by Mary Margaret Olohan

A gay Milwaukee judge arrested on child pornography charges formerly served as the president of a Drag Queen Story Hour club.

Police arrested 38-year-old Brett Blomme Tuesday and held him overnight in Dane County Jail, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He was charged Wednesday with seven counts of possession of child pornography showing abuse of young boys, the publication reported, noting that each count carries a minimum of three years in prison and a maximum sentence of 15, plus 10 years of supervised release.

Last fall, Blomme allegedly uploaded as many as 27 images and videos of sexual abuse of children using the messaging app Kik under the username “DomMasterbb,” the Sentinel reported from the criminal complaint.

He reportedly uploaded the child porn from his Cottage Grove, Wisconsin home that he shares with his husband and their two adopted children, the Sentinel reported. Blomme’s children are not featured in the child pornography and Child Protective Services is working to place the children in another home, the Sentinel reported.

From our family to yours, Happy Holidays! pic.twitter.com/R0XA3hZ50l

— Judge Brett Blomme (@JudgeBlomme) December 22, 2020

From June 2017 to August 2020, Blomme served as the president and CEO of Cream City Foundation, an organization that offers [ they have deleted their page – Here is the archive ] Drag Queen Story Hours among other services intended to mobilize “philanthropic resources by harnessing the pride, passion, and commitment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their allies.”

Blomme’s name has been removed form the Cream City Foundation website, but a version of the page archived Tuesday lists him as a past president.

He left the post in August 2020 when Gary A. Balcerzak was selected to lead Cream City Foundation.

Cream City Foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation regarding Blomme’s departure or about the child pornography charges against him.

Drag Queen Story Hours started out as niche events on the West Coast but have spread to libraries and schools across the U.S. The official Drag Queen Story Hour website boasts over 40 independently operated chapters across the U.S., including in New York City, D.C. and Chicago, as well as international chapters in Tokyo, Australia, Europe, and Mexico.

The events are designed to be about 45 minutes long for children aged 3 to 8 years old and intend to capture children’s imagination and help explore their gender fluidity through “glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models,” according to the Drag Queen Story Hour’s official website.

The organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.

A court commissioner set a signature bond requiring Bloome not have unsupervised contact with any children, except for his own, and that he not use social media or file sharing services, the Sentinel reported. He was released by 4 p.m. Wednesday, and a preliminary hearing is set for May 29.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court also announced later Wednesday that Blomme is suspended without pay from judicial duties, the Sentinel reported.

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Mary Margaret Olohan is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Drag Queen Story Hour” by San Jose Public Library. CC BY-SA 2.0.

Amazon . com Inc. said it recently removed a three-year-old book about transgender issues from its platforms because it decided not to sell books that frame transgender and other sexual identities as mental illnesses.

The company explained its decision in a letter Thursday to Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, Mike Lee of Utah, Mike Braun of Indiana and Josh Hawley of Missouri, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The senators had written last month to Chief Executive Jeff Bezos requesting an explanation of why “When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment” was no longer available on Amazon nor on its Kindle and Audible platforms.

“As to your specific question about When Harry Became Sally, we have chosen not to sell books that frame LGBTQ+ identity as a mental illness,” Amazon said in the letter, which was signed by Brian Huseman, Amazon’s vice president of public policy, referring to sexual identities that include lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, among others.

“When Harry Became Sally,” written by the conservative scholar Ryan T. Anderson, was published in February 2018. The book focuses on a variety of issues including gender identity. . . .

The author of a book that criticizes transgender ideology, has said Amazon banned the book from its inventory based on a false argument.

Amazon quietly removed the book, titled “When Harry Became Sally,” last month without explanation. When probed for the reason by several Republican senators, the online retail giant said it has chosen to not sell books “that frame LGBTQ+ identity as a mental illness,” in a March 11 letter to the lawmakers obtained by The Wall Street Journal (pdf).

But the book does no such thing, author Ryan Anderson told The Epoch Times.

“Nowhere have I ever said or framed LGBTQ+ identity as a mental illness,” he said via email. “The phrase ‘mental illness’ does occur in the book twice—but not in my own voice: once quoting a ‘transwoman’ writing in The New York Times, and once quoting the current university distinguished service professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins.”

Anderson makes a distinction between transgenderism, which he describes as a belief system that’s in major part political, and gender dysphoria, an established mental condition of extreme and persevering discomfort with one’s biological sex. He acknowledges that the discomfort is genuine, not imagined.

“The book also discusses the American Psychiatric Association’s classification of gender dysphoria in the most recent edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Amazon, curiously, still sells that. Gender dysphoria is listed in the most widely respected and consulted book on psychiatric disorders because it is a serious condition that causes great suffering,” he said. . . .

The Republican governor approved the measure despite objections from medical and child-welfare groups that it would have devastating impacts on transgender youth.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Thursday signed a law banning transgender women and girls from competing in school sports teams consistent with their gender identity, making the state the second to approve such a restriction so far this year.

The Republican governor approved the measure despite objections from medical and child-welfare groups that it would have devastating impacts on transgender youth. Hundreds of college athletes have also urged the NCAA to refuse to hold championships in states that enact such bans.

“This law simply says that female athletes should not have to compete in a sport against a student of the male sex when the sport is designed for women’s competition,” Hutchinson said in a statement released by his office. “As I have stated previously, I agree with the intention of this law. This will help promote and maintain fairness in women’s sporting events.”

Republicans in at least 20 state legislatures have been pushing for similar bans this year. Mississippi’s governor signed a prohibition into law earlier this month. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem had initially said she would sign similar legislation sent to her but has since pushed for changing it to exclude college sports.

Arkansas’ law covers K-12 as well as collegiate sports.

Only one state, Idaho, has enacted a law curtailing transgender students’ sports participation, and that 2020 measure is blocked by a court ruling as a lawsuit plays out.

Arkansas’ law, if it isn’t blocked by a legal challenge, would take effect this summer. Under the new law, a student or school who suffers “direct or indirect harm” could take a school to court for violating the ban.

The measure is among several targeting transgender people advancing through the majority-Republican Legislature this year. Another bill on Hutchinson’s desk would allow doctors to refuse to treat someone for moral or religious reasons, a measure opponents says would allow LGBT patients to be turned away.

A final vote is also expected next week on legislation that would ban gender confirmation surgery or treatment for minors.

The measures have won support as a hate bill measure backed by Hutchinson has stalled, facing conservative resistance. The current version of the bill would impose additional penalties for committing a crime against someone because several characteristics, including gender identity or sexual orientation.

Arkansas is one of three states without a hate crimes law. . . .

Transgender actor Elliot Page knew he ‘wanted to be a boy’ at age NINE: Juno star says he had to ‘compromise’ his true gender identity to become a child actor and reveals he’s undergone top surgery as he appears on TIME cover

• The 34-year-old Juno star came out as transgender in December, when he shared an emotional statement on social media while revealing his name change
• Elliot, who was born in Nova Scotia and began acting at age 10, has now revealed that he first realized he ‘wanted to be a boy’ when he was nine years old
• He cut his hair short and began embracing a male identity – however months later he landed his first acting role and had to make ‘a difficult compromise’
• The Umbrella Academy star is currently filming the third season of the Netflix show, in which he stars as queer female character Vanya Hargreeves
• In his first interview since coming out as trans, Elliot told TIME that isolating during the pandemic gave him time to focus on his gender identity
• He revealed that he has undergone top surgery, which is a subcutaneous mastectomy during which the breasts and breast tissue are removed
• Elliot uses he/him and they/them pronouns, and identifies as non-binary, however TIME referred to him as a transgender man, and he called himself a ‘guy’
• ‘It’s a complicated journey and an ongoing process,’ he said of the labels
• Elliot also discussed his relationship with ex-wife Emma Portner; they split in summer 2020, and divorced early this year but ‘remain close friends’

by Andrew Trunsky

Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill into law Thursday barring transgender athletes in public schools and colleges from competing in women’s sports.

The bill, SB 2536, is the first of such legislation to be signed into law this year, though similar initiatives have appeared in other states across the country. South Dakota’s Senate sent a similar bill to the desk of Republican Gov. Kristi Noem on Monday.

The legislation’s supporters have argued that such bills are necessary to ensure fairness in women’s sports, saying that trans women have a physical advantage over biological women in athletics.

“This important piece of legislation will ensure that young girls in Mississippi have a fair, level playing field in public schools,” Reeves said at a bill signing event.

The bill sailed through the state’s Republican-dominated legislature, passing the state House by a vote of 81-28 and the state Senate 34-9.

I never imagined dealing with this, but POTUS left us no choice. One of his first acts was to sign an EO encouraging transgenderism in children. So today, I proudly signed the Mississippi Fairness Act to ensure young girls are not forced to compete against biological males. pic.twitter.com/INZgKQRMJr

— Tate Reeves (@tatereeves) March 11, 2021

Critics of the bill, however, have argued that it is discriminatory against transgender students.

Alphonso David, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ rights group, called Reeves’ anti-transgender push “appalling,” and said the law is “a solution in search of a problem,” according to a statement.

Mississippi lawmakers have not “provided any examples of Mississippi transgender athletes gaming the system for a competitive advantage because none exist,” he said in a statement following its signing.

Other critics likened the bill to Republican-led bathroom bills several years ago, which sought to mandate that people use restrooms corresponding to their biological sex.

“Just like it was never about restrooms, this bill is not about sports,” Chase Strangio, the American Civil Liberties Union deputy director for trans justice, told Law and Crime. “It’s about pushing trans people out of public life.”

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Andrew Trunsky is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.

Model Leyna Bloom has become the first transgender of color to appear in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit magazine after landing a spot in the 2021 issue.

“I’m promoting something that has been missing in the world: trans beauty in all shapes and all sizes,” the black and Filipino model told The New York Times on Tuesday.

“I’m representing Filipina, I’m representing Black, I am representing people who have been immigrants,” she added. “For them, I’m a vessel of change.” . . . .

(AP) — Voting mostly along party lines, the U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed former Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine to be the nation’s assistant secretary of health. She is the first openly transgender federal official to win Senate confirmation.

The final vote was 52-48. Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine joined all Democrats in supporting Levine.

Levine had been serving as Pennsylvania’s top health official since 2017, and emerged as the public face of the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. She is expected to oversee Health and Human Services offices and programs across the U.S.

President Joe Biden cited Levine’s experience when he nominated her in January.

Levine “will bring the steady leadership and essential expertise we need to get people through this pandemic — no matter their zip code, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability,” Biden said. . . .