Anti-Trans Bills Across the U.S. Are Wreaking Havoc on Teens

At a press briefing Thursday, just two weeks after South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem signed the first anti-trans bill of 2022 into law, a reporter asked why she thought 90 percent of LGBTQ+ youth in South Dakota are diagnosed with anxiety or depression.

Without even feigned introspection or urgency, Noem replied: “I don’t know. That makes me sad, and we should figure it out.”

https://jezebel.com/anti-trans-bills-2022-effect-lgbtq-youth-1848565034

Support Black-Owned Businesses: 181 Places to Start Online

Racial and wealth disparities in the United States have been thrown into sharp relief by the COVID-19 pandemic and racial unrest throughout 2020. We see more clearly than ever just how often Black business owners and creatives have been thought of as less than their Caucasian counterparts – and Black businesses are paying the price.

Black businesses are impacted more deeply than Caucasian businesses by COVID-related closures, due to the long history of racial inequality that’s now exacerbated by the ongoing state of emergency.

It feels like an overwhelming problem – and it is – but there’s one simple thing you can do right now to help: Shop at Black-owned businesses whenever you can.

Supporting Black-owned businesses helps provide much-needed stability to business owners that have been hard hit by the pandemic. And you’re laying a foundation to continue to support Black businesses long after the crisis is over.

https://www.websiteplanet.com/blog/support-black-owned-businesses/

Remote Work Has Seemingly Emboldened Workplace Harassers

In some ways, the often informal and unsupervised channels through which remote work takes place can actually enable increased harassment—because of both the lack of oversight and witnesses to employee interactions and the blurring of barriers between professional and personal spaces. “We often hide for a reason, and for many of us, the pandemic made that covering impossible,” 

https://jezebel.com/remote-work-has-seemingly-emboldened-workplace-harasser-1847059639

50 Women in the Tech Industry Every Man Should Know

The tech industry is a sector dominated by men. You’ve probably heard about well-known tech giants like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg, but you might not know about the equally impressive female tech gurus. Research shows that almost 80% of students cannot name a single famous woman working in tech. To solve this problem, we’ve got a list of the top 50 women in the tech industry you should know about!

https://www.wizcase.com/blog/top-women-in-the-tech-industry/

The day I met a ‘gay conversion therapist’ – BBC News

‘m sitting in a room in Northern Ireland opposite a man who says he offers “talking therapy” to people who don’t want to be gay. And I cannot help feeling worried – despite all the evidence I’ve read to the contrary, a tiny part of me believes that he may actually convince me that I can choose to stop being gay.
The man in front of me is Mike Davidson, he’s originally from New Zealand and he’s invited me into his home, about 30 minutes outside Belfast. It’s in a very quiet close of small houses tucked away off a side road, the type of place where everyone knows your business. Do his neighbours know what happens here? I start to feel a little uneasy. It reminds me of my home town Eastbourne and of being in the closet, hiding my secrets.

via The day I met a ‘gay conversion therapist’ – BBC News

When feminism supports trans rights, everybody wins – just like in Iceland | Owl Fisher | Opinion | The Guardian

That doesn’t mean the fight is won though, and Icelandic women continue the battle for true equality – not just for women, but for the LGBT community too. Despite a reputation for being one of the most progressive nations towards LGBT people, Iceland has in fact not always gone as far as it could. A recent bill – a form of self-identification for trans people – has moved the country further along. The prime minister of Iceland, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, was the driving force. For her, it was a way to ensure that Iceland was again setting an example for the world. “Well, you could say that we have been running a little bit behind, but now with this legislation we’re actually again at the front. So it took some time I think for this small group of people to actually get heard.”

via When feminism supports trans rights, everybody wins – just like in Iceland | Owl Fisher | Opinion | The Guardian

Sexist attitudes towards sex are cheating women of orgasms – and worse | Rebecca Hitchen | Opinion | The Guardian

We may like to think we’re quite sexually free and equal these days, but an End Violence Against Women Coalition/YouGov survey of nearly 4,000 adults finds that two-fifths of people think men want sex more than women do. And between a third of and half of us think it is more likely that in heterosexual couples men will initiate and orgasm during sex, and decide when sex is finished, than women. In contrast, women are believed to be much more likely to refuse sex and to “go along with sex to keep their partner happy”.

via Sexist attitudes towards sex are cheating women of orgasms – and worse | Rebecca Hitchen | Opinion | The Guardian

A Louisiana Parish Jailed a U.S. Citizen for Being Latinx. We’re Suing. | American Civil Liberties Union

Ramon Torres had been a U.S. citizen for nearly ten years when he was detained for four days on an immigration hold – despite having a U.S. passport, a Louisiana driver’s license, and a Social Security card, and despite that fact that a court ordered his release.

Torres’ ordeal began in August 2018, when he was pulled over and arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. Torres, a naturalized U.S. citizen since 2009, was carrying multiple forms of identification, including his driver’s license and other security credentials. Torres was booked at the Ascension Parish Jail, and the next day the Parish Court ordered his release.

via A Louisiana Parish Jailed a U.S. Citizen for Being Latinx. We’re Suing. | American Civil Liberties Union

Will North Carolina’s Supreme Court Allow Racism to Remain a Persistent Factor in its Death Penalty? | American Civil Liberties Union

In 2009, North Carolina passed the Racial Justice Act (RJA), which allowed defendants to strike the death penalty from their cases if they could show that racial discrimination was a factor in their prosecution. The law came as a response to a series of exonerations of Black people who were falsely convicted of crimes they did not commit by all-white or nearly all-white juries. The legislature took a bold step to address was what suspected to be deeply troubling evidence of racism infecting the death penalty—but no one knew for sure what evidence uncovered by the RJA would find.

via Will North Carolina’s Supreme Court Allow Racism to Remain a Persistent Factor in its Death Penalty? | American Civil Liberties Union

Report: Facebook Content Mods Say Company Therapists Were Pressured to Share Session Details

Adding to an already ridiculously long list of complaints, now Facebook’s content moderators say a higher-up asked company-appointed counselors to share information from their sessions, according to a new report from the Intercept.

Numerous investigations have described this workforce as notoriously underpaid and overworked in crappy working conditions that require them to scan through some of the most disturbing posts the internet can offer. You know, all the things it might behoove someone to see a therapist about.

This most recent criticism comes from a site in Austin, Texas, led by Accenture, an independent contractor Facebook hired to oversee 1,500 of its content moderators. Accenture and Facebook also employ trauma counselors, a.k.a. “wellness coaches,” to help staff cope after screening all that potentially graphic content to judge whether it violates the company’s terms of service.

via Report: Facebook Content Mods Say Company Therapists Were Pressured to Share Session Details