The true cost to veterans? 44 daily suicides According to just released Defense Department data, suicides among active-duty service members increased by more than 40 percent between 2015 and 2020. The numbers jumped by 15 percent in 2020 alone. A 2021 study by the Cost
Here I sit in quiet stillness. For 30 minutes, there is no scrolling, swiping, messaging, emailing, chores, work, or needs of any form. For 30 minutes, I kneel before a makeshift altar composed of two candles and a vaguely anthropomorphic stone statue. For 30 minutes,
In 2002, when Pulitzer Prize winner, Chris Hedges published War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, he wrote in depth about the warrior culture that is the USA. “The communal march against an enemy generates a warm, unfamiliar bond with our neighbors, our community,
Note: This is the text of a letter sent by the author to the Parliament of New South Wales, which includes Sydney, Australia, in support of a bill banning sexual orientation / gender identity change efforts (SOCE/GICE). The state’s Premier, Chris Minns, has voiced his
Every Black History Month, there is always a tribute to the Black church and its gospel music. The contribution of LGBTQ+ singers to the canon of gospel music, however, is never front and center in celebration of its history. Every churchgoer — straight and gay
Should you stay, or should you go? It continues to be one of the major crises for religious believers today. What should we do with “these people” whom our denomination has marginalized for centuries? For some it’s LGBTQ+ people. The United Methodist Church, for example,
Every culture has them. And we know what ours are. They’re the stereotypes, the popular definitions, the expectations, the images of what a lesbian, gay man, bisexual person, transgender person, queer person, or any of the others in that alphabet are supposed to be. They’ve
Watching U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) skedaddle as fast as he could out of the U.S. Capitol — as the insurrectionists he had previously inspired with his famous raised fist (displayed while safe behind the lines of protection that Capitol police provided him) began destroying
Are we still stuck in that kind of masculinity? Just about the time some of us were appreciating the progress being made in our culture’s definition of masculinity and its use of slurs against LGBTQ people to enforce a manhood toxicity, we’re confronted with evidence
Part of an occasional series celebrating Whosoever’s Silver Jubilee. (Author’s note: I use the term “queer” throughout this essay for consistency, even when it is anachronistic.) If I remember correctly, I saw a print edition of Whosoever at a newsstand near my college. I was excited