https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/09/trans-students-oklahoma-suing-state-transphobic-bathroom-bill/

For those that think it is a good thing to keep trans students from using the bathroom of their gender identity, please read how it makes these trans kids feel and how it singles them out for even more harassment.    As for the excuse used that this is about safety there has NEVER been a verified case of a trans person assaulting anyone in a bathroom, but there are cases where trans people have been violently attacked trying to use a bathroom.    Also cis women have been attacked and accused of being trans because they did not look womanishly enough for the haters.   For those that say they would feel funny knowing a trans person is in the same bathroom with them I would ask WTF?   Do you knock on stall doors to inquire if anyone inside them is trans?   Do you stare at people at the sinks washing their hands wondering what their genitalia is?  II have used bathrooms complete with individual shower stalls that were open to everyone no matter what sex, genitalia, or gender.  Their was no problems.   Anyway the SCOTUS has already found for one trans student on the bathroom issue, finding it was illegal to not let a trans person use the bathroom of the gender.    However there are now more religious fanatics on the court.   But these bathroom laws are solutions looking for a problem, they really are more political statements than needed laws.    Hugs 

“Being able to use the boys’ restroom might seem like a small thing to others, but it is a vital step in my transition” said 16-year-old Andy Bridge.

 

By Greg Owen Friday, September 9, 2022    

Andy Bridge Photo: Andy Bridge

 

Three students in Oklahoma are suing state and school officials over the latest “bathroom bill” denying transgender kids the same rights as their fellow cisgender classmates.

Andy Bridge, a 16 year-old, and two other students (who filed the lawsuit anonymously) are being represented by Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the ACLU of Oklahoma.

In May, the Oklahoma state senate passed Senate Bill (SB) 615 in a 38 – 7 vote. The bill was quickly signed into law by Gov. Kevin Stitt (R). The law forces all pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade public schools and public charter schools in the state to restrict transgender students’ use of school restrooms and locker rooms to those consistent with the gender they were assigned at birth.

The law mandates a reduction in funding for school districts that don’t comply and allows parents to sue school districts if they believe their child is in danger of sharing a restroom with a transgender classmate.

Supporters of the new law say it promotes “safety.”

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, says SB 615 violates the U.S. Constitution and Title IX by discriminating based on sex, gender identity, and transgender status. The complaint alleges the plaintiffs — including Bridge, another high school student, and a middle school student — will be “irreparably harmed” by the law. The suit calls on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma to issue a preliminary injunction to block its enforcement.

Bridge said in a statement, “I am a boy, and while living authentically hasn’t always been easy, it’s given me a sense of relief and happiness. Being able to use the boys’ restroom might seem like a small thing to others, but it is a vital step in my transition.”

According to the lawsuit, Bridge — a senior at Noble High School, just south of Oklahoma City — used the boys’ restrooms at his school last year without issue. With the new law on the books, he was told this fall by the school’s principal and vice-principal that he was now required to use a single-occupancy restroom instead.

Bridge was warned that if he violates the new policy, he’ll be subject to disciplinary action.

Of the boy’s restroom, Bridge said, “Being barred from using it leaves me singled out and excluded from the rest of my friends and classmates, but also feeling like I’m being told that I’m not worthy of the same respect and dignity as everyone else.”

“This is not the first such attack on transgender schoolchildren, and sadly it will likely not be the last,” said Bridge’s co-counsel Nicholas Guillory with Lambda Legal. “Anti-transgender state legislators nationwide keep singling out transgender students for harmful, discriminatory treatment, notwithstanding that we and our allies have successfully quashed these efforts wherever they have popped up.”

North Carolina’s passage of a law restricting restroom access in public buildings in 2016 cost the state billions of dollars in lost jobs and revenue. It was ultimately blocked in court.

“What states like Oklahoma, Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina have done time after time is find new ways to attack these kids for their political gains among radical voters,” said Human Rights Campaign state counsel Cathryn Oakley when the Oklahoma bill passed.

“Legislation targeting transgender youth in this way is a violation of both federal civil rights law as well as the United States Constitution,” Oakley added.

LGBTQ students in a Florida school district successfully organized earlier this year to oust two anti-LGBTQ “lunatics” from a local school board. The now-former school board members supported book banning and the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law.

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/09/anti-lgbtq-activist-rants-childrens-hospital-exposing-kids-radical-gender-theory/

And the anti-LGBTQ+ activists strike another hospital.   Understand what they are doing, this is terrorism against a business doing lawful / legal activity.  These haters cannot get their way at the ballot box so they need to threaten doctors and hospital to scare them, to make them so afraid they won’t do the legal act of caring for trans kids.   They are egged on by republicans who think targeting and attacking a vulnerable segment of the population will secure an election win.   As for the issues of the links in the presentation, even if you think that kids from preteen through to older teens don’t know how to shop online at these legal sex shops I would tell you that kids can google sex toys better than most adults, but the important thing is the presentation was for adults not children.     Remember the goal of these activists is to remove the LGBTQ+ from society.    Hugs

Christopher Rufo described what he believes to be a “profoundly disturbing collusion” between LGBTQ-affirming schools and hospitals.

 

By Daniel Villarreal Thursday, September 8, 2022    

Photo: Shutterstock

 

Christopher Rufo, a 38-year-old anti-LGBTQ right-wing activist, is claiming that a Chicago children’s hospital has partnered with public schools to promote “radical gender theory,” kink, and sex toys to children.

As “proof” of his claim, Rufo pointed to a slideshow presentation given by representatives from the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago to administrators, teachers, and staff in middle- and high-schools located in four of the city’s public school districts.

The slideshow, entitled “Beyond Binary: Gender in Schools,” discussed how school staff can make students feel safe regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. It defined terms like cisgender and non-binary, and transphobia; discussed the historic and societal impact of gender discrimination; shared statistics on the challenges facing LGBTQ students; offered suggestions for making schools feel more welcoming to such students; and encouraged participants to discuss how to handle in-school incidents involving students coming out or those who object to LGBTQ-inclusion in schools.

It made sense that the hospital would offer such a presentation to schools since it also provides gender-affirming healthcare to trans and non-binary youth.

However, in a blog post on his personal site, Rufo wrote, “Lurie Children’s Hospital has provided materials to school leaders promoting radical gender theory, trans activism, and sexually explicit materials in at least four Chicago-area public school systems.”

He took particular offense at the last two pages of the presentation which contained links to additional resources, including support groups like GLSEN, PFLAG, and the National Center for Transgender Equality; educational websites like the Public Broadcasting System, Howard Brown health services, and the Chicago school system’s documents on gender inclusivity; as well as online articles from Teen Vogue about LGBTQ sex education and queer-inclusive books for teens.

Rufo criticized the list of resources for including links to a “’kid friendly website for gender affirming gear,’ which sells items such as artificial penis ‘packers’ and female-to-male ‘trans masc pump[s].” Another link, he added, was for an “’LGBTQ friendly sex shop for teens’ that sells a range of ‘dildos,’ ‘vibrators,’ ‘harnesses,’ ‘anal toys,’ ‘trans-friendly toys,’ and ‘kink & BDSM’ equipment.”

“The links include graphic descriptions of sadomasochism, bondage, pornography, and transgressive sex,” Rufo wrote. “Beyond the lurid nature of some of the content, these documents reveal a profoundly disturbing collusion between radical gender activists in the medical system and the public school bureaucracy.”

Lurie Childrens Hospital Be… by wonkette666

Rufo wrote that the hospital “has laundered the promotion of queer theory, synthetic sexual identities, and child sex toys under the guise of ‘health and education,’ devoting significant resources toward building what policy analyst Leor Sapir has called a school-to-clinic pipeline. The process is simple: children learn about and adopt ‘gender expansive’ identities in schools, which then direct them to gender clinics that can provide puberty blockers, hormone therapies, surgeries, and drug regimens that often add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs over time.”

In short, Rufo believes that the presentation was just a way to help the hospital make money off of trans and non-binary youth.

While one could argue whether the hospital should’ve included such resource links in their presentation or whether educators should send students to such websites, the presentations were only shown to adults and there’s no proof that the links were ever shared with any children. Additionally, sex toys, packers, and pumps are normal products for humans exploring sex and the transition process.

That doesn’t matter though because Rufo’s claims seek primarily to shock people who are largely ignorant about or opposed to trans healthcare, sex education in schools, and what teens view privately online.

Rufo touts himself as an “activist challenging critical race theory and gender ideology in America’s institutions.” The New Yorker credits him with helping create the national panic over so-called “critical race theory” (CRT) being taught in schools.

But Rufo’s opposition to CRT and LGBTQ issues in schools is part of his long game in sowing distrust against the public education system in order to champion for-profit school privatization.

He has repeatedly claimed that public school teachers regularly sexually abuse children and that classroom LGBTQ discussions are meant to “groom” children for such abuse. He was present when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed the infamous “Don’t Say Gay” law, The New York Times reported.

As Rufo is likely aware, fomenting anger at gender-affirming children’s hospitals inspires others to issue death and bombing threats against pediatric doctors. This might discourage them from rendering such care and also hinders their ability to care for other sick and injured children.