Kathleen Stock has a dazzling piece on queeritude. It’s a must-read; I’ll just dangle a few amuse-bouches to tempt you.

In recent years, queerness has also become a fascinatingly multifunctional symbolic object in the psyche of the nation, simultaneously representing both sexily avant-garde transgression and fully paid-up membership of the British establishment.

Both a salad dressing and a drain cleaner!

A project on the history of the gerrymandered categories of “LGBTQ+” and “queer” is, of course, a fantastic idea; were it done properly, it would be genuinely exciting. Ideally such a museum would interrogate the sociological and historical conditions of its own movement. It might ask, for instance: what economic forces have shaped its transition from the gay rights

Well how about that. Strangio manages to retweet Democracy Now using The Word not once but twice.

Alito cited Matthew Hale in his draft. Who? Bess Levin at Vanity Fair has the deets:

As Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern notes, the draft—which could change before a the final ruling, as could the various justices’ votes—doesn’t just lay out the case for why Roe should be overturned, it goes full scorched earth. Alito, Stern writes, “does not seek out any middle path. He disparages Roe and its successors as dishonest, illegitimate, and destructive to the court, the country, and the Constitution. He quotes a wide range of anti-abortion activists, scholars, and judges who view abortion as immoral and barbaric; there’s even a footnote that approvingly cites Justice Clarence Thomas’s debunked theory that abortion is a tool of

Yet another one.

Reporter Chabeli Carrazana at 19th News:

In a leaked draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito argued that pregnant people don’t actually need access to abortion to ensure economic mobility — they already have it. 

Except he didn’t, as she immediately goes on to say.

According to the opinion, which was published by Politico Monday night, “unmarried pregnant women” — Alito does not include all pregnant people in his opinion — now have access to pregnancy discrimination protections, “guaranteed” medical leave “in many cases,” and medical costs that are “covered by insurance or government assistance.” 

Yes he does. All pregnant people are women. The normal wording is “pregnant women,” not “pregnant people.” … Read the rest

There seems to be a competition, declared or not, to caption Owen Jones’s selfie from today.

pic.twitter.com/TgNNbJ3mvP

— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) May 5, 2022

Aw, why so sad, little buddy?

"Let me take a photo of you by the polling station for Grandma in that t-shirt she got you" pic.twitter.com/irm9tz7qBP

— Shambo – currently denying all rumours (@BradfemlyWalsh) May 5, 2022

pic.twitter.com/90JEMbWNTa

— mole at the counter (@moleatthedoor) May 5, 2022

… Read the rest

Survivors’ Network is righteously indignant:

Survivors’ Network is a charity supporting survivors of sexual violence and abuse. We support survivors of all ages and genders in Sussex and this includes Trans and Non-Binary people. We are committed to intersectionality, and trans-inclusive feminism is central to our ethos.  

But does that mean women don’t get to have support without men around? It appears it does mean that:

We are disappointed to share that we have recently had legal action taken against us due to our trans-inclusive ethos. The claimant alleges that we have broken equalities law as (they allege) it is not legitimate or proportionate to welcome trans women into our women-only spaces.  

In other words they refuse to provide … Read the rest

Meanwhile Louisiana goes all in:

Louisiana lawmakers advanced a bill out of committee Wednesday that could make having an abortion grounds to be charged with homicide, going far beyond other state-level punishments for abortion, and could take effect whether the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade or not.

…

The bill “fully recognize[s] the human personhood of an unborn child” starting at the “moment of fertilization” and grants embryos and fetuses the same rights under law as human beings out of the womb.

The fertilized egg is “a child.”

This means having, assisting or performing an abortion would be classified as homicide.

Soon they’ll be executing women for menstruating.

The legislation would take effect immediately even if federal abortion

Out of curiosity I looked for other reporting on Kamala Harris’s denunciation of the leaked abortion ruling and oh gee guess what NPR carefully left out all but one of her mentions of women.

Vice President Harris on Tuesday blasted a leaked draft that indicated that the Supreme Court had voted to overturn the landmark abortion rights decision Roe v. Wade, declaring that “women’s rights in America are under attack.”

“If the court overturns Roe v. Wade it will be a direct assault on freedom — on the fundamental right of self-determination to which all Americans are entitled,” she said.

NPR carefully did not quote:

Those Republican leaders who are trying to weaponize the use of the law against

Kamala Harris still says the W word.

Those Republican leaders who are trying to weaponize the use of the law against women — well, we say, “How dare they?” How dare they tell a woman what she can do and cannot do with her own body? How dare they? How dare they try to stop her from determining her own future? How dare they try to deny women their rights and their freedoms?

…

She then used a term too few Democrats employ: “freedom.” “We must link arms in this fight. I invite all people to join us,” she said. “If you stand for freedom, for self-determination, for the right to privacy — if you stand for these principles,

Planned Parenthood is strikingly consistent about avoiding the word “women.”

"It is Black people that suffer the worst consequences of abortion restrictions and bans."

A must-read from our president, @alexismcgill https://t.co/S8J9LwRZgI

— Planned Parenthood (@PPFA) May 5, 2022

Oklahoma: We’re here with you. We’re not giving up. We’re doing everything in our power to stop this ban.

If you need an abortion, call 1-800-230-PLAN or visit https://t.co/lR8fbY0GNF to make an appointment. https://t.co/evewSwslJY

— Planned Parenthood (@PPFA) May 3, 2022

“Oklahoman” is a weirdly awkward substitute for “women in Oklahoma” if you ask me.

Your body is your own. You and only you should control your personal medical decisions.

— Planned Parenthood (@PPFA) May 3, 2022

The Title X program is

Intolerance blah blah hate posters blah blah hate literature blah blah.

An Aberdeen council candidate has branded two ‘anti-trans hate posters’ found in toilets at Duthie Park a ‘worrying example of intolerance’.

Martin Greig, who is bidding to represent Hazlehead, Queen’s Cross and Countesswells for a fourth consecutive term, asked city council officials to remove the posters after he was contacted by a constituent.

Intolerant how though?

The posters are critical of the Scottish Government’s proposed reforms to the Gender Recognition Act, which would make it easier for people to legally change their gender.

The plans have been fiercely opposed by campaigners who claim the move would put women’s sex-based rights at risk.

Oh that kind of “intolerance” – … Read the rest

The Irish Examiner publishes grotesque lies:

A woman who was being detained in one of the country’s most secure units for severely troubled youths has gone on trial accused of threatening to kill or cause serious harm to her mother, and to a man who had been involved in her care.

Just one small thing: not a woman. The very first two words of the piece are an insulting lie. This is “Barbie Kardashian,” a violent dangerous man.

Barbie Kardashian, 20, of no fixed abode, who has legally changed her gender and name, told staff at Coovagh House, Limerick, where she had been a resident at various points from 2018 to 2020, that she wanted to “rape” and “murder”

Biden says the Supreme Court move to ruin the lives of millions of women might actually matter because hey it might be trans kids next.

Joe Biden has warned of new attacks on civil rights as the supreme court prepares to strike down the right to abortion, telling reporters at the White House that LGBTQ+ children could be the next targets of a Trump-dominated Republican party he called “this Maga crowd” and “the most extreme political organisation … in recent American history”.

Focus, Joe. Never mind the purported next targets, focus on the current targets, the people formerly known as women. Ever heard of them?

“What happens,” the president asked, if “a state changes the law saying that

The ACLU too is throwing a heavy black wool veil over the word “women” in connection with the abortion issue. Yes, really, what business is it of women’s whether women can have abortions or not?

Here for instance:

On Monday night, Politico published a leaked draft of the highly anticipated Supreme Court opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The draft majority opinion, penned by Justice Samuel Alito, overturns the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which has been on the books for nearly 50 years and has ensured abortion is a protected federal constitutional right. If this draft decision is issued as the official decision, it would be unprecedented and would take away a fundamental right for

Meanwhile Chase Strangio’s attempt to incite hatred against feminists angry about the war on abortion rights appears to have attracted almost universal contempt. I say “appears to” in case Twitter is weirdly hiding pro-Chase responses from me.

I've rarely seen the level of hatred against American feminists that I've seen the past 24 hours from supposedly fellow prochoicers. Never. This is a disgrace. https://t.co/4qrA5gqfoY

— Anna D. West (@SlimWiggy) May 4, 2022

Someone please explain to me:
A man is ridiculing women fighting for abortion rights?
The F in TERF isn't for "Feminist"?
There were no feminists before trans issues?
Now, when feminists need to come together more than in generations, an @ACLU lawyer instead fosters in-fighting? https://t.co/UfsmTeReIG

— James

They’re all doing it.

It’s a human right, our right, the hard won right, but never ever ever a women’s right.… Read the rest

Same again – the creepy evasive People replacing women in every sentence.

Meet the Reddit ‘Aunties’ covertly helping people get abortions

But it’s not “people” who need abortions, it’s women.

The Reddit group offers a glimpse into a post-Roe era where people resort to informal networks to assist those locked out of an abortion

Women. If it were “people” there would be no ban.

On the page, volunteers sign up to lodge, transport, assist and care for people needing abortions who are alone or in states where it’s difficult to get one.

Women.

A modern day adaptation of underground abortion networks that helped people access care when the procedure was illegal…

Women.

The Reddit community, r/auntienetwork, started in

Even the editorial board of the Washington Post does it.

On Monday, Politico published a draft of a Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling declaring that the Constitution guarantees Americans the right to end their pregnancies.

That jolts like a badly-constructed bus hitting a pothole. It’s not “Americans” who had the right to end their pregnancies, it’s American women who did. The Washington Post is not a teenager with tattoos; it should talk like an adult.

What brought the court to its current precipice was not a fundamental shift in American values regarding abortion. It was the shameless legislative maneuvering of Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who jammed three Trump-nominated

Matt Gaetz thinks women should not be educated.

Sex trafficker who paid to rape a minor doesn't like “over-educated” women… pic.twitter.com/WHThMjPAHP

— Minh Ngo (@minhtngo) May 4, 2022

There is nothing worse than an over-educated woman.… Read the rest