What is the most important freedom you have or wish for?

[Ivy]

32 minutes ago, Heather Nicole said:

Well, then the GOP went to some federal court who was willing to overrule the Ohio supreme court and let them get their illegal map in place on the condition that they violate their deadlines first. Yup, you read that right.

Figures.  NC GOP has their case on the docket for the next SCOTUS session.  I expect they'll win.  What little optimisim I had has evaporated long ago.

[Marcie Jensen]

To be perfectly frank, checking another person's genitals, especially children's, before an athletic competition is, imho, obscene.

[Vidanjali]

2 hours ago, Heather Nicole said:

 

Yea, here in Ohio, this was actually one of the states that tried to stop it. I think it was about 10 years ago, IIRC, they put into a public vote a proposed...law, or state constitution amendment, or something...that would outlaw gerrymandered district maps in the state. Well, it passed. And this year was the year to redraw the maps again. But the board in charge of redrawing the maps was republican-controlled (one of the members was our state governor, DeWine (GOP) ), and they completely disregarded the anti-gerrymandering law, kept ignoring their map-making deadlines, kept submitting clearly gerrymandered maps, which the Ohio supreme court kept rejecting as illegally gerrymandered. (Oh, also, one of the dissenters on the Ohio supreme court just happens to be the governor's own son. And no, he didn't recuse himself.) Well, then the GOP went to some federal court who was willing to overrule the Ohio supreme court and let them get their illegal map in place on the condition that they violate their deadlines first. Yup, you read that right.

 

 

Floridians similarly voted fair districts ammendments into law. Nonetheless, DeSantis vetoed new maps drawn with the new ammendments in mind & had his people draw up new ones behind closed doors. The DeSantis maps severely disempower POC, and give disproportionate advantage to the GOP. Several prominent activist groups sued, and ultimately the State Supreme Court refused to hear the case. 

[Ivy]

10 minutes ago, Vidanjali said:

The DeSantis maps severely disempower POC, and give disproportionate advantage to the GOP. Several prominent activist groups sued, and ultimately the State Supreme Court refused to hear the case.

Sometimes things just seen hopeless.

[Marcie Jensen]

Of course he vetoed it. He's a Republican. Forgive my cynicism, but this is nothing new. Both parties do the gerrymandering thing. I grew up in Kansas City MO which has as foul a history of gerrymandering and political machines as New York Boston, Chicago or anywhere else. Back in the 1930s, and this has carried over to this day, there was a political machine run by a guy named Pendergast. It was so bad that when he was a senator, Harry Truman was referred to as "The senator from Pendergast," as opposed to MO. 

 

The plain truth is that the entire LGBTQ+ community, especially trans people, are far to convenient a wedge issue for both major parties to do much of anything. Oh, they will both shout the rhetoric that they think appeals to their base, but things won't get done to help us. We are truly marginalized and our rights are not secure at all.

[Ivy]

2 minutes ago, Marcie Jensen said:

We are truly marginalized and our rights are not secure at all.

This is a consideration for anyone coming out.  If you're not prepared for potential trouble, don't do it.

Of course some of us just accept the risk as the lesser of the evils.

 

I haven't personally felt threatened yet, but…

 

I kinda exposed myself a little more over the weekend at a public protest.  IDK.  Sometimes getting old gives one a don't give a _____ attitude.  

[awkward-yet-sweet]

3 hours ago, Marcie Jensen said:

To be perfectly frank, checking another person's genitals, especially children's, before an athletic competition is, imho, obscene.

Amen to that.  And what happens to someone like me?  What if your genitals don't look the way the person doing the checking thinks they should?  This has trouble written all over it. 

[Vidanjali]

2 hours ago, Marcie Jensen said:

Of course he vetoed it. He's a Republican. Forgive my cynicism, but this is nothing new. Both parties do the gerrymandering thing. I grew up in Kansas City MO which has as foul a history of gerrymandering and political machines as New York Boston, Chicago or anywhere else. Back in the 1930s, and this has carried over to this day, there was a political machine run by a guy named Pendergast. It was so bad that when he was a senator, Harry Truman was referred to as "The senator from Pendergast," as opposed to MO. 

 

The plain truth is that the entire LGBTQ+ community, especially trans people, are far to convenient a wedge issue for both major parties to do much of anything. Oh, they will both shout the rhetoric that they think appeals to their base, but things won't get done to help us. We are truly marginalized and our rights are not secure at all.

 

It's not so much that he vetoed that I find remarkable, but what followed.

 

DeSantis claims that Florida is the freest state. That sets the bar pretty low, in my opinion. His notion of "free" seems to me rather subjective, and frankly, overly-emotional. Meanwhile, Florida health officials have acknowledged that LGBTQ+ youth face elevated rates of mental health challenges and suicidal thoughts. 

 

Please forgive me if my tone seems at all strident; I'm working through some anger right now. Much love. 

[Ivy]

32 minutes ago, Vidanjali said:

DeSantis claims that Florida is the freest state.

Some politicians definition of freedom leaves me scratching my head.

Banning books, banning accepted medical care, banning speaking certain subjects, taking kids from their families…………

[Marcie Jensen]

Hey, @Vidanjali, you anger is perfectly natural. There's a whole lot to be angry over, so, again imho, there's nothing to forgive. Any time our children are facing increased mental health issues and suicidal thoughts, it's cause for alarm. And time to take action to help them. I went through this when my oldest daughter started cutting herself and my youngest wound up in a fetal ball beneath her bed whenever she went to visit her mother. It took lots of therapy for the both of them. 

 

I admit, I don't know the answers. I do know that both sides of political spectrum have reached a point where they hate each other, and it's sad.

 

[Davie]

I feel safe here in the Boston area . . . but a trans friend went to the Boston Pops fireworks festival the other day and got searched by police, though no one else in the area was being searched.

For perspective . . . I'm glad I don't live in Ukraine or Russia.

— Davie

[Marcie Jensen]

18 minutes ago, Jandi said:

Some politicians definition of freedom leaves me scratching my head.

Banning books, banning accepted medical care, banning speaking certain subjects, taking kids from their families…………

Yep. I'm reminded of an old Hank Williams Jr. song for some reason. The lyrics begin: "Mothers against drunk driving/The pope is against the pill/the union's against the workers/working against their will./The states are against the government/the senate is against the house./People are against politicians/And I'm against cats in the house."  Facetiousness aside, things haven't changed very much since the 1980s.

[Mx.Drago]

Freedom of thought.