The Kids Know.

Today’s youth know more then their elders… and that is hopeful.

Student body leaders sign letter opposing new transgender laws
Idaho State Journal
By Betsy Z. Russell Idaho Press
April 25, 2020

Student body leaders from Idaho’s four public universities have joined together to sign a letter to Gov. Brad Little strongly disapproving of the two anti-transgender bills he signed into law this spring, both of which are now being challenged in court.

HB 500 forbids transgender women or girls from playing on school sports teams that match their gender identity; HB 509 forbids transgender Idahoans from changing their birth certificates to match their gender identity, which a federal court previously ruled Idaho must allow.

“We as student leaders and as future state leaders are disappointed with your decision to sign HB 500 and HB 509 into law,” the student leaders wrote. “The bills are unnecessary, potentially expensive, and may produce various legal repercussions. They also conflict with the general public’s support for the transgender community.”

Unlike their parents who fear those who are different from themselves, while the many children are comfortable being around trans children.

The youth are growing up with trans children, they are their classmates, they are their friends and they are their neighbors, and they support us.

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And in Russia a young adult was forced to flee in order to avoid the homophobic Putin’s laws.
Russian YouTuber forced to flee her homeland for the simple crime of inviting a gay man on to her show

A YouTuber has been forced to flee the country of Russia after she invited a gay man to be in one of her videos, and subsequently being convicted of violating Russia’s “gay propaganda” law.
Pink News UK
By Lily Wakefield
April 29, 2020

25-year-old Victoria Pich has been producing entertainment videos since 2013, according to Codastory, and over that time has gained almost two million YouTube subscribers.

Wanting to cover more serious topics, in 2019 she started a series titled “Real Talk”.

It was inspired by the American YouTube channel HiHo Kids and its “Kids Meet” series which shows children meeting different kinds of people – for example someone living with HIV, a divorce lawyer or an ex-gang member – to encourage them to ask questions and develop tolerance.

But it was then she crossed Putin’s line in the sand…

One episode she produced featured a gay man, 21-year-old graphic designer Maksim Pankratov, fielding questions from children.

Pich said she was proud of the video, which quickly attracted more than a million views, and was careful that sex was never mentioned.

She added: “What did we do? We just asked a person about his life.”

However, the “Real Talk” episode featuring Pankratov was where Pich’s problems began.

But then Putin’s gang got a whiff of… gays!

 A case was opened against Pich for violating the “gay propaganda” law in Russia. President Vladimir Putin and his government banned “gay propaganda” in 2013, prohibiting the “promotion of nontraditional sexual relations to minors” and meaning that sharing information about LGBT+ people’s lives can earn a prison sentence.

But this wasn’t all. The state prosecutor’s investigative committee also accused Pich of sexual violence against children and began investigating whether she had violated Article 132 of Russia’s criminal code. The law is most often used in cases of paedophilia and child pornography.

Gee… who does that sound like? Maybe someone in power here in the states that hates LGBTQ people?

So she ran to an oasis in the west.

She began to realise that authorities were not going to back down, and realised she had only one option. She booked a one-way ticket to America.

Now living in California, and only just beginning to learn English, Pich said: “If I knew about the consequences, I never would have done this.”

She will not be eligible to vote in the fall elections but you will.

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You would think that it is a slam dunk for us to vote Democratic but that is not a given, some LGBTQ people would rather vote from their pocketbook rather than their heart.

Gay Republicans praise Trump for easing the gay blood ban, but he didn’t even know about it
The Log Cabin Republicans are counting this as an LGBTQ win from Donald Trump, even though he didn't do it.
LGBTQ Nation
By Bil Browning
April 7, 2020

After the FDA announced they would loosen the restrictions for blood donation by men who have had sex with another man, a group for LGBTQ Republicans rushed out a statement thanking Donald Trump for his “leadership” and “quick thinking” during the coronavirus pandemic.

One problem: Trump had no idea the government was making the change. “I didn’t know anything about that,” he said.

The Log Cabin Republicans (LCR) issued a press release that obsequiously praised Trump while blaming former President Barack Obama’s administration for the gay blood ban, which was first put in place in 1983. The ban was first loosened under Obama in 2015, from a lifetime ban on blood donation from men who have sex with men to one year since the last time a man has had sex with another man.

As usual the Republicans twist the facts.

And loosening the rules for LGBTQ people to  donate was just throwing a dog a bone and it was done out of necessity with the drop in blood donors. A gay couple that I know have been together for thirty years and they married as soon as it was legal but when they went to give blood they were asked when was the last time they had sex and was denied to be able to donate their since they had sex within the six month limit (this was before the limit was dropped to 3 months). A straight couple could have had sex the night before and still give blood.

The FDA policy is nothing but bigoted and discriminatory, the policy should be based on risk assessment like the other nations are doing and not based upon bigotry.