In the wake of the horrific Tuscon shootings, The State of Arizona has passed an emergency measure instituting “funeral protection zones” that will keep all protestors at least 300 feet away from funeral services.
Of course this was a response to Westboro Baptist church and the Reverend Fred Phelps, who are to Christianity what Jesus Christ was to ignorance, hatred & inbreeding. Distributed by Tubemogul.
This is a teenager targeted by adults based on that she played a sport too well, had a bigger build than some other girls, and was not pretty enough for this school board member due to the board member being anti-trans. Yes to protect minors from all that sexualization of mentioning LGBTQIA people exist and rainbow flags these people attacked a minor for not being as pretty and girly as they thought she should. This is what happen with bathroom bills baring trans people. Bystanders attack cis women who they don’t think are pretty or feminine enough. They base who can use a bathroom on looks. Hugs. Scottie.
Gov. Spencer Cox denounced the official, Utah State School Board member Natalie Cline, saying she has embarrassed the state.
A Utah state school board member is facing widespread condemnation and calls to resign after she shared a post on social media that appeared to suggest a 16-year-old girl on her school’s basketball team is transgender.
Natalie Cline, a member of the Utah State Board of Education, posted earlier this week on Facebook a flier for a high school girls’ basketball team in Salt Lake County, suggestively writing: “Girls’ basketball…” The post has since been deleted.
The teenager’s parents said the post invited a swarm of cyberbullying directed toward their daughter, whom they said is not trans and described as a “tomboy,” and are calling for Cline’s resignation.
Cline shared a photo of the 16-year-old basketball player on social media and appeared to question the girl’s gender.Utah State Board of Education
“Here’s a person that is supposed to be in a position of leadership that advocates for our children’s safety, well-being, their privacy, and she’s the one who has instigated this post that has led to all this hate,” Al van der Beek, the girl’s father, told NBC affiliate KSL of Salt Lake City.
Cline apologized on Facebook on Wednesday, acknowledging that her post created a “firestorm” around the teenager and that “derogatory comments about the player were made.”
She also defended her intent saying that the girl “does have a larger build, like her parents,” and did not suggest she would resign.
“We live in strange times when it is normal to pause and wonder if people are what they say they are because of the push to normalize transgenderism in our society,” she wrote on Facebook. “But that is definitely not the case with this student, and I apologize again that the conversation around the post turned personal, that was never the intention, and again, I removed the post as soon as I realized what had transpired.”
“In a world that sometimes uses children as human shields to push radical agendas, it has become increasingly difficult to trust and to know how to protect children without hurting children when children are the targets and victims in so much of the chaos and confusion swirling around us,” Cline’s post said.
Cline did not immediately return a request for further comment.
The online uproar and ensuing backlash come as the debate over whether trans people should be allowed to participate in competitive sports leagues that match their gender identities continues to be a politically explosive issue in schools, elite sport and legislatures nationwide.
It is also the latest example of how the issue of gender roles and norms has roiled the country, even outside of the trans community.
“She cut her hair short because that’s how she feels comfortable, she wears clothes that are a little baggy, she goes to the gym all the time so she’s got muscles,” Al van der Beek told KSL.
Rachel van der Beek, the girl’s mother, also defended her daughter’s appearance.
“I would try to kind of maybe guide her into being what was more normal or what the world sometimes pictured a girl should look like, and that’s when we would butt heads and we would totally disagree,” she said. “As I encouraged her, then she started to blossom and her personality started coming out.”
Cline’s lengthy written apology did little to quell her critics.
Gov. Spencer Cox and Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, both Republicans, denounced Cline on Wednesday, saying she had “embarrassed the state of Utah and State Board of Education.”
“We were stunned to learn of the unconscionable behavior of board member Cline and others toward a high school student today,” they said in a joint statement. “The last thing our children need is an elected official harassing them on social media.”
“We urge the State Board of Education to hold her accountable and we commend Granite School District for taking swift action to protect this student’s safety and well-being,” they added.
Local reports have alleged that Cline — who was elected to her first term on Utah’s state school board in 2020 — has made controversial remarks regarding LGBTQ people in the past and has previously faced calls to resign.
Equality Utah, a state LGBTQ advocacy group, called Cline’s post “callous and cruel” and also called for her resignation.
“America has a tragic history of moral panics leading to the humiliation and expulsion of minorities from public life,” the group’s leadership said in a statement posted on X. “Hysteria often leads to violence.”
The controversy comes as trans athletes’ participation in sports has become a political lightning rod in recent years.
In the last handful of years, it has prompted 25 states to pass laws that restrict trans athletes’ participation in sports, including 11 that enacted the limitations last year, according to LGBTQ think tank the Movement Advancement Project.
Elite sporting bodies around the world, including USA Swimming, the International Olympic Committee and the NCAA, have also struggled to grapple with the issue, creating new guidelines around trans athletes that have often spurred backlash. Last month, a lawyer for trans swimmer Lia Thomas — who has become the de facto face of the debate — confirmed that Thomas is asking the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland to overturn the new World Aquatics rules that effectively ban trans competitors.
Cline isn’t the first to face backlash for appearing to falsely suggest someone is trans.
In June, a woman sued a local movie theater in New Jersey after her son was kicked out of the theater. The lawsuit alleges that the movie theater manager yelled “this is not a transgender bathroom” while kicking the mother and her son out of the theater.
On Wednesday, the van der Beeks said Cline’s apology did not go far enough.
“What if our daughter didn’t have that strong character and have our support, and community support to where she internalized this?” Al van der Beek told KSL. “Worst case scenario, she could’ve ended her own life.”
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.
Read the full article. In 2021, Cline also faced calls to resign over allegedly racist and anti-LGBTQ posts on Facebook. Cline has said that public schools “brainwash children into queer gender-bending ideologies.” This time even Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, who recently signed an anti-trans bill, is calling her out.
We are pleased to see state leaders calling on swift action to address Natalie Cline’s abhorrent behavior. The Utah Legislature is right to pursue impeachment. https://t.co/vUnxqctjLzpic.twitter.com/OUat0MfVk3
Utah State Board of Education member Natalie Cline should be forced to resign. Immediately.
She posted pictures of a minor child, without the parents' permission, and then questioned the child's gender? Now the child is under protection because of threats those posts caused.
Gov. Spencer Cox, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson denounce behavior of Utah School Board Member Natalie Cline. Read the full statement here ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/XLZbfT4450
No School Board member should ever share any photos of any students without the student’s permission, particularly with identifying information like a name, regardless of intention or accuracy.
Given that this student is now being harassed, resignation isn’t good enough, though it’s a start. Resignation doesn’t undue the harassment the student has faced, nor makes her whole. The School Board member should be subject to civil action — and would be wise to immediately negotiate with the student’s family for a settlement. And should the student experience actual physical harm from it, the School Board member should also face criminal consequences.
The fact that the student isn’t actually trans shouldn’t make a difference. The School Board member shouldn’t have done this even if the student was trans.
I don’t think it’s legal to share images of minors without parental consent anyway. So yeah, this is probably actionable. And for a school board member to shame any student, no matter who it is, even if they had done something bad (which this student did not and even what she claims about the student isn’t something to be shamed for) even that would be inappropriate. It’s bad enough we have cyberbullying from other children. But from an adult and from one that holds and important position? That’s horrible. She should be shamed and get the fuck sued out of her.
Just going to get worse and worse. They want transgender people beaten to a pulp. That is their goal. Oh, and if you think the rest of us queers are any safer….
even Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, who recently signed an anti-trans bill, is calling her out. – anti-trans bills legalise bigotry, harassment, and discrimination by putting a target on the backs of trans people. You own that Cox. There’s blood on your hands. And yes, the school board bitch needs to resign.
I think it was Dan Savage (probably among many others) who called this over a decade ago when these “bathroom bills” were starting…while this will be terrible for trans people who just need to pee (like we all do) the majority of people who are harassed in all that are going to be cisgender people who are a little butch or fem. And here we are. She shouldn’t be harassed, trans or not, but she’s getting this without even being trans. She’s not the first and won’t be the last. They don’t care who they hurt and after all with that crowd the cruelty IS the point.
Psst: The bigots want to hurt women in general too, this is just another excuse, like all the homophobia and breeder cultism and rape cculture always have.
Why is so interested in a minor’s genitals? THAT’S the question to be SCREAMED at her in public NON-STOP. I’d call her a cunt, but cunts have depth & warmth. This used anal tampon has neither.
My personal trainer shared with me that the person leasing the commercial space next door to his gym had been smearing what appeared to be his own semen on the door handles of women that work out there. Got him on video doing it. Several women had complained. SLPD took a report and reviewed the evidence and said they did not have the resources to pursue the case at this time due to budget cuts, naming the mayor as the reason behind the cuts. Cute, right? And all the while conservatives in Ewetah are spun up good about protecting women and girls from evil trans persons that might go tinkle or play high school sports.
Husband and I have both seen him coming and going when we are using the gym facility. He’s a dumpy little man, probably feels he deserves some attention from the women that come and go throughout the day. I think that he is jealous of my trainer who is built like a Norse god and has built a thriving business. The landlord cancelled his lease on a technicality when he saw the video footage. As a result the gym is expanding. Not the beat down the dude deserves but picking his business up and moving it with 30 days notice is a expensive undertaking.
Impeachment is the nicest thing that should happen to Ms. Cline. If the child whose picture she posted is NOT transgender, her parents should sue. If she is, can the child herself go after Ms. Cline for the threats and intimidation she has been made to suffer? I certainly hope so.
Utah has an anti-trans students in sports law on the books. It was originally vetoed by the Governor but the legislature overrode it. Ironically, the law says the results of the decisions of the panel, even without the names included are to remain secret from everyone but the school and the student’s parents. But the author of the bill seems to have violated her own law by saying how many students have been denied access to sports because of their law.
Posting a picture of a minor on Facebook by an adult in political office for the purposes of harassment should be grounds for removal from that office.
State-level legislation and executive orders this year shifted from censoring racial issues in classrooms and instead focused on censoring LGBTQ+ issues, according to a new report from PEN America. At the same time, this significant shift also created an increased resistance to these unpopular laws and policies.
The free-expression nonprofit PEN America has been tracking what it describes as “educational gag orders” since 2021. While such bills introduced in 2021 and 2022 focused on limiting how issues of race and racism could be taught in classrooms, in 2023, conservative lawmakers and advocates turned their attention to banning discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in K–12 classrooms.
The anti-LGBTQ+ group’s candidates lost big in at least four states.
“It appears that America’s would-be censors now see proposals to restrict conversations about sexual orientation and gender identity as more of a winning political issue than efforts to restrict discussions of race and racism,” the report stated. “Leveraging that presumed support, [conservatives] have attempted to enact sweeping restrictions on what school-age children can read and learn.”
PEN America documented 110 state-level bills introduced during the 2023 legislative sessions that it defined as educational gag orders. Only 10 became law, while four other restrictions on education were imposed via executive orders or state or system regulations. Of those 110 bills, 39 specifically targeted how public school teachers could discuss LGBTQ+ issues (five of those also applied to private schools).
According to the report, about three-quarters of those anti-LGBTQ+ bills were modeled on Florida’s infamous “Parental Rights in Education Act,” commonly known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
These restrictions resulted not only in the marginalization of LGBTQ+ students and students with LGBTQ+ family members, they have also had a devastating impact on public education more broadly, forcing teachers to self-censor and contributing to teacher shortages across the country, the report added.
“If teachers are afraid to make any mention of race or LGBTQ+ identities in the classroom, if they are afraid to answer student questions, if quality educators are leaving and cannot be replaced, students are the ones who suffer most,” PEN America’s report stated.
While efforts to impose educational censorship are expected to continue into 2024, the report also offers reason for hope in the form of increased resistance to such legislation. According to PEN America, at least 13 different lawsuits challenging educational gag orders are currently pending, and political resistance has also grown.
“Over the last three years — and especially in the past twelve months — an increasing number of national groups have begun dedicating significant resources to combat educational censorship,” according to the report. “Simultaneously, a network of state-centric groups — many of them founded by parents, community members, and educators themselves — has emerged to take the fight directly to the local school board or state legislature.”
As PEN America notes, growing public opposition to educational censorship targeting issues of race and LGBTQ+ identity could ultimately make such legislation less attractive to conservative lawmakers.
Notice this is in the news section, not in the opinion writer section. I went to the link. It is the supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics. I read the report, looked at how the study was done. The findings seem solid. This is the short version, easy to read version. That the totally discredited / debunked ROGD (rapid onset gender dysphoria) is used and pushed even though proven wrong is true. It has been pushed on my own Play Time by Tildeb and Nan. It just makes sense they said. Nope, only does if you are anti-trans looking for a reason not to agree with gender affirming care. The same thing happened when kids and adults felt safe coming out as gay, the number of people reporting to be gay increased dramatically, then remained steady. It is called the left handed syndrome, the idea that when people stopped being punished for being left handed, when the stigma was gone, the numbers of left handed people increased. Below are a couple quotes. Hugs. Scottie
The ROGD theory posits that trans identification is exploding specifically among AFAB youth, who are being preyed upon by “gender ideology” — but this analysis of nearly 200,000 adolescents disproves that hypothesis.
Of course, these findings are not the first to indicate that ROGD is junk science. The theory was first floated in 2018, and problems with the study that justified it were obvious from the start. Dr. Lisa Littman, a board member of the “gender critical” group Genspect, published a survey of less than 300 parents of trans youth recruited from openly anti-trans communities like the UK-based TERF-y site Mumsnet who provided testimonials supporting Littman’s hypothesis. That the paper was immediately retracted or that Littman herself has misrepresented her own data haven’t prevented these “findings” from becoming enmeshed on the right, though, in part because anti-trans dogma isn’t just about gender.
Scientists said any claims that people are becoming trans just to fit in “does not hold up to scrutiny.”
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – 2021/08/06: Protesters wrapped in pride and trans pride flags sit on a wall during the trans rights demonstration.Protesters gathered outside Downing Street demanding an end to discrimination against the trans community, better support from the government against hate, and improvements to trans healthcare waiting times. (Photo by Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)SOPA Images/Getty Images
Over the past four years, opponents of transgender rights and protections have pushed a theory called “rapid onset gender dysphoria,” or ROGD, asserting that more young people are publicly identifiying as trans due to “social contagion.” “Trans people have long known this theory to be completely false, but now, a new study has finally proven it for good.”
A study published Wednesday in the journal Pediatrics is the latest to demonstrate how the numbers just don’t line up in ROGD’s favor. Scientists analyzed data from the CDC’s 2017 and 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey in 16 states, looking particularly at the ratio of trans and gender-diverse youth who were assigned female at birth as opposed to those assigned male. The ROGD theory posits that trans identification is exploding specifically among AFAB youth, who are being preyed upon by “gender ideology” — but this analysis of nearly 200,000 adolescents disproves that hypothesis.
Far from rising, the number of trans and gender diverse youth identified in the survey actually dropped significantly between 2017 and 2019, falling from 2.4% to 1.6%. And while the ratio of assigned-male to assigned-female trans youth did shrink, going from 1.5:1 to 1.2:1 over the two years analyzed, researchers found the numbers actually changed because there were fewer transfeminine youth in the latter survey, not more transmascs.
Proponents of ROGD, including J.K. Rowling and Joe Rogan, have also claimed that transness is a “social contagion” because young people are using trans identification as a way to escape homophobic bullying. There’s a lot of misconceptions to unpack in that one sentence, but the Pediatrics study addresses the most vital one: once again, it was found, bullying and suicidal ideation rates were both higher among trans youth than their cis-identified peers, making the ROGD claim nonsensical.
“The hypothesis that transgender and gender diverse youth assigned female at birth identify as transgender due to social contagion does not hold up to scrutiny and should not be used to argue against the provision of gender-affirming medical care for adolescents,” Dr. Alex S. Keuroghlian, one of the study’s senior authors, said in a statement. Lead author Dr. Jack Turban concurred, calling the idea that trans youth transition to escape social stigma “absurd.”
“The damaging effects of these unfounded hypotheses in further stigmatizing transgender and gender diverse youth cannot be understated,” Turban stressed. “We hope that clinicians, policymakers, journalists, and anyone else who contributes to health policy will review these findings.”
Researchers say it points to the growing scientific conclusion that “gender affirming care is life saving care.”
————————————————————————————
Of course, these findings are not the first to indicate that ROGD is junk science. The theory was first floated in 2018, and problems with the study that justified it were obvious from the start. Dr. Lisa Littman, a board member of the “gender critical” group Genspect, published a survey of less than 300 parents of trans youth recruited from openly anti-trans communities like the UK-based TERF-y site Mumsnet who provided testimonials supporting Littman’s hypothesis. That the paper was immediately retracted or that Littman herself has misrepresented her own data haven’t prevented these “findings” from becoming enmeshed on the right, though, in part because anti-trans dogma isn’t just about gender.
We’d like to believe that this will finally put Littman’s harmful falsehoods to rest, but sadly, truth-telling is not a hallmark of the reactionary right. Hopefully this can at least reassure some trans youth that they’re not monsters or dupes, and that their identities deserve respect — even if some insist on screaming otherwise.
Last time it was mentioned to her that her followers attack the people / places she goes after, she was very proud of that fact. She likes it. That is the point. She is a female thug, a Christian fundamentalist thug, who feels entitled to force everyone to live as she demands they do. She feels it is her god given right to take rights away from others. Hugs. Scottie
The FBI and local law enforcement said bomb threats across the country have tied up government resources even when they turn out to be hoaxes.
Chaya Raichik, creator of LibsofTikTok, at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland last March.Michael Brochstein / Sipa USA via AP file
Last March, police in Coralville, Iowa, investigated a bomb threat targeting a junior high school. Authorities brought in specially trained dogs to sniff for explosives and started looking into why someone might try to target the community’s teachers and students.
Law enforcement quickly determined that the threat was a hoax. Detective Hanna Dvorak from the Coralville Police Department arrived at a theory.
“It appears this all stems from a post made earlier this week by Chaya Raichik and her ‘Libs of TikTok’ account,” Dvorak wrote in a report to her superiors.
Raichik, 29, is not accused of making any bomb threats in Iowa or anywhere else. But about a day and a half before authorities responded to the threat at Coralville’s Northwest Junior High, Raichik posted that the school offers a “pornographic” book in its library that “teaches kids about gay sex.”
“These are the books they’re giving your kids to read in school,” she wrote on the social media platform X. People have frequently targeted the book in question, “This Book Is Gay,” a coming-out guide for LGBTQ teens, with book bans going back years.
The Coralville detective wrote in her report that one of Raichik’s supporters could have had a role in the bomb threat.
Coralville was not alone. Officers and government officials in four other jurisdictions — Burbank, California; Minnetonka, Minnesota; Oklahoma City; and Tualatin, Oregon — told NBC News they believe Raichik sparked threats in their localities with her posts on social media that digitally heckle people such as drag performers, LGBTQ teachers and doctors who treat transgender patients. The name “Libs of TikTok” is a reference to the people Raichik mocks on social media — “Libs” being short for “liberal.”
While the direct inspirations for the threats are not known, the timing suggests that Libs of TikTok posts have been used to pick targets.
NBC News identified 33 instances, starting in November 2020, when people or institutions singled out by Libs of TikTok later reported bomb threats or other violent intimidation. The threats, which on average came several days after tweets from Libs of TikTok, targeted schools, libraries, hospitals, small businesses and elected officials in 16 states, Washington, D.C., and the Canadian province of Ontario. Twenty-one of the 33 threats were bomb threats, which most commonly targeted schools and were made via email.
NBC News emailed Raichik on Monday seeking comment on the threats. She did not respond directly, but said in a post on X that NBC News was working on a “hit piece.”
“They do it to try to paint me as an extremist to discredit me. This ‘b*mb threat’ narrative is really getting old,” she wrote, adding a yawning-face emoji.
NBC News identified the threats in a review of local news sources, social media posts and interviews with experts and victims.
The 33 threats drew both local and national resources. Law enforcement agencies in at least 13 jurisdictions reported receiving FBI assistance to find the responsible person or people. A police spokesperson in Burbank said he believed the FBI still has an open investigation into an incident there.
In an emailed statement, the bureau said it has, in general, observed an increase in threats of violence targeting institutions like hospitals and schools.
“As a country and organization, we have seen an increase in threats of violence targeting government officials and institutions, houses of worship, schools, and medical facilities, just to name a few. The FBI and our partners take all threats of violence seriously and responding to these threats ties up law enforcement resources,” the FBI press office said.
“When the threats are made as a hoax, it puts innocent people at risk, is a waste of law enforcement’s limited resources, and costs taxpayers. The FBI and our state and local partners will continue to aggressively pursue perpetrators of these threats — real or false — and hold them accountable,” the bureau said.
The FBI did not respond directly to questions about Raichik or the status of cases related to the 33 threats.
Prosecutors have pursued charges in only three of the 33 instances NBC News reviewed: At least three people have been charged with threatening Boston Children’s Hospital or Boston doctors, a juvenile was arrested after being accused of making a threat at an Oregon middle school, and five members of the white nationalist hate group Patriot Front were convicted of conspiring to riot at an Idaho Pride event.
The charging documents associated with those prosecutions did not mention either Libs of TikTok or Raichik.
A member of Patriot Front is searched after being arrested in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, on June 11, 2022.John Rudoff / Reuters file
Of the 33 instances, law enforcement or school officials in four jurisdictions said, there were indications — such as email addresses with a non-U.S. domain — that the threats could have come from people in foreign countries.
Raichik, the founder of the Libs of TikTok social media brand, has become an internet celebrity among some conservatives for her willingness to criticize teachers, doctors and other professionals who are LGBTQ or who are accepting of LGBTQ people. Raichik often posts their names and photographs alongside accusations of wrongdoing to X, where she has 2.8 million followers.
Konstantine Anthony, a City Council member in Burbank, said he received violent threats by email less than an hour after Libs of TikTok posted a video of him. The video showed Anthony, who at the time was Burbank’s mayor, getting spanked by a drag queen at a political fundraiser, and Libs of TikTok’s post said it happened “in front of children.” Anthony said no children were present. He was clothed and laughing in the video.
Anthony told NBC News that based on the timing, he believes he and his City Hall staff received at least two bomb threats “as a direct result of Libs of TikTok.”
A spokesperson for the Burbank Police Department said the police had referred the threats to the FBI, which was investigating them.
Konstantine Anthony in Burbank, Calif., on March 15. Tommaso Boddi / Getty Images file
Anthony, a Democrat running for a seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, blamed Raichik for turning him and others into targets. He said he received harassing messages and threats by email, voicemail, social media and even handwritten letters.
He said he saw increases in the number of threats after subsequent tweets by Raichik.
Libs of TikTok has now taken on a large and growing role in the nation’s culture wars. It provides ammunition to conservatives by collecting and posting examples of what it considers far-left ideology, such as TikTok videos of teachers discussing race or screenshots from gender clinic websites. Elon Musk, who restored Libs of TikTok on X after it was suspended under previous ownership, frequently shares the account’s posts on his own X profile, and the account’s followers on X include a number of politicians such as Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Former President Donald Trump hosted Raichik for dinner at his Mar-a-Lago estate in January 2023. Tucker Carlson, then a Fox News host, featured her on his show in December 2022. Raichik claimed to be at the Jan. 6, 2021, riot outside the U.S. Capitol, though not in the building, according to The Washington Post.
On Jan. 23, Raichik was appointed to the Oklahoma Department of Education’s Library Media Advisory Committee by Superintendent Ryan Walters. At least one lawmaker has referred to the bomb threats when contesting Raichik’s appointment to the committee.
Oklahoma Public Instruction Superintendent Ryan Walters during inauguration ceremonies in Oklahoma City on Jan. 9, 2023.Sue Ogrocki / AP file
The threats have been taking up government resources and been highly distracting.
In response to the threats, some schools canceled classes for days, while others stayed open following quick sweeps from law enforcement.
Superintendent Sue Rieke-Smith dealt with two separate bomb threats in October after Libs of TikTok tagged Oregon’s Tigard-Tualatin School District. The account shared a video showing a school fight involving a person who some people said appeared to be a trans student.
The school district determined, with assistance from the FBI, that the threat was not credible, said district spokesperson Traci Rose.
Rieke-Smith said that social media accounts cross a line when they criticize kids or inspire threats.
“I think there should be consequences when social media is used inappropriately and a community is harmed,” she added. She said she had even raised her concerns with Oregon’s governor in a recent conversation.
Chief Greg Pickering of the Tualatin Police Department said he assigned a small team to investigate the threats.
“It takes time to vet those threats,” he said in a phone interview. “There’s a ton of due diligence.”
His department arrested a juvenile for making one of the threats on Snapchat. No one has been charged with the other bomb threat, made via email. Pickering said he believed that Libs of TikTok inspired the threat.
Raichik has said that she doesn’t support threatening the subjects of her posts, and that she is not responsible for how people respond to her content. She’s said that she has faced threats herself. When USA Today wrote about the threats, she posed with a copy of the article, smiling, and made it her profile photo on X.
Chaya Raichik at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington on March 2. Zach Roberts / NurPhoto via AP
She continues to post the identifying details and images of her subjects. She has rarely criticized the threat-makers or urged them to stop. She told The Washington Post in September 2022, when the newspaper was reporting on threats against children’s hospitals: “We 100 % condemn any acts/threats of violence.”
Raichik has at times mocked the idea that she could influence people making threats, once joking that maybe she was also responsible for natural disasters.
But some of her followers take her posts as an invitation. People have replied with the phone numbers of schools, the names of teachers and school board members and requests for Raichik to provide more details so that users can take action.
“Need to post the school name so calls can be made,” one user replied to a recent Libs of TikTok post on X. Raichik did not respond.
Vice News reported Oct. 4 that at least 11 schools or school districts that were targeted by Libs of TikTok in the prior month received bomb threats days later.
Libs of TikTok is part of a right-wing ecosystem on social media that has targeted transgender people, drag performers, LGBTQ advocates and others in recent years.
“There are forces at work in our country that have fostered this sort of behavior, and that just needs to stop,” said John Sasaki, a spokesperson for the Oakland Unified School District in California.
One of the district’s elementary schools was targeted by Libs of TikTok for hosting an event to bring together Black, Asian and Pacific Islander, and other families of color. In August, Libs of TikTok called the event racist against white people.
The next day, Aug. 29, someone emailed a bomb threat to the school’s principal, Sasaki said. The school canceled classes for the day and sent home its 570 students as police responded.
Sasaki said the district deployed counselors and other school staff to the elementary school the next day.
For other school districts, the threats that followed a Libs of TikTok post have meant more than a one-day evacuation. Oklahoma’s Union Public Schools was the target of bomb threats for six days in August — a series that began one day after an Aug. 21 Libs of TikTok post criticizing an elementary school librarian. The librarian had said online that she emphasized social justice in her teaching.
Chris Payne, a spokesperson for the district, said the local police, with assistance from the FBI, investigated, but he wasn’t aware of any charges. He said he was told by law enforcement that many of the messages appeared to have come from outside the country.
In September, police in Salem, Massachusetts, said they responded to three hoax bomb threats in seven days against the city’s elementary school. Three days before the first threat, Libs of TikTok posted about the school.
“The frequency of school threats which turn out to be hoaxes has dramatically increased in the last two years and presents a quandary for school personnel and public safety alike,” Salem Police Chief Lucas Miller said in a statement.
He added that his department had to balance competing factors: taking all threats seriously while also considering the “mental trauma inflicted upon school children who are exposed to repeated police emergencies.”
Hate costs. These people wanted to limit other people, the LGBTQIA and their supporters, from public participation. But they tried to do it based on a lie they created. They tried to claim that drag was obscene and sexualized kids. I find it strange it only does it to kids in their minds, yet they want to ban porn from adults also? But there are already laws on obscenity if they think someone was showing a body part that should always be hidden to save the world. They did not want that, because it would still let the parade happen. So they passed a law outlawing one group … for public good. Just like in Russia, and just like that they were able to deny the pride parade permits, stopping “those people” from a public event. The law is illegal. Just because you don’t like a group, don’t like someone’s views or that they are different doesn’t give you the right to deny their human rights, their civil rights, and full equal participation in society publically. I wonder if it will pause some of the other laws pushed by fundamentalist religious right-wingers. Hugs. Scottie
A Tennessee city must pay $500,000 as part of a settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups over an ordinance designed to ban drag performances from taking place on public property, attorneys announced Wednesday.
Last year, the Tennessee Equality Project — a nonprofit that advocates for LGBTQ+ rights — filed a federal lawsuit after Murfreesboro leaders announced they would no longer be approving any event permit requests submitted by the organization.
At the time, the city alleged that the drag performances that took place during TEP’s 2022 Pride event resulted in the “illegal sexualization of kids.”
Read the full article. My October 2023 posts on the Murfreesboro ban are here and here.
STATEMENT from @tnequality on winning the settlement against Murfreesboro: "We celebrate the resolution of this case… Now we can turn our attention to preparing for the 2024 BoroPride and defending rights at the state legislature.” https://t.co/JlYvTFF4mdpic.twitter.com/j2ffhXjgBu
The thing about Murfreesboro is it’s a small town with a large university and campus population exceeding 20k. A lot of partying happens there and the student body is very diverse. The fact that the city council was trying to tamp down Pride activities tells me their Pride must really be a popular event. Murfreesboro, TN, Rutherford Co, is adjacent to Franklin, TN, Williamson Co. It also tried to ban Pride only to lose that effort when the LGBTQ community fought back. My friends in Franklin ( the home of Marsha Blackburn) tell me it’s Pride event was well attended with many Het families bringing their children to the festivities. FYI: In my childhood Murfreesboro TN was a sundown town. That might give you an idea about it’s deep and obviously still politically active Confederate roots.
Illegal sexualization of kids? Drag queens are only sexual if you find drag queen sexual. but if you really want to talk about the LEGAL sexualization of children, Let’s talk about this:
When I lived in PA in the 90s (“Pennsyltucky”), there was a country station which the entire frickin’ region listened to (“Froggy 98”).
They had a TV commercial w/ two little girls dancing to a country song. The younger of the two girls had obviously been (though I didn’t know this term then) GROOMED to “dance sexy”. It was beyond disturbing even then, but I regret not being aware enough to protest it.
These small towns and medium sized cities seem to be unable to consult with their attorneys, or they decide that they don’t like the answer and forge ahead. Inevitably they lose at least some of the lawsuits, and their taxpayers get stuck with the bill. Maybe the city fathers have swallowed the ALEC-like model legislation without considering that the model legislation is not viable when challenged.
Fiscally, won’t dent their budget much. According to their 2022-’23 budget docs, their budget was $573 million.
$500K is nothing for them. But the humiliation of spending taxpayer money to try to keep their homophobic and transphobic ordinance active, only to publicly retract it, will deservedly embarrass the local government there.
The rabid fundamental Christian right is trying to do in other places what they accomplished in Florida, a government take over so they can force everyone to live by their regressive rules. In a lot of red state areas that they did this, the majority has risen up to try to take back the government from the haters / fundies. But in sleep small towns in blue states, the people are not aware of the danger the anti-LGBTQIA fundamentalist right present. Anytime someone uses the word abomination to describe gay people, you know their stance is being directed by religious church doctrine, not science or reality. LGBTQIA are not abominations, but people who support hate, taking away equality from people, and oppression are. Hugs. Scottie
The quaint town of Littleton, New Hampshire, is seeing more tourists, drawn to a main street of shops and restaurants where rainbow colors and gay pride symbols can be seen alongside American flags. Its population of 6,000 is growing younger and more diverse, supporting LGBTQ-themed art and a local theater’s gay-themed musical.
The culture change doesn’t sit well with town selectboard member Carrie Gendreau, who also serves as a Republican state senator. Last year, she said that “homosexuality is an abomination” and spoke of regulating art on public property, prompting a backlash and now the resignation of the town manager, whose late son was gay.
“My son is not an abomination,” Jim Gleason told the selectboard in January, to a standing ovation, when he announced his last day was Friday. He accused Gendreau of creating a toxic work environment by repeatedly making derogatory comments about gay people. Friday also was Gendreau’s deadline to file for reelection to the board, but she didn’t, so her three-year term ends in March.
A former mill town in the White Mountains, Littleton reversed a long decline in part through art. Tourists come now for antiques, galleries, boutiques and “the world’s longest candy counter.” They also look at the bronze statue of Pollyanna, erected outside the public library to honor the 1913 book by local author Eleanor H. Porter, whose main character came to define relentless optimism.
Pollyanna’s motto “Be Glad!” — which hangs from banners up and down Main Street — has been tested as townspeople found themselves debating over inclusion, tolerance and equality.
The controversy began in August, after three small murals funded by a diversity, equity and inclusion grant appeared on the side of a building that houses a restaurant and clothing store. Covering boarded-up windows, the murals show a white iris against a color wheel, two birch trees bending under a night sky, and a dandelion reaching skyward from an open book.
“What went up was not good,” said Gendreau, urging the selectboard’s audience to research what such symbols really mean. “I don’t want that to be in our town. I don’t want it to be here.”
The board then sought an attorney’s advice on what they could do to regulate artistic expression on town property and Gendreau gave several interviews, telling The Boston Globe that the iris painting carried “demonic hidden messages.”
The artist, Meg Reinhold, said her “We Are Joy” painting was inspired by Iris, the Greek goddess of rainbows. She told The Associated Press in an email that she hoped to “evoke feelings of joy and empowerment,” add beauty to Littleton, and celebrate people living with pride in the LGBTQ+ community.
“If a viewer looks at these works and sees demons and darkness, what does that tell us about how they view the world?” Reinhold said.
Gleason, who answered to the board as town manager, said he tried to resolve matters. When a woman approached him demanding to stop the November production of “La Cage aux Folles” — depicted on screen as “The Birdcage” — he said she was free to protest outside the theater or not buy a ticket.
She responded by invoking his son, saying “He’s in hell with the devil where he belongs,” recalled Gleason, and he said Gendreau tried to justify the the comments. The woman later admitted sending Gleason a photo of him clipped from a newspaper with derogatory language written across his face. A judge granted Gleason a restraining order against her.
As fears of a public art ban spread, selectboard meetings drew large crowds.
Ronnie Sandler, 75, an out lesbian all her adult life, said she spoke up at a selectboard meeting last fall because some of her friends told her they were scared.
“I have never felt any hatred or anything targeted at me in all of those years,” she told the AP. “Back in the late ‘70s, my girlfriend and I used to walk around in Littleton holding hands.”
A group of local business owners led by auto dealership manager Duane Coute submitted a letter signed by more than 1,000 people from Littleton and across the country urging the board to abandon “a path so detrimental to business.”
“Our community is so much stronger because of this situation,” Coute said.
New Hampshire’s Democratic-led congressional delegation stressed “how integral public art and cultural expression are to the economic wellbeing and competitiveness of towns like Littleton and similar communities throughout New Hampshire.” Surrounding towns adopted inclusivity-equality resolutions.
Some people backed Gendreau.
“She speaks for those stakeholders who are afraid to speak out due to personal retribution. She speaks out for those who are afraid for their own personal safety,” Nick De Mayo of nearby Sugar Hill, in Gendreau’s Senate district, wrote in a letter to the editor.
Others called the whole experience disappointing and disgraceful.
“It’s coming from a very small group of people. Unfortunately, that small group of people hold elected office and have some degree of power within the town,” said Kevin Silva, a physician who has lived in Littleton for about 20 years.
The board ultimately announced that they never sought an art ban. Selectboard member Linda MacNeil drew a standing ovation when she said “Whether we agree with the content or not, art is part of the fabric of history and should not be censored.” Roger Emerson, chairperson of the three-member board, did not take a position on the subject.
Gleason, 65, expressed amazement during his resignation speech at an outpouring of support for his defense of the arts, and urged his fellow townspeople to keep working “for civil rights and equality for all.”
“Keep up the fight,” he told the audience in a quavering voice. ‘You’ve got a beautiful town.”
Gleason, who was hired in 2021 following a similar job in Florida, told the AP he’s been thinking of his son Patrick, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2016.
“I believe he’d be proud of his dad for standing up, not just for him, but for everybody in the LGBTQIA-plus community, and anyone who has been marginalized or discriminated against in terms of that process,” Gleason said. “This is one of those moments. We don’t always get them in life.”
Gendreau didn’t answer directly when asked for comment on the controversy, but she suggested she wasn’t done trying to change her community. “There’s a lot of undertones that need to get corrected,” she said.
OK I couldn’t resist, if you watch the video you will understand. I do sometimes state the truth that those on the receiving end will not like being called. I call racist, racist. I call bigots and haters, well, what they are bigots and haters. I do question the mental abilities of those that can not reason well or who support conspiracies over facts. I call people who get their medical information from politicians and preachers rather than doctors and medical professional / medical scientist stupid. Yup, and I don’t care it offends them. Because I will start out trying to help someone, but as the lady said, “When they show you who they are, believe them the first time”. So I do agree with the good Reverend some, maybe half way. But sometimes you have to just lay the cards on the table, no matter what they show. That said, if you have elderly parents or a spouse that is … highly opinionated about something, maybe then you do have to hold your tongue. I would have to care a real lot to stay quiet though. Hugs. Scottie
Remember it started with protecting children, first by stopping trans girls from playing on female teams so they wouldn’t take trophies from daughters that don’t earn them. Then they moved on to protecting kids from having mutilation surgery at 9 years old, as they are convinced is happening. Then to protect kids they had to remove any mention of trans kids from schools and libraries. But now it is not enough hate yet. These people never stop, give them an inch and they will take a mile while still wanting more. So now red states are forcing trans adults to detransition, forcing younger adults to delay their needed treatment until 25 or 26 years old, forcing insurance companies to pay for conversion therapy which is well known to be a fraud and sham. It can not work, it will not work, it causes more medical problems, and the major medical organizations are totally against it. But fundamentalist religious politicians know far more about medical issues than the very doctors who went to medical school and study those same issues. When the doctors say puberty blockers are safe and reversible, the right wing politicians say only for cis kids, but for trans kids they are deadly dangerous. WTF? I would suggest you read the linked article, the plan the republicans are pushing to remove trans people from society is more than Joe quoted.
This is simple, wipe out trans people, remove them from society. Then go after the rest of the LGBTQIA and wipe them out, remove them from society. It is about returning the country to the same public society of the 1950s. It is about rejecting the modern age, the modern society. It is about wanting a return to a time when their prejudices were acceptable, their hates tolerated. We must not only reject them, we must fight back against what they are doing. We may not win in all red states, and I fear that Florida is going to remain a maga paradise for some time, the rest of the country is savable.
These are people that refused to issue mask or vaccine mandates for public safety because it was against people’s freedom, yet these people feel free to regulate every aspect of other people sexual / gender lives even though that doesn’t affect anyone else. Freedom for them to hate and control, freedom for you is to obey them, doing as they tell you. Hugs. Scottie
A Florida House panel has backed a measure that would require state-issued identification cards to reflect a person’s sex assigned at birth and impose requirements for insurers who cover gender-affirming care.
The Republican-controlled House Select Committee on Health Innovation approved the bill (HB 1639) along party lines, despite opposition from transgender people and their allies.
Under the bill, insurance companies and health plans that cover such treatments as hormone-replacement therapy and surgeries for people diagnosed with gender dysphoria would additionally be required to cover the cost of “de-transitioning,”
Read the full article. My first report on the bill is here.
Florida House panel backs measure to require ID cards to show sex assigned at birth https://t.co/REUGshGNoR
Republican supermajority in Tallahassee heard their constituents wanted solutions to the insurance crisis in this state and this is what they’re proposing.
Vote these fucking idiots out already….oh wait it is Florida…so many residents are FUCKED in the head
Most of the legislation you are seeing pop up all over the country is a product of the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank. The create boilerplate legislation like this and push it to the ultra conservatives in various state legislatures. No lack of any of that in Floriduh or here in Utah. Those that sponsor the bills are normally looking for that unique “LOOK AT MEEEEE!” media moment so they can get some air time and remind everyone of who to hate and what to hate about them. They are admittedly devout christians and that should surprise absolutely nobody.
You got that right. Since trump was prez all the qanaon and maga followers have flooded into the state. Its a cess pool and will not be blue or purple ever for generations and generations to come.
Floridians appear to be perfectly fine with Republican bs. I barely even hear about protests or pushback. It’s amazing to see a state move from semi-purple to dark red so quickly.
But are they? Or is the media not reporting on the public pushing back. Notice. We don’t hear a lot of people complaining about the skyrocketing insurance cost in the media either. That’s not impossible with the conservative takeover of most of the media in the United States.
I’d swear this sounds like one of those super evil “regulations” that the GOP is always complaining about… what ever happened to the “invisible hand of the free market” that they praise?
If you want to know what republicans are doing, listen to their accusations against liberals. Projection is a republican thing. They do it but don’t seem to know it.
Sad thing is it wont stop here. And it seems like we have no recourse. Our federal gubment is shocked and awed and seems to not know how to respond. Now that TX has blatantly said they will defy the FEDS and the SCOTUS red states know they are free to do what they want.
The other point is that these GOP goobers ain’t got nuttin’ else but sex, gender, and pregnancies on their minds. International diplomacy? Bah! National debt? Pfff! National infrastructure? Nah! Equality for all per the Constitution? Nuh-uh, spurshally not for women, ick! Improving First Nations people’s well-being? Fuck that!
These cruel mutherfuckers…what happened to having politicians between your and your doctor? For that matter, what happened to the liberty these fuckers are always talking about?
GOP won’t OK mandates for vaccine.. but “re-de-sexualize” you against your will is Just OK with GOP ?! Whaaaaot?!? – well kids, this is it.. this IS the GOP on parade rain or shine.. FL IS the GOP End Goal “town with the parade” on parade.. sad it is that GOP patterns get set in like this, as if rehearsal.. GOP Kock Bro. plays in WI for rehearsing Dark Money influence, GOP Abbot in/with TX as rehearsal in Cruelty, GOP states follow in with Trigger Laws and stair steps to the GOP 6-3 supreme court (no, I don’t capitalize that anymore).. and GOP base so Warped and manipulated and trained to distraction the GOP base cannot see the ways this plays out against them down the road.. Gads, Work for DEM WINS Ahead !
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Scottie's Playtime 