Bible Baptist Academy wanted nothing to do with Zoey because her new parents are both women (Screenshot via KPLC)
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ABaptist school in Louisiana kicked out a child who was about to enter kindergarten because she was recently adopted by lesbians.
It’s the latest example of Christian love in action.
The story is even more tragic when you realize what the child has been through. Five-year-old Zoey already lost both of her biological parents, with her father dying in an industrial accident in 2020. Thankfully, her aunt, Jennifer Parker, took her in, and the adoption became official earlier this month. Zoey had already taken pre-K classes at Bible Baptist Academy in DeQuincy, Louisiana, so the plan was to continue there for kindergarten.
But last week, just days before the school year began, and after the family attended open house and Zoey got her uniform, Jennifer and her partner Emily were told their new daughter was being kicked out… because the two of them are lesbians.
BIBLE BABTIST ACADEMY is a disappointment. Calling me and Jennie Parker in for a meeting TWO days before school starts to tell us that they can not educate our child due to the fact that we are a married same sex couple.
Even though this isn’t her first year to attend…
You know what you just taught my daughter? How truly judgmental your church is. How unforgiving and unrelenting you are. I was angry, hurt, embarrassed but I am not anymore. Now, I am thankful. Thankful you will not mold my tiny human’s brain to be anything like you. I will teach my child to love EVERYONE just like you say your God is supposed to.
My child has lost so much. Her mother, her father, her whole life has been wrenched away before her 5th birthday. And now… her education, her friends, and her teachings of the God that she loves and I support. Look at this girl and tell me you would judge her Bc of her parents choices….
Such a disappointment but can I say I’m surprised? This southern world disgusts me.
Emily Parker spoke with news station KPLC about what the school told her, and their response only makes things worse:
“The pastor met us in the meeting room and started talking about gender identification and that they teach the words of the Lord and marriage was between a man and a women,” Emily Parker said. “They didn’t think this was a good fit.”
Bible Baptist Academy said in a statement that the school is “committed to instructing and living in accordance with the teachings of Scripture.”
They say that’s what they strive to teach students who attend.
“This should not be interpreted that we have any hatred or malice toward them. We are just as committed to loving all people as we are to holding to Bible principles that people may not agree with or may not understand.”
I have no clue what “gender identification” has to do with a same-sex couple… but it’s not like Christian bigotry is supposed to make sense. To punish a child who’s been through so much for the imaginary “sins” of her parents is beyond cruel. It’s absolutely hatred and malice, and that doesn’t change just because the school claims it’s all biblically mandated. It’s very predictably Baptist. That’s the religion for you.
The school’s entire statement wasn’t any better, saying “The Bible also teaches us to love everyone with the love of God despite their personal choices. We strive to teach this to the students who attend. We encourage them to show love and compassion to everyone.” That’s seriously their defense for why they kicked out a child who hadn’t done anything wrong, even by their own bottom-of-the-barrel standards. You can’t expect leaders of a Christian school to do the right thing when their entire moral code requires them to go down a path of cruelty.
There’s an argument to be made that none of this should be news at all. A private Christian school has every right to enforce its own rules, no matter how despicable the rest of us might find them. We’re not anti-gay, they argue. We’re anti-sin. So any sinners would not be allowed in the school unless they’ve repented for it. The problem with that argument is that this isn’t really about all sins. Does this school kick out children whose parents smoke, or drink, or take the Lord’s name in vain, or cheat on their taxes, or pay for abortions, or any of the other sins Christians commit all the time? Of course they don’t. They probably don’t know, or don’t care, or don’t bother to look into any of those situations.
You’ll never see a news story about a Christian school kicking out a child because her parents spent a weekend gambling in Vegas. But if that child has loving same-sex parents, it’s a five-alarm fire. It’s the selective bigotry by these Christian schools that’s so infuriating. That’s why the school’s excuses ring so hollow.
The silver lining here is that other Christian schools in the community reached out to the family and Zoey has a new school already lined up. The family will be fine. The school has a well-deserved stain on its reputation.
The obvious question is why anyone, especially a same-sex couple, would want to send a child to a private bigoted religious school in the first place. I posed that exact question to Emily Parker, who told me last night that she knew what kind of school this was, but she felt it was important to send Zoey there so she could have some stability and continuity:
We were completely aware BBA is a Christian Baptist school. [Zoey’s] father died in 2020. She learned that God was taking care of her daddy. That anytime she needed to talk to daddy she could pray. God was her connection to her daddy and we completely supported her.
We were eager for BBA to help teach her about the God she already loved. Being a private school, we knew what BBA was and were willing to pay the monthly fees to ensure her education and faith. They were so accepting the previous year. We had no idea there would be a problem.
I am nothing more than a supportive parent.
That’s a valid point, no matter how much I disagree with the school’s beliefs. Zoey being with her classmates, especially while everything else around her is changing, has its benefits, even if it’s at this school. It also raises an interesting question about why none of this came up last year. The Parkers were Zoey’s legal guardians when she was in pre-K; it was the legal adoption, then, that invoked the Baptist school’s cruelty.
Two guys talking about trans issues and biological sex really means. They address all the science on biology such as sexual orientation, gametes, chromosomes, intersex, and so much more. If you want to learn but not be overwhelmed this is the show to watch. Yes one of the guys has a female avatar. He is not trans, he is entirely a straight cis male who is into poly relationships, but it showcases how just making assumptions can be wrong. Hugs
I want to point out a few facts that seem to hard for the rabid right maga to understand. Anal sex is not gay. Not all gay people want anal sex. A lot of straight couples practice both female and male anal sex because the anal cavity has a lot of nerves that can be pleasurable stimulated and in fact the male “g” spot is up in the butt. In fact there were reports of teen girls preferring to do anal with their boyfriends as they thought it kept them virgins and reduced the risk of them getting pregnant. The idea against anal sex is a religious one as it is not sex for procreation but for fun. The horror of that idea, sex for fun. These people that are trying to prevent anyone from getting anal sex are also against anyone getting a blow job, because again that is sex for fun. I really wish the US would break away from that damn 1600 Puritan way of thinking about the human body and sex. Hugs
A librarian in Louisiana filed a lawsuit against two men and a conservative organization, alleging they defamed her when they attacked her for supporting the teaching of books involving the LGBTQ community.
Amanda Jones, a middle school librarian and the president of the Louisiana Association of School Librarians, alleged in the lawsuit that a “public campaign” against her started after she spoke out against removing certain books from the Livingston Parish Library system at a board meeting.
The lawsuit also alleges that Ryan Thames, who runs a Facebook page called “Bayou State of Mind,” posted a meme of Jones on or around July 21, showing her smiling and sitting behind a desk and saying that she advocated teaching anal sex to 11-year-olds.
The Twitter account of the above-cited right wing group, Citizens For A New Louisiana, is full of Trump cultist, anti-vax, “stolen election” batshittery.
— Citizens for a New Louisiana (@newlouisiana) July 27, 2022
I keep telling you that these people are first-rate hypocrites. Well, here's your proof. Last week, Citizens for a New Louisiana got called out by the American Library Association for censorship! When we responded, THEY CENSORED IT! What a bunch of agenda-driven political hacks! pic.twitter.com/NS8AS9grdP
— Citizens for a New Louisiana (@newlouisiana) July 15, 2022
The librarians are fighting back.
A middle school librarian in Louisiana filed a defamation lawsuit Wednesday arguing that two men falsely labeled her a pedophile who wants to teach 11-year-olds about anal sex.
And many straights who are. In fact, I’d wager that most of the “sodomy” that’s being “committed” is happening among straights since they represent more than 90% of the population compared to little old us.
We were 12 and 13, I think, when they told us about the “birds and the bees” in our final year of elementary school and first year of junior high. Anal sex, what it was, was among MANY things we were told about. Nothing was “advocated”–we were told what things were, not how to DO them. As for younger children, say 5 to 10 years old, I would imagine that, especially if they ASKED, you’d tell them some men have boyfriends instead of girlfriends, and they can marry and raise a family; and some women have girlfriends instead of boyfriends, and THEY can ALSO marry and raise a family. There’s nothing very complicated about ANY of this, and nothing SINISTER, except when dishonest people PRETEND there is, and the sly media fan the flames for the sake of sensationalism.
The lawsuit also alleges that Ryan Thames, who runs a Facebook page called “Bayou State of Mind,” posted a meme of Jones on or around July 21, showing her smiling and sitting behind a desk and saying that she advocated teaching anal sex to 11-year-olds.
So, in the minds of the cultists, teaching children that LGBT people exist is tantamount to teaching anal sex to children. That’s their “argument.” Good for this librarian for hitting back.
The Texas comptroller said the state has opened an investigation into a Dallas bar that held a drag show for children earlier this summer.
In a statement released Friday, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar identified himself as one of many Texas parents who found themselves “disturbed by the recent images showing children participating in a drag show in the Dallas area, including one of a child placing money in a performer’s undergarment.”
Hegar’s announcement came one day after Republican state Rep. Bryan Slaton [photo] called on Hegar to treat Mr. Misster as a “sexually-oriented business.” As Slaton explained, “Sexually-oriented businesses are required to pay $5 per attendee present and they must also prevent children and sex offenders from attending or participating.”
Slaton, who is fond of making public appearances carrying an assault weapon and wearing a belt of ammunition, first appeared on JMG in March 2021 when he introduced a bill making abortion a death penalty crime for doctors and even women who undergo the procedure.
Earlier this year he introduced a bill requiring genital exams for trans athletes in public schools.
As I reported in June, extremists mobbed and attempted to enter Mr. Misster during the show, hurling abuse at children and parents.
The State of Texas is evaluating the tax status of a Dallas bar that hosted a “Drag the Kids to Pride” event in June. If determined to be a “sexually oriented business” after hosting the event, the bar would owe $5 per entrant under state law. https://t.co/08Qf19n0Hk
As usual the backward asses wants to make something funny as something stupid. And there are people out there who has no idea of the entertainment that Drag shows give. Just another way for the right wing assholes to turn communities against us.
They use that falsehood to Ban Books and teaching TRUTH inSCHOOLS. So, if a parent wants to take their kids to a Drag Show, do they NOT HAVE THE RIGHT to DO SO???
Right. First they get drag queen story time canceled, then all drag shows, then they’ll work on getting all gay bars closed (a child might walk past one!) and all LGBTQ content expunged from TV, movies, and the Internet. Think of the chilllldrennnnnn!
There is no appeasing them. Their concerns are disingenuous, and if they are allowed to shift the Overton Window, they’ll just keep pushing until they are allowed to criminalize and/or kill us again.
If we really want to appease them, we all need to stop existing ASAP. Because our existence is what triggers those delicate snowflakes’ feeeeeelings more than anything.
The world continues to change. Even the gaming universe which a decade ago or more was rocked by a huge anti female scandal has long ago accepted being gay and lesbian. Those character settings and modifications are available in all mainstream big name games. But trans characters were haphazardly applied, hard to set or understand. Even though it was common for a trans person to choose a different gender character the game play was still cis gender. That is changing. Now before there are the grooming complaints and such, understand the buyers and users of the games drive big video game characters. So once there was a large drive by users that there be gay characters for them to play as gay characters were able to be chosen, that is now happening for characters to be trans. This is the world of the future, the world of acceptance. Hugs
Guilty Gear Strive has finally done right by one of its best characters.
Gaming still has a lot of baggage when it comes to femininity. The medium that largely focused on an audience of straight white men for its early decades has become one of the most diverse forms of media in the world. Such progress has different ethnicities, sexualities, and genders welcomed into the fold as the toxic echo chamber becomes more tolerable.
Things are changing, and we’re forced to confront long-standing issues before we can justify moving forward. Rampant sexualisation, thinly-veiled racism, and fear that supporting more inclusive audiences will see games reduced to political objects are all things we’re still grappling with. Progress is being made, but slowly, and not without forces holding us back. I don’t think this will change, at least not for a long time, but the steps being taken by games like Guilty Gear Strive give me hope for the future. More specifically, characters like Bridget.
Guilty Gear Strive confirmed earlier this week that series veteran Bridget is transgender. This had been part of a complex headcanon for years, but the continued use of masculine pronouns and the narrative’s unwillingness to explore this aspect of her character meant nothing was ever satisfactorily confirmed in the canon. Raised in an English village, Bridget was brought up as a girl due to a local superstition that twins born of the same gender were bad luck, but has remained in ‘girl mode’ well into adulthood.
Her parents believed this superstition, so she came to wear feminine clothes, use she/her pronouns, and presented herself as a cis women. However, the audience (and several other characters) knew she was born male, and she was referred to by he/him or other masculine titles on occasion too. Back in the day she wasn’t viewed from a strictly queer perspective, but was seen as a ladyboy hiding a penis under her clothes that male gamers could make fun of one another for finding attractive because dicks are scary apparently. It leaned into a ‘trap’ stereotype that claims trans people are merely trying to fool people into finding them attractive before their genitals expose the real truth. Like we’re a sick circus attraction instead of actual human beings.
This is a situation that in the real world has gotten trans people killed (and cis people have gotten away with it, under the Trans Panic defence), but given how juvenile and heteronormative games tend to be, burdening Bridget with this stereotype happened quickly and remained an inside joke amongst series’ fans for decades. As a closeted teenager I admired characters like Bridget because they were male beneath it all, yet exhibited all the signatures of an attractive, passing woman.
She was someone I wanted to be, so to see the character labelled as transgender with such explicit declaration feels like queer fans are reclaiming something that was once held over them as a twisted joke. Women have to look and behave in a certain way, or they risk being seen as a societal oddity or unworthy of attention. Bridget fell into this nebulous middle ground.
Her transgender identity is immediately embraced by the wider cast of Guilty Gear Strive, which only furthers how positive this reveal has been. One scene in the arcade mode has Bridget talking with Goldlewis Dickinson and Ky Kiske about a journey of self discovery that is far from easy, but she knows the final destination will be more than worthwhile. The two characters sit alongside her, nodding in agreement while providing the advice that every trans person needs to hear – leaving behind the fear of prejudice and failure to become the individual you want to be is worth the inevitable heartache.
Dickinson is unsure of what to call Bridget, given the complex layers of her gender identity, calling her “cowgirl” before falsely correcting himself to “cowboy”. She responds: “Cowgirl is fine. Because… I’m a girl!” So many games would be scared to define something so clearly, largely so the typical minority of vocal chuds can deny any semblance of queer representation in fear it will ruin the entire game for them. Guilty Gear Strive couldn’t care less, and the conviction it expresses in Bridget’s character and how unapologetic she is in being a trans girl is so damn liberating.
Players have already unearthed further instances of dialogue that only serve to reinforce Bridget’s transgender character arc in the game, making it clear that Arc System Works are fully on board with this new interpretation. It’s been a long time coming, and feels like fitting retribution for a character that for years has been the victim of transphobic punchlines.
While the games themselves might have never leaned into the idea of Bridget being a trap designed to fool eagle-eyed male players, the community embraced that idea and made it the most iconic aspect of her character. It sucked, and I wish I knew better as a teenager instead of leaning into such needless jokes. My internal fascination would eventually lead to me making strides with my own queer identity, but Bridget has always deserved better, and to see her receive that respect in Strive means so much.
its official!
bridget is transgender!
you cannot comprehend how hard i screamed its not intentionally vague its loud and clear and of all people to show her that its GOLDLEWIS pic.twitter.com/7kIAOArToH
She joins Testament, a character who was revealed to be non-binary earlier this year and has also been taken in by fans as a welcome example of queer representation. Fighting games aren’t always heavy on narrative, often leaving us to fill in the blanks or providing lore dumps outside the core gameplay for audiences to obsess over. That is also true for Guilty Gear, but it makes characters like Bridget and Testament so much easier to fall in love with.
Their queerness is deliberate and seldom up for debate, with small nuggets of dialogue between encounters and nestled between modes providing just enough context for us to rejoice over. Bridget is a cute, confident, and empowering trans character who for decades has been working towards this eventual destiny, and to see it capitalised upon while simultaneously subverting a culture of ingrained transphobia is a perfect storm of brilliance.
Only church certified and state approved books will be allowed. All others will be burned. No access to other information. No access to other ideas. When these groups who are a minority cannot win the people with their ideas, they insist only the information they approve of be allowed. We have seen the attempts for decades to outlaw science books, biology books, geology books, and all information that disagrees with the Christian bible. Same with sexual education, it disagrees with the minority religious view so must not be taught. This is a very dark road we are travelling down; it needs to stop. Hugs
Parents and concerned citizens in Jamestown, Michigan, decided they weren’t going to stand for the indoctrination of their children at the local public library, and they weren’t going to pay for it with their taxpayer money!
The local library featured sexually explicit LGBT books such as “Gender Queer: A Memoir” in a June Pride display, and the library staff refused to remove them from the library even after meetings with the board.
But the local residents didn’t give up—they mounted a campaign to stop funding the library with taxpayer money, and it worked! I congratulate them for standing firm with their convictions and working hard to bring the needed change.
Indiana State Rep John L Bartlett proposed a bill that would ban erectile dysfunction pills. His reasoning? If unwanted pregnancies are gods will so is impotency. Comedian Ben Gleib breaks it down on Rebel HQ.
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
Transgender Twitch streamer Keffals has been arrested, deadnamed, and humiliated in her own home after right-wing bigots impersonated her in a swatting hate crime. Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur discuss on The Young Turks.
“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.”*
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