I need people to understand that for the last half decade that there’s been an ecosystem of trans folks in sports media who have worked unpaid to serve as experts for context, sources and educators on what it’s like for trans athletes, in hopes of potential bylines and contacts. That’s dried up.

Sydney Bauer@sydney-bauer.com · 21h ago

I hate sounding like a conspiracy person but there’s a reason that this Sophie Cunningham thing is on like day 7 of discourse and how there’s absolutely very little trans staff writers driving the news coverage of it.

A trans couple has been brutalized by a mob, and then the trans woman ended up being arrested afterwards, at a public bathroom in Louisiana. EITM writer S Baum investigates this horrible act of violence in our latest piece. www.erininthemorning.com/p/trans-coup...

Trans Couple Brutalized At Louisiana Park Bathroom, Then Charged By Police

An angry mob allegedly beat them. The police charged them. The municipality voted for one of the most severe anti-trans bathroom ordinances in the country.

erininthemorning.com

JUST. LET. PEOPLE. PEE.

Sandy Ernest Allen@sandyernestallen.bsky.social · 4h ago

Here's my Cosmo piece about how segregated bathrooms have impacted my own health www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a6...

JKR explicitly said she considers anything Potter-related, even fan-made, endorsement of her politics. And every time you engage with this franchise, you signal to the industry that there's still money in it and they should keep pumping out content from full-cast audiobooks to book box partnerships.

I pitched both of my usual outlets about the Cunningham stuff, one said yes, one said not right now. In 2019 I would have had a dozen editors competing for my words on this.

Frankie de la Cretaz@thefrankiedlc.news · 3h ago

It’s true, in the past I would have had multiple editors in my inbox asking me to write about the Cunningham stuff. I haven’t gotten a single assignment request. Trans writers used to be tokenized to write about these things but now that the topic is “mainstream,” those bylines go elsewhere.

this is great

Sandy Ernest Allen@sandyernestallen.bsky.social · 4h ago

Here's my Cosmo piece about how segregated bathrooms have impacted my own health www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a6...

this is uh Very Real

Sandy Ernest Allen@sandyernestallen.bsky.social · 4h ago

Here's my Cosmo piece about how segregated bathrooms have impacted my own health www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a6...

And yeah for me, just to respond to this, the existence of a bathroom and whether I can actually use said bathroom are again not one and the same. I've successfully used a men's room in public fewer than a half dozen times total. I can recall each specific instance.

Beau Jágr@thoughty.bsky.social · 49m ago

For me, it doesn't seem to matter which gendered bathroom I use, they all feel unsafe. Hell, even at the airport using the all gender restroom recently, someone body slammed the door and almost busted it open while I was in there. There needs to be a cultural change regarding restrooms!

I keep a map (in my mind) of restrooms I can actually use ... and my activities in the public sphere that stray beyond what I know therefore require extra work and planning, at best. And are a headache, at worst.

Ash B@bookofoak.bsky.social · 1h ago

tbh the only places I regularly go to that have single-use bathrooms are a few coffee shops. you can’t live your life in a coffee shop, unfortunately!

Oh boy do I feel this, men's restrooms are both fraught and often also disgusting (cis dudes do you realize we don't have to live this way??) and I know this struggle. I have a multitude of coping mechanisms including counting by prime numbers.

Sandy Ernest Allen@sandyernestallen.bsky.social · 4h ago

Here's my Cosmo piece about how segregated bathrooms have impacted my own health www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a6...

Ah this really hits.. Especially the part about feeling deep SHAME at not being able to go sometimes, because the fear of being "caught" is so intense.. I have a list of places with gender neutral restrooms on our Maps, and before we go anywhere I have to find places around I know will have them...

Sandy Ernest Allen@sandyernestallen.bsky.social · 4h ago

Here's my Cosmo piece about how segregated bathrooms have impacted my own health www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a6...

I have also experienced damage to my health because of bathroom access issues as a nonbinary masc person. My pelvic & urinary health was impacted by how hard it was to safely access restrooms. I was followed in, had people pulling children away from me like I was a rabid dog, & I was terrified.+

Sandy Ernest Allen@sandyernestallen.bsky.social · 4h ago

Here's my Cosmo piece about how segregated bathrooms have impacted my own health www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a6...

Here's my Cosmo piece about how segregated bathrooms have impacted my own health www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a6...

Avoiding Public Bathrooms Damaged My Bladder—Now, As a Trans Man, I’m Finally Letting Go

Inside the emotional and physical toll of holding it in.

cosmopolitan.com

Sandy Ernest Allen@sandyernestallen.bsky.social · 7h ago

Efforts to police bathrooms are evil and will impact peoples' health. Segregated bathrooms themselves must be done away with, it's the only solution. I reported this question out, years ago for @99pi.org 99percentinvisible.org/episode/wher...

🚨 BREAKING We are supporting a legal challenge to the Code of Practice. And we need your help. Join us in fighting back 👇

We’re supporting a legal challenge against the code of practice | Good Law Project

The government’s transphobic statutory guidance is now up and running – we’re fighting back

goodlaw.social

I do think a lot of cis folks just still haven't imagined that trans men exist, let alone what we look like, is one pet theory of mine ...

Sandy Ernest Allen@sandyernestallen.bsky.social · 7h ago

It's such utter fucking nonsense, the notion that other people are safer if trans people are forced to use the wrong bathrooms. On what planet do women want the likes of me these days entering their space?

Right now in many parts of this country, I'd feel unsafe entering a men's room, even though I have M on my ID and I'm by all appearances a man, that's how fucked this broader situation is. If you're cis and you've never had to contemplate such things, indeed! We're experiencing different things.

Sandy Ernest Allen@sandyernestallen.bsky.social · 7h ago

Do cis people understand that these laws effectively are forcing trans people to use the bathrooms that *don't* match their gender identity and presentation? That this will make them a target for not just mistreatment but violence?

(yeah in my experience as well)

Ash B@bookofoak.bsky.social · 1h ago

Restaurants and bars I go to are pretty split between single and multi-use bathrooms.

This is what I'd do too ...

Mika Fae Queen of Night 🏳️‍⚧️@msmaxwellmusic.bsky.social · 2h ago

I went on a cross country road trip from Florida to Las Vegas last year and had to keep a spreadsheet of anti trans laws and bathroom safety for every state we drove through that I updated constantly. I could barely make the trip then, now it would be practically impossible.

Some people have *never* had to contemplate whether they'd have bathroom access wherever they're going and it sure shows in the stupid shit they say. I have to contemplate will there be a bathroom I can use every single time I leave the house for more than an hour or whatever.

Harry Potter has been on the NYT Children's & Young Adult Series list for NINE HUNDRED AND FIVE WEEKS, in case you're wondering whether anyone gives a shit about giving the terf queen their money. And know that every pull to publish, fanfic, tattoo, pin, whatever the fuck keeps these books relevant.

dont forget schools and office buildings lol every job ive worked at had multi user bathrooms. kinda weird when u think about it tbh

Schools and office complexes both usually have multi-user bathrooms, and they are places where a very large proportion of the population spend the majority of their time outside the home.

that "only" is sure doing a lot of work

Charlie Mas@charliemas.bsky.social · 3h ago

Restaurants, bars, mom-and-pop stores, and porta-potties. The only place I see multi-user bathrooms is at sporting events, theaters, airports, and big box stores.

What's Helping Today!!!

Jessica Kant@jessdkant.bsky.social · 3h ago

Damn this is good. Amazing work as always

Threw my books out years ago, haven't watched a movie since Secrets of Dumbledore pissed me off, haven't bought a game since Hogwarts Legacy (wasn't proud and it was crap anyway) and I will not be watching the new TV show when it comes out and hopefully flops. Fuck Harry Potter.

Sandy Ernest Allen@sandyernestallen.bsky.social · 5d ago

There is no non-complicit enjoyment of Harry Potter, in 2026. Every time you stream a Harry Potter movie or buy one of her books, etc., you are helping her campaign to end trans lives, full stop.

We have higher rates of kidney and bladder problems compared to the general population, and historically rather than address this, medicine has chosen to either ignore it or blame our healthcare. Nope, turns out marginalization just destroys bodies. Quelle surprise.

Sandy Ernest Allen@sandyernestallen.bsky.social · 4h ago

Here's my Cosmo piece about how segregated bathrooms have impacted my own health www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a6...

Yup. Just re-sharing for those who've not yet seen, I wrote about the time I did more or less exactly this: lithub.com/burn-harry-b...

Burn Harry Burn: Reckoning With My Harry Potter Fandom as a Trans Person

During the spring of 2020, as the world locked down and people were dead and dying and breaking apart and mourning and afraid and hiding, the British author J.K. Rowling decided to publish an open …

lithub.com

Kee The Tom and Jerry Guy@drummerfromfife.bsky.social · 3h ago

Followed the series for 20 years. Threw my books and DVDs in the trash years ago when one of my friends came out as trans. Easiest decision I've ever made. My only regret is I didn't toss the books in a drum and light them on fire...

cc @nytimespr.bsky.social @theathletic.com @nytimes.com @nytimesguild.bsky.social

Sandy Ernest Allen@sandyernestallen.bsky.social · 4h ago

Whoever's running those NYT-affiliated accounts, I hope you quit your jobs, truly. I hope you all finally wake up and get real about what's going on here and which side you are on. But if you'd rather remain asleep, I dunno, it doesn't save you, nor help a fucking thing, so. Your choice I suppose.

the right-wing brainrot shouldn't astound me anymore ... and yet it manages to

The Athletic@theathletic.com · 6h ago

Aaron Rodgers spoke out about Dr. Anthony Fauci. Sophie Cunningham spoke out about transgender athletes. Caitlin Clark chose not to weigh in. Three different approaches, one common result: criticism. Steve Buckley on how athletes can't win on social media: nyti.ms/3Sa9A7D

white cis gay dudes are at it again I see

The Athletic@theathletic.com · 6h ago

Aaron Rodgers spoke out about Dr. Anthony Fauci. Sophie Cunningham spoke out about transgender athletes. Caitlin Clark chose not to weigh in. Three different approaches, one common result: criticism. Steve Buckley on how athletes can't win on social media: nyti.ms/3Sa9A7D