Approaching Sodom > Kellogg's Woke Cereal; LGBTQ Struggles in Russia; Teachers - One Suspended, the Other Should Be; ACLU vs Arkansas; UNICEF

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‘They’re turning the frogs gay!’ Twitter reacts to Kellogg’s gay pride cereal that teaches children to choose their own pronouns

25 May, 2021 22:14

© Twitter / Dave Rubin

Corporate America’s alliance with LGBT activism has been brought to the breakfast table with the rollout of a new Kellogg’s gay pride cereal that encourages children to choose their own pronouns.

The “Together With Pride” cereal, which went on sale in stores across the US last week, features rainbow-colored hearts “dusted with edible glitter,” according to Kellogg Co. It was produced in collaboration with the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). Kellogg’s is donating $3 to the activist group for each box purchased when buyers upload their receipts through a special promotion.

Together With Pride will celebrate that “no matter who you are, who you love or what pronouns you use, you are too awesome to fit into a box,” Kellogg said. GLAAD president Sarah Kate Ellis added that the cereal will create opportunities for families to “have conversations about the importance of acceptance, compassion and understanding,” especially regarding “LGBTQ+” children.

The campaign was mocked on social media, with many users questioning what had become of their favorite Kellogg cartoon characters, such as “Dig’em Frog,” the mascot for Honey Smacks. “They're turning the frogs gay,” said a commenter with the account name “Alex Jones was right.” The post alluded to Jones, a right-wing radio host who was ridiculed for a rant in which he claimed that frogs were being turned gay by chemicals in the water.

Openly gay talk show host Dave Rubin quipped: “I had no idea that Tony the Tiger and Toucan Sam were dating.”

Toucan Sam, the mascot for Froot Loops, is featured on the side of the Together with Pride box, where fans can fill in their own pronouns. The opening tab at the top of the box says, “Lift here to open your heart.” Below that is another label for filling in pronouns.

The Kellogg-GLAAD venture is one in a long line of gay-themed marketing ploys that major corporations are deploying as they gear up virtue-signaling campaigns for Pride Month in June. For instance, Mars Inc. has introduced a Pride-themed version of its Skittles candy, with the colors removed from its rainbow packaging and a note saying, “Only one rainbow matters during Pride.” And Danish toymaker Lego introduced a buildable model featuring a rainbow backdrop and 11 figurines, each with their own hair style, to match each color.

'Virtue-signalling'? What is the virtue being signalled?

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Russian LGBT Network in court as St Petersburg prosecutors demand its Facebook page be blocked for 'negative impact' on kids

28 May, 2021 14:11

FILE PHOTO. An LGBT activist is detained during an unauthorized rally on Dvortsovaya Square at the 9th St. Petersburg Pride. © Sputnik

Prosecutors in Russia have demanded that Facebook block the page of the Russian LGBT Network, with the authorities alleging that it harms the development and health of minors. The profile is followed by over 5,000 people.

The initial complaint was filed by MP Igor Sapko, the former mayor of Perm and a representative of the ruling United Russia party, who said that “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships is becoming mainstream on many Internet platforms.”

According to the prosecutors, the group creates “an attractive image of homosexuality, leading to the involvement of citizens, especially teenagers, in destructive lifestyles.”

“The materials on the page may have a negative impact on the development of children, provoking an unhealthy interest [in LGBT culture], instilling LGBT values, and involving minors in the LGBT community,” said the press service of a Saint Petersburg court, the city where the group is based.

According to Alexander Belik, a lawyer for the Russian LGBT Network, this is not the first time Saint Petersburg prosecutors have tried to block the organization’s pages.

“It started in 2019 when they targeted a group on [Russian social network] VKontakte,” Belik explained. “Two times they tried to do something with our website. Now they have switched to Facebook.”

The LGBT Network is run by the ‘Sphere’ charity fund, which is deemed by Russia’s Ministry of Justice to be a foreign agent. Founded in 2006, the group seeks to promote LGBT rights inside the country and aspires “to a society in which discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression or sex variances does not exist.”

Virginia gym teacher placed on leave after refusing to say ‘biological boy can be a girl’ at school board meeting

29 May, 2021 10:16

© @imichaelsmiller / Twitter

An elementary school gym teacher in Virginia, US has been placed on leave right after he spoke out against the county school board policy proposal that says teachers must allow students to use gender pronouns of their choice.

Leesburg Elementary School physical education teacher Byron ‘Tanner’ Cross has been placed on leave, Loudoun County Public Schools confirmed to Fox News.

Spokesperson Wayde Byard did not go into the details about the decision regarding Cross, but said that it was “not the principal’s,” and clarified that the teacher had been placed on administrative leave with pay.

The clip of Cross blasting the county’s gender policy during a school board meeting on Tuesday was earlier shared on social media.

“I love all of my students, but I will never lie to them, regardless of the consequences,” he said.

I’m a teacher but I serve God first, and I will not affirm that a biological boy

can be a girl and vice versa, because it’s against my religion.

“It’s lying to a child, it’s abuse to a child, and it’s sinning against our God,” 

Tanner Cross

The teacher referenced the county’s draft policy 8040 that says school staff must allow students to use “their chosen name and gender pronouns that reflect their gender identity without any substantiating evidence.” He argued that the change would “damage children, defile the holy image of God.”

Cross told journalist Vince Coglianese on his podcast, The Vince Coglianese Show, that the decision to place him on leave came not from the principal but from Loudon County Public Schools. “I was told that I was disruptive,” the teacher said, describing his visit to the human resources (HR) department.

“HR said, ‘We want to resolve this as quick as possible,’ but that is not my feeling at all,” he said.

Cross added that, during a meeting with HR, he was shown a letter accusing him of having “engaged in conduct that has had a disruptive impact on the operations of Leesburg Elementary School.”

“I wrote to the school board multiple times, [pleading] with them just to sit down and have a conversation… and I never heard anything back from them,” the teacher said.

The Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal group, demanded the school board reinstate Cross and “refrain from any future retaliation against protected speech.” It added that the teacher would be “forced to pursue other legal options to safeguard his rights,” if the board did not back down.

Leesburg, Va

ACLU files lawsuit against Arkansas ban on puberty blockers,

trans surgeries for kids

By Brandon Showalter, 

Christian Post Reporter

Friday, May 28, 2021

Arkansas flag flying high beside the Arkansas state Capitol, front exterior, in Little Rock, Arkansas.

| Getty Images

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the state of Arkansas in federal court, arguing that a new law banning hormonal and surgical gender-transitioning of minors is unconstitutional.

The lawsuit, Brandt et al v. Rutledge et al, is being brought by four Arkansas families who are challenging HB 1570, also known as the Save Adolescents From Experimentation Act. The law bans medical providers from prescribing experimental puberty-blocking drugs and cross-sex hormones to children or performing elective cosmetic surgeries such as double mastectomies and orchiectomy (removal of the testes), on children younger than 18. The law also prohibits insurers and state taxpayers' dollars from funding these practices and allows insurance companies to deny coverage of surgical genital mutilation, chemical castration and related procedures at any age. 

The SAFE Act is the first law of its kind in the nation and passed despite a last-minute veto by Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, who argued that it violated limited government principles. The Republican-majority state Legislature subsequently overrode his veto. 

Joining the families in challenging the law are Drs. Michelle Hutchison and Kathryn Stambough, who argue that it prevents them from treating patients with "medically-necessary" care and prevents them from referring them to other providers. 

The lawsuit argues that "by prohibiting any medical treatment 'related to gender transition,' [the law] denies adolescents medically necessary treatment and prevents parents from obtaining medically necessary care for their children. It further prohibits doctors from treating their patients in accordance with the well-established standards of care or from referring patients to other doctors to receive the appropriate care."

"It violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because it discriminates on the basis of sex and transgender status by prohibiting certain medical treatments only for transgender patients and only when the care is 'related to gender transition,'" the suit continues.

 

That constitutional clause states that U.S. states cannot make or enforce laws that "abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

The suit also argues that the Arkansas ban is an affront to free speech, violating the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by prohibiting doctors from referring their patients in accordance with what they deem as accepted standards of care. 

The defendant named in the suit is Attorney General of Arkansas Leslie Rutledge who has vowed to defend the law. 

“I will aggressively defend Arkansas’ law which strongly limits permanent, life-altering sex changes to adolescents. I won’t sit idly by while radical groups such as the ACLU use our children as pawns for their own social agenda,” Rutledge said in a statement. 

The sponsor of the contested law in the state House, Rep. Robin Lundstrum (R-Elm Springs), said that she was saddened to hear of the legal action against the state's efforts "to protect children from chemical and surgical castration" and that the damage to the human body will be seen from those who regret going through the experimental procedures. 

"Our children are incredibly precious and deserve the right to grow up safe and healthy," Lundstrum said.  

She added: "I am so thankful that we have a capable attorney general in Leslie Rutledge and her wonderful staff who will fight hard to protect children against those who would harm them for political purposes. Sadly, there will be children in years to come who will be asking, ‘Where were the adults and why didn’t someone say no, this is not healthy for me to do to my body?’" 

Why isn't anyone talking about the extraordinary number of transgenders who attempt suicide. There is a clear correlation between the two indicating that mental illness either leads to transgenderism, or transgenderism leads to mental illness or both. Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Johns Hopkins Psychiatrist: Transgender is ‘Mental Disorder;' Sex Change ‘Biologically Impossible’

Huge UK Study Find Robust Link Between Transgenderism and Autism

Astonishing Transgender Adolescent Suicide Behavior - A National Emergency!

 Female to male adolescents transgenders reported the highest rate of attempted suicide (50.8% - 150 times normal)

‘Porn literacy’ teacher gets new wave of outrage from parents over videos about masturbation shown to first graders in New York

30 May, 2021 18:24

©  REUTERS/Amira Karaoud

A controversial ‘health and wellness’ teacher is back in the spotlight, with parents and critics outraged over ‘educational’ videos on masturbation and consent being shown to first graders.

Justine Ang Fonte, who has said on her website that she has “reveled in disrupting health education for 10 years,” previously triggered parents after details from a “porn literacy” class for students at Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School in New York went public. 

She is now the center of attention once again for her work at a similarly expensive New York school, Dalton, which costs over $50,000 a year to attend. Her sex education work there includes teaching six-year-olds about consent and masturbation. 

Parents had previously complained about Fonte’s teachings, but were told they had “misinterpreted” her class. Reports of Fonte’s separate “porn literacy” class have renewed outrage over her Dalton teachings. 

One video used by Fonte, which was obtained by the New York Post, includes cartoon kids asking about things like masturbation.

“Hey, how come sometimes my penis gets big sometimes and points in the air?” a little boy asks in the cartoon, later adding that he touches himself “because it feels good.”

Similarly, a young girl later inquires about touching her “vulva.”

The school and Fonte have defended the class, saying that the word “masturbation” is never directly used, and children are taught not to touch themselves in public, as well as about consent. Numerous parents, however, argue the class is unneeded for kids so young and aspects of it go too far, like the lessons on consent.

“Literally parents are supposed to say to their kids, May I hug you?” one parent said, according to the Post. 

“I’m paying $50,000 to these a**holes to tell my kid not to let her grandfather hug her when he sees her?” an unidentified mother added. 

Other parents said they were “furious” and Fonte should not be teaching young children, nor had she ever received consent from parents for her “sexually explicit” lessons. 

Details about Fonte’s lessons have now angered far more than just parents of Dalton students, with some even arguing her work could be considered pedophilia.

“In my opinion, she should have to register as a sex offender. This is worse than woke – it’s pedophilic,” conservative author Candace Owens tweeted in reaction to the report on Dalton. 

I completely agree with Candace. Erin's Law should be the level of sex-ed teaching in elementary schools.

Fonte’s previous ‘porn literacy’ class also left people scratching their heads. The lessons included images of partially nude women (some in bondage), as well as discussions on “orgasm gaps” and popular search terms on pornographic websites such as “barely legal” and “anal.” 

Dr. William M. Donohue, Columbia’s head of school, eventually sent an email to parents apologizing for the course and ensuring them that it does not “represent our philosophy.” 

“It was unfortunate that we did not better inform ourselves of the speaker’s specific content in advance,” he said. “In this case, the speaker did not align with our unique CGPS mission and for this, I apologize.”

You should resign for allowing such teaching in your school. how can someone come in and teach classes without anyone knowing what they will teach?

I wonder how many millions of dollars UNICEF spent on the stupidest report ever?

UNICEF Report Says Pornography Not Always Harmful to Children

By Alexis I. Fragosa, Esq. 

| May 13, 2021

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 14 (C-Fam) A UN agency is again immersed in controversy for a recent report suggesting there is no conclusive evidence that children exposed to pornography are harmed.

The report published by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) addresses how government policy can be used to protect children from harmful, abusive and violent content online.  Its conclusion is based on a European study of 19 EU countries that found in most countries, most children who saw pornographic images were “neither upset nor happy.” In fact, the report UNICEF relies on says 39 percent of Spanish children were happy after seeing pornography.

The astounding stupidity is revealed right there. They are measuring the children's emotions during or immediately after viewing pornography. There is no consideration of the long-term effects on the children. The majority of children will be affected in the long-term, to ignore this is at best absurd, and at worst sinister.

I knew a 3-y/o whose parents watched pornography. He enjoyed it so much that he attempted to replicate what he saw on other small children. 

Porn fighters disagree with the UNICEF data. “UNICEF’s report ignores the vast body of research demonstrating the harms of pornography to children. By ignoring the real harms pornography can have, UNICEF is playing roulette with children’s health and safety,” said Lisa Thompson, vice president and director of the Research Institute at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.

Thompson’s organization, which provides expert research to inform policy decisions to end the sexual abuse and exploitation of women and children, has found that pornography can be a central driver of this abuse.

“Mainstream pornography contains horrific sexual abuse, rape, incest, racism – all of which children should not consume,” continued Thompson, and “UNICEF’s milquetoast assessment of the impacts hardcore pornography on children does nothing to challenge the political narrative that pornography is benign, and as a result, puts children in harm’s way.”

The 2020 EU Kids Online Study concluded that some children and young people “intentionally seek out sexual content” for a variety of reasons and that seeing sexual images “might also represent an opportunity” to provide answers to questions about puberty and sexual identity. The study encouraged “seeing the nuances” which lead children to seek out and view sexual content online.

Nuances, like rape, incest, racism, etc.? Also, that women are there for the sexual pleasure of men - probably a main driver in the growth of the culture of rape in schools and colleges.

UNICEF says any efforts to block children from accessing pornography online might infringe on their human rights. UNICEF bases this claim on an expansive interpretation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

UNICEF also claims that asking for age-verification to access pornography online may deny children access to what it calls “vital sexuality education.” It should be noted that critics charge “comprehensive sexuality education” is pornographic and harmful to children.

UNICEF’s release of this report comes just days after the U.S. Agency for International Development announced its renewal of its longstanding partnership with UNICEF, committing an additional $300 million in direct program funding. The U.S. is UNICEF’s largest government donor with 2020 funding reaching almost $994 million in humanitarian and development programs.

UNICEF generally has joined the feminist push at the United Nations in calls for abortion. The children’s agency was founded to help displaced children after the Second World War. Critics say UNICEF has strayed far from its founding vision, and that this call for children’s access to pornography under the guise of human rights and sex-ed underscores this change. At one time, the Holy See stopped its annual symbolic donation to UNICEF.

Have paedophiles or the LGBTQ+ lobby reached the top of UNICEF? No wonder some people see paedophiles ruling the world.

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Wolves Among the Sheep > Youth Pastor Gets Good Start on Eternity in Hell; US Army Officer Pleads Guilty; Ravi Zacharias Family Divided

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Former Abilene youth pastor sentenced to 99 years in prison 

| KTXS

This was never truer than in the case of former Abilene youth pastor Jeffrey Forrest, sentenced to 99 years in prison for the aggravated sexual abuse of two boys, bail jumping and failure to appear. He had fled to Mexico where he was tracked down, arrested and extradited back to Texas in May 2020.

During the trial, multiple witnesses testified that Forrest admitted to the abuse. He allegedly told a good friend and a professional counsellor.

According to reports when he was arrested in 2015, Forrest had been involved "in children and other youth groups at various Abilene area churches and camps".

At the time of his arrest, in April, 2015, police said they were investigating three possible offences against children at the daycare centres where Forrest worked and had received one substantive complaint alleging molestation of a boy in 1983. Forrest then moved into a garage apartment where the boy lived and continued to molest him there. It was not until 2011 that the boy found the courage to tell his father about the abuses. Forrest was said to have confessed to the offences to a counsellor on a sex-offender program.

Forrest was given $100,000 bail and released the same day, but failed to show up for the trial in August, 2016 and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was eventually tracked down in Mexico after a $25,000 reward was offered for information on his whereabouts. He was extradited to Texas and stood trial in April 2021 on two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, bail jumping, and failure to appear in court.

Army National Guard Officer Pled Guilty to Child Sex Abuse

Posted By: Parker Padgett

April 29, 2021 @ 8:07 pm

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – An Army National Guard officer pleaded guilty in federal court today to sexually abusing four minors over several years while he was director of the youth ministry at Fort Leonard Wood U.S. Army Base.

David J. McKay, 42, of Waynesville, Missouri, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge David P. Rush to one count of transporting a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity and four counts of sexually abusing a minor.

McKay, an Army National Guard Major Sergeant, was the youth ministry director for the Religious Services Office at Fort Leonard Wood. By pleading guilty today, McKay admitted that he sexually abused four victims, ranging in age from 11 to 17 years old, on dozens of occasions from 2010 to 2017.

According to today’s plea agreement, the sexual abuse occurred at Fort Leonard Wood and various other locations within Pulaski County, Mo. The victims also reported being abused during the youth group’s ski trips to Colorado and on camping trips at Fort Leonard Wood.

Under federal statutes, McKay is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of life in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ami Harshad Miller. It was investigated by the FBI, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command at the Fort Leonard Wood Army Base, the Pulaski County, Mo., Prosecutor’s Office, and the Waynesville, Mo., Police Department.

Ravi Zacharias' daughter apologizes for 'serious errors;'

brother says she doesn't speak for family

By Leah MarieAnn Klett, 

Christian Post Reporter 

Friday, May 28, 2021

Sarah Davis, CEO of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries and oldest daughter of the late apologist, speaks during a video message shared on May 26, 2021. | Screenshot: Ravi Zacharias International Ministries

Sarah Davis, CEO of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries and oldest daughter of the late apologist, has apologized for her initial reaction to the allegations of her father’s sexual misconduct, admitting she made “serious errors that only furthered deep wounds.”

Her statement elicited a response from her brother, who claimed that she is not speaking for the family. 

“To the women who are victims of my father's abuse, I think of you every single day. I am utterly devastated," she said in a video message this week. "I am sorry that I did not see you. I am sorry that you were made powerless and rendered voiceless. When you did speak up, I didn't believe you, and I'm deeply sorry for this."

An independent investigation released earlier this year found credible evidence of a long pattern of abusive behavior by Zacharias, one of the most recognizable figures in American Christianity for decades.

The report found that the apologist, who died last May, coerced massage therapists at a spa he co-owned to perform sexual acts. It also uncovered a collection of explicit photos — many of them of much younger women — found in Zacharias’ possession. 

The independent report corroborated accounts made by several women, including Lori Anne Thompson, who Zacharias sued in 2017 for alleging they had an online sexual relationship.

Davis, who became CEO of RZIM in November 2019, admitted that she erred by ignoring allegations against her father and defending his innocence.

“I earnestly wanted the truth, but I recognize that the steps I took didn't always show this,” she shared. “I should have immediately called for an independent investigation in 2017, but I trusted my father fully, and I carried his narrative, both in 2017 and then initially in 2020, when we were first made aware of those allegations. In both of these, I know that I caused pain. I did not serve well, and I did not love well. And for this, I'm deeply sorry.”

“My goal and my heart were not to attempt to cover up the sins of my father — or any sin — to further a call or a mission," she added. "I believed this man, my father, whom I loved and trusted more than anyone else, could not have done these things … But I was wrong.”

When she was presented with evidence that the allegations against her father were true, Davis said she was “quaked” to her “very being.”

“I still replay memories, over and over in my head. How could this make sense with the man that I knew and what we now know to be true? Was it all a lie? Could he have done these things?" she said. "And if he did do them, why wouldn't he have confessed them, even to his family? For the rest of my life, I will have to hold the tension with this man that I knew and love, with the man that we know now committed these actions.”

Davis said she hopes to be a “conduit of healing” and move forward with truth and transparency. She apologized to the public for RZIM “not representing Christ to you.”

“While we were proclaiming a God who loves and values every person, our leader was not living in the truth of who God is,” she said.

While RZIM hopes to return to preaching the Gospel eventually, it must first “engage in this very important ministry — to acknowledge, to respond to and to address how these things could have happened at RZIM,” Davis concluded.

In response to his sister's statement, Nathan Zacharias wrote a brief response in which he said that that he stands by his father:

“My sister, Sarah, recently gave a video statement on the situation with my Dad. There was no new information given, and she did not say anything she has not already said in her previous statements over the past few months. It was the same talking points."

“She is not speaking for the family," he added. "As has been clear, we do not share her take on this situation.”

Part of the grieving process is denial. It wouldn't be surprising if the family is stuck in denial. It's hard to reckon with the idea that a Christian hero might actually be a fraud.

In a May 7 blog post, Nathan Zacharias argued that the Miller & Martin investigation was "driven by a predetermined agenda, not actual evidence and truth." He also voiced disagreement with how RZIM handled the allegations. 

Since the release of the Miller & Martin report earlier this year, RZIM has announced that it's changing the ministry's name, restructuring to become a grant-making organization supporting evangelism and abuse victims and laid off the majority of its staff. Additionally, numerous publishers pulled Zacharias’ books.

In a May interview, Abdu Murray, who co-authored a book with Zacharias and has been in the leadership of RZIM since 2017, apologized for how he and the ministry handled their public statements when the allegations arose. 

“We really cannot afford to elevate ministry above people or certainly above Jesus,” Murray said, speaking about what he learned amid Zacharias' gradual exposure over the past few years.

“I think that we have this mentality in ministry that somehow ministry is itself sacred, that ministry is itself untouchable. And so when an allegation of abuse happens, we find it unbelievable because these people could not possibly have done it.”

I think we are just beginning to get a glimpse of how many Christian "Rock Stars" are really just Rock Stars.

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Perverted Lives of the Rich and Famous > Oprah Winfrey; Neymar; Ryan Giggs, Bill Cosby

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Oprah Opens Up About Child Sex Abuse on Debut of New Show

by Keka Araújo

May 23, 2021

Media mogul Oprah Winfrey has always been forthcoming about individuals living in their truths and reconciling trauma. Now, the 67-year-old boss has opened up again about her own experience with being sexually assaulted as a young girl.

In the inaugural episode of the new AppleTV+ series she created with Prince Harry– The Me You Can See, Winfrey delved into the pain of being raped by a male relative during her youth.

“At nine and 10 and 11 and 12 years old, I was raped by my 19-year-old cousin. I didn’t know what rape was. I certainly wasn’t aware of the word,” she explained. “I had no idea what sex was. I had no idea where babies came from. I didn’t even know what was happening to me.”

“It’s just something I accepted,” Winfrey continued, saying her rape taught her an incredible lesson– “that a girl child ain’t safe in a world full of men.”

“The telling of the story, the being able to say out loud, ‘This is what happened to me,’ is crucial,” she added, explaining that talking about it– liberated her.

Winfrey first spoke about her childhood trauma in 1986 on her talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show. In the episode, she detailed her rape at the hands of her 19-year-old cousin to raise awareness about survivors and encourage them to come forward. The Color Purple star also reiterated how important it was for parents and caregivers to advocate for their children.

The statistics for Black women and girls being victims of rape and abuse are staggering.

According to the National Center Against Violence In The Black Community, one out of every 15 Black female rape victims reports the crime.  Also, one in four Black girls will be sexually assaulted by the age of 18. And one in five Black women is a rape survivor. 

As more survivors valiantly step forward to break generational trauma and to reconcile their pasts, it’s imperative that family, friends and others step up to advocate and support them.

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'I had PTSD, anxiety and depression': Gordon Ramsay's daughter Holly, 21, reveals she spent three months in a mental health hospital after being sexually assaulted twice aged 18

By CIARA FARMER FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 09:46 EDT, 26 May 2021 | UPDATED: 18:47 EDT, 26 May 2021

Gordon Ramsay's daughter Holly has revealed she spent three months in a mental health hospital after suffering PTSD from sexual assaults.

Speaking on her 21 & Over with Holly Ramsay podcast, the 21-year-old detailed how she was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder at university, which was the result of two sexual assaults when she was 18. 

She left Ravensbourne University after one year and was admitted to the Nightingale Hospital in Marylebone, London's only private mental health hospital. 

Holly gave the heartbreaking account, as she said: 'I went to university, studied fashion design, and I loved it. But by the second half of the first year I was being affected by my PTSD and I had no idea that this was happening.

'I was going out a lot, missing class because I'd been out. I wasn't enjoying myself. I was struggling a lot. The PTSD was a result of two sexual assaults when I was 18...

'I didn't tell anyone about it until a year afterwards. I just buried it in a box in the back of my mind. [In hospital] is was where I was diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety and depression.

'Since then, I have been in therapy up to three times a week. I now have these diagnoses that I carry around with me. It's confusing and I'm trying to take control of my narrative and use that to make something good.' 

She then gave a nod to her father Gordon, 54, her mother Tana, 46, her twin, Jack, sisters Megan, 23, and Matilda, 19, and baby brother Oscar, two. 

Holly said: 'It's brought me closer to them in many ways.'

She previously said: 'I’ve lost friends. It’s definitely a journey. But I hope that by speaking out I can help other people...

'I hope we can continue to break the stigma surrounding our mental health. Asking for help is not only the bravest thing you can do, but it is also your first step to reaching a happier & healthier you.'

21 And Over With Holly Ramsay is billed as: 'A podcast for those who struggle with anxiety, self-doubt, mental health and creating identities in today’s world...

'Join Holly Ramsay as she opens up and shares her journey with mental health along with other guests, advocates, musicians and more. We’ll laugh, we’ll cry, but most of all we’ll learn to celebrate our growth and what's to come in the future!'

The Ramsay family have long been staunch mental health campaigners, with mum Tana previously revealing that the family use exercise to help with trauma. 

On exercise and mental health, she said: 'What it does is allow you to process things. Whether it is cycling and chatting together, or running and having a cry on your own, you have to have that release...

'You also have to have those moments where you allow yourself to feel really sad, when you’re thinking, “Why me?” We’re all going to think like that occasionally. It means we can handle it. It has drawn us together as a family.

‘It’s also important to talk with the children and not just think everything is fine. Gordon’s a really big one for talking. Sometimes I just say to him “Seriously?”, and he’s like: “No, we have to talk about it.” Sometimes that’s irritating'.

For help with any issues in this story call Refuge on 0808 2000 247, Mind on 0300 123 3393 or Samaritans on 116 123 

Neymar ‘tried to force female employee to perform oral sex on him in hotel room’ before his mammoth $105MN Nike deal ended early

28 May, 2021 11:34 

Neymar's deal with Nike ended early © Stephane Mahe / Reuters

An intoxicated Neymar took off his underwear and tried to force a Nike employee who had helped him to his hotel room to perform oral sex on him, according to the details of an alleged incident said to have taken place in New York.

The sportswear giant, which did not publicly detail why it prematurely ended its huge deal with the world's most expensive footballer last year, is said to have told a report that Neymar failed to "co-operate in a good faith" with an investigation into the accusations, which related to a purported encounter in 2016.

Then at Barcelona, Neymar is claimed to have made the invitation to the long-time Nike employee – who is said to have helped co-ordinate logistics for the striker and his entourage, including a visit to a Michael Jordan event and a nightclub – after she was left alone with him in his room.

The woman had allegedly been one of two employees tasked with taking Neymar to his room, only to have been blocked by him from leaving before he chased her down the hotel hallway while he was still undressed, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Neymar's spokeswoman told the outlet that the Paris Saint-Germain superstar denies the allegation. "Neymar Jr. will vigorously defend himself against these baseless attacks in case any claim is presented, which did not happen so far,” she said in a statement, adding that her client split from Nike for commercial reasons.

The report said that the employee shared the incident with numerous friends, relatives and employees in the weeks that followed, making a complaint in 2018 when other women in the company came forward to discuss experiences of harassment and discrimination as part of a survey about the treatment of women at the company, according to documents and accounts.

In June 2019, another woman accused Neymar of rape at a Paris hotel a month earlier, with the former Ballon d'Or contender saying that his encounter with the Brazilian model was consensual and accusing her of attempting to extort him.

Brazilian authorities dropped the investigation, citing a lack of evidence, and subsequently charged the model with slander, extortion and procedural fraud, later dismissing the slander and extortion charges and acquitting her of fraud. A spokeswoman for her said she stands by her original account of the alleged incident.

Shortly after the Brazilian model made her public allegation, the Nike employee approached Hilary Krane, Nike’s general counsel, and Monique Matheson, the head of Nike’s human resources department, to ask for an update about the complaint she made about Neymar a year earlier, according to the people and documents.

Nike executives are said to have told the employee they had not taken any action because they had been under the impression she did not want them to.

Apparently, it never occurred to anyone to ask her.

Nike’s marketing contract with Neymar had another eight years remaining, the Journal quoted a source with knowledge of the details as saying. The report said that Nike hired lawyers at Cooley LLP to start an investigation that began in 2019, opting to stop him featuring in marketing while the probe was underway.

“Nike ended its relationship with the athlete because he refused to co-operate in a good faith investigation of credible allegations of wrongdoing by an employee,” Krane told the Journal, adding that “no single set of facts emerged that would enable us to speak substantively on the matter" and "it would be inappropriate for Nike to make an accusatory statement without being able to provide supporting facts.”

“As her employer, we had a responsibility to respect her privacy and did not believe it was appropriate to share that information with law enforcement or any third party without the employee’s consent," she said of the initial contact.

“In 2019, when the employee later expressed interest in pursuing the matter, we acted immediately. From the very beginning, we have treated the employee’s allegations and her experience with great seriousness.”

The report quoted Neymar's spokeswoman as responding: “It is very strange that a case that was supposed to have happened in 2016, with allegations by a Nike employee, come to light only at that moment.

“Similar to the sexual assault allegations made against him in 2019 – allegations which the Brazilian authorities found Neymar Jr innocent of – these allegations are false.”

Some of the people referenced in the report are said to have claimed that Neymar disputed the woman’s account during the investigation but refused to be personally interviewed by Nike’s representatives.

Cooley lawyer Amanda Main said the firm “conducted an extensive and thorough investigation, both within the company and through external sources.”

Interviews are said to have been conducted with witnesses including Nike employees, and the documents reportedly show that Nike helped the employee retain counsel while agreeing to pay her legal fees.

The woman is said to have asked Nike executives to tell the public that Neymar’s behavior didn’t "align with its values" and start enforcing morality clauses in athlete contracts alongside a code of conduct for endorsement deals.

Neymar signed a deal with Puma in September 2020. A spokeswoman for the company declined to comment to the Journal, with an attorney for the Nike employee failing to respond to requests for comment from the reporter.

Man United legend Ryan Giggs to face trial in January over charges of headbutting ex-girlfriend, ‘coercive & controlling’ behavior

28 May, 2021 09:55

Football legend Ryan Giggs has had his trial date set in Manchester © Jason Cairnduff / Reuters

Manchester United icon Ryan Giggs will face a court in January 2022 over allegations of headbutting his ex-girlfriend as part of nearly three years of “coercive and controlling” behavior, with a preparatory hearing set for July.

The Wales manager and United record appearance holder is accused of assaulting Kate Greville, as well as a further charge relating to an alleged spell of behavior towards the PR executive between December 2017 and November 2020.

A separate charge involves an alleged assault by the 13-time Premier League winner on Greville's younger sister, Emma, in Salford, Greater Manchester last November.

Giggs denies all the offenses, appearing for a brief hearing at Manchester Crown Court on Friday, when the trial date was set for January 24, with a hearing in preparation for the case at the start of July.

Speaking on Friday morning, His Honour Judge Dean QC, The Honorary Recorder of Manchester, expressed his "regret" that the date was "so far in the future", adding that it was "the best we can do in the circumstances".

The trial, which centers on charges brought in April of actual bodily harm caused to a woman in her 30s, common assault of a woman in her 20s and coercive or controlling behaviour, could last as long as three weeks, with potential jurors reportedly set to be asked whether they have any allegiance to a football team.

Giggs, who has not been involved in the management of his national side since he was arrested in November, responded in a statement in April: “I have full respect for the due process of law and understand the seriousness of the allegations.

“I will plead not guilty in court and look forward to clearing my name.

“I would like to wish [caretaker manager] Robert Page, the coaching staff, the players and the supporters every success at the Euros this summer.”

Wales play friendlies against Albania and France next week before starting their Euro 2020 campaign under Page against Switzerland on June 12.

Bill Cosby denied parole after refusing sex-offender treatment therapy

28 May, 2021 20:36

FILE PHOTO: Bill Cosby leaves the Montgomery County Courthouse after sentencing

in his sexual assault trial in 2018. © REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Disgraced US comedian Bill Cosby has been denied parole after he refused to take part in sex-offender therapy programs and to acknowledge wrongdoing, even if it meant serving out his 10-year jail term in full.

Cosby, 83, has served three years so far at the state prison in Pennsylvania and this would have been the first time he was eligible for parole.

His publicist and spokesperson Andrew Wyatt said the rejection of his early release was “appalling” and that the actor “vehemently proclaims his innocence.” 

“We knew he was going to be rejected. He called me and told me that if he didn’t take the course, he would be denied. He has maintained his innocence from the beginning,” Wyatt added.

Cosby was sentenced to a decade behind bars and designated a sex offender in 2018 after he was convicted of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004. He has been held at the State Correctional Institution in Phoenix, a suburb of Philadelphia.

A spokeswoman for the state parole board, Laura Treaster, said the former star of the Cosby Show would not be considered for parole until he completes sexual predator therapy. 

Constand reacted to the decision not to grant Cosby parole by posting a tweet that read: “DENIED.” 

Today's Canadian Pervs and Paedos List > Tragic Stories of Failures of Canadian Justice; Indigenous Tragedies; and Exhibitionist MP

..

Man accused of killing girlfriend weeks after prison release has history of rape, violence

3 times, the Parole Board of Canada deemed Philip Toner too dangerous

for the community

Meghan Grant · CBC News · 

Posted: May 26, 2021 2:00 AM MT 

Brenda Ware's body was found just over the Alberta border along Highway 93 in B.C. The man she'd been dating recently, Philip Toner, was arrested days later in the Okanagan region. Five weeks earlier, Toner had finished serving a prison sentence for rape. (B.C. RCMP)

Less than six weeks after Philip Toner finished serving a five-year sentence for raping a 15-year-old girl, he has been charged with killing his girlfriend, Brenda Ware, and dumping her body along the highway just across the Alberta border on the B.C. side.

5 years for drugging and raping a 15 y/o girl, when you have a history of violence, is an absurdly short sentence. The judge who sentenced Toner for that rape has blood on his hands.

CBC News has obtained parole documents showing the Parole Board of Canada (PBC) was gravely concerned about the risk Toner posed to women given his long criminal history of violence against girlfriends.

Two separate assessments of Toner while he was in prison found that, not only was he a moderate risk to commit violence against a spouse, he was also a moderate to high risk to reoffend sexually. 

Last December was the third and final time Toner's statutory release — when an offender has served two thirds of their sentence and is given freedoms in the community under conditions — was revoked because of criminal behaviour while on release before his sentence expired on March 29. 

After that date, the PBC had no control over Toner or the conditions imposed on him. 

Now, Toner faces a charge of second-degree murder, accused of killing Ware, 35, somewhere in southern Alberta before transporting her body to Highway 93 in Kootenay National Park. 

"The loss of a child is one thing, being murdered is another," said her mother, Karla Ware, from her home just outside Cremona, 80 kilometres northwest of Calgary. "It's like our future's been robbed."

The fire

Brenda's parents say they knew something was wrong on May 5 when they got a call that their reliable daughter hadn't shown up to work. Brenda lived just outside Cremona, on the family acreage, in the farmhouse where her mother was raised. 

All the way home, Karla checked the ditches for her daughter's Jeep. But when she arrived home, the situation was much worse than she'd imagined. Brenda's front door was wide open, her house was on fire and she was missing. 

Ware, 35, was a hairstylist in southern Alberta. She had begun dating Toner only weeks before she was killed.

(Submitted by the Ware family)

The search

The Wares' close family friend Kim Taylor, who operates an organization that finds missing animals, mobilized every resource available to begin a search. She had Jeep groups, quad parties, helicopters and people on horseback searching all the main and secondary highways.

Taylor, who described Brenda as a second daughter, also spread the word on social media and soon, she says, tips began "pouring in." She shared everything with RCMP. Brenda's body was found in B.C. northeast of Radium, the day after she went missing. 

Police allege Toner left both the victim and her SUV along the side of the highway before hitchhiking to the Okanagan area, where he was arrested days later. After his arrest, RCMP returned Toner to Alberta. He will appear in Didsbury court next week. 

The rape

Toner is no stranger to the justice system. In April 2015, he was doing drugs with a family member and a 15-year-old girl when he was asked to drive the teen to another location, according to the December PBC decision.

The pair stopped and when she rejected Toner's advances he gave her more drugs until she was incapacitated. Then he raped her. 

In a victim impact statement filed at Toner's sentencing hearing for the sexual assault conviction, the girl's mother wrote that Toner's crime broke the family apart. She said his actions will "haunt" her daughter for the rest of her life. 

Disruptive, abusive, violent

Toner was sentenced to five years in prison for the sexual assault and other offences. During his time in prison, Toner was found to be disruptive, disrespectful, verbally abusive and violent, according to the PBC decision. He was kicked out of a sex offender program, attempted to headbutt staff and got in fights with other inmates. 

Toner's potential for successful reintegration into the community was assessed as low. 

According to the decision, at the hearing, Toner told the board he has "the worst people skills anyone will see" and a "problem" with emotions.

Each time Toner was released, he was bound by a host of conditions including that he stay away from female children, drugs, alcohol and report all relationships with women.

Between June 2019 and December 2020, Toner was released from prison three times only to reoffend and have his release revoked each time because of issues with women, drugs and violence, according to the document. 

'The wild animal'

At a parole hearing, held Dec. 7, 2020, Toner told the board members he would "never willingly hurt another person." "You said that the wild animal that you were is dead for years," wrote a board member identified only as K. Scott.

Toner, who has a history of domestic violence, was at the time considered a moderate risk to commit violence against a spouse, according to the Spousal Assault Risk Assessment. The board wrote that he had confined one of his ex-girlfriends against her will and then criminally harassed her for months after their break-up. 

Another assessment prepared in advance of his release found he was at moderate to high risk to reoffend sexually. The assessment does not appear to be dated.

Ultimately, the board found Toner was too high risk to be in the community and revoked his statutory release.

Afraid to break up 

Brenda's parents had never heard of Toner until he became a person of interest and then a suspect in her murder. Don and Karla call Brenda their angel; a daughter and friend who hoped to find a life partner.

"I think she was looking for a man like her grandfather or her dad and just couldn't find him," said Karla. Taylor says Brenda mentioned Toner only once in passing, about a month before her death.

But in recent weeks, Taylor says Brenda had told a couple of hairdressing clients she wanted to break up with her boyfriend but was afraid for her safety.

Brenda, says Taylor, was "trusting and so innocent. If there was a human Care Bear, that was Brenda. Her life was so good and she wanted everyone to feel that way," said Taylor. "She was extremely nurturing … I've never seen that girl angry."

In the warmer months, Ware could be found playing baseball or on the golf course where she either played or caddied for her father with whom she was incredibly close. 

"This person who took her life, he doesn't really understand what he took," said Taylor. "This was somebody special."

EU, UK, and US join dozens of states in demanding answers over sexual abuse allegations against WHO staff

28 May, 2021 16:42

FILE PHOTO. World Health Organization at their headquarters in Geneva. © AFP / FABRICE COFFRINI

A joint statement from 53 countries has called on the World Health Organization (WHO) to address “deep concerns” about allegations of sexual abuse, exploitation, and harassment by staff at the agency.

The statement delivered to the WHO’s annual assembly by Canadian Ambassador Leslie Norton called on the UN agency to provide “credible outcomes” to address concerns about sexual abuse allegations made against its staff, and the failure of others to report their actions.

“Since January 2018, we have been raising deep concerns about allegations relating to matters of sexual exploitation and abuse, and sexual harassment, as well as abuse of authority, in regard to WHO activities,” Norton said on Friday.

We expressed alarm at the suggestions in the media that WHO management knew of reported cases of sexual exploitation and abuse, and sexual harassment and had failed to report them.

The remarks on behalf of the 53 signatories come after a media report earlier in May highlighted internal emails from the WHO that suggested the organization’s management was aware of claims made against staff working in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2019.

The group statement said that the request for the concerns about abuse to be investigated in a “robust and transparent manner” had been discussed at a meeting of the WHO executive board’s program, budget, and administration committee last week. It also urged the WHO to make cultural changes throughout its organization so as to adequately tackle the problem.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus responded to the joint statement, stating that the organization was “greatly disturbed by these allegations” and making clear that “any form of abusive behavior is totally incompatible with WHO’s mission.”

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First Nation in Kamloops, B.C., confirms bodies of 215 children buried at former residential school site

By James Peters  CFJC Today

Updated May 28, 2021 9:04 am

A file photo of a monument dedicated to survivors of the Kamloops Indian Residential School

The band confirmed on Thursday that it has found the remains of 215 children buried on the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.

Chief Rosanne Casimir says the presence of the remains was “a knowing” in the Tk’emlups community, but was confirmed this past weekend with the help of a ground-penetrating radar specialist.

The Tk’emlups Heritage Park is now closed to the public as work continues, with the potential that crews may find more remains.

The children, some as young as three, were students at the school, which was once the largest in Canada’s residential school system.

Casimir says it’s believed the deaths are undocumented, though the Secwepemc Museum’s archivist is working with the Royal British Columbia Museum to see if any records of the deaths can be found.

Casimir adds leadership of the Tk’emlups community “acknowledges their responsibility to caretake for these lost children.”

“We sought out a way to confirm that knowing out of deepest respect and love for those lost children and their families, understanding that Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc is the final resting place of these children,” said Casimir in a news release.

Work to identify the site was led by the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Language and Cultural Department alongside ceremonial Knowledge Keepers, who made sure the work was done in keeping with cultural protocols.

Kamloops Indian Res School

Preliminary work began in the early 2000s.

“With access to the latest technology, the true accounting of the missing students will hopefully bring some peace and closure to those lives lost and their home communities,” said Casimir in a release.

Casimir says band officials are informing community members and surrounding communities who had children who attended the school. “This is the beginning but, given the nature of this news, we felt it important to share immediately,” she said. “At this time we have more questions than answers.”

Kamloops Indian Residential School operated from 1890 to 1969, with peak enrollment of 500 in the 1950s. The federal government took over administration of the school from 1969 to 1978, using the building as a residence for students attending other Kamloops schools.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission said large numbers of Indigenous children either ran away from residential schools or died at the schools, their whereabouts unknown.

Toxic drug deaths surge among B.C. Indigenous people

By Staff  The Canadian Press

Posted May 27, 2021 6:08 pm

A paramedic tends to an overdose patient in the St. Paul’s Hospital ambulance bay. Simon Little / Global News

British Columbia’s First Nations Health Authority says Indigenous people accounted for nearly 15 per cent of all toxic drug deaths last year although they represent just 3.3 per cent of the province’s total population.

Deputy chief medical officer Dr. Nel Wieman says 254 Indigenous people died from overdoses last year, which is nearly a 120 per cent increase from 2019.

She says the death rate began to rise after the COVID-19 pandemic was declared a public health emergency.

Wieman says systemic racism is one of the barriers to accessing culturally safe mental health and addiction treatment and harm reduction services.

It's a coincidence that this story follows one on Indian Residential Schools. However, the coincidence has a basis in reality. Drug use, child sexual abuse, suicides have a lot to do with Residential School abuse and generational abuse that followed. Why this is not being studied is beyond me. It seems so obvious.

In order to combat the problem, the health authority has launched a range of treatment and healing options and supported expanded access to prescription alternatives.

There were 1,716 overdose deaths in B.C. last year, a record death toll amid the pandemic, where border closures disrupted the usual flow of illicit drugs and more toxic substances took their place.

Liberal MP ‘stepping aside’ after urinating on camera

during virtual House session

By Sean Boynton  Global News

Updated May 28, 2021 8:11 am

The Liberal MP who was caught naked on camera during a virtual House of Commons session last month says he is “stepping aside” from some of his parliamentary duties after being exposed once again.

In a statement Thursday, William Amos said he was attending a virtual, non-public House session Wednesday evening when he urinated “without realizing I was on camera.”

The Pontiac, Quebec MP said he will be “stepping aside temporarily” from his committee assignments and his duties as parliamentary secretary to Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne “so that I can seek assistance.”

He said he will continue to serve his constituents as MP in the Liberal caucus.

“I am deeply embarrassed by my actions and the distress they may have caused anybody who witnessed them,” he said.

Apparently, he wasn't too distressed or embarrassed by his first exposure of himself, or there wouldn't have been a second.

Last month, a picture of Amos completely naked in his office during a virtual session of Parliament was leaked to the media shortly after the incident occurred, quickly making international headlines.

The incident sparked a rebuke by the Speaker of the House after Bloc Quebecois MP Sébastien Lemire admitted to taking the screenshot. Lemire apologized but has said he was not the one who leaked the image to the press.

The speaker rebuked someone for taking a screenshot but not the pervert who exposed himself in virtual parliament?

Amos also apologized, saying he had been caught changing into his work clothing after going for a jog. He said his video was accidentally turned on, and said the incident was an “unfortunate error.”

And if you believe that, can I interest you in the tropical island I have for sale on the Labrador coast?