It's a nice day to start again
Today…
in 1868, the 14th Amendment was ratified.
is National Sugar Cookie Day. Meh. Unless you’re baking, and using the best fancy butter, the vast majority of sugar cookies are… a sigh in cookie form. It’s fine. Better than nothing. After the week we’ve had? No. Have a chocolate chip, for God’s sake, you deserve it.
Not sure what I did to deserve this week’s sunrise view, but I sure am grateful for it.
Supreme Court
Little Sisters
Supreme Court sides with Trump in birth control opt-out case
Jessica Gresko | AP
The Supreme Court is siding with the Trump administration in its effort to allow more employers to opt out of providing no-cost birth control to women as required by the Affordable Care Act.
More from: ABC, Bloomberg, BuzzFeed, CBS, CNBC, CNN, FastCompany, Forbes, The Hill, HuffPost, Kaiser Health News, MadameNoire, The Mary Sue, NBC, New York Times, NPR, Politico, Reuters, Roll Call, Scary Mommy, VICE, Washington Post, The Week
Cosmopolitan | Fatima Goss Graves | Yeah, SCOTUS's Birth Control Ruling Will Devastate Communities Who Already Face Discrimination Every Day
CNN | Ilyse Hogue | Court's contraception ruling leaves vulnerable Americans even more at risk
The Cut | Bridget Read | Supreme Court Says Employers Can Deny Workers Birth Control Coverage
Glamour | Abby Gardner | The Supreme Court Just Made It Easier for Your Boss to Deny You Birth Control
Jezebel | Molly Osberg | Supreme Court Deals Massive Blow To Birth Control Access
Los Angeles Times | Jon Healey | Did the Supreme Court just gift wrap a win for Trump and the religious right? Not quite
Metro Weekly | John Riley Supreme Court's birth control decision could negatively impact LGBTQ Americans
Mic | Rafi Schwartz | The Supreme Court just made it okay for your employer to deny you birth control coverage
Ms. | Katie Fleischer | Feminists React to Supreme Court's Limiting Birth Control Coverage
NBC | Chloe Atkins | Supreme Court ruling on birth control has some 'terrified' about potential harm to women
NBC | Leah Litman | Supreme Court birth control ruling shows how civil rights and abortion access will be limited
New York Times | Roberts Supreme Court Curtails Birth Control Access. Again.
Slate | Dahlia Lithwick | The Court sidelines women in Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania.
Refinery29 | Lydia Wang | SCOTUS Rules To Let Employers Opt Out Of Birth Control Coverage On "Moral" Grounds
Rewire.News | Jessica Mason Pieklo and Imani Gandy | The Nuns Can Now Come After Your Birth Control
Rewire.News | Jessica Mason Pieklo, Imani Gandy | A Good Day for Theocracy at SCOTUS
Vogue | Emma Specter | Why Is the Supreme Court Letting Trump Get Away With Weakening Birth Control Mandates?
Vox | Ian Millhiser | The Supreme Court just gave Republicans a powerful new weapon against Obamacare
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Supreme Court sides with Catholic schools in employment suit
Jessica Gresko | AP
The Supreme Court is siding with two Catholic schools in a ruling that underscores that certain employees of religious schools, hospitals and social service centers can’t sue for employment discrimination.
The American Independent | Casey Quinlan | Supreme Court decision allowing religious schools to discriminate will hurt LGBTQ people
BuzzFeed | Zoe Tillman | The Supreme Court Gave Religious Schools New Exemptions From Discrimination Claims And LGBTQ Advocates Are Worried
SCOTUSblog | Amy Howe | Court rules that Catholic elementary school teachers are “ministers,” cannot sue for employment discrimination
Vox | Ian Millhiser | Supreme Court’s “ministerial exception” decision strips thousands of teachers of their civil rights
All of the above
The Advocate Magazine | Trudy Ring | Two SCOTUS Rulings Uphold Right to Discriminate Against LGBTQ+ People
Bloomberg Opinion | Noah Feldman | Supreme Court Expands Religious Exemptions With Liberals' Help
CNN | Lisa Tucker | Just how far will Clarence Thomas go?
New York Times | Gail Collins | Sex, Sisters and Dr. Donald
Reuters | Lawrence Hurley | U.S. Supreme Court delivers for Christian conservatives in trio of rulings
The Washington Blade | Chris Johnson | Supreme Court makes anti-LGBTQ discrimination easier at religious schools
Washington Post | Adrian Vermeule | Why conservative justices are more likely to defect
Abortion
'Enough Is Enough': 44 Groups Slam House Democrats for Including Hyde Amendment in Spending Bill
Jessica Corbett | Common Dreams
A coalition of 44 reproductive health, justice, and rights groups called out House Democrats for including the decades-old Hyde Amendment, which blocks federal funding for abortion services with limited exceptions, in a fiscal year 2021 appropriations bill that advanced Tuesday evening.
US anti-abortion groups received millions in federal Covid-19 aid
Jessica Glenza | The Guardian
Christian anti-abortion lobbying organizations received millions in taxpayer-backed forgivable loans from the US government’s coronavirus aid program, even as lawmakers demanded the nation’s largest abortion provider return federal loans.
Ohio
Ohio’s oldest abortion clinic, founded shortly after Roe v Wade, is closing
Catherine Candisky | Cincinnati Enquirer
One of three abortion clinics in Columbus, and the oldest facility in Ohio, is closing this week after 47 years.
LGBTQ
116 House Democrats push for end to transgender military ban following Supreme Court ruling
Rebecca Kheel | The Hill
More than 100 Democratic House lawmakers are calling on the Trump administration to end its transgender military ban following a Supreme Court ruling barring discrimination against LGBT workers.
New Civil Rights Movement | 116 Lawmakers Call for End to Transgender Military Service Ban
LGBTQ Orgs Are Suing the Trump Administration To Protect Trans Health Care
Nico Lang | VICE
“We should not fear that if we walk in the door that we’re going to be laughed at or we’re not going to be able to see a doctor simply because of who we are.”
Rich, Famous Transphobes Ask You to Stop Being So Mean to Them in Terrible Harper’s Magazine Open Letter
Vivian Kane | The Mary Sue
J.K. Rowling, Bari Weiss, Margaret Atwood, and about 150 other prominent writers and public figures signed an open letter in Harper’s Magazine, published online yesterday, calling for “open debate and toleration of differences.”
LGBTQ Nation | JK Rowling & other famous writers signed a “free speech” letter. Trans writers were on the list too.
Miami Herald | JK Rowling controversy leaves writers, scholars debating ‘what is cancel culture’
Pregnancy & Parenting
How Workplace Discrimination Affects Pregnant Women and Babies
Peter Coy | Bloomberg News
Remarks Study finds that pregnant women who are stressed by workplace discrimination are more likely to have premature, low-birthweight offspring.
Woman Says She Was Fired Because Her Children Disrupted Her Work Calls
Allyson Waller | New York Times
A California woman has sued her former employer, saying that she was fired because her young children were making noise during business calls while she was working from home because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Cut | Working Mom Says She Was Fired for Being a Mom While Working
Jezebel | Working Moms Are Being Fired For Being Working Moms
The moms are not all right
Patricia Murphy | Roll Call
If schools can’t open in the fall and stay open, and child care is not an option either, there is no backup plan for parents right now. Parents, and especially moms, are the backup plan.
Axios | How Trump's push to reopen schools amid the coronavirus could backfire
Dissent Magazine | There Is No Essential Work Without Child Care
Reproductive Health & Justice
States moving to reinforce reproductive rights amid the pandemic, new report finds
Meredith Deliso | ABC News
During the first half of the year, 44 states and the District of Columbia introduced nearly 550 bills that protect reproductive health access, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report.
Pregnancy risks rise with extreme heat, but public health info is lacking
Skye Wheeler | Chicago Tribune
Chicago’s 1995 heat wave, which peaked in mid-July, killed 739 people, including disproportionately high numbers of Black, older and socially isolated people. From catastrophe sprang then-novel city government policies designed to never allow a heat emergency — and, historians said, poor planning — to kill like that again.
Democrats Ask HHS To Restore ACA’s Sex Discrimination Protections
Ariel Cohen | Inside Health Policy
A group of nine Senate Democrats, led by Senate health committee ranking Democrat Patty Murray (WA), asked HHS Secretary Alex Azar to scrap the Trump administration’s rule that rolls back the ACA’s gender discrimination protections.
Work & Money
🠲 7 Inequities: A Weeklong Look at the Biases Women Face
Francesca Donner | New York Times
Women are living in a world that’s made for men. Whether it’s the cars they drive or the medicines they take, they’ve almost all been developed with men in mind. And that can have life-threatening consequences for women.
Why Some Companies Continue To Be Slow To Learn The Lessons Of #MeToo
Kirstin Ferguson | Forbes
In a post #MeToo world, some senior leaders are learning the hard way that the world has changed once and for all as employees rise up against corporate platitudes which are not followed by meaningful action
How Two Philanthropic Powerhouses Are Teaming Up to Advance Gender Equality
Julia Travers | Inside Philanthropy
Melinda Gates and Mackenzie Bezos made big waves in feminist philanthropy recently when they teamed up to launch Equality Can’t Wait, a new $30 million grant contest focused on gender equality.
More, More, More
How To Use Gender-Neutral Language, And Why It’s Important To Try
Kim Elsesser | Forbes
Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that federal anti-discrimination laws protect gay and transgender employees, yet much of our everyday language excludes people who don’t identify as exclusively male or female.
Most Americans Say Country Hasn't Gone Far Enough in Giving Women Equal Rights, Report Finds
Alexandra Hutzler | Newsweek
Has America done enough to ensure gender equality? Most U.S. adults don't think so. In fact, 57% of Americans don't think the country has gone far enough in giving women equal rights with men.