Texas is worried it could lose over a billion dollars in federal funding over Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive requiring medical professionals to report gender-affirming care for minors as child abuse.
Attorney General Ken Paxton. Credit: USA TODAY NETWORK via Reuters
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Texas is worried it could lose over a billion dollars in federal funding over Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive requiring medical professionals to report transgender children receiving gender-affirming health care as potential child abuse.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton amended an existing lawsuit suing the Biden administration Wednesday, attempting to void guidance issued by the U.S. Health and Human Services on March 2 that said restricting someone’s ability to receive medical care solely on the basis of their sex assigned at birth or gender identity is likely a violation of the Affordable Care Act for federally funded entities. That federal guidance came in response to Abbott’s directive issued late last month to treat certain medical treatments for trans children as possible crimes to be investigated by the Department of Family and Protective Services.
The federal guidance stated that health care providers do not need to disclose private patient information regarding gender-affirming care and that it is illegal to deny health care based on gender identity.
Paxton, in the lawsuit, said that guidance is based on “erroneous interpretation of sex discrimination.” The lawsuit says Texas does not aim to deny health care based on gender identity. Instead, the state argues its investigations disregard gender entirely, barring all children from “unnecessary medical interventions.”
In 2020, $1.36 billion in federal funds went to Texas’ Department of State Health Services, Paxton said in the lawsuit. More than $26 billion went to the State’s Health and Human Services Commission.
Before Abbott issued his directive essentially equating gender-affirming care to child abuse, Paxton issued a nonbinding legal opinion stating that health care treatments such as puberty blockers, prescription medicines whose effects are entirely reversible, constitute child abuse as well. These statements elicited intense criticism from the White House, doctors, lawmakers and advocacy organizations.
So far, the state has begun five investigations into parents of trans children since Abbott issued his directive Feb. 22. However, there may be more cases as the state declined to disclose active investigations amid pending litigation.
Paxton attempted to stop a ruling temporarily blocking the state from investigating the family of a trans child. But a Texas appeal court denied him Wednesday. On Friday, lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal will ask a lower court judge to stop state investigations against parents who obtain gender-reaffirming care for their children.
House Republicans in Tennessee advanced legislation on Tuesday that would ban public schools from using textbooks or materials that “promote, normalize, support or address LGBT issues or lifestyles.”
Critics argue the bill is similar to a measure that Florida’s Republican-dominated legislature passed just hours earlier, which would forbid instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.
The Tennessee version would apply to all K-12 public schools. A House panel on Tuesday approved sending it it to the full chamber for a vote. The bill has not yet made much progress in Senate.
“I think most parents would like the sexuality of our children to be left to our parents in the home and not part of a curriculum,” said Republican Rep. Bruce Griffey, the bill’s sponsor. “And the vast number of parents also feel like materials that promote LGBTQ issues and lifestyles that should be subject to the same restrictions and limitation that there are on religious teachings that are not allowed in our schools.”
Since being elected to the House in 2018, Griffey has not had much political sway inside the GOP-dominated Statehouse. He has become known for introducing some of the more attention-grabbing contentious proposals each legislative session, but they rarely advance.
Nevertheless, Republicans on the House Finance, Ways and Means Committee advanced the bill, with one GOP member thanking Griffey for sponsoring the bills.
According to the legislation, the state’s Textbook and Instructional Materials Quality Commission would be banned from recommending textbooks and instructional materials that “promote, normalize, support, or address lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, or transgender (LGBT) issues or lifestyles” that would be used in public schools. If approved, the measure would apply to textbooks approved by the commission after July 1.
“What you’re saying to them and to the rest of us is that that ‘We don’t want to know that you’re here. We don’t want our children to know that you even exist,’” said Democratic Rep. Larry Miller. “How unamerican … how embarrassing that is.”
Republican Gov. Bill Lee has not publicly weighed in on the legislation, but the governor has never vetoed a bill while in office.
The Florida Senate debated the frequently referred to “Don’t Say Gay” bill on Monday, but one Republican spoke in such circles that he ultimately ended up fact-checking himself.
Responding to comments from one Democrat about why the GOP doesn’t care about talk of drugs, rape, murder or other topics. Instead, Republicans are more focused on addressing issues like civil rights and LGBTQ equality.
When state Senator Dennis Baxley spoke for “hours” according to one Miami reporter for CBS4. Baxley told his colleagues that the bill didn’t single out gays. Finally, however, he talked himself in such circles that he confessed he was scared by kids identifying as gay to be seen as school “celebrities.”
For years, a non-profit group called the Trevor Project has fought the violence and bullying LGBTQ+ children face in schools. A flood of people posted videos talking about how awful it was to grow up as “different” and the bullying they faced. They promised in the videos, “it gets better.”
After hours of denying his bill singled out gays, Senator @dennisbaxley admitted the so-called \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d bill was drafted because he was personally concerned so many kids today identify as gay and see themselves as \u201ccelebrities.\u201d @CBSMiamipic.twitter.com/VI9cGiBNiN
Florida Sen. Shevrin Jones (D), left, speaks about his proposed amendment to a Republican bill, dubbed by opponents the “don’t say gay” bill, at the Florida Capitol on March 7, 2022. (Wilfredo Lee/AP)
Florida state senators on Tuesday approved legislation that regulates school lessons about sexual orientation and gender identity, defying demands from some of their youngest constituents and pushing the state deeper into the nation’s culture battles.
The legislation, which Florida Democrats and LGBTQ activists refer to as the “don’t say gay” bill, now advances to Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). In recent days, DeSantis has indicated he is likely to sign the measure, saying it will shield Florida’s youngest students from exposure to sensitive topics in the classroom.
“We are going to make sure parents are able to send their kid to kindergarten without having some of this stuff injected into some of their school curriculum,” said DeSantis, who accused the media of misinterpreting the bill.
The legislation, officially called the Parental Rights in Education bill, would prohibit Florida schools from teaching students in kindergarten through third grade about topics involving sexual orientation or gender identity.
Lessons for older grades would have to be “age appropriate,” which Democrats argue is so vague that it will stifle all conversations about LGBTQ issues. Republicans played down that risk, saying the legislation prevents “planned lessons” but does not ban discussions between students or prevent teachers from answering specific questions from a student.
The measure also allows parents to sue school districts if they think their children have received inappropriate lessons. Democrats said that could result in awave of lawsuits against cash-strapped school systems.
“I believe this will be another stain on the history of Florida,” said Sen. Shevrin Jones (D), who in 2018 became the first openly gay member of the Florida Senate. “Whether you disagree with the messaging or not, when it comes to people calling it the ‘don’t say gay’ bill … it hurts people.”
The Florida legislation is one of a raft of bills around the country designed to put new restrictions on teachers and administrators related to sexual orientation and gender identity. Lawmakers in at least nine states are considering proposals such as banning library books with LGBTQ content or prohibiting teachers from discussing words such as “transgender” in the classroom, according to according to Pen America, a freedom of expression advocacy group.
On Friday, the Oklahoma Senate advanced a bill that bans books from school libraries if the “primary subject” deals with “sexual lifestyles or sexual activity” or anything “of a controversial nature that a reasonable parent” would object to.
Within minutes of Florida’sbill passing by on a largely party-line vote of 22 to 17, LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Florida vowed it will pursue legal action if the bill is “interpreted in any way that causes harm to a single child, teacher or family.” The Biden administration also said it will closely monitor how the legislation is implemented, noting that federal civil rights law prohibits sex-based discrimination in education.
“The Department of Education has made clear that all schools receiving federal funding must follow federal civil rights law,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement. “We stand with our LGBTQ+ students in Florida and across the country, and urge Florida leaders to make sure all their students are protected and supported.”
The Senate vote followed two days of emotional debate in which Democrats pleaded with their Republican colleagues to consider the impact the legislation would have on gay and transgender children, as well as students who have two parents of the same sex.
Although two Republicans voted against the bill, most GOP senators countered that legislation was needed to clarify that it was up to parents to decidewhen and how their children learn about matters involving sexual orientation and gender identity.
“Growing up today is very hard. Raising kids today is so challenging,” said Sen. Danny Burgess (R). “In these uncertain times, our default position should be to trust parents to do what is best for their children.”
At one point during the debate, Sen. Dennis Baxley (R), a sponsor of the bill, suggested the legislation was also designed to try to slow the numbers of young people who are coming out as a gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.
“All of the sudden, overnight, they’re a celebrity when they felt like they were a nobody,” Baxley said as he described hearing stories of young people coming out. “I know parents are very concerned about the departure from the core belief systems and values,” he added.
Sen. Tina Scott Polsky, a Democrat, responded to Baxley. “There seems to be a big uptick in the number of children coming out as gay or experimenting, and therefore we need not to discuss it in younger grades?” she asked.
In a survey released last month, Gallup found that a record 7.1 percent of U.S. adults self-identify lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual. The increase was especially pronounced in Generation Z’ers who have reached adulthood, with 21 percent of them identifying that way.
In Florida, high school students who make up part of Gen Z have led the fight over the parental rights legislation, staging several classroom walkouts across the state in protest of it.
Mason Steinberg, a 10th-grader at Gainesville High School in Gainesville, Fla., estimated that three-fourths of the students walked out of class last Thursday.
“This bill would not affect me directly, but I have many LGBTQ+ friends who would be impacted significantly,” said Steinberg, 16. “People who were not directly affected by the bill walked out because they care about their friends, and will do whatever they can to make them feel safe.”
Will Larkins, a gay and nonbinary 11th-grader at Winter Park High School in central Florida, helped organize the walkout at their school Monday.
In an interview after the Senate vote Tuesday, Larkins said they were “really scared” that lawmakers had “validated these bigoted ideas” by supporting the legislation.
“Growing up, I wasn’t exposed to queer people and I hated myself by fourth grade. … Knowing that I’m different and not knowing why, and not having an explanation was awful for me,” Larkins said. “And knowing that we’re solidifying that into law is so disturbing.”
The school curriculum bill is just the latest in a series of measures approved by the Florida legislature in recent years that are seemingly at odds with the wishes of the state’s younger residents. Florida students have also walked out in opposition to looser gun regulations as well as a bill last year that cracked down on protests in wake of the Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
The leaders of some major corporations, meanwhile, are being asked to pick a side in the state’s increasingly bitter cultural divisions.
Two weeks ago, dozens of Disney World employees demonstrated outside the theme park demanding that the company speak out in opposition to the legislation.
Although Disney’s former CEO Robert Iger spoke out against the legislation, some employees were incensed that the company’s current leadership appeared hesitant to get involved in the debate. On Monday, Disney chief executive Bob Chapek released a companywide statement defending the company’s decision to remain silent.
“I do not want anyone to mistake a lack of a statement for a lack of support,” Chapek wrote. “We all share the same goal of a more tolerant, respectful world. Where we may differ is in the tactics to get there. And because this struggle is much bigger than any one bill in any one state, I believe the best way for our company to bring about lasting change is through the inspiring content we produce, the welcoming culture we create, and the diverse community organizations we support.”
Since DeSantis became governor in 2019, however, Florida’s Republican-controlled legislature has been moving steadily to the right by embracing divisive legislation that state GOP lawmakers in the past had largely shied away from.
Last week, the legislature gave final approval to a bill that bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Later this week, the Florida Senate is expected to give final approval to a bill that would limit how teachers and employers discuss race and diversity.
During Tuesday’s Senate debate, Sen. Randolph Bracy (D) accused his Republican colleagues of engaging in a “culture war against the LGBTQ community” in hopes of furthering DeSantis’s political career. DeSantis has been widely mentioned as a possible GOP presidential candidate in 2024.
“I actually appreciate the discipline, and sometimes I wish our party would do the same thing,” Bracy said while looking at his GOP colleagues. “But in your effort to elect Ron DeSantis and send him to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, I just ask you: Is it worth it? Is it worth it if one child is affected by this legislation? Is it worth a child being outed or bullied or potentially becoming suicidal?”
LGBTQ rights advocates rally at the Walt Disney Co. in Orlando on March 3, 2022. (Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP Images for AIDS Healthcare Foundation)
Democrats are also outraged over comments that DeSantis’s spokeswoman Christina Pushaw made on Twitter last week. Pushaw suggested that only “groomers” would oppose the legislation, an apparent reference to child predators.
“The bill that liberals inaccurately call ‘Don’t Say Gay’ would be more accurately described as Anti-Grooming Bill,” Pushaw wrote, adding, “If you’re against the anti-Grooming bill, you are probably a groomer or at least you don’t denounce the grooming of 4- to 8-year-old children. Silence is complicity. This is how it works, Democrats, and I didn’t make the rules.”
During Tuesday’s debate, Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book (D) and others lashed out at Pushaw, saying her comments were an insulting betrayal of the state’s LGBTQ residents.
“The governor’s communications director accused us of being pedophiles for being against this bill. Boy, oh boy, I got news for you: You can’t teach gay and you sure can’t pray away gay,” said Sen. Gary M. Farmer (D).
Sen. Ileana Garcia (R) countered that children have their entire lives to sort out their sexual orientation or gender identity, so there is no need to have “tough conversations” in elementary school. “This is not about targeting, this is about rerouting responsibility back to the parents and allowing children to be children,” she said.
But Democrats argue that the legislation will hurt gay Floridians and endanger the state’s reputation around the world.
“Who in the world have we become? Who in Florida have we become?” asked Sen. Janet Cruz (D), who noted that she has a daughter who is gay who was in the chamber to watch the floor debate. “I feel like I had a dream of a bad version of ‘Back to the Future.’ I mean, there is no time machine here. We can’t roll back 40 years; we are here.”
There are two videos on the post that I cannot copy over to here, so go to the link above to see them if you wish. There are a lot of good sections in the news story above, but I cannot highlight them because the bright white background is painful to look at for any length of time. On a side note, my vision is still blurry and light like the computer screen is still a big painful. I won’t be doing much with comments until I can see better. When I start answering the comments, I may have some drop off I am not aware of. If in the next few days you don’t get any response to a comment please send me a note or a comment so I can go look for it. Thanks.
.@dennisbaxley proving that he has ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what he is doing with this bill. “Sexual orientation to me is male and female 🤷♂️.”
These bills are written by outside hate groups utilizing State Senators as empty vessels with no clue about what they are aiming to do. pic.twitter.com/1Z7DrMcf7J
The “don’t say gay” bill just passed the Florida Legislature. It now goes to Ron DeSantis’ desk for his signature. A sad and shameful day for the state of Florida. pic.twitter.com/azaKujTP6Z
It is now on its way to @GovRonDeSantis' desk. He has promised to sign this bill.
This is a continuation of a very dark, discriminatory session. Our next opportunity to change this is Nov 8. We have to vote bc our lives depend on it.
Dennis Baxley last appeared on JMG in 2019 when he introduced an ultimately failed bill that would have allowed Florida teachers to instruct against “controversial” ideas like evolution and climate change. That bill was written by the anti-LGBTQ hate group, the Florida Citizens Alliance. But that wasn’t the first time an extremist group funneled a bill through Baxley. In 2005 he introduced the NRA-written “Stand Your Ground” bill that was successfully used in the murder of Trayvon Martin and just last month in the killing of a movie patron who threw popcorn at a retired cop.
The Don’t Say Gay bill has passed the FL legislature and now goes to the governor’s desk. Let us be clear: should its vague language be interpreted in any way that causes harm to a single child, teacher, or family, we will lead legal action against the State of Florida to challenge this bigoted legislation.
We will not sit by and allow the governor’s office to call us pedophiles. We will not allow this bill to harm LGBTQ Floridians.
We will not permit any school to enforce this in a way that endangers the safety of children. We stand ready to fight for Floridians in court and hold lawmakers who supported this bill accountable at the ballot box.
Via press release from GLAAD:
This bill brands Florida land of the ‘less free’ by legalizing censorship and harming LGBTQ students and families. Banning discussion of LGBTQ people in school is an effort to silence and shame, to divide and disrespect, when all students should feel safe and learn about themselves and each other.
To every LGBTQ child and every LGBTQ parent in Florida, you do belong and we know that history is on our side. Governor DeSantis is playing political football with LGBTQ Floridians.
Other GOP leaders around the country who claim to be LGBTQ allies should be speaking against this ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, urging Gov. DeSantis to veto it, and fighting the tidal wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation around the country. Gov. DeSantis’ disdain and cruelty towards LGBTQ Floridians is noted and appalling.
Leaders in Florida have decided that bills based on hate & discrimination take priority over our students' pandemic recovery. My team & I stand with our LGBTQ+ students in Florida & across the country & urge Florida leaders to protect & support all students.
— Secretary Miguel Cardona (@SecCardona) March 8, 2022
Let us be clear: should the vague language of this bill be interpreted in any way that causes harm to a single child, teacher, or family, we will lead legal action against the State of Florida to challenge this bigoted legislation. https://t.co/pvGSJ4iMMP
Parents across the country are looking to national, state, and district leaders to support our nation’s students, help them recover from the pandemic, and provide them the academic and mental health supports they need.
Instead, leaders in Florida are prioritizing hateful bills that hurt some of the students most in need.
The Department of Education has made clear that all schools receiving federal funding must follow federal civil rights law, including Title IX’s protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
We stand with our LGBTQ+ students in Florida and across the country, and urge Florida leaders to make sure all their students are protected and supported.
“This one is personal to me. Because of my former boss. I have a 14-year-old son who is gay. Recently came out as gay. I have his permission to talk about this. He didn’t want to tell his friends where I worked.
“He was ashamed of where I worked, rightfully so, but also the fact that there’s this ‘don’t say gay’ – even slogan – out there, it’s making children feel different.
“It’s creating a problem where I don’t think there is one.” – Former Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham, today on The View. Watch the clip.
Don’t bother vaccinating your kids against COVID, even though the CDC says it’s a good idea. Quit fussing; they’ll be fine. Dr. Joseph Ladapo promises.
You don’t have to wear that mask, either. Dr. Ladapo says it’s a lie that they save lives, and that doctors who believe otherwise are “zombies.” That was his actual word.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his recently confirmed surgeon general know they are a lot smarter than all those epidemiologists, virologists, cardiologists and pulmonary specialists at the Centers for Disease Control and state and local public-health officials. They are the heroes of the narrative they’ve created and they are ready to deliver the
Gov. Ron DeSantis held this slickly produced event on March 7, showcasing several COVID-denying medical experts. Screenshot from DeSantis’ YouTube channel. – Original Credit: YouTube screenshot (Courtesy photo)
message with lights, cameras and snappy catchphrases.
DeSantis has picked up the phrase “COVID Theater” and is using it a lot lately. It’s an odd choice coming from the office that has stage-managed a public health crisis into a series of sound bites and rants about freedom and jobs.
Monday’s 90-minute roundtable to announce the anti-vax position for kids took things to a whole new level. Shot in a studio, it featured a large table with DeSantis flanked, Last-Supper-style, by a cast of six COVID skeptics. Behind them, a giant, curved video screen displayed more than 200 individual (people pictured on) video feeds. According to the Tampa Bay Times, many of them were state employees, presumably getting paid to serve as living wallpaper. The screen would occasionally be taken over by the giant heads of more “experts,” including some of the nation’s most notorious anti-mask, anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine advocates.
All this time and money – taxpayers’ time and money – was devoted to delivering one message: Parents don’t need to vaccinate healthy children against COVID. But there was an insidious, ridiculous subtext that the bulk of the last two years has been an elaborate illusion crafted to make people afraid.
It’s a sharp contrast to the message being put out by the nation’s medical community. After two years of trying to predict an ever-shifting pandemic, health leaders are wearily gathering around this consensus: They are not really sure what’s coming next. COVID could be mostly gone by the end of the year. The highly infectious omicron variant could continue to infect people. Or we could see yet another variant – possibly even more contagious, or more debilitating, or more fatal. Which option is most likely? They don’t know.
All they can do is recommend the safest decisions, with the most medical support. And that means vaccination, for kids as young as 5. It’s true that children don’t catch COVID easily– at least, not the current variant. It’s also true that vaccines aren’t providing protection for as long as some people thought. Florida has dropped from its 60,000-plus peak of daily new infections to a still-grim 1,800. But COVID is still a threat, and about 170 people die every day. Kids are still getting infected as well. The vaccine reduces children’s chance of getting COVID significantly – up to 91 percent – and it lessens symptoms and duration. If another nasty variant emerges, it could save lives.
That doesn’t seem to move Ladapo or his boss DeSantis, who seems more concerned with coming up with new ways to make “Fauci” into a verb and yelling at high school students to take off their masks. They’ve co-opted a dangerous, highly infectious disease into a political stunt. And now they’re urging parents to ignore the best available protections for their children.
If this is a play, DeSantis is the one writing the script, seemingly blind to the reality that he’s directing a farce.
Michigan state and local Republican leaders are condemning comments made by a GOP state House candidate who recently suggested rape victims “lie back and enjoy it,” after he spent months parroting pandemic conspiracy theories and sharing anti-Semitic rhetoric.
However, Michigan Republican Party Chairman Ron Weiser and others affiliated with the party are not calling on Robert “RJ” Regan to withdraw from a special state House election, a race where he’s a heavy favorite.
“Having three daughters, and I tell my daughters, ‘well if rape is inevitable, you should just lie back and enjoy it so.’ That’s not how we roll, that’s not how I won this election. We go right at it,” Regan said, according to a video of the panel posted on Rumble.
Regan, the GOP-backed nominee for a Michigan state House seat, used the right-wing video site Rumble to endorse the killings of President Joe Biden, Prime Ministers Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand and Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, among others.
Regan has also frequently shared right-wing media-fueled conspiracy theories on social media, including advising people to “study” and “apply” QAnon to their lives like they do with the Bible, and falsely claiming that Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman “staged” his famous face down with insurrectionists inside the Capitol.
Regan is a 2020 election conspiracy theorist and has claimed that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a “fake war just like the fake pandemic.”
Robert Regan, who just won the GOP primary for Michigan's 74th House district, said to those claiming decertification of 2020 is impossible:⁰⁰"It's like … telling my daughters, 'well, if rape is inevitable you should just lay back and enjoy it.'” pic.twitter.com/7oPx6RPqrb
I am still fighting to get my systems back to full capacity. I have good news and bad news on that front. I will tell you when I get everything done. On this bill, it is clearly an attack on LGBTQ+ books and materials by the right but mostly the religious groups. I was listening to a podcast today that described several top Republicans crowing about how targeting trans KIDS and framing any books or material about the LGBTQ+ as obscene sex, pornography and harmful to kids was the winning strategy that was going to get them a sweep in the midterm elections. They admitted it was garbage but attacking KIDS got the base riled up to turn out and it anything protecting kids makes the side against it the enemy of the people. I have stored about five different attacks on the LGBTQ+ to post, from the DeathSantis spox saying if you oppose the don’t say gay bill you are a pedophile who wants to groom kids, to more attacks on trans kids. I love this bill is numbered 666. I will post this and go back to updating my computers, dumped and reinstalled for the 6th time.
The Idaho Legislature’s House State Affairs Committee advanced a bill Thursday that opponents say could criminalize librarians for “disseminating material harmful to minors.”
Rep. Gayann DeMordaunt, R-Eagle, sponsored House Bill 666.
“For a long time, many years, I have been concerned about the obscene and pornographic material that finds its way into our schools and libraries,” DeMordaunt told the House State Affairs Committee. “While likely this is inadvertent, the increasingly frequent exposure of our children to obscene and pornographic material in places that I as a parent assume are safe and free from these kinds of harmful materials is downright alarming.”
If passed into law, House Bill 666 removes an exemption in existing state law protecting schools, colleges, universities, museums and libraries and their employees from prosecution for “disseminating material harmful to minors.”
Testimony during the public hearing on the bill Thursday was mixed.
Several parents and concerned residents named and even brought with them several books that feature LGBTQ+ characters or storylines, arguing those books are obscene. One parent was upset that her daughter encountered a library book that depicted a romance between a prince and a knight who slay a dragon together and are supported by their community.
Books mentioned included “An ABC of Equality,” “Lawn Boy,” “Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic” and “Gender Queer: A Memoir.”
“How did we go from ‘Pollyanna’ to drag queen for the kids? My daughter’s innocence was violated,” parent Kara Claridge told legislators. “But what happens when kids start acting on these graphic behaviors put forth in these books?”
“The sad reality is children are being taught to be confused about their gender and even groomed into lifestyles they wouldn’t have chosen otherwise,” Claridge added, saying the children’s library is no longer a safe place to take her children.
Librarians who testified said the bill is dangerous and the language in the bill about materials that are harmful to children is too vague.
“We walk down the slippery slope of censorship of constitutionally protected speech when we have a bill like this,” librarian Erin Kennedy told legislators.
Other librarians said the bill wouldn’t even address parents’ concerns about material in books available in the library.
“Everything that we have been hearing on this bill, I would just like to point out that this bill is not to get the books out of the library, this bill is to criminalize library workers. We are not talking censorship and removing these books; we are talking about criminalizing library workers if minors get these books,” librarian Huda Shaltry told legislators.
Shaltry also said the books parents mentioned during the hearing are available at the library but are not located in the children’s section of the library.
DeMordaunt denied the bill would criminalize librarians.
But substitute Rep. Holli Woodings, a Boise Democrat and City Council member who is subbing for Rep. Chris Mathias, said it was clear the bill criminalizes librarians because the bill cites Title 18, which is the criminal code for the state of Idaho.
“If my daughter brings home ‘Twilight,’ which has explicit material in it, can I then go and press charges against my librarian for allowing her to check out ‘Twilight’ and potentially put them in jail for a year or give them a $1,000 fine?” Woodings said. “This is a slippery slope. It does not correct the problem that it is seeking to correct. We had many people come and testify today on books that had various social topics. Not pornography, not explicit material.”
Shortly before the vote, two legislators condemned libraries after looking through packets that contained examples from the books parents mentioned during the meeting.
“I am absolutely appalled, I feel dirty,” said Rep. James Holtzclaw, R-Meridian, garnering loud applause from several in the crowd at the hearing. “I cannot believe that our children can look at this stuff. And I can’t believe we fund the libraries to allow this to happen.”
Rep. Brent Crane, R-Nampa, said “trash is being placed in front of our children.”
The House State Affairs Committee voted along party lines to send House Bill 666 to the floor of the Idaho House of Representatives with a recommendation they pass it. To become law, the bill still needs to pass the Idaho Senate and be signed into law by Gov. Brad Little or allowed to become law without Little’s signature.
Idaho clears a legislation with the potential to fine librarians $1,000 and send them to jail for a year for checking out material to a minor that could harm them https://t.co/apbdqUUvkW (via AP)
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Scottie's Playtime 