Kit O'Connell (🏳️‍🌈Big & Bright Queerdo👽)

Gavin Newsom is special guest governor at #sxsw. Rich white, bigoted wonks are doing everything they can to force this hateful asshole down our throats as the only viable candidate for 2028. We must keep saying "fuck no."

‘Very Real Barriers.’ Trans Voters in Texas Are Worried About Casting Their Ballots. Primary Election Day is Tuesday. And nonprofits that protect LGBTQ+ rights are monitoring what’s playing out at polling locations.

“Trans voters are left vulnerable to being outed, questioned, or turned away, which creates very real barriers to casting a ballot,” said Caleb Armstrong a transmasculine Texan who cofounded Local Queer Foundation.

@kitoconnell.com
thebarbedwire.com/2026/03/03/t...

‘Something’s Different’: LGBTQ+ Texans Are Organizing in Defense of Immigrants Concerned parents, teachers, and business owners are showing up to grab whistles, zines, and participate in community-building.

“I think when people are confronted with the realities — in their face — of what our immigrant neighbors are facing, there’s no choice but to respond,”

LGBTQ+ Texans are part of the fight, organizing with their neighbors to protect immigrants against ICE. My latest for @thebarbedwire.com:

‘Very Real Barriers.’ Trans Voters in Texas Are Worried About Casting Their Ballots. Primary Election Day is Tuesday. And nonprofits that protect LGBTQ+ rights are monitoring what’s playing out at polling locations.

Know your rights: you should still be able to vote even if your gender presentation doesn't match your gender marker on your ID. But this article also tells you what to do if you encounter problems on election day. @thebarbedwire.com

‘Very Real Barriers.’ Trans Voters in Texas Are Worried About Casting Their Ballots. Primary Election Day is Tuesday. And nonprofits that protect LGBTQ+ rights are monitoring what’s playing out at polling locations.

New today @thebarbedwire.com: “Trans voters are left vulnerable to being outed, questioned, or turned away, which creates very real barriers to casting a ballot ... This fear & confusion has a purpose in trying to silence our voices & keep trans people from participating fully in our democracy.”

Yea if a site I used had a feature being routinely used to generate CSA material, I'd stop using that website?

One of the biggest factors discouraging me from using social media these days is seeing how many regular people, journalists, organizations, nonprofits and politicians kept right on using X like it's not a nazi shithole. It really makes me think there's something fundamentally unhealthy about this.

‘Something’s Different’: LGBTQ+ Texans Are Organizing in Defense of Immigrants Concerned parents, teachers, and business owners are showing up to grab whistles, zines, and participate in community-building.

“When people are confronted with the realities — in their face — of what our immigrant neighbors are facing, there's no choice but to respond,” said Reilly, a 42-year-old trans Texan, in an interview with @kitoconnell.com
thebarbedwire.com/2026/03/02/l...

Text: “According to a new survey by the Movement Advancement Project, approximately 401,000 transgender people have relocated from one U.S. state to another since the 2024 presidential election. The mass relocations in 2025 are due to the safety concerns, political conditions, and anti-trans laws and policies that have largely impacted conservative states across the country.” | Graphic: messy room with moving boxes and clothes, conveying relocation

NEW: 400,000+ transgender people have relocated from one US state to another since Trump’s second term

Mass relocations in 2025 have been caused by the spread of anti-trans laws and policies impacting conservative — and so-called blue — states across the country

www.mapresearch.org/policy-and-i...

"“I see a lot of collaboration happening between queer activist groups and immigrant activist groups,” Reilly said, adding they hope that cooperation is sustainable, but suspects it’s largely up to the queer groups to keep showing up for immigrants."

Minneapolis Community Defense Is “Riding on the Learning Edge of a Whirlwind” “We are becoming the people that we always knew that we needed to be,” says Minneapolis organizer Andrew Fahlstrom.

I also gave a shout to this incredible episode of @mskellymhayes.bsky.social Movement Memos in the article:

‘Something’s Different’: LGBTQ+ Texans Are Organizing in Defense of Immigrants Concerned parents, teachers, and business owners are showing up to grab whistles, zines, and participate in community-building.

“It seemed like after Keith Porter and Renee Good and then Alex Pretti were murdered by ICE, that folks really felt like it was time to do something.”

Inspired by a zine created by MPLS anti-ICE activists, Austin residents are getting to know their neighbors and forming rapid response networks.

‘Something’s Different’: LGBTQ+ Texans Are Organizing in Defense of Immigrants Concerned parents, teachers, and business owners are showing up to grab whistles, zines, and participate in community-building.

However, R.G. Cravens, a senior manager of research and analysis at @splcenter.org, these connections go beyond direct violence, but to the extremists groups who increasingly hold sway in the halls of power: “They’ve been in the same room, both literally and figuratively, for decades now.”

‘Something’s Different’: LGBTQ+ Texans Are Organizing in Defense of Immigrants Concerned parents, teachers, and business owners are showing up to grab whistles, zines, and participate in community-building.

Violence against LGBTQ+ and immigrant populations is closely linked, according to extremism researchers. In 2024 & 2025, @glaad.bsky.social's ALERT desk tracked over 50 hate incidents targeting both. For ex, a San Antonio man allegedly made threats against both Pride parades & pro-immigrant groups.

‘Something’s Different’: LGBTQ+ Texans Are Organizing in Defense of Immigrants Concerned parents, teachers, and business owners are showing up to grab whistles, zines, and participate in community-building.

“I think when people are confronted with the realities — in their face — of what our immigrant neighbors are facing, there’s no choice but to respond,”

LGBTQ+ Texans are part of the fight, organizing with their neighbors to protect immigrants against ICE. My latest for @thebarbedwire.com:

Here's a feel-good story we could all use today.

The estrogen is definitely helping with my good looks. Cheers to us both being cute in old age <3

Reading Heated Rivalry in line to vote and suddenly I'm like oh no I can't get to the phone call from Russia scene in public. 😭

A zine called Dispatch Please Advise Tactics For Fighting The Federal Occupation of Minnesota by ICE, along with a bowl of whistles and instructional zines for using then against ICE.

Kit is a nonbinary trans femme wearing cats eye prescription sunglasses and a black and white dress with rainbow accents and white lace ties in the front. Behind them is Austin's town lake and skyline on a sunny day.

Hey everyone, life has been pretty stressful and so I've been bad at updating this. But I'm still here, still rolling around Austin and writing. I've got a couple of new pieces coming out next week for @thebarbedwire.com too!

Here's a little peek at what I've been up to today...

I've got a short article out in the new issue of Texas Observer magazine, about Juan Miguel Arredondo, the first openly gay member of the San Marcos, Texas school board. I'll share here when it's available online.

@queenkoddi.bsky.social hi, I dM'd you about a story and didn't want it to get lost in your spam box

Elon Musk posted about race almost every day in January Many social media posts by Tesla CEO on his platform are indiscernible from those of white supremacists, say experts

"The richest man in the world posted about how the white race was under threat, made allusions to race science or promoted anti-immigrant conspiracy content on 26 out of 31 days in January"
Watching this sentient bath slime radicalize himself has been terrifying.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

The Barbed Wire — All Things Texas TRENDING In Case You Missed It — The Best of The Barbed Wire! PERSPECTIVE AND OPINION

I'm writing a story for @thebarbedwire.com on the intersection between pro-immigrant and pro-LGBTQ+ resistance... if you you're organizing intersectionally please get in touch... DM or I also have Signal or encrypted email if you need.

Recognize International Long Covid Awareness Day in Austin Texas: Calling on the We are calling on the City of Austin to officially recognize March 15 as International Long COVID Awareness Day (ILCAD) to acknowledge Austin residents and Texans living with Long COVID. March 15, 202...

I just signed a @theactionnetwork.bsky.social petition: Recognize International Long Covid Awareness Day in Austin Texas: Calling on the . Sign here: actionnetwork.org/petitions/re...

Obviously, but I'll say this anyway: please only share what is safe to share with the media, though we can arrange anonymity as well.

‘Communities Ripped Apart’: On Texas College Campuses, LGBTQ+ Services Have Been Completely Decimated Across the state, public universities that were once making strides toward inclusivity and support have faced devastating cutbacks.

EXCLUSIVE: When Senate Bill 17 went into effect in 2024, Texas universities were forced to enact anti-DEI policies. Since then, 12 queer resource centers or programs have closed — along with layoffs or transfers of at least 100 people.
thebarbedwire.com/2026/02/05/c...

I was in theater club with James and it's so sad to lose someone my age so young. My condolences to his family and friends.

The Barbed Wire — All Things Texas TRENDING In Case You Missed It — The Best of The Barbed Wire! PERSPECTIVE AND OPINION

I'm writing a story for @thebarbedwire.com on the intersection between pro-immigrant and pro-LGBTQ+ resistance... if you you're organizing intersectionally please get in touch... DM or I also have Signal or encrypted email if you need.

Please don't accuse people in knitted hats of only wearing their supposed politics if all you're doing is posting, which is basically just another way of wearing your politics. It's a silly thing to attack people over in any case. Using fashion to signal support for ongoing acts of rebellion is good

My latest at @thebarbedwire.com ... I spent weeks interviewing current and former students, faculty, nonprofits and others about the way queer campus life has suffered over the past 2 years and how, in some cases, community members have stepped up to help.