Welcome back to the Lighthouse! I’m in the midst of setting up a new website so I can move off of Wix, which is a much more tedious process than I anticipated. I have a couple of weeks before my current plan renews, but I’m trying to get it done sooner rather than later. As a result, I’ve had less time to spend on the Lighthouse this month, so expect a shorter newsletter than usual.
A variety of notable days happen each March, including Disability Day of Mourning and the start of Women’s History Month on the first, Abortion Provider Appreciation Day on the tenth, and Transgender Day of Visibility on the 31st, among others. We also passed the 5 year anniversary of the official declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was marked by many with Long Covid calling on the broader public to not forget this on-going pandemic and how it has affected (and continues to affect) so many. Truthout reports on how “vaccine skeptics” took a hold during this pandemic and are putting us all at risk of future outbreaks. I continue to look to resources like The People’s CDC to fill in the informational gaps created by the current administration.
Now, onto the newsletter!
No spotlight topic this week!
What's Happening at Lakeshore Liberation?
As mentioned earlier, I’m working on a new website! Admittedly, it feels a bit silly to be revamping my website when I’m not actively offering services yet, but it feels good to get two things done at once. More to come!
What’s Going on in Reproductive Justice
Despite midwives’ long history and evidence routinely demonstrating how helpful their care is to pregnant and laboring people, multiple states are targeting midwives, both for not meeting confusing and nonsensical state-by-state rules around who can practice as a midwife and for offering abortion care. This is especially frustrating when maternal deaths — which have dropped for all other race and ethnicity groups — have increased for Black people in recent years, on top of them already facing much higher rates overall, and knowing that midwifery care plays an important role in reducing maternal mortality rates (among many other positive impacts).
Texas continues to attack safe abortion access, with Republican legislators introducing a bill that, “targets tech companies that allow patients to order abortion pills online and nonprofit funds that help them travel out of state for care and gives new power to the state’s attorney general to prosecute abortion providers.” It would also give the “biological father of the unborn child” — you know, the group of people most responsible for the leading cause of death for pregnant people — the ability to file civil suits against abortion pill providers in the event their pregnant partner uses them. This comes as no surprise when Republicans see people who can get pregnant as useful only for their reproductive potential and their fear of declining
worker stockbirth rates.
What’s Going on in Wisconsin
Wisconsin’s April 1st election is tomorrow (at the time of this newsletter going out), and I highly encourage anyone who hasn’t already and is able to to vote! What’s on your ballot will vary by your location, but one race that will be on all ballots is the State Supreme Court special election to replace a retiring liberal justice. Susan Crawford’s election would help maintain the liberal majority, whereas Brad Schimel — the Musk-backed, anti-abortion conservative judge who thinks people (especially women) are “too emotional” to be be “objective” — would tip it back to a conservative majority.
While Wisconsin Republicans continue to try to make life worse for queer and trans people under the guise of “protecting children,” queer and trans youth in Wisconsin are pushing back against people trying to speak over them by saying loudly and clearly that these actions are hurting them. And while there is so much more we need to be doing right now to protect queer and trans people (especially youth), amplifying those voices matters. We just witnessed how import direct testimony can be in the story of Larry Jones, the 85-year-old conservative man who came to a hearing in support of these anti-trans bills but took the time to listen to the testimonies of people targetted by them and changed his mind — and then signed himself up to provide testimony sharing about how he had been wrong when he first came there.
Primary care providers are increasingly worried about vaccine skepticism and what is being called vaccine fatigue, a general ambivalence about getting vaccinated or understanding the seriousness of the diseases they prevent. Part of this is due to flu rates falling during the early days of the COVID pandemic, when we had actual public health measures in place that prevented the spread of both COVID and the flu, which made it harder for providers to point to high cases of the flu as a reason to vaccinate; when people don’t see the threat right in front of them, they can easily ignore it, despite how counter-productive that is. Between this apathy and increased vaccine skepticism fueled by misinformation, it’s especially worrying as measles spreads.
What I've Been Reading
As Israel broke the ceasefire and resumed their massacring of entire families, people who dared speak out against the on-going genocide have been kidnapped by the state and threatened with deportation despite legally living here. Starting with Mahmoud Khalil, who has since spoken out about being a political prisoner after being detained and disappeared in front of his pregnant wife, this troubling trend continues with people like research fellow Badar Khan Suri. For more information and resources, UUs for Justice in the Middle East (UUJME) has a page dedicated to freeing Mahmoud and stopping Project Esther.
Devon Price wrote a very thought-provoking piece on Sex Neutrality that I really enjoyed. Highly recommend!
What I'm Watching
I can’t believe it took me this long to finally watch Knives Out, but wow, did I enjoy it! I think all of the hype around it when it first came out made me hesitant to look into it more (after all, so much of what I heard seemed more focused on all the big names in it, not the plot itself), but I really missed out on this unique twist on the “whodunnit” genre. We are very much looking forward to checking out Glass Onion next!
What I'm Listening To
For more on Mahmoud Khalil’s case, Code Switch discusses, “why Khalil's arrest should worry all of us.”
From Movement Memos, We Must Burst Our Algorithmic Bubbles and Build Together Across Difference is a timely discussion between host Kelly Hayes and organizer and author Mariame Kaba on the collective courage we need to take in working together.
Another recently-unlocked Death Panel episode that I really enjoyed is The New Lavender Scare, which looks at the history of the Lavender Scare and how it tied in with the Red Scare, while posing the question: is this a new Lavender Scare, or did the original Lavender Scare never end?
Throughline brings back an episode from 2020 about Health Insurance in America that looks at the history of how health insurance got tied to employers.
Places to Donate To & Actions to Take
Mika Turbo, a trans man I’m acquainted with through social media, is getting top surgery! He is looking for donations to cover the cost of recovery, and he’s about 78% of the way to that goal. Please donate if you can and share!
Liz, the partner of another social media acquaintance, is also getting gender affirming surgery this year! She is raising funds for the surgery itself and all associated costs (recovery, time spent not working, etc). As always, please donate if you can and share!
The National Network of Abortions Fund-A-Thon is in full swing!
Care for All is an independent nonprofit health center working towards opening in Milwaukee to fill gaps in abortion care here, and they need our help in making it a reality! You can learn more and donate via their donation site.
The CLF (the UU congregation I recently joined) includes the prison ministry that serves incarcerated UUs. The CLF Worthy Now Prison Ministry is in its fundraising season, and all money raised goes directly towards keeping these members connected to their community and their faith. If you’re able to give, please do!
I got signed up for another CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture) share from Greenbush Growing Cooperative this year, and I’m so excited about it! They’re still looking for more sign-ups (although they may run out of spots soon, so act fast!), and they also re-added the option to pay in installments if you can’t afford to pay all at once.
POWERS is now offering the Caretaking The Caretaker Grant, which provides, “[f]ull or partial sponsorship for Black, Brown, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) who engage in birthwork, bodywork, mindfulness, mental health and reproductive justice advocacy and support for BIPOC communities.” If you or someone you know could benefit from this, apply or share it today!
Questions? Comments? Suggestions?
Feel free to share them below or contact me directly.