On The Vine: Yell, scream, bang on the table ‘protect trans kids’
I’m not the best person to sit here and sound off about the literal mugging of sex and gender identity and experiences happening across the country.
When I write to you all about the assault on my people’s rights — the oppression and degradation of Black and brown identities — I do so from an intimately informed and passionate stage. I don’t possess the same nuance and knowledge of the plight of my LGBTQ+ friends and family. All I can muster is a scream most of the time.
I saw this video recently, you may have seen it, of students at the University of North Texas banging on tables yelling (pleading) “F—k these fascists.” Anti-trans Texas House candidate Jeff Younger, who lost custody of his transgender daughter after refusing to recognize her gender identity, was on campus to speak.
It’s rousing, sure. Hopeful, maybe? Devastating, no doubt. It struck me that these students are yelling past Younger, through him. What they are calling for goes so far beyond Younger’s speech on campus, beyond his campaign — they’re making a plea for the state of the world.
Maybe that seems over the top, but it really seems all there is to do, all we can muster, is yelling and screaming and banging on desks.
Ronald Browstein wrote for The Atlantic:
Since 2021, Republican-controlled states such as Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Arizona, Texas, Missouri, Iowa, South Dakota, Idaho, and Montana have advanced a torrent of socially conservative legislation. This includes laws limiting access to abortion, restricting voting rights, banning transgender girls from participating in high-school or college sports, barring transition medical treatment for transgender minors, censoring how teachers can talk about current or historical racial and gender inequities, removing licensing requirements to publicly carry firearms, increasing penalties for public protesters, and immunizing drivers who hit and injure protesters...
In many ways, the 23 states where Republicans now control both the governorship and state legislature are attempting to unravel “the rights revolution” of the past 60 years, in which both the Supreme Court and Congress have generally expanded the range of basic rights and liberties available nationwide. As I’ve written, the cumulative aim of these proposals is to return the U.S. to a pre-1960s world in which those basic rights and liberties vary much more from state to state.
Around the block
Kansas lawmakers take aim again at banning transgender women from women’s sports
Kansas legislators are back at it again.
The Star’s Lucy Peterson reports:
It is the second attempt at banning transgender women from participating in women’s sports, after legislators failed to override the veto of a nearly identical bill by Gov. Laura Kelly last year. This year’s measure, the Fairness In Women’s Sports Act, bans transgender women from school sports in kindergarten through college.
Supporters of the bill say it would protect women on sports teams from competition from transgender women, who they argue have a biological advantage in athletics.
“This is not a trans bill, it is a protection for women and for girls. In all reality, they still, as do girls, have opportunities to participate in athletics,” said Sen. Renee Erickson, a Wichita Republican who introduced the bill this session. “This is not keeping them from participating in sports, but we do need to protect that fairness for girls because we absolutely know that there are physiological differences that give males an advantage in competitions involving strength and endurance.”
There’s quite a bit of nuance here that this statement/point of view doesn’t account for. I won’t delve into all of it, but if “fairness” is the goal, this fails. Check out this report from the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
More from The Star...
60 years after their first show, Kansas City’s McFadden Brothers reunite for a new gig
Amid a tide of racism, a legendary boxer celebrated a triumphant week in Kansas City
Kansas City artist, Black magazine and the Nelson-Atkins Museum need to build bridges
Missouri bill would allow lawsuits against those who help women obtain abortions out of state
The Star’s Johnathan Shorman writes:
A Missouri lawmaker wants to stop residents from obtaining abortions outside the state by allowing lawsuits to be filed against anyone who helps them.
Rep. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, an Arnold Republican, has proposed a measure that would make performing an abortion on a Missouri resident — or helping a Missouri resident get one — illegal.
Like a similar law in Texas, the prohibitions could only be enforced through lawsuits filed by citizens. State government would have no enforcement authority. The U.S. Supreme Court has, for now, allowed the Texas law to remain in effect while courts consider challenges to it.
But Coleman’s measure goes further by asserting authority over what happens outside of Missouri.
Beyond the block
‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill: Florida Senate passes controversial LGBTQ school measure
Florida this week passed a bill barring schools from engaging in any “classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity.”
Brooke Sopelsa and Tat Bellamy-Walker write fro NBC News:
“This is going to endanger the safety of our LGBTQ students and adolescents,” Sen. Annette Taddeo, a Democrat, said during Tuesday’s debate. “We will not stop until this state moves forward and actually values everyone in it, everyone no matter their sexual orientation.”
The Parental Rights in Education bill, which was passed in both legislative bodies largely along party lines, has added fuel to the latest American culture war, which has put students in its crosshairs with a combination of book bans, Pride flag removals and bills targeting LGBTQ youth. The measure has even grabbed the attention of international newspapers, Hollywood actors and the White House.
Supporters of the bill say it’s about allowing parents to have control over their children’s education, while opponents say it unfairly targets the LGBTQ community...
The measure bans “classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity” in kindergarten through third grade. It also prohibits such teaching “in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students,” which critics say could be interpreted to extend to all grade levels. Parents can sue school districts for alleged violations.
Read up on these too...
Protect trans kids
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