This blog post was originally published as a subscriber-only article entitled “Yopp’s Guide to Being an Awesome Ally,” at the beginning of January 2020. I decided to share it more widely because it was such valuable information and I also updated it as my opinions and understanding of allyship had shifted over the years. CN: broad discussion of oppression I once saw a post from someone somewhat new to social activism saying he wished there …Read More
Tag: anti-gay bias
A Tale to Tell: A Cherie Priest Tribute
Just a few months ago I re-published my article, “Creating Social Change One Person at a Time,” in which I talked about how the impact you have on individual people around you can, in itself, be a form of social activism. Denny Upkins is back to demonstrate exactly how this phenomenon can happen and the ripple effect it can create. CN: general discussion of racism and homophobia An author by the name of J.D. Stroube …Read More
A Gay Man’s Guide To Life: An Interview with Britt East
CN: discussion of racism, homophobia, transphobia, and explicit violence toward the LGBT community– especially transgender folks; mention of abuse, AIDS epidemic, and addiction. One of the things I love about having Denny Upkins as a guest writer is he has some connections with amazing people and he takes great joy in interviewing them for Yopp! I’ll let Denny introduce today’s interview. Upon Yopp’s return from hiatus, I knew there were a number of intriguing and …Read More
Stonewalled: That Time I Fought the Law and the Law Lost
One of our favorite re-occurring guest-writers, Denny Upkins, is back with this amusing and empowering tale to remind everyone fighting the impacts of marginalization to share and celebrate our wins. CN: general discussion of dynamics between police and black and LGBT civilians; general discussion of racism; account of police questioning (no violence). A bard by the name of Alan Moore once stated magic is art, and that art, be it music, sculpture or any other …Read More
So, You Want to Write an Article for Yopp
Please check our submission guidelines page to find out whether or not we are currently accepting submissions. As of August 27th, 2022, we are no longer accepting submissions. You can check our submissions’ page periodically or subscribe to our email list to be notified as soon as we re-open submissions. At Yopp, we seek to help any group of people whose lives suffer from social, financial, & legal factors outside their own control and to …Read More
We Hold These Truths of the Black Experience To Be Self Evident
White Supremacy is so insidious that even if you’ve spent years working to eliminate anti-black beliefs from your subconscious, there will always be more hiding under the false pretense of reason and logic. Denny Upkins is here to keep us on our toes, make sure we check our biases at the door, and to direct us toward the beliefs we should actively be trying to incorporate into our understanding of the black experience, instead. CN: …Read More
The Problem with Slurs
CN: In-depth discussion of the usage and purpose of slurs and the common defenses for using slurs; discussion of racism, sexism, anti-gay bias, and classism. Warning: There will be a couple of slurs written out in full in this article. They are written this way to maintain clarity in a purely educational piece. I made a point to limit how many slurs I used and to avoid using any slurs that would be particularly egregious …Read More
Signed, the Daughter You May Someday Know
CN: graphic description of self-harm; discussion of suicide, teen homelessness, homophobia, religious opposition to homosexuality, familial rejection, and mental illness. Every openly LGBTQ+ person has a coming-out story. I grew up in an incredibly liberal town where bisexuality or any kind of sexual fluidity was common enough that I encountered very little resistance when I came out, which is why I haven’t written much about my own experience regarding sexual orientation on this blog. The …Read More
Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist, and Sexist, and…
If you were to make an off-color comment to me and defend yourself by saying that you don’t have a racist/sexist/classist bone in your body, or that you are “colorblind” your response would give me an important piece of information about you. Because as the song goes, everyone’s a little bit racist.