News :: Commentary

Transmissions: Being dragged into a culture war

Transmissions: Being dragged into a culture war

  • Feb 8, 2023

Decades before the upper floors of a three-story building at the corner of Broadway and Kearny in San Francisco became a co-working office space, it was home to a nightclub called Finocchio's.

Transmissions: Our history, and what it tells us

Transmissions: Our history, and what it tells us

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • Jan 25, 2023

Legislative sessions have started in statehouses across the country, and with them, scores of new anti-LGBTQ and anti-trans bills.

Transmissions: Transition is not a destination, it's a passage

Transmissions: Transition is not a destination, it's a passage

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • Jan 11, 2023

Recently, while in the throes of nostalgia, I went through a pair of filing boxes I have containing decades of old snapshots.

Commentary: Make drag queens illegal? It's happened before

Commentary: Make drag queens illegal? It's happened before

  • by Michael Yamashita | NewsIsOut.com
  • Jan 5, 2023

Today drag queen storybook readings for children have been opportunistically subverted by the far right using an old and recurring slur that it is a ruse used by pedophiles to "groom" children for abuse.

Transmissions: The New Year

Transmissions: The New Year

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • Dec 28, 2022

It was eight and a half years ago - in spring of 2014 - that Time magazine declared the "transgender tipping point" on its front cover.

Transmissions: No more

Transmissions: No more

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • Nov 30, 2022

It was late in the evening of November 19 at Club Q, an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Guest Opinion: New governor's council is state's latest step to stop hate

Guest Opinion: New governor's council is state's latest step to stop hate

  • by Joyce Newstat and Scott Wiener
  • Nov 22, 2022

Every year, at the beginning of Pride Month, we put on our parkas and wool caps and head up to Twin Peaks to light the incredible pink triangle installation.

Transmissions: After the election, a glimmer of hope

Transmissions: After the election, a glimmer of hope

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • Nov 18, 2022

It wasn't intentional for the Transgender Day of Remembrance to fall so close to Election Day and its aftermath, but they have certainly grown in importance to each other over the years.

Jock Talk: If you believe in human rights, do not watch the World Cup

Jock Talk: If you believe in human rights, do not watch the World Cup

  • by Roger Brigham
  • Nov 11, 2022

For the first time in four decades, I will not watch a single minute of the men's soccer World Cup. Not one vuvuzela-shrieking minute.

Transmissions: Sounding the alarm

Transmissions: Sounding the alarm

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • Nov 2, 2022

I often feel that I am too alarmist. I have spent decades now, deep in the issue of anti-transgender violence and murder, and I know that colors my views.

Transmissions: The litter box legend

Transmissions: The litter box legend

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • Oct 19, 2022

October is no stranger to urban legends, dating back at least to Washington Irving's 1819 Halloween favorite, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."

Transmissions: Gwen Araujo and the steady trickle of anti-trans violence

Transmissions: Gwen Araujo and the steady trickle of anti-trans violence

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • Oct 4, 2022

Around 20 years ago, somewhere in the middle of October 2002, I was talking with another trans activist friend of mine.

Transmissions: Transit tales — and transgender typecasting

Transmissions: Transit tales — and transgender typecasting

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • Sep 21, 2022

Your average, modern city is a labyrinth of streets linking home, work, and entertainment in a maze of asphaltic concrete as far as the eye can see.

Transmissions: Living

Transmissions: Living

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • Sep 7, 2022

Living is a funny thing. It is something we tend to take for granted. Our lungs autonomously breathe in a steady stream of oxygen, enriching our blood.