Lex McMenamin (they/them)
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leximcmenamin.com
Lex McMenamin (they/them)
@leximcmenamin.com
I have friends everywhere
writer/editor open to work + writing a book
member @transjournalists.org
linktr.ee/leximcmenamin
Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
On Wednesday, Conde Nast management illegally fired four union leaders. While our union fights these illegal dismissals, the “Fired Four” have been left with no severance or COBRA coverage. Please donate to help cover their living expenses at the link below.
Donate to Support the Fired Four: Alma, Ben, Jake, Jasper, organized by Louryn Strampe
On November 5, 2025, Conde Nast management illegally fired four union l… Louryn Strampe needs your support for Support the Fired Four: Alma, Ben, Jake, Jasper
www.gofundme.com
November 10, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
🗓️This Saturday, Nov. 15 at 1:30-4 PM ET in Brooklyn: Our co-founder @prisonculture.bsky.social is facilitating a discussion circle focused on the contributions of radical Black women activists and theorists in the U.S. from 1910-1960. If you're in NYC and interested in joining, register now to join!
Communiversity Catalog: Black Radical Women in the U.S. 1910–1960: A Study and Discussion Circle — Interrupting Criminalization
www.interruptingcriminalization.com
November 10, 2025 at 11:32 PM
Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
Thank you all so much for your support 💛💛💛 our petition demanding the company reinstate us and reverse our illegal terminations is now live! show your support at the link below

actionnetwork.org/petitions/te...
November 9, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
We know about police violence during CRM, but there was also COINTELPRO type surveillance by local dep'ts.

And resistance by CORE & SNCC who confronted police abuses head-on, with sit-ins at precincts, blocking streets to protest officer abuse, & more.

Join us Monday to learn more. Free class ⬇️
Police Against the Movement: The Sabotage of the Civil Rights Struggle and the Activists Who Fought Back
Scholar Joshua Clark Jackson will discuss his new book Police Against the Movement: The Sabotage of the Civil Rights Struggle and the Activists Who Fought Back. This session is part of the Zinn Educat...
www.zinnedproject.org
November 6, 2025 at 4:33 AM
Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
November 10, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
As the Trump admin creates more chaos over funding SNAP benefits, uncertainty is taking a toll. Young people I spoke to while reporting described how profoundly stressful the chaos is: "Uncertainty over SNAP delays “builds this anxiety of, ‘Well, if this is going to be taken away, what else is?’”
More Young People Will Go Hungry Without SNAP
“We’re trying to make it, but it’s been hard.”
www.teenvogue.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
this is excellent three-dimensional chess. every good politician knows that the average person loves it when you openly care more about senate procedure than their lives.
November 10, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
Incredibly bittersweet to be published in Teen Vogue this weekend after devastating layoffs, including my editor for this piece. It’s about how beauty influencers have fallen into and become part of the alt-right pipeline targeting girls and women
www.teenvogue.com/story/womano...
The 'Womanosphere' Is Coming for Teen Girls
How beauty and wellness influencers are part of a misinformation ecosystem pushing traditional values on girls.
www.teenvogue.com
November 9, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
Stand with Condé Nast Union 🚨 We’re calling on you to sign our petition telling management to reinstate the Fired Four, reverse the suspensions, and end the union busting.

Sign here: actionnetwork.org/petitions/te...
November 9, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
For @teenvogue.com I wrote about the death of trans athlete Lia Smith and how trans youth kind themselves with central pillars of their lives being constantly ripped away from them because of politics. www.teenvogue.com/story/politi...
Politicizing Transgender Athletes Is Dangerous. Lia Smith Deserved Better.
"Let her passing be an inflection point for how you think about trans rights and trans people more generally."
www.teenvogue.com
November 9, 2025 at 1:23 AM
Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
We sent a message to management today with a Slack icon change. More than half of our union participated and are demanding management reinstate the four people who were unjustly fired.

Ready to show your own support? Reach out to Condé Nast management telling them to reinstate the fired four.
November 7, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
The trend has translated into an emphasis on family-friendly benefits like parental leave and health care coverage, as well as protections against sexual harassment.
More Black and Latina women are leading unions — and transforming how they work
The trend has translated into an emphasis on family-friendly benefits like parental leave and health care coverage, as well as protections against sexual harassment.
nbcnews.to
November 7, 2025 at 4:00 AM
got to post-Zohran blog @thecut.com — multiple election outcomes on Tuesday showed that refusing to fold on trans people, migrants, Muslims, and marginalized communities while pushing kitchen table issues is a winning strategy. the pundit class’s “Decision to Win”-style arguments can be put to bed
Welcome to Woke 2.0
Democrats won by running on kitchen-table issues and accepting or embracing trans people and immigrants.
www.thecut.com
November 6, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
🚨 New @therealnews.com:

I speak w/ a panel of grad student workers & union members from Columbia University & the University of Michigan about the chilling new reality on their campuses & what it’s like to live, learn, & work there today
@swcolumbia.bsky.social

therealnews.com/campus-life-...
Campus life is unrecognizable in the Trump era: ‘There’s so many cops everywhere’
As the federal government continues its top-down assault on higher education, universities are internally building repression and surveillance machines that mirror the Trump administration.
therealnews.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
Jake Lahut, a Wired reporter who from the Nancy Mace airport story last week, was among those fired.

During the incident, CN's HR chief asked staff not to congregate outside his office. Lahut asked "what's your definition of congregating?" and was let go later on Wednesday.
November 6, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
Four union media workers were fired, in violation of their rights at work—that is a canary for all of us in this business. If we lose power at work, trust me it’s not any easier to hold anyone with political power to account.
Breaking News: Late last night Conde Nast illegally fired 4 union organizers who asked company execs to explain the downsizing of Teen Vogue and continued layoffs. We’ve filed a grievance.
November 6, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
“Jessica Tisch got her start at the NYPD in the Kelly-era Intelligence Bureau building dossiers on Muslim extremism.” @awinston.bsky.social

www.wired.com/story/welcom...
Zohran Mamdani Just Inherited the NYPD Surveillance State
In addition to affordability, New York City’s mayor-elect will be forced to reckon with the NYPD’s sweeping mass surveillance operations.
www.wired.com
November 6, 2025 at 4:49 AM
Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
More important to me than my identity, I am also the Vice President of the NewsGuild of New York, and targeting me with a blatantly retaliatory termination like this feels like an egregious shot against our union and against media workers as a whole.
November 6, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
I was acting as a union member and concerned employee when I questioned Stan Duncan, well within my legal rights.

I don't love pointing to my identity, but the company saying that I was behaving "aggressively" when I was calmly asking questions feels like a clear transphobic dog whistle.
November 6, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
I'm one of the four fired employees. I was a writer & producer at Bon Appétit for nearly five years, during which I helped organize our union and sat on our bargaining committee.

I am, to my knowledge, the only trans woman in our union and the only trans woman on editorial who doesn't work at Them
New: Conde Nast fired four employees who were among a group that confronted the company's head of human resources on Wednesday over the decision to fold Teen Vogue into Vogue/recent cuts. Employees who were fired included journalists from the New Yorker, Wired, and Bon Appétit.
November 6, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
Breaking News: Late last night Conde Nast illegally fired 4 union organizers who asked company execs to explain the downsizing of Teen Vogue and continued layoffs. We’ve filed a grievance.
November 6, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
It’s been a pleasure working with Lex and everyone in the politics vertical at Teen Vogue. I’m heartbroken that my column, Disability Visibility, is gone. Teen Vogue was one of the few places that published disabled journalists regularly. I just spent the last 2 months working on my next column
I was laid off from Teen Vogue today along with multiple other staffers, and today is my last day.

certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
November 6, 2025 at 5:28 AM
actually just talked about this on NPR's It's Been A Minute on Monday, worth a listen
November 5, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Reposted by Lex McMenamin (they/them)
It feels a bit weird to post right now in light of what has happened to @teenvogue.com and so much of the incredible team there. What sources shared here is important, & I’m grateful I got to work on this. I reported on how young people are being impacted by delays to SNAP: “It’s about survival.”
More Young People Will Go Hungry Without SNAP
“We’re trying to make it, but it’s been hard.”
www.teenvogue.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:12 PM
the Teen Vogue politics section's last newsy story 🥲 Rainesford knocked it out of the park
It feels a bit weird to post right now in light of what has happened to @teenvogue.com and so much of the incredible team there. What sources shared here is important, & I’m grateful I got to work on this. I reported on how young people are being impacted by delays to SNAP: “It’s about survival.”
More Young People Will Go Hungry Without SNAP
“We’re trying to make it, but it’s been hard.”
www.teenvogue.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:24 PM