Gender-Affirming Healthcare: Life-Saving Treatment for Trans Youth
In recent months, multiple states, including Texas, Alabama, and Arizona, enacted legislation that seeks to significantly limit access to—and, in some cases, criminalize—the practice of gender-affirming healthcare, especially for trans youth. These developments raise questions as to how we address legislation that is in complete opposition to medical standards of best practice. A preponderance of […]
The Complexities of Queer, Caribbean Identities, and the Dangers of West-Centric LGBTQ+ Advocacy
Introduction As of 2020, nine Caribbean countries criminalize same-sex relations. Beyond legal discrimination, queer Caribbean people face increased threats of violence, abuse, and oppression. In 2006, Time magazine went as far as insinuating that the Caribbean region is “the most homophobic place on Earth.” But despite this environment, queer Caribbean communities have continued to resist […]
Why Trans Female Athlete Bans Aren’t the Solution
On his first day in office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order combatting discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation. The order allowed trans children to access restrooms, locker rooms, and school sports of their gender identity and directed the Attorney General to evaluate states’s current regulations. In retaliation, almost thirty deep-red states […]
Transparent Transphobia: The Fight for LGBT Rights Is Far From Over
The day after President Joe Biden was sworn into office, #BidenErasedWomen trended on Twitter. What had the brand-new president done to women that was so horrible? He signed an executive order to protect LGBT Americans from discrimination. Biden signed several executive orders on his first day in office; most of them reversed Trump-era policies regarding […]
The Precarious Fate of Obergefell v. Hodges
The Supreme Court was always an important factor in the 2020 presidential election. Even before Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death in September, it was unlikely she would survive another presidential term. And with three justices aged seventy or older, whoever wins the presidency will probably get at least one appointment. Ginsburg’s passing made the Supreme […]
Returning to Pride’s Intersectional Protest Roots
The Stonewall Riots of June 1969, one of the major turning points leading to the gay liberation and modern LGBTQ+ rights movements, was a multi-night rebellion against the police. Black trans women of color, namely Marsha P. Johnson and Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, were central figures at Stonewall and in the movement it sparked. In fact, […]
Your Arguments Against TERFs Are Missing the Point
On June 6, amid a global pandemic, J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, took to Twitter to air her grievances about an article concerning menstrual health hygiene in a “post-COVID-19 world.” Rowling’s initial tweet made a point about the lack of the word “women”: Despite immediate backlash, Rowling doubled down on the rhetoric, […]
Episode 1: “LGBTQ Rights and the Supreme Court” with Alex Jarecki
Listen and subscribe to our podcast: Via Spotify | Via Apple Podcasts Bryan and Alex sit down to talk about Alex’s article “Legally Sanctioned Discrimination? The Supreme Court Case and LGBT Employees’ Rights”. They discuss the potential rulings and consequences of upcoming Supreme Court cases, mainly the Title VII cases about sex-based employment discrimination against […]
The Cause for, Victim of, and Cure to Gay Loneliness
For five years of my life, I lived openly and unapologetically as a gay man. Twelve years old and gay as all hell, I was not a typical middle-school student you would find in 2012, even in my hometown of Long Beach in Southern California. And when the world didn’t end that December, I thought, […]
In the Age of Acceptance, North Carolina Chooses Intolerance
LGBT rights have expanded exponentially in the past year. The Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) legalized same-sex marriage across all 50 states, briefly putting an end to state-imposed discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.[1] The majority of political backlash following the Obergefell decision, primarily from conservative states and politicians, consisted mostly of […]