Swimming Up Against Current

It is hard work to go against the flow and that is what one school board has done.

Elk Grove school board approves pride month proclamation after hours of public comment

CBS News Sacramento

By Ashley Sharp

May 16, 2023

School board members of the Elk Grove Unified School School District voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve a resolution proclaiming June as LGBTQ+ Pride Month district-wide. 

The meeting that started at 6 p.m. lasted five hours, with board members voting to extend the meeting through 11 p.m. due to the dozens of public commenters who signed up to speak, primarily on this topic. 

"I think it's important to show that all kids matter, all students matter," parent Sarah Wingard told CBS13. 

Wingard and other parents rallied for their LGBTQ+ students outside before the meeting started. They set up a rainbow-patterned tent with supplies to make posters with messages of support that would be displayed in a packed meeting.

"They don't have to hide in the shadows and they can be supported," said parent Josh Anderson.

It is different this year from all the others years in that,

This year, the resolution doubles down on support for trans students. The text reads, in part, that they "have the right to have their names, pronouns, facility needs, and participation in school athletics and aoctivities be affirmed in their schools."

Of course the right-wingers are hopping mad!

Parents in opposition to Tuesday night's Pride Month resolution also packed the meeting.

"I urge you to vote no," said one parent at the podium during public comment. 

[…]

In addition to opposing the Pride Month resolution, Atkinson and other parents have protested at several recent school board meetings. They say certain books in school district libraries are inappropriate and disagree with the school's comprehensive sex education program. These two topics came up repeatedly at Tuesday night's meeting by both sides of the debate. 

"Leave my kids out of it," said Atkinson.

I have a simple solution… don’t let you children read it but don’t tell other parents what their children can read or not read.

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There are companies that are just fair weather LGBTQ+ supporters,  remember How Tesla Used to Celebrate Pride Month?

Hey, Remember How Tesla Used to Celebrate Pride Month?

Elon Musk, now demonizing Target for supporting an LGBTQ organization, once touted his car makers's inclusive culture

Rolling Stone

By Miles Klee

May 31, 2023

FOR OVER A year, Elon Musk has railed against what he calls the “woke mind virus,” which is perhaps now best defined as anything other than far-right politics. More narrowly, the “anti-woke” culture warriors with whom Musk has found common cause are focused on antagonizing companies that appear to support the LGBTQ community in any way, shape, or form — including Anheuser-Busch, Nike, and Target.

Musk added more fuel to that fire last week, sharing a Fox News article that insinuated Target was funding the integration of “gender ideology” in schools by donating to the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), an organization that works to cultivate safe and inclusive learning environments where students aren’t bullied or harassed for their sexual orientation or gender identity.

But it wasn’t always like that, the company at one time supported us,

But Musk’s affinity for homophobic and transphobic propaganda is relatively new, and his car manufacturer, Tesla, used to roll out Pride Month promotions like any number of companies that conservatives today denounce as “woke.” This week, many Twitter users began resurfacing Tesla ads and merchandise aimed at LGBTQ customers, jokingly calling on Musk’s right-wing fanbase to boycott the brand. (Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the company had plans to mark the occasion of Pride this June.)

At one time the company had a 100% rating from the HRC Corporate Equality Index, however the winds blew the other way when the company moved to Texas!

Just weeks after he bragged about another 100/100 rating on the LGBTQ equality index in 2022, Musk revealed that Tesla’s Pride campaigns probably weren’t much more than virtue-signaling after all: a round of layoffs in late June reportedly included the leader of the company’s LGBTQ employees and a head of diversity and inclusion.

That’s why I don’t like the CEI many companies just provide lip service to get a 100%.

I think that they change came about when they moved to Texas and Musk is trying to cozy up to the Republicans.

How about we boycott Tesla?