What to call this thread?

BREAKING

Two Minnesota students are SUING their school after it banned the rainbow stickers teachers used to show they support LGBTQ students.

But the ban went much further. In a surprise 4–2 vote that wasn’t on the public agenda, they banned rainbow stickers, Pride flags, posters, buttons and more throughout the district.

Since the vote, one of the students suing says classmates told them even their rainbow clothing is banned.

The motion was introduced only after the meeting had already started. The two board members who voted against it and even the superintendent said they were blindsided.

The board chair confirmed the ban could reach Pride patches on students’ backpacks. But when asked whether cross necklaces would be treated the same way, he said: “I’m a Christian so that doesn’t bother me.”

And it turns out there were private messages before the vote. One week earlier, a board member sent another a link to a group whose mission includes: “Reject inclusion. Embrace exclusion.” The lawsuit alleges the four members who voted for the ban privately coordinated beforehand.

When the public finally got a chance to speak the next month, nearly 100 people packed the room. Nineteen people spoke. All but three opposed the ban.

One Detroit Lakes graduate explained what those tiny stickers had meant to him: “It meant that at least one person would stick up for me.”

Now two students are taking the district to court. One is president of the high school’s Queer Community, formerly its Gay-Straight Alliance. They say the district singled out LGBTQ expression and violated students’ free speech and equal protection rights.

Supporters of the ban argue the stickers are not “politically neutral” and that every teacher should be a safe person for every student. Wouldn’t that be nice…

The students are asking a judge to stop the ban immediately.

SOURCE with comments

Logic - it's like that

I'll take things that never happened for $500

Luanne James ran the library system in Rutherford County, Tennessee, until the board told her to move 132 children's books with LGBTQ content into the adult section. She said no, they fired her, and this week she sued them.

James filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in Nashville on September 23 against the library system and the board members who voted her out. She says they broke discrimination law and violated her First Amendment rights.

She also says the board's then-chair, Cody York, had directed her to compile a list of everyone who checked out books with LGBTQ themes, with their names, addresses and household information. She refused that too, and York has denied any wrongdoing.

The suit says the board majority decided that "being gay or transgender was harmful to children." It argues that a message like that, coming from a public institution, tells gay and trans residents they aren't welcome to use it.

Hundreds packed the county courthouse this spring while the board decided her fate, and dozens chanted her name. The vote to fire her went 8-3.

"No one board member has the right to make a decision for a parent what a child can and cannot read," James told The Daily News Journal. "It's not fair."

SOURCE with comments

Yes you can have cisgender friends! Their "lifestyle" is not a choice. They were BORN THAT WAY! Be tolerant and accepting.