Justice Kennedy and the Future for LGBTQ Rights and the Courts

Since 1996, with the Romer v. Evans decision, LGBTQ rights in the United States have expanded significantly — from protecting private sexual relations to ensuring marriage equality. It has taken many years, but the Courts have slowly started to recognize the humanity and equal dignity of LGBTQ persons. The pro-LGBTQ court decisions are indebted to Justice Anthony Kennedy's jurisprudence, who has written the majority opinion in every major LGBTQ decision. Kennedy, over the years, has developed a legal narrative around and about the dignity and equal status of LGBTQ persons and their lives. With announcement of his retirement, we should be wary of what the highest Court of the land will have in store for us going forward.

Re Rose McGowan and Gay Misogyny

Rose McGowan has gotten a lot of attention in the past few days for some comments she made on the Bret Easton Ellis Podcast about the LGBT*Q community. Her comments sparked a lot of outrage online and within the community (including my own) while raising awareness about some issues - although maybe that was unintentional.

Coming Out Isn't the End

This post comes in the wake of national coming out day:

Its been a long time since I've been 'in the closet'. Like many people who have a closet they've had to come out of, I still remember vividly what it was like to be in it; lonely, quiet, and full of fear. Always looking over your shoulder, hoping not to be caught. Every free moment of thought consumed by your secret. Its really not pleasant, obviously.

Being 'out' is truly liberating. Talking to almost any LGBT*Q person would probably make that abundantly clear. For me, its been 6 years of a (mostly) great experience. I have been proud, and loud, and many people who know me can attest to that - in case this blog didn't make it clear enough. During my time in California this summer though, a funny thing happened... I seemed to have been placed back into a closet.

Intersex - What is it, and what it means for sexuality.

Lately I have been doing a lot of thinking about the gender and sexuality spectrum. I've discussed many things, from how we can and should define bisexuality, to whether sexual orientation should be a special class from other attractions. I will most likely do separate posts on each of these but one of the topics which interests me most is that of  biological sex. What is sex? What are its defining characteristics? And how does it intersect with our many other characteristics and identities?

What We Can Learn About Labels From Tom Daley's 'Coming Out'

So, exciting news! For those of you that don't know - Tom Daley has 'come out'! You know that really cute British diver? Yeah, that one... He came out the other week - posted a video online and it was really exciting for so many people around the world. Because of all the media attention, he has probably given lots of people some courage or comfort, and maybe even influenced some to come out themselves. Unfortunately, all the attention also means that there are so many things that people said or did that were negative. Some of those need to be addressed.

FCKH8 - An Open Letter

I'm sure that many of you have heard of the company and activist organization called the FCKH8 Campaign. They are an organization that aims to fight homophobia in the USA and around the world. They are widely known and seen because of their abrasive approach to the issue of equality and tolerance.

Below is a letter sent by my partner and colleague Jesse Bachir. Jesse is an activist and an academic in law at Durham University and also contributes to the blog Inherently Human.

Trans* Rights - Disclose Your Gender History or it May Be Rape

The idea of transgender rights is not all that new. In many civilizations transgender, genderqueer, and in general gender minorities have been treated in certain specific ways. These customs may or may not have been codified into written laws but they can be seen as conventional laws or practices. However it is relatively new to our society and as such, there are no rules on how treat individuals who defy our gender norms and it seems that the law is struggling to keep up.

In the United Kingdom there has been a flurry of recent cases (here, here, and here) that all have to do with gender representation and how it affects sexual activity. Particularly, these cases revolve around issues of consent. These cases are important because they are setting the legal precedent for future cases, and unfortunately it seems that they are finding it to be a criminal offense to have sex with someone without disclosing your 'gender'.

Asexy and Who Cares?

This week is Asexual Awareness Week, I keep seeing posts on the internet, mostly Tumblr, about how a lot of Asexuals felt like they were "broken" before they learned of the more clinical term, and of the supportive online community. The Asexual Visibility campaign has been gaining a lot of traction. Seems like every few weeks there's another article somewhere about it. Which is cool. More people knowing about it means fewer people think that they're "broken". Trust me, I've been there and it sucks.

But the fact remains that the Asexual Visibility movement doesn't have a goal to attain other than visibility and general acceptance. Both of those are admiral, lofty and ambiguous as they may be. It could be argued that Aces don't need to worry about visibility, that they don't need to campaign not to have sex. And many Asexuals would agree. They don't bother to come out, since it only affects themselves.