Our visibility requires our vigilance Sure, we have marriage equality (for now). Sure, there are queer characters (and an almost bracing comfort level with queer sexuality) on TV and in movies. Sure, the rainbow colors have never been more popular (and almost co-opted at this
Even the normally astute stumble once in a while There’s something for many people about being asked a question that makes them feel as if they have to answer it. More liberal people can even feel as if all questions are somehow “honest” ones that
How soon before other nations adopt the German playbook? The strong showing of the far‑right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party in local elections in the German state of Saxony‑Anhalt — more than 40 percent of the vote — is the most pointed indicator yet that
WWDD: The Gospel of Dolly Parton There’s a social media post going around that goes something like this: I’m just tired of everything being political. So am I. I’m tired of whether a child gets lunch being political. Whether a sick person gets medicine being
A once-wide door that threatened to close When I first came to France, life felt like a wide-open door. My wife Caroline and I built a rhythm here — simple, steady, full of small joys. I worked as a teaching assistant once a week, learned
Faith came before fear Some of my earliest memories are of going to church. I remember my grandmother taking me every Sunday. She taught me to have faith, to love God, and to worship Him. Before I knew anything about sexual orientation or identity, I
Among right-wing Christians there seems to be a real psychological compulsion to “make America a Christian nation.” It looks to outsiders as more than just wanting everyone to be “saved” but as a driven emotional need to religiously justify themselves and their worldview and feel
A confession to the trans woman I failed She was brave. And I was a jerk. It’s really that simple. Let me set the stage. Back in the mid-2010s, as a very conservative evangelical straight white man, I was assigned yet another mentee. Nothing surprising
When you first found the courage to be who you are, who stood beside you? Not the people who tolerated you from a safe distance. Not the ones who offered a quiet nod and then changed the subject. I mean the person who actually showed
I first walked through the doors of Sydney’s Divine Playhouse as a teenager in the 1960s, when it was the home of the Genesian Theatre. Like thousands of Sydneysiders, I went there to enjoy live theatre. Back then, homosexuality was a criminal offence in the state of