Conservatives are trying to wreck public libraries, but people are fighting back

 

According to a recent article in The Huffington Post, conservatives and others on the right have put the bullseye out on public libraries. They are not only attempting censor books, but are also trying to eliminate these public libraries altogether:

A public library in Vinton, Iowa — a small town with about 5,000 residents — temporarily shut down in July after most of the staff quit because of threats against its LGBTQ members. People in the town complained that there were not enough books about former President Donald Trump, that LGBTQ books were on display, and that members of the LGBTQ community worked there, according to the Iowa Starting Line. The library reopened with an all-volunteer staff. 

 In Llano County, Texas, the county commission made the public library system shut down for a few days in December in order to review the books available to children and remove any deemed questionable. They specifically targeted the 850 books that GOP state Rep. Matt Kruse had personally deemed inappropriate for kids earlier that year. He said his list of books included those that “might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex.”  

Suzette Baker, a librarian in the county, reportedly refused to go along. She told local reporters in March that she had been fired from her job for not removing books, including a memoir by Jazz Jennings, a transgender teen. “It is her biography of her life growing up as a transgender teenager, and obviously this group thought that was too much for their children to read,” Baker said. “No one is forcing their kids to read anything.”

 . . .Free speech advocates have noticed that the targeting of public libraries isn’t just confined to one or two states. “It cannot be a coincidence that multiple people around the country are getting the same message,” Jonathan Friedman, the director of free expression and education programs at PEN America, told HuffPost. “They’re taking some of that ‘stolen election’ energy and directing it towards public schools and public libraries.” But there isn’t really a singular group leading the charge — instead different groups, including Moms for Liberty or Catholic Vote, are pushing the same narratives. 

 . .  .As Media Matters reported, Moms For Liberty is partnering with conservative groups to flood public libraries with children’s books they approve of, like an anti-trans children book or a book that paints Rush Limbaugh as hero — with no regard for how parents of LGBTQ or Black children may feel.

The article pointed how folks are fighting back. In Llano County, residents filed a federal lawsuit claiming that the book bans violate the First and 14th amendments.

And people are also fighting back in another state.

In Jamestown,  Michigan, thanks to a campaign echoing lies about LGBTQ  'grooming' and 'predators,' voters defeated a measure which would fund the Patmos Library, which is the town's public library.

But a GoFundMe campaign has garnered a lot of positive feedback with over $67,000 raised. The goal is to reach $245,000. The organizer of the campaign, Jesse Dillman, said the goal of the fundraiser is to keep the library open long enough to consolidate more community support for its funding.

Anyone wanting to donate can go Fund Patmos Library for 2023 GoFundMe page.

'DeSantis, Florida begins rigged process of banning gender-affirming care for trans youth' & other Mon midday news briefs

Florida begins rule-changing process to ban gender-affirming care for trans youth​ - And adults. If DeSantis thinks he can rigged Florida's health department against trans people while relying on junk and cherry-picked science, he has obviously deluded himself. This is not over. It's not even five minutes into the first quarter. 

How Florida Twisted Science to Deny Healthcare to Trans Kids - A reminder how DeSantis is attempting to accomplish this via rigging and lies. 

Meet the gay former GOP spokesman who is spilling the tea on the Republican Party - Yeah I know. But his voice needs to be heard because of what it brings. 

Angelica Ross will become 1st transgender performer to lead Broadway's 'Chicago' - This is huge! 

A Florida school district added a parental 'advisory notice' to over 100 books - This is SO stupid.

Video - Randy Rainbow tells the Republican party where they can stick their 'thoughts and prayers'

 

It seems that every time there is a school shooting, Republicans come at us with "thoughts and prayers" instead of real action which would go a long way in preventing future shootings. Randy Rainbow, in his now well-known imitable fashion, speaks for a lot of us when he tells them where they can stick their "thoughts and prayers."

10 researchers say Florida is deliberately distorting their work to undermine healthcare for trans kids and adults

Florida under DeSantis is weaponizing distorted information on trans healthcare.

According to Vice News, the state of Florida deliberately distorted credible research from several different sources in order to create a rationale behind undermining healthcare for trans kids and adults:

VICE News spoke to 10 researchers who said they weren’t aware of the memo and that Florida’s Department of Health misstated their research; in fact, VICE News found that all 12 citations Florida presents against the use of gender-affirming care are either distorted or from a source with clear anti-trans bias. In crafting the document, Florida’s health department reverse-engineered rationale for a policy completely counter to research-based medical best practices.

 

People such as Dr. Ken Pang:

When Dr. Ken Pang published one of the first large-scale analyses of gender-affirming care on transgender children, in 2018, the paper was celebrated as a vital contribution and even made its way to the home page of the r/Science subreddit. Though the evidence was limited, the review suggested that hormone blockers and hormone replacement therapy could help alleviate gender dysphoria and make transgender youth feel more at home in their own bodies. 

Four years later, Pang was shocked to learn that his research was being used by Florida’s Department of Health to justify denying gender-affirming care to all minors in the state. The department cited Pang’s work in a memo issued in April, after the passage of Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law. The memo even recommends against social transition, which can include changes as simple as using new pronouns or wearing different clothing. 

 The article said that instead of relying on research put out by credible organizations which talks about accurate ways of giving healthcare to trans people, Florida, under Governor Ron DeSantis, created its own body of research:

 . . . in June, Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration also issued a new policy that no one, not even adults, would be able to access gender-affirming care through Medicaid. Rather than referring to the overwhelming body of research that shows positive outcomes of gender-affirming care, Florida instead commissioned hundreds of pages of new material—which did not go through a standard peer-review process—to justify the change.

 

And as the article points out, this body of research was tainted with cherry-picking and a serious misusage of data: 

 Another distorted citation—one that not only appears in the Florida memo but is also heralded by anti-trans propagandists—comes from a 2015 study called “Gender Dysphoria in Childhood.” According to the Florida memo, this paper “states that 80% of those seeking clinical care will lose their desire to identify with the non-birth sex.” But in an interview with VICE News, one of the paper’s co-authors, Dr. Thomas Steensma at the Amsterdam University Medical Center, said that number was taken wildly out of context. 

. .  . Citing Steensma’s work in an effort to ban trans-affirming care should also raise alarm bells because he’s the principal investigator at his university’s Center of Expertise on Gender Dysphoria and one of the world’s leading experts on medical care of transgender children. He helped create what’s known as the “Dutch protocol,” internationally accepted medical guidelines on how to administer puberty blockers to prepubescent children with gender dysphoria. Steensma is also a co-author of World Professional Association of Transgender Health’s (WPATH) forthcoming Standards of Care for the treatment of transgender children, which will be published this year.

 

Believe it or not, it gets worse.

Hiatus explained - My queen has taken her rest

I apologize for not posting since Wednesday but I suffered a great tragedy. My mother passed away in her sleep after a long illness. She was my rock and my queen. She supported all that I did with all of her heart and always pushed me to be the best and fight for what was right. 

Subsequently this blog will be taking a very short hiatus and will return sometime between Thursday and Sunday. 

Anti-LGBTQ site Libs of TikTok deletes tweet after attempt to smear teachers as 'groomers' backfire

Libs of TikTok ended up deleting this tweet after it failed to cause outrage.

Poor Libs of TikTok. 

The site's latest attempt to portray teachers and LGBTQ folks as 'groomers' of children backfired. Hard. People ended up praising the high school for its innovation and fun. It's getting harder and harder to push that outrage mojo.  And the tweet below is right. Sometimes the most annoying and dangerous people are the ones who see ugliness in everything. Especially in every facet of LGBTQ life.

Libs of Tik Tok deleted this video after people pointed out that this high school looks super fun. Imagine being so warped by hate that you see something sinister at work in this video https://t.co/a4KsPUHUx8 pic.twitter.com/uKl9gUbIF4

— Ari Drennen 🏳️‍🌈 (@AriDrennen) July 27, 2022

Hat tip to Ari Drennen, LGBTQ Program Director for Media Matters for America.

DeSantis claims that teachers are 'instructed' to tell kids that they may be transgender (but of course he doesn't back it up)

Ron DeSantis makes a claim about teachers which he doesn't back up

This is the thing with the constant attempt to create outrage. You get openly desperate and downright ludicrous. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has made a huge name for himself with the lie that LGBTQ people and drag queens are supposedly 'grooming' kids to be sexually active.

Now he has taken that nonsense a step farther. He definitely has presidential aspirations but with this new claim to his moral panic, DeSantis seems to be running out of juice.

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) claims elementary school workers are "instructed to tell" kids to switch genders:

"That is happening in our country. Anyone that tells you it's not happening is lying to you." pic.twitter.com/QSeBcYKL50

— The Recount (@therecount) July 27, 2022

From the New Civil Rights Movement: 

 Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis, continuing his months-long, fear-based attack on the LGBTQ community, appears to be claiming that elementary school teachers are “instructed” to tell children they they might be transgender, and insisting if anyone dares to disagree with him, they are “lying.” 

 . . . “This will be for elementary school kids, where they’re instructed to tell them, ‘You may have been born a boy, that may have been what you said, but maybe you’re really a girl.’ That’s wrong. That has no place in school – so that is happening in our country. Anyone that tells you it’s not happening is lying to you,” DeSantis, talking very fast, says in the video.

The New Civil Rights Movement went on to say that many folks have called DeSantis out, demanding that he prove his claim.  

Now y'all know damn well that he is not going to do that. I don't think his press secretary Christina Pushaw or the Libs of TikTok site can help him out either. Not saying that they won't try, though. I am sure that they will dig something up having nothing to do with DeSantis's claim as proof that his charges are real. And of course the propaganda right in the media and on Twitter will do their best to amplify it.

I actually want to see what they will attempt to come up with because this is slowly becoming entertaining. Granted, I still find the attacks on LGBTQ people and the accusations that we are 'grooming' kids to be false and disgusting. 

But it always somewhat interesting when the anti-LGBTQ lies get to this stage. Oh you didn't think this was new, did you? DeSantis's lie about teachers telling kids they may be trans mimics past lies about gays and children. And lies that gays have thousands of sex partners. And lies that gays have a short lifespan.   With these lies, there is always a point where the teller stretches them out until they can go no further. And they pop back, snapping the liar in the face.

DeSantis is long past due for his pop back.