A court in Indiana ruled in favor of trans school kids, a law in Arkansas targeting librarians over "harmful" books gets blocked, and an armed Nazi group joined Gays Against Groomers at a protest in Wisconsin.
Court Rules In Favor Of Trans Schoolchildren
A court ruling was upheld in Indiana stating that trans students must have access to the bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identities.
According to The Guardian, the ruling upheld a preliminary injunction from the US district court for the southern district of Indiana last year ordering the Metropolitan School District of Martinsville and the Vigo County schools to give the trans students' bathroom access.
“Schools should be a safe place for kids and the refusal to allow a student to use the correct facilities can be extremely damaging,” said Ken Falk, the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana.
Currently, Indiana does not have any laws restricting bathroom access for trans students.
Law Targeting Librarians Over Books Blocked
Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Photo by Tom Williams, Wikimedia Commons.
A judge temporarily blocked the state of Arkansas from enforcing a law that would allow criminal charges against librarians and booksellers for providing “harmful” materials to minors.
The law was signed earlier this year by the state’s governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and was to go into effect on August 1.
According to The Guardian, US district judge Timothy L Brooks issued a preliminary injunction against the law, which also would have created a new process to challenge library materials and request that they be relocated to areas not accessible by kids.
“Luckily, the judicial system has once again defended our highly valued liberties,” said Holly Dickson, the executive director of the ACLU in Arkansas.
Armed Nazi Group Joins Gays Against Groomers At Protest
Photo via Twitter/Esqueer_.
A protest hosted by anti-trans group Gays Against Groomers in Wisconsin claims it was “ambushed” by masked neo-Nazis who also attended the protest and marched alongside them.
According to The Pink News, Gays Against Groomers is distancing itself from the neo-Nazi group who carried firearms and waved swastika flags during the protest, which took place outside of Riverside Park where a family-friendly Pride event was happening.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, the group, named the Blood Tribe, promotes “hardline white supremacist views” and directs its hatred towards “Jews, ‘non-whites’ and the LGBTQ+ community.”
Gays Against Groomers denies inviting the hate group, saying in a statement, “We are disheartened and outraged by the unwanted intrusion of extremist ideologies at an event intended to protect and advocate for the well-being of children. We cannot always control who we are seen with in public. GAG wishes to reassure supporters and critics alike that it does not endorse or align itself with any political or extremist ideology, and we cannot control who chooses to ambush us in public.”
