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Saying Gay: Help A 17-Year Old Make This Film – Or He Won’t Be Able To

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Editor’s note: This guest post is by Devon Hicks, a 17-year old activist living in Knoxville, Tennessee.

For the past six years, Republican Senator Stacey Campfield has been working on a bill that would ban any mention of homosexuality in Tennessee Schools in grades K-8. The “Don’t Say Gay” bill, pitched as a way to keep discussions age appropriate and give parents the power to educate their children on social issues, has a seemingly reasonable foundation. Yet the “side-effects” of the bill are the main concern of many. First and foremost, it establishes homosexuality as a taboo subject — and things that we can’t talk about are normally bad, right? (This is a belief held especially among younger children.) This means that students who may themselves be part of the LGBTQ community, or who perhaps have gay relatives will most likely feel like even more like outsiders. The “Don’t Say Gay” bill also would make it hard for teachers and counselors to address the topic of LGBTQ bullying. And sadly, it almost appears that it is Senator Campfield’s belief that if you don’t talk about gays, maybe they will cease to exist. The bill in its current form bans “any discussion that deviates from normal human reproduction science.” Titled SB49, the “Don’t Say Gay” bill passed the Tennessee Senate 19 to 11 on May 20, and will now go to the House for a vote in January 2012.

Many of the young people who would be effected by SB49 find themselves in very delicate situations. They are at a point in their lives where they are figuring out who they are, and quite often aren’t sure where to turn. They are worried that their parents might not accept them, that their friends may disown them, and maybe even that there may be something wrong with them. Hopefully they’re lucky enough to have friends and family that are supportive, but those that don’t often have to “go back in the closet” and/or face constant bullying and harassment at the hands of relatives and their peers. As we’ve seen in the news, this leads to depression, self harm, and in some cases those affected choose to take their own lives. These young people need a voice, they need support, and more than anything, they need to feel safe.

Over the past three months I’ve been blessed enough to become part of the Tennessee Equality Project Foundation (TEPF). I started a campaign titled “It’s OK To Say Gay*,” which is an effort to raise awareness and provide ways to fight bullying and intolerance in Tennessee schools. TEPF folded it into their organization.

We held a rally to give people a view of our objectives and to identify volunteers, but the rally also was an effort to provide the voice that I spoke of to some of the immediate area’s LGBTQ teens. For this reason,we provided three high school students (all of which identified as homosexual) with the opportunity to share their experiences, and the result was inspirational. Their stories were met with thunderous applause, tears, and a roomful of supportive energy. Those three students “struck a cord,” and moved people more than anything else at the rally.

In the aftermath of the rally, we had a notable amount of media attention, and I had the pleasure of joining George Takei on a new online CBS show called, “What’s Trending.” As I sat waiting for my Skype video line to be pushed live, I received a view into the world of a live production room, and it spiked my nerdy interest. Over the next few days, I kept thinking back to the rally, and to the news interviews and realized that, if people could just see the pain caused by legislation like SB49, the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, maybe people would be more sympathetic.

It had been my goal from the start to stream most of our events live online, but I realized that was not enough. People didn’t need a collection of YouTube videos or a bit of media coverage, they needed a dedicated view into the lives of the Tennessee gay community and the effect SB49 will have on it. They need to see that our LGBTQ students are bullied heavily (and that it’s a problem for straight students too.) The LGBTQ community needs a voice, and with only six months until the House votes on SB49, they need it fast. With all of this in mind, I realized that the answer was a documentary.

I spent several days running over the logistics. What would we call it? What exactly would it contain? What kind of gear would be needed? I didn’t doubt my creative or technical abilities, and I came to discover a large filmmaking community ready to assist me. I then realized that I needed to be able to completely dedicate myself to working on the film, and that was going to be an expense as well.

On May 29 I launched a Kickstarter campaign for “Saying Gay: A documentary about SB49.” The goal is straightforward: provide a view into how SB49, the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, will affect our students and their families and raise awareness about bullying in schools. We will bring students, parents, teachers, lawyers, lawmakers, and therapists in front of the camera in order for them to share their experiences and their analysis. “Saying Gay” will not just be a documentary, it will be a living, breathing thing. As I travel across Tennessee, I’ll film hundreds of people explaing why they think “it’s okay to say gay,” and feature them on our website alongside other extended content. Public screenings will double as discussion forums, and in the process I will be forming “Equality Reel,” a video production company that will focus on developing content for the LGBT community.

In order to fund approximately $13,000 worth in equipment, plus travel, and the ability to work full-time on the film, I set the goal of raising $25,000; and now I’m turning to the community for help.

Every day, students around the country find themselves being verbally and physically assaulted because they are different, and the last thing we need is legislation that makes that even more possible. I want to give a voice to all of those who right now are afraid, and I hope you can help with that. For the cost of a cup of coffee, you can help make a difference and end intolerance.

 

 

*Saying Gay is in no way affiliated with the It’s OK To Say Gay Campaign or Tennessee Equality Project Foundation.

 

 

Devon Hicks is a 17-year old activist living in Knoxville, TN. He currently sits as the interim committee chair of the Tennessee Equality Project’s “Safe Schools Committee” and started the It’s OK To Say Gay Campaign, which has received national attention. After graduating and moving out at age 16, Devon began putting his love for design and technology to use, starting a small web design business which has now turned into a education and consulting firm for non-profits, showing them how they can use technology in their campaigns and daily management. Saying Gay, a documentary about SB49, will be Devon’s first film.

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‘Repercussions’: Democrats and Republicans Stand Against ‘Pro-Putin’ House GOP Faction

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April 18, 2024

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Some House Democrats and House Republicans are coming together toward a common opponent: far-right “pro-Putin” hardliners in the House Republican conference, who appear to be led by U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).

Congresswoman Greene has been threatening to oust the Republican Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson. Last month she filed a “motion to vacate the chair.” If she chooses to call it up she could force a vote on the House floor to try to remove Speaker Johnson.

House Democrats say they are willing to vote against ousting Johnson, as long as the Speaker puts on the floor desperately needed and long-awaited legislation to fund aid to Ukraine and Israel. Johnson has refused to put the Ukraine aid bill on the floor for months, but after Iran attacked Israel Johnson switched gears. Almost all Democrats and a seemingly large number of Republicans want to pass the Ukraine and Israel aid packages.

RELATED: Marjorie Taylor Greene, ‘Putin’s Envoy’? Democrat’s Bills Mock Republican’s Actions

Forgoing the possibility of installing Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries as Speaker, which is conceivable given Johnson’s now one-vote majority, Democrats say if Johnson does the right thing, they will throw him their support.

“I think he’ll be in good shape,” to get Democrats to support him, if he puts the Ukraine aid bill on the floor, U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) told CNN Thursday. “I would say that there’s a lot of support for the underlying bills. I think those are vital.”

“If these bills were delivered favorably, and the aid was favorably voted upon, and Marjorie Taylor Greene went up there with a motion to remove him, for instance, I think there’s gonna be a lot of Democrats that move to kill that motion,” Congressman Krishnamoorthi said. “They don’t want to see him getting punished for doing the right thing.”

“I think it is a very bad policy of the House to allow one individual such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is an arsonist to this House of Representatives,” U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) told CBS News’ Scott MacFarlane, when asked about intervening to save Johnson. He added he doesn’t want her “to have so much influence.”

U.S. Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, one of several Republicans who won their New York districts in 2022, districts that were previously held by Democrats, opposes Greene’s motion to vacate – although he praised the Georgia GOP congresswoman.

CNN’s Manu Raju reports Republicans “say it’s time to marginalize hardliners blocking [their] agenda.”

D’Esposito, speaking to Raju, called for “repercussions for those who completely alienate the will of the conference. The people gave us the majority because they wanted Republicans to govern.”

U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler, like D’Esposito is another New York Republican who won a previously Democratic seat in 2022. Lawler spoke out against the co-sponsor of Greene’s motion to vacate, U.S. Rep. Tim Massie (R-KY), along with two other House Republicans who are working to block the Ukraine aid bill via their powerful seats on the Rules Committee.

U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), a former Navy pilot, blasted Congresswoman Greene.

RELATED: ‘They Want Russia to Win So Badly’: GOP Congressman Blasts Far-Right House Republicans

“Time is of the essence” for Ukraine, Rep. Sherrill told CNN Wednesday night. “The least we can do is support our Democratic allies, especially given what we know Putin to do. To watch a report and to think there are people like Marjorie Taylor Greene on the right that are pro-Putin? That are pro-Russia? It is really shocking.”

U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), as NCRM reported Thursday, had denounced Greene.

“I guess their reasoning is they want Russia to win so badly that they want to oust the Speaker over it,” he said, referring to the Ukraine aid bill Greene and her cohorts want to tank. “I mean that’s a strange position to take.”

The far-right hardliners are also causing chaos in the House.

“Things just got very heated on the House floor,” NBC News’ Julie Tsirkin reported earlier Thursday. “Group of hardliners were trying to pressure Johnson to only put Israel aid on the floor and hold Ukraine aid until the Senate passed HR2.”

HR2 is the House Republicans’ extremist anti-immigrant legislation that has n o chance of passage in the Senate nor would it be signed into law by President Biden.

“Johnson said he couldn’t do it, and [U.S. Rep. Derrick] Van Orden,” a far-right Republican from Wisconsin “called him ‘tubby’ and vowed to bring on the MTV [Motion to Vacate.]”

“No one in the group (Gaetz, Boebert, Burchett, Higgins, Donalds et al.) were threatening Johnson with an MTV,” Tsirkin added. “Van Orden seemed to escalate things dramatically…”

Despite Greene’s pro-Putin and anti-Ukraine positions, her falsehoods about “Ukrainian Nazis,” and Russians not slaughtering Ukrainian clergy, reporters continue to “swarm”:

Watch the videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Afraid and Intimidated’: Trump Trial Juror Targeted by Fox News Dismissed

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‘They Want Russia to Win So Badly’: GOP Congressman Blasts Far-Right House Republicans

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15 hours ago

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April 18, 2024

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A sitting Republican Congressman is harshly criticizing far-right House Republicans over their apparent support of Russia.

“I guess their reasoning is they want Russia to win so badly that they want to oust the Speaker over it. I mean that’s a strange position to take,” U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a three-term Texas Republican rated a hard-core conservative told CNN’s Manu Raju, in video posted Thursday. “I think they want to be in the minority too. I think that’s an obvious reality.”

Congressman Crenshaw was referring to the movement led by U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), now joined by U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), over the Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s decision to finally put legislation on the floor to provide funding to Ukraine to support that sovereign nation in its fight against Russia.

“I’m still trying to process all the b*llsh*t,” Crenshaw added.

Crenshaw on Thursday also commented on Speaker Johnson’s remarks, stating he will hold the Ukraine funding vote regardless of attempts to oust him over it.

“To be clear, he’s being threatened for even allowing a vote to come to the floor. For allowing the constitutional process to play out as intended by our Founders. That’s a wild thing to consider, especially when his enemies consider themselves ‘conservative.’ Not conserving the painstaking constitutional process our Founders created, that’s for sure. Conserving Putin’s gains on the battlefield, more like it.”

Journalist Brian Beutler, a former editor-in-chief at Crooked Media, called it, “darkly funny to me that a pincer movement of MAGAns and leftists mock liberals for claiming the GOP works hand in glove with Russia, and then multiple conservative Republican dissenters are like ‘no it’s true, we’re lousy with Russian influence.'”

Watch Crenshaw’s remarks below or at this link.

READ MORE: Marjorie Taylor Greene, ‘Putin’s Envoy’? Democrat’s Bills Mock Republican’s Actions

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OPINION

Marjorie Taylor Greene, ‘Putin’s Envoy’? Democrat’s Bills Mock Republican’s Actions

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17 hours ago

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April 18, 2024

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For years U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has been called “Pro-Putin.” As far back as 2021, her first year as a member of Congress, the question had been raised on social media: “Is Marjorie Taylor Greene a Russian asset?”

In 2022 The Annenberg Public Policy Center’s FactCheck.org reported: “Marjorie Taylor Greene Parrots Russian Talking Point on Ukraine.”

Back then, as the article highlighted, Greene had said, “there is no doubt that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s actions in Ukraine are despicable and evil.”

Now, she promotes a far more favorable view of President Vladimir Putin and his illegal war against Ukraine, a sovereign nation which the Russian autocrat wants to incorporate – at least partly – into Russia.

Just last week Greene spread demonstrably false pro-Russia talking points about a “war on Christianity” while defending and promoting President Vladimir Putin.

READ MORE: ‘Afraid and Intimidated’: Trump Trial Juror Targeted by Fox News Dismissed

“This is a war on Christianity,” Greene told far-right propagandist Steve Bannon. “The Ukrainian government is attacking Christians, the Ukrainian government is executing priests. Russia is not doing that.”

That’s just plain false, as NCRM reported.

Largely in response to her strong opposition to the U.S. supporting Ukraine, and her spreading Russian disinformation and flat-out pro-Putin falsehoods, Greene’s fondness for Putin and Russia has been making headlines.

“Republicans Who Like Putin,” was the headline last month at The New York Times, which observed: “A few Republicans have gone so far as [to] speak about Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, in ways that mimic Russian propaganda. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has accused Ukraine of having ‘a Nazi army,’ echoing language Putin used to justify the invasion.”

“The Putin Republicans Have the Upper Hand” warned Washington Monthly‘s David Atkins on Wednesday, reporting on “conservative extremists led by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.”

“They admire the strongman as a Christian nationalist leader, and won’t support Ukraine. The global consequences of their besotted love affair with the Russian strongman could be cataclysmic.”

“Russia Is Buying Politicians in Europe. Is It Happening Here Too?” The New Republic‘s Alex Finley wrote last week. The photo at the top of the page? Marjorie Taylor Greene.

READ MORE: ‘Used by the Russians’: Moskowitz Mocks Comer’s Biden Impeachment Failure

Finley pointed to Greene’s interview with Bannon, “about Ukraine’s persecution of Christians, which is a Kremlin talking point aimed at boosting the pro-Moscow wing of Ukraine’s Orthodox Church. The U.S. should be spending money on the border with Mexico, not on Ukraine aid? That’s a Kremlin talking point. Russia invaded Ukraine to defend itself against an expanding NATO? That’s a Kremlin talking point. Call for a cease-fire, and give Russia Crimea and eastern Ukraine? That’s a Kremlin talking point.”

Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post last week ran this headline: “Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says she ‘seriously hates’ people who support sending more aid to Ukraine: ‘Most repulsive, disgusting thing happening’.”

Then there is Greene’s obsession with Nazis. Specifically, equating Ukrainians with Nazis, which she did several times over the past week, including on Wednesday. That earned her the condemnation and wrath of U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), who demanded: “Stop bringing up Nazis and Hitler.”

Wednesday night, Congressman Moskowitz, known for his use of humor and sarcasm to make his points, declared: “Just submitted an amendment to Bill drafting appointing MTG [Marjorie Taylor Greene] as Putin’s Special Envoy to the United States Congress.”

Moskowitz’s amendment was in response to Congresswoman Greene’s amendments requiring members to “conscript in the Ukrainian military” if they vote for the Ukraine military funding bill, as Juliegrace Brufke reported.

READ MORE: ‘Big Journalism Fail’: Mainstream Media Blasted Over Coverage of Historic Trump Trial

The Florida Democrat wasn’t joking, as Axios’ Andrew Solender pointed out Thursday morning.

Moskowitz did not stop there.

He drafted legislation on Thursday to name the Capitol Hill offices occupied by Congresswoman Greene after the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, infamous for promoting appeasement in dealing with Adolf Hitler.

Chamberlain also signed the Munich Agreement, which allowed Hitler to annex part of Czechoslovakia.

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