Endeavor IPO, Disney Georgia, Abigail Spanberger: Broadsheet May 30

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Talent agency Endeavor is IPOing without women on its board, Disney weighs Georgia’s abortion law, and states wrestle with the best way to provide IDs to nonbinary people. Have a terrific Thursday.

EVERYONE'S TALKING

• X marks the spot. I was fascinated by this New York Times story about state governments' attempts to cope with a new generation of Americans who, in unprecedented numbers, openly identify as nonbinary—i.e. Neither only male nor only female.

Given that our society has long thought of gender as clear-cut dichotomy, this shift has not only confused a lot of people, but caused logistical quandaries. While some of the issues we hear a lot about (such as uncertainty over which pronouns and honorifics to use) are fairly easy to overcome, things have a way of getting much thornier when the bureaucracy gets involved. And that's beginning to happen as lawmakers have started to explore bills that would offer a nonbinary option—like "X," as opposed to "M" or "F"—on drivers' licenses, birth certificates, and other official forms of ID.

Despite unsurprising pushback, a few of these new rules have already been instituted. But according to the NYT, "the current crop of gender-neutral license bills, if signed into law, would amount to the first wave of legal recognition for nonbinary identities, legal experts said. 'We didn’t want this to be just an administrative change,' said Jen Jenkins (they/them), a law student at the University of Hawaii who provided research for the bill passed by Hawaii’s legislature last month. 'We want it to last.'"

I have no doubt this is an issue we'll be hearing much more about in the months and years to come. And despite our puntastic name (for those who don't know, it's a play on old newspaper lingo) and regular deployment of her/she, the Broadsheet aims to serve and amplify all our readers, including those who identify as nonbinary. If there's anything we can do to improve on that front, please don't hesitate to let us know. New York Times

Kristen Bellstrom

@kayelbee

[email protected]

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

• Here comes a hedge fund. Anne Dias was one of the few women to run her own hedge fund, and she's considering a return to the field. Just 4% of new funds founded between 2013 and 2017 had women at the helm, and only two of the largest 50 hedge funds have women in the top management position. Wall Street Journal

• A misguided Endeavor? Coins2Day's Lucinda Shen reports on the impending IPO of entertainment giant Endeavor. Despite Hollywood creatives' role at the forefront of the #MeToo and Time's Up movements, Endeavor has only one woman on its executive team and zero women on its board of directors. Coins2Day

• Disney in Georgia. Disney is the latest company to float the idea of pulling out of Georgia should the state's restrictive abortion law take effect. CEO Bob Iger said it'd be "very difficult" for the company to keep shooting projects in the state since people would not want to work there. Reuters

• Top 100. Apolitical, a peer-to-peer lending platform for governments, is out with a list of what it dubs the 100 most influential people in gender equality policy. At the top of the list: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Ai-jen Poo of the National Domestic Workers' Alliance, Christine Lagarde, activist Loujain al-Hathloul, and Michelle Obama. CNBC

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EU deputy chief Brexit negotiator Sabine Weyand was named director general for trade in the European Commission, the top civil servant role in trade policy. Catalyst's Susan Bihler joins the board of directors of eSUB Construction Software. Reach Capital founder Jennifer Carolan joins the board of Outschool. As part of a truce with activist investors, Bed, Bath & Beyond added Sue E. Gove to its board of directors.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

• Actress chat. In a comedic actress roundtable, Alex Borstein, Regina Hall, Natasha Lyonne, Maya Rudolph, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Tiffany Haddish, and Jane Fonda talk career trajectories and onscreen nudity. As Haddish says: "How much they paying me?" The Hollywood Reporter

• Biden and Beto. While unveiling his first policy proposal in the 2020 race, Joe Biden had another bizarre interaction involving personal space—in this case with a young girl. "I’ll bet you’re as bright as you are good-looking," he said to a 10-year-old while leaving his hands on her shoulders. And the Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin asks: will Beto O'Rourke's questionable management of his campaign staff, as revealed in a new documentary, get the same attention as Sen. Amy Klobuchar's?

• On the road in VA. The Washington Post kicks off a series about Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a moderate Democrat representing a red district in Virginia. "We come from places where different ideologies live side by side, and we have a real responsibility to legislate that way," she says. Washington Post

Today's Broadsheet was produced by Emma Hinchliffe. Share it with a friend. Looking for previous Broadsheets? Click here.