Trans people lost at the Supreme Court today. And. Thanks to some incredible attorneys at the ACLU & Lambda Legal, we lost the best way we could have: narrowly and without answering a question we have absolutely no interest in a wildly conservative Court answering. open.substack.com/pub/sames/p/...

How to Lose the Case Without Losing the Game

Little v. Hecox, West Virginia v. BPJ, and the Big Burning Question We Didn’t Want Answered

sames.substack.com

I was asked recently to talk about the relationship between authoritarianism and trans people. So, naturally, I made it about goats. sames.substack.com/p/how-to-survive-a-crusade

Thank you to @lgbtqbar.bsky.social for including me in this year's 40 Under 40. I'm so grateful to be on this list of brilliant folks doing brilliant work, some of which is saving literal lives. You are actual heroes and it's a genuine honor to even have my name alongside yours. tinyurl.com/yvp56yz3

It's still just under the wire of TDOV on the East Coast - but SCOTUS made sure this wasn't like any other TDOV. I thought some perspective on Chiles v. Salazar from someone who spent their spryest years in the fight to end conversion therapy might be useful. sames.substack.com/p/the-suprem...

Thank you so much to @mamadragons.bsky.social for having me back on the In the Den podcast. This time, we got to talk about when all these anti-trans policies really started, what the new ID law in KS means for where we're going, and how we will get through it. (And we will.) tinyurl.com/5xjyfc4w

State of the Union, Kansas, and Beyond - In The Den with Mama Dragons

Every news cycle lately brings yet another headline about transgender people and their families, whether it's the inflammatory remarks during the State of the Union or the recent invalidation of drive...

inthedenwithmamadragons.buzzsprout.com

I want to just note that this is from the @washingtonpost.com opinion section Jeff Bezos declared will only publish pieces about “personal liberties and free markets." This is not satire. It is also, however unintentionally, hilarious that it is not satire. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Opinion | Your salted caramel mocha latte is destroying society

Edmund Burke would have had thoughts about the consumption of that vanilla sweet cream nitro cold brew.

washingtonpost.com

On Monday night, SCOTUS issued an order indicating they may be inclined to side with policies that force teachers to out LGBTQI+ students to their legal guardians. Forced outing is something kind of hard to talk about. So it felt like maybe we should talk about it. sames.substack.com/parents-righ...

Parents’ Rights and Parents’ Wrongs

Forced Outing from the School Hallway to the Supreme Court to the State of the Union

open.substack.com

New Substack up! We're talking about the sexiest thing in LGBTQI+ civil rights right now: federal administrative rulemaking. I know. Hotter than Heated Rivalry. But the comment period on 3 proposed anti-trans rules is about to close & you can help. sames.substack.com/make-them-look-you-in-the-eye

Make Them Look You in the Eye

Public Comments, Polite Smiles, and an Actually Pretty Interesting Bureaucratic Lever You Can Pull for Trans Youth Right the Heck Now

sames.substack.com

To paraphrase Dread Pirate Roberts, anyone who tells you they know what’s going to happen at SCOTUS is selling something. That goes double for bloggers. With this in mind, I’m becoming a blogger. Welcome to my Substack. Let's talk today's BPJ/Hecox oral arguments. sames.substack.com/p/this-is-ho...

This is How We Lose

How Today’s Oral Arguments Become Tomorrow’s Decisions, How Their Decisions Become Our Story, and How to Make a Big Announcement at the End of a Substack Article

sames.substack.com

By @samames.bsky.social and @adrianshanker.bsky.social at @newsweek.com -Bad Medicine—How Secretary Kennedy Is Jeopardizing LGBTQ Lives www.newsweek.com/bad-medicine...

Bad Medicine—How Secretary Kennedy Is Jeopardizing LGBTQ Lives | Opinion

If, by his own admission, Kennedy cannot give competent medical advice, it is time he put his energy toward making health care available to more Americans, not fewer.

newsweek.com

Last month, HHS put out a report on gender-affirming care that reads like a checklist of logical fallacies. @adrianshanker.bsky.social & I published a piece in @newsweek.com on the consequences of misrepresenting evidence, and the real science behind healthcare for trans youth. tinyurl.com/3ryx2tbu

The wonderful folks at the National SOGIE Center adapted part of a piece I wrote for Transgender Day of Visibility into a gorgeous video. It was a genuine honor to be part of this: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOzo... Here's the full text, with more on TDOR and ritual: substack.com/home/post/p-...

A Tribute for Transgender Day of Remembrance

YouTube video by National SOGIE Center

youtube.com

Trans Day of Remembrance was born in 1999 from a group of friends in Boston, and the simple act of saying their lost beloved's name out loud. Tonight we say the names of 69 new beloveds, and from our grief reclaim their power. I wrote a bit about the history of TDOR and the roots of the ritual here.

In Our Own Name

The Story of Trans Day of Remembrance and the Ritual of Reclamation

sames.substack.com

9 major faith denominations just released a statement supporting trans & intersex people, calling violation of our rights by those in power a betrayal of religious values. Faith communities can be complicated for LGBTQI communities. But today, I’m proud to be a member of both. tinyurl.com/3kkpvhk9

UU President Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt joins faith leaders across traditions in proclaiming: transgender, intersex, and nonbinary people are holy, whole, and worthy of love. Together, we call out the misuse of religion to justify harm. www.uuworld.org/articles/uua...

For 10 years, the Mormon mothers at Mama Dragons have been one of my favorite examples of what happens when people of faith choose the message over the messenger - and, in nearly every religion on earth, the message is love. This week, I got to join their podcast. Listen here: tinyurl.com/4rc7whc5

Some of the very best people I know have created a camp - it’s a retreat for those of us who do social justice work. Camp Ground is about rest: no work allowed. If you organize, advocate, etc in ANY capacity (professionally, as a volunteer, in your spare time) this camp is probably for you.

Had the absolute privilege of joining Justice By Design this week to talk SCOTUS, Skrmetti, and sorry-you-can’t-actually-legislate-trans-people-out-of-existence. Thank you to the brilliant @kimberlyeatkins.bsky.social for thinking I’m cool enough to hang out with her. youtu.be/edZ7-XTsJzs?...

The Fight For LGBTQ Rights

YouTube video by Politicon

youtu.be

There's a livestream running all day where advocates, artists, & elected officials are sending messages of hope to LGBTQI+ kids. I'm honored to be doing a piece at 3:30ET, but rn Judy & Dennis Shepard are giving me life w/this gem: "They are louder, but they aren't brighter." tinyurl.com/mubcd5sf

Visible and Unstoppable - Zoomathon — Unicorn Solutions

unicornsolutions.org

At GA, UUs responded to the Skrmetti ruling with a powerful session led by Sam Ames and Adrienne Walker. The fight for trans youth, grounded in faith and love, continues. 📰 Read more in UU World: bit.ly/44fJrGz 👉 Follow UU World on IG: bit.ly/4nipN5x #UUAGA #MeetTheMoment #SkrmettiDecision

Listen. We cannot predicate fighting on winning. We're going to lose a lot in the days to come, and if we’re going to make it through the nights we need to find something to fuel us that runs deeper than hope. We’re past hope. We don't follow hope. Hope follows us.

What U.S. v. Skrmetti Did, What It Didn’t Do, and What It Can Never Do

There is going to be a lot of catastrophizing today. We lost U.S. v. Skrmetti, one of the biggest transgender civil rights cases of our…

samamesesq.medium.com

It only took me 4 years, but I've officially joined the 21st century/Bluesky. Hello, less-cruel world.