by Mia McKenzie
Over the last couple of days, many people around the country have been caught-up in the whole same-sex marriage drama that's currently taking place in the Supreme Court. As someone who doesn't personally or politically feel connected to so-called 'marriage equality' and, frankly, can't fathom so much time and energy and money being poured into getting one more privilege for one group of people-- especially since the people within that group who will benefit the most are mostly very privileged already--at the expense of countless other really important and much more urgent issues facing the queer community and our society as a whole (bullying and suicides of queer and queer-perceived youth, violence against transgender people, invisibilization of disabled queers and queers of color and disabled queers of color, mass incarceration, etc.), I'm just going to save myself a headache and skip the part where I argue for a more inclusive and intersectional movement and instead let y'all know what you may have missed while you were busy being obsessed with single-issue gay politics.
1. President Obama signed the 'Monsanto Protection Act' into law. This bill effectively bars federal courts from halting the sale or planting of genetically modified (aka GMO) or genetically engineered (GE) seeds. No matter what health issues might arise concerning GMOs in the future.
1. President Obama signed the 'Monsanto Protection Act' into law. This bill effectively bars federal courts from halting the sale or planting of genetically modified (aka GMO) or genetically engineered (GE) seeds. No matter what health issues might arise concerning GMOs in the future.
2. A bill that targets transgender people was approved by an Arizona House panel. It shields businesses from civil or criminal liability if they ban people from restrooms that don’t match their birth-assigned sex.
2. A bill that targets transgender people was approved by an Arizona House panel. It shields businesses from civil or criminal liability if they ban people from restrooms that don’t match their birth-assigned sex.​

3. Kansas lawmakers got closer to passing a new law that will discriminate against people living with HIV or AIDS by forcing them to be 'quarantined'.
3. Kansas lawmakers got closer to passing a new law that will discriminate against people living with HIV or AIDS by forcing them to be 'quarantined'.​

4. Rapper Rick Ross came under fire for the following date-rapey rap lyrics: "Put molly all in her champagne, she ain't even know it... I took her home and I enjoyed that, she ain't even know it."​​ Meanwhile, over 1200 women in the U.S. were raped. And approximately 3 were murdered by intimate partners.

5. Approximately 3 5,948 Americans were arrested , taken to jail and booked. That's just in one day. The relative majority of them were arrested for nonviolent drug crimes.They were disproportionately Black and Latino.
5. Approximately 35,948 Americans were arrested, taken to jail and booked. That's just in one day. The relative majority of them were arrested for nonviolent drug crimes. ​They were disproportionately Black and Latino.

6. Around 2,000 queer youth around the country became homeless . That's a conservative estimate.
6. Around 2,000 queer youth around the country became homeless. That's a conservative estimate.

​
Just so you know.
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Mia McKenzie is an award-winning writer and the creator of Black Girl Dangerous . She's a smart, scrappy Philadelphian with a deep love of fake fur collars and people of color. She's a black feminist and a freaking queer. She studied writing at the University of Pittsburgh. She is the winner of the Astraea Foundation's Writers Fund Award ('09) and the Leeway Foundation's Transformation Award ('12). You can find her short stories in The Kenyon Review and make/shift . Her debut novel, The Summer We Got Free , is a finalist for the 2013 Lambda Literary Award and has been described by author and critic Jewelle Gomez as
Mia McKenzie is an award-winning writer and the creator of Black Girl Dangerous. She's a smart, scrappy Philadelphian with a deep love of fake fur collars and people of color. She's a black feminist and a freaking queer. She studied writing at the University of Pittsburgh. She is the winner of the Astraea Foundation's Writers Fund Award ('09) and the Leeway Foundation's Transformation Award ('12). You can find her short stories in The Kenyon Review and make/shift. Her debut novel, The Summer We Got Free, is a finalist for the 2013 Lambda Literary Award and has been described by author and critic Jewelle Gomez as "a brilliant tapestry filled with exuberance and anxiety.” Her recent live performances include Queer Rebels of the Harlem Renaissance, Mangos With Chili Presents: WHIPPED! QTPOC Recipes For Love, Sex & Disaster, and Black Girl Dangerous: Mia McKenzie on Being A Queer Black Femme Nerd In A Ridiculous World, the last of those being a signature reading of her diverse works, performed at universities across the country. Her work has been quoted on The Melissa Harris Perry Show and  recommended by The Root, Colorlines, Feministing, Angry Asian Man, and Crunk Feminist Collective, among others. She lives in Oakland.
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