A federal election, a hot gay hockey show and sex in the bushes were all the rage this year. Find out what other Xtra stories attracted readers in 2025.

I'm currently on a month-long (!!) break but was delighted to learn that my article about the importance of spaces for public sex was one of @xtramagazine.com's most read pieces of the year! Read the piece below, and check out the other most-read stories here: xtramagazine.com/culture/top-...

Trump admin omits data about trans people from prison sexual violence reports, @byadamrhodes.bsky.social reports. The Department of Justice’s long-awaited reports exclude any demographic data, days after a memo revealed its plans to dismantle prison rape protections for trans & intersex people.

Another one from me: The Trump administration has omitted data about trans people from prison sexual violence reports. prismreports.org/2025/12/11/d...

A Department of Justice memo says certain standards under the Prison Rape Elimination Act do not align with Trump’s January 20 anti-trans executive order. From @prismreports.org:

ICYMI from me yesterday: a DOJ memo shows that the Trump Administration plans to roll back prison rape protections for queer and trans people, including in youth detention facilities. More here 👇🏼

"Incarcerated trans Americans experience sexual violence at more than 12x the rate of other incarcerated people" That stat comes from the DOJ itself – and still, the administration wants to tear down the few protections that exist, making prisons & jails even more dangerous for everyone.

"JDI’s Executive Director Linda McFarlane said in a statement that the changes 'will lead to increased chaos and violence inside prisons and jails, placing staff and incarcerated people in greater danger.'" Read the full article 👇

New from me: The DOJ plans to dismantle protections for trans and intersex people in federal, state, and local prisons, jails, and youth detention facilities, according to a government memo obtained by Prism.

Workers can regulate AI with strong contract language. Full stop. Unionized journalists just proved this at POLITICO. @pen-guild.bsky.social

Was she interesting when you were fucking her, Keith? Or just hot and 19 years old?

Speaking as someone who has devoted much of my professional life to writing about HIV/AIDS, stigma and discrimination, yesterday's silence from the WH about World AIDS Day is unsurprising but still so shockingly cruel. And they know it.

I really can't think of a better fit to lead the Reader. Such a huge win for such an important piece of the city's media landscape and culture!

Some exciting news!

Everything I learn about Ol*via N*zzi is against my will

I appreciate the reporting AND I want everyone to stop using criminal records as a stand in for whether people should or should not be harassed and deported.

Speaking of ways people are penalized for interactions with the criminal-legal system (and a note that trans people are at higher risk of that, especially QTBIPOC).

thank you so much for sharing my piece!! Means a lot!

Cleveland Heights elects its first out LGBTQ+ mayor. And - come January - he may be the only one in Ohio. After a scandal-prone year for the previous mayor, Jim Petras aims to restore trust in city leadership. thebuckeyeflame.com/2025/11/24/c...

BREAKING: Trump is again separating kids from families The govt isn't releasing info, but we found ICE has sent record # of kids to shelters. One family went to govt office , only to have parents detained while the children—aged 5, 11 and 1--went to shelters www.propublica.org/article/ice-...

This is a great piece and it's by a journalism school classmate so have to share. missionlocal.org/2025/11/sf-w...

Gonna be on WCPT-820 in a few hours to talk about this article! thegailyshow.org

It's Friday and I just (finally) published my new website! new domain, new look, new everything! adamrhodeswrites.com

This #TransgenderAwarenessWeek, we're launching the Trans News Initiative - a nearly yearlong project dedicated to tracking and analyzing news coverage of trans communities across the United States. transnewsinitiative.org

@sorayanadiamcdonald.com and I aren't rich, but we're working on it...

My last freelance piece of the year published yesterday in @boltsmag.org, taking a look at how Illinois' name change law still disproportionately impacts trans people with criminal histories. boltsmag.org/illinois-nam...

“The Trump administration’s cuts are happening alongside breakthroughs in HIV prevention science, including an injectable medication that could completely transform HIV prevention efforts around the globe." @byadamrhodes.bsky.social for @prismreports.org prismreports.org/2025/11/13/h...

Very grateful for my sources at @avac.org, @prep4allnow.bsky.social, and Physicians for Human Rights for helping me understand just how far reaching this crisis goes. And all while a game-changing drug comes to market.

Roughly a year ago, Rainbow Youth Project received 3,000 calls a month from across the country to its crisis hotline. Under the Trump administration, that number has tripled to 10,000. And they're sadly not alone. My latest for @prismreports.org prismreports.org/2025/11/04/l...

Love to see this article in @thebuckeyeflame.com about the ways growing anti-LGBTQ+ hostility is impacting longstanding events in our community — and reporting that doesn't shy away from the important role kink, leather and fetish organizations play. (this doesn't just impact queer people!)

NBC was one of the best legacy outlets covering LGBTQ+ issues. Their coverage for YEARS has been award-winning, landmark work. Shame, shame, shame. It's just disgusting.

Shame on NBC for this indefensible decision. When these communities need rigorous journalism now more than ever, NBC is abandoning them. Horrific to do this at the same time ICE continues to escalate its racist attacks and after months/years of historic rollbacks in civil rights for queer people.

i am her she is me

The Trump administration says it wants to protect children from chemical and surgical mutilation. Well, they're not doing that, experts and advocates say. They're actually making it harder to protect kids from mutilation. New reporting from @jazzmyth.bsky.social and myself

Bravo, @byadamrhodes.bsky.social, for this excellent piece in @xtramagazine.com about why queer community still needs places for public sex. (Because, well, it’s not just about sex. It’s about so much more).

It’s not even 10 a.m., and so much has unfolded in Chicago: – Illinois sues Trump over the National Guard deployment – Mayor Brandon Johnson bans city property use for immigration enforcement – Journalists and protesters sue the feds over Broadview violence

JUST IN: Chicago journalistsa re suing DHS and ICE over force used against reporters: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Not to be a pedant but Bari Weiss was a junior editor who occasionally wrote opinion pieces in the opinion section, not a columnist.

Bari Weiss keeps failing up. www.advocate.com/news/bari-we...

BREAKING: Illinois has filed suit to block Trump's deployment of the military to Chicago. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Our 11-part Taking Space series spotlighting LGBTQ2S+ gathering spaces is live! Read about the activist history of queer bookstores, the new wave of women's sports bars and the power of queer archives from writers @byadamrhodes.bsky.social, @evecable.bsky.social, @ainopihlak.bsky.social and more.

It feels both that nothing is shocking, but it’s still important to go through the motions of acting like it is because otherwise where are we left.

For @truthout.org yesterday I wrote about how the government's lies about tylenol and autism reminds me a lot of the government's lies about trans people. truthout.org/articles/ant...

new @byadamrhodes.bsky.social just dropped ..... leather daddy slap fight, anyone?

I love that my beat is LGBTQ+ rights and also leather daddy drama?

Less than a week after it was taken off the air under pressure from the Trump administration, "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" will return to late night on Tuesday, ABC parent company Disney confirmed.

It was a nice break from *gestures everywhere* to report on some really successful and groundbreaking activism around HIV criminal laws around the country. It's not every day I get to report good news about bipartisan compromise on public health issues. prismreports.org/2025/09/17/h...

After some states repeal HIV criminalization, activists hope to continue momentum, @byadamrhodes.bsky.social reports. North Dakota & Maryland became the fourth & fifth states to completely repeal laws that make it a crime to expose someone to HIV without their knowledge.

Ta-Nehasi Coates is doing a lot of things with this essay, but one of the most important is fearlessly using examples of anti-trans hate to describe Charlie Kirk's politics. The contrast between his choices and those of other writers for major legacy outlets is revealing.