Opinions
Country needs a new form of patriotism
Trump-Vance administration, supporters have left marginalized Americans even more scared

In lieu of the right-wing takeover both in the government and the country as a whole, the current view of patriotism from marginalized communities is often seen as supportive of patriarchal, misogynistic, and anti-LGBTQ ideals. The patriot is often seen as someone who supports the idea that America is only one way and that way is one not so geared towards progress. Right now, there are plans in place for several marginalized people, whether they be queer or racial minorities, to perhaps abandon the country, or at the very least lose respect for it, given the whole passport debacle, because of how strong conservatives came in after the induction of the second Trump administration. The response is warranted. We are being told that who we are and what we stand for are not American.
I‘ve noticed that when people distance themselves from the idea of being American or a patriot, it allows these right-wing ideas to take over and distort the image of what being American means in a way that is unchallenged. It is manipulating the entire image of what it is like to be American, which is being presented as cisgender, straight, and white. Right now, transgender service men and women are having their right to serve this country stripped from them simply because of their gender identity. Their sacrifices are seen as wrong or even weak.
However, I feel like now is a time to bolster a new form of patriotism for those who are still here and cannot afford to leave. As WorldPride makes its way to Washington, D.C., I’ve taken a moment to reflect on what it is like to be both a queer and racial minority born and raised near the nation’s capital. I find that regardless of how much conservatism has emboldened right-wing supporters and clutched the federal government, I am very much proud to see the revolt and the pride that people have for who they are regardless of.
Living in a country founded on freedom and the right to self-actualization, that being proud of oneself, and fighting for the freedom to be oneself is innately American.
The intersectionality of being both queer and African American, paired with the historical knowledge of how both identities have been treated does in fact make it hard to be proud of the American title of ”patriot.” But the country and history of the country are not owned by the conservative body. Right now, they are scrambling and trying to control every facet to re-brand the image of what a patriot looks like to change both the history and future of America.
With that being said and WorldPride merely days away, there now needs to be a call to maybe not reject patriotism, but reshape it into a form of patriotism that reflects the progress that marginalized communities wish to see. Marsha P. Johnson sparked a movement with her revolt at Stonewall, an act just as American as the shot heard around the world. Perseverance, courage and determination during this time is as American as it gets. Queer, trans, and other marginalized people are shining examples of what it means to be Americans. We give our time, money, and lives to make this country thrive.
Though the past has been dark, stealing both land, people and ideologies from those deemed unfit to be seen as American, this is our country as much as it is theirs. The right feared the progress that was being made over the past decade and made their moves to halt it. Now is the time to counter those moves and show them what our patriotism looks like.
Opinions
They Are Coming for All of Us

We at the Leonard Litz LGBTQ+ Foundation, along with the entire LGBTQ+ community, are justifiably devastated by the US Supreme Court’s decision upholding Tennessee’s ban on gender affirming care for minors. In a 6-3 ruling that will likely have major implications for the entire community’s rights going forward, the court held that the law, which prohibits certain forms of medical treatment based on the recipient’s assigned sex at birth, did not violate the US constitution’s equal protection clause.
The Skrmetti decision held that Tennessee could ban gender-affirming care to minors based on medical diagnosis (gender dysphoria, gender incongruence or gender identity disorder) without violating the US constitution. In its analysis, the court ignored that these TGNCNBI-specific conditions were being differentiated on the basis of sex, rather than age (minority status) and/or medical diagnosis. Thus, instead of applying the “strict scrutiny” required for sex-based discrimination, the court applied a much lower “rational basis” standard to the law and allowed it to stand. The court cited “fierce scientific and policy debates” around gender-affirming care as the state’s rational basis, in spite of the vehement disagreement of all major medical associations. State laws in 24 other states are substantially similar, so this ruling could affect as many as 100,000 youth. Ironically, the ban contains an exception for nonconsensual surgeries on intersex youth.
This decision also does not bode well for people with other medical conditions that offer potential for discrimination, and may even expose people with TGNCNBI-specific conditions to future discriminatory treatment, legislation, or action. In fact, the court’s ruling has major implications for the bodily autonomy of every American.
We at the Leonard Litz LGBTQ+ Foundation are more committed than ever to supporting the TGNCNBI community in their fight for equal rights and access to the healthcare they deserve. As we all know, this decision has potentially deadly consequences. As one united LGBTQ+ community, we need to make ourselves more visible than ever to show that we exist, have always existed, and will not be silenced by a political and judicial movement that is trying to erase us.
Leonard Litz is responding to this moment by increasing our support in both our TransPLUS and Advocacy initiatives. We are also reaching out to offer support to organizations that serve the needs of trans and intersex youth who are being affected by this draconian decision. Additionally, the TransPLUS Resource Center will continue to offer services to the community as its needs grow and evolve.
We appreciate everyone’s support of our TGNCNBI youth and thank you all that you do for the LGBTQ+ community!
Robyn Schlesinger is a Trustee of the Leonard Litz LGBTQ+ Foundation and Director of the TransPLUS Resource Center
Opinions
A Country Worth Fighting For
Producer of Putt Across America at The Wharf through September 1, 2025

Like many Americans, I woke up the morning after election night and the words on my phone screen felt like a fever dream. The New York Times declared “TRUMP STORMS BACK”. My boyfriend and I clutched onto our dog, staying in bed as long as we could. When we finally ventured out of our apartment and into the streets of New York, disappointment felt thick in the air. How could this happen again, and what would be left of America in four years?
My team and I had already spent weeks ideating on a touring mini golf experience centered around US landmarks and landscapes. We were certain that a positive outcome – the outcome we wanted for the election – was practically guaranteed. As the weeks of processing and acceptance began to roll along, we had to make a decision – do we stay on course or do we put this project’s concept on the shelf, possibly forever?
As a young, gay CEO of an entertainment company on a mission to bring impactful experiences to cities across the US, I made a choice: this country, its spirit, and its vast diversity, both in its people and its places, is not to be taken from us. And even in our greatest moments of despair, what is hiding behind the heartbreak is hope for an America that respects, reflects, and represents us all.
So we decided to lock in and bring Putt Across America to life – in a way that celebrates the places that compose our country and the people that create them. Red, white, and blue belong to all of us, and as the country turns 250, it’s on all of us to set the stage for the next 250 years to come.

The “easy summer nostalgia” aesthetic at Putt Across America is deeply intentional and took serious work to craft. When I think back to summers as a kid, I feel a great sense of ease, calm, and peace- I think of unmitigated joy defined by experiences shared with loved ones. I know this isn’t the case for everyone, but I know it is something everyone deserves. That’s what lies at the heart of this project- a blissful summer experience that will create memories poised to last a lifetime.
Putt Across America, Courtesy of Junto Entertainment
My hope is that people have that same feeling of peace when they join us for a round of mini golf this summer. While looking across the course to see Boston on one end, The Grand Canyon on the other, and over a dozen other states in between, I hope they are reminded that this America is for all of us. While exploring our bonus enrichment for each hole, I hope they realize the act of protest and the want for better for our country started long before there even was a United States.
That no one can take this away. And that the promise of tomorrow is something we create, nurture, and pass along to the next generations.
So let’s keep up the fight and further our love for America. Through our actions, through our votes, or even through something as simple as a game of mini golf.
Chris Goodwin is the CEO Junto Entertainment.
Africa
American Evangelical churches masquerade as connoisseurs of African family values
Anti-LGBTQ Family Watch International, partners held conference in Nairobi last month

On Friday, May 16, 2025, Family Watch International and its partners gathered in Nairobi, Kenya, for a week-long conference themed “the Pan-African Conference on Family Values.” Family Watch International is a U.S. Christian conservative organization led by the infamous Sharon Slater. This anti-choice and anti-LGBTQ+ organization lobbies in the United Nations and countries around the world to push their anti-rights and anti-gender agenda.
This wasn’t the first conference convened on East African soil; one such was held in Uganda, from May 9-11, 2025, where Family Watch International was also a part. East Africa seems to be the hub for conservative U.S. evangelists, and one wonders why. The conference is a series of conferences focusing on what they call traditional African family values. Again, one wonders what gives an American organization the authority to speak to Africans about African Family values. After the May gathering in Nairobi, the delegates released a press statement introducing and claiming to be adopting what they labelled “The Nairobi Declaration on Family Values.”
Funded misinformation
This article was thus born to review and address, particularly, the “African family” ideas purported in the declaration. The first inquiry is, who is funding the conference? This conference is heavily funded and guided by the ultraconservative far-right evangelical movements from America and Europe. The African hosts, the Kenya Christian Professionals Forum and the Kenyan Ministry of Labor and Social Protection and actors are merely tokens in this scheme aimed at taking over Africa by erasing its actual values and redefining them from a Western and Eurocentric religious lens. The colonial missionaries historically employed this very familiar move. Another blatant untruth in their declaration is the claim that they represent governments, civil society, academia, religious bodies, and “allied international partners.” There has been no evidence to prove this claim, except for the participants who are known conservatives, infamous for their hate and anti-rights rhetoric from countries such as Uganda, Kenya, and South Africa. This piece of misinformation and disinformation is one of the strategies they employ to make it seem like most, if not all, African governments and masses approve of their unscientific absurdity.
African Family values owned by foreign entities
According to the declaration, their engagements aim to “Promoting and Protecting Family Values in Challenging Times,” advocate for and protect the “natural family.” It is rather peculiar that American and European organizations would lead a conversation about African family values. These are modern imperialists; they intend to cement their Western-centric idea of a family. Their family structure comprises a mother, a father, and children, while the African family is beyond that. Although nuclear family units do exist within African society, it is the more nuanced family structures consisting of “children, parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, brothers, and sisters who may have their own children and other immediate relatives” that dominate the African family traditions. Often in rural areas, children are communally raised by their grandmothers, aunts, and siblings, as the parents go to the cities for economic opportunities and serve more as financial support for their young. It is therefore naïve for these modern imperialists to falsely claim a singular and rigid definition of family, especially as it concerns African people. Failure to acknowledge the diversities and complexities that exist within African family structures is both delusional and a clear indication of how there is nothing Pan-African about the conference itself.
Nothing Pan-African about it
Furthermore, how does a Pan-African family conference discuss African family values without African traditional leaders, elders, and spiritual leaders? Their exclusion of these figures demonstrates that they uphold the colonial and missionary legacy. It remains the view of the majority of Africans that those in traditional roles are the true custodians of the African culture, language, traditions, customs, and values, and these individuals clearly misalign with these modern imperialists’ agenda and mandate, thus illegitimizing claims of Pan-Africanism and protecting African family and values. The cognitive dissonance is evident in African actors who adopt those imported religious beliefs and regard them as superior to true African spirituality and culture, making these individuals modern imperialists.
Misleading the people
The intentional misuse of the term “Pan-African” not only misleads but can also entice those who believe what the term has historically meant, while in actual fact, the ideals they are spreading are far from Pan-Africanism. Meanwhile, African human rights organizations and those who can legitimately claim Pan-Africanism are concerned about colonial laws and the reform and eradication of colonial legacies. The modern imperialists, on the other hand, are reinforcing the colonial legacy by using confusing and dividing language aimed at causing moral panic among African communities.
Erasure
Activists in Kenya who have been following and monitoring the work of Family Watch International in Africa have argued that their agenda poses a grave threat to erasing Africa’s rich diversity of families. What the conference deems un-African are the same characteristics that the colonial missionaries historically labelled undesirable when they indoctrinated African societies in Christianity and its values, when Africans were made to believe that their own spiritualities are demonic.
The term “values” becomes redundant when it is solely tied to Christianity and disregards true African realities. They are causing confusion among African societies through the use of desirable and triggering language such as “Pan-Africa” and “African values.” When people are divided and busy fighting each other, important issues will fall through the cracks, go unnoticed, and there will be a lack of accountability. These modern imperialists use tactics to distract the African nation with these ideas that historically have never been a problem within African societies; meanwhile, the looting of the African land continues, and so does the exploitation of its minerals and resources. This article is part of the Southern Africa Litigation Center’s campaign around addressing hate speech, misinformation and disinformation. #StopTheHate #TruthMatters
Daniel Digashu is a consultant at the Southern Africa Litigation Center.
-
U.S. Supreme Court5 days ago
Nine trans activists arrested outside Supreme Court
-
District of Columbia5 days ago
Norton reintroduces bill to ban discrimination against LGBTQ jurors in D.C. Superior Court
-
Photos3 days ago
PHOTOS: Hagerstown Pride
-
Theater3 days ago
‘Hunter S. Thompson’ an unlikely but rewarding choice for musical theater