lgbtq

Struggle for marriage equality advances

The fight for equal same-sex marriage rights has dominated much of the news and activism of the LGBTQ community over the last decade. In 2004, not a single state allowed for same-sex marriage. Now, same-sex couples can get married in 19 states, the District of...

The AIDS fight back: Reflections from a revolutionary

The AIDS fight back: Reflections from a revolutionary

Introduction I remember in the 1980s having to sneak into the hospital to be with my partner, lover, best friend, when he lay dying. Obviously, the hospital administration didn’t consider our life-partner commitment was in any way valid. He was suffering with severe...

Russia: The struggle against anti-LGBTQ repression

Russia: The struggle against anti-LGBTQ repression

The attention of the international lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community and its supporters has been fixed on Russia in recent weeks. In recent years, the issue of LGBTQ rights has become more prominent in Russia. LGBTQ people have asserted their...

Trans people fight back on many fronts

Trans people fight back on many fronts

Note: I use “trans” here to include the transgender spectrum but also genderqueer and gender nonconforming people (essentially everyone whose gender identities do not match the identities assigned to them at birth). The LGBTQ struggle has a basic unity in the fight to...

Massive march demands full equality for LGBT people

Massive march demands full equality for LGBT people

The Oct. 11 demonstration of 250,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, along with their straight allies, in Washington, D.C., marked a potentially huge turning point in the struggle for equality. The demand of the National Equality March was clear: “Full...

Harvey Milk’s legacy of struggle continues

Harvey Milk’s legacy of struggle continues

Nov. 27 will mark the 30th anniversary of the assassination of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay politician elected to public office in the United States. Milk served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in the late 1970s before his untimely death at the hands of...

30 years after the Dade County struggle for LGBT rights

30 years after the Dade County struggle for LGBT rights

Every June, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community celebrates the ongoing struggle for full equality and liberation. It is a time when we assess where we are as a community and movement by looking back and analyzing past struggles to better plan future...

AIDS: Grappling with a global crisis

AIDS: Grappling with a global crisis

Dec. 1 is World AIDS Day, a day focused on remembering the tens of millions of people who have died from AIDS worldwide and the more than 40 million currently infected, many in oppressed countries. AIDS care and prevention programs are still underfunded or nonexistent...