March Sadness? Fashness? Madness?
idk just get in here it's a March 2023 roundup
ICYMI: The Washington Elementary School District became the newest villain in the so-called “war against Christianity” after the board voted 5-0 to sever their student-teacher partnership with an anti-LGBTQ Christian university. Earlier this month, I covered the controversy, the Alliance Defending Freedom-backed lawsuit, and the protests at the first board meeting following the vote HERE.
Speaking of Alliance Defending Freedom: On March 8, “maia arson crimew,” the same Swiss hacker who leaked the U.S. No Fly List back in January, published a trove of emails between anti-LGBTQ lawmakers and conservative groups working to outlaw trans existence. “2600 pages of hate” shows the coordinated effort between conversion therapists, evangelical legal organizations, Women’s Liberation Front, Liberty Counsel (another anti-LGBTQ legal non-profit/hate group), and South Dakota republican lawmakers as they draft anti-LGBTQ legislation. Also featured in the emails between 2019 - 2021 includes Alliance Defending Freedom-affiliated attorney Vernadette Broyles. Over the years, Broyles has worked endlessly to roll back LGBTQ+ rights, most recently representing the HIPAA-violating “whistleblower” who shared private medical information of transgender patients.
From Trucker Fred to Fascist Fred: On March 11, a coalition of fascists gathered at a park in Wadsworth, Ohio protesting a Drag Story Hour reading. Proud Boys, Patriot Front, militia LARPers, and multiple neo-nazi sects filled the hate-filled crowd. Amongst the swastika-waving Blood Tribe, TikToker “TheDaneshGuy” spotted Fred Ramey aka Fred the Felon aka Trucker Fred, the former Maricopa County truck driver featured in Andrew Yang’s campaign commercial. Public records show Ramey opened an LLC in Wyoming in 2022 called White Working Class Consulting. Yikes, awkward timing to launch the Forward Party.
I Hear There’s a Hotline That Needs Pranking: Tom Horne’s return to State Superintendent continues right where he left off over a decade ago. Horne was anti-“CRT” long before Christopher Rufo ever manufactured the “critical race theory” outrage, working to eliminate Tucson Unified’s ethnic studies classes and roll back bilingual education. During Horne’s 2022 campaign, he promised to similarly target bilingual school programs — an essential resource for Arizona students.
On March 9, Horne’s Department of Education announced the launch of the “Empower Hotline” to “report inappropriate public school lessons.” So-called “inappropriate” content includes lessons that focus on “race or ethnicity, rather than individuals and merit,” social emotional learning, or promotes “gender ideology.” Should go over well in an environment of bad faith bigots targeting historical art classes, Civil Rights lessons and all things LGBTQ-friendly. So far, Horne said the hotline is mostly prank calls but claims to be investigating a half dozen reports. It sure would be a shame if the prank calls were to continue.
Probably Bad This Keeps Happening: Bookmans Northwest was forced to cancel a March 25 Drag Story Hour book reading after receiving threats. The hate campaign was led by the Bridge Christian Church in Tucson and local Proud Boy chapters.
Only last month on February 19, Tempe’s Brick Road Coffee was also forced to cancel a Drag Story Hour book reading after receiving a bomb threat. Before the family event was violently shut down, Proud Boys and other anti-LGBTQ bigots patrolled the Brick Road parking lot. California-area streamer, domestic abuser, and January 6 insurrectionist Josh Fulfer filmed himself as he was trespassed from the coffee shop. The following week, Fulfer was filmed alongside his sister as she pulled a gun on trans activists in Sacramento, CA.
This continues the growing threats against drag and LGBTQ events, particularly Drag Story Hour. Much of the violence both nationwide and locally has been led by the fascist Proud Boys gang. Before this month’s cancelation/postponement, Bookmans had hosted drag story hours for years without incident.
”I truly believed this was still possible in Tucson without the risk of violence, but the events of the last week have forced me to acknowledge that, at least for now, this is not the case,” said Bookmans president Sean Feeney.
RELATED: Local Twitter account mebrannan spotted a Proud Boys recruitment flier on the bulletin board at the Prescott Valley C-A-L Ranch Stores. Sure would be a shame if that were ripped the fuck down.
Sack Wadsack the Sadsack: District 17 freshman legislator Justine Wadsack has quickly made a name for herself as Arizona’s newest loudmouth bigot. Her first wave of bills targeted the drag and LGBTQ community, the unsheltered community, and the AZ School for the Deaf and Blind. Wadsack gleefully brags about her district’s gerrymandering and affiliates with the astroturfed, anti-trans hate group Gays Against Groomers. Her book banning SB 1700 seeks to remove any material that “promotes gender fluidity or gender pronouns” aka nearly every book ever written.
Some locals have had enough and plan to launch a recall starting the second week of May. According to the Arizona Capitol Times, the campaign to recall Wadsack, appropriately called “Sack Wadsack,” will meet each Saturday of April at Purple Heart Park in Tucson to build momentum. The Sack Wadsack campaign will need to gather at least 33,000 signatures.
Gosar Can Catch These Recall Hands Too (Kinda): A recall petition against Paul Gosar has also been filed by local progressive activist Lennie Clark. Unfortunately, there is no Constitutional method for removing the groyper grandpa, as he’s a member of Congress. This means we’re stuck with the Nick Fuentes-friendly politician for now and, on March 14, Rep. Gosar launched his 2024 campaign seeking re-election once again.
The Dark Ages, Arizona Edition: At the Midwestern University Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine, an anti-choice student group that promotes medical misinformation was recently formed on campus. “Medical Students for Life” was initially rejected by the student government but, for the first time in the school’s history, administration overruled the decision. The new medical student group believes in-vitro fertilization is “unethical” and falsely states birth control pills are “abortifacients.” Medical Students for Life also promotes the dangerous, unfounded “abortion pill reversal” method.
READ MORE at Ms. Magazine: Arizona ‘Medical Students for Life’ Chapter Threatens Patient Health: ‘This Contradicts What We Are Taught in Our Curriculum,’ Say Students
The Least Bloodthirsty “Pro-Lifer”: In South Carolina, Rep. Rob Harris authored a bill that could punish those who had an abortion with the death penalty. Leading up to the filing of HB 3549, or the the “South Carolina Prenatal Equal Protection Act,” Arizona pastor Jeff Durbin hosted a rally alongside Rep. Harris celebrating the bill. Durbin has worked alongside lawmakers throughout the country for years to draft extreme anti-choice bills. In 2021, the Apologia Church pastor also appeared alongside former AZ representative Walt Blackman to promote a similar bill that could have penalized abortion patients with the death penalty.
*Cornelius Fudge voice* He’s Back: Jacob Chansley aka Jacob Angeli aka the QAnon Shaman has returned to Arizona finishing the remainder of his sentence in an halfway house. The mascot of the January 6 insurrection was released from federal prison early due to good time credit and completion of the residential drug abuse program.
With a Q-pilled family and a gaggle of far-right opportunists desperate to take advantage of his return, Chansley has a long road ahead of him if he has any shot of deradicalization. Unfortunately, we’re more likely to see him back to shouting at triangle-shaped petroglyphs at Arrowhead Mall looking for signs of the pedophilic Hollywood cabal. In other Q Shaman news:
Some of Those That Work Forces… Earlier this month, racist border vigilante and Veterans on Patrol (VOP) affiliate Paul Flores harassed members of the Tucson Audubon Society birders. Flores filmed himself destroying aid left for crossing migrants while accusing the bird watchers of being “traffickers.” Flores and VOP have been repeatedly documented for terrorizing the community near their Sasabe base and their close relationship with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents. Earlier this year, Senators Ed Markey, Elizabeth Warren, and Cory Booker raised alarm over VOP’s paramilitary border patrols and collaboration with law enforcement.
READ MORE at Media Matters: Right-Wing Media Outlets are Endorsing Border Militias as a Tool to Curb Immigration
ALSO RELATED on Bellingcat: Borderless Vigilantism: The Nativist US Militias Entering Mexico
In Local Cult News: Tucson Faith Christian Church, the local sect long accused of abuse and cultish behavior, have purchased over a dozen properties on Mount Lemmon. Investigations by the Arizona Daily Star exposed the expanding and expensive compound purchases, which was not disclosed to the congregation. Back in 2015, the local paper also exposed the Tucson Faith Christian Church for their controlling and violent behavior. Despite the abuse accusations, the cult continues to have free rein to recruit on the University of Arizona campus.
This Pity Party Sucks, A Brief: On Saturday, March 17, Donald Trump falsely predicted his imminent indictment and arrest over the Stormy Daniels hush money scandal. “PROTEST PROTEST, PROTEST!!!” he wrote on Truth Social while claiming he’d be arrested the upcoming Tuesday (spoiler: he wasn’t).
On Tuesday morning, a whole 5 people showed up to rally for their president. For hours, the MAGA tailgaters waited around for news.
Protests throughout the country were sparse, with more media than rally-goers in most cases. In Phoenix, about two dozen more gathered into the Tuesday night for their grievance “Trump Loyalty” rally. The crowd was mostly men, including a couple self-described precinct committeeman and failed Congressional candidate Jeff Zink. Zink’s son, Ryan Zink, is facing federal charges for his participation in the January 6th insurrection.
Predictably, the MAGA meetup was made of the most hardcore Trump simps and those on the more extreme end of the far-right spectrum looking to recruit the dedicated loyalists and bait press. Organizers for the nighttime rally included members of the “Nationalist Network.” Fliers promoted the social media of Nationalist Network members and featured their logos on the bottom.
Members include Micajah Jackson, who is currently on probation after illegally entering the Capitol during the January 6 insurrection, Ryan Sanchez, who was kicked out of the Marine Corps for his affiliation with neo-nazi fighting gang Rise Above Movement, and Greyson Arnold, an antisemitic white supremacist who was also at the January 6th insurrection. All three were speakers at the Tuesday rally. In his speech, Sanchez announced his recent move from California to Arizona (countdown until Wendy Rogers hires him).
Also appearing on the flier for the Trump Loyalty Rally included the logo/online alias of Ethan Schmidt-Crockett, the “anti-mask” serial harasser who had made threats against the local LGBTQ and Jewish community. Earlier this month, Schmidt was finally sentenced for his repeated harassment against a Black-owned Mesa wig shop that caters to immunocompromised clients. Also this month, the Anti-Defamation League twice listed Schmidt in their annual audit of antisemitic incidents.
Towards the end of the night, newly elected state senator Janae Shamp briefly stopped by to offer support to Jackson and the crowd.
With no Trump perp walk, protesters all dispersed by the next day. Then, unexpectedly on March 30, Trump was indicted by a New York grand jury. Will the pathetic pity protests gather again? Only April will tell.
READ MORE: Antisemitism continued to rise in 2022, with one homicide in Arizona
ALSO RELATED: Protest of Trump’s Arrest That Never Was Turns Into Tearful Bitch Fest in Phoenix