Welcome back to the Lighthouse, and Happy Halloween! We’re preparing for our first year of actually handing out candy (and some fun non-candy alternatives), circumventing the issue of our cats panicking when someone knocks on the door by choosing to sit outside and hand it out directly. I’m still a bit nervous about how it’ll go, especially with the cold temperatures (and the fact that it’s snowing in Sheboygan today!), but I’m hopeful it’ll be an enjoyable three hours, or until we run out.
On the COVID-19 front, we’re moving into the time of year when flu season adds an additional layer of risk. Getting an updated flu vaccine as well as the updated COVID vaccine helps reduce the chances of severe illness, but it’s also important to practice other mitigation techniques, as well as wear a mask and utilizing other layers of protection to slow the spread of both COVID and other airborne illnesses. Unfortunately, the latest COVID vaccine rollout hasn’t been smooth (especially when our government has severely reduced funding for public education campaigns), with parents looking for pediatric versions having an especially hard time.
Now, onto the newsletter!
The seemingly benign phrase ‘parental rights’ hides a dangerous, anti-democratic, Christian nationalist movement
“But who are these ‘parents’? Not all of them are even parents themselves, let alone in the school districts where they’re seeking changes. What ‘rights’ do they believe they are entitled to? They are asking for changes that would actually deprive many others of rights, including basic safety in the classroom. Do they have any respect for the parents who have different views from them? They do not, and indeed, these efforts come from an extreme ideology that seeks to impose its views on all families.”
As Zack Ford says towards the end of this article, “It can seem conspiratorial to recognize the magnitude of conservatives’ efforts that are all underway under the guise of ‘parental rights.’” But unlike most conspiracy theories that make leaps in logic, fill in blanks with whatever is convenient, or just straight-up regurgitate racist ideas, the pieces are all in plain sight here. And the people who grew up within Christian nationalist movements have been sounding the alarm for a long time.
The first inklings of this specific move towards using “parent’s rights” may trace back to at least the ‘60s, and — unsurprisingly — it started primarily with schools. But what first aimed to strengthen homeschooling as an option has turned its aim back to public schools and trying to “change them from within” in order to force all kids to learn the way they want. Of course, this all ties back to the underlying aims of Christian nationalism — to force everyone is adhere to (their version of ) “Christian values.” Ottawa County in Michigan gives us one (terrifying) example of what that looks like in practice. So how did this fringe idea find such a strong foothold today?
According to research by the Public Religion Research Institute (PPRI) and Brookings Institution, it’s because Christian nationalism has found a foothold in the Republican Party, with some party members proudly declaring themselves to be Christian nationalists. And we can see how that feeds into everything from book bans to anti-trans laws to anti-abortion efforts to both ignoring and perpetuating racism. I wish I had some helpful thing to say to end this, a specific action item or resources on how to stop the spread of Christian nationalism. But the truth is, it’s too complex for a simple solution. If anything, this should be a starting point, a reminder of how all these things connect so we can more easily spot them and help uproot it in all of its forms. We owe it to ourselves, our neighbors, our communities, and all of the kids being raised through this.
See also: Xtra Magazine looks at how surrogacy laws are now being targeted, in line with all of the above. I need to do more research into this topic, but I have a feeling that if I finally got around to reading more of Sophie Lewis’ Full Surrogacy Now, it would help explain a lot!
What's Happening at Lakeshore Liberation?
Nothing new to share this time!
What’s Going on in Reproductive Justice
Guttmacher’s most recent Abortion Patient Survey showed that roughly 16% of people having abortions aren’t cisgender and/or straight. This further reinforces the need for inclusive, trans- and queer-informed abortion care and resources!
Big Fat Pregnancy shares Tips for Winter, Spring, Summer & Fall Babies on their blog, looking at how each season can present unique experiences — and challenges — for new babies and their parents. Many of these will apply regardless of how old your child is (or if you have them at all), so it’s a good read for everyone!
While the evidence and data discussed is specific to Australia, this article about gestational diabetes is relevant to those of us in the United States (and around the world). It looks at the ways in which over-diagnosing gestational diabetes, in part due to unreliable testing and lowered thresholds, may actually be leading to more harm than good.
If you’ve considered using a car seat head strap for your kid, experts warn that they may not be safe.
What’s Going on in Wisconsin
The title says it all: Wisconsin Trans Bans Meet Massive Resistance, 10,000 Pages Of Opposition Testimony. While the Wisconsin Assembly still passed the three terrible bills, they failed to get enough votes to override the upcoming veto from Governor Evers.
Speaking of Gov. Evers, he’s been working to bring back funding for child care in Wisconsin, announcing that he would direct $170 million in emergency federal funding towards the child care industry while being clear that this is a stopgap measure. It’s something, but he’s right about it being a stopgap. The Republican response has been, as expected, disappointing and out of touch.
While the headline is a little misleading — there have been many doulas of color in Milwaukee for a long time, both certified and not — it’s cool seeing WPR shining a light on the African American Breastfeeding Network’s doula training helping to bring more community-based Black and brown doulas to the Milwaukee area!
Milwaukee County became the first in Wisconsin to pass a “Rights of Nature” resolution, which County Executive David Crowley says is meant to “state clearly and unequivocally that Milwaukee County land and waterways deserves to be protected and maintained, to be healthy, robust and resilient.” While the resolution unfortunately doesn’t do anything other than show support for the movement, it’s seen as a first step in acknowledging the need to give legal protection and rights to nature.
What I've Been Reading
Erin in the Morning shares tips for trans people to avoid being duped into being used (and typically misquoted/deceptively edited) in anti-trans documentaries.
Devon Price shared a reflection on The Dawn of Everything that was so incredible, I’ve shared it just about everywhere else. Of course, it deserves a spot here as well!
What Does It Mean to Dismantle Racial Capitalism Anyway? These topics can feel very theoretical and hard to conceptualize at times, but this article helps cut through that by giving concrete examples to underscore its point.
What I'm Watching
I always take some time off around Halloween, and we’ve been using some of that time to watch more movies. So far this month, we watched V/H/S/85, re-watched The ABCs of Death and The Craft, and I showed my partner Possessor. We still hope to fit in more ~scary season~ movies, though!
What I'm Listening To
I’m finally caught up on a few more podcasts, including It’s Been a Minute. Here are a few episodes I really enjoyed while playing catch-up:
Are children a marginalized group? Brittany Luse tackles this topic, in part by talking to Jules Gill-Peterson and Sophie Lewis about family abolition. This was definitely one of my favorite episodes in a while, and I’d highly recommend it especially if this is a new topic for you!
Brittany also had a great chat with Virginia Sole-Smith about her new book, Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture. Not only is it a great interview, it’s always refreshing when NPR podcasts seriously engage with fat liberation and fat activism, given how shitty NPR has been overall with pushing weight loss industry drivel, especially in the past few years.
Over on Code Switch, a rerun episode from 2022 that I really enjoyed: The agony and ecstasy of parenting, a conversation between co-host Gene Demby and brilliant comedian Hari Kondabolu about their experiences with parenting.
Reveal is another podcast I’ve been slowly working to catch up on, so here are some stand-outs from that:
I found their three-part series The COVID Tracking Project to be especially eye-opening. It’s a bit of a long listen, but it’s well worth it.
I was really blown away by How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong. I keep hearing things in the news — maybe you have, too? — about things changing in public schools with how kids are taught to read, but having been out of school so long and not having kids of my own, I never really followed what they were talking about. Turns out, this is the podcast I needed to understand it. And wow, did it frustrate me.
Places to Donate To
Trans Lifeline has started their end of year fundraising campaign, highlighting the big impact that small donations can have! Whether you can give $5 or $50, any amount helps.
Donations to Dignity in Schools help to “empowers community-driven solutions that address the root causes and impacts of the school-to-prison-pipeline.”
Charlottesville-base activist Zyahna Bryant has been targeted by racist and anti-fat hate, so her cousin has been helping to raise funds to help Zy care for herself and keep herself safe.
Questions? Comments? Suggestions?
Feel free to share them below or contact me directly.