The Conversation

At least 15 states and cities have dubbed themselves LGBTQIA+ sanctuaries over the last several years. Sanctuaries are generally considered local refuges, where people who are afraid of persecution or discrimination have legal immunity from particular government policies or laws. Tallahassee, Florida, is among the places that is considering declaring itself a LGBTQIA+ sanctuary.

For the past 20 years, Merriam-Webster, the oldest dictionary publisher in the U.S., has chosen a word of the year – a term that encapsulates, in one form or another, the zeitgeist of that past year. In 2020, the word was “pandemic.” The next year’s winner? “Vaccine.” “Authentic” is, at first glance, a little less obvious. According to the publisher’s editor-at-large, Peter Sokolowski, 2023 represented “a kind of crisis of authenticity,” and that the choice was informed by the number of online users who looked up the word’s meaning.

The First Amendment does not protect messages posted on social media platforms. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear five cases during this current term that collectively give the court the opportunity to reexamine the nature of content moderation – the rules governing discussions on social media platforms such as Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter – and the constitutional limitations on the government to affect speech on the platforms.

What the Nazis did about transgender people was chilling, including imprisonment in concentration camps and execution. It’s a reminder that attacks on trans people are nothing new – and that many of them are straight out of the Nazi playbook.

For the first time in Dutch history, a party of the extreme right is the largest in the national parliament. Wilders is an eccentric politician known for his inflammatory rhetoric. He advocates the Netherlands leaving the European Union and has called Islam a “fascist” religion. In a 2016 trial, he was found guilty of inciting discrimination (but received no penalty for the crime).

Consumers are conflicted: They’re excited for deals and looking forward to treating themselves, but they’re feeling squeezed by high prices. On average, they plan to spend about US$665 on gifts this holiday season — about $35 less than last year, and substantially less than the National Retail Federation’s 10-year average of $826.

The proliferation of armed settlers in the West Bank, the expansion of illegal settler outposts and now the increasing violence and forced displacement all stem from the same underlying policy that led to the 16-year blockade of Gaza: an Israeli policy of ignoring Palestinian national claims altogether.

Some philosophers have argued that while homelessness is clearly a state of deprivation, it is also a condition in which a person’s freedom is profoundly compromised. These theorists insist a society that cherishes freedom – such as the U.S. – must implement anti-homelessness policy as a way of liberating people who lack housing.