She's like my favorite
Today…
is the UN’s World Humanitarian Day. This year’s theme is #RealLifeHeroes.
is the birthday of economist, historian and activist Donna Allen (1920-1999), who founded Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press. (I’ve had my eye on this org for a long time as a place I would like to work, because mission, yes, of course, but also – it is very close to my home. Best of both worlds.)
is National Soft Serve Ice Cream Day, but not sure how the hell we’re going to celebrate since I found out the nearby Baskin-Robbins is closing. In recent weeks we’ve lost our Dunkin Donuts and our Wawa. We are a family in junk food crisis.
We bailed almost entirely on the DNC last night, but I caught bits and pieces, will watch the rest today on TiVo. Jacquelyn Brittany impressed the hell out of me. Talking into a camera, speaking naturally, being composed – it is a skill, and it is not easy, and she crushed it.
You’re my favorite. Have I told you that lately? It’s true.
Abortion
Where Kamala Harris Stands On Abortion
Bianca Rodriguez | Marie Claire
The California senator, who was running in the Democratic presidential race before dropping out in December and being tapped by Biden as his VP, has long been vocal about many key issues, including abortion and women's reproductive health care.
Both sides in the high-stakes abortion battle are struggling simply to be heard.
Maggie Astor | New York Times
This year’s election could eventually determine whether Roe v. Wade is overturned by the Supreme Court or codified by Congress. Normally, stakes that high would make abortion a primary focus of the campaign. But normally, the country would not be experiencing a pandemic, a recession and a civil rights movement all at once.
New York Times | Abortion Fight Evolves, Overshadowed in 2020 but With Huge Stakes
Trump Ethics Panel Urges Rejection of Fetal Tissue Research
Sheryl Gay Stolberg | New York Times
The fight is tangled up with the debate over abortion rights, though some of the tissue involved comes from fetuses that were not intentionally aborted.
Trump administration’s abortion policy has little effect on aid to foreign health-care programs, State Department says
Carol Morello | Washington Post
The Trump administration’s expanded ban on U.S. aid to groups that counsel or make referrals for abortions to women overseas has not affected most grants but in some countries has disrupted or delayed health care when an alternative provider could not be found, according to a State Department review released Tuesday.
Alabama
Alabama Denies Recent SCOTUS Decision Impacts Abortion Ban Case
Mary Anne Pazanowski | Bloomberg Law News
The Supreme Court’s recent decision in June Medical v. Russo has no effect on a lawsuit challenging Alabama’s near-total abortion ban because it doesn’t resolve whether two prior landmark rulings should be overruled, the state told a federal court.
LGBTQ
Trans Americans’ voting rights were already in jeopardy. COVID could make things worse
Kate Sosin | The 19th
Meeting voter ID requirements is a costly, burdensome process, and one that is further complicated by the pandemic.
Three trans Instagram influencers attacked by a mob in LA as passersby laughed & refused to help
Bil Browning | LGBTQ Nation
Instagram influencer Eden the Doll and her friends Joslyn Flawless and Jaslene White Rose were robbed, beaten, and chased through the streets – and then one of their attackers posted video of it all to social media.
‘The volume has been turned up on everything’: Pandemic places alarming pressure on transgender mental health
Alyssa Fowers, William Wan | Washington Post
Even as the coronavirus has upended lives throughout the country, it has taken a deep toll on the transgender community, a population that has long struggled with higher rates of mental illness and poor medical care because of discrimination and abuse.
Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump from Rolling Back Trans Health Protections
Lauren Evans | Jezebel
A federal judge has temporarily barred the Trump administration from erasing an Affordable Care Act provision that protects transgender patients from discrimination in health care settings.
See also American Independent, Daily Beast, Daily Kos, GoMag, Health Affairs, PAPER, Out Front, Newsweek, Newsy, The Week
Alaska
Ketchikan borough mayor vetoes resolution asking state for LGBTQ protections after 6-1 assembly vote
Rebecca Tauber | KRBD-FM
A resolution passed by Ketchikan’s borough assembly supporting statewide protections for LGBTQ people in Alaska has been vetoed by the borough’s mayor.
Resolutions carry zero weight, so going through the effort of vetoing it? Jerk move.
Idaho
Judge blocks Idaho transgender athlete ban
Anagha Srikanth | The Hill
A federal district court judge Monday temporarily blocked an Idaho state law that prohibits transgender female athletes from playing on women’s teams — giving hope to LGBTQ+ advocates that challenged the legislation in court.
Out Magazine | Judge Blocks Law Banning Trans Women From Sports in Idaho
Massachusetts
'It Has A Chilling Effect': Some In LGBTQ Community Say Scrutiny Of Alex Morse Is Harmful
Callum Borchers | New England Public Media
Some members of the LGBTQ community say Morse’s relationships prompt important questions about power and consent in the age of #MeToo. Some also worry the public scrutiny could discourage others from entering politics.
Pregnancy & Parenting
Study: Black newborns die less often with Black doctors
Paul Scott | Duluth News Tribune
U of M research finds that lessened risk of death with racially concordant doctor could save 1400 Black lives annually
Experts Say Medical Schools Can Do More to Address Black Maternal Mortality Rates
Mariah Stewart | INSIGHT Into Diversity
Kiarra King, MD, an OB-GYN and health advocate for women of color, suggests that diversifying medical school leadership and, in turn, medical students, is one step toward providing better care.
Reproductive Health & Justice
What Do Voting Rights & Reproductive Justice Have In Common? Everything
Monica Edwards | Elite Daily
The right to vote is inherently tied up with the right to bodily autonomy and reproductive justice. … Black and Indigenous women, trans folks, and other people of color have endured unimaginable constraints on their bodies, families, and futures in large part because they lacked the political power bestowed by simply being able to vote.
🠲 AOC embraces reproductive justice, and other Catholics should, too
Jamie Manson | National Catholic Reporter
I think progressive, justice-oriented Catholics might be stunned to see how much the values of reproductive justice overlap with the values stated in Catholic social teaching: care for the vulnerable, access to education, the right to be protected from violence and the right to workplace protections and health care.
A pleasant morning surprise, that 🠱 one, well worth a read.
Work & Money
"She-cession": Coronavirus forces rethinking of safety net for working women
Axios
The coronavirus pandemic has been devastating for working women, but one prominent women's policy expert says it could provide a new opportunity to create the kinds of social supports they should have had all along.
Business Insider | The 'old normal' was hard on women — and we need to use pandemic as an opportunity to fix that
‘We are having rolling nervous breakdowns’
Ben White, Catherine Boudreau | POLITICO
“What we’ve all found out the hard way the last five months is that we are working harder and it’s more intense and there are no breaks, or community. And it bleeds into weekends and you are kind of on 24/7” … [L]etting more people work from home could mean missing out on mentoring young talent. Studies suggest women and people of color are less likely to speak up in Zoom meetings — an unfair disadvantage in their career paths.
On-and-Off Leave for Working Parents in Limbo as Schools Restart
Robert Iafolla | Bloomberg
Working parents face uncertainty about their right to use federally guaranteed paid leave at their discretion, thanks to a recent court ruling that muddled the issue as a new school year begins and Covid-19 infections persist.
Colleges’ Sexist Scandal
Aurélie Vialette | Chronicles of Higher Education
Too many institutions have no maternity leave.
Education needs more ambitious women
Andre Perry | The Hechinger Report
Send young women the message that being ambitious is something to aspire to by elevating more women to power in public schools
A century after suffrage, why are women still underrepresented in Congress?
Sarah Wire | Los Angeles Times
Women lead House and Senate committees, preside over the House and have been nominees for president and vice president. But only 359 women have served in Congress to date, compared with almost 12,000 men.
Los Angeles Times | Editorial: 100 years after winning the right to vote, women are still fighting for political equality
NOW President Resigns Amid Allegations Of Creating Toxic Work Environment
Scott Neuman | NPR
The head of the NOW will step down following allegations of racist behavior and a toxic work environment at the country's largest feminist organization.
Wage Gap
Black Women Share Approaches To Tackling The Wage Gap
Airen Washington | Forbes
Leaders from Equal Rights Advocates, One Fair Wage and Equal Pay Today led virtual conversations to raise awareness of the staggering fact that Black women continue to earn $.62 for every $1 that their white male counterparts are earning.
How The Pandemic Is Making The Gender Pay Gap Worse
Greg Rosalsky | NPR
Since April, the gender unemployment gap has narrowed, but the women's unemployment rate remains almost a percentage point higher than men's. [And] the unemployment rate is only part of the story.
Courier | The COVID Recession Is About to Make Life Much Worse for Women
Scary Mommy | The Pandemic Isn’t Killing The Working Mom – The Wage Gap Is
More, More, More
Donald Trump Pardons Susan B. Anthony on the 100th Anniversary of Women of Color Still Not Being Able to Vote
Vivian Kane | The Mary Sue
Trump announced today that he would be posthumously pardoning famed women’s suffragist Susan B. Anthony, who was convicted in 1872 for voting illegally. The choice is an odd one, since illegal voting has been one of Trump’s most-yelled-about issues lately, he’s never mentioned considering pardoning Anthony, and Anthony famously didn’t want to be pardoned while she was alive.
🠲 CNN | Why the Susan B. Anthony pardon is perfectly Trumpian
CNN | Trump's pardon may undermine Susan B. Anthony's wishes, historians say
Washington Post | Susan B. Anthony was arrested for voting when women couldn’t. Now Trump will pardon her.
VICE | Trump Just Pardoned Susan B. Anthony, Who Has Been Dead For 114 Years
The Cut | Trump’s ‘Very Important’ Pardon Is … Susan B. Anthony?
Los Angeles Time | Instead of a pardon, how about giving Susan B. Anthony the Hollywood biopic she deserves?
New York Times | On Centennial of 19th Amendment, Trump Pardons Susan B. Anthony
What the 19th Amendment and women voting has and hasn’t done for women
Emily Stewart | Vox
Life for women in the American economy is certainly better than it was 100 years ago, when the US enacted the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote. But it isn’t exactly stellar
Business Insider | 19 facts you should know about the 19th Amendment, 100 years later
Business Insider | Women have had the right to vote for 100 years. Here's why that vote matters this election.
🠲 Philadelphia Inquirer | 10 lessons today's protesters can learn from the knock-down fight to pass the 19th Amendment
Rewire.News | Key Moments in the 100-Year Fight for Women to Vote
Teen Vogue | The Surprising Role Sports Played in Women’s Suffrage
Time | Myths About the 19th Amendment and Women's Suffrage Debunked
Vox | The 19th Amendment didn’t give women the right to vote
Black Women's Suffrage Has Always Been a Matter of Life and Death
Anoa Changa | Rewire.News
Black women fought—and still fight—for universal suffrage as a part of efforts to dismantle systemic racism and protect Black lives.
How to Make the Promise of Suffrage a Reality
Kate Kelly | Rewire.News
One hundred years after ratification of the 19th Amendment, another constitutional amendment is poised to finish the job.
American Independent | Advocates still fighting for ERA on 100th anniversary of women voting
Michelle Obama’s DNC Speech And The Emotional Labor Black Women Have Paid For America Time And Time Again
Charise Frazier | MadameNoire.com
[W]hile I disagree with her notion that voting for Biden is the only national discourse we should have in terms of voting as a Black person in America and what our options are, what she did on Monday night was a masterclass in owning your power. We will have to wait until election day to see if the fruit of her labor pays off.