44 Comments

The right is still nursing a grudge that Title IX required colleges and universities to fund women's sports, not just men's football and men's basketball, the only real sports as far as the right is concerned anyway. And they are nursing an even angrier grudge that Title IX requires that colleges and universities put policies and procedures in place to protect the victims of sexual harassment. In their opinion this stifles the ability for boys to be boys and men to be men. Protection for LGBTQ is just one more slap in their testosterone challenged faces.

Expand full comment

Why am I not surprised that Ken Paxton and Texas are leading the charge? Their absolute and willful ignorance, cruelty, and bigotry knows no bounds.

Expand full comment

thank the TX GOP that did not remove him

Expand full comment

Happy to see hypocrisy is alive and well in Republican states, with Moms for Liberty, the TikTok crowd, etc!!! They wish to control women’s health care choices yet quibble about identifying pronouns!!! They are exhausting!!! One thing I know for sure, the Biden administration will never take any rights away from women. Unlike their republicans colleagues who wish to do so all the time!!

Expand full comment

If republican hypocrites are so worried about women, why do they continue to fight the Equal Rights Amendment that's been in limbo throughout my lifetime?

Expand full comment

They say that the ERA is redundant and not needed.....right....

Expand full comment

Excellent reporting, Judd. The willful disregard of federal regulations is worrisome. I can see this expanding to disregard other regulations.

Expand full comment

Ayep. We had one other dispute about following federal laws and regulations, and while it didn't end well for the rebels, it cost the whole country dearly.

Expand full comment
May 7·edited May 7

Good grief; it's astounding how these people over-react to the point of ridiculousness. How very sad to live such a fear-based existence, where any person who makes a choice other than what you sanction is actually attacking your safety and existence.

Protecting access and respecting the rights of the LGBTQ community to live their lives without being treated differently is "erasing women"...this from the people who support laws that force women to give birth regardless of circumstance or personal choice?!

Expand full comment

Yeah, these right-wing bigots are concerned about women’s rights and their safety (not) — while at the same time, they're taking away women’s rights to control their own bodies. What a bunch of hypocrites.

Expand full comment

perhaps all new buildings should be mandated to have three bathrooms: men, women, and "I don't give a shit I just want to take a pee."

Expand full comment
founding

If the neurotic groups who devote their lives to worrying about the variations on sexuality and sexual orientation in the world are acting to change laws that have been in place, I question whatever position they are taking. I have absolutely no expertise in this area, and commend Judd and Tesnim for taking on these legal issues. The "right wing" can be relied upon to view the world with fears about physical expression because they have no understanding of what is more important: the mind, the heart, and acceptance of others' differences.

Expand full comment

People, even Justices acting as if they were people, should know that slippery slopes are calamities in the making. If one does not like LGBTQ, and can find their rights are not included in law, then women who don't like men or men who don't like (lack of respect for women's rights is a mirror to dislike) can pass laws to take away rights....and in fact that happens every chance men's clubs called legislatures get. Presto! Your right to health care is gone. Next up: Equal Pay. Next up: College admissions. No bottom to that slope.

Expand full comment
May 7·edited May 7

No piece of legislation is perfect and Title IX is no exception but it has been overwhelming a net positive. The protection of academic and employment opportunities for all people should be a non-negotiable. The one thing I do agree with the squeaky wheels is that if you were born a boy you shouldn't be competing in a girls sports. Without hormone therapy there are too many advantages and in many sports that is dangerous. However, these cases are rare despite certain groups making it seem as if these cases are rampant.

Expand full comment

And why are we surprised at what the far right uses to erase the facts that plague our nation. The really serious issues in America are left to dwindle in the imagination of real thinkers. Why are our schools, roads, airports, healthcare(ha ha), and people care (homeless), left without serious serious vision? Because the people running the show are seriously under educated and simply do not have issues that they can grasp.

Hate, division, chaos, bullying, my my it keeps those sorry sacks so busy.

Let’s take all government funding from their states and tell the world why! Let them explain why the states they dictate in are among the poorest and saddest. Take some pictures America… take some selfies! That’s what you love , right? You might not like what you see.

Expand full comment

How about single use anybody uses bathrooms, they seem to work just fine.

All newer places build those now.

I am torn about Trans females being in female sports category..there IS a physical difference there. Women are women and men who feel like they should've been born female, I understand ..but there is a difference.

Expand full comment

The party of religious perversion continues to stick its collective nose up women’s skirts. Women have become the enemy; we are the voting block they most fear and seek to oppress. I remember when divorce was an economic death sentence for women and men didn’t have to pay child support. That’s the oppression the right-wing wishes to return to. They want Stepford Wives . . . Poorly educated ones with an abundance of lip & tit-fillers. Just look at them! Boebert. Noem. Guilfoyle. Women they can sexually exploit, like their pussy-grabbing, rapist, Trump does.

As for the gender change issue—the right-wing doesn’t just ignore the science—they denounce it. Sexuality exists on a continuum. ON A CONTINUUM. And it is multi-variable. But the right-wing only looks at its narrow [mis]interpretations of the Bible—a device used for millennia to oppress and control. Even Mary Beard concludes—Rome never fell—it morphed into the money-grabbing, power-hungry monster known today as the Roman Catholic Church. . . And their ancient interpretation of gender was never a word from a deity—it was handed down by old men of a dubious character, exploiting the masses.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sex-redefined-the-idea-of-2-sexes-is-overly-simplistic1/

Expand full comment

This just makes me silent scream! This means the costs of schooling will increase out of pocket for students. I think it's funny (not) that Desatan talks about parents rights, when parents can't even have school or library books. Let's blame Biden! No free lunches, better health care. Nocando says Biden Admin. Desatan doesn't let federal aid in to Florida. Petty screaming pathetic evil minions of the cult.

Expand full comment

On these emotionally charged issues I certainly appreciate your exceptional investigative reporting. Regardless of the topic, I make time in the morning for coffee and Popular Information so I can be better informed. Thanks, Judd and staff - you’re the best!

Expand full comment

I do not agree with the predominant sentiment here. There is a complete difference between gender and gender identity. This isn't about politics, but rather about fairness. There is a body structure and muscle mass difference between men and women. Taking hormones does not change this. It is not coincidence that records are being broken in women's competitive sports by trans-gender women. Title IX was designed to bring equality to women's sports. Allowing men on hormones to compete as women completely defeats this purpose. By trying to be all things to all people , a new form of discrimination against women has been created. Allowing for body structure differences, eventually there will be no place for women competitions unless they are for trans-women.

Expand full comment