Balloon Bedtime Story
There is some news to share but I have just one tale to tell tonight before slumber.
In these closing minutes of February 5, I will share one news story, one personal story and a look ahead to Monday.
Here Now the News:
OH YEAH, WHAT ABOUT TRUMP’S CHINA SPY BALLOONS? Weeks after the president got caught with his own classified documents scandal that has put the Trump Mar-A-Lago secret stash to the side in terms of public opinion and media coverage, now the Biden administration is revealing that China sent at least three surveillance balloons over America during President Donald Trump’s one term in office. Republicans aren’t buying it, while not necessarily ruling it out, and of course castigating President Biden for not acting more swiftly and decisively, and for not informing the public… a charge echoing their criticism of how the president handled his own document scandal. Details in The Hill
Men Who Identify As Women, Men In Dresses
That’s a screenshot from a post in a Facebook group that I asked to be removed for hate speech. The administrator and moderator agreed, only for us all to be howled at by our Republican neighbors for “censorship.” Then came one more comment, today, from Lisa Lundberg, a woman who splits her time between Santa Monica, Calif. and our hometown. Her profile on Facebook reveals her to be a transgender exclusionary radical feminist, or TERF. A simpler word would be transphobe, or bigot, or anti-trans activist.
Her comment was also removed for disrespecting me, and I am grateful. But I have to admit: Lundberg got to me. Not because of what she said, but following day after day episodes of misgendering and deadnaming and trolling, I’ve just had enough.
I have extremely thick skin, as I should after almost ten years living my authentic life, having my face on the front page of the New York Post, enduring countless photos of my pre-transition self plastered in social media, so as to sew doubt as to my “real” identity.
Even my one and only sister brought photos like those to a court hearing, almost four years ago, to deflect from accusations she faced of being a freeloader, a liar and a deadbeat; As if to argue my own veracity was in question because I was not who I say I am. She turned 55 on Friday, and because we are estranged, I have not seen nor heard from her in years.
Despite what she’s done, how she disrespected our mother’s good name and forced me to drag her into court to clear my own, I still love her. I just cannot fathom why she would stoop so low.
So I close tonight’s newsletter knowing that tomorrow I will reunite with someone who’s survived a lot more criticism and public scorn than I have, and kept on going. She is an inspiration to me, and the reason my writing won the GLAAD Award for Outstanding Online Journalism in 2022.
Admiral Rachel Levine Visits Connecticut
The assistant secretary for Health and Human Services will visit Yale University Monday morning to discuss Long COVID with patients and doctors, and I will be there to greet her. It’ll be the first time we’ve seen each other since first meeting at the GLAAD Media Awards in 2016.
Fair warning: Monday’s newsletter will be delayed due to my event in New Haven. Thanks for reading, and may your news be good news.
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