Category: Social Issues
Michael Scott May NOT Speak for Me: Why the White House’s Anti-Sexual Assault PSA Is Problematic
A couple of months ago, President Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden, joined by a legion of well-known and well-meaning male celebrities, spoke out against sexual assault in a public service an... Read More
On Protest and Politics and Pride
In honor of Pride Month, I thought I would use this post to talk about and engage the ideas of Bayard Rustin, someone I consider to be a national gay icon as well as a personal hero. It would be hard ... Read More
Letting Go of Unnecessary Necessities
In a time and a place and a planet in which the way we live, the way we see ourselves, the way we see each other, and the way we understand what we mean by culture, community, and civilization is unde... Read More
The Dangers of Nostalgia
Earlier this year, I went to a talk at Boston University with Iraqi translator and writer Sinan Antoon on the topic “Translation and the Work of Mourning.” While his remarks as a whole w... Read More
Whistleblower Exposes India’s Murderous Cops
This review was originally published in Newsweek’s The Daily Beast In 1994, a Punjabi cop filed a lawsuit against his colleagues accusing them of the secret torture and killing of innocents. Now... Read More
The Role of Religious Literacy in the Context of State Neutrality
This post is a summary of a presentation I gave at the Congress Conference 2014. A link to the presentation can be found here. Our argument is based on the following premises: Canada is becoming more ... Read More
About Comparing the Movement for Marriage Equality to the Civil Rights Movement, Part II
Part I of this series started to look at the arguments and logic of a amici brief that was prepared by Christian conservatives in Michigan. The brief, which is meant to challenge recent legal developm... Read More
Claiming Queer: Why Identity Politics Matter
“Queer and Christian” the aspiring human rights activist’s bio read. “But, wait,” I thought, “isn’t this person a married heterosexual?” As it turns out, mine weren’t the only eyebro... Read More