Author: Emma Cieslik

Emma Cieslik (she/her) is a queer, disabled and neurodivergent public historian and museum worker based in the Washington, D.C., area. She explores the histories at the intersection of gender, sexuality, religion and systems of power and oppression.

Legalizing Conversion Therapy Sets a Dangerous Precedent for Medical Violence

Iowa and South Carolina’s attorney generals are leading a coalition composed of representatives of 11 states seeking to overturn Michigan’s ban on conversion therapy for minors. This past Friday, the coalition filed an amicus brief in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals requesting a reversal of a decision issued in January—a decision denying a request to reverse Michigan’s conversion therapy ban. 

Conversion therapy originated from medical violence against women who did not conform to gender-based norms, arguably the same reason that Christian conversion therapy practitioners today target LGBTQ+ people who do not conform to heteronormative, cisgender norms. It sets a dangerous precedent for what other kinds of medical violence can be leveraged to reinforce far-right gender normative ideals.

Trump Attacks Queer Communities Using Nazi Symbolism

Earlier this week, President Trump shared an article on his Truth Social platform celebrating his elimination of trans and queer people from military advertising. The opinion piece published by reporter Jeremy Hunt of The Washington Times, featured a crossed out upside down pink triangle. The inverted pink triangle was a symbol used by Nazis to identify LGBTQ+ prisoners in Nazi concentration camps. In response, LGBTQ+ Americans and allies are expressing fear surrounding the post—marking the third time that someone within or associated with the Trump administration has used Nazi symbolism.

Montana’s Latest Anti-Trans Bill Has Disturbing Parallels With 19th-Century Eugenics Laws

HB 446 is just one of a new generation of social purity laws being presented across the country, using fears of “social contagion” from over a century ago that still ring true for many Americans.

Understanding this history is vital to unpacking the danger—often connected growing white supremacist movements—of these laws and the social fears they represent.