Dec 10, 2022Member-onlyRecalling May in DecemberRecalling May in December It was 30 years ago today we lost my paternal grandmother, my dad’s mom, Mary Ellen Harvey Ennis. Most folks called her “May,” but I called her “Momma,” apparently because I babbled that to her as an infant. When she died, she was 81, but for…4 min read4 min read
Oct 7, 2022Member-onlySunday DriverWhen I turned 16, the age of my youngest child, my parents abandoned all attempts to teach me how to drive on the real streets of Long Island. Once, my mom forced me to pull over, yelling, “Stop the car!” She jumped out, the second the wheels stopped. She didn’t…AIDS3 min readAIDS3 min read
Published inINNsights·Jun 27, 2022Member-only‘LGBTQ people are part of the solution’: How three nonprofit newsroom leaders are making an impact this Pride month and beyondFor “journalist turned lawyer turned journalist” Ashton Lattimore, serving the LGBTQ community is critical to fulfilling her newsroom’s mission. “Our mission is first and foremost to reflect the lived experience of the people most impacted by injustice,” said Lattimore, editor-in-chief at Prism, an independent, nonprofit news outlet led by women…Journalism5 min readJournalism5 min read
Feb 5, 2022Member-onlyLies, Damn Lies and Lia ThomasIf you’ve read anything about out transgender college swimmer Lia Thomas published by Swimming World, The Federalist, The New York Post, NewsMax, Breitbart, The Daily Caller or Fox News, especially if it’s quoting an anonymous source, fuggedaboudit. Almost all of it is bullshit. Oh, they got her name right, and…Transgender6 min readTransgender6 min read
Jan 18, 2021Member-onlyChoose the march MLK would joinThis shouldn’t be hard. Your choices are, from top left to right, the scene in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, as the largely peaceful rally in support of President Donald Trump outside the White House turned into a march along Pennsylvania Avenue; a Transgender Rights March in June 2020 that…MLK6 min readMLK6 min read
Dec 3, 2018Member-onlyMy New Vagina Isn’t What Makes Me Happy. Being ME Does ThatI was raised on this colloquial wisdom of my dad, an Irish cop and first-generation American: “You can always tell an Irishman, but you can’t tell him much!” My Jewish in-laws constantly prove the accuracy of the old saying, “Ask two Jews, get three opinions.” We transgender folks have favorite…Transgender10 min readTransgender10 min read
Oct 12, 2018Cancer is stalking meCancer is stalking me It’s taken me all week to process this, and share this news. A few days ago, on my mother’s birthday, I got the results of a genetic test following my annual mammogram (#12) and I learned I inherited the BRCA1 gene, putting me at “high risk”…Cancer2 min readCancer2 min read
Jun 20, 2018Member-onlyWe warned The Atlantic about Jesse Singal, but they ignored usUPDATE: Human Rights Campaign tonight issued a statement regarding the publication of transphobia by The Atlantic, at my request. I’ve also reached out to GLAAD and I’ve added tweets they posted in response to the article. The HRC statement appears below. — Dawn Ennis, Wednesday, June 20, 2018 It’s been…Transgender6 min readTransgender6 min read
Jun 9, 2018Member-onlyThe Trigger Is RealHow the Deaths of Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade Impact Us by Dawn Ennis This article, which first appeared at Into, is expanded and revised from the original published version. It’s important to note that this report about suicide may in itself be a trigger for some readers. Help is available via the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1–800–273–8255 and Trans…Mental Health8 min readMental Health8 min read
Mar 14, 2018I Quit the Church Before It Quit MeJust about 54 years ago, I was born in Astoria, Queens, on the Roman Catholic Feast of the Annunciation. Not long after, I was baptized into the Roman Catholic faith at St. Raphael’s, a little red brick church in Long Island City, that for decades has served as a landmark…Judaism14 min readJudaism14 min read