September 29, 2021 Philadelphia Gay News I began my career as a journalist at 17 years old writing for the feminist press and for local independent newspapers, including this one. Yet it was never my intent to become a journalist — activism propelled me in that direction. I didn’t go to journalism school. Rather, my field was history: American studies and women’s history. I have long thought that the best journalists are those with a solid education in history. How do we repo

September 22, 2021 Philadelphia Gay News A transcript of Pope Francis’s Sept. 12 meeting in Slovakia with 53 Jesuit priests at the nunciature in Bratislava was released on Sept. 21. Antonio Spadaro, S.J., the editor in chief of the Jesuit magazine “La Civiltà Cattolica,” was present at the meeting and published the full transcript of the conversation. The conversation was long and covered a range of topics, which included comments on gay and trans people and even referenced D

September 21, 2021 Bay Area Reporter So we got through the recall with a total smackdown to the GOP. The giant sequoias are being wrapped to protect them from the wildfires. And it turns out Nancy Pelosi saved America by telling Gen. Mark Milley to do something about Trump, after Biden won the election. That last has been the stuff of TV drama for a few days now and the dialogue is wild. Pelosi is quoted telling Milley, "He's crazy. You know he's crazy. He's been crazy for a

SPECIAL TO THE PENNSYLVANIA CAPITAL-STAR - SEPTEMBER 16, 2021 (First printed in the Philadelphia Gay News - September 15, 2021) The study’s analysis drew a succinct conclusion: “employment discrimination against LGBT people continues to be persistent and widespread.” A new study from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law reveals stunning details about job discrimination against LGBT people. According to the report, 46% of LGBT workers have experienced unfair treatment

September 16, 2021 Philadelphia Gay News Infraction by Yvonne Zipter Rattling Good Yarns Press 316pp $17.49pbk If you love Russian novels, historical fiction, intrigue, math and lesbians, Yvonne Zipter’s “Infraction” is the blini for you. Zipter, best known for her poetry and syndicated newspaper column, takes on the mysterious world of numbers and forbidden lesbian love in this debut novel set in 19th century Russia. The title is the fundamental query posed by the novel: I

September 15, 2021 Philadelphia Gay News Texas Gov. Greg Abbott at a June 16 Covid-19 briefing. (Youtube screenshot.) On Sept. 15, just days after the nation wept through the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, this was the headline: “1 in every 500 U.S. residents have died of COVID-19.” It was difficult not to compare all the things the U.S. government did in the name of protecting the country in response to the 9/11 attacks that killed just under 3,000 people to how littl

September 8, 2021 Philadelphia Gay News On May 19, Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) signed a law that bans abortions after six weeks, before most people even know they are pregnant. The law is extreme, allowing private citizens to enforce it. According to Senate Bill 8, there is a bounty on the heads of anyone seeking an abortion. Anyone reporting an abortion can receive a reward from the state: a minimum of $10,000. Adding a bounty to the law is reminiscent of slave bounties in the 1

September 7, 2021 Philadelphia Gay News Alphonso David has been fired as president of Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the country’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group. The action came late Labor Day night, Sept. 6, after a month-long internal investigation at HRC into David’s involvement in retaliation against women who accused former New York governor Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment and misconduct. Two separate votes were held by the boards of HRC and its affiliated foundation (HR

September 2, 2021 QueerForty.com More than a half century after Stonewall, LGBTQ voices, lives, and stories have been suppressed—not making it into the history books. As the baby boomer generations of LGBTQ people in their 70s age, we are in danger of losing their stories. Leslie Cohen is one of those people. Cohen wanted to tell her own story, and with it an overview of the era in which she came of age as a lesbian. That time includes the stories of so many lesbian and bisex