You Oughta Know - Transgender Rights

Transgender Rights

Adding to the list of groups that are infuriated by the president, the LGBTQ+ community is having their rights trampled on by an executive order that removes the federal protections and guidance for trans students to use the bathroom associated with their gender identities in school. This move is in direct opposition to the ACLU case currently being heard by the federal Supreme Court, which is fighting for trans student Gavin Grimm’s ability to use the boy’s bathroom as his school. (Original coverage from The Washington Post) The New York Times reported that the order included verbiage stating that schools must protect transgender students from bullying, but rolls back other protections and lays it in the hands of the states. (Also, Reuters’s Coverage) No matter what, our transgender brothers and sisters deserve our assistance in fighting for their human and civil rights. Even the Pope agrees, suggesting today that ‘it is better to be an atheist than one of "many" Catholics who he said lead a hypocritical double life.’ (Source) (Also, Patheos) This is a sentiment that the Pope has shared on a number of issues, such as the rejection of refugees and gun ownership.

One Video

Speaking of transgender rights, a video making the circuit comes from The View and includes interviews with Gavin Grimm and Laverne Cox discussing the recent news regarding Transgender rights.

Awesome Woman of the Day

The New Yorker has a profile about the first woman and person of color to be a Librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden. This overlaps quite well with my day job and is a story of passion and perseverance; she is also a librarian in background, which seems like it should be normal, but she is the first librarian to lead the Library of Congress since 1974. Awesome! (Source)