LGBTQ Policy Journal

Introduction In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Agenda 2030, which outlined 17 Sustainable Development Goals to guide international development for the next decade.[1] The SDGs build off the previous set of global goals, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), by identifying 169 specific targets focused on creating an economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable world. […]

As reform efforts continue to encourage the juvenile justice system to shift its focus from punishment and surveillance to health and well-being, systems must engage in practices that acknowledge and affirm young people in their care as “whole youth” with multiple layers of identity, including sexual orientation and gender identity and expression (SOGIE). These identities […]

LGBT people continue to receive conversion therapy (CT) in the United States. CT refers to so-called treatments purporting to change a person’s sexual orientation and/or gender identity. This trend persists despite multiple laws and policies in the state of New York attempting to end the practice. Since some counselors, psychoanalysts, psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers […]

“Looking down and seeing that ‘F’ . . . No. No, that’s not right.” These were the words thought by Ben, a teenage transgender boy living in Aurora, Colorado. While an “F” is enough to upset any school-aged child, Ben isn’t talking about his report card—he’s summarizing the significant, pathological gender dysphoria he experiences while […]

After Harvard Law School announced the creation of a new Religious Freedom Clinic on campus, LGBTQ students have been activated like a swarm of bees circling a kicked beehive. Our fear is that Harvard is condoning the type of arguments that try to justify LGBTQ discrimination under the guise of religious freedom. This is an […]

Derek J. Penslar is the William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History at Harvard University. His research has focused mainly on Zionism and the State of Israel and has been praised, though he has recently been subject to harsh criticism as well.i Here, I will specifically discuss the topic of homosexuality in his writings and […]

This autohistoria, or “a personal essay that theorizes,” is a special piece to me.[1] It is spiritual, poetic, political, and dialogic. This essay thus delves deeper into the mourning, the fear, the tears, the pain, the loneliness, the strength of a Vietnamese queer immigrant in a state of Nepantla in order to relate with other queers […]

Robyn Ochs is an educator, speaker, grassroots activist, writer, and editor of Bi Women Quarterly. She has served on the board of MassEquality, and on the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth. She was named by Teen Vogue as one of “9 Bisexual Women Who are Making History,” and she was chosen to represent Massachusetts on the Advocate’s “50 States, 50 Heroes” […]

Queer men navigating prostate cancer are harmed by a healthcare system that sees heterosexuality as the default. This assumption of heterosexuality prevents healthcare professionals from advising and acknowledging how adverse effects of prostate cancer treatment may affect queer men. These effects can be devastating to their sexual expression, sex role identification, and relationships to the […]

Rawad, a gay man from northeast Syrian town of Raqqa, was kidnapped shortly after Islamic State insurgents invaded his hometown in 2013. They tortured him. They beat him. They handcuffed him and hung him from the ceiling. After eleven days, he escaped. Rawad fled Syria and sought refuge in Lebanon, where he has tried to […]

In May 2016, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto issued a number of directives for LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex) inclusion in various arenas, including marriage. This was followed by strong opposition, in particular from the Catholic Church and the National Front for the Family, a newly emerged coalition of civil society organizations. The […]

Over the last decade, LGBTQ rights have developed a strong presence within international diplomacy, yet support remains subject to debate within the international community. International bodies such as the United Nations have passed measures to support LGBTQ rights, but official statements typically face resistance from member states unwilling to address their own records on the […]