It's about keeping the culture war going

The Olympic women’s figure skating free program was shown last night, though delayed instead of live. Which meant I heard about the outcome on NPR’s afternoon news. I watched anyway. The news was about Kamila Valieva of Russia. She tested positive for a heart medication that also boosts performance, a substance that is banned in Olympic and international sports. Strangely, the results weren’t returned until six weeks later and the required second test has yet to be analyzed. She was permitted to compete anyway and finished 1st after the short program. She skated last in the free program. News reports say she “fell apart.” I wouldn’t describe her performance that way. Yes, she stumbled in one part of her program and fell after a jump and that likely rattled her. But she did complete her routine and did well. However, she didn’t do her best and dropped to fourth place and out of getting a medal. She did fall apart once off the ice and her coach lit into her. Laura Clawson of Daily Kos reported more of the story. Gold and silver went to Valieva’s teammates Alexandra Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova. Bronze went to Kaori Sakamoto of Japan. Trusova was upset because she had delivered five quad jumps, piling on another 30 technical difficulty points than any previous skater in a routine that seemed without much artistic merit (according to NBC announcers, though others also noticed it). Yet, Shcherbakova, with only two quads though much higher artistic merit, got the gold. Clawson then discussed the coach of all three Russian skaters. She is Eteri Tutberidze and is notorious for abusing her charges (Clawson has details). Those skaters tend to have careers that are hot and short. Valieva, at 15, does not have heart disease. A 15 year old does not, on her own, take performance enhancing drugs. So the chances are quite good that Trusova (five quad jumps!) and Shcherbakova also took the drugs, though early enough the tests did not detect them. This situation exists because the International Skating Union lets it. In spite of the red flags, Tutberidze was given a “best coach” award in 2020. Also, the ISU has been implying that winning requires quad jumps – that only abused Russian skaters can do reliably. Valieva’s reputation has been damaged. So has the reputation of Olympic women’s figure skating. How many of us are there? Us being LGBTQ+ people. Back in 2011 I wrote about a study by the Williams Institute determined there were 9 million LGBT people in America, or about 3.5% of the population. I wrote at the time that several decades before the Kinsey Institute estimated we were 10% of the population. Other estimates since then put us at 5%. These later estimates are probably low, because, as I wrote at the time, LGBT people are not out to a person with a clipboard. And, yes, at the time we hadn’t added the Q or the + for non binary, intersex, and others. In 2015 I wrote that Neil Swidey updated his report on why some people are attracted to people of their own sex. Again, it said we are about 3.5% of the population. Marissa Higgins of Kos discussed a new study by Gallup. That bit about not being out to a person with a clipboard seems to be changing. Now 7.1% of adults identify as LGBTQ+. The data was also broken down by generation. And this shows things are changing. Greatest Generation (older than 76): 0.8% Baby Boomers: (58-76): 2.6% Generation X (42-57): 4.2% Millennials (26-41): 10.5% Generation Z (18-25): 20% Twenty percent claim an LGBTQ+ identity? Wow! That is amazing to this Boomer. And that’s almost double the percentage of Millennials! Yes, Gen Z includes people much younger than 18, but they’re not allowed to participate in Gallup polls. The change over the years does not mean there are more LGBTQ+ people in younger generations. It does show the willingness of people in younger generations to claim an LGBTQ+ identity for themselves and a willingness to tell researchers about it. If one fifth of Gen Z are willing to tell researchers they have nothing to do with the closet they are certainly not going to go into a closet. They will continue to push for an open world. They will continue to push against the Republican efforts to cram them into a closet and continue to work against violence done to LGBTQ+ people, especially done to black trans women. Clawson of Kos reported that thirteen states now have laws telling teachers not to teach about race. They’re having the intended effect. A New Hampshire law is vague enough and its penalties are strong enough that Jen Given, a 10th grade history teacher, no longer teaches about Jim Crow, redlining, and how they contribute to the racial wealth gap. An Oklahoma teacher edits herself much more than she has ever done before. A Utah middle school eliminated a class on American institutions because it included Black Lives Matter. Clawson concluded:

The claim is that white kids have to be protected from knowing about things that have been done to Black kids in the past, because it might make the white kids feel guilty, or something. Bridges had to walk into school under federal protection past people screaming slurs at her. Moms for Liberty thinks it’s unacceptable for kids now to see pictures of that moment, not because of the trauma inflicted on one little Black girl then, but because of the guilt it would supposedly make white kids feel now. People feel empowered—with the support of Republicans at the very highest levels—to threaten school board members. And teachers can hear loud and clear that their careers will be over if they teach a fact the wrong white person finds inconvenient.

Students are not submitting quietly. Higgins reported two students have sued the St. Louis School District over the removal of eight books from the school libraries. The books, not surprisingly, all have something to do with race or LGBTQ+. The books are removed pending review after a complaint. So people could just complain to get a book pulled. Bill in Portland, Maine, in his Cheers and Jeers column for Kos, quoted some late night commentary:

Banning books isn’t about books. It's about keeping the culture war going for political benefit. You don't just have dozens of Republican states around the country suddenly realizing all at the same time that there are books they want banned in their libraries. It's happening because they think it's a winning issue. Or at least more of a winning issue than “Trump is still the president.” —Trevor Noah

Jason Campbell tweeted a video of Charlie Kirk comparing a restaurant asking for his vaccine status to living in Nazi Germany. Joe Walsh added:

What should make you worry for America? Not grifters like Charlie Kirk. You should worry because of the millions & millions who laugh, cheer, & applaud at the ugliness & ignorance spewed by grifters like Charlie Kirk. Worry because Charlie Kirk has an audience.