Gillian Branstetter
@gbbranstetter.bsky.social
Opinions are my own // comms @ aclu https://linktr.ee/gbbranstetter
In other Michigan news, the state looks set to elect it's first transgender lawmaker. Joanna Whaley won her Democratic primary and will compete in November for a state house seat, beating a primary opponent who tried and failed to disqualify her for not running under her deadname
Is this what Sophie Cunningham and Riley Gaines mean when they say they want to protect girls in sports or nah? Somebody please PLEASE ask Sophie about this next time she triples down.
Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 2d agoAn initiative on the ballot in Washington state in November would require all athletes seeking to play girl's sports from kindergarten to high school to undergo "genetic screening, a testosterone-levels test, or an examination of their reproductive anatomy" before they can play
An initiative on the ballot in Washington state in November would require all athletes seeking to play girl's sports from kindergarten to high school to undergo "genetic screening, a testosterone-levels test, or an examination of their reproductive anatomy" before they can play
An Atlanta-area police chief accessed Flock cameras 500 times to track the movements of his ex-girlfriend and her teenage daughter. At least 50 cops have been similarly charged with misusing Flock "including to stalk women without their knowledge or consent"
How rogue officers turned a nationwide camera network into a tool for stalking
Flock’s array of license-plate cameras was built to fight crime. But at least 50 law enforcement officers were charged with or accused of misusing it and other systems.
wapo.st
Watching RFK Jr. have an absolute meltdown on CNN rn and contrary to the discourse it's worth remembering he's the least trusted public health official in the country - far less trusted, for example, than Anthony Fauci
El Sayed: "When it comes to trans rights, this is the right to get the health care that you need...It’s the right not to be discriminated against by your government because of who you are. Because what tends to happen is they come for theirs, then they come for yours"
The Missouri Attorney General is threatening librarians with arrest over an LGBTQ+ story hour for kids, suggesting that a picture book about gay dinosaur dads is "pornography." The Secretary of State says he'll pull funding if the event happens, citing the state's new age verification law.
use AI to find the bugs / use AI to fix the bugs / the fix has bugs / use AI to find the bugs / use AI to fix the bugs / the fix has bugs / use AI to find the bugs / use AI to fix the bugs / the fix has bugs / use AI to find the bugs / use AI to fix the bugs / the fix has bugs / use AI to find the b
FinTwitter@fintwitter.bsky.social · last wk.GOOGLE, MICROSOFT REPORT RECORD NUMBER OF SOFTWARE BUGS AS US SAYS KNOWN CYBER VULNERABILITIES SET TO FAR EXCEED 2025 TOTAL
Good example of how the US hates public housing until you put bars on the windows
Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social · 2w agoWhen Joseph Williams refused to leave the public park where he has lived for years, he was charged with a felony for camping and spent nine days in jail. He's from East Nashville, a historically Black community that has rapidly gentrified over the last 2 decades and lost many of its Black residents
Trump is abandoning sex ed programs that prevent teen pregnancy, STDs, and child abuse in favor of an abstinence-only approach that stresses "the importance of marriage and procreation." It also discourages girls from taking birth control and discourages boys from masturbation.
Government Overhauls Teen Pregnancy Program to Focus on Marriage and Starting Families (Gift Article)
The administration canceled federal grants to organizations across the country, accusing them of encouraging premarital sex. New criteria say programs should stress abstinence.
nytimes.com
✨OFTV Presents: Sydney Baloue and the history of Ballroom✨ New ep of my trans history podcast digs into the many origin points for vogue and ballroom culture, trans men’s space within it, and the work Syd is doing collecting oral histories from these icons! m.soundcloud.com/onefromtheva...
To ensure people's constitutional rights are not violated, defense attorneys need to know when police rely on surveillance tech to build a case against their clients. A new toolkit from @aclum.bsky.social helps lawyers expose this secretive government spying.
The ACLU Is Arming Lawyers to Expose State Surveillance Secrets
A new toolkit for attorneys in Massachusetts targets the technologies police use—and conceal—to build criminal cases, from facial recognition to AI-written police reports.
wired.com
The 1997 Flores settlement says children can only be in immigration detention for 20 days. A new legal filing shows that kids at CoreCivic's detention facility in Dilley, TX have been there as long as 323 days, & includes firsthand accounts of the abuse guards are inflicting on children.
Trump Administration Routinely Violating Immigrant Children’s Rights - The American Prospect
The 1997 Flores ruling requires immigrant children be released from detention after 20 days. Trump is keeping some for as long as 323 days, new filings in a lawsuit state.
prospect.org
A father in Idaho, speaking to police after his child died by suicide: “There is a huge amount of animosity, every single day, thrown at trans kids. The whole fucking country. The whole fucking administration, every single fucking day.” Please read this important story by @joyurcaba.bsky.social
Idaho pushed anti-trans laws for years. Then a teen died.
The life and death of May Pollard, 16, provides a window into the tragic effect that legislation and political rhetoric have had on trans people in America.
nbcnews.com
Content warning: suicide After May Pollard died on a late-January morning, a detective asked her parents a question: Had anyone wanted to hurt her? “A lot of America,” her mother answered. 1/ www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
Idaho pushed anti-trans laws for years. Then a teen died.
The life and death of May Pollard, 16, provides a window into the tragic effect that legislation and political rhetoric have had on trans people in America.
nbcnews.com
"Identified by an ex-wife" should replace "In god we trust" on our money
Bruno J. Navarro@brunojnavarro.bsky.social · 3w agoThe federal immigration agent who shot and killed a 26-year-old Colombian man in Biddeford has been identified as David Michael Brouillette. Brouillette, who is 37 and lives in Manchester, was identified by an ex-wife as the ICE agent who shot Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero.
New from me: The KIDS Act tried to overcome KOSA's glaring First Amendment problems, but no matter which way you skin a cat, you've still violated the constitution (at least I think that's how the saying goes): platformpolemics.aricohn.com/p/the-kids-a...
The KIDS Act Is Just as Unconstitutional as KOSA ... Just in Different Words
You've still skinned a cat no matter which way you go about it
platformpolemics.aricohn.com
All this tells me is that we also have to also shut down the golf courses
Canceled therapy so I could go to the movies after work
The ACLU has just detailed hundreds of cases of misconduct by immig agents: -kneeling on necks 52x -Agents choking people 10x -smashing car windows 47x -ramming cars 14x -Hit people w/ car 6x Report repeatedly cites ProPublica's reporting B/c transparency takes a village--when the govt blocks it
“When trans kids want hormone replacement therapy, we call it “gender confirming treatments” and publish article after fretting article about how strange and dangerous they are. When cis kids receive medically identical prescriptions, it’s Tuesday. We don’t even have a name for it.” (From 2023)
The Actual Ubiquity of Gender Affirming Care
Our children are in danger and we need to protect them. There is a crisis in America, it’s bad and it’s spreading. You may have heard of it if you pay attention to the New York Times, the Atlantic mag...
liberalcurrents.com
Since the Supreme Court upheld West Virginia and Idaho's bans blocking trans women and girls from school sports, you may be wondering what this means for trans rights across the country. Our experts answered your questions.
Your Questions Answered: What You Need to Know About the BPJ and Hecox Supreme Court Decision | ACLU
The Supreme Court recently ruled to uphold laws in Idaho and West Virginia banning transgender women and girls from school sports. Learn how the decision impacts transgender people, families, and educators.
aclu.org
The MAGA plot to subvert the 2026 midterm elections is coming into focus. 1. Declassify docs to claim 2020 was stolen. 2. Declare a "national emergency" to seize control of the election apparatus. 3. Hope the "national security" predicate keeps courts out. www.mediamatters.org/voter-fraud-...
MAGA media's laughable propaganda about Trump's popularity is instrumental to the plot to subvert elections
mediamatters.org
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3w agoit's even dumber than you think
RFK Jr. asked the National Institute of Health to dedicate $5 billion (!) to finding a link between vaccines and autism. "That would have dedicated more than a tenth of the NIH’s annual budget to investigating a hypothesis already refuted by scientists worldwide."
Inside RFK Jr.’s push to dismantle decades of U.S. vaccine policy
Insider accounts reveal the scale of the health secretary's ambitions to curb childhood immunizations and unearth a link between vaccines and autism.
reuters.com
YUP. Did a thread with all the research receipts he declined to include bsky.app/profile/jmap...
Jay Marcellus@jmappel.bsky.social · 3w agoYou should read an opinion piece published in the NYT today — and it’s not the one I’m quoted in. Thank you, @maragay.bsky.social Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/07/14/o...
i think you can claim that you're a normal guy with normal politics or you can say one of your key national issues is that transgender women deserve to be raped if they get convicted of a crime but you can't claim both
gwen howerton@kissphoria.bsky.social · 3w agoi swear thomas b edsall has written this exact same column at least four times www.nytimes.com/2026/07/14/o...
