Every attack on the rights and liberties of transgender people makes us struggle to find a reason to live. Five minutes ago, I threw my drumsticks across the room. Feeling defeated, I abandoned any hope of actually enjoying playing today. I am now sitting at my computer and feeling disgruntled as I type. I wish […]
As I count the ones who have taken up their dusty swords and axes for my cause, I cannot help but notice how many of the usually loud and proud voices I hear during Pride are now not even uttering a whisper in my defense. I would be lying if I said I was not […]
Transgender individuals deserve the choice to pursue all the same paths to parenthood as cisgender people. One of the reportedly seven newly banned words at the Centers For Disease Control is “transgender.” While the alleged banned list has been denied, the paradox of how we treat issues of transgender individuals cannot be denied. This is particularly true […]
Pride was born in resistance to state violence and it is our responsibility to continue that legacy. We’re out on the streets of Denver celebrating Pride, which takes place every year in June to commemorate the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots and the beginning of today’s movement for LGBTQ equality and liberation. The riots […]
From murder to poverty to housing discrimination, these communities face staggering violence. Earlier this month marked the eighth annual International Transgender Day of Visibility, an occasion aimed at pushing back against the exclusion and isolation this community has been forced to endure. Indeed there are signs that transgender people—particularly those who are wealthy and white—are gaining […]
The very presence of men calls attention to the various kinds of vulnerability women carry with them—in their bodies, their careers, and their relationships. There’s a section midway through Claire Vaye Watkins’ seminal Tin House essay “On Pandering” that always opens a cache of memories from my own adolescence: As a young woman I had one […]
Given that women have been sexually harassed and assaulted by their male coworkers and bosses, why don’t we pass a law against men in management positions? A couple weeks ago, I wrote a Role Reboot article called “Stop Using Women’s Safety To Justify Transphobia.” Since then, an unprecedented number of people have taken it upon […]
I care too much about women’s safety to sit silently and allow it to be co-opted and used to hurt vulnerable women. Bills like HB2 don’t help cis women, and make trans women demonstrably less safe. In March, North Carolina passed the appalling HB2, requiring public venues and government buildings to restrict bathroom access on […]
I find it ridiculous that patients are sent home from surgery with instructions about pooping and bathing, but nothing about the potential emotional complications of surgery. Just when you thought Caitlyn Jenner couldn’t be a better role model or teach us more, she slipped an important side note into her Vanity Fair debut. In the interview, […]
