California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill on Saturday allowing transgender inmates to be placed in prisons based on their gender identity. Advocates say prisons are particularly dangerous for anyone who does not fulfill stereotypical gender roles, specifically members of the LGBTQ community. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is now letting inmates house based on their gender identity rather than their assigned sex— but only if the state does not have “security concerns” with individual inmates. The law requires officers to ask inmates in private...

The state of Kentucky describes wantonly as such: “A person acts wantonly with respect to a result or to a circumstance described by a statute defining an offense when he is aware of and consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the result will occur or that the circumstance exists. The risk must be of such nature and degree that disregard thereof constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person would observe in the situation.” In other words, negligence despite...

Following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced on Monday that Ginsburg will be the first woman to lie in repose at the Supreme Court and the first woman to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol. Rosa Parks, who was previously laid "in honor" at the Capitol, is the only other woman to be honored this way. Pelosi announces that Justice Ginsburg will lie in state at the Capitol this Friday --> pic.twitter.com/dNJPh4YEHT — Addy Baird (@addysbaird) September 21, 2020 Ginsburg’s memorial marks...

There are many similarities with the COVID-19 pandemic of today and the polio outbreaks of the 1940s and 50s. However, while COVID seems to affect people with compromised immune systems more, as far as we know at this point, there was a sense of desperation to search for a vaccine for polio which overwhelmingly affected young children. Jonas Salk was the first to develop an effective polio vaccine in 1955. Without the women scientists, secretaries, and researchers on his team, the vaccine’s development would not have...

In the wake of COVID-19, daycares, schools and workplaces have closed down and most of the population has severely altered their day-to-day habits. For mothers, this has meant changes to their work-life balance and an increase in invisible unpaid labor. The United Nations reports that not only women’s safety is affected by COVID-19 related stay-at-home orders but also the amount of time women spend on household and childcare tasks. Their data shows that women spend an average of 4.1 hours a day on unpaid care...

TIME magazine released their annual list of 100 most influential people last night during a live televised event in collaboration with ABC. Of the 100 listed, 54 are women and seven of them grace TIME’s iconic magazine covers that will hit newsstands in early October. In a last minute decision, TIME added the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg to their stack of eight covers to honor her lifelong influence and leadership.  Every person on this list wields power, whether they are an athlete, an author, an artist...

According to a complaint sent to the Department of Homeland Security, an immigration detention center in Georgia has subjected an overwhelmingly high number of women to undergo hysterectomies and is failing to protect employees and detainees from Covid-19. Several legal advocacy groups filed the complaint on behalf of Dawn Wooten, a nurse of ten years and former employee of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Georgia, and several detained immigrants. Horrific.Forced sterilization is a cruel tool of white supremacy with a long, abominable history in this...

On Tuesday, Delaware Democrats nominated Sarah McBride, a politician and activist for LGBTQ rights, for a seat in the State Senate after her win in a primary challenger. McBride, now expected to win November’s general elections, would be the first openly trans senator to serve.  This victory would mark a new milestone for the trans community, with McBride amplifying the voices of those who have formerly been overshadowed. In an interview, as per the New York Times, McBride stated, “My hope is that this result can...

Under a new program announced Monday by Mayor Lauren Breed, 150 pregnant Pacific Islanders and Black people in San Francisco will be allocated $1,000 monthly throughout their pregnancies and for six months postpartum. The goal of this program is to create birth equity in a city where pregnant people who are Black or Pacific Islander have higher maternal mortality rates and higher rates of preterm births than their white counterparts. Black people in San Francisco represent only four percent of births but 50 percent of maternal...

According to the Texas Tribune-ProPublica Investigative Unit, the Department of Homeland Security and Justice Department are investigating allegations that ICE guards assaulted and harassed detainees in areas that were not visible to security cameras. A crucial witness in this ongoing investigation was deported by the U.S. government this Monday. The woman was held in the El Paso detention center f and told her lawyers about a pattern of harassment and abuse. Guards would systematically assault her and other detainees in security camera blind spots. Several guards...