Today…
is National Raspberry Tart Day. If I had a little more brain about me, I’d make some kind of sassy innuendo here, but alas. I’m on coffee #4, have already told the 6th grader at least three times to get ready for 9am summer bridge, urged the 8th grader to consider eating something besides another bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios… also I have work.
As I thought might happen, a few subscribers fell away while I was out last week. Which is totally fine and not at all a comment on everything about me as a person. But it means I’m back in a big way asking you to smash that share button. LYLAS!
Abortion
Pro-abortion-rights group is all in for Biden but warns about 'gender stereotypes' in VP coverage
Suzanne Smalley | Yahoo
The head of NARAL Pro-Choice America told Yahoo News on Monday that the organization is “pulling out all the stops” to keep President Trump from being reelected, allocating $32 million to elect his opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, this November.
Nebraska
Chambers requests legal opinion on Lincoln senator's anti-abortion bill
JoAnne Young | Lincoln Journal Star
Sen. Ernie Chambers says an anti-abortion bill that has passed first-round approval by the Legislature is unconstitutional, and he wants Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson to issue a legal opinion on it.
Oregon
With Trump appointing anti-abortion judges, the fight for reproductive freedom is critical
Emily McLain | Street Roots
Planned Parenthood PAC of Oregon’s director urges Oregonians to remain united against the White House’s harmful policies.
Texas
I Did My Own Abortion Because Texas Used COVID-19 as an Excuse to Shut Down Abortion Clinics
Anna Sussman | Cosmopolitan
One woman reveals the lengths she went to in order to receive an abortion when Texas clinics closed due to the pandemic.
LGBTQ
Doctors concerned about complex legal landscape for transgender patients
Dr. Danielle Weitzer, Sony Salzman | ABC News
In June, HHS announced a new final rule excluding specific protections for transgender people. Now, doctors are sounding the alarm … saying that under the new rule it once again will be legal for doctors to turn away transgender patients seeking care, effectively stripping them of protections that have been in place for four years.
If Black Lives Really Matter, Protecting Black Trans Lives Is Essential
David Johns | Blavity
The violence experienced by Black trans people, particularly Black trans women and femmes, has been an issue for decades, but has yet to get the widespread attention it so desperately needs and deserves.
Senate Democrats Target State Dept. Over Denials Of Citizenship To Children Born Abroad To Same-Sex Couples
Matt Perez | Forbes
Senate Democrats on the Foreign Relations Committee sent a letter to Secretary Mike Pompeo on Monday requesting information on reports that the State Department has been denying citizenship to children born abroad with same-sex parents who are U.S. citizens, accusing the department of showing a “growing pattern of disregard” for human rights in its treatment of LGBTQ issues.
How Plume Is Using Mobile Technology And Telehealth To Build A Healthcare Company For The Trans Community
Steven Bertoni | Forbes
In 2019, Dr. Jerrica Kirkley Dr. Matthew Wetschler launched Plume—a direct-to-consumer telehealth company that provides doctor consultation and hormone therapies for trans patients.
Federal Appeals Court: Title IX Protects Transgender Students
Greta Anderson | Inside Higher Ed
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit concluded that Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the law prohibiting sex discrimination at federally funded institutions, also protects transgender students from discrimination based on their identity, said the court's Aug. 7 decision, written by Judge Beverly Martin.
The Evolution Of Ellen: A Talk Show Host Faces New Scrutiny
Eric Deggans | NPR
Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres has made major strides for LGBTQ representation. However, she's come under scrutiny lately after reported allegations about how her staff is treated.
After years of protest, a top hospital ended intersex surgeries. For activists, it took a deep toll.
Kate Sosin | USA Today
Since the 1960s, medical convention has been that intersex variations should be “corrected,” often through a combination of painful surgeries and hormone therapy starting from infancy or before a child can consent. But on July 28, the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago became the first hospital in the U.S. to suspend the operations.
California
Rightwing launches disgusting attack on “pedophile” gay lawmaker over equality legislation
Alex Bollinger | LGBTQ Nation
A gay lawmaker in California has been targeted by rightwing media as part of what they believe is a pedophile conspiracy because he introduced a bill to treat LGBTQ sex offenders the same as straight sex offenders. He is now receiving “thousands” of homophobic and anti-semitic messages.
Massachusetts
Gay Mayor Admits Relationships With Students, Won't Leave House Race
Trudy Ring | The Advocate
Gay Massachusetts congressional candidate Alex Morse, under criticism regarding sexual relationships with college students, has admitted the relationships but vowed to stay in the race.
North Carolina
North Carolina to replace statue of white supremacist with one of anti-gay evangelical Billy Graham
John Riley | Metro Weekly
A North Carolina committee has unanimously selected a model of a statue of televangelist Billy Graham, a well-known anti-LGBTQ evangelical, to represent the state in the National Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol.
Pennsylvania
The Relentless Misgendering of Dr. Rachel Levine, Pennsylvania Health Secretary, Is Violence
Dawn Ennis | The Daily Beast
The thing about being out as transgender is that everyone—and I do mean everyone—thinks they can freely express an opinion about your identity, how well you “pass” for the gender with which you identify, and even your existence. And they expect you to defend it. No, expect is the wrong word; they demand it. Case in point, Dr. Rachel Levine.
The Advocate | Trump Campaign Lawyer Misgenders Pennsylvania's Trans Health Secretary
Metro Weekly | Trump advisor Jenna Ellis misgenders and attacks Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine
Pandemic Parenting
There Is No Equality Without Affordable Childcare, but Little is Being Done About It
Kendra Hurley | Good Housekeeping
Over the past months of powerful protests for racial justice coupled with a pandemic that has hit people of color, and particularly African-Americans, the hardest, advocates have been pointing out that universal quality childcare could be a potent tool for racial and economic equity.
Forbes | The Nation’s Child Care Crisis
The Hill | In the COVID-19 economy, we are running out of time to prioritize child care
What if Some Kids Are Better Off at Home?
Joanna Schroeder | The New York Times
For parents like me, the pandemic has come with a revelation: For our children, school was torture.
I love you awful, but so help me God if any one of you breathe a word about this article to my rising 8th grader.
Want Productive Working Parents During The Pandemic? Help Them Cope With School Reopening Plans
Karan Rhodes | Forbes
Working parents with school-aged kids are currently in the unenviable position of having to navigate their local school reopening plans. This begs the question of how employers can stay on track meeting business goals when a significant portion of their workforce is distracted with making plans for their little ones for the fall?
Cincinnati Magazine | Why We Need to Cut Working Parents Some Slack Right Now
Faculty parents are once again being asked to perform a miracle
Colleen Flaherty | Inside Higher Ed
Faculty members' anxieties about the coming semester abound. And while they may be able to rely on their institutions for support in matters of teaching, they remain very much on their own in dealing with the personal costs of the pandemic. This fact is particularly searing to professors with young children: six months into the coronavirus's stranglehold on the U.S., babies, toddlers and kids are still out of childcare and school in many places.
Pregnancy & Parenting
Policing and Punishing Pregnant Women: The Case of Chelsea Becker
Carrie Baker | Ms. Magazine
For the last eight months, Chelsea Cheyenne Becker has been locked up in Kings County Jail in Hanford, Calif., charged with murder after giving birth to a stillborn son.
🠲 America is failing Black moms during the pandemic
Anna North | Vox
The pandemic is making the maternal health care crisis worse. It doesn’t have to be this way.
MadameNoire.com | How Black Women Can Protect Themselves And Others In The Fight Against Maternal Mortality
Democrats focus new legislation on the pandemic's effect on maternal mortality
Shefali Luthra | The 19th
The emerging evidence suggests pregnant people are at enhanced risk of complications from COVID-19. Now, a group of Democrats are trying to plug holes in how the government tracks the virus’ impact on pregnancy, put new resources into maternal health and ensure that pregnant individuals are ultimately eligible for any new treatments and vaccines, according to a bill shared first with The 19th.
Reproductive Health & Justice
Winning by Losing: Chief Justice Roberts’s Strategy to Eviscerate Reproductive Rights and Justice
Maya Manian | Harvard Law & Policy Review
Together, June Medical and Little Sisters of the Poor represent the dawning of an unprecedented attack on reproductive rights and justice. Chief Justice Roberts put forward a clear path to eviscerate abortion rights and to permit attacks on access to contraception without overtly overturning precedent, rendering reproductive health care available in theory but inaccessible in reality for low-income people and people of color.
What's Next for Your Birth Control Coverage After 'Little Sisters of the Poor'
Rewire.News
Mara Gandal-Powers, director of birth control access at the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), walked us through some basic birth control benefit facts you may be wondering about.
Muslims Have a Right to Contraception. Why Can Evangelical Bosses Take That Away?
Nadiah Mohajir | Rewire.News
I want my daughter to know that protecting her religious freedom means protecting her right to access birth control at every stage of her life.
Work & Money
COVID-19 Is Changing How Women Think About Their Fertility
Jessica Thomas | Entrepreneur Magazine
Here's how one startup is helping them navigate critical decisions around fertility, careers and money.
2 in 3 say women have not achieved equity in politics, workplace
Zack Budryk | The Hill
More than two-thirds of Americans do not believe the U.S. has achieved gender equality in the workplace, according to new polling from Gallup. The survey found 69% of U.S. adults do not believe the U.S. has achieved equality for women in the workplace, while 66 percent said the country has not reached equality in politics.
In the Gendered Economy, Women Are Perpetual Debtors
Nora Caplan-Bricker | The New Yorker
Kate Manne, a professor of philosophy at Cornell, argues that women “are expected to give traditionally feminine goods”—including physical and emotional care—and “to refrain from taking traditionally masculine goods,” such as power and authority. These assumptions result in a society in which men “are tacitly deemed entitled” to much of what life has to offer, while women are perpetual debtors, their very humanity “owed to others.”
AlterNet | A philosopher untangles the insidious ways male entitlement shapes our lives
Salon | From mansplainers to sexual assaulters, Kate Manne explains how society empowers men to harm women
The Woman Who Paved The Way
Lila Thulin | Smithsonian Magazine
When Geraldine Ferraro accepted the Democratic party's nomination on July 19, 1984, she became the first woman to be a major party's candidate for vice president.
Now! Or… you know… is 36 years…
McDonald's Says It Found NSFW Photos Proving Ex-CEO Lied About Employee Relationships
Carter Sherman | VICE
When McDonald’s fired its former CEO for sexting an employee, the iconic American food chain let him walk away with a severance deal reportedly worth almost $42 million. But now, McDonald’s says it’s found graphic evidence that the ex-CEO had sexual relationships with more employees — and the company wants its money back.
The Pandemic Might Be the Gateway to a More Diverse Workforce
Manon DeFelice | Working Mother
Embracing flexible work clearly isn’t the end-all-be-all solution to the gender wage gap. However, it will position women to have a career trajectory that isn’t plagued by interruptions and subsequent financial losses, through the creation of a work structure that is more compatible with the ebbs and flows of caregiving—and, well, life.
More, More, More
Not just for tomboys (and their parents): Kids and gender roles
Jessica DuLong | CNN
Learning how to talk to her child about gender issues and how to leave room for a variety of identities to develop led Lisa Selin Davis to write "Tomboy: The Surprising History and Future of Girls Who Dare to Be Different," which not only explores how tomboys fit into our evolving understandings of gender identity and expression but also "how and why we've ordered the world by gender, and who benefits.”
Stories From 20+ Women Suing Lyft for Sexual Harassment & Assault
Jill Filipovic | Marie Claire
The stories all start out more or less the same way: “I was trying to be responsible.” “I was trying to take care of myself.” “I thought I would be safe.” And so instead of driving drunk or walking alone or taking public transportation at night, these women hopped into rideshare vehicles. But they weren’t safe at all.
Feminism’s Popularity Reaches All Time Highs, Study Shows
Katarina Q. Watson | Ms. Magazine
A new Pew Research study shows a clear majority of women, across all ages and education levels, identify as feminists. Overall, 61% of female respondents said “feminist” describes them “very” or “somewhat well.”