Adam Rhodes
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byadamrhodes.bsky.social
Adam Rhodes
@byadamrhodes.bsky.social
Deeply unserious person writing about serious things | award-winning investigative journalist writing about queer people & the legal system | nonbinary menace & belligerently queer | dog dad | Chicago is home | DMs are off the record
Pinned
Even before Monday, LGBTQ+ advocates and prison watchdogs were keeping a close eye on how Trump could target trans prisoners. Then the executive orders came. My latest for @theappeal.org theappeal.org/trump-execut...
‘People Will Die’ from Trump’s Trans Prisoner Crackdown, Experts Warn
Trump's executive order eliminating transgender rights in prison will hurt or kill trans prisoners, experts warn.
theappeal.org
Reposted by Adam Rhodes
“The Trump administration’s cuts are happening alongside breakthroughs in HIV prevention science, including an injectable medication that could completely transform HIV prevention efforts around the globe."

@byadamrhodes.bsky.social for @prismreports.org

prismreports.org/2025/11/13/h...
Trump has threatened decades of progress in global fight against HIV/AIDS
From defunding federal programs to slashing global aid, few have done as much damage to public health as Trump has
prismreports.org
November 13, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Very grateful for my sources at @avac.org, @prep4allnow.bsky.social, and Physicians for Human Rights for helping me understand just how far reaching this crisis goes. And all while a game-changing drug comes to market.
In under a year, the Trump administration has threatened decades of progress in global fight against HIV/AIDS, @byadamrhodes.bsky.social reports. From defunding federal programs to slashing global aid, few have done as much damage to public health as Trump has.
Trump has threatened decades of progress in global fight against HIV/AIDS
From defunding federal programs to slashing global aid, few have done as much damage to public health as Trump has
prismreports.org
November 13, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Roughly a year ago, Rainbow Youth Project received 3,000 calls a month from across the country to its crisis hotline. Under the Trump administration, that number has tripled to 10,000. And they're sadly not alone. My latest for @prismreports.org prismreports.org/2025/11/04/l...
Queer-serving organizations are pushed to the brink under Trump
The Rainbow Youth Project, the Trevor Project, and other groups providing mental health services to LGBTQIA+ youth report a massive rise in need
prismreports.org
November 4, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Love to see this article in @thebuckeyeflame.com about the ways growing anti-LGBTQ+ hostility is impacting longstanding events in our community — and reporting that doesn't shy away from the important role kink, leather and fetish organizations play. (this doesn't just impact queer people!)
Columbus or Bust: Amidst feelings of betrayal and hope, Cleveland’s Leather Annual Weekend (CLAW) leaves its namesake city
CLAW announced that the 2026 event was moving after they were unable to book a contract with any Cleveland-area hotels or venues.
thebuckeyeflame.com
November 3, 2025 at 6:34 PM
NBC was one of the best legacy outlets covering LGBTQ+ issues. Their coverage for YEARS has been award-winning, landmark work. Shame, shame, shame. It's just disgusting.
Shame on NBC for this indefensible decision. When these communities need rigorous journalism now more than ever, NBC is abandoning them. Horrific to do this at the same time ICE continues to escalate its racist attacks and after months/years of historic rollbacks in civil rights for queer people.
NBC News has reportedly eliminated its NBC BLK, NBC Asian America, NBC Latino and NBC OUT teams
October 17, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Shame on NBC for this indefensible decision. When these communities need rigorous journalism now more than ever, NBC is abandoning them. Horrific to do this at the same time ICE continues to escalate its racist attacks and after months/years of historic rollbacks in civil rights for queer people.
October 17, 2025 at 5:28 PM
i am her she is me
I don't get how people can dislike opossums. They're afraid of everybody, they look like a stuffed animal version of themselves, and they have zero grace. Perfect creatures.
October 17, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Reposted by Adam Rhodes
The Trump administration says it wants to protect children from chemical and surgical mutilation.

Well, they're not doing that, experts and advocates say. They're actually making it harder to protect kids from mutilation.

New reporting from @jazzmyth.bsky.social and myself
Anti-trans policies aren't preventing genital mutilation — they're disrupting efforts to stop it
The bipartisan movement against female genital mutilation and cutting is being co-opted by anti-trans activists, hindering urgent laws from being passed.
19thnews.org
October 17, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Reposted by Adam Rhodes
Bravo, @byadamrhodes.bsky.social, for this excellent piece in @xtramagazine.com about why queer community still needs places for public sex. (Because, well, it’s not just about sex. It’s about so much more).
The queer community still needs places for public sex | Xtra Magazine
Sex party promoters, kink community leaders and educators refuse to shy away from the more explicit aspects of the queer experience
xtramagazine.com
October 17, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Reposted by Adam Rhodes
It’s not even 10 a.m., and so much has unfolded in Chicago:

– Illinois sues Trump over the National Guard deployment

– Mayor Brandon Johnson bans city property use for immigration enforcement

– Journalists and protesters sue the feds over Broadview violence
October 6, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Reposted by Adam Rhodes
JUST IN: Chicago journalistsa re suing DHS and ICE over force used against reporters:

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
October 6, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Reposted by Adam Rhodes
Not to be a pedant but Bari Weiss was a junior editor who occasionally wrote opinion pieces in the opinion section, not a columnist.
October 6, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Reposted by Adam Rhodes
BREAKING: Illinois has filed suit to block Trump's deployment of the military to Chicago.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
October 6, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Reposted by Adam Rhodes
Our 11-part Taking Space series spotlighting LGBTQ2S+ gathering spaces is live! Read about the activist history of queer bookstores, the new wave of women's sports bars and the power of queer archives from writers @byadamrhodes.bsky.social, @evecable.bsky.social, @ainopihlak.bsky.social and more.
Taking Space | Xtra Magazine
Taking Space explores how LGBTQ2S+ gathering spaces shape queer and trans lives, how we use them and why they matter.
xtramagazine.com
October 1, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Reposted by Adam Rhodes
It feels both that nothing is shocking, but it’s still important to go through the motions of acting like it is because otherwise where are we left.
September 30, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Reposted by Adam Rhodes
For @truthout.org yesterday I wrote about how the government's lies about tylenol and autism reminds me a lot of the government's lies about trans people.

truthout.org/articles/ant...
Anti-Trans Policy Deserves Same Scrutiny as Trump’s Tylenol Disinformation
As a trans journalist, I see corporate media outlets as inconsistent in their treatment of right-wing disinformation.
truthout.org
September 28, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Reposted by Adam Rhodes
new @byadamrhodes.bsky.social just dropped ..... leather daddy slap fight, anyone?
Chicagoans mull possibility of two ‘Eagle’ bars - Windy City Times
Chicago may soon have not one but two Eagle leather bars, reigniting legacy, debate and excitement in the city’s LGBTQ+ community.
windycitytimes.com
September 29, 2025 at 2:59 PM
I love that my beat is LGBTQ+ rights and also leather daddy drama?
Chicagoans mull possibility of two ‘Eagle’ bars - Windy City Times
Chicago may soon have not one but two Eagle leather bars, reigniting legacy, debate and excitement in the city’s LGBTQ+ community.
windycitytimes.com
September 29, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Reposted by Adam Rhodes
Less than a week after it was taken off the air under pressure from the Trump administration, "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" will return to late night on Tuesday, ABC parent company Disney confirmed.
Jimmy Kimmel will be back on air on Tuesday, Disney says
The late night comic was suspended last week under pressure from the Trump administration after comments about Charlie Kirk's killing.
n.pr
September 22, 2025 at 9:13 PM
It was a nice break from *gestures everywhere* to report on some really successful and groundbreaking activism around HIV criminal laws around the country. It's not every day I get to report good news about bipartisan compromise on public health issues. prismreports.org/2025/09/17/h...
As some states repeal HIV criminalization, activists keep momentum
North Dakota and Maryland are the latest states to repeal laws that make it a crime to expose someone to HIV without their knowledge
prismreports.org
September 18, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Reposted by Adam Rhodes
After some states repeal HIV criminalization, activists hope to continue momentum, @byadamrhodes.bsky.social reports. North Dakota & Maryland became the fourth & fifth states to completely repeal laws that make it a crime to expose someone to HIV without their knowledge.
As some states repeal HIV criminalization, activists keep momentum
North Dakota and Maryland are the latest states to repeal laws that make it a crime to expose someone to HIV without their knowledge
prismreports.org
September 17, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Reposted by Adam Rhodes
Ta-Nehasi Coates is doing a lot of things with this essay, but one of the most important is fearlessly using examples of anti-trans hate to describe Charlie Kirk's politics.

The contrast between his choices and those of other writers for major legacy outlets is revealing.
Charlie Kirk, Redeemed: A Political Class Finds Its Lost Cause
By ignoring the rhetoric and actions of the Turning Point USA founder, pundits and politicians are sanitizing his legacy.
www.vanityfair.com
September 16, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Reposted by Adam Rhodes
customs and border patrol looks to be gearing up for an active day in elgin—with armored trucks, pickups, suvs, and a helicopter flying overhead.

before dawn, agents reportedly raided a house on a residential street near elgin fresh market.
September 16, 2025 at 12:21 PM