“Framing Britney Spears” puts the microscope on the power of salacious media, showing our culture’s insatiable hunger for drama and destruction. It is a look at the ugliest side of how humans devour the demise of seemingly perfect and powerful celebrities.

While these are dark days for our community, it is important to remain optimistic, and remember that we do not need a festival or a parade to celebrate our identities. Pride is more than just a holiday. It is also a state of mind, a connection to our inner truth, and our deep ties  to others in our community. Pride is holding our partner’s hand in public. Pride is correcting pronouns when someone in our community is mis-gendered. Pride is walking down the street, unafraid and unashamed. Every day we celebrate Pride by being our authentic selves and by feeling connected to members of our community and chosen family

The AIDS crisis took a devastating physical and emotional toll on the queer community, cutting short the lives of many brilliant, talented, and creative individuals who made tremendous contributions to society. Keith Haring, Jean Basquiat, Rock Hudson, Freddie Mercury, and Anthony Perkins all lost in their battle against AIDS, and their legacies have a left a void that no one has ever been able to fill since. One individual in particular should not be forgotten for his contributions to the anti-AIDS movement and his efforts to help advance the rights of the LGBTQ community, and his name is Randy Shilts.

Whether she wanted to or not, she has become an icon for millions of recovering addicts all around the world. To go from life-changing overdose to performing the national anthem at the Super Bowl is beyond inspiration. She is a visceral, shining example that recovery is possible. This comeback is a manifestation of triumph over the depth of despair and isolation that addiction brings. Lovato’s openness about her journey is fundamental to dismantling the stigma that is still surrounding addiction.

As a journalist I initially felt the need to apologize for printing a false story that helped to push a narrative, but as a queer person, I will not. While it’s easy for the President and Ann Coulter to view this story in a one-dimensional way and only focus on the fallacy of Smollett, for the LGBTQ and the POC community, this is an isolated incident that is not representative of reality.

The way the administration approaches this issue will be a major part of Trump’s legacy, and so far, his track record is very poor. The LGBTQ community has a long history with the HIV/AIDS crisis, and governments and health agencies who failed to properly handle the epidemic. Because of this history, the community are uncomfortable with putting their trust in the hands of Trump, a President who has been no ally to the community, despite campaign promises to do so. 

For those that cannot pass through heteronormative society undetected as queer or trans, their very existence makes them more likely to be the victim of hate related violence, with POC even more at risk. When Jussie Smollett’s attackers yelled “MAGA country” as their battle cry, they were sending a very strong message that people like Smollett, black and gay, do not belong in their version of America. But this country is not “MAGA country”, it never has, and it never will. It is a country that is home to everyone who inhabits it, and we must coexist together.

World AIDS Day is celebrating its 30th anniversary on December 1st, and this year the theme is “Know your status”. UNAIDS says that although three in four people living with HIV know their status, “we still have miles to go”. The organization says it is key to ensure that those who are living with HIV, but are not yet aware of their status, are able to receive the care and treatment services they need.

In a landmark decision, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government passed a bill on October 5th which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. In addition, the act also establishes a public education campaign to raise awareness for LGBT rights issues.

LGBTQ youth are more likely to be bullied than heterosexual youth. Because they are disproportionately bullied, they are also more likely to be suicidal. According to The Trevor Project, “LGBT youth seriously contemplate suicide at almost three times the rate of heterosexual youth” and “are almost five times as likely to have attempted suicide compared to heterosexual youth.”

Members of the LGBTQ community serving in government means that the voices of that community will be heard, and issues directly related to their well-being will be addressed. More LGBTQ representation could ensure that no bills or laws would be passed which would infringe on the rights, freedoms of liberties of the LGBTQ community.

The above image is illegal, banned by a Russian court in 2017. Its creator, A. V. Tsvetkov, was subsequently sentenced to compulsory psychiatric care after uploading the image to Vkontakte, a Russian social media site. This image isn’t feared by Putin’s government and justice system due to homophobia alone, but further because it flies in the face of a Russia concocted by members of its government for generations; a virginal Russia in need of a rugged, traditional protector from the sexual perversion of the decadent West.

Get married or leave the country. This is the difficult position the United States is putting unmarried LGBTQ U.N. diplomats and staffers in who are currently working in the United States and living in the country with their same-sex partner. Starting now under a change of policy, the State department will stop issuing visas for the same-sex partners workers of U.S.-based international organizations and will only provide visas for those who are legally married.

It was October 6, 1923. Perched atop Mt. Wilson in Pasadena, California, Edwin Hubble peered through the 8-meter telescope that at the time was the most advanced in the world. What he found changed our understanding of the Universe and our place in it.

Recognizing the importance of donating blood compels me to want to make my own donation so that I may be able to save someone’s life. But, my sexuality has always prevented me from being able to donate and I look forward to a day when I may be able to donate without any special stipulations. Despite all the knowledge we have acquired regarding HIV/AIDS, the medical and scientific breakthroughs, and advancements in testing there is still fear and stigma which is the basis surround the bans.

The passing of a prominent individual is a time to reflect on their accomplishments; however, death does not dissolve their mistakes and prejudice nor elevate them beyond the realm of having the weight on their legacy.

One of his foremost mechanisms to erode democracy, primarily within Russia itself, would be to characterize queerness as a product of the West determined to corrupt Russia. Inspired by the work of Russian Philosopher Ivan Ilyin, Putin would characterize queerness as a Western invention meant to corrupt Russia, therefore making violence against his own queer citizens forgivable, for they’d succumbed to the parasitic West.

Fame. Wealth. Talent. Beauty. Adoration.

Arbitrary indicators of success, of fortune, of health. To rely on such measures is to obtusely exalt the cosmetic at the expense of the complex. Exchange the visceral for the inane and one fails to appreciate the intricacies of the human experience.

Picture a drug addict. A plethora of negative connotations surely flood your mind upon that cue. You may envision a catatonic transient, an intoxicated prostitute, an aggressive drunkard. Several character and classist implications define your concept of an addict.

Liberals and members of the LGBTQ see how the writing on the wall spells out certain doom and may be feeling fearful that everything we have fought so hard for will be taken away from us. And they are right, they should be afraid. But we cannot allow that fear to paralyze us into inaction.

What the hell happened to us? Actually, nothing. The election of the 45th president didn’t change a thing. It revealed a deeply paranoid and exploited society, whose anger has been manipulated - brilliantly - at the wrong people. And now, the engineers of this budding fascist dystopia are scoring legislative and judicial victories at breakneck speed. They have fully embraced authoritarianism. Our elections are compromised. Our justice system is anything but just. Our ecosystem is collapsing. I fear the powers of good and democracy are outgunned by a political movement that for decades has coaxed the public into believing that gutting social programs and subjugating society’s most vulnerable will “make America great again.”

Queer people fought hard to get here, in both our personal navigation of our own identities and collective efforts as a movement. We’ve earned the right to party, to celebrate. When the result of our efforts is world-changing enough that businesses and institutions and public figures leap to endorse us, we must be held accountable with whose endorsements we accept. Who do we want marching with us?

I have friends who are on their third personal Instagram account. Many lose business on their online merch accounts after being banned from running ads or posting all-together. Many photographers like myself are prevented from sharing their work. Censorship on social media is hitting users harder than ever, most effectively queer content creators.

By chalking up Mercury’s death to anything less than AIDS, the crime of historical inaccuracy is committed. A strong message is being sent that those who died of AIDS under the watch of an administration that looked the other way, did so in vain, and that the efforts of those who worked tirelessly to change public opinion were all for naught. It also tells those living with HIV/AIDS right now that their status also doesn’t matter, and that if they die, they will also be swept under the rug by those who wish to construct a narrative that is more “comfortable”.

Seattle’s message is clear: Workers and homeowners already pay sales tax and property taxes to address the housing crisis. It’s about time corporations pay their fair share, too.

HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus.  It can only infect human beings and will weaken your immune system by destroying important cells that fight disease and infection and as a virus can only reproduce itself by taking over a cell in a body as its host. Once you have HIV you have it for life, but with proper treatment you can keep it at a low level.

Finally opening Facebook in the late morning, these are the first words I see. An article title written by the Washington Post with a gigantic photo of Trump and Putin looking buddy-buddy. In many ways, this article summarizes much of what politics looks like post-2016. America, tackled by the reality of having a reality TV star play dictator in its highest political office, is perhaps at its weakest since the age of Watergate.

Queer people are constantly made to defend the validity of our own existences, and we’re damn good at it. Since the 2010 census alone, we’ve seen the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, we’ve seen the first openly transgender woman (Amanda Simpson) appointed to a government post by a U.S. president, the first national monument dedicated to LGBTQ people (Stonewall), a transgender woman (Laverne Cox) on the cover of Time magazine, and, of course, nationwide marriage equality. The advancements forged by LGBTQ people in the last decade have completely transformed the political and societal approach to sexuality and gender. An administration that refuses to recalibrate to these developments with such fundamental means as the self-identification of its own citizens is choosing the comfort of ineptitude over the health and safety of its people.

The Democratic Party is supposed to be the major political party of progressives. And yet, Democratic party leaders and congressmen continue to be stifled by their own limits. Why not let Republicans continue to be the party of corruption while the Democrats stay pure to their morals? If we’re going to be the party of such movements as #MeToo and #TimesUp, LGBT rights, reform on Wall Street and clean energy, we can’t have people within the party who at one point in the careers were against those very things.

Dr. Faye Jamali was a successful anesthesiologist in the Seattle, Washington metropolitan area. She reached out to Chosen to share her story and unique perspective about the ongoing opioid epidemic, both as a former doctor and recovering addict.

Perception is reality. It’s a relatively succinct and short phrase, but profound all the same. What does it have to do with politics and Trump? The short answer is simple: everything.  To understand the wall between my father and myself, I searched for the key which lies in understanding our respective perspectives.

I retweet, copy and paste, and smash the Angry reaction on Facebook, and I vote locally and nationally. Today was different. Today inspired me all over again that my generation (millennials, blech) and younger are set out to flip the world on its head. The actions of these high-schoolers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School started crashing waves. One speaker at the march reminded us that many of them can vote in 2018 primaries, even more will be able to vote the following year, and all of our current high-schoolers will be of voting age in 2020. We’re heading for some real progress, and the future looks a bit brighter today, from where I see it.

Aside from my ag

One month after a gunman killed fourteen students and three staff members at a school in Parkland, Florida, thousands of students from across the country from nearly 3, 000 schools participated in the National Student Walkout.  Facing the threat of detention, the students, armed only with picket signs, chants, and hope for change, walked of class for seventeen minutes, one minute for each of the victims of one of the most deadly school shootings in history.

In a recent interview with The Guardian, RuPaul doubled down on his chronic bulwark against the validity of trans existences. “You can identify as a woman and say you’re transitioning, but it changes once you start changing your body,” he responded when asked if he’d allow a physically transitioning queen to compete on his show. “It takes on a different thing; it changes the whole concept of what we’re doing.” I found that last sentence particularly troubling.

That’s what sobriety is about, after all. Learning how to have fun, when even the idea of fun seems unattainable. For every addict and alcoholic, the ability to enjoy life is a keystone of recovery. While our paths may be different, our desire to find connection and discover fun is a powerful commonality.

The Universe as we know it began 13.8 billion years ago in an event scientists refer to as the Big Bang. The name, however, is a bit of a misnomer. It was neither big, nor was it a bang, since no space or time existed in which a bang could have taken place. Rather, it was a near-instantaneous expansion of both time and space. The traditional Big Bang theory states that everything, all time, all space, all matter, burst into existence from an infinitely small, infinitely dense point known as a singularity (more on singularities later). But that’s not the whole story.

It's not as simple as removing all mind altering substances. My problems are much more complicated than that. My recovery is about smoothing the sharp edges and mending the broken pieces in my mind, body and soul. I continue this journey of self exploration each day with one mission; to be a better man than I was yesterday.

For decades, the world of professional sports has been minimal in volume with regards to LGBT representation.  To be a young LGBTQ athlete searching for an open and proud sports figure to look to as a role model, was like searching for a glittering jewel buried beneath of mountain of rocks.  And to look for such a coalescence of athleticism and LGBT identity at the Olympics, the quintessential demonstration of Herculean prowess, has not always been easy. But, all of that is changing at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, where LGBT athletes are not only participating, but also thriving.

Conversion therapy is fundamentally flawed because it instills the patient with a sense of inadequacy and inferiority in association with their sexual orientation and gender identity.  Being a teenager is a time of confusion, uncertainty, and doubt.  This sense of vulnerability is even more present for LGBTQ youth, who during this complicated and tumultuous time period, are come to terms with themselves in a world which ultimately accepts heterosexuality as the norm, and anything else as abnormal.

These are the symptoms of a sick society, a nation of people who greet misfortune and tragedy with indifference as they gaze into the flickering screens of 4K TVs and overpowered smartphones, addicted to the dopamine rush of consumerism. This disintegration of the social contract in favor of wealth accumulation has left the United States bereft of moral leadership. And it is at this critical juncture in our history that we must decide the sort of nation we want to be.

If you’ve ever asked what the meaning of life is, it could very well be to spread the seeds of sentience and consciousness throughout the Universe. Being the first life in the Universe capable of carrying this enormous burden and taking advantage of this boundless opportunity is how we need to start behaving. For all we know, propagating sentience and consciousness throughout the cosmos could very well be the meaning of why we are here, and we only get one chance. Granted, the Universe never makes just one of anything, however, there must be a first for everything.

Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson, Bob Rafsky, and infinite other queer activists of the past all too often go forgotten by many of our own community and practically everyone outside it simply because at the height of their activism, Diana Ross, Madonna, and other icons of the age were more ubiquitous. Queers today have infinitely greater platforms to elevate the voices of those in our community, and with these platforms comes an obligation to reexamine which voices we want speaking for us and which still go unheard. Icon—by its very definition—means “a person or thing regarded as a representative symbol of something.”

On behalf of the majority of Americans who did not vote for and do not support our new president, and for those who may not know how to process our current reality, I am sorry. We failed you. We failed ourselves. You are now in the crosshairs of a toxic masculinity battle between two dictators, both of whom are armed with nuclear weapons and seem poised to use them at any moment. You, like me, are at the mercy of two immature, belligerent narcissists, whose only concerns are self-preservation, unilateral power, and personal enrichment.

Protection against discrimination is essential in preserving the freedoms and maintaining the wellbeing of a minority population that is subjected daily to adversity in the forms of harassment, intolerance, violence, and broiled with feelings of self-loathing caused by the belief they do not, and will never be, accepted as an equal member of society.  A ruling in favor of the same-sex couple would affirm to LGBTQ people, and all other marginalized and minority groups, their civil liberties will be upheld and fortified from those who try to make transgressions against them.   In a time of uncertainty caused by political upheaval and an administration which seems to not have their best interest at heart, a win for the LGBTQ people is needed more than ever.

Mental health disorders and substance use disorders often occur at the same time. In a way, this fact makes perfect sense. The state of our mental health and the quality of what we put into our bodies go hand-in-hand. After all, our brain is a part of our body, and our body is intrinsically connected to our brain. When someone has both a diagnosed mental illness and a substance use disorder, these are referred to as “co-occurring disorders.”

Stigma is prejudice and discrimination against a perceivable disgraceful quality, circumstance, or person. In this case, it’s essentially being serophobic. Serophobia is the fear of those living with HIV, moreso a fear that one will become infected with the virus if they come in contact with an HIV-positive individual. Stigma and serophobia feed off of one another and deter people from becoming knowledgeable about the disease.

Since its discovery in the 1980’s, over 70 million people have been diagnosed with AIDS, and over 34 million people have died.  Although new HIV infections in the United States has been on a steady decline since 2010, and global deaths have also decreased 50 percent since 2005, there are still 36 million people who are currently living with the disease.  According to the World Health Organization, 1 million people died of HIV-related illnesses last year.

HIV is something that should be talked about. Sexual assault is something that should be talked about. We shouldn’t be scared of what we don’t know, and we should ask questions. We shouldn’t confine our fears and personal demons within ourselves: it only burns inside of us and robs us of the opportunities to learn and thrive in the one life we have to live. We can break through traumas by being authentic and open with one another.

The real issue here is demand. Trumps failure to address the demand for opiates and other drugs speaks to the root of the problem. Addiction is a medically defined illness. Reducing the supply of opioid medications will do nothing to treat the underlying illness. Instead of continuing to politicize and criminalize a medical condition, Trump’s administration needs to focus its attention of funding additional resources for treatment.

November is National Transgender Awareness Month and November 20th was National Transgender Remembrance Day; an annual observance of those transgender persons whose lives were taken from them in violence spurred from hate and bigotry.  Starting in 1999 by trans advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith to honor the memory of a transgender woman, Rita Hester, who was murdered the year before; this year’s commemoration is needed more than ever.

Crystal meth is a curious thing. For many gay men, it allowed them to awaken their repressed sexuality without inhibitions. And while this is a powerful awakening, it comes with a cost. Crystal meth robbed me of my emotions, morals, employment, housing, and my life. It constantly felt like a proverbial dance with the devil. In brief moments of clarity, I would see what my life had become and make a renewed vow to abstain. Time and time again, unable to suffer the throes of extreme depression that followed, I would use again.

Although the statement may be the heartfelt, regretful remorse of a tortured soul wrought with guilt over the pain and suffering he has inflicted on his fellow man, Spacey’s calculated coming out seems to suggest anything but.  It appears the intent was to choose this opportune moment to come out as gay deflect or redirect any discussions of pedophilia and to save his image.  After all, it’s far worse to be labelled as gay than to be labelled as a sex offender.

The Stonewall riots.  The assassination of Harvey Milk.  The unveiling of the AIDS Quilt. The murder of Matthew Shepard.  The Supreme Court striking down DOMA, and then three years later issuing a ruling declaring same-sex marriage bans unconstitutional.  All of these are examples of benchmarks in the history of the LGBT community; moments which symbolize the arduous fight of a group of people oppressed and discriminated against by the pious and holier than thou of society.  

This month, Alyssa Milano tweeted about sexual harassment and abuse, using the hashtag #MeToo, to encourage women to feel empowered to share their own experiences.  Since then, the two-word protest campaign has gone viral, as countless women and men have come forward to share their own stories. 

In order to truly fight this crisis, public discourse needs to change. As leaders and citizens in cities, states and the nation realize how wide-ranging the scope of the opioid crisis is, the question of what to do next should be a key part of the health care discussion.

This video containts a powerful discussion of sexual harassment and assault.

On Sunday, Alyssa Milano tweeted about sexual harassment and abuse, using the hashtag #MeToo, to encourage women to feel empowered to share their own experiences.  Since then, the two-word protest campaign has gone viral, as countless women and men have come forward to share their own stories. 

Complacency is a killer, and eventually I'll use and drink again. This isn't the first time I've hit rock bottom. I've finally accepted that this is a battle I cannot win alone. I have had enough of this life. I cannot wait three weeks. I will not survive. I've taken drugs to hallucinate before. But to hallucinate because of not drinking or taking drugs is absolutely insane.

I've built a towering mountain of guilt and it's covered by a blanket of shame. After hitting rock bottom so many times, I fear for my safety in a way that I’ve never experienced. Something I told myself I'd never do now trumps every priority in my life; I need to slam more dope. How has my addiction progressed at such a swift pace?

Heartbreakers music was how I escaped the sad times in my life, and even though it break my heart that he’s gone, this music will get me through this time, too. And the story that Tom Petty gave us about an America full of connected stories, full of shared experiences, that story is still going. We’re just going to have to keep writing it without him.

No one is saying we shouldn’t focus on preventing extremism; just that we should cut back on the availability of firearms. The United States has more guns per capita than any other country and more gun deaths per capita than any other developed country. That’s not a coincidence.

The paranoia, isolation, and depression begin to set in while filming season 13 of Deadliest Catch for Discovery Channel. I am a full blown drug addict and alcoholic. I wonder when I became okay with being strung out on methamphetamine while filming an extremely popular reality show. How did I justify this behavior that has now taken hold of my life? Rolling around in my bunk sweating in pain and agony,. I feel like I am going to die. To top off the misery of withdrawals, we begin fishing the most violent waters on the planet.

That night on the George Washington Bridge will stay with me forever and has taught me that we all have times when we feel life is against us. Here was a person who wanted to die, but I helped him live. I may have changed this man's life, but I wonder if he knows that he changed my life too.

It’s never been easy for me to find my place in the world- I think my bout with drug addiction has made that poignantly clear. As a gay man, I always knew that finding my way would be challenging because I never really felt like I had a support system. I felt lonely for most of my life. Coming into recovery broken, homeless, and alone compounded that feeling of loneliness. Serendipitously, I stumbled across a unique support group on Facebook called Gay & Sober Men.

Now is not a time to get overwhelmed and retreat into our bubble of comfort or privilege. Speak up. Be strong. Don't stop. Educate yourself. Run for government positions.  Petition your representatives. Stay informed. Continue the dialogue. Act. Resist. Fight. History won't forgive you if you don't.  I'm awake now, along with some of my brightest friends, and we are angry, we are watching, we outnumber those who want to repeat history, we are strong, we remember, and at the end of the day, we will win.

Society is really confusing, and self destructive in so many ways. Yesterday I was having a frustrating conversation with a coworker and then rehashed it with a good friend last night, and the topic just ate at me all night...so I just wanted to share my experience and hopefully something will stick or at least cause a moment of pause in situations moving forward. I feel this is very important to bring to the surface

I’m voting for Nikkita Oliver because all I want for my daughter is to grow up during the Oliver Administration, the way I feel privileged to have worked for the Obama Administration.

WARNING: This article will make you queasy, uncomfortable, and induce you to reach for any distraction. These will include but not be limited to: your Instagram feed, the news (which at this point is the same quality as your personal social media feed- and no, that’s not a compliment), your pet, or staring at the same text box of the guy or girl you have a crush on but you’re not sure what witty thing to say next to get their attention.

Chosen Magazine had the opportunity to speak with Daniela Luzi Tudor about WEConnect, an innovative tool looking to impact the world of recovery.

Fame is a powerful, intoxicating force. It can strip away any notion of personal privacy, leaving the famous individual exposed to judgment and ridicule. One of the tantamount tenants of recovery is the notion of anonymity; a safe, private concept that facilities an individual’s opportunity to break free from addiction without public judgement. So much of the public perception of addiction is laced with stigma. As we enter into a new era, where more celebrities are speaking openly about their struggles with substance abuse, it is possible that fame could be a useful tool to combat the deadly stigma surrounding chemical dependency.

Alabama is the latest state to put forth policies protecting religious-based discrimination in child welfare, though they are by no means the first. Michigan, Virginia, South Dakota, and North Dakota have similar policies protecting the faith-based child placement decision-making of such social service agencies

Chechnya isn’t the first country to be known for their hatred of homosexuals.  Most Muslim countries discourage gay men from visiting, and would recommend not displaying affection in public with the same sex.  Even America three decades back was not the easiest time for the gay community, and acceptance still hasn’t been fully achieved.  For thousands of years, the homosexual culture has mainly been hushed.  The death penalty is currently still active in seven countries

Despite the fact my generation is being handed a broken country, I assume the responsibility it entails. I forgive my father’s transgressions. I forgive my country’s mistakes. And I, of my own volition, compelled by moral duty, seek a life in politics.

“I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore”

The good news is you don’t have to.  Our country is stepping up to protest the madness of the Trump administration.  There are several ways to get involved, take action and be heard.  You don’t even have to leave the house! Here are some of our favorites

January 21st was the day as a nation we stood against the government. We stood in solidarity with women of all sexualities, colors, and upbringings. I marched with the one woman who never left my side: my mom.

The hard part is going to be what comes next, when showing up means contacting your representatives and attending local government meetings. I’m sore from walking all day but I know that was easy compared to the individual action I must keep taking. But for right now I am going to bask in the joy of what we did. Imagine if even half of the people who attended marches on Saturday sent letters to their representatives. That is a thrilling thought, and completely possible. Keep taking back your civic spaces and participating in your democracy. We can do this.

I knew the news- that eight words and three letters changed my life.

By Danny Carroll

On silence, stigma, and the unnecessary trauma of a modern HIV diagnosis

By Andrew Mayzak

So don’t tell me “it will be OK” or “not to panic” or “I’m sorry for your experience, but my own needs are important, too” because, with all due respect, you literally do not know what you are talking about.

By Chris Heide

The outcome of this election has solidified the belief that LGBTQ people are second class citizens. That women have a right to be touched without consent. That your protest vote is more important that my rights. That is privilege and it’s nauseating. If you are angry or afraid, let it fuel you. Allow yourself to become an agent of hope, education and change. Don’t let anyone tell you your pain is not real or that your reactions are too dramatic. 

By Jessye Sedergren

No one wants to be a drug addict. No one. We don't choose it. If you love an addict, good. Set boundaries, and protect your heart. Know that you can love someone and not be physically present in their life. But please do not confuse setting boundaries with shaming someone. I speak from experience when I tell you that they are not doing any of the things they are doing in order to hurt anyone. They are not using to escape. They are using to overcome a craving beyond their mental control.

By Ethan Joseph

I do not believe that I have ever felt closer to my Judaism than I have since I came out as gay to my family and community. While there were obviously more conservative elements who do not approve, I have been so blessed with a community that accepts me as I am and does not reject me because of an inherent, Heaven-ordained genetic trait.

By Casey Allen

In honor of the 15th Anniversary of 9/11

By Robert Williams
If you don't know already, we are in the midst of a deadly Meningitis outbreak in Los Angeles and public health officials are urging gay and bisexual men, especially those with HIV, to get meningitis vaccinations.

By Charlotte Hollingsworth
I’ve never been much for patriotism. Nationality is a trick of birth. You have no control over it and so it seems so strange to take pride in it. Often enough, as someone on the wrong side of discrimination, there are more reasons to be upset with this country.  Right now, however, while watching this huge crowd of people cheer on this woman that I have been watching my whole life, I am so proud to call myself an American. 

By Aric Markl
I was diagnosed with a type of mood disorder known as cyclothymia three years ago and since middle school I’ve been treated for ADHD. I had struggled in school for most of my life, but after developing cyclothymia at the age of 20 things became a lot more difficult. I began finding it difficult to get out of bed in the morning, I would have mood swings going from hypomanic (feeling like I could do everything, taking on extra work and responsibilities) to hypodepressive (waking up in the morning and spending an hour and a half convincing myself that I could get out of bed that day). My grades suffered, I started losing friends, and this only fed the cycle. By the time the end of the semester had rolled around, I had missed about 25% of all of my classes and it was only thanks to two very forgiving professors that I even passed.

By Christopher Heide
Rape is a powerful word that connotes an often traumatic event. It is often thrown around laisse-faire, with a lack of understanding of what the word truly symbolizes. In the early months of 2016, rape culture reached a boiling point.  This fever-pitch of sexual violation is often misunderstood and misappropriated. Rape is often about power, fear and control. Condoning rape culture perpetuates the persistence of fear. 

By Aaron Michael
As a young child I was blind to the fact that my upbringing wasn’t traditional, or that the circumstances in regards to my family dynamic was always a little off. It wasn’t until I was forcefully separated from my family at the age of twelve that I had any other sort of living situation to compare it to. I grew up fairly isolated and sheltered from the outside world, and deep inside I knew I yearned for something but wasn’t sure what it was or what was missing.

By Mica Lemire
There is a significant problem with the way the public looks at obesity, especially as it relates to health. There are many reading this article, possibly even you, who may hold that obesity is necessarily damaging to a person’s health. But how could you not? Modern medicine operates within a similar weight-pathology mindset, that obesity is a disease– a narrative that propagates out of the hospital and into the public’s rolodex of health axioms. In addition, it’s almost ubiquitously understood that obesity is associated with many diseases, including diabetes, hypertension, and cancer.

A Chosen Magazine Bulletin
One in four women experience domestic violence in their lifetime. While women do account for 85% of victims, men also account for 15% of domestic violence and abuse victims.

By Dillon Turman
It was the eve of November when I was asked to travel to Washington D.C. to showcase my knowledge and respects for mytribe as a Cherokee Nation representative at the 2014 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Associations’ first ever tribal youth conference. Though I have been to Washington D.C. many times before, this was the first time that I truly felt as if I were going purposefully.

By Christa Brennan
And as I sat there surrounded by strangers who were willing to be vulnerable and share the hurt and broken parts with me, I struggled to fight back my own tears. Something shifted for me in that moment, it finally clicked. I realized these aren’t strangers anymore. These people are just like me. I came to understand that people abuse substances for many different reasons and that there’s more to recovery than just sobriety.

By Christopher Heide
I am three years old and my dad is attempting to punish me for misbehaving. I must have been holding my spoon incorrectly or something. As I storm the stairs to my room, I turn around and say “God damn you, Rod Heide”. I like to call him Rod. He doesn’t like that. He prefers Dad. I don’t.

By Steven Griffith
I was raised in a conservative Mormon family. My first introduction to the LGBT community was through drugs. I was about 19 years old and found a particular drug called Tina (AKA Meth). The day that I started to use Tina was the day I started to give everything in my life over to it. The shame and guilt of being gay was too much for me and I had to find an escape. I found that with meth.

By Jordan Heide
Recall a time when you encountered your greatest fear. Now imagine reliving that experience daily, hourly, terror pulsating through your veins, dread throttling your heart, despair materializing in tremors and trickles of glacial sweat. Oxygen escapes from your body in frantic dash, the shock of which antagonizes the belligerent thumping of your heart. Myopia freezes your functionality, paralyzing your psyche with suspicions of gruesome nightmares materializing into horrific actualities. Frightened and exasperated, you flock to comfort, to safety, to familiarity. However, your fear is not so forgiving; it confronts you suddenly, uninhibitedly, and panoramically seizes your agency. Immobilized in a blazing inferno, the unrelenting grasp of horror consumes every laborious breath, propelling you into a delusory realm of persistent cataclysm. Terror menacingly unravels rationality, suspending existence under the immensity of paranoia; each successive moment contracts a greater degree of uncertainty, such that you nearly cease to exist amongst the soothing tranquility of realism.

A Chosen Magazine Bulletin
Entropy is the inevitable and steady deterioration of a system or society. Modern society is rife with unspeakable misfortune and violence, events that frequently question the morality of humanity. It is easy to become pessimistic and self centered when faced with such calamity. However, as seen in many recent national tragedies, people often tend to band together in times of adversity. A remarkable sense of empathy and compassion seems to be rooted in our DNA. The ability to be of service to others is a privilage of the human condition. This week, the opportunity for selflessness hits close to home.

By Jordan Heide
“We help you safely get the truth out.” Boldly printed across its homepage, this proclamation summarizes the intentions of WikiLeaks, the infamous database currently under immense scrutiny for disclosing classified documents of multiple political institutions around the world. What founder Julian Assange fails to mention is that once the truth is out, safety can no longer be assured.

By Jordan Heide
President Barack Obama’s campaign cannot be discussed without mention of his ubiquitous pledge to political reform in the resonant manner of “Change we can believe in” through the better part of 2008. The assumption upon casting a ballot for Obama was that radical reconstruction would occur moments after inauguration. American citizens believed Obama would revolutionize socio-economic structure and truly represent the ideas of the public, as opposed to vying for reelection through corrupt political schemes that would ultimately leave social, economic, and political climates stagnant. Needless to say, Obama captures the American people’s vote through his idealistic insight in to the nature of contemporary politics.

By Jordan Heide
Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone has been actively involved in United States politics for more than four decades, the better half of which have been spent in the state of California. Elected as Mayor of Sunnyvale in 1979, Stone’s political career has since proliferated, encouraging him to become an active voice in the California Democratic Party. Stone has been reelected to the office of County Assessor four times, where he presides over 1.75 million residents; most impressively, his constituency is larger than that of thirteen state governors. I recently spoke with Mr. Stone about the state of California politics. His insights acknowledged the floundering condition of the domestic budget and offered probable resolutions to restore California as a liberal beacon of political success.

By Christopher Heide
Forced sterilization, while not as widely publicized as abortion, is a highly controversial practice that seems intent on permeating itself throughout our society. Alison Thorpe, a London mother, petitioned to have her severely disabled daughter's womb removed, in order to prevent the girl from experiencing the pain of menstruation.

By Jordan Heide
Indeed, many have referred to it as the incarnation of bliss; however, it’s more commonly known as the island of Maui, one of five belonging to the state of Hawaii. Known for its picturesque scenery and care-free culture, it’s no wonder that Maui attracts close to 2.7 million tourists each year.

By Jordan Heide
“The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” have revolutionized political media since their respective debuts on Comedy Central. However, their legitimacy as credible sources for unbiased political information is significantly more ambiguous, according to leading researchers. “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” fall under a category known among political gurus as “soft news,” which is politically oriented news that is portrayed in a satirical and amusing manner.