
Orlando, Mon Amour: Stand against Terror and Hate
Early reports suggest that Mateen pledged allegiance to “Islamic State” while launching his shooting spree. We will know more in the days to come. I am grateful to those who are righteously rushing in to defend Muslims from the inevitable backlash and deplorable discrimination in the shell-shocked wake of this massacre. However, I would also ask them not to do so by downplaying the harsh realities of Islamist political ideology and the way it purveys hatred against many groups, including gays.

Fear and Loathing in Orlando
The drumbeats have started. Almost immediately after a mass shooting that left over fifty people dead on Latin night in a Florida gay nightclub, Pulse, the news shifted to the identity of the shooter himself. As soon as his name and the fact that his father immigrated (long ago) from Afghanistan was announced, the narrative began unfolding as Naeem Mohaiemen put it, on cue: This must be a terrorist attack.

Remarkable analyses of the Orlando killings: A compilation
The mass shooting at the Pulse, the nightclub in Orlando, took over the media screens and pages on the third week of June 2016. The

India vigils in memory of Orlando shooting victims
By Orinam Jun 13 2016 A makeshift memorial with flowers and handprints rests in a parking lot near the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla. source:
Our lady of controversies
Alma López is a queer Chicana artist who lives in California. Her work has many varied expressions. But most principally it elaborates and re-signify the

You Can’t Go Home Again: North Carolina’s HB 2 Criminalizes Trans Life
On Wednesday, I became illegal in my home state. I can’t go home to see my mother or my sister or my uncle or my friends from high school. I can’t go back to my favorite restaurant. Because the systematic eradication of transgender people from North Carolina is now the law of the land.
Report: US – Transgender Women Abused in Immigration Detention
Dozens of transgender women, including asylum seekers who have come to the United States seeking protection from abuse in their home countries, are locked up in jails or prison-like immigration detention centers across the country at any point in time, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Many have been subjected to sexual assault and ill-treatment in detention, while others are held in indefinite solitary confinement.

US: Estimates of Transgender Populations in States with Legislation Impacting Transgender People
These bills would limit access to single-sex restrooms and locker rooms at schools and in public places; limit protections based on gender identity; permit individuals and businesses to discriminate against transgender people based on religious and moral beliefs.

Equality Is Not Enough: Seeking Full Liberty for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People
The book, by Andrew Park, is about the American political context, so the audience is mostly in the US. It advocates using international human development

Pope and Patriarch Misrepresent the True Meaning of Secularism and Seek to Impose their Beliefs on Others
Originally published on Catholics for Choice. Available at: https://www.catholicsforchoice.org/news/pr/2016/PopeandPatriarchMisrepresent.asp On his way to Mexico, Pope Francis, head of the Roman Catholic church, met with Russian