She’s Got a Ticket to Ride

Yes folks, it’s that time again. It’s time to play the music! It’s time to light the lights! It’s time to dish out another GABE DOWNEY GENIUS OF THE MONTH AWARD!

The award if you’ll notice has been slowly gaining in meaningfulness since it’s inception, and this time is no different. This award is without question our most important. And along with that distinction, there is another. The GABE DOWNEY GENIUS OF THE MONTH AWARD has also been redesigned, and has a new co-signer, the brilliant and beautiful LuLu LaRue. So, without further ado, this months winner of the GABE DOWNEY GENIUS OF THE MONTH AWARD IS: JESSICA AHLQUIST!

Jessica (as any of you who’ve read the post below will know) spearheaded a legal battle against her school that refused to take down an unconstitutional Christian-based prayer banner. And despite her victory, she has received threats of violence, hate speech and a disgusting display of immaturity thrown her way by people who wouldn’t know the meaning of morality if it’s definition was printed on a banner and hung up in a school for 50 years. So, in honor of Jessica’s brave and humble nature, we have found it appropriate to honor her with the GABE DOWNEY GENIUS OF THE MONTH AWARD, for not only recognizing the wrong, but facilitating the solution.

So Jessica, in honor of everything you’ve done, we present you with this award. Common sense and true American values won the day at Cranston West High School because of you. Congratulations and god bless you! (Get it?)

CONGRATULATIONS JESSICA!

(Want to really show Jessica your appreciation for her sacrifice? Donate to her scholarship generously held in trust by the American Humanist Association over at the Friendly Atheist)

The Girl’s Alright With Me

High school, probably more than any other time in your pre-adult life, is a time where you really come to discover who you are and what you belive. And besides not even being close to “the best years of your life,” high school does offer you the opportunity to begin asserting your independence and following whatever course of action you deem best. Rarely however, do your decisions make national news. This isn’t the case for Jessica Ahlquist.

Jessica goes to school in Rhode Island, at Cranston West, and hanging in the school for god knows how many years (you’ll be roaring at that pun in a moment) is a prayer banner. Now, obviously this banner has no place in a school that is run by the United States Government, we all know the importance of the separation of church and state. And much like when Josh and I argued with the school board vice president to get a catholic based abstinence presentation changed from mandatory to optional at our high school, Jessica took on the responsibility personally to change something that wasn’t right. She fought long and hard, created a Facebook group to get her message out and finally she took her fight to the court system. And, she won.

So, the good side won. This matter is over, right? Jessica can go back to being a normal high schooler, right? Wrong. What has come up in the short time since her decision is an HORRIFIC backlash of the religious zealots in this country and their response to Jessica. So overwhelmingly horrible are this comments that you can see how seriously these people take themselves as Christians. In lieu of posting these comments here, instead I invite you over to JESUSFETUSFAJITAFISHTICKS who’ve done a great job amassing them as screenshots. These people are sad examples of human decency and perhaps the most disappointing thing is that considering the source, it’s not so surprising.

And worse than their defense of their religion is that they clearly have NO understanding about what our rights are as Americans. We are lucky to have been born in this country, and these people take the ability to speak freely for granted.  The constitution and bill of rights are there to protect the interest of the minority AGAINST the majority, not the other way around. We stand up for what is right in this country, even if we are standing alone. Jessica stood up for what is right, but she isn’t alone. She stands with the forefathers of America who believed that her voice mattered as much as the powerful Christian wing of this country. Having a prayer banner in schools is wrong, and regardless of how many threats you make against the brave girl who decided to do something about it, it won’t change that fact.

If I were a real Christian, I would be embarrassed at how these people are furthering the notion that hypocrisy, not morality, reigns supreme in religion. Jessica earns the win not only for the removal of the prayer banner, but also for exposing these people for what they really are: self serving, ignorant hypocrites who threaten a young girl with violence and eternal damnation. Lovely.