So, this is going to be a mix

The Texas House approved a budget provision late Friday requiring state colleges and universities, if they use state funds to support "a gender and sexuality center," to spend an equal amount on a center promoting "family and traditional values."

Never mind that, you know, society promotes "traditional family values", to say nothing of the tax laws. How about MY traditional family values - educate yourself, accept others the way they are, and pay attention to your own family instead of other people's? Is that what they're talking about, the sort of family values that go "I don't care how they do it in Sarah's family, in THIS family we don't use that sort of language"? Or are they talking about the sort that cares very much how other people run their families?

However, at the same time, the California Senate approved a bill requiring that schools teach gay history.

Apparently, there's this big thing also about pink nail polish and a boy and an ad...? I only heard about it through a single post telling folks to stop talking about it already, so... yeah, there we go.

And marginally related is this article on when girls started wearing pink (and boys never never never)

Here's an inaccurate comic about "literally", which is funny because of the gayroller at the end. Hee! But seriously, the word "literally", let's look it up, is not any more tied to its origins than really or very. See, look, literally can basically be an intensifier. And it's been used like that for a really long time. (Really in the literal sense.) Of course, you might ask why we need more than one intensifier, but that's beside the point.

Also, gayroller!

Brazil Stadium Turns Pink After Homophobic Chants Shock Community

I edited that title slightly, and the article basically is what you expect. : )

And just a few other articles....

First things first, just about the only cheerful link you're going to get!

One article on modern childhood.

A graph showing the difference between the demographics of the US and of Congress.

And this post about what has to be one of the most outrageous rape cases I've ever heard of.

And finally, this article about a woman who withheld cancer treatment from her autistic child. Yes, Time, it *is* murder if you keep lifesaving medicine away from your kid - particularly one who cannot talk and who is too young to trust him to have much of a say in his course of treatment anyway. (Comments where I got this article indicate that she didn't even quit openly, she simply stopped giving him the medicine and lied about it.)

Important informational post

Behind the cut is a list of companies that give to Autism Speaks. If you have any information on OTHER companies, pass it to me and I'll pass it to the person I got this from.

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The ThinkGeek situation has a happy update!