Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 8h

Do you think Gen Z knows about Linkin Park

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 8h

And also with you, queen

William Shakespeare @shakespeare.lol · 8h

Peace, good Doll

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Reposted by Gillian Branstetter

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 9h

thank you brett kavanaugh!

Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 9h

Good reporting on the South Shore raid from South Side weekly here.

Confirms one thing I was told but didn't put in my own piece because I didn't have a second source and it seemed too insane: border agents segregated arrested residents by race

southsideweekly.com/federal-agen...

Federal Agents Storm South Shore Building, Detaining Families and Children

Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing.

southsideweekly.com

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Reposted by Gillian Branstetter

Susan Rinkunas @susanrinkunas.com · 9h

“Four months ago, in Skrmetti, the Court used purported medical uncertainty to give Tennessee more flexibility to discriminate. Today, Alito used purported medical uncertainty to give Colorado less flexibility to protect.”

Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 12h

I've written my analysis of today's grim Supreme Court oral argument in the conversion therapy case:

As far as the Court's concerned, imaginary medical uncertainty gives states the authority to hurt queer kids, and takes away states' authority to protect them

ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/chile...

The Conservative Justices Don't Trust Any Science That Supports LGBTQ Kids

States that want to facilitate discrimination against LGBTQ people have the Court's blessing. States that want to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination do not.

ballsandstrikes.org

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 11h

Need to know what Simone de Beauvoir thought about Blade Runner

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 17h

They were arguably doing it before then cup.columbia.edu/book/not-in-...

Not in My Gayborhood | Columbia University Press

Gay neighborhoods are disappearing—or so the conventional story goes. In this narrative, political gains and mainstream social acceptance, combined with th... | CUP

cup.columbia.edu

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 17h

Point being "gay male gentrifier" is like a whole thing, far from mutually exclusive

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 17h

I do think a lot about the chapter in Melinda Cooper's book Family Values where she points out the invention of credit scores opened up a new audience of debtors previously denied credit by virtue of not being married, namely single women and gay couples

Berny Belvedere @bernybelvedere.bsky.social · 19h

fellas is it gay to live in a city

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Reposted by Gillian Branstetter

Susan of Hell @susanoftexas.bsky.social · 19h

If you have a trans kid, as a parent the one thing you want more than anything else in the world is to ease their pain. I was glad when my son transitioned because he became a much happier person. Any parent who tries to inflict pain on their child must be stopped. It’s that simple.

Zack Ford @zackford.bsky.social · 19h

These Supreme Court oral arguments on conversion therapy are going to be painful. No matter what is said, know that trying to force someone to be what they're not is psychological torture with measurable negative consequences, and anyone trying to defend such efforts is a bigoted monster.

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 19h

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Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 20h

NEW: In May, a Texas police department said they used the powerful Flock surveillance network against a woman who had an abortion "for her safety"

Newly obtained court records show it was a 'death investigation,' and they considered charging her with a crime

www.404media.co/police-said-...

Police Said They Surveilled Woman Who Had an Abortion for Her 'Safety.' Court Records Show They Considered Charging Her With a Crime

Court records show that the narrative Flock and a Texas Sheriff's Office has told the public isn't the whole story, and that police were conducting a 'death investigation' into the abortion.

www.404media.co

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 20h

Oh I'm sure

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 21h

Inside the tactics that won Christian vendors the right to reject gay weddings

Opponents accuse Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative law firm behind a landmark Supreme Court case, of manufacturing lawsuits to advance its agenda during a decade-long battle against laws ba...

www.washingtonpost.com

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 21h

ADF has a track record of representing clients with just-so standing claims, like wedding businesses that are incorporated just long enough to challenge nondiscrimination laws protecting queer couples and are never heard from again

Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 1d

I'm sorry but how does this person have standing to challenge Colorado's ban on LGBTQ conversion therapy when she has explicitly disclaimed any desire to change a patient's sexual orientation or gender identity? How is this a real case? slate.com/news-and-pol...

The Supreme Court’s First Blockbuster Case This Term Looks Pretty Fake

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Chiles v. Salazar, a case that seeks to undo a major triumph of the LGBTQ+ movement.

slate.com

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 1d

Coalitions are a funny thing

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Reposted by Gillian Branstetter

Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 1d

In this case, ADF “cited several scholars to support its argument that conversion practices should once again be permitted. Two of those experts, however, told the Guardian that ADF had ‘profoundly’ misrepresented their research, which discussed the ‘psychological damage’ of conversion therapy.’”

Sam Levin @samtlevin.bsky.social · 1d

NEW: Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom "deceived" the Supreme Court + "profoundly misrepresented" LGBTQ+ research, according to scholars cited by ADF.

Quoted experts speak out about ADF's "distortions" + "false evidence" in major case, on deck tomorrow, to revive "conversion therapy"

Christian group ‘deceived’ supreme court about LGBTQ+ research, cited scholars say

Exclusive: Experts say Alliance Defending Freedom, arguing to revive conversion therapy, ‘profoundly misrepresented’ their work in case threatening trans and queer youth

www.theguardian.com

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 1d

Is the solution to the male loneliness epidemic a chatbot designed by the world's richest pervert

Elon Musk Gambles on Sexy A.I. Companions

www.nytimes.com

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 1d

Some advertising you just can't buy

MAGA Congresswoman: Bad Bunnys super bowl halftime show a demonic sexual performance

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 1d

"Modern english" it was written in 1935

Being Liberal ®🗽🏳️‍🌈 @beingliberal.bsky.social · 1d

"It can't happen here"-until it does. It's happening here... right now!

In this gripping modern-English translation of Sinclair Lewis's prophetic 1935 novel, It Can't Happen Here, journalist Doremus Jessup watches in disbelief as the USA descends into authoritarian rule under the populist dictator

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 1d

Oh my

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 1d

212k women left the workforce between January and August of this year, while 44k men entered. "The pervasive, incorrect idea is that men are absolutely essential to our country’s economic and social well-being; while women might be nice to have, their job loss doesn’t constitute a serious obstacle"

Opinion | American Women Are Leaving the Work Force. Why?

www.nytimes.com

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 1d

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 1d

I'm also reminded of the "whistleblower" report about abuses at a Missouri gender clinic, the author of which is now just a full-time anti-transgender lobbyist, that fell apart the moment any reporter tried to verify it

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 1d

perhaps the biggest story TFPever ran was a catastrophically shoddy argument that George Floyd ackshully died of an overdose. When confronted with irrefutable evidence that the piece was simply wrong, Weiss didn’t take it down, she asked her critic, @radleybalko.bsky.social, to come on a podcast.

max tani @maxtani.bsky.social · 1d

David Ellison’s note to staff on Paramount’s acquisition of the Free Press

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Jared Holt @jaredlholt.bsky.social · 1d

Out Now: @gbbranstetter.bsky.social stops by the show to talk to us about the legal and cultural attacks against trans people during the second Trump administration. A bleak but critical listen

Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/p...
Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/5QJF...

042: What Did Trans People Ever Do to You? feat. Gillian Branstetter

open.spotify.com

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 2d

www.npr.org/2025/10/05/n...

Some Democrats share Trump's goal of forcing more homeless people into medical care

President Trump says one part of the answer to homelessness is civil commitment and forced medical care. Some Democrats agree.

www.npr.org

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