M'aider May Day
Today…
is May Day. Huge walkouts are planned, with front-line and other essential workers - at companies like Amazon, Whole Foods, Instacart, etc - participating. It’s a big. fucking. deal.
is No Pants Day. Unless you’ve got a live spot on Good Morning America, then probably yes pants.
is Lei Day, and I’ll leave you with a quick story.
Pride Weekend, 3-4 years ago. Kids and I were running errands, they were both wearing rainbow leis, and we ran into the beat cop who used to walk that neighborhood constantly. We used to see him e.ver.y. day. He was straight out of Central Casting: tall, Irish, Brooklyn accent, very serious, the whole nine. He asked if I was taking the kids down to the Pride festivities, and I shrugged – it was hot, it gets crowded.
He said, “Yeah, I’ve worked down ‘ere a couple times. There’s a, uh….”
Long pause. He looks up the sidewalk. Looks down the sidewalk. Looks back at me and gives a little nod.
“…there’s a lot to see.”
I. died. What a lot of work that line is doing! The accuracy! So good.
You know what would be even better?
Abortion
States use coronavirus to ban abortions, leaving women desperate: ‘You can’t pause a pregnancy’
Jessica Glenza | The Guardian
Even under normal circumstances, obtaining an abortion in Texas is described as “mostly impossible.” But during the Covid-19 pandemic, politicians in Texas and seven other states have worked to try to halt abortions entirely. They have undertaken costly lawsuits to restrict abortion in the name of health and safety, even as doctors lined up against them.
Fact check: New York's abortion law doesn't allow any abortion 'up until birth,' as claimed
Adrienne Dunn | USA Today
It is false to state or imply that any abortion can occur in New York "up until birth" as the social posts claims. That is misleading. Additionally, no state in the U.S. allows abortion "up until birth."
What It's Like to Get an Abortion in Hawaii
Claire Lampen | VICE
In 1970, three years before the Supreme Court handed down its landmark Roe v. Wade decision, Hawaii became the first state to legalize abortion. Today, its abortion laws remain among the country’s most liberal, although patients still face access barriers—chiefly because of the state’s geography.
LGBTQ
Fired Georgia Fire Chief Sues City for Anti-Trans Discrimination
Trudy Ring | The Advocate Magazine
The former fire chief of Byron, Ga., says she was dismissed for being transgender — and now she’s suing the town for discrimination.
The sheriff fired her because she’s a lesbian so she ran for his office. She demolished him.
Bil Browning | LGBTQ Nation
In a heated race in Ohio, Democrat Charmaine McGuffey ran to be both the county’s first female and first out LGBTQ person elected sheriff. She also ran against the man she alleges fired her because she’s a lesbian – current Sheriff Jim Neil, a Trump-supporting Democrat. And she stomped him at the ballot box, winning approximately 70% of the vote.
COVID exposes need for LGBTQ data and compassionate competency
Karen Ocamb | Los Angeles Blade
From the start of what is now a global pandemic threatening a worldwide economic depression, the federal government has been churning out mixed messages and lies and blatantly continuing its ruthless destruction of LGBTQ rights.
Pregnancy & Parenting
Virtually coaching mothers through labor is another coronavirus workaround
Jarvis DeBerry | Cleveland.com
The novel coronavirus pandemic has altered the way we say goodbye to our loved ones – both at their bedsides and at their funerals. But in addition to that, the pandemic has changed the way we welcome new life into the world.
Reproductive Health & Justice
'I Started A Charity At 16. Now We're Distributing 2 Million Period Products During The Pandemic'
Nadya Okamoto | Newsweek
Periods do not stop for a pandemic, so at PERIOD we made a commitment to send period products for free to any service provider that requests them—scaling our national distribution to shelters, food pantries, and other service centers in communities across the U.S.
Next Week, the Nuns Are Coming for Your Birth Control
Jessica Mason Pieklo, Imani Gandy | Rewire.News
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments next week in two consolidated cases that could kill the birth control benefit for good.
Macon Periods Easier providing free menstrual products to Bibb County
Taylor Drake | WMAZ-TV (Macon, GA)
Macon Periods Easier wants to alleviate some stress for people with periods. That's why beginning May 1, the organization will be setting up bins full of free menstrual products around Bibb County.
Macon Periods Easier.
Work & Money
Global poll: Wide support for gender equality, except when jobs are scarce
Rashaan Ayesh | Axios
The vast majority of people across 34 countries surveyed by Pew Research Center say it's important for women to have the same rights as men — but majorities in many countries still believe men should take priority when jobs are scarce
Universal child care was provided during World War II. We need it again during this pandemic - and beyond.
Dana Suskind | Chicago Tribune
Historically, times of crisis have brought out the best in U.S. policymaking. The Great Depression ushered in the New Deal. The Cuyahoga River burning due to industrial pollution in 1969 gave us the Environmental Protection Agency. What might the coronavirus-fueled public health and economic emergencies lead to?
Why Are COVID-19-Related Job Losses Hitting Women Harder Than Men?
Renee Morad | Forbes
Women most disproportionately lost jobs in the leisure and hospitality sector, as well as retail, professional and business services and non-durable goods manufacturing. In some cases, women lost jobs even as men’s employment continued to grow. This happened in the education and health services, financial services, construction and information sectors.
House Dems push to include primary care workers in coronavirus relief package
J. Edward Moreno | The Hill
Democratic Reps. Joaquin Castro (Texas) and Deb Haaland (N.M.) led more than 30 of their colleagues in asking House leadership to broaden the definition of essential workers in the next relief package and guarantee them paid sick leave and affordable child care, among other benefits. The proposal would include family care and child care providers, who often lack traditional employment status.
Senate Democrats Press For $50 Billion Child Care Bailout In Next Stimulus
Emily Friedlander Peck | HuffPost
Senate Democrats led by Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) are pushing for a $50 billion bailout to keep an essential industry afloat: the child care system.
Essential workers need childcare, so grandparents are filling the gap
Heather Marcoux | Motherly
The very people in occupations we now deem heroic are having to weigh the risks: Keep the kids quarantined and lose the family's income or break social distancing guidelines so that someone can watch the children while parents work. That's why, even though older adults are more at risk for COVID-19 and that kids can often be asymptomatic carriers, grandparents are stepping in to fill the gap (and are potentially risking their health to do so.
If You’re Pushing to Open the Economy, You Probably Don’t Need Child Care
Elie Mystal | The Nation
There’s no way to send people back to work without providing safe, affordable child care, but the men in charge don’t seem to care.
Governors Can Reopen All They Like. Without Child Care, Parents Can't Work
Melissa Boteach | Newsweek
Without child care, parents called back to work, especially in sectors dominated by women, will be stuck at home—regardless of what their governor says. Perennially the most ignored foundation of our economy, child care providers are key to the success of any attempt to restart business as usual.
Daycares can reopen in Alabama, but will parents return?
Anna Claire Vollers | Al.com
Alabama day cares can open if they keep fewer than 12 kids to a classroom, according to Gov. Kay Ivey’s “safer at home” order, announced Tuesday. But the bigger question for some day care owners is whether parents will feel comfortable sending their kids during the coronavirus epidemic; and if not, whether they can keep their doors open.
Texas excludes retail, restaurant workers from daycare help even as the number of childcare operators falls by 40%
Corbett Smith | The Dallas Morning News
Over the next month, as large segments of the Texas economy slowly reopen, parents rejoining the workforce will have to find childcare options. There’s a catch, though. Many workers in retail and restaurants won’t be able to enroll their children in state-licensed child care centers, at least not yet. Those child care centers are currently available only for children of essential workers, like nurses, truck drivers, and grocery store stockers.
More, More, More
Coronavirus Is Seriously Impacting FGM & Gender-Based Violence
Alice Broster | Forbes
Many governments have acted on medical advice and insisted the safest thing to do is to stay at home unless absolutely necessary. However, people’s experiences of home are far from universal, and research has found that the COVID-19 lockdown could be seriously detrimental to ending gender-based violence, female genital mutilation and child marriages.