There Should Be No Ranking Among Hierarchies

Justice Mordy Bromberg, the President of the Australian Law Reform Commission, delivered the 2024 Higinbotham Lecture.

Bromberg emphasized the enduring equality of human rights, despite what sometimes seems to be a conflict between different human rights.

“All human rights are equal,” he said. “There is no hierarchy. There is no ranking.”

“One human right does not overrule another when they seemingly intersect. That is because all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated.”

In other words, a hierarchy of hierarchy should be abolished, and particularly on an individual basis, no one hierarchy corners the market on how hierarchies can negatively affect people. 

https://www.rmit.edu.au/news/all-news/2024/oct/higinbotham-lecture

Taliban Bans Medical Education for Women

The Taliban in Afghanistan closed one of the last remaining loopholes in their ban on education for older girls and women by forbidding them from attending institutions offering medical education.

The Taliban have also banned women in some provinces from being treated by male medical professionals,  which means that this new decree, halting the training of new female healthcare workers, will result in unnecessary pain, misery, sickness, and death for the women forced to go without health care, as there won’t be female healthcare workers to treat them.

Men are really going nuts when they have total control over women who have no say in their lives. Should we suppose there are many men in the United States who feel the same way, and with Trump again in power, will feel empowered to exert their strength? Hierarchy gone wild. 

https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/12/03/afghanistans-taliban-ban-medical-training-women

Derogatory Term for Native Women to be Removed in California

The derogatory term "squaw" will be removed from over 30 geographic features in California by 2025, according to an announcement yesterday by the state's natural resources agency.

This derogatory term that has been used to describe Native American women will be removed from streets, buildings, cemeteries, and even a forest fire fuel break, according to the California Natural Resources Agency. 

In the past two years, the word has been removed from geographic locations and features on federal lands across the country. In 2022, the Interior Department announced plans to remove the term from more than 660 geographic features and sought public comment on name replacements.

https://www.npr.org/2024/11/16/nx-s1-5193831/derogatory-native-indigenous-women-removed-california

Trump is President, the Death Struggle of Hierarchies is Fierce

Now that it has sunk into all of us that Donald Trump will be president for the next four years, we know that the death struggle of hierarchies is upon us as strong as ever. 

The death struggle hopefully will mean that the strength of hierarchies, now greatly manifested in the MAGA movement, will eventually wobble on the edge of the see saw, and will eventually fall off. 

Trump and the MAGA movement are not great at playing the role of the top of the hierarchy. They do not really send crumbs down to lower groups, even though they promise to do so. They lie, cheat, manipulate, and steal more than is typical of control tactics of the top when the top is successful at keeping the hierarchy strong. They play their hand way more than usual, as seen in Trump's cabinet appointments.

Time will tell if they take the country and the rest of us down with them. But we think they won't. There is too much bulk and too much history of working for equality for these radical hierarchy supporters in MAGA to easily prevail.

It is time to shift to using a frame of hierarchies, instead of individual issues, to unite us like never before.

Catholic Church is Now Going after the Girl Scouts

The Catholic Church is so scared of strong women, that they are now disallowing any Girl Scout troops from associating with churches in the Cincinnati area. 

"In a letter addressing the decision, Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr said the Girl Scouts of the USA organization has "embraced and promoted an impoverished worldview regarding gender and sexuality."

Funny how this happened after the monthlong meeting of Catholic bishops and lay people at the Vatican ended with no real consideration of increasing the power of women in the church, only giving them more lay jobs to do. 

Wonder if they would ever dismiss the Boy Scouts, disallowing them because of all their child abuse. We all know the answer to that. 

https://www.wlwt.com/article/cincinnati-archbishop-dennis-schnurr-girl-scout-partnerships/62742989

Even Though Men are Half of a Pregnancy, Reproductive Rights Don't Determine Their Votes

In this election, the gender gap is at a record high. The gender gap is defined as the difference between the vote margin among women and the same among men. This will be key to a victory by Kamala Harris. 

Since the US Supreme Court ruling restricting reproductive rights, abortion has been a top voting issue for female voters, especially younger women. 

The economy and inflation are men's most important issues in deciding how to vote.

Since men make up half of a pregnancy, how long will it take for men to take responsibility? Why are they not as concerned as women about reproductive rights? If men were held more accountable financially and in other ways that would alter their lives, similar to how pregnancies change women's lives, maybe they would care more. 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/20/elections-2024-gender-data-abortion

People with Disabilities Encouraged to Vote

Westchester Disabled on the Move, Inc. (WDOM) and the League of Women Voters of Westchester, New York joined forces to encourage people with disabilities to learn their voting rights and register to vote.

An estimated 25 percent of the population is classified as having a disability.  There are roadblocks for people with disabilities who often face challenges on being able to vote and make their voices heard.

Established in 1984, WDOM is a nonprofit, community-based organization that is part of a national network of Independent Living Centers dedicated to independence and equal rights for individuals with disabilities.

With Republicans working so hard to keep people from voting, efforts to include all eligible people are encouraging. 

https://www.theexaminernews.com/advocates-highlight-voting-rights-for-people-with-disabilities/

Women Make Some Employment Gains, but A Long Ways to Go

According to Pew Research, job opportunities look much different than they did 50 years ago for American women. Gains have been made in labor force participation and wages, and women increased their presence in the highest-paying jobs. Some of that progress has stalled in recent years, however, and large gender gaps persist at the top levels of government and business leadership.

Women outnumber men in the U.S. college-educated workforce, now making up 51% of those ages 25 and older, about a third of workers in the country’s 10 highest-paying occupations (35%) are women – up from 13% in 1980, the share of women in opposite-sex marriages who earn as much as or more than their husband has roughly tripled over the past 50 years, and the gender pay gap – the difference between the median earnings of men and women – has remained relatively flat in the United States over the past two decades.

Read more details in the link below.

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/02/27/for-womens-history-month-a-look-at-gender-gains-and-gaps-in-the-us/

End to Nonconsensual Intersex Surgeries is Recommended

Teams of prominent scientists and ethicists have called for the end of medically unnecessary nonconsensual surgeries on intersex children in two new papers.  

The United Nations Human Rights Council has affirmed the rights of intersex people. The papers signal growing international resolve to address rights violations experienced by people born with variations in their sex characteristics, sometimes called intersex traits. 

As when breaking down any hierarchy, one type of body, or any other normal human characteristic, is no longer viewed as superior to others. 

https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/09/04/experts-urge-end-nonconsensual-intersex-surgeries

US Border Patrol Officer Sexually Abuses Women Pretending It Necessary for Application Processing

Men will go to great extremes to sexually abuse women. In the gender hierarchy, they learn it is their right to do so.

A U.S. border patrol agent in New York has been accused of ordering women to show him their breasts and claiming that it was part of his officials duties, authorities said.  He did so as a stipulation of processing their applications to enter the country.

Border agent Shane Millan, 53, was arrested Thursday on charges that he deprived four women of their constitutional right to be free from unreasonable searches, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York said in a news release.

https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2024-08-23/border-agent-arrested-for-allegedly-ordering-women-to-show-him-their-breasts

Oregon Small Business On Rise Due to Women and POC

In Oregon, the state’s economy is fueled by nearly 400,000 small businesses, which account for more than 99% of all Oregon firms and employ more than half of the state’s workers.

In the state,180,000 new business applications have been filed in the last year. On top of that, federal data shows in 2023 Oregon had a net gain of 3,000 small businesses. 

What’s behind these huge numbers is that we’re seeing women continue to start businesses at incredible high rates,” according to Isabel Guzman, head of the federal Small Business Administration. “It’s double the rate of men.”

Federal numbers from last year show the state had more than 34,000 businesses owned by Black or Hispanic Oregonians.

https://www.klcc.org/economy-business/2024-09-03/number-of-small-businesses-in-oregon-us-on-the-rise

Taliban Goes Even Farther off the Deep End

If other groups of people were treated in a country as women are under the Taliban, the world community would object strongly, but when it is women, oh well, it is just the privilege of hierarchical religions. 

New Taliban laws that prohibit women from speaking or showing their faces outside their homes have been condemned by the UN and met with horror by human rights groups.

The Taliban published a host of new “vice and virtue” laws last week, approved by their supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, which state that women must completely veil their bodies – including their faces – in thick clothing at all times in public to avoid leading men into temptation and vice.

Women’s voices are also deemed to be potential instruments of vice and so will not be allowed to be heard in public under the new restrictions. Women must also not be heard singing or reading aloud, even from inside their houses.

“Whenever an adult woman leaves her home out of necessity, she is obliged to conceal her voice, face, and body,” the new laws state.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/article/2024/aug/26/taliban-bar-on-afghan-women-speaking-in-public-un-afghanistan

Mormon Church Bans Transgender People

In the Mormon Church, the new guidance prohibits those pursuing gender transition from working with children, and bans baptism for those who have transitioned both medically and socially.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints expanded its discrimination by baring people from being baptized even if they have transitioned only socially, by changing their appearance, name or pronouns.

So many hierarchical religions use discrimination to create and maintain hierarchies, this one based on gender orientation. Of course all in the name of Jesus Christ who taught people to accept others and not be judgmental. 

In a typical fashion of clueless people building hierarchies, a spokesman for the church, Doug Anderson, said the updates “seek to help Latter-day Saints follow Jesus Christ’s example of ministering with love, patience and respect.”

ttps://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/27/us/mormon-church-transgender.html

USA Women's Basketball Players Bring Children to Paris

With families and nannies helping, the members of the USA Women's basketball team have their children in attendance in Paris. 

Chelsea Gray and her wife have a baby boy. Britney Stewart will be hosting a birthday party for Stewart’s daughter Ruby, who turns 3 on Friday. Stewart also has a baby boy Theo with her wife, retired Spanish basketball player Marta Xargay.

Diana Taurasi and wife — former Australian Olympian and WNBA All-Star Penny Taylor — have two children, a boy and and girl. Napheesa Collier brought her two-year-old daughter, Mila Bazzel.

Two-time gold medalist Brittney Griner prefers to be called "Pops" as the newest member coming into parenthood with her wife giving birth to a boy just a couple weeks before the team headed to Europe.

For U.S. coach Cheryl Reeve, this is part of basketball’s evolution of supporting women on and off the court. The coach of the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx has seen that league and players negotiate for better policies helping players with maternity leave and child care.

“We’re evolving as a society I think in terms of what’s acceptable, what women can do, and women are obviously showing us that we can be anything,” Reeve said. “And we do. The harder it is, the more women are stepping up and doing it.”

https://apnews.com/article/2024-olympics-basketball-us-c453eac15895b5dfed2c134a73c6a065

Raven Saunders Exhibits Alter Ego in Paris Olympics

Raven Saunders made a creative impression during the shot put qualifiers at the Paris Olympics. Saunders, who uses they/them pronouns and is gay, said they are in full form using their Hulk alter ego.

They wore a full-face black mask and sunglasses as they attempted to make the final. Their hair was also dyed green and purple, set off with gold grills over their teeth.

Saunders donned a black face mask and a pair of colorful visor sunglasses while competing, and later said the outfit was all about inspiring people to be themselves.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/aug/08/raven-saunders-shot-put-usa-mask-sunglasses-olympics-outfit 

Two Humpback Whales Photographed Having Sex and Both are Males

Two humpback whales were photographed having sex for the first time in their species' history — and both partners happened to be male.

The British news agency SWNS Media Group shared the news of the surprising encounter, which was first reported in a new study by a researcher at the Pacific Whale Foundation (PWF) on Tuesday. National Geographic, Live Science,  and The Guardian also reported on the study's findings. 

https://people.com/male-humpback-whales-photographed-having-sex-first-time-in-history-8603047

Alice Milliat, Who Fought for Women's Inclusion in the Olympics, is Now Being Recognized

Alice Milliat welcomed the world to Paris as founder of the International Women’s Sports Federation, known in her native France as the Fédération Sportive Féminine International. In 1922, she said, “I hereby declare the first female Olympic Games open,” she said.

The male-dominated world of the mainline Olympics, busy preparing for the Paris Games of 1924, ignored the 1922 event, other than to complain about Milliat’s unauthorized use of “Olympics.” They dismissed the rising idea that women should compete at all.

Milliat, 100 years after the last Paris Olympics, is finally getting recognition as a pioneer, Billie Jean King of sorts for her age. Biographies are being published in France. A new documentary has been shown in theaters and on television. In Nice, The National Sports Museum has a temporary exhibit highlighting her achievements. A plaza outside a new Olympic arena was named for her.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/10/olympics-women-milliat.html

The Top, Christianity, Assumes Laws Only Apply to Them, But Wait!!

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is pushing for more religion in education. Of course he and his followers assume that means more Christianity in schools. 

However, dark messengers of satanism could soon be walking the hallways of Florida’s public schools. Members of the Satanic Temple say they are poised to act as volunteer chaplains.

Although HB 931 leaves the implementation of chaplain programs to individual school districts, and only requires schools to list a volunteer’s religion “if any”, DeSantis has made clear its intent is to restore the tenets of Christianity to public education.

A terrific way to counteract privilege that the top expects is to demand the same situation for other groups too. 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/08/florida-satanic-temple-ron-desantis

Iowa Cubs and Chicago Cubs to celebrate Deaf Culture at Ballgames

Dylan Heuer started Iowa Baseball Camp for the Deaf (IBCD) in 2015 because children who are deaf or hard of hearing have difficulty accessing Little League. On Thursday the Iowa Cubs, in partnership with Heuer and IBCD, will celebrate Deaf Culture Night at Principal Park in Des Moines.

After receiving feedback from Deaf and hard-of-hearing guests, the Chicago Cubs also introduced closed captioning late last season — a permanent change at Wrigley Field. Similar to the Iowa Cubs, the Chicago Cubs will host a Deaf inclusive night on Sept. 19 with interpreters present for player announcements, the national anthem, “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” and more. A special ticket offer includes a T-shirt with “Cubs” written out in ASL and the option to select seats in sections that will have an interpreter.

https://sports.yahoo.com/iowa-cubs-celebrate-deaf-culture-233100843.html?ck_subscriber_id=2584165745&utm_source=convertkit&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Pedestrian+safety+is+trending+up+-+14283414

Hindu Leader Seeking to Have Sanskrit Scriptures Posted in Louisiana Classrooms

One way to deal with hierarchical people who believe their views are the best and must be forced on everyone else is to insist that they are not the only ones occupying their top spot they created. 

A spokesperson of the Hindu community is seeking to have ancient Sanskrit scriptures displayed in public classrooms alongside the Ten Commandments in Louisiana.

https://wgno.com/news/politics/louisiana-politics/religious-leader-wants-to-display-indian-scriptures-in-louisiana-public-classrooms/?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=Louisiana&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0Xhy6VZMeC0s03XwQEzdCYhrEONs-YO-Q91TRCYznPTbpQEdYg4vMg3_M_aem_EgisZqvft_i-G8tYSLcfNQ

Center Opens in Rapid CIty, South Dakota for Indigenous Two Spirit Persons

On the north side of Rapid City surrounded by around 30 community members, Monique “Muffie”  Mousseau and Felipa De Leon opened the city’s first Indigenous-led LGBTQIA+ center, Uniting Resilience, on Thursday, Feb. 29.

For 19 years, the Oglala Lakota lesbian couple has fought for the right to be together. The two have experienced discrimination, homophobia and barriers to expressing themselves. Now, they’re hoping to stop other Two-Spirit couples from facing these challenges.

When same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide in 2015, the couple was still unable to be married on their reservation. Instead, the couple was married in the Black Hills. “That (homophobia) isn’t traditional. That’s a colonized way of thinking,” Mousseau said.

The term "Two-Spirit" refers to a person who identifies as possessing both a masculine and feminine spirit and is used by some Indigenous people to describe their sexual, gender and/or spiritual identity. Two-Spirit is an umbrella term for what in western culture may be referred to as the LGBTQIA community.

https://ictnews.org/news/a-place-for-acceptance?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR10fdn_ZdybmzxNbWWtY7kdoiXTMHNG2U6KOjkcZ914E2K53cVMFbqEbSM_aem_PM63aynX3GZlspoalTd9XQ

Not Even Dolly Parton is Not Immune from the Right-Wing Christians

In her article, "There’s Nothing Loving About Dolly Parton’s False Gospel,” Federalist writer Ericka Andersen criticized Parton for her nonjudgmental approach to life and her claim that she loves everyone — including members of the LGBTQ community.

Andersen argued that if Parton is a Christian, as she proclaims, she should call out homosexuality as a sin. “Parton’s version of love, which includes condoning immoral sexual behavior (‘be who you are,’ she’s said), is unaligned with God’s vision for humanity,” Andersen wrote.

After extensive backlash, Anderson has stated that "I regret using Dolly as the example for the point I was making in the article."

People who continue to support hierarchies and use their hierarchical religion to justify their actions will go after anyone, including the beloved Dolly Parton.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/author-says-she-regrets-using-dolly-parton-in-essay-that-sparked-widespread-backlash-184718105.html

Now Named Marian Anderson Hall, Philadelphia Orchestra Honors Hometown Legend

June 8, 2024, was declared Marian Anderson Day in the state of Pennsylvania.  

June 8, 2024 is also the day that the Philadelphia Orchestra, with whom she had made her hometown debut in 1937, renamed its concert hall in her honor. Many of us recall her most famous moment.

"On April 9, 1939, the 42-year-old American contralto and international star Marian Anderson walked onto a temporary stage on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and began to sing. She opened with 'My Country, 'Tis of Thee,' a pointed choice given the events that had led to those first notes. Anderson had come to Washington at the invitation of Howard University, and the venerable Constitution Hall had been chosen as the venue for her much-anticipated appearance — until the Daughters of the American Revolution, who owned the hall, made clear that they would not allow a Black artist to perform on their stage. What the group did not count on was the dissent of one of their members, first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who resigned from the DAR in protest and assisted in the effort to find an alternate venue, producing an event that would highlight the ongoing national struggle for racial equality. Where better than in the shadow of Abraham Lincoln himself?"

https://www.npr.org/2024/06/11/nx-s1-5001292/philadelphia-orchestra-renames-hall-after-marian-anderson?utm_id=11998314&orgid=374&utm_att1=

Southern Baptists to Vote of Further Restricting Women's Roles and Opposing IVF

The Southern Baptist Church is expected to vote on Wednesday on whether to amend its constitution to mandate that Southern Baptist churches must have “only men as any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by Scripture.” The group’s statement of faith already forbids female pastors.

Messengers are also poised to vote on whether to oppose in vitro fertilization, as anti-abortion activists seek to build on their gains after the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. The resolution, put forth by an ethicist and the president of a Southern Baptist seminary, calls for Baptists to “reaffirm the unconditional value and right to life of every human being, including those in an embryonic stage, and to only utilize reproductive technologies consistent with that affirmation.”

Hierarchical religions are going farther and farther out supporting issues limiting freedoms. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/11/us/southern-baptist-meeting-women.html

Disney Replaces Racist Ride with One Focusing on Tiana, Disney’s First Black princess

Ripping out "Splash Mountain" in the summer of 2020, Disney removed a ride with a racist history. 

The new ride, “The Princess and the Frog,” is based on the 2009 animated musical that introduced Disney’s first Black princess. The lighthearted new ride, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, will open to the public on June 28 at Disney World, with a similar version expected to arrive at Disneyland by the end of the year.

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure uses the same ride tracks as Splash Mountain, and riders still travel in vehicles made to look like hollowed-out logs. But everything else has been redesigned. Instead of a suspenseful story involving Br’er Rabbit’s getting tossed into a briar patch, the new attraction focuses on a Mardi Gras party: Tiana and her pal Louis, a trumpet-playing alligator, are searching for critters to form a band.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/11/business/disney-world-splash-mountain-princess-tiana.html

First Black Georgia Tech Graduate Hands Diploma to Granddaughter

Not only was a statue of Mr. Ronald Yancey present at the graduation, but he was there in person to give his granddaughter her diploma for a master's degree. 

Mr. Yancey was the first Black graduate of Georgia Tech University.  

Granddaughter Deanna Yancey added, “It’s just beyond me how someone could have been so strong in such a hard time. He’s broken barriers and he’s opened doors that I will never have to experience opening myself.”

https://www.kptv.com/2024/05/05/universitys-first-black-graduate-hands-granddaughter-her-diploma-59-years-later/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3xhpCoxaIjdBgM806HZ05f8GOmAiuel4Rky3LMkVgTSFZXRNmP5_-LKZI_aem_AWEgGm8rHHcS7P4gxNlklrxcli4TgzmLl4YeicVn69yg-X4ZypXgWRs72aRphnAKx5IoYjd3_-82qZ-sH3S3DV1f

Mural in New Hampshire Tears the Town Apart

Carrie Gendreau, one of the members of the select board of Littleton, New Hampshire, tore her town apart after she objected to a mural in town.

Tbe mural features a blooming iris, dandelions, and birch trees. But Ms. Gendreau became convinced that there were subversive messages in its imagery.

North County Pride, founded four years ago to build more visible support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people planned and paid for the mural. 

Before it was over, Ms. Gendreau, an evangelical Christian, had warned the community of American's descent into evil, citing gay rights as an example of moral decay destroying the country. People took sides, and words exchanged.

The town manager resigned after hateful comments about his late gay son, and Ms. Gendreau decided not to run for reelection. 

Not a pleasant situation all around when hierarchy builders insist that their actions to destroy other people are just another opinion. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/28/us/littleton-new-hampshire-mural.html?referringSource=articleShare

Miltary Behind Times in Disability Awareness

Hanna Cvancara, a nurse, exceeds the military fitness tests, as she can do double the number of push-ups required, and has finished the timed 1.5-mile run with minutes to spare. However the military will not let her join because she has a prothetic foot. 

While there is no specific rule barring amputees from serving, in practice, that caution has meant routinely rejecting amputees.

Ms. Cvancara recently applied to the military once again, to join the Air National Guard. And in case she is rejected once more, she is working with her representative in Congress, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, to pass a bill called the Hannah Cvancara Service that would create an exception to allow amputees to join the military as medical personnel.

“My whole life, no one ever told me I couldn’t do anything I wanted to, until I tried to join the military,” she said. “I don’t want to be treated like I’m special. I just want to be treated like everyone else.”

 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/25/us/amputee-military-nurse-hannah-cvancara.html?referringSource=articleShare

Yep, WNBA Players are Paid Horribly Compared to Men in NBA

Despite Caitlin Clark's record-breaking performance on Iowa's team in the NCAA and the energy that she’s generated for the sport, Clark’s base salary will be $76,535 as a rookie. In the NBA, meanwhile, the first draft pick is expected to make roughly $10.5 million in base salary their first year.

Needless to say, sexism in sports is rampant.

https://www.vox.com/24132057/caitlin-clark-wnba-draft-2024

Get Healthy - Looking at Alternatives in Other Countries

Will our health system that has tended to shun alternatives to western medicine get behind a new trend coming? Prescriptions for social activities, exercise and the arts — first popularized in Britain — are coming to America. 

Social prescriptions generally aim to improve health and well-being by connecting people with nonclinical activities that address some of the underlying problems, such as isolation, social stress and lack of nutritious food, which have been demonstrated to play a crucial role in influencing who stays well and for how long.

In recent years, the English national health care system has employed 1,000 new link workers, with the goal of making social prescribing available to 900,000 people by 2024. However, with no socialized health care system in the United States, implementing this alternative approach will be far more complicated. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/17/well/mind/social-prescription-health-medication-art.html

Racists Yell Slurs to Utah Women's Basketball Team

The Utah women’s basketball team changed hotels out of safety concerns before its first NCAA Tournament game after reporting that racist slurs were shouted at the team in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho, according to a report from a Utah television station and Utes coach Lynne Roberts. They moved to a hotel in Spokane, Washington.

Utah played Saturday and Monday in Spokane, Wash., where Gonzaga hosted first- and second-round games. The team arrived at its hotel in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, about 30 miles east of Spokane, on Thursday.

Coeur d’Alene has a history with extremist groups, according to its mayor in 2022, when 31 extremists were arrested after being found near a LGBTQ pride event in a truck with riot gear and a smoke grenade.

/https://theathletic.com/5369148/2024/03/26/utah-womens-basketball-racial-slurs-ncaa-tournament/

NCAA Asks Black Athletes to Reconsider Florida Public Higher Education

The NAACP urged Black college athletes to “reconsider any potential decision” to attend a public university in Florida following the University of Florida's eliminating its Diversity and Inclusion office. 

On the day the University of Florida announced it was shuttering the DEI office, DeSantis tweeted, “DEI is toxic and has no place in our public universities.”

The outdated Republicans don't know how ridiculous their hierarchies and culture wars look to a majority of Americans. 

https://theathletic.com/5334351/2024/03/11/naacp-florida-college-athletes-ron-desantis-dei/

Musk Shows His Top of the Hierarchy Attitudes Again

"'Super rich ex-wives who hate their former spouse' should filed be listed among 'Reasons that Western Civilization died,'" Elon Musk wrote in an X post referencing Jeff Bezos' ex-wife.

Musk was responding to another user who said Scott had been giving money to oorganizations that "deal with issues of race and/or gender."

All you can do is laugh at him. So clueless and ridiculous and full of himself.

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/elon-musk-lashing-mackenzie-scott-091605822.html

Maine Church Loses Case for Public Funding When Denying LGBT Students and Employees

In Maine, a federal judge denied a Bangor church’s request for its affiliated schools to be exempt from Maine’s anti-discrimination laws when seeking public money.

Crosspoint Church of Bangor sued last year the Maine Human Rights Commission and Education Commissioner Pender Makin over its inability to accept public funds unless it follows the Maine Human Rights Act, which was amended in 2021 to require schools taking tuition from towns without high schools to accept and hire LGBTQ+ students and employees.

Crosspoint’s affiliated schools operate under a “statement of faith” that says marriage is between one man and one woman and sexual activity, identity or expression outside of that are “sinful perversions” and unacceptable. The judge also pointed out the schools’ code of conduct bans students from “identifying as a gender other than their biological sex.”

The church is claiming “religious discrimination” and calls the laws unconstitutional. 

The case will be appealed.

https://wgme.com/news/local/judge-denies-maine-churchs-attempt-to-ignore-anti-discrimination-laws-crosspoint-church-of-bangor-maine-human-rights-commission-education-commissioner-pender-makin-lgbtq-students-employees

Ghana Proves Itself to be Ignorant of Human Rights in LGBT Case

The parliament of Ghana has passed legislation that continues to discriminate against LGBTQ people. 

Their new laws impose a prison sentence of up to five years for the "willful promotion, sponsorship, or support of LGBTQ+ activities.

The people of Ghana are apparently not seeing hierarchies as a whole, if they do understand the hierarchy of race.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/28/ghana-intensifies-crackdown-on-rights-of-lgbtq-people-and-activists

Democrats Trying to Get Rid of Missouri Law Prohibiting Pregnant Women from Divorcing

Laws can be very outdated, but here is a great example. 

A controversial law in Missouri doesn't allow pregnant women to get divorced. The legislation has been in place for 50 years, but there is now a push by a Democratic state representative to overturn it.

The state's law was initially meant to "prevent what the courts consider the 'bastardization' of a child," Missouri House Rep. Ashley Aune, a Democrat who represents the 14th district in Kansas City, told USA TODAY.

The law was aimed at protecting families and basically made it illegal for pregnant couples to get a divorce before the mother gives birth.

Conservatives love to define women by pregnancy, and take away any right they can because only women can become pregnant.

 https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/02/29/missouri-divorce-law-pregnant-women/72758534007/

Religious "Nones" are Largest Group in US

Perhaps hierarchical religions are turning people off. So many religions think they are the one and only true viable alternative, placing themselves on top of a religious hierarchy that they create.

NPR reports that the Pew Research finds that the religiously unaffiliated – a group comprised of atheists, agnostic and those who say their religion is "nothing in particular" – is now the largest cohort in the U.S. They're more prevalent among American adults than Catholics (23%) or evangelical Protestants (24%).

https://www.npr.org/2024/01/24/1226371734/religious-nones-are-now-the-largest-single-group-in-the-u-s

Gene Robinson: "I felt God called me out of the closet"

Gene Robinson was the first openly-gay bishop in all of Christendom.

Robinson is quick to point out that there have always been gay bishops in the Episcopal Church. "There have been a lot of us, let's just be clear," he said. "I'm just the first openly-gay one."

 "We forget what a big deal it was and how hard it was and how many people were opposed, and the pain it caused a lot of people," he said.

"I can tell you from my own experience, and it's one of the things that led to my coming out: it's an awful thing to stand in a pulpit and encourage people to live authentic lives when you know you're not being authentic," Robinson said. "It's why I felt God called me out of the closet."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bishop-gene-robinson-on-why-god-called-me-out-of-the-closet/