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Published by Reuters By Sharon Bernstein (Reuters) – Florida is looking to expand its ban on teaching young children about sexual orientation and gender identity issues to include all students in its public schools under a new rule set for a vote by the state Board of Education next month. The proposed rule is the latest move by the administration of Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who is expected to seek his party’s 2024 nomination for president, to limit or prohibit instruction on topics conservatives consider inappropriate for the state’s classrooms. Last year, DeSantis signed a Republican-backed measure that banned classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity for students in kindergarten through third grade. Critics denounced what they dubbed the “don’t say gay” bill. The Florida Department of Education’s new proposal, which would not require legislative approval, would extend the ban through the 12th grade. The proposal drew swift criticism on Wednesday from Democrats and LGBTQ rights activists, with White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre calling the proposal “completely, utterly, wrong.” Equality Florida said the rule was advancing DeSantis’ political agenda at the expense of diverse families and educators. Under the rule, teachers could face disciplinary action if they discuss sexual orientation or gender identity outside of mandated curriculum or health courses that parents have been briefed on and given the option to keep their children out of class for those lessons. “There is no reason for instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity to be part of K-12 public education. Full stop,” DeSantis spokesperson Bryan Griffin tweeted on Wednesday. The state Board of Education is scheduled to vote on the rule at its April 19 meeting. (Reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, California; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Lincoln Feast.) View the full article

Published by The Charlotte Observer RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina House Republicans approved new rules on Wednesday limiting how racism and sexism can be taught but fell short of gaining any Democratic support to guarantee a veto override. The 68-49 vote went along party lines with all Republicans in support and all Democrats in opposition. Republicans would need at least one Democrat should Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper veto the bill again as he did in 2021. GOP lawmakers say the bill is designed to prevent schools from promoting “critical race theory.” House Bill 187 has provisions such as one saying teachers shall not promote t… Read More View the full article

Published by City AM By Elena Siniscalco The Metropolitan Police has had years to make things right – but it hasn’t done it. It’s time we admit we should reform it for good – and the best way is to break it up, writes Will Cooling On Monday night the Casey Review into the Metropolitan Police confirmed it had found extensive evidence that the force is institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic. This should be no surprise to anyone who has been following the long list of scandals that has befallen the force in recent years, of which the murder of Sarah Everard by a senior police officer whose appalling beha… Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Miriam Margolyes and Sir Tony Robinson once had a “sexual encounter” when she “tickled” his private parts. The pair were waiting in the wings during a show when the ‘Harry Potter’ actress put her hand down the 76-year-old star’s trousers, just seconds before he was due on stage. Tony reminded Miriam of the encounter, which took place in Leicester when they first met, on his new ‘Cunningcast’ podcast, and she replied: “We had a sexual encounter? I don’t remember that.” The ‘Blackadder’ star explained: “I was in the wings, waiting to go on. And suddenly you put your hand down my trousers and tickled my balls.” Miriam replied: “I never did!” Tony then laughed, and added: “Why would I lie about a thing like that? I remember how split down the middle I was because a part of me thought, oh, my God, this is fantastic. “Nobody ever, just out of the blue does that to me. I must just squeeze every inch of pleasure out of this possible. The other part of me was thinking in about nine seconds time, I have to go on stage. “It was during the show. The acting was going on. I was standing behind the door waiting to go on. You were, I guess, going to be on next after me and it was so funny. “I suppose nowadays people would say that to you sexually harassed me, but it wasn’t like that at all as far as I was concerned. Looking in your eyes, it was the funniest joke possible.” Miriam, 81, still didn’t remember the encounter, but admitted it sounded “very unprofessional”. She said: “How very unprofessional of me, I am now apologising for that era, but I can’t remember it. I’m so glad you remember it.” But Tony said: “It was probably the high point of my sexual life.” Miriam – who is a lesbian and has been with her partner, Heather Sutherland, for 56 years – admitted she rarely thinks about sex nowadays, but still likes to try to work out where a guy’s manhood is if she is sitting on a Tube train opposite them. She said: “I don’t think about sex. However, if I’m on a tube which I’m not now very much because I frightened of Covid, but when I was on tubes, I always looked at men’s trousers to see where their c***s were. So there’s still a, I don’t know a little fragment of sex left in me.” Asked if that is “just curiosity”, she replied: “Yes, I think it’s curiosity. And also a rather charming sense of wonder. “It’s so interesting to me that that you have c***s and balls. Something that hangs outside of your body. Extraordinary. So I think I’m still a bit amazed and rather thrilled. Something so different.” Tony Robinson’s Cunningcast – https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/tony-robinsons-cunningcast/id1676254046 – is available to listen to on all podcast platforms. View the full article

Published by Al-Araby With a South-Asian background, upbringing in the Gulf and ultimate relocation to the United States, Lamya (a pseudonym) deeply self-reflects about identity in her memoir,Hijab Butch Blues, while anchoring the coming-of-age tale in stories from the Quran. She reimagines Prophetic tales in contemporary, colloquial language, and interweaves lessons she extracts from the Quran with her daily life experiences. “Time and again, Lamya challenges readers to reject longstanding, culturally-informed binary ways of thinking. She writes about the uniquely heart-breaking homophobia of Muslims, who are also… Read More View the full article

Published by AlterNet Although Democrats have won the popular vote in seven of the United States’ last eight presidential elections, they have had terrible luck with the U.S. Supreme Court — which is now controlled by a 6-3 majority of GOP-appointed justices. One-third of the High Court consists of justices who were appointed by former President Donald Trump: Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett. The Robert Court’s Democratic critics have complained that Trump obviously had no interest in choosing nuanced Republican justices like Sandra Day O’Connor and Anthony Kennedy (two retired Ronald Reagan appo… Read More View the full article

Published by uInterview.com Former Love Island star Megan Barton Hanson has been minting money after uploading her sexy pictures on the OnlyFans platform. The 28-year-old former reality star has reportedly made over $1.5 million from posting content on her OnlyFans in the last two years. 50 BEST CELEBRITY BIKINIS SLIDESHOW! Hanson starred in Love Island in 2018, which helped her develop a following in the U.K. and U.S. On the show, she finished the show in fourth place and started dating Wes Nelson. The couple didn’t last too long. Hanson, who is bisexual, started to date Demi Sims and Chelcee Grimes. Now, the reality st… Read More View the full article

Published by The Charlotte Observer CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A lawsuit by dozens of conservative United Methodist churches in western North Carolina wishing to break away from their governing body was thrown out of court Tuesday by an N.C. judge. Superior Court Judge Richard Doughton of Iredell County tossed the complaint filed by 36 congregations after agreeing with a motion by the Western N.C. Conference of the United Methodist Church that the lawsuit violated the separation of church and state. “We are grateful for this ruling, which further sustains the separation of church and state,” Bishop Kenneth Carter, head of the conference,… Read More View the full article

Published by Raw Story Former President Donald Trump’s tweet on Dec. 19, 2020 — it summoned his supporters to “be there” for Congress’ Jan. 6 certification of the electoral vote and promised that it would be “wild” — electrified far-right militants. One person who answered the call was Joseph Pavlik, a 65-year-old retired firefighter from Chicago. Pavlik’s social media posts in November and December 2020 reflected a mounting sense of desperation about what America would look like with Trump forced to leave the White House. His Facebook posts manifested a logical response to the existential choice — Donald Trump or d… Read More View the full article

Published by OK Magazine mega Howard Stern knows who should run for president in 2024: former The Daily Show anchor Jon Stewart. “When Jon Stewart hosted The Daily Show, they said that he was the most trusted newsman in the country. Like Walter Cronkite trustworthy,” the talk show host, 69, said during his SiriusXM radio show. “The guy is so f****** smart and bright and also witty and really measured when he takes on a debate,” the shock jock added. “He knows how to talk. You know he would work his a** off to be a good president. I’m telling you, he could also win, because people like Jon Stewart.” mega Stern first came up with the idea after watching some old videos of Stewart, 60, debating with TV star Bill O’Reilly. “Well, he owes it to his country to run. A lot more work, but the guy would be terrific and I think he’d do it,” Stern added. Stewart’s name has been brought up before, but it sounds like he has no interest in taking over the White House. “Ummm…No thank you,” Stewart tweeted in July 2022 in response to entering the political world. Pink Reveals Madonna ‘Doesn’t Like’ Her Because Of Awkward Misunderstanding 20 Years Ago: ‘She Tried To Kind Of Play Me’ Howard Stern Questions Whether Tom Brady Is ‘Going Sexless’ This Season After Gisele Bündchen Divorce Bachelor No More! Jon Hamm & Former Costar Anna Osceola Engaged After 2 Years Of Dating Stern, who has been vocal about his hatred toward Donald Trump, previously hinted he should be in the race. “I think I’m going to run for president,” he quipped in 2021. “If Trump decided to run again, you have to run against him. That’s my plan,” Stern’s sidekick Robin Quivers replied. “That’s what’s going to have to happen. We can’t leave it to the Democrats.” mega Though the radio personality admitted he doesn’t have all the qualifications people are looking for, he seemed confident he could win the race. “Who the f*** am I?” Stern asked. “I know, I’ll beat his a**. I told Beth [Ostrosky Stern], ‘I think I’m going to have to do my civic duty and run for president against Trump,” Stern claimed. Never miss a story — sign up for the OK! newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what OK! has to offer. It’s gossip too good to wait for! “I would just sit there at debate and play that f****** clip of him trying to fix the election, over and over again,” Stern said, referring to Trump’s claims the 2020 election was rigged. “There’s no way I’d lose.” View the full article

Published by AlterNet Joe Harding, the now-former Florida Republican lawmaker who authored the extremist “Don’t Say Gay” bill could face up to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty Tuesday afternoon to federal felony fraud charges in a scheme to obtain $150,000 in COVID-19 relief funds, according to Florida Politics‘ publisher Peter Scorsch. Harding, 35, was a construction project manager who started his own lawn care company. He quickly became a right-wing darling after his anti-LGBTQ legislation, officially the Parental Rights in Education Act, was embraced by Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis, who signed it i… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters (Reuters) – Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday signed a law targeting the trans community, prohibiting transgender people from using the restroom that matches their gender identity at public schools. The bill signed by the Republican governor, who describes herself as a conservative reformer, applies to multi-person restrooms and locker rooms at public schools and charter schools serving prekindergarten through grade 12. The law requires schools to provide reasonable accommodations, that include single-person restrooms and changing areas. School authorities that violate the law can face fines of at least $1,000, and parents can also file lawsuits to enforce the measure. “The governor has said she will sign laws that focus on protecting and educating our kids, not indoctrinating them and believes our schools are no place for the radical left’s woke agenda,” Alexa Henning, a spokesperson for Sanders, told Reuters in a statement. “Arkansas isn’t going to rewrite the rules of biology just to please a handful of far-left advocates.” Similar laws directed at transgender youth have been enacted in Alabama and Oklahoma. Republican legislators across the United States have escalated a campaign to ban certain healthcare for transgender youth, in some cases seeking to charge parents and doctors with child abuse if they provide treatment. (Reporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Kanjyik Ghosh) View the full article

Published by Raw Story Donald Trump has been huddling with advisers to game out his options if he’s indicted in Manhattan. The former president can choose to show up in court in New York City or force authorities to haul him out of Mar-a-Lago, and the reality TV veteran is weighing which option would generate the most drama. However, a source close to Trump told The Daily Beast he’ll most likely present himself voluntarily to avoid being handcuffed. “Being in handcuffs isn’t something Trump would want to do,” the Trump source said. Legal experts say the ex-president probably doesn’t need to worry about a perp walk. … Read More View the full article

Published by Raw Story A Tennessee Republican leader has survived a no-confidence vote after revelations surfaced that he repeatedly posted on the Instagram pages of a young gay model, among others who identify as LGBTQ. On Monday, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally’s GOP Senate colleagues by a 19-7 margin voted to allow the embattled 79-year-old to keep his job, which also includes serving as the state Senate’s speaker. The staunch conservative who earlier this month backed a law that will criminalize certain drag performances has been facing allegations of hypocrisy after commenting and leaving emojis deemed flirtatious by so… Read More View the full article

Published by New York Daily News Tennis great Martina Navratilova said she’s cancer-free, just over two months after revealing she had been diagnosed with two unrelated forms of cancer. The former top-ranked tennis star described her frightening experience in an upcoming interview with Piers Morgan on U.K.’s Talk TV. “I’m like, ‘Oh great, I have another cancer.’ That’s when I started crying on the table,” the former pro athlete told the broadcaster in the episode of “Piers Morgan: Uncensored” scheduled to air Tuesday night. “I was in a total panic for three days thinking I may not see next Christmas,” she added. That’s when, … Read More View the full article