Stranded Stories Sunday 6/16/24

Jun 17, 2024

Hello, and welcome to another week of Stranded Stories!

I’m not sure if there are more stories this week or if I just spent more time looking for them. Probably the latter. Because there are so many stories I want to get to, I’m going to try to keep my thoughts short and sweet.

Will I succeed? If you know anything about me, the answer is probably no, but, you know what? I’m excited to try.

We begin in Pakistan with some incredibly disappointing news

Pakistan is, well, the country labeled Pakistan. It’s next India on one side and Afghanistan on the other.

Man detained in mental hospital after trying to set up Pakistan’s first gay club June 9, 2024 (The Telegraph)

He filed the application in Abbottabad, an incredibly conservative Pakistan area. He wrote on the application that the club would be a

great convenience and resource for many homosexual, bisexual and even some heterosexual people residing in Abbottabad in particular, and in other parts of the country in general

It might have gone through, if not leaked on social media, and you can guess where things went from there.

Stories like this are just so heartbreaking. I think, living in the USA, even though it’s not necessarily safe in many places to be queer, this still isn’t a reality most of us can’t comprehend.

In my opinion, it’s our job to bring attention to stories like this around the world, so we can hopefully make more people tolerant, and so we can support our queer siblings, especially in places where your life is in danger for just being you.

The next story takes us a little closer to home. We venture to Indiana, and the lovely topic of book banning.

Indiana’s school censorship law threatens a small bookstore's future June 8, 2024 (Advocate)

This is Brain Lair Books. They are an inclusive bookshop in South Bend Indiana, and they are in trouble. They were once the bookstore that schools went to to purchase diverse reading material for students, but Indiana’s recently passed HB 1447 makes it harder to use diverse books in school.

These days, “obscene matter” and “matter harmful to minors” means anything that contains queer representation or history or even representing people of color, and sometimes even Jewish representation or history for that matter. So this, of course, means that librarians and teachers just can’t buy books from them anymore.

Since their main source of income has now disappeared, they’re struggling to stay open, but, good news, you can help!

This is their GoFundMe, and, unfortunately, they have only raised a fraction of the $300k they need to keep the doors open.

If you are able, please consider helping them out. We don’t need to lose another intersectional bookstore!

We can’t let these conservative destructive book bans win!

Next we head to Massachussets for a story that is a win, but shouldn't have to be.

Middleboro student loses appeals case over t-shirt deemed to use hate speech June 11, 2024 (7 News Boston)

I mean, yay? I guess?

But this kid is only in 8th grade! It was last year, in 7th grade, that he wore a shirt to school saying “there are only two genders.”

Seventh grade. This kid is only 12 and is already being taught to hate people who are different than him. Why should a 12 year old care how many genders there are?

An attorney tried to sue the school on behalf of the seventh grader and his family, and, well, he lost that appeal.

I mean, it is Massachussets, so I’m not that surprise. Imagine if it was a state with a Republican majority in elected offices….

And I didn’t even mention the worst part, the death threats the school was getting for telling the kid his attire was unacceptable.

So, even though the lawsuit has been thrown out, the reaction won’t be going away anytime soon, I fear.

This next story isn’t much better. Let’s take a trip to Houston Texas, because, of course it’s Texas.

Eithan Haim insists that he’s a “whistleblower” because trans healthcare is “child abuse.” I say that he’s the child abuser because he violated their medical privacy and refuse to provide them with the care they need.

His lawyer told LGBTQ Nation:

My client is a mandatory reporter of child abuse who reported as a whistleblower to the State of Texas what he had seen in his hospital. The indictment is under seal so my client remains in the dark of the basis for the charges against him.

He violated HIPAA, I don’t know how that could possibly be confusing.

Hiam said that the charges were “politically motivated” in an interview with Fox News. I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling this way, but a trans kid existing and getting healthcare should not be a political issue.

But violating HIPAA is a crime, and it should be treated as such. And Republicans need to get it through their head that giving trans children care is not child abuse.

The good news, maybe, is that this is a federal charge. But, remember, there are still plenty of very right wing judges who could side with Hiam. However, right wing judges haven’t been a complete disappointment with all rulings. There are times where they do side with trans healthcare for one reason or another, so there is a chance he does get punished.

It’s so sad that it’s not just a given. I can’t say “He will be punished for violating trans children's privacy.” I just don’t know for sure.

I will keep you posted!

Moving on to a kind of hilarious story out of Florida

'Challenges our authority': School board in Florida bans book about book bans June 11, 2024 (Tallahassee Democrat)

That almost feels too on the nose to be real, but, no, in fact it is very real. Indian River County’s school board actually did vote to ban “Ban This Book” By Alan Gratz.

Here’s something I’ve learned from watching LibraryTok:

All teens LOVE Alan Gratz.

If they banned “Farenheight 451,” that would be one thing, many teens has probably never heard of that. But it’s not, it’s an author and book that kids will miss, and know is gone.

And their reasoning for banning the book is, of course, horrifying

School Board members said they disliked how it referenced other books that had been removed from schools and accused it of "teaching rebellion of school board authority," as described in the formal motion to oust it.

Honestly, it’s almost laughable. School boards are elected. They only have authority because voters give it to them. We should learn to critique and question the people we vote for.

Gratz himself responded to his book being banned

They banned the book because it talks about the books that they have banned and because it talks about book banning. It feels like they know exactly what they're doing and they're somewhat ashamed of what they're doing and they don't want a book on the shelves that calls them out.

As always it all comes back to voting. We never knew how important school board races were, but now we do, and this is just another reminder. Make sure that when you vote, you vote for everything on the entire ballot, all the way down to schoolboard.

Schoolboard is, admittedly, harder to vote for, because it’s supposedly “nonpartisan,” but there are many resources to help navigate that.

We just have to get these dictatorial schoolboard members out!

Okay, enough of the queer pain, for now. Here’s a story of queer joy, and animals!

Elliot Page To Narrate, Executive Produce ‘Second Nature,’ Documentary Exploring Homosexual Behavior In Nature: “It’s Absolutely Everywhere” June 4, 2024 (Deadline)

This isn’t the only queer nature documentary that was announced this month either.

There’s also Queer Planet which started streaming on Peacock on June 6

Here is the trailer for Page’s

The differences are pretty stark. Queer Planet seems to be more for a queer audience than a nature audience, just based on the trailer. While Second Nature, seems to follow the nature documentary style.

I’m glad both these projects are happening because it means that no matter your interest, you’ll probably find some reason to watch one of these projects and learn about queerness in nature.

Which is a win in my book!

And let’s end it there. There are of course more stories, but I’m not sure I have anything to add that isn't mentioned in the source article. 15 of these stories are linked below!

15 Bonus Stories

19-year-old attacked by stranger outside Pelican Larry's bar near FGCU June 6, 2024 (NBC 2)

Denver Residents Throw Wedding for LGBTQ Migrants From Venezuela June 10, 2014 (Westworld)

Multiple arrests Wednesday night at newly painted Pride crosswalk mural June 6, 2024 (KREM 2 CBS News Affiliate)

Residents of a Small Massachusetts Town Came Together to Replace 200 Stolen Pride Flags June 3, 2024 (Them)

'Profoundly disappointed': Pride flag at Newberg library targeted in act of vandalism June 6, 2024 (KGW 8 NBC News Affiliate)

Progress Pride flag flies over LA City Hall for first time June 6, 2024 (ABC 7 Eyewitness News)

Target's poor Pride Month decision proves companies can’t have it both ways June 3, 2024 (Advocate) [Nice op-ed on how badly Target fucked up.]

Unofficial Same-Sex ‘Marriage’ Ceremony Causes Controversy in Albania May 20, 2024 (Balkan Insight)

Armenian leader announces plan to leave Russia-dominated security alliance as ties with Moscow sour June 12, 2024 (AP)

S.F. declares itself sanctuary city for transgender people, among first in U.S. to do so June 11, 2024 (San Francisco Chronicle)

ACLU OF INDIANA SUES CITY OF LOOGOOTEE FOR BLOCKING PRIDE FESTIVAL June 13, 2024 (ACLU Indiana press release)

Behind closed doors, the Pope returns to the fagotism: 'It's in the Vatican' June 12, 2024 (ANSA.it)

A Wichita pastor checked out LGBTQ books in protest. Librarians say the strategy could backfire June 5, 2024 (KCUR)

Georgia introduces Russian-style crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights Jun 4, 2024 (Politico EU)

Bailey Anne becomes first trans woman to be crowned Miss Maryland USA June 5, 2024 (DC News Now)

ICYM My TikToks from this past week (you probably did, they’re not showing up on the FYP for most)

Ariella Elm

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