New York teacher compelled 7th graders to view deranged pornographic images, damning lawsuit claims



The conservative legal outfit American Center for Law and Justice filed a federal lawsuit on Monday against a public school district in New York after a teacher allegedly subjected seventh graders to pornographic materials on multiple occasions.

The complaint, filed on behalf of two parents and their minor children, alleges that "under the guise of an art lesson," Bridgette Gates — a teacher with the Watertown City School District who "resigned as an art teacher, ... was rehired as an English teacher, and remains on administrative leave," according to Syracuse.com — intentionally exposed around 100 students to "pornographic and sexually explicit imagery over a two-week period in September 2025, without providing any advance notice to parents or offering an opportunity to opt out."

'It's almost criminal.'

According to the complaint, Gates directed her students at Case Middle School to visit the gallery on the Keith Haring Foundation website using their school-issued Chromebooks during class time.

At the time of publication, the gallery contained various sexually explicit images and images of bodily mutilation, including multiple cartoons and paintings depicting men masturbating; a cartoon depicting a man with a fist-tipped penis; a cartoon depicting a man being choked by his penis; a painting mocking the martyrdom of St. Sebastian, depicting him with an erection and impaled by multiple airplanes; a painting of a character with a mouth in the place of an anus; and a painting of a penis wearing a wig.

The deviant agitprop was created by Keith Haring, a hallucinogenic drug-abusing homosexual activist who died of AIDS-related complications in 1990.

A spokesperson for the Haring Foundation told Artnet that it is aware of the conservative group's response to the alleged incident at the school and acknowledged that some of Haring's images may be inappropriate for some audiences.

The lawsuit alleges that Gates acknowledged that "some of the images were inappropriate" yet told her 12- and 13-year-old students to "ignore them and be mature." Gates allegedly continued showing the images to kids despite signs of unease and resistance.

RELATED: Elementary school teacher allegedly possessed thousands of files of child sex abuse material

Photo by Adam Glanzman/Bloomberg via Getty Images

After learning of the content in late September, concerned parents contacted the teacher, school administrators, and local law enforcement.

Stephanie Boyanski, a plaintiff as well as the parent of one of the plaintiff students, told WWNY-TV in September, "It's almost unbelievable."

"It's almost criminal," said Heather Trainham, another parent.

Plaintiff parent Jessy Roberts noted that her son "knew it was inappropriate, but he wasn't sure if he should speak out or not, because they're of authority."

'Schools are not free to override that authority or to "correct" the family’s moral instruction.'

In the face of parental backlash and concerns raised at school-board meetings, Gates was reportedly placed on paid administrative leave, the assignment link was removed from Google Classroom, and the district admitted to parents that students had "come across inappropriate content." There was, however, no apology from the district.

The ACLJ sent a letter on Nov. 21 to Larry Schmiegel, superintendent of the school district, stating that "because of the District's lax monitoring of its curriculum and teachers, and its deliberate choice to shield the teacher from accountability, the harm done to Mses. Boyanski and Roberts' children is irreparable and ongoing."

The legal group demanded that Gates be issued a formal reprimand; that the school adopt a policy not to show children sexually explicit content without parental notification and to provide an opt-out if future curriculum includes such content; and to provide counseling for kids impacted by the images — and provided the district with a Dec. 1 deadline to act.

The lawsuit filed this week requests that the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York declare that the school violated parents' First and 14th Amendment rights; bar the district from repeating its error; require the district to implement age-appropriate safeguards; and award damages for the alleged constitutional violations.

The district did not respond to Blaze News' request for comment.

"Parents should not be forced to choose between public education and their family’s values. The Constitution draws a bright line: Parents, not the state, decide how and when their children are introduced to sexual content," the ACLJ said in a release. "Schools are not free to override that authority or to 'correct' the family’s moral instruction through compulsory exposure to explicit material. When officials discard that line, the courts must restore it."

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Bishop raises hell after woke priest allows homosexual ABC broadcaster to receive Eucharist beside his 'husband'



Bishop Joseph Strickland, the cleric removed from his office in Tyler, Texas, in 2023 by the late Pope Francis, urged his colleagues gathered on Wednesday for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' plenary assembly to address the matter of a woke priest's apparent willingness to run afoul of the church's custom and to turn a hallowed Catholic ceremony into a non-straight spectacle.

Gio Benitez, a homosexual ABC News correspondent who is "married" to a man, apparently decided after Pope Francis' passing last year to make his way back to the Catholic Church. Benitez, who was allegedly baptized in secret at the age of 15, was confirmed at St. Paul the Apostle's Church in New York City on Nov. 8.

'Here we are talking about doctrine.'

"My Confirmation Mass was a very small gathering of family and friends who have quietly been with me on this journey," Benitez wrote on Instagram. "I found the Ark of the Covenant in my heart, stored there by the one who created me… exactly as I am."

The ABC News correspondent also received holy communion from the church's woke pastor, Rev. Eric Andrews, at the highly publicized mass where LGBT activist Fr. James Martin was a concelebrant and where Benitez's "husband" served as his sponsor.

Blaze News reached out to Rev. Andrews for comment, but did not receive a response.

While the Catholic Church holds that homosexual acts are "acts of grave depravity," "intrinsically disordered," "contrary to the natural law," and "can under no circumstances" be approved, the Catechism states that homosexual persons must nevertheless "be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity."

RELATED: New head of US Catholic Bishops said he would deny communion to pro-abortion politicians

Bishop Joseph Strickland. Photo by Craig F. Walker/Boston Globe via Getty Images

The church has also made clear that Catholics with same-sex attraction who are chaste can "participate fully in the spiritual and sacramental life of the Catholic faith community."

However, those who regularly engage in sexual activity or are partners in a committed homosexual relationship that includes regular sexual relations are not to receive holy communion or serve in public ministries.

"Receiving the sacrament is the ultimate expression of our Catholic faith, an intensely personal matter between communicant and priest," wrote the late and posthumously exonerated Cardinal George Pell. "It's not a question of refusing homosexuals or someone who is homosexually oriented. The rule is basically the same for everyone."

"If a person is actually engaged in — by public admission, at any given time — a practice contrary to Church teaching in a serious matter, then that person is not entitled to receive Holy Communion," continued Pell. "This would apply, for example, to a married person openly living in adultery. Similarly, persons who openly declare themselves active homosexuals take a position which makes it impossible for them to receive Holy Communion."

During a USCCB discussion of doctrine on Wednesday, Bishop Strickland raised the matter of Benitez's highly publicized reception of holy communion while flanked by his "husband."

"I don't know how many of us have seen on the social media priests and others gathered, celebrating the confirmation of a man living with a man openly," said Strickland. "It just needs to be addressed. Father James Martin once again involved. Great pictures of all of them smiling."

Bishop Strickland and Martin have traded barbs over the years, largely around Martin's subversive LGBT activism and apparent efforts to liberalize the Catholic Church's stance on such matters.

Martin — who shared an article titled "Gio Benitez, Openly Gay ABC Anchor, Joins the Catholic Church" on social media this week with the caption "Happy to be a part of your journey!" — has made no secret of his activism. For instance, he took issue with the Supreme Court's June 2025 decision to let parents opt their children out of lessons featuring LGBT propaganda and insinuated that homosexual persons aren't really bound by church teaching.

"Here we are talking about doctrine," continued Strickland. "I just thought I need to raise that issue. I know it's not part of any agenda, but this body gathered, we need to address it."

The panel, focused on updated ethical and religious directives for Catholic health care services, did not take up Strickland's concern.

The Catholic Herald noted that Strickland's tenure as bishop of Tyler was "marked by a reputation for directness, a strong emphasis on Eucharistic devotion, and a willingness to challenge trends in the wider Church that he believed risked undermining the clarity of Catholic teaching."

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Gay-spread monkeypox is back. Watchdog asks policymakers to drop the political correctness.



Health officials in California recently confirmed that monkeypox, a virus spread almost entirely in the West by and among homosexual men, has once again reared its ugly head in the United States.

The Oversight Project, a government watchdog group, is calling on policymakers poised to tackle the latest outbreaks to drop the political correctness that tripped up previous approaches to the disease.

Mike Howell, president of the Oversight Project, told Blaze News, "Public officials should be honest about how and where monkeypox is spreading, should not be worried about offending anyone, and should pull the fire alarm if animals and children start catching it."

Monkeypox is a nasty disease caused by a virus in the same genus as the virus that causes smallpox. While endemic in various African regions, monkeypox made a global play in early 2022.

Individuals infected with monkeypox may experience a painful rash that can look like pimples or blisters, respiratory problems, exhaustion, fever, swollen lymph nodes, and chills. The disease can be spread via respiratory droplets, through "direct contact with a rash or sores of someone who has the virus," and through "contact with clothing, bedding, and other items used by a person" with the virus.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine noted that of the 528 infections diagnosed between April 27 and June 24, 2022, 98% of those infected were homosexuals and that "transmission was suspected to have occurred through sexual activity in 95% of the persons with infection."

RELATED: 'Trans' fad is dying out among American youth, and straightness is ascendant: Study

Photo by Ronaldo Silva/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Months after then-President Joe Biden stated in May 2022 that "everybody should be concerned" about the virus, former Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra declared that a "public health emergency exists nationwide." Numerous states including Illinois and New York subsequently rushed to declare statewide disaster emergencies.

'They should shut down gay bathhouses.'

While the Biden administration and various state health authorities appeared willing to admit that the spread was predominantly among homosexuals, they nevertheless generalized the threat, glossed over the nature and locations of the spread, and refrained from cracking down on super-spreader venues in the same fashion they had when tackling COVID-19 — while in some cases fretting both privately and publicly about feeding into homosexuals' "sexual shame and stigma."

Such efforts to gloss over critical facts and to pretend the virus presented a danger to the general population evidently caused consternation behind the scenes.

The Oversight Project flagged, for instance, a May 27, 2022, email in which Dr. Stephanie Cohen, then-medical director of the San Francisco City Clinic, noted to other officials at the San Francisco Department of Public of Health that while she supported the "desire to not stigmatize gay men/MSM and agree that other populations can be affected, I worry a bit that we are not being fully transparent about current [epidemic]."

The Oversight Project noted that "officials were primarily concerned with not stigmatizing, the exact opposite of the COVID response."

The watchdog group further revealed that while health officials around the country were well aware that the disease was being spread at LGBT events and homosexual venues such as bathhouses, they refrained from seeking health crackdowns on such locations.

The disease, which the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases under Anthony Fauci was reportedly cleared to conduct gain-of-function experiments on, has apparently made a comeback.

Last week, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and the City of Long Beach's health department both confirmed new cases of monkeypox in their respective jurisdictions.

The announcements by both health authorities appear to have once again been worded to avoid stigmatizing homosexuals. The Long Beach health authority noted, for instance, that "Mpox can spread through specific behaviors, regardless of a person’s race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation."

The Los Angeles County DPH, echoing the state health authority, did, however, note that the disease primarily impacts "communities of gay and bisexual men" and that risk can be mitigated by reducing the number of sexual partners, limiting attendance at "sex or circuit parties," and refraining from sharing "fetish gear" and sex toys.

"Monkeypox is back. We encourage policymakers to follow the science instead of political correctness this time," stated the Oversight Project.

When asked what prioritizing science over political correctness would look like in practice, Howell told Blaze News, "It means they should shut down gay bathhouses if they're again epicenters for monkeypox."

Editor's note: Mike Howell is a contributor to Blaze News.

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'Trans' fad is dying out among American youth, and straightness is ascendant: Study



A new study from the University of Buckingham's Centre for Heterodox Social Science suggests that gender ideology is falling out of favor and the sex-change regime's supply of potential young victims might be drying up.

Citing data from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression's annual campus surveys of undergraduate students — FIRE polled over 60,000 this year — and several institution-level surveys of young Americans, study author Dr. Eric Kaufmann indicated that "the share of young people not identifying as male or female (typically ticking the non-binary or questioning options) has declined substantially since its 2022-23 peak."

'The fall of trans and queer seems most similar to the fading of a fashion or trend.'

One of the institutional-level student surveys Kaufmann looked at, the survey conducted annually at the Boston-area Andover Phillips Academy, showed a drop from over 9% of all respondents identifying as "non-binary" in 2023 to 3% total this year.

FIRE survey data and Brown University student survey data similarly showed declines in the share of self-identified "non-binary" respondents — from 6.8% to 3.6% of the total in the first case, and a drop from roughly 5% to 2.6% in the second case.

While the homosexual cohort has remained relatively stable, in the 3-5% range, Andover Phillips data indicated that there has been a rebound in the share of students who identify as straight.

This rebound was similarly reflected in the FIRE data — which indicates that straightness dropped from 80% in 2020 to 68% in 2023, but now sits around 77% — as well as in the General Social Survey's findings, which reportedly indicated that straightness fell from 95% in 2010 to 71% in 2022, then rose to 81% last year.

RELATED: Groomed for violence? The dark world of furries and transgenderism in America's classrooms

Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

Meanwhile, the category of self-identified bisexuals, which increased from 10% to 17% between 2020 and 2023, has dropped to 12%, according to the Andover Phillips data.

The category for "queer and other" sexual identities, which had jumped from 7% in 2020 to 17% in 2023, has since fallen to 12% of the total.

FIRE data indicates that the "queer and other" sexuality category has fallen from 15% in 2023 to 8%.

Kaufmann suggested that "it appears that trans and queer are going out of fashion among young people, especially in elite settings," and that the freshman 2028 cohort "was less likely than older students in 2025 to identify as BTQ+."

"To the extent that the youngest represent the leading edge of new trends, this suggests that trans, bisexual and queer identities are declining in popularity with each new cohort," Kaufmann added.

The professor indicated that the decline in non-straight identification "does not appear to be the result of a shift to the right, the return of religion, or a rejection of woke culture war attitudes."

Kaufmann suggested on X that "the fall of trans and queer seems most similar to the fading of a fashion or trend. It happened largely independently of shifts in political beliefs and social media use, though improved mental health played a role."

Gender ideologues appear to be everywhere losing their battle against common sense and the well-being of young Americans.

For instance, a recent Gallup poll indicated that 66% of American adults think people should be required to list their real sex on government documents and that 69% believe medical transvestites should play on sports teams with members of their own sex.

Pew Research Center polling shows that a majority of Americans now support bans on child sex-change procedures — bans of the kind now in effect in a majority of U.S. states.

This rebuke of the sex-change regime, which is also taking a beating from the Trump administration, appears to be pan-generational. Data published by the Public Religion Research Institute in May indicates that support for so-called "gender-affirming care" has also plummeted among younger Americans. For instance, 66% of young men ages 18-29 think that sex-change interventions, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy, should be illegal in most or all cases.

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Homosexual who fundraised to get baby through surrogacy exposed as pedophile



Logan Riley and Brandon Keith Mitchell of Seven Valleys, Pennsylvania, made a big show of their efforts to secure custody of a baby boy through surrogacy.

Although they apparently started the process in 2019, the homosexual couple began hitting up strangers for cash in 2020 on GoFundMe to help expand their "family by using a gestational surrogate."

A Nov. 3, 2023, update on their now-deleted fundraising page stated: "Since our last post, we successfully created four embryos through an egg donor program in 2020. After three long years of searching, a family friend ... reached out in early 2023 to see if we were still looking. After multiple conversations and a great connection with her family, we decided to proceed."

The couple recently shared a compilation video on social media featuring them repeatedly kissing a baby boy reportedly in their custody.

The video was subsequently reshared on X by critics concerned about the boy's well-being as well as about homosexual adoption in general. Despite accusations of bigotry, it turns out that the critics were right to worry, as the boy is now allegedly in the custody of a registered sex offender.

State documents indicate that Mitchell, age 30 at the time, was arrested and charged in early February 2016 with three felony counts of possession of child pornography; endangering the welfare of children; corruption of a minor; felony sexual abuse of a minor; and felony photographing/videotaping sexual acts in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

RELATED: Gay marriage has a hidden cost — and children are paying the price

Brandon Mitchell. Pennsylvania Sex Offender Registry.

At the time of his arrest, he had been a chemistry teacher at Downingtown West High School for roughly five years.

According to a Pennsylvania Professional Standards and Practice Commission memo concerning Mitchell's voluntary surrender of his teacher's certificate, the pedophile engaged in sexually explicit communications with a minor student, "including asking the student for nude pictures, sending the student nude pictures and asking the student to masturbate on video so [Mitchell] could watch." The student was in his class.

The Delaware County Daily Times reported that when investigators executed a search warrant and checked Mitchell's electronic devices and phone records, they found over 12,000 text messages between the pedophile and the victim — conversations Mitchell asked the minor to delete.

"This defendant used his position of trust and authority to engage in serious misconduct with a student," Charles Gaza, then chief of staff of the Chester County District Attorney's Office, stated at the time. "As always in cases like this, where a teacher had access to hundreds of students over multiple years, the authorities are concerned that there may be other victims out there."

According to the Pennsylvania Sex Offender Registry, Mitchell was convicted in October 2016 for sexual abuse of children and for possession of child pornography. Reduxx reported that Mitchell was sentenced to 23 months in prison but was ultimately granted parole after just two months.

'Local authorities must investigate immediately.'

Years after his arrest, Mitchell reportedly "married" Riley, a second-grade teacher from Maryland.

Derek Blighe reposted the homosexual couple's celebratory baby video with the caption, "Unless a miracle happens, this child has almost no chance at a normal life."

Reduxx highlighted how Blighe was initially met with criticism from non-straight activists over his post, which had over 11.4 million views at the time of publication.

RELATED: The pipeline from 'gay marriage' to radical trans ideology

Valerii Evlakhov/iStock/Getty Images

Nathan Hale, the host of "The Spin Cycle" podcast, wrote, "Imagine what would happen if he said this about a divorced mother, or a single father. But yet we tolerate hate because it’s a gay couple."

Another X user noted, "Makes me happy. That baby is going to be raised not to hate people and will be loved."

One leftist commentator suggested, "Being a homophobe in 2025 is such small d**k energy."

After it was revealed that Mitchell is a convicted pedophile, Blighe wrote, "Just wondering if online apologies are a thing on X?"

Bev Jackson, co-founder of the LGB Alliance, deleted her original response, which read, "That is homophobic. If the child has two loving male parents, there is no evidence whatsoever that he or she will not prosper."

Jackson wrote to Blighe, "If it is true that one of the men is a convicted sex offender, then I apologize - regarding this specific case."

Blaze News reached out to Mitchell for comment.

The division of the Pennsylvania State Police responsible for maintaining Mitchell's sex offender registration told Reduxx that the state does not automatically prohibit sex offenders from gaining custody or exercising parental rights over children.

The Keystone State prohibits sex offenders from adopting or fostering kids, but gestational surrogacy reportedly gives pedophiles such as Mitchell a workaround.

"Local authorities must investigate immediately, including exploring removal of the child as an urgent consideration," Helen Gibson of Surrogacy Concern told Reduxx. "Unfortunately this is not the first case of a sex offender procuring a child from a surrogate mother that we have come across; we fear this is the tip of the iceberg. Vetting of commissioning parents in surrogacy is virtually nonexistent and is not comparable with checks we see in adoption."

Even with the supposed checks in adoption, pedophiles still exploit the system.

For instance, an LGBT activist couple in Georgia were convicted in December of brutally sexually abusing their two adopted boys over the course of years. Blaze News previously reported that child rapists William Zulock and Zachary Zulock, who were accused of adopting the boys to produce child pornography, both pleaded guilty to numerous counts of aggravated sodomy, aggravated child molestation, incest, and multiple counts of child exploitation of children.

The homosexual couple, who frequently hashtagged their social media posts "gayfamily," were both sentenced to serve 100 years in prison without parole.

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'No brainer': Utah becomes first state to ban rainbow flags in both schools and government buildings



LGBT activists' cultural imperialism may have reached its zenith during the Biden years when their "Progress Pride" flag was prominently displayed on the White House with American flags relegated to a secondary status on either side.

Now, with the country under different leadership, conservatives flexing more muscle legislatively, and key narratives crumbling, non-straight activists appear to be losing ground as signaled by legislation advanced in Utah and Idaho last week.

Months after the Trump administration announced that "only the United States of America flag is authorized to be flown or displayed at U.S. facilities, both domestic and abroad," Utah Republicans successfully passed legislation on Thursday banning the rainbow flag as well as other activist flags from all government buildings and schools.

Utah state Rep. Trevor Lee's (R) House Bill 77 prohibits state entities and employees from displaying a flag in or on the grounds of government property with a number of exceptions including Old Glory; an official Utah state flag; a historic version of the American or state flag; a municipal flag; a U.S. military flag; the National League of Families POW/MIA flag; a country flag; a tribal flag; an official university or public school flag; and an Olympic flag.

It appears that the only ways to lawfully get a rainbow flag into the classroom is to have it grafted onto an exempted flag, to accept the $500 fine for each day of noncompliance, to overturn the law, or to depict the flag by means other than an actual flag, such as on a lapel pin or a sticker, which activist groups routinely distribute to students.

The bill became law on Thursday without Republican Gov. Spencer Cox's signature.

"This was a no brainer bill to run," wrote Lee. "Tax payer funded entities shouldn't be promoting political agendas. This is a massive win for Utah."

'All this bill does is add more fuel to the fire.'

Cox, who vetoed six bills this year, indicated that he did not similarly veto HB 77 because Republicans would override him in the Utah House of Representatives, where they outnumber Democrats 61-14.

While acknowledging that the law "is neutral on the types of flags in question" — highlighting that MAGA flags are now similarly prohibited in schools and government buildings — Cox suggested that the ban was insufficient to eliminate "culture-war symbols in a place that should be apolitical," namely public schools.

"By simply requiring the removal of flags only, there is little preventing countless other displays — posters, signs, drawings, furniture — from entering the classroom," Cox wrote in a letter to state lawmakers, where he emphasized his love for the so-called LGBTQ community. "Furthermore, the bill is overly prescriptive on flags themselves. To those legislators who supported this bill, I'm sure it will not fix what you are trying to fix."

After suggesting that a better regulatory route for Republicans to depoliticize the classroom is the Utah State Board of Education, Cox claimed that "the bill goes too far when applied to local governments."

"All this bill does is add more fuel to the fire, and I suspect it will only ratchet up the creative use of political symbolism (for example: lighting used in place of flags)," added the governor.

'Fly flags that unite and don't divide.'

LGBT activists outside the state government similarly bemoaned the enactment of the flag law.

The Salt Lake City-based Utah Pride Center thanked Cox in a statement Friday, noting, "While we understand the complex political reality that this bill would likely have been passed regardless of the governor's decision, we are deeply saddened to see it move forward into law."

Troy Williams and Marina Lowe, the executive and policy directors of Equality Utah, said in a release that HB77 "sets a dangerous precedent."

Enraging a similar variety of activist, Idaho legislators passed legislation last week prohibiting government entities from flying flags besides the American flag and a handful of official flags, including those representing American military branches and government entities.

House Bill 96 passed the state House in landslide votes and now requires the signature of Republican Gov. Brad Little. Little signed a similar bill into law on March 19, which prohibits the display of unauthorized flags and banners that "promote political, religious, or ideological viewpoints" on public school property.

"The ultimate goal is for us to fly flags that unite and don't divide," said Idaho state Sen. Ben Toews (R), reported the Idaho Statesman.

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Colorado school district requires kids to suffer LGBT propaganda against parents' wishes



A Colorado school district recently updated its "LGBTQ+ tool kit," revealing what additional steps educators and staff are taking to indoctrinate those young Americans within its reach, particularly on the topics of sexuality and gender.

The document, which appears on various DPS school sites and was recently detailed in a Daily Caller report, indicates that students in Denver Public Schools will be unable to avoid LGBT propaganda; that their parents cannot effectively opt them out of content on-theme; and that parental consent will be sidestepped on various issues.

Denver Public Schools' tool kit details the district's various schemes and policies hatched with the stated purpose of supporting its non-straight and gender dysphoric students, staff, and families. The district has over 200 schools and 4,780 teachers, roughly 90,000 students, and 10,177 employees.

'There is no opt-out for LGBTQ+ topics.'

The tool kit notes that "age-appropriate LGBTQ+ topics are considered a part of DPS's commitment to equity and inclusion, just as all other topics related to equity and inclusion (for example, immigration, racism, ableism, etc.)."

State Democrats passed legislation in 2019 requiring the inclusion of content about the accomplishments of non-straight people in Colorado's Social Studies Standards and curriculum. The DPS' kit intimated, however, that the district need not stop at inserting LGBT content into history, civics, and social studies classes; that it could go further and push such propaganda "in all areas."

While parents can still opt their children out of sex-ed specific classes — which, per policy, refrain from discussing an abstinence-only approach to avoiding disease and pregnancy — the DPS indicated in its tool kit that such withdrawal would not spare students from "all discussions of gender, family, and/or sexual diversity at school."

"There is no opt-out for LGBTQ+ topics," stated the tool kit, which the Daily Caller reported was updated in July.

Although the district appears keen to tailor curricula and policy to a minority of non-straight community members, its tool kit noted, "DPS cannot tailor individual lessons, content, or classrooms because a family, student, or staff may have different values."

Having previously noted that LGBT propaganda falls under the umbrella of "equity and inclusion," the tool kit makes expressly clear; "Parent permission is not required to teach about topics of equity and inclusion."

DPS appears keen to sidestep parents in other ways as well.

In the case of children who are confused about their sexuality and "gender identity," the tool kit stresses: "Do not out the student to anyone."

"Do not share information about a student's transition without their express, documented consent," adds the tool kit.

Extra to helping students conceal their confusion, DPS will gladly use a "student's self-asserted name and/or pronouns at school" without parental/guardian notification or permission. The district will also allow students to change their name and pronouns in district record systems without either parental permission or legal documentation.

When confronted with a gender dysphoric student, the tool kit recommends partnering the student with a staff member "supportive of LGBTQ+ topics" to think through a "Gender Support Plan."

The kit suggests further how educators and school staff members are to usurp parental authority and adopt a familial role when it appears parents may not be onboard with promoting a child's confusion:

The educator or administrator should ask whether the student's family is accepting to avoid inadvertently putting the student at risk of more significant harm by discussing it with the student's family. Based on that information, the school and student should determine how to proceed through the collaborative process of figuring out how the school can support the student and balance the student's need to be affirmed at school with the reality that the student does not have that support at home.

The tool kit also details how transvestic students can choose to use the restrooms and locker rooms that best indulge their delusion and that they are allowed to go on overnight trips, alll the while having their real biological sexes kept a secret from other students and their parents.

The Daily Caller indicated that DPS could not be reached for comment.

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Biden-Harris DOE official lampooned over 'queering nuclear weapons' initiative



A Biden-Harris Department of Energy official is facing ridicule over her radioactive recommendation that the policy community adopt a "queer lens," thus deprioritizing the "abstract idea of national security," when dealing with nuclear weapons and the power to exterminate all human life on the planet.

Sneha Nair started work in February as a special assistant in the National Nuclear Security Administration, the semi-autonomous nuclear security branch of the DOE. Just months earlier, she co-authored an article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists entitled "Queering nuclear weapons: How LGBTQ+ inclusion strengthens security and reshapes disarmament."

Early in the article, Nair and Louis Reitmann, an advocate for DEI in the nuclear field, expressed dissatisfaction with the critical response to a 2022 panel discussion about "LGBT+ Identity in the Nuclear Weapons Space."

'Queer theory can help change how nuclear practitioners, experts, and the public think about nuclear weapons.'

The Biden-Harris official suggested that criticism of the event — such as the suggestion that "they should not allow mentally ill people near weapons of mass destruction" — evidenced "the common belief that queer identity has no relevance for nuclear policy."

The remainder of the article appears to have been an attempt to correct that belief.

Nair and Reitmann emphasized:

We would like Bulletin readers to understand that the visible representation and meaningful participation of queer people matters for nuclear policy outcomes. Discrimination against queer people can undermine nuclear security and increase nuclear risk. And queer theory can help change how nuclear practitioners, experts, and the public think about nuclear weapons.

According to the duo, non-straight people have unique insights and "specific skills," such as empathy, that could come in handy when making decisions about nuclear weapons.

The inclusion of more non-straights and women into the greater policy community would apparently serve as a check on group think and possibly even upset the "perpetuation of theories like deterrence and crisis stability."

By "queering" the nuclear space, minority staff might also be spared some of the "enormous psychological stress" previously associated with making decisions around world-ending weapons.

'The Biden/Kamala regime is a danger to the entire country and sanity itself.'

Working under the presumption that non-straight workers offer unique perspectives and enjoy special skill sets, the Biden-Harris official and her DEI co-author indicated that their "exclusion creates nuclear security risks."

The Biden-Harris official and Reitmann suggested further that "queer theory," a radical spin-off of feminist theory, not only has a place in the nuclear weapons space but should help inform "how officials, experts, and the public think about nuclear weapons."

Should, for instance, a foreign adversary appear to be preparing for an intercontinental ballistic missile attack on the homeland, Nair would apparently want American officials thinking about a possible pre-emptive nuclear strike to also contemplate "whose experiences are being excluded."

"Queer theory is also about rejecting binary choices and zero-sum thinking, such as the tenet that nuclear deterrence creates security and disarmament creates vulnerability," said the article. "Queer theory helps to shift the perception of nuclear weapons as instruments for security by telling the hidden stories of displacement, illness, and trauma caused by their production and testing."

Shortly after the publication of this article, Nair co-authored a policy paper claiming "that development of a DEI nuclear security culture is not only a sustainable solution to these long-standing challenges but critical to strengthening the nuclear security community’s ability to identify and mitigate threats in a shifting national security landscape."

Conservative filmmaker Robby Starbuck was among the many critics who responded to the recently resurfaced article, tweeting, "The Biden/Kamala regime is a danger to the entire country and sanity itself."

"As I've long said, DEI is simply a Trojan horse for left wing values that's meant to solidify total power consolidation by the left," continued Starbuck. "Once they fully consolidate, there's no going back for decades. Opposing this virus and removing it should be the actual national security objective. Oh and yes, China is laughing at us."

Libs of TikTok posed the question online: "Can someone explain how 'queer theory' has anything to do with managing our nuclear energy?"

The Biden-Harris DOE appears to have attracted more than one LGBT radical in recent years.

Samuel Brinton, a nuclear engineer who ran a "Physics of Kink" class and made a habit of dressing in women's clothing, served as deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition in the Office of Nuclear Energy at the Energy Department. He recently pleaded guilty to petit larceny for stealing women's luggage.

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Abraham Lincoln targeted for theatrical character assassination; filmmaker suggests he was a philandering homosexual



Activists' so-called "Pride Month" is over, but their campaign to queer America is clearly a perennial undertaking. While American youth are a popular target, long-dead American greats are apparently also fair game.

Shaun Peterson, a self-described "director/preditor" from California who has previously worked on multiple Disney projects, is set to debut a so-called documentary film in September that accuses Abraham Lincoln of having extramarital affairs with men.

"As told by preeminent Lincoln scholars, historical recreations and never before seen photographs and letters, the film details Lincoln's romantic relationships with men," says the website for the film. "Lover of Men widens its lens into the history of human sexual fluidity and focuses on the profound differences between sexual mores of the nineteenth century and those we hold today."

The filmmakers made sure there was no mistaking the agitprop nature of the film, stating, "Lover of Men is not only an exploration of gender roles and sexual identity, but also serves as an examination of American intolerance."

According to the trailer for the film, sexuality "through the mid-19th century was far more fluid, but for someone who wanted a political career, it was mandatory that you have a wife."

"If you can accept a queer Lincoln, you can accept queer people overall," says the trailer. "He should inspire us to achieve a true democracy for everyone."

Whereas the new Broadway show "Oh, Mary!" similarly accuses Lincoln of being gay, the LGBT publication Queerty indicated its transvestic playwright Cole Escola readily admits that his play is utterly baseless. The trailer for Peterson's film, on the other hand, adopts a pretense of seriousness about its projection of faddish contemporary notions about sex onto a revered 19th-century statesman.

'I've seen those letters, and they have no homoerotic overtones.'

Lincoln married Mary Anne Todd, a Kentucky woman, on Nov. 4, 1842. Together, they had four children, only one of whom — Robert Todd Lincoln — lived past the age of 18.

While there have been various efforts over the years to paint the American father and husband who issued the Emancipation Proclamation as gay or a "bisexual" — especially by the late gay activist Larry Kramer, who made no secret of his political aim to the New York Times — these appear to have consisted largely of projections, inventions, speculations, and misinterpretations.

One reason people have concluded Lincoln was gay was that he shared a bed with a man on more than one occasion. It's clear from the trailer for Peterson's film that it similarly will lean into the suggestion embraced by other revisionists that Lincoln had a romantic relationship with Joshua Speed, a man whose marriage to Fanny Henning lasted 40 years.

Michael Burlingame, the Naomi B. Lynn distinguished chair in Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois Springfield, told the Hartford Courant in 2021 that the supposedly controversial aspects of Lincoln's relationship with Speed seized upon by the likes of Larry Kramer would "be a footnote" in his multi-volume biography of the Republican president.

"The evidence I've seen seems insignificant to justify its inclusion," said the Lincoln expert. "I've seen those letters, and they have no homoerotic overtones."

Burlingame suggested, instead, that he had found evidence that Lincoln was infatuated with women besides Todd prior to their marriage.

Charles Strozier, a psychoanalyst and history professor who addressed the false narrative in his 2016 book "Your Friends Forever, A. Lincoln: The Enduring Friendship of Abraham Lincoln and Joshua Speed," told the Daily Beast that it was very common for men to share a bed in Lincoln's time.

"Inns at the time were really just homes where they finished the loft. They weren't hotels like we have now. They were just hostels, where you have the men over here and the women over there," said Strozier.

According to the Daily Mail, Lincoln originally shared a bed with Speed because when he moved to Springfield, Illinois, in 1837, he didn't have enough money to acquire his own bed and bedding.

The Mail noted further that Lincoln would also sleep in the same bed as other lawyers — a common practice for the traveling "circuits" of his time, where up to 20 would share one room.

Doris Kearns Goodwin was another award-winning historian who reportedly poked holes in the gay Lincoln narrative in her biography on the Republican, noting, "Their intimacy is more an index to an era when close male friendships, accompanied by open expressions of affection and passion, were familiar and socially acceptable."

"Nor can sharing a bed be considered evidence of an erotic involvement. It was common practice in an era when private quarters were a rare luxury," continued Goodwin. "The attorneys of the Eighth Circuit in Illinois where Lincoln would travel regularly shared beds."

The late Harvard professor David Herbert Donald, long regarded to be the definitive biographer of Lincoln, also disputed the suggestion — by C.A. Tripp, a gay researcher for Alfred C. Kinsey — that the 16th president was gay. The New York Times indicated that no one at the time had ever suggested Lincoln and Speed were sexual partners — not even his enemies in the yellow press. Donald, like Strozier, emphasized that in frontier times, space was tight and men shared beds. It was not out preference but necessity.

In response to a similar effort — again by Kramer — to paint Alexander Hamilton as non-straight, Hamilton biographer Ron Chernow warned against "ransacking history in service of a political agenda."

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Christian charged with 'hate crime' for sharing Bible passage is headed to Finnish Supreme Court for final showdown



The Finnish state spent years trying to punish a Christian parliamentarian for publicly expressing her biblically informed views on marriage and sexuality. Dr. Päivi Räsänen stood firm, fought back, and won.

Despite three judges admitting that the hate crime charges leveled against her were baseless and an appeals court later concurring, the state prosecutor appealed the latest unanimous acquittal, desperate to make an example out of the high-profile dissenter.

Räsänen is now headed for a showdown before the Nordic nation's supreme court — to find out whether inconvenient scriptural passages and Christian belief are still legal in Finland.

Bible on trial

Dr. Päivi Räsänen is a devout Christian, a medical doctor, a grandmother, and a Finnish parliamentarian. She previously served as the country's minister of the interior.

Throughout her career, Räsänen has been open and unapologetic about her orthodox religious views concerning life and morality, especially with regards to marriage, sex, and abortion. Her outlook and intellectual consistency have made her a popular target for leftists in and outside the government.

On June 17, 2019, Räsänen drew the ire of LGBT activists by posting a photo of Romans 1:24-27 online in reference to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland's official participation in the Helsinki Pride event.

The offending passage the parliamentarian shared from the New Testament states in English, "Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet."

The parliamentarian accompanied the photo with the following note, "How does the doctrine of the church, #raamattu agree with the fact that shame and sin are raised as a matter of pride?"

— (@)

Police subsequently launched an investigation into the Christian lawmaker.

Räsänen was charged under a section of the Finnish criminal code titled "war crimes and crimes against humanity" and slapped with three counts of incitement against a minority group, reported Yle.

"I do not consider myself guilty of threatening, slandering or insulting any group of people. These are all based on the Bible's teachings on marriage and sexuality," she said shortly after being indicted.

Extra to charging Räsänen for quoting Scripture online and elsewhere expressing traditional views, prosecutors charged the parliamentarian along with Bishop Juhana Pohjola of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission over a 2004 pamphlet they collaborated on entitled, "Male and Female He Created Them."

In March 2022, three judges in the District Court of Helsinki reportedly ruled that all of the charges against Räsänen were baseless, noting the "speeches were partly offensive, but not hate speech."

State prosecutor Anu Mantila clearly had failed to win over the court with the argument that the parliamentarian is permitted to "believe in her mind whatever about the Bible, but it is illegal to express it outwardly."

The state appealed the decision, this time landing Räsänen in the Helsinki Court of Appeal in August 2023.

The heresiarch of Helsinki

This time around, Mantila argued, "You can cite the Bible, but it is Räsänen's interpretation and opinion about the Bible verses that are criminal," reported the Christian advocacy group ADF International, which aided in the parliamentarian's legal defense.

Mantila also asked Räsänen multiple times during her cross-examination whether she would now be willing to update or alter her comments about marriage and sexuality, particularly those in her 2004 church pamphlet.

ADF International executive director Paul Coleman noted, "At the heart of the prosecutor's examination of Räsänen was this: would she recant her beliefs? The answer was no — she would not deny the teachings of her faith. The cross-examination bore all the resemblance of a 'heresy' trial of the middle ages; it was implied that Räsänen had 'blasphemed' against the dominant orthodoxies of the day."

The appellate court ruled unanimously in November to uphold the district court's unanimous acquittal, finding that it had "no reason, on the basis of the evidence received at the main hearing, to assess the case in any respect differently from the District Court. There is therefore no reason to alter the final result of the District Court's judgment."

The appellate court ordered the prosecution to cover the legal costs incurred by Räsänen and Pohjola. The court gave the prosecution until January 2024 to exhaust the last of its options — an appeal to the Finnish Supreme Court.

The final showdown

The Finnish Supreme Court granted the state prosecutor permission Friday to appeal the unanimous judgment of the Helsinki Court of Appeal, meaning Räsänen will now stand trial a third time.

AFD International indicated the state prosecutor only appealed the lesser courts' decisions on two of the previous three charges, namely those regarding the scriptural tweet and the pro-marriage 2004 pamphlet. Bishop Juhana Pohjola will similarly be standing trial for publishing the pamphlet.

Räsänen said in a statement that she has a "peaceful mind" and is "ready to continue to defend free speech and freedom of religion before the Supreme Court, and if need be, also before the European Court of Human Rights."

"In my case the investigation has lasted almost five years, has involved untrue accusations, several long police interrogations totaling more than 13 hours, preparations for court hearings, the District Court hearing, and a hearing in the Court of Appeal," said the Christian parliamentarian. "This was not just about my opinions, but about everyone's freedom of expression. I hope that with the ruling of the Supreme Court, others would not have to undergo the same ordeal. I have considered it a privilege and an honor to defend freedom of expression, which is a fundamental right in a democratic state."

The prosecution wants to hammer the defendants with massive fines and order the censorship of the bishop's publications.

Coleman, who recently took part in the National Conservatism conference, which socialist Belgian officials tried to forcefully shut down, said, "The state's insistence on continuing this prosecution after almost five long years, despite such clear and unanimous rulings from the lower courts is alarming. The process is the punishment in such instances, resulting in a chill on free speech for all citizens observing."

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