Posts Tagged: LGBTQ
Creating Change 2014: We Need our Differences to Build Solidarity
I’m writing this post as I wait for my flight to take me back to Kansas City and away from Houston, Texas where I’ve just spent the last few days with a couple thousand other queermos, at the largest LGBT annual conference in the country. It’s only been a few days, but it’s been days full of non-stop policy appraisals, organizing, outfit planning, strategizing, educating, waiting in 15 deep Starbucks lines, challenging, affirming, networking, (and maybe the tiniest bit of having-a-good-time-ing). I’m beyond exhausted. But I’m also sad to be leaving. Being around 4,000 individuals dedicated to so many of your own progressive core values, especially as a Midwest gal stuck in bleeding red state, is thrilling. And especially as a super queer Midwest gal who spent nearly 19 of… Read more »
Creating Change: Accessibility and Diversity
This weekend I attended Creating Change: The National Conference of LGBT Rights. Basically, the conference covers a wide intersection of issues impacting the LGBTQ community, including homelessness, HIV/AIDS, marriage equality, immigration, and a whole host of other issues. One of the big themes appeared to be queering reproductive justice. This issue addresses a persistent dismissal of the LBGTQ community’s involvement in abortion rights and birth control access and other reproductive health-related issues based on the idea that LGBTQ-identified folks do not need access to these services. Several of the panels were based on how to address this concern and continue to organize for reproductive justice inclusively for folks of all identities.
New Year, New Florida: Domestic Partnership on the Horizon
Over the past few years, the movement for LGBTQ equality has made some tremendous progress throughout the country. With the number of states that allow same-sex marriage nearly doubling in 2013, and the landmark decision of Windsor v. the United States this past summer, it’s hard to believe that the movement is still barreling forward with the same speed and determination. Before Christmas, State House Representative Linda Stewart introduced a state domestic partnership registry bill. This is huge! In Florida, where no protection for queer people exists on the state level, it’s been hard to watch such successes create waves throughout the country that continue to not touch me. But with this Stewart’s bill gaining support from other pro-equality politicians as well as the public, Florida’s disposition toward the queer… Read more »
ENDA May Not Mean the End of Job Discrimination
The fight for same sex marriage has consumed the public’s mind in the past few years. With the ruling on DOMA and California’s Proposition 8 this past summer many people have gotten tunnel vision, focusing all their efforts to marriage equality. I’ll be the first to admit that there isn’t anything wrong with this. Marriage equality is an issue very dear to many people, both queer and heteronormative. But another issue looms on the horizon for the queer community and that is job protection.
Four Ways to Spot a Bad Ally
Society has advanced leaps and bounds over just the past decade when it comes to rights and acceptance for members of the LGBTQ+ community. Just a hundred years ago gay people didn’t even exist. Now look at us, boycotting Chik-Fil-A, framing our Civil Union certificates, and having our marriages recognized by other states like real people. And really, who do we have to thank for our progress? Who has always been there pushing us forward and forcing us to create change? I got an answer for you: straight people. They’ve been extremely busy with the LGBTQ+ community if you haven’t noticed; writing bills to keep themselves from discriminating against us and making sure everyone knows what the “A” stands for “Allies”. No but let’s be real. There are allies and… Read more »
The Politics of Finding Yourself on the Page
The Toast did a lovely piece this week that filled my stomach with butterflies upon dizzying butterflies called “Annie on My Mind and the Books that Made us Gasp.” It’s one of those small gathering of words that quickens your breath a bit because you know these words somehow, even though this is the first time you’ve seen them in this particular order, by this particular author, on this particular day. It’s about finding your you-ness, in part or in whole, in the media, and the validation that comes with knowing you’re not alone. Or to quote the author and lovely editor —“where something said helplessly inside your chest ‘Oh, that’s me. That’s us, that’s us, that’s me, thank God, that’s us.’
Domestic Violence & LGBTQ History Month: 5 Uncomfortable Truths
Who hasn’t seen the “Don’t Be That Guy” posters around campus? My personal favorite features two males in the poster highlighting the intersectionality of domestic violence and queer relationships. Domestic violence and LGBQT visibility are both serious issues, but when looking at the intersection, the result can be quite damning. In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness and LGBTQ history month, the taboo topic of domestic violence in queer relationships has to be addressed. Surprisingly, the American Bar Association Journal cites that “the prevalence of domestic violence among Gay and Lesbian couples is approximately 25-33%” which is pretty similar to heterosexual couples. However, in LGBTQ relationships, the conditions can be much more complex:
Health Care Reform: Moving onto the Next Barriers to Care
The Affordable Care Act is law of the land and that’s a good thing. More people who previously weren’t able to access health care due to financial restraints will now have an easier time doing so. Issues like lack of insurance and under insurance will be alleviated through implementation of The Affordable Care Act. We’ve come a long way baby, that is why I will Debbie Downer all over the celebration party by reminding us of how far we still have to go. Removing financial barriers to health care is a HUGE step to eliminating health disparities. Now we can begin to tackle the non financial barriers that impede access to care and sustains disparities. Some of the egregious, in no particular order: Plan B Plan B (emergency contraception) no… Read more »
For Queer Youth, Statutory Rape Laws Can Sometimes Do More Harm than Good
Earlier this summer, an 18 year-old Floridian woman walked across a football field and accepted her high school diploma, sights set enthusiastically on the future. “She is scheduled to attend the medical program at [a local college]. She’s also scheduled to audition for The Voice in Texas. She has been singing her whole life and also 4 years of choir” her father proudly told me. The young woman in question was Kaitlyn Hunt. But despite only having a high school diploma and boundless ambition, Hunt was the one teaching me, a queer 24 year-old university student, about legality, homophobia, and sex-negativity. By now, you have likely heard Hunt’s story. During her senior year at Sebastian High School, the then-17 year-old began a relationship with a 14 year-old peer. After Hunt… Read more »
Huffington Post: Proudly Advocating for Love and Freedom
“Marriage and so many issues come down to the most basic freedoms: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Both of our movements seek to define, build, and celebrate a diversity of families. This includes the right to control what you do with your body, the agency to choose whom to love and be intimate with, the ability to decide how and when to build a family, and the power to build a community that reflects and protects these values. These are the building blocks of the LGBTQ movement, but also of the reproductive justice movement. Both of our movements hold true that those most personal decisions of love and sex and family should not be intruded upon by politics.” -Rea Carey, Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian… Read more »
