Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

samantha riedel

@samanthawrites.net

1.3K followers 450 following 800 posts

very tired word girl @them.us | member, @transjournalists.org pic by @phobia.bsky.social | banner by @jukeboxcomix.bsky.social Signal (for confidential tips): sriedel.90

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · Apr 10

hi freaks! I'm Samantha Riedel. I write about transgender politics, art, & culture, mostly for @them.us. after a decade I think I almost have the hang of it...!

my website: samanthawrites.net
irregular newsletter: samanthaistyping.beehiiv.com/subscribe
latest Them work: www.them.us/contributor/...

samantha riedel is typing...

The online home of journalist and essayist Samantha Riedel. If you're reading this, it's already too late.

samanthawrites.net

1 5 30

samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · 15h

both teams can resummon their starting pitcher from GY by tributing two infielders

samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · 1d

big galerider energy

samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · 1d

sliver hive rise up :3

1 1

Reposted by samantha riedel

Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 3d

the rule of law is a system meant to maintain white innocence

11 36

Reposted by samantha riedel

Corinne Green @ket.bsky.social · 4d

horrific whiplash in PR, which just several years ago was explicitly affirming our care had to be covered. but already this year PR enacted a criminal ban up to age 21 w/ a 15yr prison sentence, and now this. here's the donation page if you're able to pitch in:
www.trueselffoundation.org/donar/

BOUTHERN EQUALITY

kytranshealth and 3 others

1/2

SUPPORT TRANS PUERTO RICANS

We learned a few days ago that on 10/6, Medicaid in Puerto Rico will stop covering all medications used for gender-affirming care.

True Self Foundation has established an emergency fund to cover the cost of GAC for trans Puerto Ricans, but they need more funding to meet the vast need.

The link to donate is in the KHJN Trans Health page bio.

Trans people in Puerto Rico are facing an unprecedented crisis. This Medicaid announcement comes just months after a ban on gender-affirming care for anyone under 21 was signed into law.

True Self Foundation is assisting trans youth + their families as well as trans adults. Donate to provide direct support to trans people in Puerto Rico.

The link to donate is in the KHJN Trans Health page bio.

kytranshealth: We learned a few days ago that on 10/6, Medicaid in Puerto Rico will stop covering all medications used for gender-affirming care.

True Self Foundation has established an emergency fund to cover the cost of GAC for trans Puerto Ricans, but they need more funding to meet the vast need.

Trans people in Puerto Rico are facing an unprecedented crisis. This Medicaid announcement comes just months after a ban on gender-affirming care for anyone under 21 was signed into law.

True Self Foundation is assisting trans youth + their families as well as trans adults. Donate to provide direct support to trans people in Puerto Rico.

51 96

samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · 5d

what the FUCK

samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · 6d

It's late afternoon in America, which means it's time for us all to share a cold one

1 18

Reposted by samantha riedel

ACLU @aclu.org · 8d

BREAKING: Our client Mario Guevara, an Emmy-winning journalist detained by ICE in retaliation for livestreaming law enforcement activity, will be deported tomorrow to El Salvador.

Mario and his family are being punished for his reporting. This cruelty is meant to stifle our free press.

650 16K 32K

Reposted by samantha riedel

Julia Serano @juliaserano.bsky.social · 9d

just learning now that "waffles" is about Jəsse Singəl, so I will re-up this piece that chronicles his long history of harassing primarily trans women (+ other trans ppl & allies) online... juliaserano.blogspot.com/2017/12/my-j...

screenshot from linked to article that reads (in part):
Jun 18, 2018 – Katherine Cross on Singal sending her an email “swearing a storm at me because I tweeted something he disliked that he felt was untrue.”
Jun 18, 2018 – Cat Fitzpatrick mentions Singal threatened to sue her for politely disagreeing with him.
Jan 15, 2019 – Singal levies legal threats against two writers who mention that they personally know trans women who’ve had bad interactions with him.
Jul 7, 2020 – the day the Harper’s Letter (which Singal was a signatory) was released, Singal instigated pile-ons of multiple people. I captured him initiating the pile-on of Jennifer Finney Boylan as it was occurring in this thread (both up & down from linked-to tweet). Emily VanDerWerff reacts to Singal’s pile-on of her here and, two days later, discusses the aftermath of that pile-on (which included “Death threats, rape threats, invitations to commit suicide, constant misgendering, etc”). Ari Drennen took screenshots of Singal targeting Aja Romano.
Because Singal’s attack on Emily VanDerWerff was premised on his false presumption that she was trying to get one of her employers fired (which she has denied), lots of other writers began coming forward with stories of Singal contacting their employers and editors because he disliked what they wrote. Here are some of those instances:
Jul 7, 2020 – Katelyn Burns on Singal “repeatedly emailing my employer until they fired me” is found here. A week later a co-worker corroborated that story.
Jul 7, 2020 – Noah Berlatsky shares: “also Jesse emailed me to demand I save DMs from Katelyn and others and investigate them for him, implying he would sue me otherwise.”
Jul 7, 2020 – Katerine Cross shares: “Back when I wrote for Feministing, he repeatedly badgered the editors trying to get a critical post that mentioned him briefly changed or taken down.”
Jul 9, 2020 – Harron Walker shares how Singal “emailed my editor many times after this was published seeking correction....o…

12 250 610

Reposted by samantha riedel

Lex McMenamin (they/them) @leximcmenamin.com · 10d

Assata Shakur's story, Marian Jones writes in @teenvogue.com, is "also a reminder of the impact of COINTELPRO, and how it continues to impact activists today through technological surveillance, the criminalization of protest, and the targeting of dissidents." Shakur passed in Cuba on Friday.

Assata Shakur Was a Black Revolutionary Who Fought for Freedom Even in Exile

“Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them.”

www.teenvogue.com

170 380

Reposted by samantha riedel

Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 10d

One of my favorite anecdotes from THE PREHISTORY OF THE FAR SIDE: "That doesn't sound like the Jane Goodall we know."

A few days after this cartoon was published, my syndicate received a very indignant letter from someone representing the Jane Goodall Institute.
Not only did my syndicate and I both get read the Riot Act, there was a vague implication that litigation over this cartoon might be around the corner.
I was horrified. Not so much from a fear of being sued (I just couldn't see how this cartoon could be construed as anything but silly, but because of my deep respect for Jane Goodall and her well-known contributions to pri-matology. The last thing in the world I would have intentionally done was offend Dr. Goodall in any way.
Before I had a chance to write my apology, another complication arose.
The National Geographic Society contacted my syndicate and expressed a

desire to reprint the cartoon in a special centennial issue of their magazine. My editor, aware of what had just occurred, declined, explaining why.
Apparently, whoever it was that sent the inquiry from National Geographic was shocked. They told my editor that "that doesn't sound like the Jane Goodall we know." They did some checking themselves, and an interesting fact was eventually discovered: Jane Goodall loved the cartoon. Furthermore, she was totally unaware that any of this "stuff" was going on. Some phone calls were made, and the cartoon was not only reprinted in the centennial issue of National Geographic, but was also used by her Institute on a T-shirt for fund-raising purposes.
I've since had an opportunity to visit Dr. Goodall at her research facility in Gombe. It's a wonderful place (sort of like right out of National Geographic).
"To refer to Dr. Goodall as a tramp is inexcusable even by a self-described 'loony' as Larson. The cartoon was incredibly offensive and in such poor taste that readers might well question the editorial judgment of running such an atrocity in a newspaper that reputes to be supplying news to persons with a better than average intelligence. The cartoon and its message were absolutely stupid." —Excerpt from the above-mentioned letter that started the ruckus

28 2.2K 6.4K

samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · 10d

*pounding on the table* tfpreg! tfpreg!! tfpreg!!!!!!

1 8

samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · 10d

Holy fuck Kris got SWOLE

I need to get back into aew 🫣

samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · 10d

and THAT'S allyship

1 7

Reposted by samantha riedel

Prism @prismreports.org · 10d

“It’s not possible to pinkwash a genocide. The rainbow flag had morphed into a tool of colonial conquest.”

Israel claims to be an LGBTQIA+ haven. Some advocates see this simply as propaganda, but Palestinians say it leads to real harm against queer people in Palestine, Simi Kadirgamar reports.

How Israel uses ‘pinkwashing’ to terrorize Palestinians

Israel claims to be an LGBTQIA+ haven. Some advocates see this simply as propaganda, but Palestinians say it leads to real harm against queer people in Palestine

prismreports.org

16 15

samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · 12d

I'm weeping and disgusted but at least I'm not alone 😭

samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · 12d

Antoan Richardson, mostly www.newsday.com/sports/baseb...

Who is behind Mets' suddenly successful running game?

First-base coach Antoan Richardson has turned swiping a bag into an art form.

www.newsday.com

Reposted by samantha riedel

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 13d

When I look at what the Republican Party wants to take from trans people there is no line they won't cross--my speech, my privacy, my body. When I look at the Democratic Party I see no line they're willing to draw.

5 230 990

samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · 15d

fat 👏🏻 purple 👏🏻 elf 👏🏻

samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · 16d

but....my chains

samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · 18d

Happy birthday! 💖

Reposted by samantha riedel

ghostly gwen howerton @kissphoria.bsky.social · 18d

NEW: Angelo State University in San Angelo, TX has told faculty that they can't discuss trans people in curriculum. When I asked the justification for the policy, they referenced Texas state law - but Texas law doesn't forbid discussions of trans people in higher ed.
www.chron.com/culture/arti...

Texas school threatens to fire faculty if they discuss this topic

ASU says the new policy is in response to Texas law. But no such law banning discussions of trans people exists.

www.chron.com

11 110 260

Reposted by samantha riedel

Molly Shah @mommunism.bsky.social · 22d

Raise your hand if you’ve been kettled at a “sanctioned” protest in the middle of the day 🙋🏻‍♀️

crazyyarick.bsky.social @crazyyarick.bsky.social · 22d

If you think of going to a sanctioned protest(whatever you may think of those) will get you kettled, then I don't know what to tell you. They typically save the rubber bullets and pepper spray for the after dark activities.

19 60 320

samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · 22d

more like dick hole balls ass