Browsing Tag

politics

In Defense of Trans Youth in Alabama

A photo of a trans youth.

As in states across the country, anti-trans bills are plaguing Alabama. Once again, conservatives have manufactured a problem so that they can craft a solution that causes undue suffering to an entire community already persecuted by conservative lawmakers in the state. Fiendishly, the community in question is children.…

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HIV Disproportionately Affects People in the South. Why is Texas Trying to Cut Funding?

A photo of BIPOC people representing HIV Texas.

The numbers are clear: HIV affects people in the South at much higher rates than elsewhere in the nation. Within the southern demographic, the virus disproportionally affects BIPOC southerners. And right here in Texas—where we have the highest uninsured rate in the nation—the state legislature would like to cut funding for the Texas HIV Medication Program (THMP).…

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To Be a Redneck is to Fight Oppression

A photo of redneck coal miners.

In 2018, I authored a piece on my queer redneck roots—a powerful reckoning with my past. For the first time on paper, I told the world about my seemingly dichotomous identities as both an Appalachian and a queer person. I spoke openly and honestly in ways I haven’t before, at least not on such a large platform. I paid the price, too. Family members whom I mentioned in that piece severed ties. It hurt, but it was also a long…

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The Alley Theatre’s ‘1984’ is Ghastly. It’s Also Necessary Viewing.

A photo of the Alley Theatre's production of 1984.

There is no doubt that the events of George Orwell’s magnum opus 1984 speak volumes in today’s political climate. The trouble is that both sides of the aisle will claim that the other is Big Brother and that they, the people on either side, are poor Winston. It is for this reason that out actor Todd Waite, who plays one of the party members in the Alley Theatre’s stage adaptation, offers a coy societal explanation. “For the LGBTQ community, there…

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Remembering Félix González-Torres: Queer Latinx Art and the Caribbean-American ‘South’

A photo of Félix González-Torres.

Forty years ago, Félix González-Torres arrived in New York City from Puerto Rico, marking the beginning of his emergence as one of the most influential conceptual artists of his generation. During a brilliant career cut tragically short by his death from AIDS, the openly gay, Cuban-born, Latino-American artist produced a wide range of works that challenged spectators to participate in the creative experience and to formulate their own meanings. Through photography, billboards, and installations comprised of everyday objects, he evoked…

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The Wave

A photo of Times Square panic.

It sounded like a wave breaking. When you’re watching Hamilton and a gun goes off, you expect a bit of audience commotion. You anticipate some sort of reaction to an emotional climax of a two-and-a-half-hour story—a murmur; a shifting in seats; the rustling of fabric on theater upholstery, a breeze through leaves. What sparked the red flag is when it didn’t stop.…

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The 2019 Houston Mayoral Race: Where Candidates Stand on LGBTQ Issues

A photo of the Pride Forum with Houston mayoral candidates.

On August 1, the Pride Forum, a non-partisan collaboration between several LGBTQ organizations in Houston, took the stage at Texas Southern University’s Jesse H. Jones School of Business. Though it was balmy outside, the heat of the mayoral race was nowhere to be found—yet. Seven hopefuls met with moderators Emmett Schelling and LaKeia Ferreira-Spady to discuss the issues most important to the LGBTQ community.…

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2020 Democratic Presidential Contender Pete Buttigieg Meets with Communities of Color in Houston

A photo of Mayor Pete Buttigieg in Houston.

On May 4, South Bend, Indiana mayor and 2020 presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg gave an impassioned speech and posed for photos at a campaign fundraiser at Chapman & Kirby in Houston’s East Downtown. But before shaking hands with eager fans and donors at the public event, the openly gay Democratic contender sat down for an intimate, transparent conversation with some of the city’s most notable Black spiritual leaders at the private residence of Houston community leaders Vince Pryor and Alan…

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