Perspectives

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Amber Glenn becomes the first out queer woman to win the US Figure Skating Championship

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Amber Glenn has won the U.S. Figure Skating Championship, becoming the first openly LGBTQ+ woman to win.  Glenn — who identifies as bisexual and pansexual — has competed in the championship eight times prior, and won the silver medal in 2021 and the bronze medal in 2023.  Despite making mistakes on two major jumps in her free skate routine on 26 January, Glenn won with 210.46 points to silver medalist Josephine Lee’s 204.13 points and bronze medalist  Isabeau Levito’s 200.68 points. In an interview with NBC Sports, the victor said: “Being the first openly queer women’s champion is incredible. When I came out initially, I was terrified. I […]

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Are transgender athletes allowed in the Olympics? The truth behind the myths

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Are transgender athletes allowed in the Olympics? With Paris 2024 soon approaching, many people have been asking that question.  Unfortunately, recent years have seen transgender athletes competing in sporting events face increasingly extreme restrictions. While transgender athletes are technically allowed in the Olympics, they’re not exactly given a warm welcome given the increasingly demanding requirements placed on them.  Ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic games, the topic of trans athletes’ participation is once again being raised. The forthcoming Olympic games are set to introduce further restrictions to previous editions.  Can trans athletes compete at the Olympics?  Taking place in Paris […]

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The incredible life stories of three gay NFL players who paved the way for Carl Nassib

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Former Las Vegas Raiders star Carl Nassib made history during Pride month in 2021 when he came out as gay. “I actually hope that, one day, videos like this and the whole coming-out process are just not necessary,” he said in a post on Instagram. “But until then, I’m going to do my best, and my part, to cultivate a culture that’s accepting, that’s compassionate.”  Having also played for the Cleveland Browns and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Nassib announced his retirement from the NFL last September. Many people believe that Nassib was the first player to come out, but that’s far from the case. […]

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I lived unapologetically as a Black gay man in the 70s. Now I’m aging with pride & dignity.

The year: 1969. Man landed on the moon, the Beatles gave their last concert on top of the Apple building in London, and we mourned Judy Garland’s death. But most notable for me was the Stonewall Uprising on June 28. As a gay African-American man, I am an activist and a pioneer. I have experienced some of the brightest and darkest highlights of LGBTQ history. So much has changed and I know my generation has made a significant contribution to the growth and positive changes. My mantra: “I’m living my best life!” The year of the Stonewall Uprising, I was […]

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BLACK HISTORY MONTH; Darling, you’re a masterpiece: The unequivocal beauty of being Black & queer

In the dazzling spectacle of Black History Month, we strut down the runway of celebration, draped in the richness of our heritage.  But wait, cue the music, because, for some of us, there’s an unexpected wardrobe malfunction – the clash of being both Black and queer. Let’s unpack this sartorial crisis, shall we? Queer and Black: a double whammy of fabulousness As we revel in the glory of Blackness, let’s not forget the glittering rhinestones that adorn the Queer community. But, darling, statistics paint a rather somber picture.  In the vibrant tapestry of Black identity, the intersectionality of being both […]

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NFL to host Pride night during Super Bowl week

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The National Football League (NFL) will once again host A Night of Pride event during Super Bowl week, leaving bigots up in arms.  The third annual A Night of Pride with GLAAD, presented by Smirnoff, will be held on 7 February ahead of the Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas four days later.  It will be an evening of music, cocktails and interview-style conversations with GLAAD, including a panel on how inclusion in sports advances acceptance for LGBTQ people, and will feature a special live performance by singer-songwriter VINCINT. GLAAD president and chief executive Sarah Kate Ellis said: “[Our] partnership with the NFL is committed […]

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Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas has mounted a legal challenge against World Aquatics

Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas has been quietly mounting a legal battle against World Aquatics to overturn the swimming governing body’s effective ban on most trans women competing in the highest levels of the sport, a lawyer representing Thomas confirmed to NBC News on Friday. Carlos Sayao, a partner at top Canadian law firm Tyr, said Thomas is asking the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland to overturn the new World Aquatics rules, issued in June 2022, that prohibit trans women from competing in women’s swimming events unless they transitioned before age 12.  The U.K.’s Telegraph was the first to report on Thomas’ behind-closed-doors […]

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Progressive states must become safe havens for LGBTQ adolescents

It should come as no surprise that the new speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives is anti-LGBTQ+, given the escalation of such sentiments across the nation. During the 2023 legislative session, more than 550 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced across 43 state houses; more than 200 of these targeted transgender and non-binary people, particularly youth. As of August 2023, more than 80 bills had passed, making it the worst year on record for LGBTQ+ rights.  What happens when these discriminatory policies force LGBTQ+ people to move to more supportive enclaves, which also have some of the most expensive housing in the country and highest per capita rates of homelessness? This […]

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Understanding trans identity from a therapy perspective

The trans identity has been written about extensively from a political perspective. Many columns in the Blade, and other outlets, speak of gender ID laws, barriers in trans healthcare, pronouns, trans representation in state legislatures and eventually Congress, and the legality of offering trans children hormone blockers, among other treatments.  While speaking of politics can be good, it’s equally important to understand trans lives from the perspective of someone with a social work degree — or, in other words, from an emotional and therapeutic perspective.  Trans people, simply put, face many emotional barriers in life that others usually don’t have to […]

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Family sues school district over law that bans trans volleyball player from girls’ sports

The family of a transgender volleyball player has added a South Florida school district as a defendant in a federal lawsuit that challenges a 2021 state law banning transgender girls from playing on female sports teams, claiming school officials have placed the family in danger. Attorneys for the family filed an amended complaint Thursday that adds the Broward School Board, the school district’s superintendent and the Florida High School Athletic Association. The school officials had been named as defendants when the lawsuit was initially filed in 2021 but were dropped the next year, leaving just the Florida Department of Education […]

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