Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, was shot by a White police officer during a traffic stop in Minnesota this past Sunday. Regardless of whether this was an intentional or accidental shooting, Wright’s is another Black life lost in a country where Black people are three times more likely than White people to be killed by police. My fellow White people—this is yet another tragic reminder that racism remains for us to fix.
A man shot eight people in Georgia this week, six of them Asian Americans and seven of them women. This is yet another tragic reminder of the devastating effects of gun violence—but those who think this is an isolated incident against Asian Americans haven’t been paying attention.
Those who have met me, even briefly, know one thing about me: I’m small. I stand 5’0″ in my socks and I’m not too hefty. I’ve been an athlete all my life, though, and have almost always competed against opponents who are taller and heavier. That’s only one of the reasons why I don’t understand those who want to limit transgender girls’ participation in girls’ sports.
A group of patrons has asked for LGBTQ-inclusive children’s books to be removed from the children’s section of a Louisiana public library and made available for checkout only by adults. The library board is set to discuss the matter this afternoon.
Today marks the Transgender Day of Remembrance, a time to honor the lives of those who died because of anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. I wish all of my transgender friends and readers love and support on this day of mourning.
The home where pioneering LGBTQ and civil rights activists Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin lived for more than five decades may become a local historic landmark, as the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has taken the first step towards giving it that designation. The two women may be best known as the first same-sex couple to marry legally in San Francisco, but the legacy of these mothers of our movement is bigger than that.
Yesterday, a grand jury indicted only one of the three police officers involved in the shooting death last March of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman in Kentucky—and the charge was “wanton endangerment,” not the more serious ones of manslaughter or reckless homicide. I hope that other White people like myself make it a priority to learn more about this case and about the ongoing need for racial justice in the U.S. Here are a few places to start.
A new picture book pairs the stories of youth activists with #OwnVoices poems from exceptional adult poets who were inspired by their work. Unsurprisingly, there are queer voices among them.
Her loss is a loss for our country—yet even as we mourn, we must recommit to the cause of justice that she championed.
