Category: LGBTQ+ / Gay / Trans / Gender

Some things I wanted to share from the last four days

Uncle Mark3 days ago

It ALWAYS starts out with the Trojan Horse of protecting the young children, before quickly expanding to including all teens/minors, and then the banishing of LGBTQ adults from sight…”for the sake of the children,” and not for the bigoted adults hiding behind them.

Halou3 days ago edited

bans the “instruction, guidance, activities, or programming regarding sexual orientation or gender identity to students enrolled in prekindergarten through 12th grade

Question 1. Are you married?
Question 2. How do you explain that to an 18 year old without alluding to the fact that you’re a man and the person to which you are married is not?

Question 3. Why is that an exception to your rule?

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Ban and pushcoming for your freedomshandmaiden of fascismwoke means

Flora DeMann rednekokie4 days ago

I’ve been dubious of the word “fascism” being thrown around. But it’s the right word. After reading How Fascism Works by Jason Stanley, I am convinced that DeSantis is in fact a fascist.

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“What normalization does is transform the morally extraordinary into the ordinary. It makes us able to tolerate what was once intolerable by making it seem as if this is the way things have always been.”

‘Moms For Liberty’ Exemplifies GOP’s Exterminationist Rhetoric

CNN’s Elle Reeve spoke with Darcy Schoening, the Moms for Liberty chapter chair in El Paso, Colorado. Reeve asked Schoening if she thinks there is a high-level, coordinated effort to make more children become gay or transition, and she said yes. Reeve asked who she thinks is behind that effort. Schoening said, “Teachers’ unions and our president, and a lot of funding sources.” Reeve followed up, “Why would they want more kids to be gay and trans?”

Texas Lawmakers Approve Bill To Place Chaplains In Public Schools, Sponsor Refused To Ban Proselytizing

Texas Lawmakers Approve Bill To Place Chaplains In Public Schools, Sponsor Refused To Ban Proselytizing

Great dogs that love gravy.   This is purely pushing their Christian religion and they admit it by refusing to prohibit proselytizing to vulnerable kids.  Think if you were a parent of a different faith or no faith?  Ask why it is only Christian chaplains allowed in the bill?   Why do the religious leaders need no qualifications, but everyone else does?  This is simply the end run of the Christian nationalist to make every school a Christian school, forcing their faith on every child possible with the backing of the force of law.   You know that Christians wouldn’t tolerate it if a different faith was allowed to do this.  You know this is because they can not stand secular proven fact driven studies in schools, which they have been trying to overthrow since evolution began to be taught.     This is outright religious indoctrination and attempting to force themselves on to every family that has a child in PUBLIC schools.   Again this is not about religious schools, but public schools where kids of families of different faiths and no faith go.   As I am preparing this post I am listening to a video of a trans girl who went to school all her Jr / Sr high school years as a girl accepted by all the students.   She was prevented from going to her graduation unless she dressed like a boy.   She refused, and a trump appointed judge backed up the school.   So this girl missed her graduation and another cis girl was told to change out of pants and wear a dress or she couldn’t walk on stage during graduation to get her diploma.   Think on that people, the second girl couldn’t wear pants.    1950s stereotypes here we come.    Hugs.

 

The Texas Tribune reports:

Speaking to state lawmakers last month, Rocky Malloy argued that putting unlicensed religious chaplains in schools could prevent youth violence, teen suicide and teacher burnout. And he rejected concerns that school chaplains might use their access to recruit kids to Christ.

Chaplains “are not working to convert people to religion,” Malloy, the head of the National School Chaplain Association, told the Senate Committee on Education. “Chaplains have no other agenda other than to be present in relationships, care for individuals and to make sure everybody on campus is seen and heard.”

What Malloy didn’t mention was that, for decades, he has led another group that promotes school chaplains as a tool for evangelism. Malloy is the founder of Mission Generation, which had been open about its desire to proselytize in schools.

Religion News Service reports:

The Texas Legislature has passed a bill that would allow schools to employ chaplains in addition to school counselors, with Republicans overriding objections by Democrats to send the proposal to the governor’s desk.

The bill will permit school districts to hire chaplains who, unlike school counselors, are not required to be certified by the State Board for Educator Certification. A version of the bill already sailed through the state Senate last month.

“I worry that this bill will lead to Christian nationalists infiltrating our public schools and indoctrinating our students,” Democratic Rep. James Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian, told Religion News Service. The chief sponsor of the bill in the House, Rep. Cole Hefner, refused to amend the bill to bar proselytizing,

Lestat Redux2 days ago

Paging The Satanic Temple . . .

StarGmom 2 days ago

“And he rejected concerns that school chaplains might use their access to recruit kids to Christ.”

Oh my fucking sides.
It’s a recruitment opportunity.

dagobarbz, fine Italian shoes  StarGmom2 days ago

I’d be more worried about sexual abuse than indoctrination, but that’s just me.

mikeiver  dagobarbz, fine Italian shoes 2 days ago

How about both?

Doug105  StarGmom2 days ago

It’s what they’ve wanted since the 70s.

Lizard  StarGmom2 days ago

That’s literally what they do. If they cared about “mental health and burnout,” they’d hire actual professionals with actual accreditation.

April Smith  StarGmom2 days ago edited

Exactly. No one is born Christian so Christians need to recruit new members otherwise Christianity would die off.

They are the original groomers.

Gregory In Seattle  StarGmom2 days ago

Recruiting children to their brand of snake oil — grooming, if you will — is the whole bleeding point of this law. Republicans would not be pushing it if they could not use it to indoctrinate kids.

Halou 2 days ago

“…chaplains who, unlike school counselors, are not required to be certified by the State Board for Educator Certification”

I’m guessing these “chaplains” also get to sneak into the schools without a criminal records check? And given this is happening in a neo-confederate red state, I’m guessing that, if not now then certainly later on, they will be empowered to take disciplinary action against LGBT+ kids without regard for the school’s regular processes?

Fire & Smoke Crown  Halou2 days ago

More likely reporting them to parents, and if the parents are supportive, expect a law that removes the kids from the home.

Gigi2 days ago

They don’t give AF about keeping kids safe. The ONLY reason they want chaplains in schools is so they can be groomed and indoctrinated into their KKKristian cult.

Ninja09802 days ago

Trying to gut the wall between church and state.

 

Bathroom bills requiring people to use assigned at birth facility make no sense.

Puberty Blockers for Youth

http://www.phsa.ca/transcarebc/child-youth/affirmation-transition/medical-affirmation-transition/puberty-blockers-for-youth#:~:text=Puberty%20blockers%20are%20considered%20to,that%20the%20effects%20are%20minimal.

Puberty Blockers for Youth

Information on puberty blocker medication used to delay the onset of puberty.

 

The changes to your body that happen during puberty can be distressing if they are not in line with your gender. Puberty blockers can help relieve this distress. Delaying puberty gives you more time to explore your gender identity, before changes happen to your body that can’t be reversed.

If you are under age 19, the criteria for getting a prescription for a puberty blocker are:

  • a long-lasting and intense pattern of gender non-conformity or gender dysphoria.
  • gender dysphoria emerged or worsened with the onset of puberty.
  • coexisting psychological, medical, or social problems, if any, are stable enough to start treatment.
  • the adolescent having given informed consent. The consent of your guardian is preferred but not absolutely necessary under the BC Infants Act

Usually an endocrinologist (hormone specialist) monitors puberty blockers and hormone therapy for youth, due to changing needs during adolescence. The endocrinologist can work with your primary care provider for routine monitoring.

The puberty blocker used most often in BC is called Lupron Depot. It is given through a monthly injection in the thigh. Lupron Depot is quite expensive; it costs around $400 a month. It is covered by BC PharmaCare; some families have the cost covered by the PharmaCare Plan G. Extended health care plans may also cover this medication.

Effects of puberty blockers

If you were assigned male at birth, puberty blockers will stop or limit:

  • growth of facial and body hair
  • deepening of the voice
  • broadening of the shoulders
  • growth of Adam’s apple
  • growth of gonads (testes) and erectile tissue (penis)

If you were assigned female at birth, puberty blockers will stop or limit:

  • breast tissue development
  • broadening of the hips
  • monthly bleeding

In both cases, puberty blockers will temporarily stop or limit:

  • growth in height
  • development of sex drive
  • impulsive, rebellious, irritable or risk-taking behaviour
  • accumulation of calcium in the bones
  • fertility

There are no known irreversible effects of puberty blockers. If you decide to stop taking them, your body will go through puberty just the way it would have if you had not taken puberty blockers at all.

Risks of taking puberty blockers

Puberty blockers are considered to be very safe overall.

We are not sure if puberty blockers have negative side effects on bone development and height. Research so far shows that the effects are minimal. However, we won’t know the long-term effects until the first people to take puberty-blockers get older.

If you have erectile tissue (penis) and think you might eventually want to have a vaginoplasty, talk with your primary care provider or endocrinologist for more information. Vaginoplasty is the surgical procedure that creates a vagina. If you start taking puberty blockers early in puberty you might not be able to have the vaginoplasty surgery that is most commonly used in Canada, later as an adult. There are alternative techniques available, such as the use of a skin graft or colon tissue.

Risks of withholding puberty blockers

Health care providers refusing to provide puberty blockers to youth can cause additional distress, and may lead to anxiety and depression. 

Withholding puberty blockers and hormone therapy is not a neutral option and can result in an increased risk of mental health issues.

Texas House Advances Bill To Criminalize Drag Shows

Texas House Advances Bill To Criminalize Drag Shows

Again the devil is in the details of the bill.   At first, it sounds normal, to protect kids from sex or nudity.   But then the republicans give away the game by throwing in the words abnormal, unhealthy, degrading, shameful.  All words the right wing fundamentalist religious haters use to describe men wearing clothing these religious people associate with female gender.   This the goal, to outlaw men dressing as women or doing drag while keeping kids from seeing it in public normalizing it for them.   Instead the point is to make men dressing as women and women as men to seem harmful and shameful.   It is all about rolling back the advances in acceptance and tolerance in society of people who don’t follow the social norms of the 1950s, rolling back accepting of the LGBTQ+ people.   Again this is an attempt by religious groups to force Christian moral dictates on the public.   Look at what bills the people involved pushed, things like mandating the Christian 10 commandments in all schools forcing the Christian religion on all students regardless of their or their families religious affiliations.  Hugs 

The Texas Tribune reports:

The Texas House gave initial approval to a bill restricting children from seeing sexually explicit performances on Friday. Senate Bill 12 was originally designed to restrict kids from attending drag shows, but its most recent version seeks to criminalize any live performance that the bill defines as sexual.

It defines a sexually explicit performance as one in which someone is nude or appeals to the “prurient interest in sex.” SB 12 would fine business owners $10,000 for hosting such performances in front of kids. It would also slap performers violating the proposed restriction with a Class A misdemeanor, which could result in up to a year in jail, a $4,000 fine or both.

On Friday, Republican state Rep. Matt Shaheen of Plano cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s definition of prurient interests, which is defined as “erotic, lascivious, abnormal, unhealthy, degrading, shameful, or morbid interest in nudity, sex, or excretion,” though the language’s interpretation varies by community.

Read the full article.

The original version of the anti-drag bill has already passed in the state Senate, which will have to revisit the amended version.

Rep. Matt Shaheen [photo above] first appeared on JMG in 2015 when he introduced a bill to nullify LGBTQ protections statewide.

The author of the bill, GOP state Sen. Bryan Hughes, appeared here in April for his bill that would defund public libraries that host Drag Queen Story Hour.

In March, he appeared here for his bill to raise taxes on bars that host drag shows. A Texas lesbian bar has since been denied insurance.

Last year Hughes appeared here when his bill to force public schools to display “In God We Trust” posters went into effect.

In 2021, he appeared here for his bill banning criticism of white supremacy in history lessons.

RELATED: Several Pride organizations in Florida have banned drag performances or canceled events since DeSantis signed a similar bill that criminalizes shows that would potentially be within the view of children.

 

John Masters  Girlgoon5 hours ago

They’ll use that “abnormal” part of the definition. Anything they don’t like/approve of is, to them, “abnormal.”

J.Martindale  Tora day ago

I have never seen a drag show that I would say falls in this description. But someone will say it is “abnormal,” so it will be prosecuted. These bills are intentionally vague so they can suppress any activity these christofascists don’t like.

J.Martindale  customartista day ago

What is abnormal to one judge may just be unusual to another. These are not legal terms. They are christofascist terms.

Forteaneye  TK-Fla8 hours ago

I am surprised these asshats have not tried to ban RuPaul’s Drag Race airing in there states.

 

Max-1 🔫+cult(R)=☠️a day ago
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OTOH..  Max-1 🔫+cult(R)=☠️a day ago

A veritable description of the Trump years.

JW Swift  OTOH..5 hours ago

…and DeathSantis.

Girlgoon  Tora day ago

I’ve never seen any nudity in a drag show. I don’t understand what they think is going on that endangers children

BearEyes  Girlgoona day ago

they’re lying and they don’t care as long as they suppress.

Mike in Houston  Girlgoon a day ago

We have a few shows here in Houston where the performers are mostly trans and strip down to just a g-string… but they’re in bars where no one under 21 is allowed.

Girlgoon  Mike in Houstona day ago

I guess I never thought of transwomen as drag queens, being that I’m a transwomen and all….

Cel  Girlgoona day ago

I am getting very worried for people like you Girlgoon, some of these laws include a ban on “impersonating the opposite sex”. Although impersonation has nothing to do with trans people, I fear the fascists will eventually include all trans people as “impersonators” and start criminalizing them. They already say trans women do not exist and that they are delusional and fake. Florida is already forcing parents to detransition their trans children!!! I don’t know where this is heading but we LGBTQ cannot let it go there!

Todd20036  Cela day ago

Worry for all LBGTs. They won’t stop with just trans

Darreth  Todd2003616 hours ago

Correct. Evangelicals have a mission and they won’t stop as long as… no one stops them.

JCF  Girlgoona day ago

Seems to me, if it’s nude, it’s not really drag? [At least “nude” of fake breasts. And the infamous “tuck”!]

Houndentenor  Girlgoona day ago

I’m not sure how nude drag would even work. Aren’t the costumes (and wigs and make-up) the whole point?

Yes, I’ve been to some drag shows that were not G-rated. (Varla Jean Merman comes to mind.) But those performers would not do that material in front of children. Those were late night performances in a bar that carded. We were all adults and it was HILARIOUS! (Varla’s R-rated Schoolhouse Rock takeoff is a personal favorite.)

Houndentenor  Girlgoona day ago

I’m not sure how nude drag would even work. Aren’t the costumes (and wigs and make-up) the whole point?

Yes, I’ve been to some drag shows that were not G-rated. (Varla Jean Merman comes to mind.) But those performers would not do that material in front of children. Those were late night performances in a bar that carded. We were all adults and it was HILARIOUS! (Varla’s R-rated Schoolhouse Rock takeoff is a personal favorite.)

Mid-Atlantic Liberal  Tora day ago

Yep. They’re usually filled with catiness and satire.

But my parents had no problem taking me to R-rated movies when I was 5 or 6 with full frontal bush on the screen! It was the 70s, so…

TK-Fla  Mid-Atlantic Liberala day ago

Yes – will they also go after R-rated movies? Or PG movies that dare to have an LGBTQ person or character?? What about TV shows?? The internet?? These right wing fascists are out of control. All for the votes of their Christian and ultra conservative base. And just like Floriduh, I don’t believe the majority of people in Texas agree with this craziness. But also very noticeable that they aren’t passing any laws to screen potential sexual groomers, predators and molesters in their churches. They are the real threat. Not drag queens. It’s fucking ridiculous.

 

 

It was never about the children.

I have been writing that this is about enforcing a 1950s society by demanding gender roles stereotypes of that time, removing civil rights for minorities, removing visibility of minorities, and removing anything but heterosexuality in public or media.  It started with trans, as they are the smallest part of the LGBTQ+ and the most easily attacked.  The right used the idea of protecting the children, which is what the religious hate groups have been pushing forever, that changing social norms are somehow dangerous and bad for children.  That is false, and an old trope used forever against people these hate groups have targeted.   This is about removing any LGBTQ+ from public and society.   This is about enforcing a return to a conservative religious lifestyle, removing all progress of society to regress to a time when misunderstandings and misinformation was king, to a time when Christianity was equated with automatic good, Christianity was the only religion represented in public, White men were in charge, women were second to men who were in charge in public along with in the home, and only straight white couples were in the media of the time with blacks as servants and any representation of gays were as villains.   This is the goal that people like DeathSantis and his supporters such as Lib’s of Tic Tok or the Mom’s of Liberty are pushing, which they have shown they are willing to force this ideological indoctrination in all schools both public and private.  They are willing to force their views on all of the public, even though the majority doesn’t agree with them.   Because they are the Christian Taliban.   Hugs

Greg Abbott can’t wait to force trans kids to de-transition, eagerly awaits the arrival of SB 14 on his desk

https://www.queerty.com/greg-abbott-cant-wait-to-force-trans-kids-to-de-transition-eagerly-awaits-the-arrival-of-sb-14-on-his-desk-20230519

By   · 22 comments

Greg Abbott is taking a brief pause from using immigrants as political pawns to attack trans kids in yet another Republican-led effort to harm LGBTQ+ people in America.

The gay-hating Texas governor announced yesterday that he plans to sign Senate Bill 14 into law ASAP. The bill, which is currently en route to Abbott’s desk, blocks trans kids from receiving gender-affirming care and effectively forces those already in the process of transitioning to de-transition and start over after they turn 18.

“I’m not going to make any secret about it. I’ll be signing it. This is about protecting children,” he misled reporters on Thursday. “A person under 18, they don’t have the mental capacity to make a life-changing decision.”

Per Texas Tribune:

Authored by New Braunfels Republican Sen. Donna Campbell, SB 14 would prohibit trans Texans under the age of 18 from accessing transition-related medical treatments including puberty blockers, hormone therapies and surgeries — though surgeries are rarely performed on kids.

The bill would also require trans youth who are already getting this care to be “weaned off” in a “medically appropriate” manner. This is slightly out of step with the abrupt cutoff mandated by the version the Senate approved last month, but the upper chamber has chosen not to ask for a conference committee to iron out the difference.

Other states have passed similar legislation but the laws have been stalled in the courts. The same will likely happen in Texas as the ACLU, Transgender Law Center, and Lambda Legal have already announced plans to sue, citing the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

“These laws are patently unconstitutional,” Paul Castillo, senior counsel for Lambda Legal, told reporters this week. “They interfere with the decisions of families in consultation with their doctors, and certainly no care should be stopped.”

Given the number of these laws being passed, as well as the number of lawsuits challenging them, it’s likely the matter will eventually end up at the U.S. Supreme Court, where things have gotten so chaotic that it’s hard to say which way the high court might rule on it.

Pollsters say the wave of bills targeting transgender healthcare in red states could backfire on Republicans in 2024 the same way the Roe v. Wade debacle backfired on them in 2022.

Things are certainly backfiring on Abbott and his colleagues on Twitter right now. Here’s what folx are saying…

‘Trumpy’ commencement speaker rejected by New College grads celebrating own ceremony

Liberal Redneck – Conservative Cancel Culture Outta Control

The right continues on their cancel culture crusade this week as two more companies have incurred their wrath. Why are they so sensitive?