticals. The company did not explain the apparent discrepancies in its enforcement of that policy.

Meta spokesperson Andy Stone confirmed in a tweet Monday that the company will not allow individuals to gift or sell pharmaceuticals on its platform, but will allow content that shares information on how to access pills. Stone acknowledged some problems with enforcing that policy across its platforms, which include Facebook and Instagram.

“We’ve discovered some instances of incorrect enforcement and are correcting these,” Stone said in the tweet.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said Friday that states should not ban mifepristone, the medication used to induce an abortion.

“States may not ban mifepristone based on disagreement with the FDA’s expert judgment about its safety and efficacy,” Garland said in a Friday statement.

But some Republicans have already tried to stop their residents from obtaining abortion pills through the mail, with some states like West Virginia and Tennessee prohibiting providers from prescribing the medication through telemedicine consultation.

Florida Pastor Arrested For Masturbating At Starbucks And Police Say That It’s Not For The First Time [VIDEO]

Florida Pastor Arrested For Masturbating At Starbucks And Police Say That It’s Not For The First Time [VIDEO]

Again these people insist the LGBTQ+ are the moral degenerates and that men dressed in costume reading to kids in public is somehow grooming kids for abuse.   Hugs

The Orlando Sentinel reports:

A Kissimmee pastor was arrested Monday after he was suspected of exposing his genitals and masturbating at a Starbucks, according to Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.

Enginio Dali Muniz-Colon, 39, was arrested and taken to Osceola County Jail, where he faces a charge of exposure of sexual organs, OCSO said. Muniz-Colon is a pastor and teaches online Ministry classes, according to OCSO.

On May 9, deputies received a report of an incident involving a man exposing his genitals and pleasuring himself at a Starbucks at 1041 W Osceola Parkway, OCSO said. The sheriff’s office Special Victim’s Unit began investigating and found Muniz-Colon had similar charges at the same Starbucks.

Read the full article.

 

Nicola Sturgeon to announce second Scottish independence vote, defying Westminster

https://www.politico.eu/article/scotland-uk-nicola-sturgeon-prepares-to-defy-westminster-and-announce-second-independence-vote/

I am confused, can Scotland just vote to leave the UK and then just do it?   Would there be a war or something if they tried?   Here in the US we have a lot of rabid right wingers talk about leaving the Union but it is well known it can not be done unless all states and the federal government agree.   Some say it can not be legally done at all.  Hugs

Scottish first minister on collision course with Boris Johnson over plans for second referendum next year.

Speaker Pelosi Holds Photo Opportunity With Scottish First Minister Sturgeon

 Britain is headed for a fresh constitutional crisis as Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon prepares to outline plans for a second vote on Scottish independence — with or without Boris Johnson’s agreement.

In a 20-minute speech to lawmakers in the Scottish parliament (Holyrood) on Tuesday, Sturgeon will set out her long-awaited route to some form of a second referendum, vowing to press ahead even if — as expected — Johnson’s U.K. government continues to withhold consent.

The first poll in 2014, in which the pro-Union side triumphed by 55 percent to 45 percent, followed then-Prime Minister David Cameron’s decision to temporarily hand Holyrood the power to hold a referendum. This time, no such consent from Westminster will be forthcoming.

After pro-independence parties gained a majority of seats in last year’s Holyrood elections, Sturgeon argued her government now had a mandate to hold a fresh vote. In response, Johnson and U.K. ministers have pointed to nationalist statements from 2014 that the first referendum would be a “once in a generation” event, and say Sturgeon’s current focus should be on helping Scots with the cost-of-living-crisis.

Sturgeon will say Tuesday that her preferred option remains a repeat of the 2014 transfer of powers, stating in pre-released remarks: “Westminster rule over Scotland cannot be based on anything other than a consented, voluntary partnership.”

“It is time to give people the democratic choice they have voted for.”

Nationalists and unionists alike expect this plea to fall on deaf ears. An official from the U.K. government said its position in opposition to another referendum would not change.

The most hotly anticipated portion of Sturgeon’s speech will therefore concern how her government plans to hold a referendum if Westminster does not grant consent.

In a press conference earlier this month, Sturgeon stressed that any efforts to hold a referendum must be done “in a lawful manner” — a reference to the widely-held view that either the U.K. government or an activist private citizen would take the Scottish government to court if it tried to hold a referendum against the will of Westminster.

One way to get around the legal difficulties could be to hold a purely advisory poll, according to a former senior civil servant involved in the negotiations for the 2014 referendum.

“Perhaps instead of a ‘referendum on independence,’ the bill is instead about something like asking the people of Scotland for a mandate to open independence negotiations with the U.K,” Ciaran Martin wrote in the Sunday Times. He added that such a measure “might stand a better chance in court.”

Some unionists have made clear they would boycott any consultative poll, regardless of its legality. But with October 2023 penciled in as Sturgeon’s ideal date for a fresh referendum, and legislation to enact a vote expected in Holyrood later this year, a court battle looks increasingly inevitable.

POTENTIAL SCOTLAND INDEPENDENCE REFERENDUM POLL OF POLLS

For more polling data from across Europe visit POLITICO Poll of Polls.

** there is an interactive poll graph at the link to the story.   Hugs **

Scotland Likely Headed For Second Independence Vote

 

unsavedheathen • 2 hours ago

Congratulations to the Conservative Party of the UK, who as paid agents of the Russian government have installed Russian oligarchs in the House of Lords, compromised the NHS in the middle of a global pandemic, knocked the legs out from under several UK industries, weakened the EU, weakened NATO and brought about the likely dissolution of the UK.

David Cameron, Teresa May, Boris Johnson… traitors to their country, all.

heleninedinburgh • 2 hours ago

Christ. I don’t know if I should bother with this one, since everyone’s going to be talking Braveheart shite.

The SNP have no currency plan.
They are lying about us getting straight into the EU.
Scexit negotiations, if they happened, would make Brexit negotiations look like cancelling a broadband contract, and this time the tories they’d be negotiating with would actually (not in their lies) hold all the cards.

I live in Scotland, and I am dependent on state benefits and the NHS. My appetite for risk is very fucking limited indeed. As is the appetite of most people in Scotland. Unless a non-binding referendum was boycotted, like the private referendum financed by SNP donor Brian Souter when he wanted to keep Section 28, Remain would win.

Oscarlating Wildely heleninedinburgh • an hour ago • edited

First, Braveheart is 20 years old and is an overrated film with the historical accuracy of sheep shit.

Second, not everyone. There is a strange draw I admit in the States to independence from everything it seems, definitely in light of the Crown (talk about a solution in search of a problem), Ireland, and Scotland. As if anything associated with England is tethered to a war that a bunch of colonists won only with the aide of France.

There is definitely a need for more input in terms of Scotland’s access to economically driven initiatives, particularly in the Highlands and the Northern Islands/Hebredes, which, in truth, the SNP doesn’t seem to deal much with at all. The loss of association with the EU definitely hurt crofters for one small example, and of course, the whole fishing industry thing. But those, and even increased voice in Westminster, can be resolved without a total break, which would just create even more chaos. Let’s face it: the economic ties bind; the whole separation thing might have been wonders when Catholics and Protestants were burning each other at the stake, but Mary, we’ve moved on.

It’s not the Scotland hates England; to be honest, that is a very American centric view. Are there representation issues? Yes, but independence is not a strong way to go for a country that is so linked economically to its neighbor to the south, and that is, truly, so small in population to support its own without that economic (and etc.) safety net. We are talking a country that has about 1/.2 the population not of England but only of London. There are too many ties that bind for a complete separation.

Adam Schmidt heleninedinburgh • 40 minutes ago

Honest question here… Right now the EU seems (to my American ass) poised to accelerate membership for a few countries such as Ukraine and Moldova for very obvious reasons. I’m assuming that the expectation is that it wouldn’t do the same for Scotland despite it being a former member because Scotland isn’t under the same kind of threat as Ukraine and Moldova. And thus Scotland would have to go through a some-number-of-years long process to join. Have I got that right?

justme • 2 hours ago

So the great Brexit , that was suppose to fix all of Britians problems ..Didn’t!!

Ann Kah • an hour ago

My uncle, when a student in Edinburgh, was arrested when he climbed a flagpole to replace the Union Jack with the flag of Scotland. That would have been sometime In the late 1930s. Independence has been festering for a long time, but it’s a lot like Texas seceding in that it’ll cause more problems than it solves.

Reality.Bites • an hour ago

https://yougov.co.uk/topics…

YouGov’s latest tracking data on an independence vote shows that, if there was a vote today, the outcome would be identical to how it was in 2014, with 55% saying they would vote No and 45% Yes. Since the referendum, support for remaining in the UK has tended to be above support for leaving, and while in 2020 we saw the biggest Yes lead of any YouGov poll at 53%, this support has dwindled in subsequent polls through 2021 and 2022.

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Boebert: “Church Is Supposed To Direct Government”

Boebert: “Church Is Supposed To Direct Government”

“The reason we had so many overreaching regulations in our nation is because the church complied. The church is supposed to direct the government. The government is not supposed to direct the church. That is not how our Founding Fathers intended it. And I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk that’s not in the Constitution. It was in a stinking letter and it means nothing like what they say it does.” – GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert, presumably referring an 1802 letter from Thomas Jefferson to a Baptist group.

Boebert’s primary is today.

 

SkokieDaddy – wiener dog dad • an hour ago

If we had a functioning government, this would be grounds for expulsion from Congress (and no doubt not her first qualifying utterance). This statement violates her oath of office.

tomcor SkokieDaddy – wiener dog dad • an hour ago

You’re right – the key word is a “functioning” government not a junta of 6 rogues on the Supreme Court!

Gigi • an hour ago

Doesn’t matter how many times you tell them the Founding Fathers didn’t want America to be a theocracy they chime in with “show me where the words ‘separation of church and state’ are in the Constitution!”

Q: Are they stupid or lying liars?
A: Yes.

Makoto • an hour ago

Some brave newsperson needs to ask her “which is ‘the‘ church?” Make her specify. Drill down. What flavor of which branch? Get to which version of ‘the‘ bible is the correct one as well. And definitely don’t let her get away with the garbage “Judeo-Christian” term, which is nonsensical anyway. One of those groups thinks the other is hellbound, the other thinks that the other folks don’t know how to read prophecy right. And it’s mostly used to ignore the third major Abrahamic religion in a rather deliberate way so they can be, pardon the term, demonized.

But knowing how the media works, I doubt such a brave interviewer will step up.

Makoto Gustav2 • an hour ago

Of course. Many of whom belong to churches which are hyper-evangelical, very conservative, and scary. And they never, ever want to admit which church they belong to, since it’s “a relationship” not “a religion” and other such garbage to avoid answering.

The_Wretched • an hour ago

The Federalist Papers, the commentary at the time of the founding on the Constitution wanted as much separation between church and State as possible. Like even more than you’ll hear from people today.

Boobert is painfully wrong and so is SCOTUS in Bremerton.

TexasBoy • 42 minutes ago • edited

So, Lauren, WHICH church/Religion is supposed to run the government? There are literally thousands of different Christian sects with different canons and beliefs, then there is Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Satanism, Wicca, and so forth. Plus, many if the Founding Fathers were Master Masons, and many religions disagree with Freemasonry.

Mark Née Fuzz • an hour ago

This is what happens when you elect someone who flunked her GED courses several times before they gave her a degree out of pity.

Happy_Housewife mikeiver • an hour ago

You usually have to go to a Christian school to find someone as dumb as Lauren. Or a homeschool. Or some private school for rich children who will never have to work.

clay Raging Bee • 29 minutes ago • edited

Just among Protestant Christians in the US, there are about 3000 denominations (not counting independent congregations). That’s about one per county (or county equivalent, looking at you, Louisiana, Virginia cities, and DC). Seriously, I think a lot of “under-educated” Americans have trouble imagining a country any larger than their school district was back when they lost their virginity and found alcohol.

Study Finds That Anti-Trans Republicans Love Trans Porn

https://www.intomore.com/breaking/study-finds-anti-trans-republicans-love-trans-porn/

A new analysis has found that in areas with high Republican support—particularly those that have supported the current wave of anti-trans laws—the search volume for transgender porn is also exceptionally high.

The analysis comes from Lawsuit.org, who researched Google search trend data between June 1 to 19, 2022, segmented the search volume results by metro area, and compared this to voting patterns during the 2020 election and public opinion polls on LGBTQ+ rights.

According to Ahrefs.com, there are 4.7 million searches for trans-related porn each month. Lawsuit.org found that the top twenty states in the nation with the highest volume of searches for trans porn were all (except 5) red states in 2020. Texas, where Gov. Abbott’s directive seemingly began the wave of anti-trans legislation earlier this year, scored number 1.

In addition to looking at geographic distribution, the researchers plotted the data using linear regression trend lines. These graphs show a (literal) left-to-right correlation between the popularity of trans porn and political conservatism.

To look beyond the blue/red divide and compare the data with specific anti-queer sentiment, the group referenced data from the American Values Atlas, an organization that surveys Americans on social and religious attitudes.

The survey question they examined specifically was: “Do you support religiously based refusals to serve gay and lesbian people?” The researchers explain, “We felt this survey question was a decent proxy for baseline LGBT prejudice, though we recognize some may support the question on Libertarian or Personal freedom grounds that do not have to do with the specific demographics of others.”

The resulting graph also shows a correlation between supporting discrimination against LGBTQ+ businesses and a high volume of trans porn searches.

According to the HRC, there have been more than 300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced this year, the majority of them in red states. These have disproportionately attacked the transgender community. Some supporters of these measures have been caught up in scandals involving trans porn, including Alabama State Sen. Tom Whatley and queerphobic radio host Alex Jones. No one of course is knocking their porn preferences: it’s the hypocrisy we find unsurprising and exhausting.

Anti-LGBTQ+ protesters crashed Glasgow Pride – but queer people gave them a deserving welcome

Anti-LGBTQ+ protesters crashed Glasgow Pride – but queer people gave them a deserving welcome

Pride Glasgow was gate-crashed by a small group of counterprotestors

Pride Glasgow was gate-crashed by a small group of counterprotestors. (PinkNews)

On Saturday (25 June) afternoon, Glasgow was decked in the colours of the rainbow for the first Pride Glasgow in three years due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

But a small group of less than a dozen counter-protesters bearing signs saying homosexuality is a “sin” as they set up camp in George Square.

 

“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out,” read one sign.

The thousands of Pride-goers – many protesting against the British government’s refusal to ban trans conversion therapy – quickly circled the group. They drowned out the counter-protesters as they carried rainbow flags and kept spirits high.

Among them was Glasgow’s Metropolitan Community Church, an inclusive church founded by and for LGBTQ+ people, that stressed it is “fundamentally opposed” to what the counter-protesters stood for.

It didn’t take long for the religious demonstrators to get the message.

 

By around 3pm, the picketers took down their signs and walked away from the Pride to a chorus of cheers and whoops by Pride attendees.

The thousands of Pride-goers marched from Glasgow Green to the Broomielaw.

They certainly had their reasons to be there. The British government have torn apart trans rights in recent years, scrapping crucial reforms to gender recognition law and leaving the community behind in its long-sought conversion therapy ban.

Scotland, however, may do things a little differently. Though riddled by delays, drafted legislation from the ruling Scottish National Party proposes that trans Scots should no longer have to receive this diagnosis before changing their legal gender.

 

This would mean they could more easily obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate and have their identity legally acknowledged. This move comes as part of the country’s ongoing discussions around reforming its gender recognition laws. 

The Scottish government is also hoping to go ahead with its own trans-inclusive conversion therapy ban. As much as Boris Johnson’s proposals only apply to England and Wales, Scottish ministers have committed to legislating a ban that includes trans people regardless.

“We don’t fit into your boxes – we make our own,” said Glasgow’s first trans councillor, Elaine Gallagher, at Pride Glasgow.

Speaking to the crowd from atop a double-decker bus awash with rainbows, she said: “That’s why the people and the pundits and paid-for opinions all demand that trans people be eradicated. Starting with the kids that are excluded from sports, toilets, schools and life.”

“Conversion is torture,” she added, “it is child abuse. We don’t condone or practise child abuse no matter what the bigots say – it’s them who do.

“And after the trans people and the rest of the queer alphabet, who’s next? We’ve seen whose next. Women who wear their hair short or stand too tall, or don’t wear clothing a man approves of or, God forbid, want to have their own opinions or govern their own bodies.”