California ballot measure targeting transgender kids fails to qualify for November election

Good news out of California courtesy of The Los Angeles Times:

 A measure that would have required schools to notify parents about their child’s gender identity and limited transgender youth medical care has failed to get enough signatures in support to qualify for the November ballot, proponents said Tuesday. 

The proposal sought to notify parents if their child changes their name or pronouns at school or requests to use facilities or play sports that don’t match their gender on official records. It also would have banned California doctors from prescribing hormones or otherwise providing gender-affirming care to minors. For the measure to qualify for the ballot, proponents had to submit the signatures of more than half a million registered voters by Tuesday, the deadline set by the California secretary of state.

The campaign fell short but gathered more than 400,000 signatures, according to Jonathan Zachreson, a Roseville school board member who was leading the initiative.

 . . . Supporters of the measure sought to bring Republican-backed debates over “parental rights” that have been playing out on school boards in conservative pockets of California to the statewide level. California Democrats in turn have fought to thwart gender notification policies considered by several school boards, measures they said are harmful to transgender students who may feel safe at school but not at home.

 . . .LGBTQ+ advocacy groups have warned that parental rights debates over gender identity are harmful to youth who already face high rates of suicide. “Across the country and here in California, LGBTQ+ young people are under attack from extremist politicians and school boards seeking to ban books, terrorize teachers and make transgender youth afraid to be themselves at school,” Equality California Executive Director Tony Hoang said in a statement.

DeSantis anti-LGBTQ agenda collapsing after failed presidential run. LGBTQ Floridians enjoying the change.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a "war on woke" as the centerpiece of his pursuit of the White House.  After his very unsuccessful presidential campaign, the key part of his plan - an attack on the LGBTQ community via various laws - is collapsing. And LGBTQ Floridians are enjoying the change.

From The Guardian:

 Leaders of Florida’s much-embattled LGBTQ+ communities say the worst of Governor Ron DeSantis’s three-year onslaught against them may be over, with the official start of Pride month celebrations only days away. Evidence has been mounting over the past 12 months of a radical change in the political climate now facing LGBTQ+ people in Florida. 

The first sign came in June 2023 when a federal district court judge in Orlando granted an injunction that prevented the state from enforcing a DeSantis-backed law that prohibited children from attending public performances by drag queens. 

 The first quarter of this year brought more welcome news. In March, the state’s premier advocacy group for LGBTQ+ rights announced a settlement with the state over key provisions of the so-called “don’t say gay” law that DeSantis rammed through the Republican-controlled state legislature in 2022. Under the terms of that settlement, the state agreed to reinstate the rights of students and teachers to speak freely in the classroom about LGBTQ+ people, families and issues, according to Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida. 

The settlement acknowledged that the law does not prohibit the reading of books or the staging of musicals and plays featuring LGBTQ+ characters in the state’s public schools. 

And then there is this bit of news, which I absolutely adored - the return of drag shows.

. . . A year ago this month, Kristina Bozanich reluctantly canceled an adults-only event at a gym in the central Florida town of St Cloud that would have featured a drag show. The appearance of a road sign in the neighboring community of Lake Nona that read “kill all gays” in the days leading up to the show had prompted the withdrawal of the four drag show performers who had agreed to appear at the event. That put an end to the 2023 Pride month celebrations that had been scheduled to take place in St Cloud on 10 June.

 A year later, the Proud in the Cloud program of events scheduled for 8 June has already received thousands of dollars in corporate contributions. A city council member and lifelong resident of St Cloud named Shawn Fletcher recently issued a proclamation declaring June 2024 to be Pride month in the community of approximately 67,000 people.

 “The drag ban is no longer enforced, and we have so much more backing, including from local law enforcement,” marvels the 32-year-old Bozanich. “I’ve been shocked – but in a good way.”

 

While this does not mean everything is sunshine and roses for LGBTQ Floridians, it does demonstrate yet again how resilient our community is and how we win when we fight together instead of backing down.

Drag performer awarded $1.1 million judgement against blogger who falsely accused him of exposing himself to kids

From The Associated Press:

A jury has awarded more than $1.1 million to an Idaho drag performer who accused a far-right blogger of defaming him when she falsely claimed that he exposed himself to a crowd, including children, during a Pride event in June 2022. The Kootenai County District Court jury unanimously found Friday that Summer Bushnell defamed Post Falls resident Eric Posey when she posted a doctored video of his performance with a blurred spot that she claimed covered his “fully exposed genitals,” the Coeur D’Alene Press reported.

The Coeur D'Alene Press also said:

Jurors awarded Posey $926,000 in compensatory damages for defamation. Because Posey proved that Bushnell knew her allegations were false when she made them or that she made the accusations with “reckless disregard” for the truth, the jury awarded additional punitive damages in the amount of $250,000. 

The day of Posey’s performance, June 11, 2022, Bushnell posted a video of herself discussing the mass arrest of Patriot Front members near City Park, as well as footage from Posey’s performance. “Why did no one arrest the man in a dress who flashed his genitalia to minors and people in the crowd?” she said in the video. “No one said anything about it and there’s video. I’m going to put up a blurred video to prove it.” 

The next day, Bushnell published an edited video she had received from local videographer Jeremy Lokken, which included a blur over Posey’s pelvis. Bushnell told others that the blur concealed “fully exposed genitals” and urged people to contact police. 

The edited video garnered many thousands of views, sparking national news coverage and a police investigation. City prosecutors ultimately declined to file charges and stated publicly that the unedited video showed no exposure. In reality the unedited video showed no indecent exposure, and prosecutors declined to file charges. Bushnell was expressionless as she hurried out of the courtroom Friday. 

The lie told on Posey was not an isolated incident. It was a part of a wide push by conservatives and those on the far right in which they would amplify videos or pictures of drag events taken out of context, altered, or deliberately mispresented to claim that drag performers and the LGBTQ community in general were sexually grooming kids. 

This has led to threats against drag performers, bomb threats against events, public protests, and even anti-drag legislation. Several state legislatures across the country passed vague legislation which purported to safeguard children but were actually mechanisms designed to ban drag public performances of any kind. This meant banning drag performances at pride events and even Drag Queen Story hour events in public libraries. However, the bans would fail with several courts declaring them unconstitutional and attacks on free speech.

This incident in Idaho, and folks please correct me if I am wrong, is the first time where someone directly making a false allegation against a drag performer was ordered to pay up.

 It's a wonderful consequence which I hope will send a message to others trafficking these lies, particularly a certain person by the name of Chaya Raichik.  And I hope it also sends a message to drag performers in general about what they can do to fight back.

Related posts:

Far right activists don't know the difference between a circus act and a drag show

Undercover investigators say no lewd acts were performed at drag show targeted by DeSantis

Taken out-of-context video fuels ugly lie about drag queens 'grooming' children

Drag performer sues far-right blogger alleging defamation over edited video 

BUSTED! Far right caught spreading false story that a drag queen exposed self to children 

Candace Owens can't even tell a good lie. Far right personality busted using fake photo of 'drag queen' 

Babylon Bee editor Seth Dillon caught spreading false story about a child tipping a half naked drag queen 

Silly conservative 'activist' doesn't know the difference between drag queens, drag kings, and strippers

'Colorado GOP to parents - 'Take your kids out of school because Democrats are turning them trans'' & other midweek news briefs

Colorado GOP tells parents the Democrats “turn more kids trans”​ - Lawd hammercy! This is simply shrill desperation. 

 Ohio Supreme Court denies attorney general’s request to enact healthcare ban for transgender youth - A good victory for now. 

Joe Biden celebrates 200th judicial confirmation paving the way for more LGBTQ+ judges - Voting and voting the CORRECT way matters. 

Florida won't light bridges in rainbow colors for Pride Month this year - Because DeSantis is a jackass. 

X is the worst social media app for LGBTQ+ people, says new report - Pretty much.

SC Gov signs harsh anti-trans bill into law: Bans gender-affirming care for minors, bans public funds & Medicaid from being used for all gender-affirming care, encourages outing of trans students

From The Associated Press:

 South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster on Tuesday signed into law a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors. When the ink dried, South Carolina became the 25th state to restrict or ban such care for minors. The governor announced the signing on social media and said he would hold a ceremonial bill signing next week. The law bars health professionals from performing gender-transition surgeries, prescribing puberty blockers and overseeing hormone treatments for patients under 18.

 . . .As the bill advanced in the General Assembly, doctors and parents testified before House and Senate committees that people younger than 18 do not receive gender-transition surgeries in South Carolina and that hormone treatments begin only after extensive consultation with health professionals. They said the treatments can be lifesaving, allowing young transgender people to live more fulfilling lives. Research has shown that transgender youth and adults are prone to stress, depression and suicidal behavior when forced to live as the sex they were assigned at birth. 

 Supporters of the bill have cited their own unpublished evidence that puberty blockers increase self-harm and can be irreversible. 

 To be more specific To be more specific, over 40 physicians, parents and kids testified against this bill. Only one person testified for it - a representative from the Alliance Defending Freedom, which is a group which pushed anti-LGBTQ group across the country. And what's worse, he didn't even bother to show up in person. He testified via video.

If anything, this nonsense proves yet again how Republicans and conservatives weaponize the claim of protecting children to in actuality havoc to the LGBTQ community. According to the Campaign for Southern Equality, the new law also:

Prohibits public funds and Medicaid from being used to cover the cost of transition-related healthcare for transgender people of any age – which could result in providers of gender-affirming care who receive public funds to restrict care, and would impact transgender people insured through the state employee healthcare plan. 

 Encourages school professionals to “out” students to their parents if they ask to go by a different name or pronouns, potentially before they are ready to share.

And according to LGBTQ Nation, the law runs counter to what majority of South Carolinians said about the issue in March poll:

A March 2024 poll found that 71% of South Carolina voters felt that the government should not intervene in LGBTQ gender-affirming healthcare decisions that regard individuals under the age of 18.

The Campaign for Southern Equality has information available for those impacted by this law:

With H.4624 immediately in effect, advocates have launched resources to support families navigating this challenging period. Families of transgender youth in South Carolina are now eligible to apply for support from the Southern Trans Youth Emergency Project (STYEP), a regional project of the Campaign for Southern Equality, led in partnership in SC with We Are Family, Uplift Outreach Center, and the Harriet Hancock Center. 

The project helps transgender youth whose access to gender-affirming care has been disrupted by government policies. Through STYEP, families can receive accurate information about H.4624; patient navigation to identify out-of-state gender-affirming care providers; and emergency grants of $500 for immediate needs, including travel, medication, and other logistics. Families can request support at www.southernequality.org/SCResources. 

 Transgender adults who may be impacted by H.4624 should contact the Campaign for Southern Equality’s informational hotline, which is available at https://southernequality.org/SCHealthcareHelp/

SCOTUS will not hear challenge to Maryland school district pro-trans policy. Second court victory for LGBTQ kids in a week.

 I'm as shocked as you, but a win is a win. The Supreme Court chose the safety of our LGBTQ children over fear tactics and general nonsense.  At least for now

From Reuters:

The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear a bid backed by a conservative Christian legal group to challenge a Maryland school district's policy against informing parents if their children identify as transgender or gender nonconforming. The justices turned away an appeal by three parents with children attending public schools in the Washington suburb of Montgomery County of a lower court's ruling holding that they lacked the necessary legal standing to challenge the policy. The plaintiffs are represented by the Virginia-based National Legal Foundation.

 The issue of transgender rights has become a flashpoint in the U.S. culture wars. As part of this, conservative litigants and parents groups have filed lawsuits in various U.S. jurisdictions challenging school policies that seek to respect requests by transgender students to not "out" them to their parents without their consent. 

 The policy at issue, adopted by the Montgomery County Board of Education for the 2020-2021 school year, permitted schools to develop gender support plans for students to ensure they "feel comfortable expressing their gender identity." The policy directs school personnel to help transgender and gender nonconforming students create a plan that addresses their preferred pronouns, names and bathrooms, and bars staff from informing parents of those plans without a student's consent. 

  The Los Angeles Blade posted the following about the failed lawsuit: 

 Three parents of students in the school district in suburban Maryland outside of D.C., — none of whom have trans or gender non-confirming children — filed the lawsuit. A judge on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last August dismissed the case. The plaintiffs appealed the decision to the Supreme Court. 

The victory comes a week after another victory in Maryland. That particular one had to do with LGBTQ+ curriculum and what I think was an attempted abuse of the opt-out policy. 

 Again, from The Los Angeles Blade: 

 A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled a group of Montgomery County parents cannot “opt out” their children from classes in which lessons or books on LGBTQ-related topics are taught. The parents filed their lawsuit in May 2023.

 An American Civil Liberties Union press release notes the lawsuit challenges Montgomery County Public Schools’ policy that “mandates the inclusion of literature with LGBTQ+ characters as part of the ELA (English and Language Arts) curriculum, aiming to promote understanding and acceptance among students.” 

 “Although the district originally allowed parents to opt their children out of some ELA lessons, it rescinded the opt-out policy because the number of requests grew too difficult to manage, student absenteeism soared, and it created a stigmatizing environment for students who are LGBTQ or have LGBTQ family members, undermining the purpose of the inclusivity requirement,” said the ACLU. 

 Opt-out policies have been generally used for sex education, but in recent times some parents - backed by conservative groups - have been attempted to weaponize them against anything regarding a mention of LGBTQ people in classrooms. In this case, the parents were objecting to age-appropriate books for pre-kindergartners and elementary schools simply because the books contained LGBTQ characters. 

 According to Reuters: 

 At issue was a set of LGBTQ-inclusive storybooks that the board in 2022 approved for use in Montgomery County Public Schools’ curriculum. Those books included “Pride Puppy!” an alphabet book by Robin Stevenson about a dog who gets lost amid a Pride parade, and “Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope,” a story by Jodie Patterson about her transgender son’s experience. 

 Parents could originally opt children out of reading the books, but the board abandoned the opt-out option with the 2023-2024 school year, prompting the lawsuit.

'Don't come home until your d!@k is wet.' Sex scandal involving Moms for Liberty founder heats up again.

According to a report, Moms for Liberty founder Bridget Ziegler would get her husband to go in search of women they could engage in threesomes with. Her instructions included "Don't come home until your dick is wet."

The sex scandal involving Moms For Liberty founder Bridget Ziegler and her husband Christian is heating up again.

From Florida Politics:

Ousted Republican Party of Florida Chair Christian Ziegler acknowledged in court he kept numerous videos of sexual partners besides his wife. The revelation come during a hearing on a now-closed investigation as the former politician as he and wife Bridget, a Sarasota County School Board member, seek to keep further details of their sex life private. The couple has sued the Sarasota Police Department and 12th Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office to stop the further release of his personal data.

  Sarasota Police have copies of much of the videos Christian Ziegler references as part of some 30,000 videos downloaded from Ziegler’s iPhone last year. Authorities obtained the entire contents after serving a search warrant connected to an investigation whether Ziegler raped a woman or filmed a sexual encounter without permission. 

 Ziegler was never arrested, with police ultimately concluding that sex with the Sarasota woman leveling the accusation was “likely consensual” and prosecutors ultimately determining they lacked evidence to pursue a video voyeurism charge. Communications from the phone confirmed multiple encounters between Ziegler and the woman dating back years, including threesomes with Bridget. Now wait a minute.

 

 Hold your shock because it gets more detailed. Apparently when she was not busy accusing schools, teachers, books, and LGBTQ folks of "sexually grooming" children, Mrs. Ziegler was allegedly coordinating threesomes with her husband by getting him to prowl bars, take pictures of women, and then send her the photos. That's from a report obtained by The Florida Trident:

The report, obtained by the Florida Trident and authored by Sarasota police Det. Angela Cox, recounts how Christian Ziegler went “on the prowl” in bars for women to bring home to Bridget, a Sarasota County School Board member who has backed a number of anti-LGBTQ measures at both the state and local level, for threesome encounters. While at the bars, Christian would surreptitiously photograph prospective women and text the photos to Bridget for approval, according to the report. 

 Investigators found “numerous sexual videos” on Christian Ziegler’s phone involving the couple and other women, according to Cox’s report. The detective noted that it wasn’t clear if the women in the videos knew they were being recorded or not. “There were numerous text messages between Bridget and Christian where they are on the prowl for a female and Bridget is directing him to numerous different bars in search of a female that they are both interested in,” Cox wrote of the Ziegler phone contents. 

“During these conversations Christian is secretly taking photographs of women in the bars and sending them to Bridget asking her if she wants this one or that one. Bridget is telling him to pretend to take pictures of his beer, so they don’t see him taking pictures of them. She tells him ‘Don’t come home until your dick is wet.’”

I'm the last person to moralize (although taking pictures of anyone for the alleged purposes stated in the article is tacky as hell), so this isn't about sex. It's about hypocrisy of an extreme level. As much as I hate to generalize, there is something to the claim that if you "scratch" a far-right conservative moralizer, you're bound to find a sex fiend. It amazes me how certain folk gripe about society's decaying moral, accuse schools and books of sexually grooming children, or scapegoat LGBTQ people and culture while secretly engaging conduct in which would make my hair turn white. It would be funny if it didn't piss me off when I consider how many innocent people - especially school administrators and teachers - were branded as pedophiles and groomers. Or how many LGBTQ kids lost access to vital resources.

It's really not funny at all.

Hat tip to JoeMyGod