On Saturday (3.8.25) Mahmoud was abducted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from his home, and forced to leave his wife who is 8-months pregnant. He is currently being detained by Immigration Customs & Enforcement (ICE), and was disappeared from his home in New York to a facility in Louisiana, cut off from his family, attorneys, and community, in an intentional tactic by the state to escalate despair, and find a more favorable judge than in his home jurisdiction. These are all parts of enforced disappearance, which the US government has predominantly promoted and used against people outside of the boundaries of the United States. 

March 2025 Monthly Update

Last year, as our team sat down to plan a Gala to bring community together, center joy, and kick off 10 years of the org that has grown and evolved to everything that Freedom Oklahoma is today, we decided that a rebrand was in order. What had previously been the Unity Gala felt too much like an endorsement of respectability politics, the request that folks be nice to the people actively trying to harm 2STGNC+ people in Oklahoma for the sake of unity. So, we launched the Freedom Futures Gala, with a theme of Freedom Futurism. Because we knew that in a moment where it can be hard to see a way through, we all needed the joy not only of space together, but of a glimpse of a future on our terms, where joy is at the center, and we’re all a part of it.

Last night Aubrey Dameron's family confirmed that after six years, she is missing no longer. We sit in grief and devastation alongside her family, her tribe, and her community, in the acknowledgement that her life was taken far too soon. Rest in Pride, Aubrey.

February 2025 Monthly Update

As we enter February 2025 and mark the start of our celebration of 10 years of freedom dreaming at Freedom Oklahoma, it’s my honor to connect with you in this space as the newest member of the Freedom Oklahoma team, where I get to pick up some of the work of connecting and updating and collaborating with you through the fights in front of us. 

We want to start by saying that many true reports of harm seem to happen because of the dangerous mix of confusion around overestimated political power we fall in line for, underestimates power in our communities we don't tap into, and oppressive systems hoping both of these things remain constant - that's how fascism survives and grows. They get more power when we actively don’t use ours.

This may be the first piece of anti-trans legislation entertained by the Oklahoma Legislature this year, but we're unfortunately certain it won't be the last. And, as much as lawmakers work to create hostile environments for 2STGNC+ folks, it doesn't change the fact that we have always been and will always be in Oklahoma. And we'll keep fighting, even in spaces where the hatred of us is enshrined in explicit policy, for the future where we all have the safety to thrive. No one can deprive us of our dignity.

January 2025 Monthly Update

So, as I have thought about 2025, I have engaged in my usual practice of note taking around words and sentiments that resonate with me, that I keep coming back to. And I found myself particularly stuck on Woody Guthrie's 33rd (and final) resolution from his 1942 diary, Wake Up and Fight. As a 29 year-old looking to fight a rising tide of fascism that feels maybe too familiar today, there's something about that plain spoken commitment that resonated with me as a 35 year old in his home state staring down fascism’s newest and growing wave. So, for me, 2025 is Wake Up and Fight: We've got Futures to Dream and Liberation to Win. 

December 2024 Monthly Update

I’ve tried and failed to start this month’s newsletter a number of times. Because I want to give you the words that help collectively shift us from reacting to action, and also the words that soothe us through our grief, and allow us to find softness through the rage. But I don't have those words. Because I am tired. And angry. And some days overwhelmed. Some days afraid. What I find as my North Star through this time of turmoil is the reminder that I don't have to do any of this alone. 

Yesterday the Department of Education released a letter to Owasso Public Schools detailing a number of ways in which they failed to comply with Title IX, the result of an investigation following a complaint launched after Nex Benedict died the day following being beaten in a school bathroom after months of being bullied for his* gender identity. It is certainly an important step to have a federal institution acknowledge the harms caused by Owasso Public School’s failure to comply with Title IX–compliance failures that stretch far beyond Nex’s case and his death. While Owasso Public Schools in their initial response has acknowledged their failure to comply with Title IX, their continued refusal to acknowledge their role in the death of Nex Benedict shows how far removed their response is from accountability. And, as we all sit with the letter from the Federal Department of Education, the list of next steps may feel far removed from any sense of justice, to the extent that it is even possible when a school has contributed to the conditions that resulted in the death of one of their students.

There are a lot of unknowns and heavy days ahead. And there's no quick or easy way through the anxiety we're all feeling about now. So, let's acknowledge that and start with how we're getting through today, through this week, through November.