Be the Change offers programs inside like support groups for trans women, addiction and recovery support, and those facing lengthy or lifetime sentences.

In one of the most surprisingly gay-unfriendly states in the U.S., same-sex couples still can’t adopt children together. Here’s how two Hazel Park nurses are trying to change that.

I idolized Shane, and the only trans man in the series, Max. I wanted to mirror their everyday existence. I wanted to emulate their cool. I wanted the attraction they seemed to be dripped in. I wanted the clothes they wore, I wanted my jeans to have a hole in the crotch like theirs did.

Four more apps for resisting Donald Trump. Calls, kittens and boycotts.

Is climate change freaking you out? There’s a way to experience this anxiety as motivation for to collective response. But first we have to face it.

This is an essay about searching for the most effective ways to engage those ambivalent, apathetic, or misinformed people who might otherwise find themselves on the right side of justice.

The Trump administration’s battle against environmental regulations and denial of climate change are terrifying, but the US isn’t the only nation that needs to do better by the planet, and fast. A scientist tells us what needs to be done, and where we can start.

Climate change poses an unprecedented threat. But individuals and groups have been doing work to respond. Here’s a guide to helpful practices, attitudes and communities.

“I’ve always been like, ‘Love myself? How the heck am I supposed to do that?’ I believe, now, I’m starting to understand a little bit of what it means.”

Wanting to change your name now after people have adjusted will not make you a burden.

The speculum hasn’t been meaningfully redesigned since the 1800s. These three women are working to change that, but they have a ways to go, needing to overcome medical barriers and focus on better health for queer and trans people. The good news? We can help!

I have never lived anywhere that wasn’t in Pennsylvania. This state is my home, but I’m ready to move on from it.

Wile a new California law is making getting correct IDs easier for trans people, trans women in West Virginia are being harassed for trying to do just that.

LGBTQ rights groups are joining activists, allies and former performers in opposing Michfest’s trans-female-exclusionary intention, and if Michfest wants to attract new fans, it needs to listen up.

“Corrupt politicians and leaders want to destroy our spirit. We can’t let them.”

I knew we all wanted justice, ease and wellbeing, and that our anger was a manifestation of our love for each other. But I also watched as my own fight or flight response kicked in in group dynamics, as I felt habitually roped into defensive positions that felt out of my control. I couldn’t reconcile this big gap between intention and action, so I knew I needed to withdraw not out of avoidance but out of commitment to my own healing. In retreating to understand my own depletion, I discovered somatic practice.

‪This week’s Extra! Extra! looks at police instigating even more violence at protests about police violence, can we defund the police altogether, Iyanna Dior, and the meaning of voting when America is inherently built on anti-Blackness. ‬

“I told myself that moving was not going to actually fix my life, that living in a different state didn’t mean that my personality was going to change. It wouldn’t fix my depression and anxiety. I told myself this, all the while secretly hoping this move did have the power to fix me, to break me down to an elemental level and rebuild me.”

The first month of the year doesn’t have to be about making big changes, but for a lot of people, it is. In that spirit, here’s the Autostraddle team sharing with you the things they’ve changed in their lives that has meant the biggest improvement.

To truly do the work from our standpoint, from a place of strong objectivity, is crucial. So what does that look like? What does using our individual standpoint to make change look like?