Gillian Branstetter

Moira Donegan @moiradonegan.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 30, 2024 at 17:08 UTC

Going public with an experience like this is life-altering for a woman, so when you read these stories remember both the extraordinary amount of courage involved and also the likelihood that there are many others you’ll never hear.

23 replies 593 reposts 1754 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 30, 2024 at 16:16 UTC

Oh I totally agree with that. The idea they're going to shoehorn a Whitmer or Newsom in is fantastical. It's either Harris or Biden

2 replies 0 reposts 15 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 30, 2024 at 16:12 UTC

Right but is that because 1) they could no longer ignore what voters were seeing all along and 2) the debate made apparent how it could cost them their *own* seat? Has Biden been saved this whole time by the fact most down ballot Dems are polling ahead of him?

0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 30, 2024 at 16:03 UTC

I get this critique but also Aaron Sorkin would've had Biden grip the podium and cogently scold Trump with a soaring cascade of idioms while his male staffers sexually harass his female staffers backstage so idk

3 replies 4 reposts 61 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 30, 2024 at 15:57 UTC

Fair though CBS poll this morning says 45% of Dems want him off the ticket. That's not a constituency that can be disregarded as "bedwetters"

2 replies 0 reposts 12 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 30, 2024 at 15:27 UTC

The failure isn't naming the problem now--the failure is what took them so long

1 replies 2 reposts 44 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 30, 2024 at 15:25 UTC

I think what's being swatted down as "elite opinion" from NYT/Crooked types is actually the piercing of a bubble from below. Most voters haven't wanted Biden to run again for literally years.

12 replies 15 reposts 102 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 30, 2024 at 13:34 UTC

What a beautiful wedding (foreboding)

0 replies 0 reposts 12 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 30, 2024 at 13:02 UTC

"Panic" is not the same thing as fear. Panic is irrational; fear can be quite rational

3 replies 4 reposts 56 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 30, 2024 at 11:46 UTC

I don't think I've seen enough discussion of this possibility which, to be absolutely clear, would be historically catastrophic. For women, for trans people, for immigrants, for the working class, for the planet.

4 replies 7 reposts 56 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 30, 2024 at 03:38 UTC

Wait a minute

3 replies 2 reposts 39 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 23:39 UTC

US pols: We can't possibly replace a candidate 125 days out from the election European Pols: We're shutting this shit down, whole parliament is up for election in 60 days so we can pick our third PM in two years

7 replies 30 reposts 196 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 22:41 UTC

I don't think most people asking Biden to drop out are doing so because he's committed some grave immorality or act of corruption like Trump. They're doing so because they want to defeat Trump.

2 replies 1 reposts 33 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 22:40 UTC

There were many loud calls from establishment media and Republicans for Trump to drop out at numerous points in 2016 and they didn't work because he, unlike Biden, has a loyal electorate. And sure, if Trump was replaced by Haley she'd demolish Biden--but that's just further evidence against Biden!

6 replies 1 reposts 33 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 21:53 UTC

Like forget the AMA/APA/etc. Imagine having to find a new home, new job, new schools, rebuild your entire life. Would you even have the means to? Now ask yourself if you would do that for anything that was less than absolutely necessary for the good of your child. That sticks in the memory.

1 replies 5 reposts 92 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 21:51 UTC

A point I've started using lately is the fact so many families I speak to are leaving the only homes their kids have ever known to ensure their trans kid can maintain access to hormones or blockers. Do you really think they're doing that for anything short of essential for their child's well-being?

3 replies 85 reposts 438 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 21:46 UTC

I like naming non-pathologized benefits trans kids get from this care. Less about decreasing depression/anxiety/suicidality; more about building friendships, healthier family relationships, more focus in school, more ambition, planning for their future. All of which is true!

1 replies 7 reposts 119 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 21:41 UTC

I like saying "families" over "parents" because it's both more inclusive and registers that the trans kid themselves has agency in the care (while in practice parents are always involved). Also good to stress decisions about care are individualized; not about what's right for "a kid" but "this kid"

1 replies 3 reposts 103 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 21:37 UTC

What else? I like naming hormones and puberty blockers rather than saying GAC when possible. Also good to acknowledge the (irrational) reaction people have to blocking puberty as something that sounds like a big deal but is totally not medically speaking. Like "I know that can sound pretty wild but"

1 replies 7 reposts 115 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 21:34 UTC

I probably should! I think NCTE and the Movement Advancement Project also have public facing materials on their websites (I know the former does because I wrote them)

1 replies 0 reposts 11 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 21:31 UTC

I also have easy go-to's of identifying the direction by saying like "a transgender man like Elliot Page" because otherwise the audience will literally get stuck wondering if I meant a "man who transitioned into a woman" like a dog with a leash stuck around it's legs

1 replies 5 reposts 96 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 21:28 UTC

A simple one is naming the "direction" of my own transition by identifying it early in an interview because if I don't a good chunk of the audience won't hear what I'm saying and will spend all their time trying to identify 1) if I'm trans and 2) what kind of trans person I am

1 replies 3 reposts 100 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 21:26 UTC

When I tell cis people tips and tricks I've learned in communicating about trans rights they act so disgusted on my behalf but like I really do have to go to war with the troops I have so please, you all should be offended

2 replies 14 reposts 158 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 18:19 UTC

This took me a bit to think through--Harris is not the best candidate in an ideal world but in this world she would be the least chaotic and most familiar. Primary voters voted for her on the ticket which helps the part of this I'm least comfortable with (closed room delegate debates)

3 replies 3 reposts 31 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 18:05 UTC

👍

26 replies 8 reposts 90 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 14:10 UTC

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 14:03 UTC

One thing I will not tolerate is someone accusing me of being cavalier about the risks of Trump. My own trans body will never let me forget or minimize it, and the families with trans kids I meet every week are having their children endangered by the same policies he wants to take national.

1 replies 13 reposts 136 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 13:56 UTC

He said he would serve as a "bridge" but never specifically said he would only serve one term

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 13:50 UTC

Is that frustration a critical lens for understanding the risks of staying in or is it a distorting cognitive bias making me want him to drop out? I think either way I'd like to put everyone who brought us here in stocks in the town square for idk four months

7 replies 3 reposts 76 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 13:47 UTC

I've been trying to think through how much of my support for Biden dropping out is actually fueled by a frustration that he ran in the first place, and specifically that the chaotic and dangerous situation we're now in was predictable, avoidable, and not the fault of people calling for him to quit

6 replies 15 reposts 140 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 13:39 UTC

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 28, 2024 at 18:22 UTC

Not when the emperor is wearing no clothes

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 28, 2024 at 18:17 UTC

The problem with all the potential Biden replacements is they keep coming out and defending Biden and it's actively making me like them less

8 replies 2 reposts 53 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 28, 2024 at 10:16 UTC

"But Donald Trump lied!!"

5 replies 23 reposts 162 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 28, 2024 at 09:58 UTC

Good start

4 replies 14 reposts 83 likes

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 28, 2024 at 03:33 UTC

If the calls to drop out come from like AOC or the Squad it'll llbe completely dismissed. It needs to be like the Crooked guys or David Brooks cab driver

3 replies 10 reposts 71 likes