Middle school is weird. It was awkward as hell when I was a hormonal, monstrous, uncertain twelve-year-old, and only slightly less so when I went back to teach English. So when I found myself, a 23-year-old rookie teacher, standing in a cafeteria fielding a question about how lesbian sex works from a seventh grader, I can’t say I had any right to be surprised.
“There’s an easily accessible narrative in wilderness travel, to pretend we’re living outside of society, and to strive to create a better version of it. The temptation to argue that “x doesn’t really matter out here” rears its head in all of the usual places: race, socioeconomics, gender, age. What I’ve come to struggle with in the canoe, and years later, is which way to go. To continue my first argument, to dismantle gender, or to teach gender – to teach what it means to be a strong, dirty woman, to ask my co-instructor to teach positive masculinity.”
Dept of Ed really doesn’t care about trans youth, you don’t like new music, Joy-Ann Reid, breastfeeding as a trans woman, fake abortion clinics fooling even Google, revisiting the ‘morality clause’ is not so good, an arrest made in the murder of Kerrice Lewis, and so much more.
South Asian breads, making your own family, black girl gamers, Ken Burns, ICE still full of fuckshits, so is homeland security, Gloria Anzaldúa honored by a doodle, a new queer-friendly record label, and so much more!
In the middle of a truly banner week for the White House, it seems one of their priorities is… opposing affirmative action programs at universities.
Today, the Supreme Court announced it would be vacating the lower court’s ruling, meaning it decided not to hear Gavin Grimm’s case after all and to instead send it back to the lower court. The immediate effects of this decision are that almost everyone is left with questions.
“Why is a hug or a kiss seen as so much more loving than spending the time to give comments on a paper full of cherished ideas? Than sharing a drink to celebrate a quarter’s hard work? Than creating something together?”
Who needs to call: people who live in Tennessee, Wyoming, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, Louisiana, Indiana, Utah, Kansas and Alaska. Who needs to act? Everyone who knows anyone who lives in these states.
Betsy DeVos is truly awful and the idea of her as an education secretary should strike terror into all our hearts. Here’s why!
If you’re gonna be enrolled in a degree-granting undergraduate or graduate program come the Fall of 2017, this scholarship is for you.
Lindsay Amer is the cool Queer Big Sister you wish you had when you were a wee tot and she’s changing the landscape of kid-friendly content for ages 3-7.
We’re participating in GLSEN’s Ally Week and talking about how K-12 educators can become better allies to the LGBT youth in their schools.
Ahmed Mohamed thanks his supporters, the killer of trans woman Janette Tovar is only getting probation, new studies galore, and much more news.
There is literally no incorrect way to do college and Autostraddle staff are the proof.
Research on nationwide LGBT legal equality, bisexuals in the UK, racism in the university classroom, and religion. PLUS updates on your fave/least fave Republicans, police practices overhaul in Cleveland, new laws and more!
The state of conversion therapy, campus sexual assault protests at Columbia, Marylin Zuniga and get-well cards for Mumia, an anti-trans bathroom bill in Nevada, abortion laws in Oklahoma, and more!
Obama’s big statement on conversion therapy, Walter Scott’s murder, anti-abortion law in Kansas, discrimination against non-bisexual people alleged at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, and more!
“When I’m worrying about how to teach without coming off as a bitch because I expect students to be quiet when I’m talking, I’m not thinking as much as I should be about whether my students are really learning.”
The youth work group LGBT Youth North West just received a grant to take over the Joyce Layland LGBT Centre in Manchester and determine the feasibility of opening a school specifically for LGBT students.
Not all barriers can be resolved through state-by-state legal protections.
