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Tennessee students withdraw GSA request after pushback

Last month, some parents and other community members railed against creating a GSA at a Lakeland School Board meeting on December 6, 2021.

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Lakeland Preparatory School (Blade file photo)

LAKELAND, Tn. ā€“ Students at Lakeland Preparatory School in Tennessee have withdrawn their request to form a ā€œGay Straight Allianceā€ (GSA) after heated school board debates last month where some parents attacked the creation of a pro-LGBTQ+ club at the school. 

Local outlet Lakeland Currents reported that the school, which resides in a suburb of Memphis, sent an email Monday announcing the news. 

ā€œStudent leaders have withdrawn their request for a GSA club,ā€ the email read. ā€œInstead, they have requested approval for a new club called Allies of Diversity.ā€

According to the email, the club will ā€œexplore equity, diversity, and multiculturalism as it relates to studentsā€™ lives within the Lakeland community. Allies of Diversity welcomes all people, cultures, genders, orientations, beliefs, and religions.ā€

The GSA was supposed to begin Monday as Lakeland students returned from winter break. 

Last month, some parents and other community members railed against creating a GSA at a Lakeland School Board meeting on December 6, 2021. 

Former Lakeland Mayor Wyatt Bunker spoke at the meeting, saying, ā€œIs this the school system that we fought for? [A school system] that now clearly doesnā€™t align with our values.ā€ 

Bunker added: ā€œAt this point, we have to take a stand.ā€

Chad and Heather Reynolds, who have an 8-year-old and 13-year-old in the school system, told the board that they want their sons to be educated, not ā€œindoctrinated.ā€ 

The couple was particularly worried about alleged Facebook posts by the GSAā€™s main sponsor, Lakeland drama teacher Mandy Christopher. 

ā€œItā€™s all over her social media accounts,ā€ Chad Reynolds said. ā€œShe has an agenda to infiltrate our school system with her beliefs.ā€

However, a Los Angeles Blade review of Christopherā€™s Facebook page found no content related to the GSA. 

At a later school board meeting, Christopher was accused of being a ā€œpredatorā€ for a TikTok that supposedly showed the teacher with a student in a parked car, according to the Lakeland Currents. The video has since been deleted, and it is unclear what exactly happened in the video. 

ā€œMs. Christopher is not a predator, sheā€™s just a friend,ā€ Robbie Stephens, the grandmother of the student in the video who said her granddaughter is a part of the LGBTQ+ community. 

At the time, the board explained to attendees that they could not intervene, fearing potential litigation if they did. 

The club’s goal was to provide a safe and supportive environment for LGBTQ+ students. 

According to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), GSAā€™s presence in schools creates a safer environment for LGBTQ+ students, with students less likely to hear homophobic remarks and more likely to feel safe in schools with a GSA.

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National

Trump refers to Anderson Cooper as ā€˜Allisonā€™

Crude insults continue in effort to attract male voters

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Donald Trump is referring to CNNā€™s Anderson Cooper as ā€˜Allison.ā€™

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump referred repeatedly over the weekend to CNNā€™s Anderson Cooper as ā€œAllison Cooper.ā€

Cooper, one of the nationā€™s most prominent openly gay television anchors, moderated a town hall last week with Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump last Friday called Anderson ā€œAllisonā€ in a social media post, then used the moniker again at a Michigan rally.

ā€œIf you watched her being interviewed by Allison Cooper the other night, heā€™s a nice person. You know Allison Cooper? CNN fake news,ā€ Trump said, before adding, ā€œOh, she said no, his name is Anderson. Oh, no.ā€

Trump repeated the name during another Michigan rally on Saturday, according to the Associated Pres, then followed it up during a reference in Pennsylvania. ā€œThey had a town hall,ā€ Trump said in Michigan. ā€œEven Allison Cooper was embarrassed by it. He was embarrassed by it.ā€

Describing Anderson Cooper as female plays into offensive and stereotypical depictions of gay men as effeminate as Trump continues to pursue the so-called ā€œbro vote,ā€ amping up crude and vulgar displays in an effort to appeal to male voters.

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Pennsylvania

Transgender Honduran woman canvasses for Harris in Pa.

Monserrath Aleman is CASA in Action volunteer

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Monserrath Aleman, a transgender woman in Honduras, has canvassed in Pennsylvania for Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democratic candidates. (Photo by Phil Laubner/CASA in Action)

A transgender woman from Honduras has traveled to Pennsylvania several times in recent weeks to campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democratic candidates.

Monserrath Aleman traveled to York on Aug. 31 and Lancaster on Sept. 21 with a group of other volunteers from CASA in Action. 

They door-knocked in areas where large numbers of African Americans, Black, and Latino voters live. Aleman and the other CASA in Action volunteers urged them to support Harris, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), and other down ballot Democratic candidates.

Aleman will be in Harrisburg on Nov. 2, and in York on Election Day.

“We achieved the goal that we had in mind and that we wanted to achieve,” she told the Washington Blade on Oct. 22 during a Zoom interview from Baltimore. “We knocked on doors, passed out flyers.”

Aleman cited Project 2025 ā€” which the Congressional Equality Caucus on Thursday sharply criticized ā€” when she spoke with the Blade.

“We know that there is a Project 2025 plan that would affect us: The entire immigrant Latino community, the LGBTI community, everyone,” said Aleman. “So that’s why I’m more motivated to go knocking on doors, to ask for help, for support from everyone who can vote, who can exercise their vote.”

She told the Blade that she and her fellow volunteers “did not have any bad response.”

Aleman grew up in Yoro, a city that is roughly 130 miles north of the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa.

She left Honduras on Nov. 25, 2021.

Aleman entered Mexico in Palenque, a city in the country’s Chiapas state that is close to the border with Guatemala. The Mexican government granted her a humanitarian visa that allowed her to legally travel through the country.

Aleman told the Blade she walked and took buses to Ciudad JuƔrez, a Mexican border city that is across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas.

She scheduled her appointment with U.S. Customs and Border Protection while living at a shelter in Ciudad JuĆ”rez.Ā Aleman now lives in Baltimore.

“Discrimination against the LGBTI community exists everywhere, but in Honduras it is more critical,” said Aleman.

Aleman added she feels “more free to express herself, to speak with someone” in the U.S. She also said she remains optimistic that Harris will defeat former President Donald Trump on Election Day.

“There is no other option,” said Aleman.

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National

HRC rallies LGBTQ voters in 12 states ahead of Election Day

10 Days of Action campaign targets pro-equality candidate

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Human Rights Campaign headquarters (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The Human Rights Campaign said it filled 1,426 new volunteer shifts and held 174 events across key swing states between Oct. 10-20 as part of its 10 Days of Action campaign.Ā 

The LGBTQ civil rights advocacy group is working to mobilize and turn out voters in support of pro-equality and LGBTQ candidates, including the Harris-Walz ticket, on Election Day.

HRC reported exceeding its recruitment goals, noting the strong response across the 12 states as a ā€œclear and resounding messageā€ that LGBTQ and allied voters are energized to back the Harris-Walz ticket. 

To kick off the 10 Days of Action, Gwen Walz, the spouse of Minnesota governor and Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, spoke at a Philadelphia event that HRC and the Out for Harris-Walz coalition hosted on Oct. 10.

Walz highlighted her husbandā€™s long-standing support for LGBTQ issues, such as his role in fighting to repeal “Donā€™t Ask, Donā€™t Tell” in Congress and banning so-called conversion therapy as governor, according to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.Ā 

Other events launched canvassing efforts for Senate candidates, such as U.S. Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.), along with House candidates, such as Will Rollins and Mondaire Jones in California and New York respectively. 

A virtual organizing call on Oct. 11 that the Out for Harris-Walz coalition hosted featured prominent figures, including actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Andy Cohen, U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), and Delaware state Sen. Sarah McBride, who is running for Congress.

To close out the 10 Days of Action, HRC President Kelley Robinson canvassed with LGBTQ organizers in Phoenix on Oct. 20. 

In a statement, Robinson said the campaignā€™s work is ā€œfar from over.ā€

ā€œWe plan to spend every day until the election making sure everyone we know is registered to vote and has a plan to vote because no one is going to give us the future we deserve ā€” we have to fight for it and show America that when we show up, equality wins,ā€ she said. ā€œTogether, we will elect pro-equality leaders like Vice President Harris and Governor Walz who value our communities and are ready to lead us forward with more freedom and opportunity.ā€

A September HRC poll found that LGBTQ voters favor Kamala Harris over Donald Trump in the presidential race by a nearly 67-point margin.

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