A Forsyth County
elementary principal sent an apology to families on Monday after an author
visiting with fifth graders at the school said the subject of his book was
“gay.”
Forsyth County has decided to be about as spineless as possible. This is basically just an invitation for the moms for liberty/mama bears types to do more of their bullshit.
This is part of the dehumanization process. Making gays the "other" signals to the community, and the students, that gay people (or well, probably any adjacent minority category) are not worthy of any respect of decency.
And then there's bullying, violence, or even worse. And when there is bullying or violence, there is no defense against it - because why would that be a bad thing when the community says gays are bad people?
And for gay/lesbian/trans/queer kids, it is just another dagger into the self-respect and self-worth. Having grown up in this shitty milleu in Cobb County, I can say it takes many years of personal work and therapy to purge oneself of internalized hatred.
It's really spooky how quickly we've nosedived on LGBT+ demonization and moral panic. It was never great but it feels like it went from "meh" to "legitimately frightened for our safety" in a year or two.