Queer Notes, November-December 2019

November 17, 2019

From the November-December 2019 issue of News & Letters

by Elise

Hundreds of Palestinians on Aug. 1 protested the stabbing of a Palestinian Transgender teenager named Tamra outside an LGBTQ youth center in Tel Aviv. They demanded “Liberation without restraints—not by the occupiers and not by the patriarchy!” (Thanks to Rula Khaleileh of Women Against Violence.) Two days later, to commemorate a Queer teen murdered one year ago, thousands marched against transphobia and violence against LGBTQ people.

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Women and Children First (WCF) in Chicago was vandalized three times this autumn with anti-Transgender stickers like those used against a feminist bookseller in Liverpool. Other neighboring businesses reported similar incidents. On Oct. 20, Transgender people and their supporters gathered in WCF’s neighborhood to hear speakers calling for support of Trans people and denouncing hate. Many wrote Trans-affirming messages in chalk on the sidewalks and windows of the bookstore.

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Several teachers quit and two families removed their children from Kings High School, in Shoreline, Wash. over the Christian school’s new policy that faculty must sign a document stating the Bible is inerrant and, therefore, sexual expression is only allowed within heterosexual marriage. Via social media, numerous students and families are protesting the policy and supporting Queer students and their families. Kings is part of the $100 million corporation CRISTO, which also runs retirement communities, radio stations and international relief work.

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Ames, Iowa, is ignoring the Federal Highway Administration’s order to remove their rainbow crosswalks. The FHWA claimed the colorful crosswalks could be distracting to drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians and cause collisions. City attorney Mark Lambert replied the crosswalks are compliant and the federal government has no say about Ames city streets. Two crosswalks are in LGBT Pride colors, one is in Transgender Pride colors and one is in Nonbinary Pride colors.

 

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