Graphic by Jeanine Lee You, dear reader, are probably well aware of the allegations against actor Kevin Spacey: in a Buzzfeed interview published last Sunday, actor Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of sexual assault. In that interview, Rapp describes being alone…
Trans and Trapped: Behind the Wrong Bars
Graphic by Hannah Boston Life inside of a men’s prison is not easy for anyone, but it is especially difficult for trans women. The U.S. prison system houses transgender individuals on the basis of their genitals instead of their gender…
Queer and Sad: Mental Health Impacts Identity Exploration
Photo: Jeff W. Gates. Creative Commons License 3.0. 100520-F-JZ025-987.JPG I had a really hard time starting this article and then finishing it. Mostly because it details my experience with two identities (queer and struggling with my mental health) that just…
Other: The Unheard Voices of QPOC Adoptees
You know what’s always stressed me out? Back in high school, when we had to take standardized tests, there’d always be a preface question about which race you identify as. They’d list the options — African American, Caucasian, Asian, Latino,…
The Capitalization of My Identity
As Pride month begins this June, your social media accounts will start to fill up with rainbow themed advertisements and merchandise. You can order anything, from a themed credit card, to apparel, or even vodka. Companies like Google and Tumblr…
Shock the Audience
Graphic by Hannah Boston It was the moment we had all been waiting for. Our theater class was finally about to experience the magic of that wonderful unit, Expressionism. We had all heard about it from girls in older grades.…
Do I Really Want to Have a Family?
Graphic by Shay Suban Growing up, I always assumed that someday I would get married and have a family. In fact, when I was little, my friends and I loved to play House, acting like mommies and daddies, pretending we…
A Word of Thanks
As a newsmagazine, OutWrite aims to empower the LGBTQ+ community at UCLA and beyond by celebrating intersectional experiences, looking critically at complex inequities faced by our communities, and providing positive LGBTQ+ representation. Lately, our staff has been reflecting on why we all individually joined OutWrite. We think it’s important to…
Making the Intersectional Visible: The Personal Importance of Moonlight
Moonlight (2016, dir. Barry Jenkins) examines the never spoken Black sexuality and masculinity through a lens of a boy, teen, then man who is hardened by what his environment demands of him. It’s a journey of how Chiron silently slips…
“Queer,” or “LGBT?”
Graphic by Liana Kindler The increasingly popular use of “queer” has become an area of contention in many LGBT communities. On one hand, “queer” has a historically negative connotation, carrying with it the weight of both collective and personal marginalization…