Straightness is a construct that seems here to stay It’s apparently been wishful thinking that I thought our culture was moving beyond the straight role that was necessary to keep patriarchy going in the U.S. When I wrote Scared Straight: Why It’s So Hard to
Since right-wing religionists and politicians discovered the use of “culture wars” to scare people into voting for them and their pet causes back in the Moral Majority era, we can understand why the leaders of these so-called “wars” have pushed this idea on the country
Winter is coming God, forgive them, for they know not what they do. These are words uttered in agony, a plea for grace amidst the most profound betrayal. I have started asking the question of “who” Jesus was talking to a lot these days. Was
We have few good role models to show us how to clean up the messes everyone inevitably makes in life, love, and leadership. Our president, in well-conditioned masculine fashion, won’t even entertain the idea that he’s made any. Our public relations industry and social media
For as long as I’ve followed the news and its weekly examples of the latest clergy or politician who has professed what are often called “family values” — which everyone knows is code for anti-LGBTQ+ equality — it has become routine, even expected, to find
What does the reversal of Roe mean for Obergefell? Overturning marriage equality is now a present threat. Many of the issues both people of color and LGBTQ+ Americans confronted in President Trump’s first term — health care, unemployment, housing, immigration, voting rights, among others —
James Dobson, the late founder of Focus on the Family and an adviser to five U.S. presidents, became one of the most influential evangelical leaders in the United States from the late 20th century onward. Through his 70-plus books, radio broadcasts and political lobbying, he
Admit it. Loving LGBTQ+ relationships could be better. It’s the cultural messages about ideal relationships that actually keep us from having relationships that are all we’d like them to be. No matter how damaging these messages might be, society has little incentive to change them
The standard explanation is that Pride Month commemorates the date of the Stonewall uprising in June 1969, but with time and hard-won successes, its celebrations became more like LGBTQ+ expos or commercial fairs than Stonewall-commemorating fights for acceptance and liberation. The larger ones not only
It’s so much more than rainbow logos What does Pride mean today? Is it the vibrant parade of colors marching down the street? The rush of joy as music blares through the alleys and people dance uninhibitedly. Or is it a political statement, a reminder