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Leaked emails give a glimpse of the religious-right networks behind transgender health care bans.

March 20, 2023 /

On a Saturday afternoon in August 2019, South Dakota Republican state Rep. Fred Deutsch sent an email to 18 anti-trans activists, doctors, and lawyers with the text of a bill he planned to introduce that would make it a felony for doctors to give transgender children under 16 gender-affirming medical care. “I have no doubt this will be an uphill battle when we get to the session,” Deutsch warned the group. “As always, please do not share this with the media. The longer we can fly under the radar the better.”

The emails demonstrate close collaboration between groups working behind the scenes to push bills banning transgender health care, including ADF—which has defended state-sanctioned sterilization of trans people in Europe—and the ACPeds—which has opposed adoption by gay couples and supported conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth. In recent years, ADF has drafted legislation banning trans children from using school restrooms or playing on school sports teams that align with their gender identity. (Both groups are also staunchly anti-abortion; ADF, which drafted the Mississippi abortion ban at the heart of the case that overturned Roe v. Wade, is currently representing ACPeds in a closely-watched lawsuit to ban an abortion pill, mifepristone, nationally.)

“These are groups who we know are not interested in the best-practice care for trans kids,” says Cathryn Oakley, state legislative director and senior counsel for the Human Rights Campaign. “These bills are coming from national organizations whose purpose is to harm LGBTQ people.” 

 

Inside the secret working group that helped push anti-trans laws across the country

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters. On a Saturday afternoon in August 2019, South Dakota Republican state Rep. Fred Deutsch sent an email to 18 anti-trans activists, doctors, and lawyers withthe text of a bill he planned to introduce that would make it a felony for doctors to give transgender children under 16 gender-affirming medical care.

Texas is trying out new tactics to restrict access to abortion pills online.

March 20, 2023 /

Online abortion resources can pose risks to privacy. But there are lots of ways to access them more safely. Here are some resources we recommend.

There’s been a quiet shift in the abortion fight in the US. Since the reversal of Roe v. Wade last June, laws that make most abortions illegal have passed in 13 states. Efforts to restrict abortion care have, so far, focused mostly on criminalizing medical providers. But increasingly, the battleground is moving online.

Texas is currently in the process of trying to limit access to abortion pills by cracking down on internet service providers and credit card processing companies. Earlier this month, Republicans in the state legislature introduced two bills to that effect.

These tactics reflect the reality that, post-Roe, the internet is a critical channel for people seeking information about abortion or trying to buy pills to terminate a pregnancy—especially in states where they can no longer access these things in physical pharmacies or medical centers.

Texas is trying out new tactics to restrict access to abortion pills online

Skip to Content Proposed laws would punish ISPs, online publishers, and credit card companies for providing information about or direct access to pills. This article is from The Technocrat, MIT Technology Review’s weekly tech policy newsletter about power, politics, and Silicon Valley. To receive it in your inbox every Friday, sign up here .

We know what anti-woke really means

March 9, 2023 /

The anti-woke crusade is rooted in fear and ignorance, a mnemonic placeholder for the bigoted things most people wouldn’t dare say aloud. Black Americans have been using the term “woke” since the 1940s to describe a state of awareness toward racist policies and worldviews that negatively impact the Black community. However, many White people now use the term as a derogative slur, a cowardly way of spilling the beans while denying any beans were spilled.

What will grow in the place of “woke” if principles like diversity, equity, and inclusion are pulled out of the white rose garden by their roots? We’ll be left with a society where diversity will be viewed as problematic, where companies and schools no longer attempt to provide equitable opportunities to their employees and students, and where exclusionary tactics replace inclusion.

How Anti-Woke Became a Cowardly Slogan For a Racist Crusade

We know what anti-woke really means The anti-woke cruscade is rooted in fear and ignorance, a mnemonic placeholder for the bigoted things most people wouldn’t dare say aloud. Black Americans have been using the term “woke” since the 1940s to describe a state of awareness toward racist policies and…

Check out the list of big wins Michigan Democrats are delivering, from LGBTQ rights to tax relief

March 9, 2023 /

Michigan Democrats are showing what’s possible when Democrats win control of a government. After the party got a trifecta in Michigan for the first time in decades, lawmakers have not wasted time. The Michigan House voted to repeal the right to work and to reinstate the prevailing wage law, and on Wednesday, the House voted to expand the state’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to include protections for sexual orientation and gender identity. The state Senate passed those bills last week, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has said she plans to sign them. The state Supreme Court had ruled that the existing law covers sexual orientation and gender identity, but as we know, putting things into law is more permanent than relying on the courts.

But those were just the latest moves by Michigan Democratic lawmakers:

Check out the list of big wins Michigan Democrats are delivering, from LGBTQ rights to tax relief

Michigan Democrats are showing what’s possible when Democrats win control of a government. After the party got a trifecta in Michigan for the first time in decades, lawmakers have not wasted time. On Wednesday, the Michigan House voted to expand the…

A lawsuit seeks to reveal John Tanton’s documents, which are locked away until 2035.

March 8, 2023 /


Hassan Ahmad, an immigration lawyer running a small law firm in Virginia, was familiar with Kobach’s longtime efforts to curb immigration. Kobach had championed the infamous “show me your papers” law in Arizona that encouraged racial profiling by instructing law enforcement to request proof of citizenship or legal status from people suspected of being undocumented during routine traffic stops or other police interactions. He was also the mastermind behind 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s dubious “self-deportation” platform, which was premised on the idea that making work and living conditions in the United States worse for unauthorized immigrants would lead them to leave the country voluntarily. For Ahmad, a Pakistani-American, the photo of Trump and Kobach presaged the “kinds of people,” as he put it, who would be calling the shots on immigration at the White House.

The secret papers that could crack open the very worst of today’s anti-immigration movement

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters. In the days following the 2016 presidential election, then-Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and President-elect Donald Trump posed for photographs at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey.

The Jan 6 attack continues

March 8, 2023 /

What the Georgia GOP is doing cannot co-exist with a democratic Republic. It’s that simple.

On Monday night, the Republican-controlled Georgia House approved a bill that will empower Republicans to remove any elected District Attorney in the State if they go “rogue.” This follows the GOP-run Georgia State Senate passing a similar piece of legislation on Thursday.

Georgia Republicans want you to believe that the sudden need for this legislation is not about removing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for investigating Trump–as well as other GOP elected officials including Lieutenant Gov. Burt Jones for his role in Trump’s attempted coup.  Those GOP officials, however, are undermined by the reality that this legislation was called for by Trump’s allies and is now being publicly cheered by Trump.

Georgia GOP takes first step to remove Fulton County DA Fani Willis in order to protect Trump

What the Georgia GOP is doing cannot co-exist with a democratic Republic. It’s that simple. Georgia Republicans want you to believe that the sudden need for this legislation is not about removing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for investigating Trump–as well as other GOP elected officials including Lieutenant Gov.

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