Madison Pauly
@msjpauly.bsky.social
Reporter covering gender and politics at @motherjones.com, part of the Center for Investigative Reporting
Tips to mpauly at motherjones dot com
https://www.motherjones.com/author/madison-pauly/
Tips to mpauly at motherjones dot com
https://www.motherjones.com/author/madison-pauly/
I’ve spent a lot of the last three years investigating the rise of anti-trans politics. Often, it came back to the controversy over trans women athletes.
So I teamed up with @pablo.show to look into the leading figure on the issue: Riley Gaines.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202... 1/
So I teamed up with @pablo.show to look into the leading figure on the issue: Riley Gaines.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202... 1/
How right-wing superstar Riley Gaines built an anti-trans empire
The swimmer tied a trans woman for fifth. The MAGA industrial complex took care of the rest.
www.motherjones.com
November 20, 2025 at 1:25 PM
I’ve spent a lot of the last three years investigating the rise of anti-trans politics. Often, it came back to the controversy over trans women athletes.
So I teamed up with @pablo.show to look into the leading figure on the issue: Riley Gaines.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202... 1/
So I teamed up with @pablo.show to look into the leading figure on the issue: Riley Gaines.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202... 1/
Cw: suicide
This article is devastating.
Earlier this month, a 15-year-old died by suicide the day after posting about a substitute teacher insisting on misgendering him.
Suicide can have many contributing factors. His family is speaking out about bullying and misgendering as two.
This article is devastating.
Earlier this month, a 15-year-old died by suicide the day after posting about a substitute teacher insisting on misgendering him.
Suicide can have many contributing factors. His family is speaking out about bullying and misgendering as two.
November 19, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Cw: suicide
This article is devastating.
Earlier this month, a 15-year-old died by suicide the day after posting about a substitute teacher insisting on misgendering him.
Suicide can have many contributing factors. His family is speaking out about bullying and misgendering as two.
This article is devastating.
Earlier this month, a 15-year-old died by suicide the day after posting about a substitute teacher insisting on misgendering him.
Suicide can have many contributing factors. His family is speaking out about bullying and misgendering as two.
We finally know the identities of the 9 anonymous authors of the May HHS report on pediatric gender-affirming care. Surprise! It's stacked with people who make money advocating against pediatric gender-affirming care.
Here's our writeup from May: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Here's our writeup from May: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
November 19, 2025 at 6:17 PM
We finally know the identities of the 9 anonymous authors of the May HHS report on pediatric gender-affirming care. Surprise! It's stacked with people who make money advocating against pediatric gender-affirming care.
Here's our writeup from May: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Here's our writeup from May: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
"The right’s gripe isn’t just that trans people exist, but that their existence is tearing down the old world—of good men, obedient women, traditional family structures—and unleashing a new, godless age of chaos and precarity on you." @schuylermitchell.bsky.social www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
How the right uses "gender ideology" to blame trans people for everything
MAGA learned from global autocrats the language needed to push fear.
www.motherjones.com
November 17, 2025 at 6:46 PM
"The right’s gripe isn’t just that trans people exist, but that their existence is tearing down the old world—of good men, obedient women, traditional family structures—and unleashing a new, godless age of chaos and precarity on you." @schuylermitchell.bsky.social www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Powerful from @katelynburns.com on the death of Lia Smith.
I'll never forget watching an anti-trans mvmt leader try to reassure her allies that trans youth "are not suicidal because of us." Now, they either deny trans people's suffering or call it a kind of abuse.
www.teenvogue.com/story/politi...
I'll never forget watching an anti-trans mvmt leader try to reassure her allies that trans youth "are not suicidal because of us." Now, they either deny trans people's suffering or call it a kind of abuse.
www.teenvogue.com/story/politi...
November 10, 2025 at 10:46 PM
Powerful from @katelynburns.com on the death of Lia Smith.
I'll never forget watching an anti-trans mvmt leader try to reassure her allies that trans youth "are not suicidal because of us." Now, they either deny trans people's suffering or call it a kind of abuse.
www.teenvogue.com/story/politi...
I'll never forget watching an anti-trans mvmt leader try to reassure her allies that trans youth "are not suicidal because of us." Now, they either deny trans people's suffering or call it a kind of abuse.
www.teenvogue.com/story/politi...
Today, with more than a dozen global media partners, we’re exposing a surveillance firm whose untraceable phone-tracking tech has been used to target politicians, journalists, and executives.
Our investigation rewrites what Americans know about the shadowy surveillance industry. ow.ly/2LUF50Xb7KE
Our investigation rewrites what Americans know about the shadowy surveillance industry. ow.ly/2LUF50Xb7KE
The surveillance empire that tracked world leaders, a Vatican enemy, and maybe you
Inside the hidden world of First Wap, whose untraceable tech has targeted politicians, journalists, celebrities, and activists around the globe.
www.motherjones.com
October 14, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Today, with more than a dozen global media partners, we’re exposing a surveillance firm whose untraceable phone-tracking tech has been used to target politicians, journalists, and executives.
Our investigation rewrites what Americans know about the shadowy surveillance industry. ow.ly/2LUF50Xb7KE
Our investigation rewrites what Americans know about the shadowy surveillance industry. ow.ly/2LUF50Xb7KE
A year and a half ago, @hencarnell.bsky.social and I investigated the movement to resurrect conversion therapy
Now, oral arguments are about to begin in a Supreme Court case, Chiles v. Salazar, that could overturn bans in 23 states.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Now, oral arguments are about to begin in a Supreme Court case, Chiles v. Salazar, that could overturn bans in 23 states.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
October 7, 2025 at 2:06 PM
A year and a half ago, @hencarnell.bsky.social and I investigated the movement to resurrect conversion therapy
Now, oral arguments are about to begin in a Supreme Court case, Chiles v. Salazar, that could overturn bans in 23 states.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Now, oral arguments are about to begin in a Supreme Court case, Chiles v. Salazar, that could overturn bans in 23 states.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Can't get over this NIH employee reacting to possible Hatch Act violations in the administration's shutdown spin: "I liked the fact that I still had the capacity for disappointment.”
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Congrats to @jollyette.bsky.social on her first @motherjones.com byline!!
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Congrats to @jollyette.bsky.social on her first @motherjones.com byline!!
For furloughed workers, Trump's partisan shutdown jabs are just the latest slight
“Not only is it insulting to the standards we’re all supposed to abide by, but it’s also insulting to our intelligence.”
www.motherjones.com
October 3, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Can't get over this NIH employee reacting to possible Hatch Act violations in the administration's shutdown spin: "I liked the fact that I still had the capacity for disappointment.”
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Congrats to @jollyette.bsky.social on her first @motherjones.com byline!!
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Congrats to @jollyette.bsky.social on her first @motherjones.com byline!!
“As far as I am concerned,” Guyatt recounted telling people affiliated with SEGM in a recent conversation, “you are not evidence-based.”
It was a burn that only the guy who coined the term “evidence-based medicine” could give.
It was a burn that only the guy who coined the term “evidence-based medicine” could give.
For years, medical professionals and transgender advocates have been saying the "Society for Evidence-based Gender Medicine" was not following the principles of evidenced-based medicine.
Now the "godfather" of evidence-based medicine is leveraging the same claim against them. (1/)
Now the "godfather" of evidence-based medicine is leveraging the same claim against them. (1/)
Trans health care "skeptics" lost a key ally—now they're having a meltdown
The godfather of evidence-based medicine on rejecting anti-trans "misuse" of his work.
www.motherjones.com
September 23, 2025 at 5:24 PM
“As far as I am concerned,” Guyatt recounted telling people affiliated with SEGM in a recent conversation, “you are not evidence-based.”
It was a burn that only the guy who coined the term “evidence-based medicine” could give.
It was a burn that only the guy who coined the term “evidence-based medicine” could give.
I've had a Google Alert set on Missouri AG Andrew Bailey for a couple years. His aggressive (and at times extralegal) attacks on abortion, local Democrats, trans people often get slapped down in court. But winning wasn't the point. The point was building a rep.
Now he's headed to help run the FBI.
Now he's headed to help run the FBI.
Trump rewards MAGA attack dog attorney general with FBI post
"If Andrew Bailey can do this much damage in Missouri, imagine what he’ll do with federal power."
www.motherjones.com
August 29, 2025 at 5:45 PM
I've had a Google Alert set on Missouri AG Andrew Bailey for a couple years. His aggressive (and at times extralegal) attacks on abortion, local Democrats, trans people often get slapped down in court. But winning wasn't the point. The point was building a rep.
Now he's headed to help run the FBI.
Now he's headed to help run the FBI.
Over
& over
& over
The response to the sexual assault becomes the survivor’s “new nightmare.”
Cops. Courts. Companies. Schools. It’s always the same story.
Read Sam’s latest.
I wish there wasn’t cause to publish stories like this year after year after year.
& over
& over
The response to the sexual assault becomes the survivor’s “new nightmare.”
Cops. Courts. Companies. Schools. It’s always the same story.
Read Sam’s latest.
I wish there wasn’t cause to publish stories like this year after year after year.
When the Golden State Killer was arrested in 2018, law enforcement suggested that the nightmare for his survivors was finally over.
My latest investigation is about a new nightmare that emerged for the survivors who cops dismissed. www.motherjones.com/criminal-jus...
My latest investigation is about a new nightmare that emerged for the survivors who cops dismissed. www.motherjones.com/criminal-jus...
Evidence in her brutal 1979 rape pointed to the Golden State Killer. The police didn’t want to hear about it.
How one woman's quest for closure unleashed its own kind of nightmare.
www.motherjones.com
July 23, 2025 at 11:41 PM
Over
& over
& over
The response to the sexual assault becomes the survivor’s “new nightmare.”
Cops. Courts. Companies. Schools. It’s always the same story.
Read Sam’s latest.
I wish there wasn’t cause to publish stories like this year after year after year.
& over
& over
The response to the sexual assault becomes the survivor’s “new nightmare.”
Cops. Courts. Companies. Schools. It’s always the same story.
Read Sam’s latest.
I wish there wasn’t cause to publish stories like this year after year after year.
The new "wrongful death" abortion pill lawsuit out of Texas is a BFD for several reasons, but one twist is that the doctor being targeted is the brother of lifelong reproductive health advocate Francine Coeytaux of @plancpills.bsky.social
Collab by Nina Martin & me on what the case is all about:
Collab by Nina Martin & me on what the case is all about:
He’s suing his girlfriend’s doctor for prescribing abortion pills. Could this gut access everywhere?
Texas lawyer Jonathan Mitchell is going after a California doctor, Here’s why that’s terrifying.
www.motherjones.com
July 23, 2025 at 9:25 PM
The new "wrongful death" abortion pill lawsuit out of Texas is a BFD for several reasons, but one twist is that the doctor being targeted is the brother of lifelong reproductive health advocate Francine Coeytaux of @plancpills.bsky.social
Collab by Nina Martin & me on what the case is all about:
Collab by Nina Martin & me on what the case is all about:
Reposted by Madison Pauly
One of the speakers at this was Michelle Cretella. Don't know who she is? Boy, do I have some reading for you.
She is part of a fringe, conservative doctors group that calls itself the American College of Pediatricians.
She is part of a fringe, conservative doctors group that calls itself the American College of Pediatricians.
July 9, 2025 at 9:15 PM
One of the speakers at this was Michelle Cretella. Don't know who she is? Boy, do I have some reading for you.
She is part of a fringe, conservative doctors group that calls itself the American College of Pediatricians.
She is part of a fringe, conservative doctors group that calls itself the American College of Pediatricians.
One sigh of relief today: The Supreme Court could have made a bunch of forms of preventive care $$$$ and didn't. This is a short-term win that comes with long-term consequences: RFK Jr. gets more power over what types of preventive care are fully covered. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Supreme Court once again preserves the Affordable Care Act
And cements power in the hands of RFK Jr.
www.motherjones.com
June 27, 2025 at 2:59 PM
One sigh of relief today: The Supreme Court could have made a bunch of forms of preventive care $$$$ and didn't. This is a short-term win that comes with long-term consequences: RFK Jr. gets more power over what types of preventive care are fully covered. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Madison Pauly
Super-quick take while reading the ruling:
This is going to be a much bigger deal for challenges to *other* Trump policies than to birthright citizenship (where it's likely that lower courts will still be able to block the policy on a nationwide basis even after this ruling).
*That's* the import.
This is going to be a much bigger deal for challenges to *other* Trump policies than to birthright citizenship (where it's likely that lower courts will still be able to block the policy on a nationwide basis even after this ruling).
*That's* the import.
First #SCOTUS ruling today is birthright citizenship.
Justice Barrett, for a 6-3 majority (with the three Dem. appointees dissenting) holds that universal injunctions are only appropriate when necessary to provide "complete" relief to parties, and stays these injunctions insofar as they go further:
Justice Barrett, for a 6-3 majority (with the three Dem. appointees dissenting) holds that universal injunctions are only appropriate when necessary to provide "complete" relief to parties, and stays these injunctions insofar as they go further:
www.supremecourt.gov
June 27, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Super-quick take while reading the ruling:
This is going to be a much bigger deal for challenges to *other* Trump policies than to birthright citizenship (where it's likely that lower courts will still be able to block the policy on a nationwide basis even after this ruling).
*That's* the import.
This is going to be a much bigger deal for challenges to *other* Trump policies than to birthright citizenship (where it's likely that lower courts will still be able to block the policy on a nationwide basis even after this ruling).
*That's* the import.
Reposted by Madison Pauly
And bad for individuals trying to enforce their rights in court :(
June 26, 2025 at 3:29 PM
And bad for individuals trying to enforce their rights in court :(
This is a bad ruling for people who rely Planned Parenthood and any other providers of politically controversial health care. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
The Supreme Court just made it easier for states to defund Planned Parenthood
“Today’s decision…is a dangerous green light for politicians to target any providers they don’t like."
www.motherjones.com
June 26, 2025 at 3:28 PM
This is a bad ruling for people who rely Planned Parenthood and any other providers of politically controversial health care. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
These state laws banning gender-affirming care for youth are a product of religious-right and anti-LGBTQ activist organizing, starting in the years after Obergefell.
We know this, because we have the receipts. Here's my 2023 investigation.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
We know this, because we have the receipts. Here's my 2023 investigation.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Inside the secret working group that helped push anti-trans laws across the country
Leaked emails give a glimpse of the religious-right networks behind transgender health care bans.
www.motherjones.com
June 18, 2025 at 4:55 PM
These state laws banning gender-affirming care for youth are a product of religious-right and anti-LGBTQ activist organizing, starting in the years after Obergefell.
We know this, because we have the receipts. Here's my 2023 investigation.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
We know this, because we have the receipts. Here's my 2023 investigation.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
This is key. SCOTUS also used this tortured, acrobatic reasoning in the Dobbs decision, relying on Geduldig.
I'm reading the Skrmetti decision now. One thing that pops out early is the reliance on Geuduldig, a case that ruled a state insurance program that exempted pregnancy did not count as sex discrimination against women.
www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...
www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...
June 18, 2025 at 4:43 PM
This is key. SCOTUS also used this tortured, acrobatic reasoning in the Dobbs decision, relying on Geduldig.
Roberts' opinion in Skrmetti splits hairs to say that banning treatment for gender dysphoria isn't discrimination based on transgender status. Same as how the court held in the 70s that excluding pregnancy-related disabilities from insurance coverage isn't sex discrimination.
June 18, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Roberts' opinion in Skrmetti splits hairs to say that banning treatment for gender dysphoria isn't discrimination based on transgender status. Same as how the court held in the 70s that excluding pregnancy-related disabilities from insurance coverage isn't sex discrimination.
The Supreme Court just green-lit bans on gender-affirming care for minors.
“We will find ways to keep fighting,” Chase Strangio vowed. “We’ll fight in state court. We’ll lobby Congress. We’ll lobby our state legislatures, and we’ll organize in the streets."
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
“We will find ways to keep fighting,” Chase Strangio vowed. “We’ll fight in state court. We’ll lobby Congress. We’ll lobby our state legislatures, and we’ll organize in the streets."
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Supreme Court upholds Tennessee ban on gender affirming care for minors
"[The Court] authorizes, without second thought, untold harm to transgender children," Justice Sotomayor wrote in a dissent.
www.motherjones.com
June 18, 2025 at 2:38 PM
The Supreme Court just green-lit bans on gender-affirming care for minors.
“We will find ways to keep fighting,” Chase Strangio vowed. “We’ll fight in state court. We’ll lobby Congress. We’ll lobby our state legislatures, and we’ll organize in the streets."
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
“We will find ways to keep fighting,” Chase Strangio vowed. “We’ll fight in state court. We’ll lobby Congress. We’ll lobby our state legislatures, and we’ll organize in the streets."
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Madison Pauly
I mean, Oakland only has 400 thousand people!
This time-lapse video of protesters marching down Broadway in Oakland for No Kings Day gives an idea of how many people turned out today @sfchronicle.com
June 14, 2025 at 11:16 PM
I mean, Oakland only has 400 thousand people!
I am here in beautiful downtown Oakland California for the gigantic #nokings march through downtown. Grabbing a spot with signal to share pics and conversations with folks I’ve met.
June 14, 2025 at 9:13 PM
I am here in beautiful downtown Oakland California for the gigantic #nokings march through downtown. Grabbing a spot with signal to share pics and conversations with folks I’ve met.
Reposted by Madison Pauly
We'll soon be sitting down with @motherjones.com & @revealnews.org management to discuss the CIR Union's demands for ethical, labor, and editorial safeguards around AI. A strong agreement is vital to protect the rights of workers and the reputation of our news organization. Here’s why: 🧵👇
April 8, 2025 at 3:28 PM
We'll soon be sitting down with @motherjones.com & @revealnews.org management to discuss the CIR Union's demands for ethical, labor, and editorial safeguards around AI. A strong agreement is vital to protect the rights of workers and the reputation of our news organization. Here’s why: 🧵👇
"If people could hear these stories, they would have such a different attitude about third-trimester abortion."
@doctorshelleysella.bsky.social spent 20 years providing care to patients seeking abortion late in pregnancy. Our conversation about her new memoir:
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
@doctorshelleysella.bsky.social spent 20 years providing care to patients seeking abortion late in pregnancy. Our conversation about her new memoir:
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
A doctor’s impassioned defense of later abortions
A third-trimester provider writes the memoir Dr. George Tiller never got a chance to.
www.motherjones.com
June 5, 2025 at 9:16 PM
"If people could hear these stories, they would have such a different attitude about third-trimester abortion."
@doctorshelleysella.bsky.social spent 20 years providing care to patients seeking abortion late in pregnancy. Our conversation about her new memoir:
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
@doctorshelleysella.bsky.social spent 20 years providing care to patients seeking abortion late in pregnancy. Our conversation about her new memoir:
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...