They have not failed, you have

As conservatives target schools, LGBTQ+ kids and students of color feel less safe

https://apnews.com/article/lgbtq-race-ban-schools-4c4df1728f5265eee3684268035570c2

*** seriously this is a very important read to understand how the laws red states are enacting to restrict access to history, to black history, to LGBTQ+ protections, and to stop bullying are effecting the students.   It is tragic.   All for the white Chritian adults to be happy we are destroying the schooling and school years of minority kids.   The artical is long and I couldn’t color it like I want to do, but it is super worth the read.    Hugs  ***

Oh for some reason my spell checker is refusing to work on these open tabs, so sorry about any thing I mispelled.  Hugs

This is the republican fundamentalist Christian nationalist racist bigots right wants to happen.  Cruelty is the goal, causing hurt and pain to anyone different from themselves.    So disheartening.  This made me ill to read, it is heart breaking that kids in 2023 have to go through the bigotry and hate that I did as a gay teen in 1970s.  Us gay kids felt so alone and unable to find others like us.  I now know that many kids at school were gay, but all of us were terrified to reach out to others or being found out.   The lifelong damage that caused to me and so many other kids.   The open bullying that was not stopped and even encouraged by homophobic conservative teachers.  There was no safe space, no rainbow flags, nothing to read giving any insight to why I felt different.  No positive role models or good gay characters in media to counter the hate coming from the religious right pushed hard by Anita Bryant with accusations of the most disgusting kinds.    We cannot go back to those times; we must stop this regression somehow.   Our elders were fighting for us then, putting their lives on the line to do so, we must do so again.  As one student says in the article ““Taking away a whole group of people’s right to be who they are, that’s just like, this is a typical day. I think I was more scared that that was a reality than I was sad about the bill itself.””   On the errasing black history one student was forced to go outside the school to learn about the true history.  Attending predominantly white schools means Harmony has had to go out of her way to learn about Black culture and history — often outside of school. That has shaped where she wants to go next. She’d like to attend a historically Black college and pledge a Black sorority. Hugs

Harmony Kennedy, 16, a high school student, poses for a portrait in Nolensville, Tenn., on Tuesday, May 16, 2023. When the Tennessee legislature began passing legislation that could limit the discussion and teaching of Black history, gender identity and race in the classroom, to Harmony, it felt like a gut punch. "When I heard they were removing African American history, banning LGBTQ, I almost started crying," she says. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

38 minutes ago

NOLENSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The first encounter with racism that Harmony Kennedy can remember came in elementary school. On a playground, a girl picked up a leaf and said she wanted to “clean the dirt” from Harmony’s skin.

In sixth grade, a boy dropped trash on the floor and told her to pick it up, “because you’re a slave.” She was stunned — no one had ever said anything like that to her before.

As protests for racial justice broke out in 2020, white students at her Tennessee high school kneeled in the hallways and chanted, “Black lives matter!” in mocking tones. As she saw the students receive light punishments, she grew increasingly frustrated.

So when Tennessee began passing legislation that could limit the discussion and teaching of Black history, gender identity and race in the classroom, to Harmony, it felt like a gut punch — as if the adults were signaling this kind of ignorant behavior was acceptable. The law was broad, but to her, the potential impact was crushing.

“When I heard they were removing African American history, banning LGBTQ, I almost started crying,” said Harmony, 16. “We’re not doing anything to anybody. Why do they care what we personally prefer, or what we look like?”

As conservative politicians and activists push for limits on discussions of race, gender and sexuality, some students say the measures targeting aspects of their identity have made them less welcome in American schools — the one place all kids are supposed to feel safe.

Some of the new restrictions have been championed by conservative state leaders and legislatures, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who say they are necessary to counter liberal influence in schools. Others have been pushed by local activists or school boards arguing teachers need more oversight to ensure classroom materials are appropriate.

Books have been pulled from libraries. Some schools have insisted on using the names transgender students had before they transitioned. And teachers wary of breaking new rules have shied from discussions related to race, gender and other politically sensitive topics, even as students say they desperately need to see their lived experiences reflected in the classroom.

Among them are a transgender student at a Pennsylvania school where teachers are directed to use students’ birth names, a bisexual student in Florida who sensed a withdrawal of adult support, and Harmony, a Black student outside Nashville alarmed by efforts to restrict lessons on Black history.

For these and other students of color and LGBTQ+ kids, it can feel like their very existence is being rejected.

Leo Burchell stands for a portrait outside his family's home in Pennsylvania on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022. In late 2020, during the pandemic school closures, Leo Burchell started using different pronouns, trying on new clothes, cutting his hair short. The changes felt right. (AP Photo/Joe Lamberti)
Leo Burchell stands for a portrait outside his family’s home in Pennsylvania on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022. In late 2020, during the pandemic school closures, Leo Burchell started using different pronouns, trying on new clothes, cutting his hair short. The changes felt right. (AP Photo/Joe Lamberti)

‘NEUTRALITY’ POLICY MAKES SCHOOL FEEL LESS SAFE

In late 2020, during the pandemic school closures, Leo Burchell started using different pronouns, trying on new clothes and shorter hair. The changes felt right.

At school outside Philadelphia, Leo started telling teachers about using a different name and they/them pronouns, and the teachers were immediately accepting. A shift to using he/him pronouns followed.

“I changed my name to Leo, and for a while it was tough,” he said. “I told some of my friends. I told the people close to me, but I wasn’t ready to come out to everybody yet … and I had the space to do that in my own time.”

To tell his parents, Leo shared a poem he had written about his transition. He worried it would be hard for them, as parents who had always identified as “girl parents” to three daughters. His mom, dad, older and twin sister were all supportive.

Then, over the last year, the Central Bucks School District’s board barred staff from using students’ chosen names or pronouns without parental permission.

High school student Leo Burchell speaks at the Central Bucks School Board meeting about LGBTQ student rights in Doylestown, Pa., on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022. After hearing a man tell the school board that transgender people posed a risk of violence in bathrooms, Leo expected another adult in the room to interrupt what felt like hate speech. No one did. So at the next board meeting, Leo spoke up. “Attacking students based on who they are or who they love is wrong,” he said. Leo has spoken regularly at meetings since. (AP Photo/Ryan Collerd)
High school student Leo Burchell speaks at the Central Bucks School Board meeting about LGBTQ student rights in Doylestown, Pa., on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Ryan Collerd)
Central Bucks School District high school student Leo Burchell waits for a school board meeting to start, opening his rainbow colored umbrella as it begins to rain in Doylestown, Pa., on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022. “I don’t want my friends to be misgendered and deadnamed every single day just because they don’t want to come out to their parents,” Leo said. “It really just breaks my heart to know that some of my friends, you know, might not want to go to school anymore.” (AP Photo/Ryan Collerd)
Central Bucks School District high school student Leo Burchell waits for a school board meeting to start, opening his rainbow colored umbrella as it begins to rain in Doylestown, Pa., on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Ryan Collerd)
Central Bucks School District high school student Leo Burchell waits outside for a school board meeting to start in Doylestown, Pa., on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022. “So, I changed my name to Leo, and for a while it was tough,” he said. “I told some of my friends. I told the people close to me, but I wasn’t ready to come out to everybody yet ... and I had the space to do that in my own time.” (AP Photo/Ryan Collerd)
Central Bucks School District high school student Leo Burchell waits outside for a school board meeting to start in Doylestown, Pa., on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Ryan Collerd)
 

The board passed what it called a “neutrality” policy that bars social and political advocacy in classrooms — a measure opponents have seen as targeting Pride flags and other symbols teachers use to signal support for LGBTQ+ students. Reviews of the appropriateness of books have mostly targeted LGBTQ+ literature.

Each step felt like chipping away at the spaces that made Leo feel safe enough to explore his gender identity.

Across the district, parents and students told the board stories of slurs, hate speech and sometimes violence directed toward transgender children. But other adults pressed forward in their effort to restrict inclusion. During one board meeting when a transgender student was speaking, rather than listening, a group of parents whispered to each other. One adult audibly asked: “Is that a girl?”

One man told the school board transgender people posed a risk of violence in bathrooms. Leo expected another adult in the room to interrupt what felt to him like hate speech. No one did.

So at the next board meeting, Leo spoke up. “Attacking students based on who they are or who they love is wrong,” he said. Leo has spoken regularly at meetings since.

Leo worries about what school will be like for younger transgender students.

“I don’t want my friends to be misgendered and deadnamed every single day just because they don’t want to come out to their parents,” Leo said. “It really just breaks my heart to know that some of my friends, you know, might not want to go to school anymore.”

Jack Fitzgerald, a senior at J.P. Taravella High School who started the school's the Gender and Sexuality Alliance club, stands for a portrait in Lauderhill, Fla., on Wednesday, April 19, 2023. Last year, as a junior, he led a school walkout to protest a new law that banned instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity for kindergarten to third grade. The law, part of the anti-LGBTQ+ legislation pushed by DeSantis, was dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by critics and recently expanded to encompass all grades. Jack was surprised by two things. Most students initially knew little about the bill. And once they learned about it, support for the walkout was overwhelming. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Jack Fitzgerald, a senior at J.P. Taravella High School who started the school’s the Gender and Sexuality Alliance club, stands for a portrait in Lauderhill, Fla., on Wednesday, April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

NEW FLORIDA LAWS ‘TOOK THE AIR OUT OF ME’

Jack Fitzgerald, a high school student in Broward County, Florida, came out to friends by accident at first.

At a book club meeting, he blurted out: “I don’t really like romance books unless they’re gay.” He hadn’t told anyone he was bisexual, but it came out easily in a place where he felt comfortable and safe.

Later, he would come out to his mother while watching television.

“So, I am bi,” he told her.

“And why are you telling me this?” she said. A lifelong conservative, his mother told him she had long known about his sexuality. It was not a problem.

The confidence and relief he felt led Jack to start his school’s gender and sexuality alliance club. Last year, as a junior, he led a school walkout to protest a new law that banned instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity for kindergarten to third grade. The law, part of the anti-LGBTQ+ legislation pushed by DeSantis, was dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by critics and recently expanded to encompass all grades.

Jack was surprised by two things. Most students initially knew little about the bill. And once they learned about it, support for the walkout was overwhelming.

Teachers have been more cautious.

Jack remembers talking to his debate teacher about covering some controversial topics. “You have to realize, … teachers have families,” he told Jack, who took it as a comment on teachers worried about losing their jobs.

In another class, Jack recalls an environmental teacher told the class she could not answer a question during a discussion on climate change or she would be seen as “too woke.”

There also was a school board member, Debra Hixon, who won Jack’s admiration when she spoke last year at a town hall event for teens. Hixon, who became widely known after her husband was killed in the 2018 Parkland school shooting, expressed support for LGBTQ+ students.

“I think I even told my mom. I was like, ‘Oh, we’ve got to vote for her next time because she seems so impassioned, and she genuinely came across like she cared,’” he said.

When Jack asked her in April how the school district would react to the new laws, Hixon said they were going to comply with the law.

The response shocked Jack. He thought back to how the district had stood up to the DeSantis administration over COVID-19 policies like mask mandates. When it came to protecting LGBTQ+ students, it seemed, there was no appetite for defiance.

“They didn’t even try to act like they were going to try, you know?” he said. “And it was so disappointing. It really took the air out of me.”

Hixon said she felt badly that Jack had the impression she was not defending LGBTQ+ students.

“We have a lot of new laws to navigate, and I am still processing what they mean for our district, so I don’t want to overstep and say something that is incorrect or inappropriate,” she said. “I am more guarded with my responses, but I promise I will continue to defend our students to ensure they feel safe and welcome in our schools.”

Harmony Kennedy, 16, a high school student, sits for a portrait in Nolensville, Tenn., on Tuesday, May 16, 2023. The first encounter with racism that Kennedy can remember came in elementary school. On a playground, a girl picked up a leaf and said she wanted to clean Harmony’s skin because it was “dirty.” (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Harmony Kennedy, 16, a high school student, sits for a portrait in Nolensville, Tenn., on Tuesday, May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

AFTER SPEAKING UP, SOME STUDENTS FACE BACKLASH

In Harmony’s freshman-year English class, a boy started playing with his mask and joked, “I can’t breathe, just like George Floyd,” Harmony recalled.

“I was really upset. And I called him out on it. And I was like, ‘Are you kidding me? Someone died,’” she said.

She told her teacher, who said she was sorry it happened but there was not much she could do. Nothing happened to the boy, Harmony said.

To be a Black student in this environment, and to see efforts to minimize the teaching of Black history, Harmony said, is a reminder of why it’s important that a full version of history is taught. A law passed by Tennessee in 2021 banned schools from teaching several concepts on race and racism, leading many teachers to avoid discussions related to race.

“If people are taking this out of schools, it’s making the ignorance go on, because they’re not understanding the pain and agony we have to go through,” she said.

The incident led Harmony to join the Forward Club, which works to promote cultural and racial inclusion t her predominantly white high school. The club’s members come from a diverse array of backgrounds — including the children of some adults who have disparaged the group.

At times, students who speak out against new policies have been targeted for harassment. In Williamson County, Tennessee, where Harmony goes to school, a political action committee accused another high school’s Black student union of promoting segregation. The PAC posted the time and place of the student group’s meeting on social media. Elsewhere, trans and nonbinary students who have spoken up about bullying have faced only more insults on social media.

For some, the hostility can be exhausting. Milana Kumar, a rising senior in Collierville, Tennessee, who is genderqueer, is comfortable with their identity among friends. But it’s not a conversation they bring up at school, where they said teachers and other students often do not respect chosen pronouns.

“I’ve never tried to navigate that, I think just as a response to save myself from a lot of hurt that would happen,” Milana said.

Recently, Tennessee passed a bill that would protect teachers from discipline or other consequences if they misgender their students. At the time, Milana was at the Capitol testifying on other legislation. She thought about how routine a day it was.

“Taking away a whole group of people’s right to be who they are, that’s just like, this is a typical day. I think I was more scared that that was a reality than I was sad about the bill itself.”

Attending predominantly white schools means Harmony has had to go out of her way to learn about Black culture and history — often outside of school. That has shaped where she wants to go next. She’d like to attend a historically Black college and pledge a Black sorority.

What Harmony wants, ultimately, is to be able to go to school like any other teenager and focus on learning. To go to a football game without hearing racial slurs. To stand up for herself without being seen as an aggressor.

Meantime, it’s something she’ll continue to speak up for.

“My sister is going to be an incoming freshman this year, and I want her to have a safe learning environment where she doesn’t have to really deal with all the ignorance and things,” she said. “I want her to be able to enjoy high school.”

___

The Associated Press’ reporting around issues of race and ethnicity is supported in part by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Pride flags are displayed in the bedroom of high school student Leo Burchell in Pennsylvania on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022. As politicians and activists push for limits on discussions of race, gender and sexuality, some students say the measures targeting aspects of their identity have made them less welcome in American schools — the one place where all kids are supposed to feel safe. (AP Photo/Joe Lamberti)
Pride flags are displayed in the bedroom of high school student Leo Burchell in Pennsylvania on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022. As politicians and activists push for limits on discussions of race, gender and sexuality, some students say the measures targeting aspects of their identity have made them less welcome in American schools — the one place where all kids are supposed to feel safe. (AP Photo/Joe Lamberti)

Anti-Pride Protests Are Turning Violent

Anti-LGBTQ protesters targeted a school in LA. Jayar Jackson and Jessica Burbank break it down on The Watchlist. Watch LIVE on weekdays at 5pm ET. http://youtube.com/watchlisttyt/live

Read more HERE: https://knock-la.com/anti-lgbtq-viole….

“An anti-LGBTQ+ protest was organized on Instagram after a Pride celebration was scheduled at Saticoy Elementary in North Hollywood. The Pride celebration included a book reading about different types of families. Shortly after the celebration was announced, someone broke into the school after-hours to steal a transgender teacher’s pride flag and burn it. The same teacher was also doxxed by right-wing activists.

Some news outlets have reported that the anti-LGBTQ+ event was planned by parents concerned with how sexual education is taught to young students. Knock LA attempted to interview some of these parents, but was met with silence or a negative response. Two young adult women on the anti-LGBTQ+ side said they were there because “it’s cool.”

“Glendale has had enough!” shouted one of the right-wing protest leaders over his PA. “Time to bust out the zip ties!” he told the police, continuing with “I’d like to zip tie the principal!””

Giggle … Clam down

CA School Board Bans Social Studies Textbook Over “Pedophile” Harvey Milk, Who Doesn’t Appear In Book

***Sorry no comment replies today.  I got home from the pain doctor and I got trigger point shots in my back.   I managed to do the dishes but I cannot manage to address comments today.   It is a combination of pain and steroids along with all the other medical drugs I take surging through my system.   Hopefully if I can sleep tonight I will be able to do that first thing tomorrow morning.   But for now I will try to focus and post some of the news I have had in my tabs for the last few days.  Ron ordered a pizza because he has been working in the heat to replace the damaged siding and I am wiped out and struggle to think.  The steroids are making me hungry.  I just lost 10 more pounds I hope I don’t gain them back.     Hugs***

This again like the fundamentalist few parents demanding all mention of LGBTQ+ from yearbooks, libraries, any media in the classrooms, and eventually society.   They admit this, they want only those things mentioned, taught, and acknowledged are their world view from the 1950s, and that includes all education about race, biology, and anything that disrupts their white in charge fundamentalist religious take on the world.   They want the rest erased, it makes them feel icky and they don’t like those ideas pushing into their god thoughts.    But these same people have no problem with highly gendered and sexually suggestive straight year book photos of the prom or the school cheerleader squads.   They have no problem with mentions in yearbooks or books / movies in schools / libraries that show hetero norms, including the gender roles of cis straight males and females.  Their offense is anything not portraying their preferred world view that comes from their biblical views, one man / one woman and only straight no weird sex allowed in all things.   But only after the youth, adults are married and suddenly discover sex / sexual feelings on the magical moment of turning 18 years old.   Sorry but gay and transgender youth / students exist.  They are young people with the same right to see themselves represented in society as the fundies insist their own views / religion does.   These gay  / transgender students deserve to live openly as their straight cis fellow students do.   The problem these fundamentalists face is the students agree that this is proper that their fellow students be accepted and have a safe and happy school experience.  The very thing the fundamentalist to deny the LGBTQ+ students, their right to exist.    This is simply pushing the fundamentalist religious views on everyone.   Plus they are not only pushing their religious world view but they are actively denying the LGBTQ+ students their right to exist, to have school participation, and to see other people like themselves in the school curriculum / media.   Below I will post some quotes from the linked sources, I recommend everyone go read them as they have information that Joe My God doesn’t include.  Hugs  

 

Milk, who was one of the first openly gay elected officials in the country, was assassinated while serving on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

The three board members were elected last year with the backing of the conservative Inland Empire Family PAC.

“I don’t want my 3rd grader studying an LGBTQ issue. I don’t want them going into gender ideology,” said board member Jennifer Wiersma.

The social studies curriculum was vetted by 47 Temecula Valley teachers who taught the material in 18 elementary schools as part of a pilot program this past year. The material, which is also approved by the California Department of Education, will replace outdated textbooks.

“It was piloted, we followed every policy, and procedures. The options were out there for parents. Thirteen-hundred family’s kids learned from this curriculum. We did not receive any complaints,” said Board Member Allison Barclay, who voted to approve the new curriculum.

https://abc7.com/temecula-valley-harvey-milk-school-board-curriculum/13330213/

 

 

An ugly scene played out at the Temecula Valley School Board meeting as they voted 3-2 to reject an elementary school social studies book that contained information about pioneering California gay rights figure Harvey Milk. The board’s president made a baseless accusation that Milk was a pedophile before voting to ban the book. 

“My question is, why even mention a pedophile?” said Board President Dr. Joseph Komrosky. 

 

The battle over books has been an ongoing conflict in Republican-controlled states. California Gov. Gavin Newsom interjected himself into the fray last summer in a series of commercials that aired in Florida. Now, he’s taking that message directly to educators in the state through a letter directed to superintendents and school administrators. The warning — which was also penned by California State Superintendent Tony Thurmond and Attorney General Rob Bonta — urged them to not take part in the removal of instructional materials. 

“Access to books — including books that reflect the diverse experiences and perspectives of Californians, and especially those that may challenge us to grapple with uncomfortable truths — is a profound freedom we all must protect and cultivate,” the letter read in part. 

The letter has garnered the support of some parents including Los Angeles Unified School District mom Jenna Schwartz, who helped create a group called Parents Supporting Teachers. 

” I think that our governor and the AG are looking at what’s happening in these red states and we can see the future,” said Schwartz. “We know what happens when you dilute education for children. They become uneducated adults. We can’t let that happen here.”

The letter cites more than 1400 book bans across the country as one of the reasons the state issued this warning to any district contemplating limiting issues that can be taught in schools. Newsom was also sharply critical of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis after he signed into law legislation known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill — which restricts instruction about sexual orientation or gender identity for students until eighth grade. 

“Talking about families is not a sexual conversation,” said Schwartz.  “Talking about two moms or two dads — or a diverse family, none of that is sexual.”

The issue of sexual orientation has become a flashpoint at Saticoy Elementary School, where a pride flag was recently burned. The school is also dealing with the fallout of a scheduled assembly where administrators planned to read a book that mentions same-sex couples. 

https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/temecula-school-board-president-calls-harvey-milk-pedophile-before-book-banning-vote/

 

 

Los Angeles’s ABC affiliate reports:

“You’re not qualified! You’re not qualified!’ shouted one audience member at the board. The frustration was over the 3-2 vote opposing the adoption of new social studies curriculum for Temecula Valley Unified School District elementary schools.

The decision could leave 11,397 students without a textbook next year. “We’ve never experienced this before. I’ve never heard of a top performing district or any district say you know what we are going to withhold these materials,” said Edgar Diaz, the president of the Temecula Valley Educator Association.

School board members, Dr. Joseph Komrosky, Jennifer Wiersma and Danny Gonzalez opposed the inclusion of gay rights activist Harvey Milk in the supplemental material used by teachers, even though Milk is not in the 4th grade textbook himself.

Los Angeles’s CBS affiliate reports:

The board’s president made a baseless accusation that Milk was a pedophile before voting to ban the book. “My question is, why even mention a pedophile?” said Board President Dr. Joseph Komrosky. Temecula’s emotionally charged meeting resembles many others from here in Southern California and across the country as communities demand school boards to limit discussions of race and sexual orientation.

Komrosky [screenshot above] has appeared on Fox News to boast about banning “critical race theory” in his school district. His 2022 campaign for the school board was promoted by foul homocon radio host Carl DeMaio, who praised Komrosky for “his goal is to keep radical social theories and leftist propaganda away from our children.”

Watch the clip.

 

When Milk was still living in New York he met a young man named Jack McKinley, who was employed as a stage manager. McKinley was 16-years old when they met and Milk was around 30. The age of consent in New York was 17 at the time. At some point after they met, they started a relationship. According to sources from that time period, McKinley was past the age of consent. McKinley moved to California with Milk and was over 18 when they arrived in California. There is no evidence form any source that Milk and McKinley ever engaged in any sexual behavior while McKinley was underage. Milk did like men who were younger than he was but he was not chasing underage boys around either in New York or San Francisco.

 

This is not about pedophilia

This is about erasing LBGT culture

Komrosky, Gonzalez, and Wiersma where all heavily promoted by the Inland Empire Family PAC to run against incumbents in order “to stop the indoctrination of our children by placing candidates on school boards who will fight for Christian and Conservative values.
Those “values” include nixing teachings of inclusion and tolerance”.
It was a right wing set up job to get rid of incumbents who were not anti everything enough.
https://patch.com/californi…

From that page:

 

Dr. Joseph Komrosky holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Claremont Graduate University and is a tenured college professor teaching logic full-time at Mount San Antonio College. He also teaches critical thinking part-time at the California State University of San Marcos.

 

“… teaches critical thinking …”??? WTF?

Did we need any more proof that holding an advanced degree doesn’t make you a decent human being?

 

Someone posted this on JMG the other day:

Thumbnail
 

LGBT culture, black culture, Asian culture, Native American culture–everything but lily-white, Evangelical Christian culture in the USA. There was never anybody else here, right? /s

 

Hell, if given the chance, these yahoos would probably call for prosecuting any actor or actress who’s starred in an LGBT-themed production! (for the record, that would be most of the famous actors and actresses; name any and I could probably tell you an LGBT-themed production in which they’ve been involved)

Was Harvey Milk a pedophile? No he was not. These assholes have been equating being gay to being a pedophile forever and it has got to stop. They need to be challenged every goddam time and sued into oblivion for defamation and hate speech. They are trying to get us killed, plain and simple. If they’re looking for pedophiles, they need to look no further than the christian church right down the block.

“…pedophiles like Harvey Milk.”

“Harvey Milk wasn’t a pedophile!”

“Well, he was in my opinion.”

“Prove it or shut the fuck up.”

 

Cue “I feel it in my bones”.

We must be vigilant everywhere. Even in safe, blue California, we have these assholes. Vote, because our lives depend on it.

Prop 8 was not that long ago.

 

Let’s talk about the ruling in Tennessee….

I have a doctor’s appointment this morning, and after that I plan to ignore news and reply to comments.  Plus if I can I will give a health update.   So until we meet again, best wishes and hugs.    

Moms For Liberty Harasses Florida High School Into Reprinting Yearbook Without Pages On LGBTQ Students

Personal note **  I hope to be back up to the half speed I have been managing lately in a few days.   I had a really bad end of the week, health wise.   Ron said Thursday evening my right side back muscles were swollen up higher than his fist compared to the left.   I saw the cardiologist, he changed my medication and said I needed an echocardiogram along with a medical heart stress test.   He is worried about the shortness of breath and breathing problems, along with something he thinks is going on with my heart.   But the change in medications will allow me to get my allergy treatments, and the blood tests came back showing really serious allergies.   I will share those another time.   Hugs

Please note the open bigotry and privilege.   Also note these are a very small group of bigoted religious parents.   Let the kids be kids doesn’t apply to the gay or other LGBTQ+ kids.    These people find anything offensive that is not just as they are, feel, or want things.   They want all their kids to celebrate their school years, but not the gay, trans, or the other LGBTQ+ kids to have that privilege.   Notice these kids are teenagers, the woman is complaining that seeing LGBTQ+ other students and information was sexualizing a 14-year-old.   Trust me, by 14 a kid knows their gender, their sexuality, and even how to masturbate.    This strange idea that kids don’t have feelings, desire, or even that touching themselves feels good until the magic moment they turn 18 when suddenly all those things happen and become real.   That is incredibly stupid, that schools even through the senior year can not mention anything dealing with gender or sexual orientation unless it is straight heterosexual 1950s gender stereotypical norms.   Hello every teen has a smart phone, and access to smart TV’s, game consoles that browse the internet, along with computers.   Get freaken real people.   This really is about not letting the LGBTQ+ people be normalized, that is why these groups want to remove the media with gay or trans characters or have LGBTQ+ information.    Yet they do want the anti-gay stuff pushed hard.   These bans make it so there can be no programs stopping bullying, no safe places for kids that are not cis or straight to feel welcome.   It is driving the LGBTQ+ people in the US to the same place the Jewish people were in Nazi Germany in the 1930s.   Hugs

 

The Orlando Sentinel reports:

Seminole County Public Schools is offering to reprint this year’s Lyman High School yearbook and remove two pages for parents upset about LGBTQ+ content, prompting criticism that the district isn’t standing up to bigotry. The pages highlight the school’s LGBTQ+ community and provide definitions of terms such as genderfluid and pansexual. A few parents and students found those pages “inappropriate,” and now the district is offering refunds or reprinted yearbooks with the pages in question removed.

Jessica Tillmann, chapter chair of the Seminole County Moms for Liberty, said she is concerned about the definitions in the yearbook because she thinks they are teaching children about sex outside the state-approved standards that parents can choose to opt their children out of. “They shouldn’t have any sexual definitions in a yearbook,” she said. “This is a yearbook that goes to every student as young as 14.”

Click Orlando reports:

Sharmon Craft [screenshot above] was among the parents who believe the page is inappropriate. “This gender ideology crap has parents in an uproar because it’s disgusting and wrong for an adult to sexualize a minor,” Craft said on Facebook.

“The district superintendent is ordering the school to give full refunds or have the books reprinted without the glossary of perverse sexual attractions and pronouns.” District officials said they have received four complaints from parents so far.

Danielle Pomeranz, the high school’s former yearbook advisor, argued against the decision. “We think that it’s important that our book remains inclusive and represents all of the students at Lyman High School,” Pomeranz said.

 

STFU. If you’re such a snowflake, tear the two pages out yourself. I’m sick of a couple of people dictating to the rest of the schools.

100% correct!! Why do they kowtow to idiots??

manufactured drama to needlessly excite others as they push their astro-turf nonsense.

And yet schools and other places kowtow to these idiots with their reactionary agenda. It makes me sick!

14 year olds know that gay people exist.

14 year olds often already know if they are gay or straight or even fluid, I sure did.

I always knew I wasn’t like the other boys. 14 was when I figured out what that difference was.

I knew long before I was 14

I wasn’t out in public until I was 24, but I was out to myself at 14.

 

14 was my age the first time I was able to look my reflection in the eyes and say, “I am a homosexual” out loud. It was strange to hear myself say it, but it felt so true and freeing.

Same age here, but for me it was as I was cumming while thinking of the guys in the locker room at school

I almost find it funny that these Moms for Liberty morons think that their children are innocent and pure and know nothing about sex. Do they not know the kids have access to the internet and have cell phones? Those women live in a Christian bubble.

Don’t tell them. ‘Christian’ parents have a tendency to install crappy blocking software on their kids’ phones that ostensibly block porn, but actually block anything a crazy religious parent might object to, like age-appropriate information that teens absolutely should have access to.

14 year olds with phones know a lot of things.

Hence the enthusiasm for purging all mention of them everywhere. As homophobe lawyer Matt Staver said recently, if Christian kids get to know gays, they’ll get the outrageous idea they’re not monsters in human form.

Indeed:

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And not to mention no-one is sexualising anyone in this yearbook, just defining some terms.

We have to fight back against their characterisation of anything that even mentions LGBT people’s existence as being “sexual”. ‘Heather has two mommies’ is not sexual, and not inappropriate in the slightest for elementary students.

Also yet more infantilisation of teens: “OMG, kids as young as 14 will read this!” 14 years olds know about sex, and we should give them correct information, not religious scare stories.

Rule 1: White kids are innocent babes until at least age 30.
Rule 2: Black and Latino kids are fully adult hyper-sexual beings by age 10.

…and they don’t blink an eye at the outfits of the cheerleaders or the pictures of prom, both strongly “sexualizing.”

 

 

I was a transgender child.

This is the terrifying person the maga right conservatives want to erase and claim is a threat to society.   This is a really informative video by a young man who describes the steps it took to get what he needed to be the person he really was.   This person’s lived experience put to lie all the myths the anti-trans people claim are happening, like mass pushing kids to be trans, no medical checks, and just rushing kids to sex changes.  It amazes me that in 2023 we still have throwbacks to dark ages in understandings of biology and social development.  Notice this boy knew his gender was wrong most of his early childhood and even at 9 years old he knew he was not a girl but should grow up to be a guy, but it became a serious issue for him at 12 years old.   Puberty time.  This is the same period of time the maga religious right wants to claim kids don’t know anything about gender or sexual attraction.  And even though this boy did not have teachers telling him about pronouns or gender expression, he still realized he was not his assigned sex / gender.  He talks about gender conversion, gender dysphoria, and the misinformation about trans kids / people.     His story is interesting.   It also is very informative and destroys a lot of the trans haters talking points, even to the point of no harm and many benefits of letting kids socially transition.    Well worth watching.    Hugs

Vaush Debates Transphobe that Compares Trans People to Nazis

In a calm and rational manner, Vaush explains the truth of trans people to a guy questioning if trans is even a thing.    Vaush explains where the guy’s misinformation is wrong and guides him to seeing the where his assumptions are wrong about gender VR sex.   If your hang up on trans people is the issue / question of sex / gender, Vaush explains that wonderfully.   He really does it in a way easy for even Dildeb could understand.    Hugs

Let’s talk about Chick Fil A going woke….

As he says woke is just a code word, a dog whistle for what ever group the republican religious conservatives chose to target.  Listen up, which group will they target next.   Hugs