Blog
My identity is a ‘luxury belief’, and other reasons Trump won
NYT columnist David Brooks says Trump voters just wanted ‘respect’ - and that’s somehow at odds with me being gay. He asked us to shut up so that Republicans voters wouldn’t go on to elect Trump to forcibly shut us up. He’s got some ‘paradox of tolerance’ going on here.
The US has an election result. What will we do now?
The way forward is muddy. A few words I’ve collected from others. Words of wisdom from people who’ve spent a lot of time raging, grieving, hoping, organizing. Let’s reflect on how we’re affected and how we can make change.
I can’t write the anti-gay argument for him
No one wants to be called a ‘bigot’ or a ‘fascist’. But it’s not my job to give him alternate explanations for his reasons or feelings. If I say something is bigoted, I may not be judging someone’s character, at least not primarily; instead I may be asserting why I’m not jumping on board.
10 problems with the ‘sex assigned at birth’ essay
They’re in what’s said — and not said. This isn’t a cost-benefit calculation. If we really looked at the term ‘sex assigned at birth,’ we might find that the benefits outweigh the costs.
When trans people are cut out of sports in Nassau County, New York
Republican organizes militia. Democratic Party chair retorts: ‘Does he think we’re going to be invaded by Suffolk County?’ Your neighbors are ‘trained’ to serve someone who marks everyone’s sex as a site of surveillance and regulation. This violence affects everyone.
Oh, it’s about sports, is it?
Nope, it’s not. It’s about constraining transgender lives. I don’t judge sports. I don’t pretend to. But I can detect when someone alleges injury and proposes a false remedy to delegitimize a group of people.
Three books that tell us to smash our categories
Recommended nonfiction by Miller, Fox, and Waters. Nonfiction recommendations: A 2020 book about David Starr Jordan, a 2023 book about William Beebe, and a 2024 book about Avery Brundage.
The indispensable history of ‘sex testing’ in sports
Waters keeps the book focused on the 1930s, with the history told in such a way that it’s crystal clear how it’s relevant today. The moral panic over trans people in sports continues not to be about sports.
As Berlin held the 1936 Olympics, these athletes changed their sex
Assigned female at birth, some went on to live as men. Eugenicists, sexists, racists, and fascists held power. Possibilities were disrupted when the Nazis rose. And the 1936 Olympics belonged to Hitler.