LGBTQ

Uncovering The Reasons Behind The Astonishing Rise In LGBTQ+ Romance Literature
LGBTQ, LIFESTYLE, TOP FOUR

Uncovering The Reasons Behind The Astonishing Rise In LGBTQ+ Romance Literature

What’s behind the astonishing rise in LGBTQ+ romance literature? A major transformation is underway in Romancelandia. Once upon a time, romance novels from major U.S. publishers featured only heterosexual couples. Today, the five biggest publishers regularly release same-sex love stories. From May 2022 to May 2023, sales of LGBTQ+ romance grew by 40%, with the next biggest jump in this period occurring for general adult fiction, which grew just 17%. The data from 2023 extends a boom that began in 2016: In the five years from May 2016 to May 2021, sales of LGBTQ+ romance grew by a jaw-dropping 740%. It’s tempting to see this trend as a sign of the times. After all, same-sex couples now populate TV shows, commercials and even Hallmark Christmas movies. Surely it was only natural for books su...
What Are The Implications Of The Big Tent Philosophy Of Free Speech?
LGBTQ, LIFESTYLE, TOP FOUR, VIDEO REELS

What Are The Implications Of The Big Tent Philosophy Of Free Speech?

In the ‘big tent’ of free speech, can you be too open-minded? People often extol the virtue of open-mindedness, but can there be too much of a good thing? As a college dean, I regularly observe campus controversies about the Israel-Hamas war, race relations and other hot-button issues. Many of these concern free speech – what students, faculty and invited speakers should and shouldn’t be allowed to say. But free speech disputes aren’t merely about permission to speak. They are about who belongs at the table – and whether there are limits to the viewpoints we should listen to, argue with or allow to change our minds. As a philosopher who works on “culture war” issues, I’m particularly interested in what free-speech disputes teach about the value of open-mindedness. Talking together in the...
The Tale Of A Disorienting Experience
LGBTQ, SOCIETY

The Tale Of A Disorienting Experience

A night they can't remember, at one of the country's most popular LGBTQ+ bars. Editor’s note: This story contains descriptions of sexual assault and druggings. One of the reporters who worked on this investigation had a disorienting experience at The Abbey years ago.  One of her last clear memories of that night was of a barback handing something to the bartender. Yvette Lopez recalled looking to her right before taking the first sip of her drink. Another barback was sitting there with a plastic cup with a lid on it. “He cheers me and we had the drink, and I don’t remember anything after that,” Lopez testified in a deposition. The next thing she remembered was being doubled over in an alley. Lopez heard a man say to her, “Don’t throw up,” according to her police report. She then blacked o...
This Coming June LGBTQ+ Workers Want More Than Just Pride Flags
LGBTQ, LIFESTYLE

This Coming June LGBTQ+ Workers Want More Than Just Pride Flags

LGBTQ+ workers want more than just pride flags in June. Every year, more and more companies seem to recognize Pride Month. But a recent analysis shows that LGBTQ+ workers expect more than this once-a-year acknowledgment from their employers. In fact, some employees actually criticize such behavior as mere pinkwashing. So, what do LGBTQ+ workers want? In 2023, the jobs website Indeed conducted a survey of LGBTQ+ full-time workers from across the U.S., and the results provide a clear picture of their needs. As a lesbian transgender woman and a queer studies scholar, I wasn’t surprised by what Indeed found. Even so, non-LGBTQ+ workers – particularly managers – can learn a lot from this survey. It may help them realize what LGBTQ+ workers already know: Employers must do better if they want to ...
LGBTQ+ Students On What They Can Teach Schools — About Supporting LGBTQ Kids And What They’ve Learned
LGBTQ, TOP FOUR

LGBTQ+ Students On What They Can Teach Schools — About Supporting LGBTQ Kids And What They’ve Learned

LGBTQ+ students on what they’ve learned — and what they can teach schools — about supporting queer kids. The start of the school year can be anxiety-inducing for just about any teenager. Many students are balancing school work with standardized tests, college applications, extracurricular activities and part-time jobs, but LGBTQ+ youth experience all the typical challenges of high school as well as the unique concerns of belonging to the queer community. They may attend schools where their pronouns are ignored, where no clubs for LGBTQ+ students exist and books about queer people have been purged from libraries. Others may experience bullying or complete their K-12 education without ever learning about the contributions LGBTQ+ people have made to society. What hopes do LGBTQ+ youth have...
As Their Meanings Change Terms Of Address Such As Ladies And Gentlemen, Guys And Dudes Can Be A Minefield
CULTURE, LGBTQ, LIFESTYLE, TOP FOUR

As Their Meanings Change Terms Of Address Such As Ladies And Gentlemen, Guys And Dudes Can Be A Minefield

Listen up, ladies and gentlemen, guys and dudes: Terms of address can be a minefield, especially as their meanings change. A male colleague could be forgiven for not knowing if using “guys” to refer to female co-workers is acceptable in the modern workplace. But should he address them as “ladies,” he risks a trip to HR, or at the very least being labeled a condescending creep. So what in the name of Messrs Merriam and Webster is going on with what us linguists call “address terms” – that is, the words we use to address individuals – and their gender? All languages have such terms, with the most common being “you,” or the second-person pronoun. But we have a host of alternative address terms commonly in use in the English language: “you guys,” “bro,” “dude,” “y'all” and “mate” – depending...
LGBTQ+ Americans Overlooked In Census Data May Soon Be Able To Share Their Experiences
LGBTQ, SEX & RELATIONSHIPS, TOP FOUR

LGBTQ+ Americans Overlooked In Census Data May Soon Be Able To Share Their Experiences

Millions of LGBTQ+ people who have so far been invisible in the American Community Survey, the largest household survey in the country, may soon be recognized. The U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday published its plan to test questions about sexual orientation and gender identity in the American Community Survey (ACS) next year. The ACS is a crucial resource to understand daily life for Americans, as it gathers data about social and economic needs not covered in the decennial census — information on internet access, transportation, employment, education, and more. Within that snapshot of American life, LGBTQ+ people have not been counted as themselves. In a report released this spring, the Brookings Institution estimates that up to 17.3 million adults who identify as LGBT are not identified ...
O’Shae Sibley’s Killer Tried To Strip Away Black Queer Joy Celebrated By Beyoncé’s ‘Renaissance’
LGBTQ, TOP FOUR

O’Shae Sibley’s Killer Tried To Strip Away Black Queer Joy Celebrated By Beyoncé’s ‘Renaissance’

Since its release last year, Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” has been celebrated as a love letter to Black queer dance culture. For an hour and two minutes, the album offers listeners a chance at freedom of expression, a brief respite from the harsher realities of racial discrimination or anti-queer violence. But O’Shae Sibley’s killing is a poignant reminder of the ways that Black queer lives remain in jeopardy. On July 29 — the one-year anniversary of “Renaissance’s” release — Sibley, 28, and his friends were voguing to songs from the album at a Brooklyn gas station when a group of men hurled homophobic slurs at them and demanded they stop dancing, according to The New York Times. The confrontation escalated, and one of the men fatally stabbed Sibley, according to witnesses and police. T...
LGBTQ Americans Are 9 Times More Likely To Be Victimized By A Hate Crime
LGBTQ, TOP FOUR

LGBTQ Americans Are 9 Times More Likely To Be Victimized By A Hate Crime

In our recent analysis of the National Crime Victimization Survey, we found that the odds of being a violent hate crime victim for LGBTQ people was nine times greater than it was for cisgender and straight people from 2017 to 2019. There were an average annual 6.6 violent hate crime victimizations per 1,000 LGBTQ people during this three year period. In contrast, there were 0.6 violent hate crime victimizations per 1,000 cisgender and straight people. A hate crime is an attack or threat of an attack that’s motivated by the victim’s perceived race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender or religion. Or it could include someone’s association with any of the previous categories, such as an anti-Muslim hate crime committed against someone who is Sikh. The National Crime Victimization Survey is a nat...
For US Negotiators Brittney Griner’s Case Was Difficult For One Key Reason: She Was Guilty
CELEBRITY NEWS, LGBTQ, SPORTS, TOP FOUR

For US Negotiators Brittney Griner’s Case Was Difficult For One Key Reason: She Was Guilty

The release from Russian prison of WNBA star Britney Griner has been greeted with general delight in the United States. Announcing the deal that saw her freed on Dec. 8, 2022, President Joe Biden lauded the “painstaking and intense negotiations” that made it happen. Others may have legitimate concerns over the equivalence of the exchange, which saw convicted arms merchant Viktor Bout returned to Russia. As a longtime scholar of Russian law, I believe the episode prompts a reflection on the application of Russian law in Griner’s case, and more broadly consideration about such exchanges in general. The problem American negotiators face in such situations is that it matters whether the U.S. citizen is guilty of committing the crime alleged under foreign law or whether there has been a misc...