A new name has popped up in the chatter about Donald Trump’s potential pick for vice president: Sen. Tom Cotton. He’s reportedly high on the list because of his “experience and the ability to run a disciplined campaign.” As a running mate, the Arkansas senator “would carry relatively little risk of creating unwanted distractions for a presidential campaign already facing multiple legal threats,” according to The New York Times.
But it sure seems risky to put a no-holds barred racist, sexist creep on a debate stage with Vice President Kamala Harris. Cotton traded in his dog whistle for a racist bullhorn years ago, and has made headlines with his outrageous statements and behavior.
Here is a mere sampling of Cotton’s lowlights:
Attacking Ketanji Brown Jackson
During the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, Cotton teamed up with the other deplorables on the Senate Judiciary Committee to harangue the nominee about everything from QAnon theories to her history as a public defender, attempting to paint her as an adherent of “critical race theory,” as if that’s a bad thing.
Cotton really sunk to the bottom, however, when he all but called Jackson a Nazi sympathizer during a floor speech. “You know, the last Judge Jackson left the Supreme Court to go to Nuremberg and prosecute the case against the Nazis,” he said. “This Judge Jackson might’ve gone there to defend them.”
“Judge Jackson voluntarily represented three terrorists in three cases,” Cotton complained to CNN. “And she called American soldiers war criminals. I have no patience for it.” Jackson, of course, did not call U.S. troops war criminals.
Those were the accusations that prompted Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison to call Cotton the “lowest of the low” and a “little maggot-infested man.”
Attacking the first Muslim American appeals court nominee
Cotton’s recent bigoted attacks on Adeel A. Mangi, the first-ever Muslim American federal appeals court nominee, also made headlines when he subjected the Pakistani-born attorney to a barrage of Islamophobic questions about the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, al-Qaida’s 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, policy issues regarding the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, and antisemitism in general.
Cotton bragged about his harassment of Mangi on X (formerly Twitter), crowing about his “gotcha” question trying to paint Mangi as antisemitic. Which is ironic, given Cotton’s previous antisemitic tweet history.
Blocking nominees of color
Cotton has a history of opposing Democratic presidents’ Black and brown nominees. From 2014 through 2016, Cotton blocked President Barack Obama’s friend and nominee Cassandra Butts—a Black woman—from an ambassador job. Why? When Butts met with him about his block, she told The New York Times’ Frank Bruni, Cotton admitted it was because “he knew that she was a close friend of Obama’s … and that blocking her was a way to inflict special pain on the president.” Butts died of cancer more than 800 days after her nomination.
Smearing a Singapore national
The senator proved himself an equal opportunity bigot in a recent Senate hearing on child safety and social media, repeatedly attacking TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew—a Singapore national—about his supposed personal connections to “the Chinese Communist Party.” Chew repeatedly denied Cotton’s obnoxious assertions, reiterating again and again, “I served my nation of Singapore.”
That didn’t stop Cotton from running to Fox News to smear Chew. “Singapore, unfortunately, is one of the places in the world that has the highest degree of infiltration and influence by the Chinese Communist Party,” he said. “So, Mr. Chew has a lot to answer for, for what his app is doing in America and why it’s doing it.”
Defending slavery
Of course, Cotton’s racist theatrics haven’t been confined to Senate hearings. He authored legislation in 2020 to ban public schools from using a curriculum based on The New York Times’ 1619 Project, which dissected slavery’s impact on our country’s founding. He justified his bill by calling The 1619 Project “left-wing propaganda” and revisionist history at its worst.”
Cotton added that children should instead be taught that slavery “was the necessary evil upon which the union was built.”
National security sabotoge
When he wasn’t harassing people of color during hearings, Cotton also dabbled in national security sabotage, interfering in Obama’s negotiations with Iran on their nuclear capabilities. Cotton spearheaded a letter from GOP senators to Iranian leaders telling them that even if they came to an agreement with the U.S., future administrations and/or Congress could renege on it.
That infamous New York Times op-ed
And don’t forget Cotton’s gross New York Times op-ed titled “Send In The Troops,” which called for Donald Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act and use “an overwhelming show of force” against protesters who took to the streets nationwide in the wake of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of police. The column incited fierce backlash, which led to backpedaling from The New York Times and the opinion page editor’s resignation.
None of this will diminish Cotton’s prospects with Trump, who likes him because he’s a smart guy with an elite education. Also, he’s a reliable sycophant.
Cotton has refused to condemn Trump’s love of Vladimir Putin, and has bragged about how he ignored the evidence and arguments in Trump’s first impeachment.
“My aides delivered a steady flow of papers and photocopied books, hidden underneath a fancy cover sheet labeled ‘Supplementary Impeachment Materials’, so nosy reporters sitting above us in the Senate gallery couldn’t see what I was reading,” Cotton wrote in his 2022 memoir.
Everything about Cotton appeals to Trump—and everything about him will revolt voters.
We’re heading across the pond for this week’s episode of “The Downballot” after the UK just announced it would hold snap elections—on July 4, no less. Co-host David Beard gives us Yanks a full run-down, including how the elections will work, what the polls are predicting, and what Labour plans to do if it finally ends 14 years of Conservative rule. We also take detours into Scotland and Rwanda (believe it or not) and bear down on a small far-right party that could cost the Tories dearly.
I did not understand how a simple flag once flown by George Washington became such a symbol of dominance and hate, until I read this article. Hugs. Scottie
At the Save America Rally on Jan. 6 in Washington, D.C., a white flag printed with a bright green pine tree, reading the words, “An Appeal to Heaven,” flew alongside popular right-wing flags. In the crowds of thousands, flags such the yellow Gadsden (“Don’t Tread on Me”) and the Revolutionary War-era Betsy Ross flag (a symbol that has been used in racist contexts) stood out amidst scores of Trump 2020 and traditional American flags.
Trump supporters near the U.S. Capitol on January 06, 2021 in…
Trump supporters near the U.S. Capitol on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. The protesters stormed the historic…
But the Pine Tree flag had particular significance at the Capitol riots. According to the book, “The American Flag: An Encyclopedia of the Stars and Stripes in U.S. History, Culture, and Law,” it was an early Revolutionary War era battle flag that took the phrase, “An Appeal to Heaven,” from John Locke’s arguments against the divine right of kings. Back then, the flag was meant to symbolize the right of armed revolution in the face of tyranny. The book, “Standards and Colors of the American Revolution” reports that it was flown by a small squadron of warships under George Washington’s command.
As of 2013, though, the flag was adopted as the emblem of South Carolina-based preacher Dutch Sheets’ Christian initiative aimed at “gathering a network of fellow believers serving Christ in public office” across the U.S. The initiative is aptly named, “An Appeal to Heaven.” Sheets also published a book with the same title and travels all over the country promoting his movement, posting daily prayer sessions to his more than two hundred thousand followers on YouTube. According to Baylor University communications professor, Leslie Hahner, the “Appeal to Heaven” movement’s tenets contain overtones of both Christian Nationalism and Christian Dominionism.
“Christian Nationalism,” she explained, “is a set of ideological beliefs expressed by [some] white, evangelical Christians. Their beliefs champion the U.S. as a Christian nation, as one that is ordained by God. It’s often connected to, if not an outright embodiment of, ideologies of white supremacy.”
Sheets and his supporters are concerned with spreading their ideology among elected representatives across the country. In October 2020, Sheets tweeted a picture of himself with the Pine Tree flag at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, where he was “decreeing America’s reset.”
Source: Twitter
Hahner notes that, “Christian Dominionism is a set of beliefs and practices [that] often manifest through a smaller sect of white, evangelical Christians and some sections of Catholicism.” According to Hahner, followers of Christian Dominionism, many of whom are supporters of former Pres. Trump, believe that “God gave [them] the [United States]…and that God’s battle with Satan is currently playing out in the arena of politics and elsewhere.” In that way, she says, “Dominionism suggests that white supremacy manifests through God’s hand.”
Sheets’s supporters photographing themselves with the flag outside the Missouri State Capitol. Source: Twitter
Sheets’ “Appeal to Heaven” movement is but one example of a marked rise in Christian Nationalism in the U.S., according to both experts in the field and my research for the Tow Center’s VizPol tool. The tool helps journalists identify unfamiliar political symbols, their contexts and their associations, particularly at protests. I co-wrote an article about the symbols and flags present at the U.S. Capitol riots on Jan. 6 — and their meanings — using the VizPol tool. In the analysis of the day, we found that several other symbols, including those with secessionist, Norse, and neo-Confederate connotations, evoked the sentiment that participants saw themselves as waging an all-out war. In their storming of the Capitol, rioters seemed to believe that they were preserving their white supremacist version of the United States. Similarly, bearers of the Pine Tree flag at the “Save America” rally seemed to be attempting to further their own Christian Nationalist agenda. Taken in this light, the Pine Tree flag can be seen as a symbol of the fight to elevate the influence of biblical law in American society.
According to Hahner, the Pine Tree flag is also flown by eco-fascists and tech accelerationists, but in a different context than that of Christian Nationalists and Christian Dominionists. Further, the Pine Tree flag associated with Christian Nationalism shouldn’t be confused with the Revolutionary War Era Bunker Hill flag. This flag also contains a pine tree and was flown at the Capitol insurrection, but its meaning differs from that of the “Appeal to Heaven” iteration.
In an article about violent Christian Nationalism on display at the storming of the Capitol, Jack Jenkins wrote that the Pine Tree flag “has become a banner for Christian Nationalism.” Quoting Andrew Whitehead, a sociology professor at Indiana University, Jenkins said that the sentiment represented by the flag (a call to revolution) is common in evangelical circles:
“‘Christian Nationalism really tends to draw on kind of an Old Testament narrative, a kind of blood purity and violence where the Christian nation needs to be defended against the outsiders,’” Whitehead said. “‘It really is identity-based and tribal, where there’s an us-versus-them.’”
While Sheets’ movement and its appropriation of the Pine Tree flag are tied to both extreme political arms of Christianity, Christian Nationalism differs from Christian Dominionism in a few key ways. For one, according to Prof. Hahner of Baylor, the dominionist movement in its current form only became popular recently. “Nationalism is more mainstream, while Dominionism is the deeper belief.Some aspects of Dominionism hold that demons are literally embodying the U.S. left, and that there is a holy war that the right must engage. So, Dominionism and Nationalism have become an à la carte menu that circulates and props up oppressive and genocidal beliefs,” Hahner said..Hell
In an article the day before the Capitol riots, Bellingcat argued that the lines between various far-right movements, including QAnon, the Proud Boys, general Trump supporters, and explicitly neo-Nazi groups were blurring. They reported that the movements were coalescing together into a united front by examining the increasing incidence of neo-Nazi symbols among political demonstrations in D.C. leading up to Jan 6th. The events were organized by far-right groups who have historically been less associated with neo-Nazism. In a similar vein, it is worth examining where else the Pine Tree flag has been used.
Flags and symbols like the Pine Tree flag aren’t always used in uniform or straightforward ways. And as Christian Nationalism is more mainstream than Christian Dominionism, some might use the flag that is associated with the dominionist movement without knowingly subscribing to deeper dominionist beliefs. But before its appearance at the riots and storming of the Capitol in January, the flag has been known to be used by religious conservatives in the Republican Party.
After attending the “Save America” rally on Jan. 6, a Republican state senator from Pennsylvania, Doug Mastriano, released a Facebook Live video speaking in front of the Pine Tree flag. It appears behind him in an interview with conservative television network Newsmax (Newsmax repeatedly promoted baseless claims about voter fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election). The cover photo of his self-described personal Facebook page is also the Pine Tree flag.
Source: Facebook
Source: Facebook
Masitrano has a history of pushing legislation with ties to religious beliefs.He co-introduced a “heartbeat bill” in Pennsylvania (which would make abortion upon detection of a fetal heartbeak illegal) along with a fellow Republican in the state legislature, Rep. Stephanie Borowicz. Her Facebook cover photo is a picture of the same flag flying in the Pennsylvania state capitol.
Source: Facebook
The flag was flown over the Illinois State Capitol in March 2019 to promote an upcoming “National Day of Prayer,” a seemingly government-sponsored religious activity (first signed into law by Ronald Reagan in 1988). Illinois Republican state representative Chris Miller was photographed alongside it at the same event. Miller is the husband of Mary Miller, a recently elected Illinois congresswoman who courted controversy this year for making a speech in which she invoked Adolf Hitler.
Arkansas Republican state senator Jason Rapert is also frequentlyphotographed with the flag. Rapert is the founder and president of the Christian ministry, Holy Ghost Ministries, and of the conservative group, National Association of Christian Lawmakers, whose stated aims are to, “bring lawmakers together in support of clear biblical principles.” He often adds the hashtag #AppealToHeaven to his social media posts, like in this homophobic tweet aimed at Pete Buttigieg. In 2019, Rapert was a guest speaker at one of Dutch Sheets’ “Appeal to Heaven” conferences.
Source: Holy Ghost Ministries Website
Former Pres. Trump has been associated with the flag, too. At the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in 2017, it was seen flying behind him during a speech. Sheets noticed and celebrated this on Twitter. In October 2020, Trump attended a service at the International Church of Las Vegas, where pastor Marc Goulet unveiled the flag while making a speech praising Trump and his policies. Trump later tweeted the moment.
Source: Internet Archive
Goulet’s gesture was then trumpeted by Joey Gibson, founder of the far-right group, Patriot Prayer, which often collaborates with the Proud Boys in the Pacific Northwest. In the post, Gibson dissects the political significance of the Pine Tree flag being presented at a Christian pro-Trump event.
Source: Twitter
But the use of the flag as a political symbol of Christianity isn’t limited to elected officials. In 2015, it was flown outside the U.S. Supreme Court at a rally organized by conservative groups attempting to stop the court from legalizing same-sex marriage.
Source: Tweet by Steven Holtze, president of the Conservative Republicans of Texas PAC
In 2016, it appeared during a deadly standoff in Oregon, when armed militias and other anti-government activists occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge for weeks. When one of the group’s leaders, Ammon Bundy, was charged with felonies related to the standoff, his supporters gathered outside the federal courthouse in Portland, Pine Tree flags in tow. Portland-based Photographer David Krug tweeted at least twoinstances of the flag at the Bundy trial protest. (Bundy was later acquitted.)
Source: David Krug, Twitter
Last year, at least one person carried it at a Jan. 20 Richmond gun rights rally at the Virginia State Capitol building, which an estimated twenty-two thousand people attended. It was also present at the very first anti-lockdown protest on April 15 in Lansing, Michigan, where about a dozen heavily armed members of the Michigan Liberty Militia also showed up. The flag was spotted at subsequent anti-lockdown protests throughout the country.
People drive toward the Capitol building to express their unhappiness…
People drive toward the Capitol building to express their unhappiness with Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s Stay Safe, Stay…
The flag has also cropped up at neo-fascist events.In October of last year, extremism researcher JJ MacNab noted that it was flown by a member of the Proud Boys at a Proud Boys rally in Ohio.
Source: JJ MacNab, Twitter
The flag crops up in Christian circles other than Sheets’ “Appeal to Heaven” movement, too. It was seen flying at the National Mall at an October anti-lockdown “Worship Protest,” which called for the reopening of churches.
In 2021, four days before the events at the Capitol, the flag was prominently featured at an “Appeal to Heaven” rally in Greenville, South Carolina. Speakers and protestors had gathered to advance Christian interests and representation in politics. The tone was openly Christian Nationalist, with one speaker declaring that “we have designed [the United States] after [God]”.
Source: Fox Carolina News, Facebook
On Jan. 5 at Freedom Plaza, the day before the deadly events at the Capitol, it was flown conspicuously behind the stage where various speakers had gathered for a pro-Trump rally and set of speeches.
Source: Aaron Rupar, Twitter
The flag continued to show up even after the Capitol riots. On Jan. 15, Barrett Gay, an independent journalist who reports on fascism, tweeted photos of members of the neo-Nazi group, NSC-131, showing off a stolen riot helmet decorated with two flags: a parody of an antifascist flag and the Pine Tree flag.
Source: Barrett Gay, Twitter
It’s impossible to know whether all of the above uses of this flag were explicitly intended to be in support of Christian Nationalism or Christian Dominionism. But given its association with Sheets’ overtly Christian Nationalist and Christian Dominionist “Appeal to Heaven” movement, its presence at the Christian Nationalist “Appeal to Heaven” rally in Greenville, and its abundance at the Capitol insurrection amidst many believers of Christian Nationalism, clearly the flag has some association with these movements. And instances of elected officials who pursue a conservative religious agenda such as Pennsylvania state senator Doug Mastriano peddling the flag bolsters this association.
With this in mind, it is particularly illuminating to see the Christian-associated Pine Tree flag at events across the far-right and neo-fascist political spectrums. The presence of this flag at far-right demonstrations, as well as alongside certain members of the Republican Party (at least one of whom, Arkansas state senator Jason Rapert, openly associates with the “Appeal to Heaven” preacher Dutch Sheets) is a sign that Christian Nationalists and Christian Dominionists might have allies across the gamut of far-right-wing politics. This idea has been proposed by severaloutlets in the aftermath of the Capitol riots. And though in these contexts it could be less of a symbol of Christian Nationalism and more of an expression of the fight to preserve these movements’ conception of America (like other Revolutionary War era symbols were), the prevalence of the Pine Tree flag could be viewed as a dog-whistle signaling kinship between these far-right and white supremacist movements and the Christian Nationalist and Christian Dominionist movements.
As President Joe Biden and some Israeli officials call for a viable post-war plan for Gaza’s governance and reconstruction, Fareed argues Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hasn’t offered one because continuing the war against Hamas will allow him to stay in power and avoid a looming prosecution.
The Louisiana Senate passed legislation Thursday afternoon to forbid school staffers from talking to students in grades K-12 about sexual orientation or gender identity. House Bill 122 passed 28-7, with all Senate Republicans and two Democrats in support. It now heads to Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican who has claimed without citing evidence that some teachers aim to indoctrinate students with “radical” ideas. Landry is expected to sign the measure into law.
Sen. Beth Mizell, R Franklinton, said the bill’s intent was not to harm LGBTQ+ students but to make schools a “safe space” where parents know that staff won’t discuss sensitive topics with their children. The lawmaker behind HB 122, Rep. Dodie Horton, R-Haughton, also authored a bill to require all public schools and universities in the state to post the Ten Commandments. The Senate overwhelmingly approved that measure last week.
Last year Democratic former Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed Mizell’s anti-trans bill and Horton’s first attempt at a “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Mizell is an occasional guest on hate group leader Tony Perkins’ podcast. Horton has said she tried again on her “Don’t Say Gay” bill upon the encouragement of her pastor.
Louisiana lawmakers pass 'Don't Say Gay' bill banning classroom talk about sexuality, gender https://t.co/MEh80h9RkP
All this is going to do is fuck up queer kids more than they already are by society, and maybe that’s what they want. Cruelty is always the point. They want to punish queer kids if they dare to come out.
They were very upset when LGBT kids started thriving and everyone around being all functional and stuff, they are ddesperate to traumatize and invest in bullying a whole other generation for them to use to claim America needs complete Christonazi rule.
So I live in Louisiana and I work in a public university. The Ten Commandments will really go over well on my campus, which has a very high student population of Muslims, and, as far as I can tell, almost no Jews. I should post the three versions of the Ten Commandments on my office wall. In Hebrew. Which, yes, I can read.
Don’t say gay. We really are going backwards. I graduated from high school in 1979, and no one ever said anything about gay, except when taunting the faggots and calling them, well, faggots. Like me. I hate this state and have already told my husband that I am leaving upon my retirement in two years.
Similar to you, homophobia was strong in my remote town in northern Alberta. I graduated in 1977, when nothing positive was ever said about gay except ‘faggot’ and ‘homo’ and the french versions fifi’ and ‘tapette’. No wonder I came out at 33, who would want to admit to anyone, or themselves, they were gay in that environment? That’s why is so depressing to see this anti-gay movement today.
I attended the third largest high school in the country, with 6000 students. And it was still a horrible place to be gay. I didn’t come out until I was 27 after a heterosexual marriage and divorce.
Yup, I tried hard to be straight, I had many girlfriends and at least three of them would have married me. Living a lie for so long just destroyed me psychologically. Straight people just don’t understand what we’ve been through. Hugs madknits!
Apparently the “compromise” is allowing things to exist, as long as the people upset by them never have to confront them. Of course, that won’t last very long, since the only way to be certain they’ll never encounter anything upsetting is to eliminate it entirely (which in the case of LGBTQ+ existence requires ignoring the reality that it will always exist, no matter how hard they try to stamp it out.)
They take our important LGBTQ phrase ‘safe space’ and appropriate it for their homophobe parents. Plus, she has the audacity to say “the bill’s intent was not to harm LGBTQ+ students”!
If Trump reoccupies the White House, his religious right puppet masters will demand that he appoint a Secretary of Education who’ll enact these “don’t say gay” requirements nationwide and at all public school levels. Plus, “forced outings” by schools to parents.
Get out your “If Trump Wins” bingo card and be prepared to mark the square described above.
Aimee Dilger / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images
Ninety percent of LGBTQ+ youth in the U.S. say politics have negatively impacted their lives in the past year, according to a new report from LGBTQ+ suicide prevention organization The Trevor Project.
On Wednesday, researchers at the nonprofit unveiled their sixth annual survey on mental health among LGBTQ+ young people. Drawing on responses from more than 18,000 LGBTQ+ people between the ages of 13 and 24, the survey correlated anti-LGBTQ+ political issues with negative mental health outcomes for youth.
Recent politics had a negative impact on 90% of LGBTQ+ youth, researchers found, and 39% said they or their families had considered moving to another state due to new anti-LGBTQ+ policies or laws. (That number rose to 45% of trans or nonbinary youth.) Nearly half of respondents aged 13-17 said they had been bullied for being LGBTQ+ in the past year.
In turn, the report found that 39% of all respondents had seriously considered suicide in the past year, a drop of just 2% since the Trevor Project’s 2023 survey. That rate was higher for trans youth, and significantly so for young people of color. Only 50% of respondents who wanted mental health care were able to access it last year, the report also found.
At the same time, researchers stressed that young people are not naturally disposed to poorer mental health — rather, LGBTQ+ youth are “placed at higher risk because of how they are mistreated and stigmatized in society.” Respondents whose family, school, and/or community supported their identity, and who did not experience anti-LGBTQ+ bullying or discrimination, reported significantly lower rates of suicidal attempts or ideation.
“Once again, this year’s survey shows that considering or attempting suicide is not uncommon among LGBTQ+ young people,” said Dr. Ronita Nath, Vice President of Research at The Trevor Project, in a statement accompanying the full report this week. “However, many of the contributing risk factors for suicide are preventable, and often rooted in victimizing behaviors of others. The results of this survey clearly identify a need for adults and allies to create more affirming environments for LGBTQ+ young people, and better support them in being their true selves.”
The new report also looked at the impact of having a supportive school environment, finding that youth who had access to LGBTQ+-affirming spaces — especially gender-affirming spaces for trans youth — generally reported better mental health and lower rates of suicidal thoughts. An analysis of hate crime data in the Washington Post in March found a spike in intimidation and assault against LGBTQ+ students in K-12 schools between 2021 and 2022. Analysts found that the increase was more pronounced in states where lawmakers had introduced new policies restricting LGBTQ+ speech in schools.
In a lengthy interview with The Atlantic, Radcliffe talked about his relationship — or lack thereof — with the Harry Potter author.
“With such striking numbers and families literally wanting to uproot their homes to seek safety, lawmakers must seriously reconsider the real and damaging impact that their anti-LGBTQ+ policies and rhetoric create,” said Janson Wu, Senior Director of State Advocacy and Government Affairs, in the Trevor Project’s statement this week. “No ‘political victory’ should be worth risking the lives of young people.”
Since last year, the Trevor Project’s leadership has faced criticism for alleged mismanagement and labor violations related to the national 988 suicide prevention hotline. Last summer, members of the Trevor Project employee bargaining unit said they were laid off in an act of alleged union busting, while outside workers contracted for the crisis line said they were abruptly let go despite the now-permanent program’s expansion. In April, the Trevor Project laid off another six percent of its staff, leading some to comment that the internal mood was increasingly “gloomy.”
“The crisis workers are the lowest paid people in the organization […] which just baffles me because, you know, they’re doing the literal work of the mission of the org,” one anonymous source told the Washington Blade last month.
If you are in crisis, please call, text, or chat with the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.
According to a new report, anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes in K-12 schools have quadrupled in U.S. states that have laws restricting the rights of LGBTQ+ students.
A Washington Post analysis of FBI data on anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes taking place in K-12 schools and on college campuses, published on March 12 found that anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes “serious enough to be reported to local police” more than doubled across the country in recent years. The Post found that while an average of 108 anti-LGBTQ+ school hate crimes were reported between 2015 and 2019, that average rose to 232 between 2021 and 2022. According to FBI data, the most common hate crimes reported at schools were intimidation, simple assault (assault where no weapon was used), and vandalism.
However, this rise in school hate crimes was more pronounced in the 28 states that have enacted policies restricting LGBTQ+ students’ self-expression and/or limiting how teachers can talk about gender and sexuality in school. In these states, reported anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes on K-12 and college campuses more than tripled from an average of 28 per year between 2015 and 2019 to an average of 90 between 2021 and 2022.
As the Post points out, this increase is even more staggering when you remove college campuses and look at the anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes in K-12 schools only. In states that have enacted restrictive laws, there were more than four times the number of anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes across elementary, middle, and high schools, per year, from 2021 to 2022, compared with the years 2015 to 2019.
Although it’s only March, the American Civil Liberties Union is currently tracking a whopping 478 anti-LGBTQ+ bills across the U.S. this year, with 190 of those bills targeting student and educator rights.
Gerald Declan Radford, 65, initially claimed he shot Lay in self-defense. Prosecutors believe that Declan was the aggressor and was motivated by Lay’s sexual orientation.
Meanwhile, nonprofits that work with LGBTQ+ youth have reported an increase in crisis calls. According to the Post, The Trevor Project received over 500,000 crisis contacts during the fiscal year ending in July 2023 compared to the 230,000 the group received the previous year, while the Rainbow Youth Project received over 1,400 calls to its mental health crisis hotline per month in 2023 compared to 1,000 per month in 2022. According to the Rainbow Youth Project, calls from Oklahoma to the group’s hotline more than tripled after details about Nex Benedict, the trans Oklahoma teen of Choctaw ancestry who died the day after three older girls reportedly beat them in a school bathroom, became national news.
“Young people will say, ‘My government hates me,’ ‘My school hates me,’ ‘They don’t want me to exist,’” the Rainbow Youth Project’s founder and executive director, Lance Preston, told the Post. “That … is absolutely unacceptable. That is shocking.”
Racism like bigotry is surging in the south right now. All in backlash to a black man being elected president. The racist went crazy. All backed by big money wealthy racists. The university president said that public universities should stay neutral on social controversies that is why they are doing it. Wrong. Racism is not or at least shouldn’t be a controversy, a difference of view points. It is wrong. I say again for those needing clarification. Racism is wrong. Period. It needs to die off like slavery and the old Jim Crow laws, that sadly are making a comeback. Diversity, equality, and inclusion programs are very much needed, as are LGBTQ+ centers at schools along with gay straight student groups. These all help bring in more of the people who historically have been disadvantaged. Understand what they do. It is not quotas. It is making available places, education, jobs that were traditionally once denied to those groups. The fact that sometimes it means white straight cis people don’t get everything they want to or get that position that they think they are owed then too bad, you have lots more opportunities. It is crazy entitlement. The idea that every straight cis white person automatically is better and deserves opportunities before someone not white straight cis is just horrible. Yet that is what is sweeping red states. Republicans pushing the idea that somehow opening a door for those that had then closed, somehow hurts the white straight cis people. The republicans like fundamentalist Christians love to play the victim, they love to be aggrieved. The republicans look at everything as a limited pie where something for one person means less for them. That is not the way it is, equality and inclusion benefits everyone. Hugs. Scottie
North Carolina’s public university system board voted Thursday to repeal a nearly five-year-old diversity, equity and inclusion policy, meaning its 17 schools will likely join other major universities in cutting diversity programs and jobs.
The 24-member University of North Carolina Board of Governors approved its agenda, which included the diversity policy repeal, with two members voting against the repeal. Campus changes are expected to take place at the start of the next school year.
UNC System President Peter Hans [photo] said in his meeting remarks that students and faculty should be allowed to confront “competing ideas” but the role of public universities is to remain neutral on “political controversies.”
Students are holding a press conference ahead of the UNC Board of Governors' meeting this morning. The BOG will vote on whether to eliminate a policy requiring DEI at all public universities in the state. Students are urging them to keep the policy & DEI initiatives. #ncedpic.twitter.com/u0T386vHuK
#NCED Today the UNC System Board of Trustees voted to repeal its Diversity & Inclusion Policy in favor of “institutional neutrality.” In a survey conducted by the Forum, students and others expressed concerns about the impact of this decision.
And getting rid of diversity isn’t politically neutral either. To be completely neutral, they would have to present both sides or nothing at all politically. They took a side.
It’s very simple. The white Christians of NC feel threatened of losing their majority superiority so they want to send bat signals to people of color to leave or stay away.
A reminder: If the religious right’s puppet, Donald Trump, gets back into the White House, this sort of thing — this thing in North Carolina — will soon become national policy.
“… … students and faculty should be allowed to confront “competing ideas” but the role of public universities is to remain neutral on “political controversies.”
“Competing Ideas” = racism, homophobia, trans phobia, xenophobia, et al.
“Remain Neutral … …” = BULLFUCKINGSHIT! This decision is not being neutral. It’s being racist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, et al and political.
More of lets keep black people out of work and out of society. Make it so society is racist and segregated again. These white racist think any and all white people should get all the good jobs regardless of how unqualified. These racists claim any black person can’t be qualified for the job … because they are black. They want Jim Crow laws back. They somehow got into power riding the disgruntled anger white vote and now they are trying to push that racism on the rest of us. We have to stop them. We have to stop racism now. Hugs. Scottie
Florida Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody wants the state agency in charge of investigating violations of the Florida Civil Rights Act to inspect Starbucks’ diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.
Gov. Ron DeSantis and Moody announced the complaint against Starbucks on Wednesday during the governor’s guest host stint on “The Sean Hannity Show.”
“We’re going to make sure that in Florida this quota or hiring and programs that cause every employee to determine whether they are the problem based on the color of their skin, whether that violates Florida’s anti-discrimination laws, and so the matter will be investigated,” Moody said on the radio show.
Read the full article. As noted below, a federal appeals court has already said that DeSantis cannot act against private businesses over diversity practices.
— The Florida Phoenix (@FLPhoenixNews) May 22, 2024
#BREAKING: Florida announces investigation into Starbucks over the chain's purported DEI "quota" and training practices
"We are referring the matter to the Florida Commission on Human Relations for a full investigation of Starbucks and these practices." pic.twitter.com/MEgYG80y4f
In the Fascist State of Florida, if you hold a different political opinion (Disney), are gay and want to talk about your family (Don’t Say Gay), or believe that diversity is a good thing, you will be punished.
And somehow they will forget to mention that any of these futile actions will, when successfully contested in court, cost those rubes more money in taxes to cover Starbucks’ cash compensation and attorney fees
Apparently not enough white people are willing to work the shitty Starbucks jobs in Florida so that when Ashley Moody walks into one she’s not creeped out by all the skin tones other than white.
Florida Rethugs: “What’s all this BS about level playing fields? We liked it better when the fields were tilted towards us so we’re bringing that back.”
The Republicans will regulate companies and people’s lives to the nth degree to impose their religious-based right-wing beliefs. There is no issue too small or insignificant for them to not regulate. The religious right has been in a snit over their inability to engage in racial discrimination and segregation.
Hey everyone, just remember, to Republicans, diversity or any type of Affirmative Action is discrimination to…white people! The most discriminated against group of people in America! /s
Remember that for 50 or longer these hate churches have long claimed that being gay is unnatural, that two men having sex or two women having sex is unnatural because that is the phrasing in their old book. Yes the book written before people understood about germs. Now it is being shown to them it is natural. Oh crap they can’t have that. Hugs. Scottie
A new series from NBC called Queer Planet is providing fascinating looks at both homosexuality in the animal kingdom and at the people apparently incapable of even acknowledging that it exists. The trailer for the documentary series was released on May 17th and gave a preview of a “rich diversity of animal sexuality” with gay penguins, bisexual lions and sex-changing clownfish.
Despite the fact that there’s plenty of scientific basis for animals displaying homosexual behaviour (over 1500 species of animals, in fact), the trailer has caused intense outrage from conservatives who predictably think the series is pushing an agenda. Sentiments are similar in the YouTube comments for the trailer, which has been overwhelmingly swamped with dislikes. “This is actual insanity,” reads the top comment.
Read the full article. The series, narrated by Broadway star Andrew Rannells, debuts on Peacock on June 6th. The cult is busy on X declaring that they will cancel their Peacock subscriptions.
"Queer Planet" will be released in June.
The documentary by NBC is focused on "LGBTQI+ tolerance" among the animal kingdom…
Fundies: Being gay is wrong and goes against god and nature Gays: Being gay is normal, it happens in all mammals, here’s proof Fundies: LALALALA *fingers in ears*
So during Easter there’s always a bunch of Jesus programming that I can stream if I choose.
I choose not to.
That doesn’t mean I feel that I have the right to not allow anybody else to stream these programs. Do I get butt hurt over it? No, I don’t even mention it to friends and family.
I don’t know how these people can have such a narrow world view
Scottie's Playtime 