Category: Schools / Schooling / Education / Libraries

Is My Child Too Young To Learn About Being Gay? | Tim Ramsey | TEDxOxford

This is 4 years old and I guess the person speaking is from England.   But this is a great talk.  It covers so much of what I want to say.  It explains why the don’t say gay laws that in so many red states are so dangerous and harmful.  Please take 13 minutes and 41 seconds to learn about this issue, learn why it is so important to gay kids to see themselves in the surrounding society, and that yes there are gay kids, even young kids that know they are different, know they are gay, and are scared / worried about it that need support with love.  I love the question he asks, when was your child too young to learn about being straight?  Because from birth all around them kids see straight couples and symbols of being straight in society.  The same with gender, the haters say they don’t want the children to be taught gender in schools as they claim it sexualizes them.   But society is structured around gender.  We learn it from birth with nursery colors, types of toys, and the clothing we are put in.    Hugs.   Scottie

Can a child be too young to learn about being LGBT? The answer: no child is ever too young. In this humorous and moving talk, Tim Ramsey argues that only when every parent explores about LGBT identities with their child from birth will we address the well being crisis facing LGBT young people.

Tim Ramsey, the founder of award-winning non-profit Just Like Us, grew up believing that being gay was the worst thing he could be. Having come out, Tim launched Just Like Us to change the lives of other LGBT+ school students by empowering young people to challenge prejudice and champion LGBT+ equality at school and work. As the founder of School Diversity Week, the national celebration of LGBT+ equality in education, Tim has involved over 650,000 school students and teachers work to ensure every young person can be themselves and their best at school.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx Can a child be too young to learn about being LGBT? The answer: no child is ever too young. In this humorous and moving talk, Tim Ramsey, Founder of award-winning LGBT non-profit Just Like Us, argues that only when every parent explores about LGBT identities with their child from birth will we address the wellbeing crisis facing LGBT young people. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Jeebus’ Baby Brother Thinks He Was Anointed or Something

Jeebus’ Baby Brother Thinks He Was Anointed or Something

Ron DeSantis compares elementary school teachers to Hamas terrorists

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/10/ron-desantis-compares-elementary-school-teachers-to-hamas-terrorists/

He says both groups are negatively influencing students with a “dangerous” ideology.
 
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Lynchburg, Virginia USA - April 14, 2023 - Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaking at Liberty University on April 14, 2023.
Lynchburg, Virginia USA – April 14, 2023 – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaking at Liberty University on April 14, 2023.Photo: Shutterstock

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently sent a message to his followers comparing LGBTQ+-inclusive elementary school teachers to Hamas fighters who have gunned down and kidnapped Israeli civilians.

“I have seen the Left’s indoctrination dangerously worsen in the last couple of decades — from student organizations praising Hamas at Ivy Leagues to elementary school teachers pushing radical gender ideology down the throats of first graders,” DeSantis’ message said, according to Florida Politics.

RELATED:

The right is making public education intolerable. That’s not an accident.

Don’t Say Gay laws and “parents rights” groups are all part of a plan to completely defund public education.

On October 7, Hamas members gunned down Jewish settlers, worshippers, and attendees of an electronic music festival; launched rocket attacks; and took women and children hostage. Their attacks have ignited a long-simmering military conflict with Israel as the neighboring countries battle over control of the region.

DeSantis has claimed that some pro-Palestinian U.S. student groups, like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), are “pro-Hamas” and want a “second Holocaust.” While Hamas is an Islamist militant movement and one of the Palestinian territories’ two major political parties, supporters of Palestine don’t automatically support Hamas or its actions. Nevertheless, DeSantis has ordered his state’s universities to disband SJP groups, threatening to persecute and cut government funding to them otherwise.

DeSantis is equating support for Hamas with elementary school teachers who support LGBTQ+-inclusive student policies (or “radical gender ideology,” as DeSantis calls it), such as allowing trans students to use names, pronouns, and bathrooms matching their gender identities.

DeSantis has used education policy as a way to push his anti-LGBTQ+ views, including the passage of his infamous “Don’t Say Gay” law and numerous other anti-LGBTQ+ laws. DeSantis has repeatedly lied while publicly defending these laws.

Palestine Legal, a group that provides legal support for pro-Palestinian groups, says that DeSantis’ ban on SJP groups is part of his larger effort to restrict freedom of speech on campuses.

“Florida, particularly under the leadership of Governor Ron DeSantis, has been actively undermining education, freedom of speech, and social justice movements, including by banning anti-racist courses and trying to criminalize protests. It is not surprising that this egregious move to silence the student movement for Palestinian rights is being pursued under DeSantis,” it said Wednesday in a statement, according to WJTV. “If it goes unchallenged, no one’s political beliefs will be safe from government suppression.” 

In 2022, DeSantis signed the so-called “Stop WOKE Act” and other laws that prevent institutions from holding diversity training on the oppressions faced by LGBTQ+ people, people of color, and other marginalized groups. His Stop WOKE Act has so far been blocked in court for its likely violation of free-speech protections. But even so, his laws are increasingly causing educators to flee the state while DeSantis rallies support for using taxpayer money to fund Christian schools and homeschooling.

Fake medical group tells moms to submit to their husbands to keep their kids from being transgender

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/10/fake-medical-group-tells-moms-to-submit-to-their-husbands-to-keep-their-kids-from-being-transgender/

Wow, really pushing the religious idea a woman’s place is to obey the men in her life, she is owned by her husband, and along with the misogyny of strict 1950s gender role there is the long debunked idea of what makes kids gay, only now just pushed on to trans kids also.  These people simply refuse to accept modern science which has shown that kids are born with their sexual orientation and their view of their gender identity.  Regardless of how often, how forceful, how authoritarian the person telling them they are not gay, gay kids know they are.  Same with trans kids, despite the same people telling them they are the gender they were assigned at birth, they KNOW who they really are inside.   But this is what we face with the religious Nationalist right wing take over and push to return to the 1950s.  These are the same people that deny other science because their bibles / really their preachers / priest / pastors tell them that science is wrong because the bible is right.   These same people claim there was a worldwide flood and that an ark built by a 600-year-old man held every creature on earth, and also the world is only 6000 years old so that same family had a lot of fucking / child birthing to do to get to the number of humans alive today.  None of it makes sense if you try to take it literally.  But they don’t care, their feelings / beliefs are more important than reality or facts.  They feel the same on sexual / gender issues.   Yet in at least 26 US states these people have the majority in government.  Can the US afford this?   Hugs.  Scottie.

It also tells dads to go on “man time” dates with their sons and make them do manly things like hunt animals and mow the lawn.
 
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woman, wife, husband, family
Photo: Shutterstock

The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) — a Christian anti-LGBTQ+ hate group that uses its professional-sounding name to push transphobic and anti-abortion propaganda — has unveiled a new website encouraging parents to send their trans kids to conversion therapy. The website tells mothers not to be “dominant” and not to be “critical” of nor “display hurt or angry emotions” towards their husbands.

The website, called the “Biological Integrity Initiative,” offers outdated and non-clinically backed “resources” for parents, teens, physicians, schools, and policymakers, all geared towards denying the identities of trans youth, particularly those of trans girls. It introduces gender-questioning teens to the tale of right-wing de-transitioner Chloe Cole, tells teachers to oppose trans-inclusive school policies (referred to as “gender interventions”), and tells policymakers that they must pass bans on gender-affirming healthcare to “protect civilization” and “human dignity.”

RELATED:

A fake medical group is lobbying Trump. It’s actually a hate group in disguise.

But will the administration see through the charade?

The website’s advice to parents is especially concerning.

It tells mothers not to be critical of their husbands or “overly sensitive” to their sons. Mothers are advised to frequently “compliment the father” and to refrain from showing their children any “angry emotions” towards their husbands. It also tells mothers to “set a good example of womanhood” for their daughters because, if they don’t, their daughters may “develop a wrong perception… and may resist embracing a female identity.”

“A mother who is not emotionally connected to her daughter may leave her daughter craving motherly love. Likewise, a father who is not closely connected to his son may leave a son craving fatherly love,” the site’s handout on “Affirming Your Daughter’s and Son’s Sexual Identity” states.

“Mothers should not favor a son over his father, even if the son is more responsive and compassionate than the husband,” the handout continues. “If mothers make this mistake, the son may identify with the mother and fail to bond with the father.”

This concept — that emotionally distant and physically unaffectionate parents create gay or “gender-confused” children — is a popular but widely debunked concept from 19th-century Freudian psychology. While psychologists have observed that neglected and abused children may risk their personal safety to find support and affection from other sources, there’s zero proof that parental distance causes homosexuality or trans identity.

Similarly, the handout says that molestation, sexual abuse, and graphic pornography can cause trans identity. The same has been said of homosexuality, and there is no proof to back up either claim.

The group tells fathers to be “physically active” and “wrestle on the floor” with their sons, “play tackle and praise him for being tough when he is knocked down,” and also to go on “man time” dates with the boy. It also tells dads to have their sons help mow the lawn, fix the toilet, shovel snow, build model cars and benches, go hunting to kill animals, and “throw, kick and dribble a ball… even if he chooses not to play sports.”

Under the website’s “Teen FAQ,” it states, “There is no evidence that opposite-sex hormones make you feel better,” even though a large-scale 2023 study in The New England Journal of Medicine found that hormone therapy improves mental health for trans youth. The FAQ also claims that “opposite sex hormones can increase thoughts of hurting yourself,” “increase unhealthiness,” “may cause permanent infertility,” and “will make teens ‘a medical patient for life.’”

The site backs up some of its claims by referring to a 12-year-old Swedish study of data on 324 trans people collected from 1973 to 2003. The study found higher rates of suicide and criminal convictions among trans individuals, but such actions may be explained by transphobia and the fewer economic opportunities and social support resources for trans people.

As for “infertility,” trans journalist Erin Reed noted that fertility counseling is a regular part of any medical care for trans youth. Reed said that the ACPeds site pushes gender exploratory therapy, “a new type of conversion therapy which seeks to persuade transgender individuals that their gender identity stems from anything but authentic transness.” The ACPeds website’s “Find a Therapist” section links to numerous Christian and Catholic conversion therapy groups.

In her newsletter, Reed wrote, “The Gender Exploratory Therapy Association frequently denies that it engages in conversion therapy. They assert that their therapeutic approach is ‘neutral in nature’ and ‘does not prejudge outcomes.’ Yet, this association opposes bans on conversion therapy, submits public comments in favor of blocking Title IX protections against gender discrimination for trans students, and its official account has been observed endorsing tweets like ‘trans healthcare is the latest in a long line of medical fads.’ Such actions hardly mirror the claims of a ‘neutral, non-prejudiced’ entity.”

Randi Weingarten On “”The War on Woke”

Randi Weingarten On “”The War on Woke”
Diane Ravitch’s blog
A site to discuss better education for all
 
By dianeravitch
October 18, 2023 //
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The New Republic convened a meeting to discuss Trump, book banning and the culture wars. Randi Weingarten described the attack on schools as a coordinated strategy to destroy public schools and promote vouchers. Edith Olmsted of The New Republic interviewed her. None of this is new to readers of this blog, but the American public needs to hear this message. Again and again.

Book Bans Are a Conservative Plot to Destroy Public Schools, Says Randi Weingarten, The teachers union head denounced the “extremist strategy,” which also includes voucher campaigns and manufactured outrage over critical race theory.

DANIEL BOCZARSKI/GETTY IMAGES FOR MOVEON

Teachers union head Randi Weingarten says that the campaign by conservatives to ban books isn’t about the books at all, but part of a broader strategy to destroy public schools—one that was supercharged by the pandemic.

“You take the agita and the anxiety that people had at Covid, that fear, and you combine it with a right wing who has wanted to kill public schools for years and take that money for vouchers, and you have the scenario we have,” Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, said Wednesday at The New Republic’s Stop Trump Summit.

Vouchers, which use public education dollars to fund private and religious school attendance, are just one pillar of the conservative campaign to “undermine, destroy, and defund” public schools, she said. The other two are book banning and manufactured outrage over critical race theory.

Weingarten pointed to conservative activist Chris Rufo and a comment he made at Hillsdale College, a Christian nationalist school, in which he admitted that focusing on these issues was all part of a master plan to promote universal vouchers: “To get to universal school choice, you really need to operate from a premise of universal public school distrust.”

In an interview with TNR after the event, Weingarten explained the “extremist strategy” Rufo and other conservatives have used to defund public schools. “The hook was trust. If you really create as much distrust as possible in public schooling, then parents will look at privatization as an option,” she said.

That’s where critical race theory comes in.

“[Rufo] tried to make a term that nobody knows so toxic, so that you can weaponize it and make fear,” she said. “Conversations about hard subjects became weaponized as indoctrination. Which is patently ridiculous, and dangerous.”

Race, as well as gender, is the subject conservatives have focused on in their campaigns to ban books in public schools and libraries.

“What [Republican Governor Ron] DeSantis is doing in the so-called ‘war on woke,’ is exactly part of their playbook—to make people afraid of books, and afraid of what we do in school,” Weingarten said. According to Pen America, Florida passed 15 “educational intimidation” bills in the last two and a half years.

The “parents’ rights” movement is made up of a loud minority, Weingarten said, and actively undermines what most parents want. “What we see in Florida is that 60 percent of the book banning has been done by 11 people,” she said.

The AFT has partnered with The New Republic in fighting back against such bans. TNR’s Banned Books Tour has been delivering thousands of banned books across the country this month, most recently in Florida.

 

Hundreds Reportedly Dead In Strike On Gaza Hospital

Hundreds Reportedly Dead In Strike On Gaza Hospital

There are comments at the link above.  I am sorry but I am too heart sick over the cruelty and inhumanity of one group of people to another.  Jerry / Rawgod has been posting of the atrocities of the governments /  religious groups that stole kids from their parents and abused them horribly to civilize them, He reported on the beating death of a black man whose family still fights for justice, on The Majority Report they just played a clip of Matt Walsh saying the colonization and killing of native populations was a good thing that white people should celebrate because they made everything better … for the white people, I have memories in my head of people who took enjoyment in hearing me cry both in sadness and crying out in pain.   I can’t any more today.  I am sorry I can’t.   Religious people demanding the death and wiping from society of people like me, removing the protections for gay / lesbian / trans kids to return to a time when their lives in school were hell and fear.   WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH HUMANS!  Maybe it is time that humans move aside on the planet!  We don’t deserve to be here.   Hugs

Ohio Has a New Universal Voucher Program, and the Problems Are Already Starting

Ohio Has a New Universal Voucher Program, and the Problems Are Already Starting

This is important to understand what the goal of the right is.  The goal is to destroy public education, and instead force public taxpayer funds, the public treasury, to be diverted to private businesses and religious institutions.  They want to give religious organizations, church affiliated schools that discriminate against LGBTQIA tax dollars of people they discriminate against, so they can indoctrinate public schools kids with their churches doctrines.  Here are some quotes.  There is more in the article at the link above.  Hugs.  Scottie

That means it will be difficult to discern whether the spike in EdChoice scholarships came from parents looking to leave public school or those whose children already attend (private schools).”  One serious problem here is that the voucher expansion is to be paid for out of the school foundation budget that also pays for the state’s public schools.

 

In Iowa, 40 percent of more than 17,000 applicants to the state’s new universal education savings account program have left public schools, while the remaining 60 percent were not enrolled in public schools before applying…. The gap is even wider in Florida, where 69 percent of roughly 122,000 new applicants… were already in private schools before applying…. Another 18 percent are children entering the K-12 system for the first time as kindergarteners….”

 

“Northeast Ohio Catholics have been thrust into the national debate about LGBTQ rights after the diocese released its policy…. for churches and 79 elementary schools and five high schools. It includes bans on students and staff from undergoing gender-affirming care; their use of new pronouns or first names; and the use of restrooms or other facilities different than their ‘God-given biological sex.’ Church and school staff must notify parents if their child may be transgender. Students and staff cannot display LGBTQ pride flags or other symbols. Students cannot attend dances or mixers with a date of the same sex.” Most of these Cleveland Catholic diocesan schools accept EdChoice Expansion vouchers from the state of Ohio.

 

But the larger injustice exposed here is even more distressing. More and more students under the state’s new universal school voucher expansion will be using public tax dollars to pay tuition at Catholic schools in greater Cleveland which are now—seemingly with impunity—explicitly discriminating against a specific class of students whose rights are protected under Title IX of the Constitution of the United States.

THE STORY OF ZIGGY

THE STORY OF ZIGGY

For those that do not know, Jerry / Rawgod and Jill started a blog for and about furry members of the family, pets in common terms.  I have fell in love with the stories, both the births, the deaths, and the stories in between as people talk about what their non-human family members brought to them.   All my life, dogs and cats have been the balm to sooth the hurts happening to me.  One of my greatest fears is losing my eyesight.   I read a book called “Follow My Leader” as a child, and it was about a young boy blinded who learned to deal with his sudden blindness and to work with his new companion, a seeing eye dog.  The post and video at the link above is wonderful.  Please go, read and watch, and support our furry non-human family members.   Hugs.  Scottie

We Live In The Age Of Idiocy | Recalibrate

Far-right Christian dominionists infiltrate schools, civic offices in Texas

Antonia Hylton, investigative reporter for NBC News and co-host of the new podcast Grapevine, reports on the infiltration of far-right Christian ideology into classrooms in Texas and across America.