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Hello, everyone, welcome to the
nonprofits and a heated public meeting, the

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vice mayor of the village, Sean
Cummings, lashed out at Oklahoma's Republican Superintendent

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of Public Instruction Ryan Waters and the
state Board of Education, holding them accountable

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for fostering and an environment of hostility
toward LGBTQ plus individuals. Common Cummings directly

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implicated Walters and the Board for legedly
embolding bullies, linking their rhetoric to the

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tragic death of sixteen year old Next
Benedict, who was reportedly attacked and later

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died. The incident, which occurred
at Owasso High School, has sparked outrage

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and renewed calls for action against discrimination
and bullying in schools. A miss mounting

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criticism, Cummings challenged state officials to
take responsibility and address the root causes of

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anti LGBTQ plus sentiment in educational settings. The story is from LGBTQ Nation by

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John Russell, published on February twenty, twenty twenty four. Before I pass

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this on to John, I would
like to take a moment to nongeal life

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that was taken next. Mendic was
the victim of a hate crime inflamed by

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hate speech rhetoric which led to the
death, whether by related injuries or by

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suicide. We need to do more
to protect the most vulnerable, as in

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this instance they were failed. Our
hearts go out to Nex's family, friends,

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and their larger community. I guess
this is not just a tragedy,

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but I hope the FED the FEDS
get involved with this case and that it

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opens the door for some accountability for
the schools, all the way to the

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school board itself and to other people
who may be involved in stimulating this kind

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of hatred. I hope they do
get sued as soon as the data is

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available on the death and the vice
mayor is correct all of the Christian nationalist

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ass hats are personally responsible for the
bullying and nexus death. A sixteen year

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old's death. Somebody robbed of everything
from their future. I know the locals

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will try and brush this off,
that's a given. When the students walked

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out of class, about forty of
them to protest the lack of action of

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the school board, the school and
the school board, that kind of made

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national news. The two SLGBTQ plus
advocacy groups asked for a federal investigation.

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This became really uncomfortable for the religious
off field ofvel that run the schools there.

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We will see if the DOJ will
do anything, and I'm hoping they

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will, but you know, there
are rules and there has to be some

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sort of law that is involved here. I think civil rights laws can be

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invoked in this case, but I'm
not a lawyer. It's just, uh,

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it's sad and it's and it's an
and it's personally to me, it's

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very sad, and I predict that
they will wait until the news cycle moves

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on and try and drop it or
handwag it as kids will be kids and

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bully kids and et cetera. No
bullying is not okay. There's a couple

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of things that people should know.
There is a nonprofit organization called the National

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Association of People Against Bullying dot org. You can look that up. And

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there's also a government website www.
Of course stop Bullying dot gov. Both

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have resources and so anyway, I
have more to say about that and some

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other further information on what kind of
actions can be taken, but I'm going

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to pass this to Cynthia and let
her go into some detail. Well,

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thank you, Jonathan and I just
wanted to let the everyone know that as

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of this recording, news outlets reported
the death of Oklahoma student Next Benedict has

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been ruled a suicide according to the
Medical Examiner's report release on today, March

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thirteenth, twenty twenty four. It's
today for us guys now. The Medical

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examiner report listed probable cause of death
as combined toxicity from two drugs, one

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which is available over the counter and
the other by prescription. In a statement

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posted on its Facebook account wins Today
following the release of the Medical Examiner's report,

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the OsO Police Department wrote, in
part, from the beginning of this

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investigation, the OASA Police observed many
indications that this death was the result of

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suicide. However, investigators did not
wish to confirm that information without the final

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results being presented by the Oklahoma Medical
Examiner's Office. So some of the things

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that I would like to say is
first right on to Vice Mayor Cummings for

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calling out the right winging streamist,
crystal fascist Ryan Walters and the members of

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the Oklahoma State Board of Education for
their hate campaign they call governance of the

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State Education. Thank you, thank
you. A form yes, yes,

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all that big entry, all of
it, all of it, does,

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all of it. And as aforementioned, Sean Cummings accused them of embolding the

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students who attacked Benedict in a bathroom
at Aso High School in Osa Alcloholma.

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Next as you all heard is only
was only sixteen years old and used they

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then pronounce and also he him pronounced. And according to the article, he'd

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been bullied by three students because of
his gender identity prior to the violent altercation

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that was placed on February seventh,
in which he was reportedly beaten until he

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blacked out. And then the next
day Benedict's life was taken. And I

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say taken, uh explicitly? I
agree with you. Yeah, I say

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it taken explicitly. And even though
that next was alive when the bullying incident,

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for this violence happened to him,
they these these these these girls who

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attacked him in the bathroom and attacked
him because he is trans, and he

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acknowledged that he is trans, did
be in part be in part of making

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sure that his life ended. See, the thing is is that I get

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very sick and tired of people saying
that, oh kids bully That's what they

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do if there is anything that is
different about you than your subject to be

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bullied and you just need to get
over it. Horseshit, No, you

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don't do that. And the problem
in this specific case is that you have

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a bigoted, racist superintendent in Oklahoma
who recovered a few times on the nonprofits,

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who has said some very dumb things
that has given the okay for saying

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that. Well, if this adult
who is in charge says stupid things about

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trans people, says stupid things about
LGBTQIA plus people, says stupid things about

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how we teach black history in schools, then it should be okay for me

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to say my piece when I am
not clear of under standing when it comes

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to trans people. So instead of
actually getting educated about transgenderism and trans people

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who happen to be in school with
me and are my fellow students and I'm

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in fellow colleagues in class, I'm
just going to balk. I'm just going

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to lash out, and I'm going
to cause violence. That's not how we

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should do things. That's not what
environment that school superintendents and the school board

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and teachers and principles are supposed to
be fostering. This should not be the

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case. And if we, as
adults who happen to be in educational settings,

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create an environment of inclusivity, create
an environment of tolerance, create an

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environment of justice, things like this
would not happen, and next would still

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be alive today. And I do
have more other things to say, well

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other things and more would be the
same thing, But I do have those

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things to say regardless of ELI.
Yeah, so and and you said something

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that really struggle with me, and
I'll get there. But so Ryan Walters,

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like you said, we the first
story I did on nonprofits was about

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Ryan Walters and the f fr f's
uh class action. There's a suit against

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him where the're they're pursuing him legally
in some way before violation of church state

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separation in Oklahoma. So he like, that's definitely a thing that he's he

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you know, he has under his
belt and he is absolutely pushing his you

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know what he calls his Christian values. He he wants a theocratic state government

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in Oklahoma. And and you know, his religious beliefs taught in schools and

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so Oklahoma obviously being a red state, that comes with this outcasting of these

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others. And you know that that
is coming from Chia Rychick, coming from

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Ryan Walters, and that that those
others includes trans kids like next Benedict,

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and they're going up with no support, no help, no protection, no

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safety there, not getting the medical
care they need or the psychological care that

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they need. Like living in a
body that doesn't belong to you is bound

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to require some sort of help.
Right, You're going like an experience I

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don't have, of course, but
like I don't imagine it's something that is

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just like being you know, It's
just it's not like being cis. It's

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completely different. So you know,
I went to high school in rural Missouri.

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If this Oklahoma school is anything like
my school was, I weep for

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these kids in these marginalized groups,
whether they be trans or you know,

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LGBTQ, or ethnic minorities or religious
minorities, whatever it is. Whether these

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bullies know it or not, the
state government is on their side. And

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it's because and this is sort of
kind of touching on like what you said,

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Cynthia, when these people in authorities, people in power, these people

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that you see as like the sort
of arbiters of how life is, they're

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not making it uncomfortable for people to
be bigoted. They're making it more comfortable.

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They're making it easier and more tolerable
and just more acceptable for people to

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hold these anti trans views, these
anti you know, homosexuality views, anti

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black, you know, whatever it
may be. And that like when when

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that's just the environment that they're in, they're not seeing that, hey,

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no, like this is actually wrong. These kids aren't learning that. I

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completely agree with Sean Cummings, like
Ryan Walters and Chaia Reischik and whoever else

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is in there posse, they're responsible
for this, for this death. This

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is at best a negligent uh manslaughter, I think, And I I,

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as has been said, I'd love
to see is this come back to them?

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I want I want their you know, their come up. And it's

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it's I don't know what else to
say about it, honestly, it's it's

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it's tragic. I think the thing
that really really concerns me is the lack

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of empathy and care to people's constituents, people that get positions of power.

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Ryan Walters is a great example fucking
bigot who needs to be held accountable regards

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to how their message is heard by
others. And apparently with Walters is one

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of hate, and I'm sorry for
when politicians are only playing to their base

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and then the roosters and then the
cows come home. I was gonna I

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forget the roosters come home, roosters
come home to rooster or I don't care

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our chickens. Chickens come home Missouri
where cows roost I can make up my

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own, thank you very much.
Anyway, Like it's it's ridiculous because in

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a democracy, the people that we
elect and depower represent everybody, whether it's

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at the county levels, city levels, state level, and to the country

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as a whole. And you know, well, the one thing about you

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on a politician is dissertion. Like
maybe, as you were saying, Eli,

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you don't know what it's like to
be trans, but you do notice

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like to you know, be bullied, to have that feeling of uncomfortableness,

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to know what it's like to be
even a hint of others, you know,

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because if you've felt any sort of
pain by somebody else not liking something

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else about you, you have to
have that empathy kick in. And for

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some reason, these mofos don't have, you know, these bigoted mofos don't

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have their empathy centers working properly,
and and there's a part of me that

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you know, it's like that,
you know, her people hurt people,

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and I and fine, I get
that, but at a certain point,

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my my understanding for that end when
it leads to people being attacked. And

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as I said, you know,
whether you know the injuries would have caused

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next to die or they got bullied
so much that they committed suicide. And

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this happened to one of my friends
when I was in high school. It's

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a phenomenon that we're still talking about
and I find it disgusting. And as

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a you know, a parent of
a trans kid, I know I bring

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this up a lot, but it's
a real fear because even though they're an

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adult, it's not like biggests are
no for discernment and you know, thinking

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about things, you know, they're
just like, oh, queer person grows.

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And I want to emphasize this again. And if by some chance,

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as a conservative listening to this,
you know, I don't know what's going

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out there and entered Lineland, show
this with your crazy you know conservative uncle.

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Everybody like you got one. Everybody's
got that crazy conservative relative. Oh

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and make sure you like and subscribe
as will as yourself and subscribe to you

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please. Everything belts all this.
So I'm going to ask you all you

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the conservative voice is listening to me
right now. If you think that in

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twenty twenty five, when we have
a conservative branch, that things go your

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way, you will not be immune
from the laws and prejudices that are affecting

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groups that you don't like right now, because guess what, you don't online

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with oppressors because they will eventually come
to you, come for you. You

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know. Remember the whole thing that
happened in Germany in the forties. Remember

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that that will happen. And I'm
sorry that talking about a tragedy is bringing

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this up, because this is a
trend and unless we do something and get

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your head out of your fucking ass, is going to keep going. All

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right, I did my first rant. I might go to a second.

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We don't know, but I'm going
to pass the John. Okay, Well,

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my other follow queer person on the
panel, let him rant. Let's

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ranch, John. Yeah, we
can do that. We'll use our words.

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There has been bullying ever since schools
have been around. Most try to

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handwave it away as well. Kids
will be kids, but that's not appropriate.

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These things affect the rest of the
lives of the victims. Here,

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I was bullied and it wasn't fun, and there's a there's a whole culture

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behind that. We're not going to
get into that. There is a movement

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that is out there. As I
gave the website before, it's w W

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W N A p A B dot
org. I suggest anybody who is suffering

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from bullies victims of bullies, that
that's some resources for you. The federal

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website I gave also is I'll say
it again www dot s T O P

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B U L L Y I n
G Stop Bullying dot gov g o V

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also has some really good things.
I'm going to quote one thing from it,

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and I know we're getting short of
time. But although no federal law,

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this is from the website. Although
no federal law directly addresses bullying,

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in some cases, bullying overlaps with
discriminatory harassment when it is based on race,

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national origin, color, sex,
including sexual orientation and gender idea,

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identity, age, disability, or
religion. Federally funded schools, including colleges

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and universities, have an obligation to
resolve harassment on these bases. The situation

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has not adequately resolved, consider filing
a formal grievance with the school district,

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contacting the US Department of Education's Office
for Civil Rights and the US Department of

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Justices Civil Rights Division. If you're
getting nowhere trying to get your bullying case

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taken care of, there's some resources. Go to the website I mentioned.

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You'll find this in there, and
you'll find links to these in there,

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and you can file a report with
them as well. If there is physical

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violence that is against the law in
any situation, so you can go ahead

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and call the police. As in
Oklahoma, they probably just laugh it off

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and wouldn't even write much of a
report. However, having that report does

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give you some ammunition for later on, and so think about it. You

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know, I'm not a lawyer,
folks, I'm just reading what's on the

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government website. So anyway, I'm
going to pass that to back to Cynthia.

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I'm actually going to uh because,
like i wanted to just put in

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my final comment, but I'm not
going to do that right now. I

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want to give the floor to Eli
and then to Helen to get in their

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final thoughts and then we yeah from
there, yeah, I can be somewhat

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brief. I almost didn't talk about
it, but I want to talk about

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Sean Cummings' speech too, because I
did watch the video and if any of

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you guys watched it, and I
think I find there's it's problematic in ways,

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and I think that it kind of
it's not directly, it's not bullying

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like next Benedict experienced in the bathroom
or at school. But you know Shawn

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Cummings, you know, he he
disregarded the victim's gender identity, referred to

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lgbt Q plus people as the alphabet
community, and he said, you know,

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didn't try a write chick target and
alphabet friendly teacher. You know,

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he mentioned at one point there's a
pattern occurring that Forrest Gump could recognize,

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so some problematic language they are not
that. I don't commend him for calling

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out, calling out the board,
calling out those people that he called out,

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because I agree with him on those
points. But I it's important as

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well to make sure we're using the
right language, because that is that that

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is going to go towards using that
improper language without regard for it is it

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is definitely going to add towards that
feeling of being othered, and it's that

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feeling that caused Nex's death. It's
not this one bullying incident. It's not

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the one you know mixture toxicity of
of those medications. It is this this,

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you know, uh history of bullying
and this this this I cannot find

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the word that I'm looking for,
But that being said, it for anybody

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who is feeling the urge to harm
themselves, feeling that they just don't want

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to be around anymore, nine to
eight eight is the number for the suicide

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hotline. It's much simpler now,
it's not a long number, and at

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least in the United States, nine
eight eight, just give him a call,

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talk with somebody. There's professionals that
are there to help you whenever you

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need twenty four to seven Helen.
So I have to remind myself that even

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and I agree with you like Cummings
did, I think he is willfully on

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educated in how those words sound and
why. You know, those of us

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in the queer community are very adamant
of people using proper language when describing our

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community, because it's very important how
you use words. But I do commend

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him, and I want to point
out there are plenty of people that are

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doing what Cummings did and away I'm
reminded of a school board teacher in Dierriesota

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that that's a Bridgid sailor. That
was wonderful. I recommend you watch that

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as well, because the more that
you call out people that are in charge

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of education of our children, and
you call them out for being bigots,

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for being hypocrites, for you know, not putting their intentions into educating our

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kids properly, and also not just
in academics, but teach them to be

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part of a wider community, be
part you know, that's what school was

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designed to do. Part of the
things that you learn to do is that

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you're going to be around, surrounded, right, people that aren't like you.

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You've got to learn to live in
that society and learn kindness and empathy.

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And that is as much a part
of growing up as you're you know,

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reading, writing and arithmetics. So
I'm very grateful for this, and

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that gives me hope, as I
say, maybe a fool's hope, but

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I hope that what is happening,
that you know, the things that we're

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seeing, that people grow up and
realize that you know, just because you're

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uncomfortable doesn't give you the right to
be an asshole. That's it. And

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again my heart goes down to Mix's
family and their friends, and I hope

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you find healing and solace. I
really do wise words at the end of

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the day, do not be an
asshole. And and you, guys,

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I I thank you Eli for bringing
that up about comings. He did use

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some problematic language, you know,
alphabet community, and and and and things

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of that nature that was not helpful. But you know, I'm about to

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date myself, and I think that
maybe, like two others on this panel

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may know when I say this,
you guys remember Archie Bunker, right m

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m okay, so it Cummings kind
of reminds me of Archie Bunker. If

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you guys are if I know that, you know, some of our audience

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members may not remember all in the
family, but I sure do. Don't

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let them misclearal fool you. And
and one of the things that Archie Bunker

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was a bigot, but when he
got placed into certain situations, he showed

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up for people who were not in
his community. And that's what I think

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of when I think of Vice Maryage
Sean Cumming, is that you know,

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there's obviously a disconnect as far as
like language is concerned and things of that

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nature. But at least he showed
up when he should have showed up for

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other people who were not in his
community. And I just want to reiterate

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to everyone who was watching the resources
that were mentioned by Jonathan, that were

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mentioned by Eli, especially when it
comes to wanting to take a lot take

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your life, you know, nine
eight h is you can style it on

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your cell phone dial on the landline. I don't even know who uses landline

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phones anymore, but please whatever you
whatever you do, Okay, yes,

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yes, yes, got year old. I mean I have a landline too,

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So what can I say? But
I but I implore everyone when things

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like this happen to please use the
resources you know. And and my heart

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also goes out to Next and his
family, and my heart goes out to

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anyone who is suffering in silence because
of bully. Bullying is not okay.

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And I really also hope that the
girls who actually committed violence against Next gets

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uh uh yes they are well,
they have justice comes and they also get

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the proper education necessary so they won't
do this again,