(by Caleb Smith)

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(by Caleb Smith)
SHREK (2001) | EX MACHINA (2015)
Ex Machina (2014)
My GIF masterlist
The Center for American Progress says its new framework will help Democrats confront anti-LGBTQ+ attacks without abandoning civil rights. Tr
Christopher Wiggins at The Advocate:
A leading Democratic-aligned think tank is urging political leaders to defend transgender people from discrimination while accepting that restrictions on their participation in sports “may be appropriate under some circumstances,” a proposed political reset that is already drawing criticism from within the LGBTQ+ community. The Center for American Progress published the six-page report, “Ending the Backlash on LGBTQI+ Issues,” on Thursday. Written by Caleb Smith, CAP’s director of LGBTQI+ health policy, and Winnie Stachelberg, a longtime LGBTQ+ policy strategist who founded the organization’s LGBTQI+ policy program, the document offers Democrats a framework for responding to Republican attacks on transgender health care, athletics and military service. Smith, who is trans, said the paper is intended to give leaders a clear, accessible way to discuss issues that the political right has saturated with misinformation.
The goal, he told The Advocate, is to “turn down the temperature” while “aggressively holding the line” on civil rights for transgender people and the broader LGBTQ+ community. The paper is not meant to prescribe every policy, Smith said, but to establish principles that remain unchanged by elections or polling.
Stachelberg said the report is also designed to prevent Republicans from continuing to define the debate. Republicans around the country have focused their attention on stripping rights from transgender people, a group that represents less than 2 percent of the U.S. population. “The backlash here, the attacks by the far right, the hundreds of millions of dollars of ads fueled by the far right are threatening hard-won civil rights protections and really some of the most vulnerable in our society,” she said. Its purpose, she added, is partly to “take the issue off the table as a Republican attack line.”
A reset shaped by political headwinds
The report declares that civil rights are inalienable and should not depend on “shifting parties in power or the latest polling results.” It calls for passage of the Equality Act, condemns political interference in gender-affirming health care, and supports transgender people serving openly in the military. But it also urges LGBTQ+ supporters to “reckon with the defensive environment” confronting the community. The authors write, “We all know there are differences between men and women,” note that LGBTQ+ issues are not among most voters’ leading priorities, and say political leaders must “regain their foothold.” Polling helps explain the political pressure behind that language.
[...]
CAP leaves room for sports restrictions
CAP argues that eligibility rules should be determined by schools, communities, and athletic governing bodies rather than elected officials. Policies may appropriately differ depending on the sport, athletes’ ages, and the level of competition, the authors write. They cite two sharply different examples. The National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association allows participants to compete according to their gender identity. The NCAA, by contrast, changed its policy after President Donald Trump’s executive action targeting transgender athletes and now bars transgender women from competing on women’s teams.
“This is where these decisions appropriately lie: with sports’ governing bodies or schools themselves rather than with politicians,” the report says. “While local bodies and associations should minimize unnecessary exclusion, restrictions may be appropriate under some circumstances.” Asked what would constitute a necessary exclusion, Smith declined to identify a specific policy CAP would endorse. “That’s exactly what is not in our purview,” they said. “We’re not giving them some sort of eligibility roadmap because these are the sports associations and schools that have that information.”
[...]
Smith said the NCAA was included because it is a prominent governing body, not necessarily because CAP endorses its current rule. Trump’s intervention, he said, demonstrated precisely the political interference the report opposes. “We’re not necessarily speaking directly to their policy because we’re making the point that politics should not be part of the process,” Smith said. “We should not have politicians trying to interject themselves into school board meetings about sports policy.” Alejandra Caraballo, a civil rights attorney and clinical instructor at Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic, said that explanation does not resolve the problem. By presenting the NCAA rule as one legitimate outcome of institutional decision-making, she said, CAP is normalizing a policy adopted under Trump administration pressure. “They’re essentially legitimizing a Trump-directed action,” Caraballo, who is trans, told The Advocate. She noted that the NCAA policy reaches beyond elite Division I competitors to students in lower divisions who may play largely for exercise, friendship, and campus involvement. “To legitimize the NCAA ban was just like, it is just a slap in the face,” she said.
Caraballo also called CAP’s approach legally incoherent. The organization supports broad nondiscrimination laws, she said, but exclusionary sports policies could violate state civil rights protections covering education. “You can’t on one hand say you support anti-discrimination protections and then on the other say you’re going to support the NCAA ban,” she said. Smith rejected the idea that the report provides intellectual cover for discrimination. CAP opposes categorical state and federal bans, he said, while acknowledging that advocates have reason to scrutinize any language allowing exclusion.
[...]
On health care and military service, CAP draws a harder line
Beyond sports, the report says parents and physicians, not politicians, should make decisions about transgender medical care for minors. It condemns bans on transgender military service and says transgender veterans must retain the benefits they earned. Stachelberg said Democrats should answer anti-transgender attacks rather than leaving a vacuum their opponents can fill.
Democratic Party-aligned think tank Center For American Progress (CAP) wrote in a 6-page report entitled Ending the Backlash on LGBTQI+ Issues. In that report, it urges political leaders to defend trans people from discrimination, urges the passing of the Equality Act, supports trans people serving in the military openly, and condemning interference gender-affirming health care, while also accepting that restrictions on trans sports may be acceptable in certain circumstances.
See Also:
LGBTQ Nation: Trans director at progressive think tank says Dems should adopt this party line on trans athletes
Juvet Landscape Hotel in Valldal (Norway), the set of Ex Machina ❤️
Andrea Davis (FilmTourismus on IG) visited the location and relived the experience.
I have thoughts about Nathan Bateman
Heads up, you're getting tagged if you talk about him, and yes, I will miss someone and I'm sorry for that - tag people if you want!
I just rewatched Ex Machina and I have feelings. Okay, so Nathan has what we might call some character flaws? Ego?
Caleb Smith