Bigots putting the WTA in FUSD

Because of course they are

I’m back, back, back again, Secular Fam!

What can I say? It’s Pride month and I’ve been on a whirlwind tour of all things fabulous, and unlike those evangelical extremist ghouls, I EFFING LOVE RAINBOWS!

So scream it from the mountaintops, all our LGBTQIA+ members and allies! Secular AZ will stand up for your religious freedom to be your true selves, no matter your sexual orientation or gender identity. 

I know I spent an entire Substack on rural spaces last week, but I would be remiss if I didn’t give a big shout out to the Rim Country Pride folks. Last week, I got to celebrate a friend’s birthday in Heber, so I decided to carve out some time for the Rim Country Pride event in Pine, Arizona.

Pine is a small community with a population just shy of 2000 people. The town was founded in 1879 by four Mormon families. The median age is just under seventy and it’s over 96% White, just so you can form a picture in your head of the vibe. Also, the median age is so high because in the past few years, Pine has suddenly become a retirement destination. I can see why because it’s absolutely beautiful in Rim Country.

One of the organizers of the event told me about the online threats they received in the lead-up to this event. In one Facebook group, someone joked about how the Pride in Pine event would be perfect for some “target practice.” 

Despite all that, only one protester showed up in all-white, and I can only assume she was in a religious sect that was really into the “seeds of 5 in[ches]” or something? 

Weird kink, but luckily, she was in a space where no one would judge her for it! She was polite enough, and one of the organizers, Sydney, said that at least she didn’t hide her face like haters at other events. At past events, cowardly broflakes have come around to intimidate peaceful celebrants but were covered from head-to-toe including masks or balaclavas. Such alpha. Much brave.

It was warm out there in the heat, so two of the organizers, Barb and Sydney, repeatedly checked on her. They routinely offered her water, shade, and food, despite her disdain for her LGBTQIA+ neighbors.  

This was my third rural Pride event this month, and I gotta say…Pine was LIT! There was a great bluegrass band, door prizes, face painting, a food truck, and drag queens! There were two drag performers from Flagstaff (or as one of the performers, Revelucien, called it, “Dragstaff”), in the presence of children, even!

Miraculously, they all survived, and many of them danced along as they lip synced to Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, and ABBA. It was lovely, and anyone who could possibly see it as sexual are really the ones with issues. 

[Gotta give a shout-out to these fabulous “Dragstaff” performers, Revelucien & Chris Mort]

There is another Pride event in Payson in September, so keep an eye out, Rim Country allies!

Perhaps it was the drag performers, or maybe it was the eagle-eyed members who help us stay informed when evangelical extremism nonsense is about to go down in their local school districts, but a little birdy guided my attention to the June 25th, 2024 board meeting in Flagstaff Unified School District (FUSD). 

This month my goal of getting myself outside of Maricopa County ended in Coconino County, albeit virtually. I wanted to watch an FUSD town hall meeting regarding the review of a Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE) curriculum that’s been in the district since 2006.

State law requires this review, and while CSE isn’t required, FUSD offers it “in the best interest of students and public health.” I’ve said over and over that this is a big, fat DUH! Because just about every study proves that CSE keeps our kids safer. 

Given that this is a program that has existed since 2006 (seemingly without much hullabaloo), this outrage seems manufactured.

That’s because it is.

In case you haven’t been paying attention, this is just another piece of a multi-pronged culture war attack. To be certain, some people will never want CSE for their children; luckily, all sex ed in Arizona is opt-in, so parents/guardians have to sign off or the child can’t participate. Another reason that people are freaking out about sex ed is because over the years, it has become more inclusive and students learn about more than heteronormative relationships. 

Has anyone noticed that people didn’t start freaking out about trans people until around 2020? Even 45 can’t take full credit for the 21st century Trans Panic. In case any of you aren’t aware of groups like ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), they are a right-wing organization that provides “model” legislation for extremists. If you notice several states coming up with similar bills, that’s likely because of groups like ALEC. Some argue that when legislators gather at ALEC’s annual Fascism Fest Exchange Council Meeting, it’s a violation of Open Meeting Law. 

But let’s be honest, Secular Fam, we’re fully in late stage capitalism. Judges receive monetary gifts with impunity, legislatures defy the wants and needs of their constituents, billionaires’ wealth has grown exponentially in recent years, and the unhoused population all over the country is skyrocketing. 

I’ve read enough dystopian fiction to understand that controlling peoples’ minds and bodies is vital to keep the profits rolling in. An uneducated electorate either won’t vote, or they’ll be easily swayed to usher in authoritarianism. Evangelical extremist constituents will blindly support the patriarchy because they’ve been conditioned to never question authority. The two-party system gives folks the illusion of choice, but at the end of the day, leaders in each party are beholden to their corporate overlords. 

Where was I? Oh right…the FUSD town hall on CSE. The presentation showed the various updates made to the curriculum, and the presenters were a public health official from Coconino County and the Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum & Instruction. They both included their pronouns in their introductions, and I’m sure some people in the audience lost their minds. 

In a nutshell, the presenters knew their stuff, and the overwhelming takeaway for anyone who isn’t obsessed with children’s genitalia is that CSE keeps kids safer and the number one reason to teach it is to protect kids. Full stop. 

Once the presentation was over, the public had a chance to speak, and the first three speakers were in favor of the updates. Brooke Fulton with the Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence (ACESDV) agreed with the presenters once again citing data that proves that CSE keeps kids safer from reducing intimate partner violence, dating safety, and reducing bullying of LGBTQIA+ kids. 

Dr. Andy Hogg, a retired middle school and high school psychologist who now teaches human sexuality at the collegiate level, reiterated many of the reasons already given and included the fact that the average kid finds porn in 7th grade (!!!). Another speaker who works at Northern Arizona University (NAU) in the health department shared how shocked she is at the level of ignorance of graduating seniors entering a college setting, and shared her support of CSE in FUSD. 

During all of this, I could see some familiar faces in the audience who were carpet-bagging themselves up to Flagstaff to spread their hate, so I wasn’t surprised when the rest of the comments were your standard, run-of-the-mill, manufactured outrage being fed to them by their church/Newsmax/Truth Social/Fox News overlords. 

Because these kinds of speakers are so draining and make me want to punch myself in the face whenever I track them, I’m going to give y’all the Reader’s Digest version of their hateful, bigoted, bizarre things they said. 

Speakers insisted that most trans people detransition (they don’t, and in fact, the most common reasons given for detransitioning are essentially lack of support). One cited the bogus group, the American College of Pediatrics (FYI, they’ve been around since 2002, and the American Academy of Pediatrics has been around since 1930, just sayin’), and tried to discredit WPATH. They use the findings of “think tanks” to justify their bigotry, and of course, they justify their discrimination with their faith. 

Oh, also, have I mentioned that an important facet of late stage capitalism is that our leaders distract people with culture war issues like abortion and trans healthcare to keep us from discussing real issues like income inequality and climate change? 

And when they convince a portion of the population that those culture war non-issues are a sin and that there’s a whole land of milk and honey awaiting believers in the afterlife, well, why would you care about the real issues? 

There was an awful (and I do mean AWFUL) lot of bible quotes including their FAVORITE one about killing all non-Christians. They denied the existence of trans people (of course). A few of them called the notion of trans people a “fad” despite the fact that trans people have literally been around forever.

Former Coconino County Board of Supervisor member, Jim Parks, had a wild take where he harkened back to the “old days” and advocated for “barnyard sex education.” 

One woman insisted that CSE will result in pagan, satanic, sex orgies.

One parent said that her daughter’s peers and everyone else at the school basically tried to convince her daughter she was gay or bi (ignoring that sometimes kids actually do question and explore their sexuality in their teens because that’s fcking normal). Someone with Arizona Women of Action spoke to express how angry all the facts and data in the presentation made her, I guess because she hates facts and data? 

But Secular Fam! The most telling statement was made by some dude with a military haircut who promised to pull his children out if the 18-year-old, medically accurate, age-appropriate, literally one week-long program of CSE is renewed. 

He mentioned the “mirage…of inclusivity” and asserted that there is no way to be inclusive with everybody. 

He went on to say that by trying to include a specific small group, you automatically exclude the majority group. And there you have it folks.

They’ve been saying the quiet part out loud for a while, and at last night’s Peoria (PUSD) meeting, someone else said essentially the same thing (I watched that Dumpster fire so you don’t have to). 

And can we talk about his choice of words here? “Mirage” is so apt, because while schools all over the state are facing massive budget shortfalls and schools all over the state struggle to make ends meet, these extremists focus on a grant-funded, one-week-a-year, fully vetted, data-driven program. They’re the ones who have fallen for the bait and switch, but they’re too far gone to see it. 

The evangelical extremists have fully embraced Project 2025 and the Great Replacement Theory. They’re so afraid of losing their straight, white (and white adjacent), cisgendered power and privilege that they’re just straight up calling for the extermination of anyone who disagrees with them. 

Some are so bold that they brazenly draft discriminatory legislation and give interviews to racist anti-semites. You know, like Arizona’s own J6 Insurrectionist, CD8 Congressional HopeNOPEful, Newly Indicted Fake Elector, Arizona’s Biggest Manbaby, recently reprimanded Nazi sympathizer, fluent speaker of “tongues” (also known as Shamala Hamala), AND Mama Fratelli Look Alike, Senator Anthony Kern (R-LD27). 

So a few takeaways here. First, if you’re grateful for these kinds of updates, please subscribe. 

Second, this is Flagstaff. Flagstaff has a strong board and operates with little controversy. While some of the radicals there were definitely locals, I recognized at least two that live in Maricopa County, including the leader of a local, SPLC-identified hate group, Mom Army Phoenix. 

Third, these folks aren’t grounded in reality. Like, at all. They deny the expertise of doctors, nurses, epidemiologists, and virologists. They deny the expertise of teachers, administrators, social workers, and counselors. They deny the expertise of attorneys who give legal advice about state and federal laws and regulations. For crying out loud, they wear t-shirts proudly proclaiming they’re voting for a convicted felon in 2024.

The reason why they’re so loud? Because they’re afraid. Rage comes from fear, and these snowflakes are afraid of anything that doesn’t fit into their twisted worldview. If given an opportunity, try pointing out their hypocrisy. 

Chances are, it won’t work, but you may have fun trying. 

The vote to approve the revisions and updates to the CSE curriculum will likely be coming back in July or August, so stay tuned. And if you’d like to show your support to FUSD’s CSE curriculum, you can click here to contact the board. 

In the meantime, be sure to become a member here. And of course, if you have time, talent, and/or treasure to share with Secular AZ, let us know how you’d like to support the work we do.