Olivia's Blog

Captions: Do you guys think that it ever crossed the people who fought for gay liberation like at Stonewall, rest in peace to all those who lost their lives there, by the way,  but do you think it ever crossed their minds  that somebody like George Santos could exist in the future? —that all their work, all their fighting  could lead to a gay Latino Republican Congressman  using funds from the Republican Party to buy  Onlyfans subscriptions, Sephora, botox, and Hermes items.  I personally like to think that's why Marsha threw the brick [@duncantdothisanymore]. “What i would give to go back and explain who #georgesantos is to gay people in the 70s #fyp #foryoupage #viral #gay #lgbt #gayhistory #lgbthistory #stonewall” Tiktok, 18 November 2023, https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8ffF25e/   *It should be noted that the aforementioned video contains misinformation, as no one died at the Stonewall Uprising  

     In the Tiktok from @duncantdothisanymore, the creator addresses the evolving state of the LGBT community by posing a clever query: could the people who fought for gay liberation at Stonewall ever imagine George Santos being the openly gay, Republican Congressman that he is in 2023? Despite this question's rhetorical and sarcastic nature, its answer illuminates the current state of LGBT rights. My answer is no, I don’t think they could imagine it.       George Santos’ position in the House of Representatives, despite his sexual orientation, is evidence of widespread gay tolerance, at least at a superficial level. His ability to run for, be elected to, and hold what I would describe as “high-ranking” public office as an openly gay man is a feat that gay activists of 1969 couldn’t fathom. This shift in public opinion signals that gay people, while still discriminated against in other spheres, have worked their way into the majority, or hegemon, of American society, albeit condit

In 2021, Arkansas passed the first of many laws banning gender-affirming care for trans youth. Following this 2021 law, an onslaught of anti-trans bills has appeared. In fact, 37 of 50 states have introduced some form of anti-trans bills since this time. Most bewildering about the Arkansas law is that it was vetoed in its bill form by the Republican governor, Asa Hutchinson, just for this decision to be overridden by a majority vote and implemented. This legislative voting dynamic speaks to increased anti-trans rhetoric in the late 2010s. This event is so salient because it started a trend: anti-trans bills built from anti-trans sentiment. Despite the fact that I picked the first anti-trans law in recent years as the most significant event in recent LGBTQ history, the ramifications of this law exist far beyond its passing in 2021, as many bills echoing the same sentiments of the 2021 law have been proposed and passed since. I should mention, however, that the LGBTQ experience has splin

          Racial stereotypes have permeated the media since the United States' early years. Hollywood’s first blockbuster hit was The Birth of a Nation , perpetrating the harmful, widely believed stereotypes about African Americans. Today, media portrayals of all racial minorities span a wide range of mediums, some of which include print media, broadcast media, and the Internet. Despite recent efforts by media outlets to be “politically correct,” these entities still produce disparaging, dehumanizing, and fetishizing portrayals of some racial minorities. Since the turn of the century, media portrayal of Latino people has stagnated. In fact, all Latinos in recent media are depicted as illegal aliens, hyper-sexual beings, or unintelligent comic relief. The hyper-sexualization of Latino people in media occurs as a form of entertainment. The sex appeal of musicians like Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez were/are invaluable to their success as artists—their acceptance by white America w

 Despite heated discussions around gender, gender identity, and gender expression, there is no consensus on what gender is. Some mistakenly believe gender is determined chromosomally or reflected in external genitalia. For clarity, when discussing my gender, I define gender as the socially constructed binary of man and woman. However, recent societal changes mark the acceptance of a third gender for people who don’t fit into the categories of man or woman. I should note, however, that the formation of gender is entirely abstract. Thus, there are an infinite number of genders. In my eighteen years of life, I’ve always been aware of my gender. My shoulder-length hair, wide hips, figure-hugging clothing, valley girl accent, cardigans, tote bags, and long nails have made the world aware, too. These physical attributes allow people to identify me: there goes that girl, and more recently, there goes that woman. They treat me accordingly. I’m frequently greeted with a smile and treated like I