Did I ever tell you that I went through extensive therapy “to make me less girly” between 3rd and 5th grade?
Here’s a picture of the results to show you how well it worked ❤
To support my work : www.patreon.com/sophielabelle
Tag: Bigotry
Political cartoons / memes / and news I want to share. 5-4-2026
*** Scottie’s personal note here. From the youngest age I was called queer and this was in the 1960s. The first memory of being called that which I had no clue as to what it meant was when I was being held down and punched by my five-year-older hellspawn sibling who was telling me I was “queer”. I was only 3 or 4 at the time and was being trafficked to the man across the street along with her siblings boy friends / and taken to parties where I was drugged so I wouldn’t remember. Also at the same time along with her and her sister on cold nights when I begged for a warm place to sleep in their bed rather than the cold blanketless mat in the hallway that was my bed. I would have to “make them happy” for the privilege of a warm place to sleep in the Vermont winters. So when she called me that I asked what that was. She replied it was letting boys put their dicks in me and me sucking their dicks. I then said, but that is what I am told to do and I was very confused. This niceness of being punched and insulted lasted only a short while as the most understanding of my abusive hellspawn siblings who then became like the rest. She then became like the rest. She gloried over tiny me and the things I was made to do. She took my toys and gifts as the rest did. She later said I did not understand what it was like to live with her siblings who were also abusing me and farming me out. I asked her if she understood how hard it was for me to live among them during that time. She had no answer, because like in my childhood it was all about her. Hugs***
“It’s finally sweater-carrying weather.”
“Wow! New Yorkers really like out-of-towners!”
“Try to reduce your stress level, and if you somehow succeed please let me know how in God’s name you did it.”
“It’s like the sun comes out and you forget all about the impending doom!”
“After this, things are going to calm down for a little while, right?”
“Frankly, he’s so loud I think he must be compensating for something.”
We in the United States are living through what is arguably the biggest financial scam in America’s history. Led by the Reality TV New York City mobster thug occupying the White House.
Do you think Donald J. Trump gives a flyin’ fuck about “American heroes” or the like?
If Donald J. Trump and his sycophant billionaire buddies could make money off it, he’d create a “Garden of Jeffrey Epstein’s Underage Girls.”
“I love this time of the year—you know, when you make sense of all our spending.”
“Oh, wow! A bottle of gasoline!”
“They’re looking for ten thousand passengers who are willing to give up their seats.”
“We could drive to spring break and spend hundreds on gas, or fly and never actually get there.”
“Will you be using my story as a foil to reveal one of the doctor’s flaws, or is this a regular E.R.?”
“Looks like they’re rolling out the new food pyramid.”
“I understand there’s a problem you need made a million times worse?”
DOJ Targets IL Schools For Teaching LGBTQ “Ideology”
On the last post I made about this I was going to write a long intro. However when I read the comments every point I would have made is made in the comments in far fewer words than I would have done. So if you wish to see opinions on what the government is doing to follow Russia and wipe the LGBTQ+ from society in the name of protecting children / straight people / cis people / and religious privilege to discriminate then please read the comments. Hugs
Trump DOJ investigating ‘gender ideology’ in 3 dozen Illinois school districts
Trump DOJ investigating ‘gender ideology’ in 3 dozen Illinois school districts
Feds cite Title IX, recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings as basis for inquiry
Article Summary
- The Trump administration is investigating three dozen Illinois school districts to assess if their curriculums include “gender ideology” — and parental opt-outs — and whether trans students can participate in competitive sports.
- The districts are the latest in a string of public schools, colleges and universities across the country named as subjects of similar federal investigations since President Donald Trump began his second term last year.
- The ACLU of Illinois said the Trump administration is wrongly interpreting both federal and state law.
This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.
Three dozen Illinois school districts are the latest in a string of public schools, colleges and universities across the country named as subjects of federal investigations into whether the institutions teach about sexual orientation and “gender ideology,” and whether parents can opt out of such curriculum.
The inquiry, announced by the U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday, will also “assess” whether the 35 school districts around the state, plus Chicago’s largest charter school network, allow transgender students to use single-sex bathrooms or participate in competitive sports.
The DOJ’s notice did not say what prompted the investigation or why the districts — which range from rural schools with extremely small enrollment to one of the largest districts in Illinois — and the agency did not respond to a request for clarification. More than half of the school districts are in the Chicago area, though the list does not include any of the large suburban school districts that have attracted attention in recent years for litigation over trans students’ access to bathrooms and locker rooms.
Open interactive map in new tab
But Thursday’s announcement did point to a June 2025 U.S. Supreme Court decision that requires school districts to allow opt-outs for LGBTQ-related lessons in the classroom, plus a more recent March ruling blocking a California policy that allowed schools to keep a student’s gender transition private from their parents.
“This Department of Justice is determined to put an end to local school authorities keeping parents in the dark about how sexuality and gender ideology are being pushed in classrooms,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in the news release.
Dhillon, who advised Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign and rose to prominence as the face of several unsuccessful lawsuits against California’s COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, is the administration’s key lawyer on civil rights issues. As assistant attorney general for civil rights, Dhillon oversees the “Title IX Special Investigations Team” — a joint effort between the DOJ and U.S. Department of Education that was launched last year.
“Supreme Court precedent leaves no doubt: Parents have the fundamental right and primary authority to direct the care, upbringing, and education of their children,” Dhillon said. “This includes exempting their children from ideological instruction that contradicts their values or decisions about their children’s health and best interests.”
In a statement, Gov. JB Pritzker dismissed the inquiry as the Trump administration continuing to “punish states the president does not like,” calling it a “sham investigation.”
“The Civil Rights Division used to investigate actual discrimination concerns to ensure all individuals are treated equally under the law, but they’re now focused on belittling the rights and humanity of LGBTQ+ communities,” he said.
In 2019, Pritzker signed legislation requiring Illinois public schools’ history curriculum “include a study of the roles and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the history of this country and this state,” but Thursday’s news release made no mention of the law.
String of investigations
The DOJ’s announcement is similar to more than a dozen from the Trump administration since the president began his second term last January, most citing Title IX, the sweeping 1972 federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education.
One of his first official acts back in power was signing an executive order dubbed “Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports,” which threatened to “rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities.”
That included school lunch funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as the state of Maine found out in early 2025 after a public spat between the president and Gov. Janet Mills at the White House over the executive order. After the Department of Education launched an investigation into the state’s education agency and subsequently froze the funding, a judge ordered the USDA to unfreeze the funds, and the agency settled the suit.
In recent months, Trump’s DOJ and Department of Education have launched investigations into K-12 school districts and state education authorities in New Hampshire, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington and Maine again.
Inquiries announced last year in states like New York, Oregon and Washington are ongoing, though the administration has claimed it found evidence of violation of Title IX in Kansas and Colorado school districts. The administration has also launched, and in some cases wrapped up, similar assessments of public universities and community colleges.
ACLU of Illinois cites wrong interpretation
Ed Yohnka with the ACLU of Illinois said the Trump administration is wrongly interpreting both federal and state law, which he said are both “clear that students have an ability to play on sports teams and to use private areas consistent with their gender identity.”
Yohnka also said it was ironic that the Trump administration, brought to power by Republicans who generally oppose government overreach, was trying to limit local control of school districts.
“None of these schools need some ideological culture warrior in Washington, D.C., telling Watseka what their curriculum should be,” he said. “The notion that Justice Department is going to launch investigations and divert money for education because the president signed a piece of paper is just a misuse of our tax dollars.”
Yohnka said he wasn’t aware of any pattern among the three dozen districts the DOJ is investigating, but one school official from rural northwest Illinois has an “emerging operational theory.” In a social media post Friday, Oregon Community Unit School District 220 Superintendent PJ Caposey said he didn’t have “definitive answers” from the DOJ as to why his district was included, he posited it may have something to do with the districts’ participation in a federal School Violence Prevention Program grant.
“To be absolutely clear, this does not confirm that grant participation is the reason for inclusion, nor can we state that as fact,” he wrote. “It is simply one possible connection being explored as we work to better understand the broader picture.”
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
Political Cartoons / memes / and news I want to share. 5-3-2026
John Fugelsang: Reclaiming Jesus’ Teachings
I love this video. John Fugelsang is a wonderful person to elaborate on the bible and he does so as a follower of Jesus, not Paul or the Old Testament. His mother was a nun and his father was a monk and the way he describes his father wearing his robes is as the Christian jedi of Flatbush. He explains how those using the bible to attack or bash others including the LGBTQ+ are not following Jesus that they are following Paul. He explains clearly how Jesus brought a new covenant for the people doing away with the old one in Leviticus. He explained how those using the bible to bash others and not feed & clothe the stranger/ immigrant are totally against what Jesus preached. He also mentioned how those trying to force the Old Testament of the bible in schools never want the words of Jesus hung in classrooms in public schools, they never want the sermon on the mount posted on the walls. Those kind of people only want authoritarian laws or do and dont do pushed on kids. Enjoy the video, I listen to him on The Daily Beans (news with swearing) friday newscast and his Sirius talk show. Hugs
Republicans attach five anti-LGBTQ riders to State Department funding bill
Spending package would restrict Pride flags on federal buildings, trans healthcare, LGBTQ envoys
Published 20 hours ago on By
(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
As Congress finalizes its funding for fiscal year 2027, Republicans are attempting to include five anti-LGBTQ riders in the National Security and Department of State Appropriations Act.
A rider is an unrelated provision tacked onto a bill that must pass — in this instance, the bill provides funding for national security policy and for the State Department.
The riders range from restricting Pride flags in federal buildings to banning transgender healthcare, but all aim to limit the visibility and rights of LGBTQ Americans.
The five riders are:
Section 7067(a) prohibits Pride flags from being flown over federal buildings.
Section 7067(c) restricts the United States’ ability to appoint special envoys, representatives, or coordinators unless expressly authorized by Congress. These roles have historically been used to promote U.S. interests in international forums — including advancing human and LGBTQ and intersex rights and other policy priorities. The change would halt what the Congressional Equality Caucus describes as providing “critical expertise to U.S. foreign policy and leadership abroad.”
Section 7067(d) reinforces multiple anti-equality executive orders signed by President Donald Trump, effectively requiring that foreign assistance funded by the United States comply with those orders. This includes rescinding federal contractor nondiscrimination protections, including for LGBTQ people.
Section 7067(e) prohibits funding for any organization that provides or promotes medically necessary healthcare for trans people or “promotes transgenderism” — effectively banning funds for organizations that recognize trans people exist. This is despite the practice of gender-affirming care being supported by nearly every major medical association.
Section 7067(g) reinforces two global gag rules put forward by the Trump-Vance administration. One is the Trans Global Gag Rule, which prohibits foreign assistance funding for organizations that acknowledge the existence of trans people or advocate for nondiscrimination protections for them, among other activities. The second is the DEI Global Gag Rule, which prohibits foreign assistance funding for organizations that engage in efforts to address the ongoing effects of racism, sexism, and other forms of bigotry outside the United States.
The global gag rule has its roots in anti-abortion policy introduced by President Ronald Reagan in 1984, when the 40th president barred foreign organizations receiving U.S. global health assistance from providing information, referrals, or services for legal abortion, or from advocating for access to abortion services in their own countries. Planned Parenthood notes that the policy also affects programs beyond abortion, including efforts to expand access to contraception, prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, combat malaria, and improve maternal and child health.
If organizations funded by the State Department engage in these activities, they could lose funding.
This anti-LGBTQ push aligns with broader actions from the Trump-Vance administration since the start of Trump’s second term, which have focused on restricting human rights — particularly those of trans Americans.
The House Appropriations Committee is responsible for drafting the appropriations legislation. U.S. Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) serves as chair, with U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) as ranking member. The committee includes 34 Republicans and 27 Democrats.
For FY27 appropriations, Congress is supposed to pass and have the president sign the funding bills by Sept. 30, 2026.
Political cartoons / memes / and news I want to share. 5-2-2026
I apologize that this is such a short post for one of these. I want everyone to know I really did try as hard as I could. I am exhausted and very tired to the point that Ron has twice looked into my office and caught me sleeping. I am also in a lot of pain. Because of that right butt / leg pain Ron is again asking me to figure out how we can afford the back / spine surgery. I am holding off hopeing that my pain doctors can do more epidurals/spine shots that will help me with that pain. I do not want spine surgery f I can avoid it. On the other side Ron held me today when he came back from his sister’s place and was very affectionate. I asked if he wanted to have “relations” tonight and his answer was a strong yes if you want to my love. So I need to finish this and go to bed to await my wonderful loving husband. Hugs
Ok maybe not the right place but with all the attacks by the right Christian nationalists I think it is a great place to put this. Far too many men / people are now in the closet and denying their true selves because of the hate being pushed against them. Us older LGBTQ+ people faced this hate before, this hate constantly driven by religious bigotry and we beat it / over came it. The haters are having a last gasp resurgence, but that will wane and fade as even the non radical right doesn’t support discrimination against their LGBTQ+ children / grandchildren / friends / exstended family. Hugs
“Frankly, he’s so loud I think he must be compensating for something.”
Trump’s History Of Violent Political Rhetoric Backfires Spectacularly
Notice at the end The Majority Report crew plays a clip of all of tRump’s hateful rhetoric after the White House spokesperson blasts Democrats for hate speech inciting violence, which was the democrats telling the truth about tRump. Hugs
On a personal note I have allergy shots this morning. Hugs
Some Stuff To Read & Look At
Some entertaining; some, things about which to think. The first bit is somber; exceedingly somber. It is easy to just click through on the title to read the entire post; I subscribe for free, so I don’t want to just take the whole thing. Beneath, more stuff! Enjoy your May Day. 🌺
We Lost.
When the Supreme Court dealt the final blow to the Voting Rights Act, it completed its mission to erase the tangible results of the Civil Rights Movement.
Michael Harriot Apr 30, 2026
The dictum,”once a free man, always a free man,” though founded about as deeply in law, history and reason as, that “all men are born free and equal,” … [is] unimportant and ineffectual to protect the rights of citizens of slave States.
— Judge Hamilton Gamble
On March 22, 1852, America made a slave.
America’s race-based, constitutionally enforced system that legally extracted labor and intellectual property through violence or the threat of violence existed long before the 13 English colonies staged an insurrection against their British master. Colonial law made the condition intergenerational and perpetual. The founders wrote the fugitive slave clause to ensure that people who had already been reduced to human chattel couldn’t free themselves. But the Constitution didn’t make someone a slave. (snip-MORE, and so worth the click!)
And an antidote to that–click and fall in love!
Scottie's Playtime 