Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill, which is scheduled for a floor vote in the Florida House today, would create a hostile environment for LGBTQ students. The bill prohibits any discussion of "sexual orientation or gender identity" through the third grade and any discussion "that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students" in other grades. This would prohibit younger students with same-sex parents from discussing their families in class and make it difficult for any student to learn about the Stonewall Riots or Supreme Court cases like
These people are running around like a pack of rabid dogs spreading their mental illness and hatred like rabies. This is today’s McCarthyism; do we have a Joseph Welch to stop this?
They are voicing a view that is held by a large number of Americans. No matter how angry you are, focusing on this issue post the implosion of the left wing agenda in San Fran seems like an unambiguous mistake. Keep at it like this and you wont even have a forum to discuss this. We will lose the WAR for basic democracy.
Disgusting in every aspect. I can't believe that outing children is in their best interest. What about a minors right to privacy? I know a young person whose religious parents went whacko when she was a teen, discovered she was Gay by way of a school mate and threw her out. She has managed to get above it but it has taken 10 years. I Imagine the emotional damage will be life long. As far as I know she is still "dead" to her parents. An only child, too.
As for the corporations. To get their money into political pockets, there is no moral compass. Mantra play both sides of the field. Oh how I despise the 1%. Greedy in every deed.
Then what is your solution other than to reply to everyone saying "you're fighting the wrong battle?" You keep replying with the same comment. How about a solution? At least Judd is pointing out who their donors are, so we can take aim at cutting off their funding. Just saying, "you're wrong" doesn't move the needle.
I just commented to PepsiCo about their hypocrisy. I guess that leaves about 10 to go....
Replying to
@PepsiCo
However, your actions are are demonstrating hostility to anyone among the LGBTQ population--you're donating a huge sum of money to those in FL who want to put them in danger. Cruel. Ignorant. PepsiCo, clean up your act!
[Of course, any teacher behaving inappropriately (such as in "grooming") would need to be exposed.]
When these "moral crusaders" attack schools, their real reason is to push people toward home schooling. Because they don't want to pay taxes that fund public schools. They sell it to you as "freedom." But really they are just making sure the rungs on the social ladder don't start until just below their own feet.
Judd: Thx to the NYT we have "both sidesism" permating everything. To that end when sharing this info with a friend, they questioned what corporations might be giving to the other side? So does Charter for example give to HRC or anything that would be considered "the other side"? Personally I think support pf people who are elected and esposing this stuff by a coproration could never be mitigated by other actions, if any. Thank You.
THANK YOU!!! I always ask Judd for this info but my request seems to fall on deaf ears. Like, The Nature Conservancy doesn't send me a letter saying "don't donate to these orgs", they say "please donate to us and these sister orgs". Human nature predisposes us to wanting to HELP, not constantly FIGHT AGAINST. Thanks again for the validation!
Born in Atlanta, I never liked Pepsi; now in North Carolina, I am stuck with Duke, and will check out independent druggists today. The last thing the world needs right now is a refurbished closet complete with an endless loop of Praise songs. This bill should be called the Anita Bryant bill, and its supporters should end up with the kind of Happy Family that she did.
Call this the Florida Pedophilia Hunting Grounds Improvement Bill. Why? Because while a LGBTQ teenager or pre-teen living with non-accepting parents is definitely not optimal, being thrown out to the streets is much much worse. Conversion Therapy is equally as bad. I do not have any data to back my pedophilia statement, but I believe my assumption that pedos will prey on these kids is likely not that far off.
Judd, how is it that corporations can say 'no comment' when you reach out about things like this? Can you simply keep asking or will they just continually say 'no comment'. How do we get them to comment? It's incredibly obvious that they do not support LGBTQ rights in any manner and this 'both sides of the aisle' crap isn't a good enough answer. You cannot claim to support LGBTQ rights and donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to republicans who have said they do not support LGBTQ rights and they prove it with this bogus legislation.
Regardless of our views on this topic, is anyone concerned that fighting over these issues is exactly what is fueling Trumpers? If we do not stop engaging in these culture wars the hard right is going to use issues exactly like this to take over the country. The crushing defeat of the left in San Francisco - one of the most liberal cities in the country has got to be a wake up call for us all. Winning or losing THIS BATTLE is irrelevant. We are on the brink of losing EVERYTHING.
As a society it is my hope we can begin to recognize that, while of critical importance, these issues are DWARFED by the battle for basic democracy. Continuing to create anger on an issue like this is merely distracting the left from actually winning the WAR for democracy.
To reiterate: my sentiments are aligned with this article. But the article itself does the agenda it supposes to help a tremendous disservice. These are the topics and issues that are the oxygen of the hard right - unless we stop fighting these battles, ALL of these RIGHTS will cease to even be discussed. They will simply be wiped out by Trump (or a proxy) in 2024.
A citizen who is deeply concerned we are failing to realize we are going to lose EVERYTHING. Look at the warning from Bloomberg this morning - a man who spent 100s of millions in Florida fighting Trump, forcing him to redirect resources there. Article is titled "Recall Shows Democrats Face Seismic Challenge."
I live in the SF Bay Area. What “crushing defeat” in SF are you talking about?
Democracy is defeated on the local and state level.
What, specifically, is it that we should be focused on?
I find a lot of inflammatory comments similar to yours all over left-leaning forums & social media, cautioning against fighting “culture wars” whilst offering nothing as to what, specifically, the left “should” be doing. It’s just ambiguous fear-mongering comments that the left is going to lose “big”, “lose everything” if the left doesn’t stop fighting culture wars. Why? So the right can win with their march towards fascism?
“All it takes for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing/remain silent” I don’t remember the quote exactly or who said it but it seems appropriate here because you offer no alternatives as to what the left needs to focus on. Instead, you merely propose inaction and silence. Seems suspicious to me.
I agree. We need to keep the big picture in mind and mobilize to keep our democracy, but we also need to understand the breadth and depth of the challenges ahead. If the GOP chooses to sacrifice children so they can win votes, we should all be properly outraged. Anger doesn't dissipate energy, it can help to focus it.
It sounds like you're saying that we should let the "little stuff" like children's rights and liberty go? Sacrifice the children? If I am reading your sentiment correctly, you feel that solid discovery and reporting about such issues are the "fuel"??
Every area, including beautiful, loving SF, has issues... goes thru times of bad leadership and finds itself again. SF has probs but leaders aren't removing freedoms. And the ppl just corrected the Board of Ed in a recall TO PROTECT CHILDREN. They didn't put it off out of fear of losing a bigger battle down the road.
So I could not disagree with you more. Your proposal to mute these "small" battles is to empower bigots with each one. Only out of fear of losing bigger battles?? Idk... does not seem to come from a vision of clarity.
Momentum is a fact of science. If we ignore it, it gains on us. If we fight it, we slow it down. It is valuable and powerful energy.
The Dems are sooooo WEAK when it comes to strategy, tactics, and marketing. Repubs are far better. THAT--AND ONLY THAT--IS THE REASON OUR DEMOCRACY IS CRACKING ...from Trump & AOC to vaccines to gerrymadering to voting rights to capitalism v. marxism to diplomacy. If Dems knew how to message successfully, they'd be winning. Let's not DILUTE the messaging even further.
The teacher's union has just gotten destroyed on the San Fran recall vote. Middle America is going to render all these issues moot. Please see my post below. My sympathies are with you/this view but it is going to get trampled if we do not start focusing on the big picture.
I live in the SF Bay Area. Stop posting misinformation on what happened with the SF school Board of Trustees recall. It had NOTHING to do with the teacher’s union. You’ve been listening/reading to right wing media which, per usual, is taking a kernel of fact and twisting it all out of recognition of reality.
From SF Chronicle: “The recall divided the city for the past year, with a grassroots effort of frustrated parents and community members pushing for the trustees’ removal over the slow reopening of schools during the pandemic and the board’s focus on controversial issues like renaming 44 school sites and ending the merit-based admission system at Lowell High School.”
The biggest issue is the last fact and probably the last straw. Lowell High School is a very good school and entrance is based on academic merit. This school board wanted to change entrance requirement to a lottery system. Many, many parents, in a very diverse school district, were extremely upset. This combined with slow reopening of schools and wasting time on re-naming schools instead of focusing on more important business is what brought about the recall. It had NOTHING to do with left/right as the right-wing media seems intent on pushing this lie. Stop posting your lies on this forum.
Don't you think part of the big picture is stopping corporate donations to these wing nuts proposing this kind of legislation? I do. I think these donors should be held accountable for their lip service to LGBTQ equality while putting money behind those who are trying to destroy it. Going after their money is the only way they seem to respond. And all of those corporations should be shamed into stopping their donations.
Thx Judd. Any responce from HRC? Looks like their head in the sand. The real horror here is that other states will quickly propose and pass something equally heinous, similar to adoption of the GA voting rights bill.
You are right Bill from UWS. But if we do not win in the broad election you will lose on every one of these issues because the foundation of our society will have been abrogated and taken into the hands of the hard right. Please see Bloomberg's article today on this. Articles like this get everyone to focus on battles when we are clearly getting CRUSHED in the war for basic rights of any kind.
Is this what the GQP stands for now? Endangering children, rampant homophobia, hatred....Every day finds them moving closer and closer to "wingnut right-wing nut job"...
Another horror show from Florida. Add the horrors from corporate America run amok, from book-burning moms and school boards under attack, from the pro-life assault on women -- the list is dizzyingly long. The problem is, us ordinary folks who want to do SOMETHING don't know where to turn first. Judd, every day you report something else that is enraging, but what can our next steps be? Is there an overarching theme that covers a multitude of outrages that would allow your readers and others to focus more specifically, to have a greater impact?
One of the activities of the activist group I belong to, Seniors Taking Action, is a letter-writing campaign to members of the Business Roundtable Board of Directors. The Roundtable, which has more than 200 corporate members, has issued eloquent statements denouncing the Jan. 6 insurrection and voter suppression, yet many of their members continue to contribute heavily to anti-democratic legislators. We want the Roundtable Directors to persuade their members that a healthy democracy is good for business, and that it is in their self-interest to keep our democracy from failing.
These people are running around like a pack of rabid dogs spreading their mental illness and hatred like rabies. This is today’s McCarthyism; do we have a Joseph Welch to stop this?
They are voicing a view that is held by a large number of Americans. No matter how angry you are, focusing on this issue post the implosion of the left wing agenda in San Fran seems like an unambiguous mistake. Keep at it like this and you wont even have a forum to discuss this. We will lose the WAR for basic democracy.
What is it with these people? No doubt they consider themselves "devout" Christians...
Disgusting in every aspect. I can't believe that outing children is in their best interest. What about a minors right to privacy? I know a young person whose religious parents went whacko when she was a teen, discovered she was Gay by way of a school mate and threw her out. She has managed to get above it but it has taken 10 years. I Imagine the emotional damage will be life long. As far as I know she is still "dead" to her parents. An only child, too.
As for the corporations. To get their money into political pockets, there is no moral compass. Mantra play both sides of the field. Oh how I despise the 1%. Greedy in every deed.
Please see my post above. Again. Sympathies are with you but all of this is about to get absolutely run over
Then what is your solution other than to reply to everyone saying "you're fighting the wrong battle?" You keep replying with the same comment. How about a solution? At least Judd is pointing out who their donors are, so we can take aim at cutting off their funding. Just saying, "you're wrong" doesn't move the needle.
I just commented to PepsiCo about their hypocrisy. I guess that leaves about 10 to go....
Replying to
@PepsiCo
However, your actions are are demonstrating hostility to anyone among the LGBTQ population--you're donating a huge sum of money to those in FL who want to put them in danger. Cruel. Ignorant. PepsiCo, clean up your act!
[Of course, any teacher behaving inappropriately (such as in "grooming") would need to be exposed.]
When these "moral crusaders" attack schools, their real reason is to push people toward home schooling. Because they don't want to pay taxes that fund public schools. They sell it to you as "freedom." But really they are just making sure the rungs on the social ladder don't start until just below their own feet.
Judd: Thx to the NYT we have "both sidesism" permating everything. To that end when sharing this info with a friend, they questioned what corporations might be giving to the other side? So does Charter for example give to HRC or anything that would be considered "the other side"? Personally I think support pf people who are elected and esposing this stuff by a coproration could never be mitigated by other actions, if any. Thank You.
THANK YOU!!! I always ask Judd for this info but my request seems to fall on deaf ears. Like, The Nature Conservancy doesn't send me a letter saying "don't donate to these orgs", they say "please donate to us and these sister orgs". Human nature predisposes us to wanting to HELP, not constantly FIGHT AGAINST. Thanks again for the validation!
This is evil. I can find no other appropriate word to use.
please see my post below. I don't disagree with you. But all of this is going to be moot if we do not start fighting for the bigger picture.
Born in Atlanta, I never liked Pepsi; now in North Carolina, I am stuck with Duke, and will check out independent druggists today. The last thing the world needs right now is a refurbished closet complete with an endless loop of Praise songs. This bill should be called the Anita Bryant bill, and its supporters should end up with the kind of Happy Family that she did.
Call this the Florida Pedophilia Hunting Grounds Improvement Bill. Why? Because while a LGBTQ teenager or pre-teen living with non-accepting parents is definitely not optimal, being thrown out to the streets is much much worse. Conversion Therapy is equally as bad. I do not have any data to back my pedophilia statement, but I believe my assumption that pedos will prey on these kids is likely not that far off.
Judd, how is it that corporations can say 'no comment' when you reach out about things like this? Can you simply keep asking or will they just continually say 'no comment'. How do we get them to comment? It's incredibly obvious that they do not support LGBTQ rights in any manner and this 'both sides of the aisle' crap isn't a good enough answer. You cannot claim to support LGBTQ rights and donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to republicans who have said they do not support LGBTQ rights and they prove it with this bogus legislation.
It seems like these bills impinge on 1st Amendment rights of free speech.
Regardless of our views on this topic, is anyone concerned that fighting over these issues is exactly what is fueling Trumpers? If we do not stop engaging in these culture wars the hard right is going to use issues exactly like this to take over the country. The crushing defeat of the left in San Francisco - one of the most liberal cities in the country has got to be a wake up call for us all. Winning or losing THIS BATTLE is irrelevant. We are on the brink of losing EVERYTHING.
As a society it is my hope we can begin to recognize that, while of critical importance, these issues are DWARFED by the battle for basic democracy. Continuing to create anger on an issue like this is merely distracting the left from actually winning the WAR for democracy.
To reiterate: my sentiments are aligned with this article. But the article itself does the agenda it supposes to help a tremendous disservice. These are the topics and issues that are the oxygen of the hard right - unless we stop fighting these battles, ALL of these RIGHTS will cease to even be discussed. They will simply be wiped out by Trump (or a proxy) in 2024.
A citizen who is deeply concerned we are failing to realize we are going to lose EVERYTHING. Look at the warning from Bloomberg this morning - a man who spent 100s of millions in Florida fighting Trump, forcing him to redirect resources there. Article is titled "Recall Shows Democrats Face Seismic Challenge."
I live in the SF Bay Area. What “crushing defeat” in SF are you talking about?
Democracy is defeated on the local and state level.
What, specifically, is it that we should be focused on?
I find a lot of inflammatory comments similar to yours all over left-leaning forums & social media, cautioning against fighting “culture wars” whilst offering nothing as to what, specifically, the left “should” be doing. It’s just ambiguous fear-mongering comments that the left is going to lose “big”, “lose everything” if the left doesn’t stop fighting culture wars. Why? So the right can win with their march towards fascism?
“All it takes for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing/remain silent” I don’t remember the quote exactly or who said it but it seems appropriate here because you offer no alternatives as to what the left needs to focus on. Instead, you merely propose inaction and silence. Seems suspicious to me.
Perfectly said. Thank You
👏👏👏🥂💨
There's a difference between exposing deceit or ignorance, and fighting or warring.
I agree. We need to keep the big picture in mind and mobilize to keep our democracy, but we also need to understand the breadth and depth of the challenges ahead. If the GOP chooses to sacrifice children so they can win votes, we should all be properly outraged. Anger doesn't dissipate energy, it can help to focus it.
It sounds like you're saying that we should let the "little stuff" like children's rights and liberty go? Sacrifice the children? If I am reading your sentiment correctly, you feel that solid discovery and reporting about such issues are the "fuel"??
Every area, including beautiful, loving SF, has issues... goes thru times of bad leadership and finds itself again. SF has probs but leaders aren't removing freedoms. And the ppl just corrected the Board of Ed in a recall TO PROTECT CHILDREN. They didn't put it off out of fear of losing a bigger battle down the road.
So I could not disagree with you more. Your proposal to mute these "small" battles is to empower bigots with each one. Only out of fear of losing bigger battles?? Idk... does not seem to come from a vision of clarity.
Momentum is a fact of science. If we ignore it, it gains on us. If we fight it, we slow it down. It is valuable and powerful energy.
The Dems are sooooo WEAK when it comes to strategy, tactics, and marketing. Repubs are far better. THAT--AND ONLY THAT--IS THE REASON OUR DEMOCRACY IS CRACKING ...from Trump & AOC to vaccines to gerrymadering to voting rights to capitalism v. marxism to diplomacy. If Dems knew how to message successfully, they'd be winning. Let's not DILUTE the messaging even further.
Has the teacher’s Union issued a statement or position on this?
The teacher's union has just gotten destroyed on the San Fran recall vote. Middle America is going to render all these issues moot. Please see my post below. My sympathies are with you/this view but it is going to get trampled if we do not start focusing on the big picture.
I live in the SF Bay Area. Stop posting misinformation on what happened with the SF school Board of Trustees recall. It had NOTHING to do with the teacher’s union. You’ve been listening/reading to right wing media which, per usual, is taking a kernel of fact and twisting it all out of recognition of reality.
From SF Chronicle: “The recall divided the city for the past year, with a grassroots effort of frustrated parents and community members pushing for the trustees’ removal over the slow reopening of schools during the pandemic and the board’s focus on controversial issues like renaming 44 school sites and ending the merit-based admission system at Lowell High School.”
The biggest issue is the last fact and probably the last straw. Lowell High School is a very good school and entrance is based on academic merit. This school board wanted to change entrance requirement to a lottery system. Many, many parents, in a very diverse school district, were extremely upset. This combined with slow reopening of schools and wasting time on re-naming schools instead of focusing on more important business is what brought about the recall. It had NOTHING to do with left/right as the right-wing media seems intent on pushing this lie. Stop posting your lies on this forum.
No kidding, right?? Agree 💯. If you don't live here, stop assuming and spreading misinformation!
Don't you think part of the big picture is stopping corporate donations to these wing nuts proposing this kind of legislation? I do. I think these donors should be held accountable for their lip service to LGBTQ equality while putting money behind those who are trying to destroy it. Going after their money is the only way they seem to respond. And all of those corporations should be shamed into stopping their donations.
Thx Judd. Any responce from HRC? Looks like their head in the sand. The real horror here is that other states will quickly propose and pass something equally heinous, similar to adoption of the GA voting rights bill.
You are right Bill from UWS. But if we do not win in the broad election you will lose on every one of these issues because the foundation of our society will have been abrogated and taken into the hands of the hard right. Please see Bloomberg's article today on this. Articles like this get everyone to focus on battles when we are clearly getting CRUSHED in the war for basic rights of any kind.
Is this what the GQP stands for now? Endangering children, rampant homophobia, hatred....Every day finds them moving closer and closer to "wingnut right-wing nut job"...
Another horror show from Florida. Add the horrors from corporate America run amok, from book-burning moms and school boards under attack, from the pro-life assault on women -- the list is dizzyingly long. The problem is, us ordinary folks who want to do SOMETHING don't know where to turn first. Judd, every day you report something else that is enraging, but what can our next steps be? Is there an overarching theme that covers a multitude of outrages that would allow your readers and others to focus more specifically, to have a greater impact?
One of the activities of the activist group I belong to, Seniors Taking Action, is a letter-writing campaign to members of the Business Roundtable Board of Directors. The Roundtable, which has more than 200 corporate members, has issued eloquent statements denouncing the Jan. 6 insurrection and voter suppression, yet many of their members continue to contribute heavily to anti-democratic legislators. We want the Roundtable Directors to persuade their members that a healthy democracy is good for business, and that it is in their self-interest to keep our democracy from failing.