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Dispatches From the Culture Wars - June 8, 2021

Pride! The Linda Lindas! Critical Race Theory! QAnon! Nevada Republicans! And four Americans who talked out of turn

From Stonewall,with Pride

(Extra)ordinary People Speak Truth to Power

The Anti-Racist Vet By Aliza Worthington, Crooks and Liars

The Pro-Abortion Rights Valedictorian  By Alexandra Villarreal, The Guardian

The Pro-Palestinian Principal By Doree Lewak, Georgett Roberts and Bruce Golding, New York Post

The Dress Code Violation  By Rachel Berry and Michelle Shen, Asheboro Courier-Tribune

Police and Pride

By André Thomas
Gay City News

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The controversy surrounding Heritage of Pride’s decision to not allow uniformed and armed police officers to march as a part of our annual celebration has centered around the ideal of the LGBTQIA+ movement being “inclusive.” The backlash against the decision again exposed to the straight world the dirty little secret of the wider LGBTQIA+ community: it’s not.

Book: The History-Changing Story of ACT UP

By Joshua Gutterman Tranen
The Baffler

Let the Record Show is structured around oral histories collected over the course of nearly twenty years for the ACT UP Oral History Project. Collective anger against the AIDS crisis existed before ACT UP, and many of the white gay men in the group looked to women, lesbians, and people of color with previous activist experience for inspiration. 

Protecting LGBTQ Youth

By Alanna Vagianos
Huffpost

A Trevor Project survey found that LGBTQ youth who had at least one accepting adult were 40% less likely to report suicide attempts in the past year.

The Progress of QAnon

By Mallory Simon, Sara Sidner, Julia Jones and Jason Kravarik
CNN

Tensions are escalating in cities around the country where local elections have been won by people who appear to support, or in some instances openly support, QAnon and its associated conspiracy theories. 

Is Democracy On the Ropes?

By John Feffer
Foreign Policy in Focus

The Economist Intelligence Unit, which produces a Democracy Index every year, promoted its 2020 report with the headline “Global Democracy Has a Very Bad Year.” But democracy might be in for a comeback.

Defending Critical Race Theory

By Matt Wall
Fox News

Two leading scholars on the topic of critical race theory spoke with Fox News for an exclusive interview to discuss their views on the controversial concept and why they believe it is being unfairly characterized by opponents.

Punk Was Never Just For White Dudes

By Sofia Andrade
Slate

Underage rockers the Linda Lindas aren’t just punk rock’s future—they’re a throwback to its feminist origins.

American Jews and the Israel Narrative

By Abraham Riesman
Vox

Many Jews in the United States are taught a very specific Israel narrative. Can that change? Recently social media has been filled with American Jews denouncing some of the institutions that claim to represent them, often for the imbalanced Israel education they received as children. 

Infiltrating the Nevada Right

By Roger Sollenberger
The Daily Beast

In the months leading up to the 2020 election, Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, a self-described progressive activist, embedded herself in GOP circles as part of her research for a book on right-wing extremism. What she found was a Republican consultant desperate to team the Proud Boys up with the Nevada GOP in order to challenge ballots and flip the presidential election.