In 2008 I returned late from celebrating President Obama's victory to discover that Proposition 8 had passed in California. At the time I was a freshman in college. That such a supposedly liberal state would strip the right to marry from an entire portion of its citizens was appalling to...

By the time I reached my senior year of college, I'd had my life plan for about a decade already: go to college, major in political science, go to law school, get involved with politics. This, I thought, was the best way for me to make the world a better...

I'm sick of being polite to bigots -- but, for some reason, they can't seem to understand why. In an article titled "I Am Not Charles Worley: The Plea of a Christian Who Opposes Gay Marriage," Halee Gray Scott writes:

I'm tired of others, especially fellow Christians, assuming...

In light of Anderson Cooper's long-awaited exit from the closet, The New York Times asks us: "Do gay celebrities have an obligation to come out?"

Three columnists responded. One said yes (to quote the author: "When I was a teenager, there were zero out role models;...

In the premiere of Aaron Sorkin's new show, The Newsroom, -- Will McAvoy, the main character, is asked, "What makes America the greatest country in the world?"

McAvoy fires back with: "It's not." After berating the college student -- calling her part of the "Worst. Generation. Ever." --...

I was talking with a friend, who, in the course of our conversation over lunch, told me, "it does not get you anything to dismiss someone as a bigot; the moment you call them a bigot, you end the discussion, you can't convince them anymore." She's right. No LGBT person...

The 2008 film Milk, about famed gay rights activist Harvey Milk, contains a scene in which he and a number of strategists and activists are contemplating an effort to defeat an anti-gay public school initiative. As Milk looks over the mailings his team has perpared, he reads them aloud: "'Proposition...

It wasn't so long ago that liberals were denouncing President George W. Bush for his administration's violations of civil liberties. It wasn't that long ago that panic gripped civil liberties advocates about the possibility of a "PATRIOT ACT II," which would erode our freedom even more than the...

As support for marriage equality has grown, even surpassing the 50-percent mark this past year, more and more public figures who previously opposed it have decided that it is now safe to "come out" for it. And, perhaps surprisingly (or not), some of those people include those who...

Some weekends ago, a girl named Megan* told me the story of her friend Jacob,* whom she had known in high school. Jacob was a remarkable teenager: as a freshman, he was a varsity athlete, he got good grades, he was outgoing and friendly, and he stood up for the...

In my experience within the Jewish community, I have found that many tend to equate orthodoxy and religiosity. She's religious," a friend might say, "she's shomer shabbat [i.e., she observes shabbat]." The implication of such a statement is, of course, that those who do not observe shabbat in...

During the Proposition 8 campaign, one of the arguments used by proponents of the ban on gay marriage was that, if it was not passed, schoolchildren would be taught about gay marriage when they learned about families. While the opponents of the proposition rightfully pointed out that this...

Over the course of the past year I've often heard murmurings of support for Ron Paul during discussions of the 2012 elections, even among my more liberal friends. Some have said that they want him to win because "at least he's the better than the other candidates," or that "at...

I spent a lot of time on the Internet as a teenager. I also, as I always have, placed myself firmly on the left of the political spectrum. And, of course, I had known that I was gay for years. As I argued with socialists, liberals, conservatives, libertarians...

"You have heard, O Lord, their taunts,
All their designs against me,
The mouthings and pratings of my adversaries
Against me all day long.
See how, at their ease or at work,
I am the butt of their gibes."
(Lamentations 3:61-63)

Stop. Put down...

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" might be over, but the legacy of second-class status for LGBT Americans, including those who serve in the military, is not. Without a doubt, the repeal is a good thing. At long last, the lesbian, gay, and bisexual Americans who risk their lives every day for...

As the families of millions of American high school students have noticed, the cost of a college education is now at the highest that anyone can remember. While loans are within the grasp of many, if not most, to pay for the expense of this education, the cost of paying...

To the Columbia University Community:

As I am sure you are aware, the Columbia University Senate is once again eager to push for inviting the Reserve Officers Training Corps to Columbia (or what has more colloquially been termed the "return of ROTC") in light of the recent vote to repeal...

Before winter break, I was talking with a friend, when the issue of same-sex marriage came up. We talked about the various ballot measures banning it until, at one point, we both sighed. She said, "we should just get government out of marriage entirely -- everyone should just get civil...

Recently I've heard a lot of people talking about how the shooting in Arizona was merely the product of violent rhetoric on the part of America's right-wing. Such claims, I feel, are disingenuous. What information I can find about the situation points to the killer being more mentally