Denying people the ability to update the gender marker on their identification is not only discriminatory; it is dangerous. In an increasingly hostile climate, mismatched identification can expose individuals to harassment, threats, and violence. It can also create serious barriers to employment, housing, and access to essential services.
While Yo La Tengo's guest-filled 2025 Hanukkah run was beginning its second night at Bowery Ballroom, another beloved holiday tradition was happening just under a mile north and west at NYU's Skirball Center. The Ally Coalition, Jack and Rachel Antonoff's LGBTQ equality nonprofit, held its 11th annual Talent Show, a holiday variety show benefitting the Ally Coalition's work aiding homeless and at-risk LGBTQ youth with an almost entirely surprise lineup.
Using the chosen names and pronouns of LGBTQ+ youth isn't just respectful - it's life-saving. Transgender and nonbinary youth (ages 13 to 24) whose pronouns are respected were 31 percent less likely to attempt suicide in the past year than those whose pronouns are not respected, according to a new report from The Trevor Project. Nearly one-fourth (23 percent) of those who said none of the people they know use their correct name and pronouns also said they have attempted suicide in the past year,
When Ben tells his parents, (Amy Landecker and Judson Mills), that he wants to talk to them about something-being non-binary-a door is heard being slammed. Ben is next seen barefoot and crying outside. Having been thrown out of his home, he calls his estranged sister, Hannah (Alexandra Daddario), in Raleigh, who takes him in. Her husband, Thomas (Cole Sprouse), helps Ben get settled in a new school, where he meets Nathan (Miles Guttierez-Riley), whom he learns is bi.
According to the victim's father, a student began hurling transphobic slurs and insults before physically attacking them. The student, who had faced bullying over their gender identity for years, had recently moved to the area and hoped to avoid further abuse. "We were hoping this year, new school, hopefully a new crowd of people, and somehow the second week of school, this kid found my child and caught them in the hallway and openly sideswiped them and started assaulting them," the father told Boston25 News.
The majority of LGBTQ+ young people agreed that they go online to connect with others because it is difficult to do so in their daily lives, with 38% somewhat agreeing and 36% strongly agreeing,
I was always the pretty little boy in the corner of the playground, plaiting girls' hair, dreaming of spotlights. My flamboyance didn't seem to have an off switch. Dad tried his best to steer me into his version of a proper boyhood: football boots, muddy knees, the whole shebang. He'd tap my limp wrists into place and drag me to self-defence lessons in an attempt to turn them into karate chops.
The lyrical register of pop music demands imagery that's direct and broadly relatable, the kind of message that can be easily understood over a thudding bass line. So too does gospel, where the communion arrives not on Saturday night at the club but at a service the next morning. In either case, the roof might get blown off, and in a moment of mass worship, you're able to believe for a few minutes at a time in a collective euphoria.
