Gillian Branstetter
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gbbranstetter.bsky.social
Gillian Branstetter
@gbbranstetter.bsky.social
Opinions are my own //
https://linktr.ee/gbbranstetter
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On January 13, the Supreme Court is going to hear arguments over state laws targeting transgender girls in sports. This from @pablo.show and @motherjones.com is a great explainer on why the right-wing legal movement needs this issue to push trans people out of public life altogether
Getting lectured to about my health care by a bunch of guys that look like a leather belt that went through the wash
The U.S. government acted to put an end to gender-related care for minors across the country on Thursday, threatening to pull federal funding from any hospital that offered such treatment. If finalized, the proposed new rules would effectively shut down hospitals that did not comply. trib.al/b3HHaQE
December 18, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Freedom for everybody
Autonomy for everybody
Health care for everybody
Transgender for everybody
December 18, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Reposted by Gillian Branstetter
To all the young people in New York and across our country who count on gender-affirming care:

I won't let this administration come for you, your doctors, or your lifesaving health care. 

Your health care is still legal and protected. 

I'll always fight for you.
December 18, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Speechless, honestly
A month ago, NYT columnist David Brooks wrote a column decrying the media and political fixation on the Epstein story.

This afternoon, House Democrats released a new tranche of photos of an event that Brooks attended with Epstein.
December 18, 2025 at 6:42 PM
All in the name of "protecting kids" 24 hours before we learn exactly how close Donald Trump was with Jeffrey Epstein
Notice how Trump and Republicans were having the worst couple weeks in the administration's history and they decided to pivot to hardcore attacking trans people?
December 18, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Transgender for everybody
December 18, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Reposted by Gillian Branstetter
“…Rep. Sarah McBride has been a big and often stubborn advocate for the big tent theory. And yesterday, just after she stood on the steps of the Capitol poured her heart out with a very powerful and personal speech about her own experience as a trans person, that big tent collapsed in on her.”
December 18, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Reposted by Gillian Branstetter
"Wherever the agents appear, even when they lean idly, chatting, we see the cold threat of violence and the fragility of freedom. And in the brave crowds who gather to confront them, scrambling their illusion of total control, we see the power of solidarity..."

hammerandhope.org/article/ice-...
War at Home
A record of ICE’s assault on immigrants and the people’s resistance.
hammerandhope.org
December 17, 2025 at 7:31 PM
"the feminism question"
December 18, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Reading through some old journals
December 18, 2025 at 1:52 PM
This to me was the moment the timeline collapsed in on itself. This was the old world dying
Since Trump is addressing the nation tonight, I can't help but think back to one of the strangest TV moments I've ever experienced: Sarah Palin singing Baby Got Back on The Masked Singer right into Trump's COVID address
December 18, 2025 at 2:59 AM
Reposted by Gillian Branstetter
the occasional reminder that if you are watching and live-posting about a presidential address, the way you engage with politics is notably atypical from that of, say, the average persuadable or low-propensity voter
December 18, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Biden was the kind of old where you take away the car keys. Trump is the kind of old where you don't let him near the grandchildren
December 18, 2025 at 2:16 AM
Why is he yelling at me
December 18, 2025 at 2:11 AM
I do think more people should appreciate that Sarah has to be selective about when she draws attention to her identity given the obsessive focus on it by some of her colleagues--she is in a uniquely impossible position. But it also makes it more impactful when she does.
December 18, 2025 at 12:16 AM
Reposted by Gillian Branstetter
NEW: Louisiana and lawyer Erin Hawley of ADF just asked a federal judge to IMMEDIATELY end telemedicine prescriptions of the abortion drug mifepristone while their lawsuit against the FDA proceeds. They cite Fifth Circuit opinion and the Comstock Act of 1873
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
December 17, 2025 at 9:47 PM
Reposted by Gillian Branstetter
Frost: If you want to protect children, why don't you ban assault weapons instead of health care?
December 17, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Reposted by Gillian Branstetter
SCOOP: American Academy of Pediatrics loses HHS funding after criticizing RFK Jr. Research included reducing sudden infant deaths and identifying autism early. Me and @Paigecunningham.Bsky.Social
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
American Academy of Pediatrics loses HHS funding after criticizing RFK Jr.
HHS cuts key AAP grants, citing concerns about “identity-based language” and insufficient focus on agency priorities. The organization said the cuts could harm child health.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 17, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Reposted by Gillian Branstetter
A chilling account of what stress from ICE raids does to the pregnant body: high blood pressure, disrupted sleep, chest pains, depression. And when immigrants fear going outside, they skip prenatal appts & go untreated. OBs are worried: "These policies are having very deep effects on our patients.”
For months, I've been talking to providers and researchers across the country to understand how the Trump administration's immigration policies are impacting reproductive health. The story is out today in @rewirenewsgroup.com. I hope you'll give it a read:

rewirenewsgroup.com/2025/12/17/i...
Pregnant Immigrants and Their Babies May Suffer Complications from Chronic Stress of ICE Raids, Experts Warn
At least two doctors say they're already seeing warning signs in patients, including high blood pressure and deteriorating mental health.
rewirenewsgroup.com
December 17, 2025 at 3:01 PM
When Jeffrey Epstein's close confidante isn't sure about associating with you
December 17, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Reposted by Gillian Branstetter
Unbelievable. This would be a terrible blow to American science, writ large. It would decimate not only climate research, but also the kind of weather, wildfire, and disaster research that has underpinned half a century of progress in prediction, early warning, and increased resilience.
Exclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado
The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
bit.ly
December 17, 2025 at 2:49 AM
I know many things are awful but here is one genuinely useful and helpful thing you can do. No matter their party, your representative needs to hear that trans people and our families are not alone and this bill is an unjustifiable and extreme threat to criminalize the health care we need to live.
Tomorrow, the House of Representatives will vote on a bill that bans gender-affirming medical care for any transgender person under 18, and threatens any medical professional providing this care to youth with 10 years in prison.

Tell Congress to protect trans youth and vote NO.
Protect Trans Care Now
As wave after wave of extreme measures to criminalize and strip trans people of rights and safety continue, tell Congress to act.
action.aclu.org
December 16, 2025 at 9:40 PM
"if you don't turn that place into Fox News by January then no Warner Brothers before bed"
President Trump on David Ellison and CBS News.
December 16, 2025 at 7:37 PM
In general when a field becomes less male and more female it's because the salary and hiring prospects have declined
One problem with this take is the number of high profile white millennial men in the media...

www.compactmag.com/article/the-...
December 16, 2025 at 7:18 PM
See what happens when your comms staffers are all busy thinking up Sabrina Carpenter clapbacks and fitting policy rollouts into 14 words
LOL Susie Wiles, who did *eleven* interviews with Vanity Fair and was stunningly candid in her takes on various controversial issues, now says Vanity Fair's story is fake news. www.huffpost.com/entry/brown-...
Susie Wiles Calls Explosive Vanity Fair Story A 'Disingenuously Framed Hit Piece'
www.huffpost.com
December 16, 2025 at 4:04 PM