This article was first published on April 3, 2019 by ReWire.News. The first-ever congressional hearing on the Equality Act was a testimony to the strength of evidence and public support for updating nondiscrimination laws to protect LGBTQ people, while Republicans trotted out their favorite anti-trans activist to inject conspiracies into the congressional record. The U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee on Tuesday held a full committee hearing on the legislation,

This article, written by Rev. Elena Rose Vera and Heron Greenesmith, Esq., was first published on April 3, 2019 by The Advocate. Yesterday, House Republicans called so-called “feminist” Julia Beck to testify as a witness against the Equality Act, which is historic legislation that would finally prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation. Opposition to this historic bill — which would bring much-needed civil liberties to LGBTQ people

This article first appeared on March 8, 2019 on Rewire.News. Julia Beck has been granted a platform to give the right wing's anti-transgender activism the veneer of bipartisanship. A baffling sentence opened the Thursday testimony of Julia Beck, speaking at the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security on the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. “I am a lesbian radical feminist,” said Beck, who was removed from the Baltimore Ci

This article original appeared on January 11, 2019 in ReWire.News. In the 1970s, ultra-conservative, anti-abortion, anti-feminist crusader Phyllis Schlafly organized STOP ERA, the successful campaign to tank the Equal Rights Amendment. So devastating was the loss that the legislation—proposed to remedy gender disparity in employment, property ownership, and other areas—has been mired in the courts and state legislatures for 40 years. “Since the women are the ones who bear the

This article first appeared on November 1, 2018 on Political Research Associates. On October 21, The New York Times reported receiving information from the White House that details how the Trump Administration proposes to impose a multi-agency re-interpretation of “sex” under several civil rights laws to mean “[t]he sex listed on a person’s birth certificate, as originally issued.” Further, it would codify “sex” as only existing in a binary of male and female “based on immuta

This article originally appeared on September 24, 2018 in ReWire.News. Gender ideology” took center stage at this weekend’s Values Voter Summit (VVS) in Washington, D.C. And side stage. And student mixer. In each instance, it was used as a handy catchall: Objecting to “gender ideology” allows Christian conservatives to consolidate all their objections to treating LGBTQ people with dignity into one scary talking point. VVS is the annual conference of the Family Research Counci

This article originally appeared on July 16th, 2018 in Rewire. On Wednesday, the U.S. House Appropriations Committee voted to add an amendment to an appropriations bill that included a provision permitting licensed child-welfare agencies to discriminate on the basis of religion. The amendment drew immediate ire from the LGBTQ community, as many organizations framed the legislation as “barring gay and lesbian couples from adopting.” That’s not quite accurate: The amendment, in

This article originally appeared on the front page of the Huffington Post on June 28, 2018 on . I am going to speak ill of Justice Kennedy. Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement announcement on Wednesday secured his legacy. By declaring his intention to leave the court on the same day he joined an opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts gutting labor rights, and the day after he joined opinions upholding President Donald Trump’s Muslim ban and overturning California’s protection

This article originally appeared on ReWire.news on April 17, 2018. The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is a federally administered survey that provides some of the most crucial data in the United States on the demographics of crime victims, including their sexual orientation and gender identity. The NCVS is administered to youth and adults in households across the country, but last week the Bureau of Justice Statistics issued a public comment proposing to raise the

This essay originally appeared on Medium.com on November 15, 2017. It was also published in the Huffington Post. It’s the most wonderful time of the year: open enrollment season! ♫Silver plans, silver plans. It’s healthcare time in the city.♫ Etc. Despite the Trump Administration trying to Ebeneezer Scrooge its way out of having to actually provide affordable health care coverage for the American public, the enrollment period to sign up for insurance is now open from November