6 h. ago ‘Chipping away at democracy’: authors fear outcome of US supreme court’s LGBTQ+ book ruling

Some parents can now opt students out of LGBTQ+ book readings. The writers warn of increased book bans and biasSarah Brannen, an illustrator and children’s book author, was riding in the car with her sister when she received an alert on her phone in late June. She was in a group chat with other authors whose books were being debated in a US supreme court case, and the messages soon poured in. Her book, Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, highlights a same-sex marriage, and is at the center of a contentious case that could have widespread implications for public school education throughout the nation.As per the 27 June ruling, a group of Maryland parents have the option to remove their public elementary school students from classes where Uncle Bobby’s Wedding and other storybooks with LGBTQ+ themes are read. The justices decided through a 6-3 vote that the Montgomery county school board violated parents’ right to freely exercise their religion by forbidding kids from opting out of instruction. Th...

Culture

45 h. ago LGBTQ+ figures criticise supreme court’s gender ruling at London Pride

LGBTQ+ figures criticise supreme court’s gender ruling at London Pride  The Guardian

Events

4 d. ago ‘Accelerated censorship’: advocates criticise US supreme court ruling on LGBTQ+ books

Opponents say the decision allowing parents to let their kids opt out of lessons featuring LGBTQ+ themes will hurt the US education systemKiernan, a 24-year-old transgender person from Colorado, feels drained from dealing with legislation that consistently limits the spaces and freedoms of people like him. Since he transitioned in 2016, it’s been the same – first bathroom bills, then censorship in the education system – routine attacks on LGBTQ+ rights that Kiernan feels have now just become part of living in the US.Now, in the wake of the Mahmoud v Taylor supreme court ruling, the stigmatization of these communities is likely to worsen. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago ‘Accelerated censorship’: advocates criticize US supreme court ruling on LGBTQ+ books

Opponents say the decision allowing parents to let their kids opt out of lessons featuring LGBTQ+ themes will hurt the US education systemKiernan, a 24-year-old transgender person from Colorado, feels drained from dealing with legislation that consistently limits the spaces and freedoms of people like him. Since he transitioned in 2016, it’s been the same – first bathroom bills, then censorship in the education system – routine attacks on LGBTQ+ rights that Kiernan feels have now just become part of living in the US.Now, in the wake of the Mahmoud v Taylor supreme court ruling, the stigmatization of these communities is likely to worsen. Continue reading...

Events

9 d. ago What to know about the US Supreme Court's ruling on public school lessons using LGBTQ books

The Supreme Court has sided with religious parents who want to pull their children out of the classroom when a public school lesson uses LGBTQ storybooks

Events

1 week ago US supreme court rules schools must let kids opt out of hearing LGBTQ+ books

Court sides with parents in Maryland who protested exposure to storybooks they found objectionableThe US supreme court has ruled that schools must give children the chance to opt out on faith grounds from listening to storybooks being read out loud that feature gay and transgender characters, in a landmark decision that will be seen as striking a blow for religious rights in education.In a case that exposed the passions surrounding the US’s religious-secular divide, the court sided with parents in Maryland who protested that they were left with no means of shielding their children from the contents of six storybooks they found objectionable. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago US supreme court rules schools must let kids opt out of LGBTQ+ book readings

Court sides with parents in Maryland who protested exposure to storybooks they found objectionableThe US supreme court has ruled that schools must give children the chance to opt out on faith grounds from listening to storybooks being read out loud that feature gay and transgender characters, in a landmark decision that will be seen as striking a blow for religious rights in education.In a case that exposed the passions surrounding the US’s religious-secular divide, the court sided with parents in Maryland who protested that they were left with no means of shielding their children from the contents of six storybooks they found objectionable. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Trump is terrified of Black culture. But not for the reasons you think

A look back at 1960s Black arts movement explains why Trump is obsessed with eliminating Black artistry and the museums and institutions that support itBy the time Jesse Owens bowed his head from the highest podium tier to be crowned with his fourth Olympic wreath in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Europe’s premiers knew they had a problem. In front of a record-setting crowd at games that should have been a lavish display of Aryan propaganda, Owens’s unmatched athleticism on the track humiliated the host Nazi regime and smashed one of the vital ideological pillars upon which European empires annexed the world into their racial order. Since the inception of race-based slavery and settler-colonialism in the 15th century, the novel idea that human beings could be stratified into distinct “races,” with superiority defaulting to white Europeans, was bolstered by the claim that white racial supremacy was the rational outcome of the “natural” biophysical, intellectual and aesthetic ascendancy of...

Politics

3 w. ago Authorities were in denial over Asian grooming gangs for fear of appearing racist, damning report finds as Yvette Coper apologises to victims... and FINALLY orders national inquiry

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said that those who had suffered 'despicable crimes' had been 'let down' by the authorities.

Events

3 w. ago Is this Britain's unluckiest village? Durham town was left stinking of rotten eggs from landfill site...now local authorities are introducing an INCINERATOR which residents fear will be just as bad

A 10,000-tonne incinerator, which lies within a mile of a nursery, a primary school and a sixth form college, is being built and will be up and running next year. But locals are making a last ditch attempt to stop it.

Culture

3 w. ago Yuki Tsunoda handed massive Canadian GP penalty as Red Bull nightmare continues

Canadian Grand Prix stewards threw the book as Yuki Tsunoda for breaking the rules during practice in Montreal as the Japanese racer's Red Bull nightmare continues

Politics

3 w. ago F1 stewards issue statement as Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda handed massive Canadian GP penalty

Canadian Grand Prix stewards threw the book as Yuki Tsunoda for breaking the rules during practice in Montreal as the Japanese racer's Red Bull nightmare continues

Events