In plain language you must get permission from one of DerSantis appointed people to address an issue at the capital to influence state legislators and you must be in support of the polices DerSantis wants. No counter information or protest allowed. No right to protest against the governor in Florida. You will support the dictator wannabe who courts Nazis and governs like a king and Florida is his kingdom. He attacks anyone who dares question him, only does interviews with friendly media who agree with him. He insults and debases any report who dares to ask him a question he doesn’t like, and he tries to get people fired who do annoy the king. Plus he uses the power of the state to push disinformation that gives him a political gain at the expense of the safety and wellbeing of the people. You will support the governor / republicans / maga or else! Hugs
The Department of Management Services, which oversees state facilities, over the past few months has changed rules for groups or individuals who want to reserve space inside the Capitol.
The Capitol is a common location for demonstrations, especially during the state’s two-month legislative session that begins in March, and the rules will affect events inside the entire building. | Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP Photo
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The DeSantis administration now requires events held at the Florida state Capitol to “align” with its mission, a recent change that is sparking concerns that the governor’s office is trying to censor events it doesn’t like.
The Department of Management Services, the administration department that oversees state facilities, over the past few months has changed rules for groups or individuals who want to reserve space inside the Capitol. The changes require organizations seeking to reserve areas to make their requests through specific administration officials or legislative leaders and require they line up with the mission of the state.
“One material change to the Rule is that events must align with state agency missions and applications must come from an agency sponsor,” read the Department of Management Services letter, copies of which were provided to POLITICO by multiple groups trying to plan events at the Capitol. “Once a sponsorship has been obtained, the state agency shall submit the required application to DMS on behalf of the requestor.”
The management services agency has started sending letters to organizations that have long-requested space inside the Capitol for events during the annual legislative session informing them of the changes. The Capitol overall is a common location for demonstrations, especially during the state’s two-month legislative session that begins in March, and the rules will affect events inside the entire building.
This year’s session is expected to be packed with Gov. Ron DeSantis-championed bills that will stoke controversy and outrage ahead of his likely presidential bid.
A DMS spokesperson did not answer specific questions about the new rule, saying in a statement that they are “plainly written and straightforward.”
The new rules specify that organizations must make their requests through DeSantis administration agency heads, the House speaker or any member of the Senate. The chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court can also ask on their behalf.
The DMS letters caught by surprise several groups that have for years requested space in the Capitol to host education events for their particular mission. There are dozens of annual events during the legislative session that include state universities having advocacy days, or specific advocacy groups holding informational and educational days in the Capitol during session to increase awareness of their issues of concern. Most events are uncontroversial and not tied to protesting specific issues being considered, or any specific piece of legislation.
“It seems counterintuitive to our rights that you have to ask an agency to ask on your behalf to use space at the Capitol to simply educate the Legislature,” said a lobbyist who for years has planned Capitol events for clients. “And only if your mission lines up with the agencies’ mission is having space for displays on DMS property potentially allowed.”
“Does this rule really protect the constitutional right to assembly, and the right to petition the governor for a redress of grievances,” added the person, who was granted anonymity because they were concerned about retribution for speaking against the new DeSantis administration policy.
The changes have created concern that any event deemed not in line with a DeSantis administration “mission” could be denied space, a situation that some fear would affect demonstrators who protest controversial pieces of legislation, a common hallmark of Florida’s legislative process.
Each year, protesters have filled the Capitol rotunda, generally in opposition to Republican legislative priorities because that party is in the majority, though recently anti-abortion protesters filled the Capitol to urge the GOP-dominated Legislature to pass legislation that would lessen the period of time a woman can have an abortion from the recently passed 15-week ban.
“It is absolutely absurd and against our First Amendment right,” said state Rep. Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando). “It does not surprise that as GOP bans abortions, attacks LGBTQ+ rights, bans books and passes corporate tax breaks that they want to suppress freedom of speech and First Amendment rights.”
The rule changes also define “demonstration activity,” which covers things like “demonstrating, parading, picketing, speech making, holding of vigils, sit-ins, or other similar activities conducted for the purpose of demonstrating approval or disapproval of government policies … expressing a view on public issues, or bringing into public notice any issue or other matter.”
Those activities would be less regulated and still allowed outside the Capitol complex. But the new rules include language that allows DMS to request organizers “reduce in size and scope” their event.
LGBTQ+ children in the community have been attacked and are now afraid to go to school or be around other kids. Attacks against adults have risen. But the preacher pushing the hate says it is not a bad thing, he is just telling the truth that "accused the LGBTQ community of "grooming children" and acting in "perverted" sexual behavior." The article linked paints the community now split as some follow local pastor Ronald Gayin oppressing the targets of his hate and the rest trying to be allies to a frightened group under attack. What a godly leader of the people he is. Hugs
PREVIOUSLY ON JMG: Jeff Landry blocks flood damage funding for New Orleans over the city’s position on abortion rights. Landry advises parents on how to evade COVID protocols instituted by public schools. Landry wins court battle to block workplace protections for LGBTQ state employees. The Louisiana Supreme Court upholds Landry’s win against LGBTQ state employees. Hate group leader Tony Perkins praises “courageous” Landry for his attacks on LGBTQ protections. State Rep. Jeff Landry tries to end LGBTQ studies minor at his alma mater, the University of Lafayette.
And in the above we see the move by the rabid right, by the maga, by the majority of republican office holders to move the country from democracy and freedom from religion enforced in laws to instead install a theocracy where their brand of Christianity is forced on the people regardless of their religious views. This is no longer a minority in the minority party, these people have worked hard and spent an untold amount of money to get their religious believers in to places of power to enforce their religious doctrines as the US Taliban. Hugs
From the linked article: “I see this at the very least as a threat to my academic freedom. PBA is a Christian university. It has a deserved reputation as a politically conservative university. I could somewhat understand if the university had requested a meeting to review my material. I say ‘somewhat’ because, as a full professor with over 20 years of experience at the university, one would think they would trust me,” he wrote. “Indeed, the university has shown me little respect throughout this ordeal. But instead, without giving me due process, they brought their concern over my racial-justice unit with a threat of termination. I also believe that things like this do not happen in a vacuum. There is a reason why PBA is threatening me now rather than five years ago or 10 years ago. PBA is conforming to a toxic political culture, and they are playing a role that is a part of that culture’s script: a role that says, ‘We do not like to have uncomfortable conversations about race.’ There is no place for a role like that at an institution that calls itself a university, let alone a Christian university.” Notice what the Christian teacher is saying. In 20 years of teaching of the racism and need for racial justice in the US he is facing loss of his job because of the stance of the governor DeathSantis who claims that teaching the truth of US racist history and the ongoing injustice minorities face is illegal ideology. It doesn’t fit his white nationalist views and his attempt to install a regressive 1950s white automatic rule / superiority back into society via the schools. It is true that people that get an advanced education often get their eyes open to the bigotry and narrow mindedness of the limited education they received which causes them to move to a more tolerant and open view of reality / society. Hugs
Gustav2 Joe in NM3 hours ago edited It is an attempt to control all education in the US. From cradle to college. There has been complaining in all the churches about how the kids don’t come back to church after college. It didn’t matter before because few conservative RCC and Protestant White Fundies went to college, now both have made it to the suburbs, college is expected. With few marriages preformed in church (only 20%), the churches have lost another connection with the next generation and they are less likely to return with their own children. The push for only religious marriages are real marriages and the restructuring of education have one thing in common. The steady decline in church membership. Even the largest denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, is not replacing the Olds that are dying off with Youngs.
Too bad it is against a teachers morals to be nice and use a name or pronoun that a person asks them. I don’t see how it is a moral dilemma or even a religious one. If Robert wishes to be called Bobbie the religious teacher is happy with it, but what if Robert wishes to be called Bohdana or Bonita orBonawhich are all girls names in different languages. I just learned that in German the name Boby is a girl’s name. In the US the name Bobby is both male and female as all names should be. If the teacher doesn’t know a names gender association and they use it without malice are they committing a sin? I don’t get this fake outrage at something that is just being nice and respectful. Hugs
Everyone said this and worst would happen. But gun ammosexuals are one orientation pushed hard in red state schools. The superintendent said there was never any danger other than a kid finding it and shooting someone, which minimizes kids have access to guns and the death of someone by gun violence. The mistaken idea is teachers or school personnel having guns will make schools safer. Here we clearly see they do not. A third grader is an 8 year old and recently we had a 6 year old threaten to kill people with a gun and shoot his teacher. Really the goal should be to remove guns from schools and keep them out. A good start to that is to reduce them from society. Hugs
A 3rd grader in Rising Star found a gun the superintendent left in a school bathroom. Superintendent Robby Stuteville confirms the 3rd grader found the gun back in January and notified a teacher immediately without moving or touching the weapon.
Stuteville walked KTAB and KRBC through the incident, explaining that both he and the school principal open carry on campus. When he was using the restroom, Stuteville says he took the gun off and placed it in a stall, where it was then left unattended for around 15 minutes until it was found by the student.
“There was never a danger other than the obvious,” Stuteville claimed. He then went on to say he was “proud” of the student and commended his behavior after finding the firearm.
I'll spare you the time: No, psychotic Superintendent Robby Stuteville was NOT shot with his own gun that he just plum forgot and left in the bathroom. And he insists there was never any danger "other than the obvious" (that danger being, of course, HIM) https://t.co/mEkn0DGSbH
The Superintendent did NOT notice that he did not have his gun in the holster for those 15 minutes – he only realized it was gone when an 8 year old boy discovered it and brought it to the adults attention. The Superintendent could have not realized his gun was missing for 8 hours !
I’d never even heard of Rising Star, Texas. I had to look it up. It is about halfway between Killeen and Abilene. The entire school district only has 186 students. Several things I don’t understand here. Why the fuck was he using a student bathroom at an elementary school? I never use a student bathroom at an elementary or middle school. (female student bathrooms are filthy) I can’t imagine the guys. The town only has a population of approximately 840 people. What did he need to protect himself from? Why would he need to remove his gun? The urinal wouldn’t require him to do that. The toilets in most elementary schools are much smaller than normal for small kids. His ass would not have fit. This is stupid. Typical, small Texas town attitude.
This is the first thing that jumped out for me too. An adult should never be using the kids restroom in school. That feels very off.
Regarding the condition of student bathrooms — my first job out of high school was working as a substitute janitorIn the school district I graduated from. By far the most disgusting place to clean were the middle school girls bathrooms. The boys smelled, but the girls were filthy.
Nearly every day there were used tampons thrown on the walls and floors. They would also kiss the mirrors and leave greasy lipstick marks that were miserable to clean up. One of the women janitors fixed that problem at one of the schools by going into the main girls bathrooms during a class change, dipping the squeegee into a toilet, then cleaning the mirror with it. Girls were howling in horror and it stopped the mirror kissing a for a few years at that school.
It’s not about protecting himself; its a macho pride thing! I think a grown man carrying a gun in a children’s school is probably considered a more acceptable way of letting the kids know that you are a grown MAN, than walking around the school with your cock hanging out of your pants. But then again it is Texas, so…
That’s not macho pride; that’s insecurity in their manhood. See: truck nuts, gun racks, gun safes, gated communities, “business appropriate” dress codes, “Eff Your Feelings” t-shirts and MAGA ballcaps.
““This is one of those examples of guns in schools.” Stuteville said. “Regardless of who takes responsibility, they are a considerable danger and one should school their child to be on the lookout for any unusual placement of a weapon or anything out of place.””
Yes, teach your children to watch out for guns everywhere. What a sad fucking life this has turned out to be because of losers like Robby Stuteville.
I think it is an example of what can happen when teachers and school administrators carry weapons in a school. While I agree that with all of the shootings that are happening in schools, there is a strong argument favoring armed personnel in the schools, it should be restricted to competent, law enforcement personnel that are well trained in gun safety. I would also argue that law enforcement personnel carrying guns in schools should be better trained and more qualified than the average law enforcement officer in the United States. The United States spends less money training law enforcement personnel that almost every country in the world, and I do not think that is good enough when children’s lives are at stake.
Except the Uvalde Texas school cops & regular cops proved to the world that current-day cops are too scared to take on a school shooter, therefore, what is the point of having any cop at a school ? And this civilian, older man who is the Superintendent is an example that non-professionals are not up for the job of carrying a gun either. It’s almost like guns are the problem and perhaps we need to do what other countries have done and make the restrictions around guns very intense to avoid a further loss of life.
The facts don’t matter to republicans if it interferes with their hate and bigotry. If saving lives and protecting kids was really what the republicans wanted to do they wouldn’t be passing bills that can increase suicide and make depression worse. See they claim to be protecting kids but then when told this will harm trans kids and make them targets they claim they are protecting adult teachers to follow their own beliefs. Yet we don’t let teachers follow their personal beliefs in other areas of schooling so why are pronouns different matter? What is so hard or harmful about being respectful to someone even if they are young. We call kids by their nick names if they wish it, why is calling them a name they prefer an issue? Because the republicans want to force everyone to march in lock step to their restricted view of what people should be and do. Tradition they claim, it has always been this way and it shouldn’t ever change. Because it was that way when they were in charge and felt comfortable with the world, so it must always be done that way. This is what it comes down to: ““Your vote ‘yes’ on this bill means one of two things: Either you believe that trans children do not exist, or you believe that trans children do not deserve to exist,” Berg said.” These people don’t beleive trans kids deserve to exist, they also don’t believe gay kids should be allowed to exist nor anyone one who doesn’t fit the heterosexual traditional mode. Next will be those other religions that they will try to get rid of as they don’t believe they should exist either, jsut good old traditional Christianity. Scare times when in 25 states the republicans are just using the idea they don’t like change from the past to outlaw groups of people, even though science says they are born the way they feel both in sexual orientation and gender identity. If science stands in the way just get rid of the science, right? Hugs
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Democratic Sen. Karen Berg urged her GOP colleagues not to pass a measure that would allow teachers to misgender students.
This story mentions suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, you can reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by phone at 988, or online at https://988lifeline.org/
You can also contact the Trevor Project, which provides free, confidential counselors who specialize in helping LGBTQ youth.
Despite impassioned pleas from a grieving fellow lawmaker, the Kentucky Senate passed a bill that would codify the right of school staff to misgender trans and nonbinary students.
Dubbed a “parents’ rights” measure by its sponsor Republican Sen. Max Wise, the bill also requires schools to give families two weeks notice before any lesson on human sexuality. In addition, it would also allow parents to inspect the curriculum and withdraw their child from the lesson — rights that already exist under state and federal law. Finally, the measure requires schools to give parents specific notifications about any mental health or physical health services that touch on human sexuality, contraception and family planning.
Wise said the pronouns provision protects teachers’ First Amendment rights.
“The terms ‘he’ and ‘she’ communicate fixed facts about a person, and teachers should not be forced to violate their consciences regarding what they know to be true or not true,” Wise said on the Senate floor.
Sen. Karen Berg, a Democrat, rose quickly to oppose the measure.
“Your vote ‘yes’ on this bill means one of two things: Either you believe that trans children do not exist, or you believe that trans children do not deserve to exist,” Berg said.
Berg pointedto researchthat LGBTQ advocates and medical experts have provided to lawmakers, showing that misgendering trans and nonbinary children is linked to mental health issues like depression, anxiety and suicide.
“I am no longer speaking for my child. You know my child is dead,” Berg said haltingly. “So I am speaking for every mother and father who has held my hand with tears running down their face saying, ‘What do we do?’”
Despite Berg’s pleas, the GOP-led body passed the measure 29-6 in a party-line vote.
Sen. Stephen Meredith, the sole Republican to vote “no” on the measure in committee earlier in the day, was not present for the floor vote.
What more is there to say. This is what republicans / the right wants. “… school officials have said they don’t “condone” LGBTQ+ relationships “around here.”” The boy was called “… has endured months’ worth of verbal abuse from the students who attacked him, including being called the n-word, a fa**ot, and a queer”, which means no support, no safe spaces, no help against bullies. One black asexual black boy with difficulties communicating was attacked publicly with an adult present and got no help. The boy himself had to call for medical help. The in school sheriff officer lied and down played the incident because the victim was a black non straight and so did not deserve protection from planned assaults from straight white kids. I said when the maga parents rights crowd got rid of the LGBTQ+ in schools next would be to return to separate facilities for whites and minorities. Now do people understand this is an attempt to return the country and society to a time such as the 1950s where whites were just assumed to be in charge with all the power and rights, white women were subservient to the white cis men, blacks were with our rights or authority and the LGBTQ+ were hidden terrified to come out to live their lives as themselves. That is what the republican right wants. That is why the surge in US NAZIs and the US Christian Taliban. We had moved away from these mindsets and toward an open society for all people. Sadly the right maga right minority feels embolden to take over the country and force everyone to live in the past. Do we really want to regress to the past? Look at other countries that have done that and how backward they are. Hugs
The child experienced an emotional breakdown after the alleged attack and is “terrified” to return to school, his mom says.
A mother says bullies assaulted her 13-year-old son in a middle school bathroom after months of racist and anti-LGBTQ+ slurs. School and legal officials near Allendale-Fairfax Middle School in South Carolina have been unhelpful, she adds. Now, she’s rallying community attention while pursuing charges against the students involved.
Natasha Green’s son is Black, identifies as asexual and panromantic, and has a diagnosed social communication disorder (SCD). She gave video of his assault to LGBTQ Nation and says a teacher was present when it occurred but did nothing to stop it. LGBTQ Nation won’t name the underaged students involved.
Green’s son experienced an emotional breakdown after the alleged attack and is “terrified” to return to school, Green said. He has been placed on homebound instruction while special care professionals evaluate his residual trauma.
Though the school suspended the involved students for four to five days, Green is now pressing charges. She wants the students expelled for “organizing and executing a hate crime” and for the school to remove the witnessing teacher as well as the police school resource officer (SRO) who, she says, took an inaccurate report of the attack.
The alleged attack occurred around 12:30 p.m. local time on January 25 in the band hall restroom of Allendale-Fairfax Middle School, just after her son’s lunchtime.
As the math teacher escorted his students to the bathroom, a girl pushed her son into the boys’ bathroom after she had arranged for two students to attack him, Green said.
A 48-second video of the incident shows Green’s son standing next to a row of urinals while a larger blond, white male classmate repeatedly says, “C’mon, hit me bro. Hit me. C’mon. Do it.”
Green’s son silently stands, nervously holding his left wrist with his right hand as the classmate gets closer.
“If you don’t speak, I might have to,” the blond says.
An off-camera male classmate then counts down “3, 2, 1,” before the blond kid makes an aggressive motion toward Green’s son. Another male student then runs into the camera frame, pushing Green’s son further into the bathroom while the blond follows.
The video shows the two male students grabbing and pulling her son while the blond throws punches at his head. Her son struggles to pull away from his classmates, kicking at the blond just before the blond throws another punch.
The video ends there, though the video shows another student also recording on his phone. Green says the school has three videos of the attack.
According to Green, five students total were in the restroom when the incident occurred, as was her son’s math teacher. The teacher, Green says, is a foreign-born educator teaching under a work visa as part of a year-long program for which the school paid. Green said the school principal was made aware of the teacher’s presence, apologized on his behalf, and said his inaction was likely due to shock and not knowing how to respond.
Green’s son dialed 911 after the attack, and emergency medical services (EMS) arrived at the school. EMS workers attempted calming techniques with him as school officials contacted Green and her other family members to notify them about the incident. Green’s son also spoke with the SRO, a police officer stationed at the school, about what happened.
Green’s mom (her son’s grandmother) was the first to arrive at school.
“When my mom got there,” Green wrote, “he was agitated and hallucinating again so he was transported to the local [emergency room] for evaluation. At the ER, the doctor suggested he stay out of school until he could fully calm down and see his regular doctors and therapist.”
She said that her son was so terrified after the attack that he had trouble recognizing his family members, had difficulty calming down, and felt as if he was still under attack. When she met with her son’s special needs behavioral health care workers, they said that she’d need to provide the SRO’s incident report so that they could schedule priority responsive care sessions for her son.
When Green received the report on January 27, she said the SRO slid the report to Green through a crack in the door. When Green pointed out that the report didn’t mention the female student who allegedly encouraged the boys to attack her son, she said the SRO informed her that she had based her report on the principal’s account of what happened, hadn’t spoken to any of the other students involved, and refused to change the report.
“I reminded [the SRO] that she talked to my son, and she said no, that was not true. I have video evidence that she did,” Green said.
Green provided the report to LGBTQ Nation. It says, “[The two boys] started a physical altercation with [Green’s son]. The three had a discussion while in the restroom and [the first boy] began physically assaulting [Green’s son] then [the blond boy] joined in he assault bt striking [Green’s son] with closed fist (sic) on or about his body.” It also mentions that Green’s son called EMS who came to the school to treat him, but it doesn’t mention the teacher who allegedly watched the attack.
On January 30, Green went to the Allendale County Sheriff’s Office to file a statement about what happened: One that names the girl allegedly involved and the teacher who allegedly watched the attack without intervening. She said that the Allendale County Sheriff eventually called her boyfriend into a meeting and told him that Green was making a bigger deal out of the incident than it needed to be.
Green says the school and police are treating what happened like a small school fight rather than an orchestrated attack or a hate crime. She also says that her son, who is out as asexual and panromantic at school, has endured months’ worth of verbal abuse from the students who attacked him, including being called the n-word, a fa**ot, and a queer. Her son and his alleged attackers discussed this verbal harassment earlier in the year in an office visit with the school guidance counselor, Green said.
Green’s child has SCD, a condition that affects an estimated 7.5 percent of kids. SCD makes it difficult for a young person to communicate and to understand communication, especially when it’s non-verbal or implied. Her son’s responses to questions sometimes don’t initially make sense, his attempts at “dark humor” can come off as completely serious, and he also gets nervous and has trouble communicating around people who come off as judgmental.
Her son first showed signs of SCD in third grade. As his condition has deepened, she has gotten him a specialized care team that involves his pediatrician, a behavioral health specialist who has tested and diagnosed him, and a therapist who teaches him coping mechanisms. The specialist wants to do additional testing for possible attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), she says.
Green describes her son as intelligent, highly inquisitive, and loving towards his three siblings. When her son came out to her about his asexual and panromantic identities, she said she and her partner praised him and gave him their unconditional love and support.
Her son plays euphonium in the school band and enjoys science and social studies classes. However, Green says that only one of his school teachers submitted a formally requested plan of how to accommodate his SCD-related special needs. Others have since agreed to some special accommodations during her one-on-one meetings with them, but they never submitted the formally requested plans as expected, she added.
The math teacher, on the other hand, allegedly told Green that her son is disrespectful, doesn’t complete his classwork, and doesn’t pay attention in class. When her son asks for additional help, she says, the teacher reprimands him instead of assisting.
After the attack, Green said the principal agreed to put a monitor in her son’s math class, but allegedly said that his teacher wouldn’t be dismissed since he was hired in a year-long exchange teaching program that the school had already paid for.
To Green’s knowledge, the school has no support group or visible safe spaces and allies for LGBTQ+ students. She said other LGBTQ+ parents have come forward since her son’s attack claiming that school officials have said they don’t “condone” LGBTQ+ relationships “around here.” LGBTQ Nation has contacted the Allendale Country School District seeking comment.
“We have obtained an attorney,” Green told LGBTQ Nation. “This week, a petition is being started for my son to have his rights as a citizen and press charges against the students that attacked him (including the organizer), for the students to be expelled for organizing and executing a hate crime, for the teacher to be removed from the classroom and have his work visa revoked, and for the SRO to be removed from the school and/or fired.”
“The school and the sheriff’s office have refused to acknowledge this as a hate crime,” Green added. “Other parents in the area are working on organizing a protest.”
Green herself says that she has helped organize local “Live to Love” anti-bullying and anti-suicide events for kids. The event features free food, fun activities, guest speakers, and local groups to create a safe and encouraging space for young people, she said.
Editor’s note: This article mentions suicide. If you need to talk to someone now, call the Trans Lifeline at 1-877-565-8860. It’s staffed by trans people, for trans people. The Trevor Project provides a safe, judgement-free place to talk for LGBTQ youth at 1-866-488-7386. You can also call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
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