Author: Melinda Butterfield

Labor and strikes

‘Pride on the picket line’ for Writers Guild strike

June 9, 2023 Melinda Butterfield
“New York is a union town, the queers are here to shut you down!”  The chant rang out loud and strong through Manhattan’s Union Square neighborhood on June 1, the first day of LGBTQ+ Pride […]
LGBTQ+

Defiance and joy at Baltimore Trans Pride March

June 8, 2023 Melinda Butterfield
Hundreds of transgender people, other members of the LGBTQ+ community, loved ones, and supporters took to the streets on June 3 for the annual Baltimore Trans Pride March. Despite the grave threats to trans people’s […]
Cuba

‘Socialismo sí, homofobia/transfobia no!’ Cuba’s Conga celebrates advances in LGBTQ+ rights

May 26, 2023 Melinda Butterfield
 Conga, the traditional music and dance ensemble of Cuban carnival, with its pounding percussion, colorful costumes, and swirling dance, is beloved throughout the Caribbean and around the world.  A very special Conga took place […]
Cuba

‘First on the Fifth’: Marching with Cuba’s Cenesex on a historic May Day

May 12, 2023 Melinda Butterfield
 Havana — May Day in Cuba. Nothing quite like it – even if it takes place a little later than expected.  Havana is renowned for its huge, colorful, and powerful marches every May 1, […]
In the U.S.

May Day 2023: Prepare for a long, hot summer of struggle

May 1, 2023 Melinda Butterfield
 It’s May Day – International Workers’ Day – and the United States is a tinderbox of combustible material waiting for a spark. Poor and working people who gather in cities and towns across the […]
Oppressed genders

#LetHerSpeak: Rep. Zooey Zephyr and supporters defy anti-trans bigots

April 28, 2023 Melinda Butterfield
 On April 26, the far-right-dominated Montana state legislature in Helena censured the state’s first elected trans representative, Zooey Zephyr, after silencing her for several days and threatening her with expulsion.  Zephyr will not be […]
Oppressed genders

Fascists threaten, Biden concedes: Organize and fight for trans rights!

April 8, 2023 Melinda Butterfield
 The Trans Day of Vengeance was a long-planned protest in Washington, D.C., scheduled for April 1. People were coming to D.C. from across the country to participate. It was called in response to the […]
Oppressed genders

Trans Day of Vengeance: Fight back against far-right attacks!

March 16, 2023 Melinda Butterfield
I have a book coming out soon: “U.S. Proxy War in Ukraine and Donbass.” If anti-war activists in Nashville, Tennessee, invited me to come and do a book reading, I would be at risk of […]
Oppressed genders

Stop trans genocide: Now is the time to fight back!

February 10, 2023 Melinda Butterfield
[su_row][su_column size=”1/2″ center=”no” class=”] [/su_column][su_column size=”1/2″ center=”no” class=”] [/su_column][/su_row] On Feb. 6, hundreds of trans people and supporters flooded the Capitol in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, ahead of right-wing Gov. Kevin Stitt’s state of the state […]
U.S. / NATO war

The far right sets a trap for the anti-war movement

February 9, 2023 Melinda Butterfield
The history of the working class and oppressed peoples is full of positive and negative lessons about the intertwined struggles against war and fascism. Unfortunately, since the destruction of the USSR and the socialist camp […]