Category: Gender and Sexuality
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MOVING TARGET: Monica James on police targeting
The police are targeting vulnerable communities, says Monica James. They’re targeting black people. Hispanics. Muslims. Immigrants. Women. Youth. The transgender community, all “people of difference.” It’s not really news to the audience at Roxbury’s Madison Park High School. After all, the panel is called “Baltimore is Everywhere,” and the speakers include victims of police violence…
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WHAT ARE YOU?: Transgender women face risks in gendered shelters
By Sabrina Caserta Laze Ma coats her eyes with dark liner, adding a few sparkles for fun. She dabs her lips with plum gloss and picks out her favorite dress. Even though she’s been chronically homeless for six years, she’ll do everything in her power not to look it. “I used to wear towels on…
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SEX TRADE: CEASE Boston combats local sex trafficking
A sex trafficker, a pimp, will go to the mall in search of a group of girls. When he finds one, he’ll scan the group to see which girl he perceives has the lowest self-esteem. For this, he’ll rely on analyzing their body language. He won’t go for the conventionally attractive one or the least…
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FEMALE TROUBLE: Advocates address feminine hygiene
Brittany sat under an alcove in Harvard Square, sign in hand and a cup of loose change in front of her. She sets up there nearly every day, she says, with the same sign but with a different Dunkin’ Donuts cup. Her blue-dyed tips peek out of her yellow, owl-printed bandana. Kal stands next to…
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Remembering Menino: The Former Mayor’s Legacy on Social Justice
The late Mayor Tom Menino’s impact on the city of Boston was easy to see after his death on the morning of Oct. 30. Thousands visited his casket in Fanuiel Hall on Saturday, Nov. 2, and thousands more lined the route of his funeral procession the next day. As the oft-repeated statistic claims, more than…
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Safe Access Law Follows Buffer Zone Repeal
BOSTON, Mass.—On 26 June 2014, the Supreme Court’s decition in McCullen v. Coakley struck down Massachusetts’ 2007 buffer zone law as unconstitutional, angering millions of abortion advocates. In response, Governor Deval Patrick signed a new bill, “An Act to Promote Public Safety and Protect Access to Reproductive Health Care Facilities,”to take the place of the…
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Forum to Come Up with Solutions for Working Families
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. —The White House, the U.S. Department of Labor and the Center for American Progress held a forum in Cambridge last week about solutions to help working families. It is part of a series of regional meetings leading up to the Working Families Summit in Washington D.C. on June 23. The forum kicked off…
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St. Patrick’s Day Peace Parade Offers Alternative for Anti-War, LGBTQ Groups
SOUTH BOSTON, Mass.—For the fourth year in a row, a second, smaller parade wound through the streets of South Boston behind the marchers in the historic St. Patrick’s Day parade, which is organized by the South Boston Allied War Veterans’ Council. The St. Patrick’s Day Peace Parade is organized by Veterans for Peace and Massachusetts…
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Fashion for Freedom Raises Money to Combat Sex Trafficking
On Friday, February 21, the first ever benefit show hosted by Fashion For Freedom, a group that focuses on raising awareness for victims of sex trafficking, was held at Simmons College in Boston. Ayana Auborg, 19, and Adebukola Ajao, 19, are both students of the Colleges of the Fenway, a network of six neighboring Boston-based…
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No Place Like Home: Housing for LGBTQ Homeless Youth
There’s a book called “Youth in Crisis: What Everyone Should Know About Growing Up Gay” edited by Mitchell Gold, that contains a series of interviews with young people. There is a story in there that is heartbreaking: The Trevor Project, an American nonprofit organization focused on suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and…