+ It’s Bisexual Awareness Week! The Movement Advancement Project has an infographic for you called “Snapshot: Bisexual in America” that details how stigma, legal inequality, and lack of bisexual-specific data impact bisexual peoples’ health, safety, employment, and economic security. You can also read a full summary analysis of issues facing bisexuals in America on their site.
+ Trans woman Shadi Petosky, a writer/producer for Puny entertainment, was detained at the Orlando airport on Monday after TSA found an “anomaly.” She live tweeted what happened. She says she was stopped, patted down, locked in a small room, and was then told to get back in the scanning machine “as a man” or “it was going to be a problem.”
https://twitter.com/shadipetosky/status/646053501055987713?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
After she missed her flight, she had to rebook and at one point was asked to leave the airport. You can read most of her live tweets in chronological order at Vox or just head over to her Twitter.
+ Tiffany Santiago, 27, and her mother were attacked in a restaurant by a belligerent trio spewing gay slurs. “As soon as I sat down, I heard the word ‘lesbian,'” Tiffany Santiago told The New York Daily News. “My mother and I look very close in age. They must’ve thought we were on a date.”
Tiffany Santiago via WCBS
They were having dinner at Bar Kogi on Second Avenue before 1 a.m. on September 12th when the assault took place. The three suspects, two women and man in their mid-30s were sitting a booth directly behind them and throwing balled up pieces of wet napkins and lemon wedges at the women. Santiago’s mother confronted them and that’s when the suspects threw her to the ground. When Santiago came to defend her mother she was thrown across the restaurant, resulting in a wound on her knee that required six stitches. Santiago and her mother sustained other cuts and bruises from the assault. The suspects have not been found.
+ Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, two New York legislators, are trying to designate Stonewall Inn as the first national park honoring LGBT history. “When we look at our country, we have recognized women’s rights, civil rights, all kinds of rights,” Gillibrand said. “The time has come to give this part of our history an imprimatur of national importance.” They’re going to ask President Obama to declare Stonewall a monument and then later, push for a congressional vote to make it a national park.
+ Military officials denied Chelsea Manning’s request to grow her hair and she is being forced to keep her hair short. She intends to fight the decision. “Even though the military agrees that allowing Chelsea to grow her hair is a critical part of her treatment plan, they continue to deny her basic human and constitutional rights,” ACLU attorney Chase Strangio said in the statement. “When we filed our lawsuit a year ago, Chelsea had already waited more than a year for even minimal care to treat her gender dysphoria.” Last month, Manning faced indefinite solitary confinement when she received infractions for inane things like possessing expired toothpaste and “prohibited” reading material. She ultimately lost recreation privileges for 21 days instead, but it was a small victory; the infractions will show up at any subsequent hearings and could affect how long she stays at a high-security prison.
+ Prince William attended an anti-bullying workshop at a British school on Monday and spoke out against homophobia for the first time. Alongside staff from the Diana Award, he took part in a session to provide students with practical tips on how to prevent LGBT bullying and cyber bulling.
+ On Friday, the U.S. House passed two anti-choice bills: one that could take funds away from Planned Parenthood for a year unless it stops performing abortions altogether (even though federal funds don’t go towards abortions) and another that could have adverse effects on doctors who provide abortion services. Rep. Diane Black (R-TN), who introduced The Defund Planned Parenthood Act, said the bill would strip away federal funding for a one year, enough time to Congress to complete investigations on the organization. The bills came out of the accusations made by an anti-choice group who presented highly edited and deceptive videos as evidence that PP was selling fetal tissue, when that wasn’t true. Rep. Trent Franks’ Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act would add criminal penalties to the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002. The bill was inspired by the belief that PP allows infants to die after being born alive following an abortion, which is unsubstantiated. RH Reality Check says advocates are really concerned what this bill could do to healthcare providers. “Advocates argue that Franks’ “born alive” bill would have a chilling effect on doctors because of its vague language that doesn’t offer clear medical guidance, and that it’s not necessary because the law already allows criminal charges for killing an infant.” In the end, it’s easier to promise to defund the organization than to do.
+ In an effort to illuminate what verbal and non-verbal cues count as sexual consent to older teens and young adults, Planned Parenthood created a new video series to “model what consent is and what it looks like in a variety of scenarios among different couples, including same-sex couples.”
+ Scott Walker has officially dropped out of the presidential race. This might be the time when they all start dropping like flies? Walker said the field was so crowded that candidates started making personal attacks instead of issues that matter to voters. “To refocus the debate on these types of issues will require leadership,” Walker said. “I encourage other Republican presidential candidates to consider doing the same so that the voters can focus on a limited number of candidates who can offer a positive, conservative alternative to the current front-runner. This is fundamentally important to the future of the party and, more importantly, to the future of our country.” He also said a bunch of confusing statements and didn’t do very well in debates; he ultimately polled very low within his party.
+ A Texas judge issued a historic ruling and recognized the common-law marriage of two women, Sonemaly Phrasavath and Stella Powell, who got married in the state in 2008 when same-sex marriage wasn’t legal. Powell died of colon cancer in 2014, leaving Phrasavath to fight with her wife’s family for her estate and for their marriage to be recognized by the state. Phrasavath and Powell’s family reached a settlement but Attorney General Ken Paxton objected to it, saying it could lead to confusion of past cases and creating new conflicts. But on Tuesday Travis County Probate Judge Guy Herman approved the settlement and removed the attorney general as a party to the case.
+ Presidential candidate and Vermont senator Bernie Sanders introduced the Justice is Not For Sale Act, which would ban government contracts with private prisons. The bill would require the government to directly oversee correctional facilities, rather than contracting them out. Sanders said in a statement:
“In my view, we need bold change in our criminal justice system. As a first step, we need to start treating prisoners like human beings. Private companies should not be profiting from their incarceration.
Our emphasis must be on rehabilitation, not incarceration and longer prison sentences. The basic decisions regarding criminal justice and public safety must be the responsibility of the citizens of our country and not the investors in private corporations.”
+ Police in Stockton, California are being investigated for an incident where a black teen was accused of jaywalking and when he ignored an officer’s demands, the officer beat the teen with his baton and then was joined by eight other officers to “apprehend” him. The ordeal was caught on video and published on Facebook.
those planned parenthood videos should be mandatory in every school
YES THESE NEW PLANNED PARENTHOOD VIDEOS
I love the way that they took the idea of consent and actually practically showed what it looks like IRL
The host might have been my favorite part tho – just the right amount of humor & awkward entrances, while at the same time speaking the truth! “No one owes you time, attention, or sex. So the best way to handle rejection is just be cool about it. That way you’ll save face & no one gets hurt.”
Screw the House. Screw everyone in it.
When I move to a new city and I don’t know anyone, and don’t have a doctor, even when I’m broke, I know I can go to PP for reliable, safe “reproductive” healthcare. Even before I’ve scoped out fun coffee shops or gotten a job, I know Planned Parenthood’s name, how to find their number, and that they will give me a good standard of care.
That’s the number one reason why I have gotten a pap and STD testing every single year of my adult life, even as it’s been five years since I’ve been to the dentist.
Imagine going five years without sex-related healthcare. That could be a nightmare.
And, House, repeat after me: abortions are legal. Abortions are legal. ABORTIONS ARE LEGAL.
LOL this has devolved into a bit of a rant, but honestly, it’s very clear today that the lawmakers of our country still don’t GAF about women.
Patriarchy tries and tries to encroach on reproductive choice. Those behind these defund efforts don’t care about the truth, they care about power over, they care about motivating their party base.
Your post made me smile. PP is a friend in waiting when visiting a new US city. As a volunteer, they welcomed me, offered training, valued my opinion, etc.
Thing is, those who speak in opposition, those who would strip away reproductive rights are outnumbered. If all women vote, they have no chance.
You’ll be happy to know the TSA, after reviewing the TSA’s behavior in the Petosky incident, has determined the TSA is not at fault. Evidently, according to the TSA, there is no problem with how their officers behaved. Case closed, everyone is happy. :)
Look how nice and uncomplicated that worked out, no need for messy things like disciplinary actions or wasting money on training everyone not be idiots the same way.
Just so simple, no muss or fuss like that.
Brilliant really.
*much sarcasm very headdesk*
So, do these bills yanking Fed funding from Planned Parenthood redirect that funding to other healthcare providers that serve the same populations? Yeah, didn’t think so. This is hostage-taking, not governing.
Love love love those Planned Parenthood videos. Three mixed race couples – gay, lez and straight – plus clear modelling of consent. It shouldn’t be this revolutionary, but it is!
Hooray for bisexual awareness week!
I knew there a was a reason my Catwoman hat was calling to me like some kind of siren.
I really don’t understand how this campaign against PP is still going.
Because let’s say you want to prosecute PP with that evidence, those manipulated videos; I think almost every freaking judge on the land and all over the world would throw that shit out the window.
But that’s modern politics just for you: Politics for Morons 101 (where politicians assumed that you’re an idiot and run with that idea). The most clear example of that, besides PP case, is “You have a problem with immigrants? Let’s put a wall up” (thank you US and Europe for the greatest ideas).
It’s the climate of the American “pro-life” movement too, which is has it’s own special brand of thinking.
Such as life begins at conception, emergency contraception is an abortifacient and the focus point to why those edited PP trap videos matter so very much is the thought/belief that abortionist doctors and organisations such as Planned Parenthood make boo-koo bucks off of abortion. That they do not care about the people getting abortions just that sweet sweet abortion money and will do anything for that money.
To them it’s the ultimate proof that should shut that whole thing down.
Also a thing I heard once was that any birth control you get from them will fail someday because you’re human you’ll make a mistake with it some day and then cha-ching another abortion money making opportunity.
Giving people birth control is just a long term investment plan in a future abortion.
And this is just stuff I know from the Catholic side of things, the Fundie/Evangelist/Born Again side is 100x crazier. Which by the way are the people the GOP are gunning support from so yeah it is like Politics for Morons.
Though moron just feels to simple a word some how.
One more thing to add is the support for women who chose not to have an abortion. You can be totally “pro-life” but the GoP doesn’t want to spent money after the baby is born (for example, paid maternity leave).
The irony on that just kills me.
These people are pro-birth, birth birth birth.
Obsessed with birth certificates.
Obsessed with making sure any ~*~*~conception*~*~ ends with birth.
Obsessed with birth control and how to police it.
None of their polices and ideas indicate any care AFTER the child is born.
Maybe they need these births to feed the prison industrial complex, who knows.
It seems ironic until you realise it comes out of some patriarchal need to punish sexually active uterus havers and those fuckers are making a kid into a punishment.
A child should accepted into ones’ life with joy and honest wanting, not a penalty for having a function repro system.
No one should be forced to go through pregnancy or be forced to be a parent, but if you look somewhere in the Bible it says something about “bastards” being damned for generations.
Maybe that’s what they’re trying to do without realising it? Forcing generational poverty on someone seems like a curse to me.
But abortion isn’t something just something for little Mary Sue after prom night with Bobby Ray. Married women with kids have abortions and they of all people should be able to decide for themselves how much childcare they can or cannot do.
Anddddd I’m ranting, but if anything is worthy of rant this is.
Rant away, my friend. Like you said, this subject is worthy.
That’s the thing, is like, IT’S SUCH AN EARTH-SHATTERING, LIFE-CHANGING THING TO HAVE A CHILD. And there’s this essay going around on Mashable that says “if you’re truly pro-life, you must support these mothers even after they have their kids,” but really, if you’re truly pro-life, you must support WOMEN as they decide WHETHER OR NOT TO BECOME mothers. When circumstance alone turns a woman into a mother, and she cannot make that decision for herself, women become incubators, and everyone suffers. It is SO HARD to be a mother. People should become parents only when they truly want to!
We prioritize the rights of people every single day in our society, in horrible ways and other necessary ones, but we can’t prioritize the lives of women over the future potential of an organism that is not yet even a viable human?
I think it’s a lot of pent upness left over from Catholic school.
My school was liberal; anti-death penalty, amnesty for immigrants, for low till farming, against factory farm very into social justice, but Merciful Mary against abortion whole heartedly either with or within Catholic doctrine.
There was one teacher who had lost her mother to pregnancy or childbirth complications when she was 5 years old who would really talk and focus on the “except for when the life of the mother is immediately at risk” thing but even she had her limits so to speak.
Like say a 12 year old rape victim could just deliver by C-Section and oh did that make me sick. Here she was a woman grown with several pregnancies under her belt suggesting a fucking child go through a pregnancy.
That the law in the country that girl was in was just and true she and her parent should accept it because that fetus was innocent. It didn’t commit a crime, why should it have to die?
It wasn’t about crime or punishment is what I couldn’t verbalise at the time, it was about her too young body and her choice. Even the mother of god had a choice.
But I was too horrified and sickened to bring that up or even think thoughts beyond “Fuck you, fuck all of you straight to hell, and if there is a god this wouldn’t be their will”
I think that was the day I made up my mind the Catholic Church was nothing I wanted to do with or attempt apologetics in any matters.
Down here where I live I know for a fact plenty of people have babies before they’re ready or even le gasp married. Some do get indeed get support from the community and family after that baby is born, but depending on economic class how far that support can get them stability in life varies greatly.
Louisiana is ranked 3rd in the US for highest rate of poverty so for some people that baby keeps them in poverty or sends them there.
Sometimes you can tell who got married or tried to stay together after having an unplanned kid by the second planned kid and the fact mommy and daddy ain’t together no’more and moms is now back living with her mom or grandma.
Some get tossed out on their ass tho definitely and no support “because you knew what you were doing, sex makes babies” but would have been judged real hard for “taking an innocent life”.
But yeah if you’re truly pro-life then support the life of that fetus and the one who’s gunna bear and try to raise them.
It’s a no brainer for a healthy society, but nah let’s punish instead because that makes so much sense. Right no, nope.
I think I’m done for today.
I totally agree with the idea that women are becoming incubators, especially when you considered that in the majority of the countries poor women without access to birth control or sexual education are the ones holding up the birth rates.
It’s not like we just had a plague and need to repopulate to till the fields of a feudal overlord lest he loses his power.
Or is it?
Crushing poverty does make it hard to effectively fight back or negotiate with the powers that be.
“Crushing poverty does make it hard to effectively fight back or negotiate with the powers that be.”
Exactly. And now I may be talking just about my country, Argentina, but poverty also creates incomplete citizens, people subjected to political manipulation because of their unmet needs.
“but poverty also creates incomplete citizens, people subjected to political manipulation because of their unmet needs.”
Freakazoid you can apply that globally, look at the Arabic Spring and then ISIL for example.
I should really say thanks to Yvonne for bringing once again this matter to the spotlight.
You can always find a good debate on what was it again? “Cosmo for Queers”?
I just watched all of those Planned Parenthood videos and it is far less awkward than the health classes I remember. I remember this ridiculous poster in my health teacher’s classroom of “101 ways to say no to sex” which included gems like “I just got my hair done” and “I have a sunburn.” I hope health classes start using those PP videos to teach kids that they can say no to sex without some bullshit excuse.
Those PP videos, tho! They are so good! (And the host is hilarious).
I feel like so much information going around right now, especially the yes-means-yes stuff (which is great), focuses solely on verbal consent, simply because the various forms of nonverbal consent we all use in conjunction with verbal consent is so much harder to explain. I’m so glad PP did such a good job illustrating the mixture of verbal and nonverbal that really goes on in many of our bedrooms. Otherwise I think we run the risk of alienating kids from consent culture by painting a very inaccurate picture of consent — where there is a verbal check in before every single act or stage of the fun stuff.
I wish I’d seen those PP videos years ago :(
I’m happy that I live near a few PP centers