Two Worlds

We live either in Heaven or Hell, it depends on which side of the Mason Dixon line* you live on. Depending upon where you live, it is either laws to drive us in to the closet again or laws protecting us from discrimination.

Two Americas for queer people: HRC report finds stark differences in LGBTQ+ rights at the state level
It was the worst year ever for anti-LGBTQ+ state legislation, but there were some significant victories.
The Advocate
By Trudy Ring
January 30 2024

The nation’s blue state-red state divide shows up sharply in the Human Rights Campaign’s 2023 State Equality Index, released Tuesday morning, with many states squarely in the pro-LGBTQ+ rights camp, about as many just the opposite, and few in the middle.

The HRC Foundation (HRC’s educational arm), in partnership with the Equality Federation — a network of state-based LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations — assessed the LGBTQ+ rights records of all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The assessment included looks at nondiscrimination laws, relationship recognition, hate-crimes statutes, laws affecting young people, and more.

"Last year was the most damaging and destructive legislative session we have ever seen for the LGBTQ+ community - particularly transgender youth. This year, sadly, we expect more of the same," Kelley Robinson, the president of HRC said in a release. "But these attacks are out of touch with the American people – and they are a losing political strategy. We are the majority, and we will not stop until we are setting new records in support of LGBTQ+ people in every corner of the country."

In the meantime these states were heaven for us...

Twenty states, the same number as the previous year, plus D.C., placed in the highest-rated category, “Working Toward Innovative Equality”: California, Maine, New York, Colorado, Nevada, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Illinois, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Maryland, Washington, Delaware, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New Mexico, and Virginia.

And down in hell for us were…

Twenty-three states were in the lowest-rated category, “High Priority to Achieve Basic Equality”: Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Missouri, West Virginia, North Carolina, Montana, Georgia, Florida, Wyoming, Louisiana, Texas, Idaho, South Carolina, Mississippi, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Alabama.

Gee, what do the “Hell” states have in common?

Could they possibly all be Republican states!

Oakley attributes the rash of anti-trans bills to the fact that right-wing politicians have lost on so many other LGBTQ+ rights issues, including marriage equality. “Our opponents are running out of issues that are galvanizing to their base. … They needed a new issue, and they settled on trans kids,” she says.

Do you know how many LGBTQ organizations folded once marriage became the law of the land? I know the one here in Connecticut, the donations dried up. They raised their fist and shouted “We Won!”  wiped their hands and walked away.

The HRC report said,

"This past legislative session marked one of the most daunting periods for transgender rights, requiring effective strategies and relentless advocacy from folks on the ground,” said Fran Hutchins, executive director of the Equality Federation Institute, in a news release. “Despite the increasing number of bills filed nationwide, advocates and activists were able to beat back the majority of this legislation. Queer and trans people are powerful, and we are not going anywhere.”

Meanwhile the trans community was saying “Mark our words, they will be coming for you next!”

 

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Down in Florida,

Florida GOP lawmakers seek to ban rainbow flags in schools
GOP Rep. David Borrero says children need to be protected from images of the LGBTQ+ and Black Lives Matter movements.
Scrips News Service
January 18, 2024

A bill advanced by Florida Republicans on Wednesday would ban teachers and other government employees from displaying a rainbow flag — or even wearing one as a lapel pin for a day — but they could hang the full-size flag of any "recognized nation" as long as they want, according to the bill's sponsor.

Flag displays that depict a "racial, sexual orientation and gender, or political ideology viewpoint" would be banned from any state or local government building, including public schools and universities, under the bill authored by GOP Rep. David Borrero.

Opponents say the bill is inspired by hate. Borrero said it protects children and it would ban even lapel pins representing the flags of the LGBTQ+ and Black Lives Matter movements.

"Public classrooms should not be the place where our kids go to be radicalized and evangelized into accepting these partisan, radical ideologies," Borrero said. "It's wholly inappropriate to be putting those types of flags in front of public school students and in government buildings."

It is the Republicans who grooming children, telling them what to say, what to read, what flags to fly. They are grooming the children to be nice little non-thinking conservatives who hate people who are different.

*Yes, I know that there are also northern states that have passed anti-LGBTQ legislation.