"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Friday, January 29, 2016

Today in WTF?

This whole story is so bizarre I can't quite believe it's real:

School trustees in a conservative community near Fresno are battling to save a dress code that currently prohibits boys from wearing earrings or having their hair long, the Fresno Bee reports.

On Wednesday, the board of trustees for the Clovis Unified School District voted to strike down changes to the current decades-old dress code, even though it may violate state law. Despite the looming threat of litigation by the American Civil Liberties Union, the board voted 4-3 to keep the dress code as-is.

Somehow, this is all about gender equality and "conservative values." I might be more sympathetic to the latter if I thought that conservatives had the faintest notion of what values are about. As for the "gender equality" part -- I'm old enough that I remember when a man wearing an earring was a sign of rebellion, not gender identity. (At one point, I wore five.)

“Let’s get real, what we’re doing is looking at a lawsuit if you don’t vote for this. I’m sick and tired of the ACLU. Because of them, I can have a male come into my daughter’s bathroom,” Melissa Fairless said at the board meeting. “I’m so tired of my rights and my conservative values being trampled on because of this gender equality. Stand up for what Clovis believes in and say we are going to take this to court and we are going to fight this.”

Guess who sounds like an idiot who's swallowed all the anti-gay, anti-trans bullshit being spewed by the usual suspects. As if it were even relevant to a dress code.

I give up. Maybe this country deserves Donald Trump. I wonder if I could apply for refugee status in Canada.





4 comments:

Pieter said...

Clovis is one of the extremely conservative ranching/agriculture towns in the middle of the Central Valley. Reliably Republican, reliably redneck, and prey to any conspiracy theory involving sexual minorities, racial minorities, the government, immigration, aliens and Agenda 21. The population is three-quarters Caucasian, and the big deal on the calendar each year is the annual Rodeo, which is a three-day affair.

Hunter said...

Why am I not surprised?

Glenn Ingersoll said...

That Fairless has this to complain about means a lot of things have changed for the better. May her hateful values be trampled.

Hunter said...

I suspect very strongly that if she had to explain her values, or even describe them, she'd be struck dumb.