October 27, 2026
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Deep Something

The site for ranting and reporting by John Masters

Gay Issues

This Category is to cover those stories related to issues of sexual orientation.

Featured Election Society Education Gay Issues Hate Groups Racism 

Birds of a Feather-A New Arrival

B. John 63 Views 0 Comments , , , , ,
This entry is in the series 2026 Elections

The flock around Ken Gay just got another member. Former Republican gubernatorial candidate James Fishback has endorsed Gay for Hillsborough County School Board District 6, calling him a “conservative” candidate in a post on his X account.

Fishback spent much of his 2026 campaign building attention through inflammatory rhetoric. Axios reported him saying, “White genocide is real.” At the same time, other coverage documented his use of “Great Replacement” themes and his support from far-right figures and online communities. He ultimately finished third in the Republican gubernatorial primary with 10.5% of the vote.

An endorsement doesn’t mean Gay shares every belief Fishback holds. But when you add Fishback to the list of conservative figures already lining up behind Gay, the old phrase keeps coming back: birds of a feather. At some point, you have to look at the flock. 

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Racism Featured Politics Election Society Education Gay Issues Hate Groups 

When the Culture War Comes for the School Board

B. John 172 Views 0 Comments , , , , , ,
This entry is in the series 2026 Elections
This entry is in the series Education

The 1776 Project PAC says it is deeply concerned about reading scores. Fair enough. It also wants school-board candidates to answer for CRT, DEI, social-emotional learning, gender policy, and whether they will replace “equity-based” curriculum. Apparently phonics now comes with a political questionnaire.

The group has endorsed exactly one Hillsborough County School Board candidate: Brittany Lyssy. It has also reported nearly $72,000 in Hillsborough school-board spending on texting, mail production, and postage. That is a lot of national political money for a race that is supposed to be nonpartisan.

So the obvious question is not whether the 1776 Project cares about schools. It clearly does. The question is what kind of school board it wants to build here, and what it expects from the only Hillsborough candidate it chose to support.

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Politics Society Education Gay Issues Crack Pots County Commission Featured 

Stacy Hahn Helped Bring Tallahassee’s Culture War Into Hillsborough Schools

B. John 158 Views 0 Comments , , , , , , ,
This entry is in the series 2026 Elections

Stacy Hahn was not just caught up in Florida’s education culture war. She chose a side again and again. She stood with Gov. Ron DeSantis as he called book bans a “hoax,” voted to remove books even when review committees recommended keeping them, and was the only one to vote against a School Board proclamation for Pride Month.

Her record also shows the problem with the phrase “parental rights.” Parents could already limit what their own children checked out. Hahn supported something else: letting some parents decide what all families’ children could read. It seems parental rights only matter until a parent disagrees with Stacy Hahn.

This is personal for me. When I was growing up gay, I had no books to help me understand my feelings or to show me I was not alone. Somewhere in Hillsborough County, a child needs that same reassurance now. Censorship does not feel any softer to children just because it comes from someone with a doctorate and a pleasant smile.

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Image of similar birds
Crack Pots Featured Politics Religion Society Education Gay Issues Right Wingnuts 

Birds of a Feather

B. John 217 Views 0 Comments , , , , ,
This entry is in the series 2026 Elections
This entry is in the series Education

Ken Gay’s latest supporter graphic features Republican state representatives Danny Alvarez, Traci Koster and Michael Owen. Once you look at their education records, the endorsements require very little explanation. Alvarez and Koster backed Florida’s expansion of private-school scholarships and HB 1069, with its restrictions on sexual-orientation and gender-identity instruction and pronoun use. Owen has supported similar school-choice policies and legislation expanding religious expression in public schools.

The consequences of those LGBTQ-related policies are harder to shrug off as another Tallahassee culture-war hobby. Trevor Project research found that LGBTQ+ students attending schools with even one anti-LGBTQ+ policy reported higher rates of anxiety, depression and suicide attempts. Its 2023 research also found lower suicide-attempt rates among students with affirming school supports, including teachers who respected transgender and nonbinary students’ pronouns. Apparently, treating children with dignity has measurable benefits. Who knew?

So “birds of a feather” seems an apt description of the policy overlap. The same group supporting Gay has repeatedly backed moving education dollars toward private alternatives while supporting restrictions that fall particularly hard on LGBTQ+ students. The question behind the endorsements is worth examining: what does that agenda mean inside a public-school system charged with educating every child who walks through its doors?

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Society Education Gay Issues Featured Places Tampa Politics Religion 

Ken Gay’s Campaign For Hillsborough School Board Deserves a Much Closer Look

B. John 616 Views 0 Comments
This entry is in the series 2026 Elections

Ken Gay brings nearly four decades of experience in Hillsborough County public schools to the District 6 School Board race. His long career gives voters plenty to respect. But a detailed candidate questionnaire offers a much fuller picture of the political and social views he would bring to the Board.

Gay identifies himself as a conservative Republican and has taken clear positions on school choice, transgender students, sex education, books, guns in schools, religion and the federal role in education. These are not assumptions about his politics. They come from answers Gay submitted himself.

His campaign finances add another layer. The campaign is largely self-funded, while a recently formed company called Faith in Policy has received a substantial share of Gay’s campaign spending. I took a closer look at Gay’s record, his own words and where his campaign money is coming from.

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Tampa Politics Election Society Education Gay Issues County Commission Featured Places 

A Polite Version of Josh Wostal Is Still Too Much

B. John 395 Views 0 Comments , , , , , , ,
This entry is in the series 2026 Elections

Stacy Hahn doesn’t sound much like Josh Postal. She’s thoughtful, qualified, and generally pleasant. But votes count the same whether they come with a scowl or a smile, and Hahn’s eight years on the Hillsborough County School Board show a record that’s much more conservative than her polished image suggests.

Hahn opposed letting voters decide on more funding for teacher pay, voted against defending that referendum when Postal and the County Commission tried to block it, rejected a Pride Month proclamation, and publicly aligned herself with Ron DeSantis’s political group. There are some exceptions in her record, but when it comes to taxes, LGBTQ recognition, sexual-health education, and DeSantis-era politics, the pattern is clear.

Now Hahn is running for the County Commission with a campaign mostly funded by construction, development, real estate, and government-relations groups—including businesses that have worked with Hillsborough County. These contributions don’t prove improper influence, but voters have a right to look at who is supporting a candidate and what choices that candidate might make in office. Dr. Hahn may be a more pleasant version of Josh Postal, but the real question is whether Hillsborough County needs another version at all.

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Gay Issues Crack Pots Featured Places Tampa Politics Election Society 

Ambition, Attendance, and the Race for HCSB District 2

B. John 334 Views 0 Comments , , , , , ,
This entry is in the series 2026 Elections

When someone wants to lead a multi-billion-dollar school district, authenticity comes first. Brittany Lyssy’s campaign for Hillsborough School Board District 2 asks voters to believe that a family of five lives in a 680-square-foot, one-bedroom condo while also keeping a homesteaded home in Manatee County. From barely attending advisory board meetings to repeating national talking points, District 2 voters deserve real community representation, not a staged political act.

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Religion Society Gay Issues Stoicism Family Featured Fun Stuff Politics 

Stoic Practices: Role Models

B. John 1518 Views 0 Comments , , , , , , , , ,
This entry is in the series Stoicism Practices
This entry is in the series Journey Through Stoicism

The Stoics believed that we learn virtue through example. Marcus Aurelius wrote to himself as if he were a friend, modeling how to live by holding himself accountable to an imagined mentor. Seneca pointed to Cato as a guide. Epictetus told his students to picture a sage. This practice of role models is simple but powerful: we ask, “What would this person do?” and in answering, we shape our own choices.

For me, role models have been both personal and public. My mother, a nurse for thirty-six years in our local schools, cared for generations of children and called them “my kids.” She held our family together after Dad’s untimely death and lived a life of quiet service that rippled through our community. My band director, Donald Deal, taught discipline and teamwork that lasted far beyond the music hall. Rev. Dr. R. Earle Rabb showed courage in welcoming all God’s children into his church. And figures like John Lewis, Harvey Milk, and Mahatma Gandhi remind me that justice, hope, and service are lived realities, not abstractions. To practice role models is to remember that we are guided by others—and that we, too, may be the model someone else is following.

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Bi-vocational Pastor
Crack Pots Hate Groups Politics Religion Society Gay Issues Right Wingnuts 

Bi-Vocational Martyrdom and the Pronoun Police: Crying Wolf in a Library

B. John 1937 Views 0 Comments , , , , ,
This entry is in the series Daily Douche-Bag

Tony Perkins is mad again. This time, it’s because his “bi-vocational” pastor buddy got fired from a public library job for refusing to call a coworker by their chosen pronouns. Perkins calls it persecution. I call it what happens when someone mistakes rudeness for righteousness. This essay cuts through the drama, mocks the martyr complex, and reminds Pastor Luke that if you want respect, you might try giving some. Being a public employee means treating the public like people — all of them.

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Featured Politics Courts Society Gay Issues 

The Supreme Court’s Skrmetti Ruling Will Harm Trans Youth

B. John 1366 Views 0 Comments , , , ,

The Supreme Court’s ruling in U.S. v. Skrmetti is a direct attack on transgender youth and their families. It upholds bans on lifesaving medical care and empowers states to erase identities under the false flag of “parental rights.” Let’s be clear: this ruling will cause real harm. But trans youth are still here. They are not political pawns. And they are not alone.
Read the full article on why this ruling is unjust and what we must do next:

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Politics Legislature Society Gay Issues Right Wingnuts Hate Groups 

Guardians of Morality-Can You Say “Glass House”

B. John 1166 Views 0 Comments , , , ,
This entry is in the series Hate Groups

Moms for Liberty wants to save your children from books, drag queens, and anything with a rainbow. But maybe they should’ve checked their own guest list before handing out “medals of moral excellence.” South Carolina State Rep. RJ May, recently honored by the group, was arrested and charged with distributing child sex abuse material, including files showing himself engaged in sex acts with underage girls. Yes, you read that right. The man Moms for Liberty hailed as a protector of children was allegedly doing the exact thing he claimed to fight.

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