With all eyes on Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill (it came up in a White House press conference), Republican lawmakers doubled down with an amendment that—I kid you not—forces schools to out students to their parents. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Joe Harding, says schools should use “every available government resource” to inform parents of their kid’s sexual orientation (if it’s anything other than straight, that is) “through an open dialogue in a safe, supportive, and judgment-free environment that respects the parent-child relationship and protects the mental, emotional, and physical well-being of the student.”
Harding obviously doesn’t give a f**k about kids’ well-being and god knows he’s anything but judgement free. In 2022, we are, thankfully, awash with stories about amazingly supportive parents across the country who bake rainbow cakes, create new birth announcements for transgender children, or simply shrug and say, “I knew all along” when their kids come out, but this support is not a reality for everyone. School administrators have no way of knowing if a kid will be embraced for who they are or beaten and kicked out of the house. I trust kids; my guess is that if someone is out at school and not at home, there’s a damn good reason.
I suppose it was naïve, but I really thought we were past all this. Same-sex marriage is Supreme Court-approved, and mainstream media is rife with gay and lesbian couples as well as transgender and non-binary characters. Last week, GLAAD released a study that found 672 series regular characters on scripted primetime broadcast series are LGBTQ. Add to that cable and streaming services which include another 293 major characters, and it becomes clear that society has moved on from the days when Ellen kissing another woman was cause for a boycott. The Republican party, however, has not, and it wants its 2004 wedge issue back.
In an attempt to mitigate the damage—or at least scare lawmakers into dropping the amendment—Democratic Rep. Ana Eskamani introduced a second amendment allowing students to sue the Florida Department of Education for damages if they suffer irreparable harm after being outed by their school. As much as I’d love to bankrupt the State of Florida with lawsuit upon lawsuit, I’d much prefer to see all kids allowed to be what and who they want to be—at school and at home—without fear.
Ohio Group Objects to Sex Abuse Prevention Program for Little Kids Because it Doesn’t Stress Abstinence
The Ohio legislature was very close to passing a law requiring schools to teach about sexual abuse prevention in Kindergarten through sixth grade and sexual violence prevention in grades seven through 12. The legislation, based on “Erin’s Law” which is being championed child sexual assault survivor Erin Merryn, has already been passed by three states. In truth, the Ohio version is innocuous to the point of being symbolic at best. (The only content mandate, for example, said schools had to provide information about counseling and resources for children who had been abused.) Still, eight Republican lawmakers refuse to vote for it because the Center for Christian Virtue told them not to.
CCV claims that it fights for religious freedom, freedom of speech, and educational freedom, but I’m guessing its definitions of these freedoms do not exactly match those of the ACLU. It’s opposed to abortion and pornography and wants to ensure that “government policy promotes strong families and strong marriages between one man and one woman.” It opposes Erin’s Law because the bill does not have a strong enough opt-out provision for parents, does not sufficiently describe what it means by age-appropriate, and does not stress abstinence. (Whom exactly are we asking to be abstinent in this scenario?)
David Mahan, CCV’s policy director, pointed out that Ohio law requires schools to teach abstinence as the only guaranteed way to avoid sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy. "If we’re going to do that in the state of Ohio, it’s got to be abstinence-related. It’s not opinion. It’s law."
Sorry, Dave. That’s not how it f**king works. Sexual abuse prevention isn’t about consensual sex in which two people are making decisions. This is about teaching young people that their bodies belong to them and they have a right to say no to anyone and have their wishes respected. It’s about teaching them that if those wishes are not respected, it’s not their fault and they can/should tell someone (like a school counselor) and get help. Even Mahan should be able to see why this is not the moment to suggest to young children that sex outside of marriage is a sin.
If he really thought about it for a minute, he might also be able to see why an opt-out provision for parents might be problematic as well. According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, one in nine girls and one in 53 boys under 18 are sexually abused by an adult, and one-third of the perpetrators are family members. As Rosa Beltré, president of the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence, told MSN: "Any effort to attach parental consent to this law is another layer of perpetuation of violence, removing power, control, agency and autonomy from the victim."
Not surprisingly when offered the chance to draft its own version of the bill, CCV stood its ground. Its draft would limit abuse prevention to once in middle school (which is too late for a lot of kids) and teach about dating violence once each year in high school. Said courses could not encourage sexual activity among children, demonstrate contraceptive use, or include information from groups that advocate for abortion access. CCV’s version also says abuse prevention courses should note "that sexual activity is only appropriate in marriage" and discourage any implication that parents aren't trustworthy. (Blind respect for authority is not exactly what we want young kids to learn when we’re trying to protect them from adult abusers.)
Republican Representative Eric Lipps, who has been shepherding the bill through the legislature, said the CCV version:"absolutely guts Erin’s Law. There’s no reason that we would pass this bill." He and his Democratic colleague, Brigid Kelly, are concerned that this opposition will mean they have to start over, which might mean survivors would have to retell their traumatic stories to lawmakers. “We have a bipartisan bill. We have a lot of support from families, from survivors, from advocates. I would think that those voices should carry weight in the statehouse,” Kelly said.
But who wants to listen to survivors when you can listen to a group that has the words “Christian” and “values” in its name?
Olympic Cross Country Skier Freezes the Tip
In between stories of miserable Russian figure skaters, fake snow, and workers in hazmat suits, we learned that a Finnish Cross Country skier suffered from popsicle penis after finishing 28th in what was supposed to be the 50 kilometer race. Okay, that’s not the official diagnosis but Remi Lindholm did take to social media to tell his followers that a certain part of his body had been frozen in the 76 minutes it took him to cross the finish line.
The weather in Zhangjiakou, China, where the skiing events took place, was extra-wintry this year with temperatures hovering around -9 degrees Fahrenheit and wind gusts between 17 and 30 miles per hour making it feel like a balmy -25 degrees. The wind chill was so bad on the day of the 50 km cross country skiing event that officials shortened the race to 30 km (about 18.6 miles) so that the racers wouldn’t be exposed to the elements for quite as long. Despite the abbreviated course, it appears that time in the cold was too much for Lindholm’s member.
As with other appendages, it is possible to get frostbite on one’s penis if it is exposed to cold temperatures. The first stage of frostbite is referred to as frostnip. It is characterized by cold, tingling, or numbing of the skin but is unlikely to do permanent damage. If exposure continues, however, it can lead to superficial frostbite, which causes the skin ironically to feel too warm. The skin may become discolored or blistered. If frostbite progresses even further it can begin to affect the tissues below the skin as well. If not treated, skin and/or tissues can turn black and die.
Reports suggest Lindholm’s injuries were not that serious though he did describe the pain during the rewarming process—which should be done slowly with a wet heat source like warm compresses—as unbearable. It turns out this isn’t the first frost-nipped tip he has experienced; it happened during a race last year in Finland too. Perhaps it’s time for a change of profession, or at least some warmer pants?