House committee in Florida passes "Don't Say Gay" Bill, which aims to ban discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. The new bill will effectively "erase" LGBT history, culture and students, LGBT advocates say. https://thehill.com/changing-americ...committee-in-florida-passes-dont-say-gay-bill
This is ridiculous and I have no other word to call it. Just when you thought maybe this country would get better.
This makes me literally sick to my stomach. The death of so many LGBTQIA+ youth will be on the hands of the people who pass this legislation. .....David
For some it must be better to maintain the status quo than try to change society for the better. Better to purchase a stone for your child's grave than give a hug of unconditional love. Five graves were filled in a year from suicide in my school. I'm sure 2 or 3 were LGBT related. This is just a different form of conversion therapy. Stick people back in silence because it's inconvenient for some to hear the truth. Just breaks my heart. Who cares who someone loves or wants to be!
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?! THIS IS A FREE COUNTRY! IF THAT"S NOT TRUE MAY THE HOLY LORD DO HIS WORST UPON ME.
It sounds like Florida legislators miss the 1950s and want a return to ignorance. Thankfully there are online resources that counter the message of this bill. However we all need to be better at writing to politicians and people in leadership about our concerns. They weren't elected to bring indignity and disrespect to citizens but you wouldn't know that based on what they do. I am glad that my grandparents came to Canada. In view of all this it was a great decision for me.
This is exactly what happened in the 1980s in the UK. The Thatcher government passed the infamous Clause 28, a section of the 1988 Local Government Bill that prohibited local authorities (and thus the school system) from 'promoting' homosexuality. Awful, of course. But it did have the effect of decimating the Tory vote not only amongst the LGTB community but also the many many ordinary straight people who are our allies. Long term I'd argue that it damaged the Tories. It's one of the reasons they're currently hesitant about kickstarting a similar full-blown 'culture war' against us trans folk... One can only hope that a similar blowback effect happens in Florida.
Gosh, it's bad enough that there have been schools that banned LGBT+ coming of age books because of parent complaints. I wish these LGBT+ friendly resources existed in my teen years. It wasn't that long ago when homophobia was the norm. I remember when the news on TV made a big deal about Spongebob possibly being gay. Well, it turns out he's actually asexual because he's a sponge. This aired like 15+ years ago, so it wasn't too long ago. At this point, I'm convinced that the legislators don't care about being "right" or "wrong." They're mentally stuck in a time when gays were considered p*dophiles.Not to mention, they have the attitude of not caring about rights for others not like them, because there's nothing in it for themselves. Really pisses me off.
The bill’s gotten worse. They added an amendment demanding schools out kids to their parents. Hopefully it has the effect of wiping out the GOP. They need to be wiped out at the polls at this point if this is how they’re going to use power (and it is very much so is par for the course nationwide).
The amendment has been withdrawn that would force students to be outed to their families within 6 weeks. Though, everything else in the bill moves forward. https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/...nts-withdrawn-from-floridas-dont-say-gay-bill
The very fact that the amendment was proposed at all doesn’t exactly say good things about their intent.
It seems every time things move forward other people try to force them back. I went to a Catholic girls school that never even mentioned LGBT. Had I known that lesbian was an option I would have figured out my sexual orientation years earlier. But this was in a Catholic country and Catholicism doesn’t approve of homosexuality. I really thought all of the US was way ahead of us.