Please notice the section on homeless LGBTQ+ kids. Yes students kicked out of their homes because they are LGBTQ+. Homeless kids for being gay or trans. How do you think they survive, what do they have to do? How the hell can they have an education when they are sleeping in orange groves, cars, and other people’s … Why are these kids kicked out of their homes? Bigotry and hate. What does the push by the Republicans to demonize the LGBTQ+ and the don’t say gay bills do, they increase that bigotry. They give hateful foster families and others the idea that these horrible LGBTQ+ have no worth and must be punished, that they don’t belong in a decent home. You know it has to be horrible for a kid in their home when it is safer to stay in a school that they are bullied in after school hours. How bad does home have to be. Read the article, I wish these Republicans that are pushing this hate would understand that they are saying to these kids is hide / don’t dare be out and seen, you shouldn’t exist. To the students with hateful parents that love these don’t say gay bills and the banning of book with LGBTQ+ content what it says is that it is OK to attack and target those kids, the ones you / your parents want to not be there. Plus you have adults attacking kids as pedophiles because they are gay or forming gay support clubs. How hateful and misinformed but that is what the right had been pushing, just being LGBTQ+ means you want to rape and little kids. Horrible what absolute power in the hands of Republicans can cause. And to the religious groups happy and proud of this effect on kids let me ask when Jesus said to let the kids come to him did he say but only the straight ones? Hugs
For queer students, school is a place that can hurt and heal.
WINTER PARK, Fla. — Nearly a dozen Winter Park High School students settled into a classroom, forming a semi-circle around 17-year-old Will Larkins, who sat cross-legged on a desk.
It was the school’s first Queer Student Union meeting since March, when the group led a school-wide walkout to protest state legislation intended to limit classroom discussion on gender and sexual orientation. Critics have dubbed the measure the “Don’t Say Gay” law. Will, the head of the club, wanted to get a sense of how everyone was feeling.
“For the most part, it was actually really positive,” said Echo Izzo, a 19-year-old senior who was near the front of the group that day.
Though the protest didn’t stop Florida’s governor from signing the bill into law, to the students who led the event, it was still a success. Hundreds of their classmates in this Orlando suburb walked out of school for nearly an hour that day, chanting “We say gay.”
But not all the students showed up in support. On the fringes of the crowd, a teenager danced across a rainbow flag that had been tossed in the dirt.
That act wasn’t surprising, a Queer Student Union member said. What shocked them was just how many students actually joined them in a show of solidarity.
“I totally felt like 50 people would show up,” Will said.
A year ago, Winter Park High’s Queer Student Union didn’t exist. Now, its members have found themselves on the front lines of Florida’s ongoing attempt to restrict what can be talked about at school. The measure the students protested, formally known as the “Parental Rights in Education” law, bans instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation from kindergarten through third grade, as well as instruction that is not age- and developmentally appropriate at all grade levels.
Proponents say the law ensures parents are in charge of what their children learn about sensitive topics. Opponents say it will have a chilling effect. Though the measure specifically targets curriculum and discussion in K-3 classrooms, some educators and advocates worry it could also cut LGBTQ kids in higher grades off from support.
“At the high school level, I think it will create anxiety and maybe hesitancy by staff to have some of the open conversations that they may have,” said Dawn Young, who is the advisor for the Queer Student Union and a mentor for students. “I think it will affect the kids feeling that it means something is wrong with them.”
Will at Winter Park High School
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Will poses for a portrait in his bedroom
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For queer students, school is a place that can hurt and heal. It can be a safe space away from challenging home lives, but it can also be a source of pain. LGBTQ+ students reported being bullied on school grounds at nearly twice the rate of their straight peers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Winter Park High, a school of more than 3,400 students, sits in a suburb of Orlando, a city the U.S. Census reports as having among the highest concentration of same-sex households in the country.
The school is also less than 10 miles from PULSE, a gay night club where 49 people were murdered in what was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. Members of the Queer Student Union were in elementary and middle school when it happened.
Since the Queer Student Union was formed in November of 2021, its members have tried to bring visibility to LGBTQ issues. They have run voter registration drives, put up posters that say “Being gay is NOT a choice,” and they’ve been meeting with administrators to find ways to prevent bullying in school bathrooms.
Will closed the meeting with ideas for next year.
“What problems in the school can Queer Student Union solve, and what should we do as a club to keep engaging and be useful?” Will asked the group.
The students agreed they wanted to see more history lessons on the gay rights movement and presentations on why jokes about LGBTQ people are hurtful.
It’s unclear if the newly enacted law will affect those plans.
Winter Park High sits in a region that is less welcoming than other parts of the country to gay, lesbian and transgender youth, according to a 2021 survey by the Trevor Project, an advocacy and support organization.
Youth in the South reported higher rates of mental health issues and less access to affirming spaces compared to their peers in other regions of the country, the survey found.
“There’s definitely been an increase in anti-LGBTQ policy and rhetoric, and we’re seeing a lot of this happening in the states in the South,” said Myeshia Price, a senior research scientist with the Trevor Project. “LGBTQ youth have had to grapple with these hostile political climates, and to have their identities being debated and discussed right in front of them is undoubtedly having some negative impact on their mental health.”
A rainbow is seen inside Winter Park High School
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Winter Park High School in Orlando
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For some students, school is the only safe place.
On most days at Winter Park High, Echo can be found waiting in the parking lot hours after the bell rings. That is where they wait to be picked up by a friend’s mom.
Echo started living on the streets of Winter Haven, Florida in 2021 because of a volatile home-life. Echo temporarily moved into a Christian homeless shelter, but when shelter employees found out they are trans, they were kicked out.
For several weeks, they slept at bus stops and in an orange grove near school.
“I was kind of desensitized,” Echo said. “I stopped letting myself hope by that point.”
Echo moved into an LGBTQ-friendly shelter about an hour away, in Winter Park, at the beginning of last school year. They met a friend at Winter Park High and moved in with his family a few months later.
Echo often hangs out in a courtyard at school for several hours, and this week in April was no different.
“I try to involve myself in as much as I can so I’m not just sitting here,” Echo said.
Even though Echo has found their niche at Winter Park High, school has always been complicated.
They have attended 15 different schools from kindergarten through 12th grade. Most of those transitions happened in elementary school after Echo entered the foster care system in second grade.
By third grade, Echo knew they were queer, but they didn’t come out until sixth grade. In 11th grade, Echo realized they are nonbinary.
But their foster family was not supportive, and neither were some students at school.
“It was a lot more safe than home, but it was definitely not safe,” Echo said.
Echo practices piano
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Echo poses for a portrait
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When Echo came out as nonbinary, they felt clearheaded for the first time. They still feel that way at Winter Park, even though it is a new place with problems of its own.
Sometimes, students make comments that alienate Echo. In April, a student in one of Echo’s classes criticized how much LGBTQ+ people have been speaking out about Florida’s new law.
“They said, in their words, ‘No one cares if you’re gay, just stop talking about it,’” Echo said. “We can’t just exist and not talk about it. We can’t just live a peaceful existence, because there’s always going to be people questioning us, making jokes, making threats.”
When Echo first heard that Florida’s new law was on its way to passing, they were distraught.
“It was the idea that something like this could pass and students like them would not be able to have a safe space that they could express themselves, because they couldn’t do that at home,” Young said.
Some students, like Will, are changing the status quo one class at a time.
In March, Will gave a presentation to his history class about the Stonewall riots — a famous 1969 protest in New York City that helped spark the gay rights movement. A video of the lesson went viral on Twitter.
Will is confident about his convictions. He speaks out against banning books at school board meetings, attends legislative hearings, and when strangers online asked why he wore a dress to school in that viral Stonewall video, his response was: “Because I wanted to.”
But being gay in high school has not been easy. When Will started speaking out about the new law, people began messaging him online telling him he is a pedophile and that he should kill himself. He’s talked candidly about struggling with mental health.
“When sixth grade rolled around, I started to realize I liked boys and not girls, and still having not been exposed to other queer people, the self-hatred only festered,” Will said at an Orange County School District board meeting in March.
His mental health worsened last fall, after students bullied him at a Halloween party, yelling at him and calling him slurs.
“I just became so depressed,” Will said.
It wasn’t until after the party he realized most of his LGBTQ+ friends were also dealing with similar issues. It was then that Young, the mentor, encouraged him and a friend to start the Queer Student Union.
Since then, school has become a safer space for Will, even though the students who bullied him are still there.
“I’ve gotten to the point now where the hateful people are such a small minority,” Will said.
He’s outgrown them. The space in his head that was once focused on bullying is now consumed by his plans for the future.
This spring, Will decided to run for student body representative.
In April, Will stood tall in his backyard. The sun would be going down soon, and he had one take to get this last scene right for his campaign video. His dad steadied the cellphone and told Will he was ready.
Will smiled for the camera.
“Even though it’s my first year at Winter Park High School, I’ve already made a splash,” Will said as he raised his arms over his head and dived into the pool.
The election took place a few weeks later. He didn’t win, but he didn’t have long to dwell on it. The same day he found out he lost, he was told he won a Webby Award — alongside two other Florida teens — for championing the “Say Gay” movement online. The awards honor “excellence on the Internet” and are presented in New York City.
“My goal was to make the school better for everyone, and I’m not going to stop trying to do that because I lost an election,” Will said.
Have you ever thought about how lucky we all are? We live in a blessed time where the shelves in supermarkets are full of food and everyone, literally everyone can easily find a treat for their taste. Few people know, however, that many famous and popular products hide a lot of secrets. And no, we are not necessarily talking about their ingredients; we mean why and for whom they were originally created. For example, people still talk about the creation of Franco-American’s canned SpaghettiOs, a popular product in the 80’s. Who decided to can a portion of cooked pasta? And what about Coca-Cola’s alcohol issues, healing meat steaks or flakes that make everyone kinder?
State Rep. Ben Moss, who won the GOP primary against Jamie Boles for the newly drawn District 52 seat, is one of four Republicans in the House co-sponsoring legislation that would add regulation to the state’s incipient electric vehicle infrastructure.
Moss’ bill, HB 1049, was filed May 25. Known as the “Equitable Vehicle Fuel Stations,” it would essentially eliminate any free electric vehicle charging stations on public property if a free gas pump is not similarly provided.
Also, the bill would prevent the state or local governments from funding free chargers if they don’t provide a gas pump as well. The bill would also require private businesses that offer free chargers to disclose to customers on receipts the pro rata fees they are paying to maintain the stations.
Moss decided that his animating principle is Being Mad at Electricity. To prove his animosity toward this invisible menace, he’s sponsoring House Bill 1049, which would allocate $50,000 to destroy free public car chargers. We’ve simply got to do something about these free public chargers, even if it costs us $50,000! Those things cost tens of cents per hour, when they’re being used.
That rule only comes into play if a town refuses to build free gas and diesel pumps next to the EV chargers. House Bill 1049 also decrees that all customer receipts will have to show what share of the bill went toward the charger out in the lot. That way, anyone who showed up for dinner in an F-150 (not the electric one) can get mad that their jalapeño poppers helped pay for a business expense not directly related to them.
A bill currently in the works in the North Carolina legislature would allocate $50,000 to get rid of free public EV chargers unless free gas pumps are built alongside.https://t.co/T7VIuQCCj4
— Bruno J. Navarro (@Bruno_J_Navarro) July 8, 2022
Taxpayers should not be footing the bill for ‘free’ electric vehicle charging stations on state and local government property unless the same locations offer gasoline or diesel fuel at no charge. We need to do more to increase American energy production.https://t.co/LV0ldsZufy
We’ve had great turnout today at Early Voting sites in Richmond and in Moore County. Humbled by all of the support. We need your vote to win this election. Learn more about How To Vote at https://t.co/jJHWKVdF6A. #NCGA#NCPOLpic.twitter.com/KW0NdhemjT
Just have the free gas pump dispense an equal amount of gas in $ value to the cost of electricity dispensed from the electric charger. See how much demand there is for a pump that will give out 50 cents of gas every hour.
Also, we clearly need to crack down on people using taxpayer-funded outlets in public spaces to charge their electronic devices unless the location also hands out free batteries.
This has been going on since the automobile was invented. The oil industry destroyed Los Angeles’ enviable trolly car system for their own profit gain.
Remember when several states blocked Tesla from selling cars directly to the public, instead demanding that their laws required all new vehicles to be sold thru dealerships…?
Besides sounding like someone owned by the oil companies, this has some of that “we’re gonna buy all them old-school light bulbs instead of those Obama lib LED ones” energy.
As his bill is entitled “Equitable Vehicle Fuel Stations”, I assume that he is requiring that every location in the state that provides gas or diesel must also provide a similar number of electric charging stations as they have fuel pumps. Because that would be obvious, right?
In 2008, researchers with the University of California San Francisco embarked on a study that compared the outcomes of two similar groups of women, each at a crucial juncture in their lives: a visit to an abortion clinic. The groups differed, though, in whether or not they were able to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. It was called the Turnaway Study, named for those who were turned away by the clinic because their pregnancies were past legal gestational limits, and it provides some of the best data we have on the impacts of abortion bans. Among the study’s findings is the severe financial impact of being forced to parent a new child when someone is already living in difficult financial circumstances. People who seek abortions, especially later-term abortions, are far more likely than the general population to be living in poverty, or otherwise financially unstable. That fact makes it unsurprising that, when researchers asked women about their reasons for seeking an abortion, not being financially prepared was the most common reason. This video offers a glimpse into the financial penalty of parenting under difficult circumstances. We interviewed several women who had similar experiences to the women in the study. We didn’t seek out interviewees who exactly reflected the circumstances of the study participants (i.e., the length of gestation when they sought an abortion, or their socioeconomic background) but their stories reveal some parallels: most people want an abortion because they don’t feel financially stable or don’t have a partner they want to co-parent with. The Turnaway Study also looked at mental health outcomes, relationship outcomes, and whether or not study participants chose adoption instead of parenting. Whether or not they chose adoption is relevant to common pro-life rhetoric, which encourages people to give unwanted children up for adoption rather than choose abortion. But the Turnaway Study found that 91% of women who were denied an abortion chose to parent, which indicates that adoption is not a feasible alternative for most people. We interviewed Gretchen Sisson, a researcher who looked at adoption rates and motivations among the Turnaway Study participants. For more coverage of the Turnaway Study: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/ma… For lead Turnaway Study researcher Diana Greene Foster’s book about her study: https://bookshop.org/books/the-turnaw… For links to further research using Turnaway Study data: https://www.ansirh.org/sites/default/… For Gretchen Sisson’s work on adoption: https://www.whijournal.com/article/S1… We also interviewed Katie Woodruff, who analyzed news coverage of abortion: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30309…
The Amazon has always been one of the most mysterious places on earth. When European colonizers arrived in the 16th century, they were captivated by rumors of a golden city, hidden somewhere in the rainforest. Their search for “El Dorado” lasted more than a century, but only resulted in disaster, death, and further conquest of the indigenous people there. Experts thereafter looked at the Amazon and saw only a desolate jungle; too harsh for extensive agriculture and therefore sparsely populated. They believed that it had always been this way. Until recently. Beginning in the late 20th century, archaeologists began looking more closely at the forest floor. Working with the indigenous people who still remained there, they excavated long ditches and mounds. After mapping them, they could see that these were the markings of large settlements; walls, moats, plazas, and roads that connected even more settlements. And they were all over the Amazon. Further reading: The Lost City of Z, David Grann Exploration Fawcett: Journey to the Lost City of Z, Percy Fawcett The works of Michael Heckenberger; https://anthro.ufl.edu/2013/09/29/hec… Lidar reveals pre-Hispanic low-density urbanism in the Bolivian Amazon https://www.nature.com/articles/s4158… The geoglyph sites of Acre, Brazil: 10 000-year-old land-use practices and climate change in Amazonia https://www.cambridge.org/core/journa… Predicting pre-Columbian anthropogenic soils in Amazonia https://royalsocietypublishing.org/do… The Lore of Lost Cities – Imagining The Lost City Of Z https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidand… Once Hidden by Forest, Carvings in Land Attest to Amazon’s Lost World https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/wo…
They’re fun. They’re also way more difficult to build than they seem. Subscribe and turn on notifications 🔔 so you don’t miss any videos: http://goo.gl/0bsAjO Shipping container homes have been a trend for a while, from reality TV shows to housing policy discussions. But the truth is that these homes are a lot more difficult to build than you might think. It’s easy to think that housing solutions are purely technological, but many obstacles to housing aren’t in construction but in the policies surrounding homebuilding. Moreover, many of the supposed advantages of shipping containers turn out to be more complicated in reality. Vox’s Phil Edwards spent a night in a shipping container home to see how the experience of staying in a shipping container compares with the reality of building one. Further Reading: Mark Hogan’s 2015 opinion piece about shipping containers is a great introduction to the topic: https://www.archdaily.com/773491/opin… Belinda Carr’s debunking of shipping containers gets into more building science detail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7yED… She’s also an even-handed critic and made a video about five shipping container successes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkG3g… You can check out Michael’s Airbnbs here: https://www.airbnb.com/users/show/329… Make sure you never miss behind-the-scenes content in the Vox Video newsletter, sign up here: http://vox.com/video-newsletter Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what’s really driving the events in the headlines. Check out http://www.vox.com
Scottie's Playtime 