Civil Rights

  • Eyes Open. Heart Steady.

    Eyes Open. Heart Steady.

    If you live in this world long enough, you are going to live through some type of instability. I know I have. I could list them out. Hate crimes. Civil unrest. Moments that remind you how quickly things can shift. I remember Ferguson. I remember fire trucks parked across streets like makeshift barricades. I remember…

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  • Coming Out

    Coming Out

    Here’s something I’ve learned over the years. Coming out is not a one time event. It is not just something gay people do. It is something we all do, over and over again, in different ways, throughout our lives. We just do not always call it that. Coming out is what happens when you finally…

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  • Neighbors, Not Enemies

    Neighbors, Not Enemies

    You know what has been bothering me lately about the state of things in the United States? How much of what we are living through feels rooted in hating your neighbor. Not debating policy. Not wrestling with ideas. Not even arguing about the direction of the country. It feels personal now. It feels aimed at…

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  • Recognition

    Recognition

    I want to start this quietly, because this is not a reaction piece. It is me trying to place a current moment inside a much longer human story. When Donald Trump hosted a prayer breakfast, stood in front of cameras talking about faith and values, and then later that same night shared a racist video…

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  • Paperwork Instead of Bullets

    Right now, the United States is using a practice that allows asylum seekers to be deported to third countries. That means people are not necessarily sent back to where they came from. They can be sent to any country willing to accept them. For LGBTQ+ refugees fleeing persecution, this has life or death consequences. People…

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  • “No One Is Illegal on Stolen Land”Billie Eilish

    When people get mad at a line like that, it usually is not because it is historically wrong. It is because it cuts too close to something we are taught not to question. But maybe we should. If you look at the history of the Americas, borders did not appear because everyone agreed politely. They…

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  • We the People?

    We the People?

    I keep thinking about how different things might feel if we actually lived in a country of ideas. A place where “We the People” meant everyone. Not some of us. Not the protected. Not the powerful. Just all of us. But we never have. And that truth stings more than I want to admit. What…

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  • I went quiet for a few days this week on purpose. Not because I did not care, and not because I did not have something to say, but because I needed to think before responding to what I was seeing. Some moments do not need more noise. They need clarity. There are moments lately when…

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  • Lower-Risk Engagement

    Lower-Risk Engagement

    Things are unsettled right now. That is not a political statement. It is an observable reality. Situations escalate faster than they used to. Authority is exercised unevenly. Explanations often come later, if they come at all. That reality changes how responsible people need to think about engagement in everyday life. This is not about telling…

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  • Murder by Proxy

    Murder by Proxy

    Two gay men who were granted asylum are being sent back to Iran, a country where their sexual orientation places them in real and documented danger. This is not hypothetical. Everyone involved knows what awaits them. In Iran, being gay is illegal. It has been punished with prison, torture, and execution. These are not rumors…

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