October 29, 2021

Urging change of gender to be criminalised (UK)

Urging change of gender to be criminalised
The Times (UK)

Adults who try to persuade children to change their gender will face criminal sanctions under government plans.
From next spring it will be illegal to convince someone to change their sexuality or gender identity, with extra safeguards to protect adolescents.

Government sources suggested that individuals working for organisations such as Mermaids, a charity that offers advice and counselling to children with gender dysphoria, could face criminal sanctions if they were found guilty of encouraging under 18s to change gender.

Under the proposals, medical professionals such as psychiatrists and doctors will escape sanctions. Informal advice sought from family and friends will also not be criminalised. However, all other counselling offered to children under 18 will be outlawed and adults will have to consent to take part in therapy. The laws will be introduced after a consultation.

...

October 27, 2021

Transfers to private schools, suburban districts, homeschooling spur latest CPS enrollment drop

Transfers to private schools, suburban districts, homeschooling spur latest CPS enrollment drop
Chicago Sun Times

The school system suffered its 10th consecutive year of falling enrollment, now down to 330,000 from last year’s 341,000, according to a tally on the 20th day of this school year.

Chicago Public Schools’ latest enrollment drop was spurred largely by students leaving the city for schools in the suburbs, downstate or entirely out of the state, plus children moving to city private schools, parents opting for homeschooling or kids falling off the district’s radar, new data released Wednesday shows.

The number of students falling into one of those categories totaled almost 26,000 and left CPS hanging on by a thread to its status as the third-largest district in the nation. The school system suffered its 10th consecutive year of falling enrollment, now down to 330,000 from last year’s 341,000, according to a tally on the 20th day of this school year.

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Not explicitly mentioned in the article, but there's also an over all drop in the population for the city.

October 27, 2021

United States issues its 1st passport with 'X' gender marker (AP)

United States issues its 1st passport with ‘X’ gender marker (AP)

DENVER (AP) — The United States has issued its first passport with an “X” gender designation — a milestone in the recognition of the rights of people who don’t identify as male or female — and expects to be able to offer the option more broadly next year, the State Department said Wednesday.

The U.S. special diplomatic envoy for LGBTQ rights, Jessica Stern, called the moves historic and celebratory, saying they bring the government documents in line with the “lived reality” that there is a wider spectrum of human sex characteristics than is reflected in the previous two designations.

...

Good, but ...

Why have gender on the passport at all? The picture should be enough.

October 9, 2021

North Carolina lieutenant governor facing backlash after calling transgender people 'filth'

North Carolina lieutenant governor facing backlash after calling transgender people ‘filth’ (NY Post)

North Carolina’s lieutenant governor is facing mounting calls for his resignation after he was caught on video calling transgender people “filth.”

The video, which was first posted Wednesday by Right Wing Watch, showed the first-term Republican making the comments during a speech at Asbury Baptist Church in June.

“There’s no reason anybody, anywhere in America should be telling children about transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth,” Mark Robinson said in the video, which has gone viral. “Yes, I called it filth.”

The comments were condemned by the White House this week. ...

A Republican of course.

October 6, 2021

Yang's new party (and PAC)

"Forward Party" (you can google it I won't link to them).

Think there's some serious spoiler action there? Or just (as I think) a way to get money?

October 4, 2021

93% of Ghanaians can't stand same-sex relationships - Afrobarometer survey

93% of Ghanaians can't stand same-sex relationships – Afrobarometer survey

An Afrobarometer survey by the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) has found that even though the majority of Ghanaians are tolerant of ethnicities other than theirs, “fewer than one in 10 (7%) are tolerant toward people in same-sex relationships”.

“Ghanaians, generally, tend to express more nationalistic than ethnic sentiments, and most think they are more united as a people than divided”, the report concluded, adding: “Although discrimination is not an uncommon occurrence, Ghanaians express high levels of tolerance toward foreigners and citizens from different ethnic groups or religious faiths, though they are highly intolerant toward people in same-sex relationships."

...

Intolerance toward people in same-sex relationships is pervasive across age groups, religious affiliations, and urban as well as rural locations. Citizens with no formal education are slightly less likely to express intolerance (88%) than their more educated counterparts (91%- 95%).

October 2, 2021

U.S. House passes abortion rights bill, outlook poor in Senate (Reuters - on their own site)

U.S. House passes abortion rights bill, outlook poor in Senate

WASHINGTON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation on Friday to protect abortion services against growing Republican-backed state restrictions, including a Texas law that imposes a near-total ban on abortion, but the bill is unlikely to pass the Senate.

The Democratic-controlled House voted 218-211 largely along party lines to pass the legislation called the Women's Health Protection Act. Just one Democrat, Representative Henry Cuellar of Texas, voted against the proposal.

The bill would protect abortion services and pre-empt many restrictions Republicans have passed at the state level, such as those requiring ultrasounds or other tests.

The Senate will vote on the legislation "in the very near future," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement.

It is not expected to pass the evenly divided Senate, where Democrats would need at least 10 Republicans to support it. Republican Senator Susan Collins, a moderate who supports abortion rights, has said she opposes it. She said the House bill would weaken exceptions provided to healthcare providers who refused to perform abortions on moral or religious grounds.

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Emphasis added. Always with the religion with these people.

October 1, 2021

China to reduce abortions for 'non-medical purposes'

China to reduce abortions for 'non-medical purposes' (Reuters via CNN)

China will reduce the number of abortions performed for "non-medical purposes," the country's cabinet announced in new guidelines issued Monday that it said were aimed at improving women's reproductive health.

China has already enacted strict measures aimed at preventing sex-selective abortions, and health authorities also warned in 2018 that the use of abortion to end unwanted pregnancies was harmful to women's bodies and risks causing infertility.
The State Council said the new guidelines would also aim to improve women's overall access to pre-pregnancy health care services.

National Health Commission data showed that between 2014 and 2018, there had been an average of 9.7 million abortions per year, rising about 51% from the 2009-2013 average despite a relaxation of family planning policies in 2015. The data didn't specify how many abortions were for medical reasons.

...

Looks like the Chinese authorities want more babies, or else.