It feels right now like our country is coming apart at the seams. I wish I had some answers; I don’t. All I have are a few suggestions for how to take action and find community right now.
May 17 marks three key events in the history of civil rights. Can you name them?
LGBTQ civil rights icon Phyllis Lyon died yesterday from natural causes at her home in San Francisco. She was 95. She and her spouse Del Martin were the first same-sex couple to marry legally in San Francisco in 2008—but her contribution to LGBTQ equality goes far beyond that.
Once again, for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I’m posting a revised list of resources for talking with kids about the holiday and about race and racism in general all year ’round. Here are some sites and articles I’ve found thought provoking, from a variety of perspectives.
At least three communities—in California, Virginia, and West Virginia—are facing recent attempts to ban LGBTQ-inclusive children’s books. Here’s what’s happening—and how you can fight censorship in your communities.
Today marks the International Transgender Day of Remembrance, a time to honor the lives of those killed because of anti-transgender violence. I wish all of my trans friends and readers love and support on this day of mourning.
Last week, I reported that author Robin Stevenson said school officials cancelled a talk she was scheduled to give at an elementary school in Illinois because her latest book profiled Harvey Milk, among other famous activists. It seems a parent did complain about Milk—but the school was also concerned about the inclusion of Janet Mock, who is transgender.
Just days after author Robin Stevenson said she was uninvited from a recent school talk because her newest book discusses Harvey Milk, Lesléa Newman, author of the classic Heather Has Two Mommies, writes that she was uninvited from a visit to two different schools because of her LGBTQ-inclusive books.
Every social justice hero was once a child. Some became activists as children; others did so as adults because of things they experienced when they were young. A new middle-grade book from the prolific Robin Stevenson explores the childhoods of activists in the LGBTQ, racial, disability, labor, immigrant, and women’s civil rights’ movements, among other areas, offering young readers both information and inspiration.
In the past two years, the threat to LGBTQ individuals and families has grown, and the nonprofits supporting our families need our help more than ever. Please consider giving today, the seventh annual Give OUT Day, in order to increase the impact of your giving.
