Texas Takes A Giant Step Backwards

The Texas GOP held their convention HateFest over the weekend and became the first state GOP group to deny Log Cabin Republicans, an organization of gay conservatives, a booth because, well, they’re gay y’all. And while the decision was a close 4-3 vote by the Texas State Republican Executive Committee, it was still a vote to Don’t Say Gay.

The Log Cabin Republicans [LCR] said the Texas convention should have allowed them to host a booth in the name of “inclusion.” Inclusion? The GOP? Well, the LCR says the proof that the GOP is more inclusive is the fact that a Mexican-American conservative Mayra Flores won a special election to take the state’s 34th congressional district.

“Texas Republicans just saw on Tuesday night what happens when the party includes new faces and voices – a Democrat-held seat was flipped for the first time in nearly a hundred years by a conservative Mexican woman. It’s clear that inclusion wins, which makes the Texas Republican Party leadership decision to exclude the Texas Log Cabin Republicans from their convention not just narrow-minded, but politically short-sighted.”

Let’s be clear, one Mexican-American winning her election does not make the party inclusive when they want troops at the border to keep immigrants, like Mayra Flores’ ancestors, out of the country.

And here are more examples, via the Texas GOP’s own 1972 2022 platform, that illustrates their inclusivity:

Homosexuality is an abnormal lifestyle choice.

President Joe Biden “was not legitimately elected.”

Texas GOP Senator John Cornyn was rebuked for merely taking part in bipartisan gun talks.

Texas schoolchildren should “learn about the humanity of the preborn child” including teaching that life begins at fertilization.

Gender identity disorder is “a mental health condition” requiring official documents to adhere to “biological gender,” and allowing civil penalties and monetary compensation to “de-transitioners” who have received gender-affirming surgery, which the Texas GOP calls a form of medical malpractice.

Remove the Legislature’s power “to regulate the wearing of arms, with a view to prevent crime.”

That’s Texas, where they have just seen schoolchildren slaughtered by a gun nut, where they spent part of the winter without heat or electricity because of the incompetence of the GOP, and that’s the Texas GOP.

Inclusive they are not.

Stories of Pride: Bergen County Arts & Science Charter School Gets An LGBTQ-Inclusive Curriculum

Last May, the Bergen County Arts & Science Charter School [BASCS], a public school that rents space from Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church in Hackensack, New Jersey, was forced to paint over Keith Haring-inspired mural with interlocking male symbols that were on a wall in a common area also used by church parishioners.

The incident drew criticism from Garden State Equality and others who perceived the landlord dispute as bigoted … because it is … and Nihat Guvercin, chief executive officer of iLearn Schools, which operates BASCS, agreed:

“For years BASCS has successfully operated its school in a church building, complying with the requirements of its lease while also respecting the rights of its students. The curriculum test-pilot will be an opportunity for us to become a leader in this work, to create a model for other public schools. We’re proud to participate with Garden State Equality to do that.”

And now BASCS has been selected as the first school in the state to pilot LGBTQ curriculum. The LGBTQ-Inclusive Curriculum law, passed last year and signed into law by Governor Phil Murphy, requires middle and high schools to teach students about the political, economic, and social contributions of LGBTQ people.

And it’s not just history and inclusion, it’s safety for LGBTQ youth. LGBTQ students were nearly half as likely to experience victimization in schools where inclusive curriculum was available, and reports of homophobic slurs and negative remarks declined across the board since students were more than twice as likely to intervene on another student’s behalf when they witnessed anti-LGBTQ remarks.

And now BASCS has gone from being punished for painting an LGBTQ inclusive mural, to being one of the first schools in the state to have an LGBTQ inclusive curriculum. Maybe these kids will learn about all of the things that LGBTQ people have done for this world, and then realize we’re all very much alike.

The march goes on …

NJ.com