Katie Watson (she/her) Ever wonder what a queer, Mexican Percy Jackson might look like? What new shenanigans this kid could get himself into, especially in a world where the children of gods – called semidioses – compete in a Hunger Games-style arena to become the sun god’s champion? Look no further than author Aiden Thomas’s The Sunbearer Trials and the newly released sequel, Celestial Monsters. In this duology, Thomas takes readers on a heartwarming and amusing journey of underdogs, love, rebellion, and community-building. On Saturday, September 8th, the Ann Arbor District Library brought the author behind this colorful world to their local readers for a conversation with fellow author and friend Miriam Metoui.
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Katie Watson (she/her) If you’re like me, college started by joining as many clubs, organizations, and groups as possible until you found one or two or three that you decided to stick with. Festifall, Winterfest, and those thousands of email lists you can’t remember signing up for are handy ways to connect with communities on campus that you belong to. For me, joining the Spectrum Center email list helped me find the CenterSpaces: groups dedicated to specific, underrepresented identities within the LGBTQ+ community that meet regularly and provide support for identities that can sometimes feel invisible. While some are more active than others, one group has been consistently providing a welcoming community and celebration of identities: the Aromantic and Asexual CenterSpace.
morena (she/her)“As a mom of a member of the community and a proud, lifelong ally, I’m grateful that today we’re banning
the horrific practice of conversion therapy in Michigan,” --Governor Gretchen Whitmer 2023 Grey Weinstein (he/they/xe) I would be far from the first person to point out that the fight for abortion access and the fight for gender affirming healthcare are intrinsically linked. Just as restrictions on abortion threaten pregnant people’s right to choose whether they want to be pregnant (and to assume all of the financial and physical risk that pregnancy entails), so too do restrictions on medical transition threaten trans people’ right to choose what we do with our bodies. Thus at their core, both issues are a struggle for bodily autonomy and agency over personal medical decisions. Restrictions on both abortion access and gender affirming care also both operate to target marginalized groups, furthering systemic oppression – trans people certainly are an oppressed class, as are women and others who can get pregnant. (As an aside, it is important to recognize that trans men and nonbinary people can and do need abortions, and even more important to elevate the unique needs of pregnant transmasculine folks for whom reproductive healthcare comes with a host of additional challenges. At the same time, it is also necessary to acknowledge that abortion bans are a tool of institutionalized misogyny which seek to deny (cis) women, among others, agency over their bodies.) As statewide legislative attacks on gender affirming care providers ramp up alongside abortion restrictions, it is clear that conditions are dire for many who seek these types of medical care.
morena (she/her) The anti-LGBT sentiments expressed by the Parental Rights in Education bill (infamously known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill) introduced by Ron DeSantis in Florida have continued to transcend the state. The main subject of this bill involves the prohibition of addressing any sexual orientation or gender identity in classroom settings. This also allows parents to disagree with their child’s curriculum, and to sue the school district under the justification that schools cannot withhold information about gender or sexuality issues from the children’s parents. While this bill is shocking and exclusionary to LGBTQ+ students and faculty, the sentiments expressed within the bill continue to spread, as other states enact similar policies.
Anita Rao (she/her) A local library in Jamestown defunded by its patrons. A graphic novel pulled from the shelves in Spring Lake. A school board meeting in Dearborn reduced to a shouting match. Communities across the state have joined the growing list of book-banning battlegrounds. Challenges to books in local and school libraries have skyrocketed this year, and in advance of the midterm elections, the battle reached Michigan.
Katie Watson (she/her)TW: transphobic language
For most people at this point– except for maybe the conservatives who love to rant about “alphabet soup”– the acronym LGBTQ+ rolls off the tongue. Which is why the LGB Alliance’s name tends to make you pause and wonder, “What happened to the rest of it?” As it turns out, the lack of T in the LGB Alliance (LGBA), an organization based in the UK, is not only intentional and exclusionary of trans and genderqueer folk, but also actively harmful. While the recent legislative attacks on trans people have absorbed many in the United States in conversations about how to include, acknowledge, and care for trans rights in government legislation, it’s important to note that this isn’t an insular issue. Trans people all over the world are facing the same threats to their rights, including just across the pond. 5/3/2022 0 Comments Gender Affirming Clothing SwapElessar Younglove (they/fae)This article is written by a nonbinary and bisexual person. As such, personal comments will be written from that perspective.
morena (she/her)TW: Mentions of sexual abuse against immigrants in ICE detention centers
The treatment of immigrants in the United States has been a pressing issue for decades; however, immigrants who identify as LGBT+ are often overlooked when addressing the brutal conditions imposed on those detained. Specifically, LGBT+ immigrants face increased risks of physical violence, are denied access to health care or legal counsel, and are refused protections by the US government and immigration forces. 3/1/2022 0 Comments Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” Bill Seeks to Erase the Queer Community from Public SchoolsElessar Younglove (they/fae)When I was 13 years old I transferred to a Catholic school. I struggled with a learning disability, and a smaller school was just what I needed. However, my Catholic schooling made me hate myself.
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