Meanwhile, This Is What LGBTQ Organizations Are Doing to Society

BY DENNIS PRAGER

Virtually every week, there seems to be another issue that preoccupies the country. But while our attention is focused on President Donald Trump, Google, Charlottesville, Russia, impeachment, Jeffrey Epstein, the next elections, racism, a trade war with China, the #MeToo movement or something else, LGBTQ organizations are quietly going about their work dismantling ethical norms, making a mockery of education, ruining innocent people's lives and destroying children's innocence. If you think this is overstated, here are some examples:

The LGBTQ Dismantling of Women's Sports

Last month, a transgender weightlifter won multiple gold medals at the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa. Laurel Hubbard of New Zealand won two gold medals and a silver in the three heavyweight categories for women weighing more than 87 kilograms, or 192 pounds. Hubbard is physically male.

Last year, two biologically male sophomores at different Connecticut high schools competed in the female division of the state open track and field competition. They came in first and second place in the 100- and 200-meter dashes.

Because the Western world cowers before LGBTQ demands, no matter how unfair they are to women athletes, men who deem themselves female must be allowed to compete against women. They almost always win.

The Dismantling of Male and Female -- Even at Birth

As reported by the Associated Press: "Parents also can choose (gender) 'X' for newborns. New York City is joining California, Oregon, Washington state in allowing an undesignated gender option on birth certificates. A similar provision takes effect in New Jersey in February."

What percentage of Americans believe children are lucky if born to parents who will not identify them at birth as male or female? On the other hand, how many of us think such parents are engaged in a form of child abuse?

The Dismantling of Children's Innocence and Parental Authority

The Associated Press also recently reported that "California has overhauled its sex education guidance for public school teachers, encouraging them to talk about gender identity with kindergartners."

Tatyana Dzyubak, an elementary school teacher in the Sacramento area, objected: "I shouldn't be teaching that stuff. That's for parents to do."

But parents and parental authority have always been a thorn in the side of totalitarian movements. Therefore, dismantling parental authority is one of the primary goals of the left, of which LGBTQ organizations are a major component.

Libraries in major urban centers now feature Drag Queen Story Hour -- drag queens reading stories to preschool-age children. (Read, for example, the laudatory New York Times article "Drag Queen Story Hour Puts the Rainbow in Reading" from May 19, 2017.)

A few weeks ago, the popular actor and TV host Mario Lopez told Candace Owens:

"If you're 3 years old and you're saying you're feeling a certain way or you think you're a boy or a girl, whatever the case may be, I just think it's dangerous as a parent to make that determination then: 'OK, well, then you're going to be a boy or a girl,' whatever the case may be. ... I think parents need to allow their kids to be kids, but at the same time, you gotta be the adult in the situation."

For sensibly and respectfully saying what any loving parent of a 3-year-old should say, he was so forcefully condemned by GLAAD and PFLAG, two of the biggest LGBTQ organizations, that, knowing his livelihood was on the line, he immediately recanted. In the style of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, he "recanted" everything he said and acknowledged how much he still has to learn about parents allowing 3-year-olds to determine their gender.

The Dismantling of Educational Norms

CNN reported last week: "Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law a bill that ensures the contributions of LGBTQ people are taught in public schools..."

"(The bill states) 'In public schools only, the teaching of history shall include a study of the roles and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the history of this country and this State.'"

"Equality Illinois, the state's largest LGBTQ civil rights advocacy organization, supported the bill and said the curriculum can have a 'positive effect on students' self-image and make their peers more accepting.'"

Once the purpose of teaching history is changed from teaching what happened to "having a positive effect on students' self-image," history is no longer about what happened; it is propaganda. But rewriting history is not a problem for the left. As a famous Soviet dissident joke put it: "In the Soviet Union, the future is known; it's the past that is always changing." I note almost every day that truth is a liberal value and a conservative value, but it has never been a left-wing value. This is just one more example.

The Dismantling of Reality

David Zirin, sports editor of The Nation: "There is another argument against allowing trans athletes to compete with cis-gender athletes that suggests that their presence hurts cis-women and cis-girls. But this line of thought doesn't acknowledge that trans women are in fact women" (italics added).

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., in a letter to USA Powerlifting: "The myth that trans women have a 'direct competitive advantage' is not supported by medical science."

Sunu Chandy of the National Women's Law Center: "There's no research to support the claim that allowing trans athletes to play on teams that fit their gender identity will create a competitive imbalance."

How can these people say such lies? Because lying is not an issue when truth is not a value. LGBTQ organizations care about lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders as much as communists cared about workers. They use them as a cover for their real agenda: dismantling civilization as we know it.

SOURCE 






Progressive Portland Catholics Protest Being Made to Act Catholic

BY STEPHEN KRUISER

A group of very progressive Roman Catholics in Portland, left to their own devices for too long and allowed to make up their own rules, is now bristling under a new pastor who is reminding them to which Church they belong.

The Oregonian:

St. Francis is one of the oldest churches in Portland. It has long been known as a bastion of progressive Catholic faith.

Parishioners have marched in the Portland Pride parade, fed and given shelter to people experiencing homelessness and worked to make the traditionally patriarchal institution more inclusive of women. For several years, a banner hung above the church steps that read “Immigrants & refugees welcome.

Now, the banner is missing. Vestments and one of several treasured photographs of the homeless community that had lined the walls of their parish had been piled in a trailer headed for the dump.

Many felt the new priest aimed to better align St. Francis with the archdiocese, who some feel is out of step with Catholics in Portland.

There is a lot of wrong to unpack in those paragraphs, beginning with the implication that helping the homeless is something that only "progressive" Catholics (which really isn't a thing) would do.

I should also point out that this lengthy, unquestioning article was not written by a religion reporter, which many newspapers still employ. Its author is a news intern according to his Twitter bio.

It matters not that "some" feel the archdiocese is "out of step with the Catholics in Portland." An archdiocese doesn't exist to adapt to the whims and social mores of a particular region. The Church would cease to exist in a matter of years were that the case.

There is a lot of confusion among the parishioners of St. Francis:

The Roman Catholic Church is rooted in tradition and hierarchy. Jerry Harp, chair of St. Francis’ pastoral council, is struggling to understand how he relates to this structure of authority. It was this hierarchy that was roiling his parish.

Harp considers himself a devout Catholic. He starts every morning with mediation and prayer and prays the Hail Mary at least once a day. He tries to attend Mass every Sunday. When he was in his 20s, he said he wanted to follow every rule he could. Now he questions how those rules bring him closer to God.

The hierarchy that Harp struggles with traces itself all the way to St. Peter in the Roman Catholic Church. That's actually one of the big selling points for those of us who don't find ourselves roiled by it.

And talking to a Roman Catholic who is complaining about rules is like meeting a boxer who says he wants to keep fighting but doesn't want to get hit anymore.

There is a lot to pick apart in this article but I'll pluck out the one passage that made me want to slam my head against a wall then wrap up:

"Some would say 'Well you have to relate to the authority structure by following them to the letter,'" Harp said. "Well how do you know that? It's perfectly legitimate for other people to have other answers."

Long-time parishioners knew the answer. They didn’t like being told how to worship.

This was their church.

I hate to keep picking on Jerry, but he is the one who wanted to say dumb things to a news intern.

To Jerry's "...how do you know that?"  question I respond: almost 2000 years of history.

Everything that follows his question in the above passage is absolutely insane when one considers this is about Roman Catholics.

No, Jerry, we don't get to make up our own answers about the rules of the Church.

And it's not "their church," it's the Church.

I will say with all of the politeness that I can muster here that if the parishioners don't want to be told how to worship they have no business being Catholic.

That's really what's going on here.

But for a very (thankfully) brief faith crisis a couple of years ago which I chronicled here, I have been a practicing Roman Catholic my whole life. For twenty years I was a member of what many would say is the most "progressive" parish in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. I now attend traditional Latin Mass every week.

Across that broad spectrum, many things remain the same.

The truly devout Catholics I know find things like the hierarchy and being told how to worship as big selling points for the Church.

In fact, almost everything that the parishioners in the article are complaining about are reasons most of us are Catholic.

We are HUGE fans of the fact that the Church isn't subject to our whims, which is what everyone in this article seems to want.

There are any number of feel-good Christian denominations where these people can find the progressivism and entertainment that they want, and they're free to join them.

What they are not free to do, however, is attempt to give a local rewrite to the Catechism of the Catholic Church so that it has more of a Portland hippie vibe.

People who do a Code Pink-like protest during Mass (video below) have really lost touch with their faith.

Yes, I'll say some prayers for them. Some Catholic prayers.

Which they'll probably want to rewrite.

SOURCE 






Players at UK's first vegan cricket club ditch sandwiches to be more inclusive

A cricket club has become the first in the UK to go vegan after Muslim and Hindu players were excluded from tea between innings.

Players at the Earley Cricket Club in Reading, Berks, are now served a menu featuring vegan-friendly Moroccan tagine, curries and rice, lasagne and garlic bread and spaghetti bolognese.

The committee voted in favour of replacing the traditional platter of sandwiches and cake following a campaign by chairman and opening batsman Gary Shacklady.

The 33 year old, a primary school teacher who set up the club 12 years ago and is vegan himself, felt that the club's meat-based catering meant Muslim and Hindu players were being excluded from joining in fully with club life.

He said: "We had one member who was very against it. "He felt that it was quite exclusive and against people's right to meat."

Four of his teammates have been inspired to switch to plant based diets entirely as a result of the move.

They join a handful of the world's best players in making the switch, including India captain Virat Kohli and Australian fast bowler Peter Siddle.

Mr Shacklady added: "The teas have been well received as our players understand and support the reasoning behind the decision.

"It also means we can produce a far larger quantity of food for a lower cost. When other teams come to us, they pile their plates high. And when they eat the food, nobody complains.

"Although you usually get one middle-aged white man who is horrified. It's fine, he doesn't have to eat it. But the point is that everyone can."

The club play in Division 2 and Division 3 of the Berkshire Cricket League.

They are now is even trialling new vegan cricket balls in a bid to go completely animal-free, with a view to using balls made from synthetic leather instead.

A Vegan Society spokesman said: "Offering plant-based food as default is inclusive, cheap and convenient, as well as contributing to a healthier society and more sustainable food choices that don't harm others.

"We hope other clubs and organisations will follow Earley Cricket Club's decision to switch to an all-vegan menu for everyone's benefit."

SOURCE 






Australian children as young as THREE who identify as transgender are being 'fast-tracked' into hormone treatment when they should be sent to counselling, expert says

This is just child abuse -- Left-enabled child abuse

The number of children being referred for transgender treatment has almost quadrupled in the past four years.

New figures have shown a rapid increase across four Australian states - with 727 child patients admitted to a gender clinic in 2018 compared to just 211 in 2014.

Victoria has experienced the greatest rise in young people seeking gender services, and a leading youth psychologist has now hit out at the 'fast tracking' of gender treatment.

'It's a psychic epidemic because the whole thing is being fuelled by a virulent trans lobby who are silencing dissenting voices,' Sydney Dr Dianna Kenny told 7News.

The adolescent specialist has written to the federal government to express her concern about the children seeking service becoming increasingly young.

The new data, obtained by the New South Wales psychologist using a freedom of information request, showed children as young as three years old in Victoria were being referred for gender treatment.

The state has experienced the largest growth in the number of child gender dysphoria cases since 2014, up from 104 to 981.

A paediatrics professor from Western Sydney University has also highlighted issues with the rise in transgender-identifying children.

He said the use of treatments such as those using hormones could cause issues for male fertility down the line and other medical complications.

In total, 2415 children have been referred to a gender treatment clinic in New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and Queensland since 2014 and 2018.

Concerns have been raised about drugs known as puberty blockers, which proponents say delay the onset of development and give children the chance to self-identify.

But Western ­Sydney University paediatrics professor John Whitehall has hit out at new treatments, saying they lack a scientific basis and are essentially an experiment.

'We should give the psychiatry and psychology a full run before we start castrating children,' he told The Australian.

SOURCE  

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Political correctness is most pervasive in universities and colleges but I rarely report the  incidents concerned here as I have a separate blog for educational matters.

American "liberals" often deny being Leftists and say that they are very different from the Communist rulers of  other countries.  The only real difference, however, is how much power they have.  In America, their power is limited by democracy.  To see what they WOULD be like with more power, look at where they ARE already  very powerful: in America's educational system -- particularly in the universities and colleges.  They show there the same respect for free-speech and political diversity that Stalin did:  None.  So look to the colleges to see  what the whole country would be like if "liberals" had their way.  It would be a dictatorship.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, GREENIE WATCH,   EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and  DISSECTING LEFTISM.   My Home Pages are here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here.  Email me (John Ray) here. 

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