Bay Area Reporter :: Commentary News

Transmissions: Very personal questions

September 20, 2023 | by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

My partner was usually by my side when I was in the long process of coming out to our friends and family.

Transmissions: The world has changed

by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
Sep 6, 2023

I had the best of intentions. I had planned to focus purely on a quartet of aging rock stars, and their anti-trans statements, made all the odder by the gender-transgressive history of many of them.

Transmissions: Checkmate

by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
Aug 23, 2023

As we've all seen, the last few years have been chock full of attacks on transgender rights.

Transmissions: Barbie, through a trans eye

by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
Aug 9, 2023

In the early 1970s, Mattel partnered with United Airlines to enter Barbie into one of her many careers.

Transmissions: Take a mile

by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
Jul 26, 2023

You really don't need me to tell you that 2023 has been a challenging one for those of us who are transgender.

Transmissions: Casa Susanna and the mists of time

by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
Jul 12, 2023

The trans community has a long history, but all too often, the archives are buried, hidden behind the firmest of closet doors, and under threat of being forever lost.

Transmissions: Shooting off one's mouth

by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
Jun 28, 2023

In British Columbia recently, an elementary school track meet became something very different.

Transmissions: Stand in joy and Pride

by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
Jun 14, 2023

Pride, in 2023, feels a bit surreal. For months, we have heard the worst people on the right relentlessly labeling LGBTQ people — and in particular transgender people — as groomers, preying on the nation's children.

Transmissions: In the company of Pride

by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
May 31, 2023

June is upon us, and with that Pride season.

Transmissions: The trans body

by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
May 17, 2023

As overplayed a term as it is, we are living in what amounts to a modern day witch-hunt, with transgender people replacing women in pointy hats.

Requiem for a Drag Queen

by Michael Yamashita | NewsIsOut.com
May 12, 2023

The New York Times obituary for Barry Humphries extolled the life and career of a beloved actor of stage, screen, and television. You could be forgiven if you didn't recognize his name, but surely not if you did not recognize his alter ego.

Transmissions: Silenced

by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
May 3, 2023

At the Montana Statehouse in Helena, history is being made.

Guest Opinion: The Castro Theatre belongs to the community

by Tom Ammiano and Michela Alioto-Pier
Apr 24, 2023

For over 100 years, the Castro Theatre has been an architectural and cultural jewel in our city's crown and has evolved as an icon of the LGBTQ community and culture.

Transmissions: Under the influence

by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
Apr 19, 2023

It sounds positively cynical to say this, but we live in an era of spectacle and circus, provided to us hour by hour via social media.

The revolution, as always, will be led by drag queens

by Michael Yamashita | NewsIsOut.com
Apr 6, 2023

At the root of revolution is revolt—a revolt against oppressive power. Once again in our history, we must rise up against a deranged right-wing front that is harnessing political and social power to legislate and discriminate LGBTQ+ people out of existenc

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