^{feature image of Bolivian TV anchor Leonie Dorad via Facebook}

A few weeks ago, one of my favorite musicians encouraged their fans to “lean into the silver linings.” It’s hard to even imagine that there are silver linings in the middle of all of this but I’ve been trying hard to find them. Lean into the silver linings, knowing how few and far between they are. Lean into the silver linings because even those aren’t promised. Relish joy wherever you find it, Straddlers, you deserve it.

Queer as in F*ck You

+ Gabrielle Bellot on how it feels to have your existence up for debate: Freedom Means Can Rather Than Should: What the Harper‘s Open Letter Gets Wrong

+ ‘Welcome To Chechnya’s Chronicles Abuses Against Its LGBTQ Citizens

When the world looks away, who will step up? @WelcomeChechnya documents the brave activists fighting against Chechnya’s ongoing, deadly anti-LGBTQ persecution. #WelcomeToChechnya will be available streaming for free starting this Friday. pic.twitter.com/RMvcggYkqN

— GLAAD (@glaad) July 8, 2020

+ Do we have any Polish Straddlers? I’d love to hear more about this: ‘We are the most homophobic country in the EU’: Poland’s election and the LGBT fightback

+ The story behind Wales’s new queer bookshop

+ In zines, LGBTQ creators find a place to tell their own stories

+ Bolivia’s first transgender news anchor puts LGBTQ issues front and center

+ Given that the US is looking into banning TikTok too, this is a glimpse into our future: For LGBTQ creators and users, TikTok was space — even if imperfect — to reclaim identity, sexuality. That is now lost

+ During the lockdown, Darcy Leigh created an online archive of their butch consciousness: a butch archive

+ How Troy Perry, Metropolitan Community Church Founder, Made LGBTQ History With God’s Help

Saw This, Thought of You

+ The incomparable Nikole Hannah-Jones delivers the cover story for the NYT Magazine: What is Owed: If true justice and equality are ever to be achieved in the United States, the country must finally take seriously what it owes black Americans.

+ Mariame Kaba expounds on her op-ed, Yes, We Mean Literally Abolish the Police, on The Abolition Suite

+ Anti-racism requires so much more than ‘checking your privilege’

+ This is feels like a good encapsulation of how we deal with racism in this country: Lady Antebellum changes their name to Lady A because of its racist origins. Turns out, there’s already a black artist named Lady A and, obviously, she wants to keep her name. Now the band formerly known as Lady Antebellum is suing Lady A for the right to use the name that they stole.

+ Whenever there’s a case of police brutality, folks blame the “bad apples.” I wonder what those folks would say about what’s happening to this “good apple?” Joliet Police Sgt. Javier Esqueda, Who Blew Whistle On Death Of Eric Lurry In Police Custody, Stripped Of Police Powers

+ ‘The military’s #MeToo’: Vanessa Guillén’s slaying has many servicewomen revisiting their own deep scars

+ Surveillance Culture Comes for Nannies

Saw This, Thought of You: Sportsball Edition

+ Louisville’s NWSL team announces name and colors ahead of 2021 debut

Introducing … ⚜️ pic.twitter.com/UTNgQS61m5

— Racing Louisville FC (@RacingLouFC) July 8, 2020

Welcome to the NWSL, Louisville, now arrest Breonna Taylor’s killers!

+ Meanwhile back at the Challenge Cup: the Utah Royals fall to OL Reign and Sky Blue FC has their best showing to-date vs. the Houston Dash. This assist from Nicole Momiki is a thing of beauty.

Can't stop watching the beautiful assist from @nicole_m09 and the perfect header from @bethanybalcer from today's win over @UtahRoyalsFC. #BeBold pic.twitter.com/fQm3ylWwMc

— OL Reign (@OLReign) July 8, 2020

+ Possession vs. direct play: Welcome to NWSL’s philosophical battle

+ Soon after Tuesday’s AAA went live, Sen. Kelly Loeffler continued her blatant attempt to curry favor with Republican voters by attacking Black Lives Matter, this time focusing her ire on the WNBA’s social justice efforts. Lindsay Gibbs sums up the situation and shares the nearly unanimous view of WNBA players: The WNBA must immediately oust racist owner Kelly Loeffler.

+ Most (but not all) WNBA players who have opted into the season are on lockdown in Florida and it’s far from glamorous: Life in the WNBA bubble is a mixed (and mostly fruitless) bag.

+ We’re going to see a lot more of this. I’ll be watching to see if women’s sports are impacted disproportionately: Stanford Permanently Cuts 11 Sports Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

+ In “Men Also Play Sports” news, the MLS has returned… with a compelling display of solidarity: Black MLS players raise gloved fists in racial justice protest before first match

+ The exile of Oakland A’s Bruce Maxwell and the birth of MLB’s Black player movement

Political Snacks

+ I don’t know when it became common practice for leaders to hide their health condition from the public but it’s infuriating. A month?!: Chief Justice John Roberts was hospitalized last month after injuring his head in a fall

+ Supreme Court says Congress can’t get Trump financial records for now, but says he is not immune from grand jury demand

+ In short, no matter what you do at a parochial school, you’re considered a minister and, as a result, the school isn’t subject to non-discrimination laws. They can fire you because you’re queer and you have no recourse. Worried feels like an understatement: The Latest Supreme Court Ruling In Favor Of Religious Employers Has LGBTQ Advocates Worried

+ Listen, if a pandemic that’s left 42.6 million Americans unemployed wasn’t enough to convince you to eliminate employer-based health care, this should do it: The Supreme Court just gave Republicans a powerful new weapon against Obamacare

+ What 9 GOP Campaign Consultants Really Think About Republicans’ Chances in November

+ 2016 left a lot of people weary — about trusting polling and about discounting celebrity candidates — and while that’s understandable, the freakout over this seems like a dramatic overreaction: Kanye West Says He’s Done With Trump—Opens Up About White House Bid, Damaging Biden And Everything In Between

West hasn’t filed with the Federal Elections Commission. He’s already missed filing deadlines for ballot access in a handful of states and, unless he moves mountains over the next two months, he’ll be shut out of 46 states. No, Kanye West is not running for President…yet

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