A marker illustration of a bust of Sappho overlaid with a swatch in the colors of the lesbian flag.
Sappho in the Modern Day

Charlie Richmond/OutWrite Content warning: Discussion of lesbophobia. “someone will remember us I say even in another time” • Sappho, fragment 147, trans. Ann Carson Since the 1970s, the use of the term…

A black-and-white Victorian-era photograph of two white AMAB people dressed as women.
Misgendering the Misgendered

I first witnessed a transgender character misgendered by her own author in “The Man Who Thought Himself a Woman,” a short story published anonymously in 1857. The text was assigned for a queer short stories course at UCLA, and while I wasn’t surprised that a transgender character was misgendered by a writer in 1857, I was surprised that a professor of queer studies in 2023 would as well.

We Are Entering Our 2024 Election Voting Era: Why Voting Slays

At thirteen, I remember my parents frantically looking through a box in their closet containing important documents. They were searching for their citizenship papers, even though they had been United States citizens long before the election of a candidate whose campaign centered around deporting immigrants. My mother found the documents, held them closely, and sighed, relieved that everything was in order. Such was not the case for many other immigrants in the United States. Extended family and friends we knew were forced out of their homes, and their lives were forever changed. The fear that ensued from the results of the 2016 election was how I was first introduced to voting. 

Fighting for the Queer Youth: In Loving Memory of Nex Benedict

On Feb. 7, 2024, Nex Benedict, a transgender, Two-Spirit teen of Choctaw descent, was assaulted in their high school’s bathroom by three girls who had reportedly been bullying them and their friends for the way they were laughing. Benedict went to bed with head pain following the altercation and their mother rushed them to the hospital after they later collapsed. They were pronounced dead on Feb. 8.

Seeking Safety: LGBTQ+ Migrants Fight for Asylum

Whether through proposed restrictions, new waves of immigration, or the continued unjust vilification of migrants, stories of U.S. immigration are constantly circulating in many different forms of media. However, a topic that frequently remains unnoticed by a majority of the public is that of the immigration of LGBTQ+ people and the specific struggles that LGBTQ+ migrants face.

Oklahoma School Bans Gender Change

In 2023, there were at least 32 hate crimes that led to the deaths of transgender individuals. Many trans people may choose not to disclose their trans identity in situations where they feel it is unsafe or unnecessary to do so. Transgender children increasingly face an onslaught of demeaning and even life-threatening pressure to disclose from peers, parents, and, now, educators. 

Asia’s Steps Toward Queerness in 2023

Towards the end of October 2023, Japan’s Supreme Court ruled that their long-held legislation requiring transgender citizens to undergo medical sterilization and have “no functional reproductive glands” to legally change their gender is in fact unconstitutional. Even with this change, they must be unmarried and have genitals that present as the “gender” they are trying to identify as. Though there remain some obstacles, this court decision will allow for a life without legal violations of physical autonomy. In the spirit of this queer legislative win for Japanese people, we’d like to highlight how queer folks in other regions of Asia have also witnessed victories and an expansion of dedicated space within the past year.

The Loss of Jesús Ociel Baena, Mexico’s First Nonbinary Magistrate, and What it Means for the Community

On Monday, Nov. 13, reports of the death of nonbinary Mexican Magistrate Jesús Ociel Baena sent shock waves through the LGBTQ+ community. 

What “Red, White & Royal Blue” Gets Right About Being Queer in Politics — And What It Doesn’t

“I am the First Son of the United States, and I’m bisexual. History will remember us.”

Casey McQuiston’s debut romance novel “Red, White & Royal Blue” has recently been adapted into an Amazon Prime movie, bringing the love story between the American First Son and the Prince of England to the big screen. The film is a winding tale of controversy and copulation, but ends happily with Alex Claremont-Diaz (played by Taylor Zakhar Perez) and Henry Windsor (played by Nicholas Galitzine) stepping into Alex’s childhood home to start the next chapter of their lives together.