Informed Dissent

LGB Courage Coalition
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You Have Permission to Question, Scrutinize, Push Back, and Dissent! Jamie Reed, Cori Cohn, and Lauren Leggieri report on their adventures and misadventures trying to explain and mitigate the gender culture wars. We will publish most weeks, focusing some on the news and some on important topics from social transition to lawsuits to what the heck the word “gender” means. informeddissentpodcast.substack.com

  1. 11 hr ago

    Overdue: Libraries and the Gender Ideology Reckoning

    Welcome to part two of our Library Series. If you missed part 1, it aired last week. Part 1 was about the books themselves. This week we are joined by a guest: John Chrastka is co-founder and executive director of EveryLibrary, the national political action committee for libraries, and the EveryLibrary Institute, a public policy and tax policy think tank for libraries. Since 2012, EveryLibrary has supported public libraries in numerous funding negotiations, political challenges, and over 165 election cycles, winning over $2.8 billion in stable tax dollars for libraries. The EveryLibrary Institute supports funding-focused research and training for library leaders, as well as outreach to the public about librarians. If you appreciate this show please like, subscribe, and share. Comments below — we read every week. We have merch available here! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit informeddissentpodcast.substack.com/subscribe

  2. 22 Aug

    Overdue: Libraries and the Gender Ideology Reckoning

    We’re kicking off a three-part series — Overdue: Libraries and the Gender Ideology Reckoning — looking at how gender ideology moved into America’s public libraries, and what it will take to move it back out. Part 1 is about the books themselves. Part 2 goes to the boardroom. Part 3 is about what you can actually do about it. This week, we start where the story starts: the shelf. Guest: James LaRue James LaRue is the former director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom and a longtime voice on collection development, censorship, and the politics of what gets shelved — and what doesn’t. We talk about how children’s collections became a battleground, who’s really deciding what your library carries, and what “intellectual freedom” has come to mean in practice versus in principle. LaRue is the retired director of the Garfield County (Colorado) Public Library District. Author of "The New Inquisition: Understanding and Managing Intellectual Freedom Challenges," (2007) and “On Censorship: A Public Librarian Examines Cancel Culture in the US,” (2023) LaRue was director of the Freedom to Read Foundation, and ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom from January 2016 to November 2018. In This Episode: * How collection development policy actually works — and where it’s been quietly rewritten * The gap between “anti-censorship” rhetoric and the reality of what’s being curated * What parents and patrons don’t know about how a book ends up on — or off — the shelf Coming Up:Next week — Part 2: The Board, with EveryLibrary’s John Chrastka, on governance, trustees, and how policy gets made (or blocked) behind the scenes. Please like, subscriber and share. We also have merch! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit informeddissentpodcast.substack.com/subscribe

  3. 15 Aug

    We are all very far from home

    This week: Trojan horses, teal handguns, and a stand-your-ground laws in Wyoming. Jamie Reed, Cori Cohn, and Lauren Leggieri are back together again, with two stories that have absolutely nothing to do with each other, except that both involve someone pretending to be someone they are not. First up: Christopher Nolan finally releases his $250 million, IMAX-shot, five-years-in-the-making Odyssey — and somewhere between Zendaya as Athena and Travis Scott as a bard, Ellen Page shows up as Sinon, a character who isn’t even in the actual Odyssey. Then: a story out of Laramie, Wyoming, that the Times seems almost uncomfortable having written, and photographing. A trans identified man named Rihanna Kelver packs a teal handgun for road trips, gets into with three men, draws a gun — and ends up facing 15 years. In one of the most gun-friendly states in the country. We break down what actually happened, what the law says, and what the coverage gets right and wrong. Like, subscribe, and share this episode — and check out our merch! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit informeddissentpodcast.substack.com/subscribe

  4. 8 Aug

    Mountain v. Liberty

    This week, Jamie sits down with Cynthia Dill — a Maine civil rights attorney, former Democratic state legislator, and 2012 U.S. Senate candidate — to talk about the case that’s put her at odds with her own party. Dill represented the House and Senate districts covering Cape Elizabeth, South Portland, and part of Scarborough during six years in the Maine Legislature. She ran statewide against Angus King and Charlie Summers in 2012, then moved into media: political columns, commentary on Maine Public, and eventually her own podcast and outlet, Cyndicate Media. Now she’s litigating Mountain v. Liberty — a lawsuit filed on behalf of female inmates at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham against MDOC Commissioner Randall Liberty and Warden Ben Beal, alleging retaliation against women who objected to being housed with male inmates. The case has drawn Department of Justice attention and put Dill, a lifelong Democrat, in the position of arguing against her own party’s corrections leadership. Jamie talks with Dill about the case itself, what it’s cost her politically, whether she still calls herself a Democrat, and what conversations with sitting legislators in Augusta actually sound like behind closed doors. You can find Cynthia on X. You can support our show and find our merch here! As Always…Stay Informed and Ready to Dissent. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit informeddissentpodcast.substack.com/subscribe

  5. 1 Aug

    Sports Rallies, Runaway Democrats, and Whatever Else Is on Fire This Week

    Informed Dissent — Show Notes, Week of August 1, 2026 In this episode: LeAnne and Cori hold down the fort while Jamie and Lauren are on vacation, covering the Sophie Cunningham/WNBA firestorm, cracks in Democratic Party unity across two swing-state races, and new data on pediatric gender diagnoses in Oregon. Sophie Cunningham & the WNBA rallies * Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham (a Missouri native — Rock Bridge High School, University of Missouri, most decorated player in program history) sparked national controversy with ESPN comments about protecting girls in locker rooms and sport from biological males. * Seattle incident: Two teenage fans holding pro-Cunningham signs at the Fever-Storm game were allegedly confronted by Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton. The WNBA suspended Keaton for five home games and issued an undisclosed fine. * Portland rally (Fri, July 31): Kara Dansky and many others to rally outside the Fever-Fire game. * Minneapolis rally (Sun, Aug 2): Jennifer Sey, founder of XX-XY Athletics, will rally outside Target Center ahead of the Fever-Lynx game. * Full remaining Indiana Fever schedule linked here. Coming up * Next week: the Mountain v. Liberty case on housing biological males in Maine women’s prisons, with attorney Cynthia Dill. * Starting in August: our full series on libraries. Find our merch here. Informed Dissent is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit informeddissentpodcast.substack.com/subscribe

  6. 25 Jul

    Puberty Blockers, Round Two?

    James Esses — psychotherapist, former criminal barrister, founder of Just Therapy, co-founder of Thoughtful Therapists, founder/coordinator of the Declaration for Biological Reality, Honorary Fellow at the Centre for Heterodox Social Science, University of Buckingham. Jamie, Lauren, and Cori are joined by James Esses ahead of the July 26th High Court judicial review of the PATHWAYS puberty blocker trial. James — alongside Keira Bell and the Bayswater Support Group — is a claimant in the case challenging the Health Research Authority and MHRA’s decision to approve the trial. This conversation covers the trial’s history, the regulatory reversal that let it proceed, and what’s legally at stake this weekend for the children already enrolled. PATHWAYS Trial: - 2024:UK bans puberty blockers for pediatric gender dysphoria outside of clinical research, following the Cass Review. - PATHWAYS approved as the sanctioned research exception — a King’s College London / South London and Maudsley NHS Trust study of GnRH analogues in patients under 16, commissioned by NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Research. - February 11, 2026: MHRA writes to trial sponsors raising safety concerns. - February 23, 2026: Health Secretary Wes Streeting confirms to Parliament that the trial has been paused. - Early 2026: Bell, Bayswater Support Group, and Esses file for judicial review against the HRA and MHRA, arguing the regulators failed to properly weigh foreseeable risk to cognition, bone density, and fertility against anticipated benefit. - June 2026: MHRA approves a modified protocol — minimum age requirement, updated patient information — clearing PATHWAYS to proceed, subject to the outcome of the judicial review. - Recruitment date: Originally set for August 1, 2026, pending the court’s decision. - July 26, 2026: High Court hears the judicial review. Further Reading: - Sex Matters coverage of the trial pause and judicial review - Transgender Trend on the modified protocol - The Free Press on the trial’s approval to enroll 11-year-olds - James Esses’s Substack and Just Therapy directory This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit informeddissentpodcast.substack.com/subscribe

    Puberty Blockers, Round Two?

  7. 18 Jul

    Sex Does Matter- Just not to Amnesty International

    This week on Informed Dissent, Jamie Reed sits down with Maya Forstater to talk conversion therapy law, the puberty blocker trial, and Amnesty International. About Maya Forstater Maya Forstater is Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Sex Matters. She became a public figure after losing her job at the Center for Global Development over her tweets on sex and gender — the resulting employment tribunal case established that ordinary beliefs about the two sexes are protected under the Equality Act 2010’s characteristic of belief. Before co-founding Sex Matters, she spent two decades as a researcher, writer, and advisor to think tanks and cross-sector initiatives on international tax policy, climate finance, and human rights in supply chains, and helped found both the Let Toys Be Toys campaign and the Ethical Trading Initiative. 🎧 Like, subscribe, and share if this episode hits home. 🛍️ Grab LGB Courage Coalition merch at lgbcourage.org This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit informeddissentpodcast.substack.com/subscribe

  8. 11 Jul

    The Odd Girls Out

    Closing out Pride month, Cori Cohn and Lauren Leggieri sit down with pseudonymous writer Jack of Shadows — a cancelled public health professional, gay man, and contributor to our Substack — for a real conversation from inside the LGB about what happens when trans and queer politics collide with gay life. The conversation centers on “Odd Girls Out: Trans-Identified Women in Gay Male Spaces (Part 3: The White Knight and the Wallflower),” the final piece in Jack’s three-part series. Drawing on a firsthand account from a gay men’s retreat, Jack argues that gay male affinity spaces are built on shared orientation — and that well-meaning efforts to include trans-identified women in those spaces, however kindly intended, don’t resolve the underlying mismatch so much as paper over it. It’s a meditation on chivalry, honesty, and what’s lost when spaces built around one thing are asked to become something else. We’ll also touch on his earlier piece, “How a Private Conversation about Gender Got Me Fired from My Dream Job” — our most-read piece to date — about the professional cost of dissent in public health. * * If you liked this episode, like, subscribe, and share Informed Dissent — it genuinely helps more people find us. And check out our merch, available now, if you want to rep the show. Got a story from inside our community that isn’t getting told? Send it to us through lgbcourage.org. Know someone we should be talking to? Send that our way too. Informed Dissent is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit informeddissentpodcast.substack.com/subscribe

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About

You Have Permission to Question, Scrutinize, Push Back, and Dissent! Jamie Reed, Cori Cohn, and Lauren Leggieri report on their adventures and misadventures trying to explain and mitigate the gender culture wars. We will publish most weeks, focusing some on the news and some on important topics from social transition to lawsuits to what the heck the word “gender” means. informeddissentpodcast.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    LGB Courage Coalition
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    86
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Informed Dissent Podcast
  • Show Website
    Informed Dissent

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