We’ve introduced you to seven individuals who are defying the censors with their creativity this summer!
Catch up on Parts 1 & 2 of our program on YouTube.
We’re not done yet! We return for the conclusion of Defying the Censors on August 19! You’ll meet Reuben Johnson, Shine Louise Houston, and Hale Linnet! We hope to see you live on Zoom next month!
Family separation 2.0 compounds the trauma on children of immigrants (L.A. Times)
ICE raids across the country, including in Los Angeles, are viciously separating families. Pediatricians Marsha Griffin, Alan Shapiro and Julie M. Linton write: “As pediatricians, we are watching in horror as immigration raids in Los Angeles and across the country are tearing families apart. The current administration’s deportation policy arrests people regardless of immigration status or criminal record and places them in detention. Make no mistake, this is family separation 2.0. We are also seeing entire families, parents with their children, apprehended in our communities and being sent to newly reopened family detention centers. These immigration policies are placing the health and well-being of children at risk.” Read more.
(Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Today’s Supreme Court Decision on Age Verification Tramples Free Speech and Undermines Privacy (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
We at the Woodhull Freedom Foundation have long been sounding the alarm on Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, including in our amicus brief. Now, the Supreme Court has ruled in Paxton, marking yet another attack on our 1st Amendment rights. Aaron Mackey, Lisa Femia, and Jason Kelley write: “The Court ruled that ‘no person—adult or child—has a First Amendment right to access speech that is obscene to minors without first submitting proof of age.’ This ruling allows states to enact onerous age-verification rules that will block adults from accessing lawful speech, curtail their ability to be anonymous, and jeopardize their data security and privacy. These are real and immense burdens on adults, and the Court was wrong to ignore them in upholding Texas’ law.”Read more.
(Mark Kerrison/Getty Images)
In Disheartening Reversal, Virginia Is Once Again Allowing Forms of Conversion Therapy (Them)
Virginia is now allowing some forms of conversion therapy. Samantha Riedel writes: “The consent decree, a copy of which was published this week by the Virginia Mercury, settled a case brought last year by Christian counselors John and Janet Raymond, a married couple who operate the Associate Counseling Center in Front Royal, VA. [...] The June 4 consent order, agreed to by the Raymonds as well at the Virginia Department of Health Professions, declares that the state may not enforce the ban on conversion ‘talk therapy’ against the Raymonds or any ‘similarly situated’ counselor. The rollback does not apply to other forms of conversion therapy, like electroshocks or nausea-based ‘aversion’ procedures, which remain banned.” Read more.
(Electronic Frontier Foundation)
Today’s Supreme Court Decision on Age Verification Tramples Free Speech and Undermines Privacy (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
We at the Woodhull Freedom Foundation have long been sounding the alarm on Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, including in our amicus brief. Now, the Supreme Court has ruled in Paxton, marking yet another attack on our 1st Amendment rights. Aaron Mackey, Lisa Femia, and Jason Kelley write: “The Court ruled that ‘no person—adult or child—has a First Amendment right to access speech that is obscene to minors without first submitting proof of age.’ This ruling allows states to enact onerous age-verification rules that will block adults from accessing lawful speech, curtail their ability to be anonymous, and jeopardize their data security and privacy. These are real and immense burdens on adults, and the Court was wrong to ignore them in upholding Texas’ law.”Read more.
(Kentucky Department of Corrections/YouTube)
Strip Searches Have a Racist, Dehumanizing Legacy (The Appeal)
Strip searches often constitute sexual assault; they are an affront to our human rights, and their history is tied to anti-Black racism. Christopher Blackwell and Sarah Sax write: “Strip searches […] represent a form of state-sanctioned violence with deep historical roots in American racial oppression. The practice of forcing people to disrobe and submit to bodily inspection directly echoes the dehumanizing treatment of enslaved people, who were regularly stripped naked and paraded in front of potential buyers. This historical connection is particularly salient given the disproportionate incarceration rates of Black Americans.” Read more.
(Gayatri Malhotra)
Woodhull’s Take: Eviction Endangers Black Women’s Health (Woodhull’s Sex & Politics Blog)
Recent studies conducted by Social Epidemiology to Combat Unjust Residential Evictions (SECURE) explore how housing and health are intertwined. We at the Woodhull Freedom Foundation share our take: “Before these reports were published, research was clear that landlords disproportionately evict Black women renters. But there was little academic focus on how those evictions affected Black women. Now, thanks to SECURE’s research, we have a better understanding of just how harmful just how harmful losing one’s home can be to their physical and emotional wellbeing. [...] We at the Woodhull Freedom Foundation are grateful to SECURE for highlighting just how critical access to safe, stable housing is to health, including reproductive health. It is abundantly clear that our human right to sexual freedom depends on our human right to safe, accessible, and stable housing.” Read more.
Woodhull Freedom Foundation is the only national human rights organization working full time to protect the fundamental human right to sexual freedom. Our work includes fighting censorship, eliminating discrimination based on gender or sexual identity, or family form, and protecting the right to engage in consensual sexual activity and expression. We do this through advocacy, education, and coalition building.
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