A new list shows dozens and dozens of books have been removed from library shelves in the Martin County School District. This comes as the state puts in new requirements for school librarians to review reading material, and districts must have a process allowing community members to challenge books.
Books by well known authors like James Patterson, Toni Morrison, and Jodi Picoult are now off the shelves in Martin County schools.
“99% of the books we have filed challenges on are highly sexually explicit books,” said Julie Marshall, who leads Moms For Liberty in Martin County and filed many of the objections. Jennifer Pippin, a fellow Moms For Liberty activist in Indian River County, said they share lists and work together.
The removal list includes Picoult’s novel “The Storyteller” about the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor who meets an elderly former SS officer. It contains some violent scenes told in flashbacks from World War II and an assisted suicide.
“Banning ‘The Storyteller’ is shocking, as it is about the Holocaust and has never been banned before,” Picoult told us in an email.
“Martin County is the first to ban twenty of my books at once,” Picoult said, slamming such bans as “a shocking breach of freedom of speech and freedom of information.” Picoult said she’s puzzled by the ban, because she does not “write adult romance,” as objections filed against her books claimed.
Insane: Under Ron DeSantis's book crackdown, 20 books by Jodi Picoult just got banned at one county's schools.
One of them is "The Storyteller," about the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor.
Virtually all the objections that resulted in dozens of books getting removed were filed by one person, according to documents supplied to @FLFreedomRead and to us.
The vagueness of DeSantis's directives appears deliberately designed to create a climate of fear and rampant snitching. It encourages teachers to censor themselves and invites parents/activists to become despotic little commissars of local book purging:https://t.co/y0tKdxz6Wspic.twitter.com/RqKtJYW9ub
We have updated the piece with a response from the local Moms For Liberty leader. As we reported, this one person was the primary objector to dozens and dozens of books, leading to their removal:https://t.co/y0tKdxz6Wspic.twitter.com/hWieaL0fAW
This is the point I always make. You ask these people to show you the “pornographic” books and whoopsy-poopsy it’s a bunch of books about the Holocaust, slavery, Jim Crow America, on and on and on….
I would be really happy if one of them were to ever hold up a copy of a “pornographic” book at one of their rant rallies, because it means I would get to alert the cops to a crazy person displaying / distributing pornography to the public.
Why are only right wing wackos challenging books? A gutsy liberal could challenge the bible. Of course they’d need 24/7 security, bulletproof windows and and armored vehicle to travel in because Florida is filled with dangerous raging cultists.
Let’s hope you’re right! Right now he seems to be steamrolling right along in creating not a bastion of “liberty” for moms and kids and dads and other adults, but a SLAVE STATE.
a fellow Moms For Liberty activist in Indian River County, said they share lists and work together.
So none of them have a goddamn clue what is even in the books they find so offensive, and if pressed on why they want to ban any particular book they would be unable to really explain it.
At what point do majority of the Americans and the rest of the world realize we are repeating history again? Until millions of people shove into the oven? Or until it get so uncontrollable that nations need to set off multiple nuclear bombs in the US to make blowing up Hiroshima looks like popping a balloon?
This is the republican view of governance, using the powers of the government to enforce their minority views on the public who disagrees with the party and to enrich themselves off the public treasury / legal bribery called lobbying. Hugs
Matt Gaetz: “We either get this government back on our side, or we defund and get rid of, abolish the FBI, CDC, ATF, DOJ, every last one of ’em if they do not come to heel.” pic.twitter.com/es25HODy0E
— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) March 3, 2023
BREAKING: Matt Gatez just threatened to abolish the DOJ, FBI, CDC, DHS and ATF, with dangerous rhetoric, before he goes on to claim that Republicans have FBI whistleblowers who are testifying.
Jon Stewart easily lures a pro-gun/anti-drag queen Republican into a trap…and then blasts him over his blatant, shameless hypocrisy.pic.twitter.com/xbdzbGqf1f
— TrumpsTaxes (@TrumpsTaxes on Post and Mast*don) (@TrumpsTaxes) March 3, 2023
This last one is to counteract all the crazy cruel crap and republican shit above. Enjoy with amazement at the skill of both of these two performers. Hugs
Sorry haters, but the facts have been known for decades. The traditionalists along with religious sects demand that only straight couples in a religious manner of marriage is necessary for the proper raising of children. Listen to them, I have posted it here, it has to be one man and one woman because that is the foundation of society. But here is more proof that is not true, it is a lie. How often do you hear these religious / traditionalists insist that same sex couples should be allowed to raise children? In Texas a trump judge took the parental rights from a woman because she was a lesbian and gave the parental rights to the sperm donor. Yes a male sperm donor the judge thought by the judge to be more acceptable as a parent than a lesbian. The woman was thought to be unfit to raise her own child because the judge hated gay people. Yet here is the studies that say that gay people can be as good if not better for children than straight people. Say no to bigotry and hate! Say no to remaining in the regressive past, but embrace the progressive future with a society that includes all the people. Hugs.
A new study found that children of same-sex parents have home lives that are as good or better than those of heterosexual couples.
The research, published in the BMJ Global Healthjournal, analyzed 34 studies across countries where same-sex marriage is legal.
In the study, they compared the development of children who were raised by couples that identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer or transgender — with those raised by heterosexual parents. The researchers, who were based in the U.S. and China, used data from 16 of the studies for their meta-analyses of the topic.
Their results suggested that children, especially preschool ages, may have a better psychological adjustment when raised by sexual minority couples than those raised by heterosexual couples.
The study also found that children raised by same-sex, or sexual minority, parents may have better relationships with their children than those raised by traditional heterosexual couples.
When analyzing relationship satisfaction and parental mental health, as well as family and parenting stress, the researchers found similar results among both groups.
Children also have similar physical health outcomes in both households, according to the study.
The researchers also said that social risk factors of those with poor family outcomes included stigma and discrimination, insufficient social support and marital status.
“The next step is to integrate multiple aspects of support and multilevel interventions to reduce the adverse effects on family outcomes with a long-term goal of influencing policy and law making for better services to individuals, families, communities and schools,” the study reads.
I tried to group these articles in some sort of order. But you can see the goals of the right just from the titles. The eradication of transpeople at any age from society. The removal of any gay rights with the goal of eradicating gay people from society. The enforcement of stereotypical gender roles and the returning to the days when women were dependent on men, and few had authority or independence on their own. They want tyranny and dictatorship of one party rule with no restraint on their activities even to the point of attempting the overthrow of the US constitution / government and the celebration of those that committed the illegal acts in the coup attempt. Republicans want to rule not govern, they want to have the people afraid to disagree with them or dare to speak against their rule. Just like the countries of China, North Korea, and their beloved Russia. Please notice the attempt is to return the US to the regressive oppressive times before the New Deal that empowered the public. They want 1910 to 1920. We had better join together to stop them or we won’t be able to. DerSantis is shopping the campaign slogan “Make America Florida”. Is that not enough of a threat to the country? Has the trump years not shown how quickly the right can move if given power to destroy all norms and rights to enforce their minority rule. McConnell even said that while republicans will lose elections the democrats couldn’t stop a republican stacked court system from enforcing republican goals for decades. He was correct. Mitch McConnell said, “My goal is to do everything we can for as long as we can to transform the federal judiciary, because everything else we do is transitory.” Hugs
Read the comments on this to see how things used to be for families and kids before labor laws and government assistance were created.Kids younger than five working a full day in the farm fields. Is this the grand vision of the future the country needs or wants? Think of every movie of the future that has a great working society and they are progressive but the ones with dystopian unfair or dangerous future and it is regressive oppressive hellish places were greed is king with businesses in charge killing any regulation that prevents profit. Hugs
I have been reporting on this for years now as the article says “…describes the current political landscape as a “war against LGBTQ people in America and their very right and ability to openly exist.” These laws have nothing to do with protecting children as they claim but instead are attempts to force regressive religious morality on the entire country by a minority who don’t feel comfortable with “those people” and want them removed from public view / discussion. With every push to return the country to the society of 100 years ago which rolls back every advancement in civil rights that have been achieved, these people are emboldened to push harder to oppress more people into living the way that maga Christian minority insists they have a right to force everyone else to live as. It is not enough for them to live as they wish, they insist you live the way they do also, that you believe as they do, that you follow the moral dictates written 2,500 years ago for a culture long gone. But it is not enough for these people and never will be until they are in charge of and get to rule over every aspect of your life. Allies of the LGBTQ+ we need to you stand up and add your voice to protect the rights of minorities, women, and the LGBTQ+. Hugs
Today’s heart rate readings have seen an improvement. The lowest it has been is 95 the highest sustained was 136 with the average so far of 126 bpm. So I am getting better. Still no call from the heart doctor’s office so Monday I will call them. This has been going on for too long and too dangerous, not to mention causing me to struggle to function. Hugs
Trans-rights activists protest outside the House chamber at the Oklahoma State Capitol on Feb. 6, 2023. (SUE OGROCKI/AP)
From bills in legislatures to restrictions in schools and health care, growing rhetoric throughout the US is part of a “full-out attack” against LGBTQ+ people, advocates say.
The volume and speed of anti-LGBTQ+ bills advancing through state legislatures has already defined 2023 as a historically challenging and frightening year, advocates say.
In a new report, the Movement Advancement Project (MAP), which tracks LGBTQ+ policy, describes the current political landscape as a “war against LGBTQ people in America and their very right and ability to openly exist.” It is a culmination of efforts: gender-affirming care bans for trans youth becoming law in states where such bills were previously blocked, growing efforts to restrict how students learn about LGBTQ+ subjects in schools, an increase in dehumanizing rhetoric that could lead to harassment or violence.
“I’ve been working in the movement for 15 years,” said Naomi Goldberg, deputy director and LGBTQ program director at MAP. “To me, this is a different moment. … It is hard to see this as anything but a full-out attack and full-out war on LGBTQ+ people when you look at all of the areas of life, at all of the parts of our communities that are being attacked.”
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the country’s largest LGBTQ+ organization, sounded similar alarm bells earlier in the week. The organization has so far tracked 340 introduced anti-LGBTQ+ bills, including the most anti-transgender bills ever filed that the group has seen.
Those bills include ones that would prohibit students from playing school sports that match their gender identity and bills that would restrict gender-affirming medical care for minors. Over 90 bills targeting medical care for trans youth have been filed so far, according to the HRC’s count. South Dakota and Utah have already signed such bills into law, while states like Tennessee and Mississippi are quickly moving similar bans through their legislatures. Other proposed bills direct school employees to effectively misgender students, mandating that students are referred to with pronouns that match their sex assigned at birth unless a parent intervenes.
“This situation is terrifying. It’s scary and it’s harmful. We know last year was bad. … we anticipate this year being historically bad,” Kelley Robinson, the president of HRC, said on a Tuesday press call with reporters.
Within the past three years, “firsts” in anti-LGBTQ+ bills have piled up, MAP’s analysis finds: the first legislative ban on trans youth playing sports that match their gender identity in Idaho, the first legislative ban on gender-affirming medical care for trans youth in Arkansas, the first state ban on the use of X as a gender marker on identity documents in Oklahoma, and the first “Don’t Say Gay” law passed in 20 years in Florida.
Efforts outside statehouses are another part of what make the current moment unique, per the report — including child abuse investigations ordered by the state of Texas against families seeking gender-affirming care and Florida’s board of medicine moving to restrict such care for trans youth.
Some LGBTQ+ advocates are concerned about the potential for new anti-trans bills to restrict whether families can seek gender-affirming care in other states if their own state bans the care. In Oklahoma, one bill prohibits doctors from making a referral to “any physician or health care professional for gender transition procedures” for patients under 18. The consequences of such a referral would be meted out by the state, which would have jurisdiction over its own doctors. However, since any referrals would have to be for out-of-state care, it still has the potential to limit interstate travel for gender-affirming care, said Logan Casey, senior policy researcher and adviser for MAP, over email.
More bathroom bills, which aim to restrict how trans people are able to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity, are filed this year than in previous years, per the Human Rights Campaign’s count — and fewer bills targeting how trans students can participate in sports are being introduced.
Even when the legislation doesn’t become law, it still causes harm, Olivia Hunt, policy director at the National Center for Transgender Equality, stressed during the call. Hunt pointed to a recent poll that found 86 percent of surveyed trans and nonbinary youth said that debates around state laws restricting LGBTQ+ rights for young people negatively impacted their mental health.
“Trans youth are making their way through an already difficult world, where they’re trying to understand who they are … and on that journey, they’re vulnerable, and they deserve the love, respect and support of their communities. Instead, they’re portrayed as someone to be feared, controlled or erased,” Hunt said.
The Biden administration has vocally supported LGBTQ+ rights, directing federal agencies to roll back Trump-era policies that advocates denounced as discriminatory and prioritizing data collection on LGBTQ+ experiences. Goldberg said she wants to see enforcement of federal protections from the Biden administration. Those include the Department of Health and Human Services’ proposed rule to restore protections for gender identity and sexual orientation under the Affordable Care Act, and Title IX protections proposed by the administration that would apply to trans students. Following Biden’s State of the Union address, HRC called on the administration to finalize both of those rules.
“I think it would be great to have more leadership,” Goldberg said.
“In God We Trust” is a motto, not a part of America’s origin story. Mondale Robinson breaks down the historical basis for the separation of church and state on Rebel HQ.
“A Florida school district voted this week to ban a book on penguins—yes, penguins—from its libraries, claiming the book’s “sexual innuendo” was inappropriate for elementary students.
In a 3-2 vote on Monday, the Escambia County School Board, near Pensacola, deemed And Tango Makes Three unsuitable for students, overriding the recommendation of a district-mandated review committee made up of administrators, teachers, parents, and community members.
“The fascination is still on that it’s two male penguins raising a chick,” board member David Williams said ahead of the vote. “So, I’ll be voting to remove the book from our libraries.”
Scottie's Playtime 