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The Witch Hunts Were About Persecuting Women

The Witch Hunts Were About Persecuting Women

Using “witch hunt” to decry purportedly baseless allegations, however, reflects a misunderstanding of American history. Witch trials didn’t target the powerful. They persecuted society’s most marginal members – particularly women.

Aimee Stephens Takes Her Trans Rights Case To The Supreme Court

Aimee Stephens Takes Her Trans Rights Case To The Supreme Court

This week the US Supreme Court will hear three cases dealing with queer and trans rights, cases that ask the court to decide whether it is legal to fire someone who is queer and/or trans under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act’s prohibition on discrimination based on sex. The subject of one of these cases, R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, is Aimee Stephens.

Mattel Launches Creatable World Gender Inclusive Doll Line

Mattel Launches Creatable World Gender Inclusive Doll Line

Global toy brand Mattel announced today a new product line featuring a customizable doll offering endless combinations all in one box. The Creatable World™ doll line, consisting of six different doll kits that are available in a variety of skin tones, invites kids to create their own characters with extensive wardrobe options, accessories, and wigs that allow them to style their doll with short or long hair, or in a skirt, pants, or both.

Lesbian Stories and the Pathology of The Bittersweet Hollywood Ending

Lesbian Stories and the Pathology of The Bittersweet Hollywood Ending

The screenwriters for Tell it to the Bees wanted to give the film a “sweeping romantic ending”, like Brief Encounter or Dr Zhivago. But they wanted them to have a divided happiness – one of them can have the happiness of staying in the town to have a fulfilling career; and the other can have the future happiness of finding love in a more tolerant place. But they can’t have those two things in the same place and with each other.

My Sober Second Act

My Sober Second Act

There are so many things that numb us to who we are. Alcohol is a big one. Minority groups, including queer and trans folks, have higher rates of alcoholism. It makes sense that we’d want to reach for a substance that provides an escape. But where’s the line between temporary escape and self-sabotage, playing right into the hands of those harmful stereotypes forced on us?