Right around the time I was graduating high school, this was the environment for queer people in Minnesota. We had a teen mental health crisis because gay teens were routinely bullied to self-harm and suicide to the point that it made national headlines. www.motherjones.com/politics/201...

My highschool GSA attended a protest against her!

@apocalypticanow.bsky.social had a queer kid graduate a couple years ago, don't be fooled by the rainbow washing these days. They had a rough time.

CHRIST, Michelle Bachmann. What a ghoul.

Yup. In 2009, my high school had a town hall about whether or not sexual orientation should be specifically added to the anti-bullying policy. A LOT of students AND parents showed up to oppose it and openly talked about how discriminating against queer kids was Good, Actually.

I have my personal reservations about Walz politically, but that he advocated for queer students as a teacher and football coach IN MANKATO OF ALL PLACES in 1999 is far above and beyond expectation, truly.

Fuck. I had forgotten this, but now I remember what a huge, horrible thing it was at the time. (high school glass of 06 here.)

This is part of why the 90's nostalgia thing makes me feel weird. A lot of the people engaging in it have no idea how violently homophobic the 90's-2010's were. I was closeted that whole time and in retrospect it was entirely out of fear.