Gender, Race and Identity

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) has many implications for Asian Pacific Islander American (API) women’s reproductive and sexual health, including provisions calling for preventive services, increased funding for mental health and community health centers, and ethnically disaggregated data collection. The political climate following the passage of the ACA has given rise to […]

Abstract The decision to advocate for, and achieve, the inclusion of the term “gender identity” in the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act has been criticized by some scholars and activists as a mistake in strategy for the transgender movement. This paper first examines the reasoning and strategies of transgender advocates […]

ABSTRACT This paper examines and dismantles the body of claims used to exclude LGBTQ individuals from fostering and adopting children. LGBTQ individuals continue to face stigma and discrimination in the United States, including in the child welfare system, which significantly shapes their views of family and society. These experiences of marginality may actually enhance their […]

“Western rational thought is not an innate human characteristic; it is learned and is the great achievement of Western civilization.  In the villages of India, they never learned it.  They learned something else, which is in some ways just as valuable but in other ways not.  That’s the power of intuition and experiential wisdom.”  –Steve […]

As the Supreme Court sends its strongest signal yet that full marriage equality is coming to the United States, President Obama sat down last week with Buzzfeed News’ Ben Smith and Chris Geidner where he predicted a favorable outcome for same-sex couples this spring: “My sense is that the Supreme Court is about to make […]

In the opening to her seminal 2003 memoire and manifesto, My Husband Betty: Love, Sex, and Life with a Crossdresser, Helen Boyd describes a scene of a wife dressing up in her husband’s clothes. The wife smells the fabric of his shirt, thinking of him. She admires the way it looks in a full-length mirror. […]

As the chief executive of the country’s fourth largest city, Houston Mayor Annise Parker is arguably the most visible out-LGBT policymaker in the country. Parker sat down with Crosby Burns, the LGBTQ Policy Journal’s Editor-in-Chief, earlier this week to discuss her tenure as mayor, reflect upon her career in public service, and talk about the […]

On March 31st 1994, a historic decision was made at the United Nations (UN) regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) human rights. The UN Human Rights Committee ruled that an Australian law criminalizing all sexual relations between consenting adult men violated the human rights of Tasmanian activist Nicholas Toonen, and subjected him to the […]

There is a general optimism that the American economy is on an upswing, slowly recovering as it emerges from one of the worst recessions since the 1930s. Yet, one of the fundamental factors that caused the recession—housing finance—continues to be a barrier rather than an opportunity for millions of Americans, especially Latinos.

In a landmark verdict handed down last Monday, an Egyptian doctor was convicted of the manslaughter of 13-year-old Suhair al-Bataa, who died during an illegal female genital mutilation (FGM) procedure. Dr. Raslan Fadl was initially acquitted in November 2014, triggering a wave of anger among activists and women’s rights advocates. The new verdict provides a […]

ABSTRACT The United States has undergone a dramatic shift in the legal recognition of same-sex marriage, yet the majority of school sex education programs continue to focus almost exclusively on heterosexual relationships and marriage. These programs do not portray same-sex couples in vignettes and hypothetical dilemmas or discuss variations in sexual orientation and gender identity. […]

ABSTRACT Egyptian and Sudanese legal systems and societies have long led to discrimination and violence against homosexuals. Through a series of anecdotes, this article explores the daily struggles faced by individuals in these conservative and largely Muslim societies. We look for the sources of the discrimination and violence they confront, and we acknowledge that much […]