A Transgender Teen Sued His School Over Bathroom Access And Won

The power of the individual: Ash Whitaker is a transgender student from Wisconsin who sued his school district for the right to the use the bathroom that aligned with his gender identity -- and he won. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Kenosha Unified School District violated Whitaker's rights under the 14th amendment, which calls for equal protection under the law.

The district was also in violation of federal law Title IX that bans schools from discriminating against students based on sex. Earlier this year President Trump and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos rolled back Title IX protections on gender identity endangering the safety of trans kids in schools and caused the Supreme Court to dismiss hearing the case of trans student Gavin Grimm. Whitaker's win is a boost for the trans community nationwide but shows that the battle for the LGBTQ equality isn't over yet.

Dissent on the rejection of climate agreement: With President Trump poised to pull the US out of the Paris Accord on climate, people are freaking out. All signs point to irreversible and damaging effects if drastic action isn't taken on climate right away and a diversity of non-traditional environmental activists ranging from Elon Musk to Exxon Mobil investors are voicing their dissent.

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The United States will be turning its back on proven science and disagreeing with essentially every other country in the world. An emergency rally in opposition to the pullout has been organized today outside the White House from 5-6 p.m. ET, and sister rallies across the country likely.

As Trump steps back, US mayors go all in: As Team Trump goes further into oblivion on climate, mayors and county officials across the United States are taking matters into their own hands.Yesterday, Mayor Steve Benjamin from Columbia, South Carolina, a deep-red state, is pushing for a transition from fossil fuels to renewables and introduced a resolution calling on all US Mayors to do the same at their big meeting later this month. The number of sustainable cities is only growing, here's how you can get your mayor on board.

Poor Government: Renewable energy is on the rise because it works, which has got the newly appointed US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry shaking in his boots. Harnessing wind energy is both cost-effective and environmentally friendly, so why is Rick Perry going out of his way to undermine clean energy programs?

In what is sure to be a Quixotic quest, Perry has directed his department to figure out if federal funding for renewables can be nixed in order to promote the fossil fuel industry. Perry's move is political thuggery at its worst. If successful, his attempt to cling to the nostalgia of fossil fuels could drive the economy and the health of the planet into the ground.

Couldn't make this up if we tried: Freedom of religion does not mean the freedom to oppress others in the name of your beliefs. As it stands, an Obamacare mandate requires employers to cover birth control for employees, but the White House is poised to revoke this in the name of religious freedom.

A leaked draft of the rule shows the meddling from the current administration. This act would affect the reproductive rights for thousands of women who get their birth control through insurance from work, college, or universities. Women's rights and legal advocates are up in arms in over this thinly-veiled misogynist BS.

I can see clearly now, the pain is gone: Remember Greg Gianforte, the politician (and amateur wrestler?) who attacked a reporter who had the audacity to ask him a question about healthcare? Well, he won the election, but it looks like the assaulted reporter, Ben Jacobs of The Guardian, may be having the last laugh. During the altercation, Jacobs' glasses were broken, but he's got a snazzy new pair and is donating the broken ones to the Newseum in Washington, DC.

Dark days for democracy, free speech : Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is a professor at Princeton for African-American Studies who has canceled speaking engagements at both Seattle's Town Hall and at the University of California San Diego amidst death threats and racist hate mail.

The vitriol aimed at Taylor is in response to the commencement speech she gave at Hampshire College wherein she called Trump a racist, sexist megalomaniac. Some may draw comparisons to Milo Yiannopoulos or Anne Coulter who were disinvited from speaking engagements for their subject matter and potential to incite violence, but it's not that cut and dry.

Yiannopoulos and Coulter aren't just controversial pundits, they instigate hate speech and it was a concerted effort from marginalized students that barred them from speaking on campus. Taylor claims that she withdrew from public speaking in order to protect herself and her loved ones. You can read Taylor's full statement here.

Splinter effect: Two Democratic legislators from Maine -- Denise Harlow and Ralph Chapman -- are leaving their state party after being fed up with its soft stance on environmental issues. It goes to show that business as usual is frustrating both sides of the aisle and the desperate need for new more assertive leadership.