February 10, 2023

Black History Month, Trans Grammys, and COVID - oh, my!

Hi, sweet friends! Guess who finally put newsletter day as a recurring date in his calendar to aim for being more consistent? This guy!

Earthquake

Two powerful earthquakes have caused devastating damage and are estimated to have killed nearly 5,000 people in southeast Turkey and northern Syria. Teen Vogue and others at Conde Nast have pulled together a list of charities to donate to if you’re looking to help folks in the region. After multiple fundraising efforts were squashed, the US lifted sanctions against Syria this morning which will allow for more financial aid to go to the region.

Trans Things

Remember how I mentioned that nearly 150 anti-trans bills had been filed prior to January 19th? That count, as of yesterday, is over 300. Healthcare access is especially targeted because of course it is. In the wake of that, I’m incredibly disappointed that President Biden did not take the time to specifically denounce anti-trans legislation. In fact, he only mentioned LGBTQ+ rights twice. Combining this with what he said about abortion and reproductive rights, and that adds up to a pitiful 107 words — less than he’s spent on the topic previously. At least Florida schools have now backed off requiring teen girls to share deep details about their menstruation to ‘prove’ that they are cisgender.

DC Comics is debuting a trans superhero on Valentine’s Day! Circuit Breaker is a trans man. It’s really cool to see that representation! In Quantum Leap news, did you know there’s a reboot on the air? This week saw Ben jumping into a basketball coach’s body — a coach who has a trans daughter on his team. Autostraddle covered the episode here. Kim Petras and Sam Smith won a Grammy on Sunday for their song “Unholy". Smith, who is nonbinary, yielded the floor to Petras as she’s the first transgender woman to win in the Best Pop Duo/Group category. There are a lot of transgender women who have won Grammys before, if you didn’t know. Also, if you’re involved in journalism or just want to improve how you talk about the trans community, the Trans Journalists Association (of which I’m a member) just put out a guide!

Black History Month

Since it’s Black History Month, I have to ask - have you ever heard of Marvel Cooke? If not, Angela Davis and other activists have shared her story with Teen Vogue. It’s amazing. PBS has collected a great list of documentaries to learn about Black history. Also, if you haven’t yet watched it, check out 13th. This documentary — which you can watch for free here — talks about the ways racism helped create policing and how it’s heavily involved in the incarceration system.

Apparently Ron DeSantis didn’t get the memo about Black History Month because he’s been working to remove Black history from schools. Perhaps he needs to read this piece about how BHM started?

I recently found the most amazing TikTok account, Levert the Bassman. He talks about everything from racism to food to superheroes. Here’s a powerful video where he talks about how we change the world:

COVID-19

Australian scientists have discovered a protein in the lung that blocks COVID infection! This is BIG, especially when long COVID is keeping a ton of folks out of work. Without proper social supports built yet for folks, they’re struggling a lot financially. And, frankly, it makes sense when we think about how 10% of lung transplants are going to folks recovering from COVID.

I mentioned in the last newsletter that free tests and vaccines will be coming to an end as the national state of emergency ends in May. Who will pay for these things moving forward? And how will this harm Medicaid recipients? And how do we move forward in an intelligent way? I’m not sure, but the way denialism is seeping into public health work is awful.

At least spots like the AARP are covering how mask wearing is good, regardless of COVID. And I’m grateful that Bernie Sanders was wearing a mask at the State of the Union - even if he was apparently the only person.

Health & Healthcare

With patents having run out on a number of biologic medications — think Humira, Enbrel, etc. — more biosimilars are coming out. People were hoping this would lower the cost of some of the most expensive yet common medications. It probably won’t, though.

The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is turning 30! Unfortunately, the steps that were supposed to come after to keep improving how we look at leave in the US never manifested.

California Governor Gavin Newsom and legislators created a plan to mandate mental health treatment for homeless folks. In addition to, IDK not doing shit to address actually homelessness, it’s a violation of disability rights. We should have the ability and right to bodily autonomy, so Disability Rights California, Western Center on Law and Poverty and the Public Interest Law Project have asked the state’s high court to strike down as unconstitutional the program known as CARE Court (for Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment).

Egg on My Face

In the last edition of this newsletter, I recommended Erin Reed’s newsletter. Earlier this week, I learned that Erin consistently blocks Black trans folks on social media to avoid hearing critiques of how she centers whiteness. This backlash has led to her stepping down from various organization boards at this point. To follow organizations working to center anti-racism as they discuss transgender issues, the Trans Formations Project is doing a lot to highlight specific bills. There’s also this spreadsheet.

Bookshop

Are you looking to find decent books to read? Want a variety of possible genres, from nonfiction and memoirs to cookbooks and kids books? I’ve got you covered! I recently became an affiliate with Bookshop, an online bookshop with a mission to financially support local, independent bookshops. Becoming an affiliate means that I could get a little cash if you buy books that I recommend — don’t worry! This comes at no extra cost to you. If you want to check out books I recommend, pop over to my affiliate page.

Lastly,

I’m hitting the end of a loooong week, one where I had the first meltdown / panic attack I’ve had in a while. I truly hate the way that sidelines me for hours, but especially when I don’t feel like I can communicate about it. There’s no one thing that set it off, either. I’m mostly sharing this because I know I’m not the only one who deals with these — even when things around me are going really, really well.

One of the biggest things that we can do is breathe. I know it sounds silly and cliché, but it’s true. When I find myself not breathing as deeply as I should, I hum this song to myself and it helps a lot. Maybe it’ll help you, too.

If you have feedback or anything you’d like to share, feel free to reach out to me on social media or by email (all linked here).

Take care of you, lovebug <3
Grayson