Dear John,
The White House estimated the numbers of attendees at Trump’s military parade in Washington, D.C. last Saturday at around 250,000. Experts, however, after reviewing photographs of the parade route, estimated that attendees numbered significantly less by multiple tens of thousands. Meanwhile, millions attended “No Kings Day” rallies across the country, protesting ICE crackdowns, Trump’s handling of the economy, and other unpopular policies.
Many members of the Ms. community—readers, writers, editors—were among them. In a moment as dire as this one, the power that we have standing together is not lost on us. It’s a power we’ll need to keep calling on.
There’s a lot worth protesting right now. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in Skrmetti v. U.S. affirming that Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth is constitutional—a case that experts say will have negative consequences for the health of trans youth across the nation, and advance conservatives’ quest to ban gender-affirming care for all trans people.
The case also compounds the Court’s devastating precedent in the Dobbs decision, when it refused to rule that abortion bans violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution on the basis of sex discrimination. As Justice Sonia Sotomayor pointed out in her dissent in Skrmetti, the ruling will “invite legislatures to engage in discrimination by hiding blatant sex classifications in plain sight… By refusing to apply heightened scrutiny, the majority renders transgender Americans doubly vulnerable to state-sanctioned discrimination,” she wrote. "In sadness, I dissent."
There’s the ongoing battle to save Medicaid, Medicare and SNAP in Congress—where Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” continues to threaten programs that so many lives depend on. You can read more from contributor Mary Giovagnoli below on how the bill disproportionately affects children, by doing things like eliminating tax credits for low-income families, instituting new work requirements for SNAP recipients, and targeting the children of immigrants, among others.
The same day as the “No Kings” protests, news broke of the assassination of Melissa Hortman, a Democratic Minnesota state legislator and former speaker, along with her husband Mark. The alleged shooter also attempted to assassinate State Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette. According to federal law enforcement officials, a list found in the suspect’s vehicle included 70 other targets including reproductive health care centers and doctors, other elected officials and community and business leaders. The suspect had voted for Trump, and was “particularly passionate about opposing abortion,” according to the New York Times, who spoke to his roommate and close friend.
And yet in his press conference announcing federal charges against the suspect, U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson failed to mention the explicit threats to abortion providers and clinics in addition to the lawmakers included on the list of potential targets. In the days since, media accounts of the shootings have increasingly failed to mention the potential role of abortion in motivating the alleged shooter’s actions. It’s a significant omission in this current moment—one we can’t afford to overlook.
Finally, we celebrated Juneteenth this past Thursday. This celebration of emancipation and freedom is all the more important given the current attacks on civil rights and diversity, equity and inclusion from the Trump government. In a moment when it often feels like we’re regressing, I’m reminded that our country’s legacy is also one of profound resistance and hope.
For equality,
