SigmatheZeta
Senior Member
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2021
- Messages
- 615
- Gender
- she/her
- Basic Beliefs
- Generally, I am rooted in both ancient Epicurean and ancient Pyrrhonist sentiments, although I am somewhat sympathetic toward the intentions behind ancient Cynicism.
Dear IIDB,
thehill.com
This is precisely the kind of toxic, repressive legislation that led to the climate of anti-LGBT violence in Russia. This cancer is going to spread, and it is going to get worse. America's right-wing went through a brief period of shying away from direct political attacks against LGBT, but apparently, DeSantis is determined to use a more homophobic and transphobic variant of the strategy that Trump was using, starting in 2009.
Starting in 2009, Trump was using pure political outrageousness to galvanize ultra-right followers, and the Democrats were not willing to take him seriously because it seemed to be beyond belief that a man that was openly racist could ever become influential in mainstream American politics. We had had a black president, and we had fallen into a strange sort of illusion that racism was no longer a real issue in the United States. We had underestimated how readily someone could translate general political disaffection into open and flagrant racism.
Furthermore, LGBT are an even more vulnerable minority than people of color in the United States. We really only represent about 5% of the entire population. One of the grim ironies of our situation is that we are really the most vulnerable during a highly sensitive period of our development. At about 12 years of age, young people tend to attach a sense of significance to whether or not they belong in their societies, and if they lack any clear picture of where and how they fit in, they can become disaffected, depressed, and highly prone to self-injury behavior. This is true for all young people, not just LGBT.
Unfortunately, it's also hardest to convince parents that it is okay to discuss LGBT issues with people in that age-group. It is commonplace for people to conflate "sexual orientation" with "sexual behavior," which are really related but not identical subjects. For an example, parents really have no hesitation to talk to children about typical gender roles with straight, cis-gender children, even to the point of exaggerating the significance of those roles (which can be problematic even for straight, cis-gender children). An example of how it is possible to talk with even very young children about LGBT issues is to point out how some families can even have two fathers. From there, a story could introduce them to two other gay men that never adopted children, but instead, they like to sell exotic squashes at a local farmers market on the weekends. There does not need to be explicit mention of sex just to acknowledge that a sexuality exists.
Such a "don't say gay" bill effectively forces teachers to teach children an incorrect picture of the adult world. If the teachers followed such an instruction, they would be teaching children that the only types of adults that existed were heterosexual and cis-gender adults. To a gay kid, this is toxic and dangerous. This kind of narrative tells them that the adult version themselves is not welcome. They are already being excluded from society by the adults in their lives. To the question, "where am I in this story?" the answer could be, "dead," "unwelcome," or "somewhere far away." By excluding any mention of their existence from a story, teachers are already driving them into social exile, and this sense is also not lost on other children their own age.
Dangerously, many parents have the misguided belief that homosexuality and transgenderism could not exist if it were not taught, so, from their point-of-view, teaching children a "straights only" version of adult life can lead to the fulfillment of that picture of the world. They think that, by shielding children from knowing that gay people exist, they can make sure that no children at all ever grow up to be gay. The only sense in which this could ever really be true, though, is if LGBT kids are driven either to kill themselves during their youth or find somewhere else to live where they do not feel so unsafe or stay permanently closeted, which leads to them living deeply dysfunctional lives.
I need to ask all Americans to please recognize how harmful this bill could be to young people that just might be members of their own families. We are in a dangerous time, right now. Right-wing movements are easily galvanized under current political conditions, and they tend to spread like a seething wildfire. We must not be as complacent about this one as we were about the swell of racism that started in 2009.
Thank you,
Sigma
Florida residents protest ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill
Advocates worry the bill will create a more hostile environment for members of the LGBTQ+ community in Florida.
thehill.com
This is precisely the kind of toxic, repressive legislation that led to the climate of anti-LGBT violence in Russia. This cancer is going to spread, and it is going to get worse. America's right-wing went through a brief period of shying away from direct political attacks against LGBT, but apparently, DeSantis is determined to use a more homophobic and transphobic variant of the strategy that Trump was using, starting in 2009.
Starting in 2009, Trump was using pure political outrageousness to galvanize ultra-right followers, and the Democrats were not willing to take him seriously because it seemed to be beyond belief that a man that was openly racist could ever become influential in mainstream American politics. We had had a black president, and we had fallen into a strange sort of illusion that racism was no longer a real issue in the United States. We had underestimated how readily someone could translate general political disaffection into open and flagrant racism.
Furthermore, LGBT are an even more vulnerable minority than people of color in the United States. We really only represent about 5% of the entire population. One of the grim ironies of our situation is that we are really the most vulnerable during a highly sensitive period of our development. At about 12 years of age, young people tend to attach a sense of significance to whether or not they belong in their societies, and if they lack any clear picture of where and how they fit in, they can become disaffected, depressed, and highly prone to self-injury behavior. This is true for all young people, not just LGBT.
Unfortunately, it's also hardest to convince parents that it is okay to discuss LGBT issues with people in that age-group. It is commonplace for people to conflate "sexual orientation" with "sexual behavior," which are really related but not identical subjects. For an example, parents really have no hesitation to talk to children about typical gender roles with straight, cis-gender children, even to the point of exaggerating the significance of those roles (which can be problematic even for straight, cis-gender children). An example of how it is possible to talk with even very young children about LGBT issues is to point out how some families can even have two fathers. From there, a story could introduce them to two other gay men that never adopted children, but instead, they like to sell exotic squashes at a local farmers market on the weekends. There does not need to be explicit mention of sex just to acknowledge that a sexuality exists.
Such a "don't say gay" bill effectively forces teachers to teach children an incorrect picture of the adult world. If the teachers followed such an instruction, they would be teaching children that the only types of adults that existed were heterosexual and cis-gender adults. To a gay kid, this is toxic and dangerous. This kind of narrative tells them that the adult version themselves is not welcome. They are already being excluded from society by the adults in their lives. To the question, "where am I in this story?" the answer could be, "dead," "unwelcome," or "somewhere far away." By excluding any mention of their existence from a story, teachers are already driving them into social exile, and this sense is also not lost on other children their own age.
Dangerously, many parents have the misguided belief that homosexuality and transgenderism could not exist if it were not taught, so, from their point-of-view, teaching children a "straights only" version of adult life can lead to the fulfillment of that picture of the world. They think that, by shielding children from knowing that gay people exist, they can make sure that no children at all ever grow up to be gay. The only sense in which this could ever really be true, though, is if LGBT kids are driven either to kill themselves during their youth or find somewhere else to live where they do not feel so unsafe or stay permanently closeted, which leads to them living deeply dysfunctional lives.
I need to ask all Americans to please recognize how harmful this bill could be to young people that just might be members of their own families. We are in a dangerous time, right now. Right-wing movements are easily galvanized under current political conditions, and they tend to spread like a seething wildfire. We must not be as complacent about this one as we were about the swell of racism that started in 2009.
Thank you,
Sigma
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