When You Stir Up Hate

It gives permission to others to behave badly.

Trans students attacked as ‘perverts’ in North Georgia
Project Q Atlanta
By Matt Hennie
May 13, 2016

BLUE RIDGE, Ga. – A transgender student, in tears, described the beatings and harassment he faced from classmates at Fannin County High School. But that didn't stop a crowd of hundreds from cheering on other speakers who called LGBT people "perverts" and "pedophiles" that threaten the safety of students.

The emotional testimony came Thursday as Fannin County in North Georgia became the latest flashpoint in the debate over LGBT equality. More than 300 people filled the high school cafeteria, with hundreds more watching in a nearby gym, to speak out during the Fannin County Board of Education meeting. Residents were outraged over rumors that the school system was going to allow transgender students to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity rather than their gender at birth.
[…]
Some 50 people spoke during a public comment session that lasted nearly three hours. They included local pastors, parents, school system employees, students and a handful of LGBT residents who offered support for students like Xavier Eaton. The 2012 graduate of Fannin High described the torment he experienced as a transgender student at the school.

"I was beaten up more than once. I never said anything. There was no one there who understood what I was going through. I did it alone," Eaton (top photo) said. "Just because you don't understand something doesn't mean you can't accept it or coexist."

"I am not here to get an uproar or clapping and hurrays. I am here to let every student know that if you are transgender and you are scared, I am here. I will be there for you. I may be transgender, but I am also a Christian. And my God tells me that everyone's life matters. Everyone's," he added.

Children learn through their parents, when the parents hate so do their children. When children see their parents hating it give them tacit permission for them hate and do worst to the focus of their hate.

Since North Carolina passed their harsh anti-LGBT law there has been an increase in calls to the trans suicide hot line. With statements like these can you wonder why the calls are increasing?

  "Perverts is what they are – in with our daughters and wives in these restrooms across our cities and our nations," Walden added.

"We have come to the point in America that every immorality is acceptable and every moral conviction is now bigotry," he said.

On Friday I had a call from a news editor at a local television station and they were looking for background information on the President’s statement on trans rights. When I mentioned that Connecticut has had a similar policy in place since 2011 she was surprised and she asked if there were any trans students in Connecticut schools. When I told her that there were and they were using facilities of their gender identity, she asked why there was no backlash from parents I told this is Connecticut not the South.

I don’t know if my talk with her had any influence on her story but I like to think so.

State education officials: Gender identity determines team for Connecticut athletes
Fox 61
By Associated Press
May 13, 2016

HARTFORD — Education officials say Connecticut transgender students not only can use the bathroom of their choice, but also play on sports teams that match their gender identity.

Vincent Mustaro, head of policy for the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education, says new recommendations on transgender student rights from the Obama administration are nothing new in this state.

The state association in 2013 began recommending schools adopt a policy that students “shall have access to the restroom that corresponds to their gender identity consistently asserted at school.”

Let’s teach our children to embraced diversity not despise it.

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This afternoon I am at a fundraiser for GLAD, they were one of the leaders in the effort to pass the gender inclusive and birth certificate laws here in Connecticut.