Anastasia Every few months, a big social media site comes out with a new beauty filter that can be adjusted for either gender. The “Bearded Cutie” lens on TikTok gives you thick eyebrows and scruffy facial hair, while the “My Twin” lens on Snapchat gives you porcelain skin and a hint of glam makeup to make … Read more
Students who are gay or lesbian or who aren’t sure what they want to be sexually are more likely to be homeless. (Nearly 29% of students who are homeless say they are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or questioning, but they only make up 15% of all students.) And transgender students are even more at risk of … Read more
By adding short, simple anti-sexism activities to lessons or form time, you can start a conversation about sexism, change the culture, and motivate students to take action. Look for places in the curriculum where you can start talking about how men and women are treated differently. If the curriculum is too narrow, like if there … Read more
According to the 2000 Census, there are about 594,000 same-sex partner households, and about 27% of those households have children living in them. It’s hard to get an accurate number of same-sex parent families because many lesbians and gay men don’t talk about their sexuality out of fear of discrimination, like being fired from their … Read more
People who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (LGBTQ) are more likely to have bad mental health and well-being. Social media platforms can give LGBTQ youth a place to go that is different from heteronormative settings and could help with their mental health and well-being. Mental health is more than just the lack … Read more
LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) students are often treated badly and harassed at school. Unfortunately, a lot of school officials don’t know much about how the law says they should protect LGBT students. And sometimes they do know they are breaking the law, but they don’t think students will question them because they think … Read more
An earlier version of this essay was written as an appendix to a lesson plan for high school psychology teachers called The Psychology of Sexual Orientation: a modular lesson plan/teaching resource for high school psychology teachers (login required). The full lesson plan is part of a set of 19 unit lesson plans that were made … Read more
LGBTQ+ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, and others. The “plus” shows that there are other sexual identities, such as pansexual and Two-Spirit. Since the 1990s, the first four letters of the acronym have been used, but in the past few years, people have become more aware of the need to include other … Read more
Fair Lending Practices Predatory payday and title lending practices have been prevalent in Alabama for years, throwing hard-working taxpayers across the state into a vicious, inevitable cycle of debt. Payday and title loans in Alabama can have interest rates — legally– of over four hundred percent, and lenders, who are eager to profit, will certainly … Read more
Patricia Todd has socially and professionally advocated for public policies relevant to social justice, education, HIV/AIDS, and a wide range of issues affect the entire Birmingham community for over twenty years. Patricia was elected to the Alabama Legislature as the State Representative for House District 54 in November of 2006 as the first openly gay … Read more
