Happy Wednesday all. Only more 2 days of the Republican Convention! Got a few things for you today…..
Hopium community member Roger Poulard dropped this note on our paid subscriber chat last night responding to a link I shared from Biden-Harris about needing volunteers:
Did my first [DNC] phonebanking shift tonight. 65 calls made – talked to 10 people, 7 of which are voting for Joe, and two who are undecided or won’t say. Feeling a little bit better about everything. It’s a close race and I really hope things go our way, but I’m going to do my part to try to make it happen.
Here’s a little hopium of my own to share. This morning I got an email from “postcards to swing states” . They are pausing sign-up for the moment because of the overwhelming number of volunteers who have reached out and they need to catch up. In the last two weeks alone over 19,000 volunteers have requested 5.5 million postcards. In early August, they will resume taking orders with a goal of 29 million postcards to be sent out. Maybe this kind of news isn’t reported in the media or reflected in the polls but it’s a wonderful thing to see such an amazing amount of enthusiasm in a grassroots organization.
Community member ArcticStones added this:
On a related note, last night I was on a Zoom call where Red Wine & Blue hosted Heather Cox Richardson. An intense discussion ensued about Trump’s Project 2025 – and what we can do to stop it! Everyone received information and tool-kits to make other voters aware of the danger America faces.
There were 35,000 people on that call. Afterwards it broke into separate Zoom action groups, organized geographically, to prepare concrete action.
Throughout our nation, patriotic defenders of American democracy are rising!
VP Harris released this short video ahead of JD Vance’s speech tonight:
We now have a few days of polling after the events of the weekend and the race remains remarkably stable, close and competitive (all polls can be found on 538). Biden remains 2 points down on 538’s average. The Congressional Generic is back in positive territory and has been encouraging for us these past few weeks. Senate polling continues to hold. We’ve had polls this week with Biden up in MI and WI and down just 2 in NC. As we discussed yesterday, JD Vance may be good for Trump’s fundraising, but he is not good for him electorally. The 538 forecast this morning has Biden at 277. Here’s the current battleground in the 538 forecast:
Here’s the RNC Chair yesterday saying “there is no red wave.” For there isn’t, and Rs got heavily burned by their bullshit polls and wishful thinking in 2022. The election is remarkably stable, close and competitive, with Trump, perhaps, having a slight advantage. Commentators on television suggesting otherwise are operating outside the data available to us today.
From my read over the last few weeks the Trump campaign understands they have a lot of work to do to win. After publicly dissing her they clumsily gave Nikki Haley a Convention speaking slot at the last minute because they don’t have her voters locked up. They’ve kept Trump off the campaign trail because every time he speaks his idiocy, extremism and craziness hurts the campaign. They know that selling a rapist, fraudster, traitor and felon to the American people is no easy thing. They have to lie about Biden’s Presidency because they know how successful it has been – that the economy is booming, the stock market setting records, inflation dropping, crime is way way down and flows to the border are now the lowest they’ve been during the Biden Presidency. They sold the VP pick to Silicon Valley because they needed the money. They’ve tried to bury their extremism and run from Project 2025. They know the pro-Russian views of their two candidates is a stone cold political loser. They know we’ve won more votes in 7 of the past 8 Presidential elections. They know that we’ve averaged 51% in the last 4 Presidential elections, our best showing since FDR’s 4 elections, and that this is a center-left country today. They know they are not at 270 Electoral College votes in current polling. They know that when voters have voted in these last 2 years since Dobbs they keep underperforming and struggling, and we keep winning and overperforming. They know the power of American women and the Democratic grassroots. They know the abortion ballot initiatives could cost them a few critical points in critical battleground states. They know the far right flamed out in the European, French and UK elections. They know NeverTrumpers remain a big threat to their ability to win the election.
And they know that the guy who tried to kill Trump is almost certainly one of theirs and a very public confirmation of the threat their radical politics is to the country. From Newsweek this morning (and this has been confirmed by other news outlets):
A neighbor in Bethel Park, the Pittsburgh suburb where Crooks lived, said they saw pro-Trump signs in the family’s yard as recently as a few months ago.
“There absolutely was MAGA-supporting signs for a while,” Kelly Little told WTAE-TV.
Not only I am optimistic we can win this thing based on current data and my assessment of the landscape but because of the “margin of effort” all of you are putting in. As a fellow citizen I remain deeply inspired by your commitment, love of country, grit and willingness to just put your head down and do the work required for us to win.
But our party today is not united as we need it to be. There remains deep concern about the President’s ability to go out and win the election given his struggles of late. This concern is not just being expressed by some party leaders (who by the way know how to win elections in tough places) but based on current polling is shared by tens of millions of Democrats themselves. As I said in my video to you a few days ago (above), I am optimistic we can win this November; but if the President is going to win he is going to need to do far more to assuage the legitimate doubts many Democrats have about his candidacy, and all of us will have to come together soon – for a divided, fractious Democratic Party will lose the 2024 election.
My ongoing advice to this community is to approach these coming days with respect – respect of the President, our nominee; respect of party leaders who are working to ensure that we can win the election; and respect of one another who today are not all on the same page. For those of you backing the President telling your fellow Democrats who continue to have doubts to stop it and get in line is counter-productive, insulting and corrosive. For those of you wanting the President to step aside recognize that the most likely scenario is that our ticket remains Biden-Harris and attacking him wounds him at a time we need to be building him and the Vice-President up. This current moment is not easy for us given the stakes but as I asked in my video think of yourself here as a leader, not just a citizen. Lead the party forward, show respect of views different than yours and work to bring us together not push us apart. Do the hard thing here not the easy thing. And the hard thing is to resist fighting with fellow Dems, publicly, right now, and keep putting our heads down and working; and commit to bring us all together as we head into our Convention in a few weeks. The only way we win is if we stay together.
I want to be very clear at what I am saying here. The doubts about the President’s capacity to lead us now is a serious matter. In the Washington Post poll released last week which had the race at 46-46, 56% of Democrats wanted the President to step aside for another candidate. This data is consistent with data from other polls in the last few weeks.
If the President cannot get this number down, way down, I think it will be very difficult for us to win the election this November. He is the President, and the leader of our Party. It is his responsibility to bring us together, to demonstrate that he can lead us successfully against this fascist threat. Perhaps his media appearances over the past few weeks, the ongoing encouraging economic news, his successful leadership of the NATO Summit, the shock of the ugliness of the GOP Convention and his confident and strong leadership in the aftermath of an assassination attempt of a former President has already started assuaging these concerns. But we are not where we want to be right now, have a lot of hard work ahead of us and we are not the “my way or the highway” party. That’s them. We are the bring everyone together, listen to each other respectfully, expand our coalition and go out kick MAGA’s ass party. We are the Democratic Party.
It is why I hope this weekend the President and his team to do one more final assessment of the political landscape given the tumult of the past few weeks, review the latest data, talk one more time to party leaders, and perhaps most importantly, do one more final assessment of whether an 81 year old man who has been struggling a bit can, in the next four months, be both the President of the United States in a very challenging time and a successful candidate for President in a race we are not winning right now. If the answer is yes I will be all in and work as I have, with all of you, to go win this thing for our democracy, our freedoms and our future. And if the President chooses to pass the baton I will be all in and work as I have, with all of you, to go win this thing for our democracy, our freedoms and our future.
I am proud of my President, proud of my party, and oh so proud to be in this fight with all of you. Let’s keep working hard everyone and commit to bring our party back together and go out defeat the fascists one more time. Voters in Europe, France and the UK just did their job. It’s our turn now.
Making July Count/We Cannot Let Up/Do More and Worry Less – Friends, we just did a remarkable job together here making June count. In five weeks from late May to June 30th we raised over $1m for our candidates and party committees. Many of you have been out there hustling for candidates, writing postcards, canvassing, calling and texting. We launched our Winning the House campaign which brought in more $500,000 for our 12 Hopium-endorsed candidates with the best opportunity to flip seats and help us take back the House. We added the blue dot in Nebraska to our “checkmate” state strategy, one designed to get us to 270 electoral college votes and win the election. We raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Biden-Harris, including more than $100,000 in the days after the debate. When called once again the Hopium community answered. That’s why we’ve launched a new campaign to “Make July Count” with new July 31st fundraising goals.
We cannot let up now, not for a moment. We are deep into the 2024 election and while it is summer, and we are not all on same page today, we cannot stop working to make the election everything we want it to be. So please do something this week to support this new campaign, and be on the look out for many more interviews of our endorsed House candidates in the coming days. Trying to get the remaining eight done by our Convention.
Winning The House – $529,000 today, $600,000 goal – Donate | Volunteer | Learn More. We’ve also raised more then $42,000 into the individual House campaigns (you can either give to all 12 or each one individually)
Volunteer for the Biden-Harris campaign – their volunteer program is really ratcheting up – check it out and sign up for a shift of calls into the battlegrounds today!
Join me and Anderson Clayton in Raleigh on Friday, July 19th by donating to the NCDP Unity Dinner and signing up here
Commit to Vote on Day 1 and get everyone you know to join you
Finally help me spread Hopium and grow this plucky community. Sign others up to be a Hopium subscriber at this link. Note that options for group and gift subscriptions are available to those who want to bring friends and colleagues into the Hopium community. Click on the group and gift tabs here to learn more. To update your payment information or check your renewal status follow these instructions from Substack. Let’s keep the Hopium flowing and our community growing!
New regulations likely won’t be implemented until 2026, but the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act already covers some employees.
Originally published by The 19th , republished per their instructions for republishing.
Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced a new rule that, if finalized, would become the first federal regulation specifically designed to protect workers from extreme heat both indoors and outdoors. It would trigger requirements for access to drinking water and rest breaks when the heat index reaches 80 degrees Fahrenheit. At 90 degrees, it would mandate 15-minute breaks every two hours and require employers to monitor for signs of heat illness.
The rule has taken years to draft and likely wouldn’t be implemented until 2026 — though it could be stymied if President Joe Biden fails to win re-election. But pregnant workers don’t have to wait for some of these protections, thanks to last year’s passage of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA).
While the law has been enforceable since 2023, it wasn’t until June that its final regulations went into effect. The act requires employers to provide “reasonable accommodations” to pregnant workers who need to modify some aspects of their duties or workspace to protect their health and pregnancy — as long as it doesn’t cause “undue hardship” for the employer. These include having a water bottle at their workstations, being able to sit instead of stand and taking more frequent breaks to eat, drink or use the restroom.
“We think that these accommodations will almost always never cause an undue hardship” to an employer, said Sharyn Tejani, associate legal counsel for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency responsible for enforcement. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act also makes it clear that these types of basic accommodations don’t require a doctor’s note, something advocates say used to cause unnecessary delays.
Other options available to pregnant workers include access to a personal cooling device, a change in work hours to avoid the hottest parts of the day, a temporary reassignment to a job with less heat exposure or the ability to work remotely.
“The last possible option an employer can provide is [unpaid] leave, but that should really be a last resort,” said Kameron Dawson, senior staff attorney with A Better Balance, a nonprofit that advocates for improving workplace conditions for caregivers. This would only be an option if the accommodation presented an undue hardship on the employer, which Dawson says is a high bar to clear. First, the employee and employer are supposed to discuss all possible options and show they made a genuine effort to find a solution. “We want to make sure workers have job protection,” she said.
Before the act passed, Dawson said, providing unpaid leave would have been a quick out for employers, but a huge financial burden for a worker who couldn’t afford to lose any paychecks. The effects were disproportionately felt by women of color, who are significantly more likely to be the main breadwinners for their families.
Pregnant people need accommodations at work because they are more vulnerable to illnesses like heat stroke or heat exhaustion, said Dr. Marya Zlatnik, an OB-GYN at the University of California, San Francisco. That’s because a pregnant person’s heart is working overtime to supply blood to the placenta, which carries nutrients and oxygen to the growing fetus. This makes it harder for their body to cool down.
“So a pregnant woman in the third trimester who’s just sitting there, it is almost like she’s working out,” Zlatnik said. “Maybe her pulse is at 90 when she’s perfectly at rest. On a not particularly hot day, if she walks a block, her pulse may be 120. And if it’s a really hot day, her pulse could jump up to a dangerously high level.”
A pregnant person is also more susceptible to becoming dehydrated, which increases their risk of going into preterm labor, she said. Studies have also found a link between extreme heat and an elevated risk of developing preeclampsia, a serious pregnancy complicationwhich causes persistently high blood pressure, as well as risk of delivering low birth weight babies.
Heat exposure is a concern for pregnant women who work in industries like manufacturing, construction and agriculture, said Dawson. And this summer, as heat has enveloped large swaths of the country, A Better Balance has also received calls on its hotline from employees at big retailers and bakeries, where heat also has the potential to affect their pregnancy, she said. But, she added, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act “does offer that safeguard now, while OSHA and other agencies are working on the final rule for the heat standard.”
The Occupation and Safety Health Administration, or OSHA, a federal agency whose mission is to protect workers, first announced it was working on the new rule in 2021. It was one of several initiatives the Biden administration spearheaded to combat the dangers of extreme heat. Others include the formation of a heat working group and a plan to increase workplace inspections for heat-related hazards. An OSHA spokesperson said the agency “is working swiftly and responsibly to ensure that the rulemaking process continues effectively,” though would not speculate on when the final rule will be published. The rule can only be finalized after a public comment period and hearings.
In the meantime, the act offers a good buffer, but there are still limitations to its effectiveness for those most vulnerable to the heat, Zlatnik said. One is that it only covers pregnant workers, who are a small share of the total workforce. Also, some pregnant workers may be afraid to request accommodations under the law. “Most people who are maybe undocumented — or maybe they’re citizens, but they are still sort of on the margins — are not excited about entering into some kind of legal battle, right?” she said. “Even if now legally, they have more rights, they don’t really have a way to satisfy them.”
Because the act is still fairly new, one of the main barriers to its use is that employers, employees and even healthcare providers don’t know much about what it means, though that’s beginning to change. “A lot of it is about education,” Tejani said. “When you talk to people about this law, it is a pretty common sense situation.”
To fill that knowledge gap, a Better Balance has been reaching out to doulas, midwives and doctors to help them advocate for their patients. OSHA has also released its own guidance on preventing heat illness for pregnant workers. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission also has been hosting webinars about the new regulations and disseminating its own materials to employers and advocacy groups.
Ultimately, Tejani hopes the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act will level the playing field. “People like me who work in an office, I can go to the bathroom when I want, and I work in air conditioning,” she said. “It’s just such a great thing that there’s now a law for the entire country that applies to all types of workers, including those who work in situations where those things that office workers totally take for granted are not the common thing.”
Because humorous snark is the only way I can take coverage of Republican conventions. Lots of good stuff here, so do click through and look at it all when you have time.
Wonkette Went To The Moms For Liberty Key Party And All We Got Was This Lousy Sticker
It was their *key* *party*, news factcheck websites!
On Tuesday, because of how we are all pretty much gluttons for punishment at this point, we (well, Dok and Robyn) attended a Moms For Liberty chat at the Bradley Symphony Center in downtown Milwaukee. Are you so jealous? I bet you are! Anyway, instead of writing a whole post on it, we decided to just have a Slack about our favorite moments. Fun? Fun!
Robyn: Hey Dok! So HOW MUCH FUN did you have at the Moms For Liberty forum yesterday?
Doktor Zoom: Well, I got that new bandage from Walgreens on my blistered toe, so that was a real win!
Robyn: That was pretty exciting. I got a bunch of Vitamin C there because I thought it might make me less anemic. So that was also nice. But sadly, instead of spending a few hours in the Walgreens where I could happily stare blankly at the ELF section for a while (it’s makeup, okay?) we had to go to the Bradley Symphony center not to see the symphony but to see a bunch of weirdos talk about how they are SAVING THE VERY SOULS of the children, but not in any specific way.
Doktor Zoom: But it was very specific, Robyn. Moms for Liberty cofounder Tina Vescovich started with a warning that “there’s something going on in this country,” which is a definitely true statement that I dare anyone to refute. Then she explained it was a battle between good and evil, and that sure sounded scary. Also, I guess radical Marxists are coming for America’s children, possibly to buy them school lunch, but also for their souls. That’s clearly terrible, and I hope the children don’t have their souls taken, by some unspecified Marxist evil.
Robyn: I feel like it’s not a real battle for good and evil if there’s not a Hellmouth but ymmv!
To be specific, she said that the radical Marxists are coming for their children’s futures, which is actually pretty true in the way that the radical Marxists do hope that, in the future, their children will have health care, subsidized college, a living wage, and a planet that is not entirely decimated.
Of course, the real “radical Marxists” are people like me (I guess?) with literally no power to do any of that, nevermind making it so the workers own the means of production, so perhaps she assumes we’ll just give up and … eat babies?
Doktor Zoom: Oh, wait, that does sound like us, doesn’t it. We’re the baddies, then. Also there’s all the radical gender ideology and the books that will make children think about gay pornsex if they see a child in a picture book who has two mommies, but for some reason nobody in the discussion actually mentioned any of the things that Moms for Libertines is best known for.
My heart wanted to fail back when now-AG Kobach was our Secretary of State. It was not at all boring! It seems that MO could be in for similar adventures. It’s vital to pay attention to all the races on the ballot. Everyone’s got their reasons for running, and it helps everyone when we know about those reasons. In addition, Jess has important words about gun violence.
Let’s talk about a kind of boring state position…the Secretary of State.
Yawn, right?
Wrong. The race for this position should be as interesting as it sounds…a calm race to fill an important position. But it’s not. Not in Missouri and not in other GOP-dominated states.
What are the duties of a Secretary of State, and why should we pay attention?
The Secretary of State is the chief elections official in Missouri, bearing responsibility for the administration of statewide elections involving both issues and individuals, and oversees local verification of petition signatures for initiative petitions. The Secretary of State’s Commissions section authenticates official acts of the governor, and has the authority to appoint and commission notaries public.
That’s a very important position. It seems like the person in charge of the elections for the entire state should be serious and not bend toward extremism.
Let me introduce you to a few candidates for Missouri Secretary of State, but let me first remind you of Missouri politics and gun culture. From the Kansas City Star:
“Even when gun policy isn’t mentioned explicitly, the presence of firearms in political messaging has come to act as a kind of visual shorthand that can quickly signal pro-gun attitudes without a word.”
First up, Adam J. Schwadron of St. Charles. Here is his recent mailer to Missouri voters:
Adam Schwadron, Missouri Secretary of State candidate. Photo, political mailer.
Adam looks as if he has a lot of big feelings as evidenced in the stickers and paint on his AR, but the point of the matter? Why did he send this mailer out to Missouri voters? What message is he creating by holding an AR while seeking the position of Secretary of State? What is an AR meant to convey about voting systems and fair elections and constituent petitions?
What would it feel like as a constituent to deliver a petition to a man you know feels comfortable enough to take and send pictures shooting an AR?
Adam looks absolutely menacing holding the AR. I can’t help but feel that this is meant to convey intimidation. It can be scary to receive a mailer from a current Missouri lawmaker, running for higher office, pointing a high-powered gun at an unknown target. I’m not sure why his campaign thought this imagery appropriate?
Yes, I do…because others are doing it.
Meet Senator Denny Hoskins, who is also running for Missouri Secretary of State as a Republican. Denny has a long history of gun fanaticism.
From April 2024:
The Missouri Senate is considering an anti-red flag law proposal. The bill would prevent guns from being taken away from anyone because of a court order or protection order. Senator Denny Hoskins introduced the bill and called it the Anti-Red Flag Gun Seizure Act.
Denny has opposed efforts to reduce gun violence through legislation like red flag laws, which allow law enforcement to temporarily take the weapons of people who a court has decided are at risk of harming themselves or others. It’s no surprise that he would included guns in his campaign for the Secretary of State, but it is no less grotesque.
Senator Denny Hoskins is not in the photo above, but he was more than happy to post the picture on his Facebook feed. The woman standing next to Hoskins’s sign is holding a rifle with a silencer and scope.
A few days later, on July 15, just two days after the shooting at the Pennsylvania Trump rally, Sen Denny Hoskins posted the photo below. In the photo, Denny is holding an AR. The Pennsylvania shooter used an AR to kill one person and wound others, including the former President.
Denny Hoskins, Missouri Secretary of State candidate. Photo: Screenshot, Facebook
I thought the Republicans were calling for the temperature to be turned down after the rally tragedy?
I have saved the best for last…well, the worst. The very worst. Meet Valentina Gomez. In a statement, Gomez said she would deploy the National Guard to oversee Missouri voting.
Valentina Gomez, Missouri Secretary of State candidate. Photo: Screenshot X
Gomez has filed for the SOS position, but I don’t think she has any plans to actually try to win the position. I haven’t quite been able to figure out what she’s up to, but she is using hyperbole and extremism along with assault-style guns to make her points. She seems unhinged in most of her statements…many of these statements also have nothing to do with the office she is running for. She loves rage-baiting.
She has used a homemade flamethrower to burn books stating, “When I’m Secretary of State, I will burn all the books that are grooming, indoctrinating, and sexualizing our children. MAGA. America First.”
Gomez also uploaded a strange video in which she is running through the suburbs with a vest with a flag decal that gives the impression that she is current military or a veteran — she is neither. She states, “In America, you can be anything you want,” and continues with, “So don’t be weak and gay,” “Stay f-cking hard.”
The video has since been removed, but another is still up on Twitter. It was posted just hours before the July 13 Trump rally shooting. You can find it here. In the video, Gomez references JK Rowling and offers to take her to a shooting range before firing off several rounds at an unknown target.
But why? Why would three separate candidates for Missouri Secretary of State send out such violent messages to the voters in my state?
Fearmongering. To stir up hate and discontent. To represent authoritarianism. To showcase an illiberal democracy.
These candidates are following the gun lobby’s playbook — they are leveraging the demagogue’s playbook. They are attempting to manipulate voters, or in the very least, intimidate voters.
We can counter this gun extremism by not voting for the folks who push it on us. We can stand against gun violence and demand better gun legislation. We can elect lawmakers who will pass common sense gun laws that will protect constituents.
A little of that common sense would go pretty far in Missouri. Especially in the race for Secretary of State.
Donald was never going to pick a woman to be his running mate. He has far too much contempt for us.
In Vance, he’s found someone who hates women as much as he does; someone who wants to control them as much as he does. If the Trump/Vance ticket wins this election, it will be the beginning of the end of women’s reproductive rights and bodily autonomy.
Our corporate media don’t seem to care, but I’m fairly certain American women haven’t forgotten that, with the help of Mitch McConnel and Leonard Leo, my uncle rigged the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, overturning over 50 years of precedent and stripping away a basic human right from half of the population. Maybe they think we’re as fixated on President Biden’s age as they are, but we don’t have the luxury of forgetting. While the press might want to gloss over or downplay Vance’s backwards views on women, I can promise you that American women do not.
Vance’s website has a whole section entitled “End Abortion.” When asked if he believes whether or not there should be exceptions for rape or incest, he said, “two wrongs don’t make a right” We know he thinks women in abusive marriages should stay with their abusers for “the sake of the children.”
Just days after Roe was overturned, Vance tweeted: “If your worldview tells you that it’s bad for women to become mothers but liberating for them to work 90 hours a week in a cubicle at the New York Times or Goldman Sachs, you’ve been had.”
And then there’s what he told fellow misogynist Tucker Carlson: “We are effectively run in this country… by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made. And they want to make the rest of the country miserable too.”
American women will know misery if by some great tragedy Donald and Vance get into the White House because those two will make The Handmaid’s Tale our reality.
Last year, after Ohio voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment to protect reproductive rights, Vance called the people’s decision a “gut punch.”
“There is something sociopathic about a political movement that tells young women (and men) that it is liberating to murder their own children,” Vance said after the vote. “So, let’s keep fighting for our country’s children, and let’s find a way to win.”
Vance found his way to a win by sucking up to a man who demands total obedience, humiliation, and subjugation—especially from those, like Vance, who had spoken out against him in the past.
We need to recognize that the white men who see women as breeding stock have created a strong alliance. This week we learned that Elon Musk—who, along with fellow tech billionaire and all-around vile human being Peter Thiel, pushed hard for Vance to be the pick—is donating $45 million a month to Donald’s super PAC.
On Tuesday morning, we learned from a video accidentally leaked by Robert Kennedy’s son, that my uncle is colluding with the independent candidate to win the election.
These are scary times, but it’s good to know where everyone stands. I stand with the women of America. So do Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
We know where Donald and Vance stand. And we need to make sure neither of them gets anywhere near the Oval Office.
at least, Target stores believes it. I just saw a back to school ad for Target. A boy was explaining that if it isn’t sharks it isn’t for him. It struck me as a resistance statement, because the Don has no love for sharks. I wanted to mention it, because that gives me a great giggle on the first evening of the Republicans’s dratted convention. Back to school with sharks!
(I looked for it on YouTube, but probably it needs another day or two to be there. I’m sorry about that, but I knew I’d forget if I didn’t post now, right after I saw it. It’ll be around.)
The rejection comes without public notice or new law — even when all other government-issued identification reflects their current gender identity.
Originally published by The 19th – republished per their instructions.
In the past year, Florida’s health department has declined to amend gender markers on birth certificates for both transgender adults and minors. Although the agency says it is basing denials on pre-existing state statutes, transgender Floridians had previously been able to update their birth certificates for at least a decade. Now, they face an opaque process that seems designed to reject all applicants.
Transgender Floridians have been denied updated birth certificates even when all of their other government-issued identification reflects their current gender identity. When applicants provided paperwork detailing clinical treatment for their gender transition and their legal name change,they were still denied.This is at odds with how the agency has handled this approval process for years — and is the latest example of Florida’s state agencies enacting anti-LGBTQ+ policies even when anti-LGBTQ+ laws fail to pass.
In 2023 and 2024, trans minors and adults who applied for amended birth certificates received denial letters from the state health agency’s Bureau of Vital Statistics. In those letters, reviewed by The 19th, thebureau says the paperwork that has long been accepted to update gender on birth certificates — like proof of clinical treatment and a legal name change — no longer works.
“Specifically, the documentary evidence does not establish that the sex identifier on the birth record contains a misstatement, error, or omission,” one denial letter from March 2024 reads.
The denial letters also offer conflicting requirements. One, from August 2023, states that for trans minors, “documentary evidence established prior to the child’s seventh birthday is required.” In another letter, the bureau says that trans adults trying to update their birth certificates must provide documentation “established prior to the registrant’s 18th birthday.” Many transgender adults did not know they were trans as children, or did not pursue gender-affirming care as children even if they did realize their identities — rendering either requirement difficult, if not impossible, to navigate.
Simone Chriss, an attorney with the Southern Legal Counsel in Florida and the director of the organization’s transgender rights initiative, has worked with around 80 clients who she says have all been denied updated birth certificates since last August. None of their appeals, including an administrative hearing overseen by Florida’s health agency, have worked. As a result, none of them have been able to update their birth certificates.
“Most are just being ignored,” Chriss said. “I’ve filed many. There’s at least five that I have pending at this moment that the department hasn’t responded to.”
The Florida Department of Health and its Bureau of Vital Statistics did not respond to requests for comment.
Republican lawmakers in Florida have repeatedly failed to pass legislation that aims to prevent transgender people from being able to obtain accurate birth certificates. This year, a proposed bill to require that state identification and licenses reflect Floridian’s sex assigned at birth failed to pass. Last year, a bill that would explicitly prohibit gender markers being changed on birth certificates also failed to pass. Despite the lack of legislation, Florida agencies have moved to enforce such restrictions on their own.
Now, Florida’s Bureau of Vital Statistics within its health agency has reversed course on birth certificate updates, arguing that discrepancies between sex at birth and gender identity do not constitute a paperwork error in need of fixing.
Updating all of the necessary identity documents is costly. The name change fee in Florida is $400 andfingerprinting for the background check as part of that name change is $50. The requirement of a doctor’s letter for updating the gender marker on a birth certificate means paying out of pocket for a doctor’s visit or at least a copay. Then, there’s the $20 application fee to amend the birth certificate; applicants may also pay more if they opt for rush service.
For many transgender Floridians, the entire process appears to have ended on a brick wall, with no public notice that a policy change has taken place and no clear path to access accurate documentation. And the new policy appears to be based on a definition of sex that excludes transgender people — a change from what was put on the books less than a decade ago.
In 2018, Florida relaxed its conditions for updating gender markers on birth certificates following pressure from LGBTQ+ and legal advocacy groups. Until then, the state had required proof of sex reassignment surgery in order to change the gender marker — which at least twelve other states still do, according to the Movement Advancement Project. After 2018, Florida’s health agency began accepting letters from medical providers documenting clinical treatment for gender transition. This broadened the scope of who could apply for new documentation since some transgender people never pursue surgery.
Across the country, only five other states do not update gender markers on birth certificates. Many transgender people pursue this documentation as they legally change their name or update their gender on their driver’s license or Social Security card.
Without accurate personal documents that align with their gender expression and other forms of identification, trans people face harassment or discrimination when going about their daily lives, like when applying for a job or enrolling in a new school. The risk of being “outed” by an incorrect piece of paperwork can have dangerous consequences for trans people, especially in a state considered dangerous for LGBTQ+ people.
“Despite making, I think, very compelling arguments as to why the department is violating the rights of transgender people born in the state of Florida, they have come back with the same rationale over and over for denying it,” Chriss said. “Which is … ‘sex doesn’t change.’”
Right now, the best option for trans Floridians seeking an updated birth certificate is to update all of their other government-issued documents to reflect their gender identity, Chriss said. Passports, a primary identification document, can be used in most cases instead of state identification.
“It’s clear the only avenue or the only route to reversing or striking down this policy is using federal impact litigation, like we have in all the other areas where trans folks’ rights have been eroded in Florida. We are planning to challenge this in federal court as well,” she said.
