Parents want right to discriminate against LGBTQ kids in MN

[prairiemuffin]

Things are getting quite ugly in my neck of the woods.

http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/news/2012/ ... nts-anoka-

These people are such fuckers, I don't even know where to begin. :angry-banghead:

[CanadianHippie]

demanded that teachers teach about ... “gay-related immune deficiency.

Never got past that part. Seriously? Anyone who uses "gay-related immune deficiency" should be excluded from any future discussion on the matter. They clearly haven't done their research since those few short months in '81 before they realized that HIV/AIDS can infect anyone.

[prairiemuffin]

See, but if they hold onto calling it GRID, then that means it only affects teh gayz. God's smiting, and all that jazz.

[Mama Mia]

Minnesota is really scaring me. I always had this vague view of Minnesota being a nice, stable, progressive state .. what the hell is going on there ?!? Everything thing I hear about the state lately is making me very fearful for the country as a whole.

Have the politics in the state always been so extreme ?

[2xx1xy1JD]

They obviously can't proofread their own statement, so I'm not sure why anyone would take them seriously on education.

The only logic that I can possibly imagine from their rant is that by making crazy requests for "balance", the school board will give up and say "fine, we'll keep the old policy where we just don't mention the issue".

I remember when my old high school, years ago, put in a similar "don't talk about homosexuality or abortion" policy. It was part of a rightward drift at the time, and it sucked. Prior to the policy, we had meaningful discussion and debate in the classroom. It's also nearly impossible to deal with the issues of the day, if you are going to be censored.

Yes, Dan Savage's columns can be crude. The videos are not his columns. There are an anti-bullying effort. And yes, I would support ALL anti-bullying efforts, and think that this format would also work with bullying related to other issues as well.

Yes, I do think that schools should be teaching about STDs and HIV. They could start by giving up-to-date and accurate information, dispelling the notion that heterosexuals don't get AIDS and noting that worldwide, it's most commonly spread through heterosexual transmission. They could also discuss the roles played by gender inequality, stigma, denial of scientific reality and religious/cultural objections to condom use in the spread of AIDS.

[MonkeyMomma]

Minnesota is really scaring me. I always had this vague view of Minnesota being a nice, stable, progressive state .. what the hell is going on there ?!? Everything thing I hear about the state lately is making me very fearful for the country as a whole.

Have the politics in the state always been so extreme ?

Please don't let these asswipes and the likes of Michele Bachmann turn you off to the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Please remember that it is also the state of nice, liberal electeds such as Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Sen. Al Franken, Rep. Keith Ellison (first Muslim member of congress), Rep. Betty McCollum, and Sen. Paul Wellstone ( :cry: ).

[booksnbeats]

Minnesota is really scaring me. I always had this vague view of Minnesota being a nice, stable, progressive state .. what the hell is going on there ?!? Everything thing I hear about the state lately is making me very fearful for the country as a whole.

Have the politics in the state always been so extreme ?

I've only lived in Minnesota for four years (no longer live there, but I miss it!) so a native should correct me...but this is Coon Rapids, one of the Twin Cities' conservative suburbs. Minneapolis and St. Paul are extremely liberal (Minneapolis was voted the #1 gay city recently) but the suburbs seem to be showing their extreme side recently. Take Michele Bachmann. I would like to think that all Minnesotans are more rational and balanced in their politics than the rest of the country, but I don't know if that holds true in the wave of conservatism that's been taking over the U.S. In general I'd still want to say that it is a strong progressive state--I've only noticed these kinds of stories surrounding LGBT rights, which is sad.

EDIT: MonkeyMamma is right: there are tons of liberal heroes of Minnesota. You still see Wellstone bumper stickers on minivans and Suburus and have to shed a tear. And Keith Ellison was the rep. for my district. He is/was awesome.

[prairiemuffin]

I've been a MN resident now for 10+ years, and I learned the hard way during the 2004 election that we're a weird state. It's easy to forget when you live in the very liberal bubble of the big city that the rest of the state does not necessarily hold those views. I am very proud of above-mentioned list of great senators/congress members, etc that have represented our state.

The conservatives have always been here, and usually the attitude is live and let live. Recently, though, the extreme right wing Christians have been getting more and more agitated and very vocal. Personally, I blame Michelle Bachmann. She's always been good for whipping up a frenzy amongst the God-fearing.

[Brainsample]

Can someone enlighten me as to what the Q is in LGBTQ? I can't keep up and still haven't stopped saying "hook up" as an expression of getting in touch with someone (having nothing to do with sex).

[MonkeyMomma]

Can someone enlighten me as to what the Q is in LGBTQ? I can't keep up and still haven't stopped saying "hook up" as an expression of getting in touch with someone (having nothing to do with sex).

Generally "queer" or "questioning." :)

[Shina]

Oh God, these people are fuckers!

In the past 2 years in their district, 6 kids have committed suicide. Six. Enough said, don't you think?!

(http://www.sctimes.com/article/20120110 ... ics-policy)

[prairiemuffin]

There's 6 suicides so far that are actually being "officially acknowledged" as a result of the policies. The real number is actually closer to 12 in the past 18 months. A close friend of mine is the theater teacher at the arts magnet middle school in Anoka, and he's been very heavily involved in leading the charge to get things changed for the better, to the tune of being very afraid he'll lose his job:

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-07-29/us/m ... r?_s=PM:US

Also Anderson Cooper had several of the Anoka kids who are involved in the current lawsuit against the district on his town hall regarding bullying last fall. If you get a chance to watch it on youtube, I encourage you to do so. It's heartbreaking.

[lilwriter85]

These people seem really crazy and hateful.

[lilwriter85]

Never got past that part. Seriously? Anyone who uses "gay-related immune deficiency" should be excluded from any future discussion on the matter. They clearly haven't done their research since those few short months in '81 before they realized that HIV/AIDS can infect anyone.

Sadly some people still refer to HIV/AIDS as a gay disease and they view it as a punishment for gay people. I have seen other religious people who acknowledge that HIV/AIDS can effect anyone but a lot of those people will still say that the people who got though sex and sharing needles deserved it.

[Visionoyahweh]

Never got past that part. Seriously? Anyone who uses "gay-related immune deficiency" should be excluded from any future discussion on the matter. They clearly haven't done their research since those few short months in '81 before they realized that HIV/AIDS can infect anyone.

The same people who conveniently pretend the continent of Africa doesn't exist when they yammer on about how HIV is transmitted.

[prairiemuffin]

And let's skate over the hemophiliacs that contracted it pre-mandatory donor screening. Those people absolutely deserved to die.

[booksnbeats]

Believing that ANY disease is used by God to punish people is just sick thinking. If that's your god, I don't want to worship him.

[Terrie]

Believing that ANY disease is used by God to punish people is just sick thinking. If that's your god, I don't want to worship him.

[NurseNell]

Minnesota is really scaring me. I always had this vague view of Minnesota being a nice, stable, progressive state .. what the hell is going on there ?!? Everything thing I hear about the state lately is making me very fearful for the country as a whole.

Have the politics in the state always been so extreme ?

I live in Saint Paul. I'm a school nurse in the ebil public schools. It was a co-worker of mine who 25 years ago or so started the first support group in the schools for LGBTQ students (at Central High School). At the district level we have an Out for Equity department:

Out for Equity is committed to:

Reducing high risk behavior among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students.

Reducing harassment and violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students, staff, and families.

Fostering school environments that value diversity.

Historically MN has been a very progressive state. Paul Wellstone was our senator, they don't come more liberal than him. Sadly he died in a plane crash. We have a Muslim in the US House of Representatives. Our 2 US senators are liberal democrats. Duluth and the Iron Range are very liberal, the unions were very powerful there. It's the Twin Cities suburbs that are becoming more and more reactive and conservative. Anoka-Hennepin is the largest school district in MN, and is a suburban area of Minneapolis. Those of us in the Twin Cities feel like the burbs are going over to the dark side.

[UmmSqueakster]

And let's skate over the hemophiliacs that contracted it pre-mandatory donor screening. Those people absolutely deserved to die.

One of my earliest memories was praying for "daddy's friend Dale." Dale was my dad's best friend from high school, a hemophiliac. He died in 1984 after contracting HIV from a blood transfusion.

This is why I won't buy a house in the suburbs, even though it's cheaper. I'm looking only in the Twin Cities proper, because most of the conservative a-holes have fled to the suburbs and xurbs. The thought of having the majority of my neighbors voting for the likes of Bachmann makes me physically ill.

[NurseNell]

This is why I won't buy a house in the suburbs, even though it's cheaper. I'm looking only in the Twin Cities proper, because most of the conservative a-holes have fled to the suburbs and xurbs. The thought of having the majority of my neighbors voting for the likes of Bachmann makes me physically ill.

I'm in the same boat. my house was in the Midway area, I sold it a few years ago and live in an apt now. I could pay less in rent if I moved to the burbs but the thought of living in the burbs is just something I don't want to entertain.

[koolmom]

Minnesota is really scaring me. I always had this vague view of Minnesota being a nice, stable, progressive state .. what the hell is going on there ?!? Everything thing I hear about the state lately is making me very fearful for the country as a whole.

Have the politics in the state always been so extreme ?

Me too! What's happened to Minnesota? Al Franken asleep on the job?