ACLU

Tuesday

Chris Mondics

Is the Supreme Court poised to back trans bans?

It’s been a less than stellar year for trans activists. Shortly after taking office last January, President Trump signed an executive order withholding federal funds from any school that permits biological men and boys from playing on women’s sports teams. Then in June the US Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law banning the use of puberty blockers and hormones for the treatment of young patients suffering from so-called gender dysphoria and seeking to change their gender identity. And on Tuesday the Supreme Court heard arguments in two cases brought by transgender athletes seeking to overturn laws in Idaho and West Virginia barring biological boys and men from playing on female sports teams at the state and local level.

Trans

Friday

Derek VanBuskirk

On the ground at the Sesame Street public media protest

Washington, DC The Sesame Street crew appeared at NPR headquarters to support a “Protect My Public Media” rally to protest President Donald Trump, Congress and the FCC yesterday. Big Bird, Elmo and Count von Count stood behind those who gave their prepared addresses. Around them stood nearly two dozen protesters carrying signs in support of NPR and PBS. One woman to the left of Elmo waved a banner that read, “No one voted for Elon Musk,” which she likely recycled from a previous protest. The rally was run by Protect My Public Media, an action network that aims to “protect the federal investment in public media.” Craig Aaron of the Free Press spoke first.

Wednesday

Amber Duke

Supreme Court hears arguments against puberty blocker ban

The Supreme Court today is hearing arguments against Tennessee’s statewide ban on prescribing puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy for minors with gender dysphoria. The challenge to the state law is being led by the Biden administration and the American Civil Liberties Union and is brought on behalf of three teens with gender dysphoria, their parents and a doctor. Their lawyer is also transgender. The Tennessee law came about during a period of very fraught debate over how to treat children who suffer from gender dysphoria.

Thursday

Jack Hunter

How did free speech become a right-wing value?

In early May, I explored the left’s reaction to billionaire Elon Musk potentially buying Twitter and his vow to make it a free speech platform again. Since then, Musk and his vision have repeatedly been portrayed as “right-wing.” It’s the damndest thing. Canadian Conservative politician Andrew Scheer picked up on this strange phenomenon back in April, saying that that the corporate media framing free speech as a “right wing value” was just plain weird. As though to drive home the point, Twitch’s Zachary Ryan called Musk a right-winger on Monday. And over the weekend, entrepreneur Samir Tabar had a question for a whiny Robert Reich: https://twitter.com/SamirTabar/status/1601984560345907200 Answer: since, well, now. The evolution of this trend is not new.

free speech

Tuesday

Ben Domenech

Meet the man taking on the anti-free-speech left

For the anti-free-speech left, the most dangerous man in America today is Greg Lukianoff. The president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education for the past 16 years, the free-speech attorney has now decided to guide the organization, previously focused on free-speech battles within academia, into the broader territory of free-speech battles across the nation. FIRE has been rebranded as the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, and Lukianoff intends to take it into space once occupied by free-speech stalwarts like the ACLU. He has a massive new investment from supporters to the tune of $75 million.