'MA high school newspaper exposes school officials undermining LGBTQ student health and safety' & other Wed afternoon news briefs

Editor's note - There are so many things going on, some many important stories people need to know about, I decided to post an afternoon news brief instead of a traditional blog post.

‘It’s life or death’: failure to protect trans kids at ARMS a systemic problem - You know this country has serious media issues when a school newspaper does better work than the national press when it comes to exposing transphobic school officials and the havoc they cause: 

 Over the last two years, Amherst Regional Middle School students, parents, and staff members voiced concerns to district leadership about adjustment counselor Hector Santos and current eighth-grade guidance counselor Delinda Dykes, noting that the two routinely misgendered and deadnamed transgender students and staff, invoked anti-LGBTQ prayer at school, allowed religion to overflow into conversations with students and staff, and failed to provide support to students who were facing gender-based bullying or intimidation at school. Santos also posted religiously worded anti-LGBTQ material on a public Facebook page. 

 This year, when Santos’s daughter Tania Cabrera was brought on to serve as the seventh-grade guidance counselor, staff and students told The Graphic she also misgendered trans kids, told staff that a trans student had reverted to using their legal name when they had not, did not report on an anti-LGBTQ harassment incident that was reported to her, and told a trans male student who went to her for support that she sympathized with his parents, who had “lost their daughter.” 

Library Official Resigns After Publication of Her Secretly Recorded Inflammatory Comments - One less bigot poisoning our kids is fine with me. 

Anti-LGBTQ Christian Nationalist Andrew Wommack Vowed To ‘Take Over Woodland Park.’ Then He Did - Like we saw in 2016. When you get too comfortable and lose sight of the wolves, they get you. 

‘Trump was great at this’: How conservatives transformed a Colorado school district - A longer explanation about what happened in the above article with the solace that their actions is turning the entire community against them, including hardcore conservatives.

'Exposed as a hypocrite, Bryan Slaton's downfall complicates GOP 'groomer' smear' & other Wed midday news briefs

Former TX lawmaker Bryan Slaton

Exposed as a hypocrite, Bryan Slaton’s Texas House downfall could complicate GOP fight against 'groomers'​ - You mean it complicates their war of disinformation on LGBTQ people. My heart bleeds for them AND him. 

Transgender youth sue over Montana gender-affirming care ban - Lawsuits in several states, including Montana, have been initiated against these awful bans. Keep your eyes on them. 

School board renews contract of teacher who allegedly used anti-LGBTQ+ slurs in class - This right here is some bullsh!t. They apparently aren't listening to the students. 

Missouri school board member resigns and plans to move over anti-LGBTQ bills - I hate it when stuff like this happens. 

Union Pacific, 300+ other corporations sign letter opposing anti-LGBTQ legislation - Good for them!

Dear Franklin Graham, what do you have to say now about Donald Trump?

Editor's note - some may think the following isn't an LGBTQ-oriented issue, but with how Franklin Graham has railed against us over the years, I say it is. It underscores the basic hypocrisy of the religious right conservatives like Graham.

In case you haven't heard, Donald Trump was found liable  on Tuesday for sexual abuse and defamation afterwards of writer E. Jean Carroll and ordered to pay five million dollars:

In 2019, E. Jean Carroll accused Trump of raping her in a New York City Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s. Trump vociferously denied the accusations and launched a series of attacks on Carroll, all leading to her suing him for defamation and a separate civil claim for the alleged rape. The ex-president’s deposition included several shocking moments, including one where Trump — who had been adamant that Carroll was “not my type” — mistook a photo of her for his second wife, Marla Maples.

It's simply the latest episode in the justifiable humiliation of Trump after his insane election as president, the wreckful abomination of his presidential administration, his two impeachments, his colossal COVID response failure, his false claim of being cheated on which led to the violent insurrection in DC on January 6, 2021, his indictment earlier this year of over 30 counts related to business fraud . . .

Did I leave anything out? If so, it's understandable. Recounting all of the evil this man has done is exhausting. But religious right conservatives considered Trump to be a wonderful president. They bragged about how he gave them more access and influence over White House policy than any other president.

And during his presidency, they bent over backwards to defend him. One wonders what they will do now that this mark in on his record, which is already filled with other red marks.  I noticed that one of his biggest defenders, Franklin Graham is conveniently quiet.  I doubt that's inadvertent, seeing how many times Franklin used the power of his name to cast Trump as comparative to the Second Coming of Jesus via his tweets:

What do you have to say now, Franklin Graham. What do you and your religious right friends who constantly go on and on about values and morality have to say about supporting Donald Trump,  a man who has now been found liable of sexual abuse?

We're all waiting. 

TX lawmaker who attacked drag shows as 'sexualizing' kids resigns after sex scandal involving intern

Former TX lawmaker Bryan Slaton on May 4. A week before he resigned after sex scandal involving intern.

This was Texas lawmaker Bryan Slaton in June of last year as he planned to propose legislation against  minors attending drag shows, no matter how g-rated they would be:

“Children don’t need to be focused on sex and sexualization, and we need to let them just grow up to be children and let them do that as they’re getting closer to being an adult."

Much has happened between last year and now. Slaton did push anti-drag legislation. He also pushed for classifying gender-affirming healthcare for trans kids as child abuse. And all for the sake of protecting the innocence of children. To keep them from becoming 'sexualized, he claimed.

But Slaton was being a hypocrite and it caught with him on  Monday.  Apparently, he was doing some grooming of his own.

Texas state Rep. Bryan Slaton, a far-right Republican who equated drag performers with “groomers” who sexualize children, resigned from office Monday after a state-led investigation found he engaged in a sexual relationship with his 19-year-old intern, plied her with alcohol and demanded her silence. Slaton, who is 45 and married, turned in his resignation, effective immediately, one day before the Texas House was set to vote on expelling him and two days after the House General Investigative Committee released an explosive 16-page report on Slaton’s behavior ― neither of which he mentioned in his letter of resignation to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R).

 . . . According to the five-person committee’s report, Slaton invited his 19-year-old intern over to his home on March 31, and she arrived with two other young women working as legislative aides at the Capitol, along with one of their boyfriends. While there, the intern said, Slaton “kept refilling” her drink with rum to the point that she was “really dizzy” and had “split vision.” She declined to answer investigators’ questions about any sexual activity with Slaton, but according to the other women present that night, she later told them she’d “lost her virginity” to Slaton after the rest of the group left and described the encounter in great detail, saying she was “in love” with him. Days later, according to the probe’s findings, Slaton hinted to the intern that it would be a problem if their relationship got out. He then said that “everything would be fine” but that “everyone involved just has to stay quiet.”

And according to The Texas Tribune:

An unnamed representative who had learned of the allegations called Slaton to confront him, the report said. The representative asked if Slaton “invited a young staffer to your condo and you guys had sex,” to which Slaton responded “yes, that’s true,” but declined to answer further questions. In a later conversation on the House floor, the representative said Slaton asked him to keep the phone conversation “between us.” Instead, that lawmaker reported Slaton to the investigative committee, as did three other House members the report also did not identify.

No doubt, my LGBTQ brothers and sisters are probably yawning in that annoyingly "I've seen it before" desensitized tone which always hurts us in this so-called culture war.

Yes, you've seen in before because it happens so many times. The latest person who claimed that LGBTQ people and culture are a danger to kids was revealed as being as the true danger. Yet another person who implied that we are pedophiles or sex perverts just caught with his zipper down.

 Every time - which is few and far between - the religious right finds even one of us remotely looking like we are doing something nefarious, they blast it everywhere, particularly on social media, until it becomes the narrative or prevailing story. What we do when inundated with the constant times that right-wing moral crusaders are caught boiling in their own pots of hypocrisy?

We wave it off instead of vigorously pointing out the hypocrisy. Then it's forgotten until the next time our opponents are caught doing the same thing. Then the cycle repeats itself.  Our community is continuously being given weapons by the enemies of our equality,  but we act too snobby to use them.  We really need to do better. Start acting like fighters instead of targets.

Editor's note - For those interested, the Twitter hashtag #NotADragQueen and the address @antifaoperative keeps track of the many times those who calls us perverts end up being the perverts themselves. Folks should make it a point to follow them.

Photo of Slaton courtesy of Twitter - Texas Tribune reporter James Barragan.

'Anti-LGBTQ bills signed into law across the country spark increase in people seeking help' & other Mon midday news briefs

Anti-LGBTQ bills signed into law across the country spark increase in people seeking help - Simple madness what legislative bodies across the country are doing. 

How Tennessee’s drag performers are planning on beating the state’s draconian drag ban​ - And they are being smart about it. 

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Launches More Attacks on Trans Community - Don't attack trans people to take attention away from your felony indictment, Paxton. 

Texas AG to investigate Austin children’s hospital over transgender care for minors - More details about the above story. 

Churches targeted by hateful fliers fight back with rainbow-colored messages of love - Good. Don't let that hatred destroy you.

Gays Against Groomers is a gaslighting lie

 

The above tweet from is from a group not as well known but equally as insidious as that disgusting Libs of Tik Tok group. Gays Against Groomers (what they call themselves) claims to have chapters in several cities. Although I'm of the opinion that those "chapters" include few actual people and a lot of conveniently anonymous Twitter addresses.  As seen by the above tweet, the group claims to be comprised of LGBT people who are supposedly sick and tired of the  "queer and transgender ideologies."

Of course it's a bunch of bullshit.

To be honest, I think the Gays Against Groomers is one part astroturfed and one part including actual LGBTQ people. But the motive seems to be monetization of hatred and fear. To hear them tell it, legislation attacking drag shows, gender-affirming care, and LGBTQ equality in general isn't the fault of those pushing these acts. It's the fault of the "radials in our community" who are trying to "target" children and society in general with changes which would send us all into chaos. 

This is classic gaslighting. The narrative is that "the LGBTQ community would be fine if it weren't for these queer and trans activists perverting the message and grooming our kids." It's similar to the argument used by racists during the Civil Rights Movement - "Our Negroes were happy and fine with their lives until them uppity ones started putting ideas in their heads."

But there is a bit of cleverness to it. We know where Libs of TikTok stand. That particularly group thinks that our entire community is dangerous. The Gays Against Groomers folks are a bit more insidious. They don't the point the finger against the community in general. The group selectively pick who they deem as " radical queers and trans ideologists" who are causing problems for the so-called normal gay folks. Instead of casting a net over us all, Gays Against Groomers target the most seemingly vulnerable members of our community - transgender people (especially kids), drag queens, or anyone they categorize as 'odd' in our community - in an attempt to get the rest of us to scapegoat them.  And they use the phraseology to dehumanize them that the rest of the anti-LGBTQ industry uses to demonize all of us.  To them:

"Radical homosexual activists target children" is transformed to "radical queers and trans ideologists target children."

"Radical homosexual activists are grooming kids" is transformed to "drag queens are trying to groom kids" 

"Radical homosexual activists are trying to force society to accept their perversion" is transformed into "radical queers and the trans cult are trying to force society to accept their perversion."

But the new phraseology always comes with the inference of "and they are going to spoil things for the rest of the community who fought hard for their rights."

Remember when the religious right and conservatives freely said this about ALL of us.

Nothing has changed. But Gays Against Groomers helps them disguise their malice. It doesn't matter if they are astroturfing heterosexuals or self-hating LGBTQ folks trying to make the rest of us suffer for their own self-esteem issues. Or even worse - LGBTQ folks who don't care how many of their own people they hurt. The fact is Gays Against Groomers is a colossal lie and none of us should buy into their game. 

People leading attacks against drag queens and other facets of LGBTQ culture and equality do so because they are ignorant. No one is forcing them to do it. They certainly aren't doing it as a last result to a problem. They are doing it because they are either willfully ignorant or downright hateful of LGBTQ people. They accept the nonsense and cherry-picked lies they hear and act accordingly to because they refuse to know better.

And that's what these so-called Gays Against Groomers are feeding into. They know what they are doing. The key is for the rest of us in the LGBTQ community to not be fooled by it. 

Hiatus until Sunday

Editor's note - Hey folks. Barring anything juicy happening, I won't be posting again until Sunday evening. Until then, please take a look at my post from Wednesday (link below). It's really important that folks read and share this. It breaks down just how a certain anti-LGBTQ hate group moved from targeting gays to putting the transgender community in its their crosshairs:

Anti-LGBTQ group's data breach reveal plan to paint transgender youth as carriers of a contagious pathological disorder - . . . in the span of 14 years, the American College of Pediatricians has gone from claiming that gays "sexualize" poop to claiming that transgender children have a contagious pathological disorder. This merely proves that the attack on trans Americans isn't new. Nor is it about truth or general concern for public health and welfare. It's nothing more than scapegoating with new targets placed in the bullseye.