#equality federation

[archerinventive]

Pride month may be over, but that doesn't mean support for the community isn't still needed.

Here’s a list of a few resources you can use to help the LGBTQ+ community this month and for as long as it takes to rid the world of bigotry.

The Pride Foundation

The Equality Federation

Trans Veterans

The LGBT Aging Center

If you know of other trusted groups, please feel free to leave recommendations in the comments section. :)

Lots of love and well wishes to you all.

❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜

A  huge shout out to my wonderful crew Abie Eke, Calla  Parmly, Dawn Vice, Josephine Chang, Lexi the First, Rae, Taze Campbell, and Xero Nazarova, for being such amazing Pride Knights! ❤️ 

[laurenttheninth]

i have been a tommy-is-abby’s-tommy truther from the start idc about “ooh well why wouldn’t she know anyone at the 118” or “oooh why wouldn’t she have mentioned her ex was also a firefighter” idgaf it would be so fucking funny and im manifesting that this is one of the bucktommy hurdles let us all join hands in prayer 🙏🏻

[inniave]

Section 504 is under threat.

If you don't know, Section 504 says you can’t discriminate against disabled people if you get federal funding. This includes schools and hospitals; it covers situations such as ASL interpreters for deaf people in hospitals, letting students with type one diabetes receive insulin in schools, wheelchair accessibility, accommodations, and much more.

17 states are suing to completely overturn Section 504. Those states are: Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia. If Section 504 is overturned, the effects would be devastating.

If you live in one of those states, please contact your attorney general and tell them to drop the suit immediately. You can find the contact information for your AG & an example letter at the link below:

[political-us]

Second judge blocks Trump’s trans military ban: ‘The government’s arguments are not persuasive’

This is the second injunction against the policy, after Judge Ana Reyes called the ban “insulting” and said that it violated equal protection rights.

U.S District Court Judge Benjamin Settle, based in Tacoma, said that the administration has offered no explanation as to why transgender troops should be banned after trans service members have been in the military without issues for the last four years.

In his ruling, Settle said: “The government’s arguments are not persuasive, and it is not an especially close question on this record. The government’s unrelenting reliance on deference to military judgment is unjustified in the absence of any evidence supporting ‘the military’s’ new judgment reflected in the Military Ban.”

Trump signed an executive order on January 27 saying that being trans “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honourable, truthful, and disciplined, lifestyle, even in one’s personal life” and is harmful to military readiness.

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Dave Jamieson at HuffPost:

President Donald Trump’s attempt to abolish the U.S. Agency for International Development has stunned its employees and drawn outrage among Democrats on Capitol Hill. But it’s one of many brazen attacks on independent federal agencies as he seeks to expand executive power during his first days in office. On Jan. 27, the new president ousted a sitting Democratic member of the National Labor Relations Board, as well as two Democratic commissioners at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He eliminated a quorum at both bipartisan bodies, making them unable to carry out their normal duties. Then, on Thursday, Trump tried to boot the Democratic chairwoman of the Federal Election Commission, who said she had received a letter from the president ”purporting to remove me.” “There’s a legal way to replace FEC commissioners,” said the chairwoman, Ellen L. Weintraub. “This isn’t it.” With Senate approval, any president is free to fill out his Cabinet as he sees fit. But Trump is taking an axe to walls that have long stood between the White House and independent executive agencies that are supposed to operate free from presidential meddling. The NLRB and EEOC officials were in the middle of their congressionally mandated terms when Trump fired them without cause. The removals flew in the face of the statute as well as U.S. Supreme Court precedent and should dash any notion that Trump might act with a degree of restraint in his second term.

[...] The labor board usually has five members, with three from one party and two from the other. Their staggered five-year terms mean a Democratic majority can run into a Republican presidency, and vice versa, until one of the seats opens up and the president can install a new member. Due to two vacancies, the board held a 2-1 Democratic majority when Trump was inaugurated. It still had a quorum, by one member, to make rulings. Close observers did not expect Trump to try to fire one of the Democrats since he could achieve a GOP majority simply by nominating two Republicans and getting them through a Republican-controlled Senate. [...] With just two members and no quorum, the NLRB cannot adjudicate cases where an employer or union has filed an appeal. The board won’t be operating until either a judge reinstates Wilcox — she has filed a lawsuit arguing her firing was illegal — or Trump and Senate Republicans install new members, which they may be in no rush to do. Trump has left the EEOC in a similar dysfunctional state. The agency, which enforces workplace anti-discrimination laws, has stressed that it’s still fielding complaints and that its judges are hearing cases involving workers who believe their civil rights have been violated. However, it only has two commissioners —one Republican and one Democrat — who would be unable to issue new rules or policies until Trump installs new members. [...] The independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has also found itself in the White House’s crosshairs. On Saturday, Trump’s acting CFPB director ordered employees to halt their work and closed down the building, derailing an agency that protects consumers from predatory financial practices. Musk had previously said he wanted to “delete” the bureau. Sen. Chris Van Hollen said Trump and Musk aren’t trying to make the government more “efficient”— they’re simply going after regulatory agencies they dislike. “We are in dangerous territory because we see this sort of serial lawbreaking by Donald Trump and Elon Musk,” Van Hollen told HuffPost Monday. “It has nothing to do with efficiency... This is all about installing their cronies in key positions in government and shutting down agencies that help protect the American people.” Trump’s firings at independent agencies may be headed to the Supreme Court in a battle over the so-called unitary executive theory, which holds that the president has sole authority over executive branch agencies. The court’s conservative supermajority has generally taken a broad view of presidential power and could bless Trump’s takeover of bodies like the NLRB.

The Trump-Musk-Vance axis of evil are running roughshod over the independence of federal agencies to cement a far-right power grab.

See Also:

The Status Kuo (Jay Kuo): Blunting Their Attacks

[coochiequeens]

March 05, 2025 • By Nathalie Ebead

On 8 March, as the world observes International Women's Day and marks the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, it is essential to recognize the key roles women continue to play in Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement since the illegal 2021 military coup.

The military coup precipitated an unprecedented human rights and humanitarian crisis  in Myanmar severely impacting women and girls. 

In 2025, women and girls in Myanmar continue to bear the brunt of the ongoing crises and conflict in Myanmar: 10.4 million women and girls need humanitarian assistance, including 7.1 million women and 3.3 million girls. Women-headed households are 1.2 times more likely than male-headed households to live in poverty, and families with more children face higher risks.  Women and girls deal with a host of crisis-driven hardships, including the risk of forced conscription, early and child marriage, human trafficking, and gender-based violence. 

Deep-rooted patriarchal norms continue to relegate women to secondary roles in decision-making, making it difficult for them to participate in legislative and constitution drafting in Myanmar’s post-coup transition. Structural barriers such as a lack of legal protections, discriminatory practices, and economic barriers further hinder women’s full participation. 

Despite these challenges, women in Myanmar have shown exceptional resilience by stepping into leadership roles in politics, combat and the humanitarian field, driving grassroots activism, and advocating for equality and justice in their communities, contributing to a vision of a federal democratic union as outlined in the Federal Democracy Charter (FDC) . The FDC’s human rights provisions include gender equality and children’s rights, and a prohibition of discrimination on any grounds, including race, faith, gender, disability, and sexual orientation. The FDC also aims to build inclusive state institutions, establishing a Women Rights and Gender Equality Commission and including a 30 percent quota for women at all levels of decision-making in Myanmar’s future democratic institutions.

Women MPs and Ministers: Shaping the Future of Governance

Women MPs elected in the 2020 general elections joined the pro-democracy movement in 2021, establishing the Myanmar Women Parliamentary Network (MWPN) , a coalition of more than 100 female MPs from various ethnic groups and all states and regions of Myanmar, including those in exile and from conflict-affected areas, as a platform for collective action to strengthen women’s political participation. Women MPs continue to work as advocates for policy and legal frameworks that support gender equality and to participate in governance on state and regional level. Their increased outreach efforts to their constituents since 2023 in the form of in person townhall meetings in liberated areas address core issues such as women’s rights, service delivery including healthcare access and interim education, security, human rights protection and the prevention of gender-based violence, thereby promoting a more inclusive democracy that reflects the needs of all citizens.

In their outreach to the international community, the MWPN has worked to expand its network and relations with regional MPs and in global fora such as the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), organising regional exchanges on the challenges of women’s political participation, and amplifying the voices of Myanmar’s women. 

Watch the video by Aye Mya Mya Myo, the Chairperson of Myanmar’s Women Parliamentary Network (MWPN) on the challenges and work of the network:   

"If we were to mention the greatest challenge under Myanmar's current military rule, it is that some believe that the role of women and gender equality is no longer important. I, however, truly believe that women's leadership is the key to building a peaceful society. However, we cannot do it alone: we need to join forces and work together, unite and collaborate more effectively. This is crucial for women in Myanmar to be able to take on more leadership roles and work towards a just and equal society." Aye Mya Mya Myo, Chairperson MWPN

Women have also taken up ministerial roles within the National Unity Government (NUG),  leading key Ministries such as education, health, and social welfare as well as the Ministry of Women, Youth, and Children Affairs. Furthermore, the Interim Gender Equality Policy (2024-2026) was recently adopted by the government, prioritizing Myanmar’s efforts to ensure gender-responsive governance, strengthen women’s political participation, economic empowerment and social protection, advance women, peace, and security efforts, and secure a better response to gender-based violence.

Grassroots Leadership and Peacebuilding

Women in Myanmar have emerged as leaders of grassroots movements, which are essential to the fabric of the pro-democracy struggle. The Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) has seen significant contributions from women who organize protests, share resources, and provide essential humanitarian support to communities impacted by the coup. 

The voices of civil society and disadvantaged groups, particularly women, youth, and ethnic minorities, must be heard and integrated in the political processes shaping a future Myanmar. Practical strategies to promote coalition building and financial support to empower women are essential, including creating supportive networks and training programs to allow them to effectively participate in political processes and to deliver humanitarian aid to the most vulnerable. The sudden and significant loss of funding that has already occurred this year will severely impact the ability of women’s organisations and the CDM to continue providing life-saving assistance and to participate in shaping a future democratic Myanmar.

A Vision for the Future

As we celebrate International Women’s Day, it is vital to acknowledge the sacrifices and achievements of women in Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement. Their courage, leadership, and relentless advocacy not only inspire future generations but also frame a vision for a just and equitable society.

Moving forward, it is essential that the international community continues to support the efforts of Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement to make the necessary structural changes for women's inclusion and representation. Strategies must be implemented that prioritize women's voices in all areas of decision-making, from community-level initiatives to national governance combined with financial support, resources, and capacity-building for women-led advocacy initiatives.

To read more about women’s challenges of political participation since the coup and proposed strategies to promote gender equality, please go to Inclusion and Gender Equality in Post-Coup Myanmar: Strategies for Democratic Constitutional Reform – Perspectives and Key Takeaways. For further International IDEA resources on gender equality and Myanmar please visit:

Preventing Gender Based Violence in Myanmar A Guide to being an effective advocate for gender equality International IDEA Gender Quota Database Constitution Assessment for Women’s Equality Women in Conflict and Peace

[americanmouse]

Why does this keep happening?

[frigidlyauthorial]

endlessly fascinated by the career trajectories of ben wyatt and leslie knope

[claraameliapond]

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker: 'Abortion Is Not a Dirty Word'

[they-them-van]

Now that the tournament is wrapped up I'll first say that even with all the bullshit that came along with it, I still feel so privileged to be able to watch the growth of women's sports in real time like this. There was so much Black joy, so much colonized joy, so much queer joy, and I hope nobody loses sight of how radical the wwc and woso are at the roots. The players are succeeding with quite literally every odd stacked against them in some cases, and i desperately hope that with a spotlight shined on some of the inequalities we've seen, it might get better.

Having said that, I hate that Spain won. It's nothing against the players and everything against Vilda; I ache for the players who watched the final knowing that with a win, with the federation backing Vilda, their careers might be over. I'm still kind of in disbelief that after this incredible tournament, this is somehow where we ended up. And I hope that if you're feeling similar to me, that feeling will serve as a reminder that we are not done yet. Growth isn't good enough if it comes at the cost of players' well-being.

[blondebrainpowered]

GIF by Boomunderground

[qnewsau]

Five weeks to make your rainbow vote count as Federal Election called

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/five-weeks-to-make-your-rainbow-vote-count-as-federal-election-called/

Five weeks to make your rainbow vote count as Federal Election called

Five weeks to make your rainbow vote count as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese calls a Federal Election for May 3rd.

The election campaign is officially underway as Labor and Liberal start a race to the polls.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced this morning that the date of the Federal Election will be Saturday, 3rd May.

At Parliament House, Prime Minister Albanese said Australians’ “vote has never been more important”.

“What I want is a campaign about policy substance and about hope and optimism for our country.”

“I’m optimistic about Australia,

“This election is a choice between Labor’s plan to keep building or Peter Dutton’s promise to cut.

“That is the choice. That is your choice.”

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Anthony Albanese (@albomp)

Rainbow votes hold real power.

Equality Australia has called a Rainbow Votes Election Forum for next month.

“There are about a million LGBTIQ+ voters across the country and our rainbow votes hold real power.” Anna Brown said in a statement,

“This year it’s crucial that whoever wins government,”

“Or has a role in the new parliament,

“Is committed to advancing the rights and freedoms of LGBTIQ+ people.”

The event is being hosted by Equality Australia, Health Equity Matters, InterAction for Health and Human Rights and LGBTIQ+ Health Australia.

Held in Sydney on 15th April, the free forum will be live-streamed for all across the country to watch.

The Rainbow Votes Election Forum will give you the chance to hear our political representatives discuss the issues and policies that matter most to our communities.

These include access to appropriate health care, protections against discrimination and support for rainbow families and more.

Courtney Act will be moderating the forum, so it will not only be an informative night, but a fun one as well.

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Equality Australia (@equalityaustralia)

For the latest LGBTIQA+ Sister Girl and Brother Boy news, entertainment, community stories in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Check out our latest magazines or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

[democracyunderground]

BIDEN: leads Minnesota, (Virginia tie) from "270 To Win".

TRUMP: leads Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina,

Michigan, (New Jersey), Arizona, Nevada.

PRESIDENT National-General Election Polls "538"

I think JOE might nominate KAMALA : )

And, Again, Make American History.

[coochiequeens]

I wonder how he fared compared to the boys teams.

PrintBy Valerie Richardson - The Washington Times - Sunday, May 18, 2025

It was a great weekend for transgender track athlete A.B. Hernandez, but not so much for the California teen’s female competitors. The male-born athlete won gold medals in the girls’ long jump and triple jump Saturday at the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section Division 3 Finals at Moorpark High School, reigniting outrage from the defenders of single-sex girls’ sports.

“A boy just took a girl’s spot AGAIN at CIF Finals,” Sonja Shaw, president of the Chino Valley Unified School District Board of Education, wrote in a post on X. “This is NOT equality, it’s erasure.”

She and others urged President Trump to make good on his threat to pull federal funding from California for failing to abide by his Feb. 5 executive order, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”

The federation has said it will continue to comply with state law requiring schools to allow students to compete based on gender identity, prompting the Department of Education to launch a Title IX investigation.

The Jurupa Valley High School junior won the girls’ triple jump with a leap of 41 feet and 4 inches, surpassing Crean Lutheran High School junior Reese Hogan’s second-place mark by more than four feet.

Hernandez also took first in the long jump with a mark of 19 feet and 2.75 inches, several inches ahead of La Canada senior Katie McGuinness’s 18 feet and 9 1/2 inches. Hernandez also took seventh place in the high jump, according to results posted on Athletic.net.

The finishes make Hernandez a favorite to medal in at least two events at the CIF State Track and Field Championships, which are scheduled for May 30-31 at Buchanan High School in Clovis.

Former All-American swimmer Riley Gaines offered congratulations to Hogan, calling her “the real champion of yesterday’s triple jump at the CIF Southern Section Finals.”

“She set a new PR and school record,” Gaines wrote on X. “The boy standing atop the podium holding up a ’number 1’ is a fraud enabled by @CIFSS, @CA_Dem & @CAgovernor.”

She referred to the federation as well as California Democratic legislators, who killed legislation in April to bar male-born athletes in female sports, and Gov. Gavin Newsom, who called the situation “deeply unfair” in March but has taken no public action to address the issue.

Hernandez denied having an unfair physical advantage in an interview last week, citing an eighth-place finish in the high jump and third-place finish in the long jump at the May 10 preliminary meet.

“All I thought was, I don’t think you understand that this puts your idiotic claims to trash. ‘She can’t be beat because she’s biologically male.’ Now you have no proof that I can’t be beat,” Hernandez said in the May 15 interview with Capital & Main.

Hernandez added, “I’ve trained so hard. I mean, hours of conditioning every day, five days a week. Every day since November, three hours after school. And then all of summer, no summer break for me.”

Advocates for single-sex female sports argue that male-born athletes have physical advantages that females cannot match, including greater muscle mass, lower body fat, stronger bones, and greater lung and heart capacity.

Nereyda Hernandez, the athlete’s mother, has been outspoken in her child’s defense, accusing detractors of bullying and harassment.

“Her identity doesn’t give her an advantage; it gives her courage,” Ms. Hernandez wrote in a May 11 statement on Instagram. “It takes immense bravery to show up, compete, and be visible in a world that often questions your very right to exist, let alone to participate.”

[aurianneor]

There is a lack of democracy, justice and unity in the United States.

The choice is limited: Biden or Trump.

People who vote for Joe Biden are choosing a country where citizens co-exist with equal rights. People who vote for Trump are choosing a country where people co-exist but with unequal access to the law. For his voters, Donald Trump, despite all his imperfections, will re-establish in law inequalities considered natural.

From the outset, the United States has been divided into three ideological blocs. An inclusive Northeast, where everyone had equal rights, with a strong welfare state that looked after those most in need. This was hygienism, the “Nanny State”. A libertarian West where people are equal, with the state reduced to a minimum. The value of freedom is essentially linked to private property: I do what I want with what belongs to me. A Southeast with a strong state that interferes in citizens’ private lives and believes that there are natural inequalities. For them, the law must reflect these inequalities.

In 1776, at the time of Independence, the priority of the Founding Fathers was to get rid of the sovereign, the King of England. This oppressor used force. A union was needed to overthrow him. This union was the priority for 150 years. The U.S. Constitution gave citizens rights to please the Northeast (e.g., equality before the law), freedoms to please the West (e.g., having a gun) and inequalities to please the Southeast (e.g., a black man voted 3/4 as much as a white man). A union of states has been created, not a union of peoples.

The states are sovereign, not the people. It’s high time to change this constitution and give democracy to the United States of America.

In the mid-19th century, massive immigration to the United States began. Immigrants arrived in the Northeast, where the Welfare State was in place. They were fleeing autocracies and seeking rights. The Northeast was more populous than the Southeast. Equal rights made the Northeast richer, because it gave anyone the opportunity to contribute to innovation. The North created cotton-picking machines. This challenged slavery in the Southeast. The Southeast took up arms because they rejected these laws considered unnatural. The South thus betrayed the Constitution by rebelling. The American West, which morally condemned the South, made an alliance with the Northeast. The Southeast lost after a terrible war (the Civil War). There was never any justice: there was no act that recognized that the South had done anything unacceptable. There was no moral condemnation. The South-East rewrote history, saying that they were right and that if they hadn’t succeeded it was only a question of strength. They built an imaginary world in which they were victims. The union was lost. There was no democracy: it was a union of states. Each state is represented unequally, not according to population. A citizen’s vote carries more or less weight depending on the state in which he or she votes. Access to the vote differs from one state to another.

What corresponds to the Democrats today is an alliance of the Northeast and the West, which have profound political differences, particularly on the importance and role of the State. The Northeast wants a state that takes care of people’s daily lives, while the West wants a minimalist state. There is no united bloc against the South-East. This North versus South bloc is now found in every state. There is now a city (Democrat) versus country (Republican) bloc.

The Trump vote is an originalist vote, i.e. a vote that recognizes inequalities as natural and written in the constitution. Faced with this bloc, a leader who imposes a new constitution to establish true democracy in the United States is needed, who convinces of the importance of equality before the law and who convinces Americans of the importance of unity, it is necessary to live together. Democracy, justice and unity.

Joe Biden is an old man. He doesn’t have the energy for change. The same questions and issues are still there four years after he took office. He needs to retire.

There are many talented Democrats who can bring together the ideologies of the Northeast and the West: California Governor Gavin Newsom or Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, for example.

Trump’s camp stands up with force. We need an energetic leader who knows how to convince.

Rather than opposing two candidates who must bring together different ideologies, a more direct democracy should be introduced so that citizens can express their opinions on a project-by-project basis. When will we see a referendum based on popular initiative, with access to the vote for all, and where every vote counts in the same way?

Why federalism has become risky for American democracy: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/why-federalism-has-become-risky-for-american-democracy/

The Myth of Reconstruction – PBS: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/reconstruction-myth/

New Rule: No National Divorce! | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO): https://youtu.be/OJAbWwTrhUI?si=8XWA8nbMzXZ7EFsn

Translated with DeepL.com

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Seulement deux candidats: https://www.aurianneor.org/seulement-deux-candidats/

Having the majority of political power without the majority of votes: https://www.aurianneor.org/having-the-majority-of-political-power-without-the-majority-of-votes/

Trump’s shadows: https://www.aurianneor.org/trumps-shadows-elections-the-electoral-college/

Will you get what you expect from Trump? Chaos is unpredictable: https://www.aurianneor.org/will-you-get-what-you-expect-from-trump-chaos-is-unpredictable/

Oui au Référendum d’initiative populaire: https://www.aurianneor.org/oui-au-referendum-dinitiative-populaire-petition/

Police and justice for the people: https://www.aurianneor.org/police-and-justice-for-the-people/

Freedom and coexistence: https://www.aurianneor.org/freedom-and-coexistence/

Législatives 2024: choisir la gauche ou la droite.: https://www.aurianneor.org/legislatives-2024-choisir-la-gauche-ou-la-droite/

2024 UK general election: choosing the Right or the Left.: https://www.aurianneor.org/2024-uk-general-election-choosing-the-right-or-the-left/

Electing is not voting: https://www.aurianneor.org/electing-is-not-voting-oui-au-referendum/