#Youth Safety

[hederskrans]

okay now that the committee hearing about KOSA is started, i need all of you to do something.

i need all of you to call them like you're being put on voicemail and your grandma's dying.

you will make sure these fuckers phones buzz so much they fall off the table. they will get ANNOYED with you. MAKE SURE IT HAPPENS.

the number is 813-492-2379, and you will just give them a piece of your mind. make the ringtone your favorite song to make you feel better. if it makes you feel cooler, imagine you're going off to battle or something.

while calling, you can use a script, or simply say that you are calling about KOSA and the earn it act and restrict act, and say YOU DO NOT SUPPORT THEM!

for more info go to:

stopkosa.com

badinternetbills.com

MAKE SURE THAT THEY HAVE TO FUCKING THINK ON IT!

[sparksinthenight]

My letter to Biden about KOSA

You can use the following letter as a template to send to your representatives. Or you can write your own letter.

Dear President Biden,

My name is ______ and I am a ______ in _____. I am writing to you to ask that you please oppose the Kids Online “Safety” Act. This act harms children, especially queer or abused children , and allows children to be indoctrinated into their parents’ worldviews.

Children, especially teenagers, deserve the freedom of the current internet. They deserve to listen to many different viewpoints, to hear the stories of many different people, to learn about many different experiences. They deserve to meet many different people and learn from them. They deserve to interact with many different forms of art expressing many different viewpoints. This allows them to form their own ideas and opinions about the world and become their own people. It broadens their horizons and makes them more open minded.

If parents are given control over what children learn about on the internet, then many parents will ensure that their children are not exposed to any views that contradict their own.

This will make it so that future generations can no longer learn more than and become better than older generations. The only thing making our society progress is younger generations learning more and becoming more accepting than older generations.

LGBT+ children under KOSA will often be stopped from accessing resources that help them learn that being LGBT+ is okay. Many children won’t be able to go against their parents’ homophobia and learn to love themselves. This will lead to many mental illnesses and suicides.

Also, abused children often go to the internet to access resources that teach them that what is happening to them is bad and they deserve better, and to access resources that help them escape. Their parents of course will not allow them to access these resources under KOSA.

Thank you for reading my letter and please take my concerns to heart.

Sincerely,

[persterrr]

PROTECT QUEER YOUTH. STOP CENSORSHIP.

Citizens of the USA. Yes, all of you. Right now, I want you to look at the device you're viewing this post on and consider what the Internet has possibly done for you: have you made online friends? Have you been taught about racism? Have you learned about the queer community? Most importantly, do you have privacy?

For many, though the Internet can be dangerous and lead to stolen data and child exploitation, it is also a beautiful place to learn about other communities and build one of your own. The Internet is an incredible library full of information that many people cannot get anywhere else. Especially when it comes to LGBTQ+ resources.

Now imagine having all of that ripped away.

Your messages monitored, recorded, surveyed. Your online experience censored. Your friends or your own marginalized voices further suppressed. Your ID? In the hands of every social media site you sign up to.

Privacy? Gone. Queer safety? Fucking gone.

All of that? That's what KOSA and its affiliated bills such as EARN IT, STOP CSAM, and the Cooper Davis Act (which encroach upon data encryption and allow further surveillance), the ban on Tiktok (which is self-explanatory), and 'Footloose' bills (which may include online curfews for people under 18 and give parents complete control and surveillance over what their underaged children do, say, and see) aim to achieve.

Queer teenagers will be put at risk. LGBTQ+ resources stripped away. Any secret accounts or online friends monitored by potentially abusive parents. Teens' right to free speech destroyed.

So contact your local lawmakers. Contact your senators. Contact your USA friends and family and urge them to do the same. Fight these bills. Queer voices will be heard. Queer people will not be silenced.

Visit the Fight for the Future website, Bad Internet Bills, and sign their petitions. They provide prewritten emails for your lawmakers. There is an all-encompassing petition and separate ones for each of the dangerous bills, all of which I strongly encourage you sign.

[angst-fairy]

HEY, Important! READ!

KOSA is a national bill in the USA getting ever closer to passing. This bill is not being thoroughly discussed, but is still passing through voice votes. This bill has a lot of important parts in it that are not properly defined, which would make it very easy for major Tech Companies to abuse it, especially by attacking marginalized communities with it. We all know many communities typically discriminated against, are home to people, especially youth, who face mental health problems and/or abuse. This bill could cause tech companies to censor content that gives support to at risk people, whether out of fear or purposeful discrimination against such people. KOSA as it is could cause an incredible amount of harm, and not just to ones who live in the USA. Companies would likely censor content that could be considered "controversial" in any place there content is seen, not just the US. Suicide rates among marginalized communities have shown to be considerably higher than that among the general population time and time again. If KOSA passes, I believe it is extremely likely that the current suicide rate will rise even higher, especially among youth. KOSA would also result in many challenges for small businesses, as they would have to navigate through the legal walls and censorship that will be placed in front of them. Politicians have tried to threaten big companies, especially tech companies, for many years and KOSA has been made with similar purpose. Small businesses could very easily be caught in a tug-of-war they do not have the ability to navigate correctly.

The government is meant to help and protect civilians, but have proven to do the opposite many times before. WE have a voice, and it is not too late to use it! There are some politicians who want to and have listened to us before, we just need to keep telling them.

Please read the websites below for more information, especially the highlighted ones:

https://energycommerce.house.gov/events/innovation-data-and-commerce-subcommittee-markup-of-three-bills

https://www.techpolicy.press/house-energy-commerce-subcommittee-markup-of-the-american-privacy-rights-act-kids-online-safety-act/

https://www.stopkosa.com/ GO HERE TO HELP FIGHT WITH AN EMAIL AND CALL TO YOUR REPRESENTATIVE!

https://www.fightforthefuture.org/news/2024-05-22-listen-to-kids-billboard-outside-house-hearing-raises-up-voices-of-lgbtq-youth-who-oppose-kosa/

https://touchgrass.fightforthefuture.org/unserious-attempt-1-562-to-rollback-section-230/

[aronarchy]

[planetofsnarfs]

When a child dies – any child – the loss is incalculable. There’s the loss of a son or daughter, a sibling, a cousin, a best friend. There’s a loss of a life, snuffed out before its time. The loss of a future – who knows what that child could have accomplished? 

And when that child dies, particularly under horrific circumstances, there is a loss of innocence for all of us, regardless of whether we knew that child or not. Among the first impulses for anyone with a heart who wishes to protect other children is to find a way – any way – to prevent a loss like that from happening again.

The hyper-cruel antithesis of this is what’s going on right now in Oklahoma in the wake of 16-year-old Nex Benedict’s death. As we first reported, Nex, a transgender sophomore at Owasso High School, was brutally beaten by other students in a school bathroom and died the following day. The incident has drawn national attention – but not nearly enough, in my opinion – with many attributing the violent act to a culture of transphobia they say is being stoked by state officials.

Days before Nex’s death, The Oklahoman reported that there were a whopping 50 bills in the state legislature targeting LGBTQ+ people. The state ranks 48th in both education and health care. Don’t you think the state legislature and state government officials have better things to do than sow queer hate among its citizens? 

One of those state officials is the superintendent of public instruction, Ryan Walters. Even before Nex’s death, Walters was virulently anti-LGBTQ+. More than 350 LGBTQ+ organizations, activists, and celebrities urged his removal from office after Nex died, saying he has encouraged “a climate of hate and bigotry” throughout his career. Nex’s death didn’t stop him from fanning the flames of hate.

Walters poured salt into a festering wound, telling The New York Times, “There's not multiple genders. There’s two. That’s how God created us.” He added that he did not believe that nonbinary or transgender people exist and that the state would not let students use names or pronouns other than those matching their birth records.

It seems the goal of the official responses around Nex’s death has been to protect those who bullied and beat him. Police were quick to release initial reports saying that Nex "did not die as a result of trauma."

It’s important to note that school officials did not reprimand, sanction, or report to authorities the students who critically harmed Nex. “No report of the incident was made to the Owasso Police Department prior to the notification at the hospital,” Chief Dan Yancey told The Advocate.

The police jumped out over their skis with their initial statement, which raised eyebrows. In fact, Sue Benedict, who was Nex’s adoptive mother, told the news site Popular Information that a statement released by the Owasso Police was a “big cover."

Parents and other members of the public expressed outrage over how the school was handling the response to Nex’s death, particularly pointing out that protecting queer kids and making sure that it didn’t happen again was not a priority for the school board. “Apparently people don’t feel safe here. I can’t imagine why at all,” public commenter Walter Masterson said at the first Owasso school board meeting after Nex's death. “A more 'woke' school board would see the death of a child and work to make sure it never happens again. Not this board.” 

Then, along comes the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Oklahoma, which concluded that Nex died by suicide. The medical examiner’s one-page summary report identifies the cause of death as combined toxicity from diphenhydramine (Benadryl) and fluoxetine (Prozac). Noticeably absent from the report were all the injuries Nex incurred the day before.

My colleague Christopher Wiggins was once a paramedic. When he saw the cause of death was attributed to two very common medications, he decided to investigate. He’s a damn good reporter, and his suspicions regarding the report were justified. He reached out to two toxicology experts, who first made it clear that they weren’t privy to Nex’s autopsy report; however, they told Christopher that the risk of death from these medications, especially when used as directed, is extraordinarily low.

In response to the coroner’s report, GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement, “Nex’s family accurately notes how the report released this week does not reflect the full picture of what happened to Nex and continues to urge accountability of those who failed to keep Nex and all students in Oklahoma safe from bullying, harassment, assault, and most brutally, death.”

Now you have this full picture of all those involved, coupled with a backdrop of hate. Taken in its totality, the reaction to Nex’s death shows that a corrupt, do-nothing clique is part of a deceptive lie and cover-up that shows they did nothing, zero, zilch to protect the life of Nex or any child like him. The authorities' only goal is to protect the perpetrators, not just those who attacked Nex but all those who will be emboldened to beat others just like Nex in the future in school bathrooms throughout the state.

The grossly deceptive response to Nex’s death makes the state of Oklahoma a breeding ground for the bullying – and for beating to injury or death – of LGBTQ+ kids. What the state is doing goes against all we know about protecting vulnerable children. 

If the state legislature pushes hate bills, if state officials spew hate, if local authorities and administrators cover up hate, then you create this breeding ground. You create an atmosphere where that hate explodes, like it did with Nex, and you use hate to demean the victim and ennoble the haters.

Suicide rates among LGBTQ+ youth are astronomically high. If Nex ultimately did commit suicide -- and this initial autopsy report does not make a convincing case -- then Oklahoma officials still deserve to be held accountable. Oklahoma's LGBTQ+ suicide prevention line saw a 230 percent increase in calls after the cause of Nex's death was revealed by the coroner. As transgender activist Ari Drennan noted, in a climate of anti-trans hate, "every trans suicide is a murder." 

But if Nex's death was ruled a suicide to avoid addressing anti-LGBTQ+ bullying, Oklahoma officials have crossed a line. Using suicide as a cover, as a deception, should be a crime.

It is worth repeating the ominous words of Walters that nonbinary or transgender people don’t exist. That means, in Walters’s world, Nex never existed. And if Nex never existed, how would Walters and other officials associated with him be able to objectively investigate Nex’s death?

All of which means that Nex’s autopsy report is a lie and a facade. Null and void. Plain and simple. Nex and his family deserve so much more, and we need to keep protesting loudly until we get the truth.

[scarycranegame]

you know kosa is a horrible fucking idea when even the kids it's claiming to protect are rallying against it

[horsetailcurlers2]

hi guys. if anybody wants an update on KOSA, it was voted out of committee this morning, meaning it is moving forward to the senate floor. this means that it is now IMPERATIVE to call your senators. it will likely be a while before they actually vote on it and there will likely be amendments and adjustments in the bill before then. passing a bill through senate is a lengthy process. if you care about stopping this bill, calling your lawmakers is incredibly important. two senators already vocalized their concerns about the bill this morning. senator markey (D-MA) specifically cited concerns from his constituents- which means calling IS making an impact. i called senator markey’s office myself so i am very optimistic that our opinions are making a difference. i’m sorry to keep posting about this on a fandom blog but i think that stopping this bill is very important. and if you think that KOSA will not negatively impact fandom spaces (especially queer fandom spaces) then you are not paying enough attention. however, that is the least of our concerns. it could also stop kids from accessing life saving information. especially (but not only) trans kids. and it could affect censorship and internet privacy for EVERYBODY. not just minors. i will get off my soapbox now but please if you can, take a few minutes out if your day to call your representatives. i am once again including the link to the compiled doc of info, including links to petitions (sign only once! otherwise it could be invalidated), more info on the bill, info on how to contact your reps, and scripts for what to say on the phone.

[hederskrans]

KOSA is back on the floor again, people!

on the fourth of september, senators will decide whether or not they want to ruin the internet. you will be able to help make sure they don't.

call your senators and make sure their phones are ringing off the hook. if you need a script, there's one on badinternetbills.com i think. tell them you hate kosa, you dont support any of the bills that are trying to mess with the internet, and frankly, you think it will hurt lgbt kids.

how do you make sure they listen? why, i'm glad you asked! put their election on the line. tell them you wont vote for them. tell them that the people you know in their state wont vote for them. make sure they know that they rely on voting to have this power, and if they get voted out, its over.

this bill (and other bills on badinternetbills.com) have the potential to decimate all fandom/internet culture on this site and many others.

it has the potential to decimate the lgbtq community in rural areas.

please, help make sure it doesnt pass this time. it was brought up twice in recent years, and both times, people raised hell. so do it again.

thank you.

EDIT!:

the date of september fourth is INCORRECT! i was given crap information. however, i cannot find the actual date. if anyone knows what it is, please reblog this, add it in comments, whatever. thank you!

[whatudottu]

Do y'all think object heads have a peculiar vision? Well I certainly do!

If DJSS is actually a supernova then assumption probably brings with it the idea they were a star, and being a star where it sends light in every direction and vision is directly correlated to light, what if that means omnidirectional vision?

[unloneliest]

the A in LGBTQIA2S+ stands for asexual and aromantic, yes. this absolutely is not a post arguing against that. but it is absolutely, critically vital that the A does also stand for ally. the plausible deniability that ally being a part of the acronym offers closeted people is a necessity. it's a matter of safety.

[bk-179]

What is KOSA? (And how could it kill kids?) [an educational comic by Bkay-179]

text will be posted below. Image ID is EXTREMELY appreciated- it will help more people learn about KOSA.

Hello! This is Bkay speaking. Today, I would like to explain the KOSA bill, a re-proposed, updated American bill from 2022 that will be voted on in the senate on February 26, 2024.

In this comic, I will explain the ramifications of this bill on the internet, both in the United States and internationally, if it were to eventually become law.

This bill is dangerous. Essentially, it is a bill proposing that websites and social media platforms censor content “unsafe for kids”, including sex education, LGBTQIA+ resources, information pertaining to gender affirming care, domestic violence and abuse aid, and much more.

In addition, it will pressure websites and social media platforms to collect extremely private information to both confirm the age of its users and to enforce parental consent guidelines for account creation.

Let’s start simple: What is KOSA?

KOSA is an American bill that aims to protect minors on the internet against content deemed harmful. It advocates for the identification of minors on a platform, especially social medias like TikTok and Tumblr, and the subsequent removal of “design features” deemed to “…encourage or increase the frequency, time spent, or activity of minors on the covered platform, or activity of minors on the covered platform” (Don’t Fall for the Latest Changes, 1)

So, it sounds like a bill that protects minors online, something we’ve needed for a while now. Sounds great, right?

Wrong.

KOSA is a censorship bill. The true purpose of the bill is to censor websites, platforms, and even games that the State Attorney Generals of each state do not like, especially ones that are used to spread information about gender, sexuality, sex education, and much, much more.

The bill will pressure companies and websites alike to verify the ages AND identites of their users, effectively killing anonymity and privacy for everyone, NOT just those in America.

The bill is intentionally vague, and uses this vagueness to place liability on platforms in the the event that minors are exposed to anything the State Attorney General of any given state is opposed too (which, as stated before, is marginalized communities, health information, sex education, and more).

This pressure and liability will push companies and websites to collect sensitive information; information that will be used to identify not only age, but identity.

It will be impossible to connect, discuss government and police misconduct, and organize rallies and protests, among other items protected by the first amendment, safely. The internet will no longer be anonymous. Everyone in any country that wishes to use these services is in danger if they use these platforms; especially minors.

Most importantly, the children won’t be safe. Far from protecting minors, the effects listed previously will contribute to the death of queer, trans, neurodivergent, POC, and abused children everywhere, especially in America where the censorship will be most prominent.

Protecting minors on the internet is important. But KOSA is not only ineffective in doing so, but is not actually meant to protect kids. It is meant to keep children under strict control for political purposes, and either directly or indirectly, this bill will kill them.

However, there is still hope.

There are ways to voice your disapproval of this bill in a way that matters. If you are an American citizen living in the USA, no matter your age, you can contact your state representatives about this bill and make it clear that you do not support it. If you aren’t, there are still ways to support the cancellation of this bill. Spreading the word and educating people about the bill is especially helpful.

Below, sources will be linked to show  you ways to ACT, for both Americans and non-Americans.

We will not go down without a fight.

(Sources linked within the description of the original post in Comic Studio are as follows:

- Stop KOSA is a movement that will help people in America take action against the bill.

- from a reputable organization, detailing the dangers of KOSA.

- a petition anyone can sign. )

(Additional helpful links to international petitions that I posted in the comments are as follows:

I recommend searching for more ways to stop KOSA; everyone can help via petitions, but the most important way to kill support for this bill is educative anyone and everyone about its harmful effects.)

[spiderwarden]

The fact Minthara would be acting a little odd socially in Drow society, being just attributed to the fact her mother - Sos'umptu, was by all the accounts that are written about her, a social hermit, feels fitting somehow.

The way no one questioned her eventual discconnect at pleasure parties or disassociative stare in the middle of the noble talk. The way she would silently grieve the people she thought she could love or be her friends, because she wanted that familial and friendly connections so badly and no one recognized it. Oh, it's just High Priestess Sos'umptu's daughter, this is to be expected.

[smilepaint]

anyway the concept of passing is a scam. we will never be liberated until the idea that a trans person's inherent value and worth and validity is directly proportional to their resemblance to a cis person. and i say this not just to those who struggle to or do not fit into that box, but to those who very much do and are counting themselves lucky.

the same way that its unhealthy and unreasonable to expect a same gender couple to conform to notions of what a heterosexual family should be, its unhealthy and unreasonable to have to expect a transgender experience of identity and a transgender body to conform to a cisgender ideal. not only does it further the marginalisation of trans people and drive a wedge in our community, but it's an unhealthy way to see the world and relate to yourself. its not fair to expect a human being to go their whole life in states of checking the value of their body and their life against a societally imposed, often unattainable model that may not even reflect their own desires or goals.

it's tough, i know how tough it is to go against everything you've been taught, and the right to seek medical intervention to reshape ourselves in a way that deepens and solidifies our connection to our bodies is and will always be important. but for your own mental health, whatever shape you take must reflect yourself first. not a cis persons. transition is about making a home out of the body you're living in, in whatever way works for you.

you deserve the mental freedom that comes with removing "passing" from your emotional radar entirely. trans bodies are good bodies.

[maybe-an-impostor]

as a neurodivergent, disabled and LGBT teen, the internet means so much to me and has taught me so much, it has also lead me to meet some amazing individuals who i'm so glad are in my life to this very day. without the internet, i would not know who i am or if i ever was going to exist in the first place. that is how much the internet means to me.

this bill, KOSA, will limit that. this bill will make it so i cannot get the valuable information i need and will not make me able to see my friends EVER again, this will also happen to many others if this bill does pass. this bill does more harm than any "good" it is trying to do. this bill will destroy the internet and many lives in its footsteps, this CANNOT happen.

there is still time to act and to push forward. 2 senators have spoken up about their concerns which is AMAZING, this means our voices DO matter and are getting heard. we can still do this. it may be hard, but pushing forward is our option. we can do this.

CALL YOUR SENATORS, CALL YOUR LAWMAKERS, AND IF YOU CANNOT CALL YOU EMAIL THEM. SPAM THEM SO THEY KNOW HOW UPSET YOU ARE. LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD AND KNOWN. STOP KOSA.