Opinions

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We elect presidents that reflect who we are, and in Trump, America proves to be inherently selfish

There’s a well-proven theory that America elects presidents that reflect who we are. In the Gilded Age, America felt powerful and invincible and elected Theodore Roosevelt, a man who exuded strength and vitality. Thirty years later, America was ravaged by a depression, and we elected a president ravaged by polio when we elected Franklin Roosevelt. In 1952, America was booming again. We were commanding. We had won a war and elected the redoubtable Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.  In 1976, after the saga and stain of Watergate, we yearned to be thought simple and wholesome and elected the kind and unassuming […]

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Kamala Harris is fighting for us—it’s time we stand up and fight for her

As a proud Black man, a gay man, and someone who has survived and spoken out against sexual violence, I want to talk to my community—Black men, Black gay men, and the LGBTQ+ family. We’re not going back, so we need to rally behind Vice President Kamala Harris. She’s been fighting for us, and now it’s our turn to stand up and fight for her by voting—and voting now. Some of you may have seen me on MTV’s Catfish, where I shared my story as a survivor of sexual violence. That’s why supporting Kamala Harris is so important to me, as she’s fighting for people like […]

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Lessons in resistance: How AIDS activism can teach us to save ourselves from hate

The Reagan Administration was determined to ignore the AIDS epidemic. As the death toll climbed across the country, Reagan refused to even say the word “AIDS,” waiting until 1985 to name the deadly illness. It wasn’t until 1987 that he formed a task force to address the disease, and his administration did not implement a single one of its 597 recommendations.  In response, a group of four gay men in Minneapolis came together to form the Philanthrofund Foundation, or PFund for short, in 1987. Aaron Zimmerman, the current Executive Director of the organization, told LGBTQ Nation the founders’ primary principle: “We need to save […]

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2024 Election: What’s at stake for the queer and trans community

Before we know it, election day for the November 2024 presidential election will be upon us. We’ve heard time and again that this is the most important election of our lives, something we might be tired of hearing every four years. There is obviously a lot at stake in this election, from abortion rights to how future elections will be held. But what is at stake specifically for the queer community? Many members of the LGBTQ+ community likely already know who they are going to vote for. In the broadest terms, Donald Trump’s campaign has attacked LGBTQ+ rights and Kamala […]

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LGBTQ+ rights have long been at the mercy of public opinion. This November will be no different.

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LGBTQ+ ballot initiatives have long been used as a wedge issue to turn out the conservative vote and to give or take away freedoms that are usually guaranteed by the government. The 2024 election is no different. This November continues a decades-long tradition of leaving LGBTQ+ civil rights up to public debate. New Yorkers will consider whether to add sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression to their anti-discrimination amendment in the state constitution. Reproductive rights are on the ballot in 10 states as well. And California, Colorado, and Hawaii voters will decide if their states will repeal their constitutions’ […]

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NY Times report on GLAAD riddled with bad reporting, innuendo, lies

Let me say up front that no one from GLAAD asked me to write this, and I did not run its content by them or coordinate in any way. These are my independent observations based on my experience as Vice President and Chief Programs Officer under the leadership of Sarah Kate Ellis for five years. I was there for much of what is detailed in the recent New York Times story, and I feel compelled to provide a counterpoint to the imbalanced — and perhaps libelous — story put forward by the Times.  Before I get into the content of […]

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No LGB Without the T

It is frustrating, alarming, sad, and more than a little scary that this still needs to be said in 2024, but here we go, once again, for the record: Trans. Rights. Are. Human. Rights. Some so-called “leaders” throughout the country have decided that the trans community—including gender non-conforming, non-binary and intersex folks—make an easy target as political pawns in their hate-filled culture wars. Which is why it is more important than ever for the entire LGBTQ+ community and our allies to stand up boldly on behalf of the entire trans family. Simply stated, there is no LGB without the T. Do […]

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As governments demonize LGBTQ+ rights, children lose the most

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In recent months, LGBTQ+ rights have faced significant setbacks in many countries, with populist and authoritarian governments passing draconian laws curtailing LGBTQ+ rights.  Countries as varied asUganda, Ghana, Iraq, Russia, Hungary, and theUnited States, among others, have sought to limit the fundamental freedoms of expression, association, and assembly of LGBTQ+ individuals. They have done so by suggesting that the mere existence of LGBTQ+ people in the public sphere poses a threat to children, misusing the rhetoric of protecting children to restrict fundamental human rights. This tired and offensive stereotype is damaging to the LGBTQ+ community, who are demonized in the public imagination and deprived of basic human […]

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Women’s autonomy is fundamental in the fight for queer justice

A recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling deemed frozen embryos to be children under state law. This led most clinics in the state to immediately halt in vitro fertilization (IVF) due to fears of legal repercussions under Alabama’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. This ruling is just one in a series of attacks on reproductive rights in the United States that affects both queer and heterosexual people aspiring to parenthood. The ruling also compounded existing inequalities in access to fertility treatment faced by queer women, single women and transgender men, in particular. A 2023 Human Rights Watch investigation found that heterosexual couples are covered […]

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Elon Musk & ‘X’ Are Dangers to Society

Elon Musk is officially a danger to society. As of mid May of 2024, X.com, the platform formerly known as Twitter, has started banning accounts that use the word “cisgender” or “cis,” deriding it as a slur. For those who don’t know, “cisgender” refers to any person whose gender aligns with the genitalia they were assigned at birth. Erasing the word “cisgender” from tweets, or X.com remarks, ensures that gender nonconforming people can’t articulate the bigotry they feel in this world.  Musk has been notorious for his transphobia. It didn’t just start in mid-May of this year. In June of […]

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