Megan Rapinoe receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom, President Biden signs an executive order to help protect abortion rights & a transgender man was beaten and then he got arrested. WTF! – Tuesday, July 12, 2022
Family, its your favorite queer radio personality Anna DeShawn with our queer news for today. Now, I want to make you a promise. We will continue to bring you the latest in queer news, culture and politics: 7 minutes a day, 5 days a week. So, if you are digging our intersectional take on the daily, consider joining the QCrew.
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Now in the news today, Megan Rapinoe receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom. President Biden signs an executive order to help protect abortion rights and a transgender man was beaten and then he got arrested. WTF. Let’s go.
Ya’ll know Megan Rapinoe. She’s a soccer star, Olympic medalist and married to one of the best women’s basketball players of all time Sue Bird. Well now she has a whole new honor. The first soccer player and one of six women athletes or coaches to ever receive the highest civilian honor; the Presidential Medal of Freedom. You might be wondering why or how she received such an honor. Megan was instrumental in seeing equal pay happen for women in soccer. What she and her other U.S. Women’s National Team players accomplished is unprecedented and this type of equality doesn’t exist in any other women’s sport. President Biden said, “Beyond the World Cup title to Olympic medals, Megan is a champion for essential American truth that everyone is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect…She helped lead the change for perhaps the most important victory for anyone on our soccer team or any soccer team: equal pay for women.” I’d also like to note that the players didn’t just achieve equal pay they fought for back too. They were awarded $24 million. Definitely check out her picture too because she was all smiles. Congratulations Megan!
Let’s stay in the White House for another story. President Biden has signed an executive order to help protect abortion access. He said, “What we’re witnessing wasn’t a constitutional judgment, it was an exercise in raw political power,” adding that the impact was beyond only Roe, but targeted the right to privacy. He went on to say, “Marriage equality. Contraception. So much more is at risk. This decision affects everyone…We cannot allow an out-of-control Supreme Court working in conjunction with extremist elements in the Republican Party to take away freedoms and our personal autonomy.” I couldn’t agree more with these statements. Executive Orders are not laws but they do make a statement and have an impact on how states move on a particular issue. In this case, the order is looking to safeguard abortion access as well as access to contraceptives and patient privacy. This order is also calling to set up an interagency task force that will use “every federal tool” to protect access to reproductive care. Because states have autonomy now this order will have no barring in states that have banned abortion or have strict abortion limits. It will give pro-choice states more support in the wake of this nearly 50 year legal precdecent being overturned.
Now our last story for today is one that’s pretty upsetting. Noah Ruiz is a 20 year old transman who was camping with his girlfriend in Ohio. The owner’s of this campground told him because he was assigned female at birth that he had to use the women’s bathroom. Ya’ll already know where this is going. He followed the rules and a woman in the bathroom got upset. Well when he went to exit the bathroom 3 men were waiting and beat him up while calling anti-gay slurs. They left him with cuts, gashes, and bruises. By the time the cops came they actually arrested Noah because he was intoxicated, upset and no one was listening to his side of the story. They didn’t arrest the people that actually beat him up. Ain’t that some mess. See this is what happens. I ask myself, did Noah need to disclose? But he did because if they found out he was trans and used the men’s bathroom that would have been a problem too. It’s just so ridiculous because all he wanted to do was pee.
Let us close out with a word from one of my favorite people of all time, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm. She said, “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” She brought her folding chair to so many tables that didn’t want her present. She withstood numerous death threats and unending sexism on her journey so that we could have the opportunity to build our own tables. So that we could have the opportunity to invite those we’d like to join us. We must be the change we want to see in the world. Till tomorrow, peace.
Sources
Soccer star Megan Rapinoe receives Presidential Medal of Freedom
