1. People Try To Put Us D-Down (Talkin' Bout the Electoral College).

As if November 8th wasn’t bad enough, we had to collectively sit through a second showing of cowardice and icky misogyny this week as the Electoral College voted for the unpopular vote, President Elect Donald Tr*mp (tbh I still refuse to dignify this title by spelling out his full name) who lost the popular vote to HRC by nearly three million last month. While it was projected that there would be a decent amount of Republican electoral defectors who would cast their votes for Hillary, almost all of those electors got cold feet and voted with one future in mind: the future of their careers, not the future of the people. And probably not Future the rapper, either. UGH, injustice. The vast majority of defectors, in fact, were Democrats who refused to vote for Hillary, instead writing in Colin Powell (why??? Honestly, why???) or Faith Spotted Eagle, a Native American tribal leader. This double insult stings particularly badly as we look to the horizon in this alt-right nightmare (alt-rightmare? For sure) where civil rights are being undone in front of our faces now that conservative policy makers have felt emboldened by a Tr*mp presidency. Two of the scariest alt-right moves from this week are detailed below:

2. FADA Threatens Civil Rights of Queer People.

Hey, there! Are you queer? Because if so, it might be time for you to go back into hiding! I’ll be right behind you! But srsly, y’all: the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA) is looming ever closer thanks to DT. This act, already proposed in 2015 and quickly struck down because of a little thing called unconstitutionality, sanctions discriminatory actions from anti-LGBT+ businesses by removing the power of the federal government to punish these discriminatory institutions, specifically by withholding federal funds. If you’re wondering whether or not you read that correctly, yes; the alt-right wants to legalize discrimination on a private level by outlawing “discrimination” on a federal level. Jennifer Pizer, the Law and Policy Director at Lambda Legal, told NBC how FADA “violates both Equal Protection and the Establishment Clause by elevating one set of religious beliefs above all others, and by targeting LGBT Americans as a group, contrary to settled constitutional law.” Because of the wording of the law--which allows all entities to refuse service to people based on the beliefs that “(1) marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman, or (2) sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage”--this could technically also extend to unmarried heterosexual couples and single moms. Many on the right expect FADA to pass, but legal workers like Pizer don’t expect it to last long as law. Either way, the symbolic impact of a law like this even being suggested is pretty devastating. Here’s a list of pro-LGBT+ businesses to sink your teeth into instead this holiday season.

3. Texas Governor Removes Planned Parenthood from Texas Medicaid Program.

Image by Charles Edward Miller

Last year, Texas Governor Greg Abbott vowed to remove Planned Parenthood from Medicaid funding, and this week he followed through on his word. According to Mic, Planned P now has 30 days to act, lest they be forcibly removed from Texas Medicaid, which provides access to healthcare for the poor and disabled. While the nonstop rage against Planned Parenthood has spiked over the last year or so because of misleading and heavily edited videos that claim to expose the non-profit as a nefarious fetus-trafficking establishment, all of the other healthcare that Planned Parenthood offers its patients outside of abortion is often ignored by anti-choice activists. In fact, Mic put it best when they said “the removal of Planned Parenthood from Medicaid threatens to leave thousands of low-income people without access to routine healthcare checkups, cancer screenings, birth control and various other forms of preventive care.” That’s the reality of defunding PP; not a decrease in abortions, but a decrease in *basic* healthcare provisions for those who cannot afford to go elsewhere. Click here to donate to Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas to help women in need access the care they deserve.

Miss-Me-Nots

1. Gee, it was fun to be a woman in 2016. Watch this parody video to remember all the fun times we shared.

2. Boston's MBTA is lookin' out for low-income youth, who will soon have access to cheaper fares.

3. Black Lives Matter partners with its first ad agency, J Walter Thompson, New York.

4. Our sista friend Natalie Patillo of sista brand Icon wrote this stellar piece about affordable childcare for scholarly single moms. We love her for it and you will, too!

by Team Thinx