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LGBTQ students more likely to leave home for college in more welcoming states

Chris DeSett said the first time he started to feel comfortable with his sexuality was the first night he moved into a dorm at American University in Washington, D.C. DeSett, 28, moved there ahead of his freshman year in August 2012, from his childhood home near Kansas City, Missouri. He chose the school for its international studies program but also because he wanted to get out of the Midwest to figure out who he was away from his family. After he moved into his dorm, and everyone’s parents had left, he said other students started banging on doors to gather […]

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Gay student says Florida school is stopping his run for student leadership

A 17-year-old gay student who was suspended for leading protests at his high school against Florida’s so-called Don’t Say Gay legislation says school administrators are stopping him from running for senior class president. Because of the disciplinary infractions he received for leading the protests at Flagler Palm Coast High School in March, school administrators are preventing him for running for the elected student body office, Jack Petocz said in a letter posted on Twitter on Tuesday. The school is located about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Daytona Beach. “I am continuing to be punished for standing up for my identity and against widespread […]

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Republican Pa. governor nominee opposes LGBTQ rights

Republican leadership in the Keystone State are expressing quiet alarm over the emergence of radical-right state senator who secured his place as the party’s nominee in the race against Democratic nominee for governor, Josh Shapiro, who is himself currently serving as the commonwealth’s attorney general. State Sen. Doug Mastriano, who represents Cumberland, Adams, Franklin and York Counties in the South Central Pennsylvania area bordering Maryland, was not seen as a truly viable candidate in the primary race to be the party standard-bearer until he was endorsed by former President Trump.  Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial race has serious implications for the outcome of […]

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The NFL should withdraw the Super Bowl LVII from Arizona

This year, the Republican majority in the Arizona state legislature passed two bills, S.B. 1138 and S.B. 1165, which target trans children. The day before the 2022 Trans Day of Visibility, Gov. Doug Ducey (R) signed them into law, claiming they were about “fairness.” In reality, S.B. 1138 and S.B. 1165 willfully restrict the opportunities and medical care available to trans children, with no regard to their quality of life or peace of mind. The passage of these laws will humiliate and harm trans youth in Arizona, and increase the risk of bullying and social ostracization. And when we know […]

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For the LGBTQ community and other minorities, war is fought every day

My decision to transition took place while in the midst of reading the classic George Orwell opus on war: Homage to Catalonia.  Having been on and off feminizing hormones for the previous nine months, it was in Barcelona when I called my best friend and told her that my 35-year wait to embrace myself was finally ending.  Related: The worst part of traveling while gay Barcelona was also the city where Orwell’s personal narrative of fighting for a foreign nation in combat took place.  When coupled with other works on conflict by literary luminaries from the past including Faulkner and Hemingway, I’d […]

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People are writing moving letters to trans kids to show them being trans is a ‘gift’

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Countless trans people are speaking out about their childhoods by writing letters in an effort to humanise the often cruel “debates” about them. Under the hashtag “Letters 4 Trans Kids“, trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming Twitter users told their own stories. As adults, they are thriving – and they want to help young people do the same. In a news cycle so often dominated by stories that dwell on bullying, murder and whether to remove their rights, trans people brought the conversation back to joy. Among them was Arthur Webber, a 24-year-old writer based in London, England, who recalled nights […]

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LGBTQ authors of banned books speak out on why their stories matter

When George M. Johnson wrote their memoir, All Boys Aren’t Blue about growing up Black and queer in America, they knew the calls to ban it would come. “We live in a country where any story that is not centering some white, cis, heterosexual young boy or young girl…are not books they deem as acceptable and worthy,” Johnson told LGBTQ Nation. “I already knew from the beginning it would be banned in some places.” But Johnson never expected it would go this far. All Boys Aren’t Blue, along with a myriad of other books that celebrate LGBTQ voices, has become the center of a […]

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More Texas families with trans kids plan to flee the state

Just a month ago, Katie, a Texas mom, had no plans to leave her home. Even after Gov. Greg Abbott urged Texans in February to report cases of minors receiving gender-affirming care, Katie — who has a 15-year-old transgender son and knew she could be investigated — planned to stay and fight. But things started to change for Katie when the Texas Children’s Hospital announced last month that it would pause gender-affirming services for minors in light of the directive. Her son lost access to his care program for three weeks until a judge paused the state’s investigations. “That just really shook me,” said […]

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Talk of racism, sexuality in schools deeply divides Americans, poll finds

Americans are deeply divided over how much children in K-12 schools should be taught about racism and sexuality, according to a new poll released as Republicans across the country aim to make parental involvement in education a central campaign theme this election year. Overall, Americans lean slightly toward expanding — not cutting back — discussions of racism and sexuality, but roughly 4 in 10 say the current approach is about right, including similar percentages across party lines. Still, the poll from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows stark differences between Republicans and Democrats who […]

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Florida’s not alone — 19 other states eye LGBTQ school bills

Florida’s newly enacted Parental Rights in Education bill — dubbed by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill — has catapulted LGBTQ rights to the center of political discourse in recent months. Leaders of global corporations, editorial boards of major newspapers and the White House have all weighed in on the new law, with some calling it “deeply disturbing” and others “noncontroversial.” The cast of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” has repeatedly ripped into the bill in several of its most recent episodes. At last month’s Oscars, co-host Wanda Sykes took a jab at the measure in the Academy Awards’ opening monologue. And last week, […]

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