Thank You, Rachel Jeantel

Rachel Jeantel isn’t a Hollywood actress. She’s not a trained professional. She doesn’t testify in court regularly. She’s a young black woman missing her friend. She showed up to court to give all the information she had as to what happened the night he died.

“Are you listening?” she asked West at highly contentious point her testimony where it seemed he had either lost interest or chosen to ignore the things she was saying. How many young black women could ask that question to the world daily?

Continue reading at The Nation.

What the DOMA Ruling Means for LGBT Families of Color

The Supreme Court’s Defense of Marriage Act decision Wednesday is a major victory for the economic justice of LGBT Americans of color. That’s because LGBT couples of color have higher rates of poverty and are more likely to have children in their household than white LGBT couples. Consequently, LGBT couples need the financial shot in the arm that the legal recognition of marriage can give. Today’s ruling will help to ensure that some of America’s neediest couples receive it.

More on Colorlines.

Calling In A Queer Debt: On DOMA, the VRA and The Perfect Opportunity

Two days ago, the Supreme Court repealed the segment of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that functioned to guarantee that communities of color have equal access to voting rights as white communities. On the same day, the court dealt a blow to the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, a federal law intended to keep Native American children from being taken from their homes and typically adopted or fostered by non-Native American parents. Yesterday, that same Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8, clearing the way for LGBT couples to access marriage rights. It’s possible that there has never been a week in the Supreme Court that so blatantly demonstrates which groups are a priority and which aren’t when considering the lives and liberties of US citizens.

But that’s not what this piece is about…What this article is about is one thing: action.

Continue reading on Black Girl Dangerous.

Janet Mock Discusses Transgender Barriers On HuffPost Live

Writer and transgender advocate Janet Mock recently joined HuffPost Live to chat with Marc Lamont Hill about barriers that transgender people face in daily life.

“Everyone’s trying to be inclusive of trans people, but I think that we need to move beyond inclusivity and move to actually dealing with the real-life lived experiences and daily access issues that trans people face,” Mock said.

Via HuffPo.

Happy Birthday Marsha “Pay It No Mind” Johnson!

After occupying Weinstein Hall at New York University for nearly a week in response to their homophobic policies, Marsha helped form STAR: Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries. Marsha also traded sex for money and organized with other people in the sex trade in New York City’s Times Square & West Village. She galvanized people from inside jails and prisons, as well as created home for them in the form of STAR House in Manhattan’s Lower East Side even after her husband was murdered by an off duty NYPD officer. She was an incredible performer, touring with the performance group Hot Peaches. She saved Sylvia Rivera’s life numerous times. As an HIV positive person, she organized AIDS vigils, navigated mental illness, and was a mother to a generation of trans and gender nonconforming people in New York City. She was also one the many Black trans people to be found dead, in her case, in the Hudson River after Gay Pride in 1992.

Editor’s Note: Rest in power, Marsha!

More here.

Girl, Bye: Why This Moment is Bigger than Paula Deen

What I do feel is missing from a lot of the conversations around Paula Deen, though, is what is really at the heart of the matter: the discrimination suit and what it alleges about Deen’s workplace practices…This has the potential to be a productive moment to have a conversation about race, class, gender, sexuality, and accessibility at work, to discuss fair labor practices, and to support organizations that are in the trenches advocating for workers’ rights.

Read more over at the Crunk Feminist Collective.