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Headshot of Melissa Gira Grant
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
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.
February 3, 2022
Melissa Gira Grant
To Trump, the Law Is Always White
In his attack on Black elected officials, Trump is harkening back to the worst of post-Reconstruction America.
August 9, 2021
MagazineMelissa Gira Grant
Behind the GOP Strategy to Outlaw Trans Youth
Activists are beating back Republicans’ virulent attacks on trans rights. But the battle is costing the trans community.
July 22, 2021
Melissa Gira Grant
Did FBI Informants Thwart or Encourage the Plot to Kidnap Gretchen Whitmer?
An explosive report on the plot against Michigan’s governor raises crucial questions about “anti-terror” enforcement, which can rest more on appearances than tangible change.
July 13, 2021
Melissa Gira Grant
The Power of the State and the Christian Patriarch Fully Align in Texas
An anti-abortion law in the state marries a chaotic legal strategy with a long-standing tradition in denying women access: family and community surveillance and punishment.
June 30, 2021
Melissa Gira Grant
The Damning Truth Behind Cop “Walkout” Stories
The New York Times and other news media are laundering an exaggerated narrative about besieged officers—one that’s meant to threaten anyone who questions police power.
June 23, 2021
Melissa Gira Grant
The Real Story of the Bipartisan Anti–Sex Trafficking Bill That Failed Miserably on Its Own Terms
SESTA/FOSTA was never about trafficking victims. It was just a convenient lie its supporters liked to tell.
June 21, 2021
Melissa Gira Grant
Who Are the Police Protecting and Serving at Pride?
Demands to welcome cops at Pride amount to a collective hallucination, as if the policing of gender and sexuality by the state was a thing of the past.
June 9, 2021
Melissa Gira Grant
Will Biden’s Obsession With Compromise Poison His Agenda on LGBTQ Rights?
An opaque court filing in an anti-LGBTQ discrimination case has advocates asking if this administration will “bargain down” the rights of students to reach an uneasy peace with Republicans.
June 8, 2021
Melissa Gira Grant
The New York Times’ Culture-War Definition of Free Speech
Michael Powell frames policing and racial justice as issues moving the ACLU away from its core mission around speech. It’s a false antagonism—and a trap.

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