Mastodawn

Judd Legum Jan 30, 2023

1. A newly-formed right-wing group is launching a brazen plan to remake Michigan public schools — using hyper-aggressive legal action to effectively mandate the erasure of LGBTQ people

Follow along if interested

🧵

https://popular.info/p/inside-the-audacious-new-scheme-to

Inside the audacious new scheme to erase LGBTQ people from Michigan schools

A newly-formed conservative group is launching a brazen plan to remake Michigan public schools — using aggressive legal action to effectively mandate the erasure of LGBTQ people. The effort, organized by the Great Schools Initiative (GSI), seeks to exploit a

Popular Information

Judd Legum Jan 30, 2023

2. In Michigan, parents have the right to opt-out of sex education courses

The new group, called the Great Schools Initiative, has created their own form

In addition to sex education classes, the GSI form demands students are excluded from "ROGUE SEX ED"

3. What is ROGUE SEX ED?

According to GSI, it includes anything that acknowledges the existence of an LGBTQ person.

A teacher wearing a flag pin.

A school marking LGTBQ pride month.

A gender neutral bathroom.

Any book with an LGBTQ character.

Judd Legum Jan 30, 2023

4. The intent is not for parents to exercise control over their children.

Either the school acknowledges LGBTQ pride month, or it does not.

The intent is to align the entire school with a reactionary political agenda.

https://popular.info/p/inside-the-audacious-new-scheme-to

Inside the audacious new scheme to erase LGBTQ people from Michigan schools

A newly-formed conservative group is launching a brazen plan to remake Michigan public schools — using aggressive legal action to effectively mandate the erasure of LGBTQ people. The effort, organized by the Great Schools Initiative (GSI), seeks to exploit a

Popular Information

Judd Legum Jan 30, 2023

5. During a January 19 Zoom meeting obtained by http://popular.info, Nathan Pawl, one of GSI's co-founders, said the group aimed to have "20, 30, 50, or 100 parents per school" start "dropping off the opt-out forms" in February.

The goal is to OVERWHELM the schools

Popular Information | Judd Legum | Substack

Independent accountability journalism. Click to read Popular Information, a Substack publication with hundreds of thousands of subscribers.

Judd Legum Jan 30, 2023

6. To comply with GSI's opt-out form, Pawl says, the only option would be "to transform our schools.”

WATCH:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsrXgESoEQo

Michigan GSI

YouTube

Judd Legum Jan 30, 2023

7. GSI, however, doesn't expect Michigan schools to simply comply with their demands.

So, with legal support from the far-right @[email protected], GSI plans to overwhelm schools with litigation

During a 10/21 meeting, a lawyer described the strategy as "asymetrical lawfare"

Judd Legum Jan 30, 2023

@[email protected] 8. Under Michigan law, parents who don't believe their opt-out request is being honored can file a complaint with the district.

The district then must investigate and issue a report on their findings within 30 days.

GSI plans to flood Michigan schools with these complaints

Judd Legum Jan 30, 2023

@[email protected] 9. This legal process is intended for parents who opted out of sexual education classes, not "rogue sex ed," a concept invented by GSI

So it's very possible that school districts will reject the GSI opt-out forms as irrelevant to Michigan law.

But that's just the beginning

Judd Legum Jan 30, 2023

@[email protected] 10. There are two additional appeals that parents can pursue at the administrative level. Each requires school administers to investigate and issue a report.

If that fails, parents can take their complaints to Michigan courts.

GSI plans to support all this litigation.

Judd Legum Jan 30, 2023

11. Obviously, Michigan schools are not set up to handle this amount of litigation. And that's the point.

The far-right was defeated at the ballot box in Michigan, so now its headed to the courtroom.

Judd Legum Jan 30, 2023

12. Were you interested in this thread?

Well, you made it this far.

Prediction: YOU'LL REALLY LIKE OUR NEWSLETTER.

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Judd Legum Jan 30, 2023

13. There is considerable evidence that GSI is not an organic movement of parents.

The GSI website features three testimonials from Michigan parents.

But the photos are not of Michigan parents. They are stock images available for purchase online.

Judd Legum Jan 30, 2023

14. Funding for GSI and the @[email protected] is almost completely opaque.

This is a sophisticated effort, but we do not know who is funding it.

Judd Legum Jan 30, 2023

15. According to @[email protected], the group considered launching this strategy in several states, but thought it would be easiest to pull off in Michigan.

So that's where they are starting.

But it could be coming to your state soon.

tibbi ✨Jan 30, 2023

@juddlegum Sounds like the schools need to file harassment charges now. And I’d hope judges would be smart enough to throw that group out of court for filing fraudulent lawsuits

Lizakaya Jan 30, 2023

@juddlegum I’m curious, now does women’s suffrage fit into their definition of “rogue sex Ed”? It’s mentioned in the article as one topic parents can object to.

Jay Donaldson Jan 30, 2023

@lizkaya @juddlegum Basically, the argument goes that since it's over and done with and we're all equal now (much like their argument against teaching black history), anything having to do with a differentiation between sexes is "sex education." That way they can lump women's suffrage in with all the other stuff they want to keep people ignorant about so that, when they start passing legislation to trample women's rights, there won't be enough people knowledgeable enough to object to it.

LeaBug Jan 30, 2023

@juddlegum I think we know where this is coming from. Mike Flynn, Steve Bannon and company.

Martin Vermeer FCD Jan 30, 2023

@LeaBug @juddlegum 'Russia' has fewer letters.

MSUHiker Jan 30, 2023

@juddlegum - it will NOT be easy to pull off in michigan... we've been watching these trolls for a LONG time. They lost the suburbs in 2022.

AlicePaul Jan 30, 2023

Knock, knock
Who’s there?
Betsy
Betsy who?
Betsy DeVos

jmcp Jan 31, 2023

@juddlegum co-incidentally, @swordsjew's latest piece on extremism popped into my inbox today https://theswordandthesandwich.substack.com/p/how-to-conquer-the-devil - the GSI approach seems to line up perfectly with the Seven Mountains.

How to Conquer the Devil

Step 1: amass absolute worldly power

The Sword and the Sandwich

Chance Jan 30, 2023

@juddlegum What is GSI

im cold (she/her)Jan 30, 2023

@Chanceux99 @juddlegum the great schools initiative (scroll up to post #2 in thread)

HeppyCat Jan 30, 2023

@Chanceux99 @juddlegum "The new group, called the Great Schools Initiative"

Go Sports & Music!Jan 30, 2023

@juddlegum It’s a damn shame, the teachers in my Michigan district work so hard to teach the kids what they need to learn, while being sensitive about the topic. They are also open with the parents and are more than willing to engage in reasonable conversation with parents so everyone is on the same page. The GOP has is so easy in Michigan and somehow still manage to teach a brilliant course on how to fuck themselves.

Ehuff Jan 30, 2023

@juddlegum district should focus all resources on suing GSI.

Nicole Parsons Jan 30, 2023

Republican billionaire donors like Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks are funding anti-trans efforts to buy the votes of evangelicals is the usual explanation.

Uncoincidentally, these efforts at litigation that attack the civil rights of the LGBTQ community can also be used as foundation for new legal precedents.

Attacks on privacy, agency, & autonomy bloom from attacks on trans.

Chattel status for women. Slavery. Disenfranchisement schemes for immigrants & PoC. Child custody.

MSUHiker Jan 30, 2023

@juddlegum This is the stale Betsy DeVos (a local here) plan to destabilize public education in Michigan so she can install her for profit charter schools. Same game, new angle. We've been dealing with this for YEARS - but now they are playing the fear game. Sad. Everyone in MI in a position do do something about this, is aware of it...

Patriotic Cats Jan 30, 2023

@juddlegum it’s another republican disinformation campaign

Jake 🇺🇸 🇵🇱Jan 30, 2023

If this isn’t grooming, I don’t know what is.

Fan of Shared Truth & Empathy Jan 30, 2023

@juddlegum With enough money you can simulate anything to gin up faux rage enlisting alternative fact conspiracy Americans to your culture war causes.

I am sick and tired of bullshit marketing to overwhelm our justice system like a trump using the easily and willingly deceived.

Grandpa Don Jan 30, 2023

domestic terrorism.
Courts should dismiss all litigation by this group as frivolous and charge them court costs for having to bother to do so.

Christopher Noyes Jan 30, 2023

@juddlegum love you just can’t afford it now great work

don albertson Jan 30, 2023

@juddlegum What I don't like is the "only paid subscribers can comment" rule. I am on a fixed income so I get the information I can and, when it raises questions, I like to ask them. But I won't pay for the privilege.

Jay Donaldson Jan 30, 2023

@juddlegum Luckily, this effort will go nowhere. We don't put up with this bull here in Michigan. And any school board that buys into this crap is going to get their own asses handed to them on a silver platter in court. But it's just yet another Nazi angle we'll have to fight off and put an end to.

MSUHiker Jan 30, 2023

@juddlegum They are asking for more than an IEP for special education grants - COME AT US. https://michiganadvance.com/2023/01/24/new-right-wing-group-is-gearing-up-against-michigan-schools-over-lgbtq-inclusive-sex-ed/

꧁𝐌💙𝐑𝐆𝐀𝐍꧂Jan 30, 2023

@juddlegum A form #StochasticTerrorism perhaps?

Spicewalla Jan 30, 2023

I'd like to see the schools give them exactly what they ask for — their kids get to opt out of all schooling. They can just stay home in their parents' maga safe-spaces and still graduate "without penalty or loss of academic credit."

If they want to opt out of tens of thousands of dollars of free childcare, who is the state to restrict their freedumb?

level20mallow Jan 30, 2023

🤦 More dumb civil war shit. I wish they'd all just start shooting each other and kick off the climate wars already. End this shitshow that calls itself a society

kwh Jan 30, 2023

@juddlegum where do the 100 parents per school come from? Didn’t they already opt out for charter schools or vouchers or homeschooling or whatever?

Does this really have legs if you don’t have a critical mass of rioting Karen’s, and it’s just 5% of the pop trying to make a big stink?

Toni Aittoniemi Jan 30, 2023

@juddlegum This has: ”We won’t go down without a fight!” rhetoric of those knowing they have nothing else left written all over it.

MSUHiker Jan 30, 2023

@juddlegum Those kids whose parents are on this bandwagon, who don't like pride day or whatever, are free to keep their kids home that day, etc... THAT'S THE ANSWER. There was always a kid or two who could not particpate in Halloween for religious reasons at home. No costume but at school usually. This "form letter" from an astroturf group should not be accepted.

JD Jan 30, 2023

@juddlegum does that include an American flag pin?

Christopher Noyes Jan 30, 2023

@juddlegum just because you try to deny us we will still be there. I pity those who grow up in those circumstances and the harm it caused to others

Ariaflame Jan 30, 2023

@cjnoyesuws @juddlegum Did you some how get the impression that juddlegum approved of this group? (Admittedly it gets quite far down before it becomes not too neutral)

Shawn Jan 30, 2023

@juddlegum being taught about the existence and natural occurrence of LGBTQ+ people is the same as opening the gates of Hell and summoning the demons of sexual perversion to possess the kids. They must outwardly shun and judge LGBTQ+ people or their God will accuse them of letting the devil in without a fight. Everything is seen as a spiritual war.

They are truly medieval.

mpmaddog Jan 30, 2023

@juddlegum So i guess a WILDLIFE BIOLOGY .. is considered Animal PORN.. wow.. really gang.. fact the mind goes there.. says more about them .. than the fact ..Sex is sort of a NORMAL thing..

hammancheez Jan 30, 2023

@juddlegum so you're saying it has nothing to do with half-elf thieves in 5E

M_C_B52 Jan 30, 2023

@juddlegum Interesting, because many locations, including airports and resorts (like Disney and Universal Studios) have gender neutral bathrooms already. But they’re called “Family Restrooms”. I wonder if they will also be banned.

Nicklas Johnson 🏳️‍🌈Jan 30, 2023

@juddlegum
And these babies call other people "snowflakes" too. Look how trivially triggered they are.

We need to stop accommodating conservative moaners and start calling them what they are: crybabies.

@LibertyForward1