Michael Cooper

A little over two months ago, newly elected Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi made a promise in her gavel acceptance speech to pass the Equality Act "to end discrimination against LGBTQ Americans." This important legislature would extend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to LGBTQ Americans. Last week, Pelosi made good on her statement when it was officially introduced in the House. Now it's up to Congress....

Last year a wave of young, progressive, equality-minded women was elected to Congress, among them Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota), a refugee from Somalia and the first black female Muslim in Congress. Only a few months after she was sworn into office, she has become polarizing, with the country debating comments she made about Israel, and many people calling them anti-Semitic. The controversy illustrates the internal conflict of being a liberal, open-minded member of the LGBTQ community and being Jewish in today's political climate....

Last week President Trump gave his State of the Union address to Congress. While the news cycle mostly focused on his hypocritical cry for political unity and bipartisanship (and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's brilliant "clap back" that went viral), it's important to discuss the lack of LGBTQ inclusion as well as Trump's questionable promise to end HIV....

It's only been a little over a week since it happened, but with our current news cycle, it's been pushed out of the spotlight. And it shouldn't be. Jussie Smollett's attack may have received more headlines due to his fame, but this kind of racist and homophobic behavior is running rampant in American today, especially living in Trump's America. At the end of last year, the FBI reported that hate crimes had spiked 17 percent across the country. This isn't a coincidence....