LWV Guest

People often refer to climate change as an “existential threat.” This makes sense; our existence is being threatened. But as a health professional, I’d like to move away from the big, existential side of things and focus on the everyday public and individual human health threats that climate change is already causing and that most certainly will continue to worsen.   

In early September 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abbot signed Senate Bill 1 (SB1) into law. This anti-voter legislation makes it virtually impossible for certain voters to cast their ballots. 

Yet shockingly, the situation was almost worse. If not for pro-voter advocacy by the Texas League and other voting rights allies, even more restrictive policies might have been enacted, further disempowering Texans and degrading the promise of democracy.

Figure skating has a long way to go to fully reckon with the intertwined ways that patriarchy, homophobia, and racism occur and the resulting harms done to athletes, from Olympic stars down to kids in the learn-to-skate program. It is a fiercely gendered sport, especially in pairs skating.

My pairs partner, Erica Rand, and I are challenging those binary gender norms. In doing so, we are also hoping to open up the sport we love to people of all genders and gender expressions.

In 1971, the 26th amendment granted the right to vote to Americans eighteen and older. This amendment is one in a series enacted to protect the right of every American to be represented in our government.

In a time when our voting rights are under attack, it's more important to reflect on these amendments than ever.

As we prepare for the upcoming redistricting cycle in the wake of our People Powered Day of Action, we asked League leaders to share why they are fighting for fair maps.

Partisan gerrymandering has eroded the power of the people’s vote. As a result, we’re working to ensure the people’s voices are once again heard in our state house by creating fair maps in the 2021 redistricting process.

Without statehood, D.C. residents aren’t full citizens. We deserve to join the Union as a state whose 712,000+ people live, work, play, and taxes like everyone else.

Prison gerrymandering is the practice of counting people based on where they're confined rather than where they're from. This inflates representation in areas where prisons are built and dilutes the voting power of the people who are incarcerated and their home communities.

Fair maps help residents as they seek to elect representatives who take their concerns, like clean water, seriously, who will work to clean up current pollution and prevent more from occurring.

As the world continues to face the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Nations celebrates the power of women and highlights the ongoing need for equality with International Women’s Day.