LGBTQ news and entertainment
Some news items I thought worth your time: • The Advocate: With threats to marriage equality looming, a venue in Columbia, South Carolina, hosted free weddings for LGBTQ+ couples and raised funds for a transgender organization. Continue reading “Free Same-Sex Weddings + New TV Series ‘Invisible Boys’ + More News”
(stock photo via depositphotos)
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| Betsy DeVos and Rep. Mark Pocan |
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos continues to be a simply hideous person.
There are many, many reasons, but here’s just a few via the Human Rights Campaign:
Within days of taking office, she revoked the Obama-era guidance on protections for transgender students under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
In 2017, she withdrewTitle IX guidance on addressing sexual harassment in schools (including sexual violence) which affects LGBTQ kids disproportionately.
As chair of the Federal Commission on School Safety, she recommended rescinding nondiscriminatory school discipline guidanceprotecting students of color.
The list goes on and on.
This week, while answering questions about the Trump administration’s education budget, she was unable to give a straight answer to a question on whether or not she feels it’s okay for LGBTQ students to be discriminated against.
This isn’t really hard, you know…
Following up a question on school suspensions, openly gay Rep. Mark Pocan asked her, “Do you think it’s alright for a school to discriminate based on someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity?”
DeVos’ word-salad of an answer went like this:
“Um, we have laws that cover discriminatory efforts, and, um, our office for civil rights has continued to be very diligent in investigating any allegation of, um, discrimination and will continue to do so,” she stammered.
“So is that a yes or is that a no?,” asked Pocan. “I’m trying to get a yes or no, I guess, on that.”
In @BetsyDeVosED’s budget, there are major cuts to programs like the Special Olympics. Sec. DeVos didn’t know the number of kids who would be hurt by that cut, so I made sure she now knows that 272,000 kids are seeing their support taken away. pic.twitter.com/6ZiOfDU4Ou— Rep. Mark Pocan (@repmarkpocan) March 26, 2019
Pocan also touched on DeVos’ continued support for charter schools even though 25% of her beloved charter schools are failing.
Insert more word salad here…
When Pocan asked about proposed cuts to the tune of $17.6 million from the Special Olympics(which gives people with intellectual challenges the opportunity to compete in athletic contests), DeVos was flummoxed yet again.
Pocan inquired how many students those cuts would affect.
“We had to make some difficult decisions with this budget,” the secretary sputtered.
“How many kids?”
“I don’t know the number of kids…”
“Two hundred and seventy-two thousand – no problem, I’ll answer it for you,” said Pocan.
After running down more and more cuts to education for challenged students (including his two nephews with autism), the congressman kept trying to get an answer as to why so many programs for these students are being cut.
You got it – more word salad.
Devos would deflect, Pocan would readdress the question and topic at hand.
Credit the congressman for being tenacious.
Pocan wrapped up with a question as to how, when cutting 12% across the board from education budgets she could justify a 15% INCREASE for ‘executive salary appropriations?’
In the end, the super-wealthy DeVos weaved, dodged and changed subjects until Pocan’s time ran out.
Hideous.
Linda Brown, became one of the most famous symbols of the 20th century civil rights movement when she was denied registration at the all-white school just a few blocks from her home in 1950, has passed away at the age of 76.
Her parents weren’t unhappy with the black school she attended, but were concerned for the long distance Linda had to travel. Over train tracks, a busy road and then a bus ride each day to get to school. And then, the winter would come.
Her father became angry when they were turned away, and thus began a series of events that would result in a historic ruling at the U.S. Supreme Court.
In the desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education, all nine white male justices would rule that “separate but equal” was not and never would be equal.
The 1954 ruling changes decades of educational practices, and still reverberates in schools today.
Even after the ruling, it took three years for black students to enroll in an Arkansas high school. And it was only with a contingent of federal guards that those nine students were able to walk onto the school campus.
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| Vice-president Mike Pence |
For the first time in history, the vice-president was required to cast a tie breaking vote in order to confirm a president’s cabinet nominee.
Billionaire Betsy DeVos, who has spent many years promoting a voucher system for America’s schools but has no formal experience or training in education, was approved today in the U.S. Senate by a vote of 51-50.
The New York Times reports:
Two Republicans voted against Ms. DeVos’s confirmation, a sign that some members of President Trump’s party are willing to go against him, possibly foreshadowing difficulty on some of the president’s more contentious legislative priorities. It was the first time that a vice president has been summoned to the Capitol to break a tie on a cabinet nomination, according to the Senate historian.
The two Republicans who voted against the nominee, Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, announced their opposition to her last week. In back-to-back floor speeches, the lawmakers said Ms. DeVos was unqualified because of a lack of familiarity with public schools and with laws meant to protect students, despite her passion for helping them.
The Washington Post reports on the growing pushback on the nomination of billionaire Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education.
Over 300 lawmakers from all 50 states have announced they oppose DeVos for the position, in great part because she has no experience in education.
Labor unions, civil rights leaders and advocates for children with disabilities have all joined the growing chorus of naysayers.
In addition to her lack of experience as an educator, she has no training or degrees in the area of education. She’s worked for years to undermine public schools in favor of a voucher system that would allow parents to take public school money and shift that to private, for-profit schools.
And, of course, we all know the millions she and her family have donated to anti-LGBT groups like the Family Research Council.
After her confirmation hearing, I noted that I found her disingenuous smile to be smug and grating. It looks like I wasn’t the only one.
Check out this viral video (below) from Super Deluxe – “Betsy DeVos: Defensive Smiling”
Education Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos had a very poor showing under during her confirmation hearing.
Wow. Watch this and think about the fact that Ms. DeVos is going to be the next person overseeing the entire federal education system.
It’s notable that she has no experience working in education, nor does she have any education certification of any kinds.
Minnesota Sen. Al Franken focused on Devos’ and her families huge donations to anti-LGBTQ organizations (around the 4:00 mark):
Franken: “Mrs. DeVos, your family has a long history of supporting anti-LGBT causes including donating millions of dollars to groups that push conversion therapy, the practice of trying to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity. For example, you and your family have given over $10 million to Focus On the Family, an organization that currently states on its website that, ‘homosexual strugglers can and do change their sexual behavior and identity.’”
“Mrs. DeVos, conversion therapy has been widely discredited and rejected for decades by every mainstream medical and mental health organization as neither medically nor ethically appropriate,” the senator continued. “It has been shown to lead to depression, anxiety, drug use, homelessness, and suicide, particularly in LGBT youth. In fact, many of the leaders and founders of conversion therapy, including both religious ministries and mental health professionals, have not only publicly renounced it but have issued formal apologies for their work and how harmful it has been to the individuals involved. Mr. Chairman, I would ask that this be included in the record.”
“Mrs. DeVos, do you still believe in conversion therapy?”
DeVos: “Senator Franken, I’ve never believed in that. First of all, let me say I fully embrace equality and I believe in the innate value of every single human being and that all students, no matter their age, should be able to attend a school and feel safe and be free of discrimination. So let’s start there and let me just say that your characterization of our contributions I don’t think accurately reflects those of my family. I would hope you wouldn’t include other family members beyond my core family.”
Here she has a difficult time answering practically anything Sen. Tim Kaine asks:
Kaine: “If confirmed will you insist upon equal accountability in any K-12 school or educational program that receives taxpayer funding whether public, public charter or private?”
DeVos: “I support accountability.”
Kaine: “Equal accountability?”
DeVos: “I support accountability.”
Kaine: “Is that a yes or a no?”
DeVos: “I support accountability.”
Kaine: “Do you not want to answer my question?”
DeVos: “I support accountability.”
Kaine: “Let me ask you this. I think all schools that receive taxpayer funding should be equally accountable. Do you agree?”
DeVos: “Well they don’t, they are not today.”
Kaine: “Well, I think they should. Do you agree with me?
DeVos: “Well no . . . ”
Kaine, interrupting her, said: “You don’t agree with me.”
And then, this moment when she justifies guns in schools because some areas, like Wyoming, need them “to protect from potential grizzlies [bears].”
Finnish children spend very little time at school, don’t get homework and yet get one of the best educations in the world. How? Watch this.
After incorrectly dismissing the crowd at a graduation ceremony before the valedictorian’s speech, Principal Nancy Gordeuk, founder and principal of TNT Academy in Stone Mountain, Ga., stunned those in attendance by saying, “Look who’s leaving, all the black people.”
The comments, captured on cellphone video, sparked immediate outrage at the ceremony, as dozens of students and parents erupted, leaving in protest. The footage quickly circulated on social media, with some calling for Gordeuk’s resignation.
“A terrible mistake on my part of the graduation ceremony on Friday night,” Gordeuk wrote in an email to parents published by WXIA-TV. “The devil was in the house and came out from my mouth. I deeply apologize for my racist comment and hope that forgiveness [is] in your hearts. We all make mistakes and anyone who knows me realizes that I try my hardest to work with the students for them to obtain their goal of a high school diploma.”
Yo….wow pic.twitter.com/4ISp9ecl0U
— Henn Griffey Jr. (@IAMKRIS24) May 9, 2015
