Queer Women

Restoring ‘Truth’ or Restricting Freedom? The Real Impact of Enforcing Gender Binaries

PUBLISHED 1/24/2025 by and

In a flurry of executive orders this week, President Donald Trump signed one that calls for “accurate language and policies that recognize women are biologically female, and men are biologically male.” The order, called Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government, seeks to restore the gender binary. 

Let’s be clear: Women do not need to be protected from an inclusive definition of gender or trans people. Nonbinary and trans people exist. Their identities are valid, their rights matter and their existence does not threaten cisgender women or anyone else. 

Enforcing binary language lays the foundation for broader discrimination and exclusion, emboldening harmful policies in communities, workplaces and state governments.

National Cathedral Bishop Asks Trump to ‘Have Mercy’ on Immigrants and LGBTQ Children

PUBLISHED 1/22/2025 by

At the end of her sermon at Tuesday’s inaugural prayer service, Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde directly addressed President Trump on his first full day in office.

“I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” she said. “There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives.”

Bishop Budde also asked Trump, who has repeatedly threatened mass deportation, to protect immigrants in the United States. She said, “The vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away, and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here.”

We Heart: Trans Activists Stage Peaceful (and Joyful) Dance Party Protest in Capitol Hill Women’s Restroom

PUBLISHED 12/5/2024 by

Anyone walking into the bathroom on Capitol Hill Thursday morning found a buoyant dance party in progress: A group of trans artists and activists staged a protest in a women’s restroom in the U.S. Capitol, dancing to the song “Meeting in the Ladies Room” by the all-women pop and R&B band Klymaxx.

“It always starts with things that people feel are insignificant, like public restrooms, but it never stops there,” said Hope Giselle-Godsey, one of the Capitol Hill dancers. “We’re here today to ensure they understand that we will not be erased—one bathroom at a time—or shoved back into the proverbial closet out of deference to the comfort of those who speak to eradicate us.”

‘Mercutio Loves Romeo Loves Juliet Loves’ Brings Joy Into Its ‘Queer Kinda’ Adaptation at NYC Theater

PUBLISHED 11/21/2024 by

Boomerang Theatre Company’s premiere production of Mercutio Loves Romeo Loves Juliet Loves by Gina Femia is keenly, tenderly aware of the pain of high school theater and being a teenage girl.

Directed by Scott Ebersold, the play is “a new queer kinda adaptation of Romeo and Juliet,” according to Boomerang’s online program, marking the first-ever production of Femia’s new play.

Mercutio Loves Romeo Loves Juliet Loves is running at The Jeffrey and Paula Gural Theatre at ART/New York until Nov. 24, 2024.

‘Sharing Our Stories Loosens the Grip they Have on Us’: Watching Students Claim Voice to Power

PUBLISHED 6/15/2024 by

I have been a professor for almost 25 years and can’t imagine any other job. One of the most gratifying parts is being there for my students, but by June of every year, I’m tired. Especially after teaching The Power of Feminist Writing.

Misogyny induced pain and trauma shouldn’t only be acknowledged and validated in a gender studies classroom. The students and I should feel confident that *anyone* would believe our trauma is real. But we all know that is not the case, which is why many of us were sad to see the class end. 

November 2023 Reads for the Rest of Us

PUBLISHED 11/7/2023 by

Each month, we provide Ms. readers with a list of new books being published by writers from historically excluded groups.

This November brings a brilliant selection of new book releases. From Native American Heritage Month to Trans Day of Remembrance, there are books for you to learn from, unwind with, and reflect upon. Which of these 24 titles will you be reading this month?  

‘I Am a Woman and a Lesbian’: Remembering Madeline Davis’ 1972 Landmark Speech for Gay Rights

PUBLISHED 6/29/2023 by

I­­n 1972, Roe v. Wade was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, Title IX was signed into law, and for the first time, a gay woman stepped up to the mic at a national political convention and announced: “I am a woman and a lesbian.” Madeline Davis’ words to the Democratic National Convention marked a milestone for gay rights. 

“I knew there were gay people out there at four o’clock in the morning, sitting in front of their television sets, waiting to see one of their own people stand up,” Davis later said about her historic speech.

Queer African Activists Call for Action—But the African Continent Is Not the Only Site in the Global War on Gay Rights

PUBLISHED 6/28/2023 by

While some countries move towards the decriminalization of homosexuality and try to eliminate LGBTQ+ discrimination, some countries have passed harsher legislation harming LGBTQ+ communities, especially targeting the queer youth in those countries. Ms. is highlighting some cases and reflecting on what this means for queer rights in America and globally.

Black, Queer and Neurodivergent: Janelle Monáe’s ‘The Age of Pleasure’ Dives Into Play, Joy and Creativity

PUBLISHED 6/22/2023 by

Luxuriating in unlimited Black queer potential for pleasure—while staying present, even taking pleasure in life’s inherent uncertainty—Janelle Monáe’s The Age of Pleasure experiments with a therapeutic process as much as an artistic one. The album celebrates neurodivergence and sun-kissed, ocean-deep, lusciously melanated Black queer love.