By Guy Page
Stymied by its failure last week to force the cancellation of a Vermont Parents Rights in Education meeting in Vergennes, Outright Vermont wants all Vermont school districts to ban future meetings of the group.
Under pressure from Outright Vermont, the state’s leading LGBTQ advocacy group, the Addison Northwest School District reportedly had rescinded permission for local parents to hear a Zoom presentation by de-transitioning expert Walt Heyer June 20. However, a letter from the Liberty Counsel advocacy group persuaded them to reconsider.
Vermont law and legal precedent requires schools to provide equal facilities access for all citizens’ groups, unless the meeting poses a direct threat to public safety. Yet Outright Vermont openly calls for a ban on its website:
“Sign this open letter to the Addison Northwest School District Superintendent urging them to rescind their authorization for the “Parents Rights in Education” group to meet on school property,” Outright Vermont asks supporters. “Though the district is bound by the limitations of their present policy, this petition shows broad support for updated policy that would better protect the school and community in the future.”
Outright Vermont wants the group banned in all Vermont schools – not just Vergennes. The June 16 message urges: “School and District administrators: check your policies! Like other school districts in Vermont, you may have strong value statements showing your commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, but if you don’t have these values reflected in policies, there may be a side door open left open to exploitation by those who want to stop the progress of inclusion and equity.”
The group’s call to deprive organizations of equal use of public facilities follows years of successful advocacy for non-discrimination and equal access to public facilities on the basis of gender identity.
Outright Vermont’s public call for depriving the grassroots parents’ group of meeting in public spaces is the third example this month of transgender advocates seeking to blunt the public speech of those who disagree. As reported last week, Burlington pro-trans advocates are tearing down stickers questioning ‘gender-affirming’ ideology and drug treatments. June 10, a group of five church people holding scripture signs outside a Lyndonville library’s ‘queer’ poetry reading were criticized as ‘menacing’ and examples of ‘terrorism.’
Even the headline of Outright Vermont’s June 16 web posting appears to underplay the value of free speech and public discourse on this controversial issue: “Trans Lives Are Not Up For Debate.”
So does the accompanying text: “A far cry from ‘promoting dialogue,’ this event is part of a coordinated, national smear campaign that aims to instill fear, censor and obscure the truth about trans lives, and justify deadly restrictions on the rights of LGBTQ+ people – especially youth. The organizers’ choice to locate their hateful event inside the school building, where a policy loophole prevents the school from revoking their access, directly impacts the safety and welcome of LGBTQ+students who spend the majority of their waking hours within those walls.”
Outright Vermont itself has a strong, state-funded presence in Vermont public schools. As Vermont Daily Chronicle reported last October, the organization’s funding totaled $1.23 million in 2021. $204,000 of that funding came from the government, including grants from the Vermont Department of Health. The group’s annual report says it performs “education & outreach work statewide for schools, communities, colleges, and organizations looking for support on preventing harassment, dealing with harassment, creating and supporting Queer/Straight Alliances (QSAs), and more.”
If banned from public schools, where could Vermont Parents Right in Education meet? Public meeting rooms in municipal buildings also are open to the public. However, municipal officials under similar pressure from Outright Vermont might argue that public schools are the logical venue for an education policy group.
Churches are an increasingly popular fallback option. However, legislation introduced by Rep. Laura Sibilia earlier this year would restrict the use of churches for ‘partisan and political’ events, at the risk of losing tax exempt status. Such legislation – if passed – might give church leaders second thoughts about allowing access to groups recommending local school policies.
Categories: Education
There is a pervasive mentality here that they have more rights than others. They speak of inclusion, equity, and diversity yet only want their own opinion and own people to have a say in society and seek to do everything in their power to get what they want while trampling on our rights, stealing our funding for their own gain and destroying societal norms.
In my opinion this can only lead to two conclusions:
– These people are mentally unstable and the State is funding it
– These people are attempting to destablize our society and the State is funding it
After reading this I know it’s both – and the State is funding it.
Defund the State.
Well said, it’s always their way or your a bigot or racist or what have you.
According to a survey analysis from the Williams Institute at the University of California-Los Angeles the national average of LGBTQ in the U.S. is 7%. If I remember how to do math that means 93% do not identify as gay, bi-sexual, or transexual. Not a landslide to silence the public
Your correct!!
Awesome, wish I could “like” your comment, but my program won’t allow it. You’re absolutely correct and the same of course holds true for many BLM protestors & Antifa agitators….just like piles of bricks suddenly just show up at planned “mostly peaceful” protests where innocents are savagely beaten, and cops brutalized. Yet the FBI just cannot find where these pallets are coming from?!
NEVER TRUST THE GOVERNMENT. Even the founding fathers knew that!
I agree with Brian. And I’d add that Outright Vermont can’t defend themselves because they know they’re in the wrong, and the only way they can continue their existence is to censor the truth.
They also spew ignorant, libelous falsehoods, name-call, and bully.
YES
Re: “Outright Vermont can’t defend themselves because they know they’re in the wrong…”
Check the Outright Vermont website. They don’t know they’re in the wrong. They believe they have behavioral ‘expertise’. They say they are “… delivering high-quality programs and accurate information while forging strong and strategic partnerships elevates our purpose daily.”
“We queer it up and get it done, …together in that belief, we will not back down.”
Now consider, that over the weekend, naked NYC Drag Marchers chanted “We’re here, we’re queer, we’re coming for your children.” Was this “a misguided joke by some parade attendees,”? “…a harmless jab at anti-gay activists”? If your children are in the public-school monopoly, do you care? Are you willing to take chances with your children’s behavior?
Hey – to each his own. Use whatever pronouns you want. But forcing behavioral change on others in the public-school monopoly is unconscionable. If ever there was a reason and a time to fight for the school choice vouchers that allow all parents to choose the education programs, those they believe are best for their own children, it is now.
Most of this stuff is disgusting!!!
Naked? I was there. No one was naked. Stop spewing crap, you didn’t need that to make your point
Re: ” No one was naked. “.
I guess you missed it, Boz
https://www.newsweek.com/video-drag-marchers-chanting-viral-1808870
What a bold stance against our Constitutional Rights to forbid gatherings in a taxpayer funded community facility by those same taxpayers.
We have to get after our crappy school boards and demand they allow all gatherings. We cannot let them win – their voices are not the only voices and we need to stand up and push back. Notice the left ALWAYS accuses you of what they are doing to you.
They teach how to deal with bullying in schools while they bully people who oppose their beliefs.
Boooo.
Some are mixed up!!!!
The assault on our freedoms continues…..
Sometimes I think about all the classmates we lost when I was in school in the 90s. Every year dozens of children in each grade killed themselves and we thought it was normal; that’s just how things were. At the time, we didn’t realize that these poor kids were just trans and it was our callous civilizations that drove them to suicide.
Oh wait, that’s a complete delusion that bears no semblance with reality. Somehow this fever dream is also the justification for why this insanity needs to be not just accepted — but encouraged — in public schools.
Really, and just how many “dozens” were lost?
Just asking.
Outwrong Vermont should change its name to better reflect their public views.
Outwrong is a perfect fit for unfair misfits who destroy our society.
Ridicule them out of existence. I’m
I think “OUTLAWS” best describes them.
The very first amendment to our National Constitution protects “freedom of speech, the press, peaceable assembly, and the right to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Moreover, the Vermont State Constitution also states that “the people have a right to freedom of speech, and of writing and publishing their sentiments, concerning the transactions of government, and therefore the freedom of the press ought not to be restrained.”
I know this bothers some folk, but perhaps there is somewhere, ANOTHER COUNTRY or STATE that does not have such pesky language in their Constitution that get in their way.
Maybe some place nice like China no wait North Korea. I don’t think they have one of those pesky Constitution things; paradise!
SO SORRY….that’s called: UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
Here’s the good news for you though……MOVE to Communist CHINA where you really wanna be!
See ya! Or not. Preferably the latter.
Bunch of spoiled mentally deranged weirdo’s, whining when they don’t get their own way, and the press is naïve enough to give them a platform. They are fringe, and will always be fringe ,don’t make them mainstream, we have better things to focus on, such as winning elections, to keep the fringe fringe. Just a diversion, to distract from the real loss of freedoms, of the mainstream, orchestrated by the left. Don’t fall for it.
I suggest the LBGTQ group Outright Vermont go out and pound sand….
Well if anyone needed proof these people are mentally disturbed, there you have it. Ban them, not normal people concerned for children.
Guy,
The bill I introduced, H.113, does not create a new restriction on churches. It simply takes the 70 year old federal tax exempt laws and proposes to put them into state statute. This is not necessary except that it allows us to have a series of helpful ongoing conversations about how to follow the law.
Here is the law: https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organizations/the-restriction-of-political-campaign-intervention-by-section-501c3-tax-exempt-organizations
The restriction already exists. It’s being ignored by some churches and taxpayers are footing the bill.
Here is the link to my testimony explaining why the bill was being introduced: https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2024/WorkGroups/House%20Ways%20and%20Means/Bills/H.113/W~Laura%20Sibilia~Testimony%20on%20H.113~1-27-2023.pdf
✌🏼
Thank you for commenting, Laura. Does the current law require churches to attest they have not participated in partisan or political activity?
“My sense is that most Vermonters are not deliberately flouting the law and the requirements for the public, pious or charitable organizations, but that they are simply unaware of these federal requirements”
We know and don’t care. You cannot make a law to stop something GOD gave us , a voice. Only cowards follow unjust laws. God has no problem with us meeting to STOP people like you who do nothing but deny God and all the good he stands for. Do not deny it. Your written words speaks for themselves, and my God have mercy on you for your trespasses.
I do tell the churches I deal with , though few, that you always can just pay the tax to shut people like you up. But you want that money don’t ya, or the property. So Sad. Oh this is happening country wide, all backed by some kind of DEM/Prog agenda;
https://rumble.com/v2wylyx-michigans-threat-to-criminalize-christian-opposition-to-the-satanic-lgbtq-a.html
Representative Sibilia, we look forward to your reply to Guy’s question. Thank you.
I doubt she will respond…
She can’t tell you that she is pushing to stop you from having a voice, from gathering, and from opposing her communist ways so she must stay in the shadows and pretend like she’s doing it to “uphold the law” in “fairness”.
In reality if she really wanted fairness she would have opposed the content in the article as well since it’s nearly the same thing.
I really don’t understand why the trsns community is even part of the lgbq, most guys I’ve spoken to do not support them and believe they are wrong. It’s a mental illness that needs to be addressed and institutionalized if needed.
Because then, under their narrative, all those people have to support them and speak their lies. Of course this isn’t true . The left loves to put people in identity boxes. It’s soft bigotry.
Indoctrinating children into gender ideology is one of the most evil trends I have seen in my lifetime.
And the behavior of these activists is pure fascism.
We MUST stand up to these bullies.
Their cult agenda is breaking apart families, destroying children’s bodies and minds and destroying women’s hard-won sex-based rights and protections.
Parents: Partners for Ethical Care is a valuable resource for resisting gender ideology for our children’s sake.
Last I checked, the 1st amendment allows for the freedom of speech. If one group must be banned, so must the other. If someone doesn’t agree with a group’s viewpoint, they are free to not listen.
Re: “…free to not listen.”
Not so in a public-school monopoly setting.
Homeschooling is enormously popular.
So who bought the land, built the schools, pay for the maintenance on these schools, pays the teacher”s and staff’s salaries ? Must be the LGBTQ etc. pick up that tab ? And of course we all know that they make up the vast majority of tax payers, right ? Don’t let them B.S. you !
That’s the problem with the fact that the government funds the bulk of public school’s costs. Used to be local tax payers but no more. It ensures they can manage them to their liking, from curriculum, to staff, to food, etc. There is an education industrial complex. And when they fail and their focus shifts from academic education to radical, socialist indoctrination, no one can hold them accountable.
Take a look at Public Forum doctrine and School Access. Over the past 20 years, Outright Vermont and advocates acting on their behalf have attempted to limit public speech in school on a number of different occasions. US Supreme Court cases have made it clear that schools that allow any group to meet and use its facilities must allow ALL to meet on an equal basis. Having a “policy” that discriminates against some groups for arbitrary reasons only opens up the School Boards, Superintendents and others to lawsuits collectively and individually. Who ends up paying for these lawsuits, the local taxpayers. So, if a school such as Vergennes HS or another VT school or school district wish to deny a protected right to use facilities on an equal basis to any group, they cannot. Instead, they must deny access to all groups: Little League? Yes. Ski Sales? Yes. Fundraising dinners? Yes.
Outright VT doesn’t realize how much they have also benefited from this policy in the past, as THEY would probably have been denied access. Now, when enjoy being on the same side as the super-majority in our VT statehouse, they attempt to deny others that same freedom as the US Constitution allows all of her citizens.
Outright Vermont: Straight up fascists!.
Why must we all celebrate LGBTQ+? If they want to be accepted, then they should stop flaunting themselves and intruding into the lives of everyone else. As it is now all they are doing is creating and fostering resentment towards themselves. Live your lives as you want to but leave those who don’t want to hear about it alone, and especially leave our children alone.The more the LGBT community demands acceptance, the less they get of it. People will always resist being forced to accept things they don’t agree with.
Yea but that not how marxism, maoism, communism work. You may initially resist but like larry fink from blackrock says, they will force behaviors. You will take the knee or they will make your life a living hell. Lets turn this snowball around.
This is exactly what they want. Shut up and give us your kids. These people are sick and mentally defective. They are , mentally, spoiled children. Treat them as such by ignoring them. As Eddie Murphy said in his first comedy movie (paraphrasing) “Give a ****** a rope and now he wants to be a cowboy”.
Stop allowing this nasty anti-God behavior to continue. We are gonna go up in a poof when God decides we are in fact Sodom and Gomorrah 2.0. These people are sad and sick. What you do in your home/bedroom is not my business so stop putting it in the public forum. I now understand that is part of your kick to get people to see your depravity. Having just found out that the swimmer ( Lia Thomas)who says they are trans really just gets off from dressing like a girl and seeing others like him do the same. Just sick.
The alphabet acronym incorporated is a wartime faction. Being that they are experiencing blowback and boycotts, the troops in this army are activated to create more chaos and accelerate the plan. Blackrock is caught and the CEO admitted involvement with a fake retreat statement. The government is caught. They can’t decide whether to retreat with the bag money or pivot on their heels and pretend they are not involved. The non-profits and NGOs are caught in all sorts of fraud and corruption. Yet, they still have blanket protection of the desperate, failing, installed government. The war is real.