A map of Asia over the progress flag
Politics & News
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.

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Community
The Homophiles, the Liberationists, and Us

Activism is rough, and we throw a lot of words around at each other. “Assimilationist!” “Unrealistic!” “Conformist!” “Aggressive!” LGBTQ+ activism has not only been met with virulent backlash from the cisgender, heterosexual side of society but also has been plagued by intra-community conflict on the best ways to do things. The tension surrounding LGBTQ+ activism boils down to a push and pull between outright rebellion and more incremental forms of justice. This conflict is not specific to the LGBTQ+ community; all sorts of movements spanning different identities and ideas encounter the contentious dichotomy between abolition and reform.

Community
4 Queer Activists Fighting For Change in Central America

The seven countries that make up Central America have some of the most restrictive laws for queer and trans citizens in the Americas, denying them basic human rights, such as protection against discrimination and violence based on their identities; marriage equality; and the ability to change their legal identification to reflect their lived name or gender. Though younger generations are trending toward inclusivity, this rise in progressive thinking has been closely followed by an even sharper spike in conservatism. Still, there are queer activists in Central America who refuse to turn their backs on their countries despite their countries turning their backs on them. Here are four queer activists who have dedicated their lives to fighting for change in the countries that they call home.

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Politics & News
Roe v. Wade: What’s Next?

Roe v. Wade was overturned on June 24, 2022 reversing 49 years of legal precedent in the U.S.. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has made it clear he does not plan to stop there, and gay marriage could be next up to take a massive political hit. 

collage of newspaper clippings featuring headlines from important legal battles in queer history. multi-colored hands gesture to the pile.
Politics & News
The Lavender Laws

A deep dive into the history of legal rights for the LGBTQ+ community in the United States

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Archives
From the Archive: The Feminist Mystake (Fall 2013)

Welcome to OutWrite’s “From the Archive” series! This series is designed to provide an opportunity to interact with our organization’s archives, assess the opinions and relevance of our past content, and bring that content into the present. In doing so,…

Featured Posts
A photograph of yellow, purple, and white flowers in a field of grass.
Politics & News
Fighting for the Queer Youth: In Loving Memory of Nex Benedict
A photograph of Gwen, an Asian woman with red hair, glasses, and light skin. She's wearing a shirt with fur lining and multiple necklaces. Gwen stands in front of an informational poster entitled "Reducing the Risk of COVID-19."
Campus
How a Queer Disabled Student is Fighting for Health, Safety, and Education
A photograph of a fence along a path to the beach. Each fence post has an individual's name in blue or red letters.
Politics & News
Seeking Safety: LGBTQ+ Migrants Fight for Asylum
A photograph of three people's legs and black heels. From left to right, the people are wearing a short black skirt, a long white skirt, and black slacks respectively. The lighting is a blue to pink gradient.
Campus
Queer Prom: Fantasy is a Radical Reality
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Community
Homelessness and Familiar Faces
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Campus
Pride Admit Weekend Needs More Volunteers: Here’s Everything You Need to Know
A digital illustration of a light-skinned masc person in a black cap, black leather harness, and black pants. They have a beard and short hair. They face away from the audience in a dimly lit abandoned gay bar called "Rock Bottom." The only visible light is from their phone open to an ambiguous social media. The room is lit with a deep pinkish purple.
Community
The Destruction of Queer Public Spaces Has Forced Us Online
for tomorrow's article! A digital illustration of a fem person and a masc person looking at each other from the ends of two separate lines. One line is composed of fem people's pink silhouettes, and the other is composed of masc people's blue silhouettes. The fem person has brown skin, black hair in a ponytail, a purple shirt, and a tan bag. The masc person has white skin, short brown hair, a blue shirt, and a black backpack. He looks worried. They are in a school setting approaching a bulletin board with various flyers on it.
Politics & News
Oklahoma School Bans Gender Change
A digital illustration of Barbie, a blonde white woman with blue eyes in a black and white striped top and gold hoop earrings. She looks alarmed. Another woman with a brown skin tone and black nail polish cups Barbie's cheek. The Mattel logo in rainbow is behind Barbie. The top text reads "This Barbie is GAY PANICKING." Next to Barbie, the text reads, "AGHHHHH OMH SHE'S SO PRETTY OMGHA,ASGHJK." The entire image's background is light blue.
Short Story
“What Was I Made For?”: Thoughts of a Queer Barbie
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Community
The Fight Over Flags
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Opinion
Why Queer Education Matters
A photograph of Schuyler Bailar, an Asian trans man with light skin, black hair, and black facial hair. He is shirtless with visible top surgery scars, and he holds the trans flag above his head; the flag streams out behind him.
Community
Schuyler Bailar’s Intersectional Impact as an East Asian Transgender Man
A digital illustration of various sapphic couples from television. The largest couple on the left hand side is Amity, a white girl with short purple hair, a black tunic, a moon necklace, and pointy ears, and Luz, a Latina girl with brown skin, orange-brown hair, a half-cloak, and black studs, from "The Owl House." Amity cups Luz's face and holds her hand. At the bottom right corner are Beatrice, an Asian woman with dark purple hair in a bun and a cross scar on her cheek, and Ava, a white woman with orange-brown bobbed hair, from "Warrior Nun." Ava is smiling affectionately at Beatrice who is speaking. At the top right corner are Sydney, a white girl with short pink hair in an orange tank top and necklace, and Dina, a Black girl with dark curly hair and a white tank top, from "I Am Not Okay With This." Sydney leans against Dina and looks up at her lovingly. Various swirls and hearts surround all the couples.
Arts & Entertainment
From “I Am Not Okay With This” to “Everything Sucks”: A Lack of Lesbians in Media
A digital illustration of two women holding hands and looking at a painting of two women. The couple's clothing color palette matches the two women's clothing in the painting. The woman on the left has light brown skin, curly brown hair, a blue bandana, and a brown vest over a light blue long-sleeve shirt. The woman on the right has light skin, straight brown hair, a red beret, a tan shirt, and a black purse. The women in the painting wear a red scarf and a blue scarf respectively.
Literature
The Underrepresentation of Sapphic Identities in Literature: A Historical Analysis
An illustration of a light-skinned girl with long light brown hair in a pink sweater holding hands with a girl with brown skin and her dark brown curls tied up in a bun in a white turtleneck and red shirt. They both look backwards and up, their faces filled with worry. Blue silhouettes of people with angry faces loom above them.
Arts & Entertainment
The Oversexualization of Lesbian Relationships in Media
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Sports
A Try at UCLA Women’s Rugby — Interview with Kelsey on UCLA Athletics and Being Trans
A map of Asia over the progress flag
Politics & News
Asia’s Steps Toward Queerness in 2023
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Creative Writing
A Jigsaw Puzzle Is an Act of Creation
A digital illustration of a rainbow folding fan which reads "Rest In Peace." Surrounding the fan are a variety of roses in the colors of the nonbinary pride flag: black, white, yellow, and purple. The image's background is lilac.
Politics & News
The Loss of Jesús Ociel Baena, Mexico’s First Nonbinary Magistrate, and What it Means for the Community
A photograph of a stone Catholic saint statue. The saint is a bearded man wearing a hat and robes and carrying a cross. Behind him, there is a stone wall with a window. A rainbow flag juts out of the window.
Opinion
“Maybe We Got Lost in Translation?”: The Fraught Relationship Between the Church, Sexuality, and the Bible
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