Well what a mind altering interview. I know the video is described as a debate but it really was a conversation. At first I was bored and almost shut it off even though I mostly enjoy the channel. Then I noticed something. The call in guest got angrier and ever more abusive getting very insulting yet Vaush never reacted to that and instead tried to keep the conversation going centered on the topic. I loved it. I have tried to talk to right wing bigots and I have not had the same composure that Vaush did. It is a great watch if you want to see how a person on the right starts out trying to show how trans people are bad and confused then moves to the point where the one saying this stuff gets very abusive and then just gets really out classed with information to the point where he has to just admit he doesn’t like those trans and hates those people that accept them. Like I said the first part is boring and forgettable, but fast forward through that if you must and watch the rest. For me it was worth it. Hugs
As is the normal fact all the sky is falling from all the claims of what horrible things will happen from accepting gay people or trans people never happen, yet these same people making these claims never apologies and admit they were wrong when the horrible shit they predicted never happened. I say this because in the US these anti-gay people claimed all the horrible effects from recognizing the fact that gay people exist will destroy the country. But that did not happen. So the anti LGBTQ+ people then said letting gays marry legally would destroy the country / society, but again that did not happen. In fact different countries have had legal gay marriage for over 20 years and the Christian god has not destroyed the world. Plus in the US same sex marriage has been legal country wide since 2015! Yet no country destroying events not already underway due to climate change and republican obstruction to make a decent country has happened. Yet again no republican or religious leaders have every admitted they were wrong. They keep repeating all their dire warnings with no proof and withholding the information that they things they are claiming are the key to their go destroying the nation has already been here a long time. I am 60 years old. Ron and I promised ourselves to each other 33 years ago and there were many others before us who did so longer than we have. Yet these god thumpers that want to force the country to follow their view fail to point out that their god never acted to stop that. Why would a supreme power deity need to depend on a religious leader demanding money to accomplish its goal? I am not going to colorize this one, sorry. I recently got up and Ron just came over and told me I am looking very bad and need to go to bed. We argued about it, but I am now so tired I may do so after refusing just on principle. I hate being told what I should do. I was in too much pain to eat tonight and now Ron is hovering over me to force me to bed. Hugs
Ruadhán Ó Críodáin, executive director of Irish charity ShoutOut, received his gender recognition certificate eight days after he applied thanks to self-ID. (Supplied)
One day in December, Ruadhán Ó Críodáin applied for a gender recognition certificate (GRC) over noodles in a Dublin restaurant. Eight days later, it arrived.
That’s because in Ireland trans people can self-declare their own gender under the Gender Recognition Act 2015. There’s no need for a medical diagnosis or doctor’s reports, nor is there a panel of experts who get to decide if you are who you say you are.
Instead, trans people simply fill out a form, have it witnessed by a solicitor or another official, send it to the government, and wait to receive their GRC in the post.
“It was pretty simple for me,” Ruadhán tells PinkNews. “I was very fortunate in that I have a friend who works as a solicitor who was willing to come and witness it for me, for free. She witnessed and signed the document, but also – helpfully – walked me through it so I knew exactly what to fill out and where, and so that I understood everything on the form.”
Self-ID, as it’s often known, has been a quiet, everyday reality for trans people in Ireland for more than seven years. And as Ruadhán points out, “the sky hasn’t fallen in”.
None of the baseless fearmongering pushed by those who describe themselves as “gender critical” has come to pass. Instead, all self-ID has done is make the legal system a little bit more compassionate.
Ruadhán Ó Críodáin, executive director of ShoutOut, an Irish LGBTQ+ charity. (Supplied)
Living in a country with a simplified gender recognition process means “nothing and everything all at once” to Ruadhán. The whole thing was “a bit of an afterthought” to him when compared to the more complicated aspects of transitioning, such as coming out and navigating Ireland’s “mess” of a healthcare system.
But it’s also true that having self-ID was exactly the reason getting a GRC wasn’t much of a concern – he knew it would be straightforward.
“It was pretty emotional when the certificate came in the post. It felt like a huge relief,” he says.
“I’m really grateful to live in a country where it is so easy, and I know it’s all thanks to the long, lonely battle of Dr Lydia Foy [a trans woman who fought for 20 years for the legislation] and her fellow activists.
“We’d be tempted to pat ourselves on the back for that here in Ireland but Dr Foy fought 23 years for this legislation. Every trans person here who gets a GRC only has one thanks to her.”
UK gender recognition process is ‘paternalistic and unfair’
Still, Ruadhán knows how lucky he is when he looks at the UK, where anti-trans figures often baselessly claim introducing self-identification would put women and girls in danger.
The culture war reached a fever pitch in December when the Scottish government passed its own reforms to the Gender Recognition Act to ensure trans Scots could self-declare their own gender.
The UK government swiftly invoked Section 35 of the Scotland Act to stop the bill going for royal assent. Nicola Sturgeon has vowed to challenge the decision in court, and the row seems certain to fuel the devolution movement.
First minister Nicola Sturgeon vowed to fight back after the UK government decided to block Scotland’s gender reform bill from becoming law. (Getty)
Watching on from Ireland, Ruadhán can’t help but feel angry.
“I’m devastated to see the UK government has decided to block it. It’s infuriating on a political level to see the UK government interfere with Scottish political autonomy for a bill which would affect such a tiny community, and to further fan the flames on this ridiculous debate,” he says.
Ruadhán adds: “The current process for getting a GRC in the UK is brutally paternalistic and unfair.
“Why should a panel of strangers decide if you deserve a GRC or not? Why make someone go through two years of social transition before being eligible? Why is a diagnosis of gender dysphoria or proof of surgery needed?
“Trans people are the authorities in our own gender. We know who we are. Transition is already difficult enough without adding further barriers. And crucially, being trans isn’t an illness.”
Ruadhán Ó Críodáin with a giant “R” balloon. (Supplied)
Self-ID should be seen as a basic human right – Ruadhán just wishes all trans people were trusted to know who they are.
“I’m grateful for my GRC, and how easy it was to obtain, but I’m also entitled to it.
“No politician, no legislator, no change in public opinion, can take it away from me. This is who I am, and I shouldn’t be expected to live any other way.”
This is well known and the medical has repeatedly said that affirming the gender identity of the person while assisting with necessary age appropriate treatments including puberty blockers or hormone therapy when needed is the best medical practice. That is something the anti-trans people cannot refute, the majority of medical associations including the AMA and the largest pediatric medical associations believe in supporting trans people transitioning. But at the same time the red state republican leaders who mostly have no medical training are trying hard to ban or make the need medical assistance illegal. Why are they doing this? For political gain mostly, and religious indoctrination for others. This is very much like these same legislators denying abortion / reproductive rights to pregnant people or requiring women to cover their arms and where long skirts in state legislative bodies. It is people acting on an ideology to roll back advances in medical understanding and society to return to a time they feel more comfortable with. It is about their comfort not your needs and their ability to force their ignorance on others against the doctors best medical advice. ** BTW this happened to me in Florida. I was on a great medication for muscle spasms called Soma. The state legislators in an attempt to look tough on opioid addictions made it nearly impossible for pain doctors, and only pain doctors, to prescribe Soma. I spent months trying to get a replacement that worked and none were as good. **Hugs
Researchers tracked 315 trans and non-binary young people in what is reportedly the largest study in the U.S. to date.
Hormone therapy improves the mental health of transgender youth. That’s the takeaway from a new study from The New England Journal of Medicine, released last week.
The study is reportedly the largest in the U.S. to date. Over the course of two years, researchers tracked 315 trans and non-binary young people between the ages of 12 and 20 receiving hormone therapy. According to a summary of the research, “During the study period, appearance congruence (alignment between gender identity and physical appearance), positive affect, and life satisfaction increased, and depression and anxiety symptoms decreased.”
Researchers reported that young people who were assigned female at birth saw greater benefits when taking testosterone than those assigned male at birth who took estrogen. Several factors could be at play here, they speculated, including the speed with which the outward effects of testosterone manifest and greater social stigma faced by transfeminine people compared to transmasculine people.
The authors note that “marked increases in referrals but limited evidence as to long-term outcomes have led to controversies and debate” over providing adolescents with gender-affirming hormones (GAH). Across the U.S., state legislators have introduced bills restricting or outright banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth.
“Research like this is significant because it provides more longitudinal data,” Dr. Kareen Matouk, a clinical psychologist in the gender identity program at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, told Self magazine. “This helps individuals and their families navigate the health care system with more ease and confidence, and protects access to gender-affirming care that lawmakers are attempting to deny.”
Opponents of gender-affirming care for trans young people frequently argue that puberty blockers and GAH may have harmful or irreversible effects. But Matouk said, “We have some data suggesting that gender-affirming hormone therapy is generally safe and effective under the supervision of an endocrinologist or medical provider who specializes in transgender health care and has experience initiating hormone therapy.”
Gender-affirming care for both adolescents and adults has been endorsed by the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychiatric Association, and many other professional groups as necessary and frequently lifesaving for transgender individuals.
While the authors of the new study stress that more research into other factors – including access to mental healthcare and the quality of peer relations and family support – is needed, their findings show that “that mental health improves with GAH, whereas withholding treatment may lead to increased gender dysphoria and adversely affect psychological functioning.”
At a time when red state republicans are trying to stop any progress in society since the 1950s with anti- woke laws, stopping the fighting of injustice, and try to remove gay / trans people from the public square, they still keep indoctrination kids by forcing Jesus speakers / promoters on them who lie about gay / trans people to mislead children with their incorrect views. I hate it, everything the right accuses the left of doing is a confession of what the right itself is doing and has done. Hugs
Video shows media personality Woah Vicky lying to kids about LGBTQ people, while urging them to accept Jesus
Woah Vicky, a white girl who uses the N-word, tells fans about Jesus (screenshot via Facebook)
Reading Time: 2MINUTES
Earlier this month, Victoria Rose Waldrip (a.k.a. Woah Vicky, “Atlanta’s new age trap queen”) visited Jonesboro High School in Georgia and preached to the girl’s basketball team. She told them to accept Jesus, promoted her church, told the girls to remain celibate until marriage, and lied about LGBTQ people.
When one girl asked her if being gay was bad, Waldrip said she couldn’t answer the question because she’s not God. She then added there was no such thing as a gay preacher (which is a lie), and said people become gay as a result of getting “touched on” (which is also a lie), and said being gay is like murdering people because they’re both sins (which even most Christians would say is a lie because they don’t think being gay is a sin). And then she praised Jeffrey Dahmer for supposedly discovering God in prison.
You better believe there’s video of it. (The anti-gay stuff begins around the 13:20 mark.)
It raises all kinds of questions for the school: What the hell was she doing there? Who invited her? Why would anyone think this was a good idea?! That’s what @capn_cut_throat and @deconversiontherapy wanted to know when their videos about the matter began picking up steam on TikTok.
Keep in mind that this wasn’t a voluntary event where students were told what they’d hear in advance. In fact, some of the girls later “expressed their outrage” online.
It turns out we do know who’s responsible for this: Frances Miller, a “digital creator” who works as a “character coach” for the team and promotes them on social media. She’s seen in the background of the video. (One source told me that Miller has no official connection with the district.)
Miller bragged about the proselytizing as soon as it happened:
**at the link above to the orginal post there is a facebook thing here. I do not have facebook and due to my security settings they wont show. Hugs **
If, in fact, Miller’s role is unofficial, then her access to students—and how she used that opening to get her friend to push Jesus on them—is especially troubling.
We ask that the District immediately investigate this incident and provide an assurance that outside adults will not be allowed to preach hate and bigotry to students during school-sponsored activities again in the future. If any school employees or administrators were involved, they should be reprimanded and reminded of their obligations as public school employees.
… If the district has no policies that prevent outside adults from delivering hateful religious messages to students as part of school-sponsored activities, one should be adopted.The district should take all actions within its power to ensure that something like this cannot happen again in the future.
It’s possible the school was already taking action here but the nudge can’t hurt.
Can you imagine the outrage if a coach invited a Muslim, or atheist, or Satanist to speak to students about any damn thing? You can’t imagine it, because it would never happen. But when Christianity’s on the menu, everything is just treated as fine and normal even though it shouldn’t. If the administrators aren’t watching out for the children, and the coach of this team isn’t, then who the hell is interested in their well-being? Because it’s definitely not Woah Vicky, whose only goal is gaining clout on social media.
I regret I am so far behind. It is too hard to sit at my desk, every 15 minutes or so I have to get up and walk around, but then after a few minutes have to sit. If I have a task I need to do standing for more than 15 minutes I have to take more medication to stop my back from giving out. I managed to get my MRI I needed this morning, came home ate and went right to bed. I got up at 2:30 as my back was not getting better. I see my pain doctor on the 6th of Feb. Hopefully I can quickly schedule some shots to my spine. I was getting them regularly to keep the pain down but I got hit with a couple very expensive bills from the spine shots and decided to see if I could handle the pain with muscle shots and pills. Turns out that won’t work. I have already had to take more medication than I like to take. If this doesn’t work I will go to the next level of pain medications. In the state of Florida it is hard now to get the drugs that caused such problems which can be managed but they want to force everyone to fentanyl even as the republicans scream about how deadly it is. The clips below are pure republican hate, making it so poor people on snap cannot buy any affordable foods not even can soup. No meats no matter the kind, no canned vegetables and so much more. And the continued attacks by republicans and DeathSantis on the idea of inclusion and anything LGBTQ+. I again today wont be able to catch up but there is always tomorrow I guess. Hugs
In a heartwarming tale of family acceptance, a dad surprised his son by traveling almost 300 miles to be there for his first-ever drag performance.
The father of 20-year-old Alex Truesdale – whose drag name is Rosebud – traveled from Northern Ireland to West Lancashire, England to see the performance.
“He arrived at my door at 10 am, I couldn’t believe it. I was like ‘Why are you here?’” Truesdale told The Echo.
“It was such a wholesome moment my dad being there cheering me on like he always has since day one. My dad is my hero. He’s annoying and frustrates me sometimes but we always build a bridge, dry the tears and move on. I can tell him anything, especially since I flew the nest.”
Truesdale, a makeup artist, has loved drag since the age of four, but it took much longer for him to fully embrace it.
“I was in an extremely lonely place at the age of 11 and in that place of feeling isolated, I felt like I couldn’t turn to anyone. I began watching RuPaul’s Drag Race and I started using makeup as a way to project my emotions. When I turned 16, I finally came out and it gave me that boost of confidence I needed to try drag for the first time after religiously being captivated by RuPaul.”
Truesdale does not have a good relationship with his mother and said he dealt with nightmares and eating disorders after their relationship imploded. He grew up in Northern Ireland and endured endless bullying but refused to let it stop her from embracing her true self. Her dad, she said, has been her rock through it all, always supporting her and loving her for exactly who she is.
That doesn’t mean life wasn’t challenging, though.
“I used to get bullied daily in school up until the moment I came out,” he said. “I finally came to the realization that what everyone was saying was facts. I am gay and I am proud.”
“But being openly gay and happy was something a lot of people didn’t agree with that,” he went on. “There were plenty of moments when I wanted to just give up. But I didn’t because I reminded myself of four-year-old me who fell in love with [drag].”
Drag, he added, is “an escape from reality.”
“Drag helps me express how I feel in so many amazing ways. I would be lost without it. It’s my hobby, my passion and something that separates my boy job as a makeup artist from the crazy drag life as Rosebud. People think it’s the same person, but to me, it’s my safety blanket. Once I cake my face in makeup, chuck those heels on and throw a wig on I feel invincible, more so than I would as Alex.”
This is what DeathSantis and the republicans in the state want. They want to remove gays from the state. They want a white straight ethnostate. They want a maga paradise. The don’t say gay bills are not about instructing sexuality or gender identity it is about denying such things exist. Nan has asked if Ron and I would move out of Florida and the answer is yes we have talked about it for the last few years. As Florida has become more and more maga and intolerant we have talked about or options. Hugs
New research on LGBTQ parents in Florida found that a majority of those surveyed considered leaving the state over its controversial law restricting classroom instruction on LGBTQ issues before the fourth grade.
Nearly six out of 10 parents surveyed by the Williams Institute said that the enacting of the legislation commonly known as “Don’t Say Gay” led them to consider moving to a different state — while 17% have already taken steps to do so.
The research — released Tuesday by The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, a think tank that focuses on LGBTQ law and policy — also found that 11% of surveyed parents considered moving their child to a different school.
Analyzing data from 113 LGBTQ parents in the state, researchers found that nearly nine out of ten of them said that they were concerned about the effects of the legislation on their families and children.
They expressed concerns that the law would restrict them from speaking freely about their families, and as a result, it would affect their children’s sense of self and sense of safety and also create a hostile school climate.
“Legislation can have a negative impact on LGBTQ+ parent families by cultivating a climate of fear and insecurity,” said study author Abbie E. Goldberg, a professor of psychology at Clark University.
“For LGBTQ+ parents without the means to move or send their children to private schools, the stress that this legislation creates will be significant,” Goldberg added.
Surveyed parents reported that their children had already experienced a variety of consequences from the bill — including bullying and harassment because of their parents’ LGBTQ identities, fears about continuing to live in the state, and no longer having the ability to talk about their parents’ or their own LGBTQ identity at school.
Members and supporters of the LGBTQ community attend the “Say Gay Anyway” rally in Miami Beach, Florida on March 13, 2022. (CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)
“The Don’t Say Gay bill claims to be for parent rights, but my rights have been taken away since its passage,” one parent said. “My right to send my daughter to school freely, my right to live without fear of who I am, my right to not be discriminated against based on my sexual orientation, and my daughter to not be discriminated against based on her parents’ sexual orientation.”
Slammed by critics as “hateful,” “homophobic” and “transphobic,” HB 1557 was signed into law nearly a year ago by the state’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The much-publicized enacting of the legislation — a victory for conservatives in the state — sparked a dramatic increase in anti-LGBTQ vitriol on social media, as well as in-person protests against LGBTQ youth events in the state.
How silly and thin this excuse is. Somehow it will harm kids in a advanced placement college level course to know that some black people that deserved a place in history were gay or trans. Seriously the idea that these high school teenagers knowing that gay people did some great things is harmful to the students according to the right / republicans. Michelangelo was gay. The fact is gay kids need and deserve the positive affirmations of knowing they also can achieve great things. It is about seeing representation of ones self, but the right is terrified of nearly adult teens knowing that gay people have done some incredible things. That knowledge contradicts all the right wing ideology of how bad gay / trans people are, how they are low-life scum out that never achieve anything and always look for way to assault and rape the good straight people. This is again out of the Russian playbook that outlawed anything positive about gay people while the state constantly pushes the most negative harmful narratives. There are gay people in all walks of life and their sexual orientation is part of who they are. What the right wants to do is let kids assume that all people are straight, that all people in history that did something notable were straight is total right / republican indoctrination / ideology. As for the justice system being about more than prison and punishment again other developed countries have shown that if your prisons are not punitive hellhole but having reform with rehabilitation have shown that it cuts recidivism rates. Crime goes down, and you have less prison populations. But that would interfere with the for profit prsions incomes. Hugs
DeSantis said the course was somehow being used to push a queer “agenda.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said that his state recently rejected an advanced placement (AP) African American Studies course because of the course’s “indoctrination” of the “queer” agenda.
“We have guidelines and standards in Florida: We want education, not indoctrination,” DeSantis said during a news conference. DeSantis was asked why his state Department of Education had refused the course, which is currently being offered by the College Board in a pilot program at 60 schools nationwide.
DeSantis said that when he heard that the class didn’t meet the state’s educational standards, he figured the course involved critical race theory (CRT), a college-level curriculum about the effects of institutional racism throughout history.
“It’s way more than that,” DeSantis continued. “This course on Black history, what’s one of the lessons about? Queer theory. Now, who would say that an important part of Black history is ‘queer theory?’ That is someone pushing an agenda on our kids.”
Queer theory examines societal responses to non-heterosexual and non-cisgender identities. It’s an essential part of Black history both because of notable Black LGBTQ+ figures and the criminalization of Black sexual identities throughout history.
Nevertheless, DeSantis also criticized the course for having a “political agenda” because its current form includes content about intersectionality and abolishing prisons. Intersectionality examines how overlapping personal identities result in social privileges or disadvantages. Prison abolitionists want restorative justice and rehabilitation programs instead of just prisons.
“We believe in teaching kids facts and how to think, but we don’t believe they should have an agenda imposed on them,” DeSantis added. “When you try to use Black history to shoehorn in queer theory, you are clearly trying to use that for political purposes.”
DeSantis is asked during a news conference about the state's rejection of an AP African American history class. He says "this course on Black history, what's one of the lessons about? Queer theory … that's the wrong side of the line for Florida standards." pic.twitter.com/HzKnWsyUb3
Last Friday, Florida’s Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. wrote that the state had “rejected an AP course filled with Critical Race Theory and other obvious violations of Florida law.”
Specifically, the department said it objected to “the inclusion of readings from many major African American scholars, activists and writers, who explored subjects like Black queer studies, Black feminist literary thought, the reparations movement and intersectionality,”The New York Times reported.
Florida’s education department said it objected to readings from professor Angela Davis for being a “self-avowed Communist and Marxist”; professor Kimberlé Crenshaw “the founder of intersectionality”; and bell hooks for using language like “white-supremacist capitalist patriarchy.”
Though the College Board didn’t comment on Florida’s rejection, it noted that the course is still being revised based on feedback from African American scholars, the Times reported. The final framework of the course will be publicly posted before becoming widely available in U.S. high schools.
Critics have also pointed out that Florida high schools offer AP European History courses, which reinforce a narrative of predominantly white cultures colonizing and enslaving non-white countries in order to benefit capitalist and industrialist regimes.
It’s hardly surprising that DeSantis’s administration rejected the Black history course. Last year, he signed the Individual Freedoms Act (known as the Stop WOKE Act) which limits how racial issues are taught in public schools, public universities, colleges, and workplace trainings.
Last year, he also signed the Parental Rights in Education bill (known as the Don’t Say Gay law) which restricts teachers from acknowledging the existence of LGBTQ+ people in public schools. Heworked with far-right media outlets and book-banning groupsto help promote the law.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre criticized Florida’s rejection of the course.
“These types of actions aren’t new… especially from Florida,” Jean-Pierre said. “Sadly, Florida currently bans teachers from talking about who they are and who they love.”
“They didn’t block AP European history. They didn’t block our music history. They didn’t block our art history. But the state chooses to block a course that is meant for high achieving high school students to learn about their history of arts and culture,” she continued. “It is incomprehensible.”
According to the College Board, the pilot version of the AP African American Studies course will expand to hundreds of additional high schools in 2024. The final course will be offered in schools that same year, with the course’s first exams being offered in Spring 2025.
Do you know why safe spaces were created? It started with building or businesses such as fire stations or restaurants that scared abused kids could go into and tell an adult what was wrong. Kids walking home from school or walking in an area that were approached by gangs, drug dealers, or the threat of harm / abuse could rush to these places. The idea worked so well it was expanded into schools and other places. In this case the complaining parents claimed it discriminated against non-LGBTQ+ kids. Straight white kids wouldn’t have a safe space those parents shouted. But really all kids know that a teacher will protect a straight white kid, it is the black kids when in the minority and the gay / trans kids that need to know they are safe. The straight black kids and white straight kids can just assume that the staff would protect them but that assumption is not something that gay / trans / non-binary kids have. They don’t assume an authority figure will support them because so many authority figures actively speak badly of them. So they need a sign to tell them if harassed, threatened, abused come here for help or safety. Some parents cannot stand that LGBTQ+ kids are not allowed to be bullied, harassed, picked on, and harmed especially if their kids are disciplined for being the ones doing it. Yes bigoted parents can produce bigoted kids and parents of these kids hate rules protecting the kids their kids like to beat up. As I have reported one of the co-authors / sponsors of the Florida don’t say gay bill admitted that he was angry that gay kids coming out were accepted and not too frightened of harm to come out at all. He was upset these gay kids were not targets for abuse and harm. That is the mind set of people that want to get rid of safe spaces. Notice that the attack on these safe space stickers are driven by the right wing hate machine that calls them indoctrination. The idea of tolerance, kindness, and not harming others is somehow thought to be a harmful ideology by the right. Their own ideology says attack anyone who is different until everyone is just like us. Do we want that taught to kids who grow up and teach it to their kids? And again letting kids know that gay people exist is indoctrination by these people, well I guess telling kids about any reality is indoctrination then. Seriously is there a harm that kids know there are gay people? Is there a harm that kids know there are left handed people or red haired people also? Kids know that there are gay people, it doesn’t make them gay just as kids knowing that there are straight people doesn’t make all kids straight. Hugs
“The safe zone rainbow stickers let kids like me know that they are not alone despite their differences,” one lesbian student said.
A middle school in New Jersey has removed rainbow-themed “safe zone” signs from its campus. Superintendent Peter Turnamian announced the change at a January 3 board of education meeting.
The LGBTQ+-affirming signage at Long Valley Middle School, in place since 2019, was the result of a student-led effort at inclusiveness. Recent complaints by parents led Turnamian, superintendent for the Washington Township School District, to consult with district lawyers.
“Ultimately, the advice of legal counsel was to have them come down,” Turnamian said of the signs. Lawyers characterized parents’ concern over favoritism as “appropriate criticism.”
The superintendent unveiled plans for a “Profile of a Panther” initiative to replace the safe zone signs, using the school’s mascot to “encourage kindness” among the school’s sixth- to eighth-grade students. Plans for the initiative would be developed with feedback from the community, said Turnamian.
The change marks a victory for parents who lobbied for the signs’ removal. A months-long campaign at school board meetings in the rural township in southern New Jersey brought out residents on both sides of the issue.
“School should be a safe space for all kids, not just some kids,” newly elected school board member John Holly said at the meeting in early January. “Is this just a convenient way to push ideology on kids?” he asked, speaking of the rainbow-themed signage.
One meeting attendee recalled for board members that students were responsible for establishing the safe zone signs.
“There aren’t any kids that are talking about how this is harmful to them,” she said.
A self-identified lesbian and genderqueer student at Long Valley was applauded at a December board meeting: “I can say the LGBTQ+ community is constantly bullied and belittled in our school system. The safe zone rainbow stickers let kids like me know that they are not alone despite their differences. The signs are not hurting anybody, and they are not imprinting on your children. They only promote love and accepting yourself for the way you are.”
“The removal of LGBTQ+ affirming materials from schools is downright shameful. LGBTQ+ students across the country are already facing relentless attacks from legislators, and they deserve — at minimum — to feel safe in the classroom,” said GLSEN Executive Director Melanie Willingham-Jaggers. “We’re so thankful for our educators who create inclusive, affirming environments for their students despite hateful opposition from those who seek to erase and silence LGBTQ+ people. There is no place for discrimination in the classroom, and we will continue to fight for representation and visibility of LGBTQ+ communities in all schools across the country.”
Rainbow flags, stickers, and other LGBTQ+-affirming materials have been under attack at schools across the country recently. Florida’s Don’t Say Gay law has had a chilling effect on students’ and teachers’ speech, with rainbow imagery removed from classrooms by school administrators, or preemptively taken down by teachers in fear of losing their jobs.
In September,Proud Boys showed upat a school board meeting in Missouri to protest the display of a small rainbow flag by a seventh-grade teacher after an alderman demanded in a Facebook post that the district “stop indoctrinating and grooming our kids!” In the same month, Bucks County in Pennsylvania banned all rainbow imagery and other “advocacy materials” in classrooms.
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Scottie's Playtime 