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Florida’s Department of Health and Board of Medicine misrepresented the review’s conclusion by stating 80% of children will “lose the desire” to identify with a sex not assigned at birth.

Studies used to support the 80% figure in the review did not reference gender identities; it centered on the persistence and desistence of gender dysphoria in adulthood. Steensmalater wrote that “using the term desistence in this way does not imply anything about the identity of the desisters.”

Breaking News: The House has passed a landmark bill protecting same-sex marriage.

While the bill would not set a national requirement that all states must legalize same-sex marriage, it would require individual states to recognize another state’s legal marriage.

It’s not perfect, but it sure as hell beats no protection at all in many of our backassward states.

Soon, conservatives justices could do more to catapult the country into a theocratic morass than any previous Supreme Court term in modern history.

We’ve already seen a woman’s right of choice decimated by the current court and while it may be denied, the religious right is influencing the court and pushing their ideology into law. I’ve listed a couple of cases that may be decided in the near future; each one cloaked in the guise of religious freedom.

Brackeen v. Haaland
In 1978, Congress passed the Indian Child Welfare Act in response to a crisis during which Native children were funneled into state foster care systems and shipped off to white Christian evangelical families. Stripping brown and Black children of their culture and heritage and forcibly assimilating them into white America is a hallmark of Christian evangelism. History is rife with tales of missionaries traveling to far-flung lands to “tame” the “savages.”

Well, you don’t have to travel to any far-flung lands to see white Christian evangelism at work. One need only read the briefing in Brackeen v. Haaland. Texas argued that the Indian Child Welfare Act harms Native children because it prohibits them from being raised according to white middle-class standards. 

303 Creative v. Elenis
In 303 Creative v. Elenis, the Court is being asked to weaponize the First Amendment against LGBTQ people, permitting bigots to claim freedom of religion as they turn same-sex couples away from their businesses. The website designer plaintiff in 303 Creative, like the baker in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado, is claiming that her websites are an expression of her artistry, and compelling her to build a website for a same-sex couple would be an infringement on her free speech rights. She is making these claims even though no one has even asked her to make a website for a same-sex couple. 

The LGBTQ community needs protection. But the FedSoc Six think protecting a vulnerable group of people—a group that is literally under siege in this country—is less important than a bigot’s right to discriminate by claiming freedom of religion.

-from Rewire News Group

It’s A Huge Win For Us All…

I’m elated that Senator Warnock has been declared winner in the Georgia runoff election and I offer congratulations to him on a decent and well run campaign.

However, that the margin was so close is telling of a hypocritical Republican Party that has become so very blinded in their quest for power that they’ve lost site of what can make America great… justice, equality and diversity.

In a way, I feel a little bit sorry for Walker. He has been used and abused by an elitist group of predominantly white demagogues whose primary goal is to benefit themselves. They don’t actually care about Walker or you and me.

Good luck Senator Warnock and keep fighting for what is just and right.

While They’re All About Rights Of The Unborn, They Don’t Seem To Care At All About A Woman’s Right To Choose Or About Protections For The Living, Such As…

Gun Laws, Welfare, Child Care, Health Care, Sick Leave, Social Security, Environmental Protection And Climate Change Just To Name A Few.

Rather than looking out for us all, Republican lawmakers are pushing for further restrictions on reproductive health, even in states where abortion is already banned.

Near-total abortion bans are in effect in 13 states, and others have limited access: In Georgia, the procedure is banned for people later than six weeks of pregnancy, and in Florida and Arizona, it is banned after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Two bills in Texas show how legislation could prevent people from leaving the state to access abortion.

Republican lawmakers have put forth a bill that would prohibit government entities from giving someone money that might be used to travel out of state for an abortion. Another bill would eliminate state tax breaks for businesses in the state that help cover their employees’ travel costs associated with getting an abortion outside of the state.

Some states have expressed interest in limiting access to some forms of emergency contraception such as Plan B.

Florida legislators have already said they intend to pass a new abortion ban this year. In South Carolina, whose six-week ban has been blocked by state courts, legislators came to an impasse this summer over the details of their proposed near-total abortion ban — specifically whether to include exceptions for people pregnant because of rape or incest.

A Trump-Appointed EEOC Commissioner has Initiated  Investigations Into Employers’ Abortion Travel Benefit Policies

“Andrea Lucas is known for prioritizing religious discrimination over other forms of discrimination investigated by the EEOC, which includes race discrimination, sex discrimination and sexual harassment.”

According to five attorneys with knowledge of the situation, Lucas is deploying a rarely used EEOC procedure to target these companies, which have yet to be named, without the approval of the rest of commission. 

This attempt to redirect the government’s limited civil rights resources to attacking women’s rights is evidence of the continuing harms caused by the Trump administration to women.

Before joining the EEOC, Lucas practiced law at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, a high-powered conservative law firm, currently challenging the Indian Child Welfare Act as reverse discrimination against white people because the law prefers Native American people in the adoption of Native American children.”

* (Ms Magazine, 12/5/2022 by CARRIE N. BAKER)

This appears to be a continuation of a previous EEOC employee’s pursuit (Sharon Gustafson), who served under Trump, but was fired by Biden.

Ms Gustafson was also known for pursuing religious discrimination in the workplace during her tenure. Her legal stances prompted at least one EEOC attorney to voice concern that the agency’s approach in a religious bias lawsuit against Kroger Co. could impinge on the rights of LGBT workers.

The Conservative Movement
Known For All Their Ocracies

Idiocrasy, mediocracy, hypocracy, theocracy,  kleptocracy, aristocracy, plutocracy, kakistocracy, neocracy… just not democracy 

Definition: Government By;

Idiocracy – low intellect 

Mediocracy – mediocrity 

Hypocracy – contradictions 

Theocracy – religion 

Kleptocracy – corruption 

Aristocracy – royalty 

Plutocracy – wealth

Kakistocracy – incompetence 

Neocracy – inexperience

*For my spell-freak friends – the word hypocracy: “a form of government or institution run by hypocrites or pretenders,” from The Urban Dictionary

So Now It’s Illegal In Florida To Have A Belief… DeSantis And His Followers Are To Blame

It is hard to imagine they could say this without questioning themselves, but this actually happened. Florida’s Stop WOKE Act that DeSantis brought to life made it it illegal for anyone who takes state money, including teachers and most college professors, to espouse that unquestionably accurate belief (“The belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them.”)

A belief is confidence in the truth or existence of something not immediately susceptible to rigorous proof… faith or trust. I just don’t understand how a personal belief could be made illegal. It would be like making free speech against the law (oh wait, they’ve already done that).

It may not be long before there are rigorous requirements to live in the state of Florida; they could include things like: you must be unquestionably loyal to the far right Republican Party, you have to be really old (and possibly feeble minded), your must be cisgender; you can’t be transgender and you can’t be gay, you must carry a gun (preferably an AR 15), you can’t be an immigrant, you must subscribe to an approved religion and who knows what other fascist requirements might be enforced.

I don’t think I’ll be retiring there.

Trump, the de facto head of the Republican Party is in favor of forgetting The Constitution, our laws, and just naming himself Emperor of America.

While he lives in his own fantasy land, you would think other party leaders would be horrified at his insane antics, but they don’t seem to care that their leader is delusional.

Although Democrats were horrified, Here’s one Republican Congressman’s comment regarding Trump’s statement… “He [Trump] says a lot of things, but that doesn’t mean that it’s ever going to happen. So you got to accept fact from fantasy — and fantasy is that we’re going to suspend the Constitution and go backwards.”

While this guy’s comment is pretty scary, the fact that the majority of Republicans haven’t repudiated Trump publicly is telling of their acceptance of a Fascist ideology.