Pastor resigns from Stoutland School Board amidst backlash from autism comments during sermon

https://www.ky3.com/2023/09/13/richland-mo-pastor-resigns-stoutland-mo-school-board-amidst-backlash-autism-comments-during-sermon/?outputType=amp

I want to thank Barry for introducing me to the subject of neurodivergent people / children and the mistreatment they suffer.  I have been on the lookout for stories about the abuse this community suffers ever since.  I had no idea of it until Barry explained it, just as fundamentalist religious leaders attack the LGBTQIA they are also targeting neurodivergent kids / people claiming they have demons in them.   Damn, there is no limit to the harm these people will cause promoting the idea that their god is perfect and wouldn’t create anyone different from the accepted norms.   Hugs.


A pastor in Richland is facing intense backlash for comments he made during a sermon last week at Beulah Church.
 
Published: Sep. 12, 2023 at 7:22 PM CDT|Updated: Sep. 12, 2023 at 7:24 PM CDT
 

On Wednesday, September 6, Beulah Church in Richland, Mo., held a live-streamed sermon hosted by Pastor Rick Morrow. In the sermon, Morrow made comments that caused a massive backlash in the Richland community and across the country.

In the sermon, he said, in part, “Well, either the devil has attacked [children with autism], he’s brought this infirmity upon them, he’s got them, or God doesn’t like them that much, and he made them that way…my God doesn’t make junk. Quit putting a Band-Aid on it and saying, ‘Oh, it’ll be okay. We just need to treat this or treat that.’ How about you just cast the demon out and then treat all the problems?”

The comments caused an uproar, and none more so for parents like Casey Cox and Erica Hennenberg. Their daughters, Romey and Memphis, love the tire swing outside, love arts and crafts, and are on the autism spectrum.

Morrow says while he understands the frustration, he’s upset that people didn’t understand the meaning behind the comments.

In defense of the comments, Morrow said

“By junk, I met autism, that condition, the illness or the neurodivergence,” said Morrow. “All of us have issues; all of us have problems. All of us have conditions. All of us have sicknesses and diseases and illnesses. And I just refuse to blame God for those things. ”

He had said that autism is born from demonic influence, defending the statement by saying,

“Yes, either in or around on, somehow it’s affecting,” said Morrow. “And when I say a demon, you people want to, like I said, they want to get that Hollywood description of what a demon is this nasty, so ugly and, and that’s not the case, it’s just an evil presence. It’s just the presence of evil.”

What’s more is that in addition to being a pastor, Morrow was on the board of Stoutland schools until resigning from his position amidst the backlash.

KY3 reached out to Stoutland Schools. It responded with this statement:

“The District is aware that a member of the Board of Education, in a setting and capacity outside of his board member role, made comments that have been interpreted as derogatory toward individuals with certain disabilities. One member of the Board of Education does not speak for the Board of Education as a whole, nor the District itself. The District is steadfast in its compliance with both the requirements of and the spirit of non-discrimination laws and our own Board-adopted policies regarding the same. Our school district welcomes students of all backgrounds, regardless of ability, and provides educational opportunities and services to each and everyone with commitment and care. I can confirm that the District has received a letter of resignation from the Board member, which will be presented to the board as a whole at the next meeting.”

For parents like Cox and Hennenberg who are worried about an Autism diagnosis or for people who are interested in learning more about the condition, Cox founded a non-profit called Show-Me Romey, named after her daughter Romey. They say the main focus of the group is to educate people in all areas on what autism is and where it comes from

“We can’t have autism acceptance until we have autism awareness,” said Cox. “And autism awareness is education.”

Cox and Hennenberg say people who make blanket statements about autism don’t understand the condition or the families it impacts.

Autistic children, special needs children, they are different, but they are not less,” said Hennengerg. “They are different, not less.”

If you want to learn more about autism, visit them on their website,.Showmeromey.org or their Facebook page.

Republican Gives Everyone The Creeps During NSFW Senate Hearing

Republican Senator John Kennedy spoke at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on book bans and he also read some similar passages aloud from the books “All Boys Aren’t Blue” and “Genderqueer”. Kennedy then asks Illinois Secretary Of State Alexi Giannoulias whether he thinks librarians should be the only ones who have oversight of whether kids have access to these types of books.

Debunked: Right-Wing Gender Affirming Care Myth Gets Easily Busted

Inside Clean Up Alabama’s plan to jail librarians for giving LGBTQ+ books to kids

https://www.alreporter.com/2023/09/07/inside-clean-up-alabamas-plan-to-jail-librarians-for-giving-lgbtq-books-to-kids/

If Clean Up Alabama were to meet its goals, librarians would face up to a year in jail for having LGBTQ books on the shelf for minors.

At Tuesday’s council meeting, Prattville residents affiliated with Clean Up Alabama, which began as Clean Up Prattville, pleaded with the council that their solutions were a “common sense” approach to inappropriate materials for minors.

But the local goals are just one part of a three-prong plan that Clean Up Alabama has to push the issue across the state, according to meeting minutes included in an email to subscribers.

The minutes detailed the group’s local goals, as well as its goals with the Alabama Public Library Service, primarily to dissociate from the American Library Association. Gov. Kay Ivey has sent a letter to APLS Director Dr. Nancy Pack expressing concerns that closely follow Clean-Up Alabama’s push over LGBTQ materials in library spaces intended for minors.

But the meeting also included three state legislative goals, which go much further than simply severing any ties with the ALA or asking librarians to move books to an adult section. 

Here’s what the group plans to do:

1. “Amend the Anti-Obscenity Law that exempts public libraries from criminal punishment when it comes to the distribution of material harmful to minors.”

Under Section 13A-12-200.5 of the Code of Alabama, it is a misdemeanor “for any person to knowingly or recklessly distribute to a minor, possess with intent to distribute to a minor, or offer or agree to distribute to a minor any material which is harmful to minors.” The section does not classify which level of misdemeanor that would be, but the charge would carry a fine of up to $10,000 and up to one year in county jail.

Currently, “material harmful to minors” is defined under the code to mean:

 

“a. The average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the material, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest of minors; and

“b. Material that depicts or describes sexual conduct [this will come into play later], breast nudity or genital nudity, in a way which is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community with respect to what is suitable for minors; and

“c. A reasonable person would find that the material, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors.”

However, Section 13A-12-200.10 specifically exempts “libraries and their employees or agents” from the criminal provisions of the act. 

On Aug. 16, Clean Up Alabama posted on X (formerly Twitter) that this rule could allow public libraries to give sex toys to children without criminal punishment.

“Did you know that Alabama library employees can legally display sex toys, and possibly give them to kids without prosecution?” The post says.

At this time, APR has not heard any reports of any public libraries displaying sex toys for adults or children. 

 

2. “Possibly add the libraries onto current law passed pertaining to woke ideologies in schools; and increase from 5th grade to 12th grade like Florida was able to do”

This appears to be in reference to Alabama’s version of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which Alabama passed in the 2022 session in a bill sponsored by House Majority Leader Scott Stadthagen, R-Hartselle. The bill originally only dealt with school bathrooms, requiring students to use the bathroom that aligned with their birth sex. 

In a last-minute amendment by Sen Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville, the bill suddenly became much more, barring instructors from leading “classroom discussion or classroom instruction regarding sexual orientation or gender identity in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”

In the last session, Rep. Mack Butler, R-Gadsden, filed a bill to expand that to the eighth grade. 

While Clean-Up Alabama suggests extending that to public libraries, it is not clear what that language would be and whether it would apply to the content of books or instructional programs held at the library,

3. “Considering HB401 that never made it out of committee and assure the language in it matches the harmful materials we have found in the libraries and that it includes public libraries.”

HB401 drew a lot of attention last session as it would have prohibited drag performances in public spaces where minors may be present—and some argued the language was so vague it could have applied to any transgender person in a public space.

The bill led to a massive pushback from the LGBTQ community with a march of hundreds on the state capitol.

Stadthagen has vowed to bring the bill back in the next session, and in the same conversation, praised Clean Up Prattville’s fight against LGBTQ books in the library.

 

Without an understanding of how that law was written, one might be confused exactly what Clean Up Alabama’s plan is to co-opt libraries into the law.

The way HB401 was written, it added drag performances into the definition of “sexual conduct,” which itself is a term included in the definition of “harmful to minors.” (Re-read that section earlier in this article to see how it plays into the code).

When Clean up Alabama says they want to ensure the language “matches the harmful materials we have found in the libraries,” it seems apparent that they mean adding LGBTQ+ content to the definition of “sexual conduct,” thereby changing the meaning of the definition of “harmful to minors” to include LGBTQ+ content.

If Clean Up Alabama were to succeed in these goals, the combination could result in librarians facing up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $10,000 just for having a book like “The Pronoun Book” on the shelf.

Under the current law, the first prong of the three-prong definition of material harmful to minors would rule out books like The Pronoun Book from ever being considered “harmful to minors,” as the word “prurient” is defined as “marked by or arousing an immoderate or unwholesome interest or desire.” But HB401 as it was written last year would break apart those three prongs; instead of requiring content to meet all three elements to qualify as “harmful to minors,” the law would only require the content to meet any one of the three prongs.

Might the plan gain support?

At least four state representatives have been supportive of Clean Up Alabama publicly in some manner: Rep. Susan Dubose, R-Hoover, has begun beating the drum for the group’s goal to keep the ALA from influencing Alabama libraries in any way. Fellow first-term state representatives Rick Rehm, R-Dothan, and Bill Lamb, R-Tuscaloosa, joined Dubose in support of the group as it listed its grievances at last month’s meeting of the APLS.

Stadthagen, as aforementioned, has given his stamp of approval to the efforts of the group.

 

Ernie Yarbrough, R-Trinity, worked in the last session with DJ Parten, a member of Clean Up Alabama, who wrote the failed legislation that would have allowed abortive women to be charged with homicide.

And Ivey’s letter to Pack references the Prattville books challenged by the group, although her letter shares concern about APLS policies and nothing comparable to this state legislative plan.

 

 

When Roe was tossed into the gutter, the GOP lost its #1 best way to get people into voting booths.

I knew at the time the GOP would have to find a new scare tactic.

Which…is us.

Finding information about homosexuality from a public library saved my life. I was eight years old and the only help a librarian gave me was to teach me how to use the main card catalog. I told her I wanted to look up dinosaurs. Librarians are so gullible when you mention dinosaurs…

Oh, she KNEW what you were doing.
She decided “reading,good.”
Ignorance “bad”

This dinosaur learned (when he was going to SF State in the 60’s) that the 4th floor library men’s room was generally like a gay men’s meet and greet most evenings. But since it was in a library everyone kept it quiet.

It gets repeated a lot here, but it’s true: we are next. They really truly want us dead.

I don’t see us as “next.” I see us as “now.” This is an attack on us through the librarians.

Correct, you’d think there would be some sort of pushback from the opposition party aka the Dems on these bills coming forward. Where are they? Even AL dems are silent.

We have no clear message on this? On jailing librarians? No opposite group to the Moms for Liberty group? How about Moms for Libraries? NOTHING from our party?????

These fascists will continue to move forward when there is no opposition to their authoritarian rule.

They desperately need us to disappear. Without their power of the closet they have come to realize they don’t control the narrative any longer. I remember when I was young knowing that two men could be thrown in jail for doing stuff. (I didn’t know what stuff was, but why should a child know these things) I also knew that there was a place where some boys were sent when they couldn’t stop acting like a sissy. I knew where it was and I knew that ECT was involved. They have lost an enormous amount of power and they see their own children rejecting their hate and their religion. So they are having a temper tantrum because that’s all they know.

Just how soon until they want to execute LGBTQ people just for existing?

That’s the end result they want. But it’s a slippery slope, and on the way, they will want to jail anyone who advocates for homosexuality, which will then be interpreted as anyone who merely mentions it, and that will include any media mention of LBGTs. Eventually, they will want a complete prohibition on the certain words, such as gay, lesbian, and will prohibit anyone from stating that they are so.
They want it back like the 1950s, when it was not just a taboo, but a criminal sanction.

They have the SCOTUS to pull this off; they just need a case.

Yesterday. Several pastors have called for our deaths.

 

Alabama: we have the highest infant mortality rate in the western hemisphere but hey we got them queers on the run.

They think these efforts will reduce the number of Gays and Lesbians.

All that will happen is Gay men will marry your daughters, Lesbians will marry you sons, just like in the past and no one will be happy.

Trying to force LGBTQ people back into the closet, with the ultimate goal of recriminalizing being not-straight is what they want

Think about it: They’ve decided that even MENTIONING in front of children that gay people exist is to be a felony obscenity crime.

This is really Not Good.

It’s amazing the power a mere handful (if even that) of individuals seem to be allowed, to simply rule everyone’s lives by dictatorial fiat

I mean, what in the fuck is this? /rhetorical

I’ll answer it anyway: It’s a white supremacist theocratically-aligned autocracy, imposed by a small minority of citizens with power far in excess of what their numbers normally would allow in a democratic republic.

 

Florida County Bans Kids Book About “Hugging Lion” JMG

I am posting this because of the comments.  At the end of the comments you will see what I and Ali have been saying, if gender can not be discussed then teachers can not be addressed as Mr. or Mrs or Miss.  Also how to explain what bathrooms kids are required to use without discussing gender?  Then also if sexual orientation can not be discussed and same sex couples can not be mentioned, why doesn’t that also mean that opposite sex couples shouldn’t be mentioned?  Hugs

The Tallahassee Democrat reports:

Manatee County officials have removed “Christian, the Hugging Lion” by Justin Richardson, a 32-page children’s book about two men who raise a lion named Christian in a London apartment. When Christian becomes too big, the two men release the lion into the wild in Africa. When the men go to visit Christian in Africa, they find that he remembers them. The book is based on a true story.

The district cited The Parental Rights in Education Act as the reason for removing the book from district libraries. The Parental Rights in Education Act has a line prohibiting the discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in classrooms. While the two men, John and Ace, lived together in London and raised Christian the lion, it is never explicitly said in the book whether the two men were in a relationship.

Read the full article.

 


 

 

 

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The documentary is about 45 minutes long, if you’ve got time it’s really sweet.

(Edit: This is just a clip of the background to the story and the happy ending. The full documentary is on YouTube if you search “A Lion called Christian”.)

You know, the one profound thing that YouTube did for me very early on was to intro me to human-animal bonding that I never knew existed. It’s not just domesticated animals we’ve had bonds with. It’s a massive variety of animals!!

I hate to remind them that there is another book where the hero was parading around his home country with his 12 male companions, sleeping and eating together. Oh yes, Jesus and his 12 apostles. living and sleeping together for years. So, lets remove the bible too. And any books about monks living in a monastery together… men living together… have to go. And even books about priests in a rectory in a parish…. The sound of music… nuns living together in the convent. Or Downton Abbey… They had male servants sleeping in the servants quarters.

Here’s a rule of thumb… If you are banning books, you’re on the wrong side of history.

Books don’t kill, bullets do..
And so they banned the books.

They don’t care if children make it through second grade alive, but they do care if your second grader reads about a lion.

PROTECT OUR CHILDREN!

From books? YES!

From Guns? Umm, what?

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“To read too many books is harmful.” -Mao Zedong

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Didn’t he also at one time say that if he was going to run for President, he’d run as a Republican because Republicans are so stupid they’d believe anything you told them?

Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act prohibits the discussion of gender identity in classrooms? Great. Using their corkscrew logic, teachers must be addressed by their first names only, never by their honorific like “Mr.” or “Mrs.” or “Miss.” or, god forbid, “Ms.” And of course we must remove any book that contains an honorific, or dares to mention a husband and wife, or grandma and grandpa.

I’ve been saying how are teachers able to explain the boys and girls bathrooms if gender isn’t to be discussed.

Yes, you can’t really explain to Steve why he can’t used the Girls bathroom, or Sally why she can’t use the boys bathroom, or question why Mark is wearing a skirt to school. All those require discussing gender identity.

And, as was mentioned, straight is a sexual orientation so any books with a married man and woman have to be removed too. Or any book that mention boy or girl or man or woman, because everyone has a gender identity (just like everyone has a preferred pronoun).

SCOTUS has ruled that the 2nd amendment is virtually unrestricted.
If so, then the 1st amendment should be as well. Banned book authors should file a class action lawsuit and make the same arguments the NRA has made.

These 5 books banned from Florida school shelves might surprise you

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/2023/09/11/florida-book-bans-5-surprising-books-pulled-from-school-libraries/70788738007/

A small group of very vocal motivated fundamentalist religious right wing bigots who want desperately to return to 1950 are filing all these book challenges.  Again notice the damage one of the main complainers wrote.  “Damaged souls”!   They don’t care about the rights of other parents, just forcing their religious moral views on everyone.   These are public schools, not private Christian schools, but in Florida the fundamental religious bigots have taken over ruling as a majority when they are really a minority.   Hugs.


Here are five books removed from schools and the reasons why they were taken off the shelves.

Ana Goñi-LessanSteven Walker
Tallahassee Democrat
 
 

The Florida Department of Education released a list of all the books removed from school library shelves last year, and some of the titles might be surprising.

In total, Florida saw 386 book removals from 1,218 total objections last year, according to the list. Clay County had by far the most removals with 177 books removed. Martin County removed the second most books in the state with 98 books removed, followed by Manatee County in third with 25 books removed.

Books like “And Tango Makes Three,” Toni Morisson’s “The Bluest Eye,” and “Push” by Sapphire have made headlines for their removal, as parents have objected to their content for violating the Parental Rights in Education act, also known as “Don’t Say Gay,” or for containing material that is considered “sexual content” under House Bill 1069.

But also removed from school libraries, according to the list, are a book about a mammal from Asia and one of the most famous artists of all time.

Here are five books removed from schools and the reasons why they were taken off the shelves:

Ready Player One

Ready Player One
 

“Ready Player One” was removed from all Clay County School District libraries, according to a spreadsheet from the district, after it was reviewed by a committee of parents, librarians and principals.

The science fiction novel by Ernest Cline, published in 2011, was removed from K-12 shelves for mentioning prostitution, drugs and using profane language, according to the request form.

The book’s film adaptation, released in 2018 and rated PG-13, was directed by Steven Spielberg and nominated for an Academy Award.

The requester, a man affiliated with “No Left Turn in Education,” wrote his reasoning for flagging the book was to “PROTECT CHILDREN!! (sic)”

The requester said the book included “victimhood=CRT,” on page 320; prostitution references; drugs and pills on page 270; and profanity, including the F-word.

Under the question for what the requester believes will be the result of a student reading the material, the man wrote “Damaged Souls.”

Christian, the Hugging Lion

Manatee County officials also removed “Christian, the Hugging Lion” by Justin Richardson, a 32-page children’s book about two men who raise a lion named Christian in a London apartment. When Christian becomes too big, the two men release the lion into the wild in Africa. When the men go to visit Christian in Africa, they find that he remembers them. The book is based on a true story.

Manatee County officials also removed "Christian, the Hugging Lion" by Justin Richardson, a 32-page children's book about two men who raise a lion named Christian in a London apartment.

The district cited The Parental Rights in Education Act as the reason for removing the book from district libraries. The Parental Rights in Education Act has a line prohibiting the discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in classrooms.

While the two men, John and Ace, lived together in London and raised Christian the lion, it is never explicitly said in the book whether the two men were in a relationship.

The authors of “Christian, the Hugging Lion” were also the authors of “And Tango Makes Three”, a children’s book about two male penguins raising a family. The authors are already suing Florida and a county school in federal court over restrictions on the book.

Grappling with new law:Fearful Florida teachers tossing books, resellers say

Rockin’, rollin’ with book challenges:Internal emails show Moms for Liberty plans

Michelangelo

FILE - German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi speak during a press conference in front of Michelangelo's "David statue" after their bilateral summit in Florence, Italy, on Jan. 23, 2015. The head of Florence’s Galleria del’Accademia on Sunday March 26, 2023 invited the parents and students of a Florida charter school to visit and see Michelangelo’s “David,” after the school principal was forced to resign following parental complaints that an image of the nude Renaissance masterpiece was shown to a sixth-grade art class. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, File)

FILE - German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi speak during a press conference in front of Michelangelo's "David statue" after their bilateral summit in Florence, Italy, on Jan. 23, 2015. The head of Florence’s Galleria del’Accademia on Sunday March 26, 2023 invited the parents and students of a Florida charter school to visit and see Michelangelo’s “David,” after the school principal was forced to resign following parental complaints that an image of the nude Renaissance masterpiece was shown to a sixth-grade art class. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, File)
 

“Michelangelo (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists)” by Mike Venezia is a children’s book about the Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo, detailing some of his famous sculptures and paintings.

Manatee County district officials removed the book from libraries citing Florida Statute 847.012, titled “Obscenity,” and involves the sale or distribution of harmful materials to minors.

In early 2023, a Tallahassee charter school principal was asked to resign after among other issues, a parent complained a Renaissance art lesson that included Michelangelo’s “David” was pornographic.

Tallahassee Classical School, a charter school in the Leon County School District, was dropped from being a Hillsdale College-affiliated campus after news of the principal’s ousting went viral.

“To set the record straight: This drama around teaching Michelangelo’s ‘David’ sculpture, one of the most important works of art in existence, has become a distraction from, and a parody of, the actual aims of classical education. Of course, Hillsdale’s K-12 art curriculum includes Michelangelo’s ‘David’ and other works of art that depict the human form,” Hillsdale stated in a press release.

What on Earth is a Pangolin?

 

Manatee County officials removed “What on Earth is a Pangolin?” by Edward R. Ricciuti, a 32-page children’s book about Pangolins as part of the “What on Earth” series on obscure wildlife. Pangolins are scaly, anteater-like mammals native to Asia and Africa, and are the most trafficked mammal in the world, according to the World Wildlife Foundation.

A baby Chinese pangolin is being weighed at the Prague Zoo, Czech Republic, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023. A female baby of Chinese pangolin has been born in the Prague zoo on Feb 2, 2023, as the first birth of the critically endangered animal on the European continent, and was doing well, the park said.

A baby Chinese pangolin is being weighed at the Prague Zoo, Czech Republic, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023. A female baby of Chinese pangolin has been born in the Prague zoo on Feb 2, 2023, as the first birth of the critically endangered animal on the European continent, and was doing well, the park said.
 

Manatee County removed the book from district libraries, citing Florida Statute 1006.40(3)(d). However, section (3)(d) does not appear to exist under Florida Statute 1006.40, which is titled “Purchase of instructional materials.”

When asked for clarity and for a full copy of the objection, Manatee County did not respond in time for publication.

Will we ever grow organs?

Florida Virtual School removed a National Geographic article called “Will we ever grow organs?” from a digital anatomy and physiology course, according to a FLVS spokesperson.

The request to remove the article came from a teacher who teaches the course in a school that licenses the class from FLVS.

The teacher raised concerns about the doctor profiled in the article, Paolo Macchiarini. Macchiarini was sentenced to two years and six months in prison this past June after he was found guilty of gross assault.

While the 2012 article touts Macchiarini’s work building windpipes out of stem cells, a Swedish court said the surgeon “acted with criminal intent” by transplanting trachea into three patients, who all died when the implants failed, between 2011 and 2012.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we decided to remove the article referenced from the new version of the course,” said FLVS spokesperson Hailey Fitch.

California will soon pass a law forbidding anti-LGBTQ+ book bans

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/09/california-will-soon-pass-a-law-forbidding-anti-lgbtq-book-bans/

Great to see the decent accepting people fighting back against the red state haters, the anti-LGBTQIA jerks, the ones trying to remove anyone who is not cis straight gender role conforming from public view and society.  We need more of this open fighting back.  Hugs


 
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D)
Photo: YouTube screenshot

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is about to sign a law that would forbid schools from banning LGBTQ+-inclusive books. The law also requires schools to have trained staff to help queer kids and reiterates protections against forcibly outing LGBTQ+ students to their possibly unsupportive parents.

The law, known as Assembly Bill 1078, is a direct rebuke to anti-LGBTQ+ book-bans, “don’t say gay” laws, and other nationwide efforts to discriminate against queer students. Newsom has long opposed anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination in education and other areas. Once signed, AB 1078 will go into immediate effect.


RELATED STORIES

Australian study finds gender-affirming care halves suicidality among trans people

https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/09/08/study-gender-affirming-care-trans-people/

As more and more of these studies get done and made public, it is getting harder for the NTI-TRANS haters to deny the good that gender affirming care does.  It also shows the lie that these red state anti-trans care laws are to protect the children.  That fact is they hurt children!   Hugs


Activists wave a trans flag during protests.

Cis Lesbian, Gay, & Bisexual Britons Overwhelmingly Support The Trans Community – #LGBWithTheT

This is in direct refutation of the anti-trans haters that keep claiming that all other countries are stopping trans treatment.  It is, like everything else they claim, a lie.  Hugs

My horrible summer in Canada

I have been distracted and unable to really function online the past week or more of days.  I have unfortunately been thinking / remembering / dwelling / reliving the summer of abuse I had when I was shipped off to Canada.  I guess the goal was to “make a man of me”.   I had a song I had recently learned and sang it to my self constantly along with “Lean on me”, “Bridge over troubled waters”, and a few others.  Songs about helping hands or someone willing to help.  But the song “Day is done” held a special meaning I created in my head as a small and tiny 12 year old boy desperate for help.  

I sent a request to Jill asking her to play the song without mentioning why.  She was kind enough to do so.  I had hoped the song being given Jill’s loving treatment of songs when she posts them would stop the intrusion of the memories of that summer from invading my life.  It did not.  So I wrote to Jill and explained why the song meant so much to me.  She was very gracious and we had conversations about it.   Again I hoped it would stop the memories.  It has not.  They are interfering with my interactions on the computer, I can not focus on stuff.  I get lost in my memories and emotions.  I want to hide in videos but I can’t even remember what I am seeing / hearing. 

I had mentioned to Jill that before on my other blog I use to talk a lot about my abuse when I felt the need to and that it helped me deal with it.   I also mentioned that I got attacked there for sharing my abuse on my blog because a couple of complainers felt it was upsetting, disturbing, and they got too upset reading it.  They complained it was turning off my readers but only a coubple said anything to me about not making the posts.   I think someone on this blog commented almost something similar when I wrote about the angry hurt rape I experienced by my teenage hell spawn sibling.  I asked Jill if I could share parts of the letter I wrote her detailing some of that summer.  She agreed and offered me comfort but also warned me of what I had told her of the complainters.  I think she did not want that to happen and upset me further.  

I took her advice and gave it a lot of thought.  Jill is a very smart compassionate woman who I admire.  But the memories won’t stop.  I even mentioned some of it to Ron in hopes that expressing that small amount would make the memories stop.  I try not to tell Ron too much of my abuse.  He is a wonderful loving man who knows I was abused physically, sexually, and emotionally, and he tries hard to comfort me when I have the nightmares and am in distress at night, when I thrash about, or wake screaming.  But again it is something I had never planned to share with him.  But when on a trip in 2007 I shared some of my childhood he had already had figured out I was abused, he just did not know how bad it was.

So in hopes it will help as my prior therapists have said it will, I will post what I shared with Jill, but I will edit it as needed.  ***Warning below is the story of the physical and sexual abuse I endured the summer I spent in Canada as a child. ***   If you do not want to know what I suffered, please skip the rest of this post.    Hugs  

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scottie-at-11 to 12

This is a picture of me that summer.  The picture was labeled 11 or 12.  But it was the summer after my 6th grade so I must have been 12 years old.  My birthday is in March.  I told Jill I was not sure if I was 12 or 13 but I must have been 12.  The dog is three-legged, named Prince, and was one of my only other comforts of that summer.  The woman watching me is the mother of my adoptive father.  I was always watched I guess to see if I broke a rule so I could be further punished.  To me the picture shows me still standing and being a normal boy despite what they were doing to me.  Hugs

As best I can figure out, I was adopted around the age three.  I don’t know if I had just turned three or how long I had been three but that is when the papers I found say I was, 3 years old when I was taken from the state of NY by bus to Vermont.  I have very vague memories of the trip.  The story about the song begins below.

I was 12 years old.  I was about to move into the Junior high school from our local small town school where the elementary school principal knew something was wrong and did what he could to protect me, to the joint JR / SR high school for the area in a nearby large town.  That summer my adoptive parents decided I should go live in Canada all summer from the end of school until start of the next, living with the adoptive father’s mother and her second husband.

The adoptive father was the oldest of 9 children.  His father was an abusive drunk who died when the adoptive father was starting the 8th grade.  He quit school to provide for his 8 siblings and mother.  He became an extremely well-muscled arrogant bruiser who loved bar fights and was well feared.  He hated the world and was very jealous of those that had an education and faired better than he did in life. It was that kind of anger at learning that caused him to ban me from having books including schoolbooks in the house for years because he felt I was not manly enough. But unlike his hell spawn boys he never showed me the secrets of the skills he did have, he was a master wood worker / carpenter with the certifications to prove it, a millwright, a skilled wielder, and other building construction related fields.  He was very talented with what he did, but his arrogant angry willing to fight attitude combined with his inability to understand math (other than tape measure measurements and basic addition / subtraction) kept him from ever advancing to the place in society he felt he deserved.  He also did not read very well and talked in an uneducated manner. He would be a proud maga today. He got the adoptive mother pregnant when she was 14 and, while she had very good intelligence something the adoptive father lacked, her schooling ended at that point.

Back to the summer I was sent off to Canada because the adoptive father did not want me around.  Please remember he had taken his anger and frustrations on me all my life to this point.  To say I was mistreated would be a huge understatement.  I was physically and sexually assaulted not only by him, but he made it clear to his hell spawn of two girls and two boys, all older than me by at least five years, they were free to use me or do to what they wished to me.  I knew not to complain.  But when I was in 1st grade as a very bruised slight boy in torn clothes who would put his head down on my desk and get some much needed sleep, the school investigated and the adoptive parents were accused of child abuse.  A story I will tell you if you wish, but not important to the song.  It caused the adoptive parents to move us three times in less than half a year to another state, back then to the same state, then again but a much smaller town.  The moved caused the charges to never be followed up on.  After that the beatings grew less and less severe, but the sexual abuse got much worse.

So at first I looked at the trip as an escape, not realizing what was instore for me.  The adoptive fathers mother married a man with a farm, it was a good farm but not great.  He had a married son that will become central to this.  After the adoptive parents left, I was sat down and explained the rules. I was to do as I was told, no argument or back talk, speak only to ask a question or when addressed, but otherwise keep my mouth shut, I would work as long as told, I would rest when given permission, I would obey all the time.  They explained that they were going to make a man of me.  I can only think that was the adoptive father’s directions, as it would happen outside the US so I would not have any help.   At first I thought it would be ok, I was used to mistreatment.  I figured I just needed to be good and work hard and it would be OK.  After all this was only for the summer. It got farther than I imagined very fast.

I will fast forward through most of the daily routine, the early morning being pulled out of bed, the working until I couldn’t stand up in the evening.  But here comes the point of this email and the song.  Sorry but to understand why it is so important to me I had to give you the background.

*** trigger warnings the worst of the abuse there ***

Almost every afternoon I would be ordered to the barn.  The worst part may have been I knew why and what was coming.  The son and wife of the adoptive fathers mother’s second husband would have canes. Sometimes to be extra cruel they would make me pick them up and hand them to them.  Remember these people controlled my life so there was no way not to go or to disobey.  The barn doors were closed and locked as I stood there shaking.  I was positioned facing a wall only inches from it.  Then when they were ready and positioned, I was told to “Run you little fucking bastard”!  As I turned and tried to run to find safety, they started to hit me with the wooden canes they used on the cattle. (one reason I refuse to use or have simple wooden crooked handle canes) They would chase me around until they had little slight tiny me cornered and beat me until I was on the ground.  I was ordered to my knees, ordered to undo Carl’s pants.  Open his belt, undo his pants button, pull the zipper down, and pull down his pants and underwear.  Then I was ordered to either lick his balls or take his penis into my mouth.  He was almost always hard by now but sometimes not.  I would suck him, give him oral sex, occasionally being directed by him or his watching wife to stop and suck or lick his balls, then return to giving him oral sex until he finished in my mouth.  When he came, I was to swallow and keep sucking his cock so that I got every drop.  If any drippled out of my mouth I would be beaten more with the canes, if I stopped before told I could, I would be hit with the canes.  During all the sex act part if they felt I was not trying hard enough to please him or for any reason she, the wife, would hit me with her cane.  During all this sex act time they both would be insulting me, calling me degrading names, threatening me with more beatings if I did not do better.  The worst was the times when after I had made him finish in my mouth and swallowed as commanded, pulled back up his underwear and pants, closed them up, sometimes I would be ordered to remain on my knees and not move.  By then my knees hurt so bad from kneeling on the concrete floor of the barn.  They would leave or move around the barn doing stuff, sometimes they would order me to follow them which was better for me as I could get off my knees.  Soon they would return or order me to get back on my knees, always with the threat of cane hits.  After the first couple times I knew what was to follow and I hated it more than all the rest. I would be ordered to unzip Carl and take out his penis.  Then put it in my mouth.  Then he would pee.  He would piss in my mouth.  I would be ordered repeatedly to swallow more, do it more quickly as it swelled out of my mouth as I franticly gulped down his pee.  If I did not drink as much as they thought I should I after I again put his cock back in his pants and zipped him up I would be beaten with the canes.  During all this time I would be told that I was a cum swallowing piss drinking worthless bastard and so much worse.  After they had their fun I was given free time until it was evening milking time when I was required to work again. I often begged just to give him a blow job to avoid the beatings and the pissing but that would have denied them a lot of their fun I guess.  Sorry to put you through this but most people have no idea of what my damned childhood was like.  Ron says it is an incredible miracle I am as sane or mentally, emotionally, physically stable as I am. And he doesn’t know this fuller account of that summer nor a lot of my childhood abuse, I cannot bring myself to tell him.  It is enough he must hear me screaming in pain or fear at night and try to help me, without burdening him with this knowledge.  And I struggle every day, and at night the nightmares come.

*** abuse part over ****

Now to the part about, the song.  Why it is an important part of my childhood and especially during what I just revealed to you.  See my adoptive mother revealed to me just before I left (as she laid on top of me … another story you might not want to know …) that my real father was alive and in NY state.  She described him or what she claimed he looked like and gave me a few small tantalizing things I was desperate for.  She gave me very little more than that but promised if I was a good boy while gone and pleased her more when I got home, she would tell me who he was.  I so badly wanted to know more, but she told me I had to earn that information.  I knew what that meant.  But if … the hope …!  I had recently learned the Day is Done song lyrics and music.  I could sing it from memory.  Every line seemed to be my unknown dad talking to me.  As I cried in the barn, in my bed, and all the time I was in Canada I dreamed of my unknown dad.  I knew if I thought of him hard enough he would know I was being hurt, that I needed him, and he would come to rescue me.  In my head I created so many dreams of him showing up, defeating everyone hurting me, saving me and taking me to a wonderful new life with him, my dad.  Every day many times a day, especially after the afternoon abuse, I sang that song to myself and dreamed of my savior dad coming to get me.

Sadly as an abused kid, I did not stop to think why I was up for adoption in the first place.  It did not occur to me that my dad simply gave me up because he was a man who couldn’t stop fucking every woman he met and already had a bunch of kids at home and more elsewhere. From what I have found out much later he may have been paid to do so by the adoptive mother’s father for some reason, at least the adoptive mother’s father paid for the adoption costs.  The adoptive parents never came clean with me and as you can imagine I long ago stopped believing anything they told me. 

So that is the story of why the song is so important to me.  During that summer of abuse it was the lifeline I clung to thinking it was something my dad was asking me, thinking if I believed hard enough my real dad would save me.  Like all such beliefs without facts to back them up, it was a lie and false hope.  No one showed up to save me.  At one point I was allowed to call my adoptive parents while the adoptive grandparents sat there and listened, and I begged to be allowed to come back home.  I promised to be a good boy, promised to everything asked of me, promised to never complain … but they already knew what was happening to me and felt it was good for me I guess, would make me more compliant as a teenager in their home. 


During the email conversations with Jill, I shared some more of the physical abuse I suffered.  Below is some of that, again edited.  Hugs

As a 4 or 5 year old I was taken to have my leg bone put back in the hip socket due to being “tossed to see how far I could fly” down the stairs for an afternoon. The doctors think that one of the reasons I have hip and spine damage so bad relates to those … fun times by the hell spawn siblings.  I remember my adoptive mother once laughing with friends as she described how my hell spawn sisters were holding me by the arms and legs throwing me into the air to let me land … sometimes on their bed.  But they suddenly went out to play and after a while she went to their room where she found me unconscious crumpled up on the floor and couldn’t wake me up.  Seems the hell spawn had thrown me into a closed closet door.   But no, I was not taken to any medical place to be examined and no the hell spawn did not get into trouble.  When you described me as something they could take out and play with and throw me into a closet when they were done you were more correct than you could know. For the first nearly 7 years I slept in a hallway as they did not feel the need to provide me with a bed or even a room.  When my older hell spawn siblings would take me into their beds I would enjoy the comfort, after paying the price for it.

If dear readers you made it this I thank you, and you have a far better understanding of me and my childhood than you did before.  Now friends I must, I really have to go do something, watch something, a funny video or a m ovie I can totally immerse myself in.    I so desperatly need to get the things in this letter out of my mind.   Hugs