Eat more cheese
Today…
may be a Supreme Court decision day. Start watching at 10am ET.
in 1973, the Supreme Court ruled in Frontiero v. Richardson that the military couldn’t offer different spousal/family benefits to service members on the basis of sex. The case also marked RBG’s first appearance before the court.
was the birthday of Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935). He was all the things that got a person targeted in Weimar Germany: a doctor and sexual health researcher, Jewish, gay, and an advocate for abortion, women’s and gay rights. (Luckily, he got out in time.)
is National Buttermilk Biscuit Day, but to this Ohioan’s great sorrow, the closest Bob Evans is way the hell out in Virginia.
the French dairy industry is encouraging people to eat more cheese, and I’m not sure if I’ve ever been more prepared for anything in my life. A few favorites:
Époisses: delicious, fun to say, and comes in a darling little box.
Reblochon: not unlike Taleggio, nice and stinky.
Brie de Meaux: but only - only - if you can find it unpasteurized. The pasteurized version is trash.
Ossau-Iraty: one of only two AOC sheep’s milk cheeses. I adore it.
France is counting you to let your friends and colleagues know about this urgent issue.
Abortion
No-Test Medication Abortion Increases Safety and Access During COVID-19
Carrie Baker | Ms.
A new study proposes an innovative, no-test medication abortion protocol that would enable clinicians to safely administer medication abortion to patients without any preliminary tests or in-person encounters.
New Planned Parenthood ad campaign seeks to show coronavirus' abortion access impact
Ali Vitali | NBC News
Planned Parenthood Action Fund is launching an “accountability” campaign across eleven states, highlighting efforts to roll back, or expand, American’s access to reproductive healthcare during the coronavirus pandemic.
Church cleared on appeal to challenge California abortion insurance rule
Nate Raymond | Reuters
A federal appeals court on Wednesday revived a lawsuit by a California church alleging that a state health insurance regulator had violated its religious rights by requiring insurance plans to cover abortion. The 9th Circuit ruled that Skyline Wesleyan Church had standing to pursue claims that the California Department of Managed Health Care’s requirement that all health plans cover abortion violates the U.S. Constitution.
LGBTQ
Study: 1 in 3 Gay, Bi, and Trans Men Feel Unsafe in Home Lockdown
Daniel Reynolds | The Advocate Magazine
About one in three gay, bi, and trans men do not feel safe sheltering in place. A staggering 30% of 35,000 men in a survey conducted by the dating app Hornet with the Thomas Reuters Foundation reported fearing for their physical or emotional well-being while at home.
U.S. Senate Approves 988 Number for Suicide Prevention Lifeline
Adam Dupuis | Instinct Magazine
The Trevor Project applauded the U.S. Senate for passing The National Suicide Hotline Designation Act, which when implemented will allow Americans to simply dial 988 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, instead of requiring a ten-digit number.
Trump administration removes LGBTQ data from foster care and adoption reporting system
John Riley | Metro Weekly
HHS recently issued a rule removing an Obama-era requirement that the department collect data on the sexual orientation of children or parents in the foster care and adoption system as part of a demographic profile.
Aimee Stephens, Transgender Woman at Heart of Supreme Court Battle, Dies
Jessica Mason Pieklo | Rewire.News
Aimee Stephens was a trailblazer for transgender rights. But her legacy could reach even further. Fired from her job in 2013 after she told her employer she intended to transition, Stephens was the plaintiff and face of the first major transgender rights case in U.S. Supreme Court history.
Reproductive Health & Justice
An HIV Researcher Explains How Socioeconomic Factors Affect The Impact Of The Coronavirus Pandemic
Dave Wessner | Forbes
Neither a lack of insurance, nor a lower family income, nor limited access to a grocery store will cause one to become infected with SARS-CoV-2 or HIV. But these basic disparities do lead to poorer overall health outcomes.
Supreme Court
The Supreme Court Is Not Going to Fix the Electoral College
Garrett Epps | The Atlantic
The Court will decide whether electors must vote for their party’s candidate, but no matter the answer, the system will still be a disaster.
The Electoral College Is a Confusing Mess
Jesse Wegman | The New York Times
If electors are not supposed to use their “information and discernment” when they cast their ballots, what other rationale for the Electoral College remains? The framers would have been hard-pressed to articulate one.
Work & Money
Why America's Most Essential Workers Are So Poorly Treated
Annie Lowrey | The Atlantic
“It’s not an accident that two-thirds of all minimum-wage workers are women,” said Ai-jen Poo, a co-founder of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. “Women are disproportionately concentrated in positions of vulnerability within our economy.” Similarly, black and Latino workers get shunted into risky, low-wage professions, through educational discrimination, occupational segregation and hiring prejudice.
The Pandemic’s Gender Bias Needs Urgent Fixing
Elisa Martinuzzi | Bloomberg Opinion
Women faced a century-long wait to reach parity with men before the coronavirus. Now that timeline is looking ambitious.
10 worker protections that should be in the US government's next aid package
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Rep. Ro Khanna | CNN
We have to protect the workers who are protecting us, and we must act with urgency. That's why we have introduced a 10-point proposal that we're calling the Essential Workers Bill of Rights, and it should be included in the next relief package. Our proposal will ensure essential workers have the equipment, safety standards and job protections they need during this pandemic.
Le sigh. I wonder what her favorite cheese is…
What it means for businesses to ‘build back better’ after COVID-19
Sarah Kaplan | Fast Company
Myriad signals tell us that the old normal won’t be adequate or even possible. COVID-19 is revealing fractures in our economy that many in the corporate elite might not have paid attention to in the past. We need to build back better.
More women are running for House seats than ever. Even 2018.
Caroline Kitchener | The Lily
At least 490 women are running for the House of Representatives in 2020, competing among a historic cohort: As of Tuesday, there are more women running for House seats than ever before. The final number will likely be even higher: In 14 states, potential candidates still have time to sign up.
A CBA By Women, For Women: Demographics, Identity, and the New WNBA-WNBPA CBA
Ross Evans | OnLabor
The workplace benefits historically marginalized groups enjoy from unionization are well-documented. For example, according to 2019 BLS data, unionized female employees earn 29% more than non-unionized female employees and unionized black employees earn 27% more than non-unionized black employees. And though the BLS did not publish similar wage data for LGBTQ+ employees, unions have served as LGBTQ+ allies for decades.
Missouri
Will Work for Free: Let's talk about the gender wage gap in Missouri
Mia Pohlman | Southeast Missourian
You go to work each day, you solve problems, you complete tasks, you devote your time, talent and ingenuity to advance your company. You give it your best, 12 months out of the year. But for two and a half months, you're not paid for it. It might sound ridiculous – after all, when it gets down to it, earning a living is the reason we keep jobs – but for the average woman in Southeast Missouri, this is her reality.
North Dakota
Paid Family Leave Initiative needed in North Dakota
Amy Ingersoll-Johnson | Jamestown Sun
The coronavirus pandemic finds many North Dakotans without a paycheck, threatened with loss of housing, anxious about their health care coverage, and worried about loved ones who are either sick with COVID-19 or susceptible to it.
More, More, More
Without Women There Is No Democracy
Jennifer M. Piscopo, Shauna Shames | Boston Review
Canny observers have noted that the places with low Covid-19 case numbers and more effective policy responses—from Germany to Taiwan—are led by women. It is no accident that these states are also strong and wealthy democracies, with capable bureaucracies and high levels of institutional trust. Though women leaders historically have governed countries both rich and poor, democratic and nondemocratic, today women head some of the world’s most influential democracies.
Why women leaders are excelling during the coronavirus pandemic
Louise Champoux-Paillé, Anne-Marie Croteau | The Conversation
What if countries led by women are managing the pandemic more effectively not because they are women, but because the election of women is a reflection of societies where there is a greater presence of women in many positions of power, in all sectors?
'Mother of ERA' served as a first for state females
Tom Kirvan | Detroit Legal News
The possibility of Whitmer landing a starring role in the upcoming campaign conjures up thoughts of another Michigan female trailblazer – the late Martha Griffiths. As the first female elected lieutenant governor of Michigan, Griffiths served two terms in the role that may have been just a bit part in defining her public service legacy.
Once you shake off the cringe at “state females,” it’s actually a good profile of a champion for workplace fairness, the ERA and Title VII
“Reports of the ERA’s Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated” (Part 5)
Carrie Baker | Ms.
This is the fifth in a six-part series examining the half-century fight to add women to the U.S. Constitution—and a game plan on where we go from here.
‘Believe Women’ was a slogan. ‘Believe All Women’ is a strawman.
Monica Hesse | The Washington Post
“Believe all women” isn’t a good slogan, but it’s a great straw man. It’s a punched-up setup line that enables pundits to play-act as Columbo, swanning around in a raincoat, rubbing his head and delivering a case-closing zinger: “Just one more thing — I thought you believed ALL women!”
During the Vietnam War, the women who served on special Pan Am flights flew into a war zone to transport soldiers. Why has their role been forgotten?
Sarah Rose | The Washington Post
These Pan Am stewardesses (now an outdated term but common at the time) were volunteers and got no special training for flying into war, though their pilots were mostly World War II or Korean War vets. Their aircraft routinely took ground fire. The pilots, all male, received hazardous-duty pay for flights into the combat zone. The women aboard did not.