Just last year, when a person very close to me admitted she was struggling with depression, my initial internal reaction was disbelief. This can’t be true, I thought. My next thought was mortification for feeling this way. Why was it that I, a socially conscious person who believes strongly in mental health advocacy, immediately felt incredulity? I had to be honest with … [Read more...]
#CloseTheCamps: No 4th of July While Children Die
On July 2nd, I participated in a #CloseTheCamps rally demanding that the illegal concentration camps for undocumented children and their families -- with 71% of migrants being held in for-profit facilities as of November 2017 -- be shut down. I stood on the sidewalk of a local park with about 60 other protesters as we held signs and rattled noisemakers, chanting and begging our … [Read more...]
Not in Our Queer Names: We Must Support Muslim Immigrants and Refugees
Within days of Trump implementing his ban on refugees from certain Muslim majority countries (which, let’s call it what it is, a Muslim ban) he also announced he would keep the protections for federal LGBT employees that Obama implemented. Whether this was on the urging of his daughter and son-in-law, or his own idea (hah!), this is not something to celebrate. Do not … [Read more...]
The Hypocrisy of American Grief: Why We Shed Tears for Gun Violence But Not Refugees
It is touching and appropriate that we cry for children killed from gun violence. But somehow, there is a disproportionate level of attention given to refugee children. The conversation about these children is radically different, since children who are U.S. citizens are seen as innocent, whereas refugee children are seen as criminals. This is about more than politics. This … [Read more...]
