“The indispensability of a liberal education is the freedom from being tied to the zeitgeist of one’s age or situation to love what is true, good, and beautiful, and to be initiated into the world while cultivating a love for it.” www.liberalcurrents.com/upholding-li...

7. The committee vote on the bathroom bills will occur this Monday. If it passes, it will move to the full House floor.

6. Meanwhile, trans people talked about the terrifying threats they face when unilaterally forced into the bathroom of their sex assigned at birth. One trans woman, a state employee, testified that she had been harassed and assaulted in the men’s room.

5. Republicans argued that inclusive bathroom policies could facilitate acts of sexual violence; constituents pointed out that rape is already illegal, regardless of where it occurs. And as one mom of a trans girl pointed out, “Predators don’t obey signs.”

4. The bans would impact trans people in colleges, airports, rest stops, stadiums, and more. They would even eliminate all-gender multi-stall bathrooms.

3. Kansas, which sits on the western border of Missouri, recently and suddenly revoked many trans people’s driver’s licenses and state IDs. The measure was surreptitiously snuck into a trans bathroom ban bill at the eleventh hour. www.erininthemorning.com/p/kansas-sen...

2. “This is a make-or-break moment with what just happened in Kansas,” Rep. Wick Thomas, the state’s only openly trans representative, told Erin in the Morning.

He’s so bad at transphobia.

1. Missouri appears to be forging ahead with 3 bathroom bans in public buildings across the state. They heard 3 bills in a single night on the topic. Lawmakers are worried that we could see what happened to Kansas happen there too. The latest from our writer S. Baum.

A recent statement from the American Society for Plastic Surgeons advised against surgery, HRT, blockers for trans youth. Now members and experts that were sidelined at the org are demanding answers after evidence shows it may have been politically influenced by the Trump admin. Read our latest.

Some good news, or a step toward good news, at least.

This, I think, is a big factor. When denounced from the left online, the target has no choice but to declare their own victimhood and move right, insisting that one bears no responsibility for that, the left made them. But if someone doesn’t react that way… Then maybe it’s a choice.

TCW knows in his bones that Bouie's right. He is indeed a vapid, public "intellectual" who makes his living comforting the comfortable. The Harpers Letter was a tell.. Anyone concluding that Oberlin Student Council is more dangerous than state repression of speech...well, says it all, doesn't it.

I think it's weird that there are a handful of Big Twitter Accounts™ that seem to lurk on Bluesky in search of Content™ they can share in the form of screenshots, tbh. Kind of pathetic, honestly.

Something else about Vanderbilt's capitulation: VUMC said it would only offer “nonsurgical gender-affirming care for adults 19 years and older.” But 18-year-olds are adults. Tennessee law bans this care for people *under* 18, so VUMC is once again overcomplying

Fucking hell. This was one of the policies I advocated against locally when I lived in California, and the state wide ban was a huge victory. Now here we are.

Like... when Bouie criticizes you, he directly cites passages from your book. When you criticize Bouie, you criticize his tone and the conversation around him. These are not equivalent types of criticisms. An inability to distinguish structural differences between arguments defines so many pundits.

I have never seen TCW engage with the work of people he criticizes 1/10th as much as his critics engage with his. He's clearly just pissed that Bouie doesn't like him and since he can't defend his work on the merits he resorts to tone policing.

Accusing Jamelle Bouie of "exaggerated nastiness" and "hateful, uncharitable commentary" is absolutely insane.

My recent epiphany is that a lot of these “vocal minority” types have exactly zero community aside from “mutual disdain.” 4chan to gamer gate, “manosphere” to MAGA…the only thing that unites them is anger. Jealousy. Manufactured outrage. That’s probably why they target who they do, consistently.

It’s extremely cathartic to yell at people but catharsis is just for you, it doesn’t do anything for anyone else

and having experienced the sought catharsis, you've ended the feeling that you need to do something. gita, i think so many are caught in the trap of this cycle.

i think it's also not a coincidence that this is the type of "activism" that asks the least of people - it's an immediate discharge of emotion with no building, no patience, no cooperation - just a straight line from feeling the desire to act to discharging yr emotions on someone

I don’t want revenge. I want everyone to be free.

If you lead with anger, if your politics is built out of grievance, then you’re always looking for a target for your anger. But the path to liberation is one built out of love, out of wanting to no longer feel hatred in your heart.

I actually do think a lot of white Americans think activism is about yelling people into submission

There is so much to be frustrated at, so maybe it's unpopular to focus on the positive, but I do feel certain that he understood the stakes in the end (and by my reading of this story, still does today). In the end, he knew he was losing the republic. That feels more in touch than many Democrats.

I'm low-key fascinated by Biden as a tragic hero in the Greek sense. His kernel of greatness and his eventual downfall/failure are indistinguishable. The exact right and exact wrong man for the time, at the same time.

Ballroom culture is a central place for Black and Latinx queer joy, creativity, and found family. We're just under the wire for Black History Month and I hope you'll click through and learn your Black History from @funcrunch.me.dm.ap.brid.gy!!

The entire Democratic strategy debate — "moderate" or move left? fight or compromise? — is based on a misreading of data. Voters don't think Dems are too progressive; they think Dems are weak. The actual math on what to do about this isn't even close! New: www.gelliottmorris.com/p/new-poll-d...

There are a lot of people who resent the entire concept of subject matter expertise and believe that they, a person who read a breezy overview, know just as much and because they're a Great Thinker, should be trusted over actual experts.

Incredible story. Not a good swimmer but did not hesitate to dive into the freezing lake and keep the child’s head above water, saving her life. There is a GFM for folks who want to acknowledge and support Lio’s brave actions. www.gofundme.com/f/help-lio-r...

Yeah, nobody is perfect and his employer is a huge problem, but we’re very fortunate to have him as an ally and have him here as a fantastic journalist and thinker

Kansas gonna be missing out.

...so assuming you are not trans (which seems to be a safe assumption in this case), *you* get to make a choice: vote for someone who will reduce your coalition, or someone who will hold it together & potentially expand it. this is not on trans ppl, it's on *you* www.bostonreview.net/forum/how-no...

...if *your rights* were on the chopping block, how would you feel if ppl who *wouldn't be affected* by said proposals came into your mentions framing them as "pet issues" or "favorite unicorns"? when a political party rolls back *your rights*, they're telling you that YOU'RE NOT IN THEIR COALITION

"favorite unicorn" is a very weird framing this case. I've voted for plenty of Dems for president who I was so-so on. but Newsom is very explicitly talking about rolling back trans rights. I don't know who you are, but if Newsom was singling out *your rights* to roll back, would you vote for him?...

If YOU think our votes are important YOU should vote for someone interested in winning them. If you don't, you shouldn't worry. Surely your candidate is smart and doesn't need us. Surely they're not throwing good votes away for nothing. Right? 😉

A candidate has every right to make those calculations. They don't want our votes, we're not giving them. The transaction between us and the candidate makes perfect sense, and then Dems come in and say we owe them our votes anyway. We do not. They don't want our votes. They want other votes.

This is the point I always make, that Democrats seem to refuse to understand: A candidate who tacks right on an issue of high voting importance to me is declaring they do not want my vote and they believe they'll win more votes to make up for losing mine.

Honestly, I just think Gavin Newsome is so divisive - the party needs a uniter, not someone with all this baggage who can't bring people together.

Gavin Newsome just seems really polarizing and a risky option if Dems are serious about winning.

Ironically, the "noble savage" view of mental illness everyone in the disability discourse seems to hold is as much the fault of excessive cancel culture bullying as anything. There is a reason you keep having social workers and childcare workers in your replies saying you're being overly simplistic

What are you basing this on? Nothing in psych or neuro is that straightforward. We have behavioral therapies and meds that reduce tic severity. It is on some level possible to suppress tics, become aware of warning signs, mindfully respond, replace the tic with something less intrusive, etc.

It isn't all about passing and ppl who pass, but at this point an F marker on my license would likely read as possible fraud to a cop. Absolutely no one reads me as female or even as trans, often including other trans people - and despite the fact that I'm about as out as I can be.

I think people mostly imagine it as like a symbolic nicety and not the foundation of how most trans people go about their lives. Updating all my docs was the first thing I did after coming out.

Whenever I try to explain to someone why not having accurate IDs matter, I point people to the case of Stacie Ray from years back www.aclu-tn.org/news/trans-o...

This effectively forces every trans person in the state to out themselves while applying for a job, renting an apartment, or being stopped by police. It's part of the same law that allows anyone to sue anyone else they suspect of being trans and using the "wrong" bathroom.

BREAKING: Trans inmate's lawyers claim "egregious retaliation" in violation of court order. Trans woman involved in a lawsuit challenging anti-trans policies says federal prison official told her on Feb. 22: “I don’t give a fuck what that judge says, I do what I want.”