Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced in a keynote speech to the Young Conservatives of Texas an intention to "end" trans and GNC teachers being able to teach.
Remember that the Appeals Court decision in Florida didn't change anything.i can still be disciplined for using my pronouns as a violation of our districts code of professional ethics. Our state's GOP is pushing school boards to ignore the settlement and proceed to follow the law as originally written. The school district I work in as a trans woman is one of the boards choosing to keep policies aligned with the original text of the law. It's not the win everyone wants it to be. We are still having to fight in the trenches here in Florida. So please don't become complacent just because a judge made a ruling. It far from fixed!
We need to start pushing back with lawsuits of our own. That teacher who was singled out should sue Governor Abbott for defamation and discrimination. He literally just put a target on her back and made it OK for anyone in her community to hate and discriminate against her. This kind of government approved hatred only ever leads to violence, and we're usually on the receiving end of that.
You do realize it takes money to sue people, right? To win a civil suit like that, you either need to be a lawyer, have lawyer friends, or be able to afford one. This is why they're getting away with everything they're doing across the country. Comparatively, there are only a few legal organizations to take on large cases like that. Most of them won't, claiming they're too small and have to limit themselves to high-profile cases ... if that.
I was racially discriminated against by a large social media platform, and after scouring the country for years, the only one I found who was willing to go after that monster wanted double-digit thousands of dollars as a retainer. Not because of the morality of the case, but because of who I wanted to sue. Because he was quick to ask for that, I doubted whether he knew what he was doing. SMFH
When I became the first US teacher to transition on the job in 1998 (in a conservative district of IL), my district supported me and I experienced little real pushback at all. It continues to shock me to see trans people fighting for basic human rights 26 years later. I'd say I can't believe the cruelty of some people, but that would be a lie. For the governor of a huge state, though, this just underscores that the GOP has fully embraced the politics of hate.
Thank you Erin. Historian Jason Stanley whose field of study is fascism talks about how a population must be “schooled” for fascism before it can take hold. To me, this is what Abbott is doing. Attempting to erase the social culture and lived experiences of upcoming generations. Orwellian stuff like: “Remember, what you are seeing isn’t real.”
The expulsion of Harvard’s Claudine Gay catches the attention of someone my age because it’s something I’ve never seen in my seven decades. The British used violence to punish the Kikuyu school children in Kenya if they spoke their native language instead of English. It turned out incredibly ugly.
Abbott and the Transphobes are preaching to people who have little self awareness and little depth of feeling if they think of themselves as being defined by their body parts instead of their inner awareness. I’m repulsed that adult cis men like Abbott are think of children’s bodies at all. Thank Zeus that Abbott and the Mean People are in the minority.
That minority is setting the tempo, though. They've got lots of money, lots of pull, lots of power, and we don't stand a chance against them right now. Yes, they are obsessed with trans people, just like racists are obsessed with BIPOC. The similarities are astounding. They all seem like vicious perverts to me.
That quotation makes the endgame of "trans people removed from public life" quite stark. The schools are just the beginning, and itnwas never about bathrooms or women's sports.
It is so ironic that he can say what he did while sitting in that wheelchair. But of course self-consciousness or introspection are not traits that fascists have or attempt to develop.
“One of Grossman's students in New Jersey was Meryl Streep.[18] Another former student, Scott Keeler, wrote a newspaper essay on Grossman in 2007, for the Tampa Bay Times, recalling that "educators and adults in my community, including my own father, let pass the opportunity to teach tolerance and acceptance, and everyone was the worse for it."
It’s been very helpful to me to read history as told through the voices of Black historians, especially eye-opening for me is “Stamped from the Beginning” by Ibram X Kendi. I grew up having been educated in a culture of silence. People my age were led to believe it’s hurtful to talk about race.
Our country is what conservatives insist is a “post-racial” culture. This works for them because they can keep on doing what they’re doing, knowing if there’s no conversation about the atrocities of the past, we don’t have to address the atrocities of the past. My realization of a fascistic America changed dramatically after the BLM protests because for the first time in my life we started all talking.
Yes, we started, but it was short-lived. I knew once the pandemic lifted, people would go on about their lives as though nothing happened. The pandemic forced what happened, because for the first time, people all over the world saw what is an every day thing for us. They were all sitting at home on lock-down.
After George Floyd was murdered and the protests began, I made a video stating that would happen. People would go back to sleep. All I could do was shake my head, because I'm sure people were more afraid of repercussions with people around them than they were of a racist AmeriKKKa. Then when they found out the BLM was headed up by some lesbians, all hell broke loose. Weenies (weak chuckle).
They can never point to any data on trans teachers to supports the accusations they make. I’m encouraging all teachers who are trans to begin bragging, loudly, and often, about your testing scores. celebrate those AP exam scores. Celebrate the lower failure rates for your class credits. Celebrate the students who get into elite colleges or earn certifications. Brag. Early and often.
Let those successes become your shields and your joyful resistance because the state of Texas subjects it’s schools to a ton of testing and funds CTE programs like crazy. It pushes AP programming. Punishes high failure rates. As much as all those hoops really, really suck to experience in a school year…they also provide a lot of data points that prove their lies about trans teachers in classrooms.
The more trans teachers celebrate themselves publicly, the more people in the community will be safeguarded against being indoctrinated into this right-wing bullshit coming from men like abbot about trans teachers.
Abbott put this teacher at risk by naming the town and the fact that it is a high school. That should be illegal. This teacher works for the state, and Abbott is the teacher's boss. How is this not workplace harassment? Fuming.
Remember that the Appeals Court decision in Florida didn't change anything.i can still be disciplined for using my pronouns as a violation of our districts code of professional ethics. Our state's GOP is pushing school boards to ignore the settlement and proceed to follow the law as originally written. The school district I work in as a trans woman is one of the boards choosing to keep policies aligned with the original text of the law. It's not the win everyone wants it to be. We are still having to fight in the trenches here in Florida. So please don't become complacent just because a judge made a ruling. It far from fixed!
I have a better suggestion. End all fascist, racist governors first.
Ban them from office.
We need to start pushing back with lawsuits of our own. That teacher who was singled out should sue Governor Abbott for defamation and discrimination. He literally just put a target on her back and made it OK for anyone in her community to hate and discriminate against her. This kind of government approved hatred only ever leads to violence, and we're usually on the receiving end of that.
You do realize it takes money to sue people, right? To win a civil suit like that, you either need to be a lawyer, have lawyer friends, or be able to afford one. This is why they're getting away with everything they're doing across the country. Comparatively, there are only a few legal organizations to take on large cases like that. Most of them won't, claiming they're too small and have to limit themselves to high-profile cases ... if that.
I was racially discriminated against by a large social media platform, and after scouring the country for years, the only one I found who was willing to go after that monster wanted double-digit thousands of dollars as a retainer. Not because of the morality of the case, but because of who I wanted to sue. Because he was quick to ask for that, I doubted whether he knew what he was doing. SMFH
When I became the first US teacher to transition on the job in 1998 (in a conservative district of IL), my district supported me and I experienced little real pushback at all. It continues to shock me to see trans people fighting for basic human rights 26 years later. I'd say I can't believe the cruelty of some people, but that would be a lie. For the governor of a huge state, though, this just underscores that the GOP has fully embraced the politics of hate.
You were quite brave...
Thank you Erin. Historian Jason Stanley whose field of study is fascism talks about how a population must be “schooled” for fascism before it can take hold. To me, this is what Abbott is doing. Attempting to erase the social culture and lived experiences of upcoming generations. Orwellian stuff like: “Remember, what you are seeing isn’t real.”
The expulsion of Harvard’s Claudine Gay catches the attention of someone my age because it’s something I’ve never seen in my seven decades. The British used violence to punish the Kikuyu school children in Kenya if they spoke their native language instead of English. It turned out incredibly ugly.
Abbott and the Transphobes are preaching to people who have little self awareness and little depth of feeling if they think of themselves as being defined by their body parts instead of their inner awareness. I’m repulsed that adult cis men like Abbott are think of children’s bodies at all. Thank Zeus that Abbott and the Mean People are in the minority.
That minority is setting the tempo, though. They've got lots of money, lots of pull, lots of power, and we don't stand a chance against them right now. Yes, they are obsessed with trans people, just like racists are obsessed with BIPOC. The similarities are astounding. They all seem like vicious perverts to me.
Fascist theocracy
Fascism is only capitalism in decay.
That quotation makes the endgame of "trans people removed from public life" quite stark. The schools are just the beginning, and itnwas never about bathrooms or women's sports.
Replace 'transgender' with black, female, gay or disabled and he could have used this in any of the last several decades.
It is so ironic that he can say what he did while sitting in that wheelchair. But of course self-consciousness or introspection are not traits that fascists have or attempt to develop.
#MothersAgainstGregAbbott
https://www.tiktok.com/@mothersagainstgregabbott/video/7160370705941466410?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7139079389380167210
thank you for this!
Or Autistic...
Oh wow, I just said something about this. Yes, yes, yes, and did I say YES? Hahahaha
Genocide. Smacks of Germany in the 1930s.
Or the 1940s...
1971:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Grossman#:~:text=Paula%20Miriam%20Grossman%20(October%2030,the%20basis%20of%20sex%20discrimination
“One of Grossman's students in New Jersey was Meryl Streep.[18] Another former student, Scott Keeler, wrote a newspaper essay on Grossman in 2007, for the Tampa Bay Times, recalling that "educators and adults in my community, including my own father, let pass the opportunity to teach tolerance and acceptance, and everyone was the worse for it."
plus ça change
This has to be fake news. Everybody knows that trans folks did not exist until about 2018. 😉
Shit. I was in limbo for 40 years and didn’t even know it!
And even now, it's just a fad /s
Depressing.
does anyone else think that this man’s obsession with trans people is strange at best, sick at the worst?
It's not just this man, but the ultra-right in general.
If I were a betting trans woman, I'd put money that he doesn't want anyone to see his search history. 10-1 odds he DMs trans women on the downlow.
ALL OF THEM!!!
Wondering how the America I grew up in has devolved into fascism.
Fascist movements are as American as apple pie.
It’s been very helpful to me to read history as told through the voices of Black historians, especially eye-opening for me is “Stamped from the Beginning” by Ibram X Kendi. I grew up having been educated in a culture of silence. People my age were led to believe it’s hurtful to talk about race.
Our country is what conservatives insist is a “post-racial” culture. This works for them because they can keep on doing what they’re doing, knowing if there’s no conversation about the atrocities of the past, we don’t have to address the atrocities of the past. My realization of a fascistic America changed dramatically after the BLM protests because for the first time in my life we started all talking.
Yes, we started, but it was short-lived. I knew once the pandemic lifted, people would go on about their lives as though nothing happened. The pandemic forced what happened, because for the first time, people all over the world saw what is an every day thing for us. They were all sitting at home on lock-down.
After George Floyd was murdered and the protests began, I made a video stating that would happen. People would go back to sleep. All I could do was shake my head, because I'm sure people were more afraid of repercussions with people around them than they were of a racist AmeriKKKa. Then when they found out the BLM was headed up by some lesbians, all hell broke loose. Weenies (weak chuckle).
Such an embarrassment for the state! He should not be serving any government!
He should be banned from government.
They can never point to any data on trans teachers to supports the accusations they make. I’m encouraging all teachers who are trans to begin bragging, loudly, and often, about your testing scores. celebrate those AP exam scores. Celebrate the lower failure rates for your class credits. Celebrate the students who get into elite colleges or earn certifications. Brag. Early and often.
Let those successes become your shields and your joyful resistance because the state of Texas subjects it’s schools to a ton of testing and funds CTE programs like crazy. It pushes AP programming. Punishes high failure rates. As much as all those hoops really, really suck to experience in a school year…they also provide a lot of data points that prove their lies about trans teachers in classrooms.
The more trans teachers celebrate themselves publicly, the more people in the community will be safeguarded against being indoctrinated into this right-wing bullshit coming from men like abbot about trans teachers.
Yeah well too bad Gov. Abbott, there's this pesky thing called the Constitution.
And hey, we're happy to have any trans/GNC teachers here in PA. Your loss is our gain...
Abbott put this teacher at risk by naming the town and the fact that it is a high school. That should be illegal. This teacher works for the state, and Abbott is the teacher's boss. How is this not workplace harassment? Fuming.