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Let me begin by noting that I have used painfully restrained language.

I got the Transgender students their rights in the Oklahoma City Public schools by getting sexual orientation and gender identity added to district policies on bullying, harassment, and nondiscrimination, and for 12 years that has caused no problems. It was not an easy thing to do, but no matter the bad moments and the length of time it took, the end result could save lives.

Anyone who needed to had time to learn the truth about Transgender people in school situations during those twelve years. It was quantitative and measurable proof that inclusion caused no harm and this could dispel the fears, legitimate and cartoonish, of those who give meaning to the phobia in Homophobia.

I watched as those who claim to be the lead advocates for Gay rights in the state and nationally ignored that reality and let the state legislature and the governor take those rights away.

This past Wednesday Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill that requires students at public schools and public charter schools to use restrooms and locker rooms that match the sex listed on their birth certificates in pre-K through 12th grade.

Any Transgender student who does not want to comply with a law that ignores their reality, reduces Trans Students to a urine disposal system, and is merely the expression of the obsession older conservative men have about other people’s private lives and sexual activity must use “a single-occupancy restroom or changing room” provided by the school.

Kids can’t safely come out in such an atmosphere that this law exemplifies, but the state is forcing them to be ripped out of their safe closet as other kids will have no doubt as to why a particular student is using the special bathroom. This could only become safe if other students just chose to use that bathroom regardless of their gender to make a point.

Although most bills passed by legislatures have a grace period between passage and implementation of a law, Oklahoma has a practice of having bills kick in immediately in the case of emergency situations. Trans kids using the appropriate bathroom, being considered an emergency, this law begins right away.

No one could cite any instances that would have made this an emergency, these were simply assumptions that could have been dispelled if the inclusivity of the Oklahoma City Public School policies had been presented as evidence to the contrary.

If the Oklahoma City Public Schools has had inclusive language for twelve years without problems, and no one in the state house could point to one problem with Trans kids using the appropriate restroom, there is no emergency.

The state effectively removed gender identity from the Oklahoma City Public Schools district policy because schools and districts that don’t comply with the new law can have a portion of their state funding cut and could be sued by parents.

Parents are deputized to report on other people’s children or have their children report to them about other children.

In March of this year the governor signed a bill banning Transgender women and girls from competing on sports teams at public schools, public charter schools, and public colleges in the state that are not consistent with their gender as listed on the birth certificate long before anything other than the child survived the birthing process would be learned about the child.

In this they showed their lack of knowledge, their refusal to learn facts, and their misogyny as there was no provision dealing with Transgender men and boys in the bill. Apparently the Trans-men are not a threat to the other males on the team because girls are weaker, while Trans-girls are men in petticoats.

In April he signed a law banning nonbinary gender markers on birth certificates in the state.

The reaction was swift and predictable.

The major organizations who opposed these bills never once brought up that the Oklahoma capitol city’s own school district had had inclusion for 12 years with none of the assumed problems having taken place.

While those supporting the Anti-Trans bills presented fears and speculations about all the negatives that might happen, the Gay Community and those organizations they trusted to protect them had measurable, quantifiable, and experiential proof that Trans students are not the problem and their fears will not materialize but chose to ignore this in favor of bullet points and speeches by the elites of the community.

One such organization, Freedom Oklahoma, ignored repeated requests to present the proof, and even when it was notified multiple times these past few months that the Class of 22 had gone 12 years without problems as the first students in the state to have gone through the first to twelfth grades with the inclusive language and had time to present that in formation, it has yet to even respond to the reception of the multiple emails beyond the standard reflex notice you get after posting a message on their contact page, “someone will get back to you shortly”, no one ever did nor was the information used.

The laments began as expected

“There is no legitimate reason to enact this legislation. This cruelty for the sake of cruelty, at the expense of our vulnerable students.”

It was the disconnect in the rest of the statement that stood out.

After withholding information that resulted from a 12-year trouble free inclusion of gender identity on school policy that had been preceded by advocacy that took over a decade, the statement went on to declare,

“Be assured, this fight is not over. We’ll show up in every venue we can to keep Trans and Two Spirit students safe.”

The fight was over 12 years ago.

The legislators and the governor did not do this without help, help from the very people trusted to do the right thing.

Why didn’t anyone point out that from Dec 2009 to the present the Oklahoma City Public Schools had sexual orientation and gender identity in its school policies with no problems.

Freedom Ok forgets that for those 12 years Trans kids had protection and no one bothered to point that out, and, because of that, the Trans kids lost what they had in OKC and what other school systems in the state could have had when they saw this as a good thing.

They blew it and silence gave Stitt the win.

Stillwater Oklahoma removed bathroom restrictions six years ago with no subsequent problems. It was the only example of inclusivity used by those opposing the bill. Adding that to Oklahoma City might have been effective, but, no.

Two school systems with inclusive language, one twice as long as the other, having no problems, would have been good evidence against the Transphobia.

Trans kids WERE protected. I know they were. The proof that inclusivity caused no harm was there.

In Oklahoma City Public Schools Trans kids had their rights.

Now, no Trans student in the state has them now.

The Gay Community in Oklahoma, especially the organizations and “leaders” they trusted and those who put everything in their hands,  is just as responsible for the Trans kids losing rights as Stitt is.

There is blood on more than the hands of the legislature and the governor.

We allowed them to take away Trans students’ rights.

THE ONES THEY HAD.

But, there is an upside for the national groups that claim they are the experts that the locals should defer to, an upside that does not benefit those who need it but can be used for fundraising and agitating for public relations and the competition for each national to be a hero. Among examples I can present is the nationals’ sacrificing the Transgender citizens in Massachusetts a few years ago to having to wait to get their rights somewhere down the road so an exclusionary Gay Rights ordinance could be passed and credit taken. The fear was that including Transgender people in the original bill might have the bill fail. Hence the sacrifice. A few years later the state legislature passed a Trans Rights bill, which had to be defended by the vote of the people a few years later  when conservative politicians employed groups from out of state to have Trans Rights subject to a referendum on the ballot. Now the nationals could claim two victories. And they did.

The lamentation of Freedom Oklahoma and the threat they will be back should be seen as presaging the fund raisers and PR about the organizations who betrayed the Trans Students.

The Trans students are now political pawns for fundraising and PR.

I know the cost of getting all students in the Rainbow Alphabet protected in school policies among them the Trans Students, so pardon me for railing against those who just gave it away.

The last part of that sentence was empty politeness as I really do not seek pardon.

I seek explanation.

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Last June, State Farm Insurance tweeted,

 “We believe no one should be afraid to celebrate who they are. Let’s support our LGBTQ+ neighbors and show our Pride together!”

adding #GoodNeighbor and #PrideMonth.

Now, skip ahead a few months arriving at and being in the time when proponents of Evangelical Sharia are demanding that books with which they do not agree and which they do not want their children to read should not be made available in public schools and public libraries supported by all taxpayers to anyone to read or allow their children to.

The Chief Diversity Officer of State Farm Insurance has stated that the company would no longer be supporting Gender Cool, a program that gets affirming books for Trans or Non-Binary youth into schools and libraries.

The reason for the 180 is because the support “has been the subject of news and customer inquiries.”

Although admitting that while

“This program that included books about gender identity was intended to promote inclusivity,”

The Chief Diversity Officer, like a scratch on an old LP, jumped to,

 “We will no longer support that program.”

Diversity and inclusivity are not on the outs at State Farm because, as the right wing insists and CDO agrees in his statement,

 “Conversations about gender and identity should happen at home with parents.”

You know, how like religion and family values are taught at home and not left up to public school teachers to do while knowing that not all families have the same values and what is a good value to one might be objectionable to another making them subject to constant parental scrutiny, fines, and termination.

So, my advice again this year is to look with a jaundice eye when companies suddenly go all Rainbow where they haven’t before. Don’t get giddy assuming they are now woke and, thank God, the world is a much better place now.

Walmart may have a rainbow Kitsch display for June, but from July to May they support politicians who oppose GLBT rights.

Get drawn to a product or a store that beckons you with rainbows?

Take whatever electronic device is on your person and check them out.

In the meantime, just get on the internet and look up what the rainbow festooned companies do the rest of the year.

We may not know what the deer see in the headlights, but we do know that, although it is shiny and calls to the deer it most likely isn’t what the deer thought it was.

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Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Battle of Puebla where a smaller number of ill-equipped Mexican forces took on the larger French force and won. It might have been a minor affair, but it boosted the morale of the people of Mexico who were attempting to get the Second French Empire out of the country and their lives. Sadly, it did not keep the French from coming back, defeating the army at the second battle at Puebla, and taking over Mexico City.

It was like one of those lesser-known battles of our own War for Independence that helped the cause in some way but is really, only celebrated by the locals.

In Mexico it is no big thing, but in the United States it gave Mexican Americans a special day beyond religious ones  originally to celebrate their Mexican culture, and even then was not that widely celebrated beyond, perhaps, a family barbeque or large group gathering until the 1980s. I taught in Los Angeles then, and not too many people of Mexican descent with whom I worked and among my friends paid much attention to it.

Tequila, which had not been all that popular, was seen by liquor companies as a potential money maker and not having to look too far for how to start popularizing it chose that little yet to be nurtured minor holiday, Cinco De Mayo, because, how much did they really know about Mexicans. It became another culture’s St Patrick’s day just after the boredom of winter and the depressing religious days of Lent.

A battle with little importance beyond the morale boosting it brought about among the Mexican people lost any historical meaning, what little there was, to get people spending money. We celebrate by getting drunk and dressing up as offensive Mexican stereotypes so we can demean the people we celebrate but in a fun, good-natured way.

We get all Mexican for one day and then all the goo-gaws and costumes get put way and we look forward to Memorial Day when we can forget about what it really means and drink some more.

During the 19^th century those of the Irish Diaspora living in the United States had to deal with the fear and hatred generated by the majority WASP population that produced the Know Nothings and Irish need not apply signs. They knew that they had a proud history and began displaying that pride on the feast of the patron saint of the Old Sod.

The WASPS let them have their day.

It was confined to their slums anyway.

Over time more Irish arrived, the celebrations got bigger and eventually they went from dignified, quasi-religious, pride celebrating parades to carnivals and, based on the negative stereotype of the Irish, lots of drinking, and, just as they were to do with Cinco De Mayo, they did with St Patrick’s Day. Instead of celebrating the greatness of the Irish, we have reduced the day by appealing to a negative stereotype that came about because of the way the Irish were treated. Working six days a week for over 16 hours a day, left Sunday, the Lord’s day, as the only time the Irish could gather and as Public Houses are not the same as bars, the Irish would gather there to socialize. Sure, you could see plenty of Irish gathered at Pubs and assume they spend all their time drinking, what you couldn’t see the rest of the week were the Irish working in the factories, digging the ditches, and doing the jobs that the WASPs would never.

Gay Pride began as a night of rioting and became a days-long rebellion and a movement. It was not a pleasant event. The fact that an oppressed minority fought back and did not back down was a matter of pride which began to be celebrated annually. The Rainbow flag, with some deference to Over the Rainbow, symbolized the many types of people in the Community, with each color representing an aspect of the community. There was always a political aspect to Pride Celebrations because beginning in 1969 with the Stonewall Rebellion, Gay people began to unabashedly fight for their rights to be recognized and this took many years and in many places is still on-going. As society began to become more accepting, it was found there was money to be made by slapping rainbows on all sorts of merchandise during Pride Month, June. The companies that had previously gone along with and promoted discrimination against and second-class treatment of the Gay community slapped Rainbows on even the most unrelated products and changed the actual meaning of the Rainbow from representing the fight for and safeguarding of our rights to a light-hearted fashion statement of often questionable taste.

Years ago, living in the Buckle of the Bible Belt, wearing things with rainbows was a political and daring statement. It declared you were proud of who you were regardless of the opinion of others. There was a boldness to it and its meaning clear as, in my days there, I was forbidden to have anything with a Rainbow on it in my classroom because I would be making a political statement as an openly Gay, and, therefore, militant schoolteacher.

By the time the end of June arrives the rainbows are squirreled away until the next year when the merch is dusted off and sold as current.

In the past, I attended Juneteenth celebrations with my friends in their neighborhoods and homes. These were community gatherings of Black people celebrating the serious moment when some Slaves in the South found out after the Civil War that they had been freed long before anyone told them. It is an Independence Day celebration for those connected to it.

The greater community had no interest.

I was a Black people thing.

It was an extended family event with BBQ’s, music, dancing, family time, and red cake and drink.

I knew few white people in my Bible Belt days who celebrated it and many who had no idea it existed.

Then, it became a national holiday.

In a blog from the first year of its being a national holiday, 2021, I cautioned the Black Community to watch their holiday carefully as, once corporations see a profit in its observance, the symbols of the day will be usurped, and the true meaning, the serious meaning, will be replaced by the partying and the merch, and little will remain of its origin and reason for being warning that 

“all the holidays have party things like napkins, beads, costumes and costume parts, various types of liquor specific to the holiday, fireworks, parties, lights and other things to hang around the house both inside and out, and merchandise sales that somehow are assumed to have some connection to the holiday and require the reduced prices.

There is a part of me that’s looking forward to the embarrassing cultural misappropriations and examples of lack of racial sensitivity, familiarity, and history that will result in some initial faux pas that, accepted as the stupid and uninformed moves of “our betters”, could prove to be hilarious yet useful in showing the need for some serious racial conversations.”

What I warned about has begun.

Walmart, being the largest employer in the Southern region of the U.S employs the largest amount of Black people in that area. Its supply of employees is often generated by their entering a community, closing local businesses that can’t compete, and then hiring the unemployed people needing work.

The wages are low, and to supplement them, employees rely on programs like WIC, food stamps, and whatever other government programs they qualify for, and they do, while  the company uses tax breaks and having taxpayers pick up the difference between what Walmart workers make and what they should to increase profits and pay out bigger dividends for their investors.

Rather than low, taxpayer subsidized wages, perhaps Walmart should be doing something for their employees.

Well, they are.

Acknowledging the importance of Juneteenth for its employees, many of whom are Black, the company is celebrating the end of slavery by offering a special Juneteenth, Celebration Edition, Red Velvet and cheese cake swirled ice cream in a container with the colors associated with Africa and a group of hands in various shades of brown wearing symbolics wrist bands, inviting us all to “share and celebrate African-American culture, emancipation, and enduring hope.”

And nothing celebrates the meaning of the day, what this day meant to the people at the time and their descendants now, than a limited-edition ice cream.

Those with a penchant for ignoring the substance of something, such as why this is so inappropriate, by what-aboutisms, can only defend this by pointing to all the other inappropriate merchandise like party favors, party hats, banners, wine, and t-shirts that have popped up for the second year and will be with us now until the end of time.

But, then again, we took a guy who was beaten and then beheaded by the Romans and made his special day the one where we declare our love for one another with cards and heart shaped boxes filled with chocolates. Nothing reminds us of love like a headless, beaten corpse.

 It has begun.

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