It’s Here, It’s Here In Connecticut.

It was only a matter of time until it arrived here but it did in a blaze of animosity toward us.

The national book banning debate has come to CT: 'It's kind of tearing the community apart'

CT Insider

By Alex Putterman

May 30, 2023

For the past several weeks, the hottest subject of debate in Newtown has been a pair of books almost never checked out of the library.

On one side are parents who claim a pair of young adult books are overly graphic and should be removed from the shelves at Newtown High. On the other side are parents, students and activists who defend the books and see attempts to ban them as overreach and censorship.

Recent Board of Education meetings have become increasingly tense, with spirited public comment from both sides and a deadlocked vote among board members that seems to have stoked passions even further. On Facebook, arguments over the book challenges have been fierce and often nasty.

[…]

Though Connecticut hasn't seen as intense a book-banning push as states such as Florida and Texas have, the national trend has arrived conspicuously, with recent challenges not only in Newtown but also in Westport, Darien, Brookfield, Fairfield, Guilford and other towns. In most cases, challenges have concerned books addressing gender identity and sexuality, many of which have been at the center of controversies nationwide.

It is a 50/50 split, half the town wants to ban the books while the others want to keep them. 

Then he grabbed up some bolts, he let out a laugh*

Said i'll split them right down the middle

Gonna cut them right up in half

Newtown like most towns in Connecticut are Republicans while the cities are Democratic.

In Newtown, the fiercest book-banning debate anyone in town can remember began earlier this spring, when a handful of parents ("nine or 10," estimates the superintendent) filed formal challenges of two books: a graphic novel called "Flamer" that chronicles a queer Filipino-American teen bullied for his race, his weight and his effeminate presentation and another called "Blankets" that depicts a young man's struggles with religion, relationships and sexual abuse.

[…]

When the issue reached the Board of Education, however, it proved more divisive, splitting roughly along party lines. Democratic members have mostly defended the graphic novels and argued students be allowed to make their own choices. Republican members, who hold a four-to-three majority on the board, have described the books as obscene and explicit, suggesting students below a certain age should need parental consent to read them.

The “Do-gooders” want to tell everybody what to read and think.

What message does it send to the children? The messages that it send to the LGBTQ+ students is that they different and being LGBTQ+ is somehow evil, not to be talked about. And what messages does it send the straight students, that it is okay to pick on and harass LGBTQ+ students.

That the pain down in your soul was the same

As the one down in mine

That's the pain

That cuts a straight line down through the heart

We call it love

They say that it is about the children... but in reality it is about Republicans wanting to groom the students in their image.

Newtown has a Gay Straight Alliance (GSA), I am not surprised that the conservatives haven’t attempted to close it down because they have to offer it here in Connecticut, it is the law. The Connecticut Department of Education writes,

But in spite of the positive effect these groups can have in schools, some such groups have been unlawfully excluded from school grounds, prevented from forming, or denied access to school resources. These same barriers have sometimes been used to target religious and other student groups, leading Congress to pass the Equal Access Act. 

[…]

General statutes section 10-15c (and 46a-58(a) Deprivation of Rights) prohibits schools from discriminating against children in connection with permitting attendance and making schools open to them. If students are allowed to form other types of student organizations, then the school should not treat students differently on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.

To permit the formation of other student organizations and associations and to prohibit the formation of GSAs would constitute discrimination under 10-15c and a complaint could be filed with the CHRO claiming a violation of 46a-58(a) through the violation of 10-15c. Also, if a school permits access to school facilities to other clubs/organizations, as it cannot prohibit religious clubs it also cannot prohibit LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) clubs.

So the schools have to here in Connecticut allow GSA clubs.

At the most recent Board of Education meeting, most, though not all, community members who spoke did so in support of the books, painting efforts to remove them as censorship. Still, when it came time to vote, the three Republican members present (one was absent) came down against keeping them on the shelves without restriction, resulting in a three-to-three deadlock.

---

Then Mom’s for Liberty just out did themselves!

Moms For Liberty Speaker: Execute Biden In Public

Joe.

My.

God.

May 30, 2023

The Space Coast Rocket reports:

Moms for Liberty member and featured speaker Kaylee Campbell Layton has become a recent viral virus. Her bio says she’s located in “rent free” and is “Governments biggest fear.” Her husband, Ryan Layton is a United States Marine. They are recently married, and live on base at 29 Palms in California. Although she’s new to the military life, most people understand it’s usually not a wise career move to threaten your spouse’s boss, especially when that boss is the Commander in Chief.

But that’s exactly what this “Joyful Warrior” did. Kaylee has now disabled most of her social media accounts, and made her Facebook completely private. She went viral on her disabled or deleted TikTok when she made a video about Target carrying Pride clothing. Kaylee’s Discord account however is still very active, where she has spent the day calling individuals “fags,” retards, libs, and just about any other offensive epithet you can think of, while claiming being able to use the n-word is “equal rights.”

How’s that for liberty and freedom… we will kill you!

These people are sick the only freedom they want is to push their agenda on all of us.

***

I wrote this Thursday and since then the Blue state came through again!

Connecticut Public Radio wrote that we won!

The Newtown Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday to keep two books in the Newtown High School library.

There has been ongoing debate for weeks over the future of the books “Flamer” by Mike Curato and “Blankets” by Craig Thompson. Both are coming-of-age novels that discuss sexuality and gender identity.

---

Here is a letter to the editor in the LA Times via Yahoo News.

Parents boycotting school's Pride Day do their kids no favors

To the editor: To the parents at Saticoy Elementary who say regarding the Gay Pride and Rainbow Day Assembly, "Keep your kids home and innocent," I say this: Keep your kids home and keep them dumb, unaware and unprepared for life. ("Parents plan boycott over Pride Day at L.A. elementary school," May 24)

I don't think any parent wants to raise a bigot, but this is exactly how it is done. Exposing children to the idea that families come in all "sizes and shapes" (which us teachers know to be true) is not indoctrination. What is indoctrination is making children believe that their type of family is the only true family.

And as a former kindergarten teacher, I might add from experience: Even 5-year-olds these days are not totally innocent.

..

To the editor: As a Saticoy Elementary alumnus, I’m proud of the school’s legacy of welcoming successive waves of students and their families — the children and grandchildren of Armenian genocide and Jewish Holocaust survivors, Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II, immigrants from many lands, and those of us who are LGBTQ+.

The diversity of Saticoy’s community today is reflected by special programs for deaf and hard of hearing, dual-language and gifted learners.

Parents who stand up to this shameful boycott and send their children to school on Pride Day will be teaching their children important life lessons about respecting and celebrating differences and valuing every individual and family.

***

* The Origin Of Love Hedwig and the Angry Inch