The act of protest is one of risk. The university’s justification for sweeping the encampment on the basis of being disruptive overlooks the fact that the disruption was intentional. On May 2 — the night that police forcibly destroyed the encampment — 210 arrested individuals were given a chance to walk away, but didn’t. They chose to remain because this act of resistance is the greatest power they have as students and civilians to affect this cause.
Happy Pride! Our Commitment to Palestine
Stonewall serves as a reminder of the power of the masses to disrupt an oppressive status quo.
Toloposungo: All Police Are a Gonorrhea
Daniela Maldonado Salamanca, a transgender Colombian sex worker activist and punk singer, spoke about queer resistance at the People’s University for a Liberated Palestine on May 20. Hosted by the UCLA chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), the People’s University offers a space “to foster our own learning and mutual support.” SJP established the People’s University following UCLA’s failure to protect and care for its people.
OutWrite Statement: Ceasing Regular Operations in Solidarity with Palestine
In solidarity with the pro-Palestine movement, OutWrite Newsmagazine will solely platform Palestine for the remainder of the quarter. We refuse to continue business as usual in the face of the ongoing Israeli genocide and occupation in Palestine. Over the past couple weeks, the university has suppressed, silenced, endangered, and by proxy of UCPD and other fascist law enforcement, attacked and arrested students, faculty, staff, and community members calling for Palestinian liberation. The university has proven itself to be hostile to the demands of its people; it actively limits our free speech. OutWrite unequivocally condemns the Israeli genocide in Palestine and uplifts the movement for a Free Palestine.
OutWrite’s Statement on the Zionist Attacks and Police Brutality Against UCLA’s Palestinian Solidarity Encampment
OutWrite Newsmagazine calls for an end to the occupation and genocide in Palestine. Israel has brutally murdered at least 34,000 Palestinians and counting. Since its establishment in 1948, Israel’s existence as a settler colonial state necessitates the extermination and erasure of the indigenous Palestinian people. Israel razes Palestinian hospitals, massacres Palestinians seeking food and aid, and casts 2 million Palestinians out of their ancestral homes to induce conditions of famine, terror, and death. This past week, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to invade Rafah, a city in Gaza harboring an estimated 1.5 million refugees.
Pride Admit Weekend: What It Is and What It Gives
From informative presentations to a self-defense workshop to a Drag King performance, this year’s annual Pride Admit Weekend (PAW) left its impact on new admits!
How a Queer Disabled Student is Fighting for Health, Safety, and Education
How many people do you notice in your lectures wearing masks? How many coughs do you hear? Even though federal and state government policies treat COVID-19 risk with little concern, health science research continues to demonstrate the necessity of masking to prevent its contraction. COVID is a multi-systemic, vascular disease that damages every system in your body. Each COVID-19 infection that you contract results in cumulative damage, weakening the immune system. Weakened immune systems aren’t able to fight off infection as readily, meaning that any sickness can potentially be life-threatening and disabling. Unchecked immune system damage forces constant sickness to be many people’s new reality.
Queer Prom: Fantasy Is a Radical Reality
UCLA’s Gender, Sexuality, and Society Living-Learning Community (GSS LLC) held its annual Queer Prom on March 1, 2024. The event was decorated around a “fantasy” theme — colored-paper windows resembled the stained glass of a chapel, long vines entangled every chair, and a projection of a firefly-lit forest flashed the words “Queer Prom 2024” in bold letters.
The Growing Future of Queer Bruins in STEM
I’m near the end of the room, tracing each student with my eyes. It’s my first day of discussion at UCLA, and my biology TA has us going around the room saying our name, year, major, and a fun fact about ourselves. My heart thuds in my chest and my instincts tell me to run. My name is Claude now — I no longer have the comfort of living in a cisgender girl’s skin.
Homelessness and Familiar Faces
“As a queer person specifically, there was never a moment of rest — whether living in my car or on the streets — I always had to be on high alert. I was always filled with adrenaline. Trying to sleep on the streets, all you can think about is: ‘Is anyone coming?’”