Supreme Court blocks Texas social media moderation ban

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Republicans’ Anti-LGBTQ Conspiracy Theories Are Fueling Far-Right Threats to Pride Celebrations ([link removed])

In recent months, threats to confront Pride celebrations with armed protest or “hunting” LGBTQ people and allies, have raised fears of how Republicans in state legislatures have enabled an environment for anti-LGBTQ violence and emboldened far right extremists.

At the end of April, Republican Idaho state representative Heather Scott held an event billed as a talk on removing “inappropriate materials” from libraries and schools. She warned of an ongoing “war of perversion against our children,” propagated by the LGBTQ community, then invited two members of the Panhandle Patriots Riding Club (or PPRC) to the stage. The combination of casual threats of violence, the group’s iconography, and the fact that they were invited to speak by a state lawmaker led to pushback online and locally.
U.S. Free Expression Stories

Supreme Court blocks Texas social media moderation ban
A Texas law that would have banned much social media moderation is once again on hold. In a 5-4 ruling handed down today, the Supreme Court vacated an earlier decision by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, meaning that HB 20—which forbids banning, demonetizing, or downranking Texas users’ posts based on “viewpoint”—will be blocked while a lawsuit over its constitutionality proceeds.
THE VERGE ([link removed])

Amazon employees protest the sale of books they say are anti-trans
A group of Amazon employees on Wednesday disrupted a Pride Month event at the company’s headquarters in Seattle, protesting the company’s continued sale of books they say are anti-trans. See PEN America’s statement. ([link removed])
THE WASHINGTON POST ([link removed])

Johnny Depp jury finds that Amber Heard defamed him in op-ed
The jury in Virginia found that Ms. Heard had damaged her ex-husband’s reputation with an op-ed in which she identified herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” Mackenna White, a lawyer who counsels people as to the risks of publishing potentially contested accusations of sexual misconduct, said she worried that the online mockery of Ms. Heard would make some less likely to come forward. “If you’re someone who’s worried about what could happen if you speak out, this could have the same chilling effect that we’ve been trying to reverse all these years,” said Ms. White.
THE NEW YORK TIMES ([link removed])
The Latest from PEN America
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Quilted Steel: A Choreopoem by Mahogany L. Browne ([link removed])
Monday 6/13 | 8pm ET
Lincoln Center Atrium
61 W 62nd St, New York, NY 10023

Braided from the real-life source material of PEN America 2018 Writing For Justice Fellow Priscilla Ocen’s interviews, Mahogany L. Browne’s choreopoem Quilted Steel centers the pain, lives and dreams of formerly incarcerated women in the form of a short film featuring actresses Dominique Toney, Yazmin Monet Watkins and Jasmine Williams. Produced by Caits Meissner, director of Prison and Justice Writing at PEN America, this collaboration is a call to bear unflinching witness. The night will host a premiere of the film, followed by a panel moderated by PEN America Deputy Director Nicole Shawan Junior and featuring Vivian D. Nixon, Vanda Seward, and Heather Stokes. Learn more and register. ([link removed])

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Can I Laugh At That? ([link removed])
Thursday 6/16 | 5pm ET
Digital Event

The WNET Group’s ALL ARTS and EXPLORING HATE along with UNORTHODOX and PEN America present: “Can I Laugh At That?” Four leading comedians—Judy Gold, Alex Edelman, Shappi Khorsandi, and Mike Yard—discuss how they do their jobs in today’s world. It’s a world where a failed joke can end up on social media, dissected by millions. Where the line between an acceptable joke and one that crosses the line is blurrier than ever. Where bad news does inspire good comedy… even if we’re laughing through our tears. Join us for an important—and funny—conversation. Learn more and register. ([link removed])

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Safe and Sound: A Community Gathering on Safety in New York ([link removed])
Saturday 6/18 | 12pm ET
Julia De Burgos Performance and Arts Center
1680 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10029

In 2022, most New Yorkers are concerned about public safety. Recent attacks in the subway, national and local concerns about gun safety, lack of mental health resources, and housing issues impacting our most vulnerable are just a few topics we will delve into during this four-hour community gathering. We'll delve into how we can mobilize our communities to reimagine safety through community activism, writing, and public policy; provide tangible tools and practices for de-escalation and responding to street harassment; and share fears, hopes and visions regarding safety in our city. Learn more and register. ([link removed])

Global Free Expression Stories

Myanmar’s junta shuts down publisher for distributing book on Rohingya genocide
Myanmar’s military regime has shut down a well-known publishing house in Yangon for importing and distributing a book on the 2017 Rohingya genocide, junta-controlled state newspapers said Wednesday.
RADIO FREE ASIA ([link removed])

Foreign governments are aggressively targeting dissidents on U.S. soil
The United States has long served as a place of refuge for those fleeing repressive governments. But as authoritarianism creeps across the world and social media grants dissidents a border-crossing megaphone, exiled activists are facing increasingly aggressive blowback from the countries they fled.
THE WASHINGTON POST ([link removed])

Russian journalist to auction Nobel Medal to benefit Ukraine
Dmitri A. Muratov, whose newspaper Novaya Gazeta was shuttered in response to the Kremlin’s increasingly draconian censorship, will donate the proceeds to Ukrainian refugees. Novaya Gazeta has long been known for its reporting from conflict zones, its investigations and its campaigns on behalf of children with rare diseases or families in hardship. “They occupy a space between journalism and activism,” said Polina Sadovskaya ([link removed]) , PEN America’s Eurasia program director.
THE NEW YORK TIMES ([link removed])
Spotlight: Maia Kobabe
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Maia Kobabe is a nonbinary, queer author and illustrator from the Bay Area, California. Eir first full length book, Gender Queer: A Memoir, was published in May 2019 and is on PEN America's list of most banned books ([link removed]) throughout the country. Maia's short comics have been published by The Nib and in many anthologies including The Secret Loves of Geeks, Faster Than Light Y'all, Gothic Tales of Haunted Love, Shout Out, Advanced Death Saves, and Be Gay, Do Comics.

Below is an excerpt from Maia's opinion piece in ([link removed]) The Washington Post ([link removed]) .

I came out as queer to my mom as a senior in high school. It took almost a decade to also come out to her as nonbinary, even though I had been questioning my gender identity since I started puberty at age 11. A major reason for this long delay between my first coming out and my second was the lack of visibility of trans and nonbinary identities when I was young. By high school, I had met multiple out gay, lesbian and bisexual people, but I didn’t meet an out trans or nonbinary person until I was in grad school. The only place I had access to information and stories about transgender people was in media — mainly, in books.

Read the full essay. ([link removed])
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