Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a legendary transgender activist, was known for many things in her community. As a caretaker, she was known for getting Black trans women off the street and housed when they faced poverty and violence. As a fierce advocate for trans rights, she was known for demanding that LGBTQ+ people focus on protecting […]
LGBTQ rights
Posted inLGBTQ
Black Transgender Youth Weren’t Getting Help So These Parents Stepped In
Editor’s Note: Due to the sensitive nature of this discussion, Capital B has chosen not to use last names to protect the families’ safety. WASHINGTON — Milissa’s parents initially didn’t embrace her identity when she came out as transgender about 10 years ago, when she was still a preteen. Instead, they told her to love […]
Posted inLGBTQ, Voices of Change
WorldPride 2025: Finding Joy During a Season of Political Backlash
On a cloudy June afternoon along 14th Street in Washington, baton-twirling marchers strutted in thigh-high boots and rainbow fans clacked and snapped in revelers’ hands. Hundreds of thousands had flocked to the nation’s capital — or, as D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser recently boasted, the “gayest city in the world.” Welcome to WorldPride, where for several days […]
Posted inFederal Overhaul, Politics & Policy
DEI Didn’t Start With ‘Wokeness’ — What Trump Gets Wrong
Federal Overhaul is a multipart series that explores the impact of the Trump administration’s restructuring of the federal government on Black communities. President Donald Trump and his allies have turned diversity, equity, and inclusion into a catchall slur. The administration claims to be eliminating DEI, but what it’s doing is conflating issues, attacking long-established civil rights […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, LGBTQ
Sam Nordquist’s Death Highlights Violence Against Black Trans Men
Sam Nordquist craved romance. So, last September, he traveled to New York from his home in Oakdale, Minnesota, to meet his online girlfriend. A few months later, he was dead. On Feb. 13, human remains believed to be those of the 24-year-old Black transgender man (some outlets say that Nordquist identified as biracial) were found […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Education, Environmental Justice, LGBTQ, Politics & Policy, Reproductive Health
What Trump’s Second Term Could Look Like for Black Americans
The dread many Black Americans feel about Donald Trump’s triumph in the 2024 presidential election isn’t misplaced: He organized his reelection campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris around revenge — around how he and his allies can inflict the greatest amount of suffering on vulnerable groups and on those he considers enemies. Making things worse, […]
Posted inCulture, Everything's Political, Politics & Policy
Everything’s Political, Including the L.A. Rebellion
Welcome back to Everything’s Political, Capital B’s weekly news, culture, and politics newsletter! In this edition, learn about how a pioneering Black actor lived up to the idea that all art is political, what an Arkansas ruling means for two Black educators in the state, why Louisiana might backtrack on its voting map, what’s next […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Has Biden Kept His Campaign Promises to Black Americans? The Answer Is Complicated.
Black Americans were largely responsible for delivering the presidency to Joe Biden in 2020, and the debate over whether he’s delivered on his campaign promises is endless. Yet, with this year’s November showdown between him and former President Donald Trump steadily approaching, the options for us are limited. Skepticism, confusion, and even pre-election fatigue are […]
Posted inCulture, History
The Man Behind the March on Washington
When Bayard Rustin is remembered at all, he’s remembered as the architect of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. But the gay, pacifist radical — the subject of a new biographical drama that’s out on Netflix this week — was more than “Mr. March on Washington,” as he was affectionately called. His […]