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Hey there,
🕯️ Vigils for nonbinary teen Nex Benedict have been taking place across the country. In Oklahoma City, mourners gathered by the hundreds Saturday night to remember and honor the 16-year-old. The crowd roared as LGBTQ+ activists demanded the removal of State Superintendent of Schools Ryan Walters, who continues to say there are only two genders. On Friday, police released a video of an interview a police officer had with Nex and their grandmother at the hospital after an altercation at school that day. A day later, Nex was dead. 🕯️
We pulled together some resources that people can use to support transgender and nonbinary youth. ❤️
📚 A new children's book looks to help kids understand and embrace gender differences and thrive in their own skin. Hooray for She, He, Ze, and They! by Lindz Amer comes out Tuesday. “It’s about making [conversations about gender] fun and making it affirming and making it something that’s like celebrating the joy of our shared humanity,” they told The Advocate. 📚
🎭 In August of 1862, Lyons Wakeman, a 19-year-old from upstate New York, enlisted in the Union Army. Wakeman went on to fight gallantly in action against the Confederates in Louisiana before, like so many Civil War soldiers, dying from disease rather than a bullet. But Wakeman differed from the other soldiers in one key respect: Wakeman was assigned female at birth and lived most of her life under the name Sarah Rosetta Wakeman. Now Wakeman’s story is coming to the stage, as she’s the focus of a musical play, with the working title of The Rosetta Project, that creator Jenn Grinels hopes to take to Broadway. Read our interview with Grinels here. 🎭
Onward and upward,
Alex Cooper
More than 60 religious institutions have been targeted for supporting LGBTQ+ rights: report
Shutterstock
How you can support queer and trans kids in Oklahoma after Nex Benedict’s death
tribute art via freedom oklahoma; Courtesy Benedict family via The Independent; Shutterstock
Watch alarming video of Nex Benedict explaining to police that they were bullied
Owasso Police Department
Allison Russell speaks out after Tennessee Republicans' snub: 'Pretty blatant'
Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Americana Music Association
Nex Benedict's family questions police statement that trauma didn't cause teen's death
Kasandra Phelps via GoFundMeAfter years of exclusion, Staten Island will host LGBTQ-friendly St. Patrick's Day parade
Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images
Mississippi bill would let those incarcerated sue state over trans inmates
Mississippi House of Representatives; Shutterstock
Karine Jean-Pierre ‘absolutely heartbroken’ over Oklahoma teen Nex Benedict’s death
Courtesy Sue Benedict via KJHR News; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
New kids’ book ‘Hooray for She, He, Ze, and They!’ explores gender euphoria amid LGBTQ+ book bans
Simon & Schuster; Ella Pennington for Lindz Amer
After Nex Benedict's death, Oklahoma's Ryan Walters: Just two genders, as God intended
WALTERS FOR STATE SUPERINTENDENT; footage still via kjrh news 2 oklahoma
Look, the answer!
Each week, The Advocate newsletter has a little bit of LGBTQ+ trivia. Tuesday, you'll get the question. Thursday, you'll get a hint. And today, you'll get the answer.
This week's question was: What acclaimed book by George M. Johnson has been banned across the U.S. for its overtly queer themes?
This week's answer is: All Boys Aren't Blue. The young adult book, which Johnson describes as a memoir-manifesto, details their experience as a young Black queer person navigating the world as they grew up. Johnson recently announced their next book, Flamboyants: The Queer Harlem Renaissance I Wish I’d Known, will be out in September.
🎉 Congrats to Jack and Kerry for getting it right!
Reply to this email with some trivia we should know, and you may get a shout-out in a future newsletter!
What you should also be reading:
- Could Jeremiah Brent be replacing Bobby Berk on Queer Eye? (Pride)
- Marjorie Taylor Greene ROASTED after dumb insult against Trump judge fails (Pride)
- Meet Chantis Parks, the NYC-based gay photographer whose work celebrates queer joy & pleasure (Out)
- The Drive-Away Dolls cast was shook when they learned about the film's epic Miley Cyrus cameo (Out)
@wgacooper
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