Closing the Gaps

Tiny homes are a growing solution to homeless veterans and vulnerable youth, especially those who identify as LGBTQ. But the movement faces challenges from regulations and neighbors across the nation.

Children across the U.S. experience gender confusion, causing emotional stress in themselves and their family. Gender identity counselors and gender youth clinics are being created in multiple states to help families find peace in their situation.

Conventional school policies fail to address the needs of transgender students. A school district in Tampa changed its human rights ordinance to include gender identity and expression.

Crimes against LGBT citizens have gone underreported in many U.S. cities. Washington DC’s Gay and Lesbian Liason Unit has employed and trained LGBT officers to represent community members that they protect and serve. After the establishment of the GLLU, the number of reported crimes has increased, demonstrating the comfort and trust that the community has with law enforcement.

Soon, AIDS in Africa will be doing more than killing millions every year. It will destroy what there is of Africa's economy and cause further instability and, perhaps, war. But a nondescript hospital in Brazil could serve as a model for treating AIDS in Africa and worldwide.

The ability of social media and online civic participation to impact law and politics is still developing, but one social media tool - Friendfactor - was used successfully in New York to help bring about the passage of Gay Marriage Equality. It may be an indicator for how powerful platforms like this one will continue to play a role in societal growth and change.

Women's colleges are changing their definition of eligible students to include transgender and non-gender conforming students. Though policies differ from school to school, the impact is a nationwide reevaluation of the gender binary.

Wikipedia's editorial makeup lacks diversity—a phenomenon that could be detected by the majority “straight white male” makeup of the editing team, and inferred by the lack of information on 'feminine' topics. But thanks to the work of ‘Art + Feminism’, a DIY campaign seeking to diversify and correct Wikipedia’s coverage, people of all genders and races congregate at 'edit-a-thons, which aim for a diverse group to come together in all corners of the world to edit entries.

After the 2016 elections, division, issues of bigotry and racism led to prejudice and resentment. Research studies at different universities around the country have shown that by opening dialogue with people across racial, gender, and class lines, tensions defuse. With conversations, people are more likely to have empathy toward people that are different from them.

In Uganda, religious leaders and anti-gay individuals have been very vocal against the LGBTI community and have disowned many LGBTI religious leaders. This has led some of these leaders to publicly come out and advocate for others and speak of their own experiences, showing the possibility of being LGBTI and religious.