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.
From “I Am Not Okay With This” to “Everything Sucks”: A Lack of Lesbians in Media
After the cancellation of the beloved show “Warrior Nun” on Netflix, fans speculated as to why such a popular show could have been kicked to the curb by the streaming powerhouse. Some theorized that it may have been provoked by the second season’s relationship between two women. Though its fanbase’s dedication eventually led to the series’ development into a feature film trilogy, this isn’t the first case where shows with sapphic central characters have been stripped of funding and future seasons.
Why Queer Education Matters
In March of 2022, Florida legislature passed House Bill 1557: “Parental Rights in Education” Bill, also informally referred to as the “Don’t Say Gay” Bill. Signed into law in July of the same year, the bill was proposed as a way to strengthen a parent’s right to make decisions about the type of care and education a student receives in public school. Crucially, this bill prohibits the education of sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms before fourth grade, after which it has to be taught in an “age-appropriate or developmentally-appropriate” way.
Rainbow-washing Genocide
Every June, corporations unabashedly participate in rainbow capitalism by putting out rainbow logos and pride product lines without taking any meaningful action to support LGBTQ+ causes. We have grown quick to call out such corporations for their performativity, so why don’t we call out other forms of rainbow-washed oppression — especially when it comes to justifying the mass murder of an entire populace?
The Supreme Court on Queer Rights: A Checkered Future
In June 2023, six out of nine Supreme Court justices ruled in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis that a Colorado graphic designer could legally discriminate against same-sex couples by refusing to make websites for their weddings. The case expands the narrower precedent of Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, a 2018 decision which ruled that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission could not compel a bakery to sell a wedding cake to a same-sex couple. Both rulings used the First Amendment’s provision for religious freedom as a bludgeon against the LGBTQ+ community’s right to access to public life.
Why Pride This Year?
Picture this: it’s June 28, 1970, nearly a year after the monumental Stonewall riots, and you’re attending the first Pride Parade in New York City. Except it’s not a parade, and it’s not entirely about Pride: it’s the Christopher Street Liberation Day March. Here, we recognize the familiar names of Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, and the lesser known names of the march’s organizers Craig Rodwell, Fred Sargeant, Ellen Broidy, Linda Rhodes, Brenda Howard and many more. Unlike today’s Pride Parade, this march in New York was dedicated to Gay Liberation in the forms of political speeches, demonstrations, and gay visibility.
to live, not just to survive: the queer indomitable spirit
Queerness is often about survival. While Torres is alluding to a space free from discrimination and violence, with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, queer survival is being threatened even more. As much as we want to create a “safe space,” there is no true safe space as long as people are dying and becoming disabled from COVID-19. COVID-19 is being swept under the rug by our government despite clear evidence that repeat infections can leave lasting damage in almost every organ in the body.7 Currently, there is also a resurgence of anti-LGBTQIA+, anti-Black, anti-immigrant, and anti-free speech rhetoric and legislation. When queer people are denied the chance to exist, we must find a way to live. By critically examining our past, we can shed light on the present.
FIFA Banned Rainbow Armbands at the World Cup: Here’s How Players Showed Pride Instead
In late June, eight armband designs were revealed that 2023 FIFA World Cup players could choose to wear on the pitch, including “Unite For Indigenous Peoples,” in partnership with United Nations Human Rights, and “Unite For Ending Violence Against Women,” in partnership with UN Women. However, despite the tournament’s theme of “Football Unites the World,” FIFA banned the “OneLove” armband or any armbands including Pride Flag imagery. This is ostensibly without reason; unlike Qatar which hosted the 2022 World Cup, the 2023 host countries Australia and New Zealand don’t criminalize LGBTQ+ people. Players receive a yellow card — a warning that could bar future participation — for wearing rainbow armbands, as was the case at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Performative Pride, Capitalism and Conservative Hate: The Downfall of the Target Pride Collection
“What do you mean they’re out of stock in all sizes? I’m wearing it,” I grumbled from the confines of a Target fitting room. My girlfriend was trying to find me a different size of the bright green Pride jumpsuit that has circulated TikTok, but, as we looked for more of the Pride collection items in different sizes, it became evident that many weren’t available online for pickup, delivery or shipping, despite being available in very small quantities in Westwood’s City Target.
Ronald Reagan and Creating the Conditions for Satanic Panic
The Satanic Panic almost perfectly coincides with former-President Reagan’s term, beginning in 1980 and dying out by the early 1990s while Reagan’s presidency lasted from 1981 to 1989. While Reagan himself did not acknowledge the moral panic, he created the perfect conditions for it and knew how to champion himself as its hero.