78 Comments
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Aria Vega's avatar

Loved every word of this! I’m always here for people breaking out of their main lane for a new passion, but that’s not what this is, or rather, that’s not why the media is celebrating it. This is empire trying to disguise itself

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Marion Teniade's avatar

"this is empire trying to disguise itself" if that isn't perfectly put!

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Aria Vega's avatar

I love that you think so! 🙏🏾

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Destiny Cc.rockett's avatar

Ok I thought it was just me. So many ppl work their whole lives for their shot on Broadway and she just walked on. A Supreme Court justice is not supposed to be a celebrity. Sometimes our ppl praise the exact same thing they can recognize as goofy behavior from white ppl.

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Marion Teniade's avatar

And goofy is exactly what it is!

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Esmae for now's avatar

this really resonated- "A Supreme Court Justice is not supposed to be a celebrity". this is such an excellent point especially because many people seem to feel it's somehow unfair to critique celebrities, even more so than politicians (thinking about all the discourse around Taylor Swift's 'apolitical' vibe). so if a politician or judge is a celebrity then it's like, any critique of how she uses her power is misconstrued as a personal attack.

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A Black Artist's Path's avatar

I agree but from the other end! This phenomenon sets the expectation for artists to be as educated, well-behaved, and docile as politicians because they are just as high-profile. It's funny people are shocked that artists are constantly saying and doing funky things when there are no social competency tests or bars for being an artist besides public scrutiny, and even that should be examined.

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Sam's avatar

You’re not alone in your criticism! This is a farce. Republicans use every avenue to entrench themselves in generational power while Democrats do this and vacation in Hawaii (Harris)—they are not serious about fighting the “fascists,” as they called them, to our collective detriment.

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Marion Teniade's avatar

While they’re out here playing, we’re losing everything 😖

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WearyBlues's avatar

Is Kamala Harris taking a vacation and rest that she has earned after spending her entire working career as a public servant going to stop anything that the felon and his brethren are doing? She’s a private citizen, just as you are. Why is she required to be of service while you’re posting on an app?

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Sam's avatar

lol

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BamBam's avatar

It feels like politicians and government officials want us to "yass queen" them or something and all I want them to do is fight oppression. If KBJ wants to perform in her community theater on the weekends, sure. But hopping on Broadway as some kind of spectacle feels gross.

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Sarah's avatar

When I read the headlines I thought I was being punk’d. Thank you for this nuanced take on it.

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Marion Teniade's avatar

It’s a doozy of a headline 😅

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Aaliyah Joseph's avatar

So very much appreciated this take! I know the intention wasn’t to be tone death or distasteful but that’s exactly what this plays out as. Ketanji Brown Jackson get to waltz around and fulfill her fantasy while the very livelihood of those she and her colleagues are supposed to protect not only are being disappeared but actively persecuted and hunted.

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Marion Teniade's avatar

I’m really glad it resonated! It’s all just so frustrating

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Marva's avatar

Honestly, you didn’t say nearly enough about this!

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Marion Teniade's avatar

I deleted a whole graf about acting being a union job 😫

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Denise Shelton's avatar

Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia were supernumeraries in 1994 at the Washington Opera.

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Marion Teniade's avatar

I was wondering who would bring these two up! ⭐️ for you

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Denise Shelton's avatar

Of course, it’s not quite the same thing.

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Unofficial Social Chair's avatar

You can count 13 Smash fans now. Hi, it’s me, unapologetic Smash fan. You are fan #2 for me 😩🤣

And as always, thanks for writing. I’m in a constant state of wtf is happening and I don’t like it.

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Marion Teniade's avatar

13 means we can officially say there are dozens of us! Let us be your star!

and as always, thanks so much for reading 💜

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Jade Foster's avatar

This is corny af what am I hearing? And she wearing cowrie necklaces

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Marion Teniade's avatar

People are LOVING the cowry necklace 🫠

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Jade Foster's avatar

I fell for it!!! 😭🙏🏽

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Diana Compton's avatar

I’m revolted actually.

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Lyra W.'s avatar

I am so glad I wasn’t the only one who had this feeling. It rubbed me the wrong way, and I would have felt the same if any Supreme Court Justice had done it.

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Sheila M.'s avatar

Great article. The way I see it is that people like Kamala, Ketanji and Beyoncé have already made it. They’ve excelled at obtaining the “American dream,” and it feels disingenuous to celebrate these wins of theirs as if they’ve accomplished an impossible feat. We aren’t celebrating some kid who made it out of the projects and landed in Julliard. These people are at the top already. These things are accessible to them by design. It is nothing out of the ordinary. She isn’t a nobody, and we can stop pretending that’s the case even if she’s Black.

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A Declining Democracy's avatar

I’m all for the “Renaissance (Wo)man” and encouraging people to explore many facets of their lives, both artistic and intellectual. But I agree that in these times when everything feels like it’s teetering on the edge of fascism and autocracy, maybe a sitting Justice on SCOTUS shouldn’t be making her role seem frivolous? I couldn’t in a million lifetimes imagine RBG or Sandra Day O’Connor doing something similar. Mainly because it’s so difficult for women in these roles to be taken seriously to begin with.

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Marion Teniade's avatar

RBG did do something similar, actually! She performed both speaking and non-speaking roles at Washington National Opera. Scalia performed with her.

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Kilometers Davis's avatar

And if was cringe then and it is cringe now.

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A Declining Democracy's avatar

OK, but it doesn’t have the same spotlight on it that Broadway does. To me, that would be no different than one of my local SF politicians rehearsing and performing with the Gay Men’s Chorus. It’s too niche and wouldn’t have the same impact.

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Alex Friedman's avatar

loved this read

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Marion Teniade's avatar

Thank you so much!

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Not so young anymore.'s avatar

The case was not about ‘transgender rights’. It was about the legality of youth gender transition which is highly controversial. It is not allowed in many European countries because the evidence behind it is non existent. The United States is the outlier here. This case has nothing to do with discrimination against trans people.

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Steven U's avatar

Most trans youth don't get to transition. The ones that do rarely get surgeries/anything truly permanent. Also Europe can be transphobic too.

You don't have to listen to me though. I'm including some sources you can read through.

https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/new-french-guidelines-recommend-trans

https://glaad.org/medical-association-statements-supporting-trans-youth-healthcare-and-against-discriminatory/

https://glaad.org/factsheet-evidence-based-healthcare-transgender-people-and-youth/

https://www.ama-assn.org/about/leadership/everyone-deserves-quality-medical-care-delivered-without-bias

This isn't comprehensive by any means, but it seemed like a good start.

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Marion Teniade's avatar

Thank you for this!!

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Steven U's avatar

No problem! Glad you appreciate it.

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Not so young anymore.'s avatar

Opposing youth gender transition is not transphobia.

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Steven U's avatar

But it is. Trans adults were trans children once.

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Kilometers Davis's avatar

Controversial because of culture war moral panic and mass weaponised ignorance of people who literally will not read about what is part of the treatment. It is also implicitly about trans rights.

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Not so young anymore.'s avatar

It’s a moral panic and at the same time it’s not. It’s very bad medical practice and a medical scandal. It’s practice based on ideology before science.

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Kilometers Davis's avatar

I just do not believe that at all. I'm very educated on the subject also. Let's go. Qualify your statements and cite your sources.

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Not so young anymore.'s avatar

Cass report. Evidence based review of literature is overriding source.

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Kilometers Davis's avatar

So I'll just refer you to this then.

https://transactual.org.uk/advocacy/critiques-of-the-cass-review/

https://transactual.org.uk/advocacy/critiques-of-the-cass-review/

The cass report is biased horseshit made by a reactionary terf.

Evidence based review of literature is your overriding source? Okay, well then produce your conclusions. Show me your reasoning. Make an argument or a claim. Let's go.

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Not so young anymore.'s avatar

Kilometers,

The very fact that you name call Hillary Cass a ‘reactionary terf when the work she headed along with multiple others (she didn’t write it by herself) shows me you are not operating in good faith. It was done by University of York centre for review and dissemination. I imagine that all of those involved in the report must be a ‘bunch of terfs’

No you don’t get to play that game any more. It’s over.

WPATH commissioned its own systematic review of adolescent gender transition from John’s Hopkins University and when they didn’t like the results they shit it down and prevent dissemination.

This is why no one with a brain buys what you are selling.

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Not so young anymore.'s avatar

Gonna disagree. Youth cannot consent to the permanent changes involved here. Not ethical.

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Steven U's avatar

A lot of what they do isn't permanent. Many children just transition socially, like wearing different clothes or using a different name. Even hormones can be stopped at any point. The only truly permanent change is surgery and surgery for minors is rare.

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Not so young anymore.'s avatar

Not true. Almost 100% of kids who go on puberty blockers go on to cross sex hormones. So it’s a pathway. And no hormone effects of cross sex hormones are not reversible particularly testosterone effect. Given the fact that most of these kids will desist and many will turn out to be gay, it’s best to let them leave their bodies alone.

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Steven U's avatar

That's based on some very flawed criteria that aren't actually based on trans people. I found one article on it but I know there's more out there i don't have on me. I'm out of time for this conversation but I hope somebody finds this helpful.

https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/debunked-no-80-of-trans-youth-do?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

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Not so young anymore.'s avatar

I’m going to respectfully disagree with you. But let me just ask at what age do you think it’s is ethically ok for a teen to consent to puberty blockers? Cross sex hormones? Surgery? Just curious. Thx

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Steven U's avatar

There is no one set answer. I think that should be left between the child, their properly trained medical staff and any trusted adults in their life. I'm not anyone's doctor.

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