Explore all Articles

filter by–Region

filter by–Country

search by–Keyword

A Cure Against Conversion Therapy in Singapore?

03.27.23

Lawyer and activist Daryl Yang discusses how a consumer protection approach to conversion therapy might offer a balanced alternative to legislative change that permits individual choice whilst protecting against misleading claims.

Gender, Race and Identity

A Primer on Singapore’s Forthcoming Constitutional Amendment to “Protect” Marriage

09.15.22

While the government has announced that it will repeal Section 377A of the Penal Code, it has also sought to protect the definition of marriage from constitutional challenge. Lawyer and activist Daryl Yang explains what the resulting constitutional amendment may look like, as well as what it means to the LGBTQ+ community in Singapore.

Gender, Race and Identity

Diasporic Anti-Racism

05.2.22

African history did not begin and end with the Transatlantic Slave Trade. It began with the birth and advancement of human civilization. Ancient Africans weren’t barbaric and uncultured, but the progenitors of modern humanity. From the world’s oldest universities and empires to the shapers of society, Africa was the foundation of humanity. Across the world, […]

Gender, Race and Identity

The Streets Speak in Tongues

04.22.22

I comb through the accent of my adolescent street views and patterns. Deciphering the moral compass that orients its existence. In morse code street peddlers dot, dit, and dash cash flows Bringing movement to our traffic jammed economy. This is a revolt against our arrested feats. Pinned down political beats, whose sub frequencies have yet […]

I Love who I Have Become

01.3.22

The pandemic has been emotionally overwhelming and transformative – both for personal and professional reasons. There was so much uncertainty about the future and our agency in how we could lead our lives that it was really important to deal with the situation head on. COVID-19 has claimed the lives of many family members and […]

The Receipts: Pete Buttigieg’s Policies Fail LGBTQ+ Communities

04.8.21

Though Pete Buttigieg is often cast as an LGBTQ+ icon, his tenure in South Bend and a close look at his platform say otherwise.

Solitary Confinement is Torture, Not Protection

03.5.20

  Ellie,[1] a young trans woman from Central America, sits across a small table from me in blue men’s scrubs, hair cut short and eyes downcast. It’s taken hours to shuffle her from the solitary confinement unit to this cold, windowless room, where I am to help her prepare her pro se asylum case. She’s […]

Toward an LGBTQ+ Inclusive History Curriculum in Massachusetts

02.12.20

  In my senior year of high school, I spent months gathering everything I could find on LGBTQ+ history for a research presentation. As the day approached, I panicked. It wasn’t that I feared my classmates would explicitly belittle me during the presentation, but rather a feeling of isolation. No one had ever spoken about […]

Amidst a recent win for transgender rights, the fight for true LGBTQ equity in Massachusetts is not over

02.14.19

BY SAM BARRAK This past November, Massachusetts made history as the first state to affirm transgender non-discrimination protections in a public referendum. To those voters who said yes on Question 3, thank you for making the state that I love a safer place for me to live as a transgender person. While we rightly celebrate […]

Breaking the silence on LGBTQ rights in the Middle East and North Africa

11.15.17

A historic first: the first ever panel on LGBTQ rights in the Middle East and North Africa at the Arab Conference at Harvard.

Harvard Should Never Have Offered a Fellowship to Chelsea Manning

09.26.17

Thirteen days ago, the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics offered a visiting fellowship to Chelsea Manning. Two days later, Doug Elmendorf, Dean of the Kennedy School, rightfully withdrew the fellowship. But the invitation should never have been extended in the first place. In 2013, Manning was convicted of espionage for leaking 750,000 sensitive military […]

Education, Training and Labor

How to Argue Against Trump’s Ban on Transgender Service Members

08.10.17

On July 26, 2017, President Trump took to Twitter to proclaim that transgender individuals are prohibited from serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. The directive caused a flurry of activity at the Pentagon. LGBTQ news sources began reporting on Friday, August 4, that a guidance document was on its way to Secretary of Defense Mattis […]

Gender, Race and Identity

Call for Submissions


Join the HKS Student Policy Review—

to research, write, and learn about policy in a new way. We offer Harvard students an opportunity to engage with the most important policy issues of our time, across a whole range of topics and regions.