Gillian Branstetter
@gbbranstetter.bsky.social
📤 94423
📥 919
📝 9897
Opinions are my own // comms @ aclu
https://linktr.ee/gbbranstetter
pinned post!
On my way to the Supreme Court where I'll be proud to support 15-year-old Becky Pepper-Jackson, West Virginia's only transgender athlete, as she opposes the state's effort to ban her from playing as herself. Win or lose, Becky and her family are heroes for standing up for what's right
5 months ago
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ACLU
about 3 hours ago
BREAKING: We're suing the Department of Justice for demanding a New York City hospital turn over private medical records about trans youth who've received gender affirming care. The goal of these baseless subpoenas is clear — pressuring providers into dropping patients and obeying President Trump.
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If you're response to the vanity and frivolity of your opponent is just "doesn't this remind you of trans people" I don't think you're winning new voters or helping trans people
about 4 hours ago
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We only know about Cercle Hermaphroditos because of the 1918 memoirs of Jennie June (who we might recognize as a trans woman though that language didn't really exist at the time; she referred to herself as an androgyne). You can read it for free here
t.co/rdCJABVmSB
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1 day ago
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Greg Sargent
5 days ago
Just insane. New Jersey Gov Mikie Sherrill says DHS just denied state health inspectors full access to Delaney Hall. She's calling for it to be shut down.
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Indivisible ❌👑
4 days ago
Close Delaney Hall. Close them all.
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David Dayen
5 days ago
Immigrant detainees at Delaney Hall ICE prison in Newark, NJ have been forced to cook, clean, & repair the facility for as little as $1/day and sometimes for free. They are on a hunger & labor strike; protesters outside have been tear-gassed. Here's our report, including a quote from a detainee:
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Delaney Hall ICE Detainees Take Aim at GEO Group’s Bottom Line - The American Prospect
Immigrants held at GEO Group’s Delaney Hall in Newark are on a labor strike and a hunger strike, refusing to perform the jobs that keep the place running.
https://prospect.org/2026/05/28/delaney-hall-ice-detainees-take-aim-at-geo-groups-bottom-line/
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To lose one father, Mr. Vance, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness
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5 days ago
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Morrissey and Iggy Pop
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5 days ago
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It's always been weird to me that cats are coded feminine when they exhibit the traits society demands of men (independence, defiance, moodiness) while dogs are coded masculine while exhibiting the traits society demands of women (loyalty, subservience, service/labor)
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5 days ago
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“When the federal government can reach across the country and pull a child’s entire medical file out of the filing cabinet without so much as a phone call to the parents, every family in America should be concerned. This is not how a limited government is supposed to work.”
@nclrights.bsky.social
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California Families Sue to Stop Trump Administration from Seizing Children's Private Medical Records Through Out-of-State Grand Jury - GLAD Law
We should all be concerned about this unconstitutional and secretive government overreach into private medical records.
https://www.gladlaw.org/california-families-sue-to-stop-trump-administration-from-seizing-childrens-private-medical-records-through-out-of-state-grand-jury/
5 days ago
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Maybe? I don't personally think that's the case. I think they see the polls and get scared because the polls are not great!
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5 days ago
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There are helpful and unhelpful ways to advocate for trans rights, and the helpful way is not always the most progressive-sounding way. People like Paxton or Trump want to create a divide in voter's minds between trans people's interests and their own; your job at all times is to close that gap.
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5 days ago
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Anat Shenker-Osorio
6 days ago
Values. Villain. Vision. First, say what you are for & believe creating a big WE that rejects hate baiting & division. Next, make clear who true villains are - give people accurate origin story for their pain. Finally, close with what you will deliver for all. /2
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Anat Shenker-Osorio
6 days ago
All authoritarians run on same story: scapegoating some other & claiming their opposition is for some undeserving "other" that is taking from the "real" patriots. Paxton has principally set upon trans people in this role. There's a clear way to address this & Talarico has chance to show it. /1
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Joel S.
6 days ago
E. Jean Carroll didn't just "accuse" Trump of sexual assault. She won a civil lawsuit against Trump for sexual assault. A jury found that Trump sexually assaulted her. She deserves for us to call it what it is.
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Chris Geidner
6 days ago
“On Wednesday morning, the Justice Department went to court to advance an argument that, if accepted, would all but erase the existence of transgender people in the law.” Read my report at Law Dork:
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DOJ's fight against trans medical care in prison is a fight to erase trans people in the law
"The pendulum has swung," DOJ's Jared Littman said in a court hearing Wednesday, arguing that all transgender people — at all ages — can be denied needed medical care.
https://www.lawdork.com/p/dojs-fight-against-trans-medical
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Dr. Jey McCreight 🏳️‍⚧️🧬
7 days ago
Thank you
@evanurquhart.bsky.social
for interviewing me The GoFundMe Comms team reached out on Friday asking for permission to share my story with journalists...and noone reached out Shows why trans led journalism is so important for getting our stories told 🏳️‍⚧️
www.gofundme.com/f/help-trans...
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A family in Idaho has dropped their lawsuit challenging a state law barring transgender students from using the restroom after their 16-year-old trans daughter died by suicide. Idaho AG Raul Labrador praised the decision without mentioning the girl's death or why the case was dismissed.
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High school group challenging Idaho’s trans bathroom ban drops lawsuit after student’s death
Editor’s note: This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health issues, call the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988.
https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/high-school-group-challenging-idahos-trans-bathroom-ban-drops-lawsuit-after-students-death
11 days ago
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Alexander Chee
12 days ago
The times that a trans student has come out to me as a part of their self-discovery are sacred to me at a time when little else is. This is an abominable and unenforceable fascist tactic.
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Lindsey Boylan
12 days ago
You cannot do your job as a teacher and be forced to harm your own students in this way.
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Lmao
13 days ago
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ACLU
13 days ago
JUST DROPPED: Episode 3 of Know Your Rights University, where we cover the 3 branches of government! Grab your little one's favorite snack and watch now at
youtu.be/oSQyG213Tbc?...
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Democracy Now!
14 days ago
“This is the epitome of a mosque that shows our true values as Muslims, in community and in solidarity," says Palestinian American activist Linda Sarsour about the Islamic Center of San Diego, where two teenage gunmen killed three people Monday before dying from apparent self-inflicted gunshots.
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3 Killed in Devastating San Diego Mosque Shooting: Linda Sarsour on Rising Anti-Muslim Hate & More
Two teenage gunmen in California fatally shot three people on Monday at the Islamic Center of San Diego, the largest mosque in the city. Among the dead was a security guard — Amin Abdullah, a father o...
https://www.democracynow.org/2026/5/19/san_diego_mosque_shooting
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Michael Karlik
15 days ago
BREAKING: The Colorado Supreme Court, by 5-2, orders Children's Hospital Colorado to resume gender-affirming care to a group of trans plaintiffs. Justices Boatright and Samour dissent. Story coming soon.
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They remind me of printers because they seem to hate their customers and have no interest in innovation whatsoever
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15 days ago
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Andrew Kreighbaum
15 days ago
DOJ has filed dozens of lawsuits against immigrants in courts across the country seeking payment for billions in civil immigration penalties.
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Trump Is Taking Immigrants to Court, Seeking Millions in Fines
The Trump administration has issued thousands of fines against immigrants and has started taking people to court, seizing their tax refunds, and demanding payments for being in the US illegally, accor...
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/trump-is-taking-immigrants-to-court-seeking-millions-in-fines
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Parker Molloy
16 days ago
Once Frank dies, people are going to insist that you can't say bad things about him, which is why it's more important than ever that you say all the bad things about him right now. Time's running out!
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Pretty sure I met this couple at Southern Decadence in 2019
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16 days ago
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"While Republicans, and I would say corporate conservatism, has very much developed a theory of power over the past 40-odd years, the Democratic Party developed a theory of management"
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Graham Platner Thinks a Political Revolution Is Coming
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/16/magazine/graham-platner-interview.html?unlocked_article_code=1.i1A.5b5f.8bsradIUc5oO&smid=url-share
17 days ago
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"We’ve locked ourselves in the stupidest possible version of Plato’s cave...what looks like the spontaneous consensus of the hive mind is often just shadows on the wall, put there by marketers, political operatives, foreign-influence campaigns, or anyone else with a few hundred bucks"
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The Feed Is Fake
What if every viral song, movie, meme, influencer, and celebrity drama you’ve scrolled by recently was the result of a stealth marketing campaign?
https://www.vulture.com/article/social-media-feeds-chaotic-good-projects-clipping.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=s1&utm_campaign=nym
18 days ago
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He's the crooked urologist they brought in to treat gunshot wounds on The Sopranos
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19 days ago
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Adam Gurri
19 days ago
I wrote this for you—yes you: Bluesky, where a lot of people whine that we cannot win because the media isn’t our friend. The media isn’t our friend, it’s true. Let’s win anyway.
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tranna karenina
19 days ago
there's something so gutting about how she got the world we all wanted so bad, the one we're fighting to create for the younger generation - an early transition supported by a loving family and circle of friends - and then got cut down anyway
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gwen howerton
19 days ago
NEW: Seattle might declare a civil emergency to help LGBTQ (mostly trans) people fleeing red states, so I looked for a Texas angle. An organizer told me that Texas is #1 among trans people looking to relocate: "The baseline hostility to their existence is unbearable."
www.chron.com/culture/arti...
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So many LGBTQ Texans are moving to this city, it may declare an 'emergency'
Seattle is one of the many places that transgender Texans are resettling after fleeing their home state.
https://www.chron.com/culture/article/texas-seattle-lgbtq-migration-22256832.php
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Chris Geidner
20 days ago
BREAKING: Judge McElroy quashes DOJ's Rhode Island Hospital subpoena in full, calling out DOJ's conduct as "misrepresent[ing] salient facts" under oath. "[T]he Court GRANTS both Motions to Quash and enjoins the DOJ from seeking or receiving any documents related to this now invalid subpoena."
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"The general consensus I see from Bluesky users is a sort of indigence or confusion as to why the rest of the world is trapped in a right-wing echo chamber that they don’t care about. It’s because their little doomsday bunker has not really affected the apocalypse raging beyond their walled garden"
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20 days ago
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Garnet Henderson
21 days ago
ICYMI yesterday: I wrote about Trump’s new
moms.gov
website, which suggests pregnant people can get medical care at anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers, and refers people to the hate group Focus on the Family for adoption information.
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The Anti-Abortion, Pronatalist Agenda Behind Moms.Gov
The Trump administration is directing people to crisis pregnancy centers while systematically attacking access to legitimate reproductive health services.
https://www.autonomynews.co/anti-abortion-pronatalist-agenda-trump-moms-gov/
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Moby Dick
25 days ago
we undressed and went to bed, at peace with our own consciences and all the world
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Soon after this post was created Floosh pivoted to AI and built a data center that will drop the SAT scores of every high school in a 200 mile radius
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26 days ago
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Naomi Klein
26 days ago
Sure looks like Republicans redrew the map in Tennessee to stop Memphis from sending Justin J. Pearson to Congress, who is/was poised to win the primary after fighting like hell against Elon Musk's methane-spewing data centre monstrosities in South Memphis. Craven, desperate and racist as hell.
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Katelyn Burns
26 days ago
For
@ms.now
, I wrote about the Trump administration going after Smith College, a New England women's college, over allowing trans women to attend the school. The investigation not only threatens the school, but also the surrounding town, which I live in.
www.ms.now/news/trump-s...
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Opinion | Why the Trump administration is going after trans students at Smith College
Katelyn Burns: Government action against Smith, including threats to federal funding, could affect the standing of trans students at other women’s colleges.
https://www.ms.now/news/trump-smith-college-transgender-women-admissions
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I've returned to Bluesky to yell at you about books
26 days ago
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I think these criticisms are easily misunderstood - he's talking about candidates for office and it's a critique of shallow representation over redistributive politics; I don't see this as saying we shouldn't fight for the safety and dignity of marginalized people.
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26 days ago
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Three weeks ago
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26 days ago
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Everyone read Judith Herman
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26 days ago
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Prisonculture
27 days ago
I continue to think that "backlash politics" is the wrong frame. There has been a counter-revolution against the Black freedom movement for generations. It is a FRONTLASH and I think that not thinking of it this way has done a real disservice. It's been PERMANENT WAR.
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Transgender adolescents who were unable to access gender-affirming hormone therapy were nearly twice as likely to attempt suicide than those who could, according to new data from the Trevor Project. 87% of those currently on hormone therapy are very concerned about losing it
27 days ago
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Prisonculture
28 days ago
If they evict this 67 year old man, may they know only suffering for the rest of their life.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
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How a Hairdresser and Painter Lives on $70,000 a Year in Chelsea (Gift Article)
For 32 years, Gerald DeCock has carved out a life in the Hotel Chelsea, buying art supplies across the street and never, ever cooking. Now, he may have to move.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/05/04/nyregion/nyc-budgeting-affordability-decock.html?unlocked_article_code=1.gFA.fvrJ.YOXSlELZpArR&smid=url-share
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Ohio Capital Journal
28 days ago
About 45,000 Haitians in Ohio are waiting nervously as the U.S. Supreme Court weighs a Trump-administration move to force them back to their homeland. As they do, a new assessment says that conditions in Haiti are about as bad as anywhere in the world.
ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/05/05/c...
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Conditions in Haiti 'grave' as Supreme Court weighs allowing revoked legal status and deportation • Ohio Capital Journal
The Supreme Court is weighing whether to force 350,000 Haitians back to their home country, scene of "one of the worst humanitarian crises."
https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/05/05/conditions-in-haiti-grave-as-supreme-court-weighs-allowing-revoked-legal-status-and-deportation/
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The PS1 startup sound as a lesbian
about 1 month ago
my latest for
@theverge.com
is about something i’ve been hearing constantly: Gen Z hates ”AI”, and many young people are deeply resentful of the jobs, schools, and institutions that are now pressuring or forcing them to use it.
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The more young people use AI, the more they hate it
Caught between fears of job loss and social stigma, Gen Z’s opinions of AI are hitting new lows.
https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/920401/gen-z-ai
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