Allies.

I figured you needed so good news!

I bumped the post that I wrote for this morning and went with this instead.

I have always said that it is the allies that bring change, we are somewhere around 0.8 percent, we need all the allies we can get.

Students across Iowa take part in walkouts to protest LGBTQ bills
Students from 26 high schools and two universities planned to participate in the walkouts to protest “discriminatory legislation.”
NBC News
By Jo Yurcaba
March 1, 2023


Hundreds of Iowa students took part in a school walkout Wednesday to protest a slew of proposed state legislation that they say discriminates against LGBTQ students.

Students from 26 high schools and two colleges coordinated the walkouts to take place throughout the day across the state. 

IowaWTF, a coalition of high school students that fights “discriminatory legislation,” and the Iowa Queer Student Alliance, a group for LGBTQ high school and college students, organized the day of protests.

Jemma Bullock, a member of the Iowa QSA, said the group is leading walkouts for two reasons: to educate students about the bills under consideration in the state Legislature and to get the attention of the lawmakers behind those bills.

“We are trying to make it so that it’s impossible for those in power to ignore us,” said Bullock, who is a senior at Ankeny High School, just north of Des Moines. “Because right now, there are people who are going to the Capitol and attending those public hearings about these bills — they have been teachers, psychiatrists, doctors, students, parents, administrators, all sorts of people who come and say, ‘This is harmful. This will have bad effects. This will cause bullying, it will cause depression and anxiety and it will not be safe for the LGBTQ+ community in our schools.’ And they just will not listen.” 

By mid-afternoon Wednesday, students and local reporters started to share images and videos from the walkouts on social media.

It is so nice to see all these people stand up and have our backs!

Can you imagine being a LGBTQ+ student all you hear is this negative s**t, it has to have an affect on the minds of the students.

“The worry here is that increasing the parental involvement in such a controversial issue and such a personal issue for a lot of students will definitely cause harm to them,” she said.

I do to.

This whole “Parental Rights” thing is about that, getting parents angry and getting them to vote. It is the Republican attack on education. Vouchers, parental involvement, banning books, “Don’t Say Gay” laws, they are all designed for one thing to strip public education.

But the students see it for what it is; persecution.

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Update 7:15 PM

Trans athlete wins court case to allow compete in powerlifting.

Transgender athlete wins discrimination case against USA Powerlifting
“I think we needed a win here, and it feels good to get that," JayCee Cooper said after the ruling.
NBC Out News
By Jay Valle
March 2, 2023


USA Powerlifting lost a two-year court battle this week after a judge ruled that it had discriminated against transgender athlete JayCee Cooper by banning her from competing in women's competitions.

The ruling also mandated that the sports organization "cease and desist from all unfair discriminatory practices" because of sexual orientation and gender identity and that it revise its policy related to sexual orientation and gender identity within two weeks.

“I feel mostly relief," Cooper told KARE-TV, an NBC affiliate in Minneapolis, after Monday's ruling. "I think we needed a win here, and it feels good to get that."

I think this case is not over but will go to the Supreme Court.

USA Powerlifting President Larry Maile said his organization disagrees with Monday’s court decision and will be exploring options, including a possible appeal.

“Our position has been aimed at balancing the needs of cis- and transgender women, whose capacities differ significantly in purely strength sports,” Maile said in a statement.

We won the skirmish but not the battle.