Happy Pride, Beautiful People!
#TC100
Welcome to Third Cultured – a foreign policy and LGBTQIA+ politics newsletter – published by yours truly, Kyle Borland. My goal is to highlight the unique role Queer people play in the politics of the United States and the world-at-large.
Third Cultured is available to all but, as Austin Kleon says, "This newsletter is free, but not cheap.” If you’re able, support my writing by becoming a paid subscriber!
This edition:
Personal Note on Third Cultured #100
Opinion Essay
Buy and Watch All of This Gay Shit
Personal Note on Third Cultured #100
To my long-time readers – thank you for going on this journey with me!
When I started Third Cultured, I had a simple goal: to write something, preferably, on a semi-regular basis.
As I hit publish on number 100, I feel like I accomplished that goal. I don’t publish nearly as much as I wanted, but a lot of that has to do with my own perfectionism and expectations of what I wanted to inform folks about.
Honestly, it’s still taking its final form (especially as Substack adds features).
In the next few weeks, Third Cultured will be getting (yet another) facelift and will be expanding what is covered underneath its banner. (Hint: I got a new FT job back in March and I’m doing a lot of work in cannabis, infrastructure, labor, and social equity.)
I want my writing to reflect my world, so keep your eyes open for TC’s next evolution!
Again, thank you for supporting me through #100 and – as always – for reading.
Opinion Essay
On a macro-scale, it can be hard to find reasons for hope, let alone public joy, given the floundering state of LGBTQ+ progress.
In Fulton v. City of Philadelphia – a Catholic agency refused to comply with Philadelphia’s laws against anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination in adoption placements made subsequent to a city contract – SCOTUS is projected to carve out an even bigger exception around “religious liberty.” The Christian Fascists have invested all their resources in creating statutory and constitutional protections for faith-based flouting of anti-discrimination laws and policies.
The justices’ questions during oral arguments seemed to point to a ruling in favor of the Catholic agency … That would restrict the impact of the 2015 ruling establishing a right to same-sex marriage, making clear that LGBTQ Americans could not expect the same protections as other groups. It would also raise questions about whether the newly conservative court might one day revisit that 2015 ruling.
Ironically, even after authoring the 2020 opinion that LGBTQ+ workers are protected by federal anti-discrimination laws if the opinion is written by Justice Gorsuch then Queer rights will almost assuredly backslide.
If Justice Neil Gorsuch writes the opinion in Fulton, look out. He has quickly become the Court’s chief champion of “religious liberty,” defined as focusing on the right to fully exercise one’s faith as opposed to the right to be free of state-supported religious teachings. That’s despite the great notoriety he gained from writing a 2020 opinion that said LGBTQ workers are protected by federal anti-discrimination laws (a matter of statutory interpretation in which Gorsuch followed the plain-meaning “textualist” doctrines of Justice Antonin Scalia).
Does it matter that LGBTQ+ youth are over-represented in the foster care system compared to cisgender and heterosexual youth? Isn’t it most important that all children in foster care have access to all kinds of families that will love them?
Or, is it most important in “the land of the free and the home of the brave” to make sure Christians have the power to make Queer people’s – truthfully, everyone’s – lives more difficult?
All the name of God, of course.
Among the States, more than 250 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in state legislatures in 2021 – yes, I’m going to keep repeating it – and more anti-trans legislation has passed this year than in the last 10 years combined!
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis kicked off Pride Month with transphobic legislation prohibiting trans girls and women from competing in school sports consistent with their gender identity. Without missing a beat – HRC is already suing the state.
Then, the very next day because the cruelty is the point, he vetoed all LGBTQ+ programs and projects from Florida’s budget, including $150,000 for the LGBT+ Center Orlando that earmarked the funds for the Orlando United Assistance Center, which provides mental health services for survivors of the 2016 mass shooting at the city's Pulse nightclub.
On top of it all, June 5 was the 40th anniversary of HIV/AIDS.
34.7 million (and counting) lives later….there is still no cure.
However, even as bleak as the above is, there are bright spots amongst the darkness.
Take pride in Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, a San Antonio high school math teacher and graduate student that became the first out gay Black man ever elected in Texas when he defeated his former boss and incumbent in the runoff race for the San Antonio City Council.
Take pride in Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY) – a gay, Black US congressman elected to be Freshman Representative to House leadership – who can call out a fossilized Dixiecrat from West Virginia for upholding voter suppression.
Take pride in radical rural queers creating safe havens for our people in the most oppressive parts of our country.
Take pride in all of the Queers that came before us who fought like hell – against capitalism, church and cops – so we could live true to ourselves, openly and freely.
Take pride in yourself.
Stay safe and get vaccinated, beautiful people. Thanks for reading.
Roll Pride,
Kyle (@kgborland)
PS – Here are some timely Queer reads worth your time.
20 queer-owned businesses to support this Pride Month (USA Today)
44 People Were Arrested in Latest Raid on Uganda's LGBTQ+ Community (them.)
A Proclamation on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Pride Month, 2021 (White House)
AIDS grove commemorates 40 years of the epidemic (Bay Area Reporter)
Ambassador Rufus Gifford is the reality star who will try to fix America’s image abroad (Washington Post)
Beer Is So Gay (Eater)
Chick-fil-A’s Owner Is Bankrolling Hate Groups Targeting Trans Kids (them.)
Comment: Stop eating Christian Fascist chicken. Eat literally anywhere else. Thanks.
Colorado's 1st LGBTQ curator is uncovering the state's hidden queer history (NBC News)
Proof of early activism is found in the earliest artifact Marcus has collected so far: a 1971 poster advertising meetings of Denver Gay Liberation, one of the state's first LGBTQ-focused groups. Other objects show struggles that persisted in the decades after Stonewall, including one of the original 1994 legal briefs, filed with the Supreme Court, that sought to overturn Amendment 2, a landmark addition to the state's constitution that removed protections based on sexual orientation. From the amendment's 1992 passage until the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional in 1996, Colorado was known as the "Hate State."
Fact Sheet: The Biden-Harris Administration Champions LGBTQ+ Equality and Marks Pride Month (White House)
HIV/AIDS is not over (Bay Area Reporter)
Homophobic Nationalists Disrupt Bulgarian LGBT Events (Balkan Insight)
How to Kiss Your Girlfriend (Esquire)
New foundation seeks to help LGBT rights movement in Poland (AP)
Larry Kramer, Public Nuisance (New Yorker)
LGBTIQ people have been hit hard by COVID. Here’s how we can all help (WEF)
Olympics Gave Hope to Japan’s L.G.B.T.Q. Activists. But Old Prejudices Die Hard. (NYTimes)
Pink start to Pride Month(Bay Area Reporter)
Queer museums: hidden heritage on the rise? (Museums Association)
San Francisco leather, bear fairs among 1st LGBTQ outdoor events to return in-person (Bay Area Reporter)
Sex workers gain foothold in Congress (The Hill)
Tax rebate for Bangladesh companies hiring transgender people (Al Jazeera)
The Age of Reopening Anxiety (The New Yorker)
The Pandemic’s Transformation Of Queer Spaces Has Been A Blessing — & A Curse (Refinery29)
The Young Activist and the Atlanta Bar That Shaped Queer History (NYTimes)
US Embassy to the Vatican flies LGBTQ+ flag for Pride month (Catholic Telegraph)
Venn Diagram of LGBTQ+ and Gaming Communities Goes Here (JSTOR)
We must push toward protecting LGBTQ service members at home (Military Times)
What’s the Most Evil Corporation Going Rainbow For Pride? (Discourse Blog)
Buy, Read, and Watch All of This Gay Shit
Buy a subscription to this newsletter! It’s Pride Month – support this gay creative/writer:
Read LGBTQ+ books:
Hola Papi: How to Come Out in a Walmart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons
Gay Fiction: Outlawed | The Guncle | With Teeth
Gay Nonfiction: Gay Bar: Why We Went Out | Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993 | The Sacred Band: Three Hundred Theban Lovers Fighting to Save Greek Freedom
Sapphic fantasy: The Unbroken | The Jasmine Throne | She Who Became the Sun
Watch Queer films and shows:
Legendary: Seasons 1 and 2 on HBO Max, ballroom houses compete for $100,000 and to be declared Superior House.
Pose: Seasons 1–3 on FX (The series finale was last night.)
The Legend of the Underground on HBO Max, exploring anti-LGBTQ+ laws in Nigeria, premieres on June 29.
