From Gay Veterans Receiving Benefits to School Board Member Demanding Burning LGBT Books, This Week in Across the Country – SouthFloridaGayNews.com
This week read about gay veterans receiving equal access to benefits in Colorado, and a Virginia school board member saying LGBT books should be “thrown into a fire.”
Gay Veterans to Receive Equal Access to Benefits
Through the Restoration of Honor Act, gay Colorado veterans now have equal access to benefits. Veterans in the past had been dishonorably discharged due to their sexual orientation and were therefore barred from receiving benefits.
“With this law, we’re saying loud and clear that all members of our military, no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation, deserve to receive the same benefits as their counterparts when they return home from duty,” said Sen. Dominick Moreno, who sponsored the act.
The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy is what led to many veterans being discharged because of their sexual orientation, EIN Presswire reported.
“Ensuring that veterans receive the benefits they’ve earned regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation will go a long way toward guaranteeing that they can continue to feel pride in their service,” Representative David Ortiz said.
School Board Member Says LGBT Books Should Be Banned, Burned
Photo via Pixabay.
During a November school board meeting in Virginia’s Spotsylvania County, a mother stood up at the podium and expressed her concerns about the LGBT fiction available in the library and was later concerned by other “sexually explicit” materials, the Hill reported.
Board member Rabih Abuismail responded at the meeting and suggested that an audit of the library’s materials be conducted. He didn’t want the books kept in separate library sections, he said he “didn’t even want to see them … I think they should be thrown into a fire.” He later said he would follow Twigg’s suggestion “for the sake of them [the books] being out the schools.”
Darnela Sims, director of teaching and learning for the district, told the board that they had already been looking into the situation and requested more time for the staff to review books.
Abuismail said he would rather not have the books on the shelves another night because it would make it seem they “would rather have our kids reading gay pornography than about Christ.”
The school board voted 6-0 to have “sexually explicit” books removed from the library immediately.