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Robin Baranyai, “Baranyai: LGBTQ community still not safe, despite gains”
”If tragedy has a positive function, it is to unite people in grief and determination. But two decades after Shepard’s death, the political atmosphere has become toxic and divisive.”
Leila Fadel, “Record Number Of LGBTQ Candidates Elected“
”On election night hundreds of LGBTQ candidates ran for office and many made history, including the first openly gay governor in Colorado and the first lesbian Native American congresswoman in Kansas.”
Saniya Lee Ghanoui, “Screening Swedish Sex in the United States, Language of Love (1969)”
”In the autumn of 1969, U.S. Customs seized the recently imported Swedish film Language of Love (Ur kärlekens språk). On October 31, the New York Times put forward its own definition of the film and called it ‘a new, Swedish-made sex education film’. The Times interviewed an attorney for Unicorn Enterprises, the U.S. distributor of the film, who also disputed the government’s claims of obscenity, and maintained that the film was ‘neither obscene nor immoral and is of social and educational value’.”
Caroline Houck, “Muslim women, Native Americans, and LGBTQ candidates had a night of historic wins“
”Tuesday was a historic night for women and minorities in America, with voters sending the first LGBTQ, Native American, and Muslim women to the halls of Congress and governor’s mansions.”
Matt Moore, “Governor-elect of Kansas pledges to reintroduce protections for LGBTQ workers“
”During a press conference on Thursday, Kenny confirmed that she was preparing an executive order to bring back protections for LGBTQ workers. The protections would prevent a company from firing, refusing to hire, or refuse service to someone because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.”
Jawanna Sawalha, “How Jordan’s First LGBTQ Online Magazine Began“
”After being outed and bullied for being gay, Khalid Abdel-Hadi decided to change the conversation about LGBTQ people in the Arab world.”
Patrick Sawer, “Britain's most senior Catholic faces questions over church's handling of child sex abuse claims“
”England's most senior Catholic clergyman faces embarrassment this week when he appears before an inquiry to answer claims he ignored child sex abuse allegations against his priests, including the son of JRR Tolkien.”
JR Thorpe, “7 Creepy Royal Beliefs About Marriage From History“
”Everybody loves a royal wedding, from the nuptials of Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex in England to the beautiful ceremony marrying Princess Ayako and Kei Moriya in Japan. But these modern ceremonies (and the everlasting partnerships they confer) are a far cry from royal marriages from history and the beliefs said royals had about said marriages.”
Chloe Tsang, “Scotland to mandate LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum across all public schools“
”The Scottish Government announced on Thursday that it had accepted all 33 recommendations put forth by the LGBTI Inclusive Education Working Group to implement a curriculum that will teach students of different age groups lessons about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex equality, inclusion and history.”
Zing Tsjeng, “Queer Prom: Photos of Couples Living Out Their High School Fantasies“
”For LGBTQ people with unhappy memories of their school dance, a twice-yearly event in Brighton, UK offers a joyously affirming second chance.”
Hilary Weaver, “The Filmmaker Screening His L.G.B.T.Q. Movie Across the Middle East“
”Sam Abbas was born in Egypt and grew up in a conservative New Jersey home. Now, he’s found an under-the-radar way to bring his film, The Wedding, to Middle Eastern audiences.”
Brendan Wetmore, “Half of LGBTQ People Experience Depression“
”’Half of LGBTQ people (52 per cent) said they've experienced depression in the last year’, announced a research study released today by YouGov and Stonewall, the UK's largest LGBTQ advocacy organization.”
Robin Young, “This Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi Says His Holiest Moment Was Becoming Public LGBTQ Ally“
”Rabbi Mike Moskowitz is one of the few ultra-Orthodox Jewish rabbis who not only support, but actively advocate for, LGBTQ individuals. He tells Here & Now's Robin Young that despite his stand on these issues costing him his congregation and his job at Columbia University, he's proud of the work he now does with New York's Congregation Beit Simchat Torah.”
Article Spotlight
"The British ‘brown babies’ were the result of relationships formed between British women and African American troops stationed in Britain from 1942 in preparation for an invasion of France. From the beginning there was concern in official circles about the consequences of the presence of black GIs. Home Secretary Herbert Morrison, for example, was anxious that ‘the procreation of half-caste children’ would create ‘a difficult social problem’. He and others in the War Cabinet would have preferred that no black GIs be sent at all. However, black troops did indeed arrive, following the Pentagon’s policy that the percentage of black American troops in every theater of war should reflect their percentage in the United States as a whole, namely, 10 percent of the population. By the end of the war, of the nearly three million US soldiers who had passed through Britain, up to three hundred thousand were African American."
Episode Spotlight
For years, telephone companies had been encouraging customers to “reach out and touch someone.” In the 1980s, phone sex lines and dial-a-porn transformed the intimacy of phone conversations into a multi-million-dollar sexual enterprise. A simple and relatively cheap phone call could connect you with dial-a-porn, a telephone service offering short erotic recordings. Phone sex lines were more expensive, and featured operators, known as fantasy artists, who would act out sexual fantasies for and with you. Over the course of the 1980s, telephones, credit cards and imaginations brought countless people together to co-create sexual fantasies, and experience new forms of sexual gratification.
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