Category Archives: News to use

Useful news for all to advance knowledge of the world and how it works

Missouri is ground zero for the firehose of anti-trans legislation | Erin Reed | The Guardian

(Me: Mindless political hate and fear imperils civil society in Missouri…)

…One bill under consideration would allow pharmacists, desk workers and nurses, among others, to refuse to dispense medication or complete paperwork for transgender patients seeking gender-affirming care. Another bill would force trans youth already receiving treatment off their medication, eliminating a grandfather clause allowing them to continue. One bill would end all legal recognition of transgender individuals in the state, echoing the recent anti-transgender laws in Russia and Hungary. Yet another bill would prohibit transgender individuals from using bathrooms of their gender identity in workplaces, potentially mandating small businesses to construct separate bathrooms for them…

Source: Missouri is ground zero for the firehose of anti-trans legislation | Erin Reed | The Guardian

This ban on Muslims praying in school is a dystopian, sinister vision of Britishness | Nadeine Asbali | The Guardian

Muslims pray five times a day, beginning before sunrise and ending after sunset. It is a central pillar of our faith, and we believe it will be one of the first things we will be questioned about by God after we die.

As a Muslim secondary school teacher, I pray in my own classroom at lunchtimes – and in winter, when the days are shorter, I pray once more after lessons are finished. Never has this private, spiritual act threatened the cohesion of the schools in which I have worked. Never has it diminished my Britishness. And yet, that is exactly the argument given by the controversial headteacher Katharine Birbalsingh this week as she defends the decision to ban “prayer rituals” at her north-west London secondary, Michaela.

In a high court case brought by a Muslim student looking to overturn the “discriminatory” ban, it was revealed that Michaela students were praying in the playground, kneeling down on their blazers for about five minutes every lunchtime, because the school did not provide a prayer room. However, in the eyes of the school, this threatened social cohesion and “divided” the students. The KC representing the school trust said that some Muslim children were seen by teachers to be putting pressure on others to be more observant. And so the decision was made to ban all prayer on site…

Source: This ban on Muslims praying in school is a dystopian, sinister vision of Britishness | Nadeine Asbali | The Guardian