News :: Commentary

Transmissions: Linguistic history

Transmissions: Linguistic history

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • Jan 24, 2024

I was recently made aware of a fascinating bit of linguistic history, courtesy of the 1661 edition of Thomas Blount's "Glossographia, or a dictionary interpreting all such hard words of whatsoever language now used in our refined English tongue."

Transmissions: We need you

Transmissions: We need you

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • Jan 10, 2024

I recently wrote that last year saw 589 anti-trans bills that were introduced within 49 states. Of those introduced, 85 passed into law.

Transmissions: The closing of the year

Transmissions: The closing of the year

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • Dec 27, 2023

As we close the book on 2023, my mind keeps going back to one number: 589.

Transmissions: A holiday wish

Transmissions: A holiday wish

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • Dec 13, 2023

The holidays were different when I was younger. Lacking the internet, one would eagerly anticipate the arrival of the Sears catalog at your front door around August or September.

Transmissions: Trans for the holidays

Transmissions: Trans for the holidays

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • Nov 29, 2023

We're in that time of year, post-Thanksgiving but not yet Yule, when you cannot breathe without being bombarded by messages of family get-togethers for the holidays.

Spirit of Gay Games 2023 outshines COVID, politics, and doubters

Spirit of Gay Games 2023 outshines COVID, politics, and doubters

  • by Roger Brigham
  • Nov 15, 2023

The Bay Area Reporter's former sports columnist shares his opinions on the recent Gay Games that took place in Hong Kong and Guadalajara, Mexico.

Transmissions: In difficult times

Transmissions: In difficult times

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • Nov 15, 2023

It was 1998 when Rita Hester, a young Black trans woman, was found dead in Alston, Massachusetts.

Transmissions: Forgotten histories

Transmissions: Forgotten histories

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • Nov 1, 2023

It should come as no surprise to anyone that I feel that the trans community often fails to grasp its own history. That focus is, after all, part of my own history.

LGBTQ HIstory Month: SF LGBTQ pioneers helped form the community

LGBTQ HIstory Month: SF LGBTQ pioneers helped form the community

  • by Chuck Forester
  • Oct 25, 2023

That gay person at the Pride parade is the result of an unusual social experiment that started in 1970 in San Francisco.

Transmissions: In God's image

Transmissions: In God's image

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • Oct 18, 2023

Longtime readers will note that I don't often discuss matters of religion. It's not a topic I am comfortable with. I am predominantly agnostic, with a very strong pagan bent to my spirituality.

Transmissions: Ghosts, specters, and very old bones

Transmissions: Ghosts, specters, and very old bones

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • Oct 4, 2023

It's frightfully common for anti-transgender activists to rely on old tropes in place of actual arguments, and one of the favorites in their arsenal nowadays seems simple on the surface, but gets crueler the deeper you dig.

Transmissions: Very personal questions

Transmissions: Very personal questions

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • Sep 20, 2023

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

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

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.