Whit Washington! Mattie on Tuesday!

Hey friends,

Hope you’re all hanging in there. Yesterday was softball playoffs, which means I played in five consecutive softball games, and now my legs don’t work and neither does my brain :) but we persist!

This week on the podcast, Ozzy spoke with with Whit Washington, senior attorney for the Nonbinary & Transgender Rights Project at Lambda Legal. Whit explained why the Skrmetti decision isn’t as broadly damaging as we might think, although it’s still obviously Bad. They also talked about becoming a lawyer because they were inspired by Kimberlé Crenshaw and also nervous about math; the enormous impact of trans legal scholars & jailhouse lawyers like Pauli Murray and Dee Farmer; and advice for listeners who are scared right now. Whit was very warm and fun and I hope you enjoy!

Photo: Whit Washington

(For This Week in Gender, we talked about this new 19th article about passport updates, which maybe I mentioned last week; I do not remember and will not be checking.)

In an hour or so, I’m heading to the Bell House to see Mal Blum play a show (tickets still available!). Tomorrow morning, we’ll publish my recent chat with Mal on Gender Conceal. Look, I feel like I’ve been saying this a lot lately, but wow I really love this episode with Mal! I mean, maybe I am biased because I like talking to my friends, but I rly think you’re in for a treat, and I hope you agree once you listen to the episode!

Fun little fact: During the recording, I told a little gender story about someone I’m sleeping with. This story was just for Mal, but then Ozzy encouraged me to keep it in (good instincts)… so then I had to text the person in the story to get permission, and luckily they were super down.

Photo: A tiny screenshot of a text that says "I'm fucking screaming, please say absolutely anything you want"

So now you’re getting a story that I really did not intend for a wider audience! Lucky you???

And hey, speaking of audiences, you could be in the audience on Tuesday when I talk to Mattie about her new book! And then I’ll take u on a field trip to my old bodega across the street :) (jk but it’s a decent bodega if you need anything.)

Okay, let’s do Links & Stuff.

Terrible, terrible, terrible:

• Gaza is starving to death and I don’t know what the fuck we can do about it, but I am donating to these organizations and I hope you are too. I also recommend this stunning personal essay from Hanif Abdurraqib

• My friend Kelsey’s newsletter introduced me to these two eloquent firsthand accounts of two horrific experiences:

  • Rümeysa Öztürk wrote about spending six weeks in ICE detention

  • Aaron Parsley wrote about his family’s experience in the recent Texas floods

• NPR interviewed Andry Hernandez, a gay Venezuelan released from CECOT

• New Yorkers created this tribute to immigrants kidnapped by ICE, including Andry Hernandez

• Meanwhile, NYPD is also terrorizing immigrants by targeting deliveristas and ICE raids in California have harmed fire recovery efforts

Everything else:

• Silly Italians for Zohran counterprotest sparks a "debate" over which Italian we should celebrate instead of Columbus

Photo: A protest sign reads "Alternative Italians to celebrate: Frank Sinatra, Lady Gaga, Johnny Bravo, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Mario & Luigi"

• Here’s a great baseball play that looks like this old iconic Ichiro play

• I listened to Jeff Hiller’s new memoir and I cannot recommend the audiobook enough! Jeff is such a delightful performer and it’s so fun to spend a few hours listening to them giggle at their own little stories

• Sorry I do not have more not-terrible links but there’s always next week! Listen to The Villain! I’m also slowly watching season 16 of Taskmaster and it’s really wonderful, if that helps anything??

That’s it for this week. Here’s your Weekly Rhubarb.

Photo: Ruby cuddling and snoozing

And also Puffin, ofc.

Photo: Puffin snoozing on her treat puzzle

Xo,

Yr resident gender detective