Here is my Jack... He is why I do what I do.
Kansas is a notorious State of late and not in a good way. It is targeting so many using the guise of Religious freedoms to discriminate and hate. House Bill 2260 came up for a vote in a subcommittee in the Kansas State legislature and I was going to speak but did not get to do so. I was bummed and still at least got to send my written statement to have it submitted. Although I always knew I would be a defender of my children in so many ways, having to defend my son's freedom from bulling and discrimination in my State legislature would never have occurred to me in in my wildest dreams! I never thought never thought they would be so small to injure children to promote their own agendas, shame on them!
Here is what I wanted to say to their faces.
Good afternoon. My name is Ann Marie Foster I am an educator
with the USD 497 school district in Lawrence, Kansas. The purpose of my
testimony today is to highlight the consequences of HB2260. This bill is written so broadly that it will
affect the zero tolerance policies put in place in our school districts to
protect our children. As an educator to diverse populations with regards to
socioeconomic status, race, religion and gender it is my, and our,
responsibility to provide to ALL of our students a safe and protective learning
environment to ensure they become productive, well-adjusted members of
society. HB2260 will remove all
protections for our LGBT students and open them up to legal discrimination and
sanctioned bullying. LGBT students face
astronomical bullying rates. 75-80% of
LGBT students report being bullied, threatened and discriminated in our
classrooms and hallways at some point in their academic career. The use of
subtle and physical violence against this population screams for us, as responsible
individuals, to protect our children. This picture I have brought with me is my
son Jack. He is an 11 year old student in Lawrence, Kansas. At times my young
son has had to be more mature and courageous than most of the adult professionals
he comes in contact with due to their internal delusional prejudices. Jack is a
bright sensitive young gay man with an open heart and a bright mind. He wants to grow up to be a competitive figure
skater and a scientist just like his father. If this bill is allowed to pass,
the protection for my child, no matter how bright and capable he is, will not
be in place to protect his rights and freedom from bullying and discrimination
in the classroom, the workplace and housing. I have two wonderful children who
I dream of becoming productive, loving adults who contribute beauty and
intelligence to our community. Just
because my youngest was born different from his heterosexual big brother, he is
a more likely to become a target for hate discrimination and bullying. I want
the best opportunities for both my children and this bill would destroy any protections
already in place for my child and my LGBT students. This bill makes it possible to wipe out all
the protections at the city and school district level, cloaked in a religious
freedom guise. It is ludicrous to believe that this bill is anything but a way
to turn our democracy into a theocracy. I embrace the freedom for all my students and have
a strong sense of faith being raised Catholic but this bill does not promote
love, understanding and freedom professed by the religious but disguises itself
in hate and discrimination. Please, for the wellbeing of ALL the youth in our
schools and homes, protect the beautiful young minds of those citizens like my
son Jack, consider the detrimental ramifications of the removal of protective
antidiscrimination laws. The life you save from bullying and discrimination may
be my son’s.
