Florida School: Teacher’s Pro-Confederacy Video Is OK

If you think racism is dead and doesn’t exist in Florida, you are wrong.  It is being openly taught in Florida schools.   A teacher is facing discipline and may lose her job because she showed a Disney animated movie that included a gay 16-year-old boy.  That movie had no gay sex and very little talk about the boy’s feelings.   But a teacher promoting:   “Every year our state celebrates and memorializes that valiant, brave fight and the countless sacrifices by our men and women during what is known as the Civil War, but may be more correctly titled the War To Prevent Southern Independence, he said”, has been found to have done nothing wrong.   Despite many parents complaining.  Many upset parents.    One parent complaint to get a teacher fired for showing just the existence of an openly gay character in a children’s movie, but many parents complaining and they are ignored when a teacher promotes racism.  The entire reason the South started the civil war was they demanded to not only be allowed to keep humans as property, as slaves, but they wanted to expand that country wide.   It was entirely about slavery, their own leaders wrote that themselves.  Think if you are a person of color in that school, a black student maybe, think how that hits knowing a teacher is praising the very people who fought to keep you not only without rights but as their personal property to do with as they wish.  Do you think black students can get fair grades, fair treatment, fair discipline compared to the white kids?   Just as that teacher in Illinois said when she faced criticism for letting students read a book about coming out, she claimed that she figured she had gay students in her classes.   I bet there are kids of color in the classrooms when this racist teacher showed that movie.  Btw, Collier County is the next one below the one I live in.    Hugs

The Daily Beast reports:

A Florida middle-school teacher who had his class watch a self-made, pro-Confederacy video for Confederate History Month has filed a complaint against his school district for launching an investigation into his questionable teaching practices. Collier County Public Schools looked into a video that Manatee Middle School social studies teacher Jonathan Papanikolaou had his students watch during morning announcements on April 12.

Collier County Public Schools told The Daily Beast that its employee review committee met on April 27 and May 11, and went through a 90-page report about Papanikolaou’s Confederacy lesson. Ultimately the committee found that the lesson didn’t go against the school’s curriculum and there was “no just cause for discipline” despite outrage from parents and community members.

From my report posted last month:

The school district wouldn’t identify the teacher but said they are investigating. “If you didn’t know, April is an officially celebrated month here in the State of Florida named Confederate History Month,” the teacher said in the video.

“Every year our state celebrates and memorializes that valiant, brave fight and the countless sacrifices by our men and women during what is known as the Civil War, but may be more correctly titled the War To Prevent Southern Independence,” he said.

So not only is the video no cause for discipline, the teacher is filing a complaint because it was even questioned. Collier County is on the southwest coast of Florida.

 

 

“Every year our state celebrates and memorializes that valiant, brave fight and the countless sacrifices by our men and women during what is known as the Civil War, but may be more correctly titled the War To Preserve SLAVERY.”

Notice how a single parent can stop a lesson about LBGT history but a formal complaint did not stop a white washed lesson about the Confederacy

 

So being pro racist, a-ok, mention the very existence of LGBTQ+ people not ok at all.

Or that Black people have worth and are an important part of our nation’s story. Or that there were people with rich history and cultures on this land thatE Europeans claimed they “discovered” and that these people still exist.

THIS!

 

“If you didn’t know, April is an officially celebrated month here in the State of Florida named Confederate History Month,”

 

If YOU didn’t know Confedatraitor, JUNE is an officially celebrated month NATIONWIDE named LGBTQ Pride Month!!! 🏳️‍🌈

So Black history lessons can’t be taught in public schools because White children are uncomfortable but parents complaining about pro-slavery lessons must suck it.

Boycotting Florida is something every Black person should do. It’s a completely racist state.

What about parental rights? What about protecting the children? What about grooming and indoctrination by pro-slavery advocates?

 

I would like to remind all the former Ohioans in Collier Country (which there are many), we fought for the Union, were part of the Underground Railroad and Ohio was the birthplace of Grant and Sherman.

Cut this shit out.

Let’s START with the fact that retitling the damn thing (“what is known as the Civil War, but may be more correctly titled the War To Prevent Southern Independence”) shows that you’ve got no grasp of the history behind slavery, therefore shouldn’t be pretending to “teach” it.

 

Look out for the privileged, whiny piece of shit standing beside DeSantis when the latter signs the Don’t Hurt Racists’ Feels act next month.

But showing a Disney film with a gay character will get you investigated.

If one goes back and looks at the various letters and published speeches of the politicians of the time, not to mention the CSA Constitution and the Acts of Secession passed by the different states, they did not try to hide their motivations. A few years ago I read a history of the lead-up to the Civil War and the effects it had on the rebellious states after it was over.

The sort version is that it was essentially 14,000 people in a few hundred families who caused the Civil War. They were the most wealthy families in the United States and up in the top ranks for the world for that matter. But all their money came from slavery – either slaves used to pick cotton or tobacco or breeding slaves as if they were cattle and selling them.

In the Deep South, they essentially ran the entire state. If they did not have a family member in the governor’s mansion or the state/federal legislature, they bought one. Because of their effect on the economy, they not only exploited the slaves they owned but they financially exploited the white population as well. The slave owners used slaves as skilled craftsmen in carpentry and other skilled trades, and this meant that free white craftsmen could not economically compete. This lowered wages for the free workers. There was little cash available for the development of an diverse economy since all the money was tied up in the plantations’ economy and affiliated businesses.

When the Missouri Compromise died and territories were free to choose if they wanted to be free or slave states, they Southern elite knew it was only a matter of time before they were history. Cotton was rough on the soil and after a certain amount of time the fields had to be left fallow for a number of years until they recovered. So. they had to expand or they would die economically.

So, it really didn’t matter what Lincoln said or even if he was sincere in what he said. They knew that there were going to lose everything unless they did something, so they did something. They killed close to a million human beings, destroyed most of the South economically and physically, cemented the budding Northern Capitalist elites firmly in place, and sat back to economically exploit the Southern white and black populations right up to present. It took just over 100 years for the Southern economy to reach the same level it held just prior to the first shots over Ft Sumner.

But, these morons are still teaching the same lies about the Noble Lost Cause. It seems like 163 years is long enough to lies about that treason.

I find the while “heritage not racism’ meme to be very stupid. one of my nephew’s has this sign on the wall of his outdoor kitchen at his river cabin in southeast Missouri. funny thing is, his great great grandfather rode his horse to St Louis to join the Union Army and was a very staunch Union man. sigh…

Yes indeed, nothing like watching a film that idolizes the slave owning confederacy! But hey, at least it’s not “woke!” I’m trying to think of the proper name for it. Oh yeah, “FASCIST!”

tell me again florida, who was rosa parks and why is she an important person in american history?

I assume the answer will be a troublemaker who illustrated the vital importance of Lawn Order to keep her kind in their proper place.

We had a civil war to preserve the Union, the Constitution, the rule of law and they’re celebrating the losers who attempted to overthrow all of that.

A friend of mine who was successfully able to flee the swampland of Louisiana told me growing up in her school, it was routinely referred to as “The War Against Northern Arrogance.”

But what if that makes some students uncomfortable?

Wrong color students.

 

 

https://www.thedailybeast.com/pro-confederacy-manatee-teacher-files-counter-complaint-against-school-district?ref=scroll

Pro-Confederacy Teacher Complains About School District’s Probe

The social studies teacher said that an investigation into his self-narrated, pro-Confederate video caused him “emotional turmoil.”

An image of the Confederate flag.

Reuters/Jason Miczek

 
 
Listen to article3 minutes
 

A Florida middle-school teacher who had his class watch a self-made, pro-Confederacy video for Confederate History Month has filed a complaint against his school district for launching an investigation into his questionable teaching practices.

Collier County Public Schools looked into a video that Manatee Middle School social studies teacher Jonathan Papanikolaou had his students watch during morning announcements on April 12, local outlet ABC 7 Southwest Florida reported.

“Every year, our state celebrates and memorializes that valiant, brave fight and the countless sacrifices by our men and women during that known as the Civil War, but may be more correctly titled the War To Prevent Southern Independence,” Papanikolaou reportedly narrated in the video.

In the lesson, Papanikolaou allegedly taught about “slaves and property rights, over taxation and a variety of violations of state’s right and sovereignty,” according to ABC 7.

 

Collier County Public Schools told The Daily Beast that its employee review committee met on April 27 and May 11, and went through a 90-page report about Papanikolaou’s Confederacy lesson. Ultimately the committee found that the lesson didn’t go against the school’s curriculum and there was “no just cause for discipline” despite outrage from parents and community members.

A district spokesperson also told The Daily Beast that morning announcements had been evaluated, and were previewed before they were presented to students.

“The Manatee Middle School principal met with his staff to openly discuss the issues, and he continues to maintain open lines of communication for students, staff, and parents on this and any other school-related issue,” the spokesperson said.

But one Manatee parent, Christina Cooper, told ABC7, “I think there’s just cause for some type of disciplinary action.”

What’s more, Papanikolaou then filed a complaint against the review committee, claiming the investigation caused a “hostile work environment” because colleagues were asking why he’s racist.

In the complaint, Papanikolaou said the ordeal “has caused [him] grief and awkwardness in classroom and school exchanges” and that some students were no longer comfortable taking his class.

“This situation has created emotional turmoil for myself,” he said.

Collier County Public Schools declined to provide the entire contents of Papanikolaou’s video to The Daily Beast or comment on any requests the teacher made in his complaint against the district.

Man Protests Gun Law By Menacing School Bus Stop

How is this not terrorism?   Causing fear for political gain is the definition of terrorism.   How can an adult think it is OK or good to scare kids, who are living with active shooter drills and having to go to schools in near prison environments.   All so some ammo sexual’s can please themselves with no restraints with weapons of war.   These types of guns are designed to kill and main.   They are not hunting weapons unless the targeted animal is humans.   Yes the man has a right to have the gun, he even in some states has a right to strut around with it as it seems to make him feel manly.  But don’t the other people have a right to not be scared to death of him and his gun?  Why do gun owners seem to think only their feelings matter?   It is just like fundamentalist Christians in that regard.   Only what they want is what they demand everyone follow and do.   Hugs

 

Baltimore’s NBC affiliate reports:

Parents are concerned about a man who is regularly spotted carrying an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle at a school bus stop in Severn. Jamie Sparrow, a Severn Elementary School parent, recorded a cell phone video Wednesday showing the man with an AR-15 in his hands at the bus stop where his 6-year-old daughter gets off.

Parents said the man, J’den McAdory, has been there for drop-offs for weeks. McAdory said what he’s doing is not about scaring parents or children — it’s about protesting the recent gun control measures Gov. Wes Moore signed into law.

“Guns can be safe if it’s controlled by the right person,” McAdory said. “I really wasn’t coming out here for the kids. I was coming out here to show people that this is legal.” As McAdory spoke with the I-Team, drivers stopped to react. Some cheered, while others shouted complaints.

Read the full article. As you can see below, on some days the man wears his MAGA hat.

 

 

McAdory said what he’s doing is not about scaring parents or children —
it’s about protesting the recent gun control measures Gov. Wes Moore
signed into law.

Does Governor Moore take the school bus to work? Why don’t you protest on the steps of your capitol?

 

What he is demonstrating here is that gunnuts are bullies. Brandishing a weapon of war at a school bus stop when these kids have active shooter drills at schools is terrorism. Stop the fucking madness! No private citizen should have a fucking assault rifle.

“Guns can be safe if it’s controlled by the right person,”

And he is not the right person, he is a MAGA terrorist.

‘The right person’ means him and the people he personally knows. If someone he doesn’t know approaches him while carrying an AR-15… especially if that person is someone of color or who dresses ‘weird’ (as he sees it)… this guy will quickly use his own gun to ‘stand his ground’ and stop what he considers to be a reasonable threat to his safety.

The story of Garrett Foster and Daniel Perry is a good example of this.

Where, oh where, is this “good guy with a gun” I keep hearing about?

If he were in front of my house I would be calling the cops every 10 minutes saying he is threating the neighborhood.

These sick gun idolaters care more about guns than children! Enough!

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Gosh, couldn’t mom shoot him dead, since she (and her daughter) feel threatened?

Protesting gun safety laws by demonstrating exactly WHY we need gun safety laws? You’re not sane enough to carry a gun, and you should never be allowed anywhere near kids.

He sounds as if he hasn’t mentally matured past puberty. I’m not sure if I’d want him near my kids for other reasons.

Had he been open carrying a dildo at bus stop, he’d have been arrested.

…Or dressed in drag…

 

I lived about 80% of my life in the US. For most of it, there was slow but positive progress. Civil rights both racial and sexual, environmental protections, expanded social services. Then, it all came to a screeching halt and began regressing. It’s too almost too depressing to think about.

General principle: If you think you’re the “right person,” you probably aren’t.

The kids now are put through “active shooter drills” in which neither they nor their teachers are told it’s only a drill. They have no way of knowing if they are about to die or if this is just a rehearsal for what to do if that happens. There is no equivalent for my generation. We had fire drills and tornado drills but we knew they were drills. Imagine the trauma of hiding in your classroom thinking you are about to die. Okay so it wasn’t an actual danger, but the trauma would still be just as real as if it were. Now imagine knowing that is going on, waving a firearm around young children. Dude is a danger to the community.

 

“Dress Code” To Be Imposed At Wilton Manors Pride

The point I keep trying to show people that these laws are written to outlaw cross dress, wearing clothing stereotypically thought of as for a different gender.  People have commented that these laws only try to stop sexual or adult entertainment of a sexual manner.    But here is a quote from the article.  The practical effect is to comply with the new law that appears to classify all live drag entertainment, regardless of content, as adult entertainment, and prevent drag performances on outdoor stages that will be set up all along Wilton Drive for the June 17 party.   This is what these laws are about.   Denying the people who like to dress in drag to do so, which then will progress to outlawing trans people dressing as the gender they identify instead of the gender they were assigned at birth.   Just as they quickly moved from don’t say gay laws for K-3 to now K-8th grade in Florida and in other states in all schools in all grades.   This is about removing the LGBTQ+ from society, from the public, and they are starting with the most easy to target.   The goal is stopping the public acceptance of people who do not act / reflect the values of Christians who think the best time in history was the 1950s and get their moral code from a book written 2,500 years ago.   By the way, Wilton Manors is a very gay place.   These laws have scared even these long gay activists.    I think a lot of people have forgotten why pride parades were started in the first place.   Back in the late 60s early 70s the LGBTQ+ got tired of the religious conservatives trying to make our lives miserable and make us disappear from society.   We wanted our rights, and we needed to be vocal and in people’s public view.     We need to remind these people of the fact we are family members, we are in their lives in every aspect.   We won’t go back into any closets nor hide from the public.   “We are here, we are queer, get use to it”!   Hugs

“Dress Code” To Be Imposed At Wilton Manors Pride

 

The South Florida Gay News reports:

In the week since Wilton Manors’ city commission voted unanimously to amend the permit for the Stonewall Pride Parade & Street Festival, people on both sides of the issue on whether or not to comply with drag laws have lashed out.

The amendment ensures event producers follow all laws, including ones passed since the permit was issued in February. The practical effect is to comply with the new law that appears to classify all live drag entertainment, regardless of content, as adult entertainment, and prevent drag performances on outdoor stages that will be set up all along Wilton Drive for the June 17 party.

It appears people in drag will be allowed into the event and to participate in the parade. However, performing in the parade or on any exterior stage is likely to be prohibited due to being labeled adult entertainment. Producers of the event haven’t finalized standards for admission and participation, but have said there will be a “dress code” applying to all participants, vendors, attendees, and performers.

Florida Politics reports:

Commissioner Chris Caputo will be at the June 17 parade as “Lady Vote,” according to a post on his Facebook page. Caputo says he’s ready to test — and perhaps push to strike down — the new law that bans having children at live shows that “in whole or in part” depict or simulate “nudity, sexual conduct,” or the exposure of prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts.

“Personally, I don’t believe drag performances at our Stonewall cultural event are illegal,” Caputo wrote. “I believe they are of artistic and political value, and I am comfortable showing up in drag. If the Governor disagrees with that, he is welcome to recall my seat and we can fight it out in the courts.”

The anti-drag bill (SB 1438) originally targeted food and beverage venues for criminal charges — a first-degree misdemeanor — if children were exposed to these “adult live performances.” But an amendment added on the Senate floor also subjects city officials to charges if they issue a permit for an event that exposes children to the same thing.

As Caputo notes, in addition to potential criminal charges, DeSantis has the power to remove city officials who defy the ban under a statute enacted in 2018. There’s much more at both links above.

𝗜 𝗺𝗮𝘆 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮 💃 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗴 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗲𝗻, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗲. 𝗟𝗲𝘁 𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗯𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁: 𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗴 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 🏳️‍🌈𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘄𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝗙𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝗹, 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗹𝗹.

(𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡’𝑠 𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑓𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑟)

I have, and will continue to encourage people to dress as their authentic selves or favorite drag icons — as I plan to do (albeit, poorly!). The city did not ban drag queens.

Personally, I don’t believe drag performances at our stonewall cultural event are illegal. I believe they are of artistic and political value and I am comfortable showing up in drag. If the Governor disagrees with that, he is welcome to recall my seat and we can fight it out in the courts. The amendment we passed protects city employees — since language in the law directly affected them. It’s one thing for the Governor to recall my elected seat; it would be poor leadership on my part to put city staff at risk of being unemployed for any duration. I can afford a protracted legal battle without my city position, they shouldn’t have to.

I understand emotions are high — the anti-LGBTQ legislation we are facing is deplorable. We need to stand together against it.

𝐀𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐰:
I disagree with the state’s supposed interpretation of what adult entertainment is (i.e., I personally don’t feel that drag performers at Stonewall are engaged in that) AND I am personally willing to take it to the courts to test it. I plan to be at Stonewall as “Lady Vote 🗳️,” which I believe isn’t illegal, and it’s an opportunity to clash with the Governor if he wants to push an abusive, inappropriate interpration of the law and infringe on my civil rights.

If you have any questions about that or my position, I am always here and happy to answer them. You can also text me at 954.557.2801.

May be a selfie of 1 person, makeup, costume and text
 
 
 
 

 

 

Nothing says Pride like a dress code. Straight looking, straight acting, no femmes, no butches, no leathermen, no drag. Sounds like a real hoot!

Serously, fuck Wilton Manors the way Wilton Manors wants to fuck with us.

It started this way in Germany. Don’t tell me I’m being dramatic. Pick up a fucking history book.

We are way past “starting”

We aren’t that far away from camps

Exactly. We’re past “worrying signs” and down into “implementation of the fascist vision”.

That’s why I posted these warning signs from Berlin yesterday. At first, Jews weren’t allowed to join the Red Cross or auto club. And a few years later they were being massacred.

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Just not one of those new history books from TexAss or FloriDuh.

Fascism can only take root when decent people comply.

DO NOT COMPLY

Freedom to DeSantis means “You have everything to lose if you don’t obey.”

I sure hope the actions of Chris Caputo and others leads to all these laws being overturned. Those actions are what John Lewis called causing good trouble.

Why fucking bother you might as well go have a beer at a straight bar. How fucking boring a dress code at PRIDE.

You couldn’t be more right!

Edit: I can’t imagine pride without the multi-colored queens performing everywhere you look and the leather folks walking around in full gear with strap-ons and every other adornment!

OMG!!! It’s SO good to see you, girl!!!! (big hugs)

Do it anyway. Fuck DeSantis and anti-First Amendment, unconstitutional laws. Fight back against fascism or step out of the way. Those bricks didn’t throw themselves.

Easy to say if you’re not threatened with jail time from 3000 miles away. Not so easy if you live in Florida and have a life to lead outside of jail.

Hence you plan to have willing folks be the target for the fight and pre-set the legal funding to ride the case up. You also work with national level orgs to figure out the best unified response as part of a national legal strategy.

Maybe the Queens should publicly announce they will boycott the event. Make the event the most vanilla unfun uncool lame place to be.

P.S. I’m not knocking vanilla folks. I’m the most vanilla person out there.

I remember at a pride event, one private security guard threatening to throw members of the leather community out for bare asses, even tho it was completely legal in the city. Luckily, the people stood their ground and the Pride leadership and the police educated the guard.

 

White Christian nationalism emerges from shadows of GOP politics

Great Zeus, this is scary, the push by Christian nationalist to indoctrinate every public school kid with their religion.  They don’t care if the kids have a different religious faith or no faith at all, it is entirely about expanding their faith on to everyone in the public square.   They feel driven to push their god and their doctrines, regardless of anything else.    A good point asked by this Texas lawmaker was why a rainbow flag is called indoctrination by these Christians pushing their religion, yet demanding the posting of the ten commandments in schools and installing Christian pastors as untrained councilors is not.  Well worth the time to watch.   Hugs

Texas State Rep. James Talarico and Michelle Goldberg, columnist for the New York Times, talk with Alex Wagner about a push by Texas Republicans to impose new religious measures on public schools, and the shift in Republican politics to more openly embrace white Christian nationalism.

DeSantis signs laws against trans care, kids at drag shows, trans athletes

https://www.local10.com/news/local/2023/05/17/watch-live-gov-ron-desantis-visits-private-school-in-tampa/

I want to point out that DeathSantis like all republicans when it comes to social medical matters lies about it.   At one point, he claims that:

DeSantis said the push for the care was by an “ideologically charged small group of folks” and this is why he was signing Florida Senate Bill 254 into law to grant courts temporary emergency jurisdiction to intervene in some procedures.

“That is not based on science; that is not based on evidence,” DeSantis said …”

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association support gender-affirming care, which includes the surgical procedures and prescriptions for blockers or hormone antagonists that DeSantis and Florida Republican legislators are standing against.

DeathSantis also said this about being polite enough to call people by what makes them happy instead of being an asshole to others.   DeSantis said the new law makes sure that Florida students and teachers will never “be forced” to declare pronouns in schools or “be forced” to use pronouns “not based on biological sex” as part of an “indoctrination” effort known as transgender ideology and gender theory.  “We never did this through all of human history until like what two weeks ago, now this is something? They are having third-graders declare pronouns. We are not doing the pronouns Olympics in Florida,” DeSantis said.    

The idea that kids, even little kids, do not understand pronouns is stupid.  Teacher Miss or teacher Mrs / Mr clearly establishes gender.  Boys bathroom, girls PE, when they are read a story they hear he, she, they, them.   He ran, she jumped, they carried, someone spoke to them.   See it is all around us, kids see and hear pronouns / gender identifiers all the time.   Just as most kids know their sexual orientation and who they’re attracted to.  To deny that gay kids exist and that gay / same sex married teachers are not a thing is harmful.  It deprives these kids of seeing people like themselves, who have their feelings, just so the Christian conservatives can push being gay is shameful and bad.   It isn’t as we know now, and gay kids shouldn’t be traumatized by being made to feel they are wrong and broken.   We have lived through that, we have progressed social beyond that, and medical science has shown that people are born gay  / trans.  

As for the bans on drag shows, remember there are already laws against taking minors to sex shows, adult entertainment, strip shows.  These laws are about keeping kids from seeing men dressed as women and women dressed as men.  That is what it is about.  That is why they are singling out drag shows which are not sexual, especially the family friendly or drag queens story hours.   See it is hard for conservatives to enforce gender stereotype norms from the 1950s.   The old men were men trope.    Hugs

LOL the USPS certainly has a terrific sense of irony, I just wonder how long it will take DeSantis to try TRY to outlaw these for “indoctrinating children”. Love it! Buy’em up! Mail Ronny boy a letter with these!

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DeSantis signs 5 new laws, including expansion of law critics know as ‘Don’t Say Gay’

Gov. Ron DeSantis visits a Christian school on Wednesday morning in Tampa.
Gov. Ron DeSantis visits a Christian school on Wednesday morning in Tampa. (Copyright 2023 by WPLG Local10.com – All rights reserved.)

TAMPA, Fla. – During his Wednesday morning speech, Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized gender-affirming care, a medical intervention when an individual’s gender identity is different than the one assigned at birth.

While at a non-denominational Christian private school in Tampa, DeSantis stood on a stage behind a “Let Kids Be Kids” sign to say that a “rogue element of the medical establishment” was engaging in “basically the mutilation of minors.”

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Christopher Rufo joins Gov. Ron DeSantis

DeSantis to announce presidential run in Dunedin

DeSantis said the push for the care was by an “ideologically charged small group of folks” and this is why he was signing Florida Senate Bill 254 into law to grant courts temporary emergency jurisdiction to intervene in some procedures.

“That is not based on science; that is not based on evidence,” DeSantis said during his visit to the Cambridge Christian School, a college preparatory school accredited by Christian Schools of Florida.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association support gender-affirming care, which includes the surgical procedures and prescriptions for blockers or hormone antagonists that DeSantis and Florida Republican legislators are standing against.

“This is going to create a way to recover damages for injury or death resulting from mutilating surgeries or these experimental puberty blockers that are given to a minor,” DeSantis said adding, “They go through this, then they get older and this is a huge problem. They should be able to sue the physician who hurt them.”

DeSantis also signed a bill into law that he described as an extension of the Parental Rights in Education bill, which critics nationwide have consistently referred to as the “Don’t Say Gay Bill” and an attack on the LGBTQ community.

DeSantis said the new law makes sure that Florida students and teachers will never “be forced” to declare pronouns in schools or “be forced” to use pronouns “not based on biological sex” as part of an “indoctrination” effort known as transgender ideology and gender theory.

“We never did this through all of human history until like what two weeks ago, now this is something? They are having third graders declare pronouns. We are not doing the pronouns Olympics in Florida,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis also said it was “sad” that he had to also sign Senate Bill 1438: Protection of Children into law. The American Civil Liberties Union referred to it as “The Anti-Drag Show” bill. DeSantis said it was necessary because it was “inappropriate” to have minors at drag shows, which he described as “sexually explicit” and “adult entertainment.”

DeSantis also signed House Bill 1521: Facility Requirements Based on Sex and House Bill 225: Interscholastic Activities into law. He said the laws protect “public prayer” before sporting events and separate facilities based on “biological” gender to protect girls and women.

“We passed two years ago the Fairness In Women’s Sports Act to say we are going to make sure our girls and our women athletes are able to compete with integrity. And you can’t be competing on the men’s team for three years, switch to the women’s, and what, all of a sudden you are the champion? That is not right,” DeSantis said adding the new law “imposes oversight” over the Florida High School Athletic Association.

Activist Luka Hein, who has been traveling around the country to oppose trans care, was among the speakers DeSantis introduced at the school. Education Commissioner Manny Diaz, Jr., and the Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Jason Weida were also at the school at 6101 N. Habana Ave.

“While I am not from Florida, I am someone who went through the gender-affirming care industry as a minor,” Hein said adding this resulted in “health issues,” so the limits are not “about hate.”

DeSantis also recently signed bills against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion educational programs, as part of the Republican legislature’s fight against “wokeness” in schools. For that signing event, DeSantis introduced Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist from California who has been traveling around the country to oppose “divisive” critical race theory and DEI in education.

Watch the news conference on FacebookLive

https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FWPLGLocal10%2Fvideos%2F996725665095963%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=0

A spokesperson for DeSantis later announced that he had signed more Florida bills into law on Wednesday afternoon. Here is the list of 21 bills:

  • SB 144 – Lactation Spaces
  • CS/SB 196 – Guidance Services on Academic and Career Planning
  • CS/SB 254 – Treatments for Sex Reassignment
  • CS/SB 290 – Public School Student Progression for Students with Disabilities
  • CS/SB 598 – Higher Educational Facilities Financing
  • CS/SB 1272 – Educational Grants
  • SB 1438 – Protection of Children
  • CS/SB 7026 – Higher Education Finances
  • CS/CS/HB 19 – Individual Education Plans
  • CS/CS/HB 225 – Interscholastic Activities
  • HB 265 – High School Equivalency Diplomas
  • CS/CS/HB 301 – Emergency Response Mapping Data
  • CS/HB 389 – Menstrual Hygiene Products in Public Schools
  • HB 411 – Residency of Local Elected Officials
  • CS/CS/HB 443 – Education
  • CS/HB 551 – Required African-American Instruction
  • CS/CS/HB 633 – K-12 Education
  • CS/CS/HB 1069 – Education
  • CS/HB 1521 – Facility Requirements based on Sex
  • HB 7031 – A Review under the Open Government Sunset Review Act
  • CS/CS/HB 7039 – Student Outcomes

Watch the 12 p.m. report

DeSantis signs 5 bills affecting LGBTQ in FloridaPlay Video

NC Republicans Seek To Criminalize Public Drag Shows

The Fayetteville Observer reports:

House Bill 673, “Clarify Regulations on Adult Entertainment,” would prohibit “adult live entertainment” on private property in the presence of anyone under age 18 and not allow it at all on public property.

“Adult live entertainment” is defined as “a performance featuring topless dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, or male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest.” The first offense would be a misdemeanor and subsequent offenses would be felonies.

“Well, I think it’s about age-appropriate entertainment for kids. I mean, there’s a reason why we don’t have adult entertainment in the schools,” bill sponsor Rep. Jeff Zenger told television station CBS-17.

Read the full article. Republicans have a new supermajority in the North Carolina legislature due to the recent defection of a formerly Democratic state rep.

 

Really focusing on the issues that will improve the lives of your constituents, aren’t you?

There are 28 Hooters in NC.

well i hope no children have been exposed to that!

I’m afraid they have.

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Not criminalized:

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“Ain’t nothin’ wrong with good ole red-blooded ‘Murcan boys gittin’ them a sight of some nice titties,” said Billy Bob to his sister, who is also his wife.

“Mommy, what are these big round things ?” .

So, much effort is being expended by the GOP to ‘protect’ kids from drag queens.

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And the leading cause of death of children? Guns. No kids killed by a drag queen.

Note how the GOP wholly ignores, and even enables, actual harm and death to kids while instead focusing on an imaginary problem.

FFS.

Are we to understand that reading stories to kids “appeals to a prurient interest”?

Family entertainment! Bring your kiddies!

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Is that from Mel Gibson’s violence porn freak show movie?

 

Yup. Passion of the Christ. Churches encouraged parents to bring their children.

 

I was dragged to that sick S&M movie and was appalled at the number of kids dragged into that traumatizing movie by their parents.

 

While banning Harry Potter.

 

Ben Shapiro HORRIFIED by Nonbinary Childrens Cartoon Character (Transformer uses THEY/THEM Pronouns)

These people can deny it all they want but kids know both gender and sexuality at a very young age.   Kids understand gender from the time they learn of boy or girl, Mr or Mrs / Miss.   Gender is not a strange thing in human society, it is ingrained in everything we humans do.   Simply think how kids are taught which bathroom to use in public, little kids don’t care until they are forced by adults to use the “proper gendered” bathroom, which forces them to identify their own gender.    As for sexuality, kids also understand who they are attracted to long before they are given words to understand it.   The idea that kids are somehow clueless to their attraction as they grow is not what medical science or personal experience of people asked shows.  Ask yourself when you knew you were attracted to … and you will say well forever.  When did you know you were a boy / girl, well I just knew.  Well so do trans kids.  Also gay / lesbian kids know who they get tingles and attractions to.    Plus the idea that kids are not sensual in knowing what feels good with their own bodies is just stupid.  How often do you hear of little kids being told they shouldn’t touch themselves in public, because even as little kids it feels good and they don’t know to not do what feels good in front of other people.    The problem is some people want to keep society in the 1950s strict gender roles when society and the public has moved beyond that.  We have evolved, and that terrifies those that have invested interests in keeping the country in the past.  Why because in the past they were in charge, their ideas were taken for granted as being the only correct ideas, their god was not really questioned in society.   Think of the history of child abuse in churches, in the time frame these people want you / the country to return to the church leaders doing the abusing were not questioned and kids not believed.   Because of the automatic authority of the church.   That is what these people want to force us all to return too.  

Then we get to the second part of the video.   The videos of the Texas Guard putting up razor wire in front of people seeking asylum and trying to enter the country.   My gods if you think that this huge country couldn’t find a more humane way to handle people fleeing death and destruction to work for a better life I have to ask what is wrong with you.   We have states in this country that are so underpopulated they can not afford to provide for themselves without federal wealth sharing.   This country is huge and needs more people willing to be in it supporting all the infrastructure.    That is a known fact.   Ask what would happen if you let these people come in and establish lives working and paying taxes while being part of the communities they live in?    The only reason this push to keep people out at the southern border is completely racism.   The white ones convinced that the brown ones are going to take over if they are let in the country, that somehow the white ones will lose all the assumed authority and power they once had.  Well guess what, it has already happened and will keep happening.  If you are one of those people, the tipping point was reached long ago, and yes the white majority rule is pretty much over and will be soon.   The thing is that is not such a scare thing as these white supremacist want to make it.  The only difference is whites that don’t want other races will have to accept them, everyone will be equal.   That is all, everyone regardless of race will be equal.   Everyone’s traditions and celebrations will be give equal time.  See the world won’t stop, the destruction won’t happen, just equality and expanded awareness for everyone.   Now to the video.    Hugs

 

Naked Swimming In School Pt. 1 / Pt. 2 / Pt. 3

When I tell people about this they think I am crazy.  This is how far modern religious Puritan morality has pushed into the public.   We went from times when boys being nude was OK, fun, and pretty normal to now just the idea of young people seeing a nude statue like David of Michelangelo got a Florida principle fired.   How ridiculous has this become.   Seeing a nude human, even one in a painting or work of art, will destroy a child?  Will cause the downfall of a nation?  There are states trying to outlaw watching porn for adults because the religious people have to regulate all behavior, even adults private consensual behavior.     It is time to stop this march of the moral vice police / the US Christian Taliban.   I know I have enjoyed the times in my life I was able to swim nude, in public and private.   I think growing up if more boys had been forced to be nude for more than a quick run under the locker shower, they may have been less self-conscious about themselves and their development.   I know it surprised me when I went to church boarding school that the male dorm showers were just a large room with many shower heads on the wall but most of the kids except a few were OK with it.  In fact me and my friends often planned our mornings to shower together.   And it was not a sexual thing, it was the normal start of the day when we first got together.     Hugs

A brief history of naked swimming in American schools. Sorry about the misspellings. Part 2-    • Naked Swimming In…   Part 3-    • Naked Swimming In…  

Moms For Liberty Behind Move To Fire Florida Teacher For Showing Disney Film Featuring Out Gay Character

A religious person forcing her church doctrines on what is acceptable in society on all students, teachers, and other parents.  It is not enough for her child to deny gay kids exist, but to force all kids, even the gay ones, to pretend that no gay people exist.   Are we going to let this keep happening?  Is everyone OK with driving the country back to civil inequality and denying human rights to appease a religious view of how things should be based on a misinterpreted book written before people understood what germs were?   I cannot stand this drive to return to the time when gay kids were scared and in hiding, when there were no books for them to read with gay content, when there were no positive role models, when kids were targeted for abuse if it was discovered they might not be straight.   Why are we letting a group of religious conservative bigots drive us to a theocracy with a Christian Taliban in charge?   Hugs

 Also I want people to understand just how repressively religious these people are.   Want to know where else this movie won’t be shown due to the gay story line of a few minutes of just dialog?  Disney refrained from showing “Strange World” in the Middle East, China, Indonesia, Turkey, Nigeria, Uganda and other countries because of the LGBTQ storyline.   Yes other religious fundamentalist countries and countries that restrict personal freedom with the government ruling what people can do in their private lives with other consenting adults.  Hugs

 

The Tallahassee Democrat reports:

A Florida teacher is under investigation by the state Department of Education after what she believes is a targeted attack by a school board member who took issue with a Disney movie shown in her classroom. At a Hernando County School Board meeting Tuesday, fifth-grade teacher Jenna Barbee alleges school board member Shannon Rodriguez reported her to DOE for showing her students Disney’s 2022 movie “Strange World.” It’s the first Disney movie with an out, gay character.

Barbee, a teacher at Winding Waters K-8, said during public comment the Disney movie tied into her students’ Earth science lesson and did not have sexually inappropriate content. Rodriguez, who was elected to the school board last fall, was endorsed by conservative parents’ rights group Moms for Liberty. In her short tenure, she has argued there is “smut” and “porn” on schools’ library shelves and has asked for books to be removed, according to Suncoast News.

Read the full article. No paywall.

From the linked article.

Barbee, a teacher at Winding Waters K-8, said during public comment the Disney movie tied into her students’ Earth science lesson and did not have sexually inappropriate content.

“The word indoctrination is thrown around a lot right now, but it seems that those who are using it are using it as a defense tactic for their own fear-based beliefs without understanding the true meaning of the word,” Barbee said at the lectern.

 

Florida educators are prohibited from teaching about gender and sexual identity due to the Parental Rights in Education Act, signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis last year. Also known as “Don’t Say Gay” by critics, teachers have expressed anxiety and confusion over the vague wording of the law for fear of losing their teaching licenses or criminal penalties if found in non-compliance.

Opponents of the law say the vague wording unfairly targets books and classroom materials with gay and transgender characters and themes.

 

Hernando County’s school district confirmed a fifth-grade teacher is being investigated for showing “Strange World,” and that a parent complained to the principal about the movie not being appropriate for students.

Rodriguez, who was elected to the school board last fall, was endorsed by conservative parents’ rights group Moms for Liberty. In her short tenure, she has argued there is “smut” and “porn” on schools’ library shelves and has asked for books to be removed, according to Suncoast News.

 

 

She also alleges Rodriguez called her father to tell him about the DOE complaint.

“I’m a first-year teacher. I’ve had to learn so much this year,” she told the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida. “I work with teachers who have taught for 20 years, 30 years, tell me every day it never used to be like this. Times have changed so much and they are so micromanaged, they’re not allowed to teach anymore. They’re basically a caregiver who has to teach the standards. Teachers stay for the children, but because of the laws and the fear of being let go for saying one wrong thing, they can’t connect to their students.”

At the end of the school board meeting, Rodriguez said Barbee broke school policy because she did not get the specific movie approved by school administration and said the teacher is “playing the victim.”

Rodriguez’s daughter is in Barbee’s class.

“It is not a teacher’s job to impose their beliefs upon a child: religious, sexual orientation, gender identity, any of the above. But allowing movies such as this assist teachers in opening a door, and please hear me, they assist teachers in opening the door for conversations that have no place in our classrooms,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez also said she has called DOE about other issues in the district and believes children should not be “a pawn in the crossfire” of liberal political agendas.

“As a leader in this community, I’m not going to stand by and allow this minority to infiltrate our schools,” she said.

Please note again the religious parent / school admits above that she who is a minority on the school board and among the parents and is the only one objecting to the movie, is saying “She is not going to let this minority (meaning gay people or the LGBTQ+) infiltrate our schools”.   Think about what she is saying, gay kids existing is an infiltration, that gays in society / public are so offensive to her that she needs to wipe them out.   In other words, genocide!   Hugs

Disney refrained from showing “Strange World” in the Middle East, China, Indonesia, Turkey, Nigeria, Uganda and other countries because of the LGBTQ storyline.

“In countries where we operate, we seek to share our stories in their original form as we and the artists involved have created them. If we make edits, because of legal or other considerations, they will be as narrow as possible. We will not make an edit where we believe it would impact the storytelling. In that circumstance, we will not distribute the content in that market,” Disney says in its Human Rights Policy, which was updated in 2022. 

 

Hanna believes the investigation began after Brandi Andrews, a board member of the Leon County chapter of Moms for Liberty, sent a letter to the governor calling on the superintendent “to be removed from his position.” The letter was stamped with “LET’S GO BRANDON,” a saying popular among conservatives who use the G-rated term in place of “(Expletive) Joe Biden.”

Andrews included an excerpt from an email, a Facebook post and an op-ed in the Democrat, all written by Hanna in August 2022, as examples of “issues we have with our local school board right here in Leon County.”

In a statement, Andrews told the Democrat her complaint is “one of many.”

“Any assertion that concerns I expressed as a parent should not be presumed as a catalyst for any investigation,” she said.

 

The movie had no sex. It had a gay person. The prudish homophobes on the right are not worried about children being exposed to porn, they are worried about children being exposed to the fact that gay people exist.

They think orientation is a choice and if you have no exposure to gays during childhood you’ll never become one

And we all know how that works out

They also think we are evil, so they don’t want to see us treated as normal or equal to them. We must be despised if they are to feel good about themselves.

I find it remarkable that that’s what they believe. There wasn’t a single gay person in my sphere of influence whatsoever as I was growing up. Not one. Thus, the reason it took me to 23 yrs old to fully come out. I had zero exposure to the gay universe. Let me tell you that I made up for lost time…

I fell into the same category. I knew I was different but but I didn’t kiss another man until grad school

I just felt very alone growing up

Those people seem to believe that gay sex is so hot, so rapturous, so absolutely irresistible, that even the thought of it is enough to entice anyone into giving up straight sex immediately. That’s why they are so adamantly against having anyone even mentioning anything that reminds them of what they want but won’t allow themselves to have. The temptation is just too strong and they are just too weak.

That tells me so much about them.

Also not just any sex, but male anal sex

Lesbians don’t even exist

Moms for Liberty is a Bannonite astroturf fascist op and needs to be relentlessly exposed as such

Connected to Michael Flynn and his Christian Nationalist campaign.

And don’t forget DeVos and the Christianist school tuition paid by taxpayers.

Some want the elimination of all public schools.

It’s clear that, to them, the difference between “teaching” and “indoctrination” is how they feel about the subject matter.

Life must be hell for the LGBTQ+ children of these monsters. No wonder so many kids commit suicide or end up on the streets.

Indeed. You’d think that would give them pause, but at least some of them seem to mean it when they say they’d rather have a dead child than a gay one.

One of the first people I met when I was coming out, was an only child of a couple who disowned him when he came out to them. Not only did they disown him, however, but when people would ask how many children they had, they would say that they didn’t have any children.

Conservative Plan to Destroy the Public Education System:
1. Create fake outrage about “horrible” things kids are being taught.
2. Attack teachers and the education system to sow distrust.
3. Get radical conservatives on local school boards to create havok.
4. Siphon off funding for public schools by creating vouchers for private schools.
5. When educated teachers quit, lower standards to allow others without teaching degrees to “fill the gap”.

Home skoolin about talkin snakes and flat earths.

Mom’s for Liberty is active in my area too. I absolutely despise them! They are an outright fascist group made up of prudes and religious fanatics. They don’t want schools to acknowledge the existence of gay / trans kids and they want to whitewash American history in regards to racism. I think it was in Tennessee where one Mom’s for Liberty member wanted a book on the life of Martin Luther King banned because it was “anti-American”! JFC!

But, according to the article, they are winning. This is the saddest part, so many are supporting them and they’re increasing their control and dominance over others.

It’s because a large section of our population is made up of bigoted idiots. Plus their pleas of “Think of the children” resonates with people with no critical thinking skills.

Books and concepts won’t hurt kids, assault rifle bullets will.

They are going to make sure Disney can’t treat LGBT people as acceptable. They are bigots, through and through.

 

 

Teacher Under Investigation For Showing Disney Movie in Class

A point repeatedly made is that the parent / school board member that is on a rampage about the gay kids in the movie who did not even kiss had no problem with all the kissing done by the straight couple in the beginning of the movie.  The parent / school board member is entirely about removing all representation of gays in schools at any level.  She finds them abhorrent and wants them out of society.   Notice this is not about trans which is where this started, it is about pushing a religious message about being gay is shameful and bad, so don’t admit to being gay.   They must not be allowed to make another generation of gay kids targets of that hate.   Replace gay with Jewish or black and it wouldn’t be accepted, yet.  But that is where these haters are going, back to the 1950s with only Christian white straight males being in charge and gender roles strictly enforced.    Hugs

Florida teacher probed after showing Disney film in class. Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur discuss on The Young Turks. Watch TYT LIVE on weekdays 6-8 pm ET. http://youtube.com/theyoungturks/live

Read more HERE: https://www.tallahassee.com/story/new… “A Florida teacher is under investigation by the state Department of Education after what she believes is a targeted attack by a school board member who took issue with a Disney movie shown in her classroom.

At a Hernando County School Board meeting Tuesday, fifth-grade teacher Jenna Barbee alleges school board member Shannon Rodriguez reported her to DOE for showing her students Disney’s 2022 movie “Strange World.”

It’s the first Disney movie with an out, gay character.”*