We're NOT Doomed: Jan 21, 2026

Pushback Works and Representation Matters

I feel like yesterday’s walkout didn’t get nearly as much attention on social media (though local traditional media was very on top of it) as it should have (at least, not on my feed, but you’d think it would be on my feed particularly.)

I don’t know why, maybe because Indivisible National wasn’t a partner, even though 50501 was? Or maybe people were just too busy focusing on Trump’s Castro-length speech.

Yesterday’s protest was organized by The Women’s March and called the “Free America Walkout.” There were at least 1,200 events across the country with many of them being student-led, with the goal of disrupting business as usual. Shockingly, one of the best articles about it was from Fox News.

I don’t know that it did disrupt the way they hoped, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t disruptive in various places around the country. And, I think it would be, if they did it again and got more traction.

And I think it’s a reminder that protests are happening all over the country, every single day. I say time and time again that local politics matters the most because it is what effects you the most directly, and that goes for local protests too.

Disrupting things at the local level can create real change, and I think a lot of people, who are capable of attending protests but don’t unless they get national attention, forget that, cause they get it in their head that local doesn’t matter.

Nationwide protests days are great and important, but just getting a group together and standing on a corner at the same time every week, or every two weeks, can have so much impact too. Maybe more, in your local community.

Don’t get it in your head that no one is protesting or you can’t be unless it’s a really big one. Every single protest matters, and does have the ability to make a difference. Please remember that.

Kansas

Thu, Jan 5 - This story keeps coming up as a will they, won’t they, but this time, it sounds a bit more like the door is fully closing.

While the Kansas Senate does have the votes to redistrict and gerrymander Rep Sharice Davids (KS-03) out of her seat, the House doesn’t. And not by just a few votes either, according to Speaker Dan Hawkins:

If I’m close, if I’m within four or five votes, we’ll probably get there. I’m not within four or five votes. More like in excess of 20 votes short. So it’s just a tough lift, and I’ve always been consistent when I’ve said if I can’t get to a win, I’m not going to bring a bill up just to have a vote.

There are so many things to unpack. First off there are 88 Republicans and 37 Dems in the Kansas House. For a bill to pass, 63 members have to vote for it, if he’s 20 votes short, that means, if I did my math right, at least 45 Republicans are a no. That’s over half the caucus. That’s not a small thing.

Republicans in Congress might not have much of a backbone, but it seems like Republicans in Kansas just might.

And, that certainly makes me feel less Doomed.

Minnesota

Tue, Jan 13 - Heated Rivalry has been incredible for so many reasons. Firstly, it’s in your face queer media and it shows that in your face queer media shouldn’t be shied away from. And especially right now, in the US, but also across the world, that’s a very important message.

It is an incredibly well written and well acted show that shows all the things that the queer community was sure it couldn’t have anymore, in terms of story telling, weren’t true.

And, putting those things aside, it’s also opening the door for queer athletes to say something, if they haven't already, which is exactly what hockey player Jesse Korteum did last week. And he credited the show with why:

I am a private person. Those who know me best know that I don’t share much if anything publicly on social media, but lately, something has sparked in me (ok – yes credit to #HeatedRivalry). I realized it is finally time to share a journey I have kept close to the vest for a long time.

He goes on to talk about what it was like being closeted and playing hockey when he was younger:

On the outside, I was still a top-tier player. On the inside, I was still that kid in Minnesota hiding. Like many closeted athletes, revealing who I truly was to my team would change everything in an instant, their opinion of me, could bring negative attention to the team with the “gay player”, so I never took the chance.

I know this story is making its rounds, and every single queer outlet has posted about it, but, I wanted to too, cause, to me, it’s the epitome of We’re NOT Doomed.

For something in the media to make anyone feel safer being queer right now, to feel safe to share their story, right now, in the US, that’s a big deal. And hopefully, because Korteum did, someone else will after and this show can keep making a difference long after the press tour stops.

Queer media makes a difference and here’s the proof.

Guinea Bissau

Thu, Jan 15 - This is one of those stories that I couldn’t have posted when this series was called “Three Wins,” because it’s not exactly a win. We’re in a kind of holding pattern, but it’s certainly a good sign.

Here’s what I understand. At an international virtual press availability about infectious disease in Africa, Yap Boum, a senior official at the Africa CDC, said that a super controversial study, organized by RFK Jr. against the Hep B vaccine for infants, had been canceled, but then when asked by the New York Times, he didn’t really know who told the Africa CDC that.

Our HHS is pushing back on that claim, but Boum also said that there needs to be some study cause Hep B is a “critical disease on the continent.” It just needs to be ethical, and this isn’t:

We have also a team which has been having some engagement with the Ministry of Health and, depending how it goes, we will have a visit in the country to also ensure that, as we do for all member states, they receive adequate support to ensure that this study, if it has to happen, will also fit the ethical regulation.

So it sounds like the study isn’t so much canceled, as being reformulated. Regardless, as long as this isn’t just a bad game of telephone, the push back against the study is working and at least creating a different conversation.

Any push back against RFK and his anti-vaccine ways feels like something to, at the very least, keep an eye on.

And while this isn’t a super clarifying story, it does make me feel a little less Doomed. And, if CDC Africa can get a study, but one that actually benefits the population, that REALLY will make me feel less Doomed.

It also could be our favorite tactic of embarrassing them into TACOing, which we all know, works really well.

I hope the next update is not that HHS get their way but rather confirmation that the study was canceled or altered. But we’ll see.

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Alright, that’s what I got! I know that that last story was a bit convoluted, but the idea that anything RFK attempts has a chance of backfiring is very good news.

Bottom line, push back works and representation matters.

Our voices are our superpower, but only when we use them!