Reading list
Shortform reading
This is an incomplete list of the shortform reading (and listening and watching) I’ve been doing lately.
A Nationwide Book Ban Bill Has Been Introduced in the House of Representatives
Hours after the State of the Union address, House republicans introduced legislation banning LGBTQ+ books from public schools nationwide.
#books · #free-speech · #lgbt
Library receives donations to replace books church leaders targeted for LGBTQ+ themes
We will use the donated money to replace the books and buy more like them.
#books · #extremism · #free-speech · #lgbt
During the last act of Cabaret, I wanted to scream at the characters to leave Berlin because I know what disasters await them just years away. I don’t know if I’m being naïve or wise for thinking that what’s happening in our state now isn’t an early warning sign telling me and everyone I love to leave while we still can. I don’t know if staying is the ultimate act of defiance and joy in the face of people who wish to erase me and my friends and the beautiful life we are building.
SCOTUS's parental rights messages: Protect anti-LGBTQ views, ignore LGBTQ people
The court protected religious parents' rights in a case over LGBTQ-related books in classrooms. Days later, the court turned away requests from parents of trans kids.
#law · #lgbt · #trans-issues
On Trans Issues, Wikipedia is a Bulwark Against Disinformation
In the wake of the anti-trans legislation by the Trump Administration, Wikipedia stands as a reliable source for information on trans topics.
#extremism · #lgbt · #trans-issues · #us-politics · #wikipedia
It means always questioning. More than that: it means always deeply examining the less visible ideologies that lurk behind the design systems that govern how we live and communicate. For me this also means working with archives as *time machines,* and dialing back through history to see how others have resisted and persisted by making public against the grain, by “performing publishing” in their lives. What can we learn from their ongoing struggles for liberation, through their acts of making public?
#archives · #community · #lgbt · #publishing
Don't Fall for the Latest Changes to the Dangerous Kids Online Safety Act
The authors of the dangerous Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) unveiled an amended version this week, but it's still an unconstitutional censorship bill that continues to empower state officials to target services and online content they do not like.
#children's-rights · #law · #lgbt · #politics · #web
Man cited in Supreme Court LGBTQ rights case says he was never involved
Colorado artist Lorie Smith said she had received a request to create designs for a same-sex wedding. The man named in the request said he never asked for that.
- Smilges talks about how LGBTQ Pride is so often inaccessible to them and their disabled friends for various reasons—"they're too loud, too crowded, and too filled with unwanted or accidental touch, as well as planned without basic accommodations, like ramps, sign language interpreters, and food/drink alternatives for people with specific dietary needs". They talk about the commodification of Pride, and how it is built around serving those who are wealthy, not disabled, gender-conforming, and white. They also talk about how they are rethinking the emotions around disability and queer pride.
ACT UP: A History of AIDS/HIV Activism (Podcast episode)
Sarah Schulman, a rank-and-file member of ACT UP New York since the 1980s, codirects the ACT UP Oral History Project, and wrote a book chronicling the group's activism. She speaks about the history of AIDS/HIV, activism, and ACT UP's role in it. She talks about what worked well for that movement, as well as its shortcomings, and the learnings that contemporary activist movements can take from it.