Category: Gun Control
Texas Paul REACTS to Rudy Giuliani comparing Trump to the MAFIA
South Florida LGBT teen jumped for second time
This video is horrible and hard to watch. This kid is given a vicious beating because he is trans according to his grandmother. Notice the police and school have done nothing to help this teen and now with the don’t say gay laws no teacher can support him. This is what the republican’s in office and the right wing maga thugs want with the don’t say gay bills. This is the result of demonizing trans people to claim they are assaulting people in bathrooms, suggesting they are doing perverted stuff in locker rooms, and removing support for LGBTQ+ kids along with anti-discrimination messages that might help teach tolerance and acceptance. This is what the legislator that wrote the Florida don’t say gay bill admitted he wanted to have happen. He wanted LGBTQ+ kids targeted for abuse and harm. Well he is getting his way. With more abuse comes more suicide.
To those who say that kids are transitioning on whims and doing so because it is a fad or perceived as the cool thing to do need to see the reality of this video. This is the reality far too many gay, lesbian, and trans kids face. Far too many LGBTQ+ face these threats of hate and violence in their daily lives made worse by the actions of DeathSantis and his anti-LGBTQ+ maga thugs. When religious leaders scream that LGBTQ+ people should be killed, this is the result. Some of these LGBTQ+ face this at home which is why they are not out at home, but now republican laws force teachers to out them to their parents. Kids are not willing to transition and face this, living every day with the hassles of trying to find a bathroom, trying to make it through the day without support, suffering abuse and the danger of being beaten up unless they truly are of a different gender than they were assigned at birth.
We are working so hard to remove this hate from society and the LGBTQ+ communities were gaining such deserved acceptance in society. Schools had programs to teach tolerance, to show other kids there was nothing wrong with the LGBTQ+ kids, to establish acceptance. To teach that diversity was a good thing. Now in Florida married same sex couples cannot put up pictures of their spouses like straight couples and must hide from the kids their marriages / sexual orientation. These red states / republicans / right wing thugs are trying to create a country where only straight white Christians are accepted and have assumed authority / privileges. Everyone else must hide who they are and be silent. 50 years of work, decades of changing the perceptions in schools and the minds of the people, creating safer schools and workplaces, all destroyed in red states due to a small minority of violent thugs, the republican brownshirts, who won’t tolerate anyone different from them because they have the state authority’s permission to force other to live as these gang thugs’ demand. The power / authority of the state is supporting and energizing these thugs. If you vote republican this is the country you want. If you vote republican this is the way you want the LGBTQ+ to be treated, along with women being second class citizens whose duty is to be an incubator for a male’s offspring. Shame on you all for voting republican! This is personal. I lived through these beatings and worse. I lived through the fears in schools, I lived with the mistreatment at home, and the discrimination in all aspects of adult life for being gay. It was getting better until now. We were moving away from this stuff being acceptable. Now it is back. What next? Will black kids be the next targets of these laws, to make them the targets of more abuse? Will LGBTQ+ adults not be able to rent, buy in some neighborhoods? Will gays / lesbians get married on Sunday and be fired from work for being in a same sex marriage on Monday? Hugs
Liberal Redneck – FBI Raids Mar-a-Lago
Right-Wing Bigots Send Swat Team To Trans Twitch Streamer Keffals Home
Read more HERE: https://www.polygon.com/23298726/keff…
“The Twitch streamer Keffals, real name Clara Sorrenti, known for her political commentary and advocacy for the trans community, was swatted and arrested in her home Aug. 5 after malicious actors sent a false email threatening others in her name.
Keffals on Tuesday posted a video describing the incident and said that she was awakened at gunpoint by London, Ontario police after an internet troll impersonated her and sent threatening messages to every member of the London city council. The false email, which Keffals said police showed her during her interrogation, said Keffals had killed her mother and planned to go to city hall with an illegal firearm to harm others.”*
Shock as London police admit strip-searching hundreds of children
I am posting this to show that the same racist bigotry toward black kids exists here in the US. The right allows this mentality to fester and grow. Hugs
A view of a Metropolitan police officer on patrol, in London, Friday, Oct. 1, 2021.Several hundred children were subjected to strip searches in London over the last two years, newly released figures reveal.
Data shows that 650 children aged 10 to 17 underwent the practice between 2018 and 2020.
Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children’s Commissioner for England, said she was “deeply shocked” that so many youngsters had been searched this way.
“In a strip search, your most intimate parts are searched,” said de Souza. “For any child, that’s going to be traumatic and concerning.”
The data also reveals ethnic disparities, added De Souza.
She said 58% of children strip-searched over the two-year period were black, despite just 19% of 10-17 year-olds in the UK capital having this ethnicity.
The commissioner also found that in nearly a quarter of cases the search took place without the presence of a third adult.
More than half of the searches did not lead to a prosecution, with Dame de Souza saying they were probably not “warranted or necessary in all cases”.
The commissioner launched her investigation following widespread outrage over the case of Child Q, a 15-year-old black schoolgirl who was strip-searched at her school in east London.
She was wrongly suspected of carrying cannabis.
The strip search prompted days of protests in Hackney after it emerged the schoolgirl was searched without another adult present and with the knowledge that she was menstruating. Her parents were not contacted.
In the UK, it is a legal requirement for an appropriate adult to be present during the strip search of a child, except in urgent situations.
A Child Protective Services report into the incident concluded that the search should “never” have taken place and that “racism (whether deliberate or not) was likely a contributing factor.”
Strip searches on females are rare in the UK, with 19 out of 20 performed on males.
De Souza said her findings showed the case of Child Q was not a one-off.
“I am not reassured that what happened to Child Q was an isolated issue, but instead believe it may be a particularly concerning example of a more systemic problem around child protection within the Metropolitan Police,” she said.
“I remain unconvinced that the Metropolitan Police is consistently considering children’s welfare and wellbeing.”
She also expressed concern about “holes in the data” recorded by London’s police force.
“For about one in five of the strip-searched, they can’t even tell me where they took place, so the data collection needs to be better,” de Souza said.
In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said it is “progressing at pace” to ensure children subject to intrusive searches are dealt with respectfully.
It added new measures have been introduced requiring an inspector to give authority before a search takes place.
The Right Is Misusing the Word “Grooming,” and It Can Have Serious Consequences
CHANDAN KHANNA/GETTY IMAGESAs survivors of sexual violence and advocates for survivors, we know exactly how precious and vital it is to be safe in our homes and our bodies, and how much is lost when that safety is violated by people who claim to love and protect us. We also know that words have power – both the words we use to describe our own experiences, and the words other people use to describe us.
That is why we can no longer stay silent while right-wing extremists appropriate the idea and terminology of “grooming” and “pedophilia” to attack gender equity and young people’s access to necessary education, whether these attacks are used to stoke fear and panic in attempts to ban any discussions of LGBTQ+ identity from classroom discussion, leveraged in efforts to ban books or get teachers or administrators fired, or used to undermine access to necessary relationships and sexuality education. The word “grooming” means something specific and serious: it is a secretive process by which someone builds false trust with a child they are intending to abuse.
LGBTQ+ representation and acceptance is life-saving for young people questioning their gender or orientation, and age-appropriate comprehensive sexual health education both gives youth skills to recognize and disclose abuse and helps reduce perpetration of sexual abuse.
This is why we are speaking today with one voice to demand that the journalists covering this devastating and false rhetoric do so responsibly. Whenever a source invokes the terminology of child abuse survivors as reasons to oppose education, LGBTQ+ rights, or other fundamental freedoms, we call on you to responsibly contextualize what child abuse actually is, and center the voices of survivor advocacy groups.
Child sexual abuse is real, and it is devastating. Standing in solidarity with the LGBTQ community has nothing to do with child sexual abuse. Child sexual abuse is about people in positions of power harming the most vulnerable. As Kendall Ciesemier, a survivor, wrote in the New York Times: “Abusers often seek to gain the trust of their victims and, in time, use that trust to assert control over them… No anti-LGBTQ education bill, book ban or health care ban, would have prevented my abuse or helped me in its aftermath.” For survivors who are trans or queer, remaining in the closet and not coming to terms with our own identities has never protected us from the kind of violence we endured as children. For some of us, our abuse may have been directly related to others’ attempts to suppress our identity, and the impacts of this abuse were made worse by being unable to access LGBTQ-specific information about sexuality, sexual health, and relationships.
The extremists who use this harmful rhetoric are not keeping anyone safe. They do not support or speak for survivors. To the contrary: They are muddying the waters of language, trivializing the suffering of survivors, gaslighting the public, and making it increasingly impossible for children to name when they are experiencing harm from abusers. When there is confusion about what child abuse actually is, it will be harder to identify it and intervene to stop it. Using inaccurate and sensational narratives to stir a moral panic about LGBTQ+ rights and sexual health education will lead to ineffective and harmful interventions and policy decisions based on fictions rather than evidence. These extremists are only fueling the epidemic of child sexual abuse, increasing violence against the LGBTQ+ community, and ultimately threatening public health.
Many of the same politicians co-opting the use of language created to name sexual violence are doing nothing when their political allies are discovered to have committed actual sexual violence. They are using this rhetoric because they believe that keeping us afraid will help them gain and cling to power. And by spreading these baseless, cynical allegations, they are inciting violence against queer and trans people — people who are already significantly more likely to be victims of abuse, rather than perpetrators of it.
In fact, the very initiatives that do reduce children’s vulnerability to groomers and prevent child sexual abuse are the ones extremists are weaponizing the language of child abuse to oppose. LGBTQ+ affirming books and curricula save lives by helping all kids know their lives and rights to bodily autonomy are important, and that their identities are valid. Studies repeatedly show that quality, inclusive relationships and sexuality education can reduce child abuse, and empowers children to report if someone does try to harm them. We are tired of being weaponized as a right-wing talking point against the education and protections that will prevent more children from experiencing sexual violence.
Survivors of abuse will tell you that information is power and the real threats are fear, shame, and silence. Don’t make children pay the price for these politicians’ lies. By centering survivor advocates in this narrative and educating the public about what grooming is and is not, you can help people see through this fear-mongering ploy, return the power of words to survivors, and make children across this nation safer in the process.
Respectfully,
Advocates for Youth
Anti-Slavery and Human Trafficking Initiative
Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence
Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking
Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault
Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence
EducateUS: SIECUS In Action
Equality Federation
Equality Florida
Equality North Carolina
Florida Freedom to Read Project
Freedom Network USA
Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault
Jane Doe Inc. (JDI), the Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence
Jews for a Secular Democracy
Keshet
Know Your IX
Lauren’s Kids
Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault
Michigan Organization of Adolescent Sexual Health Action Fund
Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault
Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence
Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence
National Alliance to End Sexual Violence
National Center for Transgender Equality
National Survivor Network
Nevada Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence
New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault
North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault
Northern Marianas Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence
Our Bodies Ourselves Today
Partners in Sex Education
Planned Parenthood of South, East and North Florida
Polaris
PRISM FL, Inc.
Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence
SafeBAE
Scarleteen
SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change
Stop It Now!
The Irina Project
The Trevor Project
Transinclusive Group
UN|HUSHED
University of Kansas Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Victim Rights Law Center
We Testify
Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault
You Are More Than
And the Following Individuals:
Amy Agigian
Anastasia Owen
Annie E. Clark
Beth Roselyn, PhD, Lecturer, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, University of Kansas
Chel Miller
Chris Ash, Advocate and Educator
Dr. Melinda Chen
Florida Representative Anna V. Eskamani
Florida Representative Carlos Guillermo Smith
Florida Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book
Hannah E. Britton
Heather Corinna
Ida V. Eskamani
Jaclyn Friedman
Kimm Topping
Lenny Hayes, Executive Director, Tate Topa Consulting
Kai X. Christmas
Kolyn Brown
Mary Eakins-Durand
Max Micallef, Queer Rights & Suicide Prevention Activist
Melanie Andrade Williams
Pamela Merritt, Executive Director of Medical Students for Choice
Rebecca Kling, Advocate for Transgender Rights
Renee Bracey Sherman
Rin Alajaji
Sarah Deer
Sarah “Mili” Milianta-Laffin
Sarah Sophie Flicker
Shael Norris
Soraya Chemaly
Stacey Vanderhurst
Takeata King Pang
That Time New England Was Swarming With Vampires | Answers With Joe
DeSantis Okay With Sheriffs Who Won’t Enforce Laws
Please notice the hypocrisy. He loves it when it is in his favor and helps his cult get their way, but if it is on something they are against he has to stomp it out hard. He is a thug and a gang leader at this point. He thinks he is a king of Florida. Hugs
The Orlando Sentinel reports:
Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren isn’t the only elected official in Florida who has promised not to enforce laws he thinks are unconstitutional. Some elected sheriffs have suggested they wouldn’t enforce gun control measures, tapping into an ideology that sheriffs are the final arbiter of what is constitutional.
But that movement hasn’t sparked action from Gov. Ron DeSantis, who ordered a statewide review of state attorneys and their policy positions.
DeSantis suspended Warren on Thursday, accusing him of putting himself above the law by pledging not to prosecute women seeking an abortion from their doctor and vowing to protect transgender minors receiving gender-transition treatment.
Read the full article.
The so-called “constitutional sheriffs” movement recently held a convention in which they vowed to surveil ballot drop boxes and polling places. One of the leaders of the movement, Michigan sheriff Dar Leaf, was today implicated in the breach of county voting machines.
republicans believe they are in charge of everything and everyone and our democracy is simply a temporary inconvenience to them.
I cant decide if Hypocrisy or Hate is the 1st rule in the rethuglikkan ethos.
Or is it Cruelty?
If they can enforce only the laws they want and make up their own laws, they are not much more than a pack of vigilantes. That is not legitimate law enforcement and don’t need to be obeyed. Let’s see how they like that.
Ron DeSantis is a fascist, and he and the movement he represents are a clear and present danger to this country. That needs to be said again and again.
Scottie's Playtime 