#PCMadness Attack Strikes Nasdaq, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, and The Canadian Government

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Nasdaq threatens 75% of listed companies with order to appoint women & LGBT or other 'diverse' directors to board – or else

1 Dec, 2020 16:49

© Reuters / Shannon Stapleton

US stock exchange Nasdaq has warned listed companies they must appoint at least two “diverse” directors to their board – a ‘self-identified’ female and an “underrepresented minority” or LGBTQ person – or possibly face delisting.

Nasdaq revealed its plan to turbocharge diversity on its exchange in a proposal filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday. 

Under the proposed new rules, not only will all listed US companies be required to “publicly disclose consistent, transparent diversity statistics regarding their board of directors,” but “most” companies would have to either appoint “diverse” board members or explain why they hadn’t done so in a letter. 

The mandatory addition of “one [director] who self-identifies as female and one who self-identifies as either an underrepresented minority or LGBTQ+” appears to leave room for Rachel Dolezal-style “self-identification” as something other than white, male, or straight – a potential loophole for companies that prefer to keep their current boards. Non-US companies and small firms would be permitted to appoint two female directors instead.

Listed companies would be required to publish their diversity stats within a year of the SEC adopting Nasdaq’s proposal, and be required to have “one diverse director” within two years of implementation. Depending on company size, they would have four or five years to comply with the two-director requirement. Those who fall short can escape delisting only “if they provide a public explanation of their reasons for not meeting the objectives.”

While the exchange’s reasoning behind the proposal – to “enhance investor confidence that all listed companies are considering diversity in the context of selecting directors” – has already raised some eyebrows, Nasdaq insisted it had analyzed “over two dozen studies that found an association between diverse boards and better financial performance and corporate governance.”

However, with 75 percent of currently-listed Nasdaq companies falling short of the proposed requirements, according to the New York Times’ financial blog DealBook, some have questioned how piling on new regulations is supposed to improve financial performance. While Nasdaq has hit record highs in recent days, much of the real economy is still in shambles from the Covid-19 economic shutdowns and in no shape to expend resources on the hunt for box-checking board candidates.

To enforce the new quota system, Nasdaq has partnered with Equilar, a “leading provider of corporate leadership data solutions.” As ZeroHedge pointed out, Equilar’s own board of directors appears to lack any ethnic diversity. 

That's probably why ethnicity wasn't included in the list. BTW, neither were disabled, pedophiles, illegal aliens, seniors, religious diversity, languages, etc., etc.

The proposal was widely panned, as social media users joked Nasdaq was “turning into [a] college admissions office” and argued that selecting directors based on their skin color, genitalia and sexual preference epitomized the bigotry most “diversity” measures claim to fight. “This delegitimizes women and POC,” one user tweeted, pointing out that “people will think they achieved their position by quota and not talent.”  

Others merely wondered how Nasdaq planned to enforce such a rule.

Though some, inevitably, thought it didn’t go far enough, insisting companies wouldn’t benefit from diversity unless they had at least three women on their boards. 

At the same time as Nasdaq was hopping aboard the woke express, investment bank Credit Suisse unveiled its “LGBT-350” index on Tuesday to widespread groans. Many wondered about the need for such an index.

The bank is by no means the only outfit obsessed with surface-level attributes – Goldman Sachs will no longer take a company public unless it has at least one “diverse” board member. Since September, the state of California has required companies headquartered there to have a minimum number of minority directors or face six-figure fines.

And, lest we forget, The Canadian Government! Trudeau's Cabinet was chosen based on ethnic and sexual diversity as well as religious diversity, except Christianity.

In What Countries are the Terms 'Mother and Father' Progressing Out of Existence - Not Russia

Thanks, but we’ll keep ‘mother’ & ‘father’:

Putin rejects politically correct ‘parent #1 & #2’ titles

©  Global Look Press / Tim Hall

Russia

During a discussion on Russian national identity, President Vladimir Putin made sure to politely but firmly reject any notion of replacing traditional family structures with more “progressive” examples implemented in the West.

“You said the word ‘mother’ cannot be replaced. Turns out maybe it can: they’ve replaced it in some countries with ‘parent number one’ and ‘parent number two.’ I hope that never happens here,” Putin said on Friday at the meeting of the Council for Interethnic Relations, a Kremlin advisory body.

His remarks came in response to lawmaker Viktor Vodolatsky, who talked about efforts to cultivate a unifying identity among Russia’s youth without infringing on any other ethnic, religious or group identities. The words “mother” and “parent” are functionally the same, but carried a very different emotional weight, Vodolatsky argued, just like “motherland” and “country.”

France

Smiling as he replied, Putin may as well have winked and nudged in the westerly direction. One notable place where motherhood and fatherhood had been replaced in the name of “social equality” is France, where in February school forms were updated to “parent 1” and “parent 2” in order to reflect new “family diversity.”

Certain families were finding themselves stuck in “rather old-fashioned social and family models,” Valerie Petit, an MP with President Emmanuel Macron’s ruling party REM, said in February.

Italy

A similar measure was underway in Italy, but Deputy PM Matteo Salvini restored “mother” and “father” on government forms in April. It is unclear where the proposal may be on the agenda of the current government, which was put together in September to shut out Salvini without an election, in yet another display of EU democracy at its finest.

USA

Not surprisingly, it was the US that led the way in “progressive” bureaucrat-speak, with the State Department announcing that it would replace “mother” and “father” on passport applications in 2011, during the Obama administration. Brenda Sprague, deputy assistant secretary for passport services at the time, argued that this was due to “changes in medical science and reproductive technology.”

LGBT activist group Family Equality Council left no doubt about the move’s motives, however, cheering the change to a “more global term” that would allow “many different types of families” to feel recognized. This was four years before the US Supreme Court established same-sex marriages as a constitutional right, mind you.

To be fair, mothers and fathers weren’t entirely replaced on State Department forms. The current ones have two entries for “Mother/Father/Parent,” which is clearly unacceptable discrimination against children of throuples and other polyamorous relationships, who still remain unfairly illegal under oppressive US laws.

While Western “human rights” groups may be girding their loins to condemn Putin’s remarks as yet another example of “oppression” in Russia, they should hold their horses before cashing those lobbying checks. In the meeting, he also talked about welcoming and accepting immigrants, condemnation of “ignorance and extremism,” and support for Russia’s indigenous peoples – who live in better conditions and in far larger numbers than Native Americans, it should be said.

At least, according to RT...

Conservatism Emerging in Rural Sweden With Backlash Against #PCMadness

‘Tradition is important to us’: Swedish town rebels against

LGBT rainbow flag on city hall

A man holds a rainbow flag during the Gay Pride Parade on August 2, 2014, in Stockholm, Sweden.

© Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP

A municipality in Sweden decided to quit flying LGBT pride flags on public buildings, after conservative parties took over the city council.

The town of Solvesborg in southeastern Sweden has voted to stop hoisting the rainbow-colored flag on the city hall every August during Stockholm Pride, the annual LGBT-themed festival held in the nation’s capital. From now on, only local and national flags are allowed on public buildings.

The idea of flying the Pride colors was introduced in 2013, when the city council was led by the center-left Social Democrats. But now the city is controlled by conservative Swedish Democrats (SD) and three other right-leaning parties, who decided to revise the local flag code.

“Tradition is important to us, and I know many of our older residents share this view,” Mayor Louise Erixon (SD) explained the move to discard the Pride flag.

Not everyone is happy with the new flag policy, though. Politician and LGBT-themed event organizer Sophia Ahlin scolded her colleagues in the Moderate Party who sided with SD against the Pride Flag. “Their decision goes completely against what the Moderates stand for in terms of equality of all people,” she argued.

Having legalized same-sex marriage in 2009, Sweden is considered to be a largely liberal and LGBTQ-friendly country. However, Solvesborg with its population of around 9,000 is often described in the media as an example of conservatism becoming more popular in Sweden’s countryside. The leader of the Swedish Democrats, Jimmie Akesson, grew up in the town, while mayor Erixon is his partner. He wrote in an Instagram post that no flags of political significance would be hoisted on city hall.

Catholic Archbishop Warns of ‘Rainbow Plague’ Threatening Poland

FILE PHOTO: People take part in the annual "Equality Parade" rally of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) rights supporters in Warsaw, Poland June 3, 2017. © Reuters / Agencja Gazeta/Slawomir Kaminski

The archbishop of Krakow in southern Poland is facing backlash for comparing the “red plague” of Communism to the gay rights movement, describing the latter as a “rainbow plague” brainwashing his countrymen.

"Our land is no longer affected by the red plague, which does not mean that there is no new one that wants to control our souls, hearts and minds," Archbishop Marek Jedraszewski said on Thursday, delivering a mass to mark the 75th anniversary of the Warsaw uprising against the Nazi occupation.

Jedraszewski argued that the communist ideology and the LGTB-championed ideas of equal rights for sexual minorities are effectively rooted in the same source.

"Not Marxist, Bolshevik, but born of the same spirit, neo-Marxist," he said, calling the global gay rights campaign that has rolled down to Poland a “rainbow disease.”

The cleric’s outburst predictably drew ire from the liberal opposition to and critics of the ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party.

Robert Bierdon, Poland’s first openly gay politician and the leader of the pro-EU Spring party, called the archbishop “the devil incarnate” and accused him of crossing the red line “impassable in a democratic state.”

"I am gay, and I’ll let him say it to my face that I am the plague. I’d tell him about my childhood and how I wanted to commit suicide after I read that being gay is a disease,” the politician said, adding that he would be penning a letter to Pope Francis in hopes he would “intervene” in the situation.

A number of LGTB-related controversies have rattled Poland, a deeply Catholic country, this year. Last month, a conservative Polish newspaper sparked outrage after it introduced ‘LGTB-free zone’ stickers, which were immediately compared to the Nazi posters warning Jews to “keep out.”

In May, a Polish LGTB activist was arrested for offending religious beliefs after she printed out posters showing baby Jesus and Madonna with rainbow halos over their heads.

Gay rights events in Poland are often marred by violence. A pride march in the city of Bialystok in late July quickly descended into chaos after gay rights activists were confronted by a group of anti-LGTB protesters, who pelted them with rocks, bottles and firecrackers.

Why 'LGBT-Free Zones' are on the Rise in Poland

Far-left backlash in a far-right country

Nationalist ruling party calls 'LGBT ideology' a 'threat'

amid growing number of Pride marches

CBC Radio 

On stickers distributed in weekly conservative magazine, Gazeta Polska, this week, the phrase 'LGBT-free zone'

circles a rainbow with a cross through it. (Kacper Pempel/Reuters)

Activists in Poland say so-called LGBT-free zones across the predominantly Catholic country point to efforts by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party to stoke anti-LGBT sentiment ahead of a parliamentary election this fall.

Local media reports suggest that across Poland, more than two dozen cities and towns — some led by PiS members — have declared their regions LGBT-free zones in recent months. The majority are situated in the historically conservative southeastern part of the country.

While the declarations are not enforceable, activists say they signal a targeted effort to exclude LGBT residents.

"It's a statement saying that a specific kind of people is not welcome there," said Ola Kaczorek, co-president of the Warsaw-based Love Does Not Exclude Association.

The number of supposedly LGBT-free regions has grown since Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski signed a declaration in February supporting sexual and gender diverse communities in that city, Kaczorek said.

Ola Kaczorek, second from right, waves a flag during the pride parade in Warsaw,

representing Love Does Not Exclude Association. (Love Does Not Exclude Association)

Officials of the nationalist PiS party, which won a majority in 2015 running on an anti-immigration platform, have been vocal in their opposition to LGBT rights. Activists say that with migration to Poland slowing significantly since 2015, the party is looking for a new group to target.

Because a political party has to have people to demonize in order to win an election.

At a rally ahead of European Parliament elections in May, PiS president Jaroslaw Kacynski told a crowd that "LGBT ideology" was a "threat" to Polish society.

"They are not saying LGBT+ people are a threat, but they're saying that LGBT+ ideology is a threat," said Kaczorek. "Then people who are taking part [in pride marches] are not seen as humans, but as a part of some kind of ideology … [and] that is terrifying for some people."

Violence at pro-LGBT march

On July 20, advocates took to the streets of Białystok, a city in the Law and Justice party stronghold Podlasie Voivodeship, for the region's first-ever Pride march, and were met with violence from conservative and religious protesters. 

Białystok is considered an LGBT-free zone, according to a map plotted by LGBT advocacy group Lambda Warsaw.

Protesters chanted slogans, including 'God, honour, motherland', and burned a rainbow flag, at the first-ever

Pride march in Białystok, Poland on July 20. (Agnieszka Sadowska/Agencja Gazeta via Reuters)

Video from the event shows firecrackers exploding throughout the crowd and homophobic chanting from a group of men burning a rainbow flag.

"I have never seen anything like that before," said Małgorzata Mróz, a 20-year-old University of Warsaw student who travelled to join the march.

"People shouted at me that I'm a bitch, that I should die," she said adding that counter-protesters threw rocks and bottles at LGBT advocates. 

It's been just this great grassroots movement

that's been growing and expanding

- Ola Kaczorek

Both Mróz and Kaczorek told Day 6 there wasn't enough of a police presence.

Police arrested 25 people following the attacks, according to a Reuters report.

While the Polish government did not respond to a question about accusations that they support anti-LGBT sentiment, they did address the violence in Białystok.

"In Poland, there is no acceptance of behaviours slighting the rights of other persons," said Elżbieta Witek, the minister of the interior and administration, in an emailed statement to Day 6.

Małgorzata Mróz, 20, covers her mouth after tear gas is dispersed during the first-ever Pride march in Białystok, Poland, on July 20. The protest became violent when conservative and religious counter-protesters intercepted the march. (Agata Kubis/Submitted by Malgorzata Mroz)

But while the country's Education Minister Dariusz Piontkowski told private broadcaster TVN on Sunday that LGBT people shouldn't be excluded in Poland, he questioned the intent of pride marches.

"These kinds of marches... awaken resistance"

Education Minister Dariusz Piontkowski

"These kinds of marches, initiated by groups that are trying to force through their non-standard sexual behaviours, awaken resistance ... it's worth considering if such events should be organized in the future," he said. 

Mróz, who grew up in Częstochowa, organized a pride march in the small, southern city last year. There was no violence like that in Białystok, but the march was unwelcomed.

"Częstochowa is also my city," she said. "I will be there because it's my place and I have a right to be there."

Church and state

Ahead of last weekend's events in Białystok, Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda opposed the march, in a statement, calling it "foreign" to the region. Wojda also expressed "gratitude" for those who "defend Christian values."

According to 2016 numbers from Statistics Poland, more than 90 per cent of Poles identify as Roman Catholic.

"The church has a huge influence on people and it's a great outlet if someone wants to use it — and the ruling party is using it because lots and lots of people are regularly going to the church," Kaczorek said.

Though Kaczorek believes the Law and Justice party will win a second term in an election to be likely held in October, she has hope the LGBT community's activism will pay off.

Participants attend the city's first Pride march in support of the LGBT community in Bialystok, Poland, on July 20. (Agnieszka Sadowska/Agencja Gazeta via Reuters)

When Gazeta Polska, a conservative weekly magazine, included stickers emblazoned with the words "LGBT-free zone" in Wednesday's issue, a Polish judge ordered a ban on distributing the stickers any further Thursday.

Kaczorek believes if the ruling party continues to oppose LGBT rights, it will encourage the community to fight back. 

This year, there were more than 20 pride marches across Poland's 16 voivodeships.

"It's been just this great grassroots movement that's been growing and expanding — and there are new young people in smaller towns that don't want to migrate to bigger cities," Kaczorek said.

"They want to show themselves in their local communities and do something to show that we are here; we are everywhere. We are normal everyday people."

Why do Catholics and most Christians have a problem with LGBTQ ideology? Is it because God called it an abomination? Is it because He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and a couple other small cities because of their sexual license? Does it have to do with their Pride Parades, which are often obscene and yet tolerated by police and parents of small children? Is it because God hates 'pride' in any form? 

There should be absolutely no tolerance for violence against gays and lesbians and trans. But neither should they be flaunting their stuff in the face of God and man. As the Education Minister said, 'These kinds of marches... awaken resistance.'

A little common sense and modesty would go a long way toward peace and coexistence.

British MPs Legalize Same-Sex Marriage in Northern Ireland

By Sommer Brokaw

(UPI) -- Members of parliament voted Tuesday to legalize same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland.

British lawmakers in the House of Commons voted 383-73 to permit same-sex marriage, which will change the law, effective by Oct. 21, unless the Northern Irish government, which collapsed in 2017, has been re-established by that time and repeals the measure.

Labor MP Conor McGinn, an advocate for marriage equality, who championed the amendment, thanked the Love Equality campaign for making it possible.

"Having been let down so many times before, LGBT people in Northern Ireland can now look forward to enjoying the same rights as everyone else in the rest of the UK and on the island of Ireland," McGinn tweeted. "I hope to see the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly restored and working," by Oct. 21 "so that they can take the decision to introduce equal marriage."

But if it "isn't functioning by then," McGinn added, "the LGBT community in Northern Ireland now know that Westminster will act to ensure equality and respect for all citizens, and finally give them the right to marry the person they love."

Lawmakers also voted 332-99 soon afterward to extend access to abortion in Northern Ireland through an amendment by Labor MP Stella Creasy.

Extension of both of these rights to Northern Ireland makes the country fall in line with the rest of the region.

The Republic of Ireland to the south legalized same-sex marriage in 2015 and legalized abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy last year.

"Thank you for everyone who today stood up for equality in Northern Ireland -- whether for same-sex marriage or abortion, today we have said everyone in the UK deserves to be treated as an equal," Creasy tweeted. "There's a road to go yet but today a big step forward."

The changes were made through amendments to a government bill also tied to budgets and elections for the devolved assembly. The MPs said the government's argument that only the devolved Northern Irish government could make the changes was defunct because of it's political deadlock since 2017.

Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom, has been without a functioning elected government since power sharing between the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein collapsed in January 2017.

Teen Girls Stage School Walkout to Protest Boys in Their Bathroom Who Claim to be ‘Girls’

 Abraham Lincoln High School, Gender Ideology, High School, Transgenderism, Walkout

(LifeSiteNews) – The backlash against the relentless assault on nearly every civilizational institution by transgender activists seems to be slowly increasing as ordinary men and women realize the implications of the transgender agenda and the abolition of gender. Muslim parents in the UK pulled hundreds of children out of school, forcing a shutdown of recently-implemented LGBT programming. And as I reported back in February, students are pushing back, signing petitions demanding the return of their gender-segregated bathrooms and even suing their high schools in order to retrieve their right to privacy.

Last week, the debate erupted again in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Two groups of students staged a walkout at Abraham Lincoln High School over bathroom privacy, with the protest being sparked by a girl who stated that her privacy was violated by a biological male who “recently began to identify as a girl” using the female bathroom. She was joined by about twenty other high school girls who left the school at 10:30 AM and began “chanting for privacy in restrooms, saying they don’t want boys transitioning into being girls to be in the restroom with them.”

It is worth noting that much of the transgender ideology is so new that if someone had predicted high school girls would be fighting to keep biological males out of their bathrooms ten years ago, LGBT activists would have accused those making these predictions of fearmongering, bigotry, and deceit. Now, of course, if you defend the right of young girls to be uncomfortable with penises in their bathrooms and change rooms, you are guilty of transphobia. Some trans activists have gone so far as to say that girls uncomfortable changing in the presence of biological boys need to get over their internalized transphobia.

The 20 girls demanding privacy were confronted by nearly 40 students of mixed gender chanting in favor of state law, which requires schools to allow students to use whichever bathroom they feel most comfortable with, irrespective of the feelings of female students. Many of the girls made their feelings crystal clear.

“We felt very uncomfortable with a male who’s not doing anything to be transgender going into female restrooms,” said Elana Owens. “I believe if you have the male parts you go to the males’ bathroom and if you have the female parts you go to a ladies room and that’s just the way I was raised,” added Brandi Scherlund, almost in tears. Those supporting the so-called right of biological males to use the female bathroom stated that the law is on their side.

In response to the student walkouts, Superintendent of the Council Bluffs Community School District Dr. Vickie Murillo stated that, “According to the U.S. Department of Education, which Iowa has adopted that same language and is now part of our state law, our students who are transitioning into a new gender have the right to use the restroom that they identify with. So it is our obligation to allow that to occur.”

Murillo did not address the contention of one female student, who noted that there was a biological male making no effort to physically transition joining them in their bathroom. Abraham Lincoln High stated that no students would be punished for the walkout.

We’re going to see a lot more of these scenarios unfold as the ideology of transgender activists collides with the simple realities of human nature, including the fact that many teenage girls do not want to change in the same room with biological males, and that most people simply do not buy the idea that there are thousands of "girls" with penises inhabiting American high schools.

People are also getting fed up with the new “hierarchy of feelings” where transgender students cannot be asked to use single-stall bathrooms if they are uncomfortable using the one that matches their sex, but that instead the privacy and feelings of the girls must be sacrificed for the feelings of a few students who have been persuaded that this is their inalienable right.

Political Correctness and Islam Clash at UK School Over Teaching LGBTQ to 4 y/os

This should be a Christian fight to keep sex education appropriate to age levels, but either Christians are nowhere to be found, or they are being completely ignored. Muslims, obviously, have more influence on school boards, perhaps because they are willing to withdraw their children. It's a shame Christians aren't front and centre, or at least significantly involved in this issue.

Birmingham school to indefinitely suspend LGBT lessons

for kids after parents’ anger

Theresa May visits a primary school in Birmingham. © Reuters / Dan Kitwood / Pool

Following a massive outcry by parents, Parkfield Community School has announced it will be indefinitely suspending its LGBT rights curriculum until an agreement is reached with protesting families.

Under the schools ‘No Outsider’ program, students as young as four were being taught about same sex marriage and transgender lifestyle in an effort to fight discrimination at an early age. In spite of its name, the program alienated and incensed a large number of parents in the predominantly Muslim area who opposed it both on religious grounds, and due to the young age of the students involved.

While the school initially said the lessons would go on as planned after scheduled talks in Easter, weekly protests by the parents, including some 600 pupils being pulled from classes earlier in the month, seem to have changed the administration’s mind. Many parents also signed a petition opposing the program.

Parents, educators and the Excelsior Multi Academy Trust (the group that runs Parkfield) sat down for talks over the issue Wednesday ahead of schedule. The same day, the school administration announced the lessons would be suspended “until a resolution has been reached.”

“Nothing is more important than ensuring our children’s education continues uninterrupted,” the school said in a statement, adding that they hope the decision prevents parents from keeping their kids out of school. The board plans to continue discussions in the coming weeks in order to look for a compromise.

The lessons were heavily promoted by assistant head teacher Andrew Moffat, who is himself a gay man. The city council seemed to tacitly agree with his outlook, even warning the parents, mostly Muslim, that their protests were inciting “division and hate,” while Moffat claimed that he had received personal threats online.

The Guardian - Andrew Moffat, who was awarded an MBE for his work in equality education, said he was threatened and targeted via a leaflet campaign after the school piloted the No Outsiders programme. Its ethos is to promote LGBT equality and challenge homophobia in primary schools.

Moffat, the author of Challenging Homophobia in Primary Schools who is currently shortlisted for a world’s best teacher award, resigned from another primary school – Chilwell Croft academy, also in Birmingham – after a similar dispute with Muslim and Christian parents.

The conflict over the school’s curriculum highlights a broader problem regarding cultural differences between England’s Muslim population and state regulations. Last month, Ofsted (the same regulatory body which cleared Parkfield of any wrongdoing Tuesday) accused an Islamic school in Birmingham of discriminating against girls by ordering them not to eat their lunches until boys finish theirs.

The absurdity of teaching 4 or 5 year olds anything about sex is intolerable. Or, for that matter, teaching anyone under 10 or 11 years old about sexual preferences is just wrong and, in my humble opinion, is child abuse. And yet, Moffat is being promoted for world's best teacher? How utterly insane!

How is teaching little children about sexual preferences child abuse? Pre-pubescent children have, or should have, very little to do with sexuality. Introducing sexuality to a small child is a sure way of destroying their innocence. This phrase - destruction of innocence - perfectly describes what a paedophile does to their victim. 

It just makes me sick how the LGBTQ have taken over the teaching of our children and we have let them do it. They are teaching things that little children should never have to deal with before puberty, and they are distracting from the far, far greater problem of child sex abuse which does require teaching at an early age. 

Little children need to be taught about safe/unsafe touch, who to tell/how to tell, and later, about the threats of online/phone predators. Little children are in far more danger of being abused by a sex predator than of being bullied for, or of bullying LGBTQs.

United Methodists Vote Against LGBTQ Clergy and Weddings

Fractured after vote against LGBT clergy, weddings,

United Methodists face possible split

By Dakin Andone, CNN

(CNN) After years of debate, hundreds of United Methodists from all over the world gathered in St. Louis last week to settle the denomination's stance on LGBT clergy and same-sex weddings.

In the eyes of many, they failed.  

Certainly in the eyes of CNN they failed. But not, I'm sure, in the eyes of God!

Following several days of dramatic testimony and prayer, delegates of the denomination's General Conference voted 438-384 to reinforce the United Methodist Church's stance against ordaining gay clergy and performing same-sex weddings, in a move that threatens to split the second-largest Protestant denomination in the US, and one that has a growing presence internationally.

United Methodists who spoke to CNN reacted with a mix of devastation and contentment. However, none are celebrating.

'I feel like someone has died'

Jordan Harris, a gay United Methodist pastor in Somerville, Massachusetts, decided to pursue ministry because of a childhood experience with homelessness. It was a church, he said, that helped his family, and it inspired him to become a pastor and help others.

But now, on the cusp of being ordained and marrying his fiancé, Harris is afraid for the career he's spent at least eight years preparing for.

"I feel like someone has died," Harris told CNN.

He is grieving for the 8 years he spent preparing for something that wasn't there to begin with. If your intention in joining a church is to change it into your image, you are in the wrong place.

For years liberal United Methodists like Harris have pushed for the church to adopt more tolerant policies.

The denomination's Book of Discipline says all people have "sacred worth," but it denounces the "practice of homosexuality," and says it is "incompatible with Christian teaching."

But there are openly gay and lesbian clergy members who serve -- in 2016, Karen Phyllis Oliveto became the first married lesbian to become a bishop. While the gay clergy could be removed from ministry, church trials are rare.

Harris was "hopeful" the UMC would continue to take steps towards tolerance this week. He felt some of the proposals up for debate offered a chance for churches with different views to continue to "coexist."

Like many LGBT clergy and United Methodists, Harris hoped delegates would vote for what was known as the Simple Plan -- one of three proposed plans that outlined different tracts for the church's stance on LGBT persons.

Alyss Swanson, a transgender United Methodist deacon from San Jose, California, speaks with Bishop Samuel Quire, from Liberia, during the General Conference of the United Methodist Church on Monday, February 25, 2019.

The Simple Plan would have removed language prohibiting gay marriage and clergy from the United Methodist Book of Discipline. The Traditional Plan, the one that passed, reaffirmed the church's current stance.

There was also the One Church Plan, which would have allowed local churches to decided on the issue for themselves but keep the denomination together.

"It felt like we finally got to a place where we were at least able to have constructive dialogue," he said.

He was ultimately let down. As he watched the conference play out, Harris felt that the traditionalists were unwilling to meet in the middle. And now he's left disappointed and afraid.

"It's hard to be in this place where you feel like things are falling apart all around you."

'Who are we to legislate love of God?'

The One Church Plan was the path favored by Flo Martin. She's the wife of a retired minister, and the mother of a current pastor. She's also been a heavily involved member for most of her life.

But while watching the proceedings online this week, Martin wondered, "Have we really sat down and talked and listened and allowed ourselves to hear each other and each others' stories?"

Martin preferred the One Church Plan because she felt it afforded people the opportunity to find a church that aligned with their beliefs, "but also room for us to still say we could be together."

"There are people sitting in pews together that disagree on lots of issues," she explained. "Not only homosexuality but political issues and other issues. And if there were an emergency they would be there working side-by-side, caring and praying for each other."

"Who are we," she added, "to be legislating the love of God, and putting barriers around people being in ministry?"

That sounds like Pope Francis' amazing statement on homosexuality, "Who am I to judge?" Well, excuse me, but aren't you Christ's vicar on earth? Do you really know God so poorly that you are incapable of knowing what He finds a complete abomination?

LGBT people 'are part of our family'

When the Traditional Plan passed, Keith Mcilwain, a pastor in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, said he was pleased with the outcome.

"I wanted to see my preferred plan pass, just like every pastor did," he said. "But I was keenly aware that no matter which plan passed, people were going to be upset, disappointed and people were going to be in pain."

"So I could not really celebrate," he said.

Mcilwain supported the Traditional Plan because it most closely aligned with the church's theology and its historic stance on homosexuality -- that it is "outside the bounds of orthodox Christianity," he said.

But prior to the conference Mcilwain held meetings with the members of his church to clarify the meeting's purpose and start a dialogue. He wanted them to understand that the church was not deciding whether gay people were allowed to come to church. That much was not up for debate.

He explained in a letter to his congregation that "our Church is debating how to be in ministry with LGBTQ persons -- not whether we will be in ministry with them."

Mcilwain's congregation has a mix of members with different political perspectives and beliefs, he said, including gay people.

"They are loved and they love others. We welcome them, they welcome us and we love them," he said. "They are part of our family."

"Whether or not we will include them isn't an issue," he said. Rather, General Conference's purpose was to decide "to what extent would it be appropriate to include them."

The church faces a possible split

But the debate's not over. The UMC's Judicial Council -- think of it as the church's Supreme Court -- is set to review the Traditional Plan at its meeting in Illinois next month to decide whether it's constitutional.

If the council upholds the plan, many fear a split is imminent, and that liberal members and more progressive churches will leave the denomination.

And while that's no one's preferred route, Mcilwain and Martin are coming to terms with the possibility. Mcilwain made clear he prefers the church stay together, and he's hopeful.

"But if some people feel that they cannot remain," he conceded, "then I love them enough to let them leave."

Delegates join in prayer during the 2019 Special Session of the General Conference of The United Methodist Church.

Martin pointed out she would have been staunchly opposed to a split in years past. But now she wonders if there's a way the UMC could split amicably, illustrating to the world that people who have different beliefs can "agree to disagree agreeably."

But Harris said he's determined to stay, and he doesn't believe he's alone. "The vast majority of the response that I've seen ... has been one of faithful resistance."

"I don't see a whole lot of progressive pastors or LGBTQ people who are adamant about leaving or giving up," he said. "Rather, I think a lot of us are reinvigorated."

But right now he's focused on Sunday, and what he'll say when he steps into the pulpit. All he can do is share "the same truth I preached last Sunday, and the Sunday before and before that," Harris said, "which is, you are loved by God."

Two Women Arrested After Forcibly Groping Trans Woman in Bar Bathroom

In a case set to reignite the gender debate in the US, two women are facing charges of sexual battery and second-degree kidnapping for allegedly attacking a trans woman in the women’s bathroom of a North Carolina bar.

A disturbing case of sexual violence has added to tensions over transgender people using public restrooms in America. 31-year-old Jessica Fowler and 38-year-old Amber Harrell face potential felony charges after their verbal abuse against a trans woman turned physical.

The victim detailed how the women began by joking about her genitals after she entered the women’s bathroom in Raleigh’s Milk Bar. One of the women then allegedly pulled up the victim’s skirt and pushed her against the wall with her chest while fondling her, according to the arrest warrant. The victim says the assault sent her into a panic attack.

The two didn’t stop there, continuing to touch and harass the victim in front of everyone at the bar.

“One of the girls is still touching all over me. She would not let go. I asked her numerous times. She [the bartender] could see I was visibly uncomfortable,” the victim told 911. Despite the bartender and the victim telling the women to back off, they refused to relent.

The two women are currently out on bond. If convicted, they face up to 10 years in prison and will be put on a sex offender registry.

Bunch of Fives hospitality, the Milk Bar’s parent company, told WLAR news that they were fully cooperating with police and will take action to ensure all patrons feel welcome.

North Carolina was the site of the battle over the divisive HB2 law which required North Carolina residents to use public bathrooms based on their gender at birth. The law was struck down in late 2017 based on the judge’s ruling that revoking the rule “would alleviate some of the sweeping harms that vulnerable transgender North Carolinans suffered.”

The transgender issue has become a hot-button topic across America, in and out of the bathroom. The question of transgender participation in sports has led to particularly heated debates, alongside backlash over LGBTQ activists' efforts to redefine traditional definitions of gender.

Not to mention the teaching of it in schools and libraries as being quite normal.

Court Rejects Dutch Man’s Request to Legally Change His Age

Emile Ratelband, 69, answers journalists' questions on December 3, 2018 in Amsterdam

© ANP / AFP / Robin van Lonkhuijsen

The 69-year-old Dutch motivational speaker who fought to legally change his age so that he might fare better in the dating scene has had his case rejected by a court in the Netherlands.

Self-proclaimed ‘positivity coach’ Emile Ratelband was frustrated by his lack of luck with the ladies in online dating, something which he attributed to his age.

Thus began the legal case which garnered worldwide media attention and perhaps a few wry smiles at how audacious Ratelband’s claim was; namely that he ‘felt’ 20 years younger and should therefore be allowed to legally change his age.

“I say it’s comparable because it has to do with my feeling, with respect about who I think ... I am, my identity,” Rateband said.

He argued that his appeal was in keeping with recent progressive policies and laws in which personal transformation and identification is afforded more freedom than ever before, including but not limited to, changing one’s name or gender identity.

However, the court ruled that, given that age is so closely linked with the legal system and various legal rites of passage, “such as the right to vote and the duty to attend school,” that affording people the opportunity to legally change their age would set a dangerous precedent.

The 'dangerous precedent' was already set when people were given the right to change their gender identity to something other than their biological sex; that's why we are here. The 'dangerous precedent' was that 'truth' no longer matters in courts of law. According to this ruling - convenience for the legal system is the most important factor.

“Mr. Ratelband is at liberty to feel 20 years younger than his real age and to act accordingly,” Arnhem court said in a press statement as cited by the AP.

But amending his date of birth would cause 20 years of records to vanish from the register of births, deaths, marriages and registered partnerships. This would have a variety of undesirable legal and societal implications.

The court also suggested that there were other alternatives available for challenging age-based discrimination, adding that Ratelband had failed to convince the court that he was in fact subject to discrimination.

Unsurprisingly for a motivational speaker by trade, Ratelband was upbeat and cheerfully defiant even as his legal challenge went up in flames.

“This is great!” he said. “The rejection of (the) court is great… because they give all kinds of angles where we can connect when we go in appeal.”

It’s back to the drawing board now, apparently.

Taiwan Voters Reject Same-Sex Marriage Referendum

Pushing back against political correctness

But in the end, the courts will overrule the will of the people

By Daniel Uria

A crowd of Taiwanese voters react during the initial results of the mid-term election in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Voters rejected a referendum supporting same-sex marriage after the country's highest court ruled a ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. Photo by Peter Lin/EPA

UPI -- Voters in Taiwan rejected a referendum on LGBT rights, pushing back efforts for same-sex marriage in the country.

The majority of voters approved a measure Saturday stating "Civil Code regulations should restrict marriage to being between a man and a woman" and two other measures opposing same-sex marriage while rejecting measures to legalize same sex marriage and asking if civil code marriage regulations "should be used to guarantee the rights of same-sex couples to get married."

"This result is a bitter blow and a step backwards for human rights in Taiwan. However, despite this setback, we remain confident that love and equality will ultimately prevail," Amnesty International Taiwan's Acting Director Annie Huang said in a statement. "The result must not be used as an excuse to further undermine the rights of LGBTI people. The Taiwanese government needs to step up and take all necessary measures to deliver equality and dignity for all, regardless of who people love."

Tseng Hsien-yin, leader of the Coalition for the Happiness of our Next Generation, a group that opposes gay marriage, said the decision reflected the will of the voters.

"The public have used their ballots to tell the governing authorities what is the mainstream opinion and the result represents a victory for all people who cherish family values and how such values should be taught in schools to the young generation," he said.

The referendum comes after Taiwan's highest court ruled Article 972 of the country's civil code prohibiting same-sex marriage was unconstitutional in May of last year and gave Taiwanese parliament two years to amend it.

Legislators in Taiwan offered differing opinions on whether President Tsai Ing-wen's administration would be required to pass laws reflecting the results of Saturday's referendum or would still be compelled to change the civil code to allow for same-sex marriage.

A lawmaker from the president's Democratic Progressive Party told CNN any positive referendum result "must pass" in the next legislative session, but a legal expert said lawmakers would be left to decide how to respond to the results of the referendum.

Tseng said the Coalition for the Happiness of our Next Generation would "see that the government revise or institute relevant laws and implement the relevant education guidelines for the school curriculums in line with the results."

"We will ... send our drafted bill to the parliament as soon as possible for review and passage because we respect same-sex partnerships and believe there should be a special law for them," he said.

Amnesty International's regional campaign manager for Taiwan, Suki Chung, tweeted that the result "shouldn't be used as an excuse to further undermine the rights of LGBTI people"

"The government must legislate for equality of marriage by 2019 to comply with the Constitutional Court's decision," she wrote.

The Delusion That Motivates Gender Fluidity Madness

Governments and media suffer from a delusion generated by short-sighted and extremely shallow thinking, as well as a dearth of knowledge and wisdom

Tasmania’s lower house passes the nation’s most sweeping transgender rights laws

Labor justice spokeswoman Ella Haddad. Picture: Mathew Farrell

MATTHEW DENHOLM
TASMANIA CORRESPONDENT

Tasmania’s lower house last night passed the nation’s most sweeping transgender rights laws, including requiring parents to “opt in” to have their newborn’s sex recorded on a birth certificate.

The changes, put forward by Labor and the Greens and passed with the casting vote of turncoat Liberal Speaker Sue Hickey, also allow people as young as 16 to change their official gender ­simply by filing a statutory ­declaration.

As well, the House of Assembly passed a broadening of Tasmania’s anti-discrimination laws to extend hate speech to cover “gender expression”, including correct use of transgender ­people’s changed honorifics and names.

While the amendments still need to pass the state’s ­independent-dominated upper house, the parliamentary coup is a major win for transgender rights nationally. It is also a significant blow for the Hodgman Liberal government and its claim to stable government, given Ms Hickey used her casting vote against her party on all key amendments.

Veteran LGBTI campaigner Rodney Croome last night hailed the outcome, which will embolden activists seeking similar changes across the country.

“It’s appropriate that, on the first anniversary of the postal survey, the principle of equality that Tasmanians voted for so emphatically is being put into practice for our transgender and gender-­diverse fellow citizens,” Mr Croome said.

Transforming Tasmania spokesperson Roen Meijers said the changes provided “greater ­equity, dignity and hope for transgender, gender-diverse and intersex Tasmanians”.

“We will now turn our attention to the upper house which we will brief on Thursday,” Mr Meijers said.

A broad range of interests, from radical feminists to conservative Christians, attacked the reforms as effectively abolishing gender and threatening the safety of female-only services, from domestic violence shelters to the Girl Guides.

Ms Hickey sided with the ­opposition parties despite Liberal ­Attorney-General Elise Archer warning that the amendments — to a government bill removing the need for people to divorce in order to change gender — were confusing, untested, poorly drafted and liable to lead to unintended ­consequences.

“The government prefers to refer this to the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute … because there are significant drafting flaws and legal consequences — things that need to be considered,” Ms Archer told parliament.

Labor legal affairs spokeswoman Ella Haddad said changes requiring parents to apply to the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages if they wanted their child’s sex recorded on a birth certificate were not radical.

Ms Haddad said a form would simply ask parents of newborns “Do you wish to have gender printed on the birth certificate”. “It creates an opt-in approach,” Ms Haddad said.

Ms Archer and the government refused to back any of the amendments.

Canada cracks down on parental rights, flagrantly violating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Canada, Kathleen Wynne, Parental Rights, Sex Education, Transgenderism

November 6, 2018 (Everyday For Life Canada) – There is plenty of evidence that parents in Canada no longer have the right to direct their children's education and their lives. In this post, we bring to the attention of parents some disturbing examples of parental rights violated and overruled.

Example 1: The first is the case of the Christian father from Hamilton who fought for his parental rights for nearly eight years. He was legally attacked by the school board, the province of Ontario and the elementary teachers' union. The only thing that this parent wanted was to protect his children from the LGTBQ beliefs implemented by the Wynne Liberal government. The policy is known as the Equity and Inclusive Education Strategy. It later become part of the controversial 2015 Health and Physical and Education curriculum for all public schools, including the Catholic schools.

Last year, the Ontario Superior Court ruled against Dr. Steve Tourloukis. The court reasoned that there was lack of evidence; in other words, he needed to prove that his children were actually harmed. The decision is a blow to parental rights in Ontario and the rest of Canada. Why? Because Tourloukis represented every parent who wants to have a say about the kind of education their children receive.

One of the three judges, Peter Lauwers, did state the dangers of violating parental rights. He wrote, "In my view there are limits imposed by the Charter on a province's power to use publicly funded education to inculcate children in beliefs that educational authorities have determined are necessary." He added, there is the "right of parents to care for their children and make decisions for their well-being, including decisions about education, is primary, and the state's authority is secondary to that parental right." So, why not rule in favour of Tourloukis? That would have been the just ruling.

(Win or lose, we have a lot of respect and admiration for what Tourloukis has done. In the interest of full disclosure, we're the chair of The Parental Rights in Education Defense Fund. We worked to raise private funds to help pay for the court costs. The Ontario government, the school board and the teachers' union probably spent well over 500,000 dollars to fight Tourloukis, and by attacking him they attacked all parents in Canada. But they had unlimited taxpayer money to fight against parental rights. The average citizens doesn't. What a shame!)

Example 2: The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) ruled in June of this year that Law Societies have the right to deny accreditation to Trinity Western University's (TWU) proposed law school. Trinity Western University is a private Christian evangelical institution that requires its students to agree to a covenant permitting sexual relationships just between a man and a woman and only after marriage. The high court decided that Law Societies in both Ontario and British Columbia have the right to make sure (discriminate) that there is equal access to diversity and stop any harm to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer students. However, that same equality of access and harm doesn't apply to Christian students.

Why did the SCC not ask for proof of harm as the judges did in the Tourloukis case? In this case, no evidence of harm was necessary. The mere covenant itself to remain chaste was in itself proof of harm to others. Why can't Canadian parents and students have the freedom to choose the education of their choice? Why not encourage more young men and women to study charity law? But the SCC wasn't interested. There is a double standard of justice here. A Christian father needs to legally provide proof of harm before the court agrees to his Charter of Rights of religious freedom and equality, but the same rule doesn't apply to those who claim to hold LGTBQ values. There is something terribly wrong in this. TWU has every right, in a democratic nation, to have a law school founded on Christian principles. The SCC made a horrible and biased decision.

Example 3: This comes from Alberta. We have a family with three children and two of them are autistic. One of the autistic children, a girl, who is twelve years old, joined the school's gay/straight alliance club. There she was soon convinced the she was a "boy" and not a girl. The school began the transitioning process with hormones, surgery, change of name and allowing the girl to use the boys' washroom.

Were the parents informed of what was happening to this very vulnerable child? Of course not. It wasn't until the daughter became depressed and suicidal that the parents were told. This child could have taken her life because the school did not tell the parents. After the parents went to court with the help of lawyer John Carpay from the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, the situation got worse.

In court, Justice Johnna Kubik dismissed all the expert evidence presented that GSAs can too easily be used to promote an ideological progressive sexuality and gender fluidity. Why allow public schools to let just about anyone have access to GSA clubs without parental permission? Why is it acceptable to undermine the traditional view on sexuality, the person and marriage? We must remember that we're talking about children changing sex, in this case an autistic child, and attending elementary school. The child's brain has hardly formed the capacity to make such a serious choice. Instead, is this not a case of government child abuse?

The judge dismissed expert testimony because she has the legislative support of the Alberta government that believes GSAs are good for students. Kubik sided with Bill 24 which makes it illegal in Alberta to notify a parent if the child joins a GSA and/or decides to transition. The ruling is currently being challenged in the Alberta Court of Appeal. Kubik's biased decision needs to be overturned. But for now, parental rights can be violated in the name of gender fluidity and sexual expressions of every kind. It must not matter to Justice Kubik that children in the meantime can be harmed for life.

Example 4: This is a continuation for the last point. Too many anti-parental rights laws have been passed by governments. We have seen how Bill 24: An Act to Support Gay-Straight Alliances in Alberta can be used against parents. The legislation protects teachers and school administrators from telling parents that their children have joined a gay/straight alliance at school. In Ontario, we have Bill 89, Supporting Children, Youth and Families Act, 2017 that permits the school and/or government officials to remove children from their families if parents don't accept a child's decision to change sex. Don't let the nice-sounding name of the law fool you. The Ontario government knows best when it comes to changing a child's sex.

In addition, Bill 28, All Families Are Equal Act (Parentage and Related Registrations Statute Law Amendment), 2016 is actually anti-family because it permits the removal of the words "mother" and "father" on birth certificates. How can a mother and a father have rights when you can choose not to recognize that biological reality and be forced to accept another one merely based on feelings? And then there's Bill 77, Affirming Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Act, 2015 that legislates against any other therapy counter to changing sex is legally acceptable. Most provinces now have similar legislation. This provincial legislation is all backed by Canada's Bill C-16, a law passed in 2016. It's called An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code. The law adds gender expression and gender identity as protected grounds of discrimination to the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code. Canadians can be charged with a crime now should they question gender fluidity or with hate speech if they speak against it. 

We conclude by quoting from Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Sections 2 and 3 state: "Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace." And "Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children." In Canada, both laws at the federal and provincial levels are breaking this declaration. It's parents who have the right to have the final say in what children learn and the groups they join, not the school or the government. By violating parental rights and not fully respecting parents, Canada's future is bleak. There is a huge price we pay as a society when we weaken parental rights and refuse to legislatively protect, not just alternative structures, but the traditional family too. The health and strength of the family is the health and strength of a nation. If we keep on this sick path, parental rights in Canada will become extinct. For some parents, it has already sadly happened.

The delusion that motivates the movement

toward gender fluidity acceptance

Sexual-orientation and gender-identity battle grips schools

*Update: The names and photos in this story have been changed
or removed at the father's request
This is an extremely difficult issue and we sincerely hope
we have not caused any suffering

When Brandon* sent his eldest child to Grade 9 in a community in BC's Lower Mainland (see map below), two years ago, he was afraid that Kevin* would be misunderstood and excluded: "This was always about just having our son attend school, where he was accepted for who he is, so he could have a normal school year, the same as everyone else."

Kevin is transgender. And after Brandon spoke with the principal, the school brought in a speaker for staff and students, helping educators foster a more inclusive environment for Kevin.

Today, parents such as Brandon and their kids have an easier time navigating the school system. Last fall, the government required every school district in British Columbia to include sexual orientation and gender identity in anti-bullying policies. Teachers are equipped with resources to support children, including LGBTQ students, and a redesigned curriculum means educators can focus on diversity and respecting differences.

As someone who has been writing blogs on child sex abuse for more than 5 years, I get frustrated with far-left liberal governments fixation on gender-fluidity and bullying while almost completely ignoring the massive problems of child sex abuse.

Yes, I empathize with gender dysphoric kids, and, no, no kid should ever be bullied for any reason. But liberal governments and school boards are treating the symptoms, not the problem. The problem is bullying! Bullying of any kind is intolerable and that should be the focus. Bullies will always find victims, if not transgenders, then someone else. We must deal with the bullies rather than trying to make everyone acceptable to those bullies.

The fixation on trans kids as opposed to sexually abused kids is particularly disturbing because, in the USA only 0.7% of the population is transgender. Meanwhile, about 10% of boys, and as many as 30% of girls are sexually abused as children. Why focus on the less than 1% and ignore more than 20% of the kids suffering? Why?

Yet, Brandon faces a new challenge. Late last month, Brandon, holding a sign that read "Love Wins," rallied, along with dozens of other parents, outside the district school board. They were squaring off against a conservative group of parents and activists who feel threatened by the very policies that are meant to protect Kevin.

Brandon has been trying to help support a program called SOGI 123, a set of resources for B.C. teachers to help them address issues around gender identity and help school districts support LGBTQ students.

JIMMY JEONG/THE GLOBE AND MAIL

BC's Lower Mainland has become a battleground between supporters of an inclusive school environment that directly names and addresses homo- and transphobia, and those who oppose introducing topics such as gender identity and sexual orientation to students. The small, but vocal group of counterprotesters label an LGBTQ-friendly curriculum and policies as a "sex activists agenda" that "abuses" children.

"Why would anyone be against such a thing that actually creates an environment that is safe and secure for students?" said Brandon. "How could anybody be against that?"

And there-in lies the question, the answer to which is the delusion referred to in the title above. Nobody is against that which makes for a safe and secure environment for children. Nobody. But SOGI123 actually creates an extremely dangerous environment for children. How's that? By teaching children that they are gender-fluid and not necessarily the sex that would appear obvious from their anatomy.

SOGI123 teaches them that it is healthy to question your sexuality and there is no harm in switching your sexual identity to that which is opposite to what your anatomy dictates. This is so wrong and so utterly insane that it is hard to refrain from using hyperbole. 

More than 40% of transgenders attempt suicide! And, it is not because of bullying. In fact, you would be very hard-pressed to find a single case of a transgender who attempted suicide because of bullying. What you will find, if you look hard enough, is that they attempt suicide because of profound unhappiness with themselves. Much of it, I'm sure, coming from regret for the path they have chosen and their inability to face the possibility of going back.

Furthermore, reports coming from the UK indicate a frightening rise in attempted suicide among teenage and young adult women who have transitioned to men, more than 50%! The rise parallels a dramatic rise in the number young girls transitioning to men because of influence on social media. Girls who start talking about transitioning suddenly become very popular on social media, and that is a very powerful tool in affecting girl's decisions. After transitioning, they realize there is more to life than popularity and now they are stuck with trying to find a way to go back to who they are. Those who can't find a way, may opt for suicide.

There is one more point I need to make here. A recent alarming report, again, out of the UK, reveals that an unusual number of students, 17, in a single school are currently attempting to transition. The agency that actually assists with the transitioning sounded the alarm for 1 - the sheer number; and 2 - the fact that most of those students are somewhere on the autistic spectrum. In fact, a large number of transgenders are autistic. 

What does that tell us? Are transgender kids targeting vulnerable kids to increase their numbers? Gender dysphoria is listed as a mental illness. Mental illnesses often tend to cluster in that many people have more than one mental illness. Does the vulnerability of autistic kids reinforce the fact that gender dysphoria is a mental illness? 

The World Health Organization (WHO) currently lists transgender identity as a mental health disorder

Does the extremely high attempted suicide rate of transgenders reinforce the fact that gender dysphoria is a mental illness? 

Should we, as a society, be encouraging the practice of mental illness as a norm? Shouldn't those kids be getting help instead of getting encouraged?

The issue began in summer of 2016, when the BC Human Rights Code was amended to include gender identity and gender expression as prohibited grounds of discrimination.

In response, the government last fall directed all school districts to include sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) in their anti-bullying policies and codes of conduct. The Ministry of Education, along with the teachers' union, the Vancouver-based ARC Foundation and others, collaborated on SOGI 123, an initiative that shares resources on how to support students and create more inclusive schools.

Teachers in the classroom, under a revised curriculum currently being rolled out in schools, may explore the various components of the human rights code, including sexual orientation and gender identity. Lessons on family diversity, for example, may include mentions of same-sex families and LGBTQ rights.

That doesn't sit well with a conservative group called Culture Guard. Its spokeswoman, Kari Simpson, has described SOGI curriculum and policies as a "dangerous agenda."

On its website, the group said it works to protect the "natural family, parental rights, [and] the sanctity of life." It claimed that there is an agenda in schools to "undermine societal values and to sexualize your children."

Ms. Simpson's group has held so-called information meetings on SOGI, the most recent one earlier this month at a retirement home in Abbotsford.

"It is a political agenda that abuses children and violates the role and purpose of public education," Ms. Simpson said in an e-mail. "The consequences of this political indoctrination will be destructive to children, our culture and our nation."

Education Minister Rob Fleming said he was "disappointed" that some parents are opposed to SOGI-inclusive schools. "It is crucial that we help to ensure all students feel welcome in B.C.'s schools, regardless of who they identify as," he said in a statement.

Brandon's school district sent a letter home to parents in March outlining the curriculum changes and the district's stand on inclusion.

The letter stated that the district's schools would ensure gender-neutral washroom facilities exist for students, and that provincial curriculum expectations included the "integration of inclusive education, including gender orientation and expression beginning in kindergarten."

In kindergarten? Are you serious? Tell me again this is not indoctrination!

This prompted criticism from some parents at a June school board meeting, where they voiced their concerns to trustees around what they called a SOGI education and how it was being presented to students, board spokesman Ken Hoff said.

Mr. Hoff said an individual had applied to address trustees again at the most recent, Sept. 26, board meeting but withdrew the request a week before the meeting.

But as word leaked that an anti-SOGI activist was appearing, local parents organized a loosely-formed group to lobby for inclusivity. About 100 of them, including Brandon and his sons, Kevin and his younger brother, rallied outside the school board office in support of SOGI education and policies.

BC's Lower Mainland has become a battleground between supporters of an inclusive school environment and a small, but vocal group of counterprotesters who label an LGBTQ-friendly curriculum and policies as a “sex activists agenda” that “abuses” children.

The battle started in summer of 2016, when the BC Human Rights Code was amended to include gender identity and gender expression as prohibited grounds of discrimination.

"The fear-mongering and hate needs to stop," said Brandon of why he attended the rally.

And yet, while there may be very good reason for fear-mongering, or, at least concern, there is never a reason for hate.

This is not the first time in Canada that changes in education that involve sexuality or LGBTQ rights have been a flashpoint. In 2010, former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty gave in to pressure from religious fundamentalists and cancelled an update to the health and physical education curriculum that would have included teaching on same-sex relationships and sexuality. The Ontario sex-ed curriculum was released two years ago, under current Premier Kathleen Wynne. The education minister at the time, Liz Sandals, vowed not to cave to pressure from fringe religious groups. Some parents pulled their children out of public schools, but many have since returned.

The reporter here neglects to mention that Ontario's sex-ed curriculum was, almost certainly, authored by a convicted pedophile, Ben Levin. While the Liberals deny it vehemently, it makes no sense that he would not have been deeply involved in its development as easily one of the most qualified and capable people in Canada, until his convictions.

Benjamin "Ben" Levin (born 1952) is a convicted child pornographer and registered Sex offender in Canada. He previously was the Canada Research Chair in Education Leadership and Policy at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto. As a civil servant he served for three years in the Ontario provincial government as Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Education after having held a similar post in Manitoba. He was also a former advisor to then-premier Kathleen Wynne. On March 3, 2015, Levin pleaded guilty to three charges relating to making and distributing child pornography. He was sentenced to three years imprisonment. - Wikipedia

By the way, Kathleen Wynne is a lesbian. But, I'm sure there is no attempt to indoctrinate here.

The good news is her government collapsed spectacularly last spring. Alberta's far-left government is set to be replaced by a more conservative party next year, but British Columbia's extreme-left government, though tenuous at best, may hang around for years.

BC's Lower Mainland
Abbotsford, Langley and Chilliwack are British Columbia's Bible Belt