I Remember: How a Computer and the Internet Changed My Life

[Editorial]

A long, long, long time ago, around the turn of the century, we got PCs and the internet at work. I’ve told this story many times, but the point I want to make today is how it was the internet that opened the door for me. I found others who thought and felt like me. There was a community out there. As a trans person, the internet showed me it was possible to transition and have a life.

But now they want to throttle the internet. There have been bills introduced to prevent children from accessing parts of it. The question is: who decides? The government or the parent?

You know how the Republicans are always screaming, “parental rights!”? Well, now the Republicans want to judge who can see what and when. They want you to prove you are over 18 or 21. How the heck can you do that? When I go onto a pot store website, they ask, “Are you 21 or over?” Oh yeah, like that will stop kids from lying.

But it's deeper than that. If the government decides what is "adult," they often lump LGBTQ+ resources, transition support, and sex education into that bucket. They claim they are blocking "harmful content," but they are actually cutting off lifelines for kids who are just trying to understand who they are.

If you want to stop children from accessing actual adult websites, here is a very simple way to do it. You have to be 18 to get a phone or an internet plan, so all you have to do is have a checkbox when you open the account: “Do you want to block access to adult websites on this device?” It is as simple as that. Put the choice back with the parents, and leave the government out of it.

[/Editorial] 

Social Media & The LGBTQ+ Community

[Editorial]

There is a problem brewing on social media. Controlling what minors can view online is becoming another battleground. Conservatives want to block children from visiting LGBTQ+ websites, much like they have pushed to ban books with LGBTQ+ topics.

You all have probably seen the news, governments around the world are cracking down on what minors can view. But that raises questions! 

All this "Age Verification" bills could be bypassed be a ten year old! Fair Play wrote;

Our legal analysis of the Kids Online Safety Act

by Haley Hinkle, Fairplay Policy Counsel

Fairplay has been a vocal champion of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) because of the many ways the bill will create a safer, less manipulative internet for kids and teens. Critics have highlighted two primary concerns with the bill: That it enables widespread censorship, and that it will lead to age verification and identification checks across the internet. Today, we wanted to share our analysis of these issues and explain why we believe both outcomes are highly unlikely.

Censorship

Critics of KOSA have argued that the bill’s Duty of Care will lead to widespread content censorship online, including censorship of content from and about the LGBTQ+ community. These critics contend that in order to comply with KOSA and avoid lawsuits from state attorneys general, companies will remove entire categories of content from their platforms. One critic has gone so far as to claim, “If KOSA passes, all the benefits of accurate health information, social networking, community, and access to help in a questioning or crisis situation will be eliminated for all LGBTQ youth.”1

Contrary to such hyperbolic claims, the text of the bill does not create a basis for content censorship, as we have previously outlined.2 The Duty of Care in Section 3 requires covered platforms to examine the impact of the design and operation of any product, service, or feature on specific, enumerated harms. Covered platforms are required to take reasonable measures to prevent and mitigate those harms. The listed harms are clearly defined and connected to the demonstrated harms children and teens face online every day. Section 3 also includes a limiting principle that says nothing in the Duty of Care shall be construed to prevent “any minor from deliberately and independently searching for, or specifically requesting, content.” The bill text is clear: a platform’s obligations under the Duty of Care are not about any individual piece of content’s existence or removal.

Critics have not provided a basis for their assertion that platforms will comply with KOSA’s Duty of Care requirements by engaging in widespread censorship. There are countless examples of design choices and product offerings that would be subject to scrutiny under KOSA. Products such as Snapchat and Meta’s AI chatbots, which target young users in order to maximize engagement,3 and the expansion of Meta’s Horizon Worlds VR to teenagers, and now, preteens4 would have to be assessed for their potential impact on kids and teens before they are launched and harm young users. Further, Big Tech would be required to assess the impact of design features such as endless scroll and autoplay as well as content recommendation algorithms and to mitigate the impact of those features on the enumerated harms.5 [For the footnotes see the article]

That is what I wonder about, what will happen to us the trans community? When I was growing up all I could find an trans stuff. When I leaned the word "Transsexual" I looked it in the libraries' card files. The only thing that I could find was "pervert" and "mental disorder" Will we going back to that?

The ACLU writes,

As jazz music, which began in Black communities, spread across the nation in the 1920s, more than 60 cities adopted rules limiting or outright banning it in dancehalls. Clergy and civic reformers claimed its rhythms promoted sexual freedom and interracial dancing among the youth.

Jazz was just the beginning. In the 1950s, the government set up investigations into crime, horror, and excess violence in comic books, calling on the industry to introduce rating systems and encouraging a ban on extreme violence. A few years later, Santa Cruz police shut down a dance for “highly suggestive, stimulating and tantalizing motions.” The kids were dancing to rock ‘n’ roll, which the city ultimately banned along with “frenzied forms.”

[...]

Legislatures around the country are responding to growing concerns about the potential harms of social media for children and teenagers. They’ve introduced bills with a hodgepodge of strategies to target these potential harms, including requiring people to verify their age before using social media, getting verified parental consent for minors, and mandating social media platforms to block material that the government deems harmful for kids. But whether it’s banning jazz or content on social media, broad attempts to regulate speech fail to protect children and violate the First Amendment in the process.

But still they do it! Why? Because they know that the other side will say that they are anti-children, So instead they will pass feel good legislation... see we are doing something!

My take on all of this is, the person who is paying for the phones gets to rule what their children can access! Not the government! Simple when you get internet or a phone you check off when you can access. The rallying cry for the Republican's is "Parental Rights" but they also have "Parental Duties!" So why does the Republicans want impose this on everyone and not the parents?

All you need when you get internet or a phone...

• ✓ I want this phone to block websites with adult material
• ✓ I want this phone to block social media
• ✓ I want this phone to allow parent monitoring

That is what they need! Not some fancy laws, not laws where right-wing bigots can can block anything LGBTQ+

[/Editorial]

 

The First Amendment. What's That?

This is what authoritarian governments do... like Putin's, like Orbán's. Control the media, control the messaging, control the propaganda!

Trump administration threatens news outlets over critical coverage of Iran

FCC chair says news outlets that share ‘distortions’ about US war with Iran could lose their licences.

Al Jazeera

By Brian Osgood

14 Mar 2026

The administration of President Donald Trump has warned that news outlets could have their broadcasting licences revoked over critical reporting on the war against Iran, accusing the media of “distortions”.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr said in a social media post on Saturday that broadcasters must “operate in the public interest”, or else lose their licences.

“Broadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions — also known as the fake news — have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up,” Carr wrote.

The warning was the latest apparent threat from Carr, who has repeatedly attracted scrutiny for statements that appear to pressure broadcasters to conform with Trump priorities.

Despots need to control the messaging!

Carr’s latest statement prompted swift condemnation from politicians and free-speech advocates, who likened his remarks to censorship.

“This is a clear directive to provide positive war coverage or else licenses may not be renewed,” Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii wrote.

“This is worse than the comedian stuff, and by a lot. The stakes here are much higher. He’s not talking about late night shows, he’s talking about how a war is covered.”

Why what is Trump hiding? His ineptitude?

USA Today wrote,

Carr recently urged broadcast companies to air “patriotic, pro-America content” as part of programming aligned with the country's 250th anniversary.

MSN...

Trump calls 'lowlife' media 'sick and demented' over Iran war coverage

KCBD writes that,

The Trump administration denounced CNN on Thursday for airing a portion of the new Iranian supreme leader’s public statement, the second time in three days that he’s targeted the network for reporting on how the regime is responding to the American attacks.

The attack illustrated the care news outlets must take in reporting during wartime, and the responsibilities of American journalists to report the perspective of countries its government views as enemies. It also exposed inconsistencies. The message of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei during his first public statement since he succeeded his father, who was killed in an Israeli air strike, was widely available elsewhere.

The White House said on social media that “fake news CNN just aired four straight minutes of uninterrupted Iranian state TV, run by the same psychotic and murderous regime that prided itself on brutally slaughtering Americans for 47 years.”

Question: How can it be fake news when they are showing him speaking? Is Trump saying it is AI like the stuff he puts out? He must think that because he does everyone is doing it?

What does he want? Coverage like it was during the Stalin era in Russia?

Censorship!

That is what it really is… Trump has learned the carrot and the stick approach. Everyone, and I mean everyone is tied to Washington by their purse strings! 

• Hospital: Stop your treatment and turn over your medical records of trans people or we’ll cut your funding! 
• Libraries: Take down these books and exhibits or we’ll cut your funding! 
• Universities: Strip your diversity programs or we’ll cut your funding! 
• Researchers: Stop this research or we’ll cut your funding! 
• Public broadcasting: We will just pull the strings from you because we don’t like what you say about us. 

There were limits to federal programs before but they were used to make sure the funding was applied equally but now the funding is being used to push racist, transphobic, and misogynistic agendas.

Trump also has a history of freezing news organizations out of the White House Press Room: AP, Reuters, and Bloomberg get the cold shoulder, The White House also changed the way news agencies are picked from the press pool picking them to the White House picking them.

It is all so Trump & Company can control the message.

During World War II Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment controlled:

• Controlling all media, including newspapers, radio, film, and literature.
• Promoting the party's ideology, including antisemitism and Hitler’s cult of personality.
• Censoring dissenting views.
• Organizing mass rallies and public events to influence German opinion.
• Spearheading wartime propaganda to maintain morale and demonize enemies.

Do you see any similarities? 

---

But even more alarming is how the media caved in to Trump. They are not Horace Greeley–style defenders of the free press anymore, but now they are defenders of the corporate bottom line.

Case #1: CBS & Viacom

Trump complained about the 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris and agreed to a censor board because of the upcoming merger that needed FCC approval.

Case #2: The firing of Kimmel

To get on the good side of Trump, ABC abruptly cancels Jimmy Kimmel Live. Why? Because Trump was on a campaign to censor anything negative about Kirk. The BBC reported, “The suspension came just hours after Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr threatened to act against Disney and ABC over Kimmel's remarks.”

This is indirect censorship but it is still censorship.

They says the cancelling of the Stephen Colbert was financial but, in the light of all the other censorship going on it makes one wonder. Did politics factor into the decision? 

The Guardian reports,

‘Censoring you in real time’: suspension of Jimmy Kimmel show sparks shock and fears for free speech

ABC decision over Kimmel comments comes hours after Trump-appointed chair of US media regulator threatened broadcaster’s affiliate stations’ licenses

By Jonathan Yerushalmy

Wed 17 Sep 2025

Politicians, media figures and free speech organisations expressed anger and alarm at the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show, warning that critics of Donald Trump were being systematically silenced.

ABC announced it was suspending Jimmy Kimmel Live! indefinitely after comments Kimmel made about Charlie Kirk’s killing led a group of ABC-affiliated stations to say it would not air the show.

On Wednesday evening, California governor Gavin Newsom called the firing of commentators and cancelling of shows “coordinated” and “dangerous.” He went on to say that the Republican party “does not believe in free speech. They are censoring you in real time.”

Democratic senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said “everybody across the political spectrum should be speaking out to stop what’s happening to Jimmy Kimmel.” His colleague Chris Murphy said it was likely the start of a campaign to “use the murder of Charlie Kirk as a pretext to use the power of the White House to wipe out Trump’s critics and his political opponents”, while Democratic politician Ro Khanna said “this is perhaps the first administration to make comedy illegal”.

But when right-wing Fox commentator said, 

Sharing recent footage of Fox commentator Brian Kilmeade calling for mentally ill and homeless people to be killed, comedian Paul Scheer wrote: “So let me get this straight. Kimmel is off the air for his comments about the politicization of an assassination but this is totally fine.” Kilmeade later apologised for his “extremely callous” remarks.

When I was growing new departments were “Cost” centers and became “Profit” centers, in other words… that is when the newsroom stopped serving the public interest and started serving shareholders, the mission of journalism changed. The truth was no longer enough—it had to sell.

Just look at some of the billionaires who own media outlets;

• Rupert Murdoch: News Corp / Fox News / Wall Street Journal / New York Post / The Sun / The Times (UK) etc.
• Jeff Bezos: The Washington Post
• Patrick Soon-Shiong: Los Angeles Times
• John Henry: The Boston Globe
• Marc Benioff: Time magazine

It all became about the bottom line. The First Amendment and Freedom of the Press don’t mean anything any more.

---

Update: 9/19 @ 4:00AM?

Jon Steward speech on censorship in 2022 and "The Young Turks" 

MEDIAite writes back in 2022,

Jon Stewart argued for comedy’s importance to a healthy culture as he warned that authoritarian leaders remain the greatest threat to comedians.

The former Daily Show host was honored at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. on Sunday night with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. After roasts from Dave Chapelle, Jimmy Kimmel and his old Daily Show colleagues in attendance, Stewart gave a speech while accepting the award, and warned about what comedy’s place in society says about the world at large.

Stewart referenced Will Smith’s infamous slap of Chris Rock at the Oscars as he argued that audience sensitivity is still less of a threat to comedy than authoritarianism.

“It’s not the fragility of audiences. It’s not the woke police that are going to be an existential threat to comedy,” Stewart said. “It’s not the ‘Fresh Prince.’ It’s the crown prince. It’s not the fragility of audiences. It’s the fragility of leaders.”

Stewart went on to describe the role of comedy by saying it “doesn’t change the world, but it’s the bellwether. We’re the banana in the coal mine.”

The handwriting was on the wall.

---

@1040AM

Here is Richard email that he mentions in his comment,

What falls, in order.

Authoritarianism does not come all at once. It advances step by step, cutting away freedom until nothing remains.

1. Truth: Already Fallen / Severely Eroded

Propaganda floods every channel. Disinformation overwhelms facts. Expertise is smeared as elitism. States normalize the idea that only their controlled voices are the holders of "truth". Reality itself is bent to serve power.

2. Free Speech: Partially Fallen

Attacks on media grow. Lawsuits and intimidation campaigns silence critics. Now comes the organized snitching campaign: workers reported to their employers, fired for exercising their First Amendment rights. Neighbors are weaponized. Speech on paper becomes punishment in practice.

3. Minority Rights: Already Fallen

Trans rights rolled back. DEI dismantled. Civil rights protections stripped away. Forced deportations and even street kidnappings carried out openly. Minority communities are the testing ground for authoritarian cruelty.

4. Rule of Law: Eroded / Partially Fallen

Executives seize unchecked power. Courts are defied. Laws applied only to enemies. Lawmakers and judges bent to partisan control. The rule of law erodes until justice itself is just another weapon of the regime.

5. Democratic Institutions: Under Threat / Partly Fallen

Elections delegitimized. Voter suppression escalated. Institutional norms weakened. Absurdity and incompetence at the state level are normalized until democracy itself looks like chaos, by design.

6. Civil Society: Threatened / Partially Fallen

NGOs, unions and advocacy groups attacked through defunding, stigmatization, harassment. The building blocks of civic life are being stripped away so no organized resistance can stand. Billionaire and state controlled social networks offer an illusion of freedom.

7. Personal Autonomy: Eroding / Fully Fallen

Minority rights repealed. Gender identity erased from recognition. Reproductive health restricted. Surveillance creeping deeper into private life. The main demographic still believes itself safe, but it is next. Laws passed to control "annoying" minorities are easily rewritten to control everyone. What begins as an attack on the few always becomes a weapon against the many.

8. Economic Independence: Fallen Further Than Acknowledged

Markets stay quiet to avoid triggering a domino effect. Tariffs and trade wars backfired (by design), crippling red-state farmers and manufacturers. Ordinary families face higher costs for groceries and essentials. Billionaires profit from the collapse, thriving in an economy deliberately weakened. Buying what you love on discount. The global market bends under forced instability. The silence is intentional.

9. All Remaining Freedoms: Still Standing / At Risk

Religious freedom. Artistic expression. Academic freedom. Freedom of assembly and protest. Freedom of movement. Privacy in personal life. These freedoms can still be protected but under full authoritarian consolidation, they too will collapse.

This is the order of collapse. First truth falls. Last freedom falls. Everything in between is broken to wear people down until nothing is left but obedience.

---

Fascism is not the same as conservatism or simple authoritarianism.

It is a system where the state demands total control over society, crushes individual rights and uses violence and propaganda to enforce obedience. You know this is what he wants.

It thrives on:

Ultra-nationalism: framing the nation or people as under attack and in need of "purification".

Suppression of opposition: silencing dissent, banning unions, jailing critics and eliminating political rivals.

Cult of strength and order: glorifying the military, violence and a strong leader who claims to embody the people's will. But their will is under artificial control.

Scapegoating: blaming minorities, immigrants or other vulnerable groups for social and economic problems. Making us weaken each other.

Control of truth: replacing facts with propaganda, declaring only the regime can define reality.

It is not a free democratic government with a few bad actors hiding inside. Fascism is a hungry beast. Fascism consumes democracy from within until nothing remains but power, obedience and fear.

---

While this happens, they front jesters, clowns and senile old men to keep us laughing, memeing, distracted and underestimating them. The absurd theater lowers our guard while the real power moves quietly behind the scenes. What looks like chaos is strategy. The circus is the cover for the knife that is coming for all of us.

Only knowledge will dull that knife, and now you know.

---

Update: 9/20 @ 10:15AM

The  circle is now complete.

Censorship Of A TERF

Wow! This is a very hot topic... is it censorship or protest. Can you have one or other, or both!

There is a LGBT award, 2025 Polari Prize, across the pond and there is a huge controversy over the author, a gay men about book called Earth by John Boyne. because he is a Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist or a TERF!

John Boyne says LGBTQ+ fiction prize backlash brought him ‘close to the edge’

Gender-critical novelist urges writers to re-enter prize they boycotted and may ask judges not to shortlist his novella

The Guardian

Matthew Weaver

Thu 14 Aug 2025

The gender-critical Irish novelist John Boyne has said he has been brought “very close to the edge” by the backlash to his inclusion on the longlist for a literary prize for LGBTQ+ authors.

Ten authors and two judges withdrew from the Polari prize and more than 800 writers and publishing industry workers signed a petition calling on Polari to remove Boyne’s novella Earth from its longlist.

In his first response to the row, Boyne urged new writers boycotting the prize to re-enter the award, saying they were either misguided or had been bullied or intimidated into withdrawing.

Boyne, who describes himself as a Terf – the acronym for trans-exclusionary radical feminist – said that if the writers did re-enter the list, he would ask the judges not to consider Earth for the shortlist.

Okay, should he and the book be banned? That is the question.

Alice Oseman, the author of Heartstopper, along with the writers Nikesh Shukla, Julia Armfield, Naoise Dolan, Seán Hewitt and Kirsty Logan are among the hundreds to have signed the statement against Boyne’s inclusion on the list.

It said Boyne had “unequivocally associated himself with trans exclusionary sentiments” and that his inclusion on the list was “inappropriate and hurtful to the wider community of LGBTQ+ readers and writers”.

“In any year, the decision to include Mr Boyne on the longlist would be, in our view, inappropriate and hurtful to the wider community of LGBTQ+ readers and writers,” the statement read. “That the decision has been made this year – in the context of rising anti-trans hatred and systematic exclusion of trans people from public life in the UK and across the world – is inexcusable.”

The word censorship raises the hair on the back of my neck,,, but disrespecting a whole community says a lot toward banning him. But what about boycotting the book? Or is it combination of banning and boycotting?

Lets look at Banning, it is top down, someone imposes the ban. Top down.

While Boycotting , bottom up, the community imposes the sanctions.

Banning books takes the judgement away from the people and gives the power to another person to decide for you, while boycotting is by the people untied.

So back to the 2025 Polari Prize. It is an award, a recognition of their work by their own community, so really banning and boycotting do not fit in here because you are not banning the book... but the author. Boycotting mean you chose what to do, or as they say let your pocketbook do your talking.

What I take exception to is the nomination to begin with... the award is a community award. That means people voted for him in the selection process... that is where the banning should have happened. He never should have made it to this phase of the award selection.

To put it simply he does not represent the community.

Trump is in the running of the Nobel Peace Prize, if he wins the integrity of the Nobel Prize would be called into question... The whole world would immediately ignite a global conversation about the integrity of the Nobel Prize itself if he was given the prize.

Look at the Kennedy Center's honors. Trump has diluted the prestige of the awards and made it political. 

The fact that he was nominated doesn't bother me, but if he wins... then the integrity of the 2025 Polari Prize should be questioned for having someone who does not represent the whole LGBTQ+ community. 

Who Wins With “Parental Rights?

[RANT]

Senators and Representatives who wins with “Parental Rights?”

Case #1

Parent A wants the movie Ruby Bridges banned because it is “Racist” and it teaches about racism in our country.

Parent B wants their child to learn about our racist history.

Well friends who wins the parent who wants to prevent all the children from learning about racism or parent B who wants parents to make their own choices?

Case #2

Parent C wants a book that mentioned abortion pulled from the library because abortion is against their religion.

Parent D wants the book in the library because abortion is not against their religion.

Okay senators and representatives who wins? Both claim religious views about the book so with the wisdom of King Solomon which religion wins? Does the book remain in the library or not?

Case #3

Parent E wants a play banned because of “sex” is not appropriate for school children, in the play two boys hold hands and that is the “sex” the parent is talking about.

Parent F sees nothing wrong with that and wants her children to learn about LGBTQ+ children.

Who wins?

***

In each case both parent are concerned about their children, but in each case the first parent wants to limit what other can read or see, while the other parent believes it the duty of the parent to raise their child.

What happens when what a parent wants is against the non-discriminations laws? Like banning books on different religions, about racism, or books on LGBTQ+ issues, they are protected classes by law.

What about the parent that loses will they take them to court? Will we have cases going to the Supreme Court to decide which books to have on a library shelf?

Senators and representatives be very, very careful about opening a can-of-worms.

[/RANT]

---

In other news, what could possible go wrong with a Idaho bill making its way through the legislature.

Idaho bill allowing parents to sue libraries over ‘harmful’ books heads to governor
Idaho Statesman
By Ryan Suppe
March 31, 2023

Idaho libraries and schools soon could be sued for allowing minors to obtain books, films and other media that depict sexual content deemed “harmful” for kids.

The Legislature on Friday advanced the bill to Gov. Brad Little. The bill would allow the guardian of a child who was able to obtain “harmful” material from a library to claim $2,500 in statutory damages for each instance the material was obtained.

Senate President Pro Tem Chuck Winder, R-Boise, said the bill would create age-appropriate separations between library material. It requires that library officials take “reasonable” steps to restrict access of material to minors to avoid liability, according to the legislation.

But opponents said the bill’s definition of “harmful” material is too broad. Parents should be responsible for ensuring their kids don’t access inappropriate content, they said, and the civil “bounty” could be abused.

Now what could possible go wrong with the definition of “harmful”?

“Harmful” material, according to the bill, features “nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement or sado-masochistic abuse” when it’s lewd or “patently offensive to prevailing standards” among adults. “Sexual conduct” under the law includes depictions of masturbation, homosexuality, sexual intercourse and physical contact with genitals and female breasts.

Hey wait a minute!

Homosexuality?

Harmful?

Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, said there’s no pornography in libraries and highlighted the reference to “homosexuality” in content that would be considered “harmful.”

“There are people that are trying to ban books with LGBTQ themes,” Wintrow told the Senate. “I think that’s what this is about.”

You think so?

Could that be what they are trying to do? Ban LGBTQ+ books?

So a book that mentioned two boys holding hands could get me a bounty of $2,500! While a book that mentions a boy and a girl holding hands is worth nothing? Naw, that isn't discriminatory. 

What could possible go wrong? You know darn well that the bounty hunters will pick out every minutiae in every book to get the $2,500! Maybe the bounty hunters might get an education as they read through every book in the library.

***

Lets stop and take a look at a few things…

First what this bill does is tell the parents, we don’t think you can raise your child in a way we like, so we are going to tell you how to raise your child.

Second, it will create fear in the library and censor what books to buy. The law is written so broadly that almost anything will qualify as “harmful.”

Third, what does it do to the children who are LGBTQ+? Do they now feel like it is wrong to be LGBTQ+ that they are somehow immoral?

***

The first time they couldn’t get the bill out of committee so the Republicans did a end run.

 After the House Education Committee rejected the first version of the bill, sponsors, Rep. Jaron Crane, R-Nampa, and Sen. Cindy Carlson, R-Riggins, crafted new legislation that reduced the penalty.

Instead of going back to the education committee, House GOP leadership directed the new version to the House State Affairs Committee, where it overwhelmingly advanced.

Those sneaky little Republicans.

It seems like the definition of “Parental Rights” is only how the conservatives define it, and their “Parental Rights” trumps other's peoples “Parental Rights.”

Shh… They Don’t Want You To Know This.

They worry that knowing this will mean that you are a free thinking. That you might be corrupted by the knowledge and become a liberal.

It's a shame that those who most need to see 'The 1619 Project' won't watch it
By including the story of her own origins, Nikole Hannah- Jones makes ‘The 1619 Project’ on Hulu not just an epic story, but also one that's deeply personal.
MSNBC
By Jesse J. Holland, MSNBC Opinion Columnist
January 26, 2023

There’s a segment of America that won't deign to watch “The 1619 Project,” the six-part Hulu series that began Thursday and brings Nikole Hannah-Jones’ 2019 Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece to the screen. It’s a shame that so many Americans will refuse to watch this documentary from Hannah-Jones, a journalist with The New York Times Magazine, given the masterly curation of interviews, videos, photos and music that expands on her contention that our nation’s true founding occurred in 1619 when enslaved Africans landed in colonial America.

[…]

With episode titles like “Democracy,” “Race,” “Music,” “Capitalism,” “Fear” and “Justice,” Hannah-Jones, the narrator, interviewer and guiding spirit of the documentary, starts in Jamestown, Virginia, where the story of African Americans in British North America begins. She brings us all the way to a present in which protesters are in the streets shouting, “Black Lives Matter!” The documentary is a reminder of the ongoing effects of slavery and discrimination on Black Americans, and it highlights the ways in which systems of oppression, such as housing discrimination and mass incarceration, continue to affect Black communities today.

‘Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.’ George Santayana

Since the release of the New York Times Magazine piece in 2019, critics have attacked the project and Hannah-Jones herself, accusing her of inaccurately reframing American history to improperly put the Black experience squarely in the middle. Several states have gone as far as to ban schools from using any iteration of “The 1619 Project” or similar items in the classrooms, hoping to shield from their students’ eyes an accurate depiction of American history in favor of the historical myths that have long been promoted. But those critics have refused to acknowledge that the history they defend was written by white people and that it purposely downplayed the role of slavery and Black Americans in the country.

The conservatives are like the three monkeys… Hear no evil, see no evil, and say no evil. However, the  Republicans haven’t gotten the last one down yet, they are still working on it, and I think that it will be a long time before they figure it out.

Republicans Want Banned From the Classroom
Education Week
By Sarah Schwartz & Eesha Pendharkar
February 2, 2022

Republicans this year have drastically broadened their legislative efforts to censor what’s taught in the classroom, according to an Education Week analysis of active state bills.

What started in early 2021 as a conservative effort to prohibit teachers from talking about diversity and inequality in so-called “divisive” ways or taking sides on “controversial” issues has now expanded to include proposed restrictions on teaching that the United States is a racist country, that certain economic or political systems are racist, or that multiple gender identities exist, according to an Education Week analysis of 61 new bills and other state-level actions.

In Florida, a bill would ban teachers from saying “racial colorblindness” is racist. In South Carolina, a bill would ban teaching that “equity is a concept that is superior to or supplants the concept of equality.” In New Hampshire, “promoting a negative account or representation of the founding and history of the United States of America” could become illegal, if a bill were to pass.

Now get a load of this bureaucratic doublespeak!

In interviews with Education Week, state representatives said these new bills are designed to prevent teachers from telling children what to think, encouraging them to see divisions, or asking them to adopt perspectives that are different from those of their parents on issues like policing, Black Lives Matter, gender identity, and human sexuality.

Giving the students the facts is telling what to think. HUN? 

Doug Richey, a Missouri Republican who introduced a Parents’ Bill of Rights in that state, said that families are upset that schools have turned to a “quasi-activist approach.”

“I filed this bill because there has been an obvious erosion of trust, and I want that trust to be rebuilt,” he said.

Translated out of Republican doublespeak… Parents’ Bill of Rights = the right to be a bigot and discriminate against people.

“Parents’ rights” has taken off as an issue for Republican legislators over the past year, as communities have fought school boards over pandemic-era policies like students masking, and remote learning has given many families up-close access to teachers’ lessons.

During the 2021 legislative session, though, only a handful of state bills concerned curriculum transparency or parents’ rights to object to classroom materials. Instead, most prohibited teaching a list of “divisive concepts*,” which originally appeared in an executive order signed by then-President Donald Trump in fall 2020.

We are also persona non grata;

Still, a number of bills banning certain instructional topics don’t mention race at all. Instead, they’re focused on gender and sexuality.

In Arizona, Florida, and Indiana, students have to seek permission from parents before being taught about “human sexuality” and districts have to disclose to parents what those lessons would entail.

One proposed bill from Indiana requires parent permission before students learn about topics such as abortion, “transgenderism,” and gender identity.

Students also need written permission from parents before receiving counseling or medical attention related to abortion, gender-transitioning, hormone blockers, gender-reassignment surgery and “pronoun selection.”

The same bill also requires that students “must receive instruction that socialism, Marxism, communism, totalitarianism, or similar political systems are incompatible with and in conflict with the principles of freedom upon which the United States was founded.”

~~~~~~

This the future of education going to look like if the Republicans have their way, the balkanization of education.

I want my child to attend the following classes:

__ Reading & writing classes
__ Reading (but only the classic) & writing classes
__ Reading (but only the Bible) & writing classes
__ English classes
__ Math classes
__ Math (but not algebra) classes
__ Math (but not algebra or calculus) classes
__ Science classes
__ Sciences (but only evolution and that we are not related to monkeys) classes
__ Earth science classes
__ Earth science (but only a flat earth) classes
__ Earth science (but only that the earth is only 3000 years old) classes
__ Human sexuality classes
__ Human sexuality (but only if they do not cover; homosexuals, transsexuals, intersex, and sex) classes

Is this what the future of public education going to look like? Will they only be teaching "reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic" in public schools?

---

*Divisive Concepts:

Trump executive order defines 'divisive concepts'...

The order described “divisive concepts” in this manner:

(a) "Divisive concepts" means the concepts that

(1) one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex;
(2) the United States is fundamentally racist or sexist;
(3) an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously;
(4) an individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment solely or partly because of his or her race or sex;
(5) members of one race or sex cannot and should not attempt to treat others without respect to race or sex;
(6) an individual's moral character is necessarily determined by his or her race or sex;
(7) an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex;
(8) any individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race or sex; or
(9) meritocracy or traits such as a hard work ethic are racist or sexist, or were created by a particular race to oppress another race.

The term "divisive concepts" also includes any other form of race or sex stereotyping or any other form of race or sex scapegoating.

You Can’t Make These Thinks Up.

The Republicans are crazy!

Now look at what they have banned, a play from 2005!

Ohio high school musical abruptly halted, deemed ‘vulgar’
The show will not go on.
The Hill
By Maia Belay
February 1, 2023


After months of planning, an Ohio school district abruptly canceled its high school musical, claiming it was “vulgar.”

In a statement, the Cardinal Local Schools superintendent Jack Cunningham said, “The Cardinal Local School District has decided that its spring musical production will not be ‘The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.’ Its dialogue and song lyrics contain vulgarity and are therefore not suitable for our pre-teen and teenage students in an educational setting.”

Two of the characters in the musical are gay male parents. The district said anyone suggesting discrimination is “mistaken.”

“When we found out it was canceled, everybody was just heartbroken. Honestly, it was terrible. Everyone was just crying,” said Riley Matchinga, a senior who was playing a lead role in the musical.

Mandi Matchinga, Riley’s mother and assistant director for the musical, said she was shocked to learn production was halted given that it was greenlit early in the school year by the district.

“There were concerns about the language in one of the songs,” said Matchinga. “There was a concern about Jesus appearing in the show, and there was a complaint about the fact that two of the parents were gay.”

However, Channel 5 News said,

Matchinga said, “What is your definition of vulgarity? Because when I’m looking, I’m confused.”

She explained the play has a PG-13 rating, as have some of the school’s previous performances. The production team discussed the choice with parents and actors and even chose to use an alternative age-appropriate version of one song about puberty.

“There are slight language issues, like ‘dammit.’ But Ursula said that in ‘The Little Mermaid,’ so it’s not like I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, this is going to be terrible.’ It’s nothing new,” said Matchinga.

Fox 8 News said,

“There were concerns about the language in one of the songs,” said Matchinga. “There was a concern about Jesus appearing in the show and there was a complaint about the fact that two of the parents were gay.”

Matchinga said changes to dialogue were made and a song was already edited for the high school production prior to the production being stopped. Permission forms were set to be signed for a special middle school student viewing, something she said happened in years past.“There were concerns about the language in one of the songs,” said Matchinga. “There was a concern about Jesus appearing in the show and there was a complaint about the fact that two of the parents were gay.”

So how many complaints did they get to close down the show? A hundred? Fifty? Nope only 3. That’s it, 3 complaints! Three people blocked a town from seeing a play.

Three moral police to censor a play! The play has been preformed in high schools for decades with no complaints! Now because it has “gay” parents all of sudden became “vulgar!”

"Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad." Part II

I thought that Florida couldn’t top banning a book on gay penguins… but they did! They banned a play about a play that was banned!

Students say Florida school play shut down over Don’t Say Gay
The show was about how detrimental censorship is. "I don’t need to point out the irony,” said one student.
LGBTQ Nation
By Greg Owen Monday
January 9, 2023


Students at a high school in Florida are pointing to the state’s Parental Rights in Education law, aka Don’t Say Gay, as the reason for the sudden cancellation of a long-scheduled drama department production.

The canceled play, Indecent by Paula Vogel, depicts the true story of another stage play called God of Vengeance, which was shut down in New York in 1923 on charges on indecency; the Broadway production of the Yiddish play depicted the first-ever onstage kiss between a lesbian couple in American theater.

The production at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in Jacksonville was scheduled last May and cast in December. Indecent was to premiere March 1, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the ill-fated Broadway show.

[…]

“Tonight during rehearsal our company was notified that the school board is shutting us down not because of, but related to the ideals stated in the Don’t Say Gay bill,” said Scotti. “They are trying to tell us this play is dirty, immoral, obscene, and, of course, indecent. And by that nature, they’re trying to tell me that I myself and my community is dirty, immoral, obscene, and indecent.”

Why is it dirty, immoral, obscene, and indecent, is it because the play discusses censorship?

Lets see what the two plays are about according to Wikipedia…

Indecent

Indecent is a 2015 play by Paula Vogel. It recounts the controversy surrounding the play God of Vengeance by Sholem Asch, which was produced on Broadway in 1923, and for which the producer and cast were arrested and convicted on the grounds of obscenity.[1]

Indecent was first produced in 2015. It had an Off-Broadway run in 2016, followed by a Broadway run in 2017 at the Cort Theatre. The play was nominated for three Tony Awards and won Best Direction of a Play for Rebecca Taichman and Lighting Design in a Play for Christopher Akerlind.

The Seagull

The Seagull (Russian: Ча́йка, tr. Cháyka) is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 and first produced in 1896. The Seagull is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramatises the romantic and artistic conflicts between four characters: the famous middlebrow story writer Boris Trigorin, the ingenue Nina, the fading actress Irina Arkadina, and her son the symbolist playwright Konstantin Treplev.

So they yanked a play that was nominated for a Tony Awards and won Best Direction of a Play for an unknown play from the 19th Century. It seems to be just like the books we were forced to read like 

Wuthering Heights and Great Expectations.

---

NPR reported on the play being yanked...

A play about censorship is censored — and free speech groups are fighting back
By Elizabeth Blair
January 11, 2023


PEN America and two other free speech groups are drawing national attention to Florida county school officials' decision to cancel a play that is itself about censorship.

Last week, Duval County Public School officials canceled a production of Paula Vogel's Indecent at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts. Officials said the play about a play about a love affair between two women is "inappropriate," as reported by WJCT.

PEN America, along with The National Coalition Against Censorship and the Dramatists Legal Defense Fund released a statement condemning the decision and "urged school officials to rescind their decision and work with students to stage the play as planned."

[…]

The free speech organizations wrote that Indecent explores "LGBTQ+ rights, immigration, censorship, and antisemitism in the early 20th Century — themes which have striking relevance to the issues facing society today." They pointed out that Douglas Anderson's recent productions include RENT and Chicago, shows with, "as much, if not more, 'sexual dialogue' as is conveyed in Indecent."

"If vaguely-defined adult sexual dialogue' is reason enough to ban plays from school productions," the statement continued, "these, and many other canonical productions would be banned from student theaters — Romeo and Juliet for depicting sexually active teens, Oedipus Rex for its incestual themes, and other works that have serious literary and artistic value for students and community members."

Let us face it the only reason why the play was pulled was the lesbian relationship!

"Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad."

The Republicans continue to amaze me their venom against anything LGBTQ+, now they are banning books on gay penguins!

Florida schools ban book about gay penguins in reaction to Don’t Say Gay law
Schools are banning innocuous books about LGBTQ+ people to comply with the anti-LGBTQ+ law.
LGBTQ Nation
By Alex Bollinger
January 6, 2023


In the wake of Florida’s Don’t Say Gay law, schools in the state are banning books with LGBTQ+ themes, including And Tango Makes Three, a book about a baby penguin named Tango who has two dads.

The Don’t Say Gay law, also known as the Parental Rights in Education Act, was signed into law last year by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and bans discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in grades K through 3 and restricts such discussions in older grades.

Conservatives said the bill was necessary to stop sexual discussions in schools as well as instruction about sex and that the law wasn’t anti-LGBTQ+. The DeSantis administration called opponents of the bill “groomers,” another word for child sex abusers.

But it turns out that the bill is doing what opponents said it would do: making LGBTQ+ people a taboo topic in schools.

They want to force us back in the closet, think about what it is teaching the student about LGBTQ students? Think about what it is doing to LGBTQ student?

It is the Republicans who are the groomers, the grooming to create bigotry against anyone who is different.

Seminole County Public Schools banned three books citing the Don’t Say Gay law. The books were 10,000 Dresses (about a boy with a dream of making dresses), I am Jazz (about the experiences of trans activist Jazz Jennings), and Jacob’s New Dress (about a boy who wants to wear a dress to school).

None of the books contain sexual content, but the district said they, “pursuant to the aforementioned statute [the Don’t Say Gay law], would be deemed as not being age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in kindergarten through grade 3.” They were removed from district libraries and “will only be available for check-out to a student in grade 4 or 5 when the parent has provided written consent and picks up the book from the principal or designee at the school.”

Can you imagine you as a sixth grader having to get a letter from your parents and then go to the principal’s office to get the book? How many students would do that?

The Republicans are all about “Freedom” as long as you want the same thing as they do… oppress minorities.

Life’s A Drag!

Okay, who have been to a drag show? Raise your hand!

online polls

I have and it is not something to get into a tizzy over.

It is lip-syncing to popular songs, telling jokes or singing and showing cleavage. That’s it. There is no nudity, no simulated sex, nothing.

Drag shows have a long history in the South. Why are they drawing threats now?
USA Today via Yahoo News
By Danielle Dreilinger
December 13, 2022


[…]

Especially scary because it was one of an increasing number of drag shows, across the South and the nation, facing threats and protests — at least 126 in 2022 through mid-November, including 48 in the South, GLAAD reported. The highest number of threats were in North Carolina, followed by Texas. Legislative efforts to limit drag are underway in six states and the U.S. House.

[…]

Drag performers typically wear elaborate costumes that exaggerate traditional gender norms, and perform stylized routines — often lip-syncing to popular songs, telling jokes or singing. They may show cleavage, not unlike Dolly Parton. It’s most common to wear women’s clothing, but performers may be of any gender and wear pretty much anything — there are drag kings as well as queens, and performers who blur gender entirely. If you’ve seen the musical “Hairspray” or any of 40-plus Bugs Bunny cartoons, you’ve seen drag.

As the article goes on to say drag is nothing new, it has been around since the Roman days. Recently look at Flip Wilson, Milton Berle, Tom Hanks, and who could not forget the #1 crossdressers Corporal Klinger Jamie Farr!

But now it seems like the Republicans would like to lock them all up.

Staff at the ACLU and the Family Research Council both said they haven’t found an organized campaign to limit drag shows.

Rather, social media and conservative news outlets have buzzed over a handful of videos of drag performances with children in the audience.

Outcry over these events spurred Tennessee Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson to file a bill that’s been characterized as banning drag. Johnson said that’s inaccurate.

The bill would limit all sexually explicit performances in areas where kids could be present, he said: “It doesn’t matter if it’s by someone who’s dressed in drag or not.” It would not affect drag shows in age-restricted venues, or people in drag marching in a parade or reading at a G-rated story hour, he said.

[…]

People like Johnson say they just want to make sure children aren’t exposed to sexual material, like parents of all stripes don’t want kids seeing online porn.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson has never seen a drag show so they have this image of an orgy on stage.

Of course the Bible Thumpers are in on the act

“With the children, we’ve got a crisis. The building is on fire,” said Sharayah Colter, a member of the Conservative Baptist Network’s steering council. But underneath that, “It’s not right to be questioning the identity that God has given people when he has created them — he creates them male and female.”

From that perspective, it doesn’t matter if a drag queen is wearing an evening gown reading “Goodnight Moon”: It’s gender-bending, and it’s unacceptable.

Colter and some evangelicals believe the prevalence of LGBTQ people in the cultural discourse, including through drag, makes people, especially children, more likely to be gay or trans.

[…]

Accusations that gay people are trying to groom or convert children are familiar. They are also untrue. There is zero evidence that LGBTQ people are more likely to molest children. Science has found sexual orientation and gender identity are innate, "influenced by genetic factors," GLAAD spokeswoman Barbara Simon said.

Ding, ding, ding!

And that folks is the bottom line, “makes people, especially children, more likely to be gay or trans” and “groom or convert children” they still believe that we are not born this way but lost our path and somehow decided to be “GAY.” (That’s why they are still gun-ho on conversion therapy.)

That is the big divide between conservatives and liberals. The conservatives are still living in the 1950s when homosexuality was believed to be a choice and gender is only determined by chromosomes.

Police routinely raided those New Orleans balls. A 1972 issue of “Drag” magazine reported that four men were arrested at Memphis’ The Door lounge. The performers were booked on charges they impersonated females, and the owner for permitting men to sing, dance and kiss in dresses and wigs. “Crime is certainly rampant in Memphis!” the magazine noted, with a practically audible eye-roll.

“We were felons,” Pratt said. In the 1970s, she lost custody of her two sons because she was a lesbian. The Supreme Court didn’t overturn sodomy laws until 2003.

And that’s what they want to do is bring us back to the 1950s when father knew best, gays were in the closet, trans were locked up in jail, and Blacks knew their place. The Republican dream is to criminalize us again.

I have been to a number of drag shows and there was nothing to be embarrassed about, many of my friends are drag performers, and there is even a drag queen who on his Facebook page has “Performance artist, political Queen, psychologist in semi-retirement.”

For me drag shows are not my cup of tea and that is one of the things, if you don't want your child at a drag show don't bring them, but don't other what to do or watch.

---

That is one of the reasons for the book banning they want to go back to when everything was Lilly white and straight on the bookshelves.

Susan Campbell (opinion): CT Republicans fail another book report for 2nd-graders
CT Insider
December 13, 2022


To people who’ve lost sleep over it, the 5-year-old child of state Rep. Roland Lemar, D-New Haven, and Yale clinical professor of law Anika Singh Lemar has seen the children’s picture book “Julián is a Mermaid.”

More importantly, she is unscarred by it.

I have read it, too, and while the book didn’t make me reconsider my gender identity — as some critics fear the book will do — the theme of an abuela’s undying love made me smile.

Of course, there’s a backstory.

A couple of weeks ago, the Connecticut GOP shared on their official Twitter account a video that was originally posted by @LibsofTikTok, which has a nasty reputation for posting anti-LGBTQ content. The tweet included a video of a Darien mother who recently took issue with “Julián,” winner of a 2018 American Library Association’s Stonewall Book Award. By the mother’s account, the book, which she said was read to her daughter’s second-grade class, is an “inappropriate” “story of a little boy who is transitioning to a little girl.”

In fact, author Jessica Love wrote a story about a boy who wants to be a mermaid, and I’m guessing Republicans posting on Twitter didn’t read the book before sharing that tweet. After all, the outrage machine isn’t fueled by information. It runs on energy and snark. The mermaid transition could be a metaphor, I suppose, but not for most second-graders. Does anyone believe that a picture book would prompt any one to say, “Oh, wow, I’m a girl” when they’ve lived their lives as a boy? I read a lot of books about trains to my son, yet here he is, crashing toward his 40s, and he’s still not a train. As the Darien mother late said on “Fox & Friends,” while she supports the LGBTQ community and her town’s teachers, “We're talking about seven-year-old children who believe in the tooth fairy. They believe in unicorns. This is completely off their radar.”

AWK, Polly wants a cracker, AWK!

I wonder how many of these conservatives have actually read the books that want banned?

Did you read the book?
Oh we can read that, it filth!
Then how do you know it should be banned?
Fox News told me!

And that is one of the things, if you don't want your child read the book don't let them, but don't other what to do or read.

I Had A Complaint!

Just one, that all it took for a Republican to order the book pulled from the library shelf, just one complaint to prevent the whole town from reading the book.

OP-ED | STOP USING CHILDREN TO ADVANCE YOUR OWN BIGOTRY
CT News Junkie
By Susan Bigelow
July 6, 2022


Pride Month has come to an end, and Colchester First Selectman Andreas Bisbikos decided to celebrate by demanding that a book about RuPaul be pulled from the shelves of the children’s section at the Cragin Memorial Library.

Bisbikos, a Republican, told library director Kate Byroade to remove the book following a parent complaint that he had received. She admirably held her ground as librarians do, pointing to the established library policy and process about book challenges. Bisbikos settled for the book being displayed at the library desk while it was under review, and instructed librarians to conduct an “inventory” of the over 20,000 books in the children’s section. He posted a statement about this on his Facebook page, where things did not go well for him in the comments.

The people from Colchester and Connecticut didn’t like the idea of censorship very much…

Following an absolute drenching deluge of criticism from people in Colchester and around the country, the first selectman backpedaled, stating that his action was “never about censorship,” that his office “plays no role in what books are purchased and displayed in our library,” and that he was just responding to parent concerns.

A parent.

Just one parent.

Just one parent dictated what the whole town could read.

That one parent couldn’t have been satisfied by telling her child not to read it, but Noooo… that parent wanted the whole town not to read the book just because they did like the book and, and, and... the Republican First Selectman went along with the idea of controlling what people could read and not read.

They Won!!!

The Seminole County School Board said that they will not cover up the protest pictures!

Seminole County school board decides 'Don't Say Gay' protest yearbook photos will remain uncovered
WESH
By Luana Munoz
May 11, 2022


The school board had made it clear that they couldn't change school policy and that the stickers would remain.

However, new information came to light during a public comment, where they all agreed the images would not be covered.

"The enthusiasm from students that happen to be here today, this made me realize and think that looking at yearbooks and comments, who is to say that one comment is better than the other," Abby Sanchez, the vice chair with Seminole County Public Schools said.

"We should be able to voice our concerns and we shouldn't have anyone take that right away from us," Sanchez said.

ABC News said,

Seminole County School Board members rejected that plan Tuesday night, voting 5-0 to order smaller stickers that don't cover up the page's words and pictures while explaining that the March protest over the Florida Parental Rights in Education bill outside Lyman High School was unauthorized.

It was a good compromise, both got what they wanted but not everything. The school board agreed not to cover up the protest photos just the comments, while the students got to keep their photos of the protest against the “Don’t Say Gay” law.

A Difference Between Red And Blue.

Just about every school in Connecticut has a Gay Straight Alliance (Something like 120 towns out of 169 towns in Connecticut.) and some towns and cites have multiple GSAs. Back in 2019 I wrote about GSAs and only 3 states had over 50% GSAs in their schools and Connecticut was one of them.

When I graduated from grad school many of the students (Both undergraduate and graduate.) wore rainbow shawls. I know a lot of students had rainbows around them in yearbook pictures. Heck I’m am probably in one of the yearbook pictures from 2017 when I was invited to speak along with the state senator at a GSA function for the bill to ban conversion therapy so there is a good chance that one of the students took a picture that ended up in the yearbook. But down in the authoritarian state of Florida it is kaput. Nein. Verboten.

Florida school yearbook on hold over student protest photos
AP
May 10, 2022


Yearbooks at a central Florida high school won’t be distributed until images of students holding rainbow flags and a “love is love” sign while protesting the state’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law can be covered up.

District officials said they don’t want anyone thinking that the school supported the students’ walkout.

Lyman High School Principal Michael Hunter said in a statement Monday that “pictures and descriptions” documenting a student walk-out in March in response to Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law should have been “caught earlier in the review process.”

The bill, signed into law by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, bans classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.

“Rather than reprinting the yearbook at substantial cost and delay, we have elected to cover that material that is out of compliance with board policy so that yearbooks can be distributed as soon as possible,” the principal’s statement said.

[…]

Lawrence noted that the yearbook dedicates a separate page to the school’s Gay Straight Alliance Club and elsewhere shows students at a pride march and holding rainbow flags. He said those depictions do comply with the policy.

I would hate to be the faculty advisor, they will probably be looking for a new job right about now.

“This really shouldn’t be happening because all we did as journalists was document what was happening at our school on our campus,” Skye Tiedemann, one of the yearbook’s editors-in-chief, told the Sentinel. “To have that covered up isn’t right. ... This is censorship.”

You want to bet that the editors and faculty advisor are being blamed for it by the administration? While the students will have none of that…

Students at the school in Longwood, which is near Orlando, have created a hashtag “#stopthestickers,” which is circulating on social media. They also planned a peaceful protest at Tuesday night’s meeting of the Seminole County School Board, WKMG reported.

[…]

State Rep. Anna Eskamani, a Democrat from the Orlando area, said in a letter to school board members that she was disappointed by the decision.

“Students were empowered to craft a yearbook that reflects their lived experience of the academic year and did so with professionalism — sharing a piece of history on Lyman’s campus, one that should be reflected upon,” Eskamani said. “Not censored.”

---

Then we have this down in Virginia, where the governor is a Trump wannabe, where if you take out a book from the school library it gets reported to your parents.

Va. school board proposes telling parents how students self-identify
Some fear that teachers will be required to ‘out’ LGBTQ students to their parents
Washington Post
By Hannah Natanson
May 7, 2022


A Virginia school board is considering a proposal that would require schools to notify parents of students’ “self-identification” — spurring worries that teachers will be forced to reveal the gender identity or sexuality of LGBTQ students without their consent.

The resolution, slated for discussion by Orange County Public Schools at a board meeting Monday, was proposed by board member Chelsea Quintern in compliance with a state law signed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) in April that says Virginia school districts must notify parents whenever instructional materials include sexually explicit content and must provide alternative, non-explicit materials if requested.

Citing the law, the Orange County resolution says that “students shall not be subjected … to curriculum, materials, and discussions relating to sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other sexually explicit subject without explicit consent from their parent(s).”

A second provision adds that “the Orange County Public School Board requires schools to notify parents of healthcare services and involvement in critical decisions affecting students’ physical, mental and emotional well-being; including, but not limited to self-identification.”

So now being gay or trans is considered to “affecting students’ physical, mental and emotional well-being” and I say outing a student who may or not be LGBTQ+ does more to stigmatize a child and cause harm emotional harm to the child than being LGBTQ+.

As for the resolution that requires reporting students’ self-identification to parents, the teacher said it has left “students really enraged” and teachers feeling “rage and a deep sadness.” He said teachers in the district estimate that at least 80 percent of students who are members of the Gay-Straight Alliance club are “not out to their parents.”

When I hear people say that there are no differences between the Democrats and the Republicans I point out things like these incidents.

Republicans = control of our lives.

Democrats = freedom.

A New Children’s Book

At first I thought it was Calvin & Hobbs but it is just “Calvin.”

‘Calvin’ children’s book gives transgender youth a superhero
Boston Globe
By Dana Gerber
November 8, 2021


What’s in a name? For Calvin — the transgender boy at the center of Vanessa and JR Ford’s new children’s book — everything.

“Calvin,” which will be released by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers on Nov. 9, follows the titular character as he prepares for his first day of school since coming out to his family and socially transitioning to match his gender identity. This involves picking out his new name, buying new clothes, and getting a haircut — all with his family by his side.

“This book is a love letter to the support networks that a trans child can have,” said Vanessa Ford. “We just wanted the opportunity to show how radiant and beautiful trans youth are when they are supported by all around them.”

Their child is trans so they know what they are writing about.

In the book, Calvin is preoccupied by what ifs: What if his family doesn’t believe him when he comes out? What if his classmates don’t use his preferred pronouns?

“The book itself really focuses on Calvin’s internal thoughts and stressors,” said JR. “We didn’t want to necessarily focus on bullying or any type of real trauma that we’ve seen trans people and trans kids go through.”

We need superheros!

For the children who struggling with gender dysphoria having roll models and books about how they feel is very important. The only roll models that I had growing up was Milton Berle and Flip Wilson, and movies “Psycho” and “Dressed to Kill.” If you snuck in to the library and looked up transsexual you would find “deviant,” “perversion,” and on and on.

“This book comes at a time that hopefully will get people to see that trans kids are just like any other kid — that they are special and unique and beautiful and radiant and all those amazing things,” Vanessa said. “Just like Calvin is.”

The book is coming out when the “Do-Gooders” are ripping LGBTQ+ books off the library sleves. The Trumpsters

Waukee schools pull LGBT books from library shelves after parents express concerns
Des Moines Register
By Sarah Kay LeBlanc
November 9, 2021


The Waukee School District has pulled books off its library shelves after parents complained that the books had exposed their students to inappropriate content.
[…]
Parent Courtney Collier also brought up concerns with books containing same-sex relationships in the board's Oct. 11 meeting. She said her 10-year-old told her that a book about a boy discovering he was gay was brought up as a suggested reading item during a library class.

This is not just a local happening but the conservatives are pulling books all over the country.

"Gender Queer" has also been removed from some school libraries in Texas and Virginia and been the subject of recent school board debate in states including Illinois, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

I find this ironic that the articles are on the anniversary Kristallnacht. Lets stop and think for a moment what political party burned the books? Hint: it was on May 10, 1933.

The censorship has not gone unnoticed around the world.

In Texas and beyond, conservatives take culture wars to classrooms
France24
August 11, 2021


Conservatives in Texas and several other states have declared war on the teaching of books aimed at sensitizing students to racism and gender identity issues, saying they wrongly inflict feelings of guilt on white and non-LGBTQ students.

In one direct result of the campaign, a school district west of Houston last month temporarily withdrew copies of a book that explains the unintentional "micro-aggressions" an African-American child suffers because of the color of his or her skin.
[…]
They "will pop up everywhere in the future, especially in urban areas where there is a conservative push at the state level but where local politics tend to be more Democratic," Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston, told AFP.

And wherever it goes chaos follows board of education and town meetings are becoming shouting matches.

Conservatives have also lodged angry protests against the teaching of "critical race theory," an academic approach to studying ways in which racism infuses US legal systems and institutions in often subtle ways.

Protests broadly targeting so-called "woke" culture -- a term used to describe awareness of race- or gender-based injustices -- have led to the banning of books seen to include racial stereotypes.

The Texas Library Association has pushed back against what it called "a substantial increase in censorship activity in Texas.”
[…]
And the Texas State Teachers Association has denounced what it called a "witch hunt," following passage by the state legislature of a law that sets specific guidelines for the teaching of racial and sexual inequalities.

Why is this happening now?

May 10, 1933, Nazi-dominated
student groups carried out
public burnings of books
they claimed were “un-German.”

The answer is simple… The Republicans want to rally their base and generate enough anger for them to go out an vote. They want to make LGBTQ+ an issue in the 2022 elections. They don’t want to talk about Jan. 6, they don’t want to talk about “Rebuild America.” They don’t want to talk about the lead water pipes poisoning Americans. They want distract people with their boggymen, Critical Race Theory and LGBTQ+ books, they are like “The Great OZ” who hides behind a curtain.

Hopefully Calvin will not get yanked from the library selves and our children will still have their role model.

~~~~~~~~~

Update 11:15

In an editorial in the Kansas City Star about questioning a Republican congressman sexuality they wrote:

Questioning Hawley’s masculinity is an ugly, odd and ineffective way to respond to someone who’s arguing for a return to old-fashioned, world-dominating, women-subjecting, good-old-days manhood.

These throwback attacks feed into the homophobia that progressives are fighting every day.

To do this is to inadvertently join our junior senator in seeming to pine for 1950s-style notions of what a man should be. Do we really want the retro-sexual comeback?