This is a web site I really enjoy. Especially when I don’t feel well as it gives the facts and clear information in easy to digest segments. Randy introduced me to it years ago. Here is a sample of the author’s work. Hugs
The enforcement arm of the republican party shows how rabid the right wing has become. They are there to “protect the children” by screaming white supremacy slogans and saluting Hitler to those same children. The thugs are scaring they claim are harmed by people dressing up peacefully reading to the kids instead of the angry shouts about how they will harm these people and displays of violence and firearms. How much does it harm a child to be part of a situation where they and their parents are harassed while walking to an event by people screaming horrible abuse at those same parents?
This has nothing to do with the children. Nothing. It is about controlling the public and what is visible in society. It is about threatening the public so much that these no one will attend these events, no venue will put on the attractions. It is about making everyone in the country / state / area do as this small violent minority demand people do, act as these thugs demand you act, control what can be seen / heard in public. Most of these people are regressive Christian nationalists who demand you follow their moral ideas based on something from 2,500 years ago with the current upgrade to 1855. They want the right to force you to act in accordance with their loose collection of fundamentalist church doctrines. It is not about the children as these enforcers bosses cut child food assistance, cut school lunch programs, slash the age at which little girls can be married off to fully grown adults, refuse to curb guns used in schools shootings, and so much more, but instead they are banning learning because education increases the chance a child moves beyond the fundamentalist conspiracy ideology and move into the modern reality that these people are fighting against. Hugs
Multiple white supremacist groups, including armed protesters, clashed with LGBTQ+ allies.
In a scene that is becoming all too common around the U.S., white supremacist and far-right anti-LGBTQ+ protesters descended on an Ohio park where a drag queen story hour event was taking place over the weekend, clashing with supporters and descending into chaos and violence.
According to documentarian Ford Fischer, who attended the event and posted video online, extremist groups including Proud Boys, Patriot Front, III Percenters, White Lives Matter of Ohio, and Neo-Nazi group Blood Tribe joined local conservatives to protest a family-friendly “Rock-n-Roll Humanist Drag Queen Story Hour” at Wadsworth Memorial Park in Wadsworth, Ohio on Saturday. The groups clashed with supporters of the event, including Parasol Patrol, a Colorado-based group that uses rainbow umbrellas to shield children from anti-LGBTQ+ protesters at similar events.
Protesters shouted neo-Nazi slogans as well as racial and anti-LGBTQ+ slurs. One man with a megaphone led the crowd in a call-and-response chant of “Sieg heil,” and another waved a flag bearing a swastika. At least one man, later identified as Blood Tribe founder Chris Pohlhaus, was armed.
According to the Akron Beacon Journal, protesters followed parents and children who attended into and out of the event. Police said that the crowd included at least 200 people, with protesters outnumbering supporters and many vehicles bearing out-of-state license plates.
A Black journalist with the Beacon Journal left the scene after being targeted with racist slurs.
Kristopher Anderson, a local Republican who helped organize about 90 people to protest the event, claimed that the white supremacist and white nationalist groups were not affiliated with his group’s protest. Anderson said his group was there to protest the supposed “grooming” of children and called the racist messaging a “distraction.” Another protester said he was shocked by what the white supremacist groups were saying.
According to local newspaper The Gazette, Christian conservative protesters chanted “18-plus gets rid of us.” Some claimed they were not anti-LGBTQ+ but merely wanted to ban children from drag events.
At one point, a protester with Anderson’s group pulled what appeared to be a gun and pointed it at counter-protesters. The same man was later arrested for hitting a counter-protester with a flagpole, and police later confirmed that the object was not a firearm, but a device designed to deploy pepper spray.
A counter-protester was also arrested and charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct.
While no one was injured, paramedics treated one person for a seizure and another for a twisted knee.
Organizers of the “Rock-n-Roll Humanist Drag Queen Story Hour” obtained a permit from the city to host the event in the park earlier this month. But the event was controversial. A private venue previously declined to host it, and Wadsworth City Council President Bob Thurber promised to ask the city council to “consider legislation that would ban adult-oriented performances held on city property with minors in attendance.” Tennessee recently became the first state in the nation to pass similar legislation.
Despite the chaos surrounding the picnic shelter where the event took place on Saturday, the “Rock-n-Roll Humanist Drag Queen Story Hour” proceeded as planned. According to The Gazette, drag performer River Rose read to about 15 children and later sang and danced. Aaron Reed, a Wadsworth resident who promoted the event, said that the attire and music were appropriate for children.
In 1 minute, a senate committee in Kansas will be holding a hearing to ban gender affirming care up to the age of 21.
It is one of the most cruel anti-trans bans in the country.
I will be covering it live. Follow along.
🧵
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"I have to remove my hair with laser hair removal"
(advocates for a bill that will force hundreds of trans amab youth through a male puberty which will result in them having to go through laser hair removal and expensive surgeries as adults)
This guy is testifying from "Mass Resistance."
This organization is responsible for a book called "The Hazards of Homosexuality," a pro-conversion therapy outlet that calls gay people's existance a "public health issue"
Dr. Gaylyn Perry is speaking not on behalf of any medical organization.
She’s a pulmonologist, not an endocrinologist.
She’s a sleep therapist.
Also she's stating that Europe is "closing its clinics."
Not a single country she is referring to has categorically banned gender affirming care.
From the Alabama lawsuit, relying on Europe helped sink that bill in court:
"No country in Europe has categorically banned gender affirming care"
Now a retired doctor is testifying.
“I’m here to speak the truth about natural law and the truth given to us by our savior.”
This is not medically oriented testimony and his belief in god should have no bearing on the right of parents to make decisions for their kids.
This doctor is using the old 2011 study of "19x suicide rates" among trans people.
This is an inaccurate reading of the Dhejne study, who has specifically come out against people reading it that way:
Essentially, they are comparing a specific high risk group trans people to the general public, and not to trans people with no interventions, and it was also looking at a 30 year retrospective during some of the worst acceptance of trans people in history. (1980s)
A representative of the Kansas American Academy of Pediatrics with 450 physicians in Kansas.
She’s saying that this decision should be between doctors and patients and families.
The ACLU of KS representative is speaking.
"This bill violates the constitutional rights of children, parents, and doctors"
“It places politicians feelings against medical advice of hundreds of thousands of doctors”
"Every state attempting to defend these bills has lost"
“People will die. Families will suffer. The practice of medicine will be compromised.”
“The very care this bill attacks is responsible for my life.”
Another trans person, a trans man, is speaking.
He was on puberty blockers til 17, and took testosterone.
“College was much easier after I had my medical interventions to be my true self.”
“I can’t imagine such a life without them.”
A WPATH Doctor is speaking.
“This bill will directly impact the lives of transgender youth, directly impacting lives. Their blood will be on your hands. This is unethical.”
"For a minor to access gender affirming care, I ensure in collaboration with mental health experts assess the consistent, insistent, and persistent presence of gender dysphoria and require consent from parents" and she talks about all of the hoops patients have to jump through.
Reverend Kayla Simons Wood is speaking on behalf of Kansas Interaction.
Submits testimony from 10 clergy opposing this bill.
“I and many other Christians believe trans people are created in Gods image.”
Beth Oller:
“I provide full spectrum care from babies to end of life and I provide gender affirming care. I am an actual practicing Kansas physician.”
“The majority of people detransition not because they are not trans, but because of violence and difficulties with family”
"We need to listen to their perspective rather than the curated presentation in front of you"
Senator Stephen is asking Dr. Hubbard, a WPATH doctor, a question.
"Ms. Hubbard, Are you telling me the AAP unwaiveringly supports surgical interventions"
Dr. Hubbard: “I would appreciate it if you refer to me as Dr. Hubbard, please.”
Then points out that the treatments are tailored to the individuals.
Questioner: "Can you tell me where from Kansas you received your gender affirming care?"
"I'm not from Kansas…"
Questioner: "Is this the first time you've testified?"
"No…"
Asking Dr Crabs:
"Your testimony was from the 1980s about transgender suicides. So not current. Can I ask you where you practiced?"
"I did not practice here"
"can you verify you had a license in kansas?"
The chair cut her off.
Now a Senator is asking Dr. Beth Oller where she works (one of the people against the bill):
The doctor responds she works in Kansas.
Strongly pointing out that all of the people in support of the bill are coming from out of state.
Now a Senator is asking one of the trans man transitioners if he was given all of the info around his transition.
He answers in the affirmative.
Now they are asking a question of one of the detransitioners,
"Do you believe you were groomed into the decision to transition?"
“I don’t believe in using that word… it’s too divisive…”
This hearing isn't going super well for them.
(They'll probably still vote it through)
ACLU witness:
“I am referring to the 1.3 million doctors that are represented by the medical organizations that support this care.”
This Senator is claiming puberty blockers and HRT are causing early onset cancer.
There’s no evidence of any sort of outbreak of early onset cancer in trans youth.
Asked of the AAP representative if the majority supports gender affirming care in their chapter.
She testifies yes, most of the 450 do.
Now she is asking about the Missouri whistleblower.
“A radical supporter of the far left has blown the whistle”
“Are there other areas of medical practice where the child directs their health care?”
The doctor: “Everything the child is involved in, but the child themselves does not direct gender diverse issues. It’s parents, doctors”
The doctor in the zoom call wanted to jump in and answer, but the chair cut the committee short and immediately adjourned.
I guess we're done for the day?
That was abrupt.
I have never seen such a rushed hearing with so few witnesses called forward… what the heck did I just see?
Sorry to those of you who showed up to testify who didn't get to.
Well… thanks for following along. We'll watch to see how they vote. Please support my independent reporting and activism by subscribing.
Over the last 50 years while the democrats pursued only the highest offices in the land the republicans were pushing hard to take over state government and the churches rushed to take over the school boards. I remember that in the 1990s in Palm Beach Conty that the big churches were fielding stealth candidates to take over the boards and change what was being taught. It was underway back then! Now the right wing /maga republicans are using their complete control over the levers of state power to end right, roll back protections, to take the states back to a time of strict gender roles for the sexes and a time when minorities were second class citizens who either knew their place or they were not allowed in society in any way. In fact they are not just trying to return society where gays were a shame to the family but they want a time when gays could be arrested along with denied working for any level of government being banned from security clearances. They are driving hard for this. Look at the red states trying hard to bring back banned conversion therapy that has been well and full debunked as not only something that doesn’t work but was found to be very harmful to those subjected to it. They again want to deny the medical science because it shows their ideology is wrong. Being gay or trans is not a choice, it is not a disease needing to change or cured. People are born gay / trans and while some manage to hide it, they should have to. They should be able to live their lives freely as they really are. Plus now they want to set up secret hidden police where neighbor spys on each other and reports to hotlines those not following the party rule. Hugs
From the Arizona Department of Education:
Arizona schools chief Tom Horne has launched the Department of Education “Empower Hotline” so that Arizonans can report inappropriate public school lessons that detract from teaching academic standards.
These include those that focus on race or ethnicity, rather than individuals and merit, promoting gender ideology, social emotional learning, or inappropriate sexual content.
The hotline provides the opportunity for constituents to provide feedback, concerns or complaints, which is a standard service offered by multiple government agencies and private-sector businesses.
It is available at 602-771-3500, or through email at empower@azed.gov. The phone line will be staffed during normal business hours, but after-hours phone calls as well as emails will be accepted at any time and followed up appropriately.
Horne explained, “Some say critical race theory (CRT) is a graduate study, not taught in K-12 schools. The evidence is to the contrary. I have a list of 250 Arizona teachers who signed a shocking statement promoted by the national teachers’ union, that if critical race theory were banned, they would defy the law.
“They would not have signed if they were not already teaching it. They come from 25 school districts, including the largest ones. Teachers must teach academics, not use their power over a captive audience, to promote their personal ideology. That is unprofessional conduct.”
Horne added, “I promised to establish this hotline so that anyone could report the teaching of inappropriate lessons that rob students of precious minutes of instruction time in core academic subjects such as reading, math, science, history and the arts. That promise is being kept.”
While Arizona state attorney general, Horne threatened to sue cities that recognized out-of-state same-sex marriages. That same year he proposed legislation allowing public school teachers to carry guns. Horne has faced multiple allegations of campaign finance crimes and has a lifetime trading ban by the Securities and Exchange Commission related to an investment firm he founded before running for public office. As you can see below, he is a supporter of QAnon freak show Vaseline Woman.
Superintendent Horne said, "There’s nothing more outrageous than religious prejudice…The person who raised this on the school board describes herself as a ‘neuro-divergent queer.’ And when she says that, she expects you to be tolerant of her."https://t.co/yzR4OWxkzA
— Arizona Department of Education (@azedschools) March 14, 2023
.@electtomhorne: “When @KariLake becomes Governor, and I become Superintendent of Schools and the other Republicans are elected, we’re gonna get CRT out of our schools.” pic.twitter.com/cl1WzWmFEX
Isn’t it odd that they think that they can actually change someone from being gay to being straight after months or years of therapy, but they also think an entire classroom of children will become gay after hearing a guy in a dress read them a story. Fuck these people and their hatred of the LGBTQ community. They want to exterminate us. Ain’t gonna happen.
Granted, I went to Catholic school, but half of my report card was based on behavior. So it’s wrong to teach children social skills like how to behave in class and with each other?
I hope that students flood the call line with reports of teachers talking about their heterosexual spouses, or wearing crosses and talking about their faith.
Horne explained, “Some say critical race theory (CRT) is a graduate study, not taught in K-12 schools. The evidence is to the contrary. I have a list of 250 Arizona teachers who signed a shocking statement promoted by the national teachers’ union, that if critical race theory were banned, they would defy the law.
He missed a great opportunity to use the phrase “I have here in my hand…”
So he has a definition of what CRT is? I wish he would share it with the rest of us. Is it that white treated black people bad, killed them, and kept them as slaves for decades in this country? That’s not a theory, that’s true….. This is just what Arizona needs for their teacher supply. It is a common belief among teachers around her that two places you don’t want to go teach is Colorado and Arizona. The pay and benefits are very low. This won’t help the state find teachers.
Arizona Republican Gestapo thinks kids are too stupid to hear anything non-negative about LGBT people, but does think they’re qualified to tell the state to fire their teachers over ‘not meeting the academic program’ before they even learn the material, never mind what the vaguely-worded ‘standards’ are supposed to be?
Umm, the thing is, education on history and racism is not what ‘Critical Race Theory’ is, but you use it as a buzzword to ban or silence any mention of actual things in the laws.
This Canadian immigrant, son of Polish immigrants, cost Arizona millions of dollars when as Attorney General he got the Republican-run legislature to ban Mexican studies here in Tucson. Went all the way to the Supremes, who told this old fuck to fuck the fuck off. The bill he promoted banned well-known history books because they mentioned discrimination against Mexican-Americans. Always interesting to see immigrants coming to the US and promoting hatred towards other immigrants (e.g., Rupert Murdoch).
Superintendent Horne said, “There’s nothing more outrageous than religious prejudice…”
Nothing? I can think of a few things:
– pastors who sexually abuse children – revivals – evangelical parents who brainwash their children – “ex-gay” torture – Anti-Semitism – racism – rape – laws that dehumanize and persecute LGBTQ people – Republicans – Trumpvangelicals – QAnon cultists – White/Christian Nationalists – book bans – the dissemination of far-right propaganda – everyone who works at Fox
Posting it mostly because this picture has been making the rounds in transphobe twitter as an example of why trans women shouldn’t be allowed to play womens’ sports… but this is actually a trans man, not a trans woman.
Ultimately the attempts to ban certain women from sports is stupid, it’s the same logic that leads the Olympics to banning all three medalists in the 800 meter race from participating unless they take feminizing drugs.
These medalists were all AFAB and identify as women.
The Ohio legislature is contemplating banning trans folks from high school sports.
The Ohio schools athletic association said there are 4 trans students (didn’t identify male or female) in the high school sport system. But only 2 would be playing any sport this year. Out of almost 500,000 high school students, the legislature is all about 2 of them. Wasting time about 2 students.
You need to read the article. As it states this is a blatant attack on the LGBTQ+ community. With adults checking out the books and taking them to the police. At the same time the librarian notes that these same people including the prosecutor attack books with LGBTQ+ themes don’t care at all about the many more books for teens that deal with heterosexual sex or pictures and noted the library has the straight Joy of Sex book that I remember well had many depictions of sex, how to have sex, sex organs, and sex positions. They don’t care about that at all, because that reenforces their world view that sex between boys and girls is great / normal but anything not that is a horrible evil sin against gods ways done by degenerate evil people that want to corrupt the country. Notice that Lauren Boebert who attacks the gay / trans community nonstop and calls teachers who support equality for the LGBTQ+ community groomers while attacking any and all sex education in any level of public schools announced her 17 year old son got a girl who is now 14 (somewhat sketchy under the laws in that state) pregnant and Boebert couldn’t be happier. She left school because she was pregnant at 16 and because her son got no education to even use a condom when he had sex he got a minor girl pregnant. He is also know for driving his four wheelers at breakneck dangerous speed in the local streets endangering small kids and pets along with being an asshole.
Some quotes from the article:
“I have heard, if he could, he’d arrest me. He’s trying to intimidate us,” she told Bridge.
Churchill told Bridge that the library purchased a copy of “Gender Queer” in the fall of 2022 at the request of a patron.
One resident checked the book out and took it to the police, Churchill said. The police returned the book to the library.
Miller is a Republican who won election as prosecutor in November. In January, four weeks after taking office, Miller filed a Freedom of Information Act request to the library, seeking records connected to the consideration, approval and purchase of “Gender Queer,” which he misidentified as “Gender Queen.” The public records also asked for a record of “who voted for and against the addition of the book” to the library.
But most telling was this set of quotes from the article.
Miller said the book’s target audience is teenagers, and that, to him, the drawings of sex acts appeared to involve “prepubescent boys.”
To the prosecutor, the book’s availability to youth could meet the bar for a crime in Michigan because, to him, the book “entices” underage teens to engage in sex acts.
“While I hope not to prosecute someone over this book, I feel it’s part of the community’s decision,” Miller said. “This isn’t about LGBTQ, this is about the exploitation of children.”
Churchill countered that Miller and other conservatives in the community are only objecting to an LGBTQ book with illustrations of sex acts, but not to books like “The Joy of Sex,” which depict sex acts by heterosexual couples, which is also housed at the library.
“If anything, we have an underrepresentation of books about marginalized communities,” including LGBTQ community, Churchill said.
“Gender Queer” is normally shelved in the adult section of the Lapeer library. To Miller, that doesn’t matter because teens could wander over and find it.
The article is below and includes so much more bigotry and hate from the right in it. Hugs
Amy Churchill, director of the Lapeer District Library, is facing the possibility of criminal charges from a conservative county prosecutor in a fight over an LGBTQ-themed book. (Bridge courtesy photo)
A Michigan county prosecutor is raising the specter of criminal charges over a controversial book
‘Gender Queer: A Memoir’ is an LGBTQ-themed graphic novel
The book will be discussed at what is expected to be a heated meeting Thursday
Lapeer County Prosecutor John Miller says he may file criminal charges against employees or officials of the Lapeer District Library if an LGBTQ-themed graphic novel isn’t removed from the shelves.
“I hope that is not the outcome of this,” Miller said. “I want this to come to a conclusion” that the community agrees on that would “remove the book from the library.”
The threat of criminal charges against librarians is believed to be a first in the state, and is an escalation of cultural wars that have spread across public and school libraries in Michigan over the past year.
The book, an LGBTQ-themed graphic novel with illustrations of sex acts, has caused controversy in libraries in Michigan and across the country, and Miller’s threat follows a controversy over the book that has brewed since fall in this rural county in Michigan’s Thumb.
Miller cited the specific criminal code — 750.145a — he believed the book’s presence in a public library could violate.
The law is often associated with police sting operations of adults who prey on minors, barring enticing anyone under 16 “to commit an immoral act, to submit to an act of sexual intercourse or an act of gross indecency or to any other act of depravity or delinquency.”
Amy Churchill, director of the library, said she’s undeterred by Miller’s threat.
“I have heard, if he could, he’d arrest me. He’s trying to intimidate us,” she told Bridge.
“I am not hard to find,” she added. “If Mr. Miller wishes to arrest me, I am in my office working for the patrons and staff of the Lapeer District Library Monday through Friday.”
Miller said he, “along with other county officials,” will urge the library to remove the book at a Lapeer District Library board meeting Thursday evening. Library officials are considering a patron request to remove “Gender Queer” from the library’s collection.
The graphic novel is the story of author Maia Kobabe’s coming-of-age as nonbinary, and includes illustrations of sex acts.
“Gender Queer” was one of the books that caused an uproar in Ottawa County last fall, when voters defunded the Patmos Library. That library is operating on donations for now but officials do not believe they can stay open indefinitely without taxpayer support.
No criminal charges against librarians have been publicly contemplated there, but library officials have received several threats of violence.
Keeping books some consider inappropriate away from children is drawing attention among some in Lansing as well. House Bill 4136, sponsored by Rep. Neil Friske, R-Charlevoix, would require public libraries to keep “obscene” books in an area where children do not have access.
Most public libraries are not designed in a way that would allow a restricted book area, Deb Mikula, executive director of the Michigan Library Association, told MLive.
Lapeer District Library serves about two-thirds of Lapeer County, east of Flint. There are seven small branch libraries in the district, with a main library in the city of Lapeer.
Churchill told Bridge that the library purchased a copy of “Gender Queer” in the fall of 2022 at the request of a patron. Soon afterward, some residents began objecting to the book.
One resident checked the book out and took it to the police, Churchill said. The police returned the book to the library.
Miller is a Republican who won election as prosecutor in November. In January, four weeks after taking office, Miller filed a Freedom of Information Act request to the library, seeking records connected to the consideration, approval and purchase of “Gender Queer,” which he misidentified as “Gender Queen.”
The public records also asked for a record of “who voted for and against the addition of the book” to the library.
Lapeer’s library board doesn’t approve individual book purchases, Churchill said. According to the library’s policies, Churchill, as director, has final approval of purchases.
Churchill said she was shocked by the FOIA, sent on official stationery of the Lapeer County prosecutor’s office, since she had never spoken to Miller or anyone in his office, and the information could have been gleaned with a phone call.
The FOIA letter stated Miller would “pay personally” for any charges incurred by the library in fulfilling the request.
“A FOIA is an extremely aggressive way to communicate with someone,” Churchill said. “Usually you’d try to talk to them first.”
Miller said he became involved when several county commissioners approached him with copies of books that had been checked out from the Lapeer library.
He said he dismissed concerns about two of the books – one with LGBTQ themes but no illustrations, and a second that had to do with race relations.
The third was “Gender Queer,” with illustrations that Miller said shocked him, “and that takes a lot for a prosecutor,” he said. “I’m an attorney, I’ve studied the constitution, I’ve passed the bar exam. My job is to take a position that protects our innocent and our youth. And if this isn’t child sexual abusive material, … it borders on it.”
Miller said the book’s target audience is teenagers, and that, to him, the drawings of sex acts appeared to involve “prepubescent boys.”
To the prosecutor, the book’s availability to youth could meet the bar for a crime in Michigan because, to him, the book “entices” underage teens to engage in sex acts.
“While I hope not to prosecute someone over this book, I feel it’s part of the community’s decision,” Miller said. “This isn’t about LGBTQ, this is about the exploitation of children.”
Churchill countered that Miller and other conservatives in the community are only objecting to an LGBTQ book with illustrations of sex acts, but not to books like “The Joy of Sex,” which depict sex acts by heterosexual couples, which is also housed at the library.
“If anything, we have an underrepresentation of books about marginalized communities,” including LGBTQ community, Churchill said.
“Gender Queer” is normally shelved in the adult section of the Lapeer library. To Miller, that doesn’t matter because teens could wander over and find it.
Miller declined to say who he would consider charging — Churchill as the director, library board members or the author of the book.
“I’m waiting for the community to chime in (before deciding whether to file criminal charges), to say this is something that should or should not be in the library,” Miller said. “The majority of the voices I’ve heard think it shouldn’t.”
Another debunked study whose conclusion was clearly wrong used for 20 years by haters to attack gay people. As the article says: “It was the sort of result that played right into the hands of anti-LGBTQ activists. It bolstered their claim that being gay was the result of something that happened to you, not simply who you were. It fed into the idea that gay men are predators, eager to groom children who will eventually turn gay. The Christian hate group Family Research Council even published a piece in 2007 spreading anti-LGBTQ misinformation that cited the article in its defense.” Just like the current frenzied attacks on trans people that are also ideology driven and uses incorrect information, made up myths, and debunked fringe studies to demonize trans kids /teens / adults these attacks were used against gay kids / teens / adults for decades ago. It is simply people who cannot accept the changes in society and those who cannot accept that others don’t follow their selective religious morality / dictates. The same people who use the bible against the gay people seem quite ok with disregarding all the other moral precepts and sins that they either don’t have hate for or indulge in themselves. Notice that how the churches look on divorce has shifted so drastically since such a large part of the population is divorced including church members, the same shift happened in a lot of churches as a lot of in the closet gay people came out and got married, even church members. Even die-hard hate churches tolerate divorce at that same time attacking homosexually. In 20 years all this trans hysteria will be gone, and trans people accepted and gender different kids will be given the acceptance with their gender affirming medical assistance. The hate in schools is not really driven by the students by a small segment of parents who are very vocal and telling their kids to attack trans kids while correcting the teachers. Then run home and tell the parents so they can sue and scream at the school administrators. Enjoy the article, comments are off and you know why. Hugs
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In 2001, the journal Archives of Sexual Behaviorpublished an article titled “Comparative Data of Childhood and Adolescence Molestation in Heterosexual and Homosexual Persons.” The short piece—it was only seven pages—was published by Marie E. Tomeo, Donald I. Templer, Susan Anderson & Debra Kotler, all associated with the California School of Professional Psychology. They attempted to see if there was a connection between “childhood molestation” and homosexuality.
As so many gay people could tell you, those two things aren’t linked. There’s also the whole disconnect between when you first have same-sex attraction and when you might identify as gay, which could be much later in life. But whatever the concerns, the article concluded that there was definitely something going on:
In research with 942 nonclinical adult participants, gay men and lesbian women reported a significantly higher rate of childhood molestation than did heterosexual men and women. Forty-six percent of the homosexual men in contrast to 7% of the heterosexual men reported homosexual molestation. Twenty-two percent of lesbian women in contrast to 1% of heterosexual women reported homosexual molestation…
It was the sort of result that played right into the hands of anti-LGBTQ activists. It bolstered their claim that being gay was the result of something that happened to you, not simply who you were. It fed into the idea that gay men are predators, eager to groom children who will eventually turn gay. The Christian hate group Family Research Council even published a piece in 2007 spreading anti-LGBTQ misinformation that cited the article in its defense.
Google Scholar says the original article has been cited 182 times.
Even Joe Rogancited the article in defense of the lie it was promoting:
That link at the bottom goes directly to the 2001 Tomeo article.
The point is: This article had lasting power and did lasting damage.
But a little over two weeks ago, on February 24, the Archives of Sexual Behavioradded an update to the piece. It came in the form of an “Editorial Expression of Concern.”
The concern, the editors wrote, involved some data in the original piece.
Look at this chart from the 2001 article:
It says that 68% of the gay men who took part in the survey were openly gay before getting molested. 62% of lesbians were similarly out before they were victims of abuse. In other words, most of the participants said being victims of molestation did not have any effect on their sexual orientation. They were gay before and they were gay after.
And yet this is what the authors wrote in the conclusion:
Sixty-eight percent of the present homosexual male participants and 38% of the present homosexual female participants (68 and 36%, respectively, if including just the homosexual fair participants) did not identify as homosexual until after the molestation. This suggests that if molestation resulted in homosexuality, this phenomenon occurs in a greater proportion of male homosexuals.
That conclusion was precisely the opposite of what the table showed. Somehow, the peer reviewers never caught that, nor did the editors.
But now, the editors say this:
Readers are urged to take caution when interpreting the content and conclusions of this article. The Editor has been unable to find current email addresses for any of the authors in order to clarify and correct the article.
Well, that’s convenient…
Wait, it gets worse.
The note also points out that this article was drawn from a dissertation written by one of the co-authors, Marie E. Tomeo. But in that original dissertation, Tomeo wrote that 68% of the men “were molested before self-identification as homosexual” (emphasis mine)… which is also the opposite of what the table shows. She made the same mistake when talking about women.
Finally, the note points out there’s another table in the original piece where the math is wrong all over the place:
In Table III, in the column, “Molested by men,” the 6.7% value should be 5.8% (12/205). The 45.5% value should be 45.1% (56/124). The 24.3% value should be 24.1% (111/460); the 29.3% value should be 28.7% (44/153). In the column, “Molested by women,” the 16.4% value should be 16.1% (20/124).
This is a paper that failed a basic division test, yet it was lauded by conservatives who used it as evidence for why homosexuality is a choice and the result of something traumatic.
Obviously, adding an editors’ note to a 20-year-old paper isn’t going to make waves like the original paper did. People don’t check for corrections after the fact. Misinformation travels faster than the truth ever will.
But all of this raises another question: If the conclusions of the article were this flawed, because the data was misinterpreted this badly, why isn’t the whole paper being retracted? Why just append a note that very few people will ever read?
That’s what psychology professor Warren Throckmorton wants to know.
In 2009, he wrote a blog post about the problems with the original paper. He said he and his colleague noticed the problem three years earlier and contacted co-author Donald Templer about it as he was the advisor to Tomeo at the time. (Side note: Templer also dabbles in white supremacy!) He was unable to get in touch with her. (She seems to have vanished!) Throckmorton also wrote to the editor of the Archives of Sexual Behavior but didn’t hear back.
Throckmorton (correctly) wrote in 2009 that the entire article was not worth citing:
The bottom line is that the study should not be cited until a follow up correction can be made. The main results—gays report more abuse than straights—may indeed be correct, given the similarity to past studies. However, I do not believe any inferences about causation should be made. Without the actual surveys, there is no way a reader can figure out the results from the journal article and/or the dissertation.
Now, on his new Substack The Throckmorton Initiative, he wonders if his inquiries were what prompted the recent editors’ note. They don’t mention him, but their corrections match his earlier concerns… almost identically. It’s bizarre that they make no mention of what triggered the initial concerns other than to cite “a reader” who goes unnamed. It’s a strange oversight especially given the stakes of this particular correction.
Separate from that, however, is the fact that the original article is effectively worthless because its conclusions don’t even match its own data. Even the publication admits that now. No one should cite it. Anyone who does, much like its authors, didn’t do their research.
On the most recent episode of The Problem with Jon Stewart, the show’s namesake and host grilled an Ohio Republican, using his support of drag show bans to expose the hypocrisy behind his opposition to gun control legislation. A clip from the interview, which premiered on Friday, has since gone viral.
Oklahoma state Sen. Nathan Dahm (R) opposes restrictions on firearms, like laws requiring background checks and red-flag laws, because he says they infringe on a person’s Second Amendment rights. He also supports banning drag shows anywhere they might be viewed by minors.
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Drag bans could result in arrests at Pride parades
If a drag queen (or trans person) lip syncs to a song while riding a float, they would be in violation of the proposed laws.
During his interview with Dahm, Stewart clashed with the lawmaker over the idea that increased access to guns makes Americans safer, arguing that Dahm’s efforts to loosen gun restrictions have made it harder for authorities to identify individuals who may pose threats.
“The person is the threat, not the firearm,” Dahm explained.
“But you don’t want anything that could help law enforcement or society determine whether or not a person is a good guy with a gun or a bad guy with a gun,” Stewart countered. “I don’t understand why you won’t just admit that you are making it harder for police to manage the streets by allowing all of these guns to go out without permits, without checks, without background stuff.”
Dahm argued that the restrictions he opposes infringe upon “the individual’s right to keep and bear arms” under the Second Amendment.
Stewart then pivoted to other examples of ways in which constitutional rights are limited under the law, including requiring voter registration. He then questioned Dahm about his support for an Oklahoma bill that would make it illegal to host drag performances on public property or where they could be viewed by minors. Similar bills are being considered in states across the country. Last week, Tennessee became the first state in which such legislation was signed into law.
Stewart asked Dahm whether Oklahoma’s anti-drag law would infringe on the First Amendment rights of performers. Dahm argued that under the proposed law, drag performers could continue to exercise their right to free speech, “just not in front of a child.”
“The government does have a responsibility in certain instances to protect children,” Dahm admitted.
“What’s the leading cause of death amongst children in this country?” Stewart asked. “And I’m going to give you a hint, it’s not drag show readings to children.”
“It’s firearms,” Stewart continued. “More than cancer, more than car accidents. And what you’re telling me is you don’t mind infringing free speech to protect children from this amorphous thing that you think of. But when it comes to children that have died you don’t give a flying f**k to stop that because that shall not be infringed. That is hypocrisy at its highest order.”
The clip has since received over 36,000 views on Twitter and more than 1.2 million views on YouTube.
HERE IS ME, NOAHFINNCE, ANSWERING ALL THOSE UNCOMFORTABLE TRANS QUESTIONS THAT NOBODY WANTS TO ASK!! INVASIVE QUESTIONS! UNCOMFORTABLE QUESTIONS! TRANSGENDEREDLY ANSWERED!
I love this 23 / 24 year person. He is so open and honest. His personality is so energetic and engaging. There are days I can hardly focus yet his videos entertain me while educating me.
One of the reasons I am posting this video is when he talks about his body and sex along with how the person imagines themself or realizes them self during sex. Cis people don’t have to face this. People of any orientation who have not been abused or raped don’t have to deal with this. I do.
I am a gay man. I was abused during my childhood sexually and physically. How to reconcile my desire for being loved by men while fighting the horror of my abuse is something I dealt with not just most of my life but still today. How to take and enjoy the feelings of an act I want and agree with without triggering the memories of fear and horrible pain that it seems I can never forget. How to do the act that was used to hurt me in a loving way with a consenting partner is a mental struggle even now. Ron tells me I don’t have to keep asking if he is OK but in my head I am struggling with what is good or what is bad. AM I ABUSING THE ONE I LOVE LIKE I WAS ABUSED! Now Ron can touch me in bed when I am asleep without me reacting violently, but we are on our 33rd year as a couple. It is strange our cats could get all over me and I wouldn’t react but let Ron walk into the room or even while we are sleeping touch me and I reacted violently. I will soon be 60 and that past is a long time ago in history / terms of years but present far too often in my dreams even today. Last night I dreamed of my abusers and them hurting my cat to force me to agree to their demands. That was over kill on their part as they could have forced me anyway, they simply wanted to show they could take away anything I valued or loved.
Sorry this went far beyond where I wanted it to go. I enjoy this young man and his energy. I hope you will also. Plus he explains a lot of things that some cis people need to understand. Hugs
I would love to leave comments open on this post as I think many people will enjoy what Noah is presenting. Sadly, I don’t have the energy right now to monitor them and I know haters will want to argue debunked fringe shit. There was a time I loved that argument but right now my health won’t let me engage. I am getting better right now my heart rate is down from the high 140s to running in the 100s to 120s. I still am having a struggle with breathing but it maybe asthma or allergies, I still need a doctor to help me out with it. Right now the heart doctors have not responded, and the allergist appointment is late May. So much for health care in the wealthiest nation that just proposed another huge boost in military spending. I am like a wounded warrior going out to battle already deadly wounded. So I am going to again shut comments off. Trust me, I don’t like it. But I have had this video in the cue to post for a while. Notice the date of posting. I am really trying to bring as much information as I can, but I admit I am failing. Thank you. Hugs
A new list shows dozens and dozens of books have been removed from library shelves in the Martin County School District. This comes as the state puts in new requirements for school librarians to review reading material, and districts must have a process allowing community members to challenge books.
Books by well known authors like James Patterson, Toni Morrison, and Jodi Picoult are now off the shelves in Martin County schools.
“99% of the books we have filed challenges on are highly sexually explicit books,” said Julie Marshall, who leads Moms For Liberty in Martin County and filed many of the objections. Jennifer Pippin, a fellow Moms For Liberty activist in Indian River County, said they share lists and work together.
The removal list includes Picoult’s novel “The Storyteller” about the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor who meets an elderly former SS officer. It contains some violent scenes told in flashbacks from World War II and an assisted suicide.
“Banning ‘The Storyteller’ is shocking, as it is about the Holocaust and has never been banned before,” Picoult told us in an email.
“Martin County is the first to ban twenty of my books at once,” Picoult said, slamming such bans as “a shocking breach of freedom of speech and freedom of information.” Picoult said she’s puzzled by the ban, because she does not “write adult romance,” as objections filed against her books claimed.
Insane: Under Ron DeSantis's book crackdown, 20 books by Jodi Picoult just got banned at one county's schools.
One of them is "The Storyteller," about the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor.
Virtually all the objections that resulted in dozens of books getting removed were filed by one person, according to documents supplied to @FLFreedomRead and to us.
The vagueness of DeSantis's directives appears deliberately designed to create a climate of fear and rampant snitching. It encourages teachers to censor themselves and invites parents/activists to become despotic little commissars of local book purging:https://t.co/y0tKdxz6Wspic.twitter.com/RqKtJYW9ub
We have updated the piece with a response from the local Moms For Liberty leader. As we reported, this one person was the primary objector to dozens and dozens of books, leading to their removal:https://t.co/y0tKdxz6Wspic.twitter.com/hWieaL0fAW
This is the point I always make. You ask these people to show you the “pornographic” books and whoopsy-poopsy it’s a bunch of books about the Holocaust, slavery, Jim Crow America, on and on and on….
I would be really happy if one of them were to ever hold up a copy of a “pornographic” book at one of their rant rallies, because it means I would get to alert the cops to a crazy person displaying / distributing pornography to the public.
Why are only right wing wackos challenging books? A gutsy liberal could challenge the bible. Of course they’d need 24/7 security, bulletproof windows and and armored vehicle to travel in because Florida is filled with dangerous raging cultists.
Let’s hope you’re right! Right now he seems to be steamrolling right along in creating not a bastion of “liberty” for moms and kids and dads and other adults, but a SLAVE STATE.
a fellow Moms For Liberty activist in Indian River County, said they share lists and work together.
So none of them have a goddamn clue what is even in the books they find so offensive, and if pressed on why they want to ban any particular book they would be unable to really explain it.
At what point do majority of the Americans and the rest of the world realize we are repeating history again? Until millions of people shove into the oven? Or until it get so uncontrollable that nations need to set off multiple nuclear bombs in the US to make blowing up Hiroshima looks like popping a balloon?
Scottie's Playtime 