Social Justice Thread

[Virgin Killer]

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/17/politics/south-dakota-school-restrooms-transgender-bill/index.html

How is this even legally literate? Somebody in South Dakota kick a lawmaker in the shins, please.

[kevin]

I think this starts with language. As long as we sit by quietly as our friends misgender people, or deadname folks, we will continue seeing things like occur.

[yullowteef]

Is America one of the only places left in the world where politicians and lawmakers can openly align their religious beliefs or religion-based prejudices with their politics? Asking seriously from Canada.

[sloweducation]

Is America one of the only places left in the world where politicians and lawmakers can openly align their religious beliefs or religion-based prejudices with their politics? Asking seriously from Canada.

Would have to think this practice is fairly common in African countries.

[I Am Not Marty Feldman]

And the Middle East. 

[sloweducation]

And probably many Caribbean & South American countries as well.

Also, from the "Religion in the United Kingdom" Wiki entry.....


Though the main political parties are secular, the formation of the Labour Party was influenced by Christian socialism and by leaders from a nonconformist background, such as Keir Hardie. On the other hand, the Church of England has sometimes been nicknamed "the Conservative Party at prayer".[140]

&&&&&

Some minor parties are explicitly 'religious' in ideology: two 'Christian' parties ? the Christian Party and the Christian Peoples Alliance, fielded joint candidates at the 2009 European Parliament elections and increased their share of the vote to come eighth, with 249,493 votes (1.6 per cent of total votes cast), and in London, where the CPA had three councillors,[141] the Christian parties picked up 51,336 votes (2.9 per cent of the vote), up slightly from the 45,038 gained in 2004.[142]

/////////

Maybe Canada is actually the exception to the rule.

[Deke Dirt]

This company I used to work for in the UK had a trans employee who used the can she identified with, no one ever said anything.



http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/12/23/americans-are-in-the-middle-of-the-pack-globally-when-it-comes-to-importance-of-religion/

[yullowteef]

Interesting! Thanks for sharing. The intertwining of religion and politics isn't really a thing in Canada, so it is always just strange to see in news articles about other countries. We have leaders who openly identify as Muslim, Christian, atheist, etc. and Aboriginal leaders who participate in their culture and traditions. Lots of diverse beliefs abound, but anyone using their respective belief or nonbelief as a foil for governance and decision-making doesn't really happen.

[bradx]

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/17/politics/south-dakota-school-restrooms-transgender-bill/index.html

How is this even legally literate? Somebody in South Dakota kick a lawmaker in the shins, please.

whats the fucking point?  an epidemic of people pretending to be transgender so they can assault someone in the bathroom?  how often has it actually happened that a trans person or someone pretending to be a woman assaulted someone in a bathroom?  i mean, thats what theyre getting at here, right?  theyre not worried about a manly woman pissing in the mens room, theyre afraid some weird boy is gonna rape their little daughters... 

it just seems so fucked up.  considering the rape culture in this country it boggles my mind that they waste time legislating totally ridiculous shit like this.  this is what they see as a problem?  transgender folks using the "wrong" toilet?  this is just as bad as separate facilities for black people.  we all share bathrooms at home.  we share a bathroom at my work.  if you have a series of stalls, nobody can see what you're doing or whats between your legs. 

"honey, we just need to see between your legs real quick to make sure you dont have a weiner hiding down there, so go ahead and drop your pants..."

i mean, this just makes me sick. 

[Old Kyle]

Yeah, this is why an anti-discrimination proposition just lost in Houston, TX.  It was sold to old religious people that women's bathrooms would become unsafe. 

How stupid is that?  What makes them safe now?  What's stopping anyone from going into any bathroom at any time? 

Call me a helicopter parent, or whatever, but people shouldn't really send their small children alone into restrooms anyway.

[nuggetsvolume1]

I would imagine being transgender at your average U.S. public high school is basically the inner circle of hell. So this shit just makes it worse. Nowadays you can add internet bullying into the mix, as well.

[Scrod Prickknee]

^ Far less than it used to be, luckily. It's amazing how different the atmosphere (anti-bullying, anti-fighting, anti-discriminatory) is at schools now vs when I went (pro-everything). Teachers used to watch fights and break 'em up when they felt like it when I was in school. Sometimes they'd even congratulate people.

[Scrod Prickknee]

It feels like whenever (ironically) the boomers finally kick off, there will be far more social justice to go around. Just look at the Bernie numbers per age group.

[frankie teardrop]

Yes! Why are boomers so conservative?

[Maltodextrin]

Is America one of the only places left in the world where politicians and lawmakers can openly align their religious beliefs or religion-based prejudices with their politics? Asking seriously from Canada.

I'd say it's pretty much the rule, and to a much greater extent, in a significant majority of the world's countries. Amazed that this wouldn't be obvious to anyone. The US looks a bit backward in this regard to other developed nations, but that's a relatively small chunk of the global population. Next to India, Africa, Catholic South America and eastern/southern Europe, and the entire Muslim world, America looks pretty damn secular. Even advanced Western countries have large Christian parties across the democratic spectrum (ie Germany is governed by the centre-right Christian Democrats under Merkel).