Category: LGBTQ+ / Gay / Trans / Gender
Good Commentary Here
This was linked in a substack I was reading, I found it worthy of sharing, and also of the author getting the clicks on their own page.
(Also Not April Fools. I’m gettin’ to it! Probably.)
It’s Time for a Republican Sickout
If you can’t find the strength to take a stand, at least lie down.
Hello, Congressional Republicans who still care about the republic! I know you’re out there because I kept hearing how differently Trump’s cabinet confirmations would have gone if only the votes have been secret.
We have reached a crisis point. We have reached so many crisis points. We reached like three new crisis points between me starting and finishing this article.
We have flipped our foreign policy so radically that we are now the villain of the world. All decision on that end seems to have been handed over to Putin and a bunch of preening technofascists. Our economy is crashing toward a depression and the only trick the Trump Administration pony has is more insane tariffs. High-level cabinet members endangered the lives of our servicemembers by discussing classified information on the already-hacked Signal app, and that doesn’t even cover gloating over civilian deaths, adding a journalist to the group text, and further damaging our relationship with Europe. The Trump administration is trying to start wars with freaking Denmark and Canada. DENMARK AND CANADA, for chrissakes.
And the most insane thing is that this is an abridged list. There are paragraphs and paragraphs of human rights horrors that I have skipped.
This is it. You are a part of an authoritarian government, a twisted and vile parody of what we once had. Elon Musk is stripping it for parts and awarding himself lucrative contracts while Donald Trump threatens Republican judges and lobs all of our state secrets straight to Putin.
The window for stopping this is small and vanishing. The most patriotic thing you could do is stand up and impeach Donald Trump, but, whether it’s due to a fear of Trump or fear of his zealots, you’re not doing that. The second most patriotic thing you could do is resign and leave your seat open to a flip by the Democrats. But you don’t seem to be doing that either. So here it is: The third most patriotic thing you can do, your last option for saving your beloved country from falling completely into authoritarianism: Get sick.
Get terribly sick and refuse to discuss your personal health information during this challenging time. Or get just a little bit sick and keep insisting that you’ll be as right as rain in a week or two. Have a family emergency. Or just take some dearly needed personal time.
Just drop out for a while. Hole up at home or get out of the country if you need to and let some trusted Democrats know that they’ll have the majority for a while and the time and leeway to move. (BE SURE YOU KNOW WHO IS ON THE SIGNAL CHAT.)
But what if someone is blackmailing me?
No offense, but this is bigger than you. Putin wants to break the United States. And he wants to break the United States so that he can roll over Western Europe. Do you really want to go to your grave knowing that you held onto your secret at the expense of Permanent Global Fascism? For that matter, do you really think complying now will stop them from burning you with it when you become inconvenient later?
Let’s be honest: A lot of us are already kind of assuming that you’re being blackmailed. And the fact that you’ve abandonedyour principles when the stakes are so high is making people think that the thing you’re being blackmailed over is much worse than what it probably really is. If Matt Gaetz can brazen it out, what on earth must you be hiding?
The good news is that there is nothing better for blowing your blackmail material straight out of the news cycle than a fiery Presidential impeachment that the nation can’t stop watching. There’s no better time to get out from under someone’s thumb.
But if the Democrats are smart, they’ll remove Johnson and prosecute Vance for the Signal debacle. That means a Democratic President will be in. I’ll lose some of my own power. What about that?
More real talk: Donald Trump has screwed the Republican party’s chances for decades at a minimum. You are now the party that let the Nazis in. You are the party that closed the national parks and tried to put Grandma out on the street. You are the party that kneecapped scientific research right when it looked like there might be a cure for pancreatic cancer. You are the party that crashed the stock market, the party that made us hated by the world, the party that let Musk and Putin take the reins. You are the party that just came out as pro-measles and made room for polio. The Republican Party is going the way of the Know-Nothings. You’re going to have to scrap it and start over.
And that’s if we ever have real elections again.
The only hope of you, personally, ever coming back into power is if Trump gets impeached and you become a zealous reformer. Toss out everyone who helped Trump, Musk, Thiel and Putin, support real jail time, and legislate us back out of Citizens United. Throw the bastards out and keep on throwing or you are surely getting tossed out yourself.
You can start right now, of course. That would be ideal. But you can also start after you take a little break to let the Democrats get the ball rolling.
Can’t I just keep my head down and appease Trump until things are magically better?
No. If you have read this far instead of screaming about George Soros and fake Venezuelan gang members, you are a Republican who thoughtcrimes against Trump. He and his barrel of vipers who the nonbelievers are. You won’t make it.
Fascists always need a villain to rail against. They always have a list. It is not a question of whether you are on the list, it’s a question of how far down you are. Right now, it’s foreign students and random brown people with innocent tattoos, but Trump is going to crave new meat and fresh news stories soon. You know that he needs to ritually humiliate and cast out a Republican every so often to reassert his dominance. You’re higher up the list than you think.
And if we hit the era of No Real Elections, which is more likely every day, there is no way you are keeping your elected position. Only perfect toadying cult members will make it through, and there is no way you can tap dance fast enough to make up for the past.
Besides: Is “enthusiastic supporter of the fascist regime” the way you want your grandchildren to remember you?
If you aren’t moved by the idea of saving the democratic republic we’ve all grown fond of, think about the fact that your only path to staying in your elected office is to get Trump out of his, and your chance to do that is slipping away.
It’s time to come down with a severe but undefined and conveniently curable medical issue. Play hooky. Go AWOL. Bunk out. Chuck a sickie. But do it quickly.
If you can’t bring yourself to impeach Donald Trump, you need to get the hell out of the way so someone else can. (snip)
Crazy Republican stuff from Joe My God
I was going through Joe My God for news and memes. I found these stories either outrageous enough or so crazy I felt I should share them. Hugs.
Not much to say about the RFK ones.
So much for cutting fraud, waste, and inefficacies. Hugs
CRT and DEI hate from the right is all about racism and bigotry. It is so clear that to them a mediocre white male is better than the most talented gifted woman, person of color, or anyone LGBTQ+. It doesn’t matter to them how good and educated anyone is if they are not a white male they are inferior to any white man. These people, these Nazi wannabees in charge of our government are desperate to enshrine in the law that white males are always better than anyone else. Why do they feel so inferior that they need to get rid of any attempts to allow others the same opportunities they have, to have shows and movies that represent the entirety of the population / society? What are they afraid of. Hugs
Talk about corruption much? The last voter give away he ran he first called it a lottery that anyone voting for a republican could win. But when he was taken to court because that was illegal he admitted that it was all a preplanned scam. Musk had already picked the winner which was some GOP insider. Seems he did the same thing here. Yet maga cult falls for it all the time. Hugs
Gee tRump is banning refugees from most other countries, trying hard to close the Southern border, revoking the visas and green cards of legal non-white residents … yet opening the door to white South Africans. Begging the white people who formerly keep the black people as impoverished near slaves in their own country to move here. tRump influenced by the South African immigrant currently screwing up every department of the government maybe, you know the guy that gave the Nazi salute? Or self avowed white supremacist Stephen Miller? The reason given is the South African government is being mean to white people and taking their land. That is not what the law says. The fact is that the whites took the farm land from the blacks and they couldn’t legally own it. The law seeks to balance that ownership out fairly. The law has safeguards for the white owners. The law says … expropriate land from private parties if it’s in the public interest and allows for expropriation without compensation, but only if negotiations for a reasonable settlement have failed, the government says. It says it does not allow land to be taken arbitrarily. Hugs
So much for lowering prices on … groceries. You know that word that seemed to fascinate tRump. Guess cars are not eggs. And yes why would billionaires and millionaires care if prices rise and the lower incomes can’t afford to live, it won’t stop them from eating, from having homes, from driving nice cars. Hugs
Why not let the Department Of Defense, the upper ranks and people who understand the military and its equipment / abilities. Why farm the work out to a political regressive think tank that wants desperately wants a 1950s world. From the article … It outlines, in broad and sometimes partisan detail, the execution of Trump’s vision to prepare for and win a potential war against Beijing and defend the United States from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama Canal. Hugs
In the land of the free where we are supposed to have freedom of speech and the right to protest. But anyone that says anything supporting the Palestinians being exterminated and going through a genocide done by Israel. Any acknowledgment of what Israel is doing the administration now claims is an antisemitic attack on Jewish people. That is wrong! It is a gross lie and crazy misinformation made to vilify the people who are correct. Oh I have a post cued up to make about the father shipped by mistake to El Salvador but PINO tRump refuses to bring him back. After all he is brown you know. The real reason these people are being targeted is some are brown and others are Muslim, or both Hugs
I think the constitution is very clear. After this term he can’t serve as either president or vice president. The 22nd forbids more than two terms, and the 12th forbids anyone who can not be president from being the vice president. Plus with his mental decline so clear he soon will be sitting in a corner talking to the wall where he thinks there are people listening to him. The way he eats and his health he will be lucky if he doesn’t have a health emergency before the end of the year much less by 2028. I wonder if he says this stuff just for distraction? He does think he is entitled to anything he wants and always has. Hugs
MS Restaurant Offers Free Food To Straights Only
March 30, 2025
The Mississippi Clarion-Ledger reports:
A Mississippi Gulf Coast restaurant came under fire after posting a video offering a free food deal to straight people only. The LGBTQ community is boycotting the business, and the owners’ stances on the matter have been erratic, swinging from backing the decision to apologizing before once again justifying their actions. Now, they’re defending the move.
On Tuesday, March 25, Darwell Yeager III and Nettie Mechelle Yeager shared a free food deal at Darwell’s Happiness Cafe in Long Beach.
Both spelled out that trans, lesbian and gay couples could not get the deal. Only heterosexual couples, regardless of how long they’d been together. In the following days, the owners have invoked President Donald Trump’s goal to “end to all this wokeness” and briefly shared a MAGA discount before deleting it.
The New York Post reports:
A Mississippi eatery that appeared on Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-ins and, Dives” is facing backlash after its owners posted a video offering “something free” to only straight couples that stopped by to eat at the Cajun joint on Tuesday.
“If you come in and you’re a couple … husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, guy, girl couple, the real kind of couple,” Darwell Yeager said before his spouse cut in and said, “Because we don’t do the trans or the lesbian or gays, I’m sorry.”
“When you come in for the next hour and a half and you are a couple, can-produce-a-child couple, we’ll give you something free,” Darwell Yeager concluded in the since-deleted video that has spread online.
There’s a lot more at the first link, including multiple quotes from the couple’s now-deleted Facebook posts. The screenshot above is from a local station’s regular feature, “In The Kitchen With Darwell’s Happiness Cafe.” You should watch the video below.
FCC Chairman Enlists Anti-LGBTQ Activist To Help Him Block Major Media Mergers If Companies Back Diversity
OK again it is another old one. I should have saved the Disney board standing up to the hateful anti-LGBTQ+ anti-DEIA and the board voting to keep the policies and associations even as they did agree to end the idea of a trans character in a show and do more conservative story lines / characters. But think how tRump at every rally and in front of every courthouse claimed Biden was weaponizing the DOJ and government against him. Remember how bad it said it was that Biden was using the government against his enemies which meant every republican criminal. But now tRump is doing it and his maga cult that used to be called republicans are fine with it. Just like the debt and debt ceiling doesn’t matter now under tRump and did not matter under the first tRump term, but during Biden’s term those two things were constantly shouted by maga on every right wing media show. It is like the party who used to champion family values and law and order was never a believer in those things. Hugs
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March 21, 2025
Bloomberg Law reports:
The US Federal Communications Commission is prepared to block mergers and acquisition proposals from companies that promote “invidious” DEI policies, according to chairman Brendan Carr.
The move could threaten billions of dollars worth of deals in the communications sector, with Carr specifically mentioning Paramount Global’s merger with Skydance Media, Verizon’s acquisition of Frontier Communications, and T-Mobile, which is seeking to purchase US Cellular Corp.’s wireless operations.
“Any businesses that are looking for FCC approval, I would encourage them to get busy ending any sort of their invidious forms of DEI discrimination,” Carr said in an interview Friday.
Fox News reports:
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr is vowing to use every tool at his disposal to eliminate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs from the companies his agency regulates, and has enlisted the help of a high-profile conservative activist in the effort.
Carr met with activist Robby Starbuck on Wednesday to discuss ways the agency can use its enforcement powers to stamp out DEI in the telecommunications sector. The two discussed ways the agency can enforce existing civil rights laws along with President Donald Trump’s recent executive orders targeting DEI in the public and private sectors.
“It’s my hope that this meeting is a wake-up call for businesses within the FCC’s purview that the days of violating the law with DEI are over,” Starbuck told Fox News Digital.
Robby Starbuck has successfully bullied multiple major firms into dropping LGBTQ support with threats of national boycotts.
Since becoming FCC chair, Carr has launched investigations into NPR, PBS, and the east coast flagship broadcast affiliates of ABC, CBS, and NBC.
Carr first appeared here in 2022 when he supported Trump’s demand to ban TikTok. Trump famously reversed on banning TikTok once he found out that GOP megadonor Jeffrey Yass holds a $15 billion stake in the platform.
In 2023 Carr accused then-Rep. Adam Schiff of running a “secret and partisan surveillance machine.” He has also accused the World Health Organization of “beclowning itself” with COVID mitigation advice.
In 2020, Carr told Fox News host Lou Dobbs that “far-left” social media platforms had “hopped from hoax to hoax to hoax” in attacks on Trump.
Carr is a vehement opponent of Net Neutrality and opposed efforts to block Elon Musk from purchasing Twitter.
Last year Carr wrote a full chapter in the Heritage Foundation’s book in support of Project 2025.
Texas Gov Backs Batshit QAnon Bill To Ban “Furries” In Schools, Resurrects Stupid QAnon “Litter Boxes” Claims
I know this is ten days old, but I had it open in a saved tab to share. Most of those I am deleting but this one is just too over the top stupid in a way to keep their maga cult base hyped up or enraged. This has to be one of the greatest hoaxes ever pulled on the right. But remember Texas is run by a group of very wealthy fundamentalist religious leaders who demand society return to the 1950s society they remember and loved. They want a state / country that is white Christian male dominated and give unearned respect. They want Christianity, their version of the god worshiped by their church to be forced on everyone so they can get more donations, more forced white babies that are dragged to church by their parents, more butts in pews, more donations in the plate, more tithes. These are the kind of people that if they don’t feel that way, if they are not into something, then no one should be. They are straight cis people who think anyone not straight or cis is doing it as a choice because they are mentally ill and need to be fixed / cured. These are the people with no empathy who want conversion therapy torture done on children and young adults who are LGBTQ+. Hugs
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March 21, 2025
The Dallas Observer reports:
A freshly filed bill brings the topic of furries in Texas schools to the House. The bill, Forbidding Unlawful Representation of Roleplaying in Education Act, pet-named the F.U.R.R.I.E.S Act, would ban students from observing “non-human behaviors,” which include, but are not limited to, meowing, barking and hissing; wearing a tail, collar, or ears; and licking oneself in a grooming manner.
The F.U.R.R.I.E.S Act, filed by Rep. Stan Gerdes [photo], a Republican lawmaker from Central Texas, does not apply to any specific age group, and instead blankets all students at Texas schools, at the public and private level. The only exceptions are mascots, designated dress-up days and children participating in performances.
The bill follows a debunked right-wing conspiracy theory that teachers were providing students who identify as cats with litter boxes. Indeed, a section of the bill explicitly prohibits “using a litter box for the passing of stool, urine, or other human byproducts.”
The Houston Chronicle reports:
Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday resurrected debunked rumors that public schools were putting litter boxes in classrooms for students dressed as cats, amplifying right-wing criticism of some educators as he pushes for a statewide private school voucher program. The Texas Republican told a gathering of pastors at a Baptist church in Austin that the so-called furries trend is “alive and well” in communities across the state, and that lawmakers needed to ban it.
“In some small rural sections of school districts in the state of Texas, they have in their schools, what are called furries. Y’all know what this is?” Abbott asked the crowd, which responded with a smattering of “yeahs.” “Kids go to school dressed up as cats with litter boxes in their classrooms,” Abbott said. Abbott referenced two rural school districts but did not name them in his address to the Texas Pastors Policy Conference.
From the editorial board of the Dallas Morning News:
No, there aren’t schools in Texas putting out litter boxes for kids to use. That’s internet garbage that naive people take as gospel. In fact, we can think of few more effective ways to spread “furry” culture than to tell the kids it’s against the law. Gov. Greg Abbott, repeating the internet hoax about litter boxes in place of school bathrooms, has either fallen for furry worry or knows there are enough gullible people among his electorate that he can play like a fiddle by plucking their fears.
Abbott has gone full batshit QAnon.
Laverne Cox On The Importance of Trans Issues & Stories
Some news items I wanted to post that got lost in the short time I have to share stuff.
These four articles come from March 17 / 18th and I really wish I could have posted them then. Hugs
How many eggs can you send? U.S. asks countries to help lower soaring prices
The above is the tRump admin trying to get other countries with higher standards in their food to send us their eggs to protect tRump from the soaring prices.
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Hungary To Use Facial Recognition Against LGBTQs
This scares me because the fundamentalist and white cis straight male supremacists will demand it be used here. First on trans people to protect the children then expand it to the entire LGBTQ+ as they have been doing everything else they tried to use against trans kids / people.
Famed Navajo Code Talkers Axed From Pentagon Sites
Yes I know that these were restored. But now tRump is demanding Vance who is on the board of the Smithson and the National Zoo to remove all illegal (purge) references to race, gender, the LGBTQ+ and so much more. He is demanding a national landmark the US government doesn’t control to toe the fundamentalist straight cis white supremacy Christians agenda to deny anything but them into history or society. We really are seeing a complete take over of society and we must do all we can to prevent the rollback of all rights and equality of anyone not white straight cis Christian males. This is horrifyingly scary. Because these hate groups have learned if they can control information, control education, control what is considered good or bad by their standards they can force the youngest people in the country to voice that belief and grow up to enforce it. It is what theocratic Islamic nations do. Are we now a nation taken over by theocratic Christian fundamentalist demanding a change in even the constitution to force everyone to follow their god and their rules? Please kill me first.
Kentucky Republicans Overturn Ex-Gay Torture Ban
Every accredited organization except those directly driven by fundamentalist religiously motivated agree this is simply torture. The religious just simply refuse to believe sexual orientation is not a choice and no one wants to be like that no matter what has to be done to change it. Including electroshock therapy to the genitals. Think of yourself, gay straight, or any other orientation. If you are cis and straight, how much conversion therapy would it take to make you believe you were gay / lesbian and desire that. How could who you are attracted to be changed. That all comes from the idea that it is a mental illness and a sickness that needs to be cured. Which the majority of medical organizations reject, agreeing it is an inborn part of a fetus development. Plus if you could change a sexual orientation … look at my childhood. I was forced to please sexually both males and females. But the only rapes that totally crashed me in the military was the one by a woman with more rank than me who demanded I have sex with her … four times. The last time I was so upset and humiliated that I ran nude up the stairs of the housing unit for higher enlisted and pounded on my soon to be E-7’s door. I was sobbing incoherently. I have been raped all my life and was able to stand that. Why did what this woman force me to do reduced me to that state? Because it was against my very nature of who I was. I was having same sex relations with another young guy and loving it. What she was forcing me to do was against everything I felt inside. That is what the people of these gay conversions want to do.
Some of them think that being gay is a choice because … well when did they decide instead of men they would like to have sex with women? No they just felt it, but what gay / lesbian people feel is not valid and must be forced to change. The rest of this group feels their interpretations of their view of what their god wants must be enforced on everyone even those that don’t follow their god. Because it is their god and he must be pleased because their god hates what they hate. Even if it is not in the bible or they misunderstood it, their hate preacher told them it was so. They can not let others live their lives, everyone must live by their church dictates. Why??? Because only that way their god will love them? I am an atheist that is willing to let religious people believe as they wish as long as they don’t try to force their beliefs on others. You do you … but why can’t they do the same. They insist that no one can be different from them and their beliefs. That is scary just that they think like that and more that they are now running the US government.
PS. When James was a newly teen of 13 his parents went to the Florida Keys with a group of us. They always stayed apart even though they asked to be part of the caravan of RV going. Well I caused an issue. His … maybe abusive parents had lots of tattoos and were highly Catholic religious … even had a statue of the mother Mary in the entrance of their home. Yes the husband ruled the house and told the wife what she would do at all times. Which included the abuse of the child which is where we came in. In a year or so after this even the boy started staying at our home because he was not allowed home until the mother was there. I had seen a young kid come in with a Mohawk. The boy had his hair shaved on both sides of his head and long in the front and back. We had already talked to their son at our table because the parents they were trying to force the boy to get Christian tattoos.
When I spoke up and said there is …. next hair cut … it will look grand on him. His stepdad exploded and said he wouldn’t ever allow the boy in the house with that and he would hold him down and shave all his hair off. As anyone can imagine I got triggered, I had been held down and had my hair cut. I flew up from the table as Ron was grabbing at me and yelled you want him to have tattoos which is against the bible but a simple haircut which can be changed or grow back and has no mentioned in the bible upsets you so much you’re threatening the kid. I loudly said, “What the fuck is wrong with you”! They took the boy from our table and left his meal uneaten. I was furious. Others who did not know of my childhood tried to calm me down. The family of the boy left that day from our group at the campground. Next time the boy came to our home his hair was cut short and the parents never went on another trip with us. Hugs
FL GOP Advances Ban On City Diversity Initiatives
Again an attempt to turn the country into a while male cis straight only nation. How much clearer can it be. And all these republicans or most of them are fundamentalist Christians who were funded by their church in a steal run to get elected. This not what the publican wants. But these republican fundamentalist groups understand … politicians can force change in public opinion if they support something loud and forcefully enough. Which is one why Kamala Harris l think lost the election, the democrats refused to respond to the attacks on trans people fearing it would hurt them. That is how you bring people along to a new understanding. The republicans are doing it in reverse of what the progressive movement did with government support in the early 2000s. Now that democrats have retreated only the hard right republicans are getting their voices heard returning the countries view to pre-rights for LGBTQ+ people. Hugs
Stars & Movies!
Watchlist: Elliot Page, Peppermint and other trans icons share the movies that shaped them
Mar 27, 2025 Kate Sosin
This story was originally reported by Kate Sosin of The 19th. Meet Kate and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy.
Transgender Day of Visibility, held every March 31, was founded 16 years ago to give trans people a day to celebrate trans life and community. At a time when transgender people are facing unprecedented vitriol and attacks, it’s more important than ever to seek out accurate and affirming portrayals of trans life.
The 19th asked 10 trans icons, from Elliot Page to Peppermint, to reflect on the movies that move them and that and affirm the dignity of trans people.
Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
Elliot Page
Actor (he/him)
Recommended film: “Framing Agnes”
“‘Framing Agnes’ highlights two fundamental truths about the transgender community: One, that we have always existed, and two, we have always found clever ways to get what we need to live more authentically and ultimately survive. It’s crucial now more than ever, for trans and cis people alike, to learn about the history of the trans community, to defend trans rights and advocate for our humanity to be acknowledged and respected — because as seen in the film, our world has always had trans people in it, and it always will.”
Peppermint
Actress and singer (she/her)
Recommended film: “Monica”
“I’d recommend people watch ‘Monica’ because it shows a trans woman in a normal context where she was able to connect with her family and display a more motherly and nurturing nature towards the end of the film, which is something we don’t often get to see trans women, portrayed in ways that are actually true to how many of us are.”
Brian Michael Smith
Actor (he/him)
Recommended film: “Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen”
“My pick is definitely ‘Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen.’ It powerfully unpacks how decades of misrepresentation in media have fueled harmful narratives, directly contributing to the unprecedented wave of anti-trans legislation we’re seeing nationwide — laws targeting our health care, sports participation and basic rights. It’s groundbreaking because it centers trans voices authentically sharing our own experiences, created entirely by trans filmmakers — unlike many films, articles and legal discussions that talk about us without ever including us. It’s essential viewing right now to counter misinformation, uplift our community and reclaim our stories during this critical fight for our humanity.”
Geena Rocero
Author, writer and director (she/her)
Recommended films: “Joyland,” “Lingua Franca,” “Asog” and “Tangerine”
“These are films that center trans characters in their complex humanity. As a writer and director, these kinds of character studies fascinate me. In our current political culture that dehumanizes trans folks, these films present trans lives full of agency.”
Tuck Dowrey
Director of development for PAGEBOY Productions (he/him)
Recommended film: “Changing the Game”
“This documentary is incredibly timely given the current attacks on trans youth and their right to just be kids, which includes their right to participate in sports. ‘Changing the Game’ highlights the benefits of sport for young people, particularly the social and developmental benefits, and sheds a light on the shameful and needless bullying of transgender children by adults and lawmakers. Arguments to exclude trans kids also inevitably adversely impact all girls and women, because if we begin to allow certain bodies to be questioned and investigated, it sets a dangerous precedent for anyone who exists outside of rigid gender stereotypes — in athletics and beyond. As a trans man and athlete, I passionately believe all kids should have access to the life-saving outlet of sports. ‘Changing the Game’ cuts through the misinformation and shows that trans kids in sport are no different than anyone else, and they deserve to play. It’s a must-watch for everyone.”
Tre’vell Anderson
Co-executive director of the Trans Journalists Association (they/them)
Recommended film: “Kokomo City”
“At a time when certain political forces are aiming to pit historically excluded communities against each other, a film like ‘Kokomo City’ — bold and uncompromising in its focus on the relationships between Black trans women and the broader Black community — stands firmly at the intersection. Director D. Smith’s propulsive interrogation is at once entertaining and informative, raw and inspiring, and I’m sure you’ve likely never seen a film like this, especially not from this vantage. You’ll be craving more authentic Black trans narratives after watching.”
Sav Rodgers
Filmmaker and founder of the Transgender Film Center (he/him)
Recommended film: “Heightened Scrutiny”
“While ‘Heightened Scrutiny’doesn’t have traditional distribution yet, it’s a documentary well worth your time to seek out as it travels through the film festival circuit. Sam Feder’s follow-up to ‘Disclosure’follows [American Civil Liberties Union] attorney Chase Strangio as he prepares to argue a landmark trans rights case, United States v. Skrmetti, before the Supreme Court. The case, which is still pending, will determine whether bans on trans healthcare for minors violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
“The most powerful aspect of this timely documentary draws a direct link between irresponsible, prejudiced reporting at major media institutions like the New York Times and how quickly these half-baked op-eds become cited as ‘evidence’ in anti-trans legislation around the country. Despite how bleak the world is, this film presents a case for hope: hope that we will endure, that people are fighting for us and that we can continue to fight for each other.”
Hope Giselle
DEI consultant and activist (she/her/Beyoncé)
Recommended film: “The Mudge Boy”
“This is a queer love story that I know isn’t beautiful, but is honest and a depiction of the way that a lot of AMAB folks experience what we think is love for the first time. A film that’s hard to watch at times, but so beautiful to see happens so that you don’t feel alone.”
Tuck Woodstock
Host of the Gender Reveal Podcast and editor of “2 Trans 2 Furious” (he/him)
Recommended films: “The Aggressives” and “Beyond the Aggressives: 25 Years Later” double feature
“In a society where transness is continually misrepresented as some kind of hot new trend for predominantly White youth, it’s an incredible gift to watch this quartet of (broadly) transmasculine queers of color grow and evolve over a quarter century. While the documentaries don’t shy away from the obstacles faced by their subjects — including everything from relationship conflict and (lack of) health care access to incarceration and [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] detention — they nevertheless capture the freedom and relief of living in the world as exactly yourself.”
Kae Petrin
Co-executive director of the Trans Journalists Association and Data & graphics reporter for Civic News Company (they/ze/hir)
Recommended film: “Neptune Frost”
“After a divine gender transformation, a lost runaway joins forces with an escaped miner who’s mourning the death of his brother. Together they become beacons of hope and resistance, forming an anticolonialist hacking collective in the mountains of Burundi. The collective takes on The Authority, a totalitarian regime that ravages the workers and the environment with a violent military and aggressive drone attacks. Despite the dark subject, an unshakeable optimism and hope thread through the Afrofuturist parable. Also, it’s technically a musical. It has everything: worker solidarity, gender magic, meddling gods, romance and song breaks. And it feels particularly resonant now, even though its U.S. release came several years ago.”
Alex Schmider
Senior director of entertainment at GLAAD (he/him)
Recommended film: “Will & Harper”
“‘Will & Harper’ is a story about friendship. Harper Steele and Will Ferrell have been friends for over 30 years after meeting while working on ‘Saturday Night Live.’ After Harper’s transition, they hit the open road to reintroduce her to the American small towns, dive bars and stock car races that she has always loved — now, as herself — while processing what this new stage of life means for them individually and as friends. When trans people are so often portrayed as existing in isolation from other people, this documentary is a joy to watch as Harper and Will traverse the country making each other laugh and drinking bad beer. Comedy is a powerful tool that can create connection with an audience when they are laughing with us, not at us. ‘Will & Harper’ is a funny, sincere and enjoyable ride with two comedians who are at their best when together.”
Disclosure: Alex Schmider is a board member of The 19th. Find a full list of our board members here.
Good News re Draggieland-
Federal Judge Shuts Down “Unconstitutionally Vague” Drag Ban at Texas A&M University
“Draggieland,” an annual drag show scheduled for this Thursday at Texas A&M University, can now proceed as planned.
By Mathew Rodriguez March 25, 2025
A federal judge ruled on Monday that “Draggieland,” an annual drag show scheduled for this Thursday at Texas A&M University, could proceed as planned. She also blocked the university from enforcing its blanket drag ban, calling the policy “unconstitutionally vague,” and implied that drag shows are a protected form of speech.
“To ban the performance from taking place on campus because it offends some members of the campus community is precisely what the First Amendment prohibits,” U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal wrote in her opinion in Texas A&M Queer Empowerment Council v. William Mahomes.
Draggieland — a portmanteau of “drag” and “aggie,” a nickname that harkens back to the school’s original name, Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas — is an annual pageant put on by the Texas A&M Queer Empowerment Council (QEC) in which contestants answer questions about LGBTQ+ culture while in drag. Since the event’s inception, it has repeatedly sold out, per the Texas Tribune.
The QEC said they were “overjoyed” with the decision in a statement posted online on Monday. “This is another display of the resilience of queer joy, as that is an unstoppable force despite those that wish to see it destroyed,” the statement reads. “While this fight isn’t over, we are going to appreciate the joy we get to bring by putting on the best show that we can do.” QEC was represented in court by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).
In its own statement, FIRE said that the university “has the utmost duty to respect the First Amendment rights of students” and that it cannot “banish speech from campus just because it offends them, any more than they could shut down a political rally or a Christmas pageant.”
In February, Texas A&M University banned drag events on all 11 of its campuses. At the time, the university’s board said that drag shows are “inconsistent with [the system’s] mission and core values, including the value of respect for others.” The board also said that drag itself involved the “mockery of objectification of women,” which would likely “create or contribute to a hostile environment for women.” The false claim that drag mocks women and femininity is often included in right-wing and anti-trans complaints about drag performances.
At the time of the ban, a spokesperson for the ACLU of Texas called the move a “waste of time and resources” that showed that the university is “more focused on culture wars than educating their students.”
In her ruling, Lee struck down several key components of the university’s argument against drag shows, including Draggieland. According to the ruling, the university’s Board of Regents argued that the ban is “intended to serve as providing an effective learning environment to its students”; however, Rosenthal ruled that there’s no plausible way that the drag show could interfere with students’ education.
“Draggieland is set to occur at 7:30 in the evening, when most classes are likely not in session, and in a venue where academic classes are not typically held,” she wrote. “There is no evidence that Draggieland causes any interference with students’ ability to obtain an education.”
Texas Reportedly Kept Records of Trans Drivers Who Requested Gender Marker Changes
It is not known why this information was collected or if collection remains ongoing.
The university also argued that allowing a drag performance could threaten federal funding as it might be seen as the university supporting “gender ideology” and flouting Donald Trump’s executive order, which would block money from institutions supporting anything that goes beyond a binary concept of gender. However, Rosenthal ruled that allowing an event does not endorse it and that Texas A&M has a “constitutional obligation to allow different messages and viewpoints, including those viewed as offensive to some, to be expressed at a university that is committed to critical thought about a wide range of conflicting and divergent viewpoints and ideologies.”
The judges’ ruling is a temporary ban based on the fact that QEC was “likely to succeed” in its case to show that the university’s ban violates the constitution’s First Amendment. While the show will go on as scheduled, the litigation between QEC and the university will continue.
