The trans youth athletes in the US fighting for their rights: ‘Playing is an act of resistance’

The trans youth athletes in the US fighting for their rights: ‘Playing is an act of resistance’

As the US supreme court weighs bans on trans athletes, five students speak about the joy of sports and toll of exclusion The US supreme court on Tuesday is considering state laws banning transgender athletes from school sports. The cases were brought by trans students who challenged bans in West Virginia and Idaho barring trans girls from girls teams. The outcome could have wide-ranging implications for LGBTQ+ rights . A total of 27 states have passed sports bans targeting trans youth while more than 20 states have maintained pro-LGBTQ+ policies. Continue reading...

Women are feral for Heated Rivalry. What does that say about men?

Women are feral for Heated Rivalry. What does that say about men?

The explosive popularity of the gay hockey TV drama reveals women’s desire for sex and romance without violence or hierarchy The first time gay hockey romance crossed Mary’s radar, she was warned off it. A 64-year-old non-profit executive from Toronto, Mary recalled mentioning the Canadian author Rachel Reid’s Game Changers series to her son, a twentysomething queer writer and fellow hockey-obsessive, a few years ago. “I said: ‘Have you heard of these books?’ and he said: ‘Yeah.’ I said: ‘Should I read these books?’ And he said: ‘No. They’re not for you.’” Continue reading...

Charlie Hebdo tried to humiliate me. Instead it debased the freedom of speech it symbolises | Rokhaya Diallo

Charlie Hebdo tried to humiliate me. Instead it debased the freedom of speech it symbolises | Rokhaya Diallo

The satirical title targeted in an Islamist attack 10 years ago published a racist, sexist caricature of me that speaks volumes about its values The day before Christmas Eve, just as France readied itself to slip into the holiday slowdown, something abruptly shook me out of any festive torpor. The satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, known globally and tragically for being the target of an Islamist attack in 2015 published a caricature – of me. And it was appallingly racist . A huge, toothy grin, an enormous mouth, the cartoon depicts me dancing on a stage before an audience of laughing white men, adorned with a banana belt on a largely exposed body. The headline: “The Rokhaya Diallo Show: Mocking secularism around the world.” Stunned by the violence of this grotesque cartoon, I shared it on social media with a brief analysis : “In keeping with slave-era and colonial imagery, Charlie Hebdo once again shows itself incapable of engaging with the ideas of a Black woman without reducing her to a dancing body – exoticised, supposedly savage – adorned with the very bananas that are hurled at Black people who dare to step into the public sphere.” Rokhaya Diallo is a French journalist, writer, film-maker and activist Continue reading...