It's so obvious that wanton attacks on the gay community (i.e. claiming that gay men are most likely to be pedophiles, focusing on the alleged sexual habits of gay men, etc) doesn't seem to be as lucrative or attention grabbing for the anti-LGBTQ industry.
Hence their shift to attacking the transgender community. All of the tactics (which is mainly claiming that the group being scapegoated are unhappy, disease-ridden outsiders out to recruit children) they used to demonize gay men have been converted or retooled to stigmatize trans people.
And of course the Family Research Council is leading the charge. Last year FRC demonstrated that it had no problem labeling trans children as predators. Now the group demonstrates that it has no problem denigrating a wonderful program geared to supporting trans children and those who began it.
It started as just one rogue Wisconsin school, showing their LGBT pride. Now, five years later, it's a national public-school movement -- and most parents have no idea it's happening.
Do you want your child to be psychologically manipulated at school on Thursday? Most moms and dads would say no. But this week, February 27, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and their pals at the powerful National Education Association are teaming up to promote "Jazz and Friends National Day of School & Community Readings." "We want the listeners to know," FRC's Meg Kilgannon told me on "Washington Watch," "this could be happening in your school. Your children could be hearing a book on Thursday... [that] can be very disturbing to young children.
The book I Am Jazz is a favorite of transgender activists. It's based on the real-life story of "Jazz," a boy who was convinced that he was born in the wrong body. "As a child he was injected with hormones to block his normal sexual development, and recently, he had radical surgery to complete his 'transition' to another sex. Which, of course, is impossible." Now, LGBT groups are pushing schools to make the reading of the book an annual event. The day will be used, Cathy goes on, "to promote gender deviance and LGBT politics to vulnerable children. Not all schools are doing it. Yet. But some are."
In one Arlington, Virginia school, administrators enlisted "mystery readers" to come read to the children. "The school has not revealed to parents who they are and what they will read," Cathy warns. And based on what we know about the drag queen story hour movement, that could mean anyone. To counterpunch, the Arlington Parents Coalition is urging parents to keep their kids home.
"We want all children to be treated with respect and dignity as children of God," Meg agreed. "That's a basic tenet of the Christian faith of many faiths that everyone should be should have dignity. [But] that doesn't mean that we need to reinforce these controversial ideas... that are untrue, biologically, and impossible. A boy cannot become a girl. A girl cannot become a boy." But unfortunately, she warned, this kind of activity isn't necessarily going to make it on the school calendar. "It's just something that's going to happen -- and then, once it's over, it's too late."
Trash, trash, and more trash coming from FRC. Jazz and Friends National Day of School & Community Readings is a perfectly innocent event which seeks to educates and show solidarity with trans children across America's schools.
According to the Human Rights Campaign:
Thousands of parents, educators, elected officials and allies will join in solidarity with transgender and gender-expansive students by hosting school and community readings of I Am Jazz, a children’s book by transgender teen trailblazer Jazz Jennings, as well as additional titles. Following a year of cruel attacks on the rights and dignity of transgender young people -- including the Trump-Pence administration’s attempt to erase transgender people from federal civil rights laws -- the day of readings helps foster safe and welcoming schools and communities for young people who still rarely hear affirming stories of LGBTQ people.
The fourth annual Jazz and Friends National Day of School and Community Readings is sponsored by the Welcoming Schools Program at HRC Foundation and the National Educational Association (NEA), the country’s largest professional employee organization, representing 3 million educators across the U.S. This year, participants will have the option of reading from several books about transgender and gender-expansive youth of color, including Julián Is a Mermaid by Jessica Love and They She He Me: Free to Be! by Maya and Matthew Smith Gonzalez.
“Transgender and non-binary youth are part of classrooms all across this country and deserve to see their stories reflected in their schools and communities,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “I Am Jazz is a joyful book loved by children of all identities and it serves as a powerful tool for educators, parents and anyone who wants to lead with love during these challenging times. The readings that will take place across the country send a powerful message of support to transgender youth and their allies.”
Lastly, FRC's implying that this event could be hidden from parents is also a major lie. HRC has a website which tells everyone - including parents - about the history of the event and where readings can be held. The website also features a video which tells how the event began in part by two mothers and their town (not a "rogue Wisconsin school") to support a trans child:
The Family Research Council has repeatedly targeted trans children and labeled them as predators. Subsequently, the group should never be trusted about whatever it says regarding trans children, particularly when it criticizes events geared to supporting trans children.
That's not bias. It's simple common sense.
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