The Birthing Persons SAGA will never end (Ana Kasparian on PBD podcast)

This is again another video on Anna’s hard right turn on trans people, which I guess is only to get her a better gig else where.   She keeps going on that she objects to doctors forms or offices calling pregnant trans males birthing persons.  But Anna has fervently claimed she doesn’t want kids and won’t have them.  So the term doesn’t apply to her at all.  She tries to claim the term is the same as the N word, but that is not used in any medical setting or forms at all.  She is tilting at windmills here.  She says she wants to be called a woman, and yes that is her right.  And if she was ever pregnant her doctor would honor that.   So why is she against what other people want to be called.   Her stance makes no sense when you look at it.   She got her plastic surgery nose out of joint and is making that the hill to die on.   Again the question is why?  But it is getting her a lot of attention and air time play on right wing podcasts / blogs.  So you ask why she has gone so far out on this that no one is calling her and making it her claim to fame?  Is she the new Riley Gaines, who made an entire media career over complaining she tied with a trans woman for fourth place!     Hugs.  

Is My Child Too Young To Learn About Being Gay? | Tim Ramsey | TEDxOxford

This is 4 years old and I guess the person speaking is from England.   But this is a great talk.  It covers so much of what I want to say.  It explains why the don’t say gay laws that in so many red states are so dangerous and harmful.  Please take 13 minutes and 41 seconds to learn about this issue, learn why it is so important to gay kids to see themselves in the surrounding society, and that yes there are gay kids, even young kids that know they are different, know they are gay, and are scared / worried about it that need support with love.  I love the question he asks, when was your child too young to learn about being straight?  Because from birth all around them kids see straight couples and symbols of being straight in society.  The same with gender, the haters say they don’t want the children to be taught gender in schools as they claim it sexualizes them.   But society is structured around gender.  We learn it from birth with nursery colors, types of toys, and the clothing we are put in.    Hugs.   Scottie

Can a child be too young to learn about being LGBT? The answer: no child is ever too young. In this humorous and moving talk, Tim Ramsey argues that only when every parent explores about LGBT identities with their child from birth will we address the well being crisis facing LGBT young people.

Tim Ramsey, the founder of award-winning non-profit Just Like Us, grew up believing that being gay was the worst thing he could be. Having come out, Tim launched Just Like Us to change the lives of other LGBT+ school students by empowering young people to challenge prejudice and champion LGBT+ equality at school and work. As the founder of School Diversity Week, the national celebration of LGBT+ equality in education, Tim has involved over 650,000 school students and teachers work to ensure every young person can be themselves and their best at school.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx Can a child be too young to learn about being LGBT? The answer: no child is ever too young. In this humorous and moving talk, Tim Ramsey, Founder of award-winning LGBT non-profit Just Like Us, argues that only when every parent explores about LGBT identities with their child from birth will we address the wellbeing crisis facing LGBT young people. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

One of these things is not like the other…

It’s not rhetoric, but action that proves how different the two parties are. Can we PLEASE stop treating them as if they’re two sides of the same coin? It’s not only lazy, but dead wrong.

Tennessee Republicans keep losing court battles with drag queens

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/10/tennessee-republicans-keep-losing-court-battles-with-drag-queens/

The republicans don’t care they keep losing.  This is a holy war for them.  They are doing god’s work of wiping the LGBTQIA from society and returning women to their submissive roles.  But their goal is to roll back and undo any progress in the US for equality and allowing others to enjoy civil rights.   They want a theocracy instead of a democracy.  Hugs.  Scottie


MUNICH, BAVARIA / GERMANY - JULY 13, 2019: A drag queen blowing kisses into the camera attending the Gay Pride parade also known as Christopher Street Day (CSD) in Munich, Germany.
Photo: Shutterstock

While Tennessee Republicans have done their best to vilify drag queens and ban drag shows, they keep getting knocked back by judges who rule that the bans are unconstitutional.

The city of Murfreesboro became the latest municipality to find out the hard way when a federal judge blocked their attempt to interfere with a local Pride festival.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the ACLU of Tennessee sued over the city’s efforts to silence a local LGBTQ+ organization, including a city-wide policy denying the group permits to host events and a local ordinance banning drag performances.

The lawsuit accused the city of Murfreesboro of “flagrant and ongoing violations of TEP’s constitutional rights to free speech and expression, due process, and equal protection under the law.”

“Since at least October 2022, the City has engaged in a targeted campaign to silence TEP’s speech in support of the Murfreesboro LGBTQ+ community,” the suit claimed. “First, the City put in place a discriminatory policy, prohibiting TEP from obtaining permits to host its annual BoroPride Festival and any other events on City property. Then, it enacted a discriminatory ordinance meant to drive TEP and the City’s LGBTQ+ community—and, in particular, its drag performers—out of the City’s public spaces. These actions, which were driven by animus against the LGBTQ+ community, are blatantly unconstitutional.”

“We are relieved that the court has taken action to ensure that Murfreesboro’s discriminatory ordinance will not be enforced during the BoroPride festival. We look forward to a safe, joyful celebration of Murfreesboro’s LGBTQ+ community,” Tennessee Equality Project Executive Director Chris Sanders said in a statement.

Several other cities have made efforts to discriminate against LGBTQ+ groups and Pride festivals, but the efforts have consistently failed.

The attendance at Blount Pride Fest doubled from last year after a Tennessee attorney general threatened to prosecute the event’s drag performers.

A federal judge appointed by Donald Trump ruled against Tennessee’s ban on drag performances, saying that the law is both “unconstitutionally vague and substantially overbroad,” that it will encourage “discriminatory enforcement,” and that it violates the First Amendment’s free speech protections.

“There is no question that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment. But there is a difference between material that is ‘obscene’ in the vernacular, and material that is ‘obscene’ under the law,” Judge Thomas Parker ruled in June. “Simply put, no majority of the Supreme Court has held that sexually explicit — but not obscene — speech receives less protection than political, artistic, or scientific speech.”

 

Riley Gaines calls 71-year-old trans fencing champion an “entitled cheat”

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/10/riley-gaines-calls-71-year-old-trans-fencing-champion-an-entitled-cheat/

Riley Gaines rose to fame not from her own athletic ability which was lacking but by claiming she was cheated out of a win by tieing for fifth place with a trans woman.  Both of them got beaten for the first through fourth spots by other women.  She owes her fame and living to being a virulent anti-trans activist, spreading hate and misinformation everywhere she can.   She is held up as the wronged party because she tied with a trans woman for fifth place.  The anti-trans activists use her to claim that trans women have an unfair advantage and harm women’s sports.   But the facts show the opposite.   Hugs.  Scottie


Riley Gaines
Riley GainesPhoto: Screenshot

Anti-trans activist Riley Gaines took a swipe at a 71-year-old trans athlete who just became an eight-time world fencing champion.

Liz Kocab recently won the women’s 70+ division in the Veteran Fencing World Championships and now claims victories in the 50s, 60s, and 70+ age categories. In a post-victory interview with USA Fencing, Kocab said her continued participation in competitions is her “way of saying thanks to USA Fencing.” With tears in her eyes, she said winning “never gets old” and is “always special.”

But Gaines decided to rain on the parade by insulting and misgendering Kocab on X, writing that “winning a title as a male in the women’s category doesn’t make you a champion. It makes you an entitled cheat.”

Gaines’s followers joined in the heckling in the responses, calling Gaines a hero and referring to Kocab as an “old conman,” a “weirdo cheat,” and a “coward,” among other insults.

USA Fencing adopted a trans-inclusive policy in 2022, allowing athletes to compete as their gender, with varied participation requirements depending on the age level.

At the time, USA Fencing CEO Phil Andrews declared unwavering support for trans fencers: “It is critical that we protect the rights of nonbinary and transgender athletes in fencing. Even as we plan to conduct more scientific research into the physiological effects of gender transition as they pertain specifically to the sport of fencing, we remain unanimously and steadfastly supportive of transgender athletes having their place in fencing. To be clear, even as this issue evolves, our support of transgender athletes will not waver.”

Gaines, on the other hand, has been crusading against the rights of trans athletes since she tied for fifth place with trans University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas in the women’s 200m freestyle final at the National Collegiate Athletics Association swimming and diving championships. She has claimed she was robbed of some sort of victory by having to share fifth place with a trans woman.

Most recently, Gaines celebrated her own created holiday, “Real Women’s Day,” which she established on October 10th since the Roman numerals for 10/10 are XX, symbolizing for Gaines that “real” women have XX chromosomes.

Speaking at Penn State that day, Gaines yelled to trans rights protestors: “What are you so scared of? The truth? Science? Common sense? Logic? Reasoning? I’d love to hear your argument here because what I’m here to talk about is men are men, women are women, and you cannot change your sex. It’s that simple.”

You Really Need To Watch This …

‘Diversity isn’t political’: Turpin High School students walkout on what would have been Diversity Day

https://www.wvxu.org/education/2022-05-18/turpin-high-school-students-walkout-diversity-day

Ask what is the goal of the people trying to remove diversity, it is to return to a horrible time in the past where some people had all the rights and authority while others are powerless having no rights.  Do we really as a country want to regress to the point these people want?   They basically want all social and scientific / medical / social progress to stop and regress to a time before other people but them had standing in society and the most you could do for medical issues was to pray, same with economic issues just pray them away.  But one thing they don’t want to return to is the taxes on the wealthy and corporations, just the regression of equality and equal rights for non-white non-cis non-straight people.  We have congress people trying to deny diversity ion the military and fighting to keep bases named after confederate leaders who fought to keep blacks as slaves.  Remember a large portion of the military is minority including black.  We have republicans led states trying to teach kids that slavery was beneficial to black people.   An example of how horrible racism is.   Might as well say that childhood sexual abuse is OK as long as the kid is not killed and allowed to go to school.  Anyway this is our country now, pushed hard to a right wing authoritarian racist bigoted intolerant society by a few very wealthy hateful people funding a lot of media and republican politicians.   Hugs


diversity students

More than 300 Turpin High School students participated in a walkout on Wednesday to protest the cancelation of Diversity Day earlier this month.

Students gathered at Heritage Universalist Unitarian Church, located right next to the high school, holding signs calling for promotion of diversity within the Forest Hills School District and to empower students.

The walkout occurred at Heritage Universalist Unitarian Church on May 18, 2022 adjacent to Turpin High School. Students held signs and chanted, "Do better Forest Hills."
Cory Sharber
/
WVXU
The walkout occurred at Heritage Universalist Unitarian Church on May 18, 2022 adjacent to Turpin High School. Students held signs and chanted, “Do better Forest Hills.”

The walkouts occurred on the scheduled date for Diversity Day, May 18.

For several years, Diversity Day has been held in the district — which is 90% white — to highlight cultural and racial issues for junior and senior students. But earlier this month, the FHSD school board voted 4-0 to put the event on hold, stating that the event would no longer happen during school hours, use school resources or be paid for by taxpayers. Then, the school district announced its cancelation.

“At this time, FHSD staff have determined they will not be able to organize an event that meets the newly instituted board expectations before the end of the school year, so it will not be rescheduled for this year,” Forest Hill School District Communications Coordinator Josh Bazan said in a statement.

Board member Leslie Rasmussen abstained from voting on the issue, saying board members “interfered” with the event citing “critical race theory and social justice” as their reasons for its postponement.

Four of the board’s newly elected members ran together on a platform opposing critical race theory.

Students react

 

On the day Diversity Day was supposed to be held, multiple students passed a megaphone to each other to give speeches and to lead chants. Claire Mengel is a senior at Turpin High School. They thanked the community for the support it’s provided students, but expressed disappointment the walkout had to take place because the “(school) board has failed us.”

Turpin High School senior Claire Mengel led the walkout on May 18, 2022. They will be will be addressing the U.S. Congressional Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties on Thursday to discuss "ongoing efforts to prohibit discussion in K-12 classrooms about American history, race, and LGBTQ+ issues."
Cory Sharber
/
WVXU
Turpin High School senior Claire Mengel led the walkout on May 18, 2022. They will be will be addressing the U.S. Congressional Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties on Thursday to discuss “ongoing efforts to prohibit discussion in K-12 classrooms about American history, race, and LGBTQ+ issues.”

“We should not be here because the board should be doing their jobs and the fact that we’re here is incredible, but it is also disappointing because we should be in school doing what we’re supposed to do as kids,” Mengel said.

Johnny Wettengel is also a student at Turpin High School. He thanked the students for making their voices heard and to show the school board that they’re “doing a bad job” at representing students.

Turpin High School student Johnny Wettengel said the Forest Hills school board is "doing a bad job" at representing the students during a walkout on May 18, 2022.
Cory Sharber
/
WVXU
Turpin High School student Johnny Wettengel said the Forest Hills school board is “doing a bad job” at representing the students during a walkout on May 18, 2022.

“We are here, all of us, to show them that we support diversity in our school district,” Wettengel said. “We are here to show them that we won’t just sit down and let them cancel events that matter to us. We are here to show them that diversity isn’t political, it’s human.”

Mengel said the event’s cancelation adds another level of stress to a district dealing with a “mental health crisis,” but the community’s support has helped during a tough time for students.

“Even though the board has power in this situation, the community is standing together and there is so much more support than I’ve seen anything negative about this,” Mengel said.

On Thursday, Mengel will be addressing the U.S. Congressional Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. The hearing will focus on “the ongoing efforts to prohibit discussion in K-12 classrooms about American history, race, and LGBTQ+ issues, and to punish teachers who violate vague and discriminatory state laws by discussing these topics.”

 

 

California governor signs bills to enhance the state’s protections for LGBTQ people

https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/california-governor-signs-bills-enhance-states-protections-lgbtq-peopl-rcna117151

It is great to see sane people in blue states standing up for equality for people in the US.  Republican led states ignore medical science, instead they prefer to trust tradition and religion as the basis of their laws.  If the rest of the country did this we would still have slavery and be using prayer for medical treatments.   Instead of banning progress in understanding they should welcome new advancements.  But every day shows they are further out of touch, their religious views wrong, and their desire to return to a past where they were comfortable, in charge, and understood the world / society they lived in.  LGBTQIA people exist including also kids.  Yes young kids know and have sexual feelings and gender identity.  Cis straight people want to deny that yet they can never point to the time they choose either.   Hugs

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the measures a day after issuing a controversial veto that was criticized by LGBTQ advocates.
 
California governor signs bills to enhance the state's protections for LGBTQ people

Gavin Newsom during the San Francisco Pride parade in 2017.AFP via Getty Images file

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed several bills Saturday aimed at bolstering the state’s protections for LGBTQ people, a day after issuing a controversial veto that was criticized by advocates.

The new laws include legislation that focuses on support for LGBTQ youth. One law sets timelines for required cultural competency training for public school teachers and staff, while another creates an advisory task force to determine the needs of LGBTQ students and help advance supportive initiatives. A third requires families to show that they can and are willing to meet the needs of a child in foster care regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

 

“California is proud to have some of the most robust laws in the nation when it comes to protecting and supporting our LGBTQ+ community, and we’re committed to the ongoing work to create safer, more inclusive spaces for all Californians,” Newsom said in a statement. “These measures will help protect vulnerable youth, promote acceptance, and create more supportive environments in our schools and communities.”

The governor also signed legislation that requires schools serving first through 12th grade to have at least one gender-neutral bathroom available for students by 2026.

The law was spurred by a Southern California school district that instituted a policy requiring schools to tell parents when their children change their pronouns or use a bathroom of a gender other than the one listed on their official paperwork. A judge halted the policy after California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the Chino Valley Unified School District. The lawsuit is ongoing.

The governor’s bill-signings came after Newsom vetoed a bill on Friday that would have required judges to consider whether a parent affirms their child’s gender identity when making custody and visitation decisions.

Assemblymember Lori Wilson, a Democrat who introduced the bill and has an adult son who came out as transgender when he was a teenager, was among the LGBTQ advocates who criticized the governor’s decision.

“I’ve been disheartened over the last few years as I watched the rising hate and heard the vitriol toward the trans community. My intent with this bill was to give them a voice, particularly in the family court system where a non-affirming parent could have a detrimental impact on the mental health and well-being of a child,” Wilson said in a statement.

Newsom said existing laws already require courts to consider health, safety and welfare when determining the best interests of a child in custody cases, including the parent’s affirmation of the child’s gender identity.

The veto comes amid intense political battles across the country over transgender rights, including efforts to impose bans on gender-affirming carebar trans athletes from girls and women’s sports, and require schools to notify parents if their children ask to use different pronouns or changes their gender identity.


 


Newsom Signs New Protections For LGBTQ Youth

We can’t wait for our Florida house to sell so we can move California. What a wonderful change it will be. I expect we will actually need some time to de-stress and de-traumatize from trying to live here.

I left Florida and moved to Massachusetts. The first time walking around near Harvard and MIT and hearing someone performing Shakespeare on the street and having two people in a cafe almost come to blows over a mathematical theorem instead of over drugs, the first time passing an open field and seeing someone with an easel painting the landscape instead of circling on a quad tearing it up…

It’s a whole different world when you escape to someplace more blue.

You will need time and good luck and congratulations. I cant wait until I can afford to leave.

Last year I left SW FL for SW GA. Stable blue congressional district and 2 Dem Senators. I grew up in the South so no adaptation problems. I am glad I got out of the toxic swamp FL has become.

Assuming we have a country in another 5 years, that is when he will make a run. Pete will also make a run as well and he will have the federal seasoning he lacked that last time. We have some young and very good people coming up over the next few years. Katie Porter is another one they are scared shitless of. Eric Swalwell, Ted Lieu, and AOC are all very capable and message well. There are of course a slew of others from across the country but all of the above are young and well regarded in general and absolutely hated by the right (that is a good thing).

If TFG wins in 24, there will never again be a democrat president.

If TFG wins in 24, there will never again be a democratically-elected president.

Racism is on the rise

OH High School Coach Resigns After “Nazi” Play Calls

DeSantis Calls Reports On FL Slavery Lessons A “Hoax”

Read the full article. So it’s a hoax and it was written by descendants of slaves? Of note, those “scholars” are notorious right wing nutjobs.

Boy, it sure would be embarrassing if someone quoted the Florida curriculum standard, which explicitly states that “Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” ( https://www.fldoe.org/core/… )

Or, at least it would be to anyone with a conscience.

Florida school district orders librarians to purge all books with LGBTQ characters

https://popular.info/p/florida-school-district-orders-librarians

Now do you see the point?  This attack on woke is just the same old attack on LGBTQIA people.  This is the same right wing attack on people who are different.  It is the same right wing attack on gays, lesbians, and trans people that was happening in the1960s and 1970s.  It is about removing us, people like me, the entire LGBTQIA from society.  Basically a genocide.  There are LGBTQIA kids in schools and that go to libraries.  These kids need to see people like them, need the information in those books.   Plus kids own books that have gay characters are not permitted even for scielent reading by themselves.   Removing the books won’t stop kids being born LGBTQIA, it will just increase the targeting and harassment, the bullying along with increasing the isolation / shame these kids will feel about themselves for being different.  It is cruel.   Especially as science has proven beyond a doubt people are born with their sexual orientations and gender identity already set.  DeathSantis said it was a hoax, that no books were being banned only pornographic ones, this order to remove the books specifically says remove them even if there is no sexual content. 

The guidance made clear that all books with LGBTQ characters are to be removed even if the book contained no sexually explicit content. The librarians asked if they could retain books in school and classroom libraries with LGBTQ characters “as long as they do not have explicit sex scenes or sexual descriptions and are not approaching ‘how to’ manuals for how to be an LGBTQ+ person.” Vianello responded, “No. Books with LBGTQ+ characters are not to be included in classroom libraries or school library media centers.”  

DeathSantis claimed that his anti-woke doesn’t equal don’t say gay.  But that is the way the law is written and the goal of the fundamentalist Christian nationalists people that he is a member of and leads.  Hugs

——————————————————————————————————————————–

 

SEP 26, 2023
 
 

Librarians in public schools in Charlotte County, Florida, were instructed by the school district superintendent to remove all books with LGBTQ characters or themes from school and classroom libraries. 

Charlotte County school librarians sought guidance from the school district about how to apply an expansion of the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act, better known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, to all grades. “Are we removing books from any school or media center, Prek-12 if a character has, for example, two mothers or because there is a gay best friend or a main character is gay?” the librarians asked. Charlotte County Superintendent Mark Vianello answered, “Yes.” 

The guidance by Vianello and the school board’s attorney, Michael McKinley, was obtained by the Florida Freedom to Read Project (FFTRP) through a public records request and shared with Popular Information. FFTRP requested “electronic records of district and school decisions regarding classroom and library materials.” In response, FFTRP received a document memorializing a July 24 conversation between Vianello and district librarians, known in Florida as media specialists. 

The guidance made clear that all books with LGBTQ characters are to be removed even if the book contained no sexually explicit content. The librarians asked if they could retain books in school and classroom libraries with LGBTQ characters “as long as they do not have explicit sex scenes or sexual descriptions and are not approaching ‘how to’ manuals for how to be an LGBTQ+ person.” Vianello responded, “No. Books with LBGTQ+ characters are not to be included in classroom libraries or school library media centers.”

Vianello also says teachers must ensure that books with LGBTQ characters and themes do not enter the classroom, even if they are self-selected by students for silent reading. According to Vianello, books with “[t]hese characters and themes cannot exist.” 

The librarians were seeking guidance on how to interpret a revised version of The Principles of Professional Conduct for the Education Profession in Florida. The revised rules, issued by the Florida Department of Education earlier this year, expanded the restrictions imposed by the”Don’t Say Gay” law. According to revised Rule 6A-10.081, educators in Florida “[s]hall not intentionally provide classroom instruction to students in prekindergarten through grade 8 on sexual orientation or gender identity.” (A similar provision was included in a law Governor Ron DeSantis (R) signed in May.) The revised rule also extends that prohibition through grade 12, except where explicitly required by state standards or as part of “a reproductive health course or health lesson for which a student’s parent has the option to have his or her student not attend.”

Governor Ron DeSantis (R) has insisted that allegations that his policies, including the “Don’t Say Gay” law, are being used to ban a wide range of books is a “hoax.” DeSantis claimed that the only books being removed from Florida libraries are “pornographic and inappropriate materials that have been snuck into our classrooms and libraries to sexualize our students violate our state education standards.” But in Charlotte County, DeSantis’ policies are being used to justify purging all books with LGBTQ characters, even if there is no sexual content.

In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson for Charlotte County Schools told Popular Information that books with LGBTQ characters were removed from libraries because “there are elementary schools that utilize their school library media center as classrooms… [for] elective courses that our students are officially scheduled into and attend on a regular basis.” Therefore, the library “is considered a classroom setting.” As a result, “our school board attorney advises that we do not make books with these themes available in media centers that serve as classrooms since this would be considered ‘classroom instruction’ and such instruction and/or availability of these themes may not occur in PreK- grade 8.” The spokesperson acknowledged that “high school media centers are not designated as classrooms,” but books with LGBTQ characters were excluded anyway because “if a teacher were to bring a class of students to the media center and provide instruction, books with these themes cannot be included in that instructional time unless supported by the academic standards of that course of study.”

The problem with banning all books with LGBTQ characters

 

There are serious legal issues with banning all books with LGBTQ characters.

In June, the authors of the children’s book And Tango Makes Three, and several students sued the Lake County School Board, the Florida Department of Education, and other state officials for removing the book from K-3 library shelves. And Tango Makes Three is the true story of two male Penguins, Roy and Silo, who lived in the Central Park Zoo and raised an adopted chick. It has no sexual content. The lawsuit contends that the removal of And Tango Makes Three violates student rights under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, and by “discriminating based on content and viewpoint, it infringes the authors’ right to freedom of expression.” 

In response, the Lake County School Board filed an affidavit on July 13, 2023, from its superintendent, Diane Kornegay. She stated that, on June 21, 2023, she received guidance from the Florida Department of Education that the “age restriction on sexual orientation and gender identity does not apply to library books.” The guidance included a legal memorandum by the Florida Attorney General filed in a separate case challenging the “Don’t Say Gay” law, which contends that the law “does not even arguably restrict library books.” 

As a result, And Tango Makes Three was returned to the shelves in Lake County. 

The Florida Department of Education has been repeatedly asked to clarify the application of “Don’t Say Gay” and other laws and regulations restricting LGBTQ instruction to library books. But it has refused to do so, despite the urging of FFTRP and others. 

“Every child deserves to have their lives reflected in the books available in their public school classroom or library,” Stephana Ferrell, co-founder of the FFTRP told Popular Information. “The Florida Department of Education was informed of Charlotte County’s overreaction to the law and state rule over two weeks ago, and has not acted to correct it. Public school families in Florida deserve better. We cannot tolerate this discriminatory exclusion.”

The result of the Department of Education’s inaction has been chaos. And Tango Makes Three remains banned in Escambia County and elsewhere. While Charlotte County is the only school district known to have a formal ban on all books with LGBTQ characters, other Florida school districts have the same policy in practice

In the Broward County School District, the sixth-largest school district in the country, nearly half of the books that have been removed or restricted feature LGBTQ themes. One of the books banned from all school libraries is the children’s book A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, a fictional story about former Vice President Mike Pence’s family bunny. In the story, Marlon Bundo falls in love with another bunny named Wesley, and the two decide to get married. The book does not contain any sexual or explicit content whatsoever. The Broward County School District ordered that all school libraries remove Bundo, because it contained “gender identity content.” 

The Broward County School District told Popular Information that it was aware of the state’s position in the Lake County lawsuit. But, as of last month, Bundo remained unavailable in Broward County schools. 

A survey of Florida school districts by Popular Information revealed that at least 16 school districts in Florida have banned books with LGBTQ characters.