All of my friends turned out to be queer
Kaden / OutWrite I plead guilty to perpetually falling in love With the ritual of her hands weaving Watercolor sunsets into the shapes of women; With their voice, always the loudest in…
Between the lines: utilizing music to shape mood in fiction
Music is woven into our everyday lives. It starts our mornings, softens our nights and sustains us through the difficult moments between. A single song can brighten a day. A familiar melody can feel like coming home. It is no surprise, then, that music plays an equally vital role in the stories we tell. Music doesn’t merely sit in the background of our favourite movies and television shows; it shapes how we feel, what we notice, and what we understand about the characters before they even utter a word. Sometimes, music whispers secrets to the audience that even the story itself is too timid to reveal. This rings especially true in queer stories, where music expresses desire and intimacy and evokes emotion that the narrative might otherwise leave unspoken.
What Trump’s gender manifesto says about trans power
As you read this article, the Trump administration is attempting to rewrite history by erasing evidence of transgender Americans’ existence over time. At the start of 2025, the Trump administration released an executive order defining the parameters of sex and gender titled “DEFENDING WOMEN FROM GENDER IDEOLOGY EXTREMISM AND RESTORING BIOLOGICAL TRUTH TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT,” also called Executive Order 14168. This order aims to limit the government’s ability to advance the goals of what Trump terms “gender ideology” (or the belief in the fact that sex and gender are two separate identities) by requiring government agencies to acknowledge sex and not gender, defunding gender affirming healthcare and excluding transgender resources from mental health agencies, prisons, schools and more.
An Open Letter to Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest
Dear Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest, While usually I would applaud the efforts of people who seek to counter discrimination and safeguard the rights of regularly marginalized groups, I would draw the line where such efforts enter the realm of insulting,…
The Gender Conundrum: An Introduction
Does anyone remember when “gender” and “sex” used to be synonyms? Language constantly evolves, especially during times of social change. As America grows more and more PC nowadays, it can seem overwhelming to keep up with all the new words…
By Any Other Name: What UCLA’s Preferred Name Policy Means for You
The cold sweat. The pit of dread in your gut. The gnawing sense of unrest as the professor moves down the list, calling out student names in alphabetical order. And then they reach you, call out a name you no…
Why You Should Download the LGBT Healthcare Bill of Rights
For a majority of queer youth, coming out to a doctor is extremely nerve-wracking– especially since it is someone who will decide what medical care you should receive. The chance of receiving subpar medical treatment deters some queer individuals from…
Transgender Day of Remembrance
Photo by Ben Townshend/Creative Commons At 2:30 am on Thursday, October 2nd, Aniya Parker was shot point-blank in the head on an East Hollywood side street. She was Black, and she was transgender. She did not die instantly, but passed…
Stop Dan Savage: Your LGBT “Activist” is Actually a Bigot
Image by Josh Rodriguez/Creative Commons Asexual people should stay at home. Bisexual people are not worth trying to settle down with. Sh*male. Tr*nny. These are all things said by renown activist Dan Savage. Dan Savage is a well-known gay man…
Racism and Sexism: Not the Tale of Generations Past
Photo by Fred Murphy/Creative Commons Though election season this year, as ever, focused largely on the question of the presidency, it was in the matter of Congress that America bore witness to several surprising and heartening changes. Among these are…