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Melissa Gira Grant

Melissa Gira Grant is a staff writer at The New Republic, the author of Playing the Whore: The Work of Sex Work (published by Verso), and the co-director of They Won’t Call It Murder (executive produced by Field of Vision). She was a senior reporter at The Appeal, and a contributing writer at The Village Voice and Pacific Standard.


All Articles
September 7, 2022
Melissa Gira Grant
“Libs of TikTok” and the Right’s Embrace of Anti-LGBTQ Violence
The newest campaign against children’s hospitals is part of a much larger pattern.
September 6, 2022
MagazineMelissa Gira Grant
The Pandemic Made the “Viral Underclass” Impossible to Ignore
Steven Thrasher’s new book examines how society makes people vulnerable to viruses and blames them for it.
August 18, 2022
Melissa Gira Grant
QAnon Goes to Washington, Again
There are over 20 Q-friendly candidates running for Congress or statewide office this fall.
August 11, 2022
Melissa Gira Grant
Why the Right Can’t Quit Its Antisemitic Attacks Against George Soros
Reform prosecutors are just the latest target in a long trend of conspiracy theories.
August 9, 2022
Melissa Gira Grant
Ron DeSantis’s War on LGBTQ People Is Essential to His Agenda
The Republican is using the full force of the state government against them and their supporters.
August 1, 2022
Melissa Gira Grant
A Forgotten 1990s Law Could Make It Illegal to Discuss Abortion Online
A provision in the Communications Decency Act making it a felony to talk about abortion online has been on hold since the Clinton administration. Could it be enforced by a future GOP president?
July 28, 2022
MagazineMelissa Gira Grant
The Arizona Republican Primary Is Ground Zero for America’s Hysteria Over Critical Race Theory and Drag Queens
Kari Lake and other far-right candidates have latched onto a controversy in the Scottsdale school district whipped up by conservative mothers.
July 6, 2022
Melissa Gira Grant
Pamela Paul’s Great Replacement Theory
The New York Times columnist lays the groundwork for a mainstream case for trans exclusion.
June 24, 2022
Melissa Gira Grant
The Fight for Abortion Rights Must Break the Law to Win
Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, we can’t rely on legal means to restore the right to reproductive freedom.
June 8, 2022
Melissa Gira Grant
A Pizzagate in Every City
These conspiracy theories were once fringe. Now they’re being fueled by Republicans and driving far-right anti-LGBTQ violence.
June 3, 2022
Melissa Gira Grant
Republicans’ Anti-LGBTQ Conspiracy Theories Are Fueling Far-Right Threats to Pride Celebrations
Their anti-LGBTQ legal crusade and “grooming” language have been adopted by extremist groups.
May 16, 2022
Melissa Gira Grant
Public Defenders Are About to Be on the Front Lines for Protecting Abortion Rights
If Roe gets overturned, defense attorneys will face a wave of new prosecutions targeting pregnant people.
May 5, 2022
MagazineMelissa Gira Grant
The Growing Criminalization of Pregnancy
The end of Roe v. Wade will accelerate an existing effort to criminally punish people for their abortions, stillbirths, and miscarriages.
May 3, 2022
Melissa Gira Grant
The Real Fight for Abortion Rights Is Not in the Courts or Congress
Communities across the country have already been preparing for the end of Roe.
April 6, 2022
Melissa Gira Grant
The Law Alone Can’t Halt the Christian Right’s Crusade Against Abortion and LGBTQ Rights
Liberals can’t count on the courts to protect against Republican ambitions to roll back civil rights.
March 17, 2022
Melissa Gira Grant
“Grooming” Is Republicans’ Cruel New Buzzword for Targeting Trans Kids
On the right, “grooming” is being teed up as the next CRT.
March 1, 2022
Melissa Gira Grant
The ACLU Is Suing Texas to Block the Worst Anti-Trans Program in the Country
A Texas family investigated under a “child abuse” directive targeting trans youth is taking the state to court.
February 23, 2022
Melissa Gira Grant
Texas’s Attorney General Is Laying the Groundwork to Separate Trans Kids From Their Families
Ken Paxton says his “formal attorney general opinion” is that gender-affirming health care for trans kids is “child abuse.”
February 17, 2022
Melissa Gira Grant
The Groups Pushing Anti-Trans Laws Want to Divide the LGBTQ Movement
The same people keep pushing bill after bill, developing their strategy as they go.
February 10, 2022
Melissa Gira Grant
Republicans Are Already Trying to Pass as Many Anti-Trans Bills as Possible in 2022
Over a dozen states are currently considering anti-LGBTQ laws.

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