Two LGBTQ+ groups were barred from hosting pride events by Princeton ISD after violating materials policies and book bans. Now, the ACLU has filed a complaint.
Strikes me as a targeted policy of discrimination. They didn't do anything to work out any, unsubstantial, concerns, they just denied the groups access, it's obvious they are playing favorites with public resources. Texas needs to be reined in, if it's going to permit localities acting in such a dictatorial manner, harming kids FFS.
Sometimes I wish they still had a desire to secede. It is my "home" state, can't live there anymore, loved it my whole life. It's sad and pathetic and there are still so many good people there. Sigh is correct.
I have family there, have been to TX numerous times throughout my life. Last time was just nuts, post-COVID, no one wearing masks, it's just a different reality to me. Abbott and Paxton are criminal grade. Just a tragic thing, the redpillers controlling things.
Exactly! No good faith discussion and compromise, just a ban. They were looking for an excuse. To quote from the song, This is America, “Don’t be slip’in up”.
Things like this are stirring up anti-trans & LGBQIA+ hatred around the country. Doesn't have to be political anymore. Folks are openly saying things that they never said before. Now they're doing things to thumb their noses up at us, and it didn't sound like the ACLU is going to file a law suit. Very tiring. I saw this coming and all I can do is wince.
Goes to show you they've been waiting for this day & age where they can stir up this shit all over again. They've been tolerating us through gritted teeth since the 1960's. Hoods are off now. Punching us in the mouth using closed-door meetings and a pen.
Country is going backwards whether we want it to or not. Sigh
We are seeing a similar thing in The Netherlands. I will add that there is a slightly stronger separation between politics and medical care.
Needless to say the mere fact we have gotten an extreme-right government with a fascist party as the number 1 (with views scarily identical to the NSDAP of Adolf Hitler), has upped the transphobia here as well.
I have been messaging extreme-right and ultraconservative religions who are fighting against transpeople (the last organisation has basically been calling it a holy war on trans ideology, which they say doesn't mean they are targeting transpeople, which sounds eerily identical to Michael Knowles' statement it's not about the people but about the underlying "ideology").
Currently, I am only doing this to see how far their mask is coming off.
Yesterday an ultraconservative organisation confessed in one of the ultimate ways ever.
This organisation helped stoke panic and fear over a comprehensive, progressive sexual education program in 2023.
A panic that caused increase police presence around the primary school in my street by increasing surveillance to an absolute max.
A panic that in Belgium lead to people destroying 2 school buildings by setting them on fire, "to protect the children from the harmful ideology taught to them".
This organisation is also the key player in stoking up the hate against a writer and make him receive death threats, all because he wrote a compelling story about sexual abuse of a minor, in which he told the story from the abused, and the abuser, based on experience of a friend of his.
Which according to those people "was glorifying paedophilia" and "makes him unsuited to ever write a children's book!"
But back to the organisation I mentioned.
They told me yesterday, flat out that if the holy war on the erasure of transpeople means cis-people die, that needs to be seen as a justified and accepted form of collateral damage.
And this stance shows a scary similarity with an extremely religious political party that now has a proponent in the form of a party showing much of the same hateful ideology based on religious doctrine.
Even more scary: this party is a coalition party that now has taken place in the Chamber of Cabinet in the Dutch government, along with other fascists and racists.
One of the other parties wants to ban books.
The Netherlands is very much on it's way to become the US. And any criticism on that, is viewed as either an all out attack on religion or "a sign some people in politics are to close to exposing the truth, something the elite doesn't want!"
It shows how religious beliefs should take priority OVER the right to the freedom of free speech.
But even worse: basically stating that religious beliefs mean you are not allowed to criticize the extremism that comes with it.
It is astonishing to see the same brainrot in my government that the US has been suffering from.
Yes, it's the religious-right doing the same thing here. I heard about the Netherlands and a few other countries being in the same predicament because a couple of religious organizations are spreading this shit around the world.
That's about the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Sounding the alarm about sexual abuse is against their religion? Makes no sense. It isn't LGBTQ+ doing that shit anyway. Why do they always loop back around to us when we have nothing to do with that bullshit?
Ideology? There is no ideology. That's just an excuse to politicize us everywhere and they're lying about it not being about people. Where the hell do they think we came from?
These are powerful people and I don't see an end in sight. How to fight back is a mystery. It's all exhausting, but I know one thing. If the idiot gets back in our White House, I'm leaving this place for a long time. I'm too old for this shit. I have a couple of friends who are concerned about me and will let me stay with them. That says nothing about how I'm to get my hormones while out of this country.
The themeweek for sexual education (called "The Spring-fever Week" when translating the Dutch name "Week van de Lentekriebels") was a different story.
That religious organisation spread the (again familiar sounding) story that children were taught how to perform all kinds of sexual acts at the age of 6-7.
At the same age, the lesson materials suggested it urged teachers to tell children to start doubting their gender identity (this is the indoctrination story all over again).
According to the organisation, this gender identity "ideology" is meant "to develop mentally confused children completely ill equipped to handle such complex materials and thoughts, and will result in more children feeling confused about their gender." (Basically the social contagion idea from Lisa Littman).
And thus, teaching children about gender diverse people (which, by the way, only happened in 8th grade of primary school, when you are 11-12 years old), along with passing around a 3D printed model of the clitoris with the updated knowledge about it we now have, was "sexualizing children and preparing them for paedophilic relationships with teachers and adults, and lowering the threshold for these children to commit explicit sexual acts and wanting to experience intercourse".
Sounds familiar to the fascists in the US right?
And this disinformation storm caught on. Very much helped by the media that was very much stupidly complacent and kept inviting celebrities who "agreed with the concerned parents" (the lesson materials, by the way were all directly available online! Anyone could look into them and see they were a bunch of lies).
Some these celebrities didn't even have children themselves. But hey, let's give them a platform!
And now we have a government that in their mainline agreement told all the conspiracy theorists of that year: "You were right, children are sexually abused, let's fix that!"
Which is how a line stating: "Sexual education needs to be politically neutral and proven effective, and better suited towards the age of the student", ended up in that agreement.
Strongly suggesting that there's a disgusting thing going on now which needs urgent fixing.
And sexual minorities in The Netherlands who know the US situation know who is going to be called politically colored and thus should be barred from ever being taught anything about to other children.
"Why do they always loop back around to us when we have nothing to do with that bullshit?"
Because it's fascism, and in the case of religious parties, fascism under the disguise of religion-driven "tolerance and acceptance".
Fascists always need an enemy. If it doesn't exist, they create one.
Which is why you see politicians in the US going hard after transpeople, to try and hold them accountable for literally everything that is wrong in the country.
It is why I tell people that transphobia leading to discussions about healthcare are dangerous for everyone.
When politicians desperately try to make healthcare something politicians should talk about and decide about (something that in The Netherlands in theory is not possible, by the way, unless the constitution is changed or the opposition sleepwalks into fascism), it means they are testing the waters.
It's a way of them to try out the right language that makes people unaware it's rabid discrimination or sexism meant to control people.
That way, they can pass their harmful ideological views and when people notice, it's too late.
And here again, the US is a prime example of this. Focus heavily on sexual education and turn transpeople into the worst criminals ever, so it's easier to revoke their rights. And after that, make sure that the results of strongly limiting, or completely removing sexual education can not be combatted through medical means, by limiting or completely removing the right to abortion.
Anyone still up to fight for transpeople/transchildren's rights while not necessarily being well informed but simply not wanting to join in on the hate, can then easily be turned into a person strongly in favor of sexual abuse of children, and who wants to fight that image?
And here you see the strongest parallel with the situation the NSDAP created in the years 1930-1945.
Unfortunately it is really scary so many people in my country are unaware that when they vote for parties that take such a dehumanizing stance they are basically defending nazism.
"I'm too old for this shit. I have a couple of friends who are concerned about me and will let me stay with them. That says nothing about how I'm to get my hormones while out of this country."
I am now mostly speaking out because I am fearful for the young transchildren now growing up.
A local support group already mentioned to me that a family they help had the child call them crying their eyes out. The child was fearful they (Dutch government) were going to take away her medical care just like in the US.
And yes, the problem with hormones: Currently, I'm lucky that it's covered by healthcare. But I am 100% sure this government will do anything to specifically drop transpeople from that type of coverage.
The only problem they than are going to have is how they are going to distinguish transpeople from cis-people using the EXACT SAME FUCKING DRUGS.
Hang on my friend. These are hard times.
As for fighting back: Continue to call out the extremists. Continue to shine a light on their hypocrisy.
In a way, the fighting back has been witnessed in the US elections that Republicans suffered a continuous loss on due to their extremist view on abortion, one not shared by 66% of the citizens in the US.
I can only hope that this same uptake of anger against the attempts of imposing church values in public organisations like hospitals that were never built on religious backgrounds or beliefs, eventually rises for transpeople as well.
The stories I see of people who know someone who is trans, and are now close-up witnesses of the massive amounts of backlash they get and realize that these are similar people like them, are in that light a glimmer of hope.
But things are dire.
Weeew, if you managed to read all that, congratulations, thank you for your time.
No, I won't read all that. I know what's going on and why. They're a bunch of lies anyway. Only the ignorant believe all that, because they wouldn't know the truth if it smacked them in the nose. They make up everything and are projecting their own cisgender heterosexual practices onto trans people. Did the same thing about gay people back in the 60's, 70's, 80's. These are troubling times, and those few religious organizations are the ones who need to be stopped. They're spreading garbage about us.
Targeting children is just code for, "If this works, we can go after the adults." Children are vulnerable to all these attacks and many parents aren't willing to fight for them. These religious goons know that. They're playing politics with our lives because they can.
By the way. At the 15th of February 2024 the social constitutional right to medical care for transchildren was discussed by the party now joining forces with the other religious party.
And obviously, discussed in the sense of: we need to end it, and quickly.
The House of Representatives member filing those motions (Rosanne Hertzberger, from the party named NSC, New Social Contract) explicitly used "a call for extreme care and reluctance in treating transchildren" as "seen in other countries" multiple times.
These children should loose their doctor-patient confidentiality, because she wanted their medical records (birthdate, year of intake, birth-sex and their diagnosis, basically...)
Our Minister of Medical Care explicitly sounded the alarm that her request was meant to violate the medical privacy laws, which are even stricter than regular data laws.
This Minister of Medical Care (now officially the former Minister of Medical Care, since our Chamber of Cabinet was installed a few days a go), was a former public TV news broadcaster hostess.
She actually made 2 TV programs about transchildren's treatment in the past, and probably had the most expertise of anyone in the whole government.
As a result, she was vocal about this direct attack on 2 constitutional rights.
Rosanne Hertzberger? She stayed her motion. I am 100% sure she did so in order to file it again when we have an extreme-right healthcare minister who will loyally do anything she asks it to.
She mentioned multiple times in response to questions from opposition parties she wasn't out to ban care nor change it, not for the better, not for the worse.
All of this while speaking in a debate centering around 2 big reports with recommendations meant to reform healthcare for transpeople to combat the waiting lists.
Imagine a politician flat out saying she is there to keep things the way they are, while hammering on also exercising the same reluctance here based on "worries" in other countries.
So that already made her completely unbelievable.
Thursday the 27th of June there was an anti-trans conference in the Vrije Universiteit (VU) in Amsterdam.
At a stone-throw distance of the VU Medical Centre, the university hospital closely associated with the Vrije Universiteit (hence the first 2 letters) where transchildren receive their treatment, 5 anti-trans speakers were allowed to vent all their solutions to flat out ban their care.
The misleading title of the conference was "The discussion about non-medical approaches of the treatment of transchildren."
One of the speakers invited wrote the "report" on which the House of Representatives based her transphobic motions.
This speaker being the now heavily controversial Hilary Cass, who wrote the Interim Report, and the Cass Review.
And who showed up at the anti-trans conference wanting to attend?
Rosanne Hertzberger.
As for your response:
"Sounding the alarm about sexual abuse is against their religion?"
Not really. What I was trying to say is that any criticism on these people's beliefs needs to be seen as an all out attack on their religion. Not on their extremist beliefs they hold as a person.
This way they can be turned into 1 large victim, and claim the "Christianity is under attack!" thing, while at the same time being given all the space to abuse their religion for their hate.
The thing surrounding that write was the result of the religious extremist organisation digging up the story about sexual abuse (which was on his website), and cite some of the worst passages of it.
(Sounds familiar right? Moms of Liberty stripping some scenes of context so they sound supershocking).
This was done to strongly suggest that this was the children's book being offered as what is called the Children's Book Week Gift.
(Each year, a writer is asked to write the Children's Book Week Gift, which is then handed out in schools and is promoted in libraries and media in order to stimulate children to read more).
That story, that caused the uproar in 2023 was written back in 2016.
So the condemnation, no matter how misplaced or misjudged in nature, was stupidly late.
Exhausting. I don't know how we are all still standing, but we are. Hang in there everyone! Make a plan for the worst and keep working for the best. You are enough. You are loved.
But yes, I understand this feeling. The Netherlands is quickly spiralling down into fascism and the transphobia and general hate of LGTBQI+ people that goes with it and it is getting worse here as well.
Within 2 months of The Netherlands forming a fascist, racist, transphobic and downright discriminatory House of Representatives (with 4 extreme-right parties in it), support groups have been seeing hate-crimes and bullying of sexual diverse people rise seriously bad.
A local group saw the incidents rise over the previous month-total within a single week...
It's currently not completely clear how long the coalition will hold.
There is a massive amount of distrust among coalition parties, but some of this absolute lack of trust or supposed complaints about the undemocratic character of the PVV came unforgivingly late, and from another party (NSC) that is just as hypocritical.
Geert Wilders' party who became the number one, is hypocritically named "Party for Freedom", while having as much of a disdain for freedom like the MAGA fascists in the US.
The NSC campaigned hard on respectful politics "in which law-changes or proposals are treated with the transparency and respect it deserves", and how society "treats everyone with respect".
Another thing in their election program was how "The Dutch government should never have the ability ever again to retaliate against a group of citizens, because of how it undermines trust in politics".
This party exposes a tax-agency scandal that was driven by AI being programmed with a heavy bias, plummeting thousands of people into crunching debt.
Judges who were way to eager to listen to the professional opinion of Child-safety services who brought in the idea that this crunching debt created an unsafe household for children, participated in state-sponsored kidnappings.
I use that term, because thousands of children got placed in foster-families. Which in itself is absolutely insane, but it get's worse: The state is unable to locate all of them...the administration surrounding this process has been shoddy and as a result, some children are literally lost...
And since children who wanted to return to their parents were ignored, and not allowed to contact their parents in any way, they are forcefully kept from them.
You can probably see how this can instill trust in people who think this person is out to protect democracy and democratic processes.
The party leader is called Pieter Omtzigt, and his party called New Social Contract.
In the case of the MH17 plane shot down, he was part of the research commission looking into the cause and who were responsible.
He decided to write a script and send this to a Russian guy.
He propped up a non-existing witness who said to have seen who shot the planes down, in order to change the narrative that this was done by Russia.
He stepped down from this commission when he got exposed.
But the tax-agency scandal is probably what people voted on him for.
Within 1 month of this party's existence in the House of Representatives, they showed that the motto's in their election program were worth 0,0.
At the 15th of February they decided to try and revoke patient-doctor confidentiality for transchildren: the party member named Rosanne Hertzberger wants some of their medical information.
She was explicitly warned by the minister of Medical Care Pia Dijkstra that this violates data safety laws, which are stricter for medical safety (while strict for non-medical data already).
Hertzberger stayed her motion. Probably to invoke it again when there is an extreme-right minister of Health of Medical Care who will loyally violate the law.
Another one of her motions, meant to investigate the long-term consequences of puberty blockers (the favorite medicine of extreme-right politicians to stoke fear over these days) had the strong connotation of withholding care of transchildren.
This motion got passed.
The problem? The research she calls for is already underway.
So it was a little piece of theatre for the extreme-right, or religious-extremist following of this party.
She suggested to not want to change healthcare for transchildren (while hammering on the "strong reluctance of providing care in other countries like the UK and Sweden" multiple times).
Of course that already made her completely unbelievable among transpeople, but she made things worse 4 months later, by showing up to an anti-trans conference.
One of the speakers there wrote the report she used as a proverbial coathanger and backing for her transphobic motions.
This speaker? Hilary Cass.
But SUUUUURE she wasn't out to change healthcare right?
(She was denied access by the way, possibly because the lecture hall was full. Something that appears to have been wokewashed by the party leader, who seemed to strongly want to imply that a politician due to her extreme-right opinions on transpeople "wasn't welcome on a conference about trans healthcare!")
2 Months after the transphobic motions in February, the same party by the way, by word of a different member, Nicolien van Vroonhoven, used the rape-theory as a reason to kill off a law-change that didn't even make it through first term.
In one of the most undemocratic ways ever (so much for "respectful politics that treats law-changes or law-proposals with the respect they deserve" right?) the extreme-right majority decided to snap the neck of this proposal and kill it.
All, while citing multiple things this law was not about...
A different party, called the BBB, BoerBurgerBeweging (FarmerCivillianMovement) has a rabid racist and transphobe as their number 2.
This person, Mona Keijzer, is a former lawyer.
Her party wants to ban books.
But apologizing for your racism or transphobia? "That would create the risk of ending up in a society in which some things are not allowed to be said anymore", is literally her remark when she was asked to apologize for a massively racist remark (for which she barely avoided prosecution).
Which is contradictory, after all: she is with a party that wants to ban books, so who is out trying to make sure you can't say some things anymore in society?
This former lawyer decided to jump on the same hatetrain towards a 22-year old transwoman in 2023. To be clear: this former lawyer was 54 (!!) at that time.
But she called her remark on Twitter (in which she used the extreme-right explanation of the word "woke", and the word "gender-ideology", and called this single transwoman a loss for all women) "a nuanced take, lacking context."
When I called her out on this hateful Tweet, I got a lot of diplomatic sounding deflections back. With a first response that contradicted her Tweet 100%.
But she did a 180 in the same 5-6 lines of that response.
The missing context she mentioned? I never got a response on what that was.
She initially said to have the intention to discuss trans rights in person, because I have made a news report in which she played a role once and knew full well who I was, even though the last time I saw her was in 2014 (with that news report, I was a camera operator).
Unfortunately I suffered long-covid symptoms at the time, which is why I could not immediately make an appointment.
Looking back now, I don't think the intention was ever there, even though she posted the invite.
Because when she started posting more transphobic (and extreme-right) stuff on Instagram, I decided to blow up the invitation and told her off, this time being A WHOLE lot less friendly.
Which again resulted in a lot of diplomatic deflections, saying that "I was allowed to be and that she wasn't out to discriminate anyone based on them being trans".
(She by the way, had earlier pulled the "I know transpeople, so I can't be a transphobe!" card, which, well, if someone does that, we all know that someone is an unapologetic transphobe...).
I personally feel to have dodged a proverbial bullet: when someone starts posting stuff from the manosphere, you know someone is suffering a massive brainrot.
Personally, I think that it might have been a setup from her. While I have some experience in asking some annoying questions, she has had mediatraining and is problematically confident in her stupidy.
If I would've lost my cool, since the subject touches me personally (and it doesn't for her), I could've easily been explained as the unreasonable transperson who you can't discuss their existence with in a normal way.
But in another way, me telling her off could also just have been that: now she can explain me as "the unreasonable transperson who won't even discuss me!!!"
But I'm ready to fight her with her own religion: I've had cultural lessons which taught me about all kinds of worldwide religions in primary school.
My school was not religious in background, by the way, they just thought these kinds of lessons were important.
I recently found some of the stuff back which explained something about how religious beliefs, and scripture can be found across different religions all over the world.
One of the little pieces described hypocritical or people who are deceiving (loosely translated into English:
"But be alert for false prophets, who come to you in sheepskin but from the inside are predatory wolves."
Which ehm, well, if you see Mona and don't know her now extreme, racist and transphobic background, fits her perfectly.
(She has been nicknamed Sarah Paling by an opinion newssite by the way, referring to the fact she lives in the village where most of the fishermen live that fish for eel, and the Dutch word for eel is paling :P . The similarity in appearance, being hyperfeminine but rotten down to the core is quite striking :P ).
The scary thing here now is that it's not clear what could happen should the coalition fall. There is a risk the PVV becomes the full majority all on it's own should that happen (because it would lead to new elections).
Unfortunately the dirt-stupid followers of this party would not realize that it's this party's extremism and unwillingness to govern, and their inability to do so that lead to the coalition being blown up.
The current "benefit" is that medical care is very much separated from politics.
But the unfortunate thing is that we see several parties desperate in changing that.
I remember Pim Fortuyn and later Geert Wilders instigated against immigrants saying: 'they are dangerous to LGBT people' and such now they found their next victim: the LGBT people. Just like Orbán... NL will suffer the same fate if Wilders and his kind are allowed to function. We have one party state now with lots of incompetent leaders who earn much from our taxes and keep the population in poverty.
Yep it is very funny they call themselves the party for 'freedom'. I guess they want the freedom of hate and pogroms. What about the other zoo, the Forum for Democracy (Genocide)?
Mona Keijzer persecuting books? Just like Orbán, lol. Orbán team have this bullshit organization Matthias Corvinus Collegium in Brussels and they spread anti-LGBT propaganda and other pseudo-scientific trash. Basically they masquerade themselves as a research center while they have nothing to do with science, they advocate for conversion therapy and similar things, they are about the political ideology of our state party, the 'researchers' of this institution are chosen based on their loyalty to the state party not on merit and expertise.
"Which is contradictory, after all: she is with a party that wants to ban books, so who is out trying to make sure you can't say some things anymore in society?"
Fascists are complete hypocrites, we know it in Hungary well. They claim to represent the interest of the so called 'native' population in the country, but in the end they turn against their own population by stealing from them, always looking for scapegoats like the homeless and other vulnerable people to stay in power etc. In the end nobody will stay out of violence because the propaganda can and and will target anyone if it is useful for the system.
Posting stuff from manosphere? OMG.
"But in another way, me telling her off could also just have been that: now she can explain me as "the unreasonable transperson who won't even discuss me!!!""
They go around, spread hate like Rowling and when we object, we are the 'trans taliban' and hurt their 'free speech'. In reality they are the ones who want to take away our freedom of speech as they do not tolerate any pushback against their stupidity.
"The similarity in appearance, being hyperfeminine but rotten down to the core is quite striking :P )."
Paling? Dank je hiervoor, ik leer elke dag iets nieuws. Haha. I googled her she really looks like Rowling, lol.
"Unfortunately the dirt-stupid followers of this party would not realize that it's this party's extremism and unwillingness to govern, and their inability to do so that lead to the coalition being blown up."
They will put their incompetent, loyal goons everywhere into managerial positions in public institutions just like it happened in Hungary and also in Great Britain. The result? Huge inflation, poverty and a destroyed country that once had better days. And if everything goes awry, whom will they blame with their propaganda? LGBT people, foreign workers, Soros, you name it, it is never their proven incompetence.
"The current "benefit" is that medical care is very much separated from politics.
But the unfortunate thing is that we see several parties desperate in changing that."
Lucky for you, here in Hungary dirt-stupid politicians decide on our healthcare no wonder, it is non-existent now, the state party withdrew a lot of subsidies from medicine too, they would rather spend it on solidifying their power and helping other fascist abroad to gain power. A regular tactic of them is to buy up the local media and spread their nonsense. Hungary is indeed a Russia light version at this point. You should fight to keep the - ideologically motivated - politicians out of healthcare, they have no business there, the doctors and the staff know it better than some untrained politician.
Bad news for Orbán is that a huge portion of Hungary knows that he and his team are dumb and no propaganda will change this.
Here I have found a very good guide so as to what to do when extremists like Cass come to a university it is very interesting and maybe worth spreading:
Thank you for the comment, I will answer after I am finished with work.
Do you think there is a chance that Cass and the NL extreme right will want to stir up trouble where I am going to live in Flanders? I am escaping Orbán and his dystopian system which made the once prospering Hungary poor, brainwashed and destitute.
Flanders is part of Belgium. So there will be no direct influence there. Belgium has been part of the same brainrot and conspiracies to a degree: a hatecampaign set up by Civitas Christiana about sexual education in primary schools lead to conspiracy theorists setting fire to 2 school buildings "to protect children".
So Belgium unfortunately isn't completely free from the braindead stupidity that plagues people surrounding a debate around gender as well.
The Netherlands has a stronger separation of politics and medical care than for instance, the UK has.
The Gender clinic here has been strongly criticizing Cass for her moronic views and the damage the Cass report is doing.
But if the situations currently shows us anything, it's that we need to fight for our rights absolutely everywhere, because some fascists are destined to invoke dictatorship or try to get really close to it in almost every country, unfortunately.
Guess they didn't get the memo... all the other haters have traded in their dogwhistles for bullhorns, but these twerps still think nobody can see exactly what they're doing if they don't spell it out in as many words. Hot tip, bigots: the fact that you used a book ban to justify 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 you did already gave away the game.
Strikes me as a targeted policy of discrimination. They didn't do anything to work out any, unsubstantial, concerns, they just denied the groups access, it's obvious they are playing favorites with public resources. Texas needs to be reined in, if it's going to permit localities acting in such a dictatorial manner, harming kids FFS.
Sometimes I wish they still had a desire to secede. It is my "home" state, can't live there anymore, loved it my whole life. It's sad and pathetic and there are still so many good people there. Sigh is correct.
I have family there, have been to TX numerous times throughout my life. Last time was just nuts, post-COVID, no one wearing masks, it's just a different reality to me. Abbott and Paxton are criminal grade. Just a tragic thing, the redpillers controlling things.
Exactly! No good faith discussion and compromise, just a ban. They were looking for an excuse. To quote from the song, This is America, “Don’t be slip’in up”.
Things like this are stirring up anti-trans & LGBQIA+ hatred around the country. Doesn't have to be political anymore. Folks are openly saying things that they never said before. Now they're doing things to thumb their noses up at us, and it didn't sound like the ACLU is going to file a law suit. Very tiring. I saw this coming and all I can do is wince.
Goes to show you they've been waiting for this day & age where they can stir up this shit all over again. They've been tolerating us through gritted teeth since the 1960's. Hoods are off now. Punching us in the mouth using closed-door meetings and a pen.
Country is going backwards whether we want it to or not. Sigh
We are seeing a similar thing in The Netherlands. I will add that there is a slightly stronger separation between politics and medical care.
Needless to say the mere fact we have gotten an extreme-right government with a fascist party as the number 1 (with views scarily identical to the NSDAP of Adolf Hitler), has upped the transphobia here as well.
I have been messaging extreme-right and ultraconservative religions who are fighting against transpeople (the last organisation has basically been calling it a holy war on trans ideology, which they say doesn't mean they are targeting transpeople, which sounds eerily identical to Michael Knowles' statement it's not about the people but about the underlying "ideology").
Currently, I am only doing this to see how far their mask is coming off.
Yesterday an ultraconservative organisation confessed in one of the ultimate ways ever.
This organisation helped stoke panic and fear over a comprehensive, progressive sexual education program in 2023.
A panic that caused increase police presence around the primary school in my street by increasing surveillance to an absolute max.
A panic that in Belgium lead to people destroying 2 school buildings by setting them on fire, "to protect the children from the harmful ideology taught to them".
This organisation is also the key player in stoking up the hate against a writer and make him receive death threats, all because he wrote a compelling story about sexual abuse of a minor, in which he told the story from the abused, and the abuser, based on experience of a friend of his.
Which according to those people "was glorifying paedophilia" and "makes him unsuited to ever write a children's book!"
But back to the organisation I mentioned.
They told me yesterday, flat out that if the holy war on the erasure of transpeople means cis-people die, that needs to be seen as a justified and accepted form of collateral damage.
And this stance shows a scary similarity with an extremely religious political party that now has a proponent in the form of a party showing much of the same hateful ideology based on religious doctrine.
Even more scary: this party is a coalition party that now has taken place in the Chamber of Cabinet in the Dutch government, along with other fascists and racists.
One of the other parties wants to ban books.
The Netherlands is very much on it's way to become the US. And any criticism on that, is viewed as either an all out attack on religion or "a sign some people in politics are to close to exposing the truth, something the elite doesn't want!"
It shows how religious beliefs should take priority OVER the right to the freedom of free speech.
But even worse: basically stating that religious beliefs mean you are not allowed to criticize the extremism that comes with it.
It is astonishing to see the same brainrot in my government that the US has been suffering from.
Yes, it's the religious-right doing the same thing here. I heard about the Netherlands and a few other countries being in the same predicament because a couple of religious organizations are spreading this shit around the world.
That's about the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Sounding the alarm about sexual abuse is against their religion? Makes no sense. It isn't LGBTQ+ doing that shit anyway. Why do they always loop back around to us when we have nothing to do with that bullshit?
Ideology? There is no ideology. That's just an excuse to politicize us everywhere and they're lying about it not being about people. Where the hell do they think we came from?
These are powerful people and I don't see an end in sight. How to fight back is a mystery. It's all exhausting, but I know one thing. If the idiot gets back in our White House, I'm leaving this place for a long time. I'm too old for this shit. I have a couple of friends who are concerned about me and will let me stay with them. That says nothing about how I'm to get my hormones while out of this country.
God help us all.
Part 2:
The themeweek for sexual education (called "The Spring-fever Week" when translating the Dutch name "Week van de Lentekriebels") was a different story.
That religious organisation spread the (again familiar sounding) story that children were taught how to perform all kinds of sexual acts at the age of 6-7.
At the same age, the lesson materials suggested it urged teachers to tell children to start doubting their gender identity (this is the indoctrination story all over again).
According to the organisation, this gender identity "ideology" is meant "to develop mentally confused children completely ill equipped to handle such complex materials and thoughts, and will result in more children feeling confused about their gender." (Basically the social contagion idea from Lisa Littman).
And thus, teaching children about gender diverse people (which, by the way, only happened in 8th grade of primary school, when you are 11-12 years old), along with passing around a 3D printed model of the clitoris with the updated knowledge about it we now have, was "sexualizing children and preparing them for paedophilic relationships with teachers and adults, and lowering the threshold for these children to commit explicit sexual acts and wanting to experience intercourse".
Sounds familiar to the fascists in the US right?
And this disinformation storm caught on. Very much helped by the media that was very much stupidly complacent and kept inviting celebrities who "agreed with the concerned parents" (the lesson materials, by the way were all directly available online! Anyone could look into them and see they were a bunch of lies).
Some these celebrities didn't even have children themselves. But hey, let's give them a platform!
And now we have a government that in their mainline agreement told all the conspiracy theorists of that year: "You were right, children are sexually abused, let's fix that!"
Which is how a line stating: "Sexual education needs to be politically neutral and proven effective, and better suited towards the age of the student", ended up in that agreement.
Strongly suggesting that there's a disgusting thing going on now which needs urgent fixing.
And sexual minorities in The Netherlands who know the US situation know who is going to be called politically colored and thus should be barred from ever being taught anything about to other children.
"Why do they always loop back around to us when we have nothing to do with that bullshit?"
Because it's fascism, and in the case of religious parties, fascism under the disguise of religion-driven "tolerance and acceptance".
Fascists always need an enemy. If it doesn't exist, they create one.
Which is why you see politicians in the US going hard after transpeople, to try and hold them accountable for literally everything that is wrong in the country.
It is why I tell people that transphobia leading to discussions about healthcare are dangerous for everyone.
When politicians desperately try to make healthcare something politicians should talk about and decide about (something that in The Netherlands in theory is not possible, by the way, unless the constitution is changed or the opposition sleepwalks into fascism), it means they are testing the waters.
It's a way of them to try out the right language that makes people unaware it's rabid discrimination or sexism meant to control people.
That way, they can pass their harmful ideological views and when people notice, it's too late.
And here again, the US is a prime example of this. Focus heavily on sexual education and turn transpeople into the worst criminals ever, so it's easier to revoke their rights. And after that, make sure that the results of strongly limiting, or completely removing sexual education can not be combatted through medical means, by limiting or completely removing the right to abortion.
Anyone still up to fight for transpeople/transchildren's rights while not necessarily being well informed but simply not wanting to join in on the hate, can then easily be turned into a person strongly in favor of sexual abuse of children, and who wants to fight that image?
And here you see the strongest parallel with the situation the NSDAP created in the years 1930-1945.
Unfortunately it is really scary so many people in my country are unaware that when they vote for parties that take such a dehumanizing stance they are basically defending nazism.
"I'm too old for this shit. I have a couple of friends who are concerned about me and will let me stay with them. That says nothing about how I'm to get my hormones while out of this country."
I am now mostly speaking out because I am fearful for the young transchildren now growing up.
A local support group already mentioned to me that a family they help had the child call them crying their eyes out. The child was fearful they (Dutch government) were going to take away her medical care just like in the US.
And yes, the problem with hormones: Currently, I'm lucky that it's covered by healthcare. But I am 100% sure this government will do anything to specifically drop transpeople from that type of coverage.
The only problem they than are going to have is how they are going to distinguish transpeople from cis-people using the EXACT SAME FUCKING DRUGS.
Hang on my friend. These are hard times.
As for fighting back: Continue to call out the extremists. Continue to shine a light on their hypocrisy.
In a way, the fighting back has been witnessed in the US elections that Republicans suffered a continuous loss on due to their extremist view on abortion, one not shared by 66% of the citizens in the US.
I can only hope that this same uptake of anger against the attempts of imposing church values in public organisations like hospitals that were never built on religious backgrounds or beliefs, eventually rises for transpeople as well.
The stories I see of people who know someone who is trans, and are now close-up witnesses of the massive amounts of backlash they get and realize that these are similar people like them, are in that light a glimmer of hope.
But things are dire.
Weeew, if you managed to read all that, congratulations, thank you for your time.
If you didn't, that is fine as well.
No, I won't read all that. I know what's going on and why. They're a bunch of lies anyway. Only the ignorant believe all that, because they wouldn't know the truth if it smacked them in the nose. They make up everything and are projecting their own cisgender heterosexual practices onto trans people. Did the same thing about gay people back in the 60's, 70's, 80's. These are troubling times, and those few religious organizations are the ones who need to be stopped. They're spreading garbage about us.
Targeting children is just code for, "If this works, we can go after the adults." Children are vulnerable to all these attacks and many parents aren't willing to fight for them. These religious goons know that. They're playing politics with our lives because they can.
Part 1:
By the way. At the 15th of February 2024 the social constitutional right to medical care for transchildren was discussed by the party now joining forces with the other religious party.
And obviously, discussed in the sense of: we need to end it, and quickly.
The House of Representatives member filing those motions (Rosanne Hertzberger, from the party named NSC, New Social Contract) explicitly used "a call for extreme care and reluctance in treating transchildren" as "seen in other countries" multiple times.
These children should loose their doctor-patient confidentiality, because she wanted their medical records (birthdate, year of intake, birth-sex and their diagnosis, basically...)
Our Minister of Medical Care explicitly sounded the alarm that her request was meant to violate the medical privacy laws, which are even stricter than regular data laws.
This Minister of Medical Care (now officially the former Minister of Medical Care, since our Chamber of Cabinet was installed a few days a go), was a former public TV news broadcaster hostess.
She actually made 2 TV programs about transchildren's treatment in the past, and probably had the most expertise of anyone in the whole government.
As a result, she was vocal about this direct attack on 2 constitutional rights.
Rosanne Hertzberger? She stayed her motion. I am 100% sure she did so in order to file it again when we have an extreme-right healthcare minister who will loyally do anything she asks it to.
She mentioned multiple times in response to questions from opposition parties she wasn't out to ban care nor change it, not for the better, not for the worse.
All of this while speaking in a debate centering around 2 big reports with recommendations meant to reform healthcare for transpeople to combat the waiting lists.
Imagine a politician flat out saying she is there to keep things the way they are, while hammering on also exercising the same reluctance here based on "worries" in other countries.
So that already made her completely unbelievable.
Thursday the 27th of June there was an anti-trans conference in the Vrije Universiteit (VU) in Amsterdam.
At a stone-throw distance of the VU Medical Centre, the university hospital closely associated with the Vrije Universiteit (hence the first 2 letters) where transchildren receive their treatment, 5 anti-trans speakers were allowed to vent all their solutions to flat out ban their care.
The misleading title of the conference was "The discussion about non-medical approaches of the treatment of transchildren."
One of the speakers invited wrote the "report" on which the House of Representatives based her transphobic motions.
This speaker being the now heavily controversial Hilary Cass, who wrote the Interim Report, and the Cass Review.
And who showed up at the anti-trans conference wanting to attend?
Rosanne Hertzberger.
As for your response:
"Sounding the alarm about sexual abuse is against their religion?"
Not really. What I was trying to say is that any criticism on these people's beliefs needs to be seen as an all out attack on their religion. Not on their extremist beliefs they hold as a person.
This way they can be turned into 1 large victim, and claim the "Christianity is under attack!" thing, while at the same time being given all the space to abuse their religion for their hate.
The thing surrounding that write was the result of the religious extremist organisation digging up the story about sexual abuse (which was on his website), and cite some of the worst passages of it.
(Sounds familiar right? Moms of Liberty stripping some scenes of context so they sound supershocking).
This was done to strongly suggest that this was the children's book being offered as what is called the Children's Book Week Gift.
(Each year, a writer is asked to write the Children's Book Week Gift, which is then handed out in schools and is promoted in libraries and media in order to stimulate children to read more).
That story, that caused the uproar in 2023 was written back in 2016.
So the condemnation, no matter how misplaced or misjudged in nature, was stupidly late.
Exhausting. I don't know how we are all still standing, but we are. Hang in there everyone! Make a plan for the worst and keep working for the best. You are enough. You are loved.
Willpower. Willpower against lobbymoney.
But yes, I understand this feeling. The Netherlands is quickly spiralling down into fascism and the transphobia and general hate of LGTBQI+ people that goes with it and it is getting worse here as well.
Within 2 months of The Netherlands forming a fascist, racist, transphobic and downright discriminatory House of Representatives (with 4 extreme-right parties in it), support groups have been seeing hate-crimes and bullying of sexual diverse people rise seriously bad.
A local group saw the incidents rise over the previous month-total within a single week...
OMG, glad I didn't decide to move to the Netherlands then. Very sad to hear.
It's currently not completely clear how long the coalition will hold.
There is a massive amount of distrust among coalition parties, but some of this absolute lack of trust or supposed complaints about the undemocratic character of the PVV came unforgivingly late, and from another party (NSC) that is just as hypocritical.
Geert Wilders' party who became the number one, is hypocritically named "Party for Freedom", while having as much of a disdain for freedom like the MAGA fascists in the US.
The NSC campaigned hard on respectful politics "in which law-changes or proposals are treated with the transparency and respect it deserves", and how society "treats everyone with respect".
Another thing in their election program was how "The Dutch government should never have the ability ever again to retaliate against a group of citizens, because of how it undermines trust in politics".
This party exposes a tax-agency scandal that was driven by AI being programmed with a heavy bias, plummeting thousands of people into crunching debt.
Judges who were way to eager to listen to the professional opinion of Child-safety services who brought in the idea that this crunching debt created an unsafe household for children, participated in state-sponsored kidnappings.
I use that term, because thousands of children got placed in foster-families. Which in itself is absolutely insane, but it get's worse: The state is unable to locate all of them...the administration surrounding this process has been shoddy and as a result, some children are literally lost...
And since children who wanted to return to their parents were ignored, and not allowed to contact their parents in any way, they are forcefully kept from them.
You can probably see how this can instill trust in people who think this person is out to protect democracy and democratic processes.
The party leader is called Pieter Omtzigt, and his party called New Social Contract.
In the case of the MH17 plane shot down, he was part of the research commission looking into the cause and who were responsible.
He decided to write a script and send this to a Russian guy.
He propped up a non-existing witness who said to have seen who shot the planes down, in order to change the narrative that this was done by Russia.
He stepped down from this commission when he got exposed.
But the tax-agency scandal is probably what people voted on him for.
Within 1 month of this party's existence in the House of Representatives, they showed that the motto's in their election program were worth 0,0.
At the 15th of February they decided to try and revoke patient-doctor confidentiality for transchildren: the party member named Rosanne Hertzberger wants some of their medical information.
She was explicitly warned by the minister of Medical Care Pia Dijkstra that this violates data safety laws, which are stricter for medical safety (while strict for non-medical data already).
Hertzberger stayed her motion. Probably to invoke it again when there is an extreme-right minister of Health of Medical Care who will loyally violate the law.
Another one of her motions, meant to investigate the long-term consequences of puberty blockers (the favorite medicine of extreme-right politicians to stoke fear over these days) had the strong connotation of withholding care of transchildren.
This motion got passed.
The problem? The research she calls for is already underway.
So it was a little piece of theatre for the extreme-right, or religious-extremist following of this party.
She suggested to not want to change healthcare for transchildren (while hammering on the "strong reluctance of providing care in other countries like the UK and Sweden" multiple times).
Of course that already made her completely unbelievable among transpeople, but she made things worse 4 months later, by showing up to an anti-trans conference.
One of the speakers there wrote the report she used as a proverbial coathanger and backing for her transphobic motions.
This speaker? Hilary Cass.
But SUUUUURE she wasn't out to change healthcare right?
(She was denied access by the way, possibly because the lecture hall was full. Something that appears to have been wokewashed by the party leader, who seemed to strongly want to imply that a politician due to her extreme-right opinions on transpeople "wasn't welcome on a conference about trans healthcare!")
2 Months after the transphobic motions in February, the same party by the way, by word of a different member, Nicolien van Vroonhoven, used the rape-theory as a reason to kill off a law-change that didn't even make it through first term.
In one of the most undemocratic ways ever (so much for "respectful politics that treats law-changes or law-proposals with the respect they deserve" right?) the extreme-right majority decided to snap the neck of this proposal and kill it.
All, while citing multiple things this law was not about...
A different party, called the BBB, BoerBurgerBeweging (FarmerCivillianMovement) has a rabid racist and transphobe as their number 2.
This person, Mona Keijzer, is a former lawyer.
Her party wants to ban books.
But apologizing for your racism or transphobia? "That would create the risk of ending up in a society in which some things are not allowed to be said anymore", is literally her remark when she was asked to apologize for a massively racist remark (for which she barely avoided prosecution).
Which is contradictory, after all: she is with a party that wants to ban books, so who is out trying to make sure you can't say some things anymore in society?
This former lawyer decided to jump on the same hatetrain towards a 22-year old transwoman in 2023. To be clear: this former lawyer was 54 (!!) at that time.
But she called her remark on Twitter (in which she used the extreme-right explanation of the word "woke", and the word "gender-ideology", and called this single transwoman a loss for all women) "a nuanced take, lacking context."
When I called her out on this hateful Tweet, I got a lot of diplomatic sounding deflections back. With a first response that contradicted her Tweet 100%.
But she did a 180 in the same 5-6 lines of that response.
The missing context she mentioned? I never got a response on what that was.
She initially said to have the intention to discuss trans rights in person, because I have made a news report in which she played a role once and knew full well who I was, even though the last time I saw her was in 2014 (with that news report, I was a camera operator).
Unfortunately I suffered long-covid symptoms at the time, which is why I could not immediately make an appointment.
Looking back now, I don't think the intention was ever there, even though she posted the invite.
Because when she started posting more transphobic (and extreme-right) stuff on Instagram, I decided to blow up the invitation and told her off, this time being A WHOLE lot less friendly.
Which again resulted in a lot of diplomatic deflections, saying that "I was allowed to be and that she wasn't out to discriminate anyone based on them being trans".
(She by the way, had earlier pulled the "I know transpeople, so I can't be a transphobe!" card, which, well, if someone does that, we all know that someone is an unapologetic transphobe...).
I personally feel to have dodged a proverbial bullet: when someone starts posting stuff from the manosphere, you know someone is suffering a massive brainrot.
Personally, I think that it might have been a setup from her. While I have some experience in asking some annoying questions, she has had mediatraining and is problematically confident in her stupidy.
If I would've lost my cool, since the subject touches me personally (and it doesn't for her), I could've easily been explained as the unreasonable transperson who you can't discuss their existence with in a normal way.
But in another way, me telling her off could also just have been that: now she can explain me as "the unreasonable transperson who won't even discuss me!!!"
But I'm ready to fight her with her own religion: I've had cultural lessons which taught me about all kinds of worldwide religions in primary school.
My school was not religious in background, by the way, they just thought these kinds of lessons were important.
I recently found some of the stuff back which explained something about how religious beliefs, and scripture can be found across different religions all over the world.
One of the little pieces described hypocritical or people who are deceiving (loosely translated into English:
"But be alert for false prophets, who come to you in sheepskin but from the inside are predatory wolves."
Which ehm, well, if you see Mona and don't know her now extreme, racist and transphobic background, fits her perfectly.
(She has been nicknamed Sarah Paling by an opinion newssite by the way, referring to the fact she lives in the village where most of the fishermen live that fish for eel, and the Dutch word for eel is paling :P . The similarity in appearance, being hyperfeminine but rotten down to the core is quite striking :P ).
The scary thing here now is that it's not clear what could happen should the coalition fall. There is a risk the PVV becomes the full majority all on it's own should that happen (because it would lead to new elections).
Unfortunately the dirt-stupid followers of this party would not realize that it's this party's extremism and unwillingness to govern, and their inability to do so that lead to the coalition being blown up.
The current "benefit" is that medical care is very much separated from politics.
But the unfortunate thing is that we see several parties desperate in changing that.
I remember Pim Fortuyn and later Geert Wilders instigated against immigrants saying: 'they are dangerous to LGBT people' and such now they found their next victim: the LGBT people. Just like Orbán... NL will suffer the same fate if Wilders and his kind are allowed to function. We have one party state now with lots of incompetent leaders who earn much from our taxes and keep the population in poverty.
Yep it is very funny they call themselves the party for 'freedom'. I guess they want the freedom of hate and pogroms. What about the other zoo, the Forum for Democracy (Genocide)?
Mona Keijzer persecuting books? Just like Orbán, lol. Orbán team have this bullshit organization Matthias Corvinus Collegium in Brussels and they spread anti-LGBT propaganda and other pseudo-scientific trash. Basically they masquerade themselves as a research center while they have nothing to do with science, they advocate for conversion therapy and similar things, they are about the political ideology of our state party, the 'researchers' of this institution are chosen based on their loyalty to the state party not on merit and expertise.
"Which is contradictory, after all: she is with a party that wants to ban books, so who is out trying to make sure you can't say some things anymore in society?"
Fascists are complete hypocrites, we know it in Hungary well. They claim to represent the interest of the so called 'native' population in the country, but in the end they turn against their own population by stealing from them, always looking for scapegoats like the homeless and other vulnerable people to stay in power etc. In the end nobody will stay out of violence because the propaganda can and and will target anyone if it is useful for the system.
Posting stuff from manosphere? OMG.
"But in another way, me telling her off could also just have been that: now she can explain me as "the unreasonable transperson who won't even discuss me!!!""
They go around, spread hate like Rowling and when we object, we are the 'trans taliban' and hurt their 'free speech'. In reality they are the ones who want to take away our freedom of speech as they do not tolerate any pushback against their stupidity.
"The similarity in appearance, being hyperfeminine but rotten down to the core is quite striking :P )."
Paling? Dank je hiervoor, ik leer elke dag iets nieuws. Haha. I googled her she really looks like Rowling, lol.
"Unfortunately the dirt-stupid followers of this party would not realize that it's this party's extremism and unwillingness to govern, and their inability to do so that lead to the coalition being blown up."
They will put their incompetent, loyal goons everywhere into managerial positions in public institutions just like it happened in Hungary and also in Great Britain. The result? Huge inflation, poverty and a destroyed country that once had better days. And if everything goes awry, whom will they blame with their propaganda? LGBT people, foreign workers, Soros, you name it, it is never their proven incompetence.
"The current "benefit" is that medical care is very much separated from politics.
But the unfortunate thing is that we see several parties desperate in changing that."
Lucky for you, here in Hungary dirt-stupid politicians decide on our healthcare no wonder, it is non-existent now, the state party withdrew a lot of subsidies from medicine too, they would rather spend it on solidifying their power and helping other fascist abroad to gain power. A regular tactic of them is to buy up the local media and spread their nonsense. Hungary is indeed a Russia light version at this point. You should fight to keep the - ideologically motivated - politicians out of healthcare, they have no business there, the doctors and the staff know it better than some untrained politician.
Bad news for Orbán is that a huge portion of Hungary knows that he and his team are dumb and no propaganda will change this.
Here I have found a very good guide so as to what to do when extremists like Cass come to a university it is very interesting and maybe worth spreading:
https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/soc_alt-right_campus_guide_2017_web.pdf
Thank you for the comment, I will answer after I am finished with work.
Do you think there is a chance that Cass and the NL extreme right will want to stir up trouble where I am going to live in Flanders? I am escaping Orbán and his dystopian system which made the once prospering Hungary poor, brainwashed and destitute.
Flanders is part of Belgium. So there will be no direct influence there. Belgium has been part of the same brainrot and conspiracies to a degree: a hatecampaign set up by Civitas Christiana about sexual education in primary schools lead to conspiracy theorists setting fire to 2 school buildings "to protect children".
So Belgium unfortunately isn't completely free from the braindead stupidity that plagues people surrounding a debate around gender as well.
The Netherlands has a stronger separation of politics and medical care than for instance, the UK has.
The Gender clinic here has been strongly criticizing Cass for her moronic views and the damage the Cass report is doing.
But if the situations currently shows us anything, it's that we need to fight for our rights absolutely everywhere, because some fascists are destined to invoke dictatorship or try to get really close to it in almost every country, unfortunately.
Guess they didn't get the memo... all the other haters have traded in their dogwhistles for bullhorns, but these twerps still think nobody can see exactly what they're doing if they don't spell it out in as many words. Hot tip, bigots: the fact that you used a book ban to justify 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 you did already gave away the game.