Hate vs. Joy

Don't be weird! Choose joy!

What a month it’s been, Secular Fam! 

So obvi, a few things have happened recently, and we’re likely all suffering from a massive case of whiplash, but here goes:

• Trump was shot in the ear

• Trump announced that JD Vance is his VP pick

• Biden dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed VP Kamala Harris

• Harris broke fundraising records in a jaw dropping fashion

• People started calculating how many childless cat ladies (and men) vote in AZ (it’s substantial)

• The Paris Olympics made uninformed “christians” big mad about things they don’t understand

• The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) hosted an interview with Trump

• Harris announced Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) to be her running mate

• People thought “Tampon Tim” was a hilarious insult

• Trump gave an unhinged, rambling presser where he doubled down on his racism, xenophobia, misogyny, and transphobia

The contrast between the two campaigns couldn’t be more stark. 

While Vance alienated childless cat ladies all over the country, Walz reminds us of all the loving and funny grandfathers, uncles, fathers, and brothers we lost to Cult 45. 

All these developments are energizing and all, but we still need to focus on local races and local governing bodies. Let’s talk about how all this stuff at the national level compares to things happening at local school boards, namely Peoria (PUSD). 

The messaging coming from the presidential election is pretty clear: Hate vs. Joy. And I realized, watching the August 8, 2024 PUSD board meeting, that this little microcosm right here in a Phoenix suburb provides a perfect example on the regular about these two contrasting viewpoints. 

For the last couple of years, these meetings have been dominated by hatemongers, and the district itself is (thankfully) being led by joyful public servants. When staff present about new programming or to celebrate students and staff, they’re joyful. Their tone is inclusive and positive. When the evangelical extremists speak, they tend to be fearful and negative. This meeting was no different, and it mirrors national politics. 

During the last meeting in PUSD - and really, nearly every meeting over the last two years - these weirdos have been laser-focused on children’s genitalia. It seems that since there was a decision last month to do nothing about Title IX until some of the current court cases are settled, the Bigot Brigade needs to find new things to be angry about. 

At the August 8th meeting, people were upset/confused about a partnership with ASU to provide college classes to eligible students. They were angry about board behavior (!!!). 

A candidate complained about the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS), and the union president corrected all of her misinformation. One parent wanted to let everyone know what a terrible parent she is and how she doesn’t know how to use the internet, so that was strange, and then a few others wanted to celebrate the fact that their advocacywhining has now made it more difficult for parents to get their kids vaccinated. 

And no, you didn’t misread that. They were happy that PUSD will no longer partner with Maricopa County Health Department to provide children with vaccines on select school campuses during school hours. Like, go ahead and opt out of vaccinations for your family if that’s your jam. It’s so easy. In Arizona, absolutely anyone who wants to opt out can do so by filling out this form. So the parental rights crowd wants to just boss and bully everyone into conforming to their backwards, uninformed ideologies when it suits them. Their tired refrain is “rights for me, but not for thee,” if we’re being honest. 

So just like every other meeting, the evangelical extremists chose fear and rage this past Thursday. And the very next day, Joy showed up to the Valley of the Sun in the form of VP Harris and Governor Walz. I’ve been pretty lucky over the last decade or so, and I’ve witnessed some pretty electrifying rallies in-person. But nothing, and I mean nothing, came close to the rally held at the Desert Diamond Arena on the Westside. 

There was a young couple next to us who all wore “Arizona Republicans for Harris” t-shirts, and Mesa Mayor, John Giles, a Republican, shared his support of Harris/Walz, essentially saying he was choosing country over party. 

There was a lot of talk about neighborliness, and showing compassion, and I found myself reflecting about the PUSD meeting the night before. Like, the selfishness and lack of compassion coming from all the members of Peoria’s Klanned Karenhood chapter and others all over the state have real consequences. 

Recently, there was an article about Arizona’s vaccination rates, and they’re not good. Currently, only a third of Arizona’s schools have “herd immunity.” This isn’t good, and puts medically fragile students and staff in harm’s way. At the same time, these parents want to strip parents of trans kids of their rights from doing what’s best for their own children. 

Board Member Rooks is currently spreading falsehoods about Olympic boxers on her Xitter profile, indifferent, apparently to the fact that spreading these lies is putting these athletes in harm’s way. 

The “pRoTeCt tHe GiRls” crowd couldn’t care less about protecting girls, and this kind of hate speech and misinformation directly harms women everywhere. 

For these folks, if you’re not lock-step with their beliefs, they’ll attack you. People with huge platforms, like JK Rowling and everybody’s former favorite atheist, turned bigot, Richard Dawkins jumped on the dogpile and contributed to the straight-up lies and online bullying. His fall into far-right extremism has been heartbreaking for myself and a lot of folks I know. 

Now, biological woman, and gold medal champ, Imane Khelif, is filing a lawsuit, and interestingly, those who screamed the loudest are suddenly quiet. Truly, I hope Khelif’s lawsuit results in her winning the rights to the entire Harry Potter universe. 

So I don’t know about you all, but I’m choosing joy. And if you believe recent polls, a whole bunch of other people are choosing joy too. It’s making Grandpa Poopy Pants 

angry enough to hold rambling press conferences and get back on Xitter. I had uninstalled the Bird App a few months back, and yesterday, after watching Musk elevate hate speech over the last several weeks, I FINALLY deactivated my account. I’ll be more active on Threads (@jmcasteen) and Secular AZ (@secularaz) has been off of Xitter for about nine months. Right now, Threads feels a lot like the old Twitter, and there’s so much joy, humor, and important information, I encourage all you Xitter holdouts to cut the cord. 

For so many of us, we haven’t experienced this kind of joy in a very long time. I am fully leaning into it. A friend of mine recently shared with me that activism is way up for progressive, secular candidates up and down the ballot. Organizers are telling me they’ve had more first-time volunteers this cycle than at any other time!

So you know what that means, Secular Fam. Keep up the momentum! Become a member. Sign up to volunteer. Find a candidate who will fight to protect the wall that separates religion and government, and give them your time, talent, and treasure. 

I don’t know about you, but I’m not going back.