The Full Belmonte, 7/9/2023
Transgender Care Ban Allowed to Take Effect in Tennessee, Appeals Panel Says
The ruling on Saturday is the first time a federal court has allowed a law banning transition care to fully go into effect, amid a flurry of legal challenges across the country.
“A federal appeals panel on Saturday said a Tennessee law that would ban hormone therapy and puberty blockers for transgender youth could go into effect, marking the first time a federal court has allowed a law banning transition care to fully take hold in the United States.
The ruling, issued by a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati, comes less than two weeks after a district court judge temporarily blocked the ban on hormone therapy and puberty blockers. The judges, who will now consider a broader appeal on the temporary hold on the law, said a final decision would come before Sept. 30.
The decision is a notable blow to transgender youth, their families and their allies, who have leaned on the nation’s judiciary as a last resort to block a series of sweeping laws that target transition care, legislation they say would be harmful to young people’s health.
Until the ruling Saturday, judges had been compelled by the argument that the laws are discriminatory against transgender people and violated the Constitution, ruling to either temporarily or permanently block their enforcement.
The decision also underscores how tenuous and uncertain the medical and political landscape is for transgender youth and their families, as conservative-led states have enacted a series of laws designed to curb L.G.B.T.Q. rights and access to health care. Twenty states have approved bans or restrictions on transition-related medical care, leaving many families and medical providers to consider moving their homes and practices for access to that care…” Read more at New York Times
Oklahoma judge dismisses Tulsa race massacre reparations case filed by last known survivors
“An Oklahoma judge dismissed the reparations lawsuit filed by the last three known survivors of the Tulsa race massacre on Friday, court records show.
The three had been locked in a yearslong court battle against the City of Tulsa and other groups and officials over the opportunities taken from them when the city’s Greenwood neighborhood was burned to the ground in 1921.
Contemporary reports of deaths began at 36, but historians now believe as many as 300 people may have died, according to the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum. Thousands were left homeless.
Lessie Benningfield Randle, 108, Viola Fletcher, 109, and her brother, Hughes Van Ellis, 102, were among the plaintiffs, CNN previously reported.
The plaintiffs had argued that the damage inflicted during the massacre was a ‘public nuisance’ from the start and were seeking relief from that nuisance as well as to ‘recover for unjust enrichment’ others have gained from the ‘exploitation of the massacre.’
Cornell’s Legal Information Institute defines a public nuisance as when a person or entity ‘unreasonably interferes with a right that the general public shares in common.’
However, the City of Tulsa requested the lawsuit be dismissed with prejudice against refiling, arguing in part that ‘simply being connected to a historical event does not provide a person with unlimited rights to seek compensation from any project in any way related to that historical event.’
‘If that were the case, every person connected to any historical event could make similar unjust enrichment claims against every museum or point of remembrance,’ the city claimed.
Three survivors of Tulsa Race Massacre receive $1 million donation
Judge Caroline Wall on Friday found that ‘upon hearing the arguments of counsel and considering the briefs filed by counsel for plaintiffs and counsel for defendants’ the plaintiffs’ Second Amendment petition ‘should and shall be’ dismissed with prejudice, court records show.
Ike Howard, grandson of Viola Fletcher, said he was angry about the ruling,
‘They were blighted and once again not made whole,’ Howard said.
‘We still remain blighted. We wish the D.O.J would investigate. … How can we get justice in the same city that created the nuisance? Is justice only for the rich?’
Family attorneys are expected to address the possibility of an appeal. Family members for Randle could not immediately be contacted.
Ed Mitzen, who made a private $1 million donation to the three survivors, told CNN on Saturday, ‘The Oklahoma State government should be ashamed of itself for not doing right by these three wonderful people, one of whom fought for this country in World War II.’
Fletcher was 7 years old when a violent White mob targeted Black residents and destroyed her community’s thriving Black economic hub.
‘My life was taken from me,’ Van Ellis previously said as he reflected on his family fleeing Greenwood when he was only a few months old.
He previously told CNN his family and other survivors left their homes and opportunities behind.
‘I lost 102 years. I don’t want nobody else to lose that,’ Van Ellis said.” [CNN]
6 dead after small plane crashes, catches fire in Southern California, officials say
USA TODAY
“A plane carrying six people crashed and burst into flames in a Southern California field early Saturday morning, killing everyone on board, officials said.
The plane was a Cessna C550 business jet, the Federal Aviation Administration said. It crashed Saturday near the French Valley Airport in Murrieta, California, a city about halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego….” Read at USA Today
“In Texas, if you are pregnant and your fetus is diagnosed with a fatal condition, you have two options: travel out of state for an abortion or continue to carry the pregnancy until it ends on its own. Two women who walked those different paths shared their stories with NPR in real time, making wrenching decisions under painful circumstances along the way.” [NPR]
“Florida is another step closer to paving its roads with phosphogypsum— a radioactive waste material from the fertilizer industry — after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a controversial bill into law. Conservation groups say phosphogypsum would hurt water quality and put road construction crews at a higher risk of cancer, calling the plan a ‘reckless handout to the fertilizer industry.’” [NPR]
Megan Rapinoe Announces This is Her Last World Cup
‘I could have never imagined where this beautiful game would have taken me,’ the U.S. star said.
By Juliet Macur and Claire Fahy
“Megan Rapinoe, the iconic soccer star who has transcended her sport to become one of the most outspoken, accomplished and dynamic athletes of her generation, didn’t want to wait until the end to say this season would be the end.
She wasn’t going to play game after game at the Women’s World Cup, which starts later this month in Australia and New Zealand, holding it in that she would retire at the conclusion of this year, after her last big tournament for the United States and her final season for her professional team. In perfect Rapinoe fashion, there was no way she could remain silent about something important to her.
So at a news conference on Saturday ahead of Sunday’s U.S. game against Wales in San Jose, Calif., Rapinoe, 38, announced that it was time for her to say goodbye.
‘I just want to say thank you to everybody,’ she told a room full of reporters as the U.S. team prepares to fly to New Zealand for the Women’s World Cup. ‘I could have never imagined where this beautiful game would have taken me.’ She called playing for the national team ‘the greatest thing that I have ever done.’
After 17 years on Team U.S.A. and nearly as many years speaking out to support various issues including L.G.B.T.Q. rights, equal pay, the Black Lives Matter movement and voter rights, Rapinoe will play in her fourth Women’s World Cup and her final season in the National Women’s Soccer League. She said she feels peaceful and grateful that she can end her career on her own terms, and at the top of her sport, too.
During Rapinoe’s career that is filled with highlight-reel material both on and off the field, she has played in 199 games for the national team and has scored 63 goals for the United States. She is a three-time Olympian and won gold with her team at the 2012 London Games. And it seems that exactly when her team needed it the most, she has come through with clutch plays, making her mark as a creative and dangerous forward.
Perhaps nothing exemplified her ability to perform under pressure more than when she scored twice in a quarterfinal against France at the 2019 World Cup. Her goals came just days after former President Donald J. Trump criticized her on Twitter for her stance that she wouldn’t go to the Trump White House if her team won the tournament.
Trump said: ‘Megan should WIN first before she TALKS! Finish the job!’
Rapinoe, however, did not flinch. In the fifth minute of that match against France, she scored on a free kick and ran to the corner of the field, stretched her arms out wide and basked in the applause of the fans. Sporting hair dyed purple that often changed color with the season, she scored again in the second half to catapult the team into the semifinals, with a 2-1 victory. The Americans went on to win that world title, their second in a row.
Rapinoe was stunning on the field in 2019. She won the Ballon d’Or as the FIFA women’s player of the year. Her six goals at that World Cup helped her earn the Golden Boot as the top scorer and the Golden Ball as the top player.
‘She’s just a great player that’s done so much for this program, so much for soccer in general,’ Alex Morgan, Rapinoe’s longtime teammate, said. ‘I’m just really happy for her that she’s going to go out with a bang, hopefully.’
She added: ‘Now we have to go win the whole damn thing.’
Rapinoe said she was especially grateful that her body has held up after all of these years, but that she has been on ‘a little bit of borrowed time.’ Like most elite athletes who have been around for nearly two decades, she has battled injuries.
This season, Rapinoe has been dealing with an ankle injury and because of a calf injury she missed two national team friendlies against Ireland in April. Even if she will be at less than 100 percent, though, her leadership will be key for a relatively inexperienced U.S. team with 14 World Cup rookies on a roster of 23 players. So many of them idolized Rapinoe when they were growing up, and still do….” Read more at New York Times