Anti-LGBTQ+ Forces Found Reaping
#152
Welcome to Third Cultured, a newsletter about Queer people in diplomacy, politics, and war from the perspective of Kyle Borland (he/they). My goal is to highlight all the ways today is different (and not so) from yesterday.
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This edition:
Opinion Essay
A List of LGBTQ+ Wins
Anti-LGBTQ+ Laws/Violence Around the World
Extra Links, Quotes & Gay Shit
Opinion Essay
My birthday weekend got off to a great start with the Respect for Marriage Act passing through Congress and Brittney Griner’s release in a prisoner swap with Russia. My personal favorite story? The restaurant in Virginia refusing to serve an anti-LGBTQ+ organization. If Christians can deny services for LGBTQ+ people, they should get used to others refusing to serve them as well. Two can play this game, and the bigots are not going to like where the path they paved leads.
I usually don’t do much for my birthday but I wanted to start off my thirties with intentionality so I threw a party for myself, and I’m so glad I did. It was a wonderful reminder of the wonderful life I’ve built here in San Francisco over the past 7+ years and the great people I’ve gotten to know during that time. There were folks from my first couple of years in the City and others I met over the past year in creative writing groups and through other friends. My heart and soul are so full.
Admittedly, since I spent the weekend celebrating, I don’t have many thoughts fleshed out at the moment so expect to see another newsletter in your inbox later this week. Until then, I’ve shared some key articles highlighting particularly big moments in addition to the usual links in the sections below.
Biden had a ‘painful’ decision to make to secure Griner’s release. He made it. (Politico)
Brittney Griner Is Finally Free (them)
Speaker Pelosi summed the moment up well:
There remains more work ahead. Horrifically, Republican states have sought to ban transgender athletes from the playing field, prosecute parents who seek gender-affirming care for their children and even muzzle teachers for acknowledging the existence of same-sex couples.
Our nation is forever grateful for the many extraordinary contributions that LGBTQ Americans have made in the arts and sciences, health care and human rights, businesses and nonprofits, and as leaders in our communities. To our LGBTQ friends, family and neighbors: We see you, we stand with you and we will never rest until you can enjoy the respect, dignity and safety you deserve.
Just as I began my career fighting for LGBTQ communities, I am overjoyed that one of the final bills I will sign as speaker will be the Respect for Marriage Act: ensuring the federal government will never again stand in the way of marrying the person you love.
On same-sex marriage, ‘the country has caught up with California’ (LA Times)
Openly LGBTQ members of Congress celebrate passage of Respect for Marriage Act, say there’s more work to do (The Hill)
Question to conservative Christians on gay marriage: Why draw the line here? (WashPost)
The Respect for Marriage Act is progress, but LGBTQ advocates say it’s no Obergefell (WashPost)
Stay safe, beautiful people. This is only the beginning.
As always, thanks for reading.
Kyle (@kgborland)
A List of LGBTQ+ Wins
As Congress passes same-sex marriage protections, California leaders set their sights on erasing Prop. 8 (SF Chronicle)
‘Being queer is amazing’: LGBTQ+ artists take the stage at this year’s Art Basel Miami (The Guardian)
CA lawmakers introduce bill to help with security issues (Bay Area Reporter)
Denver Gay Men’s Chorus honors lives changed by Club Q gun violence (Rocky Mountain PBS)
First openly gay GOP former member of U.S. House dies at 80 (LA Blade)
From LGBT struggles to mental health, Hong Kong’s Human Library shares stories from city’s margins to promote empathy (South China Morning Post)
Likud on back foot as dozens of towns say won’t let anti-LGBT MK dictate education (Times of Israel)
More than just 'firsts,' LGBTQ elected officials carve space for a future generation of politicians (USA Today)
Queer Americana Photographer Ryan Pfluger captures LGBTQ intimacy in the United States. (The Cut)
Queer Spaces Have Never Been Safe — But We Will Continue To Create More (HuffPost)
Tel Aviv’s Gay Dads (Tablet Magazine)
The first ever cohort of trans attorneys has been admitted to practice before the Supreme Court (LGBTQ Nation)
Ukraine’s only transgender correspondent has become a local legend (LGBTQ Nation)
Anti-LGBTQ+ Laws/Violence Around the World
Alleged Killer of Two Gay Men Says He Wants Death Sentence (The Advocate)
Anti-trans Watch: Policies in MT, NH, OH, SC Target Trans People. Positive Movement In CA, MN, MO. (Erin in the Morning)
Biden’s LGBT Health Shield Plan Muddled by Trump-Appointed Judge (Bloomberg Law)
Congregations sue to leave United Methodist Church over LGBTQ disputes (WashPost)
FBI asking about videos and racist website in connection with Colorado shooting (NBC News)
Fears Switzerland could become hotspot for "gay conversion tourism" amid parliamentary debate (euronews)
Gay congressional staffer speaks out after being attacked by Marjorie Taylor Greene & her followers (LGBTQ Nation)
Indonesia passes law that could land unmarried & gay tourists in jail for having sex (LGBTQ Nation)
LGBT+ Indonesians Face Difficulties Accessing Healthcare (SheThePeople)
Qatari officials forced trans woman to remove breast tissue after arresting her (LGBTQ Nation)
Queerness Never Came Easy in Colorado Springs (them)
Russian libraries remove LGBTQ+ books from their shelves after Putin signs harsh anti-LGBTQ+ law (LGBTQ Nation)
Santa Claus, the KKK, and other bizarre hypotheticals raised by Supreme Court in LGBTQ rights case (CNN)
The Queer Cultures That the Nazis Destroyed (NYTimes)
Transgender Americans Feel Under Siege as Political Vitriol Rises (NYTimes)
Wisconsin school board member sues over new sex-ed curriculum (LGBTQ Nation)
Extra Links, Quotes & Gay Shit
23 Favorite LGBTQ+ Books of 2022 (them)
276,000 transgender adults in the U.S. are enrolled in Medicaid (Williams Institute)
A new union is born in the South (Facing South)
California Panel Sizes Up Reparations for Black Citizens (NYTimes)
Carnage down the street: Deaths skyrocket inside Alabama prisons. Does anyone care? (Moth to Flame)
Finding My Way—and Staying Alive—During the AIDS Crisis (The New Yorker)
Geopolitics is a loser’s buzzword with a contagious idea (Aeon)
Hell is an Evangelical billboard in rural Alabama (Sex and the State)
How Dobbs Triggered a ‘Vasectomy Revolution’ (Politico)
How Wednesday Addams Birthed a Generation of Cynics (Longreads)
LGBTQ+ Study From WPP Reveals Attitudes on Gender Fluidity, Queer Media, Coming Out at Work and more (Ad Age)
Lensa, and Portraits of Desire (¡Hola Papi!)
New LGBTQ holiday movies bring joy — and ‘disingenuous’ stereotypes (WashPost)
Pedro Almodóvar Says His Gay Western, Starring Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke, Will Premiere at Cannes (Variety)
spotify lowkey giving sola fide vibes (sweater weather)
The honesty of pornography (Aeon)
The moral and intellectual vacuity of left isolationism (Anti-Imperialist League)
Trans trailblazer helps queer the sci-fi genre in ‘The Peripheral’ (LA Blade)
Traveling coast to coast as a same-sex couple is a balancing act (NBC News)
“We’re Growing And Expanding What Love Looks Like”: Joel Kim Booster Is Shaping The Future Of Rom-Coms (British Vogue)