Saturday, August 07, 2021

TRULY THE GAY GAMES
First transgender athlete to medal at Olympics wins gold

There's a record number of openly LGBTQ athletes at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

By Siobhan Neela-Stock on August 6, 2021

Quinn is the first trans athlete to medal at the Olympics. Credit: OMar Vega / Getty Images

The first transgender athlete won Olympic gold on Thursday, marking a historic achievement, but one that's also bittersweet.

Quinn, along with the Canadian soccer team, played a long match against Sweden, with a tied result moving into a tense penalty shootout, which Canada won. More openly trans and non-binary athletes have competed in the Tokyo Olympic Games than ever before as intense debates over trans people in athletics have frustratingly swept through schools and statehouses in the U.S.

Quinn's the first openly trans athlete to participate in the Olympics after the International Olympic Committee changed its rules in 2004 to allow transgender athletes to compete in the Games. But they were followed by others competing in weightlifting and BMX racing later on in the Games.

Quinn's one of at least 181 openly queer athletes at the Tokyo Games, more than three times the number who participated in the Rio Games, according to Outsports.

Gold medallists Canada after the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games women's final football match. Credit: TIZIANA FABI / AFP Via Getty Images

Although Quinn's said they're proud to see their name on the soccer roster, they're also sad past Olympians like them couldn't be open about their identities, Quinn revealed on Instagram a day before the Tokyo Olympics began. "I feel proud seeing 'Quinn' up on the lineup and on my accreditation. I feel sad knowing there were Olympians before me unable to live their truth because of the world," they wrote.

Quinn competed in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, where they and their team won a bronze medal, but they weren't out yet.

In a September 2020 Instagram post, Quinn told the world they were trans. While they've been out with their loved ones for years, part of Quinn's motivation to come out online is to support queer people who may not see people like themselves on social media.

"Instagram is a weird space. I wanted to encapsulate the feelings I had towards my trans identity in one post but that’s really not why anyone is on here, including myself," Quinn wrote. "So instead I want to be visible to queer folks who don’t see people like them on their feed. I know it saved my life years ago."

Quinn's accomplishment comes as trans and nonbinary athletes, like Olympic weightlifter Laurel Hubbard and Olympic skateboarder Alana Smith, respectively, gain more mainstream recognition because of their presence in the Games.
SEE ALSO: 3 helpful tips for when you plan to come out online

Despite gains for trans athletes on the Olympic stage, conservatives in the U.S. continue to pass bills to stop trans teens from playing on sports teams that align with their gender.

"When trans kids have access to gender-affirming spaces at school, like a locker room, a restroom, a sports team, they are 25 percent less likely to commit suicide," Annie Lieberman, director of policy programs for Athlete Ally, an LGBTQ athletic advocacy nonprofit, told ABC News.

The hurdles transgender athletes face to play on the teams that make them feel the safest makes Quinn's gold medal in the Olympics all the more impactful.

What's it like to watch your goalkeeper partner play for Olympic gold?

Surprisingly calm, then exhilarating

CBC/Radio-Canada

© Terri Trembath/CBC Olympic track cyclist Georgia Simmerling, partner of Olympic soccer goalkeeper Stephanie Labbé, watched the women's soccer gold-medal game along with Canadian fans at a bar in Calgary early Friday morning.

Bleary-eyed fans across the country watched nervously as the Canadian women's soccer team took the field against Sweden in a closely contested Olympic gold-medal match early Friday morning, but Georgia Simmerling was remarkably calm.

"To be honest, I'm pretty chill about it," said Simmerling, whose partner, Stephanie Labbé, is the starting goalkeeper for Canada.

"I know her so well, so if she gets hit or knocked down, I'm just sending her good vibes. I know she'll get back up."

Simmerling, an Olympian herself who just got back from competing at the Tokyo Games in track cycling, has experience steeling herself and steadying her emotions before a big competition.

"I guess I know how to control my nerves," she said.

"I obviously enjoy it. I love it. I'm her biggest fan. But yeah, I stay pretty calm."

Surrounded by fans gathered early Friday at a Calgary bar — eager to see the Canadian soccer team take its first crack at an Olympic gold medal, after earning bronze in their past two efforts — Simmerling said she was confident in Labbé.

"Steph turns into a bit of beast when it comes to stepping onto that field," she said.

That proved to be prescient.

After giving up a first-half goal, the Canadian team came from behind to tie the game and then endured numerous, dangerous-looking Swedish attacks in extra time, but ultimately emerged victorious in a six-round penalty shootout.

Both teams put on an outstanding display of goalkeeping in the shootout, but Labbé was just that much better than her Swedish counterpart, preventing four of Sweden's six attempts.

In the sixth and decisive round, Labbé denied Jonna Andersson's attempt and then Julia Grosso delivered the dagger for Canada by a matter of centimetres.

The Swedish keeper guessed correctly where Grosso would shoot and got a hand on the ball — looking for a fraction of a second like she had saved it — but it deflected off her glove and up into the top of the netting.

There may have been no crowd at the stadium in Japan, but the fans at the Calgary bar erupted in cheers, hugs and high-fives.

© Terri Trembath/CBC Georgia Simmerling reacts with other fans at a bar in Calgary early Friday as the Canadian women's soccer team wins the Olympic gold medal in a six-round penalty shootout.

As the pandemonium calmed, Simmerling caught her breath and considered the magnitude of what Labbé and her teammates had just accomplished.

"These girls are meant to do this," she said.

"They know what they need to do and they came up big. That was unbelievable. It was so incredible to watch."

Out boxer Nesthy Petecio dedicates her Olympic boxing silver to LGBTQ community

Nesthy Petecio fell short in a close gold medal bout, but etched her name in Filipino Olympic history with her silver medal

By Brian C. Bell @WonderboyOTM

Aug 3, 2021

Nesthy Petecio Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images

Out Filipina boxer Nesthy Petecio secured the first silver medal in Olympic Women’s Featherweight Boxing Tuesday after losing in heartbreaking fashion to Japan’s Sena Irie via unanimous decision. Afer the match, Petecio dedicated her medal to the LGBTQ community.

But the fight itself was much closer than the story the judges’ scorecards tell. After Irie was awarded the first round, Petecio battled back with solid combinations in the second. In contrast, Irie worked a solid jab but also spent a good chunk of the gold medal bout tying up and clinching Petecio.

Petecio made up ground in the second round, setting up a winner-take-all third round that resembled more of the same: Petecio launching flurries when an opening showed itself and Irie working the jab in between throwing off Petecio’s rhythm with grapples.

All five judges scored the third round in Irie’s favor, giving the Tokyo resident the first Women’s Featherweight gold medal in Olympic history. Though Women’s Boxing has been included at the Olympics since 2012, the 2020 Games marked the first inclusion of the sport’s featherweight division.

Petecio’s silver medal also proved historic. Her incredible run at the Tokyo Games made her the first woman from the Philippines to win a boxing medal, and the first Filipino boxer to medal at the Olympics since 1996. She and fellow out teammate Irish Magno were also the first Filipino women ever to compete in boxing at the Olympic level.

And Petecio’s show of emotion during the medal ceremony proved that the moment wasn’t lost on her despite not returning home with the gold. Petecio openly wept as she raised her medal on the podium.

“I cried earlier because I wanted to dedicate the gold to coach Nolito [Velasco],” she told ESPN afterward. “We came up short but I did my best in the ring.”

She added that “this fight is also for the LGBTQ community.”

Petecio’s best brought immense pride to her home nation, and it is paying her back in kind. Per PhilStar News, Filipino real estate companies Suntrust Properties and Ovialand awarded Petecio a condo and house worth P10 million ($201,000) and P2.5 million ($50,000) respectively. She was also given a P17 million ($342,000) incentive.

The silver medalist’s rise from an impoverished childhood to Olympic success has been the prevailing narrative during her run in Tokyo. Now, after making history, she appears to be set for life financially.

But that doesn’t mean she is complacent. Petecio is already looking to the Paris Games in 2024, staking her claim for the Philippines’ first boxing gold medal.

We’re still chasing the gold,” she said. “We’re not done.”

Tokyo Olympics 2020: 'About time', LGBTQ athletes unleash rainbow wave at Games

A wave of rainbow-colored pride, openness and acceptance is sweeping through Olympic pools, skateparks, halls and fields, with a record number of openly gay competitors in Tokyo.

The Associated PressJuly 27, 2021 16:41:18 IST

“I hope that any young LGBT person out there can see that no matter how alone you feel right now you are not alone," Tom Daley said. AFP

When Olympic diver Tom Daley announced in 2013 that he was dating a man and “couldn't be happier,” his coming out was an act of courage that, with its rarity, also exposed how the top echelons of sport weren't seen as a safe space by the vast majority of LGBTQ athletes.

Back then, the number of gay Olympians who felt able and willing to speak openly about their private lives could be counted on a few hands. There'd been just two dozen openly gay Olympians among the more than 10,000 who competed at the 2012 London Games, a reflection of how unrepresentative and anachronistic top-tier sports were just a decade ago and, to a large extent, still are.

Still, at the Tokyo Games, the picture is changing.

A wave of rainbow-colored pride, openness and acceptance is sweeping through Olympic pools, skateparks, halls and fields, with a record number of openly gay competitors in Tokyo. Whereas LGBTQ invisibility used to make Olympic sports seem out of step with the times, Tokyo is shaping up as a watershed for the community and for the Games — now, finally, starting to better reflect human diversity.

“It's about time that everyone was able to be who they are and celebrated for it,” said US skateboarder Alexis Sablone, one of at least five openly LGBTQ athletes in that sport making their Olympic debut in Tokyo.

“It's really cool,” Sablone said. “What I hope that means is that even outside of sports, kids are raised not just under the assumption that they are heterosexual."

The gay website Outsports.com has been tallying the number of publicly out gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and nonbinary athletes in Tokyo. After several updates, its count is now up to 168, including some who petitioned to get on the list. That's three times the number that Outsports tallied at the last Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. At the London Games, it counted just 23.

“The massive increase in the number of out athletes reflects the growing acceptance of LGBTQ people in sports and society,” Outsports says.

Daley is also broadcasting that message from Tokyo, his fourth Olympics overall and second since he came out.

After winning gold for Britain with Matty Lee in 10-metre synchronised diving, the 27-year-old reflected on his journey from young misfit who felt “alone and different" to Olympic champion who says he now feels less pressure to perform because he knows that his husband and their son love him regardless.

“I hope that any young LGBT person out there can see that no matter how alone you feel right now you are not alone," Daley said. "You can achieve anything, and there is a whole lot of your chosen family out here."

“I feel incredibly proud to say that I am a gay man and also an Olympic champion,” he added. “Because, you know, when I was younger I thought I was never going to be anything or achieve anything because of who I was.”

Still, there's progress yet to be made.

Among the more than 11,000 athletes competing in Tokyo, there will be others who still feel held back, unable to come out and be themselves. Outsports’ list has few men, reflecting their lack of representation that extends beyond Olympic sports. Finnish Olympian Ari-Pekka Liukkonen is one of the rare openly gay men in his sport, swimming.

“Swimming, it’s still much harder to come out (for) some reason," he said. "If you need to hide what you are, it’s very hard.”

Only this June did an active player in the NFL — Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib — come out as gay. And only last week did a first player signed to an NHL contract likewise make that milestone announcement. Luke Prokop, a 19-year-old Canadian with the Nashville Predators, now has 189,000 likes for his “I am proud to publicly tell everyone that I am gay" post on Twitter.

The feeling that “there's still a lot of fight to be done” and that she needed to stand up and be counted in Tokyo is why Elissa Alarie, competing in rugby, contacted Outsports to get herself named on its list. With their permission, she also added three of her Canadian teammates.

“It’s important to be on that list because we are in 2021 and there are still, like, firsts happening. We see them in the men’s professional sports, NFL, and a bunch of other sports," Alarie said. "Yes, we have come a long way. But the fact that we still have firsts happening means that we need to still work on this.”

Tokyo's out Olympians are also almost exclusively from Europe, North and South America, and Australia/New Zealand. The only Asians on the Outsports list are Indian sprinter Dutee Chand and skateboarder Margielyn Didal from the Philippines.

That loud silence resonates with Alarie. Growing up in a small town in Quebec, she had no gay role models and "just thought something was wrong with me.”

"To this day, who we are is still illegal in many countries," she said. “So until it's safe for people in those countries to come out, I think we need to keep those voices loud and clear."

Updated Date:July 27, 2021 16:41:18 IST

TAGS:

Scientists ID enzyme for making key industrial chemical in plants

by Brookhaven National Laboratory
Brookhaven Lab scientists identified an enzyme (PHBMT1) that transfers p-hydoxybenzoate (green) to lignin building blocks in poplar. The resulting conjugate is then incorporated into the nascent lignin polymer, leading to p-hydoxybenzoate-decorated lignin. The discovery may enable scientists to engineer plants to accumulate more of this important industrial chemical building block. Credit: Brookhaven National Laboratory
Scientists studying the biochemistry of plant cell walls have identified an enzyme that could turn woody poplar trees into a source for producing a major industrial chemical. The research, just published in Nature Plants, could lead to a new sustainable pathway for making "p-hydroxybenzoic acid," a chemical building block currently derived from fossil fuels, in plant biomass.
"P-hydroxybenzoic acid is a versatile chemical feedstock. It can serve as a building block for making liquid crystals, a plasticizer of nylon resin, a sensitizer for thermal paper, and a raw material for making paraben, dyes, and pigments," said Chang-Jun Liu, a plant biochemist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory and lead author on the paper.
The global market value of p-hydroxybenzoic acid stood at U.S. $59 million in 2020 and is projected to reach $80 million by 2026. But the current process for making this important chemical relies on petrochemicals. Its synthesis requires harsh reaction conditions (high temperature and high pressure) and has negative environmental impacts. Finding an economical and sustainable way to make p-hydroxybenzoic acid in plants could help mitigate environmental impacts and contribute to an emerging bioeconomy.
"We've identified a key enzyme responsible for the synthesis and accumulation of p-hydroxybenzoate (pBA)—the conjugate base of p-hydroxybenzoic acid—in lignin, one of three major polymers that make up the structural support that surrounds plant cells," said Liu. "This discovery may enable us to engineer plants to accumulate more of this chemical building block in their cell walls, thereby potentially adding value to the biomass."
Biofuels and bioproducts
Cell walls are made of a combination of chainlike polymers—cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin—which are the major source of plant biomass. Liu and other scientists have been exploring the biochemical pathways that build up these plant polymers. One goal has been to understand how changing the mix of polymers could make it easier and more cost-effective to convert biomass into biofuels.
Lignin, which gives plants structural integrity, mechanical strength, and waterproofing, is particularly hard to break down. But recent research aimed at generating cellulosic ethanol has driven technical advances and opportunities to increase the uses and therefore the value of lignin.
Scientists have known that the building blocks that make up lignin often have various chemical groups, including pBA, attached as sidechains. The exact function of these side groups was unknown. But Liu's team was interested in exploring their influence on lignin structure and properties. So, they set out to discover the enzyme responsible for attaching pBA to lignin.
"If we could identify this enzyme, and then control the expression of the gene that makes this enzyme, we could effectively control the level of pBA in the biomass of bioenergy plants," Liu said.
Searching for the gene
The scientists conducted their study on poplar. This fast-growing tree species has rich woody biomass. It has emerged as a promising renewable feedstock for biofuel and bio-based chemical production. It also has pBA as the main sidechain "decoration" on its lignin.
To systematically identify and characterize the enzyme(s) involved in attaching pBA or other chemical groups to lignin, Liu's team screened a series of candidate genes identified through a related genomic study of poplar.
"We cloned 20 candidate genes that are primarily expressed in woody tissues and encode enzymes called acyltransferases. These are the enzymes most likely involved in transferring chemical groups to the particular accepter molecules," Liu said.
The scientists expressed the enzymes coded for by these genes and mixed each one with various building blocks including one isotope-labeled carbon compound. Tracing the isotope label and a range of other test-tube based biomolecular techniques allowed the scientists to monitor whether each candidate enzyme was involved in attaching sidechains such as pBA (or the other chemical groups). They were able to zero in on the most likely candidate for the reaction of interest.
Firmly proving the enzyme's function in plants, however, was a formidable task. It took the scientists many years—and required the emergence of new advances in molecular biology.
One of those was a technique known as CRISPR/Cas9, a modern "genetic scissor" that permits precise editing of genes in the genome of a target organism. The team used CRISPR/Cas9 to generate a poplar variant in which the candidate enzyme-encoding gene had been deleted. Subsequent analysis found almost no pBA on the lignin in stems of these plants.
They also tried another genetic test by over-expressing the gene that produces the candidate enzyme. Those plants accumulated increased levels of pBA.
"Together these data provide conclusive proof that the gene/enzyme we have identified can attach pBA to the lignin building blocks," Liu said.
Ramping up plants' pBA content through genetic manipulation could be one way to sustainably produce p-hydroxybenzoic acid.
The scientists also found that lignin from plants that were engineered to accumulate lower pBA were easier to dissolve in a solvent. This implies that, in nature, pBA helps to strengthen lignin.
Therefore, another potential outcome of identifying the enzyme for adding pBA to lignin could be genetic strategies for tailoring the chemical properties of lignin.
Lowering pBA might improve the "delignification" of woody biomass for processes such as pulping, paper making, and biofuel production.
Conversely, increasing pBA levels on lignin could potentially enhance timber durability while also providing a pathway for long-term carbon sequestration by locking up more carbon in plant biomass—another key DOE goal.
"This work is a good example of basic scientific research leading to potentially valuable downstream applications," said John Shanklin, Chair of the Brookhaven Lab Biology Department.New enzyme breaks down waste for less expensive biofuels, bioproducts
More information: Monolignol acyltransferase for lignin p-hydroxybenzoylation in Populus, Nature Plants (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41477-021-00975-1 , www.nature.com/articles/s41477-021-00975-1
Journal information: Nature Plants
Provided by Brookhaven National Laboratory

Reduce methane or face climate catastrophe, scientists warn

Exclusive: IPCC says gas, produced by farming, shale gas and oil extraction, playing ever-greater role in overheating planet

Animal farming is one of the activities producing methane, which has a warming

Cutting carbon dioxide is not enough to solve the climate crisis – the world must act swiftly on another powerful greenhouse gas, methane, to halt the rise in global temperatures, experts have warned.

Leading climate scientists will give their starkest warning yet – that we are rushing to the brink of climate catastrophe – in a landmark report on Monday. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will publish its sixth assessment report, a comprehensive review of the world’s knowledge of the climate crisis and how human actions are altering the planet. It will show in detail how close the world is to irreversible change.

One of the key action points for policymakers is likely to be a warning that methane is playing an ever greater role in overheating the planet. The carbon-rich gas, produced from animal farming, shale gas wells and poorly managed conventional oil and gas extraction, heats the world far more effectively than carbon dioxide – it has a “warming potential” more than 80 times that of CO2 – but has a shorter life in the atmosphere, persisting for about a decade before it degrades into CO2.

Durwood Zaelke, president of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development and a lead reviewer for the IPCC, said methane reductions were probably the only way of staving off temperature rises of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, beyond which extreme weather will increase and “tipping points” could be reached. “Cutting methane is the biggest opportunity to slow warming between now and 2040,” he said. “We need to face this emergency.”

Zaelke said policymakers must heed the IPCC findings on methane before the UN climate talks, Cop26, in Glasgow in November. “We need to see at Cop26 a recognition of this problem, that we need to do something on this.”

Cutting methane could balance the impact of phasing out coal, a key goal at Cop26 because it is the dirtiest fossil fuel and has caused sharp rises in emissions in recent years. However, coal use has a perverse climate effect: the particles of sulphur it produces shield the Earth from some warming by deflecting some sunlight.

That means the immediate effect of cutting coal use could be to increase warming, although protecting the Earth in the medium and long term. Zaelke said cutting methane could offset that. “Defossilisation will not lead to cooling until about 2050. Sulphur falling out of the atmosphere will unmask warming that is already in the system,” he said.

“Climate change is like a marathon – we need to stay in the race. Cutting carbon dioxide will not lead to cooling in the next 10 years, and beyond that our ability to tackle climate change will be so severely compromised that we will not be able to run on. Cutting methane gives us time.”

Britain could be taking the lead in tackling the climate crisis. Where’s the ambition?

Keir Starmer

Levels of methane have risen sharply in recent years, caused by shale gas, poorly managed conventional gas, oil drilling and meat production. Last year, methane emissions rose by a record amount, according to the UN environment programme.

Satellite data shows that some of the key sources of methane are poorly managed Russian oil and gas wells. Gas can be extracted from conventional drilling using modern techniques that all but eliminate “fugitive” or accidental methane emissions. But while countries such as Qatar take care over methane, Russia, which is a party to the 2015 Paris climate agreement but has made little effort to cut its emissions, has some of the leakiest infrastructure

“Today more than 40% of EU gas is methane heavy gas from Russia, which is worse than coal for the climate,” said Paul Bledsoe, a former Clinton White House climate adviser now with the Progressive Policy Institute in Washington. “The EU should begin to measure and then regulate methane emissions from all its natural gas imports to begin a cleanup of global natural gas.”

Reducing methane emissions can save money. The UN’s assessment found that about half of the reductions in methane needed could be achieved with a quick payback.

Zaelke urged governments to consider crafting a new deal, alongside the Paris agreement, that would cover methane and require countries to sharply reduce their gas. “I predict we will have to have a global methane agreement,” he said.

Methane is also produced by melting permafrost, and there have been indications that the Siberian heatwave could increase emissions of the gas. However, large-scale emissions from permafrost melting are thought to be still some way off, while emissions of methane from agriculture and industry can be tackled today.

SCIENTISTS WARN OF METHANE “TIME BOMB” IN SIBERIA

"IT'S NOT GOOD NEWS IF IT'S RIGHT."

HÉLÉNA CHANSON / FUTURISM

Methane Bomb

For years, climate scientists have warned the world that rising temperatures in the Arctic risk detonating a methane “time bomb” of ancient greenhouse gas deposits that have been trapped away in the ice. Now, The Washington Post reports that the bomb’s timer is ticking dangerously low.

Satellite imagery of northern Siberia show that vast stretches of limestone that used to be trapped under permafrost are emerging and thawing out, according to research published on Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. As the limestone warmed up during a Siberian heat wave last year, it started to crack and pockets of gas escaped — unleashing a huge amount of methane that had, up until now, been safely sequestered out of the atmosphere.

“It’s intriguing,” Woodwell Climate Research Center senior scientist Robert Max Holmes, who didn’t work on the study, told WaPo. “It’s not good news if it’s right.”

Reverse Engineering

The scientists, who hail from a variety of European and Russian research institutes, actually uncovered the thawing limestone in a roundabout way. Thanks to a mapping technology called PULSE, the scientists’ satellite scans revealed the alarming methane emissions first, Inverse reports, and they pieced together where they came from after the fact.

“We found that two elongated areas of elevated methane concentration on the PULSE map perfectly coincide with two stripes where limestone formations occur in the subsurface,” lead study author and University of Bonn geoscientist Nikolaus Froitzheim told Inverse.

Big Kaboom

Holmes, the researcher who didn’t actually work on the study, told WaPo that the research deserves further scrutiny before anyone slams the panic button. But, he added, there is the potential for climate change calamity if all the gas currently trapped in the world’s permafrost were released.

“What we do know with quite a lot of confidence is how much carbon is locked up in the permafrost,” he told WaPo. “It’s a big number and as the Earth warms and permafrost thaws, that ancient organic matter is available to microbes for microbial processes and that releases CO2 and methane. “If something in the Arctic is going to keep me up at night that’s still what it is.”