1/ So, so many emotions this morning. Relief & anger amongst them: just imagine if that crowd storming the Capitol was Black.

Never thought I’d be grateful for @VP Mike Pence - but I am. He gave one of the finest speeches of any politician last night.

2/ But most of all, despite everything that happened overnight in the US, I never thought I’d feel fear about a Democratic president, with control of both Houses of Congress - but I do.
3/ I’m a Democrat. I’m also a Black British feminist & a lesbian. I believe that sex is real & immutable. I believe passionately that gender-diverse & transgender persons must be protected from discrimination, but not at the cost of erasing ’woman’ as a sex based legal category.
4/ @biden has said that he will pass The Equality Act / HR5. If he does, women’s sex-based rights in the US will disappear & this will reverberate around the world: males able to elect to be locked up with women in prison; the end of women’s sports & scholarships...
5/ ... any mediocre male will show no shame in declaring themselves women & playing women’s sports; the end of safe spaces for women in hospitals, psychiatric units... it will mean that it will become impossible & illegal for women to organise & meet in the absence of males.
6/ ... it will mean the rapid medicalisation & sterilisation of gender non-conforming youth, who overwhelmingly would grow up to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or straight. It will mean demanding that children grow up & go through puberty will be ‘hateful’ discriminatory & illegal.
7/ Everyone in the US who has shied away from scrutinising what HR5 means for women’s sex-based rights & safety must now speak up.

It’s not hateful to demand that women are protected as a sex-based category, distinct from males, however those males identify.
8/ It’s not hateful to demand that children grow into adulthood before making *adult* decisions about the sex they would wish to present as in adulthood.

Kids have no idea what it means to be an adult male or female. See #KeiraBell’s case for the dangers of believing they do.
9/ America, I have long loved your country. When my parents divorced when I was 6 years old & my beloved (imperfect) father made the USA his home in the 1970s, it became a magical place in my imagination & it still is.

Please don’t let me & women around the world down.
10/ You can protect the rights of trans people without erasing women; without replacing sex with gender.

Don’t believe the spin & the BS. The UK has some of the most robust protections for trans people in the world, including against discrimination & hate crime.
11/ You’ve been told that it’s progressive to replace sex with gender — you’ve been misled, you’ve been lied to.

The world is watching.

Please #AmendTheEqualityAct

END

(Resources in embedded thread.👇)
12/ * @JoeBiden
* @KamalaHarris

Congratulations, now listen to women & more diverse voices #AmendTheEqualityAct

More from Life

1/ Here’s a list of conversational frameworks I’ve picked up that have been helpful.

Please add your own.

2/ The Magic Question: "What would need to be true for you


3/ On evaluating where someone’s head is at regarding a topic they are being wishy-washy about or delaying.

“Gun to the head—what would you decide now?”

“Fast forward 6 months after your sabbatical--how would you decide: what criteria is most important to you?”

4/ Other Q’s re: decisions:

“Putting aside a list of pros/cons, what’s the *one* reason you’re doing this?” “Why is that the most important reason?”

“What’s end-game here?”

“What does success look like in a world where you pick that path?”

5/ When listening, after empathizing, and wanting to help them make their own decisions without imposing your world view:

“What would the best version of yourself do”?

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#24hrstartup recap and analysis

What a weekend celebrating makers looks like.

A thread

👇Read on

Let's start with a crazy view of what @ProductHunt looked like on Sunday

Download image and upload

A top 7 with:
https://t.co/6gBjO6jXtB @Booligoosh
https://t.co/fwfKbQha57 @stephsmithio
https://t.co/LsSRNV9Jrf @anthilemoon
https://t.co/Fts7T8Un5M @J_Tabansi
Spotify Ctrl @shahroozme
https://t.co/37EoJAXEeG @kossnocorp
https://t.co/fMawYGlnro

If you want some top picks, see @deadcoder0904's thread,

We were going to have a go at doing this, but he nailed it.

It also comes with voting links 🖐so go do your


Over the following days the 24hr startup crew had more than their fair share of launches

Lots of variety: web, bots, extensions and even native apps

eg. @jordibruin with