Baseball, genderqueer dictionaries and the ‘sip-in’

Your Daily Package of newsy and naughty bits from around the world


ESPN analyst Curt Schilling fired for anti-trans tweet

Former pitcher and star baseball analyst Curt Schilling has been fired from ESPN for tweeting an offensive remark about trans people. In response to debates about “bathroom bills” in Mississippi and North Carolina, Schilling wrote “A man is a man no matter what they call themselves. I don’t care what they are, who they sleep with, men’s room was designed for the penis, women’s not so much. Now you need laws telling us differently? Pathetic.”

Read more at the New York Times.

Merriam-Webster adds ‘cisgender’ and ‘genderqueer’

The largest producer of dictionaries in the United States, Merriam-Webster, will include “cisgender” and “genderqueer” in future editions. It follows the lead of the Oxford English Dictionary, which added the words last year.

Read more at the HRC.

Seven arrested at Russian LGBT protest

A flashmob in St Petersburg to protest the silencing of LGBT people in Russia was interrupted by police, who arrested seven and pushed others up against walls. The flash mob was part of the International Day of Silence, an effort to bring attention to the harassment of LGBT people.

Read more at Daily Xtra.

UK Foreign Office warns travellers of US LGBT laws

In response to laws in North Carolina and Mississippi targeting LGBT people, the UK government has issued a warning to travellers going to the US. “The US is an extremely diverse society and attitudes towards LGBT people differ hugely across the country,” the warning notes.

The history of the ‘sip-in’

Before the Stonewall riots changed the face of gay activism in the United States, the New York Mattachine Society led a lesser known form of activism, the “sip-in.” The New York Times looks back on the gay men who challenged bars’ bans on gay patrons, inspired by black civil rights activists.

 

Read more at The New York Times.

Niko Bell

Niko Bell is a writer, editor and translator from Vancouver. He writes about sexual health, science, food and language.

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