Opinions

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Trans community demands lawmakers end onslaught of attacks

 enjoy living in Kansas. Specifically, Lawrence, Kansas, where I can attend a watercolor painting class at the local plant shop on Wednesday, the weekly drag show on Thursday, and a vintage clothing pop-up on Friday. But despite the beauty of the rolling Flint Hills, there is something ugly happening in the place I call home. Growing hostility towards the transgender and non-binary community is being codified through policies and perpetuated through violence that threatens our basic human rights.  Rights activists see such rollbacks of hard-fought progress spreading across the US, and we’re bracing for new attacks that will test the […]

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Banning books: The greatest scheme to get kids to read again

Don’t touch that hot stove! Don’t pull the dog’s tail! Don’t say bad words! Tell a kid that they can’t do something and what’s the normal response? Do it. Why? Because your parents, the commanders of your universe, told you not to not to do it (which is the simultaneous birthplace of both your curiosity and independence). Don’t they remember being a kid — and that delicious wanting to know what’s on the other side of “Don’t?” One of my greatest joys as an author is to inspire kids to read. Books were my curiosity creators and my independence days, […]

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Organizing in a Time of Anxiety: Taking Inspiration From the Gay Men’s Health Crisis

We often feel duty-bound to tackle everything from a worsening climate catastrophe to systemic racism, economic inequality, global humanitarian crises, public health emergencies, rampant corporate greed and the potential threat of authoritarianism, just to name a few. It can be not only daunting, but also downright exhausting to face the challenges inherent in fighting for a more just and peaceful world. At the same time, we’re organizers precisely because we want to make progress on intractable problems, and we know the solutions lie in the communities more directly impacted. In the midst of moments that feel hopeless – where it’s easy to […]

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Watching the Armageddon of the House GOP and Speaker Johnson

I was speaking to a friend of mine recently about the preposterous nonsense going on with House Republicans and their inability to elect a speaker. “They need to find someone who only has six months to live. They will get the sympathy vote, and they’ll have an out when that person dies,” he joked. “They already tried that, to a degree,” I answered, in a more serious tone. “Steve Scalise is being treated for blood cancer, and he didn’t get an ounce of sympathy, so he pulled out of the speaker’s race instead of making himself sicker.” (As a side […]

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LGBTQIA+ and progressive communities have a Palestine problem; supporting Israel is not the answer

For 11 excruciating days now, I have been in tears and terrified for the safety of my blind mother, paralyzed father and two siblings in the Gaza Strip.  For 11 days, I have been watching horrific Israeli violence defying humanity while being fully supported by the U.S. — liberals and conservatives alike — with the stated intent of destroying the lives of more than two million people, including my family and loved ones. This intent and the magnitude of the destruction and loss of life make a textbook example of genocide, defined as:  Any of the following acts committed with […]

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STI Rates, Including HIV, Could Spike Due to Medicaid Cuts

We have come a long way from the days when HIV was an almost certain death sentence. But our work is far from over. The COVID-19 pandemic led to an uptick in rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV, and low-income communities, LGBTQ+ communities, and communities of color continue to be impacted at alarming and disproportionately high rates. These communities are also more likely to be served by Medicaid. Medicaid is the largest source of insurance coverage for people living with HIV in the United States, covering an estimated 40 percent of nonelderly adults with HIV, and Medicaid accounted for 45 percent […]

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Anti-trans attacks aren’t the winning election issue the right thinks it is

Republicans are waging war against the transgender community, believing that they have a winning electoral strategy.  In terms of causing both physical and emotional damage, they have succeeded, as states like North Carolina and Missouri have banned gender-affirming treatment for minors. But the attacks may not be quite the brilliant campaign tactic that the GOP thinks it has. If anything, Republicans are finding that they may have gone too far. Moreover, based on history, attacking the trans community may be more of a losing proposition at the ballot box than Republicans believe.  The current run of attacks on the trans community is sadly not […]

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The Supreme Court opened a dangerous can of worms after granting the right to discriminate

What can we infer from those religions that justify the discriminatory treatment of other human beings? In terms of LGBTQ+ equality, I simply cannot comprehend the clear and undeniable contradiction between a religion’s expressed claims, in various forms, to love one’s neighbor as oneself, and how it is better to give than to receive, combined with, for example: ·       a baker’s refusal to bake a confectionery delight ·       a photographer’s refusal to preserve joyous moments ·       a caterer’s refusal to cook the pleasures of delectable sustenance ·       a florist’s refusal to arrange the beauties from the garden ·       a jeweler’s refusal of a band connecting […]

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Drag Doesn’t Kill People — Guns Do

August 9, 2002 was the first day I went out in drag. I had just moved to Nashville for college and had touched nearly every theatrical production I possibly could but had yet to venture into the world of drag. The second I did, Nashville welcomed me with open arms and I quickly realized with the help of other queens, that this would allow me to celebrate my creativity in a whole new way.  And thus, Veronika Electronika was born.  I have used drag in a myriad of ways in the past 20-plus years: to cultivate community, call for political […]

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Taking Away Our Civil Rights Must Not Become the New Normal After Dobbs

One year later it still feels surreal. I still find myself shaking my head in disbelief that the Supreme Court actually overturned Roe v. Wade, marking the first time it has eliminated rather than expanded a fundamental personal right. How can a constitutional guarantee of liberty not include the right to determine what happens to one’s own body? How can those who profess a commitment to that liberty support forced pregnancy? With its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the court demonstrated, as it has in so many areas, how far out of alignment it is with what the majority of people […]

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