Hank Green makes the case that populism was inevitable in this moment of a new communications technology (i.e. social media), and along the way makes observations about the role of trust in a functional society.
What does the U.S. election result mean for LGBTQ+ rights?
Throughout his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump has made big promises on issues of enormous consequence to Americans, from the economy to reproductive health care — but offered few details on how he would see those promises through.
What he’s said in his campaign and what he did during his first term offer some clues, as does Project 2025, the blueprint for a second Trump term written by the conservative Heritage Foundation. Though Trump has distanced himself from Project 2025, saying he has “no idea who is behind it” and that he has not read it, six of his former cabinet secretaries contributed to it in some form and much of what is in the 920-page document aligns directly with statements Trump has made this year.
Though there are still many unknowns, here is what we know so far about how a second Trump term will approach reproductive rights, the economy, education, immigration and aging & disability care and LGBTQ+ rights.
Not Losing You
A moving public service announcement from a project to prevent suicides of trans people depicts a father learning to accept his trans daughter. Read on…
Trump’s pick for vice president is an anti-LGBTQ+ nightmare
Donald Trump has chosen J.D. Vance as his running mate, the former president announced on Monday. Vance, a first-term Republican senator from Ohio, was widely expected to be Trump’s vice presidential pick as the pool of potential hopefuls narrowed earlier in the day.
A former critic of Trump who recast himself as a politician in the MAGA model, Vance’s LGBTQ+ record differs very little from the man at the top of his ticket. During his two years in the U.S. Senate, Vance opposed the Respect for Marriage Act, which codified federal same-sex marriage rights in the event that Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2004 ruling legalizing marriage equality, is repealed by the Supreme Court.
He also authored the Protect Children’s Innocence Act, which would make it a class C felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison, to provide gender-affirming surgery to trans minors. (This despite the fact that transition surgeries are rarely offered to patients under the age of 18 and only in cases of extreme medical need.)
Love always wins
In Portugal last Saturday, hearts were melting. It was Pride in Porto, and as the city’s second annual march was winding through the ancient town’s cobblestoned streets, a parade-goer named Lily was singled out by an old gentleman in the doorway of his house.
Lily explained in a TikTok backstory that she’s Portuguese and living in London. She had been in Porto for a few days with her girlfriend and her family. She said the couple decided to go to the march “because we’re gay and we can.”
“There was a gentleman holding this [Portuguese] flag,” Lily recalled. “He kept pointing at me and calling me,” she said. So she approached him. Lily said she felt unsure about the old man’s intentions. Holding up your national standard flag can mean a lot of things, and she wasn’t sure which one he intended in this case. The crowd stopped behind her, Lily said, though she didn’t know it at the time, “because everyone’s really worried about what could happen next.”
Rainbow Washing: The Myth of Corporate Morality in Pride
Jon Stewart on Monday’s episode of The Daily Show called out major corporations for what he claimed to be disingenuous displays of allyship with the LGBTQ+ community during Pride Month as well as members of diverse communities more broadly.
The fight for trans rights in Texas
When Texas lawmakers introduce a record number of anti-trans bills, transgender kids and their families from across the state converge on the Capitol to fight back.
Twilight
About fiction, desire, fantasy, power, death and identity.
