Our Voices

This Week’s Spotlight on Human Rights

This Pride, Embody the True Spirit of Queer Liberation

As we enter another Pride Month overrun with corporate rainbows and empty overtures, it’s important to remember that Pride started as a protest — a riot, to be more specific. On a hot June day in 1969 when the New York Police Department raided the popular Stonewall Inn, Queer folks fought back, sparking a days-long riotous rebellion against police repression, youth homelessness, discrimination, and more. This moment of resistance sparked what would become a global movement against repression, oppression, marginalization, and violence.


US federal judge rules Florida ban on gender-affirming care unconstitutional

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that a Florida ban on certain gender-affirming care including puberty blockers and hormone therapy was illegal under the Equal Protection Clause of the US Constitution.


Treacherous Internet: Cyber-Criminalization of LGBT People

When I was researching the digital targeting of LGBT people across the Middle East and North Africa region, I spoke to Yamen, a gay man from Jordan. He told me that he was extorted online by another man, who was threatening to post a compromising video of Yamen on social media, and that his biggest regret was going to the authorities to seek protection. Instead of prosecuting the extortionist, a Jordanian court sentenced Yamen to six months in prison for “promoting prostitution online,” based on the country’s 2015 cybercrime law.


LGBTQ+ asylum seekers search for safety in US after persecution abroad

Anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment has been growing around the world, according to the human rights research group Institute for Strategic Dialogue, as political movements rallying against gender and sexual minorities gain traction.