Our team is celebrating Pride Month in true Courier fashion
Hi John, my name’s Ty Rushing.
I’m a proud member of the Courier team and I serve as the Senior Political Editor of Iowa Starting Line, one of our local newsrooms.
This month, our team is celebrating Pride Month in true Courier fashion—by uplifting queer voices and holding elected officials accountable for misinformation and political attacks on the LGBTQ+ community.
Give me a second and I’ll tell you more about our work, and how we’re playing a critical role in the larger fight against bad information. However, if we’ve already earned your support, please consider chipping in so we can keep up this important people-first journalism through Pride Month and beyond.
Like a lot of places, Iowa has seen a drastic rise in attacks on our LGBTQ+ family and friends—I was front and center for a lot of that while covering the 2023 legislative session.
A lot of attacks are driven by state and local lawmakers who have pushed extreme laws targeting the rights of LGBTQ+ Iowans, especially people who identify as transgender or nonbinary.
Despite what these lawmakers and mainstream outlets would leave you to believe, these bills are pure fear-mongering, rooted in misinformation and right-wing politicians trying to score cheap political points by punching down on vulnerable populations.
That’s exactly why our team at Iowa Starting Line has been hard at work correcting the record. We’ve used our reporting to give a voice to LGBTQ+ students impacted by a slew of discriminatory bills including a ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth. We’ve also put Iowa lawmakers in the hot seat when they’ve used their position to push their own spiteful agenda.
While calling out bad information is our bread and butter—that and memes against fascism—our reporters have also made a point of covering acts of solidarity and support for our LGBTQ+ family. We also cover community pushback against these attacks.
And guess what? When Pride Month is over, our dedicated news team will still be on the ground debunking the bad information and putting the spotlight on the people driving these attacks.
Fortunately, we aren’t the only ones. Courier Newsroom has local teams in eight states, providing the same kind of necessary, honest news coverage. But to power our entire news network and keep up this important work, we need your help.
Grassroots donations from folks like you go directly towards hiring and retaining talented journalists—like yours truly—and spreading our stories far and wide. If you believe in our work, please chip in $5 now:
Chip in $5 »
Thank you,
Ty Rushing
Senior Political Editor, Iowa Starting Line
