The Bad and The Good ... Monday June 13, 2022

These really are the easiest posts to compile because there are dumb people everywhere, though for some odd reason there are fewer this week. And so we have a few more   bright spots, and given this is Pride Month, it’s especially nice that there are positive LGBTQ+ stories … so here goes:

BAD

PENNSYLVANIA

Two GOP lawmakers, State Senators Scott Martin and Ryan Aument, plan to introduce a bill “to address discussions of gender identity and sexual orientation in Pennsylvania schools.”

In other words, Pennsylvania is going ‘Don’t Say Gay.’

This new bill would pertain to age-inappropriate conversations in elementary schools by prohibiting classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation for pre-kindergarten through fifth grade students and require public schools to develop a policy for notifying parents when there is a change to a student’s services or monitoring.

Scott Martin, who dropped his bid for governor in March, is also the author of the state Senate bill against transgender student athletes. That bill passed this week but has zero chance of being signed by Democratic Governor Tom Wolf.

FLORIDA

State GOP Representative Anthony Sabatini said he intends to draft legislation that would charge adults with a felony and “terminate the parental rights of any adult who brings a child to these perverted sex shows,” adding:

“When will the sexualization of children stop?”

I guess he has no problem, though, with parents taking pictures of their children holding guns because guns are good and gay is bad.

GOOD

NORTH CAROLINA

The state Senate passed its own ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill after Republicans introduced it on the first day of Pride Month. The bill is expected to pass the GOP-led House but get vetoed by Democratic Governor Roy Cooper.

And the bill has one local resident fighting back. Matt Bumpas, owner of Sweet Bumpas Cakes, is not a  fan of Hate Laws:

“All this hate mongering really has me angry. It’s hard to talk about. I’m really in disbelief and I really wanted to do something that spoke back to them.”

Bumpas went into the kitchen and created the Please Say Gay Cake. He posted a photo to Instagram and the orders started coming in.

Please Say Gay.

UTAH

Democratic state Senator Derek Kitchen has introduced legislation to codify marriage equality in Utah. Kitchen was joined by Jim Obergefell, plaintiff in the 2015 landmark Supreme Court decision that recognized same-sex marriage nationwide.

Kitchen, Utah’s only out gay legislator, was one of the plaintiffs in the case that brought marriage equality to Utah in 2014. Utah was the first state to ban same-sex unions, passing a law banning marriage equality in 1977, a statute that federal courts stopped the state from enforcing. In statute, however, Utah still recognizes marriage only between different sexes and Kitchen wants that changed:

“We will not go back. We have come too far to go back. We must defend our progress. We must be proactive by removing this exclusionary language from Utah code. We are legislating with our eyes wide open because our history tells us that we have to.”

The march goes on …

TEXAS

The American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU] and Lambda Legal have filed a lawsuit challenging GOP Governor Greg Abbott’s directive to investigate parents who provide gender-affirming care to their transgender children.

According to the lawsuit, a 16-year-old transgender boy tried to kill himself the same day Abbott issued the child abuse directive. He survived, but was admitted to an outpatient psychiatric facility, where staff learned that he was undergoing hormone therapy and reported the family for child abuse. A week after he was discharged, a Department of Family and Protective Services [DFPS] investigator visited the family’s home; they remain under investigation.

Punishing families because they have a trans child; punishing trans children because they want to live an authentic life.

That’s Texas and the GOP.

Remember, We The People have to make the Good News happen by speaking up and standing up and shouting out and voting to remove those people from office who are out to harm women, People of Color, and the LGBTQ+ community in their quest to take this country backwards.

Not to mention the NRA lapdogs and asshats.

CAST A GODDAMNED VOTE!