Greetings, Meteor readers,

If you’ve been with us long enough, you likely know I—like almost half of Americans—have an unnatural obsession with reality television because I am, as a coworker put it, “a garbage person.” I see no lies. So it behooves me to share with my fellow garbage goblins that Love is Blind: Sweden is where it’s at right now. If you plan to be indoors this weekend hiding from the weather, please give it a watch and let me know exactly how much you hate Sergio.

In today’s newsletter, we’re meeting up at the intersection of global politics and women’s sports—my favorite place to be. Plus a frightening bill looking to ban gender-affirming care, and a monumental lawsuit.

Love is Swedish,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

A Prince and the King: For years, the nation of Saudi Arabia has been using sports to improve its image on the global stage—or, as Human Rights Watch called it, “sportswashing.” In lieu of addressing the limited freedoms women have in the country, Prince Mohammed bin Salman al Saud (or MBS as he’s referred to) has been focusing his attention on acquiring licenses to bring (mostly) American sporting leagues and top-name athletes to Saudi. (His most notable contracts are a 10-year multi-billion-dollar agreement with the WWE, the LIV golf merger, and an ambassador deal with Rafael Nadal.)

Now,  the Kingdom is in talks to host the 2025 Billie Jean King Cup (BJK), aka the most prestigious tournament in women’s tennis. Why should this matter to anyone but diehard tennis fans who may have to figure out how to get to Saudi Arabia come Cup season?

THE CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM FROM THE 2023 BILLIE JEAN KING CUP. (IMAGE BY MATT MCNULTY VIA GETTY IMAGES)

Two key reasons: The first is, of course, money. Like most sports, there’s still an alarming gender pay gap in tennis. According to Sportico, “Across 2020, 2021, and 2022, the top 10 male players earned 53% more than their female counterparts.” And despite women’s earnings increasing (Iga Swiatek was the third highest-paid tennis player in the world in 2023), the Women’s Tennis Association Tour won’t reach pay equity with its male counterpart, the ATP, until 2033. That’s a long time to wait.

While a new host country won’t close that gap overnight, the Saudis have made it abundantly clear that they’re willing to put their money where their mouth is, which could easily translate into a larger prize pot for players. It also creates an opening for players—particularly African and Middle Eastern ones—to reach a wider audience and, therefore, more earning opportunities.

The second reason is human rights. It’s impossible to ignore the country’s litany of violations—gender discrimination, the use of torture, and the brutal, state-sanctioned murder of journalists. When the WTA announced it was considering Riyadh as a location for its finals, tennis immortals Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert penned a letter against the move citing the Kingdom’s anti-LGBTQ stance.

World number-six-ranked player Ons Jabeur has expressed support in bringing women’s tennis to Saudi Arabia, but her colleagues have yet to share what they think. And we cannot forget the Billie Jean King of it all. Last year when asked about whether or not the Cup could end up in Saudi, King told Reuters, “The thing I’m concerned about is the women, I want change if we go. But I’m big on engagement and inclusion so it’s a tough one.”

AND:

• The South Carolina House passed a sweeping ban on gender-affirming care on Wednesday—and this one is even crueler than usual. If approved by the Senate, the law would eliminate care for minors and prevent adults up to the age of 26 from using Medicaid coverage to pay for any form of gender-affirming care. The bill also adds language that would compel school employees to reveal if a student was transgender to their legal guardian—with or without the student’s consent. It’s all in the name of “protecting” teens from making life-changing decisions, of course—but what actually constitutes a life-changing decision? Over 3,000 teenage girls got breast implants in 2020, a decision one could argue affirmed their gender expression, and yet the Republicans aren’t scheming how to ban boob jobs.

• A new bill called the Safer Kentucky Act is picking up steam with GOP lawmakers and police in the state. TLDR: it’s fucked up and would essentially criminalize the unhoused.

• 170 years ago, the British monarchy signed a revenue-sharing agreement with First Nations tribes in what is now Northern Ontario, Canada. The Crown never paid up, and now, the descendants of the original signees are suing for the billions they’re owed.

• I’ve got good news and bad news. The good: Che Diaz, the most disliked character in the SATC franchise since Jack Burger will not be returning to the next season of And Just Like That. The bad news: there will be another season of And Just Like That.

• After 12 years at the company, Sheryl Sandberg will be stepping down from Meta’s board of directors.

WEEKEND READS

On conflict: The seemingly disjointed battles taking place across the Middle East may be sending global superpowers into one big war. (The New Yorker)

On money: What is unpaid caregiving really costing women? Their retirement. (The Washington Post)

On polyamory: Monogamists are bored. (The Cut)

On growth: Hala Alyan on the power of changing your mind. (Time)

FOLLOW THE METEOR

Thank you for reading The Meteor! Got this from a friend? Subscribe using their share code or sign up for your own copy, sent Tuesdays and Thursdays.

[email protected]

Happy Monduesday™, Meteor readers,

Big week ahead! I am, of course, talking about the opening rounds of the Australian Open, which has already seen the exit of Naomi Osaka, returning to the sport after giving birth to her first child. It’s also a huge week for us here at The Meteor, as tomorrow we’ll be premiering the first two episodes of our brand new podcast, The A Files: A Secret History of Abortion. More on that tomorrow!

In today’s newsletter, we run through the madness in Iowa, catch up on what’s happening in Iran, and learn about a groundbreaking food program in Colorado.

Shoveling snow,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

All about Don: In a landslide victory, Donald Trump—a man currently facing 91 criminal charges and a candidate who has refused to participate in a single debate—took first place in the Iowa caucus. Ron DeSantis came in second, Nikki Haley in third, and Vivek Ramaswamy dropped out entirely and gave his (meaningless) endorsement to Trump.

Speaking of Trump, instead of celebrating his win in Iowa, he’s back in New York standing trial in a second defamation case to decide a suit brought by E. Jean Carroll. He lost the first one. This time around, he will reportedly be taking the stand in his own defense against Carroll, who says he defamed her by denying having attacked her in a dressing room in the 90s. Like the previous case, this is a civil matter—Carroll is suing for $10 million in damages.

Maybe I’m the only person left in the country who feels this way, but it’s genuinely shocking that the lead GOP presidential candidate is spending so much time defending himself in court.

AND:

• Some bad news—and some good—from Iran: Yesterday, the Iranian regime sentenced Narges Mohammadi to 15 more months in prison. (Mohammadi, a human rights activist and the 2023 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, has been in and out of prison for the last 20 years.) The updated sentencing came just after a rare joyous moment for Iranian women, when journalists Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi were released on bail. The two, who had been sentenced to 13 and 12 years in prison, respectively, for their coverage of the killing of Mahsa Amini are appealing their sentence with the courts. Meantime, the regime has submitted new charges against them for not wearing head coverings while celebrating their release from prison this week.

• A Republican representative is going rogue—and this time, it’s for a good reason. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida is acting against her party and her own previous votes to introduce a bill that would allow post-partum moms to vote by proxy in Congress. Luna, who had a baby four months ago, has been bringing her son to work every day to avoid missing any votes. However, Luna’s bill is flawed and gendered: The bill is specifically worded to allow proxy voting only for women who have given birth—not for non-childbearing partners, for adoptive parents, or for those who’ve had children through surrogacy. So you could say she’s...taking baby steps.

• Gen Z voters are apparently so fed up with democracy as a whole that they’re considering skipping this year’s presidential election.

• The crumbling healthcare system in Puerto Rico has had unexpected outcomes for people giving birth on the island. More than half of all babies born in 2022 were delivered via cesarean section, and in a majority of cases, the surgeries weren’t performed out of medical necessity but out of convenience for dwindling medical staff.

• Studies have found that suicide rates among Black adolescents are climbing. One psychologist and minister in Maryland believes there is an untapped source of help for those suffering the most: Black churches.

• The Supreme Court has decided not to overturn a lower court ruling on transgender students’ bathroom access. The Robed Ones’ move means that trans students in an Indiana school district can use the bathroom associated with the gender they identify with. Is it a sign of where SCOTUS is leaning on trans issues in general? The jury’s still out. (I am on fire today with these puns.)

• After a four-month delay, last night was the 75th Emmys. If you follow that sort of thing, you probably know all the big wins (Beef, The Bear, Succession), but it was also a historic night for Black women in the arts. Quinta Brunson won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on Abbott Elementary. (The last time a Black woman won in this category was 1981.) Ayo Edibiri won for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for The Bear (which I still do not personally classify as a comedy, but okay). And Niecy Nash-Betts won for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or TV Movie for her work in Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Her acceptance speech stole the show. Take a look:

• Food assistance programs like SNAP or EBT are often closed to undocumented people and, in some states, don't even cover the costs of fresh fruit and vegetables. But a supplemental program in Boulder, Colorado is working to change that by using money from the state's soda tax to provide fruit and vegetable coupons to families in need. The initiative has given the local community tools they need to combat preventable illnesses like prediabetes. Sounds like something we could use at a federal level, no?

FOLLOW THE METEOR

Thank you for reading The Meteor! Got this from a friend? Subscribe using their share code or sign up for your own copy, sent Tuesdays and Thursdays.

[email protected]

Hey, Meteor readers,

Y’all, I encourage you to check in on your football friends. We’ve had a tough week. And by we, I mean me, since the hottest old man I’ve ever seen chew gum, Pete Carroll, is no longer the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks.

In today’s newsletter, we remind everyone who Coretta Scott King really was. Plus, banning sexy books in Florida, abnormal weather, and weekend reading.

Pete, my DMs are open,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

More than someone’s wife: If you’re not caught up on why everyone’s discussing Coretta Scott King, here’s the TL;DR: In December, actor Jonathan Majors was found guilty of assault and harassment. During his trial, a recording was played for the jury in which Majors berated his then-girlfriend Grace Jabbari, telling her that she needed to comport herself like Mrs. King. (His implication was he wanted someone who would stand beside—and in a sense behind—a powerful man.) Then this week, in an interview with Good Morning America, Majors doubled down on the sentiment, saying that his new girlfriend, Meagan Good, “held [him] down like a Coretta.” Ignoring for a moment that Majors is trying to compare himself to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the assertion he’s making here is that Coretta Scott King was a woman of value because of her willingness to stand by her man no matter what. As Brittany Packnett Cunningham explained on Instagram, Coretta Scott King has been made out to be “the patron saint of cleanup women.”

This is far from the first time Mrs. King’s life has been reduced to her marriage. I still remember Fabolous’ 2007 hit “You Make Me Better,” where he delivers the line, “Imma need Coretta Scott if I’m gonna be King.”

But as Dr. Bernice King—her daughter—wrote in 2017, “Before she was a King, my mother was a civil rights activist, a member of the NAACP and the Race Relations and Civil Liberties Committees at Antioch College. Coretta Scott was determined that her life would serve to lift others. She was already a woman of great character.” Let’s also remember that without the work and persistence of Mrs. King, we probably wouldn’t have a Martin Luther King Day at all.

So this year, rather than continue to misquote and decontextualize her husband, we give Coretta Scott King the recognition she deserves as an individual, a legend in her own right, and not just a supporting player.

AND:

• The Escambia County School District in Florida (which oversees more than 50 schools and learning centers) is pulling a few more books from library shelves because of their lurid and filthy descriptions of sexual acts. Those books include…The American Heritage Children's Dictionary, Webster's Dictionary for Students, and Merriam-Webster's Elementary Dictionary. These soft porn rags will be on ice until the board can thoroughly review them and determine whether or not they violate Florida’s HB 1069 bill, which, among other things, prevents the discussion of sex or sexuality in classrooms. (PEN America is already filing suit.)

• On January 1, a statewide ban on gender-affirming care in Louisiana went into effect. Now, a group of trans kids and their families are suing the state on the grounds that the ban violates their rights under the state constitution.

• More lawsuits: Tabatha Means, a woman in Florida, is suing the ride-share service Lyft for its liability in a 2019 incident in which she was allegedly raped multiple times by a Lyft driver. A paternity test determined that the driver in question was the biological father of Means’ child, who was born prematurely at 33 weeks.

• Several new studies have found that people who had depression during or soon after pregnancy faced increased rates of suicidal ideation and attempts for up to 18 years afterward. If you or someone you know is suffering from depression, you can reach out for help by dialing 988.

• Teenagers in Newark, New Jersey will now be allowed to vote in some school board elections beginning this spring, which seems like a really important step forward considering that infiltrating school boards has become one of the most common and effective ways for small conservative groups to screw kids over.

• Shia LaBeouf wants to become a Catholic deacon. I have so many questions.

WEEKEND READING 📚

On “bouncing” back: The incomparable Naomi Osaka is making her return to tennis after becoming a mom, and she’s got a lot to say about it. (The Athletic)

On sequels: The Ku Klux Klan had a significant revival in the early 1900s. With the extremist right gaining more power in the U.S., it’s worth revisiting how hate groups have managed to rebrand themselves successfully in the past. (Teen Vogue)

On the podium: Did you watch the Republican primary debate between the remaining sad bunch last night? If so, you probably have the same question we have: “What is Nikki Haley even talking about?” (The Atlantic)

FOLLOW THE METEOR

Thank you for reading The Meteor! Got this from a friend? Subscribe using their share code or sign up for your own copy, sent Tuesdays and Thursdays.

[email protected]

Hey there, Meteor readers,

My new Panda Planner arrived in the mail over the weekend, and I can truly begin 2024 in earnest now that I have this oversized book to store my five different kinds of to-do lists.

 In the words of Issa Rae, “I am about to be so much better. That text? Responded to. That email? Answered. That project? Finished. That other project? Started.”

In today’s newsletter, we look at the charges being levied against the Israeli government, the Golden Globes, and a little bit of good news.

This opener? Signed off,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

Determining genocide: On Thursday, the International Court of Justice in the Hague will begin hearings on the question of whether the Israeli government is guilty of carrying out genocide against Palestinians since the Hamas attack on October 7. The case, brought to the ICJ by South Africa, could be the first step in establishing a long-lasting ceasefire since a portion of the suit requests that certain immediate provisions—including a suspension of Israel’s campaign in Gaza—be made by the court. (Both Israel and the United States have called the suit “meritless.”)

While it may seem odd that South Africa, a country with no obvious skin in the game between Hamas and Israel, would bring such a suit, the African National Congress has been a supporter of Palestine for decades (due to its own well-known history of enduring and eventually ending apartheid, the same policy that the United Nations has said Israel is carrying out in the Palestinian territories). Any territory that is a member of the United Nations and agrees to its treatises and jurisdiction can bring forth a suit against another member nation. And both South Africa and Israel are signatories of the 1948 Genocide Convention, which prohibits any signing nation from committing genocide. (The U.S. is also a signatory.) But while this case could prompt a ruling on whether or not Israel broke the treaty and committed genocide, it is not a criminal case and thus cannot dole out punishment for war crimes, something that would have to be decided by the International Criminal Court.

Also worth knowing: South Africa’s suit focuses on military actions carried out against non-combatant groups—chief among them children—over the course of years. The lawsuit cites findings from the UNHRC’s 2019 Independent Commission of Inquiry, which found “reasonable ground to believe” that Israeli snipers “‘intentionally shot’ children knowing them to be children” as well as health workers and journalists. It also cites the disproportionately high deaths of journalists over the last two months illustrating that, “Palestinian journalists are being killed at a rate significantly higher than has occurred in any conflict in the past 100 years.”

Looking for a quick decision on all this? Don’t. Hearings begin this Thursday and will continue into Friday, but those “prima facie” proceedings will only decide whether the case goes forward at all, and whether provisional measures can be implemented. That’s important—those measures could lessen the severity of the situation within a matter of weeks while the ICJ continues to deliberate—but an ultimate determination about the genocide classification will take years.

ALSO IN THE NEWS

AND:

• 2023 was expected to be the hottest year on record—and it was. But even climate scientists were surprised by how hot it was, and this year may be even hotter.

• On Sunday night, Lily Gladstone became the first Indigenous woman to win a Golden Globe, for her performance in Killers of the Flower Moon. And one brief moment was especially beautiful: her acceptance speech which began in the Blackfeet language. Those few words were an indescribable win for many, as the last decade has seen the extinction of many Indigenous languages. Some of those languages (like Taino!) are seeing a sort of revival—bringing a deeper appreciation of their nuances. For example, many Indigenous languages are not gendered. As Gladstone, who uses she/they pronouns, explained to The Hollywood Reporter last month, “There are no gendered pronouns. There is no he/she, there’s only they…our gender is implied in our name. Even that’s not binary.”

• In more Golden Globes news, both Taylor Swift and I were unamused by Jo Koy’s jokes. ICYMI (consider yourself lucky if you did), Koy reduced one of the most successful films of the year to a boob joke and then took a lazy shot at Swift’s influence over the NFL. Not that either of these things is above being made fun of, but if you’re going to take a shot at the woman who upheld the American economy throughout 2023, then learn how to punch up properly. (You can ask Kat Williams for a tutorial.)

• For the New Yorker, reporter Stephania Taladrid tells the story of a woman who died from cardiovascular disease during a high-risk pregnancy. Taladrid’s findings reveal the way Texas’ abortion ban altered the kind of care the woman could access—and most likely led to her death.

• The divorce of the two most attractive people in Hollywood is now official.

TELL ME SOMETHIN' GOOD 🎶

• Congratulations to Halle Bailey on the birth of her first child!

• Writer and fellow comic-book enthusiast Ta-Nehisi Coates has co-created The Courage Fund, which will award funds to whistleblowers speaking out on gender-based violence.

• More Latine people are abandoning hustle culture and returning to their roots by embracing “ancestral slow living practices.” Where do I sign up?

FOLLOW THE METEOR

Thank you for reading The Meteor! Got this from a friend? Subscribe using their share code or sign up for your own copy, sent Tuesdays and Thursdays.

[email protected]

Hey there, Meteor readers,

My Christmas tree is still up and I feel no shame about that. So if you, too, are a delayed tree remover, I see you and I love you.

In today’s newsletter, we look at the devastating food crisis in Gaza. Plus, Claudine Gay speaks for herself, a big week for lawsuits, and your weekend reads.

Lazily yours,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

Starving to death: In late December, the United Nations released a report detailing “acute food insecurity” throughout Gaza. At the time, reporters found that more than 90 percent of the over 600,000 people living in the Gaza Strip were starving. At least 335,000 children were at risk of “severe malnutrition and preventable death,” according to the report.

As we enter the fourth month of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, the “entirely manmade…preventable catastrophic” food conditions are worsening. In an interview with The New Yorker’s Isaac Chotiner, Arif Husain, the chief economist at the United Nations World Food Program, described the situation as unprecedented. “I’ve never seen anything like this in terms of severity, in terms of scale, and then in terms of speed,” he says. Husain notes that the main contributing factor to the food crisis is inadequate and inaccessible aid. “On a good day, aid groups are bringing in maybe twenty-five to thirty percent of what [Gazans] need,” he told Chotiner. And the constant bombings and ground invasions by the Israeli military mean that even that small percentage doesn’t get properly distributed.

All in all, Husain says 577,000 people in Gaza are classified as “I.P.C. Phase 5, meaning a catastrophic type of hunger.” That number accounts for 80 percent of the total global I.P.C. population.

This degree of intentional starvation is also considered a war crime. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court classifies “the deprivation of access to food and medicine, calculated to bring about the destruction of part of a population” as a “crime against humanity.”

As Husain makes clear, “[Aid] needs to go to where the people are. And I don’t know how you can do that without a humanitarian ceasefire.”

ALSO IN THE NEWS

• After resigning from her position as president of Harvard University on Tuesday, Claudine Gay is reclaiming the narrative that led to her ouster. In an op-ed for The New York Times, Gay defended her scholarship—and pointed out that the attacks on her character and her work at Harvard were thinly veiled “attacks on education and expertise, because these are the tools that best equip communities to see through propaganda.” Gay also gives voice to what many were already thinking: The calls for her ouster were racially motivated. “Those who had relentlessly campaigned to oust me since the fall often trafficked in lies and ad hominem insults, not reasoned argument. They recycled tired racial stereotypes about Black talent and temperament.”

• You may have seen on Monday that singer Paula Abdul filed suit against British TV producer Nigel Lythgoe, alleging that he and other producers involved with American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance sexually harassed and committed acts of gender-based violence against her. Now, another lawsuit has been filed against Lythgoe—this time by two contestants of the show All American Girl, accusing him of sexual assault and battery.

• Speaking of lawsuits, one was filed on Tuesday accusing rapper T.I and his wife, Tameka “Tiny” Harris, of raping a woman in 2005. This is the second time that the same Jane Doe has tried to file charges against the Harrises—but due to the statute of limitations, the LAPD could not pursue criminal charges in 2021. Now, under California’s Sexual Abuse and Cover-Up Accountability Act—which temporarily extends that statute—Doe can legally file a civil suit against the couple. They have both denied any wrongdoing.

• Despite escalations in attacks, Russia and Ukraine managed to carry out a prisoner exchange of hundreds of soldiers and civilians, some of whom had been in captivity since before the beginning of the war in February 2022.

• I am once again begging literally anyone to take away Donald Trump’s devices after the former president published a barrage of bullying messages on Truth Social today attacking E. Jean Carroll.

• The much-hyped and long-awaited list of powerful men tied to Jeffrey Epstein has been released, and there is not a single surprising name on it.

• A 13-year-old in Oklahoma is believed to be the first person ever to beat Tetris. This 31-year-old in New Jersey is stunned to discover that Tetris is beatable!

• Extremely important soccer news! USWNT stars Emily Sonnett and Rose Lavelle have officially signed with NJ/NY Gotham FC, which means as soon as soccer season starts, I will be trespassing at Red Bull Arena on a weekly basis trying to hug one or both of them.

WEEKEND READING 📚

On ice: The Professional Women’s Hockey League is in its inaugural season and is already breaking attendance records. Could this be the league that lasts? (The Athletic)

On the frontier: Pregnancy care in rural areas across the U.S. is dwindling, and those most at risk are Indigenous infants up against a congenital syphilis crisis. (Vox)

On screen: Yet another lawsuit has come out against the production companies behind Love is Blind. What the hell’s going on over there? (The Cut)

CLICK THE LINK ABOVE TO GET YOUR UNIQUE SHARE CODE TO SEND TO A FEW FRIENDS. IF FIVE OF THEM SIGN UP FOR THIS NEWSLETTER, YOU GET A METEOR TOTE!

ALREADY HAVE A CODE BUT CAN'T FIND IT? NO WORRIES, IT'S WAITING FOR YOU DOWN BELOW ⬇️

FOLLOW THE METEOR

Thank you for reading The Meteor! Got this from a friend? Subscribe using their share code or sign up for your own copy, sent Tuesdays and Thursdays.

[email protected]

Ho, ho, ho, Meteor readers,

Only a few more days ‘til Christmas, and I, for one, am very much looking forward to cooking my family’s ancestral holiday dinner, passed down to me by generations of Puerto Rican women: lasagna.

In today’s newsletter, Phill Picardi helps us make sense of Pope Francis’s latest announcement—plus, a new bill to save books and a touch of, yes, good news.

No-boil noodles for the win,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S IT REALLY MEAN?

Yesterday, Pope Francis issued a declaration stating that priests are now allowed to bless same-sex couples. There is, of course, a caveat: The blessings must be in line with the teachings of the Catholic Church. This means that while those couples can be blessed, they still cannot receive the sacrament of holy matrimony, and their marriages cannot be formally recognized by the Church. Still, this is a bold step forward for Francis, who has been fending off conservative attacks from within the Vatican walls and, in the U.S.,  the overall influence of the political right.

How happy should or shouldn’t we be about this? We knew exactly who to ask: Meteor collective member Phillip Picardi, who is both the CMO of the LA LGBT Center and a graduate of Harvard Divinity School.

What does this new document from the Vatican mean for the LGBTQ+ Catholic community?

Phillip Picardi: This is the rare headline about Christianity and LGBTQ+ people that doesn’t involve violent protests, book bans, or the rollback of basic civil rights.

Instead, this is the Pope—who’s believed by Catholics to be the divinely ordained Head of the Church—telling his global clergy that they can bless LGBTQ+ couples. This is a massive turnaround, considering the Church’s hard-nosed stances on gay adoption, same-sex marriage, trans rights, and even safe sex practices around HIV/AIDS.

Now, while a blessing isn’t going to solve the issues facing our community, it can’t hurt. Religious-based discrimination is a huge issue for the LGBTQ+ community—in fact, many of the youth who end up seeking housing with the LGBT Center [have been] kicked out of their homes for reasons related to religion. If this starts to change some of that harmful rhetoric, it can be significant.

The declaration makes a point to distinguish between allowing same-sex couples a blessing rather than allowing them to receive the sacrament of matrimony. What’s the difference between these two things?

Sacraments are the ways a Catholic moves through their journey within the church throughout their life. They’re liturgical sacraments, which means that they hold a certain rigor within the structure of the Church.

Catholicism is very big on making sure Catholics have been educated and prepared before receiving these sacraments because, in a sense, they’re also a reception of God. A blessing is a much more casual acknowledgment by a clergy member; it doesn't hold the same liturgical rigor.

Pope Francis, with this order, is trying to make it so that Catholic priests feel comfortable giving blessings to folks, even though they may not know about their moral litmus test. Before, getting a blessing from the Church was something that the Vatican said you needed to be somewhat morally pure or prepared for. So, he's removing this idea that there needs to be a moral exam for someone to receive a blessing or acknowledgment from the church.

Is this a big step forward? Or not big enough?

I think that depends on your own relationship to faith. If you are not Catholic, a move like this from the Pope can seem inconsequential or rudimentary—a small spiritual concession to make. And I think that can be a fair assessment considering how far other faith traditions have come on LGBTQ+ issues.

On the other hand, if you are Catholic and know about the history of the Church, this can feel massive. Pope Francis is breaking with centuries of tradition that have seen the Church further marginalize and harm LGBTQ+ people. He’s also issuing this sort of “spiritual executive order” at a time when the Catholic church is, unfortunately, tilting even farther towards the right.

The Pope has the power to change how Catholics look at their neighbors or how a parent looks at their child. Even for LGBTQ+ Catholics—because it’s estimated that at least half of our community is religious!—this is significant. It can feel like an opportunity for healing or reconciliation after a lifetime of religious-based trauma, after feeling abandoned by a church community or even by God.

And if this is the beginning of that change—then this is a positive step in the right direction.

ALSO IN THE NEWS

• Just about every major global humanitarian organization—including CARE USA, Oxfam, and Mercy Corps—is asking the U.S. to change its stance on the siege in Gaza and, more specifically, to support a complete ceasefire. Organization leaders wrote in The New York Times, “Among leaders in Washington, there is constant talk about preparing for the ‘day after.’ But if this relentless bombardment and siege continue, there will be no ‘day after’ for Gaza. It will be too late. Hundreds of thousands of lives hang in the balance today.”

• A group of Mexican women in Utah were among the over 40 patients who filed complaints of sexual assault against local gynecologist, Dr. David Broadbent. But their local police station didn’t have enough Spanish speakers, so their reports went ignored until a victims’ advocate involved the Mexican consulate. In one case, one of the victims was told her complaint “didn’t exist,” even though she had spoken to an officer just a week before.

• Rep. Ayanna Pressley has introduced a bill targeting the slew of book bans popping up all over the country. Her Books Save Lives bill would make the “disproportionate exclusion of books that include content on certain populations in a library that receives federal funding” a civil rights violation. The bill would also ensure that schools and public libraries maintain a diverse collection of books.

• Ruby Franke, a YouTube momfluencer who was arrested earlier this year, has pleaded guilty to four counts of child abuse. (This link contains graphic descriptions of abuse, please be mindful.) Franke has been a fixture in the parenting and influencer space for years.

TELL ME SOMETHIN' GOOD 🎶

• My shrine to the ancient life forces finally worked: Bad Bunny and Kendall Jenner broke up.

• LGBTQ+ military veterans who were once dishonorably discharged under the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy of the ‘90s are now starting to see the benefits of a Pentagon program that revisited and corrected hundreds of “other than honorable” discharges. Many queer veterans will now have access to military benefits, from VA health coverage to money for college, which the military had initially denied them.

• USWNT stars Rose Lavelle and Emily Sonnett are in talks to join NJ/NY Gotham FC, and if anyone who has the power to make that dream come true is reading this, I will give you my firstborn to make this trade go through¹.

CLICK THE LINK ABOVE TO GET YOUR UNIQUE SHARE CODE TO SEND TO A FEW FRIENDS. IF FIVE OF THEM SIGN UP FOR THIS NEWSLETTER, YOU GET A METEOR TOTE!

ALREADY HAVE A CODE BUT CAN'T FIND IT? NO WORRIES, IT'S WAITING FOR YOU DOWN BELOW ⬇️

¹ Any promises of children being exchanged for goods and services are not legally binding.

FOLLOW THE METEOR

Thank you for reading The Meteor! Got this from a friend? Subscribe using their share code or sign up for your own copy, sent Tuesdays and Thursdays.

[email protected]

Greetings, Meteor readers,

I know that it’s not cool to scold people, but some of y’all deserve it. Stop sending money to George Santos on Cameo! It was funny when he was lying and scamming his way around Congress, but this man should not be profiting off his nonsense to the tune of $174,000. Honestly, if you want to pay that much to have someone sassy insult your friends, I’ve got a Venmo account, way better lighting, and have never been expelled from Congress.

In today’s newsletter, we read between the lines of Texas’s Supreme Court ruling against Kate Cox. Plus, a ceasefire in the Congo and a reprieve for children apprehended at the U.S. southern border.

Reminding you Santos Cameos are not in your budget,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

An inhumane ruling: The story of Kate Cox, a Texas woman who sued, won, and then eventually lost her fight to obtain an abortion in her state has dominated the headlines over the last few days. So what makes this case such a huge story? Let’s start from the top.

Kate Cox found out in November that her pregnancy was doomed. During an NIPT screening (between 10-13 weeks) meant to determine the sex of the fetus, Cox’s doctor found markers that the fetus was at high risk for Trisomy 18, “a condition with a very high likelihood of miscarriage or stillbirth and low survival rates.” Despite these initial results, Cox remained hopeful and underwent further testing, which only revealed worsening conditions for her fetus, including irregular skull and heart development, a twisted spine, and a neural tube defect. A specialist told Cox that in the best-case scenario—if the fetus managed to survive labor—it would only live for a week.

Cox was devastated. Not only was her pregnancy not viable, there was a chance carrying it to term would impact her ability to conceive in the future. And yet, she was told by her medical professionals that she didn’t meet the legal threshold to obtain an abortion because of the extreme ban in Texas—a story shared by many other women in the state (and across the country) since the Dobbs decision.

With the support of a doctor who was willing to perform the abortion, Cox quickly sued the state to request an exemption, given the dangerous medical circumstances surrounding her pregnancy. Last Friday, a lower court ruled in her favor—but shortly after Attorney General Ken Paxton appealed the decision, and the case was sent to Texas’s Supreme Court. On Monday, the highest court in Texas, much to the shock of medical professionals and advocates, overturned the lower court's decision. They ruled that Cox was not eligible for an abortion under the state’s guidelines. (Instead of waiting for her condition to worsen, Cox sought an abortion out of state just before the ruling was issued.)

What is truly baffling about the ruling issued by the court are the linguistic gymnastics used by the justices to explain the decision. They place most of the blame on her doctor, writing that the physician had failed to meet a standard from the Texas ban that allows an abortion “if the pregnant female…has a life-threatening physical condition aggravated by, caused by, or arising from a pregnancy that places the female at risk of death or poses a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function.”

Let’s pause here. At the point in which the suit was filed, Kate Cox’s life was not in immediate danger, and (ostensibly) potentially not being able to conceive again falls under “impairment to a major bodily function.” The fact that these laws are written in such a way that doctors have to hesitate in making the decisions that are best for their patients for fear they might have their licenses revoked or prosecuted is anything but “pro-life.” It’s a double-edged sword that even the Court was forced to acknowledge in its ruling: “Under the law,” the justices wrote, “it is a doctor who must decide that a woman is suffering from a life-threatening condition during a pregnancy, raising the necessity for an abortion…A pregnant woman does not need a court order to have a lifesaving abortion in Texas.”

Unfortunately, Justices Devine and Blacklock, under your state’s law, she does. But she absolutely should not have to.

  AND:

• Claudine Gay, Harvard University’s first Black president, will remain in her position after uproar over her performance at a congressional hearing on antisemitism on college campuses. Rep. Elise Stefanik (of all people) led the questioning, asking Gay: “Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Harvard’s rules of bullying and harassment?” Gay replied, among other things, that, “It can be, depending on the context.” Outcry ensued, calling Gay’s response “coldly legalistic” at best and harmful at worst. Despite public displeasure over Gay’s testimony, a letter from over 770 alumni in defense of Gay argued that Gay has spent her entire career committed to free speech and the safety of her students. It also highlighted this overlooked response of hers from the hearing: “Calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community, or any religious or ethnic group, are vile. They have no place at Harvard, and those who threaten our Jewish students will be held to account.”

• Selena Gomez and Taylor Swift attended Ramy Youssef’s comedy show this weekend. Normally that wouldn’t matter, but the proceeds from Youssef’s show are going towards humanitarian efforts in Gaza. Swifties, our mother has shown us the way.

• My deepest condolences to every person who was not in London’s St. Pancras International Station on Monday morning, because you missed a surprise public performance from the great Alicia Keys. As if this news wasn’t devastating enough: She was playing a piano gifted to her by Elton John. When are you coming to my train station, Alicia?

• A temporary ceasefire has been reached in the Congo, where the government is at war with various rebel groups, some of which are believed to be backed by the Rwandan government. The ceasefire is scheduled to last three days and is intended to allow safe passage for civilians during Congo’s presidential election. The devastation this conflict has wreaked has been significant: Nearly seven million Congolese have been displaced.

• A disturbing and graphic report from Haaretz has confirmed that a social media account on Telegram called “72 Virgins - Uncensored” is managed by the Israeli Defense Forces via their Influencing Department. The account features videos and images of IDF soldiers committing horrific and stomach-turning acts of violence against people in Gaza. According to the report, followers of the account are encouraged to share the posts on social media to “shatter the terrorists' fantasy” and show Israelis that the war on terror is being won.

MORE FROM THE METEOR

If you’re in New York this weekend: In Love and Struggle, Vol. 3 is happening at the Minetta Lane Theatre! Come hang out with us on December 14, 15, or 16 and see performances from voice actor Cree Summer, comedian Zainab Johnson, poet Mahogany L. Browne, musician Nona Hendryx (she was one of the singers on the original Lady Marmalade!!!), and many more. You can get your tickets (and a sweet discount) here.

If you’re looking for a podcast: Last week, In Retrospect revisited the “most hated woman in America,” actress Robin Givens. If you don’t know the story: In 1988, Givens and her husband, Mike Tyson, gave a television interview to Barbara Walters, addressing persistent tabloid rumors that their marriage was violent. In a stunningly honest moment, sitting next to Tyson, Givens admitted that her husband's abuse tormented her.

But Givens’ honesty about her violent marriage to Mike Tyson wasn’t met by massive public empathy for her. Instead, she was vilified—even as additional evidence of his abuse emerged. (Givens ultimately endured, filing for divorce and rebuilding her life despite the vitriol.) In a comprehensive two-episode story, hosts Susie Banikarim and Jessica Bennett examine the cruel public reaction and what it teaches us about America’s misunderstanding of domestic violence at that time; plus, guest Dr. Salamishah Tillet weighs in on what happens when a Black woman comes forward about her abuse.

CLICK THE LINK ABOVE TO GET YOUR UNIQUE SHARE CODE TO SEND TO A FEW FRIENDS. IF FIVE OF THEM SIGN UP FOR THIS NEWSLETTER, YOU GET A METEOR TOTE!

ALREADY HAVE A CODE BUT CAN'T FIND IT? NO WORRIES, IT'S WAITING FOR YOU DOWN BELOW ⬇️

FOLLOW THE METEOR

Thank you for reading The Meteor! Got this from a friend? Subscribe using their share code or sign up for your own copy, sent Tuesdays and Thursdays.

[email protected]

Evening, Meteor readers,

Did y’all see who TIME voted person of the year? Not to sound like a hipster, but she has been my person of the year since 2012 when the spirit first moved me to jump up on a coffee table and jam out to a burned copy of RED my friend gave me. (Thank you, Brittany, for showing me the light all those years ago.)

In today’s newsletter, we learn of a new crisis unfolding in Afghanistan. Plus, a little unsportswomanlike gloating, and our weekend reading list and a special feature on an inspiring young activist.

Balancing it all,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

Lost boys: Since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, the harrowing conditions faced by women and girls in Afghanistan, including their loss of access to education, have been widely shared. But a new report from Human Rights Watch is shedding light on a new group of victims who may have been overlooked: school-age boys.

The report has discovered an “alarming deterioration in boys’ access to education” —what HRW describes as an education crisis that could create a “lost generation.” Before the Taliban’s return, most schoolteachers were women; now that they’re barred from teaching, boys are attending classes led by unqualified male teachers, and in some cases, there are no teachers at all.

One student who spoke with the researchers said, “The newly hired teachers have highly aggressive behavior toward the students, so the school environment is full of fear.” The report found that many students have stopped going to school altogether to avoid the sharp uptick in corporal punishment. Another student recounted to HRW that he had been whipped on his feet during a morning assembly and had his head shaved in front of his classmates because his hairstyle was “too Western.”

A common thread among all the students interviewed is how deeply they feel the absence of the women who once taught them—including those with specialization in subjects like physics and biology, subjects that are no longer being taught in some schools because of a lack of qualified educators.

The long-term effects of the education crisis, coupled with Afghanistan’s current economic crisis, will reverberate for generations. When boys and girls are denied access to education, they are more likely to experience heightened rates of discrimination, poverty, and violence. The future of an entire nation is being determined at this very moment, and unless the Taliban can be convinced to function in their country’s best interests, it will be a dark one indeed.

AND: 

• Meet Abrianna Morales, a sexual assault survivor turned advocate, working to ensure no more young women endure what she did through her organization Sexual Assault Youth Support Network. “We’re not only begging to be believed, but we’re begging for adults to let us at least try to change the world.”

MORALES (CENTER) SURROUNDED BY FELLOW SURVIVORS AND SUPPORTERS IN HER YOUTH NETWORK. (PHOTO COURTESY OF ABRIANNA MORALES)

• An enormous win for trans kids in Wisconsin: On Wednesday, Governor Tony Evers vetoed a bill that would have banned gender-affirming care for minors across the state. During the signing of the veto, Evers said, “I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to the Legislature’s ongoing efforts to manufacture and perpetuate false, hateful, and discriminatory anti-LGBTQ policies and rhetoric in our state.”

• This week, the Biden administration announced that it will start implementing visa bans on any Israelis who were considered “extremist settlers” in the West Bank in response to growing violence in the region. This suggests a slight change in tone from an administration that has approved significant money for the fourth most powerful military in the world.

• In September, an Ohio woman named Brittany Wyat miscarried in her bathroom at 22 weeks, leaving the remains of her nonviable pregnancy in the toilet. This week, she was formally charged with “felony abuse of a corpse,” and her case will be heard before a grand jury. Wyatt’s charge is based on the allegation that there were “signs of injury” to the fetus.

• This is an odd story here, but stay with me; it involves Ron DeSantis being a menace. This year, Florida State’s football team had an undefeated season but were surprisingly excluded from the College Football Playoffs. Many sports people are angry and confounded by this. But DeSantis took it a step further, asking to take $1 million out of the state budget so he could use it to sue the Playoff committee. And this is the same guy some Republicans want in charge of a federal budget!

• Legendary producer Norman Lear died this week at the age of 101. Lear created and produced some of the greatest sitcoms of the last fifty years, notably All in the Family, Good Times, The Jeffersons, Maude, and Sanford and Sons.

• Great Britain and Sweden’s women’s soccer teams will be sitting out the Paris Olympics next year since neither team qualified, despite some impressive performances. Terrible news….for them. 😈 You know who will be in Paris, though? Les Américains!

TRINITY RODMAN STRIKING A WINNING POSE AT TRAINING CAMP. (IMAGE BY BRAD SMITH VIA GETTY IMAGES)

WEEKEND READING 📚

• On pregnancy: What’s it like to be a pregnant trans man in America? (The 19th)
• On TV: The Golden Bachelor finale proves that not all old men who glitter are gold. (Slate)
• On the street: Young adult and teens experiencing homelessness are up against a system that doesn't have the funding to help them. (Teen Vogue)

FOLLOW THE METEOR

Thank you for reading The Meteor! Got this from a friend?
Sign up for your own copy, sent Tuesdays and Thursdays.

[email protected]

Darling Meteor readers,

Exciting news! If you click the button below, you’ll get your first annual Meteor Wrapped highlighting how much time you spent reading, what you clicked, and which Meteor events were your favorite.

Just kidding! We don’t jive with creepy algorithms that put all your business out there (as entertaining as it is to see what everyone’s been listening to).

In today’s newsletter, we check in with the abortion lawsuit in Texas, see dead things come back to life, and share our long reads for the weekend.

Don’t need a Wrapped to know I only listened to Taylor,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

32,000 more births: On Tuesday, the Texas Supreme Court heard testimony from some of the 22 plaintiffs in a lawsuit arguing that the medical exceptions in Texas’s abortion ban are too narrow to protect women with complicated or nonviable pregnancies.

The testimonies, from women whose lives were threatened by the denial of an abortion, ranged from horrific to unspeakable: last-minute travel plans after heartbreaking ultrasounds; sepsis; purple limbs from severe blood clots; and giving birth to a fetus missing parts of its skull. Writer Jessica Valenti pointed out on Xwitter that when asked by a judge if acrania (the condition that prevents the skull from fully forming) qualifies as an exception to the state’s abortion ban, the lawyer representing Texas admitted she didn’t know what it was. Yet another reason why non-doctors shouldn’t have final say over medical decisions.

While some of the lawsuit’s plaintiffs were eventually able to obtain abortions, a new data analysis from the Institute of Labor and Economics sheds light on pregnant people who weren’t. The data estimates that a “significant minority”—between one-fifth and one-fourth—of women living in ban states who may have otherwise gotten an abortion did not get one. That means that in the first six months of this year, 32,000 more people than were expected based on past trends gave birth in those states. One of the authors of the paper says this reflects an “inequality story”: Women in their 20s and Black and Latine women—all of whom tend to be lower-income and are less likely to have the resources to travel—were disproportionately among those who gave birth.

Ultimately, this study paints a far broader picture of who is affected by abortion bans than the Texas lawsuit is able to. The stories from the Texas plaintiffs—most of whom are white, married, and wanted to be pregnant before they were faced with medical emergencies—are terrible and dehumanizing, and demand justice. But if you widen the lens, you find a number of invisible victims, who may or may not fit the “good victim” stereotype. People of color are most affected by bans like the one in Texas (where the population is 40% Latine) and yet they remain underrepresented.

Perhaps some of those 32,000 pregnant people were also diagnosed with fetal abnormalities—but the rest of them likely would have sought abortions for all kinds of individual reasons. Those reasons don’t matter. The right to bodily autonomy is not conditional; we have to be in it for every last person.

AND:​​​​​​​

• Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger died yesterday at the age of 100, and I’m going to be honest: I thought he was dead already. I’ve got nothing kind to say about this public figure, so enjoy this obituary that focuses on Kissinger’s legacy of being a war criminal.

• Speaking of dead things, the website Jezebel is getting brought back to life: The website has been purchased by Paste magazine, and now all of those RIP think pieces feel a little awkward! Poor Jez really had to sit through her own funeral. In an unexpected plot twist, Paste also bought leftist news and politics site Splinter, which was shuttered in 2019.

• Last weekend, three young Palestinian men were injured in Vermont, and investigating authorities say that there isn’t enough evidence to determine whether the shooting was a hate crime. An in-depth report from NPR lays out exactly why a motive in this case is difficult to prove and what exactly has made it historically difficult to track hate crimes against Arab Americans.

• After pandemic-era childcare funding, which had eased the burden of childcare costs for parents, ended in September, the country now finds itself falling quickly over the edge of the “childcare cliff.” A report from EdSurge outlines widespread daycare closures and tuition hikes over the last two months. (If you’re a parent, please know that I am scream-crying about this with you.)

• Today is Native American Women’s Equal Pay Day, a reminder of the 55 cents on the dollar that Native women make in comparison to white men. But is that number even accurate? You’re in for a surprise.

JUST CLICK THE LINK ABOVE TO GET YOUR UNIQUE SHARE CODE TO SEND TO FRIENDS. IF FIVE OF THEM SIGN UP, WE'LL SEND YOU A METEOR TOTE!

ALREADY HAVE A CODE BUT CAN'T FIND IT? NO WORRIES, IT'S WAITING FOR YOU DOWN BELOW. ⬇️ 

WEEKEND READING 📚

• On brand: Former employees of Lululemon share their experiences of being told that their Blackness was “off-brand” for the clothing company. (Business of Fashion)

• On fossil fuels: Economic and environmental experts argue that part of the reason a permanent peace solution will be so hard in Israel and Palestine has to do with the billions of dollars’ worth of oil buried in Gaza and the West Bank. (Atmos)

• On wheels: Modern. Matriarch. Skate. Jam. This one is a heartwarmer. (Teen Vogue)

Correction: An earlier version of this piece stated that the students in Vermont had been killed instead of injured. We regret the error.

FOLLOW THE METEOR

Thank you for reading The Meteor! Got this from a friend? Subscribe using their unique share code or snag your own copy, sent Tuesdays and Thursdays.

[email protected]