Category: Schools / Schooling / Education / Libraries
CultureCow: Anti-LGBTQ legislation is making the rounds this Pride month, this documentary can help
I want to thank Ali for sending me the link for this article. I find it to be well written and informative. Ali also has a comment in the comment section which I will try to post but if you go to the link remember where this newspaper is located and be prepared for the hateful things said in the comment sections. Some people are very proud of their ignorance and bigotry. Hugs
Commentary by Devin McCue, Sumner Newscow — Happy Friday. On Monday, Louisiana became the 18th state to target children who just want to play sports without someone looking at their genitals.
The legislation is ironically named the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act” despite the fact it does just the opposite. It expressly bans transgender students from participating on the correct sports teams because Republicans believe it gives them an unfair advantage.
Actually, the belief is that trans girls have that advantage because of their testosterone injections. Trans boys will still be allowed to play, but I imagine they’ll change their minds as soon as a trans boy starts winning enough matches/games.
Before going further, here are a few quick facts:
- Talent in sports varies as widely in the trans community as in the cis community and a person’s genetic makeup and internal and external reproductive anatomy are not useful indicators of athletic performance;
- There has never been a recorded instance of a trans person attacking someone in a bathroom or locker room and, in fact, are far more likely to be attacked by a cis person;
- No boy has ever subjected himself to the shameful ridicule and abuse that trans people suffer through for a competitive advantage in a sport;
- There are more than two biological sexes, so discriminating based on that completely ignores intersex people with more than two types of chromosomes;
- There wasn’t a single outwardly trans kid playing in Louisiana when this bill passed and that’s a common case with these sports bans.
Since it’s Pride month and these bills aren’t likely to go away until they’re declared unconstitutional, CultureCow is here to direct you to a Hulu original documentary called Changing the Game.
Changing the Game follows three high school athletes who happen to be trans and all the vitriol they have to endure from raving adults. The kids come from Texas, Connecticut, and New Hampshire and have wildly different upbringings, but one thing is consistent: they just want to compete.
Mack is from Texas and is forced to compete in the girls’ wrestling division despite transitioning far before that. This actually isn’t as uncommon as you’d believe, but Mack is a special case because he’s dominating. People complain that he has an unfair advantage and Mack agrees, but Texas’ shameful policies force him to compete in the competitions “aligned with his birth certificate.”
Andraya runs track in Connecticut under the appropriate girls’ division but suffers the same transphobia as Mack. Her state allows her to compete with her gender identity, but can’t force parents (whose kids are never concerned as they are) from making asses out of themselves.
Sarah Rose races in Nordic skiing in New Hampshire and receives some of the hate that her costars do, but to a lesser extent. Because she isn’t winning every race. Despite what conservatives would call “her competitive advantage,” Sarah Rose is a middling athlete like the vast majority of trans kids.
Changing the Game is an important documentary because it’s the first one that actually takes the issue from the kids’ point of view. Most people who support these draconian policies say they do so “to protect their children,” but never seem to care what the kids actually go through.
These athletes just want to compete like all the other kids, but they have to put up with fear-mongers and professional liars like Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan who are shameful enough to politicize their existence. What makes this film special though isn’t just the bravery these kids exhibit, but the human experiences they go through like every other teenager, whether that be love, parental relationships, or just growing up in general.
If you find yourself sympathetic to the idea that this is a left vs. right issue, you’ll also want to watch to observe Mack’s grandma. A gun-toting, Christian, Republican, police officer who hasn’t changed her mind on any issue, but still supports her grandson entirely. Be like her, and let kids play.
Unfortunately, Louisiana’s transphobic bill isn’t the only state legislation making the news.
A Texas GOP lawmaker plans to file legislation next session that would ban any event that includes drag-performers that minors could attend. This comes after years of conservative backlash to the immensely popular drag queen story hours and likely won’t pass.
Like in the above story, however, in these people’s quest to “protect the children,” no one seems to care what those children actually think.
Kids love drag story time and every queen and school or library that’s done it has raved about how fun and successful it was. The American Library Association even released an explicit statement in support of the practice, which included a list of resources for anyone hoping to bring it to their library.
Getting kids to read is the actual best way to protect them, but I guess if we did that, there’d stop being conservatives in a few decades…
People (*cough* homophobes *cough*) like to complain that drag shows are inappropriate because they can “corrupt” the children’s minds, but that doesn’t make any sense. Firstly, if your sexuality is so flimsy that it can waver after watching a grown man lip-sync to a Britney song, you probably just aren’t straight in the first place. And secondly, even if drag shows and story hours somehow turned kids gay (which they can’t because that’s stupid), so what?
Being gay is fun and nothing to be ashamed of. Maybe care less about who other people love and focus inward on why you’re so afraid that someone is more honest with themselves than you are.
And lastly, I can’t emphasize enough how small a deal drag is.
Personally, I don’t like drag that much. I love going if one of my friends is in the show, but other than that, it’s just not for me. And there are thousands and thousands of straight people who love drag yet somehow don’t come out gay. A straight drag queen even competed in RuPaul’s Drag Race recently.
This Texas lawmaker and anyone else getting so worked up over drag, should take a lesson from their kids: calm down, have some milk, and take a nap because you’re throwing an embarrassing hissy fit.
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ali redford-83p· 2 days ago
The Sumner Newscow continues to be the sports news and news asset that it’s always been. Everybody doesn’t like the same thing all the time, so since Culture Cow began, I’ve really appreciated it as a resource. Plus, it’s very well written, and I appreciate that.
I also appreciate the courage you and the Newscow show in posting features about issues that shouldn’t be contentious, but somehow are. I’m a Free Mom Hug giver and an ally, and I can’t wait to watch “Changing The Game.”
Ron Reagan SLAMS GOP as Traitors for Supporting Insurrection in EPIC rant
Gay couple says they may move from Florida after DeSantis’ move
A five year old was told often enough that his family was wrong and that the HAD to have a mommy, by adults, that he started to lie saying his mom died. Is this the correct message to send to little kids, your loving two dads are so wrong you need to start lying to fit in? These two men who have a five year old son are now faced with having to move out of Florida. They are lucky if they can afford to do so, even though it shouldn’t be this way. The state of Florida has been taking over by Republican thugs on a religious culture war to incite their base to attack anyone different than them. Including a five year old. Sick. But the Republican party and their gang of thugs will do this everywhere they can get away with it, and they will do it in places they were not in before to show they can. As I posted earlier. We need to understand what is happening in the US right now, we are losing the country to a gang of thugs. Hugs
THERE IS NO CC AND WITH CNN The CC is useless anyway. Please try to listen anyway. It is about a five year old boy being told his family is not real enough for the haters. Hugs
Jordan Letschert and Robby Price are teaching their son Kellan how to talk about their family. But recent anti-LGBTQ legislation has led them to reconsider if this is a good place to raise him.
Responding to an Ass-hat’s disgusting sermon
I am not a believer in deities nor the supernatural. I am not religious, and I am an atheist. But I do post a lot of the very hateful asshole stuff Christian / religious people to do harm others. Today I thought I would give a religious leader a chance to speak for themselves on this subject. I have posted this gentleman before. While we do not agree on if there is a god, we do agree on other things especially that a personal faith is not a club to harm others you dislike with. He seems a rather smart man I would enjoy an afternoon with. Hugs
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I’m an Anglican Priest in the Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island and I get to serve in the Parish of St Margaret of Scotland, in the beautiful city of Halifax, NS, that sits on the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq people.
My pronouns are he/him/his. My theology is primarily Christo-centric – Jesus is at the centre and it is against Him that all values are bounced off. I believe all people are created in the image of God and are children of God and are heirs to the throne of God – no conditions – therefore every single person we meet deserves our love, and respect.
Catholic Group Launches “Hide The Pride” Campaign To Check Out LGBTQ-Related Books From Public Libraries
Notice this is not about their kids, it is about regulating what other people’s kids can see / read. They are trying to force their views on other people’s children, trying to force other parents to follow their church doctrines. Your freedom as a parent to decide what your child should be able to read or have access to is being removed by a religious group. It is about forcing the public to follow the doctrines of a religion in a secular country. These people claim it is about protecting children, but their group is responsible for the largest mass molestation of children ever! So they claim the LGBTQ+ are dangerous for kids, that the LGBTQ+ are molesting kids, but again their very group has the largest know child abuse instances. Don’t we need to take away all books about these people, the religious groups, the Catholic church. Hide the churches and don’t let them be mentioned in schools. Plus one last thing when it comes to books with sexual improprieties they bible is the worst. Incest is rampant, sex with little girls, sex with concubines, approval of prostitutes and so much more. I think this short article is something all people who claim the bible says one man / one woman is the only way should read. https://valerietarico.com/2012/03/29/captive-virgins-polygamy-sex-slaves-what-marriage-would-look-like-if-we-actually-followed-the-bible/ How is this a moral guide that children should be forced to read? Hide this book from kids before you go after LGBTQ+ books. Hugs
The Hill reports:
A controversial conservative Catholic organization is urging parents to “Hide the Pride” during Pride Month — by checking out any LBGTQ-related books they see at their local libraries so that no children will see them.
The group, Catholic Vote, says “recent polls” show “American moms and dads do not want their children exposed to sexual and ‘trans’ content as part of their education.”
The group says parents can inconspicuously check out materials and place them away from children at home.
From Catholic Vote’s press release:
Catholic Vote’s Hide the Pride parental resource page includes step-by-step instructions and tips for parents who want to send that message to their local library board.
After collecting signatures on a letter to the library board, members of the public will go to the library, find the “Pride Month” display full of LGBTQ books targeted at kids, and simply check out all those books at the front desk.
Catholic Vote recommends participants take a friend or two along so multiple library cards can be used. Having emptied the children’s “Pride” display, parents can go home and “place the Pride books on a shelf out of reach of children,” Catholic Vote suggests.
RELATED: Longtime JMG readers will recall Catholic Vote as the home of former NOM communications director Thomas Peters, who famously battled the hate group for insurance coverage after a diving accident left him a quadriplegic. Peters, who helped lead NOM’s campaign against Obamacare, later admitted that his treatment was being covered, in part, by…..Obamacare. Catholic Vote last appeared on JMG in January 2016, when they issued a lengthy rant against Trump, calling him a womanizing loser who had opened a “sinful” titty bar in one of his casinos.
Uncle Mark’s ugly face returns • 2 hours ago • edited
Fine. Now excuse me, while I properly reorganize all the Bibles into the fiction section of my libraries.
Makoto Uncle Mark’s ugly face returns • 2 hours ago
Indeed. Unlike these idiots, who want to hide information away, I actually want people to read bibles and other religious works of all sorts. But they should be properly categorized.
Caitlyn Haiku Makoto • an hour ago
If they actually read what’s in there, tons of violence, sex, genocide, slavery, etc. But to the religious zealots, it’s much more scary to see a kids book whose message is that some families have two mommies, or that some people are different from them and that’s ok.
Vidrax • 2 hours ago • edited
“Oh, there’s a higher demand for LGBTQIA+ books than we anticipated. Let’s order more of those!”
I guess the Luddites haven’t heard about The Internet. Everything’s available online now, you fools.
I’ll get Adam & Steve to tell them. 🏳️🌈
Reality.Bites Gigi • 2 hours ago
It’s interesting that Adam and Eve (or Adam and Steve) are almost invariably portrayed as two white people.
I mean, I guess if you believe in evolution it makes sense that humans evolved from white Christians.
The starving poor children in the US??? Nope lets check out queer library books to demonstrate our faith.
Jamieboy Highballs Quentin Jersey • 2 hours ago
I once asked one of those holier than thou shitbaskets “How many kids in our city went to bed last night without enough to eat”? he didn’t know and said he’d “pray for the starving children” while laughing out loud. I nearly preformed a dickarectomy on the spot.
btw, he and his fellow imbeciles were harassing folks going into PP.
How horrible to spend one’s life trying to destroy people and their lives … rather than something for the good of all.
If you find material in a PUBLIC library objectionable, don’t go there. But don’t assume everyone else finds it objectionable. If you’re concerned about your children mind them more carefully, but don’t hold other people’s children to your standards.
Uncle Mark’s ugly face returns • 2 hours ago
However, the Catholic Church will continue Drag Queen Story Hour throughout the whole month.
Reality.Bites • 2 hours ago • edited
Who knew that kids today were spending so much time in libraries?
(I mean they DO realize that any kid with a double-digit IQ can get an education in everything LGBTQ in a day through YouTube more complete than most of us have accumulated in a lifetime, right? And that you can’t throw a remote control without hitting a queer character on TV.)
Tempers flare as Lee County Republican Party members attempt school board takeover
This is the county I live in. As I said before Florida is a divided state, but the minority Republican party try to rule it by force of intimidation, gerrymandering, and voter suppression. The Republican party under DeathSantis is a gang of thugs. We are very much in a dangerous time in the US and it looks like the republican media arm of rabid right misinformation / misdirection will convince the people angry at gas prices and inflation that it is Biden’s fault. The truth is both inflation and price increases are worldwide, and a lot of the price increases is price gouging. Oil companies admit they love rolling in the profits. But notice that these elections are supposed to be non-partisan and focused on the needs of the students, but instead the republicans are trying to gain control to make it about election power. Hugs
LEE COUNTY, Fla. — Some members of the Lee County Republican Party openly admitted they’re trying to take over the Lee County School Board during the upcoming elections.
That’s despite the fact the races in Florida are non-partisan. If you’ve seen the school board meetings over the last two years you know they’ve been contentious and at times violent.
But that isn’t stopping Republicans from trying to control the school board.
Conservative Republican Political Consultant Terry Miller pointed out that there are seven members of the school board and only three are republican in a county where every partisan race is held by a Republican.
He admits he wants to overhaul the board.
“What I’m doing is bringing forward conservative leadership for a conservative community,” Miller said.
He didn’t deny he was helping wage a culture war campaign
“There are aspects of that in the culture war because of the things you see happening on the school board,” Miller responded.
He’s backing Conservatives like Dan Severson.
“I’m talking about gender grooming and talking about very sensitive issues that should be family based,” Severson was stressing LGBTQ issues.
Many LGBTQ students in Southwest Florida schools reported feeling under attack.
“Because they feel like victims now they have the ability to use that a leverage to get privileged treatment,” Severson responded.
Jason “Big Mamma” Jones said no one should be attacked or bullied in the school system no matter who they are.
Jones is Severson’s republican competitor known fondly as “Big Momma” on the radio.
“I’m endorsed by sheriff Carmine Marceno. I’m endorsed by the Hispanic vote and I’m endorsed by Mayor Devin Anderson of Fort Myers,” he noted.
Both of his endorsements are republicans which signifies a split in the party.
They’re trying to unseat incumbent Debbie Jordan who believes school board races should be non-partisan and the focus should always remain on the children and not politics.
“It is a non-partisan race but there are different ways of achieving things and for me it’s following the conservative mind set,” replied candidate Sam Fisher.
Fisher is another one of Miller’s candidates who is up against two other republicans.
Kathy Fanny is also running for school board and she stressed politics has no place in the school race and she wants party affiliation left out of it.
“The curriculum is not partisan and to make it so would under serve our school population,” Fanny said.
All of the openly republican candidates also said they support electing the next school superintendent.
That is an issue voters will decide in November.
Pennsylvania Reps Plan To Intro “Don’t Say Gay” Bill
Harrisburg’s ABC News affiliate reports:
Two Pennsylvania lawmakers plan to introduce a bill “to address discussions of gender identity and sexual orientation in Pennsylvania schools.”
State Senators Scott Martin [photo] and Ryan Aument, both Republicans representing Lancaster County, say the bill would pertain to age-inappropriate conversations in elementary schools.
According to the senators, the proposal would prohibit classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation for pre-kindergarten through fifth grade students and require public schools to develop a policy for notifying parents when there is a change to a student’s services or monitoring.
Read the full article.
Martin and Augment claim their bill would exempt LGBTQ students from the parental notice requirement if it can be “reasonably demonstrated” that doing so would put them in danger of “abuse or abandonment.” Yeah.
Martin, who dropped his bid for governor in March, authored the state Senate bill against transgender student athletes. The bill, which passed this week, has zero chance of being signed by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf.
Ragnar_Lothbrok • 13 hours ago
We like small Govt and freedom!
And We love telling people what to do.
Now DO IT or we will kill you!
You’re free to think and believe anything you want to. As long as it what we believe, too.
Ščŏŧŧ Ċ – 🇺🇦 🕊 Paula • 12 hours ago
You’re free to raise your children any way you want, as long as it’s conservative and xian.
I’ll Give it a Shot! | Christopher Titus | Armageddon Update
Texas Parents Reported For Child Abuse For Loving Their Transgender Son
Read more HERE: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/06/t…
“On Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit on behalf of three families challenging Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s recent call for the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate parents who provide gender-affirming healthcare to transgender kids, and to block the state from investigating members of PFLAG.
The lawsuit cites a particularly disturbing case in which a transgender boy whose family was reported to the state’s DFPS by hospital staff after he was admitted for attempting suicide after he took a bottle of aspirin.
According to the lawsuit, 16-year-old Antonio Voe “said that the political environment, including Abbott’s Letter, and being misgendered at school, led him to take these actions.”
When hospital staff learned he had been receiving hormone therapy, they reported his family to the DFPS.”
Scottie's Playtime 