I normally write about the bad, here are two good story about straight people standing up for us.
The first story is about Texas and their anti-trans policy, it seems like that the social workers and agency employees don’t want anything to do with it.
Texas Family Services in Turmoil Over Gender-Affirming Care Probes
Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott issued a directive ordering child protective services to investigate parents who allow their trans children access to gender-affirming care, calling such care "child abuse."
The Advocate
By Andy Rose
September 5, 2022
A court filing from 16 current and former employees of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, along with the Texas State Employees Union, says the agency is "on the brink of collapse" following the state's decision to investigate the gender-affirming care of minors as potential child abuse.The brief cites a "string of departures" within the agency since the directive was put in place in February, arguing remaining workers will be spread dangerously thin.
The amicus curiae (Friend of the Court) brief was filed with the state's Third District Court of Appeals, which is considering whether the policy, prompted by an opinion from Attorney General Ken Paxton and ordered by Gov. Greg Abbott, was implemented legally. The governor and DFPS are appealing the March decision of a district court judge in Austin that put enforcement of the policy on hold. In May, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that DFPS could continue investigating families suspected of seeking out gender-affirming care while the case is appealed. At the time, DFPS confirmed that some nine families were under investigation.
As DFPS case workers quit, those remaining are forced to do more work, the court filing says. They further allege that the agency has been unable to meet its "baseline of care" for years, and that the state's policy on transgender children has "driven it to a new nadir." The filing also argues the directive was enacted illegally because the state did not go through the required formal process to create a new policy. The state has argued it did not need to do so because the directive is an interpretation of existing policies, not a new rule.
Imagine that. People who care for children realize that the state is doing harm to the children they are supposed to protect. It goes against their conscience what they are asked to do, but the politicians have no qualms.
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As LGBTQ+ students gather for Pride so do the anti-LGBTQ+ protesters, but the straight students step up to cover their backs.
- Brigham Young University students donned angelic garb to protect LGBTQ students from angry protesters on Saturday.
- LGBTQ students attended a "Back to School Pride Night" at a local park in Provo, Utah.
- Protesters came to disrupt the event, but the angel costumes helped block out their signage with anti-LGBT slurs.
Insider
By Yelena Dzhanova
September 5, 2022
Students dressed as angels protected LGBTQ students from anti-LGBTQ protesters hurling slurs at a "Back to School Pride Night" on Saturday night in Provo, Utah.The Raynbow Collective, a nonprofit organization that supports Brigham Young University LGBTQ students, put on the event at a park ahead of the school year, the Salt Lake City Tribune reported. The event, which occurs annually, this time attracted anti-LGBT protesters who yelled out "pedophile" and "groomer" at LGBTQ students.
"You're going against God," one man told the group of LGBT students, per the Tribune. Others marched around with signs imprinted with slurs.
About 300 people came out to enjoy the event. A dozen people dressed in angelic garb joined them, forming a barrier between them and the protesters, the Tribune reported.
One of the angles said,
"I'm doing this because I want our LGBTQ community to feel like they can be themselves and know we have their backs," Brigham Young student Sabrina Wong told the Tribune.
[…]
In response, Maddison Tenney, Raynbow Collective founder and Brigham Young senior, came up with the idea to create angel costumes to block the protesters and protect the event participants, the Tribune reported.
When I read the headline I thought that this was like what happened at Mathew Shepard's funeral to block the protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church…
The costumes and practice date back to at least 1999, when a group of people donned angel apparel to honor Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student who had been beaten and tortured by two men. Shepard died six days after the attack. Since then, people in angel costumes have continued to block anti-LGBTQ protesters at parades, rallies, and events.
Our allies are out there and they have our backs.
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