Mauricio Garcia was radicalized by far-right neo-Nazi ideology, and he probably expected he'd be praised as a true blood-and-soil martyr. Instead, the same far-right MAGA extremists Garcia died for are labeling him a false flag Antifa liberal.
Wow. The Allen, Texas mass shooter’s profile on a Russian social media site has been found. He posted a photo of Nazi tattoos and “reconnaissance” photos of the outlet mall weeks prior. He also posted the right-wing YouTuber Tim Pool. (per @AricToler) pic.twitter.com/BnebamBumi
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) May 8, 2023
The governor’s office also pointed to a “PBS Newshour” feature on parents’ support for various gender care treatments including puberty blockers, a gay character in “Work It Out Wombats” which airs on OETA, PBS Kids’ “Clifford the Big Red Dog” introducing LGBTQ characters “Oklahoma taxpayers are going, ‘Hey, hang on, time out for just a second. That’s not my values,’” Stitt said. “I’m just tired of using taxpayer dollars for some person’s agenda. I represent the taxpayers.”
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt bizarrely claimed PBS programming "overly sexualizes our kids." (via The ReidOut Blog) https://t.co/n7T4IQ0L7I
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, who was reelected yesterday, recently dedicated "every square inch" of the state to Jesus: "[With] the authority that I have as governor, and the spiritual authority and the physical authority that you give me, I claim Oklahoma for you." pic.twitter.com/JEdTsJuzAe
“Stop using taxpayer values to push an agenda!” the bigoted governor screeched, as he used taxpayer dollars to push his agenda on everyone in the state.
That’s the problem with being a minority which represents roughly 5% of the population (except in larger cities with large gay populations). Unless the majority of citizens stand with you, which they usually don’t, you’re on your own.
And that’s the bottom line. Not that they’re taxpayers but rather the fact that that evangelical governor doesn’t see them as citizens, taxpayers, or as a demographic worth even bothering with; by acknowledging who and what they are.
Thus, he’s worse than evil. He literally can’t see LGBT people as a thing. His religion has rotted his forebrain.
No, sweetie, you represent a very narrow, exceedingly bigoted minority of taxpayers hell-bent on forcing the rest of the country to kowtow to your twisted views of morality.
“the [white male] ones that are blamed for any social ills”
Feel free to look at the office holders for the Republican (and some D) party. Pretty much white male. Also old, rich and christian. So yes, it’s entirely fair to put all the crap at their feet. it’s their show in a large part of the USA.
Below is part of the above video. It is from a man in Tenn who grew up in Tenn and his interpretation of the bill along with his childhood meeting with a drag queen. Very potent. Hugs
Legislature declares victory after badly failing Floridians | Editorial
At the behest of lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis Floridia lost ground on abortion, guns, school vouchers, LGBTQ freedom, open government and more.
Phil Sears/AP House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, and Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, chat at the rostrum after a joint session for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ State of the State speech Tuesday, March 7, 2023 at the Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Phil Sears)
Senators and representatives packed up and headed home, where most can no longer do more damage to Florida citizens. But the misery will continue as Gov. Ron DeSantis gleefully signs into law the many harmful, hateful or wrongheaded decisions made by his fellow Republicans over the past nine weeks.
Floridians, their kids and grandchildren will feel the effects for a long time. The ramifications are grave. But such are the consequences in a state that no longer has a competitive two-party system at the state level, and where far too many lawmakers unquestioningly rubber stamp a far-right agenda fashioned mostly by an authoritarian, ambitious and secretive governor.
Less safe and less free
Floridians will be less safe. Women will be less free.
Legislators approved a near-total ban on abortion after six weeks, when many women don’t even know they are pregnant (SB 300).It’s now legal in Florida to carry a loaded and concealed gun with no permit or training (HB 543).
Lawmakers approved a universal taxpayer-funded school voucher program (HB 1) that will wreak havoc on a public school system that for too long has been chronically underfunded by both parties.
They made it easier to impose the death penalty than any state in the U.S. and allowed for the death penalty to be imposed on child rapists when the victim is under age 12 (HB 1297). The law won wide approval from members of both parties and will look good in a political mailer but is of dubious constitutionality. The 19 Democrats who voted no showed courage, because some will surely be vilified as “soft on crime” in the next election.
A lot less sunshine
This was a terrible session for weakening Florida’s “sunshine” laws, as legislators draped a dangerous and senselessly retroactive cloak of secrecy over official travel by the governor and other top state officials. They made claims of supposed threats against DeSantis that have not been substantiated. The governor goes everywhere closely surrounded by a half-dozen FDLE agents.
Lawmakers also handed the law-and-order governor an expanded Florida State Guard, a state militia under his personal control.
In a mean-spirited attack against public sector workers, they gutted union protections for teachers, 911 dispatchers and other front-line employees.
They did nothing to provide meaningful relief for property insurance policyholders and instead made it harder for them to sue companies that refuse to pay claims.
For the third year in a row, they attacked democracy by further weakening state election laws. They made it so financially risky for third-party organizations to register voters that many threaten to stop the practice — the Republicans’ objective all along.
They imposed new regulations on use of bathrooms and pronouns and imposed a ludicrous crackdown on drag shows — acts of oppression that stifle artistic expression, criminalize gender-affirming care and encourage more bullying and discrimination against already-marginalized groups.
What they got right
Did lawmakers do anything right over the past 60 days? Yes.
They passed a record-high $117 billion budget with nearly universal bipartisan harmony, which was unusual enough in itself in Tallahassee’s hyper-partisan bubble, but Democrats praised Republicans for even-handedness and the budget came together without the trench warfare that tarnished previous sessions.
The budget has 5% pay increases for rank-and-file state workers, salary hikes for assistant public defenders, assistant state attorneys and correctional officers, $1,000 bonuses for police officers, more money to acquire environmentally sensitive lands and other initiatives.
With so much money floating around, they could easily have expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. But they refused, preserving Florida’s status as an outlier state that neglects the well-being of its residents. Only nine other states refuse to expand Medicaid.
Showing more bipartisan cooperation, they voted to expand eligibility under Florida KidCare and Healthy Kids, which will help more than 40,000 children obtain affordable coverage. More positives: a stronger law to combat human sex trafficking, in response to the Sun Sentinel series Innocence Sold, and later start times for Florida middle and high schools.
Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, took a welcome stand for public safety. After the House voted 69 to 36 to repeal a key provision of the post-Parkland gun law and allow immature and troubled 18-year-olds to buy rifles and long guns, Passidomo refused to consider it in the Senate, and it died. There’s nothing to celebrate here except the rarity of a Republican leader breaking with her own party for a change.
“I voted for the Parkland bill,” said Passidomo, who visited Marjory Stoneman Douglas days after the massacre five years ago. “It was a horrific day. I will not change my position.”
A changed Capitol, for the worse
Sun Sentinel opinion writers have watched every session for the past 35 years, and this must be said: Florida no longer has a traditional bipartisan Legislature where people of good intentions and different beliefs come together and work cooperatively to improve the state.
The political agenda and outcome is all preordained. Citizens who openly challenge the system risk being arrested, as 14 were this week in the Capitol.
In its current form, hopefully temporarily, it has evolved into a partisan political arm of DeSantis’ presidential campaign.
The vastly outnumbered Democrats, led by their caucus leaders, Sen. Lauren Book, D-Davie, and Rep. Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, fought valiantly most of the time against impossible odds. We implore Democrats to stick together and to hold Republicans more accountable.
People increasingly talk about leaving this state because of policies that show outright contempt for women, the LGBTQ community and others. The former Miami Heat basketball star Dwyane Wade, a Hall of Famer and one of the most popular pro athletes in South Florida history, who has a transgender daughter, disclosed that he moved his family to California because they no longer feel accepted in Florida.
As events drew to a close Friday, a celebratory House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, called it “a session like no other.”
That’s true — but for all the wrong reasons.
The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board includes Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson, Opinion Editor Krys Fluker and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney and Anderson. Send letters to insight@orlandosentinel.com.
For anyone wondering where the republican anti-civil rights don’t say gay / anti-woke / banning drag laws are going, here is your answer. The goal of these people in the US is to undo Lawrence v. Texas. That was the court case that got rid of anti-sodomy laws. For those that don’t understand, yes sodomy also means anal sex. Some times can mean oral sex, but in this case it doesn’t matter. It also doesn’t matter that cis couples (opposite sex / gender) couples also enjoy blow jobs, Cunnilingus, and anal sex. This law was only enforced when the authorities thought it was two or more men. Regardless of if it was in private such as the case I cited which was two men in the privacy of one of the men’s own home in their own bedroom which when cops burst into their home violently they found the men in the bedroom in disarray. Because a religious conservative neighbor called in a report to police. He did not feel two men should have the right to do in their home something both men were consenting to and did not harm anyone. Seems to me they were lucky, as today the police would have been met by gunfire.
This is the goal of the Christian republican right, to make being LGBTQ+ illegal. They have been following the Russian model of making anything that looks like or shows support for gays (LGBTQ+) illegal so that the entire public cis straight. Anything not cis straight is illegal. And yes I am so sick of it. The red states are attacking drag queens, getting away with it because people don’t see the next moves on what they plan next. But I and others are watching what has been happening in other countries that show how this progresses, and we have seen in history how this makes people like me targets.
The question becomes what kind of country under what laws do you want to live in? One where religion rules or one where people have the right to be themselves even if it offends others occasionally. Hugs
Is it now a crime in Russia to have private relations with another adult?
A man in handcuffs holds a Russian and Pride flagPhoto: Shutterstock
Russia has convicted a 40-year-old German teacher of violating the country’s ban on LGBTQ+ “propaganda” for inviting a 25-year-old man to have private, consensual sex behind closed doors in his hotel room. The teacher’s conviction demonstrates how Russia’s recently expanded law is now being used to punish LGBTQ+ people just for existing.
The unnamed teacher had stayed at a hotel in the far-eastern city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, according to the global news site DW. It’s unclear how legal authorities learned about his sexual invitation. The teacher reportedly admitted to his “crime,” was fined approximately $1,880, and will be deported back to his home country via Turkey.
In March, the same law was used to prosecute a young male bi-national couple who are popular content creators on the TikTok video-sharing platform. It’s unclear if the couple was prosecuted for publishing gay-related content online or for some other reason. After their arrest, the couple relocated outside of the country — leaving their homes, jobs, and possessions. The member of the couple, who is a Russian native, has a court date scheduled in Russia on May 11, according to the couple’s Telegram account.
Russian President Vladimir Putin first signed a law banning so-called “gay propaganda” in Russia in June 2013. The law ostensibly sought to “protect children” from any “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relationships,” as stated in the law’s text. The new law extends the restrictions to not just children but Russians of all ages.
The law has mostly been used to silence LGBTQ+ activist organizations, events, websites, and media, as well as to break up families and harass teachers. It has also been roundly condemned by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, the human rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, as well as civil rights activists around the world.
Last December, Putin signed a law expanding the country’s prohibition on LGBTQ+ “propaganda.” The newly signed law effectively outlaws any public expression of LGBTQ+ life in Russia by banning “any action or the spreading of any information that is considered an attempt to promote homosexuality in public, online, or in films, books or advertising,” Reuters reported.
Critics say the updated law will further endanger the lives of Russia’s LGBTQ+ population, which has already suffered increased harassment, violence, and hostility in recent years.
Anti-LGBTQ+ religious leaders and right-wing political figures in the U.S. have praised Putin for his law. Indeed, Republican legislators, so-called “parents’ rights groups,” and right-wing pundits have increasingly moved to ban American kids from accessing any LGBTQ+ content, gender-affirming healthcare, or drag shows over untrue claims that these “sexualize” and “groom” children.
In 2013, Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-FAM) President Austin Ruse said Russia’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws were a “good thing” that “most of the people in the United States” would support. In 2014, anti-LGBTQ+ evangelical leader Franklin Graham also defended the law.
He speaks fast as is necessary due to the time constraint, but the CC is very good. Please look at the comments at the video link, as they tell a lot more of the story. Hugs
This is another attempt at a Christian take over of the US. As is pointed out, the idea that the US was founded as a Christian nation is a complete fabrication fantasy by religious zealots. But these Christian warriors won’t stop, won’t be deterred by facts, and will keep pushing until they manage to take over the US and create the Christian Taliban to force the public to live by their religious doctrines. Think of it, everyone forced to live by the dictates of the worst of the fundamentalist of the Christian religion. We have seen this in other countries where religion has taken over the government. Think of Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia. Women lose all rights, no other religions tolerated, schools do not teach facts or science but instead push religious text as the truth no matter how impossible or debunked they are. You think the bans on abortion, trans people including adults allowed medical treatment to transition, and bans on drag shows are the end of what these religious zealots want? No, they want complete control to force their religion, their religious way of life on all the public. First they took over the Republican Party and then the courts. Now they are taking over state governments and school boards. Back in the 1980s Christian leaders pushed their most harden followers to go to homeschooling. Because it is clear that education shows the flaws of fundamentalist religious beliefs. The more liberal a church tries to force people to believe in the bible / holy texts the more good education based in science and historical fact disproves it. So the solution was to ruin public education. And that is what has been happening by the Republican Party driven by corporate greed and religious zealotry. I just read some more actions of Florida to force government to pay for private / religious education. Interesting fact, countries that do not have private schools have the greatest quality public education. Because if the wealthy have to use the same schools as the public or the poor, they make damn sure those schools are well funded and have the best teachers possible producing the best outcomes for all students. In the US you have expensive private schools that have the best education for the smallest amount of students, public education system for the majority of students that struggle to provide an education, and the worst possible homeschooling or charter schools which can mean anything from a single focused education on one subject to simply pushing religious dogma as truthful accepted education. The children are the future as everyone knows, so the ideology and religious zealots are trying to change the future by keeping the children from learning true science, true history, true biology, and true understanding of reality. Hugs
Senate Bill 1515 would require a poster of the Ten Commandments to be in every public school classroom in the state. Under Senate Bill 1396, public school districts would be able to adopt policies allowing for a moment of prayer and a reading from the Bible or other religious text during the school day. Senate Bill 763 is a measure that would allow school districts to employ chaplains to serve as school counselors.
Republican state Senator Mayes Middleton of Galveston authored both SB 1396 and SB 763. During the layout of SB 1396 on the Senate floor, he told his fellow lawmakers that the bill is needed to expand religious liberties in public schools. “The reality is that our school children and faculty spend much of their lives in the school building and classroom…and our schools are not God-free zones,” said Middleton.
Waving a copy of the Ten Commandments and a 17th-century textbook, amateur historian David Barton recently argued that Christianity has always formed the basis of American morality and thus is essential to Texas classrooms.
“This is traditional, historical stuff,” he told a Texas Senate Education Committee last month. “It’s hard to say that anything is more traditional in American education than was the Ten Commandments.”
For nearly four decades, Barton has preached that message to politicians and pews across the country, arguing that church-state separation is a “myth” that is disproven by centuries-old texts, like the school book he showed senators, that reference the Ten Commandments and other religious texts.
As Right Wing Watch has doggedly reported for years, Barton’s claims that foundational US documents directly quote the bible are completely false.
Mayes Middleton is a former board member of the anti-LGBTQ Texas Public Policy Foundation, which is behind the state’s ongoing pogrom against trans people.
Republican lawmakers in the Lone Star State are backing three bills that would embed Christian teaching and practices in public schools and allow school districts to hire faith leaders as employees. @KirkReportsNewshttps://t.co/jUqX6F3KQl
Certain bills navigating the Texas Legislature this year represent the latest battles in what Christian leaders have framed as a long-running and existential war with the secular world—rhetoric that has helped fuel Republican priorities. https://t.co/UdY1KK4Udw
Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton keeps falsely claiming that the Constitution is full of "verbatim quotes" from the Bible. We are starting to think that he doesn't know what the word "verbatim" means. pic.twitter.com/GZu84BETqe
Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton claims that Patrick Henry and George Washington quoted numerous Bible verses in their speeches and writings. We decided to take a look at Barton's "evidence" and—surprise, surprise—he was lying. https://t.co/6U0sfA5eHdpic.twitter.com/fetyq3BxqF
Nobody who has actually read the Bible would conclude, as religious-right pseudo-historian David Barton does, that the message of 1 Samuel where Saul is anointed king of Israel is that spiritual leaders should be choosing our elected officials. pic.twitter.com/dl8Het9tw0
Religious-right pseudo-historian David Barton claims that the Second Amendment guarantees your right to own any weapon the government possess, including nuclear bombs. https://t.co/u3xwrXND1Zpic.twitter.com/drc7SzuBEC
Pseudo-historian David Barton is constantly finding new "proof" the US was founded as a Christian nation. Lately, he's been claiming that 1st & 2nd grade public schools students in 1816 were required to memorize large portions of the Bible. They weren't. https://t.co/4fWoDnQL0mpic.twitter.com/iam7YY4h7x
When I was in public school I was very religious. I prayed often. Of course my intent was to pray not to make a big show of praying. I did it as often and in the way I wanted. I didn’t need anyone to tell me when or how to do it. This is still true. To quote George Will (yes, I know but it’s a good quote): “As long as there are math tests, there will be prayer in the public schools.”
This isn’t about God being in schools. This is about staking out territory and making those who aren’t their specific brand of Christianity feel marginalized. That’s the point. A good many Christians are uncomfortable with these measures, not because they don’t think children should learn about religion or pray, but because the teachings are not in line with what they teach at home and at their churches. Evangelicals love to talk as if they speak for all Christians. The rest of American Christianity really needs to stand up against their tyranny.
Yes, your schools are technically, God Free Zones. If you want God in your school, that’s what Catholic and Christians and other religious schools are there for. Please don’t try to push your “Christian Morals” on everyone in Public Schools. Because not everyone follows what you believe in.
Why it Matters, They Voted to Eat their Young. By Randy
Jakuniku-kyoushoku. “It’s the year 2022, and the population has risen to a third of a billion for the United States. Pollution, catastrophic climate change and blind greed-based taxation has caused severe shortages of food, water and housing nationwide while the military budget grows beyond the ability of the nation. Only the wealthy can afford health care. The environment is oppressively hot and humid thanks to the out-of-control greenhouse effect. Corporate America has taken on the role of feeding most of the nation’s population with tasteless processed foods, over-preserved and under scrutinized, while nutritional and safety factors are the new cost of repeatedly underfunded government overwatch programs and an overworked populace repeatedly asked to sacrifice more and more so the wealthiest may receive favorable tax breaks. The Soylent Corporation produces their wonder food called Soylent Green…” (edited quote of Soylent Green film summary, 1973).
I am quite fascinated by movies, books and articles detailing the expected world of my current life, like the above movie synopsis. I read 1984 and thought it was Oracular. My father kept Popular Mechanics magazines from the 1950’s and 1960’s that tell me I should be flying my car by now. Shortly after I was born American men were walking on the moon, stepping out of the nation’s boundaries as explorers and architects of a new future. During that time, a generation fought against itself – one side imagining the heights we could go if we only dreamed, if we only loved one-another, if we only gave more than lip service to the idea of freedom, while others suffered a nightmare of bullets in jungles they didn’t know existed but a short time before. Men of Peace, men of hope, men like John Lennon died to bullets, and it seemed like the generation had made its choice. The fall of Jimmy Carter, the rise of Trickle-Down politics and Glory of Greed, Iran/Contra-gate, a new war in the land of sand and oil, and a new rising NRA became the Siren’s Song spelling the end to the hope of Lennon and King.
In ‘Men in Black’, Tommy Lee Jones asked Will Smith ‘They are beautiful, aren’t they…the stars…I never look at them anymore’. Have we lost the hope that seemed to infect America when I was young, when cars were shaped after rocket ships and kids would look to the stars and dream of following in Buzz Aldren’s steps? It is no wonder to me why people long for the world to be like it was in the ‘60’s. Life was simpler back then, provided you weren’t drafted, a woman, a minority or poor. Marjory Taylor Greene has called for a new America, a new Civil War, a new Hitlerian dystopia where we must declare our votes. She wants to void criminal charges for a national secrets leak because it was originated by someone who was white, Christian and anti-war. Lauren Bobert says that babies are being murdered after birth for the convenience of a late abortionist. Our most recent president is in court for Rape, Tax Fraud, and his followers are going to Jail for Sedition and Violence in efforts to Overthrow the Government, but that’s all “fake news”. Fox News pays $787,500,000 to avoid justice, Governor DeSantis kidnaps destitute families and declares gay people to no longer exist in Florida, and “Good Guys with Guns” stood by and watched babies be shot. Across The Land of the Free, men are being accused of horrible crimes for telling stories to children and their parents in public libraries. The religious right has declared the liar, the glutton, adulterer, the jealous, the proud, the lazy and the wrath filled to be saintly.
I don’t think anyone really cares what Marjory Taylor Greene really believes since the idea that she would be called upon to seriously debate a moral standard in any capacity beyond a cautionary one is surely pure comedy. She is surely not the cause of our troubles, only the parasite that feeds on our weakened flesh. She is a result of a country that gains their beliefs from news anchors and pundits, like rags flapping in a breeze that the ill-considered salute unquestioningly. I understand; I’m a Chicago Cubs fan, and I could respond to any challenge with “We’ll get them next year”. Then one year they somehow kept winning and the joke became real.
The ’Trump in Politics’ era, which coincided quite conveniently with the ”No” era of the republicans brought about a fracture in what was respectable public speech. I was raised that it is the obligation of every man to those who follow behind to make a world better than he found it so that his children may live their life without war, famine, disease, poverty. But suddenly there was a black man in the White House and the era of fear and denial was upon us. Now we are strangled by guns, anger, lies and false reality. The preeminent focus is not what is best for our youth, our country, but what will regain the lost power of the ’50’s for those longing for a world gone by.
What happened to love? What happened to my neighbor? What happened to those Sunday School lessons? Have we lost already the promise of our fathers, the charge of those who came before? We are meant to be a country of builders. I feel anger and despair in those around me as they are denied their reality, denied their choice, denied their identity.
I would propose a new law, a new rule: When finally that long line in the cold of November on that blustery Tuesday, alongside the ballot of new candidates and propositions, tax law and millages, sets a screen. On that screen flip pictures of the voter’s family, his friends, his loved ones. And, then, maybe his vote isn’t one designed to enact vengeance and fear but hope for those who come after. Maybe then the vote is for the ones who truly matter in all that we do: Those who will inherit the decision about to be made.
Notice how these bills are written as vague as possible to include anything the right doesn’t like. Remember, gender and sex includes more than trans or gay people, it also includes all the hetero straight people. They have gender and they have sexual relationships. But of course the people behind these bills don’t mean the straight hetero kind as it is “normal” right. They only mean that icky kind they don’t like. Who cares that gay and trans people exist, let’s make any mention of them illegal, just like Russia did. Remember when the president of Iran said they don’t have gays in Iran, as that is a western disease? They just force all gay men to become women and as for lesbians, well women have no rights so they are forced into relationships with me. That is what these bills in Florida and other red states comes down to, the forcing the end of LGBTQ+ people out of society and back into hiding again. The writers of these bills don’t care about the health or well-being of the gay or trans kids, it is about pushing their religious church doctrines of moral correctness on everyone else. Same with the attempts to ban everything their religion hates, it is about forcing every person in these red states to live by strict Christian church doctrines and standards. Fuck you if you have a different idea or way of living, you will live by our demands, by our church morals because we are the Christian Taliban. Hugs
Indiana’s governor on Thursday signed a bill that will require schools to notify a parent if a student requests a name or pronoun change at school, one of the final bills approved in a legislative session that had targeted LGBTQ+ people in the state, especially students. Critics worry the law could out transgender children to their families and erode trust between students and teachers.
It also prohibits, from prekindergarten through third grade, instruction on “human sexuality,” something that is not defined in the bill. Holcomb said in a statement Thursday,“I also just believe its commonsense that sex education should not be taught in prekindergarten through third grade.” GOP bill author Rep. Michelle Davis said the law will “ensure Hoosier parents are in the driver’s seat when it comes to introducing sensitive topics to their kids.”
The bill’s author, Rep. Michelle Davis [photo], has appeared on the Family Research Council’s daily podcast. Republicans hold supermajorities in both Indiana chambers.
Indiana’s governor signed a bill that will require schools to notify a parent if a student requests a name or pronoun change at school, one of the final bills approved in a legislative session that targeted LGBTQ+ people in the state, especially students. https://t.co/RxHIq56mtm
⚠️Governor Holcomb today signed HB 1608, the "Don't Say Gay" bill, into law. This law attempts to erase LGBTQ voices, histories, and lived experiences from schools.
Our attorneys are assessing the law, and we will do everything in our power to protect LGBTQ rights.
Because of its incredibly vague language censoring discussions on “human sexuality"—a term with no definition in state code—HB 1608 could be used to: ❌silence any mention of LGBTQ people ❌ban books with LGBTQ characters ❌fire LGBTQ teachers ❌bar Pride flags in classrooms
LGBTQ students and teachers deserve safe, inclusive schools—not censorship and discrimination based on who they are.
HB 1608 does nothing but harm. LGBTQ people have always existed in Indiana, and we won't allow their stories and identities to be erased. https://t.co/SVAedNVshi
“I also just believe its commonsense that sex education should not be taught in prekindergarten through third grade.”
First off, where in the hell was “sexuality” being taught in K-3, and secondly, does this now mean you can’t refer to your teacher as Mr., Miss, or Mrs. as they all explicitly imply gender, and Mrs. implies that there is a sexual relationship somewhere.
Oh that’s ok. When you talk about straight people you talk about good, normal people
When you talk about LBGT, you talk about straight people who have sodomy because they’re sick snd evil
I guess there will be mass arrests on the first day of kindergarten when the teacher shows the children where the (gasp!) boy’s and girl’s restrooms are.
They’re just working their way toward making us illegal in the literal sense – it’s only a matter of time before they try to get Lawrence v. Texas overturned.
And Santos thinks if gays and lesbians abandon trans people the MAGAts will leave us alone I don’t think he really thinks that. He’s just helping the fascists in their attempts to divide us up into as small groups as possible so that they can stamp on each in turn.
Sadly there are some that will agree with that message, thinking that they are the good upstanding ones, and those trans / drag queens / kinky people / whoever are ‘making us look bad‘.
(I’m also not sure why the message included TQIA+ as the ‘others’. What do they have against questioning people? Most of us were at some point. Asexual / Aromantic people are no threat to anyone. They can’t pretend that Intersex people are ‘making a bad choice’ like they try with the rest of us, since they were obviously biologically born that way! Just looks like a transparently lazy way to split the community.)
No surprise here. Indiana is a racist hater State that flies under the radar. Our politicians are pussies and are usually a year or two behind the others. Today, I am putting my Rainbow Flag out and keeping it there.
Our local GOP rep decided to not seek re-election because she was so disgusted with her fellow colleagues in that party She and her husband are now independents. She refused to endorse any GOP candidate for her seat.
Often overlooked in media discussions of this wave of anti-LGBT legislation is the fact that some kids will attempt — or succeed in — suicide on account of the hate directed to them.
The Republicans engaged in this campaign of hate are murderers, pure and simple.
Do we have any progressive straight allies paying attention to this wave of homophobic bullshit? Are there any wealthy or powerful gays in the fight or we still just in the “tsk tsk” stage of a fascist overthrow?
He kiddies if you want to be an ally, change your name. If you’re Susie, ask to be called Susan. If its Malik, ask to be called Mallie. If your name is Billy, asked to be called Mister Smith. There are plenty of name changes that are not gender related. While this puts a burden on the teachers, it will point out the ridiculousness of this law.
What happened to parent’s rights? Why can just one parent stop a field trip to see a play because they object to any children seeing an actor in a female role, yet a parent has no rights to help their child socially transition? The only parents who have rights are maga republican parents. This is the state that the king wannabe governor calls the “free state of Florida”? This is the enforcement of a Puritan religious belief and view of Christian morality. This is enforcing a dress code on the entire public to agree with church doctrine of how the bible says to dress. This is real child abuse to separate children from loving parents following the medical advice of doctors, following the approved accepted best practice from the major medical organizations including the AMA and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is the largest professional association of pediatricians in the US. But what do doctors know compared to religious conservatives who get their medical information from a book written 2,500 years ago before people even knew about germs. Think of what the republicans are doing and have managed to do in the last two years. They have set the country and civil rights back 100 years and have set child labor laws back 150 years. Every poll says what the republicans are doing is unpopular and unliked by the majority, the republicans don’t care. Why, because they want to rule the people, not serve the public. Hugs
The Florida legislature passed a bill Thursday that will let the state take transgender minors away from their families if they are receiving gender-affirming care.
The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 26–13, mainly along party lines, and the House shortly after by a vote of 83–28, again along party lines. The measure now goes to the desk of Governor Ron DeSantis, who has previously expressed support for it and will likely sign it into law.
If he signs it into law, the measure will allow the state to take custody of a child if they have been “subjected to or [are] threatened with being subjected to” gender-affirming care, which includes puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy.
“Parents have the right to raise their children as they see fit, and government intervention should be a last resort,” Senate President Kathleen Passidomo [photo] said in a prepared statement Friday.
“Unfortunately, all too often we are hearing about treatments for gender dysphoria being administered to children, often very young children. That’s just wrong, and we need to step in and make sure it isn’t happening in our state.”
The bill’s Senate sponsor, Sen. Clay Yarborough, appeared here in March for his bill banning minors from public drag shows.
He first appeared on JMG in 2010, when as a member of the Jacksonville City Council he declared that gays, Muslims, and atheists should not be permitted to hold public office, otherwise God will smite the fuck out of the country.
One of the many, many reasons I pleaded with the American public to care about family separation. It was just a matter of time before it came for all of us
The bill that would grant Florida the power to seize trans-identifying children receiving or likely to receive treatment for gender dysphoria is sponsored by Republican state senator Clay Yarborough, who is a follower of Christ. @Clay_Yarboroughhttps://t.co/rp83mxCzFNpic.twitter.com/7mWED7xNva
100% horseshit, its all made up to attack trans people. period. Its a start too, they’re not going to stop with trans kids. Next it will be taking children from gay couples and we need to know thats where its going.
Kids are being operated on. Approximately 1.5% of breast augmentation surgeries are preformed on girls under the age of 18. Thousands of cisgender girls receive “gender affirming” surgery every single year.
Funny how no Republicans are writing laws to take those girls away from their parents.
I’ve been tired of the Florida bashing but now I’m feeling the same way. Fuck this state. I want to get the fuck out of here ASAP. I just hope I can sell my home quickly. This place has become a quagmire of insanity. It’s horrible for all of the good LGBTQ+ people who choose to live here, including myself.
Parents, get your Trans kids out of the state now. I am sure they included provisions to detransition the children too. You know he’ll sign it. Anything to hurt someone.
You can bet Florida is going to eventually be setting up contracts with “ministries” to “counsel” the trans kids they steal from their parents to pray away the trans.