“‘Parental rights’ is an appealing term, but voters have caught on to the reality that it is fueling book bans, anti-LGBT efforts, pressure on teachers not to discuss race and gender, whitewashing history, and so on,” said political analyst Larry Sabato, a politics professor at the University of Virginia and founder and director of the Center for Politics. “Parents may want more input in the schools, but as a group they certainly aren’t as extreme as many in the Moms for Liberty.”
Great short read. Really puts it in words most people can understand. Hugs. Scottie
Former President Trump’s allies are pre-screening the ideologies of thousands of potentialfoot soldiers, as part of an unprecedented operation to centralize and expand his power at every level of the U.S. government if he wins in 2024, officials involved in the effort tell Axios.
Why it matters: Hundreds of people are spending tens of millions of dollars to install a pre-vetted, pro-Trump army of up to 54,000 loyalists across government to rip off the restraints imposed on the previous 46 presidents.
The screening for ready-to-serve loyalists has already begun, driven in part by artificial intelligence from tech giant Oracle, contracted for the project.
Social media histories are already being plumbed.
What’s happening: When Trump took office in 2017, he included many conventional Republicans in his Cabinet and key positions. Those officials often curtailed his behavior and power.
Trump himself spends little time plotting governing plans. But he is well aware of a highly coordinated campaign to be ready to jam government offices with loyalists willing to stretch traditional boundaries.
If Trump were to win, thousands of Trump-first loyalists would be ready for legal, judicial, defense, regulatory and domestic policy jobs. His inner circle plans to purge anyone viewed as hostile to the hard-edged, authoritarian-sounding plans he calls “Agenda 47.”
The people leading these efforts aren’t figures like Rudy Giuliani. They’re smart, experienced people, many with very unconventional and elastic views of presidential power and traditional rule of law.
Behind the scenes: The government-in-waiting is being orchestrated by the Heritage Foundation’s well-funded Project 2025, which already has published a 920-page policy book from 400+ contributors. Think of it as a transition team set in motion years in advance.
Heritage president Kevin Roberts tells us his apparatus is “orders of magnitude” bigger than anything ever assembled for a party out of power.
The policy series, “Mandate for Leadership,” dates back to the 1980s. But Paul Dans, director of Project 2025, told us: “Never before has the entire movement … banded together to construct a comprehensive plan to deconstruct the out-of-touch and weaponized administrative state.”
Trump insiders relish rebuilding the team with purists. But the truth is, they have no choice: Many more-traditional Republicans quit the first administration in frustration or were fired by tweet. And some former advisers are talking to prosecutors or are charged with crimes.
The Trump campaign tells us no outside group speaks for him: “The campaign’s Agenda47 is the only official comprehensive and detailed look at what President Trump will do when he returns to the White House. … While the campaign is appreciative of any effort to provide suggestions about a second term, the campaign is not collaborating with them.”
Questions for Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 applicants. Screenshot via Project 2025 website
How it works: The most elaborate part of the pre-transition machine is a résumé-collection project that drills down more on political philosophy than on experience, education or other credentials.
Applicants are asked to “name one person, past or present, who has most influenced the development of your political philosophy” — and to do the same with a book.
Another query: “Name one living public policy figure whom you greatly admire and why.”
We’re told immense, intense attention will be given to the social-media histories of anyone being considered for top jobs. Those queasy about testing the limits of Trump’s power will get flagged and rejected.
Reality check: Technically, this apparatus will be inherited by any Republican nominee — Heritage officials tell us they’ve briefed the campaigns of Trump, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley.
But this is undeniably a Trump-driven operation. The biggest tell: Johnny McEntee — one of Trump’s closest White House aides, and his most fervent internal loyalty enforcer — is a senior adviser to Project 2025.
One of the most powerful architects is Stephen Miller, a top West Wing adviser for the Trump administration. Miller is charting an even harder line on legal and immigration policy than last time. While he maps a White House return, he’s president of America First Legal, which vows to fight “lawless executive actions and the Radical Left.”
Between the lines: Trump doesn’t hide his intentions. It’s important to tune out the theatrical language that drives social media and cable TV, and focus intently on the directional guidance of his second term.
He’s telling us exactly what he intends to do — like it or loathe it. And this time, he’ll have prefabbed institutional muscle to turn pugilistic words into policies and action from the get-go.
Here’s what the early days of a second Trump presidency would look like, based on his words and our conversations with Trump insiders:
His top obsession will be the Justice Department, the FBI and the intelligence community — all of which he thinks conspired to investigate him, thwart him, screw him. He’s been very clear that he’s willing to unleash these agencies against political enemies.
The next priority will be the Department of Homeland Security and the border, with plans to erect sprawling detention camps, “scour the country for unauthorized immigrants,” and “deport people by the millions per year,” The New York Times reports. We’re told Trump’s top criterion for immigration officials will be whoever promises to be most aggressive. Trump has told allies he’s confident the Supreme Court will back his most draconian moves.
As first reported by Jonathan Swan for Axios last year, a key tool for Trump’s “revenge term” would be the use of Schedule F personnel powers to wipe out employment protections for tens of thousands of civil servants across the federal government. Trump allies want a deep and wide purge of the professional staff that often serves across new administrations.
Officials close to the Pentagon tell us they’re worried about a plan, articulated by former Trump official Russ Vought in the Heritage document, to direct the National Security Council to “rigorously review all general and flag officer promotions to prioritize the core roles and responsibilities of the military over social engineering and non-defense related matters, including climate change, critical race theory [and] manufactured extremism.” Indeed, the Trump allies see obstacles to remove at every level of every agency.
The bottom line: This Trump-allied machine has the most power over the formation of a potential future government of any group in U.S. history. Trump, if elected, will leverage it to do things with government that none of us has seen in our lifetime.
“Behind the Curtain” is a column by Axios CEO Jim VandeHei and co-founder Mike Allen, based on regular conversations with White House and congressional leaders, CEOs and top technologists.
First it was trans and drag queens. Then it was books / media in schools with LGBTQIA characters or plots. Then it was any symbol related to the LGBTQIA such as the rainbow flag. All along I have said this was the following of Putin’s Russia in simply making being LGBTQIA illegal. No mention in any media that is not horrific, no representation in public, and no private practice in your home if others might find out. This is what the fundamentalist religious right wants and are trying to get. They also want to outlaw sodomy, even though it is not limited to gays and lesbians. It is control over how you can use your body and what you can enjoy, to please their weird view of Jesus. We better stomp this shit hard. Hugs. Scottie
Ps. This is a great sub-stack to follow for up todate factual information on trans or other LGTBQIA issues. Please go see what else she has written. Hugs. Scottie
In Murfreesboro, Tennessee, a new city ordinance targeting public homosexuality is hitting libraries. “When in History have the ones banning books been the good guys,” says local activist.
A municipal mandate enacted this past June in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, is now being used to target books in the local library system. The ordinance, outlawing “indecent behavior” in public and prohibiting “indecent materials,” is alarmingly vague in its delineation of indecency. This definition used in the law links back to a city statute that explicitly bans public homosexuality or materials promoting homosexuality. The code has already been used to target local Pride events. Now, the code’s enforcement has reached the local library system, where at least four books, all containing LGBTQ+ themes, have been pulled from the shelves.
The ordinance in question is city ordinance 23-O-22. The ordinance states that the community “has the right to establish and preserve contemporary community standards.” It goes on to state that “indecent behavior” or “display” of “indecent materials” would be banned by the new provision. Importantly, the definitions of indecency link back to the city codes definition in section 21-71 of Murfreesboro city codes, which states that “sexual conduct” barred under the provisions includes “homosexuality.” The city ordinance further states that any “behaviors, materials or events that are patently offensive to the adult community” in Murfreesboro would also be banned. Finally, it gives police officers the right to enforce the provisions and states that anybody using city funds for the banned events or materials could be charged with further crimes.
You can see the particular provisions in the ordinance here:
Though the ordinance was not immediately enforced, in recent months, various city officials have begun using it to target the LGBTQ+ community in a variety of ways.The Rutherford County Library Board, chiefly composed of appointees from Murfreesboro’s city council and the Rutherford County Commission, met in August to remove books that might infringe upon the new statute. At a packed meeting in August, library authorities resolved to withdraw four titles: “Flamer,” “Let’s Talk About It,” “Queerfuly & Wonderfully Made,” and “This Book Is Gay,” all of which feature LGBTQ+ content. Following that, the council moved to enact a tiered library card system, where most nonfiction content will be gated behind the adult-only library card. This system will go into effect in 2024.
On Monday, however, the county steering committee met to discuss a new resolution: the removal of all books in the library that could possibly violate the Murfreesboro ordinance. The fiery meeting featured multiple board members stating that they had the right to “enforce community standards” and ban books. Speeches against the proposal were passionate, including one passionate speech by local activist Keri Lambert, who pointed out that the law was already being challenged in court and asked, “when have the people who ban books ever been the good guys?”
The attacks on the library system have not been the only usage of the new city ordinance. According to court filings challenging the ordinance, in 2022, Mufreesboro City Manager Craig Tindall stated that he would refuse permits to BoroPride after claiming that the Pride festival “intentionally exposed children” to sexual conduct. Meanwhile, according to the filing, the city council crafted a ruling behind the scenes to target LGBTQ+ events and material. Specifically, they connected the new provisions to a 1977 definition of obscenity that included homosexual conduct:
“Still worse, the Ordinance incorporates an earlier provision that defines ‘indecent behavior’ as including not simply masturbation and sexual intercourse (which most would agree are inappropriate in public), but also any acts of ‘homosexuality’ as a whole. Thus, under the Ordinance and the incorporated definition, any acts that are ‘homosexual’ in nature or any material or event even suggesting homosexuality, could be considered indecent and subject to civil and criminal penalties.”
The challenge to the ordinance is under way by American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, ACLU, Ballard Spahr, and Burr Forman on behalf of BoroPride, which was allowed to go forward after organizers reached an agreement with the city government.
Tennessee’s legislative landscape this year has been marked by the passage of several anti-LGBTQ+ statutes, particularly those banning gender affirming care and drag performances. While the ban on gender-affirming care has been upheld by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, the prohibition of drag shows has been blocked as unconstitutional. Meanwhile, local governments have been reactivating decades-old obscenity laws in attempts to ban LGBTQ+ expression. The ordinance in Murfreesboro is the latest manifestation of an ongoing campaign targeting LGBTQ+ rights, signaling a broader trend of restrictions to free speech and expression for the community within the state.
Is this the place we have become. A place where thugs representing a Christian Taliban moral vice police can simply threaten the safety of the public to enforce a specific religion’s church ideals on all the public? Hugs. Scottie
Many people in conservative states are having to make a difficult choice after facing harassment and anti-trans laws.
Grey Wilson now lives in Auckland, New Zealand. He and his mother were targeted after he testified against an anti-trans bill in his home state of Texas.
BECKI MOSS FOR HUFFPOST
Until a few years ago, Grey Wilson’s journey as a trans person had largely been a peaceful one.
A week before his 13th birthday, he came out to his mother, Lauren, in a PowerPoint presentation that laid out why he should be allowed to transition. It had previously proven to be a successful method of getting what he wanted: Every time he yearned to adopt a dog or a bunny, he would create a slideshow detailing the costs of pet ownership, appropriate feeding schedules, and where to obtain the animal in question. (Grey only got turned down when he asked Lauren for a snake.)
Lauren, a self-described data nerd, found herself convinced by the research Grey had compiled on the psychological benefits of gender affirmation. When the presentation concluded, she thought to herself, “Yep, that’s my son.”
But Grey’s happy existence ended seemingly overnight when he testified in the Texas Legislature against a 2021 bill seeking to ban gender-affirming care for minors. Anti-trans activists showed up at the family’s door after their home address was shared online, and Lauren said men with assault rifles tailed her when she was driving and tried to follow her to work. Grey was suddenly troubled by a new guilt, the fear he had brought all this down upon him. “The thing they hate about her is me,” he thought to himself. “They’re going after her because of me.”
“I felt a lot of responsibility for what was happening,” said Grey, now 19. “I know logically it isn’t, but a part of me thought, ‘Well, if I wasn’t trans, she wouldn’t be getting harassed.’”
The bill banning gender-affirming care for Texas youth — which threatens doctors who offer transition care to minors with loss of licensure — became a law two years after Grey’s testimony, and many families left the state in response. But the Wilsons, who aren’t being identified with their real last name due to safety concerns, were worried that simply going to a blue state like California or Colorado wouldn’t be enough. What if their new state started passing the same policies as their old one? Lauren knew that selling their house would only generate enough revenue to finance one move, and she worried they would be stuck if they chose the wrong state.
Instead of risking their only chance at escape, Grey and Lauren decided to flee the United States altogether and start over in New Zealand — a country where they had few friends or connections. They chose New Zealand for pragmatic reasons: It’s considered among the world’s most LGBTQ+ friendly nations, ranked 10th in a 2020 survey from UCLA think tank the Williams Institute — and the climate is more mild than Canada, ranked fifth. They wouldn’t have to learn a new language, unlike third-place Norway ― and 11th-place Australia has the most reptile species of any country, a major deal breaker for Lauren. (New Zealand, in contrast, is the only country on earth with no snakes.)
Grey and his mother, Lauren Wilson, in an Auckland park. After a monthslong process of applying to schools and filling out student visa paperwork, they were both able to move to New Zealand.
BECKI MOSS FOR HUFFPOST
Lauren wearing a “Trans Texas Proud” T-shirt.
BECKI MOSS FOR HUFFPOST
After a monthslong process of applying to schools and filling out student visa paperwork, Grey enrolled in a nursing program at a college in Auckland and Lauren was accepted to a master’s program in social work. Grey finally boarded a plane in February by himself, ready to start a new life in a country he had never even visited. His mother would follow him a few months later after she had settled their affairs, including her divorce. Her former partner, who has rarely left Texas outside of being deployed to Iraq, told her shortly before the move that he couldn’t bring himself to leave.
When he stepped off the plane earlier this year, Grey expected to feel the rush of being in a new place where no one knew him, and he could finally be free. Instead, the sudden realization that the worst was finally over was actually unexpectedly overwhelming, the fact of his survival bringing back all the emotions he spent months suppressing. He then remembered something that Lauren had told him back when the harassment was at its apex: If anything should happen to her, Grey needed to leave America anyway and follow through with their plan.
“This thing that we came up with a year before was happening, and I didn’t know what I was going to do,” he said. “I was worried that I wasn’t going to be able to get on the plane because something was up. I was worried when I got off it, they were going to say no. I was worried everything was going to go wrong.”
Some trans youth and their parents are making the same choice — to escape America — as lawmakers across the U.S. impose increasingly draconian restrictions upon gender-affirming health care. To date, 20 states have passed laws restricting doctors from prescribing puberty blockers, providing hormone replacement therapy (HRT), and performing surgery to minor patients, and Arizona has a law that pertains solely to gender-affirming surgery (which is only administered in rare cases of extreme medical need). Florida’s gender-affirming care ban goes so far as allowing courts to remove children from their homes if authorities learn that a child is transitioning, a provision that opponents said amounted to legal kidnapping.
“A part of me thought, ‘Well, if I wasn’t trans, she wouldn’t be getting harassed.’”
– Grey Wilson
Families that spoke to HuffPost felt that getting out was their only option, particularly as the 2024 presidential election looms. Several candidates for the GOP nomination, including former U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, have vocally opposed allowing trans kids to access gender-affirming care before the age of 18. At least three candidates have called for a federal ban on transition treatments for minors — among them former President Donald Trump, the current Republican front-runner, who has likened trans youth health care to “child abuse” and “child sexual mutilation.”
Grey knows that his family is privileged to be able to pick up everything and move, and that nagging guilt comes back when he thinks of the friends and community they left behind in Texas. But over a Zoom call from his new apartment, he says there’s no future in a state that denies his basic rights, in a country where his opportunities to live as himself are narrowing.
“We don’t really have a lot of hope that things will get better before they get significantly worse,” he said. “We’d rather not have to deal with the significantly worse part.”
The Costs Of Migration
It’s unclear how many other families across the U.S. have made the choice to move abroad in response to discriminatory policies because they are largely doing so without any resources or infrastructure to support them. Nonprofit organizations focused on advocating for LGBTQ+ immigrants — such as Immigration Equality in the U.S. and Rainbow Railroad in Canada — have long been focused on the migration of refugees to North America, often from the global South. The issue of trans people and their loved ones heading the opposite direction is a relatively new phenomenon.
Among the few organizations offering dedicated resources to trans Americans seeking to leave the country with their families is TRANSport, a North Dakota-based group founded by Rynn Azerial Willgohs. The organization, which is applying for formal nonprofit status, is geared toward resettlement from the Dakotas and neighboring Minnesota. When she spoke to VICE News in January, Willgohs reported that 30 people had already reached out for help moving abroad. Willgohs did not respond to several requests for comment on this story, but the number of requests has likely increased significantly in the months since: More than 700 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in 2023, by far the largest number in history, according to data provided by the LGBTQ+ think tank Movement Advancement Project.
Families of trans youth leaving the U.S. are likely to need as much help as they can get: Relocating abroad is a time-consuming, emotionally taxing process that typically costs tens of thousands of dollars. Sirelo, an independent online platform that allows customers to review moving companies, estimates that the cost of moving to New Zealand ranges from $15,000 and $20,000. Workers relocating to New Zealand for a job offer, for instance, will need to apply for a notoriously pricey work-to-residence visa, which costs nearly $2,000 in U.S. dollars. Lauren and Grey found that obtaining residences that would allow them to house four cats and three dogs was extremely difficult in New Zealand; many landlords required them to submit a “dog resume” detailing their breeds and respective temperaments.
And without established networks in place, trans children and their loved ones have largely been left to fend for themselves, whether it’s researching friendly countries or financing their move. When Marie Ponce’s family decided to move to Uruguay after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) was reelected in November 2021, they knew they couldn’t afford to take the entire contents of their four-bedroom home with them — which an online calculator for an international storage service estimates would cost up to $17,000.
When Marie, her husband and two children leave the U.S. next month, they will take just four suitcases with them. A friend has agreed to hold onto their car and some family photo albums to make sure there’s some record left of their previous life, the one they had spent years building in Texas.
“If you knew her, the least interesting thing about her is that she’s trans. I just wanted to go to a place where people wouldn’t care.”
– Marie Ponce
The Ponces, who are being identified by pseudonyms out of concern for their safety, chose to move to Uruguay despite the expense, Marie said, because it’s one of the most welcoming countries in South America to foreign workers, and they would be able to obtain residency after three years. Uruguay also has some of the world’s most progressive laws mandating equality for the trans community. After passing a law in 2009 allowing trans people to correct their name and gender identity in government documents, the country went even further in 2018, enacting sweeping policies intended to guarantee “a life free from discrimination and stigmatization.” The “Trans Law,” as it’s known colloquially, established a constitutional right to gender-affirming care and set aside 1% of all government jobs for trans workers.
What they are hoping to find in Uruguay is a place where Marie’s 9-year-old daughter, Chloe, will no longer be a political football. Before Texas passed its gender-affirming care ban, Abbott issued an executive order in February 2022 directing the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate parents who allow their children to transition. The directive achieved what Texas Republicans had been trying to do for an entire year: In April 2021, lawmakers advanced legislation seeking to classify the provision of gender-affirming care to minors as “child abuse,” which is a potential first-degree felony in Texas, punishable by up to 99 years in prison.
In the following months, child welfare agents opened cases against dozens of families across the state, and the Ponces compiled a “safe folder” with letters from family members, psychologists, and even local faith leaders stating that Chloe is happy and healthy, in case they got a knock at their door. Marie knew that this was no way for her child to live, that Chloe needed to live in a place where the fear of persecution wouldn’t be part of her daily life.
“It’s been really important to me to let my child have a childhood,” Marie said. “I’ve tried to keep her insulated, so that she can grow up and be who she is. If you knew her, the least interesting thing about her is that she’s trans. I just wanted to go to a place where people wouldn’t care.”
Lauren and Grey are applying for asylum. If their petition is approved, they would be the first Americans to be granted refugee status abroad on the basis of trans identity.
BECKI MOSS FOR HUFFPOST
There is little data currently on trans migration out of the U.S., but the modicum of research that does exist indicates that dozens, if not hundreds, more families may follow the Ponces and the Wilsons in the coming months and years. In a June report from the liberal think tank Data for Progress, 41% of trans adults and 43% of young people between the ages of 18 to 24 said they have considered moving as a result of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, whether that’s relocating to another state or leaving the country altogether. The national survey of 1,036 respondents found that 8% of trans adults had already left their home as a result of policies making it more difficult to live their lives freely.
Just because trans people and their families can move, however, doesn’t mean it’s an easy choice. Marie has tried to sell the move to her children as an adventure, a chance for them to see the world, but deep down she knows this isn’t what she wanted for them. Since her kids were very young, Marie dreamt that they would be nurtured by what she calls “lifelong community,” that they would grow up surrounded by uncles, aunts, neighbors and fellow churchgoers who had held them when they were still babies.
“I had that growing up in a small town,” Marie said over a staticky line that cut in and out as she spoke. “The church that they were dedicated in — where they lit the chalice and know all the little old ladies — they’re gonna lose that. It’s going to be really hard to rebuild that and in a way impossible because you’re not born again. You’re not going to be a baby growing all the way up again. That is definitely gone.”
Creating Pathways To Safety
As trans migration out of the U.S. becomes more common, the fact remains that it’s an imperfect solution to the problems currently facing America’s LGBTQ+ community. There has never been a known case of a trans American claiming asylum abroad on the basis of political persecution, and those who do move may be severely restricted in terms of where and how they are permitted to work. Some countries, for instance, don’t allow immigrants to hold employment while they apply for citizenship. Even those who obtain student visas, like the Wilsons, or rely on remote work, like the Ponces, could be extremely vulnerable if sudden job loss occurs.
A third parent who spoke for this story, Vanessa Nichols, was forced to move her 14-year-old son back to the U.S. from Costa Rica after she was unexpectedly terminated from her position working in the country’s tourism sector. She and her son had originally fled Florida in November 2020 after they started getting death threats sent to their home, including a handwritten note telling her that she would be hunted by local mobs if she didn’t “repent” for her son’s identity.
“It felt scary. It felt lonely. It just felt impossible to stay in that state because it wasn’t safe,” Nichols said over a Zoom call a few days before learning she had been let go. “I’m originally from Chicago, but my parents moved me down to Florida when I was 10 so I spent most of my life there. All of a sudden, it felt so foreign to me.”
For families who can’t afford to immigrate or don’t want to risk relocating to countries where they may lack support networks in case of emergency, upstart groups are helping trans people and their relatives find safe havens within the U.S. and other resources they need — including suggesting LGBTQ+ affirming schools and helping families find health care. Such groups include Elevated Access, a door-to-door helicopter service that helps trans passengers fly out of state to relocate or seek gender-affirming care; Transitional Justice, which provides housing for trans people seeking to leave hostile states; and A Place for Marsha, which focuses on finding safe shelter for those seeking specifically to move to Las Vegas.
A coalition of advocacy groups has formed in Minnesota to meet the needs of trans migrants who move to the state, which is one of about a dozen in the U.S. to formally declare itself a refuge for trans health care. But community organizations are scrambling to meet the needs of a population facing an unprecedented crisis: At least 60 families have either moved to the state or confirmed they intend to do so, according to the LGBTQ+ nonprofit Transforming Families Minnesota. Its executive director, Hannah Edwards, said the organization gets “two to three” emails every week from parents looking for help in getting to safety.
Because this small assortment of groups is severely limited as to the number of clients they can help — especially since many organizations are still in their pilot stage — trans migrants are often forced to create their underground passageways to get to safety, both in the U.S. or abroad.
Roberto Che Espinoza and his partner fled Tennessee this year following a yearslong campaign of targeted harassment from far-right groups, which Espinoza said included unmarked packages being sent to their home. Following his move, Espinoza’s nonprofit, Our Collective Becoming, has pivoted to providing mutual aid funds for trans people and families moving to the greater Rochester area, where he is currently living in a safe house. He estimates their sector of upstate New York has been seeing “100 to 200 trans and queer refugees a month.”
Espinoza is working to get local churches to donate food, clothing, and even money to trans refugees and their loved ones as they resettle. “Housing is a big need,” he said. “There’s no rent control in Rochester, and people are in definite need of affordable housing. There are not enough mental health care providers, period, and with this influx of people, I don’t know what we do.”
Grey and Lauren are both acclimating to life in their new country.
BECKI MOSS FOR HUFFPOST
In their new home in New Zealand, the Wilsons also hope to create a safe passage for trans people and families who aren’t sure whether they should stay in the U.S. or leave as soon as possible — and might not be sure where they would even go. They are currently applying for asylum, and if their petition is approved, they would be the first Americans to be granted refugee status abroad on the basis of trans identity. It’s unclear when their case might be decided.
While they await news on their legal fight, Grey is acclimating to life in New Zealand, whether it’s the grammatical nuances in its dialectical English or learning the meaning of common Maori words employed in everyday life. He’s also adjusting to the local food: The only place to get sour pickles in Auckland is a single grocery store that sells American food, and he says that pizzas, which didn’t become popularized in New Zealand until the 1970s, often include “all kinds of random things just shoved onto them.” There’s also the matter of New Zealand’s polarizing flavored milks, which include banana, mint and lime, the latter of which he refuses to try. “That’s a combination I’m not testing,” he said confidently.
The adjustment process has been more difficult for Lauren because of everything they sacrificed to get to where they are now. The home that she sold to pay for the move was her dream house, the one that she was supposed to grow old in, and she misses its antique wood floors. She had a great job that she loved, and after she finally left the U.S. in June, it took her months to find employment as a foreign worker seeking part-time work on a student visa.
Lauren knows they made the right choice, but as she sleeps on a mattress on the floor of their new apartment, she can’t help but mourn what they’ve lost.
“My son is happy,” she said. “He is thriving. It’s not that I’m not happy, but I gave up a big chunk of my life, and I can’t go back to it. We’re really lucky that we were able to afford to do this and that we got to safety, but it’s a lot harder than I was expecting it to be.”
People have woken up to the fundamentalist Christian right take over. When these people first stormed the school boards and town councils they claimed they represented the people, the community and everyone was fed up with the liberal woke modern age. They claimed everyone wanted to return to 1950 strict gender roles and stereotypes. Now their lies are being exposed. Only they wanted that, and they are a small minority that do not represent their communities or the will of the people. Still, it looks like one of the hyper religious sleeper candidates did get elected, but not enough of them to take over the board. Keep up the good work of keeping fundamentalist from taking over the country as a Christian Taliban. Hugs. Scottie
Preliminary results from Tuesday’s election shows Childs’ ‘traditional side’ platform failed to sway enough voters to his cause
Matthew Childs, who campaigned on a conservative stance, lost his bid for a school board seat. (Rachel Mipro/Kansas Reflector)
TOPEKA — St. Marys Mayor Matthew Childs, who previously attempted to ban LGBTQ books from the city’s public library, lost on his school board bid.
Tuesday’s election saw several candidates from the religion-dominated area attempt to win school board seats on the USD 321 Kaw Valley School Board.
The district, which oversees Rossville and St. Marys public schools, spreads across several counties. Election officials in Shawnee, Pottawatomie and Jackson counties worked together to calculate the final results for the board’s open seats, leading to some initial confusion over the final results.
Elias Espinoza and Jodi Porter were elected to the board. Porter, up against Childs, won the position with 53% of the vote to Childs’ 47%, garnering 1,425 votes to Childs’ 1,281 votes. Childs did not immediately respond to Reflector inquiries.
All of the November election results are unofficial until a final canvass on Nov. 14.
“We are in a culture war which is increasingly threatening the welfare of children especially,” Childs said in a September candidate profile by the Times of Pottawatomie County. “I am unapologetically on the ‘conservative’ or traditional side of this war. Along with many like-minded parents, I am morally obligated to defend our children from physical and moral harm insofar as I can.”
Childs is part of the St. Marys’ governing body, a five-person city commission, and a heavily religious group that attends the Society of St. Pius X, or SSPX. SSPX is a strict religious sect that broke away from the Catholic church. Commissioners have previously said their views and governing decisions are influenced by their religious affiliation.
Childs is perhaps best known for formulating a “morals clause” for the city’s public library lease. The clause asked that the library not carry, encourage or accept any sexual, racial or “socially divisive” material that supported critical race theory or LGBTQ people.
Though the library was allowed to continue operating in their location following massive public outcry, Childs has continued to speak against LGBTQ material in the library.
“We don’t want transgender books in the library. … The elephant in the room is that we don’t want the library to be promoting certain types of material,” Childs said in a July commission meeting.
Porter campaigned on teacher recruitment and keeping cell phones out of the classroom setting.
“I want all those looking for teaching positions to have a desire to come here,” Porter said in her candidate profile.
Preliminary results show Espinoza won against his opponent school board member Adrienne Olejnik, with 1,258 to 1,153 votes respectively. Reflector attempts to contact Espinoza were unsuccessful, but Espinoza is thought to have SSPX connections. A flyer for the St. Marys Academy and College lists him as a point of contact. Olejnik declined to comment publicly on the race.
Espinoza and Childs were endorsed by the Kansans for Life PAC, which sent out mailers in favor of the two ahead of the election. The mailers alleged Olejnik had donated to “leftist causes” and that Olejnik would not “take a stand against drag queen story hours.”
Incumbent candidates Michelle Martin and Kimberly Gillum returned to their board seats unopposed.
As is stated in the article the school officials were not interested in working the situation out by using other neutral terms, they wanted to force a nonbinary person to go by female pronouns and titles. Hugs. Scottie
A Florida state law that went into effect in July 2023 prevents public school teachers from using pronouns that do not align with their sex assigned at birth.
AV Vary became a teacher to help teenagers through the painful experience of growing up and to teach some science along the way.
Over the course of 15 years, Vary has taught in the Orlando area and in Maryland. Most recently, Vary taught at the Florida Virtual School, a statewide online public school for kindergarten through 12th grade students.
But on Oct. 24, Vary was terminated from FLVS after refusing to change the courtesy title used on school materials and communications from “Mx.” to “Ms.,” “Mrs.” or “Miss.”
Vary is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns. AV Vary is not their full legal name, but they requested to only be referred to as such out of concern for their privacy.
FLVS issued a statement in response to USA TODAY’s request for an interview about Vary’s termination.
“As a Florida public school, FLVS is obligated to follow Florida laws and regulations pertaining to public education. This includes laws such as section 1000.071(3) of the Florida Statutes pertaining to the use of Personal Titles and Pronouns within Florida’s public school system,” the statement read.
Vary’s termination came as a lawsuit challenging Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law sits in an appeals court and districts struggle to fill vacant teaching positions.
Vary told USA TODAY in an interview that they have filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over the matter and are seeking legal counsel. They said their fight to get back into the classroom is not just for them, but for the students too.
“I am a human being… I have feelings and my goals in life are positive ones. I want to see my students be successful in however they define success,” Vary said. “Yeah, this is a fight for my rights. But this is also a fight for the kindness, compassion and respect for every individual in the country.”
Florida statute requires teachers to use titles and pronouns corresponding to biological sex
Documentation reviewed by USA TODAY showed that leadership at FLVS asked Vary to change their courtesy title from Mx. to Ms., Mrs., or Miss in accordance with Florida Statue 1000.071.
The statute states that every public K-12 educational institute must operate under the understanding that a person’s sex is biological and unchangeable. As such, employees may not provide pronouns that do not align with their biological sex.
The law went into effect in July 2023 after Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB1069, which is considered an expansion of the 2022 “Don’t Say Gay” bill. A lawsuit on behalf of Family Equality and Florida families challenging the 2022 bill went to an appeals court in March 2023 after a Florida judge dismissed the original suits for not showing direct harm from the bill.
Vary said that, before termination, they offered other gender-neutral suggestions for courtesy titles.
While Vary does not hold a PhD., “Dr.” is a gender-neutral title that other teachers and administrators in Florida schools use. But Vary said FLVS wouldn’t allow Vary to use it on the grounds that they did not hold a PhD. The school said Vary could go without a courtesy title, but they were not comfortable with that.
Vary also recommended “professor,” “teacher” and “coach” as alternatives. The school did not permit those either.
“Clearly, to me FLVS is not simply concerned with following the law. There’s something more to it,” they said.
Vary said being visibly nonbinary was a safety signal for Florida students
Vary’s students have known them as Mrs. Vary, Professor Vary or Mx. Vary, depending on when they worked together.
When Vary started at FLVS in July 2021, they felt that “misunderstood female” was the best way to describe their gender. They have also truncated their legal name for students, as a way to protect their boundaries as a teacher. But over time, Vary learned more about what it means to be nonbinary and it resonated with them, as they don’t identify entirely with women’s or men’s social norms.
Vary also said there was more to their decision to use Mx. than reflecting their own identity. In the face of anti-LGBTQ laws being passed in Florida, Vary wanted to signal to students that they were an ally.
“I needed a way for my students’ first impressions of me to be that I was safe, because underrepresented minority communities need people who can protect them, especially when they’re teenagers,” Vary said.
Vary worried for colleagues amid teacher shortage
Vary said they have never lost a job before FLVS. They got into science in part because the teachers are in such high demand. They have a partner with a good salary that can help cushion the job loss as they try to get reinstated.
But in the meantime, Vary worries for colleagues.
“When I got the voicemail that I was suspended, my first thought was, ‘Oh, my colleagues, they’re now going to have way more students than they should. They’re gonna have to put in more hours than they’re getting paid for,'” Vary said. “Teacher overwork all over again.”
Vary said they felt that school leaders tried to remain neutral in the weeks leading up to their termination. But their final call became heated and Vary said the school hung up on them.
“I recognize that FLVS is in a tough position. They have to uphold Florida State law. At the same time, they’re committed to upholding the U.S. Constitution,” Vary said. “Right now, those two things are mutually exclusive.”
Vary’s complaint to the EEOC alleges that the school discriminated against them because of their sex and gender identity.
They have contacted some lawyers who said that the case may have some merit, but would be too big or too expensive to take on. Vary is exploring advocacy groups as well, or possibly joining with other people who have experienced the same thing.
“It would be unrealistic to expect any individual to cover this on their own,” Vary said. “But with a community of like minded individuals who believe in civil rights, I think that we can take it as far as it needs to go.”
Florida test scores are abysmal, teachers are fleeing the state and profession, books are banned, Black history is whitewashed, kids are doing heil hitler to my children, but a nonbinary teacher at Florida school fired for using 'Mx.' as courtesy title https://t.co/jdJS0GruMZ
First they came for the Drag Queens Then they came for the Gender Non Conforming and Non Binary Then they came for the Transgender Then they came for the Lesbians and Gays
Right to work state, so the easy answer says there isn’t a case to be had. If plaintiff wants to find a lawyer that’s willing to argue Title IX gender discrimination, that might work but it will take decades and more money than any teacher will earn in a lifetime.
“Florida test scores are abysmal, teachers are fleeing the state and profession, books are banned, Black history is whitewashed, kids are doing heil hitler to my children, but a nonbinary teacher at Florida school fired for using ‘Mx.’ as courtesy title”
And every day DeSantis goes onto a stage to polish his turds, pretends that he is a friend to all Jews. Going so far as to make threats against tiny island nations in the Caribbean.
Yet every single day that passes he fails to say so much as one word against real-life neo-Nazis who chant his name and wave his banners. Nazis love him and not only does he know it… they know it, too.
And of course while Putin supports all the actual attackers of democracy and Republicans support him attacking Ukraine while pretending he’s not behind Iran using Hamas to pick this very fight with intolerable atrocities…. in hopes of solidifying Netanyahu turning Israeli democracy into fascism as they hope to do here, and not just in Florida.
And the media make no issue of it. If they cared about democracy, they’d keep after him about it. But every outrage is allowed to slide, just as they let them slide with Trump, are STILL letting them slide. There is no rightist outrage which the media aren’t normalizing.
What DO they talk about? They busy themselves spreading GOP talking points as if they were the truth. They ignore or belittle election results and harp on polls, the way they did in the lead-up to the Midterms, pushing the “red wave is coming” BS. “Biden is too old!” They never mention Trump is just a few years younger AND showing clear signs of losing it. They shrug their shoulders over his ongoing threats to establish an obvious dictatorship if he regains the Oval Office. THAT’S their laughable IDEA of how to do their jobs as the “Guardians of Democracy.”
If Trump were still in office and the economic numbers were what they are under Biden, the media would be in ecstasies, trying 24/7 to convince everyone how GREAT things were. With Biden, they sneer and talk only about how people are “unhappy with high prices,” as though they wouldn’t be, for the same reasons, just as high if a Republican were in the White House. And, of course, they never mention that things are much worse everywhere else in the world. These dishonest men and women don’t report the news–they manipulate it to harm Democrats and help the GOP, the party their oligarch owners want in charge, the party, led by an evil MADMAN, that will establish the dictatorship THEY want.
I love the Majority Report with Sam Seder and Emma Vigeland. Here are some clips. People might wonder why so many at once. Because I have two monitors / computers. One I normally blog with and the other I constantly stream videos. Mostly news. If I am not in my Pink Palace I have my apple earbuds in listening to podcasts. I rarely do music. Those that follow me and know my history know that I have to constantly have that stream of new data, of idea and sound in to my head to stop the thoughts I don’t want. Granted, it has gotten less urgent over the last few years as I am getting better at coping, but I can not stand longish periods of only my own memories. The first thing I do when I leave my bed to get up is pull my hair back and put in my ear buds. At night when I go to bed I fill my mind with my own stories written based on the characters of books, movies, TV shows that I can fill my mind with writing my self into those stories, keeping the memories from coming up to the front of my mind or having a say. I had these videos ready to post for a while, but never found the time. Today is the time. I don’t expect everyone to watch all of them, but maybe bits or sections, or just the ones that interest you. Thank you for understanding. Hugs. Scottie
CNN’s Abby Phillip asks Sen. Lindsey Graham if there’s a threshold for him where he’d be supportive of holding off on offensives in Gaza to prevent further civilian casualties. Sen. Graham responds in part: “No, no, no!” He then compares the current state of affairs to World War II.
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer spoke with international IDF spokesperson Richard Hecht about the Israeli strike carried out on the Jabalia refugee camp, and Blitzer asked whether the IDF was aware of the amount of Palestinian civilians in the area, despite the potential for a Hamas leader to be there as well. Hecht responds by saying: “This is the tragedy of war. We told them to move south.”
Ilan Pappe, professor of history at the University of Exeter and Director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies, to discuss the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza.
Sen. John Fetterman is confronted at an event by human rights attorney Dan Kovalik about Fetterman’s unwillingness to call for a ceasefire in Israel/Gaza. Kovalik is then forcibly removed from the event by staff,
Jodan Peterson seemed to have a moment of clarity during this interview with comedian Jim Jeffries. Too bad it didn’t stick.
Ilan Pappe, professor of history at the University of Exeter and Director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies, to discuss the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza.
Homicides in the U.S. have seen a significant drop in 2022, and this trend has continued into 2023, placing the country on course for one of the largest recorded declines in homicides; although crime rose across the nation in 2020 and 2021 due to various factors including the pandemic and increased gun availability, there has been a notable decline in these figures in recent times. According to the FBI’s annual report on national crime statistics, homicides saw a 6% decrease in 2022, which surpassed expectations. Jeff Asher, a crime data analyst and consultant, indicates that so far in 2023, homicides have fallen by 11% to 12%. This trend extends to violent crime overall, aligning the U.S. with 2019 levels, although certain crime categories, such as auto thefts, have experienced increases in specific areas.
Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch, to discuss the ongoing situation on the ground in the Gaza Strip.
After briefly touching on the international politics around the 2007 blockade and election of Hamas in Gaza, Shakir explores how the Israeli government has supported and maintained Hamas’ rule as a part of their “policy of separation” between Gaza and the West Bank, and a central tool against the establishment of a Palestinian state. Wrapping up, Omar explores the obvious parallels between the current assault on Palestinians in Gaza and the 1948 Nakba that began the occupation, the recent discovery of Israel’s use of white phosphorus, and what a push for a ceasefire and an end to apartheid could look like.
9News Colorado’s reports on Republican State Rep. Ron Weinberg telling a group of students that allowing trans kids to go by their preferred names could confuse police during a mass shooting.
Rep. Ilhan Omar was asked by a reporter why she wants a to push the Israelis to ceasefire their bombing of Gaza. Omar asks: “How many more killings is enough for you?” She says that’s a question that the press should ask New York Rep. Ritchie Torres that.
Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch, to discuss the ongoing situation on the ground in the Gaza Strip.
Omar Shakir then joins as he jumps right into the history of the Gaza Strip, from the beginning of its occupation by Israel in 1967, through the establishment of their full blockade on people, goods, and aid in the wake of their military withdrawal in 2005, which launched the current era of strict apartheid and de facto Hamas rule.
Ever since Reagan’s presidency, the core of Republican positions on public education have been five-fold: 1. Let white students attend schools that are islands of white privilege where they don’t have to confront the true racial history of America, 2. Use public money to support private, for-profit, and religious schools that can accomplish this (and cycle some of that money back to Republican politicians), 3. Destroy public schools’ teachers’ unions, 4. End the teaching of science, critical thinking, evolution, and sex ed, and, 5. Bring fundamentalist Christianity into the classroom. Earlier this year, Republican Senator Marco Rubio called America’s public school system a “cesspool of Marxist indoctrination.” “Dangerous academic constructs like critical race theory and radical gender theory are being forced on elementary school children,” Rubio wrote for the American Conservative magazine, adding, “We need to ensure no federal funding is ever used to promote these radical ideas in schools.”
A bit on the long side, but really informative over what has happened and what is currently happening in this seeming never ending war on Public schools. Hugs. Scottie
Jennifer Pippin says had she known of Rick Wiles’ antisemitic views, she wouldn’t have appeared on his program, but she didn’t apologize for having gone on.
By ANDREW LAPIN/JTAUpdated: NOVEMBER 1, 2023 18:01Books that have been donated to the “Read with Love Book Drive” run by PFLAG Bucks County to help place LGBTQ+ books in Bucks and Montgomery County libraries are placed in a donation box at the Doylestown Bookshop in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, U.S., April 7, 2023.(photo credit: REUTERS/HANNAH BEIER)
A Florida organizer of the right-wing activist group Moms For Liberty who successfully pressed her school district to remove a version of Anne Frank’s diary recently appeared on a livestream banned from YouTube because of its pastor host’s antisemitism.
Jennifer Pippin, who chairs the group’s chapter in Indian River County, Florida, appeared in September on the show TruNews, which is hosted by End Times preacher Rick Wiles. Wiles is a conspiracy theorist who has claimed that Jews and Zionists have “attacked Christian culture” and railed against the “Jewish lobby” and “Kabbalah wizard rabbis.”
Wiles, who is based in the same county as Pippin, has also stated, “That’s the way the Jews work, they are deceivers, they plot, they lie, they do whatever they have to do to accomplish their political agenda.” He has claimed that “Israel” was behind the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In 2019 he stated, “It’s not Muslims that are going to kill us. It’s the Jews.”
The following year he called the first attempted impeachment of Donald Trump a “Jew coup.” adding that Jews would “kill millions of Christians” after they overthrew the president. The Trump administration credentialed the outlet multiple times, leading to major pushback from Jewish groups. The channel was permanently banned from YouTube in 2020 over Wiles’ antisemitic rants.
Speaking to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Monday, Pippin said she had not been aware of Wiles’ antisemitism before she appeared on his show and would not have agreed to it if she’d known.
A Little Free Library, which was designed to look like a prison, invites residents to take books that the library says have been challenged by schools across the state of Texas, in Houston, Texas, U.S. May 3, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/CALLAGHAN O’HARE)
Says she was ignorant of hosts’ views, but doesn’t apologize
“Honestly, I’ve never heard of him before,” she said. “And I wasn’t aware of anything that he said against any organizations or group of people or anything like that.”
Yet when she was asked if she was sorry for appearing on TruNews, Pippin responded, “Absolutely not. No.” She said she did not necessarily endorse the views of everyone she speaks to about her efforts to ensure that school libraries contain only “age-appropriate” material.
“My interview was a representation of me and our work with Moms For Liberty,” she said. “Just because somebody says or does something years ago that I don’t agree with doesn’t mean that just because I did an interview with him, I agree with every single little thing that he said or what his news outlet has put out.”
Although Moms For Liberty has some Jewish members in its leadership, the group borrows much of its rhetoric from Christian nationalist organizations and one local chapter has quoted Hitler in its communications to parents. The “parents’ rights” movement the group represents has largely targeted books about race, gender and sexual identity, but some Jewish and Holocaust books have also been caught in the dragnet.
Public figures call the graphic adaptation ‘pornography’
This spring Pippin’s school district on the state’s Atlantic coast, acting on her challenge, made national headlines when it agreed to pull “Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation” from high schools. A spokesperson told JTA at the time that the 2018 illustrated reimagining of Frank’s diary was “a fictional novel” and “not age-appropriate.”
Since then, opposition to the book has only grown. A Jewish parent at another Florida school district successfully petitioned for the book’s removal last month, while a middle-school teacher in Texas was recently fired for reportedly assigning and reading aloud passages from the book. Politicians and other public figures have since claimed that the book’s depiction of Frank’s attraction to another girl, and her descriptions of her own genitalia, were “pornography”; a local Florida news outlet claimed Pippin had called the book “sexually explicit” in her own challenge.
Pippin told JTA that the quote attributed to her was incorrect and that she did not object to the book’s sexual content, which she recognized came from Frank’s original diary. “I didn’t challenge it for the sexually explicit content because this was actually what she wrote,” she said. “This is what she was thinking in her teenage years, during the Holocaust.”
She instead said she objected to the book’s presence in her high school for a different reason: that it was a highly abridged version of the diary’s original text, and she and a local Holocaust education group jointly believed high school students should be expected to be able to read the original instead.
“They agreed that this one book, the graphic adaptation, should be permanently removed because they felt that children in high school should be reading the true diary of Anne Frank, and not the graphic adaptation, to get the actual, factual information from the diary,” Pippin said, adding that she supported “age-appropriate” Holocaust education in schools.
Wiles: ‘Marxist Communists are waging war against America’s innocent children’
Pippin said Wiles had reached out to her to ask about her challenge to the Anne Frank book specifically, although she said she did not think his questions about the book were antisemitic in nature and the two did not discuss the book in their live conversation.
Wearing a Moms For Liberty T-shirt, Pippin spoke to Wiles for around 30 minutes on his show, chiefly promoting the work of her group, which Wiles said he fully supported. “I will do everything I can to help you,” he told her. “I will help raise money, I will help organize, I will help you get a lawsuit against the school board.”
Wiles introduced his interview with Pippin by stating, “Marxist Communists are waging war against America’s innocent children in almost every state in the USA. They have infiltrated our nation’s local school districts and public libraries.” He concluded it by comparing Moms For Liberty’s battles with school boards to the French Revolution, adding, “If we don’t stop it really soon, none of us are going to survive over the next 10 years, because these people are violent. … They’re going after our children now.”
Pippin told JTA she did not agree with Wiles’ characterization of her activism and had tried to steer the conversation back to books.
TruNews has broadcast in various forms for more than two decades, and Wiles has taken aim at Muslims and LGBTQ individuals as well as Jews over time. In recent weeks, since his broadcast with Pippin and Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, Wiles has posted almost exclusively content targeting “godless, atheistic, antichrist Zionism” on social media and called on the Israeli government to “stop the Palestinian pogrom.”
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