04/12/24

Good morning! It’s Friday, April 12th.

Day of Silence.

Day of Silence was created in 1996 and is a campaign meant to focus on the silencing of our LGBTQ+ youth that takes place, every single day, in classroom, workplaces, sports, and legislation.

And now, the news.

NAIA Bans Trans Athletes

-via NBC News

Let’s start with a related story that I haven’t had a chance to cover yet this week.

On Monday, National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, or NAIA, introduced their new policy that bans transgender women from playing in women’s sports. The NAIA covers 83,000 athletes across 25 sports.

And out of 83,000 athletes, zero are trans.

Well, it’s believed to be zero. For something that they believe is such a problem, they sure aren’t tracking trans athletes. I mean, good because that opens up another pretty hateful can of worms but still. There’s no “problem” to be solved here – but we’re still left with a decision that tells trans folks that here is yet another place that they are not safe.

Listen, I know we need to figure out how to handle sports as more and more folks come out as trans or nonbinary – because we created a cishet system and as more people are able to live outloud in full and authentic lives, we shouldn’t tell them that while they’re doing that, they can’t play a sport they love.

Personally, I believe we should move away from gendering the sports and towards a JV/varsity situation. Some of the best female athletes can beat the boys. That’s just a fact. Come at me and try and say, with a straight face, that the UC Berkeley version of Alex Morgan wouldn’t easily beat most of the men playing.

Under this decision, men, transmen, and transwomen, can all play on the men’s team. If you’re willing to open things up like that, I really have a hard time understanding why a JV/Varsity situation doesn’t work. It’s not perfect, I’m just saying… it’s a good starting point.

Also, not for nothing, the language here is so sexist. Transphobic to start, and then sexist as well. First of all, cheer and dance is open to all students still because every other sport “includes some combination of strength, speed and stamina, providing competitive advantages for male student-athletes.”

Cheer and dance doesn’t require stamina and strength? That’s patently false and the reason I know it is, is become I’m winded from this sentence.

Also, it’s always the women’s teams. A biological female transitioning to a male is still able to play on the men’s team. Why? Oh because the men are so much stronger.

Again… have ya seen Alex Morgan?

“Men are just built different.”

Sure. Okay.

A more accurate statement is “all people are different people.”

The point is… this conversation is more deserving of this bill and I hope that happens soon.

Iowa Looks to Ban Abortion

-via AP News

While we continue to react to Arizona, as we should, Iowa is looking to do kind of the same thing. On Thursday, the state asked the state Supreme Court to let it’s 6-week abortion ban to go into effect, even though it’s been on pause since July, when it was enacted for a couple days before a district court judge put it on pause.

It’s unclear what the court will do, but in the meantime abortion is legal for up to 20 weeks in the state.

Shohei Ohtani’s Interpreter

-via CBS News

Ippei Mizuhara, the interpreter for Shohei Ohtani, the newly acquired Dodger and an absolute superstar in baseball right now, has been charged with federal bank fraud for gambling and then theft of more than $16 million from Ohtani.

The Department of Justice did not find any evidence that Ohtani was involved.

O.J. Simpson

-via NBC News

And finally…

O.J. Simpson, the former football star who was acquitted in the murder of his ex-wife and her friend before he was found liable in the civil trial, where he was ordered to pay $33 million to Ron Goldman’s family (a debt he never fully paid), and then years later led an armed robbery attempt in Vegas, died on Thursday after a bout with cancer. He was 79.

Sometimes, when I talk about someone dying, I like to include a quote from them. Instead, let’s go with a quote from Ron Goldman’s dad after learning of OJ’s death… “It’s no great loss to the world.”

Hey here’s something interesting – the journalist and pilot who is responsible for almost all of the eye-in-the-sky footage that we have from the 1994 freeway chase of Simpson was Zoey Tur – whose daughter is Katy Tur, the MSNBC reporter.

I don’t really have much more to say about that, I just think it’s an interesting little fact.

And that’s it. That’s the news.

It’s Friday! Let’s go have a great weekend!

I’m proud of our LGBTQ+ youth, who continue to live their most authentic lives in the face of some truly horrific legislation.

But more than… grilled cheese (it’s also national grilled cheese sandwich day)… because you’re just the right amount of cheesy… I’m proud of you.