Reframing

We cannot allow the Republicans to frame the issue of trans and gay students in the classroom, their lies are creating rejections of LGBTQ+ teachers and students.

Poll: Only 52% of Democrats oppose Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' policy
Yahoo News
By Andrew Romano
April 6, 2022


According to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll, more than three-quarters of Republicans (76%) support Florida’s controversial new “Don’t Say Gay” measure, which seeks to silence any discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in public elementary school classrooms by allowing parents to sue if they believe teachers have broached those subjects.

That isn’t surprising, what is surprising is the support of Democrats for the bill.

What may be more unexpected is that the new survey of 1,618 U.S. adults, which was conducted from March 31 to April 4, found that nearly a quarter of Democrats (24%) also think it should be “illegal” for “teachers or other school personnel to discuss sexual orientation or gender identity when teaching children in kindergarten through grade three,” despite weeks of objections and outrage from party leaders and activists.

We have to ask ourselves why are Democrats supporting the legislation?

It also explains why Democrats may struggle to respond. Overall, just 27% of Americans say discussions of sexual orientation or gender identity should be “legal” in K-3 classrooms — while nearly half (49% for sexual orientation, 48% for gender identity) say they should be “illegal.”

As usual, the Republicans took a “none issue” and made it into an issue.

In kindergarten through third grade there are NO classes about sex education in those grades but the Republicans has created the impression that sex education classes run rampant and the Democrats have done nothing to counter that impression.

Unfounded right-wing fears about “grooming,” which have also fueled the fringe QAnon conspiracy theory, are “spiking at a moment when long-marginalized LGBTQ identities are starting to appear in popular culture and to become more accepted,” according to a recent Washington Post report — and critics say it is precisely these fears that Republicans such as DeSantis are seeking to exploit.

Just like the attacks on trans athletes the Republicans have made a mountain out of a mole hill. When you ask people their thoughts on trans athletes most people knee jerk reaction is against us but when you say that there are less than a half dozen trans student athletes in the whole state they wonder why it is an issue.

When you say that no schools anywhere in the state teach sex education in K-3 people have the same thoughts, why is it an issue?

We have allowed the Republicans to create fear over issues that don’t exist, people fear that we rampantly inoculating their children in some type of recruitment drive to convert their children with classes, books, and sports for LGBTQ+ students.

What we have to is to reframe the issue… to that of harming the children. That children of LGBTQ parents are made to feel inferior and like their parents are something dirty. That the law is forcing LGBTQ+ children to remain silent and feel like they are sick.

However, reframing the issue is near impossible because more news outlets are either so short staffed that nothing meaningful is printed or owned by conservative billionaires who are pushing their own agenda.

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Update: 11:30AM

Kentucky governor vetoed trans athlete ban bill joining the governors of Utah and Indiana who vetoed their bills.

Trans sports ban vetoed by Kentucky governor
He joins two other governors in vetoing such bans.
ABC News
By Kiara Alfonseca
April 7, 2022


Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed a bill Wednesday that would ban transgender women and girls from playing on school sports teams that correspond with their gender identity from grades six and up into college.

Under the proposed bill, students would play on teams based on their sex assigned at birth.

Beshear, who is a Democrat, joins two Republican governors who vetoed similar bills in Utah and Indiana. In his veto letter, he said he shares their concerns that the bills could provoke lawsuits against the state and cause harm against transgender people.

"Transgender children deserve public officials' efforts to demonstrate that they are valued members of our communities through compassion, kindness and empathy, even if not understanding," the governor stated.

Umm… why should we have to prove something that no one else has to prove?