This paper focuses on how the American comics anthology Gay Comix, which ran for 26 issues from 1980 to 1998, addressed the AIDS crisis. Gay male comics had historically focused on casual sexual relationships; however, the epidemic complicated gay men's relationship with sex, rendering these strips "bad taste." At the same time, because gay cartooning was associated with humor, it was also considered "bad taste" to depict the crisis in this medium. This created a dilemma for queer cartoonists-how could they continue to represent contemporary gay male culture in the comics medium without falling into "bad taste?" Because Gay Comix bookended the "Age of AIDS," analyzing its AIDS-related strips provides insight into the evolution of comics' responses to AIDS over almost two decades. Through a series of chronological, thematic case studies, this paper demonstrates how different authors responded to the double bind of it being "bad taste" to represent AIDS in the comics medium, but also "bad taste" to ignore the effects of the crisis, and how concepts of tastefulness in graphic representations of AIDS changed from the emergence of the syndrome in 1981 to the introduction of effective medication in 1996.
Within university contexts, trans-affirming policies are increasingly recognized as essential institutional mechanisms for fostering trans and nonbinary (TNB) well-being and shaping their academic trajectories. Professors represent key institutional actors who may either reinforce exclusionary dynamics or contribute to the development of more affirmative environments. This study aims to explore how Italian university professors understand and evaluate specific trans-affirming policies in higher education: Gender-neutral Bathrooms, Alias Career (Preferred Name Policy), and Safe Zone training. Fifty-two university professors aged 36 to 65 years old (M = 51.77; SD = 8.39) participated in a semi-structured interview. Data analysis was conducted using a reflexive Thematic Analysis to process the collected data. Four main themes were identified: (a) attitudes toward affirmative policies, (b) institutional-level implications, (c) implications for TNB students, and (d) training needs. Participants reflected on potential limitations of current policy proposals and their broader symbolic meanings. Their narratives highlighted key implications for the well-being of TNB individuals, positive effects on the overall campus climate, and the institutional role of affirmative policies in shaping higher education environments. They also underscored the need for adequate training on SOGIESC topics. Such efforts may foster safer university environments while also contributing to a more engaged, innovative, and affirming academic community.
Sexually and gender minoritized (SGM) young adults with disabilities navigate workplaces shaped by cisnormative, heteronormative, and ableist ideals of employability, professionalism, productivity and fit. However, little is known about how disability, sexuality and gender intersect in their employment experiences. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 10 SGM young adults with disabilities aged 20 to 30 years in Canada, we examined how participants navigated employment, disclosure, accommodation, and workplace inclusion. Through intersectionality-informed reflexive thematic analysis, we developed four themes: (1) being positioned as unemployable through organizational ideals of capacity, qualification, and productivity; (2) managing disclosure, concealment, and passing in cis-ableist workplaces; (3) performing affective labor to maintain workplace fit; and (4) reimagining inclusion through universal flexibility, transparent policies and diverse workforces. Participants often avoided disclosure, self-accommodated, tolerated misrecognition, and managed others' perceptions of their identities and access needs to protect their employment. The concept of "managing fit" captures the labor these marginalized workers perform, and the costs they absorbed, to reconcile their bodies, identities and access needs with workplace expectations. These findings demonstrate how intersecting cis-ableist norms influence employability and highlight the need to replace individualized approaches to accommodation with organizational practices that anticipate and normalize bodily, gender, and access diversity.
