Hi everyone. I'm going to share a new #introduction.
I'm a #nonbinary (they/them) movement journalist in my 40s, currently based in Central #Texas. From 2022 until today's layoffs, I was Digital Editor at the @TexasObserver. I've been a writer, journalist and editor since at least 2011, when I got my start on the primordial political blog Firedoglake. My involvement with the Occupy Wall Street movement helped make me a journo and I've always worn my bias on my sleeve.
The Texas Observer reports on Tx Dep't of Agriculture's new dress code: ”Employees are expected to comply with this dress code in a manner consistent with their biological gender" [sic] & will face "corrective action" if they don't.
i keep thinking about what i learned a long time ago:
you know the true heart of a person by how they treat those who they see as the lowliest of people. in the United States, that's trans people with BLACK trans women being in the bottom of that group.
Gender-affirming care—for ADULTS—is now predictably under attack in #Texas. This is part of a Republican plan of genocide underway against #trans people. We need cis allies to be loud and angry on our behalf. Pay attention, this doesn't end here or with us:
“Taken individually, the seven pieces of legislation … will disrupt the lives of LGBTQ+ people of various ages and backgrounds. Put together, the bills are a systemic attack on the fundamental rights, dignities, and identities of #LGBTQ+ persons that opens the gates for discrimination by both public and private actors.”
The international chess federation known as FIDE has published new rules that state that a person whose "gender was changed from a male to a female the player has no right to participate in official FIDE events for women until further FIDE’s decision is made"....
I know this is out of context, but it's clear enough, and I'm beyond sickened. #LGBTQ#GOPbigots
Via Aaron Rupar:
"He, she, whatever it is, it" -- Rep. Troy Nehls is using the Houston church shooting to push some of the grossest #transphobia I've heard on cable news
GOP Rep. Mike Collins: "We need to put out there that all these transgender people need to have a living will so they if they die, we'll know what pronoun to call them."
“We have always been here. We just haven’t always felt safe coming out. But there’s no turning back the clock. We’re going to win our liberation today or tomorrow.”
Given the trash from Pamela Paul in the NY Times the other day, it's worth upping this again. From @juliaseranolast May, debunking Paul's word salad months before it was written.
Note how none of these meticulous examinations of the science ever make it into the NY Times.
OK. :: sets down suitcase :: Looks like I've moved over here from mastodon.social.
Seem to have lost my follows, but I think I can rebuild that.
So how about a little introduction post? I'm a woman in her '60s, living in Southeastern Pennsylvania. I have a partner, a 10-year old son, two Schipperkes, and five hens.
The question I ask myself a lot these days is, how do we survive the next century cooperatively? I'm alarmed by the risk of authoritarianism here in the US.
Why keep the peace this #Thanksgiving? ”Sometimes we have a duty to condemn injustice in close quarters and call #racism by its name,” writes Editor in Chief @gabrielarana.
Public meeting spaces at libraries in almost every major city in #Texas, and many smaller ones, saw 'Brave Books' events this weekend, which promoted this extremist publisher's storybooks under the guise of freedom of speech. The events were supported by Citizens Defending Freedom, aka 'Moms for Liberty in Suits' which is simultaneously seeking to ban 100s of books in #FortWorth.
Over on #birdsite, the hate group American College of Pediatricians claims they have been subject to a cyberattack when actually they just left 10,000 private files in a completely unsecured Google Drive. Aka they cyberattacked themselves: https://nitter.nl/ACPeds/status/1656630733966909441#m
Beyond the “culture war”: How to cover #trans issues well in an election year—workshop for journalists offered by the Trans Journalists Association. Feb 7, online class, registration $35
I haven't seen a single article in the mainstream media about yesterday’s resolution from the American Psychological Association supporting gender-affirming care for trans youth. Not one. Maybe they're just being slow.
Latest update: A week has passed, and still nothing from any mainstream news source (Fox News platforming attacks on it doesn't count).
The mainstream media's silence speaks volumes. They're eager to feature transphobes, but not scientists.
Looking back at 2023, the article I'm most proud of writing is my profile of Austin #drag queens. While this wasn't my article with the biggest impact this year, or one that's garnered any award nominations, it meant so much to me that the @TexasObserver supported the almost six months I spent getting to know members of this community and learning their stories. https://www.texasobserver.org/austin-drag-queens-defy-ban?utm_campaign=mastodon
International chess federation FIDE: a trans woman "has no right to participate in official FIDE events for women" (doc.fide.com)
The international chess federation known as FIDE has published new rules that state that a person whose "gender was changed from a male to a female the player has no right to participate in official FIDE events for women until further FIDE’s decision is made"....