In today's @nytimes.com Backstory newsletter, I talk to Amy Chozick about the new Elizabeth Holmes documentary and Holmes's dispute over a quote from Chozick's NYT profile of her. The movie brings up the quote several times as it assesses Holmes's veracity. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/22/i...

Elizabeth Holmes Quote Drama

In today’s Backstory, the new Holmes film takes issue with our profile, Nikole Hannah-Jones unpacks her viral essay and a professor shares why he thinks we apply “conservative” and “liberal” labels in...

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www.nytimes.com/2026/10/21/u... by @amarimow.bsky.social

Supreme Court Blocks Trump From Denying Gender-Affirming Care to Trans Prisoners

The justices, for now, agreed to continue blocking a Bureau of Prisons policy that would prohibit gender-transition medical treatments.

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I wrote about the former president's speech at the @lgbtqvictoryfund.bsky.social conference today. (Now with gift link). www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/u...

Biden Says Republicans Aim to Turn L.G.B.T.Q. Identity Into ‘Something Scary’

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Here's my account of what I found to be an unexpectedly fiery speech by the former president at the @lgbtqvictoryfund.bsky.social conference. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/u...

Biden Says Republicans Aim to Turn L.G.B.T.Q. Identity Into ‘Something Scary’

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As the @nytimes.com assistant managing editor for standards and trust, I help edit a lot of pieces. This week I worked on two important stories about the experiences of transgender Americans. They talked to us about how they are coping with policy changes by the Trump administration.

Here’s a powerful Pulitzer Prize winning report on the cruelty of Huntington’s, by @amyharmon.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2007/03/18/h...

Facing Life With a Lethal Gene (Published 2007)

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George Stanley@georgestanley.bsky.social · last yr.

Spectacular news about treating a horrific inherited disease www.bbc.com/news/article...

On the 10th anniversary of Obergefell, we talked to some of the same-sex marriage pioneers about the post-Skrmetti moment for trans kids. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/28/u...

Marriage Equality and Trans Rights Are Two Sides of the Same Coin for Many

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The judge in a case challenging the Trump executive order to end gender-transition treatments for prisoners, and to house trans women inmates in men's prisons, has replaced his temporary restraining order with a preliminary injunction, signaling a more enduring pause. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/02...

There have been three executive orders on trans issues since Jan 20. I collected some reactions here. Please send me more, if you are able to share. I'm especially looking for specific examples of how they are affecting everyday life.

Transgender Americans say Trump’s orders are even worse than feared.

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Hopeful news www.nytimes.com/2024/12/04/c...

Researchers Release Hawaiian Crows Back Into the Wild (Gift Article)

Researchers are trying a new strategy to reintroduce Hawaiian crows, which have been extinct in the wild for two decades.

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It also seemed important to Kavanaugh that trans athletes could potentially still be thrown under the bus if he agreed that trans medical bans were subject to heightened review, and Prelogar assured him of that:

I guess everyone's writing off Kavanaugh but I was struck that he followed up on the West Virginia-is-actually-like-Europe idea: JUSTICE KAVANAUGH: Do you think that West Virginia law you mentioned is constitutional? GENERAL PRELOGAR: I think it would likely satisfy heightened scrutiny.

By my count there were 18 challenges filed in federal and state courts across the 26 states that, since 2021, have passed gender-affirming care restrictions. Tried to sum up the state of play a bit here. Map by the great @fparis.bsky.social.

Which States Have Passed Bans on Treatment for Transgender Minors?

Transgender minors and their parents, guardians and doctors have challenged bans in 18 states, with mixed results.

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The chief counsel of Alliance Defending Freedom told me he thought Skrmetti would dictate the outcome of two cases now on appeal from the Fourth Circuit re: Medicaid and state health coverage for gender transition treatments for adults.

Supreme Court Decision Could Affect Other Trans Rights Cases

The ruling could set a precedent for several challenges to state laws regarding sports participation, bathroom use and health care for adults.

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There will be lots of recaps of the Skrmetti arguments but for me reading the live-blog helps to capture the details. Plus you get my smart colleagues' smart commentary. I was just getting the hang of it when it finished up. www.nytimes.com/live/2024/12...

Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Transgender Care Case: Live Updates

Assessing the court’s ultimate direction was complicated by the silence of one justice in the conservative majority, Neil M. Gorsuch, the author of a key case on employment discrimination. The court’s...

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I plan to walk several hundred miles over the holidays and listen to all of them on audible. jk but maybe several hundred steps/day will do it. TY @ferrisjabr.bsky.social for the curation and wtf why weren't they all on best-of-2024. bsky.app/profile/ferr...

Ferris Jabr@ferrisjabr.bsky.social · 2y ago

I was deeply disappointed by the lack of nature/science/climate/enviro on many major end-of-year book lists—so I decided to make my own! Introducing: ✨🎁📚 The 2024 Holiday Gift Guide to Nature & Science Books ✨🎁📚 Please share: Let's make this go viral in time for Black Friday / holiday shopping!

I haven't read thru all the other state laws on bathroom use, but a provision in the one Ohio's governor signed last week struck me as less-familiar: it explicitly prohibits schools and colleges from providing gender-neutral bathrooms that are multi-occupancy. www.nytimes.com/2024/11/27/u...

Ohio Governor Signs Bathroom Restrictions for Transgender Students

The state is one of at least a dozen states to set restrictions on bathrooms for transgender students at public schools.

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In case you wondered why Bluesky is good, I put in my profile that I am interested in people who are interested in ants and then I was followed by @dailyant.bsky.social aka, The Daily Ant.

I've been using @blueskyfeedcreator.com to turn Starter Packs into feeds. I find it easier to keep up when my follows are sorted by topic. Maybe eventually I'll do my own lists, but this seemed good for now. If anyone finds them useful, you can follow or pin them too.

I wrote a little bit about what it was like for trans people to see transness deployed in Republican campaign ads as a symbol of absurdity and/or disgust, and the fear that more of that is coming. www.nytimes.com/2024/11/07/u...

Transgender Americans Voice New Anxiety About Trump Agenda

President-elect Donald J. Trump has promised to “keep men out of women’s sports” and withhold Medicare and Medicaid funding from hospitals that provide gender transition treatment to minors.

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