Dear friends,
Institutions do not change readily, so it is always heartening to see a government agency catch up with society in a meaningful way. The State Department is finally making allowances for trans folks to change their gender on their passports; a non-binary option is planned, but requires a “systems update.”
An overwhelming percentage of trans people have identity documents that don’t match the name and gender that they use. This contributes to serious problems including denial of benefits or services and even harassment or assault.
California Congressman Ro Khanna plans to reintroduce legislation calling for all federal agencies to offer an X option when indicating gender on identity documents. He points out that
an executive order would be the “simplest step” in the near term to ensure all Americans can have accurate identifying documents.
Khanna said, “It is dehumanizing that anytime someone who is transgender has to travel, they can’t even be identified with their own identity.”
He noted that when a president signs an executive order, even if it is followed by related legislation, it sends a message that “will be heard by the trans community, the LGBTQ+ community” and could also “inspire schools, faith leaders to have more inclusive policies.”
The president has shown some leadership on this issue. Let’s thank him AND push him.
Call on the president to issue an executive order to add an “X” gender marker to federal documents so that non-binary people have an appropriate option.
AG Merrick Garland temporarily suspended the federal death penalty pending a review of the policy. There are 46 people on federal death row and no one has been scheduled for execution under the current Administration. The number of people facing death sentences in the states is more than 50 times greater, and Garland’s action has no bearing on capital punishment in the states.
Use this ready-made action to call on Biden to permanently end the federal and military death penalty and to demolish the death house.
Sign this petition to prevent Nevada from executing a man who was born with brain damage. The execution is scheduled for the end of the month.
Our primary election results are still incomplete, but the preliminary ranked-choice tallies became available just before the holiday weekend for all of the city council races. It's fascinating to look at the rounds of voting. I expect that voters will become more savvy over time and realize that if there are front runners in a race with many people, they should use ranking to weigh in.
In Brooklyn, Districts 39 and 40 are likely to have progressive women of color as their representatives: Shahana Hanif and Rita Joseph. District 39 has been well-served by Brad Lander; those of us in district 40 are excited to finally have engaged representation.
In both districts, the number of inactive ballots by the end of the RCV process far exceeded the margin between the winner and the candidate who came in second. A ballot becomes inactive when the voter has not ranked either of the two top candidates; races with large numbers of candidates are more likely to have large numbers of inactive ballots.
You can look at the round-by-round tallies for the Borough President candidates, too. Reynoso has a commanding lead over Joanne Simon in Brooklyn; again the inactive ballots outnumber the total votes received by Joanne Simon, and are almost four times the number of votes separating Reynoso and Simon!
It appears that Vanessa Gibson may turn out to be the first woman to serve as Borough President in the Bronx. The Queens race is very tight, with Donovan Richards holding a narrow lead over Elizabeth Crowley. In Manhattan Mark Levine appears to have defeated Brad Hoylman; both are progressives.
Staten Island hasn’t had a Democrat as Borough President since the 1980s. Mark Murphy handily won the most competitive primary in a long while, defeating a handful of more progressive candidates in round 1, with more than 65 percent of the vote.
In Staten Island, the Republican primary is the one to watch:
Council member Steven Matteo, who was running behind Ex-Rep. Vito Fossella in the initial in-person, first-choice vote, took the lead back by 25 votes — a slim 50.1% to 49.9% margin.
If the slim margin holds, the race could go to a hand recount of ballots.
Fossella got a boost from an endorsement and robocall from Trump. It will be sweet if he goes down anyway. Of course, if he wins the primary, it may energize Democratic voters and Republicans-tired-of-Trump in support of Murphy.
Justice cannot wait. Here’s a heartbreaking/inspiring read to remind you that we need systems change to address racial injustice.
I will be back on Thursday, July 15. You can take the week off, or send me issues and actions for us to take up on my return.
with love,
L