The War on Women is in full force under the Trump administration. We refuse to go back, and we refuse to let the administration quietly dismantle the progress we’ve made. We are watching.
This is the War on Women Report.
Since Our Last Report
+ In a shocking yet unsurprising August 1 article, Vanity Fair reporter Bess Levin outlined the true reason for the apparent falling out between President Donald Trump and millionaire serial pedophile Jeffrey Epstein – real estate. It should come as no surprise, Levin writes, that the two moguls ended their reportedly “tight” friendship over a property bidding war, rather than over Epstein’s nefarious trafficking of underage girls. After all, one source once described the two as “each other’s wingmen.”
+ In an opinion article published August 2, former President Barack Obama staffer Katherine Archuleta rang the alarm on a recent White House regulation that would “cruelly strip the [Affordable Care Act] of specific protections for LGBTQ patients.” The regulation, introduced in June, would label the ACA’s protection of transgender people’s gender identities as unlawful, essentially denying them protection from gender-based discrimination. Archuleta implored citizens to challenge the regulation, which is open for public comment until August 12.
Monday, 8/5
+ After a harrowing weekend left at least 31 dead in two mass shootings, The Representation Project examined the disturbing links between toxic masculinity and the devastating violence. The close relationship between the American toxic masculinity, that saddles men with an “aggrieved entitlement” to superiority, and the large-scale gun violence that has become so common in the U.S. is long-established. But despite the glaring connections between the two phenomena, the role of toxic masculinity in breeding mass shootings has been essentially ignored by the American media and public, The Representation Project writes. Tragically, while gender scholars diagnosed toxic masculinity as one of the root causes of mass shootings almost two decades ago, it continues to go untreated. Donald Trump’s presidency has also bolstered these dangerous notions of masculinity—and encouraged hateful acts of violence.
Wednesday, 8/7
+ Washington Blade reporter Chris Johnson raised reasonable suspicion that the Trump administration has discharged military members under the transgender ban – despite its claims otherwise. All U.S. military services contacted by the Washington Blade, with the exception of the U.S. Coast Guard, reported they have yet to deny any applicants under the trans ban. But this is highly unlikely to truly be the case, said Stephen Peters, a spokesperson for LGBT group Modern Military Association of America. Peters represents three individuals denied enlistment before the ban even came into effect in April. Since the ban’s official implementation, Peters says it’s almost certainly blocked numerous trans applicants from joining the military.
Thursday, 8/8
+ Videos went viral Thursday of distraught children in Mississippi who were left without supervision or support after an ICE raid led to the arrest of 680 migrants. After Wednesday’s raid, they reportedly spend the night in a local gym supplied with donated food and drinks. Many of them came home from school to find that their parents were gone.
