Silence is a sounding thing
Today…
is a Supreme Court decision day! Unusual, but that’s how we live now. 10am ET, SCOTUSblog, etc.
is National Freezer Pop Day AND National Ice Cream Sundae Day. “Sundae Day?” Come on. My next career move is going to be PR for a food lobby.
is the birthday of Harlem Renaissance poet, writer, artist and breaker of boundaries Gwendolyn Bennett (1902-1981). Nearly every article I found mentions Bennett writing or doing things that simply weren’t done – she wrote about lesbianism, she raised up Black girls and women, she married a white man.
And you know I got a thing for a woman in a great hat.
Abortion
June Medical: Precedent and Women’s Constitutional Rights Stand – For Now.
Andrea Flynn | Ms. Magazine
Today, abortion is a right in name only for too many. And for Black and Brown women, a lack of abortion access in the context of persistent racism in our medical system and our social and economic systems more broadly is just one of many threats to reproductive justice.
🠲 The Study That Debunks Most Anti-Abortion Arguments
Margaret Talbot | The New Yorker
The over-all impression [the Turnaway Study] leaves is that abortion, far from harming most women, helps them in measurable ways. Moreover, when people assess what will happen in their lives if they have to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term, they are quite often proven right.
Also, not much in the news about it, but worth noting that the Labor-HHS appropriations bill rolls on with Hyde still attached…
Louisiana
No one has the right to tell you what to do with your body – including the State of Louisiana
State Rep. Mandie Landry | The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
As a lawyer who has represented one of our state’s last three remaining abortion clinics, and now as a state representative elected on a strong pro-choice platform, I join hundreds of local and state officials in working to protect abortion care and reproductive freedom in our communities. All of us — no matter where we live or how much money we have — must be able to make our own decisions about our bodies and families, free from coercion and stigma.
LGBTQ
Advocates say police aren't doing enough to investigate killings of trans people
Casey Quinlan | The American Independent
A number of transgender people have been killed in the past few weeks and are being misgendered in death.
First person cured of HIV with medication in breakthrough study
Alex Bollinger | LGBTQ Nation
Researchers say that HIV has gone into remission in a man who was treated with a new cocktail of medications in a break-through that could lead to a cure for the virus.
Reuters | Case of HIV patient in remission offers hope to millions living with virus
Time Magazine Brazilian AIDS Patient Shows No Sign of Virus After Experimental Drug Therapy
Trump administration gave anti-LGBTQ hate groups & televangelists millions in COVID relief funds
Bil Browning | LGBTQ Nation
The American Family Association alone raked in up to $2 million. That's more than all LGBTQ groups combined.
Discrimination Ruling Boosts LGBTQ Groups Challenging Military Ban
Stephanie Colombini | NPR
Those challenging the military's ban on transgender service have been encouraged by a recent Supreme Court decision that protects many LGBTQ employees from discrimination.
The Supreme Court Fails LGTBQ and Disabled Students in Ruling
Lisa Needham | Rewire.News
Espinoza v. Montana creates a pathway for religious schools to discriminate against already-marginalized students, including LGBTQ youth and students with disabilities. The Roberts Court didn’t just guarantee that your state could, if it feels like it, direct some public dollars to religious schools—it also laid the groundwork for things to get much worse for students
California
Lawyers say transgender inmate was 'set up' after making #MeToo complaint
Nico Lang | NBC News
California prison officials are staring down yet another lawsuit from a transgender woman who says she was abused in custody. C. Jay Smith, 59, filed a federal lawsuit last Monday alleging that staff members at San Quentin State Prison refused to investigate reports she had filed after having been sexually abused and that they retaliated against her.
Maine
Maine transgender man sues Dunkin' Donuts franchise for wrongful termination and sexual harassment
John Riley | Metro Weekly
A transgender man has filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against a Dunkin’ Donuts franchise in Scarborough, Maine, alleging that he was sexually harassed by co-workers, demoted, and ultimately fired after being outed by his manager.
Missouri
8th Circuit revives gay health care salesman's lawsuit alleging employment discrimination
John Riley | Metro Weekly
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a lower court decision and revived a lawsuit from a gay health care sales specialist who alleged that his job offer was withdrawn after his would-be employer discovered he was gay.
Montana
LGBTQ center seeks to pass nondiscrimination ordinance in Great Falls
Karl Puckett | Great Falls Tribune
The Great Falls LGBTQ+ Center is proposing that the City Commission approve a nondiscrimination ordinance for the city. The group plans to ask the City Commission at its Tuesday meeting to take up consideration of an ordinance that would protect the LGBTQ community from discrimination in the areas of housing, public accommodations and employment.
Pregnancy & Parenting
Back-to-Work Parents With No Child Care Have Few Legal Options
Patricio Chile | Bloomberg Law News
Working parents who’ve been without child care for months face dwindling options for financial help as employers begin to call them back to work and the U.S. heads towards uncertainty.
Boston Globe | Northeastern researchers find lack of child care has been a significant challenge for workers during the pandemic
Washington Post | The Daily 202: America is in the middle of a child-care crisis
The pandemic will reshape parenthood — for better and for worse
Shana Lebowitz | Business Insider
Maybe when life returns to some semblance of normalcy, working parents won't feel the need to conceal their family life from colleagues.
Black parents are twice as likely to suffer setbacks at work when they can't find child care
Megan Leonhardt | CNBC
According to a new study by Center for American Progress, Black parents who have problems finding child care quit their jobs, do not take employment or change their work at a rate double that of White parents facing a lack of care.
The truth about Trump's call to reopen schools
Zachary Wolf | CNN
While there are no easy answers with regard to how to get schools open, there are very clearly some wrong ones. Trump has refused to sign an executive order requiring people wear masks in public (which he could very easily do). But he is now demanding that US schools open in the fall (which he almost surely cannot do).
Jezebel | Trump Administration to Pressure States to Open Schools in Fall
Reuters | Trump administration to encourage schools to safely reopen amid coronavirus surge
Woman Says She Was Fired Because Her Children Disrupted Her Work Calls
Allyson Waller | The 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.
As Philly-area school districts scramble to reopen, will parents again be left in the cold
Maria Panaritis | Philadelphia Inquirer
My goal was to figure out who to call to make sure that working parents are not crushed again this fall. Instead of a satisfying answer I got a growing sense of terror.
Reproductive Health & Justice
Women are most affected by pandemics – lessons from past outbreaks
Clare Wenham, Julia Smith, Sara E. Davies, Huiyun Feng, Karen A. Grépin, Sophie Harman, Asha Herten-Crabb & Rosemary Morgan | Nature
The social and economic impacts of COVID-19 fall harder on women than on men. Governments need to gather data and target policy to keep all citizens equally safe, sheltered and secure.
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.
2 female firsts at the Supreme Court announce retirements
Jessica Gresko | AP
The Supreme Court said Tuesday that the first-ever women to hold two prominent positions at the court, handling the justices’ security and overseeing publication of the court’s decisions, are retiring.
Robin Hood Foundation Looks to Support More Groups Led by People of Color
David Westin | Bloomberg News
Robin Hood Foundation Chief Executive Officer Wes Moore discusses race relations in the U.S., the death of Freddie Gray who died in Baltimore police custody, the economic impact of child poverty on minorities, and supporting more groups led by people of color.
Women will lose big if state and local governments can't close coronavirus budget gaps
Laura Clawson | Daily Kos
National Women’s Law Center details the damage women, and especially women of color, have already experienced and face if things don’t get better. Already, women are 63% of the 1.5 million state and local government jobs lost between February and May.
'Say Her Name': WNBA Dedicates 2020 Season To Social Justice Initiatives
Brakkton Booker | NPR
The WNBA announced its launched a Social Justice Council with a mission of raising awareness on issues concerning race, voting rights and LGBTQ+ advocacy.
‘The military’s #MeToo’: In wake of Vanessa Guillen death, servicewomen bear deep scars
Alex Horton | Washington Post
For some women in uniform, the case is emblematic of a military culture that they say has downplayed or ignored allegations of sexual harassment and assault and created an atmosphere that pressures men and women to keep accusations quiet.
California
Black workers report patterns of racial discrimination in Bay Area restaurant industry
Janelle Bitker | San Francisco Chronicle
If you’re a Black person who has worked in Bay Area restaurants for some time, you’ve likely experienced one or more of the following: Been passed up for promotions in favor of white colleagues with less experience. Fired with no legitimate reason given. Noticed you’re one of few Black people in the room — and the only ones being bullied.
Rhode Island
Brown accused of violating Title IX agreement regarding sports programs
James Bessette | Providence Business News
Brown University is being accused of violating a 1998 Title IX agreement by eliminating five women’s sports programs, causing a disproportionate impact in the athletics programs at the Ivy League university.
Speaking of Rhode Island, did you already know about the “and Providence Plantations” thing? Last month was the first I’d ever heard of it.
More, More, More
Climate woes growing for women, hit worst by displacement and migration
Megan Rowling | Reuters
From sexual violence in displacement camps to extra farm work and greater risk of illness, women shoulder a bigger burden from worsening extreme weather and other climate pressures pushing people to move for survival, a global aid group said on Tuesday.
Your Songs
by Gwendolyn Bennett
When first you sang a song to me
With laughter shining from your eyes,
You trolled your music liltingly
With cadences of glad surprise.
In after years I heard you croon
In measures delicately slow
Of trees turned silver by the moon
And nocturnes sprites and lovers know.
And now I cannot hear you sing,
But love still holds your melody
For silence is a sounding thing
To one who listens hungrily.