Morning glorious Meteor readers,

We hope you are having a great weekend!

The news has been heavy this week, but a quick housekeeping announcement before we get into all of that. Starting next week, we’re going to be coming to you every Tuesday and Thursday instead of on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Change is fun!

Now on to the news.

With love,

The Meteor

WHAT'S GOING ON

It took us too long to pay attention to Brittney Griner

BY SHANNON MELERO

SHE SHOULD BE HERE. (IMAGE BY MEG OLIPHANT VIA GETTY IMAGES)

On Thursday, after she submitted a guilty plea, a Russian court sentenced Brittney Griner to nine years in prison on drug-related charges. The WNBA star has been wrongfully detained in Russia since February when officials found cannabis oil in her luggage. According to Griner’s testimony, she was not made aware of her rights during her arrest and did not intentionally bring the oil—which was prescribed to her by a doctor and was found to be less than one gram—into the country. “I still don’t understand to this day how they ended up in my bags,” Griner told the court during her trial.

The two questions that continue to arise from folks unfamiliar with Griner and her career are Why was she there in the first place? and Why plead guilty?

To answer the first question: Many WNBA players compete overseas during the American off-season to make up for the money they’re not being paid to play stateside. And as Connecticut Sun forward Jonquel Jones explained to the Washington Post, it’s not just the money luring American players—it’s how well they’re treated and the level of international competition compared to the lackluster provisions in the U.S. Jones said playing in Russia “felt like the first time I arrived as a basketball player.” Before the attack on Ukraine, huge names from the WNBA had played multiple seasons in Russia, including Jones, Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, and Breanna Stewart.

And to answer the second question: Griner’s guilty plea submitted in early July was a defense tactic partially aimed at securing a reduced sentence. After the plea, her defense team released a statement that reads in part:

“She decided to take full responsibility for her actions as she knows that she is a role model for many people. Considering the nature of her case, the insignificant amount of the substance, and BG’s personality and history of positive contributions to global and Russian sport, the defense hopes that the plea will be considered by the court as a mitigating factor and there will be no severe sentence.”

BRITTNEY GRINER'S REACTION AS HER SENTENCE WAS HANDED DOWN (VIA CNN)

But as we learned this week, she was not met with leniency; her sentence is only one year short of the maximum for this offense. Now Griner’s only hope for freedom is a prisoner swap, coordinated by the Biden administration, which has been offering platitudes but has made only one concrete offer to the Russians over the last 100+ days. According to The Athletic, Russia is “ready to discuss” the prisoner swap offer, which would also include the return of Paul Whelan, another American detainee.

The Brittney Griner story is a reminder of why sports should matter to feminists (and not only when there’s a story of pay disparity or sexual assault). I’ve often heard It’s just basketball, or Who cares about football? or There are bigger things for Serious Intellectuals to worry about. But Brittney Griner is an underpaid, Black, queer basketball player from a league that severely lacks cultural and economic investment. Like many women and trans athletes, Brittney Griner has devoted the majority of her life to her sport and giving back to her community—only to be largely ignored by media outlets that turn their noses up at athletes whose last name isn’t James, Manning, or Brady. It’s unfortunate that it’s taken an international fiasco for media outlets to take note of the WNBA and the work its players have done in social justice and pay equity.

Finally, some justice for Breonna Taylor’s family

BY SAMHITA MUKHOPADHYAY

SHE HAD HER WHOLE LIFE AHEAD OF HER. (IMAGE BY LEIGH VOGEL VIA GETTY IMAGES)

When 26-year-old Breonna Taylor, a medical worker, was killed by police at the beginning of the pandemic, justice didn’t seem possible. Her family’s legal recourse was limited—the Louisville police claimed to have a no-knock warrant because they believed Taylor's house was receiving drug packages (it wasn’t) making their actions legal. Later, the Kentucky attorney general, Daniel Cameron, grossly mishandled the case, claiming he did not want to cave to “mob justice.” In 2020, one of the officers had been fired, but no one had been charged.

But this week, news that was a long time coming finally arrived: The Department of Justice announced federal charges against the officers involved in the murder. While none of the officers have been charged with directly causing Taylor’s death, enough evidence has been found to suggest that three of them violated her rights by executing a search warrant without probable cause—and then “fabricating a story to evade responsibility.” The fourth officer, Brett Hankison, is facing a federal charge of “unconstitutional excessive force” after he shot ten rounds into Taylor’s apartment and that of a neighbor.

It’s worth noting that these charges didn’t just “happen.” Department of Justice watchers saw the handiwork of Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke—one of two DOJ appointees last year who were notable for their commitment to criminal justice reform (the other is Vanita Gupta). In her remarks on the charges, Clarke said: “Community safety dictates that police officers use their weapons only when necessary to defend their own lives or the lives of others, and even then, that they must do so with great care and caution. Today, after a full and comprehensive investigation, the facts and law have brought us here, to these indictments.”

THE INCOMPARABLE KRISTEN CLARKE. (IMAGE BY ANNA MONEYMAKER VIA GETTY IMAGES)

When Clarke was nominated, Fatima Goss Graves, president of the National Women’s Law Center, praised her appointment as “powerful and historic.” This week, she told The Meteor, she saw that power in action.“Kristen Clarke’s civil rights track record and deep experience have made her exactly the right person to lead the civil rights division in these times,” says Goss Graves. “And each time her leadership is tested—and as the first Black woman to lead the division, it happens often—she rises to meet the moment. We’ve learned again and again that elections matter and leadership matters. It requires courage, clarity, skills, and empathy. It gives me such hope that we will finally see justice for Breonna Taylor, and the country will be comforted by [Clarke’s] leadership.”

A FEW MORE THINGS:

• This is the worst Hollywood breakup of my lifetime.

• A pharmacist in Minnesota is on trial after allegedly refusing to fill a customer’s prescription for the morning-after pill.

• The legal battle between Elon Musk and Twitter should just be made into a movie at this point. Someone get Phoebe Waller-Bridge on the line.

• Here’s a must-read conversation with Dr. Steven Thrasher on his new book The Viral Underclass about COVID, disease, and inequality.

• An undercover journalist in Afghanistan has learned that the situation for women under Taliban rule is terrifying.

• Check out this very cool zine from Chime for Change featuring the work of The Meteor!

• This week on UNDISTRACTED, Brittany Packnett Cunningham had THE conversation about all things Beyoncé's Renaissance with guests Danyel Smith, Ayesha Roscoe, and Candice Benbow. Give it a listen, and enjoy the dopamine hit

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Dear Meteor readers,

Happy first official day of Beyoncé’s Renaissance season—which started at midnight yesterday with the release of her first studio album in *seven* years. Because our queen loves us, she shared the album with an unprecedented liner note thanking her fans and paying homage to the LGBTQ community which paved the way for her musical ambitions.

May this day bring you joy and enough dance moves to get you through the rest of the summer.

For this weekend’s newsletter, my favorite gal and Meteor superstar Samhita Mukhopadhyay has a crucial Q&A with Dr. Darien Sutton on the misinformation and homophobia surrounding the U.S. outbreaks of monkeypox.

But first, a little spin through the news.

Humming “AMERICA HAS A PROBLEM,”

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

Old man beef: Justice Alito didn’t get enough pleasure from torturing the American public with his retrograde decisions, so he’s decided to direct his attentions across the pond. During a speech at a religious conference in Rome, Alito—like Arya Stark reciting her kill list—took the time to name the folks around the world who’d spoken out against the overturn of Roe. Strangely, of all the people he could have referenced, he chose Prince Harry, Boris Johnson, French president Emmanuel Macron, and Justin Trudeau. Looks like Alito isn't above politics or extreme pettiness, after all.

Big moves: I guess that sit-in in Senator Chuck Schumer’s office paid off. Schumer and Senator Joe Manchin managed to secretly push through a tax and climate package this week that could potentially pour billions of dollars into clean energy. CNN reports this deal could “reduce U.S. carbon emissions by roughly 40% by 2030.” Optimism is in the air.

AND: 

• Young activist Olivia Julianna has now raised $1 million for abortion rights after being bullied by Rep. Matt Gaetz. *slow clap*

• A Spanish prosecutor is looking to hit singer Shakira with an eight-year prison sentence for alleged tax evasion between 2012 and 2014.

• A “vague” and “poorly written” proposed ban on abortions in West Virginia is suggesting that minors experiencing ectopic pregnancies will have to wait 48 hours before receiving an abortion—a waiting period that could kill them.

• In extremely exciting news for me (Shannon), Sue Bird has just joined the ownership group for Gotham FC and I am literally throwing a party in celebration. While it is becoming less so, it’s still a rarity to see women owners of sports teams, particularly in a sport as expensive as soccer. But now we’ve got one more and as a Gotham fan, I can confidently say Bird couldn’t have picked a better team.

HOMOPHOBIA IS CONTAGIOUS

What You Should Know About Monkeypox

Dr. Darien on its symptoms, its contagion—and what we're getting wrong about it

BY SAMHITA MUKHOPADHYAY

IT'S AN EVERYONE THING. (PHOTO BY MARLENA SLOSS VIA GETTY IMAGES)

It’s been a big week for the monkeypox virus. The World Health Organization has said it's a “public health emergency of international concern.” On Friday, San Francisco and New York City declared a state of emergency to stop the spread. I’ve seen the pictures of people waiting in long lines to get the vaccines. (And the images of infections are terrifying). There are 3,000 confirmed cases in the United States. How worried should we be?

I had more questions than answers, so I reached out to my friend Dr. Darien Sutton, an emergency physician and medical contributor on ABC.

Samhita Mukhopadhyay: OK, let’s start at the beginning. What kind of virus is monkeypox, and how does it spread?

Dr. Darien Sutton: So, monkeypox belongs to a family of viruses called the orthopoxvirus, [which also] includes something we commonly know as smallpox. Smallpox was officially eradicated within the United States by 1980, thanks to vaccines. But after that, monkeypox continued, mainly endemic to places like central and Western Africa. It presents with similar symptoms [as smallpox], albeit milder, but it’s still something to be concerned about.

The symptoms we classically know monkeypox to be associated with include this whole body rash of papules and pimples that can be quite debilitating. What’s interesting now is that [in] the cases of monkeypox that we’re seeing outside of endemic areas around the world (the United States has the most reported known cases), the rashes are mainly localized in specific regions of patients’ bodies—that can be their hands, feet, shoulders, and genitals.

Transmission happens via contact, most often from close contact—skin to skin—but it can also happen from sharing items with someone infected, such as clothing or towels. There’s also the possibility of respiratory droplets, [though] not in the same way that COVID-19 transmits where it’s aerosolized and airborne; with monkeypox, droplets are less likely to transmit from person to person. To compare, to get COVID [through] a close physical interaction with someone without touching can require 15 minutes for transmission, but monkeypox requires around three hours.

I saw some debate about whether monkeypox is an STI or not. Is it? Does it matter what we call it?

It is not an STI, and it does matter what we call it. It’s a contact virus. So it transfers from person to person through close contact, and the umbrella of contact includes sexual or intimate contact. So yes, it can be transmitted during sexual intercourse, but [that] is not the only form of transmission.

That’s also, I think, part of why it’s been talked about as something that’s only affecting gay men. Is that true? How is it going to impact the larger population?

So the initial conversation and communication around monkeypox was that it might have been sexually transmitted and only affected gay men. And those inaccuracies put a lot of people at risk. When a pathogen first starts [to spread], it often will transmit within a self-associating community. It [just] so happened that the first couple of cases were associated with social events that involved gay and bisexual men.

Through self-association, that pathogen will continue to transfer until it is stopped. And that’s why it’s so important to pay attention to early calls to action, especially when we heard from queer communities, thought leaders, and epidemiologists months ago that monkeypox was known to be a problem. But obviously, those calls were not heard or met with immediate responses [and] people were left with little to no resources [with delayed access to vaccines and treatment].

So now, we will see transmission outside of this initial self-associating group into the general population. And that’s why it’s important to explain to people how this virus can be transmitted and how everyone is at risk. Using language that defines the disease [with] the location or group you first find it in will always lead to misinformation. We don't call bacterial meningitis—which often happens in colleges—“college meningitis.” We didn’t call COVID “restaurant COVID”  when we first saw outbreaks through indoor dining.

We see pathogens all the time, and we don't define them by location or people, except when it happens to queer people. Then we quickly define them.

Want to know more about how to protect yourself and others from monkeypox? Click here. 

SO EXACTLY HOW RIGGED IS THE POLITICAL SYSTEM?

Why is it that abortion bans are getting passed when most Americans are pro-choice? Or gun control laws are failing when most Americans favor them? This week on UNDISTRACTED, producer Treasure Brooks sat down with Voto Latino co-founder Maria Teresa Kumar to hear the answers. As always, it’s a conversation not to be missed, and here are some of the highlights that really made me stop and think, how rigged *is* the system?

• Quite rigged! Kumar explains that after the election of Barack Obama, with its increase in voter turnout, “they changed the game on us.” The gerrymandering of state legislatures took off, the Supreme Court signed off on voter suppression, and we began to see more instances of minority rule.

• Did you know there’s a law in Texas making it near impossible for college students to vote if they live on campus? Voto Latino is suing to change this.

• You’re probably sick of hearing “the election of our lifetime”—but Kumar says this is just that, and “fundamentally what we’re going to need to do is outvote them in the next two elections.” And it isn’t just our lives in the balance but those of the “alpha generation,” the youngsters coming up behind Gen Z who may grow up with more bodily restrictions than any recent generation.

For more from Brooks, Kumar, and our favorite host Brittany Packnett Cunningham—take a listen to the latest episode of UNDISTRACTED here.

UNDISTRACTED IS SPONSORED BY:

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Hey! Will we be seeing you at Joe's Pub this Sunday? Don't forget to snag your tickets here. 

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Dear Meteor readers,

I have never been happier to be sitting next to my air conditioner. This might sound a little dramatic, but I spent most of the last week in London where temps got so high they broke a national record and cracked a tarmac at an airport.

In the middle of heat that felt like sitting in the lower intestine of Satan after a night at Taco Bell, the British person I was with politely explained to me, “Air con just isn’t a thing for us.” So I’m starting a grassroots campaign to expose the English to air conditioning via my website maketheUKcoolagain.org.

In today’s temperature appropriate newsletter, writer and international reproductive rights expert Lori Adelman explains the implications of Roe v. Wade’s death for people who need abortions around the world.

But first, a little news.

Staying hydrated,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

The sunflower state: On the ballot next week in Kansas is a new proposed amendment to the state constitution that could remove the right to an abortion. Currently, Kansas’ constitution has shielded its citizens from the rollback of Roe v. Wade, but anti-abortion legislators don’t want to let that stand: They’ve written an amendment that, if passed, would swing the door wide open to limit or ban abortion access in the state. This isn’t just a problem for the birthing people of Kansas. The state’s immediate neighbors, Missouri and Oklahoma have banned abortion for their residents (although Missouri allows some if the life of the pregnant person is in danger) and people have been crossing over into Kansas to seek healthcare. You’re probably sick of hearing it, but this is a beyond crucial moment to go out and vote!

Sun’s out, buns out: A group of congressional staffers held a sit-in in Senator Chuck Schumer’s office to protest the Democratic Party’s inaction on the climate crisis. Six were arrested, but not before sharing this genuinely chilling message: “We’re asking Senator Schumer to negotiate like this is the coldest summer of the rest of our lives (it is).” 🥶

AND:

• The Choco Taco is no longer. Sad for all of you who ate this abomination trying to pass for ice cream; I’ll stick with my classic single scoop and rainbow sprinkles, like a grown-up.

• This morning in a Russian court, Brittney Griner took the stand, testifying on her own behalf in pursuit of leniency.

• Olivia Julianna, a teenage abortion rights activist who was publicly insulted and body shamed by adult reptile Rep. Matt Gaetz has raised $168,000 for abortion rights.

OLIVIA JULIANNA VERY KINDLY WROTE GAETZ A THANK YOU CARD FOR HIS DEDICATION TO ABORTION RIGHTS. (SCREENSHOT VIA TWITTER)

• Haven’t had time to emotionally recover from the formula shortage? Well, get ready because we are on the brink of a global epidural shortage. Pop quiz: what do these two shortages have in common? (The answer is at the bottom of this newsletter.)

• A 12-year-old argued against West Virginia’s latest anti-abortion bill during a public hearing, saying, “If a man decides that I’m an object, and does unspeakable, tragic things to me, am I, a child, supposed to carry and birth another child?”

AROUND THE WORLD

What the Death of Roe Means for Global Abortion Rights

“If the US says no, who are we to say yes?”

BY LORI ADELMAN

PROTESTORS IN TRAFALGAR SQUARE IN LONDON (PHOTO BY WIKTOR SZYMANOWICZ VIA GETTY IMAGES) 

Roughly a year ago, a high court in Malawi issued a somewhat favorable ruling on abortion, clarifying that those seeking access could obtain one in certain circumstances. It wasn’t perfect, but Hester Nyasulu, Executive Director at White Ribbon Alliance Malawi, an organization that works to end maternal mortality, had high hopes to build on this momentum in his country, where unsafe abortion accounts for almost 18% of maternal deaths.

As Nyasulu heard that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, overturning the constitutional right to abortion, he felt his longtime efforts to save lives hit yet another snag.

“If the US says no, who are we to say yes?” he asks.

It’s been one month since SCOTUS issued the deadly Dobbs decision, and the impact across America is already worse than predicted. But if you speak with abortion advocates in Global Majority countries, an additionally devastating picture emerges. Activists report a newly emboldened opposition to reproductive rights from anti-choice factions in their communities. As a result, NGO workers, politicians, and religious leaders will need to fight even harder to protect rights and save lives—and some may be reluctant to go to bat for abortion rights.

First, they say, there’s the worry about losing U.S. funding for any work that touches abortion. While the Supreme Court decision should technically have little bearing on foreign aid, healthcare providers in Global Majority countries have been burned before. The global gag rule, which held back U.S. funding from any organization that provided or advocated for abortion, has been rescinded by every Democratic president but reinstated by every Republican president since 1984. This often meant that health centers, NGOs, and community organizations around the world have had to make a kind of Sophie’s choice: provide or fight for abortions, lose funding on any number of equally urgent healthcare priorities.

PROTESTORS IN ARGENTINA SHOW THERE IS NO AGE LIMIT TO ANGER. (PHOTO BY MATIAS BAGLIETTO VIA GETTY IMAGES)

Steff Musho, a human rights attorney and feminist advocate in Kenya—where abortion is constitutionally legal under certain circumstances but often unsafe and out of reach—says backlash has worsened since the decision on Roe.

“[Dobbs] has emboldened the opposition,” she says. Before the decision, the issue had already been “sensitive and divisive.” Still, advocates across the region had helped advance a bill that would have addressed high maternal mortality and teen pregnancy rates. Now, CitizenGo, a conservative advocacy group founded in Spain that backs global measures opposing same-sex marriage, abortion, trans rights, and more, “is submitting memoranda against the bill as we speak,” she says. “It's given them so much venom to advance their agenda,” she says.

Musho also worries about the broader cultural message sent by a rich, powerful nation denying healthcare to half its population. This kind of signaling can have an outsized influence: "When we see [the SCOTUS decision], African states are going to align," she says. They know the US can't take action against them.

The Dobbs decision stands in contrast to a broader global trend toward the liberalization of abortion laws. Over the last several years, feminist movements in Global Majority countries have achieved historic gains for abortion rights, including in conservative countries like Mexico, Benin, and Colombia. New WHO guidelines require removing legal and policy barriers to safe abortion, such as mandatory waiting periods. By overturning Roe, the U.S. became just one of eleven countries to restrict abortion rights since the 90s.

“The overturning of Roe has shocked the entire continent as a sign of the magnitude of the war against women,” said Cecilia Palmeiro, one of the founders of the transformative Latin American movement Ni Una Menos which organizes to end gender-based violence and advance reproductive justice.

A PROTEST BANNER READS, "WITH OR WITHOUT THE VETO, ABORTION IS MY RIGHT." (PHOTO BY JUAN DIEGO MONTENEGRO VIA GETTY IMAGES)

What’s the solution? For some global activists, it’s rethinking the U.S.'s role as a reproductive rights leader. Since the Dobbs decision, Sierra Leone has taken steps to legalize abortion, citing the colonial origins of its anti-abortion laws.  “Why are we even talking about what’s happening in the Global North?” says Musho. “We should have African solutions for African problems.”

Many activists are finding hope in growing calls for transnational solidarity. An incredible ecosystem of activism, mutual aid, and care has also been strengthened and, in some cases, emerged since Dobbs: for example, abortion activists in the U.S. and Mexico have been collaborating, holding strategy meetings together, and even mailing abortion pills across the border.

Palmeiro, in Argentina, hopes this transnational solidarity is the future—across all issues that impact women. “Women of the world are under the attack of the same reactionary forces,” she said. “We need to articulate a global self-defense. The defense of our reproductive rights needs to be also the defense of...our rights as workers, especially in the context of a debt crisis that affects poor countries in particular.”

Musho agrees, citing the Maputo Protocol—a human rights charter created in 2005 as an important tool to hold the African Union accountable for women’s rights.

“It's so important that we secure our own rights, so we remain unshaken,” she says. “We must learn to stand in solidarity with each other without being destroyed in the process.”

Will we see you there?

Pop quiz answer: both these shortages could be avoided if forced birth was not the new norm. Now forward this newsletter to a friend and see if they got the answer right. 

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Dear Meteor readers,

Tomorrow it will be one month since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and the stories of patients being denied or having difficulty accessing care have been worse than we had even imagined. A 10-year-old rape victim was encouraged by forced childbirth advocates to carry the resulting pregnancy to term when she had to fly to another state to obtain the procedure, a miscarrying woman in Louisiana was denied care and forced to deliver a nonviable fetus, and a woman in Michigan was denied care for a life-endangering ectopic pregnancy, among other and surely yet more stories.

This is not an anniversary any of us wanted to celebrate—but it’s a good reminder to keep donating to abortion funds, as they are the ones on the frontlines fighting to get pregnant people the care they need. We have a long battle ahead of us to secure justice. So, it’s a good time to remember that that is actually possible. In this vein, we have a real treat this week.

Writer and editor Megan Carpentier chats with award-winning Guardian environmental justice reporter Nina Lakhani about her groundbreaking book on the life and murder of Honduran grassroots activist Berta Cáceres—and the threats Lakhani has faced herself for telling that story.

But first, the news.

¡Viva la Revolución!

Samhita Mukhopadhyay

WHAT'S GOING ON

187 Minutes: On Thursday evening, the Congressional hearings into the Jan. 6th riots came to a close… at least until the fall session. The hearing’s focus was on the three hours between when Trump encouraged protesters to march to the Capitol and when he finally (barely) told them to go home. The committee hearing highlighted Trump’s inaction and refusal to do his duty to stop the insurrection. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) concluded the hearing by stating, “Donald Trump made a purposeful choice to violate his oath of office.” Sure sounds like it!

Also, IDK about you, but I will never get over this video of Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) running away as the rioters (whom he’d cheered on earlier in the day) closed in on the Senate.

Meanwhile, former presidential adviser and Breitbart founder Steve Bannon was convicted of contempt charges on Friday for initially defying a subpoena to appear before the committee. (It is hard to argue that Bannon does not hold the committee and, like, half the country in contempt.)

Welcome Justice Jackson: Justice Kentaji Brown Jackson had her first vote on the Supreme Court this week, and she dissented. The court’s conservative majority, however, backed a lower court ruling preventing the Biden administration from reverting back to Obama-era, less-Trumpian but still aggressive immigration policies.

Just say it: Feminist philosopher Kate Manne talked to Brian Lehrer about why when talking about our reproductive rights using the term “pregnant people” is simply more “accurate and inclusive” and does not, in fact, diminish women.

AND:

• Pat Benatar can no longer in good conscience sing her classic, “Hit Me With Your Best Shot.”

• Turns out how you view gender does impact how you vote.

• On the legacy of Susan Faludi’s feminist tome Backlash.

• I love fat girls hiking in the woods!

TRUTH TO POWER

Why We Need To Keep Speaking Up

Guardian reporter Nina Lakhani talks about the intense pressure she and  indigenous land defender Berta Cáceres faced to remain silent.

BY MEGAN CARPENTIER

BERTA CÁCERES ON THE BANK OF THE GUALCARQUE RIVER IN THE RIO BLANCO REGION OF WESTERN HONDURAS, WHICH SHE HELPED SAVE (PHOTO COURTESY OF THE GOLDMAN ENVIRONMENTAL PRIZE)

What do you do when everyone wants you to shut up—or is actively trying to shut you up? If you’re either Honduran activist Berta Cáceres or her biographer, Guardian journalist Nina Lakhani, you keep talking.

Nina first met Berta in Tegucigalpa—the capital of Honduras—in November 2013. Berta, a well-known indigenous rights activist from the Lenca community in western Honduras, was there to, among other things, speak about her concerns that the soon-to-be elected conservative president could further suppress his political opponents and eventually put an end to the country’s growing social movements.

“The army has an assassination list with my name at the top,” Berta told Nina at the time. “I want to live, but in this country there is total impunity. When they want to kill me, they will do it.”

And, less than three years later, she was assassinated.

Ultimately, it was Berta’s involvement, starting in 2013, in the effort to stop a corrupt hydroelectric project from building a dam in the Lenca people’s backyard that pissed off the people dangerous enough to kill her.

Nina, who had been writing a book about Berta prior to the assassination, persevered in her own work, covering the 2018 trial for Berta’s murder despite threats to her safety. (Ultimately, seven men—many of whom worked for the hydroelectric company— were convicted at that trial and the former company president was convicted in July 2021.)

But it didn’t end there — not completely.

Nina’s book about Berta—Who Killed Berta Cáceres? Dams, Death Squads, and an Indigenous Defender’s Battle for the Planet—came out in June 2020, and Nina immediately faced legal threats in the U.K., where libel laws are more liberal than in the U.S.

But with the end of the statute of limitations on that suit, she’s ready to talk.

NINA LAKHANI (COURTESY OF NINA LAKHANI) 

Megan Carpentier: How did you get interested in Berta Cáceres’s story?

Nina Lakhani: When she was alive, she had been leading a campaign in Honduras to stop the construction of an internationally-financed hydroelectric dam — an energy project on a river considered sacred by the Lenca people, which had been illegally sanctioned by a corrupt government. And for leading that campaign, there had been a campaign of terror against her and her organization, which had led to her having to go underground — to go on the run, really — because she was facing these trumped-up criminal charges.

At the time of her murder in March 2016, she was undoubtedly the most well-known activist in Latin America working on environment and land issues. She had won the Goldman Environmental Prize — which is sometimes called the Nobel Prize for environmentalists — in 2015. She'd had an audience with the Pope in Rome in the year before she died.

She was incredibly well-known, and they murdered her anyway.

I started investigating her murder for The Guardian, and it just became really so clear to me that if they could kill her, they could kill anybody. She wasn't the first environmental indigenous activist to be killed in Honduras nor the last, but hers was a really emblematic case in terms of what she was fighting for and who she was fighting against—and in that her murder was prosecuted.

Why was the prosecution of her murderers so emblematic?

There was a coup in Honduras in 2009, and she was murdered in March of 2016. In that period, more than a hundred environmental and land defenders had already been murdered, and no one had ever been held to account. But when she was killed, it made headlines across the world, and there was a huge amount of lobbying and campaigning for something to happen from the E.U., the U.S. and her family. And we kept reporting on her murder.

So the government — this authoritarian post-coup government, many of whom are now awaiting trial in the U.S. for drug trafficking — was under pressure to hold a trial, right? Eight people were prosecuted at the first trial, a combination of the hired hit men (the sicarios) and middlemen in the company, Desarrollos Energéticos (DESA), itself, many of whom had connections to the Honduran armed forces. [Seven were convicted.] Most recently the president of the dam company  — a former military intelligence officer trained at West Point — was also convicted.

But it’s important to understand that what she was doing by delaying the construction of the dam was causing DESA to lose profits, and part of the executive team made the decision to kill her. So there has been some justice [through the earlier trials], but the higher-ups have never been held to account. The politicians that enabled the campaign of terror against her and others, that enabled her death, and that enabled a cover-up to some extent, have never been held to account. And nobody that financed the project has either.

Her family last month submitted a case for a criminal investigation in the Netherlands against the Dutch development bank, FMO, that was involved in the financing of the dam project — which is really unheard of in these types of cases.

BERTA CÁCERES IN FRONT OF THE LOGO FOR THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF POPULAR AND INDIGENOUS ORGANIZATIONS OF HONDURAS (COPINH), WHICH SHE FOUNDED (PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE GOLDMAN ENVIRONMENTAL PRIZE)

It’s clear that Berta was killed in order to silence her — but you also faced threats in reporting on her, right?

A few months after her murder, I uncovered the links between the perpetrators and the U.S. military training that they’d received. Then, I started getting a huge amount of harassment and stress from the Honduran government and the military. The U.S. embassy in Honduras launched a really dirty underground campaign to discredit me and my reporting. [In Lakhani’s book, she details this campaign—which involved off-the-record press briefings to discredit her reporting on how the U.S. had previously provided military training to many of the men involved in Cáceres’s murder—and notes that the U.S. government never responded to questions about it.]

During the first trial for her murder, when I was the only reporter there, I also received what we believed were threats coming from military intelligence. I was declared persona non grata in the country—I wasn't able to ever go back to the country by plane; I've always gone by land. I was labeled a terrorist, a communist, a drug trafficker. There was this really sustained campaign to stop the only reporter who was pursuing this case.

And then, just before the book was published, we received a threat of legal action in the U.K. by Honduran banks involved in the project. When it was published, we received more threats [to sue me for libel]—which went on for 15 months.

To have that threat hanging over me was really probably the worst of all of the threats I had in this whole period, because you have billionaire banks threatening to ruin you—not just financially, but also to ruin my reputation. I felt very isolated, because when you are facing people with unlimited resources determined to shut you up and discredit you, it is really difficult.

But really, all of this was just telling me that I needed to keep going—because this was a story that was uncomfortable for a lot of people in power. They desperately did not want me to be doing this work.

What struck me about reading your book is this innate sense that Berta had about intersectionality: She was an indigenous rights activist, a gender identity activist, an anti-capitalist, a land defender. How do you feel she came to see all that as interrelated?

When you are a grassroots leader, things aren't divided: Land rights are indigenous rights, indigenous rights are anti-colonial, water rights are indigenous rights and human rights. You don't separate them out. We are whole people, we are whole communities; all of those things go together.

What made Berta really unique is that she was absolutely a grassroots leader [but] she also went all around the world to be with other communities—First Nation communities in Canada, indigenous communities in the U.S., local groups in Kenya, in Kazakhstan, Brazil, Guatemala — and absorb what she could about their grassroots resistance. Through that, she became an incredibly smart political thinker. She understood and could explain every local struggle in a regional and global context—the geopolitical context, economic context, cultural context, gender context. And that made her incredibly powerful and dangerous.

She saw, on a grassroots level, what was going on in terms of international financing coming in through development banks in the name of green energy, but at the cost of whole communities being obliterated or being displaced, forced migration, rivers being polluted and more. But she also then absorbed the Washington consensus, World Bank policies and International Monetary Fund policies and understood that these things weren't just happening by chance: The reason that all of these massive energy projects were coming to places like Central America was because there was huge amounts of money being poured into green energy products to function as carbon credits [to offset pollution in richer nations]. People like her, communities like hers, were collateral damage—a sacrifice for the supposed greater good.

What do you want people to take away from Berta’s story, in the end?

That the causes and the consequences of the planet burning are playing out right now in communities — and, how you learn about the causes and the consequences is actually from communities. We need to actually listen (and have the humility to listen) to the real experts who are on the ground and not try to impose solutions or “development.” Imposing development or imposing climate solutions is why we are in this mess.

We're not the ones that know best necessarily. But we can help communities on the ground who have been practicing climate solutions and good environmental practices and sustainable farming and stuff forever. We can learn from them — and we can support them without imposing “solutions” on them.

If you know someone who could use a little inspiration, forward this email to them!

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Dear Meteor readers,

Happy Wednesday! We’re here today to bring you the latest on abortion lawsuits, civil disobedience… and, because life is multi-faceted and so is former Fly Girl Jennifer Lopez, a little about the Latina icon’s decision to change her name after marrying longtime beau Ben Affleck.

This has been the subject of much discussion on Twitter and in our office. So we asked Susanne Ramírez de Arellano, a Puerto Rican author, the former news director for Univision Puerto Rico (among other things), and a diehard JLo fan to explain why this very personal decision about a part of JLo's identity has many of us feeling a way about our own.

But before we get to JAff, the news.

Stay cool out there!

Samhita Mukhopadhyay

WHAT'S GOING ON

Civil disobedience: On Tuesday, 17 House Democrats were arrested for protesting the overturn of Roe v. Wade, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), along with the only man in the group Andy Levin (D-Mich.). As Rep. Maloney said, “There is no democracy if women do not have control over their own bodies.” And for anyone thinking that a little lawbreaking doesn’t become a member of Congress, here’s Rep. Tlaib: “Civil disobedience has always been part of our history and fight for change. This moment and the fight for women’s and reproductive rights calls for it.” This is the leadership we have been waiting for—keep going!

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ BEING DETAINED BY CAPITOL POLICE OFFICERS DURING AN ABORTION RIGHTS PROTEST (PHOTO BY ANNA MONEYMAKER/GETTY IMAGES) 

Ban the ban: In a lawsuit against Louisiana’s abortion trigger ban, obstetrician Dr. Valerie Williams details having to force a patient whose water broke after the 16th week of pregnancy through a “painful, hours-long labor to deliver a nonviable fetus, despite her wishes,” after the doctor was told by the hospital’s legal counsel that she couldn’t perform a D&E (dilation and evacuation) on the patient. A judge has now blocked the state’s cruel abortion ban, while those in defense and in opposition to the law duke it out. The district court judge has extended the “restraining order” on the law for 10 more days, after which he will decide its fate. (Now is a great time to support the New Orleans Abortion Fund.)

From Uvalde: A report released earlier this week found that 376 law enforcement officials ran to the site of the deadly school shooting at Robb Elementary school in Uvalde, Texas which left 19 students and 2 teachers dead. Three-hundred and seventy-six. And not one of them stopped what happened that day for more than an hour. (What Molly Jong-Fast said.) The report also found that sitting police commissioner Pete Arredondo failed to take responsibility as “incident commander” that day. The school district is now recommending he be fired.

AND:

• A new documentary, Aftershock, explores disparities in Black maternal health and is out on Hulu. Read our April interview with one of the directors of the film, Tonya Lewis Lee.

• Why are colleges and universities reticent about providing abortion pills, even in states where they’re legal?

• E. Jean Carroll, who says she was sexually assaulted by Donald Trump and who’s suing him for defamation, will now see her case go to trial.

CALL ME BUT LOVE

What’s In A Name?

Though she's changing her name after marrying the “ultimate blanquito,” JLo owes us nothing.

BY SUSANNE RAMÍREZ DE ARELLANO

#TEAMBENNIFER FOREVER (2022 PHOTO BY RICH FURY/WIREIMAGE VIA GETTY IMAGES) 

In case you missed it: Jennifer López—the daughter of David López and Guadalupe Rodríguez—married Ben Affleck in a low-key ceremony at the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas last weekend, wearing a demure white dress from an old movie (how fitting).

“We did it. Love is beautiful. Love is kind,” she wrote in her “On the JLo" newsletter while sharing a few black-and-white wedding photos. “And it turns out love is patient. Twenty years patient.”

It was a scene that could have been part of a new López-fronted wedding-themed rom-com: The woman who played a newly-wedded music star Kat Valdez in Marry Me and the eponymous Wedding Planner Mary Fiore finally tied the knot with the actor once credited as “boyfriend” in her own “Jenny From the Block” video. It’s the perfect ending to a good story.

Then, she signed her missive to fans “Mrs. Jennifer Lynn Affleck”—and suddenly everyone had an opinion.

OK, she changed her name. So what? López has always written her own story, plus she has said she will continue using Jennifer López professionally. And, it’s her fairytale: We just happen to be watching.

But it wasn’t just López changing her last name that bothered people. After all, in 2004 when she married singer Marc Anthony—whose given name is Marco Muniz—Jennifer López officially became Jennifer Muniz, and there was no comparable fuss.

This time around, no small part of the controversy comes from the fact that López changing her name to Affleck has anglicized her legal name beyond recognition.

Love it or hate it—or even if you couldn’t care less—Mrs. Jennifer Lynn Affleck doesn’t instantly conjure a Fly Girl on In Living Color.

It doesn’t have the same ring as Jennifer López or JLo. It is so…white.

Still, she’d told us that she would change her name if she married Affleck. When first engaged to Ben in 2003, JLo said then that she would adopt his name. “I think I’m going to stay with Jennifer López, but my name will be Jennifer Affleck, obviously,” she told Access Hollywood. “You’ve gotta make sacrifices!”

“She is doing what [our Latina mothers] taught us,” Guisell Gomez, senior deputy editor of Be Latina, a Hispanic women’s website, told me. “You get married, and you give him everything. She is giving her vulnerability to Ben Affleck.”

Taking a husband’s name isn’t a long-ago part of patriarchal history, even though it derives from an 11th-century law that gave all of a married woman’s rights to her husband (known as the law of coverture). In the U.S., around 70 percent of women still take their husbands’ family names when they get married, according to an extensive data analysis.

And in Puerto Rico, many Boricua women still take their husbands’ last names. However, the tradition is to add it to their own family name—as in Jennifer López de Affleck.

“Adding Lynn to Jennifer seems to denote—apart from a sudden submission to the antiquated and patriarchal issue of being Mrs. So and So—a certain intention to renege on her identity, which is Latina,” Ruth Torres, a Boricua friend of mine in Puerto Rico, told me as we discussed the pros and cons of López taking her husband’s name. “It left a bad taste.”

On some level, it did for me too—and not because I find taking a husband’s name a submissive or patriarchal act. It’s just that I would never anglicize my name because that is not who I am; to take on an Anglo name would be like losing the core of me.

Plus J. Lo is Hollywood’s most successful Puerto Rican, and—even though she doesn’t speak Spanish well—her last name lets people know who she is.

López increased the representation of Boricua women in film, television and fashion and transformed our image: Until she broke through, we were primarily represented in the mainland imagination by the swirling skirts of Anita (Rita) Moreno singing “I want to live in America” in West Side Story.

So it hurts to see her become “Mrs. Affleck.”

Her decision also comes at a significant time for Puerto Ricans: Puerto Rico is currently undergoing a fundamental shift in its social and political architecture. Last week, a bill was introduced in Congress that outlines a process for the people of Puerto Rico to decide their political status in a binding resolution that would force Congress to carry out their decision and end the archipelago’s colonial status. For the first time, strong winds are blowing in favor of self-determination—and possibly, eventually, independence.

So, it does not feel like a good moment for a global Puerto Rican star to drop her given name and opt to be called Mrs. Jennifer Lynn Affleck. Representation in the United States that has always looked down on Puerto Ricans is important—and JLo never let people forget she was a proud Boricua woman.

But in the end, López has nothing left to prove: She has sold 80 million records globally, headlined a string of Hollywood romantic comedies, owns a beauty line, and now has a Netflix documentary about her halftime performance at the 2020 Super Bowl (where she proudly displayed the Puerto Rican flag).

And, when you wait 20 years and the guy is Ben Affleck, the ultimate blanquito—a good-looking, Oscar-winning Batman who does nothing but adore her in a way Anthony and A-Rod never appeared to do—changing your name is perhaps less submission than domination: It’s like saying out loud I got my guy.

She did it her way, and—like all of us—has the right to call herself whatever she wants. She is Señora Affleck now… although, truthfully, I think Ben López would have had a nicer ring to it.

What’s In Our Names?

The pressure on celebrities to anglicize their names is real — and not that old. But some have recently chosen to embrace their given names, and explained why that representation matters to them.

• Thandiwe Newton reclaimed the given spelling of her first name, telling British Vogue in 2021 the "w" had been left out of her credits in her first on-screen role, 1991’s "Flirting" and she’d used the anglicized version, Thandie, thereafter. (The movie was directed by the man she alleges abused her.) “That’s my name. It’s always been my name. I’m taking back what’s mine,” she said.

• Loan Tran — who originally appeared in the new Star Wars trilogy as Kelly Marie Tran — wrote an emotional essay for The New York Times in 2018 about reclaiming her given name. “[Pop culture] reinforced within me rules that were written before I was born, rules that made my parents deem it necessary to abandon their real names and adopt American ones — Tony and Kay — so it was easier for others to pronounce, a literal erasure of culture that still has me aching to the core.”

• Psych actor James Roday Rodriguez reclaimed his given last name in 2020, after years of being told that he should adopt a more Anglo-sounding name to get roles. In a TVLine interview, he said, “I realize I essentially perpetuated an institutionalized element of what’s broken about this industry [by taking an Anglo name], which is, of course, a microcosm of the world we are living in,” he said. “But now I’m going to go back to the name I was born with. It’s long overdue.”

• In June 2022, Martin Sheen reminded Closer Magazine that “my real name is Ramon Estévez,” and said he still regrets adopting an anglicized name for his acting career. “Sometimes you get persuaded when you don’t have enough insight or even enough courage to stand up for what you believe in, and you pay for it later,” he said.

If you know someone who ain't fooled by the rocks that you got, forward this email to them!

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Dear Meteor readers,

If you care about the world being a just and equitable place, the news has been pretty terrible. And that’s probably not going to change anytime soon. So is it possible to be optimistic amidst all this?

This week Meteor editor-at-large Rebecca Carroll talks to writer and former Bitch EIC Evette Dionne about that question—and how to avoid defaulting to despair.

We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did.

First, the news. Which…isn’t all bad.

xo,

Samhita Mukhopadhyay

WHAT'S GOING ON

“That’s where we are”: As we shared Wednesday, two weeks ago a 10-year-old girl in Ohio who needed an abortion after being raped had to travel to Indiana for one because the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade just before her appointment. That was a tragedy in and of itself. Somehow, though, conservatives made it worse: First, they suggested the news story about the victimized child wasn’t to be believed, with the Wall Street Journal going so far as to suggest it was “too good to confirm.” (Unclear what exactly about the rape of a child is “too good.”) After a suspect was arrested (a rarity in child rape cases), they issued a tepid correction but never retracted their horrible headline.

Then, Thursday, an official for the National Right to Life Committee said that the child—again, a 10-year-old sexual assault survivor—should have carried that pregnancy to term and come to understand “the benefit of having the child.” And, now the virulently anti-choice attorney general of Indiana is considering pursuing criminal charges against the doctor who performed the abortion, suggesting she did not file the appropriate paperwork with the state to report providing an abortion to a person under the age of sexual consent. (The doctor did, in fact, follow appropriate procedures, something it took news outlets less than a day to confirm via open records requests, suggesting the AG didn’t even bother to look into what the doctor did before going on television to accuse her of a crime. In a wholly legitimate move, she is now considering suing back.)

In other words, what we learned this week is this: Not even a 10-year-old sexual assault survivor is off limits for forced-childbirth zealots.

Terrifying: Uber is facing a class action lawsuit from 550 women passengers. The suit claims that the ride-share app failed to keep women safe from being “kidnapped, sexually assaulted, sexually battered, raped, falsely imprisoned, stalked, harassed, or otherwise attacked by Uber drivers.”

RIP: Donald Trump’s first wife Ivana Trump — the one with whom he had his eldest three children, and who he allegedly sexually assaulted, cheated on, and left for Marla Maples—has died.

New York Attorney General Letitia James (who, by the way, is a powerhouse) has agreed to temporarily delay depositions for the Trump family members in the state’s fraud investigation to allow them time to grieve. (Speaking of which, Donald Trump is definitely running for president again; he’s just trying to figure out when he’ll announce it.)

AND:

• Texas is suing the Biden administration over its executive order protecting doctors who need to terminate a pregnancy in the case of a medical emergency. New state motto: “Texas, where it’s OK if pregnant people die!”

• A great read from Jill Filipovic on the alternative “facts” created by the forced childbirthers and how many mainstream media institutions have been complicit in spreading them. Please see to it you never say “unborn child” again.

• The lovely Sophia Bush announced her wedding to Grant Hughes by sharing how abortion impacted his life.

THE AUDACITY OF...

Hope and How to Find It

Rebecca Carroll speaks to author Evette Dionne about how to keep from just giving into despair in These Times.

BY REBECCA CARROLL

AUTHOR EVETTE DIONNE, AN ACTUAL RAY OF SUNSHINE (PHOTO BY MEIKA EJIASI VIA EVETTE DIONNE) 

These are some dark days right now. A new wave of COVID just hit, every week there’s another mass shooting, transphobia is on the rise, the January 6th committee hearings are illuminating what a hot mess our democracy is, and the Supreme Court just overturned Roe v. Wade. And things are clearly going to get worse: Justice Clarence Thomas said it himself — with his whole-ass, okey-doke chest—that the right to same-sex marriage and access to contraception is next.

I’m trying to live, work, raise my son to thrive, be a good partner, friend, and citizen amid all these reasons to despair, and then some days, I just think, “For what?”

After the Roe reversal, political journalist Rebecca Traister wrote about the necessity of optimism in this moment for The Cut, stating that we must “find the way to hope, not as feel-good anesthetic but as tactical necessity.”

Listen: I like hope as much as the next person, but I need an entirely new way of understanding it in order to keep pushing. So I reached out to Evette Dionne — culture writer, former editor-in-chief of Bitch Magazine, and author of Lifting As We Climb: Black Women’s Battle for the Ballot Box — for a conversation about reimagining this necessary hope.

Rebecca Carroll: After Roe, you tweeted: “Hopelessness is normal, but hope is all we have today.” So—do you have it right now?

Evette Dionne: Having hope for me is just a way of living because, I say all the time, life just gets harder and harder. Our government is trying to strip away all our rights. Climate change is eroding our planet. All that we have is hope that we can organize enough as a people to slow down this onslaught. It’s the only way that I feel like I can wake up and not just be in the pits of despair. I need hope to function.

And I think the practicality of that is, if you’re able to think about history as this really long arc, there are moments where it gets better, but there are also times where it gets worse—and you have to believe that it’s going to swing the other way. Hope is a driving force of that.

So when you say you have to have hope—is it a feeling, is it a tool, is it a muscle? 

I love thinking about it as a muscle because feelings are fleeting: you could feel happy, you could feel sad, you could feel depressed all in a single day. Hope to me is less of a feeling, because you could be in despair and still be hopeful that tomorrow is going to be better.

Hope is one of those things that brings coalitions of people together. But, in terms of who gets to think about hope as this galvanizing force, [those] are typically not our most impoverished folks. You have to have the time, the resources, and the space.

If you’re just constantly in survival mode as a mechanism of capitalism, you’re just trying to get to your next moment. Do you really have time to hope?  And so hope and joy and pleasure are kind of my central foundational tenets — the things that I try my best to allow my life to rotate around. Our society is designed to extract and extract and extract and not to pour in anything. And so I fiercely guard my time. I fiercely guard my boundaries.

But if hope is a muscle, muscles get tired. How do you deal with that?

Burnout is real, and it’s something that has to be taken care of. I always say it’s perfectly fine to step away from a movement, away from a constant news cycle, away from anything that is making you weary. Just because you’re stepping away from it doesn’t mean that you’re not still attached to it in some way. When you’re ready to tap back in, it will still be there.

It’s difficult in this [political] moment, because we don’t have leftist leadership in real positions of power who are doing that physical, concrete work that makes people feel like they can turn away. Because if you do turn away, then you get, say, the President of the United States giving this statement [about abortion] with no concrete action really, and calling out actual leftists for [even] wanting him to say “abortion.” So it’s difficult to step away, but I think it’s necessary. And so step away. Please step away.

STACEY ABRAMS GREETING A VOTER IN ATLANTA IN MAY 2022 (PHOTO BY JOE RAEDLE VIA GETTY IMAGES)

Do you believe that we will get the leaders we need who can effectively shift the balance?

I believe that we will. I have hope — whether it takes five years, 10 years, it could take 50 years, honestly — that the United States can have a full on leftist movement that’s not malicious in the way that the right is, but is intentional in that way of We’re starting at the ground level, school boards and all the local elections, and attorneys generals.

A person I’m incredibly inspired by is Stacey Abrams. She just picked up the baton of voting rights organizing and just ran with it. I’m inspired by the fact that she doesn’t play the short game: It took 10 years for her organization to do what it did in the 2020 election. And she’s still working, like, Okay, there’s a single victory. We registered all these new voters. We keep going, we keep going, we keep going. That is what I think hope looks like.

I suddenly feel like hope is also maybe just acting with moral integrity towards ourselves and others.

I mean, they’re not too far apart. It really is [the] moral integrity of It can stand for a while, but it can’t stand forever. I don’t think we’re going to end up in a civil war or anything that extreme, but in terms of people taking to the streets and protesting, it’s going to continue. The United States is on a fast track to authoritarianism. [But] if this country is what I think it is, I don’t think that will stand.

There are enough of us.

More than enough.

What’s giving us hope

• This moment when abortion rights protesters crossed paths with trans rights protesters and they cheered and hugged.

• Pilots volunteering to airlift patients out of red states who need access to abortion care.

• A new Beyoncé album is coming in 13 days.

• A new season of Emmy-nominated Quinta Brunson’s Abbott Elementary is happening.

• The reassurance that some of our ancestors overcame the impossible and we can, too.

If you know someone else who could use a little reason to hope, go ahead forward this email to them!

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Greetings Meteor readers,

I am still buzzing from the final episode of Ms. Marvel—a series featuring the first Muslim superhero in the Marvel Universe—which had me near tears and yelling at my TV in excitement. I won’t give anything away, but if you’re a fan of super-stuff like I am, there’s a big, BIG set up in the final minutes that’ll knock your socks off.

For today’s newsletter, award-winning journalist and Meteor founding member Mariane Pearl spoke to real life hero Nastya Melnychenko—a Ukrainian journalist, activist, and creator of #яНеБоюсьСказати (#IAmNotAfraidToSpeak), a #MeToo-like campaign. They discuss the impact the Russian invasion has had on Melnychenko and her family, and the unique challenges women refugees face.

But first, a little news.

Sending light,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON 

• Blocked: For the second time since Roe v. Wade was overturned 19 days ago, abortion is temporarily legal again in the state of Louisiana. On Tuesday a judge granted a temporary restraining order, preventing the state’s ban from being implemented. The court will reconvene on Monday to hear arguments from abortion providers who have filed lawsuits claiming the trigger ban is in direct violation of the Louisiana state constitution. We’re pulling for y’all!

• My name is HOV: A woman in Texas was pulled over while driving in the HOV lane seemingly unaccompanied. And—thanks to white privilege—she was allowed to explain herself to the police officers who stopped her . She said that she was not really alone because she was 34 weeks pregnant and, since we all now live in an alternate reality where we’re forced to pretend life begins at conception, there were technically two people in the car. Clever. She was issued a citation despite her argument, but plans to show up to traffic court later this month to fight it. We truly are all fighting our own battles.

AND:

• This video of Professor Khiara Bridges putting Senator Josh Hawley in his place after he asks a transphobic question is giving us eternal life.

• For the first time in a decade, a Sudanese woman has been sentenced to death by stoning after being found guilty of adultery.

• Dr. Jill Biden has apologized for boiling down Latiné diversity to Bronx bodegas and San Antonio breakfast burritos. And as someone whose teenage diet consisted exclusively of foods purchased from Bronx bodegas I want to forgive her but, really how hard is it to come up with a better analogy, sis?

• A suspect has been charged in the rape of the 10 year old Ohio girl who traveled to Indiana to obtain an abortion, after the state’s Republican attorney general denied she existed.

• If you’re into awards season, the Emmy nominations were announced. I am personally rooting for Zendaya who absolutely WRECKED me in the latest season of Euphoria.

DON'T LOOK AWAY

What This Ukrainian Feminist Wants You to Know About the War

Anastasia Melnychenko speaks to Mariane Pearl about having to leave her life behind

BY MARIANE PEARL

ANASTASIA MELNYCHENKO BEING INTERVIEWED ON HROMATSKE RADIO. (PHOTO VIA ANASTASIA MELNYCHENKO)

It’s been 139 days since Russian troops invaded Ukraine—and stories about the conflict are no longer at the top of American news feeds every day. But for women like Anastasia Melnychenko, there is no end in sight. Nastya, as she is called, is known internationally for starting the #яНеБоюсьСказати (#IAmNotAfraidToSpeak) campaign against blaming sexual assault victims in 2016, shortly before #MeToo went viral; she is also a well-established Ukrainian journalist and activist who founded Studena, an NGO advocating for equal opportunities regardless of gender, race, or religion.

I talked to her about what she believes the West isn’t hearing about the situation in Ukraine five months in, her activism, and how the never-ending war has impacted her life.

Mariane Pearl:  What is the most urgent message you have for people reading about the war in Ukraine?

Anastasia Melnychenko: It is easy to become numb to the news but I ask you: Please do not underestimate the psychological effect and sheer power of the propaganda war Russia is waging against us; it's not just about tanks, missiles, massacres, murders, and rapes. At least, those crimes are visible for all to see, but there is also a whole layer of invisible crimes.

Blaming the victim is one: Russia spreads the message that Ukraine is responsible for the destruction of its own land by refusing to give it up. People are going hungry in Ukraine, yet Russia blames us for seeking international support. Or they successfully implement narratives about Ukrainians being racists or even fascists.

People who have never encountered a propaganda machine of this magnitude cannot see…how Russia is shaping the narrative for the world. So my message is this: The picture of the war in Ukraine is much more horrible than what you can imagine just by watching what they want to show you on television.

As a journalist, did you see this war coming?

We should remember that this war did not begin on February 24, 2022, but in March 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and captured Donbas [a region in Ukraine]. Back then, the Western community ignored it, hoping Russia would calm down. As you can see, this did not happen.

It was obvious to most Ukrainians that Russia would attack; the only question was when.

Can you tell me what has happened to you in the last months, since this phase of the war started?

On February 24, I was doing research at Denver University in Colorado. I was about to launch an online course for Ukrainian teachers about bullying prevention. But as the war began, I flew to Europe immediately, to evacuate my children and parents from Ukraine. During my journey home, I found out my house in Irpin had been destroyed by a missile. So in one moment, I lost both my job and my home. Thankfully, my loved ones were safe. I managed to bring them all — parents and kids — to Poland.

The next quest was to evacuate my paralyzed grandmother and my aunt from occupied Kherson [in southern Ukraine]. With the help of volunteers, we managed to get them out. After spending two months in Poland waiting for visas, we are now in the U.K., where I am in the process of proving that I am indeed a literate and educated person. (Our knowledge and professional experience mean nothing unless it is validated by the British authorities.)

So now I also have to rebuild my professional identity.

Do you think you are the same person as when this war started?

For me, the experience of losing the pillars of my life was depressing. I lost my dream home. I lost my status, my job, and my career as a writer.  I found myself in a foreign country alone, with dependent people but without access to what gave me strength (my city, my job, my house, my dog, who died a month before the war). I seemed to have lost my own self. It’s still hard for me to find the meaning of my life.

Now I am trying to return to activism, but it is not easy within the reality of a refugee’s life. I no longer understand who I am and where to go. When you confront war, this invincible relentless force, everything that was important to you before seems to have lost its meaning.

The picture of the war in Ukraine is much more horrible than what you can imagine just by watching what they want to show you on television.

Would you say that women have suffered more in this war—and why? 

I don’t want to categorize the sufferings of women and men as more or less; that would be wrong. But there is a specific female experience: horrific crimes targeting women, such as being raped or witnessing the rape of your children.

And those [women] who managed to get out are suddenly living in foreign countries without money or understanding of how life abroad works. This is political exile, not conscious emigration. As such, our identities become a blur; we lose our social status and achievements. Millions of women are going through this right now….We are forced to forego our personal dreams. Women also have the extra burden of caring for countless dependents, [including] retired parents, who have never left Ukraine and don’t speak any foreign language.

Moreover, the choices women make are often criticized harshly and unfairly. If a woman takes her children abroad, she is a traitor and a parasite who betrayed her country. If she doesn’t take her  children out, she becomes a horrible mother who puts her children in danger.

Women’s rights have been important to you for so long. Can you explain when and why you decided to commit to doing this work? 

I grew up in a family that was not typical for its time — it was free from patriarchal prejudices. Going out into the big world, I was shocked by [inequality]....I spent 18 years working on gender equality; I did a lot of educational work. Ukraine has made giant steps toward equality, but I decided to stop trying to convince those who cannot understand why gender equality is necessary. It’s like explaining why you need to wash your hands after using the toilet. You can explain, of course, but by a certain age, a person should come to this recognition by themselves. If someone is still stuck in the Middle Ages, it's their problem.

ANASTASIA MELNYCHENKO AND HER PARTNER AT THE 2021 MARCH FOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS IN KYIV. (PHOTO COURTESY OF ANASTASIA MELNYCHENKO)

One thing you’ve become widely known for is starting the campaign #яНеБоюсьСказати (#IAmNotAfraidToSpeak), which became known as a precursor of #MeToo. Can you explain how and why that got started?

I have been personally sexually assaulted twice: [First] as a child and again in my early 20s. My then-partner forced me to undress and took pictures, threatening to post them on the internet if I didn’t stay with him.

For a long time I was afraid, but one day I saw an internet post that infuriated me. A man wrote on Facebook that he had helped a rape victim who was walking in a park. And it would have been fine if he did not add moralizing comments such as “Girls: just don’t go through the park alone.”

All that victim-blaming wasn’t new, and I knew many rape stories where the girls weren’t in the park at night. So I decided to share my own experience to encourage people to speak out—and it was like breaking through a dam. Testimonies about sexual harassment started pouring over the internet. The hashtag #IAmNotAfraidToSpeak [#яНеБоюсьСказати] was created and more than 200,000 men and women from Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakstan used it to support women or narrate their own experiences.

It generated a first-time conversation about violence against women — a taboo topic in our region where the objectification of women is the norm.

This is political exile, not conscious emigration. As such, our identities become a blur; we lose our social status and achievements.

What do you think people most need to understand about what is going on in Ukraine? 

What is happening now is a genocide of the Ukrainian people. I don’t understand why Western politicians fail to notice what is really going on. I often hear messages between the lines in the Western media and on social networks: why can’t Ukrainians just give their lands to the Russians to stop the war? Due to the stubbornness of Ukrainians, our [bills] have skyrocketed. Why do we have to pay for this war?

Only Russia as the aggressor could end the war—and its consequences on the economy—but they won’t.

Read Mariane Pearl's previous piece, an interview with two Afghan journalists on what life is like for women there now, by clicking here.

If you liked this, your friends probably would too! Go ahead and forward it, we won't mind.

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G’day Meteor readers!

I am so pumped about today’s newsletter—I want us to clasp hands and jump right into it like it’s the last scene in a Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movie.

Over the last few days, we at The Meteor have been absolutely gobsmacked by the rise of anti-trans rhetoric that has been seeping its way into the zeitgeist. To better understand this phenomenon, my newsletter co-sherpa Samhita Mukhopadhyay spoke to author and journalist Meredith Talusan about how we got here and most importantly how we can get literally anywhere else.

But first, a speedy dash through some news.

Running up that hill,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

More of this: Joe Biden has signed an executive order designed to protect those seeking an abortion. After weeks, months, years—it’s good to see him taking some action to protect abortion rights. (He even said the actual word.) The order would set up mobile clinics on the border of states that have banned abortion, offer protection for providers, and asks the HHS to create a report (due in a month) to outline next steps that would protect access to medical abortions. So really it’s an order to come up with a plan to outline steps to eventually execute…but it is a looooong-awaited move in the right direction. Biden wrote on Twitter, “Congressional Republicans want abortion to be illegal…As long as I’m president, I will veto any attempt.” Maintain this energy, Joseph; we are watching you like our lives depend on it, which they do.

Fresh hell: Jackson Women’s Health Organization of Mississippi—the abortion clinic named in the Dobbs case which overturned Roe v. Wade—has closed its doors. Now is a good time to remember the impact and courage of the “Pink House.”

#WeAreBG: In an effort to expedite negotiations for a prisoner swap, Brittney Griner has pleaded guilty to drug charges in Russia; the plea carries a penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment. Experts who have been following the case argue that this was always going to be the outcome and does not provide a definitive answer as to whether or not Griner did what she is accused of.

AND: 

• Justice Brett Kavanaugh chose to exit a Morton’s through the back exit to avoid protestors who had gathered outside to exercise their constitutional rights. 😇

• Jerry Harris, the formerly beloved start of Netflix’s Cheer, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for soliciting sex from minors.

• Did you know there’s such a thing as “vasectomy influencers?”

• In September a new law will go into effect in Arizona which bans civilians from filming police officers within eight feet. Friendly reminder that most smartphones have excellent zoom capabilities.

WHITE TEARS

Meredith Talusan On the Current Rise of Anti-Trans Rhetoric 

“You’re allowed to be trans as long as it’s clear that you're always gonna be inferior to me.”

BY SAMHITA MUKHOPADHYAY

MEREDITH TALUSAN (PHOTO BY VIVIEN KILLILEA VIA GETTY IMAGES) 

As a young feminist and undergrad in the late 90s, I stumbled upon the groundbreaking work of Judith Butler. Butler gave feminists language to understand gender—not as something inherent to the body we are born in, but as something that, through a series of experiences, we learn and relearn.

It all made sense to me: if we are to free ourselves of gender oppression, we must also understand what it is, how it functions, and how it confines us. And that also meant that any feminism that was truly invested in freedom would incorporate the needs of anyone who questions gender, including nonbinary and trans people.

So, imagine my surprise when I read in the paper of record last weekend that, being trans-inclusive is not only a bad idea but actually as threatening to women as the right-wing assault on our rights. (The story argued that including people who don’t identify as women but can get pregnant, as is the case for some trans men and nonbinary people, in abortion-rights language leads to “misogyny” and “erases women”). Bette Midler promptly tweeted in approval.

The article was part of a trend of self-proclaimed “feminists” spouting anti-trans rhetoric. “TERFs,” or “trans-exclusionary radical feminists,” have a long, sordid history, from certain pockets of second-wave feminism to today, most recently gaining traction in the UK. Notably, J.K. Rowling tweeted a barrage of anti-trans sentiments that she’s doubled down on with increasing anger. More recently, Macy Gray joined the fray.

So, why is this “feminism” rearing its ugly head in the United States right now—when anyone who cares about human rights should be standing with trans youth as they're attacked by right-wing extremists? To help me understand the broader context of what is happening here, I turned to my old friend, writer, and editor Meredith Talusan. Meredith and I worked together at Condé Nast where she ran the LGBTQ vertical them. She’s also the author of Fairest, which was nominated for a LAMBDA literary award, and one of the most thoughtful people I know. I was excited to get a chance to chat with her.

BINARIES ARE FOR SQUARES. (PHOTO BY DENIS THAUST VIA GETTY IMAGES)

Samhita Mukhopadhyay: OK, why do you think this dumb-ass line of thinking is kicking up again—especially at a time when *all* of our rights are under attack. Where does this come from? 

Meredith Talusan: Goodness. It’s hugely complicated. The really fascinating thing about so much of this rhetoric is this trope of white female innocence that masks an entire ideology that is deeply, deeply harmful to another set of people. And also completely covers the amount of power that [white cis women] actually have over people, with no real recognition of the fact that one can simultaneously be oppressed and at the same time oppress others.

The first thing that I thought about when I read [the New York Times piece] is: were we erasing men when we women were advocating that “men” not be used as the default? When men were arguing when we say mankind, we really mean everyone, [we responded], no, because actually, it makes a difference in language that you include us. It’s not a dissimilar dynamic.

As some writers pointed out, there also aren’t many real-life examples of when we can’t call ourselves “woman,” or “women.” 

The writer says that historically when girls were masculine, they could just be girls. Like they didn’t have to identify as trans. But you know what? That was the choice of people several generations ago. People are making different choices now, and it’s not like women can’t make their own choice to remain woman-identified. No one’s preventing them from doing that, we’re just offering them another option.

But, it’s factually undeniable that there are men and non-binary people who get pregnant. Also, this complete lack of empathy: Like, can you imagine what it’s like for a trans person…who wants to obtain medical care in order to either get pregnant or get an abortion? I have not had that experience, but I’ve certainly had the experience of being presumed cis and repeatedly asked about my medical history even after trying to tell them like, No, I’m trans, please don’t ask me about my last menstrual cycle. 

A few people have said this type of bigoted rhetoric—which now has bled from right-wing groups to progressives—leads to fascism. 

That is the essence of fascist ideology: that there is a group of people who, through their sheer number and political will, must be de facto considered superior and whose needs have to be prioritized over a minority. It’s this white trope of like, oh my God, I’m being so accommodating but I’m being attacked, but literally by people who have a minuscule amount of political power compared to them.

SOME OF THE MOST VULNERABLE FOLX IN THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY ARE BLACK TRANS WOMEN. (PHOTO BY MARK KERRISON VIA GETTY IMAGES)

This has been reminding me of the suffrage movement and the strategic decision by white feminists to exclude Black women. So, white feminism has always relied on a certain sense of “othering” to succeed in its own political goals, right? 

There’s always been a dominant assumption of how you’re supposed to “perform”  feminism: You’re supposed to engage with [certain] issues and presenting minority concerns is a distraction. The political difference between white feminism and intersectional feminism is that intersectional feminists are saying we have to start with the people who experienced the greatest oppression in order for it to be a true feminist movement.

I don’t know if I told you, but my main hobby right now, after reading about Lia Thomas [the NCAA swimmer who was banned from competition], is that I’ve become an avid swimmer. And one of the really fascinating things to me is the way in which white women so often can’t handle any sign of an individual trans person being in any way in a better off position than them. They don’t even question that ideology. Like out of the dozens and dozens of events in all of these competitions, whenever there is a trans person who wins, that’s when they become the object of ire. This basically means: You’re allowed to be trans as long as it’s clear that you're always gonna be inferior to me.

To me, trans rights and abortion rights are deeply connected. In all of the same places where they’re trying to ban abortion, they’re also trying to ban access to hormone therapy and things like that. 

The government is trying to rob us all of our ability to be able to make decisions for ourselves. And what are you really sacrificing by using the term “pregnant people,” like in that one specific instance, when you’re referring, you know, to all pregnant people in the United States? It’s not like a doctor is going to look at like a cis woman’s chart and [call you] pregnant person. They know you are a cis woman.

So, I’m not really sure where this rhetoric is coming from. I also don’t understand why the effect of that is women’s erasure. The ideology of patriarchy that feminists have been trying to fight for generations and generations, is that men are always going to be superior and try to keep women in their place. And now to be like, we have to keep trans people in their place. How can you square your feminism with the way you’re basically replicating previous rhetorics and ideologies that try to quash any type of minority dissent?

LIA THOMAS, THE FIRST TRANS PERSON EVER TO SECURE A DIVISION I NATIONAL TITLE. (PHOTO BY MIKE COMER VIA GETTY IMAGES)

I think we have to push back on the idea that this is feminism. 

Right. And this is not how we’re going to be able to make headway at a time when pretty much all minorities are under attack. I mean the thing that is really funny to me is that every single one of these opinion pieces always has this line like trans people should be able to live a life of dignity—but you can’t even give us the dignity of naming us factually? Like, sure you can have rights as long as it doesn’t impinge on my rights.

That’s not how we’re going to be able to make headway. This is all our fight for bodily autonomy, for being able to have the agency to do what we want with our bodies and ourselves.

Piss off the TERF in your life by sharing this newsletter with everyone you know. 

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Salutations Meteor readers,

I’ve been listening to a lot of soundtracks recently. You know that song “Everything is Awesome” from The Lego Movie? It’s an absolute banger. But lately, I can’t help but replace “awesome” with “awful” in my head. Everything just feels like it’s bad. There’s no solution—other than replaying “We’re All in This Together” from High School Musical. It’s an antidote to despair. Give it a try.

Speaking of tweens and music, we've got a delightful newsletter for you today. Writer Ellie Rudy spoke with three “drag babies” about why they love dressing up and slaying on the dance floor. What’s a drag baby, you ask? You’ll have to read to find out.

But before that, a quick ask. We recently joined TikTok and we’d LOVE for you to meet us there. (If we hit 20K followers, Samhita and I will do the High School Musical dance for you. Just don’t tell her I signed her up for that.)

Okay, now we can get to the news.

Tiking and toking,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

Highland Park: As you may have heard, a gunman in Highland Park, Illinois, opened fire Monday, killing seven people. The suspect, who has been charged with seven counts of first-degree murder so far, carried out the attack using a legally purchased rifle that was “similar to an AR-15”, despite having two previous encounters with police and sharing violent imagery online which should have disqualified him from purchasing one let alone five firearms. Nancy Rotering, Highland Park’s mayor, said of the tragedy, “I think at some point, this nation needs to have a conversation about these weekly events involving the murder of dozens of people with legally obtained guns.” That conversation has been going on far too long already.

139 days: That’s how long WNBA star Brittney Griner has been wrongfully detained in Russia. On Monday, Griner sent a letter to President Biden asking, “please don’t forget about me and the other American detainees,” and adding that she feared she might be stuck in Russia forever. Despite a whole lot of lip service, Griner’s wife charges that the Biden administration has not done enough to secure Griner’s release; as Griner's coach pointed out, “If it was Lebron, he’d be home, right?” Which is quite the double-edged sword because LeBron would in fact be home—not just because of his status, but because, unlike WNBA players, NBA players aren’t dependent on traveling overseas during the off-season to make ends meet to begin with. To raise your voice in support of bringing Brittney Griner home, consider signing this petition.

AND:

• There’s about to be a new billionaire on the block. Jerry Hall has filed for divorce from Rupert Murdoch, citing irreconcilable differences. Jerry, time to read the Mackenzie Scott playbook, and use that settlement cash to undo some of the harm your ex hath wrought.

• Tomorrow, Megan Rapinoe and Simone Biles will be receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I’ve already put in my PTO request for what really should be a national holiday.

• Enjoy this very good trailer featuring Viola Davis stabbing a colonizer with a machete.

• Rudy Giuliani and Senator Lindsay Graham have been subpoenaed in connection to a Georgia investigation of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

• Still trying to figure out how to permanently delete the data from your period tracking app? My pal (and the only person I trust to explain tech stuff) Victoria Song has you covered.

KIDS AT WERK

These “Drag Babies” Will Not Be Stopped 

They may not be old enough to order mimosas at drag brunch, but these teens are already performance pros. 

BY ELLIE RUDY

TWEEN DRAG PHENOM THE KING OF QUEENS AT THIS YEAR'S DRAG CON  (PHOTO COURTESY OF THE KING OF QUEENS)

When I was nine years old, I went to South Beach, Florida, with my mom and godmother for spring break. One night, they took me out to a drag show and I was instantly enamored. These untouchable, confident goddesses amazed me. They were like every Disney princess mixed with every Marvel superhero all in one, and they didn’t care what anybody thought. I had never seen a more admirable example of how expansive gender expression can be. Drag culture made me the person I am today—not just loud, covered in sequins, and saying “YAAS QUEEN” way too often, but also creative. Drag represents our freedom to express ourselves, and that rubbed off on me.

But conservative lawmakers in Texas, Arizona, and Florida want to bar children from attending drag performances and are even proposing banning “family-friendly” drag events altogether. In a press conference, earlier this month, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis described a Dallas drag show for kids as “really, really disturbing.” He told the crowd, “That is not something that children should be exposed to.” Right-wing protestors have also disrupted performances, standing outside one family-friendly drag event in Dallas last month to demand it keep children out.

But despite this pressure, some kids are doing more than just watching drag—they’re performing it themselves, taking to social media to compete in online drag competitions, and putting in the werk. I spoke to three of these young queens. They told me that the right-wing attacks are taking their toll. But they also said that drag was an integral part of their identity—and a place to express themselves in a world full of trauma.

(I’m referring to the children by their drag names, and using she/her pronouns.)

TWO YOUNGSTERS COMPETING IN A DANCE-OFF AT DRAG CON 2022. THIS IS WHAT JOY LOOKS LIKE. (PHOTO BY SANTIAGO PHELIPE VIA GETTY IMAGES)

Vee Miyake Versace has been doing drag for two years since she was 15. Now, at 17,  her drag persona is very much intertwined with her identity as a trans woman. She competes in Instagram drag competitions called fashion races, which replicate challenges on RuPaul’s Drag Race and in which contestants design and create their own garments, dance, sing rap, and even do standup comedy. She loves connecting with other “drag babies” (the term used in the drag community for non-adult queens)  around the country and loves exploring her artistic side. “Drag to me, it’s all about the creativity,” she says. “It doesn’t  matter what you do, how you do it, it’s just about the creativity behind it and the effort you put into it.”

THAT LASH WORK? HIGH ART! (PHOTO COURTESY OF VEE MIKAYE VERSACE)

She’s incredibly frustrated with the conversation around kids and drag. “I just think it’s all so stupid at this point because there are also things like what happened [in Uvalde], but [lawmakers] are more worried about people just dressing up doing drag than actually protecting people.”

Stella Virgin, a 14-year-old Ohio-based queen, describes herself as a “glamour girl” and prides herself on her makeup skills. “I give face and mug,” she says. “I am the mug queen…someone you can meet at a party who you can trust but you know you’ll also have a good time with.”

She got into the drag scene when she was 12, and has excelled in the world of Instagram drag, winning two competitions. Her mother Pam beams when discussing Stella’s passion for drag, “She doesn’t need reassurance from people she doesn’t even know, just as long as she knows her family loves her and we support her,” she said. “We’re just so proud of her and we just can't say enough about her. She’s the most loving, extraordinary child.”

Stella is upbeat—throughout our Zoom call, she can’t stop smiling and practically glows whenever her mom chimes in. She says the current attacks on drag concern her: “It feels like I can’t express myself how I want to, like the way I see myself.” But she manages to keep her head up by continuing to pursue her makeup and dance skills.

STELLA VIRGIN GIVING US PRINCESS PEACH, CANDY LAND EMPRESS REALNESS (PHOTOS COURTESY OF STELLA VIRGIN)

“I want to do more than just online competitions,” she says. “I want to get out in the real world and showcase my talents.”

One of Stella’s best friends is a 12-year-old California queen named The King of Queens. The two met through Instagram when The King reached out to Stella after admiring her online drag performances; the two eventually met in person when The King flew down to Ohio for the weekend, and have been online best friends since.

I had the pleasure of meeting The King of Queens at RuPaul’s DragCon 2022 in Los Angeles. She told me she started drag when she was just eight years old after her older sister showed her RuPaul’s Drag Race. Her mom, Amy, wasn’t surprised: “Since she came out of the womb, she’s been one of those kids that just naturally performs…She’d see a group of people and just start dancing in the middle,” Amy says.

When I ask The King what kind of girl her drag persona is, she replies without skipping a beat: “The King of Queens is dancing. She’s serving face,” she says. “She’s very feminine but at the same time weird.”

King’s popularity has made her a target: Last month, an alt-right Twitter account called Libs of Tiktok got hold of a recording of The King of Queens performing at her local Hamburger Mary’s, a drag-themed diner chain, and posted it. Commenters harassed King and posted hurtful comments about her, says Amy. And Tiktok even took King’s account down after it was reported for “child safety.” They got it back “after several appeals,” says Amy, but “we’ve had to lay low because of that.”

ONLY THREE WORDS CAN EXPLAIN THIS: FAB. U. LOUS. AND MOM LOOKS GREAT TOO! (PHOTO COURTESY OF THE KING OF QUEENS)

But even after having adults bully her on Twitter, The King of Queens is still incredibly grateful to have drag in her life—and says she uses it to soothe herself. “Drag is a way to express who I am and when I’m going through something emotionally, I will get in drag or do a weird look or something like that and it will kind of like calm me down and just put me in a place that is less aggressive.”

To her—and to me—drag is a comforting, supportive space. “The community is great, amazing, loving,” she says. “I mean, everything about it is what a child like me should grow up in.”

Before you sashay away, please consider forwarding this newsletter to a few friends. (Do it for the kids!) 

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