Reading Time: 6 minutes I had a complicated relationship with my voice even before I figured out I was trans. When I was small I loved singing, but then my voice broke. That’s what we call it in the UK when testosterone makes a voice change at puberty—we say your voice “breaks.” As a trans woman, I find that term especially apt. Because my voice was still unpredictable, the choir teacher put me in the bass section where no one would hear me. Singing became something I was afraid to do.
transgender
Posted inThe Candidates
WI State Senate candidate Jessica Katzenmeyer: ‘We could be headed to a dark reality’
Republicans are one vote away from a bulletproof supermajority in the Wisconsin Senate. Jessica Katzenmeyer, a nonreligious candidate for Senate District 5, is running to prevent what she calls a ‘dark reality’ for her state. If elected, she will be the first transgender woman in the Wisconsin Senate.
Posted inResearch
How deep does ‘anti-woke’ opinion go among atheists?
Reading Time: 12 minutes Several globally-prominent atheists have established themselves as opponents of what they call “wokeness.” But an attempt to compare them to atheists generally, and even the prominent atheists’ most ardent fans, shows that the sentiment is not widespread.
Posted inLGBTQ News
A Christian camp director was told to denounce his trans son. He quit instead.
Reading Time: 5 minutes Chris and Lindsay Kinman worked for a Christian ministry in jobs they absolutely loved… until people there found out they had a trans son. The Kinmans had to decide what meant more to them: their religious principles or their transgender child. They chose their child. That’s the summary of what’s supposed to be a heartwarming […]
Posted inLGBTQ
The transgender swimming ban is not about sports
Reading Time: 6 minutes FINA, the international swimming federation, has banned trans women from competing in women’s categories for the sports it governs. Within days of this announcement, a raft of other sporting bodies had announced reviews of their policies for transgender inclusion, and the International Rugby League banned trans women from competition, pending “further research.” The decision has […]
Posted inNonreligious News
‘Identitarianism’ isn’t tearing humanists apart. It’s making us stronger
Reading Time: 7 minutes In an editorial appearing in the June/July issue of Free Inquiry, Robyn Blumner, the CEO of the Center for Inquiry and the executive director of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason &, Science, claims identity politics and cancel culture have “torn apart” the Humanist movement (as far as there is one) mostly because people criticized […]
Posted inLaw
Georgia superintendent tells graduating seniors to convert to Christianity
Reading Time: 3 minutes On Friday, May 20, during a speech at the graduation ceremony for Dawson County High School in Dawsonville, Georgia, retiring Superintendent Damon Gibbs used his pulpit to preach Christianity to the captive audience in an attempt to get them to convert. That’s not an exaggeration either. After “joking” about how there were things he could […]
Posted inSex & Gender
The secular humanist’s guide to trans advocacy
Reading Time: 16 minutes I really didn’t want to have to write this piece. Amid pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine, along with famines, the ravages of climate change, and other global conflicts, did the U.S. really need to exacerbate human trauma by introducing so much harmful legislation lately? Gosh. Even writing that, it’s hard to pin down which […]
Posted inSex & Gender
Dr. Phil ambushed trans guests with online troll Matt Walsh
Reading Time: 3 minutes When activists Addison Rose Vincent and Ethan Alexander were invited on “Dr. Phil,” they didn’t expect Matt Walsh to be there too.
Posted inSex & Gender
Seeking the trans people of the past
Reading Time: 6 minutes To learn about trans people, we have to read between the lines of history. Info about trans folks comes to us not from autobiographies or travelogues, but rather largely from legal cases from centuries past. And that info comes to us filtered through the worldview of authority figures who condemned transgender people entirely.