Lex McMenamin (they/them)
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lexmcmenamin.com
Lex McMenamin (they/them)
@lexmcmenamin.com
44K followers 2.6K following 1.7K posts
I have friends everywhere
writer/editor open to work + writing a book
member @transjournalists.org
linktr.ee/leximcmenamin
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lexmcmenamin.com
bringing this statement over from Alice’s Twitter. it appears the below was Alice’s last post before passing. I am heartbroken
This is Alice's friend Sandy Ho, posting. Per Alice's wishes, this message is being shared at the time of her passing. Hi everyone, it looks like I ran out of time. I have so many dreams that I wanted to fulfill and plans to create new stories for you. There are a few in progress that might come to fruition in a few years if things work out. I did not ever imagine I would live to this age and end up a writer, editor, activist, and more. As a kid riddled with insecurity and internalized ableism, I could not see a path forward. It was thanks to friendships and some great teachers who believed in me that I was able to fight my way out of miserable situations into a place where I finally felt comfortable in my skin. We need more stories about us and our culture. You all, we all, deserve the everything and more in such a hostile, ableist environment. Our wisdom is incisive and unflinching. I'm honored to be your ancestor and believe disabled oracles like us will light the way to the future. Don't let the bastards grind you down. I love you all.
November 15, 2025 at 2:37 PM
lexmcmenamin.com
hello 29k followers, time for my periodic reintro to find lefty friends etc!

i'm the 1-person politics section at @teenvogue.com (feat. TV pics 😎) where I cover and edit coverage of youth organizing, abolition, LGBTQ rights + healthcare, student debt, climate, education, electoral politics + more 🫡
Lex McMenamin smiles at someone off camera in front of blue backdrop Lex McMenamin smiles at camera seated in front of blue backdrop
October 28, 2025 at 3:56 PM
lexmcmenamin.com
🥁 new @teenvogue.com

as politics editor, I'm now writing our newsletter The Take (with a refresh from our art team 😍)

first one focuses on plugging into organizing post-No Kings, from ICE watch to salting a workplace.

it is 100% free and sends Wed + Sat! sign up! www.teenvogue.com/newsletter/t...
Welcome to the Take, Teen Vogue’s politics newsletter, where we’ll keep you up-to-date on the organizers, politicians, and agents of change trying to save our world — or at least shift things for the better. I’m politics editor Lex McMenamin, and starting today, I’ll be explaining how we’re seeing current events, and sharing our coverage. On Saturday, an estimated 5 to 6 million people joined a No Kings rally in their area, likely becoming the largest recorded single-day action in the United States. But what does one day have to do with all the rest, if you're not sure how to sustain your resistance beyond an event? "Protest is a tactic; it is not a strategy on its own, and it should never be intended to stand on its own outside of a broader strategy," Indivisible’s Leah Greenberg, co-organizer of No Kings, told me the day before the rallies. So we’re sharing some key ways you can get involved in your community today, if you’re not sure where to start. Til the weekend! Lex
October 23, 2025 at 2:36 PM
lexmcmenamin.com
i have brought it up yearly since it happened and i literally feel like i turned into this so long ago i am just the ashes of this image
Charlie Day in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia in front of a conspiratorial looking board
October 14, 2025 at 9:22 PM
lexmcmenamin.com
"where's the left media?" "where's fact-checked reporting?"

lately @teenvogue.com has run profiles: of Assata Shakur's revolutionary history; a 23-year-old Palestinian journalist; what's happening in Chicago's ICE protests; and organizing supporting LGBTQ+ youth

📍 www.teenvogue.com/news-politics
Journalist Plestia Alaqad Is Publishing Her Diaries From Gaza: "A Dystopian World" "Every time I read it, I just feel disbelief — is this real? Did I really live that? Are there still thousands of people in Gaza living that?” By Lex McMenamin Politics Assata Shakur Was a Black Revolutionary Who Fought for Freedom Even in Exile “Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them.” By Marian Jones Politics Inside Gen Z Candidate Kat Abughazaleh's Viral ICE Rally Tear-Gassing: "Fascism 101" “If they are willing to do this to a congressional candidate in front of a bunch of press, imagine what they're doing behind boarded-up windows.” By Maia McDonald Politics Hurricane Helene Devastated Asheville. A Local LGBTQ+ Organization Is Supporting Youth — With Cash “We know that [direct cash transfers] are the number one support for preventing youth homelessness.” By Colleen Hamilton
October 8, 2025 at 7:18 PM
lexmcmenamin.com
23-year-old journalist Plestia Alaqad, like many Gazans, lost her home in the first days after October 7. unable to reenter her homeland, stuck watching the horror continue, she’s publishing her diaries from reporting on the ground.

full interview @teenvogue.com www.teenvogue.com/story/plesti...
Pic of Plestia Alaqad overlaid with text from interview: Plestia Alaqad: I can't believe that it's almost — [she pauses] no, it's not almost, it's actually two years. Okay, I can't believe that it's been two years of this ongoing genocide. When I was reporting in Gaza for 45 days, these 45 days felt like 45 years. And now it's 200 days feeling like 200 years for the people who are actually still on the ground facing bombing, displacement and starvation, which is being used as a method by Israel. Israel is literally ethnically cleansing people in Gaza, and we're watching a genocide unfold live on TV.
October 7, 2025 at 1:24 PM
lexmcmenamin.com
we are here again, folks
meme format person 1: u good? person 2: no I live in America
September 26, 2025 at 3:15 AM
lexmcmenamin.com
not that it matters, but this — from the resolution to create a day of remembrance for Kirk — is just demonstrably false based purely on his own words
Whereas Charlie Kirk became one of the most prominent voices in America, engaging in respectful, civil discourse across college campuses, media platforms, and national forums, always seeking to elevate truth, foster understanding, and strengthen the Republic;
September 19, 2025 at 9:58 PM
lexmcmenamin.com
I actually have an answer to this one via @transjournalists.org
The next day, September 11, with Kash Patel's FBI and Utah authorities in a scramble to locate the shooter, The Wall Street Journal reported that "an early bulletin circulated widely among law-enforcement officials" said there was "transgender ideology" on the bullet casings. There was no backup for this, but amid the government's bumbling to solidify details in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, the suggestion that there might be some association with "transgender ideology" from a mainstream outlet predictably blew up right away. Other outlets immediately cast doubt on it, including the New York Times, hardly known for its sympathy to trans people. The same day, the Trans Journalists Association, of which I am a member, urged caution, noting that "transgender ideology" is "a term coined for and used in anti-trans political messaging to falsely equate identity with politics, which is a way to frame transgender identity as a political choice rather than an innate identity."
September 16, 2025 at 12:22 PM
lexmcmenamin.com
from my latest: "The trans-shooter myth largely began circulating in 2023 around the Nashville shooting, 'as the right began rolling back LGBTQ rights in earnest'... Two years later, and just a decade after the so-called trans tipping point, anti-trans harassment and violence is all the rage."
The trans-shooter myth, reports the Trace, a newsroom focused on gun violence, largely began circulating in 2023 around the aforementioned Nashville shooting, “as the right began rolling back LGBTQ rights in earnest.” As I’ve explained previously, trans people are over four times more likely than cis people to be victims of violent assault. Conversely, over the past decade, according to the Gun Violence Project, less than a tenth of one percent of shootings were committed by someone who identified as trans or nonbinary. Nonetheless, last week the Justice Department was reportedly considering how to ban trans people from buying guns. Two years later, and just a decade after the so-called trans tipping point, anti-trans harassment and violence is all the rage. Trans people are afraid to leave the country, let alone leave their houses. The right-wing ecosystem has gladly spent years creating these conditions, while Democrats have by turns avoided saying anything about them at all or, like in the past week, spending more time mourning the death of a guy who gleefully mocked Nancy Pelosi’s husband being attacked with a hammer than urging caution to protect a population that voted for Kamala Harris second only to Black women. It would almost be surprising, considering those numbers, how quickly 2028 hopeful Gavin Newsom praised Kirk, if Kirk hadn’t been Newsom’s first podcast guest.
September 15, 2025 at 6:30 PM
lexmcmenamin.com
seems like this is going well so far
two successive posts from journliast Phil Lewis, 8 min apart: 1. person suspected in fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk now in custody, FBI director says. 2. Utah's Commissioner of Public Safety, in a press conference, just said they do not have a suspect in custody
September 10, 2025 at 10:35 PM
lexmcmenamin.com
some of our favorite photos from this weekend's protests in Washington DC against the Trump admin's federal takeover of the city organized by @freedcproject.bsky.social @aclu.org and others @teenvogue.com

click through for more + photos from Chicago's protests www.teenvogue.com/story/trump-...
two protesters in front of the White House. one has a DC flag on thier back, the other holds a spray painted sign reading "What Trump order won't you obey?" the back of their shirt reads "believe Epstein survivors free DC" protesters approach the Capitol building carrying a sign reading END THE OCCUPATION as well as a large Palestinian flag FREE DC protest signs lay on the grass a protester from behind, holding a sign reading DC TODAY, CHICAGO TOMORROW
September 8, 2025 at 4:27 PM
lexmcmenamin.com
over the last few years, University of Arkansas's Zero Hour chapter hosted "climate anxiety" processing sessions — then converted that anxiety to sustainable efforts on their own campus, distributing free menstrual cups, working with Students for Justice in Palestine and a migrant rights group.
college student smiling in sunglasses holding a trans flag and sign reading "CAMPUS CUP — want a free menstrual cup?" two students with Zero Hour Arkansas next to a tree wrapped in crocheted squares students chat at a Zero Hour Arkansas table giving away free plants table with sign reading "ZERO HOUR" with an illustration of a clock
September 2, 2025 at 5:03 PM
lexmcmenamin.com
I am losing it lmaooooooo
Screenshot of a Bluesky post: Newsom led on gay marriage, and has done more for gay rights than practically any political figure in America today because of it.
August 31, 2025 at 5:33 PM
lexmcmenamin.com
thought about this when Jordan Neely was killed by Daniel Penny in 2023 and Eric Adams claimed Penny "what we should have done as a city," still thinking about it as JD Vance fearmongers about "crazy people" www.teenvogue.com/story/jordan...
In the late Lauren Berlant’s On the Inconvenience of Other People, they define “inconvenience” as “disturb[ing] the vision of yourself you carry around that supports… your fantasy of being in control,” arguing this is our primary way of coming to know one another. Disrupting this lie – that any of us are truly safe in a world with material conditions such as these – even just by existing or reacting to it, can result in your death.
August 21, 2025 at 8:57 PM
lexmcmenamin.com
in the prior paragraph Sam Altman is quoted saying “in some big sense, ChatGPT is already more powerful than any human who has ever lived” and that it'll destroy countless jobs AND create untold riches!

meanwhile it can't tell truth from fiction, is triggering mental health crises and causing death
But a different way to read the post is to see Altman hedging slightly in the face of potential progress limitations on the technology. Earlier this month, OpenAI released GPT-5, to mixed reviews. Altman had promised “a Ph.D.-level” intelligence on any topic. But early tests of GPT-5 revealed all kinds of anecdotal examples of sloppy answers to queries, including hallucinations, simple-arithmetic errors, and failures in basic reasoning. Some power users who’d become infatuated with previous versions of the software were angry and even bereft by the update. Altman placed particular emphasis on the product’s usability and design: Paired with the “Gentle Singularity,” GPT-5 seems like an admission that superintelligence is still just a concept.
August 19, 2025 at 1:36 AM
lexmcmenamin.com
I asked Lauren Ashley Simmons about Zohran Mamdani's win, and about the role of a progressive challenger against a Democratic incumbent — particularly regarding trans rights:

"I'm always going to be one of those people that says we can't win races trying to be Republican lite." @teenvogue.com
Across the past couple of years — especially as younger people get more politically involved, or they face issues that they can tie back to the failure of politics — [we] see an awakening where people are saying, okay, you know what, I get it now. Texas is very different from New York... But I think our messaging was very clear: We can talk about social issues, we can make sure that we're not getting pulled into the culture wars, where Republicans are going after the LGBT community, trying to silence the voices of Black and brown people. But also have those conversations, those kitchen table issues that matter to people. People want to be able to afford a home. They want to be able to send their kids to well funded schools, and you can do both of those at the same time.
August 8, 2025 at 3:29 PM
lexmcmenamin.com
these ads for Facetune always make me feel nuts… if you’re too broke to afford an apartment with windows or too busy working to sleep 8 hours, download this app so you can fake the appearance of leisure and a decent quality of life for your instagram followers!
Two adds on the NYC subway for the app Facetune. One reads “look like you had 8 hours of sleep”; the other reads “look like your apartment has windows.”
August 4, 2025 at 2:05 PM
lexmcmenamin.com
been a while since I re-intro’d to new followers and there’s nearly 27k of yall, so: hi!

I’m the politics editor @teenvogue.com where I cover—and now mostly edit coverage of—movements, abolition, trans politics and LGBTQ rights, higher ed, climate, and more (also I post about Philly and Twin Peaks)
Lex taking a mirror selfie in a t shirt that says “don’t mess with trans kids” and shorts
July 14, 2025 at 6:52 PM
lexmcmenamin.com
via @knightcolumbia.org
BOSTON—Below are highlights from today’s proceedings in the trial before Judge William G. Young in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts in a case challenging the Trump administration’s policy of ideological deportation. A senior Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official testified that the agency assembled a team in early 2025 to investigate student protestors. The team—referred to internally as the “Tiger Team”— rapidly compiled over 100 reports based on a list of 5,000 people identified on the Canary Mission website. The official, Peter Hatch, helps lead an office within ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations division that compiles background reports on targets of the agency’s investigations. He was questioned by Alexandra Conlon of Sher Tremonte LLP.
July 9, 2025 at 7:26 PM
lexmcmenamin.com
worth the click-through to see the photos from the protests in Venice’s streets and over the canals, imo!

www.teenvogue.com/story/venice...
Protesters with Extinction Rebellion protest Jeff Bezos’s wedding in Venice, Italy, June 28, 2025 Protesters hold a banner reading “No Space for Bezos” while releasing colored smoke on a bridge in Venice, June 28, 2025
July 3, 2025 at 7:14 PM
lexmcmenamin.com
while Dems like Gavin Newsom and Sarah McBride have caved on, for example, anti-trans pushes from Republicans, going so far as to suggest Dems cater to them. Zohran's campaign, despite attacks and pushback, did the opposite and was rewarded. @teenvogue.com
www.teenvogue.com/story/zohran...
Rather than going conciliatory on trans rights, Mamdani actively campaigned to trans New Yorkers, a number of whom are refugees from more conservative states’ discriminatory laws. He unabashedly embraced New York’s immigrant-heavy population, continuously recording social media content in different languages. Instead of trying to get on Joe Rogan’s podcast, as the Harris campaign reportedly attempted to do (or trying to become him — looking at you, Newsom), Mamdani went on Hasan Piker’s stream. In so doing, he was able to speak to those same constituencies who either felt burned or simply ignored by Democratic centrist campaign strategies.
June 25, 2025 at 5:23 PM
lexmcmenamin.com
creative Zohran tactics in apartment windows
Apartment windows with signs reading “ZOHRAN IS SEXY” Apartment windows with signs reading FREEZE RENT ZOHRAN FOR MAYOR NO CUOMO VOTE TODAY
June 24, 2025 at 10:45 PM
lexmcmenamin.com
Rusty Mae Moore and Chelsea Goodwin's Transy House was also "a center for trans political activism from 1995 to 2008, sometimes housing up to 13 people," including Sylvia Rivera until her death.

below R-L: Goodwin, Rivera, and her partner Julia Murray in 2002.
teenvogue.com/story/transy...
L-R: Julia Murray (Rivera's partner), Sylvia Rivera, and Chelsea Goodwin demonstrating during a rally in NYC's City Hall Park, on May 4, 2001. Murray holds a sign that reads "Trans Jobs Not Death." Mariette Pathy Allen/Getty Images
June 19, 2025 at 4:34 PM
lexmcmenamin.com
the crowd calling for Brad Lander’s release from ICE at 26 Federal Plaza has moved to Foley Square
Crowd protesting at foley square for Brad lander Person in “hot girls for Zohran” shirt holds sign reading “I’m ranking Lander 2nd, release him this second!”
June 17, 2025 at 6:44 PM