10/07/19 10/07/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> tomorrow the supreme court will hear arguments about whether title vii a applies to e lgbtq community. if we lose, it is a loss for everyone. amy: as the supreme court prepares to hear arguments in a major case on lgbtq workplace-discrimination, we speak to two leading trans

rights advocates -- the actress laverne cox and the attorney chasase strangio. then to the middle east t where the u.s. has begun withdrawing from northeast syria as turkey prepares to invade kurdish-controlled areas. >> regarding this matter after our talks -- counterparts s are carrying out their work. amy: the surprise announcement between turkey -- we will speak to longtime middle east correspondent patrick cockburn of the independent. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the white house said sunday it will end support for kurdish forces in northeastern s syria d

hahas ordereu.s. troops toto stp aside while turkey begins a massive air and ground operation. the u.s. has about 1000 troops in northeastern syria. it is s not clear whether they'l pullll back to allllow turkey's assaulult or leave syriaia enti. u.s.s. has backed the syrian democratic forces, led by the kurdish people's protection units or ypg, since 2014, in their fight a against isisis. a spokesperson for the fighteres calleded trump's decision a "shocking and unexpected" betrayal. on sunday, the white house said president trump made the decision after speaking by telephone with president recep tayyip erdogan. this comes as mass anti-government protests are continuing in iraq. the death toll has now topped 109 as police and soldiers continue to open fire on thousands of demonstrators who are defying government-imposed curfews. later in the broadcast, we will speak with middle east

correspondent for the independent patrick cockburn. a second whistleblower has stepped forward to accuse donald trump of abusing his powers by soliciting help from ukraine's government in order to discredit 2020 campaign rival joe biden and his son. lawyers for the first whistleblower confirmed a new whistleblower with first-hand knowledge of trump's interactions with ukraine has corroborated the initial complalaint in an interview with the intelligence community's inspector general. the growing scandal has spawned an impeachment inquiry by house democrats. this comes as top trump administration officials continue efforts to stonewall the investigation. on friday, secretary of state mike pompeo missed a deadline to comply with a house subpoena to produce documents relateted to e impeachmenent inquiry. duriring a p public evevent in , greece, on saturday, secretary of state pompeo o admitted he ws

on the now infamous phone call july 25 between president trump and zelensky. but he called the impeachment inquiry a "silly gotcha game." >> when the world does not focus on the things that are important, the things that impact real people's lives and instead you get caught u up in game, thatgotcha does not help democracy flourish. it does not help grow economies. amy: at leleast three republican senators have broken ranks too criticize president trump -- nebraska senator ben sasse, utah's mitt romney, and maine's senator susan collins. senator romney on friday tweeted that trump's behavior was "wrong and appalling." he added -- "when the only american citizen president trump singles out for china's investigation is his political opponent in the midst of the democratic nomination process, it strains credulity to suggest that it is anything other than politically motivated." trump fired back on twitter, calling for romney's

impeachment, calling him "pompous" and "a fool who playaying right ininto the handf "pompopous" and "a f fool who is playing righght into the h handf ththe do nothingng democrats!"!" north korean officials have lllled offalksks witthe u.u.s. on denucucarization, warning the trump miministraon i it s untitithe end of the yr toto change its bargaining apapprch if i it wants negogotiations too continue.. onaturday, north kore's chief nunuclear negotitiator denied ay -- denied the.s. state departmement's rorosy assessmenf the talks inin stockho, sweden, sasaying u.s. negotiators brougt nothing to the table. offered suggegestions like flexible approach in crit of solutions, bubut they have disappointed is greatly by bringing nothing to the table. y: u.s. peace envoy zalmay khalililzad met with t the afghn tataliban in pakistan onririday for the first time sin presidentrtrump puiclyly cald ofoff lks laststonth aimed at

ending the l longest war i in u. history. the informal talks in islamabad came after the taliban took credit for a series of deadly attacks that disrupted september's presidential election, which saw less than a quarter of eligible voteters cat ballllots. the renewewepeace talks don't include e members of the kabul-based afghan government. in the gaza strip, a 28-year-old palestinian man was killed and 40 people wounded friday after israeli troops opened fire on weekly protests near the beseiged territory's separation barrier with israel. a spokesperson for gaza's health ministry said 22 people were shot with live bullets. the latest killing brings the number of palestinian protesters killed in gaza to render 13. in washington, d.c., women's rights activists rallied outside the supreme court sunday to call

for justice brett kavanaugh's removal from the bench, one year after republican senators narrowly confirmed him to the u.s. supreme court despite multiple credible accusations of attempted rapepe and sexuall assault. boston congrgressmember ayanna prpressleyey introduced a resoln last m month to impeach h justie kavanaugugh. she told the crowd she believed kavanaugh's accusers a and anita hillll -- who told conongress in 1991 that justice clarence thomas sexually y harassed her. >> i still believe anita hill. [cheers] i still believe dr. christine ford. [cheers] and i believe deborah ramirez. amy: the weekend rally at the supreme court came after justices announced friday they will weigh the constitutionality of louisiana's anti-choice legislation, which requires any doctor performing an abortion to

have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. pro-choice groups call such statutes trap laws, or "targeted regulation of abortion provoviders." they say the louisiana law would leave the state with just a single doctor legally allowed to perform abortions. meanwhile, the court is set to hear arguments tuesday in three cases to determine whether lgbtq people can be fired from their jobs due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. after headlines, we will have more on what's been described as the most important case directly addressing lgbtq people ever to reach the united states supreme court. in hong kong, tens of thousands of protesters defied a ban on face masasks saturday and marchd through a pouring rain storm as the prohibition took effect. hong kong chief executive carrie lam ordered the ban as part of a widening crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations that erupted last spring.

> carrie lam is tryrying to e the ban to keep us from coming out. i want to tell her thihis is contra produductive. she is suppressing a right t to express ourselves and this will only push us further. amy: police declared the assembly unlawful, firing tear gas and charging with batons. some demonstrators responded by throwing bricks and gasoline bombs. in climate news, scores of people have been arrested in civil disobedience actions as the group extinction rebellion kicked off two weeks of protests in 60 cities around the globe demanding urgent action on the climate crisis. in sydney, australia, police arrested 30 people who blocked a major road. there were similar scenes in melbourne and in wellington, new zealand, where activists surrounded a government building that grants permits for oil and gas drilling. in the netherlands people were , 50 arrested after they erected a tent to block a road in central amsterdam. in london, policarrested at

least 20 people monday as protesters have vowed to close down parliament and trafalgar square. this is lizzy mansfield, one of the protesters. >> we're here because the gogornment is s not doing enough on the climate emergency. the key word is "emergency." we've seen surprisingly little action. get one planet. we need to try and defend it. amy: on saturday, london police used a battering ram to break into a building used by extinction rebellion, seizing protest supplies and arresting 10 people on pre-emptive charges of suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuiuisance. back in the united states, the trump administration moved friday to open more than acres 720,000 of california land to oil and gas drilling. environmentalists have vowed to sue to block what would be the first federal fossil fuel lease

sales since 2013. clare lakewood, senior attorney at the center for biological diversity, said -- "turning over these spectacular wild places to dirty drilling and fracking will sicken californians, harm endangered species, and fuel climate chaos." president trump signed a proclamation friday that w will deny visisas to immigrants w who can't afford to purchase health insurance within 30 days of their arrival to the united states. under trump's plan, which is set to take place on november 3, immigrants will also be shut out from subsidies under thehe affordable care act. in response, united we dream tweeted -- "our healthcare system is shot and the trump administration knows this. this is another economic and racist attack on a community who deserves healthcare in the first place." in tucson, arizona, a pretrial hearing is scheduled today for senior border patrol agent gus zamora, who's accused of kidnapping and sexually

assaulting a junior agent last may. zamora has pleaded not guilty to charges he pressured a female subordinate to drink to excess before leading her back to his hotel room and assaulting her. senior officials at customs and boborder patrol allowed zamora o retire after his arresest and indictmentnt. one of the women who accused deceased serial sexual predator jeffrey epstein of attacking her told "the washington post" she holds billionaire leslie wexner -- the chairman and ceo of victoria's secretet parent compy -- responsible for what happened to her. maria farmer says she was staying at one of wexner's properties in ohio in the summer of 1996 when epstein and his associate ghislaine maxwell sexually assaulted her. farmer was employed by epstein at the time. she says when she tried to leave the house, wexner's security guards wouldn't let her. farmer first detailed her attack in an affidavit she submitted earlier this year as part of an epstein-related lawsuit.

but her interviews to "the washington post" are the first time she's publicly spoken about leslie wexner and his connection to epstein. in dallas, texas, a key witness in the murder trial of former dallas police officer amber guyger was shot to death outside his apartment friday. joshua brown lived across the hall from botham jean, a black -- the 26-year-old black accountant, who was shot and killed inside his own apartment by officer guyger, a white woman who was off duty at the time. during the trial brown gave , emotional testimony about hearing gunshots the night of jean's murder. officials have not yet identified a suspect in brown's murder. attorney lee merritt, who represented the jean family in the trial, wrotete in social m a brown's testimony played a key role in challenging guyger's account of the incident and claims she had shouted commands at botham before shooting him. court last week sentenced guyger to 10 years in prison for shooting and killing jean.

she faced up to 99 years. bernie sanders campaign says the vermont senator and 2020 presidential hopeful suffered a heart attack last tuesday after experiencing chest pains during a campaign event in las vegas. sanders had two stents inserted to clear a blocked artery. he left an area hospital after a two-and-a-half day stay before returning home to burlington, for mont, with his wife jane. >> h hello, everyrydy. we a are in n s vegas. i just gotut o of the hospipitaa few hours s ago and i im feeling so much better. i i just want to thank all of yu for the love and warm wishes that you sent to me. see you soon on the campaign trail. amy: and in new york city, four people were killed and a fifth badly injured early saturday after a man with a metal bar attacked homeless people as they slept on the sidewalks of lower manhattan's chinatown district. police arrested 24-year-old randy santos and charged him

with the murders. santos is reportedly also homeless and has struggled with addiction. the coalition for the homeless warns in recent years homelessness in new york city has reached the highest level since the great depression of the 1930's. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the supreme court is starting a new term today in washington. the court will be hearing major cases this year involving reproductive rights, immigration, the second amendment, and lgbtq rights. on tuesday, the court will hear arguments in three cases to determine whether r lgbtq people can be fired from their jobs due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. it has been described as "the most important case directly addressing lgbtq people ever to reach the united states supreme court."

under title vii of the civil rights act, employers can not discriminate against employees on the basis of sex as well as race, color, national origin and religion. but the trump administration claims the law does not cover discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. one of the cases centers on a transgender woman from michigan named aimee stephens who was fired d from her job at a funerl home in 202013. and it made me mad, to say the least. i was hurt that i was being treated that way after the commitment and service that i .ad been providing and that is when it finally hit we were not treated the same as everybody else.

and that it was time that somebody stood up and said enough is enough. amy: the cases mark the first time the supreme court will rule on lgbtq rights since conservative justice brett kavanaugh replaced anthony kennedy, who had written many of the court's major lgbtq rights rulings. we are joined right now by two guests. laverne cox is an award winning transgender actress and long time trans rights activist. best known for her role on the show "orange is the new black." in 2014, she became the first transgender person on the cover " and the firstne openly trans person to be nominated for an emmy award in a primetime category. we are also joined by chase strangio, deputy director for transgender justice with the aclu's lgbt & hiv project. his work includes impact litigation, as well as legislative and administrative advocacy, on behalf of lgbtq people and people living with

hiv across the uniteted states. we welcome you both to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. tuesday is a significant day in the supreme court. laverne cox, talk about the cases that are before the high court. >> it is the first time the supreme court will hear any case involving transgender rights. there are two other cases where two game and were fired from their jobs simply for being who they are. this is the first time the court will hear cases about whether or not title vii applies to the + community. this administration has been trying to take transgender people out of the round of protections. the leaked memo we remember from a year ago where they want to change the definition of sex so trans folks would not have any recourse under the law, the protest that ensued after that

from hhs and hud and in health care. this is really huge, not just for the lgbtq+ but any worker who might not perform to someone else's idea of how they should express their gender. amy: you did something very unusual at the emmy awards. was chaseone strangio. i wanted to go to -- well, describe the scene and why you decided to do this. >> i noticed not a lot of people were talking about this case. it is the most consequential civil rights for lgbtq rights in my lifetime. no one was talking about it except chase and if you other people. i was nominated for my third emmy award this year and it was going to be -- i knew it would be a platform where a lot of people would be paying attention. i was like, we should take chase and talk about this case on the

red carpet. edie parker designed my clutch. we went with a mission. amy: and we are showing the images. let's hear chase on the red carpet with laverne cox. >> october 8, everyone should be aware the administration is asking the supreme court to make it legal to fire workers just because they are lgbtq. this is going to transform the lives of lgbtq people and people who are not lgbtq. anyone who departs from the sex stereotypes, like the fabulous people here. we need to pay attention b becae our lives are on the line. amy: that is chase strangio of the aclu, the plus one with laverne cox at the emmy awards. laverne is the first openly trans actress to be nominated for primetime, and any acting category. use that moment where the world was watching that was an interview on e!

describe further the significance of this case and the trump administration's stance, how has it changed? >> as laverne said, tomorrow the supreme court is going to be hearing arguments on these three cases that will transform the peopleandscape are lgbtq -- all women, in particular, but anyone who departs from sex stereotypes. and what is really astounding, particularly in aimee stephens case, the case was filed in 2014 by the eeoc. that is the agency that enforces title vii. that agency brought the case, rguing when aimee was fired, it violated title vii. courts.through the after the election, the presidential election of 2016, the aclu intervened on behalf of aimee because we wewere concernd

the agency and the administration would no longer defend the rights of trans people under federal law. and for good reason. now we are before the summary -- supreme court. the u.s. is siding with the employers, urging the supreme court to make a rule for everyone that it is lawful to fire someone just because they are lgbtq. i want people to understand the argument they are advancing are so incredibly staggeringly conservative and dangerous because what they're saying is we won a world under title vii echoes all the way back to at least pre-1989 that allows employers to enforce sex stereotypes as long as they do so it gives men and women. is the trump administration and those representing aimee's employer, they can fire woman for not being feminine enough or a man

for not being masculine enough. imagine you are a father and they fire you because they know men a are supposed to be working and women are supposed to be the primary caretakers of children. that is the world they want. this is a radical transformation that affects the law they are asking for. amy: i want to go back to aimee , speaking a at an aclu news conference last week. she explained her decision to come out as a transgender woman. ing toave been liv lives, one at home and one in public and when it work. in the beginning, that was not so bad. times time goes on in his progressed, i got to the point that living two lives, being two people was becoming downright

impossible. that i could not keep going that way. and things came to a head in november 2012. when i stood in the backyard with a gun to my chest, pondering the question "if i can't go forward and i can't go backwards, where does that leave me?" "and if this is all i have to look forward to, then what is the point continuing?" thatn that our, going over and over that in my mind, i and i realized that i liked me too much to get

disappeared. amy: that is aimee stephens, the woman behind the first transgender civil rights case to go before the supreme court. talk about the journey aimee stephens case took through the courts until now. >> aimee stephens case was filed in federal court. theyon the lower courts, rolled in her favor as the majority of federal courts have for trans litigants. decades thattwo firing someone or discriminating against someone because they are discrimination under the law as well as a prohibition on -- the violation of probation on sex stereotypes. she won below. the court said you cannot fire someone just because they are transgender. then it was the employer in the united states that are before the supreme court arguing for a rule that it is in fact lawful to fire someone for being

transgender and we represent aimee. something that is poignant about aimee's remarks in the letter she sent her employer, she was going to be the same person come the same valued employee -- she was living this deeply painful lie. she needed to be who she was. we only get one chance to live our lives. she was going to be an even better worker because she was going to not have to hide this core truth of herself. she has the courage it comes out and gets fired and has been the last six years fighting the termination while she faces no job, lost her health care. her health care is into applying -- in decline. hopefully we can appeal to the court on the simple proposition that congress wrote abroad law that prohibits sex discrimination and it covers trans people as most lower courts have held. amy: we're going to go to break and come back to talk about the violence against trans people and how you think this links. we are speaking with chase

strangio deputy director for , trans justice aclu lgbt & hiv , project. an actress laverne cox. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. our guests are actress laverne cox and the aclu's chase strangio. i want to ask about the violence against trans women. last month, julia jamar, an african american trans woman, was murdered in kansas city, kansas. she's at least the 19th transgender person to be murdered in the u.s. this year. 13 died from gun violence and the majority are women of color. ja'leyah-jamar's killing followed the murder of 32-year-old brooklyn lindsey in kansas city, missouri, in june. kansas city, missouri, in june.

this comes after an assault in portland, oregon, of a transgender woman named atlas marshall. marshall was attacked by a man shouting homophobic and transphobic slurs, leaving her with bruises on her head and knees. laverne cox you have long spoken out on this issue. talk about the climate in this country today. >> it is really hard for me to continue to talk about the murders of trans women of color. i was talking to my makeup artist who is also trans. started transitioning medically 1998. i told her this is a reality in my life. in 1998, there were trans people being murdered all around me. the same fear, "will i be next ?" i remember going to a memorial for a trans woman in new york city who was stabbed outside the port authority. for my entire life as a trans woman, for 21 years, i have been

toring about -- going memorials and the trauma of that havedon't actually even words for the trauma of that. i think about black people in general who have watched our people be murdered in the streets and the collective trauma of that. i disassociated from it so much because it is too much. it is way too much. we live in a culture that stigmatizes trans people, tell us who we aren't who we say we are. aimee read a brief on stephens case, they bent over backwards to not use female pronouns to refer to aimee stephens. there is this consistent -- they are consistent in miss jane during her. we are somehow fraudulent. and when we have an administration, we have government policies that continually stigmatize us, it

makes it ok for the person on the street who sees a trans person and decides we should not exist anymore. i am really at a loss because i know it is intersectional. i know it is about employment, health care, homelessness and having access to all of these things to keep us out of harms way that so many of us do not have access to. the unemployment rate in the trans community is three times the national average. the majority of us make less than $10,000 a year. when you cannot make a living, you find yourself homeless, that makes you more of a target of violence. there are so many things we have to do as a culture to end this violence. showing up tomorrow to the supreme court, letting your friends and family know it is not ok to discriminate against when we are, that living our lives, walking down the street, when men find

ourselves -- find themselves attracted to me and they would get upset. i talked about a case of one woman who was walking down the street 2013 and two men that called her and realized she was trans and beat her until she died. we should not be killed simply for being who we are. we deserve civil rights. we deserve to be able to work and to live and to thrive. so the targeting that this administration has done -- one of the very first things that jeff sessions did in his justice resendent in 2017 was the guidelines of the obama administration set forth for transgender children in the united states of america. the military band happen and then so many of these other things. and that consistently sends a message it is ok to discriminate against us. i think part of this is the backlash -- trans people are saying this is who i am, i've a

right to exist. now we are coming out of the shadows. people want to force us back into the dark. we are saying no, we deserve a right to live in the light. and that is all we want. you starred in "orange is the new black." >> i was a castmate. it is part of an ensemble. [laughter] amy: it is the last season has come out. talk about the importance of the depiction of trans people played by trans p people. you are in "dear whwhite people" "can you keep a secret." talk about the importance of being front and center with who you are. >> we have to change the narrative. 84% ofng to glaad,

americans don't know a trans person. what we learn is in the media. how we are represented in the media is crucially important to our life chances. what was amazing about "orange is the new black," when we started in 2013, there were no openly trans people with recurring roles. which is remarkable. i think we need more and we need more stories. there's a backlash against our existence. if we can continue to tell stories and continue to have artists come forward and tell our stories courageously, what is exceptional about the three projects he listed that i'm is i am not playing trans characters in any of those. i am an openly trans actress and

i'm not playing trans characters. that feels remarkable and it feels like this insane progress. in some ways we have the best of times and worst of times where i get to thrive as an openly trans black woman -- which is unheard of. we could not have imagined it 10 years ago. but at the same time, we have these insane murders that keep happening in record numbers. we see these policies. it is this holding space for both these realities. isis really intense. and it -- i think it is important to celebratew ins and victories, but also important to understand that just because there trans people on billboards and magazine covers that they're not trying to take our rights away and there's been a concerted effort. trans people have been deeply scapegoated by conservatives for many years, i think since marriage equality became the law

of the land. people become more visible, people are becoming upset. they're like, we have to target this group of people. as chase said earlier, it doesn't just have implications for trans people, it has implications for everyone because when you discriminate against trans people, it makes it ok to discriminate against everybody else. the decision in 1989, i think it said a woman at price waterhouse was denied a promotion because her employers. she was too masculine. her case went to the supreme court and the supreme court said in forcing sex stereotypes is sex discrimination. what this administration arguing, it is ok to enforce those sex stereotypes. if we lose this, it will be ok for them to say you are not the right kind of woman or the right kind of man, even if you're not transgender or lgbtq+. that is not the kind of america

i want to live in. it is not the kind of country any of us should be living in. amy: i want to go to the protests that were taking place on sunday outside the supreme court. women rights activiststs calling for justice brett kavanaugh's removal from the bench, one year after republican senators narrowly confirmed him to the u.s. supreme court despite multltiple credidible accusatiof attempted rapepe and sexual assault. massachusetts congressmember ayanna pressley introduced a resolution last month to impeach justice kavanaugh. she told the crowd she believed kavanaugh's accusers and anita hill -- who told congress in 1991 that justice clarence thomas sexually harassed her. >> when we share our stories come our pain,n, and our struggles, we liberate each other. together we will raise our voices to mobilize our communities and to legislate our destiny. i believe in the power of us.

whenur fighting didn't end brett kavanaugh put on a robe.e. endour fighting won't until there is a real investigation and justitice for survivors. i still believe anita hill. [cheers] i still believe dr. christine ford. and i believe deborah ramirez. [cheers] pressley.t is ayanna chase strangio, if you could summarize brett kavanaugh's career in this last year, his judicial record on the supreme court and respond to the call for his impeachment. his first terms

on the bench. this is his first full term on the bench. what strikes me as most important in this moment is that it is a reminder of the power that these nine human beings hold over our lives. he will be hearing a case tomorrow that is directly about sex discrimination in the workplace, including, i might note, sexual harassment in the workplace, sexual v violence in the workplace. so he has s the power, along wih his eight colleagues, to really decide what the law is going to permit, what it is going to require, and how we as human beings in this country are either going to be protected or cast aside. so whether or not he is impeached, whether or not we can look back on clarence thomas and alall of the accusations against these individuals, i think what we need to do now is look at the power they hold in our lives today and say "we have to mass mobilize to ensure the decisions they make about whether we live or die are ones that we are

going to hold them accountable to." at the end of the day, the court will decide things, but it is us in the streets, movements, changing hearts and minds, and building power that is ultimately going to transform the country we live in. we want to hold people to account, but we also have movementd the inside and outside the court. i want everyone to know they have the power to say that whatever happens on the court, that we are going to keep demanding we be seen and we get to live in the light. amy: laverne cox, are you going to be there tomorrow? >> yes. my first time going to the supreme court. amy: can you directly address president trump and vice president pence your message, what you feel they need to hear right now? sure it is really about our president and vice president right now. i think it is about the people. i think it is about the folks out there who may be voted for

them or didn't vote for them and the people who didn't vote and i think it is about everybody out there who really does -- you have the power as the people. i think sometimes we feel powerless and it is not something we can do. i would say to everyone out there you do have the power to make the change in your lives and in our government, but you have to lift your voice. you have to vote. peoplee to talk to the in your lives. it is a hearts and minds conversation as well as a policy conversation. i don't have anything to say to them. amy: the action outside tomorrow. can you describe that? >> i think chase can do that better than i can. >> there will be civil disobedience action, rallies on our side. we are bringing people together. much as there will be a legal decision to fight it in the court, the country will see what happens outside. there will be people all over

the country rallying in defense of lgbtq lives and protect the hard-fought protections under the civil rights act that justice ruth bader ginsburg was instilling inn the courts. people will be showing up in d.c. tomorrow. it will be a beautiful moment we will never forget. amy: talking about trying to change culture, laverne, you 'sught to change the imdb birth name policy, which recently revised. talk about the fight. >> i know the fight continues. there has been some progress made. i think the biggest piece is that for a very long time -- as i said earlier, trans folks have always existed but we existed in the shadows. a lot of the structural things that exist in our culture now come the systems in place, have not been in place to accommodate trans people. now that we are knowledge and trans exist, systemically, some

changes have to be made. that is what that was about. we have to make a lot of other systemic changes so we can fully acknowledge the humanity of not just trans people, but people of color and immigrants and people with disabilities. .o matter how you identify amy: i want to thank you both for being with us, laverne cox, transgender actress and activist. best known for her role on the show "orange is the new black." she played sophia burset, a transgender woman in prison for using credit card fraud to finance her transition. chase strangio, deputy director for transgender justice, aclu lgbt & hiv project. we will continue to follow this case and what happens in the streets tomorrow as well as what happens in the supreme court. this is democracy now! when we come back, major surprise a announcement abououtt and happen to u.s. troops

to kurdish soldiers in syria. and we will look at the mamass prototests that have b been takg -- taking place in iraq. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn now to the middle east. u.s. troops have begun withdrawing from northeast syria as turkey prepares to invade kurdish-controlled areas of syria. for years, the kurds have been close allies to the united states in the fight against isis. on sunday, the white house released a statement that surprised many in the region. it said -- "today, president donald j. trump spoke with president recep tayyip erdogan of turkey by telephone. turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation in northern syria. the united states armed forces

will not support or be involved in that operation, and the united states forces, having defeated the isis territorial 'caliphate,' will no longer be in the immediate area." the announcement marks a major shift in u.s. policy. in january, president trump threatened to "devastate turkey economically" if it attacked kurdish forces in syria. b back to allowowut turkey's assault or leave syria entirely. meanwhile, in other news from the region, mass anti-government protests are continuing in iraq. the death toll has now topped 109 as police and soldiers continue to open fire on thousands of demonstrators who are defying government-imposed curfews. to talk about all of these issues, we are joined by patrick cockburn, middle east correspondent for the independent.

patrick, welcome back to democracy now! let's start with a surprise announcement after the phone conversation between erdogan and trump that the u.s. is pulling for turkey tos attack in northern syria. explain what you understand is happening and the significance of this. really athis is shakespearean act of betrayal. army iss, turkish planning to come across the border with syria. this means the kurds, who have been fighting isis, fighting daesh, will mostly flee southwards. about 2 million people. so we're going to have what is in effect a major act of ethnic cleansing it is not clear from what the white house says how far the turks will go.

they say it will be on the border, but they also say the turks will take over a refugee membersl of former isis , particularly women and children. but that is right over on the iraqi border. if the turks go that far, than they are taking over a big chunk of northeast syria. so this is sort of good news for the turks. it is very bad news for kurds who lost 11,000 dead fighting isis. and for isis, it is very good news because it means their main opponent, the syrian kurdish forces, are either going to be fighting the kurds and the turks are going to be running away or are going to be dead. so this is the sort of news i think isis has been waiting for for its opponents to split up. it is pretty extraordinary. the statement that "we defeated isis on the ground." all of the troops on the ground were led by the kururds and some

arab allies. u.s. airirwer. but the dedeat was by y the kurs who are not mentioned in this new agreement between tuturkey d u.s. it really is an extraordinary act of treachery. amy: tweeted this morning -- telling "is it is time for us to get out of these ridiculous inlets wars, many of them trouble, and bring our soldiers home. we will fight where it is to our benefit and only fight to win. turkey, europe, syria, iran, iraq, russia, and the kurds will now have to figure the situation out and what they want to do with the captured isis fighters in their neighborhood. they all hate isis, have been enemies for years. we are 7000 miles away and will crush isis again if they come anywhere near us!" refund --could

respond further to that. it is not clear if trump's think he will bring u.s. troops home or just move them over for this turkish onslaught. >> the significance of this may not be obvious to people who don't know that part of northern syria. the kurdish population generally lives just south of the frontier line between turkey and syria. so the turkish army does not have to move very far to take .ver all of the kurdish cities so as soon as they move a little bit south, you have a massive exodus of kurds in that area. says, andent way,tionist manifesto in a

saying we have nothing to do with this. said, it was the kurds who actually fought and defeated isis since 2014. and turkey, for quite a long time, was allowing these foreign fighters to cross the border from turkey into syria. a lot of these people who are now this refugee camp, how did they get intnto syria? they just crossed over to the turkish border without being impeded because there was a sort of tolerant attitude on the part of turkey toward isis and turkey made perfectly clear if it preferred isis to win rather than the kurds. 2014. that in 2014. amy: eararlier today, the united nations warned against the

turkish invasion of northern syria. do you and regional humanitarian -- the u.n. regegional humanitarian for theririsis. >> has gone on for far too long and for any opoperation that tas place at t the moment, has to te into account to enensure we do't see any further displacement. we don't know what will happen. we are preparing for the worst because from experience, thisis could result in displacement of people. we want to make sure we are ready. amy: patrick, that is the u.n. regional humanitarian coordinator for the syrian crisis. your response? >> unfortunately, we all know too well what is likely to happen. the turkish army already last borderossed the syrian into a kurdish enclave and drove out the kurdish population. president erdogan announced halfway through they discover

the original population of this area, did not say when, was arab. and they should be allowed back. so you had -- basically, one of the few peaceful paths in syria suddenly devastated by war and the kurds driven out. an that seems to have been early preview of what we are likely to see the rest of northern syria, which is the turkish army crossing the border , the kurds fling south. it is not clear where they will go. and resurgence of isis. they will no longer be fighting the kurds. so i think we have a very good idea what is going to happen. but importantly, this is happening at a moment so the war in syria seem to be ebbing. but nothing like what we had seen before. has new lifey

injected into it by this dedecision by trump. amy: you have just returned from iraq. these mass protests have just begun at this point over 100 people, i think the number is 109, have been killed in these demonstrations by the security and police. can you explain what took place? you were there when it started earlier this week. extraordinary. i was there when it began and i knew that wod be small dedemonstration nonot far from e i wawas staying inin central baghdad. payingwere not attention. there have bebeen weeklkl demonstrations there. the ototestersrieded to oss aa brididge whichch leads in n the directction of the grereen zone. suddddly, the security forces on th bridge started throwing un grgrenades, rubber r bullets, tn live r rounds. theyey killed a lolot of people, wounded a lot of pepele.

that led to a bibig reaction the following daday. anymore protests.s. and thth the government declared a curfew.w. is a big city, 7 milillion peopople. it was completely empty. they cut the internet. the whole city was paralyzed. it hasn't stopped this going on. you said 109 dead, but there according6000 wounded to the interior ministry. and doctors i talk to the hospital think the number of dead is grossly underestimated by the government, that the real figure is much higher. , explain recent piece what that is. in 2003, saddam falls, iraqi

is a major oil producer -- producing about $6.5 billion worth of oil a month -- but such as araqis find level of corruption in the government, no new roads are being built, schools, hospitals and powerplants and everything else just are exactly the same as they were 16 years ago. so one of the demands of the protesters is against corruption. but it is corruption in a way that many people it is difficult to imagine. it is a kleptocracy, meaning everything is stolen. all of the money disappears with no roads at the end of the day. no power station. there has been mounting rage about that. and joblessness, as well. people unable to get jobs. i was driving through central baghdad last week and outside the ministry, you see groups of

-- protesting in little encampments that they have not been able to get jobs. this is probably one of the reasons these protests are going to go on. protesters are saying, look, we don't have anything to lose. here i am in my late 20's and 30's and i've never had a job. i will never get a job with this type of government that steals everything or distributes jobs only to its own members of its own political party. so you've had all of these economic and social grievances building up and up, and then they exploded last week. and it is unlikely, i think, the government will get back to where we were before this happened, offering a 17 part plane at the moment to improve the economy. but nobody believes them. 17 part plane, but they don't mention which they are firing at us from buildings with live .ounds, killing people

there honestly shooting to kill. -- they are obviously shooting to kill. we're on a new stage in iraq in which we are heading toward mass uprisings, protests in the street, a a government that is completely on the defensive, doesn't know what to do. but it is also difficult to reform because it is so corrupt and the whole sort of system of government is based on corruption. amy: and protests are also in lebanon as well. is that right? president the iraqi at the united nations and asked him about pressure -- his thoughts about the u.s. putting so much pressure on iran. in the last 10 seconds we have, trump ramping up the pressure in iran, how does that affect a rack? >> it raises the political

temperature. it means all this is taking place. it is a crisis which revolves economic