A challenge LGBTQ communities face now and in the years ahead is not only specific to policy threats or civil rights obstacles, but in how effectively we can join forces with other communities and rise together as one to fight back to ensure a more fair and equal future for all. Gone are the days…
Friday, Oct. 6, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memorandum entitled “Federal Law Protections for Religious Liberty.” The document is an official, federal argument for exercising religion in the marketplace, in the public square and in interacting with the federal government. For example, Principle 2 of the memorandum states, “The free exercise of religion includes…
I will be coming out for the rest of my life. No setting is safe from this phenomenon. I have to come out everywhere – in the grocery store, at work, when meeting a friend of a friend. The process of coming out is lifelong and dynamic, despite the well-known concept of “a coming out…
“Why do you have to bring up the LGBT thing?” “Marriage equality is the law of the land, now what else do you want?” “Be careful about the ‘gay thing’ with your campaign. It can hurt you.” These are just some of the comments I’ve received since I entered the race for San Diego County…
I understand you are in need of a new secretary of health and human services (HHS). I would like to apply. Like former Secretary Price, I am an MD. That is where our relevant similarities end, and you should realize that is a good thing for your administration. I grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania, a…
After watching Toni Atkins get attacked for endorsing the re-election of Sheriff Bill Gore I knew that I would also, and really don’t care and absolutely stand by my endorsement. And let me say that just because I am Latino and gay does not mean I am obligated to support and vote for a Latino…
Winston Churchill once said that “History is written by the winners.” When the Stonewall Riots occurred in 1969 the history of more than a century-long oppressed people finally got national attention. And, since that historical moment, the suppressed and closeted oral histories of our fierce and courageous LGBTQ brothers and sisters began to be documented…
Selective suppression of free speech has reached a level of violence unsurpassed in our country. In April 2013, the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee announced Chelsea, formerly Bradley, Manning as Grand Marshal of city’s 2013 Pride Parade. Manning was in prison awaiting trial for disclosing hundreds of thousands of classified government documents to the…
This is my third column where I’m writing about things ex-transgender. In one column I explored a San Diego church’s mini-conference on transgender people (especially transgender family members), and in another column I reviewed a DVD of a reparative therapist talking about gender dysphoria. In this third column I’m reviewing the documentary TranZformed: Finding Your…
There is something deeply inspiring in an act of pure authenticity. My husband coming out as transgender was the purest of such acts. His acknowledgement of his need to live a valid life at all costs began shaping the decisions we would make in the future. There was no more room for inauthentic living in…
