This one of the most watched loudest voices in right wing media. Spreading more lies so more people will be targeted for violence and more LGBTQ+ events will get shut down by the Proud Boys gang thugs enforcement arm of the republican party. Grooming is when someone builds a relationship, trust and emotional connection with a child or young person so they can manipulate, exploit and abuse them. Children and young people who are groomed can be sexually abused, exploited or trafficked. Anybody can be a groomer, no matter their age, gender or race. Teachers are not groomers, nor are drag queens reading stories with parents present. The ones sexualizing kids is the right who are claiming anything they don’t like is sexualizing kids, and anyone they are against is a grooming pedophile. Kids understand gender from the time they notice mommy and daddy, brother and sister, and kids understand love attraction again because they see it at home, on TV, at church, anywhere there are people in relationships. They understand it if Mr. T and Mr. B are a couple that they love each other like their family. They are not sexualized to see a picture of a straight spouse on a teacher’s desk and they are not sexualized to see a picture of a same sex spouse on a teacher’s desk. It doesn’t sexualize them in anyway. It is just the world around them. What does sexualize them is what the right wing is doing, making children a sexual pawn to criminalize / ban everything you don’t like in society. Don’t bring the kids into your hate, be honest and just say you hate some and are against it. Don’t hide behind the kids. Hugs
“In a healthy country, with an intact social fabric, neighborhood dads would give out instant justice to anyone who even thought about sexualizing their kids.
“And if you doubt that, go out and try it in Bulgaria or South Africa or the Solomon Islands. Good luck. Let us know how that ends, if you can still speak.
“Libs of TikTok was being banned from the internet — why? Because it showed documentary evidence of what was happening. Some people described what was happening as grooming.
“We are not exactly sure what that means, but if it’s sexually abusing children — yeah, that is what’s happening. But the term groomer is now hate speech, says NBC News.
“What you’re seeing is a society that hates children. You would have to hate children in order to sexualize them. Because sexualizing children screws them up for life — ask anyone to whom it has happened — period.
“No one should put up with this. No parent should put up with this for one second, no matter what the law says. Your duty — your moral duty — is to defend your children.
“This is an attack on your children and you should fight back.” – Tucker Carlson, on last night’s show.
Donnie Romero, a pastor who wished death to gay people, resigned after admitting to a few of his “sins.” Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur discuss on The Young Turks. Watch LIVE weekdays 6-8 pm ET. http://youtube.com/theyoungturks/live
“Donnie Romero — a pastor who gained national attention after his views on the Pulse nightclub shooting inspired a protest from LGBTQ advocates — has resigned. In a video posted to YouTube, Romero says that he had sinned by paying for sex, gambling and using drugs.
Romero — formerly the pastor of Stedfast Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas — publicly voiced support for the Pulse nightclub gunman, who opened fire inside the popular LGBTQ nightclub in Orlando and killed 49 people. A June 2016 Dallas Morning News report says Romero’s words sparked a protest.
‘These 50 sodomites are all perverts and pedophiles, they’re the scum of the Earth and the Earth is a better place now and I’ll take it a step further,’ Romero said in a sermon published online, the publication reports. ‘I’ll pray to God like I did this morning, and I will again tonight, that God will finish the job that that man started,’ Romero said.”
The momentum behind the nation’s wave of book bans is growing. A total of 1,648 individual books have been banned as of June, according to a new report from PEN America, a nonprofit focused on defending the right to freedom of expression in literature, journalism, and education. Those banned titles were written by 1,261 different authors, 290 illustrators, and 18 translators.
Out of those books, 674 titles, or 41 percent of all banned books, have an LGBTQ+ protagonist or secondary character or focus on LGBTQ+ themes. Another 659 times, or 40 percent, have a protagonist or prominent secondary character of color, and 338 banned books, or 21 percent, talk about issues of race or racism. Book bans have taken place in 138 school districts across 32 states. But there are three states that account for an overwhelming majority of the bans: Pennsylvania, Florida, and Texas.
The organization identified 50 groups operating at the national, state, or local level that advocate for bans in K-12 schools and said it appears that the majority of those groups formed in the last year. They range from local Facebook or online groups to more established conservative organizations.
One of those groups is Moms for Liberty, a conservative group that came together last year to fight for parental rights in Florida and has since spread across the country.
PEN America has identified another seven national groups with numerous chapters, as well as 38 groups operating at the state, regional, or community level that appear unaffiliated with the national groups or with one another, the report says.
Worth noting is that there are no books banned by liberal-left organizations, which have been maligned as being merchants of cancel culture. This makes clear that the true enemies of free speech are right wingers.
If you don’t like the subject of a book, don’t read it. Seems simple, right? But what do you expect from fascists, I mean, look at Monica, One Mad Mom. She has no idea that her TV has a Power Off button.
I personally think it is a mistake to wait until after the midterm election to put the bill on the Floor of the Senate. Republicans have asked for this because they understand voting against it carries a penalty and so will voting for it. If the vote against it the money and the independents might vote against them for their opponent. But if they vote for it their own base will vote against them. After the midterms and they win their races what is there to induce them to vote for it when they won’t have the threat of the independents voting for their opponents and their base will still turn against them if they vote for it. The point is after the midterm election is over there is little to no downside to the republicans voting against it. So what leverage the Democrats have now will be gone. Sorry I don’t accept well they gave their word, we have seen how far you can trust that. If this doesn’t pass then Schumer needs to be run out of the Senate. But to the crap spewed by the liberty counsel and the cases they push demanding Christians be exempt from anti-discrimination laws and be allowed to take public money but not serve all the public like everyone else is required. You know, they want special privileges. They want the right to hate to be enshrined into law. They demand that their religious doctrine be the laws of the land and everyone forced to live by them. Meet the US Taliban. Hugs
Via email from hate group leader Mat Staver:
Natural marriage keeps a culture strong. Sexual immorality and lack of monogamy kill a culture. If you want to destroy America, pass HR 8404. That is why we must warn members of the Senate to STOP HR 8404.
The “Respect for Marriage Act” will throw gasoline on the fire that is burning down marriage, family and the objective reality of gender in our nation!
Only six more Senate votes are needed to pass HR 8404. There are 16 Republican senators who have not publicly committed how they will vote on this bill. Rush your urgent faxes to every senator you can to block this bill.
The time to turn back the unbridled Jezebel spirit poisoning American minds, bodies and culture is NOW! It is successfully perverting a third American generation and destroying our Judeo-Christian culture before our eyes!
Liberty Counsel is fighting for the soul of America by fighting disastrous policies like HR 8404, and by defending religious freedom and life in state and federal courtrooms across America. But we are only able to perform this mission-critical work because of faithful supporters like YOU.
Won’t you prayerfully consider making a recurring monthly donation to fund this intensifying legal battle for religious freedom? Every donation made today will be DOUBLED IN IMPACT by a Challenge Grant. Thank you in advance.
Earlier this month Staver claimed that the bill will legalize pedophilia, polygamy, incestuous marriages, and “child brides.”
In the years since gay marriage was passed (first in states and then federally) they can’t find examples of damage to society? They keep claiming it does harm but can’t even think of isolated examples?
The same for gays in the military. All that uproar and panic. Not one story of problems. (As a younger relative in the navy told me, “We all already pretty much knew who was gay and we didn’t care before and we don’t care now.”)
Their prophecies of doom and gloom never come true but they always keep pushing that doom off into the future and somehow there are millions of people believing them. Of course, religion has been doing this shit for millenia.
“Natural marriage,” as though animals in the wild “marry” one another. I detest the way these bigots usurp terms that bolster their side while being a put-down to the other. And didn’t we hear all this scare-mongering before Obergefell which never materialized? Damn these bigots!
“Natural marriage”, like “natural law”, is US Protestants aping Roman Catholic theology because enforcing their gender ideals is more important to them than honest originality.
They’ve already pushed “covenant marriage” as a contrast to equal legal recognition of same-sex marriages. Interesting that it hasn’t taken off anywhere once the straights realize it’s just a way to go back to outlawing (straight) divorce. (Under covenant marriages same-sex divorces would still be legal, since they weren’t *real* marriages to begin with.)
An entire generation of young adults and soon-to-be young adults has grown up with marriage equality all their lives, and the USA is still here– despite the best efforts of Trump and the Republican party.
“Natural marriage” — does that include marriage between one man and several women? One woman and several men, as in one cultlure in Africa? What about thoe peoples in China that don’t recognize marriage at all?
Come to think of it, there’s nothing “natural” about marriage to begin with — it’s purely a human cultural institution.
As for “fighting for America’s soul”, I don’t doubt that for a minute. I just don’t like what you plan to do with it.
Thug rule! This is how the right intends to have and keep power. These are legal events that are not in any way offensive to normal people. They are in public and well chaperoned. Yet the republicans have made such wild statements their cult base thinks that all drag shows are a sexual orgy and that children are the star participants. It is really just Halloween dress up. This event was by teenagers for mostly teenagers. But this really is like the brownshirts that Hillter used to enforce his ideas and push him into power. These are gang thugs, the mentality of the Taliban. Are we going to tolerate this in the US? Where is law enforcement to say they won’t tolerate this terrorism against the people? If this were a Muslim group threatening this stuff the authorities would be all over that group and would be protecting the library and insisting the events be held. But because this is a gang of white Christian thugs forcing everyone to live by their morality and church doctrine the authorities tolerate it. This has become the normal response by the right now to things they don’t like. It started with masks in schools and Covid precautions where these thugs took over school board meetings and threatened violence to those board members who tried to implement the best practices of the medical community. Trust me it will not stop at drag shows, trans people, the rest of the LGBTQ+. It will be anything and any event the right doesn’t like. It has already been tried at Democratic rallies, and it will get violent because the right believes they have the god given right to use force on others and that the republicans in charge will support them because they are working for republican goals. Will they come for the Jews next? Will they allow laws that they don’t like? Is the US a nation of laws and equality? Or are we a land of gang thugs that enforce a Taliban like vice patrol to enforce their views of what is acceptable that they will let the public do. Hugs
It was advertised as a “fun-filled afternoon” in a Bronx library with a “local celebrity/author who encourages you to embrace your own uniqueness.”
Instead, the free event planned at the Morrisania Library starring drag artist Desmond Napoles was canceled after the teenaged celebrity received hate-filled and violent threats — a trend that has led to many other family-oriented LGBTQ events being canceled across the nation.
Known by the stage name Desmond is Amazing, Desmond, 15, is an LGBTQ+ youth advocate, a published author and influencer with nearly 200,000 social media followers. The 15-year-old is also the owner of clothing line Be Amazing NYC.
Desmond was called “disgusting” and a range of slurs by a person using a recently created Instagram account who also threatened to use violence against Desmond and their family.
Desmond is Amazing wearing clothing from their clothing line, Be Amazing NYC. (Wendy Napoles)
“You need to be locked away in a dog kennel and thrown into the ocean,” read one of the 10 private messages sent to the teen, which were seen by the Daily News.
The nasty attacks on Desmond — a high school sophomore who likes to volunteer at the New York Public Library “because it’s really fun and it gives me something to do during the summer” — came after the Morrisania Library announced that Desmond would present two teen-focused sessions reading from their book, “Be Amazing: A History of Pride.”
The events were originally scheduled for Sept. 17 and 24. Late last week, however, both sessions had to be canceled following the threats, which were reported to NYPL officials and the NYPD.
“I’m going to that library, I’m going with a bucked of dog s–t and I’m pouring it on your parents and rubbing it into their eyes,” the hate-filled Instagram user wrote.
Desmond — who’s no stranger to threats, having performed as a drag artist for the past seven years — showed the messages to their mother, Wendy Napoles, who contacted the library.
Napoles, 45, figured they would be OK and that the person was “just another cyberbully” — something the family has encountered before. “But on Saturday, he called the library to find out if Desmond was still going to be there,” she told The News.
The person, a man with a phone number linked to a business in Louisiana, then went on an angry tirade, saying that such events should not be allowed at the library, calling Desmond “a little f—ot.” The library decided to cancel for the safety of everyone involved.
Amy Geduldig, an NYPL spokesperson, confirmed to The News that “the presenter of the programs has been experiencing harassment online and there were indications that the events would be disrupted by this harassment,” leading the branch to cancel the programs “out of an abundance of caution.”
Desmond was devastated and took the news as a “hit in the heart,” but the scrapping of the event is hardly an isolated incident.
Over the past few months, events involving drag performers in several U.S. states, including Illinois, California, Texas, Idaho and North Carolina, had to be canceled due to “increased threats of violence,” according to local authorities.
Earlier this week, a library in Chicago was forced to cancel a drag queen bingo “due to the severity of the threats made against the library,” while the Cool Beans Bar and Grill in Denton, Texas, pulled the plug on an all-age Disney-themed drag brunch after the host of a conservative program on Blaze TV urged her nearly 250,000 followers to help “shut it down.”
Desmond is Amazing (Wendy Napoles)
The owner of a bakery in suburban Chicago in July was forced to cancel a drag-hosted “Brunch at Night” event after the building “sustained significant damage” as the result of anti-LGBTQ vandalism. Earlier in the month, a drag performer at a Palm Springs bar faced “escalating threats” after right-wing outlets picked up a video she had shared on TikTok featuring a young girl joining her on stage and dancing to Donna Summer’s classic disco hit “Last Dance.”
In early June, a group of five members of the Proud Boys stormed into a library in San Lorenzo, Calif., to protest a Drag Queen Story Hour event. A few weeks later another protest took place in Woodland, near Sacramento, when police had to use pepper spray to control the situation.
Such cancellations and threats of violence are alarming for Napoles.
“These people are feeling more emboldened. You see them bragging that they’ve had a victory when they close down these events,” she said. Linking “this whole anti-LGBTQ rhetoric” to the 1950s, “where people believe now that gays were pedophiles,” she added, “This is bad.”
This is sickening. The state of Texas is terrorizing kids and their families. This has to be stopped. The mother says this is clearly political because the state leading politicians are in tough election fights. Hugs
Amber and Adam Briggle, parents of a transgender child in Texas, joins Yasmin Vossoughian to discuss the hardship their family has endured under the policies of Greg Abbott, including being investigated by the DFPS, and their message to parents and the public about how to support transgender children.
The left can’t be scared of loudly supporting rights for trans folks. A caller asks if progressives should focus their message on working-class issues, rather than something that could turn off blue-collar voters. Sam and Emma argue that leftists must lean into trans rights even more.
These were rules that were working and were not causing problems that the governor is rolling back for ideological / political reasons. He is causing problems for trans and all the LGBTQ+ kids simply to appeal to the republican hateful maga base. I keep reading these red state governors talk about how they are empowering parents, and that the affirmative accepting polices disregarded the rights of parents. But what the right really is saying is a small regressive group wants to revert the society back to the 1950s and undo all the gains of a progressive tolerant society. These parents and religiously driven people want to deny science, advances in medical knowledge, and deny the increased understanding of biology. They want to undo the civil rights protections gained since the 1950s and end anti-discrimination polices. The rules claim it is not up to the state or schools to impose an ideology on students but that is exactly what the maga red state republicans are doing, imposing a regressive republican exclusionary ideology to replace the progressive acceptance of diversity and inclusion. And in red states they are effectively dumbing down the education of kids while undoing the teaching of tolerance and decreasing acceptance of diversity. The last paragraph claims that this will let all kids attend schools without bullying, all kids that are traditional cis gender straight white kids maybe. The rest of the kids, the LGBTQ+ and non-white kids will face increased harassment and bullying from the kids from racist maga hater families and the teachers will be helpless to stop it, and some teachers will feel free to assist the bullies. This is regressing the country 50 years. Don’t forget they also are targeting children of color and racial acceptance, stoking the flames of discrimination by trying to whitewash history and calling the teaching of the truth of slavery as CRT. Hugs
The administration of Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-Va.) is rewriting state rules to block transgender students from accommodations they would have received during the previous Democratic administration. (Al Drago/Bloomberg)
In a major rollback of LGBTQ rights, the administration of Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) will require that transgender students in Virginia access school facilities and programs that match the sex they were assigned at birth and is making it more difficult for students to change their names and genders at school.
Under new “model policies” for schools’ treatment of transgender students released Friday evening, the Department of Education is requiring that families submit legal documentation to earn their children the right to change names and genders at school. The guidelines also say teachers cannot be compelled to refer to transgender students by their names and genders if it goes against “their constitutionally protected” free speech rights.
And the guidelines say schools cannot “encourage or instruct teachers to conceal material information about a student from the student’s parent, including information related to gender” — raising the prospect that teachers could be forced to out transgender students to their parents.
School districts must adopt the new state guidelines or “policies that are more comprehensive,” after a 30-day comment period that will begin on Sept. 26, the Education Department said. The Board of Education will not have to vote to adopt the policies.
“These 2022 Model Policies reflect the Department’s confidence in parents to prudently exercise their fundamental right under the Fourteenth Amendment and the Virginia Constitution to direct the upbringing, education, and control of their children,” the guidelines state. “This primary role of parents is well established and beyond debate. Empowering parents is essential to improving outcomes for children.”
The model policies reverse guidelines published in 2021 by the administration of Gov. Ralph Northam (D). Those guidelines mandated that transgender students be allowed to access restrooms, locker rooms and changing facilities that match their gender identities, stipulated that schools let students participate in sports and programs matching their gender identities and required that school districts and teachers accept and use students’ gender pronouns and identities without question.
In their own guidelines, Youngkin administration officials wrote that Northam’s guidance sought “cultural and social transformation in schools” and “disregarded the rights of parents.” The Youngkin guidelines state the Northam-era policies are dead: they “have no further force and effect.”
The Northam guidelines were developed in accordance with a 2020 law, proposed by Democratic legislators, that required the Virginia Education Department to develop model policies — and later required all school districts to adopt them — for the protection of transgender students. The law does not define the specific nature of these policies but says they should “address common issues regarding transgender students in accordance with evidence-based best practices” and says they should be designed to prevent bullying and harassment of transgender students.
But — in a move that is likely to draw legal challenges — the Youngkin administration has used that same law to issue its own version of the Education Department guidelines. The 20-page document released Friday states it is being issued “as required under” the 2020 legislation.
The Youngkin administration is also attempting to repurpose the period of public scrutiny the Northam-era rules were subjected to. Those guidelines, as is typical, were posted for weeks online so the public could share their reactions.
The Friday document states that Youngkin’s guidelines were developed by “taking into account the over 9,000 comments received during the public comment period” for the Northam-era policies.
“The 2022 model policy posted today delivers on the governor’s commitment to preserving parental rights and upholding the dignity and respect of all public school students,” Youngkin spokeswoman Macaulay Porter said in a written statement. “It is not under a school’s or the government’s purview to impose a set of particular ideological beliefs on all students.”
The reaction from Democratic lawmakers was swift.
“These new policies are cruel and not at all evidence based,” tweeted Del. Marcus Simon, who was a co-sponsor of the Northam-era law. “If enacted these policies will harm Virginia children. Stop bullying kids to score political points.”
Allies of the governor praised the proposal. “Thank you @GovernorVA for fixing one of the most overreaching and abusive uses of a ‘model policy’ that I’ve seen,” tweeted GOP Del. Glenn Davis. “This new standard ensures all students have the right to attend school in an environment free from discrimination, harassment, and bullying.
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