About

In a conversation with journalist Brooke Sopelsa, Robin Maril discusses the potential of queer defiance against the threats to democracy. Join us for to celebrate the launch of Robin Maril’s book A Queer Guide to Saving American Democracy. Robin hosts a podcast of the same name discussing the interconnection between our queer future and our democratic future with guests like Margaret Cho, Dean Spade, and Brian Sims. A Queer Guide to Saving American Democracy the book situates the attacks on LGBTQ rights within a larger democratic crisis. Speaking directly to the queer and transgender people navigating the intensifying political and cultural fault lines, the book argues that the current denigration of queer and transgender lives in the US is a symptom of the broader degradation of American democracy, representing the newest threat of American fascism. Joined by the founding editorial director of NBC Out, Brooke Sopelsa, the two will discuss the potential of the queer perspective towards transformative social change. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and there will be a signing after the event. Robin Maril is a writer and Constitutional Law professor based in Portland, Oregon. Her work engages questions of democratic integrity and the growing threat of fascism and authoritarian regimes within America. She also hosts the podcast A Queer Guide to Saving Democracy. She is a widely recognized scholar on LGBTQ rights and policy, Executive power, and the law of democracy. Before teaching, Robin worked in the LGBTQ civil rights movement at the Human Rights Campaign for nearly a decade. Robin began her legal career as a Presidential Management Fellow at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. She and her wife have two sons, two dogs, and an unknown number of snails. She is a proud graduate of the University of Oklahoma and Temple University Beasley School of Law. Brooke Sopelsa is an NYC-based award-winning journalist who has been writing, editing and producing for major national newsrooms for more than two decades. Most recently, she served as the founding editorial director of NBC Out at NBC News Digital, and she’s an alumna of HuffPost, MSNBC and CNBC. Brooke has also co-produced three documentaries centered on the LGBTQ community: the 2007 independent film “QueerStreets,” the 2019 NBC News docu-series “Stonewall 50” and the 2024 NBC News feature documentary “The Stonewall Revolution.” Brooke holds a B.A. in Economics from Bucknell University, an M.A. in Journalism from Columbia University and an M.B.A. from NYU’s Stern School of Business. The Bureau of General Services—Queer Division is Manhattan’s only queer bookstore, located on the second floor of the LGBT Center. We’re open Tuesday-Sunday from 1-7pm and accessible by the 6th Ave 1 2 3 L trains and 8th Ave A C E trains. Our cafe, The Bureau Cafe, is open Tuesday-Sunday from 9am-7pm.

Event Organizer