Category: Schools / Schooling / Education / Libraries

Amazing teacher goes viral for passionate speech calling out policy to out transgender students

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/09/amazing-teacher-goes-viral-passionate-speech-calling-policy-transgender-students/

 

“Our students must be able to choose the time and the manner in which they share their transness and with whom. It is not our place to force them to do so.”
 
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Dawn Riggs, Ohio Board of Education Speech
Dawn Riggs, Ohio Board of Education Speech Photo: Screenshot
 

A teacher is making waves on Twitter for her impassioned speech before the Ohio State Board of Education in support of trans students.

Dawn Riggs, a teacher of 33 years, was testifying against a resolution that would require Ohio schools to out trans and nonbinary students to their parents, allow teachers the right to refuse to use a student’s preferred name and pronouns, and require students to participate on sports teams based on their sex assigned at birth, effectively excluding trans girls from school sports.

The “Resolution to Support Parents, Schools, and Districts in Rejecting Harmful, Coercive, and Burdensome Gender Identity Policies” was introduced by Board member Brendan Shea as a reaction to new federal Title IX rules that expand protections for LGBTQ students. 

Riggs spoke before the board about the difference it makes to support trans students.

“I have many trans and nonbinary students in my classes. My experience with transgender individuals spans my entire career. I am still in touch with some of those folks. Every single former student has told me how much knowing they had a safe space to be their authentic selves has meant to them”

Riggs said students have opened up to her about their trauma and suicidal thoughts, and their “wish to disappear.”

“The fact that they could walk into my classroom, be called the name they chose, and be called by the pronouns that reflect their lived experience made a difference. Even if no other adult in their life affirmed their identity, they knew they would be safe for at least a little while each day.”

She added, “It is no burden to use a name that we are asked to use. It is no burden to use the pronouns that are shared with us. If your friend William asked you to call him Billy, you don’t blink an eye.”

She also lambasted the board for considering allowing schools to out students to their parents.

“Our students must be able to choose the time and the manner in which they share their transness and with whom. It is not our place to force them to do so. I urge you to oppose this hateful and misguided rhetoric.”

On Twitter, people praised Riggs for her words and actions.

“She saved lives, 100% certain.” one user wrote.

“If more people had her attitude and kindness there would be a lot more happier trans and non binary people in the world,” said another.

Three members of the Board of Education also released an official statement against Shea’s resolution, writing that they “are embarrassed that our time as a board will be spent discussing an issue that so egregiously works to bully children and threaten adults.”

“Shea not only presented a resolution full of factual errors and based in religious pedagogy,” the statement continued, “but he also submitted a resolution that works to detract our body from the work many of us were elected to do.”

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.
 

Republicans attack Kansas Gov Laura Kelly for supporting trans people. She responded in 8 words

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/09/republicans-attack-kansas-gov-laura-kelly-supporting-trans-people-responded-8-words/

I have covered the swimmer ground before.   In the past anti-trans people have tried to claim that men who cannot win in men’s sports against men then claim to be women so they can compete in an easier contest against women while biologically still men.   That is not just not happening.    Male swimmers are competing in a men’s contest on Monday and then on Wednesday decide to swim in a female contest.   What is happening is trans women living as the gender they identify as wanting to participate in a sport they enjoy.   To participate in the sport a trans woman must meet the medical qualification of what is considered the normal hormone ranges for females.   Often there is at least one or two years of transitioning before joining a women’s team, during which time the benefits of male puberty are diminished / dissipated / removed.    Also it is important to note that trans women do not win all the events and take all the awards.   You know what determines the winners of these sports events?  Those who have natural talent and practice the sport more, longer, harder, and make the effort to be the best at their sport.  

But the sports thing is really a misdirection.    It really is not what these bills are for.   Remember the governor who vetoed on of these bills because there was only one trans child in their schools and that child was not interested in sports?   The republican legislature overrode the veto because it is entirely an issue to rile up the base and get the rabid right wing to vote.   It is not about kids, health, or education but it is entirely about getting the religious people and the rabid right who cannot accept the changes in society to be upset enough to vote republican.   That is entirely want this is about.    Are you uncomfortable that your traditions are not universal now, that other ideas are present?  Return to the past where it was all good and you were comfortable because you understood it all, vote republican.   This is what it really is what these anti-trans / don’t say gay laws are about.    Hugs

She doesn’t have time for the BS.
 
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Topeka, Kansas - January 14, 2019: Democrat Governor Laura Kelly delivers her inaugural speech is front of the steps of the Kansas State Capitol building

Topeka, Kansas – January 14, 2019: Democrat Governor Laura Kelly delivers her inaugural speech is front of the steps of the Kansas State Capitol building Photo: Shutterstock
 

The Republican Governor’s Association (RGA) is saying Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D) is lying about her record on transgender rights as she faces attack ads from the conservative organization over her two vetoes of transgender sports bans.

In 2021 and this past April, Kelly vetoed bills that would have banned transgender girls from participating in school sports as their gender. The bills did not similarly restrict transgender boys.

“We all want a fair and safe space for our kids to play and compete,” she said when she vetoed this year’s bill. “However, this bill didn’t come from the experts at our schools, our athletes, or the Kansas State High School Activities Association. It came from politicians trying to score political points.”

RGA has been running ads attacking Kelly for those vetoes. One of those ads featured cisgender swimmer Riley Gaines who said, “I was forced to share a locker room with a biological man. It was uncomfortable and it was wrong.”

“This has to stop,” she concluded. “If Laura Kelly can’t protect women, she shouldn’t be governor.”

In one of her ads, Kelly responded to the claims succinctly.

“You may have seen my opponent’s attacks,” she said in the ad. “So let me just say it: of course men should not play girls’ sports. OK, we all agree there.”

The rest of the ad calls out her opponent, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt (R), for his support of cutting school funding.

Her statement is true: these laws are not about stopping boys or men from playing girls’ or women’s sports, they’re about banning a subset of girls and women – those who are transgender – from participating in school sports. Like most mainstream Democrats, Kelly is in favor of transgender people getting access to full educations – sports education included – but isn’t in favor of removing gender distinctions in schools.

But Republicans are now accusing her of lying, mainly because they refuse to acknowledge transgender people for who they are.

“Laura Kelly is looking Kansans in the eye and flat out lying about her record of failing to protect girls and women from having to compete against biological men in athletics,” said a spokesperson for RGA Kansas in a press release issued today.

The press release didn’t defend Schmidt when it came to his record on cutting funding for schools.

 

Menstruation Stigma

Times change.   Medical understandings lead to social and cultural changes.   This is one of them.   In some parts of the world women are still required to leave the home and stay in an outbuilding or even just outside.  I remember about a year ago a woman died because her period happened during a hurricane and she was forced to go outside and stay there during the storm.  It was in a country that had religious laws instead of science as their fundamental rule making requirements.   But she was a woman so only her family that loved her really cared about it.    Are we ready for the US Christian Taliban take over now?   Hugs

Republicans push anti-LGBTQ+ bill in Pennsylvania that ‘goes further’ than ‘Don’t Say Gay’

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/09/21/pennsylvania-anti-lgbtq-bill-dont-say-gay/

“The intent of these bills seems to be to wipe out any discussion and pretend that [LGBTQ people] don’t exist,” Ward said.    And after they get the gays out of view in society who will be the next scapegoats.    Remember this pandering by red state governors are to their base, which is a small minority of vocal and thuggish people.   The majority of the public doesn’t want these enforced bigotry bills.   The vast majority of the public wants acceptance and tolerance of diversity.   Also don’t be fooled when the bills say notify the parents of any healthcare treatment they are talking of social transitioning such as name changes and use of pronouns.   Basically outing kids to their parents.    Hugs

Several people hold up LGBTQ+ Pride and trans Pride flags

Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania have introduced a new bill,  “patterned” on Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law, that would ban discussions on LGBTQ+ topics in classrooms. (Getty)

Republican state lawmakers are rallying behind newly introduced anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that would ‘go further’ than Florida’s reviled ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law. 

GOP politicians held a rally at the Pennsylvania state capitol Tuesday (20 September) to introduce House Bill 2813. The bill shares similarities with Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law, which bans discussions of LGBTQ+ topics in classrooms between kindergarten and third grade. 

Pennsylvania state representative Stephanie Borowicz, the bill’s primary sponsor, said HB 2813 is “patterned” on the Florida legislation but actually “goes further” than the other measure, according to PennLive. 

 

The bill states that any public or charter school “may not offer instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity to a student in kindergarten through fifth grade”. 

It would also require schools to notify parents of “health care services offered by the school entity” to students. The legislation would also allow parents to bring civil action against schools that they believe are violating the measure. 

Borowicz added she believed the bill could be extended further in the future and wanted to ban classroom discussions on LGBTQ+ topics through high school. 

“It really needs to be protected up through 12th grade, we need to go all the way,” she said. 

However, the bill is unlikely to pass into law as Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf has already promised to veto HB 2813 and other ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bills if they land on his desk. 

 
Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf speaks at a podium
Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf has promised to veto HB 2813 as he says it “denies humanity by reinforcing homophobic ideologies”. (Getty)

Wolf wanted lawmakers in the state to focus on the real issues facing Pennsylvanians rather than “engaging in discrimination and bullying”, WHTM reported. 

“HB 2813 is an effort to scorch individuality and normalise unacceptance,” Wolf said. “This legislation denies humanity by reinforcing homophobic ideologies.”

Sharon Ward, senior policy advisor for the Education Law Center of Pennsylvania, warned this bill – like other ‘Don’t Say Gay’ measures – could “really add to the existing targeting and bullying of LGBTQ kids in schools”. 

“The intent of these bills seems to be to wipe out any discussion and pretend that [LGBTQ people] don’t exist,” Ward said.

 

Pennsylvania lawmakers in the state Senate passed a similar bill, Senate Bill 1278, in June and currently awaits consideration in the House. 

SB 1278 would also ban classroom discussions of LGBTQ+ topics for pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade students. Instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity would also be prohibited between sixth and twelfth grade unless it is done in an “age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate” manner. 

 

Several people hold up LGBTQ+ Pride flags during a protest
Campaigners have denounced the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bills as they attempt to “wipe out any discussion and pretend that [LGBTQ people] don’t exist”. (Getty)

 

The Pennsylvania Commission on LGBTQ Affairs described SB 1278 as a “copy-paste version of Florida’s discriminatory ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill that would harm students and set back human rights” in the state.

Rafael Álvarez Febo, executive director of the LGBTQ Affairs Commission, said the bill is a “cruel attempt to politicise” queer people and “deny their humanity” to “score cheap political points”. 

“We at the Pennsylvania Commission on LGBTQ Affairs know that the guise of calling LGBTQ people and topics ‘age inappropriate’ is really just fearmongering,” Febo said. 

Febo continued: “Bills like these will cause LGBTQ teachers to have to conceal their identities and strip any resources available for LGBTQ youth out of schools. 

“Even more alarming, these bills have emboldened far-right hate groups to mobilise to commit violence against LGBTQ people.”

Wolf has promised to veto both HB 2318 and SB 1278, but the bills await an uncertain future as Pennsylvania will have a new governor next year. 

The Republican running for office, state senator Doug Mastriano, voted in favour of SB 1278. He described the anti-LGBTQ+ measure as a way to “empower parents” to ensure children aren’t exposed to so-called “sexually explicit materials and bizarre discussions about gender identity”.

Democratic nominee Josh Shapiro, the state’s attorney general, has openly opposed the measure. Shapiro’s campaign spokesperson said the state legislature needed to stop “wasting time and taxpayer dollars on these attempts to bully LGBTQ Pennsylvanians”. 

 

Watch Barn Owls Swallow Rodents Whole | Deep Look

Barn owls swoop down on rodents and swallow them whole – gophers, voles and mice, gone in a few gulps. But how do they keep down all that food? Well, they don’t. In a few stomach-turning steps, they transform the varmints into compact balls of fur and bones known as pellets.

America’s Busiest Troll

Let’s talk about Banned Books Week 2022….

The smoking gun in Martha’s Vineyard

https://popular.info/p/the-smoking-gun-in-marthas-vineyard

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Tucker Carlson Endorses Anti-LGBTQ Vigilantism – JMG

Tucker Carlson Endorses Anti-LGBTQ Vigilantism

This one of the most watched loudest voices in right wing media.  Spreading more lies so more people will be targeted for violence and more LGBTQ+ events will get shut down by the Proud Boys gang thugs enforcement arm of the republican party.    Grooming is when someone builds a relationship, trust and emotional connection with a child or young person so they can manipulate, exploit and abuse them. Children and young people who are groomed can be sexually abused, exploited or trafficked. Anybody can be a groomer, no matter their age, gender or race.   Teachers are not groomers, nor are drag queens reading stories with parents present.  The ones sexualizing kids is the right who are claiming anything they don’t like is sexualizing kids, and anyone they are against is a grooming pedophile.   Kids understand gender from the time they notice mommy and daddy, brother and sister, and kids understand love attraction again because they see it at home, on TV, at church, anywhere there are people in relationships.   They understand it if Mr. T and Mr. B are a couple that they love each other like their family.  They are not sexualized to see a picture of a straight spouse on a teacher’s desk and they are not sexualized to see a picture of a same sex spouse on a teacher’s desk.   It doesn’t sexualize them in anyway.   It is just the world around them.  What does sexualize them is what the right wing is doing, making children a sexual pawn to criminalize / ban everything you don’t like in society.  Don’t bring the kids into your hate, be honest and just say you hate some and are against it.   Don’t hide behind the kids.   Hugs

“In a healthy country, with an intact social fabric, neighborhood dads would give out instant justice to anyone who even thought about sexualizing their kids.

“And if you doubt that, go out and try it in Bulgaria or South Africa or the Solomon Islands. Good luck. Let us know how that ends, if you can still speak.

“Libs of TikTok was being banned from the internet — why? Because it showed documentary evidence of what was happening. Some people described what was happening as grooming.

“We are not exactly sure what that means, but if it’s sexually abusing children — yeah, that is what’s happening. But the term groomer is now hate speech, says NBC News.

“What you’re seeing is a society that hates children. You would have to hate children in order to sexualize them. Because sexualizing children screws them up for life — ask anyone to whom it has happened — period.

“No one should put up with this. No parent should put up with this for one second, no matter what the law says. Your duty — your moral duty — is to defend your children.

“This is an attack on your children and you should fight back.” – Tucker Carlson, on last night’s show.

Libs Of TikTok is still active on Twitter and Facebook.

Preacher Freaks Out About Furry Frenzy In Schools

Religious goon spreads vicious lies about furries in schools. Ana Kasparian and John Iadarola discuss on The Young Turks. Watch LIVE weekdays 6-8 pm ET.

http://youtube.com/theyoungturks/live Read more HERE:

https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/st… “Right-wing preacher Andrew Wommack claims to have a friend who “actually knows a teacher that comes to school as a furry and wears ears and a tail and uses a litter box at the front of the classroom to relieve himself.”