U.S. Catholic bishops must recuse themselves from politics — A powerful U.S. Catholic bishop is at it again, forcing himself into politics … trying to make an elected leader knuckle under to Church “discipline.” Enough! It’s bad enough this guy is a notorious anti-LGBTQ bigot reviled by many San Francisco Catholics. It’s bad enough he’s defying Pope Francis’s directive not to use Church sacraments as weapons. But when he tries to force House…

White Christian nationalism promises more division — Know what delights me about trans and gay young people these days? They no longer presume they must uproot themselves from family and community to thrive and find love. They can be happy where they are. — James Finn, September 2016 I wrote the above paragraph six years ago. I…

Federal judge gives Pamela Ricard a religious-liberty nod to out students to unsupportive parents — What do you do when you’re a transgender teen and your teacher is your bully? In an apparent fit of pique, Pamela Ricard, a math teacher at Fort Riley Middle School in Kansas, told her supervisors that if they made her use transgender students’ chosen names in class, she would use those names with parents too, even if the students fear for their safety and…

Hypocrisy much? — As a child, did you ever get a homework assignment requiring you to convince a close personal friend to stop being gay? To persuade them God doesn’t approve of them? To “prove” it to them from the Bible? Would it ever occur to you that such homework could be handed…

Think Florida’s law is bad? You ain’t seen nuthin’ yet! — What’s Don’t Say Gay 2.0? In one stunning example, New Hampshire is about to pass a law that not only prohibits teaching about transgender and gay people in public schools, but requires teachers to report effeminate boys and insufficiently feminine girls to parents. Find details below about how Don’t Say Gay 2.0 is about to…

Don’t like me at your house? Get out of my uterus. — A bulldozer almost ripped my arm off at a protest years ago… … when AIDS was killing my friends and loved ones in frightening numbers. I was with Act Up at the home of a pharma exec, doing what we did — making powerful men understand they had “skin in the game.” We had to make them see that if they continued…

A Prism & Pen writing prompt — Let’s counter ignorance with knowledge and love Have you guys noticed how much the ongoing anti-LGBTQ backlash is fueled by ignorance? Have you noticed how politicians push anti-trans laws by promoting fear … about things that don’t even happen in real life? Like myths that trans tweens and teens get “sterilizing” surgery or unfairly dominate school sports…