Pitchforks, Tar, And Feathers

The assault on us never ends but there are some rays of hope.

Once again the Republicans are again trying to dehumanize us…

Delaware's transgender students: Separate but equal?
Delaware Online
By Margie Fishman
January 17, 2018

A proposed statewide anti-discrimination regulation, designed to protect transgender students and other vulnerable groups, has touched off an explosive debate in Delaware that threatens to derail the policy's implementation. 

The conflict pits Democrats against 14 House Republicans, conservative Christians against LGBTQ advocates, parents against school superintendents, local school boards against state educators, and the central Delaware NAACP against the state NAACP.

Absent an explicit directive from the General Assembly, one House Republican has threatened to sue if the state moves forward.

Of course the right-wing and white supremacist haters stepped in to stir up bigotry and lies into the debate,

Almost immediately, Breitbart News and other alt-right media outlets seized on the most controversial piece of the guidelines, which would allow students to self-identify their race and gender at school –– regardless of their age, even if their parents object.

And it had its effect with over 11,000 comments from around the country.

Meanwhile down in Tennessee they Republicans introduced their annual “bathroom bill.”

Group vows 'massive resistance' to retooled McCormick transgender bathroom bill
Times Free Press
By Andy Sher
January 18, 2018

NASHVILLE — For just a little while Wednesday, it appeared that Rep. Gerald McCormick was giving up on a controversial bill the Chattanooga Republican introduced that resurrects Tennessee's transgender school bathroom controversy.

McCormick moved on the floor to withdraw the measure, drawing attention from both Democrats and LGBT advocates who had criticized the measure that would have required the state attorney general to defend school policies from legal challenge or have the state pay their legal costs.

But no, the issue is not going away, McCormick said in an interview, adding he plans to introduce a re-tooled version.

"We got another one coming in behind it which should be a little clearer," McCormick said, adding sarcastically that "plus, I wanted to give the Democrats time to introduce their own legislation since they're so opposed to this and in favor of men being in little girls' bathrooms."

But he doesn’t have much support in the bill…

More than 700 Tennesseans flooded McCormick with emails "telling him to withdraw the bill he ran," Sanders said. "And he's going to get that again from all over the state if he runs another one. It's going to be a lot of work to run this bill. I would hope that he will reconsider."

We are not alone in his attacks,

Meanwhile, action on two controversial bills left over from the 2017 legislative session has been delayed because original sponsors have departed from the House and Senate.

One defines marriage as being between a man and a woman and directs state officials to ignore the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Obergefell ruling in 2015 that effectively legalized same-sex marriage.

But all is not gloomy as the season.

Glenbrook 225 residents express support for transgender student policy
Chicago Tribune
By Alexandra Kukulka
January 6, 2018

A group of residents addressed the Glenbrook High Schools District 225 Board of Education Monday night and made statements of support for the district’s first transgender student policy as the board prepares to vote on the measure.

At its December 2017 meeting, the board was presented with a draft of the policy, which states that its purpose “is to ensure that all individuals who identify their gender differently from their sex assigned at birth do not encounter discrimination based on that identification.”

Superintendent Michael Riggle said at the December meeting that what is stated in the proposed policy has already been common practice at both high schools. The administration decided to create an official transgender student policy after Northbrook School District 27 created a similar policy over the summer, he said.

The policy is meant to provide teachers and staff with a framework for working with transgender students and to protect the district from possible lawsuits, Riggle said. While doing research for the policy, Riggle said he discovered nearby school districts do not have official transgender student policies.
[…]
No one spoke out against the policy at the meeting and Riggle said the district did not receive any emails opposed to it.

The outcome is sure different if you don’t have the white supremacist and evangelical christians stepping in to cause trouble.