In wealthy, segregated Marin County, a pioneering recruitment program breaks down barriers to the firefighting profession
Gender
Posted inOctober 1, 2022: Making Refuge
Recollecting life on the edge of the prairie
Portraits of queer life and landscape in rural Washington.
Posted inArticles
Where anti-LGBTQ+ politics intersect with housing the homeless
A new report shows Southern Oregon’s largest homeless shelter is led by a conversion-therapy proponent.
Posted inArticles
Duwamish Tribe sues Interior in federal court, alleging sex discrimination
After decades of back-and-forth with federal authorities, the matrilineal descendants of Chief Seattle want federal recognition, once and for all.
Posted inJune 1, 2022: A Legacy of Weapons and War
How to choose a pronoun
The land does not care what parts of you are male or female.
Posted inArticles
Indigenous women say ‘no’ to extraction for sustainable future
Women from the frontlines of extraction projects, and the boardrooms that fund them, came together to call for the end of extraction to ensure a sustainable future.
Posted inApril 1, 2022: The Archives Issue
My archive: 20 years of Los Angeles’ LGBTQ+ movement
Between 1978 and 1998, Lydia Otero built a collection around queer activism in LA.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2022: Water Rights and Responsibilities
The Park Service buried its own study on harassment
The agency promised transparency and action. Instead, it kept the audit confidential.
Posted inArticles
Coming out as trans in the rural West
A high schooler’s photo essay documents what it’s like to go through intense change in a place that never changes.
Posted inArticles
How Texas’ restrictive abortion law puts pressure on clinics in Western states
Patients are turning to places like New Mexico and Colorado for care.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2021: Where Wolves May Tread
Family, culture, politics and heartbreak in the modern West
Nawaaz Ahmed’s debut novel ponders endings from beginnings.
Posted inArticles
Women in wildfire: What are the reproductive health risks?
Females working in a system ‘built for men’ experience a higher rate of miscarriage and other reproductive concerns.
Posted inMay 1, 2021: Beauty and Biodiversity in the Borderlands
The Colorado town that became a transgender haven
In ‘Going to Trinidad,’ histories illuminate — and obscure — the outcomes of gender transition.
Posted inApril 1, 2021: Holding Fast
Montana trans, two spirit and non-binary activists fight anti-trans legislation
Their advocacy network is striving for a more equitable state while building power across issue lines.
Posted inMarch 1, 2021: The Rough Road Ahead
All fracked up: A debut memoir wrestles with toxic masculinity in the oil fields
Michael Patrick F. Smith’s ‘The Good Hand’ offers sharp observations on North Dakota’s extraction industry.
Posted inFebruary 1, 2021: End of the Line
Meet the gun-toting ‘Tenacious Unicorns’ in rural Colorado
How a transgender-owned alpaca ranch in Colorado foretells the future of the rural queer West.
Posted inDecember 1, 2020: A Community Divided
Elections in the West highlight divisions and diversity
Justice, power and environment: The 2020 elections were defined by grassroots organizing and deep partisanship.
Posted inNovember 1, 2020: When the Smoke Clears
In the face of #MMIWG, Indigenous women fight back
On the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, girls and women box, march and continue searching for those lost.
Posted inNovember 1, 2020: When the Smoke Clears
Hunting for myself in the high Montana sagebrush
A hunter celebrates a new vision of queerness and rural culture.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2020: The Next West
Now that you’ve gone West, young man
Toward unlearning Manifest Destiny.