Another incident of harassment was recounted by Amanda Pauley, a member of the local activist group Red Wine & Blue. She said she was out shopping with her 11-year-old daughter when she and her daughter were approached by a member of M4L. “[She] walked into the...
Pennsylvania
Philadelphians, take a bow
Moms for Liberty — hereafter known to me as “The Mothers” — must’ve thought they picked a city that was ready for their proselytizing. But when they arrived in Philadelphia, they found themselves in what is probably their image of hell. Philadelphians, take a bow. You...
Moms For Liberty flexes its muscles — and faces pushback
“It was bold, very bold” of them to come to Philadelphia, said Kim Barbero, a Bucks County, Pennsylvania, mom and a deputy director for Red, Wine & Blue, a national group organizing progressive suburban women. “They bring chaos into our communities, and we need to...
Protesters speak out against anti-LGBTQ+ group Moms for Liberty
Protests were out in full force against a far right-wing advocacy group holding their national summit in Philadelphia June 29-July 2. Self-proclaimed parental-rights group Moms for Liberty (M4L) held their “Joyful Warriors” summit at the Philadelphia Marriott...
Battle for the 2024 mom vote comes to Philadelphia
People for the American Way, a progressive advocacy group, is organizing demonstrations outside the Moms for Liberty conference with help from allied groups including the Campaign for Our Shared Future, MomsRising, and Red, Wine & Blue. A “Drag Queen Story Hour”...
Students, authors fight censorship in PA schools
About four hours before the Central Bucks School District passed a new library policy in July, local high school junior Lily Freeman warned a crowd of about 100 what would follow. The policy, passed by a 6-3 vote, targeted books with explicit or implied depictions of...
The day the book banners lost in Pennsylvania’s culture wars
If you ban it, they will come. For the better part of an hour Saturday, dozens of teenagers and their parents snaked around the towering stacks of tomes inside Kutztown’s Firefly Books and sometimes spilled onto the sidewalks of this quaint Berks County college town —...
Ron DeSantis speaks at conservative conference in Harrisburg
Parents and teachers from Florida and Pennsylvania said they stand opposed to DeSantis' politics, namely his tailoring of Florida’s school curriculum and book bans. “These children will be our future and if they don't know the true history and they are oppressed and...
Pennsylvania voters want to protect freedom, especially to control their own bodies
By Ronna Dewey Pennsylvania House Republicans are blatantly trying to hold on to their power and push their out-of-touch agenda. Pennsylvania voters overwhelmingly supported Democrats up and down the ballot, electing a 102-101 Democrat majority in the state House. But...
Recent Posts
Okay, But Why is Gay Marriage at Risk?
The U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in 2015, but recent events have people wondering, is gay marriage at risk? The laws of the United States are supposed to protect and lift up all of us. For hundreds of thousands of gay couples across America, the right to get married isn’t abstract – it affects their daily lives, their finances, their health, and their family. Why would we turn back the clock on the social progress we’ve made? And why is banning gay marriage a priority for some people when there are so many real issues affecting Americans?
Okay, But Why is AI a concern?
Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is everywhere these days. Some people think it’s the solution to all of humanity’s problems. Others think it’s going to bring about the end of life as we know it. The truth, as usual, is somewhere in between. But with so many different opinions and so many ways that AI can be used, it’s hard to know exactly what to believe. So let’s look at the facts and figure out, why is AI a concern?
Okay, But Why Are Romance Novels Political?
When people think of romance novels, the first thing that comes to mind is shirtless men with windswept hair on the covers of mass-market paperbacks, or maybe the “damsel in distress” main character who is waiting for a love interest to come and save her from the clutches of evil. They’re often not thought of as ‘real’ reading, because they are stories typically written by women, for women, and starring women. But what if the truth is that even the most “raunchy” novels of the genre are deeply political?
Okay, But Why Is Autism in the Headlines?
Millions of Americans are pushing back against claims made by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and President Donald Trump about finding the cause of autism and their promises to find treatments for the disorder. Trump has called the rise in diagnoses of autism “a tremendous horror show.” Many autism advocates – and people with autism themselves – say Kennedy’s and Trump’s statements are misinformed and even dangerous. So what’s the truth? Are autism rates rising? Do we know why? Is it even something that needs to be “cured”?
Do This: Unite Against Soft Censorship
The only way to end censorship, whether it’s the quiet removal of books from library collections or in-your-face book bans, is to fight it head on. We saw a huge example of this – and a big win for free speech – this week when ABC and Disney returned Jimmy Kimmel and...