Well, maybe that identity is important to them. Maybe THEY care about it. So what if you don't care. It's not your family history.

Dear ethinically insecure,

This. Not everyone is offended everything always. And personally, I love when people ask me about my family history and all that jazz. And the linguist in me loves accents, so I ask. Peoples' personal history can be great conversation and make it easy to find common ground. We are all the other to someone, because…

I think it kind of depends. On my mother's side of the family, people came over to North America a really long time ago, but there are many aspects of British culture that are somehow still carried on. My dad's Ashkenazi (Jewish), which is complicated because some people refuse to acknowledge Jewishness as an…

well... here goes... at the risk of being a clueless white person... I love to ask people about where they're from, their ethnicity, and/or about their accents. I really like finding out about how people grew up, what home is like, etc... basically people who are different than I am - that different-than-me is stuff I…

I think Americans in general (of all races) make a big deal out of ethnicity because varying degrees of ethnic ambiguity is something we have in common. White Americans are mixes of a whole mess of European (and even non-European) ethnicities. African Americans can be mixes of lots of different African and…

If she hypothetically for sure is running, I will hypothetically for sure vote for her :)

I don't think a lot of Jezzies do 'sensible' or 'practical' - most of the arguments seem to be so highly theoretical and divorced from practical considerations, it's almost like nobody actually wants to see any positive change.

Here's the thing: of course people are horrifyingly racist in the Northeast. I grew up in Massachusetts and have lived in NYC for ten years, and I've experienced off-color jokes, comments about how my students must live or act because of their race, and innumerable acts of "benevolent" or institutional racism. But…

Thank you for sharing this story. It reminds me of a time I said something particularly nasty when I was small, maybe 6. I remember I picked it up from some cousins that were around that summer... My dad heard me use a racial slur and I will never forget where I was, the room I was in, the clothes I was wearing, when…

I can't help admire your bravery and honesty. You don't have to be a product of your upbringing. Hopefully, that child you saw will grow up to be like you.

I'm in rural Alabama. I went from a virulent, in-your-face racist as a child. Yes, I was a racist child, who consistently spewed the most vile white supremacist shit at fellow children. Each idea, each word of hate, had been spoon-fed to me from a young age.

The pledge/oath required that NGOs have an express policy against sex trafficking and prostitution before they could receive federal dollars to fight HIV/AIDS. Policies like that make it extremely difficult for NGOs to build trusting relationships with sex workers or victims of sex trafficking who need services,…

I mean, yes. That is how I think politics works. Occasionally the president will think of something and then Congress will propose it and pass it. Like, uh, Obamacare.

If the Secret Service doesn't have to take an anti-prostitution vow I don't see how we could force NGOs to.

I just imagined them on a Lady and the Tramp-style date and my brain exploded.

I have no idea why you would even think that about him.

Are you really trying to insult me by saying that as a gay person I have to be comfortable insulting random straight people? Climb off your mountain top honey, you don't have anywhere useful to lift me.

I am sorry, but I do not want a license to throw around heterophobic statements just because I have some bad experiences with straight people. I'm disappointed but unfortunately not shocked that that kind of sycophancy would be encouraged. Believe it or not, there are some LGBT people I know who hate straight people.…

Sid, people have problems. I say people because anyone of any color can have a problem. I have friends that are POC and they do not act like oh woe is me all the fucking time! They are strong with their heritage, they are intelligent and believe that they can get ahead by using strength and will and brain power. I…