Gillian Branstetter

@gbbranstetter

Opinions are my own // comms @ aclu

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Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· 5d

Trump's Education Dept. has "indefinitely frozen" dozens of investigations into civil rights violations - including reports of racist abuse of Black students and sexual assault of female students - so the Office of Civil Rights can instead focus on banning transgender athletes

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· 10d

In other Michigan news, the state looks set to elect it's first transgender lawmaker. Joanna Whaley won her Democratic primary and will compete in November for a state house seat, beating a primary opponent who tried and failed to disqualify her for not running under her deadname

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· 12d

An initiative on the ballot in Washington state in November would require all athletes seeking to play girl's sports from kindergarten to high school to undergo "genetic screening, a testosterone-levels test, or an examination of their reproductive anatomy" before they can play

The Campaign to Force Genital Exams on Girl Athletes Soon Washington State could require sex-verification tests for those playing sports in schools.
Portrait of Andrea González-Ramírez
By Andrea González-Ramírez, a senior writer for The Cut who covers systems of power.

Those physicals, Maria explains, are usually perfunctory: “Like, Are you walking normally? Are you lightheaded? I have never had to take any clothes off. I’ve never felt uncomfortable or violated.” If IL26-638 were to pass and Maria were still in school, she says she would likely drop out of her team. (We’re withholding Maria’s real name to protect her privacy.) “I honestly don’t know if I would be able to do these tests,” she adds. “It would also make me question, If I do it, are all my teammates going to too? Or would I just play with the three or four girls who are willing to or have access to do it?”

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· 13d

Watching RFK Jr. have an absolute meltdown on CNN rn and contrary to the discourse it's worth remembering he's the least trusted public health official in the country - far less trusted, for example, than Anthony Fauci

Horizontal stacked bar chart titled "Confidence in Custodians of Public Health" showing public confidence levels in various health entities and individuals from an Annenberg survey (Feb. 2026). Primary Care Providers receive the highest confidence (86% total confident), while political figures and federal agency leaders receive the highest levels of distrust, with RFK Jr. having the highest total lack of confidence (62%).

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· 14d

El Sayed: "When it comes to trans rights, this is the right to get the health care that you need...It’s the right not to be discriminated against by your government because of who you are. Because what tends to happen is they come for theirs, then they come for yours"

The idea that we can assent to the taking away of anybody’s rights, and think that somehow the government won’t come for all of our rights, is itself the problem. And, look, I don’t need people to understand how they use their rights. I just need people to agree that the government shouldn’t be able to take any of our rights. I put my face on the ground thirty-four times a day, David. Most people don’t understand why I do it. I don’t need them to understand. I just want to have the right to do it. And when people decide that they want to take away my right to do that, I’ve got a problem.

Now, I hope that everybody’s going to show up and say, No, no, no. You can’t stop that person or that community from reflecting and praying as they choose. Similarly, when it comes to trans rights, this is the right to get the health care that you need. That’s really what it comes down to. It’s the right to be who you are. It’s the right not to be discriminated against by your government because of who you are. Because what tends to happen is they come for theirs, then they come for yours, then they come for theirs. And at some point you live in a society where rights are negotiable, and that is not the America I was born in. It’s not the America I know and love. It’s not the America I’m going to allow somebody like Donald Trump to give us.

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· 18d

She said "bro is your sea even wine dark"

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· 29d

👍

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· 29d

All this tells me is that we also have to also shut down the golf courses

A bar chart comparing annual water consumption in the US. It shows that US Data Centers use 17 billion gallons of water annually (direct on-site use, ~2023), while US Golf Courses use 531 billion gallons annually (irrigation water, 2024).

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· 29d

Canceled therapy so I could go to the movies after work

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· Jul 16

No thoughts, just Espeon

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· Jul 14

When even Third Way is telling you to back tf up

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· Jul 11

Cat

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· Jul 2

Woke up early to beat the heat for a run

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· Jul 1

This is the most important lesson for her: "If you need to step away and breathe, please do. You have your whole life ahead of you. You have done more than enough for your community and your country...That's not quitting. That's surviving."

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· Jun 30

I'm so thankful to Becky and her mom for their trust, generosity, and strength in front of the Supreme Court. No matter what the Court says, Becky is a hero for standing up for herself and trans girls like her. Doing what's right, even when the odds are against you, is the definition of courage.

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· Jun 29

Fascinated by this NYT op-ed arguing parents should have more than one child so they don't have to [gasp] live in community with others

The mothers I spoke with described scenes that to outsiders might look extraordinary. Another mother of six told me about her parish priest’s enthusiasm after watching her eldest son carry his baby sister around the school parking lot. To the priest, the two kids’ close relationship was a revelation. To their mother, it was unremarkable. “He carries the baby all the time,” she told me. “He changes her diapers. He puts her down for a nap. That’s just kind of a way of life.”

Across these conversations I came to see that large families generate moral education the way an engine generates heat — as a byproduct. Parents in small families have to manufacture, through summer programs and sports leagues and carefully cultivated extracurriculars, the kind of character-forming experiences that large households once provided gratis.

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· Jun 29

Missed this Economist/YouGov poll from May that showed support for legalized same-sex marriage is down to 51%. Just five years ago it was 70%.

The Economist/YouGov Poll
May 22 - 26, 2026 - 1520 U.S. Adult Citizens
41. Legality of Same-Sex Marriage
Do you think that same-sex marriage should or should not be legal?
Sex Race Age Education
Total Male Female White Black Hispanic 18-29 30-44 45-64 65+ No degree College grad
Should be legal 51% 48% 54% 52% 43% 52% 58% 51% 52% 44% 45% 62%
Should not be legal 34% 37% 31% 35% 29% 30% 29% 32% 33% 41% 38% 26%
Not sure 15% 16% 14% 13% 27% 18% 13% 17% 15% 14% 17% 12%
Totals 100% 101% 99% 100% 99% 100% 100% 100% 100% 99% 100% 100%
Unweighted N (1,519) (691) (828) (1,005) (194) (217) (308) (363) (499) (349) (984) (535)
2024 Vote Reg Ideology MAGA Party ID
Total Harris Trump Voters Lib Mod Con Supporter Dem Ind Rep
Should be legal 51% 79% 29% 53% 84% 52% 24% 24% 78% 53% 25%
Should not be legal 34% 13% 58% 35% 8% 30% 61% 62% 13% 26% 62%
Not sure 15% 9% 13% 12% 9% 18% 15% 14% 9% 20% 13%
Totals 100% 101% 100% 100% 101% 100% 100% 100% 100% 99% 100%
Unweighted N (1,519) (589) (553) (1,396) (508) (449) (456) (323) (503) (575) (441)

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· Jun 28

Ok this is livable

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· Jun 24

I knew it 0/10

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· Jun 24

It happened to me: I let a stylist talk me into a hair routine I will never be able to replicate

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· Jun 21

Two Americas

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· Jun 18

Just trying to get to work

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· Jun 13

NYC this weekend

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· Jun 13

Kinda love this for us

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· Jun 10

Join me this Saturday for a reading from Diane Di Prima's Revolutionary Letters from an incredible group of poets, writers, artists, and activists as part of NYC PLAN's Art Fair and Celebration

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· Jun 5

First time?

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· Jun 2

If you're response to the vanity and frivolity of your opponent is just "doesn't this remind you of trans people" I don't think you're winning new voters or helping trans people

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· Jun 1

"The stepchildren of nature"

My motive was humanitarian. My aim was to save thousands of innocent stepchildren of Nature
from an aggregate of tens of thousands of years in
prison, and bring about a repeal of the laws under
which they are incarcerated and which are still in the
codes because civilized man has not yet entirely
emerged from the prejudice and superstition of the
Dark Ages. My second aim was to put a stop to the
continuous string of murders of these stepchildren, the
assassins laboring under the delusion that homosexuality is due to deepest moral depravity, and feeling
that they are mandatories of society in ridding the
world of these "monsters." My third aim was to save hundreds of these superlatively melancholy sexual in- termediates from suicide as the result of bitter persecution by those who pride themselves on the fact that
in their own case, sex has been thoroughly differ- entiated.

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· May 28

Morrissey and Iggy Pop

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter· May 20

Lmao