Speak Up: Peoria School Unified District

Whew... Peoria Unified School District is a real clown show right now, folks. Okay, PUSD is always a circus, thanks to the Christian Nationalists that run the board.

And thanks to the recent loss of their override, PUSD must figure out how to slash their budget by millions. They're currently seeking feedback about the budget discussion and override failure. We encourage you to share your concerns about recent comments made by board members, such as: 

• Blaming declining enrollment rates on abortion (rather than the expansion of vouchers)
• Advocating for sharing PUSD teachers with charter schools
• Implying that parents just need to form booster clubs to fundraise for their public schools
• Forcing students to say the Pledge of Allegiance
• Policing staff members' free speech in their private time

We also recommend demanding that PUSD stop wasting precious funding on political witch-hunts, 8-hour long board meetings/study sessions/executive sessions, and forming calendar committees (or potentially any other committee or survey) that they immediately ignore because they think committee formation is flawed and/or data is unreliable.

Take action: provide feedback now

Save the Date(s)

Secular AZ is hosting several in-person events in the coming months, so mark your calendars now.

On December 27 at 5:30pm, please join us for a celebration of our secular community... with pie! It's the annual Festival of Pies. We'll meet at the Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix for conversation and community-building, to raise funds for Secular AZ, and (of course) to enjoy delicious pastry treats.  Bring a pie to share, bid on a pie, eat a pie!

Then we'll meet again at the Humanist Society on January 10th for the annual Secular Summit! This year, our focus is on mutual aid, because we are our own saviors. More info coming soon, so mark your calendars now. 

THIS WEEK'S NEWS

Don't let the door hit you on the way out:  A new Gallup poll reports a significant 17-point drop in U.S. religiosity, with the percentage of adults who say religion is important daily falling from 66% in 2015 to 49% in 2025. This decline is among the largest recorded globally over any 10-year period since 2007. The U.S. now trails the global median for religiosity (83%) but has moved closer to the median for advanced economies (OECD median of 36%). This shift places the U.S. in a unique position: less religious than much of the world, but still more devout than most of its economic peers. Read more.

Speaking truth to power: Arizona Rep. Yassamin Ansari continues to kick ass and take names, and she doesn't pull any punches in this podcast with Greg Sergent. The topic? Why the GOP continues to go to such great lengths to protect pedophiles. Rep. Ansari notes that the vote to release the files could be the issue that breaks Republican loyalty to Trump, calling it an "impossible vote" for those who want to avoid appearing to protect child rapists. Read more.

Capitulation: Federal policy is "quietly rewriting" queer life on campus by pressuring universities through political coercion, threatening decades of LGBTQIA+ progress, says the Lookout. The Trump administration has pushed a "Compact for Academic Excellence" offering federal grants to institutions that agree to define "male" and "female" solely based on reproductive function. In response, universities including ASU have been eliminating or consolidating LGBTQIA+ resources. Threatening or withholding essential federal funding over such programs is essentially holds universities hostage to the administration's hateful, bigoted ideology. Read more. 

Oh, ffs: The Heritage Foundation is spearheading a new conservative campaign against birth control, shifting the argument to focus on men's interests and "reclaiming masculinity." The think tank argues that estrogen from the pill in groundwater may cause the "femininization" of American men, and that contraception makes women "less attractive to men," potentially contributing to a decline in marriage and childbearing. By centering its appeal around environmental concerns and male health, Heritage seems to be attempting to make the anti-contraception movement more politically palatable, particularly to figures like "Health" Secretary Road F'in Kill Jr. Read more. 

And in more "health" news: We're #2! In measles outbreaks! A measles outbreak centered in Short Creek, a community straddling the Arizona-Utah border (Colorado City and Hildale), has become the second-largest in the U.S. with over 180 cases. The outbreak is attributed to low vaccination rates in the area, a legacy of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and leader/child rapist Warren Jeffs. The majority of cases are among school-aged children, and officials are concerned the cold and flu season, alongside holiday gatherings, could worsen the spread. Heck of job, Road Kill Jr.  Read more. 

Zero self-control:  Southern Baptist HVAC technician Paul Ostapa is suing his former employer after being fired for insubordination following his invocation of the so-called Billy Graham Rule. Ostapa requested a religious accommodation not to be alone with a female colleague who was not his wife, believing his faith required him to avoid the "appearance of evil." Although his manager initially agreed verbally, the company later fired him when he refused a joint service call Represented by Liberty Counsel (because of course), Ostapa's federal lawsuit argues the company violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by failing to reasonably accommodate his sincerely held beliefs and retaliating against him. Critics contend this rule sanctions gender discrimination by prioritizing a man's paranoia, weakness, fragility, and complete and utter lack of self-control over a woman's right to equal employment. Read more.