For you newbies out there, welcome to Outsider on the Inside. I hope this dispatch from in and around the nation’s capital on underreported topics finds you well.
Exclusive: Senator Steve Daines Returns to District of Conservation Monday
Sharing this here first: Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) is returning to District of Conservation, my podcast, on Monday to update listeners on Capitol Hill happenings relating to hunting, energy, and conservation.
Gabriella interviewing Senator Daines in Montana. | August 2021
Senator Daines will discuss these topics on Monday’s episode:
How his hunting season went
Surviving social media censorship with help from Elon Musk
The waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) ruling and why wetlands won’t disappear
His efforts to block Fish Wildlife Service, Forest Service, and Bureau of Land Management prohibition of lead tackle and bullets
If the Biden administration is undermining public lands access with its “conservation lease” proposal.
The status of Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) grizzly bears and delisting efforts
The America's Outdoor Recreation Act recreation package and aspects he likes
And more
Daines also appeared in my Conservation Nation series on bear conservation:
My Independent Women’s Forum colleague Mandy Gunasekara - Director of our Center for Energy and Conservation- testified before the House Oversight Subcommittee on Environmental investing on Tuesday. I was in attendance and sat behind her. Here’s a teaser of her remarks:
After delivering her testimony and some witness questionable, the hearing took a bizarre turn.
Congresswoman Balint - a Democrat from Vermont - seethed over Mandy’s speech mentioning a connection between gender transitions and the S prong in ESG.
Here’s the exchange:
Mandy isn’t wrong. The Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group, is a big proponent of the Corporate Equality Index (CEI). The N.Y. Post describes CEI in the following manner:
Businesses that attain the maximum 100 total points earn the coveted title “Best Place To Work For LGBTQ Equality.” Fifteen of the top 20 Fortune-ranked companies received 100% ratings last year, according to HRC data.
The HRC lists five major rating criteria, each with its own lengthy subsets, for companies to gain — or lose — CEI points.
The CEI is made up of several main scoring components.
When perusing the CEI, here’s a breakdown. Notice transgender issues are weighed on the CEI (bolded for emphasis):
Policy includes sexual orientation and gender identity/gender identity or expression for all operations (5)
2. Inclusive Benefits (50 points possible)
To secure full credit for benefits criteria, each benefit must be available to all benefits-eligible U.S. employees. In areas where more than one health insurance plan is available, at least one inclusive plan must be available.
Equivalency in same- and different-sex spousal medical and soft benefits (No points awarded)
Equivalency in same- and different-sex domestic partner medical and soft benefits (10)
Equivalency in spousal and domestic partner family formation benefits regardless of sex. (10)
Equal health coverage for transgender individuals without exclusion for medically necessary care (25)
LGBTQ+ Benefits Guide (5)
3. Supporting an Inclusive Culture (25 points possible)
a. Four LGBTQ+ Internal Training and Accountability Efforts (5) Businesses must demonstrate a firm-wide, sustained and accountable commitment to diversity and cultural competency, including at least four of the following elements:
New hire training clearly states that the nondiscrimination policy includes gender identity and sexual orientation and provides definitions or scenarios illustrating the policy for each
Supervisors undergo training that includes gender identity and sexual orientation as discrete topics (may be part of a broader training), and provides definitions or scenarios illustrating the policy for each
Integration of gender identity and sexual orientation in professional development, skills-based or other leadership training that includes elements of diversity and/or cultural competency
Integration of intersectionality in professional development, skills-based, or other training (required)
Senior management/executive performance measures include LGBTQ diversity metrics
b. One LGBTQ+ Data Collection Effort (5)
Anonymous employee engagement or climate surveys conducted on an annual or biennial basis allow employees the option to identify as LGBTQ+
Data collection forms that include employee race, ethnicity, gender, military and disability status — typically recorded as part of employee records — include optional questions on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Board (or other governing body) member demographic data collection include the option for individuals to report their sexual orientation and gender identity or self-identity as LGBTQ+
c. Transgender Inclusion Best Practices (5)
Gender transition guidelines with supportive restroom, dress code and documentation guidance
Implementation of the at least one (1) of the following policies or practices
Trans-inclusive restroom/facilities policy
Gender-neutral dress code
Policies/procedures that allow for optional sharing of gender pronouns
Balint, of course, ignores the connection. It’s deliberate. And her angry tirade against Mandy and Independent Women’s Forum came off unhinged.
Articles/commentary/media appearances from the past week.
MEDIA MENTIONS
Canadian wildfire smoke enveloped much of the East Coast, including here in Virginia, and preservationists blamed it on climate change. I debunked that assertion and my comments were picked up by Daily Wire.
Mandy Gunasekara cited my forest management research in her latest IWF Fact Check.
