Dolly Parton loved her transgender chauffeur and assistant.
Happy back-to-school season, and welcome back to BWC’s monthly newsletter. Let’s hit the books. I mean, uh, our updates.
Take Action:
Hate the surveillance state? Us, too. Let’s do something about it.
From the ACLU: “Automatic license plate reader (ALPR) companies like Flock Safety are quietly trying to build a nationwide mass surveillance system. If there are Flock cameras in your city, they are tracking, logging, and sharing your movements without a warrant. But we're not powerless. More and more communities are rejecting these creepy cameras — and yours can be one of them!”
We’re working on:
Indigenous culture is being taught in Montana’s K-12 schools.
Working with ACLU Montana, we let people know about wins like this.
“The ACLU, ACLU of Montana, and the Native American Rights Fund reached a landmark settlement to resolve a class action lawsuit over the state’s failure to implement its own Indigenous education law.”
More progress in Montana: “We took Montana’s anti-trans bathroom ban to court … again. After securing a temporary block on the law last year, we’re now fighting to strike it down permanently.”
A trans lawyer is writing you the most earnest letters about politics.
Part of our work with Sam Ames.
Here’s an excerpt: “You genuinely wonder if hormones confer a competitive advantage in sports, or if kids are making permanent medical decisions before they’re ready, or if there are legitimate fears about sharing single-sex spaces like bathrooms and locker rooms. I know you, and I know most of those questions come not from a place of hate but from a place of empathy - an increasingly precious commodity. I know you don’t want anyone getting hurt. I love that about you. You have reasonable questions. There are reasonable answers. They just take a little more space to explain than the 30 seconds we get to defend ourselves on cable news.”
Read their letters here, and find Sam on Instagram and Facebook.
We hung out with very cool organizations in North Carolina.
We led a daylong Community Engagement Through Digital Storytelling training with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice.
We talked to North Carolina nonprofits and grassroots organizers about how to digitally reach people and effectively call them to action.
Everyone learned from each other, passing along advice from their time in the field and in the ever-changing digital communications landscape.
Movement in the Media
Dolly Parton loved queer and trans people so much — especially her trans chauffeur and assistant.
From them: “[Dolly Parton’s] support [for the LGBTQ+ community] included a job and a lasting friendship with a transgender chauffeur, Jason Pirro, who previously spoke with the press about Parton, saying that the singer ‘knows all about me and is a very nice lady’ …
“Pirro appears to have continued working for Parton in a capacity beyond being her driver for several decades, based on social media posts and various credits and acknowledgments. Parton thanked him for his “time, love, and attention to details” in the liner notes to her 2016 album Pure & Simple — and Pirro recently contributed to Parton’s 2023 book Behind the Seams, an illustrated look back at her legendary career.”
That’s all for August. Thanks so much for reading.
If you have any feedback / questions / news tips / cat photos / etc. to share with us, please reach out at info [at] betterworldcollaborative [dot] com.
-the Better World Collab team
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