The sky's awake, so I'm awake
Today…
The 12yo was up before me, with so many, many things to say and show me.
I learned that July 17 is the day on the calendar emoji – 📅 – and that’s why it’s World Emoji Day. Huh.
You really want to nerd out with me for a minute? Substack isn’t wild about emoji, so I actually type them in using Unicode. Just to get the arrows I use to flag articles I have to type Ctrl – Shift – u1f832. Those en dashes I’m so fond of are u2013. The calendar was u1f4c5. This is why I’m single, isn’t it.
is the birthday of artist Berenice Abbott (1898–1991), known for her NYC photography but born in Springfield, Ohio. 🙂 (u1f642 right there)
LGBTQ
Record Number of LGBTQ Candidates Running for Office in US
David Crary | AP
The number of openly LGBTQ elected officials in the United States has more than doubled in the past four years — and those ranks could soon grow, thanks to a record field of LGBTQ candidates this year, according to new data from an advocacy and research group.
GLAAD film report: LGBTQ representation grows slightly, but transgender characters still absent
Carly Mallenbaum | USA Today
Major studio films have gotten marginally more inclusive when it comes to LGBTQ representation, but there's still a lack of transgender characters, people of color and screen time, according to GLAAD's annual Studio Responsibility Index.
ABC News | Diversity of LGBTQ characters in film declines, study finds
The Advocate | GLAAD Report: LGBQ-Inclusive Films Reach All-Time High
Bustle | This GLAAD Report Found Embarrassingly Low Trans Representation In Hollywood Movies
Deadline Hollywood | GLAAD’s Studio Responsibility Index Reports Record-High Percentage Of LGBTQ Films, But Low Racial Diversity And Absence Of Trans Characters
NBC News | A record year for LGBTQ representation in film - for gay white men
Variety | Queer Representation Rises in Studio Films, but Trans Characters Shut Out for Third Year, GLAAD Says
The Wrap | All Studios Rated 'Insufficient' or Worse in On-Screen LGBTQ Inclusion, GLAAD Study Finds
A Tennessee Man Becomes One Of First To Invoke Historic Supreme Court LGBTQ+ Workplace Ruling
Isabelle Lichtenstein | GO
Jacob Brashier was “summarily subjected to disparagement, ridicule, and humiliation in the course of his employment with [the] defendant” before being fired. A gay man in Tennessee has become one of the first LGBTQ+ people in the country to invoke the Supreme Court’s historic decision on workplace discrimination after being “humiliated” and discriminated against by his boss.
The Advocate | Tennessee Man Says He Was Subjected to Slurs, Fired for Being Gay
LGBTQ Nation | Gay man called a “fa***t” & fired. Now he’s suing under last month’s historic Supreme Court ruling.
This Organization Is Building Tiny Homes for Trans Women of Color
David Artavia | The Advocate
In America today, one in five transgender people say they've been discriminated against when seeking a home, and nearly one in 10 have been evicted from their homes because of their gender identity, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality. However, one organization in Memphis believes tiny homes can help. My Sistah’s House is working to create long-term solutions for the housing crisis for Black trans women in the South.
Reproductive Health & Justice
No One Has to Get Their Period Anymore
Marion Renault | The Atlantic
Sophia Yen, a pediatrics professor at Stanford Medical School, sees a future in which many more people know they can opt out, and do—in which no one menstruates unless they’re within two years of their first period or are trying to get pregnant.
Planned Parenthood's Alexis McGill Johnson Is Sometimes Weary, Never Wary
Madison Feller | ELLE
It's been just weeks since Alexis McGill Johnson was named the new permanent president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund, but the moment was years in the making.
Women's Mental Health Is Suffering During COVID-19. Here's How to Protect Yours
Danielle Campoamor | Woman's Day
It is women whose mental health is being disproportionally impacted during this time, especially that of Black women and women of color. According to Axios the majority of essential workers are women. Additionally, as the New York Times reported, women are taking on most of the additional work at home, be it home schooling or keeping their homes tidy. So it makes sense that women are experiencing higher rates of mental health issues.
Work & Parenting
Usually I put topics like wage gap under a Work & Money heading and topics like maternal health under Pregnancy & Parenting, but today it’s alllll working parents, child care and school reopening.
Why It Took So Long For Politicians To Treat The Child Care Crisis As A Crisis
Clare Malone | FiveThirtyEight
America is a little matryoshka doll of panic right now; pop open each layer to reveal a new, worrying scenario. For months the country was focused on reopening the economy, which had its own complicated set of problems. But only recently has a broader swath of America tuned into the mess nestled inside it, one that parents have been sitting with for months: what to do with the kids.
I'm A Teacher And I'm Terrified Of What Could Happen When Schools Reopen
Emily James | HuffPost
Here’s one thing we’ve recently learned as a society, during this pandemic: The economy depends on working parents, and working parents depend on schools. A big question remains: schools, teachers, students ― who can we depend on?
NJ Spotlight | Can Schools Reopen Safely? Newark Pilot Program Offers a Trial Run
WNPR-FM (Hartford, CT) Connecticut's Working Parents Could Face A Childcare Crisis
WHYY-TV (Philadelphia, PA) | Child care dilemma: Philly parents scrambling to plan for three days a week of virtual school
More Parents Say They're Struggling Now Than Earlier in the Pandemic
Quinn Fish | Working Mother
As more employees report back to the office, life hasn’t gotten any easier for working parents. In fact, it’s actually gotten harder. A survey of over 1,500 parents around the nation from June 28 to July 1 by ParentsTogether showed that 70% of families say they’re struggling, up from 58 percent in March and 61 percent in April. The survey showed that families are struggling financially now more than ever.
Philadelphia Inquirer | COVID forced working moms like me to prove we’re superheroes. But how long can we last?
America’s child care problem is an economic problem
Anna North | Vox
Throughout all this, there has been little acknowledgment of the real economic impact a broken school and child care system has on families and child care workers — many of whom are also caring for their own kids. Maybe that’s because, historically, the work of taking care of other people, often performed by women and especially by women of color, has been devalued and largely ignored.
Bangor Daily News | We shouldn’t separate school and child care. Working families need both.
Iowa City Press-Citizen | Iowa's child care crisis and economic recovery
WCTX-TV (New Haven, CT) | Connecticut lawmakers, business owners say further funding for child care industry is essential to reopening economy
Editorial: Hey, Congress, this time bail out child-care providers
Los Angeles Times
Maybe, just maybe, Congress is finally getting serious about helping parents get back to work. There’s growing bipartisan support among lawmakers for a major relief package that could help child-care providers meet the enormous coronavirus-related challenges that have forced some centers to suspend operations and left others barely hanging on. The ongoing pandemic could cause roughly 40% of child-care facilities to close permanently, according to a survey of 5,000 providers.
The Virginia Mercury | Nearly 40 percent of Virginia's child care centers closed during the pandemic. It's a problem for parents going back to work.
Why WFH Isn’t Necessarily Good for Women
Julia Gillard, Herminia Ibarra, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic | Harvard Business Review
Studies have shown that flexibility allows mothers to maintain their working hours after childbirth and to stay in relatively stressful yet well-paying occupations through times of high family demand. But before we declare victory, we need to consider three potential trip wires.
The Pandemic Is Absolutely Crushing Working Moms, But Does Anyone Care?
Maria Guido | Scary Mommy
A new study published in the academic journal Gender, Work & Organization shows that in households where both parents work, the pandemic has exacerbated the gender gap in work hours by 20 to 50 percent — meaning that a working mom’s schedule is being upended while dad’s work schedule stays pretty much the same.
NYC plans child care for 100,000 kids when schools partially reopen
Erin Durkin | POLITICO
The city will offer child care for 100,000 kids who will be unable to attend school full time in the fall, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday.
More, More, More
Pompeo's Vision Of Human Rights May Hurt LGBTQ, Women's Rights, Critics Say
Jackie Northam | NPR
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo unveiled his vision of how the U.S. should redefine its advocacy of human rights — stressing religion. Critics say it could endanger abortion rights and LGBTQ equality.
Mother Jones | A New State Department Report Cements Mike Pompeo’s Twisted View of Human Rights
New York Times | Pompeo Says Human Rights Policy Must Prioritize Property Rights and Religion
Washington Post | Pompeo says protesters and mainstream media are attacking American way of life
Washington Post | The problem with the Mike Pompeo’s Commission on Unalienable Rights
🠲 The white man’s path is a rut for the rest of us
Jennifer Palmieri | The Washington Post
I no longer see it as self-defeating to call myself an outsider in a man’s world. Instead, I think the self-preservation of all marginalized people demands it. Patiently waiting for things to improve has served only to sustain the very systems that keep women and people of color from obtaining real power. The white man’s path has turned into our rut. One hundred years after women gained suffrage, we continue to live in a world in which women are consistently undervalued and remain grossly underrepresented in positions of power.
A Story About The Women That Feminism Forgot
Janice Gassam | Forbes
Many critiques of modern feminism emphasize a lack of focus on women with intersecting identities. And while literary greats like Audre Lorde, bell hooks, and Angela Davis have highlighted the interplay between race, class, gender and sexuality, more voices are definitely needed. Hood Feminism is a recently published New York Times bestselling book that was written with this intersectional lens in mind.
The Supreme Court Term When Theocracy Won
Lisa Needham | Rewire.News
At the end of the term, the Court dropped three decisions that essentially entrenched evangelical “values” into U.S. law. These decisions suggest that the Christian conservative crusade to blur the lines between democracy and theocracy is bearing fruit.
Here's How Men Can Advance Gender Equality and Feminism
Georgetown University’s Institute for Women, Peace & Security | Ms. Magazine
It will take 99.5 years to achieve gender parity across the globe, according to the World Economic Forum’s latest calculations. A century is too long to wait. Women cannot close gaps in political representation, economic inclusion and health outcomes on their own—buy-in from men is half the battle.