i remember when utah's (republican) governor ended up vetoing a law banning transgender students from playing high school sports when he looked at the numbers, and there were only four trans students in the state playing sports at all. he released a clumsily worded but surprisingly compassionate statement about the decision.

I must admit, I am not an expert on transgenderism. I struggle to understand so much of it, and the science is conflicting. When in doubt, however, I always try to err on the side of kindness, mercy, and compassion. I also try to get proximate, and I am learning so much from our transgender community. They are great kids who face enormous struggles. Here are the numbers that have most impacted my decision: 75,000, 4, 1, 86 and 56.

75,000 high school kids participating in high school sports in Utah.

4 transgender kids playing high school sports in Utah.

1 transgender student playing girls sports.

86% of trans youth reporting suicidality.

56% of trans youth having attempted suicide.

Four kids and only one of them playing girls sports. That’s what all of this is about. Four kids who aren’t dominating or winning trophies or taking scholarships. Four kids who are just trying to find some friends and feel like they are a part of something. Four kids trying to get through each day. Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few. I don’t understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live.

of course, it didn't amount to much. they overrode his veto. it's just so cartoonishly evil. an entire state's political body so desperate to terrorize this one little trans girl.

OP the tags!!

I've been saying for over 10 years. Democrats need to take control of the Supreme Court or they control nothing at all

To be clear this happened THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. It is now TUESDAY. Who fucking knows what has happened the past three nights. If it's continued at this rate that would be 30,000 dead.

hawm

Hi there, I don't know what state you're from, but not only are there probably already protests and resistance organized to the logging, efforts like that Do Work.

I don't talk in much detail about my IRL work on here but I have learned this: all it takes is a mildly above average effort to reach out to someone who seems sort-of adjacent to knowledgeable to turn "30 people all privately seething" to "an organization with the power to create change."

like, literally just send emails to random people involved in conservation or research or who just Know Trees (maybe try someone who works at a local university?) until you find someone who can give you the email to someone else, and pretty soon you will have more contacts than you know what to do with. Do not underestimate the power of simply asking "Hi. I care about Thing. Can you point me toward someone who can help?"

It takes maximum 3 degrees of separation for you to tap into the random retired ladies that are leveraging Tactical Defense Karen abilities against habitat destruction 24/7, and damn, powerful things happen when a social media literate youngster joins forces with a confident, self-actualized boomer who is an unimpeachable pillar of their community and has like 80 close friends who are in influential positions everywhere.

I'd love to live like a river rock. Letting the water rush over my smooth slippery salamander body. Truly unprecedented levels of Vibing

I have felt similarly about being a whale but they have a level of intelligence that leads to a certain melancholy. Sometimes whales sound so lonely. Whales have intergenerational trauma. Like actually orcas have been known to avoid areas they've been captured from for decades afterwards. A giant salamander doesn't know anything

in our defense this is oil

some blood for oil

insane like/reblog parity on this post btw

Yay