Gay rights

By Susan Dicklitch-Nelson ( Pennsylvania Capital-Star ) – Twenty-five years ago, at the Christmas table, my uncle suggested that “all gay people should be sent to a desert island, covered with fertilizer, and set aflame.” His proposed method may have been novel, but he certainly was not the first person to suggest the extermination […]

Authoritarianism

Turkey: what to expect from Erdoğan, his ultranationalist Alliance and their ‘Family Values’ Pledges

The Conversation

Balki Begumhan Bayhan, Coventry University | – (The Conversation) – After a bitter and hard-fought campaign that went to a second run-off vote, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has retained the Turkish presidency in an election that some deemed as “free but not fair”. Having first won power in 2003, Erdoğan has been able to extend his […]

Climate Crisis

Pakistan’s Trans Community battles Climate Catastrophe and Exclusion

The Third Pole

Trans people affected by floods in Pakistan’s Balochistan province gather to receive aid from the non-profit Al-Khidmat Foundation, in partnership with Unilever Pakistan (Photo courtesy of Al-Khidmat Foundation) Adeel Saeed ( The Third Pole) – This winter was very hard for Bunti, a transgender woman, or Khawaja Sira as trans people are known in […]

Donald Trump

DeSantis’ Florida as the Epicenter of the New Culture Wars: The Coming Battle for America’s Political Soul

H. Scott Prosterman

Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – The concept of “woke” culture is an existential threat to Republican office holders and party officials. Led by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and other Donald Trump wannabes, Republicans have embarked on a campaign to bury information, books and literature; illustrating their agenda to promote racism as acceptable, […]

Bill of Rights

Why Tennessee’s Law limiting Drag Performances likely violates the First Amendment

The Conversation

By Mark Satta, Wayne State University | – (The Conversation) – On March 2, 2023, Tennessee became the first state to enact a law restricting drag performances. This law is part of a larger push by Republican lawmakers in numerous states to restrict or eliminate events like drag shows and drag story hours. These legislative […]

Anti-intellectualism

KKK without the Robes: DeSantis has gutted Florida Education, Cancelled Black History and Criminalized LGBTQ+ People

Dan Dinello

Informed Comment is introducing guest Feature posts occasionally, as Editor-in-Chief Juan Cole steps back from his unprecedented and grueling routine of writing a blog essay every day for nearly 21 years. Never fear, he will still write features several times a week. But some submissions from IC stalwarts deserve to be featured, and Dan Dinello’s […]

censorship

You can’t be for Liberty if you’re for banning Books

Iowa Capital Dispatch

By Bill Tubbs | – ( Iowa Capital Dispatch) – Two years ago in my column in the North Scott Press, I introduced “Signs that the Apocalypse is Upon Us,” to call attention to items which, though they are actually happening, are so surreal that it seems the end of time must be near. Gov. […]

Gay rights

Who Will Speak Up for My Child, the Drag Queen? And the Non-Binary and Transgender Folks Among Us, Too

Tomdispatch

By Ira Chernus | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – What makes a good society? Is it a guaranteed right to pursue happiness, as our Declaration of Independence proclaimed? Perhaps, as Gandhi said, it’s providing the poorest and most vulnerable among us with the means to control their own lives. But what happens when it’s the […]

Domestic Surveillance

Red State Plans to Investigate Abortion Seekers and Trans Youth Require Sanctuary States to Lock Down Data

Electronic Frontier Foundation

By Adam Schwartz | – ( Electronic Frontier Foundation ) – In the wake of this year’s Supreme Court decision in Dobbs overruling Roe v. Wade, sheriffs and bounty hunters in anti-abortion states will try to investigate and punish abortion seekers based on their internet browsing, private messaging, and phone app location data. We can […]