"They are taking over the airwaves.”
Vol 4, Issue 2: February 2024
Welcome back to the Lighthouse! This may be a short month (even with the leap day), but this issue of the newsletter sure isn’t. As February comes to an end, it’s hard to believe we’re still in winter. Temperatures have been unseasonably high, to the point that wildfire season has already started in some areas of Wisconsin1. We’re also closing out Black History Month (and Black Futures Month), but as always, that doesn’t mean it’s time to stop centering either. Especially when it comes to history, we should always be digging deeper into what we (think we) know, such as by examining the sanitizing and co-opting of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s radical work, learning more about the robust organizing that went into the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the women that made it happen, and learning about Black trailblazers who we aren’t typically taught about. There is so much to learn from the long history of Black organizing that can be applied to a modern Black liberation praxis, even while new and innovative ideas and actions are being created. And remember, children can and should be included in liberation efforts as well — there are many age-appropriate ways to help them learn and be a part of change!
I want to a take a moment to highlight the extreme sacrifice of Aaron Bushnell, the 25-year-old US airman who self-immolated in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., to protest U.S. complicity in Israel’s on-going genocide in Gaza (and as some have said, possibly to spur fellow military members in particular to reject their complicity as well). He explained in the livestream of this action: “I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it’s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.” After setting himself on fire, he shouted “Free Palestine!” until he physically couldn’t. You can read more about him (and his history, including how he became an anarchist while in the military) through his own words and from the perspectives of friends on CrimethInc’s site.
Shockingly, he is actually the second person who self-immolated in protest against the genocide. Due to the limited coverage of it in December, we don’t even know the name of the person that did the first one, nor if she survived or not, as far as I could find. At the same time, playwright Victor I. Cazares has stopped taking their HIV medication for three months now, and they will continue this protest until the New York Theatre Workshop calls for a ceasefire. It’s no wonder people are being pushed to these extremes to spur action against the horrors of this genocide when nearly 30,000 Palestinians have been murdered to date, spreading starvation could cause another 700,000 to die, and 1 in 10 children under 5 are already malnourished, all while the U.S. once again vetoes a ceasefire. I’ve shared some ways to take action in previous newsletters, but here are a couple of additions: Familiarize yourself with the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and take part in whichever ways apply to your life. Refuse to pay for war. Take part in Flood the Post, either on your own or with others.
On the COVID-19 front, Wisconsin continues to be in the Very High category per wastewater testing. Despite high levels continuing throughout the country, the CDC is considering doing away with the already-too-short 5 day isolation guidelines for those who test positive, which some believe they are considering to address people losing wages (and employers losing worker’s time) and needing extra child care while isolating. But as Dr. Lara Jiramanus of The People’s CDC said, “Rather than ending isolation, the US should ensure paid sick leave for all.” To be blunt, we need to stop putting the profits of the wealthy over the health, safety, and care of everyone else. On a related note, updated vaccine uptake is still low in Wisconsin, and even that protection fades over time. But getting the vaccine (as well as mitigating risk in other ways, such as with consistent, high-quality masking and improving air quality) can be helpful, especially for pregnant people and their babies. Our government’s push for things to go “back to normal” doesn’t make the risks of COVID disappear and further pushes the worst effects onto the most vulnerable people, so it’s important to do what we can to keep ourselves and our communities safe!
Now, onto the newsletter!
Has life improved for transgender Americans in the last 10 years? Not really.
“As trans people face continuing economic and health disparities, those in states passing anti-trans laws are also faced with a difficult, or even financially impossible choice — whether or not to leave. Across the South, thousands of trans people are moving because of state-level anti-trans laws impacting them.”
The National Center for Transgender Equality released early insights from their 2022 U.S. Transgender Survey, whose full results are still being analyzed and will be released in the future. Unfortunately — and perhaps as expected — the results aren’t great in terms of positive change since the last survey. I won’t get into the finer details, since this article from the 19th does a good job of providing an overview and comparisons of the numbers to previous results. But the overall picture seems to be that, while those that have transitioned — especially those using HRT — overwhelmingly feel satisfied with the impact it has had on their lives, and a majority reported acceptance from their families, the material impacts of anti-transness still exist (and have gone up in most cases). There are still disparities in access to medical care (both in being able to afford it and getting care without facing discrimination), over a third of respondents reported experiencing poverty, unemployment was still high, past and present experiences with homelessness were high, and rates of harassment were still high (both online and in person), especially for students. A large percentage of respondents also considered or already had moved to another area due to discrimination and actions by their state governments.
This isn’t to say that the entire report is all doom and gloom. But on the other hand, I also think it’s important to keep in mind that 56% of respondents were white, which may skew the overall results until things are further broken down by demographics. I would argue that what we’re seeing in these results so far highlights the pieces of trans liberation that are often overlooked (in favor of things like personal identity “validity” or recognition by the State), primarily concerning the material needs of trans people. If we had universal healthcare, for example, as well as mutual aid networks to help with sharing things like HRT (including DIY HRT), how might that improve the material conditions of trans people? What if we challenged Capitalism to end poverty? What if we didn’t tie basic necessities — food, housing, healthcare, clean water, etc. — to having money through employment? What if we didn’t rely on police to keep us safe (especially when they actually make trans people less safe) and instead created communities of care and protection?
I’m thinking of Nex Benedict as I write this, the 16-year-old of Choctaw ancestry who identified somewhere under the Two Spirit, transgender, and gender nonconforming umbrella, although sources have been contradictory on which term they used. From what we know right now, he2 and his friends had been facing on-going bullying at school, and things came to a head during a confrontation in the girls bathroom, which Nex was required to use despite not being a girl thanks to anti-trans policies. This sparked a physical fight that ended with Nex needing help getting to the nurse’s office. The school was aware of what had happened but did not call an ambulance or report it to the police. It wasn’t until after Nex went home that they were taken to the hospital. After being released and sent home, he was back in the hospital the following day and was later pronounced dead.
As many have pointed out, the violence against them lies at the intersection of anti-transness and anti-Indigineity, which go hand-in-hand. Nex’s murder (and I feel comfortable calling it that, despite the fact that it hasn’t been officially announced yet — either way, they were still violently attacked after long-term bullying and died soon after) is a reminder of what rising Christo-fascism brings, and it calls for us all to commit even stronger to a robust trans liberation effort. We can’t keep waiting on the State to care about trans people, especially when its existence is founded on eliminating anything outside of the strict gender binary — after all, it was enforced and spread through colonialism3. We need to start demanding what we need to ensure the most marginalized amongst us are able to lead full, safe lives, while also building stronger communities that can stand up to fascism and win. Let us honor the memory of Nex by building a future that is safe for trans youth!
See also: Kai Cheng Thom talks freedom of speech and freedom of expression through a queer and trans liberation lens. CTOAN is doing a fundraiser in honor of Nex, based on sales of the gorgeous trans flag candles they sell, as well as other items like stickers.
What's Happening at Lakeshore Liberation?
Nothing new to share this time!
What’s Going on in Reproductive Justice
Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski is pushing for his appeal of the Dane County ruling that the 1849 law does not prohibit abortion to be taken directly by the State Supreme Court instead of waiting for the lower appellate court to make a ruling. Given the current makeup of our state’s Supreme Court, this seems like a good idea, since it’ll speed up the process and is likely to end in the initial ruling being upheld. At the same time, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin is asking them to consider whether our state constitution protects the right to an abortion. However, it always bears repeating that even with abortion being legal in Wisconsin, many barriers still exist that we need to address as well.
As the reproductive health crisis worsens in Gaza while the US and 15 other counties suspend funding to UNRWA, many reproductive organizations in the US are both failing to step up and show support for Palestinians, material or otherwise, and silencing workers who talk about the genocide. As one anonymous source from the Prism article said, “By being silent and complicit, we are normalizing the idea that we can betray our values. Period. It’s really not that complicated; we either believe in reproductive rights everywhere for everyone, or we don’t.”
In a case involving frozen embryos at a fertility clinic being dropped by a patient and destroyed, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos outside the womb are children, despite the obvious fact that no one would ever consider routinely freezing children. Based on the majority opinion and statements made by those involved, this is a direct result of efforts by anti-abortion activists to define embryos as children (specifically rooted in Christian doctrine) whose rights supersede the rights of the person carrying the pregnancy. This should come as no surprise, as this is what happens when we take that idea to its logical extreme. In the chaos surrounding this decision, fertility clinics across Alabama are suspending IVF services to avoid the legal risks, as they assess their options from here. Alabama governor Kay Ivey voiced support for legislation that protects IVF (and IVF only, but not abortion, of course) by “clarify[ing] that embryos are not viable unless they are implanted in a uterus,” while national efforts are underway to protect IVF as well. Funnily enough, this distinction of saying they’re only “viable” once they are implanted in the uterus isn’t even based on science, since even implanted embryos can be nonviable. Meanwhile, in Oklahoma, a Republican state representative has introduced a bill that follows similar “life beings at conception” logic and would ban emergency contraception (the “morning-after pill”) as a result (although even this is based on their misunderstanding of how emergency contraception works, as the article touches on). We’ll have to see where things go from here, but frankly, all of this is exactly what reproductive justice and abortion activists have been warning would happen. Full reproductive freedom and justice for all!
What’s Going on in Wisconsin
An update on the Bad River tribe’s fight against Enbridge’s Line 5. What stands out to me is that the increased risk of environmental devastation from leaving the pipeline where it is is due to the riverbank getting closer to the pipeline. They cite flooding from last spring, but it wouldn’t be a leap to point out that climate change causes the conditions for flooding and riverbank erosion, which the oil in the pipeline in question contributes to.
Governor Evers signed in new legislative maps (which apply to the state Assembly and state Senate districts) that were passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature, which were identical to maps Evers had proposed and that they had previously rejected. WPR explores the history of the battle against gerrymandered maps in Wisconsin that got us here and what it will mean for future elections, as well upcoming related legal challenges. While these maps are an improvement, they still slightly favor Republicans, and it’s a shame we won’t get to see what the State Supreme Court would have come up with.
Outright banning books from libraries isn’t the only censorship strategy being used — now some places, like Kenosha, are asking for “secure, adult-only” areas to house supposedly “pornographic/adult” content, despite libraries not carry pornographic content. As with all attempts like this, we all know what they’re talking about when they talk about “obscene” content: anything related to sex ed, queer/trans material, and honest accounts of racism and Black history/narratives.
What I've Been Reading
In January, I finished reading Harriet McBryde Johnson’s autobiographical Too Late to Die Young: Nearly True Tales from a Life. In my review for it, I mentioned a particular part that stood out to me, where she talks about her fears of being forced into a nursing home after a hospital stay following a fall injury. I brought up how chilling this part of the book was, as well as how I had later learned that Harriet continued to live — and later died — in her own home, but that not everyone was so lucky. It just so happens that a case relating to this is happening right now, in which 18-year-old Alexis Ratcliff is being sued by the hospital she’s been in since she was in her early teens. They want her to move to a nursing home — and one out of state, at that — but she is fighting for her right to get in-home care in her own place.
Speaking of Harriet McBryde Johnson, I followed up Too Late to Die Young with the YA fiction book she wrote as well, Accidents of Nature. I noted that it’s a somewhat dated read in my review, and so there were aspects that were challenging to read, but I overall enjoyed it and think it presents a lot to consider about ableism, especially internalized ableism.
This month, I read Jules Gill-Peterson’s newest book, A Short History of Trans Misogyny. It was a fantastic and insightful read that I would highly recommend! I followed it up with Miss Major Speaks: The Life and Times of a Black Trans Revolutionary, which complimented it and had some overlaps, and I’d definitely recommend that one as well.
Devon Price’s new book, Unlearning Shame, is out! I haven’t had a chance to pick up a copy yet, but he did share an excellent excerpt that explains why shame doesn’t work.
This Instagram post from Seeding Sovereignty briefly explains what’s happening in the Congo and gives ways to take action.
What I'm Watching
I wish I could remember who recommended this video, but I finally got around to watching Matt Walsh is WRONG about sex | The Biological Sex Constellation. Even if you’re not familiar with Matt Walsh, this video is a nice overview of the biological sex constellation, using the model of iPhone settings to help explain it. (Be aware that it does show some clips of Matt Walsh being anti-trans, since that’s partially what this is in response to!)
What I'm Listening To
I’m behind on most of my podcasts (except Democracy Now!), so nothing to share here this time!
Places to Donate To
BAD RIVER, a new documentary film that chronicles, “the Wisconsin-based Bad River Band and the Band’s ongoing fight for sovereignty,” will be playing in select theaters in March. If there’s a showing in your area, know that 50% of all profits will be donated to the Bad River Band! However, you can also directly donate to them via mail by following the instructions at the bottom of this page. They don’t have the film available for order otherwise at this point, but it should be coming soon!
Duha Latif, a 29 year old teacher from Gaza, is raising funds to evacuate her family from the area in hopes of finding safety.
A Mutual Aid Support Network has been organized with Palestinians on the ground and in the diaspora to “support basic survival including relocation fees for those seeking to leave, natal and postnatal care, the cost of tents and basic living supplies under excruciating circumstances and limitations imposed by genocidal violence.” They also list additional ways to support them on the right side of the page, in the updates!
Everyday Birth Magazine is fundraising for Spring/Summer 2024!
Questions? Comments? Suggestions?
Feel free to share them below or contact me directly.
This on-going warming is also having an impact on Monarch habitats and, as a result, populations. While more wide-scale approaches are needed, I wanted to include a small plug for planting native milkweed if you’re able to! We have some in our backyard that was here when we moved in, but we really need to spread it out and add more. Even with the few plants we have, it’s always incredible to see all the butterflies come around!
Nex has been said to use they/them pronouns by some and he/him by others in their life, so I want to respect both throughout.
Jules Gill-Peterson talks about this in A Short History of Trans Misogyny, and I’d recommend reading this book if it’s not a concept you’re familiar with or are looking to learn more about!