It seems like the best response to Republican gerrymandering to use the overly broad powers of the veto over there to gut their agenda as best you can as a Democratic governor. People should expect and want their political representatives to do everything with the power they have to enact the ideology they claim to represent.
Of course they did, they want to "fix" the various decisions of the last 10, 20, 50+ years until the US is a single-party Christian‐ruled white ethnostate. They'd ban gay marriage today and start shooting queers tomorrow if they could, but they can't (yet).
Exactly! The Court is being used as a tool to permanently constrain American politics for the next 50 years, no matter what party is in power. A year ago, there were legitimate concerns they'd gut American democracy by enabling state legislatures unchecked power to run their own elections, which would have enabled outright single party rule, mask off.
(One could argue that large parts of the US already qualify as a single-party theocratic dictatorship, looking at you Florida)
he should be directing the DoE to be buying up as much privately-held student loans as possible, bringing them under federal control and thus more easily forgiven/repaid.
He could be doing a lot more to make contraceptives and even abortion accessible on land under Federal Jurisdiction. He wants to play by the "rules" though.
There's nothing stopping him from using executive and federal power in this way except his own fears and a desire to be "normal" at a time when the United States teeters on complete backsliding to it's worst policies in history.
And think of all the people who can't. combined, it's absurd that people in liberal states are just scoffing and telling them to move to California or New York. Cost of living aside, 200K+ people should not be forced to become refugees in their own country as the "solution" to anti-trans laws. Internal refugees are not something a supposed (liberal) democracy should have.
Too little too late? Plus it's since reneged on that right with Pope Benedict at least? Pope Francis seems alright within reason?
I am not a Christian nor do I have a Catholic background, but I just want to push back against the idea that Churches shouldn't reform or try to be progressive, which I'm not even entirely sure you're trying to do by criticizing the Vatican II council.
The idea that because it's not flesh and blood, it's not a vital organ, seems to becoming increasingly outdated as it was clear that this woman's life was transformed in a way that enabled her to be more "normal" (there's probably a much nicer way to say that but I'm blanking.)
Removing it should be treated the same as ripping a prosthetic limb away from a patient.
It can vary. If you met me in person, you would probably assume I'm a man. I was "assigned male at birth" as it's called, grew up viewing myself as a boy, and didn't come to this understanding of myself until my 20s. I have a beard; I wear men's pants, men's shirts, and men's shoes. I will bleach my hair and dye it when I have the executive function or help, and I'll paint my nails (or my often, let my friends pant them).
That said, I did go by "he/they," since probably 16, as I grew up in a socially liberal area, it was common in high school to introduce yourself with your name and pronouns as early as 2013, and I thought "I think being referred to with neutral terms feels cool and better almost?). I am attracted to women for the most part, but I've crushed on a couple guys in my day, not to mention other "nonbinaries".
Furthermore, I've always been on the "alt" side of various subcultures and genres like Goth genres of music, science fiction, and have always felt drawn to more feminine-looking appearances of cis men, from something as simple as skinny jeans (still sold in the men's section tho) to wearing a full-length skirt. Ironically, a lot of the time, as someone in North America, to look non-binary, you dress like a European man ;).
The "lgb" group is kidding themselves if they think by helping the right wing go after gender identity they'll be spared from the culling.
I find that with people who think like that, they can have that view softened up alot if you try and actually ask them to articulate why they think it's a mental illness, but specifically you have to act innocent about it, like you don't understand why it would be a mental illness and you'd like him to explain it to you.
Their response to that can also help inform future steps.
I saw your other post about religion which has got me thinking they are probably not happy with their party's move to the center over the last decade.
But hey, it could be a starting point.
There's a YouTuber, focused on the United States, But he also talks social issues and has in the past brought up gender and sexuality. His goal is to reach conservatives and help progressive people do the same. I often find watching him makes me feel better and hopeful about being able to change minds.
The funny thing is, if you study the history of various religions throughout history, is that when religions have these dogmas they have them to their own detriment. People often have a place or even need for metaphysics and spirituality but reject religions because they have an "all or nothing" approach to them, at least officially.
That said, many people accept their religious texts to be metaphorical and not literal, so even though there's homophobia in Abraham's texts for example, they go "yeah, but that's the characters of the story expressing their homophobia, not the book telling me to be homophobic".
Sorry this was a bit rambling but I genuinely find it sad that religious institutions of the modern era are so thoroughly out of touch yet also seemingly impossible to dismantle, even though at one point many of these religions were subversive, persecuted, and radical and they dismantled previous religions.
"Factions within the Nationalist party do not tolerate LGBT rights statutes; despite this, the majority of its parliamentary group voted in favour of gay marriage in 2017. The party has become very diverse in the last few years. The party calls itself a mosaic of people and ideologies. The party recruited a non-binary member, Mark Josef Rapa, for their pro-LGBT group, FOIPN, and a transgender member, Freddie Gerada, for their youth group, Team Start. Apart from that, there is a growing number of LGBT and openly pro-choice people in the party."
Are you used to talking politics with your parents at all? It looks like the party they support has tried to make room for non binary and trans people in its tent so maybe you could try to sus out what faction they belong to?
You haven't actually mentioned out in what way - for me, I'm non binary and more or less can "pass" as a straight person even when in a relationship, if I'm with someone who'll get clocked as feminine at least.
If it's something like that for you, it can be easy to subtly shift how you present and talk about yourself. Using neutral terms for yourself without acknowledging or making a big deal about it, for example.
I also know people who were "ironic" about being gay or trans for years as a cover. Not sure if that's healthy tho
I love how they want us to constantly buy and consume yet despise the idea of paying us money to actually be able to do so...