Though intersex people have existed throughout all of human history, the trend of corrective surgeries on infants and children born with intersex traits is only around 60 years old, achieving wide popularity in that time. The surgeries are purely cosmetic and are rarely done out of medical necessity, and can often have extremely harmful effects. … Continue reading The Harmful Myth Of The Sex Binary
Category: Human Rights
By: Ian Schneider Novels have the potential to provide insights on the world, both good and bad, that would normally pass by unnoticed when taking in society as a whole. Throughout everyday life, citizens are forced to engage with all aspects of society at once, often dulling our awareness to the extent or severity of … Continue reading Science-Fiction to Reality: A Novel Approach to the Crisis of Automation
State takeover is the assumption of control of a school district or municipality by the state as the result of fiscal insolvency and/or lack of academic achievement. Takeover eliminates the control and ability of local communities to appoint democratically elected and locally responsible officials in favor of a state-appointed emergency manager. The job of the … Continue reading The Empire Strikes Back: State Takeover and its Effect on Communities
By: Brian Krause On January 6th, 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave his historic eighth State of the Union address and inspired the American people with his famous Four Freedoms. The freedoms of speech and worship, with the right to live without fear and want, were spoken to be as inalienable as the rights laid … Continue reading “Necessitous Men Are Not Free Men”: The Case for FDR’s Second Bill of Rights Today
In the past month, the Trump administration has responded to the arrival of thousands of asylum seekers, with deployed military forces, tear gas, and attempts to block legal entry into the US. President Trump has all but closed the US-Mexico border, and combined his efforts with rhetoric about the danger on the asylum seekers. The … Continue reading Trump’s Failing Asylum Policy
Since the moment that Trump was inaugurated, his administration has made direct attacks on the rights of LGBT citizens and undermined the progress made by generations of activism. As of 2018, twenty-eight states including Michigan, still lack explicit legal prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment and housing. Due to … Continue reading Thinking Local for LGBT Nondiscrimination
By: Katarina Huss and Vishnu Kannan Since the 2016 election, commentators, former officials, and scholars have worried over the state of the “liberal international order.” The order, established in the aftermath of the Second World War, refers to the framework of international institutions, laws, and norms which have reduced war and promoted economic well being … Continue reading Turning Back the Clock on Human Rights
In college, there are experiences that you will want to savor and there are experiences that you want to forget. I was at a party and having a great time. Slowly, my friends began to leave. One by one they slipped out of the room promising that at some point they would return. I thought … Continue reading The Gag Rule: How Present Sexual Assault Policy Silences and Limits Survivors on College Campuses
The ongoing refugee crisis has left more refugees than ever living in host communities and refugee camps for long periods of time. While host communities and refugee camps are supposed to be temporary situations ending in either resettlement or repatriation, nationalistic rhetoric and expanding crises have made refugee camps especially more permanent places. However, for … Continue reading Reconsidering Refugee Camps
The right to a nationality seems trivial as compared to the many rights outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, nationality, belonging to a country, is crucial for an individual’s access to resources and security. For the estimated 12 million stateless persons worldwide, lacking a nationality has left them without a legal home … Continue reading Stateless in the States: Addressing US Statelessness
Roosevelt @ Michigan State University 