Category: Children / Kids / Minors / Teens / Family

Indiana Toddler Filmed Wielding Loaded Gun [VIDEO]

Indiana Toddler Filmed Wielding Loaded Gun [VIDEO]

Every gun owner is a legal gun owner until they are not.    The argument that gun safety laws only punishes the good gun owner trying to protect their home and family.   But the truth is every gun that was in some illegal used started out as a legally bought gun by someone.   Hugs

Yahoo News reports:

January is not even over, but this weekend’s On Patrol: Live aired what may end up being the most shocking TV moment of the year.

At the beginning of Saturday’s episode of Reelz’s law enforcement docuseries, police in Beech Grove, Ind. responded to reports of a diaper-clad child roaming the halls with a firearm at a local apartment complex.

When the officers arrived, they spoke to neighbors who had reported seeing the toddler with the gun, which he pointed at them, prompting them to retreat inside and call police immediately. The police then questioned the boy’s father, who denied having a gun in the home.

Read the full article.

 

Cackalaquiano4 hours ago

But let’s talk about how dangerous drag queens are for kids

Lestat3 hours ago

I’ve heard of the infantry but this is ridiculous.

Elagabalus4 hours ago

There’s your “Pro-life” at work.

thatotherjean4 hours ago

Of course Dad said he didn’t have a gun in the house. His toddler son was walking around outside with it in his hand. /s

Ragnar Lothbrok4 hours ago

Maybe he’s a good toddler with a gun?
Yes, that must be it

Fearsome Beard Ragnar Lothbrok4 hours ago

He was practicing to stop the mass shooter at the pre-school.

JackFknTwist4 hours ago

It’s all about the availability of guns.
There’s no other issue.
And for that availability I blame Scalia as much as the NRA.

marshlc4 hours ago

Shitty parenting all around. That kid is too little to be wandering around outside his apartment without an adult, but is also too big to be wearing diapers. Too lazy to toilet train their kid.

Bruno4 hours ago

How can anyone with half a brain call this a great country?

BartmanLA5 hours ago edited

I saw this on On Patrol Live on Saturday it was horrific to see this kid walking around pulling the trigger on the gun pointing it at random people, the father was totally responsible and LIED about his access to the weapon, he was arrested for child endangerment and also felon in possession of a gun. Thank god the gun while the clip was loaded there wasn’t a bullet in the chamber so the gun could not fire, if the kid had been able to figure out how to “rack” the gun to load a bullet it would have been much much worse.

BartmanLA TrollopeReader5 hours ago

He knew he shouldn’t have had the gun, initially when the police asked to search the apartment, he granted them access, but they found the gun inside a closed rolltop desk, which was obviously his attempt to hide it, he didn’t answer the door immediately so the police assumed he was secreting the weapon. He also claimed it belonged to his brother and he sometimes left it there when he didn’t think he should be carrying it around. The police knew it was suspect and kept searching and once they found it, that started the process of identifying him, contacting Child Services and eventually his arrest, the child was turned over to his grandmother who also happened to live in the same apartment complex, but was warned that DCS would be contacting her about the eventual disposition of the child’s welfare.

Dan BartmanLA4 hours ago

We were watching it live too and I was pissed off for the neighbors who told the cops what happened only for them to say, “Call us if it happens again since we don’t have proof” and they only stopped halfway out the door because another neighbor came out with their Ring doorbell footage.

Harveyrabbit 🐱6 hours ago

Not the only one.

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Republican wants to expand definition of “child pornography” to make it easier to ban LGBTQ+ books

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/01/republican-wants-expand-definition-child-pornography-make-easier-ban-lgbtq-books/

I cannot get over the fact that there are people today in 2023 that think just the mention of LGBTQ+ or any depiction of LGBTQ+ characters in books or movies is obscene.   And by this womans definition of “Child Pornography” any depiction of sex in any media even if it only depicts adults is classified as child porn.   Why are right wingers so afraid of sex between consenting adults and why won’t they accept the science that says kids are born / know their sexual orientation or gender identity.  Young people don’t read a book about LGBTQ+ people or watch a movie with an LGBTQ+ character suddenly becoming gay or trans.  If that was the case every kid who watched cartoons would be trans and gay just from watching Bugs Bunny, who while being associated with the male gender often dressed as a woman and kissed a lot of guys.   This is like people who believe in a flat earth or in young earth creationism, it defies all the science and advancement in medical science.    Hugs

“Reasonable people everywhere recognize these books as obscene and reasonable people do not want their money used to subsidize obscenity.”
 
By  
November ‎7, ‎2019 Santa Cruz, California - Various books by different authors for sale at Bookshop Santa Cruz
Photo: Shutterstock

A freshman lawmaker from Wyoming has already begun efforts to remove LGBTQ+ books for youth from both school and public libraries in the state.

Republican Rep.-elect Jeanette Ward has introduced House Bill 87, which expands the definition of “child pornography” to mean “any visual depiction, including any photograph, film, video, picture, cartoon, drawing, computer or computer generated image or picture, whether or not made or produced by electronic, mechanical or other means, or any other form of depiction of explicit sexual conduct.”

The bill also repeals a law that gives exemptions for those who “possess or disseminate obscene material” for activities related to schools, universities, colleges, museums, and public libraries.

Based on this definition, many books that provide sexual health information to youth would be banned, along with several books that help LGBTQ+ youth learn about their identities.

“Not requiring tax payers to pay for obscenity is reasonable and just,” Ward told the Casper Star Tribune. “These books will continue to be available in the marketplace, but not paid for by taxpayer dollars. Reasonable people everywhere recognize these books as obscene and reasonable people do not want their money used to subsidize obscenity.”

According to the Tribune, Ward, herself, has passionately advocated for the removal of two LGBTQ+ books from a high school library in her district – speaking at multiple school board meetings against the acclaimed graphic memoir Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe and a trans resource guide called Trans Bodies, Trans Selves.

Ward also helped members of the anti-LGBTQ+ group Moms for Liberty get elected to the Natrona County school board. Moms for Liberty members have been running for school board positions across the country as part of the right-wing effort to shift schools toward a more conservative ideology.

On boards where Moms for Liberty is in control, curricula is likely to exclude LGBTQ+-inclusive and anti-racist education.

In Florida, anti-LGBTQ+ Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, himself, helped Moms for Liberty members get elected to local school boards. The newly seated members repaid DeSantis by ousting school officials who dared defy his orders against school mask mandates during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ward’s bill in Wyoming currently has 13 Republic cosponsors. If it passes, it will go into effect on July 1st.

 
 

Florida lawmakers consider extending Don’t Say Gay law up to sixth grade

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/01/florida-lawmakers-consider-extending-dont-say-gay-law-sixth-grade/

What the right is claiming is any discussion of gay, trans, or same sex couples is sexualizing kids.    Even talking about the existence of same sex families and of gay / trans kids in class is harmful to kids.   It again is the Russian model and it is easier to pass regressive restrictions on society if you claim it is to protect kids.   We all want to protect kids, but the truth is the right only wants to protect straight white Christian kids.  The rest are going to hell anyway and might even have demons in them.   This will not stop until they get what they want, a regressive white straight Christian state that enforces their view of religious values.   Rufo has admitted the goal is to make New College over in the image of a deeply conservative Christian school, and use it as the model for all education systems.   And they are coming for the entire country unless people wake up and fight against them now.  Oh and the point is to indoctrinate the kids and then the public in the deeply right republican mode of how society must be without exceptions.   the indoctrination they claim they are fight the left over is inclusion, diversity, and tolerance of others.   That is something the right is fighting with all they have.  They cannot have acceptance or even tolerance of those different from themselves.    We must not let them win this fight and become the US Taliban.    Hugs

A DeSantis staffer often expresses his belief that “the purpose of our education system is to educate kids, not indoctrinate kids.”
 
By  
Gov. Ron DeSantis
Gov. Ron DeSantisPhoto: Shutterstock

The office of Florida Gov. DeSantis (R) has confirmed that the anti-LGBTQ+ governor is supportive of extending the stipulations of the state’s Don’t Say Gay law – known formally as the Parental Rights in Education Act.

Right now, the law bans discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity up to third grade, and a staffer for the state’s Senate President Kathleen Passidomo (R) told The Daily Mail that lawmakers are thinking about introducing legislation to expand the law up to sixth grade.

In a press conference in December, Passidomo expanded on this, saying that she doesn’t think she’d “be supportive of high school because kids in high school are, hopefully, a little more mature, or at least they should be, but you know, the middle school, maybe go up to 6th grade or something like that.”

DeSantis Press Secretary Bryan Griffin then said that “The governor would certainly consider the merits of such a bill in final form if it comes to his desk as a product of the forthcoming legislation session.”

Griffin said DeSantis often expresses his belief that “the purpose of our education system is to educate kids, not indoctrinate kids.”

In addition to banning classroom instruction on LGBTQ+ issues up to third grade, the law as it currently stands also requires in vague terms that discussions on the topic in older grades be “developmentally appropriate.”

Instead of defining those terms, the bill allows parents to sue schools if they believe the law was violated.

DeSantis’s support for increasing the age range for the Don’t Say Gay law is not a surprise, as he has made it clear he is virulently opposed to protecting LGBTQ+ students.

In December, it was revealed that DeSantis helped members of the anti-LGBTQ+ group Moms for Liberty get elected to local school boards in his state.

An educational anti-censorship expert says this development is part of DeSantis’ plan to shift his state’s schools toward a conservative ideology. With Moms for Liberty in control, curricula will exclude LGBTQ+-inclusive and anti-racist education.

And more recently, DeSantis appointed the far-right anti-LGBTQ+ activist Christopher Rufo to the board of trustees of the New College of Florida – a school with a reputation for being progressive and queer-friendly.

Rufo told the New York Times the board is planning a “top-down restructuring” of the school that will involve designing “a new core curriculum from scratch.”

“If we can take this high-risk, high-reward gambit and turn it into a victory,” he said, “we’re going to see conservative state legislators starting to reconquer public institutions all over the United States.”

 

Revelations | Short Film

At a religious summer camp, Joey meets and falls for a boy named Adrian. In an environment that he realizes might not accept him for who he is, Joey must decide if it’s worth it to tell Adrian how he truly feels.

Marjorie Taylor Greene held an anti-trans rally at the Capitol & almost no one came

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/01/marjorie-taylor-greene-held-anti-trans-rally-capitol-almost-no-one-came/

A whopping 12 or so people attended.
 
By  
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene
Marjorie Taylor GreenePhoto: Screenshot

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) held an anti-trans rally at the Capitol this week. A whopping 12 or so people attended and no major media outlets covered it.

The rally was a veritable who’s who of contemporary transphobic trolls, including members of the book-banning “parents’ rights” group Moms for Liberty; members of the anti-LGBTQ conservative think tank Heritage Foundation; de-transitioned young adult right-wing media darling Chloe Cole; J.K. Rowling fanboy Chris Elston; conspiracy theorist James Lindsay; sexually harassing “comedian” Alex Stein; and of course, Greene herself.

The protestors held signs proclaiming, “Children cannot consent to puberty blockers,” “Gender ideology does not belong in schools,” and signs that defined the words “mom” and “dad” as “a human parent who protects kids from gender ideology.”

Greene brought the transphobic sign that she hangs in front of her congressional office which says, “There are two genders: male and female. ‘Trust the science.’” In reality, biology has proven the existence of numerous animals that can change gender and that gender and sex are both more complicated than binaries.

The protestors spent their time taking pictures of each other and then re-tweeting one another’s posts about the protest.

In a tweet tagging many of the protestors, the Heritage Foundation wrote that the demonstrators were “calling out policies that push for minors to have access to puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and sex-reassignment surgeries.”

This is a lie, of course. No policies are “pushing” minors to undergo gender-affirming treatment, and surgeries aren’t conducted on minors either. The policies the protestors oppose include acknowledging the existence of LGBTQ+ people in schools and ensuring that trans youth have access to life-saving care as well as an equal education.

Right-wing transphobes imagine that LGBTQ+ people and allies, drag queens, and medical professionals all use “gender ideology” to “indoctrinate” and “groom” impressionable young kids into states of “gender confusion” and “rapid onset gender dysphoria” in order to “mutilate” their bodies in profitable surgeries.

However, every major medical and psychological association recognizes that trans youth self-identify consistently, insistently, and persistently from young ages. They also have deemed access to gender-affirming care as necessary for ensuring the emotional and physical well-being of trans youth.

The rhetoric used by these protestors has helped encourage others to issue death threats against gender-affirming medical professionals and educators alike.

 
 

School board meeting descends into chaos during debate about rights for LGBTQ+ students

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/01/school-board-meeting-descends-chaos-debate-rights-lgbtq-students/

Why?  My dogs that love gravy why would an adult want kids bullied and hurt?  Damn why are republicans and the right so hateful?  This is to respect and protect students making the classroom a place they can learn without fear.   Their push to have a homogenous society where everyone is just the same as them and fit into the mold they insist everyone must be with no diversity or difference from them?    They see no beauty in others if they are not clones of themselves.  These people are so spiteful they would see kids harmed rather than allow them to be protected.   There is a video at the linked site that my security / cookie settings won’t show.      Hugs

And a Republican lawmaker fueled the fire.
 
By  
Idaho State Senator Chris Trakel (R) Speaks out against a proposed policy protecting LGBTQ+ students
Idaho State Senator Chris Trakel (R) Speaks out against a proposed policy protecting LGBTQ+ studentsPhoto: Screenshot

An Idaho school board meeting devolved into chaos on Monday night while a Republican state senator was virulently speaking out against a proposed policy to protect LGBTQ+ students in the district. 

The proposed Caldwell School Board policy seeks to prevent discrimination against LGBTQ+ students by, among other things, allowing them to use the locker rooms and bathrooms that align with their lived gender, requiring teachers and other staff to use their preferred names and pronouns, and allowing same-sex couples to attend dances and other activities.

The room was reportedly filled to capacity that night, with several others standing up to speak about the policy before state Sen. Chris Trakel (R) took the podium.

According to KTVB, most speakers were there to advocate against implementing the policy, but three students spoke out in favor of it.

Before Trakel got up to speak, the meeting was almost recessed and adjourned several times as people continued to get rowdy during the public comment period.

Trakel’s speech is immediately hostile. Video of the meeting shows him lambasting the board for allegedly violating Idaho state law based on other proposed curriculum policies and for violating the meeting attendees’ First Amendment rights by not allowing them to criticize school district employees.

“Now, to get on to the exciting part,” he said before attacking the proposed LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination policy and saying he was there under his official position as a state senator.

“You, under Idaho law, are required to maintain the morals and health of all the students… You are going to put all of their moral health and safety at risk, and like I told you before you will face litigation. You call that a threat, I’m telling you that is what will happen. It has already happened in several states and there’s already been rulings on it.”

“Before you waste taxpayer money, before you put a kid in harm’s way, you better throw this policy out and not even consider it.”

At that point, the board chair, Marisela Pesina, turned to a fellow board member and whispered something. Trakel snapped, “I’ve got the floor. Ms. Pesina will you please listen to me.”

“Sir,” Pesina responded tersely. And that is when the chaos began.

Trakel started yelling, “You claim you want people to follow the rules, but you break the rules left and right.”

As his rant continued, Pesina called a recess, at which point more meeting attendees began yelling along with Trakel. The board then voted to adjourn the meeting early, which only caused more anger in the audience.

People began screaming “cowards” and “unethical.” Many could be heard threatening to recall board members.

“Boo on all of you! This is absurd!” one person shouts.

“It was disappointing that some attending refused to follow the rules, which prevented others from sharing their thoughts with the Board,” Caldwell School District communications director Jessica Watts told Idaho EdNews. “Caldwell School District welcomes and encourages feedback on its work. What we do not welcome are those who refuse to follow the steps necessary for a civil, courteous, and respectful environment for that feedback to occur.”

There is a video at the link.   
 

Policy 3281 Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation v4 01062023

13-year-old boy died by suicide after homophobic bullying at school

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/01/13-year-old-boy-died-suicide-homophobic-bullying-school/

This was in France, but it is what the republicans and the right want here in the US for gay or trans kids.   I admire the bravery of this child to try to stand up to the abuse as long as he could.   I hate that adults cannot seem to understand how these bullying attacks and insults eat deep into children.   The leadership in Florida seems to want to make this a common thing, drive the gay kids underground, make the too scared to be openly gay.   But while some gay kids can pass others can’t.  Some kids just cannot act in a way society says is straight, and they never should have to do so.  They should be allowed to be who they are.   Hugs

“He was constantly harassed for the way he dressed, his mannerisms, his presence. He didn’t hide himself and that bothered some people.”
 
By  
Lucas
LucasPhoto: Family photo

A 13-year-old boy in France named Lucas died by suicide last Saturday, January 7 after facing anti-LGBTQ+ bullying at school. People close to his family say that the school did little to stop the bullying.

The student at the Louis Armand de Golbey middle school in the Vosges department was out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, the French magazine Têtu reports.

“He was constantly harassed for the way he dressed, his mannerisms, his presence,” said Stéphanie, a family friend. “He didn’t hide himself and that bothered some people.”

She said Lucas was “always pleasant, caring, spontaneous, full of dreams and a life.”

Psychological help has been made available for students and teachers at the middle school who need it.

“There’s really a lot of emotion from adults who didn’t see anything, didn’t see that Lucas wasn’t doing well recently,” said Valérie Dautresme in a radio interview. She’s the academic services director for the National Education system in the Vosges department.

Dautresme said that Lucas and his mother reported homophobic insults since the start of the school year in September at a parent-teacher meeting.

“For us at this point, the situation had been resolved,” she claimed. “Lucas said that things were working themselves out and that he was no longer being insulted at school.”

Stéphanie contradicted Dautresme’s claim that the matter had been “resolved” and said that Lucas complained “again and again and again. His mother asked for help several times. The school, where he spent three-quarters of his time, didn’t react.”

She said that the family is going to file a formal complaint. The family’s lawyer, Catherine Faivre, said, “There is a whole chain of people with responsibilities who can be investigated and spoken with if, in effect, the elements of an infraction can be constituted.”

Louis Armand de Golbey middle school has been taking part in a national program to fight bullying in schools under the direction of National Education and Youth of France Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer. Staff members were to be trained in how to spot bullying and in a protocol on what to do if someone faces bullying.

A fundraiser was opened online to help the family that raised 7554 € ($8200). Lucas’s funeral is planned for Saturday, January 14. A vigil is being planned but the date has not yet been announced.

Editor’s note: This article mentions suicide. If you need to talk to someone now, call the Trans Lifeline at 1-877-565-8860. It’s staffed by trans people, for trans people. The Trevor Project provides a safe, judgement-free place to talk for LGBTQ youth at 1-866-488-7386. You can also call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

 
 

NE Bill Would Criminalize Taking Kids To Drag Shows

NE Bill Would Criminalize Taking Kids To Drag Shows

News Channel Nebraska reports:

A bill proposed in the unicameral would place limitations on who can watch drag shows in Nebraska. The bill would ban anyone under 19 from watching a drag show, and it would prohibit anyone under 21 from watching drag shows where alcohol is present.

LB371 was introduced by Republican State Sen. Dave Murman and is already stirring debate in the Legislature. Democratic State Sen. Megan Hunt has filed a motion to postpone the bill indefinitely, a decision that is still pending.

Anyone who knowingly brings someone underage to a show would be subject to a misdemeanor. The entities themselves would be subject to a $10,000 fine per violation. The bill would also make it illegal to use state funds to host a drag show.

Read the full article.

 

Paddycakes20012 hours ago

Looking for the silver lining, this means parents can’t take kids to church anymore, right?

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liondon#traitor-ex-president7 hours ago

Guns kill thousands pf kids yearly and pedophile clergy prey on thousands more… so eff these mofo’s.

Strolling In, Softly Whistling7 hours ago

I bet they’re not banning child beauty pageants, though.

Uncle Mark Strolling In, Softly Whistling7 hours ago

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charemor Uncle Mark3 hours ago

I wonder what these kids think about this as they grow older and mature.

Zorba Strolling In, Softly Whistling7 hours ago

I’ve always thought that these child beauty pageants were pedophiles’ dreams.
{Sigh}

Moms for Liberty say they’d like to see Parental Rights in Education law expanded

Moms for Liberty say they’d like to see Parental Rights in Education law expanded

And so the haters / republicans / right wing pushes it further.   Really it is turning the clock back.  It is regressive.   It is denying every advance in society and in medical science since the 1950s.   Ask your self why that age / time stamp is so attractive to republican males?   Because everyone but them were oppressed and they had unfettered control.    Hug

 

Advocates want the bill to forbid discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity to 8th grade.

The Florida chapter of Moms for Liberty, the conservative nonprofit that advocates for parental rights in schools, would like state lawmakers to expand the state law that restricts classroom instruction about gender identity and sexual orientation for children from kindergarten through the third grade.

The Parental Rights in Education law, dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by its critics, ignited a firestorm of criticism among Democrats and LGBTQ advocates and received national attention after it was introduced and later signed into law last year.

“We are advocating to increase that as far as ages and grades to have it be K-8,” said Angela Dubach, the Pinellas County chapter chair of the organization, speaking to the members of the Pinellas County legislative delegation as they met as a group on Wednesday morning at the Clearwater branch campus of St. Petersburg College.

A group of students, parents, and teachers filed a lawsuit last year to block the measure from being implemented, alleging it is unconstitutional in part because it “chills speech and expression that have any connection, however remote, to sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Brandon Wolf, press secretary for Equality Florida, slammed the idea.

 

“At every step of the way, right-wing extremists have gaslit the community about its insatiable desire for censorship and erasure of LGBTQ people,” he told the Phoenix in an email.

“They insisted that the Don’t Say LGBTQ law would be narrow in scope and limited to K-3, despite knowing that the law’s impacts would be far broader and more sweeping. Already, we’ve seen books with LGBTQ characters banned, ‘Safe Space’ stickers peeled from classroom windows, the contributions of LGBTQ people in history censored, and LGBTQ History Month itself rejected in districts across Florida,” he continued.

“The desire of right-wing groups like Moms for Liberty to wield more government censorship over more students is shameful and at odds with the bogus rationalization for this harmful policy they were peddling throughout 2022. LGBTQ people are a part of society’s fabric. We are your neighbors, family members, and friends. And our state should be a place committed to protecting all students and respecting all families.”

Four asks

The expansion of that law was one of four proposals that Dubach called on lawmakers to consider going into the 2023 legislative session. Dubach said that she’d also like legislators to “take a look” at expanding the timeline on legislation signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2021 that bans private employers and government entities from implementing COVID-19 vaccine mandates and school districts from requiring face masks. The measure is slated to expire on June 1.

 

Another measure that the Florida chapter of Moms for Liberty supports relates to school board races.

“Myself and our organization supports partisan school board elections,” Dubach said. “That’s something that we are asking you to take a look at. I was originally told that we’d have to change the Florida Constitution so we wouldn’t be able to do that, so if you could advise me on that that’d be wonderful.”

Measures have been filed in both the House and Senate this year calling for a constitutional amendment to require members of a district school board to be chosen in partisan elections. If approved, it would go into effect in 2026.

Florida voters voted overwhelmingly in 1998 to make school board races nonpartisan, and efforts to put such an amendment on the ballot have failed in recent legislative sessions. But that was before Gov. DeSantis weighed in on the topic last summer and endorsed 30 candidates in school board races, the majority of whom won either in their Primary or General Election contests last year.

The last item Dubach mentioned was “some type of legislation” around the amount of mental health funding that public schools in Florida receive.

“Right now, Pinellas County schools have $140 million allocated for mental health, and I talk to teacher after teacher after teacher and they say, ‘We are not mental health counselors. We want to educate these children and get them ready for the next grade,’” Dubach told the group of legislators. “They don’t want anything to do with mental health. That is up to the parents, their doctors, and all of that stuff is at home.”

The Phoenix reached out to the Pinellas County School District to confirm those financial figures but did not immediately receive a response.  State lawmakers have five more weeks of committee meetings scheduled between now and the official beginning of the legislative session on March 7.

Olentangy Schools official cuts off reading of Dr. Seuss book during NPR podcast

https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/education/2023/01/09/olentangy-schools-halts-reading-of-dr-seuss-book-during-npr-podcast/69791362007/

What police states Florida and other republican states have become.   Remember these are the same people who were super angry that the Dr. Seuss people decided not to publish racist books that were not selling well anymore.   These are the same people angry that the Potato head toy with no gender got rid of the Mr / Mrs in the name of the toy.  This is what a dictatorship looks like, the start of state sanctioned ideology forced on kids, this is the real indoctrination.   I want to point out the kids were already aware of discrimination and racism.  What better place to address it and try to encourage an acceptance of equality and diversity?   Third grade is 8 years old and by that age the black kids are well aware of race and racism, why shouldn’t the white kids have it explained to them so they understand it is a bad thing?   Hugs

A number of Dr. Seuss books, including "The Sneetches," at the Fairfield County District Library in March 2021. An Olentangy Schools elementary teacher was reading "The Sneetches" as part of NPR’s "Plant Money" podcast when a school official halted the reading.

The assistant director of communications for Olentangy Local School District abruptly stopped the reading of the Dr. Seuss book “The Sneetches” to a third-grade classroom during an NPR podcast after students asked about race.

Shale Meadows Elementary School third grade teacher Mandy Robek was reading “The Sneetches” to her class as part of NPR’s latest episode of “Planet Money” about the economic lessons in children’s books. During the podcast, which aired Friday, Amanda Beeman, the assistant director of communications for the school district, stopped the reading part way through the book. 

NPR reporter Erika Beras spent the day in Robek’s class with Beeman for the podcast. As part of the district stipulations, politics were off limits. Six books were selected ahead of time by Beras and the district — including “The Sneetches.”

“I don’t know if I feel comfortable with the book being one of the ones featured,” Beeman is heard saying on the podcast during the middle of “The Sneetches” reading. “I just feel like this isn’t teaching anything about economics, and this is a little bit more about differences with race and everything like that.”

“The Sneetches,” published in 1961, is a book about two kinds of Sneetches: those with stars on their bellies and those without stars. The Plain-Belly Sneetches are judged negatively by their appearance, so capitalist Sylvester McMonkey McBean makes money selling them stars for their bellies. Meanwhile, the Star-Bellied Sneetches don’t like associating with the Plain-Belly Sneetches, so they start paying to have a machine take their stars off. 

The Seuss family has said the book was intended to teach children not to judge or discriminate against others because of their appearance and to treat people equitably.

“It’s almost like what happened back then, how people were treated … Like, disrespected … Like, white people disrespected Black people…,” a third grade student is heard saying on the podcast.

Robek keeps on reading, but it’s shortly after this student’s comment is made on the podcast that Beeman interrupts the reading.  

“I just don’t think that this is going to be the discussion that we wanted around economics,” Beeman said on the podcast. “So I’m sorry. We’re going to cut this one off.”

Beras tried to tell Beeman that “The Sneetches” is about preferences, open markets and economic loss, but Beeman replied, “I just don’t think it might be appropriate for the third-grade class and for them to have a discussion around it.”

On the “Planet Money” episode, Beras reached back out to Beeman to ask about what happened. Beeman replied, “When the book began addressing racism, segregation and discriminating behaviors, this was not the conversation we had prepared Mrs. Robek, the students or parents would take place. There may be some very important economics lessons in ‘The Sneetches,’ but I did not feel that those lessons were the themes students were going to grasp at that point in the day or in the book.”

Olentangy Schools responds to The Dispatch

Beeman explained to The Dispatch on Monday that the school district agreed to be part of the “Planet Money” story “to feature the great work that Mrs. Robek does.” 

“We do not ban any books,” Beeman said.

“As (‘The Sneetches’) was being read, I made a personal judgment call we shouldn’t do the reading because of some of the other themes and undertones that were unfolding that were not shared that we would be discussing with parents,” Beeman said. 

The book touches on racism, segregation, and discriminatory behavior, Beeman said.

“We are really not about suppressing any viewpoints or dialogues,” Beeman said. “There were great economic lessons and the conversation wasn’t going toward (economics).” 

Looking back, Beeman said she does wish she had handled the situation differently by talking to Robek separately to figure out a way to continue the Seuss book and have the discussion geared more toward economics. 

Beras did not immediately respond to The Dispatch’s questions Monday afternoon.

Some of the other books that Robek’s class read when Beras visited included “Pancakes, Pancakes!” by Eric Carle; “Put Me In The Zoo” by Robert Lopshire; and a poem from “Where The Sidewalk Ends” by Shel Silverstein. 

Banned Dr. Seuss books, but not ‘The Sneetches’

In 2021, Seuss Enterprises said it would stop publishing six Dr. Seuss books because of racist and insensitive imagery, but “The Sneetches” was not one of those books.

The six books are “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,” “If I Ran the Zoo,” “McElligot’s Pool,” “On Beyond Zebra!,” “Scrambled Eggs Super!” and “The Cat’s Quizzer.”