YASSSSSS, Virginia, LGBT Kids Should Be Treated Equal!

Last year, Andrea Lafferty, the president of those Hate Groups with the sweet names—this one being the Traditional Values Coalition—and a student identified as “Jack Doe,” filed a lawsuit against the Fairfax County School District after the school board voted to add "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to its non-discrimination policy.

Clearly, Lafferty and “Doe” are not fans of non-discrimination; they argued that the policy is unlawful because such protections aren't included in state law.

Well, last week the Virginia Supreme Court basically told Andrea and “Jack” to take a seat, because the court upheld a lower court ruling dismissing the lawsuit. The Supreme Court said Lafferty and “Jack Doe” lacked standing to bring the challenge, saying the student's "general distress" over the non-discrimination policy isn't enough to allow him to bring a lawsuit against the school.

In the Age of _____, the age of people who are different, either in orientation or gender identity, being treated as “less than” this is a big win.

Equality; acceptance; understanding.

Andrea Lafferty’s little Hate Club was represented by the Hate Group, Liberty Counsel, and it’s Bigot-In-Chief, Mat Staver, who whined in a statement:

“While the Fairfax Country School Board temporarily dodged the issue, new developments in the application of this unlawful policy may result in a new suit. There is no doubt the school board intends to enforce this policy. Liberty Counsel is not finished fighting for the safety of Jack Doe and public school students in Fairfax County. We are exploring all possible avenues to further challenge these policies and are confident that we will prevail when the courts reach the merits of these challenges.”

Take a seat, Mat, and chalk this loss alongside the Kim Davis fiasco.

You are not going to take us back to Hate no matter how hard you try.

We are not going back.

US News

The Reading List Is Eliminated Because, Well, Lesbians

Earlier this week, I gleefully posted that homophobic Tennessee legislator, Stacey Campfield, best-known for his Don’t Say Gay bill, lots his primary bid at reelection. Now, though, there’s another threat of the same kinds, only it’s up there round Delaware way, and it’s more of a Don’t Read Gay thing.

The Cape Henlopen School Board in Delaware has eliminated a summer reading list for the incoming class of high school freshman over a challenge to the list’s inclusion of The Miseducation of Cameron Post, a book whose main character is gay.

The board initially voted to remove the novel — by emily m. danforth … she uses all lower case letters to identify herself — after several complaints from parents earlier this summer. At first, the board said it was removing the book because of the author’s use of profanity, but some parents, and emily danforth, think the decision was based solely on the book’s gay theme; the coming-of-age tale of a young girl discovering she is a lesbian.

Andy Lewis, board president, claims the book was removed from the list because there was no process to evaluate it after someone complained. Now, does that sound a bit fishy to anyone else? No process to evaluate the book? Howsabout, oh, I dunno, getting a copy of the book, sitting in a comfy chair, and, maybe, reading it?

Of course, it has been revealed that other books on the reading list were laden with profanity too, but only one … any guesses … featured a gay character. And after that revelation, rather than put the book on the list for students, the entire program, the entire reading list, was eliminated.

Don’t Read Gay, y’all.

The funniest thing of all is that the students themselves would probably have no problem reading The Miseducation of Cameron Post, but it’s their parents with the issues. Parents who don’t realize that gay folks, gay teenagers, exist, in real life and on the pages of a book.

via LGBTQ Nation