Category: Diversity / Inclusivity
More crazy and bigoted news that drives my depression
From the linked article in the above Joe.My.God. post. Remember, this is a Yale history grad, claiming that is OK to honor Confederate Generals that fought the US government to keep slavery because “But at the end of the day, you know, we had people that have done great things for this country,” DeSantis said.”
Ron DeSantis doubles down on restoration of ‘iconic’ Fort Bragg name
Despite the limited scope of the DoD’s renaming, the Governor likened taking Bragg’s name off the fort to moves to “take Abraham Lincoln off the statue down in Boston … take Teddy Roosevelt down in New York City” and “remove George Washington’s name from schools in San Francisco.”
“And that’s not, I think, what I want to see. I mean, I think you can look back at anybody and you could find flaws. But at the end of the day, you know, we had people that have done great things for this country,” DeSantis said.
“I’m not in a position to say that somehow I’m so much better than any of this. It’s a different time. People make mistakes. There’s different parts of our society, we look back and can say was a mistake. But this idea that we’re going to erase history, I just think, is fundamentally wrong, and we’re not going to do that.”
“We shouldn’t erase history,” say Republicans who support expunging all record of Trump’s impeachments.
You Again? Brian Curtis2 days ago
And no teaching the histories of minority groups unless they reflect positively on white, christian men.
That would be too traumatic for them to bear!
While we’re at it, let’s also create Fort Hirohito. Why not, he was the leader of a foreign nation that attacked the United States. Let’s run with this theme Governor Fucknutz.
carswell Hayseed2 days ago edited
Fort Rosa Parks. Black, female, uppity, liberal. The GQP will have a collective aneurysm.
“And here’s the thing, you know, you learn from history, you don’t erase the history” and yet history that makes students uncomfortable can’t be taught in schools…right
That’s what happens when you’re clearly running for president of the Confederate States of America.
Trump’s an elderly sociopathic narcissist, he’s spent decades refining his charisma and reflexes to lie instantly, without hesitation and with complete believability.
Ronnie isn’t, even if he’s a sociopath himself, he’s just hungry for power and clout and tries constantly to copy Trump to try and steal his thunder and his followers. But he can never be as good a liar.
🔄arithrianos🔄2 days ago edited
Wow, he first says the name of the military base did not cause him to learn any history at all, then claims keeping the name is vital to learning the history he was totally ignorant about until they removed the name of the incompetent traitorous slaver, demonstrating he is lying through his teeth. He must have experts help him prove himself a liar like that, I don’t think he’s clever enough to figure it out himself.
TK2 days ago edited
I guess he means we learn only from white history, not the black history he is censoring in the schools. That’s erasing history, asshole!! This guy is such a lying fucking hypocrite.
Sarah2 days ago edited
So, if we make DC and Puerto Rico states, will Hawaii become “real America,” since it won’t be the most recent anymore?
Anyway, well, we know why he doesn’t think Obama is a “real American.”
No. Because in MAGA land only White, Christians are “real Americans”
Even then you have to be the Reich kind of “Christian”
No, he means that Obama is black and therefore not a real American because real Americans are white.
SkokieDaddy – wiener dog dad2 days ago
Now that he’s been given Tuckum’s time slot, he needs to up his hate-the-black-guy game to earn his bona fides.
Uncle Mark: HoHo-smoking homo Doug10518 hours ago
I’ll check Texas for the proper roasting temperature setting
Between her sarcasm, mental health problems, and internalized anti-Semitism, how can I take her seriously enough to even criticize her?
Who cares about the tapes or even the documents case? We need to focus on what is really important…
Chris Baker Reality.Bitesa day ago edited
If man sees a kid playing in the street, then notice a car driving down the street, and he shrugs and says ‘free will’ and the car hits the kid, is that man a good person or a bad person?
Yet somehow Christians want to tell you that God is good, even though he allows bad things to happen. (And he could have just stopped it all by making Adam and Eve barren, or ending the world 4000 years ago.)
RR Unbordered Americana day ago
TWO MEN leaving a public restroom .
Man#1 approaches Man#2 and says:
“Excuse me sir but I noticed you didn’t wash your hands after using the urinal. I’m from Texas and in Texas we’re taught you should always wash your hands after using the restroom.”
Man#2 replies: “Well I’m from California and in California we’re taught you should’nt pee all over yourself.”
This is Biden trying to take away our electricity! I’m going full blast until it brownout! Freedum!
Sarah bambinoitalianoa day ago
I’m going full blast until it brownout!
Happens to me after I eat bean soup.
Skeptical_Inquirer bambinoitalianoa day ago
I wish non-Dem Texans would learn to blame the GQP they vote in for the shitty state of their infrastructure but if the Ted Cruz fleeing for Cancun didn’t teach them shit . . .
Serene Pumpkin Skeptical_Inquirera day ago
The GQP has had 100% control of the state for what, 20 years? And still the fascists find ways to blame powerless Democrats
This is really a non-issue because if the power goes out and people die, nobody can sue the power company because the Republican Texas Supreme Court just held that Republican-controlled ERCOT is immune from lawsuits. No liability = No Problem.
Secure 💪🏻 IamSmartypantsa day ago
This is nothing like the giant frozen front of 2021. We did all of this last summer. If anything, it would be rolling blackouts. We will be fine.
Did they ever get around to upgrading their grid? I’m guessing it will go down and stay down for days before the 4th.
bambinoitaliano What, me worry?a day ago
No, they told everyone to kiss their grid when they rejected Beto.
What’s happening lines up with God’s Word regarding what would happen in the end times before Jesus returns.
But that’s what you want, isn’t it? Shouldn’t you be happy? I mean, your imaginary friend is going to show everyone he’s not imaginary after all. That’s a good thing, right?
Chris Baker mythictom3 days ago
There was a book, “The Late Great Planet Earth” that was popular among the end times folks. “The last days are nigh!” Published in 1970. 53 years ago. And even in the late 1800s, preachers were saying the end times were near.
They literally pray “Lord come quickly!” But then complain about all the “signs of the end times” as if that’s a bad thing. They should be working -toward- the ‘one world government” and a global currency and world peace and “the mark of the beast” because that’s what will bring the rapture. (Your eschatology may vary).
Expelled from caucus. AKA thrown back in the pen.
DeSantis is worse than trump. He’s smarter, more ambitious, and actually wants to rule the country
Trump just wants the pomp and circumstances
Yes… and look which demographic he’s coddling. They’ll fall totally in line with him. Evangelicals always find the worst in humanity to align themselves with
NorthBayFella Dave B3 days ago
I don’t do 1930s/40s comparisons lightly or often, but DeSantis could certainly be someone to take us down a
similar road, just a 2020s version of it. He’s already taking actions in that vein — shipping human beings like cargo, book bannings, etc. I’m not suggesting it could be a literal Holocaust, but he will seriously and intentionally harm a lot of Americans (and more so, people wanting to become Americans) before he would be done. A lot of people would die.
Also, I’m not not saying he wouldn’t cause a literal Holocaust, either.
O/T : –
At the risk of having only one tune, I don’t think it can be said often enough that in their doctrinaire zealotry the conservative Justices of the Supreme Court have betrayed their underlying hypocrisy.
In their preening self-importance all they have exposed is their lack on any integrity, their enthusiasm to lie at any opportunity and their shallow semblance of probity.
What we have on the US Supreme Court is a few liars, charlatans and those willing to prostitute themselves at the alter of the Federalist Society on the one hand and to rich ‘grooming’ billionaires on the other.
Was there ever a Supreme Court so compromised?
The_Wretched JackFknTwista day ago
Yes, 1937 or so. Towards the end of the “gilded age”, the SCOTUS was as virulently anti-decency as Alito and Thomas are now. FDR, then president, make a threat to “pack” (unfvck) the court and the court suddenly changed its tune on what the law was. Then the plan to fix the court fell apart.
There’s some suggestion that a similar thing may have happened between last term and this one with regard to KNAW, Roberts and Raspberry Baret. They have not gone along with the same degree of YOLO-ALITO that marked last year / the Dobbs Term.
SkokieDaddy – wiener dog dada day ago
“I’m in capable of crafting legislation that respects the constitution. Vote for me for president” – Ron DeSantis
[Please clap]
They can’t win on real issues that matter to people so we’ll have lots of noise on wedge issues over the next year. Brown people invading, drag queen groomers and Susie has to call her teacher they/them at school.
DeSantis keeps trying to resurrect the infamous Jones commission – which attemped to erase homosexuality from all colleges and other schools throughout the state some 50 years ago, along with the actions of Senator Joseph McCarthy, who tried it nationally. The only result was the ruining of the reputations and hopes of over 200 students and faculty in Florida.
This is evil in its strongest form.
Most of this is Florida law, so US SCOTUS is largely irrelevant unless there is a conflict with Federal Law. The Florida SCOTUS is packed with bigots, in a large sense the fate of Florida rests in the hands of the appellate courts.
Nic Peterson Sam_Handwich21 hours ago
That’s gonna be the kicker. We already know the FLSC is packed with bigots. The appellate courts are either going to side with a dictator or with the republic that placed them in their robes.
Ninja0980 Sam_Handwicha day ago
The 11th Circuit (thanks to Patrick Leahy’s stupidity) and SCOTUS are controlled by bigots who will uphold this shit.
I feel like this is part of the whole make shit up and get it to the current Supreme Court so they can declare god and church and money or whatever. Like the website bitch in Colorado and the made up gay client.
Uncle Mark: HoHo-smoking homoa day ago
Win or lose, Tater will screech about how he’s “fighting for families* and against woke culture & a woke & woke judges.” Others will be smart enough to point out his losses or how vaguely worded his laws are, but at the end of the day, DePudding will declare himself “the great fighter for American values*”
* values & families don’t include individuals, friends or family of the LGBTQ, nonChristians, nor nonWhite racial groups. Additional exclusions not listed or implied are applicable by the tiny dictator
DeFascist can indeed get the country on a different path –
Here’s what Ron DeFascist has accomplished –
– LGBT students cannot discuss their personal lives with teachers or counselors, making them feel marginalized, alone, and possibly increasing their risks of suicide. Some parents with LGBT family members are moving out of the state. State ACLU currently suing to end this.
– Universities are unsure what they can or cannot teach based on the whims of literally one man. GOP prefer students to be inculcated with cheap cheerleading America First nationalism (this shut down by a judge, results pending)
– History teachers can’t teach about the truth of American racism and black history because it might upset white people
– Some teachers are seeking employment in another state.
– A school principal had to resign because one of her teachers showed students a picture of Michelangelo’s David.
– A teacher is under investigation because she showed 13 year olds a Disney movie with a gay character.
– Women who discover they’re pregnant after 6 weeks, and are unable to have a child, can’t get an abortion in Florida, even though there should be retroactive abortion, Don Jr. lives there
– Property taxes and insurance costs are becoming unaffdable
– Million dollar contracts are given to DeFascist’s donors
– 87,141 people died of Covid in Florida. Less would have died had there been the slightest of protective measures taken, but DeFascist didn’t allow that.
– Hispanic farm and construction workers are not going to work out of fear of DeFascist’s draconian rules to punish undocumented workers and their bosses. Hispanic truckers are refusing to deliver to the state. Farm products are rotting while remaining unpicked.
– Students and companies who support diversity and inclusion are no longer allowed to do so.
– Trans children can no longer get medical care, use bathroom of pronouns of their choice (this shut down by a judge, results pending)
– a court could temporarily remove children from their homes if they receive gender-affirming care
– LGBT people who seek medical care can be denied it if they’re unlucky enough to have a religious fanatic doctor.
– Drag queens can be arrested for appearing in drag in public where children can see them. (this shut down by a judge, results pending)
– Any idiot can buy a gun without a permit, training, or with or without a criminal record.
– Disney, the state’s largest employer, is suing DeFascist because of politically motivated harassment after he started a fight with them because they don’t approve of his anti-LGBT laws. Disney cancelled a $1 billion construction project that would have brought the state over 2,000 jobs.
– More to come. White retirees probably love him because he’s getting rid of the blacks, gays, immigrants and other assorted annoyances. DeSantis calls Florida “the freest state in America.” Actually you’re free to move here, retire and die.
Fantastic news! The world is evolving, but sadly the GQP and TFG will do everything in their power to stop equality in this country from becoming pernanent and legal. I’m sure TFG is probalby labelling Nepal as one of those shit hole countries he doesn’t like.
Apparently, our evangelical and assorted radical Christian groups, who hate us with the love of God, didn’t know where Nepal is or didn’t know such a country existed. I’ll bet they’re boning up on their geography now.
Two protesters offended by a Pride exhibit at the Rancho Peñasquitos Library have checked out nearly all the books in the display and vowed to keep them until the library eliminates what they call “inappropriate content” for children. The anti-gay protest is the latest example of a growing national backlash against Pride exhibits, which experts say has been fueled by debates over how schools should handle transgender minors.
The Rancho Peñasquitos protest ratchets up the usual backlash San Diego library branches experience when they create Pride exhibits or host events like drag queen story times, said head librarian Misty Jones. The protesters, Peñasquitos residents Amy Vance and Martha Martin, said libraries are open, public spaces for children that should be free of references to gender identity and how adults experience sexual attraction.
Read the full article. A local city council member is raising money to buy additional copies of the books.
I’m starting to think this is a matter for the police. They checked them out and stated that they have no intention of returning them unless the library does exactly what they want. Last I checked, that’s called theft.
MrRobotoLA Phil in Colorado2 days ago
They get 5 renewals, unless the items have holds on them. So I urge anyone and everyone in San Diego who is disgusted by their motives to place holds. MANY HOLDS. That way they will be required to return the items or be turned in to a collections agency. That will also likely block their library privileges to borrow any other materials. If it goes beyond that, it is indeed theft.
I had a home in a small town for nearly 30 years. It had a small library, maybe twice the size of the one in my high school. The “Christians” would come in and check out ALL the non-Christian religious books and never return them. It was their way of making sure people couldn’t learn about other religions. And this was before Trump and the MAGA folks.
If your religion of “Christianity” is SO GREAT, it should be able to prove itself against the others by its merits and ideals, not by making the beliefs of others unobtainable.
Damn these people. A book offered me permission not to hate myself for being who I am.
*** Editor note *** It was books that gave me my escape from my life. It was books that let me leave the life of abuse, hurt, and fear I was living constantly at home, in my home. It was books that let me understand I was not a horrible abomination in life that was going to do horrible things and die in a gutter as my adoptive parents (the ones beating and sexually abusing me and letting their kids do so) claimed long before they even knew I was gay, that I did not need to suffer in silence, (Which I did for most of my life). These books that these people are trying to ban and deny to the very kids that need them meant so much to me and other kids. Please do not let them. Look in the 1950s these people want to revert the social and country to there were no of these kinds of books, no positive representatives in media, but gay, lesbian, and trans kids still existed. I am going to post a video about a old long time soap opera about gay people and the damage hate can do. Hugs.
When you say “wife,” “husband,” “fiancé,” “girlfriend,” etc.–all commonly heard from heterosexuals–you are inserting sexuality in public spaces where children are or may be.
Mere gender identification on a bathroom door is the actual issue here. These delusional evangelicals are literally incapable of connecting the dots on gender/sexual expression issues.
Houndentenor Flatlander – TXPoast3 days ago
I’m currently reading a book about the John Birch Society and everything they are doing now is the same shit the Birchers were doing in the 50s and 60s. Only back then MSM and even the GOP leadership weren’t on their side.
Once again, the GQP TAKES AWAY RIGHTS & POWER FROM THE CITIZENS!!!!
They don’t care about corporations either. They only want Republicans to hold the power over everything – people, corporations, city councils, school boards, etc.
Republicans sure don’t like people voting, do they? They’ll overturn elections, make it harder for statewide resolutions to pass, throw out elected officials they don’t like, and now this. Democrats might wish to mention this on the campaign trail.
Kinda like how Texas has created special rules that only apply to specific counties that vote mostly Democratic that take away aspects of self-governance from them.
Fascists love centralizing power.
Legal As Of Today In Florida: Bathroom Bill, K-8 “Don’t Say Gay,” Refusal Of LGBTQ Patients, Concealed Carry
A recap of what’s legal as of today in DeSantis’s Florida:
In public facilities, including prisons and schools, a new requirement will go into place requiring designated bathrooms for men and women, and individuals will be required to utilize facilities based on their gender as assigned at birth. It has no exceptions even for those who have fully transitioned through gender-reassignment surgery.
The Board of Education has already effectively expanded through high school a prohibition of instruction about sexual orientation or gender identity. A new law (SB 1069) codifies that at least through 8th grade. The legislation also prohibits any requirement that school officials use preferred pronouns that don’t match gender assigned at birth.
Health care providers can now turn patients away and refuse treatment based on “conscience-based objections.” DeSantis signed the new law (SB 1580) in front of a “Prescribe Freedom” sign and said it empowers physicians to act within their own morals. LGBTQ advocates label it a right to discriminate bill against gay and transgender Floridians, and the latter group has already seen restrictions on health care put into place this year by statute and the Board of Medicine.
Also going into effect today is the right to carry a concealed weapon without any permit or training, the right of hospitals to refuse care to undocumented patients, and a law allowing the state to use radioactive fertilizer byproducts in the creation of roads. That last one came about due to lobbying by the phosphate industry, which in 2021 saw a leakage of their toxic byproducts into Tampa Bay.
Georgia teacher faces termination after reading book about acceptance to class
DeFascist can indeed get the country on a different path –
DeFascist can indeed get the country on a different path –
Here’s what Ron DeFascist has accomplished –
– LGBT students cannot discuss their personal lives with teachers or counselors, making them feel marginalized, alone, and possibly increasing their risks of suicide. Some parents with LGBT family members are moving out of the state. State ACLU currently suing to end this.
– Universities are unsure what they can or cannot teach based on the whims of literally one man. GOP prefer students to be inculcated with cheap cheerleading America First nationalism (this shut down by a judge, results pending)
– History teachers can’t teach about the truth of American racism and black history because it might upset white people
– Some teachers are seeking employment in another state.
– A school principal had to resign because one of her teachers showed students a picture of Michelangelo’s David.
– A teacher is under investigation because she showed 13 year olds a Disney movie with a gay character.
– Women who discover they’re pregnant after 6 weeks, and are unable to have a child, can’t get an abortion in Florida, even though there should be retroactive abortion, Don Jr. lives there
– Property taxes and insurance costs are becoming unaffdable
– Million dollar contracts are given to DeFascist’s donors
– 87,141 people died of Covid in Florida. Less would have died had there been the slightest of protective measures taken, but DeFascist didn’t allow that.
– Hispanic farm and construction workers are not going to work out of fear of DeFascist’s draconian rules to punish undocumented workers and their bosses. Hispanic truckers are refusing to deliver to the state. Farm products are rotting while remaining unpicked.
– Students and companies who support diversity and inclusion are no longer allowed to do so.
– Trans children can no longer get medical care, use bathroom of pronouns of their choice (this shut down by a judge, results pending)
– a court could temporarily remove children from their homes if they receive gender-affirming care
– LGBT people who seek medical care can be denied it if they’re unlucky enough to have a religious fanatic doctor.
– Drag queens can be arrested for appearing in drag in public where children can see them. (this shut down by a judge, results pending)
– Any idiot can buy a gun without a permit, training, or with or without a criminal record.
– Disney, the state’s largest employer, is suing DeFascist because of politically motivated harassment after he started a fight with them because they don’t approve of his anti-LGBT laws. Disney cancelled a $1 billion construction project that would have brought the state over 2,000 jobs.
– More to come. White retirees probably love him because he’s getting rid of the blacks, gays, immigrants and other assorted annoyances. DeSantis calls Florida “the freest state in America.” Actually you’re free to move here, retire and die.
And yes I am almost caught up on the crazy news, just another 36 open tabs to go. All on one window for once. Well that was days ago
From the transcript of the court hearing:
THE COURT: The plaintiffs accuse you of invidious discrimination in violation of the 14th Amendment. How do you answer?
STATE’S LAWYER: That’s the point, Your Honor.
mkbear68 4 hours ago
Well, this was expected and they knew it, but it plays to the base and gets donations, but it puts real people at risk.
The female version of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers
Moms for Liberty is an American conservative organization that advocates against school curriculums that mention LGBT rights, race, critical race theory, and discrimination, while multiple chapters have also campaigned to ban from school libraries books that address gender and sexuality issues. The group began by protesting COVID-19 protections in schools, including mask and vaccine mandates.
Moms for Liberty has been criticized for harassment, for deepening divisions among parents, for making students’ education more difficult, and for having close ties to the Republican Party rather than being a genuine grassroots effort.
The group was labeled an “anti-government extremist” organization in 2023 by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Formation January 1, 2021
Founders Tina Descovich, Tiffany Justice, Bridget Ziegler
Headquarters Melbourne, Florida, U.S.
Area served United States
Membership 70,000
It was very obviously discrimination, and it’s obvious from the arguments they put before the court that this has nothing to do with any form of concern for anything other than brazen politics and just flat out hatred of a minority group.
SkokieDaddy – wiener dog dad Melissia8 hours ago
So he earned his hate bona fides AND now that the law is struck down, he gets bonus victim points.
Bingo. This is performative art for their target voting bloc (evangelicals) who vote solid Red in every election like clockwork. Dems don’t have the equivalent. There’s literally nothing on the Left that’s anything like the consistency of the Right when it comes to voter outreach.
Good. I hope that all these hateful and cruel laws are struck down. The slave states want to make laws that health care workers don’t have to give LGBT people medical assistance at ALL if they have “deeply held” religious beliefs against us. It’s time we are considered to be human beings, not just another theocratic political football. If you prick us, do we not bleed?
Historically, (like 2 years ago, not 20), law in the US doesn’t let you single out a group, especially a disfavored group, and pass laws against them. Nice to see some vestiges of that core idea are still here.
And note that THOMAS is the #1 cheerleader for getting rid of ‘equal protection’.
I see the handiwork of the likes of Scott Lively and his ilk, spreading the gospel of hate and their twisted comprehension of history to African, Caribbean, and Latin American countries.
Chucktech Brooklyn Albert18 hours ago
It’s all part of the relentless march of Christian hegemony. Brought to you by the filthy pestilence that is American Christianity
Authoritarian advocates, whatever their form, need some “other” to be dehumanized and oppressed. When everybody more or less has the same race and culture in a country, they then cast about for some other way of differentiating for the purposes of fomenting hate. Sometimes it’s by religion, sometimes by ethnicity, but if those are relatively homogeneous, they’ll go for LGBTQ status or political identity.
For example, in America in the 1950s, they did both of those latter, along with racist bigotry: People perceived to be not-straight and those who were accused of being socialist or communist. All three were targeted for systematic oppression.
It stuns me that these leaders are so focused on sexuality and making gay people pay for their sexuality with severe punishments and even death. Why is this even on their minds? Is being gay causing some sort of great turmoil in their countries? Are they trying to undermine their governments? Are they just living their lives like everyone else? So much angst over gay people. He contradicts his own statements in just one paragraph. “Gay Africans don’t exist.” – “kick LGBT people out of Kenya completely,” Well, which is it? Who gets kicked out if they don’t exist in the first place? Screwy like the radical Christians that foment this hatred.
Serene Pumpkin Gianni17 hours ago
Some of them genuinely seem to think that the existence of LGBTQ people threatens the continued existence of the human race, because not enough people are breeding.
Kenya has 53 million people in an area the size of Texas. Underpopulation is not a serious issue there.
He does know Vader eventually kills Obi-wan right?
Are you implying that DeSantis is directly coordinating with a campaign PAC? Why would a Republican do something so illegal?
Wow, did he pick the wrong character.
Sarah carrot festival2 hours ago
He’s as evil as Grand Moff Tarkin, but without the charisma.
This will certainly help Florida schools in recruiting top intellect — both in students and teachers. /s
Dwight Williamson DaddyRay21 hours ago
Why does everyone always assume his hare brained schemes for publicity are gonna work . He lost a lawsuit yesterday .
Rambie Dwight Williamson21 hours ago
Right, this is more about keeping his name in the news cycle and pandering to the MAGA’t base.
You may recall Eric Metaxas for the time he sucker-punched a passing kid on a bicycle on his way into the White House for a Trump event and then lied about it even after video surfaced. It’s what Jesus would want.
Punching a kid – It’s what Jesus would want
Really amazing how millions of African kids got hold of poppers.
“The magnitude of the value of the Bible as a literary work outweighs any violence or profanity which may be contained in the book,”
So, will they do the same for ALL books??? or just the ones, they deem fit???
“Public spaces are public spaces,” U.S. District Court Judge David Nuffer wrote. “Public spaces are not private spaces. Public spaces are not majority spaces. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution ensures that all citizens, popular or not, majority or minority, conventional or unconventional, have access to public spaces for public expression.”
The text could even affect bachelorette parties, if they involved sex toys or other paraphernalia. The new changes could even impact cheerleading and criminalize sexual conduct between consenting 17-year-olds (17 is the age of consent in Texas).
Movie screenings and art history classes could similarly come under fire. And of course, the law will affect its original target: drag performers, Pride parades, and transgender people just trying to live their lives.
Lawsuits against similar bans are planned or already underway in other states. In Florida, the Orlando outpost of Hamburger Mary’s sued the DeSantis administration last month.
No more Saturday cartoons…
https://www.propublica.org/article/samuel-alito-luxury-fishing-trip-paul-singer-scotus-supreme-court
Justice Samuel Alito Took Luxury Fishing Vacation With GOP Billionaire Who Later Had Cases Before the Court
Stitt rejected calls for Walters’ resignation and attempted to reappoint him again earlier this year, but the state Senate refused to allow him to hold the elected superintendent and appointed secretary of education posts at the same time.
Well, Oklahoma does have the second lowest high school SAT scores in the whole country*, so maybe tots and pears will help.
* West Virginia is the only state that did worse
ConnieHinesDorothyProvine Joe in NM3 days ago
All those states compete to see who can lead the fastest race to the bottom. Apparently, Louisiana has the lowest life expectancy in the country (Hawaii has the highest).
So he doesn’t like the 1961 decision…toots, the SC ruled on this a bunch of times. And don’t throw that ‘found fathers’ shit around, they did NOT. Under gawd my ass. ;(
Thomas Jefferson penned the wall metaphor in a letter to the Danbury Baptists in 1802. He celebrated the First Amendment for “building a wall of separation between Church & State.” The Supreme Court has endorsed this view many times. First in 1878. And then again “in 1947, 1948, 1961 (three times), 1962, 1963, 1968, 1973, 1977, 1982, and again and again in countless concurrences, dissents, and lower court opinions,” according to a recent law review article. The wall metaphor nicely sums up the relationship.
“For it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”
– Thomas Jefferson
Buford Joe in NM2 days ago edited
I thought Article 11 of the 1796 Treaty of Tripoli did a handy job of summarizing what The Founding Fathers™ thought of Christianity in America, since it passed in the US Senate unanimously while being signed by many of the actual founders –
Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen (Muslims); and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan (Mohammedan) nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
rednekokie Joe in NM3 days ago
Not to forget the Treaty of Tripoli – the first treaty entered into by the United States – and having constitutional power — which states that the United States has no national religion.
“Groomer.” Noun. Definition (per DeSantis):
1. A person who does something you disapprove of or who says something you disagree with.
2. A person who believes in providing factual, age-appropriate information to children on topics pertaining to sexuality, sexual orientation, gender, and gender identity.
Remember the meme, “Everything I don’t like are Nazis.” Now it’s “Everything I don’t like are groomers.”
What an insult to victims of real sexual abuse.
weshlovrcm3 days ago edited
There’s something wrong with people who are consumed with “grooming” and “groomers.” Normal people don’t obsess over this vile subject.
dagobarbz, fine Italian shoes weshlovrcm2 days ago
What amazes me is, while they’re howling about grooming, they manage to completely ignore the ones actively doing it and getting busted for it weekly, the churches.
https://www.politico.com/minutes/congress/06-23-2023/house-gop-confederate-name-fight/
The GOP friction stems from a push by Rep Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) who publicly revived the discussion by trying to prevent funding in an energy and water development bill from being used to rename Army Corps civil works projects that are named after the Confederacy or an individual who served in the Confederate military.
“One of the things that is irritating a few of us: a certain member from Georgia is wanting to re-bring up the Confederate base names,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) told POLITICO.
Bacon said he told the Georgia Republican that he would “would fight him” on trying to prevent funding from going toward renaming. (Clyde’s amendment doesn’t mention military bases.)
Bacon led that effort in the House to create the process for renaming the military assets.
He noted on Friday that he recounted to Clyde about how African-Americans have thanked him for his work on renaming the Confederate assets. In a separate statement, Bacon added that the issue was settled in 2020 and that he didn’t think it was “wise to re-litigate” it.
“Confederate generals fought for a cause that we know was wrong and violated their oaths to Constitution. Most of the 10 that bases were named for were also terrible generals. … Finally, some were affiliated with racist actions after the war. Most of these bases were named around WW1 and done to placate the Jim Crow elected leaders at the time,” he added in the statement.
GOP: “Democrats were the party of The Confederacy.”
Also GOP: “Don’t you dare take away honors to The Confederacy!”
Doug105 Pollos Hermanos ✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈa day ago
Being a Fan of the Confederacy means……. (Take your pick)
#1
#2
#3
another_steve Hank: NO MORE WoW!!!a day ago
I don’t know the “official thinking” of American historians on point, but I believe much of what we’re seeing today with respect to the Republican Party is 160 years of simmering resentment by the South regarding its loss in the 1860s Civil War now coming to the surface.
Trump “tapped” into it. “Build the wall” was metaphor for “keep the coloreds out.” His embrace of rabid racists, including neo-Nazis, is a “message received” by the Republican base.
They miss the old plantation days, the good old days. When the coloreds and the women knew their place and there was no “deviance” like drag queens and trans people.
JimmyCinChitown Hank: NO MORE WoW!!!a day ago edited
In Germany, Nazi paraphernalia like swastika flags, et all, as well as neo-Nazi political parties are officially banned by law. (Germany doesn’t have a First Amendment).This is the reason that German Nazis fly Confederate flags. You are known by the company you keep.
Remember when we were expected to believe that Trump was so rich that he would use his own funds to campaign, didn’t need to raise money, therefore he was incorruptible? Good times.
JackFknTwist RealityBass2 days ago edited
What a liar.
He said he would use his own money. Just like everything else about him, – a lie, a scam, a con, a fraud …..from getting someone to sit his exams to his 2016 campaign to his subversion of a democratic election.
His whole life has been devoted to scamming. He has never earned an honest buck. It’s all been about the underhand deal, the stiffing people and companies what they are owed.
Now there is no way around not paying his lawyers.
they won’t act for him without being paid up-front. But Giuliani can fuck off, he’s gonna be hung out to flap in the wind.
Chris Christie Argues Against Banning Minors From Transitioning: A Decision ‘Made By Parents, Not By the Government’
https://cdn.jwplayer.com/previews/x3oNXduD
https://cdn.jwplayer.com/previews/x3oNXduD
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) this week took aim at Republican governors who want to ban gender transitioning for minors during a Fox News interview.
On Thursday, Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade asked Christie, a 2024 GOP presidential candidate, “Your thoughts about the push in Florida and Arkansas to make it illegal to do it for kids under 18?”
“Brian, you know, I just don’t want to see our government getting more and more intrusive in everybody’s life, getting bigger,” Christie replied, adding:
I don’t think anything can replace parents when you’re talking about major decisions that are needs to be made by our children. And I will tell you this. I want all parents out there to think about something. How many other decisions do you want the government making for you in your home regarding your kids? I don’t want any of those decisions made by the government. Parents are the ones who love their children the most, who care about their children the most, who understand their children the most. And parents should be the ones making these decisions.
“So if a 14-year-old comes home and says, I really want to start switching genders, that’s the parent’s decision?” Kilmeade asked.
“I’ll tell you, it’s more of a parent’s decision than it’s a governor’s decision, for goodness sakes, Brian, you really think that Sarah Huckabee Sanders should be making this decision for children in Arkansas?” Christie insisted.
“I love Sarah. I think she’s a great person and a really good governor. But I don’t think she would ever allow the government to substitute her judgment as a mother for their judgment. And that’s what I’m saying. I would want any government official coming in and telling me what decisions I could help my child through and how I should do it. And I want those decisions to be made by parents, not by the government,” Christie concluded.
Watch above via Fox News.
More of the craziness.
heleninedinburgh34 minutes ago
I’d just like to point out that kids being trans is not, in fact, bad.
Colonel Fred Puntridge kuiaratamenai a minute ago
“I never drink water. Fish fuck in it!” –attributed to WC Fields
band💋 boatboy_srq9 minutes ago
“First they came for the frogs, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a frog.”
TomKitten196036 minutes ago edited
Many trans people have brothers and sisters who are cis-gendered and remain so. They grow up in the same environment, drinking the same “toxic” water. It ain’t the water, honey. And it ain’t a “problem” that you can (or need to) solve by throwing your stupidity at it.
What’s weird is when members of the majority feel the need to hold their own fake hearing. Politico reported:
…Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), joined by a handful of others from the conference’s right flank, hosted an event last week with former Trump acting assistant attorney general Jeffrey Clark, people charged in relation to Jan. 6, defendants’ family members and allies. The event featured a veritable kitchen sink of conspiracy theories as well as rehashed false claims, including that the 2020 election was “stolen” and that the Jan. 6 committee “doctored” video.
Just so we’re clear, this was not an actual congressional hearing. The far-right Floridian, however, wanted it to be perceived as one. Gaetz pretended to be a chairman, recognizing members and witnesses, alerting participants to when their time had expired, and explaining that the “testimony” could be used in official proceedings. (That last part was true but irrelevant: Anything can be used in official proceedings, including the blog post you’re reading now.)
“These people will not be stopped unless you say no more. Appeasement does not work. It’s a middle finger to the promise of 1776, You are going to have to choose.” – Charlie Kirk, who days ago called Juneteenth “pagan garbage.”
He’s getting more and more extreme. I predict within a year he will be calling for the outright enslavement of black people, and the extermination of all LBGTs and anyone living in poverty.
Octoberfurst Randy50321 hours ago
I totally agree! He is becoming more and more extreme by the day. I’ll bet he is just dying to say “the N word” out loud. Next thing you know he’ll be having a swastika flag in the background and explaining why the Nazis were “misunderstood” and were actually brave Christian patriots. Kirk truly is a miserable POS!
He’s in a rat race to be the most extreme commenter on the Internet. That’s why he has to become ever extreme. Of course win or lose, in a rat race you’re still a rat.
SkokieDaddy – wiener dog dada day ago
I certainly want a white man to tell me how racist Juneteenth is. /s
“Now, we have one based on the melanin content of your skin.”
Riiiight.
Thom Hartmann wrote the other day that after Trump requested the lists of the employees (spies) and had repeated unrecorded conversations with Russian diplomats, Kisylak, and others, the CIA had to pull agents and there was a silence in our intelligence operations, it’s suspected Trump turned them all over to the Russians.
Many were killed, or disappeared.
That and a whole lot of other info. He asked for a list of the US spies and I bet you he turned it right over to our enemies in Russia, North Korea, China, etc.
Republicans are attempting to do the same thing to our justice system that they did with the media. They cried media bias again and again until it got to the point they started received special treatment. It became unbalanced in favor of them. Now, if Republicans commit crimes the FBI won’t investigate them. That whole fake elector scheme … the FBI won’t do shit about it. If it was Democrats, they would have been charged on day one.
robirob CaliJABa day ago edited
But they received special treatment from the start! All the right wing does is claim victimhood and blame socialist liberal bullies for having to take drastic action based on made up lies like the election was stolen, Hunter Biden’s laptop, Critical Race Theory or Drag Queens, Gays, and Trans grooming children. And when they go against media outlets like Fox News or the FBI they just let the right wing mob call them names without repercussion. Now there’s right wing talk about defunding the FBI and Pentagon departments, and I assume they will just roll over and keep asking for a belly rub from the right wing and afterwards start an investigation into Hillary’s emails or Hunter Biden’s laptop.
It’s why Comey tripped over himself in a Rush to “go public” with a nothingburger investigation into Hillary right before her election, an act which is widely viewed as costing her the election. And it’s probably why Mueller lacked umph to boldly go where he needed to go
The text could even affect bachelorette parties, if they involved sex toys or other paraphernalia. The new changes could even impact cheerleading and criminalize sexual conduct between consenting 17-year-olds (17 is the age of consent in Texas).
Movie screenings and art history classes could similarly come under fire. And of course, the law will affect its original target: drag performers, Pride parades, and transgender people just trying to live their lives.
Clearly he’s never walked around in Florida.
I have lived in Dallas for 25 years(OMG, I’ve lived in Dallas for 25 years) and in that time, Texas has existed under complete Republican domination.
Also in that time, I have seen men defecate on the streets of Dallas and drugs being bought, sold and used on the streets of Dallas. I have seen tent encampments of hundreds of homeless. I have seen those encampments bulldozed. There are beggars on every median at every major intersection citywide.
I don’t know how they keep a straight face when they point at SF and sneer. At least there’s a beach.
This bullshit about crime etc appeals to the voters, The people that actually go and vote in every election. It also appeals to the independents. The GOP is going to have them so afraid of out of control crime by “those people” that come the election they will run to vote for desantis. Democrats going to have to turn out in even greater numbers than the last election to defeat these people… thats what worries me the most
The price of living is out of whack. Rents are way too high. The people the GQP pander to are the same ones who cause the problem. A perfect example of why it’s like this; developers who are based in one city (or country) own blocks of land in other cities and countries. One block = one apt complex, which is of course “luxurious” and overpriced. This means people who actually live in the city don’t have the money or leverage to make their home town better. It’s very complicated. This is a broken down version of of a broken system.
Specifically, Rep. Mark Alford’s amendments, shared with CQ Roll Call ahead of their formal introduction, would bar DOD from using any fiscal 2024 dollars for its working group aiming to counter extremism or for the deputy inspector general post lawmakers previously created seeking to root out extremism in the military.
You have to be a real dipshit to be in a union and vote Republican.
stretchdad Thurgood Stubbs3 days ago
I know of three highly-unionized professions that tilt heavily conservative: firefighters, police, and airline pilots. And I’ve heard them talk shit about unions in other industries even though they share the very same concerns: wages, staffing levels, working conditions, etc.
Perfect exemplars of the “I’ve got mine, fuck you” mentality.
The group “seeks to form an underground network of white men who are willing to fight against their perceived enemies through localized direct actions,” according to the Anti-Defamation League’s website. “Off our streets!” NSC-131 members shouted repeatedly. Police at the scene said it was unclear whether or not they were armed. No arrests were made.
The men wearing hats with the number 131, said story hour was intended to “groom” young children, and continually shouted slurs at people walking in and out of the cafe. Teatotaller doesn’t get this reaction every time they host a Sunday story hour, but in November it was swarmed by the Proud Boys while the same guest, Juicy Garland, read stories.
‘Til Tuesday 🎧 Blue Bear DJ 🎸a day ago
The story says police were at the scene but I’m guessing they were reluctant to do anything against their fellow officers.
amandagirl15701 ‘Til Tuesday 🎧 Blue Bear DJ 🎸a day ago
Yep
Right-wing trolls couldn’t stop this Santa Cruz drag sleepover camp
https://www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/article/bay-area-drag-camp-18074207.php
Kiara, a 12-year-old from Santa Cruz, felt her nerves surge as she peered through the trees toward a large cabin, hearing the murmur of voices in the distance.
Before arriving at the Young Actors’ Theatre Camp in Santa Cruz on the first weekend of April, she had spent all Friday daydreaming at school about what the drag workshop she had enrolled in would actually look and feel like. Would it unfold like an episode of “RuPaul’s Drag Race”? Would the other campers like her ideas? What if she just couldn’t keep up?
“I didn’t have wigs or anything to bring. I had never done makeup before. And I was worried because I thought I’d be surrounded by people who’ve done drag for a while at the camp,” she said.
Of the approximately 45 young people at the overnight camp, just seven had signed up for the drag curriculum. All seven (ranging in age from sixth to ninth grade) were first-time campers and had no drag training. “I started to ask around to others, and nobody had done it before,” Kiara said. “It just made me feel a lot more at ease.”
Attending the camp was an evolution of Kiara’s own experimentation at home, including dressing up in feminine looks and leaning into fluid gender expression, says her father, Andrew. He felt a tinge of nerves about the camp.
“But as soon as I got there, met the camp leaders and saw Kiara’s excitement, I think I started to feel at ease that this was the right place,” Andrew said.
‘It is about us thriving’
Drag has a long place in the arc of American performing arts and played a crucial role in empowering gay men, but in recent years has come under fire from conservatives who have equated the art form (and any other sort of gender subversion) with “grooming” and “pedophilia,” resulting in intimidating protests against “drag story time” events at public libraries and noisy backlash at schools. Lawmakers in Tennessee went so far as restricting public drag performances, though a federal judge has temporarily blocked the law.
The YATC event was no different: An inflammatory article by the Daily Mail and a campaign by the notorious far-right influencer LibsofTikTok led the organization to receive hundreds of terrorizing messages, lasting for weeks after the camp ended. (As a result, many of the sources in this story asked to be identified by first names only, and were granted anonymity in accordance with Hearst’s ethics policy.)
Nonetheless, the hate pales in comparison to the support the inaugural camp has received, says YATC co-founder Shawn Ryan, and the group plans to maintain its drag program in the future. It has become another piece of the history of drag in the Bay Area, in the same vein as Dolores Park’s Hunky Jesus, a “drag laureate” for San Francisco, and other influential local drag pioneers. No amount of bad-faith criticism can strip the importance of that, Ryan says: “It is not just about survival. It is about us thriving.”
Founded by Ryan and John Ainsworth in 2001, YATC offers young performers a chance to retreat into an idyllic outdoor camp environment, living and learning alongside each other while being introduced to a variety of artistic disciplines. It has earned accolades for offering a creative space free of judgment, featuring everything from classical theater training to guest clinics with Hollywood producers, leaving young people with mentorship, artistic skills and newfound confidence.
In 2005, the camp began including drag as part of its themed group dinners, encouraging campers to raid the costume closet and let their imaginations run wild.
“We have always noted to the kids that boys can dress like girls, girls can dress like boys. Anyone can dress however they want. You can be a unicorn!” Ryan said with a laugh. “But it’s really about freedom of expression, including choosing not to dress up. Some kids choose that, and it’s awesome, too.”
Over the years, drag night grew into a bigger fascination at camp, with more young people familiar with the art form (according to Ryan, a common influence seems to be “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” now in its 15th season). Drag dinner evolved into dinner and a drag show; buoyed by the response, YATC began inviting drag queens to teach campers about developing personas, honing a routine, and the meaning of “slay.”
(Magali Gauthier/Special to SFGATE)
Teaching drag
One of those drag artists, Casi, led a master class during last summer’s camp and walked away impressed by the verve of her students. She pitched Ryan the idea of a standalone curriculum for YATC’s spring session, and the duo began brainstorming how to implement the plan.
“Drag is just a form of acting — it’s a creative, powerful, personal form of self-expression. It allows you to search inside yourself and explore aspects that you may be afraid to dig into. I often say that we’re hiding pieces of ourselves or pretending to be different things to different people,” Casi said. “But drag allows you to pinpoint something you love feeling and doing, and then exaggerate it. It’s a safe space to be overly confident, to be sassy and free.”
Though she has a background in theater and musical training, Casi was inadvertently introduced to drag through the Pulitzer-nominated artist Taylor Mac, with whom she collaborated on multiple productions. Over the past decade, Casi has honed her craft by immersing herself into the drag community, and her experiences form the basis of the weekend curriculum, which has as much to do with the historical foundations and theory of drag as it does actual performance.
“The No. 1 thing the campers asked about was, ‘When are we doing makeup?’ I said, ‘Makeup? You don’t know who you are yet in drag,’” Casi said.
Instead, she led the campers through a history of drag, from its Shakespearean origins (a shortening of the stage directions “dressed as a girl”) to the Stonewall riots of 1969. They discussed drag as a potent form of empowerment for queer men amid rampant oppression, and how it evolved into an art form that now includes cis straight men and women, transgender people and nonbinary people. They learned about the radical activism of Marsha P. Johnson, who fought for civil rights and used drag as a weapon against discrimination. They watched the film adaptation of the Broadway musical “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie,” which chronicles the life of a 16-year-old who is bullied for his love of drag but ultimately prevails through courage and acceptance.
Then, finally, Casi led the campers into the process of developing a drag persona, teaching them how to move their hands, bodies and faces. Each camper was told to bring songs that inspire joy in them, and Casi helped choreograph routines to these songs, preparing the campers for a grand finale drag show in front of their loved ones on Sunday.
A lesson in self-expression
All along, Casi stressed that drag is a flexible tool of free expression. “I told them, if you don’t feel comfortable thinking about your drag persona as a different gender, think about it as a character. You can be like Juliet from ‘Romeo and Juliet’, and make it extreme,” she said. “You’re exploring every element to its fullest, exaggerated extent. It’s similar to when young artists study clowning. We’re learning how to embody a newfound confidence.”
That embodiment is especially crucial for young people who are often harassed because of the ways they choose to express themselves, and the tension has only grown worse with a swell of vicious national discourse regarding gender identity, queerness and youth development. Despite the well-documented harms of suppressing gender and sexual expression, a variety of agitators continue to call for the persecution of “deviants,” using a tidal wave of misinformation and propaganda to bring their message into mainstream media and threaten lives and livelihoods. The rhetoric is affecting real-world policy and politics, but the influence is also felt at school, where bullying language and slurs heard at home are used to isolate young people who stick out.
It’s this pressure that pushed 13-year-old Maddie and her mother Kim to seek out the YATC weekend camp, hoping it would spark a recovery from a school year stained by trauma and hatred. By all accounts, seventh grade in Montana has been a nightmarish time for Maddie, who has faced cyberbullying from peers and slurs uttered in hallways for being in the LGBT community. She has long had a fascination with theater, including a newer interest in drag — but the crushing toll of harassment made Maddie recede into a shell, Kim said.
Kim’s voice rises into an emotional crackle when she describes how the school’s faculty has failed to support her daughter. She realized the extent of the problem when Maddie won the school’s science fair, but remained visibly terrified of presenting at the state competition, even telling her father that she would “rather die.”
“So I said, screw it. We are not doing the science fair,” Kim said. “I thought we needed to have her miss school and do something different because she’s had a very difficult year. So the drag camp felt like the most extreme way to put her in a place where she feels accepted.”
Finding confidence
It didn’t take long for Maddie to feel a kinship with Casi, Ryan and her drag camp peers. Over the course of Saturday, she discovered the core elements of her drag character and settled on a vivid nom de plume: Cherry Bomb. She picked out a costume comprising a skirt, a retro Kiss shirt, a stunning red wig and sunglasses. The hardest part was picking out a song to perform to, Maddie said — “Some of my favorite songs have really adult lyrics,” she noted with a giggle. But she went with a simple declaration of intent: “Confident,” by Demi Lovato (who identifies as queer and pansexual).
“Some places, I just can’t really be myself because of others around me. But I had a realization that I can make a character in drag and have it be the more confident version of me,” Maddie said. “It meant I could walk down that stage with real confidence and actually be happy, without any desire to hide. It was a great, great feeling to be my own person.”
The seven campers convened on Sunday, April 1, to hold a drag finale in front of their family and the 40 or so campers who participated in other weekend YATC programs. It wasn’t a smooth day for everyone: Kiara, for one, struggled with feelings of being overwhelmed and underprepared, and broke down in tears. Kiara had prepared a vibrant drag persona by the name of Dior Dionne — a haughty, old-money fashionista with little patience for the plebeians around her. On Sunday, however, Kiara began feeling an undercurrent of doubt. It started to spiral when she slipped while applying her makeup, leaving a blemish. Then, as if by fate, she ripped her bag of belongings while packing. The perfect day in her mind was starting to unfurl.
But Kiara notes that her “drag mama” Casi swooped in, ready to fix her makeup and proffer words of love and encouragement. It steeled her nerves, allowing her to focus on all the joy she had put into creating Dior Dionne. And by the time the initial chords of ABBA’s iconic “Money, Money, Money” began blaring over the speakers, Kiara was ready to dance, pout and preen in front of a crowd, throwing fake cash and lip-syncing as the cheers rang out around her.
“One of the things I’ve always loved about drag is the clothing — I would dress like that more often if I felt like I could. It just feels natural. But actually, playing the character felt really, really good,” Kiara said. “To put on a performance and feel amazing afterward, like just with the applause and smiles, it … it just felt amazing.”
The ‘blood-boiling’ moment
The campers didn’t know it at the time, but their performance was, in a sense, an act of resistance — especially given that YATC began seeing cruel comments aimed at the drag camp online. An inflammatory post on Facebook about the weekend went viral on Saturday, leading to agitation from around the country, Ryan said. He spent the evenings during the camp working furiously to take down posts that advocated hate, including a clip from one livestreamer who threatened to drive to the Santa Cruz camp and disrupt it. Ultimately, YATC had to explain to parents what was unfolding, how to report any harassment, and why the organization could keep its young campers safe.
It was a “blood-boiling” moment for Andrew, who was forced to confront the risk that his child Kiara may be in danger simply for daring to exist among like-minded people. Likewise, Kim notes that she was “in disbelief” over the rhetoric on social media, which claimed that YATC parents were sexual predators working to pervert impressionable minds. This, despite the fact that drag is not inherently sexual in form and intent (and especially ironic given that drag has been a staple of, among other spaces, the American military through much of the 20th century).
It was also an emotional precipice for Ryan, who felt torn between his own anger and desire to fight, and the need to stay calm and prioritize the young campers. In the weeks following the weekend camp, he has continued to receive an “unprecedented” amount of hate mail and disruptive phone calls, with some people unleashing torrents of slurs and nonsensical accusations.
“It’s an interesting position to be in — to be able to push the ‘fight’ just by continuing to live our lives and teaching people about the art form and sharing,” Ryan says. “I thought for so long, what should I do? Should I get aggressive? Should I, gosh, get back to every single hateful person and try to change their mind?”
Instead, Ryan and Casi have confronted the fact that the best thing to do is just keep going, with an additional eye toward security and safety at the camp. “As someone who has long been shy when it comes to political conversation, and avoided conflict out of fear, I feel like continuing to educate is the only way I can effect change,” Casi adds.
The show must go on
Despite the horror of imagining their children under further attack, what remains at top of mind for Andrew and Kim is the vision of their kids on stage on Sunday, unfettered by doubt and embracing their own agency. Being immersed in the applause of peers and parents was a formative experience for all involved, they said.
“When Kiara was performing in drag, it was maybe the happiest and most engaged and most gratified Kiara I’ve ever seen,” Andrew said.
Tears kept flowing when the campers picked a loved one in the crowd to dance with them, parading them around the room to the triumphant rhythm of RuPaul’s “Cover Girl.”
“I cried and cried when she was up there,” Kim said. “She got her voice back. I got my daughter back.”
The impact of the weekend has had rippling effects in the month since. Not all of it is idyllic — Maddie and Kim are still contending with their “insanely homophobic” Montana community, and Andrew worries about what challenges Kiara will face while continuing to grow and explore her identity, even if they do live in California. Ryan remains vigilant about countering hate speech and threats toward YATC, and Casi anticipates her own family could see harassment because of her work as a drag instructor.
Beyond the negativity, however, is an effusive sensation that drag camp is a haven in a world rife with ignorance. RuPaul once declared that “drag doesn’t change who you are, it actually reveals who you are.” In that vein, Kiara found faith in her own abilities as well as new friends, and Maddie changed the course of her seventh-grade year by rediscovering her sense of pride.
“I just can’t wait to go back,” Maddie said.
Spain’s new ‘transgender’ law breaks new ground on LGBTIQ+ rights
By Valérie Gauriat & Davide Rafaelle Lobina • Updated: 11/04/2023
A new law in Spain allows people to freely change gender from age 16. Euronews reports on what this means for the children, adults and families concerned.
A new national law for “real and effective equality for trans people” came into force in Spain on 2 March 2023, allowing a person to change their gender identity in the civil register without undergoing a two-year hormonal treatment or obtaining a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, as required by previous legislation.
Euronews reporters Valerie Gauriat and Davide Rafaelle Lobina travelled to Madrid to hear the testimonies of those who are affected by the law.
Ezekiel: Gender transition ‘not a decision you take lightly’
Ezekiel is a 23-year-old sports coach whose dream is to become a firefighter. But behind his athletic figure lie years of inner struggle, as Ezekiel was born a woman.
He started his physical transformation after years of feeling like he didn’t belong in his own skin.
“I looked in the mirror and thought to myself that I couldn’t take it anymore. I needed to talk to people about it, to be recognized for who I was, and that I had to start my transition to feel comfortable with myself”.
about:blank
Ezekiel started hormone therapy two and a half years ago, and underwent a mastectomy.
“It’s a big change. It’s like jumping into the void, hoping there is some water below,” Ezekiel told Euronews. “It is a very difficult process. It is not a decision you take lightly.”
Thanks to the new law, Ezekiel is glad that he will be officially recognised as a man. Spain is one of the few European countries that allow citizens to determine their official gender through a simple administrative declaration.
We followed Ezekiel to the Madrid Civil Register Office, where he submitted his gender change request; he will have a new identity card in three months, aftger ratifying his demand.
“I’m happier than ever!”, he exclaimed, coming out of the Register office.”This will make a lot of things easier. I won’t have to give all sorts of explanations when applying for a job for instance. It will also help with my courses to become a fireman; my diploma will be consistent with my gender,” he explains.
The new law for broke all the locks remaining the previous legislation.
Like the World Health Organization, it depathologizes transsexuality.
And allows self-determination of gender on simple request from the age of 16, and with parental consent from the age of 12.
A first in the European Union. And one of the most controversial points of the law.
“At 16 people can work, have sexual relations, abort; they should also be able to chose their gender”
Spain’s Ministry of Equality claims it’s Europe’s most progressive law LGBTIQ+ rights
“In Spain, at 16 people can work, they can have sexual relations, women can have an abortion if they want”, said Secretary of State for Equality, Ángela Rodríguez Martínez. “It is reasonable that people should also be able to declare their own gender. In addition, this law dissociates the change of sex in the civil register from the need to take hormones or undergo any type of surgical intervention. In the event of a change of mind, it would just be a matter of canceling the change at the register with all the legal guarantees needed.”
Arguments which do not convince those who feel the new law is too lax.
Vicenta Esteve Biot is a member of the working group on transsexuality at the General Council of Psychology of Spain. For this psychologist, the abolition of medico-psychological diagnoses for sex change in the civil register could encourage too hasty transitions.
“The problem with this law is that it does not leave time to reflect. It’s not the same thing to follow a process accompanied by a professional who can help you make your own decisions when you need to make them, and not before or in a rush. People need to make well-considered decisions. And not just trans people, but also families. There are parents who take the initiative to avoid the suffering of their children. And it’s just as bad to be ahead of your kids as it is to be behind and holding them back. »
Encarni Bonilla Huete: ‘The problem is society, not gender identity’
Encarni Bonilla Huete is the president of the Chrysallis Association, which brings together families with transgender children who are fighting against stigmatisation.
“Our youths are increasingly diverse and demand diversity. Either we adapt to it or we move further apart from them,” she said.
She explains that her 12-year-old son Marc “was assigned the wrong sex at birth and that 18 months ago he was able to express that he was a boy.”
Encarni and her husband decided to support his transition, after he verbalised it and asked them for help.
“I knew I was out of place somehow, but I didn’t know how to express myself. When I started to develop, I felt very bad.I didn’t want to see my body.” explains Marc. And then when I realized I was a boy, I felt much better. My relationship with my parents, with my friends, with myself is now much better. » Asked whether he thinks about the future, Marc briefly ponders and smiles:
“Sometimes I think about what it will be like to take hormones, what people will think of me when I go to school, or what it will be like to work as a trans person. The world may be very different tomorrow. Anything can happen. I try to focus on the present. »
His mother is adamant that the family’s life has changed for the better.
“He had an inner rage that prevented him from being happy. All that has disappeared, and he’s a very happy child now.” says Encarni. “It’s not gender identity that’s the problem, it is society, which doesn’t accept diversity and doesn’t accept difference. And that’s why it must evolve,” she added.
“I’m asking those who are against my transition to let me live my life. They shouldn’t speak about it as they don’t know what it’s like, and I’m asking them to let me be happy,” concludes Marc.
