As a young person, I didn’t have any queer adult mentors to teach me about the positivity of exploring my sexual orientation, not to mention my gender identity. Most of what I learned about being LGBTIQ came from '90s mainstream media and my Gay Straight Alliance in high school. After high school, a couple of my friends eventually came out as gay. I listened and learned from … [Read more...]
5 Ways to Support Undocumented Folks
As a nation, we are living through a very scary time. And while that may be the understatement of the century, there are particular demographics under attack right now. As a person who works in educating students of color, whose parents may or may not be undocumented, as well as educating undocumented students, I have noticed a shift in their attitudes. I’ve seem some … [Read more...]
Calling Fellow Cis Men: Why We Can’t Stay Silent About Reproductive Justice
I have never made it a secret that for a lengthy period of time in my life, I identified as pro-life. For a time, it was a decision related to the Catholic faith I was raised in. Later, even after leaving Catholicism behind, I maintained my position on something resembling a well-meaning but simplistic ethical basis. I say this with no hint of pride or irony: when I was … [Read more...]
How To Center People With High Needs in the Disability Movement
I do a lot of talking, both on my public platforms and in the disability advocacy circles I frequent, about visibility for less-visible disabled people. Don’t assume a person isn’t disabled because they don’t “look disabled”! Don’t assume that a person who uses a mobility aid sometimes and not others “doesn’t really need it”! Don’t assume that neurodivergent and intellectually … [Read more...]
7 Ways to Support Someone Who is Struggling with Their Gender Identity
Don’t assume you ‘know’ what their authentic gender is. Don’t assume you know what they are going through. Don’t assume anything. Listen. Listen. Listen. Open yourself. Hear. Hear. Hear. Every person’s gender journey is distinctly theirs; there are no cookie-cutter ten steps to success. Who is this person? What matters to them? How do they talk about their gender? … [Read more...]
Olympic Pursuits of Teamwork & Accountability: 7 Ways We Can Go For the Gold of Radical Self Love Together
Here's to rooting for each other in all avenues of our work and building. 1. Be Vulnerable For a long time, I struggled with being defensive when confronted with my own isms. I remember making a racist comment, nothing overt, in a literature class, and the shocked look on my professor’s face stayed with me for days. We had coffee at her request and she confronted me, gently, … [Read more...]

The Body Is Not an Apology
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