Category: Diversity / Inclusivity
These are some of the news and memes I have been seeing in the last few days.
Independent journalism is a threat to Republicans and must be stopped at all costs.
Josh McKoon [photo above] first appeared on JMG in 2015 when he introduced an ultimately failed bill to legalize anti-LGBTQ discrimination by businesses and employers.
In 2016, he appeared here for his pointless bill to “protect” preachers who refuse to officiate same-sex marriages.
According to McKoon, the veto of his 2016 bill by GOP then-Gov. Nathan Deal was “slap in the face to conservatives, to evangelicals and to the broader faith community.”
‘Til Tuesday 🎧 Blue Bear DJ 🎸4 days ago
The Confederate monuments (and the flag) are kept around to keep the flame alive that the South is gonna rise up again, and next time they’re gonna win. I can’t tell you how many times I heard “The South shall rise again!” growing up. Far too many Southern whites are still bitter about losing the war and having slavery taken away from them. And the end of segregation just made them even angrier. The Union may have won the war, but far too many Southern whites remain unreconstructed in their heart and mind. They revere the monuments for what they stand for. So, I’m not one bit surprised that the Georgia GOP wants to keep those monuments in place.
O/T: Ms Lindsey’s staunch defense and filthy boudoir mouth at yesterday’s interview explained:
Ah, yes, good ole days.
Just a reminder:
“If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbour, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.” (Leviticus 20:10)
Fortunately he’s positioned the sign for concealment if needed.
Because those poor kids cold get a job and pay for their own damn lunch!
architect_tim Unbordered Americana day ago
and pull them out of school so they are both poor and dumb …equals perfect Fox New viewers.
… well because we all know that nothing says “Loving Christian” better than “Hungry Poor Children”.
now they can live in fear of being human trafficked. By their own parents because they cannot afford to feed them.
GOP: “Why should I pay for free lunches for those rugrats? Let their whore mothers who should have kept their knees together pay for their lunches.”
Also GOP: “Anybody who even gives a pregnant 14-year-old a ride to a state that offers abortions gets the death sentence.”
It is not about abortion… or anything except policing women’s sexuality, keeping the poor poor, and maintaining the rich white cishet “Christian” men from feeling threatened in anyway.
I used to work for my State’s Free Lunch program. You wouldn’t believe the number of kids who told me that the School Lunch was the only real meal they got all day. And they feared the coming of summer because it meant the wouldn’t be getting a real meal until school started again.
You have to be really malignant to pull a meal out of a hungry kid’s mouth.
This is what Republicans want for us all. While they might mouth platitudes against violence, this is EXACTLY what they and right wing propaganda outlets stir up with their incessant, vitriolically hateful rhetoric against the LGBTQ+ communities.
Aged 21 and 23.
They must know fucking everything at that age.
They must be so bright, politically astute and have vast knowledge of international history.
Or else they are another pair of ‘fucking morons’ (thanks Rex) or Evangelicals or pro-life , again fucking morons.
Or all of the above
Anastasia Beaverhousen3 days ago
Is the Grand Wizard of Florida going to offer them a job on the fire department and give them shelter in FL?
Uncle Mark: HoHo-smoking homo Boreal3 days ago
You can fix stupid, but you should spread plastic on the floor first. 😉
Silverwynde 🌻🇺🇦🌻 Uncle Mark: HoHo-smoking homo3 days ago
Well, at least one person can fix stupid:
Uncle Mark: HoHo-smoking homo3 days ago
Grabbed his gun in his sleep and woke himself up with a gunshot wound to his leg !!
– Geez…does he sleep with his gun in bed or on a nightstand next to him?
– Already loaded?!!
– No safety on?!!
WTF?!!
A common statement from the religious side of this issue goes something like this “stop shoving your gay agenda down our throats”. In the same breath, they go on to say, “You don’t see us shoving our religion down your throat”.
Well then…
Have you ever had a homosexual knock on your door (usually around dinner time) asking if you have found Elton John?
Have homosexuals ever passed laws that make the government print “In Homosexuality We Trust” on your money?
When was the last time homosexuals passed laws that rewrote the Pledge of Allegiance to say, “One Homosexual Nation”?
Have homosexuals erected a monument with Marc Jacobs’ top 10 fashion rules at your local courthouse?
Have any homosexual groups spent millions trying to pass laws to outlaw marriage between a woman and a man?
Have homosexual activists worked to pass laws limiting birth control, abortion, etc?
Did a homosexual ever prevent you from buying liquor or a car on Sunday?
Is there a book promoting homosexuality in almost every hotel room in the country?
Have homosexuals pushed for laws to make the missionary position illegal?
Have homosexuals tried to pass a law allowing them to legally refuse service to Christians?
Right, they have never shoved their religious agenda down our collective throats.
Nic Peterson Doug1054 days ago
Do the homosexual children beat up the straight ones while the teachers pretend not to see?
#TOLERANCE:
As a liberal, I am constantly accused of being intolerant for not accepting someone’s hateful or repressive convictions.
It’s as if “tolerance” has come to mean accepting and respecting someone else’s views, regardless of what they are or who they affect.
And that’s wrong.
Tolerance: a fair, objective and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc.,. Differ from one’s own;
freedom from bigotry
Being open-minded does not mean arbitrarily respecting everyone and accepting everything.
There are things that no one should tolerate, such as bigotry, suppression of liberty, denial of equal rights, and abusive restrictions.
I try to preach and practice tolerance, but I do not have to tolerate anyone’s intolerance.
There is never an excuse or justification for hatred or abuse.
The US Supreme Court just made this map illegal
This may be the start of getting our democracy back. How far will the hard right Justices be willing to go to ignore racial injustice to remain white republican power? Hugs
Let’s talk about time marching on and a secret I kept for thirty years….
I posted this last year when it first came out. I want to repost it. The message at the end is so vital and important to what is happening today. If you are not willing to listen to Beau and you should, he relates the tale that 30 years ago he was dating a girl who it turned out her father was a die hard racist bigot. The girl was mortified by this. The point that Beau makes at the end of the story is that just as the people who protested and railed against the mixing of the blacks and whites back then are thought of as weird stupid bigots the people doing this to the LGBTQ+ people today will be thought of in the same way. Of course Beau is more generous than I am, if these bigots manage to make the US the Christian nationalist theocracy they want then no one will be free to look back badly on them, look at Iran, the Taliban in Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia among other religious countries that are ruled by church doctrines instead of secular laws acknowledging advancements in understanding of all things since their holy books were written. Hugs
Moms force kids to stomp on rainbow flags in horrifying protest against their LGBTQ+ classmates
Again, it is driven by fundamentalist religious people and their demand to have everyone live by their church / religious doctrines. The right claims that social acceptance and tolerance of people who are different from them, the LGBTQ+, is indoctrination. But teaching kids to stomp on a symbol of another group, teaching kids to yell insults to kids different from them, teaching kids to hate is somehow not indoctrination but good parenting to these bigots. Being kind and respectful of a kid’s feelings and respecting their desire to be addressed by a preferred name or pronouns is abuse, but including your kids in a violent shouting hate shouting when they might be either soon feeling or are feeling that they are different is again good parenting. These people want to close off young minds and deny young people the right to develop into more than clones of their parents. The pro-LGBTQ+ supporters showed up in great numbers and that is what we need in the US also.
One last point. These people scream leave our kids alone, but they are the ones attacking other peoples children. These peopel demand the right to not only teach hate to their children but to also they demand the right to teach that same hate to every other child regardless of those kids parents wishes. They demand parental rights not only for their children but yours as well, removing your parental rights over your own child. Leave our kids alone should be the slogan of the LGBTQ+ parents. These haters are terrorizing the LGBTQ+ kids and their teacher supporters in the schools, yet they claim others are indoctrinating or grooming kids. Hugs
Photo: Screenshot TwitterProtests against “gender ideology” in Canada’s capital city Friday brought far-right conservative Christians and Muslims together to attack Ottawa’s local school board for supporting LGBTQ+ students.
The unusual alliance was met by an equal or greater number of counter-protesters defending the rights of LGBTQ+ kids and denouncing “transphobic, fascist ideology.”
A new directive by the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board inspired the demonstration, organized by notorious far-right Canadian provocateur Chris Elston, aka Billboard Chris.
The all-staff notice advised the use of they/them pronouns for students until their preferred pronouns were expressed.
Video from the demonstration shows Muslim women and others encouraging young children to stomp and dance on progress Pride flags strewn on the ground and clapping with joy.
The clip shows an older white man holding a large Canadian flag leaning down to shake one kid’s hand in solidarity.
“Right on, boys!” he declares, beaming.
Shouts of “Leave our kids alone!” were heard up and down the street where the protest took place, home to two high schools and a primary school.
“This is going to horrify Justin Trudeau,” posted Keean Bexte, with the far-right media site The Counter Signal. “All of these proponents of childhood mastectomies and penectomies are officially on notice. The minority communities that have propped up your governments have finally had enough.”
It is very rare for transmasculine teens to get mastectomies before the age of 18 and genital surgery is not performed on trans minors.
Police announced they made five arrests at the demonstration, without providing details. Scattered acts of violence were reported.
While a heat wave, fires, and smoke have enveloped the region since the beginning of June, Bexte laid recent high absentee rates at Ottawa schools at the feet of the school board and their nonbinary naming advisory, claiming parents were pulling their kids out in “silent protest” of Pride Month.
Hundreds showed up to counter the right-wing alliance.
The counter-protest “fills my heart,” said Emily Quail, an organizer and mom of a child at one of the nearby schools.
“The only way to correctly counter fascism is by showing up like this on the street and telling them we outnumber them,” she told The Canadian Press.
“We will not let them spread their transphobic, fascist ideology anywhere, here or anywhere else, and that starts with community strength and that’s what I’m really proud to see today.”
The Ottawa area school board condemned Elston for planning the protest in front of schools.
“It really raises doubts about a group that, I think it goes without saying, but it’s a group that is literally targeting children,” said Alex Silas, a school district official.
In 2020, Elston, a Vancouver insurance agent, paid for a billboard declaring, “I ❤️ JK Rowling”, and then wore the message on a sandwich board at protests after it was denounced as “hateful expression” and taken down.
Politician punched in face protesting transphobes, says he’d do it again “any day”
The hate is rising. There was a series of kids books I read as a child called The Dark is Rising, with each book having an individual title. The story is basically a good vs bad story built loosely around the King Arthur Merlin myths. I see that same evil hate that the book showed rising doing so today. But the evil devil that the good beings are fighting is the rising hate and threats of violence by the religious conservative right against the LGBTQ+ in the hope of bring back a dictatorship of a strict society based on their church doctrines.
One note on the story. He says he got punched in the back and the face. The story says that the video shows he got hit by his bullhorn where the cut is. But it is possible someone hit or pushed the bullhorn hard enough to cut the skin and feel like being punched. Hugs
Ontario MP Joel HardenPhoto: Screenshot TwitterOn Friday, a protest and counter-demonstration on a leafy street in Ottawa — normally home to students making their way to and from three schools in the area — was instead the site of hateful rhetoric and violence in the Canadian capital.
A local MP became the face of the melee, when he was “rabbit-punched” at the protest — he said he’d do it all over again to keep trans and queer kids safe.
“I’ll take a punch for queer and trans youth any day,” said Joel Harden, a member of Ontario’s provincial Parliament with the New Democratic Party (NDP).
The demonstration was organized by far-right Canadian provocateur Billboard Chris to protest a local school board advising staff to use they/them pronouns for students who had yet to share their personal pronouns.
Muslim parents joined a mostly White crowd denouncing the advisory notice. Some were seen encouraging their kids to violently stomp on progress Pride flags littering the street.
Harden, elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario five years ago, has been a longtime advocate for LGBTQ+ issues, and attended the counter-protest in solidarity with LGBTQ+ youth and their parents.
The MPP recounted that during the protest, he noticed a woman berating another individual, with her hands in the person’s hair. He says he rushed over to break up the altercation.
“I felt a punch in the back and then a rabbit-punch to the face,” Harden recalled for Yahoo Canada. “It happened in a split-second.”
Photos of Harden reveal a cut below his right eye.
Video on social media shows the megaphone Harden was holding striking his face (where the cut now appears).
The day before the protest, the legislator warned in a speech to members of Parliament of the threat to queer and trans youth as the country celebrates Pride Month.
“As incidents of hate against the 2SLGBTQIA are rising, we have a message for queer and trans youth in #OttawaCentre and everywhere in this province,” Harden posted to Twitter afterward. “We see you, love you, value you, and we will not continue to let you be threatened by hate or bigotry.”
Harden says the far-right is weaponizing social media, calling it a “vitriolic cesspool,” and manipulating parents’ instincts to protect their kids in order to further conservatives’ own anti-LGBTQ+ agenda.
“I am a father. What measures I wouldn’t go to in an effort to protect my own children? But what this movement is doing is convincing individuals that to protect your children, you have to hate trans and queer people,” he says.
Those supporting the rights of LGBTQ+ youth “are not your enemy,” he adds.
“History and present day has taught me that there are some of us who are willing to put the work in to de-program hatred, and I’m down for that,” said Harden. “If people want to come to my office and throw rotten tomatoes at me, come over.”
Fellow lawmakers and constituents alike expressed solidarity with Harden.
“My local MPP @JoelHardenONDP just got punched in the face at a counter rally, during an anti-trans protest,” posted Kathryn LeBlanc. “Queer and trans people are sounding the alarm on rising hate. It’s time to come together, mobilize, and build solidarity on this issue.”
While conservative Muslims joined far-right Canadians in protest, Sikh pol and federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh had Harden’s back.
“I’m proud of you @JoelHardenONDP,” posted Singh. “Queer and Trans people — and kids — are being targeted by angry and hateful extremists. Governments must step up to protect the queer and trans community.”
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Jagmeet Singh is Muslim. We regret the error.
College Board says it won’t alter AP courses to comply with Florida’s laws
The pushback is beginning. The public is not going to accept nor tolerate the bigotry and racism of a small minority of fundamentalist conservatives who demand that only history that shall be taught is propaganda that shows the US is the best light, shows the greatness of white people, and minimizes any injustice or harm to black people. I cannot understand how DeathSantis got as much racism and bigotry passed into law as he did. I remember a few years ago in a Texas state education board meeting, the leader of the board said basically it was much better that students learn the made up history and believe it than that they learn the true history and act on it. The LGBTQ+ community exists and always has, even before we had the words we now use to describe it. There are LGBTQ+ kids in every school, most families, and history is full of contributions from gay people that the fundamentalist Christian nationalists want never mentioned, never taught, and deleted forever. But what is worse is that these laws as written would also prevent the use of heterosexual sexual orientation and heterosexual gender roles. The laws don’t just ban gay sexual orientation or gender identity different from assigned at birth as they are written but that is how they are being used. But the bigots that wrote them just wink it away. Look to separate bathrooms for boys from girls is gender. Miss teacher or Mr teacher is gender. Mrs teacher who is married to Mr teacher is OK to show pictures and talk about family which pushes heterosexual orientation, but Mrs teacher married to Mrs teacher is totally banned. But the law is written to ban all mention of gender or orientation. That is why they are called don’t say gay bills. Hugs
The College Board released a letter Thursday putting its foot down on further demands from Florida to change any of its Advanced Placement (AP) classes, the latest development in the ongoing feud between the company and the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
“[College Board] will not modify our courses to accommodate restrictions on teaching essential, college-level topics,” the company told the Florida Department of Education Office of Articulation.
“Doing so would break the fundamental promise of AP: colleges wouldn’t broadly accept that course for credit and that course wouldn’t prepare students for careers in the discipline,” it added.
The College Board says the Florida office recently asked it to modify any courses that conflict with the new Florida rule restricting teaching on sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom through 12th grade.
In a May 19 letter to College Board, Florida demanded the company do an audit of its courses and relay which ones would need to be modified to comply with the new rule by June 16.
DeSantis, a 2024 presidential candidate, had said in January that the AP African American Studies course would not be allowed in his state. Although the company says changes were in the works before the governor’s comment on the class, the course was regardless amended, causing outrage from those who believe the College Board bowed to DeSantis’s demands.
“We have learned from our mistakes in the recent rollout of AP African American Studies and know that we must be clear from the outset where we stand,” the College Board said.
Although Florida did not directly mention the AP Psychology course, that is the one the company focused on in its rebuttal Thursday.
It noted the American Psychological Association says college-level courses need to have a foundation on topics such as sexual orientation and gender identity.
“We don’t know if the state of Florida will ban this course. To AP teachers in Florida, we are heartbroken by the possibility of Florida students being denied the opportunity to participate in this or any AP course. To AP teachers everywhere, please know we will not modify any of the 40 AP courses—from art to history to science—in response to regulations that would censor college-level standards for credit, placement, and career readiness,” the College Board said.
The Hill has reached out to the Florida Department of Education for a response.
I cried also
Lincolnwood Public Library declines to remove books with LGBTQ content from children’s collection
https://abc7chicago.com/lincolnwood-library-childrens-books-il-news/12504956/
Yes the left is starting to fight back instead of giving in to the attempt by the religious right to erase those they don’t like or agree with from society. Also people are seeing through the fake claim that they are just trying to protect children from being sexualized. They don’t want to just mold their children, they want the right to mold your child in their image. They are demanding the right to take away your parental rights to raise your child, even as they are demanding more and more rights for themselves to dictate what children are taught. Be clear this is about removing any reference to the LGBTQ+ from first schools and then all of society. They are already moved on to banning drag, which in their written laws means wearing the clothing normally associated with a gender not assigned at birth in public. Why? It doesn’t sexualize kids if a man wears a nice skirt, but it does challenge the strict gender norms these fundamentalist are trying to return all the country to. These fundamentalist religious groups got a huge head start on their attempt to outlaw even the mention of what they don’t agree with, they pushed a false narrative on the public that many have bought into because they were not hearing the other side. Now we who are on the side of progress and advancement need to make sure people get the full story and real goals of these people. We have our work cut out for us, but to save the present and build the future we have to fight back. For the sake of the gay, lesbian, trans, and all the other non-cis and non-binary kids we must fight and win the right for them to see positive role models and see themselves represented in books and movies. We must grant these LGBTQ+ children the safety and security that we should give all children. Hugs
https://abc7chicago.com/lincolnwood-library-childrens-books-il-news/12504956/
https://abc7chicago.com/video/embed/12505241
A standing room-only crowd gathered at the Lincolnwood Village Hall Monday for a heated debate about a book with LGBTQ+ content on the public library’s children’s collection.
The monthly library board meeting was moved from the library to the village hall to accommodate a large turnout after last month’s meeting got heated and ended early with police being called.
Once again, library board members and the public came face to face.
“The library has decided that they, not you the parent, knows what is best for your child,” said Bryan Johnson, Lincolnwood resident.
“Gay people and drag queens have a right to exist and be themselves and have books written about them,” said Jen Mierisch, Lincolnwood resident.
At the board meeting, some attendees voice objections to certain titles with LGBTQ+ themes that are part of the library’s children’s collection. At least one formal challenge was filed against a book called “The Hips On The Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish.”
The nursery rhyme book features characters in drag, and was read aloud during a library-sponsored story time over the summer.
“I’m not here to ask for a ban on any books,” said resident Rahila Siddiqui. “I’m here to fight for my right to choose when my elementary school children should be exposed to complicated topics like drag queens.”
“If parents prefer their children not read a book, that’s their decision. But that does not give them the right to impose their short-sighted beliefs on anyone else’s children,” said Susan Ginsburg, Lincolnwood resident.
After reviewing the book, library officials declined to remove it from the children’s department. The library director told ABC7 such action would constitute censorship, adding, “Our goal is to respect everyone in our community and what they want to read.”
“When you’re at Macy’s and you don’t like a purple shirt, you can’t demand that they take it away. Just don’t buy it,” said Judy Abelson, Lincolnwood resident.
Library officials said they also declined a patron’s request to remove another book that some consider anti-transgender. That patron has now dropped that formal challenge on censorship grounds.
Illinois Gov Signs Bill Outlawing Book Bans By Libraries
Yes yes yes, we need more laws like this. Here are some great quotes from the https://abc7chicago.com/illinois-book-ban-bill-public-library-libraries-near-me/13373993/ article. Hugs
“Book bans are about censorship, marginalizing people, marginalizing ideas and facts. Regimes ban books, not democracies,” Pritzker said.
“Parents and only parents have the right and responsibility to restrict their children and only their children’s access to library resources,” said Secretary Giannoulias.
“Those pushing book banning say they are doing it to protect people. Well that’s just not true. Book banning is most frequently used to silence the voices of the LGBTQ+ community as well as people of color,” said State rep. Anne Stava Murray (D-Downers Grove).
Chicago’s ABC affiliate reports:
Governor JB Pritzker signed historic legislation Monday that would ban libraries from banning books. The law is the first of its kind in the nation, and would cut off funding to any libraries that remove books currently on the shelf.
The law was pushed by Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, who is also the state’s librarian, and is a response to the backlash in many local school districts against controversial books, particularly some championed by the LBGTQ community.
“Book bans are about censorship, marginalizing people, marginalizing ideas and facts. Regimes ban books, not democracies,” Pritzker said.
Read the full article.
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